Spider Bight

Deep Space Mission Corps -3

by

Tymber Dalton

Prologue

From the personnel files of Dr. Louis Graymard, Deep Space Mission Corps Chief Personnel Acquisitions Officer:

Mission Debriefing Summary #1

File #20-8630.1

Ship: DSMCV Tamora Bight

Base of Origin: New Phoenix, Arizona, Earth

Crew: Captain Aaron Lucio; First Officer Caphis Bates; Mate Ford Caliban; Medical Officer Dr. Emilia Hypatia

Captain Lucio and his crew returned to the Martian base with the crews of the Kendall Kant and the Braynow Gaston following their successful intervention on the Aroykin settling colony. Unfortunately, Captain Eckhart, formerly of the Petrovis Skye, died as a result of his own actions (see incident report #20-9246.1). Dr. Hypatia, along with Dr. Stevens, of the Kendall Kant (see separate crew debriefing summary, file #20-8711.1), working with the crew of the Braynow Gaston, was able to isolate the cause of the rages and cure the colonists, as well as Captains Lucio and Elloy (again, see file #20-8711.1). Also, see my crew pairing summary report detailing the addition of Dr. Sophie Vanderlin, formerly of the Forrester Cross, as the medical officer on the Braynow Gaston (file #20-8716). While they did not go through an initial sim pairing scenario, I believe, in light of their already close bond, it would be counterproductive to deny the crew pairing.

With the emergency mission out of the way, the Tamora Bight can now be employed for its original purpose—exploration, and surveys of potential settling locations. Cargo, retrofit and maintenance crews will finish vessel modifications by the end of the week. After the crew enjoys several well-earned days of R&R, they will be assigned to…

Chapter One

“Is this seat taken?”

Dr. Emilia Hypatia squinted up at the large shadow blocking her patch of Martian sunlight. The tall, hunky man wasn’t muscle-bound, but large, with broad shoulders tapering down to a narrow waist and gorgeously tight ass.

“Maybe. I’ve got three hunky husbands who are very protective of me. They’re liable to kick the ass of anyone they catch flirting with me.”

Despite the warning, the green-eyed man with shaggy blond hair and wearing civilian clothes proceeded to sit on the lounge chair next to hers. The most delicious smile curled his lips into a kissable expression of amusement. “Hunky, huh? I’ll risk it. What are they doing letting you come to a Martian resort all by your lonesome if they’re so protective?”

The resort’s solar dome surrounded the swimming pool and had a great view of the mountains to the north. It was wonderful being able to sit out on the lounges and soak up the sun. The special panels magnified the diminished sunlight so that it appeared nearly as bright inside the dome as it would on Earth.

And they almost had the beautiful view to themselves.

“I escaped,” she said.

One eyebrow playfully shot up. “You had to escape your husbands?”

She rolled onto her side to face him, propping herself on one elbow. “I wanted to have a little fun. Get wild on my R&R.”

He reached over and caught her left hand, where two rings, a gorgeous engagement ring and a wedding band, graced her fourth finger.

On the man’s left hand, he wore a matching wedding band. “So, these three hunky husbands of yours who let you out by yourself. They don’t take good care of you?”

“I never said that.”

The man raised her hand to his lips, sucked her thumb into his mouth, and slowly, sensually laved his tongue over it. “Then they do take good care of you?”

She had to think to breathe because the delicious things he was doing to her, hinting at more treats to come, nearly robbed her of thought. He was very skilled with his tongue. “Excellent care,” she managed to gasp.

“Does a guy like me stand a chance?” His green eyes bored into hers.

“Depends.”

He grabbed her and pulled her over to his lounge, on top of him. His stiff erection pressed through his slacks and against the fabric of her swimsuit. “Depends on what?”

She teased him, grinding her hips against him. “On how soon you can pry me away from his royal chattiness over there.” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder at the pool, where Ford Caliban swam up to the side.

“What the hell took you guys so long, Caph?” he called out. “You were supposed to be finished hours ago. And where’s Aaron?”

Caphis Bates, one of Emi’s three hunky husbands, pulled her down against his chest and kissed her. “He’ll be along soon. He wanted to talk to the retrofit crew one last time.”

Ford climbed out of the pool and dripped water across the deck and all the way over to them. “You’re laying on my towel, buddy.”

Caph arched his back so Ford could reach under him and grab the towel. Then Ford leaned in and gave him a kiss, his blue eyes twinkling. “What’s he doing with the retrofit crew again? I thought you all handled that this morning.”

“He wanted to go over the new control systems one more time before they install them.”

Despite their vast difference in physical appearance and absolutely no blood relation, Aaron had dubbed Ford and Caph “the twins” years earlier due to their habit of “twinspeak”—frequently saying the same thing at the same time. Caph was Emi’s big goofball buddy, with a heart even bigger than his body. Ford, slim and catlike compared to Caph, was her intellectual chatterbox.

Emi ground her hips against Caph again, drawing a low moan from him. “What are these new control systems supposed to do?” she asked. She could play the sexy distraction game as good as he could.

“It means if we had to,” Ford explained, “all of us could leave the ship to go planetside and not worry about her. Or we could leave only one person aboard and they could easily run her.” The DSMC vessel Tamora Bight would be their home for several more years. They’d just returned from their first official mission a few days earlier. The men were anxious to get back to space. Emi, who spent the first several days after leaving Earth in bed puking her guts up from space sickness before nearly losing her life on their mission, planned to enjoy their R&R. They’d spent the last two days in hearings and filing detailed reports about the incident. This was their first full day of official leave since returning to Mars.

“You keep that up, lady,” Caph warned her as she rotated her hips against him again, “and you’re getting yourself thoroughly fucked.”

“Promise?”

Ford snickered. “Ooh, she’s in a playful mood today. I guess we didn’t wear her out last night after all.” He stepped close and grabbed her chin, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief. “Let’s see how mouthy she is when she’s got all three of our cocks inside her at once, instead of just me and you.”

A bolt of heat shot through Emi’s body and straight to her pussy. She was looking forward to lots of sexy time with her three men. Their previous mission, an emergency medical journey to a settlement colony, had been stressful. Aaron became infected with the “rage” that some of the male colonists had developed. Along with that, a psychotic captain bent on revenge at Aaron, Ford, and Caph had nearly killed her.

Not relaxing.

“And here I thought we would have the pool to ourselves,” a familiar male voice called out from across the dome, interrupting the three’s sexy interlude.

They looked and spotted the crew of the Kendall Kant entering the dome. Captain Rob Elloy, First Officer Sam Johnson, Mate Gregor Davis, and last, Emi’s best friend and college schoolmate, their med officer Dr. Donna Stevens.

“You will soon enough, Rob,” Ford called back. “We’re about to head back to our room.”

Emi climbed off Caph and suppressed a snicker as he blushed and sat up while trying to adjust his slacks and hide his stiff bulge.

Donna, also dressed in a swimsuit, walked over and gave Emi a hug. “You guys have your costumes for the party Saturday night?” she asked Ford.

“Of course.” While the Martian calendar was different than Earth’s, people who’d lived on Earth still tended to celebrate Earth holidays in similar fashion. Halloween on Earth was less than a week away.

“I talked to Sophie this morning,” Donna said to Emi. “She said she’s got her costume.” Dr. Sophie Vanderlin was a last-minute addition to the crew of the Braynow Gaston, which had been sent as an emergency support ship for their last mission even though they lacked a fourth crew member. A problem they rectified when they met up with Sophie, who’d been crewing on a medical support ship. After the resolution of the Aroykin colony’s medical issue, the men of the Braynow Gaston asked her to join their crew.

“They’re returning to Earth next week, aren’t they?” Emi asked.

“Yeah, Graymard said he wants them back for more training and to make sure they’re not ready to kill each other,” Donna said.

Ford snorted. “I hope Graymard doesn’t bother putting them through a sim session at this point. He’s liable to get his ass killed.”

Rob’s face darkened, as did Sam and Gregor’s. “Yeah,” Rob agreed. “I told that son of a bitch if he ever put us through another sim session like he did when he paired us with Donna, that he’d better not bring me out of it because I’d wring his fucking neck myself.”

Emi and her men’s sim session to initially pair them and check for compatibility had ended with Emi thinking Aaron was going to die as a huge alien’s fuck toy. When awoken from the sim session and she realized only two hours and not an entire year had passed, and that Aaron was fine, she’d decked Dr. Louis Graymard, the chief personnel acquisitions director of the Deep Space Mission Corps.

Emi later found out Donna had done the same thing when coming out of her sim session. Although her sim session differed from Emi’s, the result had been similar, with Donna thinking two of her men had died instead of just one.

In her sim session, Emi had first met and rejected the crews of the Kendall Kant and the Braynow Gaston. Graymard suspected that Emi, as an Alpha-ranked healer, a Class 2 trained empath, and having a psychology degree, would be perfect for the men of the Tamora Bight. So he deliberately introduced her to two other crews he thought she wouldn’t be compatible with. But the men of the Kendall Kant, since their pairing with Donna, were a far cry from the stiff and starched former ISNC military men Emi had originally met. And Donna was thrilled with them.

The “geek” boys from the Braynow Gaston, a group of scientists from the National Science Institute, were now happily paired with Sophie, although none of them had seen enough of that crew since their return to Mars for Emi to say how they’d changed.

They were otherwise…occupied.

Ford picked up Emi’s towel and tote bag. “We’ll let you guys have the pool. We’re heading back to our room.”

Gregor scooped Donna into his arms and playfully tossed her into the pool as she let out a scream. “We’ll see you guys Saturday night at the party,” he said. He jumped into the pool after her, laughing and holding up his arms for protection as she swatted at him.

Caph slipped an arm around Emi’s waist as the three of them left the dome. Before they turned down the corridor to their room, they spotted Aaron walking toward them. They waited for him to join them.

“There’s Cap,” Caph said.

“Finally,” Emi groused.

Aaron kissed Emi and the other men when he walked up. “What’d I miss?”

“Greg dunked Donna,” Ford snarked. “I have a feeling she wasn’t too happy about it. We decided to come back to the room for some private fun.”

Emi didn’t need her empathic skills to read the smoky passion in Aaron’s brown eyes. “Is that so?” He pulled her to him and kissed her again, deeply, as she felt his firm bulge through his slacks grow against her body. “Well, let’s get to it.”

She giggled. “The wake-up the twins gave you this morning didn’t wear you out?”

Aaron grinned. “No. I think that muscle relaxer you gave me last night helped me get a good night’s sleep.” He’d pulled his back the previous day. Emi’s dose knocked him out…and he missed her wild and wooly romp in the tub with Caph and Ford before bedtime. She had awoken that morning to the twins tag-teaming Aaron, going down on him before he and Caph headed out for a meeting with the retrofit crew.

When they returned to the room, the men wasted no time getting undressed. They all jumped into bed, staring at Emi with hopeful looks on their faces.

She laughed. “You all are going to wear me out at this pace.”

Ford crooked a finger at her. “We’re enjoying our R&R. You wouldn’t want us to disobey orders and not have a good time, would you?”

“Oh, is that what this is? Following orders?” She let Caph hook a beefy arm around her waist and drag her into bed.

“Exactly,” he said, kissing her while Aaron and Ford made quick work of separating her from her swimsuit.

She lay cradled against Caph. The big man’s arms engulfed her, always leaving her with a feeling of safety. He cupped her breasts with his hands and rubbed his fingers over her nipples. They hardened under his touch. Meanwhile, he nibbled on the side of her neck, his warm breath sending pleasant waves of gooseflesh over her skin.

“Going to wear you out,” Caph promised with a sultry smile. “You’ll need a vacation to recover from our R&R, babe.” His teeth grazed the side of her neck, making her shiver again.

She gasped and squirmed against him as liquid heat shot straight from her nipples to her clit. She felt her pussy quickly growing damp. “That’s not much of a threat,” she managed. “Sounds more like a reward.”

“Quit hogging her,” Ford scolded, his smile belying his words. “You always hog her.”

“No, I don’t,” Caph responded, tweaking her nipples and making her moan. “You had her to yourself all morning.”

“He’s got a point,” Aaron noted. “We should get dibs.”

Emi cranked open an eye and glared at them. “If you start taking numbers, someone’s getting slugged.”

The men laughed. Aaron pushed Caph down onto the bed. Caph easily grabbed Emi and hauled her up the bed with him, turning her over so she faced him. He grabbed her by the waist and positioned her so he could thrust his hips up and spear her ready pussy with his stiff cock.

She moaned, closing her eyes and wiggling so his cock pierced her as deeply as possible. The soft down of blond curls dusting his chest rubbed against her pebbled nipples, adding an additional level of pleasure. She ran her hands over his chest, enjoying the feel of his warm flesh under her palms.

“That’s the sound I love to hear,” Aaron said. She felt the bed dip behind her. A moment later, he rubbed cool lube on her puckered ring, slowly working one finger inside her ass.

She squirmed against Caph. “Yes!” she gasped.

“What about me?” Ford complained.

She lifted her head from Caph’s chest. “Get yourself over here and quit whining, sweetie.”

“That’s more like it.” He eagerly changed position, kneeling next to Caph’s head so she could reach his cock with her mouth.

Aaron chuckled from behind her. “I’m not so sure she’s going to be the one worn out,” he joked. He added more lube and worked a second finger into her. “All she has to do is lie there and enjoy it.”

She closed her eyes and moaned around Ford’s cock as it slid between her lips. She loved this, having all three of them at once. Something that wouldn’t happen very often, if at all, while in space with someone always needing to be on watch.

Emi flicked at the slit before running her lips down his shaft. It felt like warm, silken steel against her tongue. Ford gently held her head and worked his hips in time with her mouth. “Geez, babe, you’re going to finish me quick if you keep moaning like that.”

She also loved times like this because of her empath training. There was nothing more satisfying than feeling the combined love and passion from all three of them, untainted by worry or cares, as they made love to her and each other.

Well, okay, maybe an orgasm with all three of their cocks in her body at the same time was more satisfying than feeling their emotions. But feeling their emotions ran a really close second.

Caph’s hands slipped around her hips and grabbed her ass cheeks, holding her open wide for Aaron. She felt the head of his cock press for entrance, stretching her, a familiar slight pinching burn that quickly gave way to pleasure as he buried his entire cock up her dark channel.

Emi squirmed as she sucked on Ford’s cock, which slid, silky and hot, against her tongue. Caph grabbed her hips once more and set the pace, using the sounds of her moans as a gauge to figure out the best position and pace. When his cock started perfectly stroking her swollen clit, her back arched and she moaned even louder.

Ford echoed the sound. “Holy fuck,” he said through gritted teeth. “I won’t last long like this.”

Aaron took his cues from Caph’s movements, his cock filling her ass every time Caph withdrew from her cunt. She braced her hands against Caph’s chest and held on for the ride, the men in complete control of her body and pleasure. When the first orgasm hit her, the feeling of her body clamping down on the two cocks filling her pussy and ass intensified her pleasure. She swallowed Ford’s cock to the hilt, the soft nest of hair between his legs tickling her nose as the moans rolled out of her.

“Shit!” Ford gasped. “Don’t stop!”

His cock hardened against her tongue, and she knew he was close, but as a second explosion rocked her core, she was helpless to do anything but take it and let it fill every inch of her senses.

Aaron’s grip on her waist tightened as he fucked her harder, driving her deeper onto Caph’s shaft. She heard something and opened one eye to see Caph licking Ford’s sac.

The sexy sight made her moan and triggered another pleasant shiver throughout her body, weaker than the first two but enough to get Caph and Aaron’s attention. Aaron had taken total control, fucking her hard and fast and, from the feel of the way Caph’s cock hardened inside her pussy, driving him close to the edge as well.

It was Ford who came first, his fingers fisting her hair as he drove his cock deep into her mouth. She moaned as a flood of his juices shot down her throat. She did her best to keep up with him, but a little escaped, dribbling down the corner of her mouth.

Caph moaned next, closely followed by Aaron, both men’s cocks pulsing before emptying inside her, filling her with their cum.

She didn’t move, Ford’s cock growing soft in her mouth as she tried to suck every last drop out of him.

Caph chuckled. “Let me help you there, babe.” He licked her chin all the way up to the corner of her mouth, catching what she’d let escape from between her lips. She turned to kiss him, enjoying the way his tongue swept through her mouth. Then he placed a kiss on Ford’s cock before Ford flopped back on the bed.

“That never gets old,” Caph said.

Aaron carefully withdrew and went into the bathroom. Emi collapsed on top of Caph as Ford stretched out next to them. Aaron returned a moment later with a wet cloth to clean her up before he, too, curled up on Caph’s other side.

With Emi on his chest and the other two men each with their heads tucked in the crooks of his arms, they all fell asleep.

* * *

It was Caph’s growling stomach that awoke Emi a few hours later. She laughed. “Someone’s ready for lunch.”

She heard Aaron yawn. “I think we’re well past lunch.” He lifted his head and looked at the clock. “Yep. It’s dinnertime.”

On Caph’s other side, Ford stirred. “Did I hear the growl of the dinner bell?”

“Are y’all picking on me?” Caph asked. He stroked Emi’s hair. When she looked, she spotted his playful smile.

“No, big guy, we’re not picking on you,” she said. “Are we going out to eat, or room service?”

The three men answered in unison, “Room service.”

Emi giggled. “Sounds like it’s settled.”

Ford sat up and kissed her. “A chance to stay naked in bed with you or having to get up, get dressed, and go out? Hmm, let me think. Duh.”

“I get it, I get it.”

“Someone order me something,” Caph said as he closed his eyes. “Anything. Just wake me up when it gets here.”

Aaron rolled out of bed. “I’ll do it. Command decision. I’m ordering us pizzas.”

Emi enjoyed the feel of Caph’s arms around her as she snuggled back down onto his chest. “Sounds good to me.”

When the knock sounded on their room door an hour later, Emi squealed and pulled the sheet over herself even as Caph and Ford laughed and tried to expose her. Aaron donned a robe and went to answer the door and sign for the pizzas.

“Okay, Em. It’s safe.”

She smacked Caph and Ford on the arms. “That was mean!”

Ford grinned. “Hey, I think you’re beautiful.”

“Thought you didn’t want to show me off.”

Caph laughed and crawled out of bed. “Believe me, that guy’s probably seen a lot worse than us naked.”

Chapter Two

Despite the different calendars on Mars and Earth, workers still tended to follow a seven-day weekly pattern based on the Earth calendar. Emi and her men checked out of the hotel the next morning and returned to the Tamora Bight to catch up on a few chores. It was a Friday, and Delaney and Markkus D’ambroise had the day off. They’d insisted on cooking a huge dinner for Emi and the men. When they arrived at the D’ambroises’ apartment, Caph’s face broke into a wide grin as he got a good whiff of the delicious aromas drifting from their kitchen upon stepping into the living room.

“You cooked ribs again!” he happily exclaimed. It was Caph’s favorite dish, and one Emi and the men didn’t get to indulge on a regular basis in space.

Delaney smiled. “Now don’t we always take good care of our big guy?”

He picked the older woman up and spun her around before planting a kiss on her forehead and setting her down again. “Thanks, Mom!” He headed to the kitchen to say hello to Markkus.

Delaney hugged Emi and the other men. “How are you doing?” Delaney asked Emi as Aaron and Ford followed Caph to the kitchen.

“I’m okay.” Being an empath had its advantages. Emi knew damn well Delaney wasn’t asking about Emi’s hangover from her recent girls’ night out with Donna and Sophie. She was asking about Emi’s mood in regards to what they’d talked about at Kels’ grave a few days earlier.

“Doing better, I hope?” Delaney was also an empath. Lying would be counterproductive.

“Relatively speaking,” Emi hedged.

Delaney gripped both her hands and squeezed. “Remember, no guilt, honey. You didn’t cause our daughter’s death. If the guys had shown up with you on our doorstep a couple of months after it happened, then yes, it would have hurt us. But nearly twenty years have passed since we lost Kels. They deserve happiness. You make them happy. What more can we ask for?”

“Keep reminding me of that.”

Delaney kindly smiled. “I will, don’t worry. You all deserve happiness. So, what’s your costume for the big Halloween bash tomorrow night?”

Emi peeked around the corner to make sure the men couldn’t hear her from the kitchen. “An old-fashioned Earth naughty nurse,” she whispered.

Delaney laughed. “That’ll keep them panting after you all night.”

“I hope so.” Then Emi’s eye caught a glimpse of something new, a picture that hadn’t been on their wall the last time they’d visited Delaney and Markkus. Emi walked over to it. It was a picture of her and her men, taken on Earth before they lifted.

“When did you put this up?” Emi asked, deeply touched.

Delaney walked up behind her and rested a hand on Emi’s shoulder. “Ford sent it to us. I had a framed copy made. I wanted it up there. You’re part of the family now.”

Emi’s eyes prickled with tears she didn’t want to cry. Not tonight, when things were going so well. She turned and hugged Delaney. “Thanks, Mom,” she managed to choke out.

She felt a wave of love and affection from the woman. “I meant it when I told you you’re like a daughter to us. It’s only right we have pictures of you up there with everyone else. We’re proud of you and your accomplishments and we love you.” She pulled back to meet Emi’s gaze. “Life is too short to stay hung up on the past for too long. Time keeps moving on whether we like it or not. And we’re beyond grateful that you’ve made our adopted sons happy.”

* * *

Emi loosened up and enjoyed dinner. She took Delaney’s words to heart. Life was too short not to enjoy every minute possible. Between losing her parents at such a young age, going through the sim experience when she was paired with her men, and their recent trip to the Aroykin colony, that fact had been slammed home in an unforgettable way.

After dinner, Emi and her men helped Markkus clean up, and they all sat talking in their living room.

“So, what’s next?” Delaney asked. “Do you have your mission orders?”

“Not yet,” Aaron said. “I’ll be happy with anything they give us, as long as it’s calm and peaceful.” He slung one arm around Emi’s shoulders. He held her hand in his free one, stroking her knuckles with his thumb. It was his unconscious tic, she’d noticed, a soothing gesture she found completely endearing.

“Yeah,” Caph agreed. “Boring uninhabited planet surveys are looking pretty darn good to me right now.”

“Never thought I’d hear you say that,” Ford teased.

“So what are you men going to the party dressed as?” Delaney asked.

“Secret,” all three of them said in unison.

Aaron grimaced as Emi giggled. Both Markkus and Delaney laughed.

“You know,” Aaron said, “I’m thinking I need to go back to making you two take turns talking.”

“No,” Emi said. “I think it’s cute.”

“I keep telling you, Em, you wait twenty years and tell me that.” But the smile on his face belied his words.

“So I don’t get to see what you’re dressing as?”

Ford grinned. “Nope. You have your secrets, babe, and we have ours. Wouldn’t want you to get bored with us too soon.”

“No chance of that, Ford.”

They talked late into the evening. Emi had been unable to stifle her yawns any longer when Aaron patted her thigh. “I think it’s time to head back home. We’re going to have a late night tomorrow.”

She reluctantly agreed.

After a round of hugs, they headed to the tram that would carry them back to their side of the complex. Emi snuggled against Aaron, her head tucked against him and his arm comfortably slung around her shoulders. What seemed like scant moments later, he gently shook her.

“Wake up, Em. We’re here.”

“Huh?” She blinked as she yawned. Caph and Ford looked amused and had already exited the tram.

“Oh.” She let Aaron help her up and lead her off the tram.

It took them another fifteen minutes to walk back to the hangar where the TB was berthed.

“I think someone’s too sleepy for sex,” Ford teased from behind them as they walked up the gangway toward their hatch.

“I ate too much.”

Caph laughed. “You can never eat too many ribs.”

“Maybe you can’t, big guy, but I did. I’m ready to fall asleep.”

They made their way through the ship to their quarters. She undressed and immediately curled up on their bed.

The men stared down at her as they started undressing. “You don’t mind if we have a little fun, do you?” Ford asked. His shirt hit the floor.

“You know I don’t mind.” She tried unsuccessfully to stifle another yawn.

“Good,” Aaron said. He grabbed Ford and pulled him close, kissing him. Emi watched with a smile as Ford’s knees practically melted out from under him. He reached for Aaron’s fly and unzipped his trousers.

Aaron buried his fingers in Ford’s dark hair. “That’s it,” he encouraged as Ford fished his stiffening cock out and sucked it down his throat.

Caph, now the first man totally naked, also dropped to his knees. “Quit hogging him,” he complained. He tried nuzzling in but Ford wrapped his arms around Aaron’s legs and stubbornly refused to let him in.

Another yawn cut Emi’s giggle short. She could watch them do this all night. She loved how playful they got with each other.

Ford ended up accidentally knocking Aaron off-balance. He fell forward onto the bed and both Ford and Caph leapt on him. They had him rolled onto his back and stripped of his trousers, briefs, and shoes and socks in seconds. Caph managed to beat Ford to Aaron’s cock that time, deep-throating him and making the captain loudly moan.

Ford, not one to be denied, opted for Caph’s cock after shucking the rest of his clothes. That left Aaron grabbing Ford by the hips and pulling him closer to take Ford’s cock between his lips.

Emi laughed into her pillow, not wanting to disturb their sexy daisy chain of cock sucking. The bedroom was full of the sounds of squirming, sucking, moaning men as they each tried to make each other come first.

Nothing like a little friendly competition.

