Today's protected porn
Nov. 1st, 2003 06:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valarltdThe following is all original and copyrighted Angelia Sparrow 2003
No disclaimers needed.
5499 words
Profiteering
by Angel
The worst part of my job is the waiting. Yeah, we get the four minutes of fun and excitement when we take a ship, and the days in port enjoying ourselves, but in-between, the time drags. For me, at least. The rest of the crew have their duties, and their mates for the off-shifts. I only take paired couples for just that reason. Me, I just have duties.
So, we’re hanging out in the Telesian Asteroid Belt, parked on a rock with a core that would disguise our hull. We’re there, waiting for a ship to come through the hyperjump ring at the edge of the system. Remember what I said about waiting? This was one of those times. Telesia is pretty far out, and there wasn’t a lot of traffic.
We’re pretty picky about what we take here on the Vistul. She’s not a very big girl, so we aren’t out raiding convoys or military ships, which is where the big money is. Mostly, we waylay the star yachts. The sophistos can stand to lose their jewelry, wardrobes and cash on one trip. Less money at a shot, but a lot less risk.
“Cap, we got one!” That was Lista. She’s my first mate. Smart as they come, and dead accurate with a laser-rifle. Her pairman, Von, handles engines.
I shut down the pornographic holosolitaire I was cheating at, and answered. “Whatcha got?”
“Dinky yacht, maybe five crew. New, expensive. Small enough to tractor in.”
“Do it. Boarding party, meet me at the airlock,” I announced over the commsystem.
I felt Vistul’s tractors engage. There was some revving, like the yacht had tried running for it, but then the grappling claw caught, and the airlock tube extended. I waited for the air-exchange cycle to run so we could board. Lista was on the bridge and wouldn’t be down, and Von was busy with flux tubes and converters. But the other eight were there, armed to the teeth, and looking as wicked as possible. Sheer psychology: we convince the crew it would be more painful to fight us than to hand over their stuff. You’d be surprised how often it works.
So we’re ready to take this one, and I got a good look at the hull markings as we crossed the tube. Small, but very, very rich. It belonged to one of the three most powerful families in the galaxy. They formed an uneasy triad that controlled almost all the interstellar shipping and travel.
We swarmed aboard, searching, our beltshields set high enough to deflect most hand weapons. Sure enough, a little bitty laser zapped out from behind a couch, and bounced off Klawk’s shield. Big mistake.
Klawk’s pairman, J’thawn was on the shooter before the rest of us could register the shot. J’thawn is big. Really big. He hauled our little shooter up and held him off the ground as he went into his Big and Dumb Brute act.
“Want play with lil man, Cap!” he announced, holding the boy out for my inspection.
It really was a boy. If he’d seen the backside of twenty, I’d blow myself. While we Cythorian males are limber, we ain’t that limber after twenty ourselves. Pretty as they come and scared shitless being held off the deck by a giant while a lithe guy with a vibroknife circled him.
“Little bastard shot me, Cap. I wanna carve my name on him.” Klawk does crazy a little too well. I’m never sure how good his grip on sanity truly is. I stood back, twirling the end of my mustache. That always unnerves sophistos. It’s such a holodrama touch, and should be silly, but I can make it look evil. I would have let the scene go on a bit, but the others were coming back. It was a small ship.
“He’s the only one, Captain,” reported Lilin. Her pairman, Rasvas, nodded.
“Good haul aft,” Deeg grunted as he and his Bernd dropped a starsilk cloth loaded with goodies in front of me.
“Better haul forward.” Neri and his Mulk delivered a crate of stuff, credits mostly.
“And where were you going with all this, pretty boy? Running away from Daddy?” I asked him. J’thawn hadn’t put him down, but that didn’t stop me from catching his chin in my hand, and running a slow thumb over his bottom lip. So soft, his face and mouth. His breath came unevenly, and I could smell his fear underlaid with arousal.
“It’s my winnings. I went to The Station.” His voice was not as steady as he would have liked it to be. I could smell The Station on him: smoke of hundreds of different plants, alcohol, a faint smell of lots of beings in close proximity, and the odd clay they use for making the gambling tokens there.
“Since when does The Station pay in starsilk and flamegems?” I held up a piece of jewelry. Pretty, expensive and as uninteresting as could be. It had to be if he picked it out. Great houses have the most conservative tastes in jewelry.
“Since I bought a present for my fiancee!” He squirmed in J’thawn’s grip. “Now let me go. No one knows I’m gone and I want to get home before they find out.”
I ignored him and gave a double whistle. Boy, goodies and crew trooped back to our ship. We set back down on our asteroid hiding place, siphoned the air from his ship, and detached.
The kid gawked at us once he was set on his feet in the airlock. We were sight. A lot of freespacers just wear coveralls. I think a sense of occasion is much more fun. Psychology again, letting the prisoners know what they’ve gotten into. I make my crew dress in the old way: big shirts, tight pants. Hats and vests are optional, high boots are not. Velvalon, satinate, feathers and lots of realeather. We look like we just stepped out of a holothriller. No missing limbs though, we aren’t that cliche.
I didn’t like the way Klawk was eyeing the boy. “J’thawn, Klawk get some dinner around. You four,” I gestured at the others, “go figure up the haul. Lilin and Rasvas, get this kid cleaned up and dressed. He’s having dinner with me tonight.” They’d do a fine job. Liln had been a cosmetician, before she accidently married my doctor and became my gunner, and Rasvas would check him over for diseases.
I swept off my hat and bowed over the boy’s hand, “Young master of the House of Shelm, I am your captain, Salzoran. We shall make you as comfortable as possible. Please go with my crew.”
Courtliness seemed to soothe the better-born passengers, making them feel at least they weren’t being robbed by boors and rabble. My crew usually employed it, but J’thawn was too protective of his pairman to remember all the time. Klawk in danger brought out his worst. The Big and Dumb act was mostly that, but J’Thawn wasn’t the fastest wavelength in the spectrum.
Lilin took the boy by one shoulder and Rasvas fell in on the other side. He eyed them, and I could read his plans on his face. They saw it too, and Lilin was braced when he elbowed her in the gut. The blow never connected and she had him in a headlock with a knife at his throat.
“Pretty boy, we can make this easy or hard. I’ll be as nice as you let me, but my Captain gave me an order. You’re gonna clean up for dinner whether you want to or not.” She tickled his neck with the tip of the blade. “Where you gonna go? Huh? Vistule’s not big enough to hide for long. And the air between here and your ship is powerful thin.”
