by L P Peace
Ronin and Sophia waited in silence. ‘High-Protector Thanesh is in an urgent meeting with the Todaal. However, he is sending a ship out to these coordinates.’ The female sent something over the open comm line. Coordinates appeared on the bottom of the screen. ‘Meet their ship Calaia there.’
‘Understood. Thank you.’
When the screen went blank, Ronin turned to Sophia. She let out a deep breath. ‘Time to get to the rendezvous.’
Ronin dropped the ship out of FTL and replotted the course.
Half a day of FTL brought Vernaya to the edge of a dark nebula. The cloud was so dense, no light could shine through it. It obscured all visible light, leaving only a patch of black behind.
They moved towards it until Vernaya was swallowed. Sophia felt anxious as it swallowed them.
‘I need to make another course correction.’ Ronin sighed. ‘May I have access to my ship?’ Ronin turned to her with a look of playful annoyance.
‘It’s our ship now, sweetie.’ Sophia sat forward feeling mischievous and tapped at the controls. She changed the ship's registry, removing Avin Korvalus and restoring Ronin’s name, then adding her own. ‘There.’
Ronin inspected the registry. ‘Ronin Dosh’Ventis,’ he said. ‘Sophia Abara’Dosh’Ventis.’ His jaw muscles flexed, and his face filled with emotion. He looked at her, and though he wasn’t smiling, there was no mistaking the happiness on his face.
‘Do you want me to remove my name—’
‘No!’ The word flew out of his mouth. ‘It belongs there.’
Sophia bit her lip. She added his name to hers as on impulse. In Spain, daughters traditionally used both their mother and father’s name, until they got married. Then they dropped their mother’s name and took on their husbands. Bonding was like marriage; she hadn’t expected him to be so happy about it. She tried to quell her happiness a little, temper it, but she was finding it difficult.
‘And when all of this is over, we’ll go to Dahnus Ascent and I’ll take you on a date through the maintenance tunnels I hid your money in. I mean, not all of your money’s there,’ she admitted. Ronin looked at her, curiosity on his face. ‘I got a really nice hotel room and some amazing food while I was at the station.’
Ronin growled. ‘You are shameless.’
‘I mean, I have a little shame.’ Sophia held her finger and thumb a few millimetres apart.
Ronin barked out a laugh. ‘What is a date?’ he asked after a few moments had passed.
‘A date?’
‘You said you would take me on “a date through the maintenance tunnels”. What is “date?” My translator isn’t making any sense.’
Sophia watched Ronin as he listened to and obviously struggled with the translation he was being supplied.
‘A date is when two adults like each other very much and decide to see if that “like” can turn into something more.’
‘We have already become “something more”,’ he said. ‘What do you do on a “date”?’
‘Anything you want. Some people go to the movies. Some people eat and drink and go dancing.’ Sophia shrugged.
‘Hmm.’ Ronin glanced at her, a smile on his face before he turned to the controls. ‘Perhaps we could stay in this hotel room and eat this food.’ He paused a moment later. ‘As a part of this date.’
Sophia let her eyes trail over her mate’s body. ‘I think that’s an excellent idea. You should have seen the size of the bathtub. Definitely room for two.’
A few moments passed before she heard Ronin sniffing. ‘Are you becoming aroused, Kietta?’ He turned to her, heat in his eyes.
‘I was just thinking about something I wanted to do.’ She grinned at him. ‘An experiment of sorts. If you’re game?’
‘Game? Willing?’
‘Willing,’ she said nodding.
‘What is it you want to do?’ Ronin’s eyes narrowed.
‘It’s no fun if I tell you. You just have to trust me. Do you trust me, Ronin?’
Ronin smirked. ‘Of course.’
Sophia unstrapped herself and walked over to Ronin’s seat. There was a lever on the side that locked the chair’s position. Pulling it, she turned the chair towards her.
‘Sophia?’
‘You have to trust me,’ she said, using her leg to part his knees before sinking to hers. ‘Cintra, expose this area of Ronin’s suit.’ She placed her hand over the smooth area where his cloaca was positioned.
