by Tristan Vick
Jennica stood above her, her finger glowing bright red as she was about to deal Jegra a lethal laser blast to the skull. But she was in luck. Lying within arm’s reach was a shard of a broken mirror.
She grabbed the fragment of reflective glass just in time to deflect the blast away from herself. The laser beam refracted off the broken mirror and cut Jennica’s left arm clean off.
Jennica drew back and screamed out in agony. Naturally, this gave Jegra the opening she needed, and she kicked Jennica’s knee out from under her, snapping her leg like a twig. She toppled to the ground beside Jegra.
Not waiting for Jennica to get off another shot, Jegra grabbed Jennica’s free hand before she could retaliate and locked it up in a relentless grip. Slowly, she twisted Jennica’s arm back onto itself, holding her wrist tight. Jennica resisted, but Jegra overpowered her and, with a brutal crunch, Jennica’s arm snapped.
Her opponent immobilized, Jegra threw herself onto Jennica and began to beat her to a bloody pulp. Jennica gurgled through a blood filled mouth, begging for Jegra to stop, but she knew Dagons; they often lied to save their own skins. And she wasn’t about to risk a laser blast through the skull.
It wasn’t her proudest moment, that was for sure. And it was this final vision of Jennica’s battered and broken face, one eye popped out of its socket, her dislocated jaw hanging slack with all its front teeth broken out, that so haunted Jegra.
It was one of the reasons she couldn’t help but fuck everything in sight. As long as she was fucking, she ain’t sleeping. She ain’t dreaming. And she’s sure as hell ain’t remembering.
When I fuck, I can live in the moment, she reasoned. I can focus on just the raw, sensual ecstasy of it. The titillating sensations, the smell of it. And I can tune everything else out.
Jegra didn’t know how long she could go on like this. She wouldn’t even venture to offer a guess.
“Probably as long as I need to,” she said softly.
Perhaps the worst part, though, she thought, is that being forced to kill Jennica in cold blood wasn’t even in the top three of my biggest regrets.
“Then you should know that he killed my parents,” Raven shared, interrupting Jegra’s regretful thoughts. The expression on Raven’s face turned somber.
Jegra’s eyes grew wide with shock. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“It’s something I usually don’t talk about, especially with strangers. But I wanted you to know that the only thing preventing me from jettisoning that piece of blue-skinned filth right out the nearest airlock is you.”
“Me?” Jegra, gasped. She was utterly confused.
“There’s only one person on Cordova that Emperor Dakroth would care about seeing. The High Priest of Hastur, Zira Ha’ppek. As such, I’m betting a wedding is in your near future.” Raven kneeled down on one knee, and took Jegra’s hand and kissed it, “Your majesty.”
Jegra quickly reached down and grabbed Raven by her arm and brought her back to her feet. Embarrassed by Raven’s grand display of veneration, her cheeks flushed bright pink.
“Don’t do that,” Jegra whispered apprehensively. “I’m not his wife. Not yet, anyway.”
“Don’t you see, though?” Raven asked, grabbing Jegra’s arms and giving them a firm squeeze. “You will give a newfound hope to the entire galaxy. Once you are made the Empress of the Dagon Empire, you will rule with equal authority. It is the Dagon way.”
“I am a little puzzled. Why would Dakroth bestow a lowly alien like me with so much power?” Jegra wondered.
“My best guess,” Raven said, scratching her neck. “Is he is using you as a means to an end.”
“But what end?” Jegra asked.
“You’d know better than I. But, let’s not kid ourselves, it’s not likely to be pleasant, whatever it is. Which is why you need to be careful. And why you need an ally. I can be that ally for you, if you want.”
“Thank you,” Jegra replied. “I appreciate that. And I’ll be careful. Promise.”
“I would wish to you the utmost happiness in your upcoming marriage, but seeing as he’s the most miserable person in the galaxy, I’ll just wish you the best of luck.”
With that Raven turned and exited Jegra’s quarters.
