FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

This Story Series Features MFM, MM, FF Sex, and Intense BDSM themes at times, but if you are looking for wall-to-wall sex, look elsewhere, you have to get through a lot of story to get to your sex. ;)

As always, if you are not of legal age to read adult stories, well, don't read this one. All characters here that resemble my friends, and others, are used with permission.

I have decided to post the entire incomplete story so far, with the hopes that this will get me motivated to go the rest of the way with the story. This is RAW, barely edited storyline, so please forgive the obvious mistakes.

If anyone wishes to work with me on this, I would welcome the help!

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Chapter 2

Light was the first thing that signaled return to consciousness, light that pierced through her eyelids and made her groan and clench her eyes even tighter. She tried turning away from the light, but found more pain than just the light coursed through her body. Aches and pain raced through her, dull, muscular pain that felt like it went all the way to the bone found its way through her arms, her legs, even down her spine. A moment later and it felt like a giant rock bounced off her head, as she almost felt like her brain exploded inside her skull. A louder groan escaped her lips, and she twisted up on her side, feeling things tugging and dragging on her skin.

A moment later and soft hands pushed her back down, and she heard a voice speaking in soft, melodious tones, though she couldn't understand a single word of what she assumed was a language, of some sort. There was a pause, and then another series of words, though she couldn't understand any of those either, this time the words weren't as melodious, and carried a bit more haste, even perhaps an irritated tone? Either way, the sounds stopped after a moment, and something cool pressed to her neck. She recognized the injector, and she tried to flinch away, but barely managed a twitch before the hiss and pressure against her skin signaled the injection of something. She didn't know what...but somehow, it just didn't seem to matter.

A warm glow spread through her head, soothing the pain she felt inside her skull, and it soon seemed to flow down her body. The sensation melted tense muscles and sendt those sore spots to the back of her mind where they might disappear. It was enough that she felt good enough to open her eyes after a few moments and take in her surroundings.

It was a medical bay all right, like almost every other one she'd seen. Lots of cold white, hard angles, beds here and there, though she didn't see anyone in them. She smiled, and then she noticed something moving to the side, she turned her head and saw a remarkable thing! A dragon stood at a monitor, and spoke rapidly into it in the same melodious sounds she heard before. She knew she should be worried about that, but the drugs that flowed through her somehow made it seem much less startling. In fact, she was quite happy just laying back and letting the glorious, glorious drugs do their work.

The dragon...thing walked over with something in her hand and ran it over her body, and she just smiled in response. She hoped that it was interesting, whatever it was she found out. The warmth then met somewhere in the front of her skull, and she found she just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. It was so much nicer to let them close and just relax.

*

N'Tanya stood next to the bedside, and looked down at their human patient for a moment, before she looked over to the medic next to her.

"Did she say anything?"

Sires shook her head and looked down at her pad,

"No, I think she was in too much pain, but she regained consciousness not too long ago." She looked at the readings on her pad again. "This is remarkable, but it looks like a few of the implants didn't burn out like we thought, and have been repairing themselves ever since. They are also repairing the damaged sections of her brain from the other burnouts. It doesn't look like they are repairing the other connections though." She frowned, "I don't think she understood me either. I tried my language, and the trade language, and she didn't seem to recognize either before I injected her."

N'Tanya crossed her arms while she considered her response to that,

"Do you think she's any threat to the ship now? I mean, if the connections are repairing..." She trailed off.

"Not at all, the only reason she was a danger was because...well, we plugged her in." The dragon turned her head and gave a twitch of her tail at that remembered transgression.

"Well, then what did you give her? Will she be able to talk?"

"I gave her a few painkillers, a muscle relaxant, and a little something to make sure she stays calm. Actually, if you can talk to her, I suspect she'll tell you almost anything you want to know. This cocktail is sometimes used for interrogations, as it lessens inhibitions."

N'Tanya nodded again and then walked forward. She clasped the human's hand and squeezed softly, in response, the girl's eyelids fluttered and opened. For a brief moment, there was a flicker of fear, but it soon smoothed away into a wide smile. N'Tanya did her best and smiled back, encouragingly, before she talked in the human's main language.

"Hi there...can you tell me where you are?"

The human blinked again, and then responded slowly, in a voice raspy from disuse,

"Why...I think I'm somewhere medical. Thank you for these lovely drugs, it hurt quite a bit when I woke up. " She smiled slowly and looked from the Captain, to the medic beside her, "What are you? I've never seen an alien before..." She continued sleepily.

N'Tanya actually looked a little startled like that. Humans were a space faring species, with contact with many other worlds and species now. It seemed a bit odd that she'd never seen any kind of alien before. The captain filed that away as a future question and continued on,

"Don't worry about that, we'll talk about that later. First of all...do you have a name?"

"Oh yes...it's Sammy...or Sam, or Samantha if you're my parents...but I don't think you're my parents, are you." She giggled in that mix of drunken euphoria and sleepiness from the combination of drugs mixing through her system.

"Ok then...Sam, what do you remember about what happened to you, what's the last few things you remember before you woke up here?"

"Ummm, I remember...I remember going to get the test. My mom and dad were so happy when I passed! Then umm, I was picked up by the agency, and taken to a room...oohh, it was kinda like this one, and then I woke up here!"

"What kind of test did you take Sam? What were your parents to happy about?"