Aaron, not to be outdone by either of his men, played dirty. He worked one hand between Ford’s ass cheeks. Ford let out a loud moan as he started fucking his hips against Aaron’s face.

That started the chain reaction. Caph, his nose practically shoved into Aaron’s balls, started groaning from the sensation of Ford moaning around his cock. Aaron reached down with his other hand and grabbed a fistful of Caph’s shaggy hair and used it for leverage to fuck the big man’s mouth.

If Emi hadn’t been so tired, the combined feeling her empathic senses picked up from them would have easily gotten her in the mood to join them. Their love and passion flowed over them and her, nearly as intoxicating as any alcoholic drink.

It rarely got better than this. Unless, of course, she was in the middle of their lovemaking.

Ford came first. Emi could tell from the sounds he made and how he suddenly deep-throated Caph. That triggered Caph’s release, leading to another happy round of noises from Ford as he swallowed Caph’s juices.

Only once he knew the other two had finished did Aaron allow himself to climax, rewarding Caph with a mouthful of cum.

When the daisy chain fell still, the men breathing heavy and spent, Emi broke into applause.

“I could make a mint selling tickets to watch that,” she teased.

Aaron arched an eyebrow at her. “Oh, really?”

She nodded. “I can’t imagine I’m the only woman out there who enjoys watching hot guys doing each other.”

“Who says we want to be watched?” Aaron asked. “Not to mention, I suspect you wouldn’t want to share us.”

“That’s true. I am pretty selfish. I want my three hunks to myself. I don’t ever plan on sharing you with anyone else.”

Chapter Three

Emi wouldn’t let the guys see her costume, either. She grabbed the garment bag, which she’d hidden in a storage locker in the hold, and headed out that afternoon to meet up with her friends. Along with Sophie and Donna, she holed herself up in Donna’s room after they kicked out the men of the K-2. Donna needed help lacing her gorgeous brocade corset, which completed her old-Earth can-can dancer costume. Sophie had gone with an old pirate wench standard.

The other two women gave Emi approving thumbs-up to her short, tight white dress and red fishnet stockings. A push-up bra gave her extra cleavage, exposed by the low buttons of the dress. If she bent over, however, the short skirt would ride up her ass and show her red G-string. A pair of red-and-white platform-heeled boots, and a red-and-white hat, finished the ensemble.

They didn’t know what their men had planned for their costumes. None of the men had told their women about their plans. The women would meet them at the party, which was being held by the head DSMC officer at the base, and surprise each other.

Sophie turned and studied her reflection in the mirror. “I have a feeling I won’t be getting much sleep tonight,” she said with a smile.

Donna grinned. “Hell, I hope I won’t be getting any sleep tonight.”

“I still have a hard time picturing your grunts as lovable,” Emi teased Donna.

“I know. They’re like one of those candies with the hard, crunchy outside and a gooey inside.” Donna blotted her lipstick on a tissue. “Very gooey. Especially when you add heat.” She grinned.

Sophie rose to the bait. “Dare I ask what kind of heat?”

Donna lifted her layers of skirt to reveal she wasn’t wearing any underwear beneath her garter belt. “I like to keep my guys up on their toes.”

“It won’t be their toes that’ll be up,” Emi snarked. “Not when they realize you’re going commando. You’ll be lucky if they don’t pull you into a dark corner and bend you over a table.”

“Maybe that’s my plan.”

They arrived at the party a little later than the time they’d intended to meet their men. Standing in the darkened foyer of the banquet hall where the party was being held, they peered into the main room, trying to find their men.

“Where the heck are they?” Donna muttered.

“I don’t know,” Sophie said. “I’m more concerned about where the bar is.”

“Didn’t you have enough fun the other night?” Emi asked. “I know I, for one, was pretty hungover.”

Sophie grinned. “Yeah, but a wise doctor once prescribed a heaping dose of fun for Halloween parties.”

“What doctor?” Donna asked.

Sophie winked. “Me.” She headed into the crowded hall. Donna and Emi shrugged and followed her. Sophie made her way through the crowds of people with Donna and Emi trailing in her wake before the crowd could close up again and separate them. Emi wasn’t looking forward to getting separated from her girlfriends if she couldn’t find her men.

And so far, she’d seen neither hide nor hair of her men.

Hell, she’d settle for sticking around with the men of the other two crews, just to have familiar faces close by. She knew she wasn’t in any danger, but it was difficult for her to close out all the emotions of the celebrating partygoers, most of them already lubricated by copious amounts of alcohol.

It didn’t help that her bar fight experience in the sim wouldn’t leave her mind, when two unchipped men from another ship nearly raped her.

Just because it turned out not to be a real experience didn’t mean it left her mind.

Sophie found the bar. “Oh, goodie. Open bar.” She turned to Donna and Emi. “Join me?”

Donna grinned. “Hell, yeah. Give me whatever my girlfriend’s having. What about you, Emi?”

Emi sighed. “Make it three.” She couldn’t make out any familiar shapes among the people dancing in the darkened room. She tried to look for Caph’s large form, but many people wore costumes with either large hats or entire heads that added to their height, making that effort futile.

She’d started to turn back toward the bar, where Donna and Sophie were ogling the half-naked bartender dressed as an old Earth gladiator, when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her onto the dance floor, spinning her quickly out of sight amongst the throngs of other dancers. She couldn’t make out a face behind dark, full mask hidden beneath a cowl, but she also knew from her empathic senses it wasn’t one of her men.

Before she could object, the man spoke.

“Emi, it’s me, Rob.”

She relaxed a little and let Rob Elloy lead her around the crowded dance floor. “What’s going on? Where’s Aaron, Caph, and Ford?”

“They’re around here somewhere. I wanted a moment alone with you.”

“Why?”

“I know I said this before in front of your men, but I wanted to talk to you alone.”

“You didn’t have to abduct me from the bar.”

“Please, this is hard enough for me.”

She felt that much from him and shut up so he could talk.

He spoke low and quickly, barely audible above the music and noise of the raucous crowd. “I’m sorry for what happened in the sim. I don’t know why I acted like that. Why we acted like that. But I’m the captain, so I’m ultimately responsible. And I know we hurt your feelings about what we said about your body.”

She tensed. “You’re right. You did.”

“You are a beautiful woman, and your men are very lucky to have you. I’ve discovered a lot in a very short amount of time with Donna. We’re learning how to loosen up and not take ourselves so seriously. And again, I want to thank you for that. If it hadn’t been for you, she wouldn’t have joined the DSMC and we wouldn’t have met her. The three of us never realized how miserable we were, and how self-centered and assholish we’d become over the years. I just wanted you to know you did make a difference for us, even if indirectly. You’re also a damn fine doctor. Look at the way you handled the Aroykin colony mission. And I promise you, if you or the guys ever need backup, we’ll be the first in line volunteering to be there for all of you.”

“Thank you, Rob. I appreciate that. It takes a big man to admit when he screwed up. And I promise you this, if you and your guys ever hurt Donna, there’s no place in this universe you’ll be able to hide from me. Got it?”

He laughed. “Loud and clear. I promise we’d die to make her happy.” He ended their dance, paused, and kissed her hand before bowing and then disappearing into the crowd. Emi hadn’t held a grudge against the men of the Braynow Gaston the way she had against the K-2 crew only because Graymard had admitted to Emi that’d he’d deliberately manipulated their responses in the sim to make it appear they’d made fun of Aaron, Caph, and Ford, when in reality they hadn’t.

The sneaky bastard had stacked the deck to help her want to get to know the Tamora Bight’s crew better in hopes she’d give them more of a chance than other prospects had. In retrospect, Emi wouldn’t complain about the results.

Emi made her way back to the bar where Donna and Sophie had been scanning the crowd. Donna held Emi’s drink as well as her own. “Oh, there you are.” She handed the glass over. “I was about to start on this for you. Where’d you disappear to?”

Emi sipped to give herself time to think. She didn’t want to outright lie to her friend. “Just needed to have a quick word with someone.”

* * *

Emi’s men caught up with the women at the bar after Emi was already through her second drink.

She stared at them, wondering if it was the alcohol messing with her mind, or if her men were really dressed like she thought they were.

“Well?” Ford asked. “What do you think?”

“She’s speechless,” Caph said.

She mulled over her possible choices, not wanting to hurt their feelings. “You’re…dressed.”

Aaron smiled, his brown eyes playfully catching hers. “You have no clue, do you?”

“None,” she said with more than a little relief as she worked on her drink.

Aaron was dressed all in silver and carried something that resembled a cane, although the top was a broad blade-looking thing, instead of a curved handle. Ford had donned ragged clothes that looked like they were straight off of a working farm on Earth, and had brownish blades of a grasslike plant hanging out all over.

Caph, at least, she could tell he was dressed up as a lion.

“Ha!” Ford triumphantly crowed. “If we stumped her, we’re sure to win for obscurity. See? Told you.”

“Don’t count your trophies before they’re won,” Aaron lightly warned.

“What are you?” Emi asked.

“Wizard of Oz,” Caph said. “Aaron’s the Tin Man, Ford is the Scarecrow, and I’m the Cowardly Lion.”

It teased something in the far, deep recesses of her brain, but not enough to make any sense. “Okay, but what are you?”

“It was a movie and a book,” Aaron said. “They were characters.”

“Oh. Okay.” Emi shrugged and finished off her drink. “And here we gals opted for sexy.”

“You’re always sexy, babe,” Caph said, making a little growling sound in his throat as he pulled her close for a kiss.

“Mmm. Are you sure this is legal?” she asked.

“What?”

She flicked his mane. “Bestiality.”

He nibbled the side of her neck, melting her. “I’ll be a beast by the time we get back to the TB, all right. You do look hot.”

Ford snatched her from Caph’s arms. “I think I’m in need of some medical attention,” he said, his blue eyes sparkling with mirth. Emi didn’t miss the hard bulge rubbing against her through his costume.

Aaron stepped behind her, his body pressing her against Ford’s. She also felt his erection along the seam of her ass. “Yes,” Aaron murmured in her ear. “I think I’m going to need a very thorough examination by a very conscientious nurse.”

Emi wiggled her butt against both men, making them even harder. “I think that can be arranged, gentlemen.”

“Whoo hoo, looks like Emi’s starting the party early,” Donna teased from behind them.

Emi looked over at her friends, who were now on drink number three. Sophie grinned and held her glass up in a toast.

Rob, Gregor, and Sam appeared from out of the crowd and surrounded Donna, all three of them dressed in dark robes with cowls and masks. Donna let out a playful squeal as one of the three men felt her up.

“What, exactly, are you three dressed as?” Sophie asked.

“The discount rack from the costume store because we waited too long to pick something out,” Rob quipped. “All the good stuff was gone.”

Ford let out a laugh. “Not winning any trophies for that, are you?”

“Hey,” Gregor said, “it means we can get out of here sooner.”

“I’m all for that,” Donna said. “Let’s go dance before this third drink goes to my head and I’m bending over in the middle of the dance floor.”

“Huh?” all three of her men said.

She leaned in and whispered in Rob’s ear.

“Oh. Oh!” He laughed. “We’ll see you all later.” Followed by Sam and Gregor, he led Donna out onto the dance floor.

“What was that about?” Caph asked.

Sophie grinned. “Let’s just say she’s not playing hard to get tonight.”

Sophie’s men showed up, dressed in footballer team outfits. Emi stifled a laugh as all three scientists’ cocks stiffened in their shorts, tenting identically.

“Ahoy, mateys,” Sophie teased, swishing her short skirt as she checked them out. “What have we here?”

“I think you shivered their timbers,” Emi teased.

“I do believe you’re right,” Sophie agreed. Then she grabbed hold of John Tarrence’s cock through the front of his shorts. “Come on, lads. Let’s go dance before ye commence to keelhauling this poor wench.” She led John away by his conveniently provided handle, with Alex Parisi and Jules Green following close behind.

“I think that’s a woman who has her men well in hand,” Aaron mused.

“At least she’s a team player,” Emi helpfully chimed in.

Her men groaned.

“I think they’re going to plunder her booty,” Ford said with a grin.

Everyone looked at Caph.

“I got nothing. Let’s go dance.”

Chapter Four

They stayed at the party, waiting until the costume awards were handed out, but only because they could tell it would break Ford’s heart to miss it if they won. Emi had seen Rob and his guys leading Donna out over an hour before. Sophie bid Emi good night a few minutes before the costume awards began. From the glimpse Emi got of Jules Green’s still-tented shorts, it was obvious Sophie wouldn’t be getting to sleep anytime soon.

As the host, Admiral Bennington of the DSMC, ran through the categories, the mostly drunken partygoers cheered each winner. Emi felt Ford’s nervous tension thrumming through him, certain he’d cinched them the award.

“And for most obscure costumes, the award goes to the crew of the Tamora Bight.”

Emi winced as Ford let out a howl of success before bolting through the crowd toward the stage.

Aaron laughed as he took Emi by the hand. “It’s the simple things that make him happy,” he teased.

Caph, who’d already had a few beers, began to laugh before stopping and scrunching his forehead up in consternation. “Hey, you calling me simple, Cap?”

“No, big guy,” Aaron said. “I’m calling motormouth simple.” He tipped his head toward Ford, who’d made it to the stage. “He is the scarecrow, after all.”

All the way back to the hangar, Ford wore a beaming grin. He triumphantly carried the trophy.

“He’s going to be insufferable now, isn’t he?” Emi quietly asked Aaron.

“What do you think, Em?”

She smiled. “Lucky for him he’s got such a cute ass.”

Caph snorted. “And a talented mouth.”

Ford glanced back. “Are you guys talking about me?”

As one, the three of them said, “No.”

Aaron sighed.

Once they made it back to their cabin, Emi plopped down on their bed with a groan. She wasn’t used to wearing anything other than comfy sneakers for working around the ship. “These boots fall into the ‘seemed like a great idea at the time’ category.” She lifted her left leg and wiggled her foot at Caph. “Pleeeease?”

He’d already unzipped and dropped his lion costume, revealing he wore nothing but briefs under it. The outline of his hard cock stood in stark relief against the white fabric. “Sure, babe.” He helped her out of her platform boots, then sat in front of her and started rubbing her feet. “How’s that?” As with his tongue, he was very skilled with his fingers, his thumbs perfectly hitting every sore spot on her feet and soothing them.

“Ooooh, yes! Please, don’t stop!”

“If she’s moaning like that now,” Ford joked, “just imagine what she’ll be doing when we’re rubbing other parts of her body.” He found the perfect spot on one of the dressers to display the trophy and stood back, admiring it.

Aaron had stepped into the head to clean off the silver makeup from his face. “You starting without us?” he playfully hollered.

“No, Cap,” Emi said as she winked at Caph. “He’s just warming me up.” He helped her pull off her stockings. Then he lowered her to the bed to trail kisses down her throat and to her cleavage.

He popped the first button loose. “This is a beautiful costume, but it’s too much work.”

“Too much work?”

“Mmm-hmm.” He nuzzled the valley between her breasts. “I mean, come on. Seriously? I like being able to just pull your shirt up and off.”

She plunged her fingers into his shaggy blond hair. He blew warm breath across her skin, kissing around her bra but not bothering to unfasten any more buttons or free her breasts for further attention.

Ford removed his costume and joined them in bed. “I, for one, love it,” he said. He leaned in to kiss her, his tongue flicking against her lips. “I think you’re the hottest nurse in the universe. You’re not a bad doctor, either.” He playfully grinned. Then he reached over and snapped the elastic band of Caph’s briefs. “What’re these still doing on you?”

“I’m busy. Feel free to help me out.”

“Gladly.” Ford leaned over, hooked his fingers in the waistband of Caph’s briefs, and pulled them down and off him. He nipped Caph’s ass. “There. The view is much better.” He looked at Emi. “Now we need to get you naked.”

“I think the captain wants to help,” she said.

“Cap!” Ford bellowed. “Get yer ass out here. We have a naughty nurse to strip search.”

“This stupid makeup doesn’t want to come off. Hold your horses. And that’s an order.”

Ford frowned. “That’s not fair.” His stiff cock twitched. Emi felt his playful horniness. He wanted to get down to business.

“Yeah, it sort of is. He is the captain.”

“Well, still doesn’t mean it’s fair.”

“Don’t pout. You’ll get wrinkles.”

Caph ignored their banter, opting instead to feather his lips across the swell of her breasts, showering her flesh with kisses that served to make her heart flutter in anticipation and stoked the heat simmering between her legs. Her upper thighs already felt damp from the men’s attention during the party.

“Is Ford griping?” Aaron called from the head.

“Yep.”

“Remind him the costumes were his idea.”

Emi laughed as Ford scrunched up his features and made a face at the doorway. He pushed her legs apart and dove between her thighs. Grabbing the G-string in his teeth, he started working it down her legs. His blue eyes seemed lit from within by humor and arousal.

“Hurry, Aar. He’s getting bitey.”

“Bitey?” He stuck his head out the doorway in time to see Ford sit up with the G-string hanging from his mouth.

Aaron burst out laughing. “Down, boy.”

Ford spit out the G-string. “Sure thing, Cap.” He dove between Emi’s legs again, quickly turning her squeal of laughter into a passionate moan as he shouldered apart her thighs and flicked her clit with his tongue.

Caph lifted his head long enough to say, “He’s starting without you, Aar,” before he moved up to Emi’s throat and started covering her flesh with sensuous kisses.

“I’m coming.”

Emi thought it wouldn’t be long before she’d start coming, too, at that rate. She moved one hand from Caph’s head to Ford’s, the texture different from the larger man. Ford must have thought she would try to push him away, because he grabbed her thighs and held on, pressing his tongue as deeply inside her as he could get it.

Emi arched her back at the delicious sensations assaulting her. She looked up to see Aaron standing over her, naked, his cock quickly growing hard as he watched their scene unfold.

Their eyes met, his passionate gaze boring deep inside her. As if reading her mind, he spread his legs and lowered himself over her head.

She opened wide, swiping at his balls with her tongue as he dangled them over her face.

She felt him reach down and cup the back of her head. “You want those, baby?” he asked, his voice hoarse with desire.

“Uh-huh!”

He obliged her, positioning himself so she could take them, one at a time, into her mouth. She gently rolled his balls against her tongue, every moan Ford drew out of her vibrating up through his sac into his body.

“That’s it, baby,” Aaron urged her. “You know what to do.”

She felt Caph reach into her bra and free her left breast from the cup. When the wet heat of his lips closed over her, it made her moan again. His tongue flicked across her nipple, the tight peak aching with each pull of his mouth.

Aaron or Caph, she wasn’t sure which, freed her other breast and his fingers plucked at her nipple.

Ford’s lips wrapped around her clit. The building sexual tension in her body snapped, sending her first orgasm bouncing around inside her, making her moan even more loudly into Aaron’s balls.

“There she goes,” Aaron gently teased. He shifted position, replacing his balls with his rigid cock. As she swallowed him, she swirled the salty pre-cum from the slit over her tongue. She wanted to make him come, to taste him filling her mouth, but after a couple of minutes he pulled out, leaving her moaning in disappointment.

“Don’t worry. We’re just going to change position.”

Emi didn’t open her eyes when she felt Aaron move away. Then came the unmistakable feel of Caph’s arms grabbing her. He pulled her over and on top of him, unerringly sinking his cock into her pussy. His hands bunched her costume up around her waist but none of them made any move to rid her of it.

She cracked open one eye to see Caph’s playful green gaze staring up at her. She braced her hands against his broad chest and let him bounce her up and down on his cock. Then Aaron placed a palm in the middle of her back and pushed her down onto Caph’s chest. She closed her eyes again and laid her head against him, listening to his heart pounding in her ear through his flesh.

When she felt the lube, she knew at least part of Aaron’s plan. She sighed with contentment, even while wiggling her hips against Caph. Her swollen clit begged for more than the teasing it got from the position she was in. Then Aaron’s fingers breached her tight rim and she couldn’t hold still.

“More, please.”

“Hold on, Em. I’m getting there.” He took his time, no doubt enjoying the way she begged and pleaded for him to just fuck her already as he worked his fingers and lube into her ass. She wanted to be filled, to feel both their cocks rocking back and forth inside her.

Caph’s hands clamped down on her hips, stilling her movements and earning him a frustrated whine.

Then Aaron pressed the thick knob of his cock against her rim and she fell still. “Yesss!” she hissed.

He slowly fed every inch inside her, making her wait for it, refusing to be rushed. The unpleasant sensation of being stretched open by both of their cocks quickly transformed into pleasure as she adjusted to them. Her body responded, her own juices freely flowing, filling her cunt and drenching Caph’s cock and balls.

Once she felt Aaron seated deeply inside her, she tried rocking against the men but Caph wouldn’t let go. “Hold on, baby,” he murmured.

She didn’t understand the holdup until Aaron leaned forward, pressing his weight against her, pinning her to Caph. Then she heard the snick of the lube bottle again and realized what was going on.

Aaron nipped the back of her neck, sending shivers racing through her. “Hold on while Ford climbs onto the ride.”

She tried to suppress her giggle against Caph’s shoulder. She didn’t want to spoil the mood.

Behind her, Aaron moaned. Then his teeth clamped down on her shoulder. She gasped, more heat boiling inside her. She felt his body rock against her as he shifted his hips back and forth against Ford.

“There we go,” Ford said. “And a one, and a two, and a…” Ford and Aaron began moving together. Emi moaned at the exquisite sensation of Aaron’s cock plowing her ass. Aaron rose up a little, taking some of his weight off Emi and allowing Caph to start moving, too. One of the men, she wasn’t sure if it was Ford or Aaron, reached around and started playing with her breasts and nipples again.

But it was Aaron’s teeth nipping her flesh that tripped her the second time, sending her spiraling into a beautiful orgasm with her pussy and ass squeezing both cocks inside her against her G-spot. That merged into yet another series of pleasurable explosions when one of their hands found her clit and began rubbing.

She opened her mind and heart, awash in the boiling pleasure and love all three men felt for her and each other. She rode each wave as it came, her body no longer under her own will. The men used her and each other, and her cunt and clit joyfully responded to them. They fucked her and each other, harder, faster, churning her insides as each orgasm blended into the next for her. Aaron became the pivot point, setting a hard and fast pace that drove Emi against Caph with each stroke.

Caph came first, finishing with several hard upward thrusts of his hips that drove his cock deep inside her body before he went limp beneath her. Aaron and Ford weren’t done, however, and Emi held on as the two of them fucked, slamming their hips together, Ford’s body driving Aaron’s cock harder into her ass. With the last of her own climaxes still rippling through her body, she reached out and braced herself against the mattress. Caph’s fingers dug into her hips, allowing Aaron to get even more traction while his body slapped first against hers, then collided into Ford’s.

She felt Aaron growing even harder and knew he was close, but it was Ford who let out a loud cry first. Aaron’s strokes grew faster still until he caught up and buried his cock inside her ass one last time.

Aaron collapsed on top of her, panting, his body covered with a fine sheen of sweat. She felt Ford reach out to prop himself up with his arms and keep his additional weight off them.

For a moment, the only sound in the room was their heavy breathing and Emi’s pulse banging in her ear.

Until a long, whistling fart shattered the silence.

“Sorry,” Caph mumbled, already halfway asleep.

Aaron and Ford dove off the pile, allowing a laughing Emi to untangle herself from Caph.

“I warned you not to eat those burritos before the party,” Ford chastised.

Emi stayed where she landed, still laughing and too tired to move. Aaron grabbed her arms and pulled her to her feet. “Come on, Em. Let’s go grab a shower.”

Ford and Aaron quickly helped her out of her outfit and enjoyed soaping her body down in a rare full water shower. By the time they returned to bed a few minutes later, Caph was fully asleep, lips parted, a small trail of drool working its way down his cheek and onto his pillow.

Emi, Ford, and Aaron had settled themselves in bed when Caph let loose again.

“Can’t you give him something for that?” Ford mumbled.

“Yeah, but it means getting up and getting it from sick bay, then waking him up to take it, and that’s energy I don’t have.” She yawned. “You should have thought about that when you guys let him have burritos.”

“There was no let,” Ford said. “You know how the big guy gets when he’s hungry.”

Aaron snuggled her close. “Enough. We’ve slept through worse. Go to sleep. Captain’s orders.”

Emi was drifting off to sleep when she heard another toot from Caph break the silence.

“Gawd,” Ford said. “Change places with me.” He’d ended up next to Caph.

“No,” Aaron said. “Suck it up.”

With some final grumbling, Ford gave up arguing.

Chapter Five

Emi awoke the next morning pleasantly achy and sore and apparently not asphyxiated by Caph’s intermittent noxious emissions during the night. Her men, still sound asleep, bore peaceful expressions she didn’t have the heart to disrupt.

Carefully, she extracted herself from them and grabbed a quick shower. She donned a casual uniform and headed to the galley to make the coffee.

The Java Max Excel 10k coffeemaker sat in its place of honor on the counter. She and Ford wouldn’t be able to survive a day in space without coffee.

She grabbed a canister of coffee from the cabinet and found a filter and the scoop. When she opened the machine’s basket to put the filter and grounds in, however, she found a nasty surprise.

A large, black spider sprang out of the basket at her.

Emi let out a bloodcurdling scream and scrambled backward away from it, the filter, basket, and scoop flying in one direction, and the open canister of ground coffee spraying all over the galley. She tripped over one of the galley chairs and landed on her butt in a shower of grounds. The spider landed on the floor in front of her. Emi left a trail in the spilled coffee as she frantically scrabbled away from it.

