FSE

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Author's note: This chapter immediately follows the previous one, and presupposes familiarity with the story arc begun there. Readers are cautioned that extreme situations are mentioned, in passing, although not anything in which my characters actively participate. With thanks, as always, to Arthur "Aethan" French, who invented Haliday Dasker, Captain Fang, and planet Halivarr in his story, "A Treasure, Freely Given". My versions of these characters and settings are my own, and appear here with his kind permission.

Interlude, Vargyr Scout Vessel Seeker, Low Orbit, Halivarr

Check? Check. Me, again, Langrr, "Warrant Officer" for a couple of 'Varri delinquents and one Big Grumpy Pants who is also a Warrant Officer, by courtesy, and incidentally my mate. But that's now, when we're notionally a part of this pirateer fleet. Pirate fleets are funny things, and this one's odder than most. Don't do much reaving. Mostly, we're a defensive armada and volunteer smuggling ring preventing a theoretical Imperium Star Command blockade of Halivarr.

Lovely spot. Noble work, when Iawrrl and I aren't just kicking back, tongue-fucking our 'Varri boys while they make out with our cock-knots and, occasionally, each other. They hardly even notice when we're holocasting, anymore. But when they do, they just get dirtier. Propaganda Corps loves our boys. And no one gets to complain that they've signed on under false pretenses this way.

Now, this happy state of affairs didn't just land in our laps. No, siree. It started off uncertainly enough, and nearly went very badly wrong. I mean, I am all for happy endings - like milking a foxy little 'Varri cadet of his third big nut before breakfast. But while I could have plenty to say about that (or subscribe to our holoflec archive to see for yourself - ask about our Guide Troop group rate!) what I'm here to tell is how we pulled it off.

It was Iawrrl's plan, and we'd just succeeded in the first part, enlisting the assistance of a pair of helpful locals. While we'd mostly done this by fast talking, looking like holovid action heroes and smelling like a Sus-Hawg fuckhouse, we really did need their help, and after we'd finished persuading them we'd all be happier bunking down together, they really were about due some explanation.

So was I. Iawrrl likes me to work things out for myself, but I'm a little dopey when horny. That makes Iawrrl feel smug, but he's allowed. Feeling smug makes him horny, so it works for us. Except I still only had the barest notion of what, other than press-ganging a couple of cute fucking crewmen, we were supposed to be doing here.

We were still all four of us crammed onto the little couch, me feeding empty plates and glasses into the sanitizer since I was the one sitting next to it, our 'Varri boys, half drunk on the Russkan beer we'd poured down them, other-half drunk on the sex scents Iawrrl and I had spent six parsecs soaking into the mattress, were sloppily making out, with Codi's pink boner already poking past the waistband of his sticky briefs to dampen the fuzz below his navel, and Iawrrl very gently fondling Dani under his tail where the bigger boy half-straddled his lover, stroking down the cleft of his cute caboose to softly cup his sack through his underwear.

Before things could get any steamier, Dani broke the kiss, sat up a little woozily and anounced, "I need to pee."

Tobi scooted up straight, wiped some spit from his chin and agreed. "Yeah. Me, too." He tucked his seeping dick back into his shorts and absently lapped the pre from his fingers.

"Langrr, show them the head. I've got to sort something in stores..." Iawrrl stood, stretched, scratched his nuts, and made sure both boys got an eyeful of him maneuvering his big junk around in his trunks. I don't have anything to be ashamed of, but Iawrrl is... big. My butthole squirmed.

"Right. I could stand to stretch a bit as well. Come on boys. Find your space-legs." I kept my outstretched arm around both of them, drawing them into a pile on top of me as I kicked the switch that sent the table down under the floor decking. Cuddly little fuckers and not a bit afraid of harmless, old Langrr. Cute. I stood them up, stood myself up, and steered them to the fresher with a hand under each boy's tail, teasing their fuzzy little butt-cracks with the pad of my thumb.

Now, from information received, we'd cooked up a whole bunch of drugs, each designed to erode a Halivarri's inhibitions, and among those we had dosed the beer with was something to make them more receptive to Vargyr pheremones. Iarrwl and I had been using the fresher as a pisser for weeks now, and I felt the boys go a bit wobbly in the knees as I ushered them in.

"Easy, there, cadets." I kept my arms around their waists for a moment, petting belly-fur, under the guise of steadying them. "Just aim for the back. Pretend its a tree." Dani chuckled.

Tobi said, "I'm gonna need to stand on my head!" Out of his shorts, his eight inches of 'Varri cock was so hard it was twitching.

"Just aim high," I advised, reaching around to curl my fingerpads under his boner. "Want me to help?" I teased slowly, and he seeped a heavy flow of clear, sticky boy-sap over my hand-paw.

"N-no... I got it." He wrapped his own sticky fist around his dick with a grip that looked like it spent a lot of time there. "Um. Thanks." When I brought my sticky fingers to glaze his lips, he gave a furtive lick.

"Good boy," I said, licked the rest off, myself, and fished out my own half-hard dick (sidelong, surreptitious looks, from both sides), and let fly. "Aw, yeah."

Okay, so I had drunk an initial pint to myself when I tapped the keg and was fixing breakfast, before the full liter we had each had with our meal. And two cups of caff before we'd left the ship. Yeah - I planned this. I really had to go. My heavy stream hit the fresher wall with a force that drummed loudly on the impervic tile, and even startled the boys a bit.

