Chapter 1

At faster-than-light speeds, the stars seen through the viewport looked like rainbow confetti streamers falling sideways.

The two-person crew of the freighter Saturn’s Heart, sat in the small cockpit in companionable silence, watching the red-shifted starlight stream past, eating their lunchtime rations. June Harding, Navigator First Class sat in the pilot’s seat, and Will Foucault, Mechanic First Class in the co-pilot’s, drinking slightly burnt coffee.

They met at the training academy and became fast friends. They were eventually assigned as crew together due to how well they got along, very important on long deep space runs.

“Anything to report from the last watch?” Will asked.

“Not much. We passed an old wreck about three hours ago”, June replied, looking down at her logs,” at oh nine forty-eight, ship time.”

“How old?” asked Will, curiosity piqued.

“Couldn’t say; the debris field was just on the edge of our scanning range as we passed and their transponder was dead. I filed a report on the FTL transmitter, but haven’t heard back from Control yet.”

Will’s brow furrowed. “ That’s the second unmarked wreck we’ve come across in as many weeks. It’s unusual to see one in the hyperspace lanes, let alone two.” He paused, thinking for a moment, “When did we receive the last reply from Control?” Will’s unease began unsettling June.

“A week and a half.” June’s voice was darkened with apprehension. June set aside her meal and swung her chair to face the navigation terminal. “Checking our position with the Galactic Positioning System now.” She grimaced in mild confusion. “Says we are still on course for the Brazo system. Let me do a manual position check against the current star field.”

“Damn it!” June exploded. “We’re about four days off course. Someone’s spoofed the local GPS beacons.” Neither of them needed to say that it was a common tactic used by pirates to isolate vulnerable ships.

“Give me, like, ten minutes to calculate a new course off our manual position readings. Damn it, I hate doing it by hand, the computers are always faster!” said June, irritation flaring through her normally level demeanor.

Will had been holding his breath, staring at the sensor scopes while June worked through laying out a new course.

“We have contacts”, Will announced grimly. “Three of them, no transponders. They must have been trailing us waiting for us to come out of hyperspace.” Turning to June, “How long until you have our new course?”

The easygoing banter had been replaced by grim professionalism. The freighter was lightly armed and no match for a corvette, let alone three. And they both knew that pirates didn’t take male prisoners and women who were captured ended up wishing they shared the men’s fate.

“A few more minutes,” June said as she worked the figures furiously.

“They’ll close the gap in two; we’re not going to have time to jump.” Will scanned the local star chart in hopes of sparking a plan. “There!”, He exclaimed. “Make for that nebula. It’ll hide our signature and give us time to calculate a new jump. I’ll run down to the hold and dump the cargo. With any luck, they take the bait and we can slip away.”

June nodded her agreement and pulled the ship around, firing the sub-light engines to full power in hopes of making it to the nebula.

Will ran down the short hallway to the ladder to the second deck and cargo hold. In quick succession, he disengaged the mag-lock on each container. “How are we doing?” he called into his wrist comm to his partner.

“Five minutes to the nebula, three until we’re in range of their weapons,” June responded.

Will engaged the atmospheric force barrier and then hit the button to open the heavy exterior bay doors. He silently counted to twenty as the bay doors slowly swung to full open.

Running up the steps and sealing the interior door separating the cargo hold from the living quarters, he called out over his comms, “Ready. Begin evasive maneuvers.”

June began weaving the ship back and forth, no longer flying in a straight line, trying to confuse the pirates targeting computers.

Feeling the ship maneuvering hard, Will killed the force field from the remote terminal, forcefully decompressing the cargo bay, and ejected the cargo like pellets from a shotgun. “Cargo away”, he called into the comms as he raced back to the cockpit.

The pirates began pummeling them with their long-range lasers hoping to take out their engines, but June made a hard target as she juked, dodging their first salvo. The jettisoned cargo provided some temporary cover from most of the incoming fire as the chase continued.

“They’re still not in range of our rear cannons”, Will reported, “And it looks like they are ignoring the cargo. Damn!”

The pirate ships were closing the distance fast and swiftly flew past the cargo obstacles. The ‘Saturn’s Heart’ began shaking as the pirate’s laser blasts finally started to hit their target.

