LIKE A FINE WINE

by Misty Vixen

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 01

CHAPTER 02

CHAPTER 03

CHAPTER 04

CHAPTER 05

CHAPTER 06

CHAPTER 07

CHAPTER 08

CHAPTER 09

OTHER TITLES

ABOUT ME

CHAPTER 01

Jack Lennox set down the sleek black kit bag that contained his entire life and looked out the window at the stars that had once guided him.

Up until a few weeks ago, he had seen something in that universal field of stars.

Now he saw nothing. He felt as adrift as an escape pod jettisoned from a dying starship somewhere in deep space, with no distress beacon and dwindling resources.

With a heavy sigh, Jack sat down on the smooth, plush couch in the private receiving bay he had been instructed to go to by his mysterious employers. He asked himself what, exactly, he thought he was doing. It had been two days since he’d accepted this job and he still didn’t have something even resembling an answer.

After fifteen years of certainty, I don’t know was a terrifying thing to live.

As he settled into the comfortable material, he tried not to fidget. It was unbecoming of a Galactic Marine to fidget. Of course, he wasn’t a Marine anymore, was he? He turned away from the window. The ship he was waiting for wasn’t here yet. Booting up his Link, the little microcomputer nearly every human had embedded in their brain that granted them access to the galactic internet, he saw that he still had about fifteen minutes before they were schedule to arrive. Well, he was used to the whole ‘hurry up and wait’ thing.

Although he’d made himself hurry up, it wasn’t like they’d been yelling at him through the messages to be precisely on time.

Then again, based on the research he’d done for this strange job, (he hadn’t jumped in totally blind, much as it felt like), the woman running the show would no doubt expect a strict adherence to the timetable.

Being an administrator for over a dozen massive corporations over something like forty years would probably do that to you.

Jack sighed softly and sat back in the chair, rubbing his eyes. What was he doing? This might be the craziest thing he’d ever done.

Signing on with a glorified fixer-upper crew.

He’d at least read up on the job, because it sounded a little weird, but had learned that this was a real thing. There were a lot of instances of people flying out into deep space, looking to snatch up some land or get the jump on some kind of natural resource, so they’d drop an outpost or refinery or starport on some distant world, and then figure out that they’d screwed up. A ton of different things could go wrong on freshly discovered worlds, which meant that there were a lot of abandoned ships, buildings, and space stations out there.

Some people made their lives as salvagers, harvesting places like this in the no man’s land of deep space, but sometimes other corporations bought up the property and sent out ragtag teams to patch them up before sending their own crews out there. It was just one of the thousands of ways you could earn credits way out there in the barely charted regions of the galaxy. But even after getting past that initial skepticism, the more he looked into this job he’d found and applied for, the stranger it seemed to become.

The project was small, and it was being put together by a woman named Maureen Sharp.

When he’d done a little digging through public records, he became more and more curious as to why a woman like her was putting together a scrapping mission with such a small scope. She was sixty five years old, (and still pretty damned hot, in an ice queen sort of way, going off the pics he’d found), and ever since becoming an executive of a mining corporation she’d started working at as an entry level data manager at twenty seven, she’d seemingly dominated business. She had gone on to become an executive or top-level administrator of some kind for, among other things, an interstellar shipping company, a top-tier hospital that serviced a colony of a hundred thousand, a mega ad campaign designing company, and a publishing company.

Most recently she had stepped down from being the CEO of a vacation organization company that she herself had started some ten years ago.

So why was she doing this?

There had to be something he was missing, but he didn’t know what, because although she’d been good about getting back to him once she’d accepted his application, she’d been oddly evasive about the nature of the job itself. Well, some of it. She told him where they were going, a few of the contracts they’d picked up, the kind of work they’d be doing once they got there. But she hadn’t said much when he’d asked why they didn’t have a larger crew. According to Maureen, there were just six in total so far, herself included.

And he couldn’t find any intel on any of the other crew, he didn’t even know their names.

Despite the fact that he was sometimes a slightly paranoid person, he couldn’t ignore the fact that his instincts were telling him to do this. That was as close as he had to any kind of reason why he was doing this.

That and the fact that he felt completely adrift and directionless in his life now.

So here he was: formerly Sergeant Jack Lennox of the Galactic Marine Corps was now signing up to be an ‘as-needed assistant’ to a surprisingly lowkey salvage op run by a (retired?) businesswoman who, if she’d gone into the military, could probably be a four star General by now. He was positive he was missing something, but he was also willing to admit it might just be as it seemed: Maureen had dominated boardrooms for decades, maybe now she just wanted something totally different. And this was pretty damned different.

Though even still, it really wasn’t like boardroom execs to head out into the field and rough it on distant, dangerous planets.

Jack looked up again as he caught movement through the window beside the airlock he sat in front of. There it was, the ship. It was a sleek, new ship, shiny white metal edged with chrome, the windows tinted black from the exterior. It was edging its way sideways, towards the airlock. It was small. While he was used to mega cruisers that could easily house a thousand personnel, he figured this one would likely max out at a dozen. Jack grabbed his kit bag and stood. When he’d gotten accepted to the job, they’d told him to hop up to the nearest space station and they’d pick him up there before whipping him off to the outer reaches of the galaxy.

As he watched the ship settle in and listened to the clanking sounds of the airlocks connecting, he realized that this was likely his last opportunity to turn away from this course. The job was kind of open-ended, but Maureen had said it would take at least a month, probably longer. But as he waited, it occurred to him that he wasn’t going to turn away from this. He’d known it in some deep, basic way that he needed to do this, even if he didn’t understand why, since the beginning. Since before he’d signed on and packed his life up.

The airlock door was opening now.

He half-expected to see Maureen herself inside the airlock. Instead, he found himself staring at a very attractive, mature woman with pale blonde hair, bright green eyes, and smooth, tan skin. She had an easy, though slightly amused, smile as she laid eyes on him. She was wearing a white tanktop and white jogging shorts. She filled them out quite nicely, with decently padded thighs and sexy hips, as well as some big breasts pressing against her shirt.

“Hello, you must be Jack,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.

“Come aboard,” she said, making room for him in the airlock. “But I’m going to tell you right now: don’t call any of us ma’am. We’re on a first-name basis on this ship, and that applies to you. Plus, we’re all heading into middle age and you know how people can be about that. My name is Sylvia. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, too, Sylvia,” he replied as he stepped into the airlock.

“I’ll be giving you the tour and introducing you to the crew. You’re the last one we needed to snag before heading out to the great black yonder.”

As he stepped in, she initiated the airlock and it closed and started doing its thing. He found himself looking at her face. God, but she was a beautiful woman.

“What, uh, role do you have in this expedition?” he asked.

“I’m the doctor,” she replied. “I keep you all healthy. And I can assure you that I will be giving you a very thorough...examination, sometime soon.”

“That makes sense,” he murmured, wondering if he should read into the oddly suggestive way she’d said that.

Good fucking God did he love older women.

And this was one fine example of a sexy, mature lady.

The airlock finished and they stepped out onto the ship. A short alcove led into a large corridor that cut across it, running nearly the length of the whole ship. There was a door directly across from them, and another close to the left.

“We’ll start the tour here,” Sylvia said, leading him onto the bridge to the left.

Jack knew that even smaller ships like this typically needed a three-person crew to run a bridge. That was, unless, you had the credits to pay for a streamlined, easy-access bridge that was closer to a cockpit, and one talented pilot to run it all. Usually with the help of an intelligence program. He got a look at the talented pilot.

And, as she turned around in her seat and stretched, opening her legs, he got a look up the short skirt she was wearing and he saw her bare pussy.

He immediately looked back up at her face.

She was a dysil. Like most in her race, this pilot had smooth orange skin and small black horns growing from her forehead. He could even see a spade-tipped tail drifting behind her. She had fiery red hair and fiery red eyes to match. Given their appearance, many people tended to tag dysil with the slang term devil, and although some regarded this as derogatory, which was why he’d never used it, he had noticed a lot of them seemed to kind of lean into it. So far, all the dysil women he’d met had all been very...erotically motivated.

And judging from the way she was staring at him, the fact that she was wearing a tanktop that was struggling to contain some immense breasts, and she hadn’t closed her legs yet, he thought that this woman was similarly minded.

“This is our pilot, Riley,” Sylvia said. She rolled her eyes. “Close your legs, you slut.”

“Oops,” Riley said, glancing down. She closed her legs but leaned forward. Her huge orange breasts nearly tumbled out of her shirt. “How embarrassing.”

“Mmm-hmm. You have no subtlety,” she muttered. “Come along, Jack.”

“Very nice to meet you,” Riley said, grinning slyly.

“Uh, you too,” he replied, following Sylvia.

“You’ll have to excuse her,” she said as she took him back towards the airlock intersection. “She’s a rather...free spirit. And she has a thing for cute young human men.” She glanced at him. “Though that’s not unique,” she murmured. “Here,” she led him into a door directly across from the airlock, “is our observation lounge.”

The room was a simple one, just two comfortable couches with a small table between them facing the far wall, which was nothing but window looking out onto the void. Right now it showed stars, just that infinite field of stars. One of the couches was occupied by a woman, a woman he was familiar with.

Maureen Sharp. Businesswoman extraordinaire.

Sitting on the couch, staring at one of three tablets around her, wearing black business casual, her dark hair in a conservative bun, she looked exactly as she had in the most recent photos he’d seen of her. And his initial impression was right: she was hot. Goddamn. She stood up as they came in, setting the tablet aside. She was almost as tall as he was, and she was a sturdy, stout woman, with some pleasant curves. Her hips and thighs filled out her pants and her breasts looked pretty big. She still seemed to be in pretty good shape.

“Mister Lennox,” she said, stepping up to him and offering her hand. “I’m Maureen Sharp.”

“Good to meet you, ma-, um, Maureen,” he said, feeling uncomfortable with the first name basis. And not just because he’d been in the military.

She seemed like a woman you called ma’am.

A small, slightly amused smile touched her lips. “Maureen is indeed fine, as I’m sure Sylvia has told you. Despite the fact that I expect everyone here to do an excellent job, we are rather casual and informal. I’ve had enough formality to last me a lifetime. I’m glad you agreed to join us on our little expedition. If my instincts are right about you, you’re going to be...very useful.”

“Well, I like to think I’m pretty useful, though I imagine you were able to put together a team of experts for this, and I’m no expert,” he replied.

“Ah, so you studied me, too.”

“Only seemed fair.”

“Indeed. I’d have been disappointed if you hadn’t. And although yes, everyone else aboard this ship has had decades of experience in their field, well, let’s just say that there’s something I believe you will bring to the table that all of us can make good use of,” Maureen replied.

“What’s that, exactly?” he asked. “I mean, I’m not trying to talk myself out of a job or anything. Don’t get me wrong, I can work my ass off if I need to and I’m a decent learner, but...I guess I’m not sure how I fit into all this?”

“Don’t worry, Jack. How you...fit, will be revealed soon enough, I’m sure. And I’m sure you’re up to the task. It’s nothing you haven’t handled before,” she replied.

“I...” He wanted to ask more questions, but he had the impression that Maureen was the kind of woman who would answer you in exactly the manner she intended, and she’d given him all he was going to get. “Okay,” he replied.

She smiled. “Good. Now, if you will excuse me, I’m afraid I must continue checking over these contracts.”

“Not a problem. Good to meet you,” he replied.

“And you.”

She sat her wonderfully big ass back down on the sofa, grabbed one of the tablets, and began studying it again.

He followed Sylvia back out into the corridor. “That’s our boss, and my best friend,” she said. “We’ve known each other for quite awhile. Okay, here’s the next section, the kitchen and dining section,” she said, stopping by the next intersection and turning to the left. He followed her inside and marveled at the room. The kitchen was fully stocked with all sorts of high-tech food-making gear, including a walk-in fridge and freezer combo, packed with no doubt months of food. The dining area had eight chairs around a large, round table. Currently there was a woman sitting there, a very intimidating and attractive woman.

That seemed to be par for the course onboard this ship.

The woman was very tall, probably six four or six five, and built. She had a big frame, developed by a lot of working out. She reminded him of a Marine. She had very pale skin, alert green eyes, and chin-length red hair pulled into a ponytail.

“This is Elizabeth. You two should get along well, she was a Marine, too. She’s here for security purposes,” Sylvia said.

Elizabeth looked at him with something like discomfort or apprehension. “Hello,” she murmured, then cleared her throat.

“Hello,” he replied. “You were a Marine?”

“Yeah, twenty-five years,” she replied. “Got out two years ago.”

“She was a Staff Sergeant,” Sylvia murmured.

“Nice,” Jack said.

“Mmm.” She still looked uncomfortable.

“Well, let’s continue, Elizabeth is no doubt busy brooding, as usual,” Sylvia said.

Elizabeth sighed. “Piss off, Sylvia.”

“Glad to see your wit’s intact.”

Elizabeth just sighed again and turned back away from them. They left the kitchen. Did she have a reason not to like him? Maybe because he was twenty four and out of the Marines now? He knew career Marines who had disdain for anyone who left before a decade, some two.

“Don’t mind her,” Sylvia said as she took him across the hall to the opposite door. “She’ll warm up to you, she just never developed very good people skills. Here is our rec room.”

This room was like the lounge, but bigger and with more stuff. He spied a huge table with a lot of chairs around it next to a shelf packed with all manner of games. In the center was a giant U-shaped couch, aimed at a large TV that was hung directly over the door. To the right were some arcade cabinets and a few comfortable looking chairs.

“Wow, this is really nice,” he murmured.

“Yes. Maureen wanted to make sure we’d be comfortable for the duration. Come along.”

As they headed back out into the corridor, a woman appeared in the doorway, another redhead, though much smaller in stature. She was equally pale, her red hair down, framing an extremely attractive face, and she regarded him with bright blue eyes.

“Ah, good. This is Anya, she is our geologist,” Sylvia said.

“The young man I’ve heard so much about,” she murmured, offering her hand. He shook it. Her skin was so soft and smooth. She wore a robe that was a little open at the chest, showing off some nice breasts. She had an air of easy confidence about her, the effect heightened by the lilt of her Russian accent. “So good to finally meet you.”

“How much have you heard, exactly?” he replied uncertainly.

She smirked. “Maureen looked through hundreds of men for this position, so, naturally, when I heard she had finally picked one, I was curious. I guess not so much heard about you as looked into your history...”

“Wait, hundreds of people were considered?” he asked, glancing at Sylvia.

She looked annoyed, glaring at Anya. “Let’s just say that Maureen is very...exacting.”

Anya glanced between the two of them. “Oh you haven’t told-” She paused, then regained her smirk. “Oh well, you will know soon enough. I’m sure I’ll be seeing much more of you later, Jack. Have fun,” she said, and slipped off into the kitchen.

“Let us continue,” Sylvia said. The questions were beginning to mount. They all seemed to know something he didn’t, and his suspicion that he was missing something only grew stronger. What was the real reason he’d been picked out of apparently hundreds of candidates? Or wait, she’d said men, specifically, and so far, he’d met only women on this ship. There was one crew member left, and he’d be willing to bet they were a she.

So why did they specifically want a man?

“These are the bedrooms,” Sylvia said as they passed rows of doors. There were four to either side. “This one is yours.” She brought him to the last one on the right and opened the door. He supposed the questions would have to wait.

Jack stepped inside and looked around. It was bigger than he’d expected. Honestly, after traveling between worlds, packed into barracks like a sardine, he was happy even just to have a fucking cot in a room by himself. He tossed his bag onto the bed, which was a damned queen size and looked really comfortable to boot, and studied what he had. The bed had drawers built into the frame, to save the need for a dresser. There was a desk and a chair over by one of the windows, a small table with two chairs around it for eating, and a big TV mounted on the wall. As far as he was concerned, this was definitely traveling in style.

“Come on,” Sylvia said, stepping back out, “we’ve got one more person for you to meet and the rest of the ship to see.”

He followed after her.

“This is my domain,” she said as they came to another intersection bisecting the main corridor. Stepping through, he found himself looking at a shiny, clean, white-tiled room packed with gleaming silver technology. An infirmary. He saw a pair of examination beds, several shelves and cabinets packed with top-tier medical equipment and technology, all of it brand new and perfectly clean. There was a glass door at the back of the room. Through it, he could see a glass table inside of a sterilized clean room.

“Is that a surgical bay?” he asked.

“It is,” Sylvia replied. “With the help of the onboard intelligence program, and probably Elizabeth or Riley, I can perform a lot of different kinds of emergency surgery.”

“Good to know,” he murmured.

“Yep. Come along.”

She showed him to a room dedicated to utilities routing. Basically, the room that controlled things like heating and cooling, atmospheric processing, waste management, power distribution. The things that made the ship functional and livable. After that were a few storage bays packed with crates, and finally, at the rear of the ship, easily the largest room by a long shot, was a hangar bay that also granted access to the engines.

Taking up most of the hangar was a land rover clearly meant to handle dangerous or difficult terrain, a shuttle meant to hop between a ship in orbit over a planet and the planet’s surface, and a pair of huge metal containers.

The last member of the team was inside the shuttle, wrist-deep inside of an exposed section of the ship, tools and gear around her. She was, he saw, also an alien. A xenian. They were obsessed with technology, so much so that they installed visible nodes of tech in their bodies from quite a young age. The woman he saw before him was a good example of what the average xenian looked like: petite, with milky white skin, and glowing white eyes. Her brown hair was short and functional. She wore a simple black generic technician’s jumpsuit with a lot of pockets. Everything about her spoke of clipped, cold efficiency.

“Lyra,” Sylvia said. Lyra didn’t replied, didn’t even notice them, staring unblinkingly into the open panel of the ship, near the top of the ramp that admitted passengers access. “Lyra!” Now she blinked, then looked over at them.

“Sylvia,” she said. “I see our man is here. I’d shake your hand but I’m busy. I’m performing maintenance on the stabilizers. This should have been done before we left port.” She turned her attention back to the open panel.

“Ever diligent,” Sylvia murmured. “Lyra is the most...focused of us all. And we’re all very driven, focused women, so that’s saying something. If she ignores you, like she’s doing right now, don’t take it personally.”

“I’m not ignoring you,” she said, still staring into the panel. “I told you: I’m busy. This is important work.”

“Yes, well, I’ll let you get back to your ‘important work’,” Sylvia replied.

“Wait.” She looked at them again, focusing on Jack. “Turn around in a complete circle, slowly.” She paused. “Please?”

“Uh...okay,” he replied, and did as she asked. Why did she want this exactly? Everyone onboard was, in one form or another, fucking weird. But it was surprisingly not very off-putting, except maybe Elizabeth, but that was only because she was a damned ex-Staff Sergeant and he already felt guilty as it was for opting out of the Marines after only four years. In a way, it was refreshing. All of these women were so...blunt. But in a good way. There seemed to be very little pretense, and he appreciated that. None of them seemed to be faking anything.

In the Marines, fucking everyone was tough.

Some were actually tough, but too many, he’d found, were just punks with over-inflated egos compensating for insecurities, lording their perceived superiority over anyone they could find to talk down to.

Or maybe he’d just been unlucky, and kept running into assholes.

He finished turning in a circle. “Hmm,” Lyra said after a few seconds. “Good.” She turned back to her work.

Sylvia laughed softly. “Good, huh?”

“Yes.”

“All right. Well, let’s leave you to it,” she said, and began leaving the hangar. He followed after her and began heading back down the corridor.

“So, uh, what was that about?” he asked.

“Couldn’t say,” Sylvia replied, though something about her tone made him think she was lying, she knew exactly what that was about, and was very amused about it, “Lyra’s just a weird girl sometimes, is all.”

“Uh-huh,” he murmured.

They got back to his bedroom and stepped inside. “So, any questions?”

“Yes, a few,” he replied. He decided he was going to try and at least get some kind of answer. “The first, biggest one is: what am I doing here? Like I said earlier, I’m not trying to talk myself out of a job or anything, but it’s looking like not only do you have all your bases covered, but you’ve got them covered by a wide margin with all these experts. I’d be surprised if anyone here wasn’t over twice my age and had spent more years than I’ve literally been alive in their field.”

“No, you’re right on both those accounts,” Sylvia replied. “Youngest one here is Elizabeth and she’s just over twice your age.”

“So then why am I here?”

“Oh, you know...reasons,” Sylvia murmured. He crossed his arms and waited. She sighed. “I promise, you’re here for a very good reason, Jack. I believe that you will find this assignment very likely the most...pleasurable one you’ve ever been on.”

“Can you be a little more specific? Your pilot said I was apparently chosen out of hundreds of people,” he replied.

“You were, and I think you’re perfect for the job we have in mind. Right now though...why don’t you get settled in, get the run of the ship, and just try to relax? I promise, the exact nature of your job will be revealed to you, and within the next twelve hours. Until then, trust me. Okay?” she asked, looking intently at him.

He considered it. So, Maureen wasn’t the only one being evasive, and he was right: there was some hidden reason as to why he, specifically, had been hired. What could it be? It wasn’t like he had some hidden talent or something. Okay, he was good at combat, he could survive pretty well, and he kept his head if a situation went sideways without warning, but that was true of millions of people. What was it they were expecting him to do that was so special?

Finally, he decided to just do as she asked and trust her, because although she was clearly being evasive, he didn’t feel like he was in danger. This had less the paranoid feeling of someone trying to fuck him over, and more the feeling of his friends trying to keep him in the dark while they planned a surprise party or something.

“Okay,” he said.

She looked relieved. “Thank you, and I promise, it will be worth the wait.”

He watched her walk out of the room, his eyes drawn to her ass. She had a really hot ass. Then he looked around his room again, his eyes finally settling on his kit bag and, with a sigh, he got to work on ‘settling in’ to his new life.

CHAPTER 02

Jack looked through his bag.

Everything he owned was in there, now. Well, that wasn’t accurate. Everything he owned was in that bag, on his body, or in his head. A shitload of media was purely digital now. There were a lot of books, movies, albums, and a few games stored on a cloud server somewhere. But he’d long since given up having an apartment, opting instead to rent hotels or crash at his parent’s place occasionally, even though they had a somewhat rocky relationship. Technically he had a bed, a dresser, a desk back at their place in his old room, but he didn’t really see that stuff as his. No, all the physical items he possessed were in this bag.

He unzipped it and began pulling it all out.

There wasn’t much there.

Half a dozen changes of clothes, all of his outfits black boxers, black socks, black cargo pants. The only variation were the t-shirts. A few were solid black, some had cool designs on them. One had a flaming chromed skull, another a biohazard symbol wreathed in glowering red light, another with lightning striking a tree, all of it done up in glaring white. The few shirts that had actually caught his eye. He’d had one that had the Galactic Marine Corp logo on it, with a Sergeant’s chevron on the back, but he’d gotten rid of it.

He didn’t think he really deserved it anymore.

Jack turned away from that thought with a dejected sigh. No, he was here to find happiness again. To find meaning, some kind of purpose. Although while he was quite happy to be among a half-dozen super hot mature babes, he wasn’t sure if his purpose was going to be here. Maybe purpose was a farce. Maybe he had no purpose.

He turned away from that thought as well. It was too...early? Late? Whatever. Too something to be thinking about crap like this. He was tired out from the frantic activity of the last few days, saying goodbye to his parents, wrapping up his few outstanding items, then making his way across the planet and up to the space station.

Jack pulled out the next item from the bag: his tablet. At this point, all he used it for was reading. He was a voracious reader, had been for as long as he could remember. He had a few thousand books under his belt by now, and intended to keep going. He set it aside on the bedside table, where it would surely linger the whole way out there, however long that was to be. He pulled out the last few items: a custom-made sidearm with two magazines of ammunition. He’d had it made when he’d gotten accepted for the job.

It was going to be at least somewhat dangerous, as they were going to a barely charted world where any unsavory types might be hanging around, or dangerous creatures. He wanted to be prepared. Jack slipped the pistol and ammo into the drawer of the nightstand, then put away his clothes and kit bag in the drawers beneath the bed.

After that, he spent fifteen minutes poking around his room, seeing if there was anything interesting that he had missed upon his initial casual inspection of it. Ultimately, he determined that no, there was nothing. Though the room was still impressive. Especially that bathtub. Looking at it again proved to be too irresistible. He ended up stripping naked, filling it up with steaming hot water, and soaking in it for a good half an hour. As he did, he found himself thinking about the encounters he’d had with the women so far.

In his experience, just because a woman was flirtatious with you didn’t necessarily mean she wanted to hop in bed. Some people just liked to flirt, and he supposed he could respect that. Sylvia seemed to be hitting on him, and Riley had been hitting on him something fierce. Although...no, that might not be true. She’d literally shown him her vagina, intentionally, but he’d known dysil who would consider that light teasing. Then again, every dysil he’d ever hit on had ended up sleeping with him, and kind of quickly, too.

They seemed to be extremely relaxed about casual sex, especially interracial casual sex.

That was something his own species was still having difficulty with. He supposed there were enough stories of those ‘wild nights’ where someone had ended up taking a cyvit or a dysil home for a fling. Which hey, he’d done enough, though mostly with dysil. Not that he had anything against any of the other races, so far there wasn’t a race he knew of that he shared the galaxy with that he wouldn’t be thrilled to hop in bed with. Even the eight-foot tall bird-like avix had caught his wandering eye more than once.

But even then, those weren’t the kind of stories you told to just anyone. And not just because they were sexual in nature.

He’d never fully understood where the hesitation came from. It was one thing if you just weren’t into aliens. That was fair. You were into what you were into. But it was a completely different thing if you were giving other people shit for being into aliens. He was really into aliens, about as much as he was into noticeably older women, or badass, powerful women. As far as being around hot women went, he really seemed to have hit the jackpot.

Though he wondered if that might cause problems. If he did get lucky enough to go to bed with one or two of them, would it piss off someone else? People could be complex. They could also be really simple. He supposed he kept coming back to Elizabeth. He thought he might be the most attracted to her, Marine women really did it for him, and she was a redhead and older, and he had a weakness for all three, so she was a triple-threat in terms of attractiveness. But she didn’t seem to like him. He might have been misreading that, but obviously something was up. He was probably focusing too much on this, but he was extremely horny.

