Galactic Odyssey Ch. 08

Welcome to chapter eight, everyone! We're approaching the end; chapter nine will be the conclusion of this series. Some of you have requested a happy ending - we'll see how things turn out ;-)

Thank you for voting/commenting and enjoy the story!

*****

The two weeks after the dinner with Nora and George passed quickly. With help from one of Ahmad's aides, I reviewed the existing training material and - using the local shop's employees as guinea pigs - I started working on new guidelines that would hopefully improve customer satisfaction and increase revenue.

Unfortunately, the changes would take time until they affected the company's bottom line, which means I still got my ninety-five whip lashes per week, making me the biggest customer our local agency ever had.

In the meanwhile, the job in Kessler's rathole on deck nine added to my misery. I interviewed at more expensive brothels, but after all the abuse my ass had taken recently, nobody was willing to hire me; until I had saved enough money for surgery, I simply couldn't get better employment.

*

On a Tuesday evening, while I was drawing a hot bath in my whirlpool after another appointment with the whipping bot, Nora dropped by for a visit. In her low-cut violet dress, silver tiara, and stiletto heels she looked absolutely stunning. I watched in awe as she walked gracefully towards me.

"Wow, Nora! You look like a queen."

"I do," she said with a mischievous smile. "It's all a lie, of course. I'm a convicted prostitute from Emaris who sucks dicks for fifteen credits."

"'Dicks?' You sucked one dick. If you wanted to make a career out of it, you shouldn't have started with a cop."

She laughed. "True. And it stings that I never got paid, I got that bastard off, after all. I should ask Donnie to collect my money. With interest."

"While he's at it, I'm sure he can get your record expunged."

"Nah, It's fine, I don't want to disappoint George. He was so proud - apparently, getting arrested is some rite of passage."

"The first time's always special," I said and laughed. "I'm honored that you were with me when you got that cherry popped."

"You know, we role-played the entire thing in bed last night, including the collaring and a light spanking. I didn't get my fifteen credits either, but it was fun."

"So you guys made up again?"

"It's complicated, as usual. But since I'm stuck with him, I might as well make the best of it. Which brings me to the reason why I'm here. George has some meetings with the Solarian government and I have to come along and play the charming wife. We'll be on the surface for ten days or so and right after the visit, I'm leaving for Lissandra. I'm going to spend a month there setting up a charity for war orphans."

"Livin' the trophy wife lifestyle."

"Absolutely. Can I leave you alone?"

"I'm all grown up."

"I know, I know, I'm just worried. When you're sick of cantina food, you can go to my quarters, I instructed the staff to make you something to eat whenever you want. And if there's anything at all, you can call me any time, okay? Day and night."

I grinned. "Thanks, mom."

"Joke all you want, I worry!"

"I know," I said and gave her a hug. "You're my best friend. I'll miss you."

"And I will miss you, Cass. Feel free to raid my nightstand while I'm gone."

She gave me a wink and I couldn't help but grin. Nora had an impressive collection of toys, the largest I had ever seen outside a sex shop, and we had used many of them during our play times together.

"But, I almost forgot to tell you." She hiked up her dress and moved her thong to the side. "Notice something?"

"Your clit ring's gone!"

"Yep. Remember that deal with George? A thousand lashes for getting it removed? Took me four sessions and seventy licks, then he threw in the towel. On my last session, I had them record it on video and believe it or not, Big George Vlissidis couldn't watch how wifey got a thrashing. Same as you on Emaris. You act all tough, but you criminals are surprisingly squamish."

"That's because we care about you, girl! Please tell me you wouldn't have gone for the full one thousand."

"I don't know, probably not. Somehow I knew that he would give in sooner or later. He likes to test my limits, but as it turns out, he doesn't want to see me suffer."

"You guys have a weird relationship."

Nora rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it. On some days, I could strangle him and on others we get along nicely. You know, he's a fantastic lover when he wants to be. But don't tell him that, his ego is big enough."

"Whatever! Nora, I have one important question, and I need you to be absolutely honest."

She sat down with me on the bed and looked at me in anticipation. "What is it?"

"How was the service at Everton's?"

Nora laughed out loudly. "Oh, Cass!"

"I'm serious, I spent so much time training the staff there. They have a monopoly on board, that's not good for service quality."

