Shiu took another sip of his coffee. At least that was one thing he could always rely on – no matter where he went, whether he was in the Galactic Republic or the Cosmic Federation, from the fanciest space stations to the trashiest planetside slums, there was always a vending machine, kiosk or full-on coffee shop run by the AllFoods corp. And it always tasted exactly the same.

It was one of the few things in his life that never changed.

Sat in an insufficiently padded chrome chair in the space station's lounge, in front of a circular stainless steel table bolted to the floor, the water dragon used his other hand to scroll through the pages on his tablet. Just the usual collection of news; some scandal here, a conflict there, an accident someplace else. All of it too far away for it to affect him, much less for him to care.

Looking up from his tablet, he took another look around the lounge of the space station. It was sparsely populated with other people just passing through and taking the chance to rest while their ships were inspected, patched up or refueled. However, his contact was nowhere to be seen, and Shiu frowned, making the long fur-tufted whiskers on either side of his face droop slightly. The contact wasn't late, yet, but Rico's crew liked to pride themselves on being punctual and usually were there before him. And it wasn't like he was easy to miss; water dragons like him were exceedingly rare away from their homeworld of Lanbao, and in addition to having blue scales with a sea-green underside and branching horns on his head, he was wearing one of his bright orange jumpsuits. People tended not to assume much from someone who looked like a regular mechanic or other engineer, and that suited him just fine.

Effective smuggling required keeping a low profile, after all.

On the wall behind him, huge screens stretched from floor to ceiling, showing the starry expanse outside, pretending to be windows rather than mere digital displays on the inner side of a heavily reinforced bulkhead. They upheld the illusion well enough as long as you didn't get too close. After giving them a momentary glance, he turned his attention back to his tablet, flipping through apps to see if there were any new messages. There were not.

He became aware of footsteps getting closer to him; someone was approaching him. Cautiously, he slowly let his right hand hang down at his side, where his laser pistol was stored in his utility belt. "Excuse me," he heard from his left, and ignored it. He didn't recognize the voice, and didn't need to deal with someone trying to scrounge for a handout. But the speaker was more insistent than he expected. "Hey, you, mister dragon guy," came the voice, definitely feminine but just as certainly brash.

Shiu looked up and to his left, but didn't see anyone. "Down here, big guy," the voice said, and he lowered his gaze. Standing nearby was a very short creature of some species he hadn't seen before – a common occurrence for someone who traveled as much as he did. She was short enough that she would only have reached up to his waist if he were standing, and most of her body was covered with clothing that was in dire need of a run through a laundry machine, covered with dust and dirt. A circular hole burned into one of the front left side of her black faux-leather jacket indicated a near miss from a plasma gun. He could barely catch sight of a thin, whiplike red tail behind her, but her head was uncovered, a hood hanging against the back of her jacket. Her skin was bright red, or at least the bits he could see that weren't dirty, and her short black hair was disorganized and messy. Her ears were pointed and very long, and the front of her face had a wide and very short muzzle, giving her a vaguely V-shaped mouth. The irises and sclera of her eyes were bright green, and the way she looked at him told him that was no mere panhandler looking for charity. She meant business.

Nonplussed, Shiu picked up his coffee. "And what are you supposed to be?" he asked, taking a sip while he waited for a reply.

"I'm a Kryteran," she answered. He'd never heard of them, but that was a typical experience for him while traveling. The galaxy was a big place. "And I need your help."

He raised an eyebrow and cautiously asked, "My help?"

"Yeah. I'm told you have a spaceship. I need a ride."

Shiu shook his head and set the coffee cup down. "I don't take passengers," he said flatly. "Cargo only."

Undaunted, she went around to the opposite side of his table and climbed into the chair. "I'll pay triple your normal rate," she told him. "Up front. Hard currency."

"I don't have normal rates. I don't take passengers," he repeated firmly. He knew enough about her now to know she wasn't the person he was expecting, and he didn't want her to still be around when Rico's contact arrived.

"I was told by someone that you could help me," she insisted.

"You were told wrong," he said dismissively.

There was a brief moment of silence. For a moment, Shiu thought she had been convinced, but she simply stared at him.

"You're Shiu Lin," she said firmly, not as a question, but a statement of fact.

Shiu looked her over, trying to assess if she was threatening him. It didn't look like it, though. "Since the day I hatched," he answered. "What of it?"

"Just wanted to make sure I was talking to the right asshole," she said bitterly, hopping out of the chair and wandering off. He watched her go, one eyebrow raised, then went back to paying attention to his tablet.

