by Tammy Walsh
After purchasing the shuttlecraft, we still had a good stash of credits left over.
“Are you sure you don’t want your share?” I said.
“You keep hold of it for me,” Alice said. “Buy a pig to raise on your farm and name it after me.”
“Are you sure? You could probably buy a lot on Earth with it.”
Alice shrugged. “You can bring it to me later if I need it.”
The subject of our relationship after I returned her to Earth was one we hadn’t discussed yet. I was certain I loved her. Seeing her wearing armor was more than enough to convince me of that. But what was I meant to do on a planet like Earth? And would she be interested in living on Arcturon Prime with me? Would she even be willing to wait for me to save up the credits I needed?
It was all academic anyway. She was never going to stay with me. Not after she learned I’d lied to her…
“We don’t need to get your ship,” Alice said. “You could drop me off in this shuttlecraft.”
“Sure… so long as you don’t mind drawing your pension when we arrive.”
“What do you mean?”
“This craft is good enough for short journies but at top speed, it’ll take about forty years to get you home.”
“Oh. Forget that idea then.”
She sat next to me and lay her head on my shoulder. “Have you thought about what you’re going to do after you get your ship back?”
“After taking you home?” I said. “Head out and do more smuggling, I guess.”
“You’re still going to do that?”
“It’s the only way I can earn enough to retire,” I said.
She ran a hand over my chest. “I was thinking…”
Here comes trouble…
“Maybe you could come visit me sometimes—when you’re not busy on your farm, I mean,” she said.
“Sure,” I said. “Why not?”
She won’t want anything to do with you once she learns the truth, asshole.
Then why not tell her the truth about her friends now?
It was the right thing to do. But it was almost the most difficult. And with her pressed against me, feeling so good, I didn’t want to spoil the final few hours we had together. I didn’t know when I would get to feel this way again.
I kissed her on the top of her head. Her hair smelled bad but I didn’t care.
Alice slipped her hand inside my vest and ran her fingers gently over my skin. It gave me goosebumps and made my cock rock hard.
She always had that effect on me.
Without saying a word, she stood up and pulled the vest off over my head. Then my pants. They were tattered and torn by the Rat King’s razor-sharp claws. Then she drew my underwear down and appeared unsurprised I was standing proud.
“Always ready for action, huh?” she said.
“Best to be ready for any eventuality,” I said.
She chuckled, kissed her fingers, and pressed it to my throbbing cock. She took me in her hand and gently stroked me.
“In my language, we don’t use the word ‘bond’ much,” she said. “We have other words. For example…” She looked me dead in the eye. “I want you to fuck me.”
I quivered in her hand, and it wasn’t only because she started stroking me harder.
I swallowed, my throat suddenly very dry. “That’s… uh… a very coarse way to put it, right?”
“Sometimes coarse is what we want,” she said, her eyes still pressing hard into me. “I want you to fuck me as hard as you can.”
I leaned forward to kiss her, but she pulled back.
Tease.
Hand still on my shaft, she led me into the tiny bathroom. She turned on the showerhead and a spray of warm water rained down. She gently placed me inside it.
She stripped off her clothes and joined me. The water washed away our blood, sweat, and tears. The steam billowed and we found each other’s arms. We kissed. I grew even harder and pressed against her.
Nothing could stop me from wanting this woman. When she looked at my forearm where the Rat King had torn into me, the injury was already beginning to close up.
“Titan healing, remember?” I said.
“I thought that was just something you said to impress the girls,” she said.
“I’ll show you how I impress the girls…”
She pressed a finger to my lips. “Nuh-uh. Not girls, plural.”
“I’ll show you how I impress this girl,” I said.
“Better.”
I pressed her against the wall. She groaned with pleasure as I tickled her pussy with my cock.
“You’re such a tease,” she said.
“We’ve got four hours before we reach Rogiz 4,” I said. “What else am I going to do?”
I slipped inside her tight folds, making her gasp. She held my face in her hands and kissed me. She looked at me meaningfully.
“I love you,” she said.
She peered into my eyes, into my soul. A deep shiver shook me to the very core, and that flickering flame of anger and frustration every Titan possessed was now a blazing inferno. First, she sparked that filament of hope inside me, and now she set it firmly ablaze.
The words I needed to say easily presented themselves on my lips… Even though I knew I shouldn’t utter them.
“I love you too,” I said.
I breathed her in as we traveled at warp speed through endless space, ten lightyears from another living soul.
Computer performed a scan of the planet’s surface as we drifted lazily over it. I thought the ship wasn’t there until Computer bleeped.
“Silent Shadow has been located,” he said.
“Where?” I said, leaning closer to the computer terminal.
The hologram spun the planet around until it came to a large green expanse on the largest island. A red marker pointed out its location.
“Do you think they’re on board?” Alice said.
“Computer,” I said, “run a scan for life signs.”
After a moment, Computer replied. “Scan complete. One life sign detected.”
