Chapter 7

Yesserchao was a week away through hyperspace. Remma didn't know much about it, so he looked it up on the tablet in his room. A two-sun system with three inhabited planets, economy based on asteroid mining and interspace commerce thanks to a conveniently located hyperspace jump point. The inhabitants were a mixture of human and Garrileng. They reportedly lived together in peace, which didn't surprise Remma based on what he knew about both species; the Garrileng were so conflict-avoidant that they probably went along with whatever the more aggressive humans wanted to do.

Denna called an all-hands meeting in the ship's dining hall. Remma searched the room until he spotted his friend Berro, whom he hadn't seen or spoken to in more than a year. As he approached, Berro spotted him coming and leaped to his feet with a broad grin.

"Remmathulsen!" Berro called, and they embraced. It was good to see him again, but strange, too. Remma had spent so long away from his life.

"You're even uglier than I remember," he said, to avoid getting too sentimental.

Berro's grin didn't waver. "Likewise. Is it good to be back? How was life among the humans?"

They sat side by side at one of the tables. "It was fine," Remma said. "Not a hardship. I had lots of time to work on my own projects, and the work they did have for me was interesting."

"It almost sounds like you were sad to leave," Berro said, his gaze uncomfortably discerning.

"I didn't expect to leave so abruptly. But no, it's good to be back. I was cold all the time for a year."

Berro shuddered. "You won't have that problem here."

Denna came in then, interrupting their conversation. Everyone gathered around them fell silent. Denna stood at the front of the room, commanding attention with the weight of his presence. He hooked his thumbs in his belt and said, "One of the asteroids in outer Yesserchao is on a collision course with an orbital station."

Confused murmurs started up. No asteroid in a mining system should be on the loose like that. Their orbits were carefully tracked, and any that went astray were nudged back into place with tugs or explosives.

"They're dealing with it, obviously," Denna went on. "The collision won't actually happen. But while everyone's focus is on evacuating the station just in case, we'll be swooping in to strip a stranded freighter on the other side of the system."

"Why's the freighter stranded," someone called out.

Denna smirked. He loved to draw briefings out like this, feeding them little bits of information and waiting for them to fit the pieces together. "Someone set an electromagnetic bomb in its flight path."

"Won't the freighter's scanners pick that up?" someone else asked.

"No, because it's conveniently hidden by a cloaking device that this someone just so happened to pick up three jobs ago."

Remma rolled his eyes. Denna came up with some half-cooked plans, and this was sounding even less thoroughly baked than most of them.

"So that's the plan?" Nerri asked from his seat near the front of the room. "Swoop into the system, plant this bomb, strip the freighter and get out again?"

"You got it. We're looking for a particular freighter, a merchantman from Noszverru. They're carrying some very interesting cargo according to what I've heard."

Remma didn't like any part of this plan, and he could already predict his own role in it. Cloaking devices weren't common, and they were finicky tech, prone to shorting out or just deciding they weren't going to work at all in the first place. Denna would want Remma setting it up and probably out there in a suit making sure nothing went wrong before the freighter came by.

Great. He hated spacewalks.

"Sounds like you'll be busy," Berro said to him quietly.

"Don't curse me with that fate," Remma said. "You don't know what he intends."

"He was sure eager to get you back for this job. We weren't anywhere near that system, but he diverted as soon as he picked up on these rumors. So I feel pretty confident about what he's got in mind."

Remma groaned. He hated spacewalks.

"We'll be arriving in Yesserchao system in six days," Denna said. "You're all at leisure until the day before. Don't drink too much because we're running low. Remmathulsen, please come talk to me for a minute."

Berro nudged Remma. "See?"

Remma kept his expression carefully neutral as he approached Denna. "Yes, boss?"

"I need you to get the cloaking device working," Denna said. "You've got a week."

Remma could feel his jaw tightening and forced it to relax. "It isn't operational, then."

"Not at the moment. But you can handle it, right?"

He hadn't ever seen or worked with a cloaking device, but sure, okay. "Probably. Depends on how broken it is. Six days?—"

"That's all the time we've got. The whole plan falls apart if you can't fix it." Denna's face said exactly how much shit Remma would be in if he couldn't. "So get to it."

An impossible task, but that was Remma's whole life, wasn't it. "I'll hop right on it, boss."

"Great. I'll have someone bring it to your room later today." With that, Denna turned and gestured to Nerri. Remma had been dismissed.

