Sarah hit the ground hard, landing on her still bruised tailbone, but she forced herself to swallow her screams of pain. Grom hadn’t thrown her with his full strength, and based on the surprised expression that crept across his face upon witnessing Sarah’s fall, it appeared he hadn’t even meant for her to lose her balance. His moment of shock only lasted a second or two, however, and then he immediately launched back into his tirade.

“You do not speak to me like that in front of my crew!” He paced in front of her, his breathing stunted from rage. “I am the captain, this is my ship, and you will treat me with respect!”

“What happened to all that ‘you give me hope’ crap?” Sarah got back to her feet and planted herself fearlessly. “What happened to me feeling at home here?”

“Don’t you dare mock me!” Grom rushed towards Sarah and before she knew it, he had her suspended in the air, holding her by the shoulders so she was at perfect eye level with him. “I was trying to bridge the gap between us!”

“Why?” Sarah yelled, no longer trying to worm her way out of his grip. “Why did you want to bridge the gap?”

Grom had no response. His mouth twisted with rage and confusion as he tried to come up with an acceptable answer. Finally, his frustration mounting, he threw Sarah aside, aiming for his bed, and released one of his many seething growls. He turned to look out his window and watched the stars whiz past. Sarah, who did not appreciate being ignored in the middle of an argument, threw a pillow at the side of Grom’s head. Again, quicker than a blink, he was next to her. One top of her. He had her pinned to the bed. Sarah tried to get her feet out from under his straddle in order to kick him off, but he was too heavy. He put more weight against her arms but, despite the pain, she forced her eyes open and kept them set on the Kylen. He leaned down a mere inch from her face.

“What do you want from me?” she asked, her voice exacerbated from the struggle.

There was a subtle, yet detectable shift in the storm clouds of Grom’s eyes. He was hungry, but not for the kill. He pulled back just a little, then removed all space between himself and Sarah. His kiss was rough, desperate, and at first, Sarah did not kiss back. Then, overtaken by some angry, animalistic instinct that started in her belly but quickly melted throughout her entire body, Sarah surrendered to the passion.

While their tongues played tag, Grom eventually released his tight grip on Sarah’s arms and ran his hands eagerly across her body. He undid the belt holding closed her coat as she reached for the button of his pants. Various items of clothing were thrown about the room, and during the chaos Sarah found her way on top of Grom. They were both naked, and Sarah noted, with a silent prayer of relief, that Grom’s humanoid shape did in fact apply to everything below the belt. She could feel his excitement growing underneath her and he greedily cupped her breasts in his hands. Their mouths found each other again, and one of Grom’s hands found its way between Sarah’s legs. He rubbed her gently with two of his fingers, careful not to get any his claws involved. She pulled her mouth off of his to let escape a soft moan.

He flipped them both over and scanned her body sprawled out on the bed underneath him. She allowed her hand to wander, and, after stroking his member a few times, she guided him inside of her. Sarah was far from a virgin, but it had been a while since she’d had a man, and Grom was larger than she was used to. She gasped as he entered her, and he stopped to make sure she was okay. Without saying anything, Sarah kissed him again and hungrily wrapped her legs around his waist.

With each thrust, Sarah’s moans grew louder. She grabbed at Grom’s flesh as if she would fall off a ledge were she to let go. She savored the taste of his mouth as if it were her last meal. Grom’s breathing began to get short as both of them came close to climaxing. Sarah dug her nails into the Kylen shoulder and released a heavy, satisfied sigh as he pushed himself inside her one final time and finished.

He let himself fall on top of her, still inside her, for a few seconds while the two caught their breath. Only then, as she lay underneath Grom’s massive blue form, sweaty and still aching from pleasure, did it begin to dawn on Sarah what had just happened. Grom must’ve experienced a similar epiphany, for he quickly disentangled himself from Sarah and got out of the bed. The two stared at each other with intense embarrassment. Without saying anything, Grom quickly put his pants on, glanced awkwardly at Sarah one last time, and hurriedly left the room.

Sarah’s legs grazed the cold, wet spot she had left behind on the sheets as she wistfully dragged herself from the bed. She got dressed in a shameful silence, her mind racing to find an explanation for the past five minutes, but to no avail. Once fully dressed, Sarah walked towards the door of Grom’s chambers, but before leaving, she turned back to get one last look at the amazing view out the window.

Grom’s little outburst in the kitchen had sent the rest of the crew into a sort of frenzy. The knowledge that the human girl was likely being tortured, beaten, or taken, had sent a tantalizing charge throughout the group of horrendous criminals, and this charge quickly turned into a full on electrical storm as crewmembers started drinking and roughhousing.

Nickle nervously made his way down the hall towards Wex’s room. He kept his head down and did his best not to acknowledge any of the drunken, rowdy crew members who passed him. Shouts of rage, shrieks of laughter, and the sound of shattered bottles washed throughout the ship. Nickle heard someone talking very loudly around the corner, slurring her words.

