Author's Notes: For maximum enjoyment, please read the preceding chapter.
As usual, thanks go out to my lady love for inspiration and useful input and to bikoukumori, my faithful editor, for thoroughly whipping my ass this time.
All participants in sexual activities are the equivalent of adults
*****
02: Enslaved
In the Centuria system, the Nor flagship Pride of Norwan was orbiting the fourth planet. It was one of the busiest industrial worlds in this sector, with almost the entire industry focused on supporting the orbital shipyards. The Nor Navy had a strong presence at all times but by now the amount of ships gathering was breathtaking. Like a flock of white, geometric shapes, the capital ships were visible against the green, blue and grey of the industrial planet's surface below.
Admiral Chrysia stepped back from the screen showing her a simulated porthole view. She was a long-limbed, stern Nor woman with flaming orange locks. Sharp lines around her mouth and amber eyes showed an abundance of worries and an acute lack of sleep. Only a day ago, she had been assigned the easy task of assembling a task force and stopping whatever was going on in the Waystation-52 system but suddenly she was looking at an invasion by unknown forces and an outright battle way too close to the Homeworld. Two hours ago, the training ship Novitar had engaged an alien spacecraft and had been destroyed by it. Only now the first scattered reports of that battle's outcome were reaching her. She hated to rely on emergency comm systems. They worked much slower than the usual transdimensional systems all capital ships employed.
The Novitar's encounter wasn't the only one. In several other systems, similar alien ships had been sighted and shots had been fired. They seemed to pop up everywhere and she didn't have the faintest idea which of the dozen hot spots she needed to address first.
"Like stopping a dark tide with a spoon," she muttered.
Sighing in annoyance, Chrysia slid back into the chair behind her desk. Attack groups needed to be formed and dispatched. With a flick of the hand she woke her holo-screen. A large-scale view of the surrounding systems and a list of her available forces hovered over the tabletop. She picked up the input pen and pointed at the ships she wanted to have grouped together then swiped them across to the star chart. Her intercom beeped. Chrysia took the call.
"Yes?"
"Admiral Chrysia, the reports from Vex-III are coming in," her comms officer said.
"Thank you. How bad is it?"
"Twenty-four escape craft made it, from marine dropships to minuscule life rafts. Thirteen of the Novitar's twenty space fighters survived the battle with the alien ammonite as well. A little over half the crew made it off the doomed ship; the rest either couldn't escape in time or was shredded to bits by the alien invaders which had boarded the ship in their crystalline projectiles."
"What about the Celerus?"
"No idea, ma'am. The Novitar's science officer theorizes the Celerus may have dropped out of the TransNet even earlier than the Novitar. Or the ship may have been torn to shreds by the destruction of the portal ring."
"How are the rescue efforts coming along?"
"Still no word from the Vex-III mining outpost. I have sent the Thorn of Light to pick up the survivors and bring them here. To avoid another TransNet mishap, the Thorn is using standard faster-than-light. ETA is about thirteen hours."
"I hope the smaller craft have enough life support. Isn't there anything closer?"
"We can hear the survivors' emergency broadcasts even out here. So should every civilian and military vessel in a four day radius around Vex-III. Besides, even the single-person life rafts should have enough food, air and water for at least forty-eight hours."
"All right then. Carry on and keep me posted if anything changes."
"Yes, ma'am."
Chrysia returned her attention to the star charts on her screen. Two more systems reported unknown ships appearing. Like stopping a dark tide with a spoon.
* * * *
Tabby woke with a start. It took her a few moments to sort herself. She was horny, of course. It didn't help she had had the most amazing wet dream before; the long, azure phallus of her cabin mate Deeva driving deep into her pussy, blue hands caressing her auburn fur and that amazing mouth on her lips. Without conscious effort, her fingers crawled over her stomach and lower, caressing herself through her uniform. Another sharp beep.
Mewling softly to herself, she opened her eyes. Reality crashed back with the same harshness it always had. She wasn't in her cabin on the Novitar, being plowed by the sexy blue Silician. No. She was uncomfortably curled up in the pilot's seat of a small escape shuttle and the sensor systems were pinging a new contact in scanning range.
