Aurora Awakening – Part 6

The Key Room is about as much fun as you can have on a deep space rig, and that’s saying something. You do simulations when you’re getting your fixing degree, of course, but nothing even comes close to the real thing.

I rousted Fa hopearly, partly out of necessity and partly so she could see me turn and drop my towel and start dressing as she woke up. Fa was’t the only one learning things around here.  I couldn’t finish dressing until Fa stepped into the bathroom to shower, though – in fact, I had to hop out of my fullsuit and start again. I needed to  do some prep that I didn’t want Fa to see.

We scaffed our breakfast and barely even took the time to laugh at the poor horticults, who were still up from the night before and taking just a nanobreak to eat before rushing back to make sure all the plants were properly secured before the artifical grav got turned off. The mess crew was in a similar bind, and even though Fa and I got to mess hopearly, they still hustled us out. No mind, though – I was eager to get to the Key Room, and Fa was so nervous and excited about her first planet blast that she almost forgot I was up to something. Almost.

Blasting planet is the most stress a deep space rig ever has on it – when you’re pulling off a space station, of course, you just unhitch and use the minis to puff you out into a clear lane. But when you blast, you have a whole planet’s gravitational pull to escape.

Even with a full fixer crew, there’s almost too much to keep track of – all the systems, all at once. That’s why the Key Room is as dead-center as it can be. They describe it to first-years as panels and panels – readout panels, of course, and then panels covering access crawls right next to them. Something looks off, you’d better be scrambling lightquick through the access crawl to get straight to the system room you need.

You have to be at your best, sure as thumping, but the fact that your brain is lit up in every direction only makes the fun of the zero-G even more intense. 

And watching Fa really experience it for the first time made it fun all over again. Once we got to the Key Room (and I made her skaff an anti-nauseal), I ran her through a few basic drills, then had her stow her boots for the stuff the books don’t teach you. It’s hop against regs to be barefoot in the Key Room, but I wouldn’t want to blast planet any other way. It’s easier to climb and scramble around, and you can pick up a surprising amount of information through your feet. It’s well worth risking a cut. And it played pretty well into my plans.

I took Fa into the downside middle of the room just before the artificial grav went off so I could watch her face as she felt the sensation of her feet no longer being married to the floor. I helped her kick up into the center of the room, then showed her some basic maneuvers for antigrav. It’s not about getting used to your body not having a prejudice as to direction anymore – getting where you want to go is harder than you think at first.

Once Fa had her bearings, I drilled her on spinning out to the right panel – the trick is to find a point in the room to focus on and get your body used to spinning out from there – and then I pinged up to the bridge to let them know that Fa was ready for some simulations. She got hemigood at flipping herself to the right panel, and then I had her blam one open and try to scramble down an access crawl. She got tangled up with bumping into the sides more than she went forward, as any rookie fixer will do.

Fa got frustrated with herself, but that gave way to shock when I climbed in, planted her arms around my waist, and showed her how to move, planting your hands and feet wide and in a rhythm that corkscrews you forward instead of constantly crashing your back into the opposite wall. It’s actually faster than runging yourself along a ladder if you do it right, so most ships keep the crawl just that – a smooth, flat crawl. The fact that Fa had to cling to me like a baby treehopper so we had room to move at all didn’t hurt either. She watched my face as much as my hands and feet, half radiant with happiness at me pulling her so close and half trying to figure out what in scratch I was doing. I tried not to grin, but I didn’t work.

I signaled Nav and peeled Fa off so I’d have room to pop the panel at the other end and tumble out, then I made Fa try it a few times. I brought her back into access crawl for coaching. If you’re coming out of the Key Room, something is wrong, so you have to tumble out with a look that says you mean to solve things lightquick, but not one that says you’re panicking. Fa got it. I told the Nav team we’d be ready to start preblast in 10, and they told us they’d like to take the Fix team out and get us properly hammered that night, which is a fine deep space tradition. Jerly gave me a tiny wink and a nod as I ducked back in to follow Fa back down the access crawl. I’d called in about a dozen favors for what was about to happen that day, but it was sure as thumping going to be worth it.

But there was no time to think about it for the next few hours. Readout anomalies always pop up during preblast, and Fa and I spent the next three hours moving faster than grease through a wormhole. Finally every single team and instrument on the ship was ready, the Aurora herself was ready, and Fa and I were too. Fa had had to answer several calls by herself while I worked on the emergency stuff, and I was hop proud of her. I recked we’d each have a commendation and maybe a little something extra from the mess hall coming our way.

