Transport Ship Arrowhead Ch. 06

"I'm getting there," Barret said with a hitch in his voice. He gave her nipples one last pinch, released her breasts, and waited for Vas to sit up so she could take him back in her mouth.

As soon as she closed her lips around the shaft, he exploded. Cum shot out of the head in spurts; surges of hot, sticky spunk filled her mouth and were gulped down. Vas grabbed Barret's hips, holding him where he was so she could suck out every last drop and milk him dry. Finally satisfied that no more would come out, she released her mate and let him stumble back until he was again sitting on the drive room floor.

"Son of a bitch," he panted. "I don't think you've ever sucked me that hard. I'm gonna have a big hickey on my dick now."

Vas licked her lips. "And you're complaining?"

"Hell no!"

Vas got up, adjusted her panties so the crotch was again covering her pussy, and started putting her clothes back on. "Well come on. Get dressed."

Barret had slipped his boxers back on and picked up his ruined shirt. "I'll need to go to our quarters to get another shirt." He grabbed his pants and started to put them on. "Well, I guess this crosses the drive room off the list."

Vas had just slipped her shirt back over her head and was adjusting her breasts. "I think we could stand to break it in again," she said with a sly look on her face.

Barret just chuckled. "We've had sex in the cockpit."

"Which lived up to its name."

Barret gave Vas a look. "Then we fucked in the mess hall."

"And boy did we make a mess!" Vas grinned at her mate.

"You've been spending too much time with Corva," he said, referring to the Corulam woman his twin sister had married. "You're starting to tell worse jokes than she does."

Vas sauntered over to him and gave him a long kiss. "But you love me anyway."

Barret returned the kiss, deepening it, prompting her to open her mouth and allow his tongue access. He could still taste his cum on her. "Yeah, I do."

They exited the ship hand in hand after Barret had put on a new shirt. He ran his fingers along the underside of the new Arrowhead's hull. The new ship was bigger than its predecessor, and much sleeker. Barret eyed the slight protrusions coming from the port hull plating. The starboard side had identical structures. During atmospheric flight, these assemblies would extend into stabilizer wings. Barret looked up at the logo on the side of the ship.

The name "Arrowhead" was spelled out in big, bold letters across the dark grey hull, right above a stylized representation of the ship itself. He was more used to lighter hued hull plating, but that color was unavailable in the ablative armor now coating the ship. It was a good trade off for the added protection in case the new tactical grade shielding failed. He wasn't going to let his new ship go out the way his old one had.

Barret looked up when he heard Vas chuckle. "She's beautiful." She took Barret's face in her hands and kissed him gently. "And she's ours. She's not a way for you to hide from life." Vas reached out and brushed her fingers along the cool metal of the Arrowhead's hull. "This is our ship. Our livelihood. Ours. This is something we're doing together."

Barret smiled and took his wife in his arms. "And I wouldn't have it any other way. Now let's get home before we're late for dinner. We don't want Corva to get pissed at us again."

----

"Dammit, Vas," a voice that was trying to sound annoyed said when Vas and Barret walked through the front door of the Barret residence in downtown San Francisco. It was an old house, dating back to just after the Earth-Rullyde War three centuries prior, and was one of the first houses to be rebuilt after the human race had fought off the invading Rullyde.

A grey skinned woman with no hair and light blue streaks running over her eyes and down to her jawline came into the front room. Those streaks changed color depending on mood, and the blue color meant she was being playful. She eyed Barret, trying not to grin. "What have I told you about bringing strange men home?" She got in Barret's face. "And this one is definitely strange. I think you can do better."

"That means you can too, Corva," Barret said, rolling his eyes. "I do share part of my genetic code with your wife, you know."

"Vas, is that you?" another voice called out from the living room.

"It's Vas and some weird guy she picked up," Corva chuckled.

Jackie Barret poked her head out of the hallway to the front door. "Well holy shit! It's my baby brother! I'd almost forgotten I had one."

Barret rolled his eyes at his twin sister. "Very funny, Jackie."

Jackie came over and gave her brother a peck on the cheek. "Ah, little Jimmy's pissed off. It's so cute!" Jackie always loved getting under her brother's skin. "Anyway, Vas, there's a message for you from the Muldaxian Embassy, and Jimmy, you have a message from Bor on Nova City."

