Page 40 of No Strings Attached

Vi thought about it, then said, “How about a royal luxury yacht, armed to the teeth, instead? Sounds like we can afford it. We could have it custom made to fit us.” She looked Acken up and down, then said, “Wouldn’t you like a cabin that was actually designed for your size, with a bed and bathroom you weren’t way too big for? And we could be crewed by Trallians, they all seem to have a wide range of useful skills ready to employ. Of course, they’ll be avoluntary, free, and paidcrew.”

Acken and Caussus both smiled, nodding.

She thought for a moment, “But what about the asteroid? Do we want to keep it? It seems like it might be able to be turned into a good base for us and potentially made self-sustaining. We could also keep it running when we’re away with a crew of Trallians—again, voluntary, free, and paid Trallians. I think we’re going to need to make a decision about keeping it soon, before whichever auction buyers show up and we have to deal with them. If we’re not going to keep it, we can just leave before they arrive.”

Acken spread his arms out across the sofa back and looked up at the ceiling, saying, “I lean toward keeping it. A home base is always something good to have, even with the best ship in the galaxy. And none of us have our own places to serve as such.” Caussus nodded and Acken continued, “But I think we need to spend a day inspecting the entire rock and its facilities. What can be produced there? What kind of supply chain will we need to maintain from nearby stations? What defensive or offensive capabilities does it have? How many Trallians will volunteer and what are their skills?”

Vi agreed and was grateful again to have Acken as her second-in-command. She looked at him appreciatively, “Those are excellent points. It sounds like we’ll need to make that inspection, assessment, and decision our first priority when we get back.”

Seventeen: I Should Like to Be Next, If Possible

Bahbi watched Vi asshe was leaving, hands in his pockets and seriously considering running up to her and begging to come along. But she had entrusted him to work with Trak to secure the incoming cargo ships and their crews, and he would not let her down.

As he watched, she turned and scanned the room until her eyes met his. Then her face had blossomed into the most beautiful smile he had ever seen, and a wide array of exhilarating sensations shot through his body. He returned her smile and watched her turn and leave.

Trak appeared at his side, frowning back and forth between Bahbi and where Vi had departed before saying, “I can smell her all over your fur. Not just her body, her sex. You have given her pleasure, then?” Trak looked Bahbi up and down with an unreadable expression on his face.

Bahbi nodded, straightening a little with pride, and smiling. Hehadgiven her pleasure. The best pleasure she had ever received, she had told him.

“And you knew what to do? I’m surprised since this is your first placement.” He looked thoughtful, then added, “Truly, I’m surprised at Vi, too. I would not have thought she’d make those types of demands on us. I guess we’re only going to be as free as she is kept happy.” He turned fully toward Bahbi and squared his shoulders, “When she returns, we will let her know that I have had prior experience servicing the females of my masters and can provide her the pleasure she demands.” He placed an arm companionably around Bahbi’s shoulders, then finished, “You won’t need to be made to do such things.”

Bahbi shook his head, confused, and said, “No, no, Vi didn’t demand anything. Iwantedto give her pleasure. It was after we mated and before I would be ready to mate again with her. She had been a little sad from our conversation about her home, and she was so enticing sitting there naked on the grass, I couldn’t help myself.”

“After you…you…MATED?”

“Yes. It was Vi’s idea to try. She didn’t think we were incompatible.” Bahbi looked a little wistful, then said, “And we weren’t. We wereverycompatible. Although I had positioned myself from behind, as it is done on Trallia, and Vi said that the next time she wanted to be positioned so that we were face-to-face, which seemed like it would be very enjoyable to me. But Acken rescued us before we had a chance to try it.”

Trak’s eyes and mouth were wide, “Next time?! She enjoyed mating with you so much she planned to do it again?”

“Yes,” Bahbi said, with pride, his spine straight. “She told me it was the best she ever had.”

“Truly?” Trak seemed a little awestruck, then thoughtful. “And when did she say she would be extending her mating invitationto the rest of us? As they say, ‘one Trallian is as good as the next.’ I should like to be next, if possible.”

