Voyages of the Solar Wind 1: A Fire in Heaven (17 page)

I walked back to the beer summit, and Ri was showing mom to her bunk. "This way, Mrs. R.. Mom." She was still getting used to calling mom MOM. I chuckled a bit.

"What's so funny, sonny?" Mom raised her eyebrow at me.

"Because half the time, I'm tempted to call you Mrs. Relway, mom." I smiled and kissed Rilar, who purred like the kitten she is.

Mom blushed at our PDA, but knew better than to say anything about it. However, she found something else to talk about, as usual.

"So, how did you figure out that your sweet best buddy loves you, Dexten?" Ugh, I hate it when she uses my full name, and she knows it. I love you, mom.

"After Jen tried to strongarm us and Ri got shot by an... overzealous jarhead, I patched her up and stroked her face. She then informed me of her feelings for me, and I realized I had the same feelings for her. I love her, mom." I admitted.

"Wait, so Jen tried to board you? When did that happen?" Mom asked. "And why?"

"A little over a week ago now, and because she was a psycho who had been obsessed with me for the last seven years since we broke up." I shrugged.

"I take it she's dead, since you refer to her in the past tense." Mom smirked.

"Yes, Mrs. R.. Mom. Jen took her own life after realizing that she wouldn't be able to kill Dex." Rilar said.

"I see. Ok, Dex. I see you're doing pretty well for yourself. Good ship. Great First Officer. You're now going to be extremely rich. What's next?" She raised her eyebrow again as we reached the guest/passenger quarters.

"First order of business after we hit Port Royal and hand over my goggle cam footage to Jeka will be to get all of us back to Gurhin for our honeymoon and your retirement, mom." I laid out our plans for the immediate future.

"Are you two going to have an actual ceremony? You know the Confederacy doesn't recognize Gurinkan mating customs outside their own species as binding, right?" Mom pointed out the law. Shit, we hadn't thought of that!

I looked at Rilar. "Honey, do you wanna get hitched?" Yeah yeah. I know. Not the most romantic of proposals.

"If it weds us under Confederate law, yes, sek'natha. I want the whole galaxy to know you're mine." Rilar snuggled into my neck and purred contentedly.

"Then as my blushing bride, what kind of ceremony do you want, sweetheart?" I asked as I slipped my arms around her waist.

"Small. Just us and our families, Dex. Something intimate for just us." That's my girl.

"You got it, kitten. I love you." I do love her. She's gorgeous, keeps me solid, AND kicks ass.

"Dex, can I talk to you for a moment. Excuse us, Ri. I need to speak to my our boy here for a moment." I noticed that nowhere in there was a request made. That's my mom. She gives orders in the form of requests, but they're still orders.

"Sure, mom. I'll go check our weapons locker and replace what I took down there. Also, I need to get out of this TacArmor. Ugh, it's too restrictive!" She gave me a peck on the cheek and took off for our quarters.

"Ok, Dex. I know you love her, and she's about as sweet as they get. But what about making me a grandma?" Mom really wanted me and Jen to work out back in the day, since she wanted grandkids before she got too old to spoil them at Christmas.

"We're going to adopt, mom. Unfortunately, our physiologies aren't compatible for producing children, but other than that, she's perfect and you know it! I'm not going to risk our love over a need to produce a blood legacy to our family name!" I was madder than I really had a right to be, but I didn't like it when anyone questioned me and Rilar being together, especially my own mom. Humanity Prime asswipes were bad enough!

"Dex, don't get me wrong. Rilar has already been family for the last ten years. I love her as I would my own daughter. Adoption works for me, son." She smiled warmly for the first time in Lord knows how long. I smiled back and hugged her.

"Thanks, mom. Ri is the best thing to ever happen to me. She's saved my life more than anyone has a right to, and I've saved hers a few times, myself. We're perfectly compatible and she loves me in spite of myself sometimes." I had to laugh at my own assessment of our relationship.

"She's a keeper, Dexten Relway." Mom knows how much I hate my full name.

"Mom, do you have to keep using my full name? You know how much I hate it." I hated it because my father had picked it after some legendary pirate from a couple centuries back. 'Dexten Rossus' was a buccaneer who terrorized the burgeoning Confederacy for years after it was founded.