The fight went out of him at the reminder he was trapped and he let Lilin lead him off. J’thawn and Klawk were already bickering in the galley, and I could hear them rattling pans and packages.
I went back to my cabin and cleaned myself up as well. Ordinarily I eat with my crew, but tonight I had company. Great Nebula, he was pretty. I hadn’t seen a boy that good looking for a long time. And the Rogue had definitely noticed. He was as hard as he’s ever gotten, and twitching with impatience. I rubbed my hand over him in my pants, reassuring him.
Under the sonic-cleaner, I thought about the kid. His mouth had been so soft under my thumb. I couldn’t wait to taste it. And the thought of having him kiss the Rogue sent a twitch through him, and a knot of excitement into my guts. He’d look so pretty on his knees, those green eyes looking up at me. Should I seduce him or just pounce? It might be easier for him if he felt like he didn’t have a choice. That way, when we ransomed him back, he wouldn’t feel guilty.
Cythorians have a lot of body hair, and sonics leave me frizzed. This time I looked like one of those golden-brown puffballs that fancy pet-stores sell. I had to rub down with a towel, or I’d shock myself to death from static buildup. Feeling like a fop, I dug out a hairbrush and ran it over my head, catching all of that mess back. There, a nice neat bow binding it off, and I felt better about my company. I needed to have Bernd cut it, it was getting to my waist again.
I was just barely dressed when Rasvas and Klawk showed up with my dinner. The problem was going to be which one to eat first. The Scion of Shelm had cleaned up very prettily. Lilin knew what I liked in a boy, and had decorated him right. The big green eyes were lined in black that matched the curls on his head. She’d put him into the most basic clothing of my crew: black pants and a white wrap shirt held with a sash that matched his eyes.
Very pretty. I took the food, and stood aside for him to enter. He hesitated and Rasvas pushed him gently through the door. “Night, men,” I said with a grin as I shut it before he could duck back out. It wouldn’t open for anyone but me from this side. As he found out a second later. While I set the food down, he frantically palmed the door-release.
I pressed him back against the bulkhead and kissed him. Oh yeah, the mouth was soft. Sweet, and gentle I kissed him, ignoring the hand that pushed me away, the twisting of his head.
“I’m not for you,” he protested when I let him up.
“Who are you for?” I asked, kissing his neck under the curls. “Some little girl who doesn’t know one end of a man from the other? Who thinks that pretty mouth should only be used for love poetry and chaste kisses under the moons?”
“I must stay pure! This marriage is more important than you can imagine.” Feisty brat twisted out of my hands and got across the cabin. “It’s more than my happiness, more than any mere pirate’s filthy lust. I am the only son of the Houses. She is the only daughter. There can be no error, no impurity, nothing to stop this marriage. The financial stability of the galaxy itself is at stake.”
I cornered him and sniffed him again, trying not to laugh at his high opinion of his virginity. “That is why you smell of drink and intoxicants but not of whores. Any healthy boy would have spent at least half his money on the ladies at The Station.” I kissed his cheek, and down his neck. The smell of him was driving me mad, and I could feel he was hard against my thigh. “I won’t touch you in any way that she will. You will go to her pure and undefiled by women.”
“I’m hungry,” he stalled.
“Food’s there,” I gestured, steering him to the table by the back of his neck. I picked up a clusterberry and brought it to his lips. “Try this.” When he took it, I stroked his mouth. After a second, I kissed him. “You taste sweet, boy.” I caught a strip of roasted reptin, Klawk’s speciality. He took the meat from me more willingly this time. I was tired of the game, and didn’t want to get messy. “Sit. Eat. Tell me what your father will pay for your safe return.”
He sat and fell to. The kid could eat, I’ll give him that. He still smelled turned-on, and the fear-scent was fading. I watched him for a minute, and then sat to eat my own meal.
“You’ll get nothing out of my father. He doesn’t negotiate with pirates, thieves or kidnappers. He executes them.” The boy got a bloodthirsty look on his face. “If I ask, he’ll give me your prick on a polished base. If I ask politely, he’ll make you present it to me. You’d do best not to touch me.” He considered. “Again.”
I laughed at his choice of words. A normal scion would have wanted my head, the larger one. “And do you have a fair collection of such organs? Do you boast a specimen such as this?” I stroked the Rogue through my pants, and let him strain at the fabric. “I’ll let you have a better look later. Klawk will be touchy if we don’t eat everything. And when he gets that way, it’s best to be out of range of his vibroblade.”
We finished and I set the tray outside my cabin, deliberately taunting the boy with a hint of freedom. As I expected, he tried to jump me and escape. I was still a lot bigger than he was, and caught him easily.
“The door won’t answer to my palm if I’m unconscious or dead. And it’s still a real small ship, kid.” I chuckled and kissed his neck again. “And if you throw yourself at me again, you’re going to be ass-up over the table getting fucked before you can say ‘please.’ I don’t think you’re ready for that.”
I unwrapped his shirt and pulled him onto my lap. Oh, smooth. I love smooth, it’s so novel. I had to lick all that bare skin, so soft and pale. The few little dark hairs swirled under my tongue as I teased the nipples they surrounded. He shivered as they came erect and shuddered when I nibbled one.
“Anyone tell you you’re beautiful, boy? Too pretty to waste on some virgin girl. You two will screw clumsily on your wedding night, then wonder why, years later, it never got much better. You’ll take lovers and she’ll take lovers, and if you’re very lucky you may find each other again when you’re more experienced.” I spun him a pretty baby story, not even resisting the temptation to end with “And then you’ll be happily married for the rest of your nights.”
I pulled his head down and kissed him. This time he kissed me back. He wasn’t experienced, and he was still a little scared, but he opened his mouth and ran his tongue along my lips.
“I’m going to awaken you, boy. And when your father pays the ransom, you’ll go to your bride a sensual lover, and skip the ugliness by jumping to the end of the story.” I couldn’t care less what his bride got, or whether they lived happily ever after, I just wanted to have this beautiful boy, and as much ransom as the Vistule could carry. If telling him stories would get him into my bed, I was all for them. Once I’d sold him back to his daddy or his lady’s daddy, I told myself I didn’t give a damn. My crew may pairbond, but the Vistule herself is my mate. She forgives my sexual indiscretions, but never my emotional ones.
