Gliese Chronicles - Sakcore Explored Ch. 04

"We really should get going soon."

Hianne made a pouting face at first, then changed it to a smile. "Come and hold me for a few minutes then. I can't believe how good that felt. Tonight I'm going to treat you to anything you want. Promise."

Five minutes later they got up and Hianne dressed as Jason drove the ACV to the next segment. When they returned to the ship two and a-half hours later they had completed all of the work scheduled for the day and Hianne was in a wonderful mood. She was so much looking forward to her night with Jason knowing he would be eager for her—the visions dancing in her mind.

When she woke the next morning Jason was next to her sleeping soundly. Her first night with Jason wasn't what she had expected it would be—at least in part. It was wonderful in the affection he showed her and was unlike any she could remember with him. They kissed, hugged, caressed, and talked until she fell asleep as he held her. It wasn't memorable for the sex—but for the lack of it. She smiled as his words came back to her—"You're my busty, beautiful blonde, and I love you to pieces. Be ready for me in the morning," he had told her as he held her close. The expectation he planted in her mind was now working her up into a hot, tempting woman he wouldn't be able to ignore.

It was a good thing Hianne was ready as when Jason woke and returned from the bathroom. He took her into his arms and kissed her passionately. It was hot, steamy, soft wrestling, as he sought to touch every part of her body—his lips teasing her neck, chest, and breasts. The pleasure he brought her as he teased her nipples wasn't anything they had ever done together before and it was heavenly.

Their usual relaxed pace changed—once he entered her he took her harder and thrusted at a faster rate. She gasped in delight as he took her forcefully with strong thrusting that continued until she reached her climax with a few soft moans. Then she lay still enjoying feeling him explode inside her—his guttural sounds in her ear, his hot breathe telling her it had been as good for him as it had been for her.

She dressed to join Cela and Kira in the mess as Jason finished getting his shower and dressing. She knew their relationship was no longer like it was in the past. This new man enthralled and thrilled her—if this was love then she wanted more. When she sat down across from the other women she wore a smile as bright as the nearest star.

Cela looked at her with a smile, "I assume it went well."

"Cela, now I know even better than before why you fell in love with him. We talked and talked last night until we felt asleep. We talked about all of us, about the two of us, about what I wanted to accomplish, and what my expectations are if we were to marry. It was wonderful and I think he feels more comfortable with how things are going between all of us."

"So, you're ready for another night with him and won't be asking Robb for any attention for a while?" Kira asked quietly.

I don't know for sure. Ask me tomorrow morning after our second night and I'm sure I'll have a better idea. I'm usually good for three or four days before I get the urge again. Once in a while I'm good for only two days, but if that happens I guess Robb will be handy.

"Cela, you're still onboard with this, right?" Hianne asked.

"I admit it's different. I want this to work for Jason too, not just the three of us. He is the one who has been the most resistant to the idea and I know it's because he loves me. I know he still does—if Jason is happy I know I'll be happy."

"What man wouldn't want three women to have sex with him on a regular basis?" Kira asked.

Cela looked at her with a frown, "Men want sex for sex just as women do—it feels better than anything else we engage in. Men just want sex more often by comparison. Jason knows now all of us want to be loved and have sex. There's a difference and Jason knows it. He's been doing mission work longer than the rest of us and his experience with women shows.

We're asking him to love us as equals and be a responsible partner and someday a father. We need to be honest with one another first to have this work, then be a good wife to Jason. We really answer to each other and I'm sure Jason feels the pressure of answering to each of us. We know men and women think differently—we can't escape the reality of our biology and our drive to reproduce. We're asking a lot of him. As biologists we all know the value of sex to build and strengthen pair-bonds. We should remind ourselves of that fact from time to time—we can wear him out physically and emotionally.

"Men can be pretty fragile can't they?" Hianne mused.

"And we aren't in our own way?" Cela responded.

Field work continued until it was time to leave for the orbiting colony of New Beginnings a few days later.

