The Captain's Daughter
This story is set in a relatively 'hard' sci-fi universe perhaps inspired a tiny bit by series like The Expanse, but please don't assume it's in that setting. Pretty much all consensual heterosexual sex. All characters are over 18.
They say you shouldn't sleep with the boss' daughter, but I broke that rule and have never been happier. It all started during my gig on the freighter 'Leaping Koi' that usually does runs to habitats in the other system.
I'd served with Captain Sato for just over three years when it started. We were in dry dock at Ironforge and he told us his daughter would be with us on the next run. We knew he'd been married years before, but didn't even know he had a daughter! I expected some little girl in a polka dot jumper, but when we saw her talking to the father she was definitely a woman.
Ironforge is a pretty big orbital habitat dedicated to shipbuilding and repair, so even a small independent freighter like the Koi could get a berth in the wheel so we could do the upgrade work in gravity. Bristol, Janey, Murtaugh and Trim had wandered off to the Resort deck for some R&R, but the captain and I were sticking around to oversee the work on the engines. It was mostly normal stuff: Just the usual replacement of worn parts and the software patches you'd expect after eighteen months out in the void. Bristol, the lead engineer, had given me a pretty solid checklist to work through.
That meant I was the first to see Sato walking this cute girl into the repair bay. For a moment I thought Sato had found himself a lover for the layover, but I could tell they were family by the way they hugged. I remember that head-tilt from my own folks, too. Obviously she's getting some version of the "Don't embarrass me" lecture.
The girl was dressed in a striped top that showed a hint of cleavage and flared pants that were probably back in style on Earth. She's carrying a duffel and wearing a backpack. Pretty normal for someone about to travel to another planet these days. I couldn't tell from a distance if it was new rookie spacer gear or some stuff with a few orbits on it.
The girl was undeniably cute. Short at maybe 155 centimeters or just over five feet for the old measures. She was a bit on the heavy side, but it looked good on her, with shiny black hair in a thick braid that reached to a nicely rounded butt. Even a cute ribbon tied in a bow at the end of the braid. Her face was cute: She had her father's Asian features and a broad smile that seemed to make everyone around her calm just by seeing it.
I was obviously smitten.
"So you're the engineer?" she said as she approached. I guess being knee-deep in an open engine compartment made it obvious.
"Junior engineer. Call me Oleg. You're Sato's daughter?" The captain was standing right behind her, smiling himself.
She blushed, but seemed curious about my work, "I'm Hina. Is that the interchange dad told me you had to fix in space a few months ago?"
The captain hurried her inside before I could answer, and said we'd meet later. I was disappointed: Repairing that interchange mid-flight had taken some serious skills, even if we did need to rip out my hasty patch job to do it right now.
After I'd put the interchange back together and started the self-test, I got cleaned up in the backup head down in engineering. I had a hotel room rented over on the habitat deck, but it'd take forever to head over there to change.
Trim and I met in the access way. Apparently he'd heard about our new guest and decided to check her out. He was mostly sober. Oscar 'Trim' Turnbul is a good guy and nearly as good a pilot as Janey (but don't tell her that). He's got his habits, though. When he's on leave he's usually drinking scotch like they've stopped exporting it from Earth.
"Excellent!" The Captain welcomed us into the tiny lounge, "Trim, Oleg: This is my daughter Hina. She'll be joining us on the next run. My intent is to have her shadow everyone on the ship to get some experience. She's taken some academy classes, but needs some real experience."
"Sure, captain. I can show her the cockpit." Trim smiled. He leered, to be honest about it. Thanks, Trim. I owe you one for blowing your chance like that.
Sato's smile turned cold. "Oleg, perhaps you can give her the tour of the ship?"
Trim had blown his chances with her, but I was still in the running. I graciously and politely accepted, and gave her the grand tour.
The 'Leaping Koi' is a bit over 60 meters tall, but a lot of that's the engines, fuel tanks, cargo grapples, and such. It's build like most 'Lighthouse' ships as a sort of tall tower with lots of small decks. Inside I've been in earth-side townhouses that have more living space, but you make do. The repair bay was a giant chamber with a scaffolding to hold our tiny ship in place while we worked on it.
I took Hina's duffel to be polite and we started in the rear. The lowest deck of a Sylph class is the engineering space and suit lockers where I tend to hang out. It connects to the central access shaft that is basically a big ladder up through the ship to the forward flight decks.
"So is this your first time?" I asked, when I was pretty sure the captain was otherwise out of earshot. I couldn't resist a little double entendre.
"For space, you mean?" she said with a smile. "First time further than a month trip to the moon."
I knew the Academy moon cruises. They use ancient little orbital shuttles that would be insanely risky if it wasn't a bunch of rookies lead by a veteran who made that run at least four times a year in one of the busiest transits around. That cruise was like piloting a sailboat down the Atlantic Coast. It sounds dangerous, but if you're followed the whole way by helicopters with instructors on board the danger is a lot less. It's scary, but pretty safe when it comes down to it.
The corridor was lined with access to small storage bays. The climb was pretty long and I noticed Hina didn't seem at all out of breath as we reached the main decks. The girl had nice legs, too.
There's a deck with four cabins on it that is the next on our tour. Captain Sato gets his own, of course, but they're all equipped for doubles in case we have a passenger or two on board. Janey's got the other single, while Murtaugh and I share one and Trim and Bristol share the other. Bristol's the other engineer, but he had to take some time for a family trip while I handled the repair work.
We've only got three cabins as the fourth is our tiny 'med bay' and I hadn't asked the captain where Hina would be staying, so fumbled a bit. "So, uh, these are the bedrooms. Captain's, Janey's, Me and Murtaugh. Trim and Bristol in the last one. So, uh..."
Smart girl, she could sense my confusion, "Oh, I'm supposed to bunk with Janey. Haven't met her yet, though?"
I dropped the duffel just inside Janey's room, followed by the backpack as Hina handed it to me. Rookie stuff, like I expected, but the backpack had seen some use and had a bunch of pins and patches on it. I dropped it into the cramped room. Hopefully someone would warn Janey she was sharing and the two women on board would work something out.
Next deck has our main head module and a small exercise chamber. Pretty standard stuff. I figured she'd get the hang of the head quick enough. The cutie rushed ahead to do the climb to the next deck first, and I considered maybe she wanted me to take a look at her legs and rounded butt.
Next deck was the galley and lounge. Not a huge space, but it's where the crew usually gathered when off duty. I pointed out that we shared the big screen by votes although Sato had veto power.
Another deck for the main airlocks. I stammered again: I honestly didn't know if we had suit parts that would work for her: I could probably put something together from pieces since Murtaugh was only a bit taller than her, but we had only one set of women's attachments for Janey so anything more than short term might be difficult.
"My dad said he ordered a kit. Should be in soon."
There's a weird sort of 'half deck' in the Sylph design you might not even notice as you're climbing to the flight deck, but it's important space. There's crawl spaces you need to access to maintain a lot of the really important sensors and the magnetic shielding. I pointed this out, and she seemed appreciative. I got the feeling she'd read up on the class and could probably give the tour if push came to shove, but she was enjoying my spin on things.
The topmost deck was the flight deck. It's a cramped space, basically four sets of controls that can be switched over to handle piloting or general ship management as needed. It was a tight space with four people on deck, but we rarely even had three. At critical moments like leaving the station we'd have Janey, Trim, and the Captain, but the rest of us would be belted in at other key locations around the ship.