Out of Bight, Out of Mind Read online

  She giggled. “Hiya.”

  They were all startled by the sound of clapping. They looked over to see Aaron leaning against the wall next to the door, a grin on his face and a huge bulge tenting his trousers. Another suitcase sat on the floor next to him.

  “I didn’t hear you come in,” Caph said.

  He laughed and pushed off the wall to walk over to the bed. “No, because you three were busy coming.”

  Emi faked a pout. “I didn’t come.”

  “What?” Caph and Ford said in unison.

  “You most certainly have come today,” Caph said as he sat up, hands on his hips.

  “Yeah,” Ford said. “I got at least two out of you.”

  She still feigned poutiness. “Not that last time. You both came without me.”

  Aaron smacked Ford on the ass. “Move it. Both of you go clean up.” He kicked off his shoes, pulled off his shirt, and started working on his trousers. “I’ll take care of her. And I’ve got something she can take care of, too.”

  Emi licked her lips in anticipation. When Aaron crawled into bed on top of her, he kissed her, his stiff cock rubbing between her legs. “So they didn’t take care of you, huh?”

  She shook her head. “Not that last time. Well, okay, they did make me come, but that last time they came without me.”

  “Want me to issue them demerits?”

  She loved the wicked, playful gleam in his eyes. “Yeah. And while you’re at it, issue one to the floor, too.”

  “Huh?”

  “It attacked me. Rudely.”

  “She’s drunk,” Caph called from the bathroom.

  “Am not!” she shot back. “You said I was supernovically soused.”

  He stuck his head out of the bathroom. “No, I said you were supernova-shitfaced.”

  “Oh. Well, whatever.”

  Waves of amusement washed off Aaron. She loved feeling that from him almost as much as she did his love and affection. “So our little doctor is drunk, huh?”

  “Not as much as I was earlier,” she said. “I think I slept a little of it off.”

  “So that explains the bar fight kit.”

  She crossed her arms over her breasts. “Did you want to sit here and talk, or fuck?”

  She let out a yelp as he flipped her over and pulled her up onto her hands and knees. Without further ado, he rubbed his cock between her soaked pussy lips before sinking home inside her. “What do you think?” he rumbled in her ear.

  He pushed her shoulders down onto the bed, pinning her there with a hand between them. With his other, he reached around her and found her clit.

  “Hey, you’re copying me,” Caph said from somewhere behind them.

  “What?”

  “I nailed her like that earlier.”

  “Shut up and fuck me!” she moaned as she clawed at the bed.

  “She’s mouthy,” Aaron said. “Someone do something about that.”

  She heard a noise and looked over in time to see Caph and Ford fighting each other to climb onto the bed. Caph won, and she found herself rewarded with his only slightly stiff cock in her mouth to suck on.

  Ford took the alternate track and shoved himself underneath her, finding her clit with his mouth.

  Aaron withdrew his hand and grabbed her hips. “Let’s see if we can get at least one more out of you, sweetheart.”

  She closed her eyes and let their hands and cocks and mouths send her flying. The three of them together, their emotions were as intoxicating to her as the drinks she’d sucked down earlier. Someone, or more than one of them, began playing with her already-sensitive nipples. Caph’s cock had apparently reached its limit, because she couldn’t get him hard again. But he still filled her mouth nicely and gave her tongue something to do.

  Ford, on the other hand, went to town and had her screaming around Caph’s cock as he relentlessly pulled one more climax out of her.

  “That’s…it!” Aaron grunted before falling still.

  Limp, she flopped onto Ford, who finally managed to drag himself out from under her. Aaron curled up behind her on the bed, and Caph stretched out in front of her.

  “I’m assuming we’re doing room service tonight,” Ford quipped from the end of the bed.

  “You assume right,” Aaron said. “Why don’t you get on that. Then if you want, you can see if you can get me up again and I’ll fuck your ass for you before dinner arrives.”

  Ford pumped his fist. “Yes!”

