A roar of fury shattered the silence of the captain's quarters of the Valkyrie. The second alpha of Orca Pride, now first alpha as a result of death of his brother Guderian, swore violently as he played the message from one of the Orca captains, also dead now.

Guderian, their sister Freya, and Guderian's fleet were dead, and the station, one of Orca's biggest, had been destroyed, all at the hands of that Kodiak bastard... and all over a kludge! First Anasazi had insulted the Orcas by putting Freya, his wife, aside, divorcing her for a scrawny human male, then he'd attacked the station, unprovoked.

Dimitri vowed that the Kodiak would pay for the insult to the Orcas. Fortunately for his current mission, that of discreetly killing the sons of the Sabra Pride Alpha, his vengeance coincided with his duty. He had already arranged for the deaths of all but one of the sons, and that one was aboard the Andromeda Ascendant, learning the arts of battle from 'the great Tyr Anasazi'.

"We'll see how you and your High Guard," he sneered the words, "ship fare against the Orcas' secret weapon." He caressed a panel in his cabin, eager to test the point singularity weapon they had captured from a Magog ship against his enemies.

"Hey, Lok, hand me that hydro spanner, will ya?" Harper yelled from deep within the entrails of his 'pet' project. Even now that term gave him a chuckle, especially seeing as how he was supposedly the pet on the ship.

"You mean this one?" Fingers trailed down his outstretched arm then placed the requested item into the engineer's outstretched hand.

"Loki, behave. Your dad has Andromeda making sure you behave yourself, and you know he's got a temper when it comes to me. I like you, kiddo, and I don't wanna see your dad kick your scrawny butt around the sh....."

The ship heaved, and Harper was thrown across the room, the only thing saving him from broken bones the teenaged Nietzschean who wrapped himself around his father's lover, absorbing the blow. Scrabbling up as the ship rocked again and the warning claxons sounded, Harper managed to keep his feet under him. "Lok, hey, Lok! Rommie, what the hell is going on!?!"

"I don't have time to talk now, Harper; the ship is under attack. Report to engineering; you're needed."

"Rommie, Loki's hurt; I need a medic or something to look at him. He's bleeding, and his shoulder looks... weird," Harper interrupted frantically. God, if the kid got hurt trying to save him, he'd kick Loki's ass around the ship!

"HARPER! I need you in Engineering. The chief engineer is dead. There are massive casualties. The Sabra youngest son is dead. My hull is breached, and I need you to fix me!" The door to Harper's workshop slid open, and two of the mariabots came in bearing a stretcher. Watching long enough see them load Loki up, Harper dashed out the door and down the maintenance tubes, scrambling down decks to get to Engineering and take over the repairs to the ship, while avoiding the areas sealed off due to hull breaches.

Tyr got the message that Harper was on his way to Engineering, one of the worst hit and most dangerous areas of the ship, and he had to fight against his urge to abandon his crew to their fates while he bolted off to protect his mate. Silently he cursed the ship and Harper both for creating this situation, though he knew that Harper wanted nothing more than to be useful and to employ his engineering skills.

When Andromeda also advised him that Loki had been injured, he closed his eyes briefly, sparing a fervent hope that both his son and lover would be well, then forced himself to put them out of his mind and concentrate on protecting his ship and destroying the Orca who was attacking them.

While Dimitri had the advantage of a superior weapon, the Kodiaks had Tyr, and the outcome was never in any doubt. It took some time and heavy casualties, including the loss of several ships and severe damage to many of the others, but within the hour, another Orca ship had been destroyed and Tyr was on his way to Medical to check on his son, then Engineering to check on Harper.

Harper worked tirelessly, fixing, repairing, tweaking and generally patching the Andromeda back together with the help of the engineering crew. It was a strange thing for him to actually be ordering a bunch of Nietzscheans around and telling them what to do. Even weirder was to see them obeying him, a human, a former kludge for cryin' out loud. But hey, he was the only person next to the chief engineer who knew the ship inside and out, and he had the added advantage of being able to jack in as required.

To say that his favorite AI ship was a mess was putting it mildly, and Harper worked until his eyes started to cross and he couldn't open his mouth without yawning. He was aware that the battle had been won at some point, and he thought Tyr might have come to check on him, but he couldn't be sure as he was jacked in at the time.

However, 24 hours on his feet was finally taking its toll, and the young human spent the last of his energy mapping out the critical areas that needed to be repaired and a priority list of duties, and then he staggered back to the captain's quarters and managed to make it as far as the couch before he passed out cold.

Tyr heard the outer door open, and he came out of the bedroom in time to see Harper collapse onto the couch. Shaking his head, he picked his mate up and carried him back to bed, sliding under the covers and holding the blond close.

It had shaken him--terrified him really, truth be told--when he'd realized how easily he could have lost Harper that day. He could only be grateful that none of the children had been harmed.

Without realizing it, his arms tightened around Harper, as if to keep him safe by brute force alone.

Whimpering as his ribs compressed, Harper stirred out of a too sound sleep to stare woozily around. Realizing that he was in his room and that the bone blades lying flat against his stomach were his lover's, he stroked the arm clumsily. "'M okay, Tyr; s'gonna be all right. Lok's gonna be all right; we're all good. Now sleep, okay?" the human yawned, rolling over as the arms loosened some to bury his face in the silky smooth flesh of his lover's chest. "Y'smell like carbon, y'know. Need to shower." And he was out again, his own arms snuggled around his mate's waist.

Unwilling to let go of Harper long enough to take that shower, Tyr simply closed his eyes and went to sleep as well. Morning would be soon enough to shower... with Harper.

Tyr tapped a finger speculatively against slightly pursed lips, then looked around again to be sure that his mate hadn't suddenly appeared in their quarters. He hadn't, of course; Harper's shift in Engineering wouldn't be over for another three hours, and the human engineer never left early. If anything, Tyr often had to go pry his mate out of the depths of Andromeda. His glance around was nothing more than a sign of the nervousness he would deny if confronted.

