Questionable Morality - Chapter 11
Questionable Morality
Chapter Eleven
The air aboard Intrepid was stale at best as the carbon
dioxide of its inhabitants polluted the recyclers. Once docked with Enterprise,
the various crews made their way through the docking hatch to meet with
humanitarian aid. Some of Archer's victims had a difficult time crossing the
threshold, the traumas of their past imposing on their present. The crew of the
Constitution replaced the skeleton crew of the Enterprise and placed them under
house arrest, some of them maliciously stating they should be locked away on
Intrepid and left to suffocate. Even if their captain were so inclined, their
plan would not have worked for when half of Intrepid's occupants had crossed
onto Enterprise the carbon dioxide levels had already begun to decrease.
Hoshi and Travis stood at the threshold of the two ships,
Hoshi excitedly greeting her interspersed crewmen throughout the refugees.
Lindsey and Bishop were first, embracing their captain and assuring her they
and the others were fine. The burden of her decision finally lifted and she
sent a silent prayer to whatever god was handy at that time and thanked him. Mukai
came out last followed by a tall, lanky Starfleet captain. She stepped
hesitantly onboard Enterprise, her elbow held by Captain Tucker and a gentle nudged
in her back.
"Did it work?" Mukai asked her captain.
Hoshi peered over her shoulder at the airlock hoping to see
Reed, but Mukai shook her. "Did it work? Is that bastard dead?"
Hoshi looked at her and at Tucker. "He's in custody on
the Grissom. They will be here in a couple of hours." A familiar figure
came out of the airlock and Lieutenant Em Gomez walked up to Commander Travis Mayweather
and shook his hand. "Captain Reed requests that the Intrepid's crew be
allowed to come aboard for a few hours to air the ship out."
Travis nodded as the Intrepid's crew started crossing onto Enterprise.
He walked up to Captain Tucker and cleared his throat. "Sir, Admiral
Bryant has requested that you take over command of Enterprise." Travis
handed him a PADD with the command codes.
Trip took it and thanked Travis.
Hoshi pulled Gomez aside. "Where's Captain Reed?"
"He's staying on board to make sure the purge is
successful," she replied.
Sato nodded to the other woman and made her way onto the
Intrepid, her emotions warring within her. She blamed herself, him, and
Starfleet for what her and her crew and gone through. She blamed herself for
her greed. She blamed Starfleet for lousy intelligence and she blamed him for �
following orders. She blamed him for baiting her, coercing her. She blamed him
for � the conflict she felt. On one hand, she wanted to beat the shit out of
the bastard. On the other, she wanted to find a dark closet and fuck him
mindless. She wanted to run her hands along the grooves of his ass and pull him
close inside her.
She wanted to find him.
Sato meandered down the halls looking for him and finally
came upon a crewman who had stayed behind. "He's in engineering," the
young man replied and told her how to get there.
Hoshi made her way to engineering in record time. There were
two people there, both of them on rolling backboards and underneath a large
cluster of machines she could only guess were the air recyclers. She kicked the
nearest boot and hoped it was his, the boot jumping in surprise over the
interruption.
Reed rolled out and his eyes went wide. He had no time as
Sato straddled him and started pummeling his chest. "Goddamn, lousy
Starfleet intelligence! You sorry bastard, endangering my crew!" She
slapped his face and he finally grabbed her wrists. "Then you don't even
have the balls to come and tell me you're sorry!"
He watched her eyes flash and held her wrists gently,
finally letting one go as she tugged it away. He took his hand and cupped it
behind her head, pulling her toward him. "I'm sorry," he whispered,
and let her other hand go, brushing her hair away from her bruised cheek.
She touched her lips to his in desperation, seeking the heat
that he had bestowed upon her in the darkness before her time aboard Enterprise.
His tongue slid along the seam of her lips and she opened to him, some
fundamental nature guiding her and letting her know she was his and he was
hers.
Reed slid his hands inside her jumpsuit easily and both
jumped as somebody cleared their throat. "Uh, captain, I hate to interrupt
and all, but I think I can handle the purge from here on out."
He looked at his chief engineer as though he didn't
recognize him and nodded. He rolled Hoshi to the side and stood up, offering
his hand to her and lifting her up.
They kissed again, pulling apart breathlessly and Reed's
azure eyes stared into hers. "I thought you were dead," he whispered
and rubbed his bearded cheek against hers, seeking her touch and praying she
didn't disappear into the darkness again.
