07 - Fight or Lose

This time when Alain woke up he knew what to expect even though he'd fallen asleep early after eating. Asitha and Tiness slept next to him in his own bed, which meant they had taken him to it after he fell asleep. There was a vague memory of getting into bed so it could have been he was barely awake enough to get to his pod while they supported him. Either way he was pleased the miracle cure worked because his headache was as good as gone and most of the muscle aches as well. The peaceful look on the girls' faces was pleasing as well, but the wish to get really close to them tightened his chest, especially when he looked at Tiness. The image of her as a cute Silth woman clashed with the physical reality, and unlike the clear preference when it came to humans, he couldn't deny he was still attracted to her. He couldn't see her as anything but a fluffy female with cute personality and feel the same attraction for her as he did with Asitha. He groaned inward at the curse of having fallen for two creatures he'd never imagined he'd fall for.

An urgent buzzing tore him from his train of thought and the girls woke up startled. 'What's that!?' asked Asitha as she sat up at once.

Alain leaned over Tiness to pick his tablet from a recess in the wall, the sensation of her body against his only lasting for a second before his mind went into emergency mode. He punched up the console from the Walkurea and silenced the buzzer while reading the log entry that triggered it. 'Oh crap!'

Asitha moved closer to him. 'What is it!?'

'The Walkurea detected incoming projectiles.' Alain said and pulled up the area chart. 'Multiple incoming at high speed, probably comet debris.'

Tiness sat up next to him. 'Straight for us!?'

'We're in the target radius of 400 kilometres.'

'How much time?' asked Asitha.

'Six standard days.'

She hissed. 'We have to evacuate.'

'But where to?' asked Tiness. 'If we escape with our pods we can't go far on our fuel reserve, and heading to the nearest Silth outpost takes too much time.'

'There's still some fuel left on the Walkurea, we could escape with that, but I don't want to abandon this place and have to return to Earth if the debris does hit the ships and destroy them.' Alain said while he rechecked the detection system. 'I don't want to leave you and our home.'

Asitha's heart skipped a beat at the sight of his serious face. She didn't want to return to Silth and the unhappy existence that would await her there. 'What other option do we have?'

'Can't we deflect or evade the debris?' asked Tiness. 'Can't we use the weapons or the shields of the warships?'

Alain shook his head. 'Only part of the shield works on the Walkurea, it won't cover the Amaroth or us. And even if I could get the canons to shoot makeshift projectiles it's too little to make an impact on the debris. It would likely just make things worse by turning larger pieces into clouds of smaller pieces.'

He sensed her grip on his arm and the urge to protect her and Asitha grew stronger. "What can we do!?" he thought while he looked at the cone of the target area displayed on his tablet.

'Could we give this whole thing a push with the fuel we have?' asked Asitha.

Alain looked at her. 'We could push it with the pod thrusters but they're too weak.

'And the Walkurea? You can control it, can't you control the engines?'

Alain pondered. 'I could fire them but it would cause a rotation and probably not get us out of the way. We need to control the Amaroth as well.'

Tiness looked at Asitha. 'The engine controls are damaged in a few places but we could replace those components.'

'But the Amaroth has barely any fuel left.' said Asitha.

'What if we collect all from the emergency pods? There are plenty of them.'

Asitha did a quick calculation in her head. 'Then we'd still be short when I base it on the average fuel capacity of the pods.'

'I saw fuel pods on the Walkurea.' said Alain. 'If we're lucky there's fuel left in them and together with the pods from the ship it might be enough to fuel both warships.'

Asitha looked at him. 'Our fuels aren't completely the same but I could adjust the engine controls to run on a mix.' She looked at Tiness. 'If we work continuously we might make it.'

Tiness nodded. 'Yes. I don't want to return to Silth. I'd rather risk my life to stay here.'

They looked at Alain. He wanted to pull them close and kiss them but this wasn't the time. 'We have work to do.' he said.

***

Asitha and Tiness began on replacing the damaged circuits and components of the engine control systems while Alain checked the status of every fuel pod he could find, along with the emergency pods on both warships. He put down a list while they took their first scheduled break. Despite the emergency they agreed on regular breaks to avoid exhaustion and risk making errors in their work. 'All together there's enough fuel to move.' he said. 'If we keep output moderate we can clear the impact radius and still have some left to move further away if needed.'

'Good.' said Asitha when she looked at the ratio of the two fuels available for use on the Amaroth. 'As far as we can tell we should be able to get the engine controls working, although we have to rig it in a few places because we don't have the exact same parts. Once that's done we can try to recalibrate for the new fuel mix.'

'I think we should decouple our home from the ships.' said Tiness. 'If the forces on the impact wreckage are too large it could warp the structure and damage our pods.'

Asitha nodded and Alain looked at the drawing of the two ships he had made. 'Good point.' he said. 'We can secure our pods to the ships with cables to keep them from drifting away. I could stay here and control the Walkurea from here but I prefer to do it from engineering or the bridge.'

'One of us needs to be on the bridge and the other in engineering for the Amaroth.' said Asitha. 'We'll just have to risk leaving our home unmanned.'

Alain leaned back in the couch. 'In worst case we can still survive on the Walkurea, there are enough secure sections for that. It does mean the end of our cosy life however when they find out what happened.'

'It's better than giving up now and leaving everything behind for certain.'

Alain felt the same and was ready to give it his all to secure their life together. He looked at the time. 'Better get some sleep now, we'll need to continue work soon.'

Asitha nodded, hesitated for a moment, then spoke up. 'I think it's best if we sleep together again. To make sure we keep to our schedule.'

Alain looked at Tiness. 'That's not a bad idea, if you don't have any objection.'

She shook her head quickly. 'I think that might be better as well.'

'My bed then? I don't want to impose on your private spaces.'

The girls agreed and they went to their pods to change, and crawled onto Alain's bed quickly after. He'd provided extra pillows and set two alarms to wake them up.

'I really hope we can make it.' said Tiness softly.

Alain gave her a reassuring smile and took her hand in his. 'We can do this.'

She smiled back and Asitha leaned on Alain's chest to put her hand on theirs. 'It might be a bad sign to say this when it comes to movies, but we either make it together, or we don't.'

Alain put his other hand on hers. 'We will.'

***

The next days were filled with work on the warships, sleeping in short periods, and supporting each other trying to wake up and staying alert and calm enough while the clock counted down to the estimated time of impact. They found comfort in sleeping together but they still felt awkward when waking up and finding themselves snuggled together one way or the other. The pressure of the emergency distracted them enough to quickly forget about it though. Alain was glad for it because he wouldn't have to think about controlling himself while the girls didn't have time to deal with their feelings towards waking while snuggled up to a male or occasionally in his embrace.

'I need some help on replacing a relay box.' said Tiness when she and Asitha were almost done with replacing the defective engine control systems. 'I can't do it alone.'

'I'm busy replacing a burnt out circuit on one of the engines.' said Asitha. 'Alain, can you help?'

He clamped a fuel pod to the cargo picker. 'I can in a few minutes. where are you?'

'I'll send you the compartment number.' said Tiness.

Alain arrived a little later later at the pressurised section Tiness was working in. He took off his suit and found her in a narrow area between two walls. 'There's a bunch of cables in front of the box and I can't replace it without holding it in place.' Tiness said as she gestured at the open section of the back wall.

Alain moved up behind her and noted the shoe sized box behind a bundle of various cables. 'Another marvel of smart design.' he said dryly.

Tiness chuckled once. 'I guess our technologies don't differ much?'

'Yeah. I can show you some textbook examples on the Walkurea if you want.'

She giggled. 'Maybe after we're done with this whole thing.' she said and turned to the box. 'Can you hold the box and keep the cables apart while I disconnect it and remove the brackets?'

'Sure.' he said and reached out to the cable to spread them, and pressed against Tiness's back. 'Sorry, my arms aren't any longer.'

Tiness blushed a little. 'It's all right, there's not much room here. If it bothers you I can do it later with Asitha.'

'I don't want to take away your precious time when I have more to spare, as long as it doesn't bother you.'

Tiness shook her head. 'Then I'll begin on disconnecting the cables.'

Alain held the box by its sides while the cables rested against the outside of his lower arms and Tiness worked on the cable connections. Her back rubbed and pressed with every move against his chest and Alain quickly felt his body heat up. The couple of times he woke up with either of the girls spooned against him flashed through his mind, bringing with it the sensations of their soft fur and their scents, things he had no time to explore when they had to get up and get to work. He thought it might be because they hadn't had the time to freshen up or because he spent much more time closer to them, but her scent became more clear to him and he unconsciously leaned his nose forward to the side of her neck to inhale it.

Tiness tried to keep her mind on her work but Alain practically pinning her against the wall and herself moving against him interfered with images of him holding her tight like lovers did in the movies they'd watched. Her heart began to pound and she hoped her thick fur hid it from him. She didn't want to make him uncomfortable because she wasn't someone according to his preferences.

