Galactic Odyssey Ch. 05

After their mostly successful stop on Emaris, Nora and Cass work hard to put some distance between them and the mercenaries on their trail.

As usual, don't forget to vote and/or comment, it's much appreciated! I've got a few more chapters coming up :)

*****

Nora grimaced. "Oh gods, I have to poop real bad."

She was lying on the floor massaging her belly and occasionally hitting her fist against the seal that covered her entire genital area. The seal had been part of her sentence for prostitution on Emaris Station and its back segment opened only twice a day, meaning she had no way to relieve herself. At least not right now.

I watched from the pilot's chair and sometimes rubbed my bare foot against her thigh, which was the only support I could provide while steering the ship through the asteroid belt. We had to stay off of busy shipping lanes if we wanted to have a chance at escaping her husband and I constantly checked the long-range sensors for other vessels.

Our journey had been a bumpy ride and several times we barely escaped George's men when stocking up on supplies along the way. On the positive side, Nora and I got along increasingly well, which is a good thing when sharing cramped quarters for extended periods of time.

Nora winced and turned around, rubbing her bare breasts on the carpet to distract herself.

"That's the universe telling me that I'm not supposed to suck dick. Message received, it won't happen again!"

"Not for money anyway," I said. "And now stop squirming, you'll make it worse. It's just three more hours."

"That's easy to say for someone who can poop whenever they want!"

"I know it's annoying. Did I tell you about my time back on Massanas? Punitive solitary? They had me in full sensory deprivation, catheterized front and back. I know what it's like when you're not allowed to take a shit. It's a special kind of torture."

"It's evil," said Nora, turning on her back. "How long did you spend there?"

"A couple of months."

I had originally been sentenced to six months, but they released me early. That was the one good thing when an entire planetary justice system was based on solitary confinement: When they needed space for new inmates, small fish like me were kicked out.

"You know, considering how much time you spend in jail, maybe you should try a different career. Maybe crime just isn't for you."

I chuckled. "Says the wife of 'Big George' Vlissidis. You probably committed more crimes just by standing next to him than I ever could in my whole life. And besides, I'm improving. I'm sure your husband had setbacks early in his career, too."

Nora's cramps weren't getting any better, but there wasn't a lot I could do to help. I tried to distract her with some war stories from my time with Morrisson and for a while, she listened to my past exploits as a smuggler around the Ildarian system. It didn't take long, however, until the next wave of cramps hit. She kicked the weapons console in frustration and hooked her thumbs into the nipple rings, tugging and turning them.

"And could you stop pulling on your nipples already? I swear to god, they are longer than when we met."

"I know, I know,'' she sighed and let go. "It's a stupid habit. But it distracts me from these friggin cramps."

"Hey, I don't judge other people's kinks, but it would be really useful if you could take them off ..."

"You think I had any say in this?" she asked. "That was the punishment for the second time I ran away. I was gone for five weeks before he caught me."

"Really? George did that to you?"

"Yep. Each time I run, I get a new piece of jewelry. Last time was the steel bands and for this time, we 'agreed' on a nose ring. I'll look like a Lessandrian cow. But at least it'll match the boobs."

She shuddered in disgust.

"And you're sure he loves you?" I asked.

"He does, but everything's a stupid game to him and it's hard to figure out what he really wants. On one hand, he doesn't want blind obedience, on the other hand, he needs to be in control. Childhood issues, probably."

"At least it's better than a whipping or being tossed out the airlock. So how did it start?"

She looked up to me. "Start? What do you mean?"

"If your nipples were the second and the titty cuffs were the third, what was the first?"

"Ah. The first was a boob job."

"They are not real?" I asked. They certainly looked like the real thing to me.

"Nope. Genetic manipulation, bio-engineered growth. You know, I had perfect breasts and now I have these huge, grotesque hangers."

"Come on! They are a bit on the large side, but I don't think it's that bad. I'm sure the guys love them."

"Men are pigs," Nora whined. "And because of these pigs, I cannot poop."

I laughed at her analysis and she couldn't help but grin either. "That, sister, was a problem of your own making. Nobody told you to suck off that cop."

