Gliese Chronicles - Sakcore Explored Ch. 02

The team's trepidation and grave concern for Kira had died down once Robb completed his medical evaluation. She had indeed gone into mild shock as they returned to the ship and Cela felt awful by having asked her to wait a few minutes longer before returning. There was real fear for her life then and that the injury was serious and not superficial. Kira was a strong, healthy woman and after several hours in sickbay, Robb had announced she would recover fine with additional rest. Kira went to her quarters accompanied by Hianne and Cela to rest after Robb had administered a series of injections to ward off possible infection and to relieve pain. She wondered how long it would take for Jason to arrive after a very apologetic Cela and concerned Hianne had departed—it wasn't long, a matter of several minutes.

Kira heard the gentle knock on the door and immediately knew who it was...well...because Jason was like that. She sat up in bed, arranging the covers to show her bare, shapely legs.

"Come in."

The door slid open, then quietly closed behind him as he came and sat down next to her on the bed with a small smile. He reached over and gently caressed the side of her face with his fingertips. It was one of the most sensual things a man had ever done to her and Jason was the only one who seemed to know how well she responded to it.

"Kira, are you feeling alright? I was afraid you weren't going to make it at first. It scared the hell of out me."

"I'm tougher than I look," she responded with a smile, not wanting to laugh because it would hurt. She took his hand from her face and held it knowing he was going to have to leave and return to Cela in a few minutes. She hoped that Cela knew how lucky she was to have a man like him.

"Is there any pain? Is there anything I can get you, do for you?"

Kira wanted to respond with what she wanted, but knew the sterile bandage on her chest would only interfere and having it rub against the still raw skin would only retard healing if he lay on top of her. She swallowed and licked her dry lips, ignoring the warm sensation her thoughts were bringing and asked for much less. "You could hold me for a few minutes. That would really help."

"Okay, but you lie on top of me so you can position yourself to be comfortable," as he slid in beside her onto his back bringing his arm out for her to settle in.

She moved over into his arm and lay down gently, then felt his hand come to caress her arm. She closed her eyes, remembering times in the past when he would do that after they had shared their passion. He had learned quickly she came fast, with an intensity that ravaged a man. Most men, having acquiesced once, seldom did so again unless she was willing to be taken from behind—which was pleasurable, but not what she needed or really wanted.

Jason, even the first time, had gone a second time before leaving her, and she had been forever grateful. She was smaller in height than any other woman she had ever served with on these missions—her smaller body compact, curvy, with shapely behind and legs. She wasn't lithe and tall like Hianne, whose breasts hinted seductively at their presence. She was almost a smaller version of Cela, only with hair brown, rather than black, her eyes brown, Cela's blue.

The only rule Jason had laid on her after that first time was that her fingernails had to be short and rounded as to not cause deep scratches as she clutched at him in the throes of her long-lasting orgasms. Quick to cum, long to finish, as he told her later. He was right of course, she usually climaxed with minimal effort, but when her pussy clamped down and started contracting it went on seemingly forever leaving her weak at the end.

That very first time she had suggested he take her from behind due to his size, not that he was overly large, probably just above average, but knowing she would get benefit from him. The suggestion more because she was rough at the end and didn't want to scare him off. She had warned other men about her behavior and none seemed to take her seriously. So, when she told Jason she wasn't sure he believed her.

He was slow to bring her to a point he judged right for his insertion; he didn't know foreplay wasn't what she needed, she was already primed and ready to go. It was less than a minute later when she understood he knew exactly what she needed—he didn't go deep, staying shallow within her. He put his large mushroom tip just inside her vestibule, and lay down with the base of his shaft positioned over her pubis and started to slide over her in smooth, short strokes that had her gasping right from the start.