Making his decision, he keyed in the code to reply to the message, then waited until the first alpha of Pride Sabra, Tamberlane, appeared on the screen.

"Greetings," he said formally, bowing his head slightly to the older alpha to denote respect, then met his eyes squarely. Kodiak, after all, was the higher status pride.

"Greetings, Tyr Anasazi, out of Victoria by Barbarossa." The Sabra gave Tyr his respectful greeting. "You have received my message."

"I have. I was under the impression that you looked with favor upon my brother Balder's suit for the hand of your First Daughter."

"You were correct. However, circumstances change, and now there is the possibility of becoming First Wife of the Pride Alpha. Sabra's First Daughter would be a worthy mate for you... and with the deaths of my sons, her firstborn son, your son, Anasazi, will be the next ruler of my pride. Our prides would be allied, increasing your power."

"And your security," Tyr replied dryly, no fool. Still... "You are correct in that I do need new wives, and the First Daughter of Pride Sabra is not without status of her own. I accept your offer, Tamberlane. Elsbett Mossadim shall be my first wife."

"Excellent." The two men negotiated the wedding and dowry with an attention to detail worthy of an interstellar treaty - which, of course, this was. Eventually, they agreed on a dowry of two systems to be given to Kodiak, the balance of Sabra's holdings to go to the firstborn son of the marriage once he became the next Alpha.

Tyr was pleased with the decision; one of the worlds in the systems that would belong to Kodiak outright was on the edge of Sabra-controlled space, though far enough away from the border for it not to be a cause for concern should their alliance be broken before he had a son to inherit both prides, and it would do nicely as a new homeworld for Kodiak. It had the added advantage, though he would never admit it, of being terraformed for unengineered humans, making it perfectly safe for Harper.

Shortly after he concluded his negotiations with Tamberlane, agreeing to meet on the new Kodiak homeworld for the wedding in two weeks, he heard Harper returning to their quarters. He debated telling his mate about his upcoming nuptials, but he decided against it. Knowing that he was going to marry again would only upset Harper, and he was unlikely ever to meet Elsbett. Best to let it lie.

He stood up, stretching to relax muscles slightly stiff from being seated so long during his conversation with Tamberlane, suddenly wanting Harper as hungrily as if he hadn't had him just that morning.

Rummaging through the small cooling unit that was kept stocked with snack foods both he and Tyr were partial to, Harper grabbed a Sparky cola and popped the cap, chugging half the bottle in one gulp. "Hey, Romdoll, how's the new interface on deck 14 treating ya? Did I tweak it enough, or should I head back down there and play with your circuits a little more?" Harper asked with a laugh.

Over the months since he'd been captured, then sold, then recaptured, then freed, then had taken off and been brought home again, Harper had learned that the safest venue for his flirtatious behavior other than the big Nietzschean who growled and pounded him into the mattress on a daily basis, oh and whom he loved fiercely too, was the artificial intelligence of the Andromeda Ascendant.

Tyr might insist upon calling her 'ship' but along with Beka, Dylan, Trance and Rafe, Harper considered Rommie one of his closest friends. Which was why he was so diligently putting together her avatar body for her. He wanted to be able to interact with more than just a holo. That one time, in Rommie's cyber matrix, when she'd taught him how to ballroom dance, Harper had seen the longing in her eyes. She was a living ship, with a mind and emotions; how could he not want to give her a body to go along with her soul?

"You play with my circuits every chance you get as it is, Harper," Rommie replied, a disembodied voice filling the living space. "And you tweak me as much as you can. You've done more to restore many of the programs I'd lost in the battle of Witchhead than anyone has in the past three hundred years. I'm feeling more whole than I have in centuries, even with my hull still having a hole torn through it.

"You, however, are not a machine, and you need downtime despite the mind that never sleeps. And I think Captain Anasazi might be a little put out if I monopolized your time any more than I already do. Speaking of which..."

Harper turned to see his mate leaning against the door to their bedroom. "Hey, big guy, thought you had bridge duty today? Something up?"

Tyr prowled toward his lover, the tight brown leather pants letting Harper see for himself what was up. "My shift ended several hours ago, Harper," he replied, his heated gaze fixed on the other man. "Now we're both free until tomorrow... and I find that I want to spend every moment of that time making you scream," he purred.

Harper eyed the stalking Nietzschean with a smirk. "Whoa, someone's a walking hormone today," the human laughed, finishing the rest of his cola. "Can I at least take a shower first? I've been crawling along conduits that I don't think have seen a living being in decades. They were kinda dusty."

As if to prove his point, Harper shook his head, and a fine layer of dust floated off his hair before it was quickly sucked up by the internal air recirculators. "And then there's the sweat and the grime, oh and the cherry lube from when I fucked myself with a dildo between decks 18 and 19 to relieve an itch," the blond continued with a truly evil grin.

Tyr smiled faintly and shook his head, reaching Harper and tossing him over his shoulder. "Absurd human, you know perfectly well I would be able to smell the sex on you if you had done that... and would be annoyed that you hadn't called me to watch," he teased, chuckling.

He dropped Harper back on his feet beside the shower, watching him as he peeled the skintight brown leather from his body and leaned in to start the water. "Well?" he said, glancing back at the still-clothed blond. "I thought you wanted to get clean?" He stepped under the water, tilting his head back to allow it to flow over his face, water sheeting over his body, tracing every muscle with its silvery sheen.

"And here I thought you were gonna undress me too," Harper replied with a moue of disappointment. "Some big, uber alpha stud you turned out to be... maybe I oughta go shopping around for a new model," the human teased, knowing full well he was treading a thin line and hoping that the big Nietz was in a good enough mood to handle him teasing about a subject that tended to bring out the 'master' in Tyr.

