Adventures in Outer Space

They floated into the air and embraced each other. The weightlessness and freedom was beyond enjoyable.

Ronan was still turned on and tried to enter her again. It was a little weird and difficult with no floor or bed to brace himself on! She kept floating away but she leaned forward and latched onto him.

While holding onto each other, he went in but held it there and they kissed and hugged for a few moments to take it all in.

Ronan couldn't help but make some slow moves with his hips and he closed his eyes as his breathing became faster. She pulled him out and tried her best to suck him off while suspended in the air. She held his length in both her hands and massaged his shaft while licking inside his tip. He hollered and burst into her mouth. She kept licking it as it became sensitive after cumming and he was roaring.

Out of breath, they held each other and decided to just be.

Irena said, "I wish I could stay up here forever with you."

He threw his arms out. "Me too. I don't want this to end."

"As nice as this is, it doesn't show that you're in love with me. People screw all the time. Sometimes they love each other. Sometimes they don't. I'm not putting any pressure on you to feel that if you don't, though."

Yeah, right. No pressure, huh? Who was she fooling?

Ronan glanced at the wall clock. "Oh, shit! There's a session in here that starts in two minutes! We have to get out of sight!"

"Oh, no! Let's hope everyone is late!"

They swam for their clothes but Irena was having quite the time trying to control herself. Ronan grabbed her hand and, with their garments stuffed under their arms, he led her back to the control room. He turned the dial back to the gravity setting marked "Earth" and everything returned to normal.

They spotted a pair of cadets entering the training room from the other end. Still in their birthday suits, they dove under the desk to dress! They were kicking each other trying pull up their pants and were giving elbows when pulling their shirts over their heads with fingers that wouldn't stay still. They managed to dress but it wasn't over yet.

While they both crouched, Ronan took her hands. "I'll go out first..."

She cut him off. "No, not this time. We're going together. I think whatever's going to happen is already going to happen at this point. Don't you think so?"

"Okay, come on."

The couple walked and looked at the other cadets to see if they could read any suspicions of their sexual adventures on their faces. They either didn't know or had some damn good poker faces.

They stepped out into the hall. It was like being in the New York subway with all the people moving and clamoring about. Captain Martinez approached them and came with a hair of butting them with his chin before they could take a step!

"Come with me, now!" he said.

The captain didn't wait for a response. He just started walking assuming they would follow. Ronan and Irena looked at each other gulped before doing that.

It was like a walk to the principal's office. He feared the worst and his muscles tensed.

Along the way, Irena's hand kept brushing Ronan's. He took it and she gave his hand a squeeze. It seemed that was what she wanted. Being connected to her was tranquillizer to his nerves. It appeared it was like that for her, too.

The walk ended at his office. The stroll was an hour long—at least it felt that way. Their favorite instructor was waiting for them.

He sighed and thought to himself."Shit!"

The captain's office was decorated in medals, awards in frames, and pictures of him when he was in the military. There wasn't a hint of bashfulness to be found.

The captain shut the door behind them and wasted no time expressing himself.

"It seems you two are confused. This is a space station. Not a hotel! There are no honeymoon suites here! You also were rude to your instructor and not paying attention in class."

Ronan interrupted. "Sir, Ms. Yurasova was in the wrong not me!"

"I didn't say you could speak, Unger! You must respect authority no matter what.

We thank you for what you have done but you chose the path of wasted potential and we don't have room for people like that. A shuttle happens to be leaving for Earth in three hours. You will be on it. You are discharged from the project."

"I'm not going anywhere," Ronan said as he pushed a finger towards him with emphasis. "I'm an asset despite what either of you think. If you want to get rid of me, you'll have to toss me out of the airlock."

"If that's what it takes!"

Ms. Yurasova said, "Look at yourself! This is what we're talking about! You could have been great. A part of history. Everyone knows it but you threw it away. I tried to warn you against this, did I not?"

Irena jumped in. "This is not all him! He wasn't the only one that did something wrong. Please, give us another chance."

Ms. Yurasova looked at her. "You are getting another chance to take the test. We decided that you will stay but we'll be watching you a little closer now. I'll be in my classroom in an hour. It would be to your advantage to be on time."

Ronan was flaming inside but who else could he blame?

She left without another word.

After she disappeared, the captain said, "One of you needs to pack and the other has a test to take. I can't come up with a reason why either of you are still here."

The pair stepped outside and the captain slammed the door at their heels.

A flood of emotions overwhelmed Ronan to the point they pushed tears down his cheeks. Few had seen him that way. He angled himself away from Irena.

He always thought men shouldn't cry but here he was in a quiet sob. It wasn't like he was a crybaby—it was the first time he cried since his favorite team lost the championship game last year! It hit him that he probably wasn't going to see Irena again and tears was a natural reaction but he struggled to get away from the belief it wasn't "manly."

She grabbed his arm and tugged but he resisted. She didn't give up. He sniffed and inhaled for a bit before he let her see him. She had the same emotional display. They held each other for a few minutes while they wept. When Ronan's sadness meter reached its max, he pushed her away.

He sniffed again and wiped his eyes. "You need to go. You have a test to pass."

She held him around the waist. "I'll come see you after it."

"Yeah, okay. Listen, I..."

Irena covered his lips. "No, don't say anything yet. This won't be the last time we see each other. I'll be back."

They held hands until she walked out of range. He was ready to say it but she probably wanted him to be sure. He was!

When she was gone, he made the trek towards the living quarters.

About two and a half hours later, Ronan was stuffing the last of his clothes into a bag. He wanted to see Irena once more and he was worrying that wasn't going to happen. He figured she couldn't bear to see him again knowing he was leaving. He couldn't blame her.

