Trouble's Tales
Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude

by Kittiara
with Ann'katar

Stardate 2398.40

Trouble sighed and once again riffled through the stack of forms she carried. “Flight plan, mission outline, fuel requisition .... who would ever have thought a simple supply run could be so complicated?” Ben, the head of operations just chuckled, taking the stack of hardcopies from the cheetah-fem’s paws. “Procedures have to be followed, Trouble, or we’ll have chaos. The organization’s just grown too large for folks to just head off with a wave and a ‘see you later’! Besides, you do want to have all the passwords correct when you come back, don’t you? To have the Ops crew expecting you? It’d save you that trouble Erikson went through last week.” Trouble grinned as she thought of the hapless raider ship captain that had misplaced his passwords, and when he had shown up unexpectedly early, had almost been blown to pieces when he arrived at the pirate’s base. As Ben signed off on Trouble’s forms, the wolf sighed, “And when you’re at Smiley’s, I’d appreciate it ... ” Trouble grinned and finished his sentence with him as a chorus, “ ... ‘if you could find me some brie ... ’.” Trouble giggled and kissed the wolf on the nose as she collected her forms. “Yes, Ben, I’ll remember; we’ll do our best!”

As she walked through the asteroid station, towards the docking bay, Trouble found it difficult to hold her excitement in check. This was the first mission they were turning her loose on by herself. Sure, she’d flown the lion and a few other of the Brethren’s command group to that meeting with the Elysium rebels over at Danforth. That had gone well, not a single problem, but she hadn’t been in charge. Nothing more than a glorified bus driver. She’d taken some of the folks from Accounting and a cargo hold full of loot to Port Royale to meet the “brokers” (i.e. “fences”), but again, Dave from Accounting had been in charge of that trip. This trip was all hers, she was in charge! Even if it was a simple “milk-run” to go pick up some repair parts.

Trouble grinned to herself as she walked through the docking bay towards her ship; she couldn’t help giggling over just how the lion had told her she was to make the trip. It’d been late one night, and she’d returned from her tasks in the intelligence office to find him still at work at his desk in his quarters. Feeling a bit of a tease, she’d crawled under his desk, to nuzzle his crotch as he tried to work. It wasn’t long before his pants were around his ankles and his hardening cock in her mouth .... and yet still the keyboard keys clacked above her. It seemed the more she tried to distract him, the faster the sound of the keystrokes came, and yet she knew she was having an effect on him, his cock throbbing with his heartbeat. Finally he finished whatever it was he was doing (she was willing to bet that whatever he had been working on had an unusually high number of typos) and she felt one paw start to stroke her left ear. However, just when she was sure she had his undivided attention he started to talk. “Don’t let me interrupt what you’re doing, but I’ve got a small job I need to you do,” he rumbled, just a hint of panting in his voice. Trouble’s tongue glided back and forth along the underside of his shaft as her head slowly bobbed back and forth as she tried to keep up the “pressure” and listen to what he was saying at the same time. When he told her that she was to go to Smiley’s station to negotiate for some less-than-common parts the pirates needed for their ships, she purrrred around his shaft, but when he told her that she was in charge of both the mission and the negotiations with the supplier, she almost bit him ..... as his words finally ceased, Trouble found herself shifting from gentle teasing to working hard on his cock, her head rocking back and forth with increasing vigor, driving his shaft between her lips, until its head repeatedly bumped the back of her throat. It wasn’t long before he was moaning, both paws clutching at her head, and an even shorter time before his cock was spurting, his hot cum splattering the back of her throat. That evening she made it abundantly clear, without the use of words, that she was enthralled to be given this mission, and the next morning, everyone in the cafeteria wondered what was up, with Trouble grinning like the proverbial Cheshire cat, and the lion yawning repeatedly, barely able to stay awake.

It hadn’t taken Wanda long to find out what was in the offing, and she grabbed Trouble at the first opportunity ..... “Trouble, I hear we’re going on a trip,” the wolverine lass purrred, a smile on her face. Trouble was still a little doubtful about taking Lord Xylex’s daughter, a nominal hostage, away from the station, and narrowed her eyes as she looked at Wanda. “Our agreement was that I had a place on the ship for a medic; how are you coming with your studies?” Wanda beamed and held up a certificate for Trouble to see; it proudly proclaimed that Wanda had achieved her Licensed Practical Nurse rating from the Ceres Sub-Space University. Trouble smiled; “Wanda, that’s a great start, and in record time too! But I’m not sure its good enough ... tell you what, let me talk to the Boss and I’ll see what I can wheedle him into ........ Wanda’s face fell, but she nodded and gave Trouble a hug, before heading off.

That night, Trouble had done her best to “persuade” the lion, “talking” to him as she sat astride his hips, slowly rising and falling on his cock. Unfortunately he hadn’t been suitably distracted, and as he reached up to squeeze Trouble’s breasts, had informed her that he didn’t think now was the time ........ maybe later. The next day, Wanda had taken the news remarkably well, a fact that should have alerted Trouble ........

As they prepared for the trip, everyone seemed to have their own little requests to make. Trouble had a long list of things they needed, an even longer list of things that they’d like to have, but somehow it seemed each ship captain, crew chief, or maintenance head had a personal agenda that hadn’t made it to the “official” list. And each of them took her aside to give her a slip of paper, asking her to try and get those items ...... and sometimes they weren’t even “work related”. Slasher wanted a case of whiskey. Bethany wanted some catnip. Amanda wanted some sexy lingerie to impress a new boyfriend .... and so forth. Trouble was going to have a busy trip ... especially as she’d arranged to meet one of her own field agents at Smiley’s station. She’d been dealing rather anonymously with this guy for months now, and he always had provided good information, concise and accurate. Still, she felt that with some personal contact, she might get a better handle as to how to interpret the information he sent her way. With a smile she thought that perhaps with a “personal” touch she could inspire him to greater efforts, too.

Trouble walked across the docking bay, lost in thought, reviewing all her preparations for the trip, trying to think if she’d forgotten anything. She was so lost in thought that she almost walked right into the lion, as he stood by the airlock. Her head jerked up as he grabbed her, his paws large and strong on her upper arms, her eyes going wide in surprise. He seemed amused by her preoccupation and kissed her on the nose softly as he looked into her startled eyes. “Just thought I’d see you off, and ask if you’ve forgotten anything?” Trouble’s thoughts again turned to her preparations and she mumbled, “Food, ... fuel, ... life support, ... weapons ... money ... crew’s already on board ... flight plan filed, clearances granted ... got our fake ship’s ID’s and our papers ... got the list of everything we need ... preflight’s done, and everything’s green ... no, can’t think of anything we’ve forgotten ...... ” Trouble’s eyes rose to look at her master, beseechingly, as if asking confirmation that she hadn’t forgotten anything, but he just t’sk’ed and shook his head. Reaching out to touch her collar, he smiled. “And what do you think this trader you’re going to dicker with is going to think when you walk in wearing this?” Trouble’s jaw dropped and she blinked, both paws going to touch her collar ... before she could speak, the lion shook his head and told her to turn around. As she looked out across the docking bay, she felt him gather and lift her hair, to slide something around her neck, then there was a snick and her collar was falling away ... Trouble had to fumble to catch it, but once she had caught it, she raised her paws to examine the simple gold ring that now encircled her neck. The lion rumbled, “I’m told its called a 'torque',” as Trouble turned to examine her reflection in the freighter’s main deflector dish. It might have been a lady’s fancy jewelry ... or a collar pretending to be jewelry ... turning back, she sought out his eyes, to stare wordlessly at him, a confused expression reflected in her own eyes. The lion smiled, seeming to know exactly what was going through her mind. “You know you’ll always be mine, but in public, you will pretend to be free, letting no trace of your true condition show, nothing that might compromise your mission. When you return, you can replace that with your true collar, but while away, you’ll wear that, or something similar, to remind you of who, and what you are.” Trouble just nodded dumbly and rose to tiptoes to kiss him goodbye, and then without a backwards glance, her collar still in her paw, she boarded her ship and sealed the airlock.

Trouble slid into the navigator's station chair on the small freighter's flight deck, and nodded to Mark, already in the pilot's seat. "Go ahead and contact Ops, and request permission to launch. I've got all our clearances, and I do believe we're ready to get this show on the road." Mark nodded, tilted his head with a little smile as he looked her over for a moment, and turned back to his console, hitting the transmit key. As he talked to the duty furr in Ops, Trouble knew he'd noticed the absence of her collar. The ship lurched as Mark lifted off from the deck, the landing pads folding smoothly into the hull as they glided towards the launch port. Forcefields crackled around the hull as the ship passed through the tunnel and into space. Trouble watched Hinoki at the sensor station as she listened to Mark talk to departure control, and then the ship's sublight drive was engaged, the asteroid station falling behind them rapidly.

