13. Chapter Thirteen

1day, 18 hours, 21 minutes EST remaining Trying not to wear a satisfied smile as she walked among the other Gaiians was difficult.

Mari had this ridiculous urge to take Lue aside so she could tell someone how amazing it all had been. She never did that. Then again, she'd never had anything like this to discuss. With Lue being Gaiian, she would probably be horrified—traumatized even.

She inwardly sighed. There was just so much that she wanted to let it out. Her thoughts were this mush of "amazingness." "Crey is amazing." "His body is amazing." "It was amazing." Her brain was stuck on the word because sex had been that amazing.

Mari wandered past the monitors, examining them. Lue had promised to show her their botany lab soon. Currently, they were poring over relays, which were in Gaiian.

She should learn Gaiian. Crey had said a few things, during intimate times, and she hadn't wanted to pause for a translation.

"I wish I had a way to contact my ship," Crey said. "I gave it a general direction; however, the operating system has attained classification 6 sentience and has chosen a name. It would—"

"She," Mari said, interrupting. "Wanda said she prefers ‘she' when we were talking."

They all stared.

Crey continued, "She may have selected a different destination. For certain, she will be powered down and will not receive relays."

"Your ship is a classification 6 in sentience?" an engineer named Kruis asked.

"That is what my ship, Wanda, has said, according to Mari. I did not have a lot of time to ascertain the extent of her sentience when speaking with her."

No, they had basically fallen out the side of the ship almost immediately after—while he was still reeling from the shock of his ship having a personality.

"To have a ship such as that in battle…" Lue sounded awed.

"She is a fast ship. She is faster than anything the Thalarins have." His seamless integration of the pronoun "she" regarding his ship made Mari weirdly proud of him. It was a little thing, but he was a pragmatic fierce Gaiian.

Initially, Mari was too busy watching the tight stretch of clothing across Crey's muscles for the conversation to penetrate.

"Oh, I can contact the ship," Mari said.

They all stared at her. Again.

"Mari," Crey said in a slow deliberate voice, "the ship is powered down and cannot receive communication."

Mari rolled her eyes. Just because she loved him—that didn't mean Crey wasn't an ass at times. "Wanda told me she boosted the signal from my databand. I can have the replicator start food from anywhere on the planet. That's an internal system. She also said the replicator didn't power down with the rest of the ship or the food would spoil. I'm guessing she was prepping me for this, but didn't want to give away your plan. So, I just ask for the replicator to make pizza, and she'll come."

Plus, when the ship did arrive, there'd be pizza. Woo! Pizza!

"That should work," Lue whispered to the Gaiian beside her.

"Am I too late in mentioning this?" Her heart almost stopped. Oh hells, if she was too busy having the greatest sex that had ever existed to get Crey's ship for a battle…

"No," Crey said. "We have coordinated our efforts, and we will attack in twenty-one Earthen hours."

"Is it safe to have her come now?" Mari asked. "Or will the Thalarins follow your ship here?"

"We have hawks. We could send them out to keep watch. That should limit the danger," Lue said, "and, moreover, might distract their ships."

"Doesn't there need to be someone controlling the hawks?" Mari asked. This was an awesome distraction, especially if she got to fly a hawk, rather than be flown by it.

"For quicker response time, greater mobility, and in situations where frequent adaption is anticipated, it is best to use a linked control chair. There are eight of us able to do so." Lue indicated the other base Gaiians—whose names Mari was trying to memorize. It genuinely helped that Lue would periodically scold them for being obtuse…essentially. She suspected Lue's words were more profane than "obtuse."

"I want to fly a hawk." Mari went so far as to raise her hand.

"As do I." Moving to her side, Crey put a hand on her lower back. He'd done this frequently, as if reestablishing their connection. "It cannot be more difficult than flying a ship."

"There will be enough, as we have many hawks and ten control seats," Lue said. "As to the difficulty, you are not stationary while moving them as you are with a ship. The seats will move as if you are the hawk. Otherwise, the controls are similar to artillery controls."

"Yes!" Mari pumped a fist. She'd mastered those controls. This would be amazing. Okay, she should find another word. Everyone was gaping at her. Again.

As one, all the engineers turned to Crey. The base Gaiians had been doing that since Mari had joined them in the command room. His designation as captain must make him the highest-ranking Gaiian on this base. "We will send the hawks out and recover my ship," Crey stated.

"The Thalarins know the hawks are bots, right? Because of the energy source—the Navarian energy that they can monitor?" Mari asked.