“Damage?” June barked, still focused on evasive flight. “Our ass is taking a beating.” As Will replied, they both felt an explosion coming from the rear of the ship. “That was engine number three,” Will reported.

“We’re not going to make the nebula!”, panic rising in June’s voice for the first time. Will turned everything he knew about this ship in his mind looking for a way out, then had a crazy idea. He announced in desperation, “I’m going to overload engine one, and just before it blows, eject it. That’ll buy us time to run with just engine two.”

June glanced at Will, they locked eyes and they both knew this was their last Hail Mary. “Do it,” she said with a fiery, defiant tone.

Will pulled up the engine control on the engineering workstation and set engine one to overload. The ship surged forward briefly pinning the two in their seats, then Will hit the button. “Release.”

The ship shuddered as the engine came loose and 5 seconds later, the space behind the wounded freighter lit up with nuclear fire. Will looked into the rear-facing scope. “Blast took out the lead pirate and seems to have dazed the other two. They’re coming around again.”

But the overloaded thrust and detonation of engine one had bought the beleaguered freighter the time it needed. As the ‘Saturn’s Heart’ slipped into the nebula the pirate ships in pursuit disappeared off the scanners.

June immediately changed their vector heading deeper into the nebula, and as soon as the vector change was complete, the pummeling from laser fire ceased.

They limped along for a while further into the heart of the nebula in watchful silence, waiting for the pirates to reappear. When they failed to do so after an hour, Both June and Will let out a sigh of relief.

Needing to navigate by sight due to the interference from the nebula, June stayed in the cockpit while Will checked throughout the ship to see how bad the damage was.

An hour and a half later, Will returned to the cockpit carrying two cups of coffee. June accepted one gratefully and Will slumped into the seat beside her.

“So, what are we looking at?” June looked tired, due in part to the adrenaline wearing off, and in part to needing to constantly scan the forward field of view for hazards.

“We’re running on one engine, and we were leaking quite a bit of fuel for a while, which I found and stopped. We have about thirty percent of our reserve left.” Will paused to take a sip of coffee.

“We had five small hull breaches in the lower deck which the force shields held, fortunately, until I had time to patch them. Our rear gun was obliterated, not that it helped any. The actuators on the left cargo door are fried. I closed it manually as best I could, but couldn’t seal it, so the cargo bay is off-limits for now.”

When he finished speaking he took another long sip of his coffee and looked at June. “While you were evaluating damage”, she began, “I was looking through the star charts for this region; I don’t think any of the nearby GPS beacons are trustworthy. She took a sip of her coffee, glanced out the front canopy in the direction they were traveling then continued. “This region of space is not well charted, probably why it’s popular with our ‘friends’ out there. I couldn’t find this nebula in the records anywhere.” She pulled up the local star chart on the holographic display, then zoomed out to the wider star chart.

“My last manual position reading was here”, June indicating the position on the chart with a dot, “roughly four days from the hyperspace lanes, and entered the nebula here. I’ve made two course changes since we entered, which should put us right about here.” The marker indicated that they were still just inside the unmapped region of space.

“Most traffic doesn’t even get close to this blank spot on the map, so there’s no good way to tell how large this nebula is, but at our current rate of speed, we could get to the other side of the blank space in about three weeks. I don’t want to risk a mayday call this close to the pirates on this side of the nebula, but I think if we go straight through, once we pop out the other side, and get close enough the this other hyperspace lane, we should be safe enough to broadcast a distress call.”

Will took a breath, then asked, “Do we have enough fuel to make it through to the other side?”

June took a reading on the last engine’s current energy efficiency, and with the fuel figures that Will provided, answered “Yes, I think so. We’ll have to throttle back the engine to maximize efficiency”, she did another quick calculation,” which will add about another week of travel. So four weeks before we can broadcast the SOS. How’s life support and provisions?”

“Thankfully”, he began, “the air scrubbers and recirculators weren’t damaged. We’ll need to be easy on the rations, and the water recycler is okay. I’ve been meaning to lose a little weight anyway.” Will joked, lightening the mood. “Hell of a close call, but it looks like we’re going to pull through this one.”

