This is a work of adult gay fiction. If this offends you in anyway stop reading now. If you are now allowed to read this for any reason stop reading.
Author's Rant
Well this is the first in a series what will run as long as I am still interested in writing them. If you like it please send me feedback. If you don't like it, I like constructive criticism as well. If any of you have read my other stuff you know this is a big departure from the norm. I hope you like it. I can be reached at Dustytale@gmail.com
See you all later, Dusty
Shameless Plug
My two other stories The Ride and Loft Lovers can be found in the Rural section of Nifty.org.
Mack was used to this dream, the feel, the scent, the sound. Thoughts of his lover filled his every sense. He could feel himself exploring his lover's body, hearing his breathing quicken with every touch. Mack could feel them together, one last time. It was always one last time in his dreams.
"Jason!"
Mack shot up in his bed, sweat dripping down his whole body. It took him a moment to gather his senses. His eyes adjusted to the darkness, shards of amber light raced across the walls as transports passed in the dead of night. He was hard, Mack had dreamt of Jason. His erection screamed to be dealt with. He ignored it.
"Time!" Mack growled at the console.
"Local or Standard" The walls questioned in its customer soothing voice.
"Standard you glitched pile of circuits!" Mack was not in the mood to be soothed.
"The current time is 0323 Standard." The walls responded in a cheery voice. "Good morning, would you like anything else? We here at the Majestic Hotel are here to ma.."
"Shut the fuck up. If I wanted anything I would damn well have asked." Mack grumbled as he retrieved his last smoke from the package After he lit it he fumbled around until he found his com on the nightstand.
"Only two damn hours." He thought to himself.
"Sonja what's status?"
"The Majestic would like to remind you that this is a no smoking establish..."
"Didn't I tell you to fuck off. Room disconnect voice controls. Ok Sonja speak to me, and it better be good news."
"Fully operational in approximately 28 minuets. We are only waiting on the EM banks to charge." A female voice replied, only for second could you tell it was synthesized.
"Thanks Sonja I owe you babe. I'll be there in half an hour." Mack said throwing back the sheets of the bed. He stubbed the cigarette out on the nightstand.
"Acknowledged, Sonja Maru out." The AI closed the connection.
Mack got up and wandered to the bathroom stripping off his underwear as went. They only snagged for a second on what was left of his erection.
As he walked naked past the full length mirror on the bathroom door he was startled by his own reflection. The new scar on his right shoulder was a nasty one. His finger traced it thoughtlessly. Slowly his hand moved across his chest and found another scar.
"Flechettes." He thought as he traced the ragged circle. One by one he inspected his body scar by scar. I nick here a cut there, most weren't serious, some like his shoulder almost took his life. His career replayed in his mind. He had never had them regenerated, a waste of money he thought. Besides he carried them as reminders, every scar he had was a mistake, a failure. His caught a glimpse of his left shoulder, his tattoo. Wrapped around the curve of his shoulder was the symbol XI surrounded by a shield. The 11th Squadron Space Corps, the Fighting Angels. He covered it with his right hand, as if hiding it from himself. The skin on his right arm was still pink from the regen treatments.
Mack turned and stepped into the shower. He placed a hand lightly of the wall under the shower head keying it on and setting the temp. Instantly hot water cascaded down his body. Steam quickly filled the room. Mack rested his head on the wall in front of him, letting the hot water work its magic on his muscles.
"Thank god for modern conveniences." Mack grumbled to himself.
Mack's mind drifted to happier times. Mack had been Jason's partner for eight years. They met during the war. They both fought for the Confederation, in the 11th Squadron. They were the best of the best, fly boys, born and bred. At first the war wasn't so bad, they got three squares a day and a warm bed. All they had to do was learn to fly the newest most dangerous spacecraft ever developed.
It was an exciting time, the Confederation was winning the war, the 11th squadron became a household name, they were true blue war heroes. Mack was on top of the world. He had met Jason as a recruit, they went through basic together. They both got accepted into the Space Corps, and sent to flight school. They bunked together all through out their training. It was always Jason's sense of adventure that kept them in trouble most of the time. Mack got into more trouble that first year at the academy then he had in his entire life up to that point.
After the war turned and they started losing, they had been there for each other. A center, a place to find a moments peace in the torrent storm of the war. For five long years they fought the Confederacy's war. By the time the war ended public opinion had changed. It was no longer a popular war. Where they had been heroes only years before, now they returned home to be seen only tools of a corrupt government. They both left the service as soon as their term was up.
