Chapter 100: 99. Discipline

By the time Sarah and I finished stowing all the supplies we'd almost run out of places to put things.

The freezers and cold storage were full, so were all the cupboards in the galley. And the storage compartment aft of the galley was packed too, every shelf was stuffed and we'd used up half the floorspace as well.

We'd just finished putting away the last of it when Jenny's voice came over the intercom and announced, "Rebecca and I are returning to the ship. ETA five minutes."

"Thanks Jen," Sarah responded. "Have you told the boss about our guests this afternoon?"

The AI replied, "Of course not. I trust you will brief the captain when you're ready Sarah."

The cute blonde grimaced slightly, "Thanks Jenny. I'm not looking forward to it, but I'll tell her as soon as you're both back."

Sarah got a couple shot glasses out along with a bottle of whiskey, and set them out on the dining table in preparation for that conversation. Then the two of us sat and waited for our shipmates to return.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," I said as I pulled my girlfriend into a hug. "She'll be cross, maybe a bit grumpy, but she'll get over it."

"I hope you're right," Sarah sighed as she leaned into the hug.

A few minutes later the grav-sled was parked in the main hold and our other girlfriend and android crewmate joined us in the mess.

Rebecca took one look at the expression on our engineer's face along with the glasses and bottle on the table then sighed, "What's wrong?"

Sarah sighed, "I need to tell you something boss, and you're not going to like it."

The captain and Jenny joined us at the table, drinks were poured, then Sarah started explaining the situation while the rest of us all listened quietly.

Rebecca remained silent, but her expression gradually grew darker over the next ten minutes or so while our engineer confessed about her meeting with Lieutenant Ferguson last time we were on this world. The boss looked even more unhappy as Sarah went on to tell her about our surprise meeting with the Kennington's captain this afternoon.

Apart from looking unhappy, our captain didn't really say anything or give any indication of what she was thinking. She didn't touch her drink either, and that was maybe the most worrisome thing I noticed. Like normally any difficult or upsetting conversation was accompanied by a few shots of whiskey, but this time she ignored the full glass in front of her and focused entirely on our blonde girlfriend and her confession.

Eventually Sarah ran out of things to say. She'd come clean about her first meeting with Andy, including everything she told him and how she got him to swear to keep it to himself. And she relayed all the details of this afternoon's encounter, including Captain McClure's promise not to include anything about us in her reports or tell anyone else in the Navy or the Imperium.

After that, the four of us sat there in silence. Three of us were anxiously watching the boss, waiting to see how she'd react to all this. And our captain gradually let her gaze slide down off of Sarah, then she just stared at the table for a few quiet minutes. She had a thoughtful frown on her face, but still hadn't said a word yet.

Another minute or two passed and it started to feel even more awkward, so I decided I needed to break the impasse.

"Rebecca?" I asked softly. "What are you thinking? Are you ok?"

She took a deep breath, then let out a deep sigh. And at long last she looked back up, then fixed her frowning gaze on our engineer.

"Obviously I'm upset," she stated in a quiet level voice. "You all know how much I've wanted to avoid dealing with the Imperium. Above and beyond my own personal reasons, you know how they'd react if they found out about Jenny. Half of them would immediately want to destroy her, while the other half would do whatever they could to get their hands on her."

She continued, "Even without giving them specific details you've told a Navy captain and a chief engineer what Jenny can do. The more people who find out, the greater the risk that information is going to get into the wrong hands. Then ontop of all our other struggles out here, we could end up having half the Imperium looking for us."

Rebecca sighed again as she shook her head, "That puts all of us at risk, but especially Jenny. That, and the fact that you went behind my back to meet Lieutenant Ferguson in the first place, are the two things that I'm most upset about. I'm not happy with any of it mind you, but those are the things that hurt most."

"I'm sorry boss," Sarah started to apologize, but the captain cut her off before she could say anything else.

"I don't want to hear it right now Sarah," she interrupted. "This is the other reason I was reluctant to let myself get too close to any of you. Because it's up to me to maintain discipline on this ship, and that's extremely difficult when I'm in a relationship with my crew."

After a deep breath decided, "Sarah you're ineligible for shore leave until further notice, you're not allowed in the cockpit except to fulfil your duties as engineer, and your access to comms is revoked outside of emergency situations. I won't bother confining you to your quarters, but you are confined to the ship."

Our engineer nodded once, "I understand captain."

"Dismissed," the boss stated.

Even though Sarah wasn't confined to quarters it was clear the captain didn't want to see her right now, so our engineer got to her feet and headed for our cabin.

Rebecca got up as well, then collected the three untouched glasses and dumped them in the sink before putting away the bottle. Jenny stood up as well, but she seemed hesitant about what to do or where to go.

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And I was torn, between wanting to go with Sarah to make sure she was ok and wanting to stay with Rebecca for the same reason. What she said about our relationship worried me, like maybe this slip-up would lead to her shutting down again and closing herself off from the rest of us. I really didn't want to see her go back to being the quiet lonely stoic she was when we first met.

