The city was floating in the clouds of a gas giant, the thick atmosphere above them glowing with the diffused light of a bright white giant. During the day it was so bright one had to stay inside, the UV exposure dangerous even through the thick atmosphere above them. For most of the night it was still remarkably light, barely even seeming like dusk. 

Apart from the interesting sky, though, it wasn’t an overly exciting world. Mostly it served as a mining community, extracting rare chemicals from the depths of the gas giant’s core. The main settlement was reasonably large, though, serving as the capital for a whole province of the Kobaroic Kingdom. 

Which struck Svetlana as a good place to put her plan in motion. Especially since she was being given some time off to allow her to meet up with Ouzzhen. Travelling between star systems took rather a while, even with jump space, so there was lots of scheduling involved to meet up over long distances. 

Seizing her first day off in weeks, she dragged O’tmyil over to a private room in the hotel, away from any of the security detail and assorted aids. Luckily they’d booked an entire floor for all the staff following her around so there was plenty of space.

“So, you don’t have DNA, right?” she asked, once she’d closed the door behind them.

“That... that is correct,” O’tmyil replied, knowing that Svetlana was plotting something, but not what. “There are other ways to tie a holographic android to a crime scene, however.”

Svetlana stared at her, slightly thrown by the train of thought she’d used. “Woah. No. No. I’m not talking crimes... at least I don’t think I’m talking crimes. Maybe a slight crime, if needed, but I’m hoping it won’t be needed.”

That merely drew a confused head tilt from O’tmyil, which Svetlana supposed made sense. It wasn’t a very good opener.

“Vampires do have DNA, don’t they?” Svetlana asked.

“That--yes?” O’tmyil replied.

“So, even though Thisbe couldn’t carry a kid... alien fertility tech means I could carry hers, right?” Svetlana asked.

“... I suppose so, yes?”

“And... would the kid be a vampire?”

O’tmyil took a moment to think the matter over, Svetlana being able to sense the slight shift that showed she was accessing the local information network. “I... am uncertain.”

“Ah. I just don’t want the baby biting me or anything. Though I suppose babies don’t have teeth. And the already feed on your blood through the placenta,” Svetlana said, growing slightly lost in thought. “Huh... maybe fetuses are all vampires.”

Looking over, she realised O’tmyil was staring at her and did not seem overly impressed.

“Sorry. Anyway, I figure the actual royal doctors probably won’t like the idea of me having Thisbe’s kid. Too scandalous, right?”

“The Empress being pregnant with a supernatural’s child? Almost certainly,” O’tmyil replied.

“So, I was figuring we could do it out here. Find someone willing to pretend they don’t know who Thisbe and I are, then it can be a done deal when the royal doctors find out,” Svetlana said. “And, once the baby’s born, boom, suddenly there’ll be another round of baby-mania, everyone wanting to know more about Thisbe and seeing how great she is.”

“I suppose that seems... plausible,” O’tmyil replied. “I will attempt to find a suitable fertility clinic.”

“Sweet,” Svetlana said. “Now I just have to go see if Thisbe likes the idea.”

“... you did not discuss this with her first?”

“Uh, well--I didn’t want to offer it before I knew if it was possible or not first,” Svetlana said, feeling a touch self-conscious.

The reply was apparently acceptable, however, based on O’tmyil’s mood softening.

Leaving her to search through the local net to find an appropriate clinic, Svetlana then slipped of to find Thisbe. Which wasn’t hard. The suite they were staying in was nice, but not overly large. And, well while everyone else was out and about, Thisbe did not care for a planet that effectively lacked night (to say nothing of days that burned the living as if they were vampires). Which meant that while everyone else was off stretching their legs to embrace being on a planet she would be hiding spending time gaming. She was in the second room Svetlana checked, playing on her Fami-go (an ancient brick of a portable console). 

“Heyyyy...” Svetlana said, realising that she wasn’t certain how to actually ask what she was about to ask.

“Hello?” Thisbe said, pausing her game. “What’s up?”

“Uhhh... do you want to have a kid?” Svetlana asked, deciding to skip over beating around the bush.

