Chapter 67: Unexpected Research Gift
Picking up Ronnie like a sack of potatoes, I walked him over to the ladder of his ship and propped him up against it for comfort. It did not take long for him to regain consciousness at which point his face turned red with embarrassment. I felt he was about to shout an apology and fearing he would pass out again I interrupted.
"Its ok Ronnie really, you got a little over excited and the stimulation was too much its no big deal. The best thing to do now is to forget about it." I said while putting my arm out to help him up.
Ronnie looked reluctant at reaching out to his Father, compared to Mother he seemed so carefree and lax about the family's hierarchy. He then concluded that since Father was the top of the hierarchy he could feel lax about it.
Grabbing Apollos arm to hoist himself up, Ronnie felt a tingling sensation in the back of his brain at the contact. He shrugged the feeling off to nerves not knowing how close his Psionic parasite was to accidentally blowing his head up due to its excitement.
"Ok then Ronnie you get the ship up and running while I say goodbye to my love one more time." I said in a way that Ronnie took as an absolute order and rushed up the ladder.
Turning to Orchid momentarily I asked her to go find our room on the ship which she did as she jumped straight onto the ship forgoing the ladder. Turning once more this time to Jewel a loving smile adorned her face.
"Your punishment earlier aside, I am glad I got to see you today" I said caressing her cheek with the palm of my hand. "That being said knowing your keeping this body here I may be incentivised to return every few months for a 'rendezvous'" My hands glided down her back and reached her derriere which I began to kneed.
"Then I shall keep you at your word my dearest and await eagerly for you till then." With no more words need saying the both of us leaned in for a kiss that was deep and passionate expressing all our love and desire for one another.
Ronnie who had just turned the ship on and with it the metal plating turned back into windows to the outside caught a glimpse of the kiss the two were sharing before his entire body was compelled violently to look another direction or suffer death.
Fortunately for Ronnie a distraction had entered his cockpit. "cult-prey take me to Apollo-mates room at once." Ronnie frowned inwardly at the command, He was not sure who this person was as Mother only mentioned bringing Father and no one else. Still for the woman in front of him to be able to stand side by side with the great Mother she must be important.
"Of course um... How should I address you mistress?" Orchid eyes squinted slightly, She did not like this prey for some reason but for Apollos sake she held back her urge to display her might upon him. "Apollo granted me the name Orchid upon the founding day, but Orchid doubts very much you will need to utter it often now bring me to Apollos room."
Ronnie proceed to follow Orchids instructions without complaint. He was used to powerful women ordering him around as only women held the higher positions in the family. "Right through here." He said and pointed while keeping his head bowed to not risk more ire. Orchid had completely ignored the weak cult prey and entered the room certain she would not leave until the voyage was complete.
As the door shut behind her, Ronnie let out a quiet sigh of relief before heading back to the cockpit to resume preparations. Heading back, he came across Apollo climbing up the stairs In his hand was a backpack as he climbed deciding to help Ronnie stepped forward and said.
"Fa-Apollo here let me carry your bag while you climb." "Its all good bud I'm already at the top" I said while throwing my backpack/power armour over the top of the ladder.
Ronnie still tried to help and move the backpack out of Apollos way but he could barely make it budge. Noticing his plight I activated Gyrokinesis onto the bag to make it much lighter and now Ronnie lifted it with ease marking his face with confusion. "Go take it to my room before the effect wears off you have about a minute." I said taking a look around the interior of the ship.
"nice shiny metal walls, buttons I have no idea what they do and technology I yet to understand... Yep this is a spaceship alright." Ronnie came back a few minutes later having changed out of his clunky boots and clothes into some green overalls "Apologies for the wait, Its just hard to move in gravity gear on board so I thought I would change."
I gave a small no problem gesture before following him to the cockpit. The room was snug but luckily had 3 chairs inside. I took a seat in a chair I assumed was for passengers and watched and absorbed everything Ronnie did as he prepared to take off.
No more than 5 seconds later the engines began thrusting and we had begun to lift off. It felt vastly different from the void swimmer take offs as I could slightly feel the g force as the ship accelerated upwards.
Back on the ground as Jewel watched the inferior ship take off she felt happy and sad. Happy for Apollo for doing what he wants to do as him being happy makes her happy and saddened because she knew the next few months away from him would feel longer than all of her life up to now.
As she was about to switch bodies and let some drones take her below the surface she felt a familiar energy behind her. Turning around in confusion as to why she felt Apollo was behind her, she did not find him as logic would agree but found a warrior with a unique burn cresting her head.
She would recognise the handprint that made up the burn as easily as her own tentacles but she found herself perplexed as to why it still felt like Apollo's energy was there. Then she heard it through the link It was faint as the bio form in question should not have access to advanced thought communication but Jewel still heard it.
"My queen, This one is changing, this one is confused." Like a whisper In a crowd it was barely audible but jewel had indeed heard it.
Usually unexpected and undocumented mutations were dealt with via execution but it seemed a trace amount of Apollo's limitless potential Psionic energy had acted as a catalyst for the mutation and Jewel had decided to let the mutation run its course.
"Perhaps these months will go by quicker than expected thanks to my loves unexpected research gift." suddenly a lovestruck expression washed across her face as her psionic energy turned pink. "Such an extraordinary mate aiding and making me feel loved even when we are apart." she thought before composing herself before she accidentally drags Apollos ship back into orbit out of deep desire.
Once more resuming her regal aura, she ushered the in pain warrior to below the surface for further study.
Back out in Space Ronnie was looking out of the ships windows in worry. "What's wrong chap?" I asked as his feelings were being displayed through his body language. 'What's a chap?' Ronnie thought inwardly before responding.
"On the way in I had to use a special ammunition that showed I was not a threat to the outer family and since I only had one I'm not sure if they attempt attack again or not." I let out a breath chuckle at the remark before putting his mind at ease. "Don't worry Ronnie, With me on the ship they would not attempt to get close without checking with Jewel, the queen at least 15 times we will be fine."
Ronnie nerves seemed to fall from his body as he took my words as absolute. The flight away from the planet was relatively slow as to avoid any accidental collisions with hive ships or space debris.
15 minutes of flying later Ronnie piped up. "We are far enough away from the dwarf planet to for the FTL drive to chart course to the nearest warp lane that will take us to the Spartari Ecumenopolis sector. The journey will take approximately three weeks, 2 weeks to the nearest warp lane and another week on the lane as it speeds up our drive by 5 times the amount.
Do you have any questions Fa-Apollo?"
A creepy smile crept upon my face that I hid with my hand before Ronnie turned around. "Questions? Oh poor Ronnie I am going to pepper you with so many question in the coming weeks you will regret asking that." I thought evilly.
With the smile now off my face I removed my hand and politely stated. "None for now thanks, but I may ask some later."