Phoenix Hawk - Engineering

  John wasn't sure what he was expecting when he walked into Engineering. Maybe Chris was calmly reviewing different status panels, or perhaps she was inventorying all the equipment that was stuffed back here, becoming familiar with the space. What he did not expect was the dwarf shouting and cursing at the top of her lungs, easily heard above the loud humming that the va mp-like equipment was creating.

  Cursing at him.

  "By the Stones! Where is he keeping the bloody first aid equipment? What if there is an accident back here? Does he expect me to hobble all the way to the front of the ship before I bleed out?" She said from somewhere to the left side of the room.

  He stepped in and made his way to the sounds of her cursing. He didn't explore very much of this room yet; the noise and lights bothered him a lot the only other time he had stepped in there, so he never noticed these alcoves by the industrial-grade va mps he assumed were the engines. Chris was inside one of these rooms, ripping through the closets and tool chests that lined the walls.

  She was wearing a set of grey coveralls, her blue hair pulled back in a tight pony-tail. Her eyes were fshing in anger, dissatisfied with whatever she had discovered back here. " And where- YOU!" She said, spotting him standing there watching her. "Where are all the tools? The safety gear? The inspection equipment? I can't be your engineer if you have no way for me to do any engineering!" She shouted at him, brandishing a very intimidating... pencil? At him. She had a notepad in her other hand, taking down actual physical notes on the ship's deficiencies.

  "No idea, I just work here." He said with a smirk, which earned him a pencil bouncing off his forehead.

  "I am serious, Captain! You have nothing here for me to work with. If something breaks right now, I can't fix it!" She said, stepping up to him and poking him in the chest. "You need to fix this before I need to fix you!.. I mean, fix this ship!"

  John just looked down at the angry dwarf and tried not to ugh at her. She was normally calmer and more collected, but when she talked about something she was passionate about, she was a lot more animated. "Once we get back to Parrax, or to the next safe harbour, we can rectify that problem. Make a need list and a wish list, and I will see to it you have enough money to be able to keep us running." He replied calmly, holding back the sarcastic comment he wanted to make. Seeing her like this just made him want to bully her a little, which would be counterproductive at the moment.

  "It won't be cheap. The tools in my shop are a good start, but those are mainly for small craft. For this ship, well, I have several days of inspections ahead of me, but from what I seen so far, we will need to commission custom tool sets instead of the standard off-the-shelf equipment."

  "That is fine, whatever my new chief engineer needs. Providing that you actually want the job?" He said, popping the question that had been on his mind for a bit now.

  "Dummy." She said, smming her fist into his chest lightly. "Of course I do. I wouldn't be back here, crawling over your engines if I wasn't...okay, that is a lie. I would probably still be back here. Pces like this are my happy pce. I missed being around this kind of machinery." She stopped punching him and leaned on his chest, breathing deeply. "John, thank you for saving my life."

  "My pleasure, darling." He said, wrapping his arms around her. "You are family now, and I will always protect my family with my life."

  "By the Stones, you have no idea how sexy that sounds to me." She looked back up at him, a different intensity now in those bright green eyes.

  "What is on your mind?" He asked her.

  "I want to be your girlfriend. Actually, before you answer that, did Tanya expin to you about us being Twin Empaths and how we demi-humans imprint on those we love?"

  "Ahh... She mentioned that you both could feel each other's emotions and some sensations. I think someone mentioned imprinting once, but I don't think I got an actual expnation." He replied, curious if he was finally going to get a few answers.

  "Yeah, that is a basic expnation. Here, let's sit down, and I will expin everything in detail." She said, pointing to two chairs bolted to the floor beside some monitors.

  They sat down, and she spoke at length on both subjects. First, on how she and Tanya shared their feelings and some of their sensations. If he kissed Tanya lightly, Chris didn't feel much of anything. If they were being deeply passionate, however, the feelings would transfer through to her. This went for everything that they had done together, including when Tanya had given him a blowjob, and the night he had taken Tanya's virginity.

  "I felt it all, John. Maybe not as intensely, and obviously you won't get me pregnant via a thought*, but in a way we have already been together." She said, then pressed a finger on his lips when he was about to say something. "Let me finish, please."

  She then expined how, as an evolutionary function, most Demi-human races would imprint on their mates. When activated, it would release heavy doses of Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin and several other chemicals into their brains when they were with their chosen partners, making just being in the same room as the other a pleasurable experience. This promoted increased reproduction rates due to the couples always being 'into' each other throughout their lives, almost like being newly in love forever.

  There was a sad side to it as well, one that brought much heartache to many families. When there was an unexpected death or a forced separation, and they weren't with their partners any longer, the brain would begin reducing the production of those chemicals, eventually stopping altogether. This would lead to lethargy and an unwillingness of the demi-human to live any longer. This led to much sadness in the aftermath of wars, and it became a bargaining tool during peace negotiations.

  "That was all in the past, as doctors and the Auto-Docs have the option to clear imprinting from a demi-human upon request," Chris said, then moved from her seat to sit on his p. "This is all to say, John, that you have imprinted on Tanya, on Ash, and now on me as well. I want to be your engineer, your girlfriend, and eventually your wife, along with my sister.

