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Star Fox: Inertia

Chapter 4 By Tempo

~ ~ ~

Krystal snapped her Arwing into a tight roll. Daggers of pink plasma scattered off the tangle of inertia. With the starfield spinning around her cockpit, she struggled to evade the barrage.

Behind her, the blood-red hulk of the battlecruiser turned to bear its magnetic acceleration canon.

She gripped the joystick and swung behind a jagged section of battleship keel. As she raced past the ruined decks, plasma fire blasted craters through it. Molten slag pattered against her fuselage like rain, leaving splatters of liquid steel. "Boys! I could use some help here!"

From behind a hunk of warship, three more more blinding flashes lit the eternal night of space, each accompanied by static spiked over the comm. Krystal knew that sound. Nova bombs hitting shields.

"Oh yeah!" Falco crowed over the comm channel. "Payback time!"

"Stay clear of the bow! We won't see MAC shots coming." Laser fire lit Fox's face in the display. Two more flashes, two more spikes of static. "Krystal, do you copy?"

The vixen realized the ship above her had stopped exploding and popped up from behind it to resume firing on the battlecruiser. "Watch your tail, Fox. Those anti-fighter turrets track fast."

"Somethin's wrong with the radar." Over the comm display, Falco slapped his control console. "I'm showin' movement in the debris field."

"Aim for the top deck. I might have hit the shield generator."

Dodging his Arwing through the streams of fire, Fox swooped in to strafe the ship with plasma bolts. "No good! The forcefield is holding."

A surge of fear emanated from the battlecruiser. Krystal's ears shot up. "They're going to warp!"

Falco dove at the ship and managed to draw the attention of whoever ran the turrets. "Taking heavy fire! I can't get through for a run..." Warning lights flashed in his cockpit. "Oh man, I'm gonna have to back off!"

The smiling face of a frog winked onto the HUD display, stars twinkling behind him. "Don't worry, Slippy's here!"

From the opposite side of the battlecruiser, a battered hulk burst from the debris field. The shining struts of a hover crane clung to the bow. Across its starboard gleamed green stripes and white lettering: Pleiades.

Forgotten missiles and fresh plasma ripped through its hangar bay, but the old carrier plowed on. Engines at full burn, it soared toward the battlecruiser.

Krystal caught the faint whine of hyperspace engines over the comm.

Fox's engines flashed as he boosted from the impending collision. "Break away!"

Falco's Arwing limped for a moment, then fired its boost as well.

The derelict assault carrier smashed into its target. The gleaming girders of the hover crane shattered, the hangar crumpled against the flickering yellow barrier, but, with a quiet fizzle over the comm, the shields fell. Crashing on, the_Pleiades_ rammed the center of the rust red vessel. In total silence, the ships collided, a rush of debris breaking free to tumble into the battlefield. An instant later, the battlecruiser kinked, then snapped in half, split by the wedge of the ruined carrier. Blue light crackled over the surface of both ships as the warp field wavered, then collapsed. A series of explosions swallowed the battlecruiser, launching hunks of deck plating in all directions. Blinding light sliced the void of space as the main reactor detonated, heralded only by a crackle over the radio.

Once Krystal's eyes adjusted, she could make out only a few sections of the battlecruiser that hadn't been vaporized. Rocked by the blast, the Pleiades pitched forward, tumbling in a massive slow spiral as its engines burned on.

"Yippee! We did it!" On the HUD, Slippy's marker hovered far back in the battlefield.

"Slippy, what'd ya think yer doin'?" At the edge of panic, the bird soared back in his direction. "I thought you were on that thing!"

"What? No!" Through the comm, he gave the bird a wry look. "I jumped out the airlock as soon as I got the engines on."

Zooming in on his transponder icon, Krystal found the spacesuited frog floating with his control pad. "Nicely done, Slippy!"

Falco scowled. "Ya could've told us what you were doin'."

"Not if the comm wasn't secure." Fox kept his guns trained on the wreck, even as the Pleiades sailed through its center, uglier than ever. "He made the right call. You did too, Krystal."

