Sister Katherine (23 page)

“But otherwise, we’d never know who the actual father is.”

Vadef shrugged.  “There is no other reason to worry with the matter.”

Katherine couldn’t imagine the men not wanting to know which of them had sired the children their clan produced.  Yet Vadef’s attitude was one of complete acceptance of the issue.  He made it seem like the most natural thing in the world.

In the end, she could only sigh with confusion.  “That is so different from the culture I come from.  I wonder—” 

Simdow’s voice issued from the desk com, cutting her off.  “Simdow to Vadef.”

Vadef smiled at the com, his face registering relief to hear his leader.  “I am here, my Dramok.”

“I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to contact you, but Miv assured me you were – are you and Katherine all right?”

“We are.  Just waiting and wondering what’s going to happen.”

Simdow’s sigh sounded exhausted and forlorn.  “The ship is a total loss.  If you will start packing our belongings, Miv and I will join you as soon as our duties allow.  We’re moving to the Earther transport to complete our mission.” 

Katherine interjected.  “Are you all right, Simdow?  You sound so upset.”

She heard how his tone warmed, as if he smiled.  “I am just very tired, my Matara.  The last few hours have been stressful.  Thank you for asking.”  His voice brightened even more.  “I did get one piece of good news.  Captain Tranis is going to be fine.  He’ll make a complete recovery.”

Vadef grinned.  To Katherine it was obvious both men liked their commanding officer.  “That is good news.  When will he resume command?”

Outright laughter issued from the com before Simdow said, “Would you believe he’s already been on the bridge?  He looks like hell and Dr. Degorsk is following him around, just waiting to pull him back off duty at the first sign of weakness.”

Vadef shook his head.  “Damn.  Miv made it sound like he was near death earlier.”

“We were sure he was.  The way he bounced around the bridge when the gravity field failed –that man can’t be mere flesh and blood.  Anyway, he put me in charge of the evacuation, so we’ll be among the last to abandon ship.  I’ve also got to get everyone from the convent up to the Earther ship, so it will be a little while.”

“Understood.  I’ll get my office files transferred and then start packing up in here.”

“Miv and I will join you as soon as possible to help.”

Katherine called out, “Simdow?”

“Yes, my Matara?”

“You said everyone from the convent is being taken to the Earther transport?”

His voice became careful.  “To keep them safe from any other enemy vessels that might show up.  My Matara, I swear to you that as soon as things are safe again we will return the children and elders to their rightful place on Europa.”

Katherine couldn’t help the wave of hopeful excitement that moved through her.  “Do you think I can visit them while they’re on the ship?”

He paused for a moment before answering.  “I see no harm in it.  I’ll arrange it as soon as I can, but please bear with me, my Matara.  Everyone needs to be settled in, and I’m rather busy at the moment with all my duties.”

Katherine could barely keep herself from clapping and squealing.  She was going to see the girls!  “Thank you, Simdow.”

“My pleasure.  Simdow, out.”

The com went quiet and Vadef sighed.  “So the ship is doomed.”  He fought the emotion working his face with little success.

Katherine kissed his cheek.  “I’m sorry, Vadef.”

“Stupid, stupid, stupid.  It’s just a ship.  I’m still going to be with the ones who made it special.”  He forced a smile that only made him look more miserable.

“You’re allowed, you know.”  Katherine gave him her most comforting expression, the one she used to tell her little ones that she was there for them.  It was the gentle face she offered when they needed to know they could count on her to support them when things got tough.

Vadef’s smile, while still tremulous, turned into the real thing as he looked at her.  “Do you want to come along to my office while I pack that up?”

“Of course.”

She let Vadef hold her hand as they left the quarters and headed down the dim corridor of the dying ship.

It didn’t take Vadef long to collect his files and pack his equipment up for transfer to the Earther transport.  Katherine thought they’d only been gone perhaps three hours when they returned to the clan’s quarters.  Simdow and Miv were already there, packing personal belongings.

Vadef had been perfectly fine gathering the things he needed from his small office on board the spyship, smiling and chattering to Katherine about his job and how he’d spent his sickly formative years reading and researching from his bed.  He’d become something of an expert in many cultures and languages as he filled his hours with learning of all the worlds he wished to see.  It had made him a natural for the Kalquorian fleet’s spy arm once his faulty immune system had been cured of its failings.

