Starr vs the Emperor of Space Pt. 05

"It's the Sky King!"

"That damned rogue!" Arr snarled, shouting down. "Blast him!"

The guard drew his bolt pistol from his hip holster and fired four quick shots -- the miniature rockets accelerating quickly from nearly stationary to faster than the human eye could see, drawing thick streaks of gray-white exhaust that were only scattered by the winds. Those lines bisected the air around the Sky King as he swirled around, then fired back, his rockets zipping past the guard's shoulders, forcing him to jerk away...but as he jerked away, Jasmine sprang into motion.

She grabbed onto the hilt of the guard's mag rapier, tucked it against her chest, then leaped into the diamond suit. The whole contraption tumbled backwards, off the Sky City, and closed around her as she got her arms into the slots -- the pressure of the mag rapier against her chest making her sure it would be protected. She was glad, for not the first time, for her relatively flat chest and smallish breasts, meaning this was far less uncomfortable than it might have been. As she plunged backwards, she had a moment of see the Sky King, his eyes wide and horrified, watching as she fell.

"Jasmine!"

She blew him a kiss, lifting her arm to her helmet, then flipping the fingers in his direction -- the diamond catching the light...

And then she fell among the clouds and was lost to sight.

***

Claudette whimpered as the Death Commandos advanced towards Alta Polaris. The cybernetic corsair grinned, fiercely, as her spade tipped tail twitched behind her. "Oh you fools have picked a bad day to mess with Altair Polaris, the Pirate Queen of Ceres!"

The Death Commandos did not speak -- instead, they rushed forward...and Alta threw out her cybernetic arm. The back of her forearm had opened and from it came a trio of small disks, which opened outwards and twirled, extending bola-like whips with heavy weights. All three struck the commandos that they had been aimed at and the weights circled around them, bringing the disks flat to their robed chests...and then lightning exploded along their bodies and, like that, a full half of the cruel killers had been rendered insensate, dropping prone.

The other three, though, were then upon her.

One of them swung at Alta's head. She parried with her metal forearm, catching the blade with a clang, while her own cutlass swept down and knocked the second's sword away. The thrust at her chest -- but Alta's tail had swept around his ankle and she spun, literally yanking his feet out from under him!

The robed figure fell on his face, his robes fluttering away, revealing to Claudette the true horror of what she faced!

The Death Commando had rust red skin...that had been turned gray and veined with black, by an assortments of wires, pipes and lines that ran from his arms and his shoulders to an insect-like carapace that clung to his spine. Black fluids flowed from the carapace and swept into his muscles -- combat drugs. His face was concealed by a heavy mask, akin the fearsome Samurai masks used by the noble and brave Japanese warriors that defended their shores in the ages before their descent into fascism and world conquest -- a nobility that had been corrupted in the 20^th century, but might live again in the peaceful world after the war.

That nobility had never been on these masks -- their eyes were ruby red and glowed within with a hateful light and when the Death Commando stood, it was revealed that he wore chest armor that covered his body, a light kilt, and bore more weapons than Claudette could count. Bolt Rocket Pistols, toxin needle launchers, blades, knives, and even throwing disks that looked sharp enough to cut steel.

Claudette stepped backwards as the Death Commando advanced towards her, his straight edged blade held in both hands -- the edge gleaming green.

"Look out, Goldilocks!" Alta said, her teeth clenched as she parried two blades at once with her cutlass. "Their blades kill any who touch them -- some say that there is no death more painful than the hideous burn of distilled Red Weed poison!"

Claudette stepped back again, her back bumping into the wall as the Death Commando strode towards her, and growled. "Prepare to die, Earthwoman!" He lifted his sword...and then grunted, a roar filling the air. Then another and another. He fell, and Claudette saw that Alta had drawn her attention from the two Death Commandos that faced her to draw her very own rocket bolt pistol and fire three self accelerated darts into the back of the Martian Death Commando that had menaced her. Alta smiled at Claudette...and then grimaced as, distracted by her heroism, one of the Commandos thrust his blade into her thigh!