The last time he’d gotten laid was two weeks ago. After deciding that he was quitting out, not renewing for another tour, a friend he’d made on his most recent rotation had decided to give him a goodbye present, and they’d fucked in a storage closet. That had been good, certainly, and extremely appreciated, he had actually liked her a lot, but a quickie in a closet wasn’t his idea of the best time. He wanted a nice, long session that went on for half the night. Something that was in a comfortable bed, much like the one he had now, and allowed for breaks. Calming, relaxing interludes after the orgasms, a shower or a soak maybe, then back to it.

He knew he’d be lucky to get that.

Jack finished up after he started feeling lightheaded, got out, dried off, and then flopped back onto his bed, letting the excess heat seep from his body. He reveled in the lightheaded feeling of laying in a cool, dark room after soaking in hot water. Eventually, his stomach got the best of him and he got to his feet and pulled on some fresh clothes. As he stepped out of his dormitory and headed for the kitchen, he nearly ran into Sylvia.

“You’re looking refreshed. Why don’t you come with me for an examination?” she suggested, looking him up and down.

“Sure,” he replied.

There was something in the way she was looking at him. Something almost like hunger in her gaze, or maybe something kind of like the looks he’d seen on dangerous alien predators when they spotted particularly tantalizing prey.

Was that good or bad?

Well, considering she was a really hot woman, probably good. Here was hoping she was a cougar, because those were, admittedly, his favorite type of mature women.

He followed her into the infirmary.

“If you’ll be so kind, strip down to your underwear and lay on the examination bed,” she said, walking over to one of them.

He considered asking why, because those things could absolutely scan through clothing, but decided not to. Maybe she just wanted to check him out. The way she was looking at him would certainly suggest that. And if she wanted to check him out, okay then. He had never considered himself particularly attractive. At best, he thought he was perhaps average looking, but he was in great shape, and that tended to help smooth over the fact that you had an average or even kind of ugly face. He stripped down to his boxers and socks and got onto the table.

“You like black clothing,” Sylvia murmured as she turned on the scanning equipment in the exam bed.

“I guess so,” he replied.

“It suits you.” She studied him while the scan ran, probing his body, measuring things, levels in his blood, his internal organs. “You’ve kept in excellent shape, though I suppose I should expect no less from a Marine. Now...I’ve got a personal question. Would you mind if I asked it?”

He tried not to sigh. “I don’t mind.”

“Excellent. When was the last time you had sex?” she asked.

He looked over at her. Okay, this was not what he had expected. He thought she was going to probe into why he had left the Marines. “Two weeks ago.”

“Really? From what I remember, men your age, especially fit, active young men like Marines, can hardly stand to go without pussy for more than a few days without being...gratified in such a manner,” she replied.

He laughed. “I mean, yeah. I just...haven’t had much opportunity.”

“Really? Or have you just not gone looking? I’m sure you could have found some trim pretty easily,” she murmured.

He’d just begun returning his gaze back to the ceiling, but he looked back at her again. She laughed. “What? Too blunt?”

“No,” he replied. Was she fucking with him or what? He found it hard to get a read on her, beyond the fact that she was playful and had little respect for social norms. He could get behind that. “Maybe you’re right. I don’t know. I’ve been in a weird place ever since I left. That’s the whole reason I took this job.”

“You feel cast adrift and you’re trying to find land again,” she murmured, sobering suddenly. He nodded. “I understand. I’ve been there before myself. We all have, I think. Maybe we can help you. We’ve got a lot of life experience between us. Although...in truth, there are some things that you must figure out for yourself, on your own. But...” she smiled suddenly, “it never hurts to have a little bit of help and comfort along the way.”

“I guess not,” he said. She could switch gears so fast.

The examination bed chimed. She studied the results. “As I suspected, you’re in perfect health.” She began to say something else, but his stomach growled loudly as he sat up. She laughed. “Well, it is about dinner time. Let’s go grab some.”

“Sounds excellent,” he replied, standing up. He gathered his clothes, dressed, and followed her over to the kitchen. He wondered if that was her ‘thorough’ examination.

Somehow, he doubted it.

They moved into the kitchen and began going about preparing dinner. He found some hamburger and started making himself a few patties, as there was enough supplies in here to make some excellent burgers. She pulled out a steak and a bottle of wine and started taking drinks from it as she began preparing her meal. As they worked, the others drifted in, one by one, and all began preparing their own meals. It became obvious that it was a very independent type of crew. They were all responsible for their own food.

He kind of liked that. As much as he appreciated it when people made food for him, it was frustrating when you had to eat what was served or not eat at all. He preferred agency in his life. Then again, just about everyone did.

He became a little frustrated as he made his meal and then sat down at the table with the others. Sylvia’s inquiries reminded him that two weeks definitely could feel like two years when you had a fucking overactive sexdrive, and while it had been easier to ignore when he was down and not around women, it was way harder to ignore now because he was actually feeling kind of good here on this ship, and he was surrounded by extremely attractive women, more than one of whom seemed to be actively flirting with him.

Sylvia seemed like she was hitting on him now more than ever, but he still didn’t know if that meant she wanted him to make a move, or if she was just toying with him and had no intention of actually going to bed with him, or something else entirely. Though by now it seemed impossible that she was accidentally saying highly suggestive things in a highly suggestive manner. The pilot, Riley, was worse, though again he didn’t know if it was just a cultural thing or if she really did want to hop in bed with him.

It at least became easier to focus as Maureen started using what he was sure was the voice she used in boardrooms to garner attention.

“We need to talk about the mission,” she said, and everyone quieted down pretty quickly. Either she was excellent at dominating a roomful of people or they all knew when to shut up and pay attention. Probably both. “I have finalized our contracts. I will go over it now. We are currently on our way to our first contract. We’re to do a quick scan of a planet, which will just take two hours. After that, we are performing a salvage operation from an abandoned weather monitoring space station. The company wants to get some expensive equipment out of there before anyone else shows up and strips it bare. That’s all we’ll have to do in space. Once we get to the planet, Valena Three, it will be a completely different story.

“Looking over everything, I’ve estimated that it could take us about a month to complete all the contracts. Though that could easily double, or triple. We’re a small crew and this is something of a working vacation, and though I’ve gathered all the intel I could about the planet we’re going to, anything could happen out there. Our initial primary goal will be bringing a little outpost back online. It’s where we’re going to be living, so we’ll at least be motivated. Once we get the worst of it out of the way, I’ll be dispatching a few of you to three other regions on the planet to pick up a few extra contracts. Does that all sound good?”

“Sounds great to me,” Riley said, and the others agreed. Jack found himself nodding.

With that out of the way, Maureen centered her attention on Jack, who fought not to squirm under her gaze. She had an intense gaze. “Jack, you must feel rather in the dark, and I don’t want you to feel excluded in any way. I’ll give you a bit of history and try to fill in some blanks as to why this is all happening. We’re all friends, though admittedly I am the central pillar of this network of friends,” she said.

Riley snorted. “Wow, Maureen.”

“Am I wrong?” she asked.

Riley heaved a sigh. “No, I guess not,” she admitted. “You already think highly enough of yourself as it is, though.”

“Duly noted. I met all of these women over the course of my life, and although I have met thousands of people, these were the ones who stuck with me. I trust my life with each of them. We all feel that way about each other. We have, all of us, utterly conquered in our chosen fields. Well...” she glanced at Riley, “...most of us.”

“Fuck off, bitch, I was head pilot of a pleasure cruiser that carried five thousand people for almost a decade. You can fucking eat me until I bust in your mouth,” Riley replied causally as she chopped at the steak she’d made for dinner.

Maureen smirked. “Fair enough. Suffice to say, we all felt...a little adrift in the near past. One day I woke up and realized that I no longer cared about my job. More than that, I don’t think I had for almost six months by then. I gave it a month, in case it was just a passing mood, but I realized that everything had become pale and lifeless. For me, my work is my life. I knew it was time to change. So I organized a vacation with my inner circle here. When we got together, I found that they all felt roughly the same...why don’t you girls tell him yourself?” she suggested.

“Okay,” Riley said. “I was still in charge of that pleasure cruiser I just mentioned. I mean, it was fun, but I got my start piloting for a band of crazy-ass bounty hunters who chased people way out into the middle of nowhere. I missed the adventure.”

“I grew up studying rocks on distant colony worlds,” Anya said. “I loved it so much, I became a geologist and kept doing that for like thirty years. Finally, I got a little tired of traveling around so much, met a guy who wanted to settle down, so I got a job in a lab, studying rare geological finds or answering questions no one else could. It was fun, but after about a decade it started to wear on me. Now the guy is gone, because as nice as he was, he just couldn’t keep up with me, we were a bad match for each other, but love will do that to you, and now here I am. I walked out of my job a few weeks ago, ready to just start the fuck over.”

“Doesn’t that freak you out?” Jack asked.

“No, it’s exciting,” she replied.

“Starting over is a little different when you’ve had decades of life experience and you’re really good at what you do,” Maureen said.

“I guess it would be,” he murmured.

“My turn?” Sylvia said. “I decided to become a nurse in my twenties, and that’s how I spent that decade. Dealing with a bunch of annoying shit and stupid guys hitting on me while they were bleeding to death. You know, I like men, don’t get me wrong, but they seem really fucking stupid when it comes to attractive women. The straight or bi ones, I guess. Anyway, spent my thirties and forties being a doctor, and my fifties being a surgeon. Now I’m looking at sixty and I’m ready for something just totally different. I want to be out in the field but, you know, with some freedom. Which this little enterprise will afford us all.”

“What about you, Lyra?” Maureen prompted when neither of the two remaining women began to speak up.

“Mmm. Nothing special about me,” she replied. “I spent twenty years fixing tech for corporations. Eventually wound up the head of a diagnostics department for an interstellar search and rescue branch. That was when I started losing my focus. I realized I needed something new. I became a biologist and set to work studying new life found among the stars, though always from a distance, never actually here, in the flesh. I did that for twenty five years, eventually ended up as a department head at a think tank that, among other things, studied, broke down, categorized, and organized indexes for the various kinds of life found on new worlds. When Maureen came to me, I realized that I...needed to try something new, I was getting bored again.”

“What about you, Elizabeth? I’m sure you and Jack will be able to bond over your shared previous occupation,” Maureen prodded.

Elizabeth still looked hesitant, not quite meeting his eyes. Man, she really wasn’t comfortable around him. “Maybe,” she murmured, then cleared her throat again. “I was a cop on a frontier world from nineteen to twenty three. That was when I made the jump, signed up with the Marines. I loved it. Had a great time for twenty five years. By the time I was forty eight, I was becoming a little...uh, disillusioned, I guess you could say. The higher up I went, the more it seemed like policy was getting in the way of priorities. More and more it seemed like the people we were fighting, or threatening, were just people who’d pissed off the government.” She sighed. “It’s just...politics are an ugly thing, and they bled into everything like toxic waste. I saw where it was going and realized I’d had enough. So I walked away.”

“Then what?” Jack asked.

She sighed. “Did something stupid. Signed up for corporate security. Thought I would either like the company and the work, or hate it and maybe be able to enact some kind of positive change from the inside. What ended up happening, though, was mostly a whole lot of nothing. When Maureen made the suggestion, I was probably the first one onboard.”

“Elizabeth has always been an excellent friend,” Maureen said with a smile. “And that’s us, Jack. What about you? What are you doing here?”

He glanced hesitantly at Elizabeth, wondering how to word this. Then he decided not to try and word it any way but the right way. They’d all been pretty up front with him, why not do the same? Plus, it would feel good to actually tell someone.

“I was in the Marines for four years. I loved it at first. It felt like I fit perfectly. But that started wearing off as I headed into year four. I had that feeling like...something was wrong. Like I didn’t fit anymore. I tried to ignore it, but it just got worse. I mean, I still did my job, did my work as good as ever, but my heart wasn’t in it. By the time I was a month out from my yearly renewal expiration, I had decided I wasn’t going to sign a new renewal.” He cleared his throat, not quite meeting their eyes. “I don’t really...know why it happened. And the worst part is, I don’t know what the fuck to do. It’s not like I wanted to do something else really badly, I just didn’t want to do that anymore. So I’m here because...I don’t know.”

“I think we all understand that,” Maureen said, and there was real empathy in her voice and her expression, and the others nodded and murmured in agreement. “I don’t know if this will help, but as someone with a great deal of life experience, let me say this: sometimes you’re done with something. There’s not precisely a reason for it, it isn’t a choice that gets made. It simply...is. You change, because you are changed by life, by experiences. You did the responsible thing, I think. Your body was telling you that you were done with the Marine Corps, and you finished out your mandated responsibilities, like a prudent individual, and then went looking for something new. I understand that it can be terrifying, but try to relax. I’ve looked at your profile, and having met you now...I think you’re a smart, adaptive, and probably resilient person, Jack. You’ll find out what you want, but you have to be prepared for the reality that it might not be what you think it should be. I would advise you to, over the next month or two, however long we’re out here, listen to yourself, and let yourself relax, and enjoy life. Okay?”

“...okay,” he replied. “Thanks,” he added, looking around. “You’ve all been very kind, and I’m very grateful for this opportunity.”

“You’ve got no idea,” Riley murmured under her breath.

Sylvia sighed softly and glared at her again. Jack decided to let it pass. He did trust her, that she’d tell him what was up. Apparently they all thought he was really going to like it, whatever it was, and he’d learned to tame anticipation by now, for the most part.

He continued eating his dinner, and really began to relax around all these formidable, intimidatingly smart and driven and attractive older women he now lived with.

CHAPTER 03

Jack looked up as his door chimed.

After dinner, the women had dispersed throughout the ship. He’d spent some time talking in the lounge with Sylvia, with her regaling him with some of her more interesting doctor stories before eventually heading for bed. She’d told him not to stay up too late, and she’d said it in that tone that she’d said the other suggestive stuff in, so he’d taken it to heart. After a bit, he’d headed for his room, taken a shower, then got into bed with his tablet to try and finish the book he was reading. He’d just now done that.

“Who is it?” he asked.

“Sylvia,” came the response.

“Come in.”

The door opened up and Sylvia stepped in. She looked...a little different. Her hair was a bit of a mess and she was flushed, and wearing a white robe that was revealingly open at the chest. She had a bit of a wild smile on her face.

“Hi,” she said, staring at him intently. He was stretched out on top of his blankets in just his boxers after the shower.

“Hi,” he replied. “Uh...what’s up?”

“Well, I was just in my room masturbating,” she replied casually, “and then it occurred to me: why am I doing this myself when I’ve got a really cute young man on this ship who would no doubt happily pleasure and fuck me into oblivion if I opened my legs for him? So I decided to throw on a robe, get up, and come see you.”

He stared at her for a few seconds. He felt like someone had just kicked him out the back of a ship without prompting.

Jack tried to get a grasp on the situation. “So what you’re trying to tell me, is that you came here to my room...to have sex?” he asked.

“Yes,” she replied.

“...with me?”

“Yes!” she replied, laughing.

“Right now?”

“Jack, yes!” she yelled, laughing more wildly. “God, you’re thick!” She paused and looked down at his boxers. “Mmm...judging from the erection you’re sporting right now, I think that might be accurate in more than one way...” She looked back up at his eyes. “Well? Yes or no? Do I go back to my bed and keep using the toy, or do I hop into your bed and start using you?”

“Get in my bed,” he replied, finally snapping back to the here and now.

Is that why they hired him? So he could fuck Sylvia?

Well, if so, then holy shit, talk about a fucking dream job.

“That’s a good boy,” she said, opening her robe and shrugging out of it. Her nude body was revealed to him, and fuck did she look as good as he thought she would. She had some excellent breasts, large, beautiful double-ds with nice pink nipples. Her hips were pleasantly padded, her thighs pleasantly thick, her pussy smooth and beautiful and glistening. She walked forward, her hips swaying seductively, and she climbed onto his bed. Her breasts hung between her arms as she crawled slowly towards him with a seductive grin.

“I believe,” she murmured as she got up against him, settling beside him, staring into his eyes with her bright green ones, “that I promised you a thorough examination. I make good on my promises, just so you know. And right now, I promise to make you come very hard, several times tonight. How does that sound?”

“Absolutely fucking fantastic,” he replied.

She laughed and then leaned in and gave him a kiss.

Her lips were wonderful. Hot and full and luscious, and he realized in that instant how much he missed not just kissing, not just embracing a woman, but even basic human contact. It occurred to him that he hadn’t really had any contact for a solid two weeks now. He hugged her to him, feeling her big, tanned tits pressing against his bare chest. They were so warm and soft. Jack slowly caressed her back, running his hand down it, trailing his fingertips across her bare flesh, and she shivered in response. He settled his hand on the swell of her ass and found it wonderfully thick and firm. She deepened the kiss, making out with him with a slow but intense passion, and as she slid her tongue gracefully into his mouth, Jack remembered something he loved about older women.

Though he’d only been to bed with two of them so far in his life, he had learned something from them: they tended to be very confident. And that confidence led them to transition very quickly into an almost familiarity in bed. There wasn’t much in the way of awkward fumbling. This seemed to hold true for Sylvia. He let go of her ass after feeling it up for awhile, her tongue beginning to twist and twine with his own, her taste flooding his mouth, and he slipped a hand up between them. He groaned as he felt the soft warmth of her breast settle into his grasp, her nipple pressing against the palm of his hand. He groped it gently.

Fuck, she did have excellent tits, just like he’d suspected.

She had a fantastic body.

Her own hand went wandering, and he felt it slip down into his boxers. She made a pleased, maybe even surprised sound as she touched his cock. Slowly, she wrapped her fingers around his rigid shaft.

“Oh shit,” she muttered, breaking the kiss. “I was right.”

“Yeah?” he asked, breathing heavily.

“Oh yeah,” she said, freeing his cock from his boxers. “Wow, that’s nice. Might be just about perfect size...decent length, nice thickness to it. Though I think Lyra might have some trouble getting it inside of her.”

“Lyra? You think she’d actually be into me?” he replied.

“Hush, dear,” she murmured. “We’ll discuss it after. Not now.”

She resumed kissing him. So what, did she want him to fuck Lyra, too? Because he would absolutely hop in bed with that tight, sexy little ice queen xenian. He’d never had sex with a xenian before, but he’d always wanted to. From what he heard, their tech made their natural body temperatures higher than humans by several degrees, and the result of that was an absurdly hot pussy. Combine that with the fact that they usually were around five feet tall and slim, and that meant a really fucking tight pussy.

But thoughts of Lyra were quickly washed away as Sylvia continued making out with him and began to massage his cock.

Right here, right now, he had a sexy, naked cougar making out with him. Her hot, nude body pressed against his own, awakening an intense desire in him.

He hadn’t wanted a woman as much as he wanted Sylvia in over a year.

“How much do you want this pussy?” she whispered, her lips so close to his that they brushed them as she spoke.

“Really bad,” he groaned, groping one of her breasts still.

“If you want it, you’ll have to make it come first. You’ll have to eat it.”

“I can definitely do that,” he replied.

“Good...show me. And then I’ll show you.”

“Yes ma’am,” he replied, then paused. “Sorry.”

She laughed softly. “It’s okay in bed.”

“Spread your legs,” he said.

“Mmm...yes, sir,” she replied.

As she opened her legs, he began to kiss his way down her body. Starting at the side of her neck, he kissed down, to her collarbone, lower, to her breast, where he lingered. He ran his fingertips over her inner thighs as he began to lick across her breast, and she moaned and writhed in response. Lust thrummed through his body like he was standing right up against a faster-than-light engine. He really had forgotten, and in such a short span of time, what it was like to be here, in this moment, with a naked woman that just wanted to fuck. Or had he been slowly sinking away from this for weeks now, or months? Given how hard this was hitting him, probably.

He sucked on one of her breasts and she moaned. Sylvia twisted and shivered as he put her nipple in his mouth and sucked gently on it.

“That is wonderful,” she moaned. He continued dragging his fingertips across her inner thighs, and after a bit, resumed lowering himself. He kissed his way down her pleasantly padded body until he was settled between those wondrous thighs. It had been awhile since he’d eaten pussy. A lot of his sessions in the Marines had been making out in some cramped space, spit on his dick, and then banging up against a wall or on a crate or something. There really wasn’t time for foreplay, much as he loved it. He hoped he still remembered how to do this.

Jack carefully parted the smooth lips of her pussy and she shuddered as he touched her. Then he exhaled slowly, letting his breath wash over all her sensitive wet skin, and here she let out a moan. Well, that was good so far. As he leaned in and began to slowly massage her clit with the tip of his tongue, listening to her moan even louder, he thought back to his previous session. It had been nice, but...not exactly what he’d call great. Even for a quickie in the closet. That had bugged him for a few days afterward, and looking back on it now, he realized that it had nothing to do with the woman who had so kindly offered to fuck him as a goodbye present, it had been him. He’d been the one who’d had the problem.

Whatever the problem was, it wasn’t completely gone, but it had gotten better after leaving the Marines. It was like a weight had been lifted, but there was still that problem of the void it had left. Jack put the thought out of his mind as best he could. Right now, he was getting laid by an absolutely smoking hot cougar who was clearly really into him, and he was going to enjoy this fuck session as much as he possibly could. Because this was exactly what he had wanted: a nice, long, slow fuck that lasted half the night.

If she’d let him, he planned to fuck her two or three or four times tonight.

She seemed up for it.

“Oh my lord, Jack,” she moaned loudly, reaching down and running her fingers through his short, dark hair. She spread her legs out wider, writhing in pleasure as he ate her out. “That is precisely what I wanted, what I fucking needed. I’ve been so busy at work for so long that I haven’t even had a chance to fuck a cute young man like yourself for ages.”

He responded by increasing the speed with which he ate her, the pressure he applied his tongue with, and how much of it he used, getting more of it involved. She let out a cry of surprised ecstasy and he felt the surge of bliss roll through her whole body like an electrical shock.

“Oh my!” she cried.

He kept going, wanting to pull an intense orgasm out of her. As the minutes started to pass and he used more of his tongue, and then his lower lip, which really made her scream, he slipped a finger inside of her. That got her good. Her whole body twitched violently and she let out another scream of pleasure. Inside, she was a dream. Sylvia was wonderfully slick and tight, and the heat he felt as he began to fuck her with his finger promised much pleasure to come. It wasn’t long before he had her babbling incoherently, that string of syllables that women tried to get out as thoughts formed and shattered too quickly to get out properly, being voiced while their tone rose higher and higher in pitch, broken by screams and moans of pleasure.

It was the perfect prelude to an intense orgasm, a series of sounds Jack had particularly come to enjoy producing and hearing.

“OH JACK!” Sylvia screamed, and then she began to orgasm.

Sylvia, as he had suspected, was not a woman who held back. As he kept pleasuring her pussy while the orgasm kicked in, she screamed her head off. It sounded like he was murdering her. She thrashed in the bed as a hot spray of clear sex juices began to come out of her, and he kept fucking her with his finger, two now, showing them in there again and again, feeling her vaginal muscles convulse and massage him as she orgasmed all over his hand, wrist, and forearm. Sticking his cock in there was going to be a study in paradise.

He kept going until she was spent, temporarily, he was sure. When she went slack against the bed, panting, gasping really, her big tits swaying with the rhythm of her breathing, he pulled his fingers out of her and sat up.

She was staring at the ceiling, eyes wide, face flushed, looking very satisfied.

“I knew you’d be good at this,” she whispered between breaths.

He laughed and got up, moved to the bathroom, washed himself off. By the time he returned, she seemed to have control of herself again. She stared at him fondly as he got back onto the bed with her. “You’ve earned yourself a phenomenal blowjob.”

“Awesome,” he replied.

She laughed. “You’re one of the simple ones, aren’t you?” she asked. He raised an eyebrow. “Not an insult, dear. So many young men, especially the ‘tough’ ones, feel the need to posture in one way or another. To puff up their chests or talk tough or take stupid risks. It’s amusing in its own way. They also can’t stand confident, dominate women, especially in the bedroom. They feel lesser if they aren’t in total control. You aren’t like that, I can tell. You’re just...enjoying this. Aren’t you?”

“Deeply,” he replied.

“I like that. No posturing, no bullshit. Just you and me and sex, and that’s all it needs to be.” She sat up, her tits bouncing. “Now, lay back and I’ll suck you like you’ve never been sucked before, how does that sound?”

“Sounds great, but I have been sucked by a dysil before,” he replied as he took her spot.

“Hmm, I see. Unfortunately they’re much better suited to oral pleasure than humans, it seems. Well, I’ll just have to do my best,” she replied, laying down between his legs.

“I have no doubt you’ll do an excellent job.”

She laughed. “Good.”

Sylvia looked like a porn star as she reached slowly out and wrapped her first two fingers and thumb around his rigid shaft. “You’re a big boy, you know that?” she murmured, and he could feel her breath against his cock.

“I’ve been told that once or twice,” he replied.

She laughed softly. “I bet. You’ve fucked a lot of women, haven’t you?”

“I mean...I don’t know about a lot,” he replied.

“Don’t lie to me, Jack,” she murmured, and then she licked across the bottom of his head. He groaned and shuddered. “We don’t lie out here. Understand?”

“Yeah,” he managed.

“Tell me about the women you’ve fucked while I suck your dick,” she said, and began to drag her hot, wet tongue slowly across his head.

He shuddered again and tried to focus. “Okay. Um. Well, I’ve had probably over a couple of dozen flings, most of them while I was in the Marines. There’s a lot of, uh, really attractive and aggressive women in the military, most of them either untethered or in open relationships. So, that’s where a lot...oh fuck,” he groaned as she stopped lavishing his cock with her tongue and instead slowly let it penetrate her mouth, between her wet, luscious lips. She let out a small laugh and kept going. Her lips were fucking incredible.

