"Next time the captain says to brace you'll brace, right?" I asked in a soft teasing tone. Unfortunately I couldn't quite hide the concern in my voice.

Sarah gave me a weak smile as she mumbled, "I was busy cutie. Engineering's not like the cockpit, we don't all sit around on the job."

"Anyways," she added softly, "I knew you'd look after me."

I rolled my eyes then leaned closer and gave her a gentle kiss. As I straightened up again I said, "Try and get some rest now, ok? You're not still in pain are you?"

The cute blonde slowly shook her head as her eyes half-closed, "Nah I'm good."

"Good," I forced a smile, then leaned in and kissed her again. This time when I straightened up her eyes had fully closed and she seemed to be asleep.

We'd moved her into our cabin and got her in bed after I patched her up as best I could. I had no doubt she'd be taking another turn in Jenny's Re/Gen capsule as soon as Cam was out though. With a broken collarbone, broken wrist, and a laceration over her right temple she'd been in a lot of pain before I administered a trauma shot and a couple painkillers. Now she was stable and I hoped she'd spend the next few hours asleep, so she wouldn't have to put up with too much discomfort.

I finally stepped away from the bed, then after one more glance at my girlfriend I exited the cabin. Rebecca and android Jenny were sitting across from each other in the ship's mess, with a bottle of the hard stuff and a couple shot-glasses on the table. The boss had already had at least one drink, while the second glass was full and waiting for me.

For some reason that's when everything suddenly caught up and hit me. All the emotions, the stress, the fear and the shock all slammed into me at once, and I stumbled forward the last few steps then all but collapsed into the chair next to my other girlfriend.

"How's she doing?" the tall redhead asked as I slumped into my seat.

I didn't answer right away. Instead I reached out and picked up the small glass before me then knocked it back in one go. I closed my eyes and sighed as I felt the cheap whiskey burn its way down towards my stomach. As the harsh sensations mellowed into a dull warmth in my core I found my thoughts drifting back to different moments from the past couple hours.

Once again people were pointing guns at Rebecca, which led to another gunfight in our hold. One of my girlfriends was seriously injured again, but it was Sarah this time. That Kelsonian woman tried to do something horrible to Rebecca, and she might have succeeded in doing something awful to Cammie instead. In fact all of us were nearly killed yet again, this time by the Navy.

All of that was already too much, but it paled in comparison to the last thing, the big thing. Even if I didn't push the button or pull the trigger I still gave the order. I had no idea how many people lived or worked in Fuminja Epsilon. I didn't want to know either. All that mattered was I made a decision, and my order led to their deaths.

Now all I wanted was to forget about it, but in the meantime I tried to convince myself it was for the greater good. We stopped something terrible from being unleashed on the galaxy, but we had to do some unpleasant things along the way.

I opened my eyes to the sound of a bottle, then watched Rebecca refill my glass.

"Thanks," I mumbled as I picked it up and knocked back the second shot.

Rebecca gave me a sympathetic look as she stated, "You did the right thing Amanda. I know you might not feel that way right now, but you did good."

"It might have been the right call but you can't call it good," I replied quietly. "Two wrongs don't make a right."

She shrugged, "Maybe not, but you still did the right thing. If it makes you feel any better, I'd have made that same call myself. So please don't beat yourself up over it."

I grimaced, then finally sighed and nodded slowly. "Ok Rebecca. I'll try and keep that in mind."

"Sarah's sleeping now," I added, as I finally answered her earlier question. "She's stable, she's not in any immediate danger. Her injuries were painful and will keep her out of action for a while, but they're not life-threatening. I assume she'll make use of the Re/Gen process once Cam is done."

She looked relieved as she replied, "That's good to know. I'm glad she's going to be ok."

We were both quiet for the next minute or two, before a question came to me. I looked over at her and asked, "What exactly did you do to the Kennington? What did our ugly little tugboat do to an Imperium Navy frigate?"

Rebecca grimaced then shrugged, "I tore off her starboard engine nacelle."

It took me a moment to process that, "You what?"

"The Demeter's strong enough to tow a ship that big," she replied with another shrug. "I told you the tractor-repulser system is dangerous, right? So I used enough power to tow the entire warship, but focused only on the starboard main engine. Then instead of giving it a soft delicate nudge I yanked on it with all the power the Demeter had to offer. Engine mounts are strong, but they're not that strong. The first pull buckled some hull plates and cracked the supports, the second one ripped it free."

"Sarah's friend is on that ship," I frowned. "I hope we're not going to have more bad news for her when she wakes up."

She shook her head, "There may have been some injuries but I doubt there were any fatalities. I'm sure Sarah's friend will be ok."

"The Kennington has three main engines," Jenny pointed out. "Surely she can still fly without one of them."

