Space Wrecker Ch. 02

Julie nodded yes with a faraway look. "Actually, it was Queen Nakurta who encouraged my father to take my mother in after they found her ship in the outer reaches. She was a UNN scout ship pilot and a geologist looking for new worlds. At first, they wanted to try her as a spy, but my father stepped in and saved her, by taking her as a concubine. He thought it would be a good way to learn about humans and save any chance of Human, Felidae peace."

"Growing up, I wasn't what they would say in demand as a sister wife so I didn't get any suitors. That and the way everyone else treated me and to some extent mom made me want to leave Domnia at a young age. They encouraged me to get my pilot's collar. My mom and the Queen thought I might take up being a freighter pilot once I earned my pilot's collar. But I saw a wrecker doing a recovery."

I looked over at Julie, and she had a faraway smile on her face. I knew that smile. The same one I wore while doing a recovery.

"I guess I got the wrecker bug right then and there," she said with a smile. "The only problem was there were no women pilots doing wrecker work, and I had to learn it on my own. Father bought the Xanadu, and I did a few recoveries earning enough to give me hope I could make enough to leave the Felidae federation and make a living."

Julie turned to me with a sad smile. "Reading your books tells me I don't know enough and got lucky I did not kill myself or my ship on those first few recoveries."

"Well, now that you have my books, you can learn the right way to do a recovery. When we get back to The Kazar system we can look at salvaging your ship."

Julie smiled at me with those huge amber brown eyes wide open. "You know as well as I do, when a ship has to eject its reactor core, it's gone, and only good for scrap. Father used all of my dowry money buying her."

I knew it; I just did not want to tell her that. "Well, maybe with your new knowledge you could hire on with a Felidae wrecker company and earn enough to get a new ride."

Julie shook her head no. "Being a woman isn't that much of a barrier, its being a half-breed. None of the companies wanted to take on a rookie with no experience who is a half-breed. I am afraid it might really ground me as a wrecker pilot when I get home."

I looked over at her. She was just staring at her tablet. I felt bad for her. Being grounded was the worst thing for a pilot. I heard her stomach growl. I stood, leaving her to her thoughts, and went into the galley. Looking through the food lists, I found a couple of large steaks and typed those in to be cooked. Maybe a good meal would cheer her up.

A little later I called Julie in to eat. When she smelled the steaks, I could see the faint smile. After we sat down, I could tell that she had some trouble with the human sized silverware.

"Sorry," I said, "Maybe we can find something more suitable on Brigg's."

Julie smiled, "Thank you Captain Walker, but..."

"It is Mark. Please, just call me Mark. Never liked that Captain stuff."

Julie looked pleased. "Thank you, Mark, but as I was saying, I don't see them having an extensive selection of Felidae-ian type utensils either, but we can look. Would it gross you out if I used my claws and fingers? I know you humans go overboard on the manner things. At least mom did, but these are a little too small for me."

I grinned. "Go for it. I am not much of a stickler for manners, if it works use it."

Julie set the fork and knife down and used her claws. Her claws slice the thick New York strips as if they were butter. I flinched with a thought. Those claws must be sharp as hell. And well, her table manners were a little different since she had a muzzle and only a few real molars to chew with.

I finished what I could with my steak. When I looked up, she had hers completely gone and only a little of the potatoes and carrots eaten. I glimpsed her eyeing the half a steak I left. I laughed and slid my plate over to her. Julie looked at me.

"Go ahead. I can see potatoes and vegetables aren't one of your favorites."

Julie looked down in embarrassment. I noticed she could fold her ears down just as Chree did. Just seeing that made a certain part of me sit up and take notice. Seeing her white furred cleavage and the vest straining to hold her breasts got me instantly hard. Damn it, I thought, I was going to need to take a cold shower or watch some bunny porn and rub one out.

I stood and slid my plate in front of her and picked hers up. I heard her sniff my arm as I did it. Damn it, I thought, she could probably smell my arousal or my pheromones as Chree said. I quickly retreated, scraped her plate into the incinerator, and put it into the sonic scrubber.

I was going to stay while she ate, but thought better and headed into the salon. Best. She did not smell a horny human as she finished eating. She came in later and sat down as I was reading a message from my parents.