Sato said nothing in response, kissing his cheek softly and
tugging on his arm to take her someplace more private.
They walked out of engineering, down the hall and into the
elevator. "Deck B," he said plainly and held onto her hand. The
ascent took forever and the doors opened but he didn't move. "I won't let
you go again."
She was stupefied by his admission and followed him down the
hall and into his quarters. The lights were dim and she reached to the panel
and clicked them off. The lights quickly turned on and her pupils shuttered
closed.
He reached for her zipper and pulled it down slowly,
seducing her more with his words than with his actions. "I want to see
you," he whispered against her lips and stripped her naked quickly in the
light.
Hoshi reached out tenderly and unzipped his uniform, pulled
it down around his waist and started to unbutton his Henley. Their eyes never
left one another as she peeled the material from his chest. She peeled his
other layers away as she pushed his uniform down his legs. She rained a trail
of wet kisses along the scarred tissue of his thighs and material that still
covered his hips. The trails extended up the corded plain of his stomach and
chest, to his neck and finally his jaw.
Reed kicked his boots and the rest of his clothing off with
a vicious jerk, feeling the desperation to be inside her gnawing at his soul.
Inside her, he was whole. Inside her was the forgiveness he so desperately
needed ever since he turned his back on her and sold her to the mission. He
shivered at her touch and sat down on his bed, the light casting a shadow over
her body and spotlighting his. He felt her tongue in the shell of his ear and
heard the passionate catches in her breath. Faded bruises along her collarbone
shined, reminding him of his complete possession of her. Or was it the other
way around? Did she possess him? He wanted to pin her to the bed and plunge
into her violently, but something caught his eye.
She gasped as he pushed her away gently, set her down on the
bed, and spread her out for his perusal. Bruises of varying degrees were
spattered along her body, most of them along her upper arms and thighs. His
eyes darkened and he bowed his head. "I'm so sorry," he whispered and
lifted her palm up to his lips and bit the heel of her hand tenderly. He nipped
the tender flesh along the inside of her arm up to her shoulder then moved to
her neck and collarbone.
Her nipples begged for attention and he rasped his beard
along the turgid peaks. "Please," she begged and shifted for him. She
opened her legs in invitation, but he made no move.
Instead, he lay down next to her on his side, raising
himself up on his elbow. He tweaked one of her nipples and licked the other,
finally running his hand down her stomach and cupping her mound. He opened her
delicately and ran his fingers lovingly up and down her wetness. She moaned and
he growled low in his throat, him moving down her body and flicking his tongue
along her navel.
Reed moved again, this time laying between her legs and
opening her further. He ran his fingers up and down her slit, his tongue
following suit and settling on teasing her clitoris while he inserted two
fingers deep, yet gently inside her.
It wasn't long before she convulsed in pleasure, Reed able
to feel the slight tightening of her around him. She tried to kick away from
the intensity of the orgasm, but he held her gently, kissing the tremors and
stoking the fires of her arousal again.
He brought her to the cusp of release again and finally
released her, scraping his lips and beard against the sensitive skin of her
stomach and finally resting his cheek against her chest.
Hoshi didn't stay idle long as she pushed on Reed's shoulder
and rolled him onto his back. She straddled him, cupped his cock in her hand
and guided him into her slickness in one motion.
Her tightness around him was like a soothing balm, her
acceptance of him in this manner finally washing away any doubt he held
regarding their future together. He would never let her go again. He repeated
that phrase to himself over and over again, part of him shuddering at the
prospect of what was to come. Reed sat up and pulled her to him, rocking her
gently. In response, she wrapped her legs and arms around his back and bit his
shoulder.
Hoshi felt his length twitch deeply inside her as he
whispered hotly in her ear. "Hoshi � mine." She felt his semen spray
inside her, moistening her further and he finally collapsed beneath her. She
pressed her check against his chest and rested, fatigue claiming them both.
--
Mukai had separated from Tucker, slipping into sickbay per
her captain's request for an inoculation for that tracking chemical, the other
volunteers quickly following suit. She thanked the doctor, and left, meandering
through the corridors of Enterprise. Her wanderings came to an abrupt halt
outside the mess hall, rambunctious laughter spilling out into the corridor.