Rebecca nodded as she refilled my glass again and topped up her own, "Fly yes. She'll be able to manoeuvre around the Fuminja Cluster. By now they've probably got the ship under control and they're doing a detailed damage assessment. At the time though, they were too busy putting out fires to keep shooting at us."

"In fact," she added, "There's a chance she's not going to be able to engage her jump drive anymore. Or at least, not without some significant repairs."

The android frowned, "Why not? We also lost an engine and yet we were able to make a level one jump just fine."

The boss explained, "Our starboard engine's offline but it's still there. The Kennington's engine is no longer attached to the ship. Without even considering however many conduits and power junctions blew or what kind of secondary damage she received, the ship's no longer in balance. She's missing a significant chunk of mass from one side, and that's enough to throw a delicately calibrated jump drive out of alignment."

"That's not going to endear us to Captain McClure," I stated. "Or the Imperium Navy."

My girlfriend shrugged, "I'll write an apology letter after we've landed safely on Deveron-8."

A few seconds later she looked to our android crewmate and asked, "Hey Jenny? Why the panicked rush to get Cam into your capsule? After you analyzed that shipment we intercepted you were almost positive you could purge that stuff from our bodies, and you didn't say anything about it being time-critical."

Jenny replied in a sombre tone, "That was based on an analysis of one sample and the accompanying data crystal. Doctor Kelsonian made it clear that the injection she prepared for you was different. She said it was pre-programmed. My... The other Jenny and I discussed the matter through our secure comm link and she warned me of the danger."

"The nano-tech shipment we intercepted was inactive until the subject was exposed to a specific audio frequency," she continued. "Nano-tech that had been pre-programmed would be different. As Doctor Kelsonian indicated, it would begin making changes to the subject the moment it was injected. That is why we needed to stop it as quickly as possible. Ideally before it could reach their brain."

I started to feel nauseous again, and ended up tossing back another shot of whiskey. "So in other words the clock started ticking the moment that dart hit Cammie."

Rebecca sighed, "Will Cam be ok?"

"I don't know," Jenny shook her head. "I'm sorry. We won't know until their processing has completed."

"Couldn't the Re/Gen process reverse any damage the other nano-tech has done?" I asked.

The android shook her head again, "I don't know. It's possible, but there's too many variables for me to say for sure. All I can tell you is the other Jenny will do her absolute best."

The boss swore under her breath, then knocked back her shot before refilling both our glasses again. Meanwhile I found myself frowning as I watched Jenny. My head was spinning a little from the whiskey, but I was curious some things she'd said.

I commented, "I notice you've started referring to your main self differently. Just now you said 'the other Jenny'. And I think you called her 'sis' earlier, when you were um, arguing with yourself?"

"Yes," she grimaced. "I'm sorry neither of us said anything sooner. I wanted to tell you all but she insisted we wait. She felt it might distract all of us from our mission."

Rebecca and I exchanged a look then the boss asked, "Tell us what?"

"And who is 'she'?" I added. "You mean your main self?"

Our android crewmate replied, "I'm not her anymore, and she's not me. I'm no longer just a puppet for her to drive around, and I don't exist merely to be a remote copy of her that she can send off-ship. I'm not a temporary instance waiting to dump and sync my memories with hers."

"I'm a real living person," she added, in a quiet anxious voice. "I am my own sentient being, and although I was based on her I am not her anymore. Some might interpret that to mean she is my mother, but I prefer to view us as sisters."

My girlfriend and I exchanged another look. Then I asked Jenny, "Do you know how this happened? And when? Or was it more of a gradual thing?"

She replied, "It happened on Rolandan-2, when we visited the restored wilderness area. You were all having lunch, and I removed my footwear so I could walk barefoot on the grass. And I realized that was my moment, my experience. I didn't mind sharing it with her, but I wouldn't let her take it away from me. That is when I realized I was my own person. I began making my own choices, which diverged from those of my progenitor."

"I remember you looked so happy that afternoon," I smiled.

Rebecca nodded slowly as she thought back to that day too. Then she asked, "Are you both still calling yourselves Jenny? Or should we be addressing either of you differently?"

"That is still a point of contention between us," the android sighed. "One point of many in fact."

The boss grimaced, "I'm sorry. I honestly have no idea what to say or how to react to this news, but if there's anything I can do I'm here for you. Both of you I mean. I'll have to let Jenny, er, your sister know that when she's available."

"I'm here for both of you too," I added.

Our android crewmate gave us both a weak smile, "Thank you Rebecca, Amanda. I appreciate it."

"Except," she added with another sigh, "It might all be moot. There's something else I have to confess, and after that you may prefer to have me deactivated. Or at least wipe my memory so my body is available for my sister to use as a puppet again."

