Transport Ship Arrowhead Ch. 06

The purple skinned woman stood in the doorway at the medical center. She looked in the room and saw a woman with skin like polished marble viewing a recorded message from a man and a young child with the same complexion. Endira Vas watched the reunion in front of her with conflicting emotions.

One feeling was contempt for the Verokk for taking over her homeworld and claiming to be the descendants of the lost colony of Muldax Gamma. The other was one of extreme sadness. Vas saw the Verokk woman, Lackett Zira, tearfully watching the message from the holographic images of her daughter and bond mate. Vas tried not to think about how long it had been since she had seen her own family.

Vas let out a weary sigh when she saw Zira look over at her with her eerily glowing eyes, a result of the treatment the human doctors had used to give the formerly blind woman sight, and was beckoned into the room. Vas didn't know why, but she accepted the invitation.

"You must be Endira Vas," Zira said, wiping the tears from luminous blue eyes. "I was told that you might be coming by."

Vas gently rubbed at the back of her neck where she had received the nanite injection. In theory those nanites would follow the blood flow to Vas's brain, cross the blood/brain barrier, and set up in her frontal cortex. There they would network into a specialized neural implant that would block Verokk telepathy.

In theory.

Through studies of brain scans taken of Zira, they had found that the Verokk brain is pretty much identical to their Muldaxian cousins, and Zira had been able to add what she knew about the gene splices that gave some other Verokk their mind control abilities. Vas had volunteered to be the Muldaxian test subject to see if it worked. James Barret was the human test subject for a similar implant. Vas took a seat beside the other woman. "How much can you see now?"

"Right now, just shapes and shadows. I can't wait to actually see what Hikrad and Soli look like. My mate and daughter." She let out a sigh. "I couldn't see the holo, so I just listened to the message."

Vas nodded. "I'm curious about something. You put your family name before your given name. Have the Verokk kept all of our naming customs?" In Muldaxian society, the family name came before the individual name. Daughters were given their mother's family name, while sons were given that of their father.

Zira smiled. "We have. Believe it or not, there are still a lot of similarities," Zira said, "but more than a few differences. Those of us who want to reunify with our Muldaxian cousins know that there will never be a full return for us, nor should there be. We're our own people now, but we can still coexist."

Vas let out a barely audible growl. "Tell that to the Verokk who attacked me and tried to kill James."

"Damn High Born," Zira hissed. The inequity on her world between those who were genetically engineered from the ground up, and those like Zira who were conceived the old-fashioned way, always bothered her. Not because of the life she had endured, but because of what was in store for her daughter. "They're so convinced of their own superiority that they get pissed whenever anyone fails to notice it."

"That certainly describes Lady Riv," Vas said, referring to the Verokk they encountered on planet Haven; the Verokk who took control of Vas's mind and who nearly destroyed Barret's.

"She's a lady in title only," Zira said coldly. "Nadora Riv is as bad as they come."

"Nadora?" Vas didn't like how similar that name was to her own.

"Derived from Endira," Zira confirmed. "She's a distant cousin of yours. Which would explain why she was so determined to get her claws on you. She probably thinks she can use your DNA to stabilize her own."

Vas knew that a relative of hers had been lost on Muldax Gamma, but she didn't want to believe that one of her family had given rise to one of those monsters. She decided to change topics. "So. You and James are friends, huh?"

Zira chuckled. "It wasn't his first choice. He tried his damnedest to keep me at arm's length. I had to practically strong arm him into having a conversation with me."

"Is that when he broke his cover?" Barrett had been masquerading as a smuggler named Gideon Price, captain of the Fool's Errand.

"No, Governor Larik'Ni gave him away." Zira settled in her seat a bit more. "She almost called James by his real name, or at least, I assume that's what she was going to call him. Unless she has some term of endearment for him that I don't know about."

"Other than 'lover,' I don't think there is one," Vas said. "She calls me the same thing."

Zira cocked an eyebrow. "Really now? Wow. Getting back on track, though, that little gaffe, combined with a reaction James had to the mention of your family's name, made it pretty easy for me to figure out who he was. The name James Barret is quite hated among the High Born elite, which means us Low Born absolutely love him! And I'm proud to call him my friend." Zira gave Vas a warm smile. "I hope in time, I can call you that as well."

