Space Cherry Pt. 04

It was something called a driver coil. And it was serious.

"Shit Skip, I know we talked about replacing it at the last overhaul, but..." Tor began but the Captain interrupted him with a tone of anger that was not what Cherry has come to consider characteristic.

"But you said it was good for another five thousand light years! God fucking damn it Tor, now we're fuckin' stuck here in the middle of nowhere with no damn engines and fuck all power!"

Cherry had never seen her Captain mad. She thought about their encounter with the Galberon pirates and how calm and composed he'd been and she felt a deep discomfort rising from the pit of her stomach.

E16's full compliment was gathered in the ship's engine room, around the main systems display that dominated a console in the center of the room. Fem hung his head and shook it briefly. Heb paced. Tor looked pained as he grasped to find some explanation or fix that would make his error of judgement less costly to them. Cherry stood to the side, a look of deep worry on her face, her arms folded across her chest.

Her knowledge of the ship's engines and power systems was limited to what she'd learned in the classes she took before she left Earth and what she'd picked up in her short time on board, which in practice meant she knew little. Still, she knew enough to understand that a clapped out driver coil meant the end of the line.

There was no repairing it. The coil would need to be replaced and no ship routinely kept a spare, they were just too large and too expensive.

So the look of worry she bore reflected this knowledge, but she felt even more concerned at the all too sudden fractiousness that had crept into the heretofore entirely positive dynamic among the crew.

Up to now, ever since the moment she had come upon Phil cheating on her, without much of a plan, everything had gone right for her. She was enjoying life, having lots of great sex and most of all enjoying the company of good people. She was really starting to feel at home on E16.

As she felt herself slipping into self-pity, she checked herself. Perhaps there was an opportunity here for her to develop a new role for herself among the crew.

She knew her streak of positivity and success was never going to go on forever. Sometime, something was going to happen to put an obstacle in her way and she could either stand there sullenly, arms folded in sullen regret, or she could do something about it.

"Fuck, god damn, shit, son of a..." The Captain's pacing and random swearing sealed her resolve and she slammed her hands down on the console.

Heb was startled from his angry reverie. Tor gave her a look that she understood as 'what the fuck are you doing?' and she thought she detected a hint of a smirk in Fem's face.

"Look, we can stand around here cursing each other..." she began.

"Cursing that son of a..." Heb interrupted, throwing an accusatory arm towards Tor and leading the engineer to flinch.

"Captain!" The steel in Cherry's voice cut the captain short and he glared at her instead and although the heat of his rage now seemed turned on her, Cherry was not dissuaded from her plan.

"We can stand around here feeling sorry for ourselves or we can start to dig ourselves out of this shit. Pointing fingers and focusing on who's fault this is will get us nowhere. We need to work as a crew to find a solution."

When she'd finished speaking, she felt a little bit like vomiting.

It had all seemed like such a good idea a moment ago. She tried to gauge reaction. Fem was definitely smirking now. Tor's look had changed to a pleading one and was directed towards Heb who for his part continued to glare at Cherry.

Presently, absent even the usually constant thrum of the engines, silence hung like a dead weight in the ship. After several moments, Cherry noticed that she was holding her breath.

Finally, slowly, the Captain's glare seemed to soften and he leaned against the bulkhead with a long sigh, lowering his head.

"Well, shit. Thank you Cherry. I think I needed that," he began, raising his head to face her once more. "You know we've been through our share of scrapes in this ship -- Tor, Fem, you know what I mean, hell even in the short time since you joined us Cherry we've been boarded by fucking pirates!" He was smiling now.

"And every time, back even to my father's time as master of this boat, and his father's before him, we've never failed to... to dig ourselves out of the shit." He paused now and looked for a long moment at Cherry, a soft and warm smile across his face. "I guess even I need to be reminded sometimes of just how much we are capable of when we work together." His gaze shifted now towards Tor.

"Skip, I'm really sorry..." the engineer began but the captain cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"Tor," he began, approaching the engineer, "it's me who should be apologizing. This is no more your fault than it is mine. You've kept a 75 year old freighter running like a song for a lot of years now. You're one hell of an engineer, you're my friend, hell -- you're my brother Tor, and I'm glad to have you aboard." He extended his hand and Tor took it eagerly, pulling Heb into a manly embrace where they clapped each other on the back a couple of times.

