What Happens in Orbit

Cora stopped outside Leo and Erie's room. She'd hoped they were having a normal day but judging by the tone of Leo's voice coming from within, they were not.

She sighed, then knocked before letting herself in. "Are you two behaving yourselves?"

Erie jumped. "Cora!"

"No! Well, I am. He's not! Tell her what you did, idiot." Leo gestured at him before tossing a pill bottle squarely at his face. Erie caught it, throwing it back. "You're just mad that I don't have to be nauseous all the time anymore, like you."

Cora recognized the bottle. "Erie..."

"I'm not going to do anything, Cora. I'm completely in control of myself."

"That's not the problem, Erie, you moron. You're going to setheroff! Do you have sand for brains?"

"I'm fine," he sniffed. "By the way, Cora, I think Tai and Tor fucked Mar. I could smell it on them when they came back."

"And that's notnormal,Erie! Why can you smell that?"

"You're just mad that you can't. It's probably why you're so whiny all the time."

Cora caught herself just before she laughed. "Hey. You two. That's enough. Erie, did you stop taking your suppressants?"

He nodded. "Yeah, but like I said, it's fine."

She gave him a long, dry look. "Your eyes say otherwise. If you set me off, I'm not gonna protect you from the others. They're gonna bereallymad."

"It is completely fine. Tai doesn't take any, Tor doesn't take any, IknowDella doesn't take his anymore. I have thought this through."

"You havenot," snapped Leo, standing up. "You can't just stop taking them!"

Cora didn't like the ethical implications oforderingErie to take them. She sighed. "Leo, if you can get him to take them, I'll be grateful, but if not, it's okay. I have a meeting on the bridge now. Please don't kill each other."

She left them to argue.

Leo waited for her footsteps to completely recede before speaking again. "Erie. You know what's gonna happen if you make her carry, right?"

"She'll have more eggs."

Leo deadpanned. After a pause, he let out a slow, harsh breath, raising his hands slowly to his head. "I amsosorry. I'm sorry that, during our neonatal development process, only one of us got a fuckingbrain!" He dove for his brother, bottle in hand. "You do that, you're a part of this colony. Do you want that?"

Erie froze, allowing his brother to pin him. "Well- augh- I thought we were?"

"No." Leo sat back, letting him breathe, while he struggled with the lid. "No. Customarily, you're not a part of the colony until there's a kid that looks like you."

"Oh. I thought we kind of were. I don't really... want to go anywhere else? Do you?"

Leo looked down at his hands. "If you ever want to, we won't be able to."

"Mar did it," waved Erie, sitting up. "It'll be fine either way. You're talking like it's guaranteed that it'll happen."

"She's genetically engineered to make it happen, Erie. That's Koramin's masterpiece right there. You get that, right? This'll never be normal."

"That's fine."

"You're just saying that because all you can think about is fucking her again."

"Yeah, probably. You can put that lid back, I'm not taking that shit."

Cora strode onto the bridge, taking her seat quietly to receive the report.

The mission was going as well as it could have been, casualties mounting slightly as they approached the city containing the emperor.

She'd been told this was okay, but it sure didn't feel okay.

Mary had been pleased to report after this that they'd gained the support of several independent cities, providing them with surplus suits and sprayers to continue what had started being called theextinction processon the ground.

"Make sure we don't endorse that phrasing," said Cora, chewing on her thumbnail. "I don't know what will set off the Grand Mother, but that is awfully close to what I imagine would. We don't have her wholehearted support, yet."

Miedzna had been Cora's biggest fan since she'd ordered the Tau Sek Gei repossessed. She hadn't realized how irritated they'd been about effectively losing it.I wonder if they'd sign off on aid now?

Mmm.She wouldn't push her luck. Now that she wasn't pregnant anymore, a disagreement meant she'd be squaring up.

But they were at eighty-five percent completion now, with no real disagreements yet. She'd had to check her ego a few times, but it had been worth it, learning to formulate questions and tease apart misunderstandings instead of getting offended.

Mar would be pr-

Cora bit the inside of her cheek, drawing blood.God fucking damn it, Cora. Stop thinking that. He wouldn't. He doesn't care about you anymore.

Her eyes watered.

"Cora?"

"I bit my cheek. Augh. I apologize. We should be ready to start reducing satellite control. This entire sector is clear of rigs. I say we keep with our original plan and start preparing the distance missions to check the bordering regions. Have our requests been received?"