"Hey, Dex. Come on. Even though I disagree with what your father did with his life, your name is nothing to be ashamed of. It's a strong name for a strong young man. You know that as a free trader, you're only a half step from becoming a pirate yourself." Mom smirked.

"Ha ha. No. You know my rep, and I earned it all, mom." I wasn't kidding. My rep for both honesty and discretion is flawless.

"I know, and honestly I'm surprised. I remember the crap you and your friends would get into while growing up. I'm nearly as surprised now as when you joined up for the war. I... I'd been hoping you would join my crew on Avenger." I think my jaw hit the deck.

"Mom, why didn't you say anything?" I asked finally.

"You had to pick your own course, Dex. There's nothing I could have done to stop you." Mom shrugged.

"If you'd just come out and said you wanted me as your pilot, you KNOW I would have said yes in a nanosecond!" I couldn't believe her! When I'd turned 18 and went off to the Academy, I'd been hoping and praying that she would want her son as pilot of Avenger. I could fly shortly after I turned 10, and could outfly any other pilot in the galaxy at the age of 16. Mom KNEW that!

"No, Dex. I didn't." Mom looked surprised.

"Why do you think I learned to fly everything from a hoverbike up to a fuckin' battlewagon? Because I wanted to pilot Avenger, or any other ship you commanded!" I was yelling at this point. My mom has a habit of making me want to yell.

My mom then smacked me upside the back of my head. "Language, Dex!" See what I mean?

Then her tone softened. "Dex, listen to me. I knew you learned to fly because you wanted to join me in battle. I never asked because I wanted you to ask me for the pilot's slot. When you didn't, I figured that you would do a good job for the Confederate Navy. And I was right. How many bronze and silver starbursts did you earn?"

"Fifteen and twelve, mom." I replied sullenly.

"Exactly! How many other Frigate captains can claim that? Between you and Rilar, you have more medals than half the command staff at CFC!"

"Don't forget that I can run a Confederate blockade blindfolded." I bragged with a grin. Mom had heard the story several times from various sources, and it was mostly true. I'd memorized the layout of the blockade before I blindfolded myself and ran it.

Mom laughed. "I know! I've heard it from other freighter captains and from Rilar several times! Your medicinal supplies made it through to the rebels on New Athens."

It had been a humanitarian mission, and we'd gone in weapons dark as a show of good faith that we would not fire on the Confederate ships, but that in the name of decency, the rebels on the planet would have their medicine and food. We'd lost two freighters in that run, but seventeen more had made it through. Most had me on their vidscreens as I piloted Solar Wind through the blockade with a thick blindfold over my eyes. I won a lot of credits that day.

"When you heard about it, what did you think, mom?" I asked. I needed to know.

"I was proud of you, Dex. You put a lot on the line to help people for relatively little pay." She smiled.

"Mom, I made a boatload of credits from the bets, you know." I grinned.

"Somewhere just shy of thirty thousand, unless I'm mistaken." She hit it on the head.

"Yeah. Mom, I need to get back to our quarters and get changed. Ri's right. This TacArmor is getting itchy and heavy." I kissed her cheek and turned to go.

"How long until Port Royal?" Mom asked.

"Two and a half hours, mom. Don't worry. I love you!" I said as I walked towards our quarters.

"I love you too, sweety!" Mom shouted as I walked.

Once back in our quarters, I locked the door and peeled myself out of the TacArmor and realized how sweaty I'd gotten in it. I threw it in the laundry chute and went to take a shower. It had been a very long day, and I felt Rilar slip in with me as I turned on the water.

"Hi, baby." Rilar pressed her naked body against me as the water cascaded over us. She'd loosed her ponytail, and her hair cascaded around her head and body. I'd nearly forgotten how gorgeous she looked with her hair like that. It was thick, even though it was growing from an only four inch wide circle on top of her head.

"Hey, sweetheart." I took her in my arms and kissed her. "Your hair looks great like that, you know."

She blushed. "Do you really like it like this?"

"Ever since you grew it out starting when we got Solar Wind up and running." I admitted. Gurinkan hair grows quickly on their heads. When we were in, Rilar would shave her head before a two week patrol, and it would be nearly past her ears by the time we got back. It grew on average an eighth of an inch a day. When we'd gotten out, she'd tried growing her hair out all over her scalp, but it had been too hard to manage, and she didn't think she looked tough enough for her skill set. So she shaved most of it off and put the rest into her ponytail.