I turned to Alice. “They left someone behind to keep watch on the ship and alert them in case somebody attacks.”
Alice frowned. “Why didn’t they use the same tractor beam they used on us?”
“The Rogizians are much easier to round up than humans.”
“Why?”
“Because the Rogizians all look like children.”
Alice stared at me. “You’re kidding?”
“They stop aging around the age of eight. They live out the rest of their lives looking like that.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “Why does that happen?”
“It’s just a quirk of their DNA.” I turned back to the hologram. “Computer, take us down, half a click from the ship on the eastern side.”
Computer bleeped. I strapped my sword and knife scabbard around my waist.
“What will you do when you see them?” Alice said.
“The same thing they did to me,” I said coldly.
Rogiz 4 was huge and lush with huge valleys between even larger mountains. Many other advanced cultures had offered to share their technology in exchange for leases to build resorts on the planet’s surface. The native species had denied all offers. They saw no value in advanced technology. It never seemed to make cultures happier, and in fact, only seemed to have the opposite effect.
What really made the other alien species gnash their teeth was the rare materials just beneath the surface. The sheer wealth available was second to no other planet in the entire galaxy.
But the native Rogizian species respected nature and its bounty and only harvested as much as they needed to survive. Their decision caused them trouble. Without adequate protection from their enemies, smugglers easily slipped in and pillaged the small towns and tribes.
I kept a close eye on my former ship, Silent Shadow, as we approached a hill behind it. I checked the scanners but found the single lifeform aboa
rd hadn’t moved from their original position.
I drew my sword and ran out through the hatch and around the hill. If the ship’s defense system had been initiated, it would detect our approach and open fire. Were they so overconfident that they wouldn’t even set up a perimeter?
Fools!
I breathed a sigh of relief when I reached the ship. I placed a hand on her. It felt good to be with her again.
I leaned in close to Alice. “Be careful. Try to be silent.”
I peered around the ship’s open hatch at the cargo hold. No one stood with a blaster pistol to greet me. Instead, I heard music. It was screeching, loud, and wailing. It belonged to Rattigan. It always got on my nerves. How Rattigan could claim it was good dancing music was a mystery to me.
Rattigan lay on his back fixing something wrong with the shuttlecraft. Just as well I bought a new one, I thought.
I pressed the blade to his neck.
“A good captain would not have left you as the lookout,” I said. “Come out.”
Rattigan slowly slid down to look at me. His eyes snapped toward the blaster pistol just two inches from reach.
I kicked it across the floor, grabbed him by the lapels, and raised him off the floor with a single arm.
“You were always my least favorite crewmate,” I said.
Rattigan struggled against my arm but it was no use. “It’s not my fault!” he said. “I went along with the flow! It’s not my fault! It wasn’t my idea!”
“Maybe not,” Alice said, stepping out from behind me. “But you were one of the ringleaders. I heard you and Horn Tusk talking about it that day outside the shuttle bay.”
Rattigan shook his head. “You can’t believe this human female! They haven’t even colonized their own moon!”
I brought him closer to my face. “And yet, they know a great deal more about honor than you, my friend. For now, I’m putting you on ice.”
I moved to the nearest empty pod. “Computer. Prepare pod number seven for a new occupant.”
“No!” Rattigan said, struggling against my grip. “You can’t do this! I’m one of your crew!”
“Good point,” I said. “Computer. Remove all crew members from active duty, effective immediately.”
“All crew members have been removed,” Computer said.
I dumped him in the pod. Alice slapped her hand on the controls. Rattigan beat against the thick lid but there was no escape. His movements slowed. Within minutes, he was asleep.
“Computer, prepare for take-off,” I said.
“Preparing for take-off now,” Computer said.
The hatch rose. Inches from locking into place, a red flash zipped through the gap and burnt the metal frame.
“What was that?” Alice said.
“A blaster pistol,” I said. “Computer, identify the shot’s origin.”
“The shot was fired by a Litheizer pistol owned by—”
“Stryder,” I said.
He must have raided a nearby village and was on his way back when we arrived. Good luck getting back on board now, asshole.
I nodded to Alice. “Come with me. We’re going to the deck.” As we left the cargo hold, I said, “Computer, open a communication channel with Stryder.”
Computer bleeped. “Communication channel established.”
“Well, well, well,” I said. “If it isn’t my mutinous crew.”
In the background, the crew muttered among themselves, disbelieving it could be me.
“You got off the planet faster than I expected,” Stryder said. “You’ll have to tell me the whole story sometime.”
“I’m afraid I have better things to do,” I said.
“You can’t fly away. Not on my ship.”
“That’s strange because Computer seems to think I’m still the captain.”
“You know Computer,” Stryder said. “He’s a stickler for the rules.”
“Unlike you,” I growled.
We reached the deck. “Computer. Show Stryder on the screen.”
Outside, yards from the ship’s hull, stood my mutinous ex-crew. They held a pair of small children—Rogizians—under each arm.