Inhale. Count to five. Think about having to clean the waste disposal system of the Toy Box, her old freighter. Exhale.
She fiddled with the display until the new contact came into focus. It wasn't a Nor ship. Nor didn't build round, saucer-shaped craft.
"Hey," Tabby said. She nudged Deeva, who was sitting straight-up in the co-pilot's seat. The Silician's eyes flickered to life.
"Good morning," Deeva said. Her modulated voice was as clear and lively as always, not showing the slightest hint of discomfort or worry. "Oh. We have been found."
Behind them, the remaining occupants of the shuttle came awake. Thexus, the broad-shouldered, seven-foot Gravon security officer, was the first to stand despite the grievous injuries he had suffered during the evacuation. His uniform was a ghastly, torn mess soaked with blood and other, purple, fluids but only faint red lines showed where he had been cut and bitten. So the stories of the Gravons' amazing healing factor were true. She wondered if the stories of their inhuman endurance were as well. She felt herself getting wet again.
Not now, meow!
Tabby scolded herself.
There are more important things than alien schlong!
"Who is it? The Nor fleet?" Thexus asked, his low voice rumbling in her stomach.
"No. It's just a single ping," Deeva said. One of her hands was splayed over the sensor console, her fingers dissolved into bundles of filaments snaking into cracks and seams. She was directly interfacing with the shuttle's systems. "A Grey vessel, at least battleship-sized."
"A Grey ship, this far into the Republic?" Vecora yawned. She was a cute Nor with a pink ponytail. A little too stiff for Tabby's taste and a bit too clingy. She seemed to have a thing for Deeva. And something against Felinoids. Tabby had no idea why. She's always been a well-behaved kitty.
"There are such things as Grey traders," Zamos said. The white-haired Zuthrian had been in charge of the Novitar's weapons systems and Tabby had to stop herself from drooling at his toned, black-skinned frame. She wondered what kinds of tattoos he hid under that uniform. Or what else...
The last occupant of the shuttle just groaned. Gaia. Her face was covered by a pain-dulling half-mask and she was pumped full of sedatives. Her console had blown up in her face during the attack. Thanks to the efforts of the Novitar's Mentalist Olchos, she had survived. Tabby didn't like Nor that much but she had to respect that one's toughness.
"Attention Grey vessel. This is escape shuttle N-03 on behalf of the survivors of the Nor ship Novitar. We need assistance. Please respond," Deeva said. She locked eyes with Tabby. "Odd. They aren't responding to my hails."
"What in the Pits are they doing?" Thexus asked, squinting at the main display between Tabby and Deeva. The saucer flew in a long, shallow arc around the cluster of Nor vessels.
"If I didn't know better, I'd guess they are scanning our ships." Tabby adjusted some sensors. "Yup. Scan beams. Hm. They're coming around."
On the main screen, the Grey vessel came into view. It was a silvery disc, at least two thousand feet in diameter, with intricate circuit-like details on the hull. It flew edge-first through space and while Tabby watched, she saw motes of light zip along the circuitry. One such mote shot at the shuttle they were in.
Much too late Tabby yanked at the control stick, trying to evade the glowing orb aimed at them. The shuttle went dark. A moment later, there was the sensation of her body becoming weightless and then the feeling of involuntary movement.
* * * *
She landed on something cold and unyielding. What had happened? Oh yeah. The glowing ball must have been an EMP blast. Her fingers patted the ground. Glass? And why was it so drafty? Tabby looked down, along her prone body. She was butt naked. A quick glance around showed she wasn't alone. The rest of the shuttle's inhabitants were with her, on a platter-like structure surrounded by a humming force field. A transporter platform? They were inside a room, with thin strips of illuminating piping between the ceiling and walls. An oval bulkhead was the only exit. Like herself, everyone else was naked.
Thexus grunted in pain. Tabby looked at his phenomenally muscled backside. The Gravon was stumbling away from the force field, thin plumes of smoke rising from his palms.
"You'd better stay away from the force field," a raspy voice came from a hidden speaker. "You will be collected momentarily."
"Collected?" Thexus roared. "Show yourself, coward!"