As her racing pulse slowed, she heard the men pounding down the hallway toward the galley. Aaron and Ford were first through the door. All three were naked.

“What the fuck happened?” Aaron yelled. “You okay, Em?”

Emi belatedly realized the damn spider was, in fact, made out of rubber. As she looked around at the mess she’d made, she spotted Ford’s concerned frown…

And Caph’s playful grin. A wave of pleased humor hit her from the large man and she immediately pieced together what had happened.

“Caph, I’m gonna fucking kill your ass!”

Ford looked confused as the big man started laughing so hard he doubled over. “What happened?” Ford asked as he walked over to her and helped her to her feet. He brushed coffee grounds off her uniform.

From the doorway, Caph wheezed with laughter and shook his head.

Aaron, stepping carefully to avoid the spilled coffee grounds, picked up the spider and held it up for Ford to see. “The practical joker is back.”

Caph howled with laughter and slid down the wall.

Ford sadly surveyed the spilled coffee and shook his head. “What a waste.” As dedicated a coffee drinker as Emi, to him it was practically sacrilege for it to be wasted like that. He took the spider from Aaron. “I wondered where Bucky had gotten to. We haven’t seen him in a couple of years, have we?”

“Bucky?” Emi asked.

Aaron frowned at Caph, who still giggled by the counter. “Yeah, Bucky the rubber spider. It’s sort of Caph’s tradition. He’s been getting me and Ford with him at least once a year on average for nearly as long as we’ve been together.”

Emi snatched the spider from Ford and jammed it in one of the outer pockets of her pants. “Not funny, Caph!”

He managed to get to his feet, still occasionally snorting. “Happy Halloween, babe. It was hysterical from this end. You should see your face.”

She swatted his naked shoulder. “You think it’s so funny, you get to clean up that mess.”

Aaron yawned. “She’s got a point.” He leveled a serious gaze at Caph. “Clean it up. Now.”

“Okay, okay. I will. Let me go pull some clothes on—”

“Now, Caph,” Aaron said.

Caph sighed. “Yes, mon captain.”

Ford frowned. “Can’t believe you baited the coffeemaker. Is nothing sacred anymore? The coffeemaker should be off-limits.”

Emi found the scoop, basket, and filter where they’d landed on the floor. Then she grabbed a different canister of coffee. “And when you finish that, you get your ass out to the store and buy us five pounds of coffee to replace it. I got that over in H Dome, at Haverty’s. That’s the only place that sells dark Columbian Java roast around here.”

Caph looked at Aaron. “Aw, that’s on the other side of the complex. That’ll take me all morning. I still have to go through the weapons systems checks.”

“Then you should have thought of that sooner,” Aaron said. “I wouldn’t argue with the ship’s doctor, if I were you. Not after you fucked with her coffee. That in and of itself is dangerous.”

Ford still sadly stared at the spilled coffee scattered across the galley floor. “What a waste.” He looked up at Caph. “I love you, buddy, but if Emi and Aaron weren’t here, you’d have a shiner. You don’t fuck with a man’s coffee. It’s just not right.”

Caph rolled his eyes and headed over to the cleaning cabinet. “Fine, I get it. Coffeemaker’s off-limits.” He grabbed a broom and dustpan. “Oh, can I have Bucky back?”

The other three shouted in unison, “No!”

Emi glared at Caph. “Bucky can stay with me for the duration,” she said.

Caph looked close to pouting. If it hadn’t been for the fact that it was the coffeemaker he’d booby-trapped, she might have relented. “Aw, babe, he’s like one of the family. He’s over twenty years old. You can’t toss him into the disposal.”

That’s exactly where she’d been planning on tossing him at her first opportunity, but the sad tone in Caph’s voice softened her. “I won’t toss him, big guy. I promise. But he stays with me until I say otherwise.”

* * *

Emi didn’t see Caph most of the day. She was too busy going through her sick bay and medical inventories, then helping Ford with his cargo inventories. She knew Caph had left the ship on the shopping run to replace their coffee, because she sensed him leave due to the chip. She wasn’t paying attention when he returned a few hours later. She just suddenly realized he was back.

Before dinner, Caph hunted her down in sick bay. He pulled her to him and kissed her, melting her and sending damp warmth to her pussy. “Am I forgiven, babe?”

“I don’t know. Did you get me and Ford our coffee?”

“Not only did I get your coffee, I got fifteen pounds of it, as well as an assortment of some new flavors they got in their shipment this week.”

She smiled and relaxed against him. “Then you’re forgiven, big guy.” Who was she kidding? She couldn’t stay mad at any of her men, and especially not her big, sweet goofball.

“Does that mean I can have Bucky back now?”

She snorted. “Nice try. Hell no. You’ll get him back when I say so.” She hadn’t decided the best way to get Caph back yet, but Bucky would be part of her revenge. For now, she’d keep the rubber spider close in her pants pocket.

Caph tried the pouty lip on her. “Aw, come on, babe. I said I’m sorry.”

“Yes, you did. And I forgive you.” She pecked him on the lips before slipping free. “And if you know what’s good for you, you won’t argue the point with me. I won’t get rid of him. I promise.”

* * *

“Oh, they still have Bucky?” Delaney didn’t appear anything but amused when Emi related the story to her the next afternoon.

“Yes,” Emi grumbled.

Delaney smiled. “It’s been a tradition with them for a lot of years.” They were dining at a café not too far from the hangars. The men would join them shortly. Markkus would have joined them, too, but he’d been called in to work on an emergency.

“So I heard.” She pulled the rubber spider out of her pocket. For now, it wasn’t leaving her sight. She wouldn’t put it past Caph to steal it the first chance he got. And if she lost it, no telling where the rubber arachnid would appear next, knowing Caph.

Delaney took it from her and examined it. Black rubber legs made to look fuzzy. An exaggerated, rotund body, and beady, red eyes. It was as big as Emi’s hand and its long, wiggly legs unsettled her.

“It is an ugly thing, isn’t it?” She handed it back to Emi.

“Yes.” Emi jammed it back in her pocket when she saw the men pass the café’s windows. “I’m not letting Caph have it back before I get him.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet. I haven’t decided.” She looked up as the men walked over to the table. She slid around the corner booth to make room. They each leaned in and kissed Delaney on the cheek before sitting down.

“Hi, Mom,” they chanted in unison.

Delaney laughed. “I always did love that. And congratulations on winning the costume contest.”

Ford preened. “I told the guys it would win us the trophy. Finally.”

“He’s been wanting to win that damn trophy for years,” Delaney told Emi.

Ford beamed. “Now it’s proudly sitting in our quarters.”

Delaney leveled her gaze across the table at Caph. “Caph, my son, you sure love to live dangerously, don’t you?”

He blushed. “Aw, I told her I was sorry for Bucky. She won’t give him back.”

“You’ll get him back when I say so,” Emi said, “and not a second sooner.”

“You don’t sabotage someone’s coffee,” Delaney continued with a mock scowl. “You’re lucky it was Emi and not Ford who found it. I’d be visiting you in the hospital, otherwise.”

“You’ve got that right,” Ford grumbled. “Coffee is supposed to be sacrosanct. Messing with a person’s coffee is the equivalent of replacing a guy’s lube with glue. Might look funny at the time, but someone’s liable to get their ass kicked in retaliation.”

Chapter Six

With her own tasks complete, until they were underway again, Emi had nothing to do but watch her men do their jobs. She considered her eagerness to leave Mars a good sign. That and her steady stomach. Her horrible memories of the space sickness she’d suffered during her first lift from Earth were always close at hand.

It wasn’t something she was eager to experience again.

Ever.

Aaron and the twins called system status and other readings back and forth to each other as Aaron ran down their pre-lift checklist. They still didn’t know their final destination, their orders held up at DSMC headquarters on Earth. Unless they received word to do otherwise, they would continue their normal routine and prepare to leave Mars as scheduled.

Then the com link beeped. Aaron answered. “Tamora Bight.”

“Captain, this is the dockmaster. We’ve just received your official downloads.”

“About time,” he muttered low enough only Emi and the twins could hear. Aaron punched in his access code. “Send them.”

“Roger.” A few moments later, they finished. “That’s it.”

“Thanks. Tamora Bight out.” Aaron pulled them up and displayed them on the front vid screen so Emi and the twins could easily see them.

Ford let out a low whistle. “Cool beans. Finally, we get to use this crate for what she was designed for.”

Caph grinned. “That’s a long run. Man, they’ve got us heading out to the boondocks, don’t they?”

“Well,” Ford said, “you did say you’d be happy with a nice, boring explore.”

“I’m not complaining,” Caph answered. “Nice and boring sounds like a lot of fun.” He playfully waggled his shaggy blond eyebrows at Emi. “I’m sure I’ll figure out more than a few ways to stay amused.”

Emi glanced at Aaron. While he was still in professional mode, she nevertheless felt his pleased satisfaction at the orders. “How long will this trip take?” she asked.

Aaron scrolled through their nav computer. “Two months out, four weeks there doing a secondary explore, then two months to a neighboring star system for a two-month preliminary explore. A two-week jump to the nearest military outpost for resupply and R&R, and then we’ll get new orders there.” He looked at her. “Hope you don’t need to run out to the store any time soon.”

She laughed. “No, I’m all set.” She walked over to Caph and playfully poked his shoulder. “I know we’ll have enough coffee.”

* * *

Their scheduled lift would happen in six hours. After Emi fixed them all dinner, she tried to stay out of their way as she sat and watched them. She couldn’t help it, she loved seeing this side of them. Professional, all business. Even the twinspeak was kept to a minimum as the men followed their well-honed routine. She left the bridge to spend some of the time in a conference call with Sophie and Donna. It would be their last chance to do so for a while.

“Going to miss you,” Donna said. “It was nice getting to spend time with you.”

“Yeah,” Sophie agreed. “It was nice meeting both of you. I’m going to miss both of you.”

“You’re heading back to Earth,” Emi countered. “You’ll be too busy with training to miss anyone.”

“Oh, I talked to Graymard and warned him not to bother with the sim,” Sophie said.

Both Emi and Donna laughed. “He didn’t want to die, I take it?” Donna asked.

“Exactly. I told him I’d already talked to both of you, and that if he tried to get me into a sim, he’d better not bring me out. That, or he’d better not show his face near me when I got loose. He agreed that considering how well me and the guys get along, a sim would be ‘counterproductive,’ in his words.”

“You scared him shitless,” Donna said.

Emi giggled. “Between me and Donna cleaning his clock, you’d think he’d learn.”

“Or at least hire a bodyguard,” Donna added.

“I still want to thank both of you,” Sophie said.

“We didn’t do anything,” Emi said. “You and your guys got along. All I did was perform the chip sync.”

“No, and I don’t want this to sound wrong, but thank you for not picking the BG guys as your crew. I know they’re not everyone’s cuppa, but I really feel like I’ve found a home with them. I didn’t expect that.”

Emi smiled. “Well, they’re nice guys. But I have to admit Graymard knew what he was doing, having me meet them and the K-2 guys before I met my guys. I wouldn’t have been a good fit for either of those two crews.”

Donna spoke up. “Emi, you realize Rob feels bad about how they treated you in the sim, don’t you?”

“He doesn’t need to. He apologized and all is forgiven. And besides, you’re happy, they’re happy, everything worked out the way it should.”

“Unless Caph springs another one of those rubber spiders on you,” Sophie teased.

Emi laughed and felt her pocket for Bucky. “Um, yeah. I warned him if he repeated that, I’d be spiking his food with something to prevent erections.”

* * *

The docking crew disconnected their gangways and utility umbilicals before the hover lifts rolled them out of the protected hangar to the nearby lift pad. Logistically, lifting from Mars was much easier and took less time than from Earth because of the thinner atmosphere and no huge populated areas nearby. The men sat back as they completed the last of their pre-lift checks.

“I need to get some sleep,” Aaron said. He looked exhausted, too. Emi realized he’d only had about two hours’ sleep in the last forty-eight hours during their lift preparations. “I’m about to drop. Who wants first watch?”

“I’ll take it,” the twins parroted.

Emi laughed as Aaron rolled his eyes. “I can see we’re starting off on a good foot already here, guys. Ford, you want it?”

“Sure. I’m wired anyway. Too much coffee.” He snagged Emi’s hand and pulled her into his lap. “I’ll snuggle up with you tomorrow night.”

Caph stood and stretched. “Then that means I get to hog her for a while.” She spotted the firm bulge tenting the front of his work pants. He might be tired, but he wasn’t too tired to fool around. He grabbed her before she knew it and slung her up and over his shoulder. He patted her on the butt as he turned and headed for the door. “Say good night to Ford, babe. I’ve got a hard-on with your name on it.”

Laughing, she waved at Ford, who grinned. “I think I just received my orders,” she said.

Aaron managed a tired smile. “Just don’t keep me awake, you two.”

Aaron followed them to the cabin, where Caph unceremoniously dumped her onto their large shared bed. Aaron watched, amused, as he started pulling off his own clothes. She loved feeling amusement from Aaron almost as much as she enjoyed feeling his love. He was infinitely changed for the better from their first meeting in the sim, when he wore his grief and anger like a protective dark cloak around his soul, afraid to let anyone but the twins inside his fortress.

He stretched out on the far side of the bed and tucked his pillow under his head. “Don’t mind me and don’t be offended when I fall asleep. You’re not boring, but I’m just that tired.”

She leaned in and kissed him, as did Caph. “No worries,” she assured him. Then she kicked her shoes and socks off, followed by her shirt.

Caph helped her with her trousers, pulling them and her underwear off and dropping them onto the floor. Caph sat on the bed and pulled her into his lap. His already stiff cock rubbed against her clit. Emi draped her arms over his shoulders as he kissed her, his arms settling around her waist.

She loved all her men, but had something special with each of them as well, which made it that much better. With her big teddy bear, Caph, her playful, goofball buddy, they’d discovered his body had just the right shape to get her over unassisted.

He helped her rise up, Emi sighing as his thick cock pressed deep inside her ready cunt. Her juices flowed as she kissed him. They started slowly rocking together without rush, no frantic need to hurry them.

Engulfed in his embrace, she relaxed her body and her mind, basking in the warm, sensuous glow of his emotions. Caph let her set the pace and use his body for her pleasure. She slowly adjusted the angle until that blessed, magic sensation swept through her of his cock perfectly hitting her clit on every stroke inside her.

“Yesss,” she breathed into his kiss.

He did nothing to interrupt her. She felt the strain as he struggled to hold back, not wanting to disturb her climb.

She felt the walls of her pussy grabbing at his shaft with every stroke, bottoming him out inside her as her clit tingled from the teasing contact. She rested her head against his shoulder with her face tucked into the crook of his neck, rocking against him. He nuzzled her forehead and she closed her eyes, willing it to happen.

It did. With the head and ridge of his cock perfectly gliding against her G-spot with each stroke, combined with the way his body also hit her clit at the bottom of each thrust, it only took a few minutes for her to feel it start. She let out a cry, bouncing against him as her orgasm started, shuddering through her body, not harder than other climaxes she’d had but sweeter for the intimacy of it with Caph.

When he felt her begin to slow, he laid her back on the bed and grabbed her legs behind her knees, pressing them up against her chest. He cocooned her in his arms. “Look at me, Emi,” he whispered.

Forcing her eyes open, she stared up into his sweet green gaze. “I love you, babe,” he whispered.

A wave of dizzying passion washed through her as he began pounding his cock into her. Another orgasm, smaller than the first but every bit as good, hit her. “I love you, too,” she managed before stifling her cry of pleasure against his arm.

She heard him grunting, his breath coming harder and faster as he pistoned his hips into her, fucking her hard and fast. His back arched when he fell still. She felt his cock swell inside of her, warm heat flooding her as his balls emptied inside her.

After a moment he lowered his body onto hers, his weight on his arms as he kissed her. A soft noise from next to them made them both look.

Aaron had fallen asleep.

With her lips pressed together to muffle her giggles, she closed her eyes and rested her face against Caph’s arm. He pulled her close and rolled over so she was draped over his chest. Then he placed a kiss on the top of her head.

“Stay like this, babe. Please. I love falling asleep with you like this.”

She snuggled against him. “Me, too, big guy.”

Chapter Seven

Emi awoke three hours later, still draped over Caph, although Aaron had rolled closer, almost touching them. Her body, used to the Martian base schedule, insisted it was morning. Carefully, she untangled herself and got out of bed without waking them. After she did, in sleep Caph rolled over and curled his body around Aaron. Emi watched, smiling at the sight of her men nestled together. She never grew tired of this, of watching them. Whether at work or play or sleep or loving, they were a perfect fit for each other, all of them, in every way.

She grabbed a quick shower and dressed with Bucky safely tucked in her pants pocket before fixing Ford a cup of morning coffee. She carried it and her own to the bridge. He was stretched out in the command chair, his feet resting on the console. She sensed a pensive feeling in his soul.

“What’s up?” she asked.

He sat up as he took the coffee from her and gave her a good-morning kiss. “We just got a message alert from DSMC. Change of orders.”

“What?”

He nodded. “You heard correctly.”

“But we just lifted from Mars. Is that bad?”

“I hope not. They asked for our current and projected positions and told me to stand by for further details. I didn’t want to wake Aaron yet if I didn’t have to. Is he up?”

“No. He and Caph are still sound asleep.”

“All cuddled together?”

She smiled. “You know it.”

Ford returned her smile. “They’re so cute like that.”

The com beeped again, signaling a message. Ford activated it and read it, frowning.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Nothing wrong, but you need to see this.” He stood and vacated his seat.

Emi slid into the command chair and read the message.

DSMC official order override 84-592. Tamora Bight to proceed immediately to the listed coordinates. Kal’moran passenger transport vessel d’Acklan propulsion engines disabled, 378 souls on board. Passengers not in immediate danger. Proceed at fastest possible speed to render assistance and tow via tractor beam to orbiting Kal’moran space station. Dr. Hypatia must take the lead role dealing with Kal’moran crew and any related diplomatic contact. For the duration of this mission override, Captain Lucio will be referred to as pilot and all male crew will defer to Dr. Hypatia as captain. Indulge diplomatic interaction with Kal’moran leader as necessary for successful mission completion. Once finished, depart Kal’moran station and report status to DSMC for updated orders.

Emi sat back and stared at Ford. “What, exactly, does this mean?”

He shook his head, a wry smile on his face. “It means we need to wake Cap, sugar.”

Aaron didn’t look amused to be called to the bridge for anything less than a life-threatening emergency. Ford had already set their new course and engaged the jump engines. They would arrive there in two days.

Fortunately for Emi, it was a short jump, meaning less time she had to suffer through the mild, creepy-crawly sensation activating the jump engines always gave her.

Emi nervously stood by while Aaron read the message. After he finished, he sat back and scrubbed his face with his hands before looking at Emi.

He smirked. “Well, after the Tay-Dax’n incident in the sim, you did ask us to break down near a planet that made guys run around naked.”

“Huh?”

Aaron stood. He stretched, exhaustion heavy on his face. “They’re a Class 2-A treaty race, babe. Go do a little research.” He leaned in and kissed her before he headed for the door. “I’m going back to bed. Let me know if you guys need me. Otherwise, I’m going to sleep for a while longer.”

What happened in their initial sim pairing slammed back into her brain. She slid into her seat at the console and tapped into the ship’s computers while Ford looked on over her shoulders.

She read, snickering, then nearly doubled over with laughter.

Ford frowned as the meaning sank in. “Oh, hell no.”

She laughed even harder at his consternated expression. “Oh, hell yes, honey.” She grinned. “Hey, you said you enjoyed being objectified.”

“By you and the guys, sure. Not by a planet full of strange women.”

She stood, laughing, and turned to him. “But you’ll look so cute.” She reached over and pinched his cheek. “All decked out in nothing but a collar and one of their little G-strings.”

He looked positively mortified. “Babe, I might seem like a wild and crazy guy, but I am not an exhibitionist.”

“Oh, relax. You probably won’t even have to go to the surface. If you don’t leave the ship, you won’t have to wear their getup.” She snickered again. “But maybe I’ll make you put it on just to prance around in.”

He hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her tightly against his body. “The only woman I want seeing me like that is you,” he said, his voice practically a low growl. “Only you.”

“You might not have a choice. Besides, according to the file, they have quite the reputation among the humanoid treaty races as being a top-class resort destination.”

“If you don’t have testicles.”

“Maybe I should spend a little time there. In the interest of research and diplomacy, of course,” she pressed, teasing.

Mortification gave way to ire. “You are not going down to that fucking planet, babe. If you’ll recall, I didn’t want you going through with it during the Tay-Dax’n thing.”

“That was a sim.”

“But we didn’t know it was a sim then. Sorry, but I’m rather territorial of my wife. Feel free to look at our naked bodies all you want, but I’ll be damned I’ll let some other naked guy take care of you in any fucking way, even if it’s only to clean a hotel room.”

“We might not have a choice. ‘Indulge diplomatic interaction’ means I might have to go down.”

Kal’moran was a peaceful member of the Interstellar Treaty Coalition. A popular female resort destination because of their matriarchal society, they had made men into servants without rights. Unlike many patriarchal societies that had formed, the Kal’moran society wasn’t into abusing or mistreating their subservient male demographic. However, after eons of war and bloodshed between the men, the women had stepped in, taken over, and their society commenced to prosper. After a few generations passed, men no longer tried to change their lot in life back to the violent ways and now, over a hundred generations later, their current ruling leader had parlayed their temperate planet and beautiful scenery into a playground for rich women.

Many different humanoid species could easily tolerate the planet’s almost Earthlike conditions. The air was slightly thinner, and the gravity a little less than on Earth, but still within fully tolerable levels. Rumors suggested they also had a behind-the-scenes trade in fulfilling the fantasies of men who wanted to experience the life of a full submissive servant for a set period of time. If they did, it wasn’t something they advertised in their tourist brochures, which promised women a worry-free chance to be totally pampered…in all ways.

Ford frowned. “I don’t want you down there.”

Emi pretended to pout. “So how am I supposed to see what life’s like on the planet if I can’t experience it firsthand?”

Ford kissed her, crushing his mouth over hers as his cock hardened and pressed against her through his uniform pants. “You want male slaves? The three of us, we’ll give it to you. I guaran-damn-tee you if you think you’re going to go play happy tourist on the surface that Aaron and Caph will back me up when I say fuck no.”

She played with his shirt collar. “So show me now.”

He grinned. “I can’t. I’m on watch. Someone’s gotta mind the store with the other two asleep. No offense, babe, but you don’t have enough experience in a case like this.” He kissed her again before releasing her and stepping away. “I will show you tonight, though. Good and hard.” He tugged at his uniform trousers to adjust the hard bulge poking out.

Emi’s heart raced as she felt familiar, sensuous heat pool between her legs at the fire burning in Ford’s eyes. “Tease.”

A slow, sly smile played across his mouth. “Not me, babe. You know me better than that. I don’t tease. Rest up for tonight. You’ll need your strength.” Okay, that did it. Now a deep pulsing, throbbing need pulled her attention straight to between her legs.

She didn’t want to wake the other two men. With a sigh, she headed down to the hydroponics lab to work on her plants and try to forget her sexual frustration.

* * *

She’d forgotten all about her earlier exchange with Ford by later that day. She’d crawled into bed after dinner when Ford trotted into the cabin, still apparently full of energy.

“What’s with you?” she asked.

“I’ve had a whole day to think about what I’m going to do to you with you all to myself.”

Their earlier banter returned to her mind. “Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry. I’m worn out.”

She fought really hard not to giggle at his sad expression. “Worn out?”

“I’m sorry.”

Aaron chose that moment to walk in. Caph had the watch that night. “What’s going on?”

Ford looked pitiful as he slowly started undressing. “I’m horny and Emi’s not. Been looking forward to this all day.”

Aaron rolled his eyes. “You big baby.” He grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck and pulled him close, kissing him brutally. Ford’s hands fell from where they were unbuttoning his trousers and reached for Aaron. “What’s wrong with me?” Aaron asked, his tone growly and full of need.

Ford looked dazed, his lips full and red from their kisses. “Nothing,” Ford breathlessly replied.

“Good. Then get naked and get your ass in bed and I’ll take care of you.”

Ford sprang into action, the bounce back in his step. He landed on the bed next to Emi. “Hiya.”

She smiled. “Hiya.”

“Hands and knees, Ford,” Aaron ordered.

She looked up and caught Aaron’s playful smile as Ford complied. Ford’s cock already jutted out from his body, a drop of pre-cum pearling at the end of his slit.

Aaron finished stripping and knelt behind Ford. “Em, you feel like giving him a hand?”

“Of course.”

Ford moaned, his head dropping to rest on his arms as Aaron applied lube to his ass and began prepping him with two fingers. Emi reached under Ford and started stroking his cock. When Aaron was ready, he lined up the swollen head of his shaft with Ford’s rim and pressed forward. He paused, giving the moaning man a moment to adjust to him before he slowly started fucking him.

Emi kept time with her hand, slicking Ford’s pre-cum over his cock for lube. She looked up into Aaron’s brown gaze, her heart fluttering when he winked at her.

“Harder,” Ford gasped. “Please!”

Emi and Aaron complied, until Ford rocked on his knees, slamming back to meet every thrust. The sound of flesh slapping together, Aaron’s ragged breathing, and Ford’s happy moans filled the room. If she hadn’t been so tired, she’d already be joining them.

