Firefly
Chapter 3
Kate had chosen to sleep in the bed above his. It was only as she was climbing to get up into her bed that she really noticed that the bed on the ground floor was actually bigger than this one. What was now her bed, unless she changed her mind, was basically dead center. The bed below was bigger on either side.
She was still wearing the clothes he had given her when she was in bed. The bed she soon learned was really comfortable and soft. Maybe that was the problem, it was too soft. She was used to a hard floor sleeping on a mat and this was anything but that.
As a result she would fall asleep only to wake up a moment later. It was during one of these times as she twisted around in bed she found that with just a little effort on her part she could look down and see him sleeping.
She grinned. He trusted her enough to let her sleep right above him. Granted she didn't have a mean bone in her body. She was a slave used to receiving punishment and not in giving it to someone. So hurting him really never entered her mind.
Kate was still on the edge of her bed and was looking down at him. The bed sheet that she wasn't even using had come down his body a bit and she was able to tell that he wasn't wearing much. That had her wondering just what he was wearing. Like this all she saw was his bare chest.
"Can't sleep?" His eyes were still closed but he had asked her a question.
Kate bit her lower lip; she turned over and ignored what he had said. She'd been caught spying on him and she was embarrassed.
"Kate?" She hadn't answered him and instead had moved to the center of the bed. He knew this because her weight was now in the middle.
Kate still had both of her hands over her mouth after being caught staring at him. "No." Thanks to her hands and how softly she had said it even she barely heard herself.
"Then come down here."
Kate's eyes shot open. "What?" He didn't actually mean sleep with him, did he? Her hands were still over her mouth and now her heart was beating about as fast as it ever had.
"I don't know where your old master made you sleep, but if sleeping on a bed all alone is something that you can't do then climb down here," Rick suggested.
Kate, however, stayed right where she was. He was offering for her to sleep with him! The only time she'd ever been in a bed was her master's bed when he wanted to rape her.
"I'm…I'm fine, just different," Kate said, her voice shaking a bit.
"As you wish. If you don't like that one, try one of the others. It's just the two of us and there are three spare beds." Rick rolled over and hit his pillow a couple of times.
"I'm fine." Only she wasn't fine. She was far from fine. She'd been looking at his exposed skin and doing that was doing something to her. She could feel she was getting wet between her legs and it wasn't going away.
Kate waited a while and hoped he'd gone to sleep so she climbed down. She went into the bathroom and sat on the toilet, willing herself to pee. If she was leaking she needed to solve that problem. Only it wasn't that easy and not much came out. Satisfied she dried herself and put her shorts back on and climbed back into her bed.
Only as she climbed she looked down at him. She saw him lying on his side and his sheet had fallen even farther so that even more skin was exposed. Still she got into bed and laid there silently but couldn't get to sleep.
Kate carefully rolled over so she could look down at him again. He had rolled over onto his back and his sheet had slipped down even more. It was enough that now she could see the top of his shorts.
One hand was on his chest and one hand was over… well, it was directly over. It was enough that she rolled back over onto her back as her heart started pounding again; she was getting wet between her legs once again.
Okay, maybe sleeping up here wasn't her best idea. But what was happening to her? Being raped had hurt and yet here she was wishing he wasn't wearing shorts and that the sheet went low enough for her to see something.
Worse, the more she thought about it the wetter she got. She turned over and buried her head into her pillow, desperately trying to get her mind off of his almost naked body that was directly below her.
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"Huh, what?" Kate twisted to see Rick standing there looking clean, fresh, and dressed.
"Time to get up, sleepy head." Rick poked her again. "I'll leave you a new t-shirt and shorts for you to change into. We'll be landing at the station later today to get your clothes and two other things. Now hop in the shower then you can have breakfast." Rick left her and went to the bridge so he could sit down and see for himself how things were going.
Kate was surprised. She had actually fallen asleep finally. She stretched to get the kinks out then climbed down and noticed he'd made his bed. She was guessing it must be late. Her old master had never let her sleep in. There was always cleaning to do.