There was only so much time on the planet before they had another scheduled event, after all. Maybe it wasn’t the most tactful option, but it was clear and efficient. The result was a furious blush and frazzled stammering from Thisbe. Finally, she managed to pull a sentence together.

“I... I can’t...” she managed.

“I can, though,” Svetlana replied.

That got a blink from Thisbe. “Oh. I--but... right. Alien technology. That... oh my. It would really work?”

“O’tmyil says it would,” Svetlana replied. “I, uh, had to check with her, though I had been pretty sure, proving my university degree isn’t totally useless.”

Even if the only other thing it had been good for was stress about paying OSAP back.

“That... I think I would love to, though I must ask what has brought this up all of a sudden? This world doesn’t exactly seem romantic,” Thisbe asked as she shut off her Fami-portable. 

“Um... well, everyone seems to love babies, and is gushing about how good of a mother Vivian is. So I was thinking if we had a baby they’d also start gushing about you, which would help the jerks get their heads out of their--well, get them to stop being such jerks about supernaturals as a whole,” Svetlana said.

“Oh...” Thisbe began, sounding slightly less enthusiastic about it than Svetlana had hoped.

“Especially to make them like you more. Because you deserve it, and I can’t think of any more efficient way to do it,” Svetlana offered, before leaning forward to offer Thisbe a soft kiss on the lips.

She then felt the shift in Thisbe’s empathic projection and knew that had worked.

“Plus, I think we’d make an adorable kid together,” Svetlana offered, pulling Thisbe along.

The clinic was fairly small, but looked clean and professional. Though clunky and dated, as all Kobaroic architecture was. The computers looked surprisingly 90s. Even though she wasn’t as big on that retro tech as Thisbe or Cartridge were, even she felt the allure of it. There was just something cozy about blocky beige computers. 

The technicians at the clinic did not speak English (or French... or any Earth languages, actually), having not exactly expected to ever interact with any humans. Meanwhile, Svetlana did not understand more than the most basic sentences in Kobaroic. So O’tmyil handled most of the conversations while Thisbe offered a little feedback, having had more time off to study new languages. 

Still, as far as Svetlana could tell it seemed to be going well. The Kobaroian technicians weren’t overly familiar with humans and just thought her and Thisbe were the same general ethnicity as the members of the Imperial Family. Also, O’tmyil and O’myinis were currently projecting as a Kobaroian forms to further throw the scent off. It was apparently clear the pair were AIs, but holographic AIs were more common than Svetlana had realised. Especially in a mining oriented community. 

After somewhat more cash exchanged hands than Svetlana suspected was normal, she was led to a second room without signing any forms. The nurse placed three small sticky monitors on her (one on her temple, one near her heart, and one on her belly). They were similar to the ones Vivian had worn for Houyu’s birth, and the tall Kobaroian woman looked over Svetlana’s vitals.

“Seems good,” the woman said, before then adding something Svetlana couldn’t follow. 

Whatever it was surprised the others, though. There was a quick back and forth that Svetlana was pretty sure was them saying something along the lines of ‘really?’ or ‘are you sure?’ before the woman let out a brief affirmative snort. (The Kobaroic equivalent of a nod.) 

Thisbe then asked something else, which drew another answer, which involved a number.

“W-what’s going on?” Svetlana asked.

“You’re... you’re already pregnant,” Thisbe said.

“What? But ho--Auguste,” Svetlana said, staring at the readouts on the monitor that she couldn’t read. “I didn’t--it didn’t even occur to me that that could happen.”

That drew a soft smile from Thisbe as she took Svetlana’s hand, though she’d failed to keep from projecting soft disappointment. O’tmyil, however, seemed undeterred and asked something else. The reply surprised Thisbe, leading to more questions and her mood improving with each answer.

“I really should study more languages as soon as we stop this tour,” Svetlana muttered, which seemed to cause Thisbe to realise how lost she was.

“Oh, um... you’ve only been pregnant for a week. Which means that a second baby would be close enough in development to be fine based on their data,” Thisbe said.

“It’s within a reasonable margin for natural fraternal twins,” O’tmyil added.

“Which means that, uh, if you’re willing... we could still do this,” Thisbe said.