That was the end of that, or so it seemed. His contact arrived in a maintenance uniform five minutes before the meet-up was scheduled, with a "Sorry I'm late" as he sat down to do business. In exchange for a fat stack of credits, Shiu told him exactly where in the station he had hidden the shipment he had brought in. One quick radio call to his buddy, spoken in code so that any eavesdroppers nearby would think it was a maintenance request, and his drop-off was confirmed. Handing over a new set of instructions on where to pick up another shipment, with a few more credit chits as down payment, their business was concluded, and the contact got up and left him alone once more.

Shiu tipped the cup back to drain the rest of his coffee, only for his tablet to light up in his hands as a call came in. One of his other contacts, but he wasn't expecting a call. He hesitated, then tapped on the left side to answer it, leaning back in his chair and holding the tablet closer to his face, an index finger dialing down the volume.

'Audio Only', the screen told him as it started the call. "Grikk," Shiu said simply in greeting.

"Shiu," came the deep, gravelly voice from the other end of the connection.

"Need a rush job? Or a charter?" he asked, a simple code in case he was overheard: Is it urgent? Do I need to find privacy?

"You could call it a rush job," Grikk's rumbling voice answered. "I heard you turned down a client of mine."

"Did I?" Shiu asked, raising an eyebrow even though it couldn't be seen.

"About fifteen minutes ago, or so I was told."

The Kryteran. "Oh, right, her. Uh... what's-her-name. She didn't tell me."

Grikk lowered his voice, speaking more directly. "Help her. If you trust me, you can trust her."

Shiu looked around, feeling suspicious. His eyes scanned the cafeteria, looking for-

There she was. In the corner, hood up, doing her best to look inconspicuous, but also looking directly at him. She knew who he was talking to, no doubt. Their eyes met, but she simply lifted her head a little in acknowledgement.

"Who-" Shiu began.

"No questions," Grikk insisted. "Now I'm not saying you HAVE to take this job, but I'd be very grateful. I'd consider it a big personal favor."

"You never give favors," Shiu said quietly and flatly.

"That's how important this is," came the answer.

The Kryteran was still staring directly at him with those green eyes of hers. It was a little unsettling, but he didn't let how much it bothered him show. "I'm going to hold you to that."

"I'm a man of my word... when CorpSec ain't listening."

Shiu drummed his fingers on the table. His contact was trustworthy, but what was on the table made him suspicious. "Is this important enough to get those replacement parts for my ship?" he asked, testing the waters.

"Forget those. Pull this off, and I'll get you some brand new parts."

Tempting. Too tempting. Too good to be true, even. "Tell you what," Shiu eventually replied, "I'll talk to her and find out what she wants. If it's all good, we're all good. Otherwise I'm leaving."

"You always were the type to actually read the fine print first. Call me when you decide."

The call terminated abruptly. He set the tablet down, and within moments he heard her footsteps approaching him again; lifting his head, he glanced over and watched her return to her seat across from him.

"NOW will you help me?" she asked him impatiently.

"Maybe," he told her. "I trust Grikk, and I know he's trying to help, but I need to know what this is all about."

She glanced aside. "I know it doesn't look like it, but I have the money. Name your price. I just need a ride out of here undetected."

"It's not about the money," he told her. It wasn't that he didn't need the money – far from it, his ship sorely needed more than a few repairs – but the whole thing still seemed too suspicious.

"Okay, what the fuck do you want from me, then?" she asked, raising her hands in exasperation, elbows on the table. "You want dirt on someone? I can probably get you some." Seeing him shaking his head, she continued, "Drugs? I've got a stash I've been bartering with. Sex? I'll be your personal sex slave if you just get me out of here."

He held up a hand to quiet her. She was obviously desperate, but that only made him more suspicious. "If you have all that money," he probed, "why not just take a passenger shuttle? I know we're out in the ass end of the Republic, but there's still at least one shuttle every day or two of local time."

Her eyes fixed him with a firm look. "Because I need to leave discreetly," she told him. "And I've been told you're good at getting things past the authorities."

"Physical goods, sure," he replied. "I don't handle live cargo. I couldn't even if I wanted to. Cargo bay's not pressurized during flight."

"Please," she begged, her voice starting to break, "I'm not asking for much. I don't even care where you take me. Any other station or planet. You can drop me off the moment you land. I just... I can't be seen leaving here."

