by Aria Bell
I gasped in delight, then swallowed hard, hearing my throat click because my mouth was so dry. Probably because every bit of moisture in my body seemed to have flooded my pussy while I watched him come for me.
His hard cock swayed with every stride he took, the broken chains clinking. I had to fight the urge to step backward—he was so damn big—but instead I lifted my chin and held my ground. I wanted him to command me. To bring me to my knees before him and drive me to the heights of ecstasy. That was what I needed. A male who could finally own every part of me, body and soul, who understood me better than I understood myself.
He caught me up in a powerful embrace. His lips claimed mine. My mind reeled, my thoughts hazed with lust. I lost myself in the scorching kiss, loving the feeling of his hands caressing my naked flesh. His skin was hot, but the brush of metal from the chains was cool. His cock throbbed against me, hot, needy, wetting my skin with his precum. His lips left mine, kissed their way down my neck as I wilted with pleasure in his arms. They went lower, across my collarbone, to my breasts, teasing and sucking my nipples. My core tightened, aching, my clit throbbing with desperate need as he turned his attention from one hard nipple to the other. I sobbed out a cry of purest pleasure, and he lifted his lips back to mine, capturing them again, kissing my moans even as they trembled on my lips.
Gently, he turned me around, his hands caressing down my back and nudging me forward until I leaned against the stone table. His strong fingers massaged my ass cheeks, working into the muscle there. Then he spread my legs wide, exposing my glistening pussy to him. I looked back over my shoulder at him as he grabbed his cock in one hand and settled his other hand on my hip. Then he edged forward. For a moment I thought he’d fill me with one hard thrust, probably lifting me to my toes, if not off the ground, and I bit my lip in anticipation. But he surprised me by gently pressing the tip of his big cock at my entrance, sliding past my pussy lips, giving my channel time to stretch to take him all in. He buried himself all the way inside me, filling me, and pulling a needy gasp from my lips.
He kept one hand on my hip and ass, his fingers pressing into me, not hurting but massaging deep into my muscles, working out the coiled tension in my body. He caught my long braid in his other hand and pulled gently enough to draw my head back but not to make me cry out in pain. I felt the tug, the tension making me hotter, coating his cock with my cream.
He began to fuck me, long slow strokes, driving deep, rocking me forward with the power of each thrust. He said nothing, only made growls and grunts as he did me hard, while he drew from me all kinds of moans of passion. Each stroke drove me closer to climax. My eyes were half lidded, my mouth open, I was helpless in his arms. I was about to come undone around him when everything around me began to shake wildly. I could barely keep my feet and I lost the edge of orgasm I’d been riding and cursed in frustration. A program glitch? Now?
Wait. That was my ship shaking, not the holo-program feedback! I barely had time to wonder if something had hit us when alarms began to blare.
“End program!” I yelled. The holo-room scene vanished, his big cock disappeared from my pussy, and without the table to support me, I toppled forward and fell over like a buffoon. I was too alarmed to care much as I scrambled for my clothes.
The cruise ship shook from another impact. The AI voice, so absurdly calm, began repeating over the system speakers, “Captain Trasker to the bridge. Captain Trasker to the bridge.”
I hurried around the room, snatching up pieces of my uniform and struggling into them. My heart was pounding hard, first from the sex, now from the warning sirens. All my lust and desire had vanished. I yanked on my pants and nearly lost my balance again. I ended up hopping around with my feet tangled until another explosion rocked the ship and sent me crashing onto my ass. Again.
“Dammit!”
“Captain Trasker to the bridge. Captain Trasker to the bridge…”
“I’m coming!” I yelled at the speaker, although in broadcast mode it couldn’t hear me.
I finally managed to get back to my feet, threw on the rest of my uniform, and hurried into the corridor while adjusting my captain’s hat back into place. My body was thoroughly annoyed at the interruption right before I got off, but aside from my skin still feeling very warm and flushed, I no longer looked like I’d just been getting fucked into next month by an alien.
Stewards and security personnel in the corridors were directing passengers back to their rooms. Passengers shouted questions at me, looking confused and alarmed.
“Everyone, please remain calm,” I called as I wove my way through the crowds back to the bridge. The classic Murphy’s Law said of course this had to happen when I’d been enjoying one of the holo-rooms, as far from the bridge as possible, instead of relaxing in my cabin ten meters away. “I’m sure this is only a minor technical difficulty—”
The entire ship shuddered again and groaned as if she were being torn asunder. Passengers screamed. I gritted my teeth and kept my pace brisk but even. If I started to run, it would cause a panic. I had to appear as if I were in complete control.
What the hell was going on? There were no rogue asteroids in this system…certainly no black holes like my mother had gone on and on about.
I finally reached the bridge. Everything was chaos. Red alarm lights flashed, and screens everywhere displayed alerts and warnings. My bridge crew was scrambling in all directions, shouting reports to each other, working feverishly at command terminals.
My stomach clenched with icy dread, but I made sure to keep my face calm. “Status report,” I barked as I strode to my captain’s chair.
