G-Pol Ch. 12

As they made their way upstairs with Bona on guard below for the moment, they weren't surprised to find out the pirates hadn't bothered with keeping their linens clean despite the fact that there was a sanitizing unit in each bunkroom. So the first order of business was cleaning the linens and going through the crew quarters to be sure they collected any evidence to be found therein. There was a surprising amount, including vids of all the rapes that had taken place in these quarters! There would be no dodging of those charges. They didn't even try watching those for other evidence. They would leave that distasteful job for the investigators on Luna. They did however copy all those files onto the G-Pol computer to be securely forwarded to Luna while they made separate copies for their own evidentiary files. That way the chances of that evidence being "lost" would be greatly reduced.

Sadly, Vixi also found that all of the former prisoners had been subjected to the first stages of drug conditioning. What this meant was that they'd each been given highly addictive drugs, probably in their food to start, that would render them easier to control. Several of them were already showing the early stages of physical addiction and they didn't have the necessary medications to deal with the results on board. Fortunately, only two of the dozen had made significant progress in that conditioning.

As it turned out, these twelve captives had come from four ships. The first two, the ones most affected by the conditioning were the only two survivors from their passenger and crew compliment of eleven. The young man had been a crewmember, while the young lady had been a young up and coming musical pop star. Her disappearance had actually made local news two weeks ago. Unfortunately for Aphrodite and its popularity as a tourist destination, it was known she'd been coming here for a brief vacation. Authorities had been expecting ransom demands, but none had appeared and there was speculation she'd been lost in a transit accident rather than to piracy.

No sign of her ship had been found, but that wasn't surprising considering the pirates' propensity for modifying captured vessels for their own use and or for resale. Custom yachts like hers were easy to alter and make indistinguishable from any number of similar craft with the addition or removal of various optional equipment and amenities. There were of course the other options as well. Such vessels were often broken down for components and the excess sold off, often to dealers in used parts or secondhand to repair facilities for resale to those perhaps a rung or two lower than the original owners in social stature. This was a hot market and profits could be hefty for those willing to deal in stolen property.

In very short order they had searched the ship entirely and had rounded up all the drugs. These were all moved over to Czarina except for a tiny maintenance dosage for those who needed it to survive, mostly the first two victims, who would continue to receive it in their food, though in a much smaller dose than their bodies were used to already. It would be enough to keep them alive, but not enough to continue to build their addictions. It would be a long and painful process to ween them away from their dependence. Both had voluntarily begun that weening when they'd been told what had been done to them. They'd been warned that this would not be a comfortable experience, but that the sooner they began treatment, the better their chances of escaping without permanent harm.

They'd all, and especially Vixi, known people who'd fallen under the influence of several of the drugs often used for these purposes. Thus, they knew from personal experience what those addictions did to people and their families and friends. Vixi herself however had never been personally exposed to any of them and had never felt any curiosity in that direction, so she had nothing to compare what she'd seen to. This would be yet another very serious charge against this pirate crew. The death penalty was now a very serious option.

Rachel and Vinny had been watching once again when the pirate attacked Czarina seemingly out of nowhere. The battle was over so quickly they almost missed it! The only thing that had given it away were the larger explosions as the real missiles were shot down by Czarina's weapons systems and the bright flashes as both sets of force shields took hits from the other vessels' energy weapons. It looked a little more like a movie space battle, though still not anywhere near as dramatic or visually spectacular.

The most visible part of the whole thing was the two ships obviously involved in a chase scenario. It ended with Czarina, the one being chased reversing herself and coming to a very fast stop, then returning to meet the other ship which had stopped firing and come to a stop first. It seemed to be floating dead in space for several minutes as Czarina came around and docked with it for just a few seconds, then pulled away and took up a watchful position a short distance away.

Vinny narrated what he supposed was going on in his southern drawl as things were happening. "Oh damn, that's a pirate! Looks like he got in a sneak attack when they was too bizzy settin up their practice run. Oops, looks like Karl's on it though. See, half those missiles look like they're going for the pirate... or maybe not? That's weird. Hah! They fooled 'em right into cumming into their trap! I never had any idea that lil ship had that kinda firepower! There go their force shields! Get 'em Karl."