I leaned back, spaced my feet and spread my elbows so the boys were pretty much pinned in, made sure my entire tackle was on full view and continued. The fresher walls are tiled in impervious plass rubber, each tile set at a slightly different orientation so as to assure the spray from the fresher bounces around to hit from all directions.

The boys were too busy staring at my dick, and the enormous outflow pounding the fresher wall, to particularly notice just how much of the spray was misting back to dampen their fur. They didn't even close their mouths. Hot. I aimed higher to get more backsplash as I went on. And on. Dani was hard, now, too. Finally, my stream diminished. I shook the last few dribbles off (the boys had finished, but not tucked in yet) gave my cock a few slow pumps with the loose fur of my sheath until just a suggestive swell of knot filled it out, then put it away.

I hugged each slightly damp cadet to my side and said, "Come on boys, tuck in." Neither objected to a finger-pad stroking their fuzzy 'Varri foreskins. "What did Iawrrl say about teasing?" I made a show of adjusting my trunks, letting myself get visibly harder as they stuffed themselves back into their grubby, damp underpants. "Good boys. Let's see what Iawrrl has for us."

* * *

Now, maybe you know all this already, or maybe you're some Human chump in Imperium space where plain facts about 'Lifted aren't common knowledge, or from some bumfuck galactic backwater where this is all news, so I'll explain.

Humaniti, the Naked Ape, controls the oldest, largest league of worlds in known space. Formally, this is the Third Interstellar Imperium of Man (typically, overlooking that some 53% of their own populace are in fact women), but commonly called simply the Imperium. Star systems, or leagues of systems, in the Imperium largely govern themselves. The Imperium rules the space between them. The force that maintains that rule is Imperium Space Command, a vast bureaucracy largely concerned with building, supplying, staffing and commanding the Imperium Starfleet or, commonly, the Navy.

The quasi-military corps of cosmographers, surveyors, reconnaisance, and communications specialists who keep charts current and information moving is or isn't a part of Imperium Space Command, depending on who you ask and which way the money is moving. It is formally the Imperial Interstellar Scout/Survey & Courier Corps, or IISSCC, or more commonly the Scout Service.

This was the service branch in which Iawrrl and I had just recently either shown commendable initiative by leveraging available resources to launch an emergency interventive field operation on behalf of, or else burgled an outpost, stolen a starship, and gone renegade from. One of those "point of view" things. As it shook out, we played true to Vargyr stereotype and went renegade. At the time, this was still very much up in the air.

But that brings me neatly to my next point. Vargyr, Halivarri, Made Races, and stereotypes. The main thing to remember is that we are not Human. Sapient, technologically advanced, culturally diverse with our own numerous polities of worlds, some inside but most outside (and occasionally raiding) Imperium space. But not Human.

There are a lot of races that, back in dim pre-history, some now-extinct people called the Ancients cooked up with advanced geneering, taking various species of non-sapient animal, instilling them with various traits, uplifting them to sapience, and seeding them around on various hospitable worlds.

We Vargyr came from wild canine predators with a strong pack instinct. We're clever engineers, clannish, fertile, adaptible and assertive (others say "aggressive" - I disagree. I'm not looking for a fight. Don't start one). We also think pretty highly of ourselves, even if other races don't. Males have a dominance drive, either to lead, or to be accepted as useful by a strong leader.

When things are working for us like they should, Iawrrl's the leader. I am happy to be Second Banana. And not just because he has a huge cock and I love getting fucked, though he does, and I do. Sometimes I top him, for a change. But it isn't all - or even mostly - about fucking. That's just one manifestation of a delicate, fluid social dynamic, specifically genetically coded into us, that plays out a lot through scent, territoriality, hierarchy and group interactions. Hard coded into every neuron, every cell.

All Made Races (or 'Lifted - never "Beastmen" unless you are writing bad pulp adventure fiction or full-on racist propaganda) are like that, coded from dimmest antiquity to be as they are. Bullocs are strong, steady, dependable, slow, exploitable, and bad to piss off. Sus-Hawgs are clever, scheming, amoral, and vicious. And so on. These aren't slurs - well, "Donk" is a slur but never mind that - its how the races, as a whole, express their innate biological imperitives.

Which brings us to Halivarri. Fuck, they're cute. And, Maker be thanked, usually more than willing. No one knows what root-stock the Ancients used to breed them. Their genes aren't a close match to any extant animal species in known space. The theory is that, having gotten exactly what they wanted, the Ancients went ahead and Uplifted all of them, made them a little sexier, and put them on Halivarr, where they do very well building charming villages, clean provincial towns, efficient farms, and luxurious, hedonistic, sensuous resorts all through their island-flecked, luxuriant, tropical zone.

By careful design, their planetary population is stable and, while it numbers in the billions, is well within what Halivarr - a large-ish planet with a broad habitable zone, minimal mineral resources but usefully fertile - can easily support. Somewhat surprisingly, considering that the Halivarri genetic imperitive almost solely concerns alterations to their reproductive drive. Halivarri as a species skew about 65/35 male. Halivarri females (who are also cute as hell, if you like that sort of thing) are however only actually fertile within pairbond, and not all bond to Halivarri, or to males.

Those who do have large broods. Your average 'Varri Ma and Pa will have about a dozen or more kids. But with fewer available mates, it's not uncommon - it is, in fact typical - for 'Varri boys to mostly be interested in other boys.

And since Vargyr crews, typically, are single-sex and typically male operations (space travel is hazardous, hence prestigious, hence a career that leads to the kind of status Vargyr gals insist on in a mate), Halivarri boys are popular with Vargyr crews. Particularly as, once pairbonded, they experience a hightened state of arousal - their rut - which responds very agreeably to Vargyr dominance dynamics.

