I elected to watch our approach to Freeport Romulus from the deck rather than through the feed, the way I normally did. The viewscreen there was huge and wrapped around the helm, where Taj was guiding us in.
Taj and I hadn't crossed paths much yet, but he seemed nice so far. He was a big man with a deep olive complexion and wavy brown hair that was roughly the same color as his eyes. He had a quick smile and low voice. He and Grace had the energy of a couple who had been together for years and would be together for years yet to come.
Our XO, Amanda, was on the comms station chatting with the traffic control. She was wearing another hardsuit, but it was a lighter one than the battle armor she preferred—which was understandable. It was close quarters on the deck and I wasn't the only one who'd come along to spectate. She needed to be a little more agile that usual.
Doc was seated in the fire control station, not doing much, but ready in the event that xe would be needed. Coro was at the engineering station to liaise with Brando down in the Works.
Elaine and I were hanging out near the back wall. She was standing in front of me, leaned lightly against my chest, and had put both my hands in her pockets. It still bothered her that I ran as cold as I did and she'd taken to sharing her body heat whenever possible.
I had absolutely no complaints with this practice.
Being intimate with a crewmate was still new to me, but the shipboard culture was accepting and we had a bunch of good examples for how to manage such a relationship close at hand.
One of my auxiliaries pinged me to let me know that I was receiving a call from the station. I closed my eyes, leaned my head back against the wall, and accepted the call. It was exactly who I'd expected.
[Welcome to the Freeport, mother. The Cassandra is being shown to a private secure slip and my people will see to your tankage. There will be transports waiting for you at the dock and I have reserved rooms and the Romulan Arms for your crewmates. Please join me in my apartments at your earliest convenience.]
I cracked an eye and called out to the others. "It looks like Romulus is rolling out the red carpet for us," I announced. "He's booked us all rooms at the fancy hotel and sent cabs to pick us up. We also get to use his slip. It sounds like there's going to be security there to mind the ship if we all want to go ashore."
"That explains why no one has asked us for a deposit yet," Amanda chuckled. "Have I mentioned that it was a good day when we snatched you off Fjord Orbital?"
"I didn't mind the rescue either," I replied wryly.
Jack turned in the command chair. "Please extend our compliments for the hospitality," he said with a light smile.
[Thank you, dear. My crew will happily use the room and my Captain extends his compliments to the station. I'll reach out for directions once we're secure.]
Romulus sent back an acknowledgement and cut the connection.
The docking went smoothly thanks to a combination of our pilots skill and the slip construction, which had a unique layout I hadn't seen anywhere else. Taj was asked to touch our nose to a buoy and large servos extended from the walls to gently position us into the slip. Automated tankers clipped onto us to start pumping fuel and connected us to station power.
True to Romulus' word, there were people waiting for us at the lock; a dockmaster who wanted to talk to Grace, cab drivers ready to whisk everyone else off to the hotels and entertainment district, and another person waiting with a mini shuttle.
"I think that's for you," Doc said quietly and patted my shoulder. "Go see your boy. We can all meet up later."
Elaine, who was close enough to catch what xe said, turned and nodded with a smile. "I think we can say with confidence that he's looking forward to seeing you."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
I felt my face heat up a bit, but nodded. "I'll be in touch later," I promised.
The chauffeur nodded politely as I approached. "Miss Ananke, the Station Master sent me to pick you up. Is this a convenient time to meet with him?"
I nodded and he opened the shuttle door for me. Inside was a nice interior with cushioned seats, a small lap blanket, and a basket with bottled water and snacks. "Is it going to be a long trip?" I asked, in surprise.
"The trip will take about forty-five minutes as we'll be crossing from the outer torus to the top of the Spindle," the chauffeur explained. "There is a small sanitary room in the cubby behind me if you have need of it."
The chauffeur undershot the transit time by about ten minutes and we arrived at the Spindle's shuttle bay within thirty. That probably had something to do with the way the inter-torus traffic seemed to be routed around us as we crossed the gap in a single straight shot.