Around the blots of cooling steel on her canopy glass, the vixen smiled at him.

~ ~ ~

Krystal cocked an ear as she and Fox approached the avian's quarters. A continuous stream of electric guitar riffs echoed down the hall.

McCloud sniffed as they walked in the door. "Uhh! Falco, why do your quarters smell like a frat house?"

"All my beer exploded in the decompression." His beak jerked in the direction of matched holes in his floor and ceiling, both patched with foam steel. He shrugged, a drink in either hand. "What're ya gonna do?"

The vixen glanced up, down, then at the bird. "Lovely."

"Katt didn't complain. Granted, she had other things on her mind." He winked, then swept a wing at the cluster of heavy bottles on his table. "We're down to scotch or whiskey. Or one of the ones missin' a label."

"Remember, we can't all get drunk at the same time." McCloud straightened his vest and checked a status report on his comm gauntlet. "We're in unsecured space, not some Cornerian hotel."

Krystal cocked an ear. "Given their defenses, I'm not convinced there's much of a difference."

"Loosen up, will ya?" The avian crossed his wings. "We've got ROB."

"Until Slippy figures out why he keeps freezing, I wouldn't count him as sober." As they passed a music player jury-rigged into the intercom, the red fox turned down the music. "And we want to hear any alarms."

"Yer a barrel of laughs, Foxy." With a scoff, the bird led them in. He'd appointed the chamber with the dignity of a dive bar and the coherence of a garage. Various captured weapons adorned the walls, while black leather jackets ranging from sharp to simply pointy lay draped over most of the furniture.

"In spite of the beer funk, Falco, I've never seen your quarters this clean." The leader swept a gloved paw to the lack of food wrapper mountains, molted feathers, or tables made of stacked pizza boxes.

"Ya said my room wasn't gonna vacuum itself." He clucked his tongue as he pointed at Fox's chest with both index fingers. "Turns out you were wrong." His expression fell back to normal as he patted the vulpine on the back. "By the way, gonna need a cut of that sweet salvage money for new skivvies, seein' as mine got vented into space and nobody'd help me retrieve them."

Krystal strode with them across the bare deck plates. "Some things are better resigned to the void of space."

"Hey guys!" At the other end of the room, Slippy buoyed up from connecting controllers to a game console and pointed to a punch bowl of beige glop. "I found which dehydrated powders actually were pudding!" A slow bubble burped to the surface. "I think..."

McCloud sat down beside him, looked through the pile of grey game cartridges, and pulled one out. "Whoa, Dragon King Fracas? We haven't played that in a while."

"Yeah!" He croaked. "I finally unlocked all the characters."

He tossed the frog the game. "Fire it up, Slip."

With a glimmer of boyish glee, Fox and Slippy donned bulky red VR visors, while a screen showed the action, though not in 3D. Their characters bounced around the screen, trying to brawl each other off a series of platforms.

On the sofa, the avian leaned in, the hot scent of whiskey rolling from his beak. "Ya know, as the other sex symbol on the team, I get ya." He bumped her with a conspiratorial elbow. "We're both overloaded reactors of sexual energy. But we've gotta keep it contained for the sake of the team."

The vixen glanced his way, her face painted in shades of confusion. "Do you hear the things that come out of your beak? Or have even you stopped listening now?"

He gave a cool shrug. "Just sayin', whatever ya did while you were gone, I hope you got it outta yer system."

A sigh of exasperation escaped her muzzle. "Falco, what are you on about?"

His fingers spread at her from around his glass. "Panther."

"Panther Caroso? His idea of flirtation is gunning for me in a dogfight." She propped a hand on her hip and swept the other at the avian. "He's like a shady, slutty version of you."

His feathers puffed in a ruffle. "Hey, I get around!"

"Don't lie to an empath, Falco. Who do you think reports your lack of a sex life to Katt?"

His crest fell and wings crossed. "Look, just don't break up with Fox, okay?"

"Awww, you care about his feelings." She patted his shoulder.