In choosing two cadets who'd just bonded to each other, Iawrrl had been both smart and cunning. Smart, because they'd have the emotional security of their pairbond - mutual, unconditional support each for the other. Cunning, because as soon as they'd started fucking, they'd lit the fuse on a sex drive that was notoriously insatiable, and instinctually submissive to Vargyr assertiveness.

For most male mammals, rut is a seasonal thing. Mate in the autumn, gestate in winter, nurse in the spring, mature in the summer. For a male Halivarri, just bonded, you take the age at onset, and that's the number by which the duration their rut can be conveniently estimated. Not in months - in years.

Sus-Hawgs like to traffic 'Varri boys, using threats to their bondmate to make them behave, and do the kinds of things that make their holo-pornos so filthy. But that's Hawgs, who have to be devious to get their way. We had no intention of threatening, or even endangering, Tobi or Dani. We had no reason to expect to need or wish to.

Simple affection, firm leadership, and frank exposure to our own sexual life - and an inescapable immersion in the kinds of pheremones steaming off of us when Iawrrl and I are in sexual synch, which we were - was all that were required. We were just doubling down with Doctor Courangara's research methods to assure they learned to enjoy it as much as we would.

This would also made "Don't Fuck With Halivarr - That's Our Job" a compelling recruitment strategy for stray Vargyr crews. But that came later. For now, this party was all ours.

* * *

Iawrrl was at the workbench along the bulkhead by the cockpit hatch, that is, opposite from the couch, which I saw he had already reconfigured as a bunk, a couple dirty holozines tucked under the bolster. Nice. On the counter was some folded clothing, and he had a measuring unit in his hand. I saw his nose twitch as we approached, and he gave me a private grin before turning his attention to the cadets.

I kicked the tea trolley back into the galley, flopped back on the bunk - fuck, it reeked of cum, mostly mine - and dug out a zine to browse while I watched.

"Well, I see that Langrr's got you two all freshened up." The beer had taken a bit of the edge off his hard-ass act, but none off his sarcasm. The 'Varri boys didn't catch it, and I managed not to laugh. "Now step over here. I need to take some measurements to be sure your uniforms will fit." Total bullshit. The garments were form-fitting and self-adjusting, but I was going to enjoy him pawing around on them.

"Now strip! Just toss your panties on the bunk. You can wear them for sleeping." That was a coded message to me: don't you dare run those through the laundry. The boys complied a little bashfully, still half-hard. I gathered up their discarded briefs, huffed them briefly, and tucked them under the bolster.

Iawrrl took his time, running the stringtape up to their underarms, around their chests right at their primary pair of nipples, up their backs from the base of their tails (twitching restlessly, and fanning my scent off them back toward me, mingled with theirs, which was about twice as strong with them naked - damn, I wanted to shove my muzzle right up between their legs) to the nape of their necks. Big paws handling them, steering them, spreading their legs without any resistance. Their instinct, in fact, was to lean in. I ignored my zine completely.

"Here - rub down with these, and put them on." Tank-tops, cropped at the nipples, and harnesses and trunks like we were wearing, only in soft light grey, ending just at the top of the calf. I thought it was thoughtful of him to supply them with knee-pads. Grey impervic ankle-boots, with special insoles for arch support and to keep their foot-pads from callussing. Also with slow-release medicated dermals - our medbot can't do subdermal implants - that would passively administer more of the Rakasha doc's confidence-eroding drugs.

Iawrrl hovered in their close vicinity, crowding their personal space with the his musky, alpha scent, tugging their cute little halter-tops right down to their nipples, which would play peek-a-boo through the plass rings of their tool harnesses. Fussing at the seams of their trunks so the frontal pouches perfectly displayed their boy-parts, and the rear seams ran right across to tickle their snug little boyholes with little rubbery, medicated, lubricated buttons that were another of the Rakasha headfucker's devious designs. He helped them set their grey berets to just the right angle, and stood back. "There you go. What do you think?"

I thought it was a lot of trouble to go to, putting them in clothes that made me twice as eager to get them naked, ass up in my muzzle, face down on my dick, but the boys were grinning, adjusting their trunks, and checking each other out.

"Wow. You look hot, Dani!" The light grey really did contrast well with the bigger boy's dark fur, and the trunks fit beautifully - no mistaking him for a girl. Halivarri are short - five feet, average - but proportionally big, down there.

"You do, too," his friend replied. "Turn around." This week, on So You Think You're A Top. Heh. Iawrrl was't going be satisfied until the poor kid wouldn't wipe his own ass without permission. Which he'd be denied. This was going to be so much fun.

Tobi turned in place, craning his neck to try to see past his own tail. "How do I look?"

"So good! Your butt looks super cute! What are these things, anyway?" This last directed at Iawrrl, as Dani reached to toy with the greasy little bead at Tobi's butthole through his pants.

I interjected, using a firmer tone of voice than I had yet employed with the boys. "What are these things, anyway, Sir." Hits harder, coming from the good cop. Only trying to help.

"Sir," repeated Dani. "Sorry, Sir." Apparently, the Guides taught respect for superiors, and obedience. I also saw he got a little harder. Sweet.

"Medical safeguard. Prevents chafing, and helps with sensitivity issues, also tissue trauma if you're over-active." Iawrrl managed this with an impressive deadpan.

"From all the tongue-kissing?" Tobi actually surprised me into laughing aloud. "Sir?"

