Sneak Peek at Earthen Girls Are Rarely Easy

Captain Virginia Ockler turned her face toward the suns of Casa and inhaled the hot, salty air as she left her ship.

On his way up the ramp, Captain Creythur Darfothahar nodded at Vi.

"Greetings, Captain," she said in Prime. "I wish you good fortune in your…endeavor." She gave him a firm stare. "I trust you." Her stare lingered. Her stare said if he broke her trust, he would feel every bit of her ire—vast repercussions. Vi would get creative.

A slight smile tipped up a corner of his mouth. "I will honor that trust placed in me. I assure you that you and your crew—," he glanced at the ship, "—all of your crew will be safe during this period in Bogarta."

Good. He'd better do right by Dr. Marigold Clemons.

Captain Darfothahar passed Vi and stood in the entryway of her ship, the Beagle-2230.

Vi turned away, shaking her head. Not for her. As she continued down the ramp to the port, Vi couldn't help the wistfulness that crept up on her. Her xenobotanist would be courted by a Gaiian wholly focused on her desires—one who believed she was meant to be his.

Ten years ago, a relationship would have sounded stifling and like too much work emotionally. Ten years ago, Vi's mind had been full of ambition and arrogance. She'd been determined to prove herself and make captain, so she could break from the universe's Prime Allegiance and get her own ship.

Once she'd reached the rank of captain, Vi lost no time in procuring a ship and a skeleton crew to hunt the exploratory ship's equivalent to buried treasure: a rumored mineral on a dark planet outside the Allegiance's explored systems.

The sole specialist she'd had with her was a xenogeologist, who had immediately retired on their portion of the finder's rights. Vi had funneled her credits from the rights into leasing a larger ship and adding more crew. Her ambition was matched only by her luck.

Though, was it really "luck" when she spent every spare moment poring over rumors of possible finds?

No, not in her opinion. Vi made her own luck, and it paid extremely well. She had every reason to be happy—every reason to be proud—every reason to be satisfied.

One out of three wasn't bad.

Vi was proud.

Career-wise, she was satisfied. The Gaiian who'd just passed her would be funding their explorations for a long while. They could go wherever they wanted with his money and influence. No scrounging up funding for a year or two—and maybe never again. She could be fully self-sustaining with finder's rights.

When it came down to it, though, her pride and satisfaction in her success didn't keep her warm at night. She wouldn't mention this deficit aloud to anyone, even Artur, but her life was exceptionally lonely. The blame for this loneliness could be leveled, ironically, at that pride and success in her career.

Her ego and job weren't solely at fault for her predicament. Hells no. Vi had dated total assholes who hadn't been worth the effort she'd put into their relationships. After she'd dumped or been dumped by them, Vi hadn't worked through the mental fall-out. Instead, she'd embraced more emotional baggage. Now, she had a full array of cumbersome trauma luggage—gigantic suitcases of misplaced blame, bags of break-up memories, and even chic little make-up bags of "I will die alone on a dark planet." She had it all.

A sharp wind blew strands of her black hair from the tight knot at her nape. Pausing, Vi turned away from the wind and tucked her hair into place. In front of her, rising majestically, was her ship. Vi smiled. Her ship. Sure, there were scratches and dings on the hull of the copper spaceship, but the Beagle was still perfect.

The design reminded her of science fiction portrayals of gleaming spaceships. She'd picked the name Beagle-2230 because it referenced two of Earthens' notable explorations. The scripted "name" was beside the national designation. The Beagle-2230 flew under an Earthen flag, and there it was, stamped on the hull. The Earthen flag depicted Old Earth encircled by eleven stars, representing the eleven original colony planets in their primary system.

The name, the design embellishments to the hull, and even the metal alloy's color were a blend of old and new—of tradition and progression. The Beagle was Captain Nemo's submarine crossed with the Earthen rockets, which had first traveled within their solar system.

