As Above, So Below

"Yes, a thousand times yes." You whisper in her ear. She tangles her hands in her hair and kisses you with wild abandon as the automaton guarding the ship looks on.

"Let's get to bed." You say. She thumbs the button on the ramp and the two of you stealthily make your way through the Silent Leopard.

###

You climb down the ladder into Esiar's quarters, basking in the warm glow of the soft lights and hanging clothes.

"Make yourself comfortable." She says as she hangs up her belt and wrist computer. You take off our Zakitta and, after a moment's consideration, pull off the rest of your clothes and sit on the edge of her bed. After all, why wait?

She turns around to find you naked on her bed and blushes, her cheeks and the top of her chest turning a lovely shade of crimson.

"Oh! I better catch up." She grins and peels off her clothes, unself-conscious about her nudity.

How she can be so confident in her body and so vulnerable about wanting to sleep with you...you shake your head. Mindboggling.

She plants a knee on either side of your legs and cradles your head in her arms, kissing you long and deep, lips teasing and tongue gently exploring. You reveal in her, the taste, the sensation, while running your hands over her firm, full butt.

She comes up for air and arches her back, pressing her perk breasts into your face. You trace lazy circles around the stiffening pink nipples with your tongue before sucking them into your mouth, earning a groan from Esiar above you.

She gently pushes you back into the bed, pinning your arms above your head playfully and rubbing her body against yours, all soft and curves, sliding together.

For a while you two simply kiss and press against each other, revealing on the sensations of your naked bodies as the passion builds - each kiss more intense than the last.

Finally, her hand works it's way south and finds your pussy, gently massaging the lips before strumming the clit with intense strokes.

"Uggnnnn" you moan, writhing under her touch. Once you are good and fired up, she takes one of your legs and places it on her shoulder, while looping her leg around your hips and slowly, agonizingly carefully, presses her sex to yours.

The moment you touch, you gasp, the soft gentle lips, wet with excitement, grind together sending shooting bolts of pleasure throughout your body. You look up and her eyes are closed tight, relishing the sensation as she humps against you, thrusting with her taut buttocks, bearing down with a steady motion on your incoming orgasm.

"Uh huh, yes yes yes!" she shouts, her thrusts coming hard and fast, your hips bounding in the bed as she pulls at your leg, a rudder in the storm, grinding herself into you faster and faster. You reach up and pinch her nipples and she cries out, a shuddering gasp and you feel a gush down below.

Her orgasm sets you off and it hits you hard, your whole body is tight, every muscle contracting at once and then WHOOOSH all the air goes out of your lungs leaving you shuddering in ecstasy.

You look up, eyes teary from the pleasure at the half-lidded love soaked eyes of Esiar as she drifts down next you, effortlessly folding into your arms.

"You like?" She says softly, nestling into your shoulder, her soft body pressed against your side.

"Yeah, I like." You whisper back. As the cool air of the ship begins to gently lick your sweaty form, you reach down and pull up a thick coverlet over the two of you.

"Good." She reaches up and clicks off the light.

###

The rattlecart clickity-clacks down the side of the canyon. The mid-afternoon heat is staggering but your Zakitta keeps you cool. Chet has opted for a light workmen's jacket - grey with a faded insignia on the shoulder and an over-the-shoulder cooler of drinks. He impatiently shifts from one foot to the other as the cart descends to the bustling streets below the surface.

When you had finally managed to leave Esiar's bed late this morning, a task involving significant will power, you had showered and were in the mess hall eating a midday meal when Lia arrived. Her clothes were covered in blast marks and she was bleeding from half a dozen minor wounds.

"Trouble with the client." Was all she had said before grabbing some healing gel and heading to her quarters. Chet had tried to get a little more out of her but no luck. With the big payday delayed, Chet had decided to grab a few beers (or what passes for them on the ship) and visit his friends from the Janus wreckyard. He eagerly invited you to tag along.

"Are you sure I won't be intruding?" You ask for maybe the third time, as the cart clangs to a stop on the dusty floor of the canyon.

"Absolutely not." He said. "Jasper and Malix are so chill, they'd love to meet you."

"Alright," you say skeptically.

"Besides, they are just here for a few days like us before they head out. You might be able to catch a ride with them. They're good guys."

"I can't wait to meet them." The two of you wade through the sea of aliens, space pilots and Zakitta-wearing residents as you walked down the highwalled canyon to another rattlecart. This one took you up the opposite canyon wall to a lower mesa.

"Welcome to Volcat Mooreage - the cheapest repair yard in all Twee Bon!" Chet says with a laugh.