But I don’t think either of us was thinking about that much. We were both revved high after hours of climbing past each other in tight access crawls or caroming into each other as we floated and zinged around the Key Room. Fa still didn’t know what was up, but she liked it, and never missed a chance to put an arm around my waist or bump up against me. We’d each copped enough feels to have us vibrating in anticipation – Fa of the unknown, and me of the known.

Countdown to blast was underway and it was time for Fa and me to strap into our jumpseats. They aren’t really seats on the Aurora – your chest and waist get strapped in and you have armrests if you want them, but your legs pretty much dangle. Some who try them that way reck it’s more comfortable during a planet blast, and some don’t. I don’t much care – I just reck it’s part of the Aurora’s charm. But today I was hopgrateful for it.

I made sure to position Fa in the Aft spot, facing forward, helped her adjust her straps, and locked her in tight.

“The actual blast can get dangerous, Fa,” I said as I cinched and clicked the last strap around her waist. “Whatever happens, don’t leave this spot until I give you the all-clear.” Fa giggled and I went hemistern on her. “That’s a shout, Fa.”

Fa wasn’t sure whether to look shamed for her giggling or not, but she had plenty more to think about when she saw me snap off the main switch to the cameras.

“Yu, we’ve lost video to the key room,” Jerly called in, just like we’d planned.

“Aye, Jerly, I see it,” I replied. “Just a loose cable. Nothing serious. We’re strapped down to blast now – Keep the countdown going and I’ll fix it once we’re clear.”

“Copy that,” said Jerly as I angled toward the main audio panel.

“In an emergency, I’ll call you with my manual squawk,” I assured him, “That loose cable might also make the audio –” And then Fa looked at me in open astonishment as I yanked the audio cable right out of its socket.

Twelve minutes to blast. Cool as you please, I strapped myself into the jumpseat directly across from Fa. No one could see us or hear us now. And it only took a moment for that to sink in. She was a quick one, Fa, and I knew she’d never be able to resist. She calculated up the last few days, looked me dead in the eye, and popped her armrests down. Then she wriggled around until she could get to the front seam of her fullsuit and slowly dragged it open, never breaking eye contact. It only took her another few seconds to wriggle out of it completely so that she was just hanging there in front of me in her tank and skivs, letting her legs drift free.

I looked her up and down as frank as you please. She even wriggled her hips a little bit under my gaze, making her pretty, taut legs shift beautifully. I reached under my harness and straps and dragged the seam of my fullsuit halfway open, but I didn’t take it off. I shifted so my chest harness pressed just below my breasts and the cross straps set them off. It made them look like they were straining against my tank, straining to get to Fa. Fa wriggled out of her tank and bra in almost one go, tumbled them into a ball, and pushed them off to the side as hard as she could. She didn’t want anything interfering with my view of her pretty pink nipples.

Fa recked she had me now. She twisted as much as she could under the straps, making sure I could see how high and firm her little bubs were, then dipped her fingers just under the elastic at the top of her skivs, teasing me. We both wanted them off, but they weren’t going until I risked something too.

To Fa’s surprise, I undid the buckle of my hip strap. She started to undo hers, but I barked “As you were, Fa!” at her, and she let her hands float away. She went back to her skivs, and I traced my hands around my chest as a promise of reward. It wasn’t my fault she’d voluntarily anted too much in our strip poker game.

She wanted whatever was going to happen next too much to risk not getting it. Fa peeled off her skivs and twirled them around a finger – a tougher thing to do than you’d expect in zero-g. They quickly floated off and away, and Fa giggled. I didn’t have the breath for that. She was there in front of me, naked and perfect. And when her legs floated just right, I could see that she was glistening with anticipation.

“Well?” Fa broke my concentration. I looked up to her eyes to see her grinning a challenge at me. And then her jaw dropped when she saw me slam my fist into the release for my chest harness.

I’d been playing in zero-g longer than Fa had and she had no idea what I could do. I tucked up and swiveled, then pushed my feet against the back of the jump seat to launch myself at Fa. I pushed myself horizontal and spar-straight and tapped my foot against the armrest as I went to kick myself in to a perfect, lazy spiral straight at Fa.

She giggled as she saw me twirling slowly towards her like a lazy arrow, then laughed again as she saw that I wouldn’t meet her lips. She had just enough time to say “You missed, Chief,” before she sucked her breath in with a gasp as she realized I’d hit my mark after all and my lips closed perfectly around her left nipple.

The gentle contact with her body pushed me back the other way, and I let myself float back for just a centimeter or two before I lightly sucked on her to pull myself back in.

“Ooh,” Fa crooned, finally making that noise for real me instead of imaginary me. “Oooh.”

I released the suction enough to let myself float back a little, then started again. I had closed my eyes out of pleasure, but I knew Fa was enjoying it – she was breathing hard already, cooing beautifully, and squirming just enough to throw my momentum off a hair as I gently pulled in and let myself drift back out, never letting my lips lose contact with that perfect little breast.

