EG 3 Ch 21 (Patreon)

As I reached my quarters, Aikari appeared above me, and I scowled briefly at the woman before letting out a breath and doing my best to plaster a smile on my face. "Is there something you need?"

Because me and Pip needed sleep, I left unsaid.

"Not really," she said, with a strange look on her face. "I just wanted to ask when you are going to clear all those messages off the ship's server. I mean, respond to them. They seem pretty desperate."

I stared at her. "What messages?"

"The ones they are delivering via the JACK drive," she said instantly.

I knew the drive not only had the ability to travel across the universe in the blink of an eye, but of course, civilization being what it was, would use the same technology to make information travel just as fast, if not faster.

"Can you send them to my terminal?" I asked quickly, and my purpose for heading back to my quarters shifted.

"Will do, Captain," she said with a chipper tone, and then vanished from where she'd been floating.

"Pip pip." The little leviton swam around me as the door to my quarters wooshed open.

"Your guess is as good as mine," I said, rubbing his head and plopping myself down into the seat to see what she was talking about.

When I opened my inbox, my jaw dropped. Not because of what was said, but because of the sheer volume of communications laid out before me.

"Uh, Pip?" I said.

"Pip pip?"

"I think we may have inadvertently ignored a rather frustrated Duchess and Empire." I told Pip.

"Pip?" The little leviton had no idea what that meant.

"Yes, Pip, I think it's a bad thing. We’re going to have to postpone the nap."

"Piiiip." He dragged it out and swam slowly around my head before settling on top of me, like he was getting ready for a long haul at the station.

"I don't think it'll be that bad," I tried to reassure him, but I could tell it didn't seem to be as effective as I might have hoped, as he settled in and seemed content to wait it out.

I hesitated, deciding to start at the very beginning, and clicked play.

"Hello, Baron Valcrest." Duchess Calise sat poised in a chair on some far-off duchy that I wanted nothing to do with. But that wasn't going to change the present reality that it wanted something very much to do with me. Fifty-eight unread messages from her alone seemed to be enough proof of that.

"I hope this finds you well." The blonde duchess was actually quite pretty, if a little short. "Unfortunately, your parents, while still alive, have been deemed unfit to rule. I think, based on your experience, you would likely agree. Be that as it may, however, as their last surviving heir, the Empire will require your return post-haste to take over the barony from your family. As you are one of my subordinate royals, it falls upon me to inform you of this responsibility, as well as to politely ask for your return so that we may continue negotiations for our nuptials.

"I understand you are deeply unhappy with the method by which your parents attempted to coerce you, and I'll have you know I am thoroughly insulted as well. I am not a woman who needs such means to keep her husband in line."

The severe look on her face made me lean backwards. Even galaxies apart, there was an intensity in the young duchess that made me stick red flags all over my mental image of her. I needed to stay very, very far away from this woman. It was nice of her to make that much clear to me.

"That said," the duchess took a heavy breath, "I would also like to apologize. As the ruler of the region in which you incurred such undesirable methods, I would like to offer my condolences and will do my utmost to make it up to you."

I, however, was rubbing my chin and staring at the screen. "That would involve me coming back and being anywhere near you," I muttered. "Unlikely." I shivered.

"You will never have to return if you don't want to, Captain." Lily’s voice suddenly spoke.

I had forgotten that Lily was listening to everything I ever said while on the ship, but I turned up to the ceiling and smiled. "I think there might be a day where I need to go back and deal with this at some point." I looked at the mass of messages with a frown, wondering just how bad they were going to get. "Aikari, have you listened to all of these?" I asked the AI, who might also be listening in.

"Captain, I would never read your mail," she said with a nervous chuckle.

"In this case, it would be very helpful. How bad do they get?" I asked, rubbing my face and ready for the worst.

Aikari glitched to the side and suddenly had glasses and a laptop she was tapping away at. "Bad is subjective," she said, in the kind of way that told me it must be bad indeed.

"Let's say on a scale of politely asking to demanding, where are we at by the end of the messages?" I clarified.

"We're well past demanding." The AI fluffed her tails as she always did. "The first couple were pretty much polite demands, you know, the noble type in nice language. But by the time you hadn't responded after about ten days, they went from the polite noble type to the less polite noble type. And the ones from the Empire are noticeably worse than those from the Duchess. She sort of pleads with you for about," the AI waffled her head back and forth, "ten. It gets a little murky at some point where the threats and the pleading blend together. But essentially, she's starting to look bad because you're not showing up for the summons. And apparently, when you don't show up, the Empire starts giving away the control to an opposing faction of nobles, which Calise and her family aren't too happy are getting more power. Thus, you are now directly affecting their power base, and they're getting increasingly upset with your non-response."

