A week passed without further incident. They were blind on the inside, but they remained alive. Of the pirate that attacked them they heard nothing further. Hour by hour they struggled to come up with alternative plans to restore functionality to the ship. Aside from cutting power to the engines, nothing was viable.
Eric had done a couple of walks on the hull of the Rented Mule to assess damage better. The ballistic projectile the pirates had used had cracked, bent, and done damage to numerous portions of the ship. Three thruster ports were damaged or destroyed, the main airlock was inoperable for the foreseeable future, and even one of the pushers had been damaged and knocked slightly out of alignment. The primary sensor array had been fused into a mass of metallic junk. Shielding that protected it from asteroids and incidental physical contact had done little to spare it from the high power energy weapon that had fused it into a single piece of metal.
As frustrating as it was receiving no positive news or answers, Kira found the best way to get through the sickness of being dumped out of cold sleep was to stay focused on her job. Between that, running, and spending a lot of time sweating in the engine room with Eric, she managed to escape the majority of her sorrows and remain hopeful.
The working theory was that an object in motion stays in motion. They should reach their destination on time. The computer would continue to track their progress, using simulated movement versus actual, and notify them when the time was up. It was ugly but with hand scanners and radio links inside the space suits they could still dock with the mining facility to offload their gear, taken on the new payload, and conduct repairs while they were there.
Until then they still had almost two months of travel.
“ So what’s your story?” Kira asked her lover as the sweat cooled on their bodies. “You told me you hadn’t expected to end up here either, or something like that.”
Eric smiled up at her. Kira felt her stomach flutter a little and she knew it must have translated into a muscular movement based upon the way his eyebrows raised. She was sitting on top of him while he reclined against a metal paneled wall. “Nothing too complicated, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Kira could appreciate that, but it wasn’t an answer. “Isn’t everybody?”
“ I don’t know, I can’t think of a place I’d rather be right now,” He flexed his abs and prominent other muscles that caused Kira to blush at the tickle inside of her.
“ Good point,” she said with a wink. “And yes, it is a very good point.”
“ I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” Eric said after laughing with her.
Kira bit her lip. It was why she could never play cards, serious thought required serious introspection. “This is about you, not me.”
“Fair’s fair.”
She pouted, then shrugged. “Tell you what, I’ll give as good as I get. Deal?”
He chuckled again. “So far you’ve done a great job of it.”
“ You’re a naughty boy,” she admonished, shifting her hips enough to let him know that she liked naughty.
“ Oh good, I hope you spank me for it later.”
“ Ooh, kinky too!” Kira loved their conversations almost as much as she loved the sex. He made her feel so alive and so exciting. She had already done things she’d never dreamed she could do with him just because he made her feel so wanted. She almost regretted what might happen when they reached the mining station. She hadn’t wanted to stay aboard the Rented Mule very long but Eric had made some very convincing arguments without saying a word.
“ You haven’t seen nothing yet, baby,” Eric promised. Kira felt a shiver run down her back. “Later — now tell me why I get to ride this magnificent beast instead of some uppity princess on a core world?”
Eric laughed again, then drew silent. He shrugged as he looked up at her. “You’ve got a keen eye, there’ve been a few uppity princesses in your place.”
Kira knew her jaw was hanging open but it seemed impossible to shut it. Her entire body felt like belonged to someone else; she couldn’t draw in a breath or explain the way her stomach seemed to have fallen through the deck of the ship.
“ Long time ago, Kira, but definitely wrong place and wrong time. I was a stupid kid who discovered girls while interning at an astrophysics lab.”
“ Sleep with the boss’ daughter?” Kira forced the question out as calmly as she could. It was stupid to expect him to not have been with anyone else but he was just so damn good and he felt so damn good, it wasn’t fair that she’d have to share him with anyone. She knew it was irrational but just once she wanted something completely for herself.
“ No, the boss wasn’t married. He wasn’t into girls either. No, I had too much to drink one night then ended up getting picked up by a Lady.”
“ That doesn’t seem so bad…” It did, but for personal reasons and not ones that made sense to normal people.
“ Not a lady, a Lady. The governor’s wife.”
“ Oh!”
“ Yeah, her daughter found out and she wanted some fun too. At that level you wouldn’t believe what people will do. Everything’s a game to them, it’s appalling!”
“ I bet you were thinking just that while you were slipping between their beds.” Kira ground herself down on him, trying to make it uncomfortable but she also had to admit she was kind of turned on.
Eric grunted. “Yeah, maybe not so much. But afterwards I realized it. They just kept sucking me back in though.”
“ I bet.” She twisted her hips, feeling him swelling to his full size again. He’d left her walking funny for days already, this time it was his turn. She was going to leave bruises.
“ The governor found out,” Eric said, then gasped as Kira ground herself against him. “I’d had enough by then, I just wanted to get away. He had me brought in and demanded I do the right thing for his daughter, considering her condition.”
Kira gasped and stopped. “She was…”
Eric nodded. “I had no idea. She told me she couldn’t. I mean seriously, these days that doesn’t happen without both parties consent, especially in those circles! She must have had her sterility reversed secretly.”
“ Wow, she really wanted you.” Kira stared down at him and felt how deep he was inside of her. She could understand why, he was wonderful. Well, he was a good man out of bed too.
“ But I didn’t want her,” Eric emphasized.
“ That didn’t go over well, did it?”
Eric snorted. “Turns out we’d succeeded at hiding our relationship from the mother too.”
“ Oh shit — you mean?”
Eric nodded.
“ How’d you get away?”
“ I’m banned from that world, the official decree. Unofficially I keep my head down because he has contracts out on me.”
“ And the child?”
“ Which one?”
Kira slapped him on the chest.
“ Oh, you mean her being pregnant. No, it turned out the doc she went to wasn’t legit. She got real sick from the complications and lost the baby.”
“ You’d better not ever do that to me.”
Eric looked up at her and smiled. “You haven’t said anything but I’d guess you haven’t had your sterility reversed.”
“ I don’t mean that,” Kira said, biting her lip briefly. The thought of having a child with him sent butterflies through her stomach. The good kind. She didn’t know him very well but she could see how the other girl had fallen for him. “I mean you’d better not decide you don’t want me.”
Eric slid his hands up her sides and pulled her down to him. She resisted at first but then let him bend her forward until her breasts were mashed against his chest. He stared into her eyes and said, “Impossible. I haven’t even figured out all the different ways that I do want you.”
Kira closed her eyes and let a tear slip out. She pushed her lips to his so he wouldn’t see her, then crushed herself against him at both points of contact. Eric groaned beneath her but that only prompted her to wiggle her hips and grind against him that much harder. In no time she felt him swell larger than ever and stiffen beneath her. A moment later he was gasping into her mouth and she felt herself returning the gesture as she tried to melt into him.
Several minutes passed before Eric kissed her again and said. “It’s your turn, but there’s one little thing I should probably mention…”
Kira sat up on him, making him gulp loudly as she slipped him fully back inside of her. “If this is bad I’m going to-“
“ I love you, Kira.”
“ Aw fuck,” she muttered, her eyes tearing up even as she tried to look anywhere but at him.