FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 4

Winds blew around the 130 story building of glossy plastic, steel and glass, finding every nook, cranny and crevice in it's stacked shape. In one particular corner, where a ledge naturally formed between floors and the inside corner of the building the winds swirled and spiraled out in ways that a careful observer might find...unnatural, if they were given to such thoughts. In the middle of this hollow of still air, if someone squinted just right they might even say that the way the two walls joined didn't look quite right.

This is the last time I take a job that requires me to pull a high-altitude stakeout.

The draconic woman wrapped her tail tighter around herself, as she tried to compress into as small a ball as possible, trying to prevent the wind from absolutely every gap and leech the heat from her body. It didn't help that she could barely move to keep hidden, the small field generators on either side of the narrow corner could only keep the space 'invisible' if she didn't move too much. Still, it was better than being completely visually exposed on the side of the building, especially with all the security flyers that made routine patrols around the building. Her bodysuit was almost completely black as well, which clashed with the building, but still was the tradition for most stealth exercises, and well...being night if she had to leave in a hurry, it gave her the best chance.

She focused her attention on a building opposite, where she could see the polarized window of a business office, completely opaque to most anyone trying to view through it. Luckily, she wasn't just anyway, and the goggles she wore quite ably gave her an overlay of the interior of the room, relayed by a pair of small sonic generators she'd affixed to the corners of the windows earlier.

I know you're going to work late you frustrating bas....ahh, about damn time.

On her overlay the door to the office opened, and two figures walked in, the outlines looked decidedly male. She recognized the figure of one of them almost instantly, she'd seen it over and over again, and she'd grown an expert on IDs through body figure and mannerisms. The other figure she'd seen a couple of times, but certainly not in this circumstance, as the two walked over to the table in the room. Almost immediately the figure she was familiar with dropped down onto his knees and ran his hands up the thighs of the other that approached. She suppressed a little smirk as she watched things very rapidly turn as explicit as possible given that all she could see was outlines.

Mmpph, I guess your work isn't the only thing that brings you here late.

By then the head of one of the occupants was sliding back and forth rather vigorously, while the other held on and swished his tail behind him. Her gear was good enough resolution that she could even see the standing one humping forward a little bit as they moved that way for five or six minutes before the one on his knees got to his feet, leaned over onto the desk and twitched his tail towards the other one invitingly.

Who would have thought you would be the bottom?

The idle thought passed through her though as she watched them go at each other. A little squeeze of her thighs and a twitch of her own tail, though more one of annoyance than anything else at the further delay as the two males rutted fiercely against her target's desk.

I wonder if your mate and children know about your little side fun...

She continued watching them, shifting to try and stay comfortable, and running through what isometrics she knew as she tried to keep the circulation up through the cold and the blowing wind. Eventually the two fucking males worked themselves up to a fevered pace, and the one on top jerked hard against the one on bottom. The sonic sensors she put on weren't set up for sound, but the way his muzzle parted, it had to have been a good one for him. The two separated and she hmphed in disappointment,

Not even a reach around eh? Oh well, guess it's not about him...but, that should mean, uh huh.

She slowly reached into a pouch at her hip and pulled out one piece. Equally slow movements reached for other pieces as she deftly, but slowly put together components into the growing form of a sleek, long-barreled rifle. Her goggles showed the top male straighten up and put his clothing back in place, while the bottom male remained on the desk, though he slowly shifted around and eventually pulled up his pants and sat down. By then she had the rifle assembled, and was raising it to her shoulder. It was much too long for the cloaking field, so she simply reached down and switched off the two generators, before she put them into another set of pockets. She was visible now, but even then you might have to look for her to see her in the corner. The rifle raised to her shoulder as she watched him lean back, and then finally move forward.

Aaaannd...now.

Adjusting automatically for the wind gusts she pulled the trigger, and with an almost inaudible sound the high-pressure compressed gas round fired from the barrel. The round, a hard gel-substance with several very specific gadgets embedded within hit the opposite window with a splat, and immediately the components inside adjusted, locked on, and attached to the supposedly secure wireless connection that every computer in the building had with the main system. The draconic figure grinned as she looked down and watched information scroll across her console as she grabbed her targets' biometric access from the system she'd prepped weeks before, as well as reams of data on his business' off-world dealings. The data tap was very 'noisy' digitally though, and she knew that she had to make the most of the time she had the connection to get the data she wanted, and what her client would pay so well for.

The pad showed the download progress on her wrist, and it was nearly complete when a whirring sound alerted her to the arrival of two patrolling drones as they came up from below and speared her with a pair of spotlights. Their whirring turbofans generated even stronger gusts of wind as a digitized voice came over a loudspeaker.

"Remain still, you are trespassing. The proper authorities are on their way and will take you into custody."

She grinned widely behind her mask and raised her hands slowly, before she quickly reached over and tapped a control on her wrist. Immediately several small, but very high powered lights popped on all over her, deliberately strobing in patterns meant to overwhelm and defeat most flash suppressors. The draconic figure then took one step, two, and dove off the edge. The rotor drones took a few vital seconds to clear their sensors, and by then their quarry was a couple dozen stories below them, and dropping fast.

Wind rushed past her muzzle, and she couldn't suppress the grin at the feeling, especially as she slammed her hands to her hips and drew out the batwing style flaps joining her outfit from wrist to ankle. The fabric fluttered, and then spread out in a loud fump_as it caught the air and her terminal velocity drop suddenly turned into a controlled glide. She spared one glance over her shoulder to see the drones finally turning and giving chase before she angled around and banked around the side of the building, out of their sight, though still dropping very, very quickly. Once out of line of sight from the drones she slapped a control and twisted in mid-air, caught in a sudden bout of weightlessness from a _very special gadget she picked up long ago. The device lasted only a few seconds, but between the sudden lack of drop, and her forward momentum she was able to stop dropping and turn her bank in the opposite direction. The move carried her into a window that opened as she went past it. The window closed a moment later, but It was quick enough that the drones rounding the corner of the building suddenly had no target in sight to track.

Inside the room her landing wasn't quite worth tens for style, as the generator cut out and she ended up tumbling and skidding across the floor. Her breath left her in a loud _wouph_as her back slammed into the wall opposite the window. She lay there and gasped for a moment, before she let out an undignified groan and started undoing the fastenings to her outfit.

"What is that they say about landings,"

she muttered as she regained her breath, and a glance at her personal pad showed that her program finished its job, and she now had a nice bit of fat information she could find very useful. She smirked and gave a satisfied twitch of her tail as she looked over a few bits and pieces, before she undressed. As the bodysuit came off it revealed a slender figure covered in a somewhat nondescript grey/green hide, with a somewhat brighter streak down the front, and a few pieces of spare underwear covering her modest sized bust and whatever else might be colored between her thighs. The draconic woman tossed her jumpsuit in a black bag, and then tossed the whole thing in the trash, while she reached down and pulled out somewhat more ordinary clothes. Utility slacks and a sleeveless T-shirt went over her body, and her pad went in her pocket.

Outside, she joined the various species milling about the street, watching dozens of patrol drones zooming back and forth through the streets. She walked over and tapped one of the nearest, a somewhat handsome looking vulpine looking male,

"This seems quite a lot of attention, may I ask what happened?"