Alain tried to move his hips back but that only caused him to lose his balance, so he had to keep them pressed against her behind, and slowly he sensed the rubbing of her tail and behind taking effect on him. He tensed his thighs to redirect his blood flow but it was no use and all he could do was hope she didn't notice. It should be a logical physical reaction to stimulation at the right places but he couldn't deny the extra stimulation of her scent and the softness of her fur as her bare arms brushed against his. Even her tail seemed to wrap itself around his legs and the times he imagined their fur against his skin wouldn't go away. As a human he shouldn't even be attracted to a Silth but he knew very well he did, and not just to Asitha, but Tiness as well. He had to face the fact that his weakness was cuteness and Tiness's gender didn't matter to him.

'Are you all right?' asked Tiness and pulled Alain out of his thoughts.

He looked at the side of her face while she looked back at him. "Yeah, it must be because she looks so cute." He cleared his throat. 'I'm all right, it's just a tiresome position to work in.'

She nodded. 'I'm almost done removing the last bracket, then we can remove the box.' she said while the shiver from his breath brushing her ear lingered along her spine. For a moment she imagined him acting on his physical state and taking her from behind, and her heart raced with excitement before she suppressed it as best as she could. She decided to tell him she'd place the new box later so he wouldn't have to endure his embarrassment any longer.

The last bracket came loose and Alain pulled the box away. He placed it on the floor and sat in a squat to hide his state. 'I can place the new box later.' Tiness said softly.

Alain looked at the new box. 'You can't connect it now?'

Tiness looked down. 'I can, but won't it be a bother to you?'

It would bother him in in a certain way but it would be a stupid reason to delay work in the current circumstances. He just had to endure it and as long as she didn't notice it he wouldn't have to make her worry. 'I'll be fine.' he said. 'A few stretches will loosen me up again.'

Tiness blushed at the image in her mind. 'Then, please hold the new box.'

She tried to move as little as possible but her back still rubbed against his front and they both tried their best not to think about anything but their current task, even if it seemed Alain kept his arms closer to hers and her tail wrapped tighter around his legs to keep her balance.

She connected the last cable and was glad to finish the job, but she also regretted it. She leaned her head a little back, letting her back press a little more against him. 'Done.' she said softly.

He let go of the box and flexed his fingers and hands. 'Just in time.' he said. 'I was about to get cramps in my hands.'

Tiness took his hands in hers and massaged his palms with her fingers. 'Thanks for helping me out.'

'Any time.' he said softly in her ear and shivers went up and down her spine. She noticed he hadn't pulled away from her and her heart raced when the thought of asking him welled up in her mind. Fear gripped her but the urge to blurt the question out fought for dominance. 'Alain..?' she whispered.

'I'm done here.' said Asitha over the communication link and startled Alain in stepping back. 'How's your end?'

'Oh, ehm, we're done here.' said Tiness and tried to restart her stopped heart.

'Good. Only a couple of things left and we can run tests. I'm coming your way.'

'All right, we'll wait here for you.' Tiness said while Alain quickly collected her tools to coll down.

***

Asitha studied the documentation on the engines on the tablets in front of her in the engineering section of the Amaroth. 'I think we need to adjust the nozzle throughput here and here.' she said and pointed at the parts on a diagram.

Alain looked it over and hummed. 'Sounds right to me. The design of these engines isn't much different than what we built.'

She looked up at the large fuel injectors at the side of on of the engines, then looked around. 'Do you see anything to stand on? I believe there should be ladders but it looks like they were taken.'

Alain checked the spaces between the engines. 'Nothing here.'

She looked up at the engine again. 'We'll have to go search for something then.'

Alain looked up. 'That would take too much time just for a quick adjustment.' he said and looked at her. 'I think it's quicker if you sit on my shoulders. That looks like the right height.'

Asitha chuckled. 'Can you handle my weight?'

He nodded. 'I've been working out more since that thing with the bandits.' he said and tensed a little in lingering anger. 'I want to make sure I have at least some strength if it's needed for protection.'

Asitha smiled a little. 'Yeah.' she said. 'How do you want to do it?'

He helped her step up onto a console, stood with his back to her, and she sat down in his neck, wrapping her feet around his back. He wrapped his arms around her legs, tested his stance, and was glad for the training he did. 'How is it?' she asked.

He looked up with his eyes at her face. 'I've got you. Are you good?'

'Yes.'

'All right then.' he said and stepped forward towards the engine. 'Let's get this done, we have eight of these to do.'

Asitha reached up to the injector. 'Can you get to it?' Alain asked.

'Barely, but it's good enough..' she said and adjusted the secured screw valve.

Her movements caused her shirt to crawl up slowly and Alain soon had to try and ignore the warm sensation in the back of his neck, but the soft sensation of her inner thighs against his cheeks didn't help with that. "Don't think! Don't think!" he thought to himself. "She's too busy to realise her shirt slipped up so I should be too busy supporting her!"

"Work! Focus on priorities!" Asitha thought as she tried to focus on getting the adjustment right. "Alain's doing his best to support me in getting this done and so should I!" She bit her lower lip while the back of his neck ground firmly against her between her legs and sent tingles through her lower half. 'Done.' she said. 'Want to take a moment to rest?'

'No need, let's continue.' he said quickly and thought "If I take a rest you'll surely find out the consequence of sitting in my neck.". 'It's less tiring to do it all at once instead of lowering and lifting you each time.'

'All right, the next one then.' she said and agreed that doing this quickly might be better than prolonging the sensation.

By the time they were done with the last injector Alain felt more tired than just from lifting her weight. He stood with his back at another console and Asitha got up from his shoulders. His neck tingled at the sudden cool sensation and a waft of musky scent tickled his nether regions together with his imagination. 'You're all sweaty.' she said and wiped his neck and shoulders quickly with her shirt. 'Wasn't it too much?'

'No, I'll be fine.' Alain said without looking at her and resisting the desire to touch his neck and smell his fingers. He flexed his shoulders. 'Let's test fire one engine to make sure it can handle the new fuel mix.'

'Yes.' Asitha said and climbed down from the console, suppressing the itch from the top of her inner thighs rubbing against her. She activated the engine and manually fired it for three seconds at low power, then read the output on the console. 'It's not as efficient but it works. I could get another few percent from it if I fine-tune it.'

'We don't really have the time for it and I think it's better to not waste fuel on the small gain it might bring.' Alain said and gave her a smile. 'I'm already satisfied that you got it working but since you're smart it was no surprise.'

She blushed and looked at the console and engine documentation quickly. 'Anyone with a bit of knowledge could have done this.'

'Maybe, but I'm still happy you're here.' he said. 'Let's tell Tiness the good news and eat.'

***

Asitha noticed Tiness's reaction at home when she caught the scent from Alain's neck despite hiding it. It embarrassed her but she had smelled the change in Tiness as well the day before. Under normal circumstances at home it was a natural thing and no big deal, but she could understand why Tiness had tried to hide it. Human noses weren't sensitive enough as far as she knew but Alain's scent had changed as well and she wondered if he had found out about them. He said nothing about it or rejected Tiness or tried to approach herself like Silth males would have, so she figured he hadn't. There were more urgent matters at any rate.

Alain suspected it was the intense schedule they worked at that caused the thicker smell of their fur in the air. He had increased the throughput of the environmental system but it didn't compensate completely. It also didn't lessen the scent when they sat close and slept together but he didn't think it was a bad thing when it seemed it both comforted and revitalised him.

'Engine test, done.' said Asitha and marked the list of tasks they needed to perform. 'Replaced damaged control circuitry, done.'

'I finished rigging our home with cables. The current struts are secured by weak magnetic locks and should disconnect with little force.' said Tiness. 'To be sure, most cables should break to keep the pods from tearing apart if the ships do split too far.'

Alain nodded. 'Worst case, the two ships break apart but our home is still attached to one side. I doubt it'll come to that since they're fused together pretty tight. What's left?'

'Testing the engine controls.' said Asitha. 'Since we don't know how the whole thing will react when we fire all engines we'll have to wing it during the manoeuvre.'

'I have a half filled fuel pod sitting near a dock.' Alain said. 'We'll divide it after the test when we know which side needs more.'

Tiness looked at a flashing red notice on Alain's tablet and a shiver ran down her spine. 'What's this?'

Alain looked at the tablet, then grabbed it at once. 'Hull breaches!' he said while another notice appeared. 'We're getting hit early!'

'But the debris is still at a distance!' Asitha said, knocking another tablet from the table as she took hers with the proximity detection output.

Alain ground his teeth. 'The system must be ignoring projectiles that would have been deflected by the standard shield of the ship and that's out of order! I'm such an idiot!'

'No time to blame yourself!' said Asitha. 'We have to leave now!'

They rushed to their suits and their fingers trembled while trying to perform the suit check. Alain looked at Asitha and Tiness for a moment before putting on his helmet. 'Stay safe.'

Asitha's heart pounded. 'You too.'

