A Moment of Solace
#4 of The Orphan
// Belle Residence, Emerald Avenue
// Gaia, Ligus System
// 13/04/4716 [Federation Calendar]
Altair's sleep only lasted a second. Startled and somewhat dazed, his eyes fluttered open and shifted left and right. His heartbeat fluttered as he wondered what had woken him. Then he saw Linda's sleeping form beside him. She was so quiet, only her chest rising and falling slowly as she breathed. His startled moment ended and his short burst of panic immediately dissipated. He grinned watching her for a while... and then he worried again.
There was a crash. Muffled voices shouted downstairs, the sounds of boots rapping on the floor and a sudden shatter as something glass broke. Then a distressed cry met his ears.
Altair immediately sat bolt upright and glanced across his room. Nobody present. They were still alone. But there was definitely something happening downstairs. Slowly the orphan slipped out of bed and silently moved across the room to the door. Turning the handle and pulling the door open he heard the muffled voices suddenly increase in volume.
In the background he heard Linda stir and moan under her breath, one hand clawing at the empty space beside her as her right ear twitched. Altair glanced at her, then satisfied she was still sleeping stepped out of his room and into the hall. The voices grew louder and more coherent as he reached the top of the stairs and peeked around the corner.
"Don't stretch my patience!" one loud voice shouted. "Where is the boy?"
The second voice was distinctly that of Roger Belle. He sounded strange though, like he had a stuffed nose. "What boy?" he asked.
"The orphan!" the interrogating voice shouted, slightly muffled. "Number thirteen thirty-seven! Where is he?"
"Don't know what you're talking about." Roger Belle replied, causing Altair to frown.
There was a sickening smack, quickly followed by a scream from Adrianna Belle and a pained grunt from Roger Belle. Altair heard a distinct crack and the splatter of blood on the living room's wooden floor. The orphan's eyes widened slightly as he heard several more dull thuds and more of Roger Belle's pained grunts.
"You're good people." The interrogator said. "Don't let this brat be the end of you. Tell me where the orphan, Altair is!"
Altair heard Adrianna Belle sob in the background, and Roger Belle's reply.
"Bite me." the collie snarled.
Altair's heart jolted as a sudden gunshot cracked through the house, echoing across Emerald Avenue. The orphan's chest seized up. A mingle of mind numbing terror and pyromaniacal anger washed over him. An infinite amount of emotions played at his mind and many more thoughts ripped at his consciousness.
"Keep an eye on this bitch." The interrogator ordered. "I'll check upstairs. If you hear anything, kill her."
Altair peeked around the corner again and saw an armoured figure, clad in distinct Federation colours move out of the living room and start to climb the stairs. Altair backed up towards his room again, his hands trembling, his left wrist aching to flick back. There were so many colourful ways the orphan wanted to kill that soldier in, but if he tried they'd kill Adrianna Belle too. Roger Belle died protecting Altair. He died because of Altair. That was already too much on the human's conscience.
The trooper reached the top of the stairs and turned right, standing in front of the orphan. They were separated by two meters, Altair standing by the door to Roger and Adrianna Belle's bedroom that was beside his.
"Well, well, well." The trooper sighed. "This is what all the fuss is about? One pathetic little freak like yourself." The trooper looked down the stairs and called out to his comrades. "I got him!"
Altair visibly jolted as another gunshot echoed through the night. He distinctly heard Adrianna Belle's body fall limp beside her husband's. The orphan's terror was immediately replaced with burning anger.
"What..." Linda stumbled to a halt behind Altair and stared at the Federation trooper, rubbing one eye tiredly with one hand. "Altair, who's that? What's going on?"
The trooper chuckled, seeing the cheetah standing by Altair's shoulder. "What's this? You been busy, boy?" his hand inched closer to the pistol holstered on his hip.
Altair's right hand was a blur of motion as it darted back and gripped a throwing knife on the back of his belt. "Try it, hotshot. See what happens." His voice trembled, and he fought hard not to snap. Two people had already died because of him. Now Linda was in danger. He had to keep thinking straight. Get Linda out of the house and get her somewhere safe. Now was not the appropriate time for vengeance.
