Fading Stars Ch. 02

"There has to be a way to get it off you," Tabby said, hopping off her bunk. "Let me see."

Lavasi intercepted the Felinoid and held her wrists. "Please, don't. I have seen a similar device decapitate a Nor Mentalist. Xeltec had us displayed in a showroom for some of his clients and she managed to somehow break the lock. The collar took her head clean off."

"That Xeltec is a monster, meow!" Tabby slid onto the Marked Zuthrian's lap and hugged her close. "We will find a way off this saucer, I promise!"

Lavasi, despite herself, smiled. "I wish I had your optimism, kitty." She pulled Tabby close and caressed her hair.

* * * *

Zamos and Thexus had already been collected. To Deeva's surprise, Zamos didn't appear too troubled by the whole situation. He even tried to flirt with the black-armored Furies. They simply ignored his advances and herded him away. Thexus fought them every step of the way. Deeva was amazed. How could he muster this kind of resistance after the ordeal he had been put through during the evacuation of the Novitar? She could hear fight noises even after he had been dragged out of sight. Then there was a indistinct roar and after that, ominous silence.

The hiss of the bulkhead announced the return of a single Fury. This time, she had a hovering stretcher with her. "The green-haired Nor next," came the voice over the speakers.

Gaia slouched into the green ring, the force field cycled and the Fury guided her onto the stretcher. Deeva saw restraints snap shut around her arms, legs and midsection then she too was carried away.

"I'm scared shitless," Vecora whispered, her hand clutching Deeva's. "What are we going to do?"

Deeva weighed their options. The captain of this ship, a Grey most likely, wasn't a fool. By separating them, he already made it harder for them to coordinate any escape attempt. She knew that Grey heavily relied upon psionics to counter their physical frailty, which would make it very difficult for any of her comrades to go against him. Since Silicians were impervious to telepathy, she had the best chances to stage a rebellion on this vessel. But to do so, she needed to be in a place of power.

"We will find a way off this ship. Until then, play nice. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I really don't fancy a Grey probe anywhere near me," Vecora complained. "You know how obsessed they are with scientific experiments. They made the Felinoids, remember?"

"I can assure you, I'm not much of a scientist. More a collector of exotic beauty," the voice from the speakers said. "Your green-haired friend needs medical attention and a bit of plastic surgery. I take good care of my merchandise, you'll see. Pinky, your turn."

"I don't want to!" Vecora yelled. "At least let me be with Deeva!"

Silence. Then: "Are you lovers or what?"

"Yes," Vecora said. Her eyes sought Deeva's.

"I'm sorry," the Silician mouthed. Louder, she said: "No. I like to fuck her but that's it."

Vecora gasped and slumped to the ground.

"Ouch, that's harsh," the voice said. "Move, Pinky."

Vecora didn't move. She sat on the floor, weeping softly. Deeva didn't like to hurt her best friend like that but, for her to have any chance of tricking the slaver, she needed to appear detached, cold, logical. She bent down, hoisting Vecora to her feet before effortlessly pushing her into the green ring.

"Fuck you, Deeva!" Vecora spat, tears rolling down her face. "Why?"

Deeva simply stood there and watched the Fury drag the sobbing Nor away.

There was silence for a moment then the voice returned.

"Now, what am I going to do with you, my cold-hearted, sexy Silician? Your ability to fuck up my computer systems is a real problem and I can't mentally break you." He paused for a moment.

"There are two options I can think of. Number One: I'll have my Furies upgrade you to be more like them. You know, wings, jet engines, kick-ass weapon systems. You'd lose your ability to interface with computers and your modular dick though, because the armor upgrade will be fused right to your skin.

Number Two: I'll keep you as a sex toy, with a nice little bomb wired to your central bus. One attempt at computer fuckery and your head parts ways with the rest of your body. You'll end up as a spares depot for my Furies. Which one would you prefer?"

"How about option three? I become a crew member."

"Oh? Explain to me how I can ever trust you."

Deeva decided on a high-risk gamble. "I have no personal attachment to the crew you acquired. My main mission is to collect data on whatever is destroying star systems."

"I see. Why were you aboard a Nor warship?"

"Because all predictions showed the Nor Republic to be the first target of this strange phenomenon. The vessel which destroyed our ship proved me correct."

"I see. So you tricked your way into the Nor military, flew as an embedded spy into their little maneuver and now what?"

