by Tristan Vick
“Danica,” a voice whispered.
She looked up to find Lianica Blackstar, perched on top of the heap of bodies like a sex goddess, staring down at her. Danica was about to turn away and ignore her when, all of a sudden, Lianica began to slide down the tangle of bodies. Arms helped guide her down and gently set her on the floor as if she were royalty.
Her dainty toes met the cold floor and she stepped away from the living sculpture. Even as she broke with the strange entity, her mind remained connected by whatever strange force was at play.
Lianica’s body glistened with her own sweat and the residue of sixty other participants. She took a step forward, her feet flattening under the weight of her hourglass figure, her perfectly rounded hips causing her to walk with a seductive gait, her hips swiveling side to side as she drew nearer and nearer.
“Stay back!” Danica warned.
Lianica ran her fingers down her own body, touching her collarbone and gliding them down her torso, around the cusp of her breasts, and to the soft patch of snow-white hair nestled between her thighs. “I need you here,” she said in a sultry voice.
Danica watched with a disinterested gaze as Lianica brought her glistening fingers to her lips and slowly opened her mouth.
There was a strange shuddering throughout the ship and without warning the main power cut out. Danica brought up auxiliary power and slammed her fist down onto the controls, bringing the ship abruptly out of hyperspace. The ship’s engines went cold and time dilated as the ship re-entered normal space, everything slowing down.
With the ship having dropped out of hyperspace, the Shard began to drift aimlessly in the vacuum of space. The pink slime that coated every part of the ship quickly hardened in the near absolute zero temperature and began to break away in chunks as if it were a frozen Jell-O, a strange Earth food that Jegra had dared Danica to eat one drunken night and which still caused her to have nightmarish flashbacks of the hideous sensation of it as it wriggled and slid around in her mouth like a gelatinous alien life form.
Once the strange pink gel began to break off from the ship, the glow dissipated and the pile of Dagons slid to the floor. Bodies smacked wetly against the cold deck of the bridge, and people lay strewn about groaning from the pain of their physical exertion and complaining of splitting headaches.
Lianica, awakening from her spell, looked down in mortified shock at her blue-skinned nudity and then up at Danica. Quickly covering herself up best she could, she asked, “What the Helios happened? Why am I bare?”
Just then the bridge doors opened and La’Garren flew into the room and pulled up next to Danica as though it were the most natural thing for him to do.
Lianica looked at the space squid with a startled look, then back at Danica, and before she could piece together what in the world was going on, she passed out and collapsed to the floor.
“Good work, little fella,” Danica said, staring down at an incapacitated Lianica with a smug smile on her face.
The baby squid pulsed with yellow light, getting paler and dimmer like a Dagon firefly on a warm summer’s night.
Lianica awoke to find herself in her own bed. As she sat up, a little too abruptly, she clasped her head and moaned in agony as the throbbing headache pounded her skull relentlessly. Then she reached between her legs and groaned as another painful throbbing manifested itself. As the dim recollection of what had transpired gradually came back to her, she groaned again out of the indignity of it all.
“Good, you’re awake,” a voice said.
Lianica startled and swiveled in the direction the voice had come from. Sitting in the corner of her room and looking up from a book was Danica.
“What are you doing in my private quarters?” Lianica sneered at her sworn rival. She didn’t mean to sound as menacing as she had, but she didn’t take kindly to the intrusion. She was a rather private individual and having an uninvited guest lounging in her quarters while she was sleeping made her most wary.
“Only to make sure you were recovering all right. Sickbay is filled to capacity with crew members. And since I’m the only one who seemed to be unaffected by the strange anomaly, which, after running some scans, I now think was a kind of algae that, miraculously enough, grew exponentially in the hyperspace displacency, I volunteered to monitor you until you found yourself well enough to return to active duty.”
“Volunteer? But why would you do that?” Lianica asked, her face squinting in bewilderment at the selfless act. “We’re not exactly friends.”
