Voyages of the Solar Wind 1: A Fire in Heaven

by Michael Erickston

  "Sounds good, kitten." I tried out the pet name, and she purred at it. Then she jumped up and went to the 'fridge unit. She grabbed two Halcyon Darks and came back to bed as I sat up against the headboard. She handed me one and I opened it as she opened hers. As is our alternating custom, I toasted the first swig.

  "To us, Ri. Best friends, and now so much more." I kissed her sweetly, and we clinked and drank.

  She snuggled up to me again and we drank as we talked.

  "Port Royal." Ri said with a shudder. It had been a while since we'd been there. She didn't like the place, and I honestly couldn't blame her. It, like its ancient Earth counterpart, had a rep as a pirate haven nowadays.

  "We have to, Ri. Jeka can help us out with Jen, and our pickup is there for this new job." I soothed her. Jeka was our representative in the FTA, and she was good people... for a Selarian. I don't usually care about someone's species, and I judge them on their merits as individuals. Rilar is a case in point. I don't care what species she is. She's my best friend, and the best damn gunner I've ever worked with. The fact that she's Gurinkan just happens to be there. I now knew that I'd made a huge mistake by not asking her about her people more, but we were working on that.

  But Selarians just creeped me out from the word Go. The first time I'd met one, I'd wanted to grab a stake, garlic, cross, and let in any nearby sunlight! You guessed it. They REALLY ARE blood sucking vampires. They look very close to Human, even more than most species, but the jet black hair, red eyes, wolf-like fangs, and stark white skin are dead (natch) giveaways when dealing with a Selarian.

  Selara is very close to their system's sun. Think Mercury in the Sol System, and you get the idea. Like what was once thought of Mercury, their planet doesn't spin, so only the the dark side is habitable. Unlike Mercury, their planet really IS tidal locked, and it DOES have a habitable atmosphere of oxy/nitro, like most carbon based lifeforms' home planets. It also, thanks to the greenhouse effect from the sunward side and the atmosphere, the dark side is a nice even temperature year 'round.

  As for their vampiric nature, Selarians, in addition to being raised in the pitch blackness of their homeworld, were the only natural predators on the planet. They are a parasitic lifeform, and I REALLY don't trust them. It's unfair of me, I know. Most are actually pretty nice people, from what I've seen. I just have a habit of pulling my collar closed whenever I see one.

  Rilar liked Jeka as I did. She wondered once why I didn't hook up with Jeka, since Jeka had obviously wanted me. I showed Rilar old pictures of vampires from ancient Earth, and she understood, sorta.

  "Well, at least Jeka will get the job done!" Ri said with a smile, breaking me out of my reverie.

  I definitely had to give Jeka two things. She DID get the job done, and if you disregarded her obvious vampiric appearance, or maybe because of it depending on what you like, she was a stone fox! Gorgeous in an extreme Goth sort of way. I look at her and think of the old legends of Lady Bathory. Thank God Jeka's personality is a helluva lot better, though!

  While we're on physiologies, I got to thinking about my new knowledge of Gurinkan physiology. Most notably of the female persuasion. Rilar had all the Human female erogenous zones, plus several more. The backs of her calves. Her lower back, and her ears. Oh Lords of Haven, did she come hard when I'd kissed and licked her ears earlier! Then something else occurred to me.

  "Ri, when I came inside you. Will we be... I dunno, parents?" I put it as casually as possible. We made good money as Free Traders, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to be a dad.

  "No, sek'natha." She said sadly. "I wish we could, but I can't have your children." She had tears in her eyes now, and I realized just how much she loves me.

  I pulled her close, stroking her back. "Shhh, Ri. It's ok, sweetheart." I was struck by how sad I was too. I really did want to be a father to our children. Our children. With her. Oh boy. "We can always adopt." I thought out loud with a smile.

  She perked up at that. "Yes we can, Dex!" She kissed me again, much to my surprise and pleasure. She's a damn good kisser! We finished our beers, and tossed the empties into the recycler. I pulled her closer still, and we ended up spooning with me behind her. I'd spooned with Human girls before, but as long as we'd been sleeping naked together, I'd never done it with Rilar until now. When we'd spooned before, it was her pressed against my back. I love the feel of her spinestripe against my chest and stomach.