There weren't many prospects in the Core for them. So they headed to the Rim, the new frontier. There was only so much they could do with their particular talents so they returned to doing what they did best. Fighting. There was a real need for law enforcement in the Rim, but Mack and Jason had enough uniforms and regulations to last them a lifetime. So they turned to bounty hunting. For eight years they worked together. It wasn't an easy time but it brought in cash.
Mack finished his shower, washing methodically under the hot water. He completed his morning bathroom rituals with military precision. When he walked back into the bedroom. His skin glistened in the amber lights as he searched for his clothing. He was feeling more human as he slowly brought himself back into the land of the living. Silently he slipped his clothing on. As Mack pulled his shirt over his head something tweaked in his right shoulder. His left hand shot to his shoulder. Digging in his fingers he pushed past the muscle to the new socket and its casings. Nothing was out of place. Streaching his arm out he reluctantly returned to dressing. When he was done he stood in the darkness of his room wearing a tight black shirt that clung to his every muscle and a pair of navy blue utilitarian pants that looked like they had seen years of use. They laced at the top of his boots ensuring they wouldn't snag on something. His size 13 boots were scuffed and dirty.
Mack lit up again and he walked to the door. He grabbed his coat off of a chair. It was a black and maroon trench coat that buckled in the front. It could stop most grazing shots but a direct hit would still put him in real danger. He fished his leather gloves out of the pocket and slipped them over his big hands. As he walked out into the predawn darkness he felt he was missing something. His cigarette still hanging in his lips he slipped his final piece of his wardrobe into place. A pair of what appeared to be normal sunglasses until you looked at the inner left eye piece. A needle protruded threateningly. Mack tapped his left eye feeling the lens recede into the mechanical housing. He eased the glasses on feeling the electric shock of something connecting to his nervous system. An audible click let him know it was locked into the socket.
Instantly his world was flooded with information, words of pale green arranged themselves in his field of vision. His systems ran through a quick integrity check before giving him the ok. During the war he directly connected to the visual interface of his S-377 Lightning. Now a days these glasses connected him to his implanted wetware as well as his equipment. He could access his internal systems without them but this gave him all the information he would ever need on the job.
"Human again..." He ventured as his world returned to the digital interface he had spent most of his adult life looking through. His transport unlocked the doors and deactivated the security as he approached. He slid into the drivers seat. Keying open a compartment he retrieved his pistol. He slipped it into his thigh holster. Guns weren't allowed on Marquis but that had never stopped him before. With a brief smile he pulled back on the yolk and watched the streets fall away beneath him. The Marquis colony was a small one but in the dark of the night all Mack could see was its lights stretching to the horizon. The engine hummed softly as he made his way to the port.
The port is like a supernova is a sea of stars. Its beacons could be seen from miles away against the wash of lights from the city. Mack set down next to the Sonja Maru. Her engines already hot and ready to go.
"Sonja ready to bo..." His words were cut short as he saw the knife swinging for his back. His reaction was immediate but not fast enough. He felt the blade bite into his right forearm as he spun to meet his attacker. He viciously yanked the blade out and readied himself for another attack.
"Buddy that was the biggest mistake you ever made." Mack's words were calm and deliberate as he stuffed nano- carbon muscle filaments back into his bleeding wound. Before his attacker could get off another swing Mack kicked in his reflex enhancers as well as his musculature augments. He couldn't last that long like this but he wouldn't need all that long. His first shot was a well placed kick to the stomach doubling over his surprised opponent. His second tore the attackers knee cap out of place. He fell, before he hit the ground Mack was behind him holding the attackers own knife at his throat.
"Ok this is the game, you tell me who you are and who sent you and I might let you live. And if you tell me you are some two bit mugger I swear to god I will kill you where you stand. There are only a handful of people that can scramble military grade sensors long enough to get that close. You had backing I want to know who." To let him know he wasn't kidding drew the knife across his neck lightly, blood beaded up around the blade.
"I don't know the guy gave me..."
"It's a distraction!" The AI's words slammed into his head with the force of a sledgehammer. "Get out of there!"
Mack's reflex enhancers kicked in just in time for him to feel the first round pass his neck by a scant few millimeters. His attacker fell back a huge wound opened on his chest. Mack scrambled onto the Sonja Maru shots landing all around him. They rained down from an unknown attacker.
"Sonja take us up! NOW!" Mack bellowed as he ran to the bridge. He jumped into the control couch and took manual control. After the hail of gauss rounds stopped; the high pitch pings of them bouncing off the hull still hung in the air.
"Oh god...they're getting something bigger." Was Mack's only thought.
"Mack we don't have clearance..." The AI pleaded.
