“I did mention that you had nothing to worry about, did I not?” She heard him moving around. Then the crawler’s artificial gravity kicked out for a moment to let her feel the force of whatever he was doing. “Adira adores you. The little ones love you. Fintan we do not count since he still hates me. If he hates me, who knows what he feels for anyone else.”
“He doesn’t hate you. I saw the look on his face and he doesn’t hate you. As for your sister, I’m glad that she likes me. And those babies.” She laughed. “They are perfect. I love them already and I just met them.”
“If we can figure out a way to end this war before it gets started fully then we will be able to have all the time we want with them. We’ll figure this out, all of us, and then when we can we are all going to celebrate.” A beep sounded. “The download is complete. Hold on to your seat tightly. I need to get us through the field faster than we came in originally. This may get rough.”
“Great, thank you.” She closed her eyes again and held on to the seat. With any luck, she wouldn’t puke all over the deck plating. She grimaced when she felt a sudden rise, then fierce drop, of the crawler.
“Hold on,” he told her a few minutes later, “we’re coming in for a landing now. You can open your eyes soon.” She listened while he talked to his vessel, then the AI system of the crawler as it fed him data for the landing. Shortly after she felt the telltale bump of them landing. “We’re home now, Samantha. I will have one of the crew dump everything Fintan sent to us onto a data pad for you to use.”
“Sounds good,” she told him with a smile. “I look forward to looking over their histories. There were a couple of places in your people’s history that I wanted to cross reference. A couple of places that I was certain were odd, that looked to be altered somehow. Just in the way that it was worded more than anything else,” she explained when he gave her a look.
“Let me know what you find out. I’ll come find you when I’m done.”
Chapter Six
The door sliding open to reveal Petr had Sam blinking like she’d come out of a dream. She’d been deeply involved in reading all the data Fintan had sent her. It was intense stuff. Some of it was hard to read. Not only because it was old text with odd wording but also because of the emotions that came through in the writing. Sam felt like she’d ridden a roller coaster worth of emotions.
When Petr collapsed next to her on the sofa, his head dropping back to rest on the cushions, she set the data pad aside. “Interesting reading?” he asked. He looked exhausted, mildly irritated, and she could tell he’d scraped his fingers through his short pale blond hair numerous times. It definitely wasn’t as tidy as it had been when they’d parted.
She curled up close to him and nodded. “I’m not back as far as I want to be but,” she pulled the data pad close, “did you know that at one time your people had a trade agreement? It was broken when the war started, but I can’t find that one missing piece. On one of the documents, there was a marriage that had been announced, and a few days later there was a complete retraction and then the statement that there was war. There is definitely something hinky going on there.” She looked up at him. “Want to talk about it, honey? About what has you looking like you’re ready to kill someone?”
He slipped his arm around her to pull her closer, his chin resting against her hair. She felt him take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t know how to say this without sounding like I have a high opinion of myself, so I’ll just say it. Forgive me if it comes off wrong.” He turned to wrap his other arm around her. “Our ruling body of Imara are behaving like a group of vreesha symbiots. They don’t care for anything other than the credits they can pocket, and will sell their votes to the highest bidder no matter the cost to the people. Arguing with them to get them to see reason on any topic is like slamming my head to the walls repeatedly. Painful and unproductive. Yet they wonder why the people are so displeased with them, and why riots often occur in their sectors.”
“I’m so sorry.” She sighed. “Greed. It’s something that’s everywhere and that makes me so sad. Humanity had started to band together when I was sent into space. We realized that we were killing our planet and knew the only way we would ever be able to go on was to find new homes in the stars. But to know that greed is once more alive and well? It makes me sick and I’m so sorry.” God, she hated that for him.
“We are blessed that our planets have very strict laws about the environment. We also have laws about buildings, placements, and numerous other items that protect our ecosystems. What we don’t have is a way to remove the ruling body from its position of power when they are set to put our people in harm’s way with this senseless war they are attempting to reignite. The Imarian armada is not controlled by them, thank the spirits, but they have their hands in too many officers’ pockets. Those that don’t want war, like myself, have been working to isolate those working for the ruling body. If we are successful, we’ll be able to remove them fully from control and take back the armada fully ourselves to guarantee there is no war. It would also leave us in a position to give the citizens of the Imarian worlds what they want, a rulership they have chosen, one that can be removed if they go against the people’s wishes.”
She looked up at him and frowned. “I think that would be wonderful if you and your friends were somehow able to do that. You would make a good president, or whatever your people’s term for it is. You are patient, kind, and you listen and take advice.”
Petr drew back to stare at her and snorted while shaking his head. “Not for me,” he said. “I would never want the job. A position like that needs someone who is in touch with the people and their needs. I’m a military man. My life is what you see here. That is all I need, all I want.”
“I think I’ll always need you,” she confessed, then tapped the data pad with one finger. “And I’m sure that one day you guys will find someone to take over and rule your worlds. I just hope that we’ll still be around to see it happen.”
“We can only hope, little one.” Brushing a kiss to her forehead, he slouched further into the seats and hugged her tight. “Tell me more about what you’ve found, or not found. I may be able to help you fill in any blanks.”
