Secrets Among the Stars

Chapter 1

I press forward on the yolk of my Raven Class III starship, tipping the nose down. Well, down from my perspective, as there’s no true “down” in the vacuum of space. The ship I’m chasing is piloted by the man I love, Jayson Kramer. I have orders to destroy his ship at all costs, and I won’t let anything get in the way of my mission.

With Jayson’s ship in my crosshairs, I pull the trigger, sending a three burst shot from my photon canon at him. Jayson barrel rolls to the right, avoiding two of the blasts, but is clipped by the third. The light green shield deployed around his ship shimmers then disappears, but doesn’t fail. I’ll have to keep up the barrage if I want to bring his ship’s shielding down.

“Is that the best you got, Alex?” Jayson teases over the comms, his voice sounding so close in my helmet, he could be whispering in my ear.

“Not even close,” I say, teeth gritted together.

Jayson just chuckles as I push my throttle forward, putting my ship into overburn and closing the distance between us. He bobs and weaves through space, but my crosshairs never lose him. They don’t call me “Surefire” for nothing. I send another three burst shot at him and anticipate his barrel roll, but not the dip he performs after. Still, two more shots smash into his shielding, causing it to flicker for a second.

“Stop dancing with your boyfriend, Sergeant!” General McVoy yells over the comms. “Take him out. Now!”

Deciding it’s time to bring out the big guns, I power up my crimson laser. It’ll take time to fully charge, but it should be up by the time I’ve taken his shields out. With any luck, this new weapon will be able to cut through his secondary shield and his ship will be nothing more than floating debris.

I turn my nose downward, chasing after him again, and pull my yolk to the left, anticipating his change of direction. The planet Draxas seems to float from the left side of my canopy to the right side as I bring his ship back into the line of fire. Another pull of the trigger, another three shot blast. Jayson manages to pull up, dodging all three and I let out a groan of frustration.

An automated female voice comes over my comms, audible only to me.

“Crimson laser at fifty percent,” it says.

“If you’re not able to get him,” says another voice, one that sends annoyance shivering up my body and I know will send fury into Jayon’s heart, “I’ll come out there and do it for you.”

Jayson lets out an over-the-top laugh. “You couldn’t hit me if I was standing still, Chum,” Jayson says, and I can’t help but smile.

“It’s Chuum, Kramer,” says Chuum, emphasizing the pronunciation “choom”, his voice radiant with anger.

“Enough,” says General McVoy. “Riggs, take him out. Now!”

Yeah, because I haven’t been trying this whole time. Whatever.

Ahead of me, I see Jayon’s shield pulse. It’s recharging. It’s now or never. I push the yolk forward, dipping my nose, feigning, and Jayson notices. He falls right into my trap. He pulls up and I quickly follow, pulling the trigger.

“Crimson Laser at one hundred percent,” says the robotic voice.

All three photon cannon blasts slam into Jayson’s shield. It flickers for a moment before rippling and flashing, disappearing as it fails. Half a heartbeat later, a blue shield appears around his ship, but he’s stuck in position. He can’t hold this shield and fly the ship at the same time.

If the crimson laser doesn’t bring this shield down, his ship’s shields will recharge, he’ll drop this shield, and will be mobile again.

I flip the switch on the side of the yolk, switching my weapon to the crimson laser, make sure he’s dead center of my crosshairs, and pull the trigger. My ship is thrown backwards by the force of the blast as a scarlet ray of light bursts from the nose of my ship and slams into the shield.

Jayson’s voice screams over the comms and time slows to an uneasy crawl. Jayson’s shield grows brighter and brighter before exploding in a shower of stars. The crimson laser penetrates the hull of his ship, searing it into two. The nuclear cores of the ship overheat and explode in a fireball that is quickly eaten up by the vacuum of space, leaving nothing but charred remains of Jayson’s ship.

“Jayson, come in,” I say. My heart beats slower than it should as dread begins to creep up inside me. He isn’t…he can’t be…

“Leiutenant Kramer,” says the General, “report in.”

Silence over the comms.

“Jayson, I swear to God, if this is a joke…” I begin, but a lump in my throat cuts off my words. I look at the wreckage of his ship, wondering if there’d be anything left of his body floating in the debris.

Then, laughter erupts out over the comms and I recognize his voice.

“I’m sorry,” he says, still laughing. “I couldn’t help myself.”

“You’re a fucking asshole!” I shout, slamming my hand on an empty piece of the console. “I thought you’d died.”

