Fourth Vector Ch. 07

He loved fucking the girl's ass. She was much tighter there than her pussy, and he also enjoyed that he didn't have to hear her fake moans of approval whenever they fucked. Melitos had been with enough whores to know they only moaned for his benefit, and the quiet groans of pain from the girl were a marked difference than the usual, loud moaning.

Eventually, Mia's hips slipped down closer to the floor and Melitos found himself on top of the girl as he drove his cock into her ass as deep as he could. With Ann watching with silent arousal as the man's cock split the tiny girl's asshole, he found his orgasm building.

"Nearly there," he puffed as his pace turned more vigorous.

"Cum in my ass!" yelled Mia with a mixture of anticipation and pain.

A few more strokes and Melitos was there. He pressed deep inside the girl's tight cavity and unloaded, his cum painting her bowels with a heavy load. He gave out a low, guttural moan of approval as every drop sunk deep into her asshole.

For once, Mia fell silent as he unloaded his seed into her, held in place between the dirt floor beneath them and his erect cock. "Thank you, sir," she said quietly as his now softening cock slipped out of her tight passage.

Melitos stood up and used a towel to wipe off his cock. Once he discarded the towel, he walked over to his small chest of treasures and unlocked it with a key that was kept around his neck. Pulling three shiny silver coins from the pile, he locked it once again and turned to face the whores.

"For your services," he said quickly, flipping one coin to Ann and two to Mia. Both girls caught the coins easily and smiles returned to their faces rather quickly.

"Now get out," he ordered.

Neither girl lingered, and seeing that their job was done, they quickly dressed and left his tent. Once they were gone, Melitos drifted to his makeshift cot and slipped down onto it, eager to sleep for the rest of the night and look for new targets in the morning. The news about the king being nearby was particularly useful. He imagined having Baxos bring the king to him and having the monarch grovel at his own feet for his life. He'd gladly give it to the man, at the expense of his jewels and his crown. Hell, even his scepter since all kings had scepters, right?

Melitos drifted off to sleep with a content smile on his face as he pictured gaining the crown for his own head and the riches to be plundered from the unsuspecting king.

*****

"Please, we must stop for a moment. Just a moment," said the old man with a pant as he nearly collapsed to his knees. The young woman was there in an instant, quickly grabbing the water canteen from her pack and bringing it to the man's crusted lips. Splashes of water quickly decorated the man's face as he drank eagerly from the source, taking a deep breath as he soon slaked his thirst.

It was just after daybreak, and they had only been on the path for a little more than half an hour before he collapsed, a worrying display of the older man's decay at being on the road for so many months. His recent degradation had been particularly worrying for her, and she wondered if it was not time for them to reconsider how they were going about their task.

The old man turned to look at her with watery eyes. "I'm sorry, dear one. I can try to get better and move more quickly."

She smiled at him and caressed his cheek with affection. "It's not your fault. It's mine for asking too much of you during this journey. We need to give you more time to rest."

He shook his head quickly. "There's no time. We're already falling behind as is. We have to move more quickly."

"Then I'll have to get a horse for you," she offered. "Something that would allow you to rest more often."

"A horse would be of no use in this kind of terrain," he said while shaking his head once more. "I can do this. I just need to summon the will."

"I'm worried about you," she said with a sad smile. "I can't do this task on my own."

"As long as I'm here, you won't ever have to," he added with a paternal grin.

The old man took another long drink from the canteen before handing it back to her. Carefully, she helped him back to his feet, and after letting go of him, he quickly lost his balance and nearly toppled over.

"I'm so sorry, dear one," said the man as the tears began to fall. "It appears I'm about at the end of my rope."

"No, you just need more rest," she said as her own eyes turned watery as well. "We'll wait here as long as we need to until you're ready to go again. Another day off the trail would do us good. We'll be fully rested before we set out again."

He gave her a patient smile. "You should just go on without me. I'm only going to slow you down from here on out."

"I won't leave you," she said with a quick shake of her head. "You've been my companion through all of this. We are so close to our task. I can't let anything happen to you."