“Most of...ah...the women I’ve fucked have been human,” he managed, breathing much more heavily now as he watched her suck him off. “Mostly around my age. I’ve had sex with...um...five dysil. Once with a cyvit.”

“Tell me how all that warm, soft fur felt,” she murmured.

“So good,” he replied. “She was an escort I hired one weekend, first year of my enlistment. I hadn’t run into too many aliens before signing up. But after that, I saw so many, and so many of them were so fucking hot. I really wanted some alien pussy. She was the first one I’d ever been with. Her name was...heh, Kat. I don’t think it was her real name. But she was incredible. We fucked for three days.”

He thought back to Kat. She was a beautiful, absolutely gorgeous red-furred cyvit. They looked like cat-people, complete with cat ears and fur and a tail. She was a buxom beauty, with huge furry tits he’d played with all weekend, and a fat ass he’d pounded several times, grabbing her tail usually. That had been very expensive, but it had been more than worth it. They’d had a really good time, and she’d come to see him again more than once, as a friendly lover, not an escort, after that. He wondered what she was up to now. The last time they’d talked, she had relegated escorting to a weekend hobby and was planning on becoming a tour guide.

He hoped it had worked out for her.

Sylvia sucked him off with an expert precision and slowness, her red lips gliding up and down his rock-hard cock. She paused briefly.

“So, a cyvit and some dysil, any other hot, filthy interspecies fucking?” she asked.

“No, not yet,” he replied.

She smirked. “An optimist, I like that.”

She resumed sucking his cock. He groaned again, watching her lips go all the way down to the base of his dick, and a new pleasure began to fill him ass she cupped his balls in her hot, soft grasp and started to massage them. He fucking loved that. She took his dick all the way to the back of her throat, then pushed, shoving it down her throat a bit, then she swallowed. He cried out, feeling all those tight, hot, wet throat muscles spasm and clench around the head of his cock. She did it again, and again. This was beginning to be too much.

She did it again, and he figured she had to be trying to make him come. Well, no sense in holding back now, apparently she wanted him to shoot a load down her throat. He could absolutely fucking do that. Sylvia swallowed again.

Jack started coming.

He busted right down her throat, and heard her moan as his cock kicked that first time, releasing a jet of his hot seed. She swallowed repeatedly and he cried out in pure, mindless, overpowering bliss each time she did it. She looked like a sex goddess, or like a fuck demon who was completely in her element. She was staring at him hard with her vibrantly green eyes, now locked with his own, as if willing the orgasm out of him.

The stuff that was shooting out of him felt like it was a lot. It felt like one of the biggest orgasms he’d ever had. That first pulse of pleasure was like a supernova going off in deep space, an overwhelmingly intense blast of pure, absolute, uncut, raw sexual gratification. It radiated out from his cock and shot through his entire body. Renewing waves of intensifying pleasure roared through him, spiking each time she swallowed again. She drained his cock down her throat, sucking him totally dry and taking it all.

When he was finished, she pulled his cock back out of her mouth, slowly, and kept her lips pressed together, sucking while she did. She got every last bit of his seed out of him and he groaned loudly as she did it.

Finally, he fell back as she finished up.

“Fuck, you can hold your breath for a long time,” he panted.

“Mmm-hmm,” she replied, standing. She walked to his door.

“Where you going?” he murmured, raising his head and looking at her ass. Oh wow, she had a hot fucking ass.

“Just a moment,” she replied, opening his door and crouching down. She stood back up as she grabbed something and shut his door, then turned and began walking back over to him. She had a bottle of wine.

“Why’d you leave that outside?” he asked.

“What if you’d said no?” she replied. “I’d look a little less stupid not holding a bottle of wine. You want some?”

“I’m good, I don’t really drink,” he said.

“More for me then,” she murmured and took a few healthy swallows. Then she set it on the nightstand and walked to the bathroom, where she swished and spit some mouthwash. Then she came back and climbed into the bed.

“So I’m curious,” she said after taking another drink, looking down at him with a sedate smile. “How old was the oldest woman you’ve ever stuck your cock in?”

“Forty five,” he replied.

Sylvia’s eyes flashed with excitement. “Oh wow,” she murmured. “The youngest one we have onboard, besides you obviously, is fifty.”

“Oh shit,” he said. “Awesome.”

She smiled. “I’m glad you’re so excited...tell me about her, the forty five year old,” she said, setting the bottle aside and laying against him, running her hand across him.

“She was a mercenary,” he replied. “A crazy-ass blonde with half her head shaved and a lot of tattoos. Caught her eye at a gym. I was on R and R for a few weeks, staying at some hotel. She pretty much just walked up to me and asked if I wanted to go back to her place and fuck like rabbits, and she had a pretty big ass and a fantastic body and a really hot face, so obviously I said yeah.”

“Sounds really nice,” Sylvia murmured. She looked down. “You’re already hard again.”

“You’re fucking hot as a supernova and I want to fuck your brains out,” he replied.

She laughed merrily. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been told that.” She kissed him and then said, “Fuck me. Right now.”

He responded with action, pushing her gently onto her back and getting on top of her. She opened her legs wide for him, revealing her smooth, glistening, mature pussy. As he got in between those smooth thighs and looked upon her fantastic body, he felt a shiver of pure anticipatory lust roll through him. It was electrifying and he quickly and eagerly laid his head at the entrance of her pussy. He was already rock hard and ready to go again, and she moaned loudly as he began to work his way inside of her.

“Oh fuck yes,” he groaned as he pushed his way into her pussy.

She was as perfectly pleasurable inside as he had imagined when he’d first seen her. There was a wonderful wet heat to her pussy, and a fantastic slickness to her that he began to enjoy immediately as he buried himself inside of her. Before long he had worked all of his inches inside of mature pussy, and she stared up at him with wide, excited eyes as he began to fuck her.

“Oh my fucking-oh! Yes!” she moaned, bringing her legs up and folding them, then spreading them wider. “That-is fucking-it! Fuck that pussy!” she shouted.

“You are such a fucking cougar,” he groaned as he drove his cock deep inside of her.

“Yes I am!” she screamed back at him, and then wrapped her legs around him.

He groaned loudly and continued drilling her. The feeling of her mature vagina, sleeved tight around his cock, hot and wet and perfect, was just absolute fucking paradise. This was the best pussy he’d had in he didn’t know how long. Fucking Sylvia like this seemed to blast away the dull layer of vague uncertainty and depression that had seemed to mute everything, give everything a slight gray hue. Fucking her felt as invigorating as any battle he’d ever been thrown into, any fight he’d ever been a part of, and he reveled in every single second of it. He felt something awakening inside of him, some burning, impassioned piece of his core identity that had gone to sleep at some point without his noticing.

It was glorious and revitalizing.

He kissed her passionately as he made furious love to her, pounding the absolute living fuck out of her pussy, making her scream each time he thrust into her. He could feel her pushing against him and he loved how into him she was. This smoking hot cougar more than twice his age. He fucked her brains out and moaned and cried out along with her, holding her pleasantly padded, hot, sweaty body against his own.

He wasn’t sure how long he and Sylvia fucked like rabbits, but at some point she popped. She let out a shriek of pure mindless bliss as she began to come all over his dick. It was way too much for him to hold back his own climax, and with that, he began to orgasm inside her. He let out a loud, growling moan as he started to shoot his load into her pussy. She took it inside of her, she took it all. She squeezed him with her legs, her arms wrapped around him as well, holding him tightly against her as they both orgasmed together.

Somehow, it was even more powerful than the first one.

This time, it felt like he might pass out.

It raged and roared through his body, washing through every last nerve ending, pulsing out from his core in shockingly powerful waves of pure bliss. For what felt like a long time, he was an embodiment of pure physical rapture, of absolute sexual gratification and release. He pumped her mature pussy full.

And when he was done, he laid slack on top of her, panting, coming back down from the high.

“That was the most satisfying fuck I’ve had in...years,” Sylvia murmured.

“Uh-huh,” he managed, and slowly pulled out of her, his cock very sensitive. He rolled over onto his back, staring at the ceiling, his whole body awash in post-orgasmic pleasure. “Thank you,” he added a few seconds later.

She laughed. “You’re welcome. And thank you. Those were some spectacular orgasms, better than I could have achieved on my own. I can get myself off very effectively after so much practice, but there’s nothing quite like having someone else do it.”

“Oh yeah,” he agreed.

After a bit, they got up and headed into the bathroom. As he started up a shower and got in and began washing up, he was surprised by how calm and comfortable he was around her. After a moment, he realized what it was. The same thing he’d noticed earlier: her own calm confidence. It was putting him at ease. She pulled off the showerhead and put it up under herself, spraying her pussy for a few moments, grinning at him.

“That’s quite the load you blew. Twice,” she murmured.

“You earned it,” he replied. She laughed again. “I’ve got a question.”

“Yes?”

“How old are you? I didn’t quite work it out.”

“Fifty nine,” she replied.

“Wow.”

“Yeah. Quite the leap from forty five, hmm?”

“Definitely.”

She was silent for a few moments, as if considering something. She washed herself and after a bit, gave up the water. He began to clean up.

“When I was younger, around your age, I was worried about getting older,” she said. “There was this doctor I was working with. Something of a mentor to me...and a lover. I slept with her later on. She was sixty when we met. When I admitted to her how worried I was about getting older, she just laughed. She told me that life is like a fine wine: it gets better with age. I don’t know if I fully believed her, but it made me feel better. Now? She was right. She was definitely right. I mean, with modern technology, you can really extend every part of life for decades. You can be a teenager into your fifties, honestly. I can just about see middle age from where I am right now. Honestly, there’s not much difference between you and me. It’s just that I’ve been alive longer, but I still have a lot of the same emotions and thoughts that I had when I was your age.”

“Well, that’s good to know at least,” he murmured.

They finished washing up, dried off, then returned to bed and laid down. Sylvia took a few more swigs from her wine bottle.

“So this is why you hired me? This is the big secret?” he asked finally. “To fuck you?”

Sylvia laughed loudly and almost spit out some of her wine. “No, dear!” she replied, setting the wine bottle down. “No, no, no. Not just me. You’re here to fuck all of us, handsome. You’re here to be the cock in the hen house,” she said. She looked at him with a smirk. “Can you handle that?”

“You want me to fuck all six of you? Like, regularly?” he asked.

“Ideally,” she murmured. “Though some of us will require less...tending, than others. I don’t know how much Lyra will indulge. Though do tell me right now: is there any one of us you wouldn’t fuck? Because, well, I’m not into making people have sex, not at all, but that would be a problem,” she asked.

“Oh no, not a problem,” he replied. “I want to fuck every last one of you.”

“Good! I thought so. I kind of figured any young man who would want to fuck one of us would want to fuck all of us.” She took another drink and then shifted in the bed. “I guess we should really discuss this. So everything we’ve told you so far is true. We didn’t lie or stretch the truth. We’re all really experts in our field, we’re all really here looking for a working vacation. The only thing that hasn’t come out yet is probably some more personal aspects of why we’re doing this. But I’m sure the others will confide in you as you get into their pants.”

“Will you?” he asked.

She sighed. “I’m afraid I’m rather boring. Probably like Riley. By the way, I had first dibs on you. We had a drawing. Now, it’s a free-for-all. They all know that we’re in here banging right now, that you’re pounding me like a worthless piece of fuck meat. So after tonight, Riley’s probably going to jump you.”

“Cool. She is so fucking hot.”

“Yes she is. Oh, also, we all fuck each other.” He looked over at her. She smirked. “That’s right: we all love fucking each other. All of us have had sex with the other at one point in time. Maureen is really my lover. Riley’s a slut, she fucks all of us constantly, though she’s most closely paired with Anya. They get along well. I’ve known Maureen the longest and we became lovers decades ago. Elizabeth and Lyra are...reserved, for different reasons. But they’ve gone around the block with all of us, and each other, I believe. We’ve all had decades to experiment. So yes, threesomes, foursomes, and orgies are on the table.”

“Oh my God, that is so fucking awesome,” he whispered.

She laughed loudly. “Yes it is. I’m glad you feel this way. But as I said: I’m simple. I don’t really have any kind of secret reason for being out here. I really just got tired of being a surgeon. I doubt I’m done forever. I’m sure I’ll end up back at a hospital. But I was very career-focused. There was fun, but not as much as there could have been. I want some wild adventure. And now I’m getting that. Because you are quite wild in bed, handsome, I can tell already. You’re a very impassioned lover, a very...zesty partner.”

“So are you,” he replied.

“I’m glad you think so. So, that’s everything. We hired you to help us complete contracts and orgasm. You seem like a respectful young man, so I take it you won’t have any problem respecting boundaries, communicating clearly, having a little patience with the more sexually awkward of us?” she asked.

“Not a problem,” he replied. “I at least have that figured out.”

“Good! Elizabeth and Lyra will be happy. You’d think after a few decades they’d have their insecurities tamed but, well, not all of us do. Plus, you never know what might crop up in the bedroom. I know Maureen is comfortable with me, but I honestly don’t know how long it’s been since she’s fucked someone less than half her age. She might be nervous.”

“If she is, I’ll do what I can to put her at ease.”

“You’re a good boy,” she murmured, rubbing his chest. “Now...ready for the next round?”

“Yes,” he replied, and she kissed him.

CHAPTER 04

“Ah, yeah...right there,” Jack moaned.

“Mmm...fuck yes, I told you I’m best in the morning,” Sylvia murmured.

He was on his back, naked and tired and horny, and Sylvia had mounted him. She looked amazing as she began to ride him. Looking down between them, he watched his rigid dick disappear into her pussy again and again, and the pleasure that coincided with each of her movements began to fill him, pushing him towards a quick orgasm.

They had fuck three times last night, and this would be the fourth round.

He was always horniest in the morning, often waking up with terrible erections, and if there was a naked girl in bed with him, willing to satisfy it, he tended to enter the day much happier. Today was going to be a good day, because holy fuck could Sylvia satisfy a dick. That pale blonde cougar was a slut in the best sense of the word, totally throwing herself into the sex. Her tits bounced with her as she rode him, and she was intense.

The way she was gripping his shoulders, gritting her teeth, staring down at him with her wide, wild eyes. And the sounds she was making…

“That’s it! Come on!” she cried, grunting and groaning. She shifted slightly and then let out a loud, satisfied moan as she continued ramming his cock into herself, fucking herself with it, satisfying her pussy intensely. The pleasure of their sex washed over him and right about the time she began to orgasm, so did he.

Both of them moaned and cried out, locked together in a blissful union of sexual pleasure.

They orgasmed together for the fourth time and when they were done, she got off of him and rolled over onto her side, facing away from him, panting.

“I need a shower,” he groaned. He checked the clock on the nightstand. It was nine in the morning. He’d been sleeping in lately. Normally he was up by five or six.

He supposed it had been a very long, exhaustive four years.

“I do too, but I’m still tired. I’m going back to sleep,” she murmured.

“Okay,” he said, and patted her nicely padded ass beneath the blankets, then got out of bed. Normally he did some quick exercises in the morning, but that had been enough to get him going, so he headed straight into the bathroom. He brushed his teeth quickly, then got into the shower cubicle and fired up the hot water.

Stepping in, he let the water wash over him.

Jack felt…

Good.

He felt so good, in fact, that it was just now beginning to dawn on him that he had felt...not bad, per say, but certainly not good, for a long time now. Months, at least. Perhaps even all of the last year. He was tempted to believe that it was the sex that had reinvigorated him, but he knew that wasn’t it. Certainly the fact that it was Sylvia having the sex with him played a pivotal role. She was an invigorating kind of woman. But he thought it more had to do with the fact that he was finally doing something. Something that was after the Marines, something that wasn’t laying around his parent’s place. Something productive, but more importantly, something different. Something that felt like it was a step in the right direction.

Jack sensed someone step lightly into the bathroom. Behind him, the shower door slid open and someone stepped into the cubicle with him. He had his face in the water stream, and he took a step back and began to rub at his eyes.

“So, ready for another round then?” he asked.

“Nope,” came a new voice, “this is a new player entering the game.”

He opened his eyes and turned around, and found himself staring at one of the curviest, most buxom, most attractive women he’d ever seen in his life.

Riley stood before him in all her naked, orange, alien glory, and she looked the most like a high-profile escort or a world-class porn star out of any of the women onboard the ship in that moment. Really, out of any of the women he’d ever slept with.

“Hi,” he said, staring at her. He was sure he looked like an idiot, gaping bug-eyed at her curvaceous body, and he was also sure that’s exactly what she wanted.

“Hello,” she replied with a smug, self-satisfied smirk, letting him take her all in.

She was probably a few inches shorter than he was, and she was fucking thick. She had huge tits, probably triple-d, likely even e-cups. They were big and beautiful and shockingly erotic. Her hips were very broad, her thighs wonderfully thick, her vagina a smooth, pale orange slit between them. Behind her, her tail drifted to and fro, dragging across the glass door, making trails in the steam. She was breathtakingly seductive.

“I’m sure you got used to tight, fit chicks in the military,” she said, and her tail drifted out from behind her, coming closer. He shuddered as it made contact with his cock, which was most of the way to rock solid by now. “But I was hoping you had a soft spot for thicker girls.” She teased his cock with the spade-shaped tip of her tail, dragging it along the bottom.

“I...I do,” he managed. “I really do.”

Her grin widened. “I thought so. You’ve wanted to dive right in since the moment you laid eyes on me, haven’t you?”

“Yes,” he replied immediately.

“Good. Most of the humans I come across pretend like they aren’t into aliens,” she murmured, now coming closer. She reached down and wrapped her fingers slowly around his cock, holding his eyes with her own. “But when they see me, I can tell.”

“You all seem very confident,” he murmured, now staring into her red eyes.

She laughed. “Obviously. We’re all older, sexy women. Why wouldn’t we be? I must admit, though, confidence tends to come naturally to dysil. I don’t really know why. But certainly confidence in the bedroom comes easy to me.”

That was when she kissed him, and he groaned. Her lips were bigger than Sylvia’s. Almost without thinking about it, he reached up and grabbed her huge tits, and the shock of lust and desire that hit him as he did so was intense. They were probably the biggest tits he’d ever seen in the flesh, certainly the biggest he’d ever got a chance to grasp. Her lips were pure seduction. She moaned softly as she kissed him, as she tilted her head and began to make out with him with an immediate and intense passion. And then her tongue came into his mouth.

Her taste was strange and exotic, a curiously dark taste that filled his mouth, and he loved it. Her tongue was different than Sylvia’s, though at this point he’d made out with enough dysil women to not be too surprised by it. He liked it, and they had more control over their tongues than most human women. It was a really nice little bonus to going to bed with a dysil. He groped her tits for awhile longer as they made out, and he loved the sounds she was already making. Then he slid his hands across her smooth, wet, well-padded body, around and down to her fat ass. As he grasped it, squeezing it, he already had visions of buttfucking her doggystyle.

Here was hoping she was into anal. Then again, every dysil he’d taken to bed so far had been really into anal.

As he groped her ass, Riley broke the kiss, grinning up at him. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said, as smugly cavalier as ever. “And the answer is: yes, I will totally take it up the ass from you. I would love to.”

“Oh my God, I think I love you,” he groaned.

She laughed. “I know.” And then she was kissing him again. Fuck, Riley was such a good kisser. Everything about her was phenomenally sexual, powerfully erotic. He honestly had the impression that he was with a porn star (he’d fucked exactly one of those when he’d gotten really lucky at a party), or a high-class escort, (he’d fucked four of those, and they had all been worth the hundreds upon hundreds of credits).

Finally, she pulled back and dropped to her knees.

“You’re gonna-”

“Yep,” she said, grabbing his cock. “Bet I can do it better than Sylvia.”

“I’d like to find out,” he replied.

She laughed. “Very diplomatic.”

Riley started giving him head, and right away he could tell this was going to be better than last night. Not that Sylvia had delivered anything but a fantastic blowjob, or that he was super into comparing women in bed, but fuck!

Dysil were just really good at pleasuring dick, and Riley seemed like the best one he’d encountered. Just the way she dragged her tongue across the head, the expert application of pressure and speed, the hotness of her tongue, how wet it was. There was a texture thing there, too. It was strange but oh so delectably good. She licked across his head, hitting all the sensitive areas in just the right way, and looking so damned lusty the whole time. The way she stared at him with her red eyes, the look she had no doubt spent decades perfecting, the one that conveyed a sexual confidence, a reveling in the act, and a demure submissiveness…

It was intoxicating.

And then she took his cock into her mouth, and her lips were just fucking paradise. They were pure pleasure. The way she slowly moved them over the head, taking his dick gradually into her mouth, and then right away she began to bob her head. She slipped her first finger and thumb around the base, holding it steady and, while staring up at him, bobbed her head with a smooth and rapid precision. He groaned loudly, watching her work, enraptured by the sight of her, the pleasure she was lavishing upon his body.

Then she switched it up, slowing down to an almost glacial pace whenever her lips reached his head. He continued to be amazed as she raised her head up, froze as she hit the edge of the head, slid those full, hot, wet lips slowly up over every centimeter of the most sensitive skin on his body until she was up to the top, then headed back down, piling on the pleasure, and then fast again when she hit the shaft.

It was fucking unreal. She was like a robot.

Fuck, was she? They had them.

She stopped sucking his dick after a minute. “No,” she said, like he’d asked the question aloud, “I’m not a sexbot, just so you know. Just spent fifty years perfecting that.”

“Fifty-wait, how old are you?” he asked.

“Seventy six,” she replied. “Oldest bitch on this ship. Dysil age a bit slower than humans. Technically I’m not all that far past where you are now, in terms of my society.” She stood up suddenly. “Now, I believe it’s time for you to stick that fat cock in me.”

She turned around and showed him her huge, orange ass.

He was again struck by how insanely seductive she was as she bent over, pressing her hands against the wall. Her tail drifted back and forth behind her.

He got up against her. “You really think it’s fat?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she murmured as he rubbed the head against her wet opening. “I do. It looks like it’s got a nice thickness to it and-ah!” she moaned as he pushed his way inside of her.

“Oh fucking...wow,” he groaned as he ran his hands over her huge ass and settled them on her broad hips. “You are just...really wet.”

“You make me really horny,” she replied as he continued pushing his way into her.

This was going to be an amazing and no doubt short session. That was a problem he had with dysil women: he struggled to last. Their pussies were just too good.

“Is that good pussy?” she asked, and he could hear the grin in her voice.

“Yes...” he moaned loudly. “Oh my God this is great pussy.”

She tried to say something else but it was at that moment that he finished getting comfortably into her, and instead began to stroke smoothly into her alien vagina. She let out a loud, long moan of bliss. “Oh, I love this so much,” she growled. “This fucking feeling, your cock inside of me just pounding away, it’s gonna make me-yes!”

Then she was orgasming. He was surprised, they’d barely been fucking for a minute and she was already having a world-class orgasm. Her vaginal muscles began to spasm and then convulse around his cock, making him cry out in pure ecstasy, especially when a hot spray of sex juices escaped her, making her even hotter and wetter inside. Jack started fucking her harder and faster. She let out a scream of pure bliss.

“I’m trying to sleep you fucking whore!” Sylvia called from the bedroom. Jack realized that Riley had left the bathroom door open.

“I don’t...give a...fuck!” Riley screamed back. “Pull my hair...” she moaned as she kept coming all over his dick.

Jack grabbed a handful of her painfully sexy red hair by the roots and gave it a tug. She let out a shriek of bliss. Fuck, how long could she come for?!

He felt his endurance dissolving under the relentless onslaught of her orgasm.

It was like trying to endure a hurricane or standing before a tidal wave. As the last vestiges of his temperance were consumed by the torrent that was her orgasm, he began to shoot his load into her flawless alien vagina. He moaned loudly, reaching under her and grabbing two handfuls of her huge tits. He groped her as he thrust forward, burying his cock as deep in her as he possibly could, and felt her push her huge ass against him as she moaned and cried out in impassioned bliss. The two of them came together, enjoying a wonderful union of shared sexual gratification as their orgasms roared and raged through their bodies.

It was like a perfect pure paradise.

When he was finished, Jack was left shaky and dazed. Slowly, he straightened up and, after a moment, carefully extracted his softening cock from Riley. As soon as it was out, he sat down slowly and put his back to one wall.

“You doing okay?” she asked as she straightened up. The pilot turned and looked down at him, regarding him with a satisfied smirk.

“Uh-huh,” he managed. “God, what a fucking wakeup call,” he whispered.

“Yep. No better way. Now, I have pilot things to do, but expect me to jump you periodically. It’s my personal goal to fuck you in just about every room on this ship.”

“I think I love you,” he muttered.

She laughed. “Good. Anything less and I’d be offended.”

Riley pulled the showerhead off and put it up under her pussy, washing herself off. Then she took a bit to run some soap over her body, washed it all off, then ran her fingers through his hair and stepped out of the shower, leaving him in the steaming cubicle. He took a moment to get his bearings again. The sex with Sylvia had been fantastic, but that fuck session with Riley was just...oh man. She, like most of the other dysil he’d taken to bed, were on another level. You could fuck a dysil the exact same way you could fuck a human, but for some reason it’d be better with the dysil. At least, that was his experience so far.

Finally, Jack picked himself up and washed himself off. Once that was done, he dried and stepped back out into the bedroom. As he went about gathering some clothes for himself, Sylvia rolled over and looked at him.

“My lord, you are a handsome young man,” she murmured.

“And you’re a really hot...” he paused.

She laughed. “Old woman doesn’t quite work, hmm?”

“Cougar,” he said. “A smoking hot cougar.”

“An old but very acceptable term,” she said. “And thank you. I take it Riley was gratifying.”

“Very, very deeply,” he replied. “Not that you weren’t.”

“Oh no, I’ve been to bed with Riley many, many times. I know what a satisfying fuck she is. I’m not in the comparison game. Or at least not with her.”

“Good,” he said. He finished dressing. “I’m starving.”

