Fortunately, they understood him as well as he did them. The group got to their feet, chattering and buzzing all at once. Hope lit their alien faces. A Dantovonian’s segmented mug even stretched in a smile. It wasn’t pretty, but it lifted my heart just the same.
Oses grinned at me. “They’ll take us to the bridge. One of them is a navigator. He says a Kalquorian destroyer is not far, perhaps only two days’ journey behind us. It may be one of our transport’s escorts, because it’s been close since we left Xniktix.”
My heart leapt to hear that. At the same instant, I was suspicious. Were we going to be rescued? I kept thinking it had to be some kind of a trap.
Yet I detected no subterfuge from our new friends. Their cautious hope burst into real joy as they showed us to the bridge.
Word spread fast, because cheers sounded through the walls before we stepped onto the bridge. The bedlam greeted us when we entered the vessel’s control center.
An Isetacian literally climbed the walls, his six legs adhering to the shining surfaces like a fly. A couple more Dantovonians hopped on their froggy hind legs. Four brightly-furred Joshadans ran up to Oses, jabbering happily and patting his muscled legs. He wasted no time in bowing deeply to the sapphire, emerald, citrine, and ruby fluffs of fur.
I had no more than conversational Kalquorian under my belt and damned little of that. I stood by while Oses spoke to the collared bridge crew. After a few minutes of telling them we were free (they kept interrupting him to shout, cheer, and bounce about), he got them to do more helpful functions. Everyone hurried to stations that looked much like Finiuld’s desk-controller without the phasing. Oses continued to talk as they worked feverishly. Occasionally someone answered him.
After a couple minutes of this, the Nobek turned to me in triumph. “There is a destroyer nearby, and its identification marks belong to one of our transport’s escorts. I’m having the crew de-activate the ship’s phasing so they’ll detect us. We’ll com a message and change our heading to meet them.”
“How far off is it?” I asked.
“If the destroyer matches us at top speed, we’ll meet up tomorrow.” Oses grabbed me in an impetuous hug. “We’re almost out of this, Shalia. Everything is going to be fine.”
“There are no other Ofetuchan spacecraft in the vicinity?” I couldn’t help being a killjoy.
“According to this crew, no. The vessel was scheduled to meet with others for a party in three days.” Oses’s grin lit up his dark face. “We won’t be attending.”
“Thank God,” I breathed.
One of the Joshadans spoke up. Oses answered. Then, joy of joys, a deep voice came over the com, speaking in the staccato Kalquorian language. The captive crew cheered wildly once more.
Oses and this other Kalquorian conversed for a while once the bridge personnel settled down. It was only then that I finally began to relax. We were going home to our transport. Our time in purgatory was nearly at an end.
Oses wrapped up his conversation. “They are coming as quickly as possible,” he told me. “Captain Zemos is beside himself with excitement that we have captured an Ofetuchan vessel. Studying the technology of a race that was more legend than reality will make our scientists extremely happy.”
“I’m delighted we have been of service,” I commented in a dry tone. “I’m so glad I signed on for this.”
Oses laughed, but there was a note of pain to match my own. “You’ll have to demand hazard pay from the fleet. Mother of All, we deserve to be rich after what we’ve been through.”
“Fuck rich,” I said. “Let’s just get to the transport.”
“Yes, my Matara.”
Oses froze and his happy expression dropped away. He stared at me. “I’m going to have to stop calling you that now that we’re about to be rescued.”
His expression saddened for an instant. As relieved as I was for our hell to end, I too experienced a pang of loss. Our temporary clanship was at an end. I no longer belonged to Oses.
I was too wrung out to offer meaningless consolation, so I went for distraction instead. “We should release the others from containment.”
Oses straightened. “Yes, we should. It’s too bad the phase device is tuned to me and not you. I hate to leave the bridge.”
“Can’t you keep in communication with the crew while we’re setting everyone loose?”
“I can. Still—” His brow creased with concern as he looked at the happy denizens flying the ship towards the destroyer.
“You don’t want to leave anything to chance when we’re so close to rescue,” I finished for him.
He nodded. “I keep feeling as if the situation is going to go wrong any second now.”
I glanced around at the bridge crew, all of whom jabbered and hugged each other. They glowed with huge smiles, even as tears streaked down. “I think this gang is as determined to be free as we are. At the very least, the Joshadans are trustworthy. You should set up safeguards so the Tragooms can’t access the bridge.”
Oses addressed the crew. The ruby-furred Joshadan answered him, waving his tiny hands in glad dismissal. Oses translated for to me.
“Glidas and Finiuld never gave the Tragooms access to the bridge. The bastards are too opportunistic to be trusted near the controls, even with the collars on. They can’t get in here to change our course or take over.”
I linked my arm in his. “Then shall we release the others?”
Oses nodded, though his reluctance was still obvious. “I suppose we should.”
