Voyages of the Solar Wind 1: A Fire in Heaven (2 page)

"Hi there," she said. "I'm Rela, Administrator Jeka's assistant." She grinned, and my blood drained from my face. Yes, Selarians are real life vampires. Jeka's one too, but I'm used to her. Rela was still an unknown as far as I was concerned.

"Good to -gulp- meet you, Rela. Is Jeka available? We have an appointment." I smiled as much as possible.

"She should be free momentarily. Don't worry, Dex. I don't bite, unless you want me to." She winked, and I nearly ran for the door.

Some guys fantasize about flirting with, and having a vampire flirt with them. I knew deep down that most Selarians were good people, but that didn't change the visceral reaction I had to their appearance. Alabaster white skin, red irised eyes with jet black hair. Slightly pointed ears and long wolf-like eye teeth rounded out their iconic appearance.. They really do drink blood, too!

I have had Jeka flirt with me back in flight training, and it had taken months for me to trust her enough to flirt back. Now we were actually friends, so I was almost comfortable around her. Selarian women are uniformly beautiful in an extremely goth sort of way. That wasn't my problem. It was what I imagined them doing to me once we had finished fucking that made me stop short of anything physical, even when Jeka had been into me.

"Rela, nothing personal, but I try to avoid flirting with women who could bleed me dry at a moment's notice." I smiled, and she laughed warmly.

"Don't worry, Dex. I'm used to it." She sighed.

"Maybe in a few decades when I'm able to get over my admittedly irrational fear, sweety." I shrugged and smiled back at her.

We heard Jeka's door slide open and a Shivos captain slithered out the door. Shivos are snake-like beings with two arms but no legs. They literally slither on their tails while their torsos remain upright like a biped. It was funny that I didn't have near as many hangups with the snake people as I did with the vampires.

He nodded to us and we nodded back as he slithered out and we heard Jeka call out "Next!"

"That's us, Rela. Thanks for the help." I said with a smile, then nearly ran for Jeka's door.

Ri said "sorry about him" to Rela and caught up with me as I reached Jeka's office. Finally in the presence of a vampire I was reasonably comfortable with, I relaxed.

"Dex, if you don't stop with the Selarian hate, I'm gonna bleed you!" Jeka threatened with a smile.

"It's not hate, Jeka. It's irrational fear brought on by watching too many ancient Earth movies!" I said.

"I know, Dex. I'm just giving you shit." She grinned, and I paled.

"Ha ha. Funny. Luvs ya too, Jeka. Now, we have business." I smiled.

"Yeah, I've got your application to the FTA here, and your fee is being processed now. It's a one time fee with no annual renewals, but our cut is taken off the top of each job. That is a hundred credits for any contract under ten K, or a thousand credits for any contract over ten K. If a job is over a hundred K, we take ten K. You will never see the full fee, since it's not just you, but every Free Trader who signs on. Fees aren't really for pilots, but are taken from the contractors themselves. I'm just legally obligated to tell you about it." She shrugged.

"We have no problem with that, Jeka." Ri grinned warmly. I was grinning too. We were about to live the dream we'd had since we were flying the Lu Bu into combat against the Hegemony.

^V^V^V^V^

It had been one night when I had snuck a six pack of beer onboard at WesternStar Station, and we were out on a two week recon mission deep in Hegemony space. We'd stopped in deep space where it was unlikely we'd be spotted, and had started talking about what we'd like to do if or when the war ended as we swigged a couple beers.

Ri swigged her beer. "I want to be free. I grew up in a military family, and my dad is going to retire after he hits thirty-five years in, or when the war ends, whichever comes first. I just want to go where I want and do what I want and get paid for it."

"Same here, sweety. How about Free Trade?" I asked.

"Fuck yeah!" Ri exclaimed as I swigged my beer. We only had a six pack, so it would have to last us until we got back to WesternStar. We were sitting on her bunk naked and getting ready for sleep. I'd been admiring her gorgeous body while smiling and drinking. "That sounds awesome, Dex! Go where we want, get into or out of trouble by the seat of our panties!"

"Ummm, that's Pants, not Panties, Ri. Especially since you never wear panties." I grinned and she laughed.

"I don't like being restricted down there any more than what pants do already. I do like bikinis, though." She shrugged, and I felt myself starting to get hard. I shook it off as best I could and finished the rest of my beer in a few quick glugs. I had a raging hard on but just turned to face the bulkhead.

"I think I need some sleep, Ri." I said while trying not to think about her beautiful body impaled on my cock.

