Chapter 2
Shift
The easiest way to get cash is scrapping old ships. While Impusle's ship was more or less already scrap, he'd get nowhere near enough to buy a new ship and pay his debt to Terra. Besides, Impulse's ship held sentimental value and he wasn't quite ready to give up on the malfunctioning rust pile of scrap just yet. So, rather than go to the yards to see just how much he can get outta the few working parts of his scrap, he searched for a mechanic. Yes, there were plenty of mechanics all around Terra, but not many who knew how to work on something so old, in such rough condition. Scrappers, on the other hand, could fix just about anything. Some could take something apart and put it back together in better condition, with pieces to spare. One such scrapper was who Impulse looked for now.
Impulse felt relieved. Not just because he had emptied his balls, but because he no longer needed to worry about finding money to fix his ship. All that was left was his debt to Terra. Starting tomorrow, he'd begin the dangerous job of bounty hunting once-more.
"Her name's Shift," Snak had told him, then rolled her eyes at the name. What few humans that still existed within the universe, always had such strange names, not that the Orcess could really talk with a name like 'Snak'. "She's been a scrapper her whole life, but she's a strange one. Rather than selling the scrap, she collects it until she can build a brand new ship and sells that. If you tell her I sent you and she's sure to help." That's what Snak said at least. He knew nothing else about this mystery woman. His confident friend didn't even give him a description. "She'll be the human," was all the Orc thought he needed to know.
At first, Impulse thought his search would be completely hopeless. 'The Human' wasn't exactly the easiest description to follow. Sure, his people were few and far between, but surely in a place like Terra, created by his people and named for their home planet, there'd be more than one human scrapper. But, as he approached the Scrap Heap, an affectionate name given to Hangar ZC-11, he could see his search may be much easier than he once thought.
Scattered around the crashed ships and random assortment of parts are scrappers of varying factions. There were three main scrap companies. Crag Works, their mustard yellow hats atop the gruff bearded men of the Dwarvern race. Dragonfire Forge, their workers varying shades of beautiful forest green as Orcs were the dominant creatures there. Finally there was Bork, a slow moving beast of a scrap company, comprised mostly of lazy goblins. As Impulse gazed around at the mess laid out before him, he didn't actually see any humans. Even the customers were just about anything but human.
The lost Bounty Hunter groans, growing quickly annoyed with Snak as he moves into the maze of junk. Scrappers yell and scream deals, deals, and more deals out all around him. Pushing the beaten up parts and heaps of trash in anyway they can. A vast array of different sales styles assaulting everyone's ears all at once, despite most patrons of the Scrap Heap being window shoppers. Impulse tries his best to tune them all out, a small throbbing pain growing in the back of his skull as he moves deeper and deeper into the maze. He easily dodges around the creatures that jump in front of him, shaking this, that, and the other thing, trying to swindle the 'foolish human' into buying the trash they know they wouldn't be able to sell to anyone else.
Eventually he manages to break through the chaos, getting passed the stockpiles that the main three companies and making his way towards the independent scrappers. These were people who scrapped for themselves and no one else. These stockpiles we much smaller and, for lack of better word, organized. While, yes, they were still a complete mess, there was still a rhyme and reason to each one, making it much easier to find parts. Regulars of the Scrap Heap knew exactly what each of these independents favored and who you went to to get the best of, well, everything! Impulse, however, was not one of those people. If he were, he'd know to walk straight to the back corner on the port side of the hangar to find Shift.
Instead he weaved this way and that, searching for the round squishy face of a fellow human with no end goal in sight. Truthfully this was how Impulse went about life in general. He never knew where he was truly headed. He never knew how he'd get there. Planning wasn't his style, and when he did make a plan he found it hard to stick to it, abandoning it entirely after the third step at most. He was truly a foolish man.
Finally, Impulse managed to stumble upon Shift, tucked away in her corner. It wasn't the actual Scrapper he saw, but one of the many oddities she enjoyed collecting. A collection of globes, each one representing the many planets of the Ikrova system. That wasn't the rarest of things. What was, however, was the third planet which had all but disappeared from the public's consciousness. Terra. The real Terra, human's original home... their only true home.