I set to opening his pants. Liln had picked out some nice tight ones, and I could see the prize I was after. Ah, lovely. Standard human, stripped as they do them in the Great Houses. Us commoners are almost never cut. I’d never had a chance to play with one like this, all naked without its hood and vulnerable there in my hand.
I opened my own pants and laid my cock beside his own. No nicer handful in the universe. I caught and held those incredible green eyes as I stroked us together. Looked like a big meadow, and I just wanted to roll through it. His eyelids were starting to flutter when I stopped.
He opened his eyes, almost hurt looking. “You aren’t going to?”
“Oh, pretty, there’s a lot more to do. If you want me to bring you off so, say the word.”
“Please.”
“Please what?” I started stroking again, slow and hard, wanting him to feel it and remember it.
He’d gone gasping and inarticulate again.
“Please suck you? Please shove you to your knees and make you suck me? Please fuck you?” I was deliberately crude. Nothing like reinforcing his fall from his exalted status.
He gasped louder at the last. I stopped.
“Does that scare you, boy? Afraid of having the Rogue inside your pretty ass?”
“Yes. That’s repulsive. It will hurt, too.” He was losing his erection at the thought. I rubbed him back to gasping and gave an extra stroke.
“It’s going there. And if it hurts, I’ll be ashamed enough to quit seducing virgins like you. At least for a while.” I rubbed more until I felt his balls start to tighten, then I stopped. “So you want me to fuck you?”
“No!” He was very clear on the point.
I let him go almost soft and then stroked him back into incoherence.
“Will you let me fuck you?” I asked again, holding him on the edge of orgasm.
He shook his head. I took my hands away, and rubbed his ass. So nice, solid and flat. I eased his pants down a little, and slipped a couple fingers along his crack to tease the hole. I was patient. I could do this all night and all day. It would take time to get the message to The Shelm that we had his son, and more time to negotiate safe passage and the ransom.
The kid was squirming in my lap, getting tangled in his clothes, so I stood him up, and shoved his shirt down his arms. While he was fighting to unlace the cuffs, I yanked his pants down to his boots, then frustrated they would go no further, I pulled a hold-out knife from the chairleg and cut them along the crotch seam before pulling him back onto my lap.
I got our cocks together again and rubbed a while. He was getting close, and I licked his neck, right in the sweet spot that sent most human males through the roof. “Let me fuck you.”
“No,” but it lacked all conviction. His body was saying yes, his smell said yes, and I knew the words were coming from his mouth purely for show.
I ran fingers over the opening again, and slipped the bare tip of one inside, while I stroked him just enough to keep him hot. “I’m going to have you, boy, willing or no. I’ll keep you here until you beg me to fuck you. That’s the only way you’re going to get to come, boy, is with me buried in that tight ass of yours. So,” I stroked him back to moaning, “You want to come, you’ll say yes.”
I slacked off, just to the arousal point as he came down from the near orgasm. Inspired I tweaked one nipple hard and watched him shudder again and surge into my hand. I let the shaking stop and did it again, this time rubbing him with the other hand.
“Yes!” He hissed at the ceiling. “Yes, damn you, anything! Just let me come!”
“That’s more like it boy.” I kissed him and was surprised for some reason when he bit me. I pulled away and glared at him.
“Look, rape me if it suits you, but don’t pretend you like me.” All of a sudden the sexy boy who’d been writhing in my lap, loving my touch, was all ice and emerald-chip eyes. He swung off my lap, and went to kneel beside my bunk. “Just get it over with, throw me in the brig and leave me alone.”
“Ah, lad, tain’t rape no more. You just said yes. So, let me pleasure you too. I bet you’re beautiful when you come.”
”I don’t want your pleasures. Just get it over with.” The words were half muffled by his arm and my bunk. They were lies and I could smell that much.
I sat down on the bunk and looked at him with his face buried in the mattress playing the virgin martyr. As long as he wanted to pretend, I would just look at him. That sweet smooth back, the adorable ass raised and bent for my taking, but I wasn’t touching. I waited and eventually, he peeked up to see what I was doing. I caught him by the hair and hauled him up onto the bunk with me.
“Look, boy, the time for games is over. I mean to have you, and have you I shall. You’ve said yes already.” I shoved the tattered remnants of his pants down to puddle around the boots and ran my hands over all the bare skin. “You’re mine until your daddy sends the ransom. Get used to it.”
He slumped then. Maybe I was finally getting through to him. He melted against me, and tipped his face up, his mouth begging for a kiss. I didn’t trust this change, it was too sudden. But I kissed him anyway and moved him to straddle my lap.
He opened his mouth, and let me in, no biting, and just barely stroking my tongue with his. I kissed him long and hard, pulling him closer and tighter with one arm until he was struggling for breath. While he was distracted, I had managed to slick up the other hand. When he was just starting to fight the kiss, I shoved two fingers into him, making his eyes fly open. He jerked away with a yelp.
He cursed me in words a Great Houser like him wasn’t even supposed to know. Imaginative and colorful, that boy could swear.
“Hurts, does it, pretty?”
“How dare you! Without warning me!” He didn’t try to pull away, and in fact had rocked deeper on my fingers, the arousal scent getting strong again.
“Shut up, boy or I’ll gag you and tie you to the bunk.” I held him still and added a third finger. He moaned and squirmed, but didn’t fight. “Your body wants this. You want me. Quit playing and listen to your body.”
He rode my fingers until I took them away, unschooled in sex, but definitely aroused. Well, I’d take care of the first problem.
I held him still and kissed him again, this time slicking up the Rogue. Deliberately not warning him, I rolled us onto the bunk, him underneath. He opened his eyes and looked up at me, a little scared, but not caring any more about proprieties and purity. I hovered over him on hands and knees.
“Turn onto your belly, boy. Show me that pretty ass of yours.” I didn’t care about his sensibilities any more either. He turned over fast, and I hitched his hips up until he was half kneeling. “If this hurts, you tell me. You’re too rich a prize to damage.”
I slid into him, slow, steady and easily. He gasped a bit, but no sounds of pain. When I was all the way in, he gave a big sigh, like I’d forced all the air out of his body. Then he surprised me. I pulled back a little and he followed, arching his back like a kitkla waiting to be petted. I bent in and licked that smooth back, rubbing my furry self all over it.
“More?” he said so softly I wasn’t quite sure I’d heard it.
“What was that, boy?”
“More.” Louder this time, and accompanied by a grind of those narrow hips I was filling. “More, you bastard, more!”
