The next morning Alex did help Tracht get dressed, and he got bread and sausage fed to him in little pieces from Tracht’s fingers. Some part of his mind was protesting, but at this point Alex was happy to not be drinking piss.
He even got a proper uniform of sorts to wear while they were out, better than the simple tunic he’d worn before.
“You’ll serve coffee like you did before, of course, and see if you can’t take a few notes while we’re out. I’ll check them when we get back. If you do a good job, I might reward you.” Tracht handed the same porn-filled tablet to Alex and showed him the note app.
“What happens if you don’t like my notes?” Alex asked while he typed a few test words.
“Then maybe you really aren’t good for anything but fucking and looking beautifully tortured.” Tracht sighed loudly. “Though quite honestly, I’ve tried quite a few assistants and they’ve all irritated me. I don’t think even you could do much worse. At least I get to take my frustrations out on you at the end of the day.”
Alex tensed at the implication, but Tracht didn’t seem inclined to do anything more at the moment. Tracht snapped at him to hurry up, and they made their way to the ship’s control area, or whatever it was called. Alex had been there before, during the first few days, and he still felt awkward. Several of the crew gave him side-eyed stares, while others pointedly ignored him.
He recognized the one lady too—right, Espinosa. He’d met her on the first day, and she was giving him the same glare now that she had back then, in between conversing with Tracht about the day’s business. From the way the two of them were talking, it sounded like Espinosa was the second in command. Alex had enough trouble keeping up with what they were saying and making notes. He wasn’t even sure what kind of notes Tracht wanted, so he tried to put everything down. Couldn’t Tracht just record all this sh–stuff?
He followed the two of them as they did a tour of the ship to inspect... things? Alex had no idea what they were really talking about. They pointed out random spots that looked fine to Alex, but he wrote down ‘fix this’ in his notes and hoped somebody would know what the h—heck that meant.
It would have been boring if Alex wasn’t so intent on making sure he got everything written down. He had never been a huge fan of reading or writing, so it required a lot of his concentration. And Tracht really wasn’t making any concessions for Alex knowing next to nothing about space ships.
The tour finally ended in Tracht’s office, which was off the ship’s main control room. Espinosa excused herself to take care of whatever it was she did, and Tracht settled down in the large swivel chair.
“Go make me a cup of coffee,” Tracht demanded. Alex bristled at the tone, but Tracht wasn’t even looking at him. He was flipping through his own tablet, lost in thought.
The coffee machine was one of those super fancy ones with a million buttons. Tracht had shown Alex how to use it on their first day together, but Alex’s memory of it was fuzzy. Thankfully, he managed to figure it out. He did taste-test it first, just in case, but it seemed like it would be okay? Alex wasn’t sure what made coffee good. If Tracht wanted better coffee, he’d have to make it himself.
Alex’s hands shook a little as he brought the cup over, and he hated that he actually sighed in relief when Tracht seemed to like it, or at least didn’t hate it.
Nick would be laughing at Alex the coffee boy right now. But whatever. What was Nick even doing now? How was he going to scam people without Alex to back him up and protect him when he invariably got into trouble?
“Alex!”
Alex startled to attention. Tracht was frowning at him and holding his hand out. “The notes.”
Alex fumbled the app open and handed the tablet over to Tracht.
“While I read this, you can make yourself useful.” Tracht pushed his chair away from the desk and spread his legs wide.
Oh fu—frick. Alex swallowed and remembered last night. He unconsciously shook his head.
“Alex. Get on your knees.” The admonishing tone sent a frisson of fear up Alex’s spine. The morning had been going so well. Alex couldn’t think of anything he’d done to displease Tracht.
“Wh-why?” Alex backed away towards the wall.
“Because I say so. Alex, do not make me force you. I’m not actually in the mood right now.”
Not in the mood to what? Hurt Alex? Humiliate him? Piss in his mouth? Rip out his tooth?
With a shudder, Alex slowly walked over to the desk and got on his knees between Tracht’s legs. He flinched when Tracht reached out to pet him, and got a hard tug on his hair in retaliation.
“Unzip me and take my cock out.”
Alex did as he was told, and it scared him that Tracht wasn’t actually hard. Because if he were hard, this would obviously be a blowjob. Soft, Tracht could—Alex swallowed and averted his gaze so he didn’t have to look at the soft cock.
Tracht scooted the chair closer and pushed Alex’s mouth towards his crotch. “Take me in your mouth. Do not attempt to get me hard, just hold me in your mouth. Keep my cock nice and warm, Alex.”
