I spent the night with the waitress and it was one of the oddest and most interesting things I had ever experienced. The way she reacted to even little movements, and the thoughts going through her head to tell me what she wanted next and how to do it, made the entire night the most pleasurable one she had ever experienced.

When she woke up in the morning, she saw that the nest was covered in her shed feathers and down. That gave her a sense of contentment that she was deeply grateful for and she hugged me tightly and gave me a kiss.

“Thank you so much.” She said and tweeted and whistled my name and her feathers on her head fluffed out a little. “I never thought... a stranger letting me populate my nest...” She let out a laugh that sounded like someone ran a finger across a piano's keys from low to high.

“You know I can't... complete it.” I said.

She laughed again. “Oh! Can you imagine!” She exclaimed. “You are already too good to be true. That would make you impossible to be real!”

“Do you have anyone to help with that?” I asked, with real concern in my voice.

She stroked my head and gave me another kiss. “My family has been eager to set me up with someone, except that they are as dull and unexciting as if I was with a human.”

That made me laugh and I reached for her belly.

“I won't generate a suitable one for another month, so you don't have to worry.” She said and put a hand on mine. “I really wish it could be yours, because it's going to be a big one.”

I laughed again and gave her a kiss. “I'm surprisingly flattered by the size. Thank you.”

She smiled at me and sat up, then shook herself to get off the rest of her loose feathers.

“Allow me.” I said and used Presence to make my hands into bird-like claws and groomed her head, all down her back, and then her forearms. After that, I used a thin wave of Presence to push all the stray feathers off of her and spread them around her nest of blankets.

She stared at me and what I had done. “Please tell me you're staying in the system for the next two to fifteen years!”

That made me laugh and I pushed off the feathers on myself and made them into a ball, then gave them to her. “You can put these where you want.” I said and stepped out of her nest.

“Thank you.” She whispered, then she spent the next ten minutes meticulously placing each and every feather into the proper spot. When she was done, she let out a low warble and a tweet of satisfaction. She stepped out of the nest and her eyes roamed over it all and nodded. “It's finally done.”

“I'm very happy for you.” I said and hugged her from behind. “I bet your parents are going to be very excited when they hear the news.”

She hugged my arms and nodded again. “I'll call them as soon as I can.”

“Why don't you do that while I go make breakfast.” I suggested.

“I suppose I can spare the credits after all the tips I had last night.” She said.

“Just use that new network. It's only a credit per message.” I said and let her go.

“What? That ad was real?” The waitress asked. “I thought it was a scam!”

I chuckled. “It's not a scam.” I said and walked to her kitchen. “It's unmonitored and secured, too.”

“But... The Order...”

“...can't hack into it or read any of the messages.” I said and started to gather some ingredients. “I suppose they could watch the television signals from other systems, though.”

“WHAT?!?” She yelled.

“The Bogorim Corporation is paying to have television signals sent all over my satellite network.” I explained, then laughed and shook my head. “The smart little bugger outsmarted me with that idea.”

“What... what did you say?”

“He's using my network to make a hundred times the credits I make per call.” I said and laughed again. “As the network keeps expanding, he's going to keep making even more money than me almost on an exponential level.”

The waitress stood there and stared at me as I made breakfast. She didn't notice that I made three plates of it and I walked over to her.

“Put on some clothes and call your parents.” I said to her in a soft whisper, then warbled and chirped at her. “I'll wait in the kitchen for you to finish.”

She didn't say anything and just nodded, then walked back into her bedroom and closed the door. I watched to make sure she did put on something and I did the same thing and got dressed in my basic outfit and robes. I took the third plate of food out into the hallway and floated the plate over to where Kara stood at the far end of the hallway. She was concealed with Stealth and I gave her a wave, then I closed the door and went back to the kitchen to wait.

*

“I found him!” One of the guards said from the main security console in the station's operations room. “Living quarters, fourth floor.”