More he wanted, and who was I to deny the Scion of Shelm anything? Especially when I was buried in the sweetest virgin ass in four quadrants. I moved then, sliding out, dipping in real shallow and then plunging in full force. He hissed a little at that but I kept on, and soon, the demands for more were back.
This time, I reached around him and caught that stripped little cock of his and rubbed. That was what he’d wanted. He yelled and squirted all over my hand, and that, along with him tightening up, turned me on enough that I came a few strokes later.
I rode it out, letting each wave hit me, and then I was spent. I let myself soften a bit, and then pulled out. He was looking up at me, with those grass green eyes, and they were all misty-like.
“The head’s in there, boy,” I jerked my thumb at the small door. “Go clean up.” He moved a little stiffly, but didn’t seem to be hurting.
He’d just come back and curled in beside me, playing with the hair on my chest and arms when Deeg, taking sleepwatch on the bridge, paged down.
“Captain, I’ve got The Shelm on the comm. He’s pretty hot.”
“Boy, if you want your marriage to go through, get yourself into the head and get dressed,” I hissed, shoving the kid out of bed. I threw on a black satinate robe that I’d taken a fancy to some years ago. “Patch him through.”
“:You have my son!” The words were a roar over the comm. I turned on the visual.
“Yeah. Got him safe and sound. And you should thank your money gods that we found him before someone nastier. He went to The Station. Now he’s in good shape, but we’d like to negotiate our delivery fee for rescuing and escorting him home.”
“Let me see him.” The Shelm had the same green eyes as his son, and very pretty they looked against that screaming red face of his. He sputtered through a mass of invective and threats. I listened patiently and caught a glimpse of the boy coming out of the head, his shirt back on, and a pair of my spare pants belted up. Fast dresser.
“But of course, my lord. He’s safe and sound,” I interrupted the tirade. I turned the pick-up to where the kid was picking through a bowl of fruit on the table, looking completely at home. He’d had the sense to sit down to hide how badly the clothes fit.
“Son!” The relief was evident in his voice
“Father? Have you worked out a deal?” My boy sounded a bit apprehensive. “I’m all right, Father.” And then he surprised me again. “I was having engine trouble when Captain Salzoran and his crew found me. They took me aboard. Please compensate them properly for their trouble in getting me home.”
The Shelm looked thoroughly confused. “I thought he was being held for ransom.”
“Our price is this: safe passage for the ship and crew through Inner System space. Due compensation for fuel and supplies. You’ll talk to Deeg about that, the man who caught your call. He’s our logistics officer. And sixty thousand for our trouble and lost time.”
The Shelm continued looking confused. “When can you be here?”
I stroked my hair a bit, as if in thought. “Give us eight days. The Vistule isn’t very fast.” That was a blatant lie, but he didn’t need to know we were the fastest ship in three sectors. Besides, it gave me more time to play.
“In nine days, you will meet us on Travir. I will have one hundred thousand in cash, metals and crystalline matrices. My son must be in perfect health or you will all be dead.”
“Deal. I know you’re a man of your word, Lord Shelm. Your son will be my honored guest for the whole trip.”
“Father,” the boy leaned into the pick up, “give my love to mother, and to Lyssan.” He held up the jewel he’d bought for her. Little thief had faster hands than I imagined since he’d managed to swipe it right under my nose. “I got this for her.”
“I will. Thank you for your assistance, Captain.” He signed off.
I pulled the boy down for a kiss. “Now what was that all about? Lying to daddy?”
“I don’t want you to be executed.” He kissed me hard. “I think you have a lot more to teach me.”
After nine days of giving the kid lessons I was pretty fashed. Felt like I’ve been run through an engine core then combed backward in fact. Hot? The kid was a white star. He wanted to do it every time we hit a jumpring. Said the translation turned him on. There are thirty jumprings between the Telesian Belt and Travir.
My quarters stank like a brothel despite daily cleanings. I was almost relieved when we hit Travir. An hour out, I pulled the young Shelm back to my quarters for a private goodbye. Funny, I was going to miss him.
One last taste of that pretty stripped cock for me and he was dressing in his own clothes, washing the paint I liked off his face and becoming his father’s son again, instead of my sweet boy. All together, he came and straddled my lap, but the Rogue was too spent to do more than twitch. I kissed him, one last time, long and deep, memorizing the taste and smell of him.
He sat up and looked a little sad to be going. I held up two fists, each one almost as big as his head. “Pick,” I told him.
“That one.” He tapped my right.
“And away it goes,” I said, tucking it behind my back I opened the left and in it lay a communicator. “This has a set frequency. It will reach the Vistule any time you need me. Don’t try tracing it, we’ve wired it through a dozen nets. If life as a Great Houser gets too dull, call, and I’ll turn you into my pampered toy for as long as you want to be.”
His eyes lit up like the Twin Stars of Auron, hot green and alive. The Rogue twitched a little harder before settling in to sleep. “Promise?”
I kissed him. “If you’ll take the word of an old pirate like me.” Another kiss. “But I warn you, I’m not sure I’ll be as willing to give you back next time you stray into my clutches.” I twirled my mustache for menacing effect.
Little brat laughed at me. “Captain Salzoran,” he kissed me, nibbling at the edges of my mustache, “thank you. For this and for an educational week. Sharnil of Shelm is in your debt. Pity, I can’t offer trade to pay it off. We’re about to make planet-fall.”
“Take care of yourself, Sharnil.” I hadn’t asked his first name, because Great Housers never give out personal names to anyone not their equal. We went down to the loading bay to wait for the landing.
We landed, and the crew, in their plainest clothes, came out to supervise the transfer. We looked like an ordinary freighter, with a fairly ordinary crew. The Shelm was a man of his word and it went without a hitch.
My boy shook my hand, as if I were no more than an employed captain and went to his father. We loaded the strongboxes onto the Vistule, and left. After some serious sleep, enroute to a safe haven, and airing out my room, I went down to where Neri and Mulk had sorted the treasure. We didn’t divvy shares until I got first pick of one item.
In the piles, I saw a flash of green: a ring with a round stone. Fitted my pinky perfectly. We shared it out equally: one share for everyone, and one for the ship, with Klawk getting the usual half-share bonus because he’d gotten shot. A very profitable trip all the way around.
“Set for Lemiv,” I told Lista. She called up the course for the recreation planet. “We’re going to have some fun.”
On my hand the ring flashed. I thought about Sharnil. His little girly would have herself a treat, and I hoped she appreciated him. I lost myself in reading logs and planning how to spend my eight thousand.
