Overcoming Resistance

Story by Isiat Squire Carcer on SoFurry

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#1 of Overcoming Resistance

Wow! So, this was an idea from my wife after I started the initial concept draft, and boy did it take off from there! 13 thousands plus words for one chapter made me blink, as did the fact this was done in three evenings of writing with her in chunks the size of my normal stories! I absolutly loved writing this, and there will be far, far more to come of this series in the near future! Without further delay, Enjoy!


The gunfire on the surface was intensifying, streaks of tracers stitching across the smoke filled sky becoming more frequent and heavy as the battle for control of the planet began its final stages. It was a losing battle, one the rebelling sector couldn't have really ever hoped to win from the beginning. After the group of planetary governors had decided that enough was enough and declared their independence from the rest of the Kahldarian Empire's military dictatorship, it had only taken a matter of days for ships from Kahldara to arrive in sector, and thus began the long conflict that never been in the Venolian sub sector's favor.

The Venolian group of planets had been one of the first to be colonized by Kahldarian vessels venturing out from their own sector in space, located around the second closest sun to their home world, Venol. Over a measure of decades, their empire had expanded to encompass over four dozen worlds, though four around Venol had been colonized. After a measure of decades under the harsh rule of the empire, the seeds of treason had taken root and blossomed into a plot to break away from the rest of the empire.

Once the original schemers had managed to sway the support of the local military leaders, including one particularly well positioned admiral, the sector's elected representative had delivered their formal declaration of independence to the Kahldarian home world personally. In response, the Kahldarian admiralty had returned the ambassador's head along with a demand for an immediate unconditional surrender.

When no response was given, the Kahldarian navy was quick to marshal and deploy in force, sending in the fourth and fifth fleets to quell this uprising with overwhelming firepower. Headed by two massive Decimator class battleships, each bristling with weapons along their four kilometer lengths, they alone could have brought the rebellion to its knees without the help of the hundreds of other smaller vessels they brought with them.

A fortunate early strike however had crippled the Kahldarian offense after one of their three logistic tankers had forced to scuttle when a Venolian strike team managed to sneak aboard, dropping their fuel and ammunition supplies drastically. The advance had ground to a halt while the Kahldarian ships had waited for re-supply, buying the Venolians critical time to begin evacuations of their less defended planets.

That was some measure of months ago though, and now that the Kahldarian advance was in full swing, planets had fallen in rapid succession against streams of drop-ships and orbital weaponry brought to bear. Even now, the newly created Venolian defense fleet was facing its first true trial by fire in a raging engagement in the high orbit of Turep, the home planet of Admiral Stryker, and the rebel sectors chief shipyards...

*----------------------------------------------------*

Alarm klaxons blared on the bridge of the Victorious, the entire ship shuddering from bow to stern as a line of explosive decompressions ran along the length of its hull, caused by the massive, glowing gash left from one of the Hellraiser's lance beam cannons.

"Sir! Decompression on decks five through nine all along the starboard hull. Sealing the effected sections now, but DC reports their battling a running fire on deck four that is threatening another hull breach there!" One of the ensigns on the bridge shouted over the din, quickly shutting off the new set of alarms that had begun to howl in protest. Admiral Stryker turned from his pulpit, the almost larger than life Amasii lion's equally large tail flicking in irritation. "Tell them to move ahead of the fire, and then seal and vent the effected sections. Helm, bring us to heading one-six-five and roll us to port, get our nose out of those lance beam's fire and engage with the aft rail drivers. We can't afford to take more hits like that."

"Sorry sir. They're using AWACS to pinpoint their jumps into the sector and jam targeting on our entire fleet. Viper wing is trying to clear them up now, but they're plus two-hundred clicks out from the fighting. It's a hell of a detour." Came the callback as the ship beneath him began to shift, the view in the screen before him slowly rolling until the entire vessel's top was now facing down towards the planet. It looked like a wounded whale, embers and superheated metal glowing in streaks along its entire starboard side when the view switched to an external on from a nearby escort frigate.

"How long until the last evacuation craft is off the ground?" He shouted, gripping the arms of his seat a little harder, his claws digging into gouges made long ago in the torn fabric. This delaying action almost wasn't worth it. He'd lost six vessels already with all hands and another dozen had jumped away when hulls had fallen below critical. That had left him with a meager twenty vessels trying to hold back over fifty of the Kahldarian ships, not all of which had even been committed to the fight, just staying back behind the battle lines and waiting for the chance to engage.

"Ground crews report twenty five minut- Sir! The Fair Weather and her two escorts are spooling up their jump drives!" The officer at his tactical monitoring station shouted, turning around with something akin to shock. Admiral Stryker growled. The Fair Weather was the only remaining destroyer they had in the fight. If they were planning on jumping out, it would leave the entire dark side of the planet's defense down to a handful of frigates and cruisers that would be overwhelmed in a matter of minutes if the Kahldarians pressed the advantage.

"Bring them up on com's right now! Captain, what the hell do you think you are doing!?" The lion roared at the holographic display before him, the image of the russet furred fox at the Fair Weather's helm appearing.

"If you think I'm staying around to be slaughtered, you're damned wrong sir! This is suicide, and I will not jeopardize the lives of my crew or my ship for a foolhardy delaying action. Either get us support or get us out!" He barked, but the tone he took made the Admiral growl with a burning fury.

"Hold your position Captain, that is an order. The last shuttle will be off the ground in twenty minutes."

"We won't last another five in this hell hole. I'd sooner a court-marshal than a funeral. Fair Weather signing off. Godspeed Admiral." The Captain gave a quick, mocking salute before the channel cut to hash. Switching his view to latch onto one from a cruiser on the far side of the planet, Admiral Stryker caught the last glimpses as the Fair Weather and her two escort frigates flashed brightly and disappeared, jumping away from the battle.

"Dammit! Where is my daughter? Has she made it off the planet yet?" He shouted. All of the deck crew seemed to exchange quiet glances between each other. They knew this was why he had delayed for so long. The Admiral's sole heir, his daughter, had been caught on the surface when the fighting had begun. Nobody had heard anything from her escort group for twenty minutes.

_"No change sir. She's still unaccounted for." _

Sighing, he sat back in his chair, rubbing his forehead furiously. He couldn't wait for her forever, but leaving her would be like leaving himself behind... But he had to make a decision. They were losing too many vessels to keep up the defense any longer...

"Sir, what should we do?"

Another shudder ran through the mighty battleship's hull as it took a glancing blow from Hellraiser's beams. He sighed softly, looking down to his paws and the gouges they had left in the chair over the many battles he'd seen. "Helm... Order the fleet to spool up their jump drives, and regroup at rally point Kappa." He gave the command, closing his eyes. Shadi would just have to fend for herself for now, until he could return for her... He simply hoped she would survive that long...

"Sir? Five vessels are reporting issues with their jump drives..."

"Then they are on their own... Helm, get us out of here..." He sighed, his voice hardly above a whisper, but on the almost silent bridge, everyone could hear the remorse in his voice. As Turep burned below, the Victorious slowly banked around, and vanished in a flash of light, along with the rest of the Venolian fleet that could still escape, leaving the planet's fate up to its conquerors, and what few forces were still on the ground.

*----------------------------------------------------*

Shadi flinched as a long line of tracer rounds cut across the ditch ahead of her and her bodyguards, forcing them quickly down from the surface and into a long row of wood lined trenches. Across from them, a great column of smoke rose up into the sky, the exhaust trail of one of the few remaining shuttles still to be found in the atmosphere. The fight for this planet was not going well for the Venolian alliance.

"Victor four-thirty-six, clear of the pad. See you at the rendezvous." The static washed voice came across the small radio set strapped to her waist. The voice of the pilot had been barely audible over the constant chattering of gunfire and artillery, and Shadi ducked as a spray of dirt came cascading down like heavy rainfall.

