by Hawk, Reagan
He stepped back from her and to the cleansing chamber. He rinsed quickly and returned to the hologram.
“Can I suck you off now, Roman?”
“End audio,” he said to the computer. There was no use listening to the hologram talk. She might look and sound like Destiny, but she didn’t say things Destiny would say. At least he didn’t think she did.
Anger for not having the real Destiny before him ran through him. He’d give up everything for one moment with her. He’d been fascinated—all right, obsessed—by her from the moment she’d joined his crew almost a year ago. It wasn’t just her beauty that attracted him, it was the way she carried herself, so sure, so confident.
“Get on your knees and suck me,” he instructed.
The hologram version of Destiny dropped to its knees and wrapped her warm mouth around his cock. He tipped his head back as she worked her way down his shaft. Stars above, she felt good—almost real. The hologram was a different story—his to do with as he pleased.
And it pleased him greatly, having her on her knees. “That’s it, suck it off. Ahh, there you go.”
Chapter Three
Destiny glanced down at her timekeeper. Nearly ten minutes had come and gone. If the captain wanted to play this game, she could too. Turning quickly, she pushed the access button for his quarters’ door. It slid open and she walked in.
Her mouth fell open as she saw a woman with long black hair on her knees before Roman. The woman had her back to Destiny, but it was clear she was gorgeous. A feeling of jealousy ripped through Destiny as she saw the look of pure bliss on Roman’s face while the woman sucked his cock.
Everything around her slowed as her insides felt as if they were being ripped from her body. The betrayal she felt while real was totally unwarranted. Roman was her captain, nothing more. She had no rights to him.
“Captain, I can see you’re busy. I’ll meet with you at a less awkward time.” Each word was forced but she couldn’t help herself. It was as though her entire world had just crashed down around her and it was hard to stay professional.
Roman’s head snapped up and his gray gaze fell onto her. She’d always loved his eyes, but as the slut on her knees continued to bob her head as if Destiny wasn’t even there, she began to like his eyes less and less.
“Commander Stewart…Destiny…I, uh, I…”
“I’d say that I’d knock next time, but there won’t be a next time, Sir.” She turned quickly and headed out of his quarters. Tears threatened to run down her face and she did her best to bite them back. Several other crewmembers walked past her on her way to the deck transporter, but she didn’t stop to acknowledge them. She wanted to go straight to her quarters and cry. That or punch something, she still couldn’t decide. Right about now, Roman’s face seemed like an excellent target.
Her locater beeped and she wiped her eyes quickly, not wanting whoever was on the other end to see she was upset. Looking down, she noted it was the command deck. That meant it might be the captain and he was the last person she wanted to talk to right now.
Destiny walked to the nearest imaging communicator and punched in her access code. An image of Commander Dirks popped up. He was a sight for sore eyes. She smiled. “What can I do for you, Dirks?”
“You can get me the hell out of here early and meet me for a drink after our shift is over,” he said, his voice deep and sexy, containing a drawl from his region on Earth.
She and Dirks had been friends since the academy. While they both hailed from Earth, they weren’t from the same region. Nor did they come from the same background. Dirks’s background was much more humble. Destiny knew she’d been raised with a silver spoon in her mouth in comparison to Dirks. He did too but that never changed the friendship they’d forged. Drinks with Dirks was no hardship. If anything, it was a welcome relief. She could use a friendly ear to bend. Dirks would be perfect. “It’s a deal. Now, tell me why you paged me.”
He flashed another bad boy smile. Many a lady had fallen for that very smile. Destiny nearly had once or twice herself. “We’re sending a team down to M83293 to look around. They’re two people short since the Xillian bug hit last week. You interested in going?”
Getting off the ship and away from Captain Roman Parker sounded like the best idea she’d heard all day. It would take her a long time to get the image of his naked form out her head. Even longer to forget seeing him with the slut. “Sure, will I be back in time for drinks?”