To your eyes, the dusky plain looked more like a junkyard than a shipyard. Hulking crates of half-deconstructed ships lay scattered here and there. Directly in front of you, a large rocket shaped generation ship stands propped up with scaffolding, as a number of robots swarm around it, welding and wiring. Everywhere you look, there is activity - people pulling panels, banging on bulkheads or bargaining with each other.

"Over here, I think I see their ship." Chet leads you through the maze of machinery to a rusted space crawler propped up on the landing struts. The front looked like a stubnosed oversized cab to a semi-truck with two turbines glued to its cheeks. Behind it, a large cargo bay is attached with metal clamps. Along the side, someone had painted a garishly colored dragon leaping over some other creature.

"Malix? Jasper?" Chet calls out. A beefy man, shirtless wearing work pants held up with industrial strength suspenders and a gray fisherman's cap, pokes his head out of the ramp into the ship.

"Chet? Is that you?" He gives a hearty whoop. "Malix! Get your ass out here, Chet's here!" and then Jasper is running forward, plucking the slender Chet up in the air and whirling him around like a ragdoll, laughing and bellowing.

"You sonofabitch! I haven't seen you in an eon! How the fuck are you?" Chet tries to get a word in edgewise but Jasper is too busy ruffling his hair.

"I brought beer!" Chet says and Jasper lets out a belly laugh. "Of course you did!"

Appearing over the top of the ship, you see another man with a sharp angular face and thick leather goggles. He pushes them up and shouts, "Chet?" before scurrying down a dangling cable to the dusty ground next to you.

"Hi, I'm Malix, don't tell me you married this lout?"

You laugh and shake your head.

"No, no, just a good friend." You smile. He cracks a truly dazzling grin in return.

"Good - any friend of Chet is a friend of mine."

The four of you take shelter from the heat in the shadow of the ship, stretching out on a series of shipping crates as Chet distributes the beers and shares some of your recent adventures.

"You blew up a whole OCC Battlecruiser?" Jasper says incredulously. "You know their hulls are basically indestructible, right?"

"Not from the inside!" Chet quips, distributing a third beer to the crowd. "So how's business?"

"Not bad." Malix offers. "People always have got stuff they want moved from one planet to another and the dirtier it is, the less they want to handle it. Our last trip, we were moving some barrels of Tryptonine-17."

Chet winces.

"Isn't that stuff like, incredibly radioactive?" He asks. Malix nods.

"We had to spend the whole trip in our decon suits. They smelled so nasty by the time we reached the Calcus system."

"So business is good?" Chet asks. Jasper shrugs but Malix shakes his head.

"It's not bad." Malix says. "We're getting paid. With more and more Haven Conduits being set up, folks can get their basics without having to pay a premium so we are left with the specialty jobs."

"Which is a nice way of saying we ship the stuff that's too dirty, too weird or too dangerous to go through the OCC." Jasper offers. "That suits me just fine. I like being off the grid." He gives you a lopsided smile and you blush at the sudden attention.

"So how long have you been hauling cargo?" You ask, cracking open a new beer, which smells faintly of ginger and paprika for some reason. Jasper is stretched out between three crates, his large frame making the storage containers seem like tinker toys.

"We've been doing this since we were a couple of shitkickers back in the Janus system, right Malix?" Jasper says.

"Yup, back when we bought the DragonFucker One." Malix says.

"Excuse me?" You ask. Chet laughs.

"Yep. That's our ship. The DragonFucker Seven." Malix gives the hull an affectionate pat.

"Wait, what happened to DF four?" Chet asks.

"Gravity Well." Malix responds without hesitation.

"DF five?"

"Leviathan."

"DF Six?" Chet asks.

"Jasper ran it into a meteor, then a gravity well, then it got swallowed by a Leviathan." Malix answers.

"Oh fuck off." Jasper says.

"You are definitely fucking with me." You smile into your beer.

"A little bit." Malix says with a wink.

"So are you two brothers?" You ask.

"No!"

"No."

"No!"

All three immediately protest in overlapping voices.

"We're friends." Jasper says.

"Coworkers." Malix says.

"Buddies. Comrades in arms!" Jasper protests.

"Mutually supportive acquaintances." Malix adds. Chet rolls his eyes.

"So, where are you headed next?" You ask.

CREEAAAAAKK -- KABOOM! An explosion knocks you off your crate. You scramble to your feet as debris rains down around you.

The generation ship is gushing purple smoke from a gaping hole near its base and the cloud is sweeping towards you like a tidal wave.

