Stellar Aces by mrs_mackenzie

Stellar Aces by mrs_mackenzie

Join the thrilling adventure in “Stellar Aces” by mrs_mackenzie, where passion meets the cosmos in an alluring tale of desire and seduction. Explore the intimate connections and steamy encounters that unfold among the stars. Dive into a world of fantasy and excitement—this is one story you won’t want to miss!

As we sat down on the pair of identical chairs behind the stall, I felt nervous. There was a buzz of anticipation in the air in the last few minutes before Manchester Sci-Fi ’23 finally opened, with the stallholders either seated like Dad and I were, all their wares set out neatly on the tables, or milling around, chatting and catching up with old friends. Looking at some of the other stalls, stacked head-height with merchandise and covered in colourful advertisements and decorations, I wished we’d thought to do something like that. All we had was a black tablecloth, speckled with white stars, which covered the stall. Perched on top was a wooden display stand which Dad had arranged several of his best artworks on, and next to it was a small stack of books. Those were my pride and joy: Stellar Aces, The Next Generation. A 120,000-word book I’d written, based on the hit 80s sci-fi series Stellar Aces about pilots of space fighters battling mysterious aliens. Dad’s artworks were all immaculately drawn and coloured images of the spacecraft from the original book series, each one thoroughly researched and painstakingly constructed, and I knew that several details had been the subject of hot debates on StelAce Forums. I’d finished sixth form a few weeks before, my exam results good enough to study Physics at Liverpool uni, but I was much more nervous about finally revealing The Next Generation to the world.

“Ready?” Dad asked, sensing I was apprehensive.

“I think so,” I said, needlessly adjusting the angle of the book most prominently displayed on the top of the stack. Dad had drawn the cover: my main character, Cath, sitting in the cockpit of her ship, Scarlet Dawn, her blonde hair falling across her face as she desperately hauled the control stick over: an action shot. Dad wasn’t as good at people as he was at ships, but it still didn’t look far off being professional. I’d spent my free time over the past two years writing, with Dad as my creative consultant, while the other kids at my school had played first-person shooters or hung around with girls at the park.

“Don’t worry,” Dad said, putting his hand on my shoulder and squeezing. “People are always really kind at these conventions.”

Then it was eleven o’clock and the doors opened. Somehow I’d expected a rush of people, but it was more of a trickle, and most of them didn’t rush straight over to an obscure stall selling homemade artwork for a sci-fi book series that was forty years old. In fact, none of them rushed over. Dad re-read Stellar Aces III: Striking Out while we waited, but I was too nervous to relax.

“I’m, uh, going to the toilet,” I said, standing up abruptly.

“Alright,” Dad said, not looking up.

The convention pass, on a bright red lanyard that said ‘EXHIBITOR’, bounced on my chest as I walked too fast to the gents’. I felt hot and didn’t really need to go, so I just stood in the empty room, splashing water on my face and taking deep breaths.

“Get a grip,” I said, softly, to myself in the mirror. Whenever I looked at my reflection, I saw the scrawny guy who’d been useless at sport and had never had a girlfriend. Dad always maintained I’d find the right person when they came along, but I was extremely doubtful. The girls at school, even the geeky ones, had been more interested in the good-looking, funny guys, not the ones who spent evenings re-drafting chapters of their epic fanfiction. It wasn’t that I was bad-looking, really: my dark hair looked okay and most of my acne had cleared up. It was just that the first mention of Stellar Aces tended to send the girls running in the opposite direction. Not that I did mention it, of course. That would have been social suicide at school.

Now, I told myself, I had left school. A man of eighteen. I’d be at uni in a few months, and Liverpool had a sci-fi society, a whole group of like-minded people who met every week. I didn’t need to dwell on the past. I could be a whole new person, if I wanted to.

Walking back into the convention hall, I smoothed down my t-shirt, which was black with white lettering saying ‘Never Allow Adversity to Triumph’, a well-known quote from Stellar Aces. Well-known amongst the fans, at least.

“Congratulations,” Dad said, beaming at me when I got back, and he pointed to an empty slot where one of my books had been. “First ever sale.”

I stared at the empty slot. “No way.”

“Yeah way. A bloke came over to look at the artwork, but he saw your books and took one straight away,” Dad said, happily, patting my seat. “Now sit down and help me drum up a few more sales, it’s getting busier.”

The Next Generation did far better than I could have imagined. If I’d sold ten copies I would have been pleased, but after an hour I’d already sold a box of twenty and was working my way through the next twenty. Dad’s artwork was selling more slowly, but he charged a lot more for one of those than my books and when he did make a sale, more cash got handed over.

