Pinwheel Remastered

***

I was discharged from the infirmary later that afternoon. My broken rib was bandaged, and I had to make up a story about the scars on my chest to dissuade a curious nurse. The M.Ps came to visit me, taking a statement about the fight, but they didn't drag me off to the brig. Vasiliev was waiting for me outside the building as I made my way onto the torus. I attempted to salute him, but the pain in my side made me think better of it.

"Stanley, how's your injury?" he asked.

"I'll be fine, sir. How's Raz doing?"

"Don't worry about her, the medics told me that she was pretty much fifty percent scar tissue to begin with. Two of the others sustained some more serious injuries, however, even for Borealans. The Krell really worked them over. One broke a vertebra and fractured an arm, and the other sustained a pretty serious concussion. Since the Borealans were the aggressors in this scenario, no formal charges will be filed against the Krell, but when those lizards throw their weight around it tends to result in people getting hurt."

I nodded, and we began to walk back in the direction of the barracks.

"Stanley," Vasiliev continued, "this station is technically an active service Naval installation. I hope you understand that participating in a brawl, even as a defensive measure, carries some serious consequences. We can't have Marines running around, getting into fights in an enclosed space like a station or a carrier."

"Yes, sir. I understand," I replied. "I assume that the M.Ps gave you our statements?"

"Yes, all of the accounts corroborate yours, but there will still be a disciplinary citation on your record. I take no pleasure in it, but we can't make exceptions for anyone."

I had guessed as much. It wouldn't kill my career by any means, but it was a blight on my otherwise exemplary record.

"The Admiralty has seen enough of the Borealans," Vasiliev continued, adjusting his cap as he walked. "The conclusion has been reached that they represent a liability to our mixed units, they can't be socialized, we can't integrate them. We'll be shipping them home on the first available jump carrier."

The news drove an icicle straight through my heart, and I stopped in my tracks. Vasiliev paused and turned to look back at me, confused by my reaction.

"What about Raz?" I asked, apprehension tying a knot in my belly. "Will she be sent back to Borealis too?"

"I know that you've taken a shine to Raz over the past few days," he replied. "She's seen dramatic improvements in her academic and XMR performance, but as I said, the Admiralty has deemed that the Borealans cannot be socialized. Borealis is being dropped from the integration program, and their personnel are being sent home, Raz included."

I balled my fists, frustration overpowering my usual professionalism.

"Sir, you don't understand, she can't be sent back to Borealis! They can be socialized, I figured it out, I'm starting to understand how they think. Raz is making progress, she's starting to-"

"The decision has already been made, Stanley, it's not up to me."

He sighed, turning and walking back toward me. He took me by the arm and ushered me along as I stared at the floor, dejected. I couldn't believe what was happening, we couldn't lose all of the progress that we had made merely because of a fight, one that we hadn't even started! Raz was now enamored with the idea of friendship as an alternative to their brutal pack structure. If she took that message back to Borealis, alone and without the means to properly convey it, she would be eaten alive.

There had to be some way to fix this, some way to prove to the Admiralty that I alone could bridge the cultural gap between Earth and Borealis.

***

I arrived back at our dorm to find Raz waiting for me. She was perched on the edge of her bed, the red tinge to her eyes suggesting that she had been crying.

"Are you okay, Raz?" I asked as I sat down beside her on the bunk.

"I'm fine," she mumbled. "You look a lot worse off than me," she added, gesturing to the bandages that were peeking above the open collar of my uniform.

"Eh, it's nothing," I replied with a wave of my hand. "Just a broken rib, it'll be healed in a few days."

Raz stared at the carpet, her ears drooping and her tail hanging limply off the edge of the mattress. She looked downright miserable.

"Stanley...they said that I have to go home. They're putting me on the next carrier, it's leaving tomorrow afternoon."

"I know," I mumbled, "Vasiliev already told me. The Admiralty doesn't want Borealans in the program anymore, they think that you can't be socialized."

"I really thought that..." Raz trailed off, and I reached up to put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll find a way to fix this," I insisted. "You've made so much progress, there has to be some way that we can show them that you're different from the other Borealans. If you can learn to get along with humans, then others can too, and you're the key to that. If Borealis wants to join the Coalition, then you're the only person who can make that happen."

