Chapter 2

I ate a big meal as soon as I got back to the base. We had been warned to eat as much Earth-type food as we could hold so that we would not need to consume so many of the special vitamin pills. The recommended routine was two meals of local food for each Earth-type meal. Supposedly, that would take care of our vitamin needs, and I had no other data, so I planned to stick as close to that regimen as possible. We knew the symptoms of vitamin deficiencies caused by eating only local food, so I was on the lookout for them.

The meal was followed by a shower and a long spell in bed. For some reason, I was feeling more of a need for sleep than I was used to. I had no explanation for the situation, but I was learning to live with it. When I got up, I ate a light meal of the local food. That was for no special reason; it just seemed like a good idea at the time.

I realized that I had not been using any of the buckshot, so I swapped out all but one stick magazine of buckshot and went to 100% solid slugs for the rest of my ammunition. I did have plenty of both kinds of ammunition available because I was the only one using any of it, but I knew that it would eventually run out. I had the tools necessary to make more slugs if I needed them, but I hoped to be rid of the ogres before that became a significant problem.

I had not heard back from Earth with a reply to my first message. I wondered what might be wrong. If my FTL radio was not working properly, there was nothing that I could do about it in the short term. There were spare parts and service manuals for the system, but I did not want to take the time to study that subject right now. I was more concerned about ridding this world of the ogres.

Well, enough fooling around! It was time for me to head back to see what the ogres were doing at their ship. I knew if they took off, that would be the last that I saw of them, except that they might make an attack on this base installation out of spite, just to make life hard for me. Oh, I knew that they also might not do that, but I could not take the chance. I picked up my gear and started out the exit lock.

Dammit, I was nearly knocked down by another human coming in as I stepped out. As it was, I knocked the other human down, and that was when I realized who it was I had run into: Sue Hamilton, one of the grunts from my last patrol before I was captured.

We had been in a firefight with the ogres, and I thought that she had been killed since she was not around when we were able to reorganize our defenses and drive off the ogres. I assumed that she had been captured, but I had no hard evidence for that. She told me that she had been able to hide from the attacking ogres, but she had gotten lost when she tried to make it back to our base. That was the reason that she was just now showing up, and the first thing she wanted was some Earth-type food.

I could sympathize with that and helped her fix a big meal, all of which she ate. She was beat, and I helped her to take a shower and tumble into bed. Yes, I had seen her naked before, and we had even been occasional bed partners on the way out from Earth. Sue was in no condition to return to wandering in the woods, so I let her sleep while I went back to check on the ogres' spaceship.

I found the ogres back at work on repairing the damage from my previous visits. I assumed that they had to fix what I had broken before they could fix the other stuff that had been broken. Well, that was a technicality as far as I was concerned. All I really cared about was that they were not yet ready to take off.

The difference, this time, was that they had more guards out and about. Aha, there was that bastard who had visited me in my cell. Him, I was going to pop if I did not get any others this time. The problem was that the pickets were out farther than they had previously been so that my shot had longer to go after him. Well, I was so pissed off at that character that I didn't care.

I found a spot to shoot from at about 90 meters, and that was close to the limit on the effective range of the solid slug from the shotgun. The barrel was not rifled, so 85 meters was listed as the official range limit for the weapon, but I had pushed it before, and I thought that this might be my only chance to get that bastard that I really hated.

When I looked through the sights at that ogre, he looked to be as big as a house, so I was sure that I could not miss. I aimed at the center of his chest, figuring that would give me the greatest margin for error. I went through the same kind of breathing routine as I would have as a sniper and squeezed off the shot. Well, as I expected, I did not hit my aiming point. On the other hand, I did hit what I considered an even better spot if the ogre had anything like the internal structure of a human: I hit him in the groin! He certainly let out a scream of pain, so that alone was enough to make me happy!

I could add about 50 meters to the range by switching to high pressure air, but that was going to make a lot of noise. Well, to hell with that! I made the change to nearly five times the low pressure setting that I had been using and fired again, this time aiming for his head. The rifle fired with a monster BANG! The bullet hit where I had aimed, and his head exploded. My only regret was that his suffering had ended.

I paused only long enough to switch back to the low pressure setting and got the hell out of there. I figured to be up shit creek if the ogres caught me! At least, I had the good sense not to run directly back to the base, but to cut in a big arc to make it difficult for the ogres to follow me. On my way, I happened to see one of the large creatures of the swamp that reminded me of an alligator. I made an effort to annoy him so that he would take his irritation out on an ogre if one happened to pass this way.

About 45 minutes later, I heard a number of gunshots from the ogres' guns, so I figured that my tactic had been successful. Anyway, I made it back to the base without ever seeing another ogre.

When I got home, I was hungry, so I ate a large meal of the local food. I was trying to stick to the recommended eating routine. The funny thing was that the flavor of the local stuff was starting to shift from bland to tasting good. Was that a case of familiarity finally kicking in?

I looked in on Sue and found her sleeping the sleep of the exhausted. I did not disturb her, but I felt that she had the right idea. I shucked my clothes and dropped into the adjacent bunk. It was not long before I, too, was sound asleep. Dammit, why was I so sleepy so much of the time?

I woke up to find that I had the most pleasant kind of company: Sue had decided to join me in my bed. The beds had been designed with this sort of thing in mind, and she fit very well in what little open space there was on the mattress. We seemed to fit together well and we slept some more, cuddled in a spooning position with my cock wedged nicely between her thighs and pressing on her pussy lips. With her back to my chest, it was only natural for me to hold her tit in the palm of my hand.

I woke up a couple of hours later feeling a slow massage of my cock shaft as Sue gently rocked her hips against my groin. We combat types are either quick to get the message or are dead, so it did not take long for me to recognize what Sue had in mind. I adjusted my hand and began to roll her nipple between my fingers as Sue started to moan with that deep kind of pleasure that women seem to be the best at feeling.

It only took a slight readjustment of our positions for my cock to slide into its favorite hiding place. Sue had always produced a plentiful supply of lubricant, but she seemed to be outdoing herself on this occasion. Well, I certainly was in favor of this form of PT (physical training) on almost any drop of a hint. Neither one of us were in a great hurry to push ahead to the finish line, so we continued to rock gently for some time.

Eventually, enthusiasm overtook languor, and we started to pound each other. Rest assured that this was a combined effort, and we came so nearly together that there was no way to know who came first, not that we cared.