Okay. Time to start reading about cloaking devices.

* * *

Remma knewhe should go visit Sol again—probably visit every day, just to make sure he was doing all right, and to keep him company. Sol would get bored stuck in that room with nothing to do. He had probably been bored within the first half hour, and it was Remma's fault. He owed it to Sol to visit him, even in the face of his justified displeasure. But it sure wasn't fun to see Sol look at him with distrust and anger instead of the usual—well. It was probably wiser not to put a name to the way Sol used to look at him.

Sol was his biggest regret in all of this. He hadn't meant to put any of the colonists in harm's way, but Sol in particular was important to him. Impossible for him not to be after months of fooling around together. That was only normal.

He had lost Sol's regard, probably for good. That was a blow, but even worse was knowing he had put Sol's life in danger. And even worse than that was knowing he wasn't cunning enough to come up with a brilliant scheme to save Sol and get him home again.

At least it didn't seem to be an imminent problem. Denna was too focused on the Yesserchao job to do anything about his human cargo. Remma just had to get through the next week or so, and maybe by then the whole situation would work itself out.

The cloaking device, at least, wasn't going to be a problem. It wasn't broken at all—just switched off. A few minutes with a screwdriver and a small probe and he had the thing up and running again, letting out a low hum on the surface of his desk.

Now the question was whether it would keep running, and keep running when they launched it out with the EMP bomb. But Remma couldn't do anything about that right now.

He put his tools away. He needed to go see Sol.

The ship was a lightweight support fighter of some type and had no formal prison, so Denna had stashed Sol at the far end of an unused passenger wing. A single guard sat outside Sol's door, bored, with a gun resting on his lap. The guard was a problem, and so was the gun, but Remma could think of something, surely, if he set his brain to work on the problem. He was smarter than Denna, although admittedly far less crafty.

The guard gave him a half-hearted sneer. "Boss know you're here?"

"No," Remma said. "Are you going to stop me from going in?"

The guard shrugged. "I've got no orders to keep anyone out."

Remma didn't like the idea of anyone on the ship having full access to Sol at any time, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. If he told the guard to keep everyone else out, he'd just get laughed at.

The door slid aside without a sound. Sol was in bed, under his blanket. When Remma came in, he scrambled around and turned onto his side to face the wall.

"Hey, Sol," Remma said.

"You scared the shit out of me," Sol said. He craned his neck around to peer at Remma. His face was flushed and he seemed a little out of breath. "You can't knock?"

"Were you masturbating?" Remma said, trying to keep the amusement out of his voice and probably failing horribly.

"That's not—any of your business," Sol said, which meant he absolutely had been. "Remma! We're being listened to."

"Are we? I don't think so. There's no monitoring in passenger rooms, and that's all this is."

"You were being really careful not to tell me anything specific the last time you were here."

"Habit, I guess. Were you really jerking off?"

Sol didn't answer. He looked mulish.

"Not much to do in here," Remma said sympathetically. "You must be pretty bored."

"I wasn't doing anything," Sol said, a weak protest if Remma had ever heard one.

"Let me see," Remma said. He sat down on the room's one stool and made himself as comfortable as he could.

He fully expected Sol to tell him to fuck off. Instead, Sol gave him a narrow-eyed look, then turned onto his back and flipped the blanket back. Inside his loose trousers, the shape of his erection was obvious.

Remma felt a sharp, predatory satisfaction come over him. "It looks like you could use some help with that."

"You think I can't handle it myself? Should I be insulted?" Sol's generous mouth pursed. Remma had spent enough time around humans to develop opinions about their relative attractiveness, and Sol was above average. With his curly hair and his lean, strong body, his full mouth and long-lashed eyes, Remma enjoyed looking at him.

"Well. Go ahead, then," Remma said, and waved a hand with lazy magnanimity.

Sol's eyes narrowed further. He wasn't going to refuse, though. Remma could see it in the set of his jaw, stubborn in the face of a challenge. "Really? You want to watch?"

"I love to watch. And you'll put on a good show for me, I'm sure." Remma leaned backward and braced an elbow on the table behind him. His slit tingled in anticipation.

He shouldn't be goading Sol into doing this, not with a guard right on the other side of the door. They could so easily be caught, and then Denna's suspicions—because surely he had some—would be confirmed. It probably wouldn't bode well for Sol.

