FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Drake had made a special point of taking his good sweet time in arriving for the meeting this morning, not so much that he would be late, but not with any time to spare either. You see the wolf was still feeling rather embarrassed and humiliated after the extensive chewing out the captain had given him for allowing his little " test " to get so out of paw, that and the fact that she had all but told him she would be holding him to his word about showing no farther aggression toward their new ships slave if he valued his career. So as you might imagine he was none to happy to find that vile little thing in the Captain's mess surrounded by his laughing ship mates first thing in the morning, the wolf's ears slicking back and his lips pulling apart ever so slightly to threateningly show his teeth as he eyed the human with a clearly predatory look of disdain.

Kayla, having seen this overt act and the general look of aggression in the wolf's body language almost instantly released her kitten and assumed a more commanding posture, the vixen preparing to intervene instantly with the full weight of her authority as captain if Drake did brake his word.

Fortunately things never got the chance to go that far, nova, who had also noticed the sudden change in the mood of the room tactfully broke the tension with a politely whispered "Good Morning, Master. I was just taking breakfast orders, would you care for anything?"

While Drake's first instinct was to tell the slave to kiss his tail, one quick glance over the room was all it took to let him know that would be a very bad idea, not with everyone's eyes locked on him in the same expression a feral mother wolf got when a strange male got near one of her cubs. So with perhaps a bit of an exaggerated sigh the wolf simply took his seat at the meeting table as he started reviewing his data pad and dismissively replied " If you must, SLAVE, but nothing too heavy, some of us have real work to do today."

As you might imagine that little drop of nastiness was more then enough to ruin the command staff's happy mood, each of them wanting so much to put that disagreeable male in his place. Kayla on the other paw took Drake's intentional use of the word slave as a personal stab at her, while its true the word had lost much of its sting in the last few days, the vixen still felt it to be degrading and she knew the wolf was fully aware of that. Once again the vixen found herself wishing she could just dump him on some other captain and wash her paws of him, but in this day and age any time a male was taken out of a position of authority for anything other then gross negligence the male rights organizations back home would use it to scream bloody murder about discrimination and inequality between the sexes.

No, as much of a pain in the tail as that wolf was on most days if there was one thing she could not fault him on was his work, in fact other then how badly the "test" had turned out he was a fairly competent tactical officer. So unless there was some other disastrous failure on his watch she was pretty much stuck with him, the only upside to that being he could continue to fulfill the job he was truly most useful at, being passed around among the crew so they could scratch their occasional itch for a male and get it out of their systems.

And that was the thought that brought a smile back to the vulpine captain's muzzle, while drake believed himself to be an irresistible stud, she would often hear females joking about how unskilled a lover the egotistical horn dog truly was. In fact as she thought about it she could not help but smile even more as she remembered the wolf calling Dana a whore for taking nova into her bed, the irony being that Drake was pretty much the ships public penis when the need arose, he was just to focused on getting his own rocks off to charge for it.

Right about then is when the artic vixen was brought out of her musings by Sasha tapping her lightly on the shoulder, the white tiger waiting until she had her lovers full attention before teasingly purring "Love, our boy asked you a question."

As it turned out the slave had simply continued taking everyone's breakfast orders after Drakes comment and he had finally gotten to her, she had just been to absorbed in her own thoughts to register it. So with her ears folded back and an expression of slight embarrassment forming on her muzzle the captain tried to cover herself by quickly answering " um, yes. How about you surprise me little one, maybe something with meat in it, I suddenly find myself with a protein craving." And with that last order taken nova politely excused himself to join Toby who had already proceeded him into the kitchen while everyone ells moved over to the meeting table, each of them taking a few minutes to review their own notes before things got started.

After a few silent moments spent reviewing notes and organizing their thoughts it was Kayla who started things off, the vixen still with a tiny grin on her muzzle as she spoke " Well ladies and gentle-fur this should be a short one, two and a half hours to port and it doesn't look like we have much to cover."

Given Kayla's annoyance with the wolf that is who she decided to start things off with today, with any luck once he was finished with his report she would not have to hear from him again until he got back from leave. So with that hope now fervent in her mind she turned to Drake and asked " Mr. Ash why don't you start us off today, what security arrangements have you planned for the prisoner transfer once we dock?"

This is the moment Drake had been waiting for ever since his chewing out the other day, the midnight furred wolf having spent hours coming up with what he believed was a simple and fool proof strategy for getting the rest of the humans off his ship with no more incidents. Yes, as far as he was concerned once this was done all would be set right again and his honor would be restored, so with that in mind he started to speak with an obviously fake tone of humility in his voice " Um, yes Captain. First off I have already started locking down decks 4 & 7, sections 5 through 9 to completely isolate both cargo bays. Secondly there will be 2 assault teams fully geared up and stationed in the cargo bays themselves to supervise the transfer. And finally Smash, Bash and Crash will be standing by in their TACC's along with a 3rd assault team as back up just in case the unforeseen should happen."

Needing to take a breath Drake stopped for just a moment as he flipped to the next page on his data pad before quickly continuing "As for the transfer itself I have already spoken with the head of gate way station security and the Administress of the slave detention center, we all agree the best course of action would be to teleport the slaves directly from their cells to the stations holding pens. This we believe will minimize any chance of escape attempts, organized resistance or yet again the unforeseen, I don't intend to let things get out of paw again."

As impressed as some might have been with that kind of detailed planning and forethought what had caught Kayla's attention was Drakes last statement, honestly how stupid do you have to be to jinx yourself by saying something like " I don't intend to let things get out of paw again." It was like he was daring the Goddess to allow just that to happen and much more, unfortunately it would be her ship that paid the price for this males arrogance. And that arrogance is exactly what led her to more deeply question the wolf's preparedness, assault teams were one thing, but she would need more before she gave her final approval. " I see Mr. Ash, and is that the extent of your preparations?"

This it turns out Drake had been expecting, the wolf's grin only getting bigger while he pulled up a copy of his new procedures and passed his data pad to Kayla as he spoke " not in the least Captain, I want you to know I used what happened the other day as a learning experience. Given the slow response time by Fire's teams due to having to crawl threw the service tubes I have corrected what I believe to be some major flaws in the counter insurgency protocols. From now on the lifts will remain active unless a separate command is given, the passage ways around them will just be sealed by force fields to keep them secure. Also I would like to do the same with the teleport inhibitors, unless there is an enemy ship nearby I don't see a need for them to be automatically activated for a level one incursion."

Now Kayla was truly impressed, not only was the wolf learning from his mistakes, he was actually using it to correct previous oversights on his part. Maybe, just maybe this meant there was hope for him after all, it's just to bad that in this case he had over reached just a bit. So, hoping not to discourage him she simply nodded as she tactfully answered " Excellent work Mr. Ash, I just have one concern. While yes I agree the teleport inhibitors ship wide are a bit much without boarding parties to worry about, I would still like them automatically activated at level one around The Bridge, Computer Core, Main Engineering, Armory and other high security areas just to cover our tails."

