Chapter 7 - Business as Unusual
"Hold still or I'll make you hold still!" Tani sighed loudly, holding her hands above the digits of the rabbit opposite her.
The Slave garbled a nonsense response from her throat, staring back at Tani with dead, purple eyes; thoughtless, lost and hungry.
Slowly, the Slave's claws began to grow as Tani focused, turning from an off-grey to a deep black as the claws enlarged, an ominous purple sheen visible in the right light. Once they reached an appropriate size, Tani broke away, her shoulders slumping but her expression satisfied.
"Look at those! We can get them all painted and gorgeous again, just like in the club, Henny! But remember, we don't use these claws on friends, okay? They're super sharp! Only use them when I tell you, okay?"
The Slave's eyes wandered, searching around the abandoned shop fruitlessly.
"Oh, don't be like that. I didn't mean to leave you until last, Henny. I swear! Mina had me forging her lot too! Between that and Moltezz running us around like headless chickens, I've been busy! C'mon, let's get you back with the pack. Oh, and stop bullying Monday, Henny. There's plenty of ass to go around, we can all get our fair share."
Henny garbled again, almost in response.
"I mean it, keep your grabby hands off her. Don't make me puppet you! I got my own claws! I'll make you my bottom bitch for a week!"
Tani stood from her stool, the tips of her long ears licking the ceiling. Between her ears she now had a pair of upright horns, their complexion the same as Henny's new claws. Her once pristine white fur was now a jet-black to match her sclera. Every curve of her body was bolder, thicker, her once modest breasts now fully packing her crimson shirt and stretching the buttons out tightly.
Henny shuffled towards the back of the shop, and out the backdoor to the innards of the station. Tani closely watched every step she took.
Be careful, darling. Stay with the pack. Tani thought to herself, concern gracing her pretty face. She casted a glance towards the clock on the wall. Ugh, it's briefing time. I was hoping for a cheeky fuck before then.
She departed from the shade of the shop and headed back into the bright lights of Barru X's main mall, currently filled with various crates, weapons, Slaves, Nodes and freshly acquired prisoners. The leering, wine-red form of Cherry stood head and shoulders above them all, dragging a line of chained-up Marks deeper into the space station. Half of them looked terrified and quivered as they walked, while the other half seemed caught between staring at the czarite's shapely butt, and the various naked figures around them.
"~Tani, you're late. Get the fuck in the briefing room, before I choke you out again.~" Cherry's voice boomed in her head.
She shouldn't threaten me with a good time. She has no idea how hard I -
"~I can hear you, dumbass.~"
For a split second, Tani swore she saw a grin flash on Cherry's face as she left with the line of new Marks. After a few seconds of internal silence, Tani carried on.
I don't think I'll ever get used to my thoughts not being my own. Still. Cherry can choke me, anyday.
She decided to heed Cherry's 'warning' however, and make her way quickly to the room in question. It had been a rentable meeting room in Barru X's olden days, but now it was strewn with weapons, papers and plans. Tani pushed through the glass door and took the nearest seat at the large oval-shaped table, in the centre of the room.
At the head of the table Plum stood, stroking her chin with a single finger. Her eyes slowly scanned the various other occupants of the room. Most were Nodes like Tani, but also sat at the table were three Marks, all dressed in military gear, half smirking, half serious. Their gaze flickered between Plum's immense hips, and the various bodies of the Nodes. Of the Marks, there was a human girl wearing a red beret, a black rat male with shimmering green eyes, and a thin, pale crocodilian man with a great scar along his snout.
"Tani. Thank you for coming. Looks like we've got a full house of Nodes and Imprinted. For the benefit of the Imprinted, I'll vocalise." The room darkened and a hazy projector flickered on, shining a map of the local sector onto the wall beside her. "Our raking on the local moisture farms and fuel dumps has gone as planned, with Cherry bringing back the latest spoils just a few minutes ago. We've been focused on cleaning out the sparsely populated areas up until this point, but now we're about to hit our first real challenges. Everything up until now has been easy."
Tani tilted her head slightly, taking in the details of the map as Plum continued. Her silky voice sent shivers down the rabbit's spine, despite the serious discussion.
"We've got more fortified areas of nomad space to our local west. They're prepared for war it seems, as they're being pressured by Vora Barons on their other flank. Me and Bubble both agree that this area of space is medium risk, low reward. People are good but equipment is what we need if we're to break out of the mega-corp triad. To our north is Darkpaw industries; they're heavily equipped compared to the nomads and our intel suggests that they just spent on something big. Even by their standards. Geographically speaking, Darkpaw are blocking us from their two biggest competitors, so we'll need to go through them before we can expand any further in that direction. They're shielding us from their competitors, but Darkpaw are the biggest of the triad, which means... It means a lot of things. We're penned in by the DA border to the south and the east, with only more nomad's between us and them."
Plum tapped on the wall with a pointer, her glowing locks of hair hanging rather tantalisingly in the dim light of the room. Tani was finding it increasingly difficult to stay focused on her words as her mind wandered.
"We're all in agreement that engagements with the DA are to be kept to a minimum and incursions into their territory are only to be done when absolutely necessary. Which leaves us with two main choices for our next move. We push to the west and start fighting the alerted nomads, and potentially Vora Barons, or we push to the north and start working our way into Darkpaw."
"DO NOT TOUCH DARKPAW!" Tani suddenly yelled out as if she was being murdered, bolting upright in the chair, her body stiff.
