Space Cherry Pt. 06

It took a few moments for the four shipmates' senses to confirm that they were, in fact, home. Not to mention back in their own clothes as well. It was Cherry who broke the silence.

"We're home." The four smiled at each other warmly and each seemed to take a moment to steady themselves and come to terms with the relief they were feeling.

"OK..." Heb finally began, "OK. Let's... let's do a full systems check, see if that prick did any lasting damage to the ship." Cherry couldn't help but smile at how quickly her Captain was back to business after experiencing something so indescribably bizarre and frightening.

"Fem, start system diagnostics from the control stations in engineering. Start with life support and work your way down, you know what to do," Heb went on. Fem nodded and, with one more smile for Cherry and his comrades, headed for engineering.

"Tor -- you should find George docked at the port side airlock with our new driver coil inside, see if everything is as it should be and I'll join you shortly, we need to get started on getting it installed."

"Aye, aye Skip. Damn, it is good to be home!" Tor beamed brightly at them as he headed for the door. Cherry felt herself beaming too, until Heb spoke to her.

"Cherry, you're off duty -- head to your quarters and get some rest. That's an order." This final short sentence seemed to suggest that Heb knew that Cherry would not be too pleased about climbing into bed to sleep while her shipmates went about critical work.

"Skip please, I'm fine. I don't want to be treated any differently. I'm part of this crew and it's my responsibility to get to work. Like you said, who knows what Xan did to the ship."

Involuntarily, Cherry found that her hands had become planted firmly on her hips and her chest puffed out a little in a gesture of defiance that she really didn't want to convey. Later, she was glad for Heb's understanding of how she was feeling. He approached her now, a gentle if solemn look on his serious face.

"Cherry, this is not something we discuss. Now, last I checked I was still the Captain of this ship and I've given you an order and you're going to follow it. That's a pretty important part of what being 'a part of this crew' means, you know."

"But Skip, please..." she pleaded but he cut her off with a strong hand on her shoulder.

"Cherry, listen to me. It's been -- what? -- three odd weeks since I first met you at the Pirate on Apollo station?" Cherry nodded sheepishly before Heb went on. "Right. And in that time you have successfully, more or less single-handedly retaken the ship from Galberon fucking pirates, saving the cargo and potentially our lives; you have, at great personal risk to yourself, negotiated a deal for a new driver coil, again saving the cargo and very possibly the ship; and then -- if that wasn't enough -- you again put your personal safety and wellbeing at risk to engage in an experiment with some bizarre fucking weird fucking 'other plane' alien asshole, again -- you guessed it -- saving the ship, and our lives and likely many other lives as well."

He was holding her by both shoulders now and although all the things he was saying were true, and calling attention to things Cherry was proud of and happy about, she found it hard to meet his eyes and she kept her head down.

"Cherry, look at me," Heb said, his tone firm without being demanding. Not without some effort, Cherry lifted her head to meet his gaze.

"I've been doing this for a long time, and I can tell you -- without exaggeration -- that meeting you in that bar on Apollo and agreeing to take you on with us was both the luckiest and smartest damn thing I've ever done in my life." Cherry was smiling broadly now and tears started to fill her eyes. She stifled a sob. Heb pulled her to him and hugged her. Cherry found great comfort and warmth as she nestled her head in her Captain's chest.

"But despite your habit of saving my ship and my life, I'm still the Captain around here and looking after you is my responsibility," Heb released her again and held her at arms length. "Now, you have the energy of youth that's for sure, and you think you can do anything and carry on as normal and hey -- based on what you've been doing around here -- I'm not 100% convinced that isn't true," he smiled now, and Cherry let out a sound that was half-chuckle, half-sob, "but sometimes, I'm still going to have to be the one to tell you when it's time for you to rest and I need for you to trust my judgement when I do that Cherry, just like I trust yours. Do you understand?" His eyes locked on hers now. Not trusting herself to be able to speak without sobbing, Cherry just nodded slowly.

"I know you do," Heb responded, and hugged her again. "Now, you ready to follow orders?" he went on, releasing her now. Cherry, recovering from Heb's assault of kindness, finally felt able to speak again.

"Aye, aye skip," she managed, still smiling while wiping tears from her face.