"Get down!" a thickly accent voice shouted, and Shadi found herself tackled to the wooden floor of the trench before she could find the source of the voice, a thunderous boom echoing above them, followed closely by a sizzling hail of red hot shrapnel. It sounded like someone tossing handfuls of pebbles against the wooden flak-boards right behind her, but she kept her head down until they had stopped. When she looked back, the section of flak-boards where she had stood not ten seconds ago was riddled with razor-sharp fragments of steel. Another close call...

Overhead, the escape shuttle detonated in a ferocious fireball that expanded outwards from its solid fuel boosters, the remains slowly crumpling back to earth. A long horizontal streak stretched from the horizon, and a pair of Kahldarian Raptor's shot overhead, the forward-swept, V winged fighters banking sharply to avoid the slowly plummeting remains of their kill. A line of tracers chased after them from a AAA sight nearby, but the slow rounds had little chance of catching their target.

"Alright, up, up!" Shadi felt herself tugged back to her feet roughly, the remaining few members of her escort off planet forming a tight ring around her, their weapons trained outwards for any threats to their charge. Each one of them looked like hell, men and women both, all wearing the ceremonial navy blue suits of government bodyguards.

_"Ground HQ, Ground HQ, this is Trot-Fox. Primary evacuation route has been cut-off. Request alternate extraction point, how copy?" _

The head of the guards leader turned, the charming looking wolf's features since covered in grime and dirt from their frenzied running battle to get off the planet. His blue eyes were fierce, but there was a hesitance about them now, with only a few shuttles off planet remaining, each trying to leave before the Kahldarian forces launched a full assault on the planet. The devastation that rained down upon them was only the first wave, a fraction of the power that the mainstay of the Kahldara would bring with them when they arrived...

"Trot-Fox. Proceed Eastbound from your current position to grid November-seven-three-four-by-Eight-three-three-grid-nine. Extraction team will be waiting for your all clear."

Reaching into his jacket's pocket, the wolf quickly pulled out his PDA, checking the referenced co-ordinates, a confused and scared frown on his muzzle. He tugged his radio back up to his muzzle, barking into it. "Ground HQ, say again your last. Grid-refer-"

"Trot-Fox, the grid is confirmed. VSF team Vulcan will meet you en-route to help secure the landing pad. Be advised, contact with heavy ground elements is likely. It's the best we can do. God-speed. Victor out." The channel cut to hash a moment later, and he looked up at Shadi almost grimly. She could tell he was trying to hide his fear as best he could, but everyone here was scared now, and all of them knew it. They just had to keep composed for a little bit longer...

"Alright. Marqus, you're on point. We're heading East towards the civilian shuttle pads. Everybody stay low. Let's move out. Shadi, stay with me." He gave the commands as swiftly as he could, waving his rifle to indicate the way they should go. They quickly formed into a single file line, moving through the murky trench at a low crouch. Shadi padded along quickly after them, two of her protectors lagging behind a short distance to watch their rear.

"Is there any word of my father?" She whispered to the wolf, Irvine, as she crept up alongside him. It had been pure luck that they had encountered each other in this chaos. Shadi had been waiting for her flight off planet when the first ships had arrived in orbit. The entire reason she had this group of protectors in the first place was because of her father. Irvine had served as his bodyguard for a measure of years previously, before the declaration. The admiral's daughter was considered a person of significant importance, and thus, Irvine and his team, already on their way off planet had called in that they had found her, but Shadi was more worried for her father's safety than her own right now...

"The last I heard on com's was he was still caught up with the rest of the fleet in orbit fighting a delaying action." He didn't need to add that none of this was going well, and for everything bad down on the surface happening, it was mirrored thrice-fold in orbit. Since the moment Kahldarian ships had appeared in orbit, the local defense fleet had been on the back foot. Even with their single Prometheus battleship heading the defense, the fleet had been quickly overwhelmed, and now were just trying to delay more forces from landing than save the planet, but were sorely equipped to stop the ant-line of landing craft that had descended on the world beneath.

In the opening two hours, already an estimated two thirds of the planet was considered Kahldarian controlled, and the remaining third was scrambling to evacuate to orbit and escape at hyper-light speed to the nearest friendly forces, if any were left at this point. There was no certainty to the plan. It was simply get to orbit and get as far away as possible, and right now, it wasn't going well. The Kahldarian fighters in orbit meant only bad things for the last handful of evacuees, but the message it sent was clear. Surrender and you may be spared. Flee, and you would be shot down without mercy.

"I hope he's alright... How far to the evacuation ship?" She asked, trying to push the thoughts of her father from her mind. She didn't have time to worry about him while she was still in danger. She stayed low as they moved up along the semi-destroyed trench, the shadow of a fallen pine across the top of the trench crossing over their group, making them look even darker than their soot covered jackets were already.

"We're not going to the shuttles. A smaller craft is coming to collect us, but it's behind the front, just... not ours." He said grimly, shouldering his rifle a little closer to himself. "It's at least twenty minutes from here, but I'm not sure we have that long... We'll have to be fast. Just stay low, and close to me. We'll make it through." He nodded as their line reached a turn in the trench, quickly folding around it in perfect military fashion.

They made good time through the trenches, quickly disappearing into the thick pine forest that surrounded the spaceport. Their destination was beyond its edges, a private refueling platform for VTOL craft. It was their only way out. In the time they reached the woods, another of the massive evacuation shuttles had been shot down trying to break orbit. Shadi had watched it come plummeting back to earth like a blazing meteorite before it crashed back down into the main terminal of the spaceport with a catastrophic explosion that shook the earth.

She didn't even want to think how many thousands of civilians had been taking shelter there. The smoke from the wreckage reached up into the lower atmosphere, a great plume of black ash and the souls of those who had been lost already in this conflict... A few minutes into the woods, the wolf's radio suddenly came to life, a hushed, aggressive whisper coming from the speaker.

"Trot-Fox, go to ground. Kahldarian patrol inbound. Hold fast. Break." The wolf didn't question the source of the transmission; he quickly waved everyone to the ground. Shadi rather ungracefully all but fell onto the coarse blanket of pine needles, her tail thumping down beside her with a deep whump.

"Stay down, hold your fire..." Irvine whispered hoarsely, but the rest of their team still had their weapons trained outwards, following the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. In the space of a few moments, a squad of camouflaged troops had emerged from the trees, their weapons the more jagged, angular designs of the Kahldarian military. Lying in the open like they were with their blue jackets and trousers, it was a miracle they weren't spotted immediately. They stood out like sore thumbs well enough.

As if reacting to the thought, one of the soldiers raised his rifle, immediately pointing towards the group of figures huddled on the ground, trying vainly to hide. The forest seemed to come to life around them in that instant, the sizzle-snap of bullets flying overhead making Shadi cover her head with her paws, curling into the fetal position as shots rang out around them, sending fragments of bark flying as rifles clattered and fired.

When everything went quiet once more, she could have sworn she was dead. Then a voice rudely interrupted her death, and brought her attention snapping back to the world around them. "Keep your weapons and hands where we can see them! If you move, we will shoot you!" The operator barked, a fox she could tell, his bushy tail sticking awkwardly from beneath his ghille suit. The silenced rifles this new group of men who had appeared from nowhere were still trained on them, but the Kahldarians were in far worse shape. Each one of them bore a fine, red splatter where their faces had been, felled in the same formation they had stood in.

It looked like the leafy-suited leader was checking a picture from his webbing, and a moment after he tucked it away, he quickly ran over to Shadi, and lifted her back to her feet. "Alright, Trot-fox I take it? Miss Stryker, your transport is already on the pad, but we've got less than ten minutes until they send another patrol out for this one. Lieutenant, get them up and let's move." He barked, and in a matter of moments, the commando's had them racing through the woods again, disciplined maneuvers that had them to the landing pad in under three minutes.