"Fuck! It's a containment breach!" Jasper runs to the inside of the ship, grabbing a couple grey metal mouthpieces with green tubes of liquid. He puts one in the mouth and the tubes immediately begin bubbling. He tosses one to you, Chet and Malix as the cloud envelopes the underside of the DragonFucker Seven.

"Get the clean up kit!" Malix shouts. There's the pounding of feet around you as the gearheads fly into action.

You shove the breathing apparatus into your mouth and squint through the thick purple smoke, trying to locate your friends. You hear shouts all around you, the grinding of metal on metal.

Suddenly, a tall woman in body armor and a gas mask cuts through the smoke, materializing in front of you carrying a glowing yellow weapon.

"Oh shit!" You shout. It's Berkeley, the bounty hunter from yesterday. You scramble backwards, tumbling over the crates. You snatch your half finished beer and chuck it at her, watching it bounce harmlessly off her helmet.

"Got you." Her voice is distorted and electronic behind the mask. You fumble in your Zakitta for your ReelNet but she is quicker on the draw. A bolt of electricity leaps from her yellow glowing rod and hits you in the chest. Your whole body goes stiff and you flop on the dusty ground, unable to move. She crouches on top of you, quickly searching your body.

Berkeley grabs your ReelNet, tossing it out of reach and resumes her search, running her gloved hands along your legs, hips and chest. Lingering on your chest.

"Damn nice pair of titties you've got there." Her robotic voice makes the compliment utterly absurd but she has already moved on, pulling the ruby bracelet from your wrist. She taps her shoulder Commlink.

"Ivar? I've got it and the girl." She says.

"What... do... you... want... with me?" You ask through gritted teeth, your entire body ridgid.

"Well initially, just the bounty but now that I've gotten a good look at you..." she runs a gloved finger along your jawline, "My partner and I just might take turns with you on the trip home."

CLUNK! Jasper leaps out of the smoke, swinging a metal strut like a baseball bat. Berkeley tumbles off you, rolling in the dirt and the smoke.

"Are you okay?" Jasper shouts through his respirator. You nod, working desperately to bend your arms and legs and making slow progress.

PSEW! A bolt of yellow electricity whips past Jasper, narrowly missing his massive shoulders. Berkeley is on her feet, jabbing the yellow rod at Jasper wildly, sending lighting bolts in all directions. He gives a roar and hurls the metal strut at Berkeley.

FWOOOSH. She kicks her heels together and short blue flames shoot out of the heels of her boots. She shoots up into the thick purple smoke, disappearing from sight.

Jasper kneels and helps you to your feet, his large hands dwarfing yours.

"Come on, she'll probably circle back."

Distantly, you can hear gunfire and men shouting and the clang of machinery. You pick up your ReelNet.

"Malix! Chet!" Jasper calls into the smoke.

BOOM! Another explosion, more distant, shakes the ground.

"Let's get inside the ship," Jasper says, gently pushing you towards the onramp to the DragonFucker Seven. He thumbs the button, as the ramp descends, you look over his massive shoulder to see Berkeley come flying through the air.

"Look out!" You shout as Berkeley rams her lightning spear through Jasper's shoulder.

"AGGH!!" He cries out, pitching forward, sending Berkeley tumbling up the ramp towards you. With a kick, her rocket boots shudder off as she springs to her feet, coming up with a laser pointed towards you.

BOWWOwowwowssss you snap the ReelNet sending a glowing yellow net, wrapping her arms together.

"FUCK!" She shouts, blasting away with the laser pistol, as you leap for cover, metal shrapnel erupting behind you. "Fucking stay still!" She shouts.

BOWOWOWOWwssssss BOWWOWOWwsssss. You whip your arm back and forth, hurling wide nets at Berkeley. She throws herself to the ground to keep clear and kicks on her rocket boots. She roars towards you, trying to bring her ensnared arms to bear as you leap back and forth, scrambling to stay out of her line of vision.

She tries to turn, twisting in mid-air in the narrow space between the ramp and the interior of the ship. Her comm light on her helmet lights up. Over the roar of her rocket boots you can't hear the question but her response is clear.

"No! I don't fucking have her. Give me a secoZZZZZZ" Her whole body lights up like a flashbang as electricity courses through her armor. Jasper, shoulder bleeding, swings the lightning spear like a club and bats her out of the sky. She tumbles, smoking out of the ship and into the purple smoke filled dust. Jasper pounds the ramp closed button and the two of you limp inside.

Jasper staggers to the comm panel.

"Malix, you fucking dumbnut, if you are dead I'm going kill you!" He rumbles, clutching his bloodied shoulder. You race to his side, grabbing a nearby work rag and applying pressure to his wound. He gives you a grateful grimace.