They both visibly relaxed, and June’s stoic facade suddenly crumbled. “Will, I was so scared”, she began weeping, face in her hands.

Will reached over to the pilot’s seat and pulled June close to him. “Hey, as long as we have each other and watch each other’s back, we’ll get through this, and anything else that comes our way.” He tenderly rubbed her back comforting her and held her until she cried herself out. When she looked up at him, he affectionately wiped the remaining tears from her cheek.

As she looked up into his eyes, June’s expression changed from one of relief of still being alive to one of hunger and longing. Will felt his face flush and was suddenly aware of the softness of June’s breasts as they pressed against his chest.

They had been shipmates and close friends for over a decade, but their relationship had always been platonic and professional. Their brush with death had crystallized what they meant to each other. “I trust this woman with my life, and I can’t imagine living without her”, Will realized. Looking down into her face, he recognized that she felt the same.

Still holding her close, Will tilted his head and bent down so that his mouth closed the distance to hers. Their hearts leaped as their lips met, both feeling the deep acknowledgment of love that they had unwittingly carried for years.

Their kiss was passionate, lips and tongues dancing together, finally unbound from quiet longing. He ran his fingers through her hair and down her back stopping to grab each of her soft, but firm ass cheeks in his big hands and lifted her to him as he stood.

Reading his intentions, June leaned backward in his arms towards the pilot’s controls and pressed a couple of buttons setting the autopilot. She then leaned back into Will, crossing her wrists behind his head, and returned to their passionate kissing.

Will carried her down the short hallway to the bunkroom, kissing the entire way, to the double bed they usually took turns sleeping in while the other was on watch.

Will set her down on the edge of the bed, and they both hurriedly stripped off their flight suits. He removed his boots and bent down to remove hers as well. Both of their skin was oiled with the sweat of stress of the day; a line of perspiration flowed down June’s sports bra drawing a darkened line highlighting her cleavage.

Will’s erection tented his boxers, straining the fabric. June grabbed his hard rod through his shorts, rubbing it up and down while she purred in his ear. He groaned and she finally relented and pulled down the elastic waistband, subconsciously licking her lips, releasing his hot sweaty cock from its confinement.

She took hold of the hot, steel hard length and pulled it close to her mouth. Pausing, she looked back up into his eyes seeing a look of rapt anticipation and hunger. Licking around the bulbous tip, she tasted and smelt his earthy scent, causing her pussy to drool and soak her panties with her desire.

Will ran his fingers through her hair, and as she pulled the tip into her warm wet mouth, he let out a low groan. June slid her lips halfway down his shaft, holding the base firmly in one hand, and then slowly pulled back, tongue teasing the underside of his dick.

A half smile pulled up the corner of June’s mouth, Will’s tip still resting on her tongue, and she slid down his shaft again slowly, savoring the sensation of feeling his heartbeat on her tongue. She began bobbing in a slow, steady rhythm, slicking his cock with her saliva.

June had one hand wrapped around the base of his cock as she bobbed her head up and down, the other snaked down into her panties and strummed her clit in time with her head bobbing.

“God, your mouth feels fantastic!” Will declared, grabbing two fistfuls of the hair at the back of her head. Unable to contain himself, he began thrusting into June’s hot mouth, speeding up the rhythm, thrusting deeper into her mouth, pressing into the top of her throat, making a muffled sound of “gluk, gluk, gluk” with every stroke.

The fingers of June’s hand on her clit sped up to match Will’s rhythm and soon they both peaked. Will quickly pulled out of June’s mouth, then blew a large load on her tits and sports bra.

June came after receiving her pearl necklace, crying out as her orgasm hit her hard and caused her knees to tremble. Her core rattled, she sat there one hand struck immobile in her panties, and the other with a tight grip on Will’s cock, like she was afraid to fall over the edge of a cliff and his cock was the only thing keeping her from falling.

“Been saving all that for me?” June teased after she came back to her senses, then playfully scooped some of the white mess into her fingers and licked them clean.

“Yeah, saving it all for someone special.” He replied with a smile.