  We ended up falling asleep shortly after that. We'd been interrupted by Jen earlier, so we got some shuteye. I also decided that near an uninhabited planet's orbit wasn't the best place to pull over, due to that incident. Should have stayed in slipstream to Port Royal before. But oh well. We were drunk, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

  ^V^V^V^V^

  As we exited slipstream over Port Royal, we were hailed immediately. "Port Royal Docking Control to Solar Wind. Do you copy?"

  I'd awakened refreshed and ready for the new day, and had the most amazing feeling of Rilar spooned up against me. She'd awakened at the same time, turned over and kissed me. We'd shared a smile and some loving kisses. Then we got dressed, and she promised that tonight, she was going to rock my world.

  "This is Solar Wind, Royal. Go ahead." This was irregular. Port Authority usually waited for incoming requests for docking.

  "Dex, we have a problem with your docking permits." I blinked. So did Rilar. We looked at each other.

  "Umm, that wasn't a good copy, Royal. What the fuck are you talking about?" I really wanted to know, but already had a bad feeling I DID know.

  "Captain Cardwell of the CSS Grant has issued a Wanted Notice for you, Dex." Royal Control came back.

  "Jen! Holy shit! Rick, she's my ex-girlfriend who's had it in for me and Ri since we got out after the war. You know what she's like. I have proof that she and the CSS Grant violated Article 98! I invoked Authorization 17 on her sorry ass!" I was REALLY pissed at Jen now. Trying to revoke my permits because I had her cold on Article 98!

  Article 98, Subsection 5 dictates that no Confederate inspection team will aim firearms at a Free Trade Captain or his crew until or unless that Captain, or said crew, should be found in violation of Intergalactic Law. Furthermore, that the threat of lethal force only be used, if after verbal arrest intent is made, the subject resists.

  "Good copy, Dex. Your permits are reinstated temporarily, pending investigation by Free Trade Alliance Authority. Report to Administrator Jeka immediately upon docking at Bay 989. And Dex... good luck." I grinned at that.

  "Thanks, Rick. Good to see someone has some common sense around here. Solar Wind, out." I cut the com and Ri looked at me with a smile from her gunner's seat. I grinned back at her.

  I took us into dock. Port Royal is the largest Independent space station in the galaxy. It's the size of a fairly decent sized moon. Over fifty thousand docking bays in it, for up to Battleship sized vessels. Also very heavily armed. It would take an entire Empire's worth of ordnance to even dent it.

  Rilar and I strapped on our Rail Pistols. Onboard, I carried my PuNCH pistol, but outside, I carried my Railgun. So did Rilar, when visiting Port Royal. She's a melee killing machine, but even she doesn't want to fuck with a dozen gang members with just her claws and fangs.

  She'd also removed the regen bandage after her arm had healed and changed from her flight suit into a skin tight pair of black synthmesh leggings with a red halter top and black synthmesh vest over it. She put on her boots, and I whistled admiringly.

  She twirled for me. "You like?"

  "Very much so, baby! Very sexy without being slutty." I'd seen her in the outfit before, and had appreciated it silently, but now... Now she was mine and I would be proud to be seen with her and let everyone know it.

  She purred as she slipped her arms around my neck and kissed me lovingly. I returned her kiss just as passionately. Now that I'd tasted her charms, I couldn't get enough of her.

  She obviously felt the same, from the faint scent of cherries I detected.
I vowed that I was going to eat her pussy a lot from then on out!

  As we broke the kiss, I told her that. "Rilar, the next time we make love, I hope you enjoy receiving oral sex. I want to eat that sweet pussy of yours." I whispered, and she shivered as she rubbed her body on mine. I was dressed as normal. Jeans, tanker shirt, boots, and leather flight jacket. I'd kept it from when I was CO of the CSS Lu Bu, and it still had the logo on the left breast. It was named after some ancient Earth Chinese warrior.

  "I have a feeling I would love that, Dex." She started breathing heavily, and her pupils were dilating again.

  "After we clear our good names, kitten." I whispered and kissed her sweetly. She purred as we walked to the cockpit together.