“I’ll be along at some point, go on to breakfast,” she said.

He nodded, then walked over to her. “Is casual kissing accepted?”

She smiled. “Accepted and very welcome. I like to fuck, but you’ll find that most of us also like affection.”

“Good. I’ve been affection-starved for a long time,” he said, leaning down. He gave her a long kiss on the mouth.

“Prepare to be engorged with it,” she replied.

He left the bedroom and headed into the kitchen. As he stepped in, he bumped in a certain short redhead. As he looked down at the pale geologist, Anya, it struck him that half the women on this ship were redheads. Fuck, this really was paradise.

“Hi,” she said in her lilted, sexy accent. “Judging by all the sounds I heard last night and this morning, I take it you are in on our little secret?”

“Uh, yeah,” he replied. “Riley jumped me in the shower.”

“Such a whore,” Anya said affectionately. “I don’t suppose you’d be up for a go right now? I would like to...have you, to know you intimately.”

“I would absolutely love to, but I have busted like...five times in the last ten hours,” he replied. “The most recent one barely twenty minutes ago. I’m not even sure I can get it up.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Is that a challenge?”

“I didn’t mean for it-”

“Sit down,” she said, grabbing his shirtfront and guiding him around and back to a chair. He hit it with the backs of his legs and sat down with a grunt.

“Okay then,” he replied.

She smirked, then took off the t-shirt she was wearing, and he got his first good look at her breasts. They were so very nice. Firm, smooth, pale b or c-cups, they looked good on her small frame. She settled into his lap, straddling him, and kissed him on the mouth. Moaning softly as their lips met, the little Russian redhead took one of his hands and brought it up to her breast. He immediately began groping and squeezing it, feeling the stirrings of an erection coming on. Well, he was horny as fuck, though it was beginning to hit that state where he’d come so many times that doing it again actually hurt.

It was kind of a good hurt, though…

Anya leaned back and then hopped nimbly to her feet.

“Let me show you what I can do,” she said, and dropped to her knees.

“In the kitchen?” he asked.

“Yes. Don’t worry, no mess, I swallow,” she replied as she undid his pants. She had his cock out in a matter of seconds and examined it with hungry eyes. “Yes, very nice. I like this size,” she murmured, and then opened her mouth and slipped his dick in.

He wasn’t entirely hard yet, but as she started sucking him off, putting her wonderful red lips to use, he finished stiffening up and groaned.

“Holy shit,” he whispered.

“Mmm-hmm,” Anya replied from around his dick.

Her mouth was hot, wet rapture. Like the two women before her, he could tell right away that Anya had experience doing this. She bobbed her head with a steady sureness, sending sparks of pure pleasure into his body, getting a rise out of him, trying to suck an orgasm out of his cock. He was more than thrilled to give her one, though after all the fucking he’d been doing lately, he was finding that it might be a little difficult.

Someone stepped in through the door.

“What the fuck-oh my God, Anya, really? In the kitchen?”

It was Elizabeth and she looked uncomfortable right away. Well, that wasn’t a great sign. Sylvia had been kind of specific: they all wanted in on this. Had Elizabeth changed her mind? If so, he wouldn’t be mad at her or anything. If she didn’t want to fuck then that was fine, but he hoped it wouldn’t make her uncomfortable.

Anya, however, was unperturbed by this development. She simply held up one hand and flipped Elizabeth off.

The huge ex-Marine sighed and rolled her eyes. “My God, you all have no fucking shame you know that?” Though she sounded vaguely annoyed now as opposed to actually upset.

“Didn’t you once get naked and fuck Riley at a strip club?” came another voice. Maureen’s, he realized. She stepped into the kitchen behind Elizabeth.

“That was a long time ago,” Elizabeth muttered.

“Not that long ago, dear. Mmm...I’d forgotten how good Anya looks sucking dick.”

The two older women stood by the doorway, watching Anya work, and Jack felt really awkward. Though not awkward enough to stop enjoying this blowjob. In fact, he was enjoying it more now. There was something distinctly arousing about having a woman intentionally watch you doing something sexual, and the effect was highly magnified if it was a woman you were into. And he was into both of them, especially Elizabeth.

And then he locked eyes with her and felt something pass between them, almost like a spark, and he found himself imagining her as the one on her knees, sucking his cock and that just-

“Ah!” he cried as he started coming.

Anya moaned loudly as she worked his cock and started draining it into her mouth. She had gotten his balls out at this point and was massaging them slowly in her hot grasp. Did they all know that trick? It felt so fucking good and he moaned as pleasure pulsed through him, his seed spurting from his dick, what little of it there was left in his nuts. She sucked him dry as he groaned and twitched in the chair, the orgasm raging through him, and then he was finished, and he settled more deeply into the chair, panting.

“Told you I could,” Anya said after taking his cock from her mouth.

As she stood up and stepped away, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, he noticed how both other women’s eyes immediately zeroed in on his cock. He was glad the first time they were seeing it was when it was still mostly erect, at least.

“Mmm, I thought so,” Maureen murmured as she looked at it. She nudged Elizabeth. “Told you he would have a good size to him.”

“Yeah,” Elizabeth muttered, still looking at him. She swallowed, blinked, met his eyes again, then blushed deeply and turned away. So...did she like him or not? He was sometimes really bad at reading women, so he decided to just let things play out. If she liked him she’d let him know. Maureen, on the other hand, was sending some pretty clear signals with the way she was staring at him. He put his cock away and zipped up.

“I’m going to want a shot at you...at some point,” she said. “For now, I’m sure you’ll have your hands full between Sylvia, Riley, and Anya, and I’ve still got my hands full making sure this mission goes well. As much as I want this to be a working vacation, I still find it difficult to separate sex and work. So...don’t worry. I’ll come to you in good time.”

“I’ll be thrilled to have you whenever you’re ready,” he replied, standing up.

She smiled. “Good answer.”

They went into the kitchen and the next several minutes were spent frying up breakfast. He made himself some steak and eggs, since he was craving some after everything that had happened so far. Elizabeth kept her space from him and he tried not to let it bug him. Anya and Maureen were as comfortable as ever around him, and Anya was flirting with him, touching him and smiling at him. He was going to be so fucking glad to get in her pants, because Russian women really fucking did it for him, especially hot, wild, redheaded ones.

They made their meals and gathered around the table.

“What’s on the agenda for today?” he asked.

“Nothing, really,” Maureen replied. “Riley’s settled us into orbit around the planet we’ve been contracted to scan and she should be running those scans just about now. They’ll take about two hours to run through. After that we send them off, get our payment, and continue on to our second job, which will take us another twelve hours or so to get to. So feel free to enjoy yourself. I’m sure you’ll have no difficulty making that happen.”

“No he won’t,” Anya murmured, staring at him demurely.

He chuckled nervously. “I have to say this is...weird. I mean, in a good way, I’ve just...never been around this many women who were just so openly sexual.”

“Yes,” Maureen agreed. “Even in our sex-positive civilization, we’re still quite...restrained in some areas. Which is fine, it makes sense. It’s difficult to get work done when you’re bombarded by raw sex constantly. Then again, advertising is a thing,” she said with a shrug. “But I’ve been frustrated by the fact that sex is still a...needlessly complicated thing for some people. As a businesswoman and executive, I’m expected to maintain a certain distance, a certain air of austerity, and although part of me likes to cultivate that image, more of me is just tired of it now. I want to relax, I want to just fuck sometimes, I want to enjoy myself more than a few hours a week. That’s why I launched this whole expedition.”

“You’re singing my song,” Anya said.

“Same,” he murmured, and went back to eating his breakfast.

CHAPTER 05

The rest of that day sort of just meandered along, but for the first time in quite awhile, Jack didn’t mind it at all.

If anything, he fucking enjoyed every minute of it.

Before, when he’d been whiling away the last few months of his final year of service, the days had seemed to drag on and on and on. Activities that he usually took at least a grim sort of satisfaction in now gave him no pleasure. It was just drudgery. He still saw the point in it, still felt like it had meaning, he just...came to hate it.

That was the biggest reason he felt so guilty. He still felt like being a Marine and doing his duty: it all still had meaning. He still had the same beliefs, just not the same...convictions, he supposed. Or maybe that wasn’t right. Maybe just not the same motivations. It was like he was a round peg fitting into a round hole at first, but then something began to change. In the beginning, he thought maybe the hole was changing shape. That the job was becoming different somehow, and he began looking for reasons to leave.

But now, looking back on it, he knew that the hole was the same shape it had always been. It was that he had changed. Now he was a square peg trying to fit into a round hole, and that just didn’t work. He knew he couldn’t have lived with himself if he had tried to pursue any of the few avenues or loopholes that might have let him out early, so he at least felt good about the fact that he had diligently finished out his service.

Even in the weeks that followed, however, the drudgery seemed to cling, though at least this time it felt right. He didn’t pick up a new job because nothing felt right yet. Jack had been sort of waiting to settle into whatever shape his new life took, but that hadn’t happened. He supposed he was stupid for thinking that way, and it went against his training, but more importantly, his philosophy. You didn’t wait for the answer to come to you, you went to it. He supposed getting onto this ship was a desperate bid to do just that.

Was the answer here?

He tried not to obsess over that. Ironically, what he was doing was both active and inactive. He had actively chosen to come aboard this mission, and apparently he was now attempting to inactively allow the answer to come to him. He was still having difficulty with that one. So what was it? Did the answer come to you or did you go to it?

Right now, the answer seemed to be: Yes.

But this was the first thing that had happened in his life in several months that actually felt right. The closest thing to right he’d encountered was when he had made his decision to exit the Marine Corps. Despite the fact that he was now legally a civilian, Jack did find it hard to idle for long. He spent an hour hunting for some exercise equipment, a gym, some free weights, a fucking treadmill, anything. But he found nothing, and decided to ask Elizabeth about it...at some point. Given her own physique, he imagined she must work out a lot still.

He wound up doing a bunch of push-ups and crunches and other exercises in his room.

After another shower, he ended up eating lunch with Sylvia in her quarters.

“So, how did you meet Maureen?” he asked.

“Oh, she hates it when I tell this story,” she murmured with a smirk. “I saved her life.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes. This was some thirty years ago. I had just become a doctor, I was out treating myself to a nice meal, and Maureen was there, having a business dinner. She started choking. I saved her, performed the proper maneuver, and she was extremely grateful. We stayed in touch after that. Started spending time together, having dinner together. We had chemistry. After six months, she invited me to join her on a cruise masquerading as a business meeting. I agreed. We shared a cabin and the first night got a little sloppy with red wine and then a lot intimate. And so began our decades-long relationship. It certainly wasn’t traditional. We only lived together sometimes. We’re both too independent for our own good. But you know, we’d find a week here, a few days there. Hook up, go on vacation somewhere, have a lot of sex, unwind and decompress, then get back to it. Although we’ve never really done anything like this.”

“That sounds...really cool,” he said.

She smiled. “I’m glad you think so. We all have similar stories. Maureen wasn’t wrong: she’s the linchpin of this relationship web of ours. Though we’ve mostly gotten to know each other pretty well. Except for Lyra, I guess. She’s a bit distant to all of us, even Maureen. Though we’ve all slept with her at least once.” Her grin broadened and she leaned forward, resting her head on her hand. “So, enjoying your stay so far?”

“Yeah, obviously,” he replied. “I wasn’t exactly starved for attention in the Marines, but this is...I’ve never had anything like this before.”

“I imagine not many men have,” she murmured demurely. “Anya’s got you in her sights. I’m surprised she’s had enough restraint to let you rest this long before jumping you.”

“She did blow me in the kitchen,” he replied.

“Yeah. She loves doing oral. Nice for us. She eats me a lot, and Riley. Riley’s insatiable, just so you know.”

“I got that impression.”

“I’ve slowed down a little in the past decade or so, if I’m being honest. I’m not quite as amorous as I once was. Or maybe I’ve just been too focused on work. Maybe I’ll turn into a bit more of a slut on this trip. Good for everyone,” she said.

He chuckled. “Yeah.”

“So how intimidated are you by us? Be honest.”

“Uh, on a scale from one to ten? Like...eight, at least.”

“Mmm my, eight. You perform quite well under intimidation apparently.”

“Yeah. I guess so. It helps that I’m hornier than I’ve been in ages.”

“You’re waking back up, dear. You were in a bad situation for awhile, it sounds like, and now you’re in a good one. Things get suppressed when you’re in bad situations: happiness, appetite, sexual urges. It’s depression. Once you get out of it, those things can come flooding back. Sort of like making up for lost time, you know? When was the last time you were horny before coming here? I mean really horny, like desperate for some hot pussy?” she asked.

He thought about it. He couldn’t remember. “I don’t know.”

“Wow, that sucks. But at least you’re here now. You’ve got more pussy than you can handle for the next few months. Longer if we decide to keep this going and you want to stick around.”

Jack nodded. “Yeah. It’s pretty mind-blowing. I don’t know how I got so lucky.”

“That’s just the way it falls sometimes,” she replied with a shrug.

They continued eating.

…

“Knock, knock...”

Jack looked up from the tablet he was reading. After lunch, he and Sylvia had talked for awhile longer until she’d finally decided she should probably go double-check the medical supplies one more time. She admitted that a trait they all shared was perfectionism, something that was as hindering as it was helpful in their various lines of work. Though Lyra was the worst of all. So far, he’d barely seen her, and when he had, she had her face buried in a tablet or an exposed panel, making some sort of repair or running basic maintenance.

As far as a crew to go to a new world with, Jack figured it was a pretty good trait to have.

“Hi,” he said, setting the tablet aside. After wandering the ship and talking with Maureen and Riley a bit more, he’d finally ended up back in his room, wanting to get started on a new novel. He was really rediscovering his love of reading. Though honestly he just wanted to give his cock a break because he wanted to fuck every single woman he ran into on this ship.

Anya was standing in his doorway with just a thin tanktop and a pair of panties on.

She looked fantastically alluring.

“This is as long as I could possibly manage to hold off,” she said, walking into the room. “So I hope that your cock has had some rest and-” She stopped, looking at his pants, then smirked. “Well, apparently it has. Goodness, am I that arousing?”

“You really are,” he replied. “I have a serious thing for redheads and Russian women.”

“Good for me then,” she murmured as she took off her tanktop, revealing those fantastic, perky pale breasts again. Dropping it, she came to stand at the foot of his bed. “I like to be on top,” she said as she pulled her panties down, unveiling a smooth pussy between trim thighs. She was in fantastic shape, her body a dream of pale, smooth skin and small, well-defined muscles. She moved with a fluid grace as she climbed onto the bed with him.

“Why are you still dressed?” she asked with a sly grin.

“You’re mesmerizing me,” he replied, and then took off his shirt.

“Good answer.”

She undid his belt, button, and zipper, then pulled his pants and boxers off. He was fully erect and ready for action.

Once he was naked, Anya snuggled up against him, pressing her slim, warm body to his own. He relished the skin-on-skin contact as she stared into his eyes, and he began to run a hand across her body. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply as he caressed her.

“I love many things about sex,” she said very quietly, “but I think the thing I love most is just being touched. It is...such a good feeling.”

“That’s good for me. I love touching you already,” he replied, then he leaned in and kissed her.

She moaned softly as he pressed his lips to hers. She responded in kind, deepening the kiss immediately. He continued running his hands over her soft, pale skin as they made out and she slipped her tongue into his mouth. Jack had to admit, at this point he was feeling kind of overwhelmed. He’d considered himself lucky and properly positioned more than attractive when it came to his love life. He’d always kept in decent shape, even through high school, thanks to an early adoption of exercise and weightlifting, and genetic manipulation, like just about everyone else. But when it came to actually picking women up, he always felt fumbling at best in his attempts. Most of his encounters had been fast and hard, moments grabbed in closets or, if he was lucky, flings stretched into weekends with fellow Marines he shared some chemistry with on R&R or some chick he managed to pick up at a bar or out taking a walk on whatever planet he happened to be on.

He was drawn to confident women and there were sure enough of those in the military, but he’d rarely encountered anything like what he was finding onboard this ship.

It was as intimidating as it was intoxicating.

“So,” Anya said after a moment, breaking the kiss, her eyes wide and alight with desire, “how do you feel about returning that kindness I did you in the kitchen?”

“I feel great about it,” he replied.

She laughed softly. “Good, then I shall ride your tongue.”

“I’m ready,” he said.

“So am I.”

She mounted him easily enough, her nimble, limber little frame rising up and straddling his face, her knees sinking into the pillow to either side of his head. Her pussy was over his mouth now, and as she placed her hands flat against the wall above his head, looking down at him, he stuck his tongue out and began the act of pleasuring her. She sucked in a deep breath and let it out as a low moan of bliss as he started massaging her clit with the tip of his tongue. He felt a shudder run through her as he settled his hands over her slim thighs.

She moaned and panted her way through the oral sex, clearly enjoying every second of it. Her body loomed over him, like a pale, statuesque avatar of lust. A redheaded sex demon. He licked at her clit over and over, trying hard to get whatever sex-infused sounds out of her that he could. She had a particularly sexy voice, and the sounds she made in bed were just...amazing. She slowly began to gyrate her slim hips as he continued eating her out, her moans getting louder and louder, until she was panting and flushed.

“Okay!” she cried, getting up suddenly. “Now I shall ride you.”

“Okay,” he agreed happily.

She grinned and slipped easily down his body, straddling his midsection, gripping his cock, and quickly working it into her pussy.

Oh how tight she was, and how wet!

“Oh yeaaaahhhhh...” she groaned loudly as she got him inside of her. “That is...quite good.”

She was a tight fit, sleeved snugly around his cock, and the pleasure she granted him as she began to ride it was phenomenal. Once he was all the way inside of her, Anya began to ride him with a fervent intensity. A look of focus came onto her beautiful, pale face and she gripped his shoulders tightly. Jack laid back and let himself get fucked by this insanely hot, mature Russian chick, let himself revel in every single second of the hot bliss that her pussy was giving him. She started grunting as she fucked him, her movements become more fierce.

Jack grabbed her hips as he watched her, enraptured by her body. Her smooth, pale skin and her lithe, fit frame. The way her tits bounced in tandem with her and the way his cock disappeared into her vagina again and again. He marveled over her wonderful body with its seductive proportions, the way she managed to be both trim and petite and yet just the right amount of curvy at the same time. They fucked and screwed like animals for the next five minutes, the pleasure roaring through him like a hot wave of absolute ecstasy.

“I want to switch,” he said.

“How do you want me?” she panted.

“Hands and knees,” he replied.

“You got it...can you do it without pulling out?”

“Hell yes.”

“Show me.”

He pulled her slim frame down against him, hugging her to himself and kissing her hard on the mouth, then rolled over. Using one hand to push himself up while holding her against his body until they were completely turned over. Letting go of her, he reached down, grabbed one of her legs, then brought it up and around himself. He rolled her onto her side as he laid one leg against another, then kept rolling her until she was on her stomach. He was still inside of her, his cock twisting around in her pussy as she let him maneuver her around. Finally, he grabbed her hips and pulled her up as he himself rose to his knees.

“Very nicely done,” she murmured.

“Yep,” he replied, then grabbed her hips and resumed fucking her.

“Oh! Yes! Right there!” she cried.

“You really like it from behind, don’t you?” he asked as he began stroking smoothly into her.

“Yes! I love it!” she yelled.

“Are you a slut for it?”

“Yes!”

“I want to hear you say it, Anya,” he said, gripping her hips more firmly. “Say it for me.”

“I’m a slut!” she moaned. “I’m a slut for your big cock and doggystyle!”

“That’s right, you little fucktoy!” he yelled and smacked her ass.

“Oh yes! Again! I’m going to come!” she shrieked.

He smacked her ass again, harder, leaving a red mark, then he did again as he began fucking her harder and faster. She was definitely on her way to an orgasm. He could tell from the way she was moaning, the way her body was tensing up, how she was getting a bit tighter inside. Jack kept going, kept hammering away at that pussy, sliding his rock-hard cock into her again and again as far as it would go.

Within another minute or so he had her.

Anya let out a loud, prolonged cry of bliss as she pushed against him, grinding her wonderfully fit ass into his lap, and began to orgasm. Jack groaned loudly as he felt that hot wave of bliss roll through him. She immediately became hotter and wetter inside as her inner muscles began to spasm and flutter. She let out a shriek of delighted pleasure as she came, squirting all over his dick and balls and inner thighs and lower stomach. He kept pounding the fuck out of her, making her scream each time he did it, and that got him going pretty quickly.

Moaning loudly, he hunched forward, reaching under her almost without thinking and grabbing her tits. His hips jerked forward automatically as the first volley of his seed came out of him, and then he was pumping her sweet Russian pussy full of it. He shot his load into her one, hard contraction at a time, each twitch of his cock sending a fresh pulse of pink bliss through his body. He groaned incoherently with the sexual gratification of the climax as he drained his cock into her. She took it all, letting him pump her full of his seed.

Then they were finished, sweaty and shaking from the intensity of their sex, and he pulled carefully out of her and they both collapsed onto the bed.

“Well worth the wait,” she murmured after a bit. “I haven’t gotten laid by a man in a long time, actually. When I heard this was happening, I decided to swear off the sex until we did it.”

“Oh wow, sorry I kept you waiting,” he replied.

“It is okay. It was worth it. You are certainly enthusiastic and skilled enough. I’m sure our future sessions will be longer.”

“Yeah, sorry I let off too early,” he replied.

“Oh no, don’t take it the wrong way. I am happy that we had sex for as long as we did. I wanted a quickie. We will catch up tonight, when you’ve had another chance to rest. Although...just so you know, Sylvia did pack some pills that will help.”

“Help?” he asked.

“Help perk you back up, give you more endurance, more energy. You’re going to be satisfying six pussies. You’re going to need all the help you can get,” she said with a smirk.

“I...have never had this problem before,” he muttered.

She laughed. “It’s a good problem to have, yes?”

“Yes,” he agreed. “Very good.”

She gave him a kiss, then got up and headed into his bathroom. He heard the shower turn on. After a moment, he got up to join her.

…

“Tell me about yourself, Jack,” Sylvia said.

It was after dinner and he had just rammed her doggystyle until they both had come hard. He had to admit, he could definitely get used to getting his cock satisfied five times a day. Walking around in post-orgasmic bliss half the time was fucking awesome.

“Not much to tell,” he replied, laying beside her, staring at the ceiling. “I knew I wanted to be a Marine ever since I was younger and I saw some war movie. I thought it was so cool. But you know how that goes. I’m glad to say that by the time high school rolled around, I had turned my obsession into something a bit better. I’ve never really lacked for motivation, for the most part, so early in high school I decided that I was going to sign up for the Marines. I started working out, talked whoever I could into taking me to a shooting range and practicing my aim and learning about weapons, took any classes I could, read whatever I could on the net. I was pretty set on it.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ here,” Sylvia murmured. She sat up and reached across him, grabbing the bottle of pink wine she’d brought with her. Her bare breast brushed his arm as she came back and took a drink of it.

“Yeah. My parents really didn’t want me to do it. At all. They were pretty dead-set against it. I honestly would’ve been...well, not exactly okay with outright leaving at eighteen, but I would have done it, except for one thing: money. My parents weren’t in the best financial situation. I grew up in a shitty, struggling colony on a distant world. There was factory work for the ones they hadn’t fully automated or the ones where it was just cheaper to hire people. It was decent pay. It was what my dad had done until he couldn’t stand it any longer. When I graduated, my dad was unemployed after getting into a fight with his boss at the car dealership he’d been working at, and my mom was working at a restaurant. So...yeah, bad financial situation.”

“So what happened?” Sylvia murmured, taking another drink.

“They convinced me to stick around. Or, I should say, they coerced me. Maybe that’s too strong a word. I stayed. Took a job at a factory. It sucked, but it was good pay. I think it really helped me, though.”

“How’s that?”

“Well, life as a Marine is...taxing. In a few different ways. Mainly you need to get good at doing something either very physically demanding or very mentally demanding. And by ‘mentally demanding’, I mean, you need to do something so fucking boring that you’d rather tear your guts out than keep doing it. Factory work got to be both. I learned how to sit there and just fucking endure annoying shit for hours at a time. I did that for two years. Managed to get three raises because they saw what a good little worker drone I was and decided I was worth an extra credit an hour. I also practically lived like a monk for those two years. I kept enough credits for myself to buy some food and occasionally do something fun, but most of every paycheck went towards bills and debts. My parents had debts.”

“Wow. This is...a little depressing,” she murmured.

“You asked.”

“That I did. Continue.”

“After two years, all the debts had been paid off, and my parents had been keeping up with their bills for a good eight months at that point. My mom had a new job as a receptionist by then, and my dad was working an office job. Pretty much the day I turned twenty, I told them I was leaving. I had already put in my two weeks at the factory, much as they wanted me to stick around. They even offered me another raise and a bonus, but I didn’t want it. I just wanted out. My parents argued with me, they had tricked themselves into thinking I had ‘gotten over’ my desire to join the Marines, and so we had a big argument about it. But, finally, they let me go. They didn’t exactly come around to my side, but they could tell I was leaving regardless, and decided that at the very least they wanted it to be a happy farewell instead of an angry one.”

“Well, that’s nice at least,” Sylvia said after a moment. She took another drink and then replaced the bottle. “When did you decide you wanted to leave?”

He let out a long sigh. “I actually decided about six weeks ago. My fourth yearly contract was just about up. I had a month to go when I decided. When I realized? I don’t know. Sometime over the last year. I’m still-” He sighed again and twisted in place. “I’m still having difficulty figuring it out. How could I just stop caring about something that I spent like twenty years obsessively chasing? I mean, I was happy those first three years. It was good. The job didn’t change, I did.”

“That’s your answer, Jack: you changed.”

“Yeah but why? I liked liking being a Marine. I liked enjoying my life.”

