Chapter 11.3 - Adaptation

Kat glimpsed the diagnosis and a cold, vindictive calm settled over her. She turned back towards the man, determined to make what he'd just experienced a walk in the park in comparison to what he'd now feel.

Taking out his wallet, Michael withdrew a thin, narrow capsule. Removing the metal covering, he uncapped the needle and stabbed it into the girl's arm. He'd signed a patent for Quickheal under Matsushita Industries, a short burst of nanites that would flood the patient's systems and fix a wide assortment of problems. It was a basic requirement for all of his soldiers to carry the capsules, and he'd heard that the Council's military was doing the same. Having a minor, non-addictive painkiller that didn't fog the senses as a side effect didn't hurt.

It was a two part injection, because normally after working at an abnormally high rate, the body would be in desperate need of nutrients. So instead of having medics carry around IV bags, this shot also helped them stay healthy chemically while bolstering their immune system to fight infection. It was by no means an alternative to the standard medical practices, and he refused to sell it as such. More than one shot to a wounded patient could kill them, nevermind the stupid sense of invulnerability it would cause if allowed mass use. It was for the extreme moments to stabilise and ensure the patient survived.

He reached down and cradled the unconscious girl in his arms. "Finish up, love," He murmured, heading out of the alley with his eyes glued to the little fighters peaceful features.

He heard a scream cut off sharply, and then a choked gurgle. Kat appeared at his side, using a piece of cloth to clean her knives. Michael glanced over at her and nodded approvingly when he couldn't spot anything that looked like blood.

* * * * *

In the hotel room, he set the unconscious girl on the bed. He and Kat glanced at each other before she wordlessly carried the girl into the bathroom and started her a bath. Michael called down for room service and paid a premium for them to fire up the stoves and deliver the biggest, cheesiest pizza they could manage, along with a juicy sirloin and a few pitchers of iced lemonade and orange juice.

Michael thought he heard whimpering coming through the bathroom door and shook his head, silently wondering what he was getting into... After all, he could be as little as fifteen years her senior, what did he know about child-rearing. He sighed and synced with Pandora to send Rin and Aki a message, telling them to pack their bags. Dejah would be busy catching up with her father and Aurora and Stacey would be running drills in space. Still, the bubbly presence of the twins should at least be a welcome change for this girl.

By the time the girls came out, Michael was watching TV on the bed, a series of covered trays sat on the cart beside him. He studied the now-clean girl as she hesitantly crept closer, shrouded in a fluffy bathrobe. Blonde hair, gray eyes, and a face an angel would kill for. She'd be quite the heartbreaker when she grew up... Her bruises were fading rapidly and although she still moved a bit stiffly, she at least 'looked' well on the way to recovery. At least physically.

Michael patted the edge of the bed and got up to wheel the cart in front of her, whisking off the metal covers as he did so. The girl's eyes went wide and she looked around as if trying to find the army this meal was supposed to feed. His eyes saddened at that, but he quickly recovered.

"It'll get cold if you don't start soon," He chided playfully.

The small girl grinned bashfully and went for a fork before catching Kat's raised eyebrow. Taking the hint, she practically dove mouth first into the pizza, earling a mild cheese burn for her enthusiasm. Micheal distracted himself by going back to watching TV so as not to make it seem like he was hovering.

Kat, satisfied the girl would, and could, eat, curled up beside Michael. At first, the girl looked uncomfortable, but seeing that she was being ignored, dug in with gusto that would've impressed Scooby-doo.

Nevertheless, she eventually conquered both plates and then sat there in awkward silence. Kat sat up and, leaning against Micheal, she asked softly, "What's your name, sweetheart?"

The girl froze for a moment at the sound of the strangers voice, but then relaxed and leaned back into the pillows. If Michael had to guess, that was the first time she'd been comforted since her mother. "Tanya," She rasped.

"What a pretty name," Kat enthused, reaching out fluidly to comb her fingers through the young girl's hair. "What happened to your mother, Tanya?"

Tanya shuddered and her head bowed, tears streaming down her face. But she didn't make a sound. Kat, hand snatched away like she'd touched boiling water, looked to Micheal as if explaining wordlessly it wasn't her intent. He stilled her with clasping her hand warmly within his and gave her a look to say, 'It's ok, I know.'

After a minute Tanya spoke, her voice strong, "She died. Cancer. I don't remember what kind, it had a long name."

Kat nodded and, this time with slight hesitance, opened her arms to embrace the girl, letting her come the final distance. To their shock, the girl fell into her arms easily, her tiny frame quaking silently.