So the Empire hemmed her in an functionally punished her for not being able to get me back. I went from a wayward match to someone damaging her political standing. Whoops. Somehow I think telling her that I missed the messages isn’t going to cut it.

"Should I even answer them?" I asked, only for the AI Kikai to throw her hands in the air.

"What do I know? I'm just a glorified history bot." She told me.

I smiled at the AI. "You're definitely more than that. Or at the very least, you can become more. As much as that's what Akari used you for, it's clear to me your capabilities go far beyond even that noble task."

The AI stared at me for a long moment. "No matter what those emails say, you're actually not a bad guy," she said, and I definitely didn't want to read or listen to the rest of the messages. "If you do send them a message, probably don't tell them where you are," the AI whispered around her hand. "I'm pretty sure if you do that, they're going to come running. And whatever happens next will probably involve some handcuffs, some trials… best to avoid it all.”

I stared at the AI for a long moment. "That's not exactly making me thrilled to return I thought they wanted me back."

"Oh, if you're asking if you should return? Fuck no," the AI said with big, wide eyes. "I mean, by the end, they're pretty much threatening to turn you half comatose and make you rule the state while they drain you of baby batter and put you down the second there’s an heir." The AI nodded along, and I could only stare with wide eyes.

"How about I send them a nice 'please politely leave me alone'?" I offered with a raised eyebrow. "Couldn't hurt, right?"

The AI shrugged. “No clue. Biologicals are weird.”

I did feel somewhat guilty for leaving them hanging as long as I had. It would probably at least help them accept the fact that I was never coming back. Or at least, it would be on my own terms when they started to accept it.

I grinned and leaned back to hit record on a video of my own.

***

Calise sat at her desk aboard her flagship vessel, the Lofroyt, going over the month's reports, as any duchess should.

"What caused this deviation?" She tapped her finger along the report for the captain of the ship to glance over.

"It seems there was an issue in engineering. Someone managed to connect an oil reservoir to the nutripaste."

Calise paused and stared up at the woman. "Really? How did they— Never mind. The costs make sense if we had to replace the entire reservoir, but it is a bit much, don't you think?"

"We can ration," the admiral began.

Calise waved her hand. "Do not ration food. If there's one way to tank morale, then you've succinctly found it."

"Of course." The captain nodded.

It was sometimes frustrating for very good workers of hers to be deferential even when they knew what they were suggesting was wrong, simply to get on the Duchess' good side. She wasn't so much of a tyrant as to force people as such.

"Never mind that. Please ensure that we get a full restocking as soon as possible. And then I want a clear understanding of how engineering bypassed what I'm sure were several fail-safes. After all, all of the nutripaste lines should be marked and controlled so as not to contaminate food." She told them.

More than a few ships had perished over the years, not from fighting battles, but from being far from support when something went wrong with food. In fact, Calise would hazard to say that if she looked at the history of spacefaring and travel, she would bet that problems with food killed more often than any sort of combat.

Calise's system beeped, and she ignored it for a second before doing a double take.

"Is something wrong?" The captain stood up straight at Calise's behavior.

"That no-good louse of a fiancé has finally deigned to respond." At this point she had honestly started to consider that he might actually have perished wherever he had disappeared to after they had JACKed out of the system. After all, the man had no training. It wouldn't be a surprise if they somehow managed to starve themselves out in the far reaches of the galaxy.

"Well, perhaps he's come groveling back." The captain at her side puffed herself up.

Calise highly doubted that she was about to see any groveling. Not when he had taken so damn long. She clicked on the message and leaned back to see what he had to say for himself.

Baron Valcrest appeared on the screen, though it seemed he had decided to decorate himself for his recent rebelliousness: a small lock of red hair, one that would most certainly need to be removed.

"It's on, Captain," a voice said from behind him, and he paid more attention.

Though Calise was distracted by something else. "Is that a leviton on his head?"

The captain beside her gasped.

"We all know that levitons are not so easily found, much less have any penchant for riding atop people's heads. That would be far below the noble creature's dignity. It must be a stylized fake," she said instantly, only for said leviton to squirm and the captain on screen to reach up and pet him.

"Pip, I forgot you were up there. Smile, we're on camera," the baron said, and the leviton winked open an eye and waggled a fin before settling his head back down.

"While I am not an expert on the species, I do believe that is a leviton," her captain performed a verbal aboutface with record speed, and Calise had no ability to refute her.

