A New Encounter Ch. 06

"Oh well, in that case." Mina stood and stripped off her uniform and pulled a unitard from the closet and Kevin put on a t-shirt and shorts.

They made their way down to the ships gym and each had their respective work outs. Kevin watched the unarmed combat display and thought about trying that, but the moves that Mina's crew used were so different that he knew that he would to take training before starting that. Instead he worked the resistance machines and then had a swim in the pool. Mina did some light weight work before joining a class of others doing something that looked suspiciously like Tai Chi.

They finished their workouts and walked back to their quarters' still sweat soaked and breathing a little hard. Stripping off their clothes they both walked into the shower and proceeded to wash each other with great care. In fact Kevin spent so much time washing the crease between her legs, Mina shuddered through three orgasms. Mina leaned against the wall of the shower and let him clean her completely and was actually purring when he washed her hair and massaged her scalp.

"You can treat me like this anytime." Mina said leaning in to hug him tightly.

"As you wish my love," Kevin said with a kiss. They finished bathing, with Mina swallowing him whole and making a big production of gulping down his seed then dressed for breakfast. Just as they sat down the hatch opened and the Doctor strolled in.

"Good morning Captain, Ambassador, I trust you slept well." She greeted them.

"You are going to be reassigned to ore hauler in the farthest system that I can think off." Mina threatened.

"Whatever for Captain," the Doctor asked, innocence itself.

"You drugged me last night." Mina shouted.

"Oh, that, well you needed the rest." The Doctor said off handedly.

"I give up." Mina said putting her head in her hands.

"On a more positive note, the artificial inseminations are going to resume later today." The Doctor said, helping herself to tea and a scone that Kevin had ordered. "The natural inseminations by the German delegate have been proceeding well."

"Yes, we got your report while in communication with the Council." Mina said. "Now Doctor, we have several issues that we need to clear up prior to communicating with the full Chamber, beginning with your keelhauling Doctor. Kevin, will you excuse us?"

"Of course, but before you go, am I allowed to review your orders for this mission?" Kevin asked rising as the two officers stood.

"Normally, I would say no, but as you are the ambassador and my mate, I don't see any problem." Mina said. "I will forward a copy to the desk comp redacted of all classified material."

"Thank you, I just want to see the exact wording of the Council's orders to you and any orders from your military command." Kevin said.

"What are you up to now?" The Doctor questioned.

"Just a hunch," Kevin said vaguely.

A few moments later, Kevin had the orders he had asked for and reviewed them in detail. He was familiar with orders and directives from his time at the station, and after dealing for years in court with lawyers, he had learned to read between the lines to the intent as well as the language and prepare a defense for both. By the time the Council was to comm. them, he was as ready as he could be.

Mina called him to the bridge five minutes prior to the establishment of communications and Kevin had time to settle himself. Upon arrival, the XO led him into briefing room behind the bridge and she waved to a seat.

"The comm. call will be here in privacy, unlike last night." Mina said sitting bolt upright in her chair. The main screen was on the wall of conference room and showed only the wait prompt from the council. Kevin seated himself in the indicated chair and only had to wait a moment before the call came from the bridge.

"Captain, the Chamber is requesting communications." The comm. officer said.

"Put it through please." Mina responded pleasantly, and screen lit instantly with the seal of the Chamber. Above each seat surrounding the table a thin rod dropped from the ceiling and a beam of coherent light shown down on the chair and suddenly council members' holograms sat in each of the chairs, over thirty individual's each wearing formal robes, each with a different sash. Kevin knew from his study that each sash indicated the rank of the council member and their place in the chain of command. The charter for Mina's people laid out a very strict hieratical system. The First Mistress was a hereditary title, much a king or queen, but the government worked under a charter similar to his constitution, the rest of the chamber members were elected from the populace of the planet. Seated at the head of the table was a very young female in the formal robes of the First Mistress, she spoke first.