Iawrrl turned on him. "You boys eat ass?" It sounded like an accusation. Tobi was braver than I thought - he didn't flinch. Might have to put some work into breaking him down a peg, too.

"No. That is, we hadn't actually thought of it until you said something, Sir." He blushed, and played with his dong bashfully through his trunks. Cute.

Dani was still checking his boyfriend out, working the bead slowly. "I'd tongue-kiss this ass. You look so good." But then he pulled himself together, taking on his dignified air. Also cute. "But before we get any more distracted, Sir - and thank you for the uniforms, they're great - I want you please to tell me what's happened to my friend, Hali, and how we can help. Sir."

Iawrrl returned dignity in kind - he really isn't a total jerk. "Fair question, cadet," he replied with a nod. "Now that you're dressed, why don't we all relax a bit like Warrant Officer Langrr there..." I waved my dirty holozine with a friendly grin. "And we'll tell you both what we know about it, and what we have planned."

I tucked the zine away where the boys would know to look for it later (dog-earred on the corner of the page with a spread of a pair of Donk twinks eating each other's holes and jizzing all over each other) and openened my arms.

The boys snuggled right up, nose-level to my underarms, and I cuddled them close, hands under their butts and searching until I had a finger-pad right against their little hole-teasers. "All comfortable?" They shifted so that they were idly humping against my thighs and I gave their bottoms a reassuring squeeze as Iawrrl settled at the foot of the bed, content to remain aloof for now. "Good boys."

"Now, what Space Command told us is one thing. Your friend was on a liner, on his way to us for orientation and training. As they exited hyperlanes for refueling at Creon system, the starliner was overhauled by renegade Vargyr corsair, Captain Fangg. You've heard of him?" I asked, because they perked up at the mention.

"Everyone's heard of Captain Fangg!" said Tobi. Dani merely nodded. I teased up between their legs to stroke across their taints to encourage them to resume their slow humping, rewarding them by returning attention to the trainer-beads.

"That's the problem. And it's made things hard for Vargyr service personnel like Iawrrl and me. Space Command wants Fangg, bad. What they don't know, or at any rate didn't tell us that we found out otherwise, is that your friend Halliday isn't a hostage. As near as we can tell, he pairbonded with a Vargyr - possibly even Captain Fangg himself - and joined the crew."

"That would be like him," admitted Dani. "It was pretty clear he wasn't going to bond with anyone on Halivarr."

"Do you know him well?" Iawrrl, genuinely curious, perhaps to learn if we'd picked the right boys for his scheme, after all.

"We all did," said Tobi.

"Guide Leader is an elected position," Dani explained. "We knew him and liked him. He was surprised to be picked, but the only one surprised was him."

"Why is that?" asked Iawrrl. I forget how good he is at soft interrogation. "Any idea?"

"He never felt special," said Tobi. "That is, he didn't see himself like that."

Dani nodded. "He was really modest. Not shy. Well, shy about some things..." It was hard to tell if he was blushing, but he went on. "He always was as kind and thoughtful of the least accomplished Guides. He knew everyone. He was a good leader. Sir."

"Shy about some things?" Iawrrl asked. Okay, sometimes, he's a jerk. But useful intel to weigh against what we had, which was from a channel so unusual and oblique that independent corroboration was probably a good idea.

"Things like this," Dani explained, humping my leg and reaching to give my prominent semi-stiffy a squeeze. "Fooling around with other boys. You know, in Guides. Like you do."

"You were sweet on him?" Iawrrl asked, with more insight than I usually think to credit him with.

It was a mood-killer. Dani sat up, knees to his chest, with a thoughtful look. Thanks, Iawrrl. "Yes, and more. He was so decent. It's hard to explain, Sir. I wanted to be him."

Tobi stirred restlessly, looking distressed. I scooted to make room, and helped him scramble over me, narrowly missing a knee-pad to the groin, to reassure his friend. Something clicked. "You wanted to bond him."

Reading the room, I made an executive decision and pulled the lever that made the bunk a couch and, moments later, we were all sitting up, again. Still reeked of cum, though.

"I'm sorry I'm not the one you wanted," Tobi was saying.

"Hey. Stop. Listen." Okay, maybe Dani really did have real Top Stuff. "I told you on the way to the Sky Range, Tobissar Dorn. You aren't my second choice. You're the one. I didn't see it sooner because I idolized Hali. And I was too young to know better. And I had my head too far up my own ass to see who had been the right person, right there, the whole time. Okay?"

He waited for Tobi's agreement. "Okay".

Iawrrl's eyes (brown, if you're curious - I tell him it's because he's so full of shit) met mine. We both had the weird, spooky feeling most 'Lifted get, around other breeds exhibiting a trait unique to them. Not that we were strangers to compassion or empathy. But this pairbonding had a whole other vibe, the closest that I (a cynical atheist) can describe it is "sacred". Iawrrl felt it, too. Territoriality and dominance drive not withstanding, we gave this space.

I sat very still, while they shared some kind of closeness other than sexual, without needing words. Iawrrl disappeared into the galley, returning shortly pushing the tea trolley, carrying tea.

"We would both of us happily fuck both of you to Antares system and back. But we're not going to fuck with your bond." Poetic as ever, Iawrrl. "When you're ready to hear the rest of what we know, here's some tea." I kicked the table back up, and poured.

They didn't need long. Dani unfolded himself and regained his composure (dignified, cute). Tobi's distress on his friend's behalf calmed, and his cheekily bashful demeanor (cute) returned. We had tea. No one said anything raunchy. The boys held hands. Queen Mirasirka would have approved.