‘Cintra, do as she says.’ Ronin’s voice was suddenly husky.
Ronin’s suit peeled back, revealing his groin and the slit inside which his cock sat. Leaning forward, Sophia ran her tongue along it from bottom to top, watching Ronin.
Ronin jerked, groaning, his eyes rolling in his head. ‘Sophia,’ he managed to say, though the sound came out strangled.
Sophia repeated the action, looking at the seam of him and watching how it flushed a brighter green before a small bulge began to appear. She licked it one more time, hearing Ronin swear before his cock pushed out. Her open mouth greeted it, and as he emerged, Sophia swallowed him into her throat.
‘Oh, vrok, Sophia!’ Ronin’s hands slipped into her hair and he fisted it, a deep groan erupting from him almost at once. ‘Sophia,’ he whispered.
She looked up at him. His face was contorted into a sweet, agonising expression as his chartreuse eyes watched her in stunned wonder.
Keeping eye contact, she slowly moved away from him. She felt the thickness of his cock slide out of her mouth, her tongue stroking over him until only his head remained. She took hold of his shaft and released him, swirling her tongue over the three stepped glans, her eyes holding his until his cock was bared before her. Only then did she take in her alien lover’s erection.
It was thicker around the middle than either the head or the base, which was now fully emerged from his cloaca. A thick vein ran up the length, and Sophia didn’t resist the urge to follow it with her tongue, feeling the stepped glans until her tongue flicked over the top, picking up precum. She swirled her tongue there for a few moments longer, watching Ronin’s expression as he fell apart in her hands.
Turning her attention back to the cloaca, she licked her tongue up one seam and watched his eyes roll back into his head once more. The cloaca seemed particularly sensitive, as was the tip.
Spitting a puddle over one seam, she gently explored it with her fingers as she took the tip of him back into her mouth and sucked on it.
‘Ungh! Vrok, Sophia!’ Ronin’s hips began to buck to her rhythm.
When she touched the bottom of his seam, he bucked hard into her mouth, forcing his length down her throat, his grip tightening on her hair.
‘Breathing is optional,’ Tara had once told her.
With this in mind, Sophia forced herself to take his full length as far as she could. She quickened her pace as her fingers danced on that one sensitive spot.
‘Sophia! I’m going to—’
His ocean salty fresh flavour burst in her mouth. She forced him back down her throat as his cock twitched and pulsed. She looked up into his eyes and saw him watching her, his mouth wide open, his hips still bucking, with the slight sting of her scalp as he held her tight.
‘Shameless,’ he whispered, his lips curled into a smile.
She felt his cock softening even as she let it free and grinned up at him. ‘Completely.’ She grinned, basking in the look on her mate’s face.
Ronin’s face went suddenly serious. Sophia was off the floor and on his lap a moment later, his lips on hers and he kissed her deeply, passionately.
‘Cintra,’ he said as he pulled away. ‘Reveal this part, here.’ His hand cupped her groin.
‘Do as he says, Cintra.’
A moment later, she felt the suit withdraw. Then Ronin’s fingers were there, slipping past the thin barrier of her panties and rubbing over her seam. They rubbed gently over her clit until Sophia was gasping and panting. Her hips undulated against the flat of his palm which lay over her sex and lowe
r abdomen.
‘After,’ he started, not needing to elaborate what ‘after’ referred to. ‘I’m going to vrok you,’ he whispered. ‘But first, I’m going to spend hours tonging your clit. Vrokking you with my tongue. Making you cum so I can taste that sweet nectar.’ His fingers slipped inside her and he began fucking her with them. ‘Hmm. I love the sound your paradise makes when you’re wet. I love hearing your whimpers and moans. I’m getting hard again, Sophia, watching you like this.’
How this was the same alien who became stupefied when they first met was beyond Sophia at this moment. He did dirty talk like he was born to it, and every filthy word that came out of his mouth just made her wetter and more aroused. He flicked his thumb and a finger over her clit like he was playing her as a guitar then went back to fucking her harder.
A moment later, his fingers disappeared, and then he was pushing his cock into her. As he said, he was hard again and groaned, swearing as he filled her.