"Alright then. Hit your bunk and get some sleep. We'll wake you for dinner later."

Cherry nodded and smiled at Heb and turned to go. Heb's attention moved to one of the consoles at the Captain's chair. As Cherry reached the door to the bridge and it slid open automatically for her, she stopped and turned back to her Captain. She knew she wanted to say something, to acknowledge in some way how much what Heb had said meant to her, but she couldn't find the words. As she struggled, Heb -- perhaps noticing that the doors hadn't closed behind her -- turned to her. The muscles in his face relaxed and he and nodded gently. If anything, the ease of this shared understanding of what she wanted to say made Cherry feel only happier. With a long and contented sigh, she headed to her room.

As she got undressed and climbed into her bed, Cherry was thinking of two things. The first was that she was actually extremely tired. The second was that she didn't know how she was going to be able to sleep with the thoughts of all the incredible experiences she'd had since she last slept in this bed. She needn't have worried though. As her thoughts automatically turned back to the start of this latest adventure on the shuttle with Heb, she drifted gently to sleep, a warm and contented smile on her face.

*

She woke with a bit of a start and had the strange sensation of not having any idea what time is was, or even what day. Everything that had happened to her, from the moment she and Heb had left for Gasprol seemed to form into one long blur.

Though warm and comfortable in her bed, she found herself hungry so got dressed and made for the galley. There, she found her three shipmates chatting, eating and drinking and she noticed a strange looking bottle on the table.

"Cherry!" they all seemed to cheer at once. She smiled awkwardly and sat down herself.

"Hey guys. What happened to waking me for dinner? You all seem in a good mood. I take it E16 is OK?" she asked, nodding to the strange bottle.

"Sorry Cherry, I went to wake you but you just looked so damn peaceful we agreed to leave you rest a while longer," Tor began as he got up and fetched another glass to pour her a drink, "but I don't mind telling you, we was in the mood for celebratin' and the Skip here, well, he produced this bottle of Dilusean wine he got from -- who was it you said Skip?"

"Shoba," Heb confirmed solemnly.

"Shoba -- that's it! Fem's old friend. Anyhoo, turns out the Diluseans like their wine strong -- here have a taste!" he said, thrusting the glass at her. She took a tentative sip and while the taste definitely had notes of fruit that she would expect from wine, it was obviously very strong and she reeled a little as she swallowed.

"Wow! That is strong! Is there anything to eat, I'm starving," she asked.

"Sure Cherry, I'll fix you a plate," Fem said, and got up to the counter, returning with a plate of food for Cherry. He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder as he set it down in front of her.

"Thanks Fem," she smiled warmly at him and placed her hand on top of his for a moment.

"So guys, what do yo think? Cremufax or bust I say!" Heb leaned forward as he spoke to them all.

"What's Cremufax?" Cherry asked.

"Well Cherry," Heb replied "there have been some developments while you were asleep."

"Developments!" Tor beamed, and clinked glasses with the skipper.

"Wha...?"

Fem, who -- perhaps being the one with the most experience of it -- seemed least affected by the Dilusean wine, helped her out.

"It seems Cherry, that Xan didn't just return us to E16, he did a bit of a number on her while he was at it."

"What do you mean? I don't... is everything OK with the ship?" Cherry asked, concern growing on her face. Tor took up the explanation.

"OK doesn't even come close Cherry. It's 10 years E16 has been my home, and I ain't never seen her in better condition. That son of a bitch went and upgraded every damn system on the ship! Shit, he even installed the new driver coil!" Tor was clearly delighted with life, though still shocked at their good fortune, and he leaned back in his seat and took another drink, shaking his head in disbelief. Cherry couldn't quite take it in herself.

"Skip? Is it true? Is the ship... better?" Cherry asked, allowing her instinctive optimism to break through.

"That she is Cherry," Heb replied, "Whatever you did for him, it seems Xan's gratefulness extended to giving our old ship the most comprehensive overhaul she's ever had. I mean, everything still looks the same, but -- mechanically -- E16 is in the best shape of her life. Engine and reactor efficiency are up at least 20% from what we can tell. Life support, cargo handling drones, hell, even the lighting is working better." Heb was beaming, and he and Tor clinked glasses again before he went on.

