by C. F. Harris
I would’ve preferred using the automed on our ship. The Standard Shipyards module had presets programmed in for humans, after all. The only problem was Rachel had put some sort of failsafe in place when she was messing with the systems on my ship. She was the only person who could access those systems. Which meant I was now very much at the mercy of the woman I loved regaining consciousness.
So while I was worried for her because she was the woman I loved and I wanted her to recover, I was also worried because every moment she stayed unconscious was another moment we were trapped in human space with the Aegis Fleet and hijackers somewhere out there ready to destroy us or loot us if they happened to find us in one of their damnable scans.
How long would it take for this human ship to be reported as missing? I didn’t know, and the spot between my shoulder blades where an assassin might plant a dagger itched knowing the entire human fleet could come down on us with plasma turrets blazing at any moment.
"There we go," the medic said. "She should be okay. I think she was just a little overwhelmed."
"Thank you," I said.
I looked at the human medic. He looked between me and Rachel, and then rolled his eyes. I was fairly certain that gesture was the same between both humans and Vosk. It was amazing how many gestures we shared. There were times when I almost believed the researchers who theorized that humans and Vosk shared a common ancestor stemming from the fall of some ancient galactic civilization.
Though if that civilization had ever existed then any traces of them had long since been ground to dust on any of the planets they might’ve existed on once upon a time.
"Is she going to…"
Rachel’s waking was immediate. Her eyes went wide and she sat up. She looked around and blinked a couple of times. Then she looked at me and her eyes widened in terror.
I worried that she’d forgotten everything. That maybe all her memories had been wiped by either what this medic had done to her or by the shock of whatever had caused her to lose consciousness in the first place.
It wasn't unheard of for people back home to have their memories wiped when they did something that went against, say, the ruling family. I'd barely managed to get off world ahead of one of those memory wipes myself.
Then her eyes narrowed. She punched me in the chest. It was a hard punch, for all that she didn't quite possess the strength to actually cause damage. At least not when she wasn’t wielding a plasma lance as she screamed towards me in the void between the stars.
And yet. It was a touch from Rachel. That's all I cared about. A touch from her, even a punch, was pure delight.
"What the hell happened?" Rachel asked.
"You don't remember?" I asked.
“I remember blacking out," she said. "And…"
Her eyes went wide in surprise as the memories no doubt came flooding back to her.
"Did you really…"
"…Defeat all the humans in single combat after you passed out and regain control of my ship and yours?" I asked. "Of course. We're on our way back to the Vosk home world so that you might be presented as a prize!"
Again her eyes went wide in clear surprise. And again she punched me when she realized I was joking.
"Don't be an asshole," she said.
I frowned. I wasn't quite familiar with that particular turn of human phrasing, but it also wasn't all that difficult to guess that they’d taken the preferred method of defecation for most complex live throughout the galaxy and twisted that word into one of their fascinating curses.
"I apologize," I said.
"An apology from the great and mighty Vosk warrior," she said. "How about that!"
"I'm not certain how great or mighty I am considering how difficult it was for me to retake my ship."
I reached out and took her hands. Locked eyes with her. "I couldn't have done it without you. I was completely serious when I said you have my weapon until the end of my life and beyond."
"Yeah, about that," Rachel said.
"About what?" I asked.
"Listen," she said. "I appreciate that we had a good time in the ship and everything while we were sort of facing down the whole death thing, who doesn’t want to have a good time when they know they’re going to bite it, but what you're talking about here is…"
"Nonnegotiable," I said.
She yelped as I swept her up off of the bed. Which was good for an annoyed glance from the medic, but I didn’t care. Rachel stared up at me. Her lips parted. She was beautiful. More than beautiful.
I’d been captivated by her from the first moment I saw her careening through the stars at me with nothing but that plasma lance to save her, and I was even more captivated looking at her now as she instinctively curled up in my arms and practically purred. A purr that turned to a look of annoyance.
"Let go," she said.
"You don't want me to let go,” I replied.
She glared at me for another long moment, then sighed and pressed her head against my chest. It was a pleasing feeling.
I chuckled and she slapped me in the chest again.
"You don't have to be so smug about winning,” she said.
"Oh but I do," I said. “Besides, you’re still the one coming out on top in this situation considering I don’t have access to my ship until you decide to grant me access to my ship.”
"Whatever," she said. "So what happens now?"
"You come with me, of course," I said.
The human medic who'd been pretending to count their stocks of medical supplies, no doubt a pretense to keep an eye on me as though they had a prayer of stopping me, tensed. I glanced around the room to make sure there were no obvious weapons that might lead to trouble, but saw nothing obvious.
"You will come with me," I said with a smile. "I find myself in need of new crew. Including someone who's familiar with information technology on a Standard Shipyards hull.”
"And where would I even stay on a Vosk ship?" she asked.
“Considering you’ve just eliminated a good chunk of my crew, you will have your choice of whichever cabin you want. Once we’ve cleared out the bodies of all the crew you’ve killed, that is,” I said.
