Page 7 Repost and Update 21

Unable to properly process what exactly was happening in front of him, Swabbie stared in disbelief for a few seconds at the nude female in front of him.  Blinking a few more times, he noticed that Tesla’s smile was slowly fading as she pulled back a little bit, confused by the Swabbie’s reaction as he looked down at her.  The once confident red-head was now looking up at him like a pitiful puppy, then down as the male slowly reached forward and put his hand onto her shoulder.  Twisting around, she noticed that the Swabbie was looking down at her, the bill of his flat cap resting just against her forehead for a moment.  Tesla blinked once again before she found her face being closed in by Swabbie’s hands.  She could feel them shaking lightly, most likely still some feed-back from the shock, but she couldn’t tell.

Glancing up at him, she met his eyes, the odd mixture of hazel and green making her think of one of the forests on her home-world.  She could have gotten lost in those eyes if he had let her stare long enough, but she was brought back to reality by his voice.  A slow, reassuring tone escaped the Swabbie’s lips as he stroked the side of her face to calm her down.  “Tesla, you didn’t do anything wrong by expressing that desire; it is just that…we’re hardly in a situation where I can…perform.”  The swabbie was struggling for words at this point, he had never been much of a lady’s man back home, nor had he ever had more than a ‘passing’ interest with women.  Most of the time he would be focusing on his work and trying to make a living rather than bothering with women; his life was one that required long hours and little appreciation, he doubted any girl would have wanted a farmer’s son when there were the rich boys flying around in their fancy cars.

Contemplating what to do with Tesla, he found her still looking into his eyes.  The same pitiful look of regret and apology in them; his heart strings were tugged for a moment, but then a light bulb went off over his head.  “Tesla, I’m not sure what…your society does with sex or the implications behind it; however, let’s just leave the process down to I’ll tell you when I’m healthy enough for it and whenever you want to, I’ll do what I can for you.”  Tesla bit her lip lightly as she rubbed her legs together in response; she was almost shivering as she gingerly wrapped her finger tips against Swabbie’s thighs and kissed him.  Her plump lips were just as sweet as before, only this time it was not a kiss that invaded his very being, it was instead something very gentle.  Taking it as a nod from Tesla that she understood what he was saying, he smiled a little bit, though the pain still throbbing through his chest made him cringe at the sudden movement.

Tesla leaned backward glancing over him for a moment as, a soft sigh left her lips, the air tickling the Swabbie’s chest as he listened to her speak.  “I understand what you’re saying, I was just left in that box for so long on my own; I lost track of time and I couldn’t even touch myself.  I’m so pent up right now and well…I don’t much like Garrus and you did save me.”  Tesla swayed side to side for a moment, shaking her head back and forth before biting her lip glancing back up at the Swabbie and putting a half a meter of distance between them.  “Captain, Garrus didn’t tell you everything when he said that Yor’zvinians serve those who save them.  We…our culture depends on the rules of dominance and submission; we fight those that try to break us and if we ever get captured, we will continue to fight until we can’t anymore.  It is a sign of weakness to have someone save us, but it also forces us to submit to that person.” 

Tesla shook a little bit, her fists clenching together for a moment while Swabbie stood there looking at her for a moment.  Already, he could tell that the female was cursing her own weakness and her traditions, but she would not break them.  Looking back up, she met Swabbie’s eyes before speaking once more.  “My people are warriors, everyone is a warrior and relationships are founded not on the qualities of love, but rather who can claim the strongest mate as their own.  Men hunt out powerful women and women hunt out powerful men, when a Yor’zvinian is brought into combat…the loser must yield all rights to the victor and enter into a situation of servitude or be let go.  Being let go is one of the worst shames to my people, it means in the eyes of the opponent that you are worthless, less than scum…that you wouldn’t even be a good slave, let alone a mate.”  Rubbing herself softly now, Tesla scowled and let her head land on one of Swabbie’s shoulders as she turned around.

“My father, back before I was kidnapped…knew I was a strong woman but also knew that there were many people…men and women that were stronger; who would simply beat me and make me a slave to their sexual desires.  He trained me, hired men to train me and even assigned bodyguards to make sure this happened, I was royalty and therefore doubly bound by my people’s traditions, but it didn’t mean we couldn’t protect ourselves from them.”  She sighed, looking back up at the Swabbie as she run her hand against his face gently.  “Yet, our people already gave into those desires…battle is one of the most powerful aphrodisiacs to my race; people would go out and battle until they could scarcely move, return covered in blood and sometimes even missing appendages.  Even in this battle-weary and weakened state, they would clean and they would seek pleasure, they would return to their mates, their whores or whoever and enter into adrenaline filled orgies.  These could rage for days, parties could join in and the lust would spread like wildfire.”

Another soft sigh left Tesla’s lips coaxing Swabbie to shiver once more, the air brushing against the nape of his neck almost seductively.  Yet, the irritation and sadness on her voice was clear; it was clear she was home sick and wondering the differences between his race and hers.  “When…I saw you, I thought maybe your race was much like mine; you have most of the same anatomy, though your eyes are different.  I thought that maybe the fight you had just left, had left you aroused, needing and ready to punish my body with whatever carnal desires you had in mind.” 

Swabbie could only blink for a few seconds as he listened to everything that Tesla had just told him, all of it mashing together in his mind.  The last two minutes just seemed to blend together, the pain that he was feeling not only making it hard to focus, but even harder to listen to catch every little detail.  It was as if someone had ignited a flame just beneath his chest.   As the pain intensified with his gasp, breathing itself was now painful, let alone a deep one.  Trying to return to normal breaths between a few sputtering coughs, each sending new waves of pain through his body, he found himself wondering just how much of the outside world Tesla new about.  It wasn’t exactly surprising she didn’t know what a human looked like or couldn’t identify them by appearance, though that she wouldn’t have been informed of their culture was surprising. 

“Captain,” Tesla broke in between Swabbie’s thoughts, causing him to stop for a moment and look back at her.  During his thought, she had broken away from him, standing about two meters away in the water with her arms crossed over her breasts.  Her wide hips no longer set into a manner that spoke confidence; the beautiful Yor’zvin merely bit her lip for a moment as she started to shake her head once more.  “If I can be frank, I’ve been pursuing my own sexual needs over anything else so that I could be of better use to you.  Right now…it is so hard to focus; back when…that thing attacked us, I was so focused on well…you know that I completely lost myself.  It wasn’t until you went running past that I woke up.  Still, I owe you my life, you had a strength that I didn’t have and you ended up rescuing me from some coward.”

It was Swabbie’s turn to look away, his face turning red as he looked up at Tesla wondering if she realized all he had done was open a box.  Shaking his head again, he put his hands into his pockets and let out one steady sigh.  “I’m not a warrior, I’m not some courageous man that fought tooth and nail to free you from that box.  I’m just a….nobody really.  I opened that box because I heard noises in it, I didn’t know you were in there.  I ran from a battle I knew I couldn’t win and well…the rest is how we got here; I’m not a strong man, you don’t owe me anything Tesla.”

The Yor’zvin merely smiled before putting her finger onto the Swabbie’s nose and shaking her head in response.  “That’s where your wrong Captain, you’ve got a strength that most people on my planet can’t ascribe to.  You’ve got a strength of character, you’re honest and brave.  You threw yourself into harm’s way to protect me when I was proving to be useless to you.  On my planet most people would have just left me for dead, you on the other hand, you would have sacrificed yourself to make sure I would stay alive.  So I owe you twice, once for getting me out of that box and again for giving me the time to think when I was utterly lost in my own mind.  Captain, I’m your slave now, use me as you see fit because I always repay my debts and I already owe you more than I could ever repay.  Now go rest dear Captain, don’t think I didn’t see you cringing in pain while we were talking.”  Giggling and feeling better about herself, Tesla turned the Swabbie around and gave him a loving tap on the ass pushing him away back onto the shore.  Swabbie barely had enough time to chuckle himself before the female was already diving head first into the water and disappearing beneath the surface.

“Well…that was…interesting.”  Swabbie muttered to himself, not wanting to risk the chance that there might be something in the water that could infect the wounds.  Regardless, there was clean water back at the ship and it recycled anything they used, so he could get a hot one back there.  Finally feeling the soreness of his arms and the implausible amount of stress he had put on them; he let himself breathe out slowly pondering what to do next.  It wasn’t exactly good to interrupt Tesla’s bath and he figured she might be caring care of some ‘other problems’ while she was in there.  Sighing, he crept along sluggishly finding himself tracing around the shore line of the spring before coming face to face with the beast from earlier.  Its head tilted towards him in curiosity before slowly rising a paw up.  Once it had leveled itself with Swabbie’s head, it lifted it a little higher placing it on top of the would-be captain’s skull and forcing him to sit.  Blinking for a few moments as he found himself now sitting next to the creature, he let his hands rest over his knees. 