The three-leveled ship was also "home" for her and thirty-six other individuals. It was home and work—possibly too much work for some of them. Mari had been the only one who regularly out-paced Vi in overworking, and the xenobotanist still wandered around Bogarta every time they stopped.

Now, it's my chance.

Vi purposefully turned away from the environment she could control to the one she definitely couldn't and wouldn't dare try, and that was part of Bogarta's charm. Wild, reckless, dangerous Bogarta.

Around her, traders did brisk business from their cargo bays as crates of all sizes were loaded and offloaded. On the far end of the port, repairs were being done in a shipyard. The industry of bots and mech staff created a boring percussive song as they hammered and drilled, building and repairing ships. The cacophony of vastly different voices, the shipyard, and the beeping of bots moving merchandise should have been overwhelming; Instead, Bogarta breathed life into Vi.

A tendril of excitement spiraled through her—the same rush exploring always triggered. No repairs would take ownership of her thoughts this week. Concerns about the politics and finances involved in their stop weren't a background noise. She was free and in one of the universe's most unfettered ports. An Old Earth song whispered through her mind, "Let's Get Loud"—as loud as Bogarta.

Ahead, long stretches of gleaming metal ships in rows were ribboned with port lines. The vibrant skin and scale tones of a hundred different races moved across Bogarta's port and out into the city. No other city felt this alive. The port and the streets were veins feeding the creature that was the volatile clan-run town. The bustling energy made her heart beat faster.

Bogarta was a rowdy outpost overseen by Gaiian clans. It wasn't for the faint of heart, but boldness and the thrill of discovery had always driven Vi's choices. She might not look like she belonged here, but she wanted to. The yearning was even stronger now.

The first time they'd put into port in Bogarta, her misgivings had been rampant. Vi's inner monologue had been screaming about their stop being, literally, a grave mistake. They'd received a grant for a flower on Zaskiza, and everyone knew you didn't go there without the antidote for their bloodthirsty mites. Vi could have gotten the antidote through a third-party eventually, but waiting for an emissary to procure the vials would have delayed them several days. Bogarta was on the way to Zaskiza, so she'd chanced the stop.

Unexpectedly, a first son of Bogarta had formed a mate bond with her xenobotanist. He'd paid loads of credits for the Beagle to return to the port frequently while he worked through the bureaucracy of arranging a courtship. Subsequent visits to Bogarta, her crew had their own bodyguards in town. They might be the safest visitors to Bogarta—ever. Knowing that contributed to Vi's ability to "get loud" while in town. She only had to worry about herself.

In the past, when they'd stopped for the crew's contracted leave time or for quick "overnights" at ports, Vi could never truly enjoy herself. There was always work to be done on the ship or decisions to be made. This time, she and her crew had been ordered off the Beagle-2230. Due to the Gaiian's "new" endangered status, the Allegiance required Vi to dock here in Bogarta for a little over a week, so Captain Darfothahar could court her Earthen xenobotanist. Basically, this equated to Vi being ordered to leave her ship and indulge in a wild week here.

Mm. She couldn't wait. This week would be the best damn time anyone in the entire universe had ever experienced. She would be getting really loud. Hells yeah, she would. She would make some noise. Vi would have sex—wild, dirty, no-strings-attached sex because she needed both the release and the memories.

Before she'd started down the path to captaining an exploratory vessel, Vi had never considered how impossible romances would be in the process of and after making captain. Relationships within the ship hierarchy became complicated extremely quickly, even if that coupling was purely physical. Ranks came into effect. Emotions ran high if the relationship failed, as they all did, and that left you on a ship with an ex. The ship could be the size of a carrier, and it would be too confined if an ex was there.

That wasn't the only potential complication to sex in her chosen career. Exploring offered up a variety of possibilities for one-night stands—sometimes too much variety. Not all those inhabiting the universe were seed races, colonized by the same advanced race, and thus compatible.