Bored and in pain, Nora continued complaining while I evaded asteroids on a course that none of the maps considered safe for travel. From time to time - apparently once too often - I glanced over to her.

Suddenly, she sat up. "Hey, are you checking out my boobs?"

"Sorry, they look so real," I said, turning back to my console. "Maybe you should put on a shirt."

"Forget it, I'm sweating my ass off the way you turn up the heat. And it's not like I need a bra."

"True," I said, firing the thrusters to avoid an asteroid that had gotten way too close. It turned out the maps strongly discouraged this course for good reason - a larger ship would have been space debris already.

When the proximity alert sounded again and a small rock was deflected by our shields, she got up from the floor and sat next to me.

She sighed. "Let's get it over with."

"What do you mean?"

"Go ahead, you can touch them. If it helps us avoid a crash, be my guest."

There was no point in denying it. I would probably never be able to afford such an expensive bio mod and given my original equipment, there was absolutely no need, but I sure as hell was fascinated. I reduced speed and made sure there were no asteroids in our way.

"They feel like the real thing," I concluded after she had patiently endured my very careful examination.

"It's genetics, Cass. They would be the real thing if my ancestors had monster tits."

*

We continued our flight and I managed to steer clear of the asteroid belt and into the orbit of an uninhabited planet at the edge of the solar system. The planet would shield us from anyone's sensors, giving us time to lay low for a few days. With a sigh of relief, I shut down the engines and leaned back in my seat - more than anything, I longed for a good night's sleep.

Unfortunately, Nora still had a couple of hours until she could finally relieve herself. The poor girl was miserable and couldn't sit still.

"You're doing it again," I said and pried her fingers from her piercings. "Leave your poor nipples alone!"

Nora cursed and sat on her hands. "So much for my self discipline. Do we have something on board to cut these stupid rings off?"

I pondered for a minute. "I'm not an engineer, but I don't think we can safely cut that kind of material. If we take a torch to it, the heat will transfer through the ring and we'll fry your nipples. I'm afraid you need surgery."

"Damn."

"But I bet I can get you to stop," I mused. "You'll never tug again."

She looked at me suspiciously. "You want to tie me up, right? Not gonna happen, I've had more than enough of that."

"Nope, I was thinking about good, old-fashioned conditioning. We still have the control collar that you used on me."

"Interesting idea. But only on the lowest level, please. And you take it off when I ask!"

Nora fetched the collar and locked it around her neck while I figured out the application on my comlink. There were all kinds of pre-programmed deterrence modules, but for this particular problem we had to build our own model. I paired the devices and made sure the link to her nervous system was established.

"Alright," I said, "I'm ready for recording. Now you can tug all you like."

For a couple of minutes, I had her pull on her nipples in different ways, all recorded through the collar's neural link. We needed plenty of training samples to achieve the necessary precision of the model.

"I think that's it. The trigger is enabled, you can give it a try."

With trembling fingers, she slowly reached for her left nipple. Amused, I watched how she grimaced and squinted her eyes in anticipation of the shock. When she finally found the courage and pulled the ring, the collar did its duty, just as programmed.

"Ouch! Gods dammit!"

I laughed. "Seems it works. Shall we leave it on, or do you want to chicken out?"

"Leave it on, if nothing else it distracts me from the cramps. And if it doesn't help, we'll increase it to level two tomorrow."

*

After a night of wonderful, uninterrupted sleep, I was back in the cockpit with a large mug of coffee. Nora also seemed well-rested and much happier than she had been yesterday.

"You look good," I said. "I take it you finally got to take a dump?"

Nora smiled. "I did. It was amazing. But hey, do we have anything to read? All I found was a million issues of Mercs Weekly. And lots of porn. I really can't watch porn under these, err, circumstances."

She patted her genital shield. "No playtime for this bad girl. Not that I would, you know."

I smirked. "Girl, back in that cell, that's basically all you did."

Nora blushed. "You saw me on the security camera?"

"And the entire kennel smelled like pussy. Don't worry about it, It's a natural thing. Every time I was locked up with my hands free, I did the same."

"I've got this teen girl body, you know, I do get ... hormonal."

"That's what we call it now?" I laughed. "What about back home? Do you and your husband have sex, if you don't mind me asking?"