"And, not to pile on the shocking news, but when we checked the comms logs, we found that the contract for this cargo we're hauling got cancelled while we were... otherwise engaged, so it turns out, we got no place to be just at the moment. Hence: Cremufax."

"Cremufax!" Tor echoed and he and Heb clinked glasses again.

Cherry leaned back, trying to take it all in, trying to remember to chew her food and trying to find some reference to Cremufax in her brain.

Heb, Tor and Fem shared a look and Fem took up the explanation.

"Crem is a pleasure planet Cherry, not one of the fancy ones you might see in the vids, but it's right up our alley," he said, smiling.

Understanding began to dawn on Cherry. She was, like everyone else in the galaxy, well acquainted with the concept of a pleasure planet, though she had never been to one. They were generally heavily terraformed worlds, designed to offer tourists an unrelentingly positive and beautiful experience -- white sandy beaches, bright blue oceans, non-stop tropical weather and whatnot.

Some, like the galaxy-famous Kouring or Selba, were synonymous with the highest standards of wealth, opulence and exclusivity, the kinds of places the crew of E16 would only ever get to see from a porthole as they dropped off some expensive cargo. Others, she knew, were not as up-market and this, she guessed, was the bracket Cremufax fell into.

"So, what do you say Cherry?" Heb asked, "seeing as we seem to be at an unexpected loose end, a few days on a pleasure planet, one that happens to be only a few days away now that E16's top speed is about 20% higher, is just what the doctor ordered I think."

Cherry looked around at the smiling faces around her before thrusting her glass into the air.

"Damn straight Skip. Cremufax here we come!"

*

It was a six day journey to Cremufax -- or Crem as Cherry was learning to call it -- and this allowed life aboard E16 to begin to get back to normal after the crises of the previous few days.

Getting back to learning the ships systems, Cherry was able to see for herself that everything was working better. The whole ship, every system she interacted with, behaved as it if were brand new and top of the line.

Still, after a couple of days Cherry had a feeling that something was off. It didn't take her long, lying in bed on her third night back on E16, to realize that it was that she hadn't had any sex since their deliverance from Xan's ship.

As she lay there thinking about it, she came to the conclusion that all three of her shipmates were giving her space. No one wanted to be the one to suggest or instigate anything after what she had had to do with Xan. Although they hadn't really spoken about it much, Cherry's sense that they were worried she might be traumatized or damaged somehow by the experience was clear in her mind.

She concluded quickly, and strongly, that she needed to disavow them of this feeling and to do so urgently. She was sure that one of the things she loved most about life on E16 was that she had regular access to three men whose company she enjoyed and who had all demonstrated a very high degree of skill in making her cum.

That night, she started with Tor, if only because his room was closest to hers and he wasn't on watch. She marched straight into him and without much, if any, preamble, she sucked him until he was hard and then fucked his brains out until they shared a powerful orgasm. And then she fucked him again, and then again just to be sure he got the message.

The following morning, as Tor went on watch and Fem came off, she entered the latter's cabin and, as he lay in his cot, she climbed on top of him, kissed him passionately, grinding away on him until he was rock solid before she impaled herself on him and rode him for all she was worth, until he too came with her.

The captain took a little more work than the other two, but not a great deal. Actually, it was just that she had to speak a little before she fucked him. She found him alone in the galley later that day and, after reminding him that -- as he had pointed out on their return from Xan's ship -- her wellbeing was his responsibility, calmly informed him that her wellbeing currently required that he fuck her good and hard on the table right here and right now, before dropping her shorts to the floor, bending herself over the table and presenting her glistening pussy to him.

And so, he did as she asked and pounded her with ferocious power and speed until they came together in a mayhem of passionate shouting and grunting. Tor, who happened to be walking past the galley at that very moment, smiled knowingly to himself while Fem, only a short distance away in his cot, still recovering from his own encounter with Cherry earlier that day, did the same.

So by the time they arrived at Cremufax, Cherry was confident that her three shipmates, the three people she was closest to in the universe, were clear in their understanding that she was still very much herself.

Heb checked them into a reasonably priced hotel, on him, "Call it a bonus," he said. After sharing dinner in a nice restaurant, Fem announced that he was going to visit a Rulippian gallery he'd discovered nearby and Heb and Tor decided to hit the casinos. Cherry chose to strike out on her own, to take in some of the sights and sounds of her first pleasure planet.