The old man nodded. "We may not have much of a choice, dear one." He pointed off to the horizon where a large cloud of dust indicated the steady approach of men and horses. By the size of the cloud, they were moving quickly and would be upon them very shortly.

"Come, we have to get you off the road!" said the woman in a hurry. "We don't have much time!"

*****

On the other side of Sorella, Task Force 21 approached the coordinates given by King Heron for his port facilities. A few hours previously, they had passed Heron's capitol city, sailing by without a stop on their way to begin repairs for all the ships.

Abigail sat in the commander's chair on the bridge, silently watching the coast pass by. Deep within the forests, well past the beaches, she knew Jack was on his own task, struggling to recover Daimanos' treasury to begin the rebuilding of Sorella. It was the first time in weeks that she'd been separated from him for this long, and she quite disliked the experience. She looked over at his chair, empty save for her own cap, and said a silent prayer for all to go well on his latest mission. She cared for him more than she was willing to admit and didn't like the separation one bit.

Her gaze drifted over to her sister's command station, finding the younger woman hunched over and clearly working. Their own relationship had been affected heavily by Jack, and it had cooled significantly ever since Anna found out about their earlier indiscretion. It wasn't for a lack of trying on Abigail's part, but every time she'd tried to talk to her sister about it, Anna had spurned her attempts, preferring to keep a personal distance between them.

It was hard to get used to. Despite their age gap, Anna had been the closest person to her on the entire ship for quite a long time, before Jack showed up, of course. Now, it was like they were mere polite strangers but nothing more. It was a sad state of affairs, and it reminded her of just all they would need to overcome in order to have a sisterly relationship once more.

"Abigail, it looks like we've arrived," said Anna while pointing out the window. Abigail had been so deep in thought that her sister's words shocked her more than it should have. She stood from her command chair and approached the window to look out at the Sorellan port. She almost gasped when she saw the facilities available to them.

The Sorellan base was set inside a large-sized bay that provided a natural, secure harbor from the elements. Once inside the C-shaped bay, there were five different docks that jutted out into the waters, providing more than enough berthing space for all three ships. Off to one side, Abigail could clearly see what looked like two different-sized dry docks—one for larger ships and one for smaller ones. The bigger one looked to be a perfect fit even for theDestiny.

On the other side of the bay were several different facilities all lining the coast, looking to be several distinct warehouses as well as a barracks and numerous small office buildings. It almost looked like a Javan base, and she found herself smiling at the prospect of getting the repairs they truly needed.

Their arrival was expected; at the end of the dock, one of the workers stood waving a white flag as the signal to their approach.

"Let's pull alongside the dock and get tied up," said Abigail to her sister. "I'm eager to see what kind of work we can get done here!"

Not much more than thirty minutes later, all three ships were moored in the harbor as their commanders were greeted as soon as they hit the main dock. A small crowd of Sorellans had gathered around, although Abigail noted that many of the facilities around the harbor seemed to be void of life. The telltale signs of war had even affected this far off naval base.

One Sorellan in particular moved to the front of the crowd and was the first to reach out to their Javan allies as the two groups converged.

"Hello there! My name is Andros, and I'm the head of engineering at this base," called a middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair.

Abigail stepped forward and offered her hand to the Sorellan engineer. "Good morning, Andros. I'm Lt. Commander Abigail Wainwright. I'm the temporary head of this task force."

"Welcome to our naval base, Lt. Commander," said Andros with a warm smile.

"Just Abigail is fine," she said with a friendly wave. "You have some seriously impressive facilities here!"

"Thank you, Abigail," said Andros while the smile slowly dropped from his face. "Unfortunately, this base has seen much better days. Almost all of our warships have been destroyed in the conflict and our merchant shipping is in tatters as well. As you can see, we don't have much personnel left here."

"Do you still think you'll be able to help us get repairs?" she asked.

Andros took a look at the ships and then looked back to her with an uneasy expression. "It'll be interesting all right. As you know, most of our ships are made of wood but I'd be very interested to know how you got your metal to float!"

Abigail chuckled. "I'm sure some cultural exchange is in order. We do have a supply ship on the way with some raw materials as well as our own naval engineers along the way."