His bright mood crashed to see his clanmates clearing out their shared home.  He stood in the doorway and moaned a bitter litany in his own tongue.  Katherine had to assume he was cursing.

Simdow’s face was gentle as he stepped over and tugged his Imdiko into the room so the door could close.  He embraced the smaller man as Miv also came close to pat Vadef’s shoulder.

Simdow sighed.  “I know.  Many memories, my Imdiko.”

Vadef clutched the top of Simdow’s one-piece uniform in his fists.  His voice was muffled as he spoke against the Dramok’s shoulder.  “I’m being dumb.  It’s just a ship!”

Miv emitted a little laugh.  “It’s where I first met you two.  It is special.  Here, look at what I got for you, my Imdiko.”

He went to one of the open containers they’d been packing things into.  The Nobek pulled out three metal drinking mugs and showed them to Vadef.  The pieces showed a great deal of use; battered, chipped and dented, Katherine saw nothing special about the pieces.

However, the sight of them made Vadef laugh out loud.  Simdow chuckled along with him.

The Dramok said, “I don’t suppose you rescued any of the brew that should go in those?”

Miv shook his head with a grin.  “The kitchen staff had already drained the dispensers.”

Vadef stepped away from Simdow, still smiling.  “It should be your concoction anyway.”

Miv noted Katherine’s confusion.  “On this ship we are required to be ready for trouble at any time.  Alcoholic beverages are carefully allotted to keep us from overindulging and getting drunk.”

Simdow added, “Allotted a little too carefully, in my Nobek’s opinion.  When he first came on board he made his own spirits, which were quite potent.”

Miv’s fierce aspect was eclipsed by merriment.  “In a not-so-brilliant move, I slipped some to Simdow and Vadef one night after duty.  I wanted to get Simdow off my back and away from Vadef, and I wanted to get Vadef in my bed.”

As Katherine digested that little nugget of knowledge, Vadef said, “I ended up in his bed, all right.  Passed out and insensible for an entire day.”

With affection Miv said to him, “You have no tolerance for alcohol.  That night did not end up at all like I planned.”

Simdow couldn’t stop grinning at his clanmate.  “He ended up in so much trouble with Weapons Commander Lidon when both Vadef and I missed our shifts because we were still too drunk to function.  You’ve come a long way from those days, my Nobek.” 

Vadef looked around the quarters, some of his somber mood returning.  “This was our first home together.  It feels wrong to simply walk out of here without some special goodbye.”

Miv patted his arm again.  “Sentimental Imdiko.”

Katherine swallowed.  She’d been struggling with a decision since the spyship’s near destruction.

I was struggling with it long before now.  Discovering we were nearly destroyed just made the issue all the more important to resolve.

She drew a deep breath.  “Perhaps there is something special we can do.  How much time do we have?”

His brow cocked upward in curiosity, Simdow replied, “The last shuttle will leave in an hour.”

Katherine nibbled her lip, trying to think the situation through and only getting more nervous.  She decided to plunge ahead before she lost all her courage.  “I guess I’m not sure how long these things take.  How long does sexual intercourse last?”

The three men froze and stared at her.  After a few beats of stunned silence, Miv and Vadef looked to Simdow.  Realizing they were waiting on his decision, the Dramok got his head together with palpable effort.

He asked Katherine, “You wish to make love?”

Her heart drummed so wildly she wasn’t sure she’d be able to speak.  Somehow she did.  “I can’t go back to Earth.  They’ll have assumed I had sex with you anyway, which is cause for execution.  You say we’re married, according to Kalquorian law.  It’s the duty of a wife to give her husband – in this case,
husbands
– children.  If I have to leave my little ones behind, I’d like children of my own.”

She thought they’d be eager to take her to bed and to finally have their lusts satisfied.  Instead, the men simply looked at her with noticeable concern.

Simdow said, “Katherine, I thought this was against your faith.”

“It’s against the faith I was taught.”  She wrung her hands, her thoughts stormy and at odds with each other.  “I’m very confused.  I don’t know that this is the right decision.”