He made several adjustments to his sensors and the image grew on the main cabin's view screen. It focused in on the pirate ship and they actually saw when the airlock door opened. "Well looky honey!" He cheered, "It's like they set this all up just for us to see! Like a movie set for crying out loud! Ya see that door opening with nobody there? That's probly Karl bustin in on their party."

After that, nothing seemed to be happening for the next five minutes or so. Then Czarina moved back to the airlock and docked with the pirate vessel. Then there was another long wait, this one more than half an hour. Then Bona contacted them both mentally. "If you guys like, you can come alongside and dock up with our starboard airlock. We're going to be busy here for a while and we don't want the passengers on the pirate ship knowing about you guys, so we're keeping them aboard the other ship till we can get them back to the station. The fewer people who know where you are Rachel, the safer it is for you. I'm sure you understand that?"

"Oh, I got that Bona." Rachel replied seriously, "Thanks for thinking about me anyway though. I really do appreciate it."

"We'll be right over." Vinny replied reflexively aloud, "Be there in a cuppla moments pretty lady." He powered up the Jessup's grav drive and maneuvered them into position. Once they had gotten to the right location, Czarina's airlock tunnel extended out to join with Jessup's airlock and the two ships sealed together. Czarina pulled Jessup in and the tunnel doors opened allowing them free access to the living deck.

They were greeted by Bona. "Hey guys, Tasha's on her way over now. They're moving evidence to secure storage over here so nothing can get lost." She projected them an image of a pretty brunette waving air quotes at them at the word lost. At Rachel's startlement at the human image, she chuckled both mentally and out loud. "We Killhounds often find it useful to adopt a human image of ourselves to make it easier for those not used to our mental contacts to associate with us. I guess I've never used mine with you, have I. So what do you think? It is one of the ways I see myself."

As Bona continued to project her image, Rachel took it in. It didn't even occur to her that the image was a nude at first. When it did, she couldn't help giggling. It was surprisingly detailed! The impression she got was of a beautiful young woman about a hundred seventy centimeters tall and very athletic, though just short of muscular. She had a pixie cut to her glossy black hair, practically glowing honey brown eyes with incredible lashes and perfectly arching brows, a pert little nose with a slightly upturned tip, a small soft rosebud of a mouth with full sensuous lips, perky B-cup breasts with large rosewood colored coin sized areolas and jellybean sized nipples, a dancer's body with a narrow waist and long sleek legs that met at a thick shiny thatch of a landing strip about three centimeters across that petered out as it met her full and apparently very moist vaginal lips! Even the image's luscious lips were painted in a bright red lipstick and her finger and toenails were polished in bright red with gold glitter. The level of detail she was being given actually made Rachel uncomfortable, and not from her childhood conditioning either.

"Sorry about that Rachel." Bona sent apologetically, "The one thing we can't do is filter our projections to match your normal visual filtering processes. Our natures don't really allow it. Our alien nature as compared to your own is emphasized by that I guess, and it stands out in your mind because of it. Tasha tells me she's gotten used to it and she doesn't even notice anymore. It's one of the reasons I don't do this very often."

Rachel smiled at her. "I'm glad you did. I think you're absolutely beautiful both ways. I'll bet you get a nice reaction out of Karl when you do it with him, don't you?"

The girl image shrugged embarrassedly. "Actually, I haven't done this with Karl yet. Like I said, I usually don't. That little air quotes thing was the first time I've done it in ages. I didn't even realize I'd done it until you reacted."

"Ooh, I wanna be there to see it when you show that to Karl!" Rachel laughed with a lascivious grin, "If the opportunity presents itself, I'd love it if you could do it when he's naked! I really wanna watch him get hard instantly when he sees that! You know he will too!"

"You know, it's a good thing you're saying all that in your head instead of out loud!" Bona laughed in her head, "Poor Vinny might get a complex! But I know exactly what you mean too. I'll see what we can do about that... Just for fun of course!" the two shared a conspiratorial laugh.

