Playthings of the Rich and Famous

Chapter Five

By StripedKittyScribe

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My name is "Rocky," and that's about how my life has gone. A product of the Galatea Corporation that went awry, my destiny seems to lie somewhere among the stars. If only I could stop getting sidetracked on his way there! Sold to Angelic Escapes, I spend my days trying to discover just what it is that's wrong with me. Or is that what's right with me? It's hard to tell with how my assignments go.

This story may include bondage, random diatribes, dubious/non-consensual sex, tips for being a better lover, domination, comedy, sadism, distractions, masochism, impossible sex acts for mere mortals, exhibitionism, broken/fake science, sex machines, and intrigue. There. I warned you. Now if you keep going and you find something that you don't like, it's not my fault!

(Editor's note: I tried to keep him on track, I swear to god. It's like trying to get an 8 year old to remember what happened 5 minutes ago when he just got a new toy just now. As it stands, I'm still transcribing his various mutterings and wanderings, so this may take some time. Bear with us as I try to get him to focus on something long enough to talk about it without shifting to 'this one time at slut camp'.)

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Customer Service Training

You would think that after nearly three weeks of training, we would be done! Except we weren't. Not even close. Remember what I said about how the first part of our day was taken up by that 'duty shift', which for me was engineering? And the second part of the day was 'other duties as assigned'? That was going to be a largely flexible time block. Which is to say, everyone got two additional skills shoved into their imprinting kit and locked in so that if we got new data, that wouldn't have to be re-set each time. Everyone could have these skills, it just took more time to get them set up, and they likely wouldn't be as polished.

Lemme give you an example. My two skills were bartending, and climbing. If someone aboard the Angelic Passion decided that they wanted to have some fun that didn't involve the horizontal tango (or the zero-g tango, that was a new one on our ship!) they could put in a request with the ship's computer for, say, a wall climbing and ropes course session.

No, not THAT kind of ropes course. Perv.

THAT kind of ropes course was professionally rigged and usually had us as the receiving end of whatever was going on. Usually happened on the third week of the voyage, once everyone had settled in. Good times. I remember this one time I got put in this 69 with Percée, the mink from 6th shift who ran their life support. No, not 'Percy'. 'Percée'. Fuck, that guy had a stick up his ass about everything, and he was not happy when he got pushed into place with me and then we ended up sucking on each other while getting our asses tapped by... well, I'm not sure who was in me, but I know for a fact Tai was in him. Whoever it was in me (I think it was Oste from Lei's shift) really wanted it, and set me off all over 'Percée' who pulled back and got absolutely drenched in me. Totally not my fault.

Where was I?

Oh right. No, an actual ropes course, climbing-walls. If someone wanted to run that, I was the guy who did it. Unless the only time that they were willing to do it was when I wasn't available, nor were any of the other 3 who could. Or we were booked with something else. If that happened, they could pull someone who wasn't booked for their specialty, put the climbing skillset into their imprinting kit during the morning spin-up, and it would work just fine. Next time they got their morning spin-up, no more climbing skills. So if I was busy bartending a private party, and someone wanted to have a climbing session, another person could cover it.

They didn't have the custom gear that we did if we were the primary. "But Rocky," I can hear you say, "what kind of custom gear do you need for bartending? Surely they didn't give you a set of custom tumblers and a shaker and that little measuring cup thing that no one remembers the name for." You're correct, friends! They did not give me a custom shaker or tumbler or jigger. That thing is called a jigger by the way.

No, I got fitted for costumes. What kind of bartender was I going to be? A beachfront bartender? Open shirt and swim trunks. You'd think that one would have taken the least amount of time. No. It did not. The lady doing the fitting spent nearly an hour 'arranging' the shirt so that it sit 'correctly' on my chest. I think that she was upset that they'd put a stop to having members of Angelic Escapes 'sampling' us. We were somehow getting further behind on schedule, and I had no idea why, or even how. Above my pay grade, I guess.

Anyway. Formal costume, complete with slacks and a white shirt and jacket and tie. Now, this one you may have expected to take the longest, and you would be right. If you expected that it would take the longest because they couldn't decide which color to make my tie. Black? Oh, my dear friend, that would have made it easy. No, no no. No.

Teal? Purple! Blue. Ooh, green! No. Blue. Green! Blue! GREEN! BLUE! Nowait, I have it! Dark blue. Teal. Purple. Dark purple? Dark blue. Light blue! Blue! Gurple! Been! Blue, glue, turple, dight geal, peen... hehe... 'peen'.