Micheal knew this was a delicate moment and going from basic gut instinct only offered a slow backrub to not enclose the distraught pre-teen. When Tanya's body came back to her and her sniffles had begun to dry up, Kat whispered, "I'm sorry I took your father from you, even though I'm not sorry to have killed him."

The girl jerked as if she'd bitten. She stared at Kat in confusion. Kat narrowed her eyes and ventured, "The man in the alley?"

Realization shown in Tanya's eyes and her expression calmed. "My uncle. He was a fucking leech, spending all of mama's money so she couldn't afford treatments. I'm glad he's dead. My papa died a long time ago in a construction accident."

"Do you have anyone else?" Kat asked, still stroking the girl's hair.

Lightly curled blonde strands shook as Tanya gave a negative shake of her head, looking depressed. Then she looked up as Kat hugged her tightly and murmured in her ear, "You do now."

* * * * *

There was a shriek as Michael tossed Rin into the ocean to join Kat, Aki, and Tanya, who were all splashing around happily, wriggling into their snorkelling gear. Tanya had spent the night sleeping with Kat while he took the couch. He wouldn't have fooled around with anyone that young anyway, but he thought she might have some trust issues after her uncle.

In the morning, Aki and Rin knocked on their door enthusiastically at the chance to go swim with the dolphins. They were surprised when they saw the eleven year old girl, but promptly took her into their care, treating her like a baby sister. As Michael watched Tanya being hugged and doted on in the water, he thought about what he was going to do.

There were plenty of kids on the Intrepid. If he wanted to, he could find a family to take her in. Looking at her now though, he knew the kid would never want for attention if she was surrounded by his girls. He sighed and tossed his fins and mask overboard, vowing to keep an eye on her throughout the day. It would be her decision in the end. Popping in the rebreather device he'd licensed to Takeshi, he dived into the water to put on his own gear.

* * * * *

They all had a wonderful time and saw an ocean full of fish, and yes, dolphins. They ate cold cuts on the boat and when they got back ashore they went out for smoothies. Michael got Tanya's attention and she turned her silvery eyes on him. He was impressed with how serious she could look at such a young age. He cleared his throat and then asked, "Do you have anything tying you down here, or can you just... up and leave?" He asked, feeling very lame at his sudden lack of words.

Her eyes narrowed as she considered the question as well as the implications. Finally, she shook her head, her golden tresses dancing in front of her face. "I don't own much," She whispered, grasping a locket beneath her shirt Michael would bet money contained a picture of her late mother. "'He' didn't let me go to school after mama died." There was no question about who 'he' was.

Michael ignored the huge puppy dog eyes he was getting from the twins and asked, "Would you like to come live on a spaceship?"

Tanya's face was a mask as she stared directly at him and asked, "Why?"

Michael paused, thinking. He couldn't say it was out of pity, that it broke his heart to see her helpless and wanting. He couldn't say something creepy, like she was cute as an angel and who wouldn't want an adorable kid like her. Finally, he shrugged and looked away over the ocean, saying in a faraway voice, "I'm rich and it wouldn't trouble me any. My girls seem to like you and think you could be a welcome addition to the family."

Then he turned and met Tanya's gaze, his voice finding firmer ground. "I also think you have potential. I think, given the means, you would have plunged the knife into your uncle yourself." Michael's expression bore into her, causing a shiver to run down her spine. He whispered, "If you come with me, you will never feel powerless and vulnerable again."

Tanya felt her eyes grow wet and she shook her head furiously to clear them. She took a deep breath and looked up into Michael's steely gaze, willing herself to believe him. There was a long pause before she bowed her head in acquiescence. The motion carried an uncanny resemblance to that of a knight pledging allegiance to his lord. Kat smiled, knowing Micheal would do so much more than that.

* * * * *

It was five weeks before the earliest prediction of the B'Amuf attack was to take place. Tanya was at the edge of exhaustion, but she pushed through it, trying to get a hit on Marcus. She'd been sparring with a handful of people every day between her studies since she'd come aboard the Intrepid. This time the man who'd been preparing Michael's army himself came out to take part in her training.

She was proving to be an incredibly fast talent who only had to learn something once to get the lesson. It was about her twentieth try, but still she was determined. Michael spotted a difference in her stance this time and as she lunged forwards, as she had done so countless times before, she flipped the metal rod that represented her "knife."

As Marcus countered, he saw the change and shifted his stance. Just as he moved his leg, Tanya flipped her knife again and slid underneath the counter to stab him in the shin. It wasn't a fatal blow and left her wide open, but her triumphant smile couldn't have been wider. The crowd of onlookers erupted into applause and Michael heard a pleasing, feminine laugh to his right.

