Monk

I've learned two things. One: Starfire really does not like being alone. Two: she is a cuddler. Tifa decided, after hearing about what she went through, to let her into our bed. Purely to comfort her of course so it has been a couple of days of abstinence... which really should not be happening to a harem protagonist but it hasn't been all bad. I've been able to get into the girl's minds while they sleep and get more of a feel for how to make this relationship work.

Star opened her eyes, she has been in the middle of the cuddle pile those last nights and has allowed us to hug and hold her during her nightmares.

"Is it time for the breakfast?"

"Um a little later, I have to do something with mark?"

"Making of the love?"

Tifa blushed.

"Yes."

"Can I watch?"

"Fine... I mean, um."

"Too late."

Star smiled and Tifa took in a breath before taking off her nightclothes and getting on top of the bed. I got behind her and took her from behind, Tifa grunted as Starfire smiled and watched.

"So this is human mating."

Tifa looked up and I saw the flush on her face, I decided to analyze her body then... she was vulnerable right now, fertile and... oh. Clever girl.

"Yeah, this is."

Tifa was using her Materia as a form of birth control, I took hold of the energies, manipulated them and then reversed the effect. Tiffa stopped.

"Um..."

I was already rock hard from being backed up, and I forced her to orgasm hard.

"Ugh."

I wasn't going to allow her a chance to protest. Instead this time I cheated, forcing orgasm after orgasm. Tifa collapsed into the pillow, moaning as I came into her. She slumped.

"It looks like fun."

"Yeah, it's fun."

I got off Tifa and let her sigh.

"So breakfast?"

Tifa nodded the three of us showered and picked our breakfasts. I choose a breakfast burrito, Tifa a traditional Japanese breakfast, and Starfire had Pizza with Pineapple, olives, and mustard because alien. I got to my data slate and looked over the work.

The Star Forge was not a one-for-one equal to the original in Star Wars, it wasn't nearly as good, but it used the same concept: lift material and energy from a star and use it as a tool for mass production. One-half of my production was spent on Carriers. Not like what the UNSC called a carrier, more like a massive space station with factories. A station capable of FTL travel and loaded with guns.

The Idea was that the Carriers would be fully capable of making more ships, which would allow us to have mobile production and repair capabilities. As long as the Carriers lived the fleet would live because their nano forges were capable of making more ships out of base material much faster than the UNSC could.

A fourth of my production was dedicated to making Dreadnoughts, 40 kilometer-long ships with lasers and plasma batteries, some of the best force fields out there, and a mass driver based on Mass Effect principles. It was stronger than the railguns of the UNCS by a factor of ten, accelerating materials close to the speed of light. I could only get a single mass driver gun on each Dreadnought but, by God, it was one hell of a gun.

The rest of my production was focused on other crafts. Even with the power of a star, magic, the help of a Washu-class AI, and my own genius this starting fleet would only have a tenth of the numbers that the UNSC could deploy and no ship would be as big as those of the Covenant. We made up for it by using Durasteel construction. And I made everything as easy to use as possible, idiot-proofed all the things, Ragnarok-proofed all the things, and gave it the best forcefields possible.

It made my ships energy hogs, they needed 3 times as much power as a Covenant of USNC ship of the same size. It also made them slightly slower in real space. I mean, yes, our slip space systems were better than the Covenant's... because I stole everything they had and improved upon it. But between durability, shields, and simplicity... speed had to go.

I could have one Dreadnought a week, that would leave me with 30 in total. The other ships, destroyers, cruisers, and support craft would be more numerous. I sighed. Now all I could do was wait, all I could do was hope and pray that this would be enough.

As soon as I have one working Carrier I get it started on more ships.

If I focus a Carrier purely on Dreadnaught production it can make one once a month, with all of their production focused on it, so I do that. I also go through the Covenant's computer systems with my Washu Class AI. I try to worm my way into their military computers, I am ashamed to say it but the only way I could figure out to get in was to essentially start up the Covenant version of OnlyFans.

Yeah, that's right, raw computer power didn't work. Porn? That did the trick. It's a good thing they're so focused on keeping to their old standby, it's a good thing they don't check the legacy code. It makes imputing viruses and malware onto their fleet so much easier. Honestly, I could not pull this off with the UNSC's computers because their AIs and computer people would have everything rooted out within a week.

And with each message my viruses spread around their fleet, there are so many wonderful things you can do when you have access to their root systems. Like shut off their forcefields, their engines, their guns, their life support, or cause their powerplants to go critical and explode. No matter what I do, I can not match the Covenant's industrial might or even the UNSC's industrial might.

So I have to cheat. Our advantage is that we will always know when they're coming but the viruses are time-limited. I give it maybe a year before they figure out that trick and shut it down. Thing is, during that year? The Front will be capable of utterly insane kill ratios.

Because one side will have intact weapons and the others will be rendered sitting ducks. Even if we can only pull it off for a single year that's more than enough to build a reputation, to build a legend. Once one side of a conflict has a reputation for winning and another for losing... well, in a total war against aliens that's one heck of a thing.

This war will be everything for the Front. If we win that's it, we become the legitimate government of whatever we control post-war. If we lose, we die.

"Friend Mark, are you ok?"

I turn around and look at Starfire.

"Yeah. I'm doing ok, Star, just handling a lot of intelligence stuff, and computer stuff. You know how it is, rebellions can't win themselves."

She nods her head.

"Tifa has been talking to me about the rebellions, and showed me some of what this UNSC is doing... they're bad people."

"I know."

"And she showed me what the Covenant is planning, they are also the bad people."

She looked at me.

"You live in a very dark place, Mark."

"If the world doesn't have a faction of good guys then you just have to make your own."

She nods her head at me.

"So what now?"

"Well I'm done for now and I could use a break. Want to go swimming?"

"Yes, that sounds the nice."

I walked with her to the wall, we pressed our hands against it and walked into the pool. Star smiled as she took off her clothes and dove into the water. It was then that Tifa walked in, she looked at me and bit her lip.

"Um, can we talk?"

I smiled at her.

"Sure, Tifa."

She took my hand and took me to a deck chair, she took in a breath.

"I'm late."

I looked at her.

"Is that a problem?"

"I might be pregnant, that's a pretty big deal."

I looked her in the eye.

"This is going to be ok."

"It's probably nothing."

"Even if it isn't, I think you would be a great mother."

She looked over at Starfire.

"What about um her?"

"What about her?"

"Well... it wouldn't be normal."

"Is there anything normal about us?"

Tifa froze.

"Good point."

"Do you want to kick her out of our bed?"

"No... It's just..."

"Just what?"

"I think I like her too."

She looked away.

"Well, then we take this one day at a time. Ok?"

"Ok."

I gave Tifa a hug and we watched Star splash around.