While the vixen might have feared Drake would take her small criticism badly, in fact his tail was already waging and he had an ear to ear grin at having gotten nearly everything he had asked for, it leading her to believe that he had intentionally overreached in order to trick her. This she quickly learned was not the case as the now happy wolf simply stated " If you believe that to be the best course of action I will amend the protocols as soon as the slaves are gone, Captain. With any luck I should have the changes in place by the end of the day."

...........................................................................................................................................

In the kitchen, although the bear had only preceded nova by a few minutes he was no ware to be found, the slave first looking in Toby's office and then out in the main mess hall before finally finding him in the stasis pantry speaking with his mate. You see, when nova had first entered the galley and found everything turned off and put away he had been confused as to why the big bear had not been preparing to serve the rest of the crew their breakfast, the slaves confusion only lasting a few seconds until he remembered they were only a few hours from port. That is when he realized that logically of course the bear would not be wasting his time preparing such a large meal that would mostly go uneaten, not with every crew member having access to a dispenser to hold them over until they got home.

This realization is why he had started looking for Toby in the first place, he just wanted to make sure he had permission to use the bears kitchen before he started cooking and made any kind of mess. Unfortunately when he did find the big bear it was clear that he was involved in what appeared to be a very heated conversation with link, both of their voices more then a little raised with phrases like " I don't care your going!!!! " and " So you don't even care what I want? " being tossed back and forth between the two.

Now this was not the first time nova had accidentally walked in on his betters while they were fighting, the slave having learned through bitter experience that he did not want to get caught in the middle of this or it might end badly for him. So as quickly and quietly as he could the slave backed out of the room and softly closed the door before returning to the kitchen to start making the orders he had been given, nova believing at this point it was much safer to risk being punished for making a mess then for sticking his nose where it did not belong. And that is where he stayed for the next half an hour, the slave getting all the ingredients he needed from the dispensers so that Toby and his mate could have all the privacy they needed.

When eventually they did come out it was not as a happy couple paw in paw, Link the first one to emerge still in tears and run out of the mess hall, Toby following a few minutes later with an emotionally drained and miserable look on his face. While seeing that look just broke nova's heart and made him want to run over to the bear and offer him a big hug, his fear is what kept him silently working over the cooking unit. Honestly, as kind as he believed Toby to be, he just did not know the bear well enough to know how he would react to such a comforting gesture, no matter how innocent it was meant to be. So as the bear numbly walked into his office nova just finished preparing the Command staffs meals, his task lacking any kind of happiness as he tried to think of anything he could do to help without putting himself at risk.

...................................................................................................................................................

Back In the Captain's mess both Drake and Jessica had already finished with their reports and now it was Crystals turn, the midnight black jaguar having already covered the current status of the crews health and was preparing to give her final report regarding the Black Rock's human cargo. Currently in her paws she held a data pad containing a summery of the report she hoped Kayla would give her permission to file with the Medical Oversight Commission (MOC), the Bureau of Slave Supervision (BSS), and the Civilian Peace Keeping Authorities (PKA), all of witch she hoped would use it to convict Captain Carnes and the rest of the Black Rock officers for the criminal mistreatment of the slaves under there care. And as much as she wanted to, realistically she knew that even if she was allowed to include her findings about nova's sexual trauma there was little chance of a rape conviction, not with the current hatred of humans on the Anthro home world, let alone the fact that command would never allow him to testify in a public trial.

So with the hope of swift and righteous vengeance on her mind Crystal picked up where she had left off a few moments ago, her voice calm and confident as she stated " And that brings me to our prisoners. While I can kind of understand how difficult it must be to keep that many of them under control, the Black rock crew's use of class 3 narcotics and heavy sedatives went far beyond anything that can be legally justified. In fact just to use nova as an example, if not for our timely intervention he would be looking at long term heart, lung and kidney damage, nothing that could not be repaired by any competent civilian doctor, but I seriously doubt those detestable slavers were going to cut into their profits with that kind of expenditure."

This earned a sigh from the vulpine captain as she gave Crystal's report a quick once over, the seemingly endless list of injuries, illnesses and drug related complications spanning a full 14 pages. As hard as it was to believe that the slavers could have treated their cargo this badly, to see the indisputable evidence of it in her paws was almost enough to restore the vixen's previous views about slave owners in general, even though she herself could now be counted as one of them. So now feeling thoroughly disgusted Kayla looked back to her long time friend and medical officer as she softly asked " Crystal while I agree this kind of reprehensible abuse of chemical restraints can't be allowed to continue, there is not much we can do about it. I mean, unless they actually start killing their prisoners it is out side of our jurisdiction."

The jaguar just gave a soft nod as she lifted her data pad and flatly stated " Not if you are willing to override the normal 2 year classification policy on military reports and allow me to forward copies of this to the M-O-C, B-S-S, and P-K-A, Captain. I know what I am asking would be a breach of protocols, but can you honestly say it's not the right thing to do?"

All Kayla could do was sadly flick her ears a few times as she regretfully replied " Yes I know it would be the right thing to do kitten, but realistically none of these reports are ever going to see the light of day again, not when it would benefit the enemy in a time of war. I mean can you even imagine the political damage that would be done by a scandal involving the mistreatment of human prisoners by an Anthro like Carnes? No, there is simply no way high command would ever allow this to make it into the public record, it would only result in more human propaganda and self serving justifications for this war."

Now it was Crystals turn to lower her head and flick her ears, the feline's righteous indignation dying on her lips as she realized just how right Kayla was. While she had allowed her anger about what had been done to nova and the other humans to guide her into making a strictly moralistic request, it had also blinded her to her obligations as a military officer. Of course this is why Kayla was the Captain, no one got to that rank without knowing how to play the politics game and what she could & could not get away with.

Well at least one good thing would come from this the feline thought, even if she could do nothing more for the other humans this kind of treatment would never be inflicted on nova again, she would personally make sure of that. So, now realizing that the report she had worked so hard on was never going to be seen by anyone outside of the military Crystal simply set her Data pad on the table as she replied " I suppose your right Captain, Well then that leads me to the last thing on my list, the course of treatment I have planned for nova."

Grateful for the change of subject Kayla just gave an approving smile while flipping through her notes, truthfully she did not like letting Carnes get away with what he and his crew had done any more then the doctor did. Of course Kayla was not known as the type of female to take things lying down either. What she could not tell the doctor or any of her friends was that she already had a planned for dealing with that Alley Cat and his cohorts.

