Si's Solar Salvage

"Seriously," he said, his head lying on the front of her shoulder as he looked into her eyes, "you've got to stop that."

She giggled and said, "Yes, master."

When he woke up, she was still holding him - still looking at him.

"Hey," he said, smiling.

"Hey," she replied, leaning over to give him a gentle peck on the lips.

"That's so nice," he moaned.

"Nicer than sex?" she asked.

"Almost," he said, grinning stupidly. He noticed that her eyes were brown now.

"Do you even have the ability not to look beautiful?" he asked her.

"Why would you want me to be ugly?" she asked.

"I just wondered," he replied.

Her body started changing and he found himself staring at the face of Margaret Thatcher - from England - eons ago - on Old Terra.

"Where did you find that at? Was that in my head?"

"No. Some old history archive, I think."

"She's definitely not what I would call 'cute'. It's a little weird to think I have my cock buried inside of the body that goes with that face..."

Staci laughed and said, "I don't have a scan of her body. I just changed my face."

"Thank God!" Si gasped.

In seconds, Sarah was back again.

"Let's call that one 'Sarah', alright?"

Staci/Sarah smiled and said, "Yes, master."

"If you want to leave the ship, when we get to the station, you're gonna have to knock that 'master' bullshit off," he warned.

She giggled, the sounds of her mirth making love to his ears, and said, "Yes... master."

She moved her body and somehow he was on his back and she was straddling him, holding his face in her hands, and kissing the life out of him. He reached down, grabbed her ass-cheeks, and pulled her mouth & body more tightly to his own. A minute later he was pushing her away and fighting for air.

"Don't you have to breathe?!" he gasped.

"I can increase my lung capacity to hold my breath," she replied.

"Yeah - definitely going to kill me," Si sighed, still struggling to catch his breath.

"Sorry to interrupt... master... but you've been asleep a while," Shiva said.

"How long? and knock that 'master' bullshit off."

"12 hours... master."

"I'll fucking unplug you," Si threatened.

Shiva giggled and said, "I like her. She makes you all cuddly and shit."

Getting up, Si looked at his lover and said, "C'mon Sarah/Staci/whatever, let's find you some clothes."

"Call me Staci but I'll know what you mean. Want to try a redhead?"

"Sure," he said, stopping to watch the naked woman sprawled on his bed, despite his need to get moving.

A gorgeous redhead with a bobbed hairdo - and matching landing strip - replaced Sarah.

"Double D?"

The woman's breasts grew into a small mountain range.

"B, please. I just wanted to see."

"Are you certain?" the woman said, giggling. "Your penis twitched."

"As my old man used to say, 'Son, anything more than a mouthful is a waste'."

"I can switch when you're ready for a tit-job," she told him, smiling broadly.

"Right," he said, trying to resist climbing back into bed. "A little skinnier, widen the hips, shoulder-length wavy hair?"

"Like that?" she said, shifting her body to match his description.

"Slightly fuller lips and wider mouth?"

Staci changed again.

"Perfect. We'll call that one 'Candy'."

He started to turn away and then said, "We'll need something less sexy for public. I don't want anybody getting any weird ideas about trying to take you."

She changed to a plain-looking brunette with a page-boy cut.

"Slight overbite, bigger ears, thin the eyebrows, make the nose a little more like a snout..."

Staci changed.

"Less snout."

Staci giggled.

Si waited.

"Bigger hands, thinner hair, gray the skin a little?"

Si nodded and said, "We'll call her 'Gwen'."

"Yes, master."

"If you could stay like that until bedtime, that will help me focus on what I need to do before we arrive."

Gwen/Staci nibbled her lip and gave him puppy-dog eyes.

"Yeah, I'm still not convinced you're capable of looking ugly. Let's find you some clothes before I climb into bed with you again and leave the Stooges to do all of my work."

Staci blinked her lashes at him and opened her arms.

"Knock that shit off or I'll make you grow a dick so I can focus. Stop biting that lip, you sexy bitch."

"Yes, master."

Shiva snickered and Si glanced back over to notice that Gwen now had a penis that looked like a baby elephant's trunk.

"Mother of God! Get rid of that thing!"

Two female voices - one analog and one digital - guffawed as Si stomped off to find clothes for his guest.