“Should be,” Dirks said, winking at her. His shaggy blond hair fell forward and covered his green eyes. “The first team’s only going down to patch the communications tower up. They think it will take an hour, two max, to get it done. You game?”
“I’m game.”
The image of Dirks cut out and Destiny headed toward her quarters to suit up to go planetside. She made a mental note to stop by the weapons room before she left. She’d been on too many uncharted planets not to know to go armed to the teeth. Staring down the wrong end of a taston pulse gun had taught her one could never be too prepared.
*
Roman ran down the corridor, tucking his dark gray uniform shirt in as he went. The corridor’s light always seemed to have a faint purple hue to it though for the life of him he didn’t know why the ship’s designers had decided that was a good idea. Clearly, they weren’t people who actually had to spend a great deal of time aboard a Star Union Vessel.
Roman kept moving at a fast run, his focus shifting to Destiny. She’d stormed out of his quarters so fast he wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed or pissed. If she recognized the hologram as a carbon copy of herself, then she might very well have been too embarrassed to face him.
She probably thinks I’m a sex-crazed pervert. Shit, I am a sex-crazed perv…at least when it comes to her.
He stalled in his pursuit and worried a hand over his jaw. She had grounds to bring him up on sexual harassment charges. According to Charter 23896C she could have his rank stripped for his behavior. Even knowing his career was on the line, Roman couldn’t stop the need to follow after to her, to right the wrong between them.
Several crew members passed him. Each seemed to want to comment but none did. Wise men.
Roman wasn’t in the mood to explain himself to anyone but Destiny.
“Computer, give me Lieutenant Commander Stewart’s location,” he barked, still running down the corridor.
“Lieutenant Commander Stewart is in a transport pod, scheduled for departure to M83293.”
“Transport pod? What the hell is she doing in there?” Fear gripped his chest. M83293 for all intents and purposes was abandoned, but the stories about the planet were legend. Each time the Star Union sent a vessel to chart the planet, something went wrong and it ended up having to leave. M83293 was rumored to be cursed, and even though Roman wasn’t one to put any stock into myths, he wasn’t about to take a chance with Destiny’s life.
“Lieutenant Commander Stewart is listed as part of the communication restoration crew, scheduled for takeoff in approximately five minutes, Captain.”
“Stop the launch!” he shouted, still running.
“Request denied, Captain. Admiral Myers ordered the communication tower’s repairs. I am unable to override his command.”
“Fuck!” Roman yelled as he ran toward the transport pods. He wanted to kill Myers but that was hardly a new feeling. The man meddled even when he didn’t realize it.
“Do you wish me to initiate holographic program Destiny-211, Sir?”
“What?” he asked as he continued to run down the hall. “Why?”
The computer responded, “You said fuck, Sir.”
Roman ignored the computer and dove through the closing transport pod doors. He landed with a thud on his back. The bay doors sealed behind him and the locking pins holding the pods in place released. There was no turning back now. The main ship would not permit re-docking this quickly. Looking up, he found himself surrounded by several of his pod crewmembers. Each appeared as b
ewildered as the next. He couldn’t blame them. It’s not as if the captain of the vessel made a point to pod hop with the crew.
“Captain?” Ensign Vernice asked as she looked down at him. Her red hair was pulled neatly back from her pale face. Tiny freckles dotted her nose and he almost laughed at the shocked looked on her face. “Are you okay, Sir?”
“Captain, we weren’t aware you were going planetside with us,” Lieutenant Amerno said, glancing down at him with wide eyes. Amerno had potential. He’d move up quickly through the ranks if he set his mind to it. The man held his hand out to Roman, and Roman took it.
“Yes, Amerno, I thought it best to get out a bit and mingle with the crew.” Hardly smooth as far as an explanation, but it would do in a pinch. Telling them he wanted to find the woman he’d created a holographic image of to fuck on whim seemed a bit much.
“Yes, Sir, of course.”
