Queen of the Savages - Complete (7 page)

As the ship's engines started to rumble, a light flashed on the main view screen.

The hairy little face of Tul filled the screen.

"This is the captain of the Ceichis. I demand to know who is attempting to take that ship. I hope it's not two disgusting Kerdim."

"Ignore him," said Tev.

"No problem," said Rev. "What's keeping us from taking off? Is it the docking clamps?"

"Yes, we're still attached to them. If you retract ours, and we'll pull away from their ship."

"Doing that could damage the hull," pointed out Rev.

"Leave and live. Stay and die."

Rev sighed. "You always make things so black and white, but you're right this time."

Tracy felt a small lurch as the clamps released.

"What's that guy's name?" asked Rev.

"Tul, his name is Tul," said Tracy. "He was the first officer before Kor died."

"Captain Tul," said Rev with a sneer, "This is Ar-Reven and Ar-Teven, trackers for the Enforcement Wing of the Aligned Worlds. You are charged with several crimes: kidnapping a non-aligned world sentient, kidnapping an Enforcement Wing officer, and assault on an Enforcement Wing officer. If you refuse to release the docking clamps, your sentences and the sentences of those under your command will be correspondingly increased."

Tul laughed. "You trackers think that you can make everyone in the galaxy obey your commands by mentioning your title. You know we are CRIMINALS, right? Why shouldn't I just kill you where you are?"

"Do it." a voice croaked in the background. "I want them dead. I don't care about the bounty."

Zywth pushed Tul away from the screen. The blue skin on his face was scored with jagged black streaks. Lower on his body, dark blood welled through wounds.

"You fuckers!" he spit. "You are going to pay for this! I told Quargan not to trust you, you bastard. If I don't get you, he'll hunt you down!"

"Good," said Tev. "That will only make it easier to arrest both of you. Don't worry, Zywth. Once my testimony is recorded there won't be a place safe for you in this galaxy. We'll have you in a nice prison where you belong."

Tracy wasn't paying attention to the posturing. Instead, she studied the lime green screen that floated above the control panels. In the corner of the front screen, there were rotating images of the exterior of their ship. Motion there caught her eye.

"Guys!" said Tracy. "Eyes upper right. See that?"

Spacesuits were swarming out of another hatch of the Ceichis and headed straight towards the smaller vessel.

"Fuck," said Rev. "They are going to try to breach our hull."

"We went by the book, Rev, " said his brother.

"You're right." Rev tossed a glance in her direction. "Hold on. We're about to put a lot of stress on this ship."

"Just hit it. I've had it with these people. Let's get out of here."

"As you wish. Let's get out of here before company shows up, Tev."

Tev pulled back then forward on the stick, rocking the ship. It jolted at each movement, and the engines strained.

"Hit it harder, brother," urged Rev.

Tev rocked the joystick more forcibly. The engines roared and complained. The ship was trying to break free, but the bigger ship was holding on tight.

Tracy hoped these two knew what they were doing. She remembered Rev's statement about having only emergency flight credentials, and hoped that Tev had better training. As the two brothers tried to rip away from the clamps of the Ceichis, she became nervous.

A horrible wrenching sound ran through the ship, and suddenly the transport spun crazily away from the Ceichis. Tracy felt bile rise through her gut.

"Rev, see if you can stabilize the ship magnetically," Tev spoke harshly. He struggled to trim the ship to a stable flight line.

Rev's mouth drew in a tight line as he rose from his seat and ran toward some panels behind Tracy. Twisting, Tracy couldn't quite see what he was doing, but as she reflected on it, even if she could see it she would have no idea what was going on.

He fell to his knees and ripped away one panel in particular. Sparks flew as he touched different flowing red lines, but finally, he sighed in satisfaction when the lines flowed blue.

"Got it!" Rev said with triumph in his voice.

The ship stopped jerking. Tev relaxed his grip on the joystick.

"Good job."

Tracy's head turned toward Tev's voice, but something on the screen made her stop.

"I think something is happening to the big ship out there."

Both Rev and Tev instantly looked to the screen.

"They are powering up to chase us," said Rev.