"Since my last ship has been destroyed, I am currently without a means of travel. My skills as a technician and computer specialist might come in handy. With you traveling throughout the galaxy, I might be able to gather more information without ending up in another suicide mission."

"Yes, I know when to pack up and run, if that's what you're implying. Hm. Intriguing. I might indeed have a use for you but not before you can prove your loyalty to me."

"Anything you need...boss."

The bulkhead hissed open. The Fury was back. A single white mark could be seen on her shoulder. The humming vanished, along with the force field.

"Come," the Fury said, using the extremely abbreviated Silician tongue. To non-Silicians, it sounded like an analogue modem going haywire. Deeva followed her out of the transporter room. She didn't mind walking around the ship naked. The climate controls had been dialed in to keep things comfortable for the inmates and nakedness didn't hold any kind of stigma on a Silician ship anyway.

They walked through a processing chamber and along a curved corridor, past a long line of holding cells. Most were occupied by two inmates. She spotted Tabby sitting on the lap of a heavily tattooed Zuthrian woman, hugging and kissing her. A few cells down the corridor, she saw Vecora sitting stone-faced on a bunk while a deeply tanned, copper-haired Gravon male tried to make conversation. Zamos was in a special kind of predicament. He was face-down on his bunk, with a busty albino woman kneeling behind him. Long tentacles emanated from her stomach, hands and possibly pelvis, holding him motionless and drilling into Zamos' mouth and anus, with several slender ones wrapped around his penis and scrotum, massaging and pumping him in time to the sinuous curling motions of the whole affair. The noises coming from the cell sounded oddly content.

"You have a Faceless here?" Deeva asked the Fury as they walked past.

"The Master has a keen eye for exotics," the Fury replied.

Thexus had a cell to himself. He had been dumped into the sparsely-furnished room just beyond the force field and he didn't look too well, with a visibly bruised chest and swollen jaw.

The next cell wasn't fenced in by a force field. Instead, it was a massive glass tank, from floor to ceiling. Indirect light coming from the floor lit up the tank. Amidst fronds of underwater foliage, three Aquarian females languidly glided through the water, their webbed hands and feet effortlessly moving them while a double set of gills on their neck opened and closed. Aquarians were lithe and small-breasted, their skin tones ranging from pale green to deep blue, with matching hair. Large, expressive eyes seemed to plead for their release as they gazed at Deeva. Thanks to accelerated evolution, Nor colonists had been able to adapt to a wide variety of environments and Aquarians were among the most striking of those adaptations.

They reached an elevator. The Fury slapped the call button and the oval doors hissed open. Deeva entered the round chamber first, followed by the Fury who pressed a button with an angular rune etched into it. The lift moved upwards.

"I always thought Fury was a temporary assignment," Deeva said. "Once the crisis was dealt with, you'd be returned to normal."

The Fury laughed harshly. "Not on this ship. Xeltec doesn't trust us. We are immune to his mind-tricks so he has to control us in other ways. You will see soon enough."

The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. The room was round and spacious, easily as large as the transporter room below but much more lavishly furnished. Exotic, colorful plants grew in large boxes along the walls, filling the room with a dozen delicate, sensual fragrances. Illuminated cases held a variety of ancient-looking items, from armor pieces to vases to devices alien even to Deeva. A plush, semicircular sofa dominated the room, with smaller but no less comfy seats completing the arrangement. A padded, slowly rotating pedestal sat before the sofa. On it, a broad-shouldered, muscular Felinoid male with red tiger stripes in his black fur was slowly, sensuously licking a moaning Zuthrian woman, his bushy mane bobbing between her wantonly spread thighs and his striped tail curling in complicated motions. His low purr reverberated in Deeva's insides.

Almost invisible against that display of carnal pleasure was Xeltec, a stick-thin Grey. He wore a garishly embroidered pink robe with a high collar which rose to a frill behind his oversized head. Metal bands criss-crossed over his bulging cranium, held in place by what looked like an elaborate brooch with a shimmering dark crystal on his forehead. His eyes were comparatively small, black and pupiless, his mouth and nose almost nonexistent. A thin boom mike hung close to his mouth and a swirl of holographic screens surrounded him. His robe gaped open, displaying his emaciated, barely four-feet body. Deeva saw a bewildering cluster of finger-like protrusions and oozing openings where the pelvis would be on a Precursor species.