He raised the cup to take another sip of coffee, but it was still empty, so he went through the motion regardless to avoid looking foolish. "My ship was only made for one person," he told her as he set the cup down, "so there's only one bedroom – mine. And only one bathroom. You can bet I keep the ship locked down tight. It's cramped, it's uncomfortable, it was falling apart when I got it, and I'm wanted in a few systems. And," he added with an air of finality, "it's my goddamn ship, and I'm normally alone, and my mane itches like hell if I'm dressed for too long. I don't wear clothes while I'm in flight, and I'm not changing that just because I have a passenger on board."

She kept her gaze fixed on him. "You done?" she asked after a moment. "Are you just trying to scare me off, or are those the conditions on a serious offer?"

He had to admit, she was as determined as she was desperate. "A bit of both," he told her. He wanted to know more, but not in public. "We need to talk somewhere private."

Her relief at his apparent acceptance of her request was visible in the way her body un-tensed itself. "I have a quiet place. Follow me."

She hopped down from her chair and Shiu got up, pocketing his tablet and tossing the coffee cup into the recycler on the way out. Normally, he wouldn't have even considered following a stranger into a quiet and out-of-the-way part of a space station, but if she had Grikk's endorsement, that was good enough for him. She led him into a side corridor, then into a maintenance area, and finally into a small space with a low ceiling that seemed to exist just to give access to some of the pipes and wires that ran through it.

Clearly, she had been using it has her hideout for some time. A grimy bedroll and filthy blankets were laid out in one corner, with a backpack set up as an improvised pillow. The smell was unpleasant, to say the least, on account of poor ventilation. Some wrappers and packaging from food and drink had been stuffed into another corner, too.

"This still isn't the worst time a woman invited me back to her place," Shiu quipped as he crouched down to get inside, his horns scraping against the top of the crawlspace. Sitting on the least dirty part of the floor he could find, he pulled his knees up against his chest and leaned against the wall. "All right, let's make this quick. What's going on with you?"

She sat on her bedroll and turned to look at him. "I'm a wanted woman. They've been hunting me for a while, and I had to hide in here. They know I'm on this station, but it's a big one. They've swept it on three separate occasions, but I've managed to slip past each time. I was supposed to transfer, but the person picking me up sold me out instead and I nearly got tagged." She grabbed the edge of her jacket and held it out, showing off the plasma hole. "That's why I can't let them know how I'm leaving, or when, or even that I'm leaving at all. So no public shuttles. Those leave records that can be traced. And nobody who might talk to the authorities, so I need someone discreet. Hence, a smuggler."

"Okay, before we go any further, who is 'they'? Who am I risking pissing off, here?"

"A megacorp. You don't need to know which one."

Shiu snorted. "Yeah. Fair enough. Fuck all of 'em. I just wanted to make sure you weren't some kind of political target."

She gave a short laugh, made unsettling by her open mouth showing her teeth; two rows of big, sharp, pointy canines, far more than ought to be in the head of someone so short. "I wish. I'm not that important. Anyway, I don't care where you take me. Once I get out of here and there aren't eyes everywhere, I can take care of myself. And if you don't know where I'm ultimately going, that's less risk for me."

"Works for me. I'm going down to the surface next; is that fine or is it the wrong direction?"

"Any direction is the right direction," she answered bluntly. "Going planetside works fine. Way easier to get away from their eyes."

"Okay. Well, I already told you what you're in for."

She gestured to her surroundings. "I'll take whatever I can get, whatever it costs. So, how much do you want?"

"We'll talk payment later," he told her. "They'll have finished refueling my ship by now. My takeoff window is about half an hour. Can you get to the docking bays?"

"Yeah, I know my way around the maintenance areas enough to get anywhere. Why?"

"It'll draw less attention if you can get there on your own. I'll leave the hatch open. Don't be seen."

"Okay. Don't you dare try and leave without me. I'll hunt you down and find you, and bite you." She bared her teeth at him again for emphasis. "Hard. On the dick."

"Duly noted," he replied, a little unsettled. "It'll be a short flight. Just as well too, I don't need my ship smelling the way this room does."

"Trust me, it's not any more pleasant for me," she said, folding her arms. "I'm taking an hour long shower once I'm planetside."

Shiu started to get up into a hunched position, eager to depart the cramped and unpleasantly fragrant space, wincing as his horns banged against the low ceiling. "Great, sounds like a plan, I'll make my own way over there. My ship is at dock 8 in bay 2, do you know how to get there?"

"Yep. I know this place top to bottom."

"Then I'll make an exception just this once," he said as he started to leave. "We've got a deal. But if you're not on the ship by the time my takeoff window comes up, I'm leaving without you, threats to my manhood notwithstanding."