“Well, it seems as if about thirty generations ago you guys all had the same languages. That’s very cool.” She thought that it was, at least. To her, that was an indication of either them having been of the same race at one time or them having been such close tradesmen that they had the same languages.
“I seem to recall Adira making mention of something like that,” he said. Petr rested his cheek to her shoulder while she showed him a few items on the data pad. “That leads to her theory we were one grouping at some point in the past, or at least more closely linked than we are now.”
“There’s always conflict, though, especially if greed plays a part. I had hoped with all of the advancements of today that we would be able to move past all of that, but I guess it’s just wishful thinking on my part, isn’t it?” She stroked her hand over his thigh and smiled. “But I have you and you have me. Life is damn good, right?”
“It is, little one.” Giving her a squeeze, he sat up and began to work on undoing his uniform jacket. “I’m going to take a shower, and then I think we should go have dinner with some of the other crew tonight. If I stay in here, I’ll only come up with extremely creative ways to dispose of our ruling body. And while I doubt anyone would blame me, it’s best not to dwell on their stupidity or greed.”
She snickered. “The crew are probably thinking that I’m keeping you locked up here with me. Although they do give you a look at times as if you are a lucky devil,” she teased.
Standing, he shrugged out of the jacket and carefully draped it over his arm. “I am lucky, Samantha.” Petr reached down to catch her hand and tugged her up to her feet. Then he tossed her over his shoulder and headed for their bedroom. “I have the most amazing, delightful, and gorgeous woman to call my own. No other man in all of
history has been as blessed as I am.”
She smacked his ass while he carried her out of the room. “So am I going to shower with you, darling man?” She squeezed his ass again.
“You are showering with me. Later I was thinking we could use our bathing water ration for something more soothing before sleeping tonight and take a bath together.” In the bathroom, Petr bent to let her slide easily off his shoulder. Straightening, he gave her one of his smiles.
“Sounds good.” She still couldn’t get over the fact that they were not only such a spacefaring people but also the fact that they were able to have baths from time to time as well. “I love that your people are as advanced as they are. Being able to sleep with you, being able to bathe with you. It’s freaking awesome.”
“You’re mine. Why would you not do these things with me, Samantha?” he asked. He was working the buttons free of their holes on his shirt, giving her little peeks at his chest underneath. When he reached the bottom, he wrapped it closed instead of pulling it off and cleared his throat.
She started to undress. “I have no idea. I just know that I love being able to do this with you. It just amazes me that we have all this ability, to know that we’re able to be as safe as we are in such a massive ship. In my time, we didn’t have anything like that. It’s just surreal to me,” she admitted.
His face showed that he was thinking through her answer. “The cruisers and destroyers are impressive. Large cities in space, when you think about it. I enjoy being home from time to time, but this is where I feel most comfortable. I cannot wait to show you my world, to see it through your eyes,” he said, pulling off his shirt to fold it up neatly.
That had her smiling and she nodded. “I can’t wait to meet your people, your friends, and your family. Wait, do you have family aside from Adira?”
“Sadly, no. Adira, Morgan, and Lennox are my only living relatives. My parents have long been gone from this life. My mother would have liked you a lot,” he told her. Lifting a hand, he gently brushed back her hair, then cupped her cheek. “She always told me that the woman meant to be mine would have to be unique. I’m not sure if this was quite what she meant.” His grin got bigger, and he moved to pull his boots and pants off. After setting his folded pants on top of the shirt, he crowded her toward the shower stall and inside. He set the timer to a long, low setting and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. She leaned back into him and tilted her head. He still smelled so good to her. Everything about him made her hunger for more. Hugging her close, Petr nuzzled at her neck. One of his hands slid down until he was cupping her pussy, a finger stroking between her folds. She watched him as he moved down her front.
Thrusting two fingers into her pussy, he began to stroke her. He nibbled lightly on her neck before he nipped at her earlobe. Then, withdrawing his fingers, Petr spun her in his arms to face him and lifted her until she could wrap her legs around his waist. He called a hold on the shower while putting her back to the wall.
Petr caught her hands and pressed them up over her head. She felt herself stretching to accommodate him, pushing her hands up higher over her head. “Petr,” she had her eyes closed and neck arched, “what are you doing to me?” She liked it. Whatever it was, she liked it.
With an adjustment of his hips, he began to press his cock into her sheath. “Do you want me to stop?” he asked against her mouth.
“No, don’t stop.” She moaned, tightening her legs around him as she spoke.
His nibbled on her lower lip, then licked at her mouth. Thrusting forward, he buried his cock deep inside of her.
“God yes. That feel so good.” Any time he was inside of her, it felt amazing. She could easily see herself being a nymphomaniac until she was dead and buried with this man.
His laugh vibrated through her. His mouth moved over her neck and shoulder before returning to nibble up her throat. Petr kept the pace slow for a time. Then, slipping his hands into hers to lace their fingers together, he kicked it up a notch.
