Ballad of a Space Pirate Pt. 03

Authors note: This is where the violence starts, I'll do my best to tag what I can so readers can be prepared. Warnings for PTSD Dreams, Police violence, Gun violence.

Rush Dreamt. It started off pleasant enough, the sounds of the Midnight Tide's Stardrive, a rhythm as familiar to her as her own heart beat.

"Care da join us Snow Fox?" Captain Roydan asked her. The rakish rabbit sitting on the side of the large bed he and his crew used for the frequent communal naps, sex and general closeness. She reached out to her Captain but found her hand was gone.

All around her there was the smell of blood, Roydan and his crew were lying in the bed, as if enjoying the afterglow of one of the particularly energetic orgies, but he and everyone else was dead. Their bodies looked peaceful but blood and wounds covered them. The smell of blood was so strong...

All at once she was surrounded by fire and smoke. Heat and flame everywhere, she couldn't see Roydan or anyone else. There, through the flames. She could see a single figure, dark, indistinct. She couldn't discern gender or species but she could feel the cold indifference. The figure watched, it saw everything, and did not care.

She looked at her missing hand, blood poured out like a running faucet, blood was rising around her like water, it was up two her knees, then improbably, it seemed to rise to her neck in an instant. She tried to breathe but blood filled her lungs. Thrashing wildly, she tried to swim for the surface but a Cop in full powered armor blocked her path. He raised the butt of his rifle and brought it swiftly down on her left eye...

That was when she woke up, heart pounding in her ears, panting heavily, her wounded face throbbing and with blood dripping from her nose. She wiped it with her hand, then, as she became more awake, realized she needed a cloth or something so as not to bleed all over the couch or the bunny's clothes. It was dark in the common room, not counting the dim blue illuminated strips above the doors. It was enough for her to see by and she rolled up from the couch to look through the kitchen.

She found what she was looking for in the bottom left cupboard, next to a box of condensed protein ration bars. How long had it been since she's last eaten? She fumbled her best with one hand to both grab a handful of the bars and use the dish towel to staunch the trickle of blood coming from her nostrils.

She soon found that eating and keeping pressure on her nose at the same time was impossible. So she alternated, stuffing and chomping down on a protein bar as quickly as she could then holding the cloth against her nose for several minutes.

The blood eventually slowed, then stopped and she was able to eat a few more bars. She wasn't full but the aching hunger in her stomach, which she hadn't noticed until she started eating, had subsided.

It was quiet, well as quiet as a huge rolling salvage platform could be. The Rhythm of wheels, power plant and a dozen other pieces of machinery was close to being familiar but it was all wrong and it was still so hot. The gravity didn't feel right to her here. None of the subtle hitches in the drive or slight spin coriolis she'd subconsciously gotten used to. She was on a planet, not a starship.

And she was alone.

Her dreams had never been very subtle. She lay back down on her side, curled herself in as tight as she could, brought her tail in close, and sobbed quietly in the dark.

***

Krig's dick slammed into her hard and fast. For her part Erida pushed back, not just eager but desperate to have Krig filling her to the hilt. With each time Krig bottomed out inside her she grunted in pleasure, getting gradually louder and higher in pitch. Krig's hand reached around from behind to muffle her moans but she swatted it away.

"No!" she shouted, surprisingly loud.

Krig stopped thrusting and the two of them stood interrupted for a moment in mid penetration.

"Don't cover my mouth this time." Erida said, twisting as best she could to look Krig in the eye.

"Are you sure?" Krig asked, ever considerate of her boundaries.

"Yes. I don't care if they hear anymore..."

Krig nodded at this and without a word resumed his thrusting into her pussy with a renewed vigor. The suddenness caught Erida momentarily off guard and a surprised moan escaped her lips. It seemed like Krig, no longer restrained by keeping her from being too loud, was making an effort to make her cum as loudly as possible.

With one of Krig's hands wrapped around her to squeeze her breast and the other under one of her thighs, she was lifted up off her feet. Krig held her aloft, moving her bodily up and down on his dick. As she'd asked he wasn't being gentle, his hands gripped her hard, leaving marks that would show under her soft fur.

Her first orgasm crashed over her like a tidal wave, making her writhe and twist on Krig's dick and drawing a wordless scream of pleasure out of her throat.

