Transport Ship Arrowhead Ch. 09

Larik'Ni had thought, erroneously, that since she was now getting laid on a regular basis, she could not just keep up with her consorts, but fuck them into submission. Unfortunately- or maybe fortunately - for her, Barret and Vas knew exactly how to gang up on her.

Vas snuggled into Larik'Ni and began stroking her luxurious red hair. "Are you okay, lover?"

"As soon..." she panted, "...as I catch my breath... I will be all right." She kissed Vas softly on the lips. "Let me watch you and James make love. I enjoy watching you fuck."

Vas kissed Larik'Ni one more time, then rolled in her back. Barret mounted her, and he eased his throbbing cock into her waiting cunt. "Don't hold back. Just give it to me."

Barret had thought about teasing her, but he was too worked up. He gave his bond mate the pounding she craved. Larik'Ni rolled onto her side and reached between her lovers, to where they were joined. She rubbed Vas's clit as Barret fucked her.

Vas cried out, already feeling her orgasm approaching. "Not fair..." Vas mewled. "Gonna cum already..."

Barret was closer than he'd like. He kept the pace, knowing that Larik'Ni's fingers would help bring Vas off faster than if Barret had been fucking her alone.

Vas's back arched, her skin changed color, and she let out a yowl as she hit her peak. Barret kept his pace and thought unsexy thoughts; he didn't want to climax until Vas had finished hers.

Vas cried out one last time and she collapsed on the bed. She moved Larik'Ni's hand away from her clit. She was breathing heavily and wasn't sure how much more she could take.

"Going to cum," Barret growled.

"Cum in my mouth," Vas beseeched. Barret pulled out, scrambled to Vas's head, and let loose as soon as Vas's lips had closed around his shaft. He pumped rope after rope into Vas's waiting mouth. She swallowed the first two ejaculations but let the rest pool on her tongue.

Barret removed himself from his bond mate's mouth after the last of his orgasm issued. Vas turned to Larik'Ni and opened wide, offering her the cum she had collected.

Larik'Ni kissed Vas hungrily, enjoying the taste of their man's seed as they shared it. Larik'Ni greedily swallowed down what Vas pushed into her mouth. When the load was gone, they parted.

"You'd only tasted him when you clean his load out of me," Vas said, still breathing heavily. "I thought you'd want to taste him on his own."

"Thank you, my love," Larik'Ni said. She looked over at Barret. "Next time you can cum on my face."

The three of them snuggled together with Larik'Ni laying between Vas and Barret. She sighed in contentment. "I could get used to this."

"You know," Barret said, "if you moved in here with us, this could be a regular occurrence."

Larik'Ni sighed. This was the first time post-coitus that Vas and Barret had mentioned her moving in, and she knew it probably wouldn't be the last. "I appreciate the offer, but I am used to living alone. Besides, as I told you, I have taken Crathis'Pol as a regular lover, and it will be easier to entertain him in my own home than here."

"We have an extra room," Vas pointed out. "We don't mind you having sex with him here. Besides, I want to have a threesome with him and you at some point. And with him and James. And maybe an orgy with all three of you and Azdiltra."

Larik'Ni caressed Vas's cheek. "My sweet Vas. I do appreciate the gesture, but I am not ready to leave what has been my home for so many years. Now let us sleep. In the morning, I must contact the Uditch and tel them to leave here and never return."

----

A shrill alarm rang through the darkened room. It startled Lant out of a sound sleep, making her twitch so violently when she awoke that she felt like she had pulled a muscle in her neck.

"Fuck's sake," she groaned.

A body next to her shifted. "What is it?" a sleepy voice slurred. Before Lant could answer, a pair of loud cries rang from the next room. Lant's husband, now fully awake, shuffled out of bed. "I'll check the kids," Graey said as he pulled some clothes on.

"Thanks," Lant said. She also dressed, covering her nude physique with a robe. She keyed the controls for the home's holo-comm. An image of Ga'Tess shimmered into view.

"I apologize for the late call," he said. Then he heard the cries and he winced. "And I really apologize for waking your children." All Delor were born in pairs, and the twin shrieks coming over the channel made Ga'Tess glad that twins were a rarity among Birrans. His two children were adults now, and he was glad they had been born several years apart.

"The Uditch called a few minutes ago and reported a failure in their pseudo-matter containment system. They are being towed in by one of our remotely operated tugboats as we speak."