As good as Kayla was at playing the politics game she knew Sasha's sister, Admiral Starlight White-Claw, was a true Mistress of it. While nova was being debriefed, all she had to do was make the inference that the Black Rock's crew had learned the same information from him and that they could not be trusted to keep it to themselves. The Admiral would make sure that, if not for the possibility that they might reveal classified information, then for the fact that they were the cause of a scandal that was bad enough to require covering up, that none of them would see the light of day again for several decades, If not a good century. Not exactly justice, but as good as could be hoped for in such a complex situation.

"So with any luck Melinda and I should be able to recruit a few colleagues from the Royal Medical Academy to help with his treatments, hopefully with their specialized skills it will only take a few short weeks to heal everything that is within our power to repair." Once again Kayla had become so absorbed in her own thoughts that she had not heard most of what Crystal had said, she was going to have to stop doing that before it caused her to miss something important.

After waiting a moment for Crystal to continue it finally dawned on Kayla that the feline's report was finished and that she herself was waiting for a reply, the Captain quickly trying to think of something to say before the group realized that she had not been paying attention. Not able to come up with anything ells she was just about to say that, "while nova's medical treatments were of course very important, his availability for them could very well be contingent on the interrogation schedule command set up for him," When, as if reading her mind the priestess spoke up before Kayla could.

Eshara who had been waiting for an opportunity to deliver her own news did in fact take advantage of the confusion and uncertainty her empathic sense picked up from her Captain, the snow white unicorn softly nickering " Speaking of nova, I have something relevant to add if I may?"

While the priestess did not normally attend these morning meetings, when she did the rest of the command staff always afforded her the utmost respect and treated her no differently then the captain herself. So as expected when she made this request everyone gave her a simple nod of approval, the unicorn waiting just a moment before turning her gaze directly to the captain and continuing "Kayla, in accordance with your request I had a long conversation with the Matriarch's of my order last night regarding the child's mental health, the pathology of the protective personality in particular. If you recall I told you that while I have not been trained in this type of disorder I believed it to be very rare, well as it turns out there has not been a documented case of it on any Anthro world in over 500 years. In fact there was only one sister who has even researched the disorder and its treatments, Lady Amalthea, the blessed Matriarch herself."

After saying that Eshara paused for a moment to let the full ramifications of it sink in, the unicorn taking a very long sip of her tea before letting the other hoof drop. " After explaining as much as I thought was prudent over an unsecured com line, Lady Amalthea agreed to use her influence with the high council to keep military intelligence from spiriting the child away and doing him any more harm. In fact she is so eager to begin helping our boy that she and Lady Beleth have already left the temple and will be waiting for us at gateway station, when we dock."

While Eshara had known this news was going to be more then a little surprising, to see the looks on everyone's faces you would think she had just told them the empress herself was coming. You see while the Blessed Matriarch was the spiritual leader of "The Order Of Light," her position also granted her a seat on the high council, a group formed by the most powerful Matriarchs from each of the Anthro races after the end of the predator/prey wars. And if that wasn't enough she was bringing Lady Beleth with her, the second Matriarch of the order and the unicorns representative to the Anthro civilian government, so basically the two most influential unicorns in all the Empire.

So given this, perhaps it was no surprise that when Kayla finally got her wits about her she disbelievingly stammered " Dear Sweet Goddess Mother, I only asked you to find someone to council the boy. What, what in the world could you have possibly told them to get the Blessed Matriarch and Lady Beleth involved?"

To that the priestess just gave a tender smile and took a sip of her tea before softly giggling " Only the truth Kayla, only the truth. Well I guess part of it was pure dumb luck, I mean what were the chances that the Blessed Matriarch would be the only one trained in dealing with this disorder?"

Before anyone ells could speak Dana, with a silly grin on her muzzle took the opportunity to playfully giggle "Or maybe they just realized how special our boy is."

This earned a renewed round of laughter from the group and a soft growl from Drake as Kayla bopped the silly mink on the tip of her nose.

..............................................................................................................................................

Back In the kitchen nova had just finished up with the command staffs breakfasts, the slave deciding to play it safe and load all but one of the plates on a cart because he still felt weak from the medication and did not want to risk dropping them. Once that was done he turned back to the counter and just stared at the last one, the one he had made for Toby and was still unsure if he should bring to the big bear. Over the last 10 minutes he had heard the big bear in his office first breaking things and then breaking down into tears, every second of the large males muffled sobs pulling at the slave's heartstrings. Once the sobbing had stopped nova had walked all the way over to Toby's office and had almost poked his head in the door to see if everything was ok, but had chickened out at the last minute and gone back to his work.

Now with all of the meals made and nothing more to do then deliver them it was time to make his choice. Either he was going to have to push past his fear and go offer the bear what comfort he could, that or just play it safe and put this plate back in the dispenser and pretend as if he had not seen anything. With any of his past owners of course the latter would be the safest choice for him, but now with how well these new owners had been treating him the slave found himself thinking that for the first time in his life maybe, just maybe he might not get hurt for daring to take a chance. So, with a deep breath and a silent prayer to the goddess, nova picked up the bear's breakfast and slowly made his way over to Toby's office, at the very least he could offer his friend a nice meal if he did not wish any company.

When the slave did finally work up the nerve to look into the bear's office he found Toby sitting at his desk and working on his terminal, the rest of the room looking as if a hurricane had gone through it. Hoping that this was a good sign and that Toby had used this out burst to work the anger out of his system nova then slowly approached him and carefully set the plate down on the edge of his desk, the small human then quickly dropping to his knees and softly kissing the big bear's knee in a gentle act of affection.

Now as anyone who has ever spooked a house cat will tell you, it can be quite an hysterical sight as long as it doesn't claw you to death because of it, and that was Toby's exact reaction as the startled bear first yelped, then clutched at his chest and practically jumped out of his own fur. The big bear had been so focused on his terminal that he had not even noticed the boy's entrance, but then again as Dana had pointed out the other day, this little human had an almost unnatural ability to move in virtual silence when he wanted to. As a result of this it was a good 3 minutes before Toby's surprise wore off enough for him to reach down and lovingly trace a paw over his little helpers head as he teasingly joked " Dear Sweet Goddess boy if your going to keep sneaking up on me like that I'm going to have to put a bell around that pretty little neck of yours or something."

The smile on Toby's face was belayed by the sadness of his tone and the fact that his cheek fur was still wet, even if nova had not heard the grizzlies earlier fight with his mate the fact that he had been crying not to long ago would have been clear just by looking at him. So, with big puppy dog eyes full of concern and still wanting to offer the Master that had been so kind to him what support he could, the slave lovingly curled his arms around one of Toby's legs and tenderly pressed a soft kiss to his knee as he asked " O my, what's wrong Master, why are you so sad?"

