Frozen Soul, and other works: Chapter 175

(Empress’s Chambers, Imperial Palace, Imperial City-Ship Aurum Throni, Earth Orbit)

“Are you sure this is all right?”

The Empress of the Terran Empire, perhaps the single most powerful human in the galaxy, was blushing like a nervous schoolgirl. This state of affairs amused me slightly, but I had the good grace to pretend I didn’t see her discomfort as we sat in the living room of her private quarters in the Imperial Palace. Her sister, Sheila, on the other hand, was more than willing to take up the slack.

“Oh, come on, Mer! If I had trouble sharing him, I would have ended it long ago! It isn’t exactly a secret that he sluts it up with any woman he finds attractive whenever he has time. Hell, I’m pretty sure he’s slept with half of Nuevo Edo already!”

I coughed, “That is not true! While I admit that I’ve had quite a few liaisons with individuals on that world, it is nowhere near the number you are implying!”

“Dear, be quiet. This is girl talk.”

I sighed as I was coldly shushed by Princess Sheila. She, Raven, Admiral Han, and Lucio were visiting with the Empress in her quarters (under the watchful eye of the Empress’s primary Guardswoman), several days after Sheila had made her rather… profound offer to the Empress. After that little bombshell, the conversation had gotten completely away from the Empress, with everyone else chiming in their ideas on how to make the proposal work, regardless of what the Empress (or me) thought about the matter.

The only stumbling block to the rumbling freight train that was my pets and the Empress’s advisors planning her impregnation was the slight matter of my being a chimera. Once the idea had moved from ‘wild fantasy’ to ‘working probability’, she had asked me, quite politely, about my heritage, since her child had not only the ‘Nomad Born’ title, which gave the kid a +10% to all XP gains (including skill XP), but also the ‘Chimeric Bloodline’ title, which appeared on those up to the fifth generation from a Chimera parent. Fortunately, that was a question I could answer.

It had taken all of a couple in game months for people to realize that, unless the normal precautions were taken, Nomads could most certainly have children in game. This led to some embarrassing developments for certain ladies and gentlemen who had been rather more libertine with themselves in game than they would have been in real life. The fact that the first confirmed in-game Nomad pregnancy happened to a cross-player streamer who was a man in real life but was playing a Knelfi female in the game only added to the craziness.

At any rate, I had realized early on that I needed to check up on my options, and whether a Chimera could even breed. Turned out it was possible, but difficult when dealing with ‘normal’ groups, but with other Chimeras it was next to impossible. That is why my pets all had the implants which shut that off unless I chose otherwise, since the law of probability said that even a rate 30% that of normal human conception meant the numbers would eventually catch up to me. But since I didn’t have the option of getting an implant myself, I had to do more research to invent a cover, in case any ‘accidents’ happened outside of my inner circle.

The Chimeric Bloodline title was bestowed on all hybrid chimeras that had at least 1/32^nd Chimera blood. While this rarely had more effect than slightly boosting some of their resistances or other minor things, there was a chance that the Chimeric Bloodline could be awakened, though it usually happened naturally in less than half of those with the title. This typically happened in puberty, or under intense stress, like when they are in mortal danger. What form the Chimeric Bloodline took when it awakened was typically a random ability somehow related to their chimera ancestor’s abilities, but could manifest as a reaction to the cause of stress or danger that made it awaken. That had given rise to people who tried to force title inheritors who had not awakened their bloodline during puberty into life-threatening situations in order to ‘cultivate’ certain types of abilities. Such ‘forced activations’ were generally outlawed, as the practice usually involved torture or attempted murder, if not worse, and not all of the ‘tested’ survived.

So, I was able to make a plan that didn’t involve outright lying. Trying to come up with consistent lies was always easier when it was mostly the truth. Since there was no way to deny that any kids I sired would have the ‘Chimeric Bloodline’ title from birth, I would have to come up a good excuse.

The answer I’d come up with was a simple one. In the world Nomads come from, I had done deeds which the ones who maintained the ‘bridge’ between our worlds rewarded by giving my ‘vessel’ here a unique bloodline amongst Nomads, already activated when I came here. I, of course, hid this truth because I understood that there was some bias against those of Chimeric lineage, and because it was the source of some abilities that had been quite helpful in the past, abilities I had taken great pains to hide, so that they would retain their usefulness.

Every word of it was the truth, a fact that I was quite proud of. I could gloss over the ‘deeds’ I had done to deserve this reward with a simple mysterious ‘not allowed to say’, implying that it was some classified secret of my home world. And while Chimeras were basically kill on sight, there were too many people around with Chimeric Bloodlines for any of my kids to be automatically on the chopping block. And unless they did DNA tests, or had access to my titles, then I could pass myself off as a first or second generation Chimeric Bloodline holder, especially since the abilities I actually displayed to people were very minor in scope. Chimeras had grown into myths and legends like the boogeyman or Baba Yaga, and so not having fearsome powers (that people could see) allowed my… inferred meaning (which was different from the real meaning) to play into people’s preconceptions, causing them to believe I really was just a Chimeric Bloodline holder.