Vas's silver eyes lit up. "Really? Do you know what about?"

"They said that a Sister Endira Tanlin contacted them, looking for information on you, your folks, and your brother. They want you to call them back."

Vas was on the line with the embassy in Geneva before Jackie finished her sentence. A member of the Pendallan Sisterhood named Endira Tanlin had been calling around to various embassies in Coalition space, trying to find Vas. She wanted Vas to contact her on planet Covilax as soon as possible. Vas just stared at the comm terminal, unable to believe it. Tanlin. Her sister. Wanted to see her.

"Are you going to call her or not?" a voice from behind her asked. Vas looked up and saw her mate's smiling face.

"I don't know," Vas said. "It took three months for that message to get here!" That was the problem with long distance communication.

There were three kinds of space: normal space where the speed limit was the speed of light, and only energy could reach that velocity; subspace, that moved many times faster than the speed of light in normal space, but was the realm of energy only; and hyperspace, also known as faster than light, or FTL space, that moved faster than even subspace, and physical objects could enter it.

Most communication went through subspace. Some were transmitted through planetary systems via subspace, since entering that realm was possible within a system's gravitational boundary, unlike FTL space. Then the signal would reenter normal space when it left the system boundary, would jump to FTL through a special transmitter, and be routed through various FTL buoys until it reached its destination. Oftentimes, it was faster just to travel to a system rather than send a message.

There was another option; quantum entanglement. Usually, only the very rich or officials high in the Planetary Coalition aligned governments could afford quantum entanglement communicators, which provided real time communication over light years of distance. Barret's family did not fall into that category. They were limited to conventional methods of communication.

"I haven't talked to Tanlin in a long time," Vas finally said. "Not since she ran away from home to join the priesthood."

Barret quickly checked his own message from his old friend Dismer Bor, the high chancellor of the Muldaxian Commonwealth, and the brother of Barret's late bond mate Alu. He was also Barret's friend. The message was that he wanted to have Barret and Vas go to planet Haven, and bring its governor, Larik'Ni, to Nova City, the city ship he had taken refuge in after Muldax Prime was invaded. They needed to be there in five weeks. Barret then pulled up a star chart, checking where Nova City would be in relationship to Earth, Haven, and to the planet Covilax.

"Well that's convenient," he said. "Covilax is a week and a half away from Earth, and Haven is only three days away from Covilax. And from there, according to Nova City's flight plan, it will only take another ten days to get there from Haven. That leaves plenty of time for a visit."

He didn't say it, but it also left time for any unforeseen problems during the flight. Barret liked to give himself extra time just in case of emergencies.

Barret looked over at Vas and smiled. "Instead of a message, what do you think about Covilax being the location of the Arrowhead's first cruise?"

----

The Pendallan Sisterhood was dedicated to Pendall, the Muldaxian goddess of the sun and light. In fact, Pendall was what the Muldaxians had named their planet's parent star. As a priestess of Pendall, Sister Endira Tanlin had been part of, or overseen, many of her people's Festivals of the Morning Light. Those were good times for Tanlin.

She loved to greet the morning sun, and this day, the day of the summer solstice of her planet's northern hemisphere, was especially joyous. However, the sun the assembled priestesses and priests greeted was a simulation. The surface of Covilax was inhospitable to Muldaxians; the atmosphere poisonous.

Of course, she had never participated in a festival on Muldax Prime. She left her homeworld just after coming of age, and had spent her entire time as part of the Sisterhood on Covilax. Tanlin looked at the proceedings with tired eyes. The Sisters of Pendall were with the Brothers of Liffir, the god of night and darkness, and the mate of Pendall.

Soon the two groups would pair off, lift their heads, raise their voices in song, and praise their patrons' union; a union that led to the birth of Thexora, the goddess of life and death and creator of the Muldaxian people. Tanlin, however, would not participate. Her heart really wasn't in it, so she would be sitting out this festival, and would not be singing with one of the priests of Liffir.

Tanlin had been hunting in vain for the better part of a year for any word on her family, and it was taking a toll on her. She had lost weight due to not eating properly, and she hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep since Muldax Prime was occupied. In this, she was no different from the other priests and priestesses on Covilax.