"Oh...it's the...umm, it's the blood test thing. It says you have potential to be a pilot, and leave the planet, and help everyone against those awful awful aliens." She then grimaced as she seemed to realize what she said, and quickly babbled on, "Not that you're awful...I mean, I don't know you...and you gave me these amazing drugs...so you can't be too bad, not that I've met bad aliens..."

It looked like she could have babbled on about aliens for quite some time, but N'Tanya put her hand on the girls' arm and tried a smile,

"That's ok...we're not all awful, but I bet we are scary. How about you go to sleep again, and we'll talk about this more some other time, ok?"

"Oh yeah...that just sounds wonderful..." She then closed her eyes and her breathing deepened as she dropped off.

N'Tanya turned to Sires again and related the conversation in a common language, before she continued,

"So, what do you think?"

The medic gave a slight growl, the equivalent of a draconic 'hmm' and looked over their patient,

"Well, humans have been showing up in the galaxy for a while now, so I find it hard to believe that they've kept the majority of their population ignorant of other species, but it's possible I suppose. As for the test, that sounds like a standard Pilot gene test. I don't know why they took her in and immediately put her to hibernation though, usually you need the pilot conscious while the interface goes in so they can feel it integrate with their perceptions."

The blank look on N'Tanya's face prompted a hissing sigh of exasperation from the medic, before she explained,

"I know we've covered this before, but when a Pilot connects with a ship so they can take it to Dreamspace, they effectively become like another ship system, right? They can control it like their own bodies to various degrees, depending on how well the Pilot adapts."

N'Tanya nodded in understanding and responded,

"That's why I brought on Kag, she is one of the best Pilots I've ever seen, and is most of the reason we can outfly almost anything out there."

"Mmmmhmm, well, when a Pilot gets their implants, they have to get used to the feeling. Connecting electronic computer systems to your nervous systems is ummm, like gaining another sense. If they're not awake when you do it, it makes it a lot more probable that the new sensations will overwhelm them, and they'll reject the implants." Sires looked down at the girl again, "That's why I don't understand it if she's telling the truth. If they were making her a Pilot, even an unusual one, they shouldn't have put her in hibernation. The fact that the implants are doing things I've never seen is also a bit worrysome."

N'Tanya gave a sharp look, "I thought you said we weren't in any danger from her."

"No, sorry, I don't think she's a danger to the ship. As I said, as long as we keep her away from any Pilot interfaces we should be fine. I am more worried what it might be doing to her brain. I mean, I don't know what the implants are really doing to her with their 'repairs'."

N'Tanya hid a small smile from the medic, since she knew that once Sires went into caregiver mode for a given patient she tended to get a bit too invested in their well-being.

"We don't know if we're keeping her around Sires, so don't get too attached. Keep monitoring her though and apprise me if anything significant changes. Also, keep her in a confined bay for now, just in case."

N'Tanya clasped her hand onto Sires' shoulder, and the draconic entity looked over her shoulder and nodded that she heard, before she went back and looked back at the readings in front of her. N'Tanya just shook her head and walked out of the medical bay. She had another meeting coming up, and she wasn't sure whether she looked forward to it or not.

*

The other ship hung in space, dark, imposing, more than twice the size of the Dreamer and with more than twice the armament. Marks of battle scorched along the ships' battleplates, apparently left there during repairs as trophies or signs of bravado. It floated serenely in a space it carved out of the asteroid field using its guns, while debris anywhere from the size of pebbles, to small continents drifted around it. Behind one of those continent sized asteroids the_Dreamer_ stayed in station in a deep impact crater, while the crew carefully scanned the asteroid field for any disturbance that might indicate another approaching ship. The markings along the ships' hull, and the signal it broadcast named it the Driving Blow. The ship had a menacing, swollen look in a similar design to the spindle-shaped Dreamer, but obviously less modular and more armored. It looked stretched, then compressed, and then pumped up, to make more space for crew, troops, and weapons.

"Is anything else showing up on our sensor net?" N'Tanya asked, probably for the third or fourth time, while she looked at the giant ship on their monitor.

"Nothing at all captain, " replied Nasir, "nothing else has transitioned to realspace, and nothing else is disturbing the asteroids, I am confident they are alone." He looked apprehensively at the huge ship, as most species would while staring at a T'sil'nith cruiser. Very few ships matched the elder race's weapons technology; their cruisers often went on single missions to tackle entire Pirate armadas, much less going out to meet a single ship.

N'Tanya sighed a little, and then squared her shoulders, as though resolving something. "Ok then, open a channel, but relay it through one of our probes, just to be safe." Once Nasir nodded that she was on, N'Tanya looked to the screen. "T'sil'nith cruiser, this is N'Tanya of the Starlight Dreamer, we're here, if he is on board."

It didn't take more than a couple of minutes before a sardonic voice came back over the hailing channel, speaking in N'Tanya's language, "What cousin, you thought I wouldn't come out to meet you? Tell me, when have I ever refused a summons from our family's black sheep? Sending your signal through a drone though? Tsk tsk, it's almost like you don't trust me." The screen blinked on, showing her just what she expected to see, her cousin Dalarin, stretched out in a captains chair that he somehow managed to make look like a lounge chair, while other officers stood at positions around him. "There, now, you see? It's me, you can come out of your hole. You have my word that nothing will happen to your ship." He gave a chuckle, "I'm sure there are several here that are happy to see you again." A pointed look off screen followed that comment.