"Alright." The trooper nodded. "Have it your way." He raised his hands out to his sides, leaving himself exposed. "Add the death of a Federation Officer to your list. As it is you've already killed your foster parents." The soldier chuckled. "Now tell me, boy. You must be ready to exact some vengeance, aren't you?"
Altair gritted his teeth and lowered his head, pulling up his hood with his free hand, hiding his face in a gloomy shadow. "There's no time for vengeance in war."
"Saywhat?" the trooper started, but didn't quite finish.
Altair's hand was a blur of motion as he drew the throwing dagger and threw it in one smooth motion. The thin blade snaked through the air and hit the palm of the Federation Officer's right hand point first. He cried out and cringed, grabbing the knife that stabbed right through his hand. He was already pulling the implement out of himself as Altair dashed closer.
The orphan leapt forward, landed his foot on the trooper's chest and jumped, knocking the soldier on his back and sending himself soaring down the stairwell. Standing at the bottom of the stairs was a second Federation Trooper, his weapon shouldered and aimed up at the orphan flying down towards him. Altair was on the trooper in a second, landing both feet on is chest and pinning hard to the ground. Not even the Federation MK XI armour could protect from that shock as the human used the trooper as a crash mat. The force of the blow knocked the trooper out and cushioned the orphan's landing.
Altair's eyes shifted right and he caught the sight of another trooper suspended in mid step, attempting to draw a bead on the orphan. The human snatched a throwing knife concealed on his left ankle and threw it as he stood. The weapon scythed its way between the chinks of the armour, piercing the kevlar with a laser sharpened blade and sent the hostile spinning to the ground.
"Linda, move!" Altair barked, moving past the stairs and to the living room door.
He heard Linda charge down the stairs, breathing hard with a mixture of panic and confusion... the next thing he saw was the front of a rifle slide out of the living room doorway and angle upwards towards Linda. Altair acted before he thought.
There was a slight recoil as Altair popped open his wrist-blade and stabbed forward, the laser sharpened blade piercing right through the third trooper's hand and into the rifle. The wound spat surprisingly little blood as Altair drew the blade out of the screaming trooper. Swinging his right arm around, he landed the ridge of his hand in the tiny unprotected area of the trooper's throat and knocked the soldier back gagging.
As the trooper fell to the ground, Altair saw the two corpses laying beside the couch. Two collies, each with a neat hole through their chests, blood seeping into their fur and clothes, spilling and forming a large pink puddle beneath them.
Altair stared at the bodies of the two good people who died because they refused to give up Altair. They died protecting him, like those who came before them... it was happening all over again.
Linda slid to a halt beside Altair and gasped at the sight of the bodies. Her hand was clapped over her mouth in shock as her horrified eyes refused to turn away from the sight. "By Gaia... what's happening?"
"War." Altair whispered, his voice still shaky. "Its starting all over again..." he swallowed and allowed for a short moment of silence. "C'mon. It's not safe here. Out the back."
Linda kept one hand clutched on Altair's sleeve as he led her out of the hall, through the kitchen and through the back door. They crossed the neat garden and Altair gave the cheetah a boost across the garden wall and into the street that ran parallel to the Emerald Avenue cul-de-sac. Taking one last look at the house he almost started to consider home, Altair turned away and somewhat effortlessly scaled the wall, vaulting over the top and landing on the grassy verge beside Linda. He placed a hand on her shoulder and felt her trembling. Her hands shook and her ears were pinned back.
Together they walked onto the sidewalk and Altair pointed in the direction of Crowns. "Go home. Tell your butler what happened. He'll know exactly what to do."
"What? How..." Linda started, but Altair stopped her.
"Trust me. He'll know."
He sighed and they looked at each other for what felt like hours. Altair knew he had to say goodbye, but wasn't sure exactly how. He'd never actually said goodbye to anyone before. He wasn't sure how it worked yet.
"What are you going to do?" Linda suddenly asked.
"The spaceport to hitch a ride. It's not safe on Gaia." Altair replied.
