Fan Fiction ❯ Star-Crossed ❯ Strange Cargo, part 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: This fic and all it's characters belong to me and no one else!

 

 

Intense golden eyes surveyed him slowly and Bredhe felt as if a cord had been struck deep inside him, resonating in the afterglow of his premonition. He struggled to compose himself. The porcelain face of the being before him was graced with fine, platinum hair that fell about his shoulders and back, where it met the base of two pristinely white wings. Beside him, in direct contrast, was another man whose skin was just as pale, but who possessed hair and wings of a sinfully dark black that shown with a green sheen that complimented his startling emerald eyes. Both were bound with chains.

 

“This is our `cargo' I take it?” the Captain said, still unnerved but determined to maintain an outer appearance of control.

 

“Yes, sir,” Daq confirmed, “Two political prisoners from Issel.”

 

“Issel,” Bredhe whispered. It wasn't a planet he was very familiar with. “Show them to the Hold, I'll be there in a minute.”

 

Bredhe walked back and sat back in his chair, holding his aching head between his hands. He couldn't begin to unravel the complicated message of his vision yet, so he concentrated on the present. First, he should read the shipping report.

 

Sitting up slowly, he placed the film Aud had given him onto the panel scan. In seconds the detailed files were presented before him on the telescreen.

 

“Seraphim from El-Issel… Names Vali and Greycek,” he murmured under his breath as he read. “Political prisoners held by the Cordenian government… trial pending…” The report didn't give much information, not that Bredhe had expected it to- it was obvious that this whole transaction bordered on the illegal. No one was going to divulge any more details than absolutely necessary.

 

Sliding the film sheet off the panel, he leaned back in his seat and considered the situation. What would Sorrel want with two condemned Seraph activitists? It must have taken him a great deal of time and money to get them off-planet, considering they were being held at the local government's will and hadn't even been sentenced yet. The officials were corrupt enough to be bribed, but the arrangements would have been tricky considering the traffic to and from Issel was almost nonexistent.

 

In fact, the pilot had never heard of any Seraphim traveling to other worlds. His brow knotted. How would these passengers fare on the long flight to Amobe? Did he need to worry about space-sickness? Thankfully he had been supplied with food for his charges by the subcontractor, that was at least one thing less to concern himself with.

 

Still, the entire situation rubbed him the wrong way, like an itch at the back of his mind he couldn't reach. He felt restless as he had not since he was a child just turning 20.

 

When Daq and Aud returned, they found their Captain looking more collected than when they had left him, but still agitated. Daq, being from the same planetary system as Bredhe, was far more knowledgeable about what had happened to the man, but Aud had never seen a vision take hold of the Captain and the boy had found it unnerving.

 

“Captain Bredhe?” he asked cautiously, “Are you feeling better now?”

 

The navigator's childlike concern made the raven-haired man smile.

 

“Yes, I'm sorry to have worried you, Aud; it was a `vision', some call it `La Luce': `The Light'”

 

“Does it hurt?”

 

This time Daq smiled at the boy's open curiosity. Aud was a well for knowledge and brilliant for his years, but some situations revealed his true age. The two other men often had to remind themselves that he was only just out of his boyhood years, which was especially trying for Daq, who everyday found the navigator's blossoming maturity more alluring. The boy's frame had filled out over the past several months and he'd let his cornflower blue hair grow down his slender neck. Not to mention the way he now moved with a sinuous grace that set the man's blood pounding.

 

The Captain shook his head good-naturedly. “No, it isn't painful… not exactly, it just disorientates you for a while.”

 

“I wish I could feel what it's like.”

 

“No, you don't,” Daq and Bredhe answered in unison.

 

Aud pouted but said nothing. Sometimes his companions still insisted on treating him like a kid. When would they learn he was old enough to be taken as an equal? His amethyst eyes briefly swept over to Daq. What he truly yearned for was to prove to the tall man, with his impressive, bronzed arms, that he was a man in every sense of the word. Unconsciously, he licked at his lips, an action the mechanic was hard pressed to ignore.

 

 

“Captain,” Daq said, bringing his attention back to the matters at hand, “The Dark Seraphim, Greycek, was requesting a separate berth for himself, but I couldn't quite understand why. I think you should speak with him directly.”

 

“Very well.” Bredhe stood and left them the two of them alone.

 

For a moment both crewmembers stood awkwardly on the bridge in silence. Such instances were happening more and more frequently of late, as the tensions between them grew stronger.

