Voyages of the Solar Wind 1: A Fire in Heaven (6 page)

"That's right. You're my first and last, Dex. You're my sek'natha." She saw the puzzled expression on my face. "My 'lovemate' is the most accurate translation."

"So we're married? There are far worse fates than to be married to a beautiful woman like you." I said with a smile. She blushed.

"Do you really think I'm beautiful? I've had disgusted looks from Human men before." She looked shy again.

"Hey, sweetheart. Don't worry about what those guys think. They're just stupid not to see how downright gorgeous you are." Inside, I was still reeling, but at least I knew where I stood with her. This wasn't just a one-shot. I was happy with that.

"Thank you, sek'natha." She kissed me tenderly, stroking my cheek. I had to admit it was very erotic to me the way she did it. Just a gentle caress down the side of my face, but she made it seem like the most important thing in the world. Which made it the most important thing in the world to me as well.

I took a moment to reflect. A simple gesture of compassion and affection, to a Human at least, had caused my best friend and snuggle buddy to turn into a sex crazed kitten, hot for me. But then, she'd always been hot for me, from what she'd just admitted. I thought back to when I'd been with Jen, and then realized what Rilar must have thought of that.

"Ri, I hate to ask this, but I have to know. Were you jealous when I was with Jen back then? Or Harrana?" I didn't want to hurt her, but I had to know if it had. If so, I would make it right.

She shrugged. "Yes, but when you broke up, I wasn't, anymore. And with Harrana, I didn't want to piss her off. At least that was just one night with her."

"Well, you aren't going to have to worry about her again, sweetheart. I just thought of how many times I've called you sweety or sweetheart over the years, but that was just for a female friend. Now it's for the woman I've been looking for since I was old enough to notice girls, and she was right in front of my face and cuddling naked with me every night for ten years." I was babbling, and chuckled at my own tongue getting tangled.

"I know, Dex. You can be extremely dense sometimes." She slapped my chest playfully. I had to laugh.

"Yes, Ri. Yes I was." I agreed.

I smiled at Ri's assessment. She's always been candid about my decision making skills, or sometimes lack thereof. Another reason our friendship works. I value her opinion, and she puts me in my place when necessary. I found that even though we were now much more than the best friends we'd been an hour ago, I still felt the same way about her candid openness, and I loved her even more for it. I'd never been very good with relationships, but with Ri, I thought maybe I'd found in her what I'd been missing with the others.

'I love her.' The thought came naturally. It meant much more than it did before, but it still came as naturally as breathing. It felt good.

"I don't know about you, baby, but I could use a beer." She grinned as my face lit up at that. Another reason we're best friends. She loves beer as much as I do. The main difference is the way Gurinkans' bodies metabolize alcohol. They get drunk like we Humans do, but they don't get any of the side effects. No liver damage. No brain damage. No beer gut.

"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.