=::= Day 210 - Jenny's PoV =::=

"...kind of nice?" Sarah was saying as my sister and girlfriend and I entered the main hold.

Cammie and Jenna were on their way over to our girlfriend's workshop to take care of a little job for one of the locals, and I planned to accompany them as far as my HPD would allow. Which sadly wasn't all that far. The three of us had looked into options to extend the range, but so far all we'd determined was we didn't have the resources available to us here to make it work.

The ship's main airlock was already wide open and the ramp down, but not because anyone was currently entering or leaving the ship. Instead our crewmates had set up three folding chairs on the ramp, as if it were the ship's front porch.

Our captain and engineer were both seated there, each with a drink in hand. And the two of them appeared to be very relaxed as they enjoyed the early afternoon sun, a gentle breeze, and the alcoholic beverages in their glasses.

They were both dressed very casual, Rebecca was in shorts and a crop-top while Sarah wore a simple sundress. Much like my girlfriend and sister and I, Cammie was in one of her pretty dresses while Jenna and myself wore matching shorts and tight t-shirts.

The only person absent was Amanda, although based on her empty chair and the half-finished drink next to it I suspected she wasn't far away.

Sure enough I heard her voice a moment later as she suddenly exclaimed, "There!"

Extrapolating her location from the audio data my HPD detected, she was just out of sight somewhere near the port side of the ship. Probably between the forward and mid-ship landing gear, which I could have guessed if I'd spared a couple milliseconds to think about it.

A moment later the foxgirl came into view, marching around the landing gear then onto the ramp next to her girlfriends. Her ears were pointed forward, while the tip of her tail was twitching back and forth behind her. Like everyone else she was dressed very casually, in shorts and a tight t-shirt. She was actually barefoot, and the soil I could detect on her knees, feet, and under her fingernails confirmed my suspicions.

"You all laughed at me, but have a look at this!" our first officer announced triumphantly.

She was carrying a small bowl with her, which she held out for her girlfriends to see. That also allowed my girlfriend and my sister and I to view the contents. The bowl was half-full of little blue orbs, ranging in diameter from five to fifteen millimetres. Based on their size and the volume of the dish I estimated there were between fifty and seventy-five of them.

"What am I looking at here?" Sarah asked as she leaned closer.

Amanda replied proudly, "Darrowberries! My first harvest! And these are just the ones that were ripe today, there's hundreds more still growing. I'll bet I can get a bowl-full of these every other day for the next two or three weeks."

"Ok," the engineer shrugged. "Why though? You're not going to eat them are you?"

"Of course I'm going to eat them!" the foxgirl stated as she rolled her eyes and swished her tail around. "I was also planning on sharing them with some of the locals, if they're interested. I might have even given some to my girlfriends and shipmates, if I thought they deserved any."

That seemed to inspire a response from Cammie. The tip of her tail twitched as she commented, "Darrowberries are delicious, lots of folks love 'em. We ain't seen any round here in years though, on account of the drought. If y'all don't like them Sarah, I'm sure plenty of other folks would be real grateful to have some."

That put a smile on the first officer's face. "I'm glad to hear one of my shipmates appreciates them. You're welcome to have some berries, Cammie."

My girlfriend grinned as she darted forward, and her tail stood up straight as she got a handful of the fresh produce. She mumbled a happy thank-you then returned to stand with Jenna and I as she began quietly eating the little blue orbs one after another.

Amanda smiled as she popped a couple in her mouth too, then grinned pointedly at her blonde girlfriend while she munched on them.

Meanwhile Sarah made a face, "I know they're usually tasty. I'm just questioning whether or not those ones are fit to eat. Sorry cutie, but I know where you've been getting the water for your little garden, and I really can't imagine that's healthy."

"I know where the water comes from Sarah," our first officer sighed. "We had to flush out the waste reclamation and recycling system. But if we'd just dumped it out and let it go to waste we'd never hear the end of it from people around here."

"And with good reason too. After years of drought, any water's valuable," she added.

The captain had a sip of her drink then agreed, "Good point. Even if that water wasn't any good for drinking, there's other ways to use it. And growing food isn't a bad option."

"Does that mean you want some of my berries?" Amanda asked. "Because I seem to recall you were laughing too, back when I first set up my garden."

Rebecca shook her head, "I wasn't laughing at you or your berries love. I was laughing because you planted them right next to the ship. You know what's going to happen when we take off, the whole thing's going to be blasted and baked."

The foxgirl made a face as she finally sat down on her chair next to the others, "So in other words my garden's got nothing to worry about. It's not like we're actually going anywhere, and I knew that back when I planted it in the first place."

I wasn't always the most emotionally-aware member of the crew, but even I could tell that what started out as some playful teasing and banter had just taken on a more awkward tone.

"We're not staying here forever," the captain stated. "I know it's been a while, but we will be leaving when the time comes."

Amanda sighed, "It's been more than a while. We just talked about this two days ago, remember? Me and Sarah celebrated our first full year as members of your crew. Except out of three hundred and sixty-two standard days since we joined, we've spent the last two hundred and ten of them grounded here on Deveron-8. We've spent more time grounded than we did flying."

The boss frowned, "I know that. But this was your idea, remember? You're the one who suggested we come to Ganvis. And granted the Fuminja Cluster isn't after us anymore, but we've still got prices on our heads. You heard what Tanya said last time the Persephone was here, they're all watching their backs now after they had that close call on Regulon-4."

"Believe me I'm dying to get back up there just as bad as the rest of you," the tall redhead added. "Maybe even more. But I don't want to take any unnecessary risks. I don't want any of us to get hurt."

