Page 52 of Taken to Kor
“Shh. You talk too much. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“Ontte. You.”
“Oh, ontte. I remember. You were singing a song about a spoon.”
“It’s a good song.”
“Centare, it isn’t. None of your songs are good songs, but somehow, you’ve gotten all my pirates singing them.”
Deena laughs. It’s shaky and unsure and closer to me. I tense and shiver as I feel the warm pressure of her palm on my bare back. She traces the line of one of my plates where the sensitive skin meets thicker flesh. “Sorry for being jealous,” she says after a moment.
“Pirates don’t apologize. Pirates seek revenge.” I turn in her arms and she lets her fingers trail over my stomach tentatively. “Just as you did by kissing that Egama in front of me. Now it’s my turn for revenge. And I will take it however I please.” I stroke down the side of her body until I reach her rear. I grab it hard enough her toes lift and her front collides with mine. Her full breasts mash against my chest. I squeeze them through her tunic, fondling them with the most damaging of desires.
“I will rut between these. As well as in your ass. And in your mouth. But especially here.” I rub her core through her pants with the fingers of my lower right hand. I wait until her eyes close and her mouth opens. I wait until she starts to pant. She’s heating up beneath my touch, getting close. And then I pull away from her and step away from her, taking a seat at the hand controls. I steeple the fingers of my upper hands beneath my chin and watch as she holds herself up against the view pane and tries to compose herself.
She turns to me with a glare and I watch her right hand twitch towards her belt, reaching for a weapon that’s no longer there.
“Your lightning stick won’t help you now, pirate.”
“I have other weapons,” she grumbles.
“Ontte.” I eye her body up and down as she walks to the seat across from mine and plunks down into it. “You do. And I plan to exploit them all.”
12
Rhork
My nerves are stretched taut as the small planet peeks into view. I allow Deena the luxury of looking at it while it’s little more than a blue-green speck against a black universe but, before we draw close enough to distinguish its topography, I rip off a strip of her tunic and blindfold her with it.
She complains as I remove her belt and remove her shoes, leaving both behind on the ship. I remove all of my clothing and shoes, both of our tokens and, as the ship touches down onto the small planet’s surface, I take her hand and lead her down the ramp, to the surface. I lead her out into the sun. It’s hot here, but nothing like the underground trading stalls of Kor and far from the heat of the horrid moon colony her other humans are still trapped on.
She jolts when her feet finally touch the ground. The sand. It’s soft, burnt orange, and spans the full length of the beach. The fresh water ocean spreads all the way to the horizon on my left. The trees are recessed away from the shoreline, but close enough to reach them in a few hundred paces to find shade. Waves lap and have an effect I find immediately calming, just as I did the first time I happened upon this uninhabited planet on the edge of the grey zone.
We’re really too close to Quadrant Four and too close to Quadrant Five for comfort, but that’s also why this planet has remained unclaimed for so long. It’s too small to be of significance to either Quadrant rulers and too close to both Quadrants for either of them to want to fight over claiming it. Which means it’s perfect for what I want it for.
“What…what am I hearing, Rhorky porky?” She says and her voice trembles just a little bit. I smile.
“You already know, don’t you, Deena beena?”
She snorts and grips my hand firmly, fiercely. She shakes her head, centare. I chuckle and step up behind her. Bending down, I whisper in her ear, “You and I both know that’s a lie.”
I guide her forward, pushing her gently. It takes forever and I chide her for her lack of trust in me.
“I do trust you. I just…”
We reach the water and she jolts. It’s warm, the water here. Not hot, but not quite cool. It’s like taking a bath. It would be cooler if I had my choice but, as I did not create this planet from the core out, I don’t.
“Do you know what trust rhymes with, Deena?” I say while, behind us, a gaggle of birds squawk loudly and take flight. Deena jolts at the sound, but I wrap my lower arms around her stomach fully. She slides her palms over my forearms with surety as the waves lap around her ankles, soaking her torn pants through to the knees.
“Must?” She tries weakly.
“Centare. The word that rhymes with trust…” I kiss the right side of her neck while my upper left hand unties the blindfold and removes it. “…is beach.”
I know that I will never forget the expression that crosses her face as she looks out at the ocean for the very first time, even if there are no words in any diction to describe it. Awe, perhaps. Maybe shock. Disbelief. Gratitude, or maybe that’s just what I’m projecting.
Her mouth is open and her eyes are huge. Her nostrils flare and she inhales twice before exhaling. Her fingers on my forearms first go slack before tightening when another wave rushes up her legs. She backs up into me and it must be that action that brings her awareness to my state of undress because she spins in a motion so quick it even startles me, glances down at the plate shrouding my barely restrained erection, and yells, “Ohmygosh, somebody’s going to see you!”
She glances past me towards the beach, and then past that at the trees. Thin, they’re only large enough for two Niahhorru to fit their arms around, but they’re tall, almost gangly. They have bright red and orange leaves that complement the pale orange beach and contrast beautifully with the blue-green water that’s so clear, I can see everything in it.