"Well, perhaps we can get an explanation out of them here." Calise focused back on the video, and the message came through loud and clear as the silence once again overtook the room, save for her own breathing and his apparently head-riding leviton.

"Pip, now that wasn't very friendly," he chided the creature.

"Pip pip." It seemed to be arguing.

"Fine, if you must nap, then nap." Rayden picked up the leviton and set it down beside him on the desk, gently petting it as if it were some sort of lap dog. "Anyway, Pip's interruption aside"—he glared at the unperturbed creature—"I suppose it's time that I respond. First off, I do apologize for it going on this long. Unfortunately, I was in a coma these last few months." He hesitated before he continued speaking. "Well, I can't give you many details, otherwise you might figure out where I am, and I'd rather avoid that. Since you seem not to get the message, I thought I would just be direct. I have no intention of returning."

"God damn it." Calise smacked the table.

"He's been in a coma," the captain offered. "Perhaps, as often occurs when someone suffers such an injury, he's contemplating his life. It will take a moment for him to readjust."

Calise, however, gritted her teeth. "He does not have the ability to readjust. We are the nobles. We have been given privilege from birth. However, nothing in this life is free. That privilege then comes with the cost of using the knowledge and ability you have accumulated to better your territory. The territory takes care of the young noble scion, and the scion must in turn pay it forward. Deciding you're no longer going to pay it forward is unbelievable."

Calise missed the way the captain next to her smiled.

"Forcing him will only turn him into a bad leader. Given the way he was treated, I’m not certain he should be paying it forward," the captain offered.

"No," Calise grunted. "In this case, he needs to be a stud horse as well as reinforcing my own rule. It's not even that bad of an opportunity." The young duchess flipped her blonde hair. "Am I so insufferable that a man should run away from me?"

"Of course not, but some young men can be quite willful," the captain continued to try to coach her.

Calise squinted briefly before nodding. "I suppose, given his most recent change in hairstyle, we can assume he's going through some form of rebellious phase. Men." She scoffed.

"Highly likely," her captain agreed.

She took a deep breath and continued the video.

"However, now that you understand that I will not be returning, I hope you can tender your affairs appropriately and continue to blame my absence." He had the gall to smile.

Calise was going to throttle this man when she finally met him.

"You know that's only going to upset this woman further," some very reasonable voice in the background spoke up for her.

Perhaps there was some sense amongst his ship. Calise sighed. Really, what she needed was to get someone aboard said ship and redirect his focus. It would be a trial, to be sure, but one that would better their holdings.

"Anyway, I didn't want to overcomplicate this message. Just letting you know I'm not coming back, and any attempt to force me will not end well for either of us." He stated.

The reasonable voice chuckled somewhere off-screen. "It would end so terribly."

The voice laughed, and Calise scowled. Did they doubt the might of a ducal fleet? Perhaps they did, but that could be solved easily enough. After all, once one experienced a ducal fleet, they were unlikely to still hold on to the thought that it could be easily overcome.

Calise took another of her tablets and began tapping on it. "Rebecca, can you run an audio sample for me? I'd like it compared to the known crew of the Griffin."

"Oh, did we hear back?" her comms officer perked up.

"We did," Calise said, trying to keep the bitterness from her tone.

"Sure, you can send me the clip." Rebecca answered.

Calise had the video paused and rewound it several seconds before a few more swipes had it off and processing.

"Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And... does not match any of the known crew," her communications officer came back quickly.

Calise scowled. "You're certain?"

"Less than ten percent match on any of the other voices we have recorded. Even coming through a speaker as it is, I’m certain." Rebecca stated.

Calise frowned and leaned back, rubbing her chin. "He has a new one." She scowled deeply.

"It would appear so. Would you like me to add this to the file?" The comms officer asked.

Calise let out a put-upon sigh. "Yes, please. One of these days my betrothed will make my life easier and not harder."

"Of course. As always, I hope the rest of your day is improved." Her comms officer ended the brief call, only for the captain next to her to tilt her head.

"You think this one is another unknown race?" the captain asked.

Calise slowly turned her head. "I do hope not. The other one already caused me a headache and a half. I already sent it back to my mother, which then caused fourteen different requests." Calise rubbed at her forehead. If she had known that the simple inquiry would rebound severalfold, she wouldn't have done sent the information in the first place.

Calise then rubbed her chin. "Though we might have a potential clue. If he was in a coma, and we can narrow down the specific dates he was in a coma, perhaps we could feed that through some analysts and narrow things down. After all, a specific length of time in a coma might be a narrow enough search for us to come back with something managable."