It was mere minutes when her wet vagina clamped down on him, holding his tip semi-captive. He stayed the course, her contractions building to a crescendo as she clutched and clawed at him until she went limp. Then, he started to move slowly, going deeper, filling her with his warmth, pulling her close, his arms under her armpits, his hands grasping her shoulders for purchase in his ecstasy. She felt so wonderful buried beneath his firm body.

They lay together quietly minutes before she asked to go again, expecting he would decline as the others had unless they took her from behind. A position that worked for her a little if they stayed shallow—which they usually didn't. Jason had simply taken position over her as before, slipping into her sloppy pussy, and proceeded to give her a second orgasm knowing she was going to claw at him again, whispering into her ear the kinds of things a woman wishes to hear from a lover while he's inside her.

Kira hadn't realized how hard she had grasped him until he stood to dress, the red scratches showing on his shoulders and back. She had been fully apologetic and he had smiled, then given her a deep, long kiss in response. She never went to another man after that first time—there was no need when he was on the same mission. He always told her she was beautiful and fun to be with and she had treasured those words—she still did.

That had changed on this mission, as he was now married. Cela was a wonderful woman and Kira really didn't want to go against her wishes. Cela had insisted on Robb being part of the team and she had understood why as soon as she saw their identical rings. She was thankful Robb had worked out well enough, but she missed the warm affection and caring nature that came with Jason.

"Are you going to be alright my little Tigress?"

"I am now. Thank you for saving me from that thing. Thank you for coming to see if I was doing well," she said, trying to sound especially appreciative.

A few minutes later he got up from the bed and looked at her as he stood at the door, "You know, you're well-worth looking after—you don't seem to understand you're a wonderful, smart, attractive woman. You need to have more confidence in yourself."

The door closed and she slipped beneath the blanket, knowing what he was talking about. She didn't take his comment as an insult or criticism, he was simply being truthful. Kira wasn't especially pleased with her body, thinking her vulva was hideous looking, her inner lips larger than the outer, always exposed—nothing like most men expected them to look like. No man had ever said anything about them. She knew it was a problem largely of her own making—it did affect her confidence.

But, Kira was also short. It seemed as if people discounted what she said as if being short indicated she wasn't as intelligent. There had been more than one time when a taller person had said the same thing she had said earlier and then everyone took notice as if it were new. It was one of the things she appreciated about this crew—they took her seriously, especially Jason.

Hianne and Cela had retired to their quarters too. It was after dark already and the next day would start just before dawn. Cela had combed out her hair and sat waiting for Jason to join her. Her thoughts wandered, reflecting on the day's events and her life.

She sat in bed waiting for her husband, knowing he was checking on Kira again. She smiled knowing it was one of the things that had always drawn her to him—he cared. You don't have to love someone to show them affection, but it was the combination of affection and respect that Jason gave that made him special.

Cela first met Jason four years earlier on her second exploration mission. She had already learned joining a crew composed of a majority of women and one or two men had advantages. It wasn't until near the end of her first mission the customs associated with these mission teams was revealed to her. Women did talk among themselves in whispers and she had finally been included. She had felt guilty about her behavior, thinking it would be considered unprofessional to be bedded by a man—she was wrong. It was simply an affirmation that women were sexual beings just as were men.

It wasn't until the second mission was almost over and she had mentioned a specific male to another woman that she was told never, ever, to do it again. These relationships, in terms of specific individuals, was between them, not to be revealed to others. She had never violated the rule afterward. After that, when she had a need, she asked for whatever she wanted, and almost always received it—though usually with modification. For her, it had made mission work that much better.

Kira rolled over in bed, ordered the lights out, and felt a shiver as she recounted the details of the attack. The encounter with the flying creature shook her to the core as nothing had before. As she lay in the back of the ACV racing to the ship the realization came to her how close she had come to death. She was certain if the creature had made contact with her again she would have been finished. She knew Jason had prevented that from happening—he had saved her life while risking his own.

Hianne had heard Jason's voice in the passageway and knew he had gone to see Kira and had decided to wait with her door open so she could detect when he left her room to walk past her own.

