The Gharjin, Part 1: Abduction
#1 of The Gharjin
A jackal makes an emergency delivery of a rare artifact in his small spacecraft, but his trip is cut short when he is intercepted by a slaver vessel from a cruel race of reptilian warriors - the Moroghu
"The Gharjin, Part 1: Abduction"
by WolfHound Baxton, with contributions from Dante Haa'phet. All story and universe elements © WolfHound Baxton.
Kai Severns grimaced as he looked over the urgent message that had flashed onto his screen. The jackal was nervous. His jaw dropped a bit as he flashed his golden eyes. The fate of his company rested on whether he would be able to make this delivery on time. His buyer had needed to reschedule to an earlier time in order to make room for another engagement.
Severns had recently sold a rare artifact known as the Crux of Terra to an extremely interested customer. Although most dealers of antiquities insisted that the Crux, a large bejeweled golden cross set in a circle of gold and suspended from a golden chain, was no more than a normal golden artifact from the ancient Moroghu occupation of Terra, this particular buyer insisted that it was more, referred to it as the "Crux of Terra," and had offered a considerable sum for it. This deal alone would save Severns' organization from bankruptcy.
The time for the delivery was less than a week away and the buyer was located on a colony world of the UFK called Exultima. It looked like it would be impossible to deliver the item on time through conventional means or by any of the interstellar delivery services. There was one possible way, but it was very dangerous. Severns would have to deliver the item himself personally. The only way to do this would be to take the Crux in a small racing craft, his hobby vehicle. The ship had very powerful engines and a very powerful hyperdrive for a craft of its size and could most faster than almost any other privately owned vessels, but the tip was still especially long and would require the suited pilot to be in the seat of the craft for almost a week. This time, as well as most of the bodily needs of the journey could be dealt with by using a hibernation flying suit. Still, the danger was great as not only would the craft be unreliable for this journey, but in order to meet the deadline, Severn would have to pass his craft through a largely unsurveyed region of space called the Surstrom Void. Still, the consequences of failure made this intolerable to Kai Severns. He would make his journey and save his company through the sale of the Crux.
Kai Severns struggled to get into his suit as his meerkat assistant helped him into it, making sure everything was tight and secure. "I hope you're sure this is the right decision, sir," said the meerkat.
"It's not only the right decision, it's the only way," replied Kai Severns. "If this trinket doesn't get through on time you can kiss all of this goodbye."
The jackal motioned to the ceiling over their heads. The ceiling was ornate and vaulted with beautiful sculptures. This decoration reflected the style of the rest of the corporate headquarters which was even more opulent, with marble halls, gold leaf trim and even brass toilets. Union Crown had been one of the most successful corporations on Pherkad, especially given the attraction many of the citizens of that world had for shiny objects. The previous owner, however, had squandered funding not only on wasteful projects such as the opulent corporate headquarters, but also on gigantic bonuses for themselves out of all proportion, expensive gifts to friends, and government bribes, and as a result the company was now on the edge of failure.
The meerkat looked up and around and nodded with a sigh. "Guess that's true, boss," said the Meerkat as he made the final adjustments on Severns' suit. "I guess I'm just a bit worried about you going through the Surstrom Void is all. There's been talk of pirates lurking out there."
Severns stretched his head forward as the meerkat took his special jackal-head shaped flight helmet and lowered it down over his head. The helmet had blue stripes running from the front of the muzzle to the back of the head. A dial on the suit's oxygen tank controlled the jackal's air intake with hoses running from the tank to the front of the helmet's muzzle. The meerkat helped the jackal, who was moving quite slowly and clumsily in his suit, up a ladder to the cockpit of his craft and strapped him in, placing and sealing the valuable cargo, the Crux of Terra, into a special suit pocket.
As the ladder was pulled away from the craft, it began its powerup. It would first use its thrusters to lift it off the hangar floor and push it toward the hangar door before engaging the gravitic drive, its main sublight propulsion system. The gravitic drive, a device purportedly first invented by the ancient Moroghu species, used the energy released by bombarding heavy elements in its reactor chamber to create gravity waves as well as power the rest of the ship, including the hyperdrive which worked by folding space to make faster than light travel possible.
