The Rogue

K'rra traced a hand down along Kaster's side, purposefully dragging fingertips and nails along all the sensitive spots. He moaned, then captured her wrist in his mechanical hand.

"No," he said, looking into her eyes.

She blinked, her gaze captured by his. She was confident he could see her thoughts and knew she'd been touching him to distract him. Her charms wouldn't work against him, making her insides melt. Since she'd become a willing slave, no man had resisted her.

"As a matter of fact," he said. "Why don't you take the appropriate position on the floor."

K'rra gulped, "Yes, Sir."

Pushing herself out of bed, she went to the foot of it and knelt facing him. She calmed herself with breathing exercises as she deliberately and carefully placed her hands, palms up, on her thighs. With a final breath, she pushed her chest out, knowing the effect her d-cup breast had on most men. She had no hope that Kaster would be so easily swayed.

He sat up, leaning against the headboard. He watched as he willed his arm to twist and bend, putting it through its paces. Finally he said, "Tell me."

"Yes, Sir." She whispered, then launched into her explanation. "I was a science officer aboard a Federated starship. Pirates captured us, and when an opportunity to escape was presented, I chose slavery."

"Wait." Kaster said, "Why? Why would you choose to be a slave?"

"It's difficult to explain, Sir. As a Gyth, my world was narrowly defined. There were strict standards for everything. Our role in society was determined by testing. Everything was. Who we could have unions with, if we could have children, what sorts of professions we could hold were all determined by testing. My performance was underwhelming. Rather than accept my lot, a lowly position in Gyth society, I shamed my family by taking a schooling slot in the Federated Naval Academy."

Kaster interrupted, "Shamed?"

"Yes, Sir. Gythians abhor risk and individualism. My family was utterly shamed no matter how enthusiastic the Federated Systems were to have a Gyth attend their premiere academic institution. Through school and service, I did my utmost to uphold the standards of Gythian society. I was a model Gyth, prim, proper, dedicated to science and understanding."

"But you chose slavery over that?" Kaster asked.

"Yes, Sir. When we were captured, everything was stripped away. The only things I wore were implants. And it was liberating. Being a slave freed me from the chains of my society. It didn't matter how I felt about all the vile carnal things the pirates did. My whole world became service. And it was freeing. Rather than worry if this was proper or if that needed to be adhered to, I just did as I was told. And if I found moments of pleasure in that, all the better. As a matter of fact, not having a choice only left me the ability to decide if I wanted to enjoy these things. I discovered that I did. And I wanted more. Like I said, we had an opportunity to escape, and I chose not to."

"So, the bounty is really the Federation trying to rescue you?" Kaster said.

"I believe so, Sir. I was one of the first group of Gythians to join the Federated Naval Services. Being taken and enslaved caused massive political fallout for the Federation."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kaster said.

K'rra closed her eyes, "I wanted to, Sir. But I was under strict orders to keep it secret."

"By Hol Vydon?" Kaster said evenly.

"Yes, Sir."

"You are not my slave are you?"

"No, Sir."

"You still belong to Hol Vydon."

"Yes, Sir."

"He wanted to know how I was able to capture a Fury."

"Yes, Sir." K'rra couldn't open her eyes. She didn't want to see the look on Kaster's face. She imagined his hatred in her dark place. Seeing it with her own eyes would destroy her. "Not only did he want to know how, but he wanted to trap you in his web."

"With you?"

"Yes, Sir."

"And how exactly did he think that would happen? He thought I would fall for you?"

"No, Sir. He knew you would develop feelings for me. It was engineered to happen."

"How is that?"

"I don't just have Training Implants. I have so much more. Hol Vydon's harem slaves are selected not just based on initial physical beauty, they must also have exceptional allure, sexual skills, and intelligence, as well as the psychological base to enjoy submission. In addition, he spends obscene amounts of money to enhance them further. Every single slave is schooled on every technique, every fetish, and every performance to further their allure. And after all that, there are the surgeries."

"The additional muscles in your throat?" Kaster said.

"Yes, Sir. But there's more. Surgeries further enhance the slave's beauty, down to millimeter changes. Additional muscles were designed and added to pleasure beings in ways a natural slave cannot. We get these in our throats, ass, pussy. Added purely to make sex with his slaves unrivaled. Just wrapping my lips around you at his dinner party doomed you."