Andros' face brightened. "I'm sure if your engineers can teach us what to do, we can get the job done with the rest of our manpower."

"That was the whole idea," said Abigail with a smile. She then scanned the rest of the bay before her vision landed on the dry docks. "I've seen your warships before, Andros. I know they aren't as large in size as ours so it begs the question—how do you have such big dry docks already?"

"Our trading ships are usually bigger than our warships," he explained. "Great, large vessels. I take it you haven't seen any yet?"

Abigail shook her head.

"Give it time. They'll come back. The ones that have been stuck abroad since the conflict should begin to come back now. Anyway, our naval doctrine calls for small, fast-moving ships that can get in close to the enemy to destroy them. Our warships are usually smaller for that reason."

"I can understand that. You have no idea how pleased I am to see these large docks. We have some significant work to be done on all three ships."

Andros took a look to the closest ship, theTiger, and pointed to her bow. "What about that one? Is there anything wrong with her?"

It was at that point that Vicky stepped forward. "That one took some minor hull damage from being beached in Lishkerra. Other than that, she's mostly fine except for some minor deck damage."

Andros nodded. "I'm not sure how much we can help with the steel portion of the hull, but we can do the deck work, no problem. What else?"

"Wait until you've seen mine," said Luke as he stepped forward. "I've got the same battle damage as Vicky all over the deck and a disabled turret. We'll probably have to wait for our own engineers for that turret, but the deck work we can do now."

Andros nodded his head. "That sounds good to us."

"Maybe you can help us find the source of a leak too," added Luke with a small smile. He took a few moments to explain the problem in more detail for the chief engineer.

"We'll see if we can help you with that too," said the engineer finally before turning to Abigail. "What about your ship? You have the large one right here, right?"

"That's right," said Abigail. "Most of our damage is incredibly minor. Other than that, there's not much else wrong with her."

Andros grinned. "She's a mighty ship. Perhaps if your engineers could impart some knowledge on us, we could build something similar."

"Well, weare allies now," said Abigail with a friendly smile.

"Perfect." Andros clapped his hands together. "We'll require the crews off the ships while we attend to repairs. One good thing about the war is that we don't have any shortage of space nearby. There's a crew barracks not far from here, on the other side of the bay. The crews are welcome to stay there as we get started on this work. When is your supply ship due to arrive?"

"Another full week and possibly some more days. You are quite a distance away from our furthest base," answered Abigail.

"More than enough time to get the cosmetic work finished before we require the additional expertise," said Andros. "If you all will come with me, then we'll get started!"

*****

The next morning, Jack awoke before the others just shy of daybreak and took a long stretch. He had slept well despite being on firm ground, but he credited that more to being so tired after spending all the previous day on horseback. He stood up to stretch, noticing that the sun was just starting to peek over the nearby horizon.

"I was wondering who would be the first to wake," said Greg from afar, tending the last embers of the fire that had extinguished overnight.

Jack yawned before making his way to the log that the Marine was sitting on. "I miss my bed already."

"At least you got some sleep," said Greg sourly. "I relieved Elektra shortly after midnight, and I already feel like I'm dragging ass this morning."

"Quite the change from being on the ship, though, isn't it?" asked Jack with a smirk.

"It's more like what I'm used to if we're being honest," said Greg. "Being so long on that ship has made me soft."

"Now that you mention it, you're welcome to get out and walk as much as you want. Just don't mind the rest of us while we sail to the next destination."

Greg made an obscene gesture but before Jack could retaliate further, they were joined by a still sleepy-eyed Vera who took a spot next to Jack on the log.

"Morning all," she said with a yawn of her own. "I take it you must be hungry?"

"Starving," answered Greg. "Looking forward to breakfast!"

Jack gave him an irritated look. "She just woke up. Let her relax for a few minutes first."

Vera smiled. "It's okay. I'll get started here shortly. I hope you're ready for a rousing breakfast of oatmeal though."

"Oatmeal again?" groaned Greg. "It's going to be a long journey until we get back to Heron's capitol."