She sighed. “Human psychology is a bizarre field, but I think maybe you had something of a quarter-life crisis? I’m not sure about why that happens, but it does to some people and some it doesn’t. Maybe it was something you needed to work out? Sometimes we enter into fields that we think are going to be lifelong passions, and then are sad to discover that they aren’t, and not necessarily because we don’t enjoy it. I’m afraid I don’t know, and I doubt you’ll get an honest answer, even from yourself. The best thing you can do is try new things and see what sticks? And get laid a lot along the way, because you might as well enjoy yourself.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Tell me, did you ever have any other passions? Hobbies? Anything else you ever gave a shit about that you still do, even kind of?”

He thought about it, but an answer quickly bubbled to the surface. “Yeah, actually. Photography. Taking pictures of cool stuff.”

“Have you rekindled it at all? Or even pursued it?”

“I did briefly in high school. Took a class. They seemed to think I was good.”

“Maybe you should get back into it. I think, among the gear we packed, was some photography equipment. I think it’s Anya’s. If I recall it was a habit she got into when she was out exploring wild new worlds,” Sylvia said.

He thought about it. “Maybe I will.”

It was something to consider, at least.

CHAPTER 06

The rest of the day went pleasantly.

He got some more reading in, hung out in the observation lounge with Sylvia, listening to more of her stories, and then worked out some more in his room. That night, Anya hopped in bed with him and fucked him until both of them were too tired to stay awake. He fucked her once in the night, a half-remembered, bleary but furious session, then she rode him again as soon as they both woke up. Now, he was in the shower, Anya still in the bed.

Different day, different girl.

Jack finished washing up and dried off. As he stepped back out into his bedroom, he hesitated and almost covered himself out of reflex as he saw someone new standing in the room. It was Maureen. She was smiling at him, studying his naked body.

“Very handsome,” she murmured. “Sorry for walking in like this, I figured you wouldn’t mind given our...arrangement.”

“It’s fine,” he said as he began dressing. “What’s up?”

“We’re nearing our second contract. It’s going to require some extra vehicular activity work. I trust you’ve been checked out on EVA?”

“Oh yeah,” he replied. “Standard training. I can do it.”

“Excellent! You will be joining Elizabeth in heading over first. We would dock with the airlock but it’s locked down and needs to be unlocked from the inside. That’s where you and Elizabeth come in. Once it’s secured, we’ll dock and send Lyra over to help detach and salvage the equipment that the company wants us to grab.”

He hesitated. “I’m not saying no and I’m not balking at work, but...I don’t think Elizabeth likes me very much.”

Maureen smiled. “Elizabeth doesn’t dislike you. We’ve spoken and...well, just talk to her. This thing is very simple, and would best be resolved by the two of you talking to each other.”

“So there is a problem?” he asked.

“Of a sort,” Maureen replied.

“More like a fucking imaginary problem,” he heard Anya mutter from the bed.

“Hush, Anya,” Maureen said.

“I don’t even know what the problem is. I mean, I think,” he replied.

“Just talk to her, Jack. I promise, she doesn’t have a problem with you. It isn’t even really about you, per say.”

“Okay,” he said after a moment, “I’ll talk to her.”

“Thank you. Come along, I’ll see you to your suit-up.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you later, Anya,” he said.

“Mmm-hmm,” she murmured, stretching. Then she yawned and rolled over.

“I’m glad you’re so popular already,” Maureen said as they headed down the corridor towards the hangar.

“Me too.”

“You know, there were questions about my decision to include you along with us for the trip. A few of us were less than certain we could find a man such as you.”

“What, seriously? You’re all so hot, it would have been easy.”

“I think you underestimate how enamored men your age are with girls their own age and, more significantly, demure girls their age. Although some of us certainly prefer to be demure in bed, we are not in any other aspect of our lives. We do not yield, not for the sake of frail masculinity. We aren’t unreasonable, hell, we don’t even mind sharing when it comes to ‘who wears the pants’, as they like to say, but I’ve found too many men are high-powered, testosterone-fueled asses jacked up on their own sense of superiority.”

“Really?” he asked. “It’s that common?”

“Well, perhaps we just run into more of them because of our lines of work. Or even perhaps we bring that out in more men because our tenacity is so obvious. I think Elizabeth might’ve had it the hardest of us in regard to that.”

“She is pretty intimidating, especially as a Marine,” he murmured.

“Yes. But, like I said, just talk to her. I’m sure you’ll get it sorted out.”

“I hope so.”

They came into the hangar, where Elizabeth stood near the back, by another airlock. She was suited up in an EVA suit, a pretty streamlined and well-designed silver outfit that looked top-of-the-line. Lyra was there, checking her over.

“You’re going to have company for your trip over, I don’t want you doing this alone,” Maureen said as they approached.

“If you’re really so paranoid about it-” Elizabeth began as she actually looked over at him. Then she saw Jack and immediately looked away. “Are you sure?” she asked.

“I’m positive,” Maureen replied.

Elizabeth sighed. “Okay,” she said.

“You’re good,” Lyra said, finishing her check. She looked at Jack. “Your turn.”

He nodded and began pulling on one of the other EVA suits. They were mostly one-size-fits-all. He tried not to feel too awkward as he finished pulling it on and once everything was in place, Lyra gave him a once over.

She patted him on the ass when she was done. “You’re good.”

“Thanks,” he murmured.

“Anytime,” she said with a smirk.

“Riley,” Maureen said into an intercom mounted on the wall. “Where are we?”

“We’re there,” Riley replied. “All is well. And with that I’m going to go off for a quick fuck with our new boytoy-”

“No, Riley,” Maureen replied.

“What? Come on, why?”

“Two reasons. One: I want you on the bridge for the duration, in case anything goes wrong. Two: He’s here now, going out with Elizabeth.”

“Oh, well great. Have fun, Jack.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” he replied, to which she laughed.

“Elizabeth knows what to do, just back her up,” Maureen said. “You two will do fine.”

“Okay,” Jack replied, because he didn’t know what else to say.

He followed the big ex-Marine into the airlock and it closed behind them with a snap. Neither of them spoke as the atmosphere was evacuated from the small room. When it was finished, the outer door opened and they disengaged their magnetic boots, allowing them to float free of the floor. Using their thruster packs, they jetted slowly out of the airlock and into space. As they left the gravity field of the ship, Jack felt his stomach jerk and flip-flop and fought to control the bout of fear that hit him. It had been awhile since he’d been in actual, real outer space and not just a ship or a station. It was as majestic and beautiful and terrifying as he remembered. Jack tried to get a grip. It wouldn’t do to freak out in front of Elizabeth.

He focused on the space station ahead of them. Although it wasn’t very big as far as space stations went, it was still pretty good-sized. It could probably hold a regular crew of a half-dozen or so. Judging by its design, he figured it was meant to run scans of the planet it orbited, probably set up by a survey corporation when the planet was discovered and abandoned due to defunding or buyout or some other business thing.

“There’s the main airlock,” Elizabeth said over the radio between their suits. “We’re going to have to get in through the secondary airlock. It should be easy.”

“All right, I’ll be ready for whatever you need,” Jack replied.

A moment passed. “Did you ever see much zero-gee action?” she asked.

“Just once,” he replied. “We had to take a ship that had been overrun by pirates. The gravity got cut near the beginning of the battle.”

“That’s always fun,” she muttered. “Here it is, the secondary airlock.”

They floated along the side of the station until they arrived at their destination. She moved over to a panel and pulled out a small toolkit, then began the process of getting it open. Jack waited, wondering if she would say anything to fill the silence, or if he should try to fill it, but ultimately decided that either she would if she wanted to, or she worked better in the quiet. Either way, she finished getting the panel off and dug into the wiring of it. After a moment, she pulled out a little battery from her suit pocket and hooked it into the airlock door.

“They told us there should be a reserve power cell we can tap into once we get inside,” Elizabeth said as the door opened up. “But we’ll have to wait for Lyra for that.”

She left the battery hooked into the panel and they got inside. Jack waited as they cycled through the airlock. He was supposed to be talking to her, but what was he going to say? What did he normally say during awkward situations?

Whatever was on his mind, usually.

Well, all these women seemed to value blunt confrontation over beating around the bush, and he doubted Elizabeth was any different.

They came out into a dark, frozen metal hallway. Random items floated through the air. The place had the feel of long abandonment.

It was kind of creepy.

“Elizabeth?” he said finally as they began making their way back to the main airlock.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“Do you have a problem with me?” he asked, then regretted it. Okay, he hadn’t meant to be that damned blunt.

Elizabeth didn’t speak for several seconds, and the silence that stretched out in the dark, atmospherically-compromised space station seemed to stretch on forever. Finally, as they neared the other airlock from the inside, she spoke.

“No, Jack. I don’t have a problem with you at all,” she replied.

“I mean, I can handle it if you do. If it’s because I left the Marines, I mean-”

“Oh no, Jack,” she said, now actually stopping and turning to face him. A bit more significant in a zero-gee environment. “Jack, I...” Now she actually looked kind of vulnerable, maybe a little embarrassed, or even a tad guilty. “I really don’t have a problem with you. I like you, honestly. Based on what interaction we’ve had or I’ve seen so far, you seem nice.”

“Then what’s wrong?” he asked. She hesitated. “You’re obviously uncomfortable around me. I mean, is it because I’m fucking all your friends? They said everyone was onboard with this. Or is it because you’ve decided you aren’t into me? I mean, I won’t be mad.”

“No, it’s not that.” She sighed. “God, I hate social shit like this. Fine, I’ll just say it: I feel bad because I imagine Maureen or Sylvia told you this was a package deal. You fuck all of us or none of us. They didn’t want anyone feeling left out. And I...don’t want you to feel like you have to fuck me if you aren’t into me.”

He stared at her for a few seconds. “I...don’t even...I mean, did I ever give you the impression that I don’t want to fuck you?” he asked.

This is what had her uncomfortable around him?

Seriously?

“I suppose not,” she admitted after a moment. “I guess I just...assumed.”

“Let me lay those concerns to rest right now: I really want to have sex with you, Elizabeth. Honestly, I think I want to have sex with you the most out of everyone.”

“Okay, come on, you don’t need to flatter me,” she said.

“I’m not!”

She paused. “Maureen didn’t make you be nice to me, did she?”

“Do you think she could?” he asked, then hesitated. “Okay, obviously she could. But do you think she would?”

“No,” she admitted after a moment. “No, she wouldn’t. And I guess I believe you, I’m just...a little confused, admittedly. I’m the least attractive person on this ship.”

“No you aren’t. I mean you’re all really attractive but you definitely aren’t the least attractive. You are really hot, Elizabeth.”

“What, do you just really love tall, buff chicks with weirdly angular faces and pronounced cheekbones?”

“Fuck yes,” he replied immediately. “I actually am into all of that, plus I’m in love with redheads, and I obviously have an affinity for military women.”

“That was not my experience in the military,” she said.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, there was the occasional closet fuck session, everyone has those, but it seemed like all the guys I knew wanted to go show off for the easily-impressed civilian chicks. You know, the slim girls with big breasts and sexy hair and a lot of makeup.”

“You look like you’ve got some big breasts,” he replied.

She snorted. “Yeah, I’ve also got a big waistline and large biceps and broad shoulders. Doesn’t count as much.”

“Okay, well, that sucks and I’m sorry. But I want to be clear: I will be absolutely, positively thrilled to fuck you. And eat your pussy as much as you want.”

“Well...” She smiled and blushed behind her faceplate. “That’s good to know. Although I would like to get to know you a little better before hopping straight into the sheets.”

“Not a problem. We can have dinner tonight,” he replied.

“That would be nice. Now, um, I should definitely get this airlock open.”

“Yeah, they’re probably waiting on us,” Jack replied.

As he watched her go through the process of opening the main airlock, he found himself marveling over the conversation they’d just had. How could she possibly have thought he wouldn’t be into her? And yet, even as he thought it, he understood. He was still surprised that the women aboard the ship he was now living on were all into him, and there was always at least a little surprise whenever he got a woman to agree to go to bed with him. He always worked hard to deliver at least one good orgasm to them, usually two or three or four if he could manage it. Jack looked over at Elizabeth. Even inside an EVA suit, her ass looked huge and hot.

He was going to deeply enjoy fucking her and making her scream and squirm and squirt.

He’d never been to bed with a woman as tall as her before.

“There, done,” Elizabeth said. “Riley, you can link up the airlocks now. I’m ready to receive Lyra.”

“On it,” Riley replied.

A moment passed, and then the structure shuddered around them.

“We are locked in,” Riley reported.

“I’m coming over,” Lyra said.

They waited. After a minute or so, the inner airlock door opened up and a suit-clad figure emerged. Even in her suit, Lyra looked small. Her glowing white eyes were the most obvious thing behind the glass of her helmet.

“I’m ready,” she said.

“This way,” Elizabeth replied.

The three of them began drifting deeper into the station. They used their thrusters to float gradually down the central corridor. Jack looked in open doorways as he passed them. A few of the rooms had been stripped completely bare, no doubt grabbed by either the company themselves or opportunistic employees on the way out. One was a break room where a few basic metal chairs hung suspended in zero-gee and coffee still stained a counter, now covered in ice crystals from the deep cold of outer space.

Finally, they came to a junction where three more hallways continued along. He saw dormitories to their left, utilities to their right, and the nerve center that once controlled the station directly ahead of them.

“We want utilities,” Lyra said, and headed off in that direction.

“Places like this are really creepy,” Jack murmured, because the silence was starting to get to him. In space, silence was perfect and unbroken.

“Yeah,” Elizabeth agreed. “I always hated investigating derelict space stations and ghost ships. Usually they were abandoned or had been raided by one group or another, but sometimes it was something worse.”

“Like hostile aliens?” Lyra asked.

“Yeah. There’s so many different species out there and too many of them love getting onto spaceships and stations and infesting them. I’ve seen eggs and sacs and hives and whatever else tucked away in crawlspaces and maintenance areas and vent shafts. Too many to count. Sometimes it’s just bugs that are gross and occasionally deadly, but those are pretty easy to deal with. You just seal them in and vent the proper gas in to kill them off. But every once in awhile its something worse. Giant bugs or other mutant monsters. They get all over the ship and it’s like a scene out of a fucking horror movie as they eat people and rip everything up.”

“I’ve always heard stories about that,” Jack muttered. “I’ve never actually seen it.”

“You don’t want to. It’s awful,” Elizabeth replied.

“Maybe we should talk about something else,” Lyra murmured as they headed deeper into the utilities area.

“I guess so,” Elizabeth said. “Well, I guess we can talk about what’s probably on everyone’s mind. Jack, are you enjoying Sylvia and Anya so far?”

“He also had Riley,” Lyra murmured.

“Of course he did, she can’t keep her legs closed for more than five minutes at a stretch.”

“I’m enjoying their company very much,” Jack replied. “Everyone has been really nice to me.”

“Well, I guess I haven’t,” Elizabeth said. “Sorry about that.”

“No, it’s fine. I mean, I get where you’re coming from.”

“What have you got to be self-conscious about?” she asked him.

“I’m...not very attractive, I’m socially awkward.”

“You’re quite handsome. And you seem very socially apt,” Lyra said.

“Compared to you I’m socially apt, Lyra,” Elizabeth replied.

“I suppose that’s true.”

“She has a point, though. You’ve done fine so far. Not really any awkward moments, except for the ones I created. You seem to be handling all of us pretty well.”

“In here,” Lyra said. She led them through a door and into what was labeled as the Secondary Generator Room. It wasn’t very large, though most of it was taken up by complex-looking machinery and gear. Lyra pulled out her own toolkit, this one larger and far more intricate than the one Elizabeth had been touting, and set to work immediately.

“I guess I’m just not, you know, smooth. I don’t really know how to pick women up. I don’t know how to actually be fucking cool or charismatic.”

Elizabeth laughed. “Few do, and most of the ones who you think are like that are just bullshitting. I don’t know why young girls find stupid assholes attractive. I never did...for the most part.”

“I thought you would have this figured out by now,” Lyra said as she worked.

“What?” Jack asked.

“Why so many women are attracted to, as Elizabeth said, ‘stupid assholes’. There’s a quote from your culture, something about how idiots never doubt themselves, smart people do. Your stupid assholes have over-inflated views of their own important and skill. They think they’re great, and they’re often too stupid to be convinced otherwise. Due to how your species evolved, fertile young women instinctively respond to the traits being displayed by these stupid assholes: strength, confidence, dominance. Their brains are telling them that they will make strong fathers and produce strong offspring, even if they have zero interest in reproduction. That’s also why curves are so desired on women: they signal fertility to men, even if, again, the men have no interest in reproduction. You’re both attracted to physical qualities more than internal qualities, at least at first. This is why I have found myself in such a poor situation, dating-wise.”

“What do you mean?” Jack asked.

“I have little love for my own kind. Xenians are what you humans would call ‘conservative’. They favor long-term coupling and frown heavily on interspecies love and lust, or casual sex. I...do not share these values. Although admittedly I have a suppressed sexdrive due to my genetics, which made it easier to focus on my career and knowledge, I find myself most attracted to not only men and women, but also men and women not of my own species. I have a special weakness for human men, which is unfortunate, because I am considered too petite to be really attractive.”

“I think you’re really attractive,” Jack said.

She paused before responding. “That is...good. I’m glad to hear that. It will make our...time together that much more satisfying. Speaking of which, I do intend to have sex with you, but probably not while we’re on the ship. There’s too much to do.”

“What, you seriously think there’s going to be less to do on the planet?” Elizabeth asked.

“No, but...I will make time when we arrive at Valena. I just...need time to prepare myself. It has been a very long time since I have made love.”

“Take as much time as you need, Lyra,” Jack said. “Although I am really looking forward to having sex with you, I want you to feel completely comfortable about it.”

“Thank you,” she replied.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Elizabeth said, looking at Jack. “That was pretty socially apt.”

“That was sexually apt,” Lyra said.

“I guess so.”

A moment of silence passed between them.

“I am almost done bringing this back online. Prepare for gravity, as it is tied to the secondary generator,” Lyra warned.

They both reported that they were ready. A few seconds went by. Lyra pushed a button on the side of the equipment and suddenly the lights around them flickered to life, everything that was floating fell to the floor, and Jack’s stomach wrenched as, although he had activated his magnetic boots and was thus anchored to the floor, the effect of gravity hit him like a ton of bricks. He disengaged his magnetic boots and took a moment to get his legs back.

“Still no atmosphere, so don’t take off your helmets,” Lyra warned.

“Wonderful,” Elizabeth muttered. “Now what?”

“Now we go to the main control module. They also wanted me to see if there was anything left on the central database to download. After that, I’ve got to crawl down into the ducts and pull out some of the more crucial processors. They had some really powerful quantum processors to help them crunch all the weather data,” Lyra explained as she packed her tools away. She reattached her toolkit to her suit and turned around. “Let’s go.”

They began to head back out of the utilities wing. The place looked a lot livelier now that the power was back on, and he found it strange to believe that there was no air in here. Though now he was mainly thinking of what Lyra might look like naked, because now that they had actually talked about sex, and she’d confirmed that she fully intended to fuck him, he couldn’t get it out of his head. He didn’t like to think he was insanely sex-motivated, but…

Well, sometimes he really obsessed over it.

As they stepped back out into the junction, Jack stopped. He felt something.

“Whoa, whoa, hold up,” Elizabeth said almost at the same time. “Do you feel that?”

“Yes,” Lyra said.

“What is that?” Jack asked, looking around.

It felt like footsteps, heavy footsteps. He looked down the hallway they’d initially come through and saw something.

It was large, silver, and walked on four legs.

And it was walking towards them.

A single red eye aimed straight at them.

“What the fuck is that?!” he snapped as his mouth went dry and his whole body went cold.

“Fall back, now!” Elizabeth snapped.

He reacted automatically, turning and heading back the way they had just come. The thumps in the floor increased, dead silent thanks to the lack of atmosphere, making the whole thing that much more terrifying. The trio scrambled back through the door they had just come through and Lyra immediately closed and locked it as soon as they were in.

“What is that?” Jack repeated, his heart hammering painfully in his chest.

“Security bot,” Lyra replied. “Shit, I had no idea they had one onboard.”

“There isn’t supposed to be anything onboard that’s threatening,” Elizabeth growled. “God-fucking-dammit, I knew I should’ve brought a fucking gun.” She looked at Jack. “Don’t suppose you’re packing anything?”

“No,” he replied.

A dent appeared in the door. They quickly backed away from it.

“Fuck, what do we do? This thing is going to fucking murder us,” Jack snapped.

“I have to get to the control module. I can shut it down from there,” Lyra said. She was already heading into one of the side rooms. “Follow me. Hurry.”

She was shockingly calm, given the situation.

Jack and Elizabeth hurried after her as another big dent appeared in the doorway. They came into one of the side rooms that was packed with gear that did fuck knew what. Jack closed the door behind them and locked it. Lyra was crouched in the corner, opening up a hatch.

“I can get to the control module from the ducts,” she said.

“I can’t fit in there!” Elizabeth snapped as they joined her.

“Oh,” Lyra said, frowning. For a moment, she was stymied. They could feel the pounding reverberations of the metallic guard dog as it beat the door down trying to get to them. An idea came to Jack.

“I’ll distract it,” he said. “I can fit. I’ll crawl out and get it to chase me.”

“No, that’s way too risky,” Elizabeth said.

“We have no choice. Lyra, go now,” Jack replied.

She nodded and disappeared into the hole. Jack looked around and saw there was some space between some of the bulky equipment and the wall. “Hide there, I’ll draw it off as fast as I can,” he said to Elizabeth.

She looked reluctant, but must have realized that right now, there wasn’t an alternative plan. This was as good as it was going to get.

“Hurry,” she said.

“I will,” Jack replied, already heading for the hole.

It was a tight fit, but he managed to get inside. He could just make out Lyra’s form ahead of him, making for the main hallway in the utilities section. She was just taking the turn that would take her back to the junction.

That was where he needed to be.

He started crawling, forcing himself as fast as he possibly could. As he passed under the far wall to the room that Elizabeth was now hiding in, he felt a solid thump pass through the area. Shit, it was already through the door, and it would be maybe a few minutes before it ripped its way into the room and killed Elizabeth. He’d seen bots like that before, he remembered now. They were automated security, meant to kill anything labeled as an intruder, and right now that meant them. Fuck, this was bad. That old sense of a tight focus came back to him in an instant as he hustled down the duct beneath the floor. He was at least glad to find that he was still good in a crisis.

Jack hit the corner an agonizingly long moment later, having to feel every one of those pounds as the guard bot tried to get into the room. How was he even going to distract it? Even if he succeeded, how was he going to keep it from killing him?

Well, he’d improvise.

He made the turn and kept crawling. Lyra was already gone from sight. Good, she had her job and she was even calmer than either him or Elizabeth was. Jack kept going, pushing himself as hard as he could, until finally he found another hatch. Jerking it open, he hauled himself out and took a second to orient himself. Stepping out of the nearest doorway in the empty room he’d emerged in, he realized he was just inside the corridor that led into the control area. He stepped through the door that led to the junction.

The door that led into the utilities section was ripped open. It looked like someone had taken a giant can-opener to the thing. Fuck this goddamned bot was strong. And tenacious. He looked around and saw a length of piping on the floor. It had probably drifted in from another room but whatever, it would do. Jack grabbed it and hurried through the ripped-open doorway. There, he saw the bot just ripping into the door that separated it from Elizabeth.

“Hey!” he screamed, running up and smashing the pipe into the thing’s metallic flank as hard as he possibly could. It roughly had the shape of a dog, though it would be one big dog, and he had no doubt that those legs packed a solid wallop. Sparks flew as he smashed the pipe into its hind end again, screaming at it.

As he prepared to do it again, the back leg suddenly shot out and smashed into his chest.

Jack yelled, or tried to as the air was driven from his lungs, and then he wheezed in agony as he slammed into the wall across the way. He hit the floor and dropped the pipe. Gasping for breath, fighting through the pain, he forced himself back up.

Well…

He had the thing’s attention.

The head twisted around and that glowing red eye focused wholly on him. With what seemed to be a deliberately slow menace, the bot came away from the door and began to come towards him.

“Oh shit,” Jack muttered.

“Jack, you need to run,” Elizabeth said over the radio.

“Yep,” he replied. He turned and sprinted away, back out into the junction, and felt a hard vibration through the floor as it probably landed right where he had just been. Now his laser focus shifted towards just keeping his own ass alive. He prayed that Lyra was getting to where she needed to be. He sprinted across the junction, into the dorms section, and immediately cursed. The corridor wasn’t as long as he’d hoped it was. Nothing to do but keep going. He ran past rows of doors, feeling the impact tremors of the guard bot as it came after him. Those few seconds seemed to disappear way too quickly.

He came to the end of the hallway. Jack dove into one of the dorms and hit the close button. The door slammed shut. He locked it and backed away from it. There was nowhere to hide. This room had been cleared out, save for a pair of bunk-beds that were bolted to the wall. Well, this was bad. In a way, it almost seemed right though.

He’d basically won the lottery, getting on a ship full of hot cougars who all wanted a turn at his cock. So why not meet his end on a forgotten space station in the middle of nowhere to a fucking guard bot? Jack just wished he’d been able to enjoy it a little longer.

The door buckled as the bot ripped through the metal, bashing into it over and over. He stared at it, back to the wall, and still felt a kind of terrified amazement that everything was happening in perfect silence. Jack looked around again for some way out of this, but there was nothing. He just had to hope that either Lyra or Elizabeth would come up with something. The door burst out of its frame and the bot tore its way into the room.

Jack prepared himself for something, for any opportunity to present itself, anything to take advantage of this and somehow get out of it.

The red-eyed metal monster charged for him.

This was it.

Abruptly, the light died and the bot went slack, collapsing into a heap of metal limbs on the floor. Jack stared at it, his heart thundering in his chest, breathing heavily, trembling all over.

“Jack? Elizabeth? Are you okay? I killed its control feed,” Lyra said over the radio.

“I’m fine,” Elizabeth said. She sounded like she was moving. “Jack? Tell me you’re okay.”