"Of course I do!" The bird gaze dropped as he swirled his drink. "He's even less fun when you're gone."

~ ~ ~

Hours later, Krystal had worn past the post-victory buzz and had even found a halfway palatable wine among Falco's mystery bottles, with which she'd plied her fellow vulpine. This resulted in Slippy's eventual victory, which resulted in the now rather toasty avian challenging the winner.

Fox plopped down beside her on the sofa.

Her fingers touched his arm, cool blue against his autumn tones, taking stock of his emotions. A little red in the ears, but not inebriated; tired, but not sleepy. She met his eyes, then glanced at the door.

"Okay guys, I think we're gonna take off for the night."

"What? C'mon!" Falco flipped his VR visor up. "Things are just gettin' good!"

Fox stood and, with a sweet little smile, helped Krystal to her feet. She waved and faked a yawn. "Goodnight, boys."

"Night!" Slippy never looked up from game, his thumbs dancing across the controller, his character locked in melee with Falco's.

"Oh, I see how it is!" The bird laughed as the couple headed back across his quarters, paw in paw. "Yer just lucky she's into short guys, Fox."

Krystal giggled.

McCloud rolled his eyes as the doors hissed shut.

Around the corner, they boarded the lift. As the elevator thrummed downward, Krystal couldn't suppress a confession. "I do sometimes wear heels just to be taller than you."

His ears shot up. "Hey!"

"Aww." She shrugged an arm around his shoulders. "C'mere, my little foxy-woxy."

Flustered, he looked at her askance. "I'm not actually that little."

Her paw patted his crotch. "Not where it counts, anyway."

Standing ramrod straight, Fox swallowed and stammered, only to be interrupted by the opening lift.

Just as the vixen began to worry she'd been gone too fast for him, he groped her tail as they walked down the corridor. Laughter overtook them as she grabbed at his own; before long, they'd chased each other to her quarters. The door to hissed open, allowing the two merry foxes to amble in, arms around each other's shoulders. Whenever she looked at him, the warm glow to her cheeks couldn't be explained just by Falco breaking out his stash of whiskey. Mischief rose in her thoughts. "I'm not sure I buy your line about being a virgin. I've heard a lot of stories about you and Wolf O'Donnell."

"Jeez laweez." Fox threw his paws in the air. "Ya ride on a guy's wing one time to save Corneria..."

Her whiskers lifted in a smile. "In CloudRunner culture, that could count as a marriage proposal."

"We've never even been in the same room!" His tail ruffled. "I've shot down that rumor more times than I've shot down Wolf."

"You should ignore it. Anything else just encourages it." She looked him over, no doubt taking in his emotional state. "I'm glad you're okay with my being an empath. Most guys would find that intimidating."

The red fox shrugged. "We all have our quirks. I see visions of my dead father. Slippy's spirit animal is ice cream toppings. Falco once took a blow to the head and spent a week thinking he was a mobster named 'Don Falconi'."

"How adorably dangerous." She hooked her arm around his. "I shall have to watch myself around our resident gangster."

"My money's on Slippy tonight; he knows combos." McCloud chuckled. "Falco just spams a couple good moves."

"I'm afraid I agree." The vixen patted his arm as she clicked the bedside lamp on. "Not to mention our beloved bird is rather sauced. He kept prattling on about his idea for food-cube moonshine." With low lights and laughter, her quarters felt downright domestic. She flashed him a half-serious glance. "You can't let him brew that stuff, Fox."

He waved a paw, tugging off his comm gauntlets and tossing them on the sofa. "I'll just remind him he can't fly if it makes him blind."

Quiet fell between the silk-draped bulkheads. Her thoughts caught up with her. "I wanted to thank you...for what you said out there." She touched his arm, slinking close. "About my making the right call."

"Piece of cake." A wry grin ran interference for his concerned eyes. "I am being totally supportive of you risking your life for me. Yep."

"Really, Fox." Her blue-furred paw traced his chest. "I know your first instinct is to protect me."