Ford rose up on his arms and threw his head back. “Yes!” His cock hardened in Emi’s hand, immediately followed by his cum exploding all over her fingers.

Aaron thrust one last time, his body going rigid in a sign Emi knew all too well. His eyes fell closed as his balls emptied into Ford’s ass. Then, exhausted, the men fell to the bed together.

Emi dragged herself from bed to wash her hand and get them a cloth. When they’d all cleaned up, they curled up together, Emi happily sandwiched between them.

Ford let out a happy sigh. “That was great. Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” Aaron teased.

“Sorry I pooped out on you, sweetie,” Emi said.

He kissed her. “Don’t worry. I’ll take a rain check.”

Chapter Eight

They all gathered on the Tamora Bight’s bridge as they emerged from their jump. The disabled Kal’moran vessel appeared on their scanners immediately upon emerging from their jump.

“Got her,” Ford said. “About two hours away.”

Aaron waved Emi over to the command console and vacated his seat for her. He held out a hand, indicating for her to sit.

Confused, she stared at him. “What?”

He smiled. “I’m just the pilot. You’re the captain,” he teased.

Rolling her eyes, she took his seat. “I’m glad you think this is so funny. What am I supposed to do?”

“Hail the d’Acklan.” He reached out and hit the communications button. “And tell them we’re here.”

Before Emi could respond, she heard a tone indicating a hail. A female voice speaking accented English standard came over the channel. “Kal’moran vessel d’Acklan.”

Emi cleared her throat. “Hi. This is Dr. Emilia Hypatia of the DSMC vessel Tamora Bight. We’ve been sent to assist you back to Kal’moran.”

“You are the captain?”

She started to say no, but Aaron vigorously nodded his head at her. “Um, yes. That’s me. Captain Doctor Hypatia.”

Caph clapped a hand over his mouth and attempted to stifle his laughter. Ford reached over and smacked him on the shoulder. Aaron glared at them and sliced a hand across his throat. Cut it out.

Emi hoped she didn’t burst out laughing.

The other voice spoke again. “Thank you, Captain Hypatia. Or do you prefer the title of Doctor?”

“Doctor’s fine.”

“Very well. I am Commander Ren’yawlkin, in charge of this vessel. Our pilot is Mlaui Mil’rawin, and she will be in charge of the logistics of the tow by your vessel.”

Emi looked at Aaron, glad they were on audio only and not visual. Logistics? she silently mouthed to him.

He nodded at her, waving his hand in a circle at her, indicating for her to continue.

Emi was clueless. She had no idea what logistics were involved. She shrugged at him.

He leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Introduce me as your pilot.”

“Oh!” She clapped a hand over her mouth. Then she spoke loudly enough the com link would pick it up. “My pilot is Aaron Lucio. He’ll be in charge of logistics on our end.” She smiled, proud of herself. Gods, I almost sound like I know what the heck I’m talking about.

There was a pause from the other end. Emi thought maybe they’d lost the com link when Commander Ren’yawlkin said, “I beg your pardon, Dr. Hypatia, but did you say your pilot is a male?”

“Yes.”

Another long moment of silence. “You do not have a female pilot?”

Emi started to reply with a smart-assed remark, but Aaron correctly anticipated Emi’s reaction. He reached over and hit the mute button before she could snark back at the Kal’moran commander. “Don’t get into it with them,” he warned her. “Keep it pleasant. Let it go. They do things differently. It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not okay.”

“It doesn’t matter. We have to deal with it.” He unmuted the connection.

“No,” Emi said, staring at Aaron. “I have an all-male crew.”

“Interesting. Very well. I will instruct my pilot to deal with him. I apologize for my hesitation. We were not expecting a male crew. We are used to dealing with female crews.”

Emi bit off the response she wanted to give in lieu of saying, “Thank you. I’ll put him on.”

He patted Emi on the shoulder and took over. The Kal’moran pilot sounded arrogant and snotty, but Emi gave Aaron credit for maintaining professional, cool detachment despite her reading his rising anger levels during the conversation. When he finished his exchange with the pilot, he signed them off and closed the com link.

Then he took a deep breath and held it a moment before letting it out again.

“You did good, Cap,” Ford said. “I wanted to smack the crap out of her.”

“And that’s why I’m the ‘pilot,’” Aaron shot back.

The twins both gave him mock salutes. “Aye, aye, Pilot,” they said in unison. Even Emi giggled.

Aaron closed his eyes and swore.

* * *

By the time the Tamora Bight reached the d’Acklan, most of the logistics had been worked out. The Kal’moran pilot had given Aaron information he’d requested about their ship’s configuration and construction so he could calculate the best way to lock the tractor beam on and their safe towing speed. It took less time to lock on and get underway again than it did for Aaron to patiently dance around the contemptuous Kal’moran pilot’s jabs at his gender.

Once the operation was complete, Aaron closed the com link between the ships. “I’ll be in the gym.” He stormed off the bridge before Emi could stop him.

The deep anger she’d read burbling in him was something she couldn’t remember feeling in him before.

She looked at Ford and Caph.

Ford waved at her to go after him. “I’ll page you if they want to talk to you.”

“Thanks.” Emi hurried down the corridor after Aaron.

“I don’t need to talk it out, Em,” he said as she fell in step just behind him, barely able to keep up with his long, angry strides. “I need to punch something.”

“I’ll spar with you.”

“I don’t want to punch you, babe.”

“Should I have a talk with the commander and ask her to have the pilot lay off the smack talk?”

He stopped so short she nearly ran into him. He took a deep breath before turning. “No.” He leaned against the corridor wall. “It’s just how they are. Some of the treaty races are more tolerant to cultural differences than others. Don’t start an interstellar incident over my ego.”

“Want me to go over and deck her? I will.”

He smiled. “Like you did Graymard?”

“Fucker deserved it.”

He pushed away from the wall and grabbed her in a hug. “I’ll be okay, I promise. I just need to go cool off.”

“And punch something,” she mumbled into his shoulder.

“Yeah. And punch something.” He released her. “Go on back to the bridge and keep the twins out of trouble. I’ll be okay.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” He started to walk away. Then he stopped and turned. “I really will be okay, Em. This isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things. It’s just…annoying.”

She read it. His anger had already started dissipating. “Okay.”

He gave her a smile before turning and heading to the gym. Emi returned to the bridge, where Ford now sat in the command chair.

“How’d you get so lucky?” she asked.

He stood to make way for her. “Damn Caph threw rock to my scissors,” he grumbled.

“Aw, my poor Ford.”

Ford stuck his tongue out at Caph. “Told him he was first officer, he should take the com.”

“Yeah,” Caph shot back, “and as first I could have ordered you to take it, but I gave you a fair chance.”

“Okay, guys. I’m back. No need to kill each other to stay out of the chair.”

“That Kal’moran pilot’s a real ballbuster,” Caph said. “That’s why Aaron’s the captain. I would have told her to go fuck herself and find another ride back to their planet, she treated me like that.”

“No you wouldn’t have.”

“Yes he would,” Ford said. “So would I. I was about ready to. Man or woman. No reason for someone to be that shitty. They’re not in distress, just stuck in space. They could have cooled their jets for another ship to arrive. They should be glad we’re helping them.”

“What happened to duty and following orders?” she asked them.

“Fuck that shit,” they said in unison before bursting into laughter.

Chapter Nine

The tow at safe speed took nearly two weeks. Emi went over the Kal’moran files one final time as they neared the space station. Fortunately, the people of Kal’moran, called Morans, weren’t a violent people. They didn’t have vast, heavily armed space-going armadas that would wage an interstellar war if Emi used the wrong fork at dinner.

Although they wouldn’t hesitate to defend themselves if threatened.

They did, however, have an impressive fleet of passenger transports that ferried vacationers across the galaxy and back. They were peaceful business people who’d done quite well enlisting and paying for the help of other treaty races for their planetary and transport defenses. The planet was beloved by many for its recreation business, although it wasn’t well-known on Earth yet. The planet had one large, sprawling city complex. Emi thought that was odd compared to what she knew about other planets, but she didn’t have time to ponder it. She would have to go meet the commander and pilot of the d’Acklan, as well as the head of the orbiting station, as per their protocol.

After tugs had taken control of the d’Acklan, Aaron sat back with a sigh. “The worst is over.” He smiled at Emi. Now you get to go make friendly with the nice ladies, and we’ll keep the bed warm for you.”

“I’m not looking forward to going in there. Especially alone.”

“You’ll be fine. This is part of your job. If I thought there was any danger, no way in hell would I let you go, DSMC orders be damned. You should know that. And who knows, you might not have to go down to the planet at all.”

They docked with the Kal’moran space station. Once their utility umbilicals were secured and the gangway pressurized and cleared, Aaron walked Emi to the hatch. Commander Ren’yawlkin would meet Emi there personally.

He hugged her. “You’ll do great.” Then he punched in the hatch code to open it.

It slid open, revealing a Kal’moran woman in a military uniform standing at the other end of the gangway. They strongly resembled humans in outward appearance, although their interior physiology was somewhat different. Taller than Emi by almost two heads, she had long, flowing black hair pulled back off her face. Emi watched the woman’s amber eyes travel up and down her body before focusing on Aaron behind her. Then the Moran smiled and walked up to the hatch. “Captain Doctor Hypatia?” she asked, warily eying Aaron. “I am Commander Ren’yawlkin.”

“Nice to meet you.” She glanced back at Aaron. “This is Ca—Pilot Aaron Lucio.”

The Commander’s head cocked to the side. “He wears clothes?”

Emi looked back at Aaron, who remained silent although she sensed his stress levels ratcheting up. “Yes.”

“Huh. Interesting. Male crew, and you allow them clothing.”

Emi forced a smile. “That’s how we choose to do things.”

Emi sensed curiosity from the commander, but no disdain. “I do not suppose he is available for sharing or sale, is he?”

Emi nearly jumped at the immediate wave of unspoken outrage that blasted toward the Moran from Aaron, but he remained still and silent behind her.

“No, sorry. My men aren’t for sharing or sale.” She held up her left hand and pointed at her ring finger, where she wore her engagement ring and wedding band. “We’re married.”

The Moran’s brow scrunched. “Married?”

“Mated. We belong to each other.”

The Moran’s confusion morphed into amusement. Behind her, Aaron settled down a little, allowing Emi to feel the Moran’s emotions again. “Very well. I shall take you to meet the station commander.”

Another Moran ran up, slightly out of breath, and spoke to the commander in their language.

“And, late as usual, this is my pilot, Mlaui Mil’rawin.” The commander looked a little put upon.

“Hello,” the newcomer said.

Emi nodded. “Hi. Doctor Hypatia.”

“You can call me Rawin.” Then the pilot’s obsidian eyes perked up. She straightened. Emi realized she was staring at Aaron standing behind her. “Clothes? On a male?” She let loose a rapid-fire volley of Moran until the commander raised a hand, silencing her.

“It is their custom, Rawin,” the commander said to her pilot. “Now, Dr. Hypatia, let us go.”

Emi glanced back at Aaron before following the two Moran women. The pilot held back to walk in step with Emi.

“Dr. Hypatia, why do you allow your males clothes?”

“It’s how we do things.”

“Are your males also trained for pleasure, or just service?”

The commander looked back over her shoulder, but she wore a smile. “Rawin, you are rather chatty this morning.”

“I am curious.” She returned her attention to Emi.

“They’re my husbands. Mates.”

That seemed to command the pilot’s attention. “All three of them? That is absolutely unheard of. Or you must be very rich to afford three of them.”

Emi felt a wave of envy from the pilot. Sure, she could play that game. “All three of them give me great pleasure, believe me. I’d be lost without any of them.”

“I would be most honored to sample that,” Rawin said. “And I would be happy to exchange mine for yours for a night of sharing. I love to share my males. They are extremely talented.”

Emi felt an ugly spike of jealousy in the pit of her stomach. “Sorry, I don’t share.”

The pilot frowned. “What?”

The commander stopped suddenly. Emi almost ran into her. The Moran turned and let loose with a low, threatening-sounding stream of Moran at Rawin. The pilot’s eyes widened, then narrowed, as she listened to her commanding officer.

Finally, the pilot responded, throwing a barely concealed glare at Emi. Then she pasted a fake smile on her face.

The commander straightened. “My apologies, Doctor. I had forgotten to ask my pilot for some information before we left our ship.”

Emi could play that game, too. “Oh, sure. Not a problem.” She flashed a smile at Rawin, pretending she hadn’t just heard the commander dress her pilot down in front of a member of a different species.

Not that Emi had understood a word of it, but apparently the chastising tone was universal among spoken languages.

She felt Rawin’s ire clouding her the rest of the visit to the station’s commander. Rawin excused herself for a few moments. When she returned, her ire had been replaced by a smugness Emi didn’t understand.

As they were getting ready to leave the station commander’s office and Emi was hoping she’d get off the station scot-free, the station commander received a message.

After conferring with the station commander, Commander Ren’yawlkin looked apologetic. “Our leader, Mauri Dob’antu, wishes to meet with you and your men.”

“Me…and my men?”

“Yes. She wishes to show you around our city and have dinner with you.”

Emi grumbled inside. She’d been ordered by the DSMC to indulge the Kal’moran leader for the sake of diplomacy, and that meant she would have to accept the leader’s invitation to come down to the planet and meet with her and take the grand tour.

“Sure. That sounds…great.”

“Do you have collars for your men, or will you need some?”

“Um, collars?” She feigned ignorance and hoped they’d buy the act.

“No males on our planet may be uncollared. It is our law.”

Shit. “No, I guess I’ll need some.”

“Will they require modesty pouches?”

“Eh, what?”

The commander seemed stumped for the word. Out of the corner of Emi’s eye, she caught the pilot smirking.

Emi couldn’t shake the certainty that the pilot was somehow behind the sudden invitation.

Commander Ren’yawlkin finally figured the word out. “Covering. We do not allow males to be clothed, for security purposes, but we do allow modesty pouches. Our males do not use them but some males of other species seem to feel less threatened when allowed to do so.”

Sigh. Despite how she’d teased Ford, she really didn’t want a bunch of strange females ogling her men. “Yeah, guess I’ll need some of those, too. No chance of getting a waiver on the outfits, huh?”

“Sorry, it is how our laws are.”

“I can’t just leave the guys in the ship?”

“Mauri Dob’antu was very specific in asking that you and your entire crew come to the planet.”

The station commander called her assistant in. Emi assumed she was being ordered to come up with the appropriate garb for Emi’s guys. She left and returned a few minutes later with three collars and three pouches that were little more than skimpy G-strings.

“Will those be sufficient, Doctor?” Commander Ren’yawlkin asked.

“I guess they’ll have to do.”

Commander Ren’yawlkin received a page on her communicator and excused herself for a moment.

Rawin smiled at Emi. “I think you will like our world. I have four household males, including two pleasure males. I would be willing to put mine to the test against any of yours.”

Emi forced herself to smile and make it look real. “I appreciate the offer, Rawin, really I do. But it would be against our customs.” Hopefully that was a safe answer.

“Oh, but I insist, Doctor Hypatia. My pleasure males are considered two of the best there are. It is common for us to trade or share males between friends on our world. Come, Doctor, there is no harm in sampling the pleasures of our world for the sake of diplomacy, is there? I certainly would like to sample a human male’s skills. I have yet to experience a human male.”

Even if Emi hadn’t heard how this woman treated Aaron like shit, Emi wouldn’t have wanted anything to do with her scheme. “No, thank you. No offense, Rawin. It simply isn’t our custom. Now, if you’ll please excuse me, I need to get back to my ship and get my men.”

She ran into Commander Ren’yawlkin in the outer office. “Heading back to my ship.” She held up the collars and G-strings. “Got men to dress.”

“Would you like me to escort you back?”

“No, thanks. I can find my way.”

“Very well. I will be back to collect you in thirty minutes.”

“Peachy.” Despite the commander’s questioning look, Emi forced herself not to bolt out of the office and run all the way back to the Bight.

Aaron was waiting for her at the hatch when she returned. “Well? How’d it go?”

“You ain’t gonna believe this shit.” She held up the items.

His expression darkened. “What the hell are those? Or do I even want to know?”

“Guess what? In the interest of indulging diplomacy, you all get to accompany me down to the planet’s surface.”

“Dressed like that?”

“Yeah. Dressed like this.” She handed him a collar and G-string. “Be glad you get that much. Where’s the twins?”

He held up the G-string, staring at the tiny pouch in disbelief. “They wouldn’t make an exception for us, huh?”

“Diplomatic indulgence. That’s what you said.”

He scowled at her.

“No, they won’t budge. It’s their laws. Next time, let’s tell the DSMC we aren’t a service giving free space tows for breakdowns.” She walked over to the com panel and hit the page button. “Caph and Ford, to the bridge. Now.” She stalked down the main corridor, leaving Aaron standing behind her and still contemplating the G-string.

Caph and Ford were even less impressed than Aaron. Ford crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “Nope. Not going to do it.”

Aaron let out an exasperated sigh. “You have to.”

“Hey, one of us has to stay here with the ship. Ha!”

Caph looked practically morose as he stared at the G-string Emi handed him. “Sorry, Ford. We have the new system, remember? We can set it to automated and leave it.”

Ford’s triumphant expression crumbled. “Oh. Right. Dammit.”

“Look,” Aaron said, “I’m not any happier about this than you are, but we’re under orders to indulge diplomatic relations. I think we can suck it up for a few hours and do this.”

Ford glared at him. “Is that an order?”

“If you want to make it one, damn right it is.” Aaron headed for the door. “I’m going to quarters to change. Main hatch, ten minutes.”

Ford stuck his tongue out at Aaron behind his back as he left.

Emi shook her head at him. “Don’t be like that. He’s only following orders. We all are.”

Caph slid into the command chair and began setting up the automated system to take over during their absence. “Doesn’t seem right. We come to help them at their request. Now we have to be treated like animals.”

“Hey, think of it this way, at least I’ll be enjoying the view.”

A look of horror struck Caph. “What if I get a hard-on while wearing this thing?”

Emi giggled. “Then I guess everyone will see it.”

Chapter Ten

They rode a shuttle down to the surface. The two-woman Moran flight crew only addressed Emi and paid no heed to Aaron, Caph, or Ford, as if the men were little more than cargo.

Emi didn’t know if it irritated her or her men more.

For their part, the men hadn’t enjoyed their walk through the space station to the shuttle port. The intense, appraising looks from Moran females and males alike disconcerted all of them. Emi felt their discomfort as keenly as her own.

A Moran woman with reddish blonde hair met them at the shuttle port greeting center upon their arrival. “Captain Doctor Hypatia? I am Twren Klay’Baltin, but you may call me Baltin. I am the assistant to Mauri Dob’antu. I was sent to greet you and take you to the Imperial Home to meet with our leader.”

“Hi. Nice to meet you, but Doctor Hypatia is fine.”

“Oh, all right. I have arranged for a kennel for your men.”

That pulled Emi up short. “Kennel? They aren’t animals.”

Baltin turned. Emi felt a wave of horror from her. “Oh, I am sorry, Doctor Hypatia. I meant no offense. That is simply what we call them.” She pointed over to a row of several rooms with observation windows on the front. Comfortable benches, and a sink and toilet, outfitted each room. “They can wait there until you return and will be safe.”

Emi glanced at Aaron. She didn’t want to be separated from them. He tipped his head at her to agree to it.

“Oh, okay. If you’re sure they will be safe.”

“Absolutely.” Baltin led them over to one of the rooms. The other rooms were currently empty.

Emi kissed each man as they walked in, Aaron going last. “It’s okay, Em,” he whispered in her ear. “We’ll be fine. Get this over with and we can go back to the Bight.” He brushed her cheek with his lips before going inside.

Baltin locked the door and handed Emi the key. “Security, of course, has a key in case of an emergency, but they will be safe until your return.”

“Thanks.” She pocketed it, smiling to herself when her fingers brushed against Bucky hiding in her trouser pocket.

Emi followed Baltin from the greeting center to a tram. As they took a short ride from the greeting center, Emi looked around, amazed. The planet’s temperate climate made it the perfect resort planet. No wonder wealthy women enjoyed journeying here for their playground. “Is your entire planet like this?” Emi asked her, indicating the lush landscaping.

“Mostly. There are polar ice caps, and around our oceans we have what I think are called beaches in standard. We have many plans for more resorts in those areas as our city expands.”

“I’m sure those will be quite popular.”

They debarked the tram at a station near a guarded entrance. Baltin showed her ID and introduced Emi to the guards, who allowed them to pass.

Inside, Emi had to force herself to keep following Baltin and not stop and stare. She couldn’t get used to seeing the naked men working all around. In the gardens lining the paths leading to the ruling palace, they worked without making eye contact, like silent ghosts.

She tried to keep her scientist’s hat firmly in place. “Is this all part of the Imperial Home?”

“Oh, yes. It is the center of our city.” Emi didn’t notice any supervisors, male or female, overseeing the workers. Baltin noticed Emi’s blatant curiosity. “Only certain utility males are allowed access like this inside the grounds of the Imperial Home. Otherwise, only our trainers, breeders, and the Imperial pleasure males are allowed to come and go freely. Notice the utility males’ collars?”

Emi had. Emerald green with what looked like a small gold crest in the front. “What does that mean?”

“That is the Imperial Seal. It is every utility male’s wish to be accepted at the very least as an Imperial worker. It is a very high honor.”

Another guard at the entrance to a huge home opened the door for them and bowed her head at Baltin as they passed. They climbed an ornate stairway, inlaid with gold, from the looks of it. The Imperial Home was lavishly decorated inside, and climate controlled. All the guards they encountered were women. They tipped their heads respectfully to Emi and Baltin as they passed.

Emi saw no men working inside.

They paused at a huge set of double doors, where Baltin spoke to a female guard in their native language. The guard nodded, then led the way as a small cadre of guards fell into step behind them.

More long, twisting passages. I hope they don’t expect me to find my way out of this maze by myself. After what felt like minutes, the guards stopped before another large, ornate set of doors and opened them. They stepped out of the way and bowed to Emi and Baltin.

“Come, Doctor,” Baltin said, leading the way.

The middle-aged woman seated at a desk under the windows stood at their approach. Baltin bowed her head. “Mauri Dob’antu, this is Captain Doctor Emilia Hypatia, from the DSMC vessel Tamora Bight.”

“Thank you, Baltin,” the woman said in rich, warm tone, her English standard only slightly more accented compared to Baltin’s. “You may wait for us outside.”

“Thank you, Mauri.”

When they were alone, the woman smiled. “So how did you like your preview of our society, Captain Doctor Hypatia?”

“Just Doctor is fine.”

“Very well. Your impressions, Doctor Hypatia?”

“Very…interesting.”

One of the woman’s eyebrows arched skyward as a slight smile curved her lips. “That is an unusual choice of words. I take it you do not approve?”

“I never said that, ma’am.”

The woman laughed. “Relax, Doctor. I am…how do you say? Teasing you. And you may call me Mauri.” She pointed to a large, comfy sofa along one wall. “Please, let us sit and talk.” She indicated the other end. Emi sat. As Mauri sat, she touched a button on a console on the coffee table in front of the sofa.

Almost immediately, a man appeared through a small door Emi hadn’t noticed before. As naked as the other men, only his collar was of a rich purple, bearing the same gold seal.

Mauri said something to him in Moran. He bowed and quickly left the room. “He will bring us some refreshments,” she explained as she settled back. “Now, please, may I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“I am very intrigued. I heard from Commander Ren’yawlkin that you own not one, but three men. Is that correct? I was left puzzled by her explanation. I suspect I either misunderstood her or she was confused.”

Emi blushed a little, but nodded. “I don’t own my men. They are my husbands.”

Mauri looked puzzled. “Husbands?”

“That’s right. On Earth, we allow plural marriages. They are married not just to me, but to each other as well.”

“Oh, I do not doubt they are bonded to each other. Such is the nature of males. They seek their own. But how do you deal with them?”

“I don’t understand the question.”

“Commander Ren’yawlkin told me they are allowed to wear clothing and are not restrained or collared in any way. I am very interested in learning how you control them.”

Emi wasn’t sure what Mauri wanted to hear. “Control?”

“How do you correct them? Train them? Keep them in line?”

“Our society is set up differently from yours. We are equal partners.”

Mauri frowned. “Impossible. Males are not capable of that. They become violent and unmanageable when left to their own devices. I can see perhaps keeping one in line, but when they bond together as a pack, they are wont to get unruly.”

Emi tried again. “We love each other. We don’t have a social structure like you do. I love them, and they love me.”

She arched an eyebrow in apparent amusement. “Of course a well-trained male should love its owner.”

“I’m not their owner. And they don’t own me, either. We’re equals.”

Both of Mauri’s eyebrows launched skyward as Emi felt a wave of disbelief from the leader.

Emi tread carefully. “Our societies are different, that’s all.”

“Apparently quite different. I had never given much thought to the human male social structure before. The few I have encountered have come here with their female owners and were very docile and well-behaved. I do not have much contact with males from other races.”

Emi chose to ignore the part about “owners” and hopefully change the subject. “You all speak English standard very well, it seems.”

“Language courses. And we hired a tutor who spoke standard to come in and give our teachers lessons. But I have never been off the planet, personally. I could never leave my people without a leader.”

The servant returned with a gold tray on which he carried an ornate crystal pitcher and two cups. He poured them and offered them with a low bow.