The Nietzschean stepped back, removing his face from the flow, shook his head slightly, and opened his eyes to look askance at Harper. "Maybe you should stop babbling nonsense and get in here with me before I start without you," he replied, fighting fire with fire. Still watching Harper, he curled his fist around his own erection, slowly pumping himself, his eyes growing heavy lidded with the pleasure.

Groaning softly, Harper quickly skinned out of his clothes, the metal ball in his tongue clicking against his teeth as he licked his lips hungrily. One hand began to tug at his nipple ring, extending the nubbin of flesh and forming a current between it and his cock, which twitched and leapt in anticipation.

"I'm supposed to be trying to wean myself of this addiction, you know," Harper gasped. "Learning how to control the urges so that they don't overwhelm me and can't be used against me. You're really not helping my 'drying out' process at all."

One spiked arm reached out to pull Harper into the shower and flush against a large, aroused body. "And has it occurred to you yet that what happens between us has everything to do with us and nothing to do with your training, Pet?" Tyr rumbled, leaning down to nibble on the side of Harper's throat.

"Oh and like they're mutually exclusive," the engineer snorted, managing to avoid snorting water at the same time. "Helloooo, Tyr... sex addiction/sex. They kinda go hand in hand there. Gee, some uber you're turning out to be," Harper teased. "Even my inferior human brain could see that connection!"

"Well, Pet, while I agree that you should work on eliminating a weakness, I most definitely do not want you to get over wanting me," Tyr pointed out, growling faintly at the very idea. "I like having you able to keep up with me, Harper."

Harper snorted. "More like you like making me pass out at least once every other day from coming so hard my eyes cross," he teased as he ground his ass back into the hard erection. "One of these days I'm gonna make you pass out, just you wait and see!"

"I look forward to it," Tyr replied, not sounding particularly concerned. At that moment his attention was focused on finding out what part of Harper tasted the best as he slowly worked his way down his neck, over his shoulder and arm. At the same time, he pressed forward, his heavy erection nudging against Harper's entrance, and he reached over for the container of oil they kept there.

"Fuck," Harper gasped, his neck bowing submissively, arching out of the way to allow the bigger man's explorations. "You are so fucking huge," he sighed happily. "I feel like... I dunno, just so tiny and fragile next to you. I mean, I shouldn't be confessing this since I'm a guy and all, but I like it. I like feeling like you're gonna swallow me who... oh yeah, right there!" Gasping hungrily, Harper planted his arms on the metal bar that had been added to the shower to allow him something with traction to grip.

Bending forward at the waist and spreading his legs wider, Harper pushed back into his lover's cock, teasing them both with their hunger. "So is it gonna be a quickie in the shower, or should I drop the soap to get you motivated?"

Tyr had to laugh. "When have you ever known me to need motivation when you're around, never mind when you're naked and bent over, waiting for me?" Still chuckling, he poured the oil into one hand, slicked it over himself, and pushed inside of his waiting mate. "By the makers," he groaned, "every time with you is as tight and frantic as the first." One large hand slid over Harper's hip to grasp his cock, slowly petting him as Tyr began to move inside him.

"Gotta," Harper moaned voluptuously, "gotta love nanobot technology!" he laughed, referring to the nanobots Tyr had had Rommie program and implant in him in order to heal him from the beatings and rapes he received at the hands of Freya's people. "Keeps me nice and, oh yeah, right there, nice and tight so that every time is the first time all over again."

The captain's eyes widened slightly. While it made perfect sense, he'd never considered that effect of the nanobots. "Lucky for us," he rumbled, hips lazily gliding back and forth, keeping it slow and easy. He knew Harper would demand more very soon, and he loved teasing the blond until he howled and begged for what he wanted.

Writhing against the big Nietzschean, trying to motivate him non-verbally to move a little faster, plow a little deeper, Harper whimpered hungrily. He had to admit, at least in the privacy of his own mind, that Tyr was right. This wasn't about addiction; this was only and ever about love and need and desire. Between the two of them. A fact that Harper, despite his months of security and constant reassurance from Tyr that he was exactly where he was supposed to be, was still getting used to.

A home, a lover, a life without fear despite the occasional attack by other Prides. For someone who'd never had these things for very long, and when he did for brief moments, had watched his loved ones ripped away from him, abandoning him again and yet again, it was a terrifying concept. He'd spent too long guarding his heart and believing the galaxy only had the worst to offer him. Yet now, right now, he had everything he'd secretly prayed for - all in the form of a rather impressive Nietzschean Alpha and leader of his Pride. The ironies were not lost on him.

However, they were shunted aside for the moment in the face of a more pressing need. "Fuck, is that the best you can do, oh Uber-master? I'm not even feelin' it yet, if you know what I mean. You're givin' me a freakin' walk in the park here, and I want a hard, fast, dirty ride!"

Growling, Tyr curled his hands around Harper's thighs, lifting him as he thrust into him, the human's only support aside from his grip on the bar the hard shaft impaling him and the hands on his legs. "Hard and fast?" he rasped, yanking Harper back to meet every pounding thrust. "If you insist." He slammed forward, nearly ramming the blond face first into the side of the enclosure, snarling words of love and lust.

"Oh god, baby, yeah!" Harper wailed, his head falling forward between his outstretched arms and his eyes rolling in his head as he was taken just the way he wanted to be. Hanging onto the bar for dear life as he was manipulated and pounded, taken within a hair's breath of the pleasure-pain he rarely indulged in, Harper had to admit that if he was still addicted, he really didn't want to be cured, at least not of his mate. "Tyr, god, love you, love you so fucking much, big uber-stud you!"

Groaning at Harper's idea of compliments, Tyr thrust harder, wanting to feel his mate come apart for him, needing to feel it. "I love you," he rasped, his back arching as his own climax drew near, holding back only to pleasure Harper.

