Love on the Rocks - 14. Chapter 14

I was looking at the screens as we put Arctic Bear Claws through its paces. Ernesto was smiling as he watched the readings occasionally pointing out something and commenting on it. Zoe sat in the seat and was watching, too. Micah was making noises under his breath as well. I exhaled and Zoe looked at me as I turned.

“If you would be so kind, Captain. Move us over into the Ice.” She smiled back at me.

“Of course Sa. Any specific one you want?”

“I’ll settle for that nice one you spotted earlier.” She gave me a look of surprise.

“You saw that?”

“Yes. I saw that Zoe. That’s my job as owner. To see everything.” That made Ernie pat me on the shoulder as he laughed.

“Well said Marc. Spoken like a true owner.” Dipping my head in acknowledgment of the compliment, I checked the time. 6 more hours until I can see Sasha again. I had planned to fly Arctic Bear Claws back to Seventy-Seven, then decided to let Zoe take her back and I would hop on yet another shuttle to head over to Westport early. And 2 hours later, I was sitting at the Mining Controls working my magic on the Crystals after we had them operational for 30 minutes. They had settled in nicely and now I was changing the settings to manipulate the harmonics. Careful to make sure Zoe understood what I was doing and how. We bumped up the power to 90 percent, then 95 percent until we finally hitting 100 percent. After an hour, we started running numbers on production. We were making credits. The numbers when we hit the Ice Fields for three days will tell us the real story. Everything was looking good, and Ernesto was pleased, too. He excepted the ship from the yards and I excepted it from him. It was a done deal and now it was what everyone had taken to calling my trips, ‘Sasha Time.’ I laughed when Tom came out with that and Micah had brought it to High Sec.

I was walking up the ramp of the Sara Maru and the Watch Stander was on a Link talking franticly to someone. He asked me to wait a moment, then I knew why when I heard someone yell, ‘Gang Way.’ As they came running down the passageway, right into my arms.

“Marc. You’re early.”

“Absolutely. Sorry I didn’t Comm ahead.”

“That’s OK. We have a cabin for you.”

“For us, you mean.” I said as he took my hand and my gravtrunk, leading me aboard to our cabin.

“Of course. You look tired.”

“It’s been a long few days. A good night's sleep with you and I’ll be fine.”

“Who said you could sleep?” I laughed as I leaned in to kiss him.

“Where are we eating dinner, with your parents?” He smiled.

“We are now. I had a place planned for tomorrow night, but we can change that to something earlier.” I smiled as he said we. He’s thinking of us, not just himself. We walked into his parents' cabin and the steward had set a place for me. They were almost finished eating as it was 19:10 hours. I apologized for not Comm’ing ahead to let them know I was coming. Both of them told me it wasn’t needed as I was welcome anytime. Everyone was happy to hear about my latest adventures before Sasha dragged me away to our cabin. It was next to his and large enough for a good sized bed. Which I looked at longingly as Sasha tore off his shipsuit before working on mine and pulling me into the fresher to bathe me. Aside from the hugs and kisses, we didn’t have sex when he put me to bed. I was laid on my side and he backed into me while I wrapped him in my arms.

“In the morning, you don’t even have to get up. Just slide yourself into me.” I snorted.

“Love you too, Sash.” I said as my eyes closed and I drifted off.

When it was time for me to leave, he walked me to the shuttle lounge and waited until I had to board before returning to the ship. I sighed as I sat down. If it wasn’t for that dream. I would think about asking him to be my mate. He has grown so much in the past few months. I hadn’t changed my quarters on Seventy-Seven so I planned to use a larger one when Sasha comes here as I want him to stay with me on the station instead of us staying on his parent’s ship. I spent a good amount of time with Zoe and Micah, dialing in our power and the Mining Crystals. By the end of the second day, I was declaring, ‘Good Enough.’ By the end of the third day, Zoe handed me the report with a rather large smile on her face. I took it and smiled back.

“So, you didn’t sell all your tricks.” I just gave her my most innocent look before I spoke.

“Nope.” Her face was turning red. She was laughing so hard. We were running at 4.76 percent above an unmodified Ice Miner in our production. “I still need for this ship to pay for itself and be a show off so nobody will try stealing our haulers.” She was laughing again.

“I love the way you think. Dad is probably laughing, too.” I shrugged.

“That’s fine. I know he didn’t give me everything. That’s how it works.” She just nodded as she headed back to the Captain’s chair. I checked my time, and I caught Micah waving until he saw me looking. I raised an eyebrow. “Yes?” His grin changed, as did his voice.