Roman glanced around the transport pod, looking for signs of Destiny. She wasn’t in the main seating room, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t onboard. The pods were designed to hold up to fifty crewmembers and had accommodations should the need arise for crews to spend multiple days on them.
“Has anyone seen Commander Stewart?” Winded and surprised he actually managed to catch the pod before takeoff, he had to take a moment to collect himself.
One crewmember pointed toward the control room and he nodded his thanks.
“Is she in trouble, Sir?” Ensign Vernice asked.
Amerno nudged her. “None of our business. And he’s the captain. You don’t ask him anything like that.”
Roman held his grin. “She’s in the cockpit?”
“Yes, Sir,” Amerno responded with a salute.
Chapter Four
Destiny sat in the pilot seat. She didn’t seek out pilot missions but was qualified to pilot four classes of vessels. Most were only trained for one. She’d excelled during the academy and had been pushed through additional levels. It secured her a spot on a large vessel and meant she’d always have a job. Security was important to her, as was making her own way. She didn’t want her family to move her forward to ranks she hadn’t earned. She was too independent to permit such a thing.
No part of her wanted to fly the pod, but as it turned out, the pilot had been one of the crewmembers who’d taken ill with the Xillian bug. A nasty fever and several slimy, worm-like parasitic bowel movements later and he’d be just fine, or so the infirmary techs had claimed.
She shuddered and hoped the pod had been decontaminated since last use. She didn’t want the bug. It was gruesome. Destiny focused and set a course for M83293. The flight was short and didn’t require much maneuverability. There was a commotion from the back of the pod but she paid no mind to it, centering her attention on the destination.
As they approached M83293’s atmosphere, Destiny ran down a mental checklist of landing procedures in her head for the model of pod she was flying. Her rank meant she had enough piloting hours to man a craft, but that didn’t mean she was comfortable doing it.
The visual communicator flickered and an image of Commander Dirks appeared. She gave him a wry look and checked her gauges.
Dirks tipped his head, his gaze amused. “How ya doin’ there, kid?”
Mocking being annoyed, Destiny continued monitoring the readouts. “I’d be doing a hell of a lot better if the retrofitting on this pod actually fit properly.”
“Ah, Star Union and their love of spending money.” He chuckled and the screen flickered again. His smile faded quickly and she knew then something was wrong. “Des, you need to cut back on your propulsion. M83293’s atmosphere isn’t as thick as most and if you enter it at that speed, you’ll break apart.”
“This information would have been better served before I’d boarded. Care to tell me how to do that?” She yanked on the gear shaft to no avail. The Star Union had a rash of cutbacks on spending several years back and the first thing that went wasn’t insane spending in areas that didn’t matter, it was the planned updates to the fleet.
“Move over. I’ll do it.”
Destiny froze as she heard Roman’s deep voice behind her. It couldn’t be. The captain did not go on small missions. He manned the main vessel. Of course, prior to walking in on him receiving oral sex she wouldn’t have guessed he had a sexual wild side, so anything was possible. Not wanting to believe her own ears, she turned slightly to find him standing with his arms crossed. His gray Star Union uniform hugged him in all the right places and she couldn’t stop the images of him being naked from entering her mind. She also couldn’t stop thinking about how he’d had another woman sucking his dick while making her wait in the hallway.
Jealousy was a weakness, one she suddenly seemed to have an overabundance of.
“What the supernova are you doing here?” she demanded.
A dark eyebrow rose as his lips curved into something resembling a smile. “Is that any way to speak to your commanding officer?”
Destiny wanted to give him the finger. She resisted. He was her commanding officer and she had no right to be jealous of what she’d seen. Didn’t stop the fact she was jealous. Very jealous. “Fine then, Sir,” she stressed. “Did you get lost and wander into this pod?”
“There,” Roman said. “That’s much better. Now move over.” He didn’t give her a chance to object. He brushed past her, sending tingles of desire down her spine as he moved into the seat with her. His warm breath ran over her neck and her eyelids fluttered. The man had too much control over her emotions. “You can sit on my lap, if you like, or you can move. Either way I need to sit here to land this thing. You decide.”