The shuttle was a small VTOL troop lander, designed to ferry fire teams to and from their ships in orbit to drop-sites on the surface. As soon as they were all aboard, the ship was airborne, angular and sleek black jets swiveling to get them in the air, before they cut a path for orbit. "Vulcan is in the air, package secure. ETA to the Unrelenting, twelve minutes." Shadi leaned back as she listened to the pilots voice, resting her head against the hard bulkhead. She was home free now... They just had to make it to the ship waiting for them, and they would be out of here...

*----------------------------------------------------*

In orbit, unseen by the single fleeing transport, a massive, brutal duet was underway between two ships. The Unrelenting, a frigate fighting for the Venolian republic, and the Hammerhead, a Kahldarian destroyer was coming to it's close. The Unrelenting was in an uncontrolled lateral roll, and it's course had shifted dramatically from a stable orbit. Even now, life pods launched from its hull like missiles from the Hammerhead. The Venolian frigate was going to burn up into the planets orbit within the hour, and right now, it was simply floating dead in the void, all internal power gone.

The barrage from the Hammerhead slammed into the ship's bow, rocking it's entire hull with a line of explosions that sent debris careening into space. Oxygen vented from the few decks still with pressure, long jets of gas that knocked the ship further off course. Tiny specks that vaguely resembled the crew vented along with the air from some of the hull breaches. A deep, distinct hum of energy rattled through the hull of the Hammerhead, as a point of light grew on it's prow, before it arced out towards the stricken Unrelenting, the heated beam of energy slicing through the center of its mass, before it flashed from existence as quickly as it had come into being.

*----------------------------------------------------*

Shadi's ship lurched suddenly as the pilot banked, reaching orbit just in time to see their last hope of escape dashed in a display of the power and fury that the Kahldara brought with them. Shadi grunted as she was thrown against the headboard, looking forward and through the reinforced glass dome of the ship. She let out a startled cry as she saw the void ahead of her, for just a moment forgetting about the glass separating her from nothingness, before she quickly regained her composure. "What's going on?!" She shouted at the pilot, whipping around in her seat as if struggling against the restrains, wanting to climb forward and see what had happened herself.

The pilot snapped around faster though, pointing a finger at her. "Stay in your seat! Our ticket out of this mess just brought the farm." He barked, quickly resuming his controls and banking hard once more. Outside, a streak of light shot past them. A tracer round from a fighter.

"Mayday, mayday. Vulcan one-five, under fire, need assistance. I say again, Mayday, mayday, we are under fire and need assistance." He barked frantically into the radio, as he co-pilot swore, a rapidly howling alarm going off in the cockpit.

"Fuck! Lock! Dropping CM now!" There was a loud hiss as something on their ship fell loose, and a shuddering vibration as the missile chasing them struck it soundlessly in the void. "We're clear. What have we got on this thing to shoot back?"

The pilot muttered sarcastically as the ship made a sharp and gut-wrenching roll. "There's a single barrel on the nose, but I think it's for decoration... I'm not dying for this shit... Sorry folks, rides over." He barked back into the hold, as the engines shut off with a dying whine.

"Kahldara fighter, Kahldara fighter. This is Vulcan one-five. I am powering down my ship to surrender. I say again, I am powering down to surrender. Cease fire... Please." He added after he stopped transmitting, as if in an after thought...

"What?! You can't surrender! Do you know what they will do with her? She is the admiral Stryker's daughter for God's sake!" Shadi's protector, the wolf stood up, unstrapping himself from his seat, sidearm drawn and angrily marching forwards.

"Yes! Go ahead! Fly this yourself and see how far you get! The fleet is GONE. Okay? There is -Nothing- left there. Nothing on scanners, and the Unrelenting isn't going to be a lot of help, is it now?" The pilot barked, standing up. It looked like it was about to come to blows any moment.

"Vulcan one-five, this is Captain Tarma of the one-fifty-fifth Hell Bats. You are to change your course to head one-three-niner, and reduce your speed to two-five-zero, before entering into the landing pattern of the Hammerhead. If you fail to comply, you will be destroyed. Out." The radio cut to silence, and for a long moment, nobody in the cabin moved. "Vulcan one-five. Acknowledge or be destroyed."

The pilot quickly scrambled back into his seat. "Uh, Vulcan one five, copy. Heading one-three-nine. Speed two fifty." He quickly responded to the message, turning the ship again. "If you have any bright ideas to get out of this one, now's the time for them..."

*----------------------------------------------------*

Shadi looked forward, out beyond the windshield to the looming destroyer that was slowly getting larger and larger before them. She knew she couldn't afford to be captured. They had all heard the stories of what happened in the Kahldarian prisons. The brutal methods they used to interrogate information out of traitors, the torture methods they used to ensure your stay there was as miserable and painful as possible...

They didn't tolerate criminals, and much less traitors and separatists. Shadi had seen the holo-vids of the inside of the prisons, and that was very much the last place she wanted to end up. And if they discovered just who she was, who she was related to... They would hold her over her father's head to secure his surrender, and after they had gotten that from him, she wouldn't have a lot of use to anyone. People seldom left a Kahldarian prison aside from in a body bag.

She looked quickly to the wolf who was strapping himself back in his seat, a grimace on his face. He didn't make eye contact with her, and inwardly, she knew just why. She simply hoped it never came to that...

Their tiny by comparison transport entered the port side fighter bay of the Hammerhead twelve minutes to the dot later, flanked on either side by a pair of Kahldarian fighters. Shadi felt the heavy thud as their ship's landing struts connected with the deck, a hiss of pressure escaping the hydraulics. In an instant, The outer hatch was being forced open, and a heartbeat later, a small round object came flying in through the gap in the now open door.

"GRENADE!" One of the commando's shouted, diving onto the tube a moment before it went off. Fortunately for them all, it wasn't the explosive sort. Unfortunately, it was still the painful kind, the hold quickly filling with a billowing cloud of tear-gas that only grew more dense as the door was slammed closed again, the troops outside simply waiting until it had all but choked the occupants.

Shadi sputtered as her eyes felt like they were burning, the throat raw and scratchy while her lungs screamed for oxygen instead of this burning substitute for it. She could tell the others inside were faring no better, the sounds of coughs and retching filling the enclosed space as many of the crew simply fell to the deck, pounding on the hatches to get away from the gas.

Another thirty seconds must have passed before the outer hatch opened again, gloved hands and rifle barrels entering the hold, forcibly hauling the occupants outside onto the hanger deck. Shadi couldn't see through the tears filling her eyes when they weren't tightly shut, she just felt the paw grip her by the neck and toss her down the winglet and onto the ground unceremoniously. She sprawled out onto the deck, trying frantically to crawl away on her paws and knees, her vision blurred beyond recognition. A heavy weight collided with the back of her head as a rifle butt was bludgeoned against her, and she fell to the deck, deciding that remaining still was her best option for now.

In a row alongside her, the rest of the crew and her protectors had been dragged out likewise, their rifles and weapons stripped from them and tossed in a pile to the side. Shadi felt rough paws frisking along her sides, voices shouting at them from nearby, but she couldn't tell who. After a moment, the paws left and went to searching whomever had been laid out beside her.

"Alright! UP! On your knees!" A voice shouted, and she took the opportunity to try and wipe her eyes as she climbed to something resembling sitting on her knees. She still couldn't see, the pain in her lungs was only now starting to fade. "Hands behind your heads!" The voice shouted again, and she hurried to comply, not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention to herself.

Though she couldn't see it herself, she knew something bad was about to happen. "Sergeant! Check their collar tags, find out who they are!" Shadi flinched at the mention of it. Something the Kahldarians had enforced on their subjects had been microchip implants into the neck, that could be updated daily with just about everything anyone could possibly want to know about a person. Shadi, as it happened, had removed hers herself with a craft knife at the beginning of the conflict at her father's insistence, lest she be linked back to him. Better to be nobody, he had told her.