Impulse moved closer, eyes staring at the slowly rotating globe. It was polished, the cleanest thing in the entire hangar, and he could see his reflection growing and came closer. He couldn't really make out his own features against the cold blue paint that coats the orb, a blob of color was all he was as far as that was concerned. A stand holds it up, made of pure precious gold, a rare metal after the destruction of his planet and one that any Dwarf would pay top dollar for even a nugget of. The Bounty Hunter can't help himself, his hand reaching out, shaking slightly as he aches to touch it, to feel his planet one more time.
A click stops him dead, the sound of gears whirring at deadly speeds filling his ears. Panels on the ground slide open, heft turrets rising up in their place, each one trained and ready to fire on Impulse. A glowing red eye sparkles by the barrel of each turret. Impulse gulps away a dry throat, carefully looking around at two, three, four turrets ready to end him right then and there. He wasn't sure what to do. Obviously they had appeared because he had gotten too close to the globe, but did he care? His life was currently on hold, the crushing debt keeping him from doing much of anything other than bounty hunting, a miserable existence. If he didn't cower away, he'd be able to touch Terra once more, even if only symbolically. He'd be able to die touching his home, an opportunity that disappeared with the planet itself.
Impulse's fingers curl and he lowers his hand slowly. The turrets don't seem to care, staying on the ready, aimed directly for him. Out of the corned of his eye he sees movement. The cockpit of an old spacecraft swings open like the old Fighter Jets that his human ancestors once flew, and a small form climbed out. She lowered herself carefully to the ground, standing no taller than Impulse's chest, oil stained coveralls hugging her body. The zipper is down, just below her navel, defeating the purpose of coveralls, a snug white shirt covering her chest. Her flesh is pale, as if it had never met the sun, and her hair platinum blonde. Large blue eyes rested beside her nose, soft pink lips below. In her hand she held an oily rag, using it to clean her opposite hand, her heavy leather butts 'clunk clunk clunk'-ing against the ground as she walks towards Impulse.
"I wouldn't touch that," She calls out, her voice flat and disinterested. She tucks her rag into a back pocket, walking in front of one of the turrets. As she passes the sensor it quickly snaps downwards, pointing to the floor, not daring point at the one who built it. Impulse looks over, taking a step back, the other three turrets following his movements. "Who are ya? Whatcha doin' try-na touch my shit?" The woman walks in front of Impulse, sitting on an overturned bucket just in front of the globe.
"I'm uh, Impulse." He licks his lips, watching her raise a sharp brow, and glances around. "Bounty Hunter." As the title leaves his lips he hears a handful of people in the hangar scramble away from him. Obviously, he was nowhere near the only person with a bounty in a place like this. The woman reaches down, rubbing her right calf, wincing slightly.
"Snak's friend," She comments with a knowing nod, sitting back, leaning against the scrap metal pedestal her globe rests upon. Her legs stretch slowly out in front of her, the left crossing over the right. "Yeah, so I'm Shift, so what?" Impulse blinks, taken aback by the strange introduction. This woman was definitely nothing like anything he'd met before, so brash and uncaring for the world around her as she went about her business.
"So... so can you fix my ship?"
"Why would I?" Came her quick reply. Impulse frowns, glancing around at the hangar around him, wondering if anyone else had to experience this strange interaction.
"...Money?" He guesses.
"Heard ya ain't got none." Shift reaches up, rubbing her ear, multiple piercings glittering around it. Her hand slides over to fiddle with the small ring on her right nostril. "Besides, what am I gonna do with money? Everything I own is free. What am I gonna do, buy the trash these shit peddlers are hocking?" She spits on the ground beside her. "Fu-uck tha-at. I only do trades." She glances over him, raising both brows. "Butcha don't look like ya got much."