"We're going to be caught. There's no way this little ship can outrun them," said Tev.

"I have an idea," said Rev. He returned to the console and settled in the second pilot's seat. "Give me the com, Tev. Let me show you a trick I learned."

Tracy swallowed hard. In their previous space flight, she didn't know he "just learned" some maneuvers. In reality, a more accurate description would be that Rev made them up on the fly. They had been successful, but did he really want to do it again?

Rev gently nudged the ship around until it was heading back towards the Ceichis. Tracy watched as the Ceichis got larger and larger.

In space, it was difficult to accurately determine distances with your eyes alone, but even Tev was growing nervous. "Brother?" asked Tev.

Rev smiled, and Tracy saw a hint of daredevil spirit shine through his eyes.

"Just a little bit longer....now!" said Rev. He accelerated the speed of their transport with a push of the joystick. They rushed towards the Ceichis even faster. At the last moment, Rev adjusted their course. The small ship avoided a collision with the Ceichis and a wave of exhaust washed over the larger ship.

The stars in the screen crushed together in streaks of blue, white, and red. The transport shuddered.

This time Tracy didn't faint. The sound of the engines changed from groaning and whining to a whirling sound.

Whop.

Whop.

Whop.

The sound echoed through the ship. On the screen, the streaks of color slowly disappeared until the view became totally black. Rev eased off the joystick and the noise from the engines settled to a gentle thrum.

Tev looked thoughtful. "I see what you did. You collapsed their jump field. What led you to think about doing that as a trick? We were told in flight training that it was dangerous."

"With any luck we'll be well away before they can recover."

"You still haven't answered my question."

Rev was quiet. When he did speak, his voice was soft and not in his usual hearty timbre. "At the time, I was thinking I'd rather do anything other than to be separated from my mate."

He spoke these words without looking directly at his brother.

Tracy watched the reactions of the two Kerdim males. Tev looked back at Tracy with a contemplative stare. A shadow fell over his face, and then he turned back to the controls.

"We have much to discuss," said Tev tersely.

Rev nodded and turned his gaze to his own controls.

"Yes, brother, we do."

An uncomfortable silence had settled in the cabin, and Tracy didn't like it.

"Is there a problem?" said Tracy. Her voice came out more sharply than she intended, but her question turned both males' heads toward her.

"Well?" she said when no answer was forthcoming. She crossed her arms.

Rev looked at Tev. "I'm going to talk to her in private, if you don't mind."

Tev nodded. "Of course."

Rev unlatched his seat belt and motioned for Tracy to do the same. "Come with me," he said.

One good thing about being on a smaller ship is that it was much more difficult to become lost. Tracy followed Rev down a narrow corridor. Rev opened the first door on the right, and looked inside.

"This will do," he said, ushering her in.

What is going on? thought Tracy to herself. Glancing over the space, she saw they were in a small cabin with a bed inset in the metal walls on the right.

In the excitement, they had not found a moment to remove the space suits. Rev worked the latches of his suit, beginning the laborious removal process. "We can take these off now," he said.

"Fine," she said, removing her helmet and trying to unzip her own suit. "While we're doing that, can you tell me what went on with your brother back there?"

Rev cleared his throat. He seemed reluctant to talk. "My species has a very sharp sense of smell."

"Yes," she said.

"He smelled my mating bite on you." Having extracted himself from his own suit, Rev worked the fasteners on Tracy's suit with singular interest. "I did tell you that we gave up the old ways." Rev found one fastener particularly interesting.

"Spit it out, Rev."

"It's obvious he does not approve."

By now, Rev had worked all the fasteners opened. He peeled away the suit from her shoulders, and it fell to the floor.

Tracy sighed and sat on the bed.

"Is that all?" she said.

"All? All?" Rev's voice rose slightly, and Tracy realized Tev's approval was necessary for Rev on a fundamental level.

"Rev," said Tracy. "Sit down."

He sat next to her on the bunk.

She took his hand. "I get it," she said. "He's your big brother, and he's important to you. I see it. I really do. You took pride in showing off to your brother back there."