She could hear the small device beeping as it was waved over their necks, a handheld scanner that showed their information on screen when it was waved over the tag. The man with the scanner stopped after the first six beeps. "Sir! These six here are Venolian Military. Special forces, sir."

"Sergeant, step back!" The officer shouted, and a moment later, gunfire filled the hanger as the six commandos who had rescued Shadi were gunned down without so much as a moment's hesitation. She cringed and clamped her eyes shut, wishing she could be anywhere but here right now. "Alright, now the rest. As you were."

This was it, she thought grimly. She was about to die and be dumped out of an airlock like garbage, and nobody would be any the wiser to who she was... Perhaps that would have been what was best. At least that way, her father could perhaps fight on, not worrying about her too much... Maybe.

The fur on her neck stood on end as she felt the small wand passed over the back of her neck once, twice, three times in silence before the operator huffed irritably. "Sir, this one is un-registered. I can't get a reading." He informed his superior, taking a step back. Shadi's eyesight was returning slowly, and she tried to blink away the last of the blurriness to her vision desperately, as if just wanting to know who was going to be her executioner today. The male strode forward purposefully, drawing his pistol in one paw and grabbing her chin forcibly in his other, tilting her head back.

"It has been removed, you can see the scar. Removing those chips means death." He snarled almost joyfully, and Shadi felt the cold steel against her forehead. This was it, it was over. She made her peace with god in a few very brief seconds, before the shot rang out. Instantly, the weapon at her head fell away, and there was a messy sound as a body hit the floor in front of her, making her squeak in fear.

"Sergeant of the guard, stand down! Political officer on deck ,and at ATTENTION!" Came this new voice, powerful, confident. The man who had been standing behind her snapped to attention, as did every other soldier on the hanger's deck nearby, as if this individual was so authoritative that there could be no delay in his given orders. She opened her eyes slowly, daring to peer up at this man who had just saved her life.

"Corporal, have this body removed from my sight. Sergeant, the prisoner, if you will..." He spoke calmly, and Shadi caught sight of him just as he stopped at the end of the line of captives. She was quickly forced back up to her feet, her paws kept firmly held against the back of her head as she was marched before this new male. His many tails were quite distinctive, as was the heavy black leather trench-coat he wore, trimmed with red, just like the peaked cap of his office. One of the dreaded Kahldarian commissariat officers, men who kept loyalty and duty in check through fear and force, as much as through their awe-inspiring presence, often given a larger than life reputation for fearlessness and ruthlessness. Shadi didn't meet the males gaze.

"My my my, what have we here. Miss Stryker, daughter of Admiral Stryker, the very officer who has been giving us such trouble until he retreated a half hour ago with all his forces. It is a pleasure. I recognized you from a holo-tape I saw at the christening of his ship. You look just like him. My apologies for the young lieutenant's rash behavior. We can't have him just shooting a prize trophy like yourself now, can we?" The black furred male seemed to chuckle as if at some sick inside joke, a cigar appearing from his pocket as he lit up. The rich scent of the tobacco made her want to retch again.

"Sergeant, see that miss Stryker is given suitable quarters in the brig until I am ready to interrogate her. Take her away." He commanded, as if on a simple whim, not even paying particularly close attention to her.

"Shadi!" Someone shouted from behind her, and she turned in time to see her wolf protector diving forward out of line, grabbing up the dead officers pistol in his paws. He quickly rounded the weapon on her, and she saw the apologetic look in his eyes as his finger closed on th-

'SPRAK!'

The wolf's head snapped back at an impossible angle, his face reduced to little more than a red, bloody mess at the high-caliber round left its mark. His body slumped to the deck, well and truly dead, one of the guards quickly confiscating the pistol from his lifeless paws. They didn't stop dragging her away for a moment, and she felt the screams leaving her throat, the close by gunshot temporarily deafening her. It was all she could do to watch as the many-tailed fox who had saved her raised his paw, before with a slow drop of his wrist, had the rest of her bodyguards, the last friendly faces she would see, mercilessly gunned down, a steel hatch closing and blocking the scene from view.

The cell they tossed her in was as cold as the men who had put her there. A meager twelve by twelve steel walled cube, with a single fluorescent light that barely lit up anything. Not that there was anything to look at anyway. The bedding was a small cot, with what was clearly a well used mattress crookedly sitting atop it and a thin, torn sheet for warmth. Space was a remarkably cold place, and just by touching the wall, she could tell these cells had been deliberately positioned along the side of the ship, closest to the hull itself.

She snarled and pounded on the bulky iron door for a long moment, but her small fists didn't do so much as send quiet echoing thumps down the corridor. Nobody came when she shouted, and when she finally did curl up on the small cot and pulled the blanket around herself that she became aware of just how long she had been there. An hour passed, or what she guessed it was an hour. Then two. Then three. Time seemed to be ticking along at an even slower rate than before.

At last, something, albeit briefly, happened. A slot at the bottom of the door opened with a quiet rasp, and a tray of some kind of grayish gruel in a bowl with something that resembled an oval loaf of bread skidded to a halt in the middle of the floor. The hatch closed again, and everything was quiet once more. She didn't touch the excuse for a meal they offered her.

*----------------------------------------------------*

Shadi didn't hear or see much else for a long time. Occasionally, the echoing thump of the ship's mass driver weapons rumbled through the ship like a thunderclap, but never did she hear even footsteps outside or anybody else on the entire cell block. She slept mostly, wondering nervously when somebody would come for her, but when nobody did, it only fueled her anxiety more.

At one point, she felt the familiar thrum of the vessels FTL drives, and the sickening lurch as they jumped further away from any hope of rescue or salvation. She had no idea where they were, where they were going, or just how long she had been in the cell. The only clue she had at all was a period when the light from her cell's wall was dimmed to almost nothing, a ship-board day/night cycle.

After the eighth time the light was dimmed, a slot in the top of her door opened, a pair of bright blue eyes peering in and the almost starved and depraved looking feline, wrapped in her blanket on the cot in the corner like some stray. "Get her cleaned up, and find her fresh clothes. Then bring her to my quarters, un-touched." She heard the sound of a pistol cocking on the other side of the door, and scrambled back towards the corner of her cell. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir, Commissar Carcer." The slit in the door closed again, and she heard the lock rattling as the door to her cell was opened outwards. A pair of black armored troops stood outside, the rifles held loosely by their sides. "Miss Stryker. If you will come with us please. Commissar Carcer has requested you be bathed and dressed before joining him in his quarters for dinner. This way, and don't dawdle." As if to punctuate the sentence, both of them racked the slides of their weapons, before leveling them at her and waving down the corridor.

She got up slowly, stumbling her way forward into the brightly lit hallway. It looked the same as her cell had, a vast stretch of grey steel walls with armored doors set into each side at regular intervals. Cells, she realized. How many of them were occupied though? The pair of guards escorted her down the length of the corridor that seemed to run along forever. She must have been marched down the hall for what seemed like half an hour before they reached one door in particular, sliding the slightly different cell open, and forcing ushering her inside. They hadn't even bothered with handcuffing her, nor did they seem worried about the prospect of her escaping. Where would she go?

She slowly padded into the large tile lined cell, the door closing behind her and locking, a slit in the middle opening up, as one of her guards called in. "You have fifteen minutes. Clean, scrub, and dry off. Fresh clothes will be brought for you." He instructed her in a crisp voice before the slit shut with a loud clack of steel. She took a moment to look around. This cell was different from her own. It's floors and walls were tiled, with drains set around the floor beneath pairs of steel knobs in the wall. There must have been twenty showers in all in the cell, each one with a matching faucet in the ceiling above it.

She didn't waste any time getting started, the feline stripping down, catching an eyeful of herself in the mirrors that lined the wall closest to the door. She looked a mess, her normally silky tan fur now dirty and greasy from her escape and time in captivity. Even her clothes were stained and tattered from what must have been a week of continuous wear, but she still tried to fold them neatly in one corner of the room anyway.

