Scales like Stars Pt. 04

"I know it was a fuckup, Gimtesh," Bex snarled.

"T-Then...keep?" Gimtesh looked at the egg.

"I can't," Bex hissed, jerking her forward. "That human bastard and that spoiled cunt of a royal princess are backwood bumpkins. We have at least a few weeks before they discover the secret. That's time enough for..." He looked at the egg. A shimmering stasis field snapped around the shining black surface. He looked back at Gimtesh. "For the Ousters."

He dropped Gimtesh to the ground. She gasped, clutching at her neck. Coughed. Coughed again. She looked up. "B-But..."

"We can breed a new egg," Bex said, looking down at the stasis field - shining like a chrome soap bubble, concealing what it held. A slave typed in a pass-key code to the side of the stasis emitter. Bex punched the pass-key pad. The buttons shattered and sparks flew from the side of the machine. He grinned slightly. "Add a few days to our estimation. Just in case."

Gimtesh watched as the egg was wheeled away by the servants.

She didn't fear the servants giving anything away.

They, after all, had no tongues.

***

The Talon-9 flipped, then burned hard away from Arcturus at almost 5Gs. And the fact that Merton could say or think a sentence like that almost made up for the fact that he had been kidnapped by a spoiled space dragon princess. Or was that spoiled dragon space princess? Either way, he felt like his whole body had turned into rubber. A few years of sheer terror had been compacted into the past two days. And now, at last, he was able to relax, lounging in a chair as he looked at the stasis bubble that contained the newest member of his increasingly bizarre family.

Relix and Thuwit both sat at the other sides of the table. Relix's tail kept bumping against his ankle, then jerking away. Then, a few moments later, it would creep back to bump against him again.

"It's a stasis bubble," Thuwit said. "Simple divination spells have determined that it does contain a dragon egg. We believe that the key-imput was destroyed intentionally, though."

"Of course it was," Relix muttered.

"Okay," Merton said. "Three questions."

Thuwit looked at him. Rather than the withering looks he had sent Merton at the beginning of their relationships, Thuwit now looked at him with something close to actual fucking respect. It was almost heart warming.

"One," Merton said. "How do stasis bubbles work?"

"They're rudimentary alterations to teleport spells," Thuwit said. "But rather than choosing a destination, they simply choose no destination and rework the spatial warping elements into sustaining the teleport. Since teleportation is instant, this extends that instantaneous moment until the magical energy bleeds away. While that 'moment' exists, nothing can change within the sphere."

"Huh." Merton blinked. "What teleport spell did they use as the basis?"

"Intergalactic," Relix snarled.

"So, we have some time until this wears off." Merton nodded. "Question two: how do dragons usually work? Egg wise?"

Relix crossed her arms underneath her breasts, leaning back in her seat. She arched her back slightly and Merton found it hard to ignore the perkiness of her chest, which strained against her sheer robes. Her voice, though, was pure irritation. "An egg is laid. Between six to nine months later, a dragon comes out. It drinks in magic and information from the surrounding area, so they're very knowledgeable. But dragon children lack any context for the information they know, and thus, are...extremely irritating."

Merton nodded.

"And your third question, m'lord?" Thuwit asked.

"What local pirates, thugs, low lifes, assassins and assorted riff-raff exist in the Orion Arm?"

Relix and Thuwit's brows furrowed.

"You think this egg has some incriminating intelligence on House Thresh?" Thuwit asked - his fingers already tapping out a command code sequence on the table - his finger touches creating tiny flashes of lights under his long, thin hand.

"Why else delay our contacting it?" Merton suggested.

Relix shivered, then scowled at the chrome-sheathed egg. Her tail started to lash as she muttered. "F-Fucking goddamn it."

Merton smiled. "Hey, it's okay, we-"

Relix glared at him.

Merton's smile faded away. Fortunately at that moment, the door opened and in walked a fucking monster. It was a bug-human hybrid, covered with chitenous armor, with glowing red eyes. It had dozens of weapons strapped to its body, and weirdest of all, it was walking in with Lisa. Lisa, who seemed to be completely unphased, was saying: "Oh, yeah, and we had a black president named Obama."

"A negro president?" the bug monster asked.

"What the who the fuck?" Merton stammered, springing to his feet in shock.