Was that a trick of some sort? Alex couldn’t imagine wanting anybody to just hold his dick in their mouths without doing anything. It sounded easy, but so many things Tracht wanted had sounded easy and ended up being terrible in some way. Another tug on his hair told him he was better off doing what he was told, so he opened his mouth and took the soft dick into his mouth.
He waited for another stream of piss to drown him in nastiness, but there was nothing. Literally, once Alex had his mouth around Tracht’s dick, Tracht settled in to read the tablet. On occasion he petted Alex or rubbed his ears, but he didn’t thrust forward or hurt Alex.
It wasn’t easy though. Alex had to keep his mouth open and take care not to let Tracht’s dick slip out, and he definitely didn’t want to accidentally hurt him with his teeth. Drool started dripping out of the corners of his mouth. The first time he tried to wipe it away, Tracht batted at his hand. Okay then. Alex closed his eyes and tried to ignore the grossness.
Every breath he took came with a large whiff of Tracht’s musk, and Tracht’s thighs warmed his body. Alex’s knees ached a bit, but shifting around would have dislodged Tracht. Another thing he just had to endure.
Alex tried to imagine Tracht actually being happy for a change. It didn’t really seem possible. Except last night Tracht had given him that pastry, right? And they’d left the gym when Parsons showed up. Like, yeah, Tracht had made Alex apologize but they’d left after Alex requested it. And walking around today hadn’t been so bad. Oh, and Tracht had let Alex sleep in the bed with him last night. That had been nice too.
The pain in Alex’s knees turned a bit sharper, the ache in his jaw a bit more pronounced. If Alex endured this, maybe Tracht would keep letting Alex walk around the ship.
Tracht ran his fingers through Alex’s hair, soothing, and murmured some words Alex couldn’t make out. Alex had the sense he should have been objecting, but his concentration was focused on keeping his mouth slack and shifting minutely to alleviate the tension in his knees. His eyes slipped open briefly; Tracht was still tapping on the tablet.
Alex closed his eyes again.
He didn’t know how long he’d been sitting there. Time kind of floated on, and it wasn’t until the door opened that he gained awareness of his surroundings—and his body—again.
“Captain!”
Tracht’s legs shifted lightly and the chair slid closer, boxing Alex in neatly underneath the desk. The desk had a solid base that was bolted to the floor, so whoever had come in wouldn’t be able to see Alex at all. Okay. No need to worry.
Spit dribbled down Alex’s chin and landed on Tracht’s chair.
“Ms. Espinosa. Did you speak with engineering?” Tracht leaned forward and propped himself up on his elbows.
“I did, sir. Chief Engineer Maler is going to make sure maintenance happens more regularly, and he apologizes deeply for the oversight.” Espinosa paused. “Is your bondservant not here?”
“I have him occupied with a task,” Tracht answered, completely calm. Alex would have laughed if he didn’t have his mouth stuffed with cock.
Alex heard Espinosa approach. “Sir, are you sure he can be trusted? He looks even more, um, uncivilized than the last one.”
Well fuck her. Alex tensed and was half ready to leap out from under the desk. Tracht pressed his legs against Alex’s side to keep him in place though, which was warning enough. Fine. Alex would have to sit there and listen to her badmouth him. Bitch.
“I assure you, Ms. Espinosa, that Alex is perfectly suited for the task I picked him for. You have no need to worry about his integrity. I would never jeopardize the ship in any way; you know that.” There was a hint of an edge in Tracht’s voice, and Alex warmed to hear it.
“Yes. Of course. I didn’t mean to overstep.” She sounded chastised, at least. “Um, engineering also expressed concerns over the engine’s fuel consumption. It might be time to look into upgrading.”
“Naturally.” Tracht leaned backwards and sighed. Alex found his nose pressed right against Tracht’s pubic hair. “Can you get me more details on the issue? See if engineering has any suggestions. Though we’ll probably have to wait until we’re in comm-space again to do a proper analysis.”
“Yes, sir.” There was a moment of awkward silence, and then Espinosa left.
Once the door shut behind her, Tracht started chuckling. He pushed the chair away and pulled himself out of Alex’s mouth. “That was fun,” Tracht said. “You wanted to fight her, didn’t you?”
Alex sat down on his ass and groaned at finally being off his knees. “Yeah. She’s a—” and right, no way was Alex cussing out loud. He settled on, “She’s full of herself.”