"I've learned to trust my instincts over the years, but I can't argue with results." His paw settled on her hip. Whiskers brushed. "Or with how good you are for me."

"You're good for me, too." She leaned in close, their noses almost touching.

"I do my best." He kissed her.

With a look deep in his green eyes, she untied his scarf and let it drop to the carpet. Heart racing, she placed his paw on her jumpsuit zipper.

He slipped her out of the garment, then unsnapped her tail bands. His fingertips trailed through her cheek ruff to get lost in her hair, knocking free her hairband. Fox kissed down her neck, then got bold and nibbled down the fur of her shoulder.

Eager blue paws slid the vest off his shoulders and unzipped his flight suit. She swooped back to eye level and locked lips with him.

McCloud stepped out of his boots and socks without missing a kiss. Hips grinding along hers, pressing the bulge in his shorts against her panties. Though the thin fabric, the heat of his passion touched off her own.

With a sweep of her arms, she doffed her shirt and guided him in unclasping her bra. As the silky garment fluttered to the floor, his warm paws cupped her breasts. Tan fur mingled with her blue and white, rough paw pads caressing her sensitive nipples. His fingertips squeezed, just a little, exploring the feel of her pert breasts as he nuzzled along her neck.

Taking him by the hips, she sat on the bed. Kneeling with care, he came in for a landing between her thighs. Their muzzles locked, tongues tracing together. His unsteady hand stroked her inner thigh, then reached the thin material of her panties. There, he stroked her folds, even slipping a finger or two under the fabric to stir her thin pubic fur. Then, with a look of mischief, he hooked his fingers in the waistband and rolled them down her legs. Naked and aroused, she basked in his scent, his touch, his radiant love.

She realized, however, that he wasn't quite as naked. Looking to settle the score, she leaned forward, teased her paw pads over the front of his boxers, and relieved him of them. The waistband caught on his erection, so as soon as she tugged it free, his length bobbed out before her, right at hand height. With a wag of glee, the vixen's paws traced his cock, stroking from head to sheath to fluffy scrotum.

He moaned, eyes closed as he enjoyed the sensation of her paws. After a few seconds, he almost lost his balance and had to steady himself on her her thigh with a sheepish grin.

Again, her grasp closed around his base, right where his knot would form, and drew him closer, closer, until that pretty pink tip rubbed into her folds, hot and smooth. His desire washed over her. After what they'd gone through, he wanted to tie her and never come unstuck.

His stiffness bumped her slit, leaving traces of moisture in the thin white fur. Ears erect as his dick, his eyes leveled on hers as he pressed in. Breath caught in his throat as he sunk halfway into her wet and waiting folds.

Krystal bit her lip, nervous. A steeling breath later, she wrapped her arms around his back, her ankles on his rump, and urged him deeper.

Knees shuffling forward, toes braced against the carpet, he thrust deep into her, then pulled out, fumbling into a rhythm, getting himself slick with her juices. The harder he thrusted, the louder she moaned in pleasure, which only made him try to bury his dick deeper. Caught in this feedback loop of passion, she rocked her hips up to meet his, her breaths coming hot and ragged. The swell of his knot stretched her lips with every thrust.

The red fox tucked his chin over her shoulder, teeth set as he pounded into her. That fluffy tail practiced touch-and-go landings with the carpet with every swing of his hips. His mind radiated pleasure, wonder, devotion. Coupled with the unfamiliar thrill of having her lover at last inside her, the swirl of emotion and sensation overwhelmed the vixen.

Fox's eyes fluttered shut. Gasping, he shuddered, clutched her back, and humped with desperate need. That canid bulge popped in and out, stretching her tender folds, until one final thrust. His cock throbbed and, a heartbeat later, she felt him spraying shots of slick heat deep inside her.

Savoring the delicate moment, Krystal stroked his fur as he pulsed her full of sticky warmth. His orgasm hummed through her mind, sending shivers of arousal through her being. When his breaths calmed from a frenzied panting, she peeked past her breasts. The pink of his knot, smeared with rich seed, sat between their white stomach pelts.

