Space Exploitation Ch. 02

Thanks again to Selena for editing and catching some really dumb mistakes, this story would be confusing without her help. Thanks to Leah too for reading and encouragement.

Three sex scenes, hope to keep up that level.

*

"Nope, nothing, no sign of extra bodies," Trish told Grace, trying to hide that secret smile. "Maybe we scared them off?"

"I doubt it, the ship is too valuable. Is there any way they could have fooled your systems? They tricked my security scans."

"Which is why I'm looking at the raw numbers," Trish replied.

"We have to find them before we take off, Betamax has 200 security troops I can draw on, and I trust all but 8 or so of them. Once we take off, I have 6 folks as law enforcement, plus a few dozen who have a few hours range time. I don't want to be gang raped by hillbillies the rest of my life."

Grace noticed the smirk on Trish's face, but didn't understand where it came from. She turned to her comm, "Greg, anything on Romans?"

"Nah, but I did want to mention, Pickett just asked to swap watches, he will be on the last watch before detachment." In other words, yes, 'Romans,' aka the watch supervisor she didn't trust, had moved his watch to the last possible second. It would be more risky to move the pirates onboard then, but there would be no time left to detect them. If she hadn't known who to watch, she might have missed it.

Grace pulled up the watch schedule, and started doing some math. 'oddly enough' all the folks she didn't trust were on that shift now too, but that was what she was hoping for. After taking out the sleep shift, she had 60 folks she could trust who were off shift.

"Trish, if you wanted to smuggle people on board at the last minute, how would you do it?" Grace knew that it would be impossible to smuggle them in as boarders, and that the fuel and food would already be loaded.

"Dumb as this sounds, I'd put them outside the shuttles, then have them enter one or more of the airlocks once we enter the portal. If we weren't looking there, we would have no way of knowing they were out there, and most suits have a 12 hour supply of air, more than enough."

"OK, I have a plan..." Grace almost ran towards the Captain's cabin.

"Sir, I would like to delay the launch by a day for security reasons," Grace began.

"OK."

"You see sir, I don't think the people who tried to take the ship will give up this easily, and I think I know what their plan is."

"I said OK, now what is their plan?"

"Sorry sir," Grace blushed, "If they put on space suits, they could ride the passenger shuttles to the Mayflower. But if those shuttles happened to wait till tomorrow, then slid through that solar storm..."

"Nice, I approve. Make it so." Victor enjoyed parroting his favorite captain from TV.

She turned to leave, then stepped back into his cabin, letting the door shut behind her. "Um sir, on a more personal note."

"Yes?" Victor didn't know what was going on.

"I let those men onto the ship, I failed you, and...I need to be punished." She saw he was about to disagree, and rushed her words out, "I know you aren't unhappy with my work, but if you don't punish me, I don't know how I will punish myself."

He looked at her, perplexed. She walked past him, bent over his bed, and unzipped her coverall, then slipped it down to her ankles.

"I'm not going to take advantage of one of my crew again," he began, then realized his mistake.

"Again?" Grace now realized what had been bugging her about Trish, not just her smile, but she now realized that the perfume that had been bothering her was 'eau de aroused woman.' "Trish, you fucked Trish, you dog. Good for you!"

"Please, don't tell anyone, I don't want anyone to think less of her."

"That's my captain, always thinking of his crew." She grinned over her shoulder, and realized just how sexy a pose she was giving her poor captain. She had wanted a spanking - and she might have gotten off on it too, but primarily it really was to allow her to let go of her shame and sense of failure, so she could move forward and keep the ship safe. "Now if you can give me that spanking, I can get back to work. Oh, wait, how silly of me," she pulled her panties down, showing all her crack above her actual openings, "A good spanking is on bare skin, right?"

Victor was torn, one part of him wanted to flee the cabin, another part wanted to drop his own coverall and grab her from behind, force her onto the bed, and fuck her before she could complain. Instead he tried to do as she asked. He was a bit tentative, not wanting to really hurt her. He slapped first one side, then the other, watching her buttocks quiver. Then he grabbed both cheeks, and pulled them apart, pinching and pulling. Grace's panties slid down further, and he could see both her openings winking at him. Her pussy was wet, and his face kept coming closer, he was fascinated with what he was seeing.