Still mad with desire, Will grabbed June’s sports bra and pulled it up and over her head to expose her magnificent breasts, nipples erect and hard, begging to be teased. He bent low and gave June a passionate kiss on the lips, and proceeded to wander down her chin and neck near her clavicle, kissing and licking the whole way. His mouth found its way to her right breast and his hand grabbed her left. He licked, sucked, and nibbled the nipple in his mouth as his hand alternately squeezed her tit then pinched and rolled her nipple between his forefinger and thumb.

June threw her head back and moaned loudly, as his assault forced a renewed gush of liquid from her pussy. Will’s hand continued its rough ministrations on her left breast and nipple as he began to kiss and lick his way down her stomach to her belly button, running his tongue in and out as if an advertisement of things to come.

Continuing his march south, his hand finally abandoned its assault on her tits and reached down to her soaked panties, pulling them down her legs and off in one smooth motion. He grabbed both her legs behind the knees, gently kissed her inner thighs, and placed them over his broad shoulders.

He greedily grabbed the two firm globes of her ass, pulled her quim to his mouth, and took a long slow lick up her slit with a broad tongue stroke tasting all the wonderful girl cum dribbling out of it. Extending his thumbs around the globes of her ass, he opened her folds exposing her clit and wet hole to the ministrations of his eager tongue.

He lapped and sucked her clit, eliciting an “Oh God, YES”, from June. His tongue traveled up and down her inner folds, licking, nibbling, and sucking her labia and clit. Her whole body shaking, she grabbed the back of his head pressing his face hard against her writhing cunt.

As he sucked and licked her clit, he stuck two fingers into her opening and gestured ‘come hither’, hitting her g-spot over and over until June’s body locked up and clamped her thighs around his head, screaming out loud, “FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!” as she came again all over his face.

Still trembling, June fell limply back on the bed as Will climbed up the bed, her body small beneath him, and seized her mouth again for a passionate kiss. Half on the bed, her legs dangling over the edge, Will folded her nearly in half as he pressed her knees into her chest, lined up the head of his hard, throbbing cock to her drenched hole, and buried it to the hilt with a satisfied grunt.

She gasped as he bottomed out, the mushroom head just kissing her cervix. He pulled almost all the way out, his head just inside of her, and rammed home again, knocking the breath from her. He thrust like this a couple of more times, then he picked up a steady rhythm of pull - thrust, pull - thrust, driving June to incoherent babble.

Will’s rhythm became intense as he thrust into her with animalistic fury and jackhammer frequency. June moaned loudly, urging him on, practically screaming, “Yes! Fuck me, Fuck me, FUCK ME!”

Finally, his thrusting became erratic and he growled low and plunged his cock as deep as he could go and blasted her insides with load after load of creamy essence. Feeling him pulsing out his climax deep in her pussy, June was sent tumbling after him, her orgasm crashing over her, in time with his.

Will rolled to one side, and not wanting to be parted from her, rolled June with him. They clung to each other, panting and sweating, softly coming down from their shared orgasms. Clutched in each other’s embrace, they drifted off to sleep together, still wrapped tightly around the other.

They dozed together on the double mattress until they heard an alarm from the cockpit. Dressing quickly with big smiles on their faces, Will gave her a quick kiss as they went to investigate. Their short-range sensors had detected a rapid change in density in the nebula, which struck them both as odd.

“As wide as the nebula was when we entered it, I would have expected it to take us much longer to come out the other side,” June said with a furrowed brow, trying to puzzle the readings out.

“Maybe it’s just a region of lower density that we’ll just pass through.” Will offered.

“Maybe, but it’s really weird for the density to drop off at this rate. It doesn’t feel right. We better keep a close eye on things.” June pressed her lips together tight, brow furrowed trying to slide the pieces of the puzzle together in her mind.

“Well, while you try to figure out what it means, I’m going to go make some coffee. Want some?” Will asked.

“Sure,” June replied distractedly. Will went down to the galley to brew some coffee, leaving June in the cockpit.

In the galley, Will was grateful that the coffee supply would be sufficient enough not to need rationing. He thanked his lucky stars as he made a cup for June and himself and headed back to the cockpit. Halfway back, he heard a large clang on the hull and felt the ship shudder. Concerned, he rushed up to the cockpit.

