Imperatrix of the Galaxy

by Tristan Vick

  “I don’t usually bed prostitutes.”

  Algaia sat up and then wrapped her arms around her bare chest. “That’s how you view me? A common hooker?”

  “But last night you said…I mean, well? Isn’t that what your people do best? Sex and seduction? I just thought—”

  “Thought what, exactly? That I was good for a one-night stand?”

  “Well, yeah,” Danica replied, feeling rather self-conscious. “Don’t Bre’lal women run the largest sex trade in the Commonwealth? You yourself said that’s why you’re here. You’re working.”

  Algaia laughed and shot Danica a credulous look. “Yes, but we’re far more than harlots and streetwalkers. Or don’t you think I’m worthy of your superior Dagon anatomy? Is that it? I’m just a servant and you’re the master race. That’s what your people believe isn’t it?”

  Danica bit her lip in shame and looked away. She hadn’t intended to start a row. She actually didn’t mind Algaia’s company. She just didn’t think they had anything in common beyond the excellent sex. “I’m sorry,” Danica said, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head as she tried to force back the headache she already felt coming on. “I just meant that…”

  “Oh, I think I know what you meant,” Algaia said, raising her voice.

  Without waiting for Danica’s response, she slid out of bed, grabbed her things, and slipped on her clothes. Marching over to the door of Danica’s holding cell, she reached out to hit the biometric scanner and open the door.

  “Wait!” Danica called out, forcing the Bre’lal girl to pause. “What about your promise to help me?”

  “Help you do what?” Algaia snapped, twirling around and giving Danica the evil eye.

  “Help me get a message to my friends.”

  “It sounds complicated. I doubt a lowly prostitute could help someone like you.” She scowled at Danica, who looked down at her feet in unease and tried to figure out another way of asking. She’d beg if necessary. Anything to have Algaia relay her message for her.

  What Algaia wasn’t expecting was to find Danica’s eyes brimming with fresh tears. She felt a sudden twinge of regret for how she had gone off the rails. It wasn’t like her to be defensive of her chosen profession. She’d never reacted this way with anyone else; she usually shrugged off their insensitivity, knowing it to stem from their ignorance.

  She understood that for many species, sex was a personal act. A private act. Something they wanted to shelter away from the world and keep like a precious pearl. Other species, like the Dagons, used sex for pleasure and leisure, treating it more like a sport than a reproductive act. And still other species simply dismissed it as a banal act that was more of a base necessity than anything else.

  But for the Bre’lal, sex was all this and more. And as a race, they had mastered the skills and techniques required to please more than a hundred alien species. This was what they did. Green-skins were universally known as pleasure makers.

  “Look, I may have overacted. I just was really into you and wasn’t expecting the sudden judgmental, holier than thou attitude.”

  “No, it’s I who should be apologizing to you. You are right. I have no excuse for my rudeness. I hope you can forgive me for being such a bitch just now.”

  Algaia squinted at Danica and gauged her sincerity. Deciding Danica was being honest, she let out a sigh and composed herself. Her voice softening, she added, “Look, I can’t make any promises, but I’ll see what I can do.”

  Danica sprang to her feet, her breasts jiggling as she hopped up. She raced into Algaia’s arms. “Thank you so much!” she said, squeezing the surprised Bre’lal woman in a strong and wholly unexpected embrace.

  Algaia smiled at her and reached up and tucked a strand of Danica’s white hair behind her ear for her. “Just hold out until I can get back to you either tonight or tomorrow night.”

  “I’ll be here,” Danica replied.

  Then, palming the scanner and unlocking the door, Algaia turned to step into the hall. “Hurk!” Algaia’s hands rushed up to her neck and pressed tight against the gash in her throat. But the blood poured out like a red waterfall.

  Horrified, she turned back toward Danica and tried to let out a plea for help, but only the sound of garbled words sputtered out, along with flecks of blood.

  As the thick red fluid gushed out of her throat in spurts, Algaia tottered briefly, becoming lightheaded from too much blood loss, and then fell forward into Danica’s arms.