Mauri and Emi took the offered cups, and then Mauri dismissed the man. She held her cup up. “To differences, Doctor Hypatia,” Mauri toasted.

Emi smiled and held her cup up as well. “To differences.”

* * *

After chatting a few more minutes, the Moran leader wanted to take Emi on a personal tour of some of the Imperial Home’s facilities. Mauri called Baltin back into the room and the three of them set off through another vast series of corridors. They emerged at a different entrance to the Imperial Home than Baltin had brought Emi through.

“I never pass up an opportunity to show off our facilities to others,” Mauri told Emi. “I would consider it an honor to take you on this tour personally.”

Emi thought about her men sitting back in the “kennel” in the greeting center. “I’m not trying to rush you, but I really can’t spend a lot of time down here. I need to get back to our ship.”

“Oh, this will not take long, Doctor Hypatia.”

With four guards falling in line behind them, Mauri led Emi down perfectly manicured and shaded pathways that wound under lush trees. “I am very proud of the Imperial Stables,” Mauri said.

“Stables?”

“Yes. It is where we house the best of the breeders and feral males. Also, it is our largest training facility to break in males when they reach the proper age. We house our young males in separate dormitories on the other end of the Imperial grounds.”

Emi was still a little confused, but let the leader speak without interruption. I can get out of here faster if I ask fewer questions.

“We have a total of ten such stable and dormitory configurations around the city. We have five feral maintenance facilities as well.”

She couldn’t help herself. “Why don’t you have other cities?”

The leader frowned, confused. “Other cities?”

“Yes. Besides this one.”

“Oh, we would not have other cities. There is no need. We have some approved settlers and developers who are allowed to take up residence outside the city walls if need requires it, but they must go through extensive training and screening before we allow it.”

“Why is that?”

“It is quite dangerous out there.” A large, gleaming white building came into view. “That is where we are going.”

Emi was still stuck on the dangerous part. “Dangerous?”

“Extremely.”

Emi didn’t remember reading anything about that in the files she’d scanned, but she let it go for now. “But how do you expand your lands?”

“Oh, we expand at a controlled pace. No one wants overcrowding. Just as no one wants to risk their lives needlessly.”

“Wasn’t the entire planet settled at some point?” Emi knew the main city was huge, as vast as some countries back on Earth.

“Yes, ages ago. Before the wars. And people needlessly lost their lives then, too. When we finally ended the wars and brought males under control, there were not that many survivors left, unfortunately. We picked up the pieces of our society and decided that the only way to survive would be to band together. And we have thrived since then. It is what has allowed us to become who we are today. We feel no need to change it.”

They walked up to a large door where two guards stood watch. The women bowed and parted for Mauri. The door slid open. “I hope you enjoy what you see, Doctor,” Mauri said as she stepped through.

Emi, Baltin, and the four guards followed. As Emi looked around, she wondered if she’d walked into a fantasy or a nightmare.

Chapter Eleven

They stood in a long main corridor that sloped up ahead of them. On either side, large observatory windows lined the walls.

Mauri led the way to one window. “This is one of the trainer dorms. The window does not allow them to see out.”

“One-way glass,” Emi mumbled as she stared and hoped her jaw didn’t hit the floor.

“Yes, that is the term.” Mauri and Baltin both looked proud, and the wave of emotions hitting Emi backed that up. Inside the room were ten bunks. In the middle of the room was a padded bench-like structure that resembled a sawhorse. On it, naked, lay a Moran male. Even hunkier-looking than the utility males she’d seen working in the gardens, his blond hair was close-cropped.

Behind him stood an equally hunky dark-haired Moran male. He had hold of the belt around the prone male’s waist and vigorously fucked him in the ass. Both men wore red collars bearing the Imperial Seal, as well as matching belts around their waists.

And nothing else.

Emi swallowed hard, feeling as well as hearing the click in her throat.

Mauri chuckled. “The trainers have allotted free time. The dark-haired one is Naj’Mauri. He is one of my favorites.”

“Naj’Mauri?”

“Yes. We name our males giving them part of our name. When they are owned,” Mauri clarified. “Even though they are part of the Imperial Stables, I personally own them.”

Apparently Naj’Mauri finished. His body went rigid and his eyes dropped closed. Viewing them from the side allowed Emi a closer look at both males’ sides.

The doctor in her brain briefly checked in, trying to keep from losing too much blood flow from her head to her clit. “Is that the tympanic region? Under their arms?”

Baltin nodded. “Yes. Females have it as well, although it’s not as prominent as it is in the males. Our scientists suspect it is larger in the males because they are so much more emotional and needing the stimulation than we do.”

The males switched places. Now privy to the entire process, Emi watched as the blond male stroked his hands along Naj’Mauri’s torso. From the way Naj’Mauri’s back arched and he wiggled his ass at the other male, he appeared to enjoy it.

“The light-haired one is Gaj’Mauri,” Mauri said. “He is younger, but I allowed them to pair up. They seemed rather fond of each other and I didn’t have the heart to deny it when they asked me.” She smiled as she watched Gaj’Mauri going to town, fucking Naj’Mauri’s brains out. “They are so cute together like this. They are both trainers. They each have their own…novice, I think is the English word equivalent. A helper. Someone in training to become a trainer. Trainers usually use their novices for relief, it is one of their duties. But we allow experienced and trustworthy trainers like this time to play as well.”

Emi’s emotions wildly fluctuated between turned on and revolted. She tried to rein in her apparently missing objective physician’s mind. She shouldn’t be judgmental. Their society was different than her own.

But damn, they were hot-looking, well-hung males.

Now she couldn’t wait to end the tour and get back to her own three men.

The two males finished up and left the dorm room. Mauri led the way up the corridor, past several more windows which looked into other dorm rooms. Some empty, some with males asleep or lounging in bunks, and one with another pair of trainers shagging each other’s brains out.

Mauri spoke in Moran to one of the guards, who left in a hurry. Then the group stopped in front of another large window, higher up the corridor. It looked down onto a large room that reminded Emi of a gymnasium.

In the center of the room lay two rows of padded benches. At least, Emi assumed they were benches, although they looked odd. Approximately thirty males mingled inside the room, all collared and wearing matching belts. Some of the collars had no seals. Those appeared to all be brown. There were no males wearing red, but there were blue, green, yellow, orange, and even one purple.

Along the outskirts of the room were various pieces of equipment Emi suspected were used for exercise, based on the way some of the males seemed to be using them, reinforcing her gymnasium opinion. There were also pallets on the floor along the walls, and what looked like the Moran version of toilets, sinks, and open showers.

“The colors signify their training status and stature. The brown ones are males still being broken in for training who have yet to be assigned.”

The guard returned with another woman, who was dressed in an outfit reminding Emi of a medical technician. She also wore a nametag with a picture of her face on it.

Mauri spoke to her for a moment in Moran. Then Mauri turned to Emi. “You are in for a treat, Doctor. Those are a batch of fresh males who haven’t been classified yet. They were brought over from the dormitory this morning to begin their formal training and assignment. I had hoped today was the day so you could witness the process.”

Emi was afraid to ask what that meant, so she simply smiled and said, “Great.”

The technician walked over to a panel and pressed a button. She spoke to someone, who responded. Then a tone sounded.

Inside the room, the men looked up. The ones not wearing brown collars all stopped what they were doing and moved to the outside of the room, some standing and watching, some leaning against the wall, and some sitting or lying down on the pallets.

The ones wearing brown collars milled around in the center of the room, some looking decidedly nervous. Emi counted ten of them.

Then three men in red collars, accompanied by three men in grey collars, entered the room, Gaj’Mauri and Naj’Mauri among them.

“That is Wan’Mauri,” Mauri said, pointing to the third male in red, who did look older than the other two. “He is my oldest and favorite male. He was a gift to me from my mother upon my coming of age.” Her proud smile positively beamed. “He is the most experienced trainer currently working. He trains novices from all over the city. He started as a pleasure male, but I was so fond of him, when he aged out of that job I had him transferred to training. Pleasure males trained by him are highly sought after and fetch extremely high prices when sold.”

A sick feeling developed in Emi’s gut. “Aged out?”

“Unable to perform his pleasure slave duties. Once males get to a certain age, they are…no longer reliable, I supposed you could say. It is not their fault. Their bodies simply age.” Correctly interpreting Emi’s expression, Mauri laughed. “Oh, Doctor, do not worry. They are transferred into other, more suitable duties when they age. Breeders and pleasure males know they cannot continue to do that all their lives.”

“What happens when males get to be too old to work?”

“We have a care facility. Males often stay with their owners until they die, if they have an owner who is able to properly care for them when they reach that stage. Unowned state males are continually transferred into suitable positions until they are too old to work. Then they go to the care facility to live out their days. They are not animals. We are responsible for their well-being and do not take that role lightly. It is also common for mothers to pass males down to their daughters. Except for breeders, of course.”

Emi swallowed back a sick feeling. “Of course.”

“Well, we certainly wouldn’t want a citizen breeding her own sire. That’s why breeders are carefully tracked. It is not uncommon for them to be utilized as breeders for a limited number of offspring, and then they are sterilized and utilized as pleasure males. Except for the ferals, of course.”

Emi wanted to ask what that phrase meant. But her attention had now fixated on what was going on in the room below them. The males with brown collars were being lined up along one of the benches by the men in grey collars. One by one, they were bent over the bench. Restraints Emi hadn’t noticed before were attached to their wrists and ankles, leaving their asses spread and vulnerable.

“The restraints are simply a precaution,” Baltin said. “It is rare they’re actually needed. But occasionally a male will panic during this phase. It is for their own safety and the safety of the other males, and the trainers, of course. Males are used to being restrained early in life, and it comforts and calms them.”

“Sure,” Emi numbly said. She thought she could guess the reason for the second bench. Anyone sitting there would be in the perfect position to…

Gulp.

The men in grey, under the watchful eyes of the trainers, worked their way down the line of restrained men, stroking their backs, paying close attention to their tympanic regions. They stroked their legs, their arms, their asses.

“They relax them first, get them used to their touch,” Baltin said. “Those are the novices, in grey. They are learning to be trainers. They must train extensively and meet unanimous approval of all the trainers before they are promoted to training status. It is quite an honor to be a novice, and even more to be a trainer.”

“I guess so,” Emi mumbled.

“This is the initial evaluation process,” Baltin continued. “Any male showing the potential to be a pleasure male is singled out for further evaluation. Those who meet the qualifications of bloodline are extensively evaluated to see if they would be suitable breeders. Otherwise, they are classified by their temperament and aptitude.”

“What about the others,” Emi asked. “The males just standing around and watching?”

“They are already in service,” Mauri said. “Our males are allowed recreation and social time every day. It keeps them healthier and happier. We allow them to freely mingle with the newest males because they can help keep them calm and reassure them when they are first brought in for training.”

The males in the brown collars did look to be on the young end of the scale, although they all appeared to Emi to be in their early twenties by human standards, if she’d read the file information correctly. “How old are the new males?”

“By our law, they cannot be placed in training until they have reached maturity.” Mauri seemed to be searching for the right term. “Adulthood,” she finally said. “Is that the right term?”

Emi nodded. “Yes.”

“When they are young, they are taught skills, how to read and write our language, how to operate machinery, and our laws. They are carefully trained in etiquette and kept physically fit. Fortunately, our males do not reach sexual maturity until they actually mature. Unlike other species, who might be sexually mature before they are physically and mentally mature. If anything, their sexual maturity happens later than many similar races. Some males are not even sexually mature even when they reach the age of adulthood. In that case, they are held back until they do. And even if they have reached sexual maturity, sometimes supervisors will keep young males back a while longer to give them an opportunity to mentally mature and be more receptive to the next stage of their training. It ensures success that way.”

“Fantastic,” Emi mumbled. Her eyes were glued to the scene before her. Now the novices had sat on the bench in front of the bound males. As Emi suspected, the bound males’ heads were in the laps of the novices. The novices stroked the males’ heads, encouraging them, from what she could see. The bound males opened their mouths and started going down on the novices.

Emi couldn’t hear what was going on in the room, but it looked like all three trainers were coaching their novices. After a few minutes, the novices moved down the bench to another three males, where the scene was repeated. All three novices sported rigid penises, but apparently hadn’t orgasmed.

Naj’Mauri walked over to the last bound male and sat in front of him, talking to the three novices. Then he took the male’s head in his hands and drew it into his lap.

Well, at least he might be able to hold out longer since he just came. She watched as he demonstrated different techniques for holding the male’s head, before he affectionately patted the male on the cheek and stood. His cock jutted out at half-mast, and large.

Apparently that part of the evaluation ended. All three novices stood. Wan’Mauri seemed to take over, explaining something and pointing, gesturing.

Emi got the gist.

It seemed Moran males were self-lubricating, for Wan’Mauri walked down to the first one on the bench and stood behind him. The novices followed, carefully watching and nodding their heads. Then Wan’Mauri put his hands on the male’s ass, spread his cheeks, and fed his cock into him.

He held still for a moment, still talking.

Emi, standing there watching with her arms crossed over her chest, surreptitiously pinched herself, hard, to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

If this is another sim, pull me out right fucking now, Graymard, or I’ll rip your goddamned head off.

She held her breath, but the scene before her didn’t change.

She watched the trainer start to fuck the male. As he had with the blow job, he continued to talk, gesture, and demonstrate.

The novices looked on, nodding.

Then he pulled out. He hadn’t climaxed, because his cock stood straight out now, even larger than it had been before.

Then he gently patted the male on his rump before moving on to the next male. The male didn’t appear to be worse for wear, except he was now trying to hump the air.

One of the novices noticed, too. He tapped the trainer on the shoulder and pointed.

Wan’Mauri turned to look, smiled, and let out a laugh. He returned to the male and patted him on the rump and motioned for one of the novices to once again sit in front of him.

This time, the male seemed frantic to get the novice’s cock in his mouth, opening wide and straining to reach him before he’d fully seated himself on the bench.

Wan’Mauri said something to another novice, who reached beneath the bound male. From the way his arm moved, Emi assumed the bound man was getting a hand job.

“Unless they are a feral or a trainer,” Mauri said, “males are only allowed to have pleasure if pleasuring another. They are not allowed to climax on their own and are trained from a young age to not pleasure themselves.”

Emi found herself asking the question before she realized it. “Why?”

Mauri laughed. “Males can be very selfish if not trained properly. If we allowed them to pleasure themselves at will, they would never learn to work together. They are rewarded for their good behavior. Males who cannot learn this lesson are castrated to prevent them from getting unruly.”

Emi swallowed hard again. “Castrated?”

“Oh, it is a last resort, I assure you. Less than one percent of our males, even the ferals, face castration. Sterilization allows them to still feel pleasure and the urges, but they cannot breed. Many males are sterilized early in their lives, depending on their bloodlines. Sterilized males still make wonderful pleasure males.

The bound man’s body went rigid before going limp. The novice at his head patted him on the cheek, making him release his cock from his mouth. The trainer motioned for the second novice to come over and hold out his hand in front of the bound male’s head. Then the bound male opened his mouth and licked his cum from the novice’s hand.

As he did, the trainer stroked his head. From the expression on his face, he guessed he was praising the male.

Emi looked up when the technician spoke to Mauri.

Mauri’s eyes lit up. “Doctor, you are in for a special treat. They are preparing to perform a feral breeding.”

“Oh…boy.” She prayed the Morans weren’t empathic and couldn’t sense sarcasm.

“Come. This way.”

Emi took a deep breath. After one last glance into the room, where the second man in line was now being reamed up the ass, Emi followed her host.

* * *

“So all those were Moran males in there?” Emi asked.

“Yes. Why?”

“I’ve heard rumors that some men from other species like to get a taste of that.”

Mauri smiled. “We do have some males from time to time of other species, yes. But they must come accompanied by a female owner. We turn down countless requests by unowned males to utilize our facilities. It would never do to have unowned males running loose on our planet. It is against our laws.”

The next room on the tour was at the far end of the corridor. Four Moran women stood in one corner. One wore a plain white robe and stood, barefoot, while three others in normal clothes stood talking with her.

At her feet sat a male wearing a yellow collar. He had no matching belt, and the square badge on his collar didn’t look like the Imperial Seal on the other collars Emi had seen. The Moran woman absently stroked his hair as if he were a pet.

Then again, I guess he is.

“That is her pleasure male,” Mauri explained. “Yellow collars indicate pleasure males.”

In the middle of the room, which wasn’t much larger than twenty by twenty, stood a sturdy metal frame. Emi wasn’t sure of its purpose but suspected she was about to find out. Padded horizontal arms extended in front of it, and it appeared to be adjustable. Inside the frame was padding, as well as what looked like restraint points. A wire harness led to a point approximately halfway up the frame, where it had been left draped over a hook.

“Breeders are extremely expensive,” Mauri continued. “Most women cannot afford to own one, much less keep up with the complex paperwork required to own one. We hold a lottery every year and give either a breeder, or breeding rights, to women who participate in the feral breeding program.”

“Feral?”

“Yes.” Before Mauri could say anything else, a door in the back of the room opened and two clothed female Moran technicians, with the help of a large, naked, red-collared male handler, brought in an even larger naked male. The silver metal collar around the larger male’s neck didn’t look like the other collars Emi had seen. His eyes scanned the room, a nervous expression on his face. The image of a strong, wild beast came to Emi’s mind.

His cock, limp, was larger than the other erect Moran male cocks she’d seen so far.

The male assisting the techs had hold of a lead attached to some sort of energy cuff restraining the larger male’s hands behind him. The three of them forcibly marched the feral male into the frame from the back side and attached his collar to restraint points inside. Then his feet were forced apart and cuffed, keeping his legs spread.

When the feral was secured inside the frame, he started to struggle a little. The Moran woman in the white robe walked over and seemed to be examining him. She talked with one of the techs. Meanwhile, the other man prepared something that looked like a butt plug, attached it to one of the leads on the wiring harness, and inserted it in the feral male’s ass. Then he patted the feral male’s back through the frame, as if trying to soothe him.

Whatever he was doing, it was having an effect on the feral male. His cock immediately inflated, making Emi gasp.

The other female tech started adjusting the horizontal section of frame, lowering it to the level of the feral’s cock.

Now the picture grew clearer in Emi’s mind.

“Of course,” Mauri continued, “all women hope to have a daughter to continue their line. If they have a male, they usually try again. Some males have been carefully selected for breeding because of their ability to produce female offspring. We do have to keep up our population of males, however, so some breeders who can have males are kept in rotation. Male infants are turned over after birth for raising by our technicians. Feral males, however, are always needed. Over the years, we have carefully bred our feral males to where they only produce males. Only the strongest, most agreeable feral males are bred. This gives us an unparalleled work force. They perform heavy labor lesser males are unable to do. And because of their lessened mental capacities, they are not suitable for more skilled labor. We treasure them for their strength.”

“Pack animals,” Emi mumbled.

“In a way, yes, I suppose you could say that. Oh, never fear, Doctor. They are treated very well. The only reason you see that one resisting is because he has been bred before. Unlike our selected breeders, ferals are raised only to ever take pleasure with males. It ensures they remain malleable by nature for their male trainers and the female technicians who supervise their care.”

The woman in the robe called her pleasure male over to her. He stood and immediately joined her. The technicians helped her climb onto the frame and fit her feet into stirrups Emi hadn’t noticed before. She opened her robe, exposing herself to be naked beneath it. The feral male struggled inside the frame as the techs and the pleasure male helped her impale herself on his cock. Emi watched the Moran woman’s eyes drop closed for moment, the hint of a smile crossing her lips before she nodded.

“Our bodies can only reproduce…” Mauri struggled for the words and turned to Baltin for help, speaking to her in Moran.

Baltin took over. “Women of our kind can only become pregnant if the male and female climax at the same time. That is why our breeder males are highly trained.” She pointed at the scene before them. “Feral males are forcibly ejaculated when the woman climaxes to ensure the best chance of a successful breeding.”

One of the female technicians handed the woman a button, which was connected to the wiring harness. Then the two technicians stepped aside. The pleasure male took over, his hands stroking the woman’s tympanic regions and other intimate areas as the woman rocked herself on the feral male’s cock.

The feral male’s eyes grew wide, reminding Emi of a scared horse. The other collared male reached into the frame and started soothing him, eventually calming the feral male. He started stroking the male’s tympanic regions, too, and after a few moments the male started thrusting as much as his limited mobility would allow.

“There,” Mauri said. “He calmed down. They always remember the jolt when first put into the frame for breeding. Once it feels good, they stop resisting and enjoy themselves.”

“Jolt?”

Before Mauri could explain, the woman’s eyes dropped closed and her back arched. Emi saw her hit the button, and the feral male’s body went rigid.

The male handler leaned in close to the feral male, talking to him. After several long moments the feral male went limp in the frame. The pleasure male, as well as the two technicians, helped the woman off the frame and over to a couch, where she lay down, her feet elevated. Her friends walked over to talk with her while her pleasure male sat on the floor at her head. She reached down and stroked his hair, her attention once again on her friends.

“So now they take the feral male out?” Emi asked.

Mauri talked to the technician with them. “No, he is scheduled for three more breedings this morning. They will keep him restrained until he is finished. Then he will be released into the feral yard for the rest of the day to rest and play before being returned to his usual duties tomorrow.”

Emi struggled to hold her recriminations in check. “Why not do artificial insemination?”

“We tried. Unfortunately, our scientists are unable to find a successful way to perform it. Male fluids taken ahead of time are not viable. And likewise, if a female isn’t climaxing when she is fertilized, her body rejects the male fluids. It must coincide.” She smiled. “Do not worry, Doctor. Only our feral males are bred in this fashion. We have discovered a slight electronic jolt will stimulate them to climax on demand. So the woman being bred pushes the button when her climax starts, and the plug inside the male triggers his climax. It is very organized. Quite efficient.”

Sooo not the word I’d use. She followed the Moran women to the next window after a last look at the restrained feral male. His handler was still talking to him.

“Normally,” Mauri continued as they walked, “ferals are given daily release on a schedule.” They stopped in front of another window on the other side of the corridor. “This keeps them very content.”

Two male handlers in red collars stood in the room. A bench similar to the one Emi saw in the first dorm room sat in the middle of the small room. This one appeared different in that it had an attachment on it. Emi didn’t need to ask what that was for, because one of the males attached it to the other male’s cock. The first male immediately had to catch the other male, whose eyes seemed to roll back in his head at the sensation. The male laughed as he helped his comrade position himself over the bench. The male on the bench frantically thrust his ass in the air in a way that could only mean he was desperate to have someone fucking it.

The other male walked over to a door and opened it. A third male in a red collar held a short pole attached to the collar of an even larger feral male than had been in the breeding room.

Upon seeing the man on the bench, the feral male practically dragged his handler over to the bench. The feral male’s enormous cock inflated immediately, growing dark purple as it engorged.

Without further delay, the feral male grabbed the man’s hips, shoved his cock all the way inside him, and frantically began fucking him.

The other two men stood watching and talking, laughing, smiling. Despite not being able to hear, Emi imagined them discussing sports scores or vid viewing schedules, for all the attention they appeared to be paying. Neither man’s cock was even slightly hard.

“The attachment on the bench,” Baltin said, “has…suction. It allows the receiver to enjoy the experience. Trainers, the ones with red collars, have reached a stage where they are allowed to receive pleasure without actively pleasuring another at the exact same time. But if a lesser male is servicing a feral, we always use that device.” She laughed. “As you can see, the trainers enjoy using it as well.”

“I guess so,” she mumbled.

“Males all take turns doing this at some point in their life. Well, until they are privately owned. Only as long as they are in initial training, before placement or purchase, would they be in rotation for feral servicing. Males are always used.” Baltin frowned. “Unless, of course, there is a sentence to be fulfilled.”

“Sentence?”

Mauri nodded. “It is rare for there to be a crime of that magnitude. Most transgressions are minor and handled in civil tribunal through fines or restitution action or settlement. But occasionally a crime occurs where the perpetrator is sentenced to the second worst punishment there is for an honor-titled female, which is feral service.”

Huh? “Say again?”

“Well, death is issued in the most extreme of cases. Usually for murder or gross intentional negligence resulting in death. Of males or females. Abuse or mistreatment of males is not allowed. That is the only way in which males are equals in our laws. And that kind of crime is extremely rare. But for other serious cases, a woman can be sentenced to feral service.”

Mauri pointed at the room, where the feral male was finishing up. Panting, he leaned over the male on the bench for a few moments to catch his breath. Then his handler coaxed him into standing and led the now-docile male out. Another feral male was immediately led in by a different handler. As had the first, this one raced over to the man on the bench and began fucking him without delay.

“All males at some point in their life must do feral service for at least one rotation, even if only during their initial training period after they have reached maturity. We do not allow ferals to service each other. They are trained only to take their pleasure like that.” She pointed to the window.

The man on the bench was vigorously fucking back, so he didn’t seem to be the worse for wear.

“However, it is a complete disgrace for a woman to service a feral. Any male, really.” Mauri’s expression looked like merely saying it made her ill. “Only males enjoy rutting like that. It is beneath an honor-titled woman.”

Emi didn’t bother volunteering that not only did she not see anything wrong with it, but she rather enjoyed it herself. She sure as heck enjoyed watching her men do it. It was sexy as hell.

For that matter, she realized the activities she’d witnessed on the tour had made her more than a little squishy in her panties despite also making her more than a little uncomfortable intellectually and morally.