He took a few seconds to finally stutter out, “I’m here.”

“Are you okay?” Elizabeth pressed.

“Yeah. I might need a new suit, but I’m okay.”

Elizabeth laughed and the relief was obvious in her voice. “Thank fucking God. Where are you? Down the dorms? Oh, yeah, here’s the door...”

He looked up sharply as a figure appeared in the opening. It was Elizabeth. He relaxed. Well, as much as he could.

“Holy shit, that was something else, man,” Elizabeth said, grinning broadly behind her helmet. He returned the grin. Near misses like that had a way of elevating the fuck out of your spirits. He laughed and took a step towards her.

“I’m just glad I made it,” he replied, trying not to fall over as he moved carefully past the bot.

“So we’re all okay?” Lyra asked over the radio.

“Yeah, we’re great. Can we get the parts and get the fuck out of here?” Jack replied.

“Yes. I’m heading for them now.”

“Maureen is going to rip someone’s fucking head off over this,” Elizabeth muttered, staring at the inert guard bot. Jack joined her by the door.

“I hope so. That was fucking bullshit. That very easily could have killed both of us.”

“Yeah...fuck! So stupid! I can’t believe I didn’t bring a pistol or something. Never fucking again. Never going fucking anywhere without a goddamned gun anymore.”

“Same,” he muttered.

They began to head back towards Lyra’s position.

CHAPTER 07

Thankfully, nothing else shitty happened.

Lyra managed to extract the processors, confirmed that they were what they were supposed to be and that they worked, and then they shut the power back down, retrieved their batteries, and headed out of there as fast as they could. She said the guard bot shouldn’t wake back up, and there didn’t appear to be any more on the station, but none of them trusted the internal database. She’d ended up opting to not make a copy of it given they wanted to get off the station as fast as possible. After that, Maureen and Elizabeth had had lengthy, furious conversations with the people who had put out the contract for not doing their due diligence.

After agreeing to give them a pretty decent bonus, Maureen, who had a great idea of the inner workings of business, finance, and the law at this point, opted not to pursue any legal action. He and Elizabeth and Lyra were all checked out by a surprisingly worried Sylvia in the infirmary. He thought she’d remain at least somewhat calm, if not a little detached, but she was obviously at least a little anxious and fretted over all three of them.

Once they were out of the infirmary, though, Elizabeth approached him in the hallway.

“So, still up for dinner?” she asked.

“Yeah, definitely,” he replied. “Now that my stomach’s calmed the fuck down, I’m actually pretty hungry.”

“Good. Why don’t you go take a shower and make us some hamburgers and fries, and I’ll set things up in the observation lounge?”

“Sounds great.”

They parted ways and he hurried off to his bedroom. It had been awhile since he’d had like an actual date. They could be a little nerve-wracking, but he still mostly enjoyed them. Though he had to admit, it really took the fear out of the date when you knew you were getting laid regardless. Even if Elizabeth decided she wasn’t into him, he could pretty easily go have sex with Sylvia or Riley. And speaking of Riley…

“I heard you had some trouble over there.”

She was laying in his bed wearing nothing at all. He stopped and stared at her.

“Yeah,” he managed.

“I thought I could help you unwind after a tense situation,” she murmured, opening her legs a bit.

Jack groaned. “I really want to, but...Elizabeth and I-”

“Oh shit, she’s finally going after you?” she asked, closing her legs and sitting up. She let out a huff of irritation. “Shit, I’m not getting in her way. I’ll just go jump Anya or something.”

“Sorry,” he said.

“No, don’t be sorry, Elizabeth should definitely get laid. Fuck, she could use it out of all of us,” Riley muttered.

As she got up and left the room, he realized she didn’t gather up any of her clothes, and then it occurred to him that there were no clothes to gather up. She’d come in here stark naked. Well, she certainly had reason enough to feel comfortable walking around naked, especially in this environment. He wanted to tell her that Elizabeth probably wasn’t going to sleep with him tonight, it was a simple date, but she was already gone and he supposed it wouldn’t really change the outcome. So he walked into his bathroom, stripped, showered, dried, and on the off chance that Elizabeth actually decided to lay him tonight, freshened up a bit.

After dressing, he hurried over to the kitchen and put together some burgers, as good as he could make them. He chopped up some lettuce, tomatoes, and onions, in case she liked any of them, grabbed some pickles, mustard, mayo, and ketchup and brought all of it on a tray he found out to the observation lounge.

“Wow, that smells really fucking good,” she said, sitting at a table she’d brought in.

“Fries are almost done,” he said, setting it all down. “Be right back.”

“Could you grab me a bottle of water?” she asked.

“Yes.”

He went back, pulled the fries out, grabbed two bottles of water, and then returned to the lounge again.

“Wow, you’ve got the whole spread here,” she murmured. “Did you just decide to shotgun it on extra ingredients and condiments?” she asked with a grin.

“Basically,” he replied, handing her the bottle.

“Thanks,” she said, accepting it.

He got a decent look at her before sitting down. She’d obviously had a shower, her hair damp and pulled into a rough ponytail. She wore a baggy white t-shirt and some gym shorts.

“I know this isn’t exactly dating attire but I figured you wouldn’t care,” she said, looking down at herself.

“Definitely don’t mind. You look pretty great in whatever, apparently,” he replied.

She laughed nervously and then sighed, tucking an errant strand of hair behind one ear. “I actually haven’t done this in...forever. Years. God, maybe even a decade. And I’ve never even been very good at dating to begin with.”

“I’ve never really figured out how to do it. I just...try to make conversation and hope to get lucky more often than not,” he replied. “But, look at it this way: the pressure’s off. I mean, I’m obviously going to say yes if you ask to fuck.”

She laughed loudly. “I guess so, and I’ve already told you I’m basically down to fuck.” She looked down briefly, flushing a little. “I have to admit, it was hard not to just grab you and fuck you as soon as we got back. That whole thing...you were really brave, and decisive. Honestly, that was a huge fucking turn on, and it was only amplified by the near death experience and all the adrenaline.” She looked back up at him.

“Well...I’m glad you didn’t,” he replied finally.

“Why?”

“Because...I mean, yeah it would’ve been fucking awesome, but I guess I’d rather you fuck me when you’re fully ready to do it. I mean, in-the-moment passion is great and all, don’t get me wrong,” he replied.

“You’re...surprisingly sweet, and respectful,” she said after a moment of studying him. Fuck, her eyes were so green.

“Well, I mean, I try.”

“You do a good job, Jack. I have to say, the lifestyle we lived tends to breed a certain...abruptness, a certain brashness. Admittedly, I prefer it more often than not. I hate bullshitting, I hate beating around the bush, I want people to just fucking say shit to my face, whatever it is. But that can bleed over into other aspects of your life and it can be unpleasant. I got to the point where hearing ‘hey you wanna fuck?’ from a guy was the most I could hope for. And for the most part, I’m still okay to cut out all the BS.” She paused. “Maybe I shouldn’t call it BS. I mean, I think it’s BS, but if other people are actually into it, I don’t want to dump on them.

“But my point is this: just because I couldn’t give less of a shit about, like, flowers and candy and whatever else they call ‘romancing’ nowadays, doesn’t mean that I don’t care about being treated kindly and respectfully. And I think you get that. Like, without even really having to tell you any of that, you already got that about me.”

“Well, yeah, I guess that was my impression of you.”

“I’m glad.”

They both spent a few minutes eating their meals. “Fuck, you did a great job on this,” she said between bites. “Like, this is awesome.”

“Thank you,” he replied. “Elizabeth...have you really run into that many assholes? I mean, I’m not trying to say I don’t believe you, I do, it’s just...”

“I know,” she said with a sigh. “It’s different when you’re a woman. You say you want something a little bit more than some kind of fumbling lame pickup line that’s barely a step above ‘you make my dick hard’, and suddenly you’re a stuck up bitch with way too high of standards. I’m not a fucking prude, but fuck, I do have some guys I don’t want to fuck. A lot, actually. I don’t fuck jerks. Too many guys, or maybe just too many Marines, I don’t know, buy into the idea of ‘treat a girl like shit and she’ll put out’. I don’t put out for assholes, not even when I’m desperate. I’d much rather masturbate than give some shit stain the satisfaction.”

She paused, staring down at her burger for a few seconds. “Is this really date-friendly conversation?” she asked.

“Are you enjoying the conversation?” he replied.

“I mean, kinda. In a venting sort of way. Although I guess maybe I’m just making myself more pissed off in the process.”

“If it helps, I don’t care so much about ‘date-friendly’ conversation as much as conversation that’s fun to have. I want to talk about stuff we enjoy. What are you into?” he asked.

She smiled. “Well...honestly, that’s something I’ve been trying to discover. I didn’t really have time for hobbies or interests when I was in the Marines. And after I signed up with private security, I was too frustrated or depressed to pursue much of anything. Mostly I just kept in shape and caught up on reading.”

“That’s what I’ve been doing,” he said.

“Fuck, yeah, I guess...we’re a lot alike, in some ways.”

“I’m beginning to realize that. Honestly, I thought you had a problem with me because I left after only four years in the Corps, and you’re a freaking twenty-five year vet...”

“I don’t want to give you that impression at all, Jack. Honestly, I think it was brave, if not smart. You recognized that it wasn’t working anymore. You gave it time. You put in the effort. When it became clear that it wasn’t just a passing phase, you pulled the plug. A lot of people don’t do that, you know...I didn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“I felt what you felt probably like ten years ago, maybe twelve or thirteen even. I think I stuck around a decade longer than I should’ve. I was...scared.”

“I really get that,” he muttered.

“I mean, fuck, it was my life.” She smiled at him. “Yeah, you do get it. I think maybe more than anyone else here, actually...I’m really glad you came along.”

“So am I,” he replied.

She snorted. “Well, duh. You must be in paradise.”

“Sylvia said I was to be the cock in the hen house.”

Elizabeth laughed. “That’s just about right.”

“You have a really pretty laugh.”

She sighed and looked down at her plate, blushing. “Shut up,” she muttered.

“What? You do.”

“I’ve got kind of a weird voice, I know that.”

Jack sighed. “Come on, don’t think that. If there’s one thing I’ve managed to figure out at this point it’s that usually different features aren’t weird, they’re unique, and unique can be really attractive. Your voice has an interesting timbre to it, kind of a unique texture, but...that’s not bad. Honestly, I imagine it sounds fucking awesome when you’re screaming from an orgasm.”

She sighed and blushed more fiercely.

“Too far?” he asked.

“No,” she murmured. “Not too far, just...it’s been awhile since I’ve run into a guy that actually made me all hot and bothered,” she replied. “Like, because he was trying to. I mean, I still get horny from seeing hot guys but it’s different when someone is actively flirting with...are you really that into me? I’m like five inches taller than you and more than twice your age.”

“I’m really that into you,” he replied.

“I’m just going to take your word for it. Either you are or you’re an amazing liar.”

“I’m a shit liar.”

“Which is what an amazing liar would say.”

“Fair point.”

They finished eating their meal like that and swapped a few war stories. It was obvious that Elizabeth had seen her fair share of combat. They ended up talking for almost an hour after finishing up their meals and eventually found themselves sitting there in silence, looking across the table at each other. Jack had to admit, he was getting really fucking horny.

“So...” Elizabeth said finally.

“So?” he asked, hopefully.

She laughed nervously. “I-I’m still not sure if I’m ready.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “I know, I know. Fucking twenty-five year vet who had how many supply closet fucks and I’m balking now?”

“It’s okay, Elizabeth,” he said. “Like I said, extremely eager, but I can wait.”

“I think I’m just...I don’t know! I’m nervous and I don’t really have a good reason why. But I’ve got an idea. I think I know what you can do to help sort of relax me. To sort of get me closer to comfortable.”

“Whatever you want,” he said.

“I want you to fuck Riley while I watch and masturbate.”

“I can definitely do that.”

She laughed. “I figured. Okay, come on. I’m really horny, let’s do this.”

They both got up, gathered the remains of their meals, and quickly dropped it all off in the kitchen to be dealt with later. Then they went and tracked down Riley, who was laying around in her room, already naked, reading something.

“Hey...you two do it yet?” she asked, grinning at them.

“Not yet,” Elizabeth said. “I want to watch him fuck you, and I want to borrow one of your toys,” she added.

“Yes on both accounts,” Riley replied immediately. She raised her hands and waved him closer. “Come here, handsome. I will fuck you dry.”

“Gladly,” he replied, quickly stripping out of his clothing.

“Can’t believe you didn’t fuck him already!” Riley cried as she parted her beautifully thick thighs. “I was going to fuck him before you hauled him off to dinner, and you didn’t even get your pussy pounded!”

“I’m...taking my time, okay!?” Elizabeth snapped as she dug around in the nightstand.

“Okay, okay. I was just teasing,” Riley replied.

Jack was honestly interested to see the dichotomy between the two women. Riley was one of the most confident women he’d ever met, and Elizabeth was surprisingly uncertain of herself, and yet Elizabeth intimidated Riley.

It was an interesting power dynamic.

“Ah,” Elizabeth muttered, pulling out a little toy with a flat, smooth surface that buzzed when she turned it on. She grinned. “This one is my favorite.”

“When are you going to get your own?” Riley groused as he finished getting naked.

“Too late now,” Elizabeth replied. “Now shut up and fuck for me.”

Riley sighed. “Yes, mistress.”

Jack hopped in bed with her and got up against her. Riley didn’t bother with pretense, just like last time. She immediately kissed him on the mouth, grabbed one of his hands, and brought it up to one of her immense orange breasts. He groped it, squeezing and massaging it, not even able to get it in his grasp. Fuck, she had such huge tits! He couldn’t get over it. Every time he saw them again he was amazed by how massive they were.

As he groped and made out with her, he saw Elizabeth grab a seat and plant it not far from the bed. She seemed intent on watching them for the moment, the toy held loosely in one large hand. Riley moaned as she pushed herself against him, rubbing all her hot, orange skin against his own, her lips to his, her tongue to his. She slipped it smoothly and easily into his mouth, twisting and twining it with his own, dancing the dance of lust and desire.

Jack made out with her as his hand drifted down the length of her wonderfully voluptuous body. He settled it in between her tremendously thick thighs and she spread them for him. He began to pleasure her, his fingertip seeking and finding her clit, and she broke from the kiss, letting out a loud moan as he started to massage it slowly.

“Oh yeah...” she moaned. “That’s...just-perfect!” she cried.

He kissed her again, then lowered himself as he kept pleasuring her. There was something that he just had to do this time around. Jack licked across one of her huge breasts, dragging his tongue all over it, and then across her nipple several times.

“None of us can resist doing that,” Elizabeth murmured.

He looked over at her again. She was watching them intently and now her hand was down her pants. He saw the shape of her fingers moving against the cloth as she slowly began to stimulate herself. A powerful thrill of excited lust jolted through him. He’d been watched while having sex before, though not often, and he wasn’t sure any of the women watching him fuck had ever actively been masturbating.

It was an intoxicating effect.

He began sucking on Riley’s huge breast, taking her nipple into his mouth, as he slipped two fingers inside of her. She let out a loud squeal of pleasure and bucked her considerable hips. Fuck, this woman was so sensitive. He kept fingering her as he sucked on her tits, absolutely enamored with her luxuriously curvaceous body and her exotic alien allure. Within two minutes, he had her coming. She let out a long cry of bliss as her hips bucked again and a hot spray of sex juices escaped her pussy around his fingers.

Jack kept finger fucking her as she orgasmed until she was spent.

Panting, she gasped, “Fuck me. Now!”

He couldn’t say no to that. She opened her legs wider as he took his fingers out of her and then got in between those fantastic thighs. He was as hard as tempered steel and throbbing in anticipation of getting back into that sweet alien pussy.

Jack laid his head against her incredibly wet opening and began to push his way in. Riley let out a long, satisfied moan, spreading her legs out wider. He pushed his way deeper into her, working his cock into her perfect pussy. There was an incredible wetness and a shocking heat. And oh how wonderfully slick and tight she was inside. He moaned loudly as a wave of bliss rolled over him once he got all the way inside of her.

“Oh, Riley!” he cried.

“Mmm...yes, you love that pussy,” she moaned, wrapping her legs around his midsection.

“Yes-I-do!” he grunted, thrusting deep and hard into her with each word spoken, making her cry out in pure pleasure.

He began stroking into her hard and fast, shoving himself into her again and again, and the pleasure that came was a tidal wave.

It was absolute, pure ecstasy.

He heard Elizabeth moan. He glanced over at her. She was settled a bit more into the chair, her legs spread out wider, and he could hear the humming buzz of the toy she was working her pussy with, holding it against her clit. She shuddered and moaned.

“Wow, that is so hot,” Riley murmured.

Elizabeth opened her eyes and stared directly at him. “Don’t-don’t stop,” she gasped.

“Okay,” Jack replied, and returned his attention to Riley, although damn, now he was really thinking about doing this to Elizabeth.

Fucking that hot, mature, ex-Marine pussy…

He groaned, trying to get hold of himself. He couldn’t come yet. Jack started to slow down a little but Riley grabbed him.

“Uh-uh, young man...don’t you dare let up,” she murmured, grinning up at him, her red eyes seeming to flare with sexual desire.

“I’m gonna bust...” he moaned.

“Then bust,” she said. “I want it in my pussy.”

“Wait, not yet...keep going...just a bit longer...” Elizabeth moaned.

“Fuck...” Jack groaned and kept pounding Riley’s pussy.

He held on for as long as he could and managed to make it another minute, but even that was difficult as hell. He was honestly getting embarrassed that he could barely last more than five minutes at a stretch sometimes. One of his sessions with Anya last night had been a good half hour, so he knew he was definitely still capable of lengthier sessions, but these women were all so fucking hot and their raw pussies were so fucking good, and they all seemed to take a perverse pleasure in forcing him to let off as fast as possible…

“AH!”

Both he and Elizabeth cried out at the same time and he moaned in pure rapturous release as he started letting off in Riley’s pussy. Simultaneously, he listened to Elizabeth let out a strained litany of incoherent sounds as she twitched and spasmed in the chair.

“Oh Riley! Oh fuck, Riley!” he moaned.

He was shooting his load into her and she had her legs spread out wide, feet stuck up in the air. He was propping himself up on his hands, staring down at her huge orange tits and her beautiful face and her seductive body as he just absolutely pumped her alien pussy with his human seed. He filled her up completely, blowing such a huge load into her.

When he was finished, he collapsed against her, gasping for breath, trembling from the intensity of the orgasm.

“Mmm...very nice,” Riley whispered in his ear.

“Yeah, that was a good one,” Elizabeth said. He looked over at her. Her shorts were stained. She looked down at herself as she pulled her hand out of her pants, then looked away. Getting up, she stepped into the bathroom, placed the toy on the counter, then came back out. “I’m going to go take a shower,” she said.

“Elizabeth,” Riley said, her voice calm and happy.

“Yeah?” she replied, hesitating on her way to the door.

“I know he loves my pussy, but trust me, he’ll love yours so much more. That orgasm was for you,” she murmured.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Was it?” Jack asked.

“Yes. I could tell. The way you clenched up when you looked at her, all the telltales were there, you were thinking about her at the end there...”

“I, uh, I didn’t mean-”

“Oh it’s okay, I’m not mad,” Riley said. “Come on, I told you, I’m confident. And I get it, Elizabeth is a powerfully attractive woman. But as for you loving her pussy more...call it intuition. I’ve already seen the two of you together a few times, you’ve got that kinetic energy. The way you look at each other, the way you talk to each other...you’re going to have so much fun, you two.”

“Well...I hope you’re right. Jack, I’ll talk to you later. Thanks for the date, it was fantastic,” she said, then stepped out.

“You really think so?” he asked after she was gone.

“Yes, of course, I don’t lie. Don’t really see much point in it,” Riley replied. “Don’t worry, things are going to get great between you and Elizabeth. I think you’re the man she’s been waiting for for a very long time.”

“Really? Jeez, that’s...”

“A big responsibility?”

“I mean, yeah.”

“Well, I doubt she’ll ask you to marry her but she might not be adverse to sticking around you for awhile.” Riley shrugged. “Or maybe I’m wrong and she’s happy as she is now.”

“I guess we’ll find out,” Jack replied after a bit.

“Let’s go do it in the shower, I’m still horny,” Riley said.

“Same,” he replied, and got off of her.

CHAPTER 08

Someone was hitting his door buzzer.

Jack came awake out of a sound sleep into almost total darkness. “What?” he called blearily, trying to piece together what the fuck was going on.

The door suddenly opened up. He cried out as the light from the main corridor blinded him. “I’m sorry, but I need you up and dressed, Jack.” It was Maureen. She sounded grave.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, sitting up, squinting, holding his hand in front of him.

“What is it?” Sylvia asked with an immediate alertness beside him.

“We’ve picked up a distress call. Be on the bridge as soon as you can, both of you.”

She closed the door.

“Fuck,” Jack muttered as he threw the blankets back. At least he was used to rapid response at this point in his life.

“Yep,” Sylvia muttered, getting out of bed after him.

The two of them quickly went about getting ready. Jack splashed some water on his face in the bathroom a few times, dried it off, then returned and began pulling on fresh clothes. Sylvia disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. As soon as he had his boxers and pants on, he staggered over to the wall and flipped the lights on. Wincing at the flood of bright light, he went about finishing getting dressed.

It had been another really good night, before this had happened.

He’d had sex in the shower with Riley, then they’d just kind of chilled out for awhile, as he was still kind of coming down from the intensity of the situation aboard the supposedly derelict space station. Eventually, Sylvia had come to claim him and they’d fucked, showered, and then got to know each other a bit better until finally they were both tired enough to sleep. The last thing he remembered was Sylvia riding his cock until she’d made him come, and then he’d drifted off shortly following that wonderful orgasm.

He’d had dreams about Elizabeth and fucking her brains out.

Sylvia emerged as he finished getting his clothes on.

“Go on, I’ll be along shortly,” she said.

He nodded and slipped out of his room, into the main hallway, where he almost bumped in Anya. She looked a little anxious, which made him a little anxious. He tried to keep his stomach calm and his head level as he headed for the bridge. As he got into the room, he could see that Riley was already at her station, and Maureen, Lyra, and Elizabeth were standing behind her.

“What’s happening?” Anya asked. “You said a distress call?”

“Yes,” Maureen murmured. “From that cruiser.”

Jack looked past the women, out the front windows, and saw what she meant. It was a large, dark spaceship, blotting out the stars.

“Looks like a cargo freighter,” he murmured.

“That’s what it seems to be,” Maureen said. “Riley?”

“Scans are still going,” she replied.

“Is anyone responding to the hail yet?”

“Lemme try again.” She grabbed the radio and brought it to her lips. “This is the private vessel Parallax to cruiser Star Jumper, we have picked up your distress call and are responding. Can you please verify contact?” She waited, they all did.

Nothing happened. There was no reply.

“Scans are back,” she said, leaning forward as something chimed. “I’m showing some life signs, nowhere near what they should be for a cruiser that size. There’s maybe a dozen people, and a few of them look to be in critical condition.”

“Shit,” Elizabeth muttered.

“Okay, reactors? How are they?”

“Stable,” Riley replied.

“Atmosphere?”

“Stable and breathable. Temperature is within tolerance. Gravity looks to be working. But...” she hesitated.

“But what?” Elizabeth pressed.

“I’m not sure. I’m getting some kind of interference on the scanners. Usually when that happens, it’s because there’s some kind of lifeform onboard that the scanners aren’t familiar with,” Riley explained.

Elizabeth came forward, leaning over her. “Let me see,” she murmured, studying the readouts. Jack felt a chill settle over him as he stared at the cruiser. “Shit, she’s right,” Elizabeth said, straightening up. She turned to regard them with a steely gaze. “That’s fairly similar to some of the scans I saw whenever some kind of bug or mutant or monster had gotten onto a ship and taken it over,” she explained.

“What do we do?” Jack asked.

“I’m...not sure,” Maureen replied, for once looking actually uncertain. “We should put out a call for assistance-”

“Maureen, we need to help those people,” Elizabeth said, cutting her off.

“We aren’t equipped for something like this,” she replied.

“Maureen, if we don’t act, a dozen people die. We have to try,” Elizabeth said firmly.

Maureen looked between them all, then sighed softly. “Fine, you’re right.” She looked at Jack. “Will you-”

“Yes,” he replied. He might not understand why he didn’t want to be a Marine anymore, but he sure as hell understood that he still wanted to help people.

“Okay. You two, suit up. We can break out the guns,” she said.

“I’m coming, too,” Lyra said.

“Lyra, it’s too dangerous-” Maureen began, but Lyra cut her off.

“I’ve had combat training and they’re going to need help.”

“She’s right,” Elizabeth said. “We’re not docking, it’s too dangerous. We’re going to do it like before: get in through an exterior airlock. Jack, Lyra, come with me. Riley, get us within a hundred meters of an airlock closest to the group of people. Keep running scans, keep trying to get in touch with someone. Understood?”

“Yep,” Riley replied.

“Sylvia,” Elizabeth said, looking at the doctor, who had arrived shortly after Jack. “Get the medical bay ready, expect casualties.”

“On it. Anya, help me,” Sylvia said, and the two women headed off.

Jack followed after Elizabeth and Lyra as they marched off the bridge, and Maureen followed after him. They walked until they reached one of the storage bays. Something occurred to Jack as Elizabeth opened the door.

“I need to get my sidearm,” he said.

“Do it, then get back here pronto,” she replied.

He nodded and hurried off back towards his room. Once he got there, he dug the weapon out of his nightstand, checked it over, loaded it, and then attached it in its holster to his belt. He pocketed the remaining spare magazine, then hurried to join the others. As he came back to the storage bay where they had dozens upon dozens of crates stacked, he saw Elizabeth in the process of prying one of them open after getting it down off a shelf.

“Jack, help Lyra with this next one,” she said.

