The Cold Wind (Ch 15 - 17)
#10 of The Cold Wind 1
II Chapter Fifteen
From out of the vast darkness of interstellar space, the Vanguard cargo shuttle coasted toward the light and warmth of an unremarkable yellow star. On board, several banks of computer consoles came to life, set to activate when the programmed destination was within several days travel. Slivers of wispy fog whirled around in frantic eddies when the life support systems fired up, blowing warm air into the cabin.The hibernation couch hatches slid open with small crackling sounds when the ice around the seals broke, sending yet more wisps of fog swirling in the warm breeze blowing around the cabin. Consciousness returned slowly to Tainui and it was some time before he felt brave enough to crack open his eyelids and look around him. He felt a small twinge of fear at the sight of the large creature lying swathed in mist to one side and concern at the sight of his new companion on the other. Reaching over with an unsteady arm, he rested his hand on Andrej's shoulder, the young man not yet awake. Muttering quiet obscenities to himself while he struggled into a sitting position, he winced at the continuing racket of an alarm system going off somewhere. Whatever it was it would have to wait until the large reptilian alien beside him was up and about. Although it had shown both of them some of the basic shuttle control systems, he didn't trust himself not to potentially bollocks it up. Turning to regard said creature, he shook his head and reflected back on recent events. The hot, hot sex with Andrej; the terror and confusion of an alien abduction followed by a struggle that appeared to end in heartbreak for the alien lying unconscious next to him. After some consideration, he and Andrej had impulsively decided to throw in their lot with it. Quite why they decided to go flying off into the vast unknown, with something resembling a reptilian demon, escaped him, but it had seemed like a good idea at the time. Neither of them had any close friends or family that would worry about them. And neither of them was unhappy to abandon the emotional wasteland that their lives had been up to that point. Now if he could just stop Andrej from making any more insane decisions... After checking that the insane white boy was still breathing, Tainui stood and wandered up the short corridor toward the cockpit, hoping to locate whatever was making that awful racket and shut it the hell up. The noise was beginning to give him a headache and that, he decided, couldn't wait for the comatose alien to do something about it. The starry vista in the viewport in front of him was something he still hadn't quite gotten used to either. Growing up, he'd often laid outside at night staring up into the night sky, contemplating life, the universe and everything. Here, however, it was something more tangible - he was in it, not just looking up at it.One of the control consoles in front of him was lit up with alien script flowing across its surface and a single holographic symbol appearing to float in mid-air a couple of centimeters above its surface; this appeared to be the source of the irritating noise. What the script said, or the alarm indicated, he had no idea, but he touched it anyway which seemed to have the desired effect. The alarm cut out abruptly and a heads-up display flashed onto the inside of the shuttle's 'windscreen' (he recalled the Vanguard had called it a 'viewport'). A small target reticule highlighted the yellow star then magnified it, words in the alien language flashing up beside what he gathered were points of interest. Tainui yelped, startled when something warm and dry clamped onto his bare shoulder and he whirled around to see the hulking alien standing right behind him, studying the viewport with its enigmatic black eyes. After a few moments it turned its gaze to him but didn't release his shoulder from its firm grip, the lethal looking talons on the hand were folded down, thankfully. Its other three arms were flexing and stretching, the light gray, scaly skin taut over the large muscles beneath. He hadn't heard it wake and move about behind him - for something so tall and solid it was surprisingly light on its large, taloned feet.
Even more unsettling was the fact that Tainui knew the alien was definitely a he now. Despite the outlandish alien physiology, there were definite signs that it was equipped with certain features that generally only graced the male of a species. Although he couldn't see anything poking out, it looked like its...posing-pouch... was quite well stuffed; especially evident since it wasn't wearing any clothes.
Releasing his shoulder, the Vanguard reached out to tap away at the controls with deft flicks of his talons while making hissing and rumbling noises at him. "...Unwise adjust controls, you possess insufficient knowledge," he said in the now familiar clipped, electronic sounding voice that issued from the small, translucent black disk hanging like an unusual piece of jewelry from one of his shell-like ears. Tainui swallowed nervously and nodded. "Yeah, sorry about that." "Alright, small-one. Negative damage. Journey imminent completion, destination imminent. That «guttural-noise»." Trying to replicate the name, Tainui spluttered, coughed and stopped with an embarrassed grin on his face. This appeared to amuse the alien somewhat - at least he thought it was amusement - when it rocked back onto its haunches and huffed quietly while regarding him through half-closed eyes. "How long have we been asleep?" Leaning against the control console, he stared out at the unfamiliar star-scape. There was a slight pause before the alien answered. "Approximate human time-frame five years." "Five years?! Holy shit, bro, we've been asleep for five years?" Tainui spun around and stared, aghast at the Vanguard. "What happened to warp-factor nine, or wormholes, or all that other sci-fi bullshit you aliens are supposed to have, huh?" "Your disturbance emotional desist! Negative age stasis during. Body suspends functions. Understand?" Two-Talon's eyes widened slightly at the human's agitated response. These