Hinoki finished his sweep of the area, noting the mining craft moving to and from the station, checking the area for "prying eyes" that might notice their departure. Everything seemed clear, and with a sigh he settled back to watch the starscape through the forward viewer. After a bit he turned, and looked at Mark. "We got a ways to the first Jump Point. I'm going to go get a cup of coffee, you want one?” Mark smiled and nodded, "Sure; cream and sugar, if you please." Hinoki nodded and rose from his station chair, stopping to look at Trouble on his way out. "Trouble you want ... hey, what happened to your collar? Good Lord, did the Boss set you free???" Trouble just snorted and shook her head, "Nope, not at all; it’s just that while we're away, I've been instructed to ‘pretend’ to be a free furr." Twirling her collar around one finger, she grinned at Hinoki. "This goes back on when we get home, and let me tell you, it feels passing strange for it not to be around my neck. It’s almost like I'm looking forward to getting back, so I can put it back where it belongs ....... " Hinoki just gave her a funny look and nodded, a short abrupt motion. "Uh, well, you want a cup of coffee?" Trouble stared at the viewscreen as she nodded, "Yeah, thanks. Black."

Zassa followed Hinoki onto the bridge when he returned, helping him carry one of the cups of coffee. Hinoki for his part put Mark's cup in the holder by the pilot's seat and settled back into his station chair, his eyes running over his board, making sure that nothing unusual had cropped up. Zassa handed Trouble her cup, and she took a long sip as she looked over the engineering board, and then changed modes back to Nav to check their progress. Looking up, Trouble found Zassa still staring at her. "Hinoki told me the Boss had unlocked your collar, but I just had to come see for myself," the vixen purrrred. Trouble shrugged. "He felt that a slave commanding a freighter would raise too many questions ... " Mark interrupted,"Coming up on the first jump point, Captain .... " Trouble grinned and nodded, "Jump when your board's green, Mark." Trouble changed the mode of her board back to engineering to give the jump drive another quick look, watching the power levels surge as Mark jumped the ship into hyperspace. When everything had stabilized, and all the instruments were lined out, she turned back to Zassa. "You know, I suppose we could just take the ship and head out, to go wherever we wanted to. We could leave the Brethren behind and they'd never find us ... " Hinoki shrugged, "We could do that, I suppose ... and yes, the Empire's big enough they'd probably never catch up." Zassa added, "And we have all the resources to change our registration, forge new identity papers ... we've even got some cash ... but would you really want to do that?"

Trouble sighed. "You know, when I was first captured and sold as a slave, I wanted nothing more than to escape, to regain my freedom. Now .... I dunno, maybe it's the conditioning, but ... I've got friends, and loves back there ... back ‘home’. I don't think I could ever just take off and leave them ...... "

Hinoki smiled and turned back to his board, sweeping a volume of hyperspace around them in the unlikely event that there was another ship nearby. Zassa patted Trouble's shoulder as she turned to leave the flight deck, and in the pilot's seat, Mark just shook his head, nodding to himself with a silent inward chuckle. Some 'slaves', indeed... maybe there was some hope yet.

The next 'day', as indicated by ship's time, Trouble was sitting in the freighter's small wardroom, going over her papers, and the papers for her crew, double-checking to make sure that there'd be no problems at Smiley's. Places that dealt on the shady side of supply often went to great pains to know who they were dealing with, fearing the police, or worse, the Empire. And Smiley's was supposedly a place where you could get anything you needed, no questions asked; that was why they were going there. She yawned and turned to look a the back of one of the documents when Wanda moseyed in, to pour herself a cup of coffee. "Mornin', Trouble," the wolverine lass mumbled. "Mornin', Wanda," Trouble replied, rather distractedly. It wasn't until two minutes later, after Wanda had left with her cup of coffee that Trouble's head snapped up. She stood, knocking over her chair to yell "WANDA!" at the top of her voice.

She found Wanda down in the cargo bay with Zassa. They'd set up a handball court in one corner, using some polyboard, and were jumping back and forth, each trying to swat the hard rubber ball. Trouble watched for a moment, scarcely able to believe her eyes. Finally she could hold it in no longer. "Wanda, what are you doing here?" Wanda deftly caught the ball, and turned to face the cheetah. "I thought Zassa wasn't getting enough exercise, so we set up the court here. I promise you both that by the time we get back, she'll have lost two kilos and have much improved muscle tone ... " Trouble shook her head, "Not that! What are you ... I thought I told you the Boss said you couldn't come on this trip!" Wanda just smiled and nodded, "You did. But I wanted to come anyways, and decided to follow an old and honored tradition; stowing away!" Trouble groaned. They were too far out to turn back now. And her master was going to kill her when he found out. "Wanda, you've gotten us in a lot of trouble, and I intend to make sure you don't get us in any more!" Wanda giggled, "I figured there'd be punishments involved ... and I'll take what’s coming to me, just so long as I get to do some shopping!" Zassa grinned, "Ooooooh, punishments! Yes, she needs to be punished! Captain, Ma'am, please may I punish Wanda?" Trouble just groaned.

Trouble had every intention of punishing Wanda for stowing away. She just didn't know how. She certainly didn't want to hurt her, but something had to be done ... That evening, at "shift change", she kissed Mark on the flight deck. "Sure you don't mind sitting this one out?" she purrrred. Mark grinned and shook his head. "Not at all. Besides, who else on board could you trust with the controls while there's an orgy going on, anyway?" Trouble grinned and gave the mouse a hug and headed aft towards the cargo bay. Zassa and Hinoki had rounded up Wanda, and had her kneeling in the cargo bay, completely nude. Well, since they'd cleared the pirate station, clothing had been pretty much optional anyways ... Trouble grinned as she saw that they'd made her adopt a slave's position, kneeling with knees widespread, paws on her thighs, back straight with head bowed. Marching right up to her, Trouble looked down at the kneeling wolverine lass and demanded, "Are you ready to receive your punishment?" Wanda mewled in a small voice, "Yes, Captain." Trouble grinned and shook her head, glad that with her head bowed, eyes downcast, that Wanda couldn't see the expression on her face, but it was obvious that Zassa and Hinoki had caught it. Trouble grinned at them and silently mouthed, "I just can't get used to being called ‘Captain’."

Trouble did her very best to resume her stern expression. "Wanda, your presence has made me quite uncomfortable, and as a result, I am determined to make you just as uncomfortable. Zassa has a little ... fashion accessory that I want you to wear. Until further notice." With that, the vixen moved into Wanda's line of sight, holding a leather and steel contraption ... it looked like a chastity belt, with a thick leather strap for around the waist, and another that would descend severely between the thighs. In a strategic place it had a hard and inflexible, yet padded plate that completely covered her sex, preventing so much as a touch ... and just "behind" that a rather severe butt-plug. Where the straps joined in front and back was a riveted reinforcing metal plate, where the shield over her sex met the strap from the butt-plug was an integral lock. Hinoki rose to help, with a grin, and shortly the device was locked around Wanda's loins. "The key that opens that is chained to the ship's head (toilet); it however will stay in the lock, until the two halves are reconnected; thus, you can go to the bathroom anytime you like, but can't leave without refastening the belt." Trouble smirked. "The other part of the punishment is that in stowing away, you've caused us to have to ‘watch’ you, although I admit, ‘watch over’ might be more accurate. In doing so, there are ... activities that some of us will not be able to participate in, as I'll have to assure that you're ... protected. And as such, there will be activities that you will not participate in." Trouble smiled as Wanda stiffened, "No, I'll take you shopping with us; I wouldn't deny that to any of the rest of the crew, and if we're to watch over you, then you'll have to go along... but! I am going to make you watch us, as we make love to each other, and will not let you join in. That's the point of the chastity belt. Even as you can't give yourself pleasure." Wanda just moaned.

Trouble made sure that Wanda remained kneeling there, in the cargo bay, as she and Zassa wrung Hinoki dry, draining him of every drop of cum his poor balls contained.

Trouble's eyes snapped open with an almost audible "click." It wasn't the overhead of her miniscule cabin on her freighter that she saw, but a blue sky, with cumulus clouds. Wind tugged at her fur, a spray of sand stinging the left side of her face, the sound of the surf in her ears. She tried to raise her head, to look around, only to find that her hair had been gathered at the top of her head, braided, and the end of the braid secured somewhere behind her; she couldn't raise her head more than a few inches. Turning her head left, and then right, she made out that she was laying on a beach, spread-eagled, her wrists, her ankles, and her tail (and presumably her hair as well) bound to large stakes driven deep into the sand.

A ball gag filled her muzzle, and there was an interesting presence between her legs, as if her pussy had been filled by a thick dildo ... except the wind was whispering where it usually wasn't felt, and she wondered if it was some sort of a tube was holding her open .... As she looked, she realized that she was at the very edge of the high tide line; the sand went from flat, through a little dip, to the slope that the water advances upwards with the rising tide.

