The ransom video Riley opened showed her crew, being stripped violently of their clothing. The raiders descended on them like animals, ripping undergarments away, tossing her people to the deck or nearest galley table, and indulging in every perversion possible. All at once. The sounds alone made Riley nauseous, screaming, crying, pleading, mixed with laughter and demands of the raiders. The orgy of sex and violence was too much, and she closed the file immediately.
She decided to look through the manifest in a more orderly fashion, starting with the oldest records. There wasn't much: stolen cargo, things picked up from fleeing ships, small-time garbage, really.
A message sent to a buyer just yesterday explained that the raiders had captured six Federated Naval crewmembers, that they were subjected to initial implantation, and would be ready for sale and transfer as soon as possible.
The reply from the buyer was terse, "Send proof."
Videos were then sent back to the buyer. Riley opened the first and saw her crew, lined up, in uniform being asked for name, rank, and role. The crew uniformly looked nervous and frightened. With the exception of K'rra, the blue-skinned alien was stoic as always.
She skipped the next file having already seen a very small portion of it.
The next was of her. She was marched into the ship, Zed's massive hand on her elbow guiding her in. The captain's insignia on her epaulets is displayed for all to see. The broken front fasteners threaten to have her spill out with each step. She was watching an initial sale video, proof that the Federated crew had been captured.
With dread, she opened the next. Her mind went blank as the passenger took over. On screen she crawled naked to Zed, tits dangling, each pierced with small hoops. She had a desperate hungry look on her face that was in itself almost pornographic. She watched as her image attacked Zed. Her hands wrapped around him stroking eagerly, then she sucked him into her mouth. She couldn't stop the hand that slipped down to her sore pussy, her sticky mess of a cunt that was already getting damp again.
Her image showed exactly how beautiful she was. Exotic. Most humans in the galaxy had tan skin, black hair, and dark almond-shaped eyes. She was pale, with wide emerald eyes and light strawberry-colored hair. The worst part was when it showed her on knees thanking him for humiliating her. She was already becoming a good slave.
When she saw Zed groan as her lips met him, she had to stroke herself. He wasn't beautiful, wasn't elegant or refined as she usually liked her men. He was a huge monster, altered with more muscles added than a human should be able to carry. He was a monstrosity, a brute, a bare-chested barbarian. But there was something about him that made her hungry in ways she'd never been before. She couldn't help but wish she was the girl on screen attending to his every need. Then she realized it was her, she had been the one to do that. She stroked herself more to thoughts of it.
Riley had to shake herself to force the file closed. Her left hand a disaster of stickiness. And still, the afterimage of Zed forcing her face over himself haunted her. She tried wiping her hand on a calf and only succeeded in creating thick ropey strands across her body.
There was a final message and she opened it.
"Proceed with all haste. There are already buyers for the captain."
A thousand curse words flew through Riley's head. A straight shot through Federate Space to the Coalition would take at least two weeks. Zed wouldn't do that though. He'd skirt the border. The Federation was currently at war. Patrols would be heavy and ready for any incursion. Zed would need to avoid direct confrontation, and that meant going around most of Federation territory.
The downside of what she thought Zed would do meant outside rescue efforts were going to be slim. Most Federated ships were also away playing at war, further reducing the chances of rescue. If she didn't want to be sold like tasty meat, she had maybe three or four weeks, tops. The thought of being with Zed and his crew for four weeks horrified her. And it also made her squirm.
Forcing indecent thoughts out of her head she continued looking through the files. There were no logs whatsoever. Either Zed was incredibly lazy, or it was a precaution against self-incrimination if he and his raiders were captured.
The one thing she had been looking for most was absent. There were no files on the Training Implants or any mentions of Controllers she could find. She decided she would have to search the sick bay. There'd have to be a manual or a process document for the implantation procedure.
Peeking out of the fore-port, she saw the raiders hauling boxes of rations from her ship. She slipped quickly out of the bridge and down to the main deck. After a pause, she pressed the controls to the sick bay hatch and entered.
The sick bay was thankfully empty. Three medical gurneys lined one wall, an odd periscope-like device hung above the middle exam table. At the far end of the bay was a workstation and rows of metal drawers. She rushed to the workstation aware that Doc or anyone else might enter at any moment.
The terminal at the station would not respond to any of her commands. She tried the cabinets next to it, also locked. Of course, she herself would also lock everything. Riley imagined all the drugs would go missing otherwise. None of the cabinets would open even when she passed the ring over them.
The drawers had lights on them, red and green. As she suspected, the red ones were locked, while the green ones held little of value: tissues, bandages, and tongue depressors. She opened all that she could and found her uniform neatly folded in a large bottom drawer.
She desperately wanted to slip into her uniform but needed another shower first. Her newly found ring key was stuffed into a pocket and she tucked the folded uniform under one arm.
On her way, she detoured to look at the periscope device. At the bottom of it was a padded foam donut. The center had what looked like a gun barrel pointing through the hole to the gurney under it. During the implanting, this device had been pressed to her navel.
Poking at her belly button Riley couldn't find any recent wounds, nothing to indicate anything had entered her. She pressed her fingers into the area around her navel and felt something. It was hard to tell exactly what. Was it a coil of plastic, a loop of wire? She figured it had to be the control unit. Knowing they had altered her body without permission caused a simmering fury. What she would give to be the captain of a battle cruiser hunting these bastards down to the very edge of space.
A commotion outside in the passageway interrupted her inspection of the medical machinery. She darted to the hatch and listened. She could hear voices speaking but couldn't make the words out. When there was silence, she waited long moments before opening the hatch.
Peeking out into the corridor she saw nobody. The hatch to the galley was open down the passageway and she could hear voices inside. She slipped out of the sick bay and ducked around the corner to the stairwell climbing as fast as she could on bare feet. Stopping at the top she listened.
Certain no voices followed her, she padded down the passage to Zed's cabin. She slipped in as quickly as possible.
Zed sat on the bed watching the door.
He had a wand in his hand. Her heart skipped a beat.
"What you been doing?" Zed asked.
Riley froze in fear. The thought of the implants burning all her sensitive bits unnerved her. She finally snatched the uniform from under her arm and held it out. "I went and got my uniform."
He cocked an eyebrow at her.
"Sir. I went and got my uniform, Sir."
"But what did I tell you?"
"Well," she stammered, "you told me to say in the room, but it sounded like a suggestion, not a direct order... Sir."
"Is that so?" he said. An awkward silence descended.
She felt like he could see right through her. She was certain he knew what she'd been up to.