My dad warned me to be careful with my passenger since we just formalized relations with her people, and my mom berated me on having a furry female sitting on my couch, again and when was I going to find a nice 'human' girl to sit there instead. She reminded me she was not getting any younger and wanted more grandkids. As if she did not have enough, I thought. My five sisters and three brothers were pumping them out by the truckload. I mentally started counting my brother and sisters rug rats running around the farm during the holidays.

I wrote my mom back saying she was being a greedy grandmother; she had nine or ten grandkids already and give me time I am just starting my career.

I opened my table's photo gallery trying to count exactly how many when I came across several pictures of Chree. I was looking at the photos, remembering the good times and when I took them. I heard Julie take in a long sniff. I looked up. She had her eyes closed, looking at me sniffing the air.

I looked down in embarrassment. Damn it, I thought, she can smell the arousal on me. I looked up, and she was staring at me with a predatory look. I quickly stood and said, "Sorry mail from the family, I, um..." Looking at the salon monitor, I saw we had a six-hour countdown to FTL.

"I think I am going to lie down. We have a jump in six hours and I want to be up for that. You might want to think about getting some shut eye as well."

Julie smiled at me. "No, I have to be awake during FTL jumps. I get terrible nightmares if I am asleep during a FTL jump."

I nodded, "I can, or you can ask SARA to wake you with a waning if you lay down to rest."

I turned and almost ran to my room. "I will make sure you are awake if you decide to rest before we jump," I shouted back. I heard Julie say sleep well, but I did not respond. I needed to get away from her quickly. I shut the door and asked SARA to change out the HVAC filters.

I stripped before getting into bed. I fell asleep dreaming of furry cleavage. It was white, but a lot bigger than Chree's.

SARA did not have to wake me. I think I woke up having a wet dream, but did not finish. I looked up at the countdown. I had time for a quick shower, and time to relieve some pressure.

With a cup of coffee in hand, I went to the command center. I checked through all the readouts and star maps. The Galveston was speeding up to JULS, Just under Light Speed. SARA already had the FTL's Capacitors charged up. As soon as we were in position and speed, the FTLs were ready to tear a hole into subspace. I watched the countdown as I opened the automated message from Miller again.

Damn it, Chree, what did I do to make you mad at me? I did not know why she distanced herself and broke off our..., Well, what was it we had? A fling? An inner species affair. Maybe that was it. I had written several times and did not get a response. Should I try to write again, or just let it go?

At the ten-minute mark, SARA informed me she notified Julie, and I got ready myself. Subspace affects every species and person differently. The effects on most were temporary, and only lasted while they were in subspace. A small portion of people had some lingering effects, like headaches and nausea. Then those rare few have temporary insanity to losing it completely and have psychotic episodes that can last for days. I had time, so I went to talk to Julie. I found her wrapped in a blanket on the salon couch. I sat beside her.

"Do you have any problems with subspace sickness?"

"Not at all Capt..., Mark, just when I am sleeping I get nightmares from the jumps. So I like to be awake during them."

I nodded yes, and then looked at the blanket wrapped around her.

She smiled, "just a little cold."

"Why didn't you say anything? I left it a little cool because I thought it might be too warm for you?"

"Why would you think that?"

I grinned, "Ok, not to sound like a xenophobic but I thought all furry people liked it a little cooler than humans."

Julie laughed. "Ok, now you sound like one. But you're forgiven. Your thoughts were in the right place. You should have known or at least felt, Felidae-ians do not have an undercoat. Not like your last passenger."

I tried to smile, but it must have come out cheesy looking. Julie laughed.

"You do not have to say anything, Mark. But her white fur is everywhere."

"She was a Percherian."

"Your Miller distributor? Are you two an item?"

I looked down. "No, not really..., not anymore, at least. She sort of ended it five months ago."

Julie smiled at me. "Sorry, was it a painful breakup?"

I shook my head no.

"What happened?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Not sure..., it is complicated."

Julie laughed. "Not as complicated as coming from a family with thirty-two moms and one dad? Or a society, where every male has three or four wives?"