"You make it sound like I have a lot to pack," she remarked with a gesture at her surroundings. "I'll be there soon. Maybe even faster than you."

Shiu left the crawl space, turning around to peer back inside of it. "We'll see. What's your name?"

"Not telling," she said, shaking her head, "the less you know, the better. But you can call me Seeker."

He couldn't fault her paranoia, given her situation. "Sure, whatever. See you at my ship."

--------------------

Much to Shiu's surprise, 'Seeker' had indeed been waiting for him at the docking bay before he had gotten there – as he was opening the outer hatch on the bottom of the ship and pulling down the access ladder, he heard her footsteps approach, already close by. He let her climb in first to reduce any chance of her being seen, and soon, they were both inside of his ship.

It had seen better days even before he had bought it second-hand with the money he'd had left over after his sudden divorce. He'd done what he could to fix it up and maintain it to keep it in working order, but there was always some part on each long trip that either failed or started making noises it wasn't supposed to. The constant need for replacement parts made it hard to save up for a better ship.

Seeker, however, didn't seem to care. "Still a notable step up from where I've been staying," she joked as he pulled the ladder up and sealed the hatch. The ship was very minimal, with most of its interior space devoted to the cargo hold; the bridge at the front was the biggest room, adjacent to a living space even more cramped than a typical studio apartment: a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen all combined into a single space that made heavy use of folding furniture and pull-out equipment.

On the opposite side of the narrow corridor from it was the combined storage room plus closet plus laundry room, and at the aft end of the corridor they were in was a door leading to the engines, atmosphere, and other utilities, and beyond that lay the hatch leading to the cargo hold – sealed at all times during flight.

He wasted no time in stepping into the storage room and stripping off his belt and jumpsuit. It let his thick, fluffy mane spring free from its confines, the fur running all the way from the back of his head, down his spine, and along the top of his tail. Tossing the jumpsuit away, he retrieved the pistol from his belt, keeping it held in his right hand. 

"What, you still don't trust me?" he heard from behind him.

"I trust Grikk," Shiu told her firmly, looking at her over his shoulder. She was leaning on the wall in the corridor, looking inside. "But you can't be too cautious in my line of work."

"Yeah, fair. I wouldn't trust me either. Who knows, I could pull a gun on you now, and-"

"And in close quarters like this, I'd have it from your hand and have you facedown on the floor with your arms behind your back before you could take the safety off."

Both of them stared at each other in silence for a moment, before a smirk crossed her face. "Well," she said cheerfully, slowly pulling open the right side of her jacket to show the pistol concealed on the inside of it. "I'd prefer not to get introduced intimately to the floors of your ship, so maybe let's not do that, shall we? What're you then, ex-mercenary?"

"Ex-military."

"Darn, that was my second guess." She sighed and leaned against the wall, letting her jacket fall closed. "So, where can I stay?"

"You've only got three options for where you can be secured during planetfall," he told her as he turned away again, grabbing the toolbelt and hanging it up on a hook. "And I'm not letting you on my bed looking and smelling like you just crawled out of a garbage chute."

"Probably because I did, getting away from CorpSec," she remarked offhandedly, then frowned. "I don't like it any more than you do. I have changes of clothes, but they're all just as dirty. Anyway, what else is there?"

"There's a safety harness in the engine room that'll do. Normally it's for securing equipment, but it'll secure you just as well."

"Really?" she asked incredulously. "I thought you said there were three options. What's the third?"

Finally, he turned around to face her. "Captain's chair," he answered flatly. She didn't have any comment to fire back with; she was staring wide-eyed at him. Or more specifically, between his legs. Not that he could blame her, considering what he was flashing to her: the sizeable length of his uncut penis even while flaccid, currently draped over the front of his heavy ballsack. The rest of him was easy on the eyes too, with the decent muscles of a swimmer's physique on his lithe frame.

"What, never seen a cock before?" he teased.

"Of course I have, but cocky guys usually aren't cocky where it counts," she told him, still staring, but eventually tearing her gaze away to look up at his face. "Guess you're a shower and not a grower, huh?"

He chuckled as he stepped past her, heading towards the bridge, putting the pistol into a small compartment below the control deck. "I'm sure you wouldn't believe me if I told you it gets bigger," he remarked, as he settled into his chair, sticking his tail through a gap between the back and the seat, "and I'm not so desperate as to stick my dick into someone who smells like a dumpster. I'm more into the metaphorical kind." Reaching out, he started flicking switches and pressing buttons, a hum coming from aft of the ship as the engines began spinning up. "So do you think you can strap yourself in, or do you need help?"

