Enryn

by Gerard Whittaker

  The former slaves of the pirates were encouraged fill in helping at what ever they could do, and that was a lot, most were highly educated men and women from across the galaxy. The women now far out numbered the male population, but many were glad to take a break from men for a while.

  After weeks of window shopping and dating the turret crews did manage to find girlfriends and settle down, even if it was two each.

  General Jones was soon sporting the tall black girl he had rescued on his arm, she was stately but callused on her neck, wrists and mind. Her ears were about three inches longer than normal but other than that she looked quite human; she had gone from a living nightmare into a world she didn't understand, and hung on to Jones's arm in desperation.

  After a month Gyor opened a portal to Aeden and recovered the rest of the Iowa's crew, and June and Bob Percival. It went a long way to sorting out the sexual imbalance on the Texas. Her former lovers had settled on her Estate in Aeden, and were getting used to a new life without fear.

  Ace and Enryn watched the kids trying to sleep wrapped with their chain and collars. "Aea, Bea," Enryn sighed. "Don't you realise by now that you don't need a chain for a safety blanket? We will not separate you."

  "We want to give you a life," Ace insisted. "To teach you to run and play, to swim and laugh. You can't do that in chains."

  The children looked fearfully at each other.

  "When you are ready," Ace sighed.

  "But you are starting school soon," Enryn laughed. "So I wouldn't take too long."

  "We will still belong to you?" Bea gasped fearfully.

  "Yes Bea, you belong to us," Ace insisted.

  "Forever!" Aea begged.

  "Yes, forever," Enryn sobbed. "We'll not let you go."

  "Well alright then," Bea gasped.

  Ace reached down and pulled the collars off the kids, revealing deeply callused necks. "I'll hang this on your door, in case you need it."

  They sat up touching their necks in wonder, and turned to embrace Ace and Enryn for the first time, sobbing quietly. "You know Ace, I think we have a ready made family."

  "And a nice one at that," he laughed. "And Fae makes five."

  "You know, we really should do something about that girl."

  "I think we've put it off long enough," Ace agreed. "If she wants to belong to us she can earn her keep," he laughed.

  They returned to their bedroom to find Fae pretending to sleep in the middle of their oversized bed. Grinning they lay down on either side of the sport, holding her firmly, possessively. "Love me," she purred.

  A week later the Marines were having a family picnic on the lawn outside their headquarters. Most were sunning themselves with their partners, or playing ball, eating snacks, burning a barbeque and drinking beer.

  Oana and her partner were playing with Sharral, the woman who had bought her, and the children. In a couple of months Oana had gone from a slave to a mistress to a warrior to a friend and was now a surrogate mother to the two kids. And in a few months she would be having a child of her own. She was having a busy life.

  Enryn was pleased to notice that there was no ill will between Oana and her former mistress, both had done things they regretted to the other out of desperation. And Sharral was now sharing a life of love for the first time, without the abuse her husband had enjoyed inflicting on her and the children.

  Ace was setting the picnic table as Enryn and the kids, who were all wearing swimsuits and shorts, played with a Frisbee. Fae kept stalking through the ornamental bushes to leap on the Frisbee in mid air, and the kids would chase after her laughing. For one moment he knew perfect bliss, sharing a look of love with his mate.

  And then Gyor and En-eta walked over, with three strangers.

  Enryn looked up in worry, seeing a lovely brunette carrying a three year old girl, and dragging a roguish looking boy of about seven by his hand. But all were dressed in rags, dirty and scared.

  The woman wore what was left of a business suit, her silken shirt had the buttons replaced by a cross laced leather thong, her knee length skirt was jagged at the hem and torn up both sides, her jacket had been patched by whatever scraps she had managed to scrounge, and she had an old knife half hidden down an oversized army boot, and it was not for show.

  The boy's clothing was hardly any better, and the girl's dress looked to have been sewn from an old uniform.

  "What's up Gyor?" Ace sighed, he could smell trouble too.

  "Nothing really."

  Now they did start to worry.