humans certainly were an excitable species... Leaning forward and suspiciously examining his reflection in the plexiglass viewport, Tainui searched for signs of any new wrinkles on his now slightly pale face. "Hmm, so you say," hemuttered, not entirely convinced. His ears twitching, Two-Talon swung his head around in the direction of the hibernation chamber. Cursing that was swiftly followed by the sound of someone falling onto the cold, metal decking issued through the hatchway. He snapped his jaw shut gently."Your mate awaken, to him you attend. Communicate at length later, correct." Giving the alien an uncertain nod, Tainui left the cockpit and went aft to join his friend while rubbing at his face suspiciously and hoping the alien hadn't lied to him about the whole not aging thing. "Aww man, there you are! Thought you'd abandoned me," Andrej gave him a mock-hurt look while he unsteadily picked himself up off the deck and got to his feet, leaning against the open hibernation couch cover for support. "Whose stupid idea was this, anyway?" Tainui shrugged, refraining from pointing out the obvious reason for them being god-only knows where with some scary alien lizard. He opened a storage drawer underneath his own couch and dragged out a large backpack, which he dumped onto the floor and began sorting through. Leering at the pale, naked youth in front of him, Tainui chucked some clothes at him."Better put those on, otherwise I wont be held responsible for my actions." Andrej giggled and threw a pair of undies back at the naked Maori Adonis standing in front of him. "You should talk! Wandering around in your birthday suit like that. Geeze, I dunno; you'll give that demon-lizard dirty ideas, you will." "Can't blame him, really. When you're this gorgeous everyone gets ideas, aye," he shrugged, feigning nonchalance.It was a relief to see Andrej laughing and happy again. After recent events, he'd been worried that the young man would completely freak out, despite this outer-space road trip being_his_ bright idea. Tainui was still a little surprised he, himself, hadn't freaked out - but the night was still young... Grabbing him in both arms Andrej stepped in close and held him, hands roaming over the broad, brown, well-muscled back. The human touch was comforting for them both in such strange circumstances. Tainui felt something hard pressing against his leg and responded by moving his hands down to grab the boy's butt and gently squeezing, his own member swelling in response. Closing his eyes, he locked his lips against Andrej's and slipped his tongue into the waiting mouth. The crazy white boy certainly picked his moments... Andrej was the first to break the kiss. Staring unblinkingly into Tainui's eyes as he slid his body down, his face came level with his cock. Still looking into his eyes he reached around and grabbed the tight butt and proceeded to pull the gently throbbing brown meat into his mouth. Kneading the captive ass with his hands while he worked his lips up and down, Andrej was in hog heaven; salty pre-cum was beginning to pour out of the huge tool he was making love to with his mouth, tongue sliding underneath Tainui's foreskin around and around the sensitive head. Tainui bucked his hips, fucking the pale face of the youth who was loving every minute of it, his cock slipping in and out of the boy's mouth with lurid, wet slurping noises. "Bro, I'm not gonna last long at this rate. Just warning ya," Tainui grunted when he picked up the pace. He was interrupted when Andrej pulled off his straining cock and slipped one of his balls into his mouth, slurping first on one before sucking on the other, reveling in the heady, musky scent of a young man in his prime. "Damn boy, you know what I like," he hissed. Andrej stopped sucking, stood up and pulled him over to one of the hibernation couches, where he lay down, pulling the well built young Maori down on top."Fuck my face like you mean it, Tai. You have no idea just how much I want to choke on your cock right now," he growled. Not one to argue, Tainui happily did as he was asked, straddling the youth's chest and resting the oozing tip of his cock on Andrej's lips. "What do you want?" he sneered, wiping the leaking member over Andrej's sweating face. The boy whimpered impatiently, trying to wrap his mouth around the end, but he held it just out reach each time. "You want some of this big, brown meat, dontcha, white boy? You hungry for it? Yeah, well I'm gonna spear that pretty little face of yours and fuck you to death with it!"And with that he thrust up to his balls into Andrej's throat and humped hard, the muffled groans and slurping noises urging him on. While his mouth and throat were being assaulted Andrej looked up past the black pubic hair mashing into his face at the muscular, sculpted body writhing around above him, into the handsome, straining face of his lover while the cock slid in and out of his throat. Damn, but that was an amazingly sexy sight! There was something deliciously thrilling about the filthy gutter-talk that the Maori was uttering, something that Andrej had confided to him that he found quite a major turn-on in the days aboard the shuttle before they went into hibernation. Above the noise of slurping and the soft slapping of large brown balls on his chin, he heard Tainui mutter quietly. "Hope you're thirsty boy, I'm gonna blow...UNGH!"Before he came, Tainui pulled out of the abused mouth and furiously jacked his engorged cock, exploding a massive hot load of cum all over Andrej's face, large gobs splattering onto the boy's forehead, eyelids, cheeks and lips. Breathing heavily, he tilted his head back and gave a great big shuddering sigh. It was only then that he noticed his butt resting in a pool of Andrej's cum that had pooled on the boy's heaving chest. Andrej had been furiously jacking himself off while Tainui was assaulting his face. He grinned down at Andrej who was busy mopping up gobs of cum with his fingers, sucking them clean."Damn, you look hot," he smiled and lowered himself down onto the boy beneath him and they locked lips again, the taste of his own juices in his mouth.
