Second Born

Peregrine's machine shop has a fabricator intended to make small spares for the drive and auxiliary equipment. I'd used it in the past to make parts for antique or native firearms and fittings for edged weapons. I turned it on and loaded the feed bin with bits of gold jewelry, snippets of computer wire, and nuggets I had acquired here and there. Diana displayed a selection of kaerastiin an anthropologist had shot during her study of the planet for her doctorate. I chose one, made one change I felt was significant to the design, and instructed her what I wanted to appear on the obverses. She fed the information to the fabricator.

"Have we gold chain in stock?"

"No, Captain. But we have gold control and power wiring for the hyperdrive in the usual gauges. Bring 1.25 meters of control wire here and I will handle the rest. It should take about an hour. Shall I announce when it is done?"

"Buzz my handset."

"Very good, sir. The Princess is nearly dressed, and dinner is ready when you wish it. We are running low on organic protein, sir. Can you arrange resupply?"

"I am sure I can. My respects to the Princess, and I'm on my way to dress for dinner."

Returning to the captain's cabin, I found Kinthia in the black spider-silk. It set off her skin to good advantage. The diplomat I had ferried as a favor to an old shipmate who needed her to reach Strine more quickly than scheduled liner service could get her there had enjoyed playing the cock-tease with this dress. I was pleased to see it gracing the form of a much more enchanting female. She pirouetted to show me how it looked on her; my smile and stroking of a cheek with two fingertips elicited bright eyes and a feminine smile with witchcraft in it. She watched while I put on a yacht owner's semi-formal of double-breasted blouse with two rows of gold buttons and four black stripes on the sleeve with a trefoil loop on the uppermost, the bullion edging on the stripes announcing I was a qualified captain as well. The only other decoration on the blouse was the Naval Raider badge on the left breast, which told anyone with eyes to see all they needed to know about my fitness to command. White shirt and pants, black bow tie and black ship shoes completed my costume. Offering my kaerasta my arm, we went in to dinner.

Diana had managed a thick trivalve soup, London broil, new potatoes, sweet peas and a green salad for us, with a Galician flan as the sweet. We had reached the point of my pouring after-dinner liqueurs when my handset vibrated. Excusing myself, I trotted down to the machine shop and returned.

"What was so important you had to leave the table?"

"These, my princess." I laid a thick golden medallion with two braided cables at the top on the table in front of her. She picked up one of the cables and was surprised to see the medallion separate into two halves. The oval in her hand had the arms of the Medusan Royal Family inlaid in enamel, with the crescent in the chief denoting the second child. She looked at the back, with the ridges and valleys that allowed the two to lock into each other to the point a seam was barely visible. She turned over the other and saw my family arms inlaid on it with a centered crescent marking me also as the second child. I looked soberly at her.

"Could these serve as our kaerastiin, Kinthia?"

She responded by standing and putting the one with her arms around my neck. I did the same to her with the pendant bearing my arms. She came into my arms and laid her head on my shoulder.

"I can think of no female on Medusa with a more lovingly made kaerastiin, my Edward." We simply stood together, savoring the closeness and the peace our contact brought to us. At last she said, "Hadn't we better finish assembling that gun?"

"Diana and I installed the splinter shield while you were dressing. Apart from testing the recoil system and some familiarization training on it tomorrow morning, the work is done."

"The Palace doesn't know that," she said, half to herself. "Can you contact Port Control?"

"If you wish. The communicator is on the bridge."

I seated her at the navigator's station in front of the command chair from which I usually controlled the ship and manually activated the comm. Normally I'd simply talk to Diana and have her do it. In fact, I could have done it remotely from my handset; but I didn't want to overload Thia with the ship's technology.

"Aytont Port Control, yacht Peregrine; come in, please."

"Go ahead, Peregrine."

"Stand by for message." I pointed to the console and mouthed to Thia, "Go ahead."

"Please relay to the Palace: 'Assembly taking longer than expected. Will be completed in the morning. Spending night aboard Peregrine. Request Colonel Vamana have team of gun tharns and wagon sent to ship at 10 hours. Signature, Kinthia.' Do you have that, Port Control?"

"Confirmed, Your Highness. Have you anything further for us, Peregrine?"

"Negative, Port Control," I said. "Peregrine clear and standing by. Out." She took my hand and rose from her seat.

