FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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Chapter 1

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"The local, land-dwelling sentients are celebrating an odd festival they call 'Halloween' and will never know the difference. What could go wrong?"

"Indeed," the Sinari thought to herself as she paced the floor, swishing her black tail in annoyance while wondering, not for the last time, why she'd taken the stupid bet anyway. Earth was a forbidden location for all citizens of the Orion Arm and the punishments for unlicensed beings caught on-planet were severe. Rampant and violent xenophobia among the dominant natives also contributed to the galactic quarantine of the world, as for many, the trip to Earth had been tragically one-way. As a young species, the "humans" (as they called themselves) had been deemed unfit for official first contact yet.

Unofficially, though, it was a different story. The human celebration of Halloween had provided ample opportunity for intragalactic thrill seekers to walk undetected amongst the humans over the cycles for the last century or so. A bustling, clandestine tourism business soon developed, becoming more popular as human technology improved as well as providing needed economic activity to an otherwise backwater section of the Galactic Arm. Recognizing this, the Cygnian Council often looked the other way as Earth's benign extraterrestrial population ballooned in the days before the holiday, provided the proper taxes and fees for each passenger were paid. The cruises were always sold under strict secrecy provisions and customs enforcement was extremely rigid. Even with the draconian security measures and the exorbitant prices, the cruises were always booked solid up to ten years in advance.

Protagonist, however, was not booking fare on any registered cruise line, and a bet is, as the Sinari said, a bet. The consequences of lost honor and stature in addition to the mental anguish caused for reneging any wageredagreement would drive most Sinari nearly to ritualistic suicide.

She calmed her nerves with brushing her long mane. Deft fingers wove baubles and other ornate symbols of social status into the upper tresses while a deep purple ribbon with a gold stripe made a simple bow high on her tail. Dapple gray fur covered the rest of the mare's body and she nervously rubbed anebon currycomb over the sleek hair, wondering, again, how she'd gotten herself politically painted into such a corner. Soon enough, though, there would be only action with the contemplation for after. With a snort, she dropped the carved, wooden brush to the table where it clattered against the metal. It was time.

Lacquered hooves, polished and shod with cybernetic alloy, clacked once before the embedded nanites restructured the shoe's matrix to absorb most of the sound. Protagonist frowned, thinking that the program should have been in place already. Shrugging, she stretched and looked in the nearby, full-length mirror, canting up slightly from the floor. She was a typical Sinari female, and while most girls her age would have been shaving designs into their fur or dyeing exotic symbols on it, Protagonist preferred the natural look of a well-kept, unadulterated pelt.

She wore only a thin, golden colored cord about the waist with a small pouch at her side. Even the dark, black skin of her sex glistened in the cool air of the ship and she flexed her nether muscles, making the dark outer lips peel back and wink its pink interior. Within the folds, a silver ring glittered for a bare moment before it was hidden again.

Protagonist smirked and stepped away from the mirror before the sight worked her into a more frisky mood. Clothing was slowly coming back into fashion on Sinar, but was still considered a symbol of manual labor; a function of one's job. Simply put, those who wore clothing did so because they had to for protection. Protagonist was no manual laborer, and rudely shoved such thoughts away with a snort of disdain and a shake of her head. She didn't have to worry about that because she would win the bet.

The door chimed and opened as she approached it, revealing two female guards in tunics and ceremonial armor. The pair quickly came to alert, metal armor rattling softly as she walked out and then down the hallway toward her personal observation dome.

The hallway ended abruptly, opening into a great expanse on the spine of a massive starship. Monomolecular reinforced shields, impervious to all but visible light and gravity, held in the atmosphere and filtered out the harmful effects of space travel. It also offered a spectacular view of the surrounding armada. Small fusion lights from the swarms of fighters performing patrol exercises illuminated the gray metallic hulls of the parent battleships. Formation was in close tonight with the Thunderbolt directly above, she noted. It would be tricky to leave. There was a metallic clicking and a shuffling of servos behind her. "Major Domo. You may want to get your hip examined again," she said.

"Aye, lassie, and you be minding yer own medical business. It's been fine. Don't need no more of them poking around in me," a gruff voice spoke up.

Whoever, or whatever had constructed him had never been equaled before or since. The robotic butler looked like a perfect copy of a male Sinari fighter, captured in the prime of his training. His outer skin appeared to be a metallic gold, yet, it was as pliable and resilient as flesh. Even the hair of his mane and tail shimmered with the same hue of his body. Expressive eyes and ears watched and listened at least better than most, feeding information to his computerized brain. A brain that was also linked directly into fleet's central database via some sort of organo-mechanical, wireless relay.

"Ok, old fart," she laughed. "Sometimes I think whoever made you gave you too much independence." She turned around and gave the robot a hug. "So ... tell me what you know. Why are we flying in close tonight?"

Major quickly held the tray up high while he was being hugged. "Routine exercises, as always, ma'am." He patted her on the shoulder and then stepped back when she released.

She looked down at the lowered tray. A pair of glittering, teardrop shaped earrings lay on the silvered surface. "Oh, come on. I know the training regimen just as well as you do. We weren't scheduled for close fighting exercises for another couple of days." She picked the jewelry up and set the hooks into the holes in her long ears, fastening the body into the metallic, mesh decorations looping around each ear's outer edge.

"If I may be so bold, my lady, this constant obsession with whatthe military is doing is quite disturbing. The emperor would never approve."

Protagonist huffed. "Father has never approved of half of what I do, Major. Besides, you trained me, remember? Oh, and I like what I feel when I'm in the combat simulator. Seriously, how many times have I been shot down? Look up the official record if you like. I'm going to command this armada some day, so I better know how it functions. Just work your magic and patch into the Thunderbolt's main dispatch."

The robot only shrugged. "I already have. Their encryption is taking time, ma'am. Apparently, the Admiral took my suggestion about his security routines. And as for milady's record, I prefer the unofficial one."

"Oh, please. I was just a filly when you cheated, and besides, we both 'died' when you flew your ship into mine and the shields interacted with the cloak."

"You haven't made the same mistake again, so I consider it a lesson learned. Might I still suggest that madam stay home tonight, please?"

"I will not lose my honor over this, Major."

"Over something so trifling?" he sighed. "Forgive all the headstrong youth. Fine. If milady is so dead-set on going, allow me to chaperone. Your father is worried."

"How ... Father knows about the bet? Major, did you....?"

"If he does, princess, he was not told by me," he interrupted. "No. As far as I can tell, he's got something else on his mind. Has milady not noticed that she has become more ... affectionate towards males and male figures?"

"How could I not? I know exactly what's going on. I told you that I'm not a filly." Suddenly, her eyes opened wide at the realization that her father was probably just being a grumpy, overprotective, pasture-stud with a scatter-beam. She placed a three-fingered hand over her lips and giggled into it. "He's afraid I'm going to ..." she laughed. "No, Major, I will be fine. I won't need your chaperone services. If you must know, I'm not going to any planet-side 'costume' party. And I'm definitely not meeting anyone 'special'. Honestly. Father would have to allow me to meet people first."

"I'm shocked at milady would think that. She has met plenty of people at the state functions," he began.

"Please. Overfed, gray-muzzled, pompous furbags that stare at me like I'm some sort of breeding toy?"

"Well, madam does look quite ... breedable, if I may be so bold."

"Oh whatever," she responded, rolling her eyes. "You watch me closer than a Gildari watches her chicks and you'd know if someone even came close to my weeks-old scent trail."

"Regardless," the robot said. "I have the results from the Thunderbolt's dispatch computer. Apparently we're passing near a steep gravity well and standard formation is being shifted in stages. Or that's what their machine told me."

"Are you trying to keep me here, Major? Do I need to link in myself? Father's already doing what he can to try and make it difficult for me."

"I assure you I'm telling you the truth. It is impossible for me to bend my programming constraints like you can. Please, reconsider and take me with you. I can do so much more to keep you safe."

"No, Major. I need you here. It's only a scavenger hunt, and on a primitive species to boot. The comlink will have to do," she soothed, tapping the stud on her right ear. It beeped once, indicating a successful boot and link into the neural mesh interface.

"As you will, milady," the robot intoned stiffly. "I'll give him three days before he sends the entire navy after you. And may the Makers have mercy on any stallion found in your company."

Protagonist rolled her eyes at her companion again. "You still think ... Fine. I'll just have to be back in two. Prep my craft, please?. And I shouldn't have to remind you to do it quietly."

The robot nodded and whirred back the way he'd came, through the entrance toward the main berth.

To the uninitiated, the Sinari Empire Star Ship Beth'enal offered a hopelessly confusing array of passages. The new recruits spent their first few weeks learning the layout of the massive ship. Even then, all but a few of the seasoned veterans only really knew their way back and forth from their duty stations, the nearest mess, their bunks, and in some cases, the brig. Protagonist had spent nearly her entire life on it through several refits and knew almost every square span of it.

She'd given the robot almost a full turn on the clock while she studied the fleet outside the bubble, looking for patterns in the patrols. Above and to the port, the battleship

Thunderbolt began a slow rolling maneuver that put the keel toward the immense purple swirl of cosmic dust vomiting from a Black Flume churning slowly in the background. Gravitational anomalies, such as black holes and super massive stars, protruded into N-space from normal space occasionally. Unlike in normal space, though, most everything reversed itself. Black holes, called flumes in N-space, gave off light and expelled matter. Stars and other similar objects pulled in light and matter. Satisfied that the robot had enough time to get started, Protagonist headed back toward her quarters.

As she rounded the corner, she noticed the discrepancy immediately and muttered a very unladylike curse under her breath. The guards were gone and there was only one other being in the entire Empire that could have commanded those two from her door. Protagonist sighed and steeled herself for what was to come.

"To what," she began, "do I owe the honor of this visit, father," she said, coolly as the door opened. Her hand dropped from her ear where she'd tapped the comlink off.

He stood by the dressing table near the mirror, staring at her collection of grooming tack. An Andoni silk amice with pointed pads draped over his shoulders with their shimmering curtain draping down to the middle of his back. The sheer white fabric contrasted starkly with the deep black of his mane, tail and body, resembling gossamer wings. The winged effect was further enhanced by the lower corners being attached to the polished silver armbands at his elbows. He pulled a hand back from the mottled bristles of a char-boar brush as Protagonist walked in. "Damn it, Protagonist, drop the pretense for once. I'm here about your damn fool trip you're sneaking out on," a deep baritone intoned, turning toward his daughter.

She paused, digesting his words for a moment. Her father rarely used her given name. Ever. "Dad, at this point, I don't have a choice," she said, softening her tone.

"I know. I wish you would have come to me first. You should have been more careful about that and you will in the future, I'm sure. I'm just worried about ... timing. It's delicate."

"Dad ... it's Earth. Not Sinar," she reproached.

"Exactly my point."

"There won't be another Moreauvian for miles, much less a Sinari."

"How can I know that?" he began, his temper rising. "How do I know you're not meeting some half-starry eyed stud for ... for...."

"Dad. I'm not a damn filly anymore. In case you haven't noticed," she said, placing her hands on her hips and inflating her chest.

"And that's what scares me!" he yelled, turning away.

"Damn it. I'm not your property. I'm not part of your damn herd, and you can't order me around. And if I want to dally with a stud and drop a bastard foal, then it's my own damn business."

"Who are you to tell me what to do? And your business? What do you mean, your business? You're my daughter. Your business is MY business, young girl," he said, voice and temper rising

"Girl? GIRL? That's what this is all about. You're not letting me grow up. You've tried countless times at preventing me from being a pilot, you won't let me actually DO anything, and it feels like I've been locked in this damn starship since forever! You've put me on some stupid pedestal, trying to hold me to some old-fashioned ideal that can never be ... UGH!!! You're nothing but a block-headed, stubborn, uncut mule!" she swore.

"Mule? How dare you?"

"I dare quite a bit, father."

"I'll have you know that I run the day to day military operations for trillions of other lives, keeping them safe from more than they ever care to know about," he yelled, cracking the roughened, simulated stone of Protagonist's quarters with the heel of his staff.

"And you can't protect your own daughter," she said softly.

He flinched. "I know ... it's just ... I have a bad feeling. I know what it was like to be a young, randy stud. Moreau knows I'd probably had half the galaxy seeded with my bastards when I was your age. Can you forgive an elder his overprotective ways?"

"Dad, I ... I'm sorry. Yes. I can forgive you. I know that you've always wanted the best for me, but I have to work this one out on my own. I'm not meeting anyone. I can promise you that. It's just an exploration mission. Like a scavenger hunt. What could go wrong?"

"Then stay home. Please. Protagonist?" He said, his hand on her shoulder. It stiffened under his touch and she turned her head away. He sighed and shaking his head. "And you call me the stubborn mule. You are my daughter. And you will make a fine leader some day. Go. I will not promise you immunity. Especially if you get caught. You will remain my daughter, but I can not defend you on the legal grounds before the Council."

"I'm not asking for favours, dad."

"Just don't do anything stupid, ok?"

"Fine. I'll keep my eyes open. Oh and dad? Just one question. Why is Earth really forbidden?"

The Emperor laughed. Loud and hard. "It's a planet of lust, that's why Earth is forbidden. You have about a day or two before your season starts, and you'll be on the planet when you're most vulnerable."

"There has to be more to it than that. You've never even been there!"

Still chuckling as he moved toward the exit, he looked over his shoulder and asked, "Where do you think I took your mother for her first time?" over the whisper of the door opening before stepping through.

Protagonist stood in shocked silence for a moment, staring at the now closed door her father had just disappeared through. Her ear buzzed and she touched the stud.

"I've noticed that milady is still in her room. May I remind her that she doesn't have much time?"

"Your timing is impeccable as always, Major," she quipped, walking into her bed chamber and over to the dressing table. Reaching under the lip on the right side, she pressed a recessed button. With a soft beep and a click, a panel opened near the mirror. She reached inside, turned a knob and pulled. With a soft hiss, a larger panel slid open revealing a narrow maintenance tunnel. She stepped inside, and palmed a panel on the wall. Strips near the low ceiling glowed red, shedding just enough light to see by as the secret panel hissed shut. There were miles of these unused passages rendered obsolete by various retrofits over the years. During the last one, Protagonist had personally seen to the creation of the one she currently used and had made sure the records of it vanished.