"It's too late," she sighed, "the order has already been given. Worse, when I get home, I'll lose my standing in the hierarchy. My father will blame our failure to complete the program on me, I'm responsible. The last thing that he told me before I left was that everything was resting on my shoulders, and that he was trusting me to prove our worth to the humans. Now the Coalition won't want Borealan warriors, they might not want an alliance at all. It's my fault..."

"No," I said as I shook my head vigorously. "You're the only one who has made any progress in the program at all. The other Borealans weren't even trying. You've done exactly what you were supposed to do, me and you, we've found common ground. I'll try to talk to Vasiliev again before the jump carrier leaves tomorrow, try to make a case for you staying on the Pinwheel. Maybe you can request asylum, or you could become an advisor, or...something. You should come with me. Maybe if he sees the change in you for himself, then he'll pass the word up the chain to the Admiralty."

Raz didn't reply, she just continued to examine the floor. I felt terrible in the knowledge that, in trying to improve her life on the Pinwheel, I had likely ruined her future back home. Who knew what adversity she would face now, all because of my meddling...

"Raz, is there anything that I can do?"

She seemed to perk up a little, one of her ears swiveling in my direction.

"Well...it's our last night on the Pinwheel together. Tomorrow, I'll be gone. There's no reason to think that we'll ever see each other again. There's one thing that you can do for me..."

Before I could react, she took my face in her furry hands, leaning down close to me. Her soft, full lips pressed against mine, and then I felt her tongue push into my mouth. It was so long and flexible, warm, and slick with her saliva. The top was covered in rough barbs, but the underside was as smooth as velvet, the tapered tip of her winding organ finding my tongue and coiling around it like a snake. She held me there for a minute, locking me in a long, deep kiss that made my mind go blank. My cheeks burned as she cradled them in her silky palms, my heart hammering in my chest. She finally released me with a wet pop, her amber eyes seeming to glow as she peered down at me longingly.

I sat there, practically steaming. I felt as if my brain was about to melt and run out of my ears. She placed a hand on the back on my head, almost broad enough to encompass it entirely, and I felt her smooth cheek brush against mine as she drew closer to whisper in my ear.

"Let me have you, Stanley. I need this, I want you so badly..."

I was dazed, the metallic taste of her kiss still lingering on my tongue. My body wasn't responding to instructions from my brain, all I could do was sit there. She combed my hair with her claws, their pointed tips tickling my scalp, and I gasped as I felt her sharp teeth tug at my earlobe. I was buried in her thick mane of orange hair as she chewed my ear, her inviting scent filling my nose. She wasn't one for perfumes and scented soaps, she smelled of exertion and body wash, musky and exciting.

She was actually asking for my permission this time, she wasn't just taking what she wanted.

"K-kiss me again, Raz," I stammered.

She pulled back and beamed at me, then drew me close, her hand still cradling my head. She snuck her other arm around my waist, tugging me tight against her body and trapping me in a hug. I felt her pillowy breasts yield beneath her uniform as she pressed me into them, each one as large as my head, her warmth permeating me. As I looked up at her, she delivered another debilitating kiss from above. Her lips were so full and smooth, my spine arching as she slipped her agile tongue into my mouth again. She probed greedily, wantonly, as if the answer to some burning question might be found within. I felt the tapered tip painting shapes on the roof of my mouth and my inner cheeks, wrestling with my tongue. It was like damp satin, so smooth and slick, my eyes fluttering as more of its coils piled into my head. She was careful with the rough side, I could barely feel the feline barbs.

Her tight grip hurt my broken rib a little, but I was too enraptured by the artful strokes of her tongue to care. Her soft breasts spilled around my neck and shoulders due to our difference in stature, their weight resting on me through the fabric of her coveralls. My aching erection pressed against her toned belly, the bunches of hard muscle teasing me even through our clothes.

The kiss went on almost too long. Just when I was beginning to feel dizzy, she released me, and I sucked in a breath of air as I slumped against her. I buried my face in the nape of her neck, it was all that I could reach, feeling the heat of her skin on my cheek as I nuzzled.

"It won't hurt," she murmured, "I'll go slow..."