"Where is it safe then?"
"Anywhere... anywhere but here." Altair said. He suddenly noticed the look on Linda's face. "No... no you're not."
"Yes," Linda nodded. "Yes I am. You need someone to stay with you. An ally..." she paused. "Maybe even something more." She looked around. "If you're not safe here, maybe I'm not safe here. Those guys back there looked like they would have killed me as easily as they killed your guardians."
Altair discreetly winced as Linda referred to Adrianna and Roger Belle as his guardians.
"The safest place I could be is with you Altair." Linda continued. "And believe me, there's no place I'd rather be."
Altair thought it over. It made sense. But there was no guarantee she was any safer with him than she was on her home planet. There were so many things he couldn't imagine, so many events that could happen that he couldn't predict. If he got himself killed, what would happen to her? If she got hurt, would Altair ever forgive himself?
"Are you sure you're up to this?" he asked.
"Yeah." Linda nodded.
Altair looked at her, unconvinced. Linda noticed and suddenly pricked up her ears, raised her chin and straightened her back.
"I mean, yes. I am." She said with more confidence, her face literally radiating defiance.
Altair sighed and nodded. "Alright. But you stick to me, and do exactly as I say."
"Of course."
Altair nodded again and looked away. "C'mon. First stop is the space port. I have to look up an old friend."
Together they started walking, Altair's attention on his surroundings, and Linda's focus on clutching his hand, determined never to let go.
The Orphan
A Moment of Solace
// Solace, Civilian owned ship
//Ligus System
// 14/04/4716 [Federation Calendar]
Linda woke slowly, propping herself on her elbows and looking around the small rectangular space. Her room was cordoned off by thin papers walls and lit by a small electric light on the table beside her. For a moment she traced the elegant lines and swirls lovingly painted on the paper walls of her room before sitting up straight and hugging her knees.
Even under her thick blanket she was cold. She had never been in space before, but she had expected at the very least the ship's heating to take the chill out of the air.
The Solace was a small craft, not designed for trips longer than a week. The trip they were taking would take three days at sub-light speed. With a slip-space generator the trip would possibly only take a few seconds, but Altair had said they had to be happy with what they got. They couldn't risk sneaking aboard a commercial craft. Those things would be crawling with Federation troopers by now.
Instead, Altair had sent one signal across space and almost immediately received a reply from a friend of his. Little under four hours later they met up with a small ship at the Gaian space port with a woman who didn't think twice about taking them aboard her ship.
Linda had been too tired to ask any questions, and instead got some shut-eye. She hadn't seen much of Altair since they boarded and left Gaia behind them. She was still coming to terms with the fact she couldn't go back now.
Getting up and wrapping her blanket around herself, she left the confines of her room and looked left and right down the long corridor running along the belly of the ship. To her right was a stairway going up, and to her left a dead end. She moved to the stairs and climbed them. She was halfway up when she got her first glimpse into the common area.
This space was relatively cramped circular space, a small cooking area on the far side and an elongated table set in the centre. The room was decorated in an alien style unknown to Linda, featuring symbolic swirls and ornamental wooden carvings and trellises lining the walls. The decorator hadn't been shy to use crimson, gold and silver silk sheets draped from the ceiling and across some of he walls.
Sitting at the table were Altair and the woman who had taken them aboard her ship. Altair was the first to look up and smile. An expression she hadn't seen in a while.
"Linda." he said softly. "How are you feeling?"
She smiled back. "Less tired. You?"
Altair shrugged. "Better... considering."
She froze at the top of the steps and they stared at each other for a moment. The image of Altair's dead guardians still lingered in the back of their minds, but neither of them wanted to talk about it.
Altair finally cleared his throat and got to his feet, nodding at their host sitting at the table opposite him. "Esne'rah c'ul septe liguoros, Casse'ande." He suddenly said.
Their host smiled up at him and nodded gracefully. "You needn't mention it, Altair." She replied in Gaian.
Altair paused as he passed Linda, unsure what he ought to do. Linda helped him out by leaning forward and pecking him on the lips. They grinned at each other for a moment before Altair turned away and moved down the stairs to the sleeping quarters, brushing past the cheetah. She watched him go before sighing and turning back to their hostess.