Eventually, he noticed them. Waving a hand languidly, the holo screens vanished. Xeltec pulled himself into a proper seating position and closed his robe.

"Thanks you two. That was very cute. You can stop now." The Felinoid grumbled but sat back on his haunches obediently. The fur surrounding his pronounced snout was glistening wet and he sported a massive erection. The Zuthrian woman took some deep breaths and pulled herself up, whispering to the cat man. Her hand unconsciously played with herself, fingers sliding wetly into her pussy.

"Take them away," Xeltec said to the Fury. She nodded and waited until the Felinoid and the Zuthrian woman rose off the pedestal. With a sharp jerk of her hand, she herded them towards the elevator.

Deeva sat down across from Xeltec. "Let's negotiate the terms of my employment," she said, unlocking her left wrist. The muzzle of the laser hissed into position. "I could blow you away right here and now but I won't."

"Good for you." Xeltec clicked a fingernail against his headgear. "I do wear a shield projector with enough power to withstand a direct hit from a plasma rifle. Your toy gun wouldn't even make a dent. But I appreciate your honesty."

Deeva deactivated her arm laser and settled back into the seat. "What do I need to do to earn your trust?"

Xeltec laughed, a hoarse, unpleasant sound. "I trust no one. Not even my own Furies. And especially not a piece of space flotsam I just picked up. Sorry."

"Let me rephrase then. What do you need me to do before I can work for you?"

"If our relationship is to have any future, you will go to Sickbay and have my surgeon install three pieces of tech. A buzzer, a trace beacon in your butt and an inhibitor for that fancy schmancy arm cannon of yours. Can't have you running around unsupervised and with a primed weapon on my ship."

"What is a buzzer?"

Xeltec gestured and a holographic screen came up between them. It showed a haggard Nor with murderous rage in his eyes wearing an orange prison jumpsuit. He was strapped to a frame which held him upright spread-eagle. While Deeva watched, a robotic arm descended into view, the tip a long, nasty-looking injector.

"Buzzers were developed by the Nor to keep unruly prisoners in check," Xeltec explained as the arm deposited its payload into the inmate's neck. "They are fused to the host's nervous system."

There was a cut in the video. When the footage resumed, it showed a prison dining area. Rows and rows of inmates at tables, eating. At one table, an inmate picked up his tray and flung it at a passing guard. The Nor inmate from before could be seen, pouncing on another inmate with a shiv he had pulled from his jumpsuit. Before he could land his first strike, an alert message in angry red script appeared in the top right of the screen and the shiv was outlined in red. The word "pacify" appeared. The body of the attacker was wracked by spasms until he crumpled to the floor.

"They deliver a substantial amount of shock. Not enough to kill outright but painful enough to floor even a raging Gravon." Xeltec looked smug as he killed the video feed. "I happen to have a few lying around and I want you to have one."

Deeva winced. Thanks to their techno-organic nature, Silicians were indeed much more impacted by changes to their bio-electric field, with EMP attacks having the same effect as a stun grenade on Nor or Zuthrians and even relatively low voltages able to seriously disrupt their internal processes.

"If that's what it takes."

"Once you're upgraded, I want to make sure that you really have no attachment to your former crew mates."

"What do you need me to do?"

"No argument? I like you already. See, that Gravon barbarian, he nearly tore Fury #2's head off. I really don't like anyone fucking up my possessions. You are going to teach him a lesson. Let him know that for all his size and muscles, he's a helpless little bitch. My helpless little bitch. I want to see him weep in frustration once you're through with him. Do that and you shall have your place as crew member. I'll even let you keep your interfaces."

"It shall be so. How am I to address you?"

"Master, of course. What did you expect? Formal ranks on a slaver vessel?"

"Understood. 'Master' it will be."

"The pink-haired Nor called you 'Deeva,'" Xeltec said, "Is that your name?"

"Technically, my designation is 'Div/A F03' but yes, Deeva will suffice."

"Well then, Deeva. Get your ass to Sickbay on Deck 1. I can't wait to see you deal with that Gravon." A soft signal chimed and Xeltec gestured, bringing up a new holo-screen. Another Grey looked at him.

"The Nor fighters are getting awfully close, Xeltec," it said. "Do I open fire or what?"

"Nah. Get us out of here. We have a pretty sweet haul already. Disengage and prepare to jump at your earliest convenience, Xavra."

"It will be so, boss."