"The Mendez facilities are still better, but the service was okay. The first time, they made me wait for fifteen minutes because the girl at the counter had to call her manager and the manager probably called Donnie. They were a bit nervous about whipping the boss's wife."

I chuckled. "I can imagine."

"But enough talk about business, I get plenty of that with George."

She gave me a sensual kiss on my lips and got on her knees in front of me.

"You seem tense, Cass, let me give you some stress relief. Do you want the Emarian whore or the royal experience?"

I smiled and stroked her cheek. "The royal experience, if it pleases your majesty."

*

A couple days later, Ahmad and I had selected half a dozen locations that I would visit on my trip. It was great being able to get off the ship for a few days and I was looking forward to enjoying the expense account that Ahmad had allocated for me.

As per George's orders, I stopped by his office - there was still the matter of procuring a hyperspace-capable ship and without his approval, I couldn't go anywhere. Tense and slightly nervous I walked up to his huge desk - I knew him well enough by now, he wouldn't make things easy.

"I got a little something made for you," he said with his typical broad grin.

He opened a drawer in his desk and handed me an expensive looking black jewelry box.

Knowing his wife's adornments, I wasn't keen on receiving gifts from George - whatever it was, I doubted he had my best interest in mind. Reluctantly, I opened the box and I wasn't surprised when I saw its contents. It was a black, sparkly collar with a ring at its front, similar to the one Nora had worn a few weeks ago.

Not at all happy that I would have to wear a collar again, I took it from the box and examined it from all sides. It wasn't the heaviest one I ever had, but it was no toy either - removing it without the key would require serious machinery.

The worst thing though was the inscription. "Personal property of George Vlissidis," I read, printed on the outside in silver letters.

"How do you like it?" he asked.

"It's ... pretty," I said, unable to fake even a hint of enthusiasm.

"It's got a tracker built in, so you don't get lost," he said and I could tell that he enjoyed this immensely.

An ankle tracker would have worked just as well, I thought.

"Oh, and it's got a few other useful things built in. Stuff that only works in a collar," he said, as if he had read my mind. "Let's just say I wouldn't want to be near it when someone tries to cut it off."

Fantastic. It made sense of course - with my unquantified debt to George, I was little more than a slave anyway. The collar just made it official.

"I have to wear it from now on?"

"Only when you're off the ship." He took the collar from my hands. "I'll help you."

"Do you want me to kneel?" I asked, a little bit more aggressively than I intended. Provoking him was not a good idea - despite his friendly tone he was still the deadliest thug this side of the Riva nebula.

George laughed loudly. "Don't be ridiculous."

I lifted my hair and let him lock the collar around my neck. For someone as fiercely independent as me, being marked as property was the worst feeling in the world.

"Looks good on you."

I sighed. "So I'm your property now?"

George grinned. "The collar is, but don't blame me if it leads to misunderstandings. You might find it useful though, nobody messes with my stuff."

Very funny, I thought. Even though he didn't consider me his slave, absolutely everybody else would.

"I expect you back in three days. You stay on mission and do your job, no distractions. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Talk to Donnie on your way out. He'll give you a guy for protection."

*

I hadn't really expected that he would send me out alone. Despite the tracker around my neck, he wanted to take additional precautions and from his perspective, it was understandable. The last time I had managed to avoid capture for months.

Donnie had already compiled a list of qualified men and left it up to me to choose. Still annoyed about the collar, I flipped through the profiles that he put on his large office display. I didn't know any of them, so I simply picked the best looking one. It was shallow and sexist, but guys did it to me all the time, so I enjoyed my petty little revenge.

According to his profile, the guy I selected was a former special forces soldier with some unspecified background in engineering. He also had some basic skills as a pilot, which meant we could share cockpit duty. But as long as he didn't get in my way, I didn't care who was coming along for the ride.

*

The next day, a few minutes before the scheduled departure time, I took my bag with some of the clothes that Nora had given me and stopped by her quarters to say goodbye.

Nora scowled when she saw my collar. "George and his stupid jokes. If he thinks he can have sex with me tomorrow, he's in for a surprise."

"It's fine, don't worry about it. I'll get a scarf or something to cover it up."

"No, it's not fine, it's humiliating."

"If you want to do something, try to get my lashes reduced. I thought I could do it, but I'm not sure how long I can go on like this."