Kate took off her clothes and turned on the shower. It felt great like before, however while she was cleaning her core like she always did, it caused those feelings again.
She enjoyed it so she just kept doing it. She moaned and was starting to lose her strength to keep standing but she couldn't stop. One hand slapped up against the shower wall while the other worked furiously rubbing and touching her most sensitive part until finally she screamed. She kept rubbing and stroking herself as she calmed down. God, but doing that felt so good.
Finally clean and dry she stepped out naked and found a new t-shirt and shorts on her bed. Looking far forward she saw him sitting his chair. Suddenly she really wanted him to turn and look at her while she stood there naked. To catch her at doing this.
She was dressed and moved up to stand behind him and look at what he was doing.
"Feel better?" Rick knew she had showered and that she had screamed at what he was sure was an orgasm.
"Yes." Kate kept looking over his shoulder.
"We're still all alone out here, which is nothing new. Space, in case you didn't know, is vast and mostly empty. Plus being in FTL means no one can attack us. Last I knew even the Alliance can't reach a ship that's in FTL. To attack a ship in FTL you need to be in the same tunnel as they are. Maybe some day they'll figure it out." Rick would put money on them trying to figure out how to do just that.
"Got about three hours until we reach the station. Just don't expect much when we get there," Rick warned her. "Ready for breakfast?" He'd waited for her so they could eat together.
Rick got out of his chair and went to the kitchen and had Kate sit down.
"Okay, these three panels in the wall are breakfast. The next three are lunch and the next three are dinner. Silverware and other things are in the drawers. You know where the glasses are and you know where the drinks are located." Rick opened a panel and handed her a silver packet.
"There's only the one oven so we have to take turns. When the panels run out there are more in the floor below our feet. You just take them from there and refill the panels. Same for the drinks."
"Just take your bag, put it in the oven, press the panel, and wait for it to beep at you. It will read what's on the packet and cook it for the desired length. Now grab a glass and select your drink." Rick wasn't going to help her with this. He wanted to see if she'd learned and remembered.
Rick watched her get a glass, get the panel in the ceiling to come down, and select something. She pushed it back up then put water in her glass. Just as she was done the oven beeped and he watched her take it out and help herself to a fork.
"Very good, you're a quick learner. Maybe I can even teach you how to fly the ship." Rick was impressed. She wasn't just pretty, she was smart.
Kate blushed as she ripped open her bag and felt her stomach growl the moment she smelled what was inside. She brought up to her nose so she could breathe it in deeply. This time she ate slowly as she watched Rick do what she had just done. But his drink looked and smelled different. She was feeling brave so she asked a question. "What's that?" Kate pointed to his drink.
"Coffee. I have three different flavors onboard. Want to try a sip?" Rick pushed his glass mug across to her. He watched her look at it and smell it, watched her scrunch up her face that told him she didn't like the smell. However, she did lift it up and sip it. The look of her face and how fast she put the mug down and pushed it back to him which told him she hated it.
"Don't like it I take it?" Rick queried and watched her shake her head.
Kate had no idea why he was drinking that crap. It was hot, it was bitter, and it was foul tasting. She drank half of her glass just to try and kill the taste.
"It grows on you. Out here this is real coffee. What the central planets in the Alliance drink I don't know. Probably very different." Rick had never been on one and had no reason to want to.
"Explain?" Kate asked as she ate which also helped to kill the taste of his coffee.
"The Alliance? Let's see. The Alliance is mostly made up of six central planets. You know where you used to live? Now think that all the buildings are made of glass and steel and several can reach the clouds. Green parks everywhere and lakes and oceans. You travel in cars and trains that fly. Everything is beautiful."
"Sounds nice," Kate murmured. It sounded a lot better than nice. It sounded magical.
"You would think so, wouldn't you? Outside of the six planets are a series of planets that surround them all around." Rick used his hand to show a ball. "These planets are part of the Alliance but they don't get the benefits that the six core planets do. These planets all grow food for the six core planets. That's their one and only function.