N'Tanya did her best to hide a bit of irritation as she responded. "Of course, we just had to make sure; you know how it is cousin. Not everyone in the court particularly likes me right now. I'd hate to have someone try and bring me in to gain a leg up. We'll be joining you momentarily." With a quick gesture to Nasir, she cut the connection, and touched the comm link to Kagami.

"Bring us out Kag, nice and easy, but I hope you don't mind if you stay plugged in while we 'visit'. I don't think my cousin would sell us out, but I also don't know who might track him."

"Yes Captain, I'll just stay nice and balled up down here, don't worry about me. I'm not going anywhere without you."

"Actually, if trouble shows up, just go. I'm sure my cousin will cover me as best he can, but I won't risk the Dreamer if I don't get back and you have to go, Rakarra is in charge until I find a way to get back to you." She gave him a nod, "Since he knows all our hidey holes anyway, and I can reach you if need be." She tapped her wrist, before she turned and headed towards the bridge's exit. "Oh, and have Sires send me a copy of that data. I'm heading to the shuttle."

*

N'Tanya sat across the table from her cousin, though often they were mistaken as closer relations, in their resemblance to each other. He was also tall, and lithe, and he had the rings through his ear that indicated his status in the T'sil'nith houses, not to mention his family allegiance. Their family was not the most prestigious in the T'sil'nith court, but they were nicely placed, as they were in charge of most of the covert actions and information gathering sectors of the T'sil'nith military; a fact that N'Tanya took advantage of on at least a couple of occasions in the past.

He had his usual somewhat sardonic look, especially since he knew N'Tanya generally showed up only when she wanted something. The question entirely was based on whether or not she had something good for him in return she gathered during her unsanctioned roaming around the trade lanes.

"So N'Tanya, what can I do for you this time? I'm pretty sure you aren't here to make good on our bet."

She grimaced at mention of the old bet, especially since he never let her forget it, but she managed to prevent a jab in return and replied,

"Dal, what do you know about the humans?"

He seemed a little startled at the abrupt question, which she always took as a good sign, it meant she wasn't asking him something he already knew, and was expecting. He paused thoughtfully and tapped his fingertips on the table in front of him, a habit they shared.

"Well, they are relative newcomers, they've only been around the neighborhood about 80 trade standard years, but they are expanding pretty aggressively. They pick up technology wherever they can, and they have a knack at finding raw, exploitable materials for trade. They aren't particularly offensive, they aren't particularly threatening, in fact, I don't think we've heard of them even probing the borders of other races. Why do you ask?"

She shook her head slightly at the general information, and answered his question with yet another of her own.

"What do you know about their people, or their culture, like what do they know about other races?"

He hmmmed in thought, while his gaze searched N'Tanya's face. She was, unfortunately, one of the best gamblers he knew, and had a knack at keeping her emotions off her face when she wanted. Right now she was studiously blank, so he decided that it was worth following her down her line of questions.

"We have a consulate with them, of course, though they make sure that all other races stay on orbital platforms. I've even been to their world once or twice. They flew us over their planet. Somewhat dull, I must say, uniform buildings, and carefully managed nature preserves. I don't think they let any other race actually onto the surface of their world. I think they are still adjusting to the culture shock of being in a full universe."

She pulled out the datapad Sires gave her, and slid it across the table to him. He caught it and looked down curiously,

"What's this?" He asked simply,

"Medical reports and scans from a patient sitting in our medical bay right now." She shook her head and sighed, "Dal...we took her off a human cargo ship, and she was boxed up with a bunch of other individuals of different species. And they have...implants."

Dal's expression changed into a somewhat more serious one when he picked up the datapad. He browsed through the cliff notes, and paused at a few readings the scanners took of the implants throughout the human girl's body. He raised one of his eyebrows, and then looked up to N'Tanya.

"I'm afraid I don't have much medical knowledge, but these look like Pilot implants. So? The humans are probably trying to recruit or kidnap as many pilot capable individuals as they can. It's not unusual I'm afraid, and slave trafficking is still common, though regrettable. I expect they better not run into any official ships from the races they kidnapped, or they may end up with more than they bargained for."

She shifted a little, as she debated how much to tell him, and then decided that he would likely not do much without more information, and he was best suited to answer questions;

"That's the thing, these aren't pilot implants, they are something different. When my ship's medic plugged her into our Pilots' diagnostic chair, things went strange, and my Pilot reported that she...did something to Dreamspace that actually knocked her out. We got her out of my systems, but not without burning out the implants, or so we thought."

She drew another datapad out of her pocket and shoved it across the table at Dal. She'd hoped not to give him that one, but in this case it was probably necessary. When he picked that pad up, she continued her explanation,

"It appears the implants did not burn out, and in fact they appear like they are repairing themselves, at least the major ones are. They are also doing some interesting things with her brain; at least...that's how my medic puts it. I really don't know what it all means, but something tells me there's something going on. Their government tells them that that all other races are out to get them, and are not to be trusted, and she didn't even know the trade tongue."

She shook her head,

"We have quite a few other sentients in our cargo hold, still in hibernation, with the same implants. We can't risk unboxing them, but I don't want to haul them around with us."

He put the tablet down and nodded,

"You're not telling me something else...because you never tell me everything, but I suspect we could take them off your hands, including the damaged one, if you want. Why though, and what do you want in return? It's not like you to give up anything that could be valuable, and if these implants are doing what you say, that's very unusual, and unusual always means money."