Kaster's voice was clipped, "It would take more than extra muscles to make me fall for someone."

"Yes, Sir. There are more enhancements to ensure that happens. Buried within these extra muscles are glands that release a mixture of hormones designed to make the slave's partner fall in love. They receive massive doses of Oxytocin, Dopamine, Serotonin, Vasopressin, Norepinephrine, and the list goes on. And other augments as well, my sweat glands release Estratetraenol, Adrostenal, and Copulins, all pheromones designed to increase attraction and desire. We are living traps. One scent and the victim cannot help but desire. Should they indulge their desires, they hopelessly fall in love."

"You did that to me?"

K'rra swallowed hard, trying to alleviate the stabbing pain in her throat, "Yes, Sir."

"And the nurse Bev, and the Simp fucked you? That's why they lost their shit when I came to take you away?"

She sighed, "Yes, Sir."

Silence descended on the room. She kept her eyes closed, afraid to open them even as tears stung trying to escape.

After a long pause, Kaster told her, "You were ordered never to reveal any of this."

"Yes, Sir."

"Then why did you? Why did you tell me?"

Opening her eyes the tears spilled freely. She stammered, trying desperately to find the words. "I... I felt... I had to..."

"You fell in love yourself but were ordered not to."

She choked, "Yes, Sir!"

The crushing pressure in her chest felt like it was going to burst. She wanted him so desperately to return the feeling. Knowing that even if he did, she would never be able to separate the truth from the hormones he'd been exposed to.

"Another system of control." He said.

"Sir?" She asked. He sat on the bed looking at her, his face stoic and unreadable.

"Hol Vydon has created a trap so complex there's no way to tell where control starts and ends. Your feelings could also be a part of that trap. With all the augments, who's to say he didn't turn off whatever normally inhibits you from falling victim to your secretions."

K'rra was crushed. The swelling in her chest turned into a knife stabbing straight through her. She wanted to close her legs, and hide herself but remained frozen in her slave position. "Yes, Sir."

Kaster continued, "I can only act on my perception of things. It's impossible to say which feelings are mine and which you lured out of me."

He climbed out of the bed and walked to her. K'rra kept her eyes down, as a proper slave should. Being a proper slave, doing as told, was all she had left. If these were to be her last moments, she wanted to live by the standards that had given her the greatest joy in life.

Kaster reached down and put a hand on her jaw, forcing her face to look up at him. Through blurred vision, she saw him, stoic, his emotions masked, inspecting her, looking into her eyes to read her thoughts.

"You're just a slave," he said. "There is no malice in you."

"No, Sir," she whimpered, daring to hope.

"As I said, I can only act on my perceptions. Trying to see through the webs is impossible, so I can only move forward by being true to myself. You are a slave in more ways than one. You embraced slavery after pirates captured you. You were implanted then. It's highly likely the implants themselves made you relish your bondage."

More tears trickled down her cheeks. "Yes, Sir. I've considered that. But I don't care. I am a slave, now and always."

"What do you think of going to Brandak?"

K'rra blinked tears away but more welled. "Brandak? I'm not familiar with it, Sir."

"When we were at the library, it was the world the Fury's ship was taken from. It originally belonged to a trader, but now Fury Jae owns it. We need to go find out what happened there?"

"I'm sorry, Sir?" she said. "You are continuing the mission?"

"Of course. Acting in accordance with my values. I was hired to hunt a Fury, and I am going to get that bounty."

"But, Sir," K'rra said, she wanted to ask his thoughts on everything she'd told him, but it was such a jumble in her head she wasn't sure where to begin.

Kaster barked at her, "But sir, nothing, slave. I need you to plot us a course to that system."

"You mean to continue working for Hol Vydon even though he's betrayed you? Even though I am not your slave?"

"My perception right now is that you are MY slave. And if Hol Vydon says otherwise, well, we will just have to have some words about that."

*****

"Leaving jump space in five, four..." K'rra announced.

She continued counting down, and then the ship lurched. The light show in the cockpit ended, and the stars returned. Kaster eased the control collective, turning the Outlander towards their target world.