“All access to engine control is currently offline,” the gentle computer voice offered helpfully. “Engine power is zero point zero zero percent. Secondary systems are unresponsive—”
“Someone tell me why the systems are down,” I growled, taking my seat as the air around my chair filled with holo-screens flashing red warning text.
“Pirates, Captain!” Bestri said with an edge of panic in her voice.
“Pirates? Here?” That was insanity. This close to the galactic core, there shouldn’t be any sign of so-called space buccaneers for hundreds of thousands of light years. The Andolan System was one of the safest in the galaxy!
My first mate pointed at the main viewscreen. A dark, sleek frigate class starship was on screen. It bristled with weapons. The black hull had a large symbol on the sides—a white sword through a blazing white star. As I watched, the pirate ship fired a missile at us from its forward launchers.
“Shields!” I yelled.
“Shielding is offline,” the systems tech said. “Ion burst missiles took out the shields in two shots.”
My heart sank as I watched the missile race toward us. Nothing about this seemed real. Only minutes ago I’d been getting the fuck of my life and now I was helplessly watching a missile streak toward my ship. If it was tipped with a warhead, we were dead.
The missile burst a dozen or so meters from the bridge. It didn’t explode so much as break apart, sending a bunch of small metal spheres racing toward us.
“What the hell is that?” I demanded. “Get me a sensor readout now!”
“That’s how they’re taking control, Captain,” Bestri replied as she furiously worked her control panel. “First they took our shields down and now they’re using some kind of bots to attach to the hull and take over our systems. Engines are out. Helm control is down. They have control of all major systems.”
“Life support?” I demanded as dread pooled in my stomach. How could this happen? This wasn’t the outer rim. This was smack dab in the middle of one of the most affluent systems in space.
“They have control of life support,” Pol answered grimly.
“Have you broadcast a distress signal on all subspace channels?”
“They started jamming us before they decloaked. We didn’t have time to force a signal through before they took over communications.”
We were c
ompletely and utterly borrked.
“The hostile ship is hailing us,” the comm officer said. “We can’t block their signal, Captain.”
I gritted my teeth and lifted my chin. If I had to surrender, I would do so with dignity. “Put them through on the main screen.”
Pirates? I still couldn’t believe it. Whoever this guy was, I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing my fear. I knew the type from info broadcasts. He’d be fat and greasy, with more weapons than brains, and maxing out at a two-syllable vocabulary. Of course he’d smell like feet and probably have boils. Hairy boils. The filthy bastard.
The main screen switched from a view of the stars and the sleek pirate frigate to a view of the pirate captain. I had to clench my teeth to keep my jaw from dropping. The pirate captain was a nothing like I’d expected. He was stunning. He was a Jardan, and my mind immediately flashed back to the Colbix on my erotic fantasy program. The only aliens bigger and sexier than the Colbix were the Jardan. His skin was shaded a light blue, and I could see plenty of it, because his chest was bare beneath his long, synth-leather coat. Broad, heavily muscled chest, wide shoulders, thick arms. Shift-tattoos covered his torso—designs that changed color from black to silver to crimson as I stared at them. His eyes were a shockingly bright, pale blue, making an interesting contrast to his jet-black hair. He wore leather pants that clung to his powerful thighs as he slouched in his captain’s chair. He had rings on his fingers and earrings in his ears—all kinds of valuable alien stones and gold hoops that could have brought a fortune in the markets of Tirinva. I recognized one of his earrings as a supercomputer control device to keep him in touch with his ship’s systems. He rested one of his bejeweled hands on the side of the chair and kept the other on the biggest sword I’d ever seen. The blade was in a dark scabbard with the same design as on the outside of the ship—a white sword and blazing white star.
A sword? Was that some kind of crude, dramatic affectation? Then I realized it was exactly that. A primitive threat by a pirate—a Jardan pirate—the height of vulgar aggression. My heart thudded in my chest, and my mouth was dry as sand, but this time, neither of those were from the good kind of excitement.
“I am Captain Sylvis Trasker,” I said, keeping my words as cold as water in space. “What is the meaning of this outrage?”
“Captain Trasker,” the pirate said, his lips curving in a charming smile. His voice was deep and his intense eyes glinted. “I am known as Captain Kash Dra’sten of the frigate Defiance Blade.”
I folded my arms across my chest and sneered. “Never heard of you.”
Dra’sten’s smile slipped a notch. “Be that as it may, I have the distinct pleasure of capturing your vessel. You know the routine. You will surrender your ship to be boarded by my crew and me. No weapons and no resistance, and we’ll have no reason to respond in kind.”
For a moment I could only glare at him, my thoughts reeling. I couldn’t decide if I detested him more for his attitude—he clearly thought he was the handsome, dashing rogue—which he wasn’t. Or because he was able to string together words with more than one syllable.
I narrowed my eyes, holding his gaze. “I won’t let you turn these people into slaves. They are citizens of the Galactic Imperium. You will be brought to justice for this…” I paused, trying to find the right words. “Grievous transgression.”