He reached forward blindly and slapped one of her arms, pushing it out, and her torso dropped towards the bed. She must have realized what he wanted, as she lowered her breasts to his bed, opening up her ass even more to him. He put his lips to her right cheek, first kissing lightly, then biting, almost leaving a mark. She gasped, but he saw her body responding. He pushed even further forward, and licked her outer lips from between her legs. He felt more than saw her legs opening wider, and he started to kiss and lick between her thighs. Teasing her legs, poking his tongue into her vagina, and licking and tickling her clit.

"Yes, no, please, punish me!" Grace groaned, Victor shoved two fingers roughly inside her, and she pulsed around his fingers. Then he took his other hand and started to spank her, first one cheek, then the other. After 8, he felt her opening start quivering around his fingers, and a gush of fluid coated them.

Victor had an evil idea, "You want to be punished?"

"Oh, yes!" she almost screamed.

Victor took his soaking wet fingers, and began to spread her cum around her anus, poking the hole lightly enough to just tease, rather than actually enter. He was waiting for her protest.

"Yes, fuck my ass, take all my holes and make me your whore!"

'Well, that is rather extreme' he thought. Still, she was clearly willing. He slipped first one finger, then both, inside her bum, pushing deep to spread her natural lubrication. Then he stood up, opened his coveralls, and pushed his already very hard member into her back passage. She gasped, then pushed herself towards him, forcing him further into her. Soon he 'bottomed out', and grinned at the pun. Then it was raw fucking, he noticed her hand between her legs, and he growled at her, "Pinch your clit, and your titties, they are mine now. Squeeze them, abuse them, not for you, for me."

She moaned and was clearly doing as he said, then he felt her ass clench on him rhythmically, and realized that she had just cum. He wasn't able to hold out either, and after he stopped pulsing, he stepped back. "Shower?" He asked.

She joined him in the shower, taking turns cleaning each other, hands and soap exploring skin. After they were clean he held her in his arms, her back to his chest. He would lean down to kiss her neck, then nuzzle her short hair. Eventually they got out, dried each other with fluffy towels, and climbed into bed.

She fell asleep with his arm over her.

Pickett 'coincidentally' swapped watches, and was again on last watch. The shuttles took off for the Mayflower. Then the automatic guidance switched paths, something that Navigation knew all about, but security was unaware of. Security (other than Grace) would also not know about the solar storm, the shielding on the ships, and even the shuttles, was more than sufficient to protect anyone inside. Of course that much x-ray exposure would bake anyone dumb enough to be outside in a space suit - if the earth wasn't protecting the facility from the sun at this angle.

The shuttles swung wide, eating time, staying out past the "safe time," and into the storm. They rotated slowly in the solar winds, scouring the surface on every side with solar particles, before leisurely coming to rest on the Mayflower. Trish had sent an inspection bot to the area with the shuttles.

Victor had arranged for Grace, him, and JAG to catch a late shuttle, after the first group boarded. He was in the main security space with Mr. Pickett, and said "Grace, could you call up camera M-12?"

Grace called up the display from the inspection bot on the main screen, and all of them watched space suited figures lifelessly swaying, attached to the shuttles by ropes and magnetic boots. Victor spoke for the record, "Hmm, it seems the pirates didn't give up, luckily for us, that solar storm killed anyone outside the shuttles."

Pickett turned towards them, first in surprise, then in rage. "What the hell did you do? You commie homo bastards? We needed to get real Americans on that boat, Christians, after you all used the 'requirements tests,' to reject anyone who had read a bible!"

"Pickett, we never worried about the religion of the candidates, it is just...folks who don't believe in evolution don't do well in sciences in general, your 'real Christians,' were not smart enough to make the cut... In any case, you have admitted to conspiracy to commit piracy on a US Air Force vessel. If JAG and Sec concur, I think we can make this court martial quick, so we don't delay launch any further."

Pickett and two others security guards reached for sidearms at that point, but Grace and the four security she had placed at the doorways proved faster. The three remaining traitors slumped as they were pierced by multiple slivers of steel before any of them managed to draw.