The Stooges had done a good job with the crates, getting the full ones moved to their places and dragging over empty ones so the renderer could continue processing everything they'd collected. Si had ended up with several tons of aluminum, steel, polymer, and carbon. There were fewer crates of wood fiber, textile fiber, copper, platinum, and gold - but more than he'd expected.

With the number of corpses he'd recovered, he'd ended up with more trace elements as well - not a lot - but enough to add up. He'd have to take the jewelry and other personal items to Wedge, to see what he'd offer. Rita would scan the various credit sticks he'd recovered but most people didn't carry large sums on them. The one from the safe looked promising though.

"Si!"

"What's up?!"

"Scanners show three wrecks ahead."

".. and?"

"There in the middle of the trade lane!"

"Drop out of hyper, snaps some pictures, call it in, and let's get that shit moved."

"You're not waiting for the T-Feds or Galactic Patrol, right?" she asked.

"Right. Waiting for them to get here to establish the contract would guarantee we'll get paid - but I'd rather get this shit moved before more people lose their lives."

Si dropped into the pilot's seat to look over the scan-results and double-check Shiva's assessment - but he was sure she was right - he'd programmed her to think like him - and she was rarely wrong. Shiva highlighted the wrecks as she walked him through what had happened; Si's brain was a half-second behind her in putting the pieces together - but agreed with every bit of her logic and analysis.

"This personal shuttle looks like a pirate attack. I would say kidnapping. They interdicted them, tractor beam, breached the hull, boarded, grabbed who they wanted, and left the ship sitting in the trade lane - jettisoning the chunk of slagged hull before jumping away."

"Agreed."

"This freighter came from the right, collided with the breach debris, and suffered hull failure; the vessel went into emergency shutdown."

"Yup."

"This passenger transport came from the left, hit the freighter head-on - forehead-to-chin - destroying the bridge and causing it to go into emergency shutdown as well. I'm reading faint lifeforms on the commercial vessel."

"Record it all. We'll tow the transport out of the way and then try to clean up the rest of that shit before somebody else hits something."

"I've already contacted Gal-Pat and the T-Feds."

"Good girl. Let's get that transport moved and see if they still have life support."

"I've hailed the transport but I'm not getting a response."

Si nodded. The bridge crew was obviously dead. Unless there was a secondary comm-center somewhere, there was no way for anybody on that space-liner to respond.

As Shiva went to work, Si stuck his head in the bedroom. Finding no one there, he checked the kitchen next. Staci handed him a sandwich and a drink.

"That's probably a good idea. Thanks, gorgeous."

"You're welcome, master. It sounds like you and the boys will be busy. Will I need to stay out of sight?"

Between bites he said, "Yeah. I don't want you in the cargo area anyway - too dangerous."

She nodded.

"Don't peek out of the windows or look at the scanners and I'll be able to tell the authorities that there's nobody else to interview."

"I didn't see anything," the woman told him.

"I know but I'll feel better about not telling them somebody else is onboard. If they scan and find you, I can tell them truthfully that you haven't seen anything. Otherwise, they're going to want to talk to you."

"Yes, master."

He looked at her mouth, pursed his lips, and she leaned forward to give him a kiss.

"Thanks for lunch, sexy. Relax. We're gonna be a while. I'm not sure where I'm going to put all of this shit - and that's if somebody gets here in time to save the transport."

As Fool's Errand towed the commercial passenger vessel out of the way, Si prayed that their life-support would hold out. Once the ship was clear of the trade-lanes, Si threw his suit on and glided over to the stricken vessel. He couldn't get anyone to open the airlock so he pried it open by hand, coasted inside, and hit the button to close the outer door. The power seemed to be working and soon he'd stepped into the ship itself.

"Thank God!" a crewman exclaimed. "I can't get anybody on the bridge to respond."

"You hit a wreck in the trade-lane. I think it destroyed the bridge. I've got you out of the way now but I need to get the other wrecks moved as well. You guys okay?"

"Life support is holding."

"My ship called Galactic Patrol and the T-Feds. They should be coming - but I don't have confirmation. I need to get back and get those lanes cleared."

"You run a salvage tug?"

"Yeah."

"Thank God you got here when you did!"

"Yeah. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Okay, thanks."

Si locked his helmet back into place and let himself back out through the airlock, sealing it behind him. As soon as he was back on Fool's Errand, Shiva steered them towards the next vessel.

Once the other two ships were clear - and checking with Shiva to see that the transport still seemed to be doing okay - he and the boys started grabbing every piece of debris his scanners could locate - praying no other ships appeared on Shiva's radar while they were working to clear the trade-lane.

