"Lea, time you took back your job, and let Jess get on with hers. Get the rest of the cargo off as fast as you can, and the new cargo bedded down in record time."
She looked around at all of us.
"I want to be out of here before some nitwit decides to storm the ship. We're vulnerable while loading. Thorn and I will take turns keeping watch, while you two get us ready to go."
We all rose, and Jess and Leanne hurried off.
"Thorn, are you ready for a full on war?"
"No. But I'm learning as fast as I can."
Thirty Seven
Dock watch turned out to be as boring as it sounded. There was some suspicious activity out beyond the dock itself, on both levels, but nothing happened. For some reason whoever it was, wasn’t prepared to assault the ship, and was waiting for us to emerge. We didn’t.
When the last container, pallet, and box was loaded, we shut the main airlock, locked both, and prepared to leave. Jenna had us in the queue long before loading was complete, and the time allocated wasn’t long after we were ready to go.
Once in space, I talked to Leanne about cargo salvage. She started moving containers around, to give me an empty space to use should some become available.
Predictably, a ship was waiting for us on the next down jump. They were good, or possibly pre-warned, because they had missiles in space seconds after we appeared.
I was waiting for them, and responded the same as last time, with a force wall, which caused them to explode. In the interval between launches, I moved everything in their cargo bays into ours. I tried something different for the next salvo, just making them vanish as if I'd wiped them off a screen. The contents of their armoury was next, followed by their personal side arms. The third salvo launched.
"Stop mucking around Thorn!" yelled Jenna.
The echo came through the ship, which showed me how loudly she'd bellowed it. I wiped away the missiles again.
"Almost done," I said into coms.
I parked their shuttle in the last remaining space, emptied their food stores, found and emptied a wine storage room, and stripped their staterooms of anything interesting.
The next salvo I turned back on them, and as they hit, I formed a force wall, and rammed it into their ship so hard, it was reduced to space dust.
"What took so long?
"Have Leanne do an inventory."
I could hear chuckling in the background.
"Do we claim them?" asked Jess.
"No," replied Jenna. "It's time we instilled a little terror among pirates and hunters. We'll arrive at our next destination, and not mention anything. Anyone checking will find only dust. After a few more ships go missing, the next lot might think twice about taking us on."
"I wouldn’t bet on it," I muttered.
"Me either," said Jess.
"Thorn, you better show Leanne what you did."
"On my way."
We spent several hours looking at my haul. She entered the few containers, and all the pallets, into the cargo system. We moved the food into our own stores, including several pallets of drinking water, and another three pallets of beer. This restocked both the main kitchen, my kitchen, and the one for the alternate accommodation. If need be, we didn’t need food replacements now for six months or so.
The wine store was moved into an unused room, and the environment set for optimal drinking in the future. Quite a few boxes found their way directly to the kitchens for immediate use.
It turned out they'd considered themselves a major fighting force, since their armoury had contained body armour, and enough guns and explosives to start a small war. I had to create new racks for a lot of it. They even had several tripod mounted heavy blasters. I kept a selection aside for my own use, and moved them to my part of the ship, where I again made racks to house them properly.
Once we were finished, we had drinks in my lounge area.
"Leanne…" I started.
"Call me Lea. No need to be formal."
"Lea," I grinned into her smile. "Next time you better specify what space we have left, and where to put things direct. Otherwise I might start putting things on top of things."
"What happens when you do that?"
"I'm not sure. And I don’t really want to try to find out. In theory, a container appearing where another one already is, will destroy both. Or the second will simply replace the first. Neither sounds good."
"You'll work it out. But in the meantime, I'll have a list ready of positions for each size."
"Thanks. Maybe you should be with me for the next jump."
"You want some company?"
"Sure."
And I did. Lea was turning out to be very good company. And I really didn’t want to be alone. The cosmos definitely has a sense of humour. I finally find a girl I can get on with, and she prefers girls. She must have seen something in my face.
"Are you lonely Thorn?"
I thought about it.
"Sometimes."
"I'll see what I can do about it."
Thirty Eight
"Darlings! How wonderful to see you. And look, you brought me a toy-boy!"
I cringed. I'd wondered why I'd been invited to the main bridge this time, as we approached the next station. Now I knew. Lea laughed, although the other two had the decency to keep a straight face.
The voice belonged to an older woman, who was extravagantly dressed, including a feather in her hair, and covered in jewelry.
"When can I expect you at the salon darlings?"
"I'm sorry Deirdre," said Lea, "we can't leave the ship this time."
"But you must!"
"We're in a spot of trouble at the moment," said Jenna. "Next time?"
"Bah! If you cannot come to the salon, the salon will come to you. I must meet this toy-boy I see before me!"
She grinned, displaying a set of perfect teeth. I suddenly had images of being eaten by a crocodile.
"We'll be docking in about an hour," said Jenna.
"Excellent. We'll be waiting for you."
The com screen went blank.
