What Is a Slave Without a Master?

The whistle of Supercruise gently mixed with Alex's music in the background as the pair soared through the black. Alex sat in her pilot's seat: the metal rose Eta had made for her so long ago still attached to the back of the headrest. A book floated in front of her, but she didn't seem to be reading it. Instead she was simply watching space go by with a contented smile on her lips. Eta sat in the copilot seat: feet kicked up on the dashboard among her growing collection of ship models. She was absentmindedly scrolling through a diagnostic report of the Peregrine as her now shoulder length brown hair gently undulated around her.

"Hey Alex," Eta piped up, the first spoken words in quite a while.

"What's up beautiful?" Alex replied, tearing her gaze away from the view before her and shooting a wink over at her lover. Eta let out a quick laugh as a flush of red passed across her cheeks.

"I didn't realize this until right now...." she admitted as she pointed at the date listed in the corner of her display. "...but tomorrow is going to mark one year since the day you found me."

"Huh," mused Alex as she glanced at the date for herself. "Jesus, it really doesn't feel like it's been that long. Still happy with your decision to come follow me around?" she asked with a chuckle.

"There's still no woman I'd rather kneel next to," Eta replied with a wink of her own. Alex laughed in response before pointing at the ground next to her seat.

"If you're going to talk like that, then get that ass of yours over here."

Eta stuck her tongue out in response but was already undoing her harness before swinging her way across the cockpit and magnetizing herself down next to her Mistress.

"Are you... still happy with your decision to keep me?" she asked, but despite the question her voice held more confidence than she possibly could have conjured a year prior. Alex reached out, tucking a finger under Eta's chin before leaning down and kissing her lover across the lips.

"Still the best teddy bear in the galaxy," she said softly as their lips finally parted. Eta grinned before continuing.

"But regarding the date... what specific day do you think is our anniversary?"

"What do you mean?" asked Alex with a raised eyebrow.

"Well... our second day together is when I wrote you my... quite embarrassing letter-"

"Not embarrassing!" Alex interrupted, shifting her finger from under her lover's chin to across her lips. "I remember you were fucking terrified when you gave me that. I always thought it was super brave," she said, looking like she was ready to fight over this. Eta blushed, but there was a smile on her face as she raised her hands in mock surrender.

"Okay you win. Our second day together is when I wrote my letter. I think it was the third day when we decided that meant I was your submissive lover-"

"Hot submissive lover," Alex corrected with a grin. Eta let out a laugh before nodding her head as she continued.

"But... it was another week and a half after that before I regained my citizenship and stopped being a slave. And relationships for slaves were forbidden. So we... have three days that could count."

"Hmmmm," Alex said as she pursed her lips and cast back through her memories.

"Just after you got your citizenship I told you that you had been mine since the moment you wrote your letter. So that's the one, and the Empire can suck it," she said definitively. Eta grinned in response.

"So the day after tomorrow?"

"Day after tomorrow. So I guess that means I have to figure out something to do to celebrate," Alex mused thoughtfully. Eta dropped her gaze awkwardly.

"I'm sorry I'm not more help planning things..." she began, but again Alex's finger landed across her lips.

"Eta, you have been endless help. And so long as you're still happy being towed around by the hand, I still love doing the towing," Alex offered with a chuckle. Eta beamed back happily as she extended a hand without a word. Alex gave another laugh as she took it in her own, giving her lover a playful tug but not enough to move her from her position.

"I am indeed very happy to be towed," Eta giggled. "So, do you have any ideas for our celebration? Or are you just going to bring me into it blind? Maybe even blindfolded," she added innocently.

"Now there's a thought," Alex chuckled before shaking her head. She pondered for a long moment before speaking.

"I'm going to find a good nightclub and take you dancing. Then mind-blowing sex," Alex declared simply.

"Take me... dancing?" Eta asked, an eyebrow rising.

Alex nodded. "Yeah. I told you a long time ago I sometimes liked to find a bar or club and go drink and dance for an evening. I haven't done it since I met you. But taking you to one would be fun!" she said with an amused expression. Eta blushed slightly at the idea.

"I haven't danced since.... maybe ever," she admitted. "But so long as you don't mind the fact I'll almost certainly be dreadful at it: I will happily follow my Mistress wherever she wants to take me," she added with a grin.

"I'm perfectly okay with it," Alex laughed. "But every time you step on my feet equals a spanking when we get back."

"Perhaps steel-toes will be required," Eta flirted, shooting Alex another wink. Alex's eyes flashed, loving the sass.

"So Mistress, what are you going to have me wear?" Eta asked curiously.

"Oh something absolutely scandalous," Alex giggled. "Short skirt, plunging neckline, high heels, the works. I'm going to flaunt how hot my lover is and make the entire place jealous."

Eta's face turned a deep red, loving the idea of being made to wear revealing clothing for Alex's enjoyment and being shown off like a prize.

"I would be delighted to wear such a thing," she said with an excited nod. "And then there's the mind-blowing sex. I still feel all our sex is pretty mind-blowing, so how are you going to top that?"

Alex pursed her lips for a long moment as she thought. "You still have your extra slave uniform, right?" she said slowly, wanting to gage her lover's reaction. "If you're comfortable putting it back on, we could ceremonially cut it off you again. Because it was fucking hot the first time we did that. And then you'd be truly free of it."

"You're right, that was fucking hot. But you know I don't want to be free," Eta answered with a laugh.

"And I wouldn't have it any other way," purred Alex as she leaned down to kiss her lover once again.

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Thank you so much to everyone who has read and commented on this series. I am extremely grateful for all the feedback and kind words.

This is the end for the time being, but I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this project, and I'm quite happy with how it came together. These were a very fun pair of characters to write and bring to life, and so I may revisit Alex and Eta to continue their story (I do have some ideas) but that would not be a near-future thing.

To conclude I'll leave you with a few tidbits about Eta's name(s) from how this story evolved during writing, just because I think they're interesting.

-I came up with the designation ET4H2-5C before I came up with the name Eta. And when I first came up with the designation, I wasn't considering at the time it would turn into a name.

-The digits of the designation aren't entirely random. The ET stands for Engineering Technician, and the 5C stands for Fifth Class: Eta's job and rank. Although the 4H2 were arbitrary. And yes I suppose that means her designation would have updated through 1C 2C etc during her time with the Empire. In one working draft she explained this to Alex, but it didn't make it into the final story (so much got cut out of the final story. My first drafts were so long winded, and not in a good way).

-And her birth name: Melody Fischer. Remember the small remote controlled fighter from the dogfight with the Gunship? In-game, certain ships can indeed be equipped with a fighter like that (and be honest, who forgot this whole thing stole its setting from a video game?), and you can hire an NPC to fly it for you. And if you hire one, the game gives you a person with a randomized name, face, and biography. Well years ago when I was playing around with this, the random NPC pilot I got was a short-haired woman named Melody Fischer, who's biography said she was an ex-Imperial Slave. And I remember thinking "wow, what a storied individual to have join me on my travels," and that thought sitting in the back of my head for years was one of the things that eventually lead to this story, so it only felt fair to borrow the name.

That's all folks

Take care <3