To hear that one little phrase uttered by his big Nietzschean was more than enough to send Harper tumbling over the edge. Mewling loudly, fingers turning white on the metal bar, his eyes rolling back in his head, Harper shot great ropes of creamy white semen all over the shower wall, his inner muscles clamping down hard on Tyr's invading cock.

A near howl of pleasure tore from Tyr's throat as Harper clenched around him, drawing his own climax from him after a very few more strokes into the tight heat. He wrenched Harper back against him even harder, big fingers bruising the fair skin, then slowly lowered him back to the floor, slumping slightly over him.

"I think I just saw the face of god," Harper panted as he slid to a kneeling position on the floor. "Didn't know he was such a perv."

That surprised a snort out of Tyr, who'd thought he'd given up being surprised by anything Harper said. Shaking his head, Tyr reached over to turn the water off before his mate drowned himself. "You are a very odd man," he observed, stepping out and toweling off vigorously while eyeing his lover.

"Yeah, but you love me anyway," Harper beamed, a sappy smile spreading over his face. Stepping out of the shower, he moved to cuddle against his lover, wincing slightly with each step. "Definitely ridden hard and put away wet. I love it."

Tyr dried him off and scooped the sated human up into his arms, carrying him out to the bed and settling them both in its comfort. "Get some sleep," he ordered, holding Harper against himself. "You'll want to be well rested when we reach Asgaard in a few days. I'm told that some of the inhabitants even like to surf." He would never admit it, but that had been the final deciding factor for him regarding which planet would be the new Kodiak homeworld.

"Surf?" Harper bounced up and straddled the Nietzschean's waist. "You mean I get to surf? Man, I gotta get my board from the Maru and get it waxed up, need some sex wax, need to make sure I've still got my surf shorts, need to... YES!!!! I get to go surfing!" Harper pumped his fist in the air before trying to dive off the bed.

Laughing even as he wondered if his hearing had been permanently damaged, Tyr caught Harper around the waist and drew him back down. "I'm certain that everything will still be there for you in the morning, Harper. And it is still a week until we reach Asgaard. You have plenty of time to get ready after you get some sleep, Pet."

"But I wanna check out my board, Tyr," Harper pouted for a moment then relented and snuggled into his lover. "So, now that we're out of danger, we're going to this planet, and we're doing nothing but repairs, does that mean I get my uber-fix on a regular basis again?"

"I have to meet with the head of Sabra Pride," Tyr replied, carefully choosing his words. "That will probably take a few days, but the rest of the time will be ours." He would have to tell Harper about Elsbett eventually, but the human would only brood about it if he told him now. Better to do it afterward, when the two of them were on the ship, together, and Harper could see that it made no difference to them.

"Yeah, but that's like a week away, and it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours, right? I can't wait to show you how to surf. You'll love it, Tyr, I swear," Harper looked up at his lover, eyes full of quiet adoration. "You are so totally amazing. You remembered I like to surf, and you found a way; you really found a way. I love you so fucking much."

Wincing internally even though it was true that he had chosen this world because of Harper, Tyr smiled at his lover. "And I love you, Pet, very much." He drew him closer, already looking forward to their time together, dismissing Elsbett Mossadim as insignificant.

"Good answer, big guy, because you know how fragile us poor little emotional humans are, right?" Harper teased, bopping Tyr on the arm before finding a comfortable position on his lover's chest to fall asleep.

Trance Gemini, now an unofficial member of the medical team aboard the Nietzschean ship Andromeda Ascendant, stood beside her patient, a soothing hand running over his brow as he tossed in fevered dreams. Although they had been able to heal Rafe Valentine's physical wounds, the psychological and emotional ones were far more troubling. He remained in the medical bay because he had to be tranquilized to sleep, and even so, every night, he woke screaming from his nightmares.

Only Trance's touch could sooth his troubled sleep, yet awake, he wouldn't suffer anyone to touch him. The purple woman sighed softly. She had never anticipated becoming so personally attached to one of these humans, yet this man touched her as no one, not even her friends, ever had. There was a perfect possible future, there always was, but so far, she couldn't see it.

"NOOOOOOO!" Rafe bolted upright, sweat pouring off of his brow as the memories of that hellish time with the Orca came crashing back yet again. Oh god, how did Harper sleep at night, having gone through this and having remained as a slave for so long? How did he shut his brain off?

Realizing he wasn't alone, like every other night he woke up screaming, Rafe plastered on a parody of a smile. "Hey, there's my favorite purple angel. How're ya doin' today, dollface? Feel like goin' dancin'?"

"How can I be your favorite? I'm the only purple person you know," Trance pointed out, wishing he would allow her to help him or at least to comfort him. "But I'm not an angel, and I don't think there's room to dance in here." She watched him worriedly, still wondering why she cared so much. She barely knew him after all.

"Sure there is, dollface, and why, just one of you makes you my favorite, doesn't it? Since I don't know any other ones, that makes you the perfect one to know, doesn't it?" Rafe asked, turning on the old Valentine charm that had netted him quite a few new pretty people for Uncle Sid's stables, as well as more than one customer for those pretty people and more than a few sweet deals on the side.

"As for dancin', well, there's dancing and then there's dancing if you get my meaning. But then again, you are one of Beka's crew, and she'd have me by the cojones if I tried anything with you, so I'd better behave. Speaking of, where is Valentine Smart? Haven't seen her around lately, or is she avoiding the broken fucktoy of the Orca pride? Whoa... where did that come from?"

Trance crossed her arms and frowned at the man now sitting up on the bed. "You're not fooling me, Rafe Valentine, and you're certainly not fooling yourself, so you might as well stop trying. We both know exactly where that came from, and if you don't let it out, it's going to eat you up from the inside out."

"Hey, if a cute kid like Harper can suck it up and move on, so can I," Rafe retorted. "How is the kid, by the way? I heard... well, it's kinda obvious he's still with his owner since we're on a fucking bone head ship. But is he, you know, okay?"