When Will returned to the cockpit, he was not expecting to see a dense asteroid field out of the front viewport replacing the murky nebula. “What the hell is this!”, he exclaimed as quickly stowed the covered coffee cups in holders, jumped into the co-pilot’s seat, and strapped in.

“I don’t know. One minute we’re blind in the nebula, then in a blink, it clears, and now we’re in this shit.” Will could see the intense concentration on June’s face as she struggled to navigate through the chaos of the rock field.

“Can we turn around?” Will asked.

“We’re too long to make a quick turn and everything is tumbling, blocking us from backing out. Sensors are back up enough to see this field clearly, however.” June leans left in her seat as she steers the ship hard in the same direction. “Doesn’t look too thick; we can punch through and look for a better way out from the inside.”

“We’d better suit up,” Will said as he unbuckled his harness and stood, steadying himself by placing a hand on the ceiling of the cockpit as June danced the ship left and right, shaking everything in the ship. Opening one of the lockers just behind the cockpit, Will pulled out his pressure suit, quickly put it on, and sealed the helmet onto the metal ring around the neck of the suit.

Slipping back into the copilot’s seat he called to June, “Your turn. Switch control on three, two, one, switch!” June set the copilot’s controls to active, and Will took control. June got up quickly and donned her suit. As soon as the helmet seal clicked, locking it in place, she dropped back into the pilot’s seat and resumed control.

June expertly piloted the ship as she danced it through the asteroid field with amazing precision and grace for an old freighter, but there were a lot of asteroids to dodge, and a ton of smaller gravel-sized debris between the larger rocks that she couldn’t avoid. The gravel was unavoidable, sounding like hail as it struck, pelting the front viewport so hard that Will was afraid that it might crack. The rest of the ship wasn’t faring any better, and when the internal systems monitor lit up, Will called out the alarms,” We’ve lost starboard maneuvering thrusters two, five, and nine, and port thrusters three and four!”

“Yup, I feel it”, June confirmed, struggling harder to keep from smashing the ship to bits. Just then, a loud bang and screeching of twisting metal shrieked through the ship. “Hull breach on upper aft section!” Will called out, as the cockpit and living quarters were explosively decompressed, their covered coffee cups blowing off the lids spraying coffee everywhere.

June yelled, “There goes another thruster!” as the fight to control the damaged freighter started to look like a losing battle, then silence descended over the ship as they cleared the asteroid belt.

“Thrusters down to thirty percent”, Will began calling out the damage report, “engine two still online, but we’re losing fuel fast. I’ll go see what I can do about it,” he said unbuckling and leaping out of his seat racing to the engine compartment.

Once at the maintenance access hatch for the engine compartment, Will had to force the reluctant hatch because of damage to the opening mechanism. Squeezing through, he checked all the main and auxiliary equipment for their last engine and could find no major damage to the systems inside the ship.

“Looks like the engine took external damage. That must be where the fuel leak is. We’re going to need to shut down the engine, so I can go out and inspect it.”, he told June over his helmet communicator.

“If we shut it down now, we might not be able to re-light it,” June replied. Now free of the nebula’s interference, the scanners showed June that they were in a small star system, completely shrouded by the nebula and asteroid field. A red giant star dominated the system center, with one small planet in an elliptical orbit conveniently placing it relatively close to their position.

“Will, you better get up here,” June called.

Upon his return to the cockpit, June sat studying the scanner readings. “That planet’s orbit is bringing it close to our trajectory. I think we need to put down there.” Her finger pointed at the planet on the holographic display. “I don’t think we have any other choice.”

Will studied the holograph for a moment. “We won’t be able to climb the gravity well once we’re down.” He said solemnly. June nodded her head in agreement, knowing that meant they would be marooned. Will continued, “Ok, let’s course correct, burn hard so we don’t just waste the fuel by letting it all leak out. Once we make planetfall, we can come up with a plan from there.”

Taking a moment to catch their breaths after the harrowing passage through the asteroid field, June adjusted their trajectory, then ramped the remaining engine to full thrust, putting them on an intercept course for the lone planet.