"We good? Good. Right." Iawrrl brought us back on topic. "We two - Langrr and I - are as far as we can tell the only party with information on Cadet Dasker from two separate sources." He regarded the boys thoughtfully. "Now three, thanks to you both. Star Command has nothing that came to us off the Gvadakoungg, which source you will please never mention, ever, even in private, thank you."

I nodded gravely, to show that we were dead serious about this. There are lots of experiences I have never tried, but being beaten with rubber hoses and shock-prods in some spy bureau black site is not one I am eager for.

When it was plain that the boys both recognized that there was no possibility of joking, he continued. "Likewise, we have Space Command's induction orders, transcripts, and dossier on Hali from when we were told he was being sent out for us to train. Any duplicate data he carried on a flec would have been destroyed as soon as he left his registered transport anywhere other than his intended destination. We assume Captain Fangg was unable to retrieve it."

To their credit, being addressed as responsible adults, both boys behaved as such, listening intently, not getting distracted by any hanky-panky or bored fidgets.

"However, if Langrr and I could reasonably conjecture, on the basis of Hali's psychological profile, that he was likely to sympathize with Captain Fangg, and even potentially bond to him - a supposition supported by your understanding of him, as well - then we must also suppose that Star Command is capable of reaching the same conclusion."

To be fair, I was listening intently, too. This was the clearest explanation I'd received of Iawrrl's chain of reasoning to date. My analyst side looked for holes to pick and didn't find any.

"The Imperium wants Fangg badly enough that some intelligence agencies would be willing to do some shady things to draw him into the open. A threat to Hali's close associates - most likely, his family - is not something we can rule out." Tobi looked scared. Dani looked angry. Neither interrupted.

"If our conjecture that Dasker has pairbonded with Fangg is correct, and if this information has not been kept secret on the Gvadakoungg - bear in mind something clear to us, as Vargyr: pairbonding a Halivarri mascot would greatly enhance Fangg's reputation and charismatic hold on his crew, so he has every reason to make such a bond publically known."

I nodded. It was too good an image booster for any Vargyr leader to pass up.

Iawrrl continued. "If it is so, and is known, the Imperium will learn of it as soon as other hostages taken in the raid on the starliner are released at a neutral port. That has probably already occurred. The Imperium wouldn't announce it - they have no incentive to publicize Fangg's acts of mercy." I nodded again.

"Warrant Officer Langrr is an information systems and communications specialist with training in data analysis." When he isn't too drunk on cock to think straight. "He's monitoring for chatter from unofficial channels to corroborate that hostages have been freed." News to me. "Likewise, he's looking for any indication of unusual Imperium interest in Halivarr system that could indicate the kind of espionage or black ops we are hoping to detect, intercept, and foil." Okay, that, I was doing. "Are you with me so far?"

Dani looked to Tobi, who nodded, then looked back to Iawrrl. "We are, Sir. How may we assist."

"Do you know his family, on terms where a social visit would not arouse unusual interest in the community?" Oh. I get it.

They blinked, nodded, and Tobi spoke up. "Sure. His mother is my math teacher. Dani's brother works in his dad's greenhouse. We see them all the time."

"Langrr and I are working through the usual handshake arrangement between the Scout Service and the Guides Program to invent a reasonable pretext for our presence in the vicinity. Probably some kind of space camp, come see a real spaceship at the local aerodrome kind of thing. Plausible?"

Dani nodded. "Totally." His eyes raked the cabin. "Leave the pinups, hide the porn."

Iawrrl nodded, deadpan. "Noted. We approached you two, first, because while not exactly breaking any laws, this expedition of ours was undertaken speculatively, and covertly, on our own initiative. We need locals who want to protect Hali and his family, and want to help us. We picked you. Are you with us?"

Dani looked at Tobi again, who nodded eagerly, then back to Iawrrl, and nodded firmly. "Totally. Thank you for your confidence in us, Sir. Thank you both." Aw. I almost felt bad for looking forward as much as I did to turning him into a quivering fuck-puppet.

"Then welcome aboard, cadets. Any questions?" Iawrrl was awfully convincing in this role. I almost believed him, myself.

Tobi raised his hand. "Sir! Hali's psych profile..."

Iawrrl cut him off right there. "Confidential. Strictly speaking, we shouldn't even have shown you his holo."

"You have it over your bed!" Fair.

Iawrrl couldn't not smirk. "Should we take it down?"

Dani replied. "For the aerodrome tour? Yes. For us?" a sidelong glance at Tobi, who shook his head. "No." I made a mental note to switch out the official holo for the one with the dirty subliminals when I had the chance.

"Noted. Anything else, cadets?" Iawrrl asked, clearly wanting to wrap things up.

This time, from Dani, "Sir. With Cadet Dasker not available, would you and Warrant Officer Langrr consider training Tobi and me, instead? Sir?"

Iawrrl smiled in a way that I knew came from the filthiest corner of his black, perverted soul. "Oh yes, cadet. In fact, we've already started."

* * *

"Warrant Officer Langrr?" Dani's voice, very polite, interrupted me as I was setting up comm data search params for picking out the kind of thing indicating a hostage exchange happening on the Space Command down-low. I paused, half turned on my swivel seat to look at him expectantly, waited. "Sir?"

"Good boy." I said. His dick twitched. "What is it, cadet?"

"Sir, I just thought of something. Tobi and I have no desire to leave Seeker, but if we aren't back at the Sky Range by 23:00, someone may come looking for us." He held out his wrist unit, indicated a safety-green indicator light blinking steadily. "This transmits an all-clear to a tower at the ranger station once an hour. Tobi has one, too. But we're way out of range. Sir."