Jegra turned and looked at the wall. “Activate mirror,” she said aloud and a display formed on the wall projecting her image back at her in high definition. She looked spiffy in her new outfit, even if she did say so herself.
Jegra lay back down on the bed and grabbed a pillow and curled up. Letting out a sigh, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
14
Steam filled the coed showers and a voice sang a pleasant tune. Jegra couldn’t make out who it was, so she just tiptoed up to an available stall and turned on the hot water. Throwing her towel onto a peg on the wall, she stepped into the stream of hot water and let it massage the back of her neck.
An accidental release of tension led to a slight moan escaping Jegra’s lips and the voice singing in the nearby stall suddenly stopped. “Who’s there?” it called out.
“It’s me.”
“Who’s me?”
“Me, Jegra.”
The voice fell quiet.
“Hello?” Jegra asked. Looking up, she tossed her wet hair back and came face to face with the wide, perpetually shocked gaze of a fish face set atop a six-foot-three frame.
“Ah, yes,” Jegra said, recognizing the familiar face. “I’d almost forgotten about you.”
“Pleasure to meet you. My name is Skuld,” he said, extending a webbed hand.
She gave his hand a firm shake and smiled. “Nice to meet you too, Skuld. I’m Jegra.”
“Oh, everyone knows who you are,” he said, returning to his stall. “You’re quite famous around here.”
“I’m beginning to think there isn’t anyone in the galaxy who doesn’t know me by now.”
“There may be a few,” Skuld jested.
“If you don’t mind my asking, how do you breathe in the open air with your suit?” Jegra asked, after wracking her brain to no avail.
“It’s the steam,” said Skuld. He waved his hand through the humid air. “As long as I keep my gills saturated with moisture, I can retain enough salinity to breathe without my suit for extended periods of time.”
“That’s amazing,” Jegra replied. She enjoyed being sociable, something that her alter ego, Jessica Hemsworth, could never manage. Jegra was good at finding reasons to engage in idle chit chat.
What’s more, allowing her curiosity to get the better of her, she snuck a peek at the Skuld’s aquatic gear below the waist. It wasn’t entirely deliberate; her gaze just sort of involuntarily slipped.
By the time she realized what she was doing and looked back up, it was too late. He blinked at her with his big fish eyes and she blushed. She was about to apologize for her invasive gaze when, to her surprise, she caught him doing the same. She chalked it up to something people do when meeting at the crossroads of the coed showers.
After he’d scanned her body from head to toe, she placed a hand on her hip and struck a pose. “So, what do you think?”
“I take it your species evolved from primates, is that correct?”
“How’d you know?”
“Well, at first glance, you are obviously a mammalian with a large cranium, suggesting a high capacity for intelligence that’s common among most primates in the galaxy. The number of lenses over your eyes suggest your vision is stereoscopic. Your face is flat, suggesting prognathism, a trait familiar to all apes, including the giant gorillas of Satorix 9.”
Glancing down at her ass, he continued on with his science lesson. “You lack a tail, which rules out all mammals but primates. By the width of your pelvic bone, I’d assume your species’ females have particularly large uteruses for long term gestation of your young; anywhere from six to nine months by my estimation. You’re a heterodont, meaning you have many types of teeth, a trait you likely evolved to suit the needs of an omnivor
ous diet. Oh, and you’re a pentadactyl with opposable thumbs.”
“You got all that with just one glance?”
“I would hope so,” he chortled, his giant fish eyes blinking twice. “I wouldn’t make a very good science officer, otherwise.”
“At least now I know why I didn’t understand half of what you said,” Jegra laughed.
“You are very attractive for an ape, mistress Jegra,” he said, paying her a compliment.
“Why thank you.”
He nodded his head with a reverent dip of the chin. She smiled at him and then turned and started washing her body.
While she worked up a good lather with a bar of soap, she thought about the past couple of days and how it had brought her into the company of this eccentric group of galactic wayfarers and how much being aboard the Skywend already felt like home away from home.