By the way, it really was about that mature. I know that I probably have screwed myself over with the whole 'Rocky exaggerates and goes on tangents' but I'm not joking here. There were these two women and a guy arguing and shoving swatches of fabric in each other's faces for nearly 15 minutes. And when I tried to be the adult in the room?

... What? ... Oh fuck you, it happens. .... .....

Sometimes.

LOOK I TRIED, OKAY?!

SO WHEN I tried to be the adult in the room and say 'maybe you should do a couple of each color with different kinds of ties,' I got told to stuff my tail in my muzzle. So which color did we end up with? Guess.

No, really. Guess.

Fuschia.

It's a kinda pink, for the record. Actually works really well with the black jacket and my fur, I'm not gonna lie. Would have personally picked the teal but as noted, I didn't get to have a say. I got to chew on my tail.

The last outfit that they spent any kind of time on was the outfit that I'm going to call 'ladies night'. Even if it's for guys too. It's the one that you're probably imagining right now. Bare chest. Little speedo number with a fake row of 'tuxedo button studs' down the front. White button down collar, black bow tie. It was the one I hated the most. Not because of the bow tie. Not even because it looked horrible. It... actually didn't. But because that fucking collar just would NOT sit straight. Look. You have something like that without a shirt to hook it to, and you turn your head at all, it spins. And then the whole look is ruined. And no, you can't really pin it to the fur, it just slides free. Pain in the ass. Nevermind that everyone wants to pull you down by the bow tie for a kiss, and that always skews it.

Note that I said 'the last outfit they spent any kind of time on'. There were a half dozen other outfits that they put together for me as a bartender, and I would be required to have weekly measurements taken in order for adjustments to be made and any 'special request' outfits. What kind of special outfits? I had to do a whole bartending gig in a showgirl's outfit. Teddy. Corset. Stockings. Heels.

Who wanted to get my two-meter-tall butch-ass frame in heels? Four words: Gay. Rodent. Bachelor. Party. They nearly had to cart Erika and Lei to sickbay for breathing troubles, they were laughing so hard. Urujani patted me on the head and told me that I looked 'sweet'. It... honestly wasn't so bad, at least not in terms of the party. Heels were a pain in the head. It put me so tall that I was constantly knocking my head on things.

Anyway.

I got kitted out pretty quickly for the climbing gear, that was pretty simple honestly; shorts and a tee shirt, harness. And yes, I actually did have a tee shirt. Because it was a serious climbing and ropes course, several of the sections required more than just something around my hips.

Everyone else got fitted out. Lei? I almost mopped the floor with my tongue when I heard from one of the other guys that she had a red lifeguard one-peice. Oh, I wanted to see her in that. I wanted to see her in that so badly. And yes. I made the jokes about mouth to mouth. Come on, they're there, I had to.

You'd have been disappointed in me if I hadn't made the joke. And even better, I actually got it. Showed up this one time while she was running a pool party because one of the passengers wanted extra eye candy and funtimes. Guest pushed my head underwater to eat her out. Held me there for too long, and Lei dove in and dragged me out.

Was I in danger? Probably. Did I need the mouth to mouth? Not strictly speaking. Did I stop her? FUCK no. Did she get a whole day's worth of attention the next time we were in port and all of the passengers were off the ship? Damn straight. And she wore the swimsuit for me. I even managed to not get in trouble ripping it to shreds pulling it off of her, though that's almost more due to the material than my lack of urgency and passion.

... Where was I?

Right, kitting out.

So we all ended up with our various costumes. Erika had this adorable sort of hausfrau getup for her, and I probably earned her mockery for that showgirl laughing session when I first saw it. My only excuse is that I wore my costumes well and proudly. She looked like she wanted to shred the lace for even touching her. Urujani had something similar for her cooking, and she looked utterly blissful in it.

Erika couldn't care less that Kangto and I had matching suits. Urujani on the other hand? She got in trouble several times for making herself unavailable coming to parties where he sang and I bartended. Was she involved in a few impromptu stage shows with him and or me? Yes. The only reason that she didn't get in more trouble was that the audience loved it.

So we all went through our secondary training. I got to meet the rest of the climbing crew. Awehe was on the same shift as my fellow engineer Meru. She was a squirrel, all rust-colored fur and lean lines. I kinda felt bad for him, she was nearly as aggressive as Ijuba. Poor guy probably got about as much rest as I did. Which is to say, not a lot.

