Fading Stars Ch. 02

"A jump. Xeltec never stays in one spot for too long."

"Makes sense. Wait. This tub has a jump drive? Those things are Zuthrian military hardware."

"How does a Felinoid know so much about space travel?" Lavasi asked.

Tabby laughed. "Point taken. I thought you Marked ones were walking good-luck charms, you think we kitties are stupid sex toys, is that it?"

The Zuthrian cast down her eyes. "In short, yes."

"Hey, no hard feelings. I have been flying my own freighter for the last five years. I have seen free ports and black holes and space pirates. Heck, I even slept with one to get off lightly. He was really good, meow! And since I had to keep my ship in tip-top shape, I learned what's available on the open and not so open markets. Always wanted a jump drive. No more days in the TransNet, just point and jump. And while I'm buying and selling my wares, the jump drive could recharge. But those few I could find on the black market were sooooo expensive. Guess the Zuthrians really keep the lid on 'em."

A merry chime sounded.

"Huh, now what?" Tabby asked, whirling in place to locate where the noise was coming from.

Lavasi rose and opened a wall panel. Behind it, two trays with bowls and plastic cutlery awaited. Tabby joined her cell mate and peered into the opening. No doubt about it. Mounted into the side of the cell was a synthesis engine. Too bad the controls were inaccessible behind a sturdy metal faceplate.

"What do they feed us? Protein paste?" Tabby picked up her tray and sat down on her bunk, opposite Lavasi who was already spooning food into her mouth. She pulled open a bowl at random. Rice. Another had what looked like meat and veggies, cut into square chunks and drowned in a spicy sauce. The last bowl had fruit pieces.

"Huh," the Felinoid said. "If this tastes half as nice as it looks then this might be the best prison slop ever." She picked up her flimsy plastic cutlery and dug in, realizing suddenly how hungry she was. As with most synthesized foods, it did indeed look better than it tasted but it was a marked improvement from the orange paste she had squeezed out of her space suit reservoir when she waited to be rescued after her encounter at Waystation 52. Before she knew it, she had polished off her portion. Tabby licked sunfruit juice off her fingertips. It reminded her of Deeva. She wondered what had happened to her blue-skinned friend. And the taste made her horny again. Lavasi rose from her bunk and placed her food tray back into the synthesis engine. Tabby did the same. The machine shut itself and hummed, recycling the trays and bowls back into their molecular base components.

Tabby paced the cell again. She wanted to get off this ship but, as things were, she didn't know much about her surroundings or her captor. She did know that they had left the Vex-III system not too long ago and were now only the Maker knew. There was at least one Grey on the ship and an unknown number of Furies. Vecora, Deeva and the others were somewhere around here too but without any way to communicate, Tabby would need to rely on her own wits to wriggle out of this mess.

She felt Lavasi's gaze on her. Shrugging, Tabby padded to where the naked Marked Zuthrian sat and flopped onto her bunk. Pacing around and worrying would get her nowhere at the moment. Might as well get to know the locals. She pulled Lavasi's face close and kissed her on the nose.

"Are you in the mood now, kitty?" Lavasi asked.

"Almost," Tabby whispered, placing quick, tender kisses along Lavasi's cheek. "Any idea if there's a camera in here?"

"One?" Lavasi chuckled. "I know of at least three."

"Wow. Where?"

Lavasi pointed to a spot on the other side of the force field, a small dome under the corridor ceiling. Then she indicated similar domes in two opposite corners of the cell.

"No privacy at all?"

"No privacy. But then, you will know if Xeltec is watching or not."

"Why?"

"He offers suggestions." Lavasi chuckled again. "At least that's what the other inmates told me. Never happened to me."

"Are you allowed to see other slaves?"

"On occasion. Mainly when we are put on display for prospective buyers. Happens every few days."

"How does that work?"

"We're brought into one of several showrooms and have to perform for the customers. You know," Lavasi said, suggestively pumping her shaft. "That's about the only time when we inmates can communicate kind of freely."

"Hm. I see. Maybe it's time for a little sales pitch then," Tabby said, pushing against Lavasi's shoulders. "Meow. Do you mind?"

Smiling, the Zuthrian rolled onto her bunk. "Not one bit. It's so nice to have such cuddly company. I'm all yours."