  I just ask that you don't do anything more than cuddle with me until you have my father's permission to marry me, no matter what I ask you ter when you and Tanya are fooling around. It is a tradition in my cn that is very important to me, and I want your promise not to take advantage of my disposition when my mind is feeling everything you are giving my sister."

  He stared into those green eyes, identical to her sisters yet so different in their depths. He wasn't going to turn her down, already expecting this was where the conversation was leading before he came to engineering. With this new knowledge that she would literally need to have medical intervention to 'get over him’, he took a few moments to process everything she said.

  I mean, even if I didn't like her as much as I do, it would be weird not being with her, knowing that she was feeling it every time I am with Tanya. Would it be like having a ghost make love to you? I think I saw a movie like that once**... or was it a book? Fuck, getting sidetracked again. I need to go to bed soon. I have a battle tomorrow.

  "Chris, I am in no rush. We can go at whatever pace you set. If you want me to wait until I have met your father and have asked for your hand in marriage, then I will." He said, then leaned over and kissed her, a deep, passionate kiss that took her by surprise. She didn't do anything at first, stunned by the sudden appendage in her mouth, but she soon regained her bearings and kissed him back.

  They made out in the Engine Room for quite some time, their hands running over each other's clothing but not taking it any further, the pair of them acting like a pair of nervous teenage lovers exploring their partners for the first time. They might not have stopped if it wasn't for a fiery redhead who stormed into the room, a look of exasperation on her face.

  "Fuck me. If that is just what kissing feels like, ya need to go and see Dad right now. I wanna know what it feels like when ya two make love!" Tanya said, coming behind her sister and wrapping her arms around her. "Now, can I take our man back to our room and fuck his brains out? Ya got me hornier than a cat in heat!"

  "Nope. Ya are staying with me and helping me repair yer ship. Ya got into a few close scrapes during the st few days, didn't ya? This is yer punishment fer having sex with him without warning me first! I was on top of a customer's ship, gushing out of me cunt and holding on fer dear life! What would have happened if I were out at the cafe?" Chris replied, her speech pattern switching back to the dwarven drawl. "Talk to ya soon, Hon." She said to him, then gave him one st kiss before hopping down off his p and dragging her sister out of the room.

  "No wait! Just one kiss! Come on, Chris! John! Help me!" Tanya shouted as she was dragged from the room.

  John just ughed at the antics of the two sisters. With them in his life, he doubted he would ever be bored.

  He sat there for a few more minutes, parsing over everything that had happened so far in this dive of Infinite Frontiers, and was happy with his results. He had no idea if he had broken the 'Canon' yet, or if he found the New World Bonus, but honestly, it didn't matter all that much to him. His body was feeling better than it had in decades; only when he was getting tired did the signs of his age begin to show through. Compared to the first day he arrived in DEN, he was almost a completely different person.

  "And this has only been a few months. What will I become over the next year as I travel between these worlds? The next decade? Even if I don't win the contest, I will have lived an even more amazing life than most could even dream of."

  He thought back to his deceased wife and some of the st words she had ever spoken to him. She had asked him to move on after she was gone, to find someone else to love. To not be alone.

  He knew she probably didn't mean this, but her wish had been fulfilled. John was alive, in love, and he was not alone. Not anymore.

  He would never be alone again if he could help it.

  Karrax System - Outer Asteroid Belt

  The Tengu shut down its engines for the st time, the remaining fuel in its cells finally expended. The batteries were running low, and the heater, already on its minimum setting, was only fitfully kicking out a tiny amount of heat. The ship was effectively dead in space.

  Ash took off her helmet and leaned her seat back as far as it could go. She was running on fumes herself. She was out of rations and water, and the air in the cockpit was becoming stale. The CO2 scrubbers on the ship were not designed for extended use. She had been up since the attacks began, awake only because the drug she suggested to Niki was necessary to have on hand in case a mercenary ever found themselves in this exact situation. She could feel its effects beginning to wear off, and between the ‘crash’ and the oxygen deprivation, she would fall asleep soon.

  Her final sleep.

  She tried not to cry at her situation. She had done well to survive for as long as she did, bouncing around the system, then shutting down her ship to avoid the pursuing bugs. However, in the long silences between her mad dashes, it was hard not to think about the what-ifs in her life.

  What if she had remained home?

  What if she followed Serena into racing?

  What if she followed...

  She patted down her suit, a moment of crity reminding her of something. She opened one of the many pockets and pulled out a green wrapper with familiar writing on it. It was in royal script, a closely held secret nguage that was only known to the royal families. It didn't say anything particurly enlightening, just what the contents of the wrapper were and some nutritional information.

  Still, it was the only thing she had left of John, a chocote bar from another world.

  She opened it and began to eat it. It was the most delicious thing she had ever had.

  Her final meal, provided to her by the man she had fallen in love with but was too afraid to tell.

  She cried... she cried into the void.

  She cried until the darkness finally took her.

  Alone in the void.

  * - I struggled so hard not to say pregnancy via Bluetooth here, but I still wanted to share that joke with you all!

  ** - Not a ghost, but for some reason I thought of the scene near the beginning of the movie 'Gone in 60 Seconds' when the guy talked about leaning on his arm until it fell asleep, then jerked off with it, calling the move 'The Stranger'.