Her head was positioned such that the little lip where the sand went from horizontal to almost vertical for a few inches was right at the back of her neck, her body below the high tide line. Well, she thought to herself, if the tide comes in, at least my head should be above water.....

Squirming around a little, she assured herself that she was tightly bound, with no apparent hope of escape. Taking another look, she realized that she was bound with black braided cord of a type she'd never seen before, and she wondered how she'd come to be here ......

There was nothing to do, but lay there, the sun rising to her left, slowly traversing the sky, the day growing hotter as it rose. In fact, things were getting quite warm, the heat causing the cheetah fem to pant lightly. The metal of her nipple and pussy rings were absorbing the rays of the sun faster than her fur was, and her tender bits were getting uncomfortably hot. As if to cool her, however, the wind, which had been blowing sand at her, seemed to be strengthening, the sand stinging her sensitive nose, forcing her to turn her head to the right ......

The crab was driving her crazy. It would skitter across the sand, to poke at her, as if trying to figure out if she was edible, and then as the cheetah squirmed, it would skitter off, to look at her. The damn thing just wouldn't go away and leave her alone. It approached again, to claw its way up her right side, its sharp claws dancing across her tummy, and as she howled into her gag and wriggled it hopped off to her left. Squinting into the wind to her left, something other than the crab caught her attention, and she groaned as she beheld the darkening clouds and the threatening sky. Well, I suppose I could use the shade, and a nice cooling rain would be nice ...... she thought to herself.

She was almost asleep, the crab having found more interesting things to do, when the first spray of water cooled the pads of her feet. Well, she thought to herself as she looked through slitted eyelids at the position of the sun, I suppose the tide had to come in eventually. She lay there, stoically, as the spray blew higher across her body, the waves first lapping at her feet, then her calves, until the water was surging up to her thighs. She moaned to herself as the warm water felt like a hundred lover's tongues gently lapping at her. But as the tide inexorably rose, she found that the pressure of the waves would at first force her legs as far apart as their restraints would allow, and then as the water ebbed, would drag them back the other way, again, to the limits of her bindings. And with each wave, a little of the sand under her rump, under her back, would be washed away. She was slowly sinking! And all the while the sky grew darker, the wind fiercer, the sound of the waves crashing on the beach louder. She was beginning to worry, that perhaps with the storm, her head would not be high enough above the break in the slope of the beach that demarked the point of high tide, to keep her sufficiently safe, when the first wave soaked her crotch. She moaned anew as she felt the salt water flow through whatever spread her labia, to fill her like a weak douche. Again and again, as the water crept inexorably higher, the surge of the sea pounded her sex, invading her body, forcibly spreading her legs ..... The spray was breaking over her face, droplets of water occasionally running into her nostrils, and she was starting to have to concentrate on just breathing, when a monstrous wave covered her. It was gone in an instant, and she spluttered, clearing her nose, just as the next wave, not as forceful, surged up her body. She writhed against her bonds, seeking desperately to escape the periodic inundations, gasping for breath in the increasingly few moments when she wasn't covered in spray, when she woke up.

Trouble panted as she sat upright in her bunk, her chest heaving. "Just a dream," she kept telling herself, "just a stupid dream ........ " She grinned at the memory of the warm water slowly lapping up her thighs towards her sex, forcing her legs apart, and at the feel of it surging into her pussy like an almost insubstantial cock ...... but then she thought to herself, Don't dreams of drowning reflect feelings of being "over your head" in real life? and wondered to herself if perhaps she had bitten off more than she could chew ...........

It was one of those rare times when the whole crew was together in the ship's tiny wardroom. Both Hinoki and Wanda were walking a little funny, each for obvious and slightly separate reasons. Trouble was just about to start her shift on the flight deck, and Mark had just come off duty, frowning at a stack of printouts he'd brought with him; for the moment, as they got cups of coffee or a snack, the ship was left to the rather sophisticated autopilot. Trouble chuckled to herself as she thought at least it wasn't so sophisticated that it could make the coffee too ... or drink it. Mark finally dropped the stack of paper onto the small table with an exasperated sigh and shook his head. "Captain, I'm afraid I have to report a security problem." Trouble looked up. "What kind?" The mouse indicated the hardcopies lying in front of him. "Our dear, highly paid, oh-so-expert forgers back home ... " He stopped and shook his head again, then noticed everybody's attention had turned towards him by now. "Just look at these and tell me if you notice anything odd about them." He scattered the papers around a bit so everybody could have a look. Trouble grabbed a couple of sheets before anybody else could react, and scanned them. "Hinoki, male cheetah, born ... Zassa, female fox ... wait a minute, they used our real names ?!? What the hell were they thinking???" Mark nodded solemnly. "Just what I'd been wondering myself." Hinoki interrupted; unnoticed by the others, he'd picked up another sheet of paper and looked it over with a slightly confused expression, and now he innocently showed it off to Trouble. "You mean this is your real name, too?" Trouble glowered and literally tore the page out of his paw; "Yes, and you will forget it immediately!" Zassa chuckled, "Why? What could be so horrible about your real name?" Trouble turned to face the vixen but before she could say anything, Hinoki burst out laughing, making her spin back around with claws bared. Still, it was too late to stop Hinoki. "Our brave captain's name is named Sou Ky? Souky? Sooki? Sooooooooooooky!" the male cheetah chuckled. Trouble growled; "Ky is the family name, and it’s not my fault if my parents decided to get .... cute. I hate that name, and if you're smart, you'll see to it that I never hear it again!" And with that, Trouble stormed out towards the flight deck, leaving her full cup of coffee on the wardroom table.

Hinoki looked at Zassa and the two of them both burst out laughing again. Mark sighed, shook his head and looked at a rather confused Wanda. "Since that's the name on the ship's papers, I'm afraid she's going to be hearing it a lot in the week to come. I just hope that's all the trouble we're going to have because of that goof-up."

After a suitable cooling-off period, Mark reheated Trouble's coffee cup, and took it to her on the flight deck. The cheetah fem was all curled up in the pilot's chair, looking like she was having a good sulk. Mark put the cup aside to hug her gently. "Want me to toss that silly cheetah out of the airlock for you, Captain?" Trouble chuckled in spite of herself. "Can't do that; he'd just turn into a navigational hazard for other ships, and he's got a job to do." She grinned in what she hoped would pass for a proper piratical expression. "Ask me again when we're back home, will you?" Mark nodded and mock-saluted. "Will do, Captain." Trouble grinned a moment longer, then turned serious again. "With a security breach like that, do you think we should abort the mission while we still can? Or should I break out the do-it-yourself forger's kit and see if I can re-do all the documents? Somehow I doubt my efforts will be up to the quality of the documents already prepared for us. There's a meeting or two that have been carefully arranged in advance; if we break off now, it'd likely set us back several weeks at least." Mark shook his head. "I've been thinking about just that for a bit. By all accounts, Smiley's isn't the kind of station that cares too much about just who uses their docks or if customers' names stay the same from one visit to the next. It's also well outside Elysium-controlled space proper. If we act normal enough and don't give anybody an excuse to pry too closely into our backgrounds, I don't think we have much to worry about. Just tell the crew to stay out of trouble, is all." Looking over the nav console, he nodded to himself, "I'll relieve you in twelve hours, and four hours after that, we should be there. Have a nice shift."

Trouble sighed and nodded and waved as Mark headed off to bed.

"Roger that, Lost Cause; you are cleared to approach the station. Keep your velocity under 15 meters/second. Your assigned berth is docking port A23. Please advise when securely docked, with engines secured, and we'll unlock the port for you. Landing Control clear." Mark acknowledged his instructions and slowly moved the small freighter towards their assigned port. Like so many others, Smiley's station was a hollowed out asteroid, a strange hybrid of metal and rock, looking for all the world like a cyborg potato. Their port was on the far side of the potato, "aft" of the tower that held most of the station's sensors and transmitter arrays. Mark, as always, handled the ship smoothly, turning and settling onto the airlock ring with scarcely a bump. At his signal, Trouble secured the in-system drives and the maneuvering thrusters, and leaving one of the APU's running, slowly secured the ship's power systems.

When all was secured, she nodded to Mark and he relayed the information to station control. Trouble watched as they were scanned, confirming what they'd told Control, and then she heard, or more accurately felt, through the deck, the airlock's main locking clamps engage. It had all been completely routine and normal ..... and it felt sooooo strange.