One could get naughty with non-seed races, but not all of them were bipedals. Many races in the vast universe barely resembled the seed races. Some still went for it, but Vi's kink didn't run toward attraction to a gelatinous blob lifeform or one who didn't have the Tab A to her Slot B. Those were complications she didn't need in her life.

In the academy, she'd had a flirtation with a Wrazmon, but it had never gone any further than a few heavily-suggestive conversations. Wrazmons were lizardy and not a seed race, but they were bipedals and sexually compatible. Vi was the one who'd walked away from that relationship. There'd been a niggling voice in her head that suggested general sexual compatibility was not enough for her. Seed races were Vi's line in the sand.

Half of Vi's crew of thirty-six individuals were from seed races, and a few of the others were similar enough that "tabs and slots" could be figured out, if one got creative. There'd never been an ounce of attraction for anyone on the crew. Also, Vi wouldn't abuse her authority like that.

Some captains hooked up with their second-in-commands, which was less "iffy" in regards to chain of command. No. Vi's second, Artur, was like a brother—a weird, goofy brother who was only part Earthen. The metallic sheen to his light tan skin was a dead giveaway that he was part something else. Like Vi, Artur had been a ward of the system and had no idea what his ancestry entailed. They'd known each other since they were young and had been best friends ever since.

When Vi had gone out on her own, Artur was the only person she'd considered for a second-in-command. She'd collected him from a military outpost, where his weirdness had been underappreciated. Artur kept her sane, and they were as close as siblings.

Vi was more attracted to Clorto than Artur. The Blaythen dockmaster was lumbering alongside her. The port shook slightly with each of his steps. Clorto's race looked as if they were made out of rock. He growled what was likely Blaythen obscenities at two Dehmiers in a shoving match and veered off. What did Blaythens have in the way of "Tab A" equipment?

Okay. Stop. He would crush you.

Besides, she had that handled.

Vi was five minutes from meeting her intergalactic "penpal" for a heated week of no-strings-attached sex. She and Damph had met on a previous stop in Bogarta. He was a…well, she didn't look too closely at what he did for a living. Most Aecor men didn't earn their living in a safe way—they were either pirates or smugglers.

There was a valid reason that Vi had never given Damph specifics on where she was. She'd even run her coms through a cloaking service to disguise her whereabouts. Damph was the captain of another ship and, whatever he did, his career was lucrative enough that he could be here for a week also. When their infrequent coms had caught up with each other, Damph had said he'd heard Vi would be in Bogarta and planned accordingly.

Vi liked to pretend this meet-up was romantic. It wasn't. Romance wasn't the Aecor's style.

Damph was slick and aggressive, and, while not Earthen, Aecors were a seed race. Aecoria was a waterworld, and Aecors' mottled blue skin looked like turbulent ocean water. Their sharp pointed teeth belied any perceived tranquility, and their shimmering copper-colored eyes could be as mesmerizing as the mythical creatures said to live in the oceans of Old Earth. Webbing between their fingers and toes ensured Aecors could swim faster than any other bipedal. Supposedly, they had stamina.

Up ahead, several cloaked Aecor crewmembers watched her with open appraisal from beside an ornate ship. Vi turned toward town, but she knew their staring continued. Their stark and slightly sinister focus was damn unnerving. An itch formed between Vi's shoulder blades. They might know they were in town for their captain's hook-up. Damph would probably still be doing trading while in port, but maybe the crew resented their reason for being here or the time spent in Bogarta.

Nearby, Baro yelled in clipped Prime, "You, Aecors, be about your business. The Beagle crew are not part of it." Barooth's build was shorter and slimmer than other Gaiians, making him memorable. Also, he was nice to her and the crew; though, she had no doubt he could be vicious. She was just as certain the Aecors had heeded his warning.

Baro turned to her.

Vi held up a hand, forestalling his regular question. "No new crewmembers. Just the regular herd." He asked each time they stopped.

