Chapter 6

Thrax ended up becomeing one of the warriors in a group under her command known as the Guardians. It was made up of members of her own species, a few humans and some aliens and mutants. It was a small group, very small Only about ten or so and it was a subdevision of her father's army, which was also dwindleing by war.

He served beside her, leading with her, and takeing orders from noone, not her, not her father, not even her mother. Because of this Alaric didn't like him very much, but Skylight, Northstar's mother, wouldn't let him forbid her to see him.

They spent a great deal of time in meetings with the president and Thrax was begining to concider him a lot like the mayors in the bodies he'd invaded. Noone but Northstar knew that he was a deadly virus, and that he was quite cappable of killing with little or no remorse, he just held himself in check for Northstar's sake.

During meetings Thrax would freaquently walk out or melt a paperweight or something to ease the bordom that he was being tortured with. Northstar lead him out of the oval office after a particularly frustrateing one. She hated them herself and concidered them trivial and pointless. Obligation to obey her father was the only thing that forced her to go. They both needed a break after all of this.

Taking up their mounts they rode through the city. Thrax was never one to be fond of the hussle and bussle of the big city. He prefired haveing small company around. It was a short trip, they spent most of the day rideing around town and Northstar picked up a few things from a Radio Shack.

"Baby did you really need that thing?"

"What? It's cool..."

"It's a little toy baby dragon thing that has little blinking lights for fire and giggles..."

"He's cute!"

"Yeah baby... whatever" Thrax smirked. He really didn't feel like an arguement.

Northstar giggled and mounted up on Mystic. The winged horse was always happy to see her rider, but there were times when she didn't understand her. They took flight and landed in a park downtown near the water. There Northstar dismounted and knelt by the water. She dipped a hand in and lifted up to sniff at it. She frowned.

"No..." she muttered standing up

"What is it baby..."

"Something's not right..."

Thrax only looked at her.

"The water's calm... but feel the air..." She looked out over the water and stepped onto the dock. The breeze blew her hair back. "Hmmm... The clouds are dark... but there's no rain... not even thunder.. I don't like the omens... Not at all.."

"Baby, that's just supersition."

"Perhaps to you." she snapped, eyes flashing breifly, "But I pay attention to them." She glared out over the ocean again.

"Think there's gonna be trouble?"

"Why do you think I was talking about omens?"

"So... what do you suppose we do?"

"Well I don't know about you, but I'm not about to stand back and see what happens... I'm going to find out for myself." she took a deep breath, "We're going to Etheria to find out.."

"Your homeworld? How might I ask?"

"I have a ship... She's not the best mind you, but she'll get us there.."

"What ship?"

"I call her the Starblazer... She can jump a warp gate with the best of them and get us there in a day or so."

"Where is this ship?"

"We'll have to go to the country.. it's in an old bunker where my old base used to be."

"Sure thing." He mounted up, "Lead the way baby."

Northstar smirked and hopped up on Mystic's back, then with a snap of the reins they took to the air. Landing in front of her home, the two winged horses took off in a gallop around back. Thrax looked at her quizically, wondering why they hadn't stopped at her home.

She stopped about a mile from the property line and pressed a button on a keychain. From out of nowhere a platform rose, bringing with it an impressive ship attatched by hooks to the top of it. It had dragonshaped wings, a ridge at the top and came down in sort of a diamond shape and at the front near the cockpit it had sharp, streight lines and a slender 'v' at the bottom. It was designed for stealth, sturdiness and manuverability.

"Whoa baby..." Thrax said in awe.

There was a symbol on the hull of the ship. A Unicorn's head and neck with a single wing held streight up and flowing back, beneith it were two crossed swords clashed in battle. One representing dark, the other light. Northstar drew her sword and held it up toward the hull of the ship. Seems formed about three feet apart from each other, up about eight on the side of the hull. A door opened from the bottom and a 3 foot wide platform extended from the base of the opening.

"After you..." Northstar grinned, holding her hands toward the ship and bowing playfully.

Thrax, not being one for too many words, scooped her up and carried her over the threshhold. Once within the ship he blinked. It was unusually dark for what he expected of her. There were several rooms, 3 bedrooms, (the ship was designed for a very small crew if any) one bathroom and a single very small rec room. The bulk of the ship's space was taken up by the huge cargo bay at the aft of the ship and the control room at the bow.

One of the ships three small bedrooms were being used to store supplies, the other had been modifided, apparently since her last mission, to be used as makeshift stables. Looking behind him the virus noticed Mystic and Firewind entering the ship and headed toward that one.

"The largest of them are my sleeping quarters. My bed isn't large but it will accomodate the two of us." The Unarie woman smiled at him. Thrax smiled back.

"So how many people do you typically have on this thing?"

"She can hold a crew of up to five... All of the rooms have multiple beds, mine simply have them hidden in the walls. I normally only have one other person with me.." she smiled "And of course Mystic. Each room has a shower."