After lunchtime, when there was a lull in the crowd, I was in a really good mood. Dad offered to man the stall while I looked around the convention, but I liked talking to the other Stellar Aces fans when they came over. Some of them were just people Dad knew from the forums who wanted to chat, rather than buy anything, but it was a rush to see people in real life who were into the same thing we were.

That’s why I was smiling when I looked across the exhibition floor and saw her. And my blood turned to ice.

Brianne Waters.

She was the hot girl from my school year. Blonde, blue-eyed, beautiful. She had boobs that half the guys would have given their right arms to see bared. The other half would have given both their arms. Brianne hung out with a group of other popular girls who were similarly beautiful, and the guys they mingled with and went out with were all rugby players. There was a rumour around school that at her eighteenth birthday party back in November she’d snogged one of the other popular girls, Taylor Sandford, but I didn’t know if it was true. Just to have a rumour like that going around gave her a certain glamour and admiration. She’d been going out with Robbie Holdman for most of our last year at school, a tall, blond-haired guy who the girls at school unanimously thought was the best-looking. A girl who could go out with Robbie Holdman absolutely did not go to Manchester Sci-Fi ’23.

I looked away hurriedly, then doubted myself and looked back. Yes, it was one hundred percent Brianne. She was walking next to an older woman who looked like her mum, and my mouth dropped open as I slowly realised what she was wearing.

It was a pilot suit.

Better still, it was specifically a Stellar Aces pilot suit. An automatic-force-managing-envelope, AFME, and the number printed on the arm marked it out as RF-009, the pilot suit of Suzie Dyer, decorated flyer from the first Stellar Aces book. This was surreal. It felt like I was having a weird dream, but I was wide awake, which was even more terrifying than it just being a dream.

Then I knew real terror when Brianne looked at me and a recognition flashed across her face.

“Hi Paul,” she said, smiling as she and her mum came up to our stall. “I never expected to see a Stellar Aces stall here.”

I was literally speechless and just stared dumbly at her.

“Hi there,” Dad said, unfazed. “Do you know Paul? I’m his dad.”

“He was in my maths class,” Brianne said. “Did you draw this art, Mr King?”

Dad nodded. “Yes, it’s all original. If you don’t see anything you like, I’ve got a few more in a box here, so do ask if there’s a specific ship you want. I can do commissions, too.”

“I didn’t realise the Fatal Foxtrot had a dorsal fin,” Brianne’s mum said, leaning in to look close at one of the pictures.

“It houses the radar shields,” Dad said, quickly. “It’s mentioned in Stellar Aces XI: Fight for Survival.”

Brianne looked at me and smiled again. She was so pretty. She was wearing makeup: mascara on her long lashes, a pale pink lip gloss, concealer and eyeliner to emphasise her blue eyes. I was hooked instantly by that smile. The years of being ignored and shunned by the popular kids seemed irrelevant, somehow.

“Oh my God, you wrote this?” she suddenly asked, picking up one of my books.

Instinctively I wanted to deny it. I didn’t want anyone at school to know. Except here, at the convention, I could hardly pretend I didn’t write the book with my name on the cover.

“Um, yeah, it was me,” I said, my mouth dry and voice cracked.

“Wow, she’s pretty,” she said, admiring Cath on the cover. “Your dad drew this?”

“Yeah,” I said, unable to think of anything to add. Or really to think of anything except how pretty Brianne was. The pilot suit was tight-fitting, like in the books, and she was so fit. Her boobs were incredible; her hips so sexy; her legs amazing. I tried not to stare and completely failed.

“This is really amazing,” Brianne said, faltering slightly as I stared dumbly at her. “I didn’t even know you were into Stellar Aces.”

“Uh, yeah.”

She looked at me and there was an awkward pause. My resolve broke and I glanced down at her chest, then cringed at how obvious I was.

Brianne noticed. “Yeah, my mum made the costume. She makes all sorts of costumes and clothes, it’s so amazing. She’s actually hosting the costume workshop this afternoon; we’re just looking around before it starts.”

With a sigh of relief I realised she thought I had just been looking at her costume. “It’s, uh, really good. Amazing, actually. The details are just right.”

Brianne smiled a big smile. “I suppose I look a lot like her,” she said, pointing at Cath on the cover of my book. “Right?”

“Um, yeah, that’s true.”

“Cool coincidence! I should stand here advertising your book,” she giggled, turning it over in her hands, which were in white pilot gloves, accurate to the last stitch.