"I'll take the help," she responded to his surprise. "I'm not foolish enough to fuck around when screwing up means I'm going to become a stain on the wall. I'll go wait in there while you do all that, I need to tell Grikk you didn't wuss out."

"Thanks," he told her, running through the pre-flight checks. "Let's get out of here before I change my mind about all this. Tell him I'll give him a call after I land."

--------------------

Part of the controls lit up as Shiu's ship received the hail from the space traffic controller. He hit the button to send back his registration, and waited. Several seconds later, another light came on, and he flicked the switch to enable audio communication.

"Captain Lin, respond," a slightly staticy voice addressed him.

His eyes flicked to another screen, double-checking where he needed to go. "This is Captain Lin, requesting permission to land at the North Varaven Freight Spaceport," he answered sternly.

"Please hold," the voice told him. All very routine – until it spoke again. "While that goes through, would you mind answering some questions?"

Shiu raised an eyebrow, though the controller couldn't see it. "Of course."

"There is an escaped fugitive last seen in this system. A Kryteran by the name of Tethryn Ralik. Three point two mid-units tall. Red skin, black hair, green eyes. She is armed and extremely dangerous. If you have any information about her, there is a reward available, with a bonus of up to two hundred thousand credits if your information leads to her capture."

The revelation was not surprising. Really, the only thing he didn't already know was her real name. Two hundred grand was a very sizeable bounty, however, enough for him to buy a whole new ship. Two hundred thousand reasons to turn her in – if not for the fact that Grikk would mark him for death, and that he had heard 'Seeker' – or Tethryn – herself enter directly behind him while he was taking the call. No doubt she had her weapon drawn already.

But more importantly than that: turning her in would be helping one of the megacorps, and the stars would go cold before he would sink to that level.

"I don't know anyone by that name," he answered. It was, technically, true. Feigning helpfulness, he continued, "But that's a lot of money. If I do find her, who can I contact?"

"RanaTek Corporation has posted the bounty. Any of their representatives can assist."

"Understood. Wish I could help you, 'cause I could sure use the cash, but I've got nothing."

"Acknowledged. Captain Lin, you are cleared to land at terminal 2, dock 17."

"Terminal 2, dock 17," he repeated. "Acknowledged."

"That's all. Control out."

The call ended, and Shiu flicked a switch to turn off the transceiver before swiveling his chair in a half-circle. Sure enough, his passenger was standing there with her laser pistol in her hand – but her arms were at her sides, the gun pointing down towards the floor.

"You're a popular woman," he observed.

"For all the wrong reasons," she muttered. Returning the gun to her jacket, she sighed. "Thank you for not selling me out."

"Thank you for not shooting me in the back," he told her bluntly.

"I considered it," she said cheerfully, "But I don't know how to pilot this thing, so I need you alive."

"Charming."

"I can see why Grikk sent me your way, though. And why he trusts you."

Shiu chuckled and shrugged. "I'm a nice guy like that, what can I say? We're going to have to get you secured, though, before I can begin my descent."

"Yeah, I know. Let's get it over with."

--------------------

To Shiu's surprise, not only did they make it to the surface without any trouble, but nothing on the ship broke or showed signs that it was going to break – not counting things already in one of those states, anyway. He touched down at the main freight spaceport of the city of Varaven, and after powering down the engines, he went back to the engine room to free Tethryn from her restraints – only to find she had already freed herself from them without his help.

"Well, we're here," he told her, leaning on the wall of the engine room. It had grown considerably hotter inside, since the engines had been running for a while – nothing hazardous, though. Most of the excess heat got radiated out into space via the heat sinks. "I held up my end of the deal. Where's my reward?"

"Grikk said you can stop in at his scrapyard in the Kalrus Belt when you want those parts," she told him, hefting her backpack onto her shoulders. "And he also said that because he knows you're paranoid, he gave me a code phrase to tell you so you know I'm not talking out my ass: 'Orange Black Yellow'."

Shiu nodded; it was the right phrase. She would only have known it if Grikk had told her for that exact purpose. "Good. This honestly helps me out a ton. Sure you don't want to let me in on what's so important that one of the most tightfisted dealers I know is pulling out all the stops for you?"

"Nope," she answered simply.

"Well, I tried." He shrugged and stopped leaning on the wall. "Need anything else?"

"Come over here," she said, lowering her voice, "I need you to do me a favor."