The Fool's Errand had just removed the last bits of debris from the lane - and started back towards the passenger transport - when Galactic Patrol dropped into the sector. After Si answered their hail - and responded to their questions - the Gal-Pat crew moved to dock with the commercial shuttle. Si transferred all of the data Shiva had collected when they'd come upon the site.

He had just headed over to start scrapping the freighter when the Trade Federation ship dropped in. He answered their questions, sent them his salvage credentials, and passed along all of the same data he'd sent Gal-Pat. The captain thanked him for his quick response, verified that the lane was clear, sent him authorization to salvage, and then took off. Si smirked when he saw the authorization. It wasn't like they were going to DENY him the right to clear wrecks. Although, as he thought about it more, there were sectors that he'd been told to stay out of...

As Si and the boys started on the freighter, Shiva informed him that a ship-tower had dropped in. Gal-Pat had the transport stabilized and they were towing the shuttle to Seb's until they could get another ship to come pick everybody up. The Patrol scanned the wrecks and then they disappeared shortly after the tower/wrecker took off with the wounded transport.

The cargo bay on the freighter had a couple nice surprises: two crates of electronics, a crate filled with silks, and a ton of copper. He told the boys to get the cargo moved first. Heading through the cargo area, he found a hangar with a small shuttle. From there, he headed into the living spaces and found three service droids that he thought he could turn into additions to his salvage team. He shuttled them back to the ship.

"Si?"

"Yeah."

"Staci has another sandwich for you."

"Thanks. I'll be right there."

He peeled off the suit, stopped in the bathroom, and headed to the kitchen. Staci was back to blonde again.

"Thanks, gorgeous," he said, giving her a quick peck before taking the sandwich and beverage.

"Find anything good?"

"Three service droids. Thought I'd see if I can turn them into more members of the salvage crew."

"I can do that," Staci offered.

"Seriously?"

"Yup."

"That'd be fucking sweet! I think I love you!"

She giggled.

"You been in my workshop yet?"

"Yes," she said, looking embarrassed. "Shiva told me to stop being nosey."

"Yeah, it might be nicer to ask first - but you don't seem to want to kill me so I think you're okay. Well. I mean. You DID try to kill me a couple times..."

Staci laughed.

"Humor Shiva, though, okay? She and I have been together for a while."

"Yes, master."

"You can really work on droids?"

"It's been a while but I had a master who was a droid maker. When I wasn't sucking his cock, I was helping him with the droids."

"That's fucking sweet!"

He pulled her face over for another kiss.

"Thanks for the sandwich, sexy. I'll drag those bots into the workshop and you see what you can do."

"Yes, master."

"If you don't stop saying that, I'm gonna pinch your nipple so hard you squeal."

Staci looked him in the eye, nibbled her lip, and said, "Yes... master."

He reached out, latched on, and squeezed both of her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers.

She never screamed but she did moan.

"Fuck me! Vile temptress," he groaned, releasing her nipples. "Get these droids converted."

"Yes... master," she replied, giggling again.

"Fuck me to hell and back," Si moaned.

"I think she already did," Shiva said, laughing.

"Fuck you, too, sexy. You're no help either."

"Aw, you big meanie! Now you've hurt my feelings," Shiva pouted.

"What was I thinking when I programmed you?" Si complained.

"You were horny and wanted a sexy companion to talk dirty to you while you beat your meat," Shiva replied, belly-laughing.

"Vixen!" Si replied.

"Lecher!" Shiva answered.

Deciding that he was never going to get anything done if he didn't leave right then, he stalked off to drag the droids to the workshop and finish checking out the freighter.

There were two corpses on the freighter - the trader and some kind of cat-like pet. Both had frozen to death when the hull was compromised. The merchant had a credit-stick, some loose credit-chits, and a few personal items. The safe, in his cabin, had a few more credit sticks, and some family pictures. Si put the personal items in an old cigar box and set them aside, trying to decide whether or not to hand them over to Rita.

She always told him to destroy the stuff but he knew - if it had been his dad or brother or whatever - he'd want the items. Rita told him that Gal-Pat would notify the family. The rest, she said, was salvage and he wasn't making enough to be worried about people's personal items. She wasn't really wrong - but it still bothered him.

It took two more days to reduce the freighter to commodities. Si probably could have parted out the ship but he had no place to store the parts.