But Remma couldn't stop himself. He never could when it came to Sol. The temptation was too powerful, and Remma was too weak to resist.

Sol's hand slid down his torso to the waistband of his pants. Remma watched hungrily as Sol untied his trousers and pulled down the waistband. His cock sprang out, wrapped in white cotton. Remma wanted to touch and grab and taste, but more than that he wanted to watch Sol get himself off, so he sat where he was and watched as Sol pulled down his underwear and took out his sweet bare cock.

"Take it slow," Remma said. "Take your time."

"Are you going to give me directions?" Sol asked. His voice was deeper than usual, husky with arousal.

"Would you like that? I can, but I'd rather see how you do it when you're on your own."

"I didn't know you had this voyeuristic streak." Sol stroked himself root to tip, slow and firm. "I'm learning lots of new things about you, seems like." Another slow stroke. "Some more appealing than others."

"I know, you're still mad at me. Message received loud and clear. But you're still letting me look at your cock."

"Well. Like you said. There's not much to do in here." Sol gave Remma a heated, heavy-lidded look as he stroked himself, still at that same slow pace. "I'll need a lot of visits, probably, to keep me from going nuts with boredom."

Remma was a sucker, but it did get to him: Sol looking at him that way and talking about more, again. Remma knew he wasn't forgiven, but if Sol was willing to unbend far enough for some illicit spaceship fucking—well, Remma wasn't about to turn that down. He would take anything Sol offered him, always.

Sol kept his eyes on Remma as he began to move his hand faster. Remma's slit was throbbing now, and he moved a hand to press against it, easing the ache a little. He didn't want his cock to slide out now since he didn't know what Sol would accept from him, if anything. The pressure helped.

"Do you want to fuck me?" Sol asked. "I don't have any lube."

"I'll find some. Not now. Keep going."

Sol's eyelids fluttered closed. His breathing deepened as he kept going, his chest rising and falling as he worked at his cock. Remma wondered what he was thinking about, then felt stupid as Sol's eyes opened again and fixed unerringly on Remma.

He had some inkling of the way Sol thought about him. He understood that Sol tried to resist him and wasn't successful. He was the fantasy. It was strange to be wanted that way, but flattering, too. Remma hadn't lacked for partners on Tozra, but he was just an average guy there, not anything special. No one had ever succumbed to him.

"You look," he said, "like a porn vid come to life."

Sol huffed. "Do you watch those?"

"Sure. They're made for all tastes. Even Tozren."

"Even things way less humanoid than you, I'm sure." Sol regarded him with bright curiosity, hand still moving. "What do you like to watch?"

"Human taking three giant Tozren cocks," Remma said, not truthfully.

"Three! More stamina than I have, that's for sure." Sol's eyes were steady on him even as his hand went faster. "Is that what you'd like? To watch me get railed by three of your compatriots?"

"No. I'd rather have you all to myself." That was the truth.

"Well." Sol's eyes closed. Remma watched, but they didn't open again. Sol worked himself harder and faster, and his toes began to curl in the blanket as he approached his peak. Remma rubbed the heel of his hand over his slit again, giving himself that necessary pressure. It would be all too easy to let his own cock slide out.

Sol was flushed and writhing, the red head of his cock leaking clear fluid onto his hand. He was a vision. Remma had never been much for humans before, and he still wasn't; it was only Sol, capable and cagey, equally quick to laugh and to scowl, who had captured his attention. He would take up as much of Sol's time as Sol would let him, and visit him every day to watch him get himself off, if that was what Sol wanted.

He hoped Sol would want other things. More. He hoped he could find lube on the ship. Surely there was something that would suffice.

"Remma," Sol said unsteadily. He turned his face toward the wall, back arching. His hips pushed up into his hand. He was almost there, Remma could see, and in another minute he groaned and went still, pumping thin white semen over his knuckles.

Remma didn't consciously decide. He just went to his knees on the floor beside the bed, leaned in, and licked Sol's hand clean.

Sol's free hand settled on Remma's head, a light, benedictive touch. "You don't have to do that."

"I want to," Remma mumbled, tongue still working. It didn't taste like much. Tangy, salty. His lips tingled slightly, but he knew human emissions weren't toxic to him, so he didn't worry about it. The sensation wasn't unpleasant. Anyway it was outweighed by the feeling of Sol's fingers tracing along the lines of bone on his forehead.

