Sholan Alliance Ch. 03

Eventually they came out and she was in a clean tabard and her fur was much tidier. Billy's hair was sort of slicked down and he was looking grumpy and Satasha was grinning. "Darn cat couldn't keep her tongue to herself again."

Sandi turned and looked at him and snickered. "I bet you don't complain when you are in bed..." Billy instantly turned pink. "Have a seat you two and I will bring the food over." Jenna and Sally were trying not to snicker at him.

Satasha had been feeling sort of mischievous and she grabbed his head and licked his hair so it was reasonably tidy and had snickered the entire time. Billy had tried getting away from her even as he was laughing and she figured the grumpy act was for the ladies. "I can neither confirm nor deny what he might or might not like in bed and there is only one way for you to find out."

Sally choked on a drink she was taking. "That is so not what I need to hear about my Pappa. The four of you can discuss it when I go to bed if you want." She looked rather bothered by the conversation and Billy had to snicker at her. "Pappa you are not helping at all."

Sandi and Jenna brought the food over and everyone settled down. "So did you have fun on your walk Satasha? Seeing all the wonderful plants and wildlife?" Jenna asked. She snagged some of the chicken and salad as well as some mashed potatoes.

"It was very nice to get out of the house and or shed and really take a day off. Yilly had fun pointing out some of the things he loves about his land. I have to admit I would have liked to see what a vixen is." She took some of the chicken as well and handed the tray to Billy.

He took a large piece and handed it to Sally. He also took a good dollop of the potatoes and salad. Once everyone was served he sliced a piece off and held it out to Satasha who lowered her ears in their sign of embarrassment but took the bite. As she was chewing it Billy was slicing up his piece of chicken breast.

"You should have had that bite Yilly. It was very good but thank you." She sliced a piece off and held it out to him. He went to take the bite and she slowly drew it back and then leaned over and kissed him before letting him have it.

Sally watched the entire food play and wasn't sure how she really felt. It was nice to see her father paying attention to a woman but she didn't want him hurt again. Both she and her sister had seen the pain even though he had tried to hide it from them. To her it was very obvious her father had fallen for Satasha and when she was taken back to her Ship he probably wouldn't ever see her again. "Pappa I am going to be sort of blunt and you can tell me it is none of your business but what happened today? The two of you are acting very different than you have been."

Billy and Satasha traded looks and he leaned lightly against Satasha and smiled. "I took her as my companion today. To a Sholan that is sort of like saying you are boyfriend and girlfriend." He traded another kiss with her before turning back. "We talked a great deal and we know that we are probably going to be separated for at least a while but hope that we will be able to come together again." He smiled even wider. "She also told me that if it was possible she would like to take a bonding contract with me. That is sort of like a short term marriage."

Satasha returned the kiss and lightly rubbed her head against his. "I had meant to talk to you first Sally but the time never seemed right. When Yilly invited me out on the picnic and we started talking. I know that it might sound odd but he is the first man that has ever made me want to take a bonding contract out. I love your father Sally and yes I know we are going to be separated but as he said I hope to meet him again once the first contact team has made contact."

The three women were rather floored listening to the two of them. They had known that the two were enjoying being together but hadn't realized their feelings had grown this much. Sally looked sort of upset with what was being said. "I am sorry Satasha but I know it is going to hurt my Pappa when the two of you are parted. He was hurt enough when mommy died. I don't want to see him hurt that badly again." She stood up. "Please excuse me." She left the room and headed towards her bedroom and flopped on the bed on her stomach and buried her face in her pillow.

She was happy that her father had found someone to care for but as bad as it sounded since Satasha was an alien she wished it wasn't as intense as it seemed. He was going to be hurt and would have been hurt in either case but if it had been a sort of friends with benefits thing it wouldn't have hurt him as much. When there was a knock on her door she turned her head slightly. "Go away I don't want to talk." She assumed it was either Sandi or Jenna.