Severns adjusted his instruments as his craft shot into orbit under the power of its gravitic drive system. The craft had no life support system for the cockpit so he would be fully reliant on his suit for the entire journey. As the glittering blue jewel of Pherkad, the homeworld of the Union of Fur Kind, began to shrink behind him, the jackal flipped a switch in his cockpit, activating his flight computer to plot his course and automatically engage the small ship's hyperdrive. Kai Severns adjusted a few dials on his suit now, causing a hibernation inducing gas to flow through the hoses. As space began to twist around his craft, pulling him forward into faster than light speeds, he slowly drifted off into his long gas-induced slumber.
The jackal opened his eyes as his suit brought him back to life. He found himself lying down, a position he was not expecting to find himself in. As he opened his eyes, gazing through the lenses of his suit, his vision slowly came into focus and he saw a series of bright lights. He was laying on a cold metal floor and looking up at the ceiling of a strange room that appeared to be a small airlock or cargo bay of some kind. He exhaled deeply and loudly in an attempt to veil his fear with a curtain of exasperation. With some difficulty, the jackal managed to stand up in his heavy flight suit and survey what he could about him through the tunnel vision of his helmet's lenses. There were others lying next to his feet throughout the room, but they were unconscious just as he had been. He attempted to wake each of them up, but to no avail. He heard the sound of a mechanical door's gears turning prior to a squeak and footsteps approaching from the near blinding light illuminating through it like a tunnel. He searched for cover, dashing behind a large cargo crate and lying down as if he were still asleep.
The jackal lowered himself a bit more behind the crate, listening for each heavy footfall across the metal floor. He turned his head a bit, letting him see the shadows playing across the floor next to the crate. Suddenly, the empty crate was thrown aside, revealing a tall creature in a black uniform, staring down at the jackal. The creature looked like a large green lizard. He had a long head which looked much like that of a velociraptor, covered in dark green scales, becoming yellowish towards the creature's chin and throat. The creature had three fingers and a thumb on each hand, ending in a wicked hooked claw. The creature's boots were specially made as well leaving his massive sickle-claw -- a cruel weapon - exposed. This particular individual had had his claw augmented with what looked like metal plates and spikes. A long, somewhat stiff tail stuck out behind the creature. This marked him as a member of the feared Moroghu race, a species known for their fierce warriors and slavers. Thoughts of doom went through the jackal's head as one of the Moroghu's claws reached down and grabbed at his suit, pulling him up to his feet.
"Well what have we here," hissed the reptile. "More fresh meat..."
The jackal gulped loudly as fear spread over his body, enticing his fur to go jet stiff. The Moroghu stared through the lenses of the jackal's suit. The jackal was trapped in the heavy gear and nearly immobile, complete with his mask on, covering his head and forcing him to breathe through the suit's oxygen reserves until the mask was removed.
The scaly creature snickered through his reptilian teeth as he finished pulling the jackal up to his feet, sneering at him through his mask as he looked into the void of the lenses over the jackal's eyes. He could hear the quickening of the jackal's breath through the hoses. He could taste the fear without even seeing the jackal's eyes. "Scared are you pup? And what were you doing all alone in the middle of space, boy?"
The Jackal took a deep breath, preparing his next statement to sound calm and professional, "I was on my way to deliver a highly radioactive artifact to Nuclearus IV. Waste disposal, sir.," he stated.
The Moroghu glared, pondering the jackal's words carefully. "A well crafted lie for a furred one such as yourself. Why don't you tell me what you were -really- up to with that 'artifact,' which is indeed not -- radioactive. You'd have to take me for a fool to think I would believe this. So, maybe I will," he paused to chuckle lightly, "spare your life, hmm?," the strange reptile implied; However, he had no intentions of taking it, for his plans were of different matters. He had, of course, planned to make the Jackal into a slave. This was what the Moroghu Empire did with its captured prisoners.
Kai squirmed in the grip of the Moroghu. "If I told you anything about the deal I would be breaking the confidence of my customer, and that's not very professional behavior."
The reptile scowled at him and hissed. "That's a shame. Being cooperative would greatly help your situation." The Moroghu looked down for a moment, noticing the hoses leading to the oxygen tank on the jackal's back. A sudden spurt of sadism took hold of him as his clawed hand darted back to the valve and began to shut it, cutting off the jackal's air. "I want to know ... what were your plans for that artifact and where and when might we find the buyer? You had better tell me before i tighten this further." He kept his claw on the jackal's valve, ready to turn it further if Kai couldn't produce the required information.