Kniven was on Ijuba's shift, and with him and Meru at least the ladies wouldn't be going without enthusiastic participants. He was even leaner than I was, and I was a little shocked that they had a stag working the climbing duties. Still, his antlers didn't get in the way, maybe because he kept them pretty heavily trimmed. Pruned? Never asked, we didn't do a lot together. Quiet guy.

Last was the one that I really pitied. Susan. Not that she wasn't a talented climber. But because whoever did her settings decided that the sliders were a little too constricting. She was absolutely massive up top. Tits, I mean, not shoulders. We had a couple of amazons (mmmmm death by snu snu scenarios...) but Susan was just implausibly large in terms of curves. She had to bind her chest, simply so that she wasn't pushed too far from the wall to actually scale anything. She was a raccoon girl, a little on the short side. Little bit on the bitchy side, but mostly because she just couldn't get away from her... er... obstructions.

Did some work with my fellow bartenders, too. These I saw a lot more, occasionally we'd need to double up, if schedules allowed, for big parties. Either working in shifts or just handling the volume. Remember my comment about 'amazons'? She was one. Big mare. BIG. Urujani was tall but proportionally 'right', for whatever that 'should' mean for a woman. Kukah could probably have twisted bolts by hand in the engine room. Why in the name of the void she was on life support, I'll never know. Sweet girl, though. She had that whole 'big country mare' thing going on. Had a few times with her, and it felt a little weird that she usually overpowered me during the actual act, stretching my arms over my head, and then being the one that needed cuddles and after care as if she'd done something wrong.

Dillon was a bit of an odd ram. He was also built with the sliders for muscle and bulk thrown all the way over, but he did sculpting and painting with Urujani. I don't know about you, but any time I see someone who's over 215 cm tall and nearly 120 kg, I don't necessarily think that they're a brute or a thug. Are they coming at me with a weapon drawn? Besides the one between their legs? That's a heavy influence on that judgment of course. But I also don't instantly think that they've got the kind of deft touch to apply just the right amount of paint or not knock the stone over when they try chiseling something. And yes, he wasn't just the 'big male model'. He actually participated, and from what Urujani said, he was really good with systemscapes.

Abeba was built like Lei. She had a lot of spots and splotches on her fur, all browns and golds and blacks like most Painted Dogs. You might think that I was the partier of the group, what with my irreverence and magnetic draw. Nope. Abeba was all about the parties and being as wild as possible. I'd make drinks for people and generally be okay with not having any. Maybe a shot with someone as the whole companionable bartender who knows how to listen and can help take your mind off of the fact that your husband is over there balls deep inside another woman during the orgy. Abeba? She'd be the first one to start a drinking contest. Then strip her top off and start cracking jokes. Hysterical. Absolutely hysterical jokes, too. Even if you were the butt of them.

So we spent our time getting to know each other and doing a bit of training with that. The bartending thing was more of a problem than the climbing for me because it wasn't problem solving as much as it was just brute memorization of recipes and trying to guess if someone actually meant 'neat' or 'up', or if they actually meant 'seltzer' instead of 'soda'. Not that I'm a bad mixologist, just that it's a bit more of a challenge for me with constantly rotating customers.

After we all got our outfits, and went through the various training and polishing courses, and our secondary and tertiary checkups with Galatea staff, we 'graduated'. Only two days behind schedule, and not a single bit of it could be blamed on us. This meant that what should have been a week of familiarization with the crew and ship got cut down to five days.

Once again, I was mournfully separated from Lei. We had different supervisors, and I got to share a supervisor with Bilatah. The supervisor didn't seem to understand the memo that we weren't supposed to do anything 'fun' during our shift. And for whatever reason, I got it worse than Bilatah. No, he wasn't strictly gay. I saw him with women plenty of times. But for some reason that he never articulated, he wanted under my tail all the time, and due to scheduling, he almost never got it.

Never really did all that much with Bilatah either. Nice enough, and we did a couple of things every now and then, but I think that she was way more interested in other people on the crew and to be honest, so was I. The one thing that we did bond over was bitching about our boss to each other. She couldn't stand him because he was slack on reporting engine problems (it 'made him look bad') and I couldn't stand him because he was constantly trying to get me to peel out of my coveralls during shift.

The captain was nice, though. Imagine someone that just can't happily exist on a planet. Grew up Republic Navy, first career was Republic Navy (full retirement with honors) and second career was Angelic Escapes. Lean, small, grey-muzzle canine mutt of some sort. Sharp grey eyes, close-cropped hair and fur. Totally professional bridge crew, too. I never heard even a whisper of anyone who worked on the bridge being harassed or even asked about 'maybe just this once' while on shift, not from any of the crews.