Seeing the look on his little helpers face coupled with the tenderness of his words and affections disarmed the big bear in mere moments, Toby just not able to keep up a macho front with such a sweet young male expressing concern for him. So with a single finger gently running over the humans cheek and a tender smile on his muzzle the big bear softly sighed " It's nothing for you to worry about little one, Link and I just had a fight about where we are going to spend our leave. He wants us to spend a week at his parents estate since we have not seen them in a while, but I really don't want to because they don't like me very much."

Now nova understood why link was yelling at the big bear earlier, it was not so much a lovers quarrel, it was just because he was trying to force Toby to go to his parents home. In a way this kind of made the slave feel better, this was not something with the potential to permanently damage their relationship, it was just the same old issues that everyone went through with their in-laws. So, now reassured that things were not as bad as he had first feared nova decided to pass that reassurance on to Toby, the small human slowly standing then tenderly snuggling up on the bears lap as he curled his arms around the bear's chest and whispered " Awwww, but you are the kindest man I have ever met Master, I can't imagine anyone not liking you."

With the slave snuggled up on his lap and his head resting on the bears shoulder Toby just could not stop a smile from creeping across his muzzle. Yes, even if he had decided days ago that he only wanted to be this humans friend, not lover, the slave was still a very attractive young male and to have him snuggled up so close and submissively was more then enough to give the bear that same warm and fuzzy feeling he always got holding his mate. In fact as he curled his own arms around the human and pulled him into a very soft and tender kiss the bear thought to himself that this is exactly what he needed right now, just someone to hold for a few minutes that only cared about his needs. So that is how they stayed for several long minutes, nova just laying there with his head on the bear shoulder and Toby holding the small human in his arms, no words needing to be spoken as the bear soaked up all the affection his slave for the moment was lavishing on him.

After this much needed cuddle time it was Toby that first broke the silence, the bear picking up where he had left off several minutes before with a softly spoken " You know it's not so much that my loves parents hate me, it is that they want grand cubs they can claim and see me as the reason their son has not settled down with one or more females that can give them that. I know they except the fact that neither of us are attracted to females, but still with as many cubs as we have both had to sire over the years I guess, to them at least, it seems unfair that none of them carry his clan's noble name."

Now as much of an effort as nova had made to learn about the Anthro culture in his short time here, the slave was completely confused by the bear's last statement, why would his children not carry his family name? That and the way he had phrased it, " as many cubs as we have both had to sire over the years." as if it had not been his choice peaked the slave's curiosity, Nova just not able to stop himself from looking up to Toby and asking " Master I, I am confused, If you don't mind me asking, why did you sire children if they are not part of your family?"

Once again the big bear smiled and looked down into his little helpers eyes, nova responding to this by snuggling up closer to Toby as the grizzly giggled " They were all children of Obligation silly, so legally it's not the sire's choice weather or not he can be part of the cub's life."

Even more confused by this the slave furrowed his eye brows as he asked " I'm sorry Master but I don't understand, Children of Obligation, what does that mean?"

For a few seconds the bear just looked at nova in confusion of his own, Toby not able to understand why the slave did not know what a child of Obligation was. Of course that did not last very long when it dawned on the bear that nova had only lived among Anthros for a few short days, even if the Captain and Dana were not planning on sheltering him from the more traditional aspects of their culture, they would not have had a chance to explain something as complex as the Obligation to him yet. So not sure if this was something the captain wanted their new ships slave to know about yet, or even at all, Toby just gave the human a soft kiss on the forehead as he answered " Hmm, perhaps it would be better if you got that rather complicated explanation from your Mistress or the captain, as for me what ever it is you have made is starting to smell rather good, whatever might it be?"

...............................................................................................................................................

What Toby was so tactfully not telling the slave was that from their fiftieth birthday until they turn 240, every male is required by law to offer themselves for a form of stud service every 15 years, this tradition having been started 10's of thousands of years ago to compensate for the Anthro's natural gender imbalance.

In the many thousands of years before the Predator/Prey war and the founding of the Empire witch brought it to an end, all males were born into a traditional form of slavery where they were considered little more then the property of their respective villages. Under this system males had virtually no rights of any kind, none of them allowed to even leave the walls of their village to hunt, forage or even spend some time alone. As a result of this every male was forced into the roll of sire and primary care giver to the villages cubs, every male being forced to mate with any female that the Matriarch deemed worthy of using them.

This tradition was actually the origin of the slave collar on the Anthro's home world, a leather band with the villages marking would be placed around each males neck at birth, not as a form of control, but to set them apart from the female cubs until their gender traits became more apparent. Then In later years when first females and then males began to ware clothing, it was decided that this band would be made permanent, the leather replaced by an irremovable metal ring that was locked around a males neck the day he reached adulthood. Of course this came to be known as the " Coming of Age Ceremony," the collar considered as important a mark of adulthood as the males first time with a female later that very same day.

Now while some males might think of this as an almost ideal life, all the food they wanted, all the sex they could take and complete safety in a very dangerous age, it did come at a very high price. First of all it was common for males to become very depressed from the soul crushing lack of personal freedom, honestly unless they were a natural submissive, having no say in what happens in their life could drive many to seek the only escape available to them. Secondly in this system love was a luxury afforded only to the most powerful elders of the village, even if a male found himself infatuated with the female of his dreams nothing could ever come of it unless she had the influence to win the Matriarchs approval. But as bad as this was there was one price of this system that was worse then everything ells combined, with males not allowed to ever leave their own villages there was no interbreeding between the clans. So in order to maintain a genetically divers gene pool and stave off the results of inbreeding, once per generation all of the villages would have to trade a new born male for another, even if it was agents his mother's wishes. In most cases this was only done with the male child of the lowest possible ranked member of the village, it resulting in a lifetime of emotional damage to the cub from being separated from his mother before his eyes were even open.

While this form of male slavery served the developing Anthro's Matriarchal society well for countless generations, it simply was not fated to last, the tradition finally coming to it's end as a direct result of the devastation caused by the Predator/Prey wars. After nearly 200 years of blood shed and destruction for the first time in their history males found themselves no longer greatly out numbered by females, the wars death toll resulting in only 3 females being left to each male where in the past they had always been closer to a ratio of 7 to 1. Of course this meant that males were allowed to take on more responsibilities in their communities. While still not allowed to leave the village they were taught to perform tasks traditionally thought of as females work such as making weapons for the huntresses and cleaning the kills they brought back. In addition to this for the first time Anthro's found themselves grouping into family units, 2 or 3 females bringing a single male into the home they shared to exclusively sire and raise their cubs.

For the first few generations this new system seamed to work well, males being treated more as lovers and partners then as property, nearly all of them even coming to love the females they shared their lives with. Of course that only lasted until all the villages populations started to grow once again and the gender imbalance returned, the new family structure leaving many females without breeding partners. This led to a deep division within the Anthro population, the ones that had males and loved them not wanting to give up their life mates, and the ones without demanding a return of the traditional ways and the re-subjugation of all males.