"Oh!" Lisa said, jerking her thumb. "You haven't met Gunner? This is Gunner. He's a World War 2 fighter pilot who got abducted and experimented on by the fuckfaces in the FTE. Gunner, this is Merton Miles."

"I'm aware, Lisa," Gunner said - his strangely accented voice deeply amused. "She was telling me that the gays can get married now? Why? There can't be that many of them, right?"

Merton just...let himself sit right the fuck back down. He shook his head as Gunner thumped forward, his arms crossed behind his back. His head lifted and he spoke in the clipped, steady cadence of someone giving a briefing. "The current threats in this arm of the galaxy are many and varied. Lightly settled by the Five Talon Empire and even more thinly settled by client races, it is home to several dozen pirate gangs. The most dangerous are the Geotari, a race of rock men who feed on the waste heat of planetary tectonics...but now that they have transitioned to space based living, they prefer the heat of blasted starships."

He sighed. "The other danger is the Ousters."

Merton and Lisa exchanged a glance.

"They're a race of nomadic humanoids," Gunner said.

"Three meters tall, tailed, big on glassing planets?" Merton asked.

"No," Gunner said. "They're small and they don't glass planets, they drop asteroids on them."

"Worth a shot," Merton said, drawing a confused look from Relix and Thuwit. He sighed, then decided he might as well lay it out on the table. "Fine. Okay. I've been noticing reocurring themes in the Five Talon Empire that reflect human, well, fiction. Dungeons and Dragons, for instance, has the split between chromatic and metallic dragons. Then there's the Ousters - a name from a sci-fi novel I read back on Earth. And the organizational similarity of the FTE to the Imperium from Dune. It's...all...kinda weird."

"This will be something we need to investigate," Thuwit said. "but for now, I believe the more pressing issue is the egg and the potential ambushing. Yes?"

"Yes," Merton said.

"I suggest we burn hard for the Core," Gunner said, his voice soft. "Then, once our thrust plume is making it quite clear, we instead plot a subspatial jump to the nearest friendly House. I suggest House Yeltanzo."

"A copper dragon?" Relix asked, her tail coiling up in disgust. Then she sighed and nodded. "Fine. Fine. Hamin Yeltanzo might be an utter boor, but he won't shoot us with nuclear weapons." She shook her head and stood. "Set the course, Gunner, I shall be in my chambers."

She stalked off, her tail lashing hard. Merton sprang to his feet, squeezing Julia's shoulder quickly. He started after his wife, his jaw clenching slightly. Relix put a bit of extra bounce to her stride - actually growing her legs slightly so that she ate up the distance between him and the elevator. The door hissed open and Merton jogged forward. The door started to close and actually scraped against his butt and belly as he squeezed in, thumping against Relix. She put her palm on his forehead and shoved him back, glaring at him.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Excuse me, Princess," Merton said, angrily. "I kinda thought we should talk about the egg, the future of my friends and family, the upcoming Ouster ambush, the fact that I'm no longer mage blind and need to-"

"You're what?" Relix hissed, swinging her head around to face him.

"...right..." Merton whispered. He hadn't asked the four armed purple skinned chick if she had told Relix that.

The door to the elevator opened and Relix grabbed him and dragged him by one arm into their shared bedroom. Not that they had ever shared it once in their short, tempestuous marriage. She literally tossed him into the room before slamming her palm onto the shut and lock function. The door hissed and thunked and she glared at Merton as Merton staggered away from her to the bed. The bed was rumpled and messy and a strange, tangy scent filled the air. It wasn't bad, though. In fact, the more Merton sniffed it, the more faintly familiar it was.

"Explain," she growled.

Merton rubbed his shoulder. "A clever primitive never reveals his tricks." He grinned, slightly. "But since I'm not that clever: My lovely girlfriend Julia talked your engineer into doing it, with plausible deniability."

Relix shook her head. "You...arrogant monkey. Magic is the fundamental force of the cosmos, blessed to those who have it. Dragons have spent thousands of years learning its complexities, its nuance, and you think you can just swagger in with your confidence and your gorgeous brown eyes and just take it like a princess chained to the bed. Thrusting into it with your...maleness..." Her voice grew softer as she glared at him. Merton blinked. "Conquering magic like an eager little bitch..." She purred, her clawed finger caressing his chest.

Merton blinked again. "Relix?"