Trouble had dressed carefully, wearing an old pair of work pants, worn, but still decent, and relatively unstained, and a simple work shirt. Hinoki wore cut-offs, a tee-shirt with a musical group's logo, advertising a concert tour from years ago ... and of course his collar. The appointment they'd made with the trader they'd come to see wasn't for half a day, and Trouble wanted to go explore the station a bit, to get a feel for the place. As she fretted, checking her pockets for their papers, her multi-tool, and other knick-knacks, she thought back to the last time she'd departed a freighter for a station ..... Turning she looked at Mark, but before she could open her mouth, the mouse chuckled softly. "Now don't you go and panic on me for no reason. Whatever else this place is, it's not Elysium Station, there are no 'Wanted' posters of you hanging on the walls or guards waiting to arrest you right outside the ship. Have fun, don't do anything too stupid -- you know what I mean, you've been there yourself -- and you'll be perfectly fine. Okay?" Trouble shook her head in amazement, and then nodded, and turning, led Hinoki through the airlock.

The docking ring was done in Industrial Grunge. It was moderately clean, but needed painting bad. And there was dust and grime in the corners between the wall and the structural ribs. Obviously the cleaning 'bots weren't keeping up with things. Still, the place was fairly busy, more than half the docking ports showing the name boards of different ships docked there. As they walked towards the nearest connecting tunnel, they noted free traders, like themselves, corporate freighters, mixed cargo packets (the kind that carried cargo and passengers on the routes not frequented by the liners), personal transports, and even a salvage and repair ship. If there were any corsairs docked, they were well disguised ... and there seemed to be a singular lack of police, constabulary, customs, or military vessels ......

In the hollowed-out center of the asteroid, there was a biosphere of sorts, with plants and bushes, and a small circle of shops selling sundries, and the kind of supplies that ship's crews might need. There was a restaurant, a small jewelry shop, and three clothiers ... all of which sold used as well as new clothing ... and the inevitable souvenir shop. Somewhere there was reputed to be a less formal "bazaar" as well. As Trouble looked at the wares in the jewelry shop, she watched Hinoki talk quietly to a few of the locals, asking the questions they'd discussed before heading out, questions that might lead to entrepreneurs that didn't necessarily have a shop in the hub .... Finally, having scouted most of the public areas in the station, they headed for the one remaining frontier: the bar.

Every station like this had one. Sometimes more than one. The local watering hole. The place where information was traded, drinks were sold and consumed, relationships formed and reinforced, friends made, enemies fought, and the troubles of life forgotten, at least for a moment. Trouble took a seat at the bar halfway down its length, its stool creaking as she settled herself. Hinoki stood there for a moment, until Trouble nodded to the stool next to hers, her action drawing a dirty look (but no complaint) from the bartender. Gazing at the few bottles behind the bar for a moment, Trouble sighed and simply ordered two Bheers for her and Hinoki. The barkeep placed the mugs on the bartop without comment, taking the proffered credit chip. Trouble took a sip, and turned on her seat, to look over the crowd in the bar.

Most of the furrs in the bar were spacers, or station workers. Most of them were in their own little cliques, keeping to themselves. Trouble smiled as she remembered how with the pirates, raider ship crews flocked together, as did those from engineering, or those from the mining side of the operation. She sipped her bheer quietly, just watching, as Hinoki started talking to a rabbit seated on the other side of him. She was surprised as the stallion came up behind her, one paw on her shoulder, spinning her on her barstool. He grinned and leaned close, to say with a thick accent, "Waaaaal Little Lady, Ah'm afrayd Ah'm gonna have to call the cops on you .... " And for a moment, Trouble's eyes went wide, as she wondered how in the universe anyone had figured out who she was, then he continued, "'cause you've just stolen mah heart!"

Trouble just groaned and shook her head, and putting one paw over his nose, she shoved him back. He took it well, chuckling as he walked back to his cronies, to shrug. Just before he sat, he grinned back at her over his shoulder, "Ma'am, Ah promise you, befowah you leave this heayah station, you will be mine!" Hinoki leaned out to one side, to look around Trouble at the stallion, "Mister, believe me, you wouldn't survive a night with my Mistress!" Trouble frowned as the stallion put one paw over his heart, pretending to swoon, as his friends howled and cheered and laughed. Downing her bheer with a toss of her head, Trouble reached out to grab Hinoki's collar, and as she dragged him off, calls of "He's in for it now" and "Oh, what a way to go" echoed after them. Hinoki just chuckled, and after they'd moved a couple dozen meters down the corridor, towards the docking ring, even Trouble was laughing. After a bit, she sobered, and the thought hit her, That was the first time that you can remember, girl, that you've turned down someone interested in your body ...... how strange! How very strange! And then she grinned at Hinoki; "I wonder how he would have been in bed?" Hinoki just laughed.

The reason for their journey, for their trip to Smiley's, was to meet a furr reputed to be able to obtain anything, for a price. Trouble was convinced that the stories she'd heard of this legendary "supplier" providing an Imperial cruiser to some rebels, or of some experimental computer systems so advanced that they were self-aware to some 'stock traders' were all pure bunk. But still, there were enough wild stories that, likewise, she was convinced that there was some foundation in reality. And thus she had dressed carefully for their meeting. The dress she wore was more conservative than she was used to, more risque than a lady would normally wear. She had decided to have Hinoki and Zassa accompany her, as a show of her "wealth" and "power", and also as "backup" in case things should go poorly. Hinoki was wearing a very tight pair of briefs that showed off his physique well, and the little slip of silk that Zassa called a dress was positively scandalous. Trouble smiled to herself as she led them both through the station, towards their rendezvous.

They had arranged to meet in the restaurant, and as Trouble entered, she found that the furr they'd come to meet, enigmatically named "Mooneyes," had reserved a private dining room. As the Maitre'D ushered them through the door, Trouble stopped to assess her "opponent" in the upcoming negotiations. The room had only a single table, only about a foot high, surrounded by cushions. Reclining on the cushions on the far side was a rather fetching wolf fem in a skintight black bodysuit. Trouble smiled as she thought of her old friend Marla, and once again wondered where she might be. After giving Mooneyes the once over, she flicked her gaze over the kneeling male fox behind her. The fox was well-muscled, wearing only a collar and a skimpy silken loincloth, and as she looked at him again Trouble smiled, glad that she'd brought her own slaves.

Remember who you are, Trouble said to herself, and then grinned again. Scratch that; remember who you're supposed to be! Padding slowly across the room, trusting that Zassa and Hinoki would know what to do, Trouble settled herself on a cushion, sitting cross-legged, to calmly regard the reclining wolf fem. As she sat, Trouble observed that Mooneyes was giving her slaves a thorough once-over, and as the wolf's eyes returned to Trouble, the cheetah nodded,."Greetings, Mooneyes, I am ... Captain Ky." Mooneyes smiled and nodded lazily; "I'm pleased that the Brethren sent the famous Trouble to negotiate with me. I've followed your exploits and had hoped someday to meet you." Trouble, for her part, struggled hard not to betray her surprise at this revelation, managing to control even her breathing; however, she sensed Hinoki stiffen behind her. Mooneyes smiled, "Don't worry; your secret's safe with me. Besides, few hereabouts would care who you were."

Trouble nodded slowly. "I'm ... impressed with the capabilities of your ... organization. Tell me; what, in addition to ... supplies, might your organization be capable of providing?"

Mark gave Wanda an appraising look. "Promise you won't leave the ship?" The wolverine lass nodded enthusiastically. "Nope, I'll watch the ship, won't let anyone in, won't go anywhere, won't use the comm, won't do anything to upset you or Trouble. Don't worry, Mark, I'll be good! You go and explore the station; you can trust me!" Mark looked her over again and then nodded. As he turned towards the airlock, he growled over his shoulder, "Don't disappoint me, Wanda!" And then as the airlock closed behind him, he smiled and stretched a little. Wanda would behave ... for a while, at least. In the meantime, he felt like getting a look at the station, an idea or two which direction problems might come from, and perhaps even something decent to drink.

Trouble held out her cup as the fox refilled it with a light yellow wine. The dinner was progressing slowly, almost formally, with aperitifs, appetizers, and now soups. And each dish was accompanied by its own wine. The negotiations were progressing equally slowly, as Mooneyes kept changing the conversation to other topics, everything from the latest fashions (Trouble hadn't a clue), to the latest Imperial scandals (Trouble had some interesting tidbits from her intelligence activities that she was willing to share, much to Mooneyes delight), to the proper way to train a slave (Trouble held some interesting views on that one ... ). Each time Trouble tried to steer the conversation back to business, but after settling the next point, Mooneyes again would divert the conversation. It was almost as if she was trying to make it all last as long as possible ...... and Trouble couldn't figure out if she was being set up, delayed until the Imperial authorities could arrive to arrest her ..... or if Mooneyes was simply lonely.

Or maybe this was just the way things were done in this part of the Empire.

Mark poked his head into the bar, to look around. Not quite his usual kind of place -- well, he reminded himself, simply joining a bunch of pirates wasn't what some people would call 'usual' -- but it'd do ... He slipped quietly inside, to take up residence on a barstool near the door. After a few moments, the bartender quietly delivered his drink and he sat back to examine his surroundings.

