"MARC, lights, please." Molly faced Anzar, her mate, excitement skittering through at his reaction to the raptor. Everything had been relocated to the village, and the ship cleaned out. Even the water tanks had been purged after their over amorous shower. All that remained was the raptor.

Within the last ten minutes, the last of the mated couples had climbed into the pod and were en route to the village.

She and Anzar were alone with the Jasmine and MARC who was now based in the pod. The yellow lights of hangar E flickered, and Anzar's eyes widened at the off-road multi-terrain vehicle Molly had purchased during one of their most lucrative runs. The eight wheels were damage-resistant, and at the diameter of her height. Black panels in weather-proof metal formed the jagged edges of the cab which had a capacity of ten.

He gaped and rested his hand on a tire. "What is this?"

"It's the raptor, and if Mother will open a path, we will drive it to Sunkhu."

"Drive?" He echoed, but his gaze lingered on her lips, and the swell of her breasts in her too-tight T-shirt. Heat exploded outward, puckering her nipples and pooling liquid desire between her thighs. She was going to suggest that they have a session in the raptor while it auto-drove to the village, but her pleasure could wait.

Gripping the ladder, she climbed a few rungs and hit a button. The door swung up, and she clambered in, choosing the front seat to the right. Anzar was slower to follow, and after he dipped his bulk inside, he spun in a circle.

The door closed behind him, and she smiled, tapping the remaining driver's seat beside her. The console in the middle allowed for left or right-handed navigation. He lowered his bulk into the seat, gripping his knees as if he feared to touch anything.

The console rose between them, pulsing blue light as the windows lit up with a terrain map forming of the surrounding mountains and valleys.

"MARC, the bay doors please." The massive doors parted as a ramp lowered and Elkarran sunlight streamed in. She rested her hand on the dial centerstage of the console, and it altered the color to green. With a gentle tap of her forefinger, the raptor's engines roared to life. Hovering her hand above the dial, she steered the vehicle down the rap and spun it to face the Jasmine.

"What...?" A grin split Anzar's cheeks, and he bounced in his seat like an energetic child.

"Do you like?" She didn't have to ask, not when he had such joy on his face.

"You travel with it, like you do the pod?" He stroked the window in front of him and jerked as it switched to a three-dimensional representation of the Jasmine and the cliffs behind the ship.

"We travel in it, yes. Are you ready to return to the village, Anzar? To start our life together?" She released the dial to squeeze his hand. "My love."

The expression in his black eyes softened, and he grabbed her hand to kiss her palm. "We started our lives together when you first smiled at me, temaar."

"Yes, I see that now. Mother, please open a path for us." Silence met Molly's request, but she waited, patient. If the planet could hear her, and heal her, then shifting the plantation and rock formations into a flat road was an easy task.

Of course, my child.

The ground trembled and roared, the vibrations reduced by the state-of-the-art shock absorbers in the raptor. Then before her, the Jasmine jerked, then sunk a few meters as if it lay in quicksand. Molly gasped as her ship, her home for so long, disappeared amid rocks and vines as thick as the raptor was wide. A jungle grew where the Jasmine had been, appearing as if the crash hadn't happened.

A tear slid down her cheek, but when she glanced at Anzar, it was to find his gaze on her. Her sadness dissolved into contentment, for she had exchanged one life for another, and her ship for a mate. She let the smile crawl its way across her lips before denting her cheeks.

In the rearview mirrors lining the top of the windows, trees dipped and disappeared into the ground. Rocky formations appeared to roll or melt. A path formed, wider than needed, but since Molly planned to let Anzar drive, the width was perfect.

Thank you, Mother.

"Shall we?" She grabbed his hand, kissed his knuckles, and placed his hand palm-down over the dial. "Take us home, mate."

He hesitated, but then the console leaped from blue to green, and the raptor bolted forward with Mother opening paths as fast as Anzar needed them. The momentum slammed Molly into her seat, but she laughed, with adrenaline firing along her veins.

She screamed her love for the one male who had snuck past her defenses and shown her what true love meant.

His roaring laughter was a reward on its own.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading my Science Fiction Romance Novella. Please don't forget to vote if you enjoyed it.

If you have unanswered questions, please let me know. I might answer them in the story and push the word count to 50k.

Mwah!

Sev.