The serenity of the place struck him now that he wasn’t talking or really thinking about anything aside from: “Why the hell did that creature just make me sit down for?”  The swaying of the breeze through his hair, a few flakes of snow brushing through into the little oasis and falling down into the bluish-green grass.  The trees around them, jutting upward and reminding him of the great oak trees he used to see around, existed at intervals.  Each of them presenting shade in various places while their branches ignited into brown and red leaves, making him think of the autumn season on Earth.  It was eerily similar aside from some of the colors, making him feel homesick, just as Tesla had before.  Turning his head slowly to the creature beside him; he noticed that it had laid down beside him, head resting on top of its forepaws. 

It seemed as if it was going to listen to him, as if it was saying:  “Go ahead and talk to me.  I have all the time in the world and I’ll listen to every word you say.  I may not be able to reply in any way you understand, but I will at least hear you out.”  Swabbie smiled a little bit, recalling the collie that his parents used to herd the cattle, it would often lay its head in Swabbie’s lap and just listen to him talk.  Sometimes they’d spend hours at night, just looking up at the stars, he’d talk about what it was like and that collie would sit there, enjoying the petting and the time with the farm boy.

Unable to repress the urge, Swabbie’s hand stretched out slowly, finding its way onto the beast’s head.  It looked at him for a moment, quizzical of what he was doing before Swabbie’s fingers scratched lightly at the scalp and began to run down to the beast’s neck.  Still looking up at him, four of the beast’s eyes drooped downward, indicating that it was enjoying the petting and not going to bite his face off at the moment.  Chuckling for a moment, he turned his eyes back towards the beast and stopped scratching, simply stroking through its fur as he started to talk for a moment.

“You know, back home, I would always do something like this with a border collie.  It was much smaller than you…and a hell of a lot less wild.”  Swabbie laughed as the creature gave a small snort retorting to the statement causing the male to raise an eyebrow in confusion, but let it go.  “She would always put her head in my lap and still there for hours, just listening to me talk while I pet her.  It was really something, she was a good dog and always knew how to make me feel better after a long day on the farm.”  Swabbie was looking down for a moment, his fingers scrunching together casually on the top of the beast’s head, which was responded to by the creature slowly lifting its head and planting it down onto the Swabbie’s lap.   “I’m….gonna assume that you can understand what I’m saying…to an extent.”

Immediately, the creature snorted lightly, the three eyes on the side nearest to him looking up as the creature turned over.  It was slightly awkward and a little bit painful because of the size difference; however, Swabbie was just thankful that the creature wasn’t pressing into his wounds.   At that, Swabbie looked back up at the darkened sky, lit only by the lights from the false planet overhead and the so far away they were nothing more than little blips of light.  Sighing as he stroked along the beast’s side and around its shoulders, he started to speak again.  “Back home, there was always some source of light somewhere or another, people would either start a fire or just flip a switch and bam there was light.  Now, all I got is a flash light and whatever light I can gleam from that planet up there; however, those are all so dim that they might as well not be there.  I miss being able to walk through a green field, smell the sweet flowers and put out an honest day of work.  Back on Earth, my home planet, I never felt like my jobs were thankless or punishments.  I would toil in the field and could always see the rewards that the land would return to me.”

Swabbie paused for a moment, letting the beast shift its head lower down towards his knees.  It was obviously aware of the wounds on his chest and doing its best to avoid them, despite being extremely comfortable as it was being petted.  Swabbie could only shake his head slowly and let a small chuckle pass through his lips before continuing to speak.  “I would always look forward to the changing of seasons, when I would watch the orchids and plants that we had planted and tended to beginning to bloom up.  When the our crops burst out from the ground and supplied us with food; I took joy in mucking the pigs and milking the cows.  Everything there seemed so much purer, seemed like everyone was always happy to meet the guy that made sure everything they ate was of quality.  When I came up here, my name suddenly became mud, no one wanted anything to do with me and I was just the worthless kid that cleaned up after other people’s messes.” 

Swabbie laughed for a moment, his chest exploding into pain once more as he began to cough.  “You really did a number on me…you know that?”  He asked, breaking away from his original subject matter as the pain became the only thing he could focus on.  The beast looked back up in response, licking its lips before twisting its head around and licking at his fingers and hand, coating the phalanges in thick saliva.  Shaking his head, Swabbie buried his hand into the creature’s fur and shook his head.  “Don’t think you get off easy because you can do something cute.”  The beast only snorted casuing the Swabbie to chuckle and resume speaking. 

“Well, not like you could understand the life or my problems anyway.  You’re driven by instinct, you simply go out and kill a few things, eat and fuck that’s all you’ve got to worry about.  Your fur protects from the cold for the most part and your body is so huge, you must become like a god damn furnace when your metabolism starts to pick up.”  Shaking his head slowly, the Swabbie stopped petting the beast to pat it a few times, before returning to stroking its fur.  “Honestly, I kinda wish I had your life.  Never having to worry about anything but food, shelter and mating….that would be the life.  Instead, I’ve gotta worry about things like money, prejudice and all sorts of other crap that just isn’t…I guess I shouldn’t call it fair.  I’ve seen recordings about how my own species treated each other in the past.  Not like what’s going on here is any different than what happened in the past.”  Letting out a weak laugh, he only sighed.

“I’ve got no idea what I’m going to do.  I’ve got some crazy ass tiger…thing…chasing me down and he makes you look like a cat from my world.  Not in size mind you, but viciousness.”  He hastily added the last bit when the creature lifted its head to look at him, then laid it back down, seemingly satisfied with the response.  “I have to take care of three people, a alien princess whose culture I know nothing about, a girl who just lost her father and a self-absorbed pilot.  Not a hell of a lot to work with any case.  On top of that, I’m broke, our ship is busted and we’ve got no food aside from what we can gather.  Just seems like life decided to deal me a raw hand on the sudden.  I guess there were some good things that came out of, but over all, it just seems like someone upstairs decided it was time to piss on me.”  Shaking his head slowly, he watched as the beast closed its eyes and slowly began rise up.  It lumbered slowly away from the Swabbie moving over to one of the nearby trees.

“What are you going to do?”  Swabbie asked, not really understanding why he had bothered to do so when the creature couldn’t actually reply to him.  Looking over the massive tree with multiple twisting branches, obscured with a plethora of brown and red leaves, it turned around swinging its tail in a wide arc before smacking the base of the tree.  The responding crack was deafening as bark and bits of wood came hurtling out of the impact zone as the branches began shaking wildly overhead, that’s when Swabbie looked up finding his eyes following the descent of two creatures.  One, the raccoon looking creature he had seen earlier and the other, what looked to be like some cross between a centipede and a squirrel, were hurtling to the ground.

Each of the beasts twisted in the air, spinning out of control as they squealed in horror.  Swabbie could see their faces vividly, the raccoon sized creatures, eyes, the pair of insect-like ocular glands were widening up, nearly covering its entire head.  The sharp weasel-like nose breathing in furiously, the quad-nostrils flaring in box pattern while its prehensile tail swung back and forth.  Black fur spewed upward, silver colored claws attempted to grab hold of anything as its brown underside and mask became visible.  Twisting once more, its head slammed into the ground, leaving it twitching on the ground for a few seconds blood seeping into the grass before it finally stopped moving.  Each third of a meter long arm now laid completely still, as its brain had likely been smashed in by the impact. 

The squirrel like creature hadn’t been so lucky.  It flew like a rock through the air, its two elongated trying to seek purchase in the nearby tree.  It continually aimed back for the main body, but to no avail.  It’s body little over a third of a meter long was split between its tail and torso.  Looking like a rat with a bushy tail, it swung around wildly, its bright red fur making it stand out now.  It managed to get lucky, twisting as its small paws hit the raccoon like creature’s body, bouncing and while disoriented, it was at least alive.  At least until the beast leap onto it, stomping one powerful paw down onto the unsuspecting creature’s body, flattened and dead upon impact. 

