by T. J. Quinn
I wriggled beneath him trying to gain pressure on my clit as I panted and sighed. He pulled my arms from around him and took my hands in his and pressed them into the bed. There was triumphant passion in his eyes that he held me on the brink longing for release. He rubbed his chest back and forth over my nipples while I contracted around him.
Then he pulled out of me and dragged his cock up over my clitoris then plunged into me as I came. He came within seconds as I whimpered and sobbed in the throes of release. Still, he held me there trapped delightfully beneath him, basking in the pleasure he gave me with such generosity.
As my orgasm waned, he slid his hands between us and pinched my nipples and rolled their peaks between his fingers and thumbs, renewing my orgasm. When I next came out of my orgasmic delirium, he had my hands trapped again while he resumed fucking me hard and slow. His mouth covered mine and his tongue probed deeply.
He gave me everything he had and took me still higher in our journey toward nirvana. I had only to receive the pleasure he lavished on me so freely. I could tell by the growl in his throat that he was nearing that pinnacle of pure elation, a rapturous mutual climax. We both cried out as he throbbed inside me and I throbbed around him and shuddered convulsively.
I was somewhere between a dream and reality, free falling then gliding in for a landing safely in my lover’s arms. It was as though we were connected on every level, consciously and subconsciously. I could almost feel his thoughts in my mind caressing my soul as he caressed my body with his. In those moments my whole world was him and I his.
“Beloved meomee,” I murmured when I could breathe normally again.
“My solmatu, I am yours, and you are mine.”
“As long as I draw breath.”
“As long as I draw breath.”
Chapter Eight
Faigon
After five more days of bonding, our mating hormones and pheromones returned to more normal levels. Our bond was complete, and we could move on to figuring out how our lives fit together on a practical level.
Tyema tested out of much of the required training for our mercenary brigade. Except for training in our combat suits, she was fully qualified to lead a ground team, if there were any ground team that needed a leader.
“I don’t really think I’m interested in that anymore,” Tyema said. “I heard that the women from Earth on Dread One are working as liaisons for the people we are rescuing. I liked helping those people that we brought up from Julconi.”
“I think we can arrange that,” I told her as we were walking toward the lift to our quarters. “But we’ll get you into a combat suit. We can have one fabricated to fit you. Then you can start training in it while we make our way to the next mission.”
She smiled at me. “I shouldn’t have too much trouble. They seem a lot like the ones we had in the Enforcers,” she said. “Fai, I’m not looking to rebuild my career with this brigade. Earth was going to be my last assignment, and I was mainly there to find meomee.”
“It ultimately worked.” We stepped into the lift and took it to our level.
“Not exactly how I planned,” she said with a soft laugh. “I was going to retire and settle down to finally have a family.”
“That was my plan, too, until we found Farseek in ruin. But after this mission, I’m ready to go back and start our family together.”
“I heard the Pican ship had the coordinates to almost every star system in the Alliance including Narova and Earth,” Tyema said.
“But we’d have to cross the heart of the Sargus Empire to get there,” I said gently, knowing it wasn’t a journey we could make.
“Oh, I’m not yearning to go back, sweetheart. I was hoping we might establish communications with the Alliance,” she said. “We have been fighting slavery and humanoid trafficking for centuries.”
“And you think maybe the Consortium could enlist the Alliance to squeeze the Sargus Empire out of the slave business,” I replied.
“Considering that the Sargans are receiving Alliance citizens to be sold as slaves, I think the Alliance would be interested,” Tyema said thoughtfully. “Maybe I could work with your communications specialist to contact the Alliance.”
“We can discuss it with Commander Ganatu,” I said.
“We should do that soon, while we are still closer to Alliance Sectors,” Tyema added.
While four Dreads and the Kurellis went on to the Nikdoke system to ferret out more Uatu people. Our Dreadnaughts Four and Seven went to check what we think is a bogus report hacked from the Sargan’s that there were a thousand Uatu enslaved on Algonteg, a world dangerously close to a major military center of the Sargus Empire.
Our intel indicated numerous inconsistencies in the timing that the information appeared in the system. Dread One’s AI team believed that it was backdated to look like it was there before we embarked on the Julconi rescue. But they found discrepancies in the entries.
However, with a thousand Uatu trapped in a life of slavery, joint Command decided that we needed to make an attempt to verify the information. They chose our Dread Four and Dread Seven to travel to the Algonteg system on a reconnaissance mission. Meanwhile, four Dreads were escorting Kurellis to Nikdoke which had actually been last on our itinerary to throw the Sargan’s off our trail.
It was a two-week journey that left the ground teams mostly idle except for some routine training and maintenance. Each Dreadnaught had two chains of command that worked cooperatively, ground fighters and space fighters. We, ground fighters had rudimentary training ship’s operations, but our space navy ran and fought the Dreadnaught while the ground teams provided support and defense in the event we are boarded by enemy forces.
That gave us time to get Tyema measured for a combat suit a have it fabricated. We reviewed the operations manual and then she put it on and did a complete systems check. I donned my suit, and we went through a series of practice exercises.