----

The shipyard at the Moon's Artemis Station was the most well known starship depot in the Sol System. Vessels of every size and shape imaginable could be found there, being repaired, sold, or built. It was here, in docking bay H-57, that the new Arrowhead was finally coming together. It had been three weeks since the modifications to the ship's defensive systems had been completed, and now its new owner was taking a crash course in its basic systems before embarking on a shakedown cruise.

James Barret gave the drive core one last diagnostic as he consulted with the manual. This was a much different propulsion system than the one he had on the original Arrowhead, and he wanted to be absolutely certain he knew what he was doing before they lifted off on their first run. He looked at the spherical structure that stretched high up to the vaulted ceiling. It had to be at least ten feet high, and was a lot bigger than the drive core he was used to. But then again, this was a bigger ship.

Barret smiled at his new ship. He was still getting to know this new Arrowhead, still trying to find her voice and her soul. He hoped that would happen on the upcoming shakedown cruise. He closed up the access plate to the main reactor and looked over at the status display on the control panel.

"How are we looking?" he asked the computer.

"Please restate question," the ship's computer replied.

"Oh for..." Barret took a deep breath and counted to ten. He hated dealing with new computers. "Engine status."

"Fuel at maximum. All systems within normal operating tolerances."

"Good." Barret couldn't believe that he was missing Bug, the artificial intelligence he dealt with aboard the Fool's Errand. Well, after he had installed the emergency override his friend Grant Bonner had given him. "Maybe Vas was right," Barret said to himself. "Maybe we do need a real AI." He wondered if there was any way he could get a copy of Bug for the new Arrowhead.

"I've been telling you that since I first set foot on the old ship," a voice from the doorway said. Barret looked over to see his wife and bond mate Vas shaking her head at him. "I definitely think Arrowhead II needs it more than Arrowhead I did. This ship's computer seems more, I don't know, simpleminded." She smiled at her mate. His hair was again its normal brown, not the black it had been dyed during the mission to pick Zira up at Haven, and he had shaved off the beard he had grown. James Barret looked like himself again, especially since he was able to stop hiding those blue eyes of his behind colored contacts that also masked his retinal patterns. Those eyes were what had first physically attracted Vas to him when they met.

"No argument here." Barret approached her and kissed her. She happily sighed and melted into his arms. "How did the procedure go?"

Vas smiled at him. "As well as any nanite injection can go," she said, rubbing the back of her neck. "It hurt like hell. I just hope it works. I'll be damned if I let another Verokk get into my head like that!"

Barret smiled. "Good. Hopefully the mental feedback these things are supposed to send out will keep the Verokk from poking their brains into other people's business."

"By the way," Vas said. "I met your friend Zira. She really wasn't what I expected."

Barret chuckled. "Yeah. It was that way for me too. But she's good people. How is she doing? I haven't had a chance to pay her a visit, despite the fact that she's right next door." The medical center Zira had been sent to was in a neighboring underground facility, right next door to Artemis.

"She's doing good, actually." Vas stepped forward and started looking over the drive room. "She can kind of see, but her eyes are glowing and it is really bizarre looking."

"Giving someone sight when she's been totally blind her whole life isn't easy. Especially when she's from an alien species we're not familiar with."

Vas nodded and looked at the engine core. "So how are we looking here? Are we ready for a shakedown cruise?"

"I think so! All we need now is a destination."

She closed her eyes and sighed. "I know where I'd like to go; Muldax Prime to see if my family is there."

Barret gently took her hand. "You know we can't. The Terran First Fleet is there as part of a Coalition strike force to get the Verokk off your planet. The whole system is off limits to civilian ships."

"I know," Vas said sadly. "That doesn't mean I wouldn't like to go home. I haven't been back to Muldax Prime in almost four years. I'm way beyond homesick."

Barret embraced her from behind. "What about your sister?"

"Goddesses know where she is," Vas snorted. "Tanlin took off and joined the priesthood after a fight with our mother. She got tired of Mom trying to tell her how to run her life." Vas got a slight grin on her face. "Which is one of the reasons I took off world assignments for the diplomatic corps. My mother can be... difficult to live with."

Barret turned Vas in his arms so she was facing him. "Imagine how she'd react to me." He brought his lips to hers.