I frowned at that. The smell was going to be terrible. As far as I could tell she’d removed the life support from everywhere but the cargo bay but hadn’t vented that atmosphere to the stars which was good. It would save us from wearing breathing masks as we limped back to a suitable neutral station for repairs.
The downside was she hadn’t bothered with removing temperature controls, which meant those decomposing Vosk bodies weren’t being frozen. The smell was going to take forever to get out of the ship.
"Are you sure I would have a cabin all to myself?" she asked, running her fingers up and down my chest in a most distracting manner. "Because I wouldn't mind having a roommate under the circumstances.”
I shivered. Then I gestured to the medic. It was a sharp gesture of command I was used to using on my men. I was used to it being obeyed immediately.
"Out!"
The medic stared between me and Rachel. Again his eyes ran across the room. They came to rest on a small cabinet, and he started moving towards it.
I was between him and whatever was in that cabinet, most likely an emergency weapon of some sort, before he could take more than a step. I held Rachel up with one hand while grabbing his wrist with the other. I held him in an iron grip that made it clear he shouldn’t make another move if he wanted to continue having his wrist attached to the rest of his body.
"I said leave," I growled.
He stared at me, and then to Rachel. He shrugged and sighed.
"It's okay," Rachel said, staring up at me with the kind of bedroom eyes that had me forgetting about small worries like the human fleet finding us and blasting us out of the stars. "It's very okay."
The man turned and left, but not before shooting me one final glare. Maybe he'd been interested in Rachel, but that was tough shit, as the Terrans put it in yet another one of
their curses that revolved around defecation.
She was mine now, and I was going to claim her as was proper when I’d pledged my weapon to her to the day of my death and beyond!
25
Rachel
Our meeting was hungry. Frenzied. I needed him in the worst way. And from the way Vrath tore at my clothes once more, familiar territory for him considering we'd already done this several times back on his ship, he was just as eager as I was.
Which felt odd, to be honest. I didn't think anyone could be as eager as I felt in that moment, but here we were.
“I need you," he growled as he pushed me back on the small cot in the supply closet that doubled as a sickbay on the Lucky Linda.
The captain had been too much of a cheap bastard to invest in the safety and health of his crew with something extravagant like an automed bay.
"I need you too,” I said, though it came out as more of a whine than anything.
I gasped as he pulled the zipper down on the front of my jumpsuit. He was shirtless, of course, the fashion statement Vosk warriors went for which I wasn’t complaining about since it gave me a lovely sparkling golden view thank you very much, but he still had his pants on.
That was going to be a problem as this went to its natural conclusion.
He made short work of that, though. With a couple of tugs at his belt and a little shimmy that was so very distracting because it showed off so much of his sexy body as he made moves you didn’t typically think of when you thought “Vosk warrior,” they dropped to the floor revealing his golden skin in all its glory.
And I mean all its glory. Wink and a nudge. Say no fucking more!
I almost went cross eyed looking at the weapon he was carrying between his legs. It wasn't fair that a man could be this perfect, and the view was made all the more enticing by the glowing flecks of golden skin that were the Vosk calling card.
"Damn that looks good," I said.
"I'm glad to hear you say that," Vrath said.
"Oh are you now?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. “Because it’s time for me to claim you!”
Again I was hit with a lightheaded sensation that felt almost like I was on the verge of passing out. The only thing that kept me from passing out was seeing that shaft sticking out from Vrath. Watching him as he licked his lips and looked me up and down.
Then he was pressing against me. Teasing me, of course, because my jumpsuit was still on. From the way he was smiling he was clearly having a little bit of fun. Trying to make me miserable with lust even though he was no doubt on the verge of exploding himself.
“What the fuck are you waiting for?” I hissed at him.
“The best pleasures are the ones you have to wait for,” Vrath said, waving an admonishing finger at me in a gesture that looked all too human.
There was a lot about how the Vosk acted that seemed all too human. It would’ve been creepy if I hadn’t been so busy trying to avoid having them kill my ass. Or if I hadn’t been so distracted by the sexy.
“Tell me how much you want me, Rachel,” he said.
I bit my lip. “What if I told you I’m not letting you have access to your ship if you don’t give me what I want?”
He stared down at me for a long moment. Then he fell down on top of me, pressing that delicious hardness between his legs against me. My eyes rolled into the back of my head as he pressed against me. Every inch of his body was perfection, and I needed him.
“I don’t care,” he said. “Let your Aegis Fleet come down on our heads. Let them capture me and take me to their secret space stations on dark moons and asteroids in the unexplored corners of deep human space. It’ll all be worth it if I have the memory of you telling me how much you need me as they ply me with their pain sticks and agony booths.”
I opened my mouth to tell him that pain sticks and agony booths weren’t really things outside of old reruns of Star Trek that were still popular to this day thanks to continuing series going out over the galactic net, but then I figured it wasn’t worth it. It wouldn’t be the first time an alien species had been a little confused about humanity’s spacefaring abilities because their only frame of reference were broadcasts from the twentieth century that finally made it to their systems.