"Cute kid?" Trance repeated in disbelief, her eyes widening. "You don't know Harper very well, do you? 'Cute kid.'" She shook her head. "That cute kid, as you call him, has survived a lot more than you ever want to know, and he's one of the strongest people I know.

"And he's more than okay," she added with a soft smile. "He's in love, and better still, the captain loves him too. Owner." She snorted her opinion of that. "They may be Nietzschean and human, but any owning's reciprocal.

"You should talk to him, you know. He understands what you're feeling, and he could help you get through it."

"I... don't wanna dredge anything up for him. If he's happy, he doesn't need to be reminded of what it's like. I want him to be happy; he really deserves it," Rafe admitted softly. "Even if it is with one of them."

Trance was tempted to hit him over the head with something. "Would you stop being so stubborn? You won't talk to me; you won't talk to Harper; you won't talk to Beka... You need to talk to someone, and unless you'd rather talk to the Nietzscheans, we're your only choices!" Human men could be annoyingly obtuse at times.

"Hey, doll, I'm a Valentine; we do stubborn well," Rafe replied, flashing a disarming smile. "C'mon, you telling me that my little sis is all sweetness and light? I don't think so!

"As for talking, what'll it accomplish, really? It's over and done. I'm alive; he's dead, thanks to the cute kid. Time to get on with life and stop moping around over what happened, right?"

"And that's why you sleep so well at night?" Trance inquired sweetly, seeing him flinch and wincing internally at having to hurt him. "Like any poisoned wound, it needs to be lanced so it can heal," she said softly, moving a little closer. "Please let me help you, Rafe."

"Why? I mean why does it matter so much to you? If it's just because I'm Beka's brother and you pity me, well, Valentine Smarter doesn't need pity, thanks all the same," Rafe replied, his voice growing hoarse under the strain.

"I happen to like you; isn't that reason enough?" Trance had no intention of exploring her feeling never mind dissecting them for Rafe's edification.

"Hey, don't get your spandex in a knot, dollface, yeesh!" Rafe replied, shocked. "You know you turn ultraviolet when you get irked?"

Giving up for the moment, Trance turned to leave. "I don't understand you at all." She frowned over her shoulder at him. "But I'm not giving up on you, Rafe Valentine. I can outstubborn you."

Dylan cursed under his breath as he hit the mats for the fourth time, this time harder than the previous three. Gasping for air, he had about two microseconds to catch his breath before Agravaine had him pinned to the mat.

"Tell me again why I agreed to let you pulverize me?" the human gasped, trying to ignore the way the bone blades pressed against his throat menacingly and praying that the bulge in his groin wasn't that noticeable and that the pheromones he was exuding were being masked by sweat.

Rhade stared down at the human, easily seeing and smelling his arousal, and his arm spikes remained pressed against Hunt's throat while he lowered his body slightly, letting the matching erection press into the other man. "Because it is only logical to take advantage of any opportunity to increase one's survival and battle skills." And because you want me as much as I want you.

"Logical. Umm... if you say so. How about you getting off of me though; I kinda need to get cleaned up. Beka's waiting for me, and my daddy told me never to keep a lady waiting," Dylan gasped, the Nietzschean's erection making him more than a little flustered. Since when was he attracted to men? To a Nietzschean male?

Smiling sardonically, Agravaine rose to his feet in an easy, lithe movement, then extended a hand to assist Hunt up as well. "Well, I would hate to come between you and Beka," he said with an odd look in his eyes. No, he'd rather Dylan forgot she ever existed, but that didn't seem likely. "Same time tomorrow?"

Dylan scuffed his shoe on the mat. If only there was any way to back out gracefully, but he'd promised Harper he'd play nice, and that meant getting along with Harper's erstwhile bodyguard. "I can't guarantee because Beka wants to start working on that overhaul of the Maru's engine core but..."

"I'll see you then," Agravaine said, ignoring most of what the human said as he left, already plotting ways to get the human out of the blonde kludge's bed and into his.

Standing nearby, Beka frowned as she watched the big Nietzschean leave. She'd thought for a while that she was seeing signs of interest in Rhade's eyes when he looked at Dylan, and this just confirmed it for her. More surprising was Dylan's corresponding though reluctant interest in the uber male.

Beka was certain of Dylan's love for her, but she knew that trying to keep the two men apart could easily lead to bitterness and acrimony. This was going to take some thought.

The gentle sound of waves lapping and the sun beating down, warming his flesh and causing a light sheen of perspiration to appear, were bliss to the young man. The breeze off the ocean ruffled his hair slightly as he baked away his cares.

Harper had spent the morning catching waves, skimming through half pipes and basically wallowing in the water. The only thing missing was Tyr, the bastard.

Here Harper was, and the sorry sack of Magog entrails was out getting it on with a brand new wife, who had so generously informed the little kludge boy that he was just a sideline amusement to keep Tyr's bed warm in deep space. She was going to be the new first wife and help Tyr continue his line, satisfy his genetic imperative and continue refining the Pride's genes.

"Genetic imperative, my lily white ass," Harper growled quietly, "he's a fucking goat, and he growls if I even tease him about someone else. He can go out and have all the women he craves, but he's willingly sacrificed sleeping with other men, how magnanimous of him. Asshole. Like I don't know he's gotta find the uber-bitch attractive and desirable for the equipment to work, what kind of an idiot does he think I am? But he doesn't love her; he loves me so I should feel better. Shit for brains, typical Nietzschean horn dog, sorry son of a..." Harper ranted to himself.

Tyr stood in the shade of nearby trees, having come to surprise his lover, and listened to the harangue. His eyebrows rose higher with each insult, though being called a goat was a new low from Harper. He shook his head. From anyone else or under any other circumstances, he'd have killed for less. But fresh from the bed of his new wife, Elsbett Mossadim-Anasazi, he couldn't blame Harper for his anger.