Tiness looked worried and nodded quickly before putting on her helmet. They left the airlocks at both sides and hurried along the hull to enter the warships while sparks flashed at some points in the distance.

'I'm inside.' said Alain after he entered the service hatch.

'We're just getting inside.' Asitha said. 'Tiness should reach the bridge in a few minutes and I'll be at engineering two or three minutes after that.'

'All right. I should have reached engineering here by that time.' said Alain and pushed and jumped through the corridors as fast as he could. 'Keep your suits on for safety.'

'We will.' said Asitha.

Tiness reached the bridge of the Amaroth and activated gravity controls at the door. 'I'm on the bridge.' she said. 'Activating the controls in a moment.' With a few button presses on the main console all the other consoles on the circular bridge came alive. Moving fast from one to the other, she turned on the critical systems and confirmed their status. 'All systems are up. No irregularities.'

'Good.' said Asitha and activated the engineering systems. 'Everything seems to be fine at my end.'

Alain plunked down two portable terminals and hooked them up to the engineering console on the Walkurea. 'I'm powering up engineering here.' he said and opened the warship's back-end console. Engineering came alive along with the consoles on the bridge. 'Get ready to ignite the engines.'

A display projected the relative position of the warships in the solar system and the trajectory of the incoming debris onto a bare wall while Alain powered up the engines. 'Power up!'

Asitha started the engines on the Amaroth and a tremor ran through both warships. 'Powered up!'

'Confirmed!' said Tiness and jumped up at several sharp cracks near and far. 'More hits!'

'Alain heard one behind him and saw flames spewing from one of the engine cases. 'Shit!'

'What!?' asked Asitha.

Alain rushed to shut down the engine. 'I only have three engines but that should still be enough!' The flight systems of the Walkurea turned green. 'Are you ready?'

'Good to go here!' said Tiness.

'Same here!' said Asitha.

'Then on my mark!' said Alain. 'Power at one percent! Three, two, one, mark!'

Asitha and he hit thrust on the consoles and another tremor ran through the ships. Asitha monitored the engine output. 'Clear!' she said.

'Clear!' said Alain. 'I'm switching to reverse!'

Deflectors around the engine exhausts opened like flower petals and directed the thrust backwards. A continuous low tremble ran through the warships. 'We're moving!' said Tiness. 'Direction three-seven-four!'

Metallic pangs resonated through the hull. 'It's raining!' said Tiness.

'Increase power to five percent over the count of ten!' Alain said and adjusted the engine controls slowly while counting.

'Done!' said Asitha.

'Tiness, roll to your right at one degree until we're at forty-three! We'll use the bottom of the ships as a shield!'

'Yes!' said Tiness and steered the ship into a rotation. 'We're moving at thirteen K with heading three-six-nine!'

Alain consulted his display. They couldn't divert too much from their current orbit, otherwise they'd drift away or fall into the sun's gravity well without the power to recover their position. 'Take heading three-seven-nine!' he said while adjusting the directional thrust of the Walkurea.

The hulls groaned at the forces on both ships and the direction of the impacts moved slowly around the ships. A thunk and a muffled explosion caused another tremor through the Walkurea's hull. 'Shit!' said Alain and switched to a view of the outside of the ship. White smoke drifted from one of the loading bay doors.

'Alain!' called out Tiness. 'What happened!? You're on fire!'

'The spare fuel pod must've been hit in a bad way and ignited in the bay!' Alain said and activated the emergency systems around the bay. 'Fire is spreading through several corridors!'

'Can't you kill it by vacuum!?'

He typed commands on one terminal. 'Too much damage! I can only open one corridor to space!' A buzz from the other terminal demanded his attention. 'Shit! One of the lines to the bridge has gone down, I'm on the backup line now!'

'Bad!?' asked Asitha.

'I will lose control if the fire spreads more! I need to stop it!'

'Can we help!?'

Alain switched to the engine controls. 'Open up a console on your tablet and listen on port twenty-two!'

Asitha did so on her tablet. 'Done!'

Alain typed more and a moment later the engine controls of the Walkurea opened up on Asitha's tablet. 'You have control of the Walkurea now, increase power output to eight percent slowly! We need to get away as fast as we can!' He hurried out of engineering. 'Tiness, keep us in orbit!'

'What are you going to do!?' she asked.

'I'm going to flush the fire!'

An alarm on the pilot's console took Tiness's attention before she could speak. 'Shaz! Engine control failure! I've lost partial control of the ship!'

'I see it!' said Asitha. 'One of the circuits we replaced failed! I'll replace it!'

'No! You need to stay at engineering! I'll go!' said Tiness and rushed out of the bridge. 'Keep the ship on course with the engines!'

Asitha placed her tablet on the engine console and adjusted the power output from both ships while the hits from debris rang around her.

Alain pushed himself through the service corridors close to the hull. The sight of holes in opposite walls reminded him of the risk of getting hit but he had no time to be afraid. If control to the bridge was lost they lost control of both ships. Heat radiating from reddening structures told him he was close to the bay and the main source of the fire. He avoided touching anything as much as possible and only briefly if he had to. Sweat poured down his face as he caught sight of the service hatch leading to the corridor connected to the one on fire and the outer hatch. Another tremor ran through the ship and the wall behind him ruptured and belched out fire.

Tiness found one of the tool cases they had left around the ship with a few spare circuit boards, and jumped through the corridors towards the failed controls. When she reached them a burned out mess of molten cables awaited her. 'Lots of damage here!'

'You'll have to fix it fast!' said Asitha. 'I can't increase the power of the engines to eight percent without pushing us out of orbit!'

'Got it! I'll work as fast as I can!'

Alain groaned from the heat and climbed through the hot hatch, his suit covered in burn marks from touching any part of the structure. Dizzy spells came over him and he forced himself to get to the outer hatch before passing out. 'Alain!?' said Asitha. 'Alain!? Are you all right!?'

'Almost, there.' he groaned and pushed himself once more towards the end.

'Alain!?' asked Tiness. 'You don't sound good!'

He caught the rung at the hatch and the locking wheel. 'Just a little, hot under the, collar.' he wheezed while turning the wheel to unlock the hatch. The hatch flew open from the air pressure and he gripped the rung tight while sensing he'd lose conscious from the heat of the fire rushing past him.

'Alain!? Alain!?' Tiness called out after a loud static burst from his side. 'Talk to us!'

'Tiness!' said Asitha. 'Focus on your task! I'm sure he'll be fine!'

Tiness clenched her jaw. She knew she had her own priority right now. 'Yes.' she said and furiously cut the damaged cables.

Asitha gripped the side of the console. "You'd better be fine, Alain." she thought.

'I'm done!' said Tiness after a few minutes and hurried back to the bridge. There, she changed course as sharp as she dared without splitting the ships apart and they shuddered while the engines made the correction. 'We're back on course!'

'All right!' said Asitha and increased engine power, increasing the stress on the ships to the point of the groaning of the hulls drowning out the staccato of the debris impacts. 'What's the status outside!?'

Tiness switched views at an engineering console. 'Our home has come loose but it looks like the cables are holding!' she said and switched views again. 'Both ships look like they're still in the same position and I see no more smoke at the Walkurea!' She tried other cameras but she couldn't get a better view of the bay where the fire erupted. 'Alain!?'Alain!? Can you hear me!?'

Alain groaned at the pounding inside his head. He remembered almost fainting and using all his willpower to reach into the front pocket of his suit. 'Alain!? Please respond! Alain!? Please!?' begged Tiness.

He cleared his throat. 'I'm still here.' he said and looked at the roll of tape wrapped around his wrist and the rung.

Tiness and Asitha sighed in relief. 'What happened!?'

'Fainted from the heat but the suit cooled down a little now.' He noticed sparks flying at the far side of the ship. 'What's the status?'

Tiness checked the pilot's console. 'We're on course. Rotation of the ships is nearly completed but there's quite some damage from the debris shower at the bottom of the Amaroth!'

'Running at eight percent power now but we had a delay when we lost control for a while.' said Asitha and looked at her tablet. 'Engines on both ship seem to run fine.'

Alain untangled his hand and crawled back up the hot corridor, the slowly cooling metal creaking at every side. 'Fuel status?'

Asitha checked. 'A little more than anticipated but still on the safe side.'

'How much longer before we're out of the target radius?'

Tiness checked the different clocks. 'Four hours and twenty-three minutes without counting the delay.'

'Hang in there, With a little luck we'll come out unharmed.'

***

The impacts of the debris lessened over time and Alain only felt relief when they were outside the projected radius and no more damage was registered for half an hour. 'I think we're safe now.' he said. 'We can reverse thrust. Asitha, power down on my mark. Tiness, reverse engine thrust next and then we can power up again to brake.'

No more words were exchanged during the braking manoeuvre and the anxiety at the groaning and creaking resonating through the hull, until Tiness spoke up again. 'We're back in original orbit and speed.' she said and sighed in relief.