At this point, the beast turned and looked at Swabbie, walking over and licking his face before ushering out a warning growl then turning and marching out of the woods.  Staring down at the meal that the beast had just left for him, the Swabbie pondered just how intelligent of a creature that it had to have been to have devised such a method for hunting.  Scratching his head only for a few seconds, he found that Tesla was already behind him, burying her fingers into his hair with a small, frightened smile on her face.  “I suggest that we heed the warning that the beast gave us and get out of here, it left us some meat and we can pick up some of those tubers I found on the way here.  Maybe Lily will be able to turn that into some stew?”  Swabbie only nodded in response, letting her help him to his feet, sucking at his teeth in pain before sighing at his weakness.

“I honestly can’t wait to heal from these wounds.  Oh man…Lily is going to freak out when she sees the mess I’m in.”  Sighing softly, Swabbie picked up the raccoon like creature’s corpse before Tesla took it from him and handed him the flattened squirrel. 

“You carry the lighter one, you’re not exactly in the proper condition to be trying to strain yourself.  As for what Lily might think, let me deal with her; it is my fault you’re in this condition in the first place.”  Swabbie nodded in return to Tesla, letting her do the brunt of the work as they walked back in the direction they had come through the forest.  It was an uneventful journey.  Neither of the two felt like talking after the events that had transpired; both pondering just how intelligent the beast was that had given them food and had responded to them as if it understood every word they said.  Slipping back through the woods and noticing a few more signs of wildlife, though nothing as big or dangerous as the beast, they managed to find where Tesla had left behind the tubers from earlier.

Collecting the spuds and walking back to the ship, the pair crept through the field of blazing flowers, as Swabbie leaned against the door of the escape pod elated to be back as he began to punch in the code.  Yet, his mind turned to other things, like what to do first when getting inside of the ship.

A.      Immediately get Lily to clean up the wounds, taking the fall for the events that occurred in the woods. Have Garrus tell about the ship’s condition afterwards, then proceed to sleep off the recent events after eating whatever is prepared by Lily, Tesla and Garrus.

B.      Immediately get Garrus’s status report before entering the shower and cleaning the wounds yourself.  Have Tesla talk to Lily, letting her take the fall for the events that occurred in the woods.  Eat whatever meal Lily, Tesla and Garrus manage to prepare then proceed to bed.

C.       Immediately get Lily to clean up the wounds, blaming Tesla for the events that occurred in the woods.  Speak to Garrus about the problems with the ship afterwards and enjoy a meal with the crew before proceeding to bed.

D.       Immediately get Garrus’s status report before entering the shower and cleaning the wounds yourself.  Talk to Lily and take the fall for the events that occurred in the woods.  Eat whatever meal is prepared then proceed to sleep.

Page 6 Repost and Update 20

The rev of the blade in his hand was increasing Swabbie’s confidence levels.  Gradually, his fist tightened around the nylon grip as he found himself staring at the beast in front of him.  Its eyes weren’t on him but rather gazing with a predatory stance on Tesla.  The beautiful, red headed Yor’zinian too lost in her own thoughts as she gazed over the tubers in her hand; Swabbie continued to try to gain her attention, but it was to no avail.  A hot, frustrated burst of air left his nose as he watched the beast’s throat rumble with a warning growl, it was getting ready to charge. 

Swabbie throat ran dry for a moment, his knuckles turning whiter than the snow around him.  He and the beast were in total sync now; feet crunched into the snow, planning out the best attack route.  Thoughts of protecting rushed through one’s head, the other thought of only its stomach.  Their eyes illuminated by the dim glow of the plants around them; Swabbie made the first move.  Lurching into a run, he felt all sense of the world around him leaving him, he didn’t scream instead, he just charged.

His charge was met with the thunderous roar of the beast, which caused Tesla to look up shocked to see Swabbie passing her and rushing directly at the monster.  Swabbie’s body tensed and his hand clung to his knife like it was the only thing that could save his life. An eminent collision with whatever type of animal was in front of him was forging as it reared back with another roar and began to move towards him.  Man and animal charged, the Swabbie running head long at towards a wall of muscle and sharp teeth.  As he got closer, he finally got a good look at his opposition and felt his choice was probably the biggest mistake of his life.

This…thing was an absolute monster, nine feet long and at least six feet tall at the shoulder, it made the bears of Earth look like toys.  Thick white fur was buzzed backwards enraged, while the lithe but powerful sinews of its legs contracted on in instant bursting into a run.  Six feet armed with razor sharp claws were hammering in on Swabbie and the male could do little to stop it now that he was in a dead run.  Chuckling, he merely raised the knife as he didn’t let his fear get the better of him.

“Well, if I gotta die like this, THEN I’M GONNA DRAG YOU TO HELL WITH ME YOU BASTARD MUTT!”   Yelling this as loudly as he could, he clambered up the side of a small rock in the middle of the path.  Leaping off of it and heading into the air, the beast followed his acrobatic act.  Estimating that the creature likely weighed somewhere in the range of seven hundred to eight hundred kilograms, he knew it would likely batter him straight out of the air if they collided directly.   Unable to breathe, their impending collision occurred, the air being knocked out of him as he was pushed upward by the beasts head. 

It felt like he was little more than doll being batted around by a whale, or better yet being gored by a bull.  His stomach caved in as all his air was expelled rapidly; thankful the beast didn’t have horns or he’d be dead.  Though no air was pumping through his lungs at the moment and he couldn’t breathe after receiving the punishing blow; he managed to grasp onto the back fur of the creature.  Twisting in the wind like a banner, he was jerked from side to side as his presence was finally acknowledged.  The beast’s focus shifted to him, fangs being brandished as it tried in vain to snap at the point where Swabbie had grasped.  Jolting up and down repeatedly; Swabbie hung on for dear life, thanking God for all the times he had practiced being a rodeo cowboy back at home.

Being tossed around like this did remind him of bull-riding back on the farm; however , this was likely fifty-times more dangerous and he had nothing to help him maintain his grip.  Swabbie clutched the beast’s fur for dear life with his one hand, the knife in his other having been forgotten for a moment as his life was endangered.   Thankful he had hung onto the knife, he spun it around in his hand gritting his teeth as teeth as it penetrated the flesh of monster’s upper back with a sickening squelch.  A howl of agony escaped the creature’s lips, while Swabbie used the knife as a way to hang on and to steer the beast around, though to little avail.  As the velocity knife continued to vibrate, the damage in the creatures back grew; forcing Swabbie to cut it off if he wanted to keep his position on the beast’s back and not be trampled under its feet.

Still, it was hard to keep himself balanced on the creature’s back.  The constant bucking and the rearing backwards was making him feel more and more like a rag doll.  It was all he could do just to hold on at this point.  Swabbie stared down for a moment, noticing that Tesla was running around the few trees in the area, her red hair sweeping behind her; her fingers testing the branches of a few of the trees as the beast continued to hop around.  “Tesla what the hell are you doing!?  Get out of here!”  Swabbie shouted loudly over the monster, which was now hopping around in small circles pumping its back legs out before Swabbie was sent flying up into the air.  As he flew, his head crashed against a branch causing it to snap in half over him and send him falling straight onto the ground.

As he laid there, his skull on fire with pain and his eyes out of focus as he noticed the beast growling viciously at him for a moment.  Swabbie used all of the strength he could muster, pushing himself up as he panted, arms now sore and burning from the work out he was just put through.  He’d estimate that was a good thirty seconds on the back of that monster; at least double his last run with a bull, but he had used both hands this time.  Grunting as he saw the beast charging at him again, he thrust the thin tree branch that his head had collided with in the path of its vicious jaws.  Each chopping down repeatedly and crunching through wood like it was nothing, leaving Swabbie holding nothing more than two wooden clubs. 

Standing there for a moment, with the enraged creature now glaring at him like a fresh meal; the male only reared back and smacked the creature in the head with one of the broken bits of branch.  It didn’t even seem to register to the creature, he pulled out its claws and swung.  Swabbie screamed as pain blossomed a new across his chest, streaks of bright red running out from three slash marks that had formed. 

His eyes began to lose color, his body feeling a little bit colder as the chill of the air infiltrated around him.  Looking down, he could see where he had been slashed and in that panic, he hadn’t even realized that he had been flung several meters to the side and halted by a tree.  Swabbie’s jacket had been ripped open in three spots once over his stomach, again over his solar plexus and once again over his pectorals.  Blood streamed from these openings as he could see where the monster had cut him; raising up one arm, he applied pressure with a handful of snow.  Just like he had always been taught back home, cold compression could slow down the bleeding process, but he would need proper medical treatment soon enough.  Panting as he scrambled to sit up fully, barely able to rise up before the monster began to walk towards him.