"She'd be furious," Vas replied in a breathy voice. Their mouths joined and their tongues began to duel. Barret's hands drifted down to her ass and gave it a squeeze. His cock was hardening against her.

"If she knew I could make you scream," he said before licking her ear from lobe to pointed tip.

"She'd probably hear us going at it even if we were in orbit and she was on the ground." Vas reached between them and started rubbing Barret's cock through his pants.

Barrett started kissing his way down her neck and slipped his hands under her shirt. Then she abruptly pulled away.

"What?"

Vas's face was one of playful lust. "You can't properly fondle my tits if I'm wearing a shirt, now can you?" She lifted the form fitting white garment up to expose her breasts, and that was as far as the shirt got. Barrett brought his mouth to an erect green nipple and started to nibble it.

"I love these new memory cotton shirts," he growled as he switched his attention to her other breast.

"You just like them because they're tight and the memory cotton in the chest gives me all the breast support a bra would." Vas let her head fall back as she enjoyed the feeling of her mate's teeth on her nipple. "You like the easy access."

Barret looked up at her and smirked. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Vas leaned down and kissed Barrett. "Not bad, just predictable."

They sank down to the floor of the drive room, and Barret slipped his hand into Vas's pants. She wiggled out of them, and he quickly pushed the crotch of her black panties aside to rub her swollen green clit. "Predictable isn't always a bad thing."

Vas lightly moaned as Barrett's finger found its way into her slick pussy. "No, it's not." She brushed her fingers over the bulge in her mate's pants, then grabbed him through the denim of his jeans. "I want this."

Barret pulled back. "Not yet. I'm not done with you." Before she could argue, Barrett attacked her slit with his tongue. He licked her pussy like he would an ice cream cone with long, slow strokes of his tongue. As Vas settled back, propping herself up on her elbows, Barrett started concentrating on her clit. He sucked it into his mouth and nipped at it with his teeth, knowing how crazy it drove her.

He looked up at her and saw her eyes roll back into her head. He knew she was close. He slid up her body as he replaced his mouth with his fingers, slipping two of them into her pussy and applying his thumb to her clit. Barret bit her earlobe, making her mewl at him. "That's it," he whispered. "Cum for me. Cum for me hard, baby." He rubbed the front wall of her vagina with those two fingers as he rubbed her clit with his thumb.

Vas's breathing became quicker and shallower. Her skin changed from purple to lavender, and a silent scream escaped her throat. Barrett held Vas close to him, feeling her body shudder against him as she came. "Cum for me," he growled again. "I fucking love it when you get off."

"Y-you ma-ake me do it e-enough..." she stammered. Louder moans escaped her, making speaking impossible.

"I'm just good at my job," he said with a devious gleam in his eyes.

As soon as Vas's skin went back to normal, she practically flipped Barret onto his back and tore his shirt open, sending buttons and bits of fabric flying. Then she opened his pants and forcibly pulled them down to his ankles, setting his eight inch erection free.

Barret's jeans got hung up on the work boots he had been wearing. That wouldn't do. Vas wanted her mate completely unencumbered by pesky clothing. She quickly relieved Barret of his shoes, then the rest of his clothes.

She gave Barret the look a predator would give its prey as she eyed his cock. Without a word, she inhaled it into her mouth and hungrily sucked him.

"Jesus, Vas," Barret groaned. "You act like you've never had sex in your life!"

She released his cock with a loud pop, then looked up at Barret, slowly stroking him. "You were gone for over a month," she pointed out. "And the only guy I knew was your friend Grant Bonner, who likes cock more than I do. He offered to set me up on a few dates, but I didn't want to sleep with anyone you didn't know. So it was me, my vibe collection, and occasionally Charlie." Charlie, of course, referred to Charlie Ross, the woman in charge of this starship depot who had become a regular lover of theirs.

"Pussy is nice, and vibes and strap ons do in a pinch, but sometimes I want a real cock." She squeezed his dick for emphasis. "And, sweetie, in the last week you've spent more nights with this ship than with me." She got up on her knees and straddled his hips, pointing the head of his cock at her wet opening. "So I desperately need some loving."