Captain’s Dra’sten’s expression turned cold. Had I offended him? Good. I only wished I’d been captaining a warship instead of some defenseless interstellar pleasure cruiser. Then maybe I’d wipe that smug smile off that—barely average-looking—face with a blaster barrage.
“I’m sorry, Captain Trasker,” the pirate said, leaning forward, his hand clenching on the sword hilt and his tone icy. “We must be having communication problems, because I mistakenly thought you said something about slaves. Get one thing straight. The Defiance Blade does not, has not, and will not ever take slaves. This is a civilized enterprise. We will board. We will take a few valuables from the rich passengers, a few supplies for our ship. We will be on our way. Your corporation’s insurance company will cover the losses. We will all be happy.” He leaned back in his seat, seemingly relaxed again. “Especially me.”
“And if we refuse, you pig of a pirate?”
The captain paused for a second with his head cocked to the side. I suspected he was listening to something through the supercomputer device near his ear. He confirmed it an instant later.
“Ah. A pig. Human livestock known for being filthy. My apologies, I needed to have the computer look that one up.” That winning grin spread across his face, and I hated it even as a traitorous thrill raced through me. “I’ll have you know I can be as filthy as you’d like,” he continued. “But business first. I believe you wanted to know what happened if you refused.”
I waited.
He just smiled at me with that infernal smirk.
“Yes, you’re quite dramatic,” I said. “Can we get on with it?”
He shrugged. “Very well. I won’t make threats. Your ship is disabled. I control all your systems with hack bots, even your life support. You look like a smart female. Choose wisely.”
I couldn’t help myself. I bared my teeth in a silent snarl at him. Oh, I looked like a smart female, did I? As determined by this muscle-headed pirate who probably scored in the amoeba range on the standard intelligence assessment?
Of course, my winning IQ didn’t say much for us right now, sitting dead in space with no options. He wasn’t lying about controlling all our systems. We had no shields, no weapons, and no engines. I couldn’t resist him, no matter how badly I wanted to. But maybe if I bought my ship enough time there would be a way to outsmart him…
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I had no choice. “The Mero Tallasa hereby surrenders to you, Captain Dra’sten.”
The Jardan pirate nodded at the formality. He likewise kept his tone formal. “I accept your surrender, Captain Trasker. Our dropship will be on its way soon. I don’t want any unnecessary harm to come to any of your crew or passengers, so I suggest you meet me at the loading bay unarmed.”
I nodded curtly. “Anything else?”
“Keep your passengers calm. Make them understand we only want to take their valuables, not their lives.”
“I’ll do my best. Is that all?”
His lips curled slightly. He looked me up and down with those pale blue eyes, and I wasn’t sure I liked what I saw in them. Because what I saw was interest, and that made my blood begin to run faster through my veins.
“That is all, Captain,” he replied lazily, that obnoxious smirk curling his lip. “For now.”
CHAPTER TWO
Captain Kash Dra’sten of the Defiance Blade
I waited until the vid comm system shut off and the pretty human’s face left the screen before I leaned back in my captain’s chair. The screen was now filled with the view before us: the blackness of space, pricked with white stars, and nearly half-filled with the graceful lines of the pleasure ship. Our conversation had roughly gone as expected, but parts of it had been surprisingly amusing. I had never been called a pig before.
I stood and buckled on my sword belt as my crew prepared to board the pleasure cruiser. Pig or no, a Jardan warrior always felt better with an Iteran blade at his side, and I was no different. Particularly as I was about to meet face to face with this surprising human female.
Few confronted a Jardan without cowering in fear. I hoped she still showed as much fire when we met in person. After our conversation, I wondered if she was on her ship right now with her knees weak and her palms sweaty. I wouldn’t blame her if that were the case. She had to be terrified; we Jardan were known for unflinching ferocity. As a pirate, I was free to let that ferocity run wild without care for propriety or things like interstellar law.
Still, she’d put on a brave face. The male captain of the last ship we’d taken had begun weeping and begging, which made everyone uncomfortable. But this one…
/> She was attractive too, for a human. Dark, long hair—a favorite of mine—and hazel eyes, which had tried to burn holes in me through the vid comm. I always found it amusing when beautiful women wanted to kill me.
She hadn’t seemed intimidated by the size of my sword either. That made me grin. I always kept the big Iteran blade visible when dealing with the ships I captured. The blade’s very presence encouraged compliance. Humans seemed to think swords an outdated, barbaric weapon, but what did they know? A sword was the weapon of a true warrior, and the Jardan were nothing if not true warriors.
“This had better be a good haul,” First Mate Gren’don Surdal growled from his station, interrupting my thoughts on the pretty human. “The last two meager takes did nothing to take the edge off.” The big Jardan settled his hand on his sword hilt and narrowed his eyes at the big, artfully streamlined mass of the pleasure cruiser in our main viewscreen. “Too bad they surrendered so easily. I wanted a fight.”