“Get a squad up there right away.” The lieutenant said. They had been looking for them ever since they discovered that their hotel rooms had been empty. “I'll inform The Order office.”

A squad was dispatched right away and they were thankful it was so early in the morning. They didn't have to yell or force people to move out of the way as they ran towards the right section. When they arrived there, the man in front hit the button for the lift. Nothing happened. He hit it again and still nothing.

“Check it!” He said and stepped back and another man took out a small detection device and placed it over the call button controls.

“It's functional.”

“Dammit, they disabled the lift.” The squad captain said. “Stairs!”

They ran down several doors and then tried to enter the stairwell.

“It's jammed.”

“Dammit! Cut it down!” The squad captain ordered and another man stepped forward and took out a small cutting torch and started to cut the mechanism that controlled the door's movements.

*

“It seems I'm running out of time.” I said and put the room key beside her breakfast. I quickly ate the things on my plate and walked over to the bedroom to see that the waitress was still talking to her very excited parents and they were gushing over the virtues of having a nest so soon and about the mate they had chosen for her.

I spoke a quick sentence in her native tongue and used Presence to carry it to her ears only, then I walked out of the apartment.

“It's my fault.” I said as I walked down to Kara. “I should have used Stealth and then gave you breakfast.”

“You didn't have to give me breakfast at all.” Kara said and floated the empty plate down the hallway and put it inside the room.

“You stood guard all night.” I said. “It was the least I could do.”

“No, the least you could have done was not be so damn loud.” Kara said. “I could hear her screeching from all the way down here.”

I laughed because I had used Presence to confine the sound to the apartment and the hallway, just so she could hear it and no one else. “Do we fight this out or just greet them like old friends?”

“It's just a squad of guards.” Kara said.

“Ah. Ambivalence. Got it.” I said and we stood there and waited for them to show up. “That was a nice idea to stop the lift and melt the mechanism on the staircase door.”

Kara gave me a crooked smile for a second, then we felt them break through the door.

“GO! GO! GO!” The squad captain ordered and they ran up the stairs all the way to the fourth floor and the lead man yanked open the staircase door.

Kara and I turned to face them as they piled into the hallway and took up firing positions.

“FREEZE!” The squad captain yelled.

Kara raised her eyebrows at the man and then released the lift. It dinged behind us and opened up.

“STOP! We WILL open fire!”

“With what?” I asked.

All of the battery packs popped out of their guns, then we stepped backwards into the lift as if Kara and I had coordinated it. We saw the surprised and shocked faces on the guards as the lift doors closed.

“Okay, even I have to admit that was pretty slick.” I said to Kara and she gave me a genuine smile.

“I hope they don't go too hard on that waitress.” Kara said and lost the smile.

“She doesn't know anything except my name and that I made a satellite network.” I said. “Plus, I helped her complete a nest that took her five years to complete. She's not going to say a word.”

“She's just going to chirp a lot?” Kara asked in a rare bout of levity and I felt that she was actually amused at the thought.

I couldn't help it and laughed. “I certainly hope so! What an interrogation that'll be.” I said. “What's his name?” I then chirped and warbled my throat. “What did you do all night?” I made tweets and chirps and fluffed my hair out, then I laughed. Not surprisingly, Kara laughed, too.

*

“You are all bumbling idiots.” The alien Order member said to the guard squad. “Where are they now?”

“Touring the station.” The lieutenant said. “We have three pairs of guards tailing them.”

“What about the woman who lives in that apartment?”

“She's a waitress that works at the restaurant they ate at last night.” The lieutenant said. “She won't say anything outside of her native language, except to say he was the best lover she had ever had. When we tried to tell her what happened, she just said that she doesn't care who he is or what he's done.”

The alien blinked his eyes for a moment, then shook his head because the Presence didn't waver. “How is that possible? He's not an Aviatoma and they never take humans to their beds.”

The lieutenant shrugged, because alien sex practices were not important to the mission. “She also said that we better release her before her shift starts or she'll start telling everyone that The Order is investigating people's private sexual affairs.”