“I Challenge you,” Stryder said. “Prove to the crew you deserve to be their captain.”
He wore a triumphant grin on his face. He always did know how to press my buttons. I believed in the rules. I trusted them. They kept us sane in a galaxy where the alternative was chaos.
But looking over my crewmates now, with their cargo tucked under their arms, I knew they were never going to stop fighting me on this issue. It’d almost cost me my life. They wouldn’t fail the second time around.
If I accepted the Challenge, Stryder wouldn’t follow the rules. It was a bunch of nonsense, and yet that sense of doing what was right, what was just, still niggled at me from the inside.
Alice placed her hand on my arm. “You deserve a better crew than this. A crew that understands you have a streak of honor in you. That it’s a good thing, not something they should exploit. They need you. You don’t need them.”
It wasn’t that simple. Was it? Decline his Challenge and others would declare me untrustworthy. But if I faced them, there was no doubt they would stab me in the back.
It was a no-win situation. The only way to win was to not take part.
“I decline your Challenge,” I said.
The crew gasped.
Stryder’s eyes narrowed. “That’s against the code.”
“So is mutiny,” I said.
“The other smugglers won’t be happy about you turning down a Challenge from a crewmate.”
“Then it’s good you’re no longer a part of my crew,” I said. “None of you are. I’ve had Computer remove you from active duty. I should have done it a long time ago.”
“That doesn’t matter!” Stryder said. “We’ll tell other smugglers you removed us after I made the Challenge. Because you were too afraid to face me yourself!”
Word would travel fast. I would be left with a bad reputation and no one would hire me.
Just then, a crowd of Rogizians encircled the crew. They all looked around eight years old. A couple looked a little older but still hadn’t yet reached their teens. They bore no weapons. They were a passive and non-aggressive species.
Stryder dropped the kids he held clutched under his arms and leveled his pistol at the locals.
“Computer,” I said. “Activate weapons systems. If anyone opens fire, retaliate.”
“Order confirmed,” Computer said.
The weapons on a smuggler ship were basic. A smuggling ship was made for speed and agility, not warfare. But it was more than enough to make the crew shake in their boots.
“Drop the natives,” I said. “You have five seconds to comply.”
“He’s bluffing!” Stryder said. “He won’t open fire on us!”
“Computer,” I said. “Countdown five seconds. If my former crew does not release the hostages they’re carrying, open fire.”
“Order confirmed,” Computer said. “Five… Four… Three… Two…”
Before the countdown reached one, the crew released their hostages, who sprinted toward their loved ones.
“Computer,” Alice said. “De-activate the speaker system.” She turned to me. “What are you going to do with them? You could turn them over to the Enforcers.”
“As their captain, I would be as guilty of their crimes as they are,” I said.
“But you didn’t order them to come here,” Alice said.
“That doesn’t matter. I’m still the ship’s captain. So long as that holds true, the Enforcers will arrest me.”
I re-activated the speaker system. “Rogizians,” I said. “These smugglers tried to abduct your people. You should punish them any way you see fit.”
A child of no more than eleven or twelve stepped forward. “We do not believe in imprisonment or any other punishment.”
“Then hold them here,” I said. “Call the Enforcers once I leave.”
“Then force them to do hard labor,” I said. “Make them dig in the mines for you.”
“We cannot take slaves. We refuse to become like them.”
I hissed through my teeth.
“I’ve got an idea,” Alice said. She whispered in my ear.
Could it work?
“They are my gift to you,” I said. “Take them. Use them for the next ten years in your mine. Release them in ten years and one day. And let them find their own way home.”
The eleven-year-old stroked his chin in thought. “A gift?”
“From me to you, to apologize for what they did to you today.”
“You can’t do that!” Stryder said. “We would be slaves in all but name only!”
The elder cocked his head to one side. “You are not slaves. You are gifts.” And he nodded. “Yes, this is something we can accept. We thank you for your gifts.”
“Wait,” I said. “There’s one more I wish to give you… Computer, expel pod number seven.”
The pod slipped out from under the ship. The locals picked it up and carried it away. The crew struggled but they were no match for hundreds of little people.
Stryder scowled up at me. “They’ll never keep me here! And when I escape, I’m coming for you, Nighteko! Do you hear me? I’m coming for you!”
Watching them get dragged away left me with a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
“It’s over,” Alice said. “It’s really over.”
“Yes,” I said. I kissed her on the tip of her nose. “It’s over. And now you’re going home.”
I held her tight. I wouldn’t get to touch her for much longer.
Soon, she would leave me.
And then I would never see her again.
Alice
We made loud, passionate love so often, I began to wonder if we were attempting to christen the ship room by room. It was empty, and except for Computer, no one else could see what we were up to.
Did computers like watching humans have sex?
It would take just five hours to reach Earth at the fastest speed the ship was capable of. I was tempted to ask for the ship to go at its slowest speed to make the journey last longer.
