Keena was riding high on the wave of sexual joy that was Keepum's ongoing gift. It could take several days for its orgasmic influence to begin to fade.
Her first few weeks on this starship, and she'd already learned so much.
Back on shift and assigned to the loading dock, she operated the lifts and grabbers that manipulated the Magnitude's inventories of parts and supplies. The huge hangar was a bustle of droids and crew, all working together to marshal the Magnitudes stores.
Mind-free busy work that let her mind wander and wallow in the sensational experience of the day before. Press green, press white, press green, then blue, repeat ad-nauseum.
Green... She used the grab to hoist an engine array up in a haze of distraction...white... The huge array swung lazily over the ramps. Damn, Keepum was good... blue...
Wait no!!
The load uncoupled and fell 20 feet, crashing to the floor in a catastrophic thunder of twisting metal.
Keena jumped from her console and looked over the parapet. All she saw was shattered metal and a pair of legs protruding from the edge.
Keena's supervisor sent her straight to her quarters, while the unfortunate docker, Sweep Jones, was beamed directly to sick bay. It seemed touch and go as to whether he'd survive.
...
Her quarter's door buzzed, announcing a visitor.
At her desk, head on her arms, Keena mumbled her permission to enter.
Beams walked in tentatively.
He went straight to his friend, placing a sympathetic hand on her back.
"Keena, I heard what happened. Are you ok?"
"Not really Beams," she whimpered, "The Captain wants me in his command room. I'm going to be punished. Do you know what that means?"
He did. It would be a whipping.
"Keena, just quit, quit the fleet. I can't bear the thought of you in pain," Beams pleaded.
The tannoy cut off Keena's response.
"Recruit Keena, to the command room."
This was it.
...
"Recruit Keena, you have the choice," Captain Naughton's voice rolled around his study.
"For the extreme negligence that led to the grievous injury of Docker Jones, you may retire from the fleet and leave in disgrace. Return to the populace and be forever forbidden from enjoying the rights of the Fleet." He turned on his heel to face her. "Or face the corporal punishment of six lashes, to be broadcast to the ship as both an example and a warning."
Keena felt the tears of shame sting her eyes; she felt tiny and inconsequential in the presence of the Captain. A large, imposing man of ancient African heritage, his aura of command infused every strut of the Magnitude.
"Captain I..." a sob choked the words in her throat.
The Captain walked around his desk, sat on it, and leaned towards Keena reassuringly.
"Recruit Keena, I would be very sorry to lose you from the Fleet, the Concordia needs people like you.
"But you must make this choice freely. The punishment will be painful and humiliating, as it must be to act as a deterrent, but it is avoidable. You have free will in this decision."
All Keena had known was wanting to join fleet. Life could be tough out in the wider Concordia.
"Captain..I..I'll take the lash," Keena whispered in a small voice.
" A very brave choice, Recruit."
The captain rose and spoke with his back to her again. "As you know, there are four levels of punishment. Hands, calves, buttocks, back." He spun to look her in the eye. "As your carelessness resulted in Docker Jones having to be rebuilt, yet you did not extinguish his existence completely, I have ruled it as a level three offense. Punishment will be carried out here, by me, but broadcast to all monitors ship-wide." You will be restrained and will receive 6 strikes across the buttocks from the laser cane. The damage will be painful, but you won't carry the scars as they once did."
"You have 7 cycles to choose when to receive your punishment, recruit.' Finished the Captain
"Captain... sir. I can't live with this hanging over me any longer; I need it done now, sir."
The captain studied her face for a long time. "Very well recruit." He spoke softly, "Let it be now."
He rose and paced to a cabinet behind his desk and called out to the ship's AI.
" Vex? Ship-wide communication active, all ports.
Crew. Some of you know, and some that maybe do not, we have a level three punishment to be carried out on the ship, and that is to be carried out imminently." The Captain reached inside his cabinet and produced four thick bracelets of silver-coloured alloy and a silver rod of around eight units long, smooth and chromed.