They burned hard towards the planet, for about an hour then June set the engine to minimum thrust, to avoid a possible failed restart, and rotated the ship for a slowing burn. Once the nose of the old freighter was pointed away from the planet, June fired the engines full bore again.

Another hour passed in silence as the pair refused to contemplate what being marooned on an isolated, uncharted planet meant. “Shutting down the engine,” June called out, “in three, two, one, cut off.” June flipped a series of switches and entered some data into the navigational computer. Shutdown complete, she relaxed into her chair slightly and breathed out a sigh.

“Textbook orbital insertion”, Will praised June’s navigational skills. “Well done. Now the tough part, decent and entry.”

June beamed at the compliment. “We’re plenty stable enough for a few orbits. I’ll start scanners searching the planet for a suitable landing spot. We can review the data and then decide where we want to put down.”

“Sounds like a plan”, Will agreed. “Why don’t you go rest in the bunk and try to catch a nap? We’re going to need you sharp to put us down in one piece. I’ll keep the watch and wake you if necessary.”

Exhausted, June agreed and went back to the bunk to try to get some sleep, though she knew it would be uncomfortable in her pressure suit.

Will took the controls, and as June unbuckled her crash restraints and stood, Will placed a gloved hand on the arm of her suit. Their eyes met, exchanging an unspoken message of caring and endearment, before she shuffled off to get some rest.

As June disappeared into the bunk room, Will idly watched the planet spin beneath them, and occasionally glanced at the surface map the scanners were building. Whiling away the time, he thought about the years June and he had spent together; working, laughing, suffering. He then thought about what lay ahead, and the picture looked grim.

Being marooned on an uncharted planet during Earth’s diaspora century of the first waves of explorers and settlers heading into the unknowns of space was a common trope of romance novels these days, but the harsh realities of what those early explorers went through were brutal: no artificial gravity, death-dealing cosmic radiation and the unforgiving vacuum of deep space.

Landing on a new planet, you might or might not have a breathable atmosphere, wild temperature variations, or hostile native wildlife. Some were no more than barren rocks that forced settlers to burrow into them like worms, just for a small measure of safety and comfort.

But despite all this, people came. In the billions, they came and built worlds and lives worth living out amongst the stars.

Will knew that their situation would be much different. No one knew where they were. Due to the nebula, no one would hear their distress calls. No one would be following behind them to help them if they ran into trouble. They would be utterly alone.

He stopped for a moment and pictured a primitive, but idyllic life with June on the planet below them. Once they made it to the surface, they could build a simple home, farm some basic plants for sustenance, and maybe raise a family. He would teach the children everything he knew about survival on the planet; it would be the only life they would know. A simple life. A peaceful life. There could be worse ways to spend the rest of your life, Will decided, with a small smile on his face.

Will announced that they had completed five orbits. Without much delay, June returned to the cockpit and took her seat, indicating she had only been able to sleep lightly, if at all.

“Let’s see our options”, she said, pulling up the new surface map on the display. The planet’s terrain rolled across the holograph, showing a mostly rough mountainous landscape of tall sharp peaks and narrow, perilous-looking ravines.

“That’s it, right there”, June announced, stopping the scroll of the display. “a wide flat valley, probably. Twenty klicks by a hundred, our best chance at a good landing. How many thrusters are still functioning?”

“We’re at thirty percent for maneuvering thrusters, the retros seem to be in working order. The main engine is shut down, with two percent of the fuel load remaining, which will help, only if we can get it lit again. The emergency inertial inhibitors took a beating, but indicators are all green.” Will’s expression of exasperation spoke volumes of his frustration at the damage the ship had taken. “The ole’ girl doesn’t have much left, but she’ll get us down.”

Thinking for a moment, June spoke, “Alright then, we’ll try to restart the engine first, for an entry burn, then enable the inertial inhibitors once we’ve lost a bit of altitude. If the engine doesn’t light, then we’ll need to rely solely on the inhibitors to reduce orbital velocity, which will tax them quite a bit making it iffy that they’ll hold up all the way through atmo. Between the remaining maneuvering and retro thrusters, even if we can’t re-light the engine, we should be able to guide her in, nice and easy.”