Abby forced a smile. “Actually, you’re the one fucked right now. I’m just sorry I don’t know exactly how many fleet regulations you’ve broken by being a xenophobic asshole. I’m watching you, Rogers. Everything you do, I have eyes on. Think about that the next time you want to screw with our new allies. Two words to remember if you don’t stop your bullshit: sewer lines. That’s going to be your future.”
She moved out of the flight-control room and noticed that a large group of fleet crew members had assembled, watching the show. The four Veslors were there as well, studying her.
Abby lowered her gaze, picking up her pace, and headed across the deck toward the doors leading out of the shuttle bay.
She made it to the lift and found herself inside alone, fortunately. Her tense body relaxed. “Making friends,” she muttered. “Just like always.”
She exited on level seven and made it to her cabin, entering the lit room. She always kept the lights on. Her high heels were the first thing she kicked off as she bypassed her living area to head into her bedroom. She tugged out the ponytail band from her red hair and shook her head, entering the bathroom.
“Rogers isn’t going to let this go, but neither am I. It’s a good thing I decided to come. I got that asshole busted,” she said aloud, talking to herself. It was something she’d done most of her life. It was a byproduct of all the time she’d spent alone with computers instead of people. “It beats hiding inside my home on Earth and doing hourly sweeps for drone bugs trying to find new ways to spy on me.”
She quickly stripped out of her clothes and got into the shower, turning on the hot water. It felt good to just stand there with her eyes closed, letting the water pour over her skin, washing away the dirty feeling that came with every confrontation with Rogers. She finally forced herself to move, washing her body and hair. Then she put on a robe and entered her bedroom, grabbing her personal data pad to check messages.
A personal one immediately improved her mood, and she tapped on it. Vivian’s smiling face appeared. “Hey! You must be busy doing something fun since I had to leave a message. Give me a call back when you have some free time to chat.” Her friend paused as something crashed loudly in the background. Vivian leapt to her feet from the cushion she sat on. “No, Klad!”
Abby laughed as an alien panther cub suddenly landed on the cushion where Vivian had just been. The baby’s large golden eyes stared back at her. Vivian and Brassi’s son was adorable, and he was growing fast. No human child could get around like that after only a few months.
Vivian returned to the vid and sat down next to her son, grabbing him by the back of his scruff and pulling him onto her lap, her other hand stroking his head. “So much for that vase I liked. He’s learning how to leap. Nothing is safe from Klad. I’m just glad he’s got tougher skin in this form. Brassi never warned me how energetic our baby would be.”
Abby felt a little envy. Her friend looked so happy.
“Guess what? I’m pregnant again! We just found out.” Vivian chuckled. “And we were worried we wouldn’t be breed compatible at first. I wish you’d come visit me and meet your own Veslor. There’s five of them on this ship to pick from. I’ve created a whole lot of interest in humans from their guys, too. Who knows? You could find your own sexy alien who wants to bare his bod to you,” she grinned, reminding Abby of the Veslor males’ method of showing interest in a woman. Vivian leaned in closer to the camera. “Just be careful if one talks you into some kinky sex, or you’ll end up with one of these.” Vivian kissed her son’s head. “Call me back and we’ll talk! I miss you.”
The vid ended. The other messages were mostly business related from Melissa, Mel for short, her assistant on Earth, and one of her best friends. A tiny bit of guilt surfaced. Abby had dumped everything to go on this mission. Poor Mel had agreed to run her office on Earth, but there were certain aspects only Abby could handle. Some of their clients were dicks who demanded to deal directly with the daughter of the owners. Those got forwarded every day for Abby to personally respond to.
She lay down when she was done, staring at the ceiling, thinking about Vivian’s invitation. Once, she’d dreamed of getting married and having kids. Then reality had bitch-slapped her dreams.
Men didn’t date her because they liked a mouthy, opinionated woman. Nope. They were looking at her bank account and family connections.
Maybe she should take a vacation to visit the Veslor trade ship Vivian lived on once she made sure the fighter grouping onboard was treated right. Hot aliens wouldn’t know who her parents were, or how much money she was worth.
* * * * *
Drak kept replaying the scene he’d witnessed over and over in his mind as he lay on his bunk. The redheaded human female with the light green eyes had been fierce, fearless, and had given Rogers hell.
The bunk under him squeaked. “We’re supposed to sleep. Do that,” Gnaw grumbled.
“Apologies.”
“It’s the female with blood hair.”
Drak tensed.
“I stood next to you while we watched Rogers get into trouble, and I know she aroused you. My nose is too good. Your oil is something I don’t wish to smell.”
“Leave it alone.”
“The human way is to ask her if she wants you on top of her.”
“I don’t think that’s right, Gnaw.”
“I’ve been watching the males and females on his vessel interact. The females smile and touch males. They in return touch and smile back. Then the male asks if the female wants to go to his cabin. That seems vague. Just ask if she wants you on top of her. Then you are sure she wants to copulate.”
“That is wrong,” Maith called across the room from his lower bunk. “You buy them a drink and then do that smiling thing. Add in light touching until the female asks you to go to her cabin.”
“We’re not copulating with human females,” Roth snarled. “Our king told us to make friends but to keep our rods inside our pants.”
Maith snorted. “Why did we leave home for this? Being insulted, no females to copulate with, and I have to share bunk space with all of you when you won’t let me sleep.”
“You should ask her to take you to her cabin,” Gnaw said after long moments of silence. “I refuse to sleep on the floor in the living space to give you our bunk room to copulate.”
“I’d be curious to watch them,” Maith mused. “Purely for learning purposes.”
“Silence,” Roth snapped. “There will be no copulating, and we certainly won’t be watching any of that happen, either.”
“I’d like to learn how to make them well oiled,” Gnaw admitted. “Some of the fighting females are attractive to me.”
“Never say oiled to a human,” Maith explained. “Do none of you read Vivian’s announcements to our kind about humans females? They just call it ‘getting wet’ when aroused. Oiled isn’t an attractive term to them.”
Drak frowned. “There are announcements, Maith?”
“Yes. Some of our males became interested in human females after that trader Brassi mated to a human, especially when news broke that she had birthed his cub. Their females are breed compatible with us.”