'Power down.' said Alain and Asitha and he powered down the engines from the last two percent thrust. He wanted to sit down and drink but they had to make sure their home was intact first. 'Tiness, how's our home?'

Tiness had already switched views. 'Still there and doesn't seem damaged.'

'Let's go home then.' Asitha said.

She and Tiness were the first to arrive and with a little effort they returned their home to its original place and secured the struts to the warship's hulls. An inspection inside revealed no leaks and they were glad to get out of their suits and hugged each other tight. 'We made it.' sighed Asitha.

Tiness slumped down into the couch and looked around at the mess on the floor where anything not bolted down had spilled. If you don't mind, we'll leave the clean-up till later.'

Asitha picked up a bottle and glasses and slumped down next to her. 'I'm with you.'

Tiness looked up a little. 'Alain? Where are you?'

'Almost there. I had to take a look at the gardens and the store rooms. I had to know for sure if there was any damage and luckily they're intact.'

He arrived shortly after and Asitha hugged him tight when he entered the living. 'I'm so glad we're all safe.' she said.

'Same here.' he said and rubbed her back.

Tiness smiled shyly when Asitha let go. 'I'm happy you're all right.'

He chuckled and reached out to her. 'Come here.'

She blushed but moved closer and after an initial hesitation hugged him tight, and he rubbed her back. 'I don't think I could've survived this if it wasn't for you two.'

Asitha joined the hug. 'Nor we without you.'

They stood there until stomachs began to rumble and they laughed away the tension. 'I want to eat until I'm totally stuffed and drink until I can't lift my glass anymore.' Alain said.

'Not just you.' said Asitha and headed over to the kitchen to pick up utensils. 'We have something to seriously celebrate.'

08 - Family Additions

Alain barely woke up with Asitha and Tiness snuggled up to him and felt tired, but not the bad kind of tired. It had a sense of accomplishment and he knew the reason very well. They had worked hard and managed to avoid a likely fatal end from the debris tearing the warships and their home apart. He stroked the girls' backs softly. "No two ways about it, I am very lucky to have ended up here in the end." he thought. "I wouldn't trade living with these two for anything."

He stopped stroking and wondered if they hadn't yet cleared the debris because they were still sleeping together. He played back his memories and was sure they had done, then ate and drink until they had their fill, and then memories became hazy and with effort he realised they'd got up from the couch and with mutual support went to bed because they were too tired to get to their own by themselves. He chuckled silently. "No wonder." The two snuggled up tight at his side and in his arms was still a pleasant surprise to him and he stroked their back softly again.

Asitha stirred at his side and snuggled up tighter. It might've been because of the last days but she felt more comfortable than she could imagine from a bed in an emergency pod, even if they'd made it as cosy as they had. She thought the gentle stroking of her back and the warm embrace was probably the reason and she was happy to be with Alain. "Alain!?" she thought and remembered sleeping once more in his bed because she was too tired to find her own. That wasn't the only reason though when a little voice in her head reminded her of the last couple of times they slept together, and how she'd always imagined that's how it was to live with a good mate. "He said we were cute and wanted to stay together but would he go as far as to become my mate? To actually be..?" The image of the two of them in intimacy brought back the memory of her sitting in his neck and the sensation of someone other than herself touching her there.

Tiness dared not move when she woke up and instantly knew where she was. It made her both giddy and nervous and she didn't want anything to end the situation she was in, even if this was all she would get from him. The time he pressed against her back and the sensation of his hips against her behind was something she told herself was a fluke, something that was unavoidable because of the circumstances, and that wishing he'd go all the way with her a futile dream. She wished his fingers stroking her back gently would stroke her underneath her tail as well.

Asitha's leg on his, and her hips pressing against his thigh, and Tiness's tail rubbing against his front brought back the memories of his close encounters with the girls and stirred his nether regions. He didn't know what to think anymore as doubts about just how deep his attraction to these girls was and how far he was willing to go with Tiness, and if they could accept that he couldn't choose between the two of them and if Asitha would be disgusted if he did choose to sleep with Tiness. He groaned in frustration.

'Alain? Are you in pain?' whispered Asitha.

He opened his eyes to see her and Tiness looking worried at him. His heart pounded at the sight of these two looking intense at him and he wanted to pull them tight and tell them he loved them. 'I'm all right.' he sighed. 'Just the tiredness rearing it's ugly head now that it's over.'

The look in their eyes softened and he cursed himself for his cowardliness. Asitha stroked his forehead. 'We have a good excuse to take it easy for a while. I don't think either of our sides will expect us to continue our work right away after all we did to save the ships. How about we clean up and then laze around?'

He chuckled. 'I like that idea.' he said and they looked at Tiness. 'I'm all for it.' she said.

After a quick clean up they prepared snacks and drinks and sank down in the couch. 'What now?'Alain asked.

'Movie?' said Tiness. 'To ease into things.'

'Good idea.' Asitha said.'

'All right, movie it is.' said Alain and gave Tiness the remote. 'Your choice.'

Tiness scrolled through the list while Alain poured drinks and selected a fantasy trilogy. Soon enough the girls cuddled up with Alain unconsciously while being engrossed into the movie. He himself only realised it when he already had his hands on their thighs and stroked the insides slowly with his thumbs, and he glanced sideways at them. If they showed any reaction it was them moving their legs against his and holding his arms even tighter against them in their embrace and he continued caressing their soft fur.

Halfway into the movie, the female knight knelt beside the wounded dragon that had helped her defeat the treacherous duke. 'Grego..' she said softly and caressed his cheek. 'Why? I was sent to defeat you.'

He smiled softly at her. 'A dragon's weakness, pretty maidens who try their earnest best to protect others and make them happy. Our nature compels us to support them even if they hates us.'

A tear rolled down her cheek. 'I don't hate you.' she whispered.

The girls gripped Alain's arms tighter and he smiled softly. 'I don't want to see the rest if they can't be together.' said Tiness softly.

'Don't worry.' whispered Alain and she relaxed her grip a little.

'If only real life were as simple as these movies.' Asitha said. 'We wouldn't have to live with all these hostilities between our species.'

Alain chuckled. 'If it was up to me I'd tell everyone Silth women are great.'

Asitha giggled. 'On what basis?'

'I admit, I only know the two of you but even if you were the only two nice ones, plenty of men would still want to be with a cute or sexy feline woman.'

She poked his cheek. 'You're full of it, as they say on your world.'

He grinned. 'Sort of.' he said. 'Which is why I need to excuse myself now.'

She giggled as he stood up and looked at Tiness staring after him. She knew that look all too well. 'You're in love with him, right?'

Tiness gazed at her with big eyes. 'I, I don't..'

Asitha giggled. 'I can see how your ears prick up when he's around, and your tail keeps moving against him.'

Tiness looked down and blushed. 'Don't you feel like that about him too?'

Asitha sighed and poured herself another drink. 'I'm afraid to find out he doesn't feel the same way about me.' she said and drank. 'It's not like he really said he was interested in me. Or you.'

Tiness gazed at the screen where the dragon embraced the sleeping knight. 'He wouldn't be interested in me that way. He only wants real women.'

Asitha hummed. 'But he hasn't treated you any different than me so you won't have to worry about being hated. Your home is here with us.'

Tiness smiled a little at Asitha. 'Thanks.' she said, then looked at Alain coming back into the living.

He sat down between the two of them. 'What did I miss?'

'Lots.' Asitha giggled and his puzzled look only made her and Tiness laugh. He figured it had to be some sort of girl talk and just let them be when they cuddled up to him again and continued watching the movie. He enjoyed the situation too much to waste time finding out what Asitha meant.

***

After the movies they were fired up enough to take on the next quest in their game and explored and fought until they were tired and hungry again. 'I'll fix something up quickly.' Alain said but Asitha pulled him back into the couch when he stood up. 'Just sit. You took most of the brunt in the last two attacks while we didn't need to move a lot, so we'll take care of it.'

He chuckled. 'I'm not complaining.'

The girls went to the kitchen and he turned on the music, then chuckled when he looked at them.

Asitha looked back. 'What's so funny?'

He grinned. 'You two swaying your tails to the rhythm.'

They looked back at their tails and giggled. 'You enjoy that, eh?' Asitha said and stuck out her tongue playfully.

'Of course!' he said and leaned on the back of the couch. 'I wouldn't be a man if I didn't like looking at a couple of sexy swaying rears.'

Asitha laughed and Tiness blushed and giggled. 'We've been called predators by humans but I believe they are the worst ones.' Asitha said and returned to the couch with Tiness and trays of finger foods. She sat down and stuffed a piece into his mouth. 'Eat this before you attack us.'

He chewed and leaned back into the couch. 'I guess this food will have to do than.' he chuckled, swallowed, and opened his mouth. 'Next.'

Asitha giggled. 'Tiness, your turn.'

Tiness blushed and Alain gestured at his mouth. 'Feeeed meee.'