She had received no word on her parents, brother, or sister, and in desperation, had contacted the embassy on Earth. It was the last place she could think of to try, even though her family had never set foot on that planet. It was a long shot, but the only one she had left.

"Sister Tanlin," a voice from behind her said. Tanlin turned and saw an older priest named Noll Taun.

"What can I do for you, Brother Taun?" she asked. She half expected him to ask about her leaving the ceremony. She knew that he had been looking forward to singing with her. Their voices always sounded good together, and she knew there was a mutual attraction between them. But again, her heart just wasn't in it.

The man smiled and bowed. He was about a decade older than Tanlin, and had been on Covilax for the last eight years. As one of the senior brothers, he could pick his singing partners, and almost always chose Tanlin. He was in love with her, but was afraid their age difference would be a problem.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing. You don't usually miss the ceremony."

Tanlin sighed. "I'm just really nervous. According to Bolu Agratti in the communications hub, the message I sent to the embassy on Earth should have gotten there today."

Noll placed a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder. "That means another three months of waiting until you know something, doesn't it?" Tanlin only nodded. Noll put his arm around Tanlin and held her close. He knew this wasn't easy for her. It hadn't been easy on anyone. Tanlin had left home suddenly, and had no contact with any of her family since before the invasion. Tanlin had used the priesthood to escape her family. Now she was regretting it.

----

The following day, the Arrowhead was ready. Barret and Vas had everything they needed aboard, the galley was fully stocked, fresh molecule packs were loaded into the replicators, and Dismer's long awaited spice whiskey was placed in the stasis locker in the cargo bay. They were ready.

The pilot's seat was in the dead center of the cockpit, with the navigator's station off to the right. There were two additional seats for passengers behind the pilot's seat; one off to the left, the other to the right.

Unlike the old ship, which used physical buttons and switches -- these were backups for the primary controls which had failed long before Barret bought the ship -- the new Arrowhead had transparent panels with holographic controls projected on them. There were also control sticks on the arms of the chair to control the ship in flight. The holo-panels handled other ship functions.

Off to Barret's left was a video screen showing the faces of Jackie and Corva. "You two be careful out there," Jackie said for the hundredth time.

"We promise," Vas said.

"We'll keep your room here," Corva said. "You are not allowed to live as a space bum ever again, James, do you here me?"

Barret could only smile. His sister-in-law gave him shit, but she loved him and Vas. "We promise," he said, repeating Vas's statement.

"I know real time communication isn't possible where you're going, but please send messages so we know how you're doing," Jackie said.

"We will."

A ping came from the comm board. "That's the flight controller," Vas said. She looked at the vid panel. "We need to sign off. We'll send word when we get to Covilax." With that, the panel blinked.

The image of Corva and Jackie was replaced with that of a dark haired woman. "Arrowhead, this is Artemis control. We're ready for bay depressurization."

"Copy that, Artemis control," Barret said. "Docking clamps and umbilicals have been disconnected and retracted, and anti-grav thrusters are on stand by."

"Acknowledged," the controller said.

Vas's instruments chimed, telling her that the atmosphere was being vented. Another chime told her the bay was now in vacuum. Then, a line formed on the ceiling as the bay doors slid open and the docking pad the Arrowhead had been resting on extended, lifting the ship to the lunar surface.

"Okay, Arrowhead, you're ready to depart. Have a safe flight. The System Patrol will be monitoring you until you go FTL. We haven't had any Verokk ships lurking in the system that we know of, but we can't be too careful."

"That's appreciated," Vas said.

Barret tapped an icon on the control panel. "Activating AGT," he said, using the acronym for the anti-grav thrusters. "30% until we're clear of the pad, then we go full power."

The ship steadily lifted off, the Moon's meager gravity providing no hindrance to the Arrowhead's thrusters. Ten minutes of steady acceleration went by smoothly. "Going to full thrust," Barret said. "Attitude jets kicking in." Barret pulled back on the left hand control stick, and the ship's orientation changed. Now it was pointing straight up as the AGT pushed it away from the lunar surface.

A monitor above the forward view ports showed the docking pad and the lunar surface steadily retreating.

