Page 75 of No Strings Attached

“That only leaves us two more rooms for me, Bobby, you, Acken, Mister Beastly, Friend, Trak, Valis, Steve, and Former Commander Zalon. We’ll have to leave the Filli in the master suite for the time being. They’re…um…occupied.”

Ella snorted out a laugh, “They’ll fuck each other all night long, and they’ll do it anywhere. You don’t have to give up the master suite for them. They’d be fine on the floor in here.”

Vi caught her eye and led it to the front of Acken’s kilt.

She blanched and said, “Oh. Yeah, I see. That could be a problem.”

Vi nodded, mutely. She turned to Caussus, “We’ll figure something out. The guys brought hammocks up from the ship, right?” She placed a hand on his shoulder, “Thank you, Caussus. I’m going to go see about the Former Commander Zalon situation.”

Caussus nodded, grimly, then turned and started shepherding the former sex slaves toward food and clothing.

Vi let out a pent-up breath, then surveyed the sofa. Mister Beastly was glaring hatred into The Zig’s chest. Zalon, to his credit, seemed to ignore it, staring blankly at a high spot on the far wall opposite the master suite. Bobby, Trak, Valis, Friend, and Steve all looked back and forth between them. Acken returned to her side, kilt situation seemingly under control. Either he had stroked one out really fucking fast or he had cultivated some serious mental mojo; Vi was grateful in either case.

She looked up at him, “You ready for this?”

He nodded, and they walked over to Zalon together.

Vi summoned the last fumes of her tapped fuel reserves and said, “Former Commander Zalon, thank you for looking out for the females for me and for…um…enduring that.” He looked at her and nodded, and she tried to hold his eye contact, “As you can see, we’re a pretty mixed group here working together witha couple of objectives, namely, to keep each other safe and to do what we can to fight against slavery in the galaxy. We all have different roles and responsibilities, but we try to do everything as a team and we try to allow everyone to have a voice. Everyone with us is here voluntarily. We will consider bringing you into our team if you reveal the circumstances of your disgrace and they are not untenable to us. Or, if you prefer, we will help arrange to have you placed in the next indenture auction. Since we’re responsible for the position you’re in now, we would provide for you until that auction takes place. However, we would not receive the money for your final purchase price. That, you would receive, as we do not want the proceeds of any variety of slavery.”

Zalon continued to hold her gaze, then reached down into a pocket stretched across his massive thigh. Acken started, but Vi held him in place and watched. Zalon pulled out a slim tablet, brought it up to his eye for a retinal scan, then tapped through a couple of screens. Finished, he held the tablet out to her. She glanced at it, saw the galactic standard, and nodded toward Acken. Zalon passed the tablet to Acken and returned to his rigid posture of attention.

Acken read for several minutes, seeming to scroll through several pages of content.

She asked, “What is it?”

Acken said, “It’s his formal reprimand from The Zig. All details of his charges, trial, and sentence.” He dropped his arm with the tablet, then turned to face the crew on the sofa, speaking directly to Mister Beastly.

“Comman…FormerCommander Zalon led a dropship of troops and was tasked with supporting the invasion of Garoxia.”

A low growl filled the room, but Acken held up a hand.

“He formally objected to the operation when The Zig were debating the contract, stating that the Garoxians appeared to bea peaceful, civilian culture, and the contract did not specify the reason for the invasion. He surmised that some person or group with an endless supply of money just wanted to see what would happen if Garoxia were invaded, and he formally objected to a mission with those parameters. He was overruled and ordered to support the mission.

“Once in Garoxian space, he refused to drop his troops on the planet. The Zig blamed him for the invasion’s failure, believing that they could have been successful with a larger fighting force. They sentenced him to 50 years of servitude, away from The Zig home world and always in public-facing roles, so that he may be always seen and his disgrace always known.”

Acken looked at Zalon respectfully, then walked over and handed the tablet back. He held out his arm to Zalon, who looked down at it in surprise. He regarded it for a long moment, then reached out and grasped Acken’s forearm as Acken grasped his.

Acken said, “You are worthy, brother, but my vote does not matter in this one decision. No one’s vote matters except the Garoxian’s. Our little she-beast has given him the sole decision authority on your inclusion or exclusion.”

Zalon glanced over at her, and she nodded, fiddling her hands in the pockets of her coverall, nervously—she had no idea what Mister Beastly might be thinking. She caught and held Bahbi’s eye, and he sent her a reassuring smile.

Zalon moved his gaze to Mister Beastly, sitting thoughtfully on the sofa. Mister Beastly returned it. The moment stretched almost to the breaking point.

Then, Mister Beastly stood, locked eyes with Zalon, and said, “Yes.”

Vi audibly released a breath of relief while the electrical charge seemed to dissipate from the room; she beamed a smile atAcken, and said, “Excellent! Acken, please help Zee find some food.”

Zalon looked at her incredulously while Acken laughed and clapped him on the back, forgetting about his short spikes, and then winced while he shook his hand out.

Vi shrugged and said to Zalon, “What? You’re family now, and three names is two too many for family. Unless you really enjoy saying things like,” she dropped her voice as low as it would go, “‘little she-beast.’”

She planted her hands on her hips and said, “Who knows how I can get something like a bucket full of ice water?”

Vi regarded Ella over the two buckets of ice water at their feet, directly in front of the master suite’s doors. Ella was popping out of one of Vi’s coveralls, popping outall over.

She said, “I’m sorry that I haven’t had time to speak with you personally, yet. A lot going on.”

Ella snorted, “Yeah, I noticed. You’ve got yourself quite a stable of studs.”

---