"Who was that?" a squeaky voice asked.
The three of them laughed, even Jenna.
"An old friend of my parents," said Lea. "She's a force of nature, comes across like a stampeding elephant, but has a heart of gold."
"Salon?" I asked.
"She calls it a salon. But it's really just about everything a woman needs to pamper herself."
"Ah. So I get guard duty while you're all being pampered?"
"Hell no!" exclaimed Jenna.
"She does cater to men too," added Lea.
"And we won't need to worry about security either," added Jess. "You'll see."
And I did see. I peeked at the main people lock area as the docking clamps were engaging, and saw what looked like an army of people waiting. I say army, because a dozen of them were armed, and ringed around the area, all facing outwards. Someone knew their stuff too, for as far as I could see, there was no way anyone could assault the ship without taking heavy losses. The main loading dock below was even more heavily protected. Deirdre obviously had her own security force, or had one on tap.
When the hatch opened, Deirdre swept in, and hugged each of us. She was followed by four stunning women pushing tables, and four men pulling loaded trolleys.
"Ah, toy-boy darling, do you have a name?"
"Thorn," I croaked, feeling overwhelmed.
She waved over the shortest of the girls.
"This is Wei Lin. She will be attending to your needs. Please show her to your stateroom."
Wei Lin gave me a smile, and took the handles of her table in her hands. I shot a look at Lea, who was grinning, and she waved me away. I hesitated, and they all grinned, and waved me away. I turned and walked off, table and Wei Lin behind me. When I looked back, one of the men and a trolley, was following along behind.
Arriving at my stateroom, I motioned Wei Lin inside. The man pushed the trolley in after her, and to my r
elief, left. I closed the door, and wondered what came next.
The table was pushed into a space where she could walk all around it, with the trolley pushed to one side out of the way. From it, she pulled large fluffy towels, several large bottles, and soap. She looked at me, as if sizing me up from head to toe.
"Clothes off," she said, in a gentle soothing voice.
My eyes opened wide, wondering what was going on.
"Please remove clothes. We shower before massage."
I reluctantly started to pull my clothes off, but stopped when she started removing her own. Before I knew it, she was standing in front of me stark naked. My eyes looked her over.
"You do not like me?"
"Yes," I stammered. "Very much."
"Why that face you make?"
"I'm not sure what's happening here."
"Shower and massage. You have aches? Pain? We fix. Remove clothes, or they get wet."
I removed the rest of my clothes, thinking about how surreal it was.
"Ah, you do like me after all."
I had to smile at that. She took my hand, and led me into the bathroom.
"Make water comfortable."
She darted back into the bedroom, while I turned on the water, returning with her arms full, some of which turned out to be soap, and some sort of fluffy thing. She pushed me in, and closed the door after herself.
"Turn."
I turned my front into the water, and she started soaping my back. I felt the touch of her hands, the soap, and the fluffy thing. They went down my back, and kept going. At my feet, she bid me lift each foot in turn, and the whole foot was washed. Her hands came back up the insides of my thighs, and I squirmed when they touched a part of me I hadn't expected to be touched.
"Turn."
I did so, and she repeated the soap and wash. I quickly understood the errant touch had been no such thing, as every bit of me was methodically washed.
"Now you do me."
She handed me the soap and fluffy thing, and I started on her shoulders and arms. Her skin was soft, and she leaned into my touch. Down her back I went, before hesitating.
"All."
I kept going, down to her feet, which she lifted one at a time, so I could do the undersides. I ran my hands up the insides of her legs like she had, but stopped short at the top, and asked her to turn. She did. I started at the neck, and worked my way down over her small firm breasts, down to the tiny triangle of hair, and down her legs to her feet. I stood back up, and she took the soap and the fluffy thing, put them on a shelf, and led me out.
One of the fluffy towels was waiting, and she dried me off, after which I dried her with another. She led me out to the table.
"Lie."
I lay down on the table. I'd never had a massage before, so had no idea what to expect. Her hands seemed to roam my body, finding pain spots all over the place I didn’t know were there, until she pushed or prodded it. She spent a long time on my head, as if she could sense where my migraines pained me. At first each spot was more painful, but under her tender ministrations, the pain eased, and ceased.
She was using some sort of oil, and I felt slimy, although in a good way. When the pain knots, as she called them, were soothed, she started moving her hands methodically up and down my body, and I could feel the energies flowing each direction, strengthening each time.
And then something strange happened. I felt her sit on my thighs, followed by her lying along my whole length. Before I could ask why, she started rubbing her whole body along mine. I could feel her nipples moving along my back, and lower. I wasn’t sure what she was doing, but it felt really good.
By this time I was at a level of relaxation I'd never known before. And turned on like I'd never been either, since she kept touching everywhere, and obviously more of me was showing than I thought there was.
Finally she hopped off both me and the table, and stood looking down at me.
"Turn."