“Any woman sentenced to feral servicing is disgraced for life from that point on,” Mauri said. “They will never hold office or own a business or property. They are only eligible for the lowest of jobs, jobs not even our males are required to perform. They are sterilized and barred from breeding. We cannot allow lawbreakers to reproduce. They are an example set in our society of how not to behave so others do not follow suit.”

“Why don’t you just castrate your ferals?” Emi couldn’t believe she’d asked the question.

Mauri laughed. “They enjoy this so much, we would hate to take their fun away. Look at the pleasure they take from it. And it is great motivation. Most of them are sterilized, however.”

That feral finished up. Another was led in. The man on the bench was now covered in sweat and holding on to the bench, but still attempting to fuck back against the latest feral who’d grabbed him and started riding him.

“And you can see how much the males enjoy doing it. It is no small sacrifice for the males, even though some of the males who have been privately owned for long periods of time tend to think they are above servicing ferals. But for a female?” Mauri shuddered. “It is a disgrace.”

* * *

Apparently, Moran females had the equivalent of a vagina and an anus. Only unlike humans, one passage was used only for reproduction and pleasure purposes. The anus was for both liquid and solid wastes. Moran males’ penises were also used only for pleasure and reproduction. But unlike the females, their anuses were self-lubricating. Mauri proudly boasted it was the result of countless generations of careful breeding to get them to that point.

As Emi listened to Baltin and Mauri talk during the return walk to the Imperial Home, it became more clear to Emi why they felt the way they did. When a woman was sentenced to feral service, she was used and treated just like a male. Anally.

While not a big deal to humans who enjoyed it, it was a very big deal to Moran females. It had been years since a female had received such a sentence. It also wasn’t uncommon for females who were sentenced to feral service to kill themselves rather than live in disgrace.

A bit of an overreaction in Emi’s mind, but then again, she wasn’t raised in Moran society, either.

She was, however, eager to return to her own men.

“I really appreciate the tour, Mauri, but I would like to get back to my crew.”

“Ah, of course. But you still haven’t seen our agricultural division yet. And I insist on you joining me for dinner this evening before you return to your ship. All of you, including your men. Could you grant me just a few more hours of your time, Doctor Hypatia? I would be most honored.”

All Emi wanted to do was return to the TB with the guys and get the hell out of there, but she remembered her orders from the DSMC to indulge diplomatic relations.

“Thank you. That would be very nice.”

Chapter Twelve

Baltin escorted Emi back to the welcome center where Aaron, Caph, and Ford had uncomfortably spent their time sitting nearly naked and locked up in the holding room and being stared at like fish in an aquarium.

“I will take you to your quarters,” Baltin said. “Mauri wants you to experience our facilities.”

“Quarters?” Aaron asked Emi.

Emi gave a quick shake of her head. They followed Baltin to a building next door that reminded Emi of a hotel from the outside. Apparently, that’s exactly what it was. A clerk at the front desk gave Emi a key after eying the men.

Baltin said something to the clerk, who immediately smiled.

“There you are, Doctor Captain,” the clerk said.

“Captain Doctor,” Baltin quickly corrected.

“Just Doctor is fine,” Emi said after shooting Ford and Caph a quick shut-up look when Ford snickered and Caph pressed his lips together.

The clerk looked confused. “Just Doctor?”

“Yes. Just Doctor.”

The clerk’s eyebrows raised and she shrugged. “Very well, Just Doctor.”

Aaron stepped on Caph’s foot in warning to stifle his laughter.

Apparently unfazed by the petty antics of males, the clerk continued. “Do you need boarding arrangements for your males, Just Doctor, or will they stay with you?”

Baltin started to correct the clerk again, but Emi forced a smile and laid a hand on her arm. “It’s all right.” It was starting to sound like a bad old-Earth comedy sketch, and all Emi wanted to do was get somewhere private with her men and decompress. Her nerves felt tightly wound.

It didn’t help that all three of her men were dressed in nothing but collars and the less-than-concealing banana slings. After the sights she’d seen, she wouldn’t mind getting them totally naked.

She wondered of the Morans would let her guys keep them when they left. She wouldn’t mind making them wear them on occasion in the privacy of their ship.

Baltin helped Emi find her room. “I shall return to take you on the agricultural tour after I requisition a cart and take care of some things. That will allow you some time to refresh yourself and rest.”

“Thanks,” Emi said. “I’d appreciate that.”

“Would you like me to order you and your males a meal?”

“A snack would be great, thanks.”

“I will have something sent up.”

When they were alone in the room, Emi flopped back on the bed. “What a fucking place.”

“So?” Aaron started. “What’d you see?”

“Ha! You ain’t going to believe this.” She detailed the stables and the breeding session she’d witnessed. As she talked, the twins’ jaws dropped lower and lower until their mouths hung open.

“You’re kidding?” Ford asked.

“Nope.”

“No shit?” Caph commented.

“No shit.”

Aaron, however, frowned. “I really want to get back to the Bight as soon as possible.”

“You and me both.”

“No, I mean I have a really bad feeling about all this. Especially what you were saying about the pilot.”

“If you’ll recall, I was the one who didn’t even want to come down here in the first place. I was perfectly willing to say fuck regulations and fuck orders, but you sort of overruled me.”

“Next time, feel free to remind me of that.”

“We will,” Caph and Ford chimed in.

* * *

Baltin returned to Emi’s quarters about an hour later. “Are you ready to go?” Baltin eagerly asked.

Emi nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Baltin had brought a motorized cart with her this time. She led Emi to it when they left the hotel. Apparently their destination wasn’t within easy walking distance. Emi held on and prayed the Moran didn’t wreck them. The open cart didn’t have any restraint belts and either there were no speed limits, or Baltin completely disregarded them. Fortunately, there didn’t appear to be many other carts in use, the citizens using an extensive public transportation system of trams, or simply walking.

Finally, something to take her mind off what she’d witnessed at the stables—fear of death or dismemberment in a Moran cart accident.

“We carefully expand our agricultural lands as our population and needs increase,” Baltin cheerfully explained, raising her voice to be heard over the sound of the wind. “We alternate orchards with fields in such a way as to prevent erosion or overtaxing the land’s ability to support the crops.”

“Uh-huh,” Emi said through clenched teeth as they hit another bump. She tightened her grip on the railing. Apparently road maintenance in this area wasn’t as high on the Moran priority list as erosion prevention and keeping their feral males well-fucked.

“The area we are heading to is in the process of being added. We wall in the section first. Then, once we have thoroughly prepared the area, we can remove the dividing wall and properly develop it for our needs.” They were approaching a barricade. To Emi’s immense relief, Baltin slowed and stopped, putting the cart into park.

“Here we are, Doctor.”

Emi forced a smile. “Great.” Thank the Gods! On wobbly legs, she exited the cart and followed Baltin over to a guarded, sealed access port in the wall.

Baltin turned and pointed at a field behind them, which was being worked by several males, some of them apparently ferals from their collars. “You see over there is where we have already annexed the prepared land. This is why the wall around the city is not…as you say, straight. We add on in the most appropriate area to suit our needs. It makes it irregular.” She spoke to the guard, who nodded. The guard gave Emi a quick bow, opened the port, and stepped aside for them.

Baltin smiled at Emi. “This section is scheduled for final clearance and is to be opened in a few days.” She motioned for Emi to follow her inside.

The guard sealed the entrance behind them. Emi stared around, the new section of wall extending past them several kilometers into the distance through a wide, cleared swath that stood in stark contrast to the thick, lush vegetation they were looking at.

“What will this be used for?”

“Once it goes through final clearance, it will be cleared for farmland.”

Emi frowned. “Why not clear it before you wall it in?”

“Oh, we would never put our males at risk like that.” She turned to speak in her native tongue to someone who’d approached them. Emi couldn’t tell if the person was female or male because of their heavy, protective clothing that covered them from head to foot. The headgear muffled the person’s voice. Emi suspected it was a Moran woman, from everything else she’d seen.

Baltin turned back to Emi. “They are not quite through yet with this section, but it should be safe. Come. This way.” Baltin followed their guide, motioning for Emi to come with.

Emi felt her nerves tingling, on edge. She wondered what was so bad that heavy protective clothing like that was needed.

And she wondered why she didn’t have a suit of her own.

Baltin chattered on about the agricultural operation as they followed their guide down the path. They came to a clearing, where several four-legged, furry animals that reminded Emi of goats grazed next to a small pond. Each animal wore a collar with a sensor on it. Instead of hooves, like goats, they had fingered paws that looked like a cross between a dog and a monkey. The animals also had thick, bushy crowns of coarse hair on their heads.

“These are dau’phnalin,” Baltin explained as she reached out and petted one of the brown animals. “They help clear the area because they are immune. They are the only animal on the planet immune.”

Emi couldn’t stand it any longer. “Immune to what?” She suspected the “what” lay behind the reason for the heavy protective suits. She felt like her skin was about to crawl off her body, even worse than she felt when the jump engines were engaged.

“To the tals’tophk. I am sorry for the confusion, Doctor. I thought I made that clear.”

Emi vaguely remembered hearing something about that at some point in her holding-on-for-dear-life ride out there in the cart. “But what are they?”

“What?”

“The…tals-whatever.”

Then one of the not-goat critters let out a horrific, ear-splitting shriek that made Emi jump. The others joined in, making Emi cover her ears. From out of nowhere, several other workers garbed in protective clothing suddenly converged on them. Four of them surrounded Baltin and Emi, facing out and on high alert.

Two of the workers seemed to be paying attention to the now-screaming animals. They carefully watched where the animals all had their attention fixated. Then one of the workers produced a small metal wand. They touched a button on it, and with a click it expanded into a long spear. The two workers advanced on the focus point of the animals, a section of vegetation at the base of a tree on the edge of the clearing. The one with the spear pounced, jabbing it into the bushes.

Whatever was there started screaming even louder than the animals, who were now cowering around the four workers protecting Emi and Baltin.

The worker with the spear dragged their prey out of the bushes. Emi added her own horrified cries to those of the not-goats. Impaled on the end of the spear was something that looked like a ten-pound spider with a lot more legs. It struggled, shrieking.

The other worker produced a rectangular rod and reached down. The unmistakable sound of an electric zap filled the air.

The beast let out one final shriek and fell still, its legs curling up around it.

Immediately, the not-goats stopped their yelling and went back to peaceably grazing as if nothing had happened.

Apparently, the thing was dead, whatever it was. Baltin, who’d never lost her composure during the encounter, smiled at Emi as the four workers went back to their business. “Their venom can kill an adult in seconds.”

“Holy crap!”

“Would you like to see it?”

“Um, no thanks. I’m good.”

“It is safe once they are dead.”

The worker with the spear helpfully stepped forward and held it up for Emi’s inspection.

Emi took a few steps back, waving her hands in front of her. For good measure, she put one of the grazing critters between her and the dead-spider-thing-kabob. “No, seriously, thanks. I’m good.”

Baltin smiled, but Emi didn’t sense any smugness behind it. “I understand. They can be quite frightening if you are not used to them.”

“Huuuge understatement.”

Baltin said something in Moran and the technician took the corpse away. “You now see why we have to clear sections before we allow our male workers in.”

“Yeah.”

“We do value our males. We do not wish them dead. They are important parts of our society, but they have a different place and role than your males do.”

“What about the beaches and stuff? How do you keep those things away from there?” Emi resisted the urge to constantly look around, including into the canopy above them, for any more of those things.

“We have recreational areas also inside the walls.” She smiled. “Well, we cannot wall in the ocean, can we? We have a system of walls and barriers that protect the beach areas once they are cleared. And the tals’tophk do not go in the water. They will drown.”

“How come they can’t just climb the walls and get in?”

“The walls have…” She frowned, apparently searching for the right word in standard. “They are protected by electricity.”

“Electrified?” Emi asked.

“Yes, that is the word. They are killed trying to get over the top of the walls. When we add new sections of walls, we always remove any vegetation that might possibly grow over the walls. We can then be sure of no intrusion into the protected city. The walls are constantly patrolled and carefully maintained.” She said something to the last technician, who began leading them back to the gate.

Emi wished she could encourage them to pick up the pace to a run.

Baltin continued her chatter. “We have few things to fear here on our world, except for the tals’tophk. From the youngest age, our children, females and males, are taught to fear and despise them.”

“So they’re everywhere in your world?”

“Yes, except for where it’s cold. And on the beaches. They need vegetation and shade to survive. Lots of people used to die from them. That is why we domesticated the dau’phnalin. Five out of every ten children born in the old times were likely to be killed by tals’tophk long before they ever reached adulthood. After the Great Wars, we decided it was senseless to spread out when they outnumbered us so greatly. By combining forces and building walled communities that were eventually merged into the great city, we were able to keep them out.”

They reached the gate. Emi jumped when the dau’phnalin started screaming again from somewhere behind them. Emi fought the urge to trample Baltin to get through the port. The door slid shut behind them, also cutting off the sound of the screaming.

“That sound alone is more than enough to give me nightmares,” Emi said.

Baltin smiled. It didn’t look like the experience had fazed her in the least. “I can see how it might take some getting used to. Many people inside the walls still keep dau’phnalin as pets.”

“Yeah, I guess I would, too.” Emi involuntarily shuddered. “You know, the records the DSMC sent me didn’t include anything about killer spiders.”

She laughed. “Oh, we are very careful about making sure our tourists never have to see one. Can you imagine? Who would want to come to a place where they could die? It is best to maintain their ignorance in the matter.” She led Emi back to the cart.

Who indeed? Emi followed her and prepared to hold on for dear life. Compared to what she’d just seen, another wild cart ride should be a piece of cake.

“So now you see why people must get permission to settle outside the walls,” Baltin said as she started the cart, turned it around, and headed back in the direction of the Imperial Home.

Emi nodded. “Crystal clear.”

“I do not understand?”

“Oh, it’s an idiom. It means I completely understand.”

“Ah.” Baltin smiled and looked at Emi. Emi wished her tour guide would keep her eyes on the road and not on her. “I love being able to speak with people who claim standard as their native tongue. I always learn the most interesting things.”

Their course took them past a large complex. “What is that?” Emi asked.

Baltin immediately veered, changing course to head to it and making Emi hold on tightly to avoid falling out. “It is our defense training complex. Every honor-titled woman serves at least two years in our forces. Some make it their career, while others go on to do other things. But it is mandatory.”

They stopped in a courtyard and Baltin quickly pointed out several buildings to Emi before taking off again toward a large structure that looked like a stadium. Baltin drove up to one of the open gates and stopped. Yes, it was a stadium of some sort. Inside on the field of sandy loam, several pairs of women engaged in what appeared to be hand-to-hand combat.

“This is one of the training classes,” Baltin explained. “We are all taught skills to protect ourselves and others during fighting. And weapons. But also in case we have to settle any claims.”

“Claims?”

She nodded. “When there is a disagreement between honor-titled women, the injured party can request a fight to settle the score instead of punishment or fines. We have monthly sessions to settle disputes.”

Emi watched the women sparring. It didn’t look a whole lot different than what she’d learned during her training, except the Morans were larger and fought hard.

“Does it work?”

“Does what work?” Baltin asked.

“Settling scores like that?”

“Oh, absolutely. We do not have…what do you call…prisons. And since owners are solely responsible for the actions of their males, owners tend to keep their males under control as well.” Baltin backed them away from the gate and got them turned around to head for the Imperial Home. “No honor-titled woman would ever let her males get out of control. It is unheard of.”

* * *

Mauri had her cook prepare a delicious meal for them. Aaron, Ford, and Caph were, as Emi wanted to tease but held her tongue, seated at the kiddy table off to the side. Mauri, Emi, Baltin, Rawin, and Commander Yawlkin were seated at the main table.

“We are very eager to expand our tourist trade,” Mauri said. “I hope your visit has been a pleasant one.”

“Yes, very.”

“Are you sure I cannot interest you in partaking of one of our spas? I can assure you, our pleasure males have been highly trained to accommodate human females.”

Emi heard Aaron start coughing over at the other table. She ignored him, and also ignored it when Caph whacked him on the back.

“Thank you for your kind offer, Mauri. I appreciate it, but I assure you, I’m not in need of the services.”

Mauri shrugged. “Very well, but the offer stands if you wish to take it. But I must insist you allow me to give you some of the best of what our planet has to offer. We export natural health and beauty items, completely chemical-free. They are highly prized throughout many worlds.”

Emi smiled, relived for the subject to be dropped. “I would be honored, Mauri. Thank you.”

Mauri nodded. “I will give your men a voucher. The official store is very close. They can go pick it up while we chat after dinner.”

“Thank you.”

“Mother, may their pilot stay and take part in the discussion?” Rawin asked.

Emi wondered if her face bore the same confusion Yawlkin’s did. The commander looked from her pilot to Mauri.

“Daughter?”

“Well, Mother, he seems to be highly intelligent. I think it would benefit my training to see a different point of view.”

Emi immediately smelled a rat. She was going to say no, Aaron would go with the twins to the store, but Mauri spoke first.

“That is a very reasonable request, my daughter.” Mauri smiled at Emi. “It seems Doctor Hypatia has very talented and skilled males.”

Rawin glanced at Emi before smiling at her mother. “Yes, I believe you are correct, Mother.”

* * *

Yawlkin couldn’t stay, needing to get back to her ship to take care of maintenance issues. Apparently Rawin, being Mauri’s daughter, was exempt from having to leave right away. After dinner, Rawin briefly excused herself, citing needing to return a message. Mauri took a few moments to take care of official business. Baltin gave Caph and Ford a small handheld with a graphic map on it, as well as a list of items, and a scannable voucher code.

Baltin explained it to the two men. “You will not have any trouble,” she assured them. “I would take you, but I must get home to my daughter. She is home from school now. It was very nice meeting all of you.”

“Thanks for your help,” Emi said. She pulled all three men close for a quiet confab. “You sure this is a good idea, Aar?”

He shrugged. “We’re under orders.” He looked at the twins. “Best behavior. No screwing around, got it? Get there and get back.”

“No worries,” Caph said. “I’m not looking forward to doing this any more than you are looking forward to us going.” He looked at Ford. “Do you feel it?”

“The something-fishy feeling? Fuck yeah.” He glanced at the doorway Rawin had left through. “I don’t like that pilot woman. She keeps looking at Aaron like he’s a side of beef.”

Emi felt worry from all three of her men. “Agreed,” Emi said. “We get through this as fast as possible and I’ll claim I don’t feel well and we’ll beat feet back to the Bight. Okay?”

Caph and Ford nodded and were shown out by a guard.

Rawin returned and smiled. “My apologies, Doctor Hypatia, but it is taken care of.”

Mauri looked up from her desk. “Oh, good, we’re all here.” She rose and walked around to the sofa they’d occupied before, but Emi wasn’t sure if males were allowed on the furniture. Aaron chose to stand off to the side, solving her problem. Emi sat on the sofa, while Rawin took up a chair across from them.

“So did you enjoy Baltin’s tour today, Doctor?” Mauri asked.

Emi nodded. “Very educational.”

“Perhaps you can speak to the DSMC about increasing traffic to our planet? We would welcome the chance to have more visitors.”

“I can certainly do that,” Emi lied. She wasn’t going to turn into a free promo wonk for the Planet of the Oversexed Amazons.

Mauri’s smile beamed. “Excellent!” She started to say something else when a tone sounded at her desk. “Oh, forgive me. I must attend to that.” Mauri returned to her desk and spoke into what passed for the Moran version of a phone.

Rawin stood and got her mother’s attention. “Shall I take Doctor Hypatia for a quick tour to my house to give you some time? We will return shortly.”

Mauri nodded, waving them out.

Rawin grinned. “Please, come with me, Doctor.” She looked at Aaron. “And you, too, pilot. My home is here on the grounds. Just a few minutes away.”

Emi exchanged a frantic glance with Aaron. He pressed his lips together and gave a nearly imperceptible shake of his head. His message was clear. Don’t argue with her.

“Okay,” Emi said. “Sure. Sounds interesting.”

Rawin led them through the Imperial Home and out yet another entrance. Emi wondered how many the large structure had. As Rawin had said, her house was only a short walk down a shaded path. When they reached her door, she turned and smiled.

“Doctor Hypatia, I mean it when I say I would be pleased if you would avail yourself of my hospitality.” Rawin entered and waited for Emi and Aaron to follow before closing the door behind them.

Somewhere in the house, a chime sounded. Four males immediately raced into the foyer from different directions. Two of them wore yellow collars, one green, and one orange. But the circular badges on all their collars were the same.

Rawin allowed the two with yellow collars to kiss her hands. The other two dropped to their feet and kissed her shoes. “There are my pets.” She laid a hand on each head and introduced them to Emi. “Tau’Rawin, Kal’Rawin, Dou’Rawin, and Yee’Rawin.” She spoke to them in Moran. All four males looked at Emi, then looked expectantly at Aaron.

Emi didn’t miss how he involuntarily took a step behind Emi.

One of the males with a yellow collar spoke to Rawin, but his eyes never left Aaron. Rawin laughed. “My pet wants to know if he can play with the pilot,” she told Emi.

“I’m sorry, but it’s against our custom.” Emi grew increasingly tired of repeating it. What she wanted to do was scream, “Keep your fucking eyes off my husband, you damn greedy bitch.”

But she suspected that wouldn’t be considered very diplomatic.

Rawin’s eyes flickered. “Come, let me show you my home.”

It wasn’t very large compared to the Imperial Home, but the eight rooms were quite spacious and well-appointed. When they reached the back of the house, Emi saw it was actually part of a complex of several similar homes sharing a common pool. Two Moran women were sunning themselves on lounges next to the pool.

Naked.

Rawin walked over to them and planted kisses that looked more than friendly on their mouths. She spoke to them for a moment in Moran. Both women sat up, eyeing Aaron, who by now was never more than a few inches behind Emi.

The two women, both with dark hair and apparently unconcerned by their nudity, walked over to Emi.

“Hello, Doctor Hypatia,” the first said, offering her hand, her eyes never leaving Aaron. “I am Pelatau’tonkin.”

The other, also greedily eyeing Aaron, extended her hand. “M’lauwey Kealou.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Pelatau’tonkin whistled loudly, and a different male with a yellow collar and different badge came running. She pointed to the ground in front of her. He dropped to his knees and buried his face in the juncture of her thighs, his hands reaching up to caress the tympanic regions along her side.

She dug her fingers into his hair. “He is very good, Doctor,” she said in heavily accented standard.

Emi swallowed hard. “I’m sure he is.”

Rawin smiled and returned her attention to Emi. “Any or all of our pleasure males,” Rawin said, “free for you to use for the night. We have never had a human male before. We promise to keep him very busy so he doesn’t have time to miss you. And if money is an issue, we will be happy to compensate you for his use.”

Diplomacy be fucked! Emi pasted a smile on her face and prayed it stayed there long enough to get them out of there. “That is a very generous offer, but I’m afraid I will pass on it tonight. I need to return to my ship as soon as possible. We have a critical mission we were pulled from. It is vital we get underway as soon as possible.”

Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed Aaron’s hand and almost tripped over the four males eagerly waiting behind them. Weaving around them, she nearly broke into a run and headed for the front door.

“Emi—”

“Shut up, Aaron. Regulations, smegulations. We’re getting the twins and getting the fuck off this goddamned rock of horny women right now,” she muttered.

Chapter Thirteen

Caph knew they couldn’t refuse the errand, since Mauri seemed cheerfully insistent that Emi partake of their planet’s most-desired export on her royal dime. With a map and list, along with a voucher from Mauri loaded into their handheld, they set out on their expedition.

“I’d feel better if we had a guard,” Caph griped. “Or a tour guide. At least we wouldn’t get lost.” He didn’t like the curious stares they received from both Moran women and men alike. And he felt worse than naked in the getup they had to wear.

“Oh, hush,” Ford said. “This is a piece of cake and it’s not that far away.”

They followed the handheld map until they arrived at a storefront a few minutes later. Caph looked up at the sign. Written in Moran, he couldn’t decipher it. “Is this the place?”

Ford double-checked the handheld. “It says it is on here.”

Caph took a deep breath. “I’ll be so damned glad to get back to the TB,” he muttered, low enough three Moran women walking past them couldn’t hear him. “I hate this fucking place.” He adjusted the collar on his neck before tugging at the G-string. “This damn thing is squeezing my balls nearly up into my ass.”

“Yeah, it’s not exactly my cuppa either, big guy. Let’s do this and get it over with. The sooner we do, the sooner we can head home and change. Remember, we’re supposed to be diplomatic.”

“Hard to do that dressed like this.” He followed Ford inside the store and grabbed a shopping basket from the rack of them by the door. A chime sounded at their entrance.

It was the right place. Fragrant displays of jars, bottles, and tubes, as well as what looked like candles and potpourri, were tastefully displayed in the busy store, even if the two men couldn’t read a single word on any of the packages. They weren’t the only men in the place, however. Caph spotted one naked Moran man wearing an orange collar and dutifully following behind his owner, carrying a full armload of stuff in an overflowing basket while she took her time browsing. The door chime sounded every time someone entered or left the store.

Caph followed Ford over to a woman standing behind a counter. Despite the differences, it seemed shops all over the universe had a lot of the same features in common, like checkout counters and clerks who didn’t want to be bothered by customers they considered beneath them. Ford pulled up something on the handheld and showed it to her.