Bahbi felt a complicated knot of emotions form, one that he couldn’t untie, but it left him with the overall sense that he wanted to punch Trak in the face. He pushed that urge aside, recognizing it as wholly irrational and highly foreign to him, then replied, “She didn’t. It seemed to me that she was only interested in mating with me. But, since I didn’t ask her, I can’t be sure. So, we should not speak of this to anyone until she returns.” A little voice inside his head said,maybe that’s why she wanted to avoid the string-tying, so she could be free to mate with anyone and everyone on the asteroid.

A ferocious battle cry of “NO” welled up inside him, but he kept it hidden. He had no idea where it came from, since his people mated without string-tying, too. They did not form love bonds or, what had Vi called them? “Life partnerships.” If Vi wanted to mate freely with all the Trallians available, it could not be considered that unusual of an arrangement for them. These particular Trallians had never had any hope of mating in their lifetimes, but the warriors on their planet were simply paired off with available females each year by a complicated system of ranking and credit points. They mated with a different female each time, and never saw her again, nor the litter. He had to admit the possibility that perhaps Vididwant to work her way through the Trallians, maybe even the former captives.

He shuddered at the thought of Vi with Acken. He knew unequivocally that her entrance could not take hissize. He would split her little body in two with his massive cock. Then he pushed all thoughts and images of Vi with any other male out of his mind. He felt like he was becoming dangerously close to going on a rampage.

Trak’s words brought him back to the present, “If you want to keep it a secret for now, then the first thing you need to do is take a shower.”

Bahbi went up to his and Vi’s room.Their room. He felt a thrill of belonging shoot through him at the thought, looking at the boulder he had brought her to make her feel better about sleeping there, and he also felt a very unfamiliar surge of possessiveness. For a moment, he desperately wanted to think of Vi and think,mine. But something about that felt wrong. Like it was a thought she wouldn’t appreciate. Vi was a perfect, independent, and fearsome force of nature. He didn’t so much want to own her as he wanted to be swept up by and a part of her, carried along at her side for as long as she blazed through the galaxy.

Walking into the bedroom where they had slept together the previous night, he stopped short. The three security system Trallians were there. What were the names they had given Vi at the feast? Helved, Druved, and Santi, the last a runt like he was.

“What’s going on in here? This is my and Vi’s room,” he said, a little too sharply.

Santi took a step back and Druved answered, “Vi asked us to come up here and figure out how you were both dumped into the cavern below, then disable it. We found it, it’s a pressure sensor on the bed that is set with an 8-hour timer. At the end of 8 hours, it engages the tilt to dump the occupants of the bed onto the slide. Only one of Qlu’s typical guests uses this room, a crocodilian. He seems to have made these modifications and excavated that cavern below.”

Bahbi nodded at the explanation, then turned toward the bathroom for his shower, closing the door on the security system team without another word. So, Vi had asked them to disable the bed. She didn’t want to end up down there again once she was sleeping in this bed again.

That was good news for the idea that she wanted to mate with every Trallian, since she was eliminating the access to the private pool of water, and Trallians could only mate in the water. Of course, there was still the large pond in the garden, but Bahbi didn’t think Vi would be interested in public mating.Would she?Trallians mated in public, even broadcast the event, so the males here would not blink an eye at the idea. But he knew so little about her culture.

And it was unwelcome news for him. Even if they continued to share the room and the bed once she returned, it would not be followed by hours of mating and talking as they floated around the perfectly warmed pool. There would not be a NEXT TIME.

Bahbi was forlorn and disconsolate as he peeled off his coverall and walked into the shower, but he perked up a little as something there caught his eye, and he started thinking of a nice surprise that he could provide for Vi when she returned. Even if she chose to not share pleasure with him again in mating, he could still do something that would make her happy. He could still win her smiles, embraces, and soft little kisses.Maybe that would be enough, he thought, smiling at the thought. Then an image of Vi’s lithe body, wrapped around his both inside and out, came unbidden into his mind. The smile first expanded, then abruptly disappeared.

Eighteen: Anyone Else Think This Is an Orgy Ship?

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