Downstairs Billy gave Satasha a good hug and stroked her hair for a moment. "I am going to talk to her. She didn't mean to hurt you if she did. I know she is just worried for me. Love you and I will be back eventually." He smiled at her. "No stealing my chicken while I am gone."

Satasha rubbed against him and purred slightly. "I know Yilly and I understand her worries. Go and comfort her and I will try not to steal your chicken." Once he left the room she looked at the girls. "What is your opinion if you don't mind my asking?"

Sandi chewed contemplatively on a bite of food before answering. "Unlike Sally I think you have been very good for him. You affection and obvious caring for him has brought him out of his shell and has shown him he can love and care again. It is going to hurt him but one thing you have going for you is that you are alive. It will give him hope that he will see you again and if he does then he knows that you will still care for him even if the relationship changes to simply a close friendship."

Jenna simply hiked a thumb at Sandi. "What she said." She kept eating.

Billy was upstairs at that point and when Sally told him to go away he sighed. "I am coming in Sally and we are going to have a talk." His voice wasn't hard but it was firm as he opened the door and walked into her room. He normally wouldn't walk into the girl's rooms without permission but this was a special occasion. Once he walked in he settled on the edge of the bed and rested his hand on her back and lightly rubbed.

"Sally I am an adult and I know what I am doing. I do know that it is going to hurt when we are separated but I can't help what I feel for her. I do love her and she loves me. When we are separated I know it is going to hurt but we both hope that we will meet in the future. Please be happy for me and I expect you to treat Satasha as you had been doing." His hand was still rubbing her back and he felt her tense up.

"I am sorry Pappa but I can't help but worry about you and how you will handle being separated. I have seen and yes felt your feelings of loss after mommy died. You tried to hide it when we were growing up but we knew you were hurting." She remained laying on her stomach since when she was little he would rub her back when she was upset and it was comforting. "I have felt you starting to open up to the possibility of loving another woman but I am scared of what happens when she leaves."

Billy leaned forward and gave her shoulders and back a light hug before returning to rubbing her back. "There is one thing you are forgetting Sally and that is Satasha is alive and there is always a chance we will meet again and might be able to take out the bonding contract. That gives me hope for the future. Your Mother died and left a wound that was very hard to handle. There was no hope I would see her again but with Satasha there is."

She finally sat up and turned to face her father and crossed her legs. Sally searched his face for several minutes. She was looking for any trace of sadness or loss but all she saw was a smile that she rarely ever saw on his face and hope as well. His eyes were bright with happiness and she could feel joy from him as well. This was a father she hadn't seen much before. "I will do my best Pappa to trust in what you said and of course I will treat Satasha as would be expected."

He sobered slightly and nodded. "Thank you Sally, I appreciate it and I do love her as odd as that might sound. She has held me while I cried, tickled me to make me giggle, and has been warm in bed. It is so nice to have someone to sleep next to." He gave her a sly grin. "I guess I am developing a taste for fur..."

Sally smacked him. "Pappa there are some things your children really don't want to or need to know." She crossed her arms and pouted at him. "Just for that I am not going to give you the hug I was going to." Sally slid off the other side of the bed and started to walk out. "If you keep telling me things like that I will start telling you some things about me." She turned and walked out.

Billy shuddered at that threat and followed her out of the room and downstairs. She walked up to Satasha and gave her a good hug. "Take care of my Pappa as long as you can and make him happy." She settled down where she had been and started eating as if nothing had happened.

Satasha returned the hug. "I will Sally and thank you for your approval. You have a really special father." She rubbed cheeks with her before she went and sat down.

Billy settled down and started eating and then frowned. "You did snitch a bite didn't you? Just for that I am not going to share it with you." He gave her a suspicious look when he said that.

"I would never slice a piece of meat off someone else's plate unless he was my lover and not around to protect the yummy food." She gave him and innocent look and he frowned big time at her and she did her best to look even more innocent.

"Thanks for guarding my plate you two. Definitely frenemies. I might need to do a body search before you leave my house." He leered at Sandi when he said that and Jenna almost coughed up what she was eating and he snickered. When he turned back to his plate Satasha was holding another bite of food out to him and he took it and chewed on it.