Lyra was already trying to get another crate, a long, silver rectangle that looked big enough to hold a person, off the shelf. He hurried over and helped her get it down, then another one. He noticed Maureen getting other, smaller cases down off other shelves. Gun cases, he realized as she opened one up and he spied a short-barreled assault rifle inside.

“So glad I insisted on this,” Elizabeth said as she got her crate open. Jack joined her and looked down into it.

There was a large full suit of body armor inside, armor that could be worn in space. Like their EVA suits but clearly meant for combat. They could take some damage. Which was exactly what they were going to need.

“Don’t worry, Jack. I got one for you. That’s why Maureen insisted on your measurements during the ‘interview’,” Elizabeth said as he marveled over it.

“Awesome. Thanks. It must’ve been expensive...”

“Expensive, but worth it. Go put yours on.”

As he moved over to one of the other metal crates, he saw Lyra in the process of getting out her own suit of armor. Well, this was definitely going to be interesting. As he began getting the armor on, he thought it might be possible that this could be some sort of false alarm, but it seemed pretty unlikely. Elizabeth was dead set on this, and she seemed like the kind of person with great instincts. Jack made himself slow down and be careful as he pulled on his armor. They were going into space, there really wasn’t room for fuck-ups.

As soon as he was done, Lyra checked him over, and the suit had its own internal database, so it could check itself as well. Lyra gave him the thumbs up, and he checked her while his suit ran its own sweep. Once all that came back positive, they made sure Elizabeth was secure, and when that was finished, they began gathering weapons. Jack reattached his pistol to his new suit and slipped the spare magazine into its pocket, then went looking for more.

“What kind of ammo does your pistol take?” Elizabeth asked as she checked over a long-barreled assault rifle.

“Ten millimeter,” he replied.

“There’s some over there,” she said, pointing.

Jack scooped up the short-barreled assault rifle he’d seen earlier, as its chopped-down, sleek model appealed to him. He’d worked with this kind of weapon before and liked its versatility and stopping power. He gathered up several magazines of ammo, half a dozen for his pistol, a dozen for his rifle, and also a combat knife, just in case. They listened to Maureen checking in with Riley every few minutes as they geared up, and by the time they were actually ready to do this, nothing had changed. Elizabeth had everyone patch into the same channel.

“Riley, where are the life signs located?” she asked as they headed for the nearest airlock.

“All in the same place...wait, except for two of them. Two are off by themselves. The two are near the engines, the rest are towards the front of the ship, probably in...I don’t know, an infirmary maybe? Or a galley? Either way, it’s not super dissimilar from our own layout, I think. There’s one big central corridor that leads through most of the ship, right down the middle, though it gets to be more of a pain near the back,” Riley explained.

“Okay, get us to the airlock that puts us closest to the bigger group,” Elizabeth replied.

“Best I can do is fifty meters,” she replied.

“Do it.”

“Almost there.”

“Both of you ready?” Elizabeth asked as they came to stand before the main airlock in the central passageway.

“Ready,” Jack said.

“Yep,” Lyra replied.

“Okay. Stay close to me, do exactly as I say, and watch your asses. Jack, you’re covering our six, got it?”

“Check,” he replied.

“Good. I’m counting on the two of you. Now come on.”

They all filed into the airlock.

“Good luck, and please, for the love of God, be careful,” Maureen said before closing the door.

“We will,” Elizabeth replied.

Then they were locked inside the airlock and it was evacuating the atmosphere. The silence soon again became absolute, save for the open radio link. Jack looked down at his rifle again. Although it had been only weeks since he’d seriously held a weapon, and a few months since he’d held one going into a combat situation, it felt like years in some ways. In others, it was like coming home. There was an instant familiarity and even a comfort to settling a gun into his grasp, even with gloves on. Although he’d never really let the power trip of holding a gun get to him, there admittedly was nothing he’d rather have on him when facing alien monsters.

He thought about the dark side of the galaxy, the dangerous side, as the exterior door opened up and the three of them floated out, searching for a way in.

Although humanity had been lucky so far and all the sentient alien races they’d run into had been, if not friendly then at least neutral. Obviously there were going to be assholes that raided convoys and attacked distant, isolated colonies. Even if some of those attacks were racially motivated, none of the species they’d found so far were united against any of the other species. But the non-sentient species? The hundreds, even thousands of different kinds of animals, bugs, and even plants that populated the thousands of explored planets in the galaxy?

That was an entirely different thing.

Some could be totally harmless.

Some could be actively helpful.

Some could be accidentally harmful, carrying some exotic disease with them.

But there were some that were outright hostile and lethal. Bugs, parasites, mutants, monsters. Creatures with claws and giant teeth and tentacles and pincers that spat acid or attacked from the shadows or caught you so they could lay eggs in you. There were dozens upon dozens of documented threats out there, and some of them found their way onto spaceships or space stations, and although they had ways to deal with them, usually, sometimes something like this happened and a ship turned into a slaughterhouse.

Jack was hoping fervently that it wasn’t dangerous, that it was something else. He’d never really fought mutant bugs, or slimy tentacle monsters, or whatever the fuck might be onboard. He prepared himself for the worst though, or tried to. He had to admit, when he’d signed up for this, he had known that a combat situation was possible, perhaps even likely, but he didn’t think he’d be getting into one before getting to the actual planet.

“Okay, there’s the airlock. Lyra, get on it,” Elizabeth said.

Lyra silently floated forward. “Jack, hold my toolkit.”

“On it,” he replied, joining her.

She passed him her large kit and he opened it up and held it, planting himself on the side of the hull with his magnetic boots. A minute went by as she worked, trying to override the airlock. Another minute went by as she pulled out new tools, taking off a control panel and digging into the wiring and circuitry inside.

“How’s it going?” Maureen asked over the radio.

“Lyra’s getting us in now. Any change?” Elizabeth replied.

“No. Nothing.”

“Got it,” Lyra said. “Ready to open.”

“I’m ready,” Elizabeth replied, aiming her rifle at the airlock door. It opened up. Nothing happened. She jetted forward, hovering inside. “Clear,” she reported. “Stay here, I’m going through first.”

The door closed and it went through its cycle.

“Okay, inner door is opening,” she reported. Jack listened intently as she continued. “Oh shit,” she said, tension in her voice, “whatever it is, it’s bad. There’s blood here, on the walls, even some on the ceiling of the receiving bay. Jack, Lyra, get in here.”

“Coming,” Lyra said.

She finished replacing her tools and accepted the kit from Jack. Snapping it shut, she replaced it on her belt and they headed inside. The airlock pushed atmosphere in and the inner door opened. Jack felt his heart skip a beat as he saw what she’d reported. Blood, a lot of blood. Well, definitely a really bad sign.

“Come on,” Elizabeth said, heading for the only door in the room.

They followed after her, Lyra staying in between her and Jack. She got to the door and opened it up. “More blood, a few bodies,” she reported. “Lots of bullet holes. Someone was definitely shooting up a storm in here.”

“Any indication of hostile forces?” Maureen asked.

Elizabeth stepped carefully out into the way beyond, which turned out to be a short alcove that led into a much larger passageway. The corridor that cut through the center of the ship. “Not yet,” she reported, moving up to the edge of the alcove, where it met the main corridor. She paused. “Wait...ah shit, yeah. Got a bug corpse here.”

Jack and Lyra moved up behind her. He studied the thing as Elizabeth described it to Maureen. It looked sort of like a giant beetle, a thing with a shiny greenish shell, six pointy legs, and a big, angular head with bugged out red eyes and huge mandibles that looked like they could sheer through metal. The thing had to be two feet long. Someone had shot it up pretty good and the blood that poured out of it was pale purple.

“Any helpful hints?” Elizabeth asked after describing the creature.

“Wait one,” Maureen replied. A few seconds passed, drawn out tortuously in the bloody environment. “We’ve got it. Oh dear. They’re called Hexes or Hex Beetles. They spit acid and their mandibles can snap through an arm like its nothing.”

“Oh fucking great,” Elizabeth muttered.

“And they come in large numbers. They gather the dead as food for their young, and they take three days to lay and hatch a new batch of themselves.”

“Oh come on,” Jack said.

“However, they’re not all that hard to deal with...theoretically. Most ships come with a batch of the proper aerosolized chemical compound necessary to kill them off. All you need to do is put it into the air system and filter it throughout the entire ship, save for a single space for the crew, obviously,” Maureen explained.

“All right then, that’s what we’re going to do. First, we’re getting to the large group. They’ll be able to tell us the situation,” Elizabeth said. “Come on. Riley, you have my position?”

“Yeah. Scanners are locked onto you. Head about forty meters down that main corridor, towards the bridge, to the left of where you are now. The door you want is on the right. I’ll tell you when you’re close,” Riley replied.

“On it. Jack, Lyra, keep it tight, laser focus.”

They both snapped off replies and readied their weapons. Elizabeth led the way, slipping out into the main corridor, stepping over a partially-melted dead body. Jack tried not to think about it as he followed Lyra. He’d seen enough dead people in his time, and people killed in brutal ways. He still had nightmares about it and he doubted it’d ever stop fucking with him, but he’d at least gotten to the point that he could keep his cool on a mission.

The trio moved down the main passageway. It did indeed remind Jack of a slaughterhouse. There was a lot of blood. Deep red mixed with pale purple. It was sprayed onto the walls, where it stood out in particularly stark contrast, given most of the walls were made of white enamel of some kind. There were bodies, easily a dozen, maybe even two dozen, strung out along the main stretch of corridor, which was ten feet across and fifteen feet high. And those were just human corpses, which had missing limbs or partially-melted torsos. There were at least the same number, if not more, of the Hex Beetles, all of them riddled with bullet holes.

Jack got the impression that this was a corporate ship. It certainly had a corporate feel. So some big interstellar shipping and handling corporation that shifted metric tons of equipment or refined minerals or vehicles or any of a thousand different things that planets needed to run across the unthinkably vast distances between solar systems. It was a booming business, and a dangerous one. Pretty much every ship that was corporate had a security detail, and if they were independent, well, then basically everyone onboard would be armed.

Had they killed all the bugs?

It didn’t seem possible. If they had, why weren’t they talking? Maybe their radio had been damaged, but if that was the case, why wasn’t someone fixing it? Why were they still all holed up in one location?

Questions to be answered soon, hopefully.

“We’re proceeding down the main corridor,” Elizabeth reported. “Still no signs of life. Just a lot of dead people and dead bugs.”

“You’re almost to the door you need to head through. There’s a hallway past the door, it looks like, and then I think the room you want is at the end of that hallway,” Riley replied.

“Understood.”

Scans weren’t super precise when it came to mapping out ships, especially if the ship was shielded, or if unknown life signs, like these Hex Beetles, were throwing them off. Jack checked behind them again and hesitated.

“Movement,” he said, spinning around and aiming his rifle. He’d just caught sight of something disappearing into a side passageway. Or maybe it had been his imagination.

“Where?” Elizabeth asked.

“Maybe forty five meters back, just beyond where we entered,” he replied.

They waited. Nothing happened. “What did it look like?” Lyra asked.

“Just caught a hint of movement, not sure if it was big or small,” he replied.

“Riley, any change on those life signs?” Elizabeth asked as they kept watching.

“No, they’re all in the same place.”

“It might have been a bug,” she muttered.

“Might have been my eyes playing tricks on me,” Jack replied.

“All right, we’re almost there, let’s keep going. Keep watch.”

“Understood.”

They continued along until they reached the door in question. Elizabeth opened it up and they proceeded through it. Jack shut it firmly behind them. There was indeed a hallway, what looked to be an area meant for the crew. The doors were labeled. A mess hall to the left, a gym and a rec lounge to the right, and an infirmary at the end.

“Looks like they’re holed up in an infirmary,” Elizabeth reported.

They moved down the corridor, which had also seen its fair share of combat, until they were at the door. There was an intercom next to the door. Elizabeth tried it, hitting the button. “Hello in there, can anyone hear me?”

A few seconds went by and suddenly a voice came through. “Who’s that?! Who’s there!?” Whoever it was, he sounded frantic, on the verge of panic.

“My name is Elizabeth Taylor, I’m an ex-Marine with a private ship that has responded to your distress call.”

“Oh thank fucking God!” the man replied, his voice shaky with relief. “Listen, we sent a few people off to flood the ship with the gas to kill the bugs, but we never heard back from them and we aren’t in good enough shape to send another team out. If you can do it, and find them, this nightmare will be over.”

“We can do it,” Elizabeth replied. “Walk me through it.”

“It should be relatively easy. You just need to get back to the atmospheric processing central unit, which is off the starboard side of the engine room, farthest back from the main entrance. There will be an emergency protocol for this. If you’ve got a technician on your team, it should be easy to implement.”

“We do.”

“Good! Okay...I’m not sure where the others might be, or even if they’re still alive.”

“Two of them are, according to our scanners. Don’t worry, we’ll find them and get this taken care of. Just make sure you stay secure in there.”

“We will. Thank you!”

She looked back at Jack and Lyra. “Are you two ready to do this?” she asked.

“Ready,” Jack replied.

“I’m ready,” Lyra agreed.

“Okay. Let’s save some people.”

They began retracing their steps, this time picking up the pace. Elizabeth hustled back down the corridor, coming to a halt as she reached the door and checking the main passageway beyond. Once it was clear, she stepped out and hurried off. Lyra went after her and Jack brought up the rear. The first few minutes went okay, as far as hurrying down a blood-splattered, body-strewn spaceship went. Nothing was attacking them, at least.

But then, as they got maybe five or so meters past where they had initially entered, roughly the halfway point in the main corridor, they saw movement. Elizabeth skidded to a halt and raised her rifle as one of the doors in the right wall opened up and a Hex Beetle scuttled on out. Either ignoring them or unaware of them, it went over to the nearest body and grabbed it in its mandibles, then began pulling it back towards the door it had come out of.

Jack and Lyra came to a halt as well, waiting. Elizabeth tracked it with her rifle but held fire. A good idea, Jack figured. The longer they could move undetected, the better. The Hex Beetle disappeared back into the door, then the body did. Jack felt a chill shift through him at seeing the corpse being slowly dragged away, leaving a bloody smear behind it. As the door closed, Elizabeth slowly lowered her rifle, then began heading off again, this time at a slower pace. The other two followed after her and Jack let a sigh of relief out.

Then a high-pitched squealing sound suddenly cut through the air.

“Fuck!” Elizabeth snapped, turning to face a broken-open vent grate in the wall to their left. Jack saw another Hex Beetle emerging from it.

She fired. The bullets split the thing’s head open and splattered the vent with its pale purple blood and dropped it in an instant. But it was like someone sounding the dinner bell or firing a pistol at the start of a race.

Several more shrieks sounded.

“Go!” Elizabeth yelled, and took off.

They all started running and gunning as the corridor came to awful life with the Hex Beetles. They came out of broken vent shafts and ruptured maintenance ducts and open doorways like a wave of ugly alien menace. Jack took aim and fired off a burst of bullets at one that was scuttling out of a vent. He punched holes into its carapace and splattered the vent with its pale purple gore. It dropped, the shrieking cutting off in an instant.

The bloodstained metal walls blurred past them as they hurried to get to the rear of the ship. Jack aimed and fired again as a Hex dropped out of the ceiling, nearly landing on him. He caught it midair and slammed it into the wall with the volley of bullets. One of the Hex Beetles came out in front of him and launched a gob of bubbling purple acid at him.

He cried out and ducked, then fired as he straightened back up, shooting it in the face and popping one of its big red bug-eyes. He emptied his rifle putting down half a dozen of them as they fled and reloaded mid-stride. After what felt like far too long, the trio made it to the end of the corridor. Jack turned and hosed down the tide of Hex Beetles that were coming at them now, and Elizabeth did the same, joining him as Lyra got the door open.

Several seconds later, he was down another magazine but a dozen Hexes were dead and several more were injured from his attack, and even more were down from Elizabeth’s own assault. But the carpet of Hex Beetles simply rolled over their wounded and dead, coming for them with high-pitched shrieks and clacking mandibles.

“Got it!” Lyra called.

They hurried through the door and she closed it behind them.

“Now what?!” Elizabeth snapped.

They were in a stairwell, on a broad landing, with stairs going up and down.

“Down, all the way! That’s how you get to the engines!” Riley replied over the radio.

“Where are the survivors?” Elizabeth asked as they raced down the broad stairs, their boots echoing, barely heard over the sounds of the oncoming Hex Beetles.

“In a room off the engine room, port side.”

“Okay. Jack, Lyra, you two are going for the atmosphere control room. Jack, watch Lyra’s back while she gets the process set up. Do not start it until I give you the signal. I’m going for the two survivors,” Elizabeth said.

“I can handle myself, Jack should go with you,” Lyra replied.

“No,” Elizabeth replied firmly. “The most important thing is that the process gets started, and I can handle myself. Do you understand me?”

“Yeah,” he replied.

“Yes,” Lyra said after a few seconds.

“I’ll be fine.”

They came to the bottom of the stairwell and moved up to the main door. It was open, and as they approached it, they slowed.

The corridor up above had not been a slaughterhouse, the engine room was the slaughterhouse. There were a few dozen corpses inside, spread out around clusters of small, spherical green eggs. A pale green mist clung to the floor. Several Hex Beetles scuttled back and forth between the clusters of eggs and piles of corpses.

“Fuck,” Elizabeth whispered. She raised her rifle. “We can do this, okay? We just need to be fast and focused. Look.” She pointed and they followed her finger. He saw what she was pointing at: a heat sync. They were unstable enough, typically, that if you shot one of them they’d blow. Nothing exactly devastating, they usually wouldn’t blow a hole in the hull, but it would be enough to do some damage. “I’m going to blow it, cause a distraction, then cause further distraction by heading in there and shooting the place up, making my way for the people. Once the bugs are on me, you two get to the atmospheric processor and get to work.”

“I...all right,” Jack replied. He didn’t like this plan, but there were a lot of the damned bugs in there. “Don’t fucking die.”

She laughed. “Well, I’ll sure try not to. Be ready.”

“Good luck,” Lyra said.

“You too.”

She walked forward, aimed her rifle, and fired off a volley. The corporation would probably be pissed about the heat sync, but they shouldn’t have let this happen in the first place. The machinery blew in a brilliant red fireball that immediately fried a dozen nearby Hex Beetles and twice that number of eggs from clusters surrounding it. Immediately a great shrieking sound went up from all the others. Elizabeth continued firing.

“Come and get me!” she shouted, emptying the magazine, reloading, and then taking off towards the left side of the bay.

Jack and Lyra waited, fighting the urge to open fire on the groups of Beetles moving after Elizabeth. They’d just have to hope this worked. As she headed off deeper into the engine room and the majority of the Beetles went after her, Jack and Lyra slipped off. They stuck to the wall, going as fast as they could while still maintaining some semblance of stealth. It wasn’t easy, as they occasionally came over eggs or body parts, and the mist that clung to the floor obscured everything. By the time they’d reached the corner and began moving along the next wall, Jack had almost tripped twice. But Elizabeth’s plan seemed to be working.

She was still firing away, though she seemed to have backed herself into a corner. Where were the survivors? Surely they had to hear all this commotion? Sure enough, even as he thought it, one of the doors along the far wall near Elizabeth suddenly opened up and someone in a suit of combat armor appeared with a shotgun. They immediately began blasting away at the bugs, backing Elizabeth up, and she started heading for them.

Well, that was out of the way, now all they had to do was safely get to their destination. It looked like they were going to be able to do just that.

Until a clutch of Hex Beetles began streaming out of a nearby open doorway.

“Shit,” Jack snapped as they immediately caught sight of him and Lyra and started coming for them, hawking gobs of acid. He leveled the rifle at them and began hosing them down with bullets. Lyra opened up as well with the submachine gun she’d been packing. They blasted through a whole magazine apiece, sending red hot metal death smashing into the horde of bugs and splattering their purple gore across the deck and breaking their bodies into bits. Jack narrowly avoided a few of the gobs of acid as he hastily reloaded.

They wiped out the immediate batch and then began sprinting, kicking their way through the ugly slush of dead bodies and alien blood they’d just made, closing the gap between themselves and the door they desperately had to get through. Jack reached it first, opened it up, and looked inside. The room was small and pretty much untouched by the conflict so far. He motioned for Lyra to get in and opened fire on more of the bugs that were coming their way. He shot a leg off of one, popped the eyeball of another, punched a nasty hole through the head of a third, and gutted two more before his assault rifle ran dry again.

That was good enough for now. He hurried back into the room and closed the door. Lyra was already at the main console, her gun set aside for the moment as her fingers flew over the keyboard. She stared at the screen with an intense focus.

Jack aimed his weapon at the door as it thudded and he had a flashback to the damned guard bot. Surely they couldn’t get through the door, right? They weren’t that strong? Suddenly, he heard something slam against the exterior of the door, only...no, not slam, splat. The sound repeated several times and his heart sank as he realized what he was hearing.

“They’re burning through the door,” he said.

“I’m close to finishing the preemptive process,” Lyra replied, her voice flat and calm.

“Elizabeth, are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah!” she replied after a moment. “Got inside, but now they actually know where we are. The two survivors are here, one is wounded. Luckily there’s some EVA suits in storage here. I’m getting them in now as fast as I can. Apparently the survivors tried to do what we’re doing, but got overwhelmed and fled. They managed to throw the bugs off their scent, although now that’s out the window, because at this point they’re burning through our fucking door as well. How’s it looking on your end?”

“They’re getting through the door, but Lyra’s handling the process,” Jack replied.

“I have just sealed the infirmary off,” she reported. “The purge will not hit it. But I cannot seal off these rooms, not quickly, at least.”

“It’s fine, we’ll have suits. Just make sure your suits are sealed, okay? I’ll let you know when we’re ready. Lyra, get to the point where you just have to push a button to engage and then wait, got it?” she asked.

“Got it,” Lyra replied.

“We don’t have long,” Jack said.

“I know, I just need another minute, this fucking suit!”

Jack’s heart hammered away in his chest as he covered the door. Lyra continued working behind him without saying a word. More thuds were hitting the door and he could hear the sizzle, hiss, and pop of the acid eating through the material. Fucking great. Seconds passed, and then right around the minute mark he actually began to see the material start to smoke and buckle.

“Elizabeth...”

“I know, I know! Hold on!”

Another few seconds passed and Jack tightened his grip on his rifle. There had to be a dozen, maybe two dozen out there. He didn’t know if he could hold them off.

“Go!” Elizabeth screamed suddenly.

Lyra didn’t ask for confirmation, she simply hit the final button and executed the command. Immediately, a great hum sounded and then a vast hissing noise filled the area. A thin white mist began to pour in through the vents.

Within seconds, he heard shrieking and screeching, a lot of it. Like every single bug onboard was screaming its head off. Honestly, he felt bad for them, even after all that had happened. Hopefully their deaths would be quick. Although those two thoughts quickly went out the window as the door finally collapsed under their acidic assault and he caught sight of several of the Hex Beetles barging into the room. He called a warning to Lyra and opened fire. The gun roared in his grasp and he tried to put them down as quickly as he could.

Fuck! Fuck! They were so close!

He shot up the first two that came inside, spraying their alien innards across the metal walls and floor, readjusted his aim and put three rounds through the head of a third creature as it came in, detonating it and sending its brains everywhere. He cried out and narrowly dodged as another gob of acid flew in, then took aim again and fired off another burst of bullets. Another two of the bugs went down in sprays of purple blood.

How many were there?!

Already, he could see the chemical compound taking effect. The things were slowing down, getting sluggish, and it was actually eating into them. It turned his stomach. He kept up his fire, going through another magazine. As he went to reload, one of them suddenly rushed the room in a blur of motion and surprising burst of strength.

“Shit!” he screamed as it leaped at him. He cried out as he felt one of its mandibles tear through his suit and cleave out a chunk of his leg.

“Jack!? What’s wrong!?” Elizabeth asked, hearing him over the radio.

“One of them bit me! Fuck! My suit’s compromised!” he yelled, panic immediately setting in. Already he caught a whiff of the acrid stench of the gas. It was awful and he started coughing. Lyra killed the one that had got him and he took aim as even more struggled into the room.

“Don’t worry, I can patch it,” she said.

“Do it!” he gasped, then coughed more raggedly. As he kept firing, struggling to focus, his eyes watering, his chest quickly began to hurt. His lungs felt like they were on fire. He kept coughing and gasping, the effect getting worse. He could feel Lyra working.

“Okay, I’ve patched it. Jack, you need to activate the vent protocol in your suit,” she said, standing back up.

Jack finished off another magazine and struggled to reload, coughing so bad he could barely stand up straight. “The-what-” he managed.

The magazine fell from his hands, clattering to the floor.

“Jack! Lyra, what’s happening!?” Riley demanded. Her voice was faint in his helmet as his vision began to go swimmy.

“Can’t...breathe...” he gasped.

Darkness was beginning to gather at the edges of his vision. He didn’t see anymore bugs, at least, and Lyra and Elizabeth were okay.

And they’d helped those people.

He fell to his knees. The rifle fell from his grasp. His fingers were going numb. His chest was on fire. Lyra and Elizabeth were both saying something to him, and Lyra was grabbing his hand. He couldn’t breathe at all now.

He thought the panic would consume him, but he was oddly calm as he fell onto his side.

The last thing he saw was Lyra, working on something attached to his wrist. She said something to him, but he couldn’t make it out.

And then the darkness swallowed him whole.

CHAPTER 09

The first thing he heard as he regained consciousness was a steady beeping sound.

It was oddly comforting, though he didn’t know why, not at first. Jack opened his eyes. He stared up at a bland white-tiled ceiling.

Where the fuck was he?

There was a lot of confusion in his head, and pain his body, but it all felt a bit distant. He was very hazy.

Finally, it occurred to him why that beeping sound was so soothing. It was a pulse monitor, and his pulse was steady. That was good.