She giggled and quickly placed another piece of food in his mouth. 'Good girl.' he said while he chewed and she giggled while blushing more.

The girls fed him while playing the next movie and afterwards were snuggled up together again, completely tipsy from the drinks and their full stomachs. 'I want to sleep but I also feel too cosy to go to bed.' Alain said.

Asitha giggled. 'We could fix that by making you uncomfortable.' she said and poked his chest.

'Hey now, don't ruin the one good thing I have.' he said and chuckled.

She looked up at the ceiling. 'Oh well, I feel sleepy too, might as well join you one more time.' she said and looked at Tiness. 'How about it? Help me out here?'

Tiness blushed. 'Would that still be all right?'

Asitha grinned. 'He likes cats sleeping in his bed, he has nothing to complain about.'

Alain chuckled. 'Don't I get a say in it?'

Asitha poked him again. 'Not this time.' she said and sat up. 'We'll go change.' She took Tiness's hand and pulled her along to their pods and Alain chuckled and sighed. 'Yep, wilful cats.'

He went to his pod and changed into the shorts he used for sleeping, looked at his unmade bed, then sat down on the edge.

The girls came in a little later, both giggling and dressed in the plain shirts for sleeping because the rest were in the laundry. Alain looked at them, their eyes bright and shiny, Asitha's with a hint of cheeky, Tiness's with coy, and he knew he'd want more if they joined him in bed.

Tiness noticed his serious look and stopped giggling. 'Alain?'

He sighed and leaned with his elbows on his knees, looking down. 'I can't keep going on like this.'

Tiness's heart stopped at the first thing that came to mind. "He doesn't want us, or just me.."

Asitha gripped her shirt. 'Is it something we did?' she asked softly.

Alain shook his head slowly. 'I don't know what to do.' he said. 'I'm very attracted to the both of you.'

Both girls felt their hearts skip a beat, then pound hard. 'Really?' asked Asitha.

He nodded once. 'With just you might be the least weirdest since you're fully female, but I feel the same for you, Tiness. I have no interest in men at all but you're just too cute and I can only think of you as an adorable girl.' Tiness clutched her tail and Asitha looked at her. 'I wish I could set it aside because I really enjoy being with you and want to live out a fun life with both of you.' he sighed again. 'I'm sorry for the mess I created.'

Asitha stroked his head and he looked up at her. She leaned closer and kissed him softly on his lips. 'There's no reason to feel sorry.'

His eyes went wide. 'It doesn't bother you?'

'What would?'

'That I'm also attracted to Tiness?'

She smiled softly at Tiness, who bit her lip. 'She is cute, yes.' she said and caressed Alain's cheek. 'What's wrong with feeling attracted to her?' She looked at Tiness again. 'It's up to you now.'

Tiness looked at her, quickly at Alain, then down at her tail. 'Do you mean it?' she whispered.

Alain looked at her. 'Honestly, I can't return the favour so to speak, but I want to love you like the girl you are.'

She though her heart would explode while her whole body shivered, and could barely speak the words. 'All I want is for you to treat me like one.'

He reached out his hand to her, and Asitha smiled and felt a tingle growing inside her abdomen when Tiness put her hand in his.

***

Asitha woke up first and purred with satisfaction, and stroked Alain's chest when he woke up. He smiled softly at her. 'Hey.' he whispered.

'Hey.' she whispered and returned the smile.

'No second thoughts?'

She shook her head lightly. 'Unless you have any regrets.'

He stroked her back. 'Absolutely none.'

She lifted up her head and kissed him. 'Then we're good.' she giggled when she noticed Tiness's ear twitch. 'Aren't you going to wake up?'

Tiness stroked Alain's chest with one finger. 'I'm afraid to wake up and discover this was just a dream or Alain regretting his confession.' she whispered.

Alain kissed her head. 'I might have one regret about that.'

She held still.

'I wonder if I should have confessed my feelings sooner.'

Asitha chuckled. 'If you tell us when you first knew what you felt, maybe we can compensate for all that time.'

'How long has it been since we landed here to do our jobs?' he asked and both girls giggled. 'I take back thinking he's just like a Silth male. He's worse.' said Asitha and pushed a pillow in his face.

***

'Is it really okay to take things slowly?' asked Tiness while she and Alain fixed their meal in the kitchen. 'Don't you human males want to mate as soon as you have a willing female?'

Alain blushed. 'Yeah, usually we do,' he said. 'when things are straightforward.'

She gazed at the slices of bread in a container. 'I complicated things, didn't I?'

Alain put down his knife and turned her gently by her hips towards him. 'Not more than I did. But it's also the fact that we're different species and I don't want to make any mistakes and risk damaging my future with you two.'

She smiled a little at him. 'I don't think you can.'

He pulled her close and kissed her. 'Maybe not, but I'm nervous about it all the same.'

She nodded while her heart beat fast and shivers ran along her spine again. 'We both are.'

'I'll be the one to be the least nervous then.' Asitha said and hugged Alain from behind.

Tiness giggled. 'What could make you nervous?'

'He could eventually choose you over me.'

'No way.' said Alain and turned to pull her in front of him next to Tiness and kiss her. 'I can't choose between you two. I'm also too greedy to let either of you go.'

She giggled. 'Now I feel left out if I have nothing to worry about.'

Alain hummed. 'You can worry about how fast I'll want you at my side after work.'

'I can do that.' she said and kissed him.

***

Asitha floated through the corridors of the Amaroth on her way to the next recovery job and hummed softly. 'You're in a good mood.' said Tiness over the communication channel. 'I haven't heard you hum a melody before.'

Asitha pushed herself once more forward with a relaxed jump and stretched out her arms. 'How could I not? It's the same reason for you.' she chuckled.

Tiness pulled out a power distributor and smiled as she looked it over. 'Yeah, it's all his fault.'

'I'll gladly take the blame.' said Alain while he checked up on the growth of the vegetables in one of the artificial greenhouses on the Walkurea. 'Now I can say I achieved something worthwhile out here.'

'It's a good thing neither of our sides knows about this, otherwise we'd be known for another achievement.' chuckled Asitha and stopped at a junction to check directions. 'Except some people up high wouldn't appreciate it.'

Alain adjusted the air mix in one plant tube. 'I hope that our sides are at peace by the time they pull the plug on this project, so we can live somewhere peacefully together.'

'If we're still at war we'll just have to elope to a far off world, just like in that movie.'

'Or wander through space like that one family.' said Tiness. 'Our own ship in which we can sustain ourselves, going where we want to go or even get lost into uncharted territory.'

Asitha pushed herself into one of the dim corridors. 'That would suit a bunch of loners like u-YOW!'

'Asitha!' Alain called out.

Asitha's heart pounded wild while she stared with large eyes into the darkness of the corridor. 'Something rushed past me.' she panted.

'What?' Are you all right!?'

'Was it some loose object?' asked Tiness.

Asitha took a deep breath. 'I couldn't see it clearly. I think it was something grey and a bit long in shape. It certainly wasn't something that drifted casually like the rest.'

Alain hurried to his suit. 'I'm coming over.'

Tiness put down her tools. 'So am I.'

She arrived first at the wider area where Asitha had retreated to. 'Could it be a leftover drone from that gang?' she asked.

'Those should've all returned automatically to their ship.' said Alain as he entered the Amaroth at the front side. 'I haven't found any on the Walkurea later. Could it be a Silth drone?'

'I'd expect we'd have met it earlier if it was.' said Asitha. 'Or we would have been told to expect any.'

'You have been through that area before, right?'

'Yes. There was nothing here before.'

Tiness stared into one passageway when she thought she saw something moving in the shadows. 'What if the debris triggered it or hit something?'

'All drones should have been removed from the ship.' said Asitha. 'I think it's best we assume it's something from outside.'

Alain arrived and the girls caught him when he floated in their direction. 'The bigger question is if it's hostile or not.'

'It didn't seem to really attack me, so maybe not.'

A grey spot in the passageway's shadows caught Tiness's attention. 'There!' she said and pointed. 'I think I see it.'

Asitha and Alain turned to look at the passageway but the spot disappeared. 'I can't see that well in the dark.' said Alain.

'I think I did see something move.' said Asitha. 'If that was a drone it's quite smart if it hides.'

'Could it be an alien!?' said Tiness and clung to Alain.

'I highly doubt that.' said Alain. 'How could it survive in this environment?'

'Whatever it is, we'd better catch it.' said Asitha. 'Who knows what it'll do.'

'I agree.' said Alain. 'Our safety isn't guaranteed if we don't know what it is.'

'So, how're we going to catch it?'

***

The three looked over the blueprint of the Amaroth projected onto the table in the living. 'This is where it surprised me.' Asitha said and pointed out the corridor. 'This is the rest area we were in.'

'Plenty of places to go around in.' Alain said. 'If we assume it's holing up somewhere around there, it can go into any direction along the corridors and the stairs.'

'Maybe we can track it on the sensor net and surveillance systems.' said Tiness. 'When I was on the bridge I saw most of it was still in working condition.'