"There. We will not be bothered until tomorrow morning. I do not propose to waste a single moment. Come, my darling. Lead me to your cabin, undress me, and take me. I cannot get enough of your lovemaking."

"You know that I am not made of steel, my princess. I am but a flesh and blood man, and I do not wish to disappoint you. We will have to rest at some point," I said, leading my lady where she wished to go.

"You cannot disappoint me, Edward," she whispered as she came into my arms, kissing my eyes and wrapping her arms and a leg around me. "The very touch of your fingers on my skin sets my heart to singing. Your caresses soothe and arouse me at the same time. I feel esteemed and prized, not merely used for a passing romp when no better possibility has appeared. Your kaerastiin design is truer than you know."

As she had been speaking, my fingers had been at work on the fastenings of her gown. The spider-silk, stronger than steel and softer than a wisp of wind, fell to the floor. She brought my hands to her breasts, urging me to fondle them. I bent my lips to nipples already stiff with anticipation of my touch, eager to receive the kisses I had to bestow.

I laved her hard yet pliant nipples with my tongue while stroking the soft skin of her boobs with my fingertips with the lightest of touches, circling and easing ever closer to the areolas. She moaned in the back of her throat, her hands falling from her marvelous tits to rest on the edge of the bunk behind her.

"Mmmm," she whispered. "So good. So very good, my honey stud, my very own sultingas. Such pleasures you bring me, my kaerasti. I surrender myself to you, Edward, wholly, utterly, completely. Use me as you will. My body is yours, as yours is mine. I want you to touch me, to feel me, to pleasure me as no male ever has. I am yours." She spread her legs, inviting me to invade her moist depths any way I wished.

I circled her areolas with my fingers for a minute before reaching to take two strands of her hair and stroke the nipples themselves. She purred and arched her back, offering them to me as her nipples hardened still more. Using her hair to tease those lovely golden globes, I bent my head to suckle her lustful nips, hearing her cry of triumph as her hips rose and she quivered with a little orgasm.

"O-o-o-oh-h-h, yes! I like that, darling Edward! Don't stop! I'm burning inside! So good! So hot! So bright! Please, my sweet, don't stop! I want your hands and mouth on me, everywhere! Use me! Please, use me!"

I added pressure from my teeth to her nipples and simultaneously sucked and pulled on them, switching from one to the other and constantly tickling them with her rustling hair, the twitching ends of her super-fine tresses stimulating the labile tissues tipping the magnificent warheads on her chest. Lying back, she pulled my head to her boobs, panting with need.

"Oh yes! Oh yes! Suck them! Tease me! Don't be gentle, bite them! It hurts so good! Don't stop! Please, don't stop! You're making me -- making me -- making me -- making -- o-o-o-o-o-o-h-h-h-h, yes!"

She came again. Curving up off the bed, my princess shuddered in the throes of pleasure as her climax rippled through her body. As she fell back onto the mattress, I suckled those nipples I liked so much. I have always had a thing for long nipples and Thia's eminently suckable brown nips poked out from her areolas a good 15 millimeters. I pinched them, twisted the one I wasn't mouthing with my fingers, nibbled them, buzzed them with her hair and finally pulled one taut with my teeth, tormenting it with my tongue before letting it snap back and sending a stream of air whistling over the erect, wet tissue.

"O-O-O-H-H-H!"

This orgasm was powerful. She pulled my head into her tits, shoving a breast into my mouth as she squirmed under me, demanding more suction and tongue action as my hands squeezed her bounties and hers dug into my scalp.

"Edward! What you are doing to me! Oh gods, it's so good! It burns through me! Use me, my darling! I am your kaerasta! Use my body! Use me!"

I kissed my way down her body, drawing sensation from her golden skin with lips, tongue, fingertips and her own hair, my hands weaving a pattern up and down her torso, not neglecting her breasts even as I worked past her taut belly to the junction of her legs. More familiar now with how a Medusan female's body responded to a male's, I drew her hair across the outer petals of the garden of delight between her perfect thighs as part of the pas de deux danced by my hands. The swollen petals of the orchid in the center of her pubis shivered and parted to reveal the treasure they guarded. A trickle of love-syrup from her earlier climaxes dribbled onto my waiting tongue. I eagerly lapped her sweetness up and licked my way to the swollen pink clitoral lips that waited for me.

