Time Passes

When the ship dropped out of warp, it wasn't a huge JOLT that passed over him but it was a little bit of a shift. Enough to make him stumble, but not enough to make him lose his grip on the utensils. Blackfire had a bit of a grin before going back to her meal. True to her word, the trip had ended around dinner, specifically in the middle of it.

Dinner was just grilled chicken with potatoes; but true to his word he put the bottle of cinnamon next to her plate to let her try it out. She seemed to prefer on the baked potato compared to the usual salt but hey; she seemed happy. There was... something about cinnamon chicken he heard about from one of the dinners he visited... maybe make that up. But that called for cider as well and he was pretty sure he didn't have any of that on board.

"Hell, I don't even know if they'd have any of that on the trip back." He thought as he picked up dishes.

There wasn't much to do after cleaning up. Blackfire stayed in the cockpit, working away at the systems of the vessel while answering a few different calls that came in from the small station. Well small to her; it was still huge to him. Maybe a fourth the size of the last one though but that still made it basically a small floating town in and of itself. Maybe hamlet would be the better term.

But currently, she had no use for him and there wasn't anything else to do, what with CARM helping around the ship as well. Instead of trying to find something to do, and probably mess up, he took his time to break out a few books to read to Layla. Stories usually calmed her down and got her ready to sleep. He tried to stay away from any of the 'princess books' she liked so much, if only to avoid some awkward questions. He also checked on her inhaler again and went over its use with CARM once more, just to be certain.

His daughter asleep in her bed (which looked far comfier than her old bed given it wasn't all stylized up to look 'fancy'), and CARM taking over the night duties, Zac decided to turn in. Or rather, maybe watch something before turning in. The few times he wasn't in a rush, he'd watch something on tv, usually some old crime dramas, or a couple of vids online until sleep took him.

"Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me." he answered as he walked into the bedroom.

He looked around, wondering where Blackfire was..., and maybe how she got in here ahead of him. Perhaps she finished faster than he thought she would. She spoke up again, her sing song teasing voice coming from her walk-in closet. How big was that thing..., well it SHOULD be smaller than his ex's.

"I figured it would be but I can't see from here. If it was Layla or CARM that would mean you fucked something up." He could hear the mirth in her voice.

"Ha. Ha." he sat on the bed, taking off his boots one at a time, "And if something happened from outside the ship?"

"Smart ass."

"So, question..., about the bed."

"We can sleep together..., I mean you already fucked me hard enough to leave an imprint on the mattress, not to mention the glass in the bathroom. The thought of being in bed with me gives you pause?"

"I'd be lying if I said no but rather surprised, you'd be... willing." he replied after chewing on it for a bit.

"Oh, did you expect something to come from being in bed with me again? Mmmm, dirty minded minion. Is this what you pictured? Me coming onto you with some slinky outfit?" She called as he heard the rustle of clothing.

A bit of sweat was on his neck now. She hadn't left the closet yet...., what was she wearing? Or maybe what wasn't she wearing. He had mentioned something about costumes to her. He reached over to a bottle on the 'nightstand' and took a big long drink of the water inside. This was going to be a night where he needed a lot of fluids. Then again..., she was prone to just fucking with him...

The closet opened and he took a breath to steel himself...., wait.

"The look on your face."

Blackfire was still a looker in it, but the outfit was nowhere near as slinky as he thought it would be. Instead of some sort of porn or stripper outfit, it was a plain sleep ware... maybe fancier though as it looked made of silk. The set was light purple pair of shorts and a halter top. It wasn't even transparent. She gave a bit of a spin, showing off her figure which... had it been normal, perhaps it would cover her normally. But it looked a size or so smaller than her new body which gave it a nice tight look to it, helping to show off her form. A pair of long stockings that seemed to hook to her shorts, forming a garter like set up, finished her look.

"Hmmm did you expect me to just appear nude again? Maybe just a bra this time? I know some guys like the naked save for the trench coat look." She teased as she walked over.

".... I had a 50/50 bet in my head." though he did let out a breath that he was holding.

"I have other clothes you know!" she put her hands on her hips before waving a hand for him to shift a bit, "I even picked up a few outfits to be more... suitable. Now go dress yourself."

"Can't. Don't have sleepwear."

"You can't be serious."

"WHERE would I store it? I usually slept in my day clothes and shifted to a new set the next day. Remember, I had a small truck and basically little else."

Something was shoved in his gut before he could process it, knocking him onto his back, bouncing against the soft mattress. Getting up, he looked at the alien, but Blackfire had her head turned away, but he could see the flush creeping up the side of her face. He looked down at the box in front of him and opened it up.

"You.... got me PJs?"

"My knight will NOT grace my own sleepwear with his muggy sweaty work clothes." She folded her arms and tiled her head upward.... but that only gave him a better look at her breasts. But the gesture was more funny than anything to him, "Go on change already."

