The First Nova I See Tonight by Jason Kilgore (the false prince .txt) 📕

little bag. Also in the duffel was a med kit, a towel, a couple full water bottles, and some rations. Dirken broke one package open, took a sniff of the brown patty in it, then sealed it again and threw it back in the bag. It reeked like rotten fish but looked like granola and red berries. "What the hell do Aquarian centaurs eat?" he muttered. But then he found some yellow protein bars that actually smelled appetizing.

Yiorgos called back, "Dirk, I'm setting the navigation to Nüwa so we can finally deliver this blasted sphere-thing and get our money."

Eow turned to Dirken and narrowed her eyes. "We had a deal!"

Dirken started to reply, but Yiorgos interrupted, his voice rising. "What deal? Dirk, don't tell me you made another 'plan' without discussing it!"

Dirken shrugged, even though Yiorgos couldn't see him from the front. "I told you I had a plan. It's just that you were being interrogated when Eow and I came to a decision in the brig."

Eow leaned back to look into the front cockpit, her spacesuit crinkling loudly. "Dirken and I agreed that if I helped you escape, you would first take me to the Eridani Mafia before you go your own way. I promise no harm will come to you from Grimmag Ruby-Eye. That is all."

"That is all?" Yiorgos repeated. Dirk heard him slam a tool to the deck. "That is all? Dirk, you realize the Eridani Mafia is only the most ruthless gangster organization in the entire galaxy, right? Don't you remember what happened the last time we made a deal with them?"

"Relax," Dirken said. "We're just stopping by. It's not like we've made some deal with them… again. Besides, it got us away from the Bloodhawk." And, he thought, I wouldn't want an angry Ananak with claws and body spikes attacking us in a fighter cockpit!

For several moments, Yiorgos was quiet, and Dirken waited for him to speak. But Eow broke in. "So, do we have a deal or not?"

"Of course it's a deal. Right, Yiorgos ol' buddy?"

He heard Yiorgos pick up the tool again and continue working on his leg. A good sign.

"Fine," the cyborg finally answered. "But you owe me. No more 'plans' without consulting me, got it? I can't take any more damage."

Dirken waved it away. "See," he said to Eow. "We can be accommodating. I'm always true to my word."

He grabbed some of the yellow protein bars — careful to avoid the fishy-smelling patties — and water from the duffel and handed it around to Yiorgos. They cyborg's consternated face immediately changed when he saw the sundries. He eagerly drank down several cups of water, then opened a protein bar and took a bite. Dirken went back to the couch.

"So what are you?" he heard Yiorgos asked the Ananak, between mouthfuls. "A hitman? I saw you fight."

"I am foremost a warrior, but I am also what the Eridani need me to be. For this job I was a messenger."

"Some messenger!" Dirken said, smirking, his eyes conspicuously running over her. She smiled back at him.

He heard Yiorgos activate a control panel with a series of beeps. "Okay, messenger. What system should I punch in?"

"The Baeris star system," Eow said.

"Which planet?"

"Not a planet. When we fold there, I will direct you further."

Not a planet? Dirken wondered. A moon?

"Okaaay." Yiorgos used his vocal inserts to say a few phrases in the centaur language, then the starship lurched slightly as it changed trajectory. "We'll be moving sub-light for a half hour, then two more gravjumps. Should be there in a few hours."

"Take your time," Eow told him, but her eyes were on Dirken.

"Fine." Yiorgos sighed, and Dirken heard him getting comfortable. "If you'll excuse me, I'll be Netfolding."

Dirken heard the cyborg settle into a more comfortable position and the little whir of his cheek projector engaging to make the Unity Sphere hologram. In moments he would be in a deep Netfolding mediation.

Dirken rummaged through the med kit to see what they could use, then pulled out a tube of burn cream. His inflamed hand burned from the blaster explosion. He applied the cream to his hand, but his attention was pulled away as Eow started undressing.

She unlatched her red space suit down her chest, peeling it away from the central seam. Beneath, her thin clothing clung to her breasts, still wet from the water pipe that had showered her back in the brigantine. She looked down at Dirken as he sat upon the couch, watching his reaction as she slowly opened the seam, past her ribs, her solar plexus, her belly. The stretchy suit underneath undulated across a six-pack of muscle.

She stepped out of the suit with a deliberate movement, raising a muscular thigh and leg out and placing her foot between Dirken's legs, the soft lavender fur so tantalizingly close. She licked her lips and nodded in a little invitation. He reached out and ran his hand along her knee and inner thigh, his fingers sliding through the fur.

The suit crumpled to the ground, her tail at last liberated, unwinding from the back of the suit and swaying slowly. She closed her eyes and sighed, clearly glad to be free of the suit. She put her hands on her chest and slowly rubbed them down her front.

"You're… you're still wet," Dirken gasped. He offered her the towel with his left hand.

She opened her amethyst eyes and gazed into his, then ran a dark tongue over her fangs. "Yes. I am." Instead of taking the towel, she reached behind her neck and unbuckled the strap, watching his reaction, then pulled the straps away from her neck. "Very… wet."

Dirken's heart skipped a beat. His breathing accelerated.

She lowered her arms, stripping the thin garment from her chest. Small, dark blue nipples rose from the thin fur on her breasts.

She pulled the garment down further, exposing her belly, four more nipples ran in parallel, but flat against her belly on either side of the soft roll of her abs