Lant was wide awake now and could hear the skepticism in her subordinate's voice. "You think they're lying."

"To use human vernacular, I think they are full of shit! However, the law is clear."

"It is," Lant agreed. "A ship in need must be allowed to land, and we must provide technical assistance. How pissed off is Loriv?"

"Extremely," Ga'Tess replied. "She is already on the scene."

"I'll be there soon," Lant told him.

"Should I awake the governor?"

Lant thought about it for a moment. "Yes. I'm sure she'll want to get down to the dock so she can see if the Nitzhal captain is pulling a fast one. Call her personal comm, not her landline." Lant remembered Larik'Ni telling her she was spending the night with Vas and Barret. "I'll be down there myself as soon as I can." With that, the channel was closed.

Graey came back into the room. His skin was a darker green than Lant's, and like all Delor, he had no hair. He was also shorter than his wife; Delor males were always smaller than the females. Despite the difference in stature, Delor men were quite strong.

"Is it that ship you were telling me about?" Graey asked when he saw his wife getting dressed.

"How'd you guess?" she asked wryly. "Those fucking pricks may be pulling some real shit. They're being towed in. They're claiming containment failure in their drive core."

"And because of that, you can't turn them away."

"Precisely." Lant finished putting her pants on. "How are our twin terrors?"

"I got them back to sleep," Graey said. "I'll keep an ear out while you're gone."

Lant kissed Graey. "Thanks, love."

----

The Uditch looked a lot different now that it was docked. The ventral sail had been retracted, and several sets of struts had extended from the hull to grab onto walls or other structures for stability.

Lant, Larik'Ni, Loriv, a team of engineers, and a full contingent of armed security were waiting by the airlock. All but the security personnel were more than a little pissed off about having been woken up in the middle of the night. Larik'Ni, especially, was extremely irate.

"You okay?" Loriv asked when she saw how badly the governor was scowling.

"I was making love to my consorts," she growled. "Yes, we had already made love once tonight, but we were not fully satisfied. I was mid-orgasm when I was called."

"I'm sorry," Loriv said. "That would piss me off, too."

"I am more than pissed."

Fifteen minutes after the Uditch docked and the umbilicals connected, two men and a dozen floating robots came through the airlock.

The man in the lead was shorter than the gathered Haven representatives. His skin was a slightly lighter shade of teal than Larik'Ni's, and his long golden hair was flowing around his head. He was stocky and muscular.

The man following him was bald, had a similar skin tone to Larik'Ni, and was tall and thin. He walked slightly hunched over. The robots flanking them were black and silver and floated a meter and a half off the ground. Their heads were flattened, and there was a glowing yellow visor scanning everyone and everything. They had long, spindly arms that ended at four fingered manipulators.

The tall man was allowed to stand next to the shorter man when they came to a stop. "I am Raasch," he said. "I am here to speak on behalf of the grand procurator."

Larik'Ni glared at them both. "He has already spoken to me and acknowledged me." Larik'Ni looked Dixat in the eye. "He can speak to me himself, provided he is not a coward."

Dixat scowled and stalked up to Larik'Ni.

He drew his arm across his body, poised to backhand the governor. He let his strike fly, and Larik'Ni caught it. She twisted his arm and pulled him into a hold; his arm behind his back and her free arm around his neck. The robots deployed weapons from their torsos. The security officers pulled their own sidearms.

"No one strikes me," Larik'Ni hissed. She looked up at Raasch. "I could have this clotaash shoatan imprisoned for attempting to assault me, and I could have you all thrown off this planet for being complicit! Have your stewards stand down!"

"Stand down," Raasch said. The robots retracted their weapons. "Now, release the grand procurator."

"You will not touch me," she hissed in Dixat's ear. "If you try to strike me again, I will break your arm." She pushed him away.

"We have gotten off to a bad start," Raasch said.

"You think?" Lant snarled.

Loriv stepped up next to Larik'Ni. "I need to talk to your chief engineer so my people can go in and assist in repairs."

"You are not allowed on our ship, I'm afraid," Raasch told her. "We can affect our own repairs."

"That's not how this works," Lant said. "You asked for help due to containment failure. You requested a repair berth, which means our people are legally permitted to go in and assist."