The only other places on her body she has hair are down her spine, and her eyebrows and eyelashes. The rest of her is completely hairless. Now she was growing the sides out on her head and is planning to chop off the tail when she has enough to style how she wants it.

"Baby, what do you think about me going back to my short 'do?" She asked.

"Sweetheart, no matter how you wear your hair, you will always be perfect to me." I replied. I love her hair, her skin, her eyes, her breasts, her ass, her legs, her nose, her fangs and even her claws. She's the total package for me.

She purred when she heard that. "Dex Relway, I have a feeling we're going to make love tonight. What say you?" She grinned.

"I have a feeling you're right as usual, Rilar. I love making love to you, kitten." I grinned and kissed her passionately.

Her arms tightened around my neck and she purred even louder. The water fell over us and around us as we kissed lovingly and deeply under it. I could smell the faint scent of cherries.

We got out of the shower and towelled each other dry. As I knelt in front of her, I licked her cute pussy once and she jumped and giggled.

"Oh! Baby!" She exclaimed, a bit embarrassed at her reaction.

"It's ok, sweetheart. Mom is in her bunk and our door is loc...." Oh freakin' heck!

"MOM! Seriously, can I have at least a LITTLE ALONE TIME WITH MY WIFE?" She was standing there shaking her head and smirking.

Rilar's head whipped around and she pulled her towel up around herself and let out a REOWW! of embarrassment. I wrapped my towel around my waist.

"I was just coming over to see if you have anything to eat on this tub." My mom said.

"Galley, mom. Where we were before for the Beer Summit! Now could you please GET OUT OF OUR QUARTERS!" I shouted. Yes, I was once again pissed off at my mother. She has no concept of the word 'privacy' when it pertains to her NOT going in someplace.

"Well, do you treat all your guests this way, young man?" There she went again on her maternal discipline kick. Trying to guilt me into doing whatever it was she wanted me to do.

I sighed. "Mom, how did you unlock the door?"

She held up an electronic lockpick and smiled.

"Seriously, mom? What if we'd been in the middle of... you know?" I was getting extremely pissed off now.

"Then I would have waited patiently for you two to finish or notice I was there, whichever came first." Seriously? FUCK!

"That is it. Mom, I'm turning this ship around and taking you straight to Gurhin! I will NOT be spied upon while in my own fuckin' ship! And I don't give a fuck if I'm dropping FUCK-Bombs left and right. This is OUR SHIP! OURS! NOT YOURS! Now, GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR QUARTERS!" I stormed past her to the cockpit.

I was pissed off all to hell. I reached the cockpit and dropped us out of slipstream. I did a quick calculation. Good, Only an hour from Gurhin. I set course and engaged the slipdrive again. Then I stormed back to our quarters to find mom and Rilar talking on our bunk.

"Yes, ma'am. I know. This is our ship, though. Some boundaries are needed with you as our guest." That's my kitten. Always trying to keep friends from tearing each other apart. I was the same way until my mom decided that our private business was also her business.

I found myself cooling off a bit. I had my towel still wrapped around my waist and I really wanted to change, though. "One hour to Gurhin, mom. Then when you get off there, I'll give you some credits to find a room or something until we get to Port Royal and have the rest of your cut sent to you."

They looked at me, but I would not budge. "Mom, I'm sor... No. I'm not sorry to say this. You as our guest was ok, until you invaded our privacy YET AGAIN! I'm not 12 anymore, mom. I'm a grown man with a pretty damn successful business and a beautiful wife that I want to make love to, whenever we get the chance. What I don't get is WHY you insist on screwing up what itty bitty little bit of a relationship we had left after our last big blowup."

Mom looked down for a moment. I had kept my tone relatively level there, and hoped I finally got my point across. She knew what I meant about our last big falling out, too. It was over Ri and me not joining her after we got out of the Navy. By that time, we already knew what we wanted to do with our lives post-service. Mom wanted us as pilot and gunner onboard Avenger, but we wouldn't do it. We'd spoken twice since then, not including today. She actually appeared to be in a self evaluation mood now.

"You're right, Dex. You are a grown man with a beautiful wife and a successful business. You rescued me today at the risk of your own lives. You even negotiated a peace treaty and protection from pirates for me and gave me a great nest egg to retire on." Mom paused, and I was halfway tempted to pass out from complete shock.