They all nodded.

"And the hawks have lasers on them?"

"Weak lasers," Lue said.

"Positional?" Mari could do some damage with positional lasers, even if they were weak. She was sure of it.

"Certainly."

"Oh my hells, this will be amazing." Who the hells cared that she couldn't find a different word—today was amazing. Crey was amazing. She could attack ships with her hawk, and that'd be amazing.

New goal: take down a Thalarin ship with a hawk.

The others were murmuring in Gaiian about his mate. Crey allowed the conversation to continue in a language Mari could not understand. She was happier than he had ever seen her, and their doubt in her abilities might ruin that.

Crey's mouth was sore from suppressing his own smile. That he felt this good—this was another gift. Even when they were not joined, the intimacy of their relationship remained.

Currently, his Earthen sat in a hawk's control seat beside him. The seat's frame curved around her like an egg. Her body was around the controls with the primary stick being between her legs.

At any other time, the sight of her with her hands wrapped around the stick might not have aroused him; however, in addition to his smile, it was difficult to subdue.

As she familiarized herself with the controls, Mari's chair spun as her hawk did. Her awe was infectious. Crey had forgotten what it was like to be impressed with intricate technology. His wealth, position, and being located in Bogarta meant that Crey had seen much more complicated work, but he had not reacted with the inquisitive wonder that Mari was. Experiencing things alongside her brought him a profound happiness.

Shaking off his distraction, he continued setting up their displays. Lue had volunteered, but the system was quite intuitive. From the comments of the other engineers, Lue had reconfigured it to be so. Each of them had begun by linking their seat to their hawks. Then, they associated their neural implant to the visual display. Immediately "in front of him," Crey had a "holographed" view of his hawk's monitoring. In actuality, there was nothing visible to the others, as it was being broadcast in his visual field by his neural implant. Outside their chairs, a wide viewscreen on the wall, faced them. Each section displayed one of their hawks' views.

Mari drew their attention once more as she sent her hawk in a spinning dive, causing her chair to spiral while facing downward. Her wild laugh was carefree and glorious. Crey loved the emotion in the sound. He was irrationally annoyed that the others were hearing it also. The view from her hawk was a blur of spinning green. Thankfully, Gaiians had robust stomachs.

Was she crashing the hawk immediately?

The engineers were shifting in their seats, uneasy from tension.

He was tense also. The ground was getting closer.

Would she actually smash the enormous and expensive machine into the ground?

No. She was drawing back on the controls.

"Crey, have you tried this?" Mari asked breathlessly, pulling out of the dive. "Whoa. Dizzy. I kind of want to throw up, but I won't. It was amazing."

"I can assure you, you are the only one in the room with a desire to ever try that." Crey's stomach was unsettled from watching.

"Oh, you Gaiians are no fun. Hey, where are you, Crey?" It took him a moment to realize she was requesting his hawk's location. They had launched the hawks from different hidden hangars across the planet, rather than from the base, to avoid drawing attention to their location.

"I am to the southeast of you." Prime had adopted the Earthen designations for locations at the Earthen leader's insistence. The Earthen king had found the various other directional descriptions to be confusing. Gaiians had over fifty directional names.

Mari frowned. "Where do you think your ship is?"

"I am the closest to the suggested location I gave Wanda." Hopefully, his ship was in the caves.

"Where are the Thalarin ships?" Mari began to bite her lower lip as she examined her hawk's holographic image, which had a map in the corner.

Using his neural implant, Crey pushed a larger simplified topographical locator map to the viewscreen they all shared. He centered the map with their individual views all around it. "You are the pink dot. I am the green one. The others are various colors." He was confident the others could determine which colors they were. Crey was not accustomed to coordinating battles or locations, but this made sense.

"Did you pick that color for me?"

"Yes." Pink was the obvious and best choice for Mari. "The Thalarin ships are the gray dots."

Lyatan had advanced relay towers embedded across the planet. They were in the center of the less hostile trees. The relay towers were placed there as the saplings grew, and the quick-growing trees incorporated them into their framework. Before leaving the planet, a relayed com might jump through a hundred tree stations. The Thalarin fleet ships were not utilizing their full cloaking capabilities, but the sensors were following them easily as he and Lue had reprogrammed them to see the absence of a relayed signal as a signal.

"I'm close to a few of the ships?" Mari asked.

"They will shoot you down," Lue reminded her. She looked past Mari to Crey. "The hawks are expensive."

