The Meat Grinder bore an appearance as brutal as it's reputation. An inelegant block of barely space worthy materials dripping in corrosion, blood, and terror as it trades in human flesh along the poorly defended, decaying, decadent border worlds of a failing empire. These are the tales of that frightful vessel...
"Move your fat ass K6,' she smiles viciously as Karma Six's shoulders slump but the shamed woman overcomes her trepidation and increases her pace.
Neither woman wanted to be hunting through the innards of the Meat Grinder. This close to the chrono-core time and reality became confused and time and reality are already confused among the ancient, haunted stars the Grinder plies.
Serzhant Jeana Roeuskk pulls her webgun tight, almost sure she is no longer aboard a man-made vessel but wandering through the cancerous caparillias of a marrowless, diseased bone. The warmth of her combat rig is unable to keep her from shivering.
She takes a calming breath, disgusted that she feels any of the same hesitation of Karma Six. K6 is a common gutter whore, just one step away from being a warm larva sack for the Betlet Hive.
That thought appeals to the Serzhant's sadism. She smiles savagely imaging K6's pleading and sobbing, hot tears, urine down both legs as the Betlet grasp the dumb whore in their chitinous claws, pulling her arms and legs painfully out from their sockets before slicing off the unnecessary limbs. How much of Karma's sanity would crack as she watches through a haze of pain as Betlet grubs fall to eating the still warm skin and muscles so casually discarded on the nest floor. Bio resin would staunch the bleeding as steel strong webbing would hold the delimbed and wailing woman in the air. The oddly insect like Betlet would barely notice her screams as engorged ovipositors would stab into K6's fat ass and thick breasts. Jeana could imagine Karma's writing as inhuman muscles spasm, filling her fleshy parts with thousands and thousands of sticky squirming larva eggs.
Karma would dangle for months like a human pinata, the larva eggs growing and wiggling, her ass and tits heaving, stretching, and distending until the larva burst free and began to devour warm, pulsing organs.
Jeana giggles thinking of the torment and pain as Karma Six pauses at an intersection of corridors.
The Serzhant's mood instantly sours, 'What the fuck are you waiting on whore?'
Still cowed, Karma Six turns, keeping her pale amethyst eyes respectfully looking at the floor. Unlike Jeana, she does not wear an armored combat rig, hers is the simple tough fabric rags of a gang pressed crewman, a halter that barely holds her gene morphed chest and a kilt that hardly covers her generous bottom. Slavers on K6's world had transformed her into a sextoy but the Grinder's raiders needed crewman when they descended on the Slaver camp.
In the dim light of the dying bacteria that power the ceiling lum-strips, Karma Six shoulders her dart rifle and holds out the bulky bio-tracker.
'The tracker no longer has the spore of the Ioloster, Serzhant.' Impatiently, Jeana snatches the tracker from K6, sure the stupid bitch has made an error. To her irritation, the tracker has failed.
'Damn it,' the Serzhant throws the device to the floor.
'Perhaps we should return, Serzhant?'
'Shut it cumrag, ' Jeana rages, suddenly pushing Karma and clutching the crew member's left tit in punishing grip.
Karma whimpers as she is slammed into the bulkhead, pain flaring as Jeana squeezes harder, venting her frustration. K6 gasps for air, trying not to scream as her eyes tear up.
'The Bitch Captain wants the creature back and I'll be the one who gets it. Do you understand slut?'
Karma nods hurriedly as Jeana shoves her one final time before releasing her. K6 slumps against the wall, catching her breath and cradling her chest.
Ignoring the whimpering piece of trash, Jeana looks down each corridor, no path with more promise than the other and she felt both wealth and promotion slip away.
Such an opportunity was fleeting and it came recently when the Bitch Captain left the gilded, gem encrusted pleasure-command decks, to tour the luxuriant torture lounges, weapon bays and other vital areas of the ship, including the holding pens.
The Captain was incensed when she found the Ioloster missing from the pens. Many of the creature handlers were stripped of their skin and spaced.
The Bitch Captain was sure the handlers had quietly offloaded the creature at some port and her staff concurred. Yet, Jeana had started to hear rumors that creature had not been stolen and sold but had escaped.
On vessel as old as the Grinder, the inner bowels of the ship had grown labyrinthine and closer to the warmth of the chrono-core that pushed the ship past luminal speeds, it was possible that a beast like the Ioloster could find shelter and food.
Testing the rumors, the Serzhant ordered Karma Six to come with her, K6 being somewhat competent and easily bullied, and both had set off through the access corridors. When the tracker found signs of the Ioloster, Jeana saw the future open up.
By chance, the Serzhant looks down and in the sickly light sees the dried crust of a slime trail heading toward deeper into the gut of the Grinder.
'Found it,' she says, 'no thanks to you cocksleeve.'