Page 3 of There's an Elf in My Cockpit

Though moments ago it had been the last thing I wanted, I did the only thing I could think of now. “Oh, shit,” I exclaimed and I spun around and ducked back into the stranger’s shuttle. I could only hope that they hadn’t seen me.

Chapter 2

Oliver

I was just about to introduce myself to the sexy elf when she caught me completely off-guard once more. With a curse, she rushed back into the Vagabond’s shuttle and out of sight, leaving me standing on the grass strip with her sack of goods. The boys were rapidly closing the distance between me and the shuttle, which meant I was quickly running out of alone time with her.

What the hell was she up to anyway? I was starting to think she was some kind of spy, but if so, she was really terrible at it. There was no reason anyone would be spying on us either, especially not the boys and me. The gladiators had defeated one Crimelord a year ago but they’d laid low ever since, nobody was after them, or us.

I followed her back inside, ready to drop the flirtations and give her a piece of my mind. She was in the middle of the ship, her arms wrapped around her middle, her long blonde hair shielding her face as she gazed at the floor. “Sorry!” she said the moment she saw me, “I dropped an earring. It was my mom’s, I need to find it!”

The lie was obvious, she hadn’t been desperately searching for anything, but my senses were on high alert for a different reason now. No, she wasn’t a clumsy spy. She was suddenly terrified out of her mind, I could hear the tremble in her voice and could see the way she was making herself small. Her eyes darted to the open hatch far too often; she was expecting someone to find her.

Damn it, I knew what I was about to do. I just couldn’t help myself when it came to a woman in need, it had gotten me in trouble far more often than I liked. That didn’t mean I wasn’t committed now. In two strides I was at her side, her sack dumped carelessly at her feet and my hand finding the small of her back. With a little nudge, I had her walking with me further into the shuttle, to the cockpit where I’d first found her.

“Sure, earring, why don’t you look over here, sweetheart?” I said, my tone slightly mocking so she knew I knew she’d been lying to me. “And while you’re at it, why don’t you tell me why you are hiding from that ship?” I pointed back at the hatch where I could just make out the sleek silver shape of the shuttle landing in the distance.

She winced, her bright green eyes refusing to meet mine, blunt little teeth nibbling at her lush bottom lip. Then I spotted one much sharper canine on the left, just hooking over that soft pillow, and my pants suddenly grew uncomfortably tight. What the fuck? Since when did I think a sharp little fang like that was sexy? It would be like flirting with a hint of danger if she sucked my cock. The thought of that really turned me on.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” she denied, “I’m looking for my grandma’s earring.” She put on an admirable show, shrugging away from my hand and bending down to pretend to search the impeccably clean shuttle floor. I had to yank my wayward eyes away from the sexy curve of her ass, and exposed thighs. Why was she wearing those candy cane stockings? It really was like she was attempting to flick every single one of my buttons.

“Your moms you mean?” I casually corrected her, laughing openly at how bad she was at lying, she’d already mucked up her own facts; it was freaking precious. Her face paled, eyes growing huge and startled in her beautiful, elfin face. She was starting to stammer some explanation, an excuse but she was saved this time when my group of teens thundered onto the shuttle like a herd of rhinos.

Their greetings were loud and one over the other. Only Darth standing quietly at the front, his arms crossed over his chest while he stared suspiciously at our guest whose name I still didn’t know. She had backed up, her curvy ass resting against the edge of the pilot console, her eyes huge in her face. I got that, this bunch looked rather intimidating at first glance.

Darth was the biggest, considering he was a nearly fully mature Tarkan with a pair of big leathery wings at his back. But Lirr had started to grow exceptionally large horns for a Kertinal, and with his striking hornet-like coloring, he looked just as frightening.

I only had to raise my hand in the air and slowly lower it for the whole bunch to grow silent. “Stow your gear and strap in, we’re leaving,” I said firmly. They scrambled to do as I said but their eyes were all on our mystery guest, just like me, checking out her figure. I could tell by the way Darth’s expression darkened that the oldest of the bunch had realized she was scared too. Although he probably thought she was scared of them. I knew better, they had intimidated her, but it wasn’t what was driving her fear and it was definitely spiking again at my announcement.

“I’m Oliver,” I said, and I stuck out my hand out of force of habit. She eyed it distrustfully, one arm still clutched around her middle, but her chin was coming up, those pretty green eyes sparking. “What’s your name, sweetheart?” I said gently. I had to step closer to her so I could sit myself down in the pilot’s seat and I relished the soft brush of her thigh against my hip as I moved past her.