I too was hesitant about leaving the bridge despite being sure of the crew. They had confirmed Glidas and Finiuld were the only two Ofetuchans on board. Yet I had the same superstitious concerns as Oses...that the instant we turned our backs, it would all go to shit. Still, I couldn’t stand the thought of the others sitting in their cages, waiting to hear if they had been released. Had I been in their place, every second would have been a lifetime. It was too cruel to leave them there.
I guess Oses felt the same, because he relented. We trekked to that horrid room where we’d been caged. Our fellow prisoners went wild with joy when they heard Finiuld and Glidas were dead and a Kalquorian destroyer was racing to the rescue. The Plasian wept, as she had done almost continuously since I’d first laid eyes on her. When Oses led her out of her habitat, she stood with her olive-furred head bowed, crying and crying. She didn’t speak. Heaven knows if her mind will recover from whatever horrors she’d borne.
We left the Tragoom in his cage, though Oses did inform him he and the others would be left unharmed on a planet or space station friendly to their kind...as long as they behaved themselves. The big critter shrugged his boulder shoulders and turned away.
We knew there were other containment areas on board. Because none of those prisoners realized their good fortune, Oses decided to not tell them until the destroyer reached us.
“In the first place, we don’t know their mental states,” he told the rest of us. “It could be they’ve become dangerous from insanity. Let them learn the happy news when we can take them off this cursed ship for good.”
Those capable of doing so agreed. I was the most hesitant of the group to go along with the plan, though I understood Oses’s point. It made sense to wait.
We trooped to the bridge, where all continued to be well. Our companions were greeted by the crew with more cheers. Two of the Joshadans comforted and fussed over the Plasian, making soothing cooing noises. She smiled through her tears at them.
I noted Oses confirmed our heading and checked in with the captain of the oncoming destroyer, Captain Zemos. Nothing had gone wrong in our absence, and I breathed easier. It seemed we were going to make it.
I wanted to join in on the happiness, but with rescue on the horizon, I was too tired. All that adrenaline left me in a hurry. After a couple of hours of the others trading stories, which Oses translated for me, I thought I might pass out.
“I need to sleep,” I told him. “I’m out on my feet.”
I smiled at him, my protector and hero. “Too much excitement, and I’m crashing hard from it. I just want to find a nice soft bed and snooze for a few hours.”
Oses nodded. He told the crew that we were going to sleep. A Joshadan directed us to a guest room. He said he would place security buffers around it, like those that kept the Tragooms off the bridge. With many thanks, we left our fellow escapees to continue their celebration.
With that unerring instinct of his, Oses found the safeguarded room, which appeared to be clean and not recently used. All the floating trays were bare but for a single vase with a dark purple bloom. There were no control desks similar to that in Finiuld’s quarters. I noticed little else, except that the bed was small for a human. I didn’t care. It would be fine for me to curl up in a little ball, which was my preferred way to sleep anyhow.
I climbed into the bed and Oses snuggled up, spooning me. I had the last thought that his ass was probably hanging off the edge of the bed, and then I slept.
February 27
When I woke from my nap, Oses was there. It was as if we hadn’t moved an inch from when we’d come in.
For a few seconds I was confused by my surroundings. We weren’t in our cave, which was what I expected. The tangerine walls, not too obnoxious in the soft glow of an overhead light, were foreign to me. I had no memory of them from when we came into the room. Man, I had been tired.
I looked over my shoulder to see Oses regarding me with a funny smile, more sad than happy. He welcomed me to wakefulness with a kiss to the tip of my nose. “I wondered when you’d wake.”
“Why? How long was I out?” I asked.
“Long enough that we’ll be meeting Zemos’s destroyer in three hours.”
That was a shock. I’d slept longer than a full night’s worth. “Everything is all right? No trouble?” I asked. “When did you last check in with the bridge?”
“I just got back from verifying our status ten minutes ago.” Oses chuckled. “You weren’t kidding when you said you were exhausted. You never budged. Here, I brought you some food.”
He helped me sit up and brought a floating tray close. I wrinkled my nose at the Ofetuchan fare, already anticipating eating some ronka and pilchok. I couldn’t wait to leave Finiuld and Glidas’s damned ship.
Oses fed me, as Kalquorian men prefer to do for women. Usually it seems weird to me, but it was right for then. It was especially meaningful to Oses. There was an intimacy to the act that I hadn’t experienced before.
After a little while, I understood why. Oses said, “I am beyond glad to quit this hellhole, but I already miss having a Matara of my own.”
I looked into his beautiful cat-pupiled eyes with concern. “We’ll be together on the transport. We can keep what we had there, right?”
“Of course. I am glad you have not tired of me.”
I punched him on the shoulder. “You goof. How can you say such a thing? You don’t think I’m done with you, do you?” I arched a brow at him. “In fact, you’d better keep your door locked when you want some rest. I’m definitely a fan of Nobek Oses after this.”
“I look forward to having my privacy breached, hopefully often.” Oses turned serious again. “Here you were my mate. I was your Nobek. That is ending.”
I traced his jaw. “I know what you mean. I hated being a prisoner, but if it had to happen, I couldn’t have asked for a better protector. You kept me sane, Oses. Of all Nobeks, you must be the best of your breed.”