"Hey wanna save water baby?" He had this naughty little grin on his face.

She chuckled. "Save it love.. We've got a mission to complete.."

"Okay now that's the thing baby... What the heck is our mission?!" Thrax crossed his arms. He was not a very patient virus.

"Okay... Horde Prime must have used some sort of device to send me to the microscopic world before... I'm certian he ment to leave me there..."

She headed into the control room. To Thrax's surprsie, the very thing the control room lacked... were controls! There was a control panel but only a few buttons and dials. The main portion of it was made up of what was essentially a black, shiny mat with a few reddish circles in the middle of it.

Northstar seemed to sense his question because she walked up and squeezed his hand.

"It's controled by touch my love." she told him, snuggleing up to his arm. "I put my hands or hoovs on it and steer that way.. Of course it can be converted to a more conventional control system... but I intend to give you access."

Thrax nodded.

"Anyway..." she walked over to it and flicked a few switches above her and sat in a chair, strapping down, Thrax following suit. "We have to find and destroy it before he does any more damage to the microscopic world... and destroy the device completely." She hadn't looked up from her task even as she pressed her hands on the mat, her fingers outlined in red by it. "... Along with any info reguarding it... We can't give him a chance to fix it or to rebuild it!"

Thrax felt the ship being unhooked by the giant platform as they hovered and in a moment they were taking off toward the sky. He didn't dare speak or removehis seatbelt unitll they left the atmosphere of the planet and all he could see before them through the clear reinforced polysubstance of the cockpit were bright white dots against the black horizon that was space.

After a few tense moments Northstar finally unstrapped herself and sighed, leaning back in the chair, hands still on the panel. Thrax undid his own seatbelt and walked over to her, placeing his claws on her shoulders.

"It's beautiful isn't it baby?"

She nodded, "It almost makes me forget..." She removed one of her hands from the panel and covered his with it. Thrax began to gently massage her.

"Hey baby does this thing have Autopilot?"

"Just a sec love... Lemme program it."

Dissentangling herself from him she returned both hands to the control panel and set in their course. Then she leaned against the chair again, both hands in her lap. "There.." she murmered, tiredly.

Hearing that Thrax walked around to her, bent down and kissed her tenderly. Northstar let her hands snake up and around his shoulders as he held her tightly. The true stress of what they were soon to undergo hit her and she stood, pressing against him and letting her tears flow.

"Hey baby what is it?" Thrax looked at her concerned and brushed a couple stray strands of her hair out of her face.

His queary was met with only scilence and a tender kiss from her. He started to speak again, but she put two fingers on his lips and shushed him gently. Exhaleing he held her close to him as her hands slid around him, under his open blackish red trenchcoat. She kissed him again, more sweetly this time. Thrax could feel her relax through her lips.

She smiled again and took his hand, whispering, softly, "Unless somthing happens, I won't need to check the autopilot for another sixteen hours..." She then led him to her sleeping quarters, a glint in the corner of her eye..

The inside of it was very simple. There was a bed between the sizes of twin and queen, but it was about as long as a king. The frame and headboard were made of wood and there was a small night table with a cronometer and a lamp attatched to it. All of the furnature was bolted or welded down. In another corner there was a medium sized desk with a thin computer moniter on it, along with a few nick nacks here and there.

On the night table a framed picture caught Thrax's eye. He picked it up and looked at it for a moment. It was one of Northstar in human form and another man. He was standing behind her hugging her around the torso and pinning her arms to her sides, Northstar was smileing and looking at him with bright eyes while her hands clutched his arms. He was kissing her cheek. She looked to be only about sixteen or seventeen, and the male looked much older.

"I didn't know I still had that here..." Northstar walked over and took hold of the picture.

"Who's that?" he wanted to know..

"That's Thunder..." she said solomly. The memory still saddened her. She took the picture from him and sat on the bed. "So many memories..."

"You guys were crazy about each other wern't you?"

She nodded. "Yes... we were.." then she smiled at him, though a bit of pain at the memory of her dead lover showed deep in her eyes. "But I'm also crazy about you Thrax.. I love you."

Thrax smiled back at her kindly then sat beside her, wrapping an arm around her, "I love you too baby." He kissed her as she put the frame away.

Northstar sighed and lay back on the bed, sliding slightly onto her left side. Thrax, curled up beside her and caressed her cheek. They lay like that for a long time, cuddleing, occasionally kissing. When Northstar shivered with cold he pulled the sheet and blankets over them, removing his trenchcoat and laying it over the top.

The tension that was once thick in the air ebbed and faded as Northstar pressed up against him. They held each other until she felt those claws that would never harm her, begin to slip under her clothes.

Exhaleing she felt his talons gently flick over her breasts and she let her entire body relax. He simply slid his hands down to her skirt, pushing it down gently with his hands. He started to remove her undergarmets as well, but held back, not wanting to intimidate her. He looked into her eyes, asking her if she wanted this. In responce she untucked his grey turtle neck, removed it and tossed it to the floor beside the bed.