He looked back, distracted, before he responded,

"Someone apparently jumped off a building and disappeared, I didn't see it, but some have been saying it was rather spectacular, they claim they saw him just go right through a solid wall!"

"Oh really? Wow, that must have been interesting...but it looks like they lost whoemver it was...I must have just missed the excitement."

She gave a little tail swish, and a hissing sigh of disappointment,

"I guess I will just have to imagine it, thank you."

She turned and walked away from the crowd, hailing down a transport as she did. A few directions had her travelling across town to a rather lovely little bar that held long hours, and even maintained outdoor seating at night, especially on beautiful nights. She stepped out and paid the driver, before walking over behind a familiar figure lounging and drinking while she watched other patrons through the bar. She grinned impishly and bent down, whispering lightly,

"You know, you should be careful...you just never know who might find you like this."

The other fur turned her head and grinned wickedly, the feline looking Kirristh woman responded almost immediately,

"Well, whomever finds me, might find out that they get more then they wanted to find,"

The feline reached up and grabbed the dragon girl down for a hard, forceful kiss, more than just a casual greeting as she growled and the two mixed breath as their tongues dueled and played. The dragon woman's tail swished behind her, and a few patrons did their best to look away for the few long moments before their kiss broke, and the dragon woman slipped into the chair opposite her feline companion.

"Mmmm," the feline started, "If you are feeling playful, you must have done well...but I'm telling you, sometimes those acrobatics are going to get you in trouble." Despite the reprimand, her eyes twinkled in amusement before she continued, "And it might be hard to go flying if you end up landing in jail...my sneaky little Lilanthe."

*

Lilanthe's eyes perused the information on the datapad slowly, reading the information, ingesting it, taking it all in and collating it into useful, profitable, and garbage, almost on instinct. She sprawled on her stomach on her bed, a few sheets and blankets tangled around her, while her feline partner purrrsnored peacefully behind her. Lilanthe spared a glance over and smiled almost indulgently, before she typed out a few commands on the datapad, sending a confirmation message through her various contacts to set up a meet, before she returned to the data.

She started reading again, and became so absorbed that she didn't notice when the tone of the purring changed beside her. The first clue that her companion was awake was the feel of a raspy tongue sliding up the inside of her right calf, up the inside of her thigh. The response was immediate, a soft moan escaped her lips, and her legs parted instinctively, while a murmur escaped her lips,

"I thought you were out for the night after the last one, Ryrst."

That raspy tonguetip travelled to the join between her thighs, and she hiked her hips up for a moment as she felt it flick ever-so-briefly along her warm sex, before it continued on and travelled down her left leg. She mmmmed in pleasure at that long, slow lick, before she heard the low sultry chucklepurr from behind her,

"I don't know how you expect anyone to sleep around you, you think so hard you'd keep almost anyone up, it's almost something I could hear...besides, it's almost morning."

Lilanthe glanced back a little in surprise, but the sexy, full figured feline woman was all ready sinking back down onto the bed behind her. Lilanthe saw the claws extend, and closed her eyes, but could not suppress another moan as they found her ass, on either side of her tail, and travelled downwards. At the same time, the feline ducked her muzzle in between her thighs, and that soft, raspy tongue again found her swiftly dampening sex. Lilanthe's tail stood practically straight on end as she felt the pleasure from claws and tongue work their way on her body. She rose up a bit off the bed as she felt claws circle around her thighs and caress where her thighs and groin joined, taking the silent coaxing as she pushed the datapad aside and buried her head into the pillows, where she suppressed another loud moan as her lover pushed her buttons so well.

The kitty's tongue especially seemed experienced at seeking out all the places through her sweet sex that provoked shivers, shudders and little gasps of pleasure. Lilanthe quickly became soaked as her feline lover delved in deeper, lapping out from inner folds to outer, while grazing on an achingly sensitive ridge of flesh right at her entrance. Lilanthe grabbed a pillow as her tail twisted and twined without any coaxing, especially as she swayed her ass and thighs, trying to ride, or perhaps pull away from the pleasurable oral assault. Ryrst wasn't about to have that though, and she dug her claws into Lilanthe's calves, eliciting another gasp as she stayed close and didn't let the dracanoid formed woman squirm away even a few centimeters from her exploring tongue. She savored the sweet taste of Lilanthe's wetness, and she knew instantly when the dragon woman convulsed in pleasure. An extra sweet burst of wetness flooded her tongue, and Ryrst purreed slowly as she continued lapping away, eliciting a few more hisses from the sensitive woman. After a few moments the Kirristh woman finished, and slid up along Lilanthe's body, before laying on her side behind her. Lilanthe quickly settled into position in front of her, spooning back against the feline and breathing heavily.

"Mmmm...well, if that's what I get for keeping you up, I suppose you'll never get any sleep."

Lilanthe tilted her head back and gave a sideways nuzzle and kiss to Ryrst, the dracanoid girl's more lithe frame fitting in nicely against the feline's more muscular, buxom one. While she caught her breath, and regained a little bit of her muscular control, Lilanthe's tail flexed and slid between Ryrst's thighs in return. She found the feline's sex all ready warm and damp, and as she wormed the root of her tail against it, the feline gave a little purrmoan of her own.

"At least I didn't....mph...put you right back to sleep."

Lilanthe's voice was heady, and she gave a small smile as she curled her prehensile tail around the feline's thigh. With a little coaxing, the muscular appendage pulled upwards, coaxing Ryrst to part her thighs and hike her upper leg up a bit, exposing that warmth between. The feline slipped her hands around Lilanthe's ribs and cupped her modest bosom, and then leaned in and nipped her at the base of the skull, which elicited another low moan and sigh of pleasure. Lilanthe slid her hands up and caught the Ryrst's hands in her, while her tail trembled a moment before she regained control. The feline soon found an agile, thin tailtip sliding between her thighs and pressing against her slick opening. Ryrst mrred in pleasure before she murmured,

"I don't know why you have all those toys, when you have this."

"The toys are the seasoning....they add accent to the main ingredients,"

Lilanthe responded in that same low, breathy tone, as she worked her tail as deep as she could into Ryrst's clinging, wet, pussy. The move elicited a deep, pleasured purrmoan, and Lilanthe could feel the thigh wrapped in her tail flex in response as she slid her tail deep. Her own breathing grew as Ryrst responded by sliding her fingers down and seeking out the dracanoid's own wet channel, adding a second course as she mirrored Lilanthe's movements and pressed as deeply as she could.

Both women then lost their words as they moved against each other, contenting themselves with groans, grunts, and sighs of pleasure as tail and fingers worked their magic on each other. Lilanthe dug her own claws into Ryrst's ass, Ryrst strummed Lilanthe's most sensitive spots with her fingers and bit down on the side of her throat. Lilanthe's tail twisted and turned in the feline's pussy, finding spots that would be impossible for toy, or cock, or tongue. Ryrst made good use of judicious use of clawtips and raspy tongue to make sure her lover was overloaded as they rocked and moved against each other. They were well practiced together, and it did not take long before both were rocked by strong, intense orgasms, as their respective muscles clenched around invading digits, or appendages. They both breathed heavily as they took in the afterglow and the heady scents that surrounded both of them. Lilanthe turned over and gave Ryrst another long, heated kiss, though it signaled the end of the fun, rather than another round between the two of them.