It came out low and gravelly, “It’s Sasha Time.” The entire crew, within hearing distance, broke out laughing. I just shook my head.

“Yeah, it is.” I was tapping out the orders for the next two days. Sasha had the entire day with me tomorrow once they docked. I had plans. I borrowed the small shuttle, and we were heading over to the Azura Hide Out. It’s not really a hide out, but an old test bed for terraforming inside a hollowed out asteroid from 700 years ago. It’s a very humid jungle like setting. Very comforting to sit by the water falls or jump off the falls into the pool below. Only a hand full of people are allowed there. My family is one group that is because we gave it to the Confederacy ages ago. Rangers always get upset they can’t do anything about us coming in. I thought a picnic by the falls would be good. I hope he can swim as I never thought to ask him.

I was back on the Ice again and this time we had company. I didn’t give all my secrets away, but now I might have to make another deal after this. I took command this time as I pointed out our incoming ghost. Zoe was very interested in why I was asking the range until I ordered a turn towards the ghost and for us to follow an intercept course. The Ice Strippers were shutdown to standby. Micah had the old Cheshire cat grin going as I told the EO to target our ghost. Zoe was watching carefully as I brought up the systems from my consoles. Suddenly I struck out. Electronic Warfare Systems came to life as the Webbifier reached out and caught our prey with our shields being reinforced. Micah clapped his hands together in delight as I ordered the drones to launch and attack.

“Power is holding at 89 percent.” It didn’t take long to wear them down and post a kill to CONFED Navy. I was satisfied as I turned back to Zoe.

“Not a practice I encourage, but if needed, to protect this vessel.” I smiled as she thought about what I meant. Don’t start the fight, but finish it.

Finally she said. “Understood, Sa Alexander.” I nodded.

“Then let’s get back to our Ice, please. The ship is yours.” After turning the ship back to her, I headed down to my quarters. I checked my messages and found a new one from Sasha.

“Thanks for the wonderful time by the falls and for trying to teach me how to swim. Hopefully we can do that again sometime? All my love, Sasha.” I checked the attachment. Somehow, he got a holopic of us in the water with me holding him in my arms from behind. Both of us smiling. The spray of the waterfalls plunging behind us. I sat back and thought. He must have had his arm up with his Link pointed at us to get that. I smiled as I saved it to my file of holopics.

I responded. “Yes. We could do that again someday. Love you too.” I got back to work.

* * *

Everything was going well when the shuttle reached Weissman Station. Making it aboard Sara Maru before lunch, as is usual, I went to the Bridge after I dropped my gear off in the VIP Cabin. Everyone nodded a greeting as I entered to walk up behind Sasha to wrap my arms around him. He settled back into me with a low groan. I raised an eyebrow as the crew person he was talking with had an interesting expression on his face. I kissed his neck as he said.

“I’m sorry I didn’t meet you at the shuttle port.”

“That’s fine Sash. You can be busy too. Not like I don’t know where to find you.” I whispered into his ear.

“Thanks.” He said as he went back to work. Lunch with his parents was talkative, as usual, and Sasha was a little on the clingy side. I wondered about that, but figured I would check later.

I made sure everything was going well on my miners down below before we got underway. The work was proceeding as planned on Rock Hound II, almost finished actually. And once I return, I have to take Bear Claws out again. That would give me time to think too, between training sessions with the training crew. I pulled up the reports from our latest mining activities. Paying close attention to production amounts. Then I had switched over to checking ore prices and sales. I sighed as I switched to different Sectors, then I started looking back at historical prices. The fluctuations over the past 5 years were showing a pattern. Then I checked the different ship movements. I coded out a program to search for mining ships sorted by frequency, date, volume. It took almost 30 minutes, but I had my answer. Once I had that, I moved back to pricing and sales. I ran another search for finding who has been selling what to whom and in what amounts, as well as the dates. That took another 30 minutes. Then I compared the two lists. I sat back in my chair with my mouth hanging open. I shook myself and expanded the search to different Sectors individually. That was going to take a while, I thought as I looked at the time. Almost dinner time. We are underway and I am here for another 68 hours. If I am right, I found who is moving around chasing prices. I can wait until tomorrow because, as Micah would say, ‘It’s Sasha time’.

My fingers were running through Sasha’s hair as he laid on my chest. “How is Sasha doing?” He groaned and snuggled in to me more. I chuckled.

“Rough day Sash?”

“It was until you arrived.”

“My Sasha. I love you.” He smiled and lifted to kiss me again.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t meet you when you arrived.”

“It’s OK. We all have work to do and we all have bad days. I’m here now and I’ll hold you all night long.” He kissed the tip of my nose.