"We do not recognize your laws," Dixat rasped, rubbing his throat. He sneered. "Besides, our core is running in perfect order. You fell for our ruse."

"Was this your idea?" Loriv demanded of Dixat.

"Yes, and it was a brilliant one," he said. "I know that this clan-less bitch was never going to give us permission to land."

Loriv motioned to the security team. "They're in violation of interstellar law, as well as our own. They lied about engine failure and docked under false pretenses."

Armed guards came up to Dixat and grabbed onto him. "You are under arrest and are being taken into custody," the lead guard said.

"You have no authority!" Dixat screamed in his native language. "This world is mine!"

"No," Larik'Ni said, speaking Interlingual so everyone could understand her. "It belongs to the people who live here! Haven will never belong to the Nitzhal. I do not give a damn why you want this world, you will never have it."

Dixat tried to lunge at Larik'Ni, but a guard grabbed him and held him back. "This world was promised to us! So'Rit promised us!"

Larik'Ni got in Dixat's face. "It was not his world to promise," she said. "As I told you, this world belongs to its people. You have no power here. You have no authority here." She looked at the guard restraining Dixat. "Take him away."

The guard yanked Dixat. "Move!" he shouted in Hi'Nitaa. He pulled off his helmet, revealing a teal face, orange hair, and yellow eyes. He was a Birran.

Dixat snarled. "Are you another clan-less?"

"No," he replied. "My family live. In fact, my father works in space traffic control. However, I have compassion for those who have lost their families, as did the Birrans of old. Now come on!"

Raasch tried to block the guard. "Governor, be reasonable!"

"I am showing reason," she replied. "This man tried to attack me twice. Not only that, but you lied in order to land."

Raasch looked Larik'Ni over. He could see the young woman he had once known, but the fire in her eyes and in her voice was new. "I used to think you took after your father, what with your shared interest in computers and artificial intelligence. Now I see you are more like your mother."

"If you mean that as an insult, I do not take it as such. My mother was a great woman. If I could be even half the woman she was, then my own greatness is assured."

Raasch watched as Dixat was frogmarched off. "Let us adjourn to your office so we may speak."

"You must wait," Larik'Ni said. "It is the middle of the night, and I want to go back to bed."

"It is high afternoon," Raasch said, clearly confused.

"Haven runs on a twenty-four hour day, not the eighteen hour day of Thelst. Our clock is the same as planet Maylog, whose people dug out this chamber and built the city."

Raasch cleared his throat. "We were told the planet would be operating on Thelst time."

"Then you were lied to about a great many things. The inns are all closed. In the morning we will attempt to find you lodging. For now, you will have to sleep aboard your ship. Since the engine failure was a lie, I feel no guilt about that. Now, I am going back to bed. Good night!"

----

"Governor, a Justin Thorpe is here to see you," the voice of Benjamin Wu said over Larik'Ni's office comm.

The governor let out an exasperated growl. She only had a few minutes between a meeting with the election board to get a new council voted in and when she would be listening to Raasch spew whatever Nitzhal drivel he expected her to listen to. This was not the kind of day she wanted to have after getting almost no sleep and having an interrupted lovemaking session with Vas and Barret.

Larik'Ni set the steaming mug of lott'rolann, the Birran equivalent of coffee, on her desk and sighed. "Very well," she said. "Have him come in but let me know when my next appointment arrives."

"Always," was the reply. Then the door slid open and a thin man with shaggy hair entered.

"Thank you for seeing me," the man said as he entered the office.

Larik'Ni motioned for the man to sit. "What can I do for you, Mr. Thorpe?"

"I'm representing Councilor Agav," he said, getting down to business. "I was hoping we could talk about getting this case dismissed."

"That is not up to me," Larik'Ni said. "The only involvement I will have is when I am called to give my testimony. If you want this case dismissed, then you must file an appeal with the adjudicator."

Thorpe had a confused look on his face. "I've researched prior cases, and past governors had intervened when political adversaries or allies were on trial."

"I am not my predecessors," Larik'Ni said, "and what they did was illegal. Since taking office, I have made sure that those judges who swore fealty to certain political leaders have been removed and replaced. The law must come first. I have had no contact with the adjudicator overseeing this trial. I have only spoken to the prosecutors when I gave my initial statement. I am a witness, nothing more."

Thorpe wasn't ready for that response. He had been prepared to bargain with the governor and figure out what kind of favors would be needed to get his client released.