"Aye, aye Skip," Tor said.

Cherry almost made an audible sob but managed to hold it in. After a moment to gather himself, Heb returned to Captain mode.

"OK then, we've lost the driver coil and we don't have a spare -- let's work the problem. Tor, any chance we can repair it?"

"No way Skip, it's completely shot. Only good for scrap now," the engineer replied grimly.

"That's what I thought. Suggestions anyone? Come on now, no idea too stupid."

"What about the shuttle?" Fem began, "is there any parts in there we could salvage to get us moving?"

"Not a bad idea Fem," Tor looked intrigued, "but the shuttle's parts aren't compatible with E16. We salvaged it from an old Brolean cruiser about 10 years ago, the parts just won't fit together."

"But we could use the shuttle to leave the ship, right?" Cherry felt an idea beginning to form.

"You mean abandon E16?" Heb seemed indignant at the thought.

"No Skip, that's... that's not what I meant, but there might be something in the shuttle's range..." she clarified and Tor finished for her.

"...where we could get a new coil, or at least get a tow to get us moving."

"Right! Now we're on to something. Tor, what's the shuttle's max range?" A new glint had formed in the Captain's eye thanks to the kernel of Cherry's plan. Tor's too showed the fire returning as he did some quick calculations on the panel behind him.

"About a day Skip, roughly 1.7 light years give or take and still be able to make it back to E16."

"OK, Fem -- what's in range?" Heb asked but Fem was already deeply engaged with a console.

"Looks like three systems in range," he answered immediately, a hopeful edge to his voice but this faded as the console beeped when he'd finished with it. "Shit -- nothing but piles of rock and gas Skip, sorry."

"Fuck." Heb's fire dwindled and his head dropped. Silence threatened to consume the cabin once again until Cherry had a lightbulb moment.

"Wait a minute, Fem -- double the range on your search," she said excitedly. They looked at her quizzically so she explained her thinking, moving to access a console herself.

"Tor said 1.7 light years range, assuming the shuttle had to have enough fuel to come back. But if we're looking for a place where we can pick up a driver coil or some place with a tug to come and tow us, either way it's surely the kind of place that would be able to refuel the shuttle, right?" She looked at Tor hopefully and he grinned.

"I feel pretty stupid. You're absolutely right Cherry," Tor said as Cherry began poring over her console, entering the new parameters.

"OK, looks like two systems match the extended range -- Gasprol and Fortunasa -- both inhabited," she said excitedly from her screen.

"Never heard of them," Heb said, shaking his head and glancing at Tor who matched the gesture. Fem looked thoughtful though.

"Fuck me," he said finally and the silence weighed again for several seconds as all eyes fell on him.

"Well don't keep it to yourself Fem!" Heb said enthusiastically at last.

"Gasprol. Gasprol 2 to be precise. I was there once, years ago when I was doing my training. It's a total dump, literally a massive junkyard -- it's exactly what we need!" Other than his clay, Cherry had never seen or heard Fem speak about something so excitedly.

"Holy shit. We may not be licked yet," Heb began, Fem's excitement taking hold among them all, "and you're sure Fem -- definitely Gasprol 2?"

"Oh I'm sure Skip, I'll never forget it. You see I met this girl there, a Dilusean..." Fem trailed off into the memory.

"Right, well, I'm sure you can tell us the story later. For right now, we need to get the shuttle prepped for launch, Cherry -- pack a bag, you're coming with me. Tor -- you and Fem get started tearing out the spent coil so we can get the new one in as soon as we get back." The Captain's energy was intoxicating for the rest of the crew.

"Will do Skip," Tor replied, clapping his hands once, "we should just about have it out by the time you get back. Let's go Fem." He waved to the smaller man to follow him and they each exchanged meaningful nods with Heb and Cherry as they headed to the service door at the rear of the compartment that led to the engines' inner workings. For their part, Cherry and Heb quickly made their way back towards the bridge.

