Change Horizons: Three Novellas

by Gun Brooke

  “EiLeen!” Dana cried out from above just as EiLeen dropped through something with hard edges and landed with a thud on the bottom of it. The air was pressed out of her lungs and she barely had the good sense to roll to the side when Dana came plummeting down. She landed with the same eerie sound.

  “For the love of the stars, did they have to use such a hard surface to land on?”

  EiLeen could hardly make out Dana’s contours in the dark, whatever it was they had landed in. Still she could see Dana bolting for what looked like a console. “Close the hatch!”

  Automatically looking up and feeling the low ceiling with her hands, she found the handle and pulled. Something came toward her but stopped just within reach, and she pressed the handle every which way until it locked.

  “What the hell is this?” She felt before her toward Dana’s voice, only to flinch as the light suddenly came on.

  “A life raft of the old kind. A tiny space shuttle used by civilians long ago.” Dana glanced at her chronometer. “One minute. No time for preliminaries.” She virtually hammered and stabbed with her fingers at the dirty console before her. The mini shuttle began shaking and a loud hum reverberated around them. EiLeen threw herself into a torn, dusty seat. She couldn’t find any harness or belt, but clung to the armrests as the shuttle began to hover.

  “How do we get out of here?” EiLeen shouted over the nearly deafening rumble. “Any idea?”

  “Not really. From what I can see, this old heap of junk has a rudimentary weapons array. Guess that’s our only option.”

  “You’re going to shoot our way out of here?” She could hardly believe Dana’s intent, but they were only seconds away from hitting the outer part of the asteroid belt.

  “Yes!” Slamming her palm onto the console, Dana fired. Explosions erupted all around them and then they were hurled forward, actually pulled, and tossed into space.

  “Stars be praised, I hope this thing has no major hull issues. Micro fractures we can deal with, but larger things—”

  “Will kill us.” EiLeen found she didn’t have to yell anymore, which was a blessing. She tried to make out the surrounding space through the view port, but it was nearly impossible because of grime stemming from ages of disuse.

  An explosion to their port side made them both jump.

  “There goes that sorry excuse for a ship.” EiLeen shook her head.

  “Which helped save our lives this far.”

  “Point taken. Any signs of either the Onotharians or your ship?”

  Tapping the sensors, Dana scrutinized the readings. “As far as I can tell, the Koenigin is still en route and should be here in two minutes. How much can go wrong in two damn minutes?”

  A loud bang sent the small vessel tumbling, and EiLeen flew across the ship and landed across Dana’s legs, hitting her head on the bulkhead. “Holy Creator, you had to ask, didn’t you? It’s the Onotharians. It has to be.” She sat up and realized she was nearly straddling Dana’s lap. Hurriedly, she managed to stand up before another bang resonated and inertial dampeners went offline. Clinging to Dana’s right arm, EiLeen tried to stay where she was. All around her, mayhem broke loose as anything that wasn’t bolted to the floor hovered and shifted around them.

  “I’ve got you. Can you press the three red sensors at the top right?” Dana yelled. “We have to return fire or we’ll be space dust when the Koenigin finds us.”

  EiLeen pivoted in midair. The only thing keeping her from floating helplessly from one bulkhead to the next was Dana’s white-knuckled grip on her left sleeve. Stretching herself to the limit, she reached for the upper right corner of the helm console. Three red octagon-shaped sensors blinked at her, just barely out of reach.

  “Push me farther up. Hurry!”

  Dana pushed and actually let go of the chair with her left arm. EiLeen tried again. Only a few centimeters away, she yanked her hand loose from Dana’s grip and pushed her body toward the elusive sensors. Slamming her fingers against them, she felt the connection in the tiny tremor, and then she was pushed back with such force that everything became black. The last thing she heard was Dana’s communicator and its scratchy transmission.

  “Koenigin to Captain Rhoridan. That was some shot, ma’am. We brought backup and we’re ready to tow you.”

  *

  EiLeen opened her eyes with a soft moan. Something was missing. The ceiling was a soft gray color instead of the corroded, stained mess she’d shuddered at aboard the Begoll freighter. Inhaling the air, she found it clean, with a faint, familiar scent to it.

  “EiLeen.” An equally well-known voice spoke close to her left.