Through the door burst Kale! He sighed and wished it was Irena.

"Ronan! I'm glad I found you!" he said as he put on the brakes and stopped before colliding with him.

"What is it?"

Kale noticed Ronan's pile of bags. "What's going on here?"

"I've been discharged. They're sending me back home."

"No! Does this have anything to do with Irena?"

"Only about 99% of it. We did some stupid shit trying to be adventurous but I couldn't help myself. Ugh!"

"I'm sorry," Kale said. "If you needed some privacy, you could have told me."

Ronan surveyed the surroundings. "Would you bring a girl in here?"

"I see your point. I have to work on that. Anyhow, I don't know if this matters but we found a GPS chip in that alien aircraft. Whoever they are, they know our location!"

"Did you tell the captain?"

"Yes, he's moving the station to another location just in case. I asked him if he was going to put us in stealth mode but we already are."

Ronan threw a bag over each shoulder and picked another up. "Great. He's probably going to take credit for my discovery now that I'm gone. Could have been his plan all along. What a bastard."

"Don't worry. I'll flood the internet with the truth!"

"Thanks. Well, it was great knowing you. Maybe we'll meet again." He offered his free hand to him to shake.

After their goodbyes, he made his way to the hangar bay with a security escort. A shuttle with the EPC symbol on it was waiting for him. He took a look at his baby, the Comet SF-15, once more.

He never got to see Irena. Never had a chance to tell her what he thought of her. Maybe he deserved it but that didn't make it any easier. He walked in slow motion to the shuttle hoping she would show.

When he got to the shuttle, he spotted something beside his beloved comet—another aircraft resembling a cargo transport.

Ronan examined its sides. "I don't recognize this ship and it's missing the EPC insignia."

Something wasn't right. Red lights began flashing and sirens blared throughout the facility. His suspicions definitely had merit! The captain's voice accompanied the alarms.

"This is Captain Martinez. Hostiles are onboard. Ready your weapons and fire at will! Fire at...ugh!"

Ronan didn't like how the message was cut off. It sounded like he was clocked by someone or something. It was sad because he wanted to do it.

Ronan, along with his security escort, dashed into the corridor leading away from the hangar.

His escorts surged with electricity having been hit with some type of shocking bullets. The attacker shot at Ronan but he dove for the bodies to use them as cover.

Too busy trying to save his ass, he didn't get eyes on the attackers. He wondered where Irena was. Hehadto get to her!

Ronan grabbed a cosmic pistol off a guard. He checked for vital signs. They were twitching and alive but incapacitated.

With weapon in hand, he aimed it before him as he neared the captain's office. He flattened his back against the wall next to the door and peeked inside. No captain.

Ronan turned the corner ahead into the main hall.

More of his comrades were scattered across the floor including Kale! Ronan dove to his side. He looked okay aside from a bruise underneath his left eye and a red stream pouring from his nose.

Kale reached for Ronan's right hand as his other was trying to stop the bleeding. "You're still here! Good!"

"What the hell's going on? Who's here?"

"I don't know but they're human! One of them did this to me!" Kale said while pointing at his nose.

"Have you seen Irena?"

"I haven't seen her. I'm sorry," Kale said as he pushed on his leg. "Go find her. I'm fine."

Ronan followed the trail of bodies. He kept a slight bend in the knees with his pistol at the ready.

One of the invaders flew out from a side hall and fired upon Ronan but he dove through the air, slow motion action movie style, and plugged him twice. With a thud, he hit the ground.

Ronan ran to him. He was wearing an all cobalt blue uniform. He'd seen it before!

"The program sponsors? What are they doing here?"

The backers of the Genesis One program consisted of investors from several military branches worldwide.

A trail of bodies led him to the mess hall and the door was half open. He heard combative voices inside so he peered in from the side.

No Irena but the captain was there surrounded by a trio of cobalt uniforms. While trying to assess the situation, a poke to his ribs made him jump and gasp.

"Drop your weapon!" the owner of the poke said. It was a scratchy, smoker's voice, about fifty years old.

Ronan tossed his weapon and threw his hands up! With a gun at his back, he was forced to join the mess hall party.

A blue suit said to the captain, "And you knew this operation was not authorized, Sergio! The Genesis One program was not yet approved. The life support systems were not complete. Our technicians are bringing them up to standard now. You could have killed everyone here for what? Personal glory?"

Ronan's face, despite being dark, was glowing red. "What? You could have killed Irena, you son of a bitch!"

The captain had that same smug, bulldog mug. "I did what I did not for personal glory. Humanity's glory! I deemed it safe enough. You were being overly cautious when there are other worlds waiting to be discovered."

The boss shouted, "That was not your decision! You were clever to keep the stealth systems active and disable the onboard GPS but we had a feeling you wouldn't be able to resist the 'alien' artifact you found. It led us right here."

Ronan was empty. Risked his life to discover something that wasn't alien at all. Thought he was doing something great. It all seemed like a big hoax.

The boss ordered the captain arrested and everyone left. All Ronan had was Irena—wherever she was.

Everyone, single file, walked out into the hall.

He sighed when some footsteps pitter-pattered his way from the mess hall. It was Irena who jumped into his arms! Ronan swung her around and held her so tight a silverback couldn't pry her away.

Ronan said, "You made it!"

"Yeah, I was hiding in the kitchen. I heard everything. They're going to restart the space station program without our 'illustrious' captain. They were stunning people because they were innocent."

"That's great but you hadn't heard everything."

Irena grinned. "What haven't I heard?"

"That I love you."

"Aww..."

They shared a kiss and they would be together forever more—at least until they got caught and someone was sent home again!