"For that, yes." I nodded. "For Seeker's transceivers? No. I appreciate your caution, cadet, but I am already on it. I'll show you," I offered, turning my saddle-seat on its pivot to face him. I spread my legs, and patted the round horn of the seat jutting suggestively in front of me. "Here. Sit."

With only the slightest hesitation, he sat. I saw a little shiver run up his back as the ridge of the seat pressed the little teaser button in his trunks, and spun us back around, scooting forward as I did so to assure my Vargyr junk was snug up under his tail. He shivered again and pressed back, and I spoke just at his ear. "Good boy."

Before he could think too much about this, I had the vidifax up showing Seeker's comm systems, networked to Halivarr's own comm satellite network. "Wrist units are wrist units. We use them, too." I showed him mine, identical to his, which pleased him. "As soon as we'd triangulated your location in the Sky Range, I was able to lock in from the satellite uplink at the ranger station, back trace, and clone the signals from Tobi's wrist-unit and yours."

Esoteric datasystems code streamed across my fax screen. I judged he was able to parse at least some of it. "As soon as you walked up the ramp and the airlock shut behind us, your wrist-unit signals were jammed, and Seeker started sending out this," a pair of winking, safety-green indicator lights on my console, "instead. Actually to the satellite, but spoofed to read as though reaching the ranger station from the vicinity of your last known coords. Neat, hunh?" I grinned and patted his thigh.

Dani seemed dubious. "Isn't that, like, illegal or something?" I leaned around to give him a stern look. "Sir?"

"Better," I said, less stern, and humped against his bottom once, slowly. "And it's a grey area," I temporized. "But we had to talk to you somewhere that I damn well know isn't bugged, which is here. And if your wrist-comms had shown you being hauled offworld by a couple of strangers, Port Authority would want a word, and we don't want to talk to them."

"Port Authority?" Turns out neither Tobi nor Dani had ever travelled offworld, or even as far as Halivarr Downport, and their civics classes had been thin on Imperium Customs and Excise laws.

"Might think you'd been kidnapped," I explained. "Part of why we made you sign papers. Shows you're here on your own own recognizance, and not being trafficked to some skeevy Sus-Hawg fuck-pit."

"Yeah, Seeker is about as skeevy as Tobi and I want to get." He eyed some pinup art dubiously. "Uh, no offense, Sir."

I laughed. "Sorry if we're a little rough. Sure you wouldn't rather we drop you back off at the Sky Range where you can get some fresh air?" I reached past him to finish up the task he'd interrupted, bringing him nose-high to my armpit.

"No, we talked about it. You guys are okay, and Seeker is cool. You get used to the smell."

"Smell? What smell? Think we should blow out the air circulators before the tour?"

"Oh, no. Don't. First thing anyone ever learns about a scout ship is that the enviro systems are notoriously kind of funky. They'll be disappointed if it isn't." I nudged him from behind. "Sir."

"Good boy," I said with another slow press of my big Vargyr meat. "In the meantime, we'll work on a formal transfer, field recruitment, in-service study program, something. If you think you and Tobi really want to stay on?"

"Yes, Sir." No hesitation. "We both do. Very much." Wait for it. Here it comes. "Sir?"

"Yes, Dani?" My hand hadn't moved since I patted his thigh. I slid it up now to lay a thumb-pad right along the front pouch of his trunks.

"What Warrant Officer Iawrrl said, earlier..." I made a wordless interrogative sound, warm against his neck, plied my thumb slowly to prompt him. "Would you really happily fuck the both of us to Antares system and back?"

I chuckled. "Iawrrl says a lot of things. It's like the smell. You get used to it. But the real answer is, it depends."

"On what, Sir?" I was pretty much openly stroking his hard cock through his trunks, and he was letting me.

"On a couple things. Like, whether you'd want us to." Leaning back, I gave his ass more room to slide onto my lap. He took it.

"Oh. And what's the other thing? Sir?" I rocked slowly, letting him feel my knot swelling in its sheath under him.

"On how well you take orders, cadet." Almost growled, right against his ear. "Think you and Tobi can manage that?"

"Yes, Sir." He rocked back in rhythm, so my big old bone worked the teaser bead, making it hum and buzz against him.

"Good boy."

* * *

Shortly after that, I scooted him out of there with a friendly butt-pat, because I really can't do the kind of coding I needed to while I was so thoroughly distracted. He said he'd go tell Tobi (who was being shown around the gymnbot by Iawrrl) the good news. I did actually get my work done. We'd log any suspicious comms my algos picked up through Halivarr Telesat Net. I'd work something out for detecting out-channel stuff later.

At dinner, Tobi and Dani both had underarm stains of their own, little dark crescents. Iawrrl must have plied them on hydration bevs (doctored with way more than electrolytes) because afterwards, when he announced he was taking a piss, they joined him. I fed dishes to the sanitizer, and levered the bunk down.

I heard Iawrrl bark, "Did I TELL you two you could play with your dicks? None of that. I'll aim for you. You two can aim mine - if you can lift it." That's when I swapped the holo of Hali above our bed for the hypnotic, subliminal version. Then I got the boys' briefs from under the bolster, sniffed - still fresh! - laid them out, and stripped myself down to change into my own PJs - that is, the string vest and trunks I'd worn all the way out here.