She allowed herself a little smirk,

"Well, let's not say I'm doing this for free cousin. I expect after seeing that you might try a little harder getting a few spies into position among the humans. I want any information that might relate to this, anything your doctors and scientists find out about the sleepers and I am keeping the girl for now. I doubt Sires would let her go, and regardless, I was the one that woke her up. I might as well show her the galaxy."

She looked thoughtful for a moment, before she then continued,

"Oh, and though we have standard rations, I do so miss some Ghina fruits from home. Knowing you, I bet you have a stash of them on board. I'll take a case or two." She grinned and gave him a saucy wink.

He managed a melodramatic sigh and looked at both datapads; before he looked back to N'Tanya,

"Deal...but while we're loading things over, and my doctors are going over this information, I know there are some of my crew and yours looking to get reacquainted, and there's this little issue of a rematch between you and my first officer..." he trailed off, but that amused gleam returned to his eyes as he watched N'Tanya roll her eyes and push up from her chair.

"Fine, have him, and anyone else who wants a shot at me meet me in your rec area in 30 minutes, it will give me time to warm up."

She stifled a bit of a sigh, though Dal couldn't help but notice a bit more of a jaunty step as she left his office.

*

A crowd gathered around the outskirts of the rec area. N'Tanya gave a snort of irritation as it looked like practically every off-duty crewmember, and probably some of the on-duty ones as well crowded into the rather spacious workout area, gym, and general recreation facilities.

Unlike the Dreamer, the battlecruiser had two things in abundance, space, and power, which meant that the recreation facilities were quite a bit more extensive then the smaller pirate vessel. Dominating the center of the room was a Val'sheth sphere, a combat sphere that the T'sil'nith used for competition as well as combat training in unusual gravity situations. The combat arena has 6 platforms on the cardinal 'points' of the sphere, each about 3 meters across. The platforms are joined by a 1 meter wide 'walkway' that connects each platform to each other. Provided enough power, the gravity within the sphere is completely fluid and controllable by command system. For standard bouts, all platforms and walkways become 'down' to the competitors, with zero-g in the center of the sphere, allowing acrobatics during a match.

N'Tanya stood outside the sphere, looking in, while she stretched in her skin-tight ship's jumpsuit, watching the sphere thoughtfully. She didn't even glance over when Dalarin walked up behind her, instead merely speaking up when his footsteps stopped,

"Sometimes I wonder if you've let the privileges of command get to your head cousin, what did it cost for you to get this thing installed here?"

"Oh, you know...the usual, a few favors, an immense amount of money and our family's irresistible charm. However, from what I understand, if the rumors are true, recreation is likely vastly more entertaining on your ship. However do you keep discipline there, with such a...close relationship with your command crew?"

She smirked slightly and finished stretching, while she looked over at the still-growing crowd. Unlike her ship, this ship was entirely crewed by a single race, and many of them were looking at her admiringly, or were whispering and joking with each other. A few of them were speaking to a particularly large male, who kept looking her way with a sneer. She narrowed her eyes for a moment, before she responded a bit more sharply,

"Oh, my crew knows the difference between what we do for recreation, and the well-being of the ship. I generally only have to make...one or two examples to new crew before they understand the difference between their duty and what they do while off the clock."

His only response was another good-natured chuckle, while he stood to her side and shook his head, looking out over the crowd. "I'm sure that example is quite affecting, I do hope when you are making your point, you don't injure him too much." He noticed her gaze at the large crewman, and stifled another smile, "I do prefer not to have to use too many medical resources repairing my people when you make your point so plain."

"No promises, I suppose it depends on how many layers my point has to drill through." She responded with one saucier grin, before she finally walked up to the combat sphere and stepped in.

The shift in gravity wasn't very disorienting in the starting position, because the bottom-most platform was still down, but she did test her movements, detecting the little variations coming from the constant changes in orientation. She then looked around before speaking up,

"I'm accepting all challenges, standard rules, 1 point for a knockdown, 2 for a pin, and match loss for getting knocked out of the sphere, or surrendering. We Play to 10 points." She looked around with a smile, "I'm sure there's someone out there that wants their chance to take down the big bad captain of the _Starlight Dreamer,_isn't there?"

Predictably, the crowd gathering around the large male started talking more loudly, and pointing at the sphere. He didn't need much prompting though, and walked over to the sphere and hopped up onto the starting platform without bothering to strip off his excess gear.

N'Tanya looked over him, up close he was easily a third-meter taller than she was, and his developed muscles showed through the ship's jumpsuit. The markings on his uniform placed him as a Shak'va Team Leader, the elite ground troops used to board ships and take on hard-points in ground assaults. That meant he probably had some experience in variable G environments. She bowed to him formally as she introduced herself,

"I am N'Tanya Tsarchon, Captain of the Starlight Dreamer and I hope for an honorable fight, with swift victory for the most deserving."

His bow was perfunctory at best, and his tone full of irony as he replied,

"I am Taelith Naroen, Commander of Shak'Va three, and may the fight end in victory for he who fights fiercest." He emphasized the 'he' a bit strongly before he straightened again.

N'Tanya rolled her eyes, but still was ready for him when as soon as he finished straightening he lashed out with a sweep-kick to her legs, going for the early point. She was in motion by then though, as she leapt straight upwards. As soon as her feet got more than a half-meter off the surface, the zero-g kicked in and she twisted around until she landed on the platform 'above' him. She looked down to him and smiled slightly, while he snarled and ran around the walkways towards her. She shook he head, as his two-dimensional fighting style became glaringly obvious, and as he approached, took up a wide fighting stance.