"Captain *****," she said formally, Kevin's implant only buzzed at Mina's name among her own people. "Before we begin deliberations, you should know that I have replaced the former First Mistress. My mother had a stroke during the last council session and has entered a fully vegetative state. The healers are not hopeful of her recovery. Under scroll one four one of the Great Charter, I have assumed her duties."

"First Mistress," Mina said gravely, bowing slightly in her seat. "Our prayers for her recovery go with you."

"Thank you Captain, however, that is not the reason for this conference. We understand that you have violated your orders in regards to this mission and refuse to gather breeding stock from this planet."

"I have followed the orders of the Chamber all my life First Mistress, but these people are not animals or slaves to be used as we see fit and discarded. They are a sentient race of beings and must be treated as such."

"That does not excuse your violation of your orders Captain." The older minister in a uniform similar to Mina's but with more braid and decorations interrupted. The notes above her head indicated that this was the space fleet commander, an admiral, but her name was in the flowing script of Mina's people. Before Mina could say anything, Kevin jumped in.

"Members of the Chamber, I request the privilege of speaking directly to you." Kevin asked and sat waiting patiently for their response.

The minister seated to the right of the First Mistress glanced at the First Mistress and saw the tiny nod and spoke to Kevin.

"You may speak."

"Thank you Mistress of the Interior, once again I am unable to pronounce your names correctly and rather than offend anyone, I would prefer to use the titles of your offices, if this is acceptable?' The nods were slight but noticeable. "Thank you. Now as Captain Mina has stated we are willing to assist you in the reconstruction of your race, however, we are not willing to be used as breeding stock. Our own beliefs would prevent such a thing and in addition, we would be concerned for the young that would be created."

"Why would you have a concern about that?" The minister on the right of First Mistress asked. "It would not be any concern of yours how the young would be raised."

"I don't know about everyone on this planet, but I am sure that I can speak for a majority of the male population when I say that we are unwilling to father children and then just walk away and not care about how they are raised." Kevin said confidently. "We care as much about our children as you do about yours. Further, I am concerned about how the young will be treated in you society."

"We care for our children with great devotion." The Admiral said affronted.

"As do we, but you must understand that these will not be entirely your children, but a hybrid of your people and ours. If you are willing to treat us as slaves, how will you treat any offspring of such mating?"

Mina looked at him in shock and the rest of the council sat and stared at him.

"You think we would mistreat a child of such a union?" The First Mistress asked with a dark look.

"I am certain that you would try to be fair, but after last night's display regarding myself, and comments such as specimen and pet, not to mention slave, I think I have a valid concern." Kevin said calmly. "If by your own comments, you are the only people, then how will you deal with a child of mixed parentage? Also, in a few generations, there will only be mixed parentage children. While your DNA may be dominant, ours will still have an effect." His only reply was silence.

"We are willing to help, but not be enslaved."

"You could not stop us," the Admiral said, puffing up in anger. "Our technology allows us to be among you before you can stop us."

"Leaving aside the fact that it is easier to get what you need from a willing subject than a prisoner, we may be harder to abduct than you think." Kevin said darkly, he felt Mina tense beside him.

"You think you could defeat us." The First Mistress said in shock.

"First Mistress, my people are quite willing to kill if need be." Kevin said sadly. "I personally have never had to kill, but I would not hesitate to do so to protect my wife and my children. I think you will find that feeling prevalent on this planet. As much as you care for your young, we care for ours, and it doesn't matter how old our young get, we still protect them."

"But with our technology, we can simply appear and take prisoners and depart." The Admiral repeated.

"And how long after the first snatch until a shoot on sight order is issued. I can speak for my people when I say that most own firearms and are quite willing to shoot you the instant you appear. Men of the age to produce young will be armed at all times, start traveling in groups for mutual security, women will carry weapons and defend their husbands and sons to their last breath. You may get some of us, but I can guarantee that it will cost you more than you are willing to pay. And you need to take us alive and reasonable undamaged in order for this to work. How long do you think it will be until men start shooting themselves in order to avoid being taken, or simply destroying their ability to procreate?"