'Nice.' said Alain. 'Maybe we can find out what it is and get a clue on how to catch it.'

Asitha looked at the time. 'We still have time for a light meal before our suits are charged and the tanks are full. Let's eat before we take a look.'

'I'll go check our weapons.' said Alain and stood up. 'We'd better take them with us just in case.'

Asitha looked up at him. 'Then we'll fix the meal.'

'Thanks.' he said and caressed hers and Tiness's ears. 'I'll be right back.'

Asitha looked at Tiness smiling happily and chuckled. 'You really lit up ever since he confessed.'

Tiness blushed. 'I could only dream of experiencing true romance while reading or watching the few stories back home. I didn't even dare to dream of a mate.'

Asitha smiled. 'Yeah, I know.' she said softly.

Tiness pulled up her knees and embraced them. 'Even if he doesn't take me like a mate in the end, I'll still feel as happy as I can be.'

Asitha reached out and stroked Tiness's ear. 'As passionate as he kisses and holds us both, I'm sure he will.' she said and tingles spread through her body at the memories. 'But I can understand that final hesitation.'

Tiness nodded and sighed. 'I'm keeping you two back, aren't I?'

Asitha sat up on her knees and gave Tiness a kiss on her forehead. 'Don't worry about that, I don't think he'd be comfortable doing it with me without making his decision about you.' She took Tiness's hand and pulled her up as she stood up. 'Come on, we have a mighty male to feed before the hunt.'

Tiness giggled and followed Asitha to the kitchen.

***

Alain looked around the bridge of the Amaroth when he and the girls stepped onto it. 'Military intelligence would definitely like a word with me if they knew I spent time on a Silth military vessel and its bridge.'

Tiness chuckled. 'I think ours would like a word with us in that case as well.'

'It's a bit more Spartan than the Walkurea.' he said as he looked over the dreary grey surfaces and sturdy switches, buttons, and levers, and the broad captain's chair in the middle. 'We use more touch surfaces for non-essential systems.'

Asitha took a look at the engineering console to check if everything was still the way she left it. 'Our military doesn't take any chance of system failures because of controls shorting out on the bridge or accidental swipes across such surfaces.'

'Makes sense.' said Alain and watched Tiness activate multiple screens with views in and around the ship. Some showed block artefacts.

'Several network circuits or cameras have been damaged by the debris.' said Tiness and switched views to the area around where the unknown entity had been seen. She looked over the screens laid out in a grid and the sensor list. 'There are a couple of dead areas.'

Asitha joined them and studied the screens and the dark images. 'That's the corridor, right?' she said with a nod at the screen in the centre of the grid.

'Yes.' said Tiness and displayed the floor plan on another screen. 'I centred the other camera views around that one for reference.'

'Can you record this?' Alain asked.

'Hang on.' Tiness said and typed on the console. 'I get a warning that storage is damaged. We might only be able to save bits and pieces.'

'That might be enough if we're lucky.' he said and studied the views.

'There!' said Asitha and pointed at one screen.

Tiness and Alain stared at the screen and the dark interior of a compartment with crates scattered about. Tiness adjusted the view to make it more clear. 'Is there no night mode?' asked Alain.

'There is.' said Tiness. 'It's just never used because we can see better in the dark compared to you humans, and the sensor light is almost as bright as regular light to us. It might alert that thing.'

'Right.' said Alain. 'Good thinking.'

Artefacts in the feed didn't provide Asitha and Tiness more of an advantage and they peered closely at the screen. 'Does that look like a bug?' asked Asitha. 'It looks like it has legs.'

'Yeah.' said Tiness and pointed at a nearly round grey shape at one end of two smaller round shapes. 'That could be an abdomen like a spider.'

Alain's eyes adjusted enough to the darkness to see its shape. 'Insects are often the base for drones.' he said. 'A spider wouldn't surprise me. The only thing I wonder is how it propels itself in zero gravity.'

They observed it as it crawled through the crates and pawed at some of the contents that had spilled out, then went outside. They followed it on the other views and watched it crawl along walls and ceilings for a while before returning to the compartment and crawling around the crates again. 'Is it looking for something?' asked Alain.

The spider left the compartment again and crawled around the corridors again, only in a different direction. 'Exploration?' Asitha said. 'Mapping the area maybe.'

It returned to the compartment once more and pawed around the spilled contents. Alain looked at Tiness. 'Can you play back what's been recorded?'

Tiness typed on the console and a broken video played on one screen. 'Stop.' said Alain after a few moments. 'Go back a second.' Tiness rewound and Alain pointed at the image. 'Can you zoom in there?' Tiness zoomed in on the spider like entity. Alain peered closer, then stood straight. 'It's damaged. At least one of its legs is missing and it looks like the things scattered there are robotic parts.'

Tiness pulled up the recordings from the other cameras and zoomed in on a few clearer images. 'Indeed. It looks like two of its six legs are damaged and part of its abdomen is torn.'

'How was it able to move so fast in that condition then?' asked Asitha. 'It doesn't look like it could do that by jumping.'

'Miniature thrusters?' asked Alain.

'There was no light from exhausts when it passed me.' said Asitha.

'Maybe we can find out if we try to catch it.' said Alain. 'Keep recording the feeds and if it escapes, maybe we captured something on video.'

Asitha nodded. 'We'll have to start somewhere.'

The three donned their suits and jumped through the corridors towards the entity. Close to the compartment, they moved slowly towards the entrance while keeping their weapons ready.

it appeared in the doorway when they were near and they froze. It looked at them for a moment, then crawled quickly away along the ceiling of the corridor.

'It's afraid?' said Tiness.

'Maybe it's retreating because it's damaged.' said Asitha. 'Let's go after it.'

The three jumped through the corridor at once. The spider crawled from ceiling to wall and turned into another corridor. 'I'll try to cut it off!' said Alain and turned into another one. 'I think this one comes out at that rest area in the end!'

'All right!' said Asitha and continued on with Tiness.

At another Junction Tiness split off while Asitha kept in pursuit of the spider. 'It's still headed for the rest area.' she said.

'Keep a distance if we corner it there!' said Alain. 'It might turn hostile in that case.'

The spider crawled into the area and Alain arrived first at his end. He shut the entrance behind him. 'This way is blocked!'

Asitha and Tiness arrived and the spider crawled towards the far wall. They closed their entrances and kept still while staring at the spider. 'what do we do now?'

'I'll try to approach it.' said Alain.

'Be careful!' said Tiness and gripped her gun.

'I'll back off at the first sign of a threat.' he said and pushed himself gently towards a pillar in front of him. 'I'll move step by step.' The spider stayed motionless on the wall while he paused for a minute at the pillar and observed the spider. He did the same at the bench he paused at next, and another pillar after that, close enough to see it had two black lenses at the front of its head and a smaller set behind them on the side. Its abdomen had a crab shell contour and was somewhat flat. 'This thing's pretty big now that I see it up close. The body's about the size of my torso. I'm going to move to the bench in front of it.'

Tiness felt her heartbeat in her throat. 'Please be careful, darling.'

Alain blushed and nearly slipped as he pushed himself away from the pillar but the spider moved and darted across the open space towards an open air vent. 'Alain!' said Asitha.

'Nothing happened!' he said and turned to see where the spider went, just in time to see it slip into the duct. 'Crap! It just shot away from nothing!'

'Did you see how?' Asitha asked while she jumped into his direction, following Tiness.

'I didn't see anything like a jet thrust but I thought I saw something shooting through the air before it jumped.'

Tiness pulled close to Alain and looked at the air vent. 'We're not going to find it in there.'

'Maybe we caught something on the feeds.' said Alain. 'Let's go check them out.'

They returned to the bridge and Tiness pulled up all the feeds with footage of the spider, and they watched them closely for any clue on the spider. When they were watching the feed from the rest area Asitha chuckled suddenly. 'What's up?' asked Alain bemused.

She grinned a little at Tiness. 'Darling.'

Tiness blushed at once. 'I just blurted it out because I was worried!'

Asitha giggled. 'Nothing wrong with that. It was just so sudden for the first time.'

Tiness glanced at Alain, who blushed as well. 'If you don't like it..?'

He leaned closer to her and kissed her. 'I do like it.' he said and chuckled. 'I just don't know what to call you two yet.'

Asitha pouted. 'I don't know either but does that mean I don't get a kiss?'

Alain laughed once and pulled her closer for a kiss. 'I have kisses for you two any time you want one.'

She grinned. 'All right then.'

'Ah!' said Tiness.

The two others looked startled at her. She pointed at the screen. 'Sorry, it was just that the spider escaped just now.' she said and rewound the video.

Alain chuckled. 'Right, we were busy with that before we got distracted.' he said. 'Although in a very nice way.'

They watched the feed again and Alain pointed at the screen. 'It turned a bit and extended two legs before it jumped.'

Tiness rewound and played it in slow motion. 'Wait! did you see that?' asked Asitha. 'Something shot across the screen.'

