by Mina Carter
Okay, scratch that…If women on Earth saw what the Lathar looked like, they’d leave in droves in anything spaceworthy.
With this though, things changed. Now she had a whole new set of aliens to deal with and if she’d thought Tarrick’s lot were assholes, Varish appeared to up the ante to total bastard.
“You won’t let him take us?” she asked. Despite herself, her strong woman mask slipped a little and she clung to him. She had to be realistic. He might be her captor, but so far he hadn’t lifted a finger against her, even earlier when she’d resisted. Instead, he’d seduced her with soft kisses. Something she doubted the cruel-faced Varish would have done. A shiver worked its way down her spine as she recalled the way he’d looked at her like he was mentally undressing her. She felt sick, unclean, at the thought.
“No, my love. I won’t.” The endearment slipped from his lips and warmed her heart even though she tried to stop it. “You’re mine and the K’Vass protect what is theirs.”
He bent his head and claimed her lips in a blazing kiss. She moaned, pressing herself against him, but it was over too soon. Pulling back, he looked down at her, smiled and stroked her cheek. “Karryl will take you down to the others while I’m in council with the emperor. You’ll be well protected, I promise.”
When Tarrick had said the women would be well protected, he’d meant it. Within minutes, Cat was ushered into the main holding area within the bowels of the ship. The force field for the cell snapped into place behind her and the robotic guard whirled away to resume its patrol. She turned and was overwhelmed as the women in the cell rushed her.
“Oh my god, are you okay?”
“What happened?”
“Can you tell us what’s going on?”
The voices rose in a babble of questions, almost deafening her. She didn’t know which to answer first. She was saved as another voice broke through, the tone commanding.
“Oh, for heaven's sake, leave the poor girl alone.”
Cat breathed a sigh of relief as a familiar figure barged her way through the mass of bodies to stand next to her. Major Jane Allen had been the senior female officer aboard Sentinel Five and a Marine. Now, with the loss of the captain and the other men, she was the senior officer overall.
“Ma’am,” Cat muttered by way of thanks. At least now she could ease off for a moment. She wasn't alone, Major Allen had years more experience than she did and tactical training only Marines received. Not just that, but she was the Fleet’s poster girl for military service, a legend who looked far younger than her years. Some said living space side did that.
“Glad to have you back, Moore.” The major reached out to squeeze Cat’s upper arms, bared by the alien outfit she wore. A quick reassuring gesture. Cat spared a quick glance to look through the faces, trying to spot Jess but couldn’t. Damn, she must be in one of the other cells.
Major Allen reclaimed her attention. “What can you tell us?”
*
“So, they’re bigger versions of us?”
Cat, seated in a small circle with the other women in the cell, nodded. “Yes. There doesn’t appear to be any physical difference, just the size. I can’t tell you about the inner workings of their bodies but on the outside, they look like human men, just bigger.”
“Bigger, huh?” One woman the other side of the circle sniggered and Cat flushed.
“Enough of that,” Major Allen, Jane, reproached. “Focus on the issue at hand. So, they’re bigger, they appear to have a feudal society that uses energy-based weaponry and these remote-operated bot creatures. What else?”
“They have no women.” At Cat’s revelation, all the ladies turned to her. She shrugged. “What did you think when we were separated from the men? Apart from the obvious?”
“Well, sex slaves were an obvious when they started the segregation,” Jane commented, her expression grim. “So we have a ship full of horny alien warriors here. I’m surprised they left us alone this long.”
Cat looked down at her hands. Crap, crunch time.
“I made a deal,” she whispered. “They have an honor-based system. They didn’t take us for one-night stands. They respect and revere women. With none of their own, they look for women to capture…then claim. Seems to be one warrior, one woman.”
“Just one?” Someone chuckled. “Damn, and there I was looking forward to a hunky alien threesome.”
“Yeah, right, Kenna…you’d eat them for breakfast. Hey, perhaps that’s it. We send Kenna out there and they’ll all run screaming.”