The hallway ended in a blank wall. She palmed another recessed panel and the wall slid to the side, revealing a large cargo bay. An oblong craft sat to one side, taking up most of the space. "Sorry it took me so long, Major," she said to the golden figure at a console.

"Fashionably late is only acceptable in social circles, milady" he said in annoyed tone. "You've been developing some bad habits."

She ignored his jab.

"May I ask why?"

"Family matters, Major. She's ready, I assume?" she asked tersely, starting the basic preflight.

The ship was originally a Tolari slaver's mini-freighter that Protagonist had acquired on one of Major's training missions. Its black hull almost glittered, interlaced with the golden stripes of its custom cloaking wiring. Some of the cargo hold had to be sacrificed for the upgraded fusion core and gravatonic drive, but Protagonist wasn't going to be using it for the smuggler's same purpose of transporting sex slaves.

"Milady just needs to push the start button," Major sniffed, acting as if he was insulted that she'd still checked the ship out anyway.

"Trust but verify, Major. Even in the unlikely event that you've forgotten, I still remember."

Major just snorted. "What will your highness name the ship on her maiden voyage?"

"Hmm," she thought. "Smuggler's Blues has a nice ring to it, considering where I got her. What do you think?"

Major made a note in the computer with a nod. "What I think is irrelevant. Very well. Smuggler's Blues it is." A green laser lanced out from the side of the console, etching the ship's name beneath the cockpit viewing bubble.

Satisfied with her examination of the ship, she entered the hatch. "Wish me luck," she said and walked up the ramp.

"Luck," he responded quietly to the closing door. He pulled a small, black disc from his pocket and turned a dial before sticking it to the hull. "You just might need it." He glanced up at the ship once and gave a wicked smirk before heading to his personal secret panel on the opposite side of the cargo bay.

The lights went out, plunging the hidden hold into complete darkness. Above the ship, a seam developed as two large panels split apart. Outside, the blackness of the space between space gave the illusion of no depth as the bay doors opened wide. Finally, some sense of distance returned as the panels opened wide enough to permit viewing of the Thunderbolt and her accompaniment of fighter craft. Protagonist slid her fingers over touchpads and the princess' ship lifted from the deck. "Talk to me, Major," she called out over a secure and heavily encrypted channel.

"I have some good news, ma'am. I was able to slip a one-shot subroutine into the patrol assignment loop and redirect them away for the next few minutes."

"Perfect," she responded and pushed more power to the repulsors. The dark craft lifted smoothly through the atmospheric shield. She gritted her teeth, champing at the incompatibility of the cloaking system with the shielding system. Not only would direct contact of the cloaking field with the shields cancel each other out, but the resulting implosion would be hazardous to the entire ship's population, not to mention her own. The cargo doors closed with agonizing slowness as Protagonist kept her eye on the blips of the other craft. She was still too close to the main ship to be picked up on the mass scanners, but that wouldn't stop a pilot with good eyes. Finally, the doors closed and transmitted positive seal. "Engaging cloak," she spoke, sliding a different touch control.

From outside, the Smuggler's Blues appeared to shimmer as distant objects do in the desert heat before it faded from view altogether. "Madam, the booster is located at bearing two-oh-four mark twenty three. I can't guarantee it being there too long, so I would recommend hurrying."

"Working on it, Major," she acknowledged, engaging the main pulse drive. As she cruised toward the booster, a second black ship detached from nearby on the Beth's outer hull and drifted away before it too shimmered and vanished.

Protagonist hooked up with the booster ring without incident and gave a sigh of relief. There was nothing else to do now but put some distance between the gravity well and the armada. She set the computer on autopilot and pushed the controls away. "Three hours," she muttered, chafing slightly at the wait. "Major, there has to be something other than that ancient decree about Earth."

"I've been searching with my best decryption since you came to me with this fool's plan, yesterday, princess. On a side note, I've found a few things I'd personally wondered about."

"So, nothing of use to the mission?"

"I can't access what isn't there. It seems that the entire databases on Earth, including the language translation files are all housed on the individual cruise ships."

"OK?" she wondered. "Don't they have to hook into Central?"

"Yes and no. The ships keep two sets of books, if you will. One is for the manifest and other 'public' information while the other is for the clandestine. I found regulations specifying a complete, physical separation between the networks. Only one employee is allowed access to these systems on the ship. If we'd had a week to prepare...." Major explained.

"But we didn't," she interrupted, pursing her lips. "We'll just have to do some in-system reconnaissance then."

Major held his tongue for a moment before speaking up again. "According to the cruise brochures, any recording electronics, advanced technology and especially faster-than-light communication devices are forbidden to even be brought on-board. Both chartered companies maintain a strict policy about this with punishments including complete loss of fare and turning over to the Council authorities."

"There has to be some sort of reason for such a stiff edict."

"An explanation isn't given in the fine print. Only that it's part of the legally binding contract of passage."

"What about nanotech?"

"The charters don't say, but I'm assuming it's frowned upon."

"Well then, I guess it's a good thing that we're not on a charter flight, isn't it?" Protagonist said before she reached up and touched the comlink, shutting it off and swung out of the pilot's couch. "Major, I'm going to take a break. All of this 'hurry up and wait' stuff is exhausting."

"I was wondering why milady had shut the comlink off," he said over the ship's intercom.

"Because I'm headed to my bunk for a bit. With the advanced autopilot we installed last month, I figure that the ship is in good hands," she said, walking the short distance to her quarters.

"Is that wise, madam? We haven't given the autopilot a rigorous test."

"We really haven't tested the entire ship," she countered.

"But, madam," he began.

"Major, I'm tired. I've been awake and going non-stop for almost two days."

"But milady is always so grouchy when she wakes up. Might I suggest a stim-tab?"

"I'm grouchy now, Major. Besides, I hate how those things make my scalp crawl and the drained feeling I get when they wear off isn't going to help. Sleep is better anyway."

"Then try...."

"Major. I'm going to bed. I can't do anything more than what you are doing right now anyway. I have my alarm set," she grumped, punching the intercom switch and clicking him off mid-protest. The silence descended quickly, leaving only the hiss of the air exchange as the loudest sound in the room. Protagonist stared at her bed for a moment, listening to her breathing. She could feel the engine through her hooves, the gravatonic drive pulsing slowly as it pushed the craft through N-space. The air had its normal 'canned' taste that small ship recycling filters couldn't quite remove. "I should apologize to Major," she thought, then shook her head. "After a shower and a nap," she muttered, wanting a clearer head to deal with his incessant pestering. Besides, it was probably just the usual pre-estrus emotional swings that affected her mood.

She tapped a control on the wall and the room began to shift. The bunk slid into the wall and a partition appeared from another. A panel slid up, revealing a shower head and related controls for water temperature, soap and even a selection of brushes and sponges. She set the water to hot and hit the cycle button. Unhooking the chain from her waist, she tossed it and the pack toward the door and stepped into the steaming cubicle.

Raising her head into the spray, Protagonist closed her eyes and groaned as the heated water washed down her body. She visibly relaxed, leaning against the blank panel. Her tail lifted slightly and dark, golden urine gushed from her body with a soft moan. She dipped two fingers in the stream and brought them to her nose. "Definitely," she thought, slightly irritated at her biological clock, as her heat cycle would do nothing to help the mission. She shut off the water and dropped her hand to pump out some shampoo from the dispenser. The rich, floral scent of the soap soon overpowered the musky scent of her heat-tinged urine.

Still, as she lathered the soap across her body, the little demon began to stir. Almost without meaning to, she idly began to toy with a nipple while washing her breasts and only realized she'd been pushing lather around her crotch for longer than necessary when the suds began to irritate the inner folds. She smirked knowingly, then finished up washing quickly and rinsed. She shut off the flow again, letting the water drip for a moment before pulling a metal scraping tool from the cubbyhole and a disposable towel from another panel. She used the scraper to flick most of the water off before finishing with the towel. The sodden purple ribbon joined her belt and pouch in the corner.

She leaned against the wall near her door and tapped the control to switch the room back to sleep mode. She took her time with drying off, enjoying the rough texture of the fabric as she rubbed it across her body. Whickered moans blustered from her nostrils as her hands slid south of her stomach. A loose corner tickled across her outer labia first before her hands rubbed the towel across her pussy. She gasped, nearly loosing her footing as her knees buckled from the sudden jolt of pleasure.

The mare slid down the wall, the towel falling to the side in a crumpled heap. She fetched up on the floor, her tail behind the towel and legs splayed rudely in front. Gently, she began to rub along the warm, outer edges of her slit. She shivered each time with a wink of her flesh as it nearly begged to be satisfied. Finally, she let one finger slip inside and she could feel the muscles ripple hungrily around the intruding digit, simultaneously pulling it in and pushing it back out. Her thumb found her clit and began to massage the sensitive nub.

Wet hair spilled down her shoulders and across her breasts, dripping darker gray lines in her dappled fur. The room had finished its shifting, but she was beyond caring at the moment. With her head down and eyes closed, her hands worked their magic on her body.

A second finger joined the first as she pushed both in deeper until a sharp discomfort made her stop reluctantly. She pulled away from her hymen and instead, pressed against the upper wall of her vagina, providing more leverage for her circling thumb. Her nostrils quivered with each quickening breath and a thin line of drool glittered from her upper lip.

Stronger contractions squeezed her fingers as the sensory pressure built. A quiet nasal snort had joined her muted moans when, suddenly, her stomach clenched. The moan became a grunted cry as her orgasm exploded across her lust addled brain. Hooves clacked on the floor as her legs shuddered. Dark, musky femjuices squirted onto the floor between her spread legs, making a small puddle on the gray metal.

As her orgasm subsided, her hand fell limp from her slit, splashing in the puddle. She sat quietly, reveling in the afterglow and letting her ragged breathing settle into something more normal. She only moved when her left leg started to tingle, falling asleep in protest to the unnatural position it was forced to be in. She grunted, rocking up into a kneeling position and crawled toward the bunk, leaving the mess for later.

Protagonist floated back to consciousness with the heavy smell of her sex still in the cabin. The computer was gently chiming an alarm, warning of the upcoming shift from N-space. She startled awake, popping out of the bunk. She reached up and touched the bead on her ear, reactivating the comlink. "Sorry, Major. I ... needed some alone time and I guess I overslept," she said.

"Precisely why I wanted to chaperone in person, but this will have to do," Major Domo said stiffly.

"Oh, quit being a grump. If I know you, you probably listened in," she teased, reaching up to acknowledge the alarm on her intercom plate and switching it back on.

Major just harrumphed. "At least milady is in the proper spot for the shift back to normal space."

The computer's chime sounded again, with a single beeping noise. Protagonist closed her eyes and counted backwards from four in time with the beeps, steeling herself for the shift. Instead of a fifth beep, there was a nauseating wrench as her body, and the craft, dropped out of the shadowy in-between realm high above the ecliptic of a yellow star's planetary system. "Probe launched. Currently eight light hours from primary. Time to planetary contact at ninety percent speed of light, twelve hours," the computer said over the intercom.

"Oh, bother, and I'm still worked up," Protagonist muttered, taking a moment to inhale her scent from her fingers.

"I'd advise saving it, madam" the robot said.

"Spoilsport."

The robot gave another one of his trademark, exasperated sighs. "While your highness was asleep, I was able to find out why there is such a strict policy against any technology on the cruise lines. Basically, human tech is at an incompatible stage with our advanced methods. The results aren't pretty when a probe-sized FTL antenna is keyed up within about 30 light minutes of the planet. In fact, just such a thing happened about fifty Earth years ago by mistake, causing widespread planetary disruption of their electrical and communications systems as well as almost shutting down the tourism business."

"So, we won't be getting any information for at least three more hours since we have to communicate at light speed. Not only that, it'd be like one gigantic 'ping' announcing our presence. That reminds me, will the comlink work correctly?"

"Theoretically, the transmission stream will most likely cause some localized interruption similar in effect to what a solar coronal mass ejection would do, but no permanent damage and not as ... global as what the probe would do. The operational power level of the comlink's antenna is barely above minimum since the data stream is so small. Think of it as a personal cloaking shield for most human electronics."

"So they can't photograph me, but they can see me just fine."

"Sort of. Chemical film cameras that work on optics will still work without an issue."

"Those things still exist? Wow. Ok. So stay away from packs of roving reporters using antique technology in the middle of nowhere. Gotcha."

"Milady's sarcasm is as refreshing as ever. Remember, this is a primitive planet."

"Wait. What about the probe's N-space transfer? Won't it bouncing into orbit cause the same effects?"

"Remember, it takes less energy to drop out of N-Space than it does to enter it. The probe's exiting mass is small enough to keep the energy requirements below a disruptive threshold. Unlike the Smuggler's Blues,the probe can get there by N-space transfer, although neither can leave via N-Space transfer until well beyond the equivalent orbit of the fifth planet.

"So, why are we 12 hours out?"

"Simply put, your highness, security and avoiding the Council patrols. It will be also much safer to accelerate in at 90c from our position and allow for the time-shifting that will occur. Please remember basic relativity. Time slows as a mass approaches the speed of light."

Protagonist sat on the edge of her bunk and stretched with a yawn, nodding at the last thing that Major had said. "Right. Twelve hours for us, twenty-four hours for the rest of the universe." She stood and scratched, taking care to avoid her sensitive areas before having a good body shake. "Mmm, my hair's probably a wreck," she muttered, avoiding looking in the mirror and using a hoof to sweep the towel across the partially dried pool of her orgasm. She kicked it toward the recycler and it hung on the lip before she pushed it the rest of the way. Palming the door, she strutted forward to the pilot's chamber and leaned over the back of the acceleration couch to type in a course toward the third planet orbiting the single primary.

Three hours later, the ship decelerated from 90c to compensate for the blue-shifted signal from the probe. At Major's insistence, Protagonist had used the time to go through some basic exercises in the cargo hold to keep her mind off the growling need centered in her loins. She stopped to get her comb from the bunk before heading into the cockpit.