"Alta!" Claudette cried out.

The pirate queen fell to one knee, her cybernetic hand gripping the Commando's wrist, holding him in place. She let loose a primal roar of fury, then smashed her forehead against him. His mask shattered, glass flying as the metal crumpled inwards, and he clutched at his face, his sword falling. Alta surged to her feet, then parried a strike at her face with her cutlass, then slashed back. The Death Commando stumbled backwards, drew a weapon from his hip, then fired all in one smooth motion. The weapon itself was something like a small crossbow, strapped to a pistol grip, and the pellet it fired impacted against Alta's chest. Black smoke exploded around her face and chest and she leaped through it, her mouth closed, her eyes closed as well, her face coated in a crumbly black powder.

The Death Commando brought his hilt smashing down, and as her eyes were closed, Alta could do nothing to evade it -- instead, she was struck a glancing blow on her temple, sending her sprawling to the ground. There, she landed and skidded as the Death Commando kicked her onto her back.

"Cheating scoundrel! Have to use the Black Smoke?" she hissed out, wiping at her face with her metal hand, scraping off the powder.

"You should have run when you had the chance, fool," the Death Commando hissed, standing above the devilish Devilman woman. He lifted his sword as the wires and pipes that ran under his robes hissed and clattered, filling his veins with even more of their drugs.

Alta scrambled...

And then...

The Death Commando's fingers went nerveless and limp. His sword dropped to the ground, thudding into the muddy ground before Alta's feet, quivering. The Death Commando hit the ground with a whump, and standing above him, was Claudette T.S Grant, holding a crowbar in her hand -- the one that would have, later, been used to open the crates of ammo that they had purchased. Claudette lowered her crossbar, her eyes brimming with tears. "...Oh...oh Alta!" She knelt down, then threw her arms around Alta, squeezing her. "I'm so sorry, I...is there a doctor, I can get you a doctor!"

"Claudette," Alta whispered.

"I'm sorry I called you such awful names!" Claudette gasped, then blinked -- she felt warm liquid flowing against her. She looked down. "You're bleeding!"

"Claudette, I..."

Claudette reached down, pressing her palms against the wound, trying to find a way to seal it without removing the pirate queen's jacket -- and then she felt the odd bump. She drew her hands back, her brow furrowing a bit...while Alta blushed, sheepishly, and opened her jacket, revealing...a punctured can of carbonated beer, which had taken the tip of the sword blade entirely, leaving Alta's flesh untouched.

"...you..." Claudette said. "You drunkard! You rogue! You! You!" She trembled, while Alta grinned at her. She slapped at Alta's chest, before Alta grabbed her wrist, tugged her close, then dragged her close for a fierce, eager kiss, her tongue thrusting into her mouth as she did so, her eyes closing tightly. Claudette wriggled and slapped weakly at her, before Alta had rolled her onto her back and was pushing her arms above her head. Alta broke the kiss, panting.

Her bulge made it quite clear what she was thinking.

"A-Around these bodies!?" Claudette squeaked. "Really!?"

Alta laughed. "What's worth winning if you don't enjoy it."

"T-The warehouse is right there!" Claudette whimpered as Alta's tail tugged her own zipper down -- and her throbbing, dark red girlcock was free, pressing against Claudette's already exposed -- already soaked -- cunt. "I...that...y-you brute...you...ahhh!" She moaned, rolling her head back as the fierce freebooter thrust into her with a single, smooth motion, rocking into her. She grunted, her red balls slapping against Claudette's taut rump, ringing her like a bell as Claudette felt her own cunt betraying her -- it welcomed the invading cock with an eager tremble, and her orgasm came rushing through her so fast and so suddenly that it shocked her. She locked her legs around behind Alta's back, clinging to her as she trembled. "Ah! S...Stop, I...don't!"

"You say that, and yet..." Alta grunted, thrusting. "Your legs won't let me pull back."

"S-Shut up!"