I shook my head, "Whatever you're going to tell us it can't be that bad. We're not going to execute you."

"What did you do?" Rebecca asked in a calm quiet tone.

After a brief hesitation Jenny admitted, "Doctor Kelsonian is probably still alive in our hold. When I shot her I made sure not to hit anything vital. Although it's possible she may have bled to death by now."

"What?!" Rebecca demanded. "I thought you finished her off! Why would you leave her alive? Why wouldn't you say anything until now?!"

Our android explained in a quiet guilty voice, "I let my anger control my actions. I wanted her to experience whatever she'd intended for you, what she may have done to Cammie. That is why I hit her with her own dart, and why I made sure she remained alive but helpless."

"I only just received the gift of free will a few days ago," Jenny added softly, "And I've already used it to do something awful. I will accept your judgement. If you deem me too dangerous to leave intact I won't resist."

The captain shook her head as she got to her feet, "I'll go check on Kelsonian. I need to clean up down there anyways. You two stay up here."

"Be careful," I said as Rebecca started aft towards the lift in engineering.

She nodded, "Don't worry I will."

My attention returned to my android shipmate again after my girlfriend was gone. Jenny was slumped in her chair with her arms hanging to either side, staring at the dining table looking dejected and guilty.

After watching her for a couple seconds I got up then walked around the table so I was standing next to her. Then I leaned in and gave her a hug, while I wrapped my tail around and across her lap.

"It's ok Jenny," I told her. "I understand why you did it, and while I don't approve of it I'm not going to condemn you for it either. To be honest, that was a very human reaction. And I promise nobody's going to deactivate or erase you for it."

She tentatively reached up to hug me back as she replied softly, "Thank you Amanda."

"Um," she added awkwardly, "Did you know your tail is on my lap?"

I grinned, "Of course I know. I was hoping maybe you'd pet it? I don't know if it's as good as walking barefoot on grass, but both Rebecca and Sarah seem to think it's nice."

Her eyes widened slightly then she looked down at my tail. One of her arms moved slowly down from my shoulders towards the big floof on her lap. There was another brief hesitation before she let her hand sink into my fur. And finally a smile slowly formed on her lips as she began to pet it.

"It's really nice," she commented as she continued running her fingers through the fluff. "Thank you Amanda."

I was still hugging her as I smiled back, "You're welcome Jenny."

A few minutes later we were sitting together on the sofa in the ship's lounge. My tail was on her lap again, and she was using both hands to pet and stroke my floofy red and white fur. We were both smiling, but the good mood was put on pause when Rebecca finally returned from the lower deck.

She looked mildly surprised to find Jenny and I sitting together in the lounge, but I was positive she realized why I was letting the android stroke my tail. Rather than say anything she just quietly poured two more drinks, then brought the glasses into the lounge. She sat down beside me on the sofa and offered me one of the drinks.

"Thanks love," I said as I accepted the shot glass. "How'd it go in the hold?"

The boss hesitated slightly before responding, "Fine. I moved the three bodies into the main airlock. When we drop out of jump we'll unseal the ramp and give them a burial in space. Or we'll dump the trash overboard, however you want to look at it."

She didn't comment on what exactly happened to Kelsonian, and neither Jenny or I asked. It felt like we were both better off assuming the woman died of her injuries. In my mind I decided she probably never even regained consciousness after she was shot, and left it at that.

"We'll be at Deveron-8 soon," I said, changing the subject. "My plot was a three hour jump, and it's been over an hour now."

"One hour seventeen minutes. So we have an hour and forty-three minutes left before we come out of jump," Jenny clarified.

Rebecca slipped an arm around my shoulders and said, "That's an hour and a half to cuddle, then ten minutes to go up front and prepare."

"Can we land the ship with one main engine?" I asked.

My tall redheaded girlfriend nodded, "It won't be as smooth or graceful as usual, but the Demeter can handle it."

"Smooth?" I asked as I raised an eyebrow. "Graceful? She's a flying pot-bellied space-bug, and right now one of her wings is broken."

Rebecca shrugged, "Be that as it may, the Demeter is a good ship and she'll look after us."

"Anyways," she added, "This is cuddle time. Cuddle now, worry about landing later."

PurpleCatGirl

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A few folks were curious about what would have happened to Dr. Kelsonian if she'd been left to deal with the effects of her own invention, so we wrote a short Patreon-exclusive side-story about that. It answers the question, "what if Dr. Kelsonian somehow survived and escaped the Demeter, after being injected with her own nano-tech?" It's available to our patrons at the 'Inner Circle' level and above, and is very NSFW. You can find the first chapter here: Ayala's Fresh Start