Nora gave me a hug and a kiss on my cheek.

"I'm working on it, constantly, but he doesn't budge. But I will keep trying, I promise. Take care of yourself, Cass."

*

My babysitter really was one handsome son of a bitch, but it was the ship that got my juices flowing. It was a Lexington ninety-seven raider, a light assault transport that was often used by commandos to break through enemy lines. This thing was a pilot's dream - fast, heavily armed for ship of its size, and with enough space inside for long missions. I was very close to drooling on my boobs.

"Good evening, Ma'am, I'm Terras," he said and shook my hand. "I see you like our ride."

"Call me Cass," I said after I had finished gazing at the ship. "That is one hell of a toy, I can't wait to take her for a spin."

"She sure is. I think Mr. Rann likes you, he said you deserved a treat."

After hundreds of whip lashes and working three jobs, I sure as hell did.

"Terras, just to make one thing clear. This is my mission, you're just tagging along, understood?"

He shrugged. "Understood. My job is protection, I already got the briefing from Mr. Rann. And Ms. Vlissidis came by personally and threatened me with all kinds of things if I don't behave."

"You better believe it, soldier boy."

*

With a tingle in my lady parts, I steered the raider out of the hangar, exceeding the commonly accepted maneuvering speed significantly. I could see Terras grabbing his armrests tightly, but he said nothing while I had some fun making myself familiar with the ship.

It took me a couple of hours to get over the initial excitement of flying that raider. When I was done turning large pieces of space debris into smaller pieces using the main weapons array, I transferred control to the autopilot. We were on course and had another twelve hours until we arrived on Sentarra.

More bored than hungry, I raided the fridge and laughed when I found some sandwiches with a handwritten message from Nora: "Enjoy your trip and fly safe! Love, mom."

I was missing her already and other than eating Nora's delicious sandwiches, there wasn't much to do. I looked through the computer system for some entertainment, but the offer was depressing - someone must have wiped the memory prior to launch; I couldn't remember when I last saw a ship without a proper library and a decent porn stash.

After I had read parts of the manual and run the same unnecessary weapons diagnostic a second time, I turned to my handsome copilot. With muscular arms and tight abs he looked like a good distraction.

"Hey, buddy, wanna fuck?"

I thought I saw his eyes light up for a short, fleeting moment, but it might have been my ego playing tricks on me.

"Sorry, Cass. I don't fuck other people's property, that's just rude."

Dammit, I had completely forgotten about my stupid collar.

"Oh come on! That's just his sense of humor. I'm not his slave."

"It says so on the label. And I bet you five hundred bucks that if you lower your pants right now, I'd see a slave tat."

I groaned. "That stupid tattoo is from before. I've been released, I'm a free woman!"

He smiled at me and turned back to his console. "Whatever you say. My orders are providing protection, entertainment is not on the list. Lean back and enjoy the flight."

"LIsten, dumbass, I work Wednesday nights on deck nine. Anybody with a pulse can fuck me. George doesn't give a shit."

"Yeah, right. A hot chick like you on deck nine? How stupid do you think I am?"

"Let's not get into that. But if you won't fuck me, I'll jack off. Right here."

I put my hand down my pants and cupped my pussy, but he just shrugged and didn't even look up. "Do whatever you have to do."

"I'll give you blue balls, soldier boy, you'll be begging!"

He grinned. "You haven't started yet? Less talk, more action!"

*

Annoyed, I got up from my seat and left the cockpit. Normally, sex with men was purely transactional to me, I did it to get paid or for some other tangible benefit. But in those rare cases when I initiated it purely for my own enjoyment, I was never rejected. I wasn't a stunning beauty like Nora, but still, a girl like me, getting turned down by a straight man was unheard of.

I decided that he was either gay or a coward who didn't want to become space debris, like the Alderians who had taken their liberties with me. Whatever the reason, my ego was bruised and I had to work off my sexual frustration in the shower. While rubbing my clit, I made a point of picturing Morg, the only through and through decent guy I had sex with since I left Thoria. He was much older and nowhere near as handsome, but I genuinely liked him and unlike present company, he knew how to fly a ship.

The rest of the trip I ignored Terras and instead of his abs or the weapons console, I watched the ceiling from my bunk bed. Somehow, I managed to pass the time until we arrived.