"No race has achieved such an advanced state with such warlike tendencies." The councilor at the far end said, the notation indicated that she was the Minister of Science. "Our studies show clearly that they would have wiped themselves out long before they reached your level of advancement." She turned to the First Mistress. "He is exaggerating Mistress, based on fear."

Kevin snorted, and Mina shook her head.

"You really think you have us sorted out don't you." Kevin said with a sad smile, "observe. This is a display of the actual file footage, unedited of the recent conflicts on my planet since the beginning of the last century." Kevin gave a mental command and a different holo-rod dropped from the ceiling and the image started. He had gone back into the files on the web and deeper; Mina's ship had accessed all files on the planet.

The image was of World War I, men fighting and dying in the trenches and no-man's land, the images were grainy and unsteady, typical of the time. The next set was longer, World War II, the Blitzkrieg, Pearl Harbor, Normandy, Sicily, Guam, and Midway, all of the battles as shown by the news reels. He could see the shock on their faces as the atomics dropped on Japan, then came Korea, Vietnam, and the Middle East. He showed the images of the Twin Towers and the shots from the plane that the passengers had taken back and crashed rather than hit the pentagon. He finished the hologram with the last above ground nuclear testing shot he could find. It made an impressive ending. The hologram died and the rod slipped back into the ceiling and Kevin looked around the table at the council members.

"Any questions?"

They all sat in stunned silence, aghast at the shocking carnage they had just witnessed.

"The last images of conflict are only a few years old, but I assure you that we are quite capable of continued violence." Kevin said.

"We are quite capable of violence ourselves," the Admiral said, trying to sound unshaken.

"I am sure you are, but are you ready now, this instant?" Kevin asked. "Because we are and once the word of your arrival comes out, you won't have a chance to grab anymore of us. But if you are willing to see this as possibility of trade then we may be able to help each other."

"Be that as it may, Captain Mina still disregarded her orders." The Admiral said gravely. "For that she must accept responsibility."

"No, Admiral, she did not disregard her orders." Kevin countered; Mina's face was white and getting whiter with each minute. "The orders to this ship were to obtain by any means necessary genetic material to perpetuate your race. No order regarding prisoners or slaves was given."

"You gave him access to your orders?" The Admiral snarled.

"The instructions were to obtain slaves." The Mistress of health said at the same time.

"The word slave or prisoners was never mentioned." Kevin counted quickly. "The orders issued indicated that the Captain would use her best judgment to determine the optimal means of obtaining the material needed. Captain Mina's judgment was that the best way was through mutual cooperation." Kevin turned to the Admiral.

"Admiral, according to your own laws, scroll one four seven three, line four zero one indent three, and I quote 'the ambassador shall have unrestricted access to the orders or information provided by the chamber at all times while on board or during the mission assigned to the ship carrying the ambassador.' I requested access to the ships orders for this mission and in accordance with this law, Captain Mina supplied it." Kevin said confidently.

"That law refers to our ambassador, not a foreign creature with delusions of grandeur." The Mistress of Transportation said vehemently.

"Please be careful Mistress, some of us are sensitive." Kevin said, and there was a small giggle around the table from the other members of the council. "If that is the intent, then that is something the Chamber must deal with, the letter of the law is clear."

"You can't..."

"The ambassador is correct." A frail old voice cut across the table and a very old woman in a floating chair slid forward, her hand on a knobby cane. "The law is clear, and as such he is within his rights to see the orders. Also, the orders make no mention of taking slaves."

"But it was understood..."

"The law is for..."

"You don't mean..."

"Silence," the old woman said sharply, a strong rap of her cane on the table stilled all talk. "I am the keeper of the law here and my word is final."

"Mistress ******," the First Mistress said softly. "Do you mean that we have to accept this outsider's interpretation of our laws and orders?"