  EiLeen turned her head slowly, for some reason expecting the movement to cause excruciating pain. When it didn’t, she relaxed and then she saw Dana. Dressed in her captain’s uniform, her hair combed in the usual austere bun, she didn’t look at all like her Dana. Not until she focused on the light in her eyes and the tears that trickled down her pale cheeks. “Dana.”

  “You’re awake. Thank the stars.”

  “The shuttle freighter?”

  “Space dust.”

  “The escape pod?”

  “Actually it’s in the shuttle bay.” Dana leaned closer and pressed her trembling lips against EiLeen’s forehead. “I thought I’d lost you this time. You had a nasty concussion, but Dr. Irah took care of that. He said all you need is rest.”

  “He scanned my head?” EiLeen became rigid. “Dana?”

  “Yes. We saw the implant. You truly do carry the information within you. I thought you meant it as a metaphor at first.”

  “Yes. As you saw. Only the intended recipients on Revos Prime headquarters can extract it safely. I didn’t enjoy the idea of the Onotharians lobotomizing me in order to get to it.”

  “But what happens once the information is extracted? And why carry it in your damn brain? That’s got to be dangerous to you.”

  EiLeen slid over and tugged at Dana to lie down next to her. “You’re too far away. I’m getting permanent neck damage looking over at you like this. Come here.” It was gratifying to feel how quickly Dana moved onto the bed and hugged her. “Now, if you do that, I won’t be able to focus.”

  “Sorry.” Not sounding contrite at all, Dana pulled back a little. “Go on.”

  “Thanks to Guild Nation’s most accomplished scientists, once the information is uploaded to the Revos Prime mainframe, this device will disintegrate and become a harmless substance that will leave my body the…um, natural way.”

  “And now you can’t go there without full military escort, as we know that they know that we know.”

  EiLeen exhaled audibly. “Yes. I had hoped to be able to keep working undercover, but I assume those days are over. I’ll talk to Admiral Jacelon about it. I’ve had Plan B figured out for some time, but I need to run it by him and Marco Thorosac.” Thorosac, the Supreme Constellations’ civilian leader and the one with the political power as chairman of the planets’ representatives, would be the one voicing objections. He didn’t know her the way Ewan Jacelon did, and no doubt he didn’t trust someone who was more famous for what she wore and whom she knew than what she did. Hopefully Ewan would persuade Thorosac—they were close friends, after all—to see things her way.

  “Can you tell me about Plan B?”

  “Not yet. Let’s go to Revos Prime and deliver the goods. I’m assuming we’re on board the Koenigin, as you mentioned your physician?”

  “We are. In my quarters, as a matter of fact. Commander L’Ley transported all the civilian passengers to the closest space port before going after us.” She drew a line along EiLeen’s arm. “I need—I needed you here with me, but I’ll understand if you want to go back to your quarters. In a day or so, we’ll transfer to an SC cruiser with armed assault craft escort and expedite your arrival at Revos Prime.”

  “I want to stay with you no matter what ship we’re on.” EiLeen didn’t realize how tense Dana had become until air gushed from her lungs and she slumped agai
nst her. “We have so much to talk about that can’t wait. Or I can’t wait.”

  “Agreed. I’m rather impatient myself.” Dana pushed herself up on her elbow. “Should I go first?”

  “Sure.” Lifting her hands, EiLeen began to remove the pins from Dana’s hair. “Just let me do this.”

  Dana’s eyes glimmered in the sultriest of ways as her hair slowly tumbled down around her shoulders. She cupped EiLeen’s cheek and then leaned in for a gentle kiss. “Just a recap first. I love you, EiLeen.”

  Bolts of happiness chased through EiLeen’s chest and headed for her extremities. “And I love you.”

  “I don’t want to be without you, even after this mission. I can’t imagine my life without you in it. Somehow. Anyhow.”

  “Oh, darling, I feel that way too.” Her insides molten with love and affection, EiLeen placed her hand against Dana’s, holding it closer to her cheek. “I’m not sure how we’ll make it happen, but we will. I—I need you. I adore the way you make me feel and I want to have you with me, to protect you, to hold you, to make love to you, and to have you do all those things for me.”

  “So eloquent,” Dana murmured against her lips. “So very astute.”

  “I’m always astute.”

  “I won’t argue.” Parting her lips, Dana pressed them against EiLeen’s. “Mmm. Mine.”