His eyes narrowed. "Nuh-uh, I know how this goes. You'll tell me the favor is to 'go to sleep' and then shank me or jolt me or something." Gesturing down to his bare loins, he added, "And you're at a height I'm not really comfortable with for those possibilities."

"Oh no, you caught me," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "However, I do need you to not know where I'm going. So could you like, go back to your cabin and jerk off or something? I'll be gone by the time you're done."

"Leaving just like that? Not even a goodbye kiss?" he teased, grinning at her, his whiskers perking up.

"Do you really want my mouth anywhere near you?" she asked, flashing her teeth at him.

His grin vanished. "No, not really," he conceded. Turning away, he waved a hand dismissively. "Fine then, at the lady's request, I'll go grab a fleshlight and pretend it's your ass or something. Leave the hatch open – you're too short to close it anyway."

She snorted derisively, and he started walking out. "Hey, Shiu," he heard from behind him.

Stopping at the door, he turned around and looked back at her, wary in case it was a trap. But she was looking aside, one hand on a strap of her backpack, the other fidgeting by her side.

"Thanks," she said quietly. "Like... for real. I'll probably never see you again. But I appreciate it. The trip, and... not selling me out."

He fought the urge to make a quip, and just nodded his head. "You're welcome. Don't get yourself killed."

"I'll do my best. I left you some money over by the harness. As a more personal thanks."

"I'll come get it later, then, after you're gone. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Shiu went back to his room, but although the drawer with his toys was there, he had no intention of following through on that particular promise. The business took priority, and in this case, business involved getting in touch with his contacts to let them know where his ship was docked so they could bring over the goods; confirming with Grikk that he was, indeed, owed a generous favor; and getting dressed again to handle loading the cargo up without the spaceport security arresting him for indecency. Corporate regulations didn't approve of his natural look the same way most of the ladies and some of the men he ran into did.

All in all, a good three hours passed before he was free, the cargo hold of his ship loaded up with crates of "scrap metal" – at least on the surface to pass a cursory inspection. The black market augmentations, some of which had been 'reclaimed' from their 'donors' who 'didn't need them any more', were carefully concealed along with other illegal or tightly controlled bits of tech. Just one of many items of contraband that had graced his cargo hold; he only refused to take live cargo, weapons, or volatiles – the latter two because of the potential damage to his ship.

Business was concluded. Next was pleasure.

Tethryn had left him a moderately generous amount of credit chits in the engine room, so he decided to treat himself. The businesses around the spaceport knew what people like him who had been alone in space for an extended period of time wanted – if you knew where to go, any vice, be it narcotic or carnal, could be satisfied for the right price. The nightclub he went to on this occasion was fancier than his usual haunts, but he had the extra money to justify it, and an all-black outfit that was good enough to meet the dress code.

Half an hour later, he was in one of the dark, back corners of the club, sat on the middle of a plush couch shaped in a quarter-circle, the music thumping around him. He had two exotic drinks in his stomach, and on her knees in front of him was 'Kora', the red-haired, tan-furred, somewhat wolfish woman who had brought him his drinks earlier. The leotard she had been wearing before was in a heap on the floor, leaving her wearing only dark latex gloves and stockings. The extra credits Shiu had paid her lay on top of her leotard, and she was working on earning them by bobbing her head back and forth along the length of his erect shaft, one of his balls in each of her hands as she fondled them both.

Shiu leaned back, eyes closing, his back sinking into the cushion. He savored the warmth of her mouth around his cock as she sucked and licked at it, keeping her pace slow to tease him and warm him up just as he had requested. His worries and troubles faded away, the sound of her sucking audible over the dull thump of the music, and he forgot all about Tethryn.

Until he opened his eyes again.

He froze up, not from being caught in a compromising moment, but because he had expected to never lay eyes upon any Kryteran, let alone her. Yet, there she was, just a few feet away, making use of her dark outfit in the dimly lit club to get to him undetected.

"Oh, don't mind me, keep going," Tethryn said cordially.

Kora paused for a moment, but Shiu tapped the back of her head. "Of course I'm going to keep going; I paid in advance," he asserted firmly. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Tethryn dropped her backpack next to the couch and hopped up beside him, while Kora pulled her head off of Shiu's cock. "This is a private-" she began, but Tethryn held out a pair of credit sticks.

"You never saw me," she said simply.

Taking the offered credits, Kora turned away just long enough to pile the credit sticks with the others on her leotard. "Never mind, I guess it's just you and me, handsome," she remarked, lowering her muzzle and shoving it in between his balls, nosing at them both.