First up was a recording of the night-side of the planet as she busied herself with working the baubles out of her hair. Two large, narrow land masses stood out, one above and one below the equator. Large concentrations of interconnected artificial light sprinkled across the landscape like luminescent veins or nerves. A large dark patch on the northern continent caught her eye as well as a similar one on the southern continent. Both seemed equally suitable, but the southern location was at a much higher elevation and covered in snow. "I like the northern spot, Major," she said, not particularly caring to freeze her rump off, tapping the northern continent and getting a closer look as the map zoomed in. "The readings do show an abundance of open area and quadruped life forms that match the descriptions we were given."

"And plenty of dark skies. My only worry, princess is that the planet's moon will be full."

"You've seen the night map?"

"Of course, milady."

"Then quit worrying. Humans must have lost most of their night vision somewhere along the way, if they ever had any to begin with. I'm setting the probe in a stationary orbit above this location," She tapped out some instructions on the keys. Finally, she accelerated back to 90c. "I'm guessing we can't access their technology grid?"

"Not enough time to adapt a non-intrusive method, princess. This expedition's preparation was rather hasty."

"No problem. You're always harping on me to improvise."

"This isn't exactly what I had in mind, ma'am."

"And how was the prison any different, Major?"

"I was there."

She sighed. "At least we'll have another few hours worth of intel before planetfall." She switched off the display screen. Her eyes adjusted quickly to the cabin's dim light and on a lark, she set the level to a clear sky with Earth's moon at full. She smirked and set it throughout the ship. Vision would be no trouble, but another issue kept bothering her. The mass reading of the planet put its gravity well at roughly fifteen percent higher than that of Sinari normal. Not much of a difference, but enough to cause problems with fine motor control. She sighed and dialed the ship's gravity up to match Earth's and went back to the cargo hold for more exercises.

---

Chapter 2

---

Adam stared at the clock again, mulling the evening's events over in his head, worried that he was going crazy. She had seemed very eager, earlier as the scene replayed over and over in his brain. Was he falling into what some at the academy had called the "anthropomorphism of humanity." That is, projecting some inner and repressed emotion onto an animal and believing it to be true. The professors had all warned about it, even mentioning a few cases of other veterinarians being ostracized for carrying it too far and becoming careless. The public outcry and loss of family had caused most to commit suicide and others to simply vanish. Still, despite the warnings, here he was, laying in bed with her dusky scent coating his fingers.

"It was merely a palpation," he thought, rationalizing it. But was it really? Why did he not glove up? Was this the culmination of his repressed desires? Was this the reason why he'd chosen this field? Why he'd never married? Why his attempts at relationships always failed? He had no want for anything, it seemed, but companionship.

His veterinary practice, in this far-flung Texas prairie town, was booming. So much so, that he was able to purchase a sizable tract of land outside of town, well away from most other residences. Within a few months, he had a new house with a small barn constructed on the property. Finally, a filly to fill it completed the puzzle.

He'd bought her still in utero, wanting to raise a mare from birth, paying out of his own pocket to have the dams checked with ultrasounds to verify the sex of the foal. The farmer had thought it odd, but consented to letting the vet take care of the mare on his property until the baby was weaned. Adam had even installed cameras in the animal's stall, taking what time he could away from his practice the month the baby was due, watching the feed eagerly.

Some time close to midnight, during a heavy thunderstorm, he watched his girl enter the world, take her first wobbly steps and suckle her first meal. With forced patience, he waited until the dam passed the afterbirth before leaving his desk and joining the pair in the barn.

From then forward, it was a simple process of befriending the filly. Maintaining contact, brushing, combing, petting, touching and generally fiddling around with her as much as he could. She grew quickly, it seemed like and always had something to say, in her own way, whenever Adam entered the barn. She knew his truck and ran along the fence of the pasture that bordered the long driveway from the road to the house. Was it only "natural", then, that it would come to this?

Adam tossed back the comforter and sat on the edge of the bed, cradling his busy head. He could still see his hand brushing "accidentally" against Mare's vulva during their grooming sessions. And the scent. The unique smells that only a female equine could produce had never failed to arouse him. In fact, it had even caused him some mild discomfort at the clinic on occasion as he had to try and hide the lump in his jeans. Breeding season was the absolute worst and he'd taken to using mentholated jelly on the days that the local cattlemen would bring their mares in for checkup or artificial insemination.

What honestly puzzled him was that it was the end of October and Mare should have entered seasonal anestrus; yet, she was apparently being receptive. Quite receptive. Acting as if she wanted to be bred, but not by a stallion. He'd been petting under her tail again, staring at her dark sex when she stepped backwards, pushing two fingers into her slit.

Mare's reaction had been instant, and in most respects, expected. As with other females, Mare's tail raised quickly and she winked immediately. Unlike other females, though, instead of stepping to the side or forward, she'd taken another step back. Adam looked up quickly and she had craned her neck around and was watching him with perked ears. She even appeared to nod, nickering and then squatting to squirt urine at Adam's feet, pushing his fingers out with the hunching of her hips and another hard wink.

He knew what she wanted, and she wanted him to give it to her. His sudden erection pulsed against the denim of his jeans. Shocked at his body's response, Adam fled the stall, barely taking the time to close the door, much less pick up the grooming toolbox on the floor outside her stall. He didn't stop until he was in the kitchen, scrabbling for a pony glass in the liquor cabinet and pouring himself a stiff drink. The whiskey was a quick shock, burning as it went down. With shaking hands, he poured another and retreated to his bedroom.

He'd lay there, nude, tossing and turning for a couple of hours with the alcohol sitting heavily on his stomach. It churned sourly with his thoughts until now when he decided to at least get up and clean the grooming tack from the hall, lest he trip over it in the morning before work. He was gathering his clothes to put back on when the soft beeping of the barn's door alarm brought him quickly from his reverie.

Quickly, Adam went to his closet and pulled out his father's old shotgun. Breaking the chamber open, he shoved in two shells: Buckshot on the upper barrel and a slug for the lower chamber. He shrugged into his bathrobe and grabbed a couple more shells just in case and dropped them in the robe's pocket.

Leaving the weapon open, he rushed outside in time to hear a commotion in the barn. Racing to the door he flung it open, "Alright you punks! Reach for ... the fuck?" he managed to get out before a dazzling beam blew the door off its hinges behind him.

The concussion threw him forward, into the main hall, his mind still trying to make sense of the scene before him. He'd burst in, staring at a pair of bipedal creatures engaged in some sort of altercation. One looked very much like an ancient Egyptian deity ... the one with the jackal's head. "What was his name?" he thought. "Oh yeah, Set." The other looked like a bipedal ... horse ... of all creatures. The pair was locked in some sort of embrace when his entrance had startled them both.

The jackal had shoved away from the other and pulled some sort of weapon from its side, only to be bumped off aim by the other striking at the arm, forcing the shot wide and knocking the weapon from his hand. The jackal snarled and had shoved the equine away before lunging at the dazed human.

Adam blinked and reflexively snapped the weapon shut, taking a step away from the lunging creature, but his feet caught on the grooming tack box and he fell backwards. As the stock of the weapon hit the floor, it jarred his fingers in the trigger, firing both barrels directly into the jackal creature's chest.

The canid did a complete back flip and landed in a heap, sliding on the packed dirt at the other's hooves. She looked down at its crumpled form, then over at Adam. He realized two things very quickly: One, she was naked, except for a golden cord and side pouch and two, his robe was open, having been dislodged in the melee.

He'd seen that look before in Mare's eyes earlier as he watched her approach, still too shocked to move, much less talk. She knelt beside him and ran a hand along his bare thigh before muttering something in a strange language. Putting her nose to sniff at Adam's crotch, she gave a deep inhale, her tail flagging slightly. He could smell the sharp odor of urine before she threw a leg over his waist, sitting near his crotch. Her warm slit rubbed against his soft shaft and balls. "Wait ... don't...." Adam stuttered out before she suddenly shuddered violently and collapsed forward onto his chest. A red jewel in her ear seemed to pulse slowly in time to her breathing.

Adam pulled himself out from under the equine. He took a moment to wrap his bathrobe again, bent down and turned her over. She appeared to be about slightly taller than average human female height, roughly five and a half feet, dapple gray fur with dark skin for the exposed areas of her genitals, nipples and palms, four digits on each hand, and black hair. In fact, if he'd not seen everything else and she'd poked only her head from the stall door, he'd have been hard pressed to call her anything but a horse. She was quite warm to the touch, he'd have to guess her body temperature was similar to an equine, and both her body fur and mane were soft as if well kept. She wore only what appeared to be an extremely thin golden cord with a pouch on her side made out of some sort of leather.

Mare moved in her stall and he jerked his head up, remembering the other alien creature. It still lay where it had been thrown by the shotgun's blast, legs crumpled and arms splayed about at an odd angle. He swallowed hard, but he had to be sure. He collected the weapon and broke it open. The empty shells rattled hollowly on the dirt and he put two more in with shaking fingers and clacked the breech shut. Cautiously, he approached, noting no obvious signs of respiration. He reached out to touch its neck with the barrel of the weapon, poking it hard, fearing it would jump at him like some cheap last thrill at a horror movie. In fact, he nearly blew the head off the body when Mare chose that moment to bluster loudly.

When he got no reaction from the body, he knelt and felt for a pulse. Just to be sure, he turned it over onto its back as well. Like the equinoid, this one was bipedal with four digits on each extremity and covered in sleek fur. Unlike the equinoid, this one was most definitely male with a longish, exposed canine penis (complete with knot), and most definitely dead. A small puddle of red gore had congealed on the cold dirt under where it had lay. The double-aught had hit first, shredding into whatever armor the jackal had been wearing moments before the slug crashed though what was left, punching into the meat below. The armor on the back was the only thing that had kept the slug contained.

He looked over at the equine again and back to the jackal, noting the discrepancy between the clothing. While she was more or less nude, the canine had some sort of thin, yet highly resilient armor ... except for his crotch. A quick glance around revealed the codpiece laying near the wall where he'd had her pinned, but nothing else.

Adam wondered if he'd interrupted some sort of strange, interstellar and interspecies tryst, but that explained neither the male's murderous reactions, nor, for that matter, the female's highly amorous one. And why did she suddenly collapse? He'd heard of premature ejaculation but never premature orgasm.

Adam stood, briefly considering contacting the authorities but quickly realized that the call would cause more problems than it would solve. He'd probably never see the sun again, much less Mare. He blinked. Mare! He rushed over to her stall near the female alien's prone form. Mare was a little white-eyed but otherwise ok. He entered the stall and soothed her, muttering calming words. She sniffed at him, snorting at the strange smells of the aliens and burnt gunpowder before nuzzling at his pocket where he normally kept some sort of treat. He laughed. "Always thinking with your stomach first? Sorry girl, nothing right now," he said softly scratching between her ears. She seemed to huff and went back to the manger where some hay remained.

He stepped out and looked back down at the female alien on the floor. "In for a dollar," he muttered before he bent down and picked her up in a fireman's carry. "Oof," he grunted. "What have they been feeding you, girl?" Adam mumbled. She was heavier than she looked. Not knowing what else to do, he carried her into the house and placed her in his bed. After that, he walked out to the kitchen, brewed some coffee and called the clinic to leave notice of a sudden flu-like illness on the office manager's voice mail before pulling a chair into his room to sit and wait.

---

Chapter 3

---

"Good evening, stranger. Welcome to the middle of nowhere," the human said tiredly as she stirred, opening her eyes.

"What ... happened?" Protagonist asked with a groan, reaching up to massage her head. The comlink bleeped in her ear.

"Finally," Major said. "He spoke again. I've been close to deciphering the language, but I needed more samples. After he carried you in here, he left and then came back with a small black bag and gave you some sort of an examination. By his tools and his familiarity with them, I'm guessing he's in some sort of medical field. To his credit, he kept his hands off of ... sensitive areas. Other than that, he's spent the last twenty odd hours just staring, silently drinking some sort of hot beverage from that mug of his. Every couple of hours, he'd leave and then come back. I'm assuming he went back to top off with whatever was in it. Six hours ago, he brought some sort of tankard and has been refilling his mug from that with a dark brown liquid about every hour."

She sat up with a start. "How long have I been out?" she asked out loud, bedclothes tangling in her hooves as she kicked reflexively.

The human looked puzzled, jumping back as the creature startled up from his bed. He quickly set down the coffee mug, lest it be mistaken for a weapon, "Easy, easy. I'm not going to hurt you. Shhh!!" He didn't quite know what to do, so he treated her very much like a spooked horse. He spoke calmly, made hushing noises while holding his finger to his lips and moved slowly. He kept his other hand out in front, open and showing no weapons and had even covered himself with a loose pair of thin trousers, held up by a sewn-in string.

She relaxed somewhat, holding up her hands as well, pointing one finger up, as if asking for a minute. "Major, how long have I been out, and what happened to me?"

"As I said earlier, about twenty-four earth hours, ma'am and as for what happened? Chaperone duty. I had to modify the comlink to be able to do it and I can do it again if I must, though it hurts me so."

"Chaperone?" she began her volume rising in angered shock.

"Yes. A mild stun charge. Very tricky to pull off on such low power constraints too. I should probably submit the design to some popular nano-mechanical science magazine...."

"Mild. I'm knocked cold for almost a fullday and he calls it mild."

"It was the best I could do under the circumstances."

"How?" she asked, her teeth clenched.

"If the princess must know, this comlink is a bit more, sophisticated than the past ones. I tookthe basic design that milady came up with and gave it ... well, let's call it an upgrade.I now have a complete map of your neural network, thanks to a modification of the AuralNanite Translation Interface Mesh in the ear and can monitor it in real time with a 3d mock-up. Basically I can see exactly what your body is doing in my holo-tank. Combined with the standard audio/video feed and basic physiological statistics charting you'd built in, it wasn't hard to see what was about to happen," the Major said.

"What do you mean?"

"Does her highness not remember?"

"Remember what, Major? I've been unconscious for a day and, honestly, the last I remember was walking down the ramp after landing."