Deeva rose and made her way to the elevator. She used the call button and stepped into the cabin when it arrived. Before she could touch any button, the lift began to descend. It took her only a moment to notice the cameras under their transparent domes. Xeltec must be controlling the lift remotely.

Suddenly there was a long, drawn-out whine and a shudder rocked the cabin. Deeva experienced a moment of disorientation. She reached out to one of the cabin walls for support. She had read about such a phenomenon during her time at the Nor Academy. It happened when a ship made a zero-latency jump, crossing vast distances in a heartbeat. Which meant that Xeltec's ship had one of the rare Zuthrian jump drives. She made a mental note to investigate further.

The cabin stopped and Deeva walked out of the elevator into Sickbay.

Even if the Grey proclaimed he wasn't much of a scientist, his medical facilities belied his words. Sickbay took up the whole of one deck, with a large central area and several rooms around it. Transparent walls showed a bewildering array of scan tubes, healing tanks and automated operating theaters, as well as contraptions and systems Deeva couldn't make heads nor tails of. A Nor, his black hair streaked through with strands of venomous yellow, was the sole occupant besides two bodies on tables. One of them was a Fury with two marks on her armor and the Nor worked on her face, using a glowing medical instrument to sculpt freshly added bio-plastic. In a glass container next to it, Deeva saw several broken parts, a dented eyeball and what looked like a bent cheek strut.

On the other table, she recognized Gaia. Apart from her face, her whole body had been placed under a surgical shroud. With a start, Deeva noticed she had been shaved bald and markings had been drawn onto her skull.

"Well, as good as new," the Nor said, putting down the sculpting tool. "Actually, the slight asymmetry just makes you that much more interesting." He held a mirror up to the Fury's face. She just shrugged and picked up a new face mask. After putting it on, she sat up and swung her legs off the table.

"Are we done?" she asked the Nor.

"You're sure you don't want me to look at your flight system?" the Nor asked, his hands twitching.

"Yes. It already works at a hundred percent efficiency. No need for you to tinker with it."

"I have this afterburner prototype..." the surgeon began.

"No. Thanks." For a moment, the weapon arms on the Silician's shoulder lit up. She reconsidered then strode past the surgeon, past Deeva and into the elevator.

The Nor surgeon turned around on his chair, noticing Deeva for the first time. His eyes were cybernetically enhanced, chromed orbs without iris or pupil. He scanned her head to toe. A mirthless smile crept over his lips.

"Ah, you must be the one Xeltec talked about. A buzzer, a tracer and an inhibitor, right?"

"Yes. I wish I could skip the buzzer though," Deeva admitted. "And what are you doing to that Nor woman there?"

"Xeltec was gracious enough to give her to me, as a test subject. I have great things planned for her once she's fully healed. But don't you worry your blue head about that. Come here." The Nor tapped the table Fury #2 had just vacated.

Slowly, Deeva walked towards the table. The Surgeon only wore a simple schmock. He appeared to be unarmed too. Overpowering him with her arm laser would be a simple task. It would save her from having to deal with the buzzer. But a dead surgeon would cause no end of trouble and force her to act hastily to save her friends. She simply didn't have enough data for a solid plan. The odds of a successful escape attempt were less than ten percent. There was simply nothing she could do at the moment but play along. She hopped onto the table.

"Should I wake up with anything else besides the three items Xeltec ordered, I will tell him," Deeva warned the surgeon.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. For a modular cyborg species with the ability to easily integrate implants, you are very hesitant to explore all the options," the surgeon complained. "Why?"

"Because it's only half voluntary. On that note, can we start? I want this bit done with."

* * * *

"I'm flattered," Tabby whispered breathlessly, her fingers dipping between them and closing around Lavasi's hardness. The Marked Zuthrian was horny as all hell, hard and throbbing in her hand. She let go. "But I'm really not in the mood." Tabby kissed Lavasi's mouth one more time then she slid off her lap, onto the bunk.

"Oh?" Lavasi looked at her legs. Her thighs glistened moist where Tabby had ground herself onto them.

"It doesn't take much to get me going. You could shake my hand and I'll get horny. But that's my body working on instinct. My head is trying to cope with the fact we're locked up on a slave ship and at least I don't like being locked up." Tabby stood up and paced the cell.

The ship whined and shuddered, cutting short whatever Tabby wanted to say next. Instead, the Felinoid asked, "And what was that?"