Trouble wobbled a little as she held out her glass. Dinner had been delicious, and had left her a little more than pleasantly full. She'd fed Zassa and Hinoki morsels from her plate, following Mooneyes lead, seeing that they were well fed, but there'd been so much food, she felt she was still in danger of a massive belch. Ah, and the continuous flow of wines, and now an after-dinner liquor was testing her limits. She'd decided to follow Mooneyes lead and cease trying to discuss business; it was much safer to merely talk, and she was finding Mooneyes good company.

Mark heard the tone of conversation in the bar change, with a few "Oh shit" and "Damn" comments floating to the surface. Looking up he beheld an incredible sight, as a truly massive lady hyena pushed through the bar's door, to stride purposefully up to the bar. Mark shook his head in amazed disbelief as he gazed at her; she seemed to be solid muscle, her calves, thighs and stomach tight where her pleated skirt and crop-top exposed her fur. She moved with the heavy grace of a male lion, and as Mark looked at her, he realized that she was actually bigger than any lion he'd ever seen; in fact her size approached that of some of the equines he'd known ... and it was obvious from the reaction of those in the bar that they weren't particularly eager to see her .......

Finally the last of the deserts were finished, and the last glass of brandy drained. Trouble rose, a little unsteadily, to bid her hostess good night. "Tomorrow, we'll finish our business tomorrow ... " Trouble slurrred. Mooneyes blinked and nodded, and then grinned. "As long as you have to come back this way tomorrow, how'd you like to exchange slaves for the evening? Peter is quite talented, and I'm sure he could give you quite a pleasant evening ... and I have to admit I'm curious as to what your male could do ... " Trouble blinked and turned to look at Hinoki as if seeing him for the first time. She could tell by the way he held his ears, and his tail that he found the prospect of interest ... Turning back to Mooneyes, Trouble grinned and nodded. "Sounds good. But I've got to insist that whatever happens, you return him to me in condition to perform his chores; in other words, unharmed. Of course, I'll treat Peter the same way." Mooneyes smiled and nodded, "Always a pleasure to meet a responsible Mistress; of course, I'd agree to nothing less." Trouble nodded; "Why don't I meet you here for brunch, say, um 1100 hours? Mooneyes nodded and, turning to Hinoki, crooked her finger in a "come here" gesture. Trouble nodded to Mooneyes, winked at Hinoki, and turned to leave, pointedly not glancing back to see if Zassa or Peter were following.

Mark watched the hyena fem eat from across the bar, displaying a casual disregard for table manners that at times made her look more like an animal fresh out of the wilderness than any sentient fur. As she finished eating, letting loose a belch that echoed off the walls, she looked up, and met Mark's gaze. She looked at him for a moment, neither challengingly, or flinching from his examination, until after a moment, the bartender said something to Mark, causing him to avert his gaze. "She's been coming in here for about five days now," the bartender, a marten, said. "I think she got ditched by whatever ship she was on, although I can't say as I'd blame them. She certainly hasn't been very good company." Mark tilted his head quizzically. "Has anyone actually tried to get to know her?" The bartender snorted, "Yeah, a couple of the local studs tried to put the moves on her; they were all rebuffed, and when one of them persisted, well, you can still make out the indentation in that wall, if you look carefully. They tell me he should be out of regeneration in a few days." Mark winced lightly, nodded, and returned his gaze to the hyena. "So what's she been doing here since she arrived?" The bartender shrugged, "Day labor. Loading and unloading ships, janitorial stuff ... I heard that she took a job as night security somewhere, until she busted a drifter that wandered into her area. Emphasis on 'busted.'" Mark nodded softly again and continued to study her .... only to find her returning his gaze with a bit of a glare. After a second she said, in a voice that could be heard throughout the bar, "If you've got questions, what're you asking him for?" Mark blinked, then shrugged, gave the bartender a meaningful look, and stood up. "The lady has a point, you know ... " The marten shook his head, "You've already paid your drink, so I'm not going to get in your way ... but if anything goes wrong, where should we send the body?" Mark mumbled, "SV Lost Cause," picked up his drink, and started to weave his way through the crowd.

Trouble found Wanda seated just inside the airlock, obviously "on guard". "Where's Mark?" Trouble asked. Wanda looked up from her nursing texts and then looked at a chronometer; "Dunno; he went out to stretch his legs on the station a while ago, and I haven't seen him. In fact, it’s been quite a while." Smiling, Wanda looked up at Trouble, clicking off her reader. "Would you like me to go look for him?" Trouble shook her head emphatically NO; "No way, Wanda. You're not leaving without the whole crew; your father would be furious if anything happened, not to mention my ... boss." Turning, Trouble looked at Zassa, "You'd better change into something a little less provocative, and go take a look for our mouse. Check the bar first; that's the only place I could see him lingering. Be sure and check in with me when you return. Oh, and don't pick up any strangers; be good and I'll send Peter your way when I'm ready to sleep." Zassa grinned and nodded and hurried off down the corridor towards her closet-sized cabin. Trouble sighed and shook her head and turned to head for her own cabin, Peter following.

Zassa strode quickly through the station; it wasn't that late at night, and there were still plenty of furrs about. It wasn't that she didn't think Mark couldn't take care of himself; somehow she thought it would take a small army to seriously threaten him, but she was concerned. And curious. And she was looking forward to seeing what the bar was like ...

Peter slowly undressed Trouble, as she stood in the middle of her cabin. Each piece of clothing was carefully folded and hung up, until Trouble stood in just her jewelry. The fox looked at her with a smile, and cocking his head to one side, eyes bright, asked. "And how may I serve you, Mistress?" Trouble smiled, and traced the line of his jaw on one side of his face with a finger. "Let’s see how well you can employ your tongue, to start, and then later, I think, we'll move on to see what you can do with that bulge in your loincloth ..... "

Zassa spotted Mark right away, the blaze of his white fur standing out in the somewhat darkened bar. As she stepped closer, she realized that Mark was sitting next to the biggest hyena she'd ever seen. Ever even heard of, for that matter; the lady was as big as a horse! As Mark looked up, Zassa stopped at the edge of the table. "Tr ... ah, the Captain sent me to check on you; Wanda said you'd been gone quite a while, and she was concerned ...... " Mark blinked, checked the time, then looked up at the hyena, who flashed him a wicked grin, and back to Zassa; "Really? Darn ... I'd no idea it'd gotten so late. Oh, Zassa, this is Mala; Mala, meet Zassa; she's the loadmaster on our ship." Zassa smiled and shrugged, "No hurry to get back, I suppose, she was just concerned ... " A quick glance at the bar was all the signal that Mark needed to realize that Zassa was interested in idling here a few minutes, and he chuckled softly, exchanging glances with his new friend. "Go ahead and get yourself a drink, Zassa, I suspect I'll be a few more minutes ... no longer, though, or the captain is likely to get 'concerned' about you as well ... "

Trouble purrrrred; she was sprawled on her bunk, both legs hanging over one side. Peter was kneeling by the side of the bunk, licking deep into her pussy with a dramatic exhibition of his skill, and his knowledge of female anatomy. As he labored softly, Trouble was struck by a stray thought; she wondered what he made of all her piercings ...

Zassa put a couple of credits into the jukebox and pushed some buttons. She smiled as the music started, and as she walked back to her barstool, drink in paw, she swayed in time to the music. She knew that even dressed in work jeans and an old flannel shirt, she looked good, the eyes of almost every male in the place on her. As she took her seat again, the coyote a few stools away slid closer, to whisper, “Heya sexy; want to go back to my place? I've got some great audio recordings ... " Zassa smiled and looked him up and down, but then shook her head. "Believe me, I'd love to, but my Mistress said I have to go straight back to the ship." The coyote awwwww'ed and shook his head. "Such a mean Mistress! What ship you off of, anyways ... ?"

Trouble howled, clutching his head to her crotch as his tongue flicked over the perfect spot to drive her into the arms of another climax. She panted and moaned, her chest heaving, until finally she found the breath to say, "Enough! Stop! I need to catch my breath ..... !" Peter smiled and crawled up into the narrow bunk, to lay alongside the panting cheetah, nuzzling her softly until she'd recovered enough to pull him over on top of her, with a grin.

Trouble mmmmmmmmed softly; she'd brought her knees up to her chest, and then grabbed her ankles, to hold herself bent double, as Peter slowly drove his cock in and out of her pussy. The fox was comparatively well-endowed, and he certainly knew his business ... Trouble was tempted to ask him where he was trained, or if he knew this technique, or that ... She felt sure she could teach him a thing or too ... but dared not ask. Here, he was supposed to be the "expert," and she still had secrets to keep .....