Fearing this quickly escalating division could easily get out of control and spark off the new Empire's first civil war, the Anthro Empress, a golden furred kitsune named Adara of clan Bard, called together all of the village Matriarchs to plead for calm while they searched for an acceptable compromise. This wise ruler then assembled her high council, a group made up of the 2 most influential representatives of each race, so they could debate the best way of maintaining the new family structure while still providing males for the purposes of breeding.

What was eventually agreed on was firstly, there would be no limit to the number of females in a given "Mateship," the only stipulation being that said relationship would only be honored where there was a strong possibility that a child would be born. Secondly, in exchange for males being allowed the freedom of choosing the females that they bonded with, they would be obligated to submit themselves for a 3 month term of breeding duty every 5 years. Of course the females from their home village would be given the first opportunity of being service by the male, but if in that time there were no females in heat, the Matriarch would be required to offer his services to her nearest neighboring village. Finally in order to take advantage of this service, a female must agree that the male would bare no responsibility for the cub they sired, this concession made to gain the support of the groups of females that already were in committed "Mateships" and did not want other's children overwhelming their male.

But as with all new laws there needed to be a penalty harsh enough to insure males would willingly comply with it, that proving to be the biggest obstacle to gaining enough support to add it into the Empire's still evolving constitution. Again this sparked off heated debate among the high council and the public at large, most of them falling into one of two camps. The traditionalist wanted the penalty for non compliance to be the immediate enslavement of the disobedient male regardless if he was in a mateship or not, while the more progressive females wanted something that would still allow them to keep the new family structure intact.

After nearly a year of heated meetings and all out shouting matches in the council chamber, the compromise that was reached was that any male who refused to comply with this new law would in effect be voluntarily forfeiting the new rights given to them. They would then be returned to the ownership of their village Matriarch until the community elders could be assembled to hear their reasons for not meeting their obligations. The guidelines for the punishments that could be handed down ranged from confinement to their home and the loss of all rights, all the way up to a year of forcible breeding duty with any female that wanted to use them, even females from far off villages or those of other races that could not become pregnant from the mating.

It was hoped that between such a humiliating maximum punishment, the loss of personal honor and becoming a pariah in their own village that the vast majority of males would not resist the new law and that it would be fair enough to gain the support needed for global acceptance.

While none of the groups were very happy about this compromise, all had to admit it had it's advantages, the biggest one being that males would no longer need to be traded at birth since there would now be interbreeding between the clans. (one way or another.) So from the day the new acts of " Obligation" and " Procreative Mateship " were signed into law, the collar that had served to identify all males were now only given to the ones that were being punished for failing to meet their social obligations, it becoming a mark of Shame and Dishonor.

Of course the law of "Obligation" had undergone many changes in the 10's of thousands of years since it's inception, now the term of service was only for 2 weeks every 15 years, this meant to keep population growth under control while still allowing each female 2 or 3 children over the course of her lifetime. Also In present day if a male refused to comply they were no longer enslaved for it. No, in this day and age while it still made them a pariah, a male not meeting his Social responsibilities was instantly disqualified from any government assistance and benefits, No free HD cells to power their homes, government jobs, military service and so on. Also while it was not the law, most private business owners would not employ such a dishonorable male either, so the only ones that could get away with not meeting the " Obligation" were the ones from extremely wealthy families that did not care if they were dishonored.

...........................................................................................................................................

As curious as nova was to understand what the bear had been talking about, he was smart enough to take Toby's hint and let the subject drop before he upset the large male again. Then thinking it might be cute and help to keep his Master happy, the slave, still sitting on Toby's lap, turned and used a fork to bring a scoop full of maple syrup covered flat jacks to the big bear's muzzle. As he expected Toby got the message and played along, the grizzly's eyes opening wide and his ears standing tall the second he closed his muzzle around the rich and yummy treat.

If the human had any doubts about his Master's enjoyment of this little game they were quickly dashed by Toby's first soft moan of delight, it telling him that the bear was either enjoying his cooking or at least the way it was being served to him. For a slave who lived for the happiness and approval of his betters nova could ask for nothing more then the huge smile now parting Toby's lips, the small human in that moment deciding to keep this delightful play going as he continued to feed the big bear bite after bite until his breakfast was all but gone.

As he did this the slave used the opportunity to talk to Toby about his fight with Link, nova being very careful to keep his tone soft and respectful as he playfully joked "I know your relationship with your mate is none of my business Master, but if the issue between you and his parents is only about children, I would be happy to pretend to be your love child if it would help."

For just a moment the look on Toby's face made nova think that perhaps the big bear had taken his joke the wrong way, the awkward silence causing an icy spike of fear to take root in the pit of his stomach before Toby chocked a few times, then swallowed his muzzle full of food and burst out into deep roaring laughter. In the few seconds he had been looking at the slave Toby was thinking about just how that first meeting might have gone, he and Link entering his parents home with nova on his leash as they Announced " Mothers, Sire, this is your new grand cub nova." Then both of them would of course look down to nova and say " nova don't just kneel there, be a good boy and give your grand parents a big hug."

He had then imagined Links birth mother clutching her chest and dropping dead of a heart attack as his Sire and other mothers all fainted from the sheer shock of having a human as a grand child. In fact this image was so hysterical that it took Toby several minutes to get himself back under control, the bear still lightly chuckling as he stated " O you wicked little slave, that would be so deliciously evil, I absolutely love it."

Nova, now relieved to see that his joke had hit it's mark perfectly then cuddled a little closer to Toby as he used the joyful moment to sneak in the second half of his idea with a softly whispered " Maybe you can use that as your happy thought when both of you go to see your Mates family, Master. If they start being mean to you or say something unkind you can just think about that and give\ them a big smile, who knows, it might even drive them up the wall to think that they can't get to you."

"Yes that would be perfect " Toby thought to himself as he used one finger to once again tilt nova's chin up and give him a soft kiss, in fact he was going to tell Link about it so that it could be an inside joke between the two of them. So with the decision now made that he would indeed go with his mate to see his family Toby carefully helped nova off of his lap and gave him a tender hug as he whispered " Thank you so much for all of this sweetie, I didn't even realize how much i needed a good friend and a gentle kick in the tail to get my head in line with my heart."

Nova just smiled softly as he hugged the big bear back and whispered in return " It was my joy to be here for you Master, but maybe you should go find that mate of yours, I'm sure he could use some cheering up as well. "

"That and a few rounds of ruff and tumble make up sex I'm sure," Toby giggled before giving nova one last kiss on the forehead and leaving to track down his lifemate.