I couldn't even react, my body was burning up, my mind was in a haze. I could hear my own blood pumping in my ears, my erection beating in time with my heart. Raz released me, lowering me to the bed, then I felt the mattress shift as she stood beside the bunk. She pulled down the zipper on her blue uniform, shrugging out of the upper half, letting it hang behind her. Her pale skin caught the light, her breasts straining heavily against the tube top that fought to contain them, my eyes wandering down toward her stomach to admire her six-pack.

She shook her wide hips, dancing on the spot as she pulled down her uniform, so tight around her butt and thighs that it was almost like a second skin. When she succeeded in freeing herself from its confines, she stepped out of it, crawling back onto the bed and sinking me into the mattress as she straddled me. I gulped conspicuously, we were really doing this...

Raz reached down and took my hand in hers, guiding it up toward her belly. She planted it there, encouraging me to touch her, watching with a smile as I traced the contours that her abs carved in her tummy with my fingers. It was like they were hewn from stone, muscles the size of my fist hiding beneath her glass-smooth skin, flexing as I brushed them. I dared to plant my other hand on one of her massive thighs, as thick around as my torso. I slid up toward the hem of her tight shorts, sinking my fingers into her doughy fat layer and feeling the hardness that lurked just beneath.

"Is it everything that you imagined?" she asked. "You don't have to pretend to be asleep when I'm exercising anymore," she added with a chuckle, and my face burned hotter.

She lowered her lips to my neck, mouthing at my throat, teasing me with wet kisses and gentle bites. Flashes of stimulation ran down my spine like it was an optical cable, each flick of her tongue or pinch of her teeth making me arch my back and roll my hips. I couldn't control my writhing, I was like a puppet, dancing on the end of her strings. She slid her rough tongue down my neck and nibbled my shoulder, one of her massive thighs coming up to press into my groin. Anticipating my reaction, she held me down with a firm hand as I bucked into her, my beleaguered body trying desperately to grind against hers. I felt a throb of pleasure as my member pressed against her leg, separated from her velvet skin by naught but a sliver of fabric.

She was enjoying the effect that she had on me, her amber eyes playing over my body as I writhed beneath her. She tugged my zipper all the way down, parting my uniform and slipping her hand beneath the tank top that I wore beneath. I flinched as I felt her pointed claws press against my belly, contrasting strangely with the softness of her fur. Slowly, lightly, she dragged them down toward my waist. I twitched, watching the outline of her hand glide lower.

"You're so sensitive, monkey," she whispered. "You don't mind if I call you that, right?"

"N-no," I mumbled, my heart skipping a beat as the previously insulting nickname took on an entirely new meaning. She gazed down at me, a mixture of affection and mischief on her face. I lurched as she brushed my erection through the fabric of my uniform, my mind swimming in a sea of arousal and embarrassment as her yellow eyes peered down at me. I tried to cover my face, but she took a firm grip on my wrist and pulled my arm away, pinning it against the mattress.

"Let me see your face," she chuckled, "you're so red." She leered at me, a cruel grin spreading across her lips, her tongue sliding out of her mouth to wet her lips.

"Raz...do it gently..." I whispered.

She cupped her face in her hands and crooned happily, unable to contain herself.

"Oh Stanley...you just keep digging yourself deeper and deeper, don't you?"

She tightened her hold on me, her steely thighs gripping me like a vice, the crotch of her bike shorts pressing down on my member. I could feel her warmth through the thin fabric, it was maddening. Her breasts wobbled enticingly within the confines of her tube top, beads of sweat trailing down her belly, her taut abdominal muscles flexing with her every breath. She began to roll her wide hips gently, grinding against me, the stimulation making me writhe under her oppressive weight.

"The other night, when I wanted to have you" she began. "You told me that you could only do it with someone that you loved, right? Is that some kind of cultural thing? Do humans pair for life or something?"

"Yes, well...no, I mean...it's just something that I promised myself."

She perched atop me, watching me intently with her glowing eyes as I stammered through my reply.

"I don't think that you could say no to me at this point," she said sweetly as she gave me another thrust, making me squirm beneath her. "And after all, I could take you in any way that I wanted." I gasped as she ground her crotch against me again as if to illustrate her point. "But I promised that I'd be a good girl. What do you think? Could you ever love me?"