Finally Fa couldn’t stand it and tangled her hands through my hair to pull me closer. I flicked and swirled my tongue around her perfect pink nipple as she squealed with pleasure, straining against her chest harness, and then she grabbed my head and the collar of my fullsuit to drag me up for a real kiss.

She was like heaven, better than station leave and bonus stacks combined. As her mouth closed around mine she was sweet, hungry, and relieved all at the same time. I just let myself float and kiss her as she used the back of my head and my collar to position me so she could kiss me wherever she wanted – my cheeks, my eyelids, and even the tip of my nose before pulling me back to her mouth so we could devour each other again.

My legs were still floating perpendicular to Fa, but my hands were near enough, so I let them steal down and graze and fondle her perfect little breasts some more. I tweaked her nipples into hard little peaks as she moaned and cooed into my mouth. Oh, her little bubs were so perfect. Fa strained against her harness and kissed me hard as I teased and grazed her nipples with my thumbs.

There wasn’t enough time to do all I wanted, not while we were counting down to planet blast, but there was one thing I wasn’t going to miss. I braced my hands on Fa’s shoulders to pull away for a moment, then looked into her eyes, each of us finally knowing the other, before I gave her a little goodbye kiss. The moment was so perfect I wanted to flash-freeze it and set it in steel.

Instead I handwalked down her body using her harness, letting my upper body angle toward the floor as my feet stayed dangling upwards. I kissed my way down as I went, taking just a little time to lap and suck at her right breast, then pulling away before Fa could tangle her fingers in my hair and pull me up again.

I kept going and Fa went still and trembled with anticipation as my hands grabbed hold of her hip strap and then I slowly moved in to taste the heat of her perfect pink center. Fa crooned again and her hands clutched at me, at once begging me to come up and kiss her and to never, ever stop.

She was perfect. The long morning of teasing and anticipation had her already shining and creamy for me, and for once I had a fixing problem that was too good to solve as I tried to figure out how to angle myself to reach all of her at once.

Fa was strapped in tight and could only barely buck against her hip strap, but she grabbed my hair and cooed for me, echoing her pleasure across the key room. I wanted to stay forever, but I knew I couldn’t. I was torn. Luckily Fa made the decision for me. Just I thought I had her ready to tip over the edge, Fa made the decision for me, grabbing my wrists and then my collar and pulling me back up to her. She kissed me with joy and even a little ferocity, grabbing my back as she did to work my body down parallel with hers, then kicking her legs out and trapping mine to pull me in the final distance.

And that’s when she felt the toy bump up against her thigh. Fa lit up like sunrise and was clawing my fullsuit off in no time. I had to grab it before she could toss it away. Fa let me float back just a bit so she could look at me in just a tank and a harness for the toy, no skivs at all.

Meanwhile I hit the remote for my toy so Fa could see it rise and swell. I’d picked a sparkly lavender one, fun and beautiful, because it reminded me of Fa. I found the little lubed-up sleeve I’d tucked into a pocket, then balled up my fullsuit and let it float away. Fa probably didn’t need the extra precaution at that point, but I sure as thumping wasn’t going to hurt her. Not then, not ever.

Fa watched my face change as I pulled the sleeve back and forth over the cock to coat it in lube and the harness ground against me with the motion.

“Save that for me, Chief,” said Fa, suddenly all woman instead of girly, and she grabbed my tank and pulled me to her again. We only broke our next kiss long enough to get me good and naked. Fa spun my bra away to chase after her skivs, but I balled my tank up between us so her chest harness wouldn’t hurt me. Even that little barrier between us was almost too much. There was so much I wanted to do. But we had all the time in the world for careful exploration later – now I had a plan to finish out.

Fa held me close with her arms so I wouldn’t float away, and used her legs to capture me again as we kissed and I let my tongue wander into her mouth and my hands rove all over her hair, her arms, and down to her hips. Fa kept trying to guide the toy inside her, and I grabbed the sides of the jump to brace myself like I was hopnear to helping her, but I’d always just tease a little bit and let the toy drift away.

Being so close and knowing I wanted it to had Fa was fit to blam. “Bailey!” she finally laughed and scolded at the same time as I used my hips to let the toy just brush her entrance and then float off the mark again.

“Shhhh.” Fa went still and listened. We could still hear the countdown echoing through the ship.

“8…7…6…”

I positioned the toy just at her entrance, lightly brushing back and forth.

“5…4…3…” Fa darted her hands between us to unclasp her hip belt and let the ends float free, then she gently clasped her arms around my neck.