The alien sighed and waved a hand in dismissal. “Let her go and have her watched.”

“Yes, sir.” The lieutenant said and left.

“Now what?” The other alien asked.

“We monitor and make sure nothing else happens.” The alien said. “Stay alert.”

“You don't have to tell me twice.” The other alien said and left as well.

I need to send a message to Kralish. The first alien thought and went to his own room to access The Order message system.

*

The waitress walked into the restaurant as if she owned the place. Her bright and colorful plumage on her head was slightly puffed up, because she had received a lot of positive attention from both men and women as she crossed the station to get to work.

“Nina? You're not wearing your hairnet.” The manager said when he saw her.

Nina let out a low whistle. “Don't worry! I have been well and truly groomed.” She said with a bright smile. “I won't have any loose feathers or down for weeks!”

He opened his mouth to ask exactly how she had been groomed, considering there wasn't another of her species on the station, then remembered that he really didn't want to know.

“Make sure you keep track of it.”

“Of course.” Nina said and touched his arm affectionately, then she went to work. She made almost as much in tips that evening as she had the night before, not counting Hunter's tip, of course.

*

Kara and I made a day of exploring the entire station. We led the people following us all over the place and made sure that they wasted their time following us, since we visited every single place that was accessible to the public.

“I think I'm getting a little hungry.” I said with a teasing tone.

“Absolutely not.” Kara said adamantly, and I laughed.

“I'm sure we can get a good table, even without a reservation.”

“You said you had lots of food and supplies stashed, so eat some of that.” Kara said and led me back across the station. “Don't even think of picking up another woman. We are leaving first thing in the morning.”

I sighed exaggeratedly. “All right.” I said, sadly.

Kara gave me a look that said she knew I would pick up another woman if she would let me.

“No, I'm only joking.” I said. “She completed her nest and doesn't need me anymore.”

Kara's gaze changed to disbelief. “You took her to bed to make a nest?”

“It was quite an ordeal to make her generate enough feathers for it.” I chuckled. “Do you want to hear about it?”

“I heard enough about it last night.” Kara said and we entered the hotel. “You can keep the details to yourself.”

I nodded and opened her room for her and she stepped inside. “I'll see you in the morning.”

“I really should make you stay here with me.” Kara said.

I gave her an award winning smile and let my Presence fill her room. “All you have to do is ask.”

Kara let my Presence float around her for a moment, then used her own to push it away. “Goodnight.”

I smiled and shut her door and went to my room next door. I stripped off completely and stored everything into a bag of holding, then pulled out my nightgown and went to the bathroom and took a shower. I dressed for bed and climbed under the blanket and turned my head to look at her through the wall.

“Goodnight.” I said and carried the sound to her ears with Presence.

Kara looked startled for a second, then she frowned and glared at me. “Oh, you bastard!” She exclaimed, because she just realized that I had let her hear me having sex with the waitress last night.

“You're welcome.” I said with a grin. I rolled over on the bed and used several mental techniques before I fell asleep.

*

The next morning, the station's boarding area had been cleared and six Order members and twenty guards escorted Master Moor and the rogue Presence user from the hotel over to their prepped ship.

“I can't believe we can't make one little detour to one of The Order temples.” Hunter said as they approached the docking hatch.

“I've been hard pressed to justify keeping you on the station without confining you in restraints.” Kara responded. “Or sequestered in the room.” She said pointedly.

Hunter laughed. “I hadn't planned on the waitress and you did kind of challenge me.”

“I did not.” Kara said and the two of them walked onto the ship.

The Order members relaxed as the hatch closed and the guards split up and went back to their lodgings to gather their things. The majority of them would be returning to the planet with The Order members, now that the object of their orders was no longer their responsibility. One of The Order member aliens stood there and watched the ship as it backed away from the station.

The ship turned towards the Lagrange point to jump into hyperspace and poured on the speed. It started to fade from sight... then it exploded in a blinding flash of light.