Page 41 of No Strings Attached

Caussus awakened Vi fromher second nap on the sofa to let her know that it was her turn for the shower.

There was only one cabin on the ship—Qlu’s—and it was huge and outfitted with pillows and a soft padded floor throughout the main room. It looked like it could sleep about 20 people in various configurations. Vi thought,orgy ship…great. Qlu hadn’t struck her as an orgy guy, but who could tell those things at a glance?

There was a large cargo area behind the cabin in back of the ship, which was apparently where the Trallian crew would sleep. Caussus had found stacks of hammocks that could be hung throughout the room when he had gone back to see how the ship was stocked. He had also found a stack of clean, one-size-fits-all-Trallians coveralls and brought a couple forward for Vi and himself.

The bathroom and shower off of Qlu’s cabin were big enough to contain orgy spillover. She thought of the sofas in the loungeslash bridge and shuddered as her mind extrapolated for that area, too.

Clean and looking like a small child dressed up in Daddy’s work clothes—if Daddy had a tail requiring clothing that exposed her bare ass, she returned to the lounge slash bridge and blurted out, “Anyone else think this is an orgy ship?”

Acken and Caussus both looked at her in surprise, thought about it, then nodded. Caussus looked as ridiculous in his coverall as she did. Acken still wore his furry, white kilt.

“Awesome. Wish we had a can of Lysol. Or gasoline. How long until we’re back?”

Acken sat down across from her and said, “About 12 hours. Let’s talk about command structure now.”

Vi nodded and suppressed a yawn, thinking,I would trade my left arm to match Malachite for a pot of coffee right now.

“I’ve been talking with Caussus about it. He is trained to manage and direct the operations of an estate-sized household. He thinks he could do the same for us on the asteroid. That would leave you and I free to be more mission focused, if we didn’t have to manage day-to-day things.”

She looked at Caussus, “What does that entail, exactly?”

Caussus thought about it, then said, “Staffing, kitchen operations, supply and material purchasing, home and grounds maintenance, household budgeting and spending, those types of things, Madam Vi.”

She thought it sounded like a big job. “That would be familiar and easy for you?”

“Yes, Madam Vi. I enjoy it.”

“OK, but as King, you’ll be traveling with us extensively. We need to make sure that everything on the asteroid runs smoothly when you’re away. Let’s put some Trallians directly under you, and I’d rather you trained them to be successful on their own than you had to handle everything yourself. That would leaveyou free, eventually, to simply oversee things, instead of actively managing them. What do you think?”

“I think I should stop being surprised that you always seek to facilitate empowerment, Madam Vi,” Caussus said with a smile. “I should think that a small team of three Trallians would be an excellent place to start, and I will begin as soon as we return. How shall we select them?”

“Hmm, that’s an excellent question. I was just thinking that we need to do the same for you, Acken. Give you a small team of Trallians to learn and manage asteroid security, defense…what else?”

Acken thought for a moment, “I’m thinking also, ship operations? I seem to be the only one of the captives capable of piloting these ships.”

Vi nodded, “Yeah, I noticed that, too. I like Trak for your second, and I think he would be good at helping you organize the different teams. But I have been considering him, and Bobby, as part of our core crew and assuming that they’d both be coming with us when we travel. So, we’d either have to leave Trak behind in this scenario, or you’d both have to have set up crews and operations together that you were pretty confident in.”

Acken smiled, “I was thinking of Trak, too. He has a very sharp mind and a wide range of useful skills and knowledge.”

“So that seems like a good starting point for each of you. Caussus, I think Trak would be a good first place to start in selecting your little team, since he seems to be familiar with most of the Trallians and their skills.”

“Agreed,” said Acken, “but there is no such role as second-in-command to second-in-command. Trak would be third-in-command unless we place Caussus above him.”

Vi considered it, “How about both Trak and Caussus as third-in-command, with the expectation that if something happened to both of us, they would need to work together as a team tokeep things going? I think it would be too big for either of them alone.”

Caussus frowned, “I do not enjoy power or authority, Madam Vi. I derive satisfaction from seeing to the accomplishment of necessary activities. I would not wish to be in control under those circumstances, so I believe you should make me fourth-in-command. I will be happy to see to my responsibilities under Trak’s direction.”

They all nodded in agreement, then Acken gave Vi a hard look and said, “And what of Bobby? Where will you place him?”

The response that she almost blurted out,under me, held a vastly different meaning for Vi than the command structure conversation they were currently having. She suppressed a blush at her own thoughts, then said, “I think we’re going to have to evaluate the best fit for Bobby, like the other Trallians. I’m not sure what skills and talents he has besides the obvious—he’s very good at taking care of me. But that’s not a real job.”

“Is it not?” Acken asked. “You are our Captain and our Queen. It is perfectly right that you should have someone whose sole responsibility is your care. Even now, you are tired, hungry, poorly clothed, and overburdened with things to consider. If Bobby were here, he would already be working to solve some of those issues for you.”

She shook her head, “I would not ask that of Bobby, unless that’s a role he wanted. He will be fairly considered, along with all the other Trallians. I won’t be that selfish, except to say that whatever his job is, it will make me happiest if it is one that doesn’t require us to always be separated.”

Acken and Caussus shared a look, which Vi decided not to try to interpret, then Acken said, “And that leaves Friend, the Ophidian, the Garoxian, and Kompi.”

Vi asked, “Yeah, do we have any idea about Kompi? He’s as big as you are Acken, if not as strong, but it sometimes feels to methat he might be a small child, maybe even an infant. Is there a species of giants out there he might belong to? If he is a child, I would love to reunite him with his parents.”

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