  "It's just that I know you need help with running the base. You're good Ace, but only one man."

  "And this is your solution?" Enryn gestured to the strangers.

  "I sort of found Rosa. Well to be honest I told the computer to find an office manager who was qualified to run this Base, and it selected her."

  "I heard you had millions of refugees in stasis," Ace sighed. "But I didn't expect this."

  "No Gunny, not millions, billions of unwanted human souls that we saved but can't help. There is nothing we can do but store them for a hundred years, or a million."

  Enryn sighed, "Okay Rosa, what's your story?"

  "Please give me a chance to catch up," she sighed, her accent was intelligent and cultured, but trembled with desperation. "An hour ago I was being hunted in a war zone. Then we were saved and placed in stasis, and taken right out and brought here. I'm still dazed."

  "You were in stasis for nearly twenty years," Gyor told the horrified woman. "Carry on."

  "I was owned by a very rich man to run his factories, with a work force of over a hundred thousand. And I was happy, I loved him and his wife and their daughter." She held the three year old blond kid. "Then it was all over in an instant, the house as destroyed in the opening seconds of a war we didn't even know about. My masters both died before my eyes, I grabbed Aquilla and ran for my life. I've been running ever since though a war and the terrible aftermath. Rastus here tried to steal our food, and when I caught him we decided to stick together; he's been feeding us for the last two years."

  "You can run the administration side, pay, leave, training and so on?" Ace asked.

  "In my sleep sir," she gasped. "Look, this is my only chance to avoid being put back in stasis," she begged. "And to keep my kids."

  "Accept Rosa and she will do her job well," Gyor insisted, "take her into you home and she will do it far better, accept her into your hearts and she will be devoted to you both."

  "Do you wish to serve us?" Enryn asked.

  "In any way you wish lady," Rosa sobbed.

  Enryn and Ace looked at each other with a mutual sigh, then nodded. "Rosa, strip, you and the children," Enryn snapped. "We want to know what we are getting."

  With reluctance Rosa stripped off until she stood naked before them, struggling not to hide herself from her master's gaze, as she lifted her arms and turned before them. Her figure was spectacular, though dirty and scarred. Then she undressed the children, showing that they too were fit and healthy.

  "Rosa," Ace said mildly, "there is a bin behind you, dump your clothing in it."

  "Yes master," she sobbed. "Does this mean you will accept us?" She dropped all the dirty clothing in the bin, and walked back to kneel before them.

  Enryn sighed with relief on seeing the last of the rags vanish into the bin, certain that they held lots of things she did not want to take home. "There is a swimming pool near here with a shower section, I want you all to bathe there, and then come back dry. Then we will decide if we want you."

  Rosa took the children to the pool as Enryn and Ace laughed with Gyor.

  "She's priceless," Ace laughed. "Intelligent, talented, brave and quite lovely."

  "Just think of all the paperwork we can dump on her," Enryn gasped.

  "I wasn't kidding about being devoted to you," Gyor insisted. "She was designed to be the perfect Personal Assistant, and to love her masters. But the devotion she gave to saving Aquilla did surprise me. It took a lot of cour
age to protect a baby not her own in a war zone, and I dread to think how many times she had to use that knife."

  "And to turn that little thief Rastus into her personal scout," Enryn laughed. "I'm impressed."

  Fae and the twins returned with a basket of food and some bottles of wine a few minutes before Rosa came back with her kids. They were all clean and dry for the first time since their war, but approached with apprehension to learn their destinies.

  "Sit and help yourself," Ace laughed. "It looks like you're stopping."

  "Then may we dress master?" Rosa sobbed in relief.

  "No Rosa," Enryn insisted, "you will enter our home as you are, owning nothing. When you earn the right then we will give you everything you need."

  "This is a party," Ace explained, "not a formal ball. You are dressed to fit in." He gestured to where a dozen or more Marines, male and female were sunning themselves in the synthetic light.

  "My duties, will they also be sexual? I'm sorry, but I have to know. It's been such a long time," she sobbed.

