Half-Captain Skyann Yomova and Quarter-Captain Jason Colfax both watched the air shimmer as the shuttle, concealed by its dissembling device, soared into the skies and back to the starship Convolvulus. Now they were alone on this uncontacted world and had only their own resources to rely on.
Looking around, they stood on a sandy beach with the seemingly infinite ocean stretching away towards the north. In the distance, lost in a slight haze, they saw a couple of sailboats heading out to sea. To the south, the beach rose to a line of dunes beyond which they saw the tops of tree-ferns waving in the breeze. East and west, the beach carried on to the horizon. Everything had a slight reddish tint as this world's sun was an orange dwarf star while a moonlet made a bright point of light in the sky.
Colfax breathed in deeply, taking in the salty air as well as the slight smell of ozone. He slipped off his sandals and his feet luxuriated in the soft sand.
"The city's that way," he said, pointing up the beach.
"I know," Skyann snapped. "Let's get one thing straight, Quarter-Captain. I am the senior officer and, despite this world's terrible attitude towards women, I am in charge and I will make the decisions. Got that?"
"Yes, I've got that," Colfax said, snapping off a mock salute.
"What was that?" she demanded, glaring at her subordinate.
"Yes, I've got that, ma'am," he said, overemphasizing the last word.
She glared at him again and set off up the beach. He followed a moment after, admiring her swaying hips and lightweight material swishing to and fro. It left little to the imagination. She had a great firm ass, he thought, and liked the way the fabric clung to her buttocks before flowing below. The skirt was slit to the upper thigh on both sides and as she walked it showed her legs. Her back was toned and bare except for the silvery halter top tied behind and he so wanted to untie it and let her full breasts go free. Not that the gauzy material offered much protection from view.
Behind her back, he smirked. He was going to enjoy exploring this world with her. But on a world where men were dominant, there was no way he was going to let her take charge. No, sir. They walked along the beach and around a rocky headland to the next bay. There, they paused for a moment. Unlike the previous cove, this was a hive of activity. Drawn up onto the sands were a variety of ships in different states of repair from merely keels laid down to almost completion. In style, most of the watercraft were catamarans or outrigger canoes. As they walked closer, they saw that the ships were built from the fibrous trunks of the ubiquitous tree-ferns combined with bundles of reeds. The air was thick with the smell of pitch and tar while hammering and sawing and men's shouts filled their ears. Ropes and rigging were laid out along the sands and teams of men lifted tightly bound bundles of reeds up onto a half built hull.
Then, lumbering along the beach they saw something which made them both gasp. Several beasts dragged a completed hull into the water with a splash. The creatures were huge, bulky standing about fifteen feet at the shoulder. They were a dullish, gray-brown in color with long legs and a head a little like a rhinoceros with no horns.
"I think they must be indricotheres -- prehistoric extinct animals on Earth," Half-Captain Yomova said with awe. She had studied zoology and was fascinated by ancient animals. "I wonder how they reverse engineered them?"
More of the heavy-footed indricotheres were attached to ropes and elevating a mast on another sleekly built watercraft. A man stood by, prodding and guiding the beasts. In the distance they saw a white walled city. Colfax would have been happy to watch and learn more about boatbuilding techniques here but their mission was to find out the natives' attitudes to a possible off-world civilization making contact and his superior wanted to move on.
However, there was too much to take in with the hustle and bustle of the boatyard. Many of the workers were male and these were doing the more physically demanding tasks like sawing the fibrous tree-fern stems, carrying planks and nailing them to spars attached to the hulls. But there were far more females working. A large group of women nearby were sewing triangular sails, singing together as they did so. With the aid of pulleys, other women were hoisting ropes and rigging up onto the masts of nearly completed ships. Still others were grilling fish at a large barbecue or preparing vegetables and the smell of cooking competed with the smells of cut lumber and tar. But, to Jason Colfax, far better than these sights and sounds was the fact that the women were naked. Apart from a rag around their hips and gloves to protect their hands, they were all naked to the sun. He licked his lips at the sight of dozens or hundreds of bare breasts all on show.
As they passed through the shadow of a large ship nearing completion there was a sudden scream and before he could react, he was knocked flat to the ground. He gasped as all the air was squashed out of his lungs. He coughed and tried to stand but a dead weight lay on his back. He rolled and put his hand out and felt a large, fleshy breast in his hand. A moment later, the weight was pulled off him and Half-Captain Yomova helped him to his feet. But there was a scowl on her face. Next to him stood a small, plump woman with melon-like breasts. She was panting, making her boobs bounce delightfully but she was wide-eyed with fear.
"I slipped, I fell out of the rigging," she managed to say, pointing up at the mast where a group of women were staring down at them. "You saved my life, thank you." She flung her arms around Colfax, pressing her chest against his. He felt himself growing hard.
"You're so strong and powerful, I cannot thank you enough," she carried on. "Take me on, mentor, add me to your harem. You won't regret it." She planted a kiss full on his lips.
"What?" Colfax said, feeling himself get even harder.
An overseer hurried up.
"I am sorry about that, sir, it was an accident." He turned to the woman, "Leave the man alone and get back to work, Hiarra. Of course he doesn't want a stupid, clumsy girl like you in your harem."
The woman bowed and hurried off, none the worse for her scare.
"I'll beat her later for disturbing you," he told them. Colfax was startled but he thought Half-Captain Yomova looked gratified. He was about to plead for Hiarra but the man was scrambling back aboard the hull and his superior officer was heading off down a path which led them around the boatyard, past the dunes and towards the city.
"That was interesting," Colfax said to her back.
"It's not our place to get involved. All we are here for is to complete our mission and get back to the Convolvulus. Is that understood Quarter-Captain?"
"Message received," a pause, "Ma'am."
The path gradually became wider and joined a paved road. On the road carts pulled by plodding indricotheres lumbered to and fro. Traffic thickened as they approached a gate in the city walls between two low towers. Up close, they saw that the walls were constructed of whitewashed baked mud bricks. They got in line to go through and were about to be waved through by the bored sentry when Half-Captain Yomova spoke up.
"Tell me, can you recommend a hotel or apartment we can stay? Somewhere clean and respectable?" she demanded.