The group dissolved into chuckles. Cat smiled, sitting back. It was such a relief to talk, even shooting the shit like this. She wasn’t alone anymore, didn’t have to make all the big decisions. That no one judged her like she worried they would was a weight off her shoulders. But then, with the Sentinel bases being so far out on the frontier, all personnel were military. They knew the score. If the shit hit the fan, the military mindset kicked in.
“On the whole, they’re decent people. They have an honor code,” she carried on. “I mean, look at us… we did the whole slavery thing ourselves, and we didn’t give them a single choice, never mind three.”
“Three choices? Of men, right?” Jane asked, her brow furrowed.
Cat nodded. “That’s right. You don’t have to say yes to the first warrior who puts in a claim. You can say no up to three times.”
“What happens then?”
Cat’s expression dropped. “Sent to the brothels. I’d suggest no one get to that point.”
From the grim looks around her, they all agreed.
“Sounds like we need to consider this from a tactical viewpoint,” Jane said quietly, turning to look at Cat. “But first I want to know about this deal you made.”
She shrugged. “It’s not a big thing. I didn’t agree to anything for anyone else…”
“Cat?” Jane’s hand closed over hers, battle-scarred but gentle all the same. “What did you agree to?”
She looked up and met the other woman’s eyes. They were odd; one green, one blue. Huh. She’d never noticed that.
“Tarrick…their lord, the one in charge…” She paused and closed her eyes, her words escaping in a rush. “If I agreed to his claim over me, then the rest of you got the choices.”
There was silence. Complete and utter silence.
Cat cracked one eyelid, then another and looked around. Sadness and approval shimmered in Jane’s eyes, echoed on the faces of the other women. Jane squeezed her hands.
“Thank you. That was a noble sacrifice. He didn’t…he wasn’t…”
“No.” Cat was quick to shake her head. “No, not at all. I mean…there’s something they inject into you—”
“The bastard drugged you?” This time it was Kenna who spoke up, her voice outraged. “When I see him, I’m gutting him. With a fucking blunt spoon.”
“It’s not like that. It…well, they’re bigger than us. Way bigger. The stuff makes you dilate…down there. You know. You feel buzzed and all, but it’s like two shots of decent vodka.”
At the word, there were several moans. Supply runs to the base were comprised of essentials, so alcohol was in short supply. Cat had even heard tell someone on one of the lower levels had been trying to distil their own. No one was blind yet, so she assumed it was an “urban” myth or they’d managed it.
“We have other problems though,” Cat cut through the groaning to bring the conversation back on course. As she did so, she reached out to touch Jane’s arm, her finger tapping. Tap or press in quick succession until Jane looked at her, eyes widening a little as she got the message.
They don’t understand morse code.
“There’s another group of aliens here, they seem to be in a power struggle with this lot.”
“Over?” Jane nodded as she spoke, letting Cat know she understood.
The ident tags…
“Us. Women from this sector. The ones who just arrived are mounting a challenge for this area of space. And believe me…
” She shuddered. “This lot don’t look like they’ll give us any choices.”
…access the computers.
“Shit. What do we do?” Kenna, another of the Marines, crowded forward, dividing her attention between Jane and Cat. The muscles in her shoulders bunched as she rolled her neck as though preparing for a fight.
Jane looked around, frowning at the sound of a commotion by the door. Before she could answer, energy bolts slammed into the field keeping them in the cell. It fizzled out and disappeared as a bot crashed to the floor in front of them, a smoking hole in the middle of its chest.
“Right now? Run!” Jane bellowed as the fight broke into the room.
The women scattered, streaming out of the holding cells as more robots poured into the room to engage the ones that had been guarding them. The black metal carapaces of the newcomers made them easy to distinguish.
Cat gathered her skirts and ran between the fighting monsters, following Jane’s lead. If they could just get into the central section of the vessel, they might make it to the flight deck. Find a ship. Failing that, they could at least access the weapons lockers she’d seen in the corridors.