So we got ourselves familiarized with the ship, and the crew. And if you think that involved an insanely wild party where all of us screwed each other silly along with the crew, you would be extremely disappointed. Remember how I said the captain ran a tight ship? Extremely tight. The Angelic Passion hadn't had it's shakedown cruise yet, and we had five days to get it done and fix anything that came apart before we took our first set of passengers. Which meant that the passengers wouldn't be getting a virgin crew, or a virgin ship.

Was this a good idea? You bet your sweet ass it was. I won't go so far as to say that 'if it existed, it broke'. The hull didn't breach.

Technically.

Look it only happened once, and it wasn't actually a breach, it was a malfunctioning airlock. And no one died, we were all in our vac suits, and while the mechanical shutdowns sealed off everything but the affected compartment, I don't think any of the crew was even in there. The closest of my classmates to the event was Kukah, who was doing an inspection on the life support systems two compartments away. She says that she didn't even feel a 'significant' change in air pressure. I don't believe her. I heard that it took all three of her teammates cuddled up close to calm her down when it was supposed to be time for sleep.

Engineering wasn't free of problems either. The engines themselves weren't a problem, but the power exchange system was brand damn new. Supposedly it was a whole 4% more efficient than previous systems, and would require less downtime and attention from the crew. What they didn't say was that you had to keep everything exactly where it was supposed to be in order to get that done. Absolutely no slack. If anything, anything at all, was out of tune or sync by as much as 0.01% on either side of nominal, things went downhill so far and so fast that the curve might as well have been vertical. Thankfully, by the time that we got back to port, we'd figured out how to work with the damn things.

That and the captain practically held a gun to Angelic Escapes and told them to roll the software back to the previous version.

I won't say that the engineering crew ensured that he was properly thanked. I will say that it wasn't from a lack of trying. I offered, and he politely turned me down. I think that he was flattered, and maybe even interested, but he saw it as fraternization with the crew or something. Like I said, totally professional. Lot of respect for the guy.

We pulled up to the dock of the space station a day and change before we were supposed to take on passengers, and the captain called for all crews to stand down once shutdown procedures were completed. Dockhands and longshoremen would take care of loading sundries and equipment while we got some downtime. Beginning at 0001 ship time, shifts would start reporting for standard rotations, which gave us anywhere from 18 to 42 hours of down time. I was right in the middle, and every last one of the Galatea models decided to do the one thing that was sacred to us for the first four hours of that down time..

Sleep.

Oh, we had sex. After.

We were so tired after chasing down bugs and problems and doing repairs and scrambling around the ship that Abeba joked about Erika getting spitroasted by Percée and me, and she just mumbled 'okay'. No snark, no anger, just 'okay'. That was how exhausted we were. Me? I slept for like 8 hours.

I woke up in a pile of warm fur, and arms around me, and I had to PEE. Which was a problem because Kangto and Urujani were piled around me and it took almost five minutes to gently resettle limbs and untangle myself from the gordian knot that was their bodies and mine.

Don't get me wrong, I love both of them. I love the both of them and would do anything for them. I literally have put my life on the line for Kangto. We'll get to that story later. And I love me some cuddle time. But there's a time for cuddles, and there's a time when your bladder tells you 'if you don't take some pressure off of me, I am going to stage a revolt within your body and your liver and spleen and testicles are pissed enough at your abuse of us poor organs that they'll go on strike'. I take that threat very seriously.

After I went to the little jack-and-jil-ish suite we shared with Bilatah's team and quelled the impending DOOR, I took a shower. That's a Determined Organized Organal Revolt. Yes. The little fuckers had started painting picket signs.

I guess I haven't told you about our living quarters yet. Remember how I told Miss Juliet in my 'interview' with her that Angelic Escapes did the 'best in everything'? We got a little of that. There wasn't some kind of massive discrepancy between how the passengers slept and ate and our quarters. Don't get me wrong, we didn't have a whole month of utter indulgence where our every whim was catered to, but we weren't stuffed into frayed hammocks swaying over hissing water pipes either.

Our pods were set into the wall, which sounds creepy as all fuck. And objectively speaking it probably is. But to us? It's not. It's cozy, and homey. If you needed some quiet time? Slip in your pod. If something was wrong and you needed to get it looked at? Slip in your pod. Wanted to have actual sleep time and make sure that you didn't wake up with someone's knee accidentally provoking anatomical rebellions? Pod.

