Chapter 165: Galley meeting. The five variants. Plans and discussions.

"It was perfect," you tell Kurumi without removing your hands from Hinata's breasts, squeezing gently through the maid uniform fabric. "Thank you for welcoming us home. Any big news I should know about before I call a team together to visit Sandra?"

Kurumi tilts her head, heterochromatic eyes gleaming with amusement. "Webb's been asking about your cruise ship plan every hour like clockwork. Albedo's been monitoring Sandra's encrypted channels all morning- she looked quite focused last I checked."

"Right." You gently guide Hinata toward the bed, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. "Rest for a bit," you murmur against her mouth. "The Vigor and Regeneration enchantments will have you good as new. But savor the feeling while it lasts - you only lose your virginity once."

Hinata sinks onto the mattress with a dreamy smile, her dark hair fanning across the pillow. "Yes, Goshujin-sama." Her voice is thick with satisfaction. "I'll be here when you return."

You leave the Mansion, stepping through into the Anchorage galley. The space is dim at this hour, emergency lighting casting everything in amber. You open the Telepathy Web broadly.

"Albedo, C.C., Rika, Maria, Rin. Erza, Nova. Meeting in the galley. Then We'll go to Sandra's to check if she succeeded in buying the sedated girls or not."

Responses come quickly. Albedo acknowledges from the command center, already moving. Rika confirms. Maria's assent carries a note of professional readiness.

But when they finish reaching the galley, it's not just your requested team that gathers. Kurumi followed you politely our of the mansion, still in her French maid outfit, setting up a tray of tea. Robin arrives first, tablet tucked under one arm, blue eyes sharp.

Violet and C.C.'s voice comes through the Telepathy Web - they're still piloting the Stallion over the Caribbean, but wants to listen in. Emilia appears in the doorway, curiosity on her face. Kurumu bounces in with her blue hair loose around her shoulders, purple underwear barely covered by a silk robe. Roxanne pads in barefoot, tail wagging once when she sees you, her maid uniform slightly rumpled from sleep.

Nami leans against the galley counter, arms crossed, orange hair mussed. Mikasa materializes silently at your shoulder - her protective positioning automatic now. Sango settles onto a bench with her boomerang propped beside her. Rei stands near the wall, red eyes tracking the room with quiet attention.

Asia enters supporting a drowsy Priestess, who clings to her arm but manages a small wave in your direction. Her eyes are clearer than they were earlier.

"Everyone wants to hear directly," Kurumi explains, pouring tea into cups with practiced efficiency. "Word travels fast in a household this size."

Albedo sweeps in last, white gown pristine, horns catching the light. Her expression is serious. "Master. Sandra's communications indicate she's closed two deals - Hancock and Akame. Confirmed. But three others are failing."

She produces a tablet, setting it on the counter. "Tatsumaki's seller rejected everything. They want scientific equipment - specifically advanced laboratory tools. Esdeath requires physical delivery within thirty-six hours or the deal collapses. And Yugito's sellers are holding firm on fuel and ammunition pricing."

Albedo meets your eyes directly. "Sandra sent an urgent message an hour ago asking if you could provide the scientific equipment for Tatsumaki, and whether you'd be willing to personally deliver for Esdeath. She believes she can purchase Esdeath if you handle transport."

Rika crosses her arms. "Webb's cruise ship question is still open too. Three ships, twenty-eight hundred passengers, three-week starvation window. The Stallion arrives Jacksonville in two and a half hours."

The galley falls quiet. Every eye in the room is on you.

You stand at the head of the galley table, hands resting on its edge, and address the room. "Let's start with the slaves," you say. "From the stories I know, Hancock, Esdeath, and Tatsumaki are extremely prideful individuals who won't accept being anything but in control of this group."

You pace slowly as you speak. "Hancock - depending on when she's from - could either be a slave-girl with the power to charm anyone who looks at her, or a former-slave arrogant queen of an amazon island. Either way, she's dangerous. Esdeath is better known as General Esdeath. Grew up a hunter who values only strength. As an adult she's a pure strength-worshipper who's happy to dominate, torture, and break allies and enemies alike because she's the strongest. There's no telling what variant she could be."

Mikasa shifts beside you, arms crossed. Her expression is hard.