Without letting him go, she rolled the speechless star pilot onto his back. A tremor of mutual ecstasy slid him free. She straddled him, dripping their mixed fluids across his thigh in the process. While Fox lay moaning, she fumbled his softening shaft back to her entrance and sank onto him. With practiced ease, her deft fingertips glided to her clit. Masturbating with him inside her felt different, even from her toys. Brimming with hot life, even half-soft, his shaft offered a delightful surface to press her tender nub against.

One paw on his chest, she felt his heartbeat while she fingered herself. Her lover's paws found her thighs as his amorous eyes found her heart. Her passion, stoked by his own, soared to a roaring blaze within her. Her hips bucked, jostling his balls against her tail base.

The vixen yipped and tensed, shivering into orgasm with his softening cock inside her.

Bliss swept her mind.

Love bore aloft her soul.

Pleasure rocked her body.

Krystal's eyes squeezed shut as her muscles bore down. Her tail whipped atop the bed. Semen-slicked paw pads trembled on her clitoris as she threw her head back in elation. Under and within her, Fox's cock swelled.

"Uhh!" He gripped her thighs, grinding himself deeper. His tip spread her depths as his growing knot stretched her lips. He now penetrated her with a layer of sensual slipperiness, dancing between slickness and friction. Bed frame banging against the bulkheads, they made clumsy, frantic, wholehearted love.

"Can you tie me, Fox?" Blushing, tail flagged, she breathed an urgent whisper in his ear. "I want to feel it."

Eyes closed, teeth set, the todd nodded. With a grunt of effort, he shoved the knot hard against her. His hips bucked up at hers, working that splendid girth against her tender walls. His slickness clung to her folds, her orgasm relaxing them enough to let his knot press deeper, deeper...

Pop.

Atop her, Fox arched his back, yowling in wonder as he buried his knot in her for the first time. His balls jumped against her sticky, fluffy tail. His teeth set as he spurted a second load of semen into her already slippery passage.

The blue vixen gasped as she felt him pulse larger within her. A glance down his toned stomach showed his sheath bunched against her folds. She panted, never having felt so full--a physical tie to match their empathic one. One shiver away from an orgasm, her paw raced to her throbbing clit, working it with frantic desire against the bulge within her. Her climax hit like a nova bomb: a sudden all-consuming rush, followed by a lingering buzz of energy. Her hips ground up at him, her legs clinging him close and deep. Every convulsion of her muscles squeezed her harder on that lovely knot of flesh, on that pulsing shaft.

"Wow..." She panted. Trembling fingertips traced her mound, feeling its familiar curves swollen over his bulge. "I've dreamt of this for ages."

Fox moaned distant agreement into her shoulder. His weight had collapsed fully onto her, leaving him in the process of passing out.

The vixen patted his back.

~ ~ ~

"We came all this way for a rug shop?" Krystal studied a row of stained carpets, which hung on racks throughout the store. "A used rug shop?"

Katt's slitted eyes glinted from between the slats of the next rack. "We're treasure hunting."

The vixen rolled her eyes. When Katt demanded their "ladies night" begin in the afternoon, she might have expected a little shopping. But after they'd landed her pastel pink spaceship in a valley of run-down skyscrapers and crumbling factories, she started to worry. This quarter of Corneria City remained one of the last to be cleaned up after the Aparoid invasion, in both a physical and legal sense. Just walking from the landing pad to this shop, various mountebanks had tried to sell them pheromone perfumes, something called "energy balls," and even game cartridges without a manufacturer's gold seal of quality.

A plump white rat popped his head from the back room. His whiskers twitched up as he recognized the feline. "Well, if it isn't Ms. Monroe."

"If it isn't, the world should worry." Katt groomed invisible dirt off one claw. "I can't abide copycats."

The shopkeep scurried to the front door, locked it, and pulled the shade. He bobbed back to face them, his tail sweeping under a hundred carpet fringes. "Here for anything special?"

She ran a paw down the slinky coral dress that did nothing to hide the blaster at her hip. "What've ya got that goes with space battles?"