Dinner eventually finished and he was feeling very content with the world. As they were finishing up the food his phone rang and he picked it up. "Hey Sue Anne how did the process go?" He assumed that it was still processing and was surprised when she said it was done. "How did you manage that? You didn't hurry the process or anything did you."

He listened a bit longer and had to grin. "Ah, your system has a built in efficiency unit huh? Before you start tomorrow I am going to come out and scan the one that finished. It will be early in the morning." He hung up and finished the last bite. "Would you like to rest on the couch and watch TV?"

Satasha smiled at that idea. "I like that and I can use your lap as a pillow." She patted her mouth clean and stretched. "Today wasn't a very busy day but I feel tired. We can watch for a while and then head towards bed if you don't mind."

He grinned. "Now why would I mind that? I like my warm furry blanket though it does feel weird to be shorter than you." They walked into the living room and settled down and relaxed.

~~~

The next morning Billy climbed into his old truck and headed to the metal shop and parked before heading in. "Yo anyone home?" A voice called back and told him where the tube was and he headed back and broke out the instruments and started a detailed examination of it and by the time he was done he was satisfied with it. "Hey Sue Anne help me get this on the flatbed and you can start the second one." He was looking pleased. "Oh, can you download the changes the system made? I would like to get them in my VR and check the changes."

Once that was done he headed home and parked. He would take the set of tubes off later. "Hey Satasha got one of the tubes and we will pull it off the truck later. I am going to be making some changes to the engines." Or making parts to exchange once he was up checked he would swap the parts out and update the software.

She was working on some of the items she could repair or rebuild. "So you are that sure of the changes you want to make? I would hate to blow the engine or get stuck in hyper and have to get towed out."

Billy blew a raspberry at her and started searching through his parts bins and pulling out various items. "Now for the fun part." The first thing he did was to modify the hardware needed to handle his changes to the software. He was having a great time and his brain was processing more ideas as he was working but he was going to stick with his original changes and if they worked he might consider getting a beater ship for use as a test bed.

They did break for lunch but as soon as they were done he went back to work. He did however wrap an arm around her as they walked out and gave her a good kiss. "If the crystallization process works correctly we will hopefully have you back to your ship in a few weeks." One last kiss and hug and he went back to work. By the end of the day he had the modified parts he needed. Unfortunately he couldn't test them at the moment since the engines were torn apart.

That evening they curled up on the couch and talked about general things mixed in with some kissing and a bit of tickling and such.

Sally watched them and then turned to the other two. "Tell me did he act like this in high school or while mommy was alive? It is almost disturbing watching my Pappa acting like a teen." She had a slightly horrified expression on her face as the two giggled at something he had whispered in her ear in Sholan.

The two women started laughing. "God no, he was entirely too tied up in stretching his brain and making the rest of us look like congenital morons." Jenna commented and then snickered. "Well till he met your Mother and his scores dropped from a 4.0 to a 3.8. We still felt like idiots with him around."

Billy had been paying attention to Sally and the others even though he was enjoying the play with Satasha. He blew a raspberry at his daughter. "Deal with it kiddo. Your father is having fun with his girlfriend and if it is bothering you go watch TV in your room." There was amusement in his voice when he said that.

Satasha snickered as well and then nibbled on one of his ears before giving it a good licking. She giggled when he said Gah and rubbed his ear. She started nibbling again and he smiled. She was having more fun relaxing with him than any of her other lovers. Sally's reaction was great and she was partially doing this to tease her.

Sally simply settled for doing her best to ignore them till they left for Satasha's ship for the evening. "I am not sure I can handle this. I feel like the adult now over seeing an oversized teen." That got laughs from the other two and she groan and headed for her room.

~~~

By the end of the week all three sets of tubes were finished. Billy had also finished modifying the software to run the changes he was going to make to the engines. The actual changes would take about a day and that wouldn't draw any attention. The attention would be when he kicked the pig and made her squeal. The signature change would be noticed by anyone paying attention and if they functioned as he expected he would be in hyper a fair amount faster than almost any other boats out there.