It would take almost three weeks to reach the colony at cruise speed making adjustments for the fusion engines to reach ninety percent of full power before reversing the ships direction using the thrusters and gravity to slow Glory Girl for final orbit and docking. The small thrusters would begin their work of making fine course corrections while using the gravity of Ettera to act as a brake to approach the colony.

They were four days out from Sakcore when the first asteroid showed on the sensors and the ship made a course correction to avoid an impact. It wasn't often a space rock large enough to penetrate the laser shield appeared, but it always got a crew's attention when it did. The Gleise system was notorious for its plentiful crop of asteroids and those who served in the Asteroid Defense Force, the ADF, always had work to do. The problem was they didn't patrol this far out from the inhabited planets and their orbiting colonies. Robb had checked the sensors again while Jason looked at the updated mapping of this sector to see if there was an area they should avoid. Things had just settled down when the sensors went off again—this time indicating multiple targets within Glory Girl's projected flight path and adjustments were made to avoid a problem.

Travel in deep space was routine in many respects between the inhabited planets, but that didn't mean it wasn't without hazard elsewhere—particularly in the seldom visited sections of the system. If their ship's navigation system and defensive shield failed to prevent a collision and the integrity of their ship compromised there would be no one close to render aid. The physics of space flight dictated how quickly a ship could make course corrections at a given speed. Without computers to determine the trajectories of objects in relationship to their ship they could be dead before anyone even knew they were gone—or before they could make a manual correction of their own.

Jason and Hianne were in her quarters where she had guided him into her vagina two minutes before the collision alarm sounded—it was a hideous sound and it startled both of them. The entrance of his cock had been wonderful—his steady thrusting afterward making inroads to her pleasurable journey to climax as she wrapped her long legs around him. That all changed in a matter of seconds as he pulled out, gained his feet, and started to pull on his shorts and pants.

"I'm heading to the cockpit to see what's going on. Join me as soon as you can," as he slipped out the door holding his shirt in his hand.

Jason was running for the cockpit all the while recalling stories he had read or heard as to what happens to ships if they collide with an object at high speed in deep space. Few of them had a good ending.

Cela and Kira were relaxing in the lounge when they heard the alarm sound and immediately left for the cockpit. Jason was already with Robb looking at the sensor displays when they arrived. Hianne was right behind them a few seconds later still buttoning her blouse. They sat down and shared concerned glances as they looked over the backs of Robb and Jason at the screens.

Cela looked at the main screen as she sat down, "What's up?"

Jason turned to her with a grim face, "Asteroids. I want you and the others to go to the emergency escape pod, close the hatch, and initiate the onboard systems. We have about ten minutes before we should encounter the first of these objects so you should get going."

"Aren't we going to miss them?" Cela asked calmly.

"I think so, but if there are smaller rocks in the cluster the sensors haven't picked up yet there is no guarantee we won't take some damage. I want all you safe in one spot. If we get a hull breach and lose atmosphere you'll be in position to respond. You don't need to put your suits on..."

Robb interrupted, "We have an additional five detections. This is going to be close as they're too large to be vaporized by our lasers. I've slowed our speed to buy us time—but it won't be much given our inertia. The thrusters aren't powerful enough to do much at this velocity."

Jason turned and started pulling his spacesuit from the locker at the rear of the cockpit and looked at the women, "Now get going. We don't have time to waste."

"What about you?" Hianne exclaimed with a hint of alarm.

"What about me? It'll take both Robb and me to make decisions on how to avoid these things and which to target with the lasers. I'll have my suit on—that's the best I can do. Now, please get going."

Kira appreciated now how valuable their emergency drills had been in preparing them for this. All of them knew what to do and set about going aft to the escape pod. They closed the hatch and Hianne sat down in the pilot's seat and turned the master power switches on. The lights of the control panels came to life and they strapped into their seats and reviewed the checklists on the screens—calling out information to each other to indicate the status of the systems.

The capsule was secure and fully functional—now was the tough part—it was time to wait. All of them were fearful as this was a first time experience for all of them. It held them in a place and circumstance where they couldn't act for themselves—they were essentially blind. It was a terrible feeling knowing they were completely helpless—not knowing what was happening except in the vaguest of terms.