"They have. Most of the civilizations in target regions report no contact and are happy to allow us passage."

"Most?"

Mary squinted at her tablet's notes. "I don't think I can pronounce this.Thisplanet sent a message. The translator software is struggling. These, uh, tch- tsh- tasch- I'm sorry. Can we call your linguist to the bridge? The orange one, with the gray brother."

Cora made an expression halfway between a smile and a grimace before fixing her face. "Yes." She nodded to Dicembre, who pinged their room.

Five ship's marks later, Erie appeared in the royal blue uniform.

"Hi, Erie." Cora kept her face pleasant, hoping her eyes were conveying theyou better keep your shit togetherlook she was trying to give him. "We've received a transmission that the software can't translate, can you give it a shot?" She gestured to Mary, who passed her tablet to Erie.

The minute his eyes caught on the words, he was laser-focused, even with how dark his irises had become. "I can. It's Machiki. Strange, though. They're a hermit society. Their faith usually forbids space travel and off-planet contact."

"Then how'd you learn their language?"

"They exile non-compliant citizens off-planet."

"With the aforementioned forbidden space travel?"

"Yep. That's the whole reason they discovered it. They're... requesting... our... assistance, ah, Foshar are attempting to enter their orbit."

"Oh. That's- Miedzna. You would say that's fine, yes? We can eliminate Foshar from that sector and establish a diplomatic relationship. A good deed with a relatively low cost?"

Miedzna was squinting at the dimensional map, doing the figures by paper and pencil. They were slowly losing their aversion to Earth technology the longer they worked with Cora. That, and she'd begged Mary to find them anything other than the squeaky metal writing styli. "Yes... Yes, this will be fine. I'll approve it."

"Erie, you'll be able to translate? Help Dicembre compose a response. Yes, we are sending help right away. Mary, send a scout first."

He nodded, his eyes losing focus as he looked up at her.Oh, fuck's sake, Erie. God damn it.Cora would have to fix this, and quickly.

Keeping her hopefully 'queenly', placid expression, Cora spun her chair back to Mary. "Am I good to have the next, say, two-hundred marks free? I need to go referee a disagreement." Even though she'd spoken softly, Erie still looked nervous. "You're free to go, Erie. Thank you."

"Yes, I don't have anything scheduled for you. Nothing serious, I trust?"

Cora laughed. "Not at all. There's a power vacuum in our family since Mar betrayed us, they're having issues righting it."

"Ah," said Miedzna wisely. "Thepecking order, as it is called in your language.I have heard of this."

Cora choked back a laugh. "Right. We're doing excellently here. I'm happy to have you all on this team and I'm happy to be on this team. Thank you for your continued support and cooperation, I will be back."

There was probablysomekind of power vacuum, but that definitely wasn't what Cora was heading to correct. She exited the bridge, rounding the corner and picking up speed to catch up to Erie. She caught the door, startling him as she let herself in and shut it behind her. She shoved Erie onto the bed.

Leo looked up from his tablet, knuckles going white. "I'm sorry, Cora."

"It's fine."

"No, he's sorry because he- you wanna tell her, Leo? Hypocrite?"

"I was taking them! Just not... consistently."

"I was gone for- what, a segment? Two?" Cora's eye twitched. She'd have to pull her weight and force standardization of time units. This was getting irritating. But not as irritating as the fact that Leo's eyes, too, were showing signs of darkening. They would need to be quick. Della was already getting irritable with everyone. She wasn't sure if it was stress or secondhand effects from these two, but she didn't want to find out.

"I'm sorry, Leo. I need him for a mission. Which means he needs to not be likethat."

He set his tablet down carefully, bringing a hand to his mouth and biting his knuckle as he nodded.

"I don't want you to feel likeyouhave to, I know you're not happy about it. I was just gonna get him to- to, uh, completion. Nothing serious. You understand?"

He put his hand down, grimacing and swallowing. Cora noted blood beading on his finger.Aw, hell.Leo always tried too hard to hide it. "Yeah. I understand. This would be a bad time for you to carry."

"Right. So, I'm just gonna-"

Erie gasped, gritting his teeth as she, maybe a little too rough, undid his belt and pulled his pants down. She'd specifically mentioned using a thicker fabric for these new uniforms to Miedzna, citing vague temperature reasons. But it was nice, not having to seeevery fucking detailwhen they got hard.

