PYRR
Sharing sex with Scarlet was so good, I didn’t think anything could feel better until I claimed her. “Scarlet Andrews, you are my mate now,” I said softly, looking down into her eyes.
“And you are now my mate, Pyrron Avantu,” she murmured back.
“As long as I draw breath,” I repeated the solmatu pledge.
“As long as I draw breath,” she repeated, her gaze fixed on mine.
I smiled at her and kissed her again. I realized that there were many things we had yet to learn about each other, but I was feeling too elated to think about that just then. We were too enthralled by the effects of the mating pheromones that we could think of nothing else but mating again, long and slow.
It took another ten days after our mating day to reach Halor with only about five more days of routine weapons and armor cleaning and maintenance. Even Admiral Degatu had no mundane, utterly boring tasks to fill our time. That was because we were fastidiously efficient in the upkeep of our equipment and the ship.
I mated Scarlet at least a couple times a day, and we savored each other at length. I couldn’t ask for a more responsive and sensual mate. More than lovers, we have also become friends. I enjoy just being with her. I gave her a crash course in Farseek history and our culture. Although we were far ahead of her planet Earth in technology, our lifestyle was not as far removed from hers as that of Halor.
Where Earth was divided into multiple factions called countries, Farseek was a unified world governed by representatives elected by each province. The provinces, in turn, had a certain amount of autonomy on local issues. Our world was part of the Consortium. They provided us with technology, and we provided them with agricultural products and warriors to defend against the Sargus Empire.
The Empire itself was not innately evil. What was evil was their practice of slavery. The Sargans bought and sold slaves provided to them by the Picans who kidnapped them from their homeworlds. Their elitist monarchy and consisted on feudal Lords that ruled the various planets of the Empire. Like the Consortium each of their worlds provided soldiers to fight for the Empire. To those in power, slave ownership was their right. Their trouble with the Consortium started when they began raiding worlds in that sector for slaves and leaving them in ruin.
Attempts at a diplomatic solution failed repeatedly. The Sargans didn’t trust their machines to replace their slaves. Machines couldn’t be tortured, drugged or coerced into compliance. There were those sadistic owners who enjoyed the process of enforcing their wishes on their slaves.
The Consortium knew all of this. It makes me angry at how they left our world defenseless while we fought for them. None of my family members remained among the handful of survivors we found there. All of them were gone, and we didn’t know the any of their fates.
The profound loss of family and friends made finding Scarlet precious in my life. Even though I have yet to say the words out loud, I began to fall in love with her almost as soon as I scented that she was solmatu. I suppose I romanticized our connection a bit, but I attributed it to the recent loss of my family. I felt like I was drowning in my grief and Scarlet threw me a lifeline.
I think Scarlet had some of the same feelings as I did for different reasons. Although her family was already gone, she was traumatized by being abducted from what life she had begun to make for herself. That familiar, the animal she called a dog, was family to her. Even if I could get her back to Earth right now, she might never find what happened to him. It probably feels no different to her than I feel about my family. The Sargus Empire covers a lot of space in this part of the galaxy. We have a few leads on places to look, but no information about who was taken where or who had already died.
I hadn’t completely given up hope that I would find any of my family, but I faced the reality that I might never find any of them. It was the same for most all the Farseek Warrior Brigade. Some of my friends were jealous even that I found my solmatu, amid all their losses. But it gave them hope, too, that they might find solmatu in our travels. Solmatu did not have to be Uatu. Two of us had already found them among women from an unknown world.
Scarlet never said she loved me when she agreed to be my mate, but she desired me and preferred my company. When we mated, I felt loved even though she never spoke the words. I didn’t say them either. She always greeted me heartily when we had been apart, lavishing me with affection, and let me know without words that she wished to mate. So, even though we didn’t say the words, it was clear that we were happy being together.
When we reached Halor, I think it finally hit Scarlet and her friends that they were in a different reality from their homeworld. Halor was altogether different than Farseek both in culture and architecture.
“This is like an alternate universe from a sci-fi movie,” Scarlet said as we caught a shuttle tram just outside Halor starport. “These buildings look more like ultra- modern sculptures than businesses.”
“That building is divided into housing units.” I pointed to an opaque crystal structure. It was a non-traditional building with no delineation of windows visible from outside. “The area we’re in now is integrated with high-end housing and businesses. Outside the city are more traditional houses but very luxurious and expensive.”
“What are people going to think when they see us dressed like this?” Scarlet mused aloud. “All I have on is a frigging t-shirt.”
“Don’t worry, we are going straight to the clothing factory to dress all of you properly before we go to the clinic,” I told her. “There are no other passengers on this tram, and no one else will see you before we get to the factory store.”
It took barely fifteen minutes to get from the starport to the clothing outlet. My friend Tahvoe Brintu and I accompanied the ten females that chose to remain with us, including the Commander’s mate. Commander Maktu was delivering Kyanna Guryon and her friend to her father and collecting our fee. He planned to catch up with us at the biochip clinic.
I went with Scarlet when she dressed in one of her new outfits. She chose a short-sleeved tunic and pants then flipped through the pile looking for something.
“There’s no underwear and no socks,” she said with a frown.
“Well, darlin’ you’ve helped me off with my clothes enough to know I don’t wear any,” I told her with a chuckle.
“I just thought that was by choice. What’s going to hold these up?” She cupped her ample breasts.
“These are made from ‘smart’ fabric, unlike the inner shirts we wear for leisure. The size and weight of your lovely breasts were programmed into the design of your tunics. You won’t require undergarments,” I explained to her. Granted the Uatu females were not as well-endowed as Scarlet, but it wouldn’t matter. “Put them on and see how they feel.”
She gave me a look. “Are you just going to stand there and watch me?”
“You are my mate. I’ve seen every inch of your beautiful, naked body. It gives me pleasure to see it.”
“You are lucky I like you,” she muttered. She crossed her arms and gripped the hem of her shirt and pulled it off over her head in one slick move. Then she flashed me a look that told me I should not say a word, so I looked her in the eyes and smiled at her. Just thinking about lower made my cock twitch.
She pulled the new tunic over her head and adjusted her breasts inside it. The tunic was the same length as the borrowed shirt she wore. Each one had an inner liner that adhered to her breasts and provided the support she desired.
“You’re right. What about the pants?”
“They have a self-cleaning inner liner for any secretions you might have,” I said matter-of-factly.
“Nicely put,” she winked at me and pulled them on. She turned in a circle and said, “what do you think?”
“I think you’re beautiful whatever you wear or don’t wear,” I told her. That got me a delightful hug with her body pressed tight against mine and a wickedly promising kiss. I suspected I would be helping her off with those new clothes soon after we got back to our cabin.