Raven’s quirky crew wasn’t at all what Jegra had expected. She was expecting cut-throat mercenaries. But everyone had been overly pleasant and always accommodating. They made her feel right at home and that pleased her to no end.
“Morning,” a third voice called out to them.
They both looked over to find Kregor standing in the entrance of the shower, a towel draped over his forearm.
“Good morning, ole chap!” Skuld said, turning off his water and sauntering out of the stall. Glancing over at Jegra then at Kregor, he smiled at them, his fish lips stretching wide. “Well, I guess I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone.”
Leaving them to it, Skuld exited the showers and headed into the changing room.
“We’re roommates,” Kregor explained, in case Jegra got the wrong idea about him. “And, also, he’s really, really smart. He kind of pieced events together.”
“Ah,” Jegra said with a subtle grin. “That would explain how he knew about last night.”
“Yeah,” Kregor said, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. Hanging his towel on a wall hook, he climbed into the showers opposite Jegra and turned on the hot water.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get to finish what we had started last night. The interruption was quite unexpected.”
“That’s alright,” he said, lathering his body with a bar of soap. “Like I said, it was probably for the best, seeing as when male Dragonians ejaculate they shoot out fiber sized needles that paralyze the female for up to three days while the sperm imbed themselves into the thick uterine lining of the womb with drill-like tendrils.”
It took Jegra all of five seconds to realize that, this time, he really was messing with her. “Oh, you little shit!” she laughed. “You almost had me there for a moment.”
The two of them stood there staring at one another in silence for what seemed like ages. As piping hot water dripped down Jegra’s neck and chest, she heated up to the point she could no longer help herself. She had to finish what they had started. Besides, deep space was boring her to death, and it wasn’t like they had anything better to do.
Just as they were about to take it to the next level, however, the ship dropped out of hyperspace. Since it was far too early for them to be arriving at Cordova, something else had caused them to stop. Kregor immediately shut off the nozzles and the hot water drizzled to a halt.
Raven’s voice came over the comm. “Ladies and gentlemen, it seems we’re picking up a distress call. Please report to your stations in five.”
Duty called. “We’d better get going,” he said.
“I know,” she answered, feeling let down that they were interrupted a second time by the same aggravating woman. Edging past him in the narrow stall, she intentionally pressed her breasts up against his thick chest and slowly slid her wet body across his.
After she’d slipped past, Kregor let out a deep sigh and watched her saunter out of the shower, her hips swiveling seductively as she went.
Jegra reached over and grabbed her towel from the hook and wrapped it around her body. Looking over her shoulder, she blew him a parting kiss and then exited the showers.
By the time Kregor had caught up to her in the changing room, she had already dressed and was zipping up her snug fitting spandex smart-suit.
“You headed to the bridge?” she asked.
“As soon as I’m dressed.”
“Meet you there?”
“Sure thing,” he replied.
Dressed and ready to go, Jegra rushed out of the coed changing area and headed for straight for the bridge. At least she thought she was, before the spunky engineer Gyllek appeared from around a corner.
“The other way,” she said, pointing up the corridor.
“Right,” Jegra replied, swiveling on the spot and making a course correction.
Accompanying Gyllek to the bridge, the doors opened with a swish, and Jegra entered to find Emperor Dakroth and Cassera already there.
“I still think we should ignore it,” Cassera said, glancing at Jegra as she came into the room. “It could be a trap.”
“It’s an imperial SOS,” Dakroth said. “We can’t ignore it. Protocol dictates…”
“I know what the protocol dictates,” Cassera said in an agitated voice, “I’m the bloody vice admiral of the fleet.”
“Remind me again, what does the protocol dictate?” Jegra asked. The moment she’d stepped foot onto the bridge she could feel the tension between Dakroth and Cassera. They must have had a row. Probably something about her. Lately, it always seemed to be about her, for some reason.
“Standard distress calls require that we scan their ship and try to determine what the problem is. If, for whatever reason, they’re hostile, we blow them out of the sky. No questions asked. If they’re friendly, we offer to assist.”
