On Freedom's Wings Pt. 01

I've had this written for a bit now, but more or less forgot it existed as I worked on TSI Part 2. Got some inspiration when I was chatting about some pirate art with a couple other authors on discord, and figured I already scratched my fantasy itch with The Spark Ignites, I want to scratch that sci-fi one too. So here it is, a bit of a side project, but if it takes off, I may keep working on it more often. To be very clear, this is an incest story, kinda one of my big kinks. Ye have been warned, turn back now lest ye experience it!

As always, all characters in this story involved in sexual acts are over the age of 18.

Chapter 1

I sat in my captain's chair, completely bored. This mission was a complete waste of my time and talents. So was this ship, to be honest. I was sat in the bridge of a Y1375 "Grudge" class escort ship, The Hound. A cred a dozen in any kind of real fleet, but for me? It was my punishment, for getting surrounded and retreating from seven pirate vessels. It wasn't strictly my fault, someone was loose lipped, and they were waiting for us in an ambush, set up mines and everything. I wasn't going to risk Thorn just to collect a couple bounties and clear out a small pirate cove. That was my mom's old ship, and it meant more to me than anything else in the galaxy.

That wasn't good enough for the old man, nothing ever was. Every time I did something impressive, something worthy of note, he would just nod, like it was expected that I succeeded, and moved on. Old bastard, and because of my "shameful retreat", I was now stuck on the bridge of The Hound, escorting a low priority merchant convoy.

I glanced around the crew manning the computers here, and was filled with disdain. They weren't my crew; they were other screwups, people were either too much of a hassle to dispose of, or had enough use that it would be a waste to do that. The only one I really had any value to me was Olivia, the navigator. She was a short, thin woman with dark purple hair, one half of it was long, the other was buzzed close to her head. She was kind, fun to talk to, and could drink in amounts that belied her five foot tall stature. She kept me company during this long mission, and helped keep me from wanting to either blow my brains out from sheer boredom, or strangle one of the bridge crew for being idiotic. I examined her, taking in her thin waist, small, firm ass, and her petite breasts. She was just endowed enough to say she wasn't flat. Overall, she was just on the hotter side of cute, something that could easily appeal to most men, and certainly appealed to me.

As if she knew I was looking at her, she glanced up from her console and met my eyes. Her eyes, replaced by cybernetics, were a metallic green. They shimmered in the light of the console she sat in front of. Leading from the outer corners of them were lines of metal, implants that helped her eyes hook up properly to her brain, at least that's what she'd told me before. I never had a need to get augs myself, and all reality, the thought of having random bits of metal shoved into my body creeped me out a bit.

Olivia winked at me and wiggled a bit in her chair. She was teasing me again, something she liked doing quite a lot. Along with being my company when I got bored, she and I had shared a bed a few times. She was a wild ride, and it honestly kept me coming back for more. I might just take her with me once I got Thorn back, she was an excellent navigator.

She grinned widely as I glanced her up and down. She knew she had my attention, and she relished in having it. Something I had noticed when we had sex was that she was a little territorial. She reserved her flirty looks and touches for me, and me alone. Otherwise, she was entirely professional, almost cold if I was being entirely honest. She was odd, but I enjoyed her company.

I looked at the other members of my bridge crew, and they were all men, mostly nondescript, and completely bland. People who would fade into the background if they weren't the only ones here. They just were, so, fucking, dull! "Yes, sir, no, sir, I'll look into it, sir." They had no fun at all! My old crew joked and laughed on the bridge, making the ship feel like home, these guys just made it feel like I was working in a soul sucking office. I think one of them was named John, but I didn't care. Once I was done here, I'd be off, back on Thorn, back home, and nothing would keep me from taking it and disappearing. I was sick of dad trying to run my life, as much as he could at least. I wanted out, I planned on starting my own group, and being free. Just me, my crew, and Thorn, it was one of the few things I really had left of mom...