He wished he could stay with Harper alone, but that wasn't possible. Having done his duty, pleasurable as it was, however, he could take some time for himself, and he'd decided to join Harper here where they could just be themselves.

Sighing, Harper rolled over onto his back and shaded his eyes to look up at the sky. "Why do I even bother, apart from the fact I love the sorry sack of shit more than my own life? I mean he's gonna let me go eventually when one of his precious wives or some high-placed muck a muck in the Nietz empire becomes offended by him having a kludge for a lover. I'm just gonna get fucked over again, as per usual. Christ. I'm such an idiot!"

Scrubbing at the angry moisture gathering in the corners of his eyes, Harper bolted upright, grabbed his board, and headed for the water. Time to catch a curl or two, lose himself in the ocean, and try and forget, if only for a moment, that he was nothing more than a glorified sex toy for a Nietzschean sperm donor!

About to step forward, Tyr hesitated when he saw Harper wipe away a tear. He decided to wait a while, let his lover have some time to himself enjoying his hobby before letting him know he was here. Besides, watching Harper would not be a hardship.

He watched attentively, curious about this surfing. He'd never seen anyone do it before, and he didn't understand what Harper found so fascinating, but he hoped to find out.

Harper paddled out and waited for the right wave to come along, letting the motion of the sea soothe and caress him, rocking him like his mother's arms. Damn, he'd missed this. Catching the perfect wave, riding the pipe, conquering the elements and mastering them.

Seeing a build up that looked promising, Harper began to paddle towards the shore, letting the wave's momentum catch up to him, and then he popped up on the board, shooting the curl. It was perfect, absolutely perfect!

Twice more he caught waves in, cresting them with no problem at all. Finally a perfect pipe wave came, and Harper was determined to see if he was still the best. Catching the crest, he watched as it began to break, curving over him. Riding the pipe for all he was worth, Harper chanced a glance at the shore to see if his shipmates had returned to watch him.

Seeing Tyr threw him, and then suddenly the world was turning tail over end, and he didn't have time to catch a breath, and his lungs were full of water. He didn't know if he was up or down; all he knew was that there was water all around him and his side was on fire from where the board's fin had caught and sliced him.

Horrified, Tyr watched Harper wipe out, and he held his breath waiting for him to surface again. Moments passed and Harper still didn't surface, though his board popped up. Swearing, Tyr ran down the beach and dove into the water, glad that he was barefoot for the beach and didn't have to waste precious seconds taking his boots off.

He headed directly for the board, one hand grasping the tether as he dove beneath the surface, searching for his lover. Moments later, he surfaced, holding a still Harper in his arms. By the time they reached the beach, he was relieved to see that the human was stirring and coughing.

"Ow," Harper managed to get out, rather disgruntled that he'd wiped out. "That hurt."

Tyr clutched him tightly. "You could have killed yourself! I don't think I approve of this surfing." He shuddered slightly.

"Didn't ask your approval," Harper replied belligerently, his chin and his Irish coming up. "Aren't you supposed to be off single-handedly breeding the next generation of Kodiaks or something?"

Genetically enhanced intelligence told Tyr that mentioning his new wife would not be a smart thing to do. "I wanted to spend some time with you. And I'd really prefer that you not kill yourself, Pet."

"Bullshit," Harper replied succinctly.

"You were feeling guilty because you've wedded and bedded that Mossadim bitch from the Sabra Pride. Having Rommie keep in constant communication with the Eureka can be a bitch, can't it?" the human snarled, then gasped as he pulled his hand away from his side and saw nothing but red, literally, as his blood dripped off his spread fingers.

Tyr gasped and instantly had Harper flat on his back while he inspected the wound. He sighed in relief when he realized that, though deep, it was not a bad wound, and the salt water of the ocean had already cleaned it, preventing infection. All that remained was to bandage it.

"Hold still," he said, using Harper's shirt for a bandage, then picking him up, intending to carry him back to the ship.

"Jesus, I can walk, you know; I may be your toy, but I'm not some goddamned rag doll," Harper groused stubbornly, although he gave in since he really did like being in his lover's arms. "Guess the Sabra bitch didn't wear you out as much as she must have thought, hunh?" he muttered pettily.

Tyr sighed. "Harper, you knew what I was when you chose to stay with me," he pointed out, conveniently ignoring that he'd held Harper captive until he agreed to stay. "I can't change that, not even for you."

"I should have stayed on Rommie," Harper murmured, angrier at his own foolishness than at anything else, including Tyr. "At least there I could live with my illusions, and I had things to keep me occupied so that I didn't have to think about you enjoying being with your wife. It hurts to think of you wanting that, that... It just hurts, okay?" he finished on a whisper.

The Nietzschean stopped and let Harper slide to the ground though he kept his arms around him. "Harper..." He didn't know what to say. This was who he was. If Harper couldn't handle it, they had no future, and they both knew it. He realized that he really did love the human when he decided that he wanted Harper to be happy more than he wanted him with him.

"Are you going to be able to accept this, Harper?" he asked quietly, his arms falling to his sides as he stepped back. "Or do you want to leave?" He couldn't believe how hard it had been to say those words.

"Fuck no. What I want is just me and you and Rommie and a sky full of stars, but I know I can't have that either. But you can't expect me to just calmly accept you getting pleasure out of fucking that woman. Hell, Tyr, you go apeshit if I even mention another person; I mean you get seriously rabid. I can be just as fucking possessive too, not that I have a choice in the matter.

"I need to bitch about it, okay? It's a human thing to wallow in misery and make other people miserable too when you're unhappy. I mean, I love you, and I'll take you any way I can get you. But seriously, next time I stay on Rommie, or I go on a shake down flight with the crew of the Maru or anything else but going planetside because it's taking all the control I have not to go and rip that... that woman's heart out!"