  And she was. No matter how independent, how ex-royal, and how famously infamous she was, she was Dana’s now, and Dana was hers. It really was that easy after all. Love existed in this universe, this galaxy. No matter how jaded she’d been about such things, she knew now that she’d been extremely misguided. All she had to do was dare to grab for her good fortune and hold on. Easier said than done, but the alternative, to never be with Dana, or hold her, or even talk to her about mundane things, was completely out of the question. The mere thought made her heart twitch in agony, as if the idea of a solitary life made her heart threaten to go into full coronary. “Yes. I’m yours. And vice versa.”

  “Goes without saying.” Dana wrapped her arms around EiLeen and kissed her. Her tongue, slick and eager, parted her lips and requested entrance.

  Immediately so turned on she lost her ability to speak, EiLeen met Dana’s tongue with hers. The kisses were so many and close together, it seemed like an eternal caress.

  Chapter Ten

  Dana rolled on top of EiLeen. “Are you sure you’re all right? No residual headache or anything?”

  “None. I feel wonderful.” EiLeen’s smile widened. “And I think it’s only fair to warn you. I’ve become accustomed to getting what I want over the last decades.”

  “Oh, yes?” Dana asked innocently. “Is that so?”

  “It is. And now I want you.”

  “Mmm. Sounds good to me.” She closed her eyes as EiLeen nipped at her collarbone through the uniform. “Mind if I lose some of these clothes?”

  “It boggles the mind that you have to ask.” Glittering irises surrounded star-shaped pupils as EiLeen pushed into a half-sitting position. “Do carry on, Captain.”

  Her jaw going slack for a second, Dana stared. “You’re expecting me to put on a performance, my Queen?”

  Now looking positively feral, EiLeen shook her head. “Normally I’d even pay to watch you do just that, but I think I’d rather you hurry. No finesse expected. Yet.”

  Dana chuckled, her nerves jumping at the last remark. Finesse. How could she possibly make love with any sort of skill when it had been so very long ago? Removing her clothes, she found herself hesitating, not because she was reluctant, but because her nerves were getting to her.

  “Dana, look at me,” EiLeen said, her voice as demanding as ever.

  When Dana looked up, her insides contracted because of the onset of nerves and the sight of the extraordinary woman who wanted her. To her surprise, EiLeen’s eyes had softened to a warm, loving glow.

  “Yes?” Dana swallowed as she removed her shirt and stood there in just her camisole and briefs.

  “You know I love you, right?” EiLeen’s voice was so soft, so honey-golden, it made Dana’s heart clench until she could hardly breathe.

  “Yes.” Before she decided to act any more like a bashful youngster, Dana got rid of the last pieces of clothes. She stood there naked for a few moments, EiLeen’s eyes scorching her as they scanned her from her head to her feet.

  “Come to bed. Come be with me, lindelei.” EiLeen extended her hand.

  Taking it and climbing onto the bed, Dana pulled the covers back and began to unfasten the clasps that held EiLeen’s nightshirt together. “What does that mean? Lindelei?”

  “It means ‘most beloved.’”

  “Am I?”

  “Yes.” EiLeen gasped softly and tugged her closer. Her nightshirt fell open as their bodies aligned.

  “Lindelei. I like how it sounds and how it makes me feel.” Dana closed her eyes briefly and absorbed the feeling of EiLeen’s silky body. “And I adore how you feel.”

  “Then touch me.”

  “Yes.” Dana opened her eyes and let her gaze roam across EiLeen’s face and then down to her breasts. So beautiful, with puckered, rigid nipples. The sight of the naked expanse of skin made the area between her legs clench, a sensation that bordered on pain. “Stars and skies, EiLeen, it hurts.” Dana moaned and pressed her lips against the side of EiLeen’s neck. She licked a hot trail down to her left nipple and sucked it into her mouth.

  EiLeen’s cry was a mix between pain and pleasure. “Yes! Yes…more…”

  Eager to devour her lover, her beloved, Dana moved her mouth back and forth between the two nipples, charmed by the small freckles that described rings around them. Perhaps that was an Imidestrian trait or perhaps just EiLeen. “I need more of you.” Dana panted as she let go of a nipple.

  “Anything, just don’t—don’t stop. Don’t. Please.” EiLeen whimpered and arched beneath Dana, who recognized she was much further along than she’d realized. Perhaps EiLeen was as hungry as she was?