The rest of the time we did maintenance on our weapons, worked out in the gym, and sparred in hand to hand combat. Lastly, we performed janitorial tasks around the ship which were deadly dull---most of the time. Then we were attacked as soon as we came into the Algonteg system.
It was a trap with many battlecruisers and fighter carriers patrolling the system. As soon as we blinked into the system, two planet orbits from Algonteg prime, four battlecruisers set after us. My com feed indicated we took out one and two more were on us.
We took massive damage before we could disable one of the cruisers, then limp away and jump to FTL. Dread Seven ran interference and jumped right after we did.
FTL drive failed soon after our escape, and we were stranded in an uninhabited system with only sub-FTL drive. We couldn’t leave the system until it was repaired. All the Dreads stocked up on parts while we were at Tegliar Station, but of course not every Dread could get every part they could possibly need. So of all the components we collected, we didn’t have a replacement power regulator for our stardrive.
Our ship AI indicated that Dread Seven had the part we needed, only we hadn’t reached the rendezvous coordinates because our FTL failed and we dropped into an unfamiliar system. We were reluctant to com the other Dread and reveal our location to the Sargans. We could still fight, but we couldn’t run, so they found a cluster of asteroids in between two planets where we could hide before they contacted Seven.
It was frustrating for the ground teams because we could do nothing but wait for everything to happen. We didn’t like waiting, but as long as our life support power systems remained online we could sit tight and wait for Dread Seven to locate us once we were poised to move into the asteroid field in case the Sargans arrived.
Ship Commander reached Dread Seven about two hours later and sent them a coded message on our predicament. While we were waiting, the engineering team started the removal of the power regulator.
As the ship moved into the asteroid field, three battlecruisers blinked into the system. They started firing on us immediat
ely. We fired back but continued toward into the asteroid belt trying to find cover. Our Dread returned fire all while it made our retreat.
The hits we were taking were shaking the whole ship. This was nothing new to us as we had been in firefights before. As soon as the Sargan battlecruisers appeared, it was our signal to go to the armory and suit up. Regulations dictated that Tyema should remain in our quarters as she was not assigned to any combat team yet. I wasn’t willing to leave her unprotected.
We had a properly fitted automated combat armor suit for her, and she had completed orientation. Tyema was combat experienced, so I felt she would be safer if she were suited up with the rest of us in case we were boarded. We ran to the down tubes bypassing the lift because power could fluctuate and we’d be stuck.
Tyema was visibly relieved when I asked her to come with me and suit up. I was confident that she would be an asset rather than a hindrance. I may have thought subconsciously that I could protect her better if she were with me than holed up in our cabin alone with a hand weapon and no armor.
Communication with the bridge indicated that our ship was severely damaged yet we still disabled one of the battlecruisers. Without FTL we had no choice but to fight. We were on our way to disabling the second battlecruiser but took another hit to our secondary drive leaving only our maneuvering thrusters operational.
At that point, the Sargans were demanding surrender as they moved in to clamp a boarding tube to our emergency hatchway and blow it open. We couldn’t stop them from doing that. All we had left was auxiliary power for life support. Unless that system had sustained damage, it would give us a couple days to get things fixed or evacuate.
Farseek Mercenaries don’t surrender. We either kill them, or they kill us. Soon as we knew where they were boarding us, we prepared to be there waiting. If we could hold them off long enough, Dread Seven might get there in time to save our asses.
Chapter Nine
Tyema
I’m glad that Faigon didn’t decide that I should stay behind in the cabin while he went to fight. I would not have obeyed. I too am a trained warrior. Suiting up was automatic as we stepped up to the storage chamber robot arms placed it on our bodies.
We took up weapons specifically designed for use inside a ship that would not cause hull damage. They send a charged force against the enemy to knock them down and short out their combat armor.
Two combat teams were sent to the corridor by the hatchway the Sargan’s were trying to break open. It seemed crazy that they were boarding us when we could pick them off as they came through the hatch. It wasn’t big enough for more than two soldiers at a time. Faigon had told me that the Sargans treated their soldiers as expendable.
That they thought the Farseek warriors would just surrender was ludicrous.
We lined up in the corridor on each side of the hatch a safe distance back waiting for them to blow the hatch open and the doorway from the airlock. The passage made a bend on the opposite side from us, so the second group took positions beyond that bend.
The explosion rocked the whole ship and blew the door to the airlock through the inner wall on the opposite side of the corridor. Armored warriors came pouring through the opening almost immediately. I couldn’t see everything that was happening because Faigon put me at the back of the team. We were picking off the Sargans practically as fast as they came into the corridor but some of them turned the opposite way because the hallway looked empty.
In my position, I couldn’t fire my weapon without hitting any of my own team. I could only stand ready to fire if I had a clear path to an enemy. Hostiles began to pile up in front of the opening blocking those still standing. They just tried to climb over them without even bothering to see if they could help them. When they couldn’t get past them, they used their bodies as cover to fire on us.