For some reason Tracht smiled even wider. “You were very, very good, Alex.” He pulled a tissue from a box on the desk and wiped his cock off, then tucked himself away again. He used the same tissue to wipe Alex’s face, which was gross, but not enough for Alex to protest it.
“And your notes were tolerable. I’ve transferred them to my own tablet and left you comments, so you can take the time to read them and, perhaps, learn how to improve.” Tracht stood and stretched his arms. “Shall we get lunch?”
Alex’s stomach grumbled, and he quickly nodded. He had no idea why Tracht was suddenly in such a good mood, but he wasn’t going to question it.
===
The canteen was a lot more crowded now than when they’d been docked, with around twenty people already seated at booths in small groups. They all looked up when he and Tracht entered, but that was about the extent of their acknowledgment.
Tracht led them to the serving line. “Good afternoon, Ms. Durmaz. What’s on the menu today?”
The cook smiled briefly. “Good afternoon, Captain. I made moussaka, fried chicken, and a vegetarian lasagna. What will you be having?”
Tracht selected the moussaka for himself and the veggie lasagna for Alex, and then had Alex carry the tray with both meals to an empty booth. Alex wasn’t all that surprised that they sat alone; nobody wanted to dine with the boss. Still, it was weird that they were even here at all. This was the first time they’d eaten in the canteen, not just taken their food and gone back to Tracht’s cabin.
“Something on your mind, Alex?” Tracht asked.
“Nope.” Alex quickly shoveled the lasagna into his mouth. He’d kind of wanted the fried chicken instead, but he definitely wasn’t going to complain and risk getting nothing to eat at all.
They ate in silence for a while, until Singh and a man with a full beard approached with their trays in hand. Singh took the seat next to Alex, while the bearded guy sat down next to Tracht.
“Dr. Singh, Mr. Strobel. How are things?”
Alex was afraid that Singh would try to grope him under the table, but she kept her hands to herself.
“I set a broken finger today,” Singh said. “Giehl somehow slammed an access panel onto it.”
“Is he going to be able to perform his duties?” Tracht said, frowning lightly. “Otherwise I’ll tell him to consult with Ms. Espinosa to rearrange shifts to something he can manage.”
That was actually kind of understanding of him. Alex had expected Tracht to rail about stupidity or useless employees.
“Should be fine, it was the pinky on his off hand. But I shouldn’t bore you with my patients when we’re off duty.” Singh turned her attention to Strobel. “Bernd was telling me we might get to see two asteroids collide.”
At this, Strobel grinned widely. “That’s right. Maybe you can convince the captain that we should make a party of it. Once in a lifetime event!”
“Not that I don’t understand your enthusiasm, Mr. Strobel, but beyond my own disinterest, we simply don’t have a suitable venue for such a viewing party.”
“We can hold it in the bridge! Well, we’d have to, since those are the only windows large enough.”
Tracht’s eyebrows flew up. “The bridge? Absolutely not. The security concerns alone!”
“It’ll be fine. We’ll lock down the controls so nobody can accidentally push anything. I’ll have the screens showing a magnified version, and anybody who wants can look out the windows. And if you’re there, you can make sure nobody’s touching anything.”
Strobel and Tracht discussed it some more, going back and forth on the merits of Tracht making an appearance and officially sanctioning such a viewing party.
It all just left Alex confused. Finally, during a brief lull, Alex blurted out, “Is that special?”
Everybody turned their attention to Alex.
“Is it special. Is it special! Asteroids don’t just collide every day,” Strobel said. “They’re thousands of kilometers apart! Statistically, yes, they eventually collide, but we’re talking about statistics stretched across billions of years. In one human lifetime? You’re unlikely to ever see it. The people on Pylos or any of the space stations, they wouldn’t ever be able to see this. None of the space research stations are actively monitoring this region of space. We’re going to be the only ones to witness the collision. This is a kind of rebirth for the asteroids, as two large ones break into smaller pieces.”
He paused, apparently realizing that his voice had risen a bit. The few crew members in the room were staring.
Singh’s laugh broke the tension, and she glanced at Tracht. “Come on. That was a pretty compelling argument. You can’t be antisocial all the time.”
“That’s what Anna always says, and you’re both wrong.” Tracht sighed loudly. “Fine. Arrange the viewing party, I’ll be there. With Alex, since he’s so interested. And with that, if you’ll excuse us…”
Alex was bewildered about what had just happened, but he quickly grabbed the trays and cleaned up. He wasn’t sure about asteroid collisions, but he sure hoped that this didn’t put Tracht in a bad mood.