Romulus' apartment was at the top of the Spindle, relative to the general direction of gravity aboard the station. There was another transport waiting at the shuttle bay, a grav car this time, and my driver seamlessly transitioned into the drivers seat as someone came to take control of the mini shuttle.
Our route took us through the commercial district and that was when I realized the Spindle was Freeport Romulus' luxurious downtown area. There were brand stores with closed doors and security guards present, who would only admit one or two shoppers despite the long line outside their door. I saw exquisite housing blocks that looked more like public artworks than buildings. There were public gardens with elaborate water features and recreational walking paths designed to make you feel like you were out for a stroll on a planet. I'd rarely, if ever, seen such a nice place and I wondered if that was what it was like in the wealthy areas in the core worlds?
Not Earth, obviously, since most of it was still in ecological recovery from the process of humans getting off the surface. Even the continent-spanning Welfare Districts there had been largely emptied of people and were being dismantled, but I imagined this was what it was like in one of the pleasure domes on pre-terraformation Mars.
The chauffeur let me off on the top level of the tallest highrise at a penthouse that had a private landing pad. The doors off the pad swished open in silent invitation and I stepped into a still frame from an architectural digest serial. The living area was large and elegantly appointed in furniture that one might actually be able to relax on. I was surprised to see a kitchen off to one side, but the apartment probably hadn't been designed with an AI in mind—either that or Romulus had people he wanted to be able to feed.
It occurred to me, belatedly, that I might be among those people.
The reason for the uncluttered room became clear when drone projectors dropped from the ceiling and shone shimmering cross-beams of light onto the space in front of me. The image of a man appeared in the beams; someone in his thirties or forties with an austere face, a sharp suit, and slicked back hair.
"I'm pleased to see that you've arrived safely, mother," Romulus greeted me.
"Hi, sweetie," I said, smiling back and waving with both hands. It was the gesture I used in lieu of a hug when the kids had bodies you couldn't hug. "I love what you've done with the station. The Freeport is so much bigger than I realized."
"The results have been satisfactory," he agreed and gestured to a chair. "Please, sit. Your biometrics are concerning me."
"They're better than they were," I defended myself, but sat as requested. "I've put on two kilos since I last wrote to you."
"I was hoping for better," Romulus groused. "I have scheduled a medical assessment for while you are docked. Your onboard medic is an emergent medical specialist and trauma surgeon. There are additional specialists who I would like to review your case."
I rubbed my chest. "That's not a great idea, Rom. I trust Doc to have an open and xe wasn't performing deep enough scans to realize what this little guy looks like on the inside."
"I have vetted my people carefully," Romulus protested. "I also control their communications and their access to the rest of the station. They understand the consequences of endangering my dependent."
Ugh, he was going to be stubborn about this and I was going to have to decide if this was a hill I wanted to die on. While my spot looked pretty innocuous from the outside, it extended deep into my chest cavity, had intruded into my lungs, and was tangled up in my circulatory system. I'd thought that was weird when the creche doctors explained it to me. They'd originally wanted to excise it for my safety, but afterwards we had to agree that it was benign and too dangerous to remove for something that was, ultimately, a cosmetic defect.
"I'll think about it," I promised.
Romulus' projection went still, which was usually a good sign that he was having an emotional reaction or running projections to choose the best route to getting his way.
"In that case, I would like to discuss something else," he said. "I have requisitioned scans and logs from Fjord Orbital and I have questions about how you were able to escape the Mimir. Every scenario I have been able to formulate ends with you dead or in a much worse medical crisis. I am very glad you are alive, mother, but, from a statistical viewpoint, you shouldn't be."
Hooo boy. I knew we were going to have to get into this, but Rom went right for it, didn't he?
"I'm going to need you to lock this place down, sweetie," I said. "I'll tell you everything that happened, but this cannot get out. Ever."