Astrophysical (completed)

Chapter 11

A month had passed after the Walker incident, and everything had returned to normal. Everyone had healed up and adjusted back to jobs here and there though now they were in a small dry spell. No one had jobs at their previous ports and so now they were just traveling peacefully to the next one hoping for work. Having the stress levels down worked to Cassie's advantage though because it meant Ash had been paying her more attention.

That was why she woke up one morning to the small movements of Ash's fingers tracing down her arms and his lips pressing gently against her neck and shoulder. Cassie stirred a little and began to turn her head towards him, except he in turn deepened the kiss on her neck which caused her instead to moan softly. He stopped and let her turn over to face him, his arms wrapping around her waist as she did so.

"I'm beginning to realize why you enjoyed teasing me so much before you woke me up," Ash said smiling. "Morning, by the way."

"How do you have so much energy these days?" she asked while she felt her eyelids still trying to droop close.

He grinned broadly and then kissed her collar bone gently at first until he began making his way back up to her lips. When he pulled away, he said with a broad smile, "I think all this time with you has got me energized. That or the excitement of being with you has."

He then proceeded to kiss her in all the parts that excited her nerves. His lips trailed along her skin, pausing in places he knew could garner a better response from her while her hands gently ran through his hair and gripped his shoulders. While he was gently sucking on her collarbone again, his communicator went off on the nearby table.

"Hey Captain, something's come up," Matt said through the link.

Ash proceeded to ignore the call and met Cassie's lips again causing her to moan slightly and hold onto him tighter.

"Ash quit making love to Cassie and answer me; this could be an emergency!" Matt shouted through the communicator.

Pulling away from her, which she even admitted was disappointing, she watched him reach for the device and then activate it saying, "Alright I'm here. What's going on?"

Cassie waited to hear Matt's next joke but to her surprise, his voice was serious as he replied, "We're coming upon what looks like some wreckage of a ship. By the looks of it, I would say it's the Diva. Looks like it hasn't been like that long, so I thought if you clear it, we could go aboard and see if we can find some traces of what happened or see if anyone's on board."

Ash shifted a little bit, so he was lying on his back. Cassie followed and pressed against his chest. "Sounds like we should check it out then," he said.

"Which means you need to get up here and pilot while I go out and search," Matt replied. Ash groaned and ran his hand through his hair. "Tell Cassie you'll make it up to her and get up here."

Ash glanced down at Cassie who pouted. He sighed but kissed her forehead as he made the move to sit up. She instead lay back down on his pillow and curled up in his side of the bed while he got up and began to quickly get dressed.

After he left, she continued to stay in the bed sheets for a while trying to soak up the warmth and doze off again. When she finally got dressed and went out, she made her way towards the control room only to pause temporarily at the site of the atrium where nearly all the other crew members were suited up and waiting to go outside. She tilted her head in confusion but continued towards the control room.