When they came back, all freshened up, we had them strip, squirm back into their undies, and showed them how to hang tanks, trunks, and berets from their harness clips, "so they can air out overnight", and hung them up between our own from a valve conduit that traverses the fresher cubicle at ceiling level.

Tobi in particular had expressed bitter disappointment in Seeker's dinner menu not including any sort of dessert, and I had promised to think of something. Not to toot my own horn, but I am one resourceful fucker, and I had thought of something, and told the three of them to meet me aft, in the engine room, in ten minutes. I suggested Iawrrl show the boys other things they were not to play with without supervision - namely, the cockpit - and headed on back.

Aft of Seeker's crew cabin is our cargo bay, with ship stores down the sides and a clear space in the middle for the gymnbot. It still smelled of Halivarri boy-sweat. No wonder Iawrrl was feeling so helpful after dinner. I got out the supplies I needed for what I had in mind (I'm not the logistics guy, remember, and Iawrrl's organization was far from intuitive, so it took me a few), then went on back further aft to the engine room.

When they came back, I had camp-seats (actually cold-climate bedding, rolled up) around the low-railed, round pit in the decking where the primary engine coil lives. I'd removed the deck grate above it, and tuned its thermals until it had a rosy glow. I handed out skewers (tool handles, fitted to narrow rods about a meter long that were part of an old degaussing rig Iawrrl had decommissioned when he'd invented something better), and handed the boys a bag of sweet-mallows. Iawrrl and I would be roasting cubes of red meat wrapped in more Halivarri scalliots, instead.

"You big softy," Iawrrl said. "Now we'll never get them to behave." But I noticed he was grinning just as much as the boys were, and in fact was just as happy to take a seat around my improvised campfire. Both boys (smelling better than ever) gave me a hug, and Dani squeezed me softly through my shorts when he did it.

* * *

In accordance with customs that are ancient and nearly universal across cultures, we fell to story-telling, Iawrrl doing his considerable best to scare the shit out of the 'Varri cadets.

"Your little buddy better thank his fucking stars it was Captain Fangg who nabbed him. Most corsairs aren't as principled. And that's Vargyr, who'd want to keep him for themselves, not sell him off to be a cock-slave til the end of days in some back-world Sus-Hawg fuck-wallow."

"Does that really even happen?" asked Dani. He'd scooted his camp-seat around to be closer to Tobi, who was helping lick sweet-mallow from his chest-fur. I popped another scalliot-kebab onto my skewer to roast as I listened.

Iawrrl nodded gravely. "Fraid it does. Seen it myself. Hawgs had only had the boy a couple of weeks when we found him, but by then it was too late, and he didn't want to leave. Just pissed all over himself, and cried when they tried to take the butt-plug out. They had a holocam on his mate, you see, where they had him chained up in some unmarked shipping container, sitting in a heap of his own shit, just his little boner poking out, making little cum-puddles from the shock-collar."

"Ewwww!" said both cadets, in unison.

"Ended up having to let him stay," he continued. "Last anyone ever saw, he was bouncing and squirming his dirty little boy-hole on a fist-sized, greasy rubber cock-knot, doped out of his head, all snot-nosed and glassy-eyed while he's jacking off Bullocs and sucking dockyard Donks, cock after cock until cum's just dripping from his chin." Iawrrl shook his head sadly, rubbing himself through the front of his shorts and scratching under his nuts.

"Don't let Iawrrl scare you. There hasn't been any of that kind of trafficking in this sector since the Spindrift Rebellions, years ago," I said reassuringly. "These days, it's mostly on the level. Good pay, regular days off, union rules. Routine medical check-ups just like at the resorts. Have to travel pretty far out on the rim to find the kind of sketchy back room glory holes and filthy starport latrines that 'Varri boys get swapped around and gang-fucked in."

"So don't make us sorry we took you onboard," growled Iawrrl. "Fuel for that kind of trip's expensive." The boys cringed.

"He's just twisting your tails," I said. "We won't take you anywhere like that, unless you two decided you want to check that kind of scene out. And I can promise that, if you ever do, neither of us would dream of letting either of you out of our sight." I gave my most comforting, easy-going grin, and sucked the meat right off my skewer.

* * *

The boys were still pretty jazzed up at bed-time, and we had no intention of rushing things, or scaring them for real, so they got the outside of the bunk: Iawrrl in back, me spooned up against him, Dani spooned against me, Tobi spooned against him, like flatware in a drawer, all cozy-like. It wasn't all that late, but we wanted to get the boys used to the scents of our fuck-mattress while we cuddled.

Dani shifted a bit restlessly and spoke up. "Sirs...?" I gave him a permissive squeeze where we were holding hands, down inside the front of Tobi's briefs.

"Yes, Dani? What is it?" Iawrrl had his dick up the leg of my trunks, just stroking across my tailhole to keep it slick. Such a sweetie.

"What all do you two really know, about Hali?" Fucking Iawrrl and his fucking tall tales had rattled him. We'd better lay out the facts as far as we had them.

"What we do have reached us in a very strange manner," I began when Iawrrl nodded against my shoulder to give me the go-ahead. "And we can only make inferences from that, reading between the lines. If it reassures you, what we actually intercepted were medical records - his initial onboard physical, and two or three follow-ups, and they all say he's in excellent health."

"But...?" said Dani. I nuzzled his neck to calm him. Fuck, he smelled good.

"No 'buts'. Well, his butt, maybe." I chuckled. "We know he is bonded, because the check-ups are mostly to assure he's adjusting to his first rut okay. You boys know all about that, I'd guess."

"Why do you think we wanted a whole week in the Sky Range?" Tobi chimed in. I gave his boner a slow pump, my fingers interlaced with Dani's.