With all the excitement and exhilaration of the plan coming together, it wasn't until she was stowing the last of their supplies in the shuttle's storage compartments that Cherry paused to reflect that she was about to spend at least two days alone with her captain in the cramped confines of the shuttle. Not wanting to get lost in lustful thoughts at what was almost certainly not an opportune time, she focused instead on familiarizing herself with the new environment of the shuttle.

Scavenged hardware as it was, its design and functionality were different than E16's but still intuitive enough for her to be able to figure them out. Shaped roughly like a cigar with a tapered end at the cockpit, the shuttle hung suspended in a small bay along E16's keel. It's job had originally been to ferry diplomats and other VIP types around so it was comfortable enough. E16's crew had ripped out two of the three sleeping compartments to make space for cargo, leaving one room that doubled as a galley and sleeping quarters adjacent to the spacious cockpit, which had seating for four.

Cherry's acquaintance-making was interrupted by Heb's purposeful arrival in the cockpit.

"Everything ready?" he asked, taking his seat in the pilot's chair next to Cherry.

She took a deep breath and reminded herself to focus on what was potentially a life or death situation, desperately trying to push all thoughts of erotic delight at being confined alone with the captain to the back of her mind.

"Aye, aye Skip. I've stowed a week's worth of provisions and George is powered up and ready to go."

George, incidentally, was the shuttle's name. That's another story.

"OK then," Heb was all work as his hands moved knowingly across the console in front of him. The launch sequence was a straightforward matter and only a few minutes after she'd come aboard, George was carrying Cherry away form E16 for the first time since she'd made the old freighter her home. Heb noticed that she had put an image of the ship from George's exterior camera on her screen and seemed to stare at it. He swiveled his chair around and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry Cherry, we'll see her again." Afraid she might cry if she tried to speak, she simply turned her head and smiled knowingly at him, placing her hand on top of his. This simple gesture of solidarity between comrades startled her quite immediately from her longing thoughts of E16 and images of her captain's naked body rushed to fill her mind. Her hand lingered where it was longer than seemed comfortable for Heb. His smile waned to one of slight awkwardness and he removed his supportive hand and moved back to focus on his console.

"OK. I'm setting the autopilot course for Gasprol 2. ETA, 34 hours. Hope you brought a good book."

He turned his head towards her and smiled, or grinned -- either way the awkwardness of a moment ago remained. Cherry smiled back with equal discomfort.

Once properly underway, they took an hour or so to go through a list of systems checks just to be safe. George hadn't been out in a while and Heb had no interest in a second systems failure today.

So time passed and the awkwardness settled away as a sense of purpose took it's place. When they were done, Heb decided it was time for lunch so they adjourned to the aft compartment where a small table and some chairs provided some home comforts as Cherry broke out the rations.

As they ate in relative silence, Cherry searched for something to break it and realized that one thought predominated.

"Hey Skip?"

"Yeah."

"I was just wondering..." she paused, realizing that in searching for something to say and finally deciding what she really wanted to ask, she hadn't actually thought about the words she would use.

"... I mean, I'm not... I just..."

"You want to know why I brought you with me instead of Tor or Fem?" Her smile was genuine this time, glad he had understood her, even if she hadn't fully understood herself.

"Well, it's simple really. We're gonna lose at least three days to this and if Tor came with me, we wouldn't be able to start changing out the bad coil until we got back, which is gonna take like two days, so that'd make it five days lost, at least. I considered Fem, especially seeing as he knows this Gasprol place but Tor's gonna need help taking out that coil and -- with all due respect Cherry -- Fem's been around the ship a lot longer than you, he'll make the job go faster."

Cherry was nodding knowingly as he spoke, this was the same reasoning she had suspected. Still, she sensed Heb was holding something back, that he wasn't quite finished.

He stood up from his seat and brought the remains of his ration pack to the recycler by the wall, continuing as she hoped he would, but with his back to her now.

"There's another reason though." He paused, still hesitant. He stood now, arms akimbo and still with his back to her, as if considering how or perhaps whether he should continue. Finally, after a deep breath, he returned to sit facing Cherry. She grew concerned as he looked at her, making clear and deliberate eye contact.

"Cherry, it's obvious you make a huge contribution to our boat. Actually it's hard to believe how lucky we got with you! You learn fast, you get things done and you're good company. You're a great asset to the ship," he began. Cherry's pride at such kind words from her Captain were balanced at concern with where he was going. She sensed an obvious and very large 'but' was on the way.