She was frozen, her memories of Captain Archer's conduct that day running
rampant through her mind. He had dragged her from the brig and offered her as
an 'afternoon delight' to the crewmen who were lunching. They pounced on her
like a pack of ravenous wolves, stripping her and violating her in every way
imaginable.
She was no innocent by far, taking carnal pleasure wherever
she could find it. But the humiliation she had suffered rang in her head.
A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped.
Tucker looked into her eyes, streaks of tears brimming down
her cheeks, and he hugged her. She was stiff in his arms. "What is it, darlin'?"
Lita looked at the door and blanched as another round of
laughter spilled out into the corridor.
He saw the fear in her eyes. "Aw, God, Li Li." He
could only guess, but knew she was having some sort of flash back.
"T-That's where�" she stuttered into his chest.
"Come on, Li Li," he coaxed and tugged on her arm.
She didn't budge.
"What's wrong," he asked, perplexed and not really
knowing what to do at that point.
"I'm hungry," she said, her eyes lowered to his
boots.
Trip scooped her up into his broad arms and carried her away
from the mess hall. "I'll send for a selection from the galley. Hell, I'll
just order everything out of the galley and brought to our quarters."
He stepped into the lift and shifted her slight frame in his
arms. Her face was buried into the crock of his neck. "B deck."
They rode the rest of the way in silence, Lita taking
comfort in his arms. Once the lift doors opened, Trip walked a ways down the
hall and stopped in his tracks. He was standing in front of his new quarters,
Jon's old one. Everything of Jon's had been removed and shoved in a footlocker,
but a new terror filled him. She looked up at him and he asked, bile and
disgust for his former friend rising in his throat, "Did he�?"
"No," was all she said and he punched the code in
and entered his quarters. Trip set her down and walked over to the desk.
"Tucker to the galley."
"Go ahead, sir," replied a faceless voice.
"Send a selection of cold cuts and fruit to my quarters
along with some sweet tea," he paused and motioned to his lover who nodded
her head in agreement. "That will be all."
She stood in the middle of the cabin and he walked up to her
and hugged her, running his hands up and down her arms. She kissed him
frantically, trying to climb him and tearing at his clothes at the same time.
Trip returned the kiss fervently, yet pushed her away gently
and she sobbed. "Shush darlin'. First we get some food into ya then we can
get some sleep."
She turned from him and crossed her arms over her chest. The
word damaged started to repeat in her head. She was damaged and he didn't want
her.
Anger rose inside him as she spoke her thoughts out loud and
he turned her roughly in his arms. "I want ya more than ya could possibly
imagine, but you need time to heal and I'm not about to take advantage of ya
when yer this raw." His drawl was more pronounced when he was angry.
"When yer ready, I'm going to � make love to ya until you pass out in my
arms. The other night was the first night I had slept in months and I fully
intend to sleep inside you again," his voice rasped against her hair and
she shivered in his arms.
Lita sniffled. "Good. I'd be sorely disappointed if you
didn't keep your promise, Charlie."
Their food arrived and broke the spell between them.
--
Light from the bathroom spilled into the room and he watched
her sleep. Reed ran his fingers through her hair and puzzled as to why a
section of it was shorter than the rest. The com sounded and he slipped out of
bed and answered it. "Reed here."
"Sir, the filters are back at a hundred percent. Our
crew is back on board and we are ready to get under way," informed
Lieutenant Gomez.
"Have the Grissom and the Kennedy arrived yet?"
"They will be here within the hour."
Reed looked over at the bed to the woman who slept soundly
with the sheets twisted around her. "We will stay until we are no longer
needed. Hail the Celestial and give them the all clear and give them our
coordinates. Let them know everybody is fine." He closed the channel and
smiled at himself. It would be a couple of weeks before the Celestial caught up
with him. He was a greedy bastard and he knew he could extend that even further
if need be. That would give him enough time to exorcise her from his system.
He stood and walked into the bathroom, looking for the
mirror that wasn't there. He shook his head and chuckled. She would need a
mirror. He wanted one too. He wanted to watch their reflections as he fucked
her from behind. He wanted to bath in her and cleanse himself of her. He ran
some water and splashed his face, trying to stem the desire that was already
boiling in his blood. Reed looked at his obsession and slipped back into bed,
wanting to open her legs and bury himself inside her. He could smell their sex
and he closed his eyes, willing his desire to go away. Her slight snore
signaled the depth of her sleep and he found himself unwilling to take anything
else from her. She had suffered enough by his hand.
-----
TBC