Tymber Dalton - Spider Bight

“Whatever that is,” Ford snarked.

That night, after Emi awoke from her nap, she relaxed in their bed with an old movie vid playing on the screen. Bucky rested on her chest, his sightless rubber eyes staring up at her.

Emi stroked him. Caph had washed all the sand off him, leaving him squeaky clean.

She couldn’t help it. Bucky had helped her save her men. She wasn’t ready to let go of him yet.

Aaron laughed from the doorway. Without moving her still-sore neck, she looked at him. “I see Bucky’s got the good life now,” he teased.

She managed a smile for him. Even doing that still hurt, but not nearly as much as earlier, when she’d first awoken after they got her back to the ship. “Yeah, he does. I hope Caph doesn’t mind I’m not giving him back anytime soon.”

Aaron pushed off the doorway and walked over to sit next to her on the bunk. “I’m sure he won’t mind.” He reached out and stroked the spider with a finger. Emi felt a wave of melancholy from him.

She studied his expression. “What is it, Aaron?” she softly asked.

He wistfully smiled. “You didn’t hear the story of how Bucky came to be with us, did you?”

“No. I was too pissed off at Caph that morning to ask.”

“Kels scared Caph with it.”

That explained a lot. She felt guilty at her initial plans that morning to throw it away. “No wonder he begged me not to incinerate it.”

“Yeah. If you hadn’t agreed, then I would have stepped in and taken custody of Bucky myself.”

She looked at the rubber spider again, a little more guilt seeping in. “Maybe I should give him back, then.”

He shook his head. “No. He belongs with you now.” He let out a sad sigh. “I know this is sentimental, and please don’t take it the wrong way, but it’s like a little part of her is looking out for all four of us.”

Emi started to mention the strange voice she’d heard in her mind during her fight with Rawin, then decided against it. It had to have been a trick of her own mind, probably due to her empath training and skills. Instead, she smiled. “I think that’s a wonderful way to look at it.”

He leaned in and kissed her. “Ford sent me to tell you dinner will be ready shortly, and to use my captainly authority to order you to stay here and be served in bed.”

She managed a soft laugh that didn’t hurt her healing ribs. “I won’t argue, Captain.”

He caressed her cheek. “I am so proud of you. I was really worried there for a while, though. I won’t lie to you. I thought she was going to beat you.”

“So did I for a while.” Emi returned her attention to Bucky. “So did I.”

“What do you mean we can’t leave yet?” Emi asked Aaron the next morning.

She read his wave of patience, trying not to get upset for her benefit. “Honey, Mauri asked us to come down to the planet.”

“Oh, fuck no. She can’t make us. She let us all go!”

He nodded. “I know. However, she said she would consider it a personal favor if we would. She promised to come up to the space station herself and accompany us the entire time.”

Emi warily eyed him. “Why does she want us down there?”

“She insists that we have a right, according to their laws, to witness the initial punishment.”

Emi’s stomach rolled. “No thanks. I’m good.”

“She really feels horrible about what happened.”

“She’s just worried we’re going to give her a bad review in the next issue of Kinky Vacations for Horny Rich Women magazine, or however people find out about their planet.”

He smiled. “Maybe. But I believe her. Let’s end this trip on a good note.”

“Me winning wasn’t a good note?”

“Please?”

“Seriously, how is going down there a good note?”

“Mauri shared her report with me. The one she’s sending to the head honchos, praising us and our professionalism during the events and recommending we receive commendations for our service.”

“In other words, she’s scared shitless we’re going to say bad things about what happened and wants another chance to apologize and suck up.”

“Yes. I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt. We were ordered to indulge diplomatic relations.”

“And I nearly lost the three of you because of that woman’s horny bitch cunt of a daughter!”

He took a deep breath and sighed. “Emi,” he quietly said. “Please?”

She glared at him. “Is that an order, Captain ?”

He picked up her hand and brushed his lips across her knuckles. “It’s a request.”

“What’d the twins say?”

“They’re okay with it.”

Damn . “Clothes?”

“She personally assured me we are allowed to wear our standard crew uniforms. She entered an exception into their laws for diplomatic occasions.”

Emi snorted in disgust. “A little too late for that, huh?” He simply looked at her, waiting her out. “Okay, fine. Set it up.”

Two hours later, they were on their way to the surface in a shuttle with Mauri and Baltin. Emi had lost count of how many times the Moran leader profusely apologized to her for what happened. “I want to assure you, Doctor Hypatia, we are taking great pains to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. We are making video surveillance mandatory, and requiring video evidence in all future cases such as this.”

Emi didn’t want to debate their legal system, even though at least three faults in the Moran leader’s logic popped out at her immediately. All she wanted was to get the visit over with and get their asses back to the Bight and get the hell off that rock and back to their original mission.

Emi’s slow walking pace somewhat hampered their progress. Caph offered to carry her, but she declined, opting to lean on his arm for support instead. Modern medicine could do wonderful things, but her body still needed time and rest to heal from the pounding she’d suffered at Rawin’s hands.

When they entered the stables at the Imperial Home, Emi crossed her arms in front of her and tried not to look into any of the windows. At one point she walked into Caph, who’d stopped, mouth agape, as he stared into one of the rooms.

“Move it,” she grumbled, pushing him.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m moving.” She thought he’d kink his neck trying to turn his head to look back as he moved forward.

They reached the window Emi remembered from the previous visit. No one was in the room yet.

Mauri looked grim and spoke in Moran to one of the guards. The guard nodded and left. Then Mauri offered Emi a kind smile. “It pains me as a mother to have to do this.” Her expression hardened. “As a leader, however, I refuse to shun or shy away from my duties. My people expect me to uphold our laws. Her punishment will also be recorded for viewing by any who wish to see it. It is part of the sentence. My people will also see that I will not show any favoritism toward those who break our laws. Especially when they dishonor people whose only reason to come to our world in the first place was to help us, at our request.”

Rawin, naked except for a black collar and a harness around her waist, was dragged into the room by two red-collared males. Both males wore grim expressions and she realized one bore fresh scratches on his chest that looked like fingernail marks.

Apparently Rawin wasn’t going to meekly accept her punishment.

“The harness,” Mauri explained, even though Emi didn’t ask, “is also used much in the same way the attachment on the bench is used for males who normally service the ferals.”

Her meaning hit home. “You mean it’s like a vibrator?”