She heard Kira's door slide open and she rose to meet him in the passageway. He smiled as he walked towards her, then halted a step away.

"How's she doing?"

"She's going to be fine, Hianne. I think all of us are shaken by what happened today. Tomorrow we need to talk about how we're going to proceed from here on out. No more solo walks, only pairs, or all of us together is what I'm going to suggest. I think we should have Kira name the creature, she's paid a higher price than the rest of us, and should be given the honor."

Jason was never one to force his will upon anyone. In her experience as a woman dealing with men on these missions, that wasn't always the case. Jason was as egalitarian as anyone she had ever met and people followed his lead because he exuded confidence and listened to the opinions of others. They had disagreed on a number of issues in the past and they had always come to a resolution that worked for them. Even if the conversation had become intense, she could always count on him to respond to her needs afterward—she found him both emotionally and physically satisfying.

"I agree, you can count on my support. I'll never forget seeing Kira shaking and writhing on the ground. It was terrible."

"Are you going to be alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine, I'm not the one that got zapped by that thing. I think we need to baby Kira a little over the next few days."

"Don't overdo it, she won't like it," he said quietly.

She looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "She'll take being babied by you, but not Cela and me."

"What makes you think so?"

She took his hand and looked into his eyes, "You know why, the same reason the rest of us would."

He didn't say anything, only squeezed her hand lightly as he leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek. Then he turned towards the room he shared with Cela. She turned and entered her quarters where Robb was waiting for her—she knew Kira wouldn't need Robb and felt it was an opportunity she shouldn't pass on. After holding Jason's hand, then his affectionate kiss, wonderful sensations and memories flashed to her brain warming her. Robb would have to finish providing for her. She couldn't ask Jason yet as she still had enough Purple Passion to last about two weeks. She felt she should try and abide by Cela's wishes as long as she could—it wasn't as if Cela was being totally unreasonable.

The next morning Robb had warmed a meal for the crew and was finishing cleaning the galley as they sat together at the mess table, Cela with her tablet in hand.

Cela sat looking at her schedule as they all sat down to breakfast and discussed what they had planned according to their original plan. Kira and Hianne decided they would go over the soil samples from the penis garden and Jason and she would review the MRI scans of the APs to study their internal anatomy. The women still hadn't revealed to him what the three of them had observed, or experienced, in regard to the cluster of phallic plants. They were just a little embarrassed to admit it to him quite yet.

It didn't take long before Jason brought up the suggestion they shouldn't go out alone anymore. It was silent for a long seconds, though expressions around the table showed everyone understood the reason.

Kira was the first to speak. "I think it makes sense for us to change the way we have been doing things. If any of us had been alone, without a stun pistol or rifle, we probably wouldn't be talking about an encounter with those flying creatures we encountered yesterday this calmly."

There was another long pause before conversation resumed.

"Would it be a good idea if we used Robb as part of a field team rather than having him at the ship all of the time? That way we could have one of us remain at the ship to work if we needed to while keeping two parties in the field," Hianne asked.

"That's actually a very good idea if we're going to try and maintain our sampling schedule," Jason replied immediately. "We need to finish up here over the next few days before we move to the inland sea next on our schedule."

Cela agreed, knowing it made the most sense. She realized it would probably mean she wouldn't be paired with Jason all the time, but it was a fair compromise between what they needed to accomplish and her personal preference.

They finished their discussion regarding what equipment they would take with them when in the field from now on—basically they would go with a stun pistol or rifle so they could defend ourselves. They always carried a small unit to test samples for toxins before handling specimens, even fluids like the semen from the PAPs. Cela never would have tasted the purple fluid from the phallus until she had checked it for toxicity first. That was a rule they never broke. In addition, they carried water from the ship to drink to avoid ingesting something potentially harmful—that was the second rule they never broke.