Caph also guessed disdain was a universal expression. The woman arched an eyebrow at Ford as she glanced at the screen of his device. Then she walked around the counter and led them to a display along the far wall, pointing but not walking them through their list.

“Thank you. Eh, cah’shleay,” Ford said.

She let out what sounded to Caph like a snort of derision. “You are welcome, Earth man,” the Moran responded in accented, but understandable standard dripping with contempt.

“Huh,” Ford said, watching her walk away. “Didn’t think they spoke standard.”

“Many of us do,” a Moran woman said from behind them.

Caph turned to find himself nearly eye-to-boob with a tall Moran woman.

“Sorry?” Ford said as he looked up.

“Because we are used to hosting people from all over the galaxy, many of us speak standard.” She carried a shopping basket and pointed at the wall display directly behind where Ford stood. “You are not from here.”

“Oh, sorry.” He moved out of the way so she could reach the display. “It’s that obvious, huh?”

“You have been on our news. You and your captain, the doctor.” She picked up a jar, looked at the label, and added it to her basket. “She must be a very rich woman to have three men of her own as well as a ship.”

Caph had a weird feeling at the base of his neck. He didn’t like the way the woman’s eyes kept running up and down their bodies. Especially his. He wanted to get their stuff and get out of there and back to Emi. Ford would stand there talking all day if he let him.

“Could you help us find these?” Caph grabbed the handheld from Ford and showed her the screen. “Mauri Dob’antu told Emi…eh, Captain Hypatia, she wanted her to have these things as gifts for bringing the ship back for them.”

The door chime sounded yet again. Caph glanced to see a Moran woman enter. She cast her gaze around the store. When her eyes met Caph’s, he looked away quickly. He didn’t like the hard, intense stare she gave him.

The woman helping them looked at the handheld’s screen and turned back to the display. She selected three different items and placed them in Caph’s basket. “They are made here on our planet from what you would call organically grown plants. No chemicals are added to them. Women from various planets, and not just human, pay dearly to have this imported from us. Mauri is very kind and generous to those in her favor.”

She reached over to another display and grabbed two more items, tubes of what Caph assumed were lotion, and placed them in his basket. “She might also enjoy these.” She smiled, but it held no humor that he could see. “I hope she enjoys them.”

“Thanks,” Caph said. “We really appreciate your help.” He tapped Ford on the shoulder and pointed at the counter. “Let’s get out of here.”

They turned to make their way over to the counter when the woman Caph had seen entering the store approached them. He didn’t like the smirk she gave before she started screaming something in Moran.

Caph and Ford looked at each other. “What the fuck?” Caph said.

Immediately, two Moran guards rushed up and grabbed Ford and Caph.

Ford struggled. “Let go of us!”

The woman spoke quickly in Moran to the two guards, who ripped the basket out of Caph’s hand before slapping their version of handcuffs on them and bodily dragging them from the store.

“What the hell is wrong with you people?” Caph yelled, trying to fight.

They were dragged into an awaiting vehicle with a logo on the side that Caph assumed meant it was one of their security force vehicles. When they both continued trying to resist, the cuffs delivered a stunning shock that left both men immobile and disoriented for several minutes.

Ford groaned. “Aaron’s gonna kill us,” he said from his place on the floor in the back of the vehicle.

“Screw that. Emi’s going to kill us,” Caph said.

* * *

Emi and Aaron quickly made their way back to the main Imperial Home. Rawin didn’t follow them, much to Emi’s great relief. Once again, every nerve in Emi’s body was screaming in protest, and nothing she told herself would settle her. The only thing that would help, she knew, was getting Ford and Caph and getting the hell back to the Bight.

One of the guards at the entrance understood enough standard she was able to lead Emi and Aaron back to Mauri’s office.

Mauri was still on the phone at her desk. Shaking with adrenaline, Emi plopped down on the sofa and looked up at Aaron.

How he’d managed to not say anything during the encounter proved the strength of his iron will. Maybe she wasn’t the best imitation captain out there. Aaron, hands down, did a far better job of at least pretending to keep his cool. Once Mauri got off the phone, Emi would ask her to send guards after Caph and Ford to see them back safely, and then ask to leave.

Mauri was still on the phone a few minutes later when a guard rushed into the office, speaking in excited tones Emi didn’t like.

Even more, Emi didn’t like how the guard glanced at her and Aaron before directing her comments to Mauri once more.

Mauri ended her phone conversation and frowned as she spoke with the guard.

Aaron walked over to Emi as she stood. “I don’t like this, babe,” he whispered.

“Neither do I.”

Mauri looked distraught. She rounded her desk and approached Emi. “Doctor Hypatia, I have just received troubling information about your other two men.”

Emi involuntarily reached for Aaron’s hand. “What? Are they okay? Did one of those spider things get him?”

“Things? No, there was an altercation in the store. I am so terribly sorry, I should have sent a guard with them but I did not want to insult your ownership of your men by doing so.”

“What happened?” Emi tried not to scream.

“It appears they assaulted someone in the store.”

“Assaulted?” Now she and Aaron were doing the twinspeak.

“No way,” Emi said. “They would never do that.”

“I do not have all the details, but security detained them and took them to a holding station.”

“Are they okay?”

“They are unharmed. We must go. Now.”

* * *

Less than an hour later, they were standing in the station. Caph and Ford looked miserable, sitting on a bench inside a locked holding room. Two uniformed guards were trying to explain the situation to Mauri and Baltin, who’d been called in to help deal with this.

Rawin showed up with another woman and entered the fray as well after casting triumphant glances at Emi.

Both Caph and Ford stood up and walked over to the door, motioning to Emi and Aaron. Emi and Aaron could stand outside the cell and talk to them through the door.

“That’s her,” Caph said, pointing at the woman who’d entered the station with Rawin. “That’s the woman who walked into the store and then just started yelling. We never touched her, and we never touched the woman we were talking to.”

“I swear we didn’t,” Ford said.

“Calm down. We’ll get this settled,” Aaron counseled. Emi read the doubt in him, though, which didn’t instill her with confidence.

After several more minutes of wrangling, Mauri walked over to Emi. “Doctor, I must speak with you.” She brought Emi over to the gathered security officers, Rawin, and the other woman.

“There is a witness to the claims Ptau’Baegen makes. She claims they attempted to sexually assault her. These are serious charges.”

Emi struggled to remain calm. “My men didn’t touch her. She’s making this up.”

“This is what the report says.”

“I don’t care what the hell the report says. My guys are chipped. It ensures fidelity. Even if they weren’t chipped, I know they would never touch someone like that.”

“There is a witness.”

“Is it on video? Witnesses can lie.”

Rawin’s eyes narrowed. She looked amused. “Ptau’Baegen is my friend, and she does not lie.”

“You’re behind this, I’m sure of it!” Emi shouted. “You’re pissed off that I won’t let you get freaky with my husbands!”

Ptau’Baegen got in Emi’s face, which was hard to do because she stood a good half a head taller than Emi. “I do not lie!” She looked at Mauri. “I demand damages for the assault and for the accusation against my honor!”

Rawin got between Ptau’Baegen and Emi. “Mother, I have a simple solution. Perhaps Ptau’Baegen will be amenable to it?”

Ptau’Baegen looked like she was thinking. “Go on.”

“Do any of those men catch your eye?”

She looked at where Aaron, Ford, and Caph stood. “The free one. The pilot. He would do.”

Rawin looked triumphant. “I suggest a simple trade. Dr. Hypatia awards the pilot to Ptau’Baegen, and perhaps Ptau’Baegen would be agreeable to letting the other two go free?”

Ptau’Baegen nodded while Emi yelled and tried to charge the Moran woman. “No fucking way!” She felt hands on her and realized Aaron was pulling her back, trying to calm her.

She fought him, breaking free and standing on tiptoe to get in Rawin’s face, who stood at least a head taller than Emi. “Listen to me, you goddamned cunt. You are not getting your fucking hands on any of my men. I’ll do whatever it takes, but they all leave with me. This is made-up bullshit and you know it!”

There was a brief moment of discussion in Moran between Rawin and her friend. Rawin shrugged. “She says she demands a fight of settlement. Winner takes all.”

“Fine!” Emi screamed.

“Em,” Aaron warned from behind her.

Emi ignored him and turned to Mauri. “Let’s do this thing. I can take her.”

Rawin cleared her throat. “Ptau’Baegen has the right to choose to fight or appoint a proxy.”

“What kind of bullshit is this?”

Mauri sadly nodded. “It is our law.”

“And she appoints me as her proxy,” Rawin finished.

“Or you give me the pilot,” Ptau’Baegen helpfully suggested with a smile, “and you can leave tonight with your others right now.”

“Fuck. You!”

Mauri sighed. “Tomorrow, then. At the grounds. I shall announce it.”

Rawin stared Emi down. “You do not stand a chance,” she whispered to Emi. “Spare your honor and two of your men and be generous.”

“Fuck. You.”

“You cannot win against me.”

“I’m very lucky.”

“There is no such thing as luck. There is skill and training, and I am the best.”

“Then why are you eager to get me to settle?”

“I am simply trying to spare you the pain of losing not one, but all three men.”

“Fuck you.”

“Very well. It is your loss, Doctor Hypatia.” Rawin turned and left with her friend.

Aaron watched them go. “Em—”

“Don’t say it,” she said, her tone growling. “Don’t fucking say it.”

Chapter Fourteen

They wouldn’t let Emi take Caph and Ford with her. Because of the charges, and a so-called witness to them, they were required to remain in custody until the settlement fight. Emi and Aaron were escorted back to the hotel by Baltin, who acted mortified.

“Doctor, I am so sorry I did not stay. I should have made other arrangements and gone with them myself.”

Emi liked Baltin and sensed her genuine anguish over the situation. “It’s not your fault,” Emi gently said. “I know in my heart Rawin planned this with her friends.”

“I fear you are right. But she is a fierce fighter. One of the best. She has never lost.”

“She’s not going to be a match for me,” Emi assured her despite not feeling the bravado herself.

“I hope you are right. I would truly hate to see you lose. I will return in the morning and bring you breakfast.” She left them alone.

Emi plunked down on the bed and turned on the vid screen. She didn’t understand a word of the broadcast, but there were pictures of her and her men. She changed channels. Another newscast, featuring them. And another. And another. Until she found a channel with a cartoon.

Hell, it was better than nothing.

Aaron sat next to her on the bed and pulled her close. “It’ll be okay, babe.”

“Yeah.”

He kissed the top of her head. “They’re okay.”

“Yeah.”

He sighed into her hair. “I miss them, too.”

“I’m not going to lose them,” she said. “Whatever I have to do, I’m going to kick that bitch’s ass.”

“I know.”

* * *

Emi felt the tension and worry in Aaron that night as they tried to sleep. Not so much worry for himself as worry for her and the twins.

She knew she dozed during the night but wasn’t sure how much sleep she actually got. When the sun rose the next morning, she pulled on the same clothes she’d been wearing when they arrived, including uniform trousers with cargo pockets, comfy, loose enough she could move around in.

As she felt a bulge in one pocket, she stuck her hand in and wistfully smiled when she pulled out Caph’s little Halloween surprise.

She fought the urge to cry as she tucked Bucky back in her pocket. Maybe it would be a good-luck charm.

Baltin delivered their breakfast. “I will come back for you in an hour to take you to the grounds.”

They ate in silence. Emi kept her meal light, not wanting a full stomach to slow her down. She couldn’t help but think about the twins. She knew they were probably okay, that Mauri would ensure their safety. Still, she missed them.

Would this morning be the final time she ever saw them? She talked a good game, but what if she did lose? How would she get her guys back short of returning with a lander and a shitload of guns?

She suspected the DSMC and ISTC wouldn’t overturn the Moran laws and risk an interstellar incident over three men.

Aaron tried one more time. “Em, listen to me. I—”

“No.” She cut him off, not letting him speak it. She’d felt the resignation in him ever since he awoke. He wasn’t sure she could win and was willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of the twins.

The feeling of dread she remembered from the sim session, when Aaron sacrificed himself for all of them, slammed into her.

“We could guarantee they’d be free,” he quietly said. “They could be with you.”

“Aaron, crew first.” Her anger boiled. “I can’t believe you’d even think it! No fucking way am I letting that bitch take any of my husbands. Crew always comes first. You yourself taught me that. Crew first.”

He studied her for a moment before he nodded. “Okay.” In the privacy of their room, he pulled her tightly to him and held her, burying his face in her hair. “Okay, sweetie. You’re absolutely right. Crew first.”

* * *

Apparently, situations like this brought out the party animals in the normally reserved Moran women. As they were led into the arena, Emi stared at the full stands, eager faces watching and anticipating a hell of a show.

She couldn’t help but make the comparison to old-Earth gladiator games.

The large, sandy field was marked by a white circle in the middle. The combat area.

When she spotted Caph and Ford, naked except for their collars and G-strings, bound, and seated on a bench to one side of the circle, she raced over to them and hugged and kissed them.

“Jesus, are you guys okay?”

“Nothing harmed but our fucking pride,” Ford snarked. “You all right, babe?”

She nodded, stroking his hair and Caph’s. “I get you two back to the Bight, I’m never letting you out of my sight again. You got that?”

“Fine with us, sweetie,” Caph softly said. “I’m so sorry.”

She pulled his head to her chest and buried her face in his hair. “It’s not your fault.” Emi couldn’t shake that certainty. The twins had a fairly bad track record for getting into trouble before she joined them, but most of that was, especially early on, designed to keep Aaron thinking he had to look after them and to distract him from his grief over Kelsey’s death. Since Emi joined them and Aaron’s deepest healing finally started, the twins had been virtual angels.

Emi also knew without a doubt that Rawin had set them up.

As she turned and looked across the arena, she spotted Rawin laughing, grinning, and talking to two women. She shook hands with them and gave them hugs. One Emi recognized as the one who filed the report.

“Ford, is one of those the woman who helped you two in the store?”

Caph and Ford looked at the woman as she turned and walked into the stands. “Yeah, that’s her,” Caph said. “She saw the whole thing. She’d even talked with us and helped us find stuff. We weren’t anywhere near that other woman. She came into the store and looked like she was looking for something. Then she walked right over to us and then started yelling for guards. That one there didn’t bother standing up for us, either.”

Emi locked eyes with Rawin. The Moran woman’s lips curled into a sneer. Then, she winked at Emi.

That fucking bitch.

Emi now knew beyond all doubt this was a scam for Rawin to get her hands on Aaron after Emi refused her offers. But fuck, to so blatantly orchestrate something like this?

The guards made Aaron sit on the bench next to Caph and bound him to it. The men wouldn’t be released again until someone won the contest. Then the winner could claim her spoils.

Aaron’s brown gaze bored into hers. “You can do it, sweetie,” he softly said. “Just be careful. Take your time.”

Emi nodded and kissed each man once more. Then she stood across the circle from Rawin and waited for the signal to begin. Mauri had a seat in an ornate box at one side of the arena, close to the circle. When the Moran leader stood and raised her arms, the thousand or so women filling the stands immediately fell silent.

“We are gathered here today to settle a debt. If Dr. Hypatia wins, her men go free. If Rawin wins, as the appointed proxy for the injured party, she earns the right to claim the men as hers to do with as she pleases. The rules are this—a fight to the finish, and you may not lift or carry your opponent out of the circle. First warrior completely out of the circle loses. Step inside the circle, both of you.”

With a final glance at her men, Emi rolled her neck and shoulders and stepped into the ring. Rawin met her in the middle and stared down at her.

“You should have been generous, Doctor,” she said in a voice too low to be heard by anyone else. “You had two more. You could have given one up, or at the very least shared. It would have been polite. You brought this on yourself.”

“You’re going down, you soulless bitch.”

Rawin sneered. “I do not think so. I will try to make this as quick on you as I can so my friends and I can go enjoy my new men. I promised them the large one. I will keep the pilot for myself, and we’ll all share the blue-eyed one.”

Rage boiled inside Emi. She forced it back. It was exactly what Rawin wanted her to do, get mad so she’d do something stupid and lose her focus. Emi had seen Rawin practicing on one of the news vids the night before, saw a hint of what the fight would entail.

Emi also remembered every minute of self-defense training she’d received from the DSMC before leaving Earth. Aaron had worked with her personally on sparring.

She could brawl with the best of them.

Mauri picked up a large, carved wooden instrument and blew into it. “Begin!”

Rawin dropped into a crouch, her obsidian eyes gleaming. Emi balanced on the balls of her feet and waited until the last second to dodge Rawin’s first charge. Emi had the advantage of being used to heavier gravity, although the planet’s slightly thinner air would even that out if the fight continued for too long.

Rawin’s fist shot out, grazing Emi’s chin as she ducked away from the punch. But then the Moran kicked and caught Emi mid-turn in the left kidney. Emi dropped to the ground and rolled away, forcing herself back to her feet as the Moran closed in again to attack.

Calling upon her self-defense training, Emi feinted a punch, then kicked and caught the other woman in the right knee.

Rawin hissed in pain. “Lucky shot.”

“There is no such thing as luck, you said.”

“I lied.” She charged Emi, grappling with her and driving her a few steps closer to the edge of the ring. Emi managed to land a few punches under the woman’s arms, in her sensitive tympanic region, forcing the Moran to drop her arms and back off.

“I forgot to mention I play dirty to keep my husbands,” Emi growled.

No one could hear them over the roar of the spectators, some cheering Emi on, she realized.

She didn’t have time to think about that as Rawin charged again. They exchanged punches, Emi fighting off a wave of dizzying pain as one landed on her right ear. Emi managed another kick, this time to Rawin’s left tympanic region, again driving the Moran back.

Emi straightened and spit blood from where she’d bit her tongue. Portraying a confidence she didn’t feel, she stepped toward the center of the arena. Rawin circled her, apparently less sure of herself now that Emi hadn’t gone down immediately as she’d first anticipated.

After fifteen minutes, Emi knew she sported a black eye, a split lip, and probably a cracked rib or three. She was, however, still standing and fighting, throwing punches and kicks and holding her own. Rawin didn’t look much better, her complexion now slightly green, most likely in pain from Emi landing several more brutal kicks to her tympanic regions on both sides. Moran women didn’t hit each other in that region as a matter of courtesy, much as human men didn’t usually aim for the balls.

Emi also felt Rawin’s uncertainty. She’d been counting on a quick and easy win. Emi’s skill and tenacity and different style of fighting, along with her refusal to stay down and lose, proved troublesome to Rawin’s training and her ego. The fact that Emi was, by Moran standards, playing dirty also threw her.

Emi wasn’t feeling very courteous. And Emi knew her ribs could take a hell of a lot harder kick than the Moran’s tympanic region.

Unfortunately, she knew she couldn’t continue on like this much longer before the larger Moran simply wore her out and managed to get in a lucky shot to finish the fight.

Then Emi tripped backward while trying to duck Rawin’s next charge. The Moran hooked her legs through Emi’s and rolled both of their bodies through the sand, making Emi scream in pain as it felt like her right hip was nearly dislocated. Worse, she realized what the other woman was up to, trying to get them close to the outer edge of the circle.

Somewhere through her pain, a strange woman’s voice yelled in her brain. “Use Bucky!”

Emi didn’t have time to contemplate that as she clawed at Rawin’s legs, not gaining any purchase. Then Emi felt something rubbing inside her pants pocket, against her thigh.

Desperate, she threw a handful of sand at Rawin’s face, making the other woman choke. That distracted her enough Emi could squirm loose, but the Moran was on her again in a flash from behind, one arm hooked around Emi’s neck.

“I’ll choke you,” she growled in Emi’s ear. “Break your neck. Then you’ll die and I’ll still have your men.”

They were just feet from the ring’s edge. A desperate idea formed in her mind. She forced herself up to her knees, Rawin still choking her.

Struggling to hold on to consciousness, Emi jammed her hand into her pocket and found Bucky. Grabbing the rubber spider, she thrust her hand backward over her shoulder into Rawin’s face.

Rawin immediately freed Emi and let out a bloodcurdling scream as she desperately scrabbled backward out of the ring.

The horn sounded as more cheers than jeers erupted from the audience.

Emi shakily climbed to her feet, the rubber spider tightly clutched in her fist. No way in hell would she ever let loose of that lucky charm. Bucky would be her new best friend with a place of honor on her desk.

Swaying, she turned to Mauri, who raised her arms and wore a beaming smile. “Dr. Hypatia wins. Her men go free with her. All charges are hereby dropped and this case is considered permanently settled.”

Rawin screamed from behind Emi. “No! She cheated! She threw something at me. This is not how it was supposed to end! Those are my men! I want them!”

Emi turned. “You cheated,” she yelled. “You set this whole thing up with your friends over there.” Emi pointed at the two women in the stands, who now wore horrified expressions.

Rawin stepped toward her, her fists clenched. “You should have shared them like I asked. Respected our customs. Then I never would have had to resort to…” Rawin went silent as she realized too late what she’d said.

Mauri’s face darkened. “What is the meaning of this, daughter? What have you done?”

Desperation replaced rage on Rawin’s face. “Mother, she would not share! I only wanted to play with the dark-haired pilot, just to see what a human male was like, and she refused to—”

Boos and hisses from the audience drowned Rawin out.

“You lied to me, then, when asking me to invite them down?”

“Yes, but, Mother—”

More boos and hisses.

Mauri looked horrified. She motioned to her guards to take Rawin. “Dr. Hypatia, my most sincere apologies. You and your men have been horribly dishonored, and I am most ashamed of my daughter’s actions. I will talk with you momentarily.”

Rawin looked at Emi, rage painting her face. “I will kill you!” She charged Emi before the guards could reach her and landed a few more punches Emi didn’t have time to defend herself against. As the guards dragged Rawin off her and across the arena, another guard helped Emi to her feet again.

“Are you all right, Captain Doctor Hypatia?” the guard asked.

No, she wasn’t. She suspected she had a concussion now, in addition to all her other injuries. And as she felt the world go out of focus, she realized Aaron and the twins had been freed and were racing to her side to catch her as she started to fall…

* * *

“Babe, please open your eyes.” Ford’s soft voice cut through Emi’s pain. She struggled to do it. One eye didn’t want to obey, and she thought she should know why, but the reason escaped her momentarily. The other cracked open a little, allowing her to squint up at Ford, Aaron, and Caph, all bent over her.

“Is she all right?” That was Mauri’s concerned voice coming from somewhere close.

Emi forced her head to move a fraction, enough she could see the Moran leader also standing over her.

“I think she’s got a concussion,” Ford said. “I’ll need to get her back to our ship immediately for treatment.”

“Of course,” Mauri said. “I will assign a cadre of guards to escort you to the shuttle and back to your ship. But first, we must finish this.”

“Finish what?” Aaron demanded. “She won. You said so.”

He sounds really pissed off. Her mind struggled to figure out why. Then she gave up thinking as more pain in her ribs broke through her consciousness.

“Yes, but she has the right to witness sentencing. It is our law. It will only take a moment.”

Emi groaned as Aaron and Caph helped her sit up. She tasted blood in her mouth and spat in the dirt as she ran her tongue over her teeth. At least she still had all of them.

Mauri addressed the crowd, who went silent. Through her one squinty eye, Emi saw that Rawin and her two friends were now all restrained by guards. “Injuries of body, reputation, and honor have been perpetrated upon Captain Doctor Hypatia and her males. Therefore, as Imperial Ruler, I hereby decree the following—for acting dishonorably and selfishly and lying about innocents, for failing to respect other cultures, and for bringing disgrace to the ruling family as well as to our entire culture, I hereby sentence Mlaui Mil’rawin to five years of forced service to the feral maintenance division, including public and training use as necessary, and permanent revocation of all her rights of honor and ruling family.”

Rawin screamed, begging, tears coursing down her face. “No! Please, Mother, you cannot do this to me! She would not share!”

Ignoring her daughter’s screams, Mauri wasn’t finished. “For assisting in this treachery with expectation of gains, and for lying, I hereby sentence Tor’Galso and Ptau’Baegen to two years forced service to the feral maintenance division, including public and training use as necessary, and permanent revocation of their rights of honor.”

The other women didn’t protest. They just stood there and cried.

“Is this a fair judgment?” Mauri asked the crowd.

They all cheered.

“Any who dispute this ruling? Speak now and be heard, or it shall be so.”

Silence met her statement.

Mauri looked grim. She nodded. “So it is ordered and shall be recorded in the official dockets. Remove the prisoners immediately and remand them to the custody of the feral trainers,” Mauri ordered.

Rawin screamed and struggled as the guards forced her from the arena. The other women quietly went with the guards.

“I also declare,” Mauri continued, “that as diplomatic emissaries from the DSMC, and as the legal mates of this woman by the rules of their society, not to mention as invited guest to our planet, that Captain Doctor Hypatia’s men are, by official diplomatic decree, allowed the freedoms and protections of any honor-bound woman.”

“Including clothes?” Caph quipped.

Mauri smiled and nodded. “Including clothes.”

“Aww. That sucks,” Emi mumbled as she slumped against Aaron, darkness taking her again.

She awoke in the Tamora Bight’s sick bay, on a bunk, with Ford hovering over her. He was now dressed in a casual crew uniform.

“You didn’t waste any time getting un-nakey, did you?” she mumbled. Her lips felt huge, her head hurt like a son of a bitch, and she suspected maybe the other eye was swelling shut, too.

“Honey, you’ve been out four hours. I hung on for as long as I could, but I got a little chilly up here.”