No disclaimers needed.
5499 words
Profiteering
by Angel
The worst part of my job is the waiting. Yeah, we get the four minutes of fun and excitement when we take a ship, and the days in port enjoying ourselves, but in-between, the time drags. For me, at least. The rest of the crew have their duties, and their mates for the off-shifts. I only take paired couples for just that reason. Me, I just have duties.
So, we’re hanging out in the Telesian Asteroid Belt, parked on a rock with a core that would disguise our hull. We’re there, waiting for a ship to come through the hyperjump ring at the edge of the system. Remember what I said about waiting? This was one of those times. Telesia is pretty far out, and there wasn’t a lot of traffic.
We’re pretty picky about what we take here on the Vistul. She’s not a very big girl, so we aren’t out raiding convoys or military ships, which is where the big money is. Mostly, we waylay the star yachts. The sophistos can stand to lose their jewelry, wardrobes and cash on one trip. Less money at a shot, but a lot less risk.
“Cap, we got one!” That was Lista. She’s my first mate. Smart as they come, and dead accurate with a laser-rifle. Her pairman, Von, handles engines.
I shut down the pornographic holosolitaire I was cheating at, and answered. “Whatcha got?”
“Dinky yacht, maybe five crew. New, expensive. Small enough to tractor in.”
“Do it. Boarding party, meet me at the airlock,” I announced over the commsystem.
I felt Vistul’s tractors engage. There was some revving, like the yacht had tried running for it, but then the grappling claw caught, and the airlock tube extended. I waited for the air-exchange cycle to run so we could board. Lista was on the bridge and wouldn’t be down, and Von was busy with flux tubes and converters. But the other eight were there, armed to the teeth, and looking as wicked as possible. Sheer psychology: we convince the crew it would be more painful to fight us than to hand over their stuff. You’d be surprised how often it works.
So we’re ready to take this one, and I got a good look at the hull markings as we crossed the tube. Small, but very, very rich. It belonged to one of the three most powerful families in the galaxy. They formed an uneasy triad that controlled almost all the interstellar shipping and travel.
We swarmed aboard, searching, our beltshields set high enough to deflect most hand weapons. Sure enough, a little bitty laser zapped out from behind a couch, and bounced off Klawk’s shield. Big mistake.
Klawk’s pairman, J’thawn was on the shooter before the rest of us could register the shot. J’thawn is big. Really big. He hauled our little shooter up and held him off the ground as he went into his Big and Dumb Brute act.
“Want play with lil man, Cap!” he announced, holding the boy out for my inspection.
It really was a boy. If he’d seen the backside of twenty, I’d blow myself. While we Cythorian males are limber, we ain’t that limber after twenty ourselves. Pretty as they come and scared shitless being held off the deck by a giant while a lithe guy with a vibroknife circled him.
“Little bastard shot me, Cap. I wanna carve my name on him.” Klawk does crazy a little too well. I’m never sure how good his grip on sanity truly is. I stood back, twirling the end of my mustache. That always unnerves sophistos. It’s such a holodrama touch, and should be silly, but I can make it look evil. I would have let the scene go on a bit, but the others were coming back. It was a small ship.
“He’s the only one, Captain,” reported Lilin. Her pairman, Rasvas, nodded.
“Good haul aft,” Deeg grunted as he and his Bernd dropped a starsilk cloth loaded with goodies in front of me.
“Better haul forward.” Neri and his Mulk delivered a crate of stuff, credits mostly.
“And where were you going with all this, pretty boy? Running away from Daddy?” I asked him. J’thawn hadn’t put him down, but that didn’t stop me from catching his chin in my hand, and running a slow thumb over his bottom lip. So soft, his face and mouth. His breath came unevenly, and I could smell his fear underlaid with arousal.
“It’s my winnings. I went to The Station.” His voice was not as steady as he would have liked it to be. I could smell The Station on him: smoke of hundreds of different plants, alcohol, a faint smell of lots of beings in close proximity, and the odd clay they use for making the gambling tokens there.
“Since when does The Station pay in starsilk and flamegems?” I held up a piece of jewelry. Pretty, expensive and as uninteresting as could be. It had to be if he picked it out. Great houses have the most conservative tastes in jewelry.
“Since I bought a present for my fiancee!” He squirmed in J’thawn’s grip. “Now let me go. No one knows I’m gone and I want to get home before they find out.”
I ignored him and gave a double whistle. Boy, goodies and crew trooped back to our ship. We set back down on our asteroid hiding place, siphoned the air from his ship, and detached.
The kid gawked at us once he was set on his feet in the airlock. We were sight. A lot of freespacers just wear coveralls. I think a sense of occasion is much more fun. Psychology again, letting the prisoners know what they’ve gotten into. I make my crew dress in the old way: big shirts, tight pants. Hats and vests are optional, high boots are not. Velvalon, satinate, feathers and lots of realeather. We look like we just stepped out of a holothriller. No missing limbs though, we aren’t that cliche.
I didn’t like the way Klawk was eyeing the boy. “J’thawn, Klawk get some dinner around. You four,” I gestured at the others, “go figure up the haul. Lilin and Rasvas, get this kid cleaned up and dressed. He’s having dinner with me tonight.” They’d do a fine job. Liln had been a cosmetician, before she accidently married my doctor and became my gunner, and Rasvas would check him over for diseases.
I swept off my hat and bowed over the boy’s hand, “Young master of the House of Shelm, I am your captain, Salzoran. We shall make you as comfortable as possible. Please go with my crew.”
Courtliness seemed to soothe the better-born passengers, making them feel at least they weren’t being robbed by boors and rabble. My crew usually employed it, but J’thawn was too protective of his pairman to remember all the time. Klawk in danger brought out his worst. The Big and Dumb act was mostly that, but J’Thawn wasn’t the fastest wavelength in the spectrum.
Lilin took the boy by one shoulder and Rasvas fell in on the other side. He eyed them, and I could read his plans on his face. They saw it too, and Lilin was braced when he elbowed her in the gut. The blow never connected and she had him in a headlock with a knife at his throat.
“Pretty boy, we can make this easy or hard. I’ll be as nice as you let me, but my Captain gave me an order. You’re gonna clean up for dinner whether you want to or not.” She tickled his neck with the tip of the blade. “Where you gonna go? Huh? Vistule’s not big enough to hide for long. And the air between here and your ship is powerful thin.”