The rodent's eyes flicked to Krystal, then back again. He jerked a naked thumb in her direction. "She cool?"

The feline purred with amusement. "Would I be seen with her if she wasn't?"

He smoothed a shirt slightly too small for his pudge. "Got a few new things..." He led them to an unattractive carpet hung on one wall, tugged it down, then let it retract up onto an oversized blind reel. He pulled a thin chain, letting a light flicker to life above the cavernous space.

Beyond, lay battalions of rifles, back issues of magazines, and mannequins of body armor. Ship components leaned against the walls. Standing guard at the end of the room, a suit of power armor brushed against the ceiling, bristling with machine guns.

Katt hefted a large gun from the table, wires dangling from one end. "Does this come in pink?"

The merchant crossed his arms. "Lady, it's a plasma cannon."

"That doesn't answer my question." Her white-fingered paw stroked down its wide barrel. "Could you have it plated?"

"If it'd make you finally buy the thing, I'd have it candy-coated." He turned to the vixen. "How 'bout you, toots? Got my paws on a case of Ninjin missiles. They're recovered, so I'm offering a full replacement guarantee."

Krystal wondered how many customers would live to complain about the missiles malfunctioning. "I believe I'll browse for the moment." She leaned in beside the feline, whispering. "This can't be legal."

"Look, hun, I'm not lucky enough to have the guy who designed this stuff working for me. And better me than some crook." Her tail swished as she mused over her reflection in the pink scope lens of a sniper rifle. "Besides, this guy has connections. One time I-- Krystal? Hey, are you even listening?"

The fox wasn't listening. As she slipped past a bin of grenades marked "Factory seconds--clearance!", her ears swivel up and forward. A high-pitch plink played over and over; a sound she knew quite well. The light of a flickering screen backlit a row of assault blasters, which she sidled by. Only then did she spot her target.

There, in the corner beside half of an Aparoid radar jammer, sat a targeting computer, still scuffed where drones had clamped on to steal it.

An Arwing targeting computer.

She grinned. Maybe she ought to let Katt take her treasure hunting more often.

~ ~ ~

The hangar bay humming and massive around him, Fox McCloud squeezed the plush bafomdad with one paw.

The toy chirped a saccharine titter. "I'm Starduster and I love you!"

With a sigh, he shrugged. "They still annoy me less than the tourists."

Without a word, Falco grabbed the device and booted it down the length of the hangar. It sailed in the weak gravity, chortling all the while. Its electronic jabbers ceased an instant later when he drew his blaster and fired. A scatter of stuffing fluttered down on the endless sea of pastel plushes. They stared in unblinking glee as their vaporized fellow rained down atop them, floating beyond the gravity plating.

Fox had just enough time to cock an ear at his wingmate before the hangar doors groaned open.

They turned to see the Cloud Runner drift in on docking thrusters. Mooring clamps hissed into place and secured the craft. With a little smile that made her lover blush, the blue fox popped her canopy and surveyed the hovering masses of multicolored fluff balls. "New passengers?"

"Unclaimed freight." McCloud took her paw and helped her from the cockpit. "The client paid us to haul them away."

"Foxy figures somebody'll want 'em." The bird rolled his eyes and holstered his blaster pistol. "I say we blackmail people to not have 'em dropped on their planet."

"Surely someone would want them." Her teal eyes skimmed the round plush creatures. "They're rather cute."

The bay doors sealed with a resounding slam, setting off the toys in an erie chorus: "I'M STARDUSTER AND I LOVE YOU!"

Hackles standing on end, Krystal squeezed her lover's paw. "On second thought, perhaps we had better dump them in the nearest star."

Fox kept a sly eye on her tail as she bent to adjust something on her Arwing. She'd worn the gold tail rings today, along with a simple hairband and etched gorget. Her black jumpsuit clung just enough to hint at the lean, muscular frame beneath.

The cargo hatch dropped open with a whir of hydraulics, allowing her to haul out a device about the size of a loaf of bread. A stamped Space Dynamics logo emblazoned the top of the metal case.

