Night Song (The Guild Wars Book 9) by Mark Wandrey (best ereader under 100 .txt) 📕

jaw in a silent laugh, but the comms had no video, so the gatemaster remained unaware.

“Indeed,” the gatemaster replied. “Where are you heading?”

“My flight plan has been entered already.”

“P’k’k? There is nothing there. Why do you wish to go there?”

“That is our business,” she replied. “Yours is opening the gate. When is the next scheduled transition?”

“There is no schedule,” the distant alien admitted. “I operate on demand, as long as it has been more than two days since the last time.”

“When was the last time you operated?”

“It has been 19 days,” the gatemaster admitted glumly.

Alan grinned and shook his head. Clearly Captain I’kik had a knack for dealing with the Sumatozou.

“Please open for us at the time my navigator will set,” Captain I’kik said.

“As you request,” the gatemaster replied peevishly. “Standard gate fee will be billed to your account.”

“Naturally.”

“I advise you against this, though.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I’kik said. “Is there an issue with your stargate?”

“Of course not, it is in perfect condition. I merely caution you, as P’k’k is a backwater star system, and traveling there may be dangerous.”

“Duly noted. Paku, out.” She turned to A’kef and Alan, a puzzled look on her long, canine-like face. “That…was strange.” Neither Alan nor A’kef had anything to add. Paku transitioned to hyperspace right on schedule.

* * * * *

Part II

Chapter 1

ZMS Paku, Hyperspace—32 Hours Before Emergence

“You are good at this,” Veska said, looking up at Rex without lifting her head.

Something about the angle of her muzzle, the gentle curve of her eyelashes, or the inflection of her voice in native Zuul made Rex’s heart do a single backflip. More than enough for him to miss the next movement in the 3D simulated space-game he’d been playing, sending his craft into an asteroid with a puff of animated demise.

“No fair, you distracted me!” he roared in mock outrage.

“Oh?” she said, not-so-accidentally brushing her tail across his face. “How did I do that?”

“Uhm…” he said, completely forgetting what he was about to say. Her smell flooded his nasal cavities, forcing him to take a deeper breath. What’s happening to me? he wondered. None of his sisters had ever smelled this good.

“Oh, you like how I smell?” She moved closer, though she kept her eyes on the game in front of them.

Rex stammered and faltered for a response. The small rec room was empty other than them, and suddenly awareness of Veska filled the entirety of the space. She leaned closer and lifted her chin so he could access her neck. “Well?”

He grabbed her and pulled her to him, his nose ramming into her throat, and his lungs working, filling with her scent. Without realizing it, he nipped at her neck.

“Oh!” she said, and pulled his head back by his ears. Her muzzle opened and their tongues entwined. A second later, their uniforms were coming off. He was quickly losing complete control of himself and couldn’t care less.

Then Paku shuddered. Someone was pushing against him. He growled and pulled her close. Veska barked an order and hit him in the stomach. Rex whoofed in surprise. The second groaning shudder from Paku actually registered in his higher brain.

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but put your pants back on!”

He looked down and was surprised to see he was mostly naked, and quite aroused. How he’d gotten into this state was somewhat of a mystery. All except his deep-down feeling of…what, frustration? Then Paku gave another heave, and he felt like he was falling, though they were already in zero G.

“We just dropped out of hyperspace!” Veska said, her eyes wide in alarm.

“Huh?” Rex asked and reached for her.

She slapped his hand away with a growl. “You need to…”

“What in the name of the Three Songs are you two doing?”

Veska’s head snapped around, her ears flat against her head. Rex recognized A’kef’s voice without having to look. He suppressed a growl rising from deep in his being.

“Veska,” A’kef snapped, “it is not for you to Aho-a-Hosh.”

Rex struggled with the words through the slowly dissipating fog of sexual desire. Only then did he become aware that what he’d been feeling was sexual. How would he know; he’d never felt this before? The only females he’d spent much time around were his own sisters, and awareness of them as such was automatically and completely repressed by some innate response. This. This was pure, animalistic desire, and it felt good.

“I’m…I was just…”

“I know full well what you were doing. It doesn’t matter now; we’ve dropped out of hyperspace.”

“The drive didn’t fail, did it?” Rex asked, suddenly alert enough to feel fear. Of all the things that could happen to a starship in transit, having its hyperspace drive fail was the most terrifying. The Humans had reams of science fiction written about it, and the GalNet said it was catastrophic, likely resulting in the ship being torn apart by dimensional forces nobody fully understood.

“I don’t know,” A’kef admitted, looking at Rex for the first time. His expression was undecipherable. “Get to your emergency stations, both of you. Now.”

In a second Veska had gathered up her gear and was gone. A’kef hesitated as though he would speak to Rex, then twitched his head toward the door and left as well, leaving Rex alone, confused, and extremely frustrated. He punched the compartment wall, which only succeeded in sending him rebounding off the opposite wall and banging his head on the wall. “Damn it,” he growled and headed for his duty station.

* * *

“What the fuck?” Alan barked as the sensation ripped him out of sleep. He instantly checked the chronometer in his pinplants and verified it had only been an hour since he went to sleep, and it