She wasn't human, nor was she a Gaian. She was one of the species accepted into the Federation Alliance she had seen the least of on Gaia. She was a Draconian. Reasonably small for a dragoness, she probably stood a little taller than six feet, had a slender frame covered in a shell of thumbnail sized inky blue scales. Running along the ridge of her back, from the base of her skull to the base of her tail were broader, thicker scales protecting her spinal column. Folded elegantly across the larger scales on her back were a pair of bat-like wings, and perched atop her slender neck was an elongated Draconic head with a maw Linda knew was filled with razor sharp teeth. The only thing that prevented Linda from feeling intimidated were her eyes. Her enchanting green eyes were wide and shone and glistened in the artificial light and radiated her kind nature across the room.
She smiled and patted the seat beside her. "Come sit with me, Linda. Altair's told me quite a bit about you. It's about time I properly met the most wonderful girl I've ever heard about."
Linda looked away shyly as she walked over and sat down. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, miss..."
"Companionship Maiden by rank." The Draconian introduced. "Cassandra Solace by name."
"Companionship Maiden?" Linda asked. "What's that?"
One of Cassandra's brows raised slightly. "You honestly don't know?"
Linda shook her head.
"My, my. Where did Altair find you?" the Draconian asked with a light snigger. "A prison tower guarded by a legion of devout knights?"
Linda's grin faded a bit as she looked away. Now she was out in space talking to a Draconian and learning about something that seemed so ordinary in the galaxy, it sure as hell felt like she had been locked up in a tower all her life.
Cassandra sighed. "Well... where do I start? I suppose as a healthy young woman you've probably noticed that as you grow older, unless you're a Sigd of course, that you tend to get certain..." she searched for the right word, but didn't search for very long. "Urges."
"I think I can see where this is going." Linda said understandably. "And I suppose you..." she paused.
"Help them relieve these urges or needs." Cassandra finished. "I take in young men or women who don't have time to perform the full mateship ritual and relieve them of all their burdens."
Linda looked away.
"Something is wrong." Cassandra suddenly said, leaning forward to look at Linda's eyes. "I'm guessing you don't really approve of a profession such as mine."
Linda sighed and looked up at the Draconian. "Well..." she started hesitantly. "Do you mind if I speak frankly?"
"Of course, Linda." Cassandra nodded. "Please, speak your mind."
"Well," Linda started up again. "We have a few districts back on Gaia that supported a similar profession. I've seen it on the news too many times. Beautiful women trading their bodies for credits... it's an ungraceful job and extremely exploitative..."
Cassandra stopped her there. "Linda, on one hand my job is completely different from that. On the other hand, our cultures are completely different. On Draco my people take my job in extremely high regard. Companionship Maidens are paid handsomely for our services and we are treated like queens. We choose our clients and have permission to turn any down. We're not simple whores struggling to make our living in the galaxy, Linda. Companionship is so sacred on my planet that we believe no-one in the galaxy should ever feel loneliness."
The cheetah stared for a while and looked away. "I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to judge. It's just I've been on Gaia all my life and never really experienced any different cultures before."
"It's quite alright." Cassandra patted the Gaian on the back. "You'd probably be surprised how often I've had to explain myself on other planets."
"Can I ask you something else?" Linda asked.
Cassandra nodded. "Of course."
"How well do you know Altair?"
Cassandra sighed and rested her head in one hand. "Oh, I don't know. I don't think any one person can know absolutely everything about Altair. I suppose I know enough to call him a friend at least. We met on the Clepper Fringe early 4707. There was a conscripted Chaos Guild assassin chasing after him. I had just closed by door behind a leaving client when he came knocking. I answered and told him my services were only available to adults. He was a twelve year old after all. What was I supposed to think?
"Then he just pointed over his shoulder and mouthed 'I'm an orphan'. I saw the assassin searching for him and immediately understood."
"You helped him immediately without thinking about it?" Linda asked.