 

“I- I think I should probably check the engine logs before we leave,” Daq said, walking away and wincing inwardly at the flimsy excuse.

 

Aud huffed and crossed his arms. Some day, he thought, he won't be able to ignore me…some day soon.

 

* * *

 

“We can't be left alone together,” the Dark Seraphim said adamantly.

 

“I'm not unreasonable, Greycek,” Bredhe replied calmly, deliberately addressing the Seraphim by name to show his respect. “I just need to know why.”

 

Emerald eyes narrowed in annoyance. “I told you! It's almost our tenshinn, our…” the angelic creature groped for the right terminology, “it's the peak of our cycle!”

 

Bredhe didn't like the sound of that, but wasn't going to give in easily, he had to maintain the veneer of authority.

 

“And why should I have to separate you just for that?” The Captain knew he was treading on thin ground, since he actually had no idea what the Dark Seraph was referring to. He made a mental note to look up data on Seraphim biology as soon as possible.

 

Greycek nodded toward the silent, statuesque Light Seraph next to him. “Maybe you don't mind us panting in here like dogs, but Vali is a monk, he's taken vows and I'm sure he'd rather not break them against his will.”

 

The Captain's eyes wandered over to the other man, sucking in his breath inadvertently at his beauty. The chains binding the man's neck and wrists added a heady erotic edge to the scene. He felt a potent need to reach out and touch him and he dug his fingers into his palms to quell the overwhelming urge. The dizzy arousal he had felt upon entering the room, however, he now reasoned must be a side effect of this `tenshinn', which he gleaned as being some sort of sexual peak. Most likely the draw he felt toward the heavenly creature was the result of his pheromones. Bredhe wondered how often the Seraphim were afflicted by this situation and how strong it became. Yes, he would most definitely have to investigate this further.

 

“What do you have to say, Vali?” Bredhe asked, for no other reason than a desire to hear the Seraph's voice.

 

Golden eyes lifted to meet his, calm and serene and piercingly keen, as if they could read every memory engraved on his soul with a glance.

 

“I would prefer a separate berth, Captain.” Such a simple statement, but the melodious voice that uttered it reshaped the syllables until they sounded more like a sacred prayer than mere words.

 

Did all Seraphim have such voices? But, no, Greycek's tone, though it held the same sing-song accent, was not nearly as intoxicating. Perhaps it was because Vali was a Light Seraph, but something told Bredhe that this was not so, that this man was special, gifted.

 

A fog settled briefly over Bredhe's mind, something akin to a vision, though more visceral, as the voice spoke and it took several moments for the feeling to fade.

 

“Very well,” the Captain finally conceded. “But you'll have to give me a moment to make arrangements.”

 

Bredhe was glad to put the solid door between himself and Vali as he stepped back out into the main passageway. Even if the undeniable desire he had experienced toward the Seraph was a by-product of the man's `peak', it was nonetheless unsettling to be so instantly struck by a stranger's presence- and a presence that he would have to deal with on his ship for another several days.

 

Aud jumped in surprise as the Captain suddenly slid open the door to his compartment and popped his head inside.

 

“Aud? I need you to bunk with Daq for the rest of the trip.” Bredhe was already inside the room by the time he noticed the boy's flushed appearance and startled reaction. Though Aud tried to hide it, the dark-haired pilot could see him trying nonchalantly to shove what must have been a tawdry magazine underneath his mattress. Bredhe felt uncomfortably like a father walking uninvited into his teenage son's bedroom.

 

“Ahh, what? What did you need?” the boy said nervously.

 

“The Seraphs have to be separated during the flight, so you'll have to give up your room to one of them- you can stay with Daq until we arrive on Amobe.”

 

At this news Aud's already-flushed cheeks deepened to a brilliant scarlet. “W-with Daq?”

 

“Yes, there's two bunks in his room, you can be on top.”

 

“I doubt I'd be the one on `top'…” Aud whispered to himself.

 

Bredhe wasn't sure he heard him right and decided he was better off ignoring it. There was enough on his mind without having to imagine his two crewmembers engaging in some elicit affair.

 

Maybe they all needed some time of this tin shuttle.

 

Excusing himself, the Captain went to inform Daq of the change in compartments and, to his surprise, found the large mechanic nearly as awkward about the arrangement as Aud. Bredhe couldn't remember the last time he had seen the man blush, and though it was faint, it tainted his cheeks just the same. Again, Bredhe chose to disregard the implications of this reaction and instead busied himself with settling the prisoners into their quarters and arming the locks on their doors.