"I just wanted to make that clear, because... well..." Now it was Heb's turn to be confounded. "Shit."

"It's OK Skip, whatever you need to say, it's OK. I really think one of the reasons I love being on E16 so much is that we're always open with each other, honest I mean. it makes life much less complicated!" Cherry said encouragingly.

Heb smiled at her. It was a generous and compassionate smile. He really was impressed with his new shipmate, especially how she had learned so quickly to think of his old freighter as her home. Still, part of it was reserved for her innocence and his understanding that she still had a lot to learn about life aboard ship, and the life of space-faring traders such as themselves.

"That it does Cherry," he began again. "The other reason that I brought you along is that... well.. is because you're really hot." Cherry immediately felt heat rush to her cheeks and Heb clearly noticed too, holding up a hand before continuing.

"Now, listen -- I want to be clear, I'm just trying to use all the assets at my disposal, I'm not trying to come on to you or anything." Cherry thought the normal thing to do here would be to laugh. What came out of her mouth though was a noise difficult to describe, or even name. Perhaps chortle would be best. Her throat was suddenly extremely dry, so she was sure that when she tried to speak it came out hoarse.

"No, of course... Captain... I..." she had to stop to swallow hard before she could continue, but Heb held up a hand and used the other to pass Cherry a bottle of water.

"Let me explain," he went on, his voice kind but clearly authoritative. "You're hot Cherry, it's not as if that's a secret or anything. You're a very beautiful young woman, and I know Tor and Fem think so too." He smiled knowingly at her now and if it was possible, her blush deepened. Still, she was grateful that she sensed no reproach in him.

"And I know you know it too. I mean I haven't sensed a moment of vanity in you, but you must know men want you and I think, I mean, I hope you've learned how to use that. Now, I don't mean that in any negative way -- power to you -- I just thought it might come in handy on this trip."

He sat back into his chair, finished with his explanation. Cherry was still working in her mind to get what he was saying to coalesce into something understandable and sensed he was deliberately waiting for her to figure it out.

A long moment passed in silence. Cherry felt the uncomfortable heat drain away from her face as it did. Heb saw this too and was glad. He felt he'd taken a risk in being so open with Cherry, but was glad that his gamble looked to be paying off. He saw much potential in her and wanted badly for her to see that he was doing his best to show her that, in their business, one had to use every possible advantage to get ahead.

This was also the thought turning in Cherry's mind. Alongside it was a deep gratitude that the Captain trusted her intelligence and wisdom enough to be honest with her. Finally, she broke the silence to make clear her understanding.

"So, you want me to use my feminine wiles on these lonely junkyarders to maybe get us a better deal." She smiled a little.

"Something like that." He was smiling back.

"I think I can help with that."

"I know you can."

They were smiling broadly at each other now and, finally, laughing together. It was a long, hearty and deeply felt laugh. In the midst of it, they spontaneously knocked their water bottles together in a celebration of mutual respect and understanding.

The awkwardness drained out of their little boat completely.

Heb offered to take the first watch in the cockpit and told Cherry to get some rest. As she did, alone in the aft compartment now, she was deeply happy.

Clearly, a chemistry, an understanding existed between her and Tor and her and Fem, but now she felt, finally, as if something similar existed or was at least starting to develop for her with Heb.

Something else was clear as well though she decided, lying there on the double bed that took up most of one side of the compartment.

She wanted him more than ever.

She ruminated over this for what felt like hours. She'd be crazy to throw away this opportunity to try and make something happen with him. As her thoughts moved more and more to this possibility, her mind couldn't help but picture Heb's naked body, his cock, and before long her hand naturally made it's way to her pussy and found it already moist.

She was quickly dripping wet and finally made what seemed to her the only sensible decision she could.

"Fuck it," she finally announced to herself.

Getting up from the cot, she took off the top she was wearing and disposed of it along with the rest of her clothes on the floor. She took a moment to enjoy the cool air on her skin, her nipples hardening slightly in the breeze of the shuttle's ventilation system, before marching naked for the door that separated the crew compartment from the cockpit.