  Enryn gasped, "If you earn the right, yes they will be. We might also include Fae in the deal."

  Rosa looked at the sport in surprise. "She is then a member of your family?"

  "And so could you be, and your kids, if you please us," Ace laughed.

  "I hope to learn to please you both," Rosa sobbed and opened a bottle of wine, pouring a glass each, before tasting it with appreciation. "Soon." She served her kids a double portion of chicken, and they started to wolf it down as though they hadn't eaten in a week.

  Enryn saw the small portion Rosa had served herself, and dumped most of the fried chicken before the starving woman, apologising, "We didn't expect five extra guests."

  Gyor saw the problem and fixed it with a click of her figures, creating a second banquet of roast beef, gravy and all the trimmings, including French bread and the best wine.

  Rosa saw the miracle with disbelief, but was too shaken to comment.

  "That was nothing Rosa," Ace laughed, "you want to see her create a Cathedral!"

  As the aroma of roast beef wafted around the picnic area, and the Marines finally gave up on the barbeque, they drifted over to say hello, and each walked off with a beef and onion sandwich dripping in gravy.

  They downed a few drinks each, and even Rosa started to relax, and saw Fae playing with the Marines, chasing something small a furry up a tree.

  Ace called out, "Leave the Squirrel alone Fae."

  She climbed back down the tree, "I was only looking."

  "Ace dear," Enryn sighed, "I really don't think we should have any more pets. You know, fish or birds?"

  A few minutes later Sal, Ceri and a few Marines walked over laughing. Sal chuckled, "We've been discussing something Gunny, don't you think we need a mascot?"

  "It's good for moral," Ceri insisted.

  Ace could sense a disaster approaching like a runaway express. He closed his eyes, gasping, "What have you in mind? I don't see any goats around here."

  "Fae," Sal insisted. "She'd be great."

  The girl preened herself, extended one three inch claw from her index finger and skewered the last piece of chicken from the basket. "Can I Gunny?"

  "But what will she wear?" Enryn gasped.

  Ace snapped, "No, you are not going on parade naked!"

  "The Marine Corps will have a fit," Enryn laughed. "But she is technicaly an alien animal."

  "If you truly want this Fae," Ace sighed.

  "Then from now on you will never be naked in public, to avoid scandalising the Marine Corps," Enryn snapped. "I don't care what you wear, no, hold that. I'll tell you what to wear from now on!"

  "Fae, run home and find a pair of shorts and a T-shirt," Ace laughed. "We'll get you fixed up properly on the way home."

  Gyor was laughing so hard she nearly fell off her chair. "One on the reasons I love humans is that you always blunder from disaster to catastrophe at a moment's notice."

  "And your kind don't have disasters?" Enryn asked.

  "Oh, we certainty do, but it takes a couple of thousand years of careful debate before we finally screw up."

  Rosa was smiling but looked confused. "If you have a nudity taboo, why are we wearing nothing?"

  "So that you will realise that you are safe, you could walk through the city naked and no one will bother you." Enryn laughed, "Rosa here you are safe!"

  Gyor gestured to the Marines, "And they will fight to the death to protect you!"

  "And that reminds me," Ace laughed and turned to the identical twins. "Aea, Bea, now you are talking, what are you called?"

  "But, you named us," Bea gasped.

  "We gave you slave names when we didn't think we were keeping you," Enryn explained. "Now we want to know what you are called."

  "Arlena and Betha," one of the girls gasped. "That's not the real way to say it, but we would be happy."

  "Our real names end with a lot of Zs and Ks, you'd swallow your tongue trying to pronounce them correctly, but your version is much more fun."

  "How can we tell the difference?" Rosa asked.

  "You can't," they replied in unison.

  Rosa laughed, "You've only just adopted them? I thought... Then what of my kids?"

  "Apollina and Rastus will be living in the same home, going to the same school, playing the same games, and probably fighting all the time, just like a real family," Ace laughed. "Enryn and I will be away on extended duty a lot, so we'll expect you to look after all four of them, and Fae."