"I'm going to have to take off soon, you know."

"Mmm, that's ok...I'll just meet you later for dinner."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"I know...and I know I'm not going with you...but I was very glad you were here while you could be. Just make sure you're still here in 20 minutes when I get back from showering...someone just had to make a mess of my fur when she came the first time."

"Is it my fault my hide is easier to clean off then fur?"

"No...but if you help me clean my fur, I'm sure we will end up worse than when we started, be back soon."

Lilanthe admired Ryrst's form as she slipped out of the bed and walked towards the bath. There was just enough pre-dawn light that it silhouetted the feline's body perfectly. Lilanthe gave another hissing sigh as she saw her disappear into the bathroom.

I could...just stay, I have enough to retire.

The thought crossed her mind on more than one occasion, and even as her eyes strayed to the datapad on the bedroom floor, she rolled it around and considered what those thoughts, and what that option might mean for her. She was so lost in her thoughts that it took her some time to notice the new message signal flashing on her pad...from an account relayed to her that could only come from maybe a half-dozen contacts that had a very personal relationship with her. She immediately pulled up the message, and her eyes narrowed when she read the contents.

Ryrst stepped out of the shower, fur fluffed from the directional air dryers, and directly into the grasp of a fully dressed Lilanthe, a bag slung over the dracanoid's shoulder. Lilanthe pressed close and kissed her hard, her tail wrapping around the other woman's waist in an armless hug. Ryrst barely had time to react, though she instinctively knew what it meant, and she sniffed as Lilanthe leaned up and whispered in her ear.

"I've left some instructions on the pad on the bed...follow them, and you'll be set up for the rest of your life. You don't have to, but if you get that far, you'll find ways to find me...later."

Lilanthe sniffed, and gave one more toe curling kiss, giving the Kirristh female no chance to respond before she disappeared out the front.

*

Seemingly innocuous debris surrounded the wrecked-looking station as a shuttle slowly wended its way towards the one source of power at the center of the junkyard. At the pilot's seat N'Tanya carefully kept her eyes on the drifting field, at first appearance it looked like simple lack of disposal discipline, but she knew the reality. The junk formed a maze for a station that could not afford any dreamspace defenses. Ships that jumped in too close would be ripped apart as they landed in real space on top of floating flotsam and jetsam. You had to jump in on the outskirts, and then take a shuttle or other transport vessel in to the station if you wanted access, and if you tried to force your way through the debris field, well...she knew what happened to the last ship that tried it. For the dilapidated appearance of the station, it packed enough weaponry to take down a small armada.

An arms dealer needs to protect his merchandise, after all.

Before N'Tanya ever tried wending through the maze though, she'd contacted the station, specifically, she'd contacted the scaled, overgrown, bloated owner of the whole station,

"This is the Starlight Dreamer requesting permission to send a shuttle to the station,"

"Well hello there Captain Tsarchon," it hissed and burbled through it's huge maw in a reasonable approximation of standard, "I didn't think we'd see you around here again." He flexed his jaw back in a smile, something he'd learned from other races, but just looked like a threat on him...of course, with him it actually _was_a threat more times than not.

"I wouldn't be back if I didn't have to...but I have business, I need information Garg. I can stay right here and you can tell me what I want to know, and I can pay you from here." She set out her terms rather carefully, watching his reactions, but she grimaced when his jaw spread in a wider 'grin'.

"That will never do... you just have to come on board, I would never miss a chance to see your lovely face again." A gurgling, hissing laugh, like a staccato hydraulic leak escaped it's lips, "Bring a shuttle over, and we'll talk. If it will make you feel better, you can even bring a few of your crew with you. I will see you soon." It then cut the screen off.

That led to the current trip through the asteroid field, with her gunner, engineer, and a little human girl strapped into the other cabin seats. Between the four, it was a touch crowded, Dunner leaned forward anyway to ask a question, while Rakarra simply snored in his seat while he caught a nap,

"So, what the heck is Garg, and why haven't we been here since I've been crew on the ship?" His tone was only mildly curious, but his look expectant as he leaned back again into the chair.

"As for what he is, no one knows, " N'Tanya answered with a sigh, "he's not any race that seems to be commonly space borne, there are many stories of how he got here as to where he's from." She glanced back at the engineer and then quickly adjusted as a desk-sized piece of debris crossed their flight path. "As for why I've never brought the ship here before, let's just say that we have a history here, both before and after I got the Dreamer. He's screwed us over one too many times, and there wasn't a damn thing we could do about it," she hissed slightly before she continued, "and I _hate_getting cheated. He is the only one that possibly deals in Tethian weapons though, most won't touch them."

From the far back seat Samantha spoke up next,

"Umm, excuse me...what are Tethians?"

N'Tanya spared another glance back before she answered, "Tethians were an anomaly race. They were all brain, no imagination, and they had no connection to Dreamspace. There've been a few races like that over time. Without Dreamspace providing imagination and inspiration most races like that tend to stagnate. Not the Tethians though, they went the other direction, and started analyzing their world down to the very molecule, even confined in their system, they became very advanced."

"So, umm, if they can't use Dreamspace, how did anyone find out about them?"

"Dumb luck really, someone passing close by caught a random communication from their system and went to investigate. They found every single planet in the system fully utilized, terraformed, and populated. The Tethians never encountered another space-flight capable race, and really didn't have a concept that any other races could have value other then as research subjects in their continuing exploration and understanding of their universe. I've heard rumors of what happened to the crew of that first-contact ship...it's not something you want to repeat."

N'Tanya frowned as much from thought, as from trying to keep her shuttle from being pasted on a sudden cluster of drones, panels, and what looked like the forward quarter of a small in-atmosphere racing vehicle. After weaving through the mess, she continued,

"Once they discovered that some races could access another dimension to move faster than light they started buying, or capturing those with the gene and lobotomizing them to power their own version of a dreamspace drive. They'd burn out the beings after a few dozen jumps, but as long as it got them to another world with more, they didn't care."

"So, umm, what happened to them?"

"What do you think? A bunch of races got tired of their expansion and fought back. It was still a close thing though, the Tethians were massively advanced and they had no compunctions burning out whole systems to win a fight if need be. Near the end they even developed a weapon that could trigger novas," N'Tanya shuddered at that, "So the 'winners' divided up what they could, and supposedly destroyed the rest...but some stuff still managed to get out there and sometimes pops up now and again, usually in pirate hands."

"But...aren't you a pirate? Do you have any of their weapons?"

"I won't use that stuff...I prefer my prizes' intact, besides, you steal a ship's cargo and they get a little upset at you, you blow up a ship and kill everyone on board and you tend to start getting whole governments upset at you."

N'Tanya carefully banked around the last drift of debris as she made her approach to the station, and looked back at Samantha meaningfully.

"I brought you along because of your memory, I want you to keep your eye out and look for signs that this slug is dealing the weapons on the ships that attacked us. That's why I gave you the pad that has the specs my cousin sent us, if he does have any Tethian weapons, they will have a similar energy output." N'Tanya smirked slightly, "Besides...I expect that you'll give him something to think about other than me, he's pretty much slime towards females of any species. It might get him to let slip more. So think you can just keep your mouth shut and look pretty, while keeping your eyes open?"

Samantha gulped and nodded, "I um...I will try."

