Editor's note: this story contains scenes of non-consensual or reluctant sex.
*****
The Supreme Pasha settled himself upon his throne. Brie thought of old earth. Amazing how life and societies echoed each other throughout the galaxy. She certainly hoped that Trevor on her left-hand side knew what he was doing. He had much more facility with the difficult native language than she did. If he wasn't essential for this mission, she would have left him back at the Hispaniola at the landing site. His behavior since even before the scout ship had landed was insufferable. They had almost come to blows. Trevor assumed too much, had violated a slew of protocols, and even insinuated that he intended to ditch the service and set himself up as a minor potentate on some minor, low technology world! He should have been court-martialed on the spot for even thinking such a selfish rebellious idea! Brie was feeling merciful, though not by much. When this diplomatic exchange concluded, she was so going to bust him down in rank and pay at least three levels! He acted like one of those boneheaded explorers on those old Twentieth Century space operas, especially the one with the dashing leading men and the mini-skirted women!
She tried to follow as Trevor droned on. She was picking out no more than two words for every ten her subordinate spoke. Not helping her efforts in the least were the fact that the air in the semi-tropical palace was stifling and the native costume itched unbearably. She wondered what was taking so long. Trevor was only securing permission for a larger landing by a merchant ship and a tiny base of operations for a trading post and monitoring station. She'd been on several of these before, and none had taken even half this long. Finally, it seemed that the cocky navigator was wrapping things up. He was speaking slower now, and Brie could finally follow along fairly well...
"And finally, I offer to your Eminence, this human female to integrate into your harem."
The orange-skinned Pasha's eyes lit up as he focused on the tall, pale, red-haired woman. Men with swords swept in and surrounded Brie!
"You bastard, Trevor!" she screamed in English. Followed by an attempt to state in Gallah, "This man has NO authority to do such a thing! I outrank him..." A strong, very human, but not quite, hand clasped over her mouth. The huge guards pressed the points of their curving swords into Brie's back and hustled her off to a side room. The beautiful space captain had time to think "So this is what that asshole meant when he said, he would get even!"
Brie quickly found herself in a windowless, white-tiled room. There was a native bedroll in one corner and a chamber pot in the other. Light streamed in from above through the opaque tiles in the ceiling.
After Brie calmed down, she realized that her disappearance would not go unnoticed. Her second in command would launch a rescue mission. She'd probably be sprung in a few hours. But what would happen to her in the meantime? An unknown interval passed before she began to get answers. An older Gallah woman in some kind of uniform entered her cell. She spoke very clearly and very slowly, "You undress now."
Brie looked at her hotly.
"You no undress, guards hold you down and do it. In the end, you still naked."
Brie could not argue with that logic. She began to remove the complicated native garb. A few moments later she was buck naked in the stark white cell, her only adornment, her scouting force tattoos. The mature, orange-yellow complexioned woman gave Brie a careful once over she noted that this alien, this earthling's hair flowed straight down and was far lighter than her own which was courser and fell in tight ringlets like nearly all Gallah women. The earthling's breasts were much like her own save that hers bore two nipples, were not as full, and each and her areolas were light purple in color. The rest of the alien was familiar, five fingers and toes on each limb instead of six. Her female intimate opening would have to have its gross and unsightly hair removed but it looked like it would easily accommodate the Pasha's prehensile organ. She knew the tastes of her master well. He would be delighted in this acquisition. There was no question, the bold earthman would receive an entire, but small, province in exchange for this enchanting creature.
"What happens now?" asked Brie after the humiliating inspection concluded.
"A bath, concubine, clothing, and then you enjoy the company of the Pasha."
"Hold on! I am a spaceship captain. I am not a slave girl! And I certainly have no intentions of spreading my legs for some alien despot!"
"The Pasha says to me if you no cooperate his men march on your craft, kill your men, burn ship and you stay in harem any way. But unhappier as all those men's deaths on your head."
Brie now understood what a fix she found herself. Scout Force ships carried minimal weapons. They were not invasion forces, they simply made initial contact as preliminary to later ships that would set up trading and observation stations. Even with their impressive sidearms, her crew could only hold out so long. Faced with an overwhelming armed invasion of incensed locals, her second-in-command would, under rules long established by the force, take off without her rather than risk more of the crew. It looked like her best hope now would be that Bright-Path Mackenzie, would have to bargain for her release, assuming the Pasha was in a mood to negotiate. That her second in command, a full-blooded Native American would be in a situation that afflicted his forebears so many generations ago was a palpable irony that almost caused Brie to emit a bitter laugh.