* * *
Two-Talon turned around and quietly padded back into the cockpit, unnoticed by the two humans. His sensitive, shell-like ears had picked up the noises of a struggle, so he had gone back to check on the cause. Curious, he had then watched events for a while and was interested to see that the humans appeared to have some unusual sexual habits.While the Vanguard tongue was extremely long, flexible and often deployed during sex, he had never before observed another creature using its mouth to pleasure its mate the way he had just seen with the humans. With an inflexible jaw full of sharp teeth and not much in the way of lips, Vanguard physiology just wasn't capable of it and would probably end badly for the partner on the receiving end. He smiled to himself. Although the humans were vigorous, Vanguard sexual exploits were probably a little more aggressive. Another thing he discovered particularly interesting was that these humans also appeared to have same-sex partnerships. He briefly wondered how common it was in their culture. Returning to the controls, he made a mental note to ask them sometime. Feeling a twinge from his own cock nestled in its bulging sheath, he rumbled out a long, low shuddering sigh. Visions from the recent past forced their way unbidden into his memory. Ancestors curse it! There was a Tusker-shaped piece of his life missing. It left a cold, deeply numbing gap in his soul.For a brief moment a flash of resentment welled up at the two humans, disappearing as quickly as it came; it wasn't their fault, after all. They had been caught up in events just like he and Tusker had been. Besides, he was the one who had suggested that the two humans accompany him on this trip into the unknown. A few minutes passed before the flushed looking humans came into the cockpit and looked out at the stars through the viewport. Two-Talon turned to them briefly and snapped his jaw softly in greeting before returning his attention to the controls. He had taken the time to put on some clothing while they were...busy. It was an old black skinsuit of Tusker's and every now and again he thought he could almost make out the faint scent of his lover coming from the fabric. Pulling himself together, he pointed a talon at a small spot of light to one side of the yellow star. "New-Home. This one's destination. Arrival imminent, desire locate others..." He hesitated for a moment before continuing, tapping himself on the chest with a balled up fist. "Others equivalent this one." The two humans exchanged a look. This was the first time he had brought up what had happened on board the destroyed ship. It was Andrej who spoke up first."Those others on the big ship, they weren't_,_ uh, equivalent to you?" He had difficulty in telling the Vanguard apart from the brief glimpses he'd had of the others. Two-Talon snapped his jaw shut in a gesture they had come to recognize as an affirmation, or agreement. Although, there were times when he appeared to use it like some other sort of gesture, but the subtleties still eluded them. Andrej caught Tainui's confused look and shrugged. "I think this one and the one that died were some kind of rebels or mutineers, maybe. They didn't like what the others were doing, or planning to do. Or something, I don't know." Tainui digested this revelation thoughtfully, before looking up at the medic. "The one who died was special to you?" At this question Two-Talon turned and stared searchingly at Tainui through his four, unblinking black eyes for several long moments, before uttering a long mournful howl. It was a cry of pain and regret, not something the translation disk was able to put into words for the two humans. "Sorry, man," Tainui looked back at the screen. After several minutes of silence, Two-Talon left the cockpit for the small and cramped 'kitchen', which Andrej kept calling the 'mess' for some reason. Tainui didn't think it was all that untidy, but what would he know? After rummaging around in some cupboard for a while, he shortly returned with two large packages full of the dried meat-like substance he tended to favor. He tore open one of the packages and stuffed some of the contents into his mouth, chewing noisily. In between mouthfuls he did some explaining. "This one Vanguard. Vanguard elder species location current Galactic sector. Vanguard strong, others weak. Strong lead weak - always been, always forever. Weak disagree, weak terminated. Most others weak judged. Most others terminated. Most agree." Tapping his chest again with his fist, he hesitated before continuing. "This one disagree. «hissssss» also disagree, however reluctant. Death responsibility this one's." Andrej tried to catch his eye, but he deliberately avoided his returning the human's gaze. "We were judged weak?" Two-Talon didn't comment, just sat there chewing away and continued to study the control console with an unreadable expression on his craggy face. "Tai, do you think we should have warned someone before we disappeared?" Andrej asked, reluctantly tearing his gaze from the alien. Tainui just shrugged, disinterested. "Nah, bro. I kinda figure that someone figured it out already. After all, someone shot down their mothership thing. Now they know there are bug-eyed-monsters out there so I reckon they'll be on the lookout for any more visitors." "These lizards are pretty high-tech. I don't think Earth stands much of a chance if these Vanguard come knocking on the door with fleets of warships." "Maybe. But then again, maybe you've been watching far too much Star Wars or something, bro. There's only so many cows you can mutilate or fat people's asses you can probe before the novelty wears off, right? Not like there's much we can do about it anyway," he pointed at the alien star system outside the viewport. "Tai the Wise," Andrej said, rolling his eyes, but with a smile on his face when he did so. He stared at the Vanguard thoughtfully. "Speaking of high-tech, that reminds me. Everything on this ship and that mother ship seems awfully, how do I put this...basic. Apart from a few gizmos, I haven't seen anything truly uber sci-fi. So...you don't have any matter-transporters, then?" The alien narrowed its eyes slightly and hesitated for several moments, obviously attempting to figure out what he was talking about. Eventually, "Correct." "No food-replicators or meals in pill-form?" "Correct." "No warp-drive?" "Correct." "No phaser-pistols, light-sabers, or sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their frickin' heads?" "Correct." "No sarcastic holographic medical programs either then, I guess?" Huffing with apparent amusement the Vanguard almost seemed to be enjoying the little exchange, but looked with what he thought might have been confusion at him at this last question. "Hrrr? Correct. Hologram not this one." Tainui grinned at Andrej for a moment. "You about done with all your silly questions? You'll make Mr. Lizard's head go all 'splodeys if you're not careful." He turned back toward the Vanguard, a more sober expression on his face. "Anyway... Just wanted to say thanks for saving us, mate. Not sure what those other jokers were planning, but I'm guessing it would have sucked to be us." He hesitated momentarily and looked a little awkward. "And I'm sorry about the one who died. Maybe you'll find someone else special one day?" The Vanguard didn't respond to the implied question, he just stood there and took another large mouthful of the packet's contents and chewed slowly while watching the boys thoughtfully. Feeling a little uncomfortable Andrej got up and moved back to the hibernation chamber, motioning for Tainui to follow him. Sensing some time alone might possibly improve his mood, they left the demonic, reptilian alien to his gristly meal.