“I’d rather die than sit on a lap that half the female crew has had a piece of.”
Roman seized hold of her shoulders and jerked her around to face him. The sudden action caught her by surprise and she looked at him with wide eyes. “I’ll have you know that half the females on the ship have not had a piece of my lap.”
Oh, shit. I said that aloud. Her face reddened and her pulse quickened. She’d be brought up on charges for sure at this rate. “I’m sorry, Captain. I didn’t mean—”
“You meant every word of it,” Roman said, his voice oddly distant.
Moving to the copilot’s seat, Destiny watched as Roman adjusted the propulsion seconds before they entered M83293’s atmosphere. Destiny had manned numerous atmospheric entries and never had it felt like this. Something was wrong. The transport pod rattled as the fire that normally encased a vessel upon reentry surrounded it. The pod jolted to the side and the hold units that were to engage as needed for safety never deployed. Destiny fought to stay in her seat but failed miserably. She slammed into Roman and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight and keeping her close to his body. The pod did a hard dive downward and they both fell forward.
Destiny tumbled to the side but Roman’s body kept going. He slammed into the dashboard. A scream wrenched free of her as she reached for him. The pod shifted once more, and she ended up falling even farther from Roman.
“Des?” Dirks’ voice came over the com. “Des, shit! Des, answer me. We’re showing signs of radioactive micrometeorites in your area. Your pod is off course. Repeat, your pod is off course. Impact with planet in sixty seconds and counting. Des? For tanaleneo’s sake, answer me!”
Battered and slightly worse for the wear, she pushed off the floor and pulled herself into the copilot’s seat. “I’m here.”
Roman hadn’t moved and fear clenched her gut. She jammed the button down for balancing and exhaled, trying to gather her composure as the vessel leveled off. “Captain?”
He didn’t answer.
“Diagnostic scan on Captain Parker. Now!” she screamed as she dived for him. Red scanning lights ran over Roman’s body as the pod’s computer system checked him for damages.
“Sensors are offline,” stated the computer. “Unable to determine extent of injury. Going with backup generators now. System resources limited.”
Turni
ng Roman over slowly, Destiny gasped as she saw the blood running from the corner of his head. Her medical training was limited to first aide taught to her at the academy.
The computer voice kicked on again, “Initiating auto-land sequence, authorization needed.”
“Authorization code, Stewart-304.”
“Accepted,” the computer replied.
Now that the pod’s navigational system was handling the landing, Destiny focused on Roman. She touched his forehead lightly and found the gash. Lifting his eyelids, she noted his pupils were dilated.
She felt for a pulse and found one. Breathing a sigh of relief, she pulled his head up and cradled it on her lap. She brushed his hair back from his face and applied pressure to his cut. It wasn’t as bad as she’d first thought. He’d be fine.
She hoped.
“Destiny?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Roman, are you okay?” It was a stupid question but it was all she had.
He didn’t answer and the blood continued to seep from his cut. The door to the control room burst open. Lieutenant Amerno stood there, a panicked expression on his face as he spotted Roman on the floor.
“How bad?” he asked.
“Help me get him back to a bed and have Ensign Vernice oversee our landing. The pod is set for auto-land. You two handle the communications tower. The Captain needs to rest,” she ordered.
Amerno moved quickly and helped her lift Roman. Her chest tightened as he didn’t respond to being moved.
Chapter Five
Destiny cleaned out Roman’s cut and monitored him as he slept. He was so handsome, so striking even when asleep that he took her breath away. The need to touch him was overwhelming, so she climbed into the bed next to him. The computer had come back online enough to assure everyone onboard that the captain was fine. Banged up but fine. The healing shot Amerno had administered Roman was working while Roman slept. Amerno notified Destiny that Roman would sleep for several more hours.