The black robots had the advantage of numbers though, and before they could escape the room, had all but cut down the others. Cat stifled a scream as a silver-colored robot crashed to its knees in front of her, saved from being crushed when Kenna grabbed her hand and yanked her back.
“To the left,” she yelled and a black robot whirled around to fix its single red eye on them. “Go, go, go!”
She pushed Cat ahead of her, both of them slipping on grease that oozed from the fallen robot like blood leaking from ruined veins. Her breath escaped in a squeak, Cat righted herself but felt Kenna yanked from her grasp. She glanced back over her shoulder to see the Marine woman in the clutches of a black robot.
“Run!” Kenna yelled, fighting to escape its clutches. Although its talons dripped with the “blood” of the bots it had destroyed, it folded the lethal blades away so they didn’t cut the struggling woman. Looked like they were the same as Tarrick’s bots, they wouldn’t kill them…but she wouldn’t hang around. As long as one woman got away, there was hope for the rest.
She spun on her heel and sprinted for the open doors. Metal flashed in her peripheral vision, the robots reaching out to grab her. All black now, there were no silver ones left on their feet. Bellowing, she ducked and wove, trying to escape their grasp. Her heart pounded in her chest, powering the muscles of her body in her desperate bid for escape. Just ahead of her was Jane, the other woman’s lithe form and fitness more suited for a pitched battle against alien combat robots. Shit.
It made no difference. Before either of them reached the doors, two heavier-set black robots stepped in the way. Their eyes focused on the two women and both skidded to a halt as red dots appeared on their chests. Slowly, they raised their hands in the universal symbol for surrender.
“So much for not killing women,” Jane shrugged. “I can’t believe I’m saying this… Okay, asshole. Take us to your leader.”
Chapter Three
As evil alien overlords went, Varish T’Laat ticked all the boxes and then some. He wore the same uniform as Tarrick, right down to the red sash, but the leather was darker and battered. Extra sections of sewn-in armor made him look more sinister and the vicious scar down one side of his face just by his eye didn’t help him much in the approachable and cuddly stakes.
The women were herded to stand in front of him in a large room. Long and high-ceilinged, it resembled a throne room. An impression that was aided because Varish sat on a damn throne. He leaned forward, dark hair falling across eyes so cold that Cat shivered.
“Who is in charge here?” His voice was silky smooth. Although they should know better, a few of the women glanced toward Jane near the front of the group.
She stepped forward, chin high as she looked Varish in the eye. “That would be me. Major All—”
In a move like lightning, he pulled the heavy pistol and fired. Jane cried out, clutching her leg as she collapsed on the floor. Cat gasped, her immediate instinct to go to the fallen woman, but Varish motioned with the pistol.
“Correction. I am in charge.” He stood, heavy boots clumping against the steps as he descended the dais. When he reached Jane, he looked down at the fallen woman as she panted in pain, her forehead pressed against the floor. No sympathy showed in his expression. Then he looked up at the rest of them.
“You belong to the T’Laat now. And you have two choices.”
None of the women responded with so much as a murmur. They were all too wary to risk a response that would get them all shot.
“Good, you’re learning already.” Varish smiled, walking around the small group with a measured tread and praising them like he would a puppy that had mastered a new trick. “Either you behave or you suffer. Simple as that. I’m not K’Vass… your sole purpose aboard this ship is to offer comfort for my men.”
He paused in front of them, caressing the barrel of the pistol in a very unhealthy manner. “Remember that you do not have to look pretty, or even be able to move, for them to use your soft cunts. Do you understand?”
No response. There never would be to a declaration like that.
“Good.” He clicked his fingers at Cat. “You…K’Vass’s woman. Come here.”
A chill swept over her skin, but she took a step forward, then another, forcing her unwilling body to approach him. Every instinct within her urged her to run, to get as far away from him as she could as fast as she could but she knew it wasn’t possible. He’d cut her down before she’d taken three steps and would laugh as she died in agony.