  I pulled the old 50 GigaByte USB thumb drive out of my pocket and stuck it in the computer terminal port. I brought up the com log and security footage, made copies to the drive, then double checked to make sure the copies played right. Check and check. We were good to go. I grabbed the confiscated jarhead PuNCH rifle and we were down the ramp and into Port Royal. I looked around at it. Thanks, Rick. He'd set us down only a few hundred meters from the FTAA office.

  Rick West is an old buddy from flight training who had gone rogue after the war. First as a privateer merc, then as a straight up pirate. A couple years back, he ran afoul of three system patrol cutters, and had been maimed for life. His destroyer had been badly damaged, most of his crew had been killed, and his legs had been shattered by a falling bulkhead. He'd managed to crawl to the controls and enter slipstream before the remaining cutter could board him. It'd had to deactivate its tractor bubble to board, and he'd used that tiny window to escape. He'd ended up on Port Royal and was able to find work as a traffic controller. He still had his hand in the pie, though.

  As we walked, Rilar put her right hand in my left, interlacing our fingers. I looked down in mild surprise, then smiled. I looked up at her, and she was gracing me with her most radiant grin. A lot of guys find Gurinkan fangs unsettling. I don't have a problem with them, and on Ri, they're sexy as hell. I had the rifle slung over my right shoulder, and my Railpistol on my right thigh in a fastdraw holster. Rilar, being a lefty, had her Rail holstered cross draw on the front of her right hip. It was a hard draw to master, but she was better with it than most professional gunslingers, and could outdraw everyone I could think of. She's an expert shooter, both in and out of the cockpit.

  We crossed the Southwest Promenade quickly and entered the FTAA office. We took a number and sat down. I put my arm around Ri and she snuggled into me, purring contentedly.

  Jeka must have been on fire today. We had to wait for twenty numbers, but we only had to wait thirty minutes.

  When we finally got called in, Jeka jumped up with a squeal and ran to hug us. Jeka is one of the few Selarians that I trust enough to leave my collar unbuttoned, and I had to admit I enjoyed hugging her. She hugged both of us, then stepped back and grinned wolfishly. "I see you two FINALLY got together!"

  My eyes went wide, until I remembered how Selarian vision was. She'd explained it to me that they saw auras around people, and could tell almost everything about someone just from his or her aura.

  "Last night, Jeka!" Rilar announced proudly. She hugged our blood sucking friend again.

  "Yeah, I finally got undensed enough to notice." I grinned.

  "After ten years of sleeping naked together, you should have noticed a looooooooonnnnngggg time ago, Dex!" Jeka chided me.

  "I knooooowwww, Jeka. But seriously, I have all the intel about the incident on this drive for your review." I handed her the thumb drive.

  She nodded, all business now, and sat back behind her desk. She popped the thumb drive in and reviewed both the Boarding demand and the subsequent pirate action by a Confederate Battleship.

  She nodded, made copies of the files, then handed my drive back. "Dex, this is serious. I've already permanently reinstated your permits, so you're off the hook there. This investigation will take time, though. We'll have to go through CFC on this one. You won't be able to take any contracts while this is ongoing."

  I nodded. "We can hang out here for a bit with you and Rick."

  She smiled warmly at that. They'd served together on the CSS Zhao Yun during the war, much as Rilar and I did on the Lu Bu. They'd stayed platonic back then, but now she'd taken a liking to our mutual friend, even in his cyborg state. I still had mixed feelings about him hooking up with a vampire, but hey. To each their own. I trusted Jeka enough that I knew she wouldn't bleed him dry. And I was off the hook for flirting with her. Bonus!

  "We have enough to live on comfortably for a few years, if we have to." Rilar said, stroking my cheek. I smiled and stroked hers back.

  "Ok, now that business is done, time to spill. How'd Densenut here finally figure it out?" Jeka was giggling as she addressed Ri.

  "After the fight when I went down with the blast to my arm, Dex patched me up and stroked my face. He didn't know what it meant, but I explained it to him. One thing led to another, and..." Rilar grinned and blushed as I kissed her cheek.

  "Dex, I love you like a brother. But I swear if you hurt her, I will bleed you dryer than the Selarak Desert!" Jeka was smiling as she said it, and her wolf's fangs were showing down past her lips.