"We do. I give him two nights a week, the rest of the time he goes to his little floozies. He says he doesn't mind if I sleep around, too, but on his ship nobody dares to do the wife of the boss, obviously. That means I'm stuck with my fingers and toys."

I flipped through the digital library and chuckled. "One of the guys must be a romantic, I found 'Solarian Passion.' Do you know it?"

Nora groaned. "I can't believe I read the entire thing, what a waste of time. Guillermo, that dumbass, he could have had her on page three. And the mother - gods, don't get me started. What a cliché."

"I'm a sucker for this kind of trash," I admitted. "I just hoped for a bit more action, but I did like the mom, she has a good sense of humor. And she fucks whoever she wants."

"I don't know, I hate it when the author thinks they're funny. But marrying both Roberta and her mother at the same time, I didn't see that one coming."

I laughed. "Neither did I. What about you, by the way, are you George's only wife?"

Nora nodded and took a sip of my coffee. "And our marriage is only his third, which is not a lot, considering that he's almost eighty. The ex-wives and I get along really well, they are nice women. They're both still alive, which gives me hope."

"How did you end up marrying him? You don't have that gold digger vibe, if you know what I mean."

"Believe me, I had no intention of marrying him, it was George's move to consolidate power. I'm from an influential family, my dad is Admiral Varma - maybe you heard of him?"

"That rings a bell, yes," I said, remembering a series of failed military operations to reign in Big George and destroy his empire. The admiral had recently been forced to retire and considering his long list of misdemeanors, it was a surprise that he didn't go to prison.

"Dad was tasked with bringing George to justice. Of course, I didn't know back then that good old dad was just trying to take out the competition. Long story short, he got himself captured and sold out his only daughter - me - to save his hide. Effectively, it was a royal gangster wedding."

She took a deep breath, reaching for her nipple ring, but stopped at the last moment. Clearly, the conditioning was working.

"You have to understand that I'm from a very traditional family. Marriages are arranged and we're taught from a young age to be chaste and pure, and obey our husbands. That's our way of life. And now picture eighteen year-old Nora, young and naive, who didn't know her father was a crook and who hadn't even had sex yet - not with another person anyway. Imagine how I got married. George made my dad walk me to the altar, I was butt naked and on a goddamn leash. And after the vows he had sex with me right there, in front of my parents and all guests. Hundreds of people! I thought I was going to die."

"And you agreed to this?!"

"What was I supposed to do? I couldn't refuse and bring shame over my family. There was one good thing though - it wasn't a traditional wedding like back home, George never asked me to swear obedience. In a way, he liberated me, it's hard to explain. I got a lot more freedom than would have at home, even with all the ... things I had to endure. But I have evolved as a woman, I want to be truly free."

*

Of course, I understood what she meant. I had felt suffocated at home, there was always someone who told me what to do and how to live my life. It was ironic that in many ways, my pursuit for freedom had the opposite effect - I had been imprisoned so many times that it was second nature to me.

Nora gave me a nudge. "Cass, still with me?"

"Sorry, yes."

"I told you so much about my life, but you never talk about yourself. Where are you from originally?"

I sighed. Since I left home, I never told my story to anyone.

"I'm from Thoria originally and before you ask, no, I didn't support the war."

Being a Thorian wasn't something you'd readily admit these days, not after the brief, but unsuccessful war that Thoria had waged against its neighboring systems. Fueled by delusions of superiority, our regime invaded several colonies in an attempt to build the Great Thorian Empire, killing millions in the process.

Even though I detested Thoria's militarist society, I didn't rebel for moral reasons - I simply didn't buy their bullshit and wanted to be left alone. I was a free spirit, I didn't like to follow the rules and got in trouble for all kinds of things, from fighting over selling drugs to damaging school property. Much to my parents' disappointment, I spent significant time away in lockup and got more cane strokes than any other student in the history of my school. I remembered how I once wiped my naked ass with our fascist flag, right in front of the entire class and if the judge hadn't been an acquaintance of my mother, they probably would have executed me.

"So in summary, young Cassidy was a pain in the butt," said Nora and stroked my cheek playfully. "Unlike the well-adjusted grown up Cassidy that I like so much."