And there were lots of sights and sounds to experience. She went with Heb and Tor as far as the nearest entertainment district and they went their separate ways.

For a short while, Cherry was a little overwhelmed. The street was a veritable cacophony of bright lights and loud noises seemingly designed to assault the senses to such a degree that the average tourist would part with as much money as possible.

When she got her bearings, a familiar looking sign caught her attention a short way ahead. Whatever text it contained was in a language she couldn't understand but there was something about the colors and the shape of it that made her feel sure she'd seen it somewhere before. The sign changed every few seconds, apparently to a different language and as she got closer, it finally changed to English and she stopped short.

"Well fuck me," she said aloud as she read it.

Velasy's.

By the time the name had moved on to the next language Cherry was already inside, guided by her powerful and exciting memories of that first encounter with alien sex. She didn't really know what she was expecting, Velasy himself was surely still on Apollo, but the memory drove her nonetheless.

As she approached the counter, she took in this new Velasy's. In appearance -- decor and layout at least -- it was for all intents and purposes pretty much identical to its namesake on Apollo. Here though, she struggled to pick out any humans in the crowd where they had made up a significant majority on Apollo.

So she was quite taken aback when one of the handful of human faces she saw was immediately familiar to her and without thinking, she called out in excitement.

"Natalie!"

The voluptuous waitress' dark skin still shone as Cherry remembered and her dark hair was still tied up in pigtails. Like all her colleagues, she was still wearing the impossibly short pleated skirt, tight top and knee-high boots all in sparkling silver. She turned at the sound of her name and, without a moment's pause, lit up with a wide smile and ran to Cherry.

"Cherry! Fuck, I can't believe it's you! How you doing girl?!" The two embraced like old friends and Natalie led Cherry to the bar and ordered them a drink from the Fetrillian bartender.

"Hey Bufasy -- two Crem Specials for me and my friend here!"

The amiable looking furry giant smiled gamely at them as he served them a shimmering, dazzling beverage Cherry had never seen before. The most memorable feature of Fetrillians, Cherry knew, was the intoxicating scent their pheromone produced and she was a little surprised that she didn't seem to smell it now, didn't feel the urge to jump the huge bartender immediately.

"Bottoms up!" Natalie announced, startling Cherry from her reverie and, not wanting to feel left out, she drained the drink along with the waitress.

Natalie got two more and let them to a table near the bar.

"So, how are you here Natalie? I mean it was only like three weeks ago I met you on Apollo," Cherry asked, sipping her Crem Special, a drink she felt sure she would need to learn how to make for the crew.

"Well Cherry, it's actually because of you!" Natalie responded, with what Cherry was starting to feel was her trademark broad smile. "Ya see, after our conversation on Apollo, I kinda got to thinking that maybe it was time that I moved on too, you know? I'd been on Apollo a while and, hey, I wasn't unhappy or anything, but listening to you and how you were getting out on your own and telling you my own story and why I left my home in the first place... I guess I got itchy feet again. I knew Velasy had other bars and clubs all over so I talked to him about maybe transferring, see somewhere new you know, and he said -- luck would have it -- that he was heading here to Crem to check out a new one that had recently opened and I could go with him if I wanted, see if I liked it. So -- here I am!

"Enough about me though Cherry, how the hell did you end up here?! Did you sign on to a ship like we talked about?"

Cherry had listened, rapt, to Natalie's story and shared the dark-skinned beauty's obvious excitement. Alongside a deep gratitude for the obvious kindness and generosity Natalie had shown her on Apollo, Cherry had felt an instant connection with Natalie on their first meeting, felt the obvious parallels between the shift in direction her life was taking and Natalie's own story and that feeling only deepened now. As a result, she had no compunction spilling out the entire story of everything that had happened to her since their first meeting.

Natalie was a good companion. She listened actively, asked questions and was clearly as genuinely excited to hear about Cherry's adventures as Cherry had been about Natalie's during that first conversation on Apollo. Having started getting used to living among only men, her conversation with Natalie reminded Cherry of what it felt like to have a female friend again. The good parts anyway.