  * * * *

  Emi wanted to kill whoever the fuck it was pounding on the walls in such an annoying, rhythmic way without pause.

  THUMP-thump…THUMP-thump…

  As she tried to roll over and it felt like her scalp was about to detach from her head, she realized the pounding was her pulse. She also stopped moving for fear of her limbs detaching from her body.

  Someone touched her lips. “Open, babe.” Ford.

  She tried, but they felt like they’d been glued together. And shoving her tongue out between her jaws to loosen them hurt like hell.

  He chuckled, but her agony wouldn’t let her smack him.

  A wet, cool finger touched her lips. Finally, she could get them pried apart with her tongue, which felt like it was coated with rancid polar bear fur.

  Not that she knew what rancid polar bear fur tasted like, but she imagined it was something along these lines.

  A straw appeared and when she managed to suck some water through it, it felt like heaven. She took a few swallows and moaned in protest when the straw disappeared.

  “Hold on.” Something else touched her lips. Then the taste of mint and medicine filled her mouth. “Swallow.”

  She did, barely. The straw immediately reappeared and she drank.

  When the straw disappeared again, a moment later she felt the sting of a hypo in her upper arm.

  Blissfully, the thumping of her pulse in her ears disappeared. And her head started to feel better. Not perfect, but good enough she could roll onto her back and force one eye open.

  Ford stood next to the bed, a wry smile on his face. Behind him on the desk, she saw the bar fight kit lying open, with items on the table.

  “Good morning, babe.”

  She closed her eye again.

  He laughed, but since she was already starting to feel more normal, she didn’t begrudge it.

  “What the hell did you drink anyway?”

  She carefully licked her lips. “Martian Muumuus,” she croaked.

  “Oooh. Those things’ll fuck you up royally. They go down easy but last a long time, with a helluva delayed kick. How many did you have?”

  She couldn’t remember exactly. She held up two fingers, added a third. Then after thinking about it, added a fourth. Most of the previous day was a blur. She remembered some achingly hot sex, and then…

  Her blood ran cold at the memory of meeting the F’ahrkay in Dobros’ office. Okay, shove that thought into the background or it’ll make me puke.

  He laughed. “Yeah. That’ll do it. Aar and Caph are out getting breakfast. They’re going to bring us back something. You ready for another dose?”

  “Of what?”

  “My own special concoction. Mint, sugar, lemon, garlic, ginger, and a few other things thrown in. Helps settle the stomach enough that the other stuff I shot you up with won’t make you puke.”

  “And what was that?”

  “Enough diproxin sodium to take care of a Caph-sized hangover. Although the big guy’s usually smart enough not to have four M-squareds at one time.” He helped her sit up and let her sip another shot of his minty concoction from a small oral syringe, followed by another few swallows of water.

  Already, her stomach felt settled and solid, and the headache began melting away.

  “You need to drink a lot of water today, babe. And no more booze. You need to flush that shit out of your system before you pile anything on top of it. Seriously, you would have been better off drinking a gallon of bourbon straight from a bottle than those M-squa
reds.”

  “I’m getting the picture.” She took the cup of ice water from him and held it so she could sip some more.

  “No, you’re not. You might be a doctor, but I’m an experienced drinker. Those things will boomerang on you in a few hours if you don’t keep up the fluids. They make those things with Castian rum. That shit will fuck you up ten ways to Sunday. This is just a temporary fix to mask the symptoms so you can function and not want to vaporize your own brain in your skull to get rid of the hangover.” He frowned. “I’m surprised Caph let you drink that much.”

  “He wasn’t there for most of it.”

  “Oh. Wow. You did get started early.”

  She put her feet on the floor. Ford steadied her while she walked into the bathroom, then gave her a few minutes of privacy until he heard the toilet flush. He started the shower and helped her in, stepping in with her to take care of her before lathering himself.

  “We’re back,” Aaron called from the room.

  “Thanks,” Ford called back.