"These planets get to keep a fraction of what they make to feed themselves. Everything else goes to the six core planets. Which is also where the Alliance builds all of their military ships.
"Now outside of these planets is another series of planets. Again they surround those planets." Rick showed her another ball.
"These planets are a mixture of food and resources. The Alliance or core planets need all this food since they don't have any farms or mines of their own. All of it's shipped it. All of it.
"One of those planets is where you were. Where we used to be. Now outside of that is what's called The Rim. It's a lot of planets that create yet another ball." Rick showed her another one. "These planets mostly don't have much. They definitely don't have glass and steel skyscrapers, no flying cars, or flying trains. No parks filled with grass. No A/C and limited heating.
"There are farms though most don't have machines to help them. A lot of it's done the old fashioned way, by hand using beasts of burden. They scratch out a living and barely get by. It can be rough."
"Why live there?" Kate asked him since it sounded bad to her.
"No Alliance. They can do what they please. What they earn is theirs and the Alliance doesn't get a piece of it. They don't have to sell it for a fraction of what it's worth because the Alliance says so," Rick explained.
"They hate the Alliance that much?" Kate questioned.
"That's what started the war that lasted years. The Alliance versus the Browns. They called themselves Browns because they were all of the planets around the six core planets. If those planets decided to even participate." Rick knew not all of the outer planets participated.
He explained the reason for the name. "Those planets were mostly more brown when you looked at them than the core planets.
"It was basically a fight against the slavery of the Alliance. The outer planets were tired of being treated so unfairly so they fought back." Rick sighed as he thought back on it all.
"I take it the Browns lost." Kate wondered if Rick was in that war and which side he was on.
"Yes. There was one battle that sealed the Browns' fate. One big battle that they should never have fought. Straight up battles were just what the Alliance wanted and was good at. The Browns were good at only one thing. Hit and run. Make the Alliance suffer. Maybe suffer enough that terms of a truce could be made
"But we didn't. Instead we ended up in this big fight and got slaughtered and that was basically the end of the war." Rick was shaking his head. Then a beeping sound got him up and to his seat on the bridge.
Kate just sat there. He'd been in the war and it sounded like he was a Brown. She wondered just what he had done in the war.
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Kate went forward and sat in her chair. "Strap in," Rick told her so she pulled the straps over her shoulders and connected them all. She also put on her headset like Rick was wearing.
"Here we go, exiting FTL," Rick cautioned and suddenly the tunnel was gone and in its place was something she had never dreamed of in her life. "Welcome to Telnab station."
Rick went back to talking as they got closer and closer.
To Kate it looked like one massive asteroid and five smaller ones that were around it. She could see buildings on all of them as they got closer.
"What are the big round things?" The big one had five of them on top and one on the side.
"The two big ones in the middle are shield generators while the others are power plants. The main asteroid is mostly hollow. The other five not so much. And yes, those are buildings on top and filed with people. Or at least they used to be. Like a lot of places out here, everything that's anything is shipped in. Absolutely everything."
Kate's eyes were huge as she looked at everything. "What are those two big holes?" It looked like they weren't going anywhere near them.
"That's part military and part shipping. Everything that's shipped in goes in there and docks. In there also during the war were most of the Browns's warships. Not sure what's in there now." He was betting a few old warships were still in there though he was betting they only came out when a pirate was stupid enough to attack.
"Were you in the war?" Kate asked him and instantly worried that she had overstepped. She wasn't used to being allowed to ask questions.
"That's one way of putting it," Rick admitted. "I was in the 31st Marines. I was a sniper and a damn good one. And yes I've killed people. A lot of people. All Alliance and they deserved it."
"Coming in for docking." Kate saw that they were really close now. Based on where they'd been going they were way off to one side of the main asteroid.
"Locked on and shutting down." Rick proceeded to kill everything. "Let's go find you some clothes to wear. Hope you aren't self-conscious about how you look in public." What she was wearing was all she had anyway.