“Because,” Danica replied, her voice growing serious. “This ship needs its commanding officer. And, the last time I checked, that is still you.”
“Oh,” Lianica replied, relinquishing her tough-girl façade, “I see.” For one second, she let slip the slightest of smiles. Something genuine. Something heartfelt.
Lianica groggily climbed out of bed and looked down at the dark purple, two-piece nighty she had on. The top was a satin camisole and the bottoms consisted of barely a triangular patch. Lianica found the nighty both sexy and in good taste.
“You pick this out?” she asked.
“I felt it suited you,” Danica replied.
“It’s nice.” Another smile formed on her face as she continued to examine the fabric, running it through her fingers.
Danica nodded approvingly.
“Can I get you something to drink? Some tea perhaps?” Lianica offered, thumbing over her shoulder at the food synthesizer. She wasn’t sure what else she could offer in way of showing her gratitude, but she was grateful for Danica’s taking care of her and wanted to offer the slighted token of thanks in return.
“Tea would be perfect,” Danica replied.
Lianica fetched them both a nice cup of Dagon herbal tea and sat down across from her.
They sat sipping their tea, not saying anything for the longest time and then, finally, they both spoke up simultaneously. Interrupting each other, they stopped, shared and awkward glance and chortled softly at their bad timing.
“You go ahead,” Danica said.
“No, you go. I insist.”
“Alright.” Danica sighed and set her tea down on the small glass coffee table between the two reading chairs in which they sat, and looked across the divide at Lianica. She blinked her golden eyes contemplatively and then took a deep breath. Finally, she got up the nerve to ask what she’d been dying to ask ever since she had come aboard the Shard. “Why do you hate me so much?”
“I don’t hate you. I envy you,” Lianica answered. “All my life I aspired to be like you. More than that; I wanted to be you.”
“That doesn’t explain why you’ve been so cold toward me. Or why you constantly run me down and attack me.”
“I know there’s no excuse for my behavior. All I can offer is an explanation. You see, I had to watch my heroine fall from grace and take the job of a common slave. I hated that you compromised. I hated that you gave up and let it happen without so much as a fight. I hated the weakness I saw in you. It infuriated me and pushed me to do better. Pushed me to never show an ounce of weakness.”
“Surely, you realize I had no choice in the matter; The emperor wants me dead, and Jegra, your empress, is merely protecting me the only way she knows how.”
“By concealing you among the commoners. I know. It’s just that…it’s not fair.”
“On that we can both agree.”
They shared another soft giggle and then Lianica continued on with her explanation regarding her actions.
“I figured if it happened to you then it could happen to anybody. Even me. And I swore I wouldn’t let it befall me. I swore to be stronger than you. Tougher than you.”
“Bitchier than me,” Danica added.
Lianica grinned. “Yes, and that.” She let out a small laugh, then cleared her throat and looked at Danica. “Then, when I found out you were coming aboard, all that rage and insecurity came flooding back. And I took it out on you. In retrospect, I believe I could have handled it in a
more professional manner and that my overreaction was, itself, an act of weakness.”
Danica stood up abruptly and Lianica grew tense, not knowing what she was about to do. Closing the distance between them, Danica put her hand on Lianica’s head and drew her into her abdomen so that her cheek was pressed against her warm belly. “You’re not weak, Lianica. You’re one of the strongest women I know. And, for what it’s worth, I forgive you.”
Lianica wrapped her arms around Danica’s waist and squeezed tight, letting her know she was grateful for her forgiveness and understanding. She kissed Danica just below her bellybutton and then hugged her again.
Danica held Lianica’s face to her soft stomach until their combined heat, spurred on by their racing hearts, made the burning desire welling up inside her unbearable and she let go her hold. Withdrawing from the embrace, she turned to leave when, unexpectedly, she felt Lianica’s hand grasp her by the wrist and halt her.
“Please, stay.”