"I don't care get us into the air! These guys are professionals! Don't make me override!" Mack felt the jets ignite as the Sonja Maru took off. "Now get me a full scan, I want names damn it." Mack said as he stormed off to the infirmary he slammed the hatch on his way out.
Moments later Sonja's sweet voice filled the infirmary. "Mack, I got the scan and you aren't going to be happy."
"What is it Sonja? Tell me or I swear to god I will disconnect you."
"I couldn't get any names off of them they were most likely hijackers looking to snatch me...and they weren't carrying any ECM on them..." Sonja let the words sink in, fully aware of the implications.
"Bullshit! Check again! You have to be wrong." Mack snapped.
"Mack..." The digital voice was low and comforting. "When have you ever known me to make a mistake. Besides I already rechecked 350 times. Nothing... Mack you made a mistake he just snuck up on you."
"That doesn't happen... not to me." His words carried a frightening amount of certainty.
"You are exhausted look at you. You have been a mess since Jason..." Sonja trailed off like a child knowing when they have said too much. Mack didn't respond his just scoffed. Trying to ignore the obvious. "Tell me Mack how did you sleep last night. It was your first night not sleeping in your quarters since you got out of regen."
"What you are spying on me now? I slept like shit, my eyes burn, my muscles ache, and my head feels like I am going to explode. I have been taking so much overburn I can barely hold my own cock taking a piss without shaking. Is that what you want to hear. I'm burnt out! There I said it, happy?" Mack screamed as he patched up the hole in his arm.
"Jason died six months ago Mack, you spent two months in a regen center regrowing 35% of your right arm. You went through thirteen muscle replacement surgeries and had totally new skin grafted from your shoulder down to your fingers. You seem to think that you can just come back like nothing ever happened?"
"It isn't the surgeries..." His words were barely above a whisper. He got out a needle and thread from the medical hit.
"You have seen the video feeds so have I. Both you and Jason had the same training; same equipment; same augments. You dodged he didn't it wasn't your fault. It couldn't be, he had just as good of a chance of escaping as you did. You are lucky that you got out at all. The chances of escaping that type of explosive are slim to none, I mean no normal human would ever have survived at all. I know you and Jason were friends but you have to let this go or it will kill y..." Sonja never finished her thought.
"He was more than that and you know it!" Mack roared.
"He was the only person I ever loved...or that loved me. If I ever hear you talk about him again like he wasn't important it will be the last thing you ever do." Mack finished the last suture pulling his sleeve down. "Now I am going to bed. Set a course for Io station and let me know before we enter free fall."
Mack never heard the cascade engine spin up but the moments before the shift into free fall were unmistakable. It felt as if everything around you crackled with static. He only had Sonja notify him as a habit. On military carriers it was traditional for prayer for the dead to be said before entering free fall. It was a long held superstition that to neglect this duty would bring disaster upon your travels. Not once since leaving the Space Corps had Mack done this.
Mack walked over to a box that contained Jason's belongings. After a moment he pulled out a smaller drawer and took out a strand of rosary beads. Mack knelt facing the bulkhead across from the door.
"You took him from me. For that I will never forgive you. You took him instead of me. I won't even ask why. All I ask is that you take care of him. Watch over him, were ever he is. Love him like I did. Amen."
As Mack stood up he wiped away tears in his eyes. He carefully placed the rosary back in its drawer and laid down in the large bed.
"Ok Sonja, ready." Mack instantly felt his stomach lurch as they shifted into another reality. Known by most only as freefall, this alternate reality made faster than light travel not only feasible but reliable and widely available. Mack had felt the shift hundreds if not thousands of times but you never got used to it. Most green recruits threw up their first four or five times. It felt as if not just you but the whole of reality had the bottom dropped out from under it. Your stomach plummeted as light streaked downward and sounds stretched out into silence. It only took a second or two but the effect was undeniably nauseating.
It was over twelve hours before Sonja came back on the com.
"We will be dropping out of free fall around Io in about fifteen minutes."
Mack had slept for over six hours. He had spent the last two running over his plans over and over in his head. He would meet with the bounty commission, then go from there. He would need to buy a bounty at this point any job was better than none. But first he would have to pick up another two crew members maybe three. Replacing Jason wouldn't be easy but he had to. He couldn't do this job alone anymore. Sonja was right. If he made a mistake like that one back on Marquis again it might be his last.
Mack got up and showered again, this time he didn't ignore the erection plaguing him. He stroked himself slowly. Quickening his pace as he approached climax. The only sign of pleasure was short grunt as he came. He went through his morning ritual once more. The only change was when he reached for his bottle of overburn he dumped it down the toilet.