Jason looked at all of them, "Shall we give Kira the honor of naming the flying creature?"

She and Hianne nodded agreement.

Kira furrowed her brow, then with a frown, "How about something like Buoyant Dragon."

They all agreed. Buoyant Dragons they were. Cela was impressed with Kira—she might be a little quiet, but she was intelligent and thoughtful.

Kira and she were going to look at the results from the soil samples and look at the MRI images of the internal structure of an AP. She had captured an individual of the smaller AP species near the ship the day before and had Robb run the scans while they were in the field. After they looked at those data they would try and piece together what they had found to see if it would answer a few of their questions.

Hianne and Jason were going to take the ACV back to the spot where they encountered the Buoyant Dragons to see if the animal Cela brought down was still present, or had been able to fly off. This time the canopy would be in place on the ACV as a precaution against aerial attack.

Their discussions after reviewing the video and still photographs Cela had taken convinced them the transparent wings and cryptically colored bodies made the approach of the animals possible without detection. They still didn't know how high they had been while coming towards them, perhaps they were already coming lower after spotting the AP herd near them. Then one of the creatures found them near the dead AP and decided to take advantage of the situation—predators are after all, inquisitive and opportunistic. Perhaps it was returning to a previous kill and sought to protect it from them, or perhaps it looked at them as potential prey. They really didn't know. It didn't matter—the end result was the same.

As Cela examined the vertical sections of the animal on the screen, she found there were two chambers at the rear of the animal, the upper chamber containing female reproductive organs with eggs, and a much smaller chamber containing the male testes and sperm—both were connected to the opening outside via a canal leading to the labia. The distance between the two openings to each chamber was about 6.5 cm, a number that seemed familiar to her, yet after running so many measurements and numbers over the past few weeks she couldn't remember where she had seen it. The excretory pore was located between legs two and three, so it was separate from the labial structure entirely which was located behind it.

Cela was pondering her observations when Kira walked over from her station with her tablet in hand showing the pH values for the soil samples they had collected. The concentrations of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous in the samples were clearly different, with samples taken within the moss matt devoid of nitrogen in particular. The highest concentrations were from the heavily rooted area in front of the phallus itself. Cela was begging to think her hunch was correct—the plants were obtaining their nitrogen from the urea produced by the APs to help them grow.

What did the APs get in return? Food for the production of eggs or sperm seemed to fit the observations. Even more intriguing was the idea that depending upon the size phallus an AP selected the nutrients would go to one chamber or the other—not both. The longer phallus if used, blocked the entrance to the lower male chamber once it was fully inserted. If a smaller phallus was used it wasn't long enough to push the flap-valve to the female chamber open that lay above the opening to the male organs. Simple, yet elegant!

Cela explained her thinking to Kira, showing the location of the pertinent parts. Kira looked at her with a broad smile, "You know we make a pretty good team."

"Yes we do. I like it when it all comes together, all of us working together."

She watched as Kira walked back to her station with a smile on her face. Robb had applied another sterile dressing to her wound after applying another layer of salve to speed healing. Kira hadn't said anything more about what she had gone through and Cela didn't know if she should broach the subject or not. She finally decided she should show her concern and walked over to Kira a few minutes later.

"You aren't having nightmares about what happened are you? I mean, that was pretty traumatic. You know if you need anything any of us will help in whatever way we can."

"No, no nightmares. I think about it when I look at the wound, but it's healing fast and soon it won't even show. I think I'm good. Thank you for asking, it helps."

Cela turned to go when Kira added, "Cela, it was traumatic for all of us. I mean it couldn't have been easy seeing Jason in danger either. I didn't see what he did, just what Hianne and you have told me. Jason hasn't said a thing to me other than he's grateful I'm safe and will get better."

"You know, he told me he just did what he needed to do to protect you. I was thinking last night that he would do the same for me or Hianne. I guess maybe it's a man thing. You know, protecting his harem kind of thing in biological terms."