The foxgirl sighed again, "It's not being on the ground that's getting to me, Rebecca. It's the endless waiting, sitting in limbo with the promise of someday going back up there constantly dangling in front of us just out of reach."

"I know there's a price on our heads," she continued. "But that problem's not going away on its own. There's always going to be someone out to get us for one reason or another. You've told us yourself countless times, life is dangerous out here on the frontier."

Sarah frowned as she asked, "What are you saying Amanda? What do you think we should do? Or what do you want to do?"

"I want to stop waiting and start moving forward," she replied. "If Ganvis Station is our new home then let's just accept that and settle down. If not, then pick a launch date and let's start making plans for how we'll deal with the bounty hunters and assassins."

The captain was quiet for a few seconds as she had another long sip of her drink. Then she looked to her other girlfriend and asked, "What do you want to do Sarah? Stay? Go? Or something else?"

A sad smile settled on the engineer's face as she replied, "I want to go. I want to get back to space. This is the longest I've been planet-bound in three decades. I don't regret it, we've helped people here and had some good times ourselves. But it's not me Rebecca. If we're voting, my vote is get the Demeter back up in space where she's meant to be."

"Cam?" the boss asked next, as she looked to my girlfriend. "What do you think?"

The adorable catgirl grimaced slightly, then glanced at both me and Jenna before responding. "I suppose I'm with Amanda on this one, ma'am. To be honest, me and Jenna and Jenny have even talked a few times about leaving the ship and moving into my workshop? The only reason we haven't done it is Jenny's stuck on the Demeter, and neither me or Jenna would move out without her."

"So yeah," she shrugged, "I think I'd be happiest if a decision was made. If we're staying here, we'll figure out how to get Jenny over into my old place with me and Jenna. Otherwise we should get the Demeter moving. She deserves to be in space, it's where she belongs."

My sister didn't wait to be prompted. As soon as Cammie was finished Jenna added, "I feel the same as Cammie and Amanda. Either we're officially settling here, or let's pick a date and start planning our departure. But remaining here indefinitely while pretending we're going to leave someday has run its course, I think."

Rebecca finally looked to me and asked, "How about you Jenny? What's your take on all this?"

I glanced at my girlfriend, then my sister, before turning back towards the captain again. I finally replied, "I'm going to side with Sarah on this. Not that I have anything against Ganvis Station or Deveron-8, and if this were to become our home I would do whatever I could to make that work for all of you. But I was designed to support the crew of a ship in space, just as the Demeter was built to work in space."

"As Sarah said," I continued, "Our time here has been interesting and we've helped people as best we could. Now I'm ready to move on. So as others have already said, let's pick a date and start making plans for departure."

"What about you Rebecca?" Amanda asked after I was finished. "You've asked all of us how we feel, what do you want to do?"

The captain sighed, "I already told you how I feel. I want to get back up there. Same as Sarah, same as Jenny. And I get what you said about feeling like we're in limbo. I appreciate that you and Cam and Jenna all want an answer, whichever way that goes. I just don't want to see any of you get hurt..."

Her voice trailed off as a thoughtful frown settled on her expression. She drained the last of her beverage then seemed to come to a decision.

"Tell you what," she said. "Next time the Persephone's here, we'll talk it over with Gwen and Tanya. We'll need to ask them to bring us fuel anyways, since the local spaceport still doesn't have any fuel facilities yet. And I'd rather do that in person than risk transmitting it. There's enough people out there looking for us, that kind of clue might just bring trouble here when we're not prepared to deal with it."

Amanda frowned, "So we're not picking a date, we're just going to talk about it next time the Persephone visits?"

Rebecca shook her head, "I'm saying we'll pick a date after we've spoken with Gwen and Tanya. Or while they're here I guess, since we'll need their help to get the Demeter fuelled up and ready to move. Ok? Can we all agree with that?"

"Sounds good to me," Sarah replied.

Our first officer continued to frown as she slowly shook her head, "How is this any different to what we've been saying for the last two hundred days? All you've done is promise we'll be leaving at some point, but avoided committing to an actual schedule."

"The Persephone should be back here in the next twelve to fifteen days," I reminded everyone. "Unless our captain asks them to clear their schedule and immediately go out and fetch fuel for us, we'd expect them to return again twenty to twenty-five days after that. So if we're making arrangements for them to bring us fuel at their next visit, we could expect to leave Deveron-8 no more than forty days from today."

"Does that sound reasonable, captain?" I asked as I looked at the boss.

Rebecca nodded, "All right. Make it forty-five days, just in case we run into any unforeseen difficulties."

"Does that work for you Amanda?" she added as she looked to the foxgirl again. "As captain I'm officially announcing that the Demeter will be departing Ganvis and the Deveron system in the next forty to forty-five days."

Amanda agreed, "Yes, thank you. That's what I wanted to hear."

"Same," Jenna stated.

"Me too," Cammie added quietly, although she was clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation. And I really couldn't blame her for that.

I was about to voice my own approval of our captain's announcement, when something urgent caught my attention.

"I sincerely hope this isn't one of those unforeseen difficulties," I said with a grimace, "But I'm tracking four vehicles on a vector directly towards Ganvis. At their current velocity, ETA is fifteen minutes."

After taking a closer look at the satellite imagery I added, "Two are atmospheric military fighters, the other two are enclosed high-speed grav-sleds. And one of those is large enough to serve as a troop transport."

The captain cursed as she got to her feet, "Jenny please get Ella on the comm and let her know, so she can get Finn and his militia mobilized. Amanda, Jenna, you two get ready for action. I'll take the fighter, try and intercept them before they get here. If nothing else at least I'll tie up their air support."

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