Zassa was on the coyote's lap, her arms around his neck as they whispered back and forth, occasionally kissing. Mark had been talking to Mala for quite some time, and in one of the lulls that come normally to any conversation, he'd noticed Zassa. With a sigh, he checked his chrono and shook his head. "Well, Mala, looks like it's my turn to rescue Zassa; if I don't do something soon, I fear she'll be making a public spectacle of herself, and then we'll never make it back before the rest of the crew comes looking." Mala giggled, a deep, throaty chuckle. "I'm not sure I'd mind seeing that .... but you're right, of course. Will your ship be docked here long?" Mark thought for a moment and then nodded. "About three days, I think. I'll look for you here, tomorrow, if you'd like." Mala smiled, quickly scanned around to make sure nobody was looking, pulled the mouse up into her lap, and bent down for a brief, sloppy lick right over his muzzle and forehead. Then she set him down again, grinning ferally as she watched the blush spread under his white fur. "I'd like that, I think ... if you think you're up to the challenge, of course. And if you think you can handle fighting your way through my usual crowd of fans ... " She snorted slightly in derision at the end of her last sentence, then shook her head, her expression softening just enough for him to see in the dim light without anybody else catching on. "Fetch your loadmaster and get going, and I'll see you tomorrow." Mark nodded, gave the hyena's huge paw a quick reassuring pat, and then turned to collect the protesting Zassa and lead her back to the ship.

It must have been their fifth, or sixth position, as they ran through their not inconsiderable repertoire, with Trouble on paws and knees on the bed, Peter taking her from behind. His endurance was remarkable, and Trouble had enjoyed three more very nice climaxes. While he seemed to be unflagging, Trouble knew he had to be getting tired, and lowering her chest to the bed, she reached beneath her, to tease his swaying ballsack with both paws. "With my next climax, you may cum, slave" she purrrrred.

Wanda was still sitting in the chair, just inside the airlock when Mark and Zassa returned, but she was so engrossed in her homework she didn't notice them until Mark snuck up next to her and whispered, "Boo!" Wanda then impressed them both by levitating at least half a meter straight up in surprise! Looking accusingly at Mark, Wanda checked the time and shook her head. "Where were you two?" Zassa hugged Mark from behind and in a sing-song voice said, "Marks got a giiiirl-friend!"

Trouble and Peter were both lying on the bed, panting, when they heard the outer airlock door close, as Mark secured the ship for the night. With a grin, Trouble rolled over and swatted Peter on the ass. "Go find Zassa, and see if you can relieve some of her ‘tension’. I'm sure that having seen all the studs in the station's bar, she's rather worked up ... ” Peter just grinned and with a small bow, slipped out, his loincloth in one paw. Trouble grinned and rolled over to turn out the light, too tired to clean up. Just before she fell asleep, she remembered to growl at the audio pickup that she was to be awakened at 0930 hours .....

Trouble came awake with a start as the room lights came up, the computer insisting it was time to arise. Rising from the tangled bedclothes, she stretched and then grinned; her fur was a matted mess. She needed a shower ... ah, but not just an ordinary shower ... padding over to the comm, she called Zassa's cabin, and instructed her, and Peter (if still alive) to meet her in the ship's head (bathroom); she'd let the slaves bathe her and work the tangles from her fur and hair. Besides, she thought with a grin, they're both likely to need some cleaning up too .....

Trouble purrrred as the warm water sluiced over her. Using the trick taught her by her Master, she was having the two slaves wash her by rubbing their soapy bodies against her ... and of course things had degenerated beyond simple washing ... Peter's hard cock was pressing against the entrance to her back passage as he hugged her from behind, and Zassa's right paw was pressed hard over her mons, stroking her there ... of course Trouble's right paw was returning the compliment, stroking Zassa in turn. The three of them undulated against each other under the running water, savoring each others’ touch, until they'd each had at least one climax, their juices adding to the stream flowing down the shower's drain ....

Wanda was waiting in the corridor when the three emerged, nude, and damp. "Thought you three would never get outta there," she grumbled, pushing past them into the head. Trouble caught Peter giving her an appraising look, obviously curious about the belt locked about her loins, and smiled.

They were still all a little damp when they returned to the restaurant. Mooneyes was reclining in her usual position, Hinoki kneeling behind her. As she settled on her cushions on the other side of the table, Trouble smiled at Mooneyes. "Your Peter was quite good; you should be proud of him. I trust Hinoki was ... satisfactory?" Mooneyes smiled and shrugged depreciatingly. "He has his talents, but I suspect I require a little more ... discipline from my slaves.” Trouble raised an eyebrow in a silent question to Hinoki, but all she got back in return was a grin and a wink. Turning back to Mooneyes she nodded slowly, "True, he has been getting a little ... ‘uppity’ lately, and I suspect I'll have to give him a correction. Now, we do need to conduct some business, and I'd like to get that out of the way as soon as possible." Mooneyes just smiled and made a gesture, and before Trouble could say another word, brunch was served.

"Yes, I think we can use the XMP56C's," Trouble said between mouthfuls, "but your price is too high. New, those things go for only about 300 credits apiece." Mooneyes shrugged and sipped her coffee, "If you can find them. There is a rarity factor to consider. But I do have them in stock, and in the quantity you require, although not at this location. Now the XMP54C's are almost as good, are much more commonly available, and as such are less expensive. But if you want the very best, sometimes you have to pay a premium ... " Trouble sighed to herself. Mooneyes was a tough negotiator, but so far they'd come to terms on almost everything on her list, and within her budget too. "No," Trouble finally sighed; "we'll take the 56's, but my budget will only stand 420 credits apiece. Nothing more." Mooneyes thought for a moment, and then smiled. "At that price, I'll barely be breaking even ... and as such, I think you should do something to sweeten the pot ... " Trouble raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Go on ... " Mooneyes leaned back in her cushions to look at Trouble over the rim of her cup. "Last night was interesting, with your slave, but I wonder what you might be like. Spend the night with me, not as a slave, but as a lover, and I'll agree to the deal." Trouble smiled; "Done!"

As they walked back to the ship, Zassa kept taunting Hinoki with tales of her time with Peter, and pestering him about his experience with Mooneyes. Hinoki for his part was obviously doing his best to drive Zassa wild with curiosity, telling her only that Mooneyes was a most strict mistress, and that while he'd found ways to bring her to a dozen climaxes, she'd never allowed him to cum. Other than that, he refused to go into details ......... and the more silent he became, the more Zassa's curiosity raged.

Peter knelt before his mistress, back straight, head bowed. "Mistress, I was not permitted to see the bridge, or the engineering spaces, so I was not able to determine anything about their ship's capabilities. From what I saw, it was a rather standard free trader ... however, there was one thing of interest ... There was a young wolverine girl ...........

Mark met them at the airlock, asking, "How'd it go?" Before Trouble could say a word, Zassa grinned, "You wouldn't believe what lengths Trouble is willing to go to to make the deal!" Mark just smiled. "Oh, I don't know about that ... but I take it that you've gotten us all we need?" Trouble nodded, "Almost all; some things, like those Jebson compensators, just don't seem to be on the market anywhere. But they were more ‘wish list’ items anyways, than absolute requirements. Yes, I'd say the formal list is complete, now all we have to do is work on the ‘informal’ list .... Oh, and some of the stuff won't be here for a few days, so we're going to have to hang around for a bit. Mooneyes is throwing a bit of a party tonight, if you're interested.” Mark shook his head. "No thanks; if you don't mind, I'll just have a quiet drink in the bar again." He winked. "I know the kinds of parties you get into, after all ... and I don't think I'm in the mood today. Just don't forget to lock the ship when we go; everything's gone well so far, but there's no point in pushing our luck."

Trouble had changed into something a little less formal, and a short while later, the whole crew had assembled at the airlock. "Mark, Hinoki, I realize that you two are probably not as much into ‘shopping’ as the rest of us are, so I'll expect the two of you to keep a close eye on Wanda, and to maintain general security for the group. If you see something in one of the stores that you are interested in, let me know, and I'll take over for you. Got that?" Mark and Hinoki exchanged looks and then smiled, nodding, chorusing, "Yes Captain!" Trouble sighed and led the way from their small ship, waiting to make sure that the airlock was sealed and locked. Finally she pulled one of her own hairs, to step forward and with a lick of her fingers, "stick" the hair between the airlock frame and door. The crew watched her carefully, and when she turned she shrugged, "If the hair is missing when we come back, we'll know someone's been on board. If the hair has been moved, we'll know we were boarded by someone very professional ... I know, I know, the security systems are state-of-the-art, but you know as well as I do that there are those that can bypass even those. This is just my way of ‘making sure’."

The first place they stopped was the clothing store specializing in "work clothes." Zassa had a list from folks "back home" and between the five of them, they rapidly fulfilled most of the items on the list, adding some things for themselves. Burdened with packages, they headed for the next store, a place carrying slightly more trendy, fashionable clothes, and there, Hinoki and Mark watched, with semi-bored expressions, as the ladies searched through the racks, looking for "just the right outfit".