As he left the big bear's office nova picked up the dirty plate and set it back in the dispenser to be recycled, a big smile on his face at having gotten away with tricking his Master into doing the right thing without him even realizing it. Even better, while the performance of a debasing sex act would have normally been required to pull off such a manipulation with any of his past owners, nova was very happy that all it had taken was a little tender affection and gentle teasing for Toby to realize what needed to be done. This was a very rarely used skill that had taken the slave many years of painful trial and error to learn, one that he never used for his own benefit, only to help one of his betters when they needed a gentle push in the right direction.

So with the big bear taken care of and on his way to his lover nova turned his attention back to the command staff's breakfasts, the small human retrieving a few pitchers of chilled water, tea and juice from the dispensers before he wheeled the cart out to them. As he did this he could not help but take on a temptatious sway to his hips and general air of confidents that he could only express when he knew for sure that he had pleased one of his owners, the slave entering the captains mess just in time to hear his Mistress say

"Or maybe they just realized how special our boy is," and then the whole room breaking out into laughter. Apparently they had been talking about him just before he entered and while that might bother some people it was nothing new for him, as a slave he was used to his owners often speaking about him as if he was not even there.

Of course this was not the case this morning, his Mink Mistress's ears instantly perking up and her tail unconsciously starting to wag the instant her little treasure entered the room, Dana cheerfully greeting her slave with a softly murred " O and there he is now with our breakfasts, talk about perfect timing."

This once again earned a round of laughter from the group as nova began setting out plates of ham, onion, carrot and cheese omelets for his Mistress and Jessica, both capped off with hash browns and cinnamon buns to cater to their predominantly vegetarian tastes. Then for Kayla, Drake, Sasha and Crystal he set out plates overflowing with more then generous portions of sausage links, bacon strips, flap jacks and corn bread muffins, each of their muzzles starting to water as the smell of it kicked their predatory instincts into overdrive. And of course he had not for gotten about the Priestess, the slave having prepared her a onion, green pepper, Mushroom and cheese omelet of her own, it accompanied by New Orleans style Benyays and Stuffed French Toast since Toby had told him about the unicorn race's inherent sweet tooth.

Obviously not having expected such an elaborate meal with the kitchen closed for the day the command staff was stunned into silence for several long seconds, Drake the first to find his voice as he laid his ears back and questioningly asked " You call this a light breakfast?"

In response to the wolfs question nova just flashed him a soft smile as he answered with a giggle "Perhaps I did go a little overboard, but breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Master."

Before Drake could respond to that he was cut off by a pleasure filled moan from the priestess, one that was suggestive of much more intimate activities as she pointed a piece of Benyay at nova and teasingly demanded "Dear Sweet Goddess, child I want the recipe for this sugar cake thing, my sisters at the temple will simply love this."

If the big bear's happiness had filled nova with that o so rare feeling of worth and fulfillment that he lived for, to see his childhood dream taking pleasure in his cooking was pure bliss to him, the slaves smile growing even wider as he practically purred " It is called a Benyay, Mistress and it would be my pleasure to show you how to make it, if you wish. O and you can get it from the dispensers as well, Master Toby showed me how to scan the things I make and load them into a file he set up for me called " Nova's Treats."

At hearing this Eshara's ears flicked tall and her tail started to lash as she excitedly asked " OOOO, did you save the pattern of those stuffed mushroom things you made for me the other day?"

The slave nodded as he finished pouring his Mistress a glass of juice and then moved on to the next person wile he whispered "Yes, Mistress, everything I have made since I was allowed to start working in the kitchen."

"Wonderful" the unicorn murred as she made a mental note to download the whole file before their meeting with the blessed Matriarch. As much as she loved her home at the temple, her "sisters" idea of fine dining left much to be desired and maybe, just maybe one of his treats would help brake the ice when she introduced this special human to them.

With each person served nova then kneeled next to his Mistress as they carried on with the meeting, just silently watching the group incase they needed their drinks refilled or their dirty plates taken away. For several minutes they just eat in silence before Kayla turned to Dana, the last one that needed to give her morning report, the vixen asking between bites of her sausage " How about you Grease Monkey, what's left for the dock rats to do when we hit port?"

It took a moment for the mink to swallow a muzzle full of food and wipe her mouth before she answered " Actually quite a lot Captain. First off we are going to have to dry dock in order to replace the burned out drive coils, witch as you know means breaking the perma-seals on both engine pods. I estimate that is going to take at least 12 days, not to mention the crystals that have to be replaced in the primary and secondary control nodes. Then we are going to have to completely replace the Tactical HD fluid storage tank below the main armory. It was just to badly damaged in the battle to repair, witch is why we have not been able to manufacture any replacement torpedoes. While we're at it I'm going to insist that we reinforce the hull armor in that section, if not for the safety system automatically neutralizing the THD fluid when it was hit, it would have cascaded and blown us all to the dark pit."

Dana then took a sip of her tea while she paused to let the gravity of that statement sink in, the mink flipping through a few pages on her data pad before continuing " Finally the jump drive, Where to start! Not only were all of the control crystals scorched, but all four storage capacitors were completely burned out and the wiring between them needs to be replaced. But worst of all, all 30 field emitters were damaged beyond repair, In short the whole system is trashed even worse then......."

Before she could finish her sentence Kayla cut her off, the vixens eyes glancing back and forth between her and nova as she quickly snapped " Our last REFIT, I know."

If not for the captains quick thinking and even quicker reaction her friend would have just told their new slave that they were the ones that had destroyed his home and killed his former owner, something that they all very much wanted to keep from him for the rest of his life if possible. So in order to keep the conversation moving away from that subject the vixen once again looked Dana directly in the eyes while flicking her left ear in the Anthro equivalent of a head shake as she asked " I understand the power serge was severe, but how is it possible that nothing is salvageable, why didn't the safety systems kick in?"

While Dana had been slightly confused at her captain's outburst it only lasted until she thought through what she had been about to say, the mink mentally kicking herself for a nearly averted blunder that could have destroyed all the trust her slave had given her. That was when her paw ever so gently drifted up to lovingly trace her claws through nova's hair, more for her own comfort then for his, as she resumed her report with much more carefully chosen words. " Um, yes our last refit, But what you don't understand is just how powerful the serge was captain. When the enemy ship hit our engine pod the logs showed such a massive flood of power that, if we had not jumped right then and there the cascade would have been nothing short of catastrophic. For the life of me I still cant understand where all that energy came from, but it was just so much that, while the safety systems did kick in, they did not stand a chance of stopping that tsunami of energy from destroying everything in it's path."

To that Kayla just thoughtfully nodded as she murred " That sounds about right given that this serge somehow managed to almost double our jump range. " Then the vixen softly hummed to herself as she added " maybe it would be a good idea to send a copy of the logs to fleet engineering, see if they can find a way to reproduce the results without the extensive damage."

Dana just grinned as she practically purred "Already done captain, in fact it is my understanding that Bell has not allowed her poor team to sleep since receiving the data."