  “Open your legs for me, then. I need you just as much. I need you to be mine.” Dana cupped the swollen labia between EiLeen’s legs with as much care as possessiveness.

  EiLeen arched her back further and reached for Dana as she complied. “I need to hold you. Dana. Dana.” She was undulating against Dana’s hand as she chanted her name. “Dana.”

  “I’m here. I’m not letting go.” Dana caressed between the slick folds, searched for the opening, and hovered there, merely touching the entrance very lightly.

  “Inside. Oh, please, please. Inside. Dana!”

  As Dana pushed two fingers into EiLeen, she just knew this was right, this connection that stole her breath away and this urge to create pleasure for the wondrous woman in her arms; it was right. She curled her fingers, looked and hoped to find that special spot Earth women had but perhaps Imidestrian women didn’t. “Tell me. I want you to feel really, really good, darling.”

  “I do. I do.” EiLeen’s hips had begun to jerk.

  Then, Dana found a slightly rough patch that she carefully rubbed with her fingertips. EiLeen grew rigid and whimpered so loudly she almost howled. She clutched at Dana, held her tight against her, and the whole time she murmured under her breath, “Lindelei, lindelei…”

  “Oh, stars, that’s…you’re beautiful, you’re amazing.” Her heart thundered and she knew without a doubt there could never be another like this woman. To have someone like EiLeen give herself so trustingly made her eyes glaze over with tears, and she crushed her lips to EiLeen’s once more. “I love you,” she said, murmuring the words as caresses in their own right against EiLeen’s lips.

  “And I you.” EiLeen clung to her—husky, wild-eyed—and then she slumped back, melted, and flushed the most beautiful pink all the way down across her chest. Her hips rolled in long, slow waves, and inside, she squeezed Dana’s fingers in an exquisite grip.

  Dana held EiLeen, her lover—her lover—closer and withdrew her fingers gently. Her own sex was throbbing with need, bu
t she was still more interested in providing a truly pleasurable experience for EiLeen. As it turned out, her soft approach was thwarted because it took EiLeen only a short while to recuperate. One moment Dana was curled around EiLeen, caressing her back slowly, and the next, she was on her back with EiLeen gazing down at her with smoldering, all-pupil eyes.

  “My turn to love you, don’t you agree, Captain?” EiLeen’s smile was part feral, part tenderness. “Do I assume you would enjoy something similar to what you bestowed upon me?”

  “Mmm?” Dazed, she looked up at EiLeen, her eyes unfocused. “Sure?”

  “You don’t sound sure. I might have to experiment.” Looking positively evil for a moment, EiLeen then smiled a very happy smile, her lips soft as she kissed Dana’s lips, down her neck, across her collarbones, and across her to her left nipple. There, sharp teeth nibbled, pulled, and then EiLeen’s tongue soothed ever so gently.

  “Again?” Dana whispered. “Oh, again!”

  “My pleasure.”

  The caress kept going until both of Dana’s nipples were red, aching in the sweetest of ways and nearly too raw to touch. Too close to orgasm to stand the onslaught of sensual caresses any longer, Dana rubbed her sex against EiLeen’s thigh, her movements jerky and desperate.

  “It’s that bad, is it, Dana?” EiLeen whispered hotly in her ear. “Then let me help you. Dana.” EiLeen’s hand was suddenly between her legs, her slender fingers sliding deep inside and filling her with the sweetest of needs.

  Shaking uncontrollably and gasping for air so fast she felt her head spin, Dana clung to EiLeen, her only safe harbor right now. “Now. I’m so close. Oh, now, now.” Convulsing, she pressed her lips against the damp skin of EiLeen’s neck. Groaning deep in her chest, she bore down on EiLeen’s fingers, ground herself against her ever-caressing hand.

  “So good, so good,” EiLeen murmured in her ear. “So beautiful to watch, so amazing to touch.”

  “You…you’re incredible.” Dana curled up against EiLeen, who carefully pulled her fingers out. The river of moisture between her legs was close to embarrassing, but the memory of how wet EiLeen had been against her fingers made her shrug and choose to not let it faze her. Leaning her head on EiLeen’s shoulder, she drew a slightly unsteady pattern across her chest. “You sure we didn’t hurt your head?”