“So…I’m gonna die like this huh?  Always thought, I’d just die of boredom on that ship…so I suppose this isn’t what I bargained for, but it was a hell of a lot more interesting than what I thought would happen.”  Chuckling as it hurt to breathe, he heard Tesla yelling at him just as the beast began to charge at him. 

“Captain!  Catch!”  She screamed at him, running in from the side some fifteen meters away before she threw a branch at him.  As he watched it hurtle at him, he found his hand closing around the end in reflex where he noticed the sharper end of one side.  Panting, he guessed she had been looking for something that could be used as a natural spear and she had gotten damn close with this one.  Grunting, he noticed the beast coming down to tear his head from his shoulders with its jaws.  Pushing his arm directly up, Swabbie closed his eyes, waiting for death to take him; instead, all he heard was a low growl.  Waiting a few seconds, he slowly opened his eyes looking up to see the monster standing over him; mouth still wide open as if it was going to bite him.

Confused, he suddenly realized that the stick was inside of the beast’s mouth long ways.  If it chomped down on him, it would penetrate its own brain and kill itself.  Swabbie could see that the beast was intelligent enough to recognize this and was no longer enraged or territorial at the moment.  Glancing at it, he knew he’d lose a fight of endurance, his arm already felt weak as he continued to bleed from his chest.  The monster’s savage claws having torn into him enough to cause a good bit of blood loss, not even counting the cold that was decimating his body.

A few slow pants left his lips, it was all he could do just hold the stick up and watch the beast for a moment.  Grunt, he saw Tesla now standing next to both of them; her hand grasping Swabbie’s and taking the stick, allowing him to rest for as she took control of the situation.  Suddenly, the ice beneath the monster began to crack and snap beneath him; almost immediately, it fell into a pot hole in the ice too steep for it to climb out of and too high for it to jump out of.  Yet, it could get just close enough to the edge to nearly grasp the edge.  Still panting, Swabbie stood up trying to get his footing as Tesla pushed him back into the ground.

“You idiot! Hold still or you’re going to bleed out, we need to get you bandaged up.”  She stated with a little bit of venom in her voice; already she was stripping him of his coat and tossing it aside for later as she tore what was left of his undershirt up and used it to bind his wounds.  “As soon as we get to the ship, have Lily give you some proper bindings you idiot.”  She stated placing her hands on her hips before shaking her head with a sigh.  “Though, what you did would be considered brave even on my planet, very foolish but brave none the less.”

“Yeah…but…what about the beast?”  Swabbie stated without much care to his own body at the moment as he looked toward the hole.  Already he could hear the mournful cries of the creature as it tried desperately, but to no avail to get out of the hole.  It reminded Swabbie of the old videos he used to watch about hunter’s trapping the now extinct tigers in holes like that; he was lucky they had managed to hit a pot hole in the ice.  Still, he felt…odd as he looked over the hole and pondered what the hell was going on inside of it.

“What about it?  The beast is trapped down there, it will die and something bigger might come along and eat it.  It isn’t our problem anymore, we’re safe for right now.”  Tesla spoke happily stroking the side of the Captain’s face as he sat up and slowly got to his feet.  Walking with her, carefully leaning against her as he felt the weight of her jacket slip onto his shoulders, the warmth was invigorating.  Breathing heavily, he noticed she had put on his old jacket, probably with the intentions of preserving it for later.  He didn’t much care at the moment, he could see the beast down below, staring up at them; its eyes speaking of an intelligence that its inability to speak belittled.  It stretched up, the six legs trying to claw into the ice, but they found purchase; instead finding itself about a meter short of its target. 

There was no space for it to get a running jump out of the hole and so crammed that it could only stretch up and try to reach and pull itself out.  Swabbie already felt sorry for the thing as he looked at it.  Back legs trembling as they tried to push up and leap out of the hole.  Only for the beast to rise up about a two thirds of a meter and crash back down.  Sighing, Swabbie stumbled over to the creature, looking down on it as he laid down in snow in front of the pit.  Already he could see that the knife he had put into his back, was one of the primary reasons the creature couldn’t get out. 

“Tesla…we’re going to help it get out.”

“Excuse me?”  Tesla responded in shock as she stared at the Swabbie like he was a madman.  Giving him a quick once over to make sure he was serious; she found that he was and shook her head in utter disbelief.  “That thing nearly killed you and you want to let it out of the cage that nature put it in?  Are you out of your mind!?”  Her voice nearly cracked as she swore she could punch the man in the face for his stupidity; however, it was clear that Swabbie wasn’t interested in her exclamations at this point.  Rubbing his right arm slowly and getting a feel for how much pressure he could exert, he merely looked back at Tesla.

“You are under oath to do whatever I ask right?  Then help me do this; I’m not just going to leave something that was defending its territory to die.  I’m not going to become Faulkner and blindly kill things for no reason other than to sate my own anger.    Nor am I going to be so cruel as to leave some poor creature in a pit to die of starvation!”  As he finished talking, he held his stomach as a fresh surge of pain passed through him, glancing back up at Tesla; he noticed her concern before she nodded to him slowly.

“Alright, alright, I’m under oath and I can’t disobey what you asked me to do; though I think you’re incredibly stupid for doing it.”  Shaking her head, she went off on a tangent of muttering lined from her own language; Swabbie didn’t understand a word of.  Yet, he had a pretty good idea what she was saying about him.  Looking around for a moment, he found that the tree that was at the hole was wavering as its weight drifted back and forth.  Looking at it, he doubted that he and Tesla could do much with it in that state; glancing up though, he found himself almost over joyed to find that it was tilting in the opposite direction of the hole.

“Any good at climbing trees Tesla?”  Swabbie asked calmly, pointing to how the tree was leaning and the fact that its roots could be seen bursting out of the ice where the creature was still mewling for release.  At his statement, Tesla merely nodded and walked over to the tree slowly climbing up the side; grasping around the center to get a foot up before she darted up the majority of it like a squirrel. 

“My planet is covered with trees, some many times the size of these, it is a rite of passage to climb to the top of one without aid captain.  So in short, yes, I’m good at climbing trees.”  She shouted down at him before she began to pressure all of her weight against the small tree resembling an oak.  It gradually began to bend, the roots snapping upward as they freed themselves.  As the descent of the tree accelerated, more and more of the roots began to snap free until finally the tree slid down into the pit.

Leaping up onto its newly formed platform as it emerged, the tree trembled for a moment; Tesla feeling its weight reversing before she jumped from the tree.  Tumbling into the snow, she looked up just in time to see the beast leaping up and getting its front two legs up.  It struggled to hold itself up before her eyes widened in terror at the Swabbie grasping the fur around either side of its head and beginning to pull backward.  A small trickle of red could be seen running down the side of his leg as he tugged while the beast pushed up finally, its back legs escaped the pit before  Swabbie fell backwards in front of the monster.

Landing on his back, he propped himself up on his arms as he noted that the beast was now standing directly over him, hovering like Death’s avatar.  Leaning over, it exposed a row of teeth to the Swabbie, each one glistening with saliva and seemed ready to tear him to shreds.   Tesla was already getting ready to charge in and save the wounded man’s life, when she noticed him stretching out his hand.  The Captain’s shaking hand touching the brown spot on its head and rubbing it slowly, standing as he danced his hands through the thick fur. 

Tesla couldn’t believe her eyes as she watched the murderous beast slowly relax and allow itself to be pet by the captain, as if it understood that he had just saved its life.  In awe, she watched as the man’s hands crawled around to its back and retrieved the knife slowly from the muscles there.  Once he was finished, she noticed the creatures head pop up, before it turned around swiftly.  She was going to scream as it looked like it was going to bite Swabbie in half, but then watched as it tossed him onto its back before rushing at her.  At that point she did scream in terror as it did the same to her, plopping her down just behind the Swabbie who had already leaned over and grasped onto the creatures fur as if his life depended on it again.

“Tesla, wrap your arms around my neck and just hang on.  I think it wants to show us something.”  At that, the creature seemed to acknowledge the statement by letting out a grunt, then beginning to run through the forested area.  Tesla could only watch as they were made into cargo by this animal; the forest growing thicker as they moved further and further away from the ship.  Yet, she didn’t complain as her arms wrapped around the Swabbie’s neck and she found herself close to him for the moment.  Her people treated anyone who saved them as not only heroes, but as lovers.  Even if he would never see her as a lover, she would please him with her body or through other means until he either didn’t want her or died. 