"Tatsumaki is a telekinetic famous for her stunted growth that makes her look like a teenager as much as her excessively overwhelming power," you continue. "She can drop meteors as easily as levitate and throw cities. Like all of you, I expect she's very limited here. Akame and Yugito had either a lack of face-time or a lack of emotional expression for me to classify them. Akame I know is an assassin swordswoman who doesn't talk much. Yugito is a ninja from a world similar to Hinata's - the regional difference alone is massive. She was known to be confident, but her reception to being purchased while sedated likely won't be good."

You pause, letting the weight of that settle.

"Which brings us to the first reason for this meeting. As we discussed while making the mind control terms - dimensional travelers are at my discretion. If they try taking forceful control of the group or are hostile, I will be resorting to mind control."

Rin speaks first, her voice measured. "We agreed to that. It's in the governance framework." She glances at Maria, who nods confirmation. "Hostile action against the group justifies defensive measures."

"I trust your judgment," Mikasa says quietly. "But Esdeath..." She trails off, jaw tightening.

"If she's the variant I'm thinking of, she'll respect strength," you reply. "If she's not, she gets dominated. Either way, the group stays safe."

Albedo inclines her head. "The governance terms are clear. Hostile action triggers defensive protocols. We established this."

A few murmurs of agreement ripple through the room. No one objects - they helped write these terms.

"Now," you continue. "From what Albedo reports, Hancock and Akame are confirmed. We'll be picking them up likely tomorrow. For Esdeath, Sandra needs delivery - likely goods - which means I'll be opening a gate and they'll make the exchange. Yugito's sellers might require a direct purchase, we'll address that tomorrow."

Your expression darkens. "But Tatsumaki's seller wanting advanced laboratory tools is concerning for multiple reasons. Anyone trying to get that kind of equipment right now is either looking to experiment on dimensional travelers or scientifically cure the magical zombie-virus - which obviously won't work. I'm going to scry them first to determine if they're blatantly stupid or intentionally trying to fuck over something good. Depending on the results..." You let the implication hang. "I suspect we or I might be attacking them. Exterminating them. After stealing Tatsumaki."

Silence stretches for a beat.

"Your opinions?"

Erza speaks first, her voice firm. "If they're experimenting on travelers, they deserve what comes. I'll volunteer for the assault."

"Scry first," Robin says, tapping her tablet. "Intelligence before action. But if they're hostile to our interests, elimination is pragmatic."

Nova's psionic presence flickers with cold approval through the web. "I can provide overwatch. Specter protocols."

Rika uncrosses her arms. "Agreed on scrying first. But if they're slavers running experiments, I won't lose sleep over it."

Kurumi sets down a teacup with deliberate precision. "I'm looking for their timeline branches. Seeing what they intend before you commit."

Nami leans forward. "What about the cruise ships? Webb's been asking every hour."

"That's the next thing we discuss," you say. "The Stallion should arrive at Jacksonville in two and a half hours. I'll contact Webb after we finish with Sandra to repeat what I'm about to explain."

You take a deep breath before continuing "The Icon of the Seas is already overrun by zombies. I'll admit I'm torn - do we clear them out and toss the bodies overboard, or resurrect them all and have them be mind-controlled labor?"

Erza's eyes sharpen. "Labor serves the living better than corpses floating in the harbor."

"Depends on how many there are," Robin counters, tapping her tablet. "Two thousand zombies is two thousand resurrection castings. That's mana we might need elsewhere."

You nod, then continue. "Then there's the survivors on the other ships. Saving them isn't our responsibility, but abandoning them when we have the option is also wrong. I intend to make two teleportation circles on their ships before announcing their choices."

You hold up two fingers. "The first circle goes to our ship, where they'll be mind-controlled servants per our terms until society re-establishes. The second circle goes to land, where their survival is their own."

Mikasa's jaw tightens. Rin watches you with narrowed eyes.

"Unmentioned to the survivors or Webb," you say, your voice dropping slightly, "I intend to send the land circle to Sandra. If she accepts, they get sold."

The galley goes silent. Asia's hand tightens on Priestess's arm.

"Before you object," you continue, meeting each pair of eyes in turn, "consider their current state. Barricaded on a dead-end ship with limited food. Then consider the world they'd step into - a criminal's nightmare of zombies and starvation. If I let those women wander straight onto land without supporting them excessively, they will die or be enslaved anyway. Better to save those I can by dropping them straight into an acceptable slaver's lap."

You pause. "Only after there are no survivors on the other cruise ships will I enchant them and possibly incorporate them."

Maria speaks first, her violet eyes steady. "The consent terms applies to willing participants. These women won't be willing."