"Well you ready to get your hands dirty Tasha? This should take about four days to put back together assuming all goes smoothly." He had the cabling already threaded through the hyper tubes. All they needed to do was to connect the cables and then slowly retract the cabling as they moved the tubes towards the bolts that secured them to the engine. After that it was simply a case of installing a few components and then getting the repairs checked. The hard part was going to be keeping Satasha out of view.

~~~

Over the next few days, with Sally's help, they got the tubes installed and secured. The other parts took an extra day as did running tests and diagnostics on the engines. "Well all checks out and I am actually getting a better output than before I re-did the tubes." He was satisfied with the repairs and celebrated with a dinner cooked by Satasha and some Sholan wine which was very interesting. "I placed a call to the space guard to come and check it. Do you think you could move your Ship a couple hundred yards from the house? I would really hate to have one of them run into the side of the Ship."

She snorted at that and covered her mouth as she tried not to laugh at his comment. "Yah that might be sort of a bad thing. I can move it on manual controls and put it over by the edge of the forest if that will work for you."

He contemplated where best to put it. "That should work and put it towards the south of the house since that will keep them well away from it." They were curled up in bed and relaxing. "Oh, I have something for you Tasha." He rolled over and felt through the pockets over his coveralls and pulled out a small silk bag and handed it to her.

As she sat up to look at what it might be and he rolled on his side and watched her. When she got the pouch open she shook it gently and a slender golden chain slid out with a lovely ruby and diamond pendant. Her eyes widened and her mouth made a sort of 'O'. "Oh Yilly this is lovely." She shook the chain out and looked at the pendant. "You didn't need to do this Yilly but thank you." Satasha held it out for him to put it on her.

He took it from her and fastened it around her neck. The pendant would normally hang down between the top of her breasts if she had any and could easily be tucked under one of her uniform suits. "But I did have to my love. This is something you can remember me by when we inevitably separate. All you will need to do is look at it and remember how much I love and care for you." He pulled her to him and kissed her. "I know if we never meet again I will always love you and care for you."

Tears showed in her eyes and she tucked her head into his neck and started crying. He wrapped his arms around her and held her till she stopped. With a slight smile he leaned over and did his best to lick the tears from her face and was pleased when she started giggling at him though it was a watery laugh. "Now I think we should go to sleep since the space guard will be here in the morning." He set his alarm and smiled as she curled up partially on his chest.

~~~

He had set the alarm to go off a bit earlier than normal to give her time to prep and move the Ship. He was curled around her and couldn't resist the urge to stroke the fur on her stomach for a moment. "Time to get up Tasha." He rolled out of bed and dressed in some clean cloths. He had pretty much moved onto the ship and had clean cloths available.

Just for good measure once he had gotten out of bed she rolled on her stomach and did a good cat style stretch and then rolled on her back and stretched again. She had to smile as he watched her stretching before climbing out of bed and took her time getting dressed in a suit and just for good measure as she pulled it up over her bottom she gave a good wiggle.

Billy growled at her. "Damn evil woman. Now I am going to be greeting the Space Corpse with a woody and it is going to be your fault." Just for good measure he reached over and smacked her on the bottom and laughed when she jumped and hissed at him. "You deserved that."

~~~

A few minutes later he was out of the ship and heading towards the house to grab a quick breakfast. Behind him he felt a change in air pressure as she powered her ship up and started moving it slowly towards where he indicated. He didn't bother watching since there wasn't anything to watch. When he made it inside breakfast was almost done and he was handed a cup of coffee and moments later a plate of food.

"Thanks ladies. I want to be waiting at the shed when they arrive to give them less time to wander around." He munched down the breakfast and the large thermos with coffee in it and some plastic cups and headed out to the shed. He set it down next to the old pot he used. While he was waiting he walked around the slip and first made sure Tasha hadn't left anything behind and second to make sure it was neat and tidy. By the time he was done he could hear a vehicle pull up and he walked out.