She grabbed onto his shirt. Picked him up. And bodily hurled him out of the room. It was shocking, the transition from simply standing there to flying through the air. He hit the ground, rebounded off rubber, then landed on his feet, skidding backwards a few feet before he came to a stop. He blinked, gaping at the door as Relix stood in it, her arms shaking. She looked as if she was struggling against some massive weight, her mouth fogged in a haze of frost. Rings of steam burst from her nostrils as she snarled.

"Get. Out. Now."

Merton stepped backwards, his eyes wide as he saw her tail lifting.

Lifting.

That smell hit his nose again and he realized why it was so familiar.

Relix's rooms...stank of her arousal. Her tail was lifting upwards and arching and as he watched, her breasts seemed to firm up, becoming more taut and eager. Her nipples stabbed out against her robes, begging to be caressed and squeezed. Merton blinked at her.

"W-What's happening?" he asked.

She jerked her head aside. "I'm in heat," she snarled. "Y-You stupid fucking lovely monkey, you get me so fucking wet, I...I can't stop it. My body triggers the heat. Hormones. All of it." She hissed. "I...g-god, just throw me down on a judo mat and fuck my brains out. Humans like that? Women so desperate they'll do anything? I'll let you do anything. I'll suck your cock and lick your balls. I'll even let you knock me up. Please. Just...fuck me..." She whimpered, arching her back. Now she wasn't standing in the door.

She was posing. Her breasts were framed by the door-frame, as were her hips. Her sex was moist enough to cause her robes to slick against her thighs, drawing the outline of her cunny. The pale light of a thousand stars glimmered through the windows behind her, giving her body an exotic allure that rivaled anything Merton had ever seen in his life.

"Please..." she whispered. "M-Make love to me, my husband. I've...never..."

Merton closed his eyes.

And he did the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.

He turned away.

"Merton..." Relix whispered. Her voice felt as if it was choked.

"J-Just give me five seconds!" Merton said, holding up his finger.

He stepped over to the elevator. He tapped the com unit, and said: "Can I speak to the head, uh, doctor?"

A few short seconds later - seconds that felt as if they lasted five eternities, as Merton felt the increasingly non-plussed draconic princess looking at his back - the four armed purple skinned chick appeared on the screen.

"Can you send me a drug that counteracts a dragon going into heat?" Merton asked.

"These drugs exist," the woman said - looking like she was deeply confused and trying to grasp exactly what was going on.

"Then. Send. Me. One." Merton forced the words out through clenched teeth. The face blinked off the screen and a few seconds later, a small slit opened above the screen and dropped a tiny ampule into his palm. Merton turned and walked back towards the gorgeous, confused, horny, desperate dragon-girl, and plunged it into her neck. The tiny hiss clicked on and she blinked, her eyes growing focused. Her tail remained lifted, and her nipples remained hard, but she was no longer struggling against the door-frame. No longer locking her knees to keep herself in place.

"W-Why?" she whispered.

"I kinda have this rule against taking advantage of people," Merton said, smiling slightly at her. "Besides. This isn't exactly a-"

Relix leaned forward. Her muzzle touched his lips. The contact was electric - and her tongue swept into his mouth. It was long and cool and flexible, and it wrapped around his and squeezed. Once. Twice. Her scaled hands slipped along his shoulders as she pressed herself against him. Her muzzle shifted subtly as he kissed her back - growing more flexible, shorter, more humanlike. Eventually, he was simply kissing a small, delicate mouth on a face that set somewhere between draconic and humanoid. It felt divine. Her breasts mashed into his chest and her tail wrapped around his back, holding him close.

Then the kiss broke and Merton panted. "R-Relix..." he blinked. "D-Did the ampule not work?"

"Of course it worked, you idiot," Relix hissed. Her eyes closed and she ducked her head forward. "I love you. Y-Y-You...fucking asshole."

Merton blinked. But before he could say anything, Relix was on him again. Her mouth pressed to his, her tongue thrust in deep. And this time, Merton kissed her back. He kissed her back with the fierce eagerness of a man tossed a life preserver in the chop. His hands reached down and slapped against her scaled rump, squeezing fierce and hard. Her flesh dimpled under his fingers and she hissed into his mouth - a pleased, happy sound. She broke the kiss, ducking her head forward as she pressed her forehead against his. "Yessss..." she breathed. His hand reached up and squeezed the base of her tail. It was strong and twitched against his palm. He forced her tail up, pressing hard.

