Chapter 81: Looking Out At The Stars

We got up sore in the morning, our place to fall asleep was the last panel we had tested, but we had got it done. Kyrina yawned and pressed into me before pushing off. She gave me a hand up, and we left the ship and hanger, going to head to the mess hall to get food.

Everyone was already there eating, so we slipped in beside them after grabbing cereal from the mystery box. Everyone looked just as rough as us. Even though all of the others had slept in a bed and not a corner of a ship.

Irellia looked over at us and smiled.

"So, I hear you two worked hard last night to get finished. What's the big rush?"

"We wanted to get back to training; we don't want to get left behind."

"Well, only three more days of PT before we are on the ships heading to Prime, so expect hell."

Everyone groaned; I think they assumed that this was hell already. I wasn't excited for the next couple of days, so I would have to push hard, and I know Kyrina would work just as hard. We all finish eating and then head to the hanger for laps.

The next three days went by in a blur of sweat, training, eating, and more training. On the third day's end, Irellia told us that we were at a barely passing level to survive the trip and that we would need to be training on the ride there and once we got there. She also stressed that the other option was death because winning didn't stop the race. Even if you didn't win, you would still have to get back after.

The entire thing was a significant risk, but the reward was so great that the whole galaxy wanted a piece and was willing to risk their lives for it. It was a chilling idea, but I couldn't deny the idea was thrilling, and I was more than excited. During our training, Armond came to each team and gave us pointers to help with the race.

For us, he suggested that I ride Kyrina for the long trips across open areas and comfortable travel. Then, when things got tough, we could switch, and I could carry her using my gravity assist stabilizers to run where I needed when in a pinch or a fight. That was another thing Armond stressed to us over and over, this would be dangerous.

The problem with someone becoming King by winning the position is having another person threaten that position, so the King sends out people to prevent others from finishing. I would try to keep a low profile while in the capital Wabasha. If the King gets wind, you will be in trouble. He might send people after you before the race. On top of the King beginning a problem, there are many different kinds of giant monsters that love to pray on racers and are not affected by the weather.

The whole thing sounds crazy, but that didn't make me change my mind. We all trained hard and pushed ourselves to the limits. When the day came to leave, I felt like we had made some progress. We had to say goodbye to Irellia, Kyrin, and Jill. We promised we would be back, but I stopped and whispered into Kyrin's ear.

"I'll take good care of your sister, OK? But you had better take good care of Irellia!"

I slapped Kyrin's back before turning and walking to Jill and Irellia. I hugged and kissed Jill but only hugged Irellia and told her to be happy with Kyrin. She gave me a warm smile and hugged me again like she had been waiting for me to say those things to her. I was happy for the two of them, and maybe, in the future, we will find more partners for the girls.

We all loaded onto our shuttles; each group had to take its own shuttle except for Tama and Mikota, who left with Sasha and Maxine. Tilly and Iona took Irellia's ship after we said our goodbyes, but Iona was dancing to the ship as soon as she left my arms, and Tilly kissed me before joining Iona. I guess Irellia's ship had more bells and whistles than ours did.

"Ready for the next step of our journey? Do you think we will make it OK and everyone else? A lot of things we don't know."

"Yeah, but we will learn them on the way; let's go. It is going to be a long trip, hehe," Kyrina said after coming back from saying good buy to her brother.

We boarded on to the ship and sat down in the gel seats, allowing them to close around our bodies until they felt like nothing but cushions. I started our ship up, but I let Alta do almost all the work, I just touched the thing that I was told to, and even then, it felt like Alta was just trying to make me think I was helping. I wasn't complaining about the lack of work. In fact, that meant we could have more time to get ready and plan out tactics for the race.

After leaving the main ship, our ship started to accelerate until we reached one AU and then held tat speed. The ship could travel for about four-hundreds days at this speed but no more, and luckily we only had to travel a week to prime. Once the ship was settled, we both got up and headed to the cargo bay for our PT. Training here would not be fun, but we had Irellia's, or you die speech for motivation playing through our heads to keep us pushing.

The days passed. We had many laughs, played a couple of different card games, and even sat together to read books that were saved onboard the ship. We sat together every meal, and I was really starting to enjoy our time together. Slowly, we began to form a connection that was a little different than before.

Each day we laughed more and started to spend more time together. We would talk about the race while holding hands, then she would move into my arms. We would stay like that until she would put her head on my lap. A couple of nights, we even fell asleep together, looking out at the stars.

I was starting the notice her more when we worked out, her chest heaving and the way her body looked in just her underwear. We both had begun striping down while working out to let our bodies breathe, even though the suit worked fine, but it was Kyrina's idea.

I watched her stretch out as we finished off. The moving parts that had no skin made her more beautiful in my mind. On the fifth day, I walked up to her after we finished working out and took Kyrina in my arms, kissing her and lowering her to the ground. She didn't resist; in fact, she pushed into my mouth, setting my emotions on fire.

The passion was ignited, and I wanted to take her right there, but there was no need to be hasty. Instead, I picker her up into my arms, kind of feeling silly about laying her down in the first place, but I had got a weird feeling on the ground. So I took her to our bunks and laid her down. I was about to remove my underwear, and then the alarm started to go off.

"What I this about? I need to get to the front now!"

I raced in my underwear to the front of the ship, and Kyrina was right behind me with our suits. I ran up to the chair and sat down, but I noticed a message on the screen.

//ENEMY VESSEL IS TARGETING US