Brie sighed, took a deep breath, and stated, "At the risk of sounding like an old movie cliché, take me to your leader."
There were no guards in the hallways, but the Matron of the Harem kept a dagger point in the small of Brie's back as they walked them. Brie felt sure she could overpower the Gallah woman, but what would that earn her? She'd still be naked. She'd be armed with a dagger for sure, but she would have no idea where she was or how to escape the palace. Even if she did, she could not navigate through the jungle to locate her ship without her GPS which she had been forced to surrender when she donned native garb for negotiations with the Pasha. "Shit outta luck!" she cursed in English.
Their journey ended in a steam-filled room occupied by naked, young, female Gallah attendants. Brie was startled at how closely the alien physiques on display resembled her own. "Does that mean the Pasha has a rather human-looking dong?" she asked one attendant who did not comprehend English, but who simply bemusedly smiled at her in return.
If Brie still had retained her sense of time, she would have deduced that she had spent nearly three hours in the tub and on the styling chair. Brie's pleas for the attendants to preserve her pubic hair fell or deaf ears. They left her hairless as a newborn babe from nostrils to the great toe. The Gallah women dressed Brie in salsa red silk-like slippers that felt wonderful on her feet, A very tight canary yellow skirt that fell to the floor but had a slit up the right side that went all the way to her hip. A tiny white waistcoat that exposed all of her stomach and most of her ribcage and, barely concealed her breasts from view. They painted each of her nails a different lurid color. Lastly, they teased and curled her hair, turning into a messy mountain atop her head. Brie thought it looked horrid, but the Matron of the Harem claimed that it made Brie, "Quite beautiful."
A dozen armed guards were awaiting Brie and the Matron when they stepped out of the preparation room, as they walked, the Matron explained to Brie exactly what would be expected of her. "His Excellency, like all males likes his ego and his manhood stroked; both metaphorically and literally. Let him dine on your breasts and intimate area. He enjoys lying with a woman several times on the same night."
"Don't I have any say in what I want?" asked Brie in frustration.
"You can very gently explain to the Pasha what you desire. However, the Pasha has a special prison set aside for complaining women from his harem. They are kept there until he finds a buyer for them among the dirt farmers to pull their plows or paroled prisoners to slake their lusts."
"Oh," said Brie softly. She suddenly knew exactly what she would be doing in the upcoming hours. Brie was no prude. As a spaceship captain she was used to living a rather randy life. She embraced the equality of the twenty-fifth century with a passion that sometimes amazed her peers. The Pasha was not the first alien she had slept with, that had been, she recalled as she was led to her inexorable fate, Chaar, a Proxima Centarian and fellow student at the academy. He owned a wicked smile and a not so impressive organ. The fact that it was forked and painfully barbed meant that their first encounter would also be their last encounter, but they parted as friends. Chaar had even invited her to the baptism of his newborn some years later, rather slyly omitting the fact that all attendees had to be as stark naked as the newborn and the priest. Brie had brought along a date, a very nice much older man with a great deal of wealth whom she had only dated out of curiosity (and the chance to pilot his private, smooth-handling, luxury space yacht). She had only seen him twice before and had already concluded that she had no intention of getting intimate with him, let alone stand naked by his side for hours with his arm clasped about her shoulders as they stood thigh-deep in steaming yellow water which resembled urine in nearly every respect. Only the parents were permitted clothing, ceremonial robes. During the rites Chaar had caught Brie's glance and winked. His way of letting her know that a few more times in the sack would have saved her this indignity. Brie simply HAD to give the older man some truly mind-blowing sex after putting him through that! Brie considered that Chaar's little "joke" was a payback she could laugh about. What Trevor had done was indefensible! At the same time, part of her wondered what novelty the Pasha would present. Maybe, if she charmed him enough, she could talk him into releasing her. She certainly had no intention of spending decades in the harem as the Pasha's personal plaything!
The door to the Pasha's intimate chamber opened. The Matron tugged Brie across the threshold and had her ape her own curtsy-like gesture at the foot of the throne.
There was a long dialogue from the Harem Matron in a language that was not modern Gallah; probably the ancient ceremonial language, Brie concluded. When the matron at last ended her spiel, the Pasha's eyes moved from her to fully consider Brie. She could tell by the way his very human-like eyes were devouring her now mostly exposed form, that he was assessing her like an ancient farmer rated cattle. Brie detested being objectified. The Pasha's gaze was very penetrating indeed. At last, he spoke,
"You are magnificent, earthwoman. I shall be the envy of every Pasha on Gallah! What is your name, fair creature?"