Chapter Sixteen
"It's times like this that I wish I'd brought along my guitar," Andrej muttered, plonking himself down on one of the hibernation couches and pouting. Tainui sat beside him and put an arm around his shoulder and squeezed him in solidarity. "I reckon. Mr. Lizard didn't give us much time to get our shit sorted out before he wanted to leave, though. Would have liked listening to you perform my own private concert." He ran his fingers gently through Andrej's medium length black hair. "Still kinda hard to believe I'm here with you, though. Watching you sing during the concerts and in those videos on TV, I never would have picked you liking guys." "And I never would have picked you liking anal-probing aliens," Andrej giggled, poking him in the ribs, "but here we are..." Smirking, Tainui grabbed the poking fingers and squeezed firmly. "Ow! Ow, okay! Let go! I'll stop, I'll stop! You big bully." "Always with the anal-probing jokes. You'll be laughing on the other side of your sexy face when Mr. Lizard wants to begin the probing experiments," Tainui stated with a straight face, but a twinkle in his eyes. "Seriously though, you hid it well. I don't think there were any gay rumors about you even." Andrej leaned back against Tainui's shoulder and relaxed. "After all those boy-band guys came screaming out of the closet, our manager Gary warned us not to do anything like that." Seeing Tainui's questioning look he smiled. "Nah, he didn't know about me. I think he was just covering his greedy ass. Custom-Nightmare was marketed largely to the young, teenage, female audience. You might have noticed that both Luke and Dillon are both quite attractive as well? I think Liz, our bassist, was the sole concession to horny teenage boys...Well, the straight teenage boys, anyway." "Did any of them know...?" "Yeah, Liz did. She was cool though. Used to give me the sordid details about all the fanboys she fucked," he smiled fondly at the memory. "The guys probably wouldn't have cared, much. Reckon they were just happy to have more money and female groupies wanting to throw their legs open than they knew what to do with." Tainui laughed. "Heh, I bet. So, who comes up with the songs for you guys? One thing I always thought was pretty cool, was the words you guys used in your songs. It's not full of the girl this, woman that sorta bullshit you get with other groups." Andrej turned his head and looked with surprise at him. "You noticed that? Fuckin' sweet. That's kinda what Liz and I intended, all ambiguous and stuff. She thought that the songs should appeal to anyone who listened to them; boy, girl, straight, gay... Her and I were the ones who came up with most of the lyrics. Luke and Dillon can play their instruments like no-one else, but they're not going to win any competitions for brains, those two. Gonna miss Liz, though." He sighed and closed his eyes, content despite their strange circumstances. "It's funny, y'know..." Tainui began. "What's that, then?" Andrej prompted him, when he lapsed into silence. "Well, sometimes during the concerts, I'd sit backstage out of sight and watch you sing your little heart out. I'd imagine..." Tainui hesitated again and when Andrej turned to look at him he was surprised to see the Maori blushing. "Imagine what?" "Nah, it's dumb," Tainui shook his head, beginning to regret bringing the subject up. "C'mon Tai! You can't leave me hanging like that! Imagine what?" He grabbed one of Tainui's nipples through the tight, black, woolen muscle-shirt he wore and playfully twisted, making him wriggle and laugh. "Ow! Okay, okay, mercy mistress!" Feeling a little sheepish, he looked away from Andrej. "I used to imagine that there was no-one else around and that you were singing to me, alone. Like that night in Berlin? Could have sworn you were reaching for me." Andrej blinked in surprise, remaining silent for a minute before he quietly responded. "Actually, I was.""Huh?" "Did you ever really listen to 'Outside Looking In'? That was another song Liz wrote specially for me to sing to you. Just like 'The Bond'. Every time I sang it...you were the one I pictured in my mind. And, before you say it; yeah I know how much of a fucking stalker freak that makes me sound like." Tainui gawped at him. "For serious?" "Serious." Closing his eyes Andrej cleared his throat and softly sang the chorus to one of Tainui's favorite songs:"Did you ever see me there? Watching you quietly, waiting my turn. __Forever dreaming of holding you tight, but knowin' it's a sin._ Seeing you standing there, all torn up inside, making me burn..._Did you ever see me there? I'm always on the outside, lookin' in..." Tainui shifted on the couch so that he was facing him, his face betraying the surprise he felt. "Bro! I loved that song from the first time I heard it. I don't know what to say... You were really singing about me?" Andrej smiled self-consciously. "I'm gonna change the subject. I already sound enough like a demented stalker, or something." "This coming from the guy who hunted me down and seduced me on top of a truck in the dead of night?" "Ah, yeah. Um, about that..." Andrej blushed and looked away, feeling uncomfortable with the truth of the question. Tainui grinned at him. "Just pulling your leg, white boy. You've gotta see the funny side of this. After all, it must be pretty rare for some famous guy to go around chasing after a nobody like me. So. Did you really sing that song about me?" Laughing Andrej rolled over against him. "Down, ego-boy!" They lay in comfortable silence for a few minutes before he propped himself up on his elbows facing his companion. "So where do we go from here?" "Huh? What, you mean us as in you and me, or all of us including the space-lizard?" "Both, I guess." "Dunno. I'm happy to take our time and see what happens. Since you're here, there ain't much of interest back home anymore. Now if it was just me and Mr. Lizard, well..." Tainui shrugged nonchalantly. "Is he a top or a bottom, y'reckon?" Laughing Andrej poked him in the ribs. "You're terrible. Seriously though, this trip could take years. We might never see earth again." "Andrej, I think you already knew it would be a one way trip when the alien asked us, dude. This whole thing was your idea, remember?" "Yeah, I guess you're right." Tainui put his hand on the boy's shoulder and squeezed gently. "I didn't leave anything on Earth that I'm gonna miss. And from what you've told me, you didn't either. Let's just do the Captain Kirk thing and go boldly and all that crap, one day at a time." "Hey, I got a nice photon torpedo here if you want to see it?" Giggling Andrej straddled him and wriggled provocatively pressing against the swelling growth he felt underneath him. "Mmm, set phasers to suck, Mr Sulu..." "The engine cannae take it cap'n, it's gonna blow." "Well since you asked nicely..." Tainui unzipped Andrej's loose-fitting jeans and teased out the insistently throbbing member he discovered inside. "Horny little bugger aren't ya? Mmmmmph!" "Sssssh, it's rude to speak with your mouth full."