"Good, because we're here...and in this place if you can't keep to your role, we're likely not going to be able to keep you safe."

*

Samantha tried to keep those words in mind as she looked at the ugly, slimy thing leer at her once again, or at least she thought it was a leer, it was kind of hard to tell in the mass of craggy mineral formations and outgrowths in the creature's face.

"Keep your role, keep safe," she muttered to herself again, while trying not to grimace outwardly.

It was hard, because Garg, as he called himself, looked like a vaguely humanoid, hugely oversized, scaled naked mole rat, if that mole rat were to roll around in the local filth long enough for the dirt to become stalagmites and stalactites off it's various folds and crevices. To make matters worse, it looked like various things...lived in the filth covering his body, she swore she recognized a form of Earth clover, and those had to be insects darting their way in and out among his voluminous folds whenever he shifted position.

Samantha noticed that N'Tanya looked as controlled as ever, she had a mask of indifference on her face, though it was hard to tell if it was hiding more than her disgust for the creature. Whatever it was, Samantha's enhanced brain picked up other hints from her body posture, her breathing, even the pulse she could actually see fluttering against the captain's throat. The two were also talking in a language she hadn't encountered yet, but the circuitry seemed like it was making connections rapidly, and she found that she was picking up more and more of the conversation as they went along. N'Tanya's clipped tone managed to process more quickly, though the language they used was filled with quite a few clicks, tsks, and something that sounded like someone choking a particular phlegmy walrus.

"(Untranslatable)_Garg, we know you're the only dealer _(untranslatable)_Tethian weapons(untranslatable)_ save your (untranslatable) assault fleet."

"N'Tanya surely you don't (untranslatable) never would harm a (untranslatable) on your _(untranslatable)_body. Who do you think I am?"

"You're scum Garg, and you'd sell Tethian weapons to every_(untranslatable)_ filth and (untranslatable) infestation plagued scat monger in the sector."

"I should be offended my (untranslatable)_little pirate queen, but I can do better. Perhaps if you introduced me to your _(untranslatable) over there, and left her with me so we could get acquainted I could reach out to my contacts and find out who has been passing around those weapons lately."

"I wouldn't leave a member of my crew with you if it prevented the heat death of the universe. _(untranslatable)_knows better than to mess with me, and last time I was here I thought you learned that lesson too."

"Don't get so uppity girl, I am being polite by asking, you know I could obliterate that little _(untranslatable)_you call a ship in an instant and sell both of you to some Brakers. I bet they would break you before they split you. I will do this 'little favor' for you though, but expect me to cash in that _(untranslatable)_sooner rather than later."

"Fine...I have a few other things to take care of here. I will be around for a few hours; I want to know something before I go."

Despite the harsh words sent back and forth, N'Tanya somehow managed not to change expression the entire conversation. Samantha wondered if that hinted at her supreme control, or if the insults and threats just happened to be part of the language. She also surreptitiously looked at a detector she'd palmed earlier. It was simple stuff, it just picked up ambient thermal energy and radiation, but anything like the energy put out by the ships attacking them was sure to have some kind of detectible radiation of some kind. She did detect some rather dangerous forms of radiation at higher than average levels in the chambers, but as long as they got out quickly enough, not enough to cause damage. Considering the smell, she was especially glad when N'Tanya turned and left the room, while she took the silent signal and followed behind, along with the other two-crew members.

Only when they were a couple of corridors away did Samantha break the silence and ask,

"Umm, I didn't pick up anything while we were in there, but do you really think he's going to ask for us?"

"No way," Dunner answered before N'Tanya has a chance, "he's just going to stall a bit, do nothing, and tell us he couldn't find anything, unless we do him a favor. He probably sold the weapons himself, but wants to get something out of the deal."

"So, why did we leave?"

The big engineer shrugged, "Trying to force him would be bad business. We might have to anyway, but we're going to take a bit of time and see if we can find out anything ourselves." He gestured to the pad Samantha carried, "We know what we're looking for, a few questions, and a walk around the cargo area might answer some questions and give us leverage. Right Captain?"

She looked back and gave a short nod, "Close enough, and since you suggested the idea, you three should go take care of that little walk about the cargo bay now. I have something else I can check out, but my contact is a bit skittish. Meet at the dispensary in say...three hours."

"Yes Captain," the two crew members immediately replied, but Samantha nodded, "Umm, ok...will you be ok?"

N'Tanya gave a little smirk as she replied, "Of course I will, I'm the captain." She then turned and vanished down a passage into the maze of the station's interior.

*

Things skittered in and out of view along the pipes just at the edge of vision, but N'Tanya was too practiced to get startled by the sheer amount of vermin that somehow made it onto every station that had something resembling a breathable atmosphere and heat. That she was making her way through the various utility tunnels of the station just compounded things. Heat condensation dripped off pipes and walls, and lighting was merely a suggestion in most sections of the station where she ventured.

Even though she'd been down these passages several times before, she kept one hand on her sidearm, even as she ducked down and barely managed to get through another turn without getting covered in slime coating the pipes. She was already covered in a sheen of steam and perspiration, and she stifled a curse as her shin barked against a rather nasty protruding bit of pipe.

"You better still be here you stupid, hyper, scrawny bag of fur," she muttered on her breath, while she scanned her mental map of the maintenance tunnels, and with a sigh, turned down into one of the narrower tunnels, forcing her into a crouched gait that slowed things down considerably.

A subtle scraping noise behind her caused her to jerk her gun from its holster and point it down the way she came, and she narrowed her eyes as she caught a burst of steam across one of the tunnel entryways bellowing in a way that wasn't quite....right.

"Kalek, is that you? If it is, you know my feelings on beings creeping up on me."

"Oh...yes...yes, is Kalek. No shooting me...I not seen smooth skin dark girl cycles and cycles, but I remember. Not mean to surprise, not mean to startle, I come out now."

From around the entrance of the tunnel came a larger version of the little vermin creatures she'd been brushing away all night. Scrawny, with thin, ragged fur, and barely reaching higher than a meter and a quarter, Kalek had the typical underground scavenger species look, with a very long pointed muzzle, oversized whiskers that quivered with each of his raspy breaths, and grossly oversized ears that likely helped him pick up any vibrations in his area. Usually his species had a non-furred tail, but Kalek's was gone in some fight or another. The scavenger moved slowly towards N'Tanya and made sure that the Captain saw that he had no weapons in his hand.

"See...I not harm dark girl, but if dark girl keeps going that way, she run into very bad things. I have lair elsewhere now, big skitter things take old lair and eat dark girl if they find her in their home."

N'Tanya spared a glance down the tube she travelled, and then nodded back to Kalek.

"All right, let's go to your lair, if you say they are bad, I believe you," she moved back down the tunnel and followed the rapidly retreating little scavenger.

Their trip through the tubes took another half hour, at least by N'Tanya's reckoning, and took her into a part of the station she thought likely put her somewhere under the main loading bays. The loud bang and clang of machinery above her added to her suspicions as they worked their way through the sub-station passages.

Eventually the two came out into an open space, no bigger than a few meters on each side, which N'Tanya immediately recognized as an emergency air-cycling chamber. She nodded as she recognized the wisdom of the spot. It was built as a way to move air if the main air system went down, and could run enough life support to keep at least a couple individuals alive, if it were completely cut off from the station.