“We are content to wait,” Miv said.  “You have not accepted us completely as your mates yet.”

“But I do like you.  I think you’re all good men, though I don’t agree with you taking me prisoner.”

“You have been quite understanding of the situation, given how stressful it is on you,” Simdow acknowledged. 

“However, deeply held beliefs are not so easily set aside.”  Vadef frowned at her.  “I hate for you to feel you are damned for all eternity.  You have to find some kind of equilibrium with your soul’s destiny before you can submit your body to us.”

Katherine gave them a shaky smile.  How bizarre was it that they were trying to talk her out of sex?  Their care touched her heart.  They really were good men. 

Perhaps God had sent them here to show Earth that the species were to be mixed after all.  That two of his creations should merge into one.

It was something to be considered later.  “I already don’t subscribe to what my faith says about a wrathful God.  I think he understands my decision, even if I am making a mistake.  Don’t you?”

Vadef had an emotional look on his face again.  “Any god that would punish one such as you is not one worth worshipping.  I’m sorry to say something I know is blasphemous to your religion, but it is how I feel.”

Katherine’s face flushed at the feeling in his tone.  “I am probably doing something wrong in encouraging our union, but this is my fate.  I’m here for a reason, so I will accept it.”  She looked at each man in turn.  “I will accept you.”

Simdow smiled, turning the handsome face into breath-stealing beauty.  “I cannot think of a more wonderful way to say goodbye to this ship which has brought my clan together.  To make this every bit as good for you, may I offer you something?”

“What?”

“We have the ability to inject an intoxicant into you that will make you happy to be with us.  Earther women have described the sensation as euphoric.”

Katherine remembered seeing fangs appear behind his teeth.  “You’d bite me?  Won’t it hurt?”

“For a moment.  The pain is brief and quickly disappears because of a mild anesthetic in our saliva.  It does no real harm.”  He stroked her hair, his touch careful.  “I would not for all the riches of the universe make you suffer, my Matara.”

“I believe you.”  She really did.  “All right.  But don’t let me see the fangs.  It scares me.”

Simdow gathered her in his arms.  “You will never have anything to fear from us, Katherine.  We only wish to make you happy as our mate.”

He leaned down to kiss her with a slow, toe-curling passion that immediately made her stomach drop.  She wondered that something that felt so good and right could actually be wrong.   Surely this was meant to be.  If it was evil, they would not care, and it had become evident to Katherine that they did.

My God is their God whether they know it or not.  That makes my marriage to them lawful in his eyes.

Simdow released her mouth, kissing his way across her jaw and to her neck.  Katherine clung to him, feeling some of her nervousness dissipate in the wash of arousal that came from feeling his body against hers.  This was right.  It had to be.

A jolt of pain in the side of her throat made her cry out and shove against Simdow.  Vadef and Miv were right there, petting and stroking and caressing.

The Imdiko whispered in her ear.  “That pain is done, my Katherine.  You shouldn’t be feeling his bite anymore.”

He was right.  She only felt Simdow’s mouth on her skin now, not the fangs that had stabbed into it.  The pain had lasted only a second or two.  She made herself relax once more in his grip.

The pounding of her heart slowed.  Soft feelings of floating crept into her limbs.  Katherine could see Vadef on one side of her, and her focus on him became a bit fuzzy.  Warmth from Simdow’s body, held so close to hers, seeped between their clothes to heat her.  She noted how her nipples tightened, became brazen points against the coarse fabric of her nightgown.  The heat she received from Simdow filled her insides and spilled out of her sex in a gentle tide.  Her thoughts broke apart, slowly coalesced, and broke apart again.  She let her fingers twine in Simdow’s hair, noting how soft and silky it felt.  Nice.  Everything about him was nice.

His mouth left her throat and he leaned back to look into her face.  “How do you feel, my little love?”

“Warm,” Katherine breathed.  “Good.”

“Let’s get this off you.”  Still watching her carefully, Simdow and the other two lifted her gown off.  This time, instead of feeling vulnerable and ashamed, Katherine experienced a sense of freedom.  Eager freedom.  Yes, she was ready to accept her destiny now.  Her body cried for Simdow’s, for Vadef’s, for Miv’s.  Her body ached in a way that she knew only they could relieve.