“And that’s one of the reasons I love you.” He snuggled back down into me again and I ran my fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp. Listening, I heard him sigh softly before his body relaxed and his breathing slowed. I smiled as he had fallen asleep. My Link sounded the next morning, and I shut it down as Sasha stretched on top of me. When I wrapped my arms around him, he went limp as my hand stroked his ass. I twisted slightly to run my finger down his crack. He moaned as I touched his hole. Our dicks were hard between us and I rolled to place him on the bottom. His legs lifted as I grabbed for the lube and covered my dick with it. Once I was ready, I placed my dick at his entrance and lowered my body down over his so my face was right above his. My whisper was low and husky.

“Are you ready Sash.” He raised his head to kiss me as he pulled my hips towards him. That was all the confirmation I needed, and I slowly entered him until I was all the way in. I pulled back from his kiss, looking into his eyes, checking for signs I should stop.

“Good morning Sasha, and how are you this morning?” He laughed hysterically at my sincerity.

“I am waiting to be loved. Hard and fast.” He replied in his sultry voice. I lowered to his lips again and let myself go. His body bucked at the first thrust I gave him before he calmed and was gripping my body to pull me in deeper. His moans got louder as his body twitched beneath me. He had to yank his face away from me to breathe, as he was panting so hard from me thrusting into him. Until I saw the flash across his face a split second before his back arched and his hands dug into the bed. His hot ass clamped around my dick as his jiz sprayed between us. The animalistic sound he made finished me as I rammed one last time into him, releasing my orgasm.

“Sash.” Was all I got out before I dropped onto my elbows above him and placed my head next to his. His hand gripped the back of my head to pull me in closer as he kissed the side of my neck.

“Thank you baby,” He panted into my ear. I shifted to pull out of him, to a moan that sounded like, “No.” Then I settled again. His other hand rubbed my arm and shoulder.

“Take me again Marc.” I twisted my head and looked at the time. Before I twisted back and kissed his lips.

“Later Sash. We need to eat and then I’ll walk you to the Bridge.” He let out a sigh as he looked up at the ceiling.

“Fine.” Drawing out the ‘n’ as he said it.

I was preoccupied when I went to the Bridge to pick him up for lunch. Not only did he notice, but so did everyone else. It was during lunch he finally asked what had me so occupied. I stared at him for a moment, then visibly shook myself, which had him looking at me with raised eyebrows.

“Sorry Sash. I am working out some complex numbers and I am still waiting for parts of the computer analysis of my research.”

“It must be important then to have you walking around looking dazed.”

“It may very well be once I put it all together. My biggest problem is I am dealing with 7 different Sectors. It’s taking time and brain power to work it all out.”

“Could I help” He asked, and I smiled gratefully.

“Not yet. I will need someone to double check my conclusions. The one thing I don’t understand is why no one ever worked this out before.” I said with a shrug, then I sighed, “I’m sorry, Sash. It must be annoying to you. I am distracted when we have so little time together as it is.”

“Not really. You’ve just never done it before. I mean. I know you’ve been thinking about stuff, but not like this.” I leaned over and placed my forehead against his, looking into his eyes.

“Yeah, this is important, and I am sorry that it has taken away from us.” I kissed the tip of his nose.

“It’s just another thing I have learned about you, Marc. I was worried, not upset.” Then he kissed me. Just a lite touch of our lips.

“I love you.” He said quietly.

“I love you too, Sash.”

It took me almost the entire three-day trip down the Pipe to work out my theory, and it proved to be interesting. There was a definite cycle to the pricing on ores and it comes from several companies moving their miners at once. Now I had the computer chewing on locating those ships now. I walked Sasha to the Bridge after breakfast. We won’t have lunch together today because I need to leave the ship upon arrival for a meeting with my staff. Then I have items that need to be taken care of before dinner. Which will be with my parents and the Armstrongs. The Jasenka’s have been asked to join us too at my favorite restaurant on the station. The Golden Corral. It’s set up like an old wild west saloon from old Earth back in the 1800s. They have the best beef in the Sector. My mouth was already watering for a nice piece of prime rib. Then after dinner we can head to the hotel room for the two nights he will be here. My little cubbyhole of a cabin is really not a good idea for the two of us. Someday I will have to remedy that and get a bigger one, but not today. I’ll wait until the new section is completed in 6 months. I had finished everything on time and went to the hotel to clean up and change for dinner before heading over to the ship to pick up Sasha and his family. I took the long route up through the viewing gallery along the Ice Planet side of the station before we dropped a few decks and entered the restaurant. Sasha loved the place and the food. My family was great and even conducted some business with the Jasenkas as we ate. It was almost at the end of the meal when my dad had asked if I had put together a proposal for the Corporation yet.