Well, nice... most of the time. Cora was no animal.

Last I checked.

She licked her palm, watching with a hint of annoyance as Erie twitched in anticipation. "Don't think I'm rewarding you for your dumbass choice, Erie. We're gonna have a serious discussion about it later." He bucked, whimpering as her slick palm slid up the sensitive underside of his shaft.

"I know- I'm sorry."

In her peripheral vision, she saw Leo tear his gaze away from them, staring at the wall. Veins stood out in his arms.Poor thing. I wonder if he can bear it. I gotta take care of him, too.

Her pulse had started beating much lower in her body than she would have liked.God, I'm pushing my luck. I need to hurry up.Being in an enclosed space with these two had been a bad idea. The air was filling with the scent of heat, vaguely camphoric in nature. She'd assumed that her biology had settled down enough to not be so readily affected, but Cora had a sneaking suspicion that she'd been wrong.It's fine. I'm not an animal. I have self-control. As long as Leo holds it together, I'll be fine.

She leaned down, propping herself up on an elbow and running her tongue up where she'd just had her palm. He'd never liked a lot of friction.

As she took half his length into her mouth, it registered in the back of her mind that Leo was muttering something.Fuck, I love doing this,said the part of her brain that did not care about anything but the dick pressing against her tongue.

You need to pay attention,said the part of her brain that was not completely lost yet.

She pushed herself back up, the head slipping free from her lips with a faintpop.

Turning to make eye contact with Leo was, possibly, the dumbest thing she'd done since going to 'check' on Mar, back on Roshak. The indescribable look in his normally soft blue eyes had a twofold effect; one, it sent so much blooddownwardsthat her ears began to ring, and two, it caused that sensible part of her brain to begin sounding alarms. That ringing and these alarms blended together in her mind, further disorienting poor Cora.

She was suddenly dizzy, warmth rushing to her face. "What?" she asked, giving him a smile. "I'll take care of you, too."

It was incredible, the way she couldseethe outline of his irises thickening, the pigment creeping outwards into his sclera. Erie's focus drifted to follow hers. "What's wrong, Leo?"

He ignored his brother's question if he even heard it, his eyes riveted fast to Cora's.You know, last time someone looked at me like that, I ended up with a ridiculous amount of cum in me.

At this thought, the perpetually stupid part of her brain responded with the urge to giggle.

Cora realized with a bit of dread that she was wearing her favorite set of Takkan clothes. She would have to explain if something happened to them. If she left them on right now, somethingwouldhappen to them. Holding Leo's gaze, she began to gingerly undress herself, going slowly so as not to startle him. Pants toed off fine, gently set aside. Vest unbuttoned and slid off her arms, metal rank pins clinking against the fasteners, set atop her pants. But the shirt. The shirt would be trouble. She knew exactly what would happen when their eye contact broke.

"Uh oh," whispered Erie, a grin creeping across his face.

Leo had progressively turned towards them in the chair he sat in, hands gripping the rails and table edge, and holding himself in a position akin to a sprinter at the starting line.

Aw, hell.

Uncertain, Cora waited, hands holding the gathered shirt just around her neck.

"Hey Leo," whispered Erie, his voice bordering on delirious. "Mar's not here to get mad at us for knocking her up."

Leo's eyes widened. His vocal control had completely unspooled, tones a hopeless mess. "You're right."

"Do you... want to?" Cora's voice was thin, cracking under the tension in the air.

Bad idea!

The chair knocked against the floor as he left it, hands around Cora's waist before she'd even parsed how he'd got there. She was vaguely aware of legs arranging themselves under and behind her as Erie pulled her shirt over her head.

Fingers brushed against her opening. Cora keened, pushing her hips back. It had beenso fucking longsince anyone had touched her. She'd healed well enough but she just... hadn't had the time. A pair of shaking fingers slipped inside her, spreading carefully as Erie thrust his hips upward, grinding against her.

"Think we'll both fit," said Leo, faintly enough that it took Cora too long to understand what he'd said.

Erie had run one set of hands up her waist to her throat, the attention making her arms go limp. She collapsed against him, letting them work together to hold her hips where they wanted them. It finally registered, what Leo had said. "Wait, we'll both what?"

"Hey, agh- Let me do it," came Erie's weakly annoyed grumbling from somewhere above her head. She had her forehead pressed into his collarbone, suddenly finding herself being pulled back towards the edge of the bed.