Danica looked back and smiled. “You know I can’t,” she replied.
Lianica looked away and Danica could sense that she felt rejected. Reaching over, she grabbed Lianica’s chin and drew it back so they were facing one another again. Danica slowly leaned in and kissed Lianica on her deep blue lips.
It was a long, sultry kiss that neither of them could have anticipated and, afterward, they shared another lingering gaze as they tried to process what it all meant. Danica shook her head, as if to say no, this could never be, and turned to leave. “I’m sorry,” she said as she scurried out of the room. “I have to go.”
Once outside of the commander’s quarters, Danica strode across the corridor and leaned against the wall, trying to calm her racing heart. Throwing her head back in frustration, she slammed her forehead against the wall. Then she did it again. And again. “What the hell were you thinking, Danica? Get a hold of yourself.”
Just then the two Dagon officers she’d met earlier at the lift came around the corner of the corridor. They stopped in their tracks when they saw her bashing her head into the side of the wall repeatedly and then lowered their gazes and passed by without saying a word. She merely glowered at them in return.
She was pretty certain that half of the crew thought she was completely insane.
A few minutes later she stormed into Jegra’s quarters and began pacing in the middle of the room. Jegra was feeding La’Garren an energy pellet she’d synthesized and he was curled up on her bosom, tucked snuggly into her cleavage like a small kitten.
Noticing that Danica was in a nervous kerfuffle, Jegra raised a finger and was about to ask what the matter was when Danica blurted out, “I kissed Lianica.”
Jegra closed her hand and calmly withdrew it. She looked at Danica’s flustered face and smiled. “That’s wonderful news. So, when’s the wedding?”
“Har, har. Very funny. But it’s killing me inside. I feel like I’ve cheated on you.”
“Because you kissed a woman and liked it?”
“No, because I kissed a woman who wasn’t you.”
“Danica,” Jegra said, letting out a long sigh. “You know me well enough to know I’m not built like that. As long as I have the smallest piece of your heart, I’m satisfied. The way I see it, there is more love inside you than can be contained. If you want to share that love, then, for the life of me, I cannot see how that would make the world a lesser place. So, love who you wish. You can be with whoever you please, and whoever pleases you in return, because in that union you’ll find happiness. And my love for you is bigger than that; I only ever care about your well-being and happiness.”
Danica threw up her arms. “I know! It’s just that…”
“Let me guess, you surprised yourself and don’t know why you like her so much, is that it?”
“Yeah. How’d you guess?”
“Trust me, you’re getting yourself worked up over nothing.”
“We were practically biting each other’s heads off this morning. Then some weird space algae that somehow exists in the folds of hyperspace plastered us with its psychedelic love goop and, the next thing you know, Lianica and I are trying to tear each other’s clothes off. Not under the influence of the lust inducing algae, mind you, but because of some strange attraction that, apparently, secretly exists between us.”
“You know what it would be like though, right? It would kind of be like fucking yourself,” teased Jegra.
“Because we’re so much alike? Or because we’re both royal bitches?”
“Now you’re getting it!” Jegra added with a snap of her fingers.
“Ha, ha. You’re full of wisecracks today, a real comedian. But I wouldn’t quit my day job if I were you” Danica put her hands on her hips to let Jegra know how unfunny her joke was. After pacing the floor a bit more, she stopped and looked into Jegra’s brown eyes. “Please, Jegra, be serious. This isn’t any laughing matter. I kissed Lianica.”
Jegra nodded patiently, as if to let Danica know she’d already said as much, and gently placed the sleeping squid baby, made of radiant energy, back in his box and closed the lid as though she were tucking in a newborn. She strode over to Danica and placed her hands over her blue shoulders, looked deep into her amber eyes, and gave a reassuring squeeze.
“As your empress, I order you to go back to Lianica’s quarters and tell her how you really feel.”