"I'm fine." Kate knew that no one could see anything anyway.
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"Security," Rick explained as men waved various things over them; dogs sniffed them all over and ignored them.
Once past that Kate saw that the place was old-looking, dirty-looking and dirty-smelling. She wrinkled her nose since it was bad.
"Smells like they haven't cleaned the screens in a while." Rick didn't remember it smelling this bad before. "Take my hand. I'm not losing you in this place." He held out his hand and waited until Kate took it.
They walked for a while and took old escalators some of which worked and others that didn't. Then finally they came out into a central core area that was a vast open space. There were old neon signs everywhere telling them what that place was.
"This way." Rick dragged her a direction and took her into a store that was on the ground level.
Kate saw a lot of clothes. A whole lot of clothes. She watched Rick pull old fashioned cart loose that actually used wheels. "Here, push for me." Rick wanted her where he could see her after he let go of her. In this place an untagged slave could end up anywhere.
"Women's section, that way," Rick pointed and let Kate push.
"You look like a 35B to me." Rick took down three different bras and threw them into the cart. "Maybe the same hips?" He picked up a pair of panties, held them up against her, then changed his mind and tossed in five of those.
"Push," Rick said. Now they were at pants. Some of them looked dirty. "Too short, too short, too short. You just had to have long legs didn't you?" Right now Rick was annoyed, however truth be told he loved her long legs. That and she was pretty was had him stopping when he found her in the first place.
"Sorry," Kate blurted then realized what she'd just said. She bit her lower lip to keep from saying it again.
"AH, finally." Rick threw in three of them. Each was a different color.
"They're dirty," Kate commented.
"Almost everything in here is dirty. That's why they cost so little. We'll wash them when we get back to the ship."
"We have a way to wash clothes?" Kate mostly said to herself since she didn't remember seeing anything.
"Push." Rick was done with pants and they moved over to tops. "Hm, if 35B works then you must be this size," Rick muttered as he found something, put it up against Kate to judge, and chucked it into the cart. Followed shortly by five more.
"Push." Rick had her going to socks and shoes area. Various socks went into the cart while shoes Kate needed to try them on to see if they fit. Once they had her size Kate watched as two pairs of tennis shoes went into the cart. One pair of huge, heavy boots went in as well as two pairs of high heels.
Kate picked up one of the heels to look at it. "You don't like heels?" Rick queried.
"I've never worn them. I've seen them." Mostly she went barefoot.
"You'll learn. Now we need a couple of dresses. Push."
"Dresses!?" Kate watched where Rick was taking her. She had never, ever worn anything like what was in this section. It was a mix of garbage and items that were far too nice for this place.
Kate was grinning as she watched him ignore what she thought was trash and was searching through the really good stuff.
"Long legs, long legs." Rick was back to the problem he had had with the pants. Kate bit her lower lip to keep from saying sorry again.
"Ooo, how about this one." Rick took it off the rod and put it up against Kate. "I think it's a pant suit with a long cape and not a dress but it looks nice and the color suits you." Rick put it into the cart and kept looking.
Kate reached out to touch it. It felt smooth in her fingers and it didn't look dirty. She smiled, wondering what she was going to look like wearing it. Then in went two more before she could look them over.
"Push, we're done here. Oh, wait. One last thing. Push." Rick directed her over to coats.
"Which one?" Rick held up two of them and was actually allowing her to choose something.
They were both black. One had huge lapels at the collar while the other had fur at the collar. The one with the huge lapels looked like it was held closed with a belt while the other had an internal zipper.
"That one." Kate chose the one with the fur at the color. It looked softer and maybe closed better. Kate watched it go into the cart.
"Push, we're out of here." Kate's smile was wide all the way to the front. He was buying her clothes and he had even allowed her to pick something for herself. She didn't know just who this man was, but she was learning to like him a lot. He was way better than her old master.
She was still pushing her cart out of that store and had to search for a working escalator to take the cart up with.
Now they were standing out in front of a different store. This one said something about piercings and tattoos.