"Hey big guy, it's a shitshow out here. Somebody reprogrammed the autotons to attack on sight. Where are you?" You hear gunfire in the background and shouts.

"It was a distraction - someone tried to steal Chet's babe!" Jasper says.

"Hey! Not his babe." You say, indigent.

"Oh dude, really?" Malix says. "You need us there?" Jasper and you glance towards the ramp, firmly shut and you shake your head.

"I don't think so, we zapped the bounty hunter and ditched her outside the ship, we should be good till the smoke clears. Watch your back out there."

"Will do. Later." Malix signs off with another burst of gunfire. Jasper grunts softly.

"Let's grab the Bzark MedGel."

The two of you make your way through the DragonFucker 7. If the Silent Leopard was a well-worn workman's ship, and the OCC Battlecruiser a gothic nightmare, this was a frat house.

Gray utilitarian metal fixtures had been covered with stickers, crude drawings and then littered with discarded bits of packaging, clothing and junk. Jasper gives you an apologetic look as he brushes the junk wrappers and detritus off medbed in the corner of the mess hall, thumping the monitor with a meaty hand as it splutters to life.

"In the cabinet over there, Bzark medpack." From the drawer, you pull out a blue gelpack and hand it to him. He tears off a corner with his teeth and tries, clumsily, to apply the thick viscous liquid to his shoulder.

"Here, let me." You take over, gently massaging the cool, sticky substance to the wound. Already, you can see the burnt bits of flesh near the wound turning to pink underneath the gel, as if washing away the dirt of damage.

"Woah." You say. Jasper smiles at you.

"You've never seen a Bzark at Bwark?" He chuckles at his own joke and you resist the urge to reinjure him. "Hell, back at the wreckyard on Janus, we'd go through two or three of these a day. Malix once nearly blew half his face off fixing an Ion cannon and had to slather some on after every meal but now look at the handsome bastard. Fucking miracle shit this is."

You find a sink, only half full of dirty dishes, and wash your hands as he punches a few buttons on the medbed and then stands up.

As you dry your hands on your skirt, you are once again struck by how large he is, broad and tall. You like it, it makes you feel slender and feminine.

"Hey," you begin. "Out there, I just want to say, thank you." You put a hand on his uninjured forearm. "I'm sorry you got hurt."

He leans in, his face almost touching yours. "Don't mention it." He says softly. "You sure you aren't Chet's girl?" He whispers.

"Positive." You say, lips slightly parting.

"Good." He says and then he is kissing you, and you are kissing him, tongues tangling. You melt into him, pressing your chest against his as he pulls at you urgently. He bites your lip gently and you run your hands up his back under his shirt, feeling his body.

"Mmmmm" you moan as he squeezes your breast, one massive hand covering your entire tit. God you want him. You hop up on the medbay, spreading your legs wide to wrap around his waist. He kisses your throat, hungry for more.

Clank clank clank. Footsteps ring out as Malix rounds the corner into the mess hall. You and Jasper awkwardly leap apart.

"Woah, hey." Malix says. "Were you kissing my boyfriend?" Jasper makes a rude gesture with his thumb but Malix has already moved on.

"That looks gnarly, everyone alright?" He asks.

"We're okay." You say as Chet arrives.

"Was it the same..." he begins but you are already nodding.

"At least the same woman." You answer.

"Her partner was the one messing with the automatons. I'm sure of it. We saw him running off near the end." Chet says.

"All this for one bounty?" Jasper shakes his head. "You must be worth some serious currency."

Malix's eyes light up.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" He says excitedly. Jasper looks at him baffled. Chet shakes his head.

"Rarely," he quips.

"I'm thinking we should call Tombstone." he says.

"Who's Tombstone?" You ask while Jasper considers.

"That's... actually a good idea." he admits. "I'll do it." and with that, Jasper heads off deeper into the ship. Chet explains,

"He's their drug dealer."

"Woah, hey." Malix protests. "He is our logistics specialist helping us locate new and exciting business opportunities. For hauling. Our shit."

Chet cracks up. "Let me grab a few more beers and let's see what Malix finds out."

###

"Well, good news, you haven't exactly attracted the best in the galaxy," Jasper announces. You, Malix and Chet are sprawled out around a smallish dining table, partially covered with cheap beer cans. For the last twenty minutes, you've been chucking darts at a glowing dartboard. The darts are curved and have glowing tips. When you throw them, they arc with a strange whistling noise. Chet and Malix claim there's a trick to it but so far you've only hit the board a handful of times.