Tabby grinned playfully. She had done what she could for now. Few people could understand how difficult it was for her to be all responsible, all work and no play. Her body yearned to be played with, to give and receive pleasure. The moment she'd realized that Lavasi was indeed Marked, she had to double her efforts because all her body wanted was that long, inviting alien dick deep inside of her. She had tried to find a way out. There was none, at least none she could use right now. First she had to collect more information and that involved meeting other slaves. Maybe fuck them too. And to do that, she needed to convince Xeltec she was the hottest piece of ass on this saucer.

Lavasi was a tasty sight. Curvy in all the right places, with long, graceful limbs, the black-skinned and white-haired Zuthrian was on her back in her bunk. Her eyes were of a startling blue. But neither her amazing eyes, nor her elaborate dragon skull tattoo across her breasts and stomach could distract from the impressive erection she sported. Smiling up at Tabby, Lavasi stroked her member, distributing precum along the shaft. Unlike a true hermaphrodite, Marked Zuthrians didn't have a vagina. Nor did they have dangling testicles, lending more credence to Lavasi's claim that they were a freak mutation. She wanted to ask her how Marked ones produced their cum but that could wait until she had had some.

Purring, Tabby climbed into the bunk and straddled Lavasi, facing the nearest camera. She grabbed Lavasi's cock and pointed it straight upwards. The Zuthrian chuckled throatily.

"Not much for foreplay, are you?"

Tabby laid back, atop Lavasi's body, until her head came to rest on the Zuthrian's shoulder. Her hand guided the throbbing erection, rubbing the glans against her wet labia. "You're hard as a pipe, I'm dripping wet. If you want a blow job, you'll get one later. Me? I want you deep inside of me, right now, meow!"

* * * *

The Gravon on the holo-screen had his golden hair parted, held out of his angular face by a gem-studded head band made from some dark metal. His eyes were of an unnerving orange and much more cunning than Xeltec preferred in his customers. But this one, Iorec Bloodhand, was special. He loved to style his whole being around the claim he was the reincarnation of some long-dead Gravon war hero, one who actually accomplished anything in their unending civil wars. That aside, he bought slaves off Xeltec on a regular basis and paid in ancient artifacts which were worth much, much more than a few virgin pussies to the right buyer.

"What can I do for you this fine day, Lord Iorec?" Xeltec asked, feigned deference thickly applied to his voice.

"I have stumbled upon a conundrum I can't solve on my own. I thought your considerable experience in matters of ancient history might come in handy. And while I'm on your opulent ship, I might have a look at some of your fine merchandise. It's about time to expand my harem again."

"What exactly are we talking about?"

Instead of a verbal answer, Iorec altered the angle of his camera. An oblong object came into focus. Even a fleeting glance revealed it as ancient, the outside was stained almost black and pitted by what seemed to be micro-meteoric impacts. That aside, the object looked incredibly elaborate, with several strata of metals woven throughout the surface. Iorec moved the camera once more, showing Xeltec a view of the object's top.

"How big is this?" the Grey asked. With Gravons and their immense size, dimensions were deceiving.

"About eight feet in length, five in width at its widest and almost as high. And the thing is heavy," Iorec said, balling a fist. "At least two tons."

"Interesting," Xeltec said. In all his years, he hadn't come across an item like this. He felt the rare flicker of excitement in his chest. "Are there any obvious runes, letters or symbols anywhere on that thing?"

"None my salvage team have found."

If there was one thing Xeltec liked even more than riches, it was a mystery. And Fate had been generous today. First the curious Silician, now a puzzling piece of space flotsam. "I'll have a look at it for you, provided you'll take some of my slaves off me. I just got some new ones in."

"If they are on par with your usual crop, I'll be more than happy to."

"Well then. Where shall we meet?"

"I will send the coordinates. How soon can you be there?"

A system name flickered across the screen. It was within fifty light years of his current position. What was even better, it was well outside the Nor borders.

"In about eight hours. Will that be all right with you?"

"I'm looking forward to it. Iorec Bloodhand, out." The holo-screen winked out of existence. Xeltec messaged his pilot and leaned back in his seat. Movement on one of the screens caught his attention. Cell fifteen. Lavasi, the Marked Zuthrian psionic.

Lavasi should, in theory, have been the hottest thing he ever laid his multi-jointed fingers on. Her psionic abilities were on par with many Faceless. Someone in her tribe wanted her gone and Xeltec was more than happy to sweep in and snatch her off-planet, along with her tender, young, innocent virgin apprentice. Too bad none of his clients wanted to deal with a furious psionic and so he had no choice but to isolate her. It seemed pairing the newly-acquired Felinoid with her had been the right thing to do. The slender cat-thing fiddled with Lavasi's impressive hard-on, trying to convince her tiny pussy to accept the bulbous glans.