"Mr. Thorpe," Larik'Ni said, "I know of Haven's reputation. This world was not always home to rampant corruption. That disease came on slowly, over the many decades that Haven existed as its own independent world.

"I have been fighting an uphill battle to return us to those days when power was used to help the people, not the politicians who wield it. My efforts may be for naught if whomever succeeds me tries to take us back to the days of rampant corruption. I may very well fail, but I must still try to do what is best for this world and its people.

"As for your proposal, it is not accepted. Agav's fate is not in my hands. She will answer for her crimes in a court of law. I am sorry, but you have wasted your time."

Thorpe stood up. "Believe it or not, I'm relieved. I didn't want to make a deal with the devil, but my client insisted. I'll do as you suggest and file an appeal. Thank you for your time." He turned and left the office.

As soon as Thorpe had left, Wu called Larik'Ni's office again. "He's here," was all he said.

Larik'Ni beseeched her ancestors, specifically her parents, for strength before telling Wu to allow Raasch entry. When the Hillot entered the room, Larik'Ni directed him to the chair Thorpe had just vacated.

Larik'Ni sat down and just looked at the old man. "My parents considered you to be a friend," she finally said. "You were a guest in our home. You and your wife dined with us."

Raasch sighed. "We did. We enjoyed those evenings. I miss your parents."

"You did not honor them last night," Larik'Ni hissed. "You tried to wield their memory against me like a cudgel! It is unfortunate for you that their memory strengthens me."

Raasch sighed. "I owe you an apology. Many apologies."

"Yes. You do."

"I should not have used Calaar'Than and Heg'Chull's names against you." He closed his eyes and was lost in thought. "Calaar'Than," he said. "How I miss her. All she wanted was to advocate for your people and try to make the lives of all Birrans a little better. She was kind, but she had a fire in her soul. I saw some of that last night.

"When I was told a clan-less Birran named Larik'Ni was claiming to be this planet's governor, I was surprised. Certainly this couldn't be the daughter of my late friend. Then I saw you. The budding young computer scientist who spent so much time with her father trying to innovate in a field that rarely accepted Birrans.

"Heg'Chull was the exception," Raasch continued. "He was a genius, and you seemed to be cut from the same cloth. Now, after feeling your mother's fire coming from your words, I know that they both truly live on in you."

"Then you know that I will not simply give up and turn this planet over to your empire," Larik'Ni said. "It is true that I was going to deny landing clearance. However, that does not give you any right to violate our laws."

Raasch let out a breath. "Your dock master has been very... vocal... with her displeasure."

"Your people would do well to not anger her further," Larik'Ni warned. "She is quite physically strong. I have no doubt she could overpower even the hardiest Nitzhal on that ship."

"Governor," Raasch said, trying his best to get back to the matter of negotiation, "is there any way we can find some sort of compromise or middle ground?"

"Haven is independent and neutral," Larik'Ni said. "It has been this way since the miners and tradespeople who built this city bought the planet from the Golipt Mining Consortium. This world is not mine to give away!"

Raasch slumped in his chair. "That is going to make things... uncomfortable. What am I saying, things already are uncomfortable! The grand procurator is in your detention center, your people are swarming all over the Uditch, and this mission is going to be a failure."

"You are smarter than this, Raasch," Larik'Ni said pointedly. "Just because the Nitzhal always get their way on the homeworld does not mean they will everywhere else. Despite their delusions to the contrary, the Nitzhal are not the pinnacle species in the universe!"

"Try telling them that." Raasch stood up. "When will Dixat be released?"

"That is up to the adjudicator. He has been formally charged with attempted assault on a government official, and misuse of emergency docking protocols. Also, you lied about your drive core. It is powered by antimatter, not pseudo-matter! Had your containment truly failed and you lied about this, you could have destroyed this entire city and everyone in it. Not to mention much of the planet."

"Dixat felt the ends justified the means, consequences be damned." He turned to leave. "There is no way of forging any kind of alliance?"

"Your emperor does not want an alliance and you know that," Larik'Ni said as she stood up. "He wants subjugation. How do I know the populace would not be used as a source of cheap labor, or that anyone not of Thelst would not be banished? This world is my responsibility, as are its people. They chose me to lead, and to look out for their best interests. Allying with a species who casts orphans into the void is not in their best interests.