Hey all! Here is the last of Harem of Vanity for your pleasure, reading and, um...otherwise. I really hope you all enjoy it, and I welcome all feedback via the contact info in my contacts page. As always, if you write me or comment here, please don't do it anonymously, I'm generally good to even my harshest critics and nothing is more frustrating to me when I get a question about something and have been given no way to respond!
*****
The next morning I felt internally relaxed, even a bit cored out, but physically I was definitely sore. My jaw ached from sucking fat cocks, ass hurt from such excessive bucking around, and my cunt? Hoo boy! There was no concealing the almost bow-legged walk I assumed as I strode from my cabin, slow and deliberate. I encountered Minerva first coming the other way, she too was walking with a pronounced awkward gait.
We sized each other up and I gave her a sly, knowing smile. She blushed a little and smiled back, winking before we'd passed. This was no walk of shame per se, but I couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for her. Minerva didn't spend nearly the amount of time on elite-grade dicks as her captain did, and Torrin was the current cream of the crop, her poor pussy probably had no idea what had hit it, but that hit had been hard.
But hey, she certainly wasn't complaining.
I relieved Adria from her post on the bridge and sat down.It was simultaneously a relief and also a little rough, the soreness was a wondrous reminder of the fun I'd had the night before, but I was definitely going to need to take it easy for a while.
"Chrysanthia! Status!" I barked. The green one straightened up from her science station at the back of the bridge.
"Galactic conditions are nominal, Captain. Nal's last report on the status of repairs was positive, she thinks she can have the pneumocannon repaired in just a few hours from now. Uthra reports no fights from the Harem. Bianca indicates that food stores are ample. Sarah is the regular amount of angry at you, the few treasures the last raid brought seem to have mollified her from the above-normal levels of fury she was displaying earlier this week. My experiments are faring well. And you, Captain, are scared."
I froze.
"How dare you fucking speak to me that—"
"You used my whole name. You only do that when you introduce me. You clearly took on at least two boys in a way that punished your body last night. Analysis suggests that this was because you wanted to have other reasons to look uncomfortable today. When you came onto the bridge you didn't ogle Adria chest at all. Above all, you're asking for status reports, which you basically never do unless there's a specific reason. You're scared."
"YOU DISRESPECTFUL LITTLE CUNT!" I stomped from the chair to her station, getting my face nanometers from hers, slowly pulling a hand back threateningly. It only made me madder that the flower did not wilt nor flinch from me, simply arching a single eyebrow in response."
"Oh FUCK you!" I spun and stomped for the door. "Someone else take the chair, kill each other for the honor for all I fucking care."
* * *
Okay, fine, I'll admit it. There was something I hadn't been up front about. I'd woken up early after my tryst with the girthy boys, earlier than I wanted to and decided to use the time to prepare a bit. I went to one of the computer consoles and did some research on Quasar Artigon and The Gladius and I did not like what I found.
His record was impressive. He'd washed out of the military for reasons that were carefully concealed, but managed to win himself a ship that was little more than an escape pod. Using this meager resource he'd tracked and found his first bounty, using the money he earned to finance a few upgrades to the ship. A few bounties later and a trade up and he was working from something more like a small yacht. He'd just kept catching criminals and re-investing in bigger and bigger ships until he'd secured the one he was in now.
Along the way he'd managed to pick up sub-contracting bounty-hunters who served as his crew, and though he didn't hang a shingle to hire so to speak, all the wanna-be pirate catchers in the galaxy were basically lining up for even the chance to polish his shoes at this point. He often went around SGA regulations and laws to get results, but because he was doing a better job than much of their own police force they did little to enforce the ones he broke. There wasn't even a bounty on his head despite there being ample reason for one. There was no denying that he was good; he'd tangled with many a criminal a lot more psychopathic and violent than me in his rise to the top. Of course I'm sure none were more vain, but then again, I deserved to be. He was good, but I was better.
But even I have my moments of doubt. As I spoke commands softly to the computer searching for additional information, it eventually directed me to civilian-shot footage of him subduing the criminal Jericho Jupiter. J.J. had been holed up in a well-guarded hideout on some mining moon in the western spiral-arm. Artigon and his men had started with a prolonged shootout, men on either side cut down by magma-fire, electron beams, and vorpal argon bullets.
Finally Artigon had put a stop to the blood-shed by challenging Jericho to single combat, unarmed. The pair met in the center of the street as the shaky hand-cam captured every moment. Jericho was an enormous man, genetically modified in much the same way Bianca was, and the pair of them had an incredible slug-fest. Quasar was no glass-jaw, Jericho got in some punches with a fist the size of his opponent's head, but it didn't even seem to slow him down. By the same token, every time one of Artigon's muscular arms drove a big fist into Jericho, you could hear it; both the grunt of pain and the meaty smack were audible in the poor audio of the recording.
I'm not squeamish, but I actually had to look away before the recording was over. The last moments I saw were of Quasar sitting on Jericho's torso, arms a blur as they punched the criminal's face again and again, the latter defenseless. Soon there was so much blood dripping from Quasar's knuckles they became indistinguishable from the absolute mess he'd made of Jericho's face. I turned off the recording before it could wrap up, but I don't doubt for a second that he'd simply kept punching until his fist was making direct contact with Jericho Jupiter's brain, the look of rage on his face was unmistakable, he had no control when he got going.
So yeah, that was intimidating and I was scared. I tried to comfort myself with one thing though, Jericho didn't fight as dirty as me, Quasar was smaller than Jericho the same way I was smaller than him, and we'd be fighting with swords, not fists. Don't get me wrong, I was no slouch in a boxing ring, but it was clear that Artigon had so mastered unarmed combat I couldn't really hope to match him at that. If he disarmed me I was probably going to be done for.
* * *
After I'd stormed out of the bridge I made my way for the kitchen.
"Can I recommend some food that's colorful?" Bianca, asked.
"Why?" I said as I sat at one of the galley-stools.
"Because you don't want to puke up anything ugly when that beast gut-punches your stomach out through your spine."
"I'm not here to eat, anyway." I said, keeping a tight control of my frustration with her. "
"Then what made you haul your bra-boulders all the way over here?" she put her hands on her hips, a gesture somewhat undercut by her rapidly flapping wings.
"Because I need you. I might not make it out of this one alive and I need someone like you to execute my estate."
She blinked, "Why not have your accountant do it?"
"Because Sarah is stingy and greedy and she'll probably do something like invest my money instead of making sure you all get the shares you deserve." I idly toyed with an apple, but I couldn't make myself take a bite.
"So why not Minerva? You guys are tight."
"Can't be her. If I die, Minerva isn't going to be able to stop crying long enough to blink her eyes, let alone execute a vast will."
"Then why not-"
"Bianca, it has to be you. You don't really like me. You don't like anyone. That makes you exactly impartial enough to handle it, and you're bitch enough to steamroll anyone who stands in your way."
She grinned despite herself at that. "Alright, I'm your woman. Now you've kinda got me hoping you snuff it."
She was lying, but I played along.