She shook with a climax as I began to lick those hot inner lips, moistening them with my saliva so they glistened. Her hips were beginning to buck up and down, seeking a cock to fill the aching gash guarded by her clits. As I thrust my stiffened tongue between them, I brought the handsful of hair I had been dancing over her skin to press against both of them.

"AIEEEEH!"

Her hands pressed my face into her crotch as her hips rammed her pussy into my face again and again, the sweet sex juices of her people washing over my mouth and tongue in waves as she came with a raw, savage power. She screamed with the pleasure.

"Oh my darling! I burn for you! I need you inside me, filling me, driving me, goading me to spend my life-energies on your magnificent tool! I need my kaerasti deep inside my body, using me to satisfy his lust! Take me, my damislik! Make me your varkinus, my darling stud! Take me! Take me!"

My clothes went flying as I cleared the decks for action. Her eyes were hot as I approached her preceded by a rampant penis that would not be denied. Pushing her thighs even farther apart, I rubbed the purple helmet over her clit-lips, feeling her shudder again at the contact. More fluid dripped from her, betraying the craving for what my wanton so obviously wanted. I used it to lube my rod before I inserted my hard, proud cock between her nether lips and s-l-o-o-w-l-y sank home into her body. As I bottomed out in her cunt, she shook as she came, her hot, liquid twat clasping at me. But her spending on my shaft was but the beginning of our lovemaking.

I had never had a woman in my bed as ready, as eager as Kinthia. With every thrust, her body shuddered with a small release even as the tension for a massive climax continued to build within her. Her hips rose to meet my rigid erection as it drove into her like a battering ram, her mouth seeking mine, wanting me to fill her top and bottom, urging me without words to pillage her magnificent body like an invader sacking a beautiful golden city. Our joining was a perfect combination of lust, desire and caring which made every sexual encounter I had ever had, even the times a highly skilled Socratic hetaera had expressed her undying gratitude for my saving her from ravishment by an Alphan officer, seem like the first uncertain gropings of two teenage virgins who hadn't a clue. I found myself losing control, paying less attention to techniques to be used to pleasure one's partner and instead responding to the desperate need we had of each other.

Our bodies drove together like waves crashing on the shore of some sexual ocean, impelled by ancient desires and a mutual compulsion to make our lover climax. I was intoxicated by the scent and feel of my princess, this so-called ugly, misshapen, defective Medusan who suited me so perfectly as we moved together like a well oiled, perfectly fitted machine. Her hard, tight nipples rubbed the planes of my chest as I slid in and out of her sopping cunt. Our tongues filled each other's mouths as we sought ever more sensation, the outside world receding until only the two of us remained. We tumbled as though in free fall inside our heads, language gone, only words and sounds remaining as we used each other as men and women have been meant to be used since the dawn of time.

"Uh-huh! Uh-huh! Uh-huh! Harder! Deeper! Yes! Yes! Hot! Ahh! Ahh! Please! Deep! Ahh! Deep! Close! Uh-huh! Close! Burning! Harder! Longer! Please! Please! Almost! Now! Now! Now! Now -- O-O-O-O-H-H-H-H Y-E-E-S-S-S!"

The tiny seed that was the two of us exploded like the Big Bang scientists said had formed the universe, an explosion of brightness and colors filling the void as we came as one, climaxing with a power unimaginable as my impossibly long cock swelled to a diameter beyond my experience and blasted a continuous stream of white spunk into a cunt which sucked my sperm into its depths, sweet liquid fire washing over it and around it to splash against my balls and crotch as our pudenda were soaked by the juices squirting from deep inside her. The starburst faded as I spun down into the blackness of sleep.

When I awoke some unknowable time later, I was back in my cabin aboard Peregrine. Kinthia lay entangled with me, a contented smile on her face. She stirred and opened her eyes.

"Oh, my dear Edward. Never have I felt what I felt tonight. This is what living is for. This is what loving is supposed to be. This is what females wait for their entire lives and seldom find. I am so fortunate that you found me, my sweet one."

"The good fortune is mine, my precious. To have a woman who gives of her self freely and without reservation or expectation is a gift I never expected. I am proud you are my kaerasta, darling Kinthia, and prouder yet you chose me as your kaerasti."