  Danica caught Algaia under her arms and cried out in shock as the young woman’s blood spilled out onto Danica’s naked body. Sinking to the floor, she cradled the girl in her arms, and murmured under her breath, “No, no, no.”

  Algaia tried to speak one more time, but only bubbles came up through the thick blood pooling into her mouth. Her eyes looked up at Danica, full of fear and Danica brushed her hair back and whispered, “I have you, Algaia. I’m here.”

  Not that it mattered, since by the time she’d finished consoling the dying girl her teal eyes had gone blank and Danica could see their life force fade. She stared up at Danica with a haunting look that seemed to ask, “Why didn’t you help me?”

  Danica, still naked from the night before, stood and turned toward the entrance to her cell. She ignored the smears of blood, which she wore like body paint, and took a fighting stance. She wanted to enact revenge on whoever it was that stood on the other side of the shadow. “Show yourself!” she snarled, her nails biting into her palms with penetrating force.

  When Ishtar Bantu stepped out from the shadows brandishing a shard of glass soaked in Algaia’s blood, Danica growled angrily, “You murderous hag! I swear, I will kill you if it’s the last thing I ever do.”

  Ishtar shrugged and let out a vexed sigh. She gazed at Danica with eyelids half open, and after a long pause she finally replied, “I can’t have you ditching out on me. I intend to survive these humiliation bouts, and I need you with me in order to do that. So don’t think for an instant that I’m going to let you sneak an SOS out of here so that your little girlfriend comes to your rescue.”

  “I swear by the Gilded Master I’ll…”

  “You’ll what? You kill me and you doom yourself. Like it or not, we’re stuck together.” Ishtar smiled a cruel grin and then winked.

  Before turning to leave, she eyed Danica up and down one last time and licked her lips as though she were thinking of something delectable, then turned and vanished back into the dark corridor from which she came.

  Danica raced over to Algaia’s side and wept silent tears for the girl. She may have been hired to serve, but she didn’t deserve this.

  “I’m so sorry,” Danica wept, sobbing lightly as she slouched over the dead girl. Reaching up, she gently touched Algaia’s face and ran her fingers along her soft cheek. One of her own tears dripped from her nose and landed on Algaia’s cheek and Danica gently rubbed it away with her thumb.

  She had to be more careful next time. Ishtar was keeping a close eye on her. But she had a plan.

  Next time they were in the arena fighting for their lives, she’d help Ishtar just enough to keep her alive. She’d let her get mangled badly enough that she would need medical treatment. That would buy Danica enough time to find another Bre’lal woman and convince her to be her courier. It was the only way she was ever going to get out of this mess alive.

  24

  Droplets of water glistened on Jegra’s bronze skin like sparkling diamonds as she dried herself off with a soft, organic cotton towel. Lianica diverted her gaze away from the empress’s nudity out of deference. It had been so long since she’d been in Jegra’s company that she had nearly forgotten the brazenness for which the empress was famous.

  “No need to be shy,” Jegra laughed, noticing the captain glance away and fix her eyes on a potted plant off to the corner of the room. “Your gaze won’t offend me.”

  “It’s not that, Your Majesty. Your beauty is uncontested throughout the Empire…it’s just that y
ou’re not…with all due respect, your grace…you’re simply not my type,” Lianica replied. She tried to keep a polite tone, but it came off more harshly than she’d had intended. It almost sounded as though she were criticizing the empress for being the wrong species. For not being Dagon. “What I mean, Your Majesty, is that…”

  Under the impression she had royally messed up, Lianica’s shoulders slumped and she smacked her forehead and muttered a strict reprimand to herself. “You idiot.”

  Jegra laughed again and held up her hand, motioning Lianica to stop talking. “It’s fine. You like members of your own species. I get it. But after several weeks on that tiresome planet, I am in desperate need of a good massage. I have a rather nasty kink in my neck,” she informed Lianica, rotating her shoulder and stretching her neck to the side. “Do you mind?”

  Lianica nodded submissively and followed Jegra into a side room where a massage table was already set up. Scented candles had been lit and Brei’alas was waiting for them.