"Scanning Brandak now," K'rra said. "Nothing interesting. Breathable atmosphere, a little thick. Primordial forest, mostly. Crude early-stage amphibians. There's not much here in the way of minerals or potential crops. A garbage world that would be overlooked by most. Beings trying to stay under the radar might find it appealing."

"Like pirates?" Kaster asked.

She nodded, "Sure."

"Or a religious sect?"

"Possibly. You think Rogue Furys may be here."

Kaster stared at the scanner monitor, "I suspect a coven was here, once, a while back. But that Fury temple on Obeza is too close for comfort. The coven would need to leave."

K'rra didn't like thinking of Obeza, the world where Kaster had recently lost his arm. He had the bionic replacement hidden under a robe sleeve and glove, but she couldn't help but think of how painful it must have been losing it.

"The Furys on Obeza would force the Rogue Furys to join?" She asked.

He looked at her, "Is that what they tell you happens?"

"It is." She replied, recalling the brief mention of Furys in Academy. "Focus users represented an extremely chaotic element within the Federation, and the Fury Order was traditionally responsible for bringing rogue groups into their fold, thus ensuring stability."

Kaster studied the scanner, saying nothing. Finally, he pointed to the screen, "Let's land here."

K'rra looked at the map. Kaster had indicated a valley in a mountain range. She cycled through several views, finding heavy metals and other indications that there may have once been a settlement of some sort on the world.

"Any reason for landing there?" K'rra asked. Zooming out, she found some similar types of abandoned settlements. All equally as small.

"I have a feeling about it," Kaster said.

K'rra scrunched her nose. She wasn't about to argue with her Master, but she could discern no rational reason to land there over dozens of other sites that were just as non-descript.

When they landed Kaster asked her, "I'd like you to come with me."

"You would?" she asked. "Are you sure that's the right way to demand a slave's help?"

He gave her a look, "Slave. Get dressed. You're coming with me."

"Yes, Sir!' she said enthusiastically.

She was glad the two jumps had given her ample time to wash her jumpsuit multiple times. There was no way she was about to go exploring an alien world in the dress Kaster had given her, the single most prized and only possession she considered hers enough to claim ownership.

After dressing, she took a few moments to find a belted holster and strapped on the blast pistol she'd shot the Doctor with. She found a medical scanner and a datapad in the sick bay, which she added to a small satchel stuffed with bandages and other emergency supplies.

Exasperated, Kaster asked, "Have you got enough stuff? We're only going for a short walk."

"Survival favors the prepared," she told him smugly, figuring he probably wouldn't spank her for trying to look out for him. Probably.

They left the ship and made their way across soft ground. Even in a mountainous region, the soil seemed to suck water up like a sponge making the ground squish with every step. They wandered through thickets and vales until Kaster spotted the abandoned settlement.

A cluster of prefabricated buildings, some square, some domed, clung together in the shadow of a young forest. The buildings and the antenna on top had all been covered in a blanket of moss, giving the empty village an eerie feeling. Kaster advanced into the village with no fear.

"Look there," he pointed. "Old landing pad impressions. Not new. Hard to say how old. Someone has been here in the last year, however.'

"How can you tell?" K'rra asked, struggling to keep up with him. "You didn't even so much as stoop down, let alone walk over, to determine all that."

"Three indentations equidistance apart. Maybe two and a half centimeters deep with rounded edges. Even a small starship, say a hundred tonnes, would make an impression in this soft soil of at least five centimeters. Moss typically grows one to three centimeters a year. This is a lush world I'm going to guess three is the number. That there is still a depression tells us that something heavy landed over there within the last six months. Elementary, my dear."

The buildings in the settlement radiated like spokes away from a central point. What looked like a fire pit, with three rows of curved stone benches, dominated the center. The square buildings were two-story, prefab settlers' homes capable of housing a dozen beings. The domes were a little larger, being admin and comms buildings.

They picked through a few of the settler barracks and then the admin building. Anything of value had long been stripped away, leaving bare floors and cracked walls. K'rra had hoped that the admin building would have a central computer, anything to explain why this site was empty. Even locks and door controls had been cut away with torches and taken away.

"Looks like they abandoned it," she said. "Whoever they were."

"What makes you say abandoned?" Kaster asked.