He nodded, and his expectant posture relaxed. He seemed…disappointed. Baro's gaze drifted beyond her, and his eyes narrowed. "You there!" Baro shouted. "Da-Geen! Hold!" He strode by her.

Baro was rumored to be an incredible sharpshooter. With the universe in upheaval and pockets of insurrection popping up everywhere, if Captain Darfothahar didn't remain onboard the ship, maybe they could hire Baro for the ship's security. She wouldn't mind having a Gaiian along for the ride.

Gaiians were as rugged as their home-planet and genetically prepared to run an outpost like Bogarta. Truth to tell, Vi was more attracted to their race, as a whole, than any other—even Earthens. But, they had their mate bonds, and they never had relationships outside of a bonded mate.

Not that she had a crush on any specific Gaiian, but the variations in their coloring were…intriguing. Gaiian skin ranged from silver with a light green tone to a dark forest green. Their hair could be silver, all shades and hues of green, or streaks of both. Everything about them was intense, including their dark eyes and sharp features.

Even their personalities drew Vi in. They were literal and serious, and, damnation, that appealed to her. She wanted to crack through their control. They were capable of intense focus, and it would be glorious to be the subject of that. Sex was probably incredible.

It would be as good with Aecors.

Besides, with Vi's previous experiences, even before this long dry spell, she wouldn't recognize bad sex unless it was exceptionally lousy. Her exes had been mediocre and only mildly interested in pleasing her. Relationships had to be better than that, right? If not, what were all the love songs about?

It didn't matter. Vi didn't want a love song. She'd indulge her libido this free week and call it good. What happened in Bogarta stayed in Bogarta. Today began a week of sexual indulgence that Vi would remember fondly forever. The memories would keep her warm at night for years. They had to.

At least she'd had Artur take her bag to the place the Gaiians had set aside for their entire crew. As if he'd read her mind, a com came from Artur.

Vi tapped behind her ear, accessing her neural link to accept the com. "Yes?"

"Vi, have you seen this place?"Artur asked.

"How bad is it?" She hadn't clarified that with Captain Darfothahar. If the accommodations were horrible or primitive, that would be part of the "Bogarta experience." People didn't come here for the accommodations.

The city on the saltland planet Casa was expansive for a colony, row after row of streets selling or trading every product imaginable. The buildings looked like those typically found on desertworlds—squatty salt-clay structures and salvaged materials. The colorful awnings broke up the monotony, but Vi had yet to see a building above three floors. The buildings' interiors could be surprisingly high-tech and lavish, but she didn't know what passed for lodgings here. Many visitors stayed onboard their ships when necessary.

"Bad? No, bad is not the word I would use."

"Oh?" Their access to their ship was off the table, per Vi's agreement with the Gaiian captain, who was also a first son of Bogarta, so it would be good if the vacation quarters were adequate and kept the crew happy. Crey said replicators would be available in their lodgings, both for clothing and food. No one would be naked or hungry or forced out into the big, bad world to forage. Shelter, food, clothing—that was enough. They could hole up in their rooms and watch Earthen vids for a week or take their chances in town, but it was on them either way. Most importantly, their captain had not gotten them killed by her desire to get laid or by agreeing to Crey's bargain.

Vi was ambitious and could be cutthroat, but she liked her crew, and they'd be a bitch to replace.

Artur hummed as he walked through his quarters, but he stopped to say, "I'm starting to see how loverboy could afford to send us off on all those expeditions. Apparently, if your xenobotanist is getting romanced, you get to stay where few poor creatures like us will ever see."

Poor creatures? Hah! They did very well for themselves. If she didn't want the adventure and prestige, Vi and many of her crew could retire soon.

"You actually go below ground to get here. The hotel, because that's what I'd call it, is subterranean."

Wow. Unexpected.

"We're staying in this four-level structure overlooking an underground aquifer."His voice sounded hollow and softer as if he'd gone outside. "I'm looking at one of Casa's famed aquifers, and it's gorgeous. Each of us has a balcony where we can stand out here and soak it in. I just waved at Klyloth. He said to tell you this is adequate."