“Please,” he says, and I can see him in my mind’s eye, waving his hand nonchalantly and rolling his eyes, “what’s the use of being able to teleport if I can’t leave before my ship explodes?”

“Well, well, well,” says General McVoy. “I’d say we can call the Crimson Laser Project a success. It can successfully destroy the shield of our most powerful psionic.”

Chuum scoffs over the comms. There’s no real indication it’s him, but I know it is.

“Sergeant Riggs, return to base and give your boyfriend a slap across the face for that stunt.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” I say eagerly, pointing my ship toward the space station orbiting above Draxas and pushing my throttle to its max.

 

***

 

Once I’ve landed and debarked my ship, I pass through the airlock to find Jayson standing on the other side. My fury at his joke fades immediately when I see him. He’s standing under a light in the dimly light corridor, the rays catching his brilliantly fire red hair. His bottle green eyes seem to glow as he smiles at me, the red stubble more pronounced in this lighting.

Though I’m not actually angry at him, I don’t want to let him get away with it, so I walk up to him and punch him hard in the shoulder. Before I can pull away, he catches my wrist, pulls me into his chest, and presses his lips to mine. I melt into him as he wraps his arms around my body.

“I thought I’d lost you for a moment there,” I say when we break apart.

“Please. You think I’m going to leave this world without you?” he asks. “Never.”

I kiss him again, having to push myself up on my tiptoes to reach him since he’s at least six inches taller than me.

“Ugh, get a fucking room!” I hear from behind Jayson.

We both turn to see Kate Philton, my best friend. Her short black pixie cut is adorned with two paperclip-shaped hair clips that hold back her incredible short bangs, which don’t reach her eyes anyway.

“Please, you’d love to watch this,” Jayson says, griding his pelvis against mine.

“Well, the room could always be mine,” she says with a wink. “You know I love watching two hot dues get it on.”

“You’re disgusting,” I say, pushing Jayson back. “Both of you.”

“The Gen wants to see you in Command,” says Kate. “Chum is there.”

Jayson smiles mischievously at Kate’s use of his humiliating nickname for Sergeant Chuum. Chum being the chopped up fish parts discarded and used for bait on fishing boats. The nickname spread throughout the station and at least two thirds of its inhabitants use it. I don’t particularly like the guy, but he might not be so inclined to be horrible to us if Jayson hadn’t started the trend.

“I gotta go,” I say to Jayson. “I’ll meet you later?”

“We have our shower scheduled for today,” he says in a slightly singsong way. “Don’t forget.”

I smile at him and turn to head toward Command, located at the center of the station on the upper floor. My thoughts aren’t on my report, though, but rather what Jayson had said.

There are nearly one hundred people who live on this station. Most of us are soldiers but there are doctors, scientists, engineers, mechanics, and tacticians, among other jobs like cooks and janitors. But Jayson and I are two of the only four openly gay men on the station. And to boot, we’re the only two openly gay soldiers. I’m sure there are more, but if there are, they’re not letting anyone know.

At first, it wasn’t a big deal, us being gay. The guys would let us shower with them and the Aggregated Earthen Forces, or AEF, didn’t care about same-sex relationships. After all, the military had long gotten tired of trying to chase the men and women apart. In the end, as long as everyone was being careful, it was just do what you want.

But then Chuum came and made a big fuss. He swore Jayson and I were checking him out in the showers. And, yeah, maybe our eyes did wander sometimes, but we couldn’t help it. We’d never made any advances at the other guys, groped them, or openly checked them out. Just a quick glance here and there. Most of the guys didn’t care, but those who did had an advocate, someone who spoke up first and that they could rally behind.

Now, Jayson and I had to schedule our own shower time. Other guys would sometimes come in there with us, the ones who couldn’t care less if we were openly staring at their dicks, mouths agape, but it rarely happened. I don’t miss seeing the other guys naked, but I miss the camaraderie in the locker rooms, the playful joking and towel snapping. There’s just something about being around a bunch of dudes, all of us naked and vulnerable and being able to just be ourselves. Not because they’re hot—and some of them are—but because it strengthened our ranks.

This is the main reason Jayson hates Chuum. He was the seed that allowed homophobia, no matter how small that group actually is, to change our dynamics. Personally, I don’t blame the guy. I can see how it would be uncomfortable to be looked at by someone you’re not attracted to and have to be naked and wet, covered in soap around them. Having them ogle you, whether we did that or not, and possibly store mental images for their spank banks later.