Trouble held the dress up to her and looked at her reflection; it was an interesting dress, seemingly missing the right side, with nothing but ribbons holding the fabric, providing minimal coverage. "Ooooooh," Zassa grinned as she looked at the cheetah's reflection, "that would go well for your ‘date’ tonight!" Trouble stuck out her tongue at the impudent slave, but had to agree with her. Still holding the dress against her, she headed for the dressing room. When she emerged, the dress over one arm, she found Zassa waiting, with three outfits she was considering. Wanda was still over by one of the racks, an almost panicked look on her face. Padding over, Trouble inquired, "Whats wrong, Wanda?" The wolverine lass looked up and moaned, "They just don't have anything in my size!" Trouble sighed and nodded. "They really don't have too much of a selection here ... Maybe we'll do better at the next place ... " Eventually, they'd made their purchases, and with even larger armloads of packages, they departed for the next store.

This one was more in the mode of a lingerie shop, with .... accessories. Again, Mark adopted a slightly bored expression as he stood watchfully by the door. Everyone else's eyes lit up as they spotted something of interest. Wanda, of course, was fascinated by the large selection of sophisticated vibrators and dildoes ....... until Trouble came up behind her and told her in no uncertain terms, "No way!" Relenting a bit, the cheetah smiled, "Tell you what, I'll buy you a special, with all the attachments for your 18th birthday. But until then, why don't you look at this ‘butterfly’ vibrator ..... that one works externally." Zassa was examining a latex body suit, with the most interesting .... protrusions on the inside of the crotch, and a plethora of straps, buckles and D-rings. Trouble grinned at her, "Latex vixen?" Zassa just grinned and nodded. Hinoki was looking at a rather severe bright chrome cock and ball harness; "Well, now I know where Mooneyes got it," he mumbled to himself, drawing looks from Trouble and Zassa. Trouble raised an eyebrow when Hinoki picked one she thought would be a size too small and wandered over to the cashier to inquire about the price. Trouble's eye caught, of all things, a jar of cream. She read the label and her eyes widened; following Hinoki she went to the cashier, a rather sexily attired mink, and asked, "Does this stuff really work?"

Mark watched with amusement; he could see that his shipmates were all attracted to various items in the store, and he also noticed that each was stealthily buying special little gifts to "surprise" the others with on the voyage home. It looked like it would be an interesting trip ......

As they exited the shop, Trouble saw Zassa stop, her gaze directed at a row of public comm booths. "Thinking of your family?" the cheetah fem whispered into Zassa's ear. The vixen nodded. "You know we can't let them know where you are, or what you're doing. It could cause way too many problems and possibly even put them in danger, if they tried to find you. But I think if we're careful, you could send them a text-only message telling them you're OK."

Zassa turned to look at Trouble, "You think so? The Boss wouldn't be mad?" Trouble shrugged, "We're far enough away from ‘home’ that even if the message is traced back here, they'll probably never find us ... " Trouble shot a look at Mark, and the mouse slowly nodded; the motion almost indistinguishable if you hadn't been looking for it. She then looked at Hinoki, who shook his head no, as if he wasn't interested in telling anyone he was OK. Smiling, Trouble took Zassa by the arm and led her towards the comm booths.

As they walked back to the ship, Zassa sighed. Her message had told her parents what had happened on her trip, how she'd been shanghaied into being a slave, but that she was now with some good furrs, happy, and working towards her eventual release. And she knew it would only spark more questions, that it could never be as reassuring as she wanted. And yet, she'd had to do something .........

They had a light lunch on board the ship after stowing their purchases. And then some of their cargo showed up, and they were all busy stowing it in the cargo hold. As they worked, Mark asked Wanda, "I just remembered ... how come you weren't interested in sending a message to your father?" Wanda snorted as she put her shoulder to a crate, shoving it sideways into position. "I send him letters periodically from the base; part of the ‘hostage’ deal. He never answers. By winding up with the pirates, I've ruined his plans for alliances by marriage, and therefore until I'm released, I'm useless to him. And if that's all I am to him, screw him!" Mark nodded and sighed, turning away to guide the next crate coming down the ramp, thinking to himself that somewhere down the line this situation would likely lead to some serious problems.

Zassa watched as the last crate was shoved into place, the tie-downs clicking into place. Some ships used magnetics to hold cargo into place, but Zassa had seen too many systems fail, and felt that the mechanical clamps were better; a power failure or battle damage wouldn't send the crates flying. On the other paw, getting to the crate in the middle of the stack, was a lot more difficult, should the need arise. Padding back through the ship, she found a bit of a line at the head; everyone wanted a shower, and as loadmaster her duties had kept her in the cargo hold longer than most. With a sigh, she turned to Mark. "Looks like I've got a bit of a wait. I think I'll use the time to take my unofficial list and go find that Rick guy on the station they say might help us get what we need." Mark looked the slightly dirty vixen up and down and then shrugged. "I wouldn't be gone too long, but I guess you've got some time ... "

Zassa closed the airlock behind her and strode into the station. Her worn and dirty overalls let her fit right in, and while she still drew the occasional appreciative stare or whistle, by and large she moved anonymously through the station. Finally, she arrived at the hole-in-the-wall kiosk that was reputed to be where this Rick fellow conducted business. Sure enough, there was a rather handsome male fox behind the counter, one who smiled as the vixen approached his counter. Zassa gave him her most dazzling smile. "Hello, I'm, ah, looking for Rick." The fox smiled back, "I'm Rick, what can I do for you?" Zassa slowly unzipped a breast pocket of her coverall and pulled out a sheet of paper, the fox's eyes on her paw as she moved. Unfolding the paper, Zassa smiled again. "Some friends of mine back home are looking for some, ah, ‘hard to find’ items, and I've been told you might be able to get them for me." Rick shrugged. "Could be; I've been known to find those hard-to-find items in the past; but there are no guarantees. What are you looking for? Zassa smiled. "First off, a large jar of something called ‘chutney’ ... ”

Trouble emerged from the ship's head, still a bit damp. She'd taken a thorough shower, carefully washing her hair, knowing she should look her best for Mooneyes tonight, but also conscious of all the others that wanted to use the facilities. As she rubbed her head with a towel, she grinned at Hinoki, standing outside the door. "Next," she called, and with a grin, Hinoki slipped through the door just as Wanda emerged from her cabin, a disappointed look on her face as she saw the door close behind Hinoki.

Rick shrugged. "Actually, I do have a few pounds of that Kilrathii catnip in stock, but its reserved for a ... treasured customer who's ship should be docking any time now. Sorry, I just can't let you have it, at any price." Zassa pouted; so much of what was on her list he either didn't have, or wouldn't sell her. Looking at her watch, she realized time was getting late. "Tell you what, Rick; you package up the items we agreed upon, and I'll pick them up tomorrow. And if you can locate any of the other items, well, I'm on a tight budget, but there might be something else I could throw in to sweeten the pot ... " With a smile she turned, but looking back over her shoulder, she gave him a wink, "I'll see you tomorrow." And with that she strode off, back down the corridor towards her ship, giving him her best sexy walk, ass and tail swaying.

Trouble had finished doing her hair, pulling it into a long braid hanging behind her, and had managed to get into the new dress she bought, and was on her way to the bridge, just to check, when Zassa came in through the port airlock. The vixen took one look and let out a low growl of appreciation, "My, don't we look sexy!" Trouble grinned and did a slow pirouette, showing off her outfit. It was of a soft, clingy brown knit, the fabric flowing over her left shoulder, and down across her breasts. Along the left side, the dress descended to a hem line about three inches below her sex, daringly short. What made it unique was that from the right side, it looked as if some prehistoric monster had taken a swipe at it with its claws, gouging out huge hunks of fabric. There was a Vee of exposed fur just below her breasts, moving from right to left, the point almost at her left side. Slightly smaller Vees of exposed fur started at the upper curve of her right hip, at the apex of her right hip, and just below the curve of her hip, moving to the left almost to her crotch. The five points of fabric that managed to make it all the way across her connected in a line of gold clasps down her right side, and it was apparent that it would take little effort at all to unclasp them, the dress falling from her as a result. The skirt was short enough, that no slit was required for her tail. Zassa grinned as the cheetah turned. "I bet that dress doesn't stay on you twenty seconds when you and Mooneyes get alone.”

Trouble grinned at the vixen and then shook her head, as if trying to force herself back to reality. "Where you been? I thought you would have fought Hinoki and Wanda both for first crack at the shower.” Zassa sighed. "No, I got stuck in the cargo hold, and they all got in line ahead of me. I took the time to go see that Rick fellow we'd heard about. He's got some of the stuff on the unofficial list he'll let us have, but he's holding back on others. I'm going to have to find a way to ‘persuade’ him .... " Trouble just "Hmmmmm"ed and nodded, and as Zassa moved off down the hall towards the head, the cheetah sighed and wondered what kind of trouble they'd all get into on this one .....