"So what bring dark girl back to station? I think dark girl never want come back after last time," Kalek asked as he scurried over to a pile of bedding and flopped down, his beady, tiny eyes focusing on N'Tanya as she circled around and leaned against the side of the chamber.

"You're right, I never wanted to come back here, but I had to, I have bigger problems going on right now. I need to know if you've seen anything while I was gone."

"I see many things, everyone ignores me, they just think I scavenger and leech. I help some, I hurt others, but no one knows is me. I left alone that way. What dark girl want me see?"

N'Tanya fished a series of hard-copy pictures of the sleeper cases, some standard Tethian weapons, and the images her cousin sent her of the crew from the destroyed ships out of her clothing and handed them over to Kalek.

"Anything like this Kalek? These are bad beings that attacked me and my crew, and were carrying sleepers with all sorts of nasty things in them. I think Garg dealt with them, but I know he won't tell me anything."

Kalek flicked between the pictures jerkily, while his beady eyes focused on each image in turn. He took some time with each picture, as N'Tanya knew he did not have the best eyesight from spending so much time in the murky dark.

"I see many like this," he indicated the sleeper case, "come through, with pale skin boy and girl shipping each one. They talk to ugly stationmaster, give stationmaster something, and take cases. Stationmaster look very pleased...pale ones also pass other cases back to stationmaster. Big cases, I not see stationmaster many station days after."

N'Tanya hid her disgust as best she could, as she probably knew exactly what was in those cases, but she continued with Kalek,

"Anything else Kalek? Anything recently?"

"Well....I find something, take datapad from stationmaster that he leave in cargo bay for moments, stationmaster using it to look at new beings coming in station."

"Do you still have that pad Kalek?"

"Yes, but I want get out of here...this time you take me when you leave station? I give you pad, I help lots, yes?"

N'Tanya looked at the desperate looking tunnel dweller, and nodded slowly, "All right, if the info is worth it. I will take you with us. If the pad has something I can use on it."

Kalek nodded in return and dug around underneath his filthy bedding, coming back a moment later with a pad that N'Tanya took gingerly. She flipped it on and noticed that Garg had not secured it before Kalek nicked it. The text on the pad was unreadable, in a language N'Tanya didn't recognize, but she did know enough to recognize a shipping manifest when she saw one, given the nature of the columns. The next section had more text, and pictures of individuals of various species. N'Tanya thumbed down through the images, trying to make out some context for the complex script, when she suddenly cursed out loud and looked up to Kalek.

"Get to my shuttle's docking bay and stay there...we're likely going to be getting out of here in a hurry, and if you're not there, you're getting left behind."

She then turned, and darted back out the way she came, stuffing the pad into her top as she went, the image of Samantha's picture near the bottom of the pad giving her a very bad feeling that she was one step behind, yet again.

*

"I've picked up a lot of things I really don't think it's healthy for us to be around...but nothing that looks like the umm, things we're looking for," Samantha sounded a bit frustrated. After a casual lap or two of the station, while trying to pass through as many cargo bays as possible on the way, Dunner could understand why.

Sam looked over as the big mechanic just shrugged somewhat placidly, and she felt a twinge of irritation that he apparently didn't find that as frustrating as she did. At least Rakarra had the grace to look as frustrated as she did, if she was reading his rapidly swishing tail and flicking ears right. She resisted the urge to reach out and scratch him like her kitty back home, and _that_triggered a whole flood of images from her oh-so-helpful implant as it brought up every memory where her cat had the same expression as the ship's gunner. She managed to shut off the flood though just as the growly cat spoke up,

"I don't think the captain really thought we would find anything so easily. Tethian weapons are rare, even to dealers like Garg, and when they get them, they tend to hide them. Lots of opportunists, not to mention a few governments rather...dislike groups with private ownership of that caliber weaponry."

"Oh yeah, N'Tanya said something about that earlier. I guess it makes sense though, but if she knew we weren't going to find anything, why send us off to check it out?"

"Simple," Dunner answered, "she wanted to take care of something private, and needed us out of the way. Besides, if we had found something then all the better. Besides...you're supposed to be the observant one the captain says, so in all these cargo and docking bays, what haven't you seen?"

Samantha paused a step as she quickly called up all the scenes from the laps the three took around the various parts of the station and realized something that she missed before, something she didn't notice because she was concentrating so much on her detector.

"Other beings, everyone we saw looked like crew...and there was no cargo moving. It doesn't look like there are any shuttles, ships or transports here besides ours." She looked around nervously as she suddenly realized that except for a couple of long-tailed lizard looking beings in typical mechanic jumpsuits, they hadn't passed by anyone else in quite a while.

"Right," Rakarra rumbled, somewhat beneath his breath, "This place should have some other ships here. He may be slime, but Garg does run a thriving business, he knows what beings want. That means someone is paying him to keep the place clear or..." his voice trailed off into a low growl.

"Or he wanted us to be the only ones here, besides his crew?" Sam whispered quietly in question, the sudden nervousness from the feline penetrating her perceptions and making her hackles rise in reaction.

"Yes," Dunner picked up the conversation, also speaking quietly, though not in the whisper the other two fell into, "which would mean that he knew we were coming, which would also_mean he has a spy on the _Dreamer. Since we haven't picked up crew in a long time, that spy would have to be a long standing member of the crew."

"So we have more information, hopefully information Garg didn't want us to have, one way or the other. We just have to figure out which part of that information is the truth. That means meeting back up with the captain," Dunner continued, as they changed passages to head towards the dispensary. "Preferably before the two idiots that've been following us decide to push their luck," the last was said so low, that Samantha was sure if she wasn't walking right next to the big guy she would not have heard it.

Rakarra nodded imperceptibly, and Samantha noticed that the feline's ears now faced directly back along the passageway.

The ambush, when it came, came in the form that none of them expected at the end. They turned a corner and found their way blocked off by a heavy bulkhead that sealed the passage from top to bottom. With a loud curse, Rakarra turned back and started running back the way they came, though not fast enough to stop the loud CLANG as the bulkhead behind them slammed down into place. The sound of hissing air came to Samantha's ears as the other two raced to the bulkhead and started searching around the seam.

"What's that? They're not trying to gas us are they?"

"No! They're pumping out the air."

Rakarra grabbed a large knife out of a side sheath and pried at a box next to the door, though after a moment he looked over to Dunner, whom reached out and ripped the cover off the box with a gesture. The two of them looked over the wires within while Samantha looked on helplessly. She all ready felt light headed as the air evacuated.

"Why...why do they want us dead?"

She rushed over and looked over their shoulders, but the junction box was a mess of tangled wires and connections, and her rapidly fogging brain just couldn't make sense of it, though she could see the connections in her head overlaying possible circuitry maps and routes to cut and rewire the door.

The air pump was working with inexorable efficiency though, and soon Rakarra dropped to his knees, and pitched over onto his side, while his breathing came in shallow gasps.

"We...have to...get the door." Dunner was drawing in huge, heavy lungfulls, but he reached in and ripped out the circuitry, sending sparks and flares flying, before he walked over to a lever at the side of the door and started pumping it. The door shifted, but something held it in place, and Samantha's vision started darkened as she sunk down to her knees. It was getting hard to think...hard to. She dropped to all fours, and watched as Dunner collapsed on the floor.