I shook my head and got rid of those thoughts before I sent myself into a spiral. I didn't like when I got like that. It took a toll on my mind, and made me moody like a teenager. I was in my twenties, and it was time I 'grew up', according to dear ole dad at least. With a shake of my head, I got back on track, the mission. I was to escort five merchant vessels through the edge of pirate territory. They were small ones, with middling value cargo, just some spices and metal, nothing processed, and nothing really of worth to any pirates. At least, I thought that was the case, until a claxon started. The bridge erupted in a flurry of activity, the crew manning their stations.

"Status report, NOW!"

I shouted, I knew that alarm, that was something coming out of FTL travel, one that triggered the IFF. I saw the rupture the warp drive made long before I saw the enemy ship, but when I finally did, my heart sank. It was a long, sleek ship, designed to look fast, even when sat still. Its gun ports were open, and the slight bristles told me that it had either come from a fight, or came gearing for one. I knew that ship, it was Freedom's Teeth. The ship belonging to a notorious pirate, known only as The Dreadlord.

"Sir It's the-"

"I know who that is you idiot! Why is it here though!? These merchants have nothing that crew would want, and we aren't in a ship of any real value!"

I shouted, not in the mood for these dullards to tell me things I already knew. The Dreadlord was someone everyone prayed they never met. Nobody knew if it was a man or woman, the voice was so heavily modulated to keep it secret. Honestly, it could be anyone behind the mask they wore. The helmet, like every other person in that crew, had a skull engraved on the front. Though theirs was lined in silver, while the rest of the crew had them painted white, and each and every one of them hid the true appearance of the wearer. Nobody knew what the crew was, could be all machines for what anyone knew.

"Sir, they're hailing us. What do I do?"

Odd, I couldn't think of any real reason they'd try and contact us. Rumor had it that they normally shot first, since it gave their target less opportunity to blast out any distress signals. I decided if they were going to play nice, I should too, if only to save my own skin.

"Open coms, maybe we can barter our way out of here alive."

That was my only hope, that they would be willing to negotiate, or maybe let me go, not like I posed much of a threat to them. This ship could put up the pretense of a fight, but their ship would come out on top with little in the way of damage. I sat up straight in my seat, and made myself look presentable. Inside, I was terrified, there were survivors of this crew, but they were few, far between, and tended to never set foot off planet ever again. I took a deep breath, stilled my hands, and called out

"Freedom's Teeth, this is The Hound, what can we do for you today?"

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Chapter 2

The only response for several moments was static, I wondered if they were having a coms failure, but just before I could call out again, a heavily modulated voice interrupted me.

"You can start by turning on your live feed."

The voice was deep, inhumanly so, one that made you question if this crew was even alive. One common theory about The Dreadlord was that it was a rogue AI, and the crew was entirely mechanical. It had happened before, some big corp or planetary governor decided to try and supplement their forces with a coded war AI and a mechanical crew. More often than not, these went rogue, and got hunted down. Some still roamed, most keeping to themselves, preferring solitude in the cold void, others went insane, and flew a red flag, killing indiscriminately. These stories only fed the fear around the Dreadlord.

I gestured to the man on comms to open up the camera, no point in aggravating them, it would only lead to my death. When both sides were opened up, I saw the armored figure of the Dreadlord, sat rigidly on their command chair. They wore power armor, painted matte black, with the silver skull on its face. Soulless, remorseless, it looked like if Death wore armor. That thought sent a chill down my spine. Their head cocked to the side slightly, as if examining me. After a few moments, it nodded, and leaned back into a relaxed position, a decidedly human action.

"Hmm, yes, that will do. Surrender yourself to me, captain Marcus Argo, your crew will be spared."

Their words threw me for a loop. They wanted me to surrender to them? Why not just cripple the ship and take what they wanted? I filed that away for later, I couldn't surrender, I would never be able to get Thorn back then. I wasn't going to lose her, ever again. I wouldn't let mom's memory die like that. With a deep breath, I steeled my nerves, and replied.

"I cannot do that, I can negotiate some of the goods these traders have, or even just leave your territory and not report your presence here. I cannot simply surrender to you."

The Dreadlord's head cocked to the side again, and for some reason, I got the feeling that whatever face behind the mask was grinning. I have no idea why, but it was a gut feeling, and trusting that had gotten me out of several binds in the past.