"So do I, Dex. G'night." She kissed my neck quickly and cuddled up to spoon me. We fell asleep like that a lot back then, and still do today.

^V^V^V^V^

"Thanks, Jeka. Hey, do you know Rick is here and working up in Traffic Control?" I asked as we concluded our business.

"Yeah, he showed up about a month ago and was in really bad shape. He had to scuttle Founder's Fortune outside the station after he and his crew ejected in escape pods. Luckily, he had good insurance on it. We started talking again when he was in the hospital." Jeka shrugged. "I hooked him up in Control, and he likes it as far as I can tell. It's safer than his previous jobs." She rolled her eyes.

"Wasn't he a Privateer?" I asked. “I heard he went Privateer after getting out of the Navy.”

"Yeah, for about six months. Then he took his destroyer and went rogue. Full on pirate. Hooked up with Harrana Bloodskull and her crew for a bit, then struck out on his own. He got nailed by some System Patrol Cutters out by Harad's Reach. From what he said, they barely made it out alive after destroying two of the Cutters. The third was about to board him, but he was able to enter the slipstream when they dropped the tractor bubble to board his ship. He lost both legs, Dex." Jeka sounded concerned for him.

Rick used to be her gunner aboard the CSS Zhao Yun, and Jeka had been a shit hot pilot back in the day. She'd made a pass at me once, but I had said not just no but 'ohhh fuck no' to her. It's not that she's ugly. She's a stone fox if you're into the extreme goth look with fangs. Not my type, but Rick seemed to like her back then.

"Does he have cyberlegs yet?" I asked. Rick was a friend, pirate or no. We'd saved each others' lives at the Battle of Harad's Reach. He'd shot down a cruiser that Ri had been popping but wat about to kick our asses, and we'd shot down a destroyer that'd had the Zhao Yun dead to rights.

"Yeah, they should be arriving tomorrow, when he goes back into the hospital and gets out of that blasted hoverchair." Jeka looked really distraught over the whole thing.

"Jeka, you're in love with him, aren't you?" Rilar asked with a smile. I'd just thought she was concerned for a friend.

Jeka nodded. Selarians can't blush, but if they could, Jeka would have been blushing... I think.

"We're kinda seeing each other now." She admitted with a little smile. "But if you tell anyone.."

"You'll bleed us dry, we know." I chuckled.

It was an old joke going back to flight training. It was her favorite threat, and had worked well on me back then. Jeka and I had worked together over the past year when Ri and me were restoring Solar Wind, and she had expedited our permits for landing and our fee for admittance into the Free Trade Alliance.

She'd also sent me a copy of the CCSJ, and I had memorized every section. It's what protects us Free Traders from military strong-arming. They can't illegally board and seize my ship, and I found out why. I read the booklet cover to cover, over and over until I could recite every paragraph and subsection by heart. It would come in handy on more than a few occasions, I was sure.

"We're going to meet him in a bit for drinks at the Jolly Roger pub, Jeka." Rilar said. "Wanna come along?"

"Sure, guys. I get off here in about a half hour." Jeka smiled. As far as Selarians go, who are actually pretty nice people for the most part, Jeka was a cut above even the rest of her species. While they look like vampires, and really are vampires, they don't have the 'blaaah blaah I vant to suck your blood' thing going on. They're just average everyday bloodsucking vampires... err, people, and I really have an irrational fear of them. Jeka is one of the few that I don't really fear, since we've known each other forever.

We sat and traded stories for a bit until 1700 hours rolled around and Jeka shut up the office and we all left. Rela had to get home to her hubby, when Jeka asked if she wanted to join us.

"She seems nice," I remarked to Jeka.

"She's a sweetheart, Dex. Her boyfriend is Human, by the way." Jeka grinned.

"To each, their own, Jeka." I shrugged. Not my thing, but I could see the attraction for some guys.

"Are you two still cuddling naked at night?" Jeka asked us with a giggle.

"Yep. No pressure for anything but mutual comfort." I said with a smile.

Jeka looked like she wanted to say something, but shook her head and smiled as we walked into the 'Roger. We saw Rick come in from the other entrance and he steered his hover chair towards us.

"Dex! Rilar! Good to see you guys!" He grinned as he came to a stop in front of us. I shook his hand and Rilar bent down to give him a hug.

"Good to see you too, Rick. Jeka filled us in on your after war activities, so to speak. You really are one tough ornery sonuvabitch!" I laughed along with him. As we sat and had some beers brought to us, Rick recounted his story.