We were at a standoff because they couldn’t advance nor could we. We kept firing, and so did they. A couple our guys went down, and I moved ahead because they assured us they weren’t seriously injured. I was about to fire on one of the hostiles when the ship quaked and threw my shot into the ceiling. Our ship com confirmed that Dread Seven has arrived. They took out the second of the two battlecruisers and then attacked the battlecruiser that was clamped to our hatch. Helm gave us about thirty seconds to clear the corridor before they sealed it off so we wouldn’t get sucked out into space.
We retreated immediately, but there were still some Sargans firing at us. Faigon was right in front of me when one of them roused from the pile and raised his weapon to fire. I fired at the same time as the hostile and hit him, but he hit Faigon anyway.
I yelled his name, but I didn’t go into the scared helpless female mode. I reacted as I was trained. Checking for more hostiles, I reached down and gripped Faigon’s wrist and dragged his still form along the deck firing my weapon at the hostiles. I didn’t stop until we were beyond the seal point. I went back two more times and pulled our guys to safety before the barrier closed in front of me like the iris of a camera lens.
Seconds later, the battlecruiser broke away, sucking the fallen Sargan’s into space as their ship broke away and apart under relentless fire from Dread Seven. The fight was over.
I dropped to my knees and receded my helmet to check on Faigon. I passed a hand over the readout panel on his left upper arm which indicated he was very much alive, to my relief. The direct hit to his chest had knocked the wind out of him and rendered him unconscious, but the suit protected him from serious injury. It also sent a horde of nanites and medication into his bloodstream to repair any damage and restore him to consciousness.
Only then did I start shaking in reaction to seeing my meomee shot down in front of me. But he was already starting to recover. A few moments later, he opened his helmet and looked up at me and smiled.
“Solmatu, I am all right,” he said, frowning slightly---probably at the look of stark terror on my face. He reached for my hand. Both of ours were still gloved in the confines of our combat suit. He sat up slowly then stood as if to prove it to me.
We just stood there looking at each other. I wanted to wrap my whole body around him, but that couldn’t happen until much later. Taking a calming breath, l looked up into his gorgeous teal colored eyes taking in his orange cropped hair and smiled back at him.
“I got him,” I told him.
“I knew you would.”
*****
Dreadnaught Four was severely damaged, but not beyond repair. Command thought it best that Dread Seven tow us out of that system to avoid more Sargans who might come looking for the three battlecruisers we destroyed. Once we got to a safer place, Dread Seven would send us parts and an engineering team to help with the repairs.
We went to another system with a thicker asteroid belt where we could hide the ships among them while the repairs were completed. Even with two teams working round the clock it would take several days because the attack rendered both drives systems inoperable. All that remained was the life support generator which operated independently from the drives. Drones were repairing the hull damage and replacing the hatch that the Sargan’s destroyed.
The AI’s monitoring Sargan communications determined that there were no Uatu people in the Algonteg system, and it had been a trap. That’s why two Dreads were sent to investigate. If not for Dread Seven, we could have all become prisoners of the Sargan Empire. If we were lucky, they would have sent us to Julconi. Otherwise, they would probably have us executed after probing our minds for information with drugs and AI.
One good thing came out of our trouble in that fight with the Sargan’s. When their ship broke apart three of their shuttles spilled out into space. Dread Seven retrieved two of them. Command thought they might come in handy for the next phase of our mission.
Soon as our ship was fixed, we were heading to Tooda, another mining and agricultural world where records showed Uatu had been taken there as slaves. Meanwhile, Faigon and I were off duty for a few days.
I maintained a
calm facade through our walk back to the armory and returning our armor to storage. Faigon and I were both properly stoic as we returned to our quarters. But as soon as the door closed behind us, I leaped into his arms and wrapped my arms and legs around him. He caught me deftly and gave me that sexy smirk of his then pressed his lips to mine for a long slow kiss as he carried me into the bedroom.
Clothes came off, and we fell into bed, rolling over once so Fai was on top, sliding his cock into me without preamble. I had him right where I wanted him, as we kissed deeply and caressed each other with a tender passion.
We had won the day, and I was profoundly grateful that I still had my mate in my arms, loving me as only he can. I don’t know whether I killed the man who took him down. If I didn’t space did. I only knew I would do it again. I wanted to see Farseek, settle there, and make a family with Faigon.
Chapter Ten
Faigon
My brave Tyema saved my life, not by shooting the hostile that took me down as I was only stunned, but by dragging me to safety. I also learned that she pulled two other members of my team to safety as well, which she barely mentioned in her account of events. I am so proud of her, and she has been made a member of our team even though she is my mate. We used to have regs against it but determined that solmatu function better as a team than when they are placed on separated teams.
Tyema proved that our relationship did not endanger other members of my team but saved them as well. I know I functioned better knowing she was safe and had my back.
As we left the armory, I wanted to grab her hand and run to the lift to get to our quarters faster to take her in my arms sooner. I did not. We walked in a dignified manner to the lift and down the hallway to our door. Once inside I think we were stripped and in our bed fucking in record time.