* * *
Tales were told long ago of a splinter group of Vanguard who, weary of the old ways, decided to depart and create their own colony, far away from what they perceived to be the negative influences of mainstream Vanguard society. Such tales were spoken of quietly and only amongst like-minded individuals; such tales were frowned upon by those in power. The tales were vague, fanciful, mythic. They were tales that contained dangerous knowledge. Banned knowledge. Vanguard civilization was fairly ancient by human standards and had endured for many millennia. Many thought that they were the at the peak of their technological and social evolution. Fanciful tales were discouraged and were eventually made illegal to be spoken about. Anyone caught speaking of such things soon learned the error of their ways, swiftly dispatched by a rigid social system in which there was no rehabilitation, only redemption through death. When Two-Talon was but a spawnling he had hung around, listening to the tales told by the family elders around roaring fires late into the night. It wasn't until he had transferred to one of the new colonies, years later to begin his medic training, that he learned first-hand the price paid by those indiscrete enough to communicate openly about such matters. It had been in the quiet, dark hours of early morning that their barracks were flooded by bright light and several large strangely uniformed warriors stormed in and dragged away one of the other trainees who had been careless and spoken openly about subjects they knew there were laws against. The trainee was clearly quite terrified, but the others had done nothing when she had been dragged away, afraid of attracting any attention to themselves. A day later, Two-Talon had seen the barely recognizable, badly beaten body strung up outside the city walls; a rather stark message to anyone else who sought to question the status-quo. Ever since then Two-Talon had never spoken to anyone else about the splinter-group myth. He had instead done some research into the origins of the stories, being extremely careful to cover his tracks while he investigated. He lived in constant fear of another late-night visit by the internal security services, but despite this, he still persevered. After several months of painstaking research, he had unearthed some well-hidden records dating back several hundred years, which had alluded to a massive exodus of several thousand Vanguard to an area of space many light-years from the Vanguard Core Worlds. Maddeningly, there were no co-ordinates or clear descriptions of exactly where this area of space was, only that it was beyond even the most outlying Vanguard colony worlds. It was when he briefly returned to his clan home-world, before he was shipped out to the latest conflict zone, that he acquired a significant piece to the puzzle. One of the Clan Elders who had taken a special interest and tutored him when he was younger, had taken him aside while he had been hunkered down around a large fire on his last night of freedom. He remembered quite clearly what she had said to him. "I have been observing you for a considerable length of time now, ever since you were but a spawnling. You are different from the others. You show a gift for healing, rather than hurting, unlike the warriors that make up the bulk of our clan. Hrrr, such talents are unfortunately too rare among our kind," she rumbled, pressing a small, well-wrapped package into one of his hands. "Take this. This is a gift for none but yourself. Keep it safe and keep it concealed - this is important. It is a gift that would be dangerous for you to share with another." She had ignored his questioning look and turned back toward the fire and begun to rumble a quiet tune he recognized from his childhood; 'Brave New Home'. The following day he had shipped out on a fast-attack frigate bound for some new conflict zone and it wasn't until he had finished unpacking in the cramped med-bay crew quarters that he recovered the small package. Pulling the object out of its wrappings, Two-Talon had held it up to the light. It appeared to be nothing more than a crude bracelet with a large flat crystal set in the middle. On closer examination, the crystal appeared to have faint markings on it. Inscribed onto its surface were a few words in an ancient Vanguard script, along with several uneven dots spaced at odd intervals across the surface.Suddenly, the clan-mother's made sense. The tune she had rumbled the previous night... It was an old lullaby, normally sung to spawnlings to send them to sleep and it told of a paradise of peace and plenty that good Vanguard would go to when they died. A paradise far away, across space and time. A myth, perhaps. But a myth based on a nugget of_forbidden truth_... During the following long weeks of travel through sub-space, Two-Talon had befriended one of the young astrogation engineers on board the frigate. After a carefully planned and particularly athletic rutting session, the engineer was sleeping off a fuck she'd be feeling for several days. Making certain she was well and truly dead to the world, Two-Talon stole into the astro-observatory and ran some queries through the astrogation computers. His suspicions had been right on - the dots on the surface of the crystal corresponded with a particular pattern of stars. Quickly, he'd made a copy of the co-ordinates before slipping back into the engineer's quarters, being careful not to disturb his unwitting accomplice snoring quietly in the sleep-webbing.