Looking over, he spotted Mara observing the scene with relish. She'd asked to come aboard the Intrepid since her immediate services were no longer required. She was fascinated by the deviousness many of the human weapons showed and was determined to learn all she could about how they worked.

"She's precious, isn't she?" Mara asked, glancing over at him with a smile. "She's just at the age where one of my people would have started their training. Someone of her talent would have been highly regarded."

Michael grinned, feeling pride for what Tanya had accomplished. He regarded the dark-skinned woman appreciatively, having already fallen in love with her smoky voice and lithe form. The corner of her mouth quirked up and Mara returned his scrutiny. After a time, she asked, "Care to join me on the mat? I have failed to 'work-out' since I got here."

He threw his head back and laughed, "I'd be delighted to be your punching bag."

Mara smirked, "Well, at least you know your place."

Michael grinned in response and told Pandora to lower the effect of the nanites in his system. It wouldn't lessen his muscle mass or anything, but it would keep him from performing inhuman bursts of speed and strength, as well as diminishing his endurance. He didn't like sparring against non-enhanced people for just that reason. He felt that if he was really practicing for combat he should go all out.

They walked out into the open space in the hangar bay, people clearing out of their way. Michael stripped off his uniform top and boots, while she pressed an area on her armoured flak jacket and it clunked to the deck, revealing the same black regulation tank top his soldiers were allocated. She stepped out of her magnetic boots that looked like they also had tiny booster rockets attached to them, and stepped four paces away from Michael.

They both bowed their heads as one, neither taking their eyes off the other. They began circling each other, Mara taking up an unknown stance that caused her entire body to twist and turn when she moved. They closed and Michael kicked low to take out her legs. She jumped clear over him, her armoured knee sailing towards his face.

Instead of trying to block the attack, he grabbed hold of her leg and used her momentum to roll himself backwards, manoeuvring her body over his head to hit the mat hard. Before he could capitalize on this however, she had seemingly effortlessly twisted herself up to her feet and sent a kick streaking towards his kneeling form which he barely managed to block, getting to his feet unsteadily.

For the next few minutes the pair danced around each other. It appeared to all that Mara had a point to prove, if to no one but herself, while Micheal kept his breathing controlled and his movements fluid. She didn't let him use his taller frame to his advantage, continually spinning into him to use her elbows, her braided hair whipping out to distract him. Michael would drive his knee up, forcing her back where he'd get one good kick in before she was back inside his defense. As Michael sent a palm strike barrelling towards her solar plexus, she twisted her body out of the way and latched both her hands around his wrist and arm, searching out pressure points.

His eyes blazed and he tugged his arm back, coiling his legs. As she found what she was looking for, she allowed herself to be pulled slightly off balance, then got blasted across the mat as Michael gave up all pretence of 'form' and hockey-checked her, driving his shoulder into her unprotected side.

She somehow managed to roll to her feet, but was left wide open for Michael's heel to drive into her sternum, knocking her flat, gasping for air. His arm hung limp and nerveless at his side and he gave a snort of annoyance. The nanites flooded back into his system and Mara watched in amazement as his bruises faded and he flexed his arm.

Tossing her a metal capsule, Michael reached down and hauled her to her feet saying in an amused voice, "Best two out of three?"

There was a silence before a dusky, throaty laugh came free from her grey tinted lips, her eyes alight with an inner fire. 'The Felician was right,' She thought, following his instructions on the capsule. 'A dangerous race indeed.'

* * * * *

Following his workout, he and Kat had lunch with Dejah and her father. The rest of his girls were getting a tan at the artificial beach that had been invaded by dozens of lizard-like aliens. Revarjah had mixed feelings towards Michael, having confirmed that he was his daughter's lover. The older Felician's protective instincts were firing full force and warring with his knowledge that the young man 'had' saved her in the first place, something he'd never managed to accomplish.

On one hand, Dejah seemed happy; glowing, in fact. He also didn't think he had much right to decide her life when he'd been absent for so long. On the other, the rumours about Michael around the ship stated that he had many mates. This in itself wasn't a cause for concern, males of his species were outnumbered by the females quite considerably. Yet, what kind of mate could he be when he seemed to have not known his daughter for long?

There was much Revarjah didn't understand about these humans, but Michael seemed to be an anomaly even amongst his own kin. Finally deciding that he really didn't get a say in how Dejah lived her life, he resigned himself to waiting to see how it turned out. And if that boy hurt her...