“2…”

I braced my arms against the jump to make sure I wouldn’t hurt her.

“1… We have ignition.”

The primary thrusters started, pushing the Aurora forward…and me into Fa. I used my arms and stomach muscles to hold back and make it as slow as I could as Fa cooed one long “Ooooooooooooo” right into my ear.

It wasn’t much force, just a little over a G, but it was enough to push me up against Fa and inside her, as close as we could be. She didn’t need to keep me from floating away anymore, but she held me as tightly as she could anyway, our cheeks nuzzled against each other and her arms and legs wrapped around me. We held each other for a minute or two, or maybe hours.

Then I pushed back on my elbows so I could kiss her again, and started pulling back and thrusting inside her as gently as I could. Letting the force of the ship’s motion do so much of the work was incredible – I would pull away from Fa, then let the Gs push me back insider her – me resisting as much as possible to keep it slow – as if the whole universe knew that was the way we were meant to be.

Fa sighed and moaned with the motion, and soon I heard my voice join her, a lower counterpoint to the high melodies she was cooing. We were both getting close. Fa started calling my name as I pushed into her – Not “Yu,” not “Chief,” but “Bailey,” over and over. It made me sparky. I couldn’t ever remember sex feeling like that, but then I’d never cared about anyone as much as Fa. All I wanted was to be inside her and as close to her as possible.

Fa must have been feeling the same was I was. She suddenly reached down and found the ends of her hip belt, pulled it wide, then locked it around both of us and tightened the strap. She didn’t care about me thrusting or doing anything at all. She just wanted us there, exactly like we were, as close as two people could be.

I hung there for a moment, pressed against her and enjoyed the feeling too, feeling her arms and legs cling to me because somehow even the G-force and the hip belt weren’t enough.

I think Fa might have been content there, pressed together, limbs tangled up, and perfectly still, for a long time. But I pushed back just a little to look at her face, because I knew one more thing about the Aurora that Fa didn’t.

What I knew was what would happen when the Aurora made her final push out of orbit. Because what my big, beautiful jumble of bolts does when the booster engines kick in is rumble.

I felt the chunk when they engaged and then the deep, low thrum as they got going. I leaned in to snatch a little kiss from Fa in anticipation, which was a good instinct. It was the last thing I’d be able to think clearly about for the next few minutes.

The low hum got deeper and louder as it moved through the ship and took the whole Aurora over. Fa and I clung together and looked at each other, panting lightly, as the sensation started to overcome us. The whole ship purred around us. Fa’s eyes went wide, then closed as she tilted her head back with pleasure.

The walls vibrated, the jump seat, the air all around us. Her against me, me insider her, both of us and the Aurora, all buzzing and throbbing together. I rocked my hips up as much as I could just to get a little more inside her, crying out as loud as I’d always wanted and nuzzling into Fa’s pretty white neck as she leaned her head against the jump seat and called out my name, rocking her hips the little bit she could in time with me and digging her nails into my back.

The Aurora shuddered with the final effort of leaving orbit and I tried to brace again to keep from hurting Fa, but she just grabbed my head and pulled my ear to her lips.

“No, Bailey, it’s perfect! Don’t worry, it’s perfect! Don’t make it stop…” Fa felt me relax and wrap my arms around her and the back of the jumpseat both and let go of her last little shard of worry too. “Bailey! Oh! Bailey!” And then she cooed again, practically singing, as I stopped feeling the Aurora shake because the only thing I was aware of was Fa coming, clutching at my back, my hair, my shoulders, and twining her legs around mine. The feeling was incredible, all up and down my spine, and I finally gave in and shouted back to her as I rolled my whole body against her and came.

I rested my forehead against hers as we tried to spiral back down, but the Aurora wasn’t done shuddering us sparky yet. Fa finally tilted my head back for me just like she’d done in the shower, pushed my bangs out of my face, and grinned at me, just as sweet and mischievous as she’d always been.

“You had me so worried,” she panted. “Were you sparky for me this whole time, Chief?”

“Overloaded. Sure as thumping.” Fa kissed me on the tip of my nose. And then her grip on my hair tightened.

“And how long does this heavenly rumbling keep up?”

“Few more minutes. If you need me to, I can take – ”

“Don’t you dare! That’s a shout,” She grinned. “But we should take this hip strap off to give us a little more room to maneuver.”

That’s why Fa’s such a good fixer. She would never like potential energy like that go to waste.

Somehow we never did get around to switching out rooms. Every now and then I wonder if Beauchene even bothered to put in the request, but it’s no scrap either way.

You have to plan ahead when you’re a fixer on a deep-space rig. But sometimes it’s the things you don’t plan for that work out the best.

© 2012 by Thalia Fand