Cassandra shook her head. "I wouldn't tell everyone this, but I actually hesitated, wondering if it was really worth helping him. Then I came to my senses and remembered something my mother told me when I was his age. 'The people making the galaxy a bad place never take a rest. For peace to exist, the people making the galaxy a good place should share that courtesy.' So, I took him aboard and we left together."
"Then what?" Linda asked, leaning closer with interest.
Cassandra shrugged. "We travelled two days together before I dropped him off on Holus. I'd receive some clients on Holus, so whenever I was in the system I'd visit him, see how things were going. Last time I saw him was a year ago. As you can imagine I was a little surprised to receive a message from in on Gaia."
"He never told you he was being transferred to Gaia?"
"He didn't know it would happen last time we spoke." Cassandra said. "Besides, when the Federation transferred him I doubt they gave him the time or permission to send any messages. It was lucky I was in the system." The Draconian grinned.
Linda nodded, grateful fortune was in their favour. "So you met him just after the Orphanage Massacre?"
"Just before the ending." Cassandra's grin faded and she sighed heavily. "I suppose you know what marked the ending of the massacre, correct?"
Linda nodded. "Yeah. The last few thousand orphans made their last stand, back on their home Telvan 6... but you dropped him off on Holus. So he..." Linda suddenly looked up and remembered something Altair had told her a while ago when she asked what group of orphans Altair belonged to.
'The ones who ran away... I never stopped.'
"He ran away and never looked back." Cassandra said. "I don't blame him. He had his own dedicated Chaos Guild assassin chasing after him. Did he tell you about it?"
Linda nodded slowly. "He told me he was with the few that ran away from everything."
Cassandra shook her head. "The few that ran away. Cowards to some, heroes to others. If you ask me they were the smartest of them all." The Draconian looked up and smiled. "But don't worry. He's insanely in love with you. He won't run out on you."
"He said that?" Linda's eyes glittered for a moment, before the Draconian shook her head.
"Sorry. Not directly. He implied it though." Cassandra grinned. "He never lets all his emotions flow. He just implies through hints and actions."
"I think I could live with that." Linda nodded and got to her feet. "I'm going to get some more sleep."
"That sounds like a good idea." Cassandra said. "Safety and peace, Linda."
Linda paused for a second, wondering what she meant. Realising it was just a form of saying 'goodbye' Linda replied with a simple: "See ya."
She went down the stairs to the sleeping deck and slid open her room door. The rectangular space was cold and empty. Then something caught her attention. She heard soft murmuring, like chanting and shuffling in the section beside her. Sliding the door shut again, she moved to the next room and slowly slid that door open. The interior of this room was identical. Altair sat on his knees beside the bed, his hands clutched at chest level, a cylindrical object lying on the mattress in front of him. His head was bowed, eyes were shut and his lips moved as he let out a hardly audible musical chanting in a human language she couldn't understand.
He must have heard her enter, because his head suddenly snapped up and his eyes darted open. Looking to the door he saw Linda and grinned. "Hey."
"Hi." Linda grinned back, stepped inside and shut the door behind her. "What you up to?"
Altair looked down at the long sword lying on the bed before him and shrugged. "Nothing much."
"Doesn't look like nothing much." Linda teased, sitting on the bed and picking up the cylindrical object from the mattress and holding it out in front of her. it was made of hardened leather, possibly with something rigid stitched in side and weighed nearly nothing. There was a flat rectangle of what looked like steel running along the length of the slightly conic cylinder, and on the far side were three clasps along an opening indicating it probably fitted on a wrist. "What's this?" she wrapped it around her wrist and closed the clasps so the shape fitted comfortably with the rectangle of steel on the inside of her arm.
"Careful with that." Altair warned sitting beside her. "Flick your hand back... harder, slightly quicker... right, like that but a bit further."
On her third attempt Linda snapped her hand back as quick as she could, automatically flicking out her whole arm at the same time. As soon as she did, there was a 'shlink' of metal on metal and a smooth flat metal bar slid out from the steel fitted to the inside of her wrist. The bar extended to roughly where her knuckles would be if she made a fist, and out of the smooth metal bar extended a long thin knife. Linda gasped at the sight of the wrist-blade and raised her arm, gazing at the glittering knife.