A soft sigh escaped her lips as she noticed the beast was now just walking, its body lumbering along slowly through the woods, that while much thicker than the previous region, could still be seen out of with ease.  Yet, a major difference was there was now a fragrance on the area; the smell of flowers blooming as she noticed Dosrochire’s burning brilliantly at her side, along with several breeds that she had never seen before.  A few were letting out small pink puffs of gas, that quality dissipated but left the place smelling like as fragrant as the floral shops on her own planet in the spring.  Giggling like a school girl for a moment, she caught sight of a small raccoon sized creature, scampering about through the overhead branches of the trees.  Though she couldn’t make out most of the details of its body, she noticed that it was eating a dosrochire plant.

“It must have a rather powerful stomach….”  She whispered to herself, but found that the Swabbie was busy looking at everything else around him.  Every plant glowing with its own unique signature; one was stretched out like ivy across the base of several trees glimmering in a slight purple before small, flashing pink flowers in a star like pattern flickered their own hue repeatedly.  Others merely grew like regular flowers, but their bases glistened before their pistils ignited into soft beacons of white.  It looked like a carnival rather than the grounds of a forest; then, a sudden crystal clear blue caught her attention.

Turning her head back to the front, she noticed that everything in front of them was living off the massive hot spring directly in front of them.  The area growing warmer by at least twenty Celsius as small geysers blew up around them, but the chill of the wind still struck hard.   Lowering its head near the edge of the water; the beast let both Swabbie and Tesla off its back before sitting down and staring at the pair for an instant.  Acknowledging them before turning and dipping its head into the water, slowly lapping at the heat pool to rehydrate itself; too enthralled with the beauty of the place, Swabbie didn’t noticed Tesla stripping down till she was naked again.  It wasn’t until he saw her half submerged in the water did he finally realize what had happened.

“Tesla!?  What do you think you’re doing!?”  At his shock and surprise, she merely giggled before turning around, letting him get a full view of her plump breasts.  Tesla’s pure black eyes were oddly expressive despite lacking an iris as she leaned back and floated along in the water, speaking to him from that position.  “Oh come on Captain, I haven’t been able to clean myself since I got thrown into that crate, maybe I just want to freshen up a little bit?  I got a sponge bath every now and then, but I’d like to just be able to rest in some warm water for a while.”  A mischievous grin came to her face as she sauntered back up to the edge of the water, noticing that Swabbie’s gaze was situated on her breasts. 

“Come on Captain, why don’t you get in the water with me.  I’m sure you’d like to clean up a little bit and relax after what just happened.  I could even help you let off a little ‘steam’”  She chuckled lightly, her wet hand grasping the Swabbie’s as he paused to think about what she had just asked him to do.  Yet he could barely hide the erection that was now poking through the confines of his regulation pants.  His arousal was clear to Tesla, whom reached down slowly with her other hand.  Shaking it off lightly before she did so, it grasped the thickness of the Swabbie’s manhood through his pants; she gasped in surprise at the size that she felt, then looked him in the eyes.

“So…you going to join me?”

Luck deactivated.

A.       Swabbie agrees to join Tesla in the water.

B.     Swabbie orders Tesla to help him ‘blow off some steam’ while on dry land.

C.     Swabbie refuses the offer to ‘blow off some steam’ but enters the water to clean his wounds.

D.     Swabbie refuses the offer  to ‘blow off some steam’ and goes to communicate with the beast.

E.     Swabbie orders Tesla to get dressed and take off back to the ship with the food they’ve gathered.

Page 5 Repost and Update 19.

The newly named Captain merely righted the flat cap on his head once more, looking back towards his rather shabby crew.  It was clear there was already a massive disarray in everything that was going on; Tesla was just about hanging off his leg, while Lily was in the fettle position.  Swabbie turned his head, only to see Garrus yawning sleepily, acting like he had nothing to do and was about to knock off for some rest.  Gritting his teeth in anger, Swabbie turned tossing the spare coat at Garrus before pointing finger at him and issuing the command.

“Garrus, I want you outside taking a look at the ship; my knowledge is basic at best.  You’re the expert here so I want you to make sure everything that can be salvaged from this piece of scrap is.  If this bird isn’t worthy to fly; we’ll make it a base of operations till we can either find some help or can create a way to send an S.O.S. up to Roshire.”  Garrus and Swabbie then exchanged heated glances before Garrus sighed once, putting on the coat and pulling up the hood.   Grumbling, he began walking back out of the pod.

“Well, I’ll give you one thing, you at least get shit done.  Never could complain about that when you were the janitor; guess I can’t complain about it now that you’re the captain.  Just don’t break my back alright?  We’re still friends, even if I am looking out for myself; cause you know… aside from the ol’ Captain... you were the only person on that ship that would really talk to me.”  Stating this, Garrus turned his head, with mild trepidation half expecting Swabbie to deck him again, instead, he found the male just shaking his head with a distinct distaste. 

“Garrus, you tried to fuck me over, you’ve been a bitch since we got into this whole mess and aside from piloting, you’re about damn near useless.  Still, bygones are bygones; you’re my friend, but sometimes I’ve gotta smack you around a bit or else your head would get too big for your body.  Now then, get your ass outside and give me a damage report when I get back; besides, the exercise will be good for that body of yours that’s starting to get flabby.  I swear sometimes I couldn’t tell the difference between you and Rorsh.”    The pair laughed before Garrus gave Swabbie a playful jab on the shoulder.  As the two had finished reconciling for the moment, the pilot spoke once again.

“Yeah, yeah, I get you.  I’m getting fat, I’ll do something about it, you just make sure we stay alive you bastard.  Now then, I have a ship to look at and you have food to gather; hmm…by the way, you owe me a beer as soon as we get to Roshire.”  At that, the pilot merely turned about and proceeded to walk out of the ship; his body visibly straining for a moment when we exited, but he slowly fixed himself and proceeded to push through the pain.  

“Sure, I’ll buy you a beer with my non-existent amount of credits.”  Captain Swabbie snorted before looking down at Lily.  She had been there for him in the past, now he supposed it was time to be there for her.  Swabbie had never experienced much loss in his life, at worst he watched a few chickens die; nothing to get particular worked up about in his mind.  So how could he respond to her in a way that wouldn’t seem offensive?  Milling over those thoughts, he pushed a column of air out of his nose before pulling away from Tesla and waving her off.  “Hey, Tesla, give me a few minutes and we’ll get ready.  Make sure that Garrus doesn’t need any help at the moment.”  Saying this without taking his eyes off of Lily for an instant, he found himself slinking down to the floor next to her.  Already, he could see the shock of the loss was passing and it was hitting her that her adoptive father was dead. 

The nearby door shut, the magnetic locks sealing the entry wall from all but those who knew the particular code.  Which at the moment was everyone but Tesla; sitting down next to Lily, there was an awkward silence. What should he say and what should he do?  It wasn’t as if he could just magically make all her pain go away; however, it was also true that if he didn’t say something she would likely be stuck like this for a while.  Despite her claim to be able to cut anything they brought to her…if she didn’t calm down, she would likely make a mistake and that could be fatal.  It was just something that couldn’t be tolerated at this point, especially since he would normally trust her with their lives.

“Lily…I…”  Swabbie started, but before he could even get the words out, Lily raised her head slightly.  Her lower lip was puckered out slightly, her eyes watering as she cut him off.

“Stop, I know what you’re going to say.”  Her voice was already on the verge of breaking.  Fighting back the urge to whimper uncontrollably, battling to keep rationality in her voice and losing.  “You’re going to ask me to stop thinking about him, but that’s not possible!  Sorison….he wasn’t my real dad.  You know that, you knew that better than anyone.   Yet, he was the only person that cared about me; he was the only person who gave enough of a damn to make sure I stayed alive.  The only person who didn’t look at me like a piece of meat or a sex toy, which I’m already going to tell you, I won’t be for you.  I may have agreed to do anything, but don’t think I’m just going to bow down and suck you off every time you bark the order.  You’ve got the red headed skank for that.”  She sneered, obviously making a joke to ease the pain, but it didn’t seem to work all that well.

Swabbie listened, letting her vent, though he was surprised at the off-color comment about Tesla.  Letting out a small chuckle at her words, he looked back down at her.  His mind was contemplating how to ease her pain.  Nothing really came to him, so he held his tongue waiting for her to speak.  When she didn’t all he could do was to tentatively speak and try to win her over.  “Sorison…was a good guy.  I really didn’t know him that well though.”