“Every night before we go to sleep,” he said against her ear, “I will have you.” He rolled his hips and picked up the pace, stretching her arms higher so her nipples rubbed deliciously against his chest.
He gave her exactly what she wanted. She knew he always would. Each thrust was hard, deep, and had her squirming on his cock. With the hold he maintained on her hands she couldn’t do anything more than flex and clench her fingers around his.
She didn’t know how long they were in the shower, how long that he pumped in and out of her body while holding her up, but she was impressed with his strength and stamina all the same. He tilted his hips just a bit and the feeling of his cock brushing her clit had her panting. Then she screamed as her orgasm washed over her.
Petr followed her over the edge with two more hard thrusts before his semen splashed hotly into her sheath. Slowly he let her hands go, pressing her tighter to the wall and lowering her arms to rest on his shoulders. When he found his voice again, he had the sonic shower continue its cycle while they rested against the wall, wrapped around one another.
When the cycle was over, Petr gave her a kiss, then scooped her up in his arms. He carried her out of the stall and into the bedroom, then let her down onto her feet. “Dress so we can get down to the dining hall. We need to feed you.” He stroked a hand down her arm before he went to the wall and opened the panel to pull out clean but casual clothing. It was the first she’d seen. He’d always worn uniforms around her since she’d come on board except in their quarters.
“Wow, the admiral isn’t going to dress for dinner? I know how much I love it when you wear those clothes around our quarters, but I’ve never seen you wearing them out. What’s changed?”
He shrugged. “I don’t always dress for dinner.” He held up a pair of dress pants and a button-down shirt. A lot like his uniform except there was no jacket in sight. Petr must have caught her lips twitching in amusement, because he gave her a telling look.
She walked over to him and put her hand over his heart. “I get to see that soft side of you and I love it. I love being the only one for you.” With a wink, he turned to pull on his clothing, then a pair of shoes that looked like a cross between a loafer and a formal hard sole shoe. They slid on much like a loafer but with a slightly harder build to them. It was always amazing to Sam to see so many things that were familiar and yet appeared re-imagined.
She finished getting dressed, then looked at him. “Okay let’s go eat, because I am freaking starving my butt off.”
Petr’s hand landed on her ass and squeezed. “Not possible, Samantha. It’s still where it should be, and as perfect as always.” His hand slid up to rest at the small of her back to urge her out the door. In the lift he leaned in to press a kiss to her lips and nicely distracted her for the rest of the journey.
Chapter Seven
Several weeks later, about five and a half from what Sam could figure out, they were approaching Imara. Petr’s home world. They were still a ways out and would be stopping at the shipyard before taking a crawler to the surface, but she had chills from her first look at the large planet. It was almost two times the size of Earth and circled a white star much like Earth’s sun. Theirs was apparently older than Earth’s sun, but it was more stable.
The planet proper was much like the blue-green shade of Earth before things had started to go to hell. One of the ensigns was showing Sam a number of images of the planet, and what she saw had her in awe. The cities were full of towering, shimmering buildings created in a manner to do as little damage to the environment as possible. The ’burbs, as she called them, were apartments spaced out with lots of green space, and farther out were farms. All the cities, according to the ensign, were built on thick rock plates that had long stabilized from time and a little technological assistance. There were no earthquakes like she’d known. Not that there were none, but the tech helped to dissipate them away from the massive towers.
Imara had a lot of water, again much like Earth, and it surrounded t
he many sectors of the planet. Continents, she’d figured out after looking at an overview of the planet. Each sector was almost the same size as its neighbors. The only ones that were slightly smaller were at the poles. Each had a unique shape, so she’d deduced they had once been the same landmass, and much like Earth had split apart at some point in Imarian, or prior, history.
The ensign pulled up a folder with a bunch of faces, names, and titles. “These are the ruling body of Imara. Each of these individuals oversees a sector, and come together four times a planetary cycle around our star to discuss planetwide matters.”
“Amazing,” she told the ensign. There was a pause in her entire body. Then her hand covered her mouth and a frown creased her brow. “Wait. Go back one. There.” She pointed to one of the men, then turned to look at Petr.
He turned his head to look her way and frowned. He finished his conversation with the young man he was speaking to, then came her way. Slipping an arm around her waist, Petr pulled her in close to his body. “What is it, Samantha?”
“You are going to think that I’ve lost my mind, but this man looks exactly like my father. I mean dead-out like him. He could be him.” Add to it the man’s name was Titus Henry and she was freaking out a lot.
Reaching down, Petr brought the man’s file up on the screen. “He’s been in a position of power for the last twenty planetary cycles. Before that it appears there is nearly no information on him. Ensign, please find out if there is more history to this man, and let Samantha know the instant you have anything that could clear this matter up.”
“Of course, sir.”
Petr drew her away from the others and cupped her face. “I don’t doubt you, Samantha. But it’s wise to find out more information before we do anything in regards to one of the ruling body.”
She nodded. “I know, it just was a shock.” She knew that there were tears in her eyes. She felt the hurt in the center of her chest. “Just seeing a man that looks so much like my father had sent me back to that last moment I saw him.” She had been young when the man had passed, but she still recalled him.
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