"Wow." She said with semi surprise and awe. "That I was not expecting."
Altair chuckled. "Nobody ever does. That's why discretion is an orphan's most valuable weapon. Says so in our creed. You can find copies of it in your local library or Federation Galactic Guide."
"An orphan's creed, huh?" Linda said running one finger over the laser sharpened edges of the blade and poking the tip carefully. The blade had started off cool, and was gradually warming up until it grew too hot to touch. "And what exactly is the creed?"
Altair shrugged. "Actually, I only remember the first two tenants. One, never leave a loved one behind, and two, keep your identity anonymous. As far as I'm concerned that's all I gotta remember."
Altair reached over and tugged back the dull steel at the base of the blade. A second later the wrist-blade retracted with a satisfying click. Linda opened the clasps, took off the weapon and handed it back to Altair who placed it on his bedside cabinet.
"Anyway, you're dodging the question." Linda said firmly. "What were you doing?"
"Praying." Altair said, looking away. "To my ancestors, hoping they'll tell me what to do next."
"I didn't know you believed in an afterlife." Linda admitted.
"Well, actually I don't." Altair laughed. "But praying helps. Its kind of like meditating. How about you. Follow any religions?"
"Not by choice really. Part of being Gaian is being in a religion I suppose. You know, preservation of the planet's spirit and all that." Linda suddenly looked around like something was amiss. "Wait a second. I just realised. Why are we in separate rooms?"
Altair raised an eyebrow and glanced over his shoulder at the paper partition between their beds. "You'd prefer to share a bed? I'm kind of a restless sleeper."
"After how you made me feel last night?" Linda said in a soft tone, shuffling closer and pressing up against the human. "By Gaia, I think I'd love to share."
Altair shrugged. "Well then, I suppose Cassandra wouldn't care either way about the sleeping arrangements... as long as we keep it down."
"Oh, hello there mister Altair." Linda said with a seductive giggle as she wrapped her arms around the human's neck and pinned him back against the mattress. "Are you finally coming out of your shell?"
They both laughed and kissed...
*****************************
"Oh, Altair..." Linda moaned out loud as Cassandra silently slid the door to Altair's room shut.
Quietly as she could, still hearing Linda's moans of pleasure, the Draconian carried the tray with tea she intended to bring to her guests back up to the common room. The cheetah's energetic moans and murrs grew softer, but still audible to Cassandra as she set down the tray and moved to the ship's cockpit. She wasn't sure how she felt. One the one hand she was mildly jealous of Linda, but on the other hand she was very glad. Extremely glad that Altair had found a glimmer of happiness in life.
Cassandra slowly sat behind the flight controls and settled into the padded cushions, Linda's moans hardly audible anymore. But still, in her mind's eye Cassandra could imagine what was going on. She imagined Altair was helping Linda get through her heat. It was obvious the Gaian was in some need. Cassandra could smell as much. The Draconian was used to being among males and females in dire need of release from their sexual frustration. She knew all the signs... and all the tricks on how exactly to help.
And right now she could imagine exactly how some of her clients must have felt. Her work involved satisfying her clients, and she was starting to neglect her own needs. It hadn't been very long since she had a male, but it had been too long since she had satisfied herself. Under her robe she felt the region around her crotch grow more sensitive with every passing minute. A sticky dampness formed as she slowly lifted the bottom of the skimpy garment and stroked her fingers slowly up along the scales on the inside of her thigh. Her nerves tingled under her thick hide, causing the Draconian to let out a girlish giggle under her breath. A small smile appeared on her muzzle as her hand travelled higher and higher until her index finger touched her wet lips. At this point her own arousal filled her nostrils, causing her desired to skyrocket.