It was probably a good thing the women couldn't see what was developing. The ship would be passing at an angle through the cluster of rocks that were once two asteroids. Their collision had shattered both of them into smaller fragments of various sizes from several thousand meters in diameter to a hundred meters—at least this is what the sensors were able to detect as they approached. As Glory Girl drew closer the optical cameras were able to detect dozens of smaller fragments too large for the lasers to vaporize as they passed through the collection of rocky debris. Glory Girl was closing at fifteen kilometers per second and there was precious little time for making a decision as to the best path to take.

"Robb, I'm going on manual. I think we can squeeze past that large object nine degrees off our flight path and five degrees lower. Fire the lasers once we are on course to clear away whatever else is there we can't detect at this range with the cameras and sensors."

"Roger that."

Five seconds later Jason saw the lasers lighting up smaller objects in their path and held his breath. If there was something larger in that space it was going to be a real problem. Though not for long—they would become small bits of space debris consisting of organic carbon compounds and various metal alloys amid the collection of space rocks. No one would ever know it was a ship with humans on board unless the escape capsule was able to eject before the entire ship fragmented—not likely given the situation. There would be no survivors.

The women didn't see Glory Girl flash past the largest asteroid at five hundred meters or the many larger fragments by mere tens of meters. The lasers had managed to vaporize the smaller fragments and the gases released from their destruction provided enough energy to effectively blast the larger fragments out of the flight path. Jason could feel the sweat on his face as they left the cluster of asteroid debris behind them. The entire incident had lasted but sixteen minutes—but it felt like a lifetime. Jason touched the screen in front of him turning off the hazard condition lights and audible warning chime. It was over and they were still in one piece.

"Robb, resume our course to New Beginnings. I'm going to get out of this suit and call the girls in the escape pod."

"That was close," Robb replied dispassionately as he plotted a corrected course.

"Closer than I ever want to come again," Jason replied as he placed his helmet into its bracket inside the locker and started to remove his spacesuit—his hands were shaking. Robots didn't feel fear.

Hianne noticed the hazard light had gone off on her console. It was over, or would be, once given the green light to open the escape pod hatch. Less than a minute later Jason's voice came over the intercom and the women scrambled out onto the lowermost deck of the ship located ahead of the hangar bay and headed to the cockpit. Not having seen anything they were unsure of what had happened and it seemed anticlimactic.

Cela looked at Jason and saw the tension that remained on his face, "Was it really that close?"

"It was. You never expect to see a tight cluster of debris like that in deep space. I don't know what the odds are, but we are pretty damn lucky. At our speed there was no way to make a radical change to our course. If we had been in a larger ship I don't think we would have slipped through without damage."

The women knew what that really meant—they wouldn't be alive. Once again it seemed to be a reminder that mission work was hazardous even when in transit. That night Cela made sure to snuggle in close to Jason knowing it might not have happened—she sensed Jason knew it too as he whispered into her ear, "I'm glad you're safe. I love you Princess."

It was the next day when the women sat down together. They had talked while they sat in the escape capsule about what the future held and once again it seemed as if facing danger resulted in clarity of vision. Hianne and Kira told Cela they wanted to be married. If they were to die they wanted their relationship with Jason to be commemorated as his wife. At the evening meal they told Jason it was time to make a decision regarding marriage before reaching New Beginnings. They wanted enough time to inform their families of their decision. Jason walked to each of them, gave them a kiss, and said he would be honored to marry them. That night was special for all of them as they talked, kissed, and laughed together. Their future together was now confirmed and it felt good not to have to linger in limbo any longer. That night messages went out to all of their families informing them of the forthcoming nuptials.

The travel time provided an opportunity for the crew to work at a leisurely pace analyzing data, reviewing results, performing peer reviews of each other's work, and finally, writing summaries. There was ample time for relaxation too, and the crew made the best of it. All of them had accommodated themselves to the sleeping schedule and Jason had found his day off really meant he had the ability to respond to each of their additional needs—though he was pleased on occasion to have an entire night to himself when he could do as he pleased—this meant uninterrupted sleep.