Relix rolled her head back. "Yes, god, yes, make me lift that tail..."

Merton kissed her neck. He tasted the warmth of her scales. He growled into her, his voice soft. "I was always wondering..." he murmured, before kissing her chest, above the swell of her breasts. "What kind of dragon are you?"

"A pure dragon. Obviously." She scoffed, then gasped as Merton's hands slipped underneath the edge of her robes, tugging them away from her breasts. The smart clothes came away unwillingly - as if he was tearing them off. Strands stuck to her scales before popping free, giving him the feeling of peeling a delicious candy. The beauty he exposed was so very worth it. Her breasts heaved, with scales glittering like stars. Her nipples were void-black, and hard enough to cut glass. Merton closed his mouth around one, sucking gently on it.

Relix gasped, rolling her head back. "Pure dragons, ah, we're also called...mmm...feathered dragons. Quetzalcoatl was the first Emperor, he bred our line."

Any other time, Merton would have jerked back in shock.

But right now, he was too busy kissing and sucking on the galaxy's most perfect pair of breasts. His eyes closed and he reveled in the contrast of her scales. Silky smooth, yet textured and tough. He could squeeze her breast hard and it provoked not a squeak of pain or a cry of annoyance. Instead, Relix moaned like she was battery powered. Merton drew his mouth back, a few thin lines of salivia connecting his mouth to her nipple.

"Gods you're so warm," she whispered.

Merton pushed her back, his own clothes melting off his body like wispy smoke. Relix let herself fall backwards, the bed absorbing her back striking it with a faint bounce. Then she was spread wide for him, her thighs opening, revealing the perfectness of her draconic pussy. Merton crawled atop the bed, his palms touching the fabric to either side of her head. But he didn't plunge in. Something in him knew that this time was special. He looked into Relix's eyes. His voice was soft.

"You've...never..." He paused. "Never done it like this, have you?"

She turned her head aside. "I have done it like this many times..." she muttered, her voice sullen.

Merton shifted so that he could cup one hand on her cheek. He turned her head to face him again. Her eyes roiled - shifting hues and colors so fast that it was nearly hypnotic.

"You've had sex. And fucked. But you've never made love, have you?" Merton whispered, his voice soft. Husky.

Relix's muzzle flushed. Hard.

"No..." she breathed.

Merton leaned forward. He kissed her nose. Then he kissed the line of her jaw. His lips feathered along her neck, gentle and soft. His lips trailed that pattern - a kiss here, a lick there, a warm breath there - on a slow, winding course. He went along her neck, then across her chest. He nuzzled the valley between her scaled breasts, then lingered lovingly over the cute, sleekness of her belly button. He didn't know that creatures born in eggs had belly buttons, but he was not about to fucking complain, because Relix had the cutest fucking belly button he had seen in his fucking life. His tongue delved in and she squealed, then jerked her head to the side. One wing flapped spasmodically, slapping against the bed with a drum-like whump. Her tail slowly looped around Merton's neck - not in a strangly way. More in a gentle pushing way.

Said gentle pushing mashed his face against her sex with enough force that a wet slap sounded where his nose and cheek pressed to her dripping, eager slit. Merton laughed, spluttered, then pushed himself back and up.

"Princess!"

"Sorry," she said, looking quite flustered. "I j-just thought that was where you were going..."

"I was," Merton said, grinning at her as he kissed her thigh. He nipped her scales gently. "But now I'm just going to keep exploring."

"But i-"

"Shhh," Merton breathed against her thigh. He kissed up to her knee, nuzzled the side of her leg. His palm caressed her calf as he whispered. "You're too beautiful to rush this on, Princess."

"M-Merton..." she paused. Merton kissed the underside of her calf as her leg straightened out obligingly. He half stood, so that he could nuzzle against her ankle, his hands stroking up and down her legs. His eyes were closed tight as he breathed in the sensations of her. The smoothness of her scales. The faint reptile scent that mingled with the intense musk of a woman's arousal. The elegant curve of her foot as he kissed the ball of her heel.

"Yes, Princess?" Merton whispered, opening one eye. She was looking away again, one arm caressing her breasts. No. Not caressing. Covering them. She looked as shy and quivery and eager as any girl he had ever seen. And since Merton had only had sex with one girl in his life, and she was currently downstairs, likely telling the others her life story, Merton didn't exactly have a lot to compare too.