Aaron spoke from somewhere else in the room. Emi hurt too badly to turn her head to look to see from where. “Hey, Caph, she’s awake.”

She felt the other two men cross the room and stand at her side. Aaron gently stroked her forehead. “You all right, Em?”

“Oh, sure. Feel great. Let’s go for a jog.”

He laughed and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “There’s my girl. I’m so proud of you.”

She felt Caph’s enormous hands engulf hers. “Fuck, babe. I was so goddamned worried about you there at the end. I was afraid she was going to hurt you.”

“She did. She didn’t count on me playing dirty.”

“All right, you two,” Ford chastised. “Don’t make her talk.” She felt a slight sting on her upper lip as he injected medication to reduce the swelling, then again on her lower lip.

“Is she okay?” Aaron asked. “Do we need to get her to a base?”

“She’s no worse off than any of us have gotten in a bar fight. Although that rib will take a few days to quit hurting. I gave her a dose to make it knit, but until it does, she needs to be handled with kid gloves.”

She realized her other hand was still tightly clenched around the rubber spider. She opened her palm and held Bucky up to Caph. “Here,” she whispered. “Hold on to this for me until I feel better.”

He laughed. “Is that what you threw at her?”

Emi managed a nod.

“Okay,” Ford scolded. “Leave her alone. Now. You can sit and stare at her, but quit making her talk, goddammit. She needs her rest.”

As she drifted back into unconsciousness, she felt Caph start to massage her feet while Aaron laced his fingers through hers and rested his head on the bunk next to her.

* * *

She opened her eyes and realized both eyelids now obeyed commands from her brain. Ford had been trained as a medic, but with all the fights he and Caph had been in, he probably relied more on his practical memory than any training to get her body healed to this point. Still, she hurt like hell.

Ford’s concerned, blue-eyed gaze came into view. “How you feeling, sweetie?”

“Like I had the crap beat out of me.”

Caph, who’d apparently been sitting with his head resting on the end of the bunk, sat up. “Hey, babe.” He leaned in and kissed her. “I love you.”

She felt for and found his hand and squeezed. “Love you, too, big guy.”

“She’s not dying,” Aaron quipped from somewhere out of her range of vision. She sensed him walk over. Then he appeared, standing next to Ford.

He gave her a smile. “Feeling better?”

“A little. Help me sit up, please.”

All three leaned in, nearly bonking their heads together in the process. “I’ve got her,” Caph tersely said. The other two backed off and let Caph help her. He kept an arm around her, protectively tucking her close to his body.

Emi suspected he’d never leave her side if it wasn’t for the fact he had to take turns with the others doing watches.

She placed a hand on his chest as a wave of regret washed over her from him. “Caph,” she gently said, “you and Ford didn’t do anything wrong.”

His gentle face clouded. “I wanted to kill that bitch,” he said. “If I’d been able to get up off that bench, I would have. I felt so damned angry and scared for you. It’s our job to protect you and I couldn’t.”

She glanced at the other two men and saw their sad expressions. They felt the same, to a lesser degree than Caph. Their sadness was more for the large man than it was over their own feelings. She tipped her face up and kissed him. “I’m okay. How about you carry me back to our cabin and help me get a shower?”

Before Ford or Aaron could respond, she found herself in Caph’s arms and being carried out of sick bay.

In his massive body she felt something else, an old, unhealed grief bubbling to the surface. Emi immediately realized the true source of Caph’s feelings.

He’d lost Kels, and nearly lost Aaron at the same time. Caph was a man of action, wanting to fix things and protect his loved ones. Watching Emi fight Rawin brought back a host of bad memories and grief he hadn’t adequately worked through yet.

They indulged in a water shower instead of a sonic one. Emi let him hold her, gently lathering her bruised flesh, carefully rinsing her off before patting her dry and carrying her to bed.

He lay with her tucked against his side. “I’m so sorry, Emi,” he whispered.

“It’s okay, big guy. I’m here. Everything’s fine.” She sensed Ford and Aaron approaching the cabin. “How about you make me some soup for lunch?”

Before the sound of her words had died in the air, Caph was up and bolting for the galley to get it for her. She still sadly stared at the doorway when Ford and Aaron appeared, both looking down the hallway in the direction Caph headed.

“Where’s he going in such a rush?” Ford asked.

“I sent him off for soup.”

Aaron walked over and kissed her. “Is he okay?”

She forced a smile. “I think he’s dealing with some old stuff now.”

“I suspected,” Ford said. “The big guy’s a softie. You know that.”

“Go easy on him, guys, okay?”

Aaron nodded. “Don’t worry. We will.” He stroked her hair. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Sore. I’ll survive and recover. Just need some more sleep.”

Ford held up a hypo bolus of medicine. “You want this now or after the soup?”

She reached for it. He walked over and dropped it into her palm. “I’ll give it to myself after the soup.”

“So do we let him stay in here with you all day,” Aaron asked, “or do we give him busy work to keep him focused?’

She loved that Aaron deferred to her about stuff like that. “I’ll make him leave when I finish lunch. Keep him busy. I think that’ll be best for him right now until we get back to our normal routine.”

“Whatever that is,” Ford snarked.

Chapter Fifteen

That night, after Emi awoke from her nap, she relaxed in their bed with an old movie vid playing on the screen. Bucky rested on her chest, his sightless rubber eyes staring up at her.

Emi stroked him. Caph had washed all the sand off him, leaving him squeaky clean.

She couldn’t help it. Bucky had helped her save her men. She wasn’t ready to let go of him yet.

Aaron laughed from the doorway. Without moving her still-sore neck, she looked at him. “I see Bucky’s got the good life now,” he teased.

She managed a smile for him. Even doing that still hurt, but not nearly as much as earlier, when she’d first awoken after they got her back to the ship. “Yeah, he does. I hope Caph doesn’t mind I’m not giving him back anytime soon.”

Aaron pushed off the doorway and walked over to sit next to her on the bunk. “I’m sure he won’t mind.” He reached out and stroked the spider with a finger. Emi felt a wave of melancholy from him.

She studied his expression. “What is it, Aaron?” she softly asked.

He wistfully smiled. “You didn’t hear the story of how Bucky came to be with us, did you?”

“No. I was too pissed off at Caph that morning to ask.”

“Kels scared Caph with it.”

That explained a lot. She felt guilty at her initial plans that morning to throw it away. “No wonder he begged me not to incinerate it.”

“Yeah. If you hadn’t agreed, then I would have stepped in and taken custody of Bucky myself.”

She looked at the rubber spider again, a little more guilt seeping in. “Maybe I should give him back, then.”

He shook his head. “No. He belongs with you now.” He let out a sad sigh. “I know this is sentimental, and please don’t take it the wrong way, but it’s like a little part of her is looking out for all four of us.”

Emi started to mention the strange voice she’d heard in her mind during her fight with Rawin, then decided against it. It had to have been a trick of her own mind, probably due to her empath training and skills. Instead, she smiled. “I think that’s a wonderful way to look at it.”

He leaned in and kissed her. “Ford sent me to tell you dinner will be ready shortly, and to use my captainly authority to order you to stay here and be served in bed.”

She managed a soft laugh that didn’t hurt her healing ribs. “I won’t argue, Captain.”

He caressed her cheek. “I am so proud of you. I was really worried there for a while, though. I won’t lie to you. I thought she was going to beat you.”

“So did I for a while.” Emi returned her attention to Bucky. “So did I.”

* * *

“What do you mean we can’t leave yet?” Emi asked Aaron the next morning.

She read his wave of patience, trying not to get upset for her benefit. “Honey, Mauri asked us to come down to the planet.”

“Oh, fuck no. She can’t make us. She let us all go!”

He nodded. “I know. However, she said she would consider it a personal favor if we would. She promised to come up to the space station herself and accompany us the entire time.”

Emi warily eyed him. “Why does she want us down there?”

“She insists that we have a right, according to their laws, to witness the initial punishment.”

Emi’s stomach rolled. “No thanks. I’m good.”

“She really feels horrible about what happened.”

“She’s just worried we’re going to give her a bad review in the next issue of Kinky Vacations for Horny Rich Women magazine, or however people find out about their planet.”

He smiled. “Maybe. But I believe her. Let’s end this trip on a good note.”

“Me winning wasn’t a good note?”

“Please?”

“Seriously, how is going down there a good note?”

“Mauri shared her report with me. The one she’s sending to the head honchos, praising us and our professionalism during the events and recommending we receive commendations for our service.”

“In other words, she’s scared shitless we’re going to say bad things about what happened and wants another chance to apologize and suck up.”

“Yes. I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt. We were ordered to indulge diplomatic relations.”

“And I nearly lost the three of you because of that woman’s horny bitch cunt of a daughter!”

He took a deep breath and sighed. “Emi,” he quietly said. “Please?”

She glared at him. “Is that an order, Captain?”

He picked up her hand and brushed his lips across her knuckles. “It’s a request.”

“What’d the twins say?”

“They’re okay with it.”

Damn. “Clothes?”

“She personally assured me we are allowed to wear our standard crew uniforms. She entered an exception into their laws for diplomatic occasions.”

Emi snorted in disgust. “A little too late for that, huh?” He simply looked at her, waiting her out. “Okay, fine. Set it up.”

Two hours later, they were on their way to the surface in a shuttle with Mauri and Baltin. Emi had lost count of how many times the Moran leader profusely apologized to her for what happened. “I want to assure you, Doctor Hypatia, we are taking great pains to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. We are making video surveillance mandatory, and requiring video evidence in all future cases such as this.”

Emi didn’t want to debate their legal system, even though at least three faults in the Moran leader’s logic popped out at her immediately. All she wanted was to get the visit over with and get their asses back to the Bight and get the hell off that rock and back to their original mission.

Emi’s slow walking pace somewhat hampered their progress. Caph offered to carry her, but she declined, opting to lean on his arm for support instead. Modern medicine could do wonderful things, but her body still needed time and rest to heal from the pounding she’d suffered at Rawin’s hands.

When they entered the stables at the Imperial Home, Emi crossed her arms in front of her and tried not to look into any of the windows. At one point she walked into Caph, who’d stopped, mouth agape, as he stared into one of the rooms.

“Move it,” she grumbled, pushing him.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m moving.” She thought he’d kink his neck trying to turn his head to look back as he moved forward.

They reached the window Emi remembered from the previous visit. No one was in the room yet.

Mauri looked grim and spoke in Moran to one of the guards. The guard nodded and left. Then Mauri offered Emi a kind smile. “It pains me as a mother to have to do this.” Her expression hardened. “As a leader, however, I refuse to shun or shy away from my duties. My people expect me to uphold our laws. Her punishment will also be recorded for viewing by any who wish to see it. It is part of the sentence. My people will also see that I will not show any favoritism toward those who break our laws. Especially when they dishonor people whose only reason to come to our world in the first place was to help us, at our request.”

Rawin, naked except for a black collar and a harness around her waist, was dragged into the room by two red-collared males. Both males wore grim expressions and she realized one bore fresh scratches on his chest that looked like fingernail marks.

Apparently Rawin wasn’t going to meekly accept her punishment.

“The harness,” Mauri explained, even though Emi didn’t ask, “is also used much in the same way the attachment on the bench is used for males who normally service the ferals.”

Her meaning hit home. “You mean it’s like a vibrator?”

Mauri looked confused. “I do not know what that is, but she will receive physical pleasure during the servicing.” Mauri’s face looked even more grim. “It also means she will service ferals the way males do. She will not be allowed, during the time of her sentence, to service the males in the way females normally use them. She must rut like a male. And her debasement will be recorded for all to see as a lesson for all honor-titled women to never repeat her mistakes.”

The two males finally got Rawin down on the bench and bound her arms and legs to it. She couldn’t escape. They seemed to need a moment to recover their energy. Then one of them walked over to a shelf on the wall Emi hadn’t noticed before. He picked up something that looked like a remote control and pointed it at Rawin.

Her body arched off the bench as far as her restraints would allow. Despite not being able to hear what was going on, Emi could imagine the arched feet and clawing fingers meant an orgasm had hit her.

Then they grabbed something else from the shelf. When the second man grabbed a fistful of Rawin’s hair and pulled her head back, the male she’d scratched jammed the item into her mouth and buckled a strap around the back of her head. From the large ring in the gag that held Rawin’s mouth open, Emi easily surmised its purpose.

The collared male who’d been scratched made a gesture at Rawin. Emi suspected it was the Moran equivalent of flipping a bird. Then he grabbed his cock, stroked it a few times to make it hard, and fed it into her mouth through the ring in the gag. Rawin continued rolling through her orgasm as the male grabbed her head and started fucking her mouth. He soon finished, laughing and stepping aside for the other male to take his turn.

When both males finished using her, the one who’d been scratched opened the door and motioned someone in. A handler had a feral male on a pole attached to the feral’s collar.

Rawin turned her head to look. She appeared to be sobbing at the appearance of the feral male, shaking her head.

The feral male didn’t look too sure about the situation either and had to be coaxed over by his handler. Then his male handler slapped her on the ass, apparently to show the feral it was okay.

One of the other male handlers picked up the remote control again and made an adjustment to the settings on Rawin’s harness.

When the feral male began fucking her in the ass, Rawin’s body appeared eager to fuck herself back onto his enormous cock, regardless of her personal feelings on the matter.

“She will service twenty to thirty ferals a day as part of her punishment,” Mauri quietly said. “In addition to the trainers and any public service use they find for her. And her body will enjoy it. Her body will be retrained to only receive pleasure when servicing males for their pleasure. Even after her sentence is over, she will never again be able to feel pleasure unless she is servicing a male.” The older woman shook her head. “She would have been next in line to take over and now look at her. Nothing more than a rutting whore for males and ferals.”

The first feral finished and was led away. Another feral was brought in. As if no longer in control of her own body, Rawin’s hips started frantically humping at the air when she spotted the next feral male.

Emi turned away. “I’ve seen enough. Can we go?”

“Do you wish to see the other two receive their initial punishments? It is your right under our laws.”

“Not really. I get it. I’ll pass. I just want to get back to our ship and lie down.”

Mauri nodded. “Of course, Doctor Hypatia.”

The Moran leader led the way out of the stables. Behind her, she heard Caph whisper to Ford, “These people are fucking messed up in the head. They call that punishment? People pay good money at the Tardarius brothels to be treated like—”

“Caph!” Aaron quietly scolded. “They do things differently than we do. Shut. Up.”

He fell silent.

* * *

Emi had plenty of time to kill. Aaron ordered her confined to quarters to rest for a few days. She used part of the time to catch up on her reading and vid watching, including the ancient film The Wizard of Oz.

Her eyes teared up as she realized the significance of the costumes.

Ford’s sense of irony apparently knew no bounds. When he appeared a few hours later to check on her following his watch, she crooked a finger at him, calling him over to the bed. When he bent down, she kissed him.

A playful smile quirked his lips. “What’s that for, babe?”

“A brain and courage, huh?”

His smile saddened. He reached out and stroked her chin. “And a heart. Don’t forget that. Because of you, he found it again.”

“Just trying to pound me on the head with that metaphor, huh?”

“Well, you know me. Mr. Obvious.” He laced his fingers through hers and brought her hand up to his mouth to brush his lips across her knuckles. “You’re the heart for all of us. And the brains and courage. Look how you kicked Rawin’s ass. Hell, look how you kicked Eckhart’s ass and figured out what was wrong with the Aroykin settlers.”

She didn’t want to think about that and quickly changed the topic. “Where are we heading now?” She knew the jump drive had been engaged shortly after departing the Moran orbiting station. The creepy-crawly sensation in her body had finally decreased to manageable levels after the first day. Maybe she was finally getting used to it.

“Back to our original orders. Exploration. You’ll be happy to hear the K-2 will be tagging along as well. They’re having us tag-team the explores.”

“Close enough for real-time com links?”

He smiled. “Yes, you and Donna can have gab fests again.”

Sophie’s training with her men was going well. Emi had exchanged e-mails with her and Donna, but their distance from Earth meant live com links were impossible. She’d missed chatting with her friends in real time. It would be good to have that outside contact with someone besides her men. “The K-2 guys are good guys.”

His brow furrowed. “I never said they weren’t, babe. What brought that on?”

She carefully shrugged, mindful of her ribs. “I feel bad for hating them when stuff never actually even happened.” She’d never mentioned Rob’s private conversation with her at the party to her men.

“Ah, Rob and his guys are tough. I’m sure even if they knew, they wouldn’t hold it against you. Don’t beat yourself up.” He snickered. “Sorry, babe.”

She dropped his hand. “Watch it, or you’ll end up with a colonoscopy.”

“Promises, promises, Doctor.”

Chapter Sixteen

Three days later, with the exception of twinges in her still-tender ribs, Emi’s injuries had mostly healed. Aaron, Caph, and Ford relented and let her once again roam the ship and return to duty. She was working on reports at her desk in sick bay when she looked at Bucky. He stayed with her all the time now, and she’d put him on the desk beside her computer terminal.

Something still bugged her about the fight.

This is stupid. She saved her reports and closed out the files. Then she accessed their personal server in the main computer, wading through thousands of pictures and vids taken throughout the men’s years together.

Then she found one labeled First_Halloween and dated twenty years earlier.

With a trembling finger, she reached out and hit play.

She’d never watched vids of Kelsey before. Not that she didn’t want to get to know the woman as well as she could, but usually when she thought of it, the men were nearby and she wanted to watch them alone.

Emi wasn’t sure who was shooting the vid at first, until she heard a woman’s soft snicker. It looked like Kelsey was hiding in a bunk, under a blanket. The view showed a large cabin. The door opened and Caph walked in.

Emi’s heart twisted. He looked much like he did now, still in good shape but twenty years younger, with fewer lines and creases on his sweet face.

He crossed the cabin, heading toward another door. It opened and he walked in, a light coming on.

Must be the head.

Kelsey threw back the blanket and quickly walked over to the head door with the camera. She caught Caph just as he was getting ready to use the toilet, but a large rubber spider fell from the ceiling onto his shoulder.

Bucky.

He let out a screeching howl, almost drowned out by Kelsey’s laughter. The picture shook as the woman laughed.

Caph grabbed the rubber spider and wheeled around, advancing on her, his pants open and dick hanging out. “What the fuck is this! Not funny!” But he’d started laughing.

“Yeah, it was funny. You nearly pissed yourself, Caph.”

“Yeah, because I have to take a piss!”

“Aww, did little Bucky scare you?”

Emi’s heart chilled and she hit pause, her hand now shaking.

It was the voice she’d heard during the fight. She’d swear it.

She rewound the vid to just after the spider landed on Caph and listened again, this time letting the vid play through until the end just a few minutes later.

When it finished, Emi closed the file, sat back, and stared at Bucky.

She’d never heard Kelsey’s voice before, never watched any of the vids.

There has to be a rational explanation for this.

Theories ran through her brain. Maybe it was just something empathic she picked up from one of her men. Or, more likely, her own subconscious, and she imagined the voice matched the one on the vid. Kelsey’s voice reminded her a lot of Delaney’s voice, which would make a lot of sense.

Maybe that was the answer and her brain was trying to trick her into thinking the impossible.

Still, that answer didn’t feel right. Emi was used to being observant. It was in her training.

And her gut told her the voice she’d heard during the fight was the same as the voice on the vid.

Kelsey.

She picked Bucky up and stared at him. The rubber spider’s sightless eyes offered no answers.

* * *

After dinner that night she went to bed while Aaron and Ford volunteered to clean up the galley. Caph had the watch. The men, afraid of aggravating her injuries, had made no attempt to make love to her, or each other, for that matter. She loved them even more for the effort, but knew they had to be getting horny.

She damn sure was.

When Aaron and Ford made their way to the cabin, they found Emi stretched out, naked, in the middle of the bed. She wore a playful smile while her right hand stroked her clit.

Both men stopped at the doorway, staring.

“What’s wrong?” she innocently asked.

“Are you…feeling okay?” Aaron asked.

“If your question is am I horny? Then yes, I am. I’ll have you know there is a very qualified doctor on board this ship who insists I am perfectly ready to once again engage in whatever romantic endeavors I choose to…you know, engage in.”

Ford’s goofy grin made her laugh. “Watch out, Cap.” He tried to push past Aaron, who threw out an arm.

“Hey, captain first.”

“Aw, that’s no fair!”

“Boys, I have a very simple suggestion.” She rolled onto her hands and knees and wiggled her butt at them as she cast a sultry gaze over her shoulder. “I have a seating limit of three, and there’s only two of you right now. That means there’s plenty of room.”

“Doctor trumps captain.” Ford shoved Aaron out of the way and bolted for the bed, yanking his clothes off as he did. By the time he hit the mattress, he was naked.

“You are a man of many talents, Ford,” she teased.

“What do you mean?”

“If there was a time record for getting naked, you and Caph would probably tie for it.”

“Hey, I’m wiry and horny and this is going to be hard and fast and furious because I’m about to bust a nut. What can I say?” She couldn’t say anything, however, because he pulled her down on top him and kissed her with a hand fisted in her hair to hold her in place.

“Yeah, right there, Ford,” Aaron said. She felt him kneel behind them. Then his fingers gently probed between her legs. “Holy crap, I think she started without us, buddy.”

Ford broke their kiss only long enough to say, “She wet?”

“Very.” He nudged into place behind her, sliding his cock deep into her cunt. Ford swallowed her moan of pleasure.

She loved this, but wanted more and Ford apparently sensed it. He released his grip on her and swung around to change positions. On his back, he slid beneath her, his head between her legs. Aaron grabbed her hair and guided her mouth down onto Ford’s cock.

“There you go,” he said.

She moaned again, this time the sound muffled by her sucking Ford’s erection as far as she could take it into her throat. Ford went to town licking and sucking her clit. Combined with the feel of Aaron’s cock pounding into her, it didn’t take her body long to explode.

Instead of backing off, the men redoubled their efforts, turning her body into a limp mass of orgasming nerves as she tried to suck Ford’s cock dry.

Apparently Ford was waiting for Aaron to finish. She felt Aaron’s fingers dig into her waist. “I’m close,” he hoarsely said.

Ford’s hips began thrusting up, meeting her stroke for stroke. Salty pre-cum freely flowed down her throat as she tried to keep up with him. Ford latched onto her clit and sucked hard, triggering one last, earth-shattering climax.

“Yes!” Aaron grunted, his hips slamming into her.

Ford also moaned. His cock stiffened into silken steel in her mouth as his sac drew up tight against his body and pumped his hot juices into her mouth.

Her body collapsed, limp, on top of him as she slurped and swallowed and tried to catch her breath. Aaron hooked an arm around her waist and rolled off her, onto his side, taking her with him and making her lose Ford’s cock with a wet plop.

Ford slowly turned around and dragged himself up the bed to flop down on Emi’s other side. Aaron kissed the back of her neck while Ford captured her lips again, this time for a sultry, sleepy kiss.

“Love you, babe,” they both said in identically sated, tired tones.

Emi giggled. “Love you, too.”

* * *

Aaron and Ford were still asleep when Emi pulled on Aaron’s shirt and padded, barefoot, up to the bridge. Caph lounged in the command chair, one leg propped up on the edge and a handheld in his lap. He looked up and smiled at her appearance. “Hey, babe. What are you doing up?”

She kissed him. He closed the book file he’d been reading and set the handheld aside so he could pull Emi into his lap. “I couldn’t sleep.”

A blond eyebrow skeptically arched skyward. “Didn’t Aar and Ford wear you out, or are they losing their touch?”

She snuggled against his chest. “Yeah, they did, but I still couldn’t sleep. I missed my big guy.”

“Aww, I missed you, too, babe.” He kissed the top of her head. Fortunately, he’d seemed to return to normal as her healing progressed and they returned to a normal routine on board the Bight. She suspected he’d always carry deep wounds inside him from Kels’ death, differently than Aaron had born his for all those years, but still there.

She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent. Laundry soap and shaving lotion. The men all three smelled very similar, yet distinctly different, to her. Caph always had a hint of hay and freshly mown grass, to her nose.

“Do you mind if I keep Bucky? I promise I won’t throw him away.”

He let out a snort. “No I don’t mind. Can I ask where did that topic come from?”

She shrugged. “I just don’t want to give him up.”

He stroked her arm. “You can keep him as long as you want him, babe. He’s part of the family.”

“He helped save our family.”

Caph seemed to mull that over for a moment. “Yeah, I guess you’re right about that. He did, in his own rubber way. I hope we can retire his assistance, though. I’m looking forward to the explore. I’m done wishing for boring, because it seems the past two times I have, it’s brought us nothing but trouble. I won’t deny I’m glad Rob and the K-2 will be close by for most of the trip.”

“How long until we get there?”

He kept her pressed against him with one arm, while with the other he leaned forward and brought up a display on the command console. “Five weeks, from here.”

“No jump?”

“Nah, not worth it, we’re this close. We’d expend more fuel with a jump than we would going sub-jump. We’re not close enough to any stars to get a good recharge from the solar arrays.” He rubbed noses with her. “Why? Anxious to see what other kinds of trouble we can find?”

“Not really. I just want to go somewhere inhabited so I can go shopping.”

“Shopping? For what?”

She grinned. “I want to see if I can find Bucky a brother or sister.”

THE END

WWW.TYMBERDALTON.COM

Content

Spider Bight
Deep Space Mission Corps -3
by
Tymber Dalton

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen