“I’m impressed,” Salvato said. “You found me. You got past my security. You’ve done something that no other person has. But you won’t live to tell the tale.”
“I think you’ll find—” Regan started but was interrupted by Salvato.
“I’m not finished!” the mobster shouted and slammed his fist on the table. “If you think this is just about the data cube, you’re mistaken! You have insulted me and circumvented my plans. You have been mildly successful, which I congratulate you on, but it’s also why I can’t let you live. I must make an example of you.”
Regan wanted to wipe the smug grin from the mobster’s face. He wanted to chuck the data cube across the table right at his nose. He wanted to make the mobster bleed.
“It was you who crossed boundaries,” Regan began. “It wasn’t me who stole the data cube. That was between you and Mephistopheles. But it was you who attacked me. It was you who sent goons after me instead of showing up yourself. It was you who went too far. And I’m here to make sure my boundaries remain intact.”
Salvato’s eyes flared up along with his nostrils. He inhaled and exhaled heavily.
“I heed no boundaries,” Salvato said.
“You didn’t, until you met me. Now, I’m going to set down this data cube, even though I don’t have to. I could easily hand this over and expose your entire operation. I could shut it all down. But to be frank, I don’t give two shits about you, and never meant to get involved in any of this. So when I walk away, you’ll let me leave, and that will be that.”
“I see it differently,” Salvato said, leaning back. “Boys! Take care of them.”
Just then, twelve Intergalactic Council soldiers rushed into the room. Where they came from, Regan had no idea. He was completely caught off guard by their appearance. This elite force of soldiers proved that he was not only dealing with a mob boss, but his entire network of connections.
Calico and Straya were surprised too. They raised their blasters quickly, but these small weapons would be no match for the rifles that each of the armored soldiers carried.
“Now, it should be clear you won’t survive this,” Salvato said. “I won’t be beaten, and you will not—”
“Squit, cut the lights!” Regan shouted, not sure what else to do. The last thing he saw before the room went black was the irritated arching eyebrows of Salvato.
Calico and Straya started firing. Regan dropped to the ground with the data cube, put it back into his jacket pocket, and removed a small blaster of his own. He had been in one-on-one combat over the course of this adventure. He had been on the run and avoided tricky situations. He had broken into secret places and evaded pursuing security forces.
He rolled to one side of the table and started firing up at the security guards. He couldn’t see where he was firing, but he let ‘em rip.
Calico and Straya were shouting as they fired. Regan could see glimpses of them as the blasts left the end of their weapons and lit up their faces.
Blasts flew all over the room. They lit up patches of the darkness where Regan could see random soldiers dispersing.
A loud explosion came from another room. It sent several soldiers flying. Whatever it was, it was Straya’s doing, because right as it happened, Regan heard her shout out, “Try this, you corrupt fuckers!”
It made Regan’s ears ring, but he knew that it would have the same impact on the soldiers.
The lights then kicked back on, as if someone reversed Squit’s hack job. Regan had assumed this would happen, but he thought he’d have more time. He saw what had transpired in the few moments of darkness—a small fire started in one corner of the room where the explosion occurred, and Salvato’s table got shot to shreds, with blast marks all over the walls.
The fight had spilled over into other parts of the large suite, with Calico ducking behind a bed firing over the top of it, while Straya held a similar position behind the bar. Then he saw how she made the explosion, as she did it again. She put a bunch of small devices into booze bottles and chucked them across the room. She would burn this place down if that was what it took.
Regan hid behind a chair, but couldn’t see Salvato anywhere. He saw the soldiers moving across the room, firing at the bed and bar. Regan aimed his weapon at the soldiers firing at the bar and let loose. He held his finger on the trigger as blasts rapidly fired out. This took the pressure away from Straya, who tossed more explosives at them.
Four soldiers hurtled across the room.
Straya ducked again behind the bar, so Regan started firing on the soldiers who were trying to kill Calico. He ducked again behind the chair when they turned their fire toward him. Straya did her thing again, sending an explosive device right their way, the explosion breaking up their efforts.
But then the bar itself exploded, and Regan saw Straya get thrown onto the ground with extreme force. She didn’t get back up. He couldn’t tell if she was alive.
Then there was an explosion near the bed. It would have been more direct, but Calico nailed the soldier in the shoulder who had lobbed the grenade, deflecting the throw.
The impact still caused half the bed to explode and threw Calico against the wall behind her. But at least she managed to crawl back into hiding after the impact.
Four guards were left from what Regan could tell. The explosions had debilitated most of them. He then saw two of them split from the group and reach behind a sofa. Salvato was hiding there, and they were protecting him, attempting to get him to safety.
Regan fired at them, striking one soldier in the kneecap. The other turned his fire toward Regan, who dashed for the bed. It was the largest piece of protection he could find. The blasts trailed after him as he sprinted then dove behind cover.
He landed on a pile of splintered wood, rolling over with his pistol in hand ready for whatever would come next.
They’re gonna grenade me any second.
He knew his blaster wouldn’t be good enough. Or rather, he knew it wasn’t his strong suit. He quickly scanned the area, realizing the splintered bed post next to him resembled a baseball bat. He didn’t hesitate. He fired his blaster at the thin area at the bottom, which broke it off. He rose to catch the falling bat, grabbed it, then faced the soldiers, who were lobbing a grenade his way.
Regan lined himself up, eyed the grenade flying at him, swung at it, and sent it right back at them.
The grenade exploded in mid-air, sending all parties flying backward.
Regan fell back into the wall behind him as pain racked through his body, taking his breath away. He was dizzy, but knew he had to keep at it. He stood up and raised his bat, ready for anything.
But nothing stirred in the room. The blast had knocked everyone else down. Bodies scattered about the place, some bloody, some broken, most dead. He continued to scan the room and then he saw him—Salvato—standing amidst the wreckage with a furious grin.
Regan stared down his enemy. He spit a mouthful of blood on the ground then wiped his lips. He pointed his bat at Salvato and didn’t say a word.
Come and face me.
But his enemy was in no mood for continuing this ongoing battle. He raised a small remote control from his suit jacket pocket. He pointed it at Regan in the same way Regan was pointing the bat at him.
Then Salvato pushed a button on the remote. Instantly an intense but precise zap came down at Regan from a turret gun in the ceiling. It sent a crippling pulse through Regan’s entire body. He couldn’t move. He was being electrocuted.
When Regan saw two more beams flashing down, he assumed Calico and Straya were getting zapped too.
Regan thought this was it. He felt his body weaken. The pain shot through his every nerve until his eyes rolled up into black.
He fell to the ground, defeated.
Chapter Nineteen
Regan woke up with a splitting headache and blurry vision, which started fading into place slowly. His body hurt all over with bruises to match. When he was in the fight’s midst, his adrenaline
had taken hold and pushed him through. Now he realized how bad of shape he was really in.
He sat up with some difficulty and realized he was on the ground in a secure room. He would have thought of it a prison cell, but it was larger and nicer. Even so, there was no escape. No handle on the door. No windows to break or climb through. Nothing.
Regan wondered where they were, but he assumed they must’ve still been on the asteroid, probably close to the Grand Suite. Even though Salvato had connections, he doubted the mob boss would transport prisoners out of here.
Regan questioned why he was still alive at all. He felt his breast pocket for the data cube, but as he expected, they had taken it.
Salvato had gotten the better of him. Even though his body was in pain, it was the thought of losing to Salvato that hurt worse.
Regan turned to see Calico and Straya waking up. They were each on a bench and also badly bruised. Their clothes were torn from the explosions and blasters. Straya had a large wound on her shoulder, which looked like it had been bleeding for quite a while. She had a black eye as well.
Calico held her face, he assumed because her head hurt. She had several spots of torn clothing that revealed bloody skin underneath. She had taken a beating even worse than Straya it seemed.
Regan tried his communication link to no avail. He assumed it was the pulse from the turret gun that zapped it. He brought up this theory to the ladies.
“That’s possible,” Straya replied. “Or we are just in a room that blocks communication waves, or any transmissions at all.”
“Why would he leave us with our communication links if they still worked though?”
“Maybe he trusts the technology of this room,” Straya said. “It makes me wonder why he left us alive at all though.”
“Same,” Regan replied.
“He’s just waiting to make sure the data cube is real,” Calico said. “He’s likely running a decryption code. Once he confirms it’s the real deal, he’ll kill us for sure.”
“Well, we won’t let that happen,” Regan said, though he wasn’t sure how.
He stood up, which took him some time because of the pain running through his body. He limped toward the door and felt for an opening, air flow, or any potential weakness. But there was nothing. It was sealed shut. When he pounded on it, it barely made a noise, leading Regan to believe it was too thick to break down.
“I’m sure there’s a way Posha or Squit could bust us out of here,” Regan said, still feeling the door, then the walls surrounding it. “They can shut something down or get this door open somehow.”
Straya shrugged weakly. “Sure, but we have no way of getting a hold of them.”
“Arkei might already have them working on it,” Regan said. “If she lost communication with all of us, then she knows something went wrong.”
“Yeah, that’s possible. But still, we don’t know.”
“Right. And we can’t just wait to find out.”
Regan paced the secured room. Unlike Mephistopheles’s prison rooms, this place’s defenses had no apparent weakness at all.
He had zero options, and Straya had no ideas as well. He turned his gaze toward Calico, and that’s when he realized she was crying. It was subtle, but tears were developing in her big feline eyes.
“Knock it off!” Straya shouted, noticing the tears as well. “Those tears won’t get us out of here.”
“Take it easy, Straya,” Regan said, taking a seat next to Calico.
“Captain, no offense,” Straya began. “But we will be murdered in this room. I would rather not spend my final moments crying about it. Let’s either figure a way out, or accept that we’re dead meat, but give me a break on the tears.”
Calico glared at Straya. “Maybe you’ve come to terms with death several times throughout your lawless life, but this is a first for me!”
“Well, welcome to the club,” Straya snapped back.
Calico quickly stood up. Regan could tell that it caused her great pain to do so.