I smiled. "Well, maybe not that complicated, then. It came down to the fact I like my life wondering about the stars. I get to go where the winds of fate take me. I get to see other people and their planets, and, and unknown places. And Chree, well she didn't want that life, what she wanted is a stable home and job."

"So she was just some port in the middle of the night for you?"

"No, and she knew my lifestyle and accepted it. She told me when we first hooked up that she was just looking for a lover, not a life partner, just a nice guy who visited once in a while."

"And how do you feel about that?"

I shrugged my shoulders, not really prepared for that question. I looked at Julie. "I was ok with it in the beginning, but lately I started dreading the long flights alone. I just don't know...,"

I shook my head. "I don't know. And..., well, she rather made it clear that she wanted to end our brief fling and concentrate on her business. The one time she flew with me was just to get her required hours for her commercial endorsement. Once she had enough hours, well she sort of changed."

"She started talking about her plans for expanding her distribution center. She did not come right out and say it, but she told me, in a roundabout way, that I was visiting too much and was distracting her, and well I was not included in her plans. That was over five months ago. I wrote several times, but she has not written back.

Julie nodded yes. "Some girls are only looking for a short one time fling or a one night stand sometimes."

I nodded yes. "I guess that last trip sort of made that point..., and well, she didn't. But in reality, I enjoyed having someone to talk with on those long flights. Since then I have been thinking of picking a co-pilot to give me company on the long...,"

There was a slight dimming of the lights as the FTL's fired.

We broke out of subspace forty-one minutes later. I was under Julie's blanket, with my arms wrapped around her bare back. Her face buried in my chest, purring. I moved my hands and noticed one thing. Julie was naked under the blanket and my hands were rubbing her back fur. I pulled them off. "Sorry. I didn't mean to, to take ah, um...,"

"Liberties," Julie said as she rubbed her hands under my shirt. "Don't be, didn't you hear me purring? That purring means I wasn't complaining."

"Well, I didn't expect you to be naked and here I am, um...,"

"Taking liberties." Julie said, laughing. "I was sort of laying down in my room when SARA announced the ten-minute mark. I wrapped myself in a blanket and came out here. I guess I didn't want to be alone, dropping into subspace. I didn't expect you to come sit with me."

"Well now, that we are back in normal space I should stop, um" I rubbed her back. "Taking liberties."

I was about to move to stand up when she flexed her finger claws. "Please don't. I like it..., I. I enjoy sitting here with you like this. You, I don't know...," She lifted my shirt some more and leaned in, sniffing me, then licked my chest. "You smell wonderful, and you taste..., divine." She buried her face in my chest and started licking me.

I looked down at her. I wanted this to continue. I think she did too, but I could not lead her on. My father always said, "To Thine Own Self Be True." This was is one of his countless quotes or his words of wisdom. This one came from a playwright in the earths long past, William Shakespeare I think. I always took it as 'never misrepresent yourself to others'. Damn his old fashion values, my little head shouted.

I grimaced, "Julie, please stop for a moment." She licked me again, and then looked up.

"Stop, please," I said, flinching from her lick. "Look, before we go any further. I have to be truthful with you. I enjoy flying all over the galaxy. I had wanted to do this ever since I was a little boy stuck on a backwater planet. I do not have the desire to settle down in one place. There are hundreds of planets out there I still haven't visited."

I hugged her. "I want this, Princess, but I won't lead you on. I cannot and still be true to myself and you. If you are looking for your knight in shiny armor, to live that life of happily ever after, on some country estate on Felidae. Then we need to stop. I am not that knight. I am a wrecker pilot with the wonder bug."

Julie smiled and ran her hand up along the side of my face. "You are right. You are not a knight in shiny armor, like those in the fairy tales my mother used to tell me. But a wrecker pilot, and you already know I am not a princess either, I am a...,"

Julie took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "I am half breed, 'to' a people, who has expressed a dislike of her entire life. I had hoped learning how to be a wrecker pilot would get me off my home world. But I didn't know enough to be a wrecker pilot, because I killed my ship. But if you're willing to teach me what I don't know and take a chance on me, I guess I am here interviewing for that co-pilot's job you talked about."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes," she said looking down at my chest, "if you would have me."

I smiled down at her, "Well, you picked an interesting outfit to wear to your interview."