Kai grunted and squirmed in the reptile's grip, bringing his paws up to the hose in a vain attempt to weakly pry loose his tormenter's claws, gasping for air. Falling to his knees, he panted laboriously as the Moroghu let the air flow with the opening of the valuve once more, catching his breath. "Why are you interested in him? You have the jewel. That should be enough for you. Aren't you a pirate or something?" He spoke with exaspirated breaths as he looked up to the tall figure before him, towering over him like a dark scaly mountain.
The Moroghu sneered cruelly, tightening the valve even more, restricting the jackal's breathing completely, silencing his voice to a sad futile muffle as he began to suffocate. "No. I'm a slaver boy, a slaver! And don't you forget it."
The jackal's legs trashed about as he desperately tried to open the valve.With his lungs feeling near collapse, the brutal, intense pain was only worsened by the hindering of his ability to scream, for a natural instinct as well provoked him. He felt despair. Despair, and utter torment were what circled his thoughts. He could think of nothing else, for, for the experience was truly unbearable. He fell flat on his back, his grasp now released and his muscles relaxing as he slowly began to, once again, pass out.
Kai woke again in a special room. He had been stripped naked down to the fur. The room was dark except for a single light that shined down onto the chair he was strapped into. It was very quiet in the room except for an ambient hum in the background. After a period which seemed to drag on forever, the sound of an opening door interrupted the silence and light flooded the room from the hallway, silhouetting the figure of another Moroghu, this one appearing a bit smaller and weaker than the one before, who entered the room. The figure approached the chair and then began to put on a pair of white latex surgical gloves that fit tightly around his hands, running a gloved paw under the jackal's chin now. "An interesting specimin the one," hissed the reptile. "I wonder how useful this gharjin would be in the pits. A bit weak perhaps, but with proper conditioning, it will do."
Kai's eyes grew wide as he heard the words of the strange Moroghu. He gathered him to be some sort of scientist, and feared what he planned -- or would plan, to do with him. "Please, let me go!," he screamed in terror, his eyes staring into the eyes of the Moroghu with true horror, true fear -- truly pathetic. "Please, I'm not supposed to be here! I was just delivering a package, I thought it was just a hunk of gold, I'm sorry!," he frantically said, trying everything he could think to persuade the Moroghu not to hurt him. "A-and w-what are those gloves for? What are you going to do?!?," he yelled. He looked down briefly at the leather straps that bound him in the chair. What species the leather came from he could not discern, but the thought of what, or who it could have previously "belonged" to terrified him to his core.
The Moroghu scientist trailed his finger down the jackal's furred chest and belly, speaking softly as he did. "Gold isn't the treasure we seek, gharjin. The Empire demands able bodies and subdued minds to fuel its slave pits. That is why you are here." The Moroghu's claw dragged down to the jackal's sheath now, toying with it softly as if thinking of what he could do. "And there are many ways in which the mind can be subdued, all thoroughly researched and documented by our scientists. I wonder which techniques will be most effective on you, now that you are a slave of the Empire."
The jackal now frozen, petrified with fear -- took to thought the one thing that came to mind at this point, for he had always been afraid of authority. Kai screamed loudly, followed by the usual begging of not going through with whatever wicked things they may have in store for him. "Please, let me go...Please, I'm begging you.," he plead, tears now flowing down his cheeks. Although he fought to hold them back, they would roll down and crash onto the floor beneath him; And in his darkest hour, every second was an eternity to him. Every sound, a roar. Every touch, A stab.
The Moroghu scientist grabbed at Kai's sheath and felt it in his paw as if to inspect it, then gave it a twist and watched the jackal to see what reaction it might being. "Of course, for many males, especially mammalian ones, these little protrusions offer one of the best ways to exert control." The reptile looked deep into the jackal's face for his reaction.
Kai nodded slowly and somberly, ears wilted and eyes tight. His tears began to pour fourth as his breathing turned to whimpers. "Okay...Just don't hurt me, please...," he sobbed, toes curling in pain with every twist the Moroghu gave his sheath. "W-who are you, anyway?," he hesitantly inquired.
The Moroghu scientist snickered to himself softly as he released the jackal's sheath, now moving his gloved claws over the jackal as he inspects him like a piece of meat. "I'm a Moroghu, and you are a gharjin. A gharjin is a slave being. It's what we call anyone who is not of our superior species. You see, we know that all other species are destined to be slaves of our kind."
The jackal shook his head quickly at he words of the scientist. "I am no slave! I'm Kai Severns and I'm an executive for Union Crown, an interstellar jewelry corporation."