Kayla just grinned back as she chuckled "Guess I should have expected that, so how long total are we looking at for repairs?"

Dana just hummed as she flipped through her data pad and added up the damage " 20 to 25 days Captain, Maybe more, it all depends on how many repair teams are available. That and how long it takes my Mothers to cut the crystals we need, because you know perfectly well I will not stand for the cheap synthetic ones those dock rats seam to think are good enough."

To this Kayla just gave a thoughtful nod and then turned her attention to Sasha, her lover and first officer as she asked " Well I think that covers everything except leave assignments, have you spoken with the department heads yet Commander?"

The white tiger's reply came with one of those grins someone got when they were trying to hold back laughter, her teeth slightly showing as she purred " Once again already done Captain, the schedule is waiting for you on your office terminal and yes, I made sure everyone will get at least a week with their families."

That just earned a flick of the ears from Kayla as she started to chuckle " I guess this is what I get for having such a well trained crew, they fulfill my orders before I even give them." With that the morning meeting came to it's end and each member of the command staff dug into their meals, each of them greatly enjoying these new human treats until Drake was called away to deal with some glitch in the prisoner transfer arrangements.

Soon after the male left the quiet conversation turned to what each of them had gotten up to last night, none of them even seeming to care that nova was there to hear them talking about their sex lives. Jessica as it turned out had taken her bridge counter part to bed along with one of the new shuttle pilots, all three of them having gotten a little to enthusiastic in their love making and earned a few complaints from the neighbors who were trying to sleep. In contrast, Crystal and Eshara had spent a quiet evening in companionable conversation with each other, both of them reminiscing about old times before returning to their respective quarters. But Sasha, Sasha seemed almost gleeful to tell the group about how she and Kayla had spent over an hour role playing the poorly behaved school cub and strict teacher. The white tiger had even gone into how her love had bent her over the "desk" and spanked her naughty little bottom before the two of them fell in to bed for hours of passionate lovemaking, it leaving the captain horribly embarrassed but with a big smile on her muzzle.

That was when the blushing Kayla folded her ears back and turned her attention to Dana who was trying to get nova to share some of her omelet, the vixen hoping to take the focus off herself by teasingly asking " What about you Chief, how was your first night with our boy?"

As normal as it was for this group to openly talk about their personal lives Dana had honestly not expected them to ask her this morning, not when it involved her slave who was still learning about their culture and ways of doing things. So she tried to softly deflect the question by teasing back " I'm not sure if I should tell, my boy is a trained pleasure slave after all, it might be to intense for some of you."

Far from diswading them this only seamed to peak the whole groups curiosity, even the priestess swiveling her ears in Dana's direction as Kayla said " You know chief nova is legally mine as well, I could just order him to tell us if your going to be mean and not share."

Seeing that the others were not going to just let this go the mink decided to have some fun with it, Dana's grin ear to ear as she curled her tail around the now beat red nova while pretending to muse aloud "O very well, but where to start, the first, second or maybe fifth orgasm, it's just so hard to decide."

"Five times?" Jessica asked with a look of astonishment on her muzzle.

"While he is still recovering?" Crystal added with a noticeable hint of disapproval in her tone.

The mink raised her paws to forestall anymore questions as she inquired " Let me ask you all something, show of paws, who has ever climaxed just from a skilled tongue pleasuring their nipples?"

When no one lifted their paw the mink's grin got even wider as she continued " Well that was my first climax of the night. Then my little blessing turned that deadly weapon of his louse between my legs and all i can say is, WOW, it was indescribably incredible."

"Five times?" Jessica asked again, still not able to understand how this human had outperformed her and both of her bed mates who had only managed 2 climax's a peace last night.

"No, that was only the second and third time, but as wonderful as that was it did not hold a candle to when I finally got him on his back and joined with him for the very first time. Goddess he made me climax just from the feeling of him inside me." Dana giggled with a loving paw now tracing over her thoroughly embarrassed slave's head as she added "Well now that I think about it, it might have been more then five actually. When nova finally released inside me it triggered one last mind blowing multiple orgasm, but I past out before it finished so I cant really be sure how powerful it was."

"Six - six times?" Jessica asked once again looking at the slave and then at Dana with an expression half way between shock and jealousy warring on her face, a look mirrored by all of her friends, even the priestess who rarely indulged in physical pleasures.

" I donno, five, seven, eight. I guess it all depends on how you personally count Multiples, but as thoroughly satisfying as my slave's skills felt, he left me with absolutely nothing to complain about." The Mink finished with a sinister grin on her muzzle as she teasingly stopped talking and returned to eating her meal as if her actual number of climaxes were mere icing on the cake to her.

After a few moments of stunned silence it was Jessica who first found her voice again, the bunny turning her gaze to the still slack jawed Kayla as she half teasingly asked " Captain, It's so unfair that the greedy mink gets to keep a lover that skilled all to herself, how long until you make her share?"

While nova had been conditioned by his owners to always feel extreme embarrassment when ever someone spoke openly about his sexual services it did not stop him from quirking an eye brow at the bunnies question, did she honestly expect him to be unfaithful to his Mistress if that was not her wish? True it was common with all of his past owners for him to be lent to others for money, as an enticement in their business dealings or even as a punishment when he was bad, all of them had made it painfully clear that if he ever engaged in intimacy without their express consent he would suffer greatly for it.

Yes as hard as it might be for some to understand a slave owner who would rent out their property on occasion still demanding complete and total fidelity from them, nova had realized many years ago that this was just another form of humiliation meant to help brake his will and keep him compliant. Perhaps that is what the bunny helms woman was asking for, not to humiliate him, but for his owner to lend out the use of him for a price that would be negotiated later?

As it turns out he was not allowed to ponder that thought for more then a second before the vixen who had been laughing and joking with the group quickly turned very serious, her ears slicking back as her answer came in a clear and unambiguous tone. "Miss Longears, while it is perfectly normal for one of our males to have multiple lovers, you know perfectly well nova is new to our way of life and as the one who has taken responsibility for him, I will not allow anyone to take advantage of his slave training for their own sexual gratification. If and when the day comes that he is ready and willing to share a bed with anyone other then Dana the choice of who that lucky female might be is his, as is his right as a companion slave."

"Kayla that was uncalled for." Sasha quickly added before anyone ells could speak, the white tiger having realized that Kayla's lingering feelings about slavery had caused her to misunderstand Jessica's innocent comment. " No one here wants to take advantage of nova, Jessica was just expressing a natural interest in him as she would with any male who's mate had just been talking so favorably about them. Of course she will respect his choice if he declines the invitation to share her bed, But to be quite honest it is something he is going to have to get used to being asked, because I suspect it will not be long before others are expressing the same interest in him."