"Good to see you still have your spirit, but sadly, that is nonnegotiable. You will be on this ship within the hour, whether you like it or not."

Before I could reply, communications were cut, and Freedom's Teeth rapidly began approaching. I was cursing mentally, there was no way this ship would escape, and even if I did manage to, well good ole dad would probably have me flogged to death for failing another mission. It was damned if I do, damned if I don't, so naturally I chose the option where I knew I had at least a snowball's chance of survival. I hit the ship wide intercom on my station and steeled my nerves.

"All hands, prepare to repel boarders. We have unwelcome company incoming."

I released the comms, and looked up to my bridge crew, all were nervous, some fingering the sidearms they were carrying in case of just such an event. I glared, and started barking orders as if my life depended on it, and in all reality, it did.

"What are you standing around for?! Man your stations and try to keep that ship from getting close enough to even try a boarding action! Comms officer, start sending the distress beacon, we need any help we can get."

My words threw them back into the moment, and they scrambled to prepare the external weapons this ship had. Vincent, the comms officer started clacking away on his keyboard, getting our message out to anyone who'd listen. When compared to Freedom's Teeth, The Hound might as well have been firing small arms munitions against a tank, but we had to try something. All we had were a few laser arrays, at short ranges, they could be devastating when handled by a skilled crew. Sadly, this was not one of those, and if we let them close to that range, it would be over. They'd launch boarding torps, and we'd be fucked. The Dreadlord and their crew were armed to the teeth, with plasma weaponry along with incredibly high caliber explosive solid slug throwers. Something designed to crack armor open like an egg, and turn body parts into paint splatters on the walls Those were the rumors at least, any survivors were always tightlipped about what happened. Well, more like so traumatized that they couldn't talk about it, but that wasn't relevant at the moment.

The chatter on the bridge turned relatively military, which was the best I could hope for with them. My old crew were comfortable with each other, and would deal with issues as if they weren't even a problem, just joking around as they blew fighters apart before hosing the mother ship down with plasma. I missed them, beyond imagination. Right now was hardly a time to take a trip into my memories, now was time for actio- OhsweetbutteryJesus!

Freedom's Teeth was on a hot approach, closing rapidly, and damn near into the range of the smaller lasers, which is a lot closer than I'd wanted them to be. In the next few moments, she'd be well within range to fire the torps!

Just as I had that thought, I saw pinpricks of light across her broadside, signaling that they had done exactly that. They were small, nimble things, I saw two explode as they were hammered by the automated defense grid, but compared to the amount that I guessed had exited the ship, we had done next to nothing against the boarding force. If even half of them had people in them, we'd be drowned in a wave of power armored figures, sweeping through us like we didn't exist.

I pulled my pistol from my side and checked coils on it. It was an older model plasma pistol, with thorny vines engraved up the grip and down the barrel, ending in a viper's head, opened and ready to bite. This was Gaia's Fangs, and it was also my mom's, and now it was mine. According to her old stories, it had gotten us both out of some holes we found ourselves in. I trusted this gun more than I trusted most of the bridge crew. I set it down on my console, and took a deep breath, I'd never had to repel a boarding action before, but I'd been part of a few. It was simple, try and create a choke that they couldn't breach, and keep them held there until another group could sandwich them between two fields of fire. In theory, simple, in practice, well, I was still alive to talk about them, and that said enough about how well that plan usually went.

"Seal the doors, and get ready to cut down anyone who breaches them. It will be brutal, but there's a chance we can still win this, no matter how slim. Olivia, is the beacon still active?"

She eyes darted around, glancing at a HUD she had as part of her augs, and nodded. She was surprisingly calm, strange, her dossier said she was fresh, never seen combat. I'd ask her about that later, if there was one after the next few minutes.

"Yes captain, we're still broadcasting on all channels, if anyone is in the area, they'll know what's happening, for better or worse."