Next to the pods, everyone had their personal storage. Kind of a mix between a chest of drawers and an armoire. All my costumes and other stuff were stored in there. Thankfully we didn't have military style inspections. I've talked with other A.E. ship crews and they do. I'd have failed. And for any of you spacers out there who are thinking lewd jokes about 'captain's mast', those crews enjoyed their ship far less than we did. There's fun kinky time with a guy in uniform and a flogger. And then there's those poor fuckers.

Anyway. We'd piled into the single king-size bed for sleep. Even Erika, though she was tucked in behind Urujani when I woke up. She showed up a few minutes after I did, and took one of the other stalls while I got in the shower. When I got out of the shower, she'd gone tossed on a jumpsuit and left, probably to find something to eat.

Kangto and Urujani were awake when I got back, and they were both cuddling with each other. For a moment, I thought about going into my own pod, but Urujani reached a hand out toward me, and beckoned me to join them once more. She'd curled herself up behind Kangto and was being the big spoon while he drew her arms around his chest. When I pushed my way in and gave them both kisses good morning, Kangto looked like he was just about in heaven.

"Hey, kitty," he mumbled into my chest as he reached out to give me a squeeze.

"Hey," I responded, nuzzling at the top of his head, while Urujani kissed me between my ears. Anyone who says that they don't like women who are taller than they are is either lying through their teeth or has issues. Tall women are awesome. Short women are awesome. It's not about always getting the same thing. It's about finding what's fantastic about the dynamic between the two of you, and playing that to the hilt.

I was about to drift off to sleep once more, when I heard Urujani start to sing. She was okay. I won't say that she had a horrible voice (she didn't) or that she was tone deaf (she was) or any of that. She was just a very happy woman, and she wanted to sing. It was a strange song, at least for us. Something about fields and flowers and warm sunlight. None of us had ever really experienced that.

Kangto, bless his soul, let her sing and didn't show her up. We just laid there for what was probably a half hour, and then Kangto either ruined the moment, or made it. "Thank you for not participating, Rocky."

Everyone laughed. Even me. Sure, I 'retaliated', and the wrestling match got a little on the rough side. Urujani squealed and giggled furiously as she scooted to the edge of the bed while 'her two boys' rough housed and scrabbled and called each other more and more ridiculous names. I think that the only reason that Urujani didn't fall off the bed laughing was that her legs were hanging off of the edge of the bed already.

Kangto ended up on top of me, pinning my wrists to the sheets. I won't say that I 'let' him win. I will say that I was far more worried about actually hurting him, than I think he was about hurting me. Not that he was trying to hurt me! Just that he knew that I was a lot more powerful than he was, and that he could hold back less. Kangto was a slender, shorter guy. I had almost 20 cm on him, and over 20 kg of weight. Slender, handsome guy. Grey fur all over, velvet soft. Hazel eyes, and normally a perfectly coifed lounge singer hairstyle. Not 'pretty' but absolutely cute-handsome.

We'd both gotten aroused by the tussle, and he was grinding himself against me as he leaned over. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Kangto was the kind of guy that I kind of hated, but I really did love the little bastard, even if he frequently ended up getting the better of me during verbal exchanges. The fact that he talked me out of doing a monumental amount of dumb shit is probably beside the point. Normally, I'm on top of various sexual situations. Er. I'm on top during them. I don't mind being on the receiving end. It just alway seems like when the pants come off, everyone wants Rocky's Rock-hard inside them. Rocky's Rock-hard likes this. Rocky's Rock-hard works hard for your pleasure. Vote for Rocky's Rock-hard. This message has been paid for by the committee to Keep Rocky Hard Constantly.

Anyway. My point is that I'm usually the one pinning someone down, but Kangto is just as usually on top. Either we're sharing someone together, or in the past, I'd been behind him. As you have probably guessed, my life is dripping with sex. I think that it would not be too much of a stretch for me to say that the only times my dick isn't wet is when I'm working, or when I've just finished toweling off after a shower. And by the vast majority I've been the giver.

I am fine with this! I love giving, even if Rocky's Rock-hard isn't involved. I actually got in trouble once because I vastly overshot my mass limit for bringing things on a ship. And no, my excuse that they were for other people didn't work.

But there's more than one kind of giving, and as I've also said before, it's about finding the special part for you and whoever you're with.

Kangto wanted to be on top. Therefore, I wanted him to be on top. He leaned in and kissed me, slow, gentle, sweet, and I was a happy cat. The fact that he was stroking both of us may have influenced that purring happiness.