I was taken aback by her question, my cheeks turning an even deeper shade of red. I tried to cover my face again, and she laughed, pinning my arms against the bed as she made a point of gazing down at me. Her stare was so intense, her irises glittering when they caught the light. As her eyes met mine, I felt all semblance of resistance fade away.

Of course I loved her, I had always loved her. Even when she had pushed me down, when she had scarred me, when she had done her best to make my life miserable. A seething, guilty attraction had bubbled under the surface all the while, made all the more irresistible by its taboo. I had done my utmost to suppress it, I was afraid to admit my infatuation with her because of the power that it might give her over me, cruel and capricious girl that she had once been. She would have toyed with me, she would have broken my heart, and I would have loved every second of it.

Was it safe now? I realized that I no longer cared, I was too far gone. She had already bewitched me.

"I'm...already in love with you," I replied, my own candor surprising me. Now it was Raz's turn to blush. She batted her long lashes and looked away, biting her lower lip.

"Really, monkey? Even though I was so horrible to you?"

I nodded in reply, and a shiver seemed to pass through her body, her thighs tightening around me.

"You poor, hopeless thing," she murmured. She leaned down and kissed me again, doubling over to reach me due to our difference in stature. Her embrace was more urgent this time, almost desperate in its intensity, as though she wished to express every roiling emotion that she felt through the coiling of her tongue. My mind blanked out, pulses of white light flashing in my head. It felt as if she was tugging at my very nerves, plucking at them like the strings of a harp. When she broke away to leave me gasping, her plump lips were joined to mine by a strand of saliva, which broke and fell to my chest as her eyes followed it lasciviously.

"So I have one night to make all of your dreams come true," she said, chewing on her lower lip again. "Perhaps a few of your nightmares, too." She was just so intense, almost too much for me to handle. I felt as though I might melt into a puddle right there on the bed. But her mind was set, she wanted me, and she was going to have me. "You've never done this before, right?" she added. "I get all of Stanley's firsts to myself?"

She released my hands and hooked her claws beneath the elastic of her tube top, lifting it over her head. Freed from their constraints, her breasts cascaded forth, falling down to bounce alluringly as they settled. My mouth watered as I played my eyes over them, so pert and shapely despite their heft, accustomed to gravity far stronger than that of the station. They quivered with her every subtle movement, swaying like the pendulum of a hypnotist, her pink nipples standing out against her porcelain skin.

"Well don't just stare at them," she chuckled. When I didn't react, she hooked a hand behind my back and pulled me upright, pushing my face into the boundless depths of her cleavage. They engulfed my head almost entirely, spilling over my shoulders like melting candle wax, softer and more malleable than I could have imagined. They were so smooth and cool, soothing my burning cheeks, their weight pressing down on me. I breathed in lungfuls of her scent, drunk on it, the salty taste of her sweat on my lips.

I reached up and delved into them, no longer able to resist. My fingers sank up to the knuckle in her fat, the flawless globes deforming beneath my hands like I was shaping wet clay, spilling between my digits when I squeezed. I felt Raz's muscles tense, a low sigh escaping her lips as I kneaded, her abs as hard as tempered steel as they pressed against me through the insubstantial fabric of my tank top. How could someone be at once so soft, and so firm?

My senses were overloaded, awash with wonderful contradictions and unbearable sensations, my aching erection straining against the fabric of my clothes like it was reaching out to her. She stroked my hair, massaging my scalp as my fingers sank deep enough to find firm breast tissue, her spine arching.

After a moment, she released me, placing a hand on my chest and laying me back down on the bunk. She began to pull off my tank top, and I slid out of the sleeves of my uniform, reaching down to help her. I winced as we managed to get it over my head, the movement making my injury ache. Much of my torso was bandaged to protect my broken rib, but my collarbone and my stomach were exposed. Raz brought her lips to my neck, making me flinch as she bit and licked, her feline tongue leaving warm trails of saliva. She seemed to have an almost predatory fixation with my throat. Her gentle nibbling brought back memories of her mock attack on the torus, the vulnerability that I had felt when she had pressed her sharp incisors against my jugular. Now her every peck and lick sent a shiver of pleasure crawling down my spine, the prick of her pointed teeth filling me with lust instead of fear.