“But…”
“No buts, Dani. Just be honest with her. Be honest with yourself. And come what may, at least you had the courage to be true to who you are.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, brushing her ombre hair away from her golden eyes and looking into Jegra’s brown ones.
“If I need you, I’ll know where to find you.”
Jegra’s warm smile elicited the same from Danica and she slowly withdrew from the room. Sending a hesitant look across her shoulder, Jegra motioned for her to stop diddle-daddling and just go. She smiled one last time and then took her leave.
Several minutes later, Danica was standing beneath the archway of Lianica’s open door with Lianica staring at her, a mystified expression pressed upon her face. “You came back.”
Danica’s chest heaved as she took in a deep breath to try and calm herself. Then, without saying so much as a word, Danica reached out, clasped Lianica by the nape of her neck, and reeled her in. Their lips crashed together and they shared a deep, satisfying kiss. The second in just as many hours.
Lianica’s eyes lit up with excitement and the women stumbled back into the room together. “Are you sure?” she asked between the soft smacking noise of wet kisses.
“I’m sure,” Danica whispered.
As the doors shut behind them, out in the hallway the two officers, returning from their rounds, looked at each other and shrugged. Without speaking of what they had just witnessed, they continued on down the corridor as though nothing was out of place. Just another ordinary day on the Shard.
6
“Dropping out of hyperspace, now,” informed Commander Lianica Blackstar. The empress stood next to the commander and watched eagerly as Novac Tamoran’s vessel appeared on the wall-sized vid-monitor which filled the ship’s front view portal.
“Right where we expected them to be.”
“Rather convenient,” Danica said. “It looks like a trap, if you ask me.”
“Oh, it’s most definitely a trap,” Jegra said, folding her arms across her chest as she frowned at the enemy vessel.
Lianica looked over at Danica and they shared a confidential smile between them as the satisfying recollections of last night impressed upon them both. Turning to Jegra, Commander Blackstar tugged at her white military jacket, straightening the sharp shoulder pads and golden tassels and cleared her throat. “What are my orders, Your Majesty?”
Jegra rubbed her chin and ran through her options.
The Shard didn’t have powerful disruptor cannons, just pulse beams for breaking up asteroids, so, she couldn’t fire a warning blast. Although the two class nine Dagon
fighters parked in the shuttle bay were equipped with heavy disruptors. Flying in with an escort would send a message.
She could also beam aboard wearing her Knights of Caelum armor. Although, she felt that might be a bit over dramatic. Yet another option would be to take the diplomatic approach and go as herself; as Empress of the Dagon Empire.
“Send them a message that I’m coming aboard. I’ll need a couple of escorts as my personal shuttle doesn’t have any firepower. Danica, you take one fighter and find a second pilot for the other.”
“I’ll fly it,” Commander Blackstar said.
Jegra looked at her and then nodded. Although it wasn’t protocol, there weren’t any rules against it. And she strongly doubted Blackstar would take no for an answer.
“All right then, you’re both with me.”
Jegra turned and began making her way to the shuttle bay. Blackstar raised her hand and motioned to the comms officers to relay the message with a quick gesture.
Out in the corridor, Danica stood waiting for Lianica near the entrance. Once they were in the corridor together, Lianica said in a hushed tone. “I hope I didn’t cause any trouble between you and the empress.”
“It’s quite all right,” Danica said. “We talked it through and, surprisingly, she was a little more than supportive. I think she’s beginning to think more and more like a Dagon woman every day. Promiscuity before romance, and all that.”
“So promiscuity isn’t a problem for her? But I thought her species was mainly monogamous.”
“They are. But, as you are certainly aware, Jegra’s no ordinary woman.”
“Well, in that case, it’s lucky she got stuck with us rather than the Nyctans. They’d have her swearing off sex for the rest of her life.”
“Not Jegra,” Danica laughed. “She’d probably turn them into a sex cult before they managed to convert her.”
Both women laughed in unison as they came around the bend to find Jegra standing there waiting for them.