I’m not paying attention to where I’m going, so when the automatic door to Command opens and I walk inside, I crash right into him. He’s taller than I am, though not as tall as Jayson. His jet black hair is always quaffed so perfectly, as though he’s expecting someone to ask him if he’s ever modelled before. He looks down at me, squinting, making him look more Asian than he already does, being half Asian and half Caucasian.

“Watch where you’re going, Sergeant,” Chuum spits out.

I roll my eyes openly at him. He’s a Sergeant too, but he acts like he’s better than me. Whether it’s because his psionic power is more useful, because he’s taller than me, or because I’m gay, I have no idea.

“Screw you, Chuum,” I say. I don’t use Jayson’s nickname for him. I just find it ridiculous. We’re adults, not middle schoolers. “Maybe don’t stand right in front of the door?”

I push past him and walk up to General McVoy. Though he’s the shortest man on the station, at 5’4”, three inches shorter than me, McVoy exudes authority, making him seem much taller than I am.

“Now, now, Sergeant Chuum, Sergeant Riggs is right. You can’t blame him for running into you when you’re standing on the other side of a closed door, now can you?”

“No, sir,” Chuum says aggravatedly.

Why in the universe McVoy chose Chuum, of all people, as his assistant is beyond everyone on the station. In fact, Chuum had been transferred here for this very purpose. Not for the first time, I wonder if McVoy knows that Chuum is the one who started the homophobic grumblings that caused Jayson and me to have our own shower time. If he does, he didn’t assign himself a new assistant, even though McVoy has been on our side since the beginning.

“Now, Riggs,” says the General, turning to me. “I would say that was a successful test, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I do, sir,” I say. “Although, if Jayson would have just stayed in one position, the test wouldn’t have lasted so long.”

“I agree, but his orders were to evade your attacks. We needed to test the weapon against a psionic shield using similar-to-life battle conditions. You’re the only man who could have gotten those shots off.”

“I could have taken him down in a quarter of the time,” says Chuum.

General McVoy turned to Chuum, a bored look on his face. “Son, you only hit Kramer twice out of nearly two hundred rounds in the simulation. How do you think real life would be any better?”

That shut Chuum up.

“Do you have any reports to pass along to the engineers?” McVoy asked me, his expression returning to neutral.

“I do. If it’s possible to decrease the charge up time, that would be useful. Especially if we’re facing several Xarax with shielding capability and need to fire more than once.”

“They are working on a supplementary charging capacitor that might enable multiple shots back-to-back, as well as the ability to adjust how much of the charge is emitted during a single shot, but so far, no luck. Nothing but full power of the crimson laser is able to even affect a psionic shield of Kramer’s creation, and some Xarax are stronger than he is.”

“They have had much more time to develop their psionic abilities than we have, sir,” I say fairly.

The Xarax are an alien race we encountered just after humans took to space. Once we figured out how to travel faster than light by bending gravity and essentially reducing the distance between two spots, we began travelling outside our solar system and began looking for new worlds to conquer. Unfortunately, we ran into a Xarax ship who ruthlessly destroyed our envoys.

That was in the year 2225. Now, nearly three hundred years later, we’ve colonized many parts of our galaxy and, other than the Xarax, have encounter no other intelligent life. We had signed a peace treaty with them a hundred years ago, but the Xarax broke it four years ago, when Jayson and I joined up. Apparently, humanity’s decision to allow psionics into the ranks of the military is what sparked the Xarax’s decision to turn on us.

“I will let the engineering team know. You’re dismissed, Sergeant,” said McVoy. He turned and looked out the dome window, surveying the paradise planet, Draxas.

I turned and glanced at Chuum. He was giving me a weird look, the one he always gives me. His eyebrows turned in like he’s angry, but his eyes soft as he looks into mine. The corner of his mouth turned in a smirk.

Knowing the General isn’t looking, I flip him off and leave Command.

 

***

 

When I enter the locker room, I find Jayson already sitting on a bench, wearing nothing but his underwear. His back is against the wall, one foot on the floor, the other flat on the bench as he thumbs through his phone.

I don’t say anything to him as I walk to my locker and swing the door open, looking at myself in the mirror.

Fair skin, blonde hair, blue eyes. My only discerning feature is a short but deep scar on my left cheek, a souvenir of a car accident back on Earth that took the life of my sister. My brother, who’d been drunk driving, went to jail for it, as my sister wasn’t the only casualty.

“You’re wearing too many clothes,” Jayson says in my ear. I spin around to find him less than an inch from me and the images of that day vanish as I look into his eyes.