He tried simply bowling her over with his greater size and mass, running full steam around the sphere to the sounds of cheering and shouts below. She slipped him easily though, and with a gentle-seeming hand at the back of one shoulder, gave him a push over her thigh that sent him sprawling across the platform.

"Point for me, I think," she said simply, while he scrambled back to his feet and faced her. Even this soon into the match he looked like he was losing his composure, but he soon regained control of his expression, and approached her much more cautiously.

What followed was a flurry of attack and defense, as he tried to punch her, kick her, grab her, or in any way get a hold of N'Tanya's slippery movements, while she deftly moved around him, placing blows across thighs, stomach, chest and sides. She deliberately held back, but each blow obviously had an effect, as he soon was panting hard with each attack series, while she still looked perfectly clean. He attempted one grab of an outstretched hand, which she gave him. With a look of triumph he yanked her closer, and she used the momentum as she planted one foot on his chest and kicked upwards with her other. The release of gravity gave her the momentum she needed, and as his head snapped back and he dropped to the platform she sailed across the sphere to another platform where she watched him pick himself back up.

"I heard that someone has to train for over a decade to get into a Shak'Va strike team, I guess they grossly overestimate their training program, don't they."

She gave him another sardonic smile, as a large bruised formed on the side of his face. He shook his head again and apparently decided to take a page from N'Tanya's playbook. He leapt directly off the platform towards the smaller woman, his arms outstretched in a clumsy attempt to grab her.

So it was somewhat of a shock when instead of running, or dodging, N'Tanya simply leapt straight up to meet him. To the crowd outside the combat sphere, it looked like she was jumping straight into his arms...at least until she grabbed his jumpsuit, planted a foot against his chest, spun and kicked him away. She grinned and waved to him as he sailed away...right out between the gap of the walkways at the top of the sphere, where the momentum carried him into the ship's normal gravity. At that point down was down, and he dropped to the ground with a loud thump.

N'Tanya, on the other hand, twisted in the air and caught one of the walkways as she went by and easily pulled herself back up onto it. She walked down to the bottom platform and looked out of the sphere, feigning innocence as she looked at her opponent's prone form.

"Oh, I hope he didn't end up too hurt. I guess that means I won though."

A brief silence, then whoops and applause reached her inside the sphere, while a couple of the big man's crewmates quickly dragged him off to the side. N'Tanya couldn't help but grin widely at the response, and that grin didn't dim one bit when she felt a hand brush across her shoulder,

"Now then Captain? Was humiliating him like that really needed? I'm sure he would have learned something just from losing."

She glanced back at the male she knew would be behind her, the tall, lanky form of Loftwyn, Dalarin's second in command. Unlike the big brute on the floor, he was about her height, and managed to somehow hide his toned body even under the usually close-fitting jumpsuits. She privately suspected that he had them make them too big for him, so others underestimated him...not that she did.

"Mmmm, types like that, they need something a little more memorable before they learn a lesson. Maybe next time he won't underestimate an enemy combatant." She then looked back and gave a genuine smile to him, "You don't do that, do you? I'd hate for you to think that you underestimate me." She continued, while her hand crept up and covered his hand on her shoulder.

"I know much better then to ever underestimate the great rogue N'Tanya...terror of deep space, plunderer of whole planets, the one who has the council trembling in their boots." He grinned in return, "But if you aren't sure...how about we have our rematch and you can find out."

*

Hands roved over bruised flesh, eliciting low gasps and moans as two bodies moved in a different sort of competition. Heavy breaths mixed in a deep kiss, as hips rolled against another, and dark flesh pressed in long, slow movements. A long, dark length slid in and out of N'Tanya's depths as she rested atop Loftwyn's firm, lithe thighs and leaned over for yet another kiss. Her modest breasts pressed against his chest and deformed as he pressed upwards, doing his best to move within her, to penetrate her as deeply as possible. Their kiss lasted until his hand grazed up over her rib, and inadvertently pressed into a deep bruise that rapidly changed colors across N'Tanya's ribs. She gasped and straightened up, placing her hands on his chest to brace her body as she looked down on him.

"Mmmm, watch that bruise...though I have to say...you definitely learned a couple things since I was last here."

She smiled genuinely to him, and lifted one hand off his muscular chest and clasped his hand over her rib. She moved the hand up to her lips and grinned teasingly to him while she settled on his hips. She just rocked her hips back and forth slowly, barely moving while he was fully inside her, though she teased by drawing his middle finger into her lips. He watched her tongue glide across the tip and licked his own lips before her replied.

"Well, someone keeps kicking my ass...so I have to learn some new tricks, just to keep up," his words emphasized by a rolling thrust up, he hiked his legs up against her back, providing her something a little more supportive of her while she continued moving in small gestures, his finger still between her lips.

She grinned wickedly and bit firmly, at the same time rippling her internal muscles, causing him to gasp and actually pause a moment before he grabbed away his finger. Her own hand freed, she reached back with both hands, slid them along his strong calves, and grabbed his ankles. So braced, she picked up the pace and slid up and down his length more enthusiastically, showing off each time his lovely cock spread her open and filled her so deliciously.

"Well...you caught me by surprise a couple of times, to be sure."