Jack reached over and nudged the man while Vera broke out into a fit of giggles. Soon enough she had the morning fire going as well as a pot of oatmeal slowly boiling over the open flames. Whether it was the smell of food or the commotion of her preparation, the others slowly awakened as well, with Heron, Nikias, and finally Elektra emerging from their sleeping bags and joining them at the fire.

"What's the road look like for today?" Greg asked Nikias as they all dipped into their breakfast bowls. "Should we be hitting the foothills today at least?"

Nikias nodded quickly. "We should be this afternoon. At that point, the road will become a mere path, and we'll have to let go of the horses at that point."

"My soldiers should be in place to meet us by that time," said Heron optimistically. "They'll be able to take the horses back to the city from there while we continue on foot."

Greg looked out to the horizon, spotting Mount Tarpeious in the distance. The single, lonely mountain looked incredibly tall and steep. "Nikias, is that mountain as tough to climb as it looks?"

"There's a path that goes around the west side that isn't so bad," said Nikias. "I'd hate to have to approach it via the eastern side though. That path is much worse."

"Is Barak likely to know about the western path?" asked Jack. "I'd assume if he has wagons, he'll have horses, and he'll be more likely to take the easier path for the animals."

Nikias shrugged. "It's what I would do, but this is Barak we're talking about. He may take the harder road just to throw us off track. The eastern path is also the quicker one despite the grade."

"We'll deal with that when we get to it," said Heron firmly. "For now though, we should get moving. I don't want to lose any time when we could be pursuing them."

That seemed to decide that issue and the group wrapped up their meager breakfast shortly after and began to hitch their supplies to their horses. Just shy of twenty minutes later, they were fully loaded and ready to resume the road toward the mountain. As was usual, Nikias took the lead once they emerged on the road, with Heron and Elektra just behind him, Vera in the middle, and both Jack and Greg bringing up the rear.

"I don't know what's worse," said Greg after the first five minutes on the road. "Being this sore from riding right now or knowing we have another full day ahead of ourselves on these animals."

Jack began to chuckle. "You just have to take your mind off of it. Picture yourself somewhere tropical with a nice breeze and your feet in the sand. That should help."

Greg guffawed. "I'd rather picture a beautiful woman between my legs."

"That works too," said Jack with a laugh. They both began to chuckle at the joke, even earning Vera's attention as she looked back at them.

"I know a few girls who are experts in that, if you need a reference, Greg," said the woman with a not-too-innocent tone.

"Thanks, Vera," said Greg while turning a shade of red. "But I have just the woman in mind that can help me with that little problem."

Vera shrugged playfully and resumed her attention to the road in front of her. Jack lowered his voice and looked over at his friend. "I'm just going to assume you mean Brittany by that comment?"

Greg nodded quickly. "What a woman that one is." He let out a low whistle. "You'd never believe—"

Before he could finish the sentence, Jack held up his hand to the man while something caught his attention in the wooded area just off to his left. Something that sounded like a scream. He brought his horse to a stop and waited to hear the sound again.

"What did you hear?" Greg whispered to him, also stopping his horse.

"It sounded like a scream. From just over there," said Jack while pointing into the forest. "Did you hear it?"

Before Greg could answer, the sounds of a scream pierced through the morning air, enough to make Jack's horse take a step to the side.

"I heard it that time!" yelled Greg.

"What was that noise?" yelled Heron from the front of their group.

"Screams from over there! Cover me!" yelled Jack as he spurred his horse forward into the wooded area. Thankfully, he was able to make good time through the forest despite the numerous trees, roots, and branches that emerged in front of him. Riding out from the last line of trees, he entered into a small clearing on the other side dominated by a low hill. There was a small trail of smoke coming from just beyond the hill, faint enough that he only barely noticed it. Jack quickly crested the hill, and his mouth fell open at the sight on the other side.

There was a small camp that had been set in the field not far from another line of trees. The camp was dominated by no more than five men. Two of them looked to be rifling through a few backpacks and other possessions while the other three were chasing after someone low to the ground who was trying their best to crawl away from them. It was only once Jack got a little closer that he saw the one trying to climb away was a woman as the men chasing her loomed ever closer.