Major sighed and gave her a brief synopsis of what had transpired in the barn. "Apparently a Jinari assassin followed you, but I was sure I'd trained you better than that. Through sheer luck, this human dispatched your assailant. Most curiously, though was your reaction to his sprawled form on the floor. Basically you were going to ... well suffice it to say, I've always been protecting your honor, ma'am, and it's been part of my primary data loop since my pathways were burnt into the neural network. Why do you think your father gave me to you? As far as everything else is concerned, I took an educated gamble by using the stun charge. You'd more than made your intentions clear as to what you wanted to do to this male human. So I prevented your actions by the only means I had.For all I know he could have just taken advantage of you, right? The thought did cross my mind, but there was nothing I could do about it. So I had to gamble. I rolled a slightly loaded set of dice and they landed in my favor. And will milady please shut her mouth. For Orion's sake, you look like an Akkarian on dry land."

Sputtered rage and grumbled epithets tumbled from her lips as she cursed at the robot, forgetting the volume of her voice.

"Easy ... uh ... girl," the human said in a hoarse stage whisper. "I don't know what you're saying but you're going to wake up the world if you don't settle down!"

Protagonist looked up at the human and gave an annoyed snort, then turned her attention back to the robot in her ear. "You really gave me no choice, you know," Major said. "Besides, something made you unresponsive. Personally, I think it has to do with your cycle. Do you remember anything before you blacked out? It could be important."

"Hey, now listen here you dumb animal," the human retorted, stepping toward the creature in his bed. "I've got half a mind to ..."

The comlink beeped again about halfway through the human's sentence and Protagonist focused in on him quickly. "Dumb animal?" she asked, arching an eyebrow, cutting his sentence short. Her ears slowly rotated back, folding against her skull as a withering look shot from her eyes. The translator had finished its decryption algorithm.

"Oh, dear.... Madam, please go easy on him. I'll be here when you want remember what happened. And try to keep in mind that he doesn't understand you," the robot said before the com circuit went dead.

"Doesn't understand. Well ... we'll see about that," Protagonist said, her hand going to the pouch at her waist. She fished about in it for an emergency kit containing, of all things, translator dots. These little wafer-thin nanite membranes, once placed near the aural canal, migrated inward quickly and attached to the auditory organs of most species. Linked to the ship's language database it would facilitate communication between any species the computers knew about. She held up one finger at Adam and then pointed, and then beckoned him closer. She held out an open palm with the thin disc-shaped wafer on a fingertip. She pointed at the disc, then at her ear.

"Wait, you want me to put this in my ear?" he asked skeptically. She nodded slowly and let him take it, watching as he moved to touch it to the skin surrounding his aural tunnel. He stopped and asked, "This isn't going to make me your mind slave or anything is it?"

She shook her head and gave another exasperated snort, holding up her hands and then opened and closed them by tapping her fingers against her thumbs in an exaggerated pantomime of two individuals talking.

With a shrug, he placed the dot on his ear. He looked curiously at her, waiting. "Ok, now what?" he asked.

"Now we get to hear how much of a dumb animal you are," she began.

"I'm not a dumb animal! Wait, I can understand you! Who are you ... What are you? Where are you from ... What was that jackal thing that was trying to kill you? And why were you in my barn?"

She blinked at the sudden rush of conversation, expecting ... well, not really knowing what to expect. She'd never met a sentient race that was ignorant of anything beyond its own place in the cosmos and her irritation evaporated in the face of his innocence. "Mm ... how about we do this one question at a time. You ask one, I'll answer, and then I'll ask one, because I have a few of my own. As to the what and where, I am a Sinari, and we are an equinoid race from the Orion Arm of the Milky Way galaxy. My name is Protagonist."

"Woah," Adam said taken aback. "Um ... yeah ... I'm Adam. Uh ... a human ... of Earth. So, what about ..." he began.

The equine paused at his first words, but broke in as he started is questions again. "Not so fast. It's my turn, remember? First things first. Do you have any water? About a gallon of it should do. I'm extremely thirsty. Oh. And a place to relieve myself?"

"Relieve? Oh... bathroom, right. It's through that door there, I'll get you some water while you're busy."

Adam filled up a pitcher and came back to his room. The light was on, but the door was open and he heard the crash of something hitting the floor. "Are you all... right?" he asked, hurrying toward the noise. The scene was somewhat comical at first, but he soon realized that human toilets were not exactly made for Sinari biology.

She sat on the bowl, facing the wall, her knees and legs at an odd angle as she tried to balance on the china. "I've managed, I think, but what ever was in that jar smells, strange," she pointed to the shattered remains of a glass container of cheap aftershave she'd knocked from the sink. She stood from the toilet, bumping the flush lever. She startled backwards at the gurgling rush of water as it flooded into the bowl. "Adam, is it supposed to do this?" she asked.

"Huh?" Adam asked as the water began to spill over the rim. "Oh, no!" He handed her the pitcher and scrambled around for a plunger. As he unblocked the bowl, he couldn't help noting how horse-like everything looked, and even smelled. Not offensive like human waste. Protagonist only stood by, drinking from the container and watching as he worked.

"My apologies, Adam. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Next time you have to go, it'll have to be outside," he grumped as he mopped the tile floor. "And no, it's not supposed to do that, as you've probably gathered. Not only was it not designed to handle such a large volume at once, we weren't exactly expecting a species with a tail to sit on it."

"Yes. It wasn't all that comfortable, even though facing the wall was a closer approximation of our systems. Do you recycle it?"

"Recycle?"

"The waste. Directly into usable food?"

"Uh ... no. Not directly. Look, I'm sure you didn't fly 2,000 light years from home just to talk about toilets," he said uncomfortably.

Protagonist's comlink beeped about the same time her pouch vibrated. "Hold on, Adam," she said. She tapped her ear. "Go ahead Major?"

Adam looked puzzled and lifted a hand to fiddle with the dot in his ear, wondering if it had quit working. Protagonist tapped his forearm quickly and held up one finger, shaking hir head.

"While your highness' game of twenty questions is interesting, we have a more pressing issue, I'm afraid," Major said.

"You were listening in? What else have you modified, Major?"

"Nevermind. It doesn't matter now. Long range scanners have detected a blip entering the atmosphere on a direct course. I'm guessing that the welcoming committee that madam's friend dispatched wasn't alone. I've seen this kind of ship before. It's a Jinari scout class, but it probably contains a mission sterilization crew."

"How are they even locating me?" Protagonist swore. She set the pitcher on the vanity and turned toward the hall.

"Honestly, your highness, I doubt they're here for you. They would have done the same, regardless of the outcome. Judging by trajectory and speed, you have about twenty minutes, perhaps thirty, to get out before they turn that house, the barn and the surrounding area into molten glass."

"What about Adam?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at him. He lifted his head quickly, shifting his gaze from staring at her rump to looking into her eyes and blushing before looking away again.

"I'm sorry, but it's for the best if you leave him. It will be quick."

"Leave him? You're kidding, right? He saved my life!"

"He's a liability to the mission, and the mission right now is to get off that rock of a planet and back to the Beth."

"Of all the arrogant, pig-headed, ugh!" she exclaimed, ripping out her earrings. "Adam, we have to leave," she said, looking at him intently and stuffing the jewelry in her pouch. "Now."

"Leave? And what do you mean by ... we?"

"No time. We have about five minutes before a Jinari clean-up squad arrives. Nothing here will survive."

"Nothing? Wait. What are Jinari? What about Mare?" he asked, heading for the front door.

"That thing you killed in your barn was a Jinari. I can save one, but not both of you, now move!"

Adam stopped. "No. Take us both or save yourself." He turned back toward his bedroom and went immediately to his dresser, pulling out a semiautomatic pistol.

Protagonist followed him, eying the pistol before looking at his face. "You will die if you stay and there's nothing you'll be able to do about it," she said, shaking her head slowly.

Adam checked the weapon's magazine and put it in the pocket of his sleep pants. "Then I'll die fighting." He went toward the door and got the double-barreled shotgun from behind the door and broke open the chamber on his way back to the dresser. Two more rounds went into the breech and he clicked it shut with a flick of his wrist. Setting it on the bed, he knelt at the foot and pulled out a long black case.

Protagonist snorted, marveling the human's desire to blindly choose death. "Fine. Leave the weapons and get Mare. You won't need them anyway. Bring only what you must."

He looked at her then at the hardware before tossing the pistol on the sheets next to the shotgun. "OK, then. I'll need your help," he began, heading quickly toward the front door. "There's a black, leather bag in a locked cabinet by the back door," he explained, pointing in the general direction of the kitchen. "It's what I use for farm calls. It's got basic, but essential veterinarian supplies for most large animals. The keys are hanging on a peg nearby. I will need that bag," he said. Turning, he burst out the door and sprinted toward the barn.

Protagonist blinked and headed toward the direction Adam had gestured. She spotted the cabinet quickly. Easy access with a metallic and very solid looking lock hanging from the front of it as well as a latched handle. Not bothering with wasting time on finding which of the keys would open the lock, Protagonist turned and fired two rapid kicks near the cabinet's hinges. The force rattled the glassware in the other cabinets as the hinge support caved in. She peeled the shattered front away and grabbed the bag.

Meanwhile, Adam had grabbed Mare's halter, saddle, bridle and a travel manger from the tack room and hauled it to the stall. The horse watched him stuff the manger with hay, following his hurried movements with perked ears. She nickered when he came to the stall door with her halter. "We're going for a ride, girl," he said softly as he slipped it over her ears. She nuzzled his bare chest, then poked her nose near his pocket. "Sorry babe," he apologized. "In a minute." He led her out of the stall and quickly tossed the saddle on her back, tying it on loosely. She looked up and muttered at Protagonist who appeared in the remains of the side door.

"We need to move," the alien stressed, looking curiously at the animal.

"Ready," Adam said, tossing the bridle over the saddle's horn and leading Mare out of the door. He took a last look at the Jinari's body before following Protagonist into the pasture. "Where are we going?" he asked. The full moon had risen some time ago, washing the landscape with its feeble light. Adam stumbled on an occasional fire ant mound as he followed the darker silhouette of the naked equinoid. Both Protagonist and Mare, on the other hand, had no such difficulty.

"To my ship, of course," Protagonist replied, pulling something from her pouch. "In fact, we're here. Stand right there," she cautioned.

Adam could smell the odor of crushed wild sage, faint, but still noticeable. "What ship? I don't see ..." he trailed off as a square of light opened in front of him from thin air and a ramp thumped into the ground at his feet, wafting the sage up with a cloud of dust. Mare snorted at the ramp when it thunked down and stepped back. Her startled jump brought Adam back from his amazement. "Easy girl," he murmured. "It's just a trailer," he continued, petting her neck. "Only ... this one flies.

Protagonist had trotted up the gangway almost before it had finished opening, stopping to shake her head and bluster. "What is that smell?" she wondered privately. "Come on!" she said after a moment, looking toward the sky. "Adam, hurry!"

Adam looked over his shoulder and noticed what looked like a star moving against the backdrop of other stars, only this one was growing larger and headed straight at them. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea." He clucked at Mare and stepped forward only to have the her balk, stopping Adam in his tracks.

"Adam?" Protagonist said anxiously at the top of the ramp. "We don't have time for this!"

"C'mon, Mare!" he said clucking his tongue and tugging. She didn't budge. "Please?" Adam looked across the horse's back. The bright speck had disappeared and now was taking shape as a black void, blotting out the stars behind it.

"Adam, they're going to see the light from this open hatch any minute!"

Adam stepped off the ramp and circled Mare around, working her to a brisk walk before turning back to the ship. Hooves clopped loudly on the metal, but she didn't slip, walking easily into the hold. Protagonist cycled the lift just as a bright green flash lit up the edges of the sealing door. "Shit, hang on!" she yelled, tossing Adam's bag aside and running toward the pilot's chair.

"To what?" Adam called back looking around the area. Finally, he found an unused cargo hook where the bulkheads met to form a corner and moved to tie the lead rope to it.

Protagonist vaulted into the control couch and jammed the reflectors to maximum as the fireball that was once Adam's barn washed over the ship. The concussive force rattled the floor, spooking Mare. She whinnied, setting her haunches and pulling Adam nearly off his feet. "Woah!" he exclaimed, more worried about a panicked horse in a confined area than his own safety. He grabbed around her neck, holding on to try and keep her from rearing or running. "What the hell was that?" he yelled over his shoulder.

"Probably your barn," she called back as a second shock wave shook the ship. "And that was most likely your house."

"My ... house?" he said to himself as he hurriedly tied Mare to the hook. She was still antsy. Briefly, Adam considered giving her a tranquilizer but discarded the idea. He followed the direction he'd seen Protagonist dash off to and came up behind the pilot's chair, looking at the scene displayed on the ship's fore screen. Green light lanced from another ship hovering above an inferno that was once his farm. The ground around where the buildings had stood glowed red from the amount of energy being poured into the area. The steel beams of the barn, already glowing, were slowly collapsing into the puddle of molten earth below.

"I can't maintain the cloak and reflectors when we take off, nor can I power the weapons systems with both defenses active. If they follow procedure, they'll do a mass scan and we'll show up as a very large blip on their screens."

"But I thought we were invisible?"

"You can hide from most optical and electronic scans, but you can't bend physics in normal space," she explained, watching the other craft as it turned. "I'll need to drop both the cloak and the shields and get into the sky very quickly. You may notice a bit of a push when the repulsors activate, since we'll be accelerating faster than the inertial dampeners can compensate for at first. Do you get motion sick?"

"Huh? Not that I know of."

"Good. Sit down there in the copilot's chair, and don't touch anything!"

Adam quickly sat in the chair, couch really, and tried to make himself fit. The padding was ample enough, but the angles were strange, obviously made to fit a different body frame. "I'm ready, what are you waiting for?" he asked.

She shushed him, watching the red outline of a cone shaped overlay on the HUD moving with the enemy ship. When it went green, she slid her fingers across a screen. "Shields down, bringing engine to full power," she muttered and waited a moment as another indicator went from red, to yellow to green. "Here we go." She pressed a button and then slid her hand across another panel.

Adam felt like a large hand settled onto his chest and pushed him into the couch. Had anyone been nearby, they'd have been thrown about by the wind collapsing into the space where the Smuggler's Blues had once been, and then shoved back by the resulting sonic boom.

"Where are we headed?"

"Clear space outside the ..." Protagonist began before another klaxon began sounding. The alien muttered a curse under her breath and Adam gave her a shocked look. "I need clear space to engage the sub-light drive so we can outrun them." Fingers literally flew over keys on the computer's terminal in front of her.

Adam thought furiously for a moment as the star field in front spun with evasive maneuvers. Green laser fire zipped by, fading into the eternity beyond. "You said that they have a mass scanner, right?"

"Yes. That's why we can't just cloak. Besides, we're too close to Earth."

"How fast can you get to the asteroid belt?"

She looked over at Adam, "Good idea and it might work, but we don't have time to wait for them to give up." She shook her head, snorting as if to clear it. Her thoughts were getting oddly muzzy lately, to speak nothing of the growing itch of desire in her loins. "No, we definitely can't wait that long. We have to chance it," she decided quickly and set a course. "Hang on."

The ship rotated and boosted toward Earth's moon. Using it as a partial slingshot, the ship rotated once around the white orb, nearly clipping the tip of a mountain range and shot straight up from the ecliptic. The star field suddenly went purple as Protagonist engaged the main drive. The red blip on the scanner faded rapidly toward the screen's edge as the Smuggler's Blues quickly outran the inferior ship. Satisfied she was out of detection range, Protagonist set a course back to her booster ring, dialing the speed back to 90c so she could re-engage the cloak. She also reset the ship's gravity to Sinari normal. "We now have about 8 hours of nothing to do," she said calmly as she slid from the couch.

Adam slowly relaxed his grip on the couch's arms, leaving deep indentations remaining in the padded synthetic surface. "You sure that they're gone?"

She laughed. "We're too small of a mass to be picked up at range by a lone scout ship, and by the time they'd get close enough we'd be beyond the minimum safe range from your planet to shift to N-space." She extended a hand to help him.

Adam waved it off and got up from the copilot's couch somewhat awkwardly, springing out of it with more force than he was used to. "Woah!" he exclaimed, catching himself on the console, setting off an alarm.

Protagonist stopped and turned around. "I said not to touch anything!" she grumped, pushing him aside to reset it.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it. I feel strange all of a sudden. Lighter somehow."

"Huh? Oh. I set the gravity back to Sinari normal. Give it some time and you'll get used to it. I didn't think about warning you because I'm not used to having passengers. Besides, shouldn't we check on your animal?"

Adam nodded and followed Protagonist back to the cargo hold. Mare appeared pretty much none the worse for the wear. She even looked over and nickered at the pair as they approached.

"I know girl," Adam said. "It's been strange, I'm sure."

"You can communicate with animals?" Protagonist asked giving the human an odd look.

"I've never really been able to communicate completely with them. I'm sure I get close sometimes, but it's more of an understanding than communication," Adam explained. "So you have to hope for the best."

"Interesting," she said. "Is this normal for them to be so calm in such an unfamiliar environment?"

"I'm assuming it's like a trailer for her. That being said, I'm honestly surprised she hasn't taken a ..." Adam began just before Mare lifted her tail. "Shit!" he finished and rushed forward without thinking, trying to catch his horse's droppings.

Protagonist burst out laughing. "Do you have a fascination with feces or something?" she managed to huff out between bursts.

"No! ... I just ... didn't want to mess up the floor," he finished, with his arms full of Mare's green road-apples. "Do you have a place to dump this," he said grumpily over her continued laughter, "and get cleaned up?"

Protagonist calmed down. "My quarters is this way," she replied with a wry smirk. She didn't know why it was funny to her, but then she hadn't exactly been feeling right since they'd blasted off. It wasn't a feeling of illness, just an odd intensification of the growling need in her loins again. She'd had the preoccupation of the escape to deal with, but now, with nothing else to think about, the beast had resurfaced. Only this time, with a strange insistence.

Even though the creature in her private cabin now wasn't Sinari, she caught herself thinking as she showed him the recycler. She tried shoving the thoughts away, but ghosts of memories flickered across her brain. She hadn't cared about the Jinari either, had she? All she'd wanted was the only thing that a male could provide.

"Hello? Earth to Protagonist?" Adam said, snapping his fingers and breaking her train of thought. Her eyes seemed glazed over as if she was looking a hundred miles away.

"Huh?" she blinked and looked up from the human's covered crotch where she'd apparently been staring.

"I asked where the shower was at," Adam repeated, holding up his defiled arms, palm up.

"Oh! Right. Stand here. I'll change the room. Go ahead and strip since your clothes are soiled anyway." She tapped the controls on the wall to initiate the shift while Adam stood, watching it in rapt fascination.

"Here, let me help," Protagonist said abruptly when he didn't move, reaching out and yanking at the human's trousers.

"Hey! What ... what are you doing?" Adam exclaimed, pushing at Protagonist and, in the process, leaving a green hand-print on her chest above the right breast.

Protagonist gave him a curious look as he covered his crotch, then looked at the soiled patch of fur.

"I'm sorry ... It washes off, right? But ..."

"But now we'll both need a shower," Protagonist finished.

"Look, I don't know what planet you're from, but from mine, that's considered rude."

"I apologize, but regardless of any social mistake I may have made, unless you want to spend the next day with your arms covered in excrement, we're going to need to take a shower."

"We? Together?" Adam gulped.

"Yes. It will conserve my limited resources since I have two extra life forms that I didn't plan on. That ... and you don't know how to work the controls."

"Oh. But ... that was still rude," he admonished.

"My apologies," she said offering her hand. Adam took it reluctantly dropping the other to his side. "Interesting. Humans don't have a sheath?" she asked, leading him into the stall.

Adam's face grew red as he attempted to hide his crotch again while facing the wall.

"Such a shy one," she giggled. "From what I understand, you gave me a rather thorough exam when I was in your bed."

"That was different!" Adam protested.

"How so? Surely, if the positions had been reversed, I'd have done the same."

The human mumbled incoherently in response.

"Anyway. This is the soap and this is the conditioner," she said and leaned in close. The equine took the opportunity to glance down his body and saw his sheath-less penis had begun to change its length. Reflexively, her tail flagged upwards and a wink squirted her musk-laden urine onto the shower's floor.

Her scents flooded his nose as she got close, making him shiver. There was something familiar about the odor, but he couldn't quite put his fingers on it just yet. Worse yet, her closeness and that maddening odor was having an effect on his libido. The thought was brushed away though by her furred breasts pressing against his bare back. He gulped, "Uh... ah ... and ... um ... the water?" he stuttered out, trying to ignore her closeness and hoping the spray would wash the pheromones away.

Protagonist's head was slowly fogging over in a strangely familiar way. Pushing harder against the human, she touched the control on the wall, making heated water immediately spray from the nozzle. Force of habit made hir step back and urinate, once again testing the stream's scent as she'd done before. "Mmmm," she nickered, offering her fingers to Adam to sniff.

Adam inadvertently inhaled, recognizing it finally after only he'd looked down and seen the dark stream of urine flowing toward the drain. "Protagonist?" he asked.

"Hmm?" she returned, pumping some soap and using it to lather his arms up, washing them clean. Gathering more soap she started at his shoulders and reached around to his chest.

"What are you doing?" he asked nervously as her lathered hands slid farther south.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked, lost in her heat-lust. Her hands pushed the suds down over his bushy pubic patch, making the foam drip from his balls before her fingers gripped his shaft.

The Sinari's scent was somewhat familiar, but it hadn't dawned on Adam until now. "You. You're ... in heat! You're not ... mmph ... in control of your senses," he protested, albeit weakly, as her gentle ministrations and her musk were slowly breaking down his will to resist.

"I don't care," she whispered in his ear. Her fingers squeezed the base of his cock and pulled to the tip. She gave an appreciative moan as his shaft thickened in her grip.

"But ... your father ..." he grunted, giving one more try.

"Isn't here," she nickered giving another light squeeze, and pressing her wet body against his before giving his earlobe a gentle nip.

Adam groaned loudly, bracing an arm against the shower's wall. What remained of his will lie shredded on the floor, ripped away by her scent and her touch. He inadvertently bumped the off button and the shower abruptly quit.. The pair stumbled from the shower, water and soap suds dripping from their legs. Protagonist slapped the bulkhead, keying the berth's change routine. "Are you sure?" Adam asked, staring at her long face, knowing the answer already.

She merely nodded and shoved him back onto the bed as it unfolded from the wall. She stood looking down at him, admiring his body, but mostly the throbbing hot shaft jutting from the wiry brown patch of hair above it. The sight of it made her insides dripping wet and the next wink squirted her juices onto the floor. She spun on one hoof, lifting her leg onto the bunk. With her back to the human, she straddled his waist, pushing the shaft against her heated folds. She reached down and inhaled, feeling his length before rocking her hips forward.

For Adam, it was like sliding into a human, only warmer, tighter and much, much wetter. He felt a momentary resistance, pushing back at his advance before she grunted and took his shaft to the hilt. A rippling pulse flexed down his shaft as she winked hard against him and he groaned loudly, slapping the mattress pad.

The short, sharp and burning pain of her hymen tearing folded quickly into the pleasure of his cock filling her to where her fingers had never gone before. She braced against the wall, mouth open and eyes closed s she ground her pelvis against his. The hard, slightly curved shaft slid forward and back, squelching softly as each wink drooled more of her juices until his crotch became completely drenched.

Adam could only lie back and hold on, praying that this sudden Russian rodeo wouldn't wind up as just an eight second ride. Her rippling muscles gripped him like no human ever had, and he surmised, ever could. He clenched his stomach and pulled up, shifting the small pillow to use as a brace so he could see. Protagonist's raven tail spilled across his stomach, obscuring most of his view, so he closed his eyes again and relaxed. Briefly, he wondered if what he was doing was 'right' in the moral sense, but morality went out the window with the next pulse of her nethers. "Protagonist," he gasped.

"Mmmmmmmmm...." she moaned.

"Get ... get up. Get on your knees," he managed to grunt, reaching up to fondle her rump.

She groaned out a sad note, not wanting to, and not understanding why he wanted to stop, but lifted from his shaft anyway.

Adam slid from under her warm body, reluctantly, and regained some of his composure. The air blowing across his soaked crotch helped by cooling it slightly. He rose to his knees and reached around the mare, fondling her upper body, marveling at the feel of her sleek fur and smooth flesh. His cock slipped beneath her tail, poking first at the pucker of her tail hole. Her tail jerked slightly, flagging down then back up and Protagonist shifted slightly. "Easy, girl," Adam muttered into her ear while one hand played with a dark, stiff nipple. He traced his nose along the line of her jaw and down her neck, biting gently just above the clavicle.

Protagonist collapsed forward with a cry, but his arms held her tight to his body. Never had pleasuring herself felt so wondrous. She whimpered softly, rocking her hips against his shaft as it lay lengthwise in her folds, aching at its absence within her. The spade shaped head bumped against her clit and she dripped more bloody lube onto the shaft.

"Easy girl," Adam murmured again, leaning forward. Her hips rotated and his shaft slid home once a gain with muttered sighs from both. He pushed it all the way in, feeling his tip flatten slightly against her cervix to her obvious delight. Adam stayed buried for a moment before beginning to thrust slowly and gently.

Prot's response was immediate. Her tail, pushed to the side, lifted, pressing against Adam's upper stomach. As the shaft pushed back in, she squeezed it again, dripping more onto the developing puddle on the bed. Adam mumbled something incoherent and rose up to his knees. As he rose, Protagonist's tail lifted completely, arching over her back. He gripped the very tip of the tailbone's flesh and tilted it to the side, getting a peek of his cock sliding in and out of her slit. Black flesh hugged his manhood and she occasionally flashed the pink interior.

"Mmm?" Protagonist nickered softly, looking over her shoulder at the human, giving another pulse to his member.

"Nothing," he murmured, releasing the tail. He repositioned his hands onto her hips and began to thrust harder. The wet squelching got louder and he began to moan with each shove. The heat and her amazing muscle control wore at Adam's resolve, hurling him toward the edge.

On some base level, the mare sensed the urgency in his quickening thrusts. She reached one hand between her legs and began to play with her clit with her forehead resting against the bulkhead. She felt something warm and soft tapping her knuckles and it took her a moment to realize it was his testicles ... just as her orgasm broke. With a grunted cry, she bore down on his pistoning cock. Hot, piss-like fluid gushed from her slit, squirting against his balls. Her body's reaction pushed her fertile cervix toward her lover, positioning it for what it was intended for.

Adam lasted about ten seconds longer. He guessed she was cumming, and cumming hard. With gritted teeth and a strangled cry he shoved in as deep as he could and erupted, collapsing his sweaty chest against her damp back. Her rippling winks, aftershocks of her release, milked his shaft until the softening member slid from her body with a squelch and a splatter of bloody froth.

Both crumpled to the bed in a wet and sweaty tangle, Adam pulling her to his body for her warmth and wrapping his arm around her chest.

They were nearing the location where Protagonist had parked the booster ring when they both began to wake. "Good morning, lover," she nickered as he stirred. "Welcome to the middle of nowhere. We're probably going to need another shower."

Adam smiled and stretched. "Mmmm....... I had the strangest dre....aahhh!!!" he began, opening his eyes and promptly fell out of the bunk.

She laughed and looked over the edge onto the floor. "Are you OK? I can tell you it was no dream."

"Um ... did ... did we ... uh ... you know...."

She nodded. "Mmhmm.... And how," putting one hand on his shoulder to clam him.

"I'm sorry ... we shouldn't have ... you weren't...."

"I'm not complaining."

Adam looked down at the dried flecks of blood still streaked on his member "You were... uh ... I was your ... first?"

Protagonist only nodded with a smile.

"But your father!"

"Let me worry about him," she began just before a siren shrieked over the intercom. Another very unladylike curse tumbled from her mouth.

"What's that?" Adam asked, more worried at the siren than the untranslated word.

"Proximity alarm. We're supposed to be at least 8 light hours from the nearest mass that would set it off," she explained scrambling out of bed. She leaped over Adam ran out of the room toward the pilot's chamber.

"Wait! My clothes! They're still ..." Adam began before she disappeared around the corner. His clothes were missing, lost in the shuffle of the previous evening's shenanigans. He sighed and resigned to his current state of nudity. "When in Rome," he thought, pulling his way up and toward the direction Protagonist had went.

"Holy mother ..." Adam got out, staring out of what he thought of as the 'windscreen' of Protagonist's craft. A massive starship filled the forward view, but with nothing to set the scale, his mind had a hard time grasping distance and size.

"Major. Why is the Thunderbolt trying to lock tractor beam targeting onto me?" Protagonist asked. Green and red blips appeared on screen, buzzing about the larger ship.

"When your signal became unresponsive, I feared the worst and was able to program the ship to broadcast a distress signal once it dropped from near light speed," the robot responded over the intercom.

"Damn it Major. Obviously I'm alright, I just removed the damn comlink," she cursed, punching off the beacon and initiating docking sequence with the booster. "Adam, go back to the bed and lie down. Trust me. I don't have time to explain," she ordered, frantically typing commands into the pilot's station.

Adam nodded and turned, retracing his steps toward the bunk when he heard Mare whinny. "Protagonist. We might have a problem. What about Mare?"

Protagonist cursed. "Tranquilize her and put her in a sling," she yelled over her shoulder.

"On it," Adam said, going for his bag. It contained a standard equine kit, and he pulled out a syringe, needle and vial of clear liquid. With practiced ease, he assembled the tool, and pulled a measure into the syringe. "Easy, girl." he said, sliding in beside her and tapping the neck. With single poke, he found the vein and administered the dose. "She'll be out in five minutes, but sling isn't exactly part of my kit, Protagonist. What do you suggest?" he called out.

"I'm a little busy trying to shut down that tracking system. Figure it out."

He jumped as her stressed voice came over the intercom but began to look about for something to keep his horse stable. With nothing to suspend her, he resigned to pushing the make-shift bracing closer to her. After a couple of minutes of searching though, he found what looked like cargo netting. "Ah ha!" he called out and rushed it over toward Mare. Adam quickly put it into the hooks on the wall next to his girl and wrapped it around her midsection before tacking it back to a higher set of hooks. He'd never heard the beeping of the intercom giving four strange warbles and when he stepped around her backside, his world suddenly went black.

"While I commend our passenger's commitment to compassion," the Major broke in moments later, "he listens about as well as milady does, sometimes. He's in the hold, collapsed."

"What?"

"He is alive, as far as I can tell. Perhaps your highness should put the comlink back in."

"Promise not to zap me again?"

"I must protect your honor, ma'am."

"Little late for that, Major. That part of my honor was mine to give, and I gave it willingly. You can eject that subroutine from your data-loop."

There was a palpable silence before the robot sighed. "Fine. I only had enough power for one stun anyway, but I reserve the right to continue as your guardian."

Protagonist stood from the couch and dug her earrings from the pouch. "Fine, Major, but when we get back, I'm making a new pair of comlink earrings ... without your assistance." While walking back to the hold, she reinserted them and powered them back up. A quick assessment of Mare verified that she was still breathing. She found Adam easily enough and pulled him away from where he'd collapsed behind the limp horse in the cargo netting he'd rigged. He was wet. Soaked, in fact, but a quick sniff told her it was neither sweat nor water. He stirred in her arms with a groan and she set him down gently on the cool metal.

"What happened?" Adam groaned. "I feel like the day after going on a bender," he said, rubbing the side of his head that had smacked the floor.

"Reaction to the phase transition, I guess," she explained. "It can be quite a shock the first time around. You probably hit your head on the floor. What's ... a bender?"

"Alcohol," he began. "It's a liquid made from fermented sugars."

"Yes, we know of it. Ethanol. It effects all the various Moreauvian races similarly, but to varying degrees. In Sinari, alcohol is metabolized very quickly and only begins to intoxicate at near fatal levels."

"Right ... good to know ... Remind me not to try and drink you under the table then. Anyway ... drinking excessively is what's called a bender."

"Oh, ok. You feel like you're intoxicated?"

"No. After consuming excessive amounts, the next morning, humans wake up with a hangover."

"Hangover. That translated. Though we get ours from over consuming Dragga. Why didn't you say that the first time?"

Adam sighed. "Language is a funny thing. We have the same problem with Gaggle Translation on the internet. And why do I smell like horse piss?"

Protagonist laughed and Major piped in. "Apparently when you tranquilized Mare, phase transition occurred shortly after. The transition shock knocked you both out and in the process Mare must have voided. You happened to have collapsed in a rather strategic, if not amusing, location."

"It all washes off, right?" Protagonist said mischievously, extending an arm.

"Right," Adam said, accepting Protagonist's hand up. "So, what was that ship?"

"That was High Admiral Penhold's command, The Thunderbolt," she explained.

"The Admiral was responding per protocols, if I might add, milady," Major chimed in.

"Protocols you initiated by activating that damn distress call," Protagonist began hotly.

"Hold on. We don't have time to argue with a smart-arsed talking ship right now," Adam interjected.

The intercom barked the equine equivalent of laughter while Protagonist explained, "While the ship does talk occasionally, what you're hearing is Major Domo, my robotic guardian, currently located on the flagship Beth'enal."

"Uh ... well met, Major Domo? I'm Adam. Adam Lawrence."

"Charmed I'm sure," he responded, barely hiding the sneer in his voice. "Call me Major. Protagonist, I did what I could, including jettisoning a decoy buoy, but your father is absolutely beside himself."

"Dad will have to get over it. Can you tell him that we are ok?"

"Yes, but what of your companions?"

"I'm working on that."

"Wait. Your father? I'm almost afraid to ask," Adam said, "considering the amount of firepower that showed up."

The intercom sighed. "Perhaps the two of you should be properly introduced now, though I thought I'd raised her better. Adam, meet Her Royal Highness, heir to the Sinari Empire, Princess Protagonist."

Protagonist gave a formal and ritualistic bow.

"You mean ... I ... uh ... we ... um ..." Adam stuttered, the colour draining from his face. "Your dad is going to kill me."

"With any luck," Major quipped.

"Major, be nice. I'd hate to have to pull rank on this one. Come, Adam. As you said before, you smell like urine. Get in the shower, and as much as I'd like to help, I need to take care of a few odds and ends first before we arrive at the Beth."

She guided him to the bunk and showed him the controls to activate the shower, nuzzling his ear. As the shower stall moved into position, there was a distinct sound of tearing fabric. "Uh, what was that?" Protagonist asked.

Adam sighed bent over and picked up his shredded clothing as it appeared, attached to one of the sliding panels. "I suppose going to Q-Mart now is out of the question?"

"We'll get you more later, if you want," Protagonist said. "Our society doesn't exactly wear much clothing, though." She collected the mangled pants and tossed them into the recycler.

"I gathered that," he said, stepping into the stall. He looked around and wondered how in the hell they'd both fit before.

Protagonist left him to his devices and went back to the pilot's chair. "Major, I know my father is busy ... and he's probably going to burn down the barn ... but I need to break this one to him myself."

"Return them back to where they belong."

"I can't, Major. His house has been destroyed and he's most likely on the Jinari radar. Assassination squads of that caliber are monitored closely. Not only that, the Thunderbolt is still patrolling for me back there. Penhold would lock onto my entry anywhere in that system, chase me down and tractor me into the hold easier than shooting the 'turtles' they use for target practice. I'd really be in hot water then." Protagonist chewed her lip nervously as the ship blinked into existence ten light minutes distant from the armada, but still in N-Space. "Major? Is there any way to utilize the cargo beam to ..."

"Thinking of zapping the passengers to the Royal quarters? Must I remind milady that the matter transference beam has never been successfully used on a living specimen. As much as I would enjoy the results of such an attempt, that particular sub-system is also highly monitored. There's just too many routines to tinker with."

She folded her ears back in annoyance thinking how she was going to get Mare back to her personal chambers. Adam, by himself, would have been no problem as his body shape was slightly smaller than most Sinari and would fit perfectly in the maintenance tunnels. Finally she sighed. "Hoverplate and a sheet, Major. The most obvious is the least suspected. We'll have to go through the front door on this one. Have my personal guards meet me outside the cargo bay."

Protagonist plotted a gentle course toward her landing berth on the Beth before pushing the console back. Then, she swung gracefully from the couch and walked toward the hold.

Adam was busy dragging a steel comb through Mare's tail. The horse nickered at Protagonist as she walked in. "She will need food," Adam said. "I was able to get her some water from the shower, but the hay I brought won't last very long at all."

"Working on that," Protagonist said after nickering back a the horse.

Mare's ears rotated back and she seemed to huff before nosing at the rapidly emptying hay bag. "I shouldn't have brought her," he muttered.

"She'd have been killed by that assassin. You saw what they did to your barn. They didn't even bother to disembark, they just ..."

"And this is any different? I just realized that wherever we're going, we're going to have problems with food. Water is universal, but food can be rather difficult to come by for a twelve hundred pound animal like her."

"What does she eat?"

"Grass. Fodder. Cereal grains."

Protagonist nodded. "I thought as much, based on what you'd brought on board. It's actually a similar diet to the Sinari. Perhaps the food issue isn't as complicated as you might think."

"Right, but the chemistry may be all wrong. I don't know if your food will actually poison her."

"Good point. We'll have to run an analysis of the ... what did you call it? Oh yes, hay. An analysis of the hay and her fecal matter. Speaking of chemistry. That stuff you used to make her sleepy. Can you knock her out again?"

"Yes. The effects are short lived as you saw. Thirty minutes at the most."

Protagonist nodded. "That should be more than enough time. As it is, we have about thirty minutes before we need her asleep. So, what do you think, stud? Care for a repeat of earlier?" she asked with a nicker, stepping closer and resting her arm on Mare's rump.

Adam seemed to try and hide behind the animal's tail in his hand, taking a step back into the cargo net hanging on the wall. "Um ..."

"While I may not be able to prevent anything from continuing, my lady," Major broke in, "there are still duties to perform before landing."

Protagonist cut an annoyed glance at the intercom. "Spoilsport!" she said with a snort.

"Uh ... I can come with and watch, if you like?"

"Against my better judgment, your highness. Your, ahem, cycle and the presence of this male," Major began in an annoyed voice.

"No, Major," she sighed, "you are right. This isn't the time. I see no problem with him in the cockpit, now," she looked over at Adam with raw hunger in her eyes, "or ... later." She spun on a hoof and clopped to the door.

Adam gulped. "What have I gotten myself into?" he muttered to Mare. She only snorted into the hay bag, flicking an ear in his direction acknowledging that he'd spoken. He set the comb down on a cargo crate and patted the horse's rump. "I almost liked it better..."

"A word of advice, Adam?" Major said quietly over the speaker.

Adam jumped. "Yes?"

"You'd be best off taking the first offer you get to be sent back home. You're in over your head and the Chull'dashi swim thick."

Adam said nothing, not quite knowing what those creatures were, but could make an educated guess.

"Coming Adam?" Protagonist called from the up the hall.

"Go," Major said. "Give it some thought, but not too much, 'eh?"

Adam walked out and found Protagonist leaning against the doorway to the cockpit. "Sorry, I, uh, had to put the tools away," he explained.

She smiled and walked in, swishing her raised tail. He watched, staring at her backside and the lower half of her still puffy lips as she unconsciously flashed the pink interior again. He only shifted his gaze when she took a seat in the pilot's couch, lifting it to be awed again by the sight of an armada surrounding another massive vessel. "Woah," he muttered.

Protagonist stopped what she'd been doing briefly and looked over her shoulder at the human.

"What you see is the Second Royal Fleet of the Sinari Empire. The large ship in the center is the Beth'enal, the flagship of the Second Fleet. You've already seen the Thunderbolt and she normally occupies the void," she pointed, "there. The other main battle cruiser that you see here is the Forgehammer." She pointed out eight smaller ships by name in two clusters of four with one group near each of the main cruisers' positions while she worked her way to sit in the pilot's couch.

"Um, what's that?" he asked, pointing at the swirling purple visage behind the fleet.

"Oh, that's NS2F-1364, or 'The Great Black Flume'. Sit down, I promise not to bite. Hard."

"Black? It looks purple, and what's a black flume?" Adam said, taking a seat next to Protagonist in the copilot's couch.

"That's because it is purple, silly human," she giggled. "Um, I'm not exactly up on the whole math thing, but the way the Co'eni explain it, the flumes in N-Space always correspond to the location of a black hole and the white pits are supermassive stars."

"N-Space?"

"Null Space, Negative Space, Nowhere Space ... It's a shadowy sub-realm that exists beneath normal space. Again, the Co'eni discovered it about six thousand years ago and introduced it to six other Moreauvian races over the course of about three hundred years."

"Wow. I'm guessing there were problems then?"

Protagonist's fingers tapped over the controls. Green blips began to swarm over the two larger ships. "Mmhmm. Two of the more aggressive species, the Jinari and the Tolari formed a loose alliance and sought to conquer the Sinari and the Archeni. The Akkarians and the Co'eni remained neutral while the Gildari sided against the Jinari for their own reasons."

"So this is all ancient history, right?"

"Yes and no. Even now, there's an uneasy cease-fire between the races, and the conflict has moved once again from open warfare into the shadows."

Adam sat in silence for the next fifteen minutes, lost in his own thoughts. He jumped when Protagonist reached over and touched his leg. "Huh?"

You got quiet. You OK?"

"Yeah. Um. Just letting you drive."

"As I was saying, when we land, I'm going to need you to anesthetize Mare then do as I say. Don't worry, you'll see her again, I'll just have to move you both separately."

"Ok? Why?"

"Because neither her, nor you are supposed to be here and I could get into very serious trouble if someone I don't trust finds out."

"Oh."

"My personal guards and Major Domo will be meeting us in my private hangar. The plan is to simply load the unconscious animal onto a cargo plate, cover her and move everything back to my suite. You will take a hidden maintenance corridor that leads directly to my bedroom."

"What about a different idea? I can keep her quiet under that tarp without the drugs while you move us both."

"Why not just put her to sleep?"

"Because I'm worried about the side effects. Mare's been dosed pretty hard these last ... uh ... hours? She needs some recovery time.

"How long?"

"Based on the best medical advice I can give, at least 24 hours to allow for everything to flush from her system."

Protagonist ground her teeth together, thinking.

"You're worried that something will happen, and I don't blame you given what's riding on my abilities. How about this? Leave Mare on the ship and use your hangar as a temporary holding pen until other arrangements can be made? By then, I'm sure we can do what needs be done to move her," Adam offered.

"The human does have a point, your highness," Major said begrudgingly. "It would be the safest, and no one needs be the wiser. Access is still there for food, water and the inevitable cleaning."

"Just cordon off the areas you don't want her to get into," Adam finished.

"Fine. That sounds like a much better plan. Major, cancel the equipment requests but still have my guards at the ready in my hangar. They will need to be briefed."

"As you wish, my lady."

Protagonist reached over and shut off the intercom. "Sometimes he just irritates the fire out of me," she muttered.

"He sounds as if he cares for you."

"He's a robot. Granted, a very advanced one that none have been able to duplicate, but I doubt very much that there's anything resembling emotions in that tin-can brain of his."

Adam shrugged and watched the Beth get closer, eventually blocking out the view of anything else. There was a slight shudder as the ship uncoupled from the booster ring before dropping close to the skin of the craft. They hugged the contour of the larger craft, heading on a course toward a large, pink blister Adam had noticed on the approach before the curve of the hull hid it from view. Protagonist tapped out something on the keyboard before the motion changed, sinking toward the Beth. Adam looked up at the outer blackness as the blue hue of the atmospheric shield passed around them. Finally, the mare pushed the console away and stood up, stretching. "Welcome aboard, Adam of Earth, to your new home."

---

Chapter 4

---

"Look, princess, I can't go around naked all the time!" Adam complained. Two days had passed since his initial landing and the first delivery of feed for Mare had gone off without a hitch.

"Why not? Is there a problem with the environment? I can adjust the cabin temperatures to better suit your physiology, if you like," she said, nuzzling against his neck with her hand playing with the hair on his chest.

"No, it's not that. It's because ... I don't have a sheath. If I did, it would be much less embarrassing than walking round with my dick pointing the way."

"But, I like it like that," she nickered reaching down to caress his damp crotch.

He shivered at her touch, still sensitive from their last frenetic bout of lovemaking. "And there's another thing."

"What?"

"Your guards. If I'm clothed, maybe they'll stop looking at me like they do."

"What do you mean, Adam?" she asked.

"It's like they're trying to sleep with me with the way they stare at me. Your species also has a remarkable similarity to Earth equines in unconscious behaviours and breeding signals."

"So? Bed them," she said with a shrug.

"Ok, it's settled then ... wait. Bed them?" he asked, somewhat shocked.

"Sure. They're unattached."

"Just like that?"

"They'd be honoured to be included into your herd."

"Do you not have any concept of monogamy or adultery?"

"Those last words didn't translate," she said puzzled, stopping her idle tracing of her finger on and around his crotch.

Adam sighed and started a long explanation of the human concepts of monogamy, marriage and religion. "It's a concept ingrained into most of the world's theologies and reenforced almost daily by the news media heaping shame upon those accused rightly or wrongly of infidelity."

"How strange. It's all still a male-centric breeding competition though. Sinari birth rates average out with far fewer males and have developed a more matriarchal society. If we have a religion left anymore, then I believe you would call it science."

"So you're a sociology expert now, too?"

She snorted in annoyance. "I'm a princess. An heir to an entire empire with a population that would fill no less than six major colony worlds." She looked over at Adam. "I've had schooling in a wider range of courses than you can possibly imagine...."

"Ok, ok ... I'm sorry. Sheesh, princess. Remind me not to piss you off."

"Urinating on another can be a sign of sexual reception and even affection in some species, just not ours."

Adam blinked and sighed. "Um ... nevermind. So your species is genetically encouraged to form harems?"

"Yes, in a way. Socially, a female is free to mate with any stallion she chooses, even if she is in a herd. Casual, non-reproductive sex is frequent among both males females of breeding age with members of either sex. Quite unlike the social taboos that humans seem to have. Usually, family members are off-limits to mating, but that's not always strictly enforced."

"Family? You mean, you could have slept with your father?"

"Could have? Yes. Have I? No. As with most inter-family relationships, I have no desire for his nightly attentions. He has his own harem for that. Besides, you took my hymen, remember?"

Adam nodded "So is that the only check on it?"

"Check on what?"

"Incest. Inbreeding."

"Oh, that. With the Sinari, inbred foals are always sterile males. Mules are what we call them. And oddly enough, we're not the only Moreauvian species that will produce mules when inbreeding results in a foaling. Unfortunately, Sinari mules always become unmanageable and unruly, so, to keep them docile, the law requires they be gelded as soon as the testicles drop."

"Harsh," Adam commented, shivering as her fingers traced over his jewels and then up to his shaft. "Um ... how do you know that a child is a mule?"

"Sinari mules always have longer ears that droop and always have blue irises. Have I mentioned recently that I really like how you don't have a sheath?" she nickered in his ear, squeezing his soft penis.

"And your heat cycle is going to put me in the infirmary you randy mare," Adam laughed, patting the side of her long head. "How much longer?"

"Tired so soon? Mmmm ... a Sinari stallion would be able to go all night long."

"Humans need some time to recharge," he explained. "Sinari, like their Earth compatriots, apparently don't need as much."

"Fine. I'll just take care of it myself," Protagonist harrumphed.

"Good. I like to watch."

"Oh really?" she said with a wicked look about her. Then, before Adam could protest, she threw a leg over his chest again. This time, she backed toward his face, lifting her tail so he could get a clear view of her nethers. The resemblance to female equine genitalia was near exact, right down to the scent. "Then ... watch," she said, sliding her hand down her body.

Adam tried to lean forward, but only succeeded in getting close enough to feel the warmth radiating from her ass-pucker. "Oh you evil mare, you," Adam said playfully, realizing too late that his hands were pinned under her knees and he couldn't move without forcing her off him.

"Mmhmm," she said, reaching down her body. The fur on her arm caught in the hair of his chest as it slid between them.

Adam watched as her fingers rubbed the top of her swollen and fragrant lips. Watched as the fingers split along the slit, framing the ruby flesh as the glistening, ebon lips parted in a wink. Watched a two fingers sank in to the deepest knuckle and back out with another wink that brought a drip of her honey to the pointed lower fold. He moaned and strained forward, trying in vain to catch it on his tongue. Unable without pushing the mare away, he flopped back to the pillow and watched his lover's fingers slide in and out of the sopping wet tunnel with a soft squelching. When she began to rock her hips, he knew she was getting close. Unable to stand it any longer, he tugged one hand free from under her knee and started to pet along the velvet smooth fur of her flank, guiding her closer.

Without warning, the mare felt his tongue flattened against the wet, outer lips before slipping between the folds. Her response was immediate, bunching her nether-muscles to wink her sex, squeezing the fleshy invader gently. He could still taste his seed inside her tunnel, but she tasted of needy mare more.

For Protagonist's part, she squealed with delight, with every thrust of the human's tongue into her. She pushed back in time to his advances and shuddered when he nibbled on her clit. Never had her personal pleasure sessions ever felt like this. Within minutes, Protagonist's neck stretched out, nodding in time to Adam's licks.

Adam could feel her lower muscles tensing and gave a bit of a harder nip, tugging on the silver ring piercing her inner folds. The combined jolt of pain on top of the pleasure whirled together in a tornado of emotion within her. Grunting loudly, her orgasm washed over her in waves. She couldn't stop shaking as the intensity built until she collapsed against Adam's body.

Adam swallowed the fluids she gushed into his mouth as quickly as he could. Some, though, still dribbled down his face. "Better?" he asked, when her tremors subsided, petting her rump and watching her swollen folds wink listlessly, still dripping onto his chest.

"Unph," she snorted. Her legs felt like she'd just finished running for an entire day. They trembled and shook as she rolled to the side.

"Aww," he teased. "I was enjoying the view." He stroked her inner thigh with a smirk.

It was her turn to shiver as she closed her legs on Adam's hand. "Sensitive," she mumbled. She opened her eyes, staring directly at Adam's crotch. "Oh, no," she chided. "Put that thing away, stud. I thought you needed recharge time." She pushed the twitching tip of the human's shaft away.

Adam laughed. "And I thought if the stallions could go all night, the mares could go longer. Sometimes, the wait isn't as long as others, but I'll do as you ask, your highness." He moved to get out of bed.

"Where are you going?"

"Shower. I have to meet your father and I don't think it would be wise to show up smelling like I took a bath in his daughter's backside. Not that I mind."

"You're probably right. I'll take one after you. I need to rest for a little bit. Oh, and before I forget," she said with a yawn. "My tailor will be here soon to fit you."

Adam looked at her with mild shock. Finally he only smiled. "Thank you."

Adam found his way into the shower and took a hot one. His erection subsided slowly, still slightly sore from so much recent use, but he shrugged, believing that he'd eventually get used to it, but praying he never would. Mare had adapted quickly to her new quarters over the last couple of days, but reacted with some initial hostility whenever Adam showed up smelling of Protagonist. Privately, he thought she was jealous, but dismissed it offhand, not quite believing that a horse was capable of such.

He walked out of the bath chamber, toweling his hair, softly whistling a half-remembered tune. Protagonist was sound asleep, curled up slightly on her side, pretty much in the same spot he'd left her. He spent a moment admiring her form, but not too long, lest he get aroused again. She looked so damn sexy laying there like that. He smiled and walked out of the bedroom, with his hands tangled in the towel around his head.

"Good morning, Master Adam," a voice said.

"Shit!" Adam cursed, jumping back at first, then forward as his rump contacted the cold metal wall next to bedroom door. The guard gave an appreciative smirk and let her eyes roam across the human's naked body, especially his crotch. "Um, good morning. Don't y'all ever knock?" he asked, dropping his arms to cover his front.

"My apologies, sir. There was no answer to the courtesy chime. The tailor is here that Madam Protagonist had requested."

"Um ... Ok? Uh ... Good? I guess ... uh ... let him in then?"

"She is right outside."

"Oh ... uh ... her, then, my apologies. Oh, and ask her to keep it down, please? Protagonist is ... uh ... sleeping."

"Very well, sir."

The guard walked out and Adam watched her as she left. "Did she raise her tail a little higher?" he asked himself. He shook his head, accidentally dislodging the towel, wondering if he was surrounded by a race of naked, half-equine nymphomaniacs. The towel fell from his head and he turned to pick it up.

The door slid open and the tailor walked in. Her bare white and feathered hooves were shod in a soft, resilient compound that kept her from clacking across the simulated stone floor of the Royal suite. Snow white fur, mane and tail contrasted strikingly with the dark green sash about her waist, tied in an ornate knot on her hip and nothing else. The white fur faded to fuzzy pink velvet along her muzzle, breasts and crotch. She smiled, staring down at the human's backside and gave a soft bluster as he retrieved the towel.

Adam jumped again, nearly losing his balance and bumping his head on the wall, but hastily recovered and wrapped the towel about his waist before turning. "Are all Sinari that quiet?" he grumped, but his voice faded as he looked up at the tall, white and heavily busted mare.

Victoria smiled with her ears perked forward and ice-blue eyes glittering with amusement. "I was told that I would be given a unique assignment, but I never dreamed that it would be this unique," she said softly.

"Right. Unique. You should see it from my perspective."

She giggled. "I'm sure. Forgive me. I am Victoria. Victoria Algon. Private tailor to the Royal house and friend of Princess Protagonist. You are Master Adam, I presume?" she asked performing a ritualistic bow of greeting.

"Adam Lawrence," Adam said, awkwardly trying his best to return the gesture and hold the towel in place.

"Nice to meet you, Master Adam."

"Just Adam is fine," he said. "I'm not really anyone's master."

"As you wish," she said and opened up her satchel. She reached in to pull out a collapsible stand and set it in the middle of the living chamber. "Well? I can't do my job with you over there," she said, pointing at the stool. "Get on the stump and we'll get to work."

Adam shrugged and walked over. As he passed Victoria to mount the stand, she reached out and yanked the towel off him. "Hey!"

"Hush. Once you've seen one, you've seen them all. I need to be able to work."

Adam sighed. "I'm beginning to wonder if I should even bother with clothing now," he muttered, climbing up the step.

"Arms up," she ordered and waited for him to comply. When he did, Victoria nodded with a nicker and began to walk around the human, running her fingers up and down his torso. Adam shivered at her touch, tingling gooseflesh bursting across his body. "Yes, the chest is a little more narrow," she muttered, standing behind him. She reached around his body, pressing her bare breasts against his back, sliding her palms against his stomach.

"Um ... Victoria?" Adam began nervously. She smelled like Protagonist to his nose, only, perhaps stronger.

"Shh. I'm working," she quipped, giving a lipped nip at his neck. She inhaled slowly, stretching her neck to nuzzle at his ear while her hands wandered across his hips and around to his buttocks. She gave them a firm squeeze. "No tail. That will make the design easier," she murmured. A warm tongue touched against his neck.

"Um ... Victoria? What are you trying...." Adam said, still worried. Her touches and her scent was causing his loins to stir again.

"I can't work if you don't hush," she said huskily. Her hands roved around to his front, slipping along his waist and in toward his crotch. Her thumbs tickled across his pubic hair, but she stopped, much to Adam's short lived relief as she pulled away. "Oh ... and extra room in the crotch," she giggled, moving around to his front. She knelt and then drug her muzzle along his now throbbing shaft, her warm breath spilling across his length.

"Victoria, please ... I can't ... don't ... this isn't ..." Adam stuttered.

"Why not?"

"Victoria, we ... can't ... I ... what about Protagonist?" Adam stammered.

"I don't think she'd mind in the least," Victoria nickered, cupping Adam's balls with one hand while the other traced down his inner thigh. "Would you, darling?" she asked, craning her neck to look over at the bedroom door.

"Taking measurements, I see, Victoria?" Protagonist said sleepily from the doorway.

"Protagonist!" Adam said, startled, he tried stepping backwards off the platform, but couldn't do it as his legs were tangled up with Victoria's arm. "I can ... uh ... explain?" he said looking down, utterly convinced it was quite a damning sight.

Protagonist laughed. "Adam, I thought we talked about this earlier. I wouldn't have cared if I walked in and you were balls deep in her and the guards were sitting on that wonderful tongue of yours. Well ... maybe the guards if they were supposed to be on duty, but you will learn that we don't have the same psychosocial views on mating that humans apparently do."