  "Don't worry, Dracula. I might be dense, but I'm not THAT stupid. It took me ten years to figure out who the love of my life was, but now that I have, I'm not going anywhere." I smiled. Jeka's threats didn't bother me. She knew I knew she was cool. She laughed at my old nickname for her.

  When I'd first met Jeka, Selara had just become a member state in the Confderacy, and she was in flight training alongside me, Rick, and Rilar. We were the Four Musketeers back then, even though I kept my collar well closed around Jeka, which all three of them found hilarious. I'd started calling her Lieutenant Dracula, and the name had stuck throughout the war. She even got her hands on some of the ancient Earth movies starring her namesake, and had laughed at the bad interpretation of her people. I'd had to point out to her that when the movies were made, Humanity hadn't even discovered Selara yet. Her eyes had gone wide at that. Those were good times back then.

  "Good! Dex, you have to be denser than tungsten sometimes!" Jeka said.

  I shrugged. "When it comes to women, I think all guys are a bit dense."

  "Dex, honey, you are WAY more than a 'bit' dense!" Jeka said, and both ladies had a good long laugh at my expense. I chuckled too, since I couldn't argue with them.

  It was Close of Business at the FTAA office, since they were on Alpha Centauri IV Time Zone, we all took a stroll to The Jolly Roger pub in our sector. Rick walked in, and I had to grin. He had no more limp, and no more robotic stiffness. He saw us and headed our way. He took the seat beside Jeka and kissed her lips softly. She returned his kiss and smiled as they broke it. Rilar was grinning, and I had to smile.

  They told the tale of how they'd gotten together. After being war buddies like Rilar and me, they'd gone their separate ways after the war was over. After he got his legs shattered and amputated, she'd gone to visit him in the hospital here, and he'd confessed to her everything from his criminal career to his love for her. She felt the same, and they'd been dating for nearly eleven months now.

  "Rick, you have yourself a good woman there. She'll keep you honest or else!" Rilar said with a laugh.

  "Yeah, she threatened to bleed me dry if I went on another pirate rampage." He grinned and kissed her again.

  Not to be outdone, Rilar grabbed my face and shoved her tongue down my throat, much to my pleasant surprise. I returned her kiss just as ardently, then heard gasps from our friends. We finally pulled apart and looked at them. Jeka was grinning, and Rick's jaw was hanging open.

  "When the fuck did YOU TWO get together?" He demanded with a grin.

  "Last night, Rick." I told him with an answering grin. We recounted what had happened after Jen's unsuccessful boarding attempt.

  "Well, it's about damn time! Jeka and I had a pool going among the
fleet as to when you would get together. Now I have to call Bysan and tell him he won!" Rick grinned. He told us how they'd set up an account that had accumulated fifty thousand credits from people taking bets on how long it would take me and Rilar to get it on.

  Bysan, a Chali Blade, had said 'ten years' when asked if he wanted in. The Chali are a semi-albino species with a strict caste system. The Blades are their warrior cadre, working in the military and law enforcement. They also had an uncanny knack for knowing when things would happen. They look Human, until you notice that they only have three fingers and one thumb on each hand, plus only four toes on each foot.

  "I picked two weeks, so I know I lost." Jeka laughed.

  "Hell, I picked three months. I don't think ANYONE picked over a year except for Bysan." Rick chuckled.

  "So Dex Relway, Romeo of the Spaceways, is finally taken? Too bad." A sultry female voice said at my elbow. I looked up, and up.

  "Hey, Harrana." I grinned. The Amazona woman stood 6'4" and had the body of a warrior goddess. She was also one of the pirates to openly frequent The Jolly Roger. She looked like a perfectly proportioned Human woman, except for her green hair and her eyes with the black irises and red pupils.

  She sat on a spare seat, and was now a bit more on eye level. Rick was staring at her huge tits until Jeka smacked him. I knew better. While I like Harrana, I wouldn't even think about it again. We'd spent an... eventful night together two years before when Rilar and I had pulled her gorgeous ass out of a firefight. That night had left me with six cracked ribs and a hamstring pull. Don't ask. We'd decided after that night that I was too fragile for her, but we've remained friends with light flirting ever since. She's loyal to her friends and crew, but a bloodthirsty pirate all the same. She has a reputation for not taking prisoners during her raids, unless they can be ransomed back to their families. Rilar and I made sure to stay on her good side.