Episode 10

It took an age to fall asleep, although I managed to keep more still. Icaan snored beside me long before I could even begin to sleep. Slowly the scent faded into the background and my senses calmed.

I still felt a tight heat between my legs, but a little light relief from my own fingers helped ease some more of the tension. The thought of trying to give myself some action had occurred to me while he was awake, but I'd waited, stuck in a sort of sweet agony until he was definitely fast asleep.

After that I'd felt relieved enough and exhausted enough to finally get some shuteye. It had worked for a few hours, but now I was awake again. And I didn't think it was morning yet.

Icaan was still snoring beside me and I was in this strange torturous aroused state again. It was all I could do to keep still, and again, more than once I considered the claustrophobia to possibly be a better option.

A strange beep caught my attention. It had come from the stairs, as if it had drifted up. Was something in the cockpit trying to get Icaan's attention? Or was some normal routine thing happening that just happened to beep now and then? I had no idea, but less than a minute later it beeped again.

Icaan didn't stir and I considered poking him to get his attention, but if it was something that wasn't important he was going to be pretty pissed. I waited and it beeped again. But I couldn't tell if it was at regular intervals or not.

Counting, it beeped for a fourth time after thirty seconds, and then again twenty-five after that. And then twenty-two.

Was I counting faster or was something possibly getting worse?

I didn't know, but I was now pretty sure it was something worth being concerned over. I shuffled to the edge of the bed and looked down on Icaan. A moment later his scent hit me again, now even stronger this close.

Could I reach out and simply shake him awake? Or was it going to initiate something more complicated than I wanted?

As the beep sounded again, I was finally prompted to grab him. I reached for his arm and shook it. Almost immediately he jumped and sat up slightly. Electricity ran across my skin and jumped up my arm. I pulled back as he grabbed a weapon I hadn't known he'd even had and sliced forward at nothing.

A moment later he calmed realizing where he was while I sat and appreciated the advantage of having been to one side of him and not directly in front.

He looked to me, but before he could ask what on earth I'd been intending by waking him, the beep came again. His gaze snapped to the door and he pushed himself to his feet.

"Frack," he said when it sounded again and he'd barely finished standing.

Rushing off, he left me on the bed, my hands and feet still locked together.

"What is it? I called. "Was it a warning of some kind?"

"Company," he yelled back.

I tried to push up and shuffle to him, to find out what he meant, but it was impossible to move safely in any way but to jump and it was a perilous task with hands also fixed together. I went a little way before giving up and leaning against the wall. There was also no way that I could get down the ladder right now.

Listening, I tried not to panic. Company could be both good and bad. And different for Icaan or myself. It could be someone who'd rescue me, or it could be pirates, and bad for both of us.

While I couldn't see the radar there was no way to figure it out either way.

"What kind of company?" I called when the ship began to shake a little as if it was under strain. The engine also grew louder. Whatever it was we were running.

"Bad company."

"Pirates?"

"Pirates."

Frack. No hope of rescue and something neither of us wanted.

I considered going back to the room and just letting him concentrate, but there was no way I was sitting helpless while something was going on.

"Undo the restraints. I'll come help," I called down.

Silence came back and I thought he'd decided to ignore me, but then the cuffs fell apart, allowing me to move my hands and legs more freely again. Sighing with relief, I hurried over to the ladder and slid down it.

Within seconds I was in the seat beside him again. I quickly looked over the radar and everything else, but it was clear we were in trouble. A faster ship was gaining on us and it was a class of ship that was almost guaranteed to be packing decent guns too.

As I started pressing buttons to help Icaan get more out of the engines and get us out of the sector into safer territory there was another beep, this one a different pitch. I noticed the communication button lit up right after.

Rather than put the hail through, Icaan dismissed it.

"You don't want to talk to them?" I asked as I continued to focus on giving him speed and maneuverability. It wasn't helping very much, but it was better than nothing while they weren't in weapon's range.

"No. I know who it is. He'll just gloat."

"Right... a pissed off pirate you have history with then."

"Something like that."

"Well, I hope you can dodge cause they're almost in range," I added, reaching for the gun controls and getting ready to return fire.

"Only shoot if you're pretty sure of the shot," Icaan said a moment later, trying to dodge the first streak of laser as he did. I frowned. Being asked to only shoot when it was likely to yield a hit meant one thing. He was low on power for the weapon and needed credits to replace it.

This far out from our attacker the chance of hitting something was slim so I held back and hoped. We needed to get further away, but if I was going to be of any use we needed to be closer. It was almost ironic.

The ship kept gaining on us, however, and despite Icaan flying far better than I'd have thought possible, we were still in big trouble. A couple of times the laser fire skimmed our shields, reducing their capacity and the power the ship had even further.

I tried not to panic as it happened for a fourth time and warning beeps sounded everywhere.

Several times I fired after that, about eighty-percent of my shots hitting back, but the pirate ship was clearly well looked after and the shields had plenty of power because it never seemed to achieve much of anything.

Before I could really compute what was happening, alarms blared and the ship rocked. A moment later it became clear Icaan was wrestling with the controls.

"Frack, frack, frack," he said as the pirate ship danced around us.

There was another message on the hail only a few seconds later.

"Get up to the bolt hole and keep as quiet as possible," Icaan said a moment later as our ship began to drift, and the pirate ship sent out a grapple and caught us.

We were about to be boarded.

I considered objecting, but I didn't want to get caught by pirates either. And the fact that protecting me was his first thought made me feel a little more warm toward him.

It could have been because I was worth more than most other items on his ship combined, but equally, I was in danger depending on the pirate.

"Go on, quickly," he said, "And make sure you don't make even a slight sound. Do you understand? This pirate isn't here to rescue you."

I nodded, getting the idea I didn't want to challenge the truth of his words. Without another delay I made my way for the ladder and climbed back up as quickly as I could.