  Emi winced from where she had her forehead pressed against the cool tile wall. “Shhh,” she said.

  “Ah, see? It’s already trying to rebound on you. Let’s get you out of here and get some more fluids and stuff into you.”

  An hour later, she’d managed to eat and hold down pancakes and scrambled eggs, and did feel better. Her three men sat there watching her eat.

  She felt their concern and it both warmed her heart and annoyed the piss out of her. “You don’t have to sit there staring at me.”

  “We’re not staring,” Aaron assured her. “We’re waiting.”

  “For what?”

  “For you to fess up,” Caph said.

  She stared at the remnants of her breakfast. “Okay, I can’t help what my empath senses say. I’m not happy about him being assigned to our boat. I won’t be happy about anything but him leaving for the duration of his stay. Yes, it’s childish and unprofessional, but there you have it. I will find a way to suck it up and deal with it. Happy?”

  Aaron leaned in and kissed her. “All I’m asking is you do your best. And that’s the last time we’ll mention it while we’re here. Okay?”

  She let out a relieved breath. “Okay. And thank you.” She looked up at Ford. “Especially thank you.”

  “Why?”

  “For keeping my internal organs from galloping off without me this morning.”

  He smiled. “Babe, we have so much to teach you about proper drinking techniques.”

  Chapter Seven

  Their third morning at the resort, Emi awoke before her men and wished she could petition for another three days of R&R. They’d have to check out in a little over eight hours and return to the Bight to begin their mission.

  But she knew trying to forestall the inevitable would be a futile effort and only make life harder on Aaron and the twins. They felt guilty enough about her discomfort, and that made her feel guilty.

  Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it was just a fluke, and when I meet him again, I’ll feel fine.

  She didn’t believe it for a second, but it was something she held tightly in her mind to soothe her nerves.

  She also realized she was obligated to give the F’ahrkay an exam, as per DSMC orders, because he was a new crew member. And set his chip to their frequency.

  The thought of having to be on board the same vessel with him, much less touch him, turned her stomach.

  She’d beg Ford to help her. Hell, he’s a medic, he can do the exam for me while I sit at my desk and pretended to supervise. How unhealthy could the guy be if he just got off another ship?

  She carefully climbed out of bed without waking her men, pulled on a robe, and went to the terminal at the desk. There she accessed DSMC records and looked up F’ahrkay physiology.

  The humanoid species was different than Terran humans, but not drastically so. They could eat a lot of the same foods and breathe the same air as humans. They had iron-based blood that acted nearly identically the same way human blood did to deliver oxygen throughout the body.

  Their reproductive systems were the largest physiological difference. While some F’ahrkays were born female, most were born male. It didn’t matter, however, because for reproduction, they were basically asexual. It was a type of parthenogenesis, only with a male instead of a female. The males fertilized their own eggs, which were then deposited into a partner, male or female, for incubation. However, before the eggs could detach and be deposited, DNA from the partner was merged with the eggs, making them viable and allowing them to detach.

  The records didn’t specify exactly how that happened. A notation indicated it was a culturally sensitive topic that the race didn’t like to talk about outside of their own.

  Unfortunately, if F’ahrkays didn’t fertilize and transfer the eggs once they fully developed and were ready for the process, it meant they would die in less than two weeks. They had no control over that once the process started. Although it took the better part of a year from when the eggs began to grow and reached the point of fertilization and transfer.

  F’ahrkays didn’t have traditional mates like Terrans, although they frequently had partners they entered into agreements with to cross-incubate eggs for each other. Out of each clutch of twenty to thirty eggs on average, usually less than five survived the transfer and incubation. Of those that survived, less than fifty percent made it to adulthood.

  Emi closed the file and pinched the bridge of her nose. She still didn’t know a lot about the process, but what little she did know she considered too much information.

  If she didn’t have to deliver any F’ahrkay babies, that was fine by her.