“Oh, I’m Vi,” she said, hesitating as if she was about to give me her full name but changed her mind at the last moment. She moved a little to the side, trying to avoid having any physical contact with me but definitely not making any attempt to leave the shuttle. Her eyes lifted to the still open hatch, latching onto the just visible form of the silver shuttle. I could tell that several males were disembarking from it, all of them Elrohirian but big and rough around the edges. I didn’t like the look of them, at all.

“So, Vi, are you coming with us or not? Better strap in quick, I’m going to bet those guys aren’t about to let us leave without a chase.” Her green eyes flashed to my face, shocked and surprised which seemed to be a default right now. Poor thing.

“I’m coming,” she said firmly and I found myself imagining what she would sound like if she said those words to me in an entirely different setting. I flicked the switch to close the hatch, my eyes scanning the console to make sure everything was good to go in a practiced move. Excitement tingled through me, she was staying aboard, so I had more time to figure her out. First, I was going to show her what kind of pilot I was.

She hadn’t strapped in and it didn’t look like she was capable of moving right now, too focused on what was going on outside of the ship to take the necessary precautions. I very briefly considered asking Darth to get her to a seat but I didn’t like the thought of anyone strapping her in but me. Lifting the ship into the air with ease, I cast a look over my shoulder at the guys. Yeah, they knew she was older than them, but they were teenage boys, they recognized hot when they saw it.

“Wait, she’s coming along?” Lirr demanded, his voice warbling into sub-harmonics on the last word. “Why?” The others rushed to demand answers too, including querying Vi and finally succeeding in distracting her from staring at the hatch in fear. She wasn’t answering them yet, keeping her mouth firmly shut. Didn’t matter, I’d get it out of her as soon as I had her safe. It was obvious she was running from those males.

“Yeah, why Vi?” I chimed in with a grin. We were starting to climb and my sensors were telling me those males had rushed back to their shuttle, it was taking off after us. With a twist of my wrists, I had our shuttle swerve sharply to the right. The little elf, not safely strapped in, went tumbling straight into my lap, just as I’d planned.

“What the blazing stars!?” she yelped, and I grinned down into her face. Deftly using one hand to lengthen the straps on my seat and lock her in place with me. She struggled for a moment but subsided when she heard the wolf whistles and laughter from the peanut gallery behind us.

“You need to strap in,” I said, “We’re being followed so the flying is about to get a little rough. Say, you don’t happen to know if that ship has any guns, do you?” The shielding on the Vagabond shuttles was better than most. Da’vi, our mechanic, couldn’t help himself, he had to upgrade everything he worked on. That didn’t mean that a good shot couldn’t take out an engine or thruster if we were unlucky.

She twisted in my lap, her ass grinding against my unruly cock, to look at the viewscreens. “Definitely guns!” she said with a curse, momentarily forgetting that she was pretending not to know those guys, or that she was hiding. Or maybe she was finally being honest and giving up the ruse.

I felt excitement rush through me at the announcement. Finally, some action. The distracting little bundle in my lap wasn’t enough to break my concentration as I outmaneuvered the shuttle chasing us. I flipped the switch on the com console with one finger in between the crazy flying during our climb out of the resort planet’s atmosphere.

“Yo, Kitan,” I said when the call connected, “Or Sunder, or whoever is listening. We might be coming in hot, just saying, some assholes are chasing us out of the atmosphere.” It wasn’t going to be an issue, they were falling behind and they hadn’t fired at us yet. Maybe Vi was wrong about that sleek little shuttle having guns.

The deep rumble of our Tarkan second-in-command responded back, sounding more amused than worried when he spoke. “We see you. Chloe and Kitan are plotting an intercept course now, can you land the shuttle one on the fly in the hangar bay?” I knew what he meant. At these speeds, it would take exceptional flying skills to bring the shuttle into the bay without crashing, but it was the best way to get rid of our pesky tail. The Vagabond’s shielding was far superior to the shuttle, and the Vagabond had guns that could fire back.

I had never done the maneuver and all things considered, I hadn’t been flying for more than a year and a half. It flattered me that Sunder thought I could do it, it made me want to try. There was such a thing as too much confidence though, and this was definitely where I was at risk of that. I glanced over my shoulder at the wildly grinning teens strapped in behind me, avidly watching what I was doing. Then I looked down at the elf huddled in my lap, her green eyes on my face instead of the screens, her mouth opened a little so she no longer looked scared, she looked intrigued.

“Negative,” I said to Sunder, swallowing my pride, “Unless you want to redecorate the place, say with a giant ball of fire.” My words were met with laughter from the boys, and a sudden wide grin on my elf’s pretty face. I liked that expression much better than any of the others I’d seen so far. I smiled back at her while I continued to talk with Sunder, “I will try to shake them by flying around that moon yeah? Meet us on the other side?”

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