Home to roost
St. Louis arches her back letting out a cry of pleasure before falling forward to rest on Aidan's bare chest, listening to his racing heartbeat. Aidan slides his hands around her hips to rest them on her bare stern, breathing hard and kissing the top of her head. The two of them locked together in a lover's embrace.
St. Louis turns her head to look at the sunrise over the port, just before her phone starts to ring, with a heavy sigh, she pushes up with her hands against his chest. She reaches across him to take her phone to see the time, her reddish-purple eyes closing as she sighs, "I need to get going, your next partner is due to arrive in an hour."
Aidan slides his hands up to softly caress her exposed bust as he says, "I kind of wish you didn't have to go, Lou."
She smiles and holds his hands against her bust as she leans forward to kiss him, deepening the kiss as soon as he commits to it. When it breaks she rests her forehead against his as she says, "Me too, but this is the best option. There is only one of you and a lot of us."
"Yeah." He sighs when she lets go of his hands and gets off of him.
She walks to the shower just off the bedroom and winks at him, "If you've got enough stamina, we could have a shower for two."
Aidan pulls the sheets off and gets out of bed quickly with a goofy grin on his face, "Sounds good to me!"
St. Louis lets off a slight giggle before taking his hand in hers and walking into the shower, stopping to rest her head against his shoulder. Sensing something different Aidan asks, "Lou, is something wrong?"
"Yes and no." she says as she bends at her hips to turn on the water.
Placing his hands on her hips, then around her midsection to hold her close he asks, "What is it, Lou?"
St. Louis straightens up, resting her head against him as she says, "I did not bleed last month, I'm almost three weeks late now."
Aidan holds her tighter and kisses the right side of her neck before he says, "It sounds like you may have a passenger onboard now."
St. Louis looks down at her belly, placing her hands over his. She bites her lower lip before admitting, "I'm scared."
"I understand, Lou, this is a big deal. But whatever happens, the entire port will face it together." He tells her as they stand under the warm water of the shower together.
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Climbing into the cockpit Aidan asks, "Merlin, you up for a hop?"
Always.
"Good, Yorktown should be getting near the location you listed as the manufacturing facility." He says while going through the checklist.
Has it been two weeks already since she left?
"Yeah, amazing how time is starting to fly." Aidan sighs and looks out at the runway ahead of him.
What is wrong?
Looking off to his side Aidan sighs, "Lou is pregnant, she's the first one I've knocked up."
That took long enough. You have been having unprotected intercourse with these kansen for close to a year at this point.
"Fair, but it's been a different girl every day." He sighs.
My point exactly, I would have expected more than one to be carrying your spawn by now.
Rolling his grey eyes Aidan laughs, "Yeah, well, I don't control what happens there."
Any word from TB yet?
"No, not yet, do you want to stop by there first?" he asks the Hellcat.
Yes, perhaps TB has been preoccupied with another task.
Shrugging Aidan says, "Alright, plot a course, and let's get in the air."
Course plotted, metrological conditions are optimal, and flight control surfaces are in optimal condition.
Putting power to the engines and lowering the flaps as they start to thunder down the runway, Aidan looks out the side to see a woman standing on the side of the runway, her red hair whipping in the wash from the engines of the Hellcat and he whispers, "Sorry, Sovereign."
She will take it out of your hips when we get back.
Aidan chuckles, "That's…. very likely."
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"Greetings, Aidan Webb, what can I do for you today?" says the holographic white woman with a blue stripe in her hair as she fades into existence over a holographic table as well some kind of spinner game appears beside her and she adds, "Based on our last game together, I figured something that relies more on chance and less on skill may be a better match for your abilities."
Sighing and taking a seat at the holographic table Aidan pouts, "Yeah, yeah, stupid ages, I get it."
The holographic woman closes her electric blue eyes and giggles softly before banishing away the game and taking a seat on a holographic chair, crossing her knees and resting her hands on them before asking, "How may I help you?"
"I was wondering if you managed to solve that issue I brought to you, about Merlin." He asks as he reaches over to rest a hand on the table.
TB stands up again and a board appears behind her, she starts writing out a series of equations as she starts to spout, "Based on the science of artificial intelligence, tesseract energy cores, and quantum phy…"
"English please, remember," Aidan says as he points at himself and continues, "I'm from the stupid ages."
TB sighs and waves her hand across the board, erasing all of her work before making an image of a blue cube of energy appear as she says, "In theory, since you have a strong attachment to Merlin, one of these should work. However, they are designed to work on warships, so perhaps find a squadron or two to defuse the energy across."
"How does my strong attachment to Merlin come into this?" Aidan asks as he looks at the image of the cube.
"The KAN-SEN are the manifestation of the hopes and dreams of those that served aboard them, as you fly a Hellcat, your thoughts will have an impact on them if this works." TB says.
"And if I tried to use it on just one Hellcat?" he asks.
"There would be insufficient material to contain the energy expended, likely resulting in your death." TB says as she folds her hands in front of her.
"Well, that is unexpected. Now I've seen the kansen summon another of their kind, would ocean water be required for Merlin too?" Aidan asks with a head tilt.
"In theory, no, the element they will interact with most will be required. As you require air to breathe, that will not be a problem." TB states as she turns around and starts to write on the board again.
"Stupid ages." Aidan sighs.
"That is fine, this is simple enough for you to understand." She says as she finishes writing out a list.
Find more Hellcats.
Place the cube between Hellcats.
Open the cube container.
Run like hell.