"Yeah, I know. I barely managed to crawl back to the cockpit from engineering after the bulkhead collapsed on my legs. Crushed and amputated clean. I would have bled out if not for finding the medkit in the cockpit after my pilot and gunner died. I managed to hit Slip and made it out of there." Rick shuddered a bit at the memory.

"Well, I'm glad you're ok, brother." I clinked bottles with him as we sat around what was to become our favorite table.

The first time I had seen Humanity Prime was in the Jolly Roger. They had a 'chapel' on Port Royal so they could preach their bigotry and hate for anyone not of the Human persuasion. They were barely tolerated as it was, since they paid all the legal permit fees and didn't usually cause trouble that could be traced back to them.

They saw me and Rick with Ri and Jeka and came towards our table. "Shit," Rick muttered. "Here we fucking go."

"My friends," said the first one in a really slimy voice that made me feel like I needed a fuckin' shower. "Why waste time with alien hookers when there are plenty of Human women more than willing to satisfy your needs?"

I decided to have a bit of fun with ol' douchebag. "Well, the last Human woman I dated turned into a fuckin' psycho. Last I heard she got promoted to Commander in the Confederate Navy. As far as Ri here, we're best friends, so if I were you, I'd keep my lip holstered before her pistol becomes unholstered and you get unalive. Comprende, dingletard?" I had slipped back into Helliotian dialect since it had some colorful words that didn't let the insulted idiot even realize he'd been insulted until (sometimes) days later.

This insulted idiot was a bit sharper than most, though. "Watch your tongue, alien-lover!"

"Or what, homeskillet? Rilar here is the fastest shot in the galaxy, except for MAYBE Bili the Bullet, but I'd still put my money on her." I grinned my best shit eatin' grin.

Well, it turns out ol' boy wasn't as smart as I had originally thought. He went for his pistol and saw Rilar's sidearm already aimed at him. He wouldn't have even cleared leather, and he knew it. I had mine trained on his butt buddy, so he wasn't gonna even try and skin his.

"Walk away, boys. You won't get a proper Human burial if they know you got gunned down by a female Gurinkan." Rilar smiled so sweetly at them, I wanted to laugh, but settled for my shit eatin' grin.

Rick did laugh at that, though. He revved backward in his hoverchair, and rammed forward into the non-speaking partner of K,K &K Inc. He let out a yelp as he lost his balance and fell into his buddy, and they both fell down.

"Oops. Still trying to get the hang of this thing." Rick grinned down at them both. He then proceeded to run over them both several times just for shits and grins.

Jeka grinned and snickered. "Ok, Rick. Park it so I can bleed them both.” She looked at them and bared her fangs in a snarl that made me just about shit myself.

Both the HP Loony Toons realized their lives were in grave danger and ran for it.

"I fuckin' hate those guys already." I said.

"Humanity Prime. The Godsdamned KKK of the 28th Century," said Rick. "If you go to Mars or Alpha Centauri IV for a job, watch out for them. They have no problem with kidnapping non-humans and torturing them to death."

Since ancient Earth isn't inhabitable anymore, most Sol system civilization is on Mars now and on Europa in orbit around Jupiter.

"Then Ri stays aboard ship when we go to either of those places unless we stick together." I laid down the law.

"We actually have some HP contracts on the board, guys." Jeka informed us. "Mostly weapons and medicine. They're scum, but they pay well."

"I'll take the medicine jobs if we're desperate, but no way in hell will I help arm those sickos." I confirmed my ability to see Green as the only color a Free Trader should care about. I would take credits from my enemies. It's just business.

"Well, come by the office in the morning and we'll check the job boards to see if we can get you a solid run to start things off." Jeka smiled.

"Sounds good, Jeka. We're gonna go back and get some shuteye, so we'll see ya in the A M." Ri and I stood up to go.

As we walked out we saw about twenty Humanity Prime assholes coming towards us. They were reaching for their pistols when we both drew and fired. Ri was faster than fast. She dropped 8 of them before they could clear leather, and two more as they got theirs clear and were taking aim. I popped six of them by aiming and shooting, then two more as I dove to the side to avoid their Pulsar NanoCharged Heat pistol shots. The PuNCH laser pistols and rifles are the preferred firearms of the Confederate Navy, while Rilar and I are partial to Rails which her dad General Keldor got us up on, since the Confederate Army uses them over PuNCH weapons. I'm nowhere near the fastdraw expert that Ri is, but I was doing well, and We split the last four of them two apiece. I'd miscounted by two, but that was ok. We won.