The Ferzi medic wasn't easily impressed.

"What about food?" Bogarta had a lot of bars, but not as many "dining establishments." While the Crayflors from her ship might live on ko'seft this week, she'd rather avoid beverages that might make her vulnerable. Damph was an Aecor after all.

"I have my own replicator, and it's full of something other than nasty food paste."Beeping sounded. "Oh! I'm making pizza. They have pizza. After the pizza, I'm replicating corndogs. Then, I'm dragging them into my shower to eat. My shower is the size of my quarters in the ship."

"Why are you eating pizza and corndogs in the shower?"

"Because I can." Artur's response did not surprise her. His actions were often weird as hells, but, well, Artur was weird as hells.

"Guess what else!"

Artur's enthusiasm for life was infectious. Vi smiled. "What?"

"We're the first people to stay here. The whole place was made for us. He built this hotel for us."

Vi stopped in the middle of the street. Seriously? As a first son of the Gaiians, Creythur had sway, but he'd built a hotel for them? Wow. She began walking again. "Stop calling him loverboy. If a Gaiian overhears, they might rip your limbs off." One didn't know how they'd take a nickname.

"I don't know. The Gaiian who took me to my room was nice. We even made plans to meet later for a game of Rowtha. She might not rip my arms off."

"I'd rather not flirt with that line—the arm-ripping line. Besides, unless she experienced the mate bond immediately, it ain't gonna happen." With half her crew being seed races and quite a few Earthens, she'd wondered if other bonds would form with Gaiians. Nope. Just Mari and "loverboy."

In a serious voice, Artur said, "Yeah, I know. But, it might be fun to flirt a bit while I figure out if she meant Rowtha, or more than Rowtha. Probably just Rowtha. It says something about how much Earthens overcomplicate things with subtext that I can't tell if she was scheduling a meeting or hitting on me. She's Gaiian, though, and they're straightforward. It was just Rowtha. It had to be. Or not. I don't know. I'm confused."

Her second was ridiculous, but he had a point about Earthens' subtext complicating interactions. "Artur, can't you pick a race that doesn't have mate bonds, and one that doesn't run Bogarta?" Self-preservation. Have some self-preservation.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Vi. Suck all the fun out this."

"Uh-huh. I'm sure this week will be boring as hells."

"So, are you there? Have you met your shady seven-night stand?"

"Damph is not shady." Honesty compelled her to add, "Probably. And, I can take care of myself regardless."

"Oh, I know you can. But you're keeping quiet about his race, and that worries the hells out of me. I know he's not an Earthen, which is good because I wouldn't trust you with any Earthens who feel comfortable strolling around Bogarta."

Vi sighed. She should tell him. If anything happened to her, Artur was not only captain, but he would hunt for her and rescue Vi if possible. "He's an Aecor."

Artur's silence lasted an uncomfortably long time. "Are you serious?" His incredulous tone brought a frown to her face.

"Yes. It'll be fine." Risk was sexy.

"Vi."

"It'll be fine." Totally.

"Now, I'm definitely eating my pizza and corndogs in the shower—due to time constraints. I need to hurry, so I can come stare him down. An Aecor?"

"It'll be fine," she said for the third time. "He's probably a smuggler." Some Aecors were smugglers. Hells, the rare Aecor was even involved in legal activities. Damph wasn't. She could tell.

"Vi."

"We're in Bogarta. In Bogarta, a smuggler is respectable."

"Vi."

"Stop saying my name!" This was the problem with having a second-in-command who cared about you.

"Don't leave with him before I get there. I'll bring your entry stuff for the lodgings. You can drag him to your room to bang him. No going on his ship. At all. Do you hear me? Keep him on what is essentially our turf. He tries anything funny, and we're surrounded by Gaiians who'll rip his arms off."