After lunch, Michael went to his office and took a series of visitors in order to discuss issues in the running of the ship and future plans regarding the Intrepid. The long term nature of the commitments these decisions would affect made him a more appropriate choice than Aurora. One of the main concerns Michael had for the ship was its longevity in space.

Theoretically, they could survive unassisted indefinitely with nothing but algae, water, and power. In reality, they'd run out of protein supplements in six months, bathroom amenities in three. The amount of specialized components they could create aboard the ship was only about 80% complete, the rest of which; filter cartridges for air and water filtration, waste disposal measures, mineral intake outside the alloy spectrum would all be things they 'had' to get from docking at a station.

Trying to trace the supply of leather they'd need for the interiors of fighter cockpits and combat boots to the number of cows they could afford to clone at once and so on was becoming a nightmare. Pandora was a godsend in organizing everything and Michael was heaping more and more responsibility onto her shoulders.

During the past few months, Michael had directed all the science and engineering divisions not working on military projects to developing products that could be grown or assembled on the ship. He was well aware that should certain luxury items like alcohol, chemicals to churn out good food, and entertainment devices suddenly become scarce, morale would plummet.

Part of the solution could be alieviated by transforming set points throughout their travels into, in effect, farm planets. Whie literally terraforming an entire planet sounded great, it was incredibly resource intensive, time consuming and unpredictable. The alternative would be to set stations aside to the task, but this still left them with the original issue, the amount of resources a station could gather without outside, in this case planetary, assistance.

One surprise he'd found was that Serkiss and Isaac's race were apparently renowned for their ability in technology. They had been a tremendous help getting the shield systems working on the Intrepid and were finding new ways to be of use every day. Many had already been recruited to the crew, having been attracted to the giant pond.

Finally, the last visitor had left. Kat was throwing spikes at a target in the corner of the room. Michael was leaning back in his chair, feet up on the desk and synced with Pandora. She was telling him about an ex-USAF pilot, now part of the TDF (Terran Defence Force), who had caught her attention and strongly recommended him for a position among his fighters.

There wasn't much time to prepare and many traditional pilots found the extra dimension of controlling the drones to be impossible, but his AI was adamant. Just as Michael gave his assent, his girls burst into the office wearing skimpy swimsuits that didn't leave much to the imagination. Tanya went over to Kat and began practicing her throwing.

The twins jumped up on the desk and whipped away their tops to show him their, uh... tan lines? Michael chuckled at their exuberance and allowed Stacey to drag him away to the bath. He was pushed down on top of an air mattress that had become a new addition to the area. Rin, Aki, Stacey, and Aurora doused themselves in massage oil and piled atop Michael, rubbing themselves against each other.

Micheal managed to gasp out a, "Holy fu-" Before being silenced by a tender kiss that morphed into a tongue wresting match with the statuesque ship captain. Only when she broke the kiss, did he realise that the 'many' vs. one massage had turned into a harmonious moment where each had paired off.

Glancing over to see where the other girls had gone, he saw that Dejah had returned. Seeing she held his attention, she dropped to her hands and knees and prowled towards him with all the grace of a stealthy, deadly panther. Climbing onto his chest she lowered her head and stole his breath away in a heated kiss, her elongated canines nipping his lower lip.

Wrapping his arms around his azure-colored beauty, he looked into her sapphire eyes and raised an eyebrow, "Still love me?"

She laughed delightfully and smothered his face with her lightly-furred mounds. "Maybe," She teased. "I think I might like Tanya more." Her eyes twinkled and Michael grinned, biting down on a nipple in retribution.

Aki laughed and hugged Dejah around the waste. "That's just because she gets to use you as a pillow at night," The Asian girl said with a mock hurt look. "She's monopolizing the softest thing this side of the galaxy."

A rumble of laughter came from Michael, still buried beneath two scrumptious boobs. He'd given Tanya her own apartment, Stacey's old one in fact, closest to the lift that would take her up to Michael's suites. Even a couple doors away was apparently too far for his girls and they'd been sneaking into her room at night to keep her company.

If she wanted to join them in their activities when she got older then she could make that decision then, but Michael didn't want to influence her one way or another and so felt the need to distance himself from her in certain areas.

Finally, Michael grasped Dejah by her luscious ass and raised her up. Aki promptly positioned his cock to enter the Felician and they all heard a satisfied hiss as she sunk down along his length. Two quick thrusts had her adjusted properly and he held onto her waist as he started a harrowing rhythm that had her huffing and puffing.