She snuggled into my arms, whispering, "So do I feel, thou alien who hast traversed the depths of space to find his kaerasta. Hold me now, my darling, and sleep." Entwined, the two of us slipped into the slumber of deep contentment.

Diana's voice came over the ship's intercom in the saloon where we were lazing over second cups of tea after breakfast. "Captain, there is a Colonel Vamana requesting permission to come aboard. He has a carriage, a wagon and a work crew with him."

Thia sighed. "My darling, I know you have a job to do for your company. But I wish we did not have to leave the ship. I cannot remember when I have been happier."

We stood, holding each other close, each of us drawing calm and reassurance from the other. It could not have been for more than a few seconds, but it felt like minutes and I was loath to release her. At last I spoke to the air. "Diana, my compliments to the Colonel and we will meet him at the cargo ramp. Lower away and stand by to assist if required."

If the Colonel was surprised to find a princess of the blood royal on my arm when we met him at the cargo hatch, he gave no sign of it as he strode up the ramp and saluted. Dressed in my combat coveralls and a black beret with a Royal Navy officer's cap badge still attached, I returned it by reflex.

"Good morning, Captain; Your Highness. As requested, one work party. What are they to move?"

"The steel cases in the center of the hold and the cannon you will find there, Colonel. Carry on." The Colonel waved his men aboard and Kinthia and I walked down the ramp to the carriage he had thoughtfully brought along.

Vamana and his men were good. Despite the fact they had never laid eyes on a fieldpiece like mine before, they rigged tackle, eased it down the ramp and hooked it up to a team of tharns, ready to move in a matter of minutes. As the men loaded the wagon with cases of ammunition, the Colonel came to the carriage.

"We have scheduled the test of your gun versus the Thunderers for an hour past noon, Captain. As you suggested, we rigged two gun positions using old bronze muzzle-loading cannon. For added realism, we have tethered presaten in the positions that would be occupied by the gun crew."

"That is liable to get very messy, Colonel. The Thunderers may not be able to hit the broad side of a barn, but my 75mm is accurate for a cannon firing unguided projectiles."

"My point exactly. I don't know how much Medusan history you have read, sir, but as a people we haven't experienced much fighting since King Tringar the Victorious, King Berit's great-grandfather, defeated the alliance of city-states along the Propontin Peninsula and accepted their submission. Since then, Medusa has been united under the rule of the Crown. After more than a century with nothing more to fight than bandits, bands of sea pirates, and an occasional off-planet raider, I am very much afraid the Army has forgotten what its job is when one gets down to it. Blood and gore may prove salutary to troops who have rarely faced armed enemies."

"It may indeed. However, I regret the troops will be deprived of roast presata for dinner. Little enough is going to be left of my target."

"Even with an inexperienced gun crew? The colonel commanding the King's Own Guns provided me with this gang, who have been told off as your crew. The corporal is newly promoted and the privates are fresh from basic training. They have never worked together before. You're too experienced an officer not to know that teamwork is essential for a gun crew. His was a major voice in persuading the King to purchase the Thunderers." Vamana hesitated. As an equerry to the King, he was in a ticklish position; there were limits to what he could and could not say. I understood; so did Kinthia.

"Plus me as his gun captain," she said firmly. "Lord Edward and I assembled this gun and tested it with compressed air. He will act as the battery commander and direct the firing. He has drilled me on the sights, the training and elevation mechanisms and the firing controls. Give us half an hour to drill the privates whose job will be to position and load the piece and deal with the empty shell casings, and practice the corporal who will handle the training mechanism, and we will undertake to beat the Colonel's best."

Vamana's relief was palpable, but at the same time skeptical. "You, in a sergeant's job, Your Highness?"

My kaerasta smiled, steel in her voice despite her bantering tone. "Yes, me, Colonel. Do you think four enlisted men will allow themselves to fail when they are under the eyes of a princess, even if only the Carpenter's Daughter?" Colonel Vamana prudently said nothing more for the rest of the trip to the artillery practice range.

To the surprise of the Colonel commanding the regiment, the coach paused by the command group only long enough for Vamana to disembark before continuing on to its firing position. To the surprise of the troops riding the wagon, the princess they could barely stand to look at had a mouth on her.