Crey nodded in acknowledgement. He had already paid for several after all. He could afford it, but they were intricate machines that took some time to build, and Lue had made modifications to those on Lyatan, improving them.

Mari bit down on her lower lip as she searched the canopy for something. "If I can take down a ship, it'll be worth sacrificing a hawk."

"You cannot," a Gaiian engineer said, leaning forward to stare at Mari.

"Nemah!" Lue said in reproof.

Swearing, Nemah fired on a flying creature attacking his hawk.

In Gaiian, Crey told the others, "Do not be distracted by my mate. She is a wild variable, which you cannot control. If she crashes, I will pay for it."

Mari snorted. "Don't think I didn't recognize ‘nopha lau'nen' in all of that. I know you were telling them to ignore your wild variable."

"They do not know you, nopha lau'nen." Crey lowered his voice as his words were meant solely for her. "They have not learned to trust you as I have."

She sent him a smile. "These hawks and controls are expensive, though, aren't they?"

"Very."

"So getting one of these seats installed in Wanda, as well as a few hawks, would be too outrageous for a wedding present?"

"They use air currents and will not work properly in space."

"Yes, but we'll be on planets occasionally, and I can use a hawk to check out the native flora in advance. I like this far more than the bots and drones I use now. Plus, neither of those have lasers." She fired on a winged snake.

"You will have it." He sent Mari a glance. "Is it customary to give wedding gifts?"

"It is. But, trust me, bayantar, you gave and gave all night," Mari said at a volume that carried. "We're good there. No further gifts necessary."

He felt the focus of the other Gaiians. His face and ears were hot. He had certainly observed that she was well pleased. He had not expected her to announce it. Sudden movement on the screen drew his attention.

A cloaked ship disturbed the sky as it flew by his hawk. That was his ship.

"My ship has passed my hawk." Crey navigated the system with his neural link and adjusted the relays to recognize his cloaking. "I am adding my ship's location as the red dot. Mari, you have four Thalarin ships coming toward you."

Their dots were converging on her location.

"Yes!" Mari dove downward.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, hells, Crey, I'm not convincing as a databand this high. I'm going down below the canopy to be you. There's no way an Earthen could be running this fast, so my hawk will be pretending to be you, hauling ass with your databand turned on."

"You are flying low to the ground?" Lue asked. "That is where the sclavas, corvidors, and nyaimahs are."

"I'm calling them Fang 1, 2, and 3, rather than divy out those names, but they are part of the plan, as well as some payback." Mari's hawk dodged trees as it slowed to a hover. "There. Fang 1." She pointed at the enormous winged reptile.

"Nyaimahs," Lue said.

"Lue!" Nemah shouted.

Lue growled a litany of profanity as she fired on a winged snake. Hopefully, Mari was too busy to remember Lue's words.

Mari fired on the nyaimah—and missed.

"You missed, Mari," Crey said.

"I did not. That was to rile up Fang 1. Fang 1 is sentient as hells and will get its buddies to come attack the shiny hawk."

"Sentient as hells?" Nemah repeated.

"Totally," Mari agreed.

From the other side of Mari, a Gaiian asked in their language, "How do you avoid her distracting you?"

"It is…difficult." Crey had to acknowledge that he was, very occasionally, distracted by her.

They were all openly watching her screen as Mari's hawk flitted around below the forest's branches, blasting near various flying creatures, but missing each one. She was creating a swarm of angry creatures.

"Is this a strategy or random chaos that achieves nuanced success?" Nemah asked in Gaiian.

"She has always succeeded previously," Crey said, answering indirectly.

"These look like Old Earth dragons to me." Mari flew between two nyaimahs. "How close are the ships?" She flicked a glance to that screen. "Not close enough, and I need more monsters." She darted forward with all of her gathered creatures roaring after her, enraged, due to her laser blasts.

"They will take you down," Lue warned. "I have never had a hawk attacked by so many. You cannot outrun them forever."

"I know. I'll need to sacrifice this hawk to the cause. Thankfully, I'm screwing someone who can afford a few hawks."

Crey's face warmed once more. "Screwing" was in Earthen English, which was enough for them to guess her meaning from context.

"Your ship is passing my hawk," Kruis said from the far side of the room. He had looked at his wrist when Lue had mentioned Mari's father.

"Indeed," Crey confirmed. His ship was making excellent time.

"The Thalarins have taken no notice of your ship," Lue stated.

