Diell Breaker (LGBT- Sci-Fi - Romance)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8 

Ohmigod! He'd almost gone ahead and had sex with a random stranger! That was so not like him. 

Or ... was it a stranger? A terrible cold feeling began to seep through him. Was someone playing an almighty cosmic joke on him? He had to get away fast, before either of them found out for certain.  

"Not here!" he whispered hoarsely. "I'll meet you round the back. Please go, now!"  

The other man hesitated for a second but didn't stop. He had just managed to finally get one hand inside Petrov's jeans and took hold of him, not roughly but not too gently either. He was breathing hard. "It'll be all right. No-one will see us here," he persuaded. 

By all rights Petrov reflected, with the thoughts currently going though his head, he should have been going down like a punctured balloon but his arousal wasn't going anywhere. It seemed very happy where it was. He grabbed the other man's wrist with one hand and reached up with the other to push him away, hoping he couldn't tell how much his hands were shaking. "No! Please! Let's move to the back." He kept his voice in an undistinguishable whisper. 

He could hear the teasing smile in the other man's voice as he reluctantly surrendered. "Fine then, my beautiful prude, don't keep me waiting." He kissed him one last time and vanished silently around the back of the Three Suns. Petrov fled as fast as he could run in the opposite direction, heading straight for the spaceport and the safety of the shuttle. He had to be wrong! He just had to be! 

It wasn't until he reached the shuttle when it dawned on him that, just as he had mistaken the other man for someone else, so must the man who had kissed him. He wondered who he had been expecting to meet. 

He went quickly into the restroom at the spaceport and gave himself the once over to make sure he wasn't showing any signs of having been ruthlessly kissed and groped just minutes before. He made sure his pants were buttoned the right way. His eyes had a wild look in them but apart from that he thought he was safe. He sat down in the shuttle and pretended to doze, hoping desperately it would depart soon, before anyone else got there. He really didn't think he could manage a coherent conversation. 

About ten minutes later Shehu came into the shuttle. Luckily he was accompanied by two crewmen who occupied his attention while Petrov bent over and pretended to do something to his boots. He could feel he had gone bright red when he saw the other man. Just the memory of what he thought they had done was overwhelming. He knew Shehu was straight, why on Earth had he been so willing to believe he was making a heavy pass at him? And he had been so ready for it. God he was an idiot. He made himself count to ten before sitting up, giving himself an excuse for the flushed face, then told them about Aslanian. That provided a safe topic of conversation until four more men arrived and the shuttle was full and able to take off. 

XXX 

He didn't sleep well at all that night, his mind replaying the events of that evening over and over. 

The next day he volunteered to go down to the planet to work with the team which was collecting and preparing the animals for transport on the Voyager. He really needed some time away by himself, away from the rest of the Diell's crew. He had to try and get his head around what had happened last night, then preferably pack it away somewhere out of sight if not entirely out of mind. He needed to be able to face Shehu again without freaking out.  

He worked hard all day, returning to the Diell that evening with a pleasant sense of fatigue and accomplishment. He was looking forward to his dinner and an early night. All that was instantly shattered, by a call to attend the Captain in his quarters immediately.  

He took several deep breaths before flashing his ID outside the Captain's door. 

"Come in Petrov," Farrell remained behind his desk. "Have a seat," he invited rather stiffly. 

Petrov sat down feeling as if he had a host of those flying insects they had seen yesterday in his stomach. What did the Captain want to talk about? 

The Captain was fiddling with something on his desk. He cleared his throat as if he was nervous for some reason, "Uh, can you tell me what happened yesterday? With Aslanian?" he added hastily. 

He told him what had happened, for the second time. He had already told him this the day before but he went carefully over the sequence of events again. His heart sank as he realised the Captain wasn't meeting his eyes properly, just casting brief glances at him, then looking down. He wished desperately he was somewhere else, how much longer was this going to last? 

Suddenly the Captain stood up. "That's all I wanted to know, you can go, Lieutenant." 

Surprised and relieved, Petrov got to his feet. "Thank you sir." He walked quickly to the door, eager to escape before he changed his mind. But he was too late. 

"It was you, wasn't it?" the voice came from just behind him. 

He turned slowly around to see Farrell standing there, his arms crossed defensively in front of his broad chest. 

"Sorry?" he pretended ignorance. 

"It was you, wasn't it?" he demanded again, his face grim. "Why did you do it?" 

"Do what?" Petrov was genuinely confused. He wasn't going to answer until Farrell explained himself. 

The Captain frowned harder at him. "Why did you set me up?" he asked aggressively, coming closer, looming over him. 

Petrov was speechless with sheer disbelief for a second before outraged anger came to his aid and freed his tongue.  

"Set you up? Excuse me! I wasn't the one who kissed me and had his hand in my pants!" 

A muscle twitched in the Captain's jaw. "I'm not admitting anything!" 

"Fine! I wasn't the one who brought it up! I was going to try and forget it ever happened. It was obviously a mistake, pure and simple!" 

"What do you mean, a mistake?" The Captain was still intimidatingly close. 

"Evidently you were expecting to meet someone ... else, and I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I certainly wasn't expecting you!" Petrov held his ground, refusing to take a step back. 

"Who were you expecting?" the question popped out, surprising them both. 

"That's none of your business!" Both men glared at each other. 

He could see the Captain mentally going through the list of possibilities and coming up blank. There weren't supposed to be any other oms on the Diell. He could tell the Captain couldn't decide whether to believe him or not. 

Petrov had the last word. "If that's all, sir, I'll get back to my dinner." He turned and left.