Free Intergalactic Desire by Fiery Desires

faces of the crew hoping they had an answer. However, everyone looked just as confused.
    Cassie rose and slowly walked toward the door, suspicious and scared. There was no way anyone could be on the other side of the door. For a moment she thought it was just her ears playing tricks on her until she heard another knock. Slowly and carefully she crept toward the door. Jack, along with the rest of the crew, followed behind her with a rifle aimed and ready to fire on whatever was on the other side. Cassie took a deep breath and pressed the button to open the door. She nearly fainted when she saw Dahl standing smiling on the other side.
    “How? How did you get here?” Cassie asked dumbstruck.
    “I came back just as you asked me to,” Dahl said in that same calm voice.
    “How the hell did you survive that explosion?” Lars asked.
    “I was never in that explosion. I evacuated the ship shortly before impact. It was a simple matter of changing my body to survive the vacuum of space and floating back here,” Dahl explained.
    “You are one tough bastard,” Jack said stunned, lowering his rifle.
    Cassie struggled to believe it. Finally she reached out and placed a hand on Dahl's face. Feeling his warm skin against hers, she knew it was really him. Her terror and sadness was immediately replaced with overwhelming joy and she leapt into his arms and covered him in kisses.
    “Don't you ever scare me like that,” she said between kisses.
    “Great, but what about my ship?” Jason asked.
    Before anyone had a chance to respond to Jason's question, they heard the front doors to Landers HQ slide open. They all walked back to the briefing room to see who was visiting them. When they entered the room, they were surprised to see Captain Jackson standing there.
    “Well, I was coming to offer my condolences to Cassandra, but it seems like she doesn't need them,” the Captain said, seeing Dahl.
    “Dahl saved us all,” Lars said.
    “I saw that. It was very noble,” Captain Jackson replied. 
    “Also, Cassie was able to synthesize a terraforming serum from Dahl's DNA,” Jennifer added.
    Captain Jackson paused and took a look around the room as he processed all of the information. After a brief moment of silence, he said, “Well, in light of all this, I can't rightfully send him back to his planet now.” Captain Jackson walked up to Dahl and extended his hand. “Dahl, I would like to offer you citizenship on Solaris in honor of your heroism and sacrifice.”
    Dahl graciously accepted the Captain's handshake. “Thank you, Captain Jackson. I gladly accept your offer of citizenship.”
    “I suppose with this new serum, we could begin to colonize this planet. What do you call this planet anyway?” Captain Jackson asked.
    “Novus, sir,” Lars answered.
    “Like the hooker?” the Captain asked.
    “Yes, like the hooker,” Jason said with a laugh.
    “What do YOU call your planet, Dahl?” Captain Jackson asked.
    “I simply call it 'Home',” Dahl replied.
    Captain Jackson sighed and shook his head in resignation. “Fine, ‘Novus’ sticks as the name. Dahl, would you object to us living on your planet?”
    “Captain, my friends and family are all dead. I would be honored if my new friends would share my home with me,” Dahl replied.
    Cassie smiled and hugged Dahl. She didn't care what people thought about her hugging and kissing an alien. She was just happy he was back with her and they could now be together without worries.
    The rest of the day was a rush of excitement and celebrations as the ship was informed they would be settling down on Novus. Cassie and Dahl were paraded around in front of everyone and hailed as heroes for their efforts. Eventually, the parties and ceremonies came to a close and it was time to go to bed. Cassie was glad she could crawl back into her own bed. Her parents even allowed Dahl to come stay with them. As Cassie was ready to close her eyes and fall asleep after an exhausting day, she heard her