Only my people knew the truth, and I had kept that revelation off the streams, so that none of the other Nomads could gainsay me. Sheila wasn’t comfortable lying to her sister, but I pointed out to her that, if we told her the truth, she would likely have to know it ‘officially’. Whereas with my little play on words, she could ‘officially’ be convinced that I was a Chimeric Bloodline holder, whatever she personally believed. I had no doubt that the Empress’s ‘inner circle’ from the Civil War days had an idea about the lie in the truths I’d told.

At any rate, if we were going to ensure an heir to the throne of the Terran Empire, without me spending months in Sol System banging the Empress (which would have been problematic on all sorts of levels), then steps needed to be taken. The fertility drugs that had worked on Admiral Han at the slave ranch were common enough, and raised conception rates to over 100% when administered properly, with twins being a common occurrence, but they took a few days to properly work through a woman’s system and prepare them for breeding. Combined with a potency enhancer I’d taken, there was a 97.5% chance of pregnancy if I had ‘relations’ with the Empress in the next twenty-four hours.

Which had led to the Empress getting a bit of ‘stage fright’, you might say. The legal requirement that one of her Guardsmen be inside the room (since I was not a member of the Imperial family) was bad enough, but she was still uncomfortable with the idea of ‘stealing’ from her sister. Said sister’s dinner offer only made her more uncomfortable, rather than less, due to the depravity of it all. The Empress was not a prude (although it seemed she was not very experienced in this field), but she was definitely more conservative than most of the people who fell into my orbit. That had led to this little gathering, where persuading her to go through with the plan was the order of the day.

I sighed as the girls went around the arguments yet again. I could see that the Empress was trying to talk herself out of this, which was understandable, given the complexity of the situation, but was also annoying as hell to me, especially given the… discomfort the ‘enhancers’ I’d taken were causing in my pants. Instead of simply sitting around waiting for them to finally come to a solution, I looked over to Raven, who had a certain detached amusement at the whole situation, and sent a brief outline of my plan to her from my bracer.

Her eyes met mine, and I could see she was trying hard not to laugh as she raised an eyebrow, questioningly. I simply nodded slightly, and she leaned over in her seat next to me and deftly reached down and opened my pants to free my barely constrained erection. Her new body was the latest model of the ‘companion’ robot line that we’d picked up in Alpha Centauri just after the game’s launch, and there had been some definite improvements in the design that we both enjoyed. The flesh and blood ladies were so into the conversation that it wasn’t until Raven’s mouth descended over my shaft that they noticed what was happening.

“W-w-what are you doing!?”

I looked to the suddenly flustered Empress, and said, disinterestedly, “Well, your Majesty, I was simply getting a bit of relief since this conversation seemed to be going in circles. Raven kindly agreed to help me deal with the side effect of the potency enhancers I took to help with this project, as I was in a good bit of discomfort over here. Please, pay it no mind and continue with the conversation.”

Admiral Han and Princess Sheila were both trying hard not to laugh. They had figured out my plan the moment I started speaking. The Guardswoman’s eyes narrowed, as though she didn’t much care for this turn of events, but kept her silence, as was proper for a sentinel. Though, I didn’t doubt she would be all too happy to respond if the Empress ordered me thrown out of the room.

The Empress, however, simply stared. ‘Dumbstruck’ would be an appropriate adjective to describe her expression. Her eyes were fixed on my staff, which was now coated in the special lubricant the Nadeshiko line was known for, and her mouth seemed to be flapping open like a fish out of water. I was starting to get the idea that, other than any incidental exposures caused by being a member of the Imperial Navy (training groups were co-ed, after all, because modesty was less important than efficiency when you had a decompression drill), this may have been the first time she’d seen a man’s penis. Even if she was just a member of the Imperial Family instead of the Empress, having a guard trailing you around through training and aboard ship could certainly put a damper on the chances for romantic interludes.

Seeing that the Empress was at a loss for words, I looked over to Sheila, whose grin could be called the textbook example of ‘shit-eating’, and she turned to look at her sister. “Come on, Mer. Don’t tell me you’ve never seen someone giving a blowjob before.”

Empress Merida blushed deeply, and said, “Only in movies! I’ve never—Well, there’s never been time for such things! And most of the boys when I was at school were either idiots trying to gain position through me, or were frightened off by my Guardsman! And once I was an officer, I couldn’t very well do those kinds of things with my subordinates! It would be a complete breakdown in discipline!”

Sheila smiled, and said, “Oh, yes, I was a virgin, too, before the Captain took me in an orgy with myself and four other women set up to sate his lust. And he kept going until every one of us was satisfied, I’ll have you know.”

“I-I don’t want to know that! I’m your sister!”

“Yes, yes, Big Sister.” Sheila smiled, and then half-dragged, half-led the Empress to her knees before me, so she could get a very good view of Raven’s work. “But why don’t you and the Captain go to bed and let him take care of that problem? Unless you would rather the rest of us join in, like I suggested?”

“F-fine! Captain Mollen, I require y-your presence in m-my b-b-bed at once!” Struggling to get the words out in the heat of her embarrassment, Merida quickly rose and turned, her cheeks red as could be, as she made her way to her bedroom. I patted Raven on the head so that she could stop her ministrations, and followed, not bothering to tuck myself back in. After all, the only ones who hadn’t seen it before were the Empress and her Guardswoman, and they were about to see quite a bit of it in the immediate future.