"They'll be choosing between three options," you reply. "Service with us, survival on land, or... staying on the ship until the food runs out."

"That's not consent," Maria says flatly. "That's a choice between drowning in three different depths of water."

Albedo tilts her head, horns catching the lighting. "Master. The governance framework we established permits mind control for willingly contracted or against hostile actors. These are desperate civilians, not combatants."

"Desperate civilians who will become desperate survivors," you counter. "Who will become desperate thieves. Or desperate slaves traded by worse people than Sandra."

Rin crosses her arms. "You're not wrong about the outcome analysis. But Maria has a point about the consent. You're creating a false choice - two visible options and one invisible one. That violates the transparency principle we agreed on."

Nami pushes off the counter. "What about the ones who choose our ship? Mind-controlled servants. That's what we agreed - hostile action justifies it. These people haven't done anything hostile."

Bulma's blue hair sways as she shakes her head slowly. "Brad... I want to support you. But this feels different from what we discussed."

Rika's voice cuts through, tactical and measured. "Strategically sound. Ethically questionable under our own rules. The question is whether you're willing to modify the framework or override it."

Every eye in the room waits for your response.

You let the silence stretch for a moment, then speak with a bemused shake of your head.

"This feels weird," you say. "I figured the objections would be to delivering survivors to a slaver if they chose suicide on land. Instead you're objecting to the tiny detail of our terms of mind control."

You straighten, hands flat on the counter. "The terms of mind control we made was time serving for services rendered - like resurrecting the zombies, or hostile action predicted to be enemies. The survivors would only be servants for the time accepted willingly. That's consent. If they don't want the two choices I'm offering, they can make their own. Neither I nor any of you are required to coddle them."

Maria opens her mouth, but you continue before she can speak.

"The big bottom line problem here is that we have no reason - logically or ethically - to support or pamper idiots who barricaded themselves on a ship during the apocalypse regardless of gender. If any of you have a different miracle solution that doesn't essentially amount to handing them free food or offering them your home, I'd be interested to hear it."

The galley is quiet for three heartbeats.

Then Maria speaks, her violet eyes steady but not hostile. "You're not wrong about the practical outcome. But you're mischaracterizing the objection. The issue isn't whether mind control is justified - we agreed it is for hostile actors or willing participants. The issue is that you're presenting two visible choices and one invisible one. The land circle goes to Sandra. That's deception by omission."

Rin nods slowly. "The framework we built assumes informed consent. Even for mind control. These women would be choosing without knowing all their options."

"What options?" you counter. "Starvation? Getting eaten? Being captured by worse slavers?"

"Those are real options," Rika says, uncrossing her arms. "And you're right that Sandra's probably better than the alternatives. But the rules we set say we tell them what they're choosing. Not trick them into it."

Mikasa shifts beside you. "I don't disagree with the outcome," she says quietly. "But We designed these rules for a reason. If we break them now because it's convenient, what stops us from breaking them later when it's harder?"

Albedo finally speaks, her voice measured. "Master. The practical question is simple - do you want to tell them about Sandra, or do you want to hide it? The governance framework doesn't prohibit selling. It prohibits deception."

Nami pushes off the counter. "Honestly? If some woman on a cruise ship would rather take her chances with zombies than accept structured employment through Sandra, that's her funeral. But she should know what she's choosing."

Kurumu's blue hair sways as she tilts her head. "What if you just... make it three options? Service with us. Land with Sandra - explained openly. Or stay on the ship."

Robin taps her tablet thoughtfully. "Three transparent choices. The rules hold. And most of them will probably pick Sandra anyway once they understand the alternative is dying alone."

The room looks at you.

You blink, a slightly stunned expression crossing your face. "I'm surprised that was the detail I was getting wrong, and now that I get it." you say, the realization clicks fully into place. "Publicly announcing our involvement with the slave trade is a bad idea."

You straighten, nodding slowly. "So, I'll have the second circle drops them on the west coast. Los Angeles - there are already multiple fuel sources active there, armed forces around. They'll ironically have an easier time surviving than the east coast."

Maria's violet eyes soften fractionally. "That works. Transparent choices, real options."

"Good," Rin says, arms still crossed but her posture relaxing. "Honest choices. Nobody can claim we tricked them."

Albedo inclines her head. "A pragmatic adjustment, Master. The governance terms remain intact."

Mikasa gives a single firm nod beside you. The room settles into agreement - not enthusiastic, but unified.