Shiu tried to relax, but he had too many questions. Turning his head, he looked Tethryn over; she had evidently taken the opportunity to take a shower and change her clothes, and she actually looked somewhat respectable now, her hair clean and combed, her red skin smooth, her clothing no longer stained. But there was obviously something wrong, given that there was another hole in the left arm of her jacket that hadn't been there before, and a hastily-made, blood-soaked bandage visible through it.

"You cleaned up nicely," he observed, putting a hand on the back of Kora's head to encourage her to keep going; she obliged, licking over his sack and the orbs within, retrieving a wrapped condom from the edge of her stockings now that her hands were free.

"Thanks. At least the... visitors didn't show up while I was in the shower." Her gaze was locked on his cock again, as it bobbed above Kora's head, the staff member's hands reaching up to pull his forescales back to expose his cockhead, before sliding the condom down its length. "Fuck, you actually weren't lying, you're big soft but now you're a monster!"

"If you want a turn, you can wait," he replied.

"I've taken bigger, but not recently. I have no idea if I could fit it all in without some practice. It'd be worth trying, though..." she trailed off as she watched Kora go back to kissing his balls, putting both hands behind them to lift them up for easier access. "Anyway, I need your help again."

"And here I figured you just wanted to see what you missed out on," Shiu grumbled. "How did you find me?"

"Educated guessing," she explained. "A guy who travels alone, just finished with a long trip, and a fat stack of credits in his pocket to go with his fat dick... seemed logical that you'd be looking to unwind, you know?"

"Well, you weren't wrong."

"This is the third place I checked. I'm just glad I found you, at least."

"I'm not, I wanted some relaxation time," he muttered, tapping the back of Kora's head again. "Time to get up. I paid for full service, remember." She looked up at him and he motioned in a circle with his finger; getting to her feet, the staff member dutifully turned herself around, raising her tail and wiggling her hips.

"What next, stud?" Kora asked, bending over at the waist to better show off the pink of her holes amidst the short white fur over her body.

"I want that back door, babe," Shiu answered, reaching out and grabbing her hips, guiding her towards his lap. She obliged, letting her move him, and soon the tip of his latex-wrapped cock was nudging underneath her tail at the tight ring of muscle nestled between her cheeks.

"Don't split her in half, now," Tethryn said from beside him.

"It'll fit," he told her, "She wouldn't work here if she couldn't take a big dick."

"I've got enough painkillers in me that I bet I could take it easily," Tethryn quipped, watching as his cockhead started to penetrate, spreading out Kora's sphincter as both of them groaned out, the staff member's ass slowly swallowing up his cock. "Mmh, fuck. Makin' me jealous."

Shiu panted deeply and groaned as Kora sank down on him. Her tight ass engulfed his shaft, squeezing it from all sides, and he ground against her firmly, holding her rump against his hips. "So, what brings you crawling back to me?" he asked Tethryn.

The Kryteran leaned in close to him and dropped her voice to a whisper. "I met my contact, but just as I was looking to get some sleep, CorpSec kicked in my door and I got into a shootout. Put a few of them down, but I took a hit... those goons can't aim for shit, but they can get lucky once in a while. I barely got out through the window and out the fire escape – one of them was covering the alley, but he sure didn't expect me to land on his head."

Grunting, Shiu lifted Kora up a bit and pulled her back down, bucking his hips a little to slide his shaft back into her ass all the way. "I'm sure some guys would pay you for that. Anyway, I'm guessing you need to bail again?"

"I need you to take me to a specific set of coordinates, and carry back some stuff to another space station," she told him evasively. "There's... something I need to retrieve."

"Where are... nnh... these coordinates?" he asked, lifting Kora up further, sliding more of his cock out of her before tugging her back down, both of them moaning aloud, her toes curling from the deep anal penetration.

"They're out in deep space. Nowhere near anything inhabited."

Shiu took a few heavy breaths, shivering a little; Kora was good, giving voluntary clenches of her sphincter around his cock each time he sank into her to provide extra resistance, pleasuring him further. "And what do I get out of it?" he forced out between panting breaths.

"What do you want? I've still got plenty of money."

Leaning forward, he moved his hands up, wrapping them around Kora's body and grabbing onto her breasts. He then leaned back and pulled her against his chest, holding her in place as he squeezed and massaged her tits, bucking his hips to thrust up into her rear hole, his balls swinging upwards and gently plapping against her wet pussylips. "Three things," he answered after several thrusts and some contemplation. "First, you're paying for, and cooking, your own food. I don't know what kind of stuff you eat and I'm a shitty cook."