I turned. Part of me was pointing at the ceiling, but after having a good look, she paid no more attention. The massage continued as it had before, finding and easing pain points, starting with my temples, and moving all the way down to my feet. The energy moves came next, and her hands were everywhere on the way up and down. And finally, she jumped up onto the table, and once again lay down on top of me and used her body to massage mine.
Only it wasn’t final. She stopped moving, sitting around my hips, and laying across me, her face by mine, and kissed me. It was long and passionate, tongues touched, and ended when she needed air. I thought I was about to pass out.
She smiled at me, seemed to wiggle her hips a bit, and suddenly I realized I was inside her. She raised herself up, pulled my hands to her breasts, and guided them over her skin and nipples. When they grew much larger, she moved my hands down to where she and I joined, and my fingers went around me where I touched her.
She pushed my hands up over my head, and left them there, while her body began moving in a way I didn’t think was possible, but who can think when sensations you were completely unaware of dominated your awareness, and suddenly I felt myself explode inside her. She must have felt it to, because she lowered herself down onto me again, and we lay there for a while, me still inside her.
She kissed me again, drew herself off me, climbed down from the table, pulled me up and off, and we did the whole shower thing again.
Dry once again, she pulled me to the bed.
With a grin, she started massaging me again.
Thirty Nine
"How was it?" asked Lea, grinning, the following day, not long after Wei Lin and the other girls had left.
"How was what?"
"Whatever you and Wei Lin got up to of course."
"We had a nice chat."
"All night?"
"Most of it."
She looked at me with a shocked expression. I looked back at her impassively. I wasn’t lying, since once we'd made it to the bed, we had talked a lot. She'd turned out to be a very interesting person, and we'd talked about a wide range of things. She was a very good teacher as well.
"Pretty well."
Her expression changed to disbelief.
"No, you're having me on."
I grinned at her.
"Well, partly. We did do a lot of talking, between, well, other things."
"Enjoyable things?"
"Very."
"Good."
We sat in silence for a while.
"How much do I owe you?" I finally said, after failing to think of a more diplomatic way of putting it.
I'd assumed we had to pay for the visit, since I'd seen net ads for similar services, back in what now seemed like a previous life. I'd never been in a position to take advantage before either. I was well aware of how negatively such services were viewed by many, but there was no denying the benefits of the massage part of the service, and how enjoyable the rest was. For those without a partner, especially those constantly on the move, as I now seemed to be, the service was exactly what was needed. Or at least, that’s how it felt to me, right now.
"Nothing. We all added extra to cover yours, as a thank you for rescuing us. Don’t get me wrong, we all needed it after what we've been through. One of the reasons we came here, and not somewhere else, was Deidre. She knows what we've been through, and what the body and mind needs to get past the trauma. Oh."
She looked at me for a moment.
"You won't see any of us much for the next couple of days. Deidre has shrinks coming to see us. With what we have in front of us now, it's important we get our heads sorted. We need to go into battle without victim mentality and emotion clouding our judgement. Jenna especially, since oddly enough with her not actually being sold, hers are the worst mental scarring. Do you need a session?"
Her question threw me.
"No, I don’t think so."
"Okay. Think about it, and if you do, let me know. Did you enjoy yourself last night?"
"I did. Thanks."
"Well that was thankyou sex from Jen and Jess, albeit at second hand."
"She was very good with her second hand."
"I bet she was. Mine was too." She stopped to chuckle. "I don’t consider my debt to you paid yet. I've something else in mind, but it has to wait until we get to another system."
"Hint?"
"You'll like it, I promise you."
"That's not much of a hint."
"All the hint you're getting. Anyway, my shrink will be here shortly, so see you in a couple of days."
She rose and walked to the door, where she turned.
"Did you peek at me at all last night?"
"Hell no!"
"Well you missed out."
She left, but her grin seemed to hang in the air without her.
I spent most of the day observing the unloading of our cargo, since no-one else was around to do it. The containers and pallets were automated, but some of the boxes needed a personal touch when someone came for them.
Early afternoon though, a man came up to me.
"You're Thorn?"
I nodded.
"I'm John. Lea said you didn’t need to talk to someone, but we thought I'd drop in on you, and find out for sure."
"You're a shrink?"
"If you need the label, yes. My job is looking for negative thought patterns, and helping people change them back to positive ones."
"I think I'm fairly positive, thanks all the same."
"What will you do when you confront the men who raped Lea?"
"I'm not sure yet. Hang them up by their balls probably."
He laughed.
"A negative thought process presented positively."
"I'm pretty positive those bastards won't be getting a pat on the head."
"How do you feel about Jenna's rapist?"
"More of the same. Actually it’s the murder of her parents which bugs me more."
"Why is that?"
"Because it wasn’t necessary. It was ordered by someone who wanted to cause pain to Jenna, pain beyond just removing her from his plans."
"How do you know it was a him?"
This brought me up short. But seed sown, I considered why it could be a woman.
"You mean some scorned female having revenge?"
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