Empyrean Bliss

Ben Schmitt sat up slowly and ran a hand through thick, cropped hair. Few of his nerves were awake so far. Yet the noncom was stepping on them already just by being alive, let alone waking him at this ungodly hour.

Ben rolled out of the sheets naked, his bronzed angles barely visible with the lights set to dim. Just an outline of squared shoulders and firm ass. Shadows outlined the muscles and scars along his back. The young officer suited up and headed out the door.

"What could Missions want at ..." He looked at his watch, "four-thirty in the morning? Don't those guys sleep?"

He was forced to decide they must be blood-sucking leeches whose only happiness was in draining the life out of innocent, tired lieutenants. Even so, he picked up the pace. Years of training had engrained the notion of promptness. But his eyes were still blurry, causing him to bump into Capt. Demos as she exited her barracks. She was short and curvy, with shoulder length straight red hair and a determined pug nose. The only thing he really knew about her other than the basics was that no one knew her first name, or if she even had one. It was always just Demos.

"Oh, excuse me, Captain Demos. I'm not used to functioning this early," Schmitt said.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Nobody should have to function this time of morning. Where you headed?"

"Missions."

"Same. I assume this is urgent. But you know Col. Jonsin. Might be that some guy's not lifting the lid to piss and he's adding a new regulation on the matter."

Ben hesitated then smiled his crooked smile. "Wasn't me."

The captain grinned. She looked him over. His walnut black hair and dark skin made her wonder about his heritage. Maybe an English and Middle Eastern mix? He was a bit jowly, if you liked that full sort of face. Handsome enough for sure. Nice, soft brown eyes. Easy to talk to when he was willing to do any talking. More of a listener, she guessed, which was dangerous for a talker like herself. But the main thing she wondered about were the rumors of his past. That and what he looked like naked. Not that the close fitting uniform left much to the imagination. And not that she was particularly interested in men, anyway. She had Holly, after all. But when a man had a strange past, and one of the stories was of him buck naked on top of a—

"Captain? You okay?" Ben grinned at her again. "It was just a joke."

"Right. Yeah. Zoned out there for a minute. Too early for thinking straight. Okay, lieutenant. If it wasn't you who pissed all over the toilet, I guess I'll allow you to escort me to Missions."

They weaved in and out of glowing halls and elevators until reaching their destination. Navigating the United Earthling high command space cruiser Alpha (more a space station really) was a feat unto itself. But finally they made it to an expansive auditorium funneling down toward a stage with a glowing, three-dimensional map. The Missions Briefing Center. Schmitt noticed a lot of familiar faces, some he had not seen for a long time. It was a big ship, after all. Col. Jonsin, a middle-aged man with a particularly dry monotone, did not stop his briefing as the two slid into the only seats available. Front row was always the last to fill, unfortunately.

"... your first rendezvous point will be here," the colonel pointed to a blue wheel on the map, "at Space Station Phyla. Hopefully Schmitt and Demos won't be as late to it as they were to this briefing. You'll be informed as to further details of your mission there. Any questions so far? Good. You will be bringing two of each animal with you. We have brought Miss—"

"Each animal?" someone called out. Someone, like Schmitt and Demos, who had missed that part.

"You got me up at four in the morning to transport some fucking animals?"

"A mission is a mission, Cpl. Lear. You carry it out. You get paid. You enjoy life as a soldier in this grand military fantasy to which you were so gloriously conscripted. Besides, I'm told they were recently ... cleaned. Better than I can say for you this morning." He looked down over his nose. "Now, as I was saying, civilian zoologists from the Organization for Preservation and Adaptation of all Species, Ms. Mela and Mr. Fonn, have generously offered and have been generously paid to accompany you. If you have any questions about the animals ask them ... after the briefing." He gazed out over the crowd, as if to stare down any possible questions. "Lt. Bri and Lt. Chadwick will be escorting you in Hammerheads."

Ben swallowed. Not because they needed an escort. Not because one was the braggadocios Chadwick. It was the other escort. With the name he dared not utter, even in his mind. He and Bri had a long-standing ... thing. Well, standing, sitting, laying, or any other position. But it always ended very badly. Worse every time until finally he had decided to avoid her for the rest of his life. Just thinking her name conjured up thoughts of how she liked to lift her legs over his shoulders, making him suck at her toes and giggling wildly while he pounded her. Even the way her tightly wound ass made a puck puck puck sound against the steady rhythm of his pelvis. Or how the orbs of her breasts rippled when— He stopped himself and forced his thoughts back to the present.

Ben knew Lear as well. A loose cannon, arrogant, obnoxious as hell. And then animals and zoologists? His only hope was that he was still dreaming.

Next, Jonsin mentioned the crew assigned to the newly commissioned CD-4 transport. Cpl. Lear and Lt. Schmitt as pilot and navigator, Capt. Demos as tech officer, and Capt. Holly Wills as mission commander.

"Two friendly runners from Phyla will be flying cap over this area here if you become in need of any assistance on your way. Though a new model, I'm sure you are all familiar with the specs of the cargo vessel you'll be using. If you have failed in your research I suggest you prep carefully today. Any defects you find along the way should be reported to engineering once you reach Phyla. That is, unless those defects prove fatal. You leave at o-six-hundred hours. Dismissed."

The team promptly converged outside the briefing room for the usual pre-flight gossip. The attractive zoologist, Mela, seemed to be the center of attention, fielding all the questions about the animals they would be carrying. Her more homely colleague was nowhere in sight. Schmitt was too tired to care about the strange cargo yet if at all. He just wanted to get them to Phyla as quickly as possible. He passed the crowd and headed down the hall. She-who-must-not-be-named noticed and hurried to catch up.

"Where are you going?" Bri asked.

"Take a shower," he said without turning his head.

"I'll come with you."

That got his attention. He turned and looked into her eyes. He regretted this decision immediately. Those emerald, flashing orbs. They sent a flood of memories coursing through his brain and under his skin and into ... other places, as well.

"No," he said.

She saw the look on his face and laughed. "Relax. Everyone needs showers, Benny. Doesn't mean I want to share a stall with you. Sheesh. Good to see you again, by the way. Good to see it's still so easy to make you blush."

"Yeah." He looked seasick, as if saying more would release last night's lasagne onto her oh-so-shapely, uniformed body.

She turned down a corridor, concealing a slight smile from Ben's view.

He watched her hips sway down the hall and groaned.

"Yeah?" he repeated to himself. "That's all you can say? How does she do that? How does she wreck your brain like that and send all the blood between your legs?" He pondered these questions with gritted teeth. "I'm beginning to really hate this day."