Alta grabbed onto Claudette's wrists again, pinning them harder above her head, then leaned down and pressed her forehead to hers, grinning down at her. Her tail lashed as she started to fuck harder and faster, driving her achingly hard girldick into Claudette, who moaned, her eyes half closing as her body trembled, her toes curling as she lifted and spread her legs despite herself.

"Your Earth pussy feels so good, Goldilocks..."

The pirate queen sucked her neck, fiercely.

"S-Stop...raping me you...ah!" Claudette moaned. "Your dick is...so big inside of me!" Her breath caught as she closed her eyes. Her wrists squirmed, trying to push against Alta, but it seemed her wriggling struggles had merely excited and inflamed the fierce Devilman woman as she leaned down and bit down on Claudette's throat, hard enough to wring a mewling whimper from the demure maid. Her toes tightened as she bucked her hips, her eyes fluttering shut. "Ah! No! P...Pull out!"

Alta thrust deeper.

And as she thrust deep, warmth bloomed within Claudette, filling her to the brim. Claudette whimpered and gasped, heavily, her breasts heaving as she pressed the tips of her nipples against Alta's chest -- the two of their breasts grinding together, despite the fact Alta still remained mostly clothed. Hot cum dripped along the cleft of her ass and Claudette flushed, then looked aside, her voice soft. "S-Satsified?"

"Mmmm, barely," Alta crooned.

"Humph!"

Alta drew out of her with a slow sigh and Claudette started to stand, wobbly. Her nose thrust into the air and she adjusted her top, tugging it to cover her breasts -- but since she was still clad in what amounted to bedsheets, she was just trying her best to go from looking incredibly lewd to merely lewd. Alta licked her lips, and her cybernetic eye opened as the metal plate on her face whirred apart and she drank in Claudette's form, fucking her with her eyes nearly as hard as she had with her girldick. Claudette, noticing this, huffed. "A-Are you insatiable!"

"When it comes to you, Goldilocks, maybe," Alta said. Then, grinning. "Besides, if you saw me with another woman, you'd get jealous."

"I would not!" Claudette exclaimed, jealously.

"Well then..." Alta walked past her, smirking as she did so, her cybernetic arm extending the dagger she had shown off before. "Maybe I'll slake myself in some slatterns, so I don't rape you again and again and again..." She purred. "Did you know Devilmen get more and more fertile with every repeat screw they have? We start out entirely incompatible with any female we're with -- but after ten or so times, we've primed a womb so much that we can cum inside of them once and they'll be knocked up."

Claudette's cheeks were nearly as red as Alta's were. "E-Even with other...Devilwomen, I suppose?" she asked.

Alta slashed the tubes that connected from the back of the Death Commando that Claudette had knocked down with the crowbar, cutting each of the tubes. Their fluids drained onto his back and puddled into the ground, soaked up by grass that began to wither and die at the contact. She chuckled. "There are no Devilwoman -- I'm a woman, but I'm still a Devilman."

Claudette blinked. "T-There are only Devilmen?"

"Why do you think we become cross compatible with everyone?" Alta said, flashing her sharp fangs.

"T-Then why did you...get those Exo-Hormones?" Claudette asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Alta asked, then chuckled. "I'm really hot like this."

The Death Commando groaned -- and Alta grabbed the back of his head, yanking it upwards and tugging away his mask, revealing his gray, black veined face. "Ah, no you don't!" She said, quickly, thrusting her metal fingers between his black lips and yanking hard. He let loose a low groan that could have been pain or frustration as she held up a small black tooth, which she crushed while holding a good distance from her. Black fluid ran along her fingers, dripping to the ground.

"You bitch!" the Death Commando snarled, trying to get his arms under him...but he seemed as weak now as he had been strong before!

"A poison tooth?" Claudette asked. "Check him for any other tricks -- toxin under the fingernail, garrote wire in the hair."

"You...continue to shock me, Goldilocks," Alta said, her cybernetic eye revealing itself -- and a thin red light shone from it, sweeping along the Death Commando as he collapsed onto his side, unable to move much at all.