Put like that, Tyr understood completely. Had the positions been reversed, he didn't think he'd have been able to keep himself from killing the one who touched Harper. "I'm sorry," he admitted. "But for now, it is just us, no one else, and we have two days before the Andromeda is scheduled to leave again. For this time I'm all yours, Pet. Perhaps we could find something more enjoyable to do than argue?"

Harper sighed and leaned into the older man's chest. He had just one more thing to say and then would gladly drop the subject. "I don't want to meet them. Ever. Okay? Just promise me that. It would hurt too much to know that they have your name and your children and everything your society can give a wife, and sometimes I can't even have your time."

Drawing in a deep breath, Harper turned and made a valiant attempt at one of his smiles. "Now how about you get me fixed up and then tell me what you have in mind, okay?"

"I think the bandage will be sufficient," Tyr said after a judicious glance. And it had the added benefit of eliminating one of his lover's hideous shirts. "I don't have anything particular in mind. I thought I'd leave it up to you to choose."

"I guess rock climbing or cliff diving is out, hunh?" Harper joked weakly.

Tyr growled. "Try again."

"Skydiving?"

"No!" The narrow-eyed gaze fixed on the other man, and it was clear that he was reaching the end of his patience.

"Not even if we do it naked?" Harper continued to tease, enjoying how he could make Tyr go a little crazed.

"I can think of much better things to do naked, Harper." Deciding that there was only one way to make him stop spouting ridiculous suggestions, he kissed Harper. Hard.

When Harper was at last allowed to breathe again, he smirked happily. "Took you long enough to figure out how to shut me up. See what being apart for a week does? Not even those damn drive inhibitors I've been wearing have helped much. The lust has made me go crazy, and you'd better fix it soon, or I'll just be a mindless fuck toy."

Tyr grinned. "Sounds like fun to me," he teased, one hand already curling around his lover's cock, knowing that Harper was going to need to come several times after the days of abstinence. "I like you mindless." He licked at a pebbled nipple.

"All the time? No back talking, no sassing, no being a brat - just a mindless kludge with no emotion who can't even love you because he's so far out of it?" Harper rejoined on a moan as his body was roused and played with. Reaching up with a hand, he took the tiny device out of his jack and tossed the inhibitor as far away as he could.

"Harper, you would have to be three days dead before you could manage that, and even then I think you would find a way to talk!" Tyr snorted. "Besides, I have the perfect cure for your mindlessness." His free hand slid down the back of Harper's trunks and teased at the sensitive ring of muscle.

"M-my side," Harper gasped as he bucked forward too rapidly and felt his side twitch. "Gotta be, can't reopen, can't move, God, TYR!"

Tyr's hand on his cock moved faster, the other stopping what it was doing to press down on one hip, holding him motionless. "Come for me," he rasped, hot brown eyes fixed on the whimpering man.

Harper's pleasure quadrupled as he was forced to remain perfectly still, no movement at all allowed. It drove him crazy, and before he knew it, he was coming hard and fast, his semen coating Tyr's hand and his own belly with its milky heat.

"Oh, fuck, Tyr," the younger man whimpered, sagging downwards, in sated exhaustion. "Damn, I've missed you."

"That's one," Tyr purred. He released his grip on Harper's hip, knowing that the human was too limp with pleasure to move yet. He moved down Harper's body until he reached the softening shaft and began to lick it clean, lapping at the spatters of fluid like a cat after cream.

"One?" Harper groaned happily, lying on the towel and letting Tyr clean him thoroughly. "One what? You're babbling, Tyr."

"One orgasm, Pet. We have a week to make up for." Tyr's flashed a grin at him before returning to his most enjoyable activity.

"You really are trying to kill me, I know you are!" Harper moaned quietly. "A week's worth of orgasms? I'll be a dried up, dehydrated husk!"

"Then it will be up to me to rehydrate you," Tyr purred, stretching out beside Harper, knowing that the smaller man would crawl on top of him. "I'm sure I can manage to get liquids into you somehow," he smirked.

Harper immediately rolled and plastered himself on top of his lover, rubbing his cheek back and forth across the bigger man's chest as he relaxed. "Umm, I don't think you cumming a river in me is gonna help with my rehydration problem. That's not the kind of liquid I'm gonna need," he pointed out logically as he let the sun bake into his back, turning his skin from ivory to pale gold.

Tyr laughed lazily, enjoying basking in the sun with his mate in his arms. "I think I can manage some water and other food and beverages from time to time. I have to keep you in good condition after all," he teased, running a fingertip lightly along Harper's spine.

Harper squirmed and winced slightly as the shallow cut shifted and pulled a bit. "How 'bout giving a poor wounded kludge a little recovery time?" he begged quietly.

"Harper, if you call yourself that one more time, I'm going to spank you!"

"Hunh?" Harper's head shot up to look at the older man. "What are you babbling about, Tyr? Oh, you mean the kludge remark. Newsflash, big guy: to most of the universe, that's precisely what I am. Geez, never thought I'd see a Nietzschean with rose-colored glasses - weird man!"

"Harper," Tyr growled warningly. "Belief does not make a thing true, or we would have gods walking among us. Stop calling yourself that... or trying to drive me away before I leave you. I'm not going to leave you. I love you, foolish human."

"I'm sorry," Harper replied in a small voice, ducking his head and burying his face in the massive chest. "I don't mean to, really. I... well, I've spent my entire life thinking of myself as that; it's hard to stop, y'know?"

"Then I will just have to keep reminding you." Tyr didn't seem too disturbed by the task. "But right now, I think we both need a swim to clean up... and perhaps more." He stood up, easily bringing Harper with him, and swung the smaller man up into his arms as he strode toward the ocean.