"Everything of value is gone. It's all been meticulously packed away."

"I don't think abandoned, though," Kaster said. "I have a feeling the original owners didn't want to go. Did you see the door controls? All cut away."

K'rra stopped to inspect one, "Yeah, I thought the settlers did that. Spare no expense, leave nothing of value behind."

"How many settlements have communal fire pits?" Kaster pointed to the center of town.

"It does seem odd. If I were planning a new settlement, things like an aquafer or garage would take precedence for resources."

"Unless the entire reason for the settlement was the communal aspects."

"You have a group in mind? I'd love to hear your hypothesis." K'rra said as they walked across an overgrown path between two buildings.

"A coven of Rogue Furys."

"And you suppose the Fury Order found out and forced them to join the official orders?" K'rra said.

"Rogue covens are given a choice. Join and become controlled or perish."

"Federation educational materials insist that Rogue Furys were brought into the order." K'rra said.

"I'm sure they say that. I'm sure they say that the rogue elements are asked." Kaster agreed. "But I doubt they say much about what happens when a coven refuses."

"I don't believe the Federation would execute coven members that refused," K'rra said.

"Who said the Federation were the ones doing the killing?"

K'rra curled a lip in revulsion. "Our training materials describe the Furys as guardians of the galaxy. Knights and Defenders who took on the mantle of maintaining justice and order."

"If they were so wonderful, so instrumental, why are they in decline? Why are they rare now instead of raining out of every starport?"

"I have wondered that myself," K'rra said. "I'd speculated that perhaps finding believers of the true faith was becoming more difficult. What is the reason?"

"I have no idea the real reason, but I suspect it's a combination of factors." Kaster stopped and scanned the forest edge to one side of the settlement. He began walking in that direction with purpose. "The Fury Order demanded stringent adherence to their mandates. See, the Federated Systems and all their neighbors were deeply concerned that there were beings that could do extraordinary things by thought alone. How do you police someone who can pass through a wall? Or control another being's mind?"

"That would be quite the quandary for law enforcement," K'rra said.

"Right. And the solution was to force these people into a monastic order. And to deny them reproductive rights. Just in case these qualities could be passed on to their children."

"I assumed that was voluntary," K'rra said. She had unsettling flashbacks of her own homeworld, where pregnancy was licensed only to the brightest minds. Had she stayed, she could never have had a child. Something about that bothered her to the core.

"They had a choice. I suppose that is voluntary. The alternative was death," Kaster said. They'd gotten to the tree line, and Kaster strode into the conifer forest.

"It was not explained this way in school."

"Of course not," Kaster said. "The Federation are supposed to be the good guys."

"Supposed? They are. Democracy is the greatest form of self-governance. Adhered to on all worlds of the Federation, including Gyth."

"Propaganda," Kaster spat. "You yourself chose a caste system."

Irritation flashed through K'rra. Democracy had saved her homeworld after nuclear war. Democracies were less likely to war with each other. Democracies gave everyone self-determination. To suggest it was a charade, just an act to placate the masses, made her want to start snarling.

"I chose a caste system. My choosing was democratic," K'rra snapped. "Forcing systems that exclude citizens from self-determination leads to turmoil, chaos, and violence. My own world was almost destroyed because of this."

"And who counts the votes on your world?"

"A centralized computer tallies the votes in real time..."

"Who runs the computer?"

"An elected committee voted on by the duly elected senators..." she was getting flustered.

"So, the people counting are chosen by the ones who benefit from their counting?"

K'rra stamped her foot, "Democratic institutions are time-honored and a civic duty to enforce fairly. It sounds salacious when you say it like that. Every citizen holds the democratic process... Immutable... Honored..."

"You're angry," Kaster said.

"You're purposefully making me so."

"Remember your place, slave caste."

K'rra opened and closed her mouth. "You are trying to vex me, Sir."

"No, I'm reminding you of your place."

"Sir, I understand that you are trying to expand my thoughts. Religious adherence to a system without considering alternatives indicates rigidity in thought."

"And that is exactly it." Kaster said, "The Federation indoctrinates its citizens through schooling. Their beliefs have become yours as a type of religion. When you read history, do you find it odd that the good guys, the best team, was always the winner?"