Krig didn't slow, in fact he sped up, pounding into her even as the aftershocks of cuming washed over her. Her second was building up almost as soon as the first was over. A babble of "oh shit! Oh Fuck!" tumbled from her mouth as she came a second time, if not for Krig holding her against him she'd have fallen to the floor in a twitching mess. Still he kept going, How long could the man last?

She heard Krig's low growl over her shoulder before feeling his teeth on her skin. His bite wasn't enough to break the skin but she felt the sharp points of his teeth. The primal fear and adrenaline combined with his savage pounding of her pussy combined to start pushing her over the edge again. A loud shuddering moan burst from her mouth as Krig let go of her throat with his mouth and slowed his pace to slam into her once, twice, three times before she came with a gushing hot wave spraying out of her. The overstimulation was making her numb and her eyelids started to droop.

Krig wasn't finished with her, while her limbs were quivering and weak he kept her held up, the hand fondling her breasts moved to her throat. He wasn't choking her but he could and her powerlessness and fear made for a heady mix with her blissed out brain.

Krig had backed off while she came, the tip of his dick just inside her. Now he plunged back in, slow, long, deep strokes in and out, building speed and ferocity and making her feel like her insides were turned into gel before his low growling built into a roar as he came. Later she couldn't be sure if the spreading heat of his cum set off another orgasm or if it was still the aftershocks of the previous one.

She didn't quite black out but Erida was unable to move or speak for her trembling, she had the vague sensations of Krig pulling out of her, the heat of his cum dripping onto her inner thighs, being cradled in his arms and carried to bed. Still as she drifted, she couldn't quite shake the thought that she wanted something more.

After a long while, laying in the embrace of Krig's arms, her body thrumming with exhaustion and endorphins, she felt Keig shift and clear his throat.

"So, what is snow?" Krig's question took her off guard.

Krig had rolled onto his back and she once again lay on top of him, both not inclined yet to get up and clean themselves off.

"It's just crystallized moisture, it falls down in flakes." Erida answered, still in a haze.

"I could have read that in a book." Krig was being uncharacteristically talkative after sex. Normally they would simply sneak off to the bathroom to towel off and take care of necessary things before sneaking back to Krig's cabin to sleep. That was how it had started anyway. Just satisfying physical needs. Krig having her warm mammalian body next to his on cold nights, and she... well she liked the sex, quite a lot. She got a sense that she'd opened something up in their relationship, and that didn't scare her so much anymore.

When she didn't respond Krig flicked her nose with his tongue.

"You've seen the real thing right? Tell me what it feels like, tell me something a book might leave out."

She thought for a moment, closing her eyes and casting herself back through memories of her life before, maybe it was the sex or maybe it was the time since, but they didn't hurt quite as much.

"Snow falls all kinds of ways, it can be thick as a dust storm, filling your footprints as soon as you make them, but it can also be gentle. Delicate little flakes drifting down like soft down feathers, landing on the tip of your nose and melting instantly. It can make sound somehow softer, every step has a soft crunch under your feet. It's beautiful, and haunting, seeing familiar places covered in white."

"You and her," Krig said, pulling Erida back to the present. He meant Rush clearly, "You both came from places like that?"

"Well, I can't speak for her." Erida said, "I grew up on Thistledown, mostly temperate but the winters could get pretty cold. Lots of snow in the upper cities," she remembered winters in her family's estate in the upper city, they were always so beautiful, not like the warrens...

"Anyway, I doubt she's from Thistledown," she said quickly to stop thinking too close to the memories that still hurt just a little too much. "Even if she does talk like a warren escort." Or how she can't seem to keep her clothes on... Damn it she thought she'd taken care of that!

"What do you think of her?"

For a panicked moment she almost thought she'd let some of what she was thinking show on her face. She looked into his dark eyes, Krig knew she was bi but Erida could tell he'd simply asked an honest question.

"She's... strange. She's clearly been through something. Waking up here, you'd think she'd be sad, or angry or, I don't know. She's just so casual about everything."

Krig ran his large hand from the top of her head, down her ears and back. "Do you think it was a mistake waking her up?"