"You could come again," Sol said casually. "I wouldn't mind a visit."

"Am I forgiven, then?" Remma asked Sol's knuckles.

"No. But you're the only person on this ship who isn't my enemy. As long as you're able to come see me, I'd like you to."

"Then I will," Remma said. "Whenever I can."

* * *

True to his word,Remma came every day, and that gave Sol something to look forward to aside from his twice-daily deliveries of only moderately appetizing food. Remma was better than food; he was someone to talk to, a living person to fill the tedious silence of Sol's prison cell.

They fucked every time, and talked afterward, and then sometimes fucked again. Sol got the impression that Remma also didn't have much to do, although surely he had more options for entertainment than Sol did. He never said much about his shipboard activities.

For the first few days, their conversation stayed light and inconsequential. Sol was still angry, and he didn't want to bring up any touchy subjects that would cause an argument and lead Remma to stop his visits. After a while, he felt his anger fading. He believed that Remma hadn't meant any harm, and that everything that had happened was mostly bad luck. Remma had been careless but not malicious. Sol wasn't quite ready to forgive him, but he was ready to let go of the hot fury he'd felt at first.

So that meant it was time to take care of business.

"We need some kind of plan to get me out of here," Sol said as the sweat dried on his skin.

Remma sighed as if Sol were being completely unreasonable. "Don't we have a plan? We're going to have Denna ransom you back to the colony."

"You know there isn't money for that. So what's the actual plan?"

"Oh. Well." Remma bit at the tip of one claw. "We could… try to steal a shuttle, I guess, once we're near an inhabited system. But I'm not sure what to do about the guard."

"Surely you can find a gun somewhere on this ship," Sol said dryly.

"And then do what with it? I could probably figure out how to shoot it, but that isn't saying much. The guards all know I can't fight."

"You could at least try," Sol said, annoyed. Remma wasn't usually so defeatist. "Fine, okay. I'll keep thinking about it."

"Sorry," Remma said, and at least he had the grace to look ashamed. "I'll keep thinking, too. I don't want you to think I'm giving up. I promise we'll get you out of here."

"We'll see," Sol said, still annoyed.

Remma rolled over to look at him. "Do you even want me to keep visiting you? You don't seem to like me very much. You like my dick, that's all."

"I'm mad at you! You got me kidnapped by pirates!"

"Even before that. You're always—" Remma made a vague gesture. "Maybe it's just how humans are. When we first got to know each other, I thought you enjoyed my company, but lately you seem indifferent. Except when I'm fucking you."

Sol tried not to cringe. Guilt chewed at his breastbone. "That's not true. I'm just—" What possible excuse could he give? He didn't want Remma to know why he kept himself cold. "I've been worried about the winter, that's all. That we won't have enough money to make it through."

Remma's expression screamed of skepticism. "I didn't know that was on your mind so much."

"I'm always worried about the colony. I feel like it's my responsibility since I'm Loden's son."

"I guess that makes sense."

"It's not true, anyway. I do like you."

"Okay," Remma said, as if he didn't quite believe Sol's bullshit.

Sol swallowed down his embarrassment. He owed Remma some vulnerability. "I won't tell you I liked you right away. I was suspicious of you. I thought you were scamming us, and turns out I was right."

"Sol—"

"No, that's not my point. You won me over, okay? And it didn't take all that long. I liked talking to you. I thought you had interesting things to say. And the first time we went out together, you were helpful and followed my lead and didn't generate any nonsense. So then I decided you were okay."

"I'm helpful," Remma said. His mouth quirked sideways. "So that's why you decided to start fucking me?"

"I'm really bad at this, okay? I'm not used to talking about—" Sol gestured to his chest. "You know. Feelings. I just thought it was nice to spend time with you. I liked you. I was attracted to you. I don't know, why does anyone like anyone else? Sometimes you just meet a person you get along with."

Remma smiled at him. "Yeah, I get what you mean. That's how I felt about you, too. That you were easy to talk to and easy to spend time with. I guess it doesn't have to be any more complicated than that."

Good: so they had worked it out, and without Sol having to reveal anything mortifying, like exactly how deep his feelings ran—far deeper than he wanted to acknowledge. He was a coward, but that was okay. Remma didn't need to know.

"I'll like you more if you can get me out of here," he said, to steer the conversation back into safer waters, and Remma groaned and reached over to smack him with the pillow.