It was the best I could do as the ship shuddering broke me from that train of thought. They had made contact, now it was only a matter of waiting. I doubted they'd only hit the bridge. They'd hit the engine deck for sure, keep us from going anywhere until well after they were gone, or maybe just detonate the reactor there and leave this thing a drifting hulk. I glanced down and saw all the comms channels lighting up with chatter. The fighting had already begun, and judging the screams, the crew was being cut down like wheat before a combine. The slaughter made me curl my lip in anger. All this loss of life, and I still didn't know why they were here. I grabbed Gaia's Fangs and took cover behind a barricade placed behind my command chair for just such an occasion. I was ready to take as many of these bastards with me as I could.

Soon, there were only a few squads left on the comms, and they were duking it out to try and keep the pirates from breaching a few critical points on the ship, but that didn't matter anymore. The sealed bulkhead that kept the bridge safe suddenly had a flare of light pierce through at the very top of it. They were here, and cutting through the locks. I steadied my aim, and held it at roughly chest level, ready to burn a hole through the first pirate that came onto my bridge.

I waited almost a minute until the breaching torch finally reached the bottom of the door, my breathing relaxed, as I had learned to do years before. There was a sound of pounding on the door, and a set of fingers reached through the line melted in it. Suddenly, the door was ripped open, and I sent a ball of superheated plasma at the figure's chest, quickly burning a hole through the power armor as it started twitching. There was a stink of vaporized oil in the air, but nothing else as both sides froze. So, the crew was automatons, at least, that one was. There was no indication that there was any flesh and blood beneath that armor. The figure teetered, and crashed to the ground, its body keeping the doors from closing, but also blocking the entrance slightly.

That was all the signal the bridge crew needed before shots were fired at the power armored figures starting to move through the gap. The crew just didn't have anything that could really be more than a nuisance to these things, but I managed to take the arm off one pirate, and the leg off another. In return, I saw one gunner have his head blown off by a slug, his brains splattering across his station, and another, the comms officer but soon, a shout caused the combat to halt. That heavily distorted voice sent both sides into silence.

"Captain Argo, surrender now, and your crew will be allowed to leave with their lives. You will be coming with us however."

I gritted my teeth, and called out from behind my cover.

"Never! I won't surrender to a bunch of bloodthirsty pirates such as yourself. I'd rather di-"

Before I could finish, I felt a cold gun barrel press into the back of my head, and froze. There was no way one of them could have gotten behind me, so it had to be... I turned my head slightly, and saw a flash of dark purple hair as the figure moved around to keep out of my line of sight. Olivia, that traitorous bitch!

"I'm sorry captain, truly, but this is for your own good."

I felt the barrel move from the back of my head before it suddenly came crashing back down, hard. I crashed to the deck in a heap, my vision swimming and going dark. As I began to black out, my thoughts were around one thing, Olivia had said for my own good, not hers, or the crew, but mine. That was the last thought I had as the darkness swallowed my brain against its will.

*************************************

Chapter 3

When my vision finally returned, I was surprised by my surroundings. I was obviously not on The Hound anymore, that much was clear after that bitch had knocked me out. What I had expected was to be in some kind of holding cell, with spartan accommodations, and maybe some kind of shock collar on. The reality was honestly much stranger, I was in a comfortable bed, in a well-furnished room. It was cozy, with an obvious woman's touch, just little things that you couldn't exactly place your finger on, but it made it comfortable.

I reached up to my shoulder, and there was nothing there, in fact, looking down at my arms, I had no shirt on at all. I could see my chest, and the V that ran across my stomach. I wasn't ripped, but I stayed fit, something that the lovers I'd had in the past thoroughly enjoyed.

After a few moments of mentally checking myself for any lingering effects of being cracked in the back of the head, I found nothing overly wrong, just a headache and some soreness on the back of my neck. With that done, I tried to stand up, and managed to get my feet under me after a couple attempts. They were weak, which made sense, for all I know about medicine, I could be concussed. Because of that, I had to use the wall to steady myself as I walked over to an open door leading into a dimly lit room. After stepping in, the lights came on, and revealed a bathroom. I found a mirror I could use to double check for injuries after a quick glance around the decently sized room.