Pirate (LGBT - Sci-Fi - Romantic)

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty 

Both men found it hard to get to sleep that night. Connell felt guilty, even though he knew he hadn't done anything wrong. 

Mars felt as if there was a huge lump of ice where his heart had been. "Serve you right!" he told himself, trying to take refuge in anger, even if it was only at himself. "You got too cocky, too used to getting your own way. Too many easy conquests. You didn't listen when he told you he was straight, so sure you could change him." He simply hadn't been able to believe he couldn't get the one man he really wanted. 

He tried to comfort himself with memories of his numerous conquests but it didn't help. He would gladly have traded all those conquests in return for Conn's love. Conn meant more to him than exciting sex, he had snuck into his heart. He couldn't remember when he had fallen in love with him, was it that first kiss, when Conn had been thanking him for not hurting Brent or when Conn had been the first, and only, person to realise he wasn't a rapist?  

He woke after a few short hours of unrefreshing sleep. He got up, there was no way he was going to drift off again, he might as well get the Avata ready for departure. Connell at least deserved a chance for rescue before their nanobots ceased to function. 

Connell joined him shortly, casting uneasy looks in his direction. Eventually he blurted out, "You're coming with me, right? We're getting rescued together?" 

"Sure," Nick's reply was unconvincing. In any event, it soon proved a moot point. The Avata wouldn't start. 

Nick had opened the huge door to the cavern and attempted to reverse the Avata out of its dock, ready to venture back into space but absolutely nothing happened. They both tried for the next half hour but nothing worked, it appeared the space drive had died completely on them. 

Nick gave a wry laugh, "Just my luck. Stuck in space forever with the one man I can't have!" he muttered. Connell pretended he hadn't heard. He'd had an idea and wanted to check it out. 

"What about the stealth capsules? Does the Avata still have any stealth capsules?" 

"I don't know. What good would they do?" asked Mars.  

Connell was already heading out the door to check. "They have about a two hour air supply in them, more if we carry portable breathers as well." He explained as he strode along. "I'm betting the Patrol is already on the edge of the asteroid belt by now, they must have realised there's nowhere else we could be. They might even be closer if Nowak has told them the location of this base. If we got in a stealth pod, chances are the Patrol would pick us up well inside the two hours. I think it's worth the risk." 

Mars wasn't so sure. The thought of drifting helplessly in space while his air supply slowly failed sounded like a nightmare scenario. 

They reached the docking bay and Connell opened the doors to the storage unit where the stealth pods were kept. A modern patrol ship would have eight, but even a ship this size should have six, four as an absolute minimum. Four stealth pods faced him, but he could see immediately that two of them were no longer operational, their doors gaped open, the interiors stripped. He turned to Mars and summoned up an encouraging smile. "Lucky there's only two of us!" 

He ran a careful systems check on the pod in front of him while Mars did the same with the second pod. After awhile Connell stepped back. "It's fine," he said, relief showing in his voice. "How's yours?" 

There was a miniscule pause. "All okay."  

Connell pushed Mars aside to check for himself. He glared at the other man. "No it's not. The air supply is showing red. We'll simply have to get in this one together. We'll pack in as many breathers as we can. We'll be fine." He stated authoritatively. 

"All right," Nick agreed rather absently as helped Connell collect as many portable breathers as they could find. 

When they had as many as Connell thought they could squeeze into the pod, he turned to Mars. He could tell he wasn't at all keen on the idea. "We'll be fine." He repeated with an encouraging smile. "No point in hanging around, let's just do it. You get in first and I'll pack the breathers around you." 

"I don't think so Conn," Mars replied, shaking his head. "We both know there's really only room for one person to have any chance of survival in there." 

To Connell's complete bewilderment, he drew out a stunner and pointed it at him. "Don't blame me too much Conn," he said, and fired it.