“Not yet. I'm still digesting what I have. I’ll work something out in a few months.”

“How about in a few weeks instead?” He said as he gave me the look that said that was what I was going to do.

“Fine. Three weeks. I’ll have something together.” He thought it over, then gave me a sharp nod. After our goodbyes and walking his parents back to the ship, where we grabbed his overnight gear, we headed up to the hotel room on level two.

I sighed as Sasha pulled out of me and laid on my back. “It’s time already, isn’t it?” He nodded into my back.

“Yes. I need to go to work and so do you.” We had such a nice night. Good food. Good company. Good sex. Good sleep. And very good wake up sex. Yes, all was good in our part of the Galaxy right now. I sighed again as I rose. He was still on my back and gripped my shoulders tight as he started to laugh.

“Marc.” He said in a low gravely tone, dragging it out so it stretched across the room. He had wrapped his legs around me and I carried him piggy back into the fresher. I didn’t put him down. We had plenty of room in here, probably fit 6 or 7 people in here comfortably. I set the water temperature and engaged the rainfall water heads. He was still clinging to me when he shrieked as the first cold water hit us, then warmed fast to a very comfortable temperature. I let go of his legs and he slid down my back. Reaching for the body wash to wash me. We worked fast on each other before he positioned himself in front of me and reached around to grab my hard dick. I didn’t have time to object before he had mounted himself on me with a load moan. Once he was comfortable, he moved on my dick. Fucking himself.

“It’s a sad day when I have to fuck myself because my boyfriend will not do it for me.” His tone was joking, but I knew what he wanted. And he knew that I knew, when my hands gripped his hips tight, pulling him back against me hard. The sounds of pleasure that emanated from him just drove me harder. Then he drove himself hard onto me and his body tensed as tight as I’ve ever felt it as his head flew back, his body straightening against me and the loud moan of pleasure blasted out as his dick did too. I was releasing at the same time. Coating his insides with my cum as he panted against me, my arms wrapped tight around him to make sure he didn’t fall.

“Now, I can go to work.” I chuckled as we washed off again.

“Satisfied are we now?”

“Yes. Very much.” He said as he kissed me, then jumped out to dry off. He was going to be late. I thought as I followed. We swung through one of the cafeterias on the way and he grabbed a bagel with cream cheese and a juice, which he eating on the way down the dock. We entered the Bridge 1 minute late as he turned to kiss me goodbye before charging ahead to his work area. His Mother hid her smile behind a hand as she turned away from us to continue her work.

I was sad as I watched their ship pull out. It would be another two weeks before I saw Sasha again, but at least I would be able to make lunch or dinner via the Link on most days. I had to put together the proposal for Dad and worked out my own ship’s deployments over the next few days. I also needed to talk to Micah about coming down for two weeks to help with Rock Hound III. With the two Rock Hounds and Bear Claws, we were making serious production. My crews were happy and the ships were performing well. I pulled up my planner with all the information in it I had been gathering. Choosing to move my small mining fleet after talking with Jay Thatcher. He was seeing a drop in prices also and thought my idea of moving to another Sector was a good one. We planned it out that the main group would finish up where they were and the oncoming group would start the new area. I smiled as I worked out the new location and looked back at my previous reports from that area, so I had an idea of what production might look like. Jay and I enjoyed working together. Some of his crew have resented us, but after I called in two Frigates to help us out one day, they have figured out that I have the power to call on my family’s Corporation for help, where he doesn’t have my resources available to him. It has seemed to mollify them somewhat. I had the plans worked out for the miners before lunch and headed over to the cafeteria to eat before I headed over to the hanger to check on the latest trainees as well as check on Bear Claws. Leslie brought her in yesterday afternoon. Today was a training day, and tomorrow I was taking her out. I felt the familiar surge of happiness at that. I loved to be out in the asteroid belts. No politics, no people pestering you, just working on the rocks. Good production means good credits. I sighed at the thought of the meeting I had to attend tonight. Another Board Meeting of the Stations Board. At least I could see Betty and a few other people I enjoy talking to.

I was happy. The crew was happy. The production was good, and the bonus was too. I smiled as Jay dropped me a message on the Link.

‘This looks real good, Marc. How long do you think we can work in this area?’ Smiling, I tapped out.

“I think we are good for the next 6 weeks. Prices will drop again by the end of the 4th week.” I was looking over the training reports and was thrilled at what I saw. And more importantly, I have another person I have been working with that is getting ready to take their Captain’s Boards. My next Captain that I could use to command Rock Hound III.