  "Fae likes sleeping all day if we let her," Enryn laughed. "And she loves the kids so much if they don't want to go to school she'll write their sick notes herself."

  "Oh, she will, will she?" Rosa sighed. "Now I see why you need me."

  "Consider yourself part of the family," Enryn laughed.

  "Will we be sl..."

  "Stop that now!" Ace snapped. "We just told you, while you're with us you are family. No bowing or scraping, no yes sir, no sir. Call us by name and if you think we're making a mistake, then for heaven's sake tell us!"

  "Then I think you are making a mistake," she laughed, "you're too bloody soft!"

  "Good girl," Gyor applauded. "Now I've something important to say."

  Ace sighed, "Why have I a feeing of imminent disaster?"

  "Experience, bitter experience," Enryn laughed wryly.

  "Are you two finished? Thank you. You know my hobby with slaves?"

  "The Press once called you a slave breeder," Ace sighed.

  "Nonsense, well, I never bred slaves. Well, at least... Okay then. I usually had a couple of slaves bound to my bed, sometimes two girls but more often a man and woman. Anyway, I'd spend a few years teaching them to please me, and each other. For some reason they usually fell in love, a few years of mutual and concurrent orgasms might have something to do with that, but I never got around to proving that theory. So I'd marry them and they would start a family. But I wouldn't call that slave breeding, would you?"

  "Cottage industry, rather than industrialised brutality," Ace sighed. "Don't forget I was on Yag-Urth and helped rescue your ex lovers."

  "Yes, well now I've got En-eta back I'm looking for a new hobby."

  "Oh God help us all," Ace gasped.

  "Lady Gyor, I really don't think we need any more training," Enryn gasped.

  "You do, but I'm sure Rosa will take that in hand. No, I'm planning to study the Marines. Because I want to make you the best in this galaxy. I want to prevent wars by making you the most dangerous force their is."

  "There's a reason for this?" Ace gasped.

  "There most certainly is, we've just found out that the so called Lords of All are of Extra Galactic origin. The bloody idiots are trying to invade my galaxy!"

  "I wouldn't take it personally," Enryn gasped. "I'm sure they've never heard of you."

  "That is a matter easily put right," Gyor said grimly, "right after I declare war on them!"

  They returned home, picking up a few things for the new memb
ers on the way back. Arlena, Betha, Apollina and Rastus were soon kitted out and looking happy at being spoilt rotten.

  But Rosa looked on in worry as her kids came to love two strangers. Then Enryn borrowed Sal and Ceri, and they disappeared into a dress shop with Rosa. Ace could only laugh wryly and take the kids home. Playing and bonding with the children, while wondering what it was going to cost him.

  It was three hours later when Enryn and Rosa came home, both slightly drunk, but very happy and loaded down with shopping. "We met Gyor and En-eta in the mall," Enryn laughed. "So we had a six girl heart to heart, night out. You know, that seven foot tall dynamo is just a big softy at heart. And I've never seen such love. All her immortal life she's been searching for love, in all the wrong places, and then a couple of her ex slaves bought En-eta to say thank you for all she had done for them."

  Rosa pushed the shopping through the door, and then formally entered her new home. "You said that if I enter your home naked you will provide all that I need."

  "And we shall," Ace chuckled.

  "Then hold me, by the gods, hold me!" she sobbed as the drinks finally washed away years of iron self control. "It's been so long."

  Fae led the kids from the room, glancing back with a knowing smile.

  Ace and Enryn held the shaking woman, as she started to cry with an ever increasing stream of tears.

  "Let it go," Enryn sighed. "Here you are safe and loved, no one will threaten you again."

  "Cry Rosa, let the tears heal your heart," Ace sighed.

  "I know I've not earned the right," Rosa sobbed, "but could I sleep with you, just this once?"

  "I think we can give you an advance," Ace laughed.

  "Sleep with us my sister," Enryn sighed. "Cry if you must to heal your heart."

  It was the early hours before Rosa stopped crying, and learnt what it meant to belong to a loving couple.