She grinned down to him, as their post fight banter almost was as much a tradition as the hard, intense sex that followed. They had already spent most of their immediately energy in an earlier round where he fucked her hard and fast from behind, so this time she was feeling more leisurely in her pace. That didn't mean passive though, so she rolled her hips on each downward thrust, and squeezed down on his length, evoking another moan of pleasure. She let go with her right hand and reached forward, tracing the silver tattoos that decorated Loftwyn's shoulder and chest, icons of rank, family, status, and accomplishments. She only followed them to a bruise just below his pecs where a rather vicious kick caught him on the rebound from one of the platforms, before she dug a couple of fingers in.

His eyes snapped open and he growled, before he grinned at the retaliation and brought his own hands up so he could squeeze and caress N'Tanya's athletic breasts, pinching the nipples before he responded.

"I swore I had you, I should've won that one, you were locked up...you were almost out the ring, but where did you learn that twisting move?"

As he asked, he twisted her nipples slightly, grinning up at her before she squeezed down on his length again, that broke his concentration, and a buck of his hips sent a bit of his pre-cum to mix with the copious deposit from their previous session. He also started thrusting upwards a bit more vigorously into her, no longer content to be the passive ride for her pleasure, and he was rewarded by sigh of pleasure, before she bent over again and kissed his chest, and then nipped the side of his neck. He turned his head to the side as her breath caressed his ear as she spoke,

"Dirty fighting, plain and simple...you learn every trick you can when you don't have an army to back you up. So I always keep a few dirty tricks up my sleeve."

Her voice was breathy, intense, but she followed it by matching his thrusts by moving up and down in counterpoint to his movements. Soon they were back to hard, fast fucking, but every time he tried to withdraw she tightened down her internal muscles, so even with her hot, slick pussy well lubricated, it was incredibly tight as he tried to withdraw. He soon lost himself to the sensation, and wrapped his hands around and grabbed her ass, trying to get her to move faster, longer on his body. She resisted, slightly, but she soon heard the change in his breathing, and felt the distinctive swell and heat as he neared his peak. She met his lips and kissed him heatedly as they moved together.

His control wasn't quite as good as hers, and he was the first to go, the squeezing heat along his length was too much for him, and he unleashed a series of hot, hard blasts into her waiting sex. He groaned, and she panted with each surge and thrust upwards, until his spasms passed, and the thick mixture of her wetness, and his cum squeezed out and made quite the mess of their thighs. When he caught his breath, she grinned impishly and leaned down and kissed him again,

"I guess you won that won...but you think you have enough to finish me off?"

He grunted and ran his hands up to her thighs, clenching them and then suddenly twisting so he was on top of her, between her thighs. He licked his lips again before he responded to the challenge,

"I think I can manage."

He replied, before he started thrusting hard into her sopping wet pussy. He didn't go for subtlety, or control, since just after his orgasm he knew he needed to keep the stimulation up to stay hard, so instead he just tried to pound her into the bed like trying to make her part of it. She reached up and grabbed his hips, her nails digging in with each thrust as his cock nearly found her deepest recesses. He ground into her, and he reached one hand down and thumbed her clit with each stroke. There was nothing more complex than simple animal lust and the need to get her off behind his actions, and even this was enough for her. Soon her body bucked beneath him, and her sex clenched around him, squeezing him and pulling down, trying to draw him in further as her peak rocked through her body.

Soon they panted as they lay against each other, the sweat pouring from them, while she idly traced patterns across his chest, reached downwards and stroked his length as it lay against his thigh. He groaned and looked at her,

"Mmmphh, I'm not a machine you know...I do require some recovery time," he teased her in a light tone.

"Maybe...but you certainly are well-oiled like a machine."

She grinned impishly and raised her fingers to her lips, showing him as she licked them clean of her mixed wetness. Despite his body's protest, he couldn't help but feel a twitch of interest below at the sight. He sighed and looked to her,

"You know, as much as I love making up for lost time, if you actually went to the council I am sure they would sanction your escapades, and then you wouldn't have to leave in such a hurry all the time." His hand caressed over her hip, though as he pulled her to him he felt a little resistance as reaction to his words.

"There are too many that I've...offended for them to truly allow me back in. Besides, then I'd always have to be reporting on where I am and where I'm going. I just won't let anyone else dictate that." She lazily stroked his length again, defusing the argument by the simple expedient of getting him nice and hard, though slowly. "Besides, I'm sure that this wouldn't be nearly as exciting if we didn't know I was going to leave eventually." She grinned again to him, and bent over, so her lips and tongue went to his shaft, cleaning their drying fluids from him, and provoking another groan from his lips.

"Fine, fine! You win this time...but one of these days I'm going to win in the arena, just you wait," his tone was light though, as her lips soon coaxed him back to full hardness.

That was just before the alarm interrupted them, with the klaxon's tones alternating blaringly through the cabin.

"Battlestations, all crew to battle stations, this is not a drill. Captain Tsarchon, please report to the bridge. Battlestations, all crew to battle stations..."

*

Earlier

Sires looked over the continually confounding data the medical scanners conveyed to her personal pad, as she stood by the bedside of their very unusual ship-guest. The human woman responded well enough to the sedative, and was slumbering peacefully to all outward signs, but the scanners showed quite a different story.

Her body was almost back in her coma state, but her brain activity continued increasing, as she remained slumbering on the bed. The implants through her brain looked like they expanded past their original connection points, and were trying to connect the various parts of her brain that apparently were damaged during the original burnout. They were supplementing and supporting additional systems, and there was certainly something going on in there. Sires saw signs that looked like REM sleep, and the movement of the girls' eyes underneath her lids supported that, but there were deeper levels of activity that made no sense to her.