I'm...I'm going to die, passed through her brain as darkness crept in, and she almost went out completely when with another hiss the bulkhead door opened and two of the lizard looking engineers walked through, their faces covered with masks attached to tanks at their sides.

Air rushed in, but it was not fast enough for any of them to recover before the two creatures pulled out batons of some kind. Samantha watched them helplessly as they each discharged some kid of pulse into the heads of Rakarra and Dunner, before they both approached her. One reached out a baton, pointed it at her face, and then things went dark.

*

"Why didn't we just kill the other two? Leave 'em in the section and dropped the pressure until their heads popped? That's always fun to watch."

"Those weren't our instructions dithead, we just were told to pick up the girl anyway we could. The last time someone overextended on their instructions they ended up as the testing dummy the next time Garg got in a new shipment of weapons."

"Ohhh, yeah...happened to me once. I was lucky those things were inaccurate as shit, only singed my tail a bit, and Garg told me I was blessed, so he let me off."

Samantha noticed immediately on regaining consciousness that her head was absolutely splitting, and the nausea rippling through her almost made her gag and give up what little food she'd eaten recently. She fought down those sensations enough to access her 'interface' to her inner circuitry, and with a thought, turned those sensations off, allowing her to concentrate on what else she could feel. She couldn't see, due to a bag over her head, and after a moment she realized that a tight wrap of cloth dug into her mouth, between her teeth prevented her from talking as well. The sway and bump of movement told her she was being carried, and a very light tug told her that she was bound hands and ankles as well. She almost cried out though when a hand roughly grabbed her ass and fingers clenched down on her inner thigh.

"Do we have to give her right to the boss though? She's cute for a smooth skin, and you know that he breaks all of them."

A bit of hissing laughter followed, confirming the nature of her abductors as the two lizard-like crewmembers they'd spotted earlier. Even though she couldn't see, she clenched her eyes together, especially when those clawed fingers slid up and pressed against her pussy through her jumpsuit.

"I mean, I love fucking smoothskins, and oooo, she must be a warmblood too, I can feel the heat coming off of her."

A jolt, and a stumble, nearly sent her off the lizard's shoulder, but he clenched down tighter and held on as he shifted.

"What the hell was that for?"

"For you being an idiot, keep it in your cloacae. I'm not getting spaced because you've picked up a fetish from the stationmaster."

"Fine...but can we at least get a chance at one of those sleeper chicks? They don't cry out, but you gotta love how easy they are."

"I bet if we give her to Garg intact he might even let you thaw one out first."

"Oh man...that would be great. They squirm so haarq...."

The sentence was cut off with a wet gargle, and Samantha felt something hot and wet soak into her jumpsuit, followed by the person carrying her dropping to the side and Samantha hitting the ground hard. She shrieked into the gag and tried to push away with her feet as she heard the scuffle of movement and the grunts and thumps of bodies fighting. Apparently, both fighters were somewhat experienced, because they didn't bother with words, as they saved their breath for fighting. Samantha's back hit the side bulkhead and she scrunched up quickly, trying to make herself as small as possible.

For long moments the sounds continued, until finally she heard a wet thunk and another gargling sound, followed by the heavy sound of another body as it hit the ground. Samantha whimpered, and when she felt someone approaching, she screamed again and kicked with her bound feet as hard as she could. A grunt indicated she connected with something, but a moment later, a voice hissed loudly in her ear,

"Quit your damn struggling, I'm getting you out, not taking you away."

Even through her panic, she recognized the captain's voice, and Samantha lay still until the captain yanked the hood off her head, and then cut the ropes around her ankles and wrists. She looked over across the floor, where one lizard lay with his head at an unnatural angle from where he hit the floor, a long spike showing through his throat. The other was in worse shape, cuts and slashes across his form, and one long, wide gash across his throat. A glance at N'Tanya showed that she had a few nicks as well.

"Are you ok," she asked hesitantly after she pulled the gag free.

"I'm standing, he's not...not like you can ask for more," was the curt reply. As N'Tanya looked up Samantha thought her eyes looked a little...glazed. A moment later and the Captain's eyes focused on the human girl's, and she smiled slightly, "This is getting to become a habit, we really need to get you to learn some self defense."

"Ummm..what about the other two? They left them behind."

"Yeah, they're back a ways, puking their guts up all over the bulkhead. It's a side effect of the stunners they used," she tilted her head to the side, as she looked at Samantha, "why didn't you have the same reaction?"

"Oh...I told myself to turn off that sensation," Samantha said, looking somewhat embarrassed at her advantage.

"You can do that? Oh...never mind, tell me later. Right now, we're getting the guys, and getting to a little 'surprise' I left here last time, then paying Garg a visit. I think this time he'll have more to tell me."

N'Tanya gave a dangerous grin, which sent a shiver through Samantha's body, then pulled the human girl up and dragged her along.

*

N'Tanya certainly felt...safer as she snugged the close-fitting ablative armor in and snapped the fastenings in place. It wasn't full battle armor, or better yet, a Sutrai powered suit; given the circumstances, anything she had between herself and the creatures Garg kept on staff as thugs and guards was another layer safer. The fact that this armor was rated to deflect a heavy plasma lance or even a gauss rifle...once anyway, didn't hurt.

Samantha and Rakarra wore similar armor, though they weren't nearly as custom fit as N'Tanya's. Dunner was the only one who didn't have a set, as N'Tanya's little stash of gear didn't have equipment quite fitted for a several hundred kilo, extra-large sized, and at the moment rather pissed off sophant. The engineer was checking out the connections between the gas-powered flechette rifle he'd assembled out of one case. Rakarra had a more traditional laser rifle, good for keeping beings' heads down, burning holes in flesh, or at lower settings, blinding enemy combatants.

Rakarra grunted as he fitted the capacitor to the laser rifle, the weapon gave a slight hum as it powered, "Some day Captain you'll have to tell me just how you managed to keep all this stuff secret in Garg's little fortress. I thought he pretty much had everything locked down, scanned, marked and in his little database of his around here." He then racked a shell into an old-style projectile spitter, little more than a short-barreled pump-action shotgun with very large caliber bullets.

"Forethought, bribery, and a little out and out seduction on a couple of very special crew," N'Tanya replied with a snort. She strapped a long powered blade to her side, and a smaller stunner pistol to her hip. Finally, she reached into her special, sensor blank case she'd tucked into a very specific maintenance panel cycles before she'd ever left this section of the galaxy.

She withdrew a short-barreled weapon, with a front handgrip and back power charger. She withdrew a large canister and locked it into place underneath, and then fitted two short cords to it. A square shaped magazine fitted in last, a slot in the side showed gleaming darts. When Rakarra saw it, he whistled low, "Is that what I think it is?"

N'Tanya nodded and stroked lovingly over the side of the weapon and then hit a couple of buttons at the back. The weapon was utterly silent while she was not actively using it, but she thought she felt some sort of warmth coming from the weapon as it powered up after cycles of disuse. She checked a couple of the simple system indicators and when they all showed green, she slung it over her back.

Samantha looked from Rakarra to N'Tanya, a confused look on her face,

"What is it?"