Urujani made a noise and we both looked over at her. She'd turned and was leaning against the headboard, one hand on her breasts, the other between her legs. "It's alright," she promised. "You two keep going. I want to watch."

I almost protested. I loved Urujani being involved. Hell, except for Erika, I loved everyone on our team being involved. But Kangto just nodded, and he kissed me again. And again. And again. Little bastard was almost more of a tease than I can be.

He started wandering his fingers across my chest, while I wrapped mine around him, and we both got so lost in just being with each other that I don't think that either of us realized how far we'd gotten until his tip was nudging against my ring and he had both of my knees pressed into the bed. I helped him steady his aim and he slowly rolled forward into me.

The loudest moan was from Urujani. She is sweet and loving and nurturing and kind. But she has a naughty streak a light year wide. Kangto looked up at her and grinned. "I think that we'll have to punish you for egging us on later," he said, and even managed a pretty creditable growl. Her blush was adorable.

"Just... d... don't stop with him. You two need it a lot more than I do." I wasn't sure what she meant. All of us were freakin' exhausted after the shakedown, even if we had just gotten a solid 8 hours of sleep and our next time on duty was going to put us right about 'on schedule' for our new circadian rhythm. Still, it was true. Kangto and I had been passing each other so much that I don't think that we'd even as much as grunted at each other for five days, if it hadn't involved a status or damage report.

Ladies? Just in case you were wondering. Guys, we can be really dumb about stuff. Not all of us, sure, and not all the time. So if we ever look at you after you tell us something, and it seems like there's nothing but bugs bouncing around between our ears or we look at you as if you've suddenly grown a new pair of ears or something weird like that? Just back up a bit down your chain of reasoning. Point out something more basic to us. Take pity. We really can be that dumb.

Once it was pointed out, it was obvious. Kangto and I did need this. We needed to reconnect. Did it have to be sexual? No. But it was a hell of a way to reconnect. He pushed deeper into me, pressing his muzzle against my chest, while I arched and gave him what we both needed.

Kangto wasn't quite as... ah... 'exceptional' as I was, and I was fine with that. Sometimes I'm so worried about hurting people that it's not quite as fun for me. I know that I can fit me inside myself, fully. That's a whole other story. But I didn't need, or even 'want' him to be 'more'. He was Kangto, and he filled me up just right.

And he knew just how to use it. Just what buttons to press. Just how to slide in and out, how to make it last, and how to make us both moan and gasp.

I pulled out some of my own tricks. Clenching when he pulled out. Rolling slightly to meet the pushes. And he had this thing, where he would drop his head down to kiss and lick and nuzzle my chest, and I would lick his ears. Never met another rodent who liked it the same way. Sometimes they'd want them rubbed or kissed or even pulled on.

Bunnies like that. Bunnies absolutely adore that. Don't let any of them tell you otherwise. I mean. Don't grab a hold and rip both of them out, that's not what I'm saying. But give it a tug next time you're in bed with a bunny. If they don't moan, then you can have your money back from me.

Kangto didn't just like his ears licked, he liked it a certain way. They had to be folded back. And you had to know the pattern. You knew that it worked when his rhythm shifted. Lots of people get into this pattern when they're having sex. For a lot of people it's all about the hips, and there's a good reason for that. Closest point of contact, lots of powerful muscles there. I shouldn't have to say that 'everyone has their own style'. Kangto tends to focus most of his power on his hips, with his hands braced to the side. But when you got the pattern just right, he'd start leading with his shoulders. The motion moved into a much more circular one. That led to all kinds of shifting angles.

And both of us were panting within a few seconds. Kangto rolled me forward, putting most of my weight on my shoulders, and started to really hammer me. I was leaking all over myself. He looked right into my eyes the whole time. Didn't say anything. Just turned those hazel orbs on me and held my gaze as he shoved his hips into mine. Kangto is one of those people who can seamlessly shift the tone of anything. He can go from making love to fucking, and back. He can straddle the line between the two. I think it's one of the reasons that I miss him so much.

I could feel the impact of his balls against my butt as he claimed me. As he reminded me that for all of the pussy and ass that we got, there was something special between us. And while I was the bigger stronger more butch male, he still owned me, dipstick tail and tear marks and all.

He didn't have to compose a poem on the spot, or sing to me. He just said my name. Just that one word. "Rocky." And he came inside of me. I didn't cum. This may shock you, what with how often I tell the truth about my productive capacity, but I don't actually 'need' to cum during sex. Especially if my partner is someone that I love and I can get them to have that delicious full-body tingle. I was setting up for some rather nice post-coital snuggles (Tip 3!) when Erika came around the corner, looking upset.