Her tail gave an involuntary twitch behind her, and she let out a low growl as she dropped the pad onto the table next to her while staring at the human woman who was so confounding her. One of her assistants, another Kirristh male stepped up somewhat hesitantly to the dragon doctor.

"So...what do you think really happened to her? They wouldn't experiment on their own people, would they? I mean, those just must be some kind of weird pilot thing."

He gestured to the girl with a thrust of his muzzle, though he did keep a respectful distance from the bed. With an irritated glance she noted the somewhat spooked posture in his stance and hpfed in frustration.

"I really can't keep saying I don't know, and maintain my smug doctorial superiority...but that's just it, I don't know anything. If they were desperate for pilots, I wouldn't put it past any culture to force their people to do it, and considering how they kidnapped those other races, I would say that it is quite likely they were. I just don't know why...and what the end result is supposed to do."

She reached over and gave the crewman, Tirrarr, if she remembered his name correctly a light pat on his ass, which was in convenient reach from her sitting position. He jumped, and then responded with a slight smile in response before she continued.

"Whatever they were trying to do though, I don't think they succeeded, for her to have a reaction like that to our systems. I'm sure the captain will have more to say on the subject when she gets back from the other ship. Until then, I am going to get some rest. Watch her, keep her sedated, let me know if her condition changes."

When he acknowledged her instructions, she stood up and walked out of the medical bay, with one last thoughtful look at the young human woman that seemed to be stirring up so much interest in the captain.

*

Sounds, different sounds in different tones assailed her ears. She wasn't truly aware of them, but she absorbed them anyway, took them in, and processed them. Systems and pathways that never connected before flooded with new information as she heard first a light, almost melodic set of sounds, and then another set, much lower, in a deeper register with a hard, growling undertone. Both sets of sounds contained the same base pattern though, and processes that once took years of training and practice accelerated as the unconscious recognition of language filtered through her brain. The sounds cycled through her newly connected brain tissue beneath even her dream-state, building a functional level of language without any conscious thought.

Her dreams were much less pleasant, and much less ordered or processed. In her mind fragments of experiences passed through her brain, sensations of cold surfaces, pain and intrusion into her brain, and then finally icy cold filtering and passing through her body. Images of darkness, and then images of races and species she'd never seen but only heard of filtered through her dream. Somehow she knew them all on some deep, unconscious level, and one by one she saw them sedated, placed in crates, and put into a transport of some kind. Figures in full medical suits approached her, and despite her struggles to move, to say anything, to resist, she could do nothing as they slipped an injector against her throat and the cold hiss of air punctured her skin. Her dream-self focused on one thing before she slipped away, a small device placed in the corner of each crate, before each crate closed.

Her dream-self's eyes closed, just as her eyes opened onto the real world.

*

Sires' comm buzzed incessantly, not more than an hour after her tired, but puzzle filled mind finally quieted enough that she managed something resembling sleep. She growled low in her throat, and unconsciously extended her clawtips as she pushed up from the bed. She cursed low as she realized her claws caught in the bedding, and then gave another irritated twitch of her tail before she reached over and hit the intercom button.

"What is it? This better not be something stupid like another brawl, or I might have to..."

"It's the human patient, she's...umm, she's awake, and she's asking for you," the voice of Tirrarr cut her off, making her squint a moment as that thought made it's way through her brain.

"The sedatives wore off, just give her more and...wait, she asked for me?"

"Yes doctor, I was just about to give her another dose, when she grabbed me and wouldn't let me, then she asked for 'the lizard lady that was there when I woke up the first time'. I didn't want to force her," he concluded, "What should I do?"

"Just...just don't inject her; I will be there in a minute." Sires, cut the intercom and got to her feet, pulling on her coveralls as fast as she dared.

*

"So...were you faking it before, or just hiding the fact that you do actually speak standard?"

Sires stood at the foot of the girls' bed, with her arms crossed in a gesture that she hoped look particularly stern. The girl, on the other hand, was not making any sudden movements in the bed, but her eyes gleamed, and she didn't have the doped look that someone coming off heavy sedation should carry as they woke up.

"No, I don't...get, how I learned. I wake up, and sounds...make sense in head. More I hear...more sense they make." The human frowned, and Sires could actually read the confusion in her face. She and the captain's species' weren't actually that far apart, biologically, and either she was a master liar, or every thought she had was plain across her face.

"I find that a little hard to believe that you could pick up an entire language, just by hearing a few people speak it for a few minutes," the medic pressed, though she also looked at the pad in her hand, which showed that the neural implants had stopped growing for the moment. They formed quite a net intertwined with the human's brain.

"I...know, it's...it's odd, but I remember more...things, make sense more," her voice became a little stronger, even as Sires noticed that her language skilled seemed like they improved from moment to moment. "Did, you...pull me out of the box?"

"Yes...and when we tried to figure out what you were, you caused problems with our systems. Do you know why?"

A headshake, followed by her head held in her hands, was the girls' only negative, but she then looked back up to Sires, and the medic could see the fear plain on her face, "Did...did you find the, the umm...the tracker? I think, I think they put them in each box."

"Tracker? You mean they bugged each box?" The medic let out a very undignified curse, and gestured to the Kirristh male, "Watch her for a second." She glanced over at the human before she rushed over to the comm station and punched in her code. "Medical override code, get me Captain Tsarchon on the other ship, it's critical..."