N'Tanya looked over to the girl,

"It's mmm, I guess you'd call it a coil gun, or a gauss gun in your language. It uses power and magnets to propel a metal object at penetrative speeds. It's pretty common these days among most races."

"What she's not telling you," Rakarra interjected, "is that's a variety of coil gun you just can't get anymore. The makers specially spun their darts out of fiber-drawn metal composites with a formula no one was ever able to figure out. They also were masters of high-density energy transfer and capacitors." He gestured with his head at the weapon, "generally, those are used to take out beings in full suits of powered armor...or, well...tanks."

Samantha's eyes widened as she looked at the weapon, and then to N'Tanya's face, "But, we're on a space station, couldn't something like that breach the hull?"

N'Tanya shrugged as she finished clipping a few little bits and pieces to her gear, "Oh, easily...which is why I'm hoping not to have to use it," she then winked, "besides, it should only make small holes, and one hell of a point."

Dunner looked over to N'Tanya as well, "Do you really think we're going to need to make that particular point," he asked mildly.

"I hope not to," she replied, "but something tells me our host might end up being a bit stubborn."

N'Tanya then looked over to Samantha,

"I don't suppose you've had any weapons training at all?"

At Samantha's quickly shaken head N'Tanya sighed and nodded. "Didn't think so, here," she tossed a small tube over to the human. Samantha noticed a couple of buttons along the side when she caught it and looked up curiously.

"That's one of the stunners that they used on you three. It won't knock someone out if they're wearing anything that might protect them from neural shock, but it will slow them down enough for one of us to take care of them. Just poke anyone who gets near you and hit the button, all right? Oh, and stay out of our lines of fire."

"Do you expect there will be a lot of fire," Samantha asked hesitantly.

"We're about to go try and break into the private quarters of one of the most paranoid weapons dealers' in the galaxy; on his own station, when he's already probably aware of what we're about to do."

N'Tanya gestured to one of the innocuous metallic bulges that Samantha had noted, but hadn't thought about as she'd seen them all over the base,

"I think it's a fair bet that the amount of fire we're about to see will make a super nova seem like a nice summer day on one of your beaches."

*

I think she might have understated things a bit,

Samantha thought as the heated pulse of another beam sliced through the air inches away from her shoulder. Samantha eeped and ducked down behind the corner of the bulkhead as unnamed energies of all kinds lanced through the space between the station's guards and the cover the four of them found as they worked their way closer and closer to Garg's personal cabins.

At each stage of their assault, the four of them encountered dropped bulkheads and secured doors. If Dunner hadn't been there with his combination of technical skill and sheer brute strength Samantha figured they wouldn't have gotten nearly as far as they had. Each barrier felt to his brain or his muscles, but behind each door were more of the lizard-like race that tried capturing her earlier.

Dunner and Rakarra were amazing; they never lost their cool as bullets, beams, and other unnamed weapons of destruction tore apart decking and panels around them. Their armor, tactics and skill made sure that the defenders somehow never managed to come close to inflicting any serious hits on the two crew members.

Samantha, on the other hand, found she couldn't do much more then cringe in corners and try not to get shot. Her armor already showed singes from glancing blows from different beams, after she left a little too much exposed in one firefight or another. None of them made it through her armor, but she figured she might have a burn or two where the heat transfer from the system let just a bit too much through to preserve the armor's integrity. A quick assessment into her own little neural network confirmed her suspicions and she winced when she thought about what she might see when she took off her suit and stopped suppressing the pain.

If Dunner and Rakarra were amazing, N'Tanya was practically unreal. Many of their attacks merely consisted of Dunner and Rakarra providing cover fire, while N'Tanya ran straight into whatever defenses they put in her way. She turned every fight into what looked like a dance of some sort, a ballet of violence as she wielded the thin bladed high-frequency vibro-sword in one hand, and her pistol in the other. The coil gun never even left her shoulder as she twisted and swirled between weapons-fire, knives, clubs, swords and sometimes even simply fists and clawed hands as they reached for her.

As beautiful as the dance was, it was also deadly. Her sword found gaps in armor wherever they were, under the arm, the wrists, under the throat, and sought them out. Occasional pulses from her sidearm often caught someone Samantha didn't even realize was getting ready for a shot at the captain and stunned them, or at least slowed them down enough that the follow up from the blade found somewhere on their body they left undefended. She seemed to prefer disabling blows to kills, but that meant beings fell back with missing fingers, disabled limbs, or other non-lethal but no-doubt painful injuries that forced them back.

Rakarra and Donner were not nearly as picky when they chose their targets. Beam weapons cauterized most wounds instantly, but Rakarra and Dunner's slugs and flechettes sent blood sprays across the bulkheads and decks. It occasionally even turned the overhead lights from white to dull red from a splash or splatter of blood.

As they neared Garg's quarters, opposition grew fiercer, so much so that not even N'Tanya could get in close against the last line of defense. Samantha licked her lips and crunched down as far as she could while the three more experienced fighters dared glances around the bulkhead.

N'Tanya finally ducked back behind their cover, "They're not really giving us a lot of choices are they," she said to the other two, while Samantha tried to ignore the drying splash of blood that decorated N'Tanya's cheek.

"I suppose you could give them one last chance to surrender," Rakarra replied with a feral grin, before he popped his weapon up and around and let loose a beam that eased the fire for a moment while their opponents ducked.

N'Tanya matched his grin with a cold one of her own, "It is only fair," she replied, before she yelled around the bulkhead, "you might want to reconsider your terms of employment! It's hard to spend any money when you're dead! If you take off now you might even get away with something out of this!"

"You're dead!" The shouted reply came after the firepower eased off a bit, "Garg's it around here, and we've got enough firepower to put down a whole Sarlith hive. You may be lucky, but we're going to burn you down!" The voice was all bravado, but even in a different language Samantha's brain could pick out sounds that she knew meant he was showing a lot of bravado, and something else below that, a hidden fear.

Samantha looked up to N'Tanya, who looked like she was about to say something, and stopped her with an urgent gesture.

"I think if you gave them an excuse...a way out, they might take it," she whispered fiercely.

N'Tanya looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded. She unslung the coil gun from her shoulder and stepped back from the bulkhead, further out of sight. With a nervous look Dunner and Rakarra backed off too, feverishly gesturing Samantha to join them. She did, but turned back to watch as N'Tanya shouted again,

"Are you sure? I promise you safe passage if you just throw down your weapons and call it a day!"

"Get bent pirate rezith, we're going to throw your used up body to Garg so he can give you what you deserve."

N'Tanya grimaced, and muttered, "Suddenly I feel less guilty about this." She pulled the coil gun up and braced it to her shoulder.

She sighted down the barrel; it looked to Samantha that she pointed directly at the bulkhead and she was just about to speak up, or question, when with an exhalation of breath, N'Tanya squeezed the trigger.

The effect was...stunning. The metal dart was not even a visible streak as it left the barrel, but the crack as it broke the sonic barrier by several times clashed with the sound as the dart punched through the bulkhead. It didn't even look like it slowed down as it punched through, and Samantha heard a wet fump as it hit something past the bulkhead, and then a metallic crash as it hit the bulkhead beyond.

A moment later and another sound reached them, the sound as dozens of weapons hit the deck, and a decidedly more frightened voice, different than the original speaker shouted out,

"We...we surrender! No money Garg's paying is worth dealing with this!"