Besides, an explanation like that would postpone the fun. The last thing I wanted was to postpone the fun! Even if it meant giving in. Even if it meant giving him what he so desperately wanted so I could get what I so desperately wanted.
“I want you,” I hissed.
He pulled down on my jumpsuit just enough that my underwear was exposed to the hot air. I was so wet and I needed him so much. But he stopped. This man must have incredible control if he was able to hold back like that. He simply stared down at me with that smile that said he knew he was in control and he was enjoying every fucking moment of torturing me.
“I need you,” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck as he stared down at me with that cocky and confident grin. The alien bastard!
He pulled down some more. This time my jumpsuit fell off the edge of the small medical cot and I could hear it rustling as it pooled on the floor. There was nothing but my underwear separating us, and not for the first time I regretted that the only underwear I had on was the kind of boring plain white stuff that I always wore for comfort when I was doing work in deep space.
“Oh baby,” I said as he pressed against me again, only my words seemed to encourage him as he pulled my panties to the side and pressed a finger inside me.
It was electric. His touch was pure pleasure. I gasped again and my eyes went wide in surprise at this sudden but very welcome alien invasion!
“Oh baby!” I practically screamed.
I didn’t even care that others would be able to hear what was going on. The bulkheads in the Linda were notoriously thin. Something I’d learned, much to my displeasure, whenever a new woman who didn’t know Dirk joined the ship and decided to give him a try.
“Fuck,” I hissed. “What the fuck are you doing to me?”
“Say you’re mine,” he said.
I hesitated. He’d made one hell of a pledge to me. I knew enough about Vosk culture to know that pledge wasn’t the kind of thing they took lightly. It was basically an intention of marriage, even if it wasn’t legally binding.
And it felt good. Right.
“I’m yours,” I said.
I didn’t give a fuck. We’d been through life and death together. He was the most delicious hunk of man meat I’d ever seen. Wasn’t I the one who’d been floating on a comms array just a few hours ago thinking about how life was boring and I needed a change?
“And you’re mine,” I said, pulling him down and into a kiss.
His kiss was slow at first, but there was passion building there. He used his finger that was pulling my panties aside to keep them aside as he pressed that delicious shaft against me.
Then it was happening. Oh fuck it was happening. Another alien invasion, and it was way better than the kind of cheesy alien invasion that dominated entertainments from back in the twentieth!
My eyes rolled into the back of my head as waves of pleasure that’d been threatening to overwhelm me crashed over me. He was barely halfway inside me and already I was more full than I’d ever been with any other man. It was setting off little electric charges of pleasure all up and down my body.
I wrapped my legs around him and frantically pulled at him. Tried to get him to go deeper. Faster. I needed him, and he was still acting like he was teasing me!
The bastard. He knew exactly what he was doing to me!
“Fuck me,” I hissed.
“Of course,” he said.
He pulled out and thrust into me. It was fast. It was intense. It was everything I’d dreamed of and then some. Again my eyes rolled into the back of my head. Again I had trouble thinking of anything but Vrath on top of me. I forgot all about everything that’d happened. Or about the fact that we were going to be in serious trouble if the Aegis Fleet
did start to wonder why the comm array was still down when it should’ve been a quick repair job.
Or if those hijackers arrived, for that matter. The clock was ticking, and again I didn’t care.
I was nothing but the pleasure of him on top of me. Filling me. Making me his. I groaned every time he pressed inside me. I ran my hands up and down his taut muscles.
The cot squeaked under us, but I didn’t give a fuck. I wasn’t going to be a part of this crew for much longer. I’d be sad to leave Kotomi, but other than that I didn’t care. There was nothing for me here, and there was everything waiting for me on Vrath’s ship if he was there.
Even if it would mean being carried deep into Vosk space.
He was relentless, and I entered a strange state where I was nothing but the feeling of this magnificent alien bastard fucking me like I’d never been fucked before. Stretching me almost to the point of pain, but the pleasure of what he was doing to me was so great that it overrode any discomfort.
I screamed over and over and didn’t care who heard me. All I cared about was Vrath and how amazing this was. How wonderful it was that I’d finally found something this incredible.
Even if I had to go to the edge of human space and get attacked by an alien pirate ship to find him.
I wrapped my legs around him again. Pulled him closer. Down so that his ear was even with my lips.
“I need you to come for me,” I said. “Can you do that for me?”
Vrath groaned and it would appear that he’d been closer to the edge than he’d been letting on. He buried himself in me one final time and again I was treated to the delicious sensation of him filling me in a way that only my beautiful alien lover could.
I closed my eyes and let the feeling wash over me. It wasn’t exactly the mind blowing frenetic orgasmic experience of earlier when we were in that storage room and potentially on the verge of death, but it was still fucking amazing.
I sighed and relished the moment. My life was about to change, because there was no way I was leaving Vrath behind and going back to a Terran station with the Lucky Linda crew.