“Look, Pirate!” Calico started. “I’m a princess! I know that’s easy for someone with no respect for power to ignore, but it comes with great responsibility and pressure. It also comes with a great innate power. A once-in-a-generation power! I am of a royal bloodline! And if I die, that power dies with me. Do you understand? The future of my people depends on me!”
“And what power would that be?” Straya taunted back. “The world’s cutest kitten?”
Calico’s lips curled back and her claws grew. Regan butted in before things escalated, “Guys, stop it. Calico, what is this power you speak of?”
Calico shook her head and sat back down. She dropped her face and looked more embarrassed now than anything.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “It isn’t unlocked yet.”
Regan frowned. “What do you mean? And can this power help us?”
Calico wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded.
“Well, in theory,” she said. “I can unleash powerful… bursts. A force of energy, you could say.”
“That’s… well, something we could use, don’t you think?”
“It comes from our bloodline,” she continued. “If our intentions are pure, then we can pull additional power from the universe to support it. To strengthen it. It’s what makes our family and our species so powerful.”
“So, you could, I don’t know, break that door down?” Regan asked, wondering why she was only now bringing it up.
“Yes, in theory,” she said. “But like I said, it isn’t unlocked yet.”
“Well, shit! How do you unlock it?”
Calico turned her gaze to the ground, even further embarrassed.
“I have to… Well… I have to become a woman…” Calico managed to say.
“I don’t understand.”
“I must become a woman…” Calico repeated, and then, “I must be made a woman.”
Straya started laughing. “You need to get fucked,” she said. “Sounds about right.”
“It’s not funny!” Calico shouted at her. “It’s a ceremony that is taken very seriously by my people!”
“Fine! I won’t laugh,” Straya said, her hands raised in mock submission. “But then can we please quit wasting time discussing it?” She pointed at Regan. “Can our captain not bang you into womanhood right now, then?”
“Well… I mean, y-yes, he could…” Calico was stuttering her response, clearly embarrassed by the whole thing. Regan realized this was the most vulnerable he had ever seen her, and many of her prior actions, wearing the tough skin, made more sense now. Calico was fragile, more fragile than she had let on.
“Well, okay then!” Straya insisted. “If you’re gonna be so shy about it, I’ll turn invisible, face the corner, and you two can have at it!”
“This is hard for me!” Calico whined.
“Okay, then we all die!”
Regan put his arms out. He had had enough of this bickering.
“Straya,” he began. “Enough. You aren’t helping.”
He turned toward Calico and looked at her intently. He didn’t want to push her, but he wanted to escape. And if sex with Calico could save them, he didn’t have to think very hard to know that it made perfect sense. For so many reasons.
“Calico, will it really work?” he asked.
“Again, in theory,” Calico said, rubbing her arm. “The ceremony always involved taking the other person back to our people. Sanctioning the act. Having them see that you’re a worthy warrior.”
“But what do you think?” Regan asked.
Calico looked at Regan for some time. The blush that had crept onto her cheeks at the beginning of the conversation started dwindling. She was speaking more clearly and directly.
“I know you’re a worthy and noble warrior,” she said. “And even though the act wouldn’t be properly sanctioned, it would occur, and that might be enough.”
“But this is a big step,” Regan said. “And I don’t want you to feel—”<
br />
But Calico put her finger over Regan’s mouth. A new expression took over her face. She had made up her mind.
“Captain, it’s not only what we have to do,” Calico said. “It’s what I want. To be honest, ever since you had Straya in front of me in the shower, I wanted you. All of you.”
“So… then… we get it on?” Regan asked, a bit surprised at the turn their initially hopeless situation was taking. “Right here, with guards able to walk in on us at any time?”
Calico nodded. “Yes.” She glanced at Straya.
Straya smirked, then began to turn invisible and faced the corner, like she said she would.
Calico pulled Regan close.
“It’s fine if it’s quick, we don’t have much time,” she said. “I just need you to mean it.”
“Oh, I’ll mean it,” Regan said.
Calico bit her lip and smiled.
“Then fuck me,” she said.
And Regan did.
He took her to the floor and removed the rest of her clothes. He dropped his pants and didn’t waste any time before sliding into her. She was already wet, clearly having grown excited over the course of their conversation.
Regan was slow at first. Entering her deliberately and with intimate rhythm. He kissed her hard and passionately. She tasted like blood, having been beaten from their fight. But there was also a sweetness to her. A taste that he enjoyed. As if her royal bloodline really was something special. There was a magical quality to it, and it turned Regan increasingly on.
As she stretched to his size, he began to thrust harder and faster. He moved his hands over her body, from her neck, to her tits, to her tail, and to her ass, which he squeezed and pulled toward him as he buried his length in her.
She rubbed her hands over him for a bit too, exploring. Then she put them above her head and felt the pleasure. She purred like a cat and licked his neck. She felt her tits, moving her hands up and down her body and back above her head.
She purred louder and louder, and Regan had a sudden thought that the room might be monitored. He quickly thought of security guards busting in. Or of Salvato watching them on a monitor. While he didn’t want the mobster boss seeing this, the risk of it turned him on further. As if his enemy would see how his prisoner handled himself while being locked up.
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