Adjusting the taps for one of the faucets, water began to spill from the ceiling. It took her a moment to find how to run the shampoo, but a small screen set between the water handles quickly answered that for her, the tiny computer having a series of buttons on it's touch-screen face that caused the water to turn into a sudsy shampoo infused mix, and even into a hot air vent for drying.

She scrubbed herself down as best she could, feeling days worth of grime washing from her fur and skin. At the same time though, the mirrors lining the wall made her suspicious, and she tried to cover herself from their view, just in case they happened to be of the two way variety. Her body ached from the mal-nutrition, even after she had started eating the gruel they slid into her cell each day. It tasted as good as it looked, which was a polite way of saying it tasted like grey nutrient sludge, but it kept her stomach from aching so badly at least.

The hot water relaxed her muscles, her long, heavy tail making wet splats each time it's waterlogged end thumped into the tile floor when she moved, and for a few minutes, she simply sat under the stream, trying to get what peace should could in this hell she had been confined to.

Her paws roamed freely over her body, down between her thighs and across her hidden virgin slit. Shadi had always kept herself pure in that sense at least, even when she was frequently surrounded by males who would have liked nothing more than a chance at her. Nobody was brave enough to make advances on an Admiral's daughter while they still wore the uniform. A quiet gasp escaped her lips, but her paws quickly retreated again, wary of the mirror and just who could be watching her. Nobody left prisoners unattended, even she knew that.

Shutting the water off and activating the air stream, she felt suddenly chilly, despite the hot air. As if on cue, the door opened, and one of her guards came in, carrying a brown wrapped bag. He set it down just inside the shower hall, before back-stepping out and shutting the door. Now dry, she padded over to the bag, picking it up. It was about the size of a large cinderblock, and she tore open the end, pulling out the contents.

The black silk dress seemed to fall down from where she held it's shoulder straps, reaching down to just above her feet, the Kahldarian crest emblazoned upon the right breast and the back. A military dress, of course... She hadn't expected anything more than a clean set of prison rags, but at the same time, if she was being forced to a dinner with someone who was here to interrogate her...

It didn't make any sense to her, but even so... She didn't have a lot of choice in the matter. She pulled the dress up and over her curvy hips, the synthetic fiber feeling like silk, but she quickly realized it wasn't when the dress seemed to pull up on itself around her ankles, making it quite literally the perfectly ideal height. There was a pair of matching high-heels in the package as well, and with some reluctance, she pulled them on, staggering the first few steps in the unfamiliar shoes.

She knocked softly on the inside of the door, and it slid open again, her escorts waving her out with their rifles. "Come with us. We'll lead you to the Commissar's quarters." One spoke, their muzzles and faces hidden behind balaclavas and steel helmets. She folded her paws slowly, and padded along as one of the guards led the way, the other following behind her, his rifle always trained at her back.

*----------------------------------------------------*

After what must have been another fifteen minutes of being led from hallway to hallway of cells, the scenery began to change noticeably. Lighting became more frequent and clean, even the air she was breathing began to taste cleaner, and they passed other uniformed crew members and soldiers in the hallways, the place beginning to resemble something more like what she had seen on her fathers ship during her few visits.

Reaching a large set of double doors, she realized that they were now waiting for the elevator to arrive. When it finally did ping, and the doors slid open, Shadi was surprised at the interior. This was clearly the way to the officers quarters. The walls were mirror lined with polished mahogany accents, a soft red velvety carpet lining the interior. She felt a rifle prod at her back, and quickly stepped inside, flanked by her guards on either side. One of them swiped some sort of identification card against a slot in the wall, and a moment later, the doors slid closed again, and the elevator car began to rise.

It only took a few moments, but the sudden lurching stop that the cart came to startled Shadi, the feline tensing up her fingers intertwining and fiddling in front of her. The large steel doors slid open, and she found herself staring out at a hallway decorated much the same as the elevator was. Just, through a large brass gate. The guard outside looked in, before grunting a challenge that Shadi missed. Her escort held up the card he had swiped to get here, before speaking. "Prisoner escort to the Commissar's quarters."

The guard outside the cage looked at them for a moment longer, before he slid his own card across the outside of the door, the gate sliding open and granting them access to the floor. She stepped out onto the deck, before one of her guards placed a large, burly paw upon her shoulder, forcing her to turn towards him. "Go down this hallway, and turn left at the end. The Commissar's quarters are the third door on the right. Do not dawdle. Do not attempt to go into any of the other quarters. Do as he says, and your stay aboard the Hammerhead will go smoothly. Resist and it will not. Now go." He barked, the guard closing the elevator behind her and sending her two escorts back to the lower decks.

Shadi felt like her feet barely touched the ground as she quick-stepped down the hallway, passing impressive tapestries and murals of Kahldarian soldiers and patriotic images on both sides. She didn't recognize any of the names beneath them that she glanced, but she was sure they were all people of great importance. The mahogany walls were polished to what seemed a mirror finish, and her high-heels sunk into the soft carpet with each step she took. She wasn't quite sure what to expect honestly, and it scared her.

She'd heard all the stories one would wish to hear about the officers of the Kahldarian Commissariat Corps. Brutal officers who used any means they saw necessary to root out traitors, insubordinates, and cowards. Nobody was beyond their scrutiny or Judgment. One of the most famous tales told of a Lord general being convicted of selling secrets to rebels. His execution was publicized widely, and his entire family hunted down and killed because of their guilt by association. These were men who wore black, saw red, and felt nothing for anyone. Their loyalty was to the state, and the ideals of the state only.

She found the door she had been sent to quickly enough after turning down the second hallway, a wall mounted camera following her every move ominously. Hesitantly, she raised a paw, knocking twice upon the side of the door, anxiously waiting to see if anyone responded. She looked down quickly, shuffling her feet. She could feel a panic attack coming on, but the door opened before it had a chance to.

She saw the polished black boots first, her eyes slowly rising along his black pants, red belt, black shirt, red collar... And then she met eyes with the same male who had seen her protectors to their deaths. "Ahh, Miss Stryker. Please, do come in and have a seat. I will try to make this as pleasant for you as possible, but I promise you, if you do not cooperate, it will not be an enjoyable time for you here. Dinner will be served any minute. Can I get you some wine?"

The introduction seemed almost all to much for Shadi. Pleasantries and threats mixed into one, and all pulled off with a charming accent of the Kahldarian home world's upper class citizenry. His fur was black mostly, with white patterning like a typical fox, save for a strip of red fur that separated the two contrasting colours where they met. The peaked cap of his officer looked brand new, as did most all his uniform. Newly polished, and recently pressed. The Keynari cut a very clean and groomed figure indeed... Had it been under different circumstances, she might even called him charming and attractive. As it was though, she hadn't met anyone she could have possibly despised more in the world.

He ushered her inside, and she fought to keep the scowl from her lips as she slowly stepped inside, looking about the lavishly decorated quarters. At the back off the main area, she could see a separate door leading to a bedroom. A dining setting dominated the center of the room, with a small kitchen tucked into one corner, where a neatly suited chef worked over the stove, frying some sort of meat to perfection. He seemed to be handling the kitchen quiet well, considering the balaclava that hid his face. On the opposite side, a lounge suite around a mock fireplace and bookshelves seemed to finish the open living space. And tucked away near the bedroom door were a set of glass cabinets, showcasing an array of classical and collectible firearms behind a large desk that the Commissar obviously used for his work, judging by the stack of papers sitting atop it.

He pulled back one of the elaborate high backed chairs by the rounded table, making a polite bow towards his feline guest for the evening, waving a paw towards the seat. "Please. I insist. We have much to discuss. I hope you like steak. Uxhi here is the finest cook aboard the Hammerhead. He insists he can make a meal that anybody would fall in love with." The male's many tails flickered back and forth as he spoke, swinging like pendulums that caught Shadi's attention and held it for a moment to long when he noticed.