Impulse can feel himself relaxing, despite having those massive turrets pointed at him. The fourth has risen back up, adjusting to his new position. He reaches up, his bandaged hand rubbing the back of his head, brushing against the freshly buzzed stubble of his haircut. He felt as if her blue eyes could pierce through his soul. So looked like pools of water, a color that was so rare with the lack of humans. Sure, there were dwarves and elves that had blue eyes, but they were always so light. Shift's were almost indigo in color, like the sea on a star filled night, sparkling from the bright lights of the hangar above.
"I like old shit. Human shit. Got any old human shit?" She asks, her head tilting back and forth with each sentence, short hair swishing along with her. As luck would have it, Impulse did in fact have some old human shit. It was one of the few things he collected. Anytime he found something from home he had to have it. A lot of times he had to steal it, but regardless of how he obtained the things he'd managed to amass a nice little collection of odds and ends.
Shift's fingers scamper across a keypad, causing even more turrets to spring up around her scrap heap, rotating menacingly, searching for any and all targets that may approach with ill intent while she's away. The pair move quick through the massive space station, neither enjoying the eyes glued to them. While it was unusual to see a single Human roaming around... well anywhere really, it was unheard of for a pair to seen together. As the duo made their way back to Impulse's clunker, everyone they passed stopped for at least a second to marvel at the impossible sight. None tried to stop them and talk, nor did any bother with so much as a single word about them.
Shift paused as she saw Impulse's ship. It was still in the same spot as the day before, unable to turn on, much less move. The left wing had fallen off and lay propped against the hull, the windshield a shattered sheet of glass scattered in front of it. The thing had stopped smoking, thick fire extinguishing gel splattered all over the interior, all of the upholstery inside stained black. Dents little the body, each bigger than the last, and just about all of its lights had been completely smashed. The black paint no longer shone, turned matte by Impulse's recent crash landing. Dark orange accents outline the body, most turned silver after being scraped off.
The scrapper didn't seem to be amazed by the sheer amount of work that would go into fixing this heap of junk. Repairing clunkers was her whole deal and she had revived ships in worse shape ten times over. No, it was the actual ship that caused Shift to pause. It didn't look anything like the rest of the ships parked in the hangar. Even if it were in perfect condition, it'd look completely different. It was a sharp thing, with a pointed nose and wings that were made to slice through atmosphere, something no planets had anymore. Heavy jet engines line the back end, the cockpit a tiny after thought. It was only big enough for a pair of pilots, a place to sleep, and a closet to keep your things. The tech inside wasn't the newest. It didn't glow and it wasn't run by various goops, plasmas, and what have you. No, it was quite archaic with wiring, cogs, and mechanical parts.
"The Hell ya find a Ghost?" Shift asks, the constant tone of disinterest disappearing from her voice. She moves forward, reaching out to touch the cool metal plating of the outside. Ghost, the affectionate name humans had given to the SP3C7R41-4554551N, a stealth fighter and the last model of ship to be created by the engineers of Terra. The real Terra. Home. Shift had never seen one in person. In fact, most people hadn't. They were near impossible to find. Sure, they littered the universe like any other scrap, but they were built not to be seen when in flight and were practically invisible to the naked eye. On top of that, the fact that the ones drifting through space were inactive made the high tech tracking chips most ships were equipped with register them as meteors.
"My Dad bought it," Impulse says, tugging the staircase down, a cloud of ash exploding out into the hangar. The strong scent of burnt wiring seeps out of the ship, making both Impulse and Shift wrinkle their noses. "It was the last one sold before Gruzlug's moon crashed into us. I barely managed to get it out of the atmosphere when it happened." Shift takes another look at the outside before the enter the engine room. everything covered in a layer of soot. She reaches out and runs her hand across one of the engines, wiping away some of the black dust. "Still think you can fix this thing?" Impulse asks, glancing over his shoulder, making his way to the cockpit. Shift nods slowly.