"No," She shook her head, "It was the right thing to do. We couldn't have kept that pod going for much longer, She'd have died."

"I know, it's just..." Krig hugged her tight, "if she's dangerous, if she hurts you or the others..."

Erida thought about the large rifle mounted on the wall, Rush knew what it was, and she suspected knew a lot more. Should she say something to Krig? She decided against it. The only gun not locked securely away was too big for a person to fire and certainly not with one hand.

"Don't worry lover," it took some effort to lever herself up on his chest and push herself up to his snout to kiss him, "we did the right thing."

***

It was two days later, as the sun was setting on the hazy horizon. Erida had done her best to avoid Rush, busying herself with minor electrical repairs, or anything she could really to avoid the common area. It was only a few more days to Milltown, but Krig still had someone on lookout. It was her turn on watch. Krig was driving while Cid and Paul were sleeping. In just a few hours they'd change over but for now she sat in the cab of one of the crane arms up on the top deck of the rig. She'd set things up so she could see the radar display from anywhere on the rig if she wanted to. She could have done her watch from the main cab but she didn't even want to inflict her mood on Krig.

A plume of dust that caught her attention, a pillar that seemed to rise up on the glowing horizon. Small twisters and dust devils were common enough, so at first she didn't think much of it until she saw the glint of something reflective. She glanced at her radar but besides returns from nearby rocky hills it didn't pick up anything behind. With the binoculars she looked closer, increasing the zoom to its limit.

Five sand rail dune buggies, little more than roll cages with engines and wheels.

"Krig!" Erida said into the line down to the cab, "Contact, five sand buggies two kilometers behind!" Why hadn't she seen them on radar?

"Shit!." came the answer, "keep watching and check ahead too, they might try to run us into a trap."

A second later the rig wide intercom sounded an ear piercing alert followed by Krig "Everybody up! Cid, Paul get on the guns, potential raiders behind!"

***

Rush winced at the alarm, she had been napping since she had little else to do and the warning siren had her up and pulling clothes on as best she could.

A moment later the mouse ran past down a hallway and into a small room she realized must be a gunner station. Within seconds she heard the wine of a motor followed by the roaring thunder of a gatling gun opening up. Seconds later another roar joined it, further away.

She wanted to act, to do something but with no line to the big lizard she didn't know what. She could just as easily get in the way not knowing how this crew did things.

The best thing she could do was wait, she hated waiting.

Even through the hull and noise from the guns she heard the hissing sound of a rocket motor flying past, then another. RPGs? It was impossible to be sure from inside. Then an impact rocked the rig on its suspension, Rush failed to stay on her feet, falling on and knocking over the makeshift coffee table. The one held up by an ammo crate. She looked at the crate for a moment while sprawled on the deck. As she pushed herself up she saw the smoke coming from the hallway the mouse had gone down and realized the gun had fallen silent.

Looking back and forth from the smoke filled hallway to the gun mounted on the wall, she had a staggeringly bad idea.

***

"Erida, Erida!" Krig shouted over the headset.

"Yeah," she said shocked, then more clearly more focused, "Yes. I'm here"

"Get to the left turret and check on Paul."

"Yes! On it!" She unbuckled and left the crane cab, climbing down the short ladder into the main body and started heading to the left side. It was hard going, the rig rocked and swayed over the rough ground, she could hear the occasional wine and muffled thump of a rocket missing it's mark, the roar of the other gatling gun, the groan and flex of the rig's hull under the strain and the sharp pings of small arms fire.

She got to the hallway leading to the left side turret to find she wasn't the only one going there. Rush was pulling Paul out of the control seat and through the turret hatch which billowed smoke. Though she saw no flames Erida reacted on impulse, grabbing the nearest fire extinguisher and pushing past the other two, spraying a cloud of expanding foam into the space Paul had just been pulled from.

"You alright mouse?" Rush was asking.

With the potential for fire quashed, Erida turned. Rush had propped Paul up against the wall and was lightly slapping the side of his face. For a moment Paul blinked unfocused before shaking his head a little and coughing.

"Yeah. Just a little smoke, thank you."

Rush adjusted Paul's glasses which had been knocked askew, then straightened and picked up the large rifle that Erida hadn't noticed at first. Rush looped the strap of the gun over her shoulder then bent to pick up or more drag the ammo box across the deck. That was when Rush looked to Erida, seemingly noticing her in the hallway for the first time.