Timing, timing, it's always about timing, they'd been in place for several hours, was that long enough for someone to triangulate their position, and figure we weren't leaving in a hurry? Was that long enough for them to figure on a fix, or to get reinforcements while...

"Patching you through to the Driving Blow now....wait, what is that? Unknown signal coming..."

Alarms blared through the ship, and Sires lowered her head to the console...timing, it was all about timing.

*

"It appears...cousin; that you have someone taking more of an interest in you then you thought."

Dalarin watched the sensor data coming in from his ship in a wide console that duplicated most of the functions of the secondary officers on the bridge, giving him a moment-by-moment view of surrounding space. What was showing that particular moment was three large ships closing on their position from the edge of the asteroid field, blithely brushing through smaller asteroids in a headlong rush towards the two ships.

"Oh, and apparently you have a call from your ship, you can take it there."

He gestured to one of the unoccupied secondary consoles while he looked at the approaching ships. N'Tanya noticed he didn't have a look of concern, despite a glance at his console, which told her that the ships approaching them were at least a match for the Driving Blow if not a slight edge on it. She sat down at the secondary station and hit the command that connected her to her ship, but she could not suppress a look of surprise when Sires' face appeared on the screen.

"Sires? What is it? I think you can see we have a bit more to think about than a medical update."

"Captain, you should know, our patient is up and talking, and she told me that there are trackers in all the sleeper's cases."

N'Tanya frowned at that, "We swept them all for trackers, we didn't get anything." She looked over a the closing ships, and on one screen saw a sprinkle of indicators...some kind of projectile weapon darting through the asteroid field at them, guided. She also saw the Driving Blow moving between the attacking ships and the Dreamer so she nodded and continued talking.

"She is very insistent...and captain, she's talking in standard, she couldn't before. I don't think she's lying."

N'Tanya's mind was half on that information, half gathering everything she could from the reports coming in from the crew on this less familiar bridge. A shudder passed through the hull of the vessel as at least one of the projectile weapons made it through whatever defenses the ship put up, but a shouted report from one corner reported minimal damage.

"All right, I'm going to try and get back to the ship. Hold there as long as you can, pass my orders along to the bridge, if I can't get back, or it gets to hot, get out and meet at our third rendezvous. Everyone knows what to do." She didn't add the 'if I don't make it' though the meaning was evident in her voice.

Sires nodded, "good Luck," were her only words before she cut the connection.

N'Tanya turned back to Dalarin, "Well, I assume you heard...if you make it out of this you better double and triple check those sleepers for tracking devices. Now, what's the fastest way to a shuttle?"

"I can't do that cousin, these guys are closing in too quickly, and anything as large as a shuttle is probably going to end up shot out of the sky. I must admit, I think you've actually managed to piss off someone more than our family, these guys are serious. I might even have a challenge fighting them off."

He turned to his console, then looked over the bridge, "Helm, take us on this heading, " he touched one of his consoles, "Yes, I know it means that big rock there might be trouble, trust me." He grinned as he looked back to N'Tanya, "I think I can do something for you though. We have these wonderful suits of battle armor, space-worthy, and I bet we even have one in your size..."

N'Tanya knew that look in his eyes, and gave an exasperated sigh, "You're bound and determined to kill me, aren't you."

"Would I do that? I bet Loftwyn would just be inconsolable." He laughed, "Ventral locks, bay C m'dear cousin, have fun!"

*

N'Tanya's breath rasped somewhat harder then she thought in the battle armor as she finally approached the side of the Dreamer. After a fast run, and a hurried assembly of the powered vacuum suit, she had dumped out to space, with the gamble that something her size would get ignored by the approaching ships, or at least disregarded as unimportant.

The gamble worked, but getting away with it was entirely a different experience as she floated through space, with flashes of high energy weapons, and the silent blooms of fire from explosions of various kinds of missiles and projectile weapons occasionally coming close enough that her faceplate polarized from the flare. She risked a glance back at her cousin's ship as she approached her own. She could see fire sprouting from at least four different locations on the ship's hull, and even as she watched, another beam lanced out from one of the approaching ships and impacted one of the engines, tearing a wide gash in the battleships armor.

N'Tanya clicked on her comm as she approached the airlock, finally breaking radio silence while the _Dreamer_maneuvered away from the conflict.

"Rakarra, open the damn airlock, this battlesuit is stuffy as hell, and we need to get out of here. What's the fight look like?"

If the feline was surprised at all that the small piece of drifting debris was their captain, he didn't give any clue as he quickly responded.

"Captain, the three enemy vessels have inflicted some bad damage on the Driving Blow but it looks like they are trying to disable it. One of them is breaking off for us, we were about to jump out...aaand, it looks like they noticed you. Incoming!"

N'Tanya suppressed a wince at the final word, as a similar beam of coherent energy lanced across the space between one of the big ships and the Dreamer. The beam missed her, not that she could have done anything about it, and hit her ship just aft of the main cargo bay. Crystallized vapor and flame jetted out into space where the beam tore a ragged gash that marred the beautiful hull of her ship. She spared one glance at the damage from outside, before she slipped into the finally open airlock.

"Get us the hell out of here, before someone does something that really pisses me off."

The airlock clanked shut behind her, and a few moments later she felt the wrench in her stomach that signified their escape yet again.

*