'Maybe I can overlay the images to make it clearer.' said Tiness and worked on the console. The image blurred at some points but contrast increased on others. 'That's it!' said Asitha.

The three of them looked at thin wires extending from the tips of the spider's raised legs. 'It pulls itself across open space by wires.' said Alain. 'That's what I call a very interesting feature.'

'Do we try to trap it again?' asked Tiness.

Asitha pondered. 'We don't really have anything to trap it with while it can escape from us with those wires.'

Alain leaned back and frowned in thought while Tiness watched the spider return to the crates and scurry around. 'What if we don't try to trap it but have it come to us instead?'

Asitha and Alain looked at her. 'How?' he asked.

She nodded at the screen where the spider pawed at the robot parts again. 'Maybe it just wants someone to fix it?'

'Disposal storage.' said Asitha when they arrived at the spider's compartment. 'Everything in here would've been trashed anyway, so maybe that's why they didn't bother clearing it after the crash.'

They shone lights inside and as expected didn't see the spider. Looking closer at the crates they noticed they contained mostly defective electronic and mechanical parts. Alain turned over the crate with the spilled robotic parts and looked inside. 'These must be the spare parts for that thing.'

Asitha reached inside and took out a portable terminal. 'Maybe this'll give us a clue.' she said and booted it up. The screen opened up on a selection menu and she chose documentation. 'It's an experimental drone for the military. This terminal contains all the technical documentation.'

'Nice.' said Tiness. 'Then we can try to fix it.'

Asitha nodded and returned to the menu. 'It has a command console.' she said and opened it and text scrolled up. 'This is output from the spider's operating system.' she read the last few lines. 'Avoiding hostiles.' it says.

Tiness noticed movement at the doorway. 'It's here!'

They saw the spider near the doorway just before it vanished into the shadows again. Asitha read the additional output. 'Return to maker it says. It must be trying to find the ones who created it.'

'And it probably sees us as hostiles because we're armed.' said Tiness.

'Shall we see if it comes to us if we show we can repair it?' asked Alain as he looked at the leg in his glove.

***

'It's here.' said Asitha while she monitored the spider's command console. 'It designated us unknown entities.'

'I see it at the entrance in front of us.' said Tiness. 'It worked.'

Alain looked at the spare parts in front of him on the floor of the rest area. They had sealed off and pressurised the whole section so they could get out of their suits and wait for the spider to find them with the crate they'd taken from the storage. 'I hope these parts work though.'

Tiness scrolled through a log on a tablet they'd found in the crate as well. 'I think so. These should be spare parts for the test they performed on this thing. From the sound of the notes the team that built it wasn't very happy with it getting turned into a military project, and certainly not when they said it wasn't ready for battle testing.' She skimmed further. 'The operating system is an AI based on the behaviour of a loyal pet and they feared it couldn't handle threats of destruction. They took it and put it through a field test anyway and declared it unsuitable after it was shot.'

'That explains the damage.' said Asitha. 'And why it's reacting to us in this way when it's a new AI and hasn't learned to interact much.'

'We'll just have try if we can get through to it if we treat it as a smart pet.' said Alain and picked up a segment of a leg. 'Can you show me the construction prints?' Tiness held up the tablet for him to read and he attached two leg segments together in a clear way for the spider to see. 'So, there's a coil of wire inside the thick middle segment of the leg, with an end that can cling to surfaces through a tiny electric charge. That end is either fixed to the tip of the leg or shot like a bullet towards a surface.' He held up the section of leg for a moment. 'Any change in status?'

'No.' said Asitha. 'That might be a good thing though.'

Alain attached the inner segment of the leg and held it up. 'I see its threat index lowered.' said Asitha.

'It must be realising we're not a threat.' said Tiness. 'We can do this.'

Alain looked at the leg. 'I'm going to try something.' he said and stood up.

'What are you going to do?' asked Tiness.

He chuckled. 'Show off my brilliant construction work.' he said and moved towards the spider.

'Stop!' said Asitha when he was halfway to the entrance. 'Threat index went up.'

'Okay.' he said, put down the assembled leg on the floor and gave it a push to slide it further towards the spider, and moved backwards to the girls and sat down. 'Now, we wait.'

The spider crawled forward after a little while. 'Examine.' said Asitha in a hushed voice. It moved carefully towards the leg and when it reached it a little later it pawed it and rolled it over. Asitha hummed low. 'Your work wasn't that good.

He looked at her. 'What? Why?'

'It only says potential maker found.'

He snorted and coughed while she grinned and Tiness laughed. 'Fine.' he said and cleared his throat. 'I'll assemble another leg. It needs two new ones anyway.'

The second leg was assembled quicker and Alain moved towards the spider until it backed away, then slid it across the floor before returning to the girls.

'Good job, threat index is lowered again.' said Asitha.

They watched the spider paw at the second leg and take it into its mandibles, then wait. 'Status?' asked Alain.

'I'm not sure.' said Asitha. There's no other change I'm aware of.'

'Maybe it's reluctant to come closer because we're here next to Alain.' said Tiness. 'We should try moving further back.' She put down the tablet for Alain and moved further back with Asitha.

'Yes, threat index went down.' said Asitha and the spider moved bit by bit towards Alain.

When it was near him, Alain held up the tablet with the assembly instructions for attaching the leg to the body for the spider to see. 'Shall I replace your damaged leg?' The spider moved forward again, put down the leg in front of him, and turned his side towards him. 'You'd better upgrade me from potential maker after this.'

Alain took his time to remove the remains of its leg to avoid being seen as a threat again from sudden moves, and checked every step while attaching the new leg. 'This should be done.' he said and sat up. 'Test it.'

The spider turned around both ways, moved the leg in all directions, shot the wire towards a wall, and retracted it. It went for the first leg Alain had assembled and returned it to him to replace the other damaged leg. 'You are now a fully fledged maker.' chuckled Asitha.

'Good. My reputation and pride as a tinkerer was at stake.'

The second leg passed the test and it seemed to Alain the spider acted less wary. 'Threat index is very low.' said Asitha. 'Tiness, try moving towards Alain.' Tiness stood up and halfway towards Alain Asitha said "Stop'.

Alain fished out a replacement piece for the part of the spider's wide and flattened abdomen, and held it out towards her. The spider kept still for a moment, then turned its abdomen towards Alain. 'Your turn.'

Tiness replaced the damaged shell and Asitha chuckled. 'Second maker found.'

Alain raised his eyebrow at the spider. 'Hey, why did you designate her as maker right away and me as only potential first!?'

Tiness giggled. 'A female's touch?'

Alain frowned at the spider. 'Don't try to charm your way with them, they're my girls.'

Asitha laughed out loud. 'It just logged potential resource conflict.'

***

By the time the three had replaced every broken part of the spider and it passed all testing procedures, they were mostly familiar with its workings. Its threat index had gone down to zero and Tiness used a rag to rub as much of the grime as possible from its body and its eyes. 'Did you see any mention of a name for it in the documentation?' she asked Asitha.

'Only the technical project name.' said Asitha. 'Not even useful to base a name on.'

Tiness looked at the spider. 'What name would suit you?'

'How about Spidley?' said Alain.

'Spidley?' Tiness asked and looked at Alain.

He chuckled. 'There's this superhero character on our planet called Spiderguy.' he said. 'The way this spider drone can move with the help of wires reminded me of him and his creator Steve Lee. Then it just popped up in my head, Spidley.'

Tiness giggled and looked at the spider. 'Is that fine with you, Spidley?'

Asitha chuckled. 'The designation in the console just changed to Spidley.'

Tiness hugged the spider. 'You're now a member of the family!'

Alain shook his head and smiled. 'Can this family get any weirder?'

Asitha smiled at him. 'I think there's enough potential here.' she said and he laughed.

'We do need to do something about your looks though.' Tiness said to Spidley. 'These bare parts and grey colour don't suit you.'

'There's a supply of spray paint on the Walkurea.' said Alain. 'We can give him any colour you want.'

Tiness hummed while she looked at Spidley. 'I think I know!' she said and took the tablet. After a flurry of gestures she showed it to him. 'What do you think?'

Spidley touched the tablet with one leg.

'He must like it.' said Asitha. 'What did you choose?'

Tiness grinned. 'Secret.' she said and looked at Spidley. 'Shall we do it right now?' Spidley raised a leg and she looked at Alain. 'Where can we find the paint?'

***

Asitha chuckled while she and Alain went back home and Tiness and Spidley were busy with his new paint job in the Walkurea's storage. 'This job has turned out even further from what I had imagined when they sent me here.' she said as they moved along the safety rungs on Amaroth's hull.

'Same here.' said Alain. 'I could imagine myself with a real pet, but a spider, and a robotic one on top of that?'

'I think it'll add to the fun we have. I'm glad we're not a normal family.' said Tiness over the radio.

Alain chuckled. 'Yeah.'