“I made mistakes. I had moments of weakness. I am sorry, my Matara.”
“We both crumbled at certain times. It’s a testament to our strength that we came back. We’re badasses.”
Oses laughed for real. I grinned up at him as he pushed the now-empty food tray away.
“Should I send off my temporary Nobek-mate with proper thanks?”
That earned me a growl and a show of fangs. Oses was suddenly a great distance from sad.
That hideous yellow toga thing Finiuld had dressed me in was gone in an instant. So was the animal hide Oses had been forced to wear, in favor of his naked hide. You can guess which I preferred.
Perhaps because of being a captive, an awful fate for a Nobek, Oses was the most domineering I’d ever seen him. He didn’t bother to order me around. Instead, he put me in the positions he wanted and took what he wanted. Am I complaining? Oh, fuck no. I enjoyed every second of my controlling lover.
First, he planted me facedown on the bed. Oses held my wrists at the small of my back while he ate my pussy. I screamed into the soft mattress while he sucked my clit and stabbed his tongue into me. When I couldn’t take any more, I writhed and bucked. That got my ass warmed beautifully with a spanking. Then Oses gobbled me some more. I came for him. Still holding me down, he fingerfucked me. I climaxed again with three fingers pounding inside and his thumb rubbing my clit. I screamed fit to shake the ship. Oses decided to spank me again before making me kneel on the bed surface.
He used a sheet to tie my hands behind my back. Standing before me, he lifted his larger cock out of the way and fucked my mouth with the secondary. He held a handful of my hair in his fist as he plunged in and out, occasionally pulling to remind me who was in charge. My pussy ached with renewed enthusiasm after a few minutes of that. Damn, he was amazing.
Then he pumped my face with his larger cock. He was like Betra, with the Imdiko’s love for gagging me. When I coughed, Oses groaned and slid out to hold still. I think he came close to climax several times. I was more than willing to let him do so, but the Nobek wanted more. After all, this would be our last with me as his own Matara. He was determined to make it count.
He practically threw me on the bed, on my back. Then he was on me. Then he was in me. Oses fucked me in all the ways a man can: slow, fast, hard, gentle, rough, tender, in every conceivable position, and then a few I’d never thought of. Hey, a century and a half meant a lot of experience. That man should write a how-to book.
It finally ended with me nearly doing a handstand on the floor while Oses stood on trembling legs, holding my ass in the air and pounding hard. His magnificent muscles clenched, tendons and veins standing out. He let go with a roar that sounded filled with all the emotions in the universe: relief, release, agony, ecstasy, joy, and loss.
Can a moment be both enthralling and heartbreaking? I suppose the answer is yes, because that was how it felt as we said goodbye to our temporary ‘clanship’. No, I don’t regard Oses as the lifelong partner for me, perhaps because it can’t happen as far as the empire is concerned. I’ve done my best to keep him out of my heart. However, he has taken up residence there, as a lover and friend. I love him in that way and will never be able to repay him for keeping us alive. Of all the men I’ve been with, he is the one I can rely on for whatever comes at me.
We took a while to collect ourselves and clean up. We bathed together with barely two words spoken. It was enough to simply be, signaling the end of our terrible captivity.
We went to the bridge an hour before Captain Zemos’s destroyer rendezvoused with our hell ship. The Kalquorian craft was able to fit the much smaller Ofetuchan vessel into a bay. The instant we received word that a breathable atmosphere had been established in the hold, everybody spilled out of the hatch. There we were, a menagerie of beings from all over the known worlds, laughing, cheering, and crying. We were surrounded by beautiful Kalquorian men, who watched us and stared in fascination at the mirror-finished rectangular alien vessel no one had ever seen the likes of before.
We had made it. We were safe.
March 21
I’ve finished my story about being Little Creep’s prisoner. We were rescued by Captain Zemos’s destroyer three weeks ago. It took us a week to reunite with the transport, which had remained at the Xniktix space station until Captain Zemos sent word that we’d been found. Then it flew with its remaining destroyer esc
orts to fetch us. I’ve been home for two weeks.
The destroyer had searched high and low for us since we disappeared. I’m impressed they did so for one pregnant Earther woman and a Nobek. More than ever, I am reminded of how much importance the Kalquorians hold those of their kind and mine. After all, Oses and I had been missing for almost two weeks. The fact that Finiuld’s ship was phased invisible should have knocked the search party off the scent after a couple of days.
Yet the Ofetuchan vessel had left a trace of its passage, some kind of energy disturbance trail. Since Captain Zemos’s crew couldn’t find a good reason for its existence, they thought it might be worth following. They had nothing else to go on, so it was as good a clue as any, Zemos told Oses. That’s why they were only a couple of days behind us.
I’ve been told that once we boarded the transport, we returned to Xniktix Space Station, where our fellow prisoners were let off. The Adrafs will take care of them until arrangements can be made for their various worlds to reclaim them.
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