The hissing of the elevator doors yanked his attention away from the screen.

"You called?" Xavra, his pilot and the only other Grey on this vessel, entered his lounge. With quick steps, she walked to his sofa and peered at the screen. "Oh, I bet that hurts." She pointed at Lavasi's thick member slowly sliding into the lithe Felinoid who tossed her head back in a gesture of silent rapture.

Xeltec sighed. "I didn't call, I just sent you a set of coordinates. Program the jump drive. We leave once the capacitor is charged."

Xavra chuckled and flopped onto the plush sofa next to him. She pointed at a wrist-mounted display on her arm. "Seven hours and change. I need less than ten minutes to set a course and verify it. That's why you hired me, remember? I can do all that astromechanical stuff in my head and you don't need to shell out for an AI. Let me watch." She indicated the screen in front of Xeltec on which Tabby, eyes wide with wonder, was slowly gyrating her hips on Lavasi's lap, the huge penis completely inside her.

"Fine, if you have to. But keep your hands to yourself," Xeltec grumbled. "I'm so not in the mood." He enlarged the screen with a gesture.

"You're watching a Marked Zuthrian and a Felinoid fucking their brains out and you're not in the mood?"

"Strictly business, pilot. Strictly business. I need to make sure they can perform when I show them to Iorec."

Xavra split her mauve robes. Her body was as emaciated as Xeltec's. To an uninitiated observer, her gender was completely indiscernible since she sported a similar, bewildering cluster of finger-like protrusions and softly sucking openings as the male Grey.

"Well, go on with your assessment. I for one find their performance rather impressive, in a 'Maker, is she really taking it this deep?' kind of way. I wonder why the Zuthrian is pinching the cat's nipples like that."

"What do I know? Maybe to punish her for squeezing her probe too hard?" Xeltec moved a finger, un-muting the display. Both Lavasi and Tabby were moaning, almost screaming.

"Doesn't sound like pain to me," Xavra observed, absent-mindedly manipulating two of her protrusions. "Why is she stopping?"

On the screen, Tabby rose off Lavasi's phallus. She went on hands and knees, shaking her furry butt at the Marked Zuthrian. Her tail made complicated, swirling motions. Lavasi stepped behind her and impaled Tabby, the noises the Felionoid made were incomprehensible as the large phallus speared into her again.

"And now she's yanking on that tail. Weird," Xavra said. Her fingers made wet noises between her legs as she probed a few of her own openings.

"Yeah," Xeltec agreed. "No matter how often I watch them copulate, I always find new, confusing things they do. I wonder what Precursor species find so arousing by this barbaric display."

The wet, slapping sounds of heated fucking echoed through Xeltec's chamber as Lavasi pounded Tabby for all she was worth, punctuated by lustful moans.

"I'm coming!" Lavasi yelled, withdrawing from Tabby. Faster than a pouncing predator, Tabby whirled around and grabbed the glistening dick, both hands frantically pumping the rampant appendage.

Both Grey nodded sagely. This wasn't so different from their own way of mating, coaxing their seed from their bodies by manual stimulation. Afterwards, their combined seeds would gestate in a warming bowl until the first tadpoles would form, which then would be properly incubated until their bodies had fully solidified.

"Maybe we should get a bowl for ourselves," Xavra said, slightly out of breath. A pungent smell filled the air. Xeltec sniffed and wrinkled his face. He was at the nadir point of his fertility cycle and instead of enticing him, Xavra's effluvium disgusted him.

The moans coming from the screen intensified. And then it happened. Thick, pearly ropes of liquid poured from Lavasi's member, spattering onto Tabby's face, hair and breasts. The Felinoid slurped at the slightly deflated member, lapping hungrily at the ropes of cum dripping from it.

"What a waste of good seed," Xeltec complained. He tapped his microphone. "Hey, you two." On screen, both heads came up. "Next time, use a bowl like civilized people. And clean yourselves up. You will soon have a date with a client."

* * * *

Deeva came to. The Nor surgeon, prior to installing the new hardware, had asked her to power down.

"For your own safety," as he had said. Considering the items in question latched on to her primary nerve bus, with a good chance of causing malfunctions in critical systems if not properly installed, she was inclined to agree. She didn't trust him one bit though. While she ran a quick diagnostic scan, Deeva could feel hands all over her body, playing with her breasts and dipping between her thighs.