"Human tech is my specialty," She says. her eyes drinking in the sight of the engine room. Even with the condition the place was in, she was amazed by it. Sure, she'd seen thousands of pictures and read the owners manual for the Ghost a thousand times, but actually here, inside of it, surrounded by Humanity's most advanced tech... She could feel her heart racing, her mouth almost watering at the sight of it all, goosebumps rising on her pale skin. "So ya got this one brand new, huh? That means ya probably don't know how to find one out there." She jerks her head towards the entrance of the hangar.
"Actually," Impulse says, freeing a key from his pocket. He unlocks the closet, sliding the doors down into the floor. Inside are three jumpsuits, identical to the one he's wearing now, a pair of brown boots, and three rolls of bandages. Scattered throughout the cubbies that fill the locker are various 'artifacts', or Old Human Shit as Shift called it. "Daphne is equipped with a tracking device that detects other Ghosts. They never advertised it because if everyone knew about them they'd only need one to recreate them and render the stealth feature useless. Of course, if you could find them, you'd still have to deal with their speed. I don't think anyone built anything as fast as Ghosts."
"They haven't," Shift confirms, coming up beside him. She peers into his closet, looking over all the bits and bobs he's found over the years. "Impressive, I wasn't expecting much." She says, her voice quiet, a far off tone in it. She reaches out and inspects various things. A straight razor, still sharp enough to use. An incomplete board game. Some archaic sidearms and a matching rifle. "This still work?" She asks, picking up one of the trio of remote control cars that sit inside. Impulse shakes his head. She sets it back down, instead grabbing a leather bound photo album.
"Not that," Impulse says firmly. She nods, opening it. Inside are scraps of paper with various old advertisements. Pictures of random people, humans. Menus from popular Human restaurants, flyers from bands, and even a few parking tickets. A look into home. She sets it back down and picks up a small one. Inside are dossiers on various humans, some accompanied by photos, but most not. "Not that either."
"Keepin' tabs on all the humans around Ikrova?" She asks glancing over her shoulder. Shift flips forward to S's, no doubt looking for herself, but finding nothing.
"Trying to," Impulse says with a small nod. He watches as she flips the pages, each 'Deceased' written in bright red marker making his heart ache. "I'd like to add you to it, if you don't mind." Shift closes it, setting it back down.
"I don't like to be tracked, but do whatever ya want." She picks the car up again and waves at the three remotes inside. Impulse grabs the one that goes to that car, as well as its spare battery, and hands them over. "This'll cover the engine room, but if ya want me to fix the body then I'll need more." She says, turning to Impulse. He stares at her, thinking for a moment.
"Well, how about you take Daphne's Ghost Detector? See of you can't make a replica for yourself. That way getting parts for her will be as easy as cruising the cosmos for a few hours." A small smile finds itself to Shift's lips.
Loud creaking interrupts them, the entire ship shaking and jolting around as someone big climbs aboard. Impulse frowns, hand on his blaster as he moves to the engine room. Inside is a towering muscular woman. Her skin is a lovely sage green and a big smile rests on her lips. She's bent down slightly, too tall for the small human space-craft, and has her large hand on the nearest wall. Snak.
"So you found her!" She booms, her voice shaking the ship. The trio move over to Snak's ship, the large orc demanding everyone strip of their clothes. "Those things are filthy!" She had said, gesturing to Shift's coveralls, as well as Impulse's jumpsuit. "You'll stain my furniture from just looking at it!" So the duo, both happy to be out of the humid hangar and in the cool conditioned air of Snak's ship, followed their friend's orders. Shift didn't even hesitate, kicking her boots loose as she unzipped her coveralls the rest of the way, letting them fall in a small pile at her feet. She steps out, only in her white t-shirt, which hugged her slender frame, and her socks which reached mid-way up her calves. A pair of black panties hug her hips, tight around her round ass, putting it on display as they outline the curve The scrapper turned her eyes to Impulse.