“Yeah, I remember when you showed up a month ago Swabbie.  You looked like a scruffy kid.  You were thin and it was obvious that you hadn’t been eating very well.  It was clear you were desperate and would do anything you could just to get by.  It…reminded me of myself back when I was five; the way he sort of just took his arm and wrapped it around you.  It was like he was adopting another child….”  Just listening at this point, the Swabbie nodded slowly catching every syllable that fell from her tongue as if it were a life line.  He and Garrus were all she had left now, so this was the least he could do for her, considering Garrus never would.

“Lily…can you tell me about Sorison?  I never knew him that well, he was always just my boss.  Sure, we had a few conversations but in the end, he was just my boss.  I never got to know the man behind the mantel of the captain.”  Those words…where did they come from?  They just seemed to escape his lips without any form of thought involved; an impulse which he was sure would get him slapped.  Instead, she looked up for a moment, surprised before turning her head back to the ground.

“You’re just asking because you want me to function in the group, not because you actually care.”  Those words felt like a slap to Swabbie’s face, the final stress at the end of the word care coming out particularly heated.  As he sat there with his jaw hanging down, his feet pulled up slowly tucking themselves against his ass.  Soon after, his arms descended looping around his own knees so both he and Lily were sitting in the fettle position.

“Actually…I would like to hear about him.  Back when I was out job hunting no one would even talk to me; most of the employers were of different races than me.  Not really surprising considering that humans only make up roughly three percent of the current universal population.  Most of the species I encountered didn’t want anything to do with me.  Some wrote me off for being human, others for my lack of work experience, others for not having finished college.  In the end, I stood in the unemployment line over and over again; just waiting for someone to take me.  Finally, I got an offer, Sorison needed a janitor and he wasn’t picky about who took the job.  I was on the verge of giving up hope when he took me in; there wasn’t a day that went by this last month where I didn’t thank him.”

Swabbie’s face changed as a small smile formed upon it. His arms clutching around his legs tighter as the words slipped from his lips.  It was becoming relatively clear that he was just a kid in reality; someone thrust into a situation he had no control over anything.  Youth spreading over his face so it was clear that he was only about twenty or twenty-one, likely still having second thoughts about leaving his family behind; just barely old enough to be considered a full grown adult.  Now with so much responsibility on his shoulders, one wouldn’t be mistaken for thinking he was going to crack.   Letting out a soft sigh, he felt Lily’s head lean against his shoulder before his arm came up and wrapped around hers.

“Ok…since you really seem interested.  I’ll tell you about him.”  Looking up at him, there were tears still glistening lightly in her eyes; before she moved in a little closer.  “Just…keep holding me like this till I’m done…ok?  I know...,”  She sniffled softly at that point, turning her head away from the swabbie.  Sheepishly turning her head covered in short blonde hair back to the Swabbie.  “I know you have to leave soon enough, but till then just listen and hold me; you and Sorison…you two were the only people who cared.  Now…you’re all I have left.  Garrus…he always treated me like a piece of meat, despite Sorison’s reprimands.  I wish you didn’t have to leave me here with him, but I understand.” 

Swabbie took a short breath and nodded, listening intently at this point.  He remembered Garrus speaking teasingly and seriously about how he was going to bed Lily.  It seemed to him to be nothing more than a fantasy regarding what was likely the only other human female for light years around them.  The port he had visited saw Garrus leaving immediately for the red light district and returning piss-faced drunk with the dumbest smile on his face.  Yet, he never expected him to only view Lily as a fuck-toy for the crew, especially considering she never slept with anyone.  Those thoughts dissipated the moment she started speaking again.

“Sorison adopted me when I was five; the first time I saw him.  I was enthralled, he just seemed like everything I used to see in the picture books or passing glances at holoplayers in the store windows.  Crisp, clean and proud everything that a hero needed to be; I learned later that he wasn’t the hero I thought he was, but he was still always dad to me.  He would put his ass on the line to make sure I was safe and stuck up for me when others wouldn’t.  Though, if it hadn’t been for a bit of feistiness on my part, he probably would have never adopted me.”  Giggling, she let out a soft sigh while the Swabbie rose one eyebrow.

“You, feisty?  I can hardly imagine.” 

“Oh you’d be surprised, Captain, I snuck on board the ship the ship and stowed away in the cargo bay.  By the time anyone realized I was on the ship, it was too late to turn around.  Not like I had anywhere to go anyway.”  She laughed at this, but it was all too clear to the Swabbie that she was hurting deeply;  breathing outwards, he slowly turned his body towards Lily’s and felt her push into the gap instantly beginning to weep freely against his chest.  It had done her some good to release some of the pent up emotions that she had been hiding; he could already hear her sobbing: “Daddy, daddy.”  Over and over again as she clutched tighter against the back of his coat, finally her voice went hoarse and cracked for a moment before she leaned in closer.  Mentally exhausted from all the strain that had been put on her, she didn’t have anything left to give at the moment but a few more words.

“I’ll tell you more later…if you’re interested…I’m sorry I broke down like that.”  Swabbie only shushed her in response, putting a finger up to his lips before stroking her hair.  In silence, he lifted her almost completely limp form and carried her towards the center of the escape craft.  Hitting a button with his butt, as he didn’t want to disturb the female in his arms, a release of air prompted a fold-out mattress to appear from the wall.  Falling down from a latched in region, which could be clearly seen; it was large enough for most species to fit in comfortably and for people of average human size, about two to three before it got cramped.  Laying Lily down in the teal colored sheet, resting her head against the white pillow before his hand slid up to her face. 

“I’m always interested.  Get some rest Lily…this has been harder on you than anyone else.”  Swabbie removed his hand quickly, then proceeded toward the exit of the ship.  “I’ve already kept Tesla waiting too long…Garrus should just be getting into the analysis of the ship.  So I’ll just hurry along with Tesla and gather up any food that I can while we’re out there; hopefully we can find a vegetable patch or some fruit.  I’m not gonna get my hopes up for meat right now.”  As he thought this, Lily’s weak voice called him back to reality, just as the doors in front of him were opening.

“Be careful out there.”  She chirped almost too quietly to hear before her head hit the pillow.  Already sound asleep, the Swabbie let a smile grow on his lips before pushing his fingers together and saluting her.  A gesture that he had always used to mean: “Will do.”  It was time to get serious now though, he had three people and himself to take care of and not a lot of time to do it.  Grasping the velocity knife from the emergency cabinet as closely as he could; he proceeded to walk out of the ship, letting the doors close behind me.

“I was wondering when you were going to come out.  I was starting to wonder if you two weren’t heating up the ship.”  Tesla’s sultry voice sounded out from behind the Swabbie as she stood with her back against the hull of the escape vessel.  Her libido seemed to have calmed down for the moment and she was much more serious about the entire situation, though there was a bit of an aura about her that told the Swabbie to stay on guard.  “So handsome, shall we get going or are you just going to stare at the flowers under your feet all day?” 

“Flowers, what flowers?”  Speaking this before even bothering to look down, the Swabbie couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw that spreading out all around him, Tesla, Garrus and the ship, was a field of bright orange and yellow flowers; all of them glimmering dimly in the near pitch black darkness around them.  He had assumed the lights around them were coming from the shuttle’s emergency beacons, but those appeared to have been turned to slag by the impact.  Finding himself almost in awe of their beauty, he knelt down, cupping his hands around one of the flowers and gazing into it.  As his face got nearer, he was suddenly yanked away by Tesla.

“No, no…Captain, you don’t want to get too close to these.  While their pretty to look at and I’m sure you want to touch the pretty glowing flower, Garrus already found out what happens when you do.  The petals of these particular flowers, the Dosrochire,  radiate at about eighty-eight degrees Celsius when they feel threatened.  Otherwise, they tend to stick around twenty degrees to keep themselves warm and to keep the ice around them constantly melting to provide water.”

“Uhh…thanks for the warning Tesla.”  Swabbie uttered in thanks as he pulled back, shocked at how beautiful the plant was, but how deadly it could be.   Standing up slowly, he turned his head around; noticing a nearby wooded area where a variety of florescent blue grasses were glowing dimly in patches surrounding a few sparse trees that seemed to made of fossilized amber.  “Tesla, do you think that area would be our best bet for hunting and gathering?”