Chapter Seventeen
Light years and several physical years later, Two-Talon held up the bracelet and watched the distant pin-points of starlight being diffracted through the crystal. Interrupted by a small chime from the communication system, he re-wrapped the bracelet and stowed it in a utility pocket in his skinsuit. While he had been expecting something in terms of a reception once he got to the co-ordinates, he wasn't certain what form it would take. There was nothing on the scanner other than a very faint and repeating signal. Eyes narrowing, he studied the read-out. It appeared to be a weak, automated distress call. With a horrible sinking feeling, he set the shuttle's course to match the approximate location and left the cockpit to inform his new companions. When he lumbered into the room, the two humans looked up at him guiltily. The paler one calling itself Andrej was sitting, naked, in the darker one's lap. From the look of things, they had been rutting. Again. Doing the Vanguard equivalent of rolling his eyes, he waited impatiently while they scrambled off each other and quickly got dressed, looking quite embarrassed if he read their body language correctly. Two-Talon chided himself. The humans were a considerable distance from their home world and he was still a little surprised that they had agreed to accompany him on this journey at all. Especially after what they had been through at the hands of his species. Once the language database had improved it was a question he intended to ask them. Choosing his words carefully, he explained the situation. "Received signal. Friendly unknown. Possibility deception enemy. We tread lightly. You follow. This one requires assistance." While they followed him back to the cockpit, he felt a pang of guilt for the small lie he had told them. It wasn't their assistance he wanted, it was their company. Two-Talon was beginning to reluctantly admit to himself that, while alien, these two humans were the closest thing to friends he now had. If things went badly then he was definitely going to be glad of the companionship they offered. Although they still appeared slightly nervous around him, but their concern for him after Tusker was killed had seemed genuine, which he quietly appreciated. Using a carefully planned approach vector, it took them several days to approach the one habitable planet in the system. Fearing a possible trap, Two-Talon wasn't going to take any chances now they were so close to their goal. It was while they were still several hours from orbital insertion that the first wreckage began to appear. The sinking feeling he had felt earlier only got worse while he guided the shuttle around large sections of what remained of an old-style Vanguard space habitat that showed very obvious signs of explosive damage. The weak distress signal appeared to originate not far from their current position, so Two-Talon slowed the shuttle and ramped up the sensitivity of the communications array. Despite this, the signal was still too weak for the sensors to pinpoint exactly. Andrej and Tainui watched large chunks of orbiting alien wreckage drift past the viewport, while the shuttle nosed gingerly through the debris-field under the careful control of the talons of their nervous pilot. "This cant be good." Voicing the concern they were all feeling Andrej was the first to speak. "Hey, what's that over there? Thought I saw something." Both Two-Talon and Andrej looked to where Tainui was pointing and saw nothing. Suddenly, something bright flashed against the dark backdrop of the planet's night-side below them. Two-Talon maneuvered the shuttle closer to the source and a massive, slowly tumbling piece of wreckage loomed out of the darkness, lit dimly by the light of the background stars. It appeared to be the remains of a rather large battleship, with massive sections of the hull smashed in and parts of the internal structure open to the hard vacuum of space. To his discomfort, all of the wreckage looked to be Vanguard. There was no debris of obvious Arbiter origin, or any other signs that the devastation had been caused by some, as yet unknown, alien source. That left either some sort of internal conflict within the ranks of the rogue colony, or an attack by other Vanguard. Neither of which boded well. He found himself desperately hoping to see evidence of Arbiter involvement... Another small explosion from the tumbling wreck made them all raise their arms to shield their eyes. Once the glare faded, they could see glittering fragments of metal and shattered ceramic components moving in a rapidly expanding cloud away from an already badly damaged section of the vessel. "Signal there," Two-Talon nodded in the direction of the ship and tapped away at one of the consoles. "Negative survivor signal, interference excessive. Require vessel datastack. Contains recorded events. Acquire datastack. Acquire additional singularity generators, " he rumbled, avoiding looking at the small blinking yellow hologram indicating the shuttle's own generator status. Yet one more thing that added to the growing sense of unease. The singularity generators that the shuttle was equipped with had been designed to last approximately eight years before recharging or replacement, based on an average load scenario. Because they had been traveling over five years at near full-power, each of the three generators were virtually depleted. He was hoping that he could salvage some from the wreck of the battle-ship. Although much larger and more powerful than the versions deployed on the shuttle, he figured there would be some method of integrating them into the shuttle's systems. 'Hrrr, my third arm for an engineer', he wished. Being a medic, Two-Talon knew very little about the control and power systems on board Vanguard vessels, but was hoping that the onboard databases contained enough information for him to attempt to bluff his way through. If he failed, then they would be stuck here. And now that they were closer to the planet, he realized that 'habitable' was an overly charitable description of the planet below them. Although its atmosphere contained Oxygen which both human and Vanguard relied on to breathe, it was only in trace amounts. Not to mention the dangerously high levels of corrosive Fluorine, Bromine and Chlorine gases, all of which were extremely inimical to carbon-based life-forms; like them. Several failed attempts later, Two-Talon finally managed to get the shuttle to latch onto a docking-port on the side of the slowly tumbling wreck and stood back with a loud hissing sigh. Swinging his head around, he regarded the two humans. "You this one accompany? Assistance requested." They exchanged a look and nodded. "We've come this far," the one calling himself Tainui responded to him. Two-Talon closed his eyes in gratitude, before heading over to the airlock. Opening the weapons magazine beside the hatch, he detached a couple of shock-lances from their chargers and held them out to the two humans. "Defense for. Uncertain danger, understood?" "Uh, how do we use these?" Andrej