Her hand stroked up across the folds in her robe, massaging her breast before rising more and stroking up along her elegant and slender neck. Her fingers made it to her mouth where her slithery tongue lubricated them with her saliva. Meanwhile her other hand continued to stroke her nether lips, rubbing the soft folds of flesh within her central source of pleasure. More natural lubricants oozed from her vagina as her finger found her clitoris and started to tease her senses. Cassandra sighed pleasurably as her lubricated fingers came down and joined her other hand as it left her clitoris alone.
Slowly her wet index and middle finger touched her sensitive lips and gently pressed harder until her sex engulfed them.
"Ooooooooh..." Cassandra let out feeling her warm, wet finger slide into her.
She had plenty of experience dealing with other females, and her tail twitched, swinging around to do something to herself many of her clients had enjoyed. Her wet fingers slipped out and took hold of her thick, powerful tail's smooth tip, slowly stroking it, and smearing on a coat of saliva and natural lubricant across the scales.
Cassandra's head slowly fell back as the tip of her slick tail touched her lower lips and slowly probed inside her, before sharply thrusting. Impaling herself with her tail, the Dragoness let out a low cry of pleasure, her muscles twitching uncontrollable. Her legs spread, her fingers massaging the outside of her vagina as her tail thrust as deep as she felt pleasurable, before pulling out and thrusting back in.
"Oh, Godssssss, yessssssssss." She hissed under her breath as her hips bucked lightly.
Her scales started grinding against her sensitive internal flesh as her muscles contracted, a deep feeling slowly rising to the surface. Something new burned within her and bubbled to the surface, burning deep within her, urging for release. Over the soft moans of the cheetah Cassandra still heard in the background, the sound of the Draconic tail squelching in and out of her became audible. One of her hands stroked upward and entered her mouth as she felt the dampness around her crotch increase. She tasted her own juices and enjoyed it as the pleasure bubbling within her increased in intensity.
While her tail continued to pump harder and harder, she worked her click with one hand while suckling on her fingers. Her eyes slowly shut as she felt she was nearing a climax. She squeezed her cunt hard on her tail, the scales grinding tighter against her sensitive insides. Wet lapping sounds became more audible as a puddle of her juices formed on the leather cushion beneath her. She held in a scream of pleasure as her tail brushed against her cervix, spreading her lips as it progressed deeper with every thrust.
"Aaah. AAAAAAHHHHH!" her voice grew louder than she wanted it to as she couldn't hold it in anymore. She thrust her tail deeper as her mouth fell open, strings of saliva connecting her fingers and lips.
Her orgasm rippled around the tip of her tail as her hips bucked involuntarily. Her body refused to obey her commands and she let out a long cry of pleasure. Her juices squelched past the tail that impaled her and coated the pilot seat. Letting out a long sigh, Cassandra withdrew her tail, shuddering with every inch it slipped out of her vagina, spilling more of her cum onto the seat. Bringing her tail up to her mouth, the Draconian slouched and started licking her own juices from her scales, lovingly lapping the creamy white substance with her snake-like tongue.
Her eyes were shut as she licked up the last of the substance and suckled tenderly on her tail's tip. How she wished it were a man's cock, but she was happy with what she got none the less. Then she heard Linda let out a long pleasured cry, identical to that the Draconian had just released. Another pang of envy surfaced as she thought of what Altair and Linda had just done together. But then, at the same time she was happy for them. The last sensical through that ran through her head just before she came was the thought of Altair. He'd probably never know how she actually felt about him, but at the same time she didn't mind. On this ship he was happy and safe, and that was all she could really want for him.
// {location unknown / archive incomplete}
// 14/04/4716 [Federation Calendar]
The Christian Church was quiet. One of the last of its kind, the majestic building stood among alien architecture in the gloomy city centre. As night fell, the magical glow the flickering candles that illuminated the interior of the Church cast through the old cracked stained glass windows became more pronounced. Rain started to fall outside, bashing hard against the roof and causing puddle to form at the foot of a support pillar by a leaky section of roofing.
The archaic wood creaked and groaned as the front doors swung open, then slammed shut again in a clang of iron on wood. The candles flickered and three blew out as a swirl of freezing water and wind blew throughout the Church. The altar boy praying in the first row opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder as a figure moved towards the confession booth. The boy couldn't make out his face under the black hood, and only heard the soles of his boots patting on the hard stone floor.