Momentarily stunned by her mate and first officers outburst Kayla found herself at a loss for words, the vixen knowing that the only time her love used that tone of voice with her was when she had stepped very out of line and needed a verbal slap across the muzzle to make her realize it. " I .. your right love, I'm sorry." Then she turned to the bunny and added "Jessica I apologize, I've just never owned a slave before and I guess I'm being a little over protective. I do trust you and I don't think that you would knowingly take advantage of him."

Jessica not being the type to hold a grudge just warmly smiled back to her friend as she replied " No offence taken Captain, if he was mine I might feel the same way. Besides it's not me you should be worried about, I just hope Dana is up to date on her annual contraceptive injections because if last night is any indication, it won't be long until we start hearing the pitter patter of little paws."

Given the fact that it was common knowledge that humans and Anthros were genetically incompatible for breeding, the bunnies last joke earned another round of laughter that persisted for several long seconds and helped lift the mood of the room. That is until nova, who was oblivious to that fact, softly touched the mink's arm with a warm and reassuring smile on his face as he whispered "there is no need to inconvenience yourself Mistress, my second owner had me fixed a long time ago to prevent any accidents."

"Fixed, Sweetie?" Dana asked with a curious look on her face, the happy mink truly not understanding the implications of her slave's statement.

" O I'm sorry, Mistress. I guess that is a human cultural term. What I meant to say is that my second owner had me sterilized at puberty to prevent any unwanted pregnancy's, so there is no need to diminish your pleasure with contraceptives unless you feel it is necessary." The slave added with a smile still on his face, as if he believed that was something to be proud of.

While that information had been meant strictly for Dana, the shocked gasps and horrified looks from the suddenly silent group made it quite clear that they had all herd it. As you might guess in a society where the females outnumbered males 7 to 1 it was not only unthinkable to intentionally sterilize one, but in fact a criminal offence so bad as to warrant a life sentence if done to him intentionally. Even males serving a criminal term in a prison collar were still viewed as needed breeding partners, less desirable ones of course, but even the child of a murderer or thief was better then not having one at all.

"Dear goddess that woman was as bad as her son." The mink almost cried as she curled her arms around her slave in a pointless attempt to comfort him since he had been conditioned to think of this as a good thing.

Seeing that he had unintentionally upset his owner nova just moved a little closer to her and softly kissed her paw as he whispered back " it's ok Mistress, really. It was just a necessary alteration to make sure I would always be safe for my owner and the ones she gifted my services to."

"Necessary my tail, that selfish bitch was a monster." Sasha practically snarled, her teeth showing as her tail lashed violently.

While she could see the anger on all of her friends faces Kayla seamed more thoughtful as she looked from nova to the Doctor and asked " Crystal I don't remember seeing anything about that in your report, is it possible she was lying to him about being sterile?"

The anger instantly melted from the jaguar's muzzle only to be replaced with one of embarrassment as she almost shamefully admitted " Honestly Captain that's not something I even thought to check for, I mean no one in their right mind would ... " Her voice trailed off as she turned to look at nova, her voice gaining a slight tint of hope as she asked " sweetie exactly how was this done? If it's true perhaps it is reversible."

Slightly confused himself as to why they would want to do such a thing the slave just remained silent for a few moments to gather his thoughts before he whispered " Radiation directed at my, um .. " he glanced down to indicate his genitals as he blushed even deeper with embarrassment. " It only hurt a little, but it made me very sick for a few weeks and itched like crazy. Is that what you wanted to know, Mistress?"

" No, but it was what I was afraid of," the elder jaguar sadly confirmed. Then she added with disgust in her voice " Sasha is right, that selfish bitch was as big a monster as her son." If it had been done surgically or even with drugs then it would have been easy to correct with modern medical technology, but as any doctor who has ever treated radiation poisoning will tell you if not repaired right away the effects were most likely permanent if not deadly. Because it had been a tightly focused and targeted dose in this case it most likely meant that his testicles had been specifically damaged in such a way that they would still produce pre to act as natural lubrication and ejaculate for the females pleasure, but with no sperm cells in it. Truly something only a selfish and monstrous female concerned only with her pleasure would do, even if that male was her slave.

Just as the doctor had turned to Kayla to explain this they all felt the ship suddenly drop out of FTL immediately fallowed by the vixen's com coming to life with a very excited voice yipping " Bridge to the Captain."

"Captain here!" Kayla replied much to the black jaguar's relief.

The voice yipped again even more excitedly "Captain you asked to be informed when we were half an hour from home, we just entered the Anthro system, 20 minutes to the outer marker."

The vixen exchanged a look with all of her friends who instantly started packing up their things and preparing to leave as Kayla responded "Thank you Miss Red-ears, we will be there shortly." Then she looked to the group and added "Crystal we will pick this up after we are docked, everyone else to your stations, with any luck you will be sleeping in your own beds tonight."

The slave was quite impressed at the speed with witch the group shifted from casual social interaction to a totally professional demeanor, each of them quickly giving their farewells before heading off to their stations. But as he to rose to his feet and started cleaning up the dishes he remembered that this was a military ship after all, what else should he expect from professional soldiers. Thanks to cleaning as he went earlier all that was left for the slave to do was place the soiled plates, glasses and silverware back into the dispenser to be returned to the oblivion from witch they came, the mess in the kitchen being attended to much in the same manner.

In the less then 2 minutes it took for him to return the cart to it's place everyone except Crystal, Dana and the Priestess had departed, the 3 remaining ladies seaming to be involved in a whispered conversation that made nova more then a little nervous as he took his place at his Mistress's side. Almost instantly once he was on his knees he felt one of the minks fingers reach down to trace over his cheek, it causing a small shiver to run through his body and his apprehension to melt right away.

"Yes I see what you mean," Dana said in a soft voice as if she was responding to an unasked question. Then she looked up to the priestess as she asked softly " And your sure the effects of this are ... um ... safe?"

At the unicorns nod Dana smiled happily and leaned down to give her human a tender kiss on the forehead as she smiled " Then I will make the most of it after the doctors are done and I get to take my little treasure home to meet my family."

Confused by this he just returned his owners smile as he replied " I am looking forward to that, Mistress." He knew that if they wanted him to understand what they were talking about they would have explained it to him, just one of the little things a slave had to get used to, his owners speaking over his head a lot of the time.

"That sounds like my cue, time for you to come with me little one." Crystal, the midnight furred doctor purred as she crooked her index finger in that "come here" gesture apparently common to both species.

Just as the slave started to move he was stopped by Dana's gentle paw on his shoulder as she asked " Crystal we are going to have so little time together over the next few days, can't I please keep him with me until after we have docked? He's about to see our world for the very first time and I was looking forward to sharing that experience with him."

Such a simple request motivated out of love and tenderness, but one that would end in a day no one serving on the Crimson Claw would ever forget. The disastrous day that the human who had been with them such a short time gave his life to save his ship and the mink he loved.

More to come.........