She came to a stop in front of him, her eyes on the floor. Not the modesty of a slave faced with her master but pure self-preservation. If he looked into her eyes, he’d see she wanted to gut him. Slowly.
“I can see why K’Vass chose you. You are lovely.” He reached out and ran a hand down the exposed length of her arm, strong fingers shackling her wrist and he pulled her up against him. Revulsion filled her, bile rising in her throat as strong arms wrapped around her. Cat scratched at his neck and shoulders, doing no harm to the battered leather but using the movement to cover as she snapped the chain around his neck. She tore free of his grasp and stepped backward.
His face contorted in fury and he lashed out, backhanding her across the face. Pain flared in her cheek and she spun around, stumbling as she fell onto Jane on the floor.
“Bitch!” he hissed, standing over her. “Never, never say no. Ever!”
“I’m sorry, my Lord,” Cat sobbed noisily, keeping her hand concealed beneath her body as she pressed Varish’s ident tag into Jane’s hands. The other woman, lips still pressed together in pain, gave an almost imperceptible nod.
“You’d better be,” he snarled, wrapping a hard hand around her upper arm and hauling her bodily to her feet. “Get the rest of them prepared for the choosing ceremony,” he ordered the guards, already dragging Cat from the room. “Leave that one there until it dies. As a warning.”
He said nothing more. Instead, he stormed from the room, dragging Cat in his wake. She didn’t try to pry his fingers from her arm, knowing that the reprisal was likely to be deadly.
“Please, my Lord. I’m sorry,” she whined, keeping up the pretense of a panicked slave. All the while though, she kept an eye out for something, anything she could use.
Hopefully, the throne room would be cleared and Jane allowed to move freely. If she were able. Cat had been in the computer core then unconscious for most of the Lathar attack on the base so she had no idea how bad injuries from those pistols could be. The Marine had been conscious, at least. And conscious was good, right? It meant they had a chance.
“You will be,” he muttered as they reached the end of a corridor and a door swished open in front of them. Unlike Tarrick’s, which were neat and military-sparse, Varish’s quarters were opulent and decadent.
He shoved her into a large room.
She had a fleeting impression of large couches and sumptuous rugs before he pushed her into a bedroom. Her mouth dropped open. It looked as though it had been pulled from a bad romance holo-movie she’d once seen, the Space Sultan’s Harem.
There was already someone there, a tall, slender woman wearing robes in the corner of the room. Cat sucked in a breath. Was Varish into voyeurism as well?
“Out!” He barked the order at the other woman, who slipped past them without a word of complaint.
Cat got a look under her hood at her face as she did so. It was a long face, not human or lathar looking at all but more like a human version of a cow. The creature scuttled out before Cat could say a word.
He pulled her around to face him, her back to the bed and looked down at her. He was as well built as Tarrick was, and he was handsome, even with the scar, but she felt nothing other than a mixture of anger and fear.
“You’re a pretty one,” he mused, as though he were talking to himself. Like she wasn’t even present…or didn’t matter. Given his words earlier, she was going with didn’t matter. She tried not to flinch as he reached out and touched her cheek. A gentle touch, now. She doubted it would stay so.
“I can see what K’Vass saw in you. It will kill him to know I’ve got you now…that it’s my cock buried in your silken depths. Plowing you over and over until you scream my name.”
“I’ll never scream your name,” she promised and struck. He was so close he couldn’t block and a man was a man all over the galaxy. Even the Lathar kept their balls between their legs, just like humans. Bringing her knee up, she clocked him hard in the groin.
He grunted, folding at the waist. She tried to slide to the side, escape him, but his hand shot out and grabbed her arm in a punishing grip. Screaming, she fought like a wildcat, landing blows where ever she could. It made no difference. Straightening up, he backhanded her again, the power of the blow knocking her backward over the bed. On her in an instant, he pinned her to the soft surface with his body, the bulge in his groin pressing hard against her.