by L.V. Lloyd
Two years later
The Captain engaged the cloaking shield so that the ship’s presence was invisible to any overt monitoring, or even to the human eye had there been anyone near enough to look for it. The Jerez was on a routine patrol in the Auriga system and was not anticipating any trouble, but it never hurt to keep their movements unpredictable.
Matthew Ferris, now First Lieutenant, glanced across at him, and the Captain nodded, “Cloak the ship for the next two hours. We’re due to dock at Capella in about three hours to pick up our new Second Lieutenant, Daniel King.”
Not another Daniel, Ferris thought involuntarily as he activated the cloaking shield. He still cringed occasionally when he thought of his last encounter with someone of that name. He hadn’t seen or heard from Peters for the last two years but he had kept to the oath he had made at the time. He had kept all his liaisons to short encounters on space stations, never with anyone on his ship.
In fact he made a point of introducing himself to every new crew man as an om and telling them it was safe to come to him if they ever experienced any unwanted sexual attention. In this he had the full support of his new Captain, the man who had taken over originally as First Lieutenant when the previous one was arrested. Both of them had worked hard to eliminate harassment, and clean up the ship’s reputation.
Lieutenant Daniel King came on board at Capella and was met by Ferris. Luckily, thought Ferris, he looked nothing like his namesake, his skin was milk chocolate brown, his hair black and his eyes hazel. Ferris introduced himself and welcomed him to the ship, noticing that the man was perhaps a couple of centimetres taller than he was. He was also another om. Ferris had his suspicions, even before he gave him his now standard speech about his own sexuality and how he never got involved with a crew member.
King smiled at him, a beautiful smile which had Ferris pulse beating slightly faster for the first time since ...
“Never? That’s extremely admirable, sir, I’m not sure I could stick to that, if someone approached me I mean.” He was serious for a moment. “I understand what you’re saying about the potential for abuse though, but surely that would only apply if I approached someone of a lower rank?”
“I’m not sure about that,” answered Ferris, “I think it would still cause problems. In any case, Captain Heyer is exceedingly straight so that’s never been an option.” He stopped, suddenly realising how his words might be interpreted. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t meant as an invitation for you to hit on me!” he looked horrified.
King laughed, “Understood, sir.” He shot a sideways glance at the other man though when he wasn’t looking, what a shame, he rather thought he could have fallen for Ferris in a big way. King was introduced to the Captain and the rest of the crew and soon settled in to his new ship. He had a sunny personality and was instantly popular, especially with the other oms, although rather to his own dismay, he found himself thinking about what Ferris had said and agreeing with him.
As a Second Lieutenant, it was more than slightly inappropriate to proposition a private, even if he appeared to be willing. The power relationship was too uneven. His eyes turned back to his First Lieutenant. He wondered just how conscientious Ferris was in sticking to his principles; would it be possible to change his mind? Perhaps he should start by getting to know him a bit better. He could start joining him at mealtimes.
Ferris welcomed King’s company at first, he was an entertaining companion, but it didn’t take him long to notice that extra warmth in his eyes when he thought Ferris wasn’t looking. While he was still wondering how best to handle it, King made his move.
He challenged Ferris to a game of racquetball and made him work really hard to beat him, both of them cheered on by a couple of crewmen who had just finished their own game. Ferris won, but laughingly refused a second match and headed for the showers. He had just stripped off and turned on the water when the door of his cubicle opened and King came in, wearing only his shorts.
Ferris turned towards him in surprise, getting ready to say ‘no’ to whatever he was about to suggest, but King didn’t ask permission or wait for it, he just moved in on him, crowding him into the corner and taking his face between his hands. He bent his head and kissed him, prying his lips open with his own. For a minute Ferris shut his eyes and enjoyed the wonderful sensation of a man’s warm tongue in his mouth, god it had been so long! He found his arms had moved around King of their own accord and his body was moulding itself to his embrace. It felt wonderful! And then he came to his senses and ruefully pushed him away. “I can’t do this.”
King moved back all of one centimetre and smiled at him hopefully, “Yes you could. I really, really want to have sex with you. I’ve approached you. I even made sure the men outside in the gym saw me follow you in. There’s no way anyone could say you coerced me.”
He moved closer again so that their bodies were pressing against each other and Ferris’ back was against the wall. Ferris could feel the muscles of King’s thighs hard against his, the silky material of his shorts rubbing against him and was thoroughly aroused. It was now impossible to tell King he wasn’t attracted to him, he couldn’t help but know he’d be lying. The other man kissed him again on the lips, then whispered in his ear. “I’ll do anything you want. You can put your hands in my shorts. Or I can take them off for you.”
“Oh god!” He was breathing hard as if he’d just run a race, he was so tempted. He fought for the last vestiges of his self control. “I can’t do this. I’m so sorry, Daniel. If we were anywhere else I’d be after you so fast your head would spin, but ...”
King was starting to suspect he’d lost this round. He stepped back, “Are you really, really sure about this?”
Ferris shook his head, already feeling cold where he had felt warmth a minute before. “I just know it would be wrong. I’ve told every man on this ship that I don’t get involved with anyone on the Jerez. Given the terrible history of abuse that used to happen here, I think it’s really important the crew sees me practising what I preach.”
King summoned up a smile. “We couldn’t be any closer to being the same rank. Maybe you just need to think about it a bit, consider the idea.”
“Daniel, I know what you’re saying, but I really can’t have sex with you. I’d still feel like I was cheating, letting everyone down.” He gave him another gentle push away. “Right now I need to ask you a big favour. You said some of the crew saw you follow me in here. Would you please go out, quickly, and if you can, let the men know we didn’t ...”
King stared at him for a moment, then sighed deeply. “Sweet god but you don’t ask much do you? All right. I wish what you said didn’t make such good sense.” He finally stepped back from him and for the first time let his gaze drop, allowing himself a good long look; he deserved a reward for good behaviour.
“You’re so gorgeous, I think you’re going to star in my fantasies for some time!” He shot him a provocative smile then left the cubicle, shutting the door behind him.
He put his shirt back on and went back into the gym. The men were all looking at him, some out of the corner of their eyes and the atmosphere was a mixture of tension, disillusionment and suspicion. It was almost hostile. King started to feel glad Ferris had turned him down, just imagine how uncomfortable he would have felt if they had actually had sex. Someone said, “That was quick, even for a quickie!” under their breath.
King looked around and decided to take the comet by the tail. He said in a loud voice, “I know you’re all bursting to know the details of my sex life, so I’ll tell you. I gave it my best shot and he turned me down. End of story. You can all relax now and find someone else to gossip about.”
He smiled and changed the subject, “So who wants to get thrashed at racquetball?”
Ferris showered hastily and came out into the gym dressed in his uniform, keeping his face looking as non-committal as possible. He got a few curious stares but nothing like
he had feared, nothing antagonistic; King must have convinced them nothing had happened, thank god. He went to the common room for a coffee and sat down at a table by himself, he needed to calm down from what had just happened, or hadn’t happened.
As he replayed what had occurred in his head, he realised King had actually put a lot of care into his approach. He had come on strong, sure, but not as strong as he could have. He had kept his shorts on and he had aroused him with words and a kiss; he had allowed him to choose whether he wanted to continue or not. If he had put his hand or, god forbid, his mouth down on him he would have been toast, all his principles would have gone spinning off into space and he suspected King had known that as well.
From then on, Ferris made an effort to keep his relationship with King friendly, but this time he was careful to include some other men at his table when they ate together. It wasn’t fair on either of them to allow that situation to occur again.