"You like them? It is a trait of my species. We grow more as we age. There are twenty one, you would find were you to count them. Perhaps if this meeting goes favorably, you might have an opportunity to do just that up close..." His tone revolted Shadi, like there was some sly innuendo behind his voice, as if he thought himself god's gift to women. It made her want to retch again.

Instead, she raised her chin, and slid into the offered seat with a polite 'Thank you', her tail coiling around the wooden legs. The scent of the meat cooking on the grill nearby made her stomach want to roll in a much more desirable way, the scent of real food making her hunger return with a vengeance.

"Surely you must be hungry, no? Come, Uxhi, bring our guest her meal." The vulpine smiled, before his expression suddenly changed to one of shock. "Ahh! But where are my manners?! I am Isiat Carcer, Political Officer first class of the Kahldarian Commissariat Corps. You may call me Isiat, or Commissar Carcer." He bowed once more, before seating himself across the table from her, as the black suited waiter brought across two plates of still steaming food.

Luscious fresh vegetables; not the freeze dried kind one normally found on such vessels, adorned the plate, complimenting the perfectly well done steaks. Indeed, the decorations matched the sense of class that the vulpine seemed to hold, and the exquisite food was no exception to his demeanor. He flicked his paw, unfolding the napkin out across his lap before he took up his silverware, the chef walking away to fetch a bottle of wine to accompany their meal.

Shadi's unease only grew as a few tense moment of silence passed, Isiat just staring at her from across the table wordlessly. It was another minute before the vulpine spoke, having already taken several bites of his meal. He looked across at her, almost confusedly. "Please, you must be famished. The food in the brig is hardly appetizing. I assure you, it's not poisoned or drugged. I have no need for such tools in my trade." His silverware rasped against the china plate as he cut himself another bite, the shrill noise making Shadi want to flinch. But she did her best not to show her fear on the outside, slowly taking up her own utensils and taking a small mouthful of the steak. Her mouth was dry from what was almost certainly dehydration, and the juices from the meat soothed the dryness in her throat.

"I trust you have many questions, so let me tell you a little of myself. After all, a figure as important as yourself, well, I already know just about all there is to know about you." He smiled, as the waiter returned, pouring them each a glass of the sweet red wine. It didn't escape her notice that it was a Venolian beverage, the familiar scent reaching her nose like a soft autumn breeze.

"It is a good wine, yes? Let me tell you a bit about myself. I was born on Kahldara 27 years ago. I attended the Politburo's training school from the time I was six years old, and graduated at the top of my class when I turned eighteen. Since then, I have served with a dozen different combat units, moving where I was needed, and when I was shipped here, I never thought I would capture possibly the second most valuable person in the entire Venolian rebellion. It is funny how things turn out..." He chuckled heartily, taking a sip from his wine glass. Shadi did the same, but more just to have something to help wet her throat a little. Perhaps the alcohol would help keep her calm just a bit.

"Well, I never thought I would end up in a Kahldarian jail cell and treated well below the minimum standards as set by your own-" She started as if trying to make some kind of protest, but the male across from her quickly cut her off.

"Your escape ship was destroyed leaving orbit, your crew killed, and you along with them, make no mistake, as far as anyone knows, you are already dead, and aside from that, those rights do not extend to traitors of the Kahldarian cause." He snapped quickly, standing up from his seat, making her flinch. What little food she had eaten was threatening to come back up in a hurry, and she did her best to hold everything down and bite her tongue.

He didn't give her an opportunity to speak anyway, seeming far more interested in explaining both himself, and her situation to her. "Let me be frank here for a minute. You are being held aboard this vessel because you are two things. One, a traitor to the Kahldarian empire, and two, because you a person of significant interest to my superiors, and myself." He took a moment to clear his throat, waving off their waiter to go and fetch something from the bedroom, an unspoken but pre-arranged command.

"As the daughter of the Venolian's highest ranking military officer, we are not sure just what you are privy to because of your father, but make no mistakes, you will tell us or you will find yourself out of an airlock. Since nobody but the Kahldarian high command and myself are aware of your survival, I have be granted free reign to extract that information using whatever methods I see fit. Now perhaps you would like to answer some of my questions. What exactly is your father's plan by retreating? Was he hoping to catch us in an ambush when we enter the system, or perhaps he is amassing his forces to counter attack? Tell me what you know, and this will go much smoother." He grinned at her, and Shadi did not like the look he gave her at all.

She stammered quietly, her paws gripping her cutlery a little to tightly. "My father never told me anything of the such. I just knew I was being taken to him. He wanted me safe!" She blurted out, following his movements as he walked around behind her, his 'assistant' returning with a long pole. The scent of the food now was making her nauseas more than anything else, and her throat felt as dry as a bone.

"How convenient. Your father didn't let you in on anything just incase this would happen? Did it occur to you that perhaps he knew you would be captured? That perhaps those men were being paid to deliver you to us as a bargaining chip for a cease fire?" He sneered, and Shadi's eyes went wide. Surely it couldn't be true. Her father would never have... As if on cue, Isiat spoke with a low, baritone voice like her fathers, a famous line from his speech just after Venolia declared it's independence.

"The needs of one should not outweigh the needs of those in need. And Venolia is in need." He chuckled mockingly, taking the line entirely out of context. He had been referring to the Kahldarian leader putting himself ahead of his people in his original speech, but now Isiat was twisting her father's words to make him seem like she had been a sacrificial lamb to keep the wolves at bay a little longer.

She rose from her seat, turning to face him accusingly. "My father would never do anything of the sort. He is a far better and honorable man than you." She hissed, and quickly looked to the door. Perhaps if she could just make it into the hallway, she'd have a chance of escaping. She could easily enough get to the guard at the elevator, and if she could take his rifle and find her way to the escape pods...

How she was going to do that, she wasn't sure, but she knew she wasn't staying here. She'd make it up as she went, and the first part of that... Isiat took a step towards her, reaching a paw out as if to grab her by the neck, but in a swift movement, her tail swung around, the heavy weight of the muscled appendage thumping him in the side of the head and sending him to the floor with a grunt. She ran for it, dashing across the room towards the door. Just make it out of the room she told herself. She reached for the doorknob-

"Yeaugh!" She gasped, the wind suddenly leaving her lungs as a length of cord tightened around her throat. She'd completely forgotten about the second man, and only realized what he had been holding when she looked up from her new position on the floor, the item that was to be the start of her humiliation. A catching pole. The sort one used on stray animals.

Isiat snarled as he picked himself up off the floor, grabbing his cap up as he climbed to his feet. He was flustered, this bitch had the arrogance to strike him?! "Where were you going to run, huh!? This ship is entirely sealed! You wouldn't have even made it to the elevator you stupid bitch!" He snarled as she was forced back up, the rope around her neck pulling her to her knees.

"But that's okay, it's been far to long since any of my subjects have put up a fight. Now what is your father planning!" He shouted, as the catching pole forced Shadi to bend over, her cheek pressed against the soft carpet, her teeth bared as she tried to snap at him. The dress she had been given was taut around her knees and felt like it would tear at any moment.

"Let me go!" She yelled back at him, thrashing about and trying to lash out with her tail again, but a swift drop of Isiat's boot made her yelp as he pinned the waving appendage to the floor. "No! Please! I don't know, he never told me!" She pleaded, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

"Liar! You know exactly what I want to hear, and until I hear it, you're going to be enjoying my company wither you like it or not." He growled, his head whipping around to face his assistant. "Hold her down firmly, I don't want her getting up." The tone in his voice was anything but the charming male who had opened the door for her. His paws grabbed at the hem of her dress, making a shower of fine sparks as the nano-fiber tore down the middle, the male yanking it up over her hips before it had a chance to weave itself back together, a tear too severe even for the self-repairing fabric to immediately recover from.