"Sorry to take you away from that," I lied. Dani arched his seat back along my stiffie where it nestled along his cleft.

"No, no. I have Tobi right here, and he has me. And we have you two. Sirs. This is better for that." So nice of him to say so.

"The reports don't name names, but it is clear that Hali's bondmate is a high-ranking officer, Most likely Captain Fangg himself, or else one of his top lieutenants." If it were a lieutenant, that might be enough in itself for the Gvadakoungg to undergo a change of command. Bad for them, but no real change so far as a trap to draw them out was concerned. But the chief medic was taking orders straight from Dasker's bondmate, so I was about 90 percent sure it was Fangg.

"It's also clear that whoever the lucky fellow may be, he isn't keeping Hali tied to his bunk. Hali was cleared as fit for service as an ordinary crewman, on a schedule of regular duty assignments, scheduled between physical training on their gymnbot, and continuing education parallel to what he'd have been pursuing, in an ordinary course of events, at a Scout Service Academy." If they only knew.

Dani nodded, hugging Tobi back more snugly against him. Tobi made a happy sound (cute) and started slow-humping into our shared grip. "Yeah, that sounds like how he'd want it. He's a team player kind of guy."

"Well, it sounds like that's the case, and that he's getting pretty popular," I continued. "Because his next check-up followed an incident where he suffered sensory overload, in a pisser used by the whole aft engineering crew."

Tobi laughed, and his dick dribbled over our hands. "I almost suffered sensory overload from yours."

"Sorry," I lied. "I know Vargyr can be kinda gross, as other 'Lifted see it."

"I didn't say we don't like it," said Tobi. "It was just. A lot, right at first." Fair. Also, hot.

"But Hali was okay, right?" I hoped Dani wasn't fixated on the One Who Got Away, because I'd feel bad for Tobi, who's fucking cute, alright? Then I realized he'd been looking at the naughty, subliminal hypno-holo above the bunk. Oh, right. My bad.

"Perfectly fine," I reassured him. "Turned out to have partly been a reaction to a cleaning agent. Finished his workout, next watch, and even had a massage. Felt good enough after for dinner with a different work-crew, five Vargyr, including one his own age." Aw, too cute! Vargyr pups are fun. I mean, I was. "Over-nighted in their cabin, even." Hot.

"Five Vargyr? All at once?" Perhaps the dawn of a new era of hero worship for Cadet Halliday Dasker. It's good to have role models.

"They probably took turns," I admitted. "Anyway, there are some two hundred Vargyr on the Gvadakounng. He's most likely only just getting started. In any case, next record concerns a physical exam to assure he's fit to stand for a disciplinary hearing."

"Disciplinary hearing?" Dani's good-boy mind was blown. "What did he do?" Tobi and I got him calmed back down, between us.

"Record doesn't say. But it does mention therapeutic intervention to prevent further irritation from too many dry climaxes, so whatever it was he didn't stop when he ran out of juice. They're giving him something so his body learns to produce more, the more active he becomes."

"Ooh! I want some!" said the little cadet.

"It's not candy, Tobi." Anyway, you're already on it. We're just making sure neither of you have a reaction before we ramp up the dosage. "Also, treatment for some perianal bruising and minor tissue-trauma, resultant from frequent, energetic engagement with Vargyr, uh, anatomy."

"You can say 'knots'," said Dani. "Um, I mean, that's what it was, right? Sirs?"

"That's what it was. So, I take it you know all about those, too?" Oh, please, Maker, please....

"Of course!" Tobi said. "We have the holonet on Halivarr."

"Aren't you two a little young for those holo-sites, cadets?" growled Iawrrl.

"We're adults, here, though. Sirs." Smart-ass Dani. I rewarded him by sliding my own dick around, knot and all, at the base of his tail.

"Art sites, mostly," said Tobi. "You know, like cartoons, but dirty. You're the first actual, live Vargyr we've ever seen."

Dani elaborated. "Some boys... well, most boys at school have, you know, pinups and things in their lockers. Part of why it's okay to leave yours up, here, for tour groups. Vargyr are pretty popular." Okay, I'll admit it. That was good to hear. "Um, that's where those weird beads in our uniform come from, isn't it?"

"You got it. Hali's crew uniform was specially modified, to assure he wouldn't get himself hurt. He's been wearing one ever since."

"I knew it wasn't just for the tongue-kissing," said Tobi.

"Anyway, that's about all we have, except that as a result of information disclosed at his disciplinary hearing, where the effects of Halivarri pheremones on Vargyr olfactory response were disclosed, he was subject to treatment to make him more receptive to Vargyr scent-signals, particularly those regarding dominance and sexual arousal, in fairness."

"I think we'll take a pass on those," said Dani. Too late, kid. I pinched a nipple as a reminder, with my free hand. "Sirs." Another slow pump of my cock, making the root of his tail all sticky. "Do we really, uh, affect your olfactory, um, whatever it is."

"Fuck yes," said Iawrrl. "You boys smell great. We aren't gonna gang you. Fuck, we won't do anything you don't want us to. But because we're Scouts. Hard. Disciplined. Not because we just don't feel like it. Understood, cadets?"

"Sir! Yes, Sir!" they said in unison. I think Tobi actually came in my hand.

"Then get some fucking sleep. And think about it."

"Yes, Sir."

I hit the dimmer on the cabin lights then, and unbelievaly enough, in a big, cuddly puddle of boner-buddies, we did in fact manage to get some sleep.

* * *