“Oh shit, you’re awake.” A familiar voice. Sylvia stepped up beside him and he smiled. She smiled back to him. “Well, that was the reaction I was hoping for. It’s good to see you too, Jack. How are you doing?”

“Hurt. Tired. Thirsty,” he managed.

“All very expected,” she said. “Hold on, I’ll get you some water.” She disappeared and came back after a moment with a bottle that had a straw stuck in it. She held it while he drank from it. His throat hurt a fucking lot.

“How long?” he asked.

“You’ve been out for almost twelve hours, Jack,” Sylvia replied.

“Great,” he muttered, then coughed weakly. “Fuck...everything hurts...my chest...”

“I know,” she said, laying her hand over the back of his own. “It’s okay, though. I’ve given you some morphine, you’re going to be fine.”

“What happened?”

“Well, your plan worked. All the bugs are dead. All the remaining crew are alive and stable. After you passed out, Lyra watched over you until Elizabeth came to get you. She picked you up and started hauling your ass back to the Parallax. Got you here pronto. I got to work on you, stabilized you, and then had Anya watch over you while I went to help the other people. It was bad, but all of them are going to pull through. We saved twelve lives. And you were a very big part of that. It was very brave, listening to you over the radio...and sexy.”

He laughed weakly. “I never turn down an opportunity to be sexy.”

She grinned. “We’re back on our way, just so you know. After I got everyone stabilized and we did another sweep to make sure there were no bugs left-”

“How? We can’t scan for them,” he rasped.

“We couldn’t at first, but after a few adjustments we made after learning what they actually are and how to look for them, Lyra got it figured out. She’s sharp. Their ship is clear, our ship is clear. We’re all in the clear. Apparently the bugs got in on some cargo they picked up, managed to get out and start breeding in the ducts. They think that either some faulty sensors or, as that seems a little unlikely, some kind of corporate espionage was what caused them to go undetected for so long, until it was too late,” Sylvia explained.

“Fuck,” Jack muttered. It was getting a little easier to think, but not much. Everything felt sluggish and hazy.

“Indeed. But yes, everything worked out.”

“Lyra and Elizabeth, they’re okay?” he asked.

She smiled. “They’re fine, Jack. They didn’t get injured during the whole thing. God, Elizabeth was flipping her shit over you. I had to kick her out at one point because she was getting in my way. I’ve never seen that girl actually panic...she likes you.”

“I like her,” he replied.

“I can tell. Now listen, we’re still a little ways off from Valena Three, and although you’re going to be fine, you need rest. I’ve got healing agents in your bloodstream right now, and in your lungs. That gas was toxic and did quite a number, but you should be back up to snuff by the time we actually arrive at the planet. You need your rest, though.”

“Fine by me, I feel like shit,” he muttered.

“Now, I can give you some more morphine to knock you back out, but before that, if you’d like...I could totally suck your dick. An orgasm is a great painkiller, you know...”

He laughed softly. “Yes, please. I want that so bad right now.”

“Mmm, good,” she said, and pulled back the blanket. All he had on, he realized, were his boxer shorts and nothing else. She pulled his cock out and as she leaned down she said, “And when you’re ready to move back to your room, I think you’ve earned a threesome with me and Riley.”

“Oh fucking hell yes,” he replied.

“Thought that’d cheer you up.”

He groaned as his cock became enveloped in her hot, wet mouth and she began to suck him off. The pleasure started to ebb into him, nice and easy, as her lips slipped up over his head repeatedly with a calming speed. He quickly finished getting erect as he stared at her.

“Fuck, I’ve always wanted a hot doctor to suck me off in a hospital,” he muttered.

She let out a muffled laugh and took his cock slowly all the way into her mouth, until the head was poking the back of her throat, just like the first time. He groaned loudly at the explosion of pleasure that hit as she deep-throated him and swallowed.

“Ah, Sylvia!” he cried.

She swallowed again, and again, and the hot pulses of pure bliss that shot through him were consuming in their intensity. He grunted and let out a loud, low moan as he began to shoot his load. Sylvia moaned with him as she kept on swallowing, keeping his cock stuck down her tight throat. God did he fucking love that about her!

Riley sucked truly amazing dick, but Sylvia deep-throated like a fucking whore and it felt beyond good.

He moaned incoherently as the rapturous ecstasy rolled through him, briefly washing away all the pain and aches and awful sensations in his body.

Jack busted a huge nut down her throat, and the mature pale blonde doctor swallowed every last drop he had to offer.

When he was finished, she slowly pulled his cock from her mouth, then gently replaced it in his boxers and pulled the blanket back over him.

She smiled down at him, looking like an angel, and gently patted his bicep. “Go to sleep, Jack. There’ll be pussy waiting for you when you wake back up.”

She leaned over and pushed something, and he quickly began to lose consciousness as the morphine hit his system.

…

The next time Jack woke up, he was feeling a hell of a lot better, and clearer.

He opened his eyes and, after a second, raised his head and looked around. He was alone in the infirmary. How long had it been this time? He had no idea. Slowly, he pulled the blanket back and studied his body. He was losing his tan, he realized, though that probably would stop once they got to the planet and he spent some more time outdoors. There was just one bandage on his body, clamped tightly over his leg, near the bottom of his right calf, where the damned bug had taken a chunk out of him.

He didn’t even want to look at it.

Otherwise, he looked fine, and he felt...not good, exactly. But not bad. His lungs still hurt faintly, as did his throat, and he felt weak. Looking down, he could see the faint mark where an IV had gone in at the crook of his elbow. There wasn’t even a bandage over it, so it must have come out of him some hours ago.

Slowly, carefully, he sat up, in case a wave of dizziness hit him, or some new pain assaulted him. It hurt a little to move, but not much. Putting his feet down on the cold metal floor, he looked around, wanting to get some clothes on. It was chilly in the infirmary. He wanted to see the women. It was amazing to him how, even after only a few days, he was already so comfortable around them, so eager to go to them for comfort. Not just sexual, but emotional. There was a connection there, stronger in some, but already present with all six of them, he could tell. That was rare, but extremely welcome. It had been far too long since he’d really connected with anyone.

As he stood there, looking for clothes, his head still a little cloudy, the door opened. The broad, tall form of Elizabeth stepped in.

“Jack, you shouldn’t be out of bed,” she said, sounding somehow both annoyed and relieved. And maybe a little guilty. Why guilty?

Before he could respond, she crossed the room and hugged him. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“...for what?” he replied, hugging her back.

“For the pain you had to go through.”

“Elizabeth, it’s not your fault.”

“It is, if I’d gotten that fucking EVA suit onto that injured crewman faster, Lyra could’ve hit the purge sooner and that bug wouldn’t have gotten you.”

“Elizabeth,” he said, disengaging from her and staring up into her green eyes, “I have no doubt that you did your best, okay? I knew the risks when I went onto that ship. You did, too. That really hurt, don’t get me wrong, but I’m fine now. Honestly, it barely even hurts anymore. Well...” He looked down. His leg was actually starting to bug him now that he was standing.

“Sit down,” Elizabeth said.

He relented, sitting back on the examination bed. “How long’s it been this time?”

“It’s been about twenty hours overall. I’m not sure when you last remember waking up,” Elizabeth replied.

“Eight hours ago, apparently. Talked with Sylvia...she blew me before putting me back under,” he murmured.

Elizabeth laughed and rolled her eyes. “Of course she did. Riley actually tried to suck your dick while you were out.”

“What, seriously?”

“Yeah. This was like five hours ago. Sylvia said she shouldn’t bother, you wouldn’t get it up in your sleep, but Riley wanted to try anyway. Didn’t work.”

“I’m sure she was disappointed.”

“Oh yeah.”

They looked over as the door opened up and Sylvia came in. “You’re awake, perfect. Lay back down, I need to run another scan on you,” she said.

“Okay,” he replied, complying.

“Everyone came in to see you at one point or another. Even Lyra. She’s been busy running maintenance on the weapons and armor we used,” Sylvia said as she began running the scan. The bed started to hum and vibrate gently beneath him.

“I’m glad everyone’s okay,” Jack replied.

“We’re all glad you’re okay. God, what a fucking nightmare that would be: we get our boytoy killed. I can’t imagine how horrifically guilty we’d all feel, inviting you out here for sex and then you die tragically.”

“Well, this is a risky venture,” he said.

“That’s true,” Sylvia murmured. She studied her screen as the humming died away. “Okay, your blood is clear of all toxins, your lungs are pretty much healed up, and your leg...let me look at it,” she said, moving down. She peeled away the bandage and studied the wound. Jack glanced down and winced. It was an ugly gouge in the side of his calf. “Looking better than ever. Should be pretty much healed in a few days. Try not to walk too much on it until then, okay?”

“I’ll try,” he replied. Something occurred to him as she began putting on a new bandage. “Elizabeth, I imagine there must be exercise equipment somewhere onboard, right?”

“Oh yes. I should’ve mentioned it earlier. I packed a bunch, but we decided to keep it crated until we got to the planet. So don’t worry, we’ll have a gym.”

“Perfect,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, I love all the exercise I’ve been getting recently, but I would like the more traditional options.”

Sylvia grinned. “Speaking of which, I hereby declare you fit enough for a threesome, provided you remain laying down on your back and let us fuck you.”

“Fine by me,” he said, then glanced at Elizabeth. “You wanna watch again?”

“I actually think I need to get some sleep. I’ve barely slept since you’ve been under.”

“Oh wow.” He looked up at her again. She did actually look really tired. “Yeah, definitely go do that. We can spend some more time together tomorrow.”

She smiled and touched his shoulder briefly. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Elizabeth left him and Sylvia alone in the infirmary. Sylvia was smirking. “She’s such an odd one. I imagine it must be an interesting experience: having three women basically throw themselves at you, with two more promising much the same, just that they’re too busy right now, and then Elizabeth, who’s shy and awkward and fumbling...it’s cute, I think.”

“I know how she feels,” he replied. “I’m more than happy to wait for her to be ready.”

“That’s good of you. There’s too much pressure from everyone nowadays. People forget that patience is rewarded and waiting just makes it better. And, speaking of waiting, I think I’ve waited long enough to fuck that dick, don’t you?” she asked.

“Yes, definitely,” he agreed, getting back up.

The two of them stepped out of the infirmary and made their way down the hall to his bedroom. She seemed ready to help him, but he managed to hobble fairly well on his own. They got to his bedroom and as he looked over it, he was struck by two things. The first was, again, how familiar he’d already become with this room, and how much it felt like a place of rest and relaxation, of security and comfort, in such a short time. He knew part of that was because he’d gotten used to making home wherever he happened to be, thanks to how often he was shuffled around the galaxy back when he’d been a Marine, but not all of it.

The second thing he realized was that he had to fucking piss.

“I’ll go get Riley,” Sylvia said.

“Perfect.”

As she left, he hobbled across the room, got into the bathroom, and took a long leak. It was a massive relief. After he finished and washed up, he took the opportunity to brush his teeth and put on some deodorant and then, after a moment’s consideration, washed off his cock with a warm washrag. They were going to be putting it in their mouths, it only seemed fair. As he finished up, Riley and Sylvia came into his room. Riley was already completely fucking naked, and Sylvia began shedding her clothes as soon as she closed the door.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Riley said as he came out of the bathroom. She hugged him, pushing her huge tits against his chest.

“Me too,” he said.

“I was actually kind of worried there for a minute.”

He laughed. “Same. But it turned out for the best.”

“Yep,” she said, stepping back. She looked down at his cock, which was out, as he’d shed his boxers to wash up, and was on its way to erect. “Well, looks like you’re happy to see me, too.”

“Both of you,” he replied.

“Then let’s get this show on the road.” She took his hand and led him over to his bed. He climbed up onto it and laid down in the middle. Sylvia finished stripping as Riley climbed onto the bed with him.

“You ever been in a threesome?” she asked as Sylvia started getting onto the bed as well.

“Just once,” he replied. “Got lucky, met a bi Marine chick who liked me a lot, we went on R and R together, picked up a chick at a club, went back and had a threesome.”

“How was it?” Sylvia asked.

“I mean...you know, cool.”

“It sucked, huh?” Riley asked.

He laughed as they settled in on either side of him. “I don’t want to say that. They were both good in their own way. I think they were a little incompatible with each other, and they both seemed a little too competitive. Like fighting for my attention. You’d think that’d be awesome, but it was just annoying and neither would let the other fuck me long enough to really get going, you know? It was still a great experience, I mean it was a threesome with two hot chicks, but...”

“This one is going to be a lot better,” Sylvia said, and she kissed him.

Riley reached down and began to massage his balls, cupping them in her hot, soft grasp. He groaned as, simultaneously, Sylvia reached down and started to massage his stiffening cock. Wow, even that was fucking awesome. Having two women touching his crotch at the same time was extremely thrilling. He made out with Sylvia for a good minute, then Riley took over, kissing him with her big, soft, hot lips and using her exotic alien tongue. Then he was back to Sylvia again. Fuck, being passed back and forth like this, switching between making out with two women was fantastically arousing. He groped and caressed them as they kissed him, touching their bountiful breasts and their pleasant, seductive bodies.

After a bit, almost like there was an unseen signal passing between them, both women began to lower themselves. He felt a rush of excitement as he realized they were going to blow him. At the same time. That hadn’t happened last time. He’d never had two women pleasuring his dick at the same time. He watched as they both stuck their tongues out and began to lick the head of his cock. Jack let out a long, loud, intense groan as they did this.

“Oh my God, ladies...” he moaned. “That is just...holy fucking shit...that’s amazing.”

They laughed softly and kept going, lavishing his dick with pleasure as they dragged their tongues over it again and again.

And then Riley took his dick into her mouth and began to suck him off with her exacting precision, her blissful perfection.

He groaned even louder as she got to work. Sylvia got lower and began to tongue his balls. “Oh my fucking...you two are goddamned incredible.”

“Yep,” Sylvia murmured. She kept licking his balls as Riley sucked his dick until, about a minute later, they switched. He stared at them in rapt attention, as enamored with the sight of them pleasuring his cock with their mouths as the actual feeling of it. They poured on that hot, wet bliss until they decided that it was time to fuck.

“Okay,” Riley said, straightening up. “I’m going to ride that dick.”

“Why do you get to go first?” Sylvia complained.

“Because, bitch, you got to jump him first.”

She sighed. “Fine. Just don’t take too long. I want to ram that cock in myself too, you know.”

“Yeah, I know you’re a cock-thirsty whore. No news there,” Riley murmured with a smirk as she mounted him carefully.

“Oh yeah, I’m the whore,” Sylvia muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Don’t worry, Jack. We’re going to take care of everything,” she said as she settled onto him. Reaching down, she gripped his saliva-slicked cock.

“You look like a fucking sex demon,” he replied.

“I know,” she said, and then she took his dick into her insanely wet alien pussy.

“Oh, Riley...” he moaned. His hands sought her huge hips and he grasped them as she started to fuck him. She was gentle with him, careful of his injury and somewhat weakened state. He stared at her amazingly voluptuous body, her huge tits swaying with the rhythm of their sex, her powerful hips going to work, her thick thighs, the way his cock disappeared into that sweet, sweet alien pussy over and over again.

“You fit so nicely into me,” Riley whispered. She grabbed his hands and brought them up to her huge breasts, and he moaned again as he groped them. He could never get over how fucking big they were. “I love it.”

“Me too...” he panted.

“I think this is the perfect treatment for you,” Sylvia said as she got up against Riley and began kissing the side of her neck. She reached down, her nimble fingers going to work, and began to rub Riley’s clit. Their dysil lover let out a sharp moan of pleasure.

“Keep doing that and you’re gonna make me-ah!” she cried, not even able to finish the sentence before she started to orgasm.

Jack moaned loudly as he felt that hot gush of pleasure from her orgasming pussy. He laid back and just let her fuck him, let her vaginal muscles massage his cock as her sex juices poured out of her. Somehow, he managed not to bust his nut inside of her by the time she’d finished up the orgasm. “Okay,” Sylvia said, “my turn.”

“Yes, yes,” Riley murmured, and got off of him.

Sylvia carefully mounted him next. He remembered the absolute pleasure that was fucking two different vaginas in the same sexual session as she took him into her mature pussy and started to fuck him. Sex was awesome, blowjobs were great, but having two women pleasure your dick and take turns riding you was just…

It was absolutely, mind-blowingly phenomenal.

“Mmm...yes, this is such good cock,” Sylvia moaned. “We got really lucky in picking you, Jack. Out of all the men Maureen could have found, you seem just perfect.”

“I think I’m the lucky one,” he groaned as the pleasure washed over him.

“Yes, you are indeed,” Riley murmured, reaching down and massaging his balls as Sylvia continued fucking his dick.

“We’re all lucky,” Sylvia moaned.

Jack fondled her breasts as she fucked him, sliding her pussy slowly up and down his cock, satisfying both of them. The pleasure burned into him, eating away at him, morphing his world into one of total bliss and rapturous release. He was going to come inside of two women tonight, he was determined to.

The last time he’d had a threesome, the only other time, he’d only come inside of his Marine friend before they decided it was over. But he wanted so badly to bust inside both of them, to fill them both with his seed.

Sylvia fucked him until Riley demanded her turn, and they switched places again.

He laid there getting fucked for another ten minutes or so, finally able to summon up a bit more stamina, although it was difficult given how fucking hot the encounter was. They took turns, riding him for a minute or so, smiling down at him, letting him grope their big tits or wonderful hips or thick asses, and finally he could stand it no more and he began letting off inside of Sylvia shortly after she took her turn again.

“Oh my,” she murmured. “We finally broke you.”

“Yes!” he cried. “Yes you did! Oh fucking-fuck!” he moaned in sheer bliss as he shot his load inside of her mature pussy.

She moaned and pushed down, thrusting him deeper inside of her, and he cried out. Grunting, he grabbed her hips and filled her pussy with his seed.

She took it all.

And when he was finished, she got off of him, and when he was ready, Riley got back on top of him. This time she did reverse-cowgirl, showing him her huge ass and her sexy tail as she resumed riding him.

“Holy hell,” he whispered as he settled his hands on her fat ass.

“You really like my ass, huh?” she asked.

“Yes, I fucking do.”

“Everyone loves your ass, Riley,” Sylvia murmured as she headed for the bathroom to clean herself up.

“I’m fond of it myself,” Riley admitted. “Come for me, Jack. I know you want to.”

“I do,” he groaned.

It didn’t take too much longer for him to fulfill his intense desire. He grabbed her hips and right as he started to bust his load a second time, he pulled her tight against him. She moaned loudly as his cock jerked and twitched and spasmed inside of her, releasing whatever was left of his seed. He pumped her pussy full too, and loved every last second of it. It was every bit as amazing and erotic and fulfilling as he had hoped it would be to come inside of a second woman in the same session. He stared at her huge ass and his cock disappearing deep in her alien pussy and her sexy tail through a haze of bliss as the orgasm ensnared him.

When he was finished, he let go of her and flopped back onto the bed. And there he lay until they both finished cleaning up the mess he’d made inside of them and climbed back into bed with him. Sylvia lay to one side, Riley lay to the other. They both snuggled up against him beneath the blankets, holding him, touching him with their naked bodies.

“Feel better?” Sylvia asked.

“Much,” he replied, then yawned. “Fuck, how am I tired again already? I don’t even think I’ve been up for an hour...”

“You went through a traumatic experience, Jack. Plus there’s likely some painkillers left in your system, you just had sex with two women, and those healing agents take a toll on your endurance. I’m surprised you lasted this long,” she explained.

“Will you sleep in here with me tonight?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Riley said.

“Of course,” Sylvia replied.

He yawned again and shifted, getting more comfortable. “Soon, we’ll be at the planet.”

“Yes,” Sylvia agreed. “And then the real fun begins.”

Jack smiled. He was looking forward to it.

This had been, he decided then and there, the right decision.

Hello, Misty Vixen here!

If you’ve made it this far, then thank

you so very much for finishing my book!

I’m here to ask you if you wouldn’t mind

leaving a review for my story. I would

deeply appreciate it!

OTHER TITLES

Like A Fine Wine 2 will be out in Fall 2020!

THE MISTY VIXEN STARTER PACK

Get ready to experience over 100,000 words of hot, filthy fucking. This starter pack features four original novellas, each from one of my shared universes, and a whole lot of passionate, human-on-inhuman sex.

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POST-APOCALYPTIC SHARED UNIVERSE

HAVEN

David is a young, terrified adventurer who is trying to survive in the wake of a new mutation of the virus that already ravaged the Earth once. Now it turns inhumans into extremely dangerous zombies. After the collapse of the settlement he was staying in, he and his only friend, Evelyn, a beautiful, tough, seven-and-a-half foot goliath, flee to an isolated location, and inadvertently become a beacon of hope by providing a safe haven for other survivors.

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SEX & SURVIVAL

Welcome to a post-apocalyptic world where a virus, once meant to be a scientific revolution, has ravaged the planet and turned most of the population into inhuman creatures. Some have become mindless zombies, others have morphed into new species. Some can fly. Some can breathe underwater. Some exhibit animal characteristics. Enter Mike Walker, a survivor and adventurer. In this brave new world, Mike often finds himself in the company (and beds) of beautiful, inhuman women.

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The Complete Trilogy

SCIENCE FICTION SHARED UNIVERSE

HELLCATS

Ryan is a socially awkward, young technician who takes a leap of faith and joins up with a mercenary crew called the Hellcats. What he finds is a squad of alien or otherwise inhuman women who are looking for a boytoy to live on their ship with them and fuck them hard. Ryan fits the bill perfectly.

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The Complete Trilogy

ALIEN HAREM

James is a failing author who is friends with Aria, a beautiful alien woman who is also a failing author. She happens to live with three other attractive alien women who are creative types of varying degrees of success. Everything changes when they invite James to live with them and help them shoot human-on-alien porn to help pay the rent.

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The Complete Series

DESIRE

Derek is a technician fresh out of college. Unsure of what to do with his life, he feels adrift as he stares down the barrel of adulthood. But all that changes when he gets the opportunity of a lifetime: he is invited to come live and work on Desire, a city-sized space station that caters to every sexual fetish imaginable.

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The Complete Series

FANTASY SHARED UNIVERSE

DEMONESS

When John Greenfield heads into the forest outside his home village, pissed off and hungover, the last thing he expects to find is an injured and unconscious demoness. When he rescues her, it starts him on a path he no longer thought possible, and into a romance he didn’t think could exist.

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WANDERLUST

Owyn Fisher has just come of age and decides to leave his small village and start adventuring out into the world at large. But instead of danger or riches, he finds that his greatest adventure is all the beautiful monster women he encounters that wish to experience the taboo thrill of sex with a human.

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The Complete Series

LUST & ADVENTURE

When Alan Wilde, a magical healer living a quiet life in a small village, begins having a personal crisis, wondering if he’s missing out on leading such a life, he meets Layla, a beautiful, cat-woman felis adventuress. She and her friends are on a dangerous journey and need a healer. The chance meeting feels like fate, and so Alan begins his journey of adventuring and, he is happy to learn, sleeping with several attractive adventuresses…

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The Complete Trilogy

PARANORMAL SHARED UNIVERSE

PARASEXUAL

Alex considers himself a failure. After losing his job, losing his roommate, and coming close to losing his mind all in the same day, he goes to hang out with his best friend, who happens to be a particularly attractive werewolf woman. In an attempt to help him out and also to alleviate her own growing wanderlust (and regular lust), she has sex with him and then decides to take him on a road trip to Thorne: a giant coastal city that is home to a huge concentration of paranormals. And on the way, she begins hooking back up with several of her old girlfriends, who are apparently interested in hopping in bed with her and Alex.

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PARANORMAL PASSIONS

Jason is a regular, twenty-something human who feels adrift. After trying to radically alter his life, all that really changes is that he now lives next door to an incredibly hot, redheaded vampire. When they hook up, she leads him into a world of hot sex with paranormal women.

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The Complete Trilogy

ABOUT ME

Hello, I’m the author! There isn’t too much to me personally. I live somewhere in the United States and I like to write stories about people having sex and people having adventures!

So what makes me special? What sets me apart from most of the other thousands of similar authors out there?

Well, a few things that I can think of.

I write about reasonable, more down-to-earth guys. I’m honestly sick of all the billionaires and NAVY Seals and cowboys and firefighters. Most of all, I’m fucking sick and tired of all these BS ‘Alpha Male’ types. I don’t really want to bring down anyone who is writing or reading that, but I thought it was high time we started hearing about guys who aren’t like this.

Another big focus of mine is human guy on inhuman lady sex. There are certainly tons of stories about hot chicks getting laid by werewolves and dinosaurs and even Bigfoot! But there’s not enough out there, in my opinion, about regular guys fucking hot alien or monster or otherwise inhuman ladies. I love writing about human guys getting laid by mermaids and dryads and sexy aliens and genetically engineered female super soldiers and robots and even more.

Finally, I like emphasizing sexual encounters, casual and longer engagements, that focus on consent, communication, trust, and respect. I like both parties getting what they want out of the sex. (Or I should say all parties, given how many people are fucking at once!)

If you want access to extra content, to get news about my progress on upcoming stories, or pictures of hot, naked inhuman ladies featured in my books, then here’s some places you can check out.

This is my WEBSITE, (www.mistyvixen.com). Here, you can some free content, a monthly newsletter, alternate versions of my cover art where the ladies are naked, and more!

This is my TWITTER, (www.twitter.com/Misty_Vixen). I’ll post updates and pictures of hot, naked alien, monster, or otherwise inhuman ladies I find on the internet. Also, I respond to pretty much everyone, so feel free to say something!

This is my PATREON, (www.patreon.com/MistyVixen). There, you can get early access to the first two chapters of my in-progress works, and early access to alternate versions of my cover art where the ladies are naked! They will be released to my website after one month.

Finally, if you want to talk to me directly, you can send me an e-mail at my address:

mistyvixen@outlook.com

Thank you for reading my work! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

LIKE A FINE WINE. Copyright © by Misty Vixen. All rights reserved.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entire coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.