Shadi screamed as she felt his paws tugging at the thin pair of lace panties that had come with the dress, tugging them down to her knees as she struggled to get away from this male, knowing full well just what he intended for her now. "Quit your struggles." He barked, the pole at her neck giving a firm and sudden jerk that made her go limp beneath him, just sobbing quietly to herself. She could hear him undoing his own belt, chuckling softly to himself like he was all to proud that he was going to rape her.

"You can scream all you want, the walls are soundproofed though. Now I'm going to give you one last chance to tell me what I want to know, or else I'm going to make you more sore than a whore in the red zone during shore leave." He growled loudly into her ear, his paws grabbing at her tail and yanking it upright with a firm tug of his paws that made her screech out in pain again.

"Ahhh! I'm telling you! I don't know! Please! I'm still pure!" She begged, trying to hold back the tears in her eyes. He pressed his hips flush with her own, and she could feel the male's erection run wetly along the base of her tail, making her struggle all the more fiercely. She tried her best to thrash her tail as she tried to get away, but all she succeeded in doing was tightening the thread around her neck, cutting her air off even further.

She gasped, trying to soothe her burning lungs, but the cord was to tight, which only seemed to make Isiat all the more cheerful about what he was about to do. "Oh? That just makes this all the more fun." He smirked, but Shadi was too close to passing out to hear him properly. She scratched desperately at the carpet, her meat hook like claws tearing at the soft fabric as she tried to pull herself away from him.

"Let her breathe! I want her to be focusing on this..." Isiat sneered to his assistant, the fox simply smirking as he loosened the catching pole's grip on her throat. Shadi immediately gasped in a lungful of air, her grip on the carpet loosening as her body relaxed for an instant, going somewhat limp under the pressure of the pole at her neck. It was none to her benefit however.

Isiat growled, lowering his hips, the male's vulpine girth slipping along her soft, untouched folds. This wasn't the normal kind of interrogation he took a part in. Normally, he had a specific set of troopers under his command that he brought in to acquaint themselves with female prisoners, but tonight... No, tonight he just wanted to see what it was like to have her break under his own force, and he would not deny that he would take a certain pleasure in breaking this arrogant bitch himself.

She squealed as he thrust forwards, the tapered tip of his length parting her virginal petals like peeling back a rose bud, before he unceremoniously forced his hips forwards, sinking entirely into her with a single thrust, and tearing away all traces of her virginity along with it. Shadi let out a scream like she'd just been hit with a hot iron, but Isiat gave her no time to recover, using her tail as leverage as he slid right back out only to bury his bone again.

"There, see? That's not even the worst of it yet. I'd consider... Nggh... Talking if I were you, else the cabin crew are next." He snarled loudly in her ear, utterly ignoring Shadi's pleads and shrieks of pain and terror. This man had just ruined her innocence when she really didn't know. Every time she screamed it at him, he only gave a particularly firm thrust, bottoming out in her tightly gripping tunnel, the adrenalin pumping through her system making her by far the tightest bitch he'd ever had.

She squirmed as much as she could, but every time she tried to move, the catching pole around her neck just constricted her windpipe further, making her gasp and Isiat groan loudly. "That's it bitch, just keep that up and you'll have me going in no time... And all it'd take for you to stop all this is just to tell me what I need to know." He taunted, raping her without so much as a hint of mercy or kindness to his voice.

His cock drove into her unwilling body like a spear, piercing to her very core and depositing strands of the male's slick preseed, only easing his access into her body further as he rutted her. Each time he pulled back, she cried out in pain, the sudden and brutal entry leaving her sore and aching, and each thrust only accentuated the pain for her. Reflexively, she clenched down around him, and his misguided lust only saw it as an excuse to pound her harder.

"You like that girl, huh? You're no better than the whores now, taking that cock like a good and proper bitch would." He sneered at the hapless feline, and Shadi failed to fight back the tears now, sobbing quietly in between choking cries when the catching rod pulled taut around her throat.

He let out a hearty, pleasured grown as he bottomed out in her tightly gripping vent once more, his cock pulsing and twitching as he smeared his pre-seed across her insides, paving the way towards her womb when he finally sunk his knot into her. The fleshy mass was slowly beginning to take shape at the base of his breeding spire, spreading her so recently virgin slit apart a little more with each time he hilted inside of her, pressing the fuzzy head of his sheath flush with her sore and swollen cunt.

He could see just why his group of 'professionals' enjoyed their work so much, always asking if they would be required whenever a new prisoner was brought in. Men, women, they didn't care. Typical fucking soldiers just looking for a hole to fill for their pay, but they certainly hadn't failed at their jobs yet. He'd laid down a strict set of rules for them, namely that the prisoners had to be able to speak, move, and not be hemorrhaging when he got back to them with his questions.

Under him, Shadi's face was losing color, from her fear, pain or from lack of air, it was difficult to tell. The little female had never sobbed so openly in her life, her chest, face and nose burning. She hadn't been trained for this! She'd heard of it happening, but... no one had ever told her what she should do if it ever happened to her. Her father had made sure she had defensive training in her teen years, but he had tried so hard to give her a normal life, outside of the war... He had always made it seem as though it were happening somewhere else for her, not right outside her own front door...

But it was a harsh reality she had come to discover. It wasn't outside her door anymore; it was invading her very body, pumping her full of its essence. She tore at the carpet beneath her and shrieked, tossing her head and fighting against the catch pole with all her might, trying to pull herself away from the knife he just had to be stabbing her with, because she had never heard anyone say sex was so painful!

She was no military brat... She had been her daddy's pampered princess, living a easy, comfortable life with a family who loved her, and kept her out of anything that remotely sounded like 'war', she knew nothing! Even if she wanted to, she had no idea what her father's plans were! What man would be stupid enough to tell his own child his battle plans, when people like this Isiat existed, waiting to rape the information out of them?

The catch pole tightened in an almost angry way, as if the male holding her down for the Commissar were expressing his displeasure with her behavior by choking the life out of her. She felt dizzy, and her torso slumped forward, the feline not able to catch herself before her face smacked into the carpet. Behind her, the Commissar grabbed a nice paw full of her hair, and tried to pull her up.

She let out a pitiful yowl, but she couldn't hold herself up. Her vision went black around the edges for a quick moment, before a sharp bark behind her made the pressure on her throat go away, air rushing into her starving lungs once more. She was punished for her weakness though, the male driving into her small form harder and faster than he had before, making her rough, rasping voice call out for mercy again, just wanting him to stop hurting her...

Isiat had no such intentions. He drove into her hard, leaning his body down over her own, his tails covering them like a blanket as he tried to force his engorged knot into her. Traditionally, one would have done it what the bulb was still at a reasonable size, but Isiat wanted to feel every moment of her body stretching out to accommodate him like an unwelcomed guest. Part of him knew he ought not to, just because of the side effects it would have on him, but he was confident that if he could overcome the trials he'd been through, his own instincts would be nothing by comparison.

Her cries were like sweet music to his ears as he entered into the final stages of his brutal interrogation, snarling and snapping in an almost primal way as his peak began to rise, his teeth biting at the back of her throat, making the feline's spine arch sharply. "See? Now if you'd just tell me what I want to know... This could all be over with..." He taunted her, loving every moment of her resistance against him. It made her so much more exciting than the whores who simply spread themselves for you. She didn't want any part of him near her, but he was planning on putting himself well and truly in her.

When his knot collided with Shadi's already stretched nethers, she squalled in fear, bunching her fists and sobbing, each forceful shove of his hips threatening to lock him inside of her. Perhaps if she just told him something, anything, he'd let her go at this point. "Nggah! Okay, He's planning to.. Nggh! Counter-attack!" She cried out, and Isiat only laughed behind her, drawing his hips back.

"Well that much is obvious. You truly don't have a clue. Shame really..." He smirked, before driving himself forward with a wet sounding slap, his knot colliding with her over-abused sex before forcing its way inside of her, until a messy sounding 'pop' echoed from between them. Shadi yowled in pain as she felt like she was split in two, the wide bulb of flesh filling her to her body's limits and then some. She hadn't been prepared for it in any way, nor had her body been made for it.