‘So tight, my Sophia,’ he groaned.
With her sat on his lap like this, they were almost parallel. He looked down at her, his mouth slightly open, a solemn look on his face. ‘Paradise,’ he whispered before kissing her. ‘You are vrokking paradise,’ he said against her lips.
Gripping her rear, he controlled their movement, taking her in a slow, gliding motion up and down him. Sophia could feel every movement, every ridge. His three-stepped glans teased over her sensitive entrance before he pushed her slowly back down his length. When she thought he might speed up, he didn’t. When she tried to, the growling, warning Ronin was back, sending beats of excitement directly to her clit and pulling the string of her arousal until it was impossibly taut. Until she was leaning against his chest, subjected to every sensation, begging him to give her more.
Still, Ronin kept her right there, giving her nothing more until her pussy was pulsing with her coming climax.
All at once, he sped his pace. Where a moment before he’d rocked Sophia gently, slipping in and out of her almost silently, now he thrust into her, pulling her hips until they met with a slap of skin. He set a hard, deep, and relentless pace. Her orgasm detonated. Instead of her vision whiting out, she saw the lava from Mustafar exploding hundreds of feet into the air. Her body felt on fire; she felt consumed. What little breath she’d managed to drag into her lungs forced its way out of her in a scream, then the world went silent until she heard Ronin groan, which quickly turned into a strangled roar.
Sophia collapsed against Ronin’s chest. He was still rocking her hips slightly, and little zings of a ghostly orgasm swept over her body, wave after little wave causing her body to twitch against him.
‘Spectacular,’ he whispered into her ear, one hand moving to cup her rear as Sophia drifted off to sleep.
'There.' Ronin pointed to the screen. Red brackets appeared around the ship that had just jumped in.
After making love, they'd jumped into the shower together, setting Cintra to watch. That had just devolved into more lovemaking and the need to wash the bedding, which had taken the place of towels when Ronin insisted he was obliged to lick her dry.
Now, the following day, they'd gone back to watch for the expected arrival.
'That is not a Tessan ship,' Ronin said, confirming what Sophia already knew. She let out a deep breath.
'We could just wait him out. As soon as the Tessans arrive, it's over,' Sophia suggested. She could already tell from the stony mask on Ronin that he didn't like the idea.
'We should confront him,' Ronin growled. He looked at Sophia. 'How did he know where we are?'
'Oh, shit!' Sophia turned. 'Where would he put a tracking device?' she asked as she ran out of the bridge.
'Anywhere. On the hull.'
'Let’s assume he did it while he was inside.’ She opened a cabinet door. ‘How big are these things?’
‘About the size of my fist,’ he said.
Sophia could hear him moving now. He was checking the console as she went through the cabinets in the galley, then moved into the main room. Checking under tables and inside drawers. She pulled the bed apart, then checked under it, where Dukal had stashed a bound Ronin. Her hand hit something hard. She yanked, pulling it from some kind of anchoring.
It was a black box. Running back into the bridge, Sophia held it out to her mate. ‘Is this it?’
Ronin focused on the box and growled. ‘Yes.’ He snatched it out of her hand, kissing her hair. ‘Cintra, deactivate the tracker.’
‘Deactivated,’ Cintra’s voice rang out in the bridge. Ronin and Sophia stared at each other for a beat, before Ronin dropped it on the floor and smashed it in with his boot.
‘Now what?’ Sophia turned and looked at the viewscreen. Dukal’s ship was moving closer.
A chime filled the bridge.
‘Dukal?’ Sophia asked.
‘Yes. He’s on the comm.’
‘I know you found my tracker, and you know I used a tracker. Let’s stop playing these vashni games and meet.’
Ronin stared at the Bentari on the screen. Dukal was a particularly ugly member of their species, though that was down primarily to the number of scars he carried.
‘I don’t see why I should. The last time you were on my ship, you knocked me out and tied me up.’
‘You attacked me,’ Dukal said. ‘I was defending myself.’
‘You were saying vile things. If you think I’m going to let you rape a bounty, then you’re the vashni.’