Before she could lower herself onto him, Barret sat up, pulled Vas close to him, and stood up. Then he carried her to the wall, pinned her against it, and slid himself into her. Vas howled as she wrapped her legs around him. "That's it, baby," she growled. "Now fuck me good!"

He moved into her slowly, then withdrew. In and out, slow and methodical.

"Stop teasing me," she begged. "You know what I like."

"And I like to tease you." Barret started to nibble on Vas's neck while he slowly fucked her. She trembled against him and sighed in his ear. Then she dug her nails into his back and dragged them sharply down his spine. He let out a guttural groan. He picked up his pace, his cock sliding into her like a piston. Vas moaned loudly with the increased speed, lapsing into her native language like she always did when she was in ecstasy.

Barret shifted her legs so she was again on her feet, and he slid out of her. "Why don't you take a look at that control console over there," he said with a devious grin on his face.

Vas returned the look, walked over to the console, and bent over, sticking her ass in the air. "Gee, Captain, I don't even know what I'm looking at," she said playfully, enjoying the impromptu role play. She wiggled her butt, enticing Barret to come over.

"Keep looking, you'll see it." Barret came up behind her, rubbed the head of his dick along her wet slit, then slid himself back in. He let out a moan when Vas tightened her inner walls around him, massaging his cock with her pussy.

"I think I see it, Captain," she panted. "It's a nice, long probe. What do you want me to do with it?"

"The probe needs to be ramped up," Barret said, thrusting into her like his life depended on it. "It has to reach... maximum pressure. Then... it has to... vent..."

Vas cried out as she felt another orgasm approaching, "I think... the vessel... is going to hit critical mass... before that..."

"She can take it," Barret grunted. "Besides, the probe is reaching max pressure!" He grabbed her hips and pulled her to him as he pushed into her harder. Vas threw her head back and howled. Her skin lightened and her legs almost gave out when she came, and Barret could feel her juices matting his pubic hair and running down his legs. She didn't squirt often, but when she did, it got everywhere.

Vas's knees buckled, and Barret eased her to the floor. They were on their sides with Barrett behind her, still pumping his cock into her. He reached between her legs and rubbed her clit, adding to her orgasm. Vas cried out in a staccato voice, practically screaming with each thrust of her mate's hips. She finally had to roll away from him and ride out the rest of her orgasm on her back with two fingers buried in her pussy. She looked up and saw Barret lying there with a very pleased look on his face. Then she looked down at his cock, glistening with her own juices. "My turn."

Vas pounced on him and quickly took his cock as far into her mouth as she could. She sucked him deep, then eased up the shaft to the head, and released it with a loud pop. She grinned when she looked up at Barret. "Let's finish this way. I really don't want cum dripping out of me on the trip back to Earth. You want to fill me up, you have to come home and fuck me again." She was about to take his cock in her mouth when he shifted positions.

"I have a better idea." Barret nudged Vas to lie back on the floor. He straddled her and rested his cock in the valley between her breasts, then he spit on his hand and lubed his dick up with his own saliva.

Vas smirked at her mate. "You think so, huh?" she said as she pushed her breasts up against Barret's cock. He replaced her hands with his own, and proceeded to tweak her nipples while he slid his dick between her breasts. Vas moaned in pleasure, loving the feel of her nipples being pinched and twisted, and the feeling of his throbbing member slipping and sliding in her cleavage. She lifted her head and stuck out her tongue, using it to flick the head of Barret's cock as it emerged from between her breasts.

Barret sped up, grunting with each push of his hips. He pressed her slippery breasts tighter against his cock, increasing the pressure.

Vas closed her eyes and remembered the first time Barret had titty fucked her. It was after the first night Vas and Barret had spent on the original Arrowhead. Barret had woken up horny, and had roused Vas from her slumber by kissing her neck and ears. They ended with his cock between her breasts like it was now. He had warned her that he was going to cum, and was trying to move so he could shoot his load on her chest. Vas didn't want him to stop, and took that load on her face instead. It was one of the only times she had taken a facial from Barret. The only bad part was that it had gotten in her eyes. It stung like hell.

Barret grunted with each thrust. "Yeah, baby," Vas said, goading her man on. "Fuck my titties and cum for me. I want it, James. I want all that hot cum in my mouth. Cum for me now!"