Julie laughed, still looking down. "Naked truth?"

"I, are you sure you are ready to leave your home world, and people? I did not plan on doing your people's ships, and was planning on drifting towards the Lazrids home world."

Julie looked at me. "You mean you don't work out of Briggs? Where is your base of operations?"

"I don't have one, I sort of drift around. If you're looking for that sort of thing then I am the wrong wrecker company."

"What about a steady income? This ship has to cost you millions every month to pay for it."

I shook my head. "I own the Galveston out right. Paid cash for it. This is going to sound strange, but I won a huge earth lottery after I graduated from wrecker school. Enough to buy a luxury ship and drift around the stars doing nothing, but I enjoy doing wrecker work so I bought the Galveston instead."

"I work part time and drift through the known galaxy. I could have stopped working part time after doing the UNN's ships, and have enough in my account to never have to work again."

"But I enjoy being a wrecker pilot. So to keep me busy and hopefully see your planet, I let your father talk me into bringing in his ships. When I am done, I might take a month or two and be the first..., well, I guess the second human to explore your planet. When your planet's gravity gets too much for me, I will blast off and see where the fates take me."

"If that kind of life scares you, I could help you get into IITR and you can learn from them and get your commercial pilot's license and pilot for a wrecker company."

Julie looked down and shook her head no.

"Or you can co-pilot for me and we could do an online class and you can earn your UN license that way. Getting your two thousand hours of internship with me."

Julie looked up grinning, "So what's the pay?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Haft the tow minus the incidentals and perishables. Which really comes out to like one third, the incidentals and perishables aren't that bad, and it's the insurance on a wrecker that costs."

Julie looked up at me. "Do I get a fancy uniform to wear?"

I lifted the blanket. "I think you're wearing it."

Julie laughed, and then looked down at her nakedness. "Are you sure you want a half-breed Felidae as your co-pilot?"

I looked up, "SARA, set flight path and read outs on the salon's main screen, raise the internal temp to seventy-four, and dim the lights to one third."

When I said the last part Julie looked up at me and I leaned down and kissed her, "You are hired."

Julie sighed in my mouth as she returned the kiss. She looked down and raised her hands, removing my shirt. Looking at my chest, she slowly rubbed her hands over it. She leaned in and licked my pectoral muscle. Her barbed tongue caught my nipple and made me flinch.

"Sorry," she mumbled, and kept licking.

I rubbed her back up, then down to the top of her tail. I knew the barn cats on the family farm loved being scratched there. Two scratches in, and Julie was purring again. I kept half an eye on the screen as we slowly turned. The line of wrecked ships followed. The other I kept on Julie. As I scratched just in front of her tail, her hips twitched as her tail went wild. I buried my other hand in her hair at the base of her ears.

I was scratching and combing through her long golden blonde hair, Julie's soft purring turned into ahhs. Then she started licking me harder. Her little ahh's turned into huh's and oh mys, and they started coming faster.

"Huh, oh my. Uh, OH my MaRRRKKK!" Julie screamed. She flinched, sitting up a little, throwing off the blanket, and then froze up, screaming "OH! MY! OH MY HEEeeelllll...,"

Julie collapsed onto my lap. Did I just give her an orgasm? I rubbed her back with one hand and held her with the other. Julie started purring after a few minutes when she caught her breath back. After five minutes she leaned back looking up at me, "I never thought I would ever experience tha...," I leaned down and brushed her lips with mine, silencing her.

"Did I just give you a?"

"Orgasm," Julie finished for me, burying her face in my chest. "Yes, either you know Felidae-ians very well, or were just lucky with your first attempt."

I smiled down at her. "Well, we have a lot of house cats around the barns at home and they like being scratched like that."

Julie laughed. "My Mother showed me pictures of an earth house cat once. I didn't know we were that much alike."

I laughed, "Didn't know scratching the ole barn cats like that gave them an orgasm either! Just thought they liked me because I would pet them."

"It might be your scent, like I said, you smell..., the word my mother uses is heavenly."

I looked at Julie, thinking that maybe Chree was right. "I was told more than a few times I smelled good to furry girls."

She nodded yes and licked my abdominal muscles. "And you taste even better!"