The fight went out of him at the reminder he was trapped and he let Lilin lead him off. J’thawn and Klawk were already bickering in the galley, and I could hear them rattling pans and packages.
I went back to my cabin and cleaned myself up as well. Ordinarily I eat with my crew, but tonight I had company. Great Nebula, he was pretty. I hadn’t seen a boy that good looking for a long time. And the Rogue had definitely noticed. He was as hard as he’s ever gotten, and twitching with impatience. I rubbed my hand over him in my pants, reassuring him.
Under the sonic-cleaner, I thought about the kid. His mouth had been so soft under my thumb. I couldn’t wait to taste it. And the thought of having him kiss the Rogue sent a twitch through him, and a knot of excitement into my guts. He’d look so pretty on his knees, those green eyes looking up at me. Should I seduce him or just pounce? It might be easier for him if he felt like he didn’t have a choice. That way, when we ransomed him back, he wouldn’t feel guilty.
Cythorians have a lot of body hair, and sonics leave me frizzed. This time I looked like one of those golden-brown puffballs that fancy pet-stores sell. I had to rub down with a towel, or I’d shock myself to death from static buildup. Feeling like a fop, I dug out a hairbrush and ran it over my head, catching all of that mess back. There, a nice neat bow binding it off, and I felt better about my company. I needed to have Bernd cut it, it was getting to my waist again.
I was just barely dressed when Rasvas and Klawk showed up with my dinner. The problem was going to be which one to eat first. The Scion of Shelm had cleaned up very prettily. Lilin knew what I liked in a boy, and had decorated him right. The big green eyes were lined in black that matched the curls on his head. She’d put him into the most basic clothing of my crew: black pants and a white wrap shirt held with a sash that matched his eyes.
Very pretty. I took the food, and stood aside for him to enter. He hesitated and Rasvas pushed him gently through the door. “Night, men,” I said with a grin as I shut it before he could duck back out. It wouldn’t open for anyone but me from this side. As he found out a second later. While I set the food down, he frantically palmed the door-release.
I pressed him back against the bulkhead and kissed him. Oh yeah, the mouth was soft. Sweet, and gentle I kissed him, ignoring the hand that pushed me away, the twisting of his head.
“I’m not for you,” he protested when I let him up.
“Who are you for?” I asked, kissing his neck under the curls. “Some little girl who doesn’t know one end of a man from the other? Who thinks that pretty mouth should only be used for love poetry and chaste kisses under the moons?”
“I must stay pure! This marriage is more important than you can imagine.” Feisty brat twisted out of my hands and got across the cabin. “It’s more than my happiness, more than any mere pirate’s filthy lust. I am the only son of the Houses. She is the only daughter. There can be no error, no impurity, nothing to stop this marriage. The financial stability of the galaxy itself is at stake.”
I cornered him and sniffed him again, trying not to laugh at his high opinion of his virginity. “That is why you smell of drink and intoxicants but not of whores. Any healthy boy would have spent at least half his money on the ladies at The Station.” I kissed his cheek, and down his neck. The smell of him was driving me mad, and I could feel he was hard against my thigh. “I won’t touch you in any way that she will. You will go to her pure and undefiled by women.”
“I’m hungry,” he stalled.
“Food’s there,” I gestured, steering him to the table by the back of his neck. I picked up a clusterberry and brought it to his lips. “Try this.” When he took it, I stroked his mouth. After a second, I kissed him. “You taste sweet, boy.” I caught a strip of roasted reptin, Klawk’s speciality. He took the meat from me more willingly this time. I was tired of the game, and didn’t want to get messy. “Sit. Eat. Tell me what your father will pay for your safe return.”
He sat and fell to. The kid could eat, I’ll give him that. He still smelled turned-on, and the fear-scent was fading. I watched him for a minute, and then sat to eat my own meal.
“You’ll get nothing out of my father. He doesn’t negotiate with pirates, thieves or kidnappers. He executes them.” The boy got a bloodthirsty look on his face. “If I ask, he’ll give me your prick on a polished base. If I ask politely, he’ll make you present it to me. You’d do best not to touch me.” He considered. “Again.”
I laughed at his choice of words. A normal scion would have wanted my head, the larger one. “And do you have a fair collection of such organs? Do you boast a specimen such as this?” I stroked the Rogue through my pants, and let him strain at the fabric. “I’ll let you have a better look later. Klawk will be touchy if we don’t eat everything. And when he gets that way, it’s best to be out of range of his vibroblade.”
We finished and I set the tray outside my cabin, deliberately taunting the boy with a hint of freedom. As I expected, he tried to jump me and escape. I was still a lot bigger than he was, and caught him easily.
“The door won’t answer to my palm if I’m unconscious or dead. And it’s still a real small ship, kid.” I chuckled and kissed his neck again. “And if you throw yourself at me again, you’re going to be ass-up over the table getting fucked before you can say ‘please.’ I don’t think you’re ready for that.”
I unwrapped his shirt and pulled him onto my lap. Oh, smooth. I love smooth, it’s so novel. I had to lick all that bare skin, so soft and pale. The few little dark hairs swirled under my tongue as I teased the nipples they surrounded. He shivered as they came erect and shuddered when I nibbled one.
“Anyone tell you you’re beautiful, boy? Too pretty to waste on some virgin girl. You two will screw clumsily on your wedding night, then wonder why, years later, it never got much better. You’ll take lovers and she’ll take lovers, and if you’re very lucky you may find each other again when you’re more experienced.” I spun him a pretty baby story, not even resisting the temptation to end with “And then you’ll be happily married for the rest of your nights.”
I pulled his head down and kissed him. This time he kissed me back. He wasn’t experienced, and he was still a little scared, but he opened his mouth and ran his tongue along my lips.
“I’m going to awaken you, boy. And when your father pays the ransom, you’ll go to your bride a sensual lover, and skip the ugliness by jumping to the end of the story.” I couldn’t care less what his bride got, or whether they lived happily ever after, I just wanted to have this beautiful boy, and as much ransom as the Vistule could carry. If telling him stories would get him into my bed, I was all for them. Once I’d sold him back to his daddy or his lady’s daddy, I told myself I didn’t give a damn. My crew may pairbond, but the Vistule herself is my mate. She forgives my sexual indiscretions, but never my emotional ones.
I set to opening his pants. Liln had picked out some nice tight ones, and I could see the prize I was after. Ah, lovely. Standard human, stripped as they do them in the Great Houses. Us commoners are almost never cut. I’d never had a chance to play with one like this, all naked without its hood and vulnerable there in my hand.