N'Tanya grinned grimly, "All right, you come past us then, hands up, and I'd recommend you grab whatever you can that isn't nailed down, and get the hell out of here. I somehow suspect this dock is about to go out of business, one way or another."

"We're coming out...just don't, don't shoot us!"

Samantha watched, almost incredulously as a string of at least ten beings of various species walked past the bulkhead. All of them had their hands up, and they all watched N'Tanya as they passed. N'Tanya kept the coil gun at the ready, her expression cold as she watched them each in turn. When the last passed she looked around the corner quickly, grimaced, and looked back,

"It's clear; we should be good all the way to his quarters now."

With something of a gallows curiosity, Samantha followed as the four of them turned the bulkhead and headed towards the now vacated position.

The dart's path from the rail gun was easy to follow. The initial penetration through the first bulkhead hadn't done a thing to the tightly spun, magnetically propelled dart, so it punched through that and left a clean hole through the metal, slightly melted from the heat of the dart's passing. The unfortunate alien who was down the hallway though wasn't nearly as fortunate. By then, friction, and air cavitations had built up as the round passed through the air. When it hit him, the energy tore his torso apart. Samantha had to turn her head or risk being sick by the grisly sight of a lizard creature with a meter wide gaping hole torn through his chest as the round passed through and finally hit the bulkhead behind. Where the dart struck the second bulkhead it left a deep impact crater in the metal. At the bottom of the crater, Samantha saw the metal peeled outwards like a banana. A glance through the hole that the dart even went into the bulkhead past that one, making it at least 18" of solid bulkhead steel the round went through before it stopped.

Samantha looked from the hole to the gun that N'Tanya casually slung back over her shoulder,

"That...that did this?"

N'Tanya nodded and gave another somewhat dark grin,

"I'm a firm believer if you are going to deter someone through demonstration you should always make that demonstration memorable. It prevents...misunderstandings in the future."

Samantha gulped and nodded quickly, before they all moved on.

*

N'Tanya looked in disgust at the fetid, smelly creature in front of her. Garg still didn't look at all scared; even with three armed pirates and the human he was sent to watch out for all standing around him. That meant she was not nearly as good at reading the pile of filth's expressions as she thought, or it had some kind of trap or still thought it had an advantage of some kind.

This was the first time N'Tanya spent any time in Garg's quarters, and she was quite glad she had no idea where his species came from if this was a reflection of his world. The lights were so low that even she could barely see details in the dim lighting. The thermal controls had to be at least ten degrees above station normal, and the air was swampy, wet with additional humidity. It also stank, as Garg apparently had few difficulties living it its own filth, or at least it's secretions built up here like they did nowhere else in his offices or in the station.

N'Tanya studiously tried to avoid looking at the female lizard-species tossed aside like discarded trash to the side of the creature. She knew if she spent too much time thinking about the drugged out look on its face, or how it was splayed open and covered in what could only come from Garg's secretions all over its bare body, she would probably slit him up the middle before she could get any answers.

She grit her teeth though as she approached him and pointed the tip of her blade at his mouth-hole, which suspiciously had what she knew was his form of a grin on its face,

"At least two dozen guards, blast damage and melted sections on half that many bulkheads, not to mention the three you blew out with your toy there," his eyes shifted to the rail gun, still slung over her shoulder, "that is going to cost you a lot just to speak to me."

N'Tanya frowned, "Let's just say I ignore, for the moment, the fact that you sent a couple of your thugs to kidnap my crew," she started, "and the fact that you obviously betrayed us...again, oh, and there's the fact that you withheld information you could have given to us, and we would have paid. Ignoring all that," she deliberately changed her expression then, pasting on the sweetest smile, though on her face it looked something like a predatory fish about to snack on a guppy. "You've just managed to tick me off...so unless you have something very very good to tell us now I think this station will very shortly be looking for a new stationmaster...and you consider all that damage payment enough for annoying me."

Garg let out a gurgling, wet sound, what passed for his chuckle before he held up a control in its appendage. He pressed a control on the device, which brought down an archaic looking flat monitor screen. In the middle of the view was the Dreamer, center-frame against the background of a rocky exterior, one of the system's many small moons that enhanced the difficulty getting to the station.

"You did a good job hiding your ship, little captain, but I know every inch of this system. Right now, I've targeted your ship with a full rack of the best anti-ship missiles money can buy. I think you might reconsider your position, and make this easier and hand over what I want."

N'Tanya looked over to the screen, then glanced back to Garg,

"You wouldn't even think of doing it...because then you know there's no reason for me not to gut you and leave you leaking out your own excrement on the decks."

"Yes...but I know you, little pirate queen, you actually care about your crew. This girl can't have been with you long, she's a commodity, not crew, so what's the harm in giving her over to me? I can get her back to her...proper owners, and then you can go on your way. You might even stay in my good favor, and I could overlook this temperamental outburst. You are a valuable person to know, and so am I."

N'Tanya grinned suddenly at Garg, "Thank you Garg...you just told me what I wanted to know...you have been contacted by someone who knows where she's from and what they've done to her."

N'Tanya looked over and with a casual slash, severed his appendage right beneath the control with the powered blade. It landed on the deck with a wet splat, while thick, black blood seeped from the stump. There was a moment of utter silence, as N'Tanya could actually see the surprise and disbelief on the loathsome creature's face before it squealed like a stuck animal and clutched the stump of its appendage in the other one.

"Y...you slime ridden hussy hareseth; you cut off my hand! Say goodbye to your ship! Say goodbye, you'll end up in the slave camps, you'll end up...computer, fire everything, fire everything!"

N'Tanya watched calmly as she looked at the screen. Nothing moved on screen, no indicators lit up, and no frenzied call from her ship indicated any weapon launches. Garg, as much as he could, looked frantic,

"Fire! Fire! Why aren't you firing?!" He reached out, grabbed the control from his dismembered hand and slammed the buttons, while he looked frantically from the control to his screen.

N'Tanya slapped the control out of his other hand with the flat of her blade and pressed the tip to where, presumably Garg's throat would be. The bloated, smelly creature cringed backwards as N'Tanya stepped forward,

"A little present in your system I had my comms officer leave last time we were here. According to your computers, the Dreamer is the same thing as your lousy garbage heap of a space station. Your automated systems won't target it because they won't blow themselves up as a safety feature. Sure, you could have someone manually target it...but you called all of your crew back to guard your slimy, bug ridden hide, and they are all now more scared of me then they are of you."

N'Tanya looked over to Rakarra, then to the female at the side before indicating she should get them out with a gesture of her head. He nodded and carefully picked her up and carried her out of the room, while Dunner put his hand on Samantha's and guided her out as well. The human girl still had a somewhat...shell-shocked look from the casual torture she'd inflicted, not to mention the gore from the fight to get to this room.

Once they were all gone, N'Tanya turned back to Garg, whom was clutching his stump and moaning in pain and fear,

N'Tanya smiled a dark, threatening smile and turned off the blade. The blade was still sharp though, as she demonstrated when she pressed forward and drew a spot of blood from the blubberous creature before her,

"Now, you're going to fill in some of the blanks for me...and how quickly, and well you fill those in determines how much of your lousy hide is left on you when I'm done, and whether or not I let everyone know exactly where I got the information."

*