accepted the metal staff, hefting it with both hands and unsure of what to do with it. The thing weighed a ton. Pointing a talon at a small recessed pressure pad on the side of the bulky handgrip in the middle of the shock-lance he held, Two-Talon demonstrated by jabbing the weapon at the decking and snapping his jaw together in satisfaction when it discharged with a loud snap and spray of sparks. He huffed with amusement when both humans jumped with fright at the small display and stared at him with wide, nervous eyes. "Hrrr... Activate for enemy conflict. Activate not for this one! We depart." After the pressure equalized, the airlock hatchway swung out with a metallic groan, small slivers of ice dropping from around the edges. Two-Talon stopped and turned to them. "Caution: Temperature extremes. Attention: Malfunction gravity. Slow movement, minimize injury for humans. Understood?" Tainui put an arm around Andrej's shoulder and smiled uncertainly at him. "Yeah, I think so." He turned to Andrej. "You and me, bro. We'll keep Mr. Lizard here safe, eh?" Andrej gripped the weapon he'd been given with white knuckles and nodded. Its size and bulk was reassuring. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" "Damned straight, bro! I'm in outer-space with scary aliens and I've just been given a high-tech taser-spear thing. It's like being in that Aliens movie: 'Take off and nuke the place from orbit, it's the only way to be sure!' " "My mother warned me about men like you. Dirty adrenaline junkies, up to no good. Anyway, don't talk to me about those Alien movies. Most of them died in horrible, painful ways, with disgusting_things_ laying eggs inside them. Not to mention all those creatures exploding out of people's chests." Tainui laughed at the look of mock-horror on Andrej's face. It took them a few minutes to adjust to moving around in the zero-gravity and weak emergency lighting of the wreck. Two-Talon watched them bounce off the walls, occasionally grabbing them if it appeared they were about to get into trouble. Suppressing a smile at their antics, he thought they were just like a pair of excitable Vanguard spawnlings. Halting at a four-way junction, he consulted with his datapad then pointed at a rather battered looking hatchway blocking one end of a corridor. "Blocked direction, atmosphere negative. separate this one, yourselves. Search locations swiftly. Communications device. Communicate successful location." He handed a translator disk to Andrej who pocketed the device while Tainui held him steady to stop him from drifting away. "Hey, just what is your name anyway?" Andrej queried the Vanguard after he'd secured the disk. Tainui looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You choose your moments, dontcha?""Well, it's probably a good a time as any. Besides, can't just keep calling him 'Mr. Lizard' or 'hey you' all the time." "True." The boys looked at the alien expectantly. "«hiss-grunt», this one." "You-what?" "«hiss-grunt»." Two-Talon narrowed his eyes with irritation. The translation disk was unable to convert his name into something the humans could understand. Sighing in exasperation, Tainui frowned at the Vanguard. "That may be easy for you to say," he muttered. Cocking his head, Two-Talon contemplated them for a couple of seconds before reaching out a hand on one of his forward arms, with his two longest talons extended, mentally shrugging when the humans instinctively flinched away from the movement. He hoped they would eventually learn to trust him. With one of his other hands he tapped each of the extended talons one at a time. "Fingers?" "Incorrect. Two, number." Tainui flinched when the Vanguard thrust the talons toward them again. Having seen them in action, he was reluctant to be so close to them while the medic waved them carelessly about. "Two-Claws? Damn, I suck at charades," he growled, frustrated, ignoring the cheeky grin that Andrej was giving him. "Incorrect." "Talons?" Andrej then ventured tentatively. Two-Talon mulled this over for a moment before snapping his jaw shut in agreement. Close enough, he figured."That's rather, err, appropriate I guess. Two-Talons it is then."
* * *
Some minutes after they had separated and the alien was out of ear-shot, Tainui turned to Andrej while they slowly drifted down a dimly lit corridor. "Y'know, I could be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure they are both male. This Two-Talons one and the other one with big fangs who died helping us escape the mother-ship. Do you think they were brothers, or something? Two-Talons seemed to be pretty cut up about the other one dying." "Maybe. It's possible I guess. Who knows, it might have been his lover." Tainui laughed. "Come on! That would be too weird, even for you, bro! What are the chances that we're flying around the Galaxy with a faggy dragon?" Andrej smiled at him and grabbed a hand-hold, pressing on a pressure activator to open a hatchway. "Well there's a dragon flying around the Galaxy with two faggy humans. Truth is stranger than fiction, Tai. Whatever he is, as long as he keeps his grubby little talons off my new man, I think we'll get on just fine." Tainui brushed past Andrej with an amused snort and awkwardly swam through the gap when the hatchway opened part-way then halted, malfunctioning with a grinding noise. Grabbing the edge of the hatch he came to an abrupt halt, the color draining from his face. "Whoa," he hissed softly. "What's wrong? Are you alright... Oh my god..." Carnage. Several of the large reptilian alien bodies, a couple of which were not much more than barely recognizable meat, drifted in slow motion through the diffuse haze in the room. A veritable constellation of damaged electronics, wiring and other assorted debris also drifted around. The walls were covered in ragged scorch-marks from some sort of massive energy discharge, along with large, black smears of what could only be alien blood. Some of the bloodstains looked disturbingly fresh and the smell of melted plastic and burnt meat hung cloyingly in the air, making them both gag slightly. Andrej pulled the translator/communications disk out of his pocket. "Uh, Two-Talons? You should probably see this." "Datastack you located?" Came the reply. "Not exactly, no. We found some crew, I think. You need to get down here," Andrej insisted, unable to prevent a horrified shiver from running through him. "Acknowledged," the signal hissed briefly then went silent. Tainui located a bit of bulky machinery attached to the wall and anchored himself against it, recoiling slightly when a large droplet of the glistening alien blood drifted past his face. Avoiding it, he reached out and grabbed Andrej's leg and pulled him closer. Wide-eyed they both watched the bodies move around in stray air currents while they waited for Two-Talon to turn up. Andrej was looking at one of the closest bodies when he thought he saw it twitch. He tapped Tainui on the arm and pointed at it. "I think I saw one move -" On cue, its tail jerked slightly. "Shit, one of them's alive," he whispered. Tainui