Not angry. Angry was her normal state. Upset. "I hate to do this, but you all need to get dressed. Now." She looked at where Kangto was still tucked under my tail, and frowned. "Put a plug in it, Rocky. We have a massive problem."

I was still annoyed at having my ratty cuddles interrupted.

Urujani beat me to the punch. "What's going on, Erika," she asked, right before the ship-wide com chirped the notification for a non-emergency priority message from the bridge.

"All hands, report to the Starscape Ballroom in ten minutes. I repeat, all hands report to the Starscape Ballroom within ten minutes."

*

Erika had said that she'd gone to the bridge to chat with the pilot, see if she could find out where the cruise was headed so that she could do some kind of course plotting drill weirdness. Erika likes her numbers, more than she likes people. More than she likes sex. Which is just odd to me. I've met Ace people before. They're super cool. Got me no problems with people who just wanna play a game or climb or whatever and not get lost in innuendo or suggesting things. But I have never met a Galatea model that was Ace. I think Erika was pretty damn close.

She just happened to be on the bridge when the call came through. The Angelic Bliss was making a rather stately limp back to port. Their drives had all but failed, and while there was going to be some very, very heated words between Angelic Escapes and the yard that did the last refit, there wasn't any risk to anyone on board. But it was going to be out of commission for repairs. This created several problems, and whoever at A.E. was calling the shots was pulling shit out of their ass, rather than sitting for a few minutes and thinking about what impacts the 'solutions' they were implementing would be.

Everyone got the same briefing, but Erika gave us the highlights on the way to the ballroom. We were probably the only crew that knew just how bad this was about to get.

Captain MacDonough was standing at parade rest on the band platform at the end of the room, and he looked as cool and collected and professional as ever.

Miss Juliet was standing with her arms crossed, and while she had an excellent poker face, I knew what was up. She wasn't just mad. She was about to go nova on someone, in ways that would leave them emotionally, professionally, psychologically, and probably physically scarred. I just hoped that she wouldn't take it out on her slaves. I didn't think she would, she seemed like a somewhat responsible Mistress. Then again, you never know.

The eight minute mark passed, and the last crew that I'd been looking for scurried in. 8th shift, not shocking that they were last, they probably got woken up right in the middle of their sleep cycle. Captain MacDonnough looked to the side of the stage and asked someone something, then nodded and stepped forward. He touched his collar, and a little musical chime sounded. The one that was normally for diners having their meal interrupted to remind them that the 0630 Ball Fondling Bonanza would be held on the Trinary Deck. "My officers are reporting to me that everyone is here so we're starting now. Good job everyone for being early."

He shifted back into parade rest after reaching the front of the stage. "As some of you may have learned, our first booking set of passengers was kept extremely small compared to our actual capacity. The decision was for several reasons, but the two that are most important to you are these. First, it would give you a dry run with balancing your duties for running this ship and handling guest demands and expectations. Second, our marketing department wanted to create an air of exclusivity around this particular ship."

Captain MacDonough shifted his weight slightly, and continued. "This has gone right out the airlock. One of our older, sister ships has come in with systemic damage that means her next trip will be to the yards and not with a hull full of passengers. This would mean refunds for too many passengers for A.E., especially when we're at less than half capacity and can take all of those passengers."

So the first cruise would be a little more stressful than it should have been. That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

"I have also been informed that the other crew is pushing for better working conditions. I am loath to speak ill of my fellow officers but considering they will likely be losing their certifications there won't be much in the way of officers to speak ill of. The Angelic Bliss is the oldest ship in our fleet and has consistently had the lowest customer service ratings, even considering the difference in clientele. And the crew has a point. They've got so much time spent chasing down operational issues that they're not able to fulfill other duties."

I started to feel a wave of cold roll down my neck, and it didn't stop until it hit my tail. This part hadn't been included in Erika's notes. She probably didn't know.

Captain MacDonnough took a deep breath. "After several hours of... discussions with A.E. marketing and controlling interests, we have what might be called a 'plan'. I'm going to tell you, outright, in front of a member of that organization who is far higher than I am in the command structure, that this is over my objections. However, I've been a spacer all my life and I know how to take orders and make them work. And while these are going to be a pain in the ass for me and my officers, they are neither unsafe, not wholly irrational. At least, not all of them."