Thrax grinned gently and took hold of her shirt and slid it over her head and removed her bra, carefully undoing the delicate snaps with his sharp claws. Northstar smiled at him, caressing his bare chest with her hands, wrenching a pleasent shudder from the virus.

Bending his head down he wrapped his slender tounge around a nipple, gently flicking the tip over it. Gasping the female beneath him arched up slightly as he took it completely into his mouth, sucking gently, then sliding it out of his mouth then leaning down to kiss her deepy.

Her tounge slid out of her mouth to meet his as they took turns kicking off each others boots. Giggleing Northstar fought under the covers to get them off of the bed. After a few minutes they both heard about three or four 'plop's as the boots finally fell to the floor. Coming up under the covers she took one look at Thrax's expresion and broke down in laughter.

They held each other like that for a while, laughing heartily before it turned back over to passion. Thrax pushed his hand gently into her panties, feeling her instingtively open her thighs. Gently, carefully he slid a couple fingers into her, wrenching a gasp from her. After thrusting them in and out of her for a few seconds he pulled them out and licked his tallons, then pressed them to her lips, allowing her to taste herself.

She looked up into his face. She had a sweet, tender expression and her cheeks had become a cute shade of pink. He studied her expression for a moment, breifly gazeing at her arousal-reddened lips before claiming them with his own. She kissed him back passionately, feeling him inflicting a diffrent sort of fever over her.

Out of instingt Thrax let out a deep viral growl as he kissed her, sliding his hands gently, but firmly down her sides, then he looked up suddenly at her face, worried that he'd alarmed her. To his releif her expression wasn't one of fear but of surprise and amusement. Chuckleing he returned to kissing her, continueing to growl gently.

Northstar exhaled softly, arching up toward him and feeling him rid her of her last shred of clothing, the white cotton panties slideing past her ankles, she kicked them to the side breifly as the virus undid his pants, slid them down with his boxers and did the same to her.

He lay on top of her, letting his teeth gently scrape against her nipples as he gently bit and kissed her breasts. She slid her hand around the back of his head, running her fingers through his dreadlocks as his hand found her womanhood once more. Beneath him she let out a low whimper, her inner muscles twitching around his gently thrusting claws.

Slowly pulling them out his fingers found the little nubin above her entrance and stroked it. Northstar gasped sharply and arched up, grinding her hips against his hand. She clenched her teeth and sucked in sharply in pleasure, letting it wash over her in waves.

Leaning up she tilted his head back and began kissing him deeply as he positioned himself between her thighs, sliding his tounge in and out of her mouth in a demonstration of what was to come. Smiling at her he propped her up on top of the rest of the pillows and pressed her back against the headboard. He also put a pillow behind her lower back to ease the strain caused by her pregnancy. Then he slowly entered her. Northstar gasped in pleasure as she felt Thrax exhale into her neck, submitting herself willingly to him as his hand reached behind her and gently scraped her back.

At first his movements were slow and gentle, but after a while he sped up a little, each thrust of his hips makeing her moan louder. Thrax hissed into her ear as Northstar slid her arms around him and clutched his bottom, digging her nails into his skin. He felt her hands working up his back to clutch at his shoulders as she spread her legs wider for him.

Not allowing his pace to faulter Thrax drew back to lick at her breasts, gently cupping one in his claws and teaseing at the nipple. Northstar arched up, tightening her grip on his shoulders and lightly caressing his lower back with her fingers. The virus above her shuddered at the featherlight touch.

Thrax held still inside her for a moment, laying light kisses on her cheek as she nipped at his neck and throat. He pushed slowly deeper as Northstar laied butterfly kisses down his throat then pulled out a few inches, just as slow. Northstar gasped, her yerning burning within her as strong as the flame of his claw.

He started moving again, sliding in and out of her. Her breath came in short gasps as his own in low growls and moans. Letting out a soft hiss Thrax climaxed, spilling into her and triggering her own. Feeling her spasm around him he held her tighter, the tips of his talons almost peircing her flesh.

She trembled for a few moments then went limp, snuggling close to him. Thrax smiled and placed a clawed hand behind her head, gently combing her hair with them. He kissed her forehead and tilted her face up to look into her eyes.

They needed no words to express their emotions and they scilently embraced. Northstar returned his smile, a deeper one in her tear filled eyes. Thrax looked at her concerned and wiped one of them away, but before he could ask her what was wrong she kissed his lips and snuggled.

Touched, Thrax realized that she was crying happy tears. Now those he could stand to see. Feeling a few welling up in his own eyes, though not allowing them to fall he laied his head on top of hers and snuggled with her under the covers, forceing himself to stay awake until he saw her chest riseing and falling at a regular pace and allowed himself to fall asleep after her.