He started to take off his shirt when he noticed her lingering eyes on him. In part for some privacy and in part to mess with her, he excused himself to the bathroom. The outfit fit him pretty well, CARM might have given her his sizes. It was a simple set of plaid sleepwear, button top and long soft pants/slacks for the bottoms. Felt pretty nice too, soft and cool without being freezingly thin. He came back into the bedroom and heard a whistle.

"Looking good." Blackfire had a laugh to her tone.

"Yeah yeah, I'm insert movie star here." he shrugged as he copied her earlier, doing a little spin around to show off, "This was unexpected..."

"Please; CARM told me you seemed to lack sleepwear, so we picked up a few for you as well." She settled onto the bed, reclining against the pillows with a grin on her face, "You can pay me back."

".... not THAT way.... right?"

"Hmmm no. After today, and milking you in the shower already, I feel you could use a good night's sleep. So could I honestly." She stretched out before patting the mattress, "So no I'm not going to fuck you tonight."

"I thank you for your mercy." He chuckled as he took his spot on the other side of the bed.

A 'thud' was heard and he looked back over at Blackfire, noting the new long pillow that split the bed down the middle.

"What? I figured we could use a divider when we aren't in the mood."

".... Fair enough. Though I should mention, I don't move much in my sleep."

"Well I do." She made of a show of stretching out again, "After all, I usually have so much space to work with. This tiny bed is... fine."

"Hmmm."

He reached over to the nightstand again and looked through some of the drawers before finding something that was like a remote. Blackfire sighed and walked him through using it when he couldn't get it to work. A screen came down from the ceiling and flicked on. Most the channels were ones he had no idea where about, and even had to hurriedly flick through a few 'steamy' channels (note to self, put some sort of lock in place for Layla), before the two of them figured out how to 'channel surf' further out. Zac eventually settled on an old black and white legal drama his folks watched when he was younger.

"Do you watch TV before sleep?" Blackfire looked up from her device, stopping her hard tapping at the screen.

"Sometimes. Depends on what I know I have to do tomorrow. You?"

"Just doing some finalizing here. Then I'll turn in. After all, watching you humans try to wiggle out of of legal problems is so....."

Zac flicked the tv off and settled down to sleep. Finally, she was out like a light. For someone that scoffed at the idea, Blackfire had 'commanded him' to keep the tv on, which resulted in three episodes of one 'Perry Mason' being watched in a row. She fell asleep about halfway through the third one but grunted if he tried to turn it off.

Not to mention, for all the show of that divider was, Blackfire had slowly snuggled up to him as she fell asleep. Currently her head was on his shoulder, rubbing against it from time to time to make herself comfy. If she could, would she get on top of him and sleep there, much like a cat would on someone's chest? Maybe be a little careful of that.

Still, he tried his best to settled into a comfortable position himself without waking her. He really could use the sleep himself considering everything thus far. He gave a yawn as he closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep.

‘Xh’kori…’

There was that word again..., a small thing Blackfire muttered out in her sleep....,

"So where ARE we?"

Zac was munching away at some toast as he sat in the co-pilot's seat, Blackfire at the controls.

Blackfire had woken up first, annoyed that she was wrapped around him like that. She brushed it off as 'seeking warmth' or something when he brought it up mid shower. A quick breakfast was had after Layla woke up; simple sausage and toast...., cinnamon for Blackfire of course. Nothing heavy just something to fill up a bit.

After breakfast, the two adults headed to the cockpit. The overnight warp hadn't finished but she figured she would show him how it looked coming out of the trip. Zac felt that weird 'shift' again as the ship came back to normal speed… or reality? He wasn’t sure just HOW they were traveling. When the screens came up, he was greeted with the sight of several large asteroids floating in a small band or collection or..., what did you call a group of asteroids? But that's when he had asked the question.

"I asked at the rest stop about any unclaimed mining fields on our route, and lo and behold, here's one." Blackfire announced as she took the controls, "The minerals here are too low to really make a concentrated effort, not to mention it's on the boundary of a few factions. So, any build up would be a little suspicious. So instead, they just let some intrepid risk takers to go out and get them."

"It won't make us rich, but it should be enough to cover costs. Besides I can show you how this whole mining thing works."

She turned towards him, some idea of a barb or jab brewing in her head when she saw he wasn't looking at her. No, his attention was on one of the screens. She tapped away at the controls, and enlarged what he was so interested in. The blob was quickly refined into a rather elegant looking ship, only with a black and red ship that was a bit bigger compared to it parked right next to it.

"Hmmm. This could be a problem."

A few alerts came across the screens as two more ships, smaller but still in that red and black color scheme, had floated out from behind some of the asteroids. Their engines flaring up and rocketing towards them.

"You think?" Zac asked with a sigh, "So what's the plan?"

"Well, they aren't firing yet. So, they probably mean to board us..., we can't warp out in time anyway." Blackfire said as she crossed her legs, a grin appearing on her face, "Board us hmmm. Well now, shall we have some fun with this?"