Asitha hooked herself to the next rung and jumped forward. The hook snagged on a deep cut and the rung broke in two. 'ALAIN!' screamed Asitha as she tumbled away from the hull.

Alain didn't take a moment to think. He unhooked himself and jumped up with all his strength towards Asitha.

He grabbed the back of her suit, and threw her as hard as he could towards the hull.

Asitha grabbed the first thing she could hold on to and turned around. 'ALAIN! ALAIN!'

'What's going on!?' asked Tiness while her fur stood up straight in fear.

'I fell away from the hull but Alain jumped after me and pulled me back but now he's falling away!' said Asitha.

'Shit!' said Alain. 'Go find that cargo picker to pick me up!'

Tiness rushed to pull on her suit. 'I'm on my way! Where is it!?'

Fear gripped Alain's heart. 'Oh FUCK!'

'What is it!?'

'It was damaged in the fire!'

Asitha's heart stood still as she looked at Alain tumbling farther away from her. 'Another! There must be another!'

'I'm going to search it!' said Tiness, suppressing her panic while she donned her suit, then saw Spidley shoot away along his wires. 'Spidley!?'

Asitha tore her eyes away from Alain to rush back to the outer hatch of the Amaroth and search for anything that could fly and rescue the one she loved dearly. She reached the hatch and yelped when Spidley shot out of it, devoid of most of his shell.

He oriented himself for a moment, then jumped towards Alain.

'Spidley!?' said Asitha as she watched him fly off.

Alain saw the drone head towards him. 'Spidley!' he said and reached out to him.

The next moment wires hit his arm and he wrapped them around his wrist. Careful not to break the hold on the hull, Spidley slowed down Alain, then reeled him back in.

'Alain!' cried Asitha and hugged him as tight as she could in their suits.

He pat her on her shoulder. 'I'm safe now, I'm safe.' he said and took hold of one of Spidley's forelegs. 'Thank you, you saved my life.'

Spidley put his other leg on Alain's glove.

Tiness rushed towards Alain and hugged him as well. 'You really scared us!' she panted.

'It's all right now, all thanks to Spidley.'

She pat Spidley's head. 'You're awesome.'

After everyone had calmed down, they discovered the reason for the accident was the rung getting damaged by the early debris impacts and they moved carefully along the hull towards their home with Spidley in tow to throw a lifeline if another accident happened. Tiness went on to finish his paint job because she thought he really deserved it, while Asitha and Alain continued with their plan of getting ready to eat.

Out of their suits, Asitha pulled Alain close and kissed him urgently until they parted out of breath. 'Wow.' he wheezed. 'What just happened?'

She caressed his cheek. 'Because you saved my life.'

He smiled softly at her and caressed her ear. 'I need to do that more often.'

She frowned at him and tears welled up in her eyes. 'Not at the cost of your own!' she said and hit his shoulder, then wiped her wet cheek. 'Sorry.'

He pulled her head against his shoulder and stroked her back gently. 'No need, my love, no need. I'm sorry I made a stupid joke.' he whispered while she trembled against him.

***

By the time Tiness and Spidley returned, Asitha had calmed down and abundant food was prepared. Tiness hurried into the living and kissed Alain passionately. She blushed when she pulled back. 'I couldn't stop thinking of this all this time, sorry.'

Alain smiled at her. 'Never, ever be sorry for this, cutie.'

She smiled softly at him, then hopped back to the hatch. 'It's time to present the star of the day, Spidley!'

Spidley came in and Asitha and Alain smiled. 'He looks great!' said Asitha as she moved up to him and knelt to admire his white body, with the thick middle segments of his legs in sky blue and a stripe down the middle of his abdomen in the same colour, on top as well as underneath.

'You did a great job.' said Alain and pulled her gently against his side by her waist. 'Spidley, welcome to your new home.'

Spidley waved his two forelegs.

***

'Asitha?' asked Alain while he lay in bed after they wanted to turn in early and she and Tiness stood at the end. Her purring was soft but the urgency unmistakable.

She sighed and clenched her thighs together while her tail swayed left and right. 'I can't wait any longer.'

He nodded and she crawled onto the bed, her eyes locked on his, and she kissed him as urgently as her body desired for his.

She pulled back and lay on her side and Alain looked at Tiness fiddling with her shirt while her ears were flat and her tail wrapped around her legs. 'I'll leave you two alone then.' she muttered.

'Tiness,' Alain said before she moved. 'when I realised I couldn't be saved I was frightened to death. Not for me dying, but me losing the both of you and leaving you by yourself.'

She looked at him.

'Get in bed right now or I'll take you right there where you stand.'

Her ears stood up and a wide smile grew on her face when the meaning of his words took hold. She barely held back on cheering and jumping into bed but she still hurried to be by his side. He pulled her close and kissed her deep.

Asitha giggled at Tiness's dreamy look in her eyes and Alain caressed their cheeks. 'I just can't get enough of looking at your cute faces.'

Asitha reached down his front. 'I hope you have more in mind than looking at us.'

He smiled while his whole body grew hotter. 'A lot more.' he said and slid his fingers down their soft backs and underneath their quivering tails while kissing them passionately again.

***

Asitha and Tiness snuggled tight against Alain and purred in great satisfaction and caressed his front while he dug his fingers deep into their soft back fur and alternated kissing between them. 'I don't have words for how good I feel right now.' he whispered.

Asitha stroked down to his abdomen. 'I have nothing better to wish for, my love.'

Tiness giggled softly and kissed Alain's neck. 'The only wish I can think of is more of you deep inside me.' she whispered, and tingles of excitement crept through her body from her toes upwards and caused her tail to quiver again.

Alain chuckled, kissed her, and caressed her muzzle with his nose. 'Be careful what you wish for, cutie, this isn't the only place I'll do it in.'

Tiness smiled softly at him. 'You don't have any hesitation any longer?'

'I'm completely comfortable with you if you're satisfied with me.'

Tiness kissed him again. 'I'm perfectly satisfied with you.'

Asitha giggled and poked Tiness's nose. 'Seems you enjoyed being our plaything as well.'

Tiness blushed. 'It felt good.' she muttered and twirled her finger on Alain's chest.

Alain kissed Asitha's nose. 'You have a slightly sadistic and certainly lustful touch.' he chuckled.

'I can't help it after I saw her adorable expression when you took her.' she giggled. 'It made me want to see you both in satisfaction at the same time.' She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. 'I didn't even knew I had this side of me.'

Alain smiled and looked up at the ceiling. 'This would never have happened back home.' he whispered.

***

'Spidley, can you come over to me for a while?' said Alain over the radio. He had tuned the receiver on Spidley so everyone could talk to him over the same shared channel that he and the girls had been using. Spidley had been asked to inspect the hulls of the Amaroth and Walkurea for further damaged safety rungs while the rest were busy inside. He replied with a single tone that meant yes.

'See you in a minute then.' said Alain.

'Don't be long.' said Tiness. 'I'm done with work and will prepare the next meal soon.'

'No worries, cutie. This shouldn't take long.'

Tiness and Asitha heard the airlock cycling not long after they arrived home and were busy in the kitchen. Alain came down a few minutes later with Spidley and he embraced them both from behind and kissed them. 'I have a surprise.'

Asitha and Tiness rubbed their behinds against him. 'Oh? Was that what you were busy with all this time?' Asitha asked.

He chuckled and stroked their firm curves and the base of their tails. 'Come see.'

They followed him to the couch and he looked at Spidley waiting at the hatch. 'All right, show them in.'

Asitha and Tiness gazed at two more spider drones coming in behind Spidley. 'You built two more?' Asitha asked.

He nodded. 'At first I had the idea to use their wire shooters to make something we could attach to our suits and use in an emergency, but when I looked over Spidley's parts and found one more crate of those I had another idea.'

The girls crouched at the two newcomers. 'This is so incredible.' said Asitha. 'Spidley won't have to feel alone as the only drone.'

'I copied most of his AI onto those two. The only things left is naming them and of course the paint job, which I will leave to you.'

Tiness chuckled. 'I think I already know how I'll make them look.'

Asitha hummed. 'Names.. There's an old children's story about a spider which travelled the world on its floating web.'

Tiness looked at her. 'Tau-Tau!'

Asitha nodded.

'I like that one.' said Tiness and looked at the spider in front of her. 'Now you.'

'The last one is up to you.' said Alain.

Tiness closed her eyes and pondered. 'Ochio.' she said after she opened her eyes again. 'An old friend had a pet which was similar to your Earth dogs, and he had those big adorable eyes. His name was Ochio.'

Alain checked the command consoles on his tablet. 'Tau-Tau and Ochio it is. From now on each of us can be accompanied by one of them as a guard while we're outside.'

Tiness stroked Ochio's head. 'No more worries about our beloved saving us and endangering himself.'

Alain chuckled. 'And I was thinking about you two in the first place.'

Asitha ruffled his hair. 'That's why we're so worried about you, lover.' she said and grinned.