The Moroghu raised a claw-tipped finger and waved it warningly in front of the jackal's face. "Oh but you are what we say you are. You see my boy, you are in our possession now. You have no further say in your life, but are our property to use and dispose of as we will."
The jackal grunted, struggling to free himself from the table but the leather straps held him down. "This... isn't happening. This is just a dream... rrf!" After a moment of struggling he began to shout to himself. "Wake up, Kai! Dammit, wake up!"
The Moroghu stood back for a moment, his lips curling up into a sinister grin as he observed the struggles of his gharjin prey. "This is no dream, boy. It is very real. Your fate is sealed and you are now imperial property. This procedure is part of your initial processing." The scientist stretched one of his gloves over his claws and then moved in closer now, resting one of his clawed hands on the jackal's chest. "First thing's first... we must do a diagnostic scan of your body to determine that you're fully healthy and won't be bringing any diseases to the camp. Open your mouth, boy!"
The jackal, seeing no real alternative given his predicament, and expecting nothing much beyond a simple examination of his maw, opened his muzzle slowly.
The Moroghu scientist surprised the new jackal slave with a peculiar blue glowing instrument. It was about eight inches long and colored a deep blue which glowed with an otherworldly fluorescence. It had a rubbery exterior surface and feel, slightly warm to the touch, and gave off a very light humming noise. The lizardlike scientist quickly pressed the flexible device into the jackal's open muzzle, holding it down tightly to keep him from spitting it out. Using a series of clamps that folded out and up from the table's headpiece, he secured the glowing device and locked it into the jackal's mouth so that he couldn't spit it out, also using the clamps to secure the slave's head to the table. On finishing, the scientist slowly stroked the jackal's ears and headfur as he looked down into his eyes.
"You look nice like this boy. I should take a picture so the image lasts," sneered the Moroghu as he pulled down a strange looking tube from the ceiling which attached to the other end of the glowing probe in the jackal's maw.
Kai squirmed in his restraints tried to yell something at the reptilian creature through his gagged muzzle, but only managed to get out a series of muffled and incomprehensible mumbles, much to the amusement of his tormenter. He also tried to bite down on the device in his mouth but to no avail, as it flexed nicely in his muzzle and seemed impervious to the harm of his teeth. Indeed, as he bit some lights lit up on a nearby panel, likely registering the pressure of his bite for recording.
The Moroghu looked at the lit panel and its indicators and nodded a bit, saying sarcastically to the restrained jackal, "Thank you so much for your cooperation, boy!" He reached into a pouch from his belt and pulled out another long, glowing blue devices. "And I'm sure you're wondering where this one is going to go," hissed the Moroghu scientist as he reached a rough-scaled hand and rubbed it along the jackal's inner thigh to give him a little hint.
Kai's eyes widened as the reptile waved the second glowing blue device in front of his face, his legs twitching a bit and his ears flattening back on his head a bit as he contemplated this. He tried to shake his head no, to plead and beg the Moroghu not to do this as he watched his tormenter begin to anoint the blue tool with a jellylike liquid. He closed his eyes and let out a couple sad and nervous whimpers as he felt the clawed finger rubbing over his tight anal ring as the Moroghu spread the goo on it in preparation for his penetration.
The Moroghu felt how tight the jackal was, slipping his finger inside just barely as his captive squeezed it. "Mmm! You are tight, slave. This will be so much easier though if you can just relax.
The jackal calmed down and took in a deep breath through his nose. He nodded as much as he could manage in his restraints. He knew that he couldn't get out of this situation and the best thing for him to do was to cooperate and try to make it as easy as possible on himself for the time being.
The reptile began to slowly press the instrument deep into the jackal's rear, spreading him wide as it made its way inside, causing the jackal to squeeze and squirm, making cute muffled noises in his discomfort. "You haven't had this end of yourself properly used before have you, slave? I can tell. That's likely to change though quite a bit when we arrive at our destination.
As the jackal tried to tilt his head and his eyes betrayed his confusion at this, the Moroghu moved up to his head and rubbed the back of his talonlike hand down his captive's gagged face. "I see you are curious as to where you're going. Well, you are on the Moroghu slaver ship IMV Constrictor, and are going to Ghar Korodin Camp 1728. I hope you don't mind the cold. It is a rather chilly place after all," said the Moroghu. It was, of course, a moot point as the new jackal slave would be headed for Camp 1728 whether he liked it or not, there to be trained to be the sort of slave that would be of use to the Moroghu Empire. The Moroghu reached up and brought down another tube from the ceiling that he attached to the end of the anal device that was still protruding from the jackal's rear.