I opened my own pants and laid my cock beside his own. No nicer handful in the universe. I caught and held those incredible green eyes as I stroked us together. Looked like a big meadow, and I just wanted to roll through it. His eyelids were starting to flutter when I stopped.
He opened his eyes, almost hurt looking. “You aren’t going to?”
“Oh, pretty, there’s a lot more to do. If you want me to bring you off so, say the word.”
“Please.”
“Please what?” I started stroking again, slow and hard, wanting him to feel it and remember it.
He’d gone gasping and inarticulate again.
“Please suck you? Please shove you to your knees and make you suck me? Please fuck you?” I was deliberately crude. Nothing like reinforcing his fall from his exalted status.
He gasped louder at the last. I stopped.
“Does that scare you, boy? Afraid of having the Rogue inside your pretty ass?”
“Yes. That’s repulsive. It will hurt, too.” He was losing his erection at the thought. I rubbed him back to gasping and gave an extra stroke.
“It’s going there. And if it hurts, I’ll be ashamed enough to quit seducing virgins like you. At least for a while.” I rubbed more until I felt his balls start to tighten, then I stopped. “So you want me to fuck you?”
“No!” He was very clear on the point.
I let him go almost soft and then stroked him back into incoherence.
“Will you let me fuck you?” I asked again, holding him on the edge of orgasm.
He shook his head. I took my hands away, and rubbed his ass. So nice, solid and flat. I eased his pants down a little, and slipped a couple fingers along his crack to tease the hole. I was patient. I could do this all night and all day. It would take time to get the message to The Shelm that we had his son, and more time to negotiate safe passage and the ransom.
The kid was squirming in my lap, getting tangled in his clothes, so I stood him up, and shoved his shirt down his arms. While he was fighting to unlace the cuffs, I yanked his pants down to his boots, then frustrated they would go no further, I pulled a hold-out knife from the chairleg and cut them along the crotch seam before pulling him back onto my lap.
I got our cocks together again and rubbed a while. He was getting close, and I licked his neck, right in the sweet spot that sent most human males through the roof. “Let me fuck you.”
“No,” but it lacked all conviction. His body was saying yes, his smell said yes, and I knew the words were coming from his mouth purely for show.
I ran fingers over the opening again, and slipped the bare tip of one inside, while I stroked him just enough to keep him hot. “I’m going to have you, boy, willing or no. I’ll keep you here until you beg me to fuck you. That’s the only way you’re going to get to come, boy, is with me buried in that tight ass of yours. So,” I stroked him back to moaning, “You want to come, you’ll say yes.”
I slacked off, just to the arousal point as he came down from the near orgasm. Inspired I tweaked one nipple hard and watched him shudder again and surge into my hand. I let the shaking stop and did it again, this time rubbing him with the other hand.
“Yes!” He hissed at the ceiling. “Yes, damn you, anything! Just let me come!”
“That’s more like it boy.” I kissed him and was surprised for some reason when he bit me. I pulled away and glared at him.
“Look, rape me if it suits you, but don’t pretend you like me.” All of a sudden the sexy boy who’d been writhing in my lap, loving my touch, was all ice and emerald-chip eyes. He swung off my lap, and went to kneel beside my bunk. “Just get it over with, throw me in the brig and leave me alone.”
“Ah, lad, tain’t rape no more. You just said yes. So, let me pleasure you too. I bet you’re beautiful when you come.”
”I don’t want your pleasures. Just get it over with.” The words were half muffled by his arm and my bunk. They were lies and I could smell that much.
I sat down on the bunk and looked at him with his face buried in the mattress playing the virgin martyr. As long as he wanted to pretend, I would just look at him. That sweet smooth back, the adorable ass raised and bent for my taking, but I wasn’t touching. I waited and eventually, he peeked up to see what I was doing. I caught him by the hair and hauled him up onto the bunk with me.
“Look, boy, the time for games is over. I mean to have you, and have you I shall. You’ve said yes already.” I shoved the tattered remnants of his pants down to puddle around the boots and ran my hands over all the bare skin. “You’re mine until your daddy sends the ransom. Get used to it.”
He slumped then. Maybe I was finally getting through to him. He melted against me, and tipped his face up, his mouth begging for a kiss. I didn’t trust this change, it was too sudden. But I kissed him anyway and moved him to straddle my lap.
He opened his mouth, and let me in, no biting, and just barely stroking my tongue with his. I kissed him long and hard, pulling him closer and tighter with one arm until he was struggling for breath. While he was distracted, I had managed to slick up the other hand. When he was just starting to fight the kiss, I shoved two fingers into him, making his eyes fly open. He jerked away with a yelp.
He cursed me in words a Great Houser like him wasn’t even supposed to know. Imaginative and colorful, that boy could swear.
“Hurts, does it, pretty?”
“How dare you! Without warning me!” He didn’t try to pull away, and in fact had rocked deeper on my fingers, the arousal scent getting strong again.
“Shut up, boy or I’ll gag you and tie you to the bunk.” I held him still and added a third finger. He moaned and squirmed, but didn’t fight. “Your body wants this. You want me. Quit playing and listen to your body.”
He rode my fingers until I took them away, unschooled in sex, but definitely aroused. Well, I’d take care of the first problem.
I held him still and kissed him again, this time slicking up the Rogue. Deliberately not warning him, I rolled us onto the bunk, him underneath. He opened his eyes and looked up at me, a little scared, but not caring any more about proprieties and purity. I hovered over him on hands and knees.
“Turn onto your belly, boy. Show me that pretty ass of yours.” I didn’t care about his sensibilities any more either. He turned over fast, and I hitched his hips up until he was half kneeling. “If this hurts, you tell me. You’re too rich a prize to damage.”
I slid into him, slow, steady and easily. He gasped a bit, but no sounds of pain. When I was all the way in, he gave a big sigh, like I’d forced all the air out of his body. Then he surprised me. I pulled back a little and he followed, arching his back like a kitkla waiting to be petted. I bent in and licked that smooth back, rubbing my furry self all over it.
“More?” he said so softly I wasn’t quite sure I’d heard it.
“What was that, boy?”
“More.” Louder this time, and accompanied by a grind of those narrow hips I was filling. “More, you bastard, more!”