“We can--I guess if there’s no risk of--well, since the baby wouldn’t have teeth, so... yeah. No risk of biting even if the kid is a vampire... yeah. Let’s do this. I’ll have twins,” Svetlana said, grinning.

That was going to be exciting. 

Also: efficient. There were a lot of babies to be had in her polycule, getting two done at once would surely help with all the politicking.

Which meant it was time for her to sit down while the technicians took DNA samples from both her and Thisbe (distinctly not a blood sample for Thisbe, of course... luckily there were other options that worked fine). Then the technician tossed the samples in a small machine, which whirred, buzzed, and then dinged. It was a very satisfying sort of ding. The technician then took the vial that popped out, loaded and loaded it into an injection gun.

With the longest needle Svetlana had ever seen. 

“Close your eyes,” O’tmyil told her in a soft voice.

Despite her instincts insisting otherwise while her adrenaline was rushing, Svetlana complied. Then she waited for the obvious pain that would follow. She could feel the nervousness billowing off of Thisbe. 

Only then O’tmyil whispered in her ear: “Good work. All done.”

Not ready to open her eyes and see the needle again, Svetlana kept them firmly shut as she replied. “Don’t tease me.”

“No, no. She’s telling the truth,” Thisbe said. “It went in and came out and I have no idea how you didn’t feel that... I couldn’t get my fangs in someone with that little discomfort.”

Opening one eye, Svetlana wasn’t completely convinced and so was ready to close the eye immediately. To her surprise she saw the technician was dumping the long needle into a disposal unit while casually typing something into her computer.

“It’s really done?” she asked, opening both eyes to look at the others.

“Yes,” O’myinis said quietly. 

She was generally so quiet that Svetlana decided it was unlikely she’d be messing with her. So it made the other two affirming it more believable. Offering her thanks, Svetlana still felt like it had all been a bit too easy, but she figured she’d get her answers soon. 

Plynx and Auguste had found the dance hall in the hotel sufficiently large for sparring. Whichever form Auguste was in, Plynx was ready to fight, but she was glad Auguste was female today. She put more effort into her fights that way, instead of having confused ideas of ‘chivalry’ leaving him nervous about fighting a woman. 

Which was nonsense. If it really came down to going all in, Plynx had the biological advantage either way due to her claws and teeth. Also, stronger legs capable of superior leaps. Even if humans had oddly flexible wrists and a bit more upper body strength.

Despite Auguste doing her best that day, Plynx had won yet another round when an excited Svetlana hurried into the room, followed by O’tmyil and Thisbe. Those two seemed slightly more apprehensive than Svetlana was, but it was common for anyone who knew what was going on to be more apprehensive than Svetlana. She was prone to (adorable) enthusiasms.

“I’m pregnant!” Svetlana announced.

“O--oh,” Plynx said.

“Um... congratulations?” Auguste offered.

“Well, congratulations to you too, Auguste. One of them is yours,” Svetlana replied.

“Pardon?” Auguste asked.

“I must also express surprise if Auguste was not aware,” Plynx added. “That seems unethical of a fertility clinic, using a DNA sample without consent.”

“Oh... no. No. I was apparently already pregnant from her when I went there,” Svetlana said. “But now it’s going to be twins with one from Thisbe.”

That slightly surprised Plynx, until she remembered Thisbe had originally been human. So would have genetic material, unlike many supernaturals.

“Congratulations, Thisbe,” Plynx said.

“Thank you,” Thisbe replied.

“Uh, ouai,” Auguste managed, before turning back to Svetlana. “Mais comment... how were you pregnant from me beforehand?”

The question made Svetlana grin, a slightly ominous sparkle in her eyes. “Well, when someone with an outie and someone with an innie love each other very much...”

She then punctuated her explanation with a hand gesture that made what she was talking about rather clear. It seemed to mortify both Auguste and Thisbe, though Plynx wasn’t certain why. Everyone there was an adult... Gimzan, almost everyone in the room had had sex at some point. 

“It can end with a baby being made,” Svetlana continued.

“J’a--J’ai... it did not even occur to me that I could get you pregnant that way,” Auguste mumbled, growing somewhat pale. 