"Oh yes. And when my parents finally had enough, they sent me to Thoria IV to train as a commercial pilot. But halfway through my training, I was drafted into the navy, kicked out, enslaved, and since then I've done jobs here and there."

As a navy soldier, I had been absolutely useless. I knew how to handle my weapons, but physical exercise was not my thing and neither was following orders. In boot camp, whenever there was a disciplinary whipping on a Friday night, chances were high that I was part of it, getting my back shredded in front of the entire battalion for all kinds of infractions. The only reason I graduated basic training was because my drill sergeants were sick of me.

"Why were you enslaved?" Nora asked. "Was it for something that happened in the navy?"

"Yep. They found drugs in the kitchen where I worked."

"That's awful. Do you know who put it there?"

I laughed. "Me, of course! You should know me better by now. But you'll be glad to hear that I learned my lesson; I'm much more careful now."

Even though these two years of slavery had been a horrible experience, it came at the right time for me. The carrier group had been in desolate shape - having lost more than half of its ships and the majority of its marine battalions, it was barely able to defend itself. Most of the surviving ships had not been fully operational in months and even the huge carrier had taken critical hits. Due to multiple hull breaches, many decks had to be evacuated and with two of its three reactors on emergency shutdown, it was slowly limping along the fleet.

Years later I learned that weeks after my disgraceful departure, the battle group had ceased to exist. In a desperate attempt to stop the enemy's advances, it had been completely annihilated while making its last stand at Jackson's Point, the final stronghold outside our solar system.

"You never tried to contact your family after your release?" Nora asked.

"I'm dead to my parents, but my sister Amara and I exchanged messages, at least for a while. I still write from time to time, but I haven't heard anything from her in two years. Maybe it's just the embargo."

"Did she fight in the war, too?"

"No, she was too young for the draft, thank god. I'm giving her time, she'll write back when she's ready."

Nora set up straight. "Cass, could she-"

"No. Absolutely not. She's not in the lottery, she can't be, my parents have enough pull to keep her out."

Caught in their nationalist delusions, my parents hadn't protected me from being drafted, but they would sure as hell save their little girl.

Nora stroked my hair and said nothing.

With Thoria's surrender, the entire planet had effectively become a prison. All ships with hyperspace capabilities were destroyed and a mine field in orbit had been deployed to enforce the embargo. As part of the war reparations, citizens aged eighteen to thirty were entered into a government-run lottery and those selected were shipped off-planet to be enslaved for life, to make up for the destruction Thoria had caused. Some fifty million people had been drawn and another hundred million were estimated to follow over the course of ten years.

*

For two days, I couldn't get the lottery out of my head. I was worried sick and needed to know that my sister was safe. It was one of the galaxy's biggest tragedies that people from my generation - many of whom had opposed the war - had been made to fight in it and were now paying the price. Once a proud nation, Thoria was now flooding the quadrant with cheap slaves and even many of those who weren't selected often had to sign fixed-time contracts to survive.

Finally, I swallowed my pride and sent a hyperspace message to one of my uncles, my father's oldest brother, who had been the black sheep of the family long before I outdid him in that regard.

The next day - I had almost given up on getting a reply - I received the short message and it confirmed my worst fears. Time and time again I read the single sentence and spent the next hours crying in my bed until Nora came looking for me.

"Cass, what happened?"

I just sobbed, unable to talk, as she tried to console me.

"They ... they took Amara."

"Your little sister? She's been enslaved? Oh god."

Nora sat down on the bed next to me.

"Cass, she's your family, we've got to go and look for her."

"How are we supposed to find her? She's a lifer, she could be anywhere in the galaxy!"

Normally, everyone who was legally enslaved was tracked in the central slave registry on Helios. But with lifers, it was not mandatory to keep the records up to date - as far as the law was concerned, these people didn't exist anymore, they had no legal protection whatsoever.

Nora made me sit up.

"I cannot imagine how hard this must be for you, but you're no use to her like this. Get your act together, girl! The Cassidy I know doesn't cry, she would turn every rock in this galaxy until she finds her sister. Get out of bed, have some coffee, and then we're out of here!"