The hooded figure pulled open the booth door, climbed in and shut it behind him. Priest of this place of ancient worship, Father Reilly was already sitting in the other half of the booth, waiting to receive the sinners' confessions.
Inside the elderly priest looked up from his bible and slowly closed the leather bound book and leaned back. "Yes, my child?"
"Forgive me father, for I have sinned." The hooded figure said softly, leaning forward and placing its hands together in a prayer fashion.
"Please, confess, my child." Father Reilly said looking at the figure through the wooden mesh separating them.
"I have killed a man." The figure confessed in a low tone, slowly looking up. Candlelight illuminated what looked like the tip of a draconic snout. "His blood is on my hands."
Father Reilly's eyes widened slightly as his hand slowly slid across the bench to an object holstered under his seat. "Whose blood?" his whispered.
The figure lifted its head higher and revealed a crimson glisten from its bleeding eyes. "Yours..." it whispered, snapping up a wrist. There was a soft 'shlink' as a blade slid out from its concealed position on the figure's wrist.
Father Reilly hardly had time to blink as the Chaos Guild follower darted forward and broke through the partition separating them. The priest ducked forward as the wrist-blade slashed for the throat, missing the top of his head by a few inches. Father Reilly snatched a pair of pistols from their holsters under his seat and dove forward, smashing out of the confession booth in a cloud of dust and splinters. Running forward with surprising speed for the old man, the priest cursed under his breath as the Chaos Guild assassin kicked his way out of the booth behind him.
"Fucking Chaos Guild." The priest muttered, whirling around and snapping up both weapons. "Phillip!" he shouted to the altar boy who stood stunned. "Run! For the love of Christ, run!"
The assassin dashed forward and the priest fired. His guns barked and kicked, firing ancient hollow pointed magnum projectiles at his target. The Chaos Guild assassin ducked and sidestepped, dodging the bullets nearly effortlessly. Twisting counter clockwise it sidestepped closer as the priest struggled to draw a bead on the darting assassin.
Cursing, Father Reilly jumped back as the assassin made a lunge, slicing for the arteries in the throat. Dodging and ducking with the speed and agility of a pair of young children, they danced around each other. The assassin dodging the point blank shots, the gun-priest leaping out of the wrist-blade's reach and blocking slashes with the barrels of his two pistols.
The assassin dodged under a head-shot and swept its leg at the priest's feet. Father Reilly jumped forward, landed on the Chaos Guild assassin's shoulders and leaped again, landing one foot on the backrest of the closest row of benches. Leaping forward again he landed on the backrest of the next row, and then leapt a third time, soaring across the central aisle. Whirling around in the air, time seemed to slow as he raised his guns on the charging assassin.
The priest cocked his pistols and fired. The assassin rolled forward as the two bullets hit the ground behind it. Landing on its feet, the assassin straightened up, throwing a pair of knives. The blades scythed through the air and both hit the soaring priest in the chest.
Gasping, Father Reilly dropped his guns and hit the deck hard, throwing over two rows of benches and disappearing in a cloud of dust and splinters. Silence lasted a full twenty seconds, before the assassin's approaching footsteps were heard.
Father Reilly's fingers stretched for the gun just out of his arm's reach, grunting in pain. Two knives were sticking out of his chest, one in each lung. His breathing took more effort and two wet patches formed on his black shirt.
The assassin approached, kicked away the gun and knelt over the priests, slowly retracting the wrist-blade. Taking one of the knives sticking out of the priest's chest, it twisted and fiddled, causing the older man to spasm in pain.
"Don't worry, father. I will kill you before the suns rise." The Chaos Guild assassin said in a clearer voice that sounded oddly feminine now that it spoke louder. "But first, you and I are going to have a little chat."
"Fuck you!" the priest managed to force out. "I don't have anything to say to you, freak."
"I beg to differ." The assassin chuckled. "Lets talk about Orphan thirteen thirty-seven."
Father Reilly's pained screams were the last thing the altar boy, Phillip heard as he fled out the back.