"Keep her quiet," murmured Leo. "Can't imagine the others will like this."

A hand fumbled to cover her mouth as Erie pressed into her first, slowly but insistently. Her opening ached faintly as Leo slipped in next to him. She could feel him watching her reaction, pausing every time she tensed up.What a gentleman,she thought headily as she stuck her tongue out, angling her head to take Erie's fingers into her mouth.

"Damn," he whispered, tracing circles on her tongue with the tips of his middle and third finger. "That's a tight fit."

"Yeah," said Leo, his arms trembling.

Cora worked her hips in a tiny circle, feeling herself almost at capacity. And Leo wasn't even completely inside her yet. She put her hands flat against the bed, pushing herself back. He bottomed out inside of her.

They began to negotiate a rhythm, the fingers in Cora's mouth stifling her noises and heady giggling.

Leo shifted, walking his hands forward on the bed a bit. "Ngh- Could probably fit more in her."

The pair of hands gripping her hips twitched. Another pair was on her waist, nails scraping against her skin.

Erie was inching himself downwards to get a better angle. He then thrust upwards, causing the two shafts inside her to slip from their previous orientation to now move side-by-side.

Cora's eyes rolled back. This was too much. Both of them liked to talk during sex, checking in with her, telling her how good she felt, all the things she fuckingloved. The exhales closer to growls. The way Leo could barely hold himself up every time he pushed into her.

"Yeah," she keened, her tongue lolling out.

Leo was close, but she knew he'd keep going after he came. Erie didn't seem to be quite there yet.

Cora felt like she would melt if they kept this up. Tilting her head, she took Erie's fingers back into her mouth, sucking on them with a particularly depraved moan.

Yeah, that was it. He gasped as he twitched inside of her. She worked her hips back in tiny increments, careful not to mess up their rhythm. "You gonna cum in me?" she asked.

He let out a groan that sounded like ayes.

"You gonna make me carry?"

They both reacted rather viscerally to this question. Cora giggled. Fuck, this was so much fun. As they both pushed inside her as deep as they could go, she undulated her hips up and down, whimpering as her eyes slid out of focus. "Come on,make me carry!"

They ravenously indulged her request, nails digging into soft, sensitive skin and poorly muffled expletives filling her ears. "Fuck, yes," she whined, feeling that beloved pressure begin to build inside of her.

Well, she'd forgotten to lock the door.

That, or the lock had simply forgotten to stop Della, who stood there with a look of indignant fascination.

Leo's sense of self-preservation barely kicked in in time for him to turn to see the blue Roshak approaching. He stumbled aside, resting a knee on the bed as Della stood behind Cora, deftly unfastening his belt.

One of you is gonna have to sneak yourselves into the laundry,thought Cora hazily as Della scooped her into the air. She vaguely registered the weight in her stomach as she found herself pinned to the wall.

"Everything that's going on and you're in herefucking.You two are just as bad as Tor and Tai-" he snarled, his breath hitching as he shoved his cock inside of her.

He seemed to be unaware of his hypocrisy.

Della began to fuck her with an impressive sense of determination, every thrust punctuated with the sound of Cora's already drenched pussy. "What, no begging for me?" He pressed his forehead to hers, gasping as he grinned, fangs bared. "Ngh- I s'pose you don't need to. I'll make you fucking carry whether you beg or not."

Tai and Tor sat quietly, awkwardly in the sleeping quarters.

"What do you think everyone else is doing?" Tai asked Tor quietly.

Tor turned to him with an irritable glare. "I can tell you what they're not doing."

Though he heard Tor's impending sarcasm, Tai still took the bait. "Yeah?"

"They're notfucking each other. In the middle of a war."

Tai made a face, speaking nonchalantly. "How about I fuck you next time? It'll balance out. Perhaps you'll feel less weird about the entire situation. Besides, we're not in themiddleof war. We're on the edge of it."

Tor lunged for him.

It took Tai a surprising amount of time to pin the smaller Roshak Engineer below him. "Do you smell that?"

"All I smell is a lack ofsoapon your part."

Tai shot him a look. "No. Heat."

Tor inhaled. "Oh. Of course. Everything we just did, and you go into heatafter."

"No. No, Tor." As Tai began to argue, pointing at the door, Tor kicked him in his stomach, knocking him to the side.