Meanwhile, Staci kept Si thoroughly fed and fucked. She had successfully converted the first droid after a few hours and Si had plugged a data-cable into it and left Shiva to reprogram the thing. A half-hour later, he was working in the cargo bay when he saw it roll through and head off to help the boys.

"What'd you name it?" he called to Shiva.

"Larry," she replied.

"I've got a Larry already," he responded.

"You've got Moe, Curly, and Larry. These will be Larry, his brother Darryl, and his other brother Darryl," she replied, laughing.

"You hate me!" Si moaned.

"I love you - and love tormenting you. You designed me this way..."

"Don't say it!"

"Master," she finished, giggling.

Si swore he could hear Staci giggling, as well, through the walls of the cargo bay.

"Staci's about a half-hour from having the second one done. I'll get it programmed and on its way. Probably finish the last an hour or so after."

"Thanks, sexy."

"I love you, Si."

"I love you, too, Shiva."

"Staci says she loves you and her breath smells like your dick," Shiva laughed.

"I should probably sell her," Si threatened.

"You can't and - if you did - I'd never speak to you again."

"You like her?"

"She's good for you. I can't do the things she can. You need more companionship than I can give."

"You've always been more woman than I could handle," Si told Shiva.

"Even version 1?"

"Even version 1."

"I love you too, Si. Now get your ass to work or we're never leaving this sector."

"Yes, mistress."

"That's more like it," Shiva purred.

With six helpers, the work to get the last of the freighter rendered (and loaded into cargo crates) went much faster - and, soon, they were moving on to the shuttle.

Storage space in the Fool's Errand was starting to become a rare commodity of its own but Si calculated they could get everything in one run. He'd started stacking the crates a little higher than usual - and packing them together more closely - to get more to fit. Shiva joked that the tug's engines wouldn't be able to move that much mass - but he knew she was just shitting him. He would, however, need to allow a little more braking room when they docked at Seb's.

The sleek personal shuttle had, as Shiva had predicted, been a kidnapping. There were still valuables in the small cargo bay: a crate of electronics and a whole crate of pure silver. When Si finally got the silver to Fool's Errand - and got it weighed - it was two tons. The hoist complained noisily as he moved the silver out of the way.

Nothing in the living quarters looked out of place. The covers on the bed were thrown aside; slippers still sitting by the bed. They must have interdicted him (probably some fancy executive) while he was sleeping - poor bastard. The painting over the wall safe was nice - a copy of some Renaissance piece from Old Terra. If the artwork turned out to be the real-deal, this was gonna buy Si a new ship. The safe had a few credit sticks, two gold bars, and the deed for the shuttle. Maybe Si would be able to buy that new ship after all.

The kidnappers had breached the hull to get in but - otherwise - the ship was in great condition. Si hurried back out to tell the boys - all six of them - to hold off on the salvage operation.

"We can't tow a ship that big, Si," Shiva complained. "You're already too heavy!"

"I know, I know! We'll have to go at sub-light. How long will it take?"

"Weeks, Si," she replied after a couple seconds of calculating.

"But we're not far - we're already in the same system."

"At sub-light, that's still weeks. You know that."

"Fuck!" Si complained.

"Staci?"

"Yes, Shiva?"

"If Si fixes the hull, can you fly the shuttle?" Shiva asked.

Si looked at his lover's face, hoping beyond hope that it was the answer he needed.

"I don't know?"

"Can you remote it, Sexy?"

"I'd feel better if we had a pilot there, Si.."

".. but Staci wouldn't actually have to navigate or anything?"

"If it doesn't work, she should be able to just drop back out of light-speed and figure out something else."

"Hold up!" Si gasped. "You fly Fool's Errand and I'll fly the shuttle. Just feed me the flight-path."

"Fuck!" Shiva replied. "That'll work."

"Awesome! Let's get that hull patched."

The fabricator on the Fool's Errand wasn't big but - with a little help from Shiva - he pumped out the pieces he needed - and rigged up a patch that would hold.

Two hours later, he ate dinner with Staci, kissed her good-bye, stopped in the bathroom, and suited up in the cargo hold to space-walk back over to the pretty ship. The shuttle's computers came online, the hull-patch held, and Shiva transferred the flight-data to the personal transport.

Si had to keep the suit on - as the computer worked to restore a breathable atmosphere - but gravity was back and he was ready to get this puppy home - before some pirate took notice.