She clenched her teeth hard as Isiat bit down on the back of her neck, his canines digging in roughly against her tender flesh. He must have been biting into the metal cord around her neck, but if he was, he didn't seem to care any. It was only then that she felt him go rigid above her, his hips shaking slightly as his length within her pulsed. She cried out in shame as the first wash of her rapist's seed splashed lewdly against her cervix, followed quickly by a second, third and a fourth as the male emptied himself within her, his humiliation of her completed. She couldn't have possibly felt any worse than she did now, unwillingly spoiled and seeded by a cold and cruel rapist for information she didn't have.

She was quiet as he finished, ceasing her sobbing. Isiat didn't care, to busy riding out his climax within the no longer virgin female beneath him. His cock throbbed with each jet he pumped into her, filling the pinned bitch up with his essence. His tongue dragged slowly across the back of her neck where he had bitten her, smoothing down the fur over the small indentations left in her flesh. He rumbled out a pleased chuckle, before hissing in her ear. "Too late..."

She didn't even try to struggle anymore, and Isiat would have grinned were he not panting to try and catch his breath. He had truly broken her, but this was just the beginning of her ordeals under his supervision. There was much, much more to come in her immediate future. With a harsh tug of his hips that made her cry out sharply like a wounded animal, his knot popped free, bringing a messy dribble of blood tinged cum with it, the evidence of her stolen maidenhead. He wiped a paw across his brow, collecting the droplets of sweat that had been gathering as he stood back up on shaky feet, still recovering from his climax.

"Take her back to her cell, and let Sergeant Du'Riza know that the cat in one-fourteen is theirs to do with as they please per our arrangement." He chuckled, quickly re-zipping his fly and tightening his belt, brushing back hi hair from his face. He replaced his cap on his head from where it had fallen, grinning down at Shadi, her rear still raised almost obediently, cum dripping from her violated snatch.

"I think you'll be a crowd favorite around here... Perhaps you'll be more inclined to share what you know after the men have had their turns with you." He growled at her, buttoning the front of his coat back up, the coat-tails catching on the air as he whipped around, marching back towards the door. "Bring her! She's got some introductions to make." He snickered to himself.

Shadi didn't react outwardly, still to in shock at what had just happened to her. The feline's large tail slowly slung down between her legs, trying to cover her shame as she was jerked upright, the string around her neck pulling tightly to drag her to her feet, slowly marching her towards the door after Isiat. She didn't have any choice, her body just going where she was pushed.

Her head hung low despite the catching pole looped around her throat, just watching her feet as she was pushed down the hallway, her torn dress hanging loosely from her waist down. Her paws were folded over her lower abdomen, the ache's she felt less than they were while she was being raped, but walking had only managed to aggravate them. She didn't even want to think about the wetness that dripped down from between her thighs, staining the carpet beneath her every few steps with droplets of the foul males leavings.

*----------------------------------------------------*

The elevator trip down to the lower decks went wordlessly, despite the several stops along the way. She heard the murmured whispers of people coming and going between floors, she could feel their eyes on her when they changed cars, judging her, or lusting for their own turn with her... The tears she had shed mat dampened the fur along her face, and she doubted she would have any chance to clean herself up for some time.

Isiat, strangely enough, was silent as well. No jests, or taunts, or even flat insults or threats left his mouth the entire journey, the only sign that he wasn't in fact a statue being his tails, that flicked back and forth as the elevator car descended. As they approached the prison deck, the lights began to dim, as if to match the gloomy feeling that the deck held with it.

The soft chime sounded, and with a hiss, the doors in front of her slid open slowly, revealing a group of four fully armed and armored soldiers waiting at attention patiently. As one, they snapped up salutes to Isiat, to which he returned a lazier, more casual flick of his wrist. "At ease. Gentlemen, this here is Shadi Stryker..."

"Fuck, the Admiral's Daughter?" One of the troopers seemed to say in disbelief, another one letting out a low whistle as he looked her over. "Already had your fun I see boss... Hope she wasn't to bad for you."

"Virgin pure. I thought I would break her in for you kind souls..." Isiat smirked almost proudly, and the troops nodded in understanding, each of them baring a wickedly sinful grin on their muzzles.

"You're a lucky sonova' bitch sir. Speaking frankly. I bet the old coot would want your head if he knew." The groups apparent leader, a red scaled dragon chuckled.

Isiat tutted, making them silent once more. "And that leads me to my next point. Share her as you will, but as far as everyone is concerned, she is dead. It will be better for future operations if she remains incognito while onboard. She is nobody in particular. Understood?" Isiat had lowered the volume of his voice significantly, clearly not having a conversation that needed to be overheard. The troopers nodded silently in acknowledgement.

"Good. You are to escort the prisoner back to her designated cell, at which point she will be under your supervision until twenty-two hundred hours. After that, you are to lock up and report back to me with your progress. See if she'll talk. If not, you know what to do with her..." He motioned down the hallway, as Shadi's handler lifted the catching pole from around her throat. It was a small mercy at least that they didn't hand that over to her new tormentors, not that by the looks of them, they would need it.

"Yes sir. Twenty-two hundred lockup. Come with us Miss." The dragon held out a gloved paw to her, pulling her from the elevator and into the corridor. Isiat chuckled behind her almost darkly as he watched the group leading her away. "Don't have too much fun now..." He snickered as the door slid closed once again, the car beginning it's upwards assent anew.

He sighed softly, leaning back against slat steels walls of the lower deck's elevator, his assistant removing a cigar from his pocket, offering one to the Commissar, which Isiat took gratefully as they lit up, disregarding the no-smoking sign. "So what's your take John? You think we'll get anything useful out of her?" He asked, puffing leisurely on the fine rolled tobacco.

"It's hard to tell just now. No doubt we'll know for certain in a few hours' time, but I have my doubts. The admiral wouldn't be so folly as to inform her of his plans in anything but vague details we could have guessed based on his movements. Regardless of that though, I think keeping her will be a powerful bargaining chip if the time comes that we need one." The black furred fox nodded slowly, pulling his balaclava up until it bundled around his forehead. He chewed on the end of his cigar for a moment in thought, before he too lit up.

"Perhaps I ought to keep her in my quarters once she learns her place a little better. I think she'd match the rest of the furniture splendidly." Isiat managed a soft chuckle, the scent of the smoke building in the small elevator car tickling his nostrils. "She could be my very own help... After all, it'd be almost the same as what... Oh, whatshisname... Colonel over in second fleet did with that one girl he captured. You know the one..." Isiat groaned, trying to remember the name of the officer in question.

"I believe you're thinking of Lieutenant Colonel Gregory, and he's with first fleet now sir. Yes, his wife was part of a mercenary crew they picked up. The doctors put it down to his rather brutal and crude methods and some severe Stockholm syndrome. I believe she's his wife now in fact." The vulpine corrected Isiat, his bushy tail flicking back and forth. This was the exact reason Isiat kept him around.

John Uxhi had been a personal friend of the Carcer family since Isiat had passed basic training. He had been Isiat's corporal when he was still but a trooper, but when Isiat went down the path of a political officer instead of the regular variety, he had nominated John to act as his orderly a role which the fox had accepted more than a little eagerly. Having a Commissar's ear was a powerful tool after all, and he used it to ferret out all kinds of secrets amongst the crew. He was Isiat's eyes and ears aboard the Hammerhead, and in the first week aboard he'd uncovered a plot amongst the deck crew to try and get rid of the new Commissar on board.

"Yes, well; I'm not sure I'd go quite that far... But the room certainly could do with a house pet to liven things up... It will all depend on what information she can yield up to us. For her sake, I hope she starts talking soon, or else she's going to become all too familiar with those four..." He muttered grimly, knowing all too well just how enthusiastic they could be with new prisoners...