The red fox looked it over, then met her eyes. "A targeting computer?"

She set it on Slippy's workbench. Dangling over the edge, the cords swung. "Our targeting computer."

McCloud scratched his chin. "Where'd you get it?"

"I bought it." Her paw rested atop the device. "And information on where it came from."

"We know where it came from." Falco crossed his wings. "Vaporized pirates."

"But are they all dead?" Fox crossed his arms. "And why'd they come after us?"

She nodded. "Precisely. I followed the chain of middlemen until it left the planet." From her belt pouch, she drew a slim tablet. "I didn't get a name, but I got this info on the ship that brought it in is outfitted." She handed him the screen of statistics. "We'll need your connections in the military to pursue it further."

Fox took the tablet and flicked through the images of the ship. "I can forward this to Bill." He looked up. "Won't the fence you talked to tip them off?"

"The seller didn't realize he was being interrogated." Tail swishing, her hands found her hips. "I can be gentle, you know."

"Oh, Fox knows..." The avian elbowed his wingman in the ribs.

Running a paw through her hair, the vixen groaned. "Falco, Katt is about five minutes behind me."

"What?!" His throat feathers ruffled in an instant, which tucked back under his collar in frantic irritation. "Why didn't ya call ahead and warn me?"

"To only give you five minutes." A smirk spread across her muzzle. "I figured you'd do something to deserve it the meantime."

Fox couldn't help but chuckle as the flustered falcon raced off to preen his feathers to a meticulous tousle. The door hissed shut after him and the vulpines' glances met. "I never asked, can you sense when they...?"

"Unless I distract myself, yes." Her gaze locked on his wagging tail. "Why do you ask?"

Slinking a little closer, he slid his hand to her hip. "Maybe I can help you out."

~ ~ ~

Minutes later, having torn each other's clothes off, he straddled her stomach. His knees sunk into her foam mattress as his erection throbbed, heavy and hot, between her breasts. His paw curled around the sheath, massaging the growing knot. His tip bobbed up in her cleavage, soft fur stimulating his tender stiffness. He wagged. "Is this what you wanted?"

"Mmmhmm." Her hands gripped his buttocks, guiding his pink, shiny, slippery cock to her muzzle. "But I'd like it even better in my mouth."

The tease of her whiskers dancing along his shaft made him gasp. The love in her eyes made him blush; the lust on her breath made him drip a little. He flashed a cheeky grin and rubbed his shaft over her muzzle, smearing hot clear precum over her chin.

Her lips curled to a smile, pressed to his cock head in a sticky kiss. With a moan of desire, she opened her mouth around his tip, greeting him with wondrous warmth. She raised her head from the pillow and sucked Fox's cock into her delicate muzzle.

As her head rose to slurp up his length once again, aqua eyes on his, he almost came. His heart thundered at the sight: his fearless, feisty beauty sucking his knotted cock like a vixen on a mission.

That supple tongue curled around the head. She licked it again and again, cooing and moaning, her thighs rubbing together under his fluffy tail. Her fingers stroked through the fur of his rump. Hums and moans of satisfaction filled the room as she suckled his tender cock head.

His balls twitched against the underside of her breasts, knot spreading in that valley of white fur. "H-here it comes!"

His thick pink erection sliding into her muzzle, Krystal bobbed her head to suck him as deep as she could reach, moaning in delight, and hummed. The vibration reverberated through his whole length, launching him over the edge.

A shudder emanated from deep in his soul, racing forth as a surge of pleasure up his shaft. A second rush brought a spurt of semen spraying her open mouth.

That silken tongue curled under his tip, urging more, ever more.

Yowling and gasping, he squirted another string of white across her lips and, before it could even drip to her chest, a third along her tongue. After that, he lost track, his life wrapped up in blasts of pleasure that began in his soaring heart and ended in a sticky mess on her facial fur. A groan rumbled in his throat as he milked the last of his seed into Krystal's waiting mouth.