"I have hidden depths," Claudette huffed.

"Not from me you don't," Alta said, cheekily. "We're up to two...expeditions, after all."

Claudette's cheeks burned. "Youuuu!"

Alta laughed, then looked down at the Death Commando. "Okay, which Squidman on Mars wants me dead, huh?" She asked, scowling.

"You?" The Death Commando laughed, wheezily. His face was going grayer and grayer, despite the fact he hadn't taken his poison tooth.

"Yes, me," Alta snapped. "I know how you Death Commandos work -- only the highest Squidmen on Mars can afford to commission you -- and they are sent only after the highest targets...after all, people who swear to either die themselves or bring death to their targets are expensive as hell. So! Which. One. Hired. You."

The Death Commando chuckled. His face was going more and more gray, black veins pulsing and spreading. Whatever drug had been pumped into his body by his tubes, he had needed it quite badly -- Claudette could tell. He could see the fatalistic, almost eager gleam of a pure zealot within those black eyes, those terrible killing eyes...and knew that he not only faced his death without fear, he embraced it like the terrifying men of the Schutzstaffel, Hitler's army of murderous maniacs. But that thought sparked in Claudette a memory. She knelt beside Alta as she growled, drawing her fist back -- ready to strike the dying man. Claudette put her hand on Alta's, stopping her.

She took the dying Death Commando's hand in her, and in a gentle voice, she said: "Hey...I...know you're scared. Even if you don't wanna admit it. We're all scared." She bit her lip, slightly. "But...you don't gotta go alone. I'm here for you." She nodded.

"W-What?" the Death Commando whispered. "...I...tried to kill you?"

"Yeah, well, we're none of us perfect," Claudette said, squeezing his hand -- feeling the coldness spreading through his fingers and his gray, creaky skin. "But, back on my world, we have a story about a fella. He was good and kind and brave -- and he taught us all that we should sometimes turn the other cheek -- to forgive, even those that done wrong by us. I don't know if you space folks have heard about this guy...but...I think He's out here, even on Ceres." She leaned her head forward. "So you're not going to be alone." She paused. "What's your name?"

The Death Commando blinked. "We...don't have names..."

Claudette chuckled, despite the fact her eyes were beginning to fill with tears. "T-Then what do they call you?"

"I'm...Number Six," he said.

"All right, Six," Claudette said, then put his hand on his chest, so that he could feel the warmth of her touch against him. She could feel his heart beat through his exposed skin -- and feel it slowing. "That's what I'll call ya then."

Number Six's brow furrowed. Confusion filled them. "I don't...I don't understand why, then...why were we sent...to kill...you, Claudette Tecumseh...Sherman Grant?"

Alta gaped -- but Claudette didn't know if it was shock in what she had done, or in shock at what the Death Commando had said. But Claudette had no time to ask questions either...for as he whispered his last question, Number Six, formerly a Death Commando of Mars, breathed out a long, slow, rattling sigh. His eyes went dim and cold and he turned his head to his side. Claudette ducked her head forward, then put his hand back down, then reached up and closed his sightless eyes.

"Well," she whispered softly, her shoulders squaring. "...Alta...I gotta question..."

"Y-Yeah?" Alta asked, confused.

"How hard is it to get to Mars from here?" Claudette asked, quietly, her heart hammering.

"It's...you just need a ship, what-"

"Okay, then," Claudette said, then stood. "M...My missus might be dead. But she always said to me, she said: Claudette, you have strength you do not know! She said to just remember...when in doubt, do what I would do!" She thrust out her finger, hard, pointing it towards the darkened night of Ceres. "So I'm gonna do exactly what my Missus would have done! I'm going to go to Mars and I'm going to find whoever sent these poor boys out without a name or a future, and I'm going to give them a piece of my mind!"

She turned to look down at the stunned Alta.

Then bit her lip.

"Are...you with me, Alta?"

Alta blinked, looking up at Claudette, halo'd in the golden light spilling from the streetlights...

And then looked down at the hand offered her...

TO BE CONTINUED