To her dismay, the surgeon had done his job well. On her spinal column, a buzzer hummed softly, ready to erupt with shocking force whenever Xeltec deemed it necessary. A tracking beacon was slaved to her inertial compass, inextricably linked to her internals. Running on the same circuit as the buzzer was an inhibitor for her arm cannon. She was well and truly restricted. She also found a new entry in her contact list, labeled "Xeltec." Her navigation system had been updated with the ship's floor plans as well. No mention of critical systems but at least she knew where the prisoners were being held.

Sighing, she opened her eyes. The Nor hovered over her, an eager flicker in his robotic optics.

"Rise and shine, Blue," he purred, his hands caressing slowly over her breasts. "Xeltec is becoming rather impatient."

"Then you probably should get your hands off me."

Deeva pushed his hands off her and sat up. On a small cart next to the table she was on, she saw a stack of black body plating, not too different from the ones the Furies wore. She slid off the table and put the pieces on.

"Can't wait to see the Gravon punished, can he?" Deeva asked.

The surgeon nodded. "He said I should give you anything you need for the job, except scalpels or knives." A creepy smile spread over his thin lips.

Deeva hesitated in sliding on the thigh plate and checked the inside of her thigh pocket. It was empty. Her phallus had probably been confiscated during transport, along with her other belongings.

"I will need a new phallus. A Type 4 or 5 would be nice," she said. "Maybe some diagnostic equipment, to make sure his suffering will be maximized."

"Follow me," the Nor said, rising off the stool he sat on. He guided Deeva back into the central room of Sickbay. One of the other side rooms they passed by was lit, an automated array of medical equipment busy on a shrouded body. Deeva could only glimpse bits of leaf-green and a horrifying amount of blood soaking the sheets. Before she could ask the surgeon what was happening, he had pulled her into a storage room. In front of them loomed a huge cabinet made from the same material as the inside of a mainframe ship. Deeva recognized it as part of a Silician medbay, probably scavenged from a destroyed ship. The surgeon opened it and the familiar deep blue light common on a mainframe ship poured out. Inside were several full Silicians' worth of spare parts; arms, legs, torsos, heads, internals. The surgeon picked up a phallus and held it out for inspection. It was a brand-new Type-5, still sheathed in sterile covering. Grinning, he presented the appendage to Deeva.

"I pity the guy already. Well, gives me more to do later." Shrugging, he handed the item off to Deeva, slammed the storage container closed and strode purposefully from the room. "Follow me."

Deeva ripped the clear plastic off the phallus and placed it into her thigh sheath, clipping the black body plating over it. She hurried after the surgeon who was digging through a shelf with medical equipment. He handed Deeva a diagnostic dongle and a data cable. "Standard cyberware diagnostic unit. Should work with every piece of tech out there."

"Thank you."

But the surgeon wasn't listening to her. In the next room, the automated operating equipment beeped urgently and he ran, his gown flapping like a pair of grey wings, to see what was happening. Before she could follow him, her communicator demanded her attention. Xeltec called.

"Yes?"

"Ah, you're awake. Time to teach that Gravon brute a lesson. Meet me in front of his cell on deck three. Understood?"

Deeva shot a last look towards the operating theater. A slender, pale hand had slipped from the shroud and the surgeon was busy injecting medication into the body under the blood-soaked shroud. Who was that?

A sharp jolt caused her to seize up.

"I said: 'Meet me on deck three. Understood?'" Xeltec snarled over the communicator. Deeva gasped at the immense pain flooding through her system.

"Y-yes," she stammered. "I'll be there in a moment."

"Great. We don't have all day."

* * * *

The pain woke him. Again. Thexus wasn't sure when his body hadn't hurt. There were these...things, bristling with tentacles, pincers, stingers and oddly-shaped maws, trying to swarm him as he guarded the escape shuttle on the Novitar.

No. These wounds had nearly healed before.

His hand traveled over his chest. His ribs ached. Badly bruised. His jaw thumped. His heart fluttered irregularly. A stun blast?

He groaned. Images bubbled up from his subconscious. Black-armored Silicians. A jet-powered pair of boots coming right at his face.

Thexus' eyes fluttered open. Someone had dumped him unceremoniously into a cell. His claustrophobia flared up briefly but as he assessed his surroundings, he calmed down. The room was surprisingly spacious for a cell. Every brig he had seen during his training, either from the inside or out, had been much more cramped than the airy space he was in. At least twenty feet to a side, with two semi-comfortably looking bunks and hygiene facilities. One side was barred by a force field, most likely of the same kind which had been around the transporter platform, made to shock the inhabitants into submission. There had to be cameras somewhere.