He then laid it all out. The Angelic Passion would take on all of the passengers from the other cruise. Everyone who had booked our trip originally would be getting massive comps and upgrades. The original 'inaugural activity' was going to be a 'Model Hunt'. As in, take a trip to some world with a pre-Devonian level of life, scatter the models around in thematically appropriate areas, and give the highest paying clients dart guns. Bag the most models, you got to have bragging rights and a whole day with them, even interrupting their normal duty cycles.

Now, I just want to pause, and point out that while this particular speech didn't name her as such, I may have glossed over exactly what her position was. If it involved the physical operation of the ship, Captain MacDonough was in charge. If it involved anything else, up to and including event coordinator, schedules, payment for materials, and policy decisions, Miss Juliet was in command. Which meant that she had come up with that scenario.

She moved toward the front of the stage and started talking. She had a much more fluid speaking style, pacing a few meters to each side and speaking with her hands. "The first event is now going to be a contest. Because of the mismanagement of the Angelic Bliss, the crew, a senior crew to you, mind you, has made a strong case for what amounts to a promotion and raise. They are, however, not as trained in these new systems or this ship. You are. As the motto of Angelic Escapes is 'You had to be there', the focus is on customer service. They have more experience with taking care of customers."

She flicked her hand at the wall, and a screen displayed a rather complicated set of rules. "You will be hot racking with another team. The other crew will be brought aboard here and will be joining you in all aspects of operations; your duty station, your added responsibilities, and customer service. You may end up leading an event with someone you've never met before tomorrow. I expect you all to treat them with courtesy and professionalism."

For the first time, I heard some rather angry growling coming from more than just one Galatea model. I'd teased a couple to the point that it went from playful to pissy, but I'd never felt a whole group go from a proverbial zero to full-power like this.

Why were we so damn upset? Because apparently the Angelic Bliss was the 'budget' model due to its age. No one wanted to deal with those clients. And we were going to be in a competition with this other, senior crew, to keep our berth here.

Miss Juliet didn't give us time to dwell. She kept plowing right on forward. The rules of the competition were utterly arcane, but amounted to 'get the most customer satisfaction points, you win'. There were weighted values and all sorts of other gamification nonsense thrown in, as much to encourage participation by the passengers as to keep us motivated.

Captain MacDonough took the stage back and told us about the new schedule, and about how our rooms would be temporarily unavailable at certain times so that the other crew's pods could be installed. His officers and he would be available for any questions, please send a message through channels, but they had a lot of planning and preparation work to do. And with that, they all left us in the Starscape ballroom.

The first ten minutes were spent in a general uproar. To say that we were pissed was a vast understatement. We didn't mind the idea of serving in just about any capacity. But there are people that you enjoy doing the work for, and then there's 'those people'.

I get that this may come across as classist, and maybe there's a bit of that. But hear me out. Say that you're a waiter in a high class restaurant. You know that standards are high, and that everything that is in your control, you do to ensure a great customer experience. But something goes wrong. Kitchen messes up an order, or the ticket gets lost in the chaos of a rush. Stuff happens.

"Wealthy" people understand this. They know that things happen, and you'll make it right. They get that you're doing everything you can, and they appreciate it. They also know what they're supposed to be getting. There's no expectation of a free meal, so to speak. Coming to Chez Magnific isn't a rare treat for them, it's a Tuesday.

"Rich" people do not understand this. They "know" that because they have power and money, they can raise a fuss, and most people will bend over backwards just to escape their wrath. If anything goes wrong, they'll raise hell. And if what they expect is utterly unreasonable, it's your fault for being reasonable.

Meru was the first person to start talking anything other than outrage. I had no clue at first why he was calling for the crew member that he did though. He was calling for Tai, then talking in low tones with him, before they both started calling for other people. I didn't know some of them, at least not beyond 'hey it's the pretty tigress with the gorgeous ass who does sensors'.

Apparently the group of 8 that assembled were the ones who had the Live Games and the VR Games skillsets, and they were coming up with a Plan.

---

This story is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any characters, living, dead or imaginary is purely a coincidence. All characters are a product of the author's imagination and copyright to them, unless noted guest appearances of other copyrighted characters are listed in this notice. Comments may be left (and are encouraged!) on the author's FurAffinity or SoFurry page. If you liked this story, and wish to support the author, please visit their Patreon.

This story is a work of fiction. Any immoral acts included in this story are a fantasy and should not be taken as encouragement to perform or endorsement of these acts by the author. Specifically, because apparently it needs to be said; anything other than expressed consent for any sexual encounter by a legal unimpaired sentient adult is wrong, immoral, and evil. Unwilling subjugation of sentients who have committed no crime is wrong, immoral, and evil.