 

When they finally launched the ship back into the scattered stars of space and had set the course, Bredhe allowed himself some time alone in his cabin, leaving his crew to tend to the first phase of the flight. He undressed and let the sonic `shower' soothe over his tired body, but his restlessness only increased. Over the years he'd become accustomed to long journeys, sometimes for months, without a touchdown. So why was it now that he longed so strongly to plant his feet onto solid ground and bathe himself in real water? The emotion somehow felt alien to him and he briefly wondered if he was picking up on his passenger's anxieties.

 

Premonitions always left him especially receptive to other's strong emotions. His mind flashed an image of Vali as Bredhe had walked him to Aud's empty compartment. The Seraph had settled into the space without a word, allowing Bredhe to fasten his long chains to a hinge in the center of the floor so he would have enough length to move about with relative freedom. It was effective, albeit somewhat primitive, to use the alloy metal chains, but it was part of the contract. Bredhe couldn't begin to speculate why. A queasy sensation in his gut hinted that it as for Sorrel's own sadistic enjoyment and he quickly shoved the thought aside with distaste.

 

But it was the Seraph's parting request that stayed ringing in the Captain's ears: “Please leave me completely isolated for the rest of the journey; there will be no need to visit me even with food or water.”

 

Something in the man's tone caused the skin to prickle along Bredhe's neck. “Why?” he asked simply. “Won't you need sustenance?”

 

Those startling gold depths held his gaze. “I'll be fine, I'm accustomed to fasting. Also, you might hear me calling for aid, but leave me be, the fit will pass.”

 

This cryptic assertion did nothing to clear Bredhe's confusion, but he nodded and let the matter go, reminding himself once again to check up on Seraphim life cycles. In any case, to stay so close to Vali in the cramped space of the cabin would have seriously tempted the Captain to breach his ethics and seduce his charge right then and there. It had to be a chemical pull he was feeling, the urge was too strong to allow for a natural attraction.

 

So he locked the door behind him and secured it with an additional electronic code to keep anyone but himself from releasing barrier.

 

What had the monk meant? Just what did he go through during this tenshinn anyway?

 

Bredhe shifted uncomfortably in his bunk, rest eluding him as images of Vali's graceful beauty refused to leave his mind. Whether it was pheromones from this tenshinn or something else, the Seraphim had left an indelible impression on his mind. His fingers twitched, wondering what it would feel like to run a hand along the pure white expanse of his wings. Bredhe had been surprised that they weren't larger, though he now recalled hearing something about a Seraphim's wings serving an aesthetic rather than functional purpose and seeing as both the Light and Dark Seraph's folded wingtips only reached the small of their backs, he assumed it was true.

 

How sensitive was that webwork of feathers, Bree wondered? If he grazed the juncture of wing and shoulder, would it stir the nerves there, would it make the golden-eyed Vali tremble under his touch? A vivid picture of the Seraph with head tossed back and mouth agape from pleasure danced before his mind's eye and he let the fantasy flourish as one stray hand dropped down between his own thighs, stroking the growing hardness there.

 

What did Seraphim think of same-sex lovers? Would Vali fight him, so that Bredhe would have to play the role of seducer? The dark-haired man moaned, imagining their lips meeting, the Light Seraph hesitant at first but drawn into the heated embrace by an inexplicable passion. And Bredhe would be there to exploit it, his hands roaming that perfect marble-smooth skin as his mouth and teeth left wet, red trails down his sensitive neck, marking him for his own.

 

Bredhe's legs were spread wide now, his hands busy bringing his straining erection to its full, prominent length. Already the head was weeping as he saw the golden angel naked before him, his body open and willing. He would lie down and let Vali straddle his thighs, hovering torturously over his engorged member until Bree gripped his hips and pressed him down, forcing open his tight virgin grip.

 

Oh, Gods, yes! The Captain choked back a sob of ecstatic delight as he pumped himself to the brink, the phantom grasp of his would-be lover squeezing him for all he was worth. He would pillage him over and over, until the Seraph was delirious with pleasure and his halo of hair was strung with sweat from the exertions of their lovemaking.

 

Unable to resist, Bree finally let a heady moan burst from his throat as his seed spilled forth in gratuitous arches across his naked belly.

It was going to be a long flight…