Wait up to twenty-four hours for effects to happen.
She taps each point and says, "See, simple."
"Yeah, thanks, TB. Now where do I find a cube?" Aidan asks rubbing the back of his head.
"There is a wrecked transport ship approximately sixty miles to the west of here on the reefs of Kure Atoll. The cargo of cubes has likely been leaking into the ocean since the war and floating in the currents." TB says as the map changes to show the small island of Kure Atoll.
Tilting his head to the side he asks, "Is that a runway? If it is, will there be ground defenses?"
"Likely, however as it was under Eagle Union control at the time, they will not fire upon your Hellcat as the IFF will mark it as friendly." TB states.
Rolling his eyes Aidan says, "If it does, I'm going to be pretty pissed."
"And I will have been wrong about something, which will irritate me to no end." TB says to him as she turns and looks at the island.
Getting out of the chair, Aidan starts to walk to the exit as he says, "Thanks, TB, next time I come by, we'll play some games you like, but right now I have to get to an aircraft factory to see if it's still working and producing Hellcats."
"One moment please." TB says before closing her eyes and bringing up an image of an airport near water as she says, "It would see this facility went untouched and has continued to produce Hellcats, at least until reaching the required number of the facility. According to their inventory, they have one in an internal hanger bay; it likely avoided the worst of the bombing."
Rubbing his head, Aidan says hopefully, "Here's hoping it's a two-seater then."
"Likely, the identification numbers on it indicate it is a T model, marking it as a trainer." TB says.
"Thanks again TB!" Aidan chirps before leaving the facility and climbing into the Hellcat.
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Trying to drag the heavy metal door open, straining and grunting the entire time, Yorktown comes over and starts to pull the hangar door with Aidan as she asks, "Are you sure there is something in here?"
As the door locks into place, Aidan bends at his hips, his chest heaving in and out as he pants, "Y.. yeah. T…B said there should… be a trainer type in here."
Just after the door locks into place, a horde of the yellow chickens runs inside the hanger, one with an officer cap directing them. Standing back upright Aidan continues, "But this is only part of what I got to do, I need to get out to Kure Atoll too, apparently there is a cube transport shipwrecked on the reefs there that is likely losing cargo over time into the ocean."
Yorktown folds her hands in front of her, squishing her bust together as she says, "Why not send some of the girls?"
Aidan goes to protest but stops and rubs the back of his head as he says, "You know what, why not? I won't be able to do this till you get back to Pearl anyway."
One of the yellow chickens waddles up to them and chirps at Yorktown a few times and she nods as she says, "I see, thank you."
"What'd it say?" Aidan asks with a head tilt.
"They found the aircraft, it does have two seats, however, they cannot get it out until they clear some debris." Yorktown says to Aidan.
Rubbing the back of his head, Aidan sighs, "How long is that going to take?"
"They said it should take a few hours," Yorktown says before looking around and whispering to Aidan, "We could always spend some time alone, I have heard you are quite good from some of the other girls."
Aidan tugs at his flight gear before asking, "Really?"
Yorktown smiles and kisses his cheek before saying, "Yes, and I have not forgotten how you tried to avoid looking."
Looking up at the sky, Aidan shrugs before he says, "Only if you're sure."
Yorktown takes his hand in hers and starts to lead him away from the hanger as she says, "Then let us find some privacy."
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Sitting in the cockpit of the new Hellcat, he takes a deep breath and activates the startup sequence of the craft, everything starts up like normal. Closing his grey eyes he asks, "Hello?"
Connection established… Greetings Admiral Webb, I am pilot support and training program, Morgen. How may I help you?
Aidan lets out a breath and leans back against the seat as he says, "Nothing right now, I'm just happy you're working. I'm going to put you into low-power mode for transport."
May I ask why?
"Because there is only one of me, and I need to get you to Hickman Field, while I fly another Hellcat there." He tells the AI.
I see, my sensors detect another Hellcat nearby, is that the aircraft?
"It is, I call him Merlin." Aidan says as he reaches for the setting switch.
I see, I look forward to conversations with Merlin, I have been alone a long time.
"You have, but let's change that." Aidan says as he switches the craft to low power mode and climbs out. As his boots hit the ground, he turns his attention to the chickens and says, "Okay, let's get this loaded up on Yorktown, then I'll meet you all back at Pearl."
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Two weeks and a day later the rain is coming down hard as Aidan stands outside his hanger, his mouth hanging open at what he sees before him; the three aircraft sitting right where he left them. Yet everything that had been on the walls of the hangar is strewn around, the pull truck up on its side, all the windows blown out. However, it is the three nude women lying on the ground that have his full attention.
One of the three sits up, her orange hair looking messy, her athletic frame; breathing in and out she looks at him, blinking golden eyes as she asks, "Admiral Webb?"
Tilting his head to the side Aidan asks, "Merlin?"
"Why does the hangar look so much bigger?" the woman asks.
"It's not." He says slowly as the other two start to stir.
"Then what is wrong?" the woman asks.
"Merlin, it worked." Aidan says slowly, looking back at the planes.
The woman turns to look at the aircraft as she keeps sitting on the ground, "This is strange."
"Yeah." Aidan says slowly, "I guess we can mark that task as done."
"And many more to go." She says as she stands and walks up to her other self, touching the nose cone as she says, "I feel this." Her other hand touched the nose on her face.
"I'm, going to go and get some help, I think you're going to need it." Aidan says as he slowly turns from the three women in his hangar, not sure on what to do right now.
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