"Sure," Tethryn answered immediately.

"Secondly," he continued, pausing for a moment as he grunted in pleasure and thrusted faster briefly before slowing down, "I need to deliver my current cargo first. Shouldn't, mmh, take more than a few days to make the trip. Gotta keep my customers happy, and I don't want to be carrying around hot goods any longer than I have to."

"Yeah, that's fair. I'd rather not wait, but I got waylaid for a deci-cycle already, I can wait a bit longer. Plus I need space in your hold for the things I'm after. So that's fine. What's the third thing, then? Cash up front? Parts from Grikk? Free use of my ass?"

He took a moment to reply, since Kora had taken over again, putting her feet on the edges of the sofa beside him to raise and lower her hips, riding his cock; with her doing the work, he kept his left hand on her breasts and moved the right between her legs. Pushing two of his fingers into her wet pussy, he teased around her walls, feeling his own cock sliding in and out of her ass through the narrow wall of flesh separating her tunnels.

"Mmmh..." he groaned, shivering a little bit, firing preseed into the condom. "Finally... you need to let me in on whatever the fuck it is you're investigating."

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head vehemently. "What? No, not a chance," she snapped.

"You'll trust me with your life, but not your mission?" he asked her, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes as he leaned back, letting out a low groan.

"It's not that simple. I'm looking into something really important. Really big. The fewer people who know about it, the better."

"I get that," he replied, taking a shuddering breath as Kora clenched tight around him once more. "Fuck...! Ahhh. ...but if you want my ship, and you want my help, I have to... mmh... know what for. I need to know why. I can't trust you... ohhh...! ...if you won't trust me."

"No, I can't-" she protested.

"Take it or leave it," he said, cutting her off. "You've got until I pull out to make up your mind... and I'm getting close...!"

Tethryn fell silent, so Shiu turned his full attention to Kora, feeling the very beginnings of his approaching orgasm. Lowering his arms, he hooked them under her legs and tugged them up, pulling them back until he had them pinned against her front. She let out a groan as she sank all the way down on him again, until he pulled her back up, tightening his grip.

Bucking his hips up into her, Shiu groaned out as he fucked her ass hard, his balls swinging up and bouncing against her wet pussylips. Her arms were still free, so she reached downward, around her legs, and fingered herself as he pounded her, her fingers rubbing and teasing at her clit. His hips slapped against her ass from the force of his thrusts until he shuddered and let out a louder groan, thrusting one last time and then pulling her down all the way.

His cock throbbed hard, his balls pulling up in their sack as they began to unload, firing thick bursts of cum inside of her, all trapped within the condom. On the second shot she cried out and began to climax with him, from her own self-pleasure combined with him blowing his load in her ass, squirts of her pussy juices landing on the carpet. He gave slow thrusts, rocking his hips back and forth inside of her as he came, eyes closed tightly as his mind was filled with sheer orgasmic bliss and he filled the condom with his hot and thick seed.

Coming down from his peak, both of them were left panting for breath for several seconds. He gradually lowered Kora's legs until they were on the floor, then leaned back against the sofa again. "Time's up," he told Tethryn between breaths, "What's it going to be?"

"I... fine. Not like I have a choice anyway," she complained. "You drive a hard bargain. Didn't take you for being so cutthroat."

Shiu gave a chuckle and a smirk, perking his whiskers up. "It's a necessity in my line of work."

Kora slowly stood up, inch after inch of Shiu's cock sliding back out of her. Tethryn started to make a verbal comeback to Shiu's remark, but it was forgotten as she saw the condom get tugged back out into the open, bloated at the end and hanging heavily off of Shiu's length with a potent load of cum inside of it. "Holy shit!" she blurted out.

"They're not just for show," Shiu joked, patting his balls with one hand, before leaning back again. Dutifully, Kora turned around and tugged the condom off of him, tying it off, then attaching it to her stockings like a trophy, the weight of it pulling them down a little.

"Okay, she'll clean me up, and then we can leave," he said quietly. "You'd better lay low on my ship until tomorrow."

"Shouldn't we leave right away?" Tethryn asked.

Shaking his head, he explained, "My take-off window is tomorrow. Leaving in a rush will just draw suspicion, even if I get the window bumped up instead of just making a break for it. Better to act like everything's normal so CorpSec looks elsewhere, yeah?"

"Yeah, fair enough," she admitted. "Guess I'm staying the night at your place. I'm about ready to fall over anyway."

"I don't mind," he replied. "Especially since you don't smell like a septic tank any more."