"Now that that is cleaned up, captain, shall we board your ship?"

"JAG, what rules do you think we should have on fraternization?" Victor asked her.

"Well, I think you should encourage women to find men not in their direct chain of command, other than yourself of course." Stacy, the legal officer replied.

"Other than me?" Victor asked.

"Everyone aboard is in your chain of command, so that rule would cost us one male gene type, and frankly from everything I've seen and heard, a good one. Right Grace?"

Grace had the grace to blush, "Yes, he is quite the specimen."

"In fact for some of your senior officers, you might be the only acceptable candidate. Some women feel subservient to men they have sex with, and if a woman is in a senior or leadership position, only the CO would be an acceptable match. If your XO was male then the XO would also work, but..." Jag smiled at him. His executive officer (XO), second in command, was also ex-military. She was a nuclear engineer and had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Navy. He wasn't sure if he was more intimidated by her looks or her brains, she was tall, blonde, and even with the starvation still had nice curves. The Air Force (the service in charge of space missions) seemed to have chosen Navy personnel for the positions that required military experience, probably because most Air Force billets were on a base, while Navy positions were on ships that deployed away from support for months at a time -- like space ships.

"Now I, on the other hand, would be just fine finding some junior egg-head and dominating him, taking his cum any way I want, any time I want," Stacy literally licked her lips. "I suspect even you couldn't take charge of me in bed."

Something in the way she said it made it clear she was challenging him, daring him to try, and maybe hoping she was wrong. He moved across the small space of the shuttle, hitting the lock to prevent the hatch from opening when it docked, then loomed over her. He reached down, took hold of her arms, and placed them behind her head, then shifted his hold so that one of his hands held both of her arms. His other hand finger-walked down the front of her coverall, and by the time his fingers reached the juncture of her legs, his face was near hers. He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, and she responded hungrily.

She muttered "For a woman, it is wonderful to be in a situation where sex is not shameful, in fact, once we land and the implants come out, sex will be honorable, and withholding it will be shameful - if you think the guy is hot anyway."

She was able to mutter this because he had pulled her zipper down, and his face was now in her bosom, searching her skin for places that would make her moan.

Stacy managed to pull her arms free, grabbing Victor's head and moving it where she wanted him. "See, I take what I want."

"Oh really?" He replied, pulling his head back. Even with both hands she couldn't hold him in place. "Do you want me to fuck you, or do you need to be in charge so much that you will turn me away?"

Stacy struggled to her feet, and tried to push Victor down, but he stood his ground. "Fuck me sir..."

"Say please?" He asked.

"Sir, fuck me, please?" she finally asked, her eyes smoldering.

Victor grabbed her hands again, and pushed them behind her back, holding them both just above her ass. He put his head back into her cleavage, then captured a nipple with his mouth. But with him holding her hands, they couldn't go further.

"Sir, you need both hands, let me help you," Grace grinned, then took hold of the JAG officer's arms. This let Victor unzip his legal officer's coverall completely, then push her onto her back. The outfit was still a bother, but he managed to shift her panties to the side and fit inside her without having to strip her nude. It was a fast fuck, not leisurely making love, because the shuttle had already docked, and he knew folks would be waiting on the other side of the hatch.

After they had both cum, Stacy smiled at him and said "Well sir, you proved me wrong." Then zipped up her suit, opened the hatch, and wiggled her ass at him while exiting the shuttle. Grace looked at the Captain, lust clear in her eyes, and said "If you ever want to do that to me, just let me know - or order me to report to your cabin."

He looked at Stacy, "JAG, wouldn't ordering someone to my cabin for sex be an abuse of authority?"

Stacy smiled, "Sexual activity should be consensual, but ordering a woman to come meet you, and having her consent to sex after she reports, is not abusive."

Defeated, and still rather horny, he turned to Grace, "Very well, report to my cabin tonight at 2100." Then he turned to Stacy, "Report to my cabin at 2130." He hoped they realized he was joking, he was joking right?