‘How did you get out? And where is that delicious little human?’
Ronin had to fight the urge to reach through the screen and snap Dukal’s neck. ‘I got out of the binds while she was tugging your unconscious body outside. Well done. Taken out by a small human. A female, no less.’
The smug look on Dukal’s face disappeared.
‘By the time she got upstairs, I was ready for her. I got her back in her cell. She’s there now.’
‘I won’t let her get the better of me again,’ Dukal growled.
‘If there is one thing I’ve learned about this female in the rotes I’ve been dealing with her, she is not to be underestimated.’
‘She’s a vrok toy. If you think she’s more than that, you truly have lost your vrokking mind.’
Every part of Ronin wanted to stand up for his female, but if Dukal wanted to dismiss what he had seen and experienced, if he wanted to underestimate Sophia, that could only work to their advantage.
‘Let’s meet. Talk. Dar wants us both to bring the female in.’
It was on Ronin’s lips to tell Dukal he had no intention of bringing her in, but there was something in Dukal’s eyes.
‘Come on over,’ Ronin said, surprising himself. There was a plan forming in his mind.
Dukal looked wary for a moment; finally, he nodded. ‘I’ll be there in around fifteen metri,’ he said. ‘Assuming you come out of the nebula and don’t make me come in after you.’
‘Coming out now.’ Ronin disconnected the comm.
‘You’re inviting him over?’ Sophia appeared around the door.
Ronin turned to find her dark eyes on him. He smiled, taking in the sight of her. ‘I have an idea.’
Sophia was lying in the vents between floors, looking down at the airlock in the ship's storage area. She and Ronin had locked down his weapons caches. They’d also hidden a few surprises throughout the ship in case they needed them.
Below her, Ronin stood waiting for Dukal’s ship to make the connection between them.
‘How are you doing, my Sophia?’
‘I’m good, Ronin. Just get him upstairs. I’ll do the rest.’
‘I’ll insist on talking in the main room, before letting him see you. Just work quickly, my Kietta.’
‘Stop calling me after a bug,’ Sophia hissed. She was not thrilled when Ronin had admitted what his pet name for her actually was!
The ship lurched slightly, and there was an unmistakable hiss as air from both ships filled the umbilicus between them.
‘Here we go,’ Sophia whispered despite the fact that no sound left the helmet unless she wanted it to.
‘Remember to wait until we’re upstairs,’ Ronin hissed.
The airlock opened, and Dukal stepped through.
‘At least you got your suit back,’ Dukal said. ‘Show me your vrokking face, so I know this isn’t some kind of trap.’
After a moment, the faceplate disappeared. ‘This good enough for you?’ Ronin growled.
‘Hmm. Let’s see her then.’ Dukal looked around the storage room.
‘First, we’ll talk. If we’re going to work together, then we’re going to get some things straight about the treatment of the bounty.’
‘Fine. Pour me a drink first,’ Dukal said.
Ronin waved Dukal ahead of him, and the two of them disappeared up the stairs.
Sophia waited for the sound of the footsteps to fade. She was getting her fingers under the grate when two more Bentari appeared from the airlock.
They walked through the storage room quietly, then went into the engine room.
‘Fuck. Cintra. Open a comm to Ronin.’ There was a click, and Sophia could hear Ronin’s breath in her ear. ‘It’s a double-cross. There are two more Bentari in the engine room now.’
‘Vrok.’ Ronin’s voice was quiet. ‘It doesn’t matter. I’ll deal with them. You go ahead with the mission.’
‘Ronin—’
‘Mission. Now.’
‘Fine. But for the record, the only reason I’m going ahead with this is because you have a better chance against them than I do,’ she hissed while wedging her fingers under the grate and pulling it up.
She lowered herself through the opening and dropped quietly to the ground below.
The door to the engine room was closed. Cursing under her breath, Sophia went through the umbilicus and boarded the Bentari ship.
The Bentari ship was much darker than Ronin’s. ‘Cintra, activate night vision.’
‘Confirmed.’ The hall before lit up in shades of red. It was almost disorienting.