"I wasn't going to his ship." Actually, she hadn't planned that far ahead. She was trying to be carefree and spontaneous. "I've been in touch with him for a few months. We're not total strangers." The coms hadn't been detailed. Never more than a few sentences. Still, how bad could he be? It was only seven days. Also, she needed this. She needed this so much.

"Vi, he's an Aecor. He is guaranteed to be strange. They're all weird. Did you run his name by loverboy to check him out?"

Artur was begging to have his limbs ripped off.

"You mean Captain Darfothahar? No, I didn't. I'm a mature adult. I can take care of myself. I don't need my random hook-ups screened." Also, it wasn't often she had the chance for a hook-up. Odds were good Damph wouldn't hold up to any level of screening. He might even be considered shady by others in Bogarta. He could actually, legitimately, totally be Bogarta-shady.

A replicator dinged in the background of the com. More buttons were pushed. Artur really was making corndogs. "Uh-huh. Well, I'll drop by the bar in thirty minutes to pass off your entry fob and directions to this place. You can give me a long nod if you need extraction."

Vi slapped a hand to her forehead. "You do remember I'm your superior and thirty-two, right?"

"I'm just saying—I've got your back. I will come check him over."

"Fine. I'm here, and I'm going in."

"Remember the nod, and don't leave before I get there. Wait, where are you?"

"Salty Fri's." It was the only bar's name she could remember, so she'd arranged to meet Damph here. Vi intended on subtly interrogating Damph to confirm this wasn't a huge mistake. Admittedly, as the time got closer, the more she didn't want to know. She'd never had a "fling," and knowing more might make her back out.

"Love that place,"Artur said. "Last time I was in Fri's, I saw an Algrai thrown through the window. His profanity game was so strong Fri let him come back in and asked what a few words meant. Let me shower with my pizza and corndogs, and I'll come running. Then, I will vet him, like it or not."

"I don't like it, but I will wait because you are my oldest and dearest friend."

"Really?"

"Yes." Vi didn't have an abundance of friends, but Artur was the closest one regardless.

"You don't know a single person over the age of thirty-two? Hells, Vi, you do need to get out more."

"Uh-huh. Bye, weirdo." Vi tapped behind her ear, ending the com. "Why do I put up with him?" Vi sucked in a deep breath. She'd walk in, sit down, knock back a few drinks, and then have sex for a week—straight—with meal breaks.

Vi pushed through the door to the bar, and half the establishment turned to look at her. They subsequently dismissed the puny Earthen as not worth jacking. The Gaiian tending the bar gave her a measuring stare before whistling. Across the room, another Gaiian, who'd been observing an intense game of Rowtha, scrutinized her. Then, he cast a glance around the bar and barked at four watching Tamphers, "Mind your gaze, Tamphers. She is clan-protected."

Well then.

Both Gaiians followed her progress toward a smirking Damph. Their expressions took on a shade of warning for Damph when Vi stood beside his table, but the Aecor pretended not to see them. Previously, his arrogance had drawn her in. He'd also gone out of his way to talk to her—that was significant as not many races bothered with Earthens here.

"I didn't expect you to have minders." Damph's grin was wide, showing all his sharp, pointy teeth. He was attractive in a rough and dangerous way. His black hair was tucked behind pointed ears, which were pierced with what looked like small spiral shells. He wore a black vest with no tunic underneath, displaying lean muscles that rippled as he relaxed—in a show of unconcern for the hostile Gaiians. A cloak, similar to those the other Aecors had been wearing, hung on the back of his chair.

She waited for her arousal to overcome her unease.

And waited.

And…nothing. Her libido yawned and passed.

Dammit.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

No. She was here, and she was unlikely to find a less disreputable offer in Bogarta. She could work with this. Danger would get her blood flowing. Eventually. Vi sat. "Hello, Damph."

He smirked again and signaled for Vi's drink.

This was it. The beginning of her wild week.