" Recruit Keena is to receive her punishment of six lashes for the grievous injury caused to Docker Jones by her negligence. Communication over."
He carried the bracelets to Keena.
"You must remove your uniform, recruit Keena, and then we will lock in the gravity cuffs. You are new to the fleet, have you seen these before?" He enquired.
Eyes cast downwards, she shook her head no
"These are restraints that will allow me to position you anywhere I need to; they are linked to the ship's gravity field and can be manipulated to hold their position anywhere on the ship. In this case, they will lock your hands and feet into the assumed punishment position," he explained.
"Please recruit, remove your uniform, and attach the cuffs to your wrists and ankles."
Keena's heart was pounding from her chest; it felt like an out-of-body experience as she undid the zip, starting at her neck and chasing it all the way down to her crotch.
She let the white and red overalls fall to the floor so that she stood in just her white compression vest and white and red fleet underwear, thong style, that disappeared between her light brown cheeks.
She picked up the first gravity cuff and, with a shaking hand, clipped it around her left wrist.
It hummed as it locked and gently vibrated through her skin.
She daren't look at the imposing Captain for fear of breaking down. She would face this ordeal bravely, she vowed. Though she felt his eyes watch her every movement.
Both wrists thrummed now, and with the cuffs in place, she bent over to begin locking her ankles.
The sound of the Captain shifting position made her look up, and he was deliberately looking away.
*Was he checking her out? Was the sight of her smooth, shapely legs and taught round ass making him...?*
The thought unexpectedly excited Keena, and she felt herself put more effort into putting on a show. Her ankle locks in place. She slowly straightened, running her hands suggestively up her leg, thoughts of the punishment to come suddenly at the back of her mind.
"Thank you, recruit." The captain said, clearing his throat.
He reached into a drawer and brought out the control screen that would let him manipulate her in space, and attached it to his wrist.
"Punishment will begin; turn around Recruit Keena." The Captain's tone had changed from reassuring to his command voice, and Keena felt a thrill of fear pulse through her body.
"Vex. Ship-wide communication at all ports; video enable," Captain Nauton addressed the AI.
All ports on the ship instantly lit up to show a high-definition view of the Captain's office.
Beems, Keena's longtime friend and sometimes lover, watched in his quarters.
His heart sank to see his ally in her underwear, vulnerable and alone in the presence of the giant, formidable Captain.
" Crew. It has fallen to me to carry out this punishment in accordance with fleet directives. Recruit Keena has chosen to face this punishment of her own free will and so clear her record and continue as a member of this crew."
The Captain's voice thundered through the entire ship. It was a good bet that almost every eye and optical sensor would be on a screen watching the spectacle.
The captain spoke into his wrist control, " Assume position P3."
The cuffs around Keena's ankle lifted a foot off the ground, separating her legs slightly; the cuffs on her wrists pulled her arms' full length away from her, bending her waist at a forty five degree angle, she described a shallow boomerang shape suspended in the air.
Her heart now stabbing her chest at a rate that threatened to explode, sweat beaded her forehead, and fear gripped her belly.
But somehow, someway, her pussy also reacted in a way she couldn't have expected, and she felt a definite twitch of arousal there.
She was prone and vulnerable, but did she actually enjoy this feeling?
"Recruit, you are sentenced to six lashes from the laser cane to be sent by me at this time. Brace yourself." The captain pronounced, as he pulled out the telescopic baton of thin metal.
The eight unit chrome laser whip now extended a further twelve units out from the hilt. And with the flick of a switch, it ignited in a haze of purplish energy.
He stepped forward and held his strike position for a pregnant second.
" One..."
He stroked the cane forward in a whip crack sizzle as the electric power of the sting delivered the pain needed to relieve Keena's sin. It sounded a meaty thwack across her exposed flesh.
Keena let out an involuntary, high-pitched yelp as the whip left a thin red line across her firm buttocks.
Her head dipped, and she breathed harshly through her teeth.