“Well, I was actually surprised too. I’d forgotten too. We’re both pretty new to things going that way... though I’m honestly a bit surprised it didn’t happen to you before, since it did happen to Vivian,” Svetlana said with a shrug.

“Personally, I’m glad to have someone to share the ‘pampering Svetlana while she’s pregnant’ duties with,” Thisbe said, smiling away. 

“Mhm. I’ll get to be insufferable in a few months,” Svetlana added, grinning.

Finding out Svetlana had decided to have another baby quite so quickly slightly surprised Vivian. Not that she was hurt, she just had figured it would take Svetlana slightly longer to forget about the state Vivian had been in for the last month or so before agreeing to sign up to that herself. 

“So... you don’t think I was rushing it too much?” Svetlana asked, once the group had spread out a bit.

“No. There’s a lot of folks in our family now. That’s a lot of babies. It makes sense for us to get going on popping them out,” Vivian replied, keeping the tone as light as possible.

“I should probably start soon,” Bokarza said, having been sitting quietly in a nearby chair. “It takes us Kobaroians much longer... maybe I could do mixed twins too.”

“You--who would be the other parent?” Vivian asked.

“Well, you, of course,” Bokarza replied.

“Uh... but I don’t offer an sort of royal title for the baby?” Vivian said.

“I want a kid who’ll be part of the Kobaroic royal family too. We can’t just get absorbed into the imperial family. Plus, I’ve seen how tall you are by human standards. That’s amazing genes to give a kid,” Bokarza replied with an earnest sort of grin.

As she did, Plynx bounded over, draping herself over Bokarza’s shoulder. “I would like a baby with you for similar reasons... well, not the height as much, but for Issiod’rian royal family succession.”

“Uh... well, let’s wait a little while to pace things out better,” Vivian said.

“Mhm... there’s not that much of a rush,” Svetlana added.

The imperial doctor was rather quiet after he confirmed Svetlana was pregnant with twins, once of which being from Thisbe. Despite that, though, Svetlana could see how his Lanthonean antennae were swinging about, showing he was deep in thought.

“You are aware that the block on marriage with Supernaturals isn’t merely a matter of bigotry, yes?” the man said at last. “An unaging claimant to the throne is a succession crisis waiting to happen. To say nothing of what would happen if they actually took the throne.”

“Nothing would happen,” Svetlana replied firmly. “The crown offers no political power. We just do ribbon cutting and kiss babies. At best we can engage in some particularly toothless lobbying, not having very much money compared to the actually powerful families in the galaxy. I looked up the net worth of the last empress of the second dynasty. Even adjusting for currency fluctuations since then it wasn’t even a tenth of the richest person in the galaxy right now. We’re goodwill ambassadors. That’s it.”

“Given time, though...” the doctor said.

“So put a term limit on the crown. The Galactic Council has that power,” Svetlana muttered. “Besides... is the kid even a vampire?”

“Well, no... but you know their mother will change that. She would not accept outliving her child,” the doctor said.

“Then have becoming a vampire disqualify someone from the crown if it really scares everyone so much... but all this nonsense of having to argue with people just to let one of the people I love at my side is nonsense and I will be doing everything I can to stop it,” Svetlana said. “Including having this baby.”

The doctor bit his tongue, before making a small nod. “Very well. I will pass this information off to the media outreach advisors. They will find a way to spin it... but I will tell you it may cost you some potential friends. You were already on rather thin ice with this meeting with the Zuumult Empere.”

“I’ll be happy to not accidentally end up friends with bigots,” Svetlana replied with a grin.

Dropping out of jump space, the captain of the star runner sent a readout of the star system to the screen in Svetlana’s cabin. There were three Galactic Commonwealth cruisers (two Kobaroic, one Issiod’rian) orbiting the planet they were heading to. The contrast in designs was stark... but not as stark as the fourth ship in the star system.

A private Zuumult star runner. It was unarmed, but it took only a moment to see it was built by the same minds that had created the ominous skeleton of the imperial palace back on Throne World.

Apparently Zuumult aesthetics screamed evil.

Was Svetlana making a mistaking meeting with Ouzzhen once again?