He puts a hand against my chest and shoves me against the locker before smashing his mouth into mine, rough and wet. His tongue probes between my lips, which open dutifully to accept it. I let a moan escape my throat and he swallows it as he presses his crotch into mine.

Jayon puts his hands up behind my back and pulls my shirt off, separating us for only a moment before pulling me back to him. I can feel his hard cock pressing into the front of my pants and I reach down, slipping my hand under the elastic band to wrap around his firm length.

I gasp every time I grab his cock. Nine inches long, thick, and uncut, it’s the perfect example of what a cock should be. I stroke him down and he lets out a soft gasp, pulling from my mouth, but pressing our foreheads together. His breathing quickens as I stroke him, our eyes locked.

Without breaking eye contact, Jayson reaches forward and undoes my belt before pushing my pants and briefs down as one. I take only a second to push my shoes and socks off before kicking the rest of my clothing to the side.

He looks down and smiles.

My dick isn’t bad, but it’s nothing like his. Six inches long, slimmer than his, and circumcised. I wish my parents hadn’t cut me. There’s something about uncut cock I just can’t resist, but Jayson loves mine. He reaches between my legs and cups my balls as I stroke him a little faster, gripping a little tighter.

“I want to feel your cock in my throat,” he says. I don’t say anything, just let him do his thing.

He slowly drops to his knees and grips my cock in his hand, his gorgeous green gaze goring into my soul. He starts moving in, much too slow for my taste, but I know he’s teasing me and if I complain, he’ll tease me harder, taking longer to give me what I want.

Though it’s mere seconds, it feels like an eternity before his tongue touches the head of my cock, licking it up the side of its length before moving to the underside and swiping along the glans. I let out a moan as pleasure radiates up my body. That soft moan turns into a groan of ecstasy as, without warning, he plunges down on my cock, taking me all the way into his throat. He sucks hard, pulling back and slamming his face into my pelvis.

“Oh, fuck, Jayson,” I moan, tangling my fingers through his hair.

He let’s out a “Mmmmm,” around my cock, the vibrations sending shockwaves up my body.

I take half a step forward and swing my leg up, planting my foot on the bench, angle myself downward, and start fucking his throat. Jayson’s hand clamps around my balls, and I shudder as he bounces them around his hand.

I freeze when I hear the door open, my cock still buried balls deep in Jayson’s throat and glance over my shoulder.

“Whoops,” says David Crane, another Sergeant, “sorry dudes. Left my phone in my locker.”

Jayson pulls off me to breathe as David walks over to his locker, completely unperturbed by us and pulls his phone out before heading back for the door. He looks back at us and smiles.

“Have fun, boys,” he says, and leaves the room.

“Did that make you harder?” Jayson asks, gripping my cock again. I think he’s right. Something about Crane catching us in the act has me hot and bothered. Well, a little more than I was before.

Jayson stands up, his hand still on my cock. He swipes his thumb over the tip, coating it in precum, then brings it up to his tongue and licks it off. I can see the thick slick line on his tongue as he moves in and kisses me. The taste of my own precum sends me wild.

“Your turn,” I say, pushing him against the locker now. As I sink to my knees, I grab his briefs and pull them off, letting him kick them to the side.

I grip his cock in my hand and don’t look up at him as he did me, wishing to admire his beautiful cock in my hand. Though I have fairly large hands, it looks small wrapped around his meat. I lean forward, having no desire to deprive him or me of this pleasure, and nibble on the foreskin gently, pressing my teeth into it.

I feel his body tense in front of me as he lets out a hiss of pleasure and can immediately smell the precum leaking from his cock. I take the head into my mouth, letting my tongue probe for the opening of the foreskin, and slide my tongue into the folds. He lets out a gasp as I swirl my tongue around, smoothing the precum over the head.

“Goddamn it,” he gasps. I finally look up at him and am awed by his expression. His eyes wide in absolute amazement, his lips parted in lust. I suck, pulling the precum from the foreskin and pull back, stretching it. As it pulls away from the head of his cock, his mouth opens wider, an airless breath escaping him that turns into a sharp moan when the skin slips from my lips and snaps back to his body.

I move away from him, my body aching for his touch, and lay back on the bench, my body along its length, my head hanging over the side. It’s the only way I can take the whole thing. He moves into position and lines it up with my throat.

“Soft and gentle, or rough and wild?” he asks.

“Give it to me rough,” I say with an almost animal-like growl.

His eyes twinkle as I open my mouth, stretching my throat, and taking a big deep breath in.

He plunges in, straight down, his balls resting on my nose and begins fucking my throat hard and fast. I’m sucking and pooling as much saliva into my mouth as I can.