*

"What now?" Terras asked, after he had landed the ship by autopilot, like a pussy.

"I'll go to the local agency and get myself a few whacks to test the service. And after that, I'll talk to the manager to implement the necessary changes."

"Really? Can't you just ... observe?"

"No, genius. I need to experience their operation first hand. Without proper data, we can't plan a change across fifty-thousand shops."

He raised his eyebrows and watched me while I wrapped black electrical tape around my collar to hide the stupid label. If I went in there, tagged as George's property, that would no doubt skew the results.

"How many lashes?" he asked.

"Twenty-five."

He whistled. "That's a lot. You sure you can take it?"

I ignored him and went to the bathroom. Of course I could take it - not that I had much of a choice, my balance for this week was still standing firmly at zero.

"I'll come along," he shouted so I could hear him through the bathroom door.

*

The walk outside from the landing pad towards the inner city was nice. For the first time in months I felt a gentle breeze on my skin and the fresh air from the ocean was cool and salty. It reminded me of my home near the Thorian Northern Sea, at a time before the war, when the world was much less complicated.

I wanted to be free and explore the galaxy, but instead, I had turned my life into a mess. The prospect of getting yet another thrashing was depressing, I still didn't know where my sister was, and I was very close to being a slave myself - a prisoner at least, guarded by a merc who wouldn't leave my side.

"Do you really have to follow me around like a braindead puppy?"

"I'm responsible for your safety. And apparently you get lost easily."

"Very funny. But if you absolutely have to come, at least be be inconspicuous."

"Incon- ... what?!" he asked with a grin, and I wasn't quite sure if he was joking.

"Just keep your mouth shut, dumbass, and let me do the talking."

*

Outside the agency, while I was still taking my usual deep breaths to calm myself down, he grabbed my upper arm and dragged me over the doorstep.

"Hey. This whore needs twenty-five," he said before I could open my mouth.

"Morning," said the clerk and scanned me. He was in desperate need of a shave and his uniform looked like it hadn't been washed in a while. For some reason, the company kept putting the least suitable people behind the counter.

"An unlimited account," he said. "Wow."

"Yeah. She needs a lot of discipline, sometimes I wonder if she's worth it. She's got great tits, but a shitty attitude."

The clerk grinned. "We get many of these. Cheap whores with shit for brains."

"I'm not stupid," I protested, but the other charges I couldn't really deny. All I could do at this point was adding up the punishment lashes that I would award him later for bad service.

"Sir, we do offer gags." said the clerk. "Five credits, I can book it on her account."

Keep digging, asshole, I thought. That's another ten lashes for you.

Terras grinned. "Nah, it's fine, she'll keep her mouth shut. Right, missy?"

I gave him an angry glance that would have killed an Andarian walrus, but said nothing. Buddy, I thought, when we're done you will not hear the end of this.

*

As usual, I had to strip right there in the reception area and got the usual hardware to keep me under control. In shackles and cuffs, both applied way too tightly, I shuffled towards the whipping chamber.

Looking back, I could see Terras whisper something to the clerk before he caught up with me and took me into the chamber. The room looked exactly like the one on George's cruiser: A wooden bench, the whipping bot, the cuffs attached to retractable cables, and the circle painted on the floor. It was all depressingly familiar.

When I was strapped in, standing spread-eagled in the middle of the room, he walked behind me and whispered into my ear.

"By the way, I talked to the guy. I made it fifty."

"What?!" I screamed, pulling helplessly at my restraints. "You're so fucking dead, asshole!"

"That's for calling me a dumbass. But let's talk later," he said with a smirk. "Have fun and keep in mind that we can still get that gag."

*

I was still shouting obscenities when the first stroke hit me, knocking the wind out of my lungs. As the pain spread through my body, I decided that it was wiser to save my energy and take care of that idiot later.

Clenching my fists and my butt cheeks, I stood there, enduring the lashes as they landed, perfectly synchronized, lash after lash, fifteen seconds apart.

My back was on fire and I had to channel my rage to make it. The pain builds up between lashes - number ten is a lot worse than number five and I didn't even want to think about anything beyond thirty. Somehow I had to get through the session without embarrassing myself - I didn't want to give that asshole the satisfaction of seeing me break.