"What's so funny?" Vixi asked Bona mentally as she came in through the airlock tunnel from the pirate ship. Bona used her visual image and Vixi stopped dead in her tracks as she was given the whole story all at once. "Oh drool! Bona, that is fucking hot! If you could look like that in real life, I'd be all over you in less than a heartbeat! And so would Lisa too! Oh, it's not fair! Wy can't all the people I love be compatible?"

The emotional fervor in Vixi's thoughts told Bona she wasn't kidding at all. Bona was truly flattered by the compliment. "I love you too Vixi, and I wish I could grant your wish in that way."

Vixi laughed. "You and me both gorgeous! Well, we'll both just have to settle for more cuddles I guess!"

"Gladly." Bona agreed as Natasha came through the tunnel, "For all of us." She'd been including Tasha in that little conversation since she knew it wouldn't be distracting her from important duties.

She'd come in leading a grav sled piled with taped and sealed containers marked as evidence. Mike and Janice were right behind her, Mike carrying a large container taped shut and marked as evidence as well. It also carried biohazard labels on each of its sides. "Let me get this stuff secured and I'll come back up and say hi like a civilized person." Natasha said as she headed for the seldom-used lift that would probably be taking her and the sled down to the garage deck to the secured storage area set aside for this kind of stuff.

As she was guiding the sled into the lift car, Karl came in behind her in his power armor. Seeing what she was doing and taking the package from Mike, he headed for the stairwell and began to descend. As he passed by them, he smiled at them through his visor as it rose seemingly on its own. "Hey guys, welcome back aboard. We'll be right back. Vixi, if you wanna stay and keep them company, we'd really appreciate it. Our guests have settled down for now and they should be okay for a few minutes."

"No problem." Vixi agreed with a smile.

"I'll head back over to keep an eye on them." Bona volunteered, "Lisa and I should be enough to take care of it if anything happens. I'll be in contact too." She trotted off into the tunnel and the doors closed behind her.

"Well," Mike said, "WE probably aughtta get outta this armor while we have the chance. He turned and headed for his and Janice's quarters, Janice only a step behind him.

Vixi took Rachel's hand and pulled her toward the crew quarters. "Come on, we can all go get undressed in mine and Lisa's room!" It was clear she wasn't taking no for an answer, so Rachel and Vinny followed. She led them into her room and immediately began stripping off her armor and arranging it on its stand on her side of the bed. Rachel followed suit without question, stripping off her clothes and smiling broadly at Vinny who only grinned as he began to do the same.

Once Vixi got her armor off and put away, Rachel helped her out of her body glove, surprisingly, having no trouble with the fact she was taking off another woman's clothes at all. It was even more surprising when she realized she'd done it while completely naked herself! She was absolutely shocked when she realized she was eagerly examining Vixi's body as she moved into the lav, inviting them to follow and stepping into the shower to rinse off.

Vixi was halfway through her rinse when she froze and a guilty look came across her face. Rachel felt as if something had pulled itself away from her mind and suddenly realized she was staring avidly at a naked woman in her shower and it hadn't been bothering her at all! She felt herself attracted to Vixi still, but now the familiar conditioned nausea began kicking in, though somehow it didn't seem as strong. Still, she had to turn away and she didn't like it.

Vixi couldn't believe what she'd been doing to Rachel without even realizing it. Then she felt Bona's mental contact, with Natasha's in the background. Bona addressed her, "I felt that even over here. Can I have a look to see what has you feeling so guilty?" With a silent mental nod, she opened her mind completely to Bona and Natasha. At least she was getting good at that.

She felt the quick shuffling through of her memories and bona gave a satisfied mental grunt. "My God girl, you're turning out to be a psychic powerhouse! You didn't hurt her by the way. In fact, I think you might accidentally have done her some good. I don't know enough about the abilities you're starting to show, but it seems pretty clear you have substantial healing abilities as well as empathic and telepathic ones. I'd like to have a look at Rachel when we have the time, but I think you may have undone at least part of the psychic conditioning that was forced on her. We're gonna have to put some real effort into teaching you psychic discipline."