More he wanted, and who was I to deny the Scion of Shelm anything? Especially when I was buried in the sweetest virgin ass in four quadrants. I moved then, sliding out, dipping in real shallow and then plunging in full force. He hissed a little at that but I kept on, and soon, the demands for more were back.
This time, I reached around him and caught that stripped little cock of his and rubbed. That was what he’d wanted. He yelled and squirted all over my hand, and that, along with him tightening up, turned me on enough that I came a few strokes later.
I rode it out, letting each wave hit me, and then I was spent. I let myself soften a bit, and then pulled out. He was looking up at me, with those grass green eyes, and they were all misty-like.
“The head’s in there, boy,” I jerked my thumb at the small door. “Go clean up.” He moved a little stiffly, but didn’t seem to be hurting.
He’d just come back and curled in beside me, playing with the hair on my chest and arms when Deeg, taking sleepwatch on the bridge, paged down.
“Captain, I’ve got The Shelm on the comm. He’s pretty hot.”
“Boy, if you want your marriage to go through, get yourself into the head and get dressed,” I hissed, shoving the kid out of bed. I threw on a black satinate robe that I’d taken a fancy to some years ago. “Patch him through.”
“:You have my son!” The words were a roar over the comm. I turned on the visual.
“Yeah. Got him safe and sound. And you should thank your money gods that we found him before someone nastier. He went to The Station. Now he’s in good shape, but we’d like to negotiate our delivery fee for rescuing and escorting him home.”
“Let me see him.” The Shelm had the same green eyes as his son, and very pretty they looked against that screaming red face of his. He sputtered through a mass of invective and threats. I listened patiently and caught a glimpse of the boy coming out of the head, his shirt back on, and a pair of my spare pants belted up. Fast dresser.
“But of course, my lord. He’s safe and sound,” I interrupted the tirade. I turned the pick-up to where the kid was picking through a bowl of fruit on the table, looking completely at home. He’d had the sense to sit down to hide how badly the clothes fit.
“Son!” The relief was evident in his voice
“Father? Have you worked out a deal?” My boy sounded a bit apprehensive. “I’m all right, Father.” And then he surprised me again. “I was having engine trouble when Captain Salzoran and his crew found me. They took me aboard. Please compensate them properly for their trouble in getting me home.”
The Shelm looked thoroughly confused. “I thought he was being held for ransom.”
“Our price is this: safe passage for the ship and crew through Inner System space. Due compensation for fuel and supplies. You’ll talk to Deeg about that, the man who caught your call. He’s our logistics officer. And sixty thousand for our trouble and lost time.”
The Shelm continued looking confused. “When can you be here?”
I stroked my hair a bit, as if in thought. “Give us eight days. The Vistule isn’t very fast.” That was a blatant lie, but he didn’t need to know we were the fastest ship in three sectors. Besides, it gave me more time to play.
“In nine days, you will meet us on Travir. I will have one hundred thousand in cash, metals and crystalline matrices. My son must be in perfect health or you will all be dead.”
“Deal. I know you’re a man of your word, Lord Shelm. Your son will be my honored guest for the whole trip.”
“Father,” the boy leaned into the pick up, “give my love to mother, and to Lyssan.” He held up the jewel he’d bought for her. Little thief had faster hands than I imagined since he’d managed to swipe it right under my nose. “I got this for her.”
“I will. Thank you for your assistance, Captain.” He signed off.
I pulled the boy down for a kiss. “Now what was that all about? Lying to daddy?”
“I don’t want you to be executed.” He kissed me hard. “I think you have a lot more to teach me.”
After nine days of giving the kid lessons I was pretty fashed. Felt like I’ve been run through an engine core then combed backward in fact. Hot? The kid was a white star. He wanted to do it every time we hit a jumpring. Said the translation turned him on. There are thirty jumprings between the Telesian Belt and Travir.
My quarters stank like a brothel despite daily cleanings. I was almost relieved when we hit Travir. An hour out, I pulled the young Shelm back to my quarters for a private goodbye. Funny, I was going to miss him.
One last taste of that pretty stripped cock for me and he was dressing in his own clothes, washing the paint I liked off his face and becoming his father’s son again, instead of my sweet boy. All together, he came and straddled my lap, but the Rogue was too spent to do more than twitch. I kissed him, one last time, long and deep, memorizing the taste and smell of him.
He sat up and looked a little sad to be going. I held up two fists, each one almost as big as his head. “Pick,” I told him.
“That one.” He tapped my right.
“And away it goes,” I said, tucking it behind my back I opened the left and in it lay a communicator. “This has a set frequency. It will reach the Vistule any time you need me. Don’t try tracing it, we’ve wired it through a dozen nets. If life as a Great Houser gets too dull, call, and I’ll turn you into my pampered toy for as long as you want to be.”
His eyes lit up like the Twin Stars of Auron, hot green and alive. The Rogue twitched a little harder before settling in to sleep. “Promise?”
I kissed him. “If you’ll take the word of an old pirate like me.” Another kiss. “But I warn you, I’m not sure I’ll be as willing to give you back next time you stray into my clutches.” I twirled my mustache for menacing effect.
Little brat laughed at me. “Captain Salzoran,” he kissed me, nibbling at the edges of my mustache, “thank you. For this and for an educational week. Sharnil of Shelm is in your debt. Pity, I can’t offer trade to pay it off. We’re about to make planet-fall.”
“Take care of yourself, Sharnil.” I hadn’t asked his first name, because Great Housers never give out personal names to anyone not their equal. We went down to the loading bay to wait for the landing.
We landed, and the crew, in their plainest clothes, came out to supervise the transfer. We looked like an ordinary freighter, with a fairly ordinary crew. The Shelm was a man of his word and it went without a hitch.
My boy shook my hand, as if I were no more than an employed captain and went to his father. We loaded the strongboxes onto the Vistule, and left. After some serious sleep, enroute to a safe haven, and airing out my room, I went down to where Neri and Mulk had sorted the treasure. We didn’t divvy shares until I got first pick of one item.
In the piles, I saw a flash of green: a ring with a round stone. Fitted my pinky perfectly. We shared it out equally: one share for everyone, and one for the ship, with Klawk getting the usual half-share bonus because he’d gotten shot. A very profitable trip all the way around.
“Set for Lemiv,” I told Lista. She called up the course for the recreation planet. “We’re going to have some fun.”
On my hand the ring flashed. I thought about Sharnil. His little girly would have herself a treat, and I hoped she appreciated him. I lost myself in reading logs and planning how to spend my eight thousand.