The Moroghu scientist went over to a nearby control panel, the one that had flickered earlier in response to the jackal's bite. He pressed a button on the console, lighting it up ith more displays before working with some other controls. The two probes in either end of the jackal began to vibrate slowly as a result, causing the poor jackal to wriggle and writhe at the irresistible sensations that were coming over him. His ears flattened in shame as he whimpered around his gagging probe, feeling that the sensations were producing something in him akin to pleasure, causing his sheath to twitch as his cock firmed up and began to protrude, slowly at first, but then finally reaching its fully erect state and standing up like a proud soldier at attention.
The scientist smirked as he reached down and gripped the protruding jackal-hood with a his gloved talon, giving it a hard squeeze and causing the jackal to writhe, screeching in pain so much that it could be heard through the gagging instrument in his mouth. The Moroghu kept the member in his grasp and looked down into the squirming jackal's eyes, who closed them to avoid the gaze of the reptilian creature as the vibrating tool inside him caused his member to involuntarily leak pre-cum all over his stomach fur and the reptilians gloved claws.
"You seem to be enjoying this, boy!," taunted the reptile as he squeezed the jackal's member before releasing it abruptly. "In fact, I think you enjoy it too much. It will take at least thirty minutes for the full body scan and diagnostic to complete. With that, the Moroghu left and allowed the machine to complete its task, leaving the jackal strapped the table with the vibrating probes in his maw and tailhole to be further teased and tormented by the scanners.
Master Lieutenant Vasheare, the commanding officer of the IMV Constrictor reviewed his logs from his command console on the bridge. The crew generally called him "captain," which, although not an official rank in the Moroghu military, was a customary title for others of his rank or for ship masters ranked lower than a commander.. The console was a semi-circular raised station from the floor. The door into the bridge was directly behind him and the various stations to operate the ship were arranged around it in the circular room. There were no chairs on the bridge, as there was not that much room for such luxuries in this craft. The majority of space on the Constrictor was devoted to the slave holds and the large power systems necessary to operate the ship's stealth systems as well as the extra gravity drivers to make sure that the ship could outmaneuver its pursuers. Ghar Korodin, the division of the Moroghu military responsible for capturing, training and distributing slaves around the Empire, operated two different basic types of slave ships. The first type of ship was more like a large armed cargo vessel that was used to ferry slaves between friendly worlds or to conduct slaver operations in areas where the population was primitive and unable to resist. This larger vessel could also serve as a base for three of the smaller type of crafts. The second type of craft was smaller than the first by far, being designed for speed and stealth. This ship was designed to penetrate into hostile space or to retrieve slaves from more technologically advanced races who would had stronger means of resistance. The Constrictor was of this type and had been taking advantage of the natural sensor interference in the Surstrom Rift in order to capture slaves from UFK space.
The door behind the command console opened and the Moroghu scientist and guard who had dealt with the new jackal earlier walked onto the bridge. As their commanding officer turned around, they saluted him which he promptly returned. "What is your report, doctor?"
"The latest slave seems like a healthy specimen to me, sir," replied the doctor. His scan results demonstrate a full function of all major bodily systems. His useful life for slave labor, with proper care, the computer estimates at 36.428 years, but personally I think it may be a bit longer."
Vasheare then looked to the guard for his report.
"Well captain," responded the guard. "It looks to me like he can put up a lot of resistance up front, but underneath any resistance I can smell fear and desperation. Fear is a powerful motivator and I think he's breakable."
The captain nodded in approval. "Excellent! This completes our quota for slaves to deliver to Kryasis. Draco Sivith will be most pleased." The captain turned to his navigator and shouted an order as he stepped away from his command console. "Navigator! Plot us a safe passage out of the Surstrom Void, and then on to Kryasis. And congratulations to the entire crew on another successful voyage." As the two crew members left the bridge, the captain reached his claw into his pocket and smiled, toying with what he felt in there. It was the Crux of Terra.
The IMV Constrictor slipped through the interference of the nebula to a safe location before entering hyperspace in the direction of Kryasis as it carried the jackal with it - another grim passenger of the Constrictor, and a prisoner of the ruthless reptilian race known as the Moroghu. The remainder of the life of Kai Severns was now in doubt, but his final fate now rested in the iron claws of his masters.
The story of Kai Severns will be continued in "The Gharjin, Part 2: Hell Frozen Over."