"Yes sir!" they chorused

The next hour was a blur, last minute double-checking, triple-checking, and even quadruple checking every status on every system. Loosing the umbilicals, orienting the portal, energizing the portal, and the Mayflower accelerating through space to fly through the giant donut hole. Then came the moment he always dreaded, when the folks under his command had to take the risk and he had to hope they had done everything right.

The screen showed the giant portal, with a pair of indicators, one showing the target point for the ship, and the other showing where the ship was aimed. The icons got closer and closer together even as the portal grew larger, larger, and then passed out of view as the ship got too close. "All hands brace for transit," he commanded. Suddenly the icons disappeared, and Victor's stomach fell out of his gut.

His entire crew looked green. Acceleration had been rendered moot, his inner ear was screaming in confusion, every sense his body had of "where he was," and "what was his orientation" had just blipped out of existence and then blipped back. But the fluids in his ear settled, his body re-oriented to the deck, and the nausea passed. "Status report?" He croaked out.

"Sir, Targeting was at 99.9972%" That was good, the eggheads had told him the goal was 99.99%, cutting error by almost 3/4ths would cut some time off the trip. "Astronomy is working on locating the stars for our location fix."

"Medical?" He asked.

The radio chirped, "Sir, no serious casualties, several reports of vomiting and one passenger slipped and fell, he may have a broken arm."

"Roger, Chang?"

"Sir, no reports of damage from transit, and all systems seem to be functioning normally. You have full thruster power and life support is green."

"OK, Navigation, er Astronomy, when you know where we are let me know."

"Of course." the chief Astronomer replied, her Hawaiian lilt teasing him even as he growled both at his slip in nomenclature and her lack of protocol. Then he calmed himself, they were not military, and as long as everyone was communicating, protocol wasn't important.

"All hands," he told the electrician in charge of the comm system, "Everyone, we have transited the portal with no damage and only one injury-other than to our stomachs." He heard a few of the technicians on his 'bridge' chuckle at that. "The Astronomers are working on finding out how close to target we ended up, I am confident we are close enough to not have any problems. Continue your experiments, your maintenance work, and your preparations, and once I have a better timeline for arrival I will let everyone know."

With that he went to his first meeting of the trip. You would think that "'where we will land' would be one of the things settled before departure, but a few issues had delayed that decision. First was information, everything we knew about the planet was from light that left it 142 years ago. Plus only a little bit of that light had happened to hit Earth, so we didn't have any maps or anything close. We knew it had water, about how hot it was, and that the atmosphere had Oxygen and CO2, which indicated something similar to plant life and that we could hopefully breathe the atmosphere. Temperature projections said it would be uninhabitable at the equator, crazy hot at the tropics, Hot in the temperate regions, and comfortable-at least by Victor's standards-in the polar regions. Oh, and it had a greater axial tilt than earth, so greater seasonal temperature variations and worse weather.

Victor didn't understand why this meeting was happening now, we had no new information, so the arguments were the exact same ones the various sides had been using since this project was started. "The Polar regions are the best temperature." "The Temperate regions don't have multi-day 'nights'." Victor let them argue and tried to appear attentive. After all, it would be his decision once they reached the planet.

After an hour he got to go to a more useful meeting, one that, he reflected cynically, could provide much of the information the prior meeting needed. Lilani, the Chief Astronomer led off with "Well, good news, we are less than half the distance from Nova as we hoped. We are starting to get some better information about the planet, we can get the very rough outlines of the land masses." He hit a button on the computer and the screen in the table displayed a globe with fuzzy lines showing the best guess for ocean/land borders and even a few tentative mountain ranges.

Victor turned to the biologist in charge of life support, "Eric, what does that mean for the crew?"

Eric replied "Well, you would have to ask Nancy about the timeframe first."

"Well Nancy?" He asked the physicist in charge of the engines.

"As you know, our best speed was based on spending half our time accelerating and the other half decelerating, with enough fuel for landing and incidentals. The greatest speed was during the middle part of the voyage, so while a layman might think that being half as far would mean half the transit time, we are actually going to still need a bit over two months, call it 66-67 days?"

"Eric?"

"We could conservatively call it a reduction to 75% of original person/days burden on life support. If rations increased 10% with the cumulative increase in air and water requirements, we would still be well within our capabilities."