Harper clung to the older man, groaning softly as the salt water seeped under the bandage and into his wound, cleaning it again but stinging nonetheless. The deeper Tyr strode, the tighter Harper's arms curled around his neck. "Owowowowowowow," he whimpered, his body quivering with tension until at last it stopped stinging. "Damn, remind me to visit Rommie and get her to recalibrate my nanobots so they work faster," he groaned at last.

"Considering how often you manage to injure yourself, I would say that is an excellent idea," Tyr agreed, holding his clinging armful close. "Only you could harm yourself in such a wide variety of ways. If Nietzscheans could have heart attacks, I'm sure you would have driven me to one."

"Hey, I didn't plan on the Andromeda getting fired upon while I was hooked up to Rommie's VR matrix, y'know. Fried neural synapses are painful, lemme tell ya! And then the plasma burns, wellm Loki crept up behind me and... never mind," Harper replied, squirming to get away from Tyr. "I was swimming long before you showed up, Nietz, so you can lemme go already!"

"But I don't want to let you go," Tyr pointed out with irrefutable logic. "I like having you in my arms, here where I know where you are and what you're doing. I wish I could keep you here all the time, but I know you'd never allow it," he admitted quietly, lowering his head to kiss Harper tenderly. "But I sometimes give in to wishful thinking too."

He eyed Harper narrowly. "And what exactly did Loki do?" He decided then and there that it was time to find his eldest son a distraction of his own.

"Nothing worth mentioning," Harper blushed, not wanting to inform his lover that Tyr's son had crowded up behind him, pressing an erection into the small of his back. Harper had managed to ignore it until a hand landed on his ass. Then he'd jumped, and the plasma welder had gone awry, and then Harper had been too busy putting out the fire and getting to medical to pay the mischievous youth any more mind.

However, he'd cornered Loki the next day and sat the young man down, explained the birds and the bees to him and the rules about poaching. You don't poach your father's Pet. End of story. Hopefully Loki finally got it.

"And that's really sweet, Tyr. Thanks. But you're right, I'd have to hurt you if you didn't let go."

Tyr bit back a laugh and forbore to ask him just how he planned to accomplish that feat, though he could do nothing about the twinkle in his eyes. He raised his hands in mock fear, backing away from Harper slightly... but not too far in case some man-eating denizen of the deep decided the blond human looked tasty. If it were going to happen to anyone, it would be Harper!

"Asshole," Harper muttered with an acerbic look then all of a sudden slipped beneath the water and darted away, thankful for his greater than usual lung capacity and the rolling tides that kept the water churning and frothing. He'd show that damn Nietzschean a thing or two. Rounding a rock formation, Harper came up for air and peaked around the outcropping to see Tyr standing there, looking frantically about for him. HA! Harper snorted softly, then climbed onto one of the lower, sheltering rocks and began to bask in the warm sun.

Tyr waited tensely for some sign of Harper surfacing, watching almost desperately, then when the seconds passed, he let out a despairing cry and dove under the water where Harper had vanished, determined to find him, no matter what.

Jumping at the cry, Harper stood up in time to watch Tyr dive under water. "Oh fuck, he's not, shitshitshit!" Watching the older man surface more panicked than ever, Harper groaned low in his throat. Okay, maybe it hadn't been such a hot idea.

"Umm, Tyr? I'm fine," he called out sheepishly before clambering off the rocks and heading for shore at a fast clip. Oh lordy, he was gonna get it now! Maybe if he could make it to his clothes and hightail it to join up with Beka, Dylan and the others...

Tyr heard Harper's voice with a sense of disbelief and turned to see the younger man moving away. He clove through the water with every bit of speed his Nietzschean body was capable of and came up behind Harper in moments. He caught the other man in his arms and pulled him to him, wrapping his arms so tightly around him Harper could barely breathe. He'd never felt such fear in his life.

"Hey, hey! A little room to breathe here would be nice!" Harper gasped as he squirmed against the older man. "Fuck, what's gotten into you? I was fine, okay? Bek and Dylan used to claim I was part fish; there's not a whole lot that I can mess up in the water, really!"

Tyr raised his head slowly, dark eyes fixing on Harper's face with a terrible lack of expression. "You did that on purpose."

Harper ducked his head. "Well, umm, yeah. Dammit, Tyr, you treat me like a kid or an incompetent who can't take care of himself. I... you worry about Loki less than you do me. I'm not some helpless... I can take care of myself, but you don't seem to believe me. I hate it when you laugh at me!"

"I see," Tyr replied expressionlessly. "It seems I must apologize." He nodded distantly and turned to walk away, afraid of what he'd do if he stayed near Harper another instant.

"Well fuck!" Harper slammed his fists into the water as he watched the Nietzschean retreat. "I can't win with you, can I? Well fine, whatever. Go sit and brood and be all Nietzschean, I'm going swimming!" Striking out into deeper water, Harper swam and swam until his arms were tired, his lungs burned and he couldn't go any further. Floating on his back, he just let himself drift, not really caring where he was or how far from shore. He let his mind empty, and he simply lost himself among the waves.

On his way back to the ship, carefully not allowing himself to think of what had just happened, Tyr encountered some of the others. Giving an incurious look to Hunt, Valentine and Rhade, he told them where Harper was and asked them to make sure he made it safely back to the Andromeda.

Once again alone, ignoring the surprised queries of the others who had expected not to see the Nietzschean captain or his human lover again until it was time to leave the planet, Tyr wandered back toward his shuttle, planning to return to the Andromeda. Unfamiliar with the daily compromises of loving someone, he couldn't understand how Harper could claim to love him and still have done what he had. Had this all been some strange plan to regain his freedom? But no, that didn't make sense.

Baffled, Tyr returned to the ship and his quarters, ignoring Loki's excited questions and not even noticing some of his other children. Alone at last, he stretched out on his bed and stared at the ceiling, refusing to think.

Part 2

Back to Fanfic