  “I just finished setting up, as you asked, your grace,” the lieutenant said, bowing reverently. She too was shocked by Jegra’s stark nakedness but felt it would be rude to look away, so she studied the fine contours and lines in Jegra’s muscular form as a way to distract from her nudity.

  “Thank you,” Jegra said, touching the girl’s shoulder. With a thrust of her chin she dismissed the Brei’alas, who, keeping her head bowed, scurried out of the room and headed off to resume her regular duties.

  Lianica shot Jegra a curious look.

  “Why do you look at me like that, Lianica?” Jegra asked without looking back over her shoulder.

  “It’s just that…Your Majesty does realize we can assign her some personal servants at any time, right?”

  “I won’t have slaves working under me,” Jegra replied. “I prefer to have people I can trust.”

  “What about paid labor?” Captain Blackstar asked. “I could vet a few Dagon officers and find some suitable to your tastes.”

  Jegra rubbed her chin as she thought it over and then replied, “I’m intrigued by this suggestion. I suppose as long as they are willing and they are getting paid, I’d have no problem with attending servants. I’ll send you a list of my requirements.”

  Lianica nodded. Then, after a long pause, she added, “If you don’t mind me saying so, I believe you’ve grown more powerful since we last saw one another. Physically, I mean. Your muscles are much more defined and you seem…harder, somehow. Like you have an edge about you.”

  “In that case, this massage will be a workout for you.”

  Lianica chortled lightly to herself and then motioned for Jegra to lie down on the massage table. Walking over to the carefully prepared shelf, she selected some essential oils and poured them into the palms of her hands. “I’m sure it’s nothing I can’t handle,” she replied, lathering her hands together to warm up the oils.

  Ready to begin, she pressed her greased palms into Jegra’s lower back, just above the dimples over her buttocks, and began to run her hands up along the gentle curve of the empress’s spine, spreading the oil across each rippling muscle. Lianica repeated this several times, working the oils in as she went up and down the length of Jegra’s backside.

  When Lianica’s fingers came down to Jegra’s thighs, she let her fingers gently slip down between her legs and then she rubbed downward to the back of Jegra’s knees and calf muscles. Again, she repeated this motion until she was satisfied Jegra was well coated in the oil.

  After adding some more oil to her palm, she worked her way down to Jegra’s ankles, taking ahold of the empress’s right foot. Using both hands, Lianica jabbed her thumbs into the palm of each of Jegra’s feet. With small but firm force, she kneaded out any knots. Finally, working her way back up to the toes, she fingered deftly, letting each digit slip between her fingers, and then gripping tightly she stretched Jegra’s toes back as far as they would go.

  “Oh, that feels amazing,” Jegra sighed.

  “There’s something—”

  “I think we should—”

  Both women spoke simultaneously and stopped almost as soon as they had begun, realizing they’d interrupted one another.

  “You first, Your Majesty,” Lianica insisted.

  “No, you go. Everyone always stops when I speak, as if my words were golden, somehow. They’re not. I can assure you, whatever I had to say isn’t as important as something you need to get off your chest.”

  “It’s not proper for me to speak before my empress has said her piece of mind. I’ll tell you after you tell me.” She began working her way back up Jegra’s legs and to her lower back where she paused to work on a tight spot.

  A soft moan slipped out of Jegra’s mouth as Lianica worked the knot out of lower her back just above the dimple of her right buttock.

  “Mmmph. I was merely going to say we need to track down that back-stabbing husband of mine if we’re going to find and rescue Danica. I have more than a few words to share with him, especially since he knows how much she means to me. I will never forgive him if anything happens to her.”

  Lianica nodded. “Once we’re back into regular space, I’ll have Lieutenant Brei’alas run a trace on all known sightings of both the Lord Emperor and Danica Valencia.”

  Another heavy moan escaped Jegra’s lips as Lianica worked her magic. “Right there,” Jegra said. “That’s perfect. Now, what was it you wanted to say to me?”