Natasha put in her two credits, "We're gonna have to change the operation up a bit I think." She broadcast to all of Czarina's passengers and crew, "Okay ladies and gentlemen, we need to change our plans a bit. Karl, you and Lisa are going to have to pilot the pirate shuttle back to the station. Mike, Janice, I'm going to need you two to go with Karl and Lisa to help take care of the victims. Bona and I need to help Vixi with her psionic issues. Her latent abilities are starting to come out and this can be a dangerous time for anyone too close. Bona and I are well enough protected by our training and we can pass some of that along to Vixi to help her control it until we get to Earth. We're gonna have to head there very soon too. She's going to need a lot more help than we can give her."

Vixi could feel Lisa's sadness at being separated from her lover and her impossibly strong support for her as well. She realized she was feeling it both through their soulmate bond and via another sense nearly as deep in her subconscious. An almost instinctive sense. She realized she could also feel Karl's Mike's and Janice's unquestioning support via that same sense. It was also clear that Natasha had left Rachel and Vinny out of that little communique. She instantly understood the reasoning for that too, though that was simply her own natural reasoning ability at work. She realized she was going to be doing a lot of self-analyzing in the immediate future. She wasn't looking forward to that.

She stepped out of the shower and grabbed one of the bath blankets to dry her skin, not even noticing the way both Rachel and Vinny watched her. Still focused on that internal sense though, she couldn't help feeling the spikes of their attraction to her. She very carefully avoided touching their minds though. She didn't want to risk hurting her friends. She realized that also meant there wasn't going to be any sex for her in the immediate future either. After all, it had been her sexual attraction to Rachel that had triggered her latest unintentional interference in Rachel's mind, no matter how beneficial it might've been.

She couldn't help wondering if Rachel's attraction to her now had been another unintentional change. Was that attraction for her only, or was it a more general attraction to women? She didn't dare try to find out mentally, despite what her inner urges were telling her to do. Those kinds of mental invasions could not only be dangerous for her, but in a lot of circles, it was considered deeply wrong and she agreed with that sentiment. That, and the temptation to attempt to make changes was just too great. That would be a truly evil act, the taking away of another person's free will. That would make her just as bad as those pirate slavers over there.

Rachel was floating in a confused haze inside her own mind. She couldn't believe she was staring at Vixi like this! She found the woman suddenly extremely intriguing! She'd freely admitted from the first time she'd seen her that Vixi was stunningly beautiful, just as Lisa was, not to mention Natasha. Now though, she was feeling genuine attraction and couldn't take her eyes off the taller completely naked blonde, despite how sick it was making her.

She quickly glanced away, looking toward Vinny and was relieved to feel a similar boiling heat in her tummy when she looked at him. She knew she was about as horny as she'd ever been in her life, and everything looked good to her right now. Still, it was really different suddenly being able to acknowledge to herself that she was attracted to another woman! And very, very strongly too!

Something had happened to her... She remembered Vixi's stricken, guilty look and suddenly loved her more than anyone she'd ever loved before. The gratitude was blinding and she decided she was going to reward the woman for what she'd done for her! She took Vixi's hand and pulled her around into an embrace that left no doubt of her intentions. They hadn't made it out of Vixi and Lisa's quarters yet and she was about to kiss Vixi within a centimeter of her life when the nausea nearly paralyzed her. If Vixi hadn't caught her, she'd have crumpled to the floor in agony.

Natasha arrived at a dead run and Bona was already probing into her mind only a few seconds later. She felt their calming mental influence and their suppression of her body's reflexive reaction to her thoughts and feelings.

Then she realized Vixi was still holding her up and crying bitterly, her guilt and self-hate painted across her features like a mask. She wrapped her arms around Vixi again and to hell with her body's reactions! "No Vixi! No, don't cry. You did a wonderful thing for me and I love you for it! It's so wonderful being able to feel that, even with the way my body reacts!"