The bounty hunter smiled shyly, feeling his ears growing warm as the two women eyed him down. He clears his throat and glances back at the door, but sighs and he too kicks his boots off. Impulse grabs the zipper of his jumpsuit and draws it down, revealing his muscular chest and abs. The clothing falls down his body, into a pile similar to Shift's, and he watches as the human women's eyes immediately drop to his cock. She stares so blatantly at it, the same way she had stared at his ghost, as if it were a lost relic she yearned to see again. It hung generously down, slightly engorged from the time he'd been spending with Shift. Something about the woman excited him. He wasn't sure if it was her gruff couldn't care less personality, or the simple fact that she was a gorgeous human woman. He clears his throat again, stepping out of his jumpsuit, closer to Shift and Snak. A large grin stays on Snak's lips as she looks back and forth between the two.
"Uh, sorry," He says with a nervous laugh, his hand grabbing his cock. He lifts it slightly, giving it a loving squeeze as he rubs the back of his neck. "I, uh, I don't like the way underwear feels. They're usually too tight." Shift watches as he lifts it, displaying it too her like a hunk of meat. She watches the way his heavy balls swing below, looking so full and inviting. Her eyes drift up his body, which was quite toned and muscular. It needed to be in his line of work. Their eyes meet, a deep lust pulsing behind her gaze. She too had felt an ache growing inside her since meeting Impulse.
She steps forward, laying a hand on his chest. It slides up slowly, to his rigid jawline, Shift raising up on her toes as she presses her soft lips to his, kissing deeply. Snak licks her lips, finding a comfy armchair to rest in, her hand exploring between her legs. Impulses hands slide around Shift's hips, to her round ass, letting his fingers sink into the doughy cheeks. She exhales a quiet moan, only loud enough for the bounty hunter to hear as she swirls her tongue around with his. Her opposite hand slides down his body, her fingertips tickling his muscles as she reaches between his legs, cradling that fat cock. She breaks the kiss, kissing his neck, letting her teeth graze his skin. She kisses down, down, down. Along his pecks and abs until she's resting on her knees in front of him, kissing his groin, just above the base of his cock.
Her slender hand gropes his heavy hanging nuts, giving each one a gentle squeeze, the other stroking him slowly. She looks up, those glowing blue eyes sending a shiver down Impulse's spine. She leaned down, keeping her eyes locked with his, pressing her soft lips to his heavy nut. Shift takes it in her mouth, sucking and slurping loudly on it, her hot drool coating his sensitive ball as she swirls her tongue around it. Impulse's legs tense as he squirms above her, letting out a pleased groan. Shift smiles, taking the other, her cheeks bulging as she sucks them both at once, watching his cock throbbing to life. She pulls back, letting them come free of her lips with a loud 'pop'.
She runs her hot tongue along the underside of his semi-erect cock, tasting it, feeling it growing still as she takes the head in her mouth. "Mmmmmnn," Shift moans around it, her tongue rumbling against the underside of the head as she pushes it deeper in her mouth. Soft lips dragging up and down his fat cock, throbbing for her as it hardens in her mouth. She takes more down, letting it push down her throat, she closes her eyes, hand groping and massaging his heavy balls. Impulse shivers, feeling butterflies in his stomach, his cock already leaking salty pre-cum for her. He bites his lip, moaning as she swallows his thick shaft, her slender neck bulging with his meat.
Her lips drag all the way down his length, his cock disappearing impossibly into her mouth, her nose pressing into his groin, heavy balls on her chin. He runs his fingers through her platinum blonde hair, to the back of her head. She press back against his hand, letting him guide her up and down his cock. Quiet gags escape her throat as she takes his gentle thrusts down her throat. His heavy balls swinging and slapping her chin, his moans coming faster and faster as he watches her slobber all over his cock. His shaft glistens with her hot spit, globs running down her chin and coating his heavy balls. He pulls her head back slowly, watching his cock pulling from her throat and free of her mouth.
Shift takes a deep breath, her tongue hanging out. She reaches up, pumping his spit lubed cock a few times, kissing the head, before she rises to her feet. She licks her lips slowly, taking his hand and pulling him to the couch. She places both hands on his chest and gives a firm push, forcing him to sit down. The slender woman pulls her panties down, balling them in her fist as she walks to Snak. The Orc looks up at her, hand moving in rough circles between her thick green thighs. Shift reaches out, pressing her damp panties to the Orc's face, covering her nose and mouth. Snak inhales deeply three times before Shift crams the fabric into her mouth and turns her attention back to Impulse.