  Lianica wanted to confess her betrayal of Danica, of how she’d handed her over without putting up a fight, but she was now having second thoughts. She wasn’t sure the empress would take it well, given what she’d just said. And after such a harrowing ordeal, she didn’t want to burden Jegra with any unnecessary stress.

  “It’s nothing,” Lianica lied. “It can wait.”

  She wasn’t sure about that second part. For all she knew, Emperor Dakroth was torturing Danica as they spoke. But she kept it to herself and simply focused her attention on the task at hand.

  Jegra let out another pleasure-filled groan and rolled over onto her side. Lianica took a step back and froze. “Was it not good?”

  “No, it’s good. Excellent, in fact. It’s just that, I know it wasn’t easy for you.”

  Lianica cocked her head and raised a curious eyebrow.

  “Making the decision to come after me instead of going after Danica when she was taken.”

  “You know about that?”

  “Brei’alas briefed me.”

  Lianica lowered her eyes in shame. “So, then, you know what I did. You know that I betrayed you.”

  “There was no easy path there, Lianica. You could have left me to die on that planet or you could leave Danica to suffer at the hands of a madman. But for what it’s worth, I fully back your decision. Danica is a big girl. She can take care of herself. On the other hand, if you hadn’t found me when you did, I’d be a frozen space corpse drifting in an infinite vacuum right now.”

  Lianica looked up, her pale-yellow eyes meeting the empress’s deep brown ones. There was a dampness to them she wasn’t accustomed to. This was the first time anyone had forgiven her instead of raking her over the coals. “Your faith in me will not be in vain,” she informed, trying to hold the urge to smile at bay. This was no time to get overly emotional.

  Jegra had just lain back down on the table and stretched out when the door to her chambers chimed. “Enter,” she said, resting her face across her forearms.

  Two brawny Dagon men, both the most muscular men Lianica had ever seen, stepped into the empress’s quarters. Both men had light blue towels draped over their left arms and they bowed reverently after having entered.

  “These men will relieve you, captain,” Jegra said, craning her neck and looking up at Lianica.

  Lianica stiffened and saluted, crossing her fist over her breast, as was custom. She then marched over toward the door, only glancing back briefly to glance at the two men taking over her masseuse duties. Except, they were obviously there to
do more than a bit of physical therapy, considering one of them already had his face buried between Jegra’s thighs and the other had his tongue swirling around the empress’s nipples. The empress moaned in a slightly different tone as Lianica stepped into the corridor.

  The doors swooshed shut behind her with a pneumatic hiss of air and Lianica let out a deep breath. She probably shouldn’t have looked back, she thought. But she quickly chased the image out of her mind. Even as she tried to calm herself with a deep breath, her heart pounded inside her chest from the strain of having held in her dark secret for so long. As the stress drained from her in the form of a mild panic attack, she whispered to herself, “Get your shit together, Lianica.” Tugging at the waist of her uniform jacket, she straightened out the creases and then made her way to the bridge.

  Lianica was about to step into the lift that would take her to the bridge when she heard a peculiar noise. It sounded like soft weeping coming from behind the wall. But it wasn’t like Dagons to reveal such emotion, especially in public. As such, her curiosity got the better of her and she followed the muffled sound to its source.

  Rounding a bend, she found Brei’alas standing in the nook of a nearby maintenance closet, quietly sobbing to herself. When the lieutenant saw the captain appear from around the corner, she immediately wiped her tears away and ceased her sniveling.

  “Lieutenant Brei’alas…are you crying?”

  “It’s nothing,” Brei’alas reassured her. “I’ll return to my duties immediately,” she said, and then attempted a bold bypass of her captain.

  Lianica’s hand stopped Brei’alas from escaping and she gave her officer a sympathetic look. “Then, why do I get the feeling it’s not nothing?”

  Brei’alas looked at the captain with a fearful gaze. “If I tell you, you’ll likely confine me to my quarters for the rest of all time.”

  “Don’t be so melodramatic,” Lianica said with a laugh. “If the safety of the ship is at stake, then I order you to tell me; if not, I ask you to.”