"Yes." Rev nodded his head. "He's always been there for me. That's why when he went missing, I had to be there for him."

"I understand, and you've told me that your people don't use the mating bite anymore. To your brother, it must look like you've taken a step backward, following traditions that have little place in your society."

"I suppose your are correct," he said with a sigh.

"Not to mention that using the mating bite is illegal for your people under the Aligned World's government, and for professionals like you and your brother, enforcers of that law, that has to be a big no-no."

"No-no?" said Rev with a slight grin. "Sometime the way you speak is strange."

"This whole thing from beginning to end has been very strange for me. You can put up with my eccentricities of speech."

"Yes, Tracy, I am more than willing."

"You are," she said with smile. "But here's the thing. From everything you've explained to me, there is nothing that you and I can do about the mating bond between us. Neither one of us wants to anyway. If we can't do anything about it, Tev certainly can't. Everyone is just going to have to get over it."

"Over it?" said Rev with a perplexed look on his face. "I don't understand."

"Accept it."

"That might be easy to say, but it definitely will not be easy to do."

"Why? What can happen?"

"Between you and me? Everything will be the same. But I would hate if things changed between me and my brother. We have always been close."

Tracy put her arm around Rev and snuggled into his chest. "I know," she said. "But if he loves you—"

"Love?" said Rev. "There's that word again."

Tracy shook her head. 'Love' was a word that was untranslatable in Rev's language. "Okay then, if he has warm feelings of affection for you, he'd be happy that you found a mate. That's what brothers do for each other. Good brothers at least."

Rev nuzzled her head. "You know what we haven't done for a while?"

Tracy chuckled. "What? I don't know, but I can guess."

Rev pulled away from her. "You didn't tell me what happened in that pirate's cabin. Did he hurt you? Touch you?"

"No. The Jer'hym said Kor was some sort of racial purist. That he wouldn't touch a woman of another race."

"Then why did he want you?"

"Oh, well, apparently the Jer'hym males can only sing with a female present to inspire them. Race does not seem to be a factor for the Jer'hym. Kor used the Jer'hym's song to get off while he masturbated."

"And what about you?"

"My hands were tied; I couldn't get myself off."

"Tracy!"

"I thought about you. With the Jer'hym's song, that was enough to give me an orgasm."

"Thinking about me? That's all."

"Apparently that was enough."

Rev kissed the back of her neck. "I think our bond is stronger than we both realize."

He said the words in a breathy whisper that sent chills through her. She turned fully towards Rev and worked the fasteners on his pressure suit.

"I think you should get out of your suit too."

"On one condition," he said.

"What's that?"

"Take off your clothes."

"You are always wanting me to take off my clothes."

"Well, when we get to my planet, I'm going to make you walk around naked."

"Over my dead body."

"No," said Rev, shimmying out of his suit and clothes. "Over your naked body, over and over again."

"I bet you say that to all the Earth girls."

"Only one Earth girl. The only one I ever want."

Rev pulled her closer and kissed her hard, holding her around her waist. She slid her arms up around his neck. The spicy scent and taste of him clouded any thought other than to get closer to him.

She broke away from his kiss and slid down to his chest, her tongue tasting every inch as she moved to his nipples. Tracy sucked one between her lips, teasing the nub with the tip of her tongue.

"That drives me wild," gasped Rev. "I never knew that could feel good."

She pinched the other with her fingers.

Between them, Rev's cock hardened. The ridges that ran the length rose, becoming darker the more she worked his nipples. Moving her lips and tongue down his torso, she teased his belly button.

"Wicked woman," he growled. "Stop that and let me at you."

"I'm not stopping you, but if you do, you'll miss out," she said.

He groaned. "You're not," he said as Tracy took his cock into her mouth. "Oh, sweet goddess, how you do that."

Tracy ran her tongue around the head, lapping at the underside of the head. Rev moaned, and she pushed him down to lie on the bed. His left leg bent at the knee was firmly on the bed, but the other dangled off giving her a good view of his balls. Kissing and nibbling down the length of his shaft, she reached them and took one of the globes in her mouth, sucking on it gently.