"No, that would be foolish," she wheezed, the councils relaxation was short lived. "You are to accept MY interpretation of our law and orders." The old woman smiled wickedly at Kevin. "It just so happens that my interpretation agrees with his. The matter is closed."

"Thank you Mistress." Kevin said bowing formally. "We are quite willing to make our genetic material available for your race; however we reserve the right to choose."

"What do you mean choose?"

"Mistress, on my planet, most of the people there follow a custom called dating. Two people meet, and if there is any interest or attraction, then they go out someplace together. Usually a meal is taken together and then some form of entertainment. If there is even more attraction or interest the date may end in a sexual encounter, or maybe an agreement for another date or they may agree that there is no point in continuing. I just want to make sure that my people will have the opportunity to meet the ones of your people who wish to mate with us prior to actual mating."

"I think that that is reasonable." The First Mistress said.

"Also, we need to look at the long term impact of the interspecies mating between our people." Kevin informed them with a glance at Mina. He could see the stress building up again in her eyes and he made a quick note on his desk top for her.

"What do you mean?" The Mistress of Health questioned.

"Just that we have to understand or at least have a plan in place for more than one generation," Kevin responded. "While I have no doubt that you will find many males who are willing to contribute to assisting your race, it is going to take many years to reach the point where the new young males of both species will be able to breed. And I don't think the women of my world are going to like even more competition for men. When your males come of age, you also have to be prepared in case some of them want to mate with human females." Kevin started to say something about the political climate and the reality of bringing males back into the control of government, but he felt that he had pushed them enough for one meeting.

Kevin's comments started another debate that ran for hours. Several times Mina's crew slipped in with work for her and she would sign or wave them off. The council seemed willing to argue forever, but the first Mistress called a halt to the argument.

"It seems that we have much to go over prior to entering any treaty with your planet. We will discuss this in closed session and get back to you as soon as we have reached a decision. In the meantime, I would like to invite you and your fellows back to our planet as soon as possible to discuss this in person."

"I thank you for the invitation; however I will need to obtain approval from my government prior to any final decision." Kevin told the First Mistress.

"We will dispatch another ship to maintain contact with your people just as soon as Captain Mina give us the final coordinates of you planet." The Admiral said with a gentle smile. Kevin felt the hairs on the back of his neck start to stand up.

"I don't think that will be necessary at this time Admiral. We have several items here that need to be addressed prior to our going anywhere." Mina interrupted for the first time in hours. "I will however, forward the system coordinates as soon as possible. Thank you for your time council, I know you must have many issues to deal with and we won't take up any more of your valuable time. ********** out."

The holograms blanked before any of the council could say more and Mina called the bridge.

"XO, this is the Captain, go to Omega four."

"Omega four aye Captain." Fluffy said over the com. "Omega four confirmed and active Captain."

"Thank you XO, Captain out."

"What is Omega four?" Kevin asked sharply.

"You did wonderful," Mina said wearily. "Let's go home and relax, I will explain when we get there."

Kevin followed her out of the conference room and noted that ships time was late evening. The council meeting took up more than the entire day. They were synced with Washington's time and Kevin sent a quick note to the President with a couple of requests. The response was quick, the first request was already in the works, the second was approved, but only after the announcement, which was scheduled for two days. They reached their quarters and Mina locked the door and proceeded to strip on the way to the bedroom. Kevin followed her and disrobed as they went into the bathroom. Mina had obviously planned ahead as the large tub was full of steaming water and Mina climbed right in.

"Come and join me and we can talk." Mina said holding out her hands to him.

"Mina, what is Omega four?" Kevin demanded.

Mina looked at him imploringly and he felt his resolve starting to weaken. With a sigh he slipped out of his clothes and into the tub. Mina floated into his arms and hugged him tight, the feel of her wet skin against his made him start to harden. Mina grasped his lengthen shaft and slipped it into her slot with a groan.