“Most likely Captain, though those trees produce a sap that when processed right can be consumed for most of the nutrients you humans need; mainly handling vitamins A, B, and some D.”  Looking back over at the Captain, she tilted her head for a moment, quizzically inspecting his neck; causing the male to shift uncomfortably for a moment before walking towards the florescent blue of the woods about fifty yards away.

The sight could have been something out of an old Disney movement, the closer they got the more the lighting seemed to dim down; the colors growing vibrant and setting a mood.   Swabbie’s eyes feasted on the scene around him; taking in every little note.  He may have never been a survivalist or left out in the woods, but he knew how to read the signs of the land.  Right now it was screaming to him that this place was being used by something as a hunting ground.

“Tesla, I don’t like this place.”  Swabbie hissed lightly as he noted the female bending over and proceeding to pull an oddly shaped tuber from the ground.  Each of them shaped like fist-sized octagonal prisms, small red dots revealing their eyes; Tesla was picking as many as she could and ignoring the feeling in the air that Swabbie had warned about.  Pulling the velocity knife out of its sheathe on his chest; he felt the nylon grip comfort him.  The hum of the blade in his fingers giving a bit more before it all dribbled out of him; what he saw next caused that comfort to dissipate.

Standing not ten meters away was a beast, its head almost level with Swabbie’s own as he noted three eyes lining either side of its head.  A pair of dirty-yellow fangs hanging down at knife length from its lips, these curled back into a snarl as it exposed a double row of interlocking canines around.  Swabbie swallowed as it prodded forward once more, body lowering down into a threatening stance as a flanging growl escaping out as the rest of its body could be seen.  It was massive, at least nine feet long with six legs each tipped off in a paw that looked like it could tear a man’s head clean off.  The guttural growls continued, white fur standing on end across its back as a single brown stripe became visible on the beasts grown. 

“Tesla….”  Swabbie hissed trying to get her attention, now seeing it crouching down, getting ready to pounce on the princess.  Tail standing straight up looking more like a battering ram than anything else; Swabbie had never known fear like this.  Yet, someone was depending on him and he had only three options at this point. 

A.       Charge the beast, giving Tesla time to run.

B.     Run leaving Tesla behind.

C.     Grab Tesla and run.

Page 4 repost and Update 18

Reality collapsed in on the Swabbie in a moment of heart-wrenching, fear inducing cataclysm on his mentality; nothing in life could have prepared him to make such an on the spot decision.  Yet, there was something, nagging him in the back of his mind, no it was forcing itself onto him and demanding that he choose the mountainous world of frost over the others.  Eyes still clamped shut as his flat cap went flying off his head and onto the floor, the ship entering what felt like the thousandth roll; Swabbie couldn’t help but scream over the cries of panic from Lily and Tesla, while Garrus tried to remain calm. 

Clear that the red headed, douche-bag of a pilot was in the most control of his emotions at this point; Swabbie didn’t want to fuck anything else up by ruining his concentration as they proceeded to plummet out of space, through an atmosphere and into whatever surface that they would have to deal with.  At that point, Swabbie just let out a deep breath, keeping his hands gripped fiercely against the arm rests while he tentatively opened one eye to see them still spiraling almost completely out of control while Garrus got them closer in range to the three planets now below them.  “Garrus, get us onto the Mountainous ice planet, the landing will be the softest in the snow; just try to pile drive us down the slope of a mountain or into a snow drift.  It’s the best we can hope for.”  Speaking clearly, the male immediately pushed his head back into the seat, grasping the seat as he heard Garrus’s response.

“Aye, Aye Captain; deploying landing gears and reverting central power to the atmospheric shield; we should come in way hotter than any natural landing, but it will be better than if I just let this sucker fall straight into the ground.”  Garrus’s unnatural calm was soothing to the Swabbie, it felt like the man was going to take care of them to some degree; despite his earlier display of greed.  While he didn’t believe that he had changed in any degree, the Swabbie did admire his sense of self-preservation over everything else.  Made him think of a lab-rat working together with other animals just to save his own ass; it just made him seem all that much more untrustworthy, but he was the only person Swabbie could trust in this situation.

A sickening lurch hit his stomach; they were falling alright, heading straight down and already the heat from the atmosphere of Waquil was worming its way up his body; small beads of sweet beginning to pass over his skin slowly, running down into a slick puddle on his forearms and finger tips.  Everything felt like it was on fire, he didn’t dare to open his eyes to watch; he knew outside of the ship was nothing but a flame of friction bursting up as the entered into the foreign atmosphere.  No time to think, no time to breathe, no time to shout; it was there, they were breaching the surface now and all he could think of to do was clutch the armrests harder.

No sound, there was nothing for a moment, just the thought that they had died, that reentry had completely obliterated every fabric of their beings leaving them nothing but gelatinous puddles in the atmosphere, only to come crashing down as something akin to rain later.  He didn’t dare to breathe, only sat there in silence, the infinite darkness of his world behind his eyelids suddenly vanishing as he opened his eyes.  Life and Death hanging in the balance before him as he saw Garrus attempting to stabilize the ship while still in mid-barrel roll; the outside of the hull still glowing bright red as their descent through the atmosphere was about to end.

Yet, all Swabbie was really paying attention to was a world of dimly lit white below him; almost no light penetrating the surface as they spun.  Time slowed down as he saw a massive forest spreading out just out of the corner of his eye; while some odd plants sprouted up from the ice and snow itself, seeming to thrive off of it like a tundra plant would back on him home.  Gasping, sound returned crashing upon him like a wave, Tesla and Lily had stopped screaming, while Tesla was reciting something in her own language, Lily had proceeded to begin whimpering uncontrollably.  Garrus meanwhile had only turned his head toward the Swabbie for an instant, noticing that his eyes were open before tilting his head back to the situation in front of him.

Alarms buzzing, the shrill cry of the electronic sirens continually screeching into their ears while the sound of the air rushing past them outside only further illustrated the point that they were going down; suddenly, the world became white once more, their nose dive leveling out as they came down onto the side of the mountain that had been the most notable portion for Garrus upon entry.  Metal crunching and scramping against solid stone and ice met their ears, the landing gear being torn completely off the escape vessel as they began to slide furiously over the surface of the mountain; descending down the slope at a rate of speed few could track. 

Friction and heat began to melt the ice away, leaving them with nothing but rocks to hammer away at them while the trail of water poured over them, causing an avalanche as they fell.  A cloud of pure white snow raged down at them, turning into a raging river as it attempted to pummel them; sliding after them as their descent suddenly met a road block, a massive chunk of ice directly in their path.  

No longer  able to steer, Garrus’s finger tips merely clutched the wheel into a death grip, the coloration of his fingers disappearing as both he and the Swabbie’s clothing had already been saturated from the sweat that accumulated on entry.  “Well Captain, it was an honor to serve you…I salute you and pray that our deaths might be swift.”  As Garrus said this, he pulled back releasing the wheel completely, crossing himself once and bowing his head with his eyes closed; Swabbie meanwhile only rose an eyebrow at his display shaking his head before speaking.

“Shouldn’t pray to a God you don’t believe in Garrus, only going to give him more incentive to have whatever warden of your hell is shove a pitchfork up your ass with no lubrication.”  Stating this as he already knew that Garrus had no real religious affiliation and merely dabbled from time to time; he knew that prayer was nothing more than a hollow attempt to please any celestial being out there before he passed away.  The son of bitch was looking out for himself to the bitter end it seemed; as that thought rushed through his mind, the nose of the ship collided with the chunk of ice.  Swabbie merely closed his eyes again at this point, waiting for a shard of it to pierce his heart or brain, but that didn’t come; instead, the piece of ice shattered in front of them, the bottom of the ship being lifted up and sent air borne leaving both Swabbie and Garrus screaming in shock as they started to drop once more.

“Grab the fucking wheel Garrus!   Grab it and try to steer us!”

“What the hell do you think I’m trying to do!?”  The pilot screamed back in response before they began to barrel roll down the side of the mountain once more, the slope bottoming out and running flat, but by this point they were already rolling once again.  Metal screeched, the girls both screamed and the men followed suit as crunch after crunch responded out; ice shattering around them as craters were formed before finally it all stopped.  Everything was silent, the ship now battered and far worse for the wear laid resting in the center of a field of vibrantly glowing flowers; where surprisingly little snow had stuck to the ground.   Tendrils of smoke rose from the wreckage of their ship before the shot, left-side engine fell completely off of the ship; leaving only a smoking, flaming piece of metal laying on the ground. 