"See?" Chided the tailor, giving Adam's crotch another nuzzle. Adam gulped as Victoria's warm, velvet muzzle slid along his shaft. "How about something to accentuate this lovely tool?" she asked. "Perhaps a jeweled harness? Maybe a piercing or two along the underside?"

"N.... n.... No! Uh ... I mean, just some jeans ... uh pants and a shirt will be ff..f.f.f.... fine!"

"Very well," Victoria said, getting up. She drug the back of her fingers up his body and stopped at his chest. "You may step down now."

Adam gratefully got down and scooped up his towel, retreating into its cover. Victoria walked over to Protagonist and stooped to give her a hug. "Mmm, darling you have the loveliest perfume. It smells like ... Adam ... and sex. You naughty dam, keeping the Empire's best toys to yourself. You must let me find out how this stud performs, because," she smiled and gave a wicked grin toward the human, "he's hung like an uncut draft mule."

"I was supposed to take a shower, but I must have dozed off and Adam's squawking woke me up, so I decided to find out what was going on," Protagonist said, returning the hug and sharing breath with the larger mare. "I didn't know it was your cycle time, honey, otherwise I wouldn't have called you."

"Nonsense. I'd have had my stallion ride me down here if I wasn't bored with him already. No imagination. Besides, this gem you have here is a once in a life-time find," Victoria said idly tracing a finger across Protagonist's nipple. "Too bad we don't have time to saddle up. What do you think? I get to try out his lovely tool, and you could sit on his face?"

"Mmmm, yes, and we could play with each other at the same time."

"Oh, yes, darling. Just like the introductory course we went through last year during your first heat, though that poor stallion just couldn't keep up the pace. It was over so quickly."

"You know ... I don't believe I've ever seen him this ... pink before," Protagonist giggled at Victoria.

"Hey, I'm still in the room, you know," Adam protested, struggling to keep the towel from showing a tent.

"We will have to get you over this shyness, Adam," Protagonist said with a smile, walking toward him. She wrapped one arm around his shoulder and the other found his hard-on. "What if I told you that I like to watch too?" she nickered in his ear, giving a soft nip on the lobe and a gentle squeeze on his shaft.

"Uh ... um ... uh ..." Adam stammered, his ears, face, neck and upper chest turning an even brighter red.

"So," Victoria cut in. "You said jeans. I actually know of these things and can make a pair easily; however, I don't have the supplies. Fortunately, I know where to get the material. The Co'eni run an underground market and those chittering little rascals can get just about anything for the right price. I'll send my assistant tomorrow. Shouldn't take more than a month and we'll have the prototype done."

"A month?!" Adam said over Protagonist's shoulder.

"Mmhmm," both mares said in unison. Victoria walked over to Adam and stood next to Protagonist.

"But I have to see your father today!" Adam protested, trying to shrink back into the wall.

"Then see him."

"But...."

"Remember, we consider clothing an oddity," Protagonist began, toying with the fold of the towel's front, tugging gently.

Victoria nodded. "It's a hallmark of the poorest commoner doing his job. Not many Sinari, much less other Moreauvians, choose to wear clothing and go without as much as possible." The white mare started to toy with the towel's tucked fold on the human's waist.

Protagonist smiled and nuzzled the human's shoulder. "Besides, you know how I like you best. Now, I wonder how we're going to pay Victoria for her services?" Protagonist gave another tug and the cloth flumped to the floor. Adam's penis stood straight out, arcing slightly upward and throbbing with each beat of his heart.

The door chimed and the guard entered again. "The emperor is on his way, your highness."

Protagonist sighed. "I guess we'll have to issue a rain check, Victoria."

Victoria shrugged. "Too bad," she said with a smile and went back to the stand to fold it up and return it to the satchel. "But, I'm sure it's for the best. My poor stallion's going to pass out tonight, I'm sure."

"Go easy on him," Protagonist chuckled.

"Princess, be careful with Adam. If this little secret got out that not only were there were xeno-tolerant humans," Victoria trailed off before turning toward Adam. "Tell my, Adam. Are all the males on Earth so ... gifted?"

Adam blushed even deeper and mumbled something about being slightly above average.

"Humph," the tailor blustered. "As I was saying, if this got out, every one the Council worlds would go to war over the right to take the entire population of Earth as sex slaves. Well, except maybe the Gildari or the Akkarians," Victoria warned.

Protagonist only nodded. "I understand, dear. Though Adam's not had much more to do than receive his and his animal's meals from my guards. I'm hoping he doesn't think this is a prison with benefits."

"If this is torture ... chain me to the wall," Adam joked.

"Be careful what you wish for, human," the white mare began with a wicked tone in her voice. "That can be easily arranged," she finished before turning to leave. "Give your father my regards?" she said on the way out, but paused at the door. "Oh ... and Adam? I look forward to ... collecting."

Adam merely retreated into the towel again.

When the door closed, Protagonist pulled Adam into the bedroom and gave him a passionate kiss. "We don't have as much time as I'd like," she murmured when their lips parted. "So, let me talk to him first, then I'll leave you two to get to know one another."

"Uh ... do you really think that is a wise idea?"

Protagonist shrugged. "I can promise he's not going to kill you ... today."

"Great," Adam muttered.

"Oh, and you'd probably do best to forget the towel. Unless you want to look like a commoner instead of the Royal Consort?" The door chime sounded again and she smiled, walking out with Adam in tow to greet her father.

"I should have known you'd cause a fuss, Protagonist," the stallion said grumpily. "What happened to not doing anything stupid?" he asked pointing at her as he stomped into his daughter's chamber. He wore his usual trappings of office, the silky, white fabric flowing off the shoulder pads and away in the breeze of his rapid stride. He sported a muzzle covered in unshaven whiskers sprouting from the graying velvet. It faded into the rich sable of his face and neck. His bare front showed scars of battle and of life in general.

"Father, I apologize, but I've more than fulfilled my errant promise."

"More than ... Protagonist! You almost got yourself killed, you've broken several interplanetary and galactic laws, not to mention causing me endless hours of distraction and worry!" he began angrily. He took a deep breath, "And to top it off," he switched his gaze to Adam, "you bring not only one, but two forbidden creatures and have made one your concubine?"

"Dad, I wasn't quite myself! Major, even stunned me!"

"I know. He gave me a full report. Though I'm sure he spared some of the more gory details, but ... concubine, Protagonist? I warned you about that planet and I knew nothing good would come of this!"

"It seemed appropriate compensation for uprooting him, father. Talk to him, Get to know him. Then, perhaps, you'll understand. You promised."

"One promise that I'm sure I will regret making, I'm sure," he said, before finally looking back to his daughter. "Fine. I will make the effort to treat him as an ambassador of his species. Adam?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Be thankful you're human and not a Sinari," he began.

"Dad!"

The emperor shot an annoyed glance at his daughter and snorted before continuing, "Have you seen the dome?"

Adam glanced at Protagonist who merely shrugged. "Dome, sir?" he asked, puzzled.

"I've kept him in the main quarters, father. A few of the rookie pilots have taken to making low-pass flybys above the dome and I didn't want him to be seen."

The emperor arched his eyebrows. "Really? That's the first sensible thing I've heard from you since this whole fiasco started. Major, send a dispatch to Admiral Penhold. Effective immediately, any and all pilots endangering the ship by participating in another one of these low-pass flyby maneuvers will find himself using a toothbrush to scrub the sludge tanks on the Rigel Three penal colony ... naked!"

"Yes, sir," Major said flatly. "With your leave, sir, I've also lodged a temporary order placing most of the Beth's patrols on standby."

"Good. I'd hate to disappoint some young stud trying to steal a glance at my daughter, only to find me glaring at him instead. Adam. Walk with me?" He pivoted on one hoof and strode toward the door. Adam looked at Protagonist again and she made shooing motions at him as well as pantomiming gestures for him to remove the towel. Adam looked down, and at the emperor's retreating back, before returning to look at Protagonist again. He shrugged and kept the towel on, hurrying to catch up with the monarch.

The odd pair waked down the corridor for most of its length in silence before the equine spoke first. "I had my engineers develop this marvel in the hopes that it would satisfy my daughter's growing penchant for space flight," he began. "She'd taken a disturbing interest in flying fighter craft, even going so far as disguising herself and training with the other pilots. The dome, much to my initial dismay, only fueled her desire."

"I'm sure you tried talking to her, sir, but I can probably guess how it turned out. From what I've seen, though, your daughter is a very good pilot."

The emperor smirked, stopping in front of a gray, metallic door. "I railed against it at first, but Major talked me into letting her fly. My daughter, in a time of combat, would be unmatched," he said with a note of pride. "She's gone against our best and posted victories in what were thought to be impossible scenarios and has always seemed to excel at whatever she takes on." He reached over and palmed the door, letting the pink glow from inside spill out into the hall. "After you, human."

Adam shrugged in and stepped through, only to stop just beyond the door. "Woah!" he exclaimed.

The emperor paused for a moment before tapping Adam on the shoulder. "There's more to see, but we need to talk."

Adam startled back, "Huh? Oh, right," he said, jumping out of the way, only now just realizing that the towel had fallen while he was hypnotized by the sight. The color drained from his face, replaced quickly by a blush of embarrassment. He was still half-hard from the earlier escapade with the tailor and Protagonist.

"I can see why my daughter is so ... infatuated," the Emperor said with a smirk.

"Uh ... yeah." Adam said sheepishly.

"Although you've obviously bathed, she hasn't and my daughter positively reeks of sex and you. Besides, you can't quite wash the smell out completely. I must admire your stamina. Not many non-Sinari can keep up with a pent-up mare, much less one that's in heat. I could, of course, when I was younger, but I've learned to keep the harem managed better since then, though it is fun to relive glory days, no?."

"Yes sir! ... I mean ... no I ... uh ..." Adam blushed hard again, the flush running down his neck to colour his upper chest. The emperor's sudden change of attitude caught him off guard and he wondered again if the entire Sinari species was nothing more than a bunch of sex-crazed creatures.

"Are all Earthlings such wonderful conversationalists?" he said with a bit of a chuckle. "Very well then. I'll be direct, since I don't have much time. Try to see it from my point of view. My daughter has a concubine. Now, that alone is more than fine in our society. I would have preferred she wait until we could have found her a proper husband and a proper foal on the ground, but no matter. The mares do as they will, it's up to us to properly breed them. Where was I? Oh yes. You will find that the Sinari are not the only matriarchal and polyamorous Moreauvian species in the Arm. So, no, the fact that she has a concubine is run of the mill news. The problem is that you are the concubine. A human. A human from a planet that, by Council edict, is forbidden to the entire Arm until your race discovers N-Space. Even by our best estimates of your technology, Earth is at least a century or more away from that milestone."

Adam had forced himself away from the embarrassment of his nudity, concentrating on listening. "So I am a political liability?" Adam said

The emperor nodded. "A dangerous one. One that could cost her everything she's ever known."

"You know that I saved her?"

He nodded again. "And I thank you for my daughter's life, but the risks to my empire are far too great." He stepped over and put his hand on Adam's shoulder. "I would like for nothing more than to allow you to stay. This will break her heart too, but we can make it right for you on Earth. Your home and barn will be returned to their previous state."

"That's all well and good sir," Adam began, thinking fast, "but this is my point of view. What about my government? Some how I don't think the Sinari maintain an embassy on Earth and people in my situation have a funny habit of disappearing. Really, I'm just a victim of circumstance at this point," Adam shrugged. "I had the choice to stay and die to another jackal assassin or come with your daughter and live. Basic self-preservation instincts being what they are, it's rather obvious what I chose. Now, you're telling me that if I stay, it may punish the ones that helped me. If I go, I'm setting myself up either to be killed by another member of that Jinari assassin cartel as a revenge killing, or my own people will hunt me down because I know too much."

The emperor sighed. The earthling was better at this than he'd thought. "You'd give a Tolari a run for her money in a negotiation. What you're asking for is akin to asylum."

"If that's what it takes, then yes. I am."

"I can't promise you any miracles, but I can promise you that I will personally look into the matter and see what I can do. I owe you at least that much for keeping my daughter from being killed, or worse."

"Worse?"

"My daughter was virgin, until you ... "

"Sorry ..."

"... but she gave it of her own free will. The Jinari you killed was not only going to murder my daughter, according to Major Domo's report, he was going to defile her as well."

"Thank you, sir," Adam said.

"Adam, our species does not take promises lightly."

"If I understand correctly, a promise is what Protagonist was fulfilling that brought her to me. I admit that chance ... or fate ... or ... or whatever had some hand in keeping me alive, but Texas is where I'm from and we don't take promises lightly either. A man is only as good as his word, and I promised her to keep her safe," Adam said and offered his hand.

"What ... are you doing?" he asked, looking at the unfamiliar gesture.

"It's called a handshake. It's a means of sealing a promise between two people. A bond of physical contact," Adam explained, then smirked when the monarch stuck his hand out. Adam completed the gesture, giving him a firm grip.

"Very well. We understand each other. Under one condition," the Emperor said, releasing Adam's hand.

"Yes sir?"

"That you keep out of sight until we get this going. Unfortunately, the Sinari government is not known for being swift."

"I honestly think that no government is, sir," Adam interjected.

"Touché, but dealing with the Cygnian Council will be even more delicate. This may take some time."

"Begging your pardon, sir, but I'm not really wanting to go anywhere else any time soon."

The emperor smirked again. "Don't be so quick to settle in. We'll have to get together again over Dragga and talk sometime," he said, stepping back. "Perhaps I'll tell you about Protagonist's mother." With a respectful nod, he turned and walked out the door.

Adam waited for a moment, watching the monarch walk away, wondering what had happened. He glanced back up at the Sinari fleet and the swirling visage of space behind it. "Sorry, Major, but I'm not going to give this one up," he said to himself before turning toward the door he'd come in.

Protagonist met him at the door as he walked in with a fierce hug. "I told you it'd be OK!" she said enthusiastically. "Major left with father shortly before you came in. I'm surprised you didn't see each other in the hallway."

"Huh? Oh, no. I didn't see anyone."

"How did it go? He didn't try to do ..."

"No, I'm ok. In fact ... I think there's no where else I should be than right here," he grabbed the princess by her rump. "In fact, I'm feeling a little ... recharged. Care for another go?"