  * * * *

  They spent the afternoon enjoying the spa and doing some last-minute shopping for little luxuries they didn’t normally have access to, like booze, makeup, and specialty foods. As they packed and prepared to check out that afternoon, Emi did her damnedest to put on a good front for her men.

  I will suck this up. I will suck this up.

  With her nerves increasingly on edge, Emi returned to the Bight with her men, unable to stop looking around her for any sign of the F’ahrkay as they approached the gangway leading to their ship.

  “He’s not here yet,” Aaron finally said.

  Heat filled her face. “What?”

  He brought her hand to his lips and feathered them across her knuckles. “Kayehalau. He’s not here. He’s getting the rest of his personal effects from the other ship. He won’t be here until later this evening, when we do the final load and get his pod situated.” He pointed to what looked like a large, rectangular storage container, approximately twenty feet long and ten feet wide that sat with several other cargo stacks waiting to be loaded into the Bight’s hold.

  “Oh.” Relief, followed by annoying embarrassment flooded her. I hope my face isn’t red.

  She had to get a handle on this.

  After they were aboard and had stowed their things in their quarters, the men began working through their departure checklists. Emi hunted Ford down in engineering, where he was checking the jump engine relays.

  “Can I ask a favor?” she muttered.

  He frowned. “Okay, spill it.”

  “What?”

  He rolled his eyes at her. “You don’t need to go through any convoluted preamble with us. You should know that by now.”

  “Will you please do Kayehalau’s new crew exam for me?”

  “Huh?”

  She nodded.

  “That’s sort of against regulations, isn’t it?”

  She arched an eyebrow at him.

  “I mean he’s not one of us. He’s a perfect little altar boy, from the looks of his record. I’d hate him to report us for that.”

  “You’re a medic. I’ll sit there in the office and supervise.”

  “By supervise, you mean try not to run for cover?”

  “Please?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, of course I will.” He shook the wrench in his hand at
her. “I am not, however, digging around in his prostate, or whatever they have.”

  She vigorously shook her head. “They don’t. And you don’t have to. I just need vitals and a basic, quick exam.” She ran her hands up and down her arms. They’d dropped the temp in the non-quarters parts of the ship already in preparation of being detached from the station’s utility umbilicals. She’d have to start wearing her sweatsuits again to keep warm. “I just…please?”

  He pulled her in for a quick kiss. “Of course. We’ll say you wanted me to have experience with non-Terran species.”

  “Hey, that’s pretty good!”

  He laughed, releasing her with a gentle swat to her bottom. “Who do you think usually had to talk us out of trouble with the MPs?”

  * * * *

  Emi didn’t have to be on the bridge when they departed. She shut herself in the hydro lab and forced herself to keep her mind off their new crew member.

  Occasionally she felt glimpses of the dark dread, but nothing nearly as overwhelming as in Dobros’ office that first meeting.

  Maybe it will be okay. Maybe she just needed a few days off to clear her head, and next time she met Kayehalau, she wouldn’t have a bad reaction.

  Maybe I’ll start growing unicorns that can shit rainbows, too.

  She cut off that line of thought.

  When Ford called her on the ship’s com link and told her it was dinnertime, she forced a cheery tone she didn’t remotely feel as she told him she’d grab a bite to eat later.

  When Aaron called her a minute later to tell her the same thing, she knew from his tone he wasn’t informing.

  He was ordering.

  Grumbling, she slowly made her way up to the crew area to the galley. The closer she drew, the worse she felt. Dark, ominous clouds filled her senses, growing stronger and stormier with every step she took toward the galley. When the doorway came into view, she spotted an extra chair now at their table, Kayehalau seated in it.

  Caph spotted her first. He swooped in, grabbed her hand, and led her to the table. “Hon, eh, Dr. Emilia Hypatia, this is Kayehalau.”

  She preemptively raised her hand in greeting to avoid shaking with him as she sat as far away from him as she could. Forcing a smile, she said, “Nice to meet you, Kayehalau.”