“Oh…God, my head…”  Swabbie groaned, fairly certain he had suffered a concussion, but was glad that he could at least move most of his body without much trouble.  Glancing over ever thing, he was suddenly extremely thankful for all the safety equipment that they packed into these escape vehicles.  Still, it didn’t occur to him that he was alive until he saw Garrus’s smug face patting himself down, then congratulate himself.

“I am the greatest pilot ever!”  Garrus laughed loudly, arrogance seeping through his voice as the Swabbie stared at him with utter contempt before unbuckling himself, turning slowly and slugging the pilot as hard as he could directly onto his nose.  Pulling back and shaking off his hand, as it now ached from the blow, he could noticed that there was blood staining them; looking back down, he was thankful to see it was from Garrus’s nose.  “WHAT THE FUCK SWABBIE!?”

“That’s for being a bastard.  Now stop your bitching and give me a damage report on the ship.”  Stating this with a cold stare, the pilot merely rose his shoulders slowly and began to punch through some numbers into the onboard computer, which was always the most protected part of the ship, seeing as it controlled just about everything that kept everyone alive during flight.  Garrus only stared at him with venom in his eyes before sneering lightly. 

“Going to take some time for the system to register everything that just happened, we damn near overloaded it ‘CAPTAIN’. “  Swabbie only stared back for a moment, before popping his knuckles lightly, causing the pilot to flinch before looking it back over, quivering.  “I’ll….let you know when its down configuring everything.  Sorry.”

“You’re about useless to me right now Garrus…you’ll get respect when you have a ship you can fly; till then, you’re just another grunt like I used to be…only you never taught yourself how to fight or bothered to exercise.”  Shooting Garrus a ‘I have you right where I want you grin,’ the Swabbie left the cock pit and looked in on the two women he had agreed to take in exchange for all of the money they currently had;  Tesla was already out of her seat, having unstrapped herself and righted her clothing, she was hovering over Lily who had a laceration just above her eye brow that had been bleeding profusely moment before.  From the looks of things, Tesla had removed a spare strip of clothing, which was barely none existent before and used it to clean up and put pressure on the stain.  “Are you two alright?”

Swabbie’s voice was careful at this point, he didn’t try to make himself sound more masculine, nor did he bother to put on a show of over-caring, but it was clear that he was at least concerned about them.  Lily’s green eyes caught hold of Swabbie’s own, blinking a few times before she blushed again and nodded slowly then pointed to Tesla.  Her own voice, shy and withdraw from the moment as she fidgeted in her seat slowly.  “The princess took care of me, it was just a cut…nothing serious…the bleeding should stop soon enough.”  As soon as she had finished, Lily pulled her head away slowly, maneuvering  in what Swabbie would have called an embarrassed fashion towards the emergency cabinet opening it slowly and pulling out a med-kit.

The white box with a red cross on it sat lightly in Lily’s hands as she opened it slowly and retrieving a few bandages and began to bind the wound to her skull slowly, her hands gingerly going about it.  Before she could go any further though, the Swabbie was already kneeling beside her; grasping the bandages and doing them up for her.  “Does it hurt when I apply pressure Lily?”

“Umm…a little.”  She whispered softly, biting her lip as she noticed Tesla watching with interested eyes, measuring the pair up slowly before sauntering back to her seat to sit down.

“Swabbie!  I’ve got a damage report for you.  Most of the life support systems are still up, namely the gravity controls are up, the heat is slightly working which will make this place bearable if slightly uncomfortable and we’ve got enough power to last us for a week and a half.  That’s the good news, bad news is…just about everything else is demolished; the engines are blown, we’re about out of fuel which has been spread across the ice and probably most of the atmosphere at this point.  Our ability to take off is gone and we’re left with nothing more than a sitting pile of junk; if I had some parts I might be able to jerry rig the ship up enough to get us to Roshire, but the best bet here is to wait for a rescue or try to find something on this planet.”  Sigh as he ended the statement, Garrus stood in the doorway of the cockpit, feet pressing up against one side while his back leaned against the other.  “Still…these things aren’t really stocked with food, we forgot to grab that on our way out; so we’ll need that.  I know there are some heavy coats stocked into the emergency cabinet along with a fire extinguisher and a velocity knife.”

Swabbie only looked up for a moment at Garrus, staring at him as the four of them looked at each other before all eyes fell upon him.  “You’re the Captain now kid, do what you want, I’m not getting off the ship; the planet’s gravity is twice that of Earth’s and you’re the only one here that’s equipped to go out there; those boots of yours were designed to keep in a constant homeostasis at least where gravity is involved.  So its pretty clear to me, you and Tesla are gonna be the only two that can go out there.”

Glancing back up, Swabbie could only raise an eyebrow in confusion at Garrus before looking back at Tesla.  “Her?  How can she go out there with the gravity being that high and it being that cold?”  Tesla only giggled before answering before Garrus couldn’t. 

“My species lives on a very……hostile planet at times; our bodies have evolved to shift our core temperature’s needs and disperse or focus the push of gravity onto our bodies so that we can survive nearly twenty times the current effect.  Don’t worry about me dear, I can handle myself.”  The red head giggled lightly again before looking back at Lily who had merely pulled her knees up to her chest and was hugging them before looking down at her feet.

“When you go out, I know a lot about preparing food and can cook just about anything you bring me and make it edible.  So please, do what you need to do, I believe you can keep us alive Swabbie.”  Glancing back at them for a moment, the Swabbie merely chuckled for a moment, shaking his head slowly as he picked up his flat cap from the cock pit and pulled it over his head quietly. 

“I’ll do my best, but I’m not the Swabbie anymore.  My name was always something no one ever wanted to use, something that just abandoned. To my parents, I was just son….to my teachers, I was just student 32A, to my co-workers, I was the Swabbie and to everyone else I was a nobody, a waste of space.  So I’ll discard my name and keep living on like that, but I’m not the Swabbie or the Janitor…I’m the Captain now.”  Chuckling before turning around at his little bit, he merely threw up his shoulders, grabbing the heavy coat and heat long johns out of the emergency closet before tossing the other pair to Tesla.

“Put um on, I’d feel better if you didn’t have so much flesh exposed out in the cold.”

“Yes sir, Captain.”  Tesla replied with a slightly sultry voice, a smirk coming across her features as she tore off the ribbon of red fabric that had been barely hiding her naked form from the rest of them.  Standing there completely in the buff, she looked over the Captain with a small smile, almost asking if he liked what he saw and he had to admit he did.  Her red hair falling down straight in some place with a few curls here and there wrapped around her shoulders, while her slightly pointed ears graced her elegant face with the solid black orbs of her eyes staring towards him. 

All of that being accented by her, I don’t give a shit grin, as Lily, Garrus and the Captain stared at her naked body; she was tone and fit, with not a single imperfection of her form distracting away from her beauty; her breasts, which the Captain could now tell to be slightly larger than C-cups were not only well formed, almost perfectly round, but were slightly perky, pointing upward as the nipples on the breasts poked outwards  weakly, a point she didn’t fail to expose.  Strong, yet thin arms danced around in a sort of angelic grace as she pulled the long-johns that Captain gave to her own seductively, wiggling her hips as her plump ass stretched the fabric out slightly, making it so he could see the pink of her pussy lips through the fabric as she bent over to tug the last of it up. 

Both his and Garrus’s jaws dropped at that point, the two men looking at each other just to verify it was really happening before she finished tugging up the long-johns with a bounce of her tits and ass; leaving her looking like a smug kitten.  Soon a pair of heavily padded black snow pants were yanked up over them as well, but not before she gave the group a show that would have made a stripper blush.  Her ass bobbing downwards, nearly touching the ground as she wiggled it in anticipation before pulling them upward, in a sort of reverse strip tease.  Captain would swear that he had never thought that someone putting clothes on could be so sexy. 

Rolling on a pair of socks and placing on some boots, she strutted forward towards the Captain, pressing a finger against his chest, now hidden squarely behind his heavy brown coat before running it down the puffy fabric.  “You sure you don’t want me to just go out there like this?”  She cooed to him, whispering into her ear as she brought one of his hands up to her side, aiming it for her breast before the man formerly known as Swabbie pulled back slowly.

“As much as I would love to watch you bounce around without your top on…I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to put on the shirt and the coat.”  Turning his head away to resist any temptation to do otherwise, Tesla shot him a pout before doing as he commanded without any tease this time.

“All done Captain, so what are we doing?”