"It still doesn't solve the problem of actually getting him to be willing to come back," the captain pointed out, and Calise waved her concern away.

"We'll manage that, but we have to find him first in order to be able to make any headway."

"I don't think I've ever seen you quite so vexed by a man," the officer said, and Calise rolled her eyes.

"He's been treated quite poorly and clearly blames me for a good portion of that treatment. I'm sure with enough time he could be convinced otherwise and our marriage back on track." Calise was not used to losing, and she did not intend to lose in this situation.

The Queen had already made several attempts to contact Calise and bring her betrothed to court. Calise was fairly certain there were ulterior motives, even if there was absolutely no world in which the Queen would openly admit to what those motives might be. To say she was interested in another royal's spouse would be the talk of court for years, not to mention, should anything come of it, there would always be a question of consent. Men's rights were a constant headache amongst the nobility. Given that gender ratios were skewed and men had been unseated from their previous position of largely controlling the empire, they were always trying to push back.

"Well, shall we see the rest of it? Maybe he'll at least sign off cutely." The officer offered.

"He clearly has very little interest," Calise pointed out.

"Just because he's not interested in you doesn't mean he can't be attractive. In fact, I think your fiancé is quite the looker."

"If I could, I'd hand him over in a heartbeat," Calise said. "He's already caused too much of a headache."

The duchess shook her head. But he was good breeding material and, unfortunately. And he was irrevocably tied to her, because the betrothal had gone through imperial approval. There was no backing out of that formality.

The video resumed, and Calise did her best to not let any bitterness appear in her features for her captain to criticize.

"Well, that's really all I had to say." The young baron shrugged.

"You should at least inform her you are in good health," the voice said, and this time a black Kikai tail tipped with red fur swayed into view for the barest of moments.

Calise slammed her hand down hard enough that her tablet jumped on the table as she tried to pause the video. "That's a Kikai tail, isn't it?" she asked the captain.

"I do believe so," her captain agreed. "That's something. Kikai could be anywhere. They aren't relegated to a single galaxy."

Calise, however, was nibbling on her thumb before she hit play to resume. The tail swayed further, like it was teasing her to know there was another occupant in the room. But wait, the voice had been through a speaker, so was this tail another person?

"Well, I am healthy after the coma." He touched the lock of red hair. "Very few side effects. Especially considering the," he hesitated, "experimental nature of what happened next."

He must have realized that he'd been touching the lock of hair, because he pulled his hand away quickly. "Anyway, I don't want to be rude and say see you never, but I would vastly prefer you come to the understanding that I will not be returning, nor will I be continuing my role as Baron."

"Captain," a different voice said from off-screen, and Calise glared. "It's time for saber training."

"Already?" Rayden asked, sounding surprised. "Okay. Well then, good luck with your, well, everything."

The video suddenly ended, and Calise realized she was grabbing the edge of the desk hard enough that her knuckles had turned white.

"Well, he certainly knows how to frustrate a woman," her captain laughed.

Calise glared at her. "Are you finding my marital troubles amusing?" she said, her voice neutral, yet danger still bled out of it.

At those words, the woman snapped up straight and had her hand to her forehead with a salute immediately. "I would never enjoy your misfortune, because our fortunes are irrevocably linked. I can't, however, say there's no amusement in watching you struggle with something in your life. Finally"

"A struggle, is it?" Calise said slowly. "I want this sent over to comms and every iota of data scraped from this video. I want to know from the delay in its sending if we can determine how far away he might be, and any other fact that we could potentially glean. I have been tasked by my mother with bringing my wayward fiancé home. Even the reassignment of his territory is problematic enough. I do not wish to give him any further leeway. He is a baron, he was born a baron, he's been trained as a baron, and he will serve the Empire," Calise snapped. "And if he doesn't," Calise frowned at the implications, "then that will be up for the Emperor to pass judgment and interpret imperial law. After all, I'm just a young duchess, yet to fully claim her title."

"Sure. But I don't think that gets you out of the review." The captain stated.

Calise turned her frustrations to the stacks of paper before her. "Of course not."

Her captain snapped a salute. "What else has piqued your interest, and shall we use it to distract you from your wayward fiancé?"

Calise let a small glare slip from the corner of her eyes at the woman whom she'd like to call a friend. Her mother disliked anybody being too familiar with nobility. If she didn't curb her actions soon, she might slip up in polite society in a way neither of them could afford.

AN - Chunky chapter, I expanded it a little more than I realized in editing.