The Sonja Maru docked with the Io station a little over an hour later. Mack was ready and waiting at the airlock. The pressure seals hissed then clicked into place. The instant the hatch opened Mack was transported to another world. Hundreds of sounds and smells attacked his senses. It was organic, alive, vibrant, just what Mack needed. Io was known as one of the busiest stations in the Outer Rim. Mack hadn't been back here since Jason died. Mack thought that it would have been just like it was the last time he was here but Io station was never the same. Day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute, Io station is reborn.
Mack strode down the crowded corridors. Slipping between the crowds he passed the bazaar that usually occupies the main concourse. He made his way down to the Drift. The Drift is the section of the Io that catered to the outriders like Mack. The term outrider encompasses nearly all spacers for hire. Mack by far was one of the most noble of these men and women, working as a bounty hunter. Most of the time outriders couldn't get legal work. Then again on the Rim the term "legal" was kind of hazy anyway. Mack made his way through the dirty corridors passing bars, opium dens, pawn shops, tattoo artists. The prostitutes were out in force tonight. Ever since the Io Port Authority shutdown the brothels they just took to the corridors.
Out of the corner of his eye Mack saw something familiar. Wes, his old commander of the eleventh was standing out in front of the Aurora with some kid. His steel grey hair and chiseled face were etched into Mack's memory.
"Wait the Aurora, Wes wasn't gay." Mack thought to himself.
Mack could barely make him out through the thick crowd. Suddenly Mack saw an arm snake out and connect with Wes's jaw. He nearly fell to the ground from the force. Mack pushed his way through until he saw what was going on. Six men had apparently taken a dislike to Wes and whoever his young friend was. The kid must have been 19 or 20 at the most but he looked like he carried himself in a fight like a professional. He had blonde hair cropped short, looked military. One of the men took a swing at him. Mack's normal reaction would have been to kick in his augments and tear the guy apart. This kid fought like it was a game. He actually smiled as he easily blocked the punch and proceeded pick the man apart. When he was done, the man was a pile on the ground with a dislocated elbow, right knee, and a bleeding face.
Wes was rearranging himself after the shot to his jaw. Mack saw him slip his hand into his pocket and pull out a pair of highly illegal black-market sunglasses almost exactly like his own.
"Well it is over now." Mack thought to himself. Mack watched as he could see nearly every muscle in Wes's body tense. Mack knew the feeling, his musculature augments originally designed to help resist g-forces in dogfights came in handy in a fist fight. Slowly Wes seemed to relax, he took a single step forward. Two men fell before Mack could react. Watching Wes fight with his augs on was simply a blur. Kicking in his reaction enhancers he enjoyed the show. In slow motion Mack watched his old commander pick apart three men at the same time. He always had been a brutal fighter. Of the two that fell first Mack was almost positive one would need a stint in the regen center before he could walk. The only one left standing backed off and drew a flechette pistol. Neither Wes or his young friend saw. Mack drew and fired three taze rounds into his chest. The man dropped to the ground convulsing uncontrollably.
Wes's eyes shot to Mack who was holstering his pistol.
"Mack?! What in the holy hell are you doing here?" Wes laughed
"I am saving your ass...as always." Mack said with a smirk.
"Saving me? If you weren't paying attention I took out four of them in under 15 seconds." Wes said trying to sound indignant through his laughter.
"14.38 to be exact but it was the fifth that would have been a problem before you would have noticed he would have fired from over 20 feet away. And even with our wetware you know it is impossible to cross that distance before he filled you with flechettes."
"Details details, so what brings you here? I never thought you would be this far out in the Rim." Wes said draping his arm around Mack.
"Are you kidding? I have been out here with Jason for over eight years." Mack's face suddenly went blank. " I guess that means you don't know."
"Know what? Last heard you two love birds were headed to Core for work."
"Well the work never showed up and Jason and I turned to bounty hunting here on the Rim. Wes...he died...six months ago. It was a stalker mine. Bastard we were tracking laid them all over his place. Set to attack body heat. The explosion engulfed Jason. I barely escaped with most of my right arm missing."
"Oh my God Mack! Are you ok? You and Jason were together for almost 13 years. I can't imagine..."
"It is fine Wes. I'm doing better now, for a long time I wasn't doing so hot. I mean I miss Jason but...is there some where we can go talk about this. I just shot someone and don't want the Port Authority asking a lot of questions."
"Pfft it was just taze shot. Not like you killed him or anything. He'll just wake up in an hour or two with a massive headache. That and third degree burns but definatly not dead." Wes gave the man Mack shot a quick kick to the ribs as he stepped over him leading Mack away from the Aurora.