They were all excited as they watched the colony of New Beginnings steadily grow larger through the cockpit windows. There would be people to watch and talk to, shopping for personal items, and of course, a chance to eat fresh fruit and vegetables.

Upon arrival, the three women went into the commercial area of the New Beginnings colony leaving Jason to complete the tasks he was responsible for—making the final payment on Glory Girl being the most important. Owning Glory Girl was the most important achievement of all as it marked the point at which Jason and Cela were debt free. It also meant that once married to Hianne and Kira their financial resources were to be pooled and they would be on firm ground. That knowledge was comforting to all of them—though unspoken.

The women were to deal with arranging for food supplies and spare parts the system diagnostics listed as likely to fail within the next year. Jason was also making arrangements for additional uploads to Robb's memory to increase his ability to service the women if they became pregnant.

There had been lengthy discussions regarding when they would attempt to start families. It wasn't going to happen immediately, but it wasn't going to be put off too long either. Even though there had been no decision made regarding a reproductive schedule for each of them it made sense to remain as flexible in that regard as possible. The women had graciously chosen to shop for maternity wear telling Jason it would give them additional incentive—all the while laughing together. They would also acquire whatever else needed to care for newborn children—food, clothing, toys, and diapers.

They had completed all but some minor shopping when they decided to take a break knowing they had sales work to do to. This was something they were unsure of—they were professional biologists, not someone accustomed to selling a product.

They were sitting in a restaurant called 'The Rendezvous' sipping their drinks when a dark skinned man strode towards them with a bright smile. He stopped in front of their table and apprised them—all the while holding his smile to show his good-natured intent.

Good morning ladies, I don't believe I've seen you here before. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Raboll, one who is gifted in pleasing women. Are you residents here, or from another place?"

The women glanced at each other unsure how to respond to such an introduction—a man gifted in pleasing women could be any number of things—a salesman in all likelihood.

"We arrived on the ship Glory Girl late yesterday. We are here to replenish our supplies and to do some shopping," Hianne replied pleasantly.

"Aaahh yes. The ship of exploration I have heard about. Is your crew comprised mostly of women as is often the case? If so, perhaps I have found you at an opportune time. My schedule is open for most of the day and my rates are competitive with those who have less to offer."

"We really don't require a guide," Kira replied with a smile.

"Tell me, are you a Jestorean?"

"Yes, why do you ask?" Kira replied cautiously.

"Oh, please do not take offense at my question. It is important to know as...well...Jestorean women are...shall we say...they are more difficult to entertain properly given the strength of their muscles due to the gravity of your planet."

"You two ladies appear to be from Ettera based upon your speech, is that not correct?"

Hianne and Cela nodded in the affirmative.

"Well then, rates here are based upon centimeters delivered at one credit per cm. For example, most men here charge about 14 credits, my rate therefore is 19 credits. Though I must charge the Jestorean just a little more, so she would be 21 credits."

At this point the women just looked at one another. What was this crazy man talking about? This orbiting colony was established using the New Beginnings spacecraft as its base after its arrival and had a culture of its own. These were the most recent arrivals from Earth less than a generation ago and the story of their survival and arrival to the Gliese system was well known—this man was surely one of them.

Cela looked at Raboll, "I'm afraid we don't know what it is you're selling in all honesty. We're not familiar with this place or its customs. We couldn't possible pay for something when we don't know what it is."

"I see. Ladies, I'm sorry for the confusion. Since you have come to this establishment I assumed you were interested in the form of entertainment I provide. Given what you have told me I will explain. Since you have been away for I assume months with but a single man to provide for you...I am guessing you're in need of some entertainment. I have an apartment with a comfortable bed, lubricants, and shower. It has a separate waiting room with chairs while you wait to be serviced, or you can sit and watch if you care to. That choice is yours to make. In essence, you can ride and use as much or as little as you please, or I can ride you and take your direction."