“Squeeze your throat for me, baby,” he says, and I oblige, constricting the muscles in my throat around him. He lets out a groan as I clamp on him and it’s all so hot, I have to touch myself. I reach down and grab my cock, already slick from his saliva and the precum that’s gushing from my slit. I stroke myself, knowing he’s enjoying the show.

“Fuck yeah, stroke that cock,” he says, voice husky as he fucks my face. “I want to see you cum.”

He won’t have to wait long. I’m so turned on, so ready to bust, I can barely hold back. As my orgasm builds, I feel my balls tighten close to my body and I quake, my throat opening and closing around his shaft as I explode, shooting rope after rope of hot, sticky cum onto my body.

Jayson pulls out of me, leaving me gasping. He reaches forward and swipes my cum off my chest and stomach. I sit up as he rubs my cum over his cock, then grabs me with his other hand, pushing me over to lean over the bench.

“I’m going to fuck you with your own load,” he says.

We fuck regularly enough that he doesn’t need to stretch me out. Even still, he spits on my hole, sending a shiver up my spine before lining up his cock and pushing inside. He slips in so easily, the burn is there for less than a second. Then he puts his hand on my back, pushing my face into the bench and fucks me.

Time loses all meaning as he pounds into my ass, angled so his cock pushes that magical button deep inside me. I’m a moaning, sloppy, tangled mess of fiery nerves. Though I couldn’t cum again to save my life, my cock is already leaking precum again, the soft mass swinging back and forth by the furious pounding rocking my body.

Jayson reaches forward, gripping my shoulders and pulling me back. I keep my back arched forward as he fucks me harder, the sounds of our bodies slapping together reverberating off the walls of the empty locker room.

“You like this fucking cock, don’t you?” he asks.

“Fuck…yes…” I gasp out.

“Who’s hole is this?” he asks with a predatory growl.

“Yours!” I shout as he slams full force into my prostate. “All yours,” I add, almost weeping with the pure blinding pleasure I feel.

I bend farther back, until my back is flush with Jayson’s chest. He wraps one arm around my stomach, the other up under my armpit until his hand closes around my throat. He stands, supporting my weight, bouncing me up and down on his cock as easily as if I were a ragdoll.

I can do nothing but take his cock, reveling in this new experience. My head falls sideways, so my ear is against his mouth. His hot, heavy breaths run over my ear as I bounce up and down on him.

“I’m so close,” he says.

“Don’t stop,” I beg, “don’t ever fucking stop.”

But all good things must come to an end, even this very, very good thing. With a final slam on top of him, I feel his cock swell inside me and he fills me up, his body shaking as his orgasm rockets through him, and he shoots an absolute fuck ton of cum deep inside me.

We sink as one onto the bench, his cock still buried inside me, but he releases my throat. I turn my head around and we kiss gently.

“That was fucking incredible,” I say, my words slurred, drunk on love and lust.

“Our best ever, I’d say.”

I pull off him and immediately feel his cum dripping from my gaping hole. As it runs down my leg, I remember it’s my cum up there, too. That thought turns me on just as much as what we did.

“I think it’s time for a shower,” he says, grabbing me by the hand and leading me toward the other room.

I look down at my cock, hard again and ready.

“And maybe even round two,” he says. I smile at him as he pulls me over to one of the shower heads and turns on the water.

---

Author's Note:

If you haven't read my other story, Beyond the Veil, or don't care about it, you can skip this author's note without missing much. To everyone else, I wanted to explain why I'm not posting on that story anymore.

The answer is simple, really. I've just lost my inspiration for it. I've been trying to push through, but I think it's impacting my writing with it. And every time I try to write for it, I just can't. I just don't feel passion for the story anymore and as a result, I haven't been writing at all. I miss writing so much and have felt like there's a hole in my life I've been wanting to desperately fill. So, I'm moving on to this story. I do intend to start writing on Beyond the Veil at some point in the future. The exact date is a mystery, even to me. There are a few things with the story I want to work out. When I do get my inspiration back for it, I'm going to trade off weeks. So, one week I'll update Beyond the Veil and the next, I'll update Secrets Among the Stars.

In the meantime, if anyone has burning questions about Beyond the Veil, I do know quite a bit about what's coming up in the story and am willing to answer questions. My emails are always open and I try to check them regularly.

That said, I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it. I've already got the first two chapters written out, so expect the next chapter to be up this upcoming Tuesday and every Tuesday after that.

Thank you for sticking with me through this time. I sincerely appreciate you all!

-Ottie