![[I saw three ships]](../img/2009icon.png)
“Tianna, it’s hot in here.” Zoe pulled off her leather vest and yanked at the hem of her blouse, dragging it over her head, tossing both garments on the hammock strung up in the corner of the engine room. Clad in a tank top, skin gleaming, she stood with her hands on hips and surveyed the area with a baleful glare.
“Yeah, reckon it is,” Kaylee said, grimacing ruefully from the other side of the steaming, clanking mass of metal tanks, gears, and pipes. Her face was smudged and hair hung in damp tendrils. “I get so’s I don’t much notice it.” She too was wearing only a tank top above her cargo pants. “We gave her quite a workout gettin’ away from that Alliance scout.” She clapped a hand affectionately on the machinery. “We strained her, but she didn’t let us down.” She stroked the dull steel like another woman might caress silk or satin.
“How’s it coming along in here?” Mal, looking a mite frayed, strode into the small room and glanced from First Mate to Engineer. “Sooner we get this settled, quicker we’re dirtside with the others. And I, for one, am hankering after a hot shower and cold Tsingtao.”
“Well, Cap’n, we’ve been tryin’ to get this compressor out, so’s I can take it with me to the salvage yard, but we’re waitin’ for the engine to stop. She’s a little amped up and it’s taking a while—an’ it’s too hot to handle.” Kaylee squatted down and squinted into the engine. She slid a hand in, then yanked it back out with a yelp. Mal and Zoe started forward, Mal’s long stride taking him quicker around the machinery to Kaylee’s side. He grasped her wrist and saw red blisters on her fingertips and palm. “Zoe, grab some ice,” he instructed, drawing Kaylee to her feet. As Zoe disappeared out the doorway, Kaylee looked at her own hand and winced, yet said, “It ain’t nothin’, Cap. I get these every day of the week.” She was biting her lip, though, and tears in her eyes were wetting her lashes and spilling onto her cheeks. She took a long sniff and shook the hand out, then yelped again and staggered against Mal. He grabbed her with both arms and held her against his body as Zoe rounded in and up to them, holding a cloth bag. Quickly but gently she laid the dripping bag against Kaylee’s damaged hand. Kaylee gasped “Aaaaaa-ohhhhhh!” and her eyelids fluttered. Pressed between her crewmates, her body went limp, but they held her strong.
“Now be still, Kaywinnet,” Mal commanded, but soothingly. “Let that do the trick.” Kaylee nodded. “Feels better already,” she murmured, still leaning against Mal’s strong frame. She could feel the throbbing of her hand slow to a dull burn, her breath slowing, the clutch in her belly loosening. She became aware of Zoe’s rough fingers around her wrist, a warm softness pressed against her arm, the scent of almonds overpowering the smell of burning oil and hot metal. Suddenly dizzy, her legs staggered and she lurched against Mal and heard him grunt, his arms tightening around her. With a gasp of concern, Zoe pressed closer, and the three of them seemed to hang in the balance, holding each other up through sheer force of will.
Her brain clearing, Kaylee felt her legs firm and her hand cool, but the heat and weakness seemed to merge in the middle, turning her nether regions all liquid-y. She arched her back and pushed her rear against Mal, and felt his response—he pressed back, and reached around her to clasp Zoe tighter to the two of them. Zoe jerked back, then sighed, and pressed forward. Her head lowered, and her lips found Kaylee’s cheek, then slid down. Kaylee’s head dropped back against Mal’s chest, baring herself to Zoe’s soft, warm mouth—now lapping along her jawline, nibbling along her collarbone, sucking gently at the notch at the base of her throat. She could feel the sweat sliding between her breasts, mingling with engine oil, and the cold hard lump of melting ice pressed against her ribs. Behind her, Mal groaned and shifted, then bent his head down to nuzzle her hair and rub his lips across her temples. His arms moved against her sides as he slid his hands up Zoe’s back, reaching up to pull the leather thong from her hair, releasing it and running his hand through—then down her back, clasping her buttocks, all of this pressing them closer, tighter together. The slow chunking of the engine, the sweaty heat, Zoe’s throaty humming, Kaylee’s gasping and sighing all rose to a crescendo, when, with a CRACK! the engine stopped, the air shuddered, and the three jumped apart with a start, the ice bag thunking to the ground between them.
They stared at each other, in dawning realization. “Wha-! Uh! Ohh, uh….” Mal began to expostulate, waving his hands around meaninglessly. Zoe shook her head as if to clear it, springy locks bouncing, then rubbed her hands over her face, looking sardonically through her fingers at Mal’s discomfort.
Kaylee stood cradling her injured hand, her glance moving between them, at first dazed, then a with dawning smile. The erotic heat evaporated from her body, which filled instead with a feeling of loving warmth for these fine, fun, friends, who could have a romp with no hurt feelings, and keep on going forward. As if by association of ideas, her eyes shot to her beloved ship’s engine, now stilled and slowly cooling, then to the floor in front of her. “Hey! Here we go!” she sang out. With her good hand she scooped up the sagging bag of ice, and turned to the engine. Deftly, she slid the bag between the fan and pump, onto the troubling compressor. “Just a minute and we’ll have her out of there, and we’ll be off to our showers and beer!”
Zoe grinned and went over to help her. Mal stopped his handwaving and watched the two of them, lingeringly, as they bent over the engine, pointing and planning how to lever the part out of there—Zoe, so sure and strong; Kaylee, animated and happy—and thanked his lucky stars.
![[fin]](../img/2009banner.png){kind=small}