"Help me with this." Rush said, indicating the box with a nod of her head.

Wordlessly and without really knowing why Erida followed the order, picking up the ammunition box while Rush turned the handle and shouldered open the hatch leading outside.

A catwalk wrapped around the rig from the left side, around the back to the right. The smoking twisted metal ruin of the turret was to the right of them as they stepped out. Erida nearly stumbled as the rig rolled over a boulder but Rush seemed to just roll with the movement, using her legs to absorb the motion. Erida set the ammo box down and gripped the handrail around the catwalk while Rush struggled with one arm to get her hand on the rifle's grip and lever it up until she had the butt against her shoulder. She then lowered the barrel to rest on the railing, sighting down the iron sights with her one eye.

"I fire, you reload, got it?" She said, keeping her focus trained down the barrel.

"Uh y-yeah, got it."

"Good, range?" Rush asked.

Erida was having trouble following what was going on, she'd never been in a fight this intense. Most raiders weren't this well armed, they ran off after a few shots from the turrets. She'd just been reacting so far and now was being overwhelmed.

"Focus Snow Bunny!" Rush barked, "Only got one eye here. Tell me the range for the closest one."

The sharp tone, while it kinda pissed Erida off, did get her to focus. She looked out past the railing. Three of the sand rails were swerving around rocks and dunes trying to get in a good parallel with the rig.

"First is close, about thirty five meters out." She said, it was partly a guess. With the rapidly setting sun it was getting dark and while her eyes were good, she couldn't be sure.

"Cover your ears." Rush said, Erida was about to ask why when she realized and clamped her hands over her ears.

The rifle was still one of the loudest things she's ever heard, louder than the gattlings by far. Watching down range she saw an eruption of sand as the fifty millimeter shell impacted the ground, short by less than five meters.

"Reload!" Rush yelled, and Erida uncovered her ears and looked at the other woman. Rush had apparently rolled back with the recoil, the still smoking barrel now pointing directly upwards.

Erida dashed over, gripping the handle for the gun's slide breach, it took her both hands to pull it back and letting the casing fall to the catwalk with a heavy clunk. Quickly she scrambled back to the ammo box, taking out a fresh shell and scrambled back, fumbling to insert it into the open breach and then ramming the slide forward again. The barrel dropped back onto the railing.

Erida confirmed the range was still about the same and again covered her ears, the gun roared out again, this time overshooting, the round sailing over the target and into the darkness beyond.

Erida sprang into action quicker now, open slide, load fresh shell, ram slide home, call out range, cover her ears. It was a wonder to her that Rush had heard anything at all after the first shot. What had she said? the TR13 was meant for powered armor? It was basically an artillery piece and yet Rush had fired it not once but twice!

The third shot rang out and hit something volatile on the sand rail, the fuel cell or maybe a stash of rockets, either way it erupted into a ball of fire and careened on as a burning wreck until it hit a rock.

Erida felt elated, she leapt up and cheered "you got it!" even though there was no way Rush hadn't seen.

In Response Rush simply said "Reload"

They fell into a rhythm, Erida would call out range, cover her ears and reload the gun. The next sand rail was further out, by the time she was finished, pulling further away, cautious after one of their number had exploded. Rush fired, missing by only a meter this time, and her next shot hit something in the front of the vehicle, sending a plume of smoke up then it lost control, turning sharply and rolling. The driver probably survived, being in the rollcage but whoever had been in the back manning the rockets was likely to have been crushed as they rolled over.

The third buggy seemed to give up the chase, and was peeling away as Erida finished reloading.

"It's probably too far, and they're running."

"Range?" Rush said, still tracking the sand rail's movements though with the barrel being supported by the railing, she had to kneel to keep the angle.

"Uh.. five hundred meters? I don't think-" Erida cut herself off and covered her ears. She hadn't been watching the target this time but Rush and she'd seen the other woman focus down the sights, reacting just in time to save her eardrums as the gun fired. The recoil was tremendous, moving through and rocking Rush back as the barrel swung upwards. How the woman hadn't torn her good arm out of its socket was beyond anything Erida could guess at.