"They have not." Instead, they were going after his mate, whose hawk was now being pursued by a great many winged creatures.

She fired into a tree. "I saw you, Fang 3. You're the last one I need before I have a horror trifecta."

"They are coming, Mari." Crey had to repress the desire to fly to her side. She had a plan, and he would support that. "You will have four Thalarin ships attacking in half a shift."

"Yes, I love it when a plan comes together."

A part-avian and part-reptile creature snarled at her hawk and attacked.

Mari dodged away. Reversing directions, she flew her hawk below the canopy toward the Thalarin ships.

Lue tapped behind her ear. "I have a Wanda requesting entry. I am granting access to the hangar."

Mari's hawk surged upward, breaking from the canopy. Her hawk flew directly at the approaching ships. She fired rapidly on the middle ship's shield in front of its portside wing.

"You cannot penetrate their shields with the hawk's laser. Even if you could, those lasers will not do much damage." Lue's attention was on Mari's viewscreen entirely. As lead engineer, she took the welfare of the hawks very seriously. "You will need to pull up."

"I'm not taking it down with a laser." Mari laughed softly under her breath.

The portion of the ship's shield under attack went opaque. The Thalarin ships decreased in speed to turn, but their tight formation made that problematic. Stookt fools. They had impulsively converged on their prey and were slow to recover.

Mari continued rapidly firing on the ship's shield.

Was that a hole in the shield she was hurtling toward? She was almost there.

"Lue, find a relay tower with a visual." Nemah gestured at the viewscreen.

"Got it." Lue rerouted a new vid feed to the screen. "Trookt dea-ith! Do you see how many creatures are behind her?"

Twenty flying beasts trailed her hawk, and they were also headed straight at the Thalarin ships.

"You will crash." Nemah was gesturing as much as an Earthen.

"I know," Mari said.

The shield she had targeted broke under her assault. The enormous hawk hurtled through the shield, along with several other creatures. Her section of the viewscreen filled with bright lights, sparks, and metal flying as the hawk hit the ship's wing in a glorious conflagration. They switched their attention to the tower's feed as Mari's hawk's impact took out the ship's wing, sending the fighter spinning. It slammed into another ship as more creatures went through shields, due to the multiple-point assault. Thalarin ships careened wildly, slamming into each other, as one by one they fell from the sky.

A stunned silence settled among them. Their hawks were flying in place. Nemah's hawk was being attacked by a nyaimah.

"Wanda has arrived." Lue shook her head in wonder. "She says the pizza is ready."

"We're going into the ship?" Mari asked as she jogged to keep up with Crey's pace.

He hadn't said a word since she'd crashed her hawk into the ship. One moment, she was reveling in her victory, while noting the room was silent; the next, Crey had pulled her from her cocooning seat. Now, she was being dragged via their clasped hands toward his ship.

They went up the gangplank.

Yes, they were going on the ship. Immediately. He must want to confirm it was well. Or he wanted pizza. Pizza did sound good.

"Hello, Dr. Marigold Clemons," Wanda said.

"Hey, Wanda. Call me Mari, remember? How was your stay wherever you went?"

"Uneventful. I chose a dry cave and examined all the Earthen literature the captain has added to my system—several times. I now speak fifty-three Earthen languages fluently, and I have read all available literature from the beginning of a written language on Old Earth to the present. I found a book titled Beowulf to be very interesting. Indeed, if I had not already picked a name, I believe I would be Beowulf."

"We can change your name."

"I have grown accustomed to calling myself ‘Wanda' and have relabeled everything inside me as ‘Wanda's' so I will keep it. But, you may call me Beowulf on occasion as a nickname. I would enjoy one of those."

Crey continued dragging Mari through the ship, not acknowledging either of them.

Wanda said, "The captain has requested I afford you some privacy for one turn which is approximately one Earthen hour—I have learned how to approximate. This is creative thinking, and I am closer to classification 7 sentience. Now, the captain is swearing at me in Gaiian because I have not afforded you this privacy. I will stop monitoring and go to what I am creatively calling ‘my room.'"

"Crey, what…?"

Slapping his hand on a bioplate, Crey opened the door to what must be the captain's quarters. He swung her inside. Oh, this was a fancy sort of boring. The décor was all blacks and grays. There was only the sofa as furniture, but it was plush and undoubtedly expensive. Where her room's wall had the biomes, this room had antique weapons displayed all around, because of course it did.

"Is this…?"

Spinning, Crey crowded Mari against the door that had closed behind them. His heated gaze held hers.

