I pumped a fist triumphantly, smiling at Natalie. “Got it.”
“Of course you did,” she snickered. “You didn't bother to narrow your shot down to any specific part of the probe – you may as well have been aiming at the broad side of a Gulthoolian grain silo.”
“Oh? Then let's see you try.”
She raised her weapon, taking aim.
“The holo-tracker switch is on the handle,” I pointed out helpfully.
“I know where it is. Left repulsor, by the way.” Without switching the sighting mechanism on, she fired the weapon. Its purple laser blast hit the probe's left repulsor with uncanny precision – the probe coughed out a thin plume of smoke, wavered in midair, then dropped to the sand.
I let out a frustrated roar, tossing my pistol to the ground. “All those years in the Hielsrane fleet, all the enemies I've used for target practice, all the medals I earned for my shooting, and I'm outdone by a damn human slave? And a woman, at that?!”
“No offense taken, in case you were wondering,” she said dryly. “But hey, there's no need to be a sore loser. I can think of a few things to take your mind off this devastating – and, if I may say so, truly mortifying – loss.”
“Oh? Like what?”
Natalie threw her blaster down next to mine and grabbed me, pulling me in for a kiss. I held onto her tightly, unsheathing my claws against the small of her back – not fully, just enough for the tips to prick her skin lightly. She shivered in my arms, her hand tracing a series of elaborate patterns down my chest until she reached my already-stiffening cock. I felt her moan against my lips and nipped at them gently with my sharp fangs.
“Mmm, you're cute when you play rough,” she murmured, unlatching my space suit. I returned the favor, until both suits were sloughed off on the white sands and we stood before each other, naked.
Suddenly, Natalie looked over my shoulder and her eyes widened with fright. “Dashel, look out! It's another Pax!”
I whirled, expecting to see a furry white figure aiming a weapon, but there was no one behind me. She burst into peals of laughter. “I'm sorry, I just—I couldn't resist! You should have seen your face!”
I tackled her to the ground, growling and biting at her neck and shoulder playfully. She squealed with delight, wrapping her legs around my waist tightly. I could already feel her wetness, her pussy slick and eager, begging me to fill it. I obliged happily, plunging inside her and relishing her sharp cry at my size as I filled every inch of her.
She arched her back beneath me, her hair splayed out on the sand. Now it was her turn to dig her nails into my back – so hard that I felt it sharply, even through my tough scales. I nuzzled her under her chin, my forked tongue flicking and slithering over the soft, pale, delicate skin of her neck. Her muscles tightened deliciously around my shaft, squeezing me with the strength and hunger of a B'Zorran arboreal python.
Who knew that human women could have so much power in those pink little bodies of theirs?
Her hips bucked against mine in an insistent rhythm, wanting it fast, demanding a climax that would make the sandy surface beneath us tremble with its intensity. I reached down, retracting my claws and pressing her clit with the tip of my thumb. She erupted then, her hot juices showering me – and, driven into a frenzy of lust, I came mere moments later, pumping everything I had into her until I felt drained to my core.
We stayed there in each other's arms for a few more precious cleks, ignoring the way the fine grains of sand invaded every nook and crevice of our bodies. That would be dealt with later, in the hygiene chamber – perhaps even at the same time.
In that moment, though, there was only our mutual bliss, and the soft whisper of the winds over the dunes.
15
Natalie
The next week seemed to pass very quickly. With my help – and with Ranel acting as a tough-as-nails drill sergeant – Dashel was able to convert the slovenly group of slaves into a passable fighting force. They weren't the most formidable warriors, and a sizable percentage of them were afflicted with handicaps and maladies they'd contracted during their work in the mines. Not only that, but a gang of mischief-makers were intent on using their new training against the Hielsrane, and each other...which made it difficult for Dashel and Ranel to determine which ones, if any, could be trusted with weaponry or sensitive sentry duties.
Still, there were a lot of them, and they were heavily motivated by the promise of freedom.
The mining equipment was disassembled into parts by the slaves, then reassembled into vehicles and armaments by the Hielsrane crew. The Pax's idea to convert this gear had been a masterstroke, but now that we'd stolen the concept, we were able to do it better.
What used to be crude lasers and core-drillers with limited battery capacities were refined into laser rifles with multiple settings and portable rapid-fire explosive launch tubes. The armor on the Digger modules was reconfigured to eliminate the structural weaknesses, and the propulsion units we installed made them capable of greater speed and maneuverability than the ones we'd faced in Nort's upper atmosphere. The hover-skiffs made excellent patrol crafts for the planet's surface. We were even able to rig the Wyvern's two dozen escape pods into small manned fighter ships, though this made many crew members extremely nervous, since it meant they'd have no way off the vessel in case of emergency.
During that time, there was nothing Dashel and I wanted more than to indulge our appetites for each other – but we had to show restraint instead. Ranel had finally gotten over his initial