After a couple seconds of indecision I decided the the boss was my top priority. I'd check on Sarah afterwards, and I was confident she'd understand and agree with my reasoning.

So I got up and moved to stand next to the captain, while out of the corner of my eye I saw Jenny head forward out of the mess. I figured she was waiting to see which girlfriend I'd go to first, so she was probably off to check on Sarah.

"Rebecca?" I asked softly as I slipped an arm around her waist, "Are you doing ok?"

I felt her tense up slightly as I touched her, which worried me. She didn't pull away though, which I took to be a good sign.

"I'm unhappy Amanda," she half whispered, half sighed. "I hate being in this position."

My arm was still around her waist, and I gently guided her towards the lounge. "C'mon, let's get comfortable so we can talk, ok?"

She didn't resist, and a few moments later we were cuddled together on the sofa. I made sure my big floofy tail ended up on her lap, since I knew petting and stroking it would help her calm down. Having her holding my tail helped keep me calm too, so it was good for both of us.

Once we were comfortable I suggested, "I know you're upset Rebecca, and you have good reason to be. And like you said, as captain it's your job to maintain discipline on the ship. You also look out for all four of us, and we all understand and appreciate that."

I still had an arm around her waist, and I ended up with my head leaning against her shoulder while she quietly hugged and stroked my tail. She didn't say anything though, so I moved on to the difficult bit.

"You're not just our captain though," I continued. "You're also our girlfriend, and I know that complicates things. Like we said from the start though, good communications is critical. So I really think the three of us need to spend as much time together as we can, at least before our passenger comes aboard. I know Sarah understands and accepts your decision as captain. She'll respect that, she's not going to try and change your mind. And I'm positive she won't try and circumvent it. But..."

I paused slightly and maybe braced myself a little, "I think it's important for both of you that this doesn't hurt your relationship. You need to let her know that. And you need to let her know how you feel about the situation."

Rebecca almost pouted as she sighed, "I know Amanda. I appreciate you looking out for me, for all of us like this."

She paused slightly then asked, "I suppose you'll want to be there too, when I try and talk with her?"

"Only if you and she both want me there," I replied. "I don't want to be mediator and I don't want to get between you two, but I'll be there as your and her girlfriend if it helps you both to talk."

"I'll keep that in mind," she said as she continued stroking my tail.

After that the two of us just cuddled quietly for a while. I kept my head resting against her shoulder, she played with my tail, and I was silently grateful she hadn't locked herself away alone in her cabin.

Some fifteen or twenty minutes later Rebecca suddenly grimaced, "Are you still planning on sending another message to your sister?"

That made me cringe too, "I was. I meant to ask if you'd come with me to the Vesfar Urox office tomorrow morning. But um, I understand if you'd rather I stopped corresponding with Nyssa."

She took a deep breath then sighed, "Honestly Amanda, I'm starting to feel like the whole situation is beginning to spiral out of control. Between you talking with your family, Sarah hearing from hers, today's revelations about McClure and Ferguson, and the business with Gwen, it feels like I'm getting sucked into Imperium stuff regardless."

She added, "I suppose it'd be pretty hypocritical of me to ask you to stop talking with your sister, when I've given Gwen the go-ahead to start talking with her family about me. Especially when that conversation may well lead to an entire fucking Imperium planet knowing who I am."

"Are you having second thoughts about going ahead with those plans with Gwen?" I asked.

Rebecca grimaced again, "Of course I am. It seemed like a good idea when Jenny brought it up, but there's going to be risks. And even being 'princess in exile' will be a huge upheaval to the quiet independent life I've enjoyed out here."

"I can't really back out of it though," she sighed. "I mean, for one thing I have a feeling Gwen wouldn't care that the whole 'Gabe adopted me' thing was just a cover story? Like she seems convinced I'm the princess regardless. And the only way I could really explain that I wasn't his adopted daughter would probably involve telling her who I really was, and that'll put targets on all our backs. The Cumberland disaster might seem like old news, but it was a huge cover-up and even four decades later I'm positive they won't want to leave a survivor around to tell the tale. Just the fact that they killed two of their own senators along with all those sailors and marines would be a huge scandal. That they did it to justify a border war is the cherry on top."

I gave her a gentle squeeze, "Whatever happens we're all here for you Rebecca. Me, Sarah, and Jenny. I'm sure you can rely on Tamsin too."

"Thanks Amanda," she hugged my tail a little tighter to her chest. "Speaking of Tamsin, maybe I should send Helen an FTL and ask if she wants to do business with the Navy ship. Or maybe we just say nothing. Kennington can go to Rolandan-2 and I'm sure someone's willing to sell them some spare parts."

I kept quiet about that, since I didn't actually know Helen or Tamsin well enough to guess how they'd feel about it.

After a few more minutes our quiet cuddle finally ended, as Rebecca decided to go to the cockpit and contact Helen. And while she did that, I went to the cabin to check on my other girlfriend.