Spent, Fox panted and watched the world through a pleasant haze. Awash in afterglow, his mind reeled. Under him, he could feel her hand moving. A glance back revealed her fingers dancing over her clit. Lewd mischief kindled in his pleasure-soaked brain. With a growl of unabashed lust, he climbed to the foot of the bed and spread her thighs. He sniffed closer, breathing her musk, her sweet feminine scent, that tang of arousal. Unable to wait any longer, he buried his muzzle in her folds and lapped with eager abandon. Her taste, the silken texture of her folds, drove him wild. Half-sheathed and orgasm-sore, his cock pulsed at the scent and sensations. He licked her lips, savoring the flavor. Slipping his tongue as far as it reached inside her, he swirled it around her walls.

A sudden gasp lifted the vixen's chest. Sticky fingertips found his ears, pressing him to her slit while her free paw toyed with her stiff nipples.

He moaned and came up for air, licking and kissing his way around her entrance. Lips closing on her nub, he suckled it with sloppy affection. Every yip of pleasure spurred him on. He gripped her blue-furred thighs and licked that much faster.

Krystal bucked against his muzzle and kicked her feet out to either side of him. Her fingers tangled in his short hair, caught in the grips of a shivering orgasm. "Oooh, Fox!" That supple tail lashed under his chest. "Ooooooooohhhhh!"

He stayed on target, not letting her shake him, as he lathered her folds with kisses until she curled into a shivering ball in climax. His tongue, straining from exertion, lavished her stiff little bud until she could take no more and guided him down to her passion-slicked folds. His lover writhing under him, he continued his attentions as she calmed down.

That strong paw released its grip on the back of his head, while the other trembled loose from a handful of sheets. Breaths rushed like solar wind in the dark of her quarters.

Wiping her juices from his whiskers, he took up his position at her side and held her as aftershocks shivered down her nerves. Through their mingling pelts, he felt the faint thunder of her heartbeat. He kissed her forehead and his nose bumped the golden hairband passion had forgotten.

Time drifted on in a warm embrace until a light and beeping emanated from behind him. With a groan, he rolled and grabbed his comm gauntlet from the floor. Probably Slippy, probably one of the salvaged parts falling off into the atmosphere or something.

To his surprise, the screen read: "Live message -- channel secure. Commander Bill Grey."

Fox almost hit the respond button, then thought better of it. With the bedside lamp and a shirt on, he angled the camera to only see his face and the window behind him. Then he answered.

"Yo Fox." The dog's floating hologram head materialized and looked around the darkness. "Is now a bad time?"

McCloud glanced out of the camera's view, to Krystal's drowsing form, naked and smiling. "No, now's a great time."

"Heard you took down the battlecruiser beefin' on you." Bill's holographic head nodded, ears flopping. "Tight."

"Tighter than you think." The vulpine rubbed his eyes, relaxation evaporating at the memory. "Our lasers couldn't break through their shields. Slippy thinks it's old Venom tech."

"Little dude's probably right." He woofed a dark chuckle. "Got the skinny on your 'rats--and here's a twist: looks like they're based out of Astropolis."

"Astropolis?" The red fox cocked an ear. "Didn't that explode, fall into a star, then explode again?"

"One of the few highlights of history class, but check this." The hologram shivered, shifted, and revealed a city sprawling against the stars. Skyscrapers sprouted from shining streets that ended in a jagged fissure above the void, all within a massive metal shell. "From their ship's data recorder."

"That can't be right." McCloud kept his voice down, trying not to wake his lover. "Must be an old scan."

"Timestamp says a week ago." The projection flickered, but Bill's voice continued on. "And it'd confirm some rumors we've been hearing."

"How am I supposed to find it if the military can't?"

Bill grinned. "Well, for starters, we're not the ones with a telepath."

~ ~ ~

Art: Zaush (Used with permission.) Edits: Slate, sillyneko345, Anakuro, eljot001

Proofs: Thefunkyone

As the ever-wise Sillyneko pointed out: "Every hero has to have an Achilles heel. Fox's happens to be blue."

~Tempo