“You know, I alwaaays had a thin’ for pilots.” Nickle could tell it was Reema. He hesitated before turning the corner. “I can’t belieeeeve we’ve never done this before.”

“Reema,” Slick answered, “we’ve done this twice before.”

“Oh.” Reema broke into a fit of laughter, then said, “I guess you’re jus’ not tha’ memorable.”

“Oh, you want memorable.” Nickle heard the sound of buttons being pushed on a keypad. “I’ll show you memorable.” He heard the door open, a final squeal of excitement from Reema, then silence. No wonder she had that STD, Nickle thought to himself as he passed the pilot’s chambers.

Practically running the last few hundred feet to Wex’s room, Nickle was nearly out of breath while he punched random numbers into the keypad.

Wex was sitting at his desk, tinkering with the transmitter.

“What the hell is going on?” Nickle asked as he quickly threw the door shut behind him.

“The hell if I know.” Wex didn’t look up from his work.

“You’ve been out there though, right?” The doctor threw his body heavily onto Wex’s bunk. “It’s a madhouse!”

“Yeah, well, you keep a bunch of hyper violent, hyper sexual criminals locked up in a confined space long enough, things are bound to boil over eventually.”

“I guess. I just don’t understand what set them off.”

Wex put the transmitter down. He turned to Nickle, his face heavy with emotion.

“What is it?” Nickle pulled himself into a sitting position.

“I’m not entirely sure what happened.” Wex looked down at his hands. “But earlier, I heard some commotion in the kitchen, and when I poked my head out, I saw Gram dragging Sarah into his chambers.”

“Dragging?” Nickle’s eyes were suddenly also drawn to Wex’s hands.

“She was kicking and screaming. I saw her face as he dragged her through his bedroom door. She looked terrified.”

The two were silent for some time. Wex went back to distracting himself with the transmitter while Nickle laid back down on the bed. The doctor tried not to think about what Grom could possibly be doing to his friend, but horrific images kept flashing through his mind before he could push them away.

A pounding on the door startled them both.

“Open up, Wex! It’s Jent!”

They shot each other a worried glance. Neither of them moved. There came a second series of pounding.

“Wex, I know you’re in there! I swear to god if you don’t open this door right now—”

“Just a second!” Wex called. He threw the transmitter into his desk drawer and looked expectantly at Nickle.

“What?” Nickle asked.

“Hide!” Wex whispered.

“Hide?”

“Yes, hide.” Wex pointed under the bunk. “Jent has been sniffing around you and Sarah like a dog looking for a bone. I don’t want him to see us colluding together as well.”

“What the hell is taking so long?” Jent’s voice echoed throughout Wex’s very empty bedroom.

“Get under the bunk!”

Nickle did as he was told. Wex arranged his blanket over the side of the bed so that Jent wouldn’t be able to see underneath, then opened the door.

“Sorry about that, Jent.” Nickle could see through the inch or two of space between the blanket and the floor. The Selachi pushed past Wex and immediately threw himself down on the bed. The springs of the bunk screamed as it took on Jent’s immense weight. Its form sunk deep enough so that one of the springs was just barely grazing Nickle’s ear.

“What the hell is going on out there?” Jent asked.

“That’s the question on everyone’s mind it seems.” Wex sat back down at his desk.

“Huh?”

“Never mind.” Nickle could faintly hear the sound of Wex cracking his knuckles. “I don’t exactly know what’s going on.”

“I’ve heard like three different stories!” Jent moved further into the bed and leaned his back up against the wall. “Somebody said Grom rung the human girl’s neck, right there in the kitchen, others are saying she beat him in a fight and now she’s in charge. Seriously, and those aren’t even the dumbest ones I’ve heard.”

Wex laughed awkwardly. “Well, you know how this crew can be.”

“Stupid?”

“Exactly.”

Jent let out a small chuckle. “So you really have no idea what happened?”

“No, not really. All I saw was the captain take the human girl away to his chambers.”

Jent was quiet for a moment. He changed positions yet again. Nickle held his breath while the bunk moved about. “He took her back to his chambers?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Well was he gonna kill her?”

“I don’t know.” The air in the room had shifted, and Nickle could tell Wex was trying to bring back the lightheartedness that was present just moments before. “I’m sure he’ll have a go with her once or twice before he offs her though.”

Jent didn’t laugh. “Is that what you think they’re doing?”

“Like I said,” Wex stood up, “I don’t know. Why don’t you go ask him yourself?”

Jent took his time standing up. “Yeah, maybe I will. I think it’s time I pay our Captain a visit.”

“Uh, right, sure.” Wex opened the door. “Tell him I say hi!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Jent walked out of the room and just before Wex closed the door, Nickle overheard the Selachi saying, “I’ll pay him a visit alright. I just have to find the perfect congratulatory present.