"Are you mad about the hawk?" How expensive were those things?

He shook his head minutely before leaning in and kissing beneath her ear. He murmured words in Gaiian as his lips kissed her skin.

Mmm. His body was telling a vivid tale about what he wanted. Apparently, the hawk fight had Crey all worked up. It wasn't dampening Mari's simmering lust—that was for sure, but her mate was downright frantic. His lips were leaving a trail of heat wherever they went, and he discarded his clothing quickly.

"In Prime?" she requested as his hands moved to work at unfastening her clothes.

"In English. I need all the descriptive words." He undid the last fastening, and his gaze met hers. "I want you, Marigold Clemons. You are my breath and the next beat of my heart. I want us pressed together so close that nothing can come between us. I desire the intimacy of mating with your wondrous body." He jerked the flightsuit down to her waist. Leaning in, Crey brushed a kiss against the uppermost leaf of her tattoo. The tenderness of his mouth contrasted with the tension in his body.

She moaned. Mari had always thought she was difficult to please, but Crey had discovered otherwise. His kisses made her lose her mind, even the tickling ones. Another kiss on the curl of a vine, and Mari clutched his head against her. Oh yes. She needed that. Mmm. He could get her there so fast.

His hands were ahead of the game, stroking her gently.

Oh, she was there. She was definitely there. Mari pressed hard against the door and panted a breath.

"Your garden is my garden now," Crey said. "All these leaves and vines to taste—later." Crey kissed several as he finished removing her suit. "This time, we do it the Gaiian way. I burn for you and cannot wait. Do I have your permission to…?" His gaze traveled her body, and his intentions were clear from the hunger he wore.

Oh. Wow. Crey wanted her so much that he'd dragged Mari in here to screw her against a door.

Her heart was pounding already—just from the heat promised in his eyes. "You really got turned on by me flying the hawk." That was…sexy. He found her badass flying skills to be a turn-on. Hot damn.

Crey's frustration was evident as he groaned, "Neeenghaaaaahhh." He inhaled stoically and pulled her legs up on his hips. "Mari?" He gave her another heated look, begging permission.

He wanted her that much.

No one had ever wanted her this much.

Laughing under her breath, Mari skimmed her mouth down his neck where she kissed his skin before sucking it into her mouth and biting his neck.

He made that frustrated sound again as she continued her soft, wet assault on his warm skin. "Please, bayantar. Please."

She lifted her head and whispered, "Yes," in his ear.

"Yes?"

"Yes. Now. Less talk—or talk during, like I do."

He covered her mouth with his own. Wet deep kisses blew her mind. Crey pulled back far enough to ask, "You are ready, navi'ian?"

"Yes." Mari was so ready. She'd never been screwed against a door.

Now. He joined their bodies with a hard thrust. Yes. Her warm back was flat against the cool metal door, and she loved it. To be wanted this much was seductive all on its own. Their breaths came faster and were more labored.

"Tell me how much you want me." She was on the brink of something glorious, but she needed to hear it.

Crey kissed her neck. Against her skin, he said, "I ignite with want. Never have I seen anyone as beautiful."

"Crey," she gasped, tightening her legs around him. Her vision was brighter and more intense as if fireworks had lit up the room. Sensation sharpened. The intimate press of their skin together overwhelmed her. That groaned sound from him was so damn sexy. He wanted her so much. It peaked all at once. Then, she flew over the edge, saying his name over and over.

"Mari." Her name was breathed out against her neck in a voice equal parts rough and reverent. He clutched her tighter as they stilled, caught in a bright sublime bliss. His movements slowed, growing tender as the ferocity of his need ebbed.

With Crey, Mari was fragile and strong—all at once. He gave, and he took in equal amounts, but Crey left much of the power with her. This was everything she might have dreamed of, if she'd known it existed. Her breathing was more panting as her heart rate decreased.

Mari could get used to this. She could get used to Crey.

Crey twisted, leaned his back against the door, and dropped slowly to the floor with her recovering on his lap.

"Wow." They'd both ignited. It was a wonder they didn't scorch the door.

"You were teasing me—earlier—making me wait," Crey said.

"Mm." Mari kissed him. She was. "That noise you made was hilarious. You sounded like a wounded galanak down to the last of its six legs."

"That was pain." Crey was fighting a smile.

"Hm, it's a good thing I put you out of your misery." Mari gave him one last kiss. "That was amazing, but I'm glad you were quick. Our pizza is getting cold."