“I see,” Jegra replied. It was pretty straight forward stuff, really. And even though she preferred the glare of the dessert sun beating down upon her back, she started to feel like she was actually getting the feel for all this space travel.
“What’d I miss?” Kregor asked, as he came aboard the bridge.
“There’s a ship adrift,” Raven said, pointing out the starboard window at a black object lingering in their view port.
Jegra placed her face up to the window and looked out. Sure enough, there was a ship drifting in the middle of nowhere. It had no power. No lights. Just a big, clunky ship about twice the size of the Skywend, rotating ever so slowly in the dead of space. It was kind of spooky, when she thought about it, so she tried not to.
“It looks like a freighter,” Kregor said.
“Maybe,” Raven said, unbuckling herself and getting out of her seat. “Kregor, you’re with me.”
“Wait. What’s going on?” Jegra asked.
“We’re boarding the ship.”
“I thought we were just going to scan it.”
“Under normal circumstances, yes. But the power is completely out so there’s no ship-to-ship communications. Without an S2S link, our computers cannot read their computers, so, we have to go over there and reboot their entire system.”
“I’m coming too,” Dakroth insisted.
“No,” Cassera immediately protested. “If it is a Nyctan trap, then they’ll have you where they want you.”
“I’m in agreement with her,” Jegra said, poking her chin at Cassera. “It’s too risky. Let me go instead.” Jegra felt butterflies fluttering about in her stomach. She’d never been in space much before yesterday, and now here she was volunteering to go aboard a desolate ship that may or may not be a trap? She could hardly believe it herself. And yet, here she was.
“Fine,” Dakroth said in an annoyed tone. “But take Cassera with you. She knows all the activation codes.”
“Great. Now let’s suit up.” Raven gestured with a nod for them to follow her and they all left the bridge together.
Twenty minutes later, they finished suiting up and entered the airlock. Wearing stealthy black environmental spacesuits which were not only slim fitting but looked like the latest in military tech, Jegra turned around and handed her helmet to Kregor. “Could y
ou help me with this?” she asked.
She was a complete rookie when it came to space related tasks. She was much more confident with both feet on the ground and a blue sky above her. At least on the ground, she knew which way “up” was. In space, every which way was up, or not, and it always made her dizzy just thinking about it.
“My pleasure,” he said. Kregor placed her helmet over her head and locked it into place. A light came on signaling that the seal had been made.
“Now, where to?” Jegra asked, turning back toward Raven Nightguard.
Raven pointed out the portal window of the airlock and at the silent cargo freighter.
“You’re not saying we’re going out there … into space?” Jegra’s voice dropped along with the pit of her stomach.
“Docking is too risky,” Raven informed. “Pirates like to boobytrap drifting ships. Then they linger in the system until someone sets off one of their booby traps, then they jump in to ransack your ship, rape your crew, and gut your FTL drive.”
“Trust her,” Kregor said. “She knows exactly what she’s talking about.”
“Don’t worry,” Cassera said, taking Jegra’s hand in hers. Jegra looked down, shocked by the unexpected contact. “Stick with me and just do your best to relax.”
“I’ll go, but I don’t know if I can relax. My heart is racing.”
“It’s a lot like floating in a pool, but with less resistance. You’ll get the hang of it in no time.”
Raven looked back and sealed the main doors. “Depressurizing the airlock in three, two, one.”
She hit a red button and it turned to orange. A hiss of air being sucked out of the room signaled that they were all ready to go.
“Ready?” she asked, looking back one last time and checking her crew.
“Ready,” Jegra said. She totally wasn’t, though, but she didn’t want to let everyone down.
Kregor and Cassera merely replied with a nod. With that, Raven hit a round nob and two yellow lights above the outside door began to flash. The door slowly rolled open and Raven walked up to the edge.
“The artificial gravity ends at this red line,” she informed them, pointing down at the red strip before the airlock doorway.