"We're fifteen hundred kilometers from the surface," Vas reported.

"Cutting AGT," Barret said. "As soon as we're three thousand K from the surface, we'll kick in the main sub-light drive."

Arrowhead continued to climb. On this flight path, they would not cross the orbits of any planets or minor bodies until they reached the Oort Cloud, and even then, the cometary matter was so spread out, they wouldn't see any.

After another five minutes, Barret hit the sub-light engines. They were being pushed forward with increasing speed as the engines went to full power.

"Full burn in ten minutes," Vas reported. "We'll be at the gravitational boundary in six days."

The Sol system, the Oort Cloud included, stretched a light year from end to end. Less than a week was an incredible speed, especially considering it used to take years to get from Earth to the outer planets.

"I'll turn on the autopilot once we reach full speed and can cut the engines." Barret looked over at Vas. "The nice thing about sub-light travel is, once we're moving, we stay moving even without the engines on."

"Once we're fully underway," Vas said, "we can eat. I don't know about you, but I'm a little hungry."

----

For Barret, the remainder of the day was spent getting a better feel for the Arrowhead's controls. After being at full burn for a few hours, Barret cut the engines and, as he phrased it, "Put Sir Issac Newton in control." Fortunately, Vas knew enough of Earth history to know who Newton was.

Lunch was nice, especially considering they ate real food, and not the replicated stuff. Barret didn't know what it was about replicated food, but despite being atomically identical to the real thing, it didn't taste quite right.

After lunch, Barret went back to the cockpit, and Vas decided to stroll around the ship, getting a better idea of the Arrowhead's layout.

Truth be told, there wasn't much for Barret to do while they were coasting. Occasionally he would have to use the attitude control jets to adjust the ship's orientation or to make slight heading adjustments, but that was it.

At 1700 hours ship time, they had dinner. Barret left the autopilot on, and they adjourned to the rec room, something the old ship didn't have, to enjoy some of the movies in the ship's library. At 2100 hours, Vas excused herself and didn't explain why. Barret assumed she wanted a shower, or to test out the bathtub that had been installed in their bathroom.

A half hour later, Barret went to their quarters to get ready for bed. Vas was nowhere to be seen. "Odd," he said to himself. He shrugged, and started to get undressed. He was down to his underwear when the door chime rang.

Barret frowned. Then he turned to the open door and saw Vas standing there in a thin white robe that was so short, Vas's pubic mound would have been exposed had she raised her arms over her head. It was the same robe she'd worn almost a year prior when she'd seduced Barret on the old ship.

"Good evening, James," Vas said, much as she had done the previous year. "May I enter?" She sauntered in, not waiting for a response. "I'd planned on breaking this old robe out on our anniversary next month, but I thought it was fitting for our first night together on the new ship."

Barret wrapped his arms around his mate and kissed her. Gently at first, but with increasing passion. Vas pressed herself against Barret, and felt him getting harder.

Their lips parted, and Barret rested his forehead against Vas's. "I love you, Endira Vas," he said.

"And I love you, James Barret. Now," she pulled herself from her mate's arms and let her robe slide off, "it's time for you to take me to bed so we can finally break in our quarters."

Barret quickly shed his underwear and pulled Vas over to their bed. He laid her down gently and climbed on top of her, his lips again meeting hers. They kissed and ran their hands over each other, almost re-enacting the first time they physically joined. Of course, this time Vas was very familiar with oral sex, and was eagerly awaiting her mate's tongue on her sensitive clit.

As if reading her mind, Barret kissed his way down Vas's body until he came to her naturally hairless snatch. "I remember the first time I did this for you."

"I came so hard I almost passed out," Vas said.

"Want to see if I can get you off that hard again?"

"No," she replied, "because I want to enjoy you. Your tongue, your hands, your cock... all of you."

"Ask, and ye shall receive." Barret gave her slit a long lick, from opening to clit. When he reached her green nub, he swirled his tongue around it.

"Yes," Vas moaned.

Barret grabbed hold of Vas's hips and sucked her clit. He flicked it repeatedly with his tongue, making Vas moan loudly. Barret licked, sucked, and then nipped it with his teeth. That set Vas off. Her back arched, she grabbed her breasts, and started pulling on her nipples.