Impulse lounges on the couch, watching the pair, his eyes on Shift's round rear end. Each cheeks is thick and bouncy, but as she bends over they part, displaying her drooling cunt. He eyes the soft blonde hair around the lips, thinking of how warm it must be to press his face between those legs, his mouth watering, his hand pumping his thick cock slowly. Shift doesn't give him a chance to find out just how warm though. She moves back over to him, bending down and kissing him once more. She climbs on top of him, her knees on either side of his hips, the entrance of her drooling pussy pressing to the fat head of his cock. His strong hands slide up her body, dragging her snug shirt up, her small perky breasts jiggling as they come free, each one barely a handful, her right nipple pierced, the piercing in the shape of a little screw.
Shift moans as she feels his hands on her, her pleasure ringing down his throat as they kiss, feeling him squeezing and groping her chest. His fingers rolling her perky nipples between them, so pleasantly rough against her sensitive body. She presses down, letting out a quiet "Mm...nnnuuuh," into his mouth as she pushes him into her. Her legs quiver, ass tense as she slides so slowly down his thick throbbing shaft, her tight pink pussy stretching for him. She stops midway, pressing her forehead to his neck, panting for breath before pushing down. Impulse slides his hands around to her back and down to her hips, gently encouraging her as she crams his fat cock into her small frame.
"Fffffuck!" She gasps, her round cheeks pressing into his thighs. Impulse smiles, making her roll her hips, moans escaping her with each exhale. His cock felt perfect for her, just the right shape for her body as it filled her completely, no room left for even a single inch. He holds her against him, laying her back, his cock buried deep inside her as he lays atop her. Shift wraps her arms around him, hands on his back, her legs squeezing his waist as he thrusts so slowly. Pulling out as far as possible just to sink back into her. Her cunt whining around his spit-lubed cock, her juices running down those thick cheeks of hers. Despite making a fuss about their clothes being dirty, Snak doesn't protest as Shift's lust stains her couch cushion.
Impulse thrusts steadily, each one eliciting a loud moan from Shift, her head thrown back as she cries out for more. The pair panting with one another, his hips rolling as he thrusts deep into her, not giving her even a second to catch her breath in between. Her tight pussy gripping him, milking his cock. Her hand runs down his back, squeezing the cheek of his ass as he thrusts into her. "Fuck me. Harder. Take me. Yesss," Shift whines with each thrust, begging for him. Impulse does as she commands, stretching her tight body like a toy he wanted to break, his hips clapping into her as she begs for more and more until her legs wrap around him. They wrap tight, her thighs powerful as she pulls him deep inside her, her hand gripping his ass, nails digging in.
Shift's back arch and her body presses into his, moaning loud enough to shake the walls, her sounds of ecstasy muffled but clearly audible in the hangar outside as she cums for him. Her pussy squeezing as tight as possible, convulsing around him, creaming on his fat dick. Impulse does his best to thrust, small short ones, the tight grip of her legs not giving him much room, but just enough. He buries himself deep inside of her, his heavy nuts tensing as he fires hot jet after jet of thick cum into her. He kisses her roughly, their moans mingling in one another's mouths as they both ride out their orgasms.
They stay like this for quite some time, both quivering. Impulse finally breaks the kiss, Shift's legs going limp. He pulls slowly back, burying his face in her neck, kissing gently, moaning as his sensitive cock pulls free of her freshly-fucked pussy. Still throbbing, glistening with a mixture of their hot lustful juices which drool out onto Snak's couch. Impulse sits up on his knees, panting, stroking himself gently, a few stray spurts of cum splattering onto Shift's stomach. He lets his heavy cock fall down onto her as he sits back, looking over at Snak, who is quickly finishing herself off, her moans muffled by Shift's dirty panties.