studied the slowly drifting body closely. Rips, scorch-marks and blood-stains were evident all over the tight-fitting uniform the creature wore, but it had stopped moving and was completely motionless again. Abruptly, the body convulsed when the creature sprang to life, coughing and choking. Dark blood sprayed out of its mouth in a spreading cloud of droplets. Andrej struggled out of Tainui's grip and gingerly launched himself towards to the struggling alien, leaving his shock-lance floating beside the surprised Maori. "What the hell are you doing?" Tainui hissed urgently reaching out for him but missing while he clung onto his precarious hand-hold. Grabbing his own shock-lance, he reached instinctively for the trigger on the grip. "It's hurt. It needs help -""Like hell it does!" Tainui interrupted, incredulous at Andrej's rash action. Pointing his weapon at the alien, he narrowed his eyes. "Wait till Two-Talons gets here. You have no idea what it might do in its current state!" The injured Vanguard had curled into a ball, panting and shivering, tail wrapped protectively around itself. Fresh blood-stains quickly began to spread around two of the largest visible wounds. Hearing their voices, it turned its head to look at Andrej with what almost appeared to be terror on its battered, craggy features. Hissing, it weakly tried to strike out at him when he drifted closer, but instead it only succeeded in aggravating its injuries even further, judging by the clearly anguished cry it made. Gently colliding with the battered creature Andrej made quiet, reassuring noises while he tried to calm the terrified alien. The experience was obviously too much for it because it convulsed again and then went limp. Giving it a quick once-over Andrej proceeded to rip strips off his shirt and pressed the material into the two largest wounds, trying to staunch the worst of the bleeding. "You got anything that I can use to secure these?" he turned briefly to Tainui to was watching him with wide eyes from the relative safety of the bulkhead. Pulling his belt from his jeans, Tainui shook his head in disbelief at the insanity of their actions before launching himself over join his wayward lover. "Crazy fucking white boys," he muttered, annoyed. "And crazy fucking Hori's for getting involved." Andrej tied the offered belt around the thigh of the alien to secure one of the bandages. "Put pressure on that one, it'll help stop the bleeding," Andrej indicated the large wound on the alien's stomach. Tainui hesitated for a moment but did as he was directed. The thick black blood had quickly soaked through the material and was getting smeared over his hands and clothes. A smell, vaguely reminiscent of used engine-oil emanated from the blood that seeped through the bandage. Grimacing, Tainui grunted at Andrej who was examining the alien's head for signs of injury. "You're a regular little boy-scout, you know that? Ugh, it's still warm. I thought lizards were cold-blooded..." Not finding any other obvious injuries Andrej turned and gave him a quick kiss. Tainui stared at him wide-eyed. "This is so not the time or place for a quickie, bro!" Minutes later, Two-Talon poked his head through the partly opened hatchway and looked around at the mess inside the room before seeing the two humans hanging onto the unmoving Vanguard body, their hands and clothes smeared with fresh blood. Horrified, he launched himself at the two with a roar, knocking them both away from the body. Stunned, the two boys hit the bulkhead like large sacks of dropped potatoes, managing to grab some loose wires hanging out of a busted conduit to stop themselves before they rebounded back into the middle of the room. They both reached for their weapons, in case Two-Talon turned on them again. "What you doing?" Two-Talon hissed angrily at them before he turned back and examined what they had been doing to the body. Crude bandages of torn human clothing had been applied to the worst injuries; the humans must have been attempting to help. They weren't being ghoulish, after all, he realized guiltily. With several large external wounds and possibly internal injuries also, the unconscious Vanguard was unlikely to survive unless stabilized quickly. "This one mistaken, apologies." he spared the two humans a quick glance and a snap of his jaws. Pulling a couple of compression bandage-patches from his small medics pouch, Two-Talon replaced the crude human bandages, before pushing off toward the hatch with his patient. Halting at the hatch he turned to the two humans. "Searching continue. Datastack located before you shuttle returning. Vessel structure imminent failure, scenario worse expected than. Swiftly move. Running short time." Shaken but relieved to leave the scene of the bloody battle, the boys didn't hesitate before launching themselves at a hatch on the far side of the room, twisting to avoid a badly mangled body on the way. After drifting along another corridor, they anchored themselves beside a solid looking hatch at the far end. Andrej examined it closely. "This looks important. There's no pressure-switch thingy on it either." After fiddling with it for a few minutes they admitted defeat. "This calls for a bit of brute force - time to play space marines and blow some shit up with ray-guns." After withdrawing to what they thought was a safe distance Andrej gestured to Tainui. "After you, Sir!" Tainui braced himself against the side of the corridor the stopped for a few moments with what Andrej thought might have been an expression of confusion on his face. "Bro. We're in an alien spaceship. Somewhere above an alien planet. Covered in creepy alien blood. About to blow shit up with high-tech alien ray-guns. Think about that for a moment... doesn't that blow your mind?" He shook his head in wonderment. Andrej grinned at him, thoroughly enjoying himself. "I know, right?" Shaking his head, Tainui muttered "Crazy white boys," and lined up his weapon on the far hatch and fired. The weapon made a loud buzzing noise when Tainui held his thumb on the trigger. Smoke, sparks and gouts of flame erupted from where the weapon touched the hatch, obscuring it and drifting down the corridor back towards them. After a few seconds he stopped firing and squinted through the haze at his handiwork. When the smoke thinned a little, they could see that the hatch was crisscrossed with black scorch-marks but didn't appear to be otherwise damaged. Andrej laughed and hefted his own weapon. "You great big poof! Here, let a real man have a... What the hell?!" The ship began to shudder around them, accompanied by several muffled explosions and a drawn out rumbling noise. The hatch in front of them suddenly exploded off its hinges, away from them with a loud shriek of tortured metal. It, along with several of the nearby wall panels, were sucked into the star-studded black void on the other side. At the same time, a hurricane-force wind slammed into them both and sucked them, screaming toward the hole that now gaped with jagged metal edges where the end of the corridor used to be.