Trouble and Hinoki were waiting by the airlock when Zassa finally got out of the shower. Eventually, the vixen was ready, and the three of them once again trooped to the restaurant. Mooneyes was again reclining on her cushions behind the low table, with Peter kneeling behind her. "Sorry to keep you waiting," Trouble purrrred, "but it can be a bit difficult sometimes to cycle everyone through the shower when you've had a hard day (the latter was said with a distinct look towards Zassa, who at least had the courtesy to look embarrassed). Mooneyes smiled and nodded, "I know how life can be on a small ship like that." Trouble seated herself (carefully, due to her very short skirt), and the waiter brought in the first course.

Mark dressed with some care this evening. Junior engineers didn't rate anywhere near the number of fancy outfits that sex slaves did, he reflected. And he hadn't spent a lot of his pay on his wardrobe, either; a shower, freshly brushed fur, and his best set of work clothes would just have to do, then. One of his small selection of removable stickers by way of a personal note; he chuckled softly at himself as he finally decided on Caution -- Genius At Work. Finally, after checking his overall appearance in the mirror one last time, he headed for the airlock. Wanda was again "on duty", her medical texts scattered around her as she worked on yet another homework assignment. "Watch the ship, Wanda, and don't let anyone but crew on board," Mark commented as he opened the inner lock door. Wanda went "Uh-huh," not even looking up from her work. Mark just grinned and as he cycled the lock, he turned back to Wanda. "No flying zebras, no orgies and no cooking classes." Again to the mouse's amusement, Wanda just nodded, "Uh-huh", lost in her work.

Trouble sat back, propped up by one arm. Dinner had been delicious, but she'd fought her natural tendencies and had not gorged herself; she was merely comfortably full. As they'd eaten, Peter had entertained them by playing the flute, the soft music a compliment to the conversation. As the last of the dinner dishes were cleared away, Trouble smiled and turned to Zassa and Hinoki, to nod. Turning back to Mooneyes, Trouble smiled again. "Zassa and Hinoki have been working on a dance number, and I thought you might find it amusing." Mooneyes smiled and nodded in response, her eyes turning to the two slaves. The dance began, to music playing obviously in the dancer's heads. Initially it resembled classical ballet, perhaps with a small twist, because as they danced, as Zassa pirouetted, or Hinoki lifted her high in a leap, she lost this portion of her outfit, and then that, until the floor was littered with pieces of cloth. At one point, as she twirled by, on point, Zassa's paw reached out to snatch away Hinoki's loincloth. They danced on, coming together, separating, and coming together again, both now completely nude. Peter had been watching, and as they danced, his flute rose, to add a haunting melody to the dance. It may not have been the original score that they were dancing to, but it was brilliant improvisation. As they came together, Zassa would add little motions, caressing Hinoki's body with hers, until the cheetah male's arousal was evident, his cock standing proud, but still they danced. At one point, Hinoki bent Zassa over backwards, his body pressed to hers, and for a moment, from the way Zassa moved, it almost looked like Hinoki had slipped his cock into her pussy; their bodies were in about the right position, as he bent her backwards ... but then they separated, to dance on. The next time they embraced, they stayed together a bit longer, Hinoki gradually lowering Zassa to the floor, and again, the impression was that it was less dance and more lovemaking. Again, however, they rose, but this time it was apparent that Hinoki's cock was slick with the vixen's juices. Once more they came together, and again they wound up on the floor, Zassa arched severely as Hinoki covered her with his body, his hips moving in their own rhythm, doing their own dance. Eventually Zassa subsided to the floor, and after a bit, they rolled, Zassa sitting up astride the cheetah, his cock clearly buried in her snatch. Zassa now danced solo, her motions more than mere lovemaking, as she clearly expressed her joy and passion through the motions of her body. Finally, it was clear they were both spent, and they collapsed together, to the soft applause of Trouble and Mooneyes.

Mark paused again at the doorway to the bar to look about and find that he was early and Mala wasn't there. Well, not yet anyways. As he slid onto one of the barstools, the bartender raised an eyebrow, as if surprised that the mouse would actually push his luck by returning. Mark raised an eyebrow of his own in perfect imitation, then shrugged, grinned, and ordered a drink to pass the time.

Dessert gave the slaves time to catch their breath, and Mooneyes and Trouble talked about all the dances that they'd seen slaves do, and other various performances. After a while, Mooneyes smiled. "Yes, I do like the way Hinoki moves. Especially the way he moved last night. Did he perchance tell you about it?" Trouble smiled. "No, not really, and I've been too busy to ask. Did you require anything particularly unusual of him?" Mooneyes smiled and shrugged; "Perhaps not, but if you're curious, perhaps we could get him to show you what was required.”

Wanda looked up from her work, a puzzled look on her face. "No cooking classes?" Shaking her head she smiled and returned to her work, convinced the mouse had lost it.

At Mooneyes signal, Peter rose, lifting a cushion to retrieve several small items. Trouble cocked an eyebrow at them and then grinned; turning, she gestured to Hinoki to stand, so that Peter could "dress" him. Trouble watched curiously as the fox approached, to kneel between Hinoki's feet. The silver and leather contraption in his paws was compressed; apparently its two halves were spring-loaded ... when suitably compressed, they were buckled around that space between Hinoki's balls and his torso, the fastenings stretching the skin of his sack deliciously tight, making them seem to bulge more than ever. It was when Peter released the device that Hinoki groaned; as the springs expanded, forcing the lower fastening downward, the upper fastening braced hard against his body, the combined effect being to push his bulging balls away from his body. Trouble rapidly looked up at Hinoki's face, to see if he was in pain, and indeed there was some pain reflected there ... and also embarrassment. But there was also a strange cast of pleasure to it ... Trouble decided for the moment Hinoki could handle it, and looked back to see what Peter was doing next.

The fox was expertly stroking Hinoki's sheath, and as the cheetah responded to his touch, his cock emerging from his sheath. Peter held the linked rings of a "Gates of Hell" just so, such that his cock pushed through the center of each ring. As he grew harder, the rings became tight, encircling his cock from its base to its head. When he was as hard as he was going to get, Peter clipped some retraining snaps to the ball-stretcher, and then sat back. Hinoki's face was again a strange mask of both pleasure and pain, as the tight rings constricted his cock, and the springs pushed at his balls.

Mooneyes growled low in her throat as she beheld the cheetah. "Now comes the really fun part, and if I might designate your slave Zassa as the object of his attentions ....... " Trouble shot Zassa a quick look and saw only naked lust on her face as she stared at Hinoki's crotch; turning back to Mooneyes she smiled and nodded. "Of course." Mooneyes smiled and turned to Hinoki, "Slave, you are to fuck the vixen to climax, as slowly as possible. And you are NOT to cum yourself, or those little toys will stay on for a full day." As Hinoki turned to walk carefully over to Zassa, he looked thoroughly embarrassed, and more than a little excited.

Mark looked up and smiled as the hyena stalked into the bar ... then, after a moment, frowned in concern. She looked like she'd had a bad day at work, her overalls torn in one place and rather filthy. She growled at the bartender, snarled at a table occupied by some of the station's crew, and dropped into her usual seat in the corner. Mark looked up at the bartender. "Why don't you give me one of what she usually drinks, and I'll take it over to her." The bartender looked at the mouse as if he was crazy, but then shrugged and nodded. "Better you'n me ... "

Trouble grinned and moved over to snuggle with Mooneyes as they watched Hinoki perform. The looks on the cheetah's face alone were engrossing; ranging from pain to pleasure to concentration, as he slowly fucked the vixen. Zassa for her part was enjoying the sensations of his ring-encased cock driving in and out of her, moaning and shuddering as each ring forced its way into her, or as it slipped out. Hinoki had started with the standard missionary position, but after a while, he'd flipped the vixen over onto her paws and knees, to take her from behind. Trouble gave Mooneyes a teasing lick, as she watched Zassa’s first climax arrive, watching Hinoki's massive struggle to retain his own control.

Mooneyes and Trouble were getting into some heavy petting, Zassa was howling through yet another climax, and Hinoki was having the devil's own time controlling himself. Of all present, only Peter was quiescent, kneeling calmly back by the wall. There was something about the look on his face that Hinoki found somewhat disturbing ... It was almost a self-satisfied look, as if everything was going according to his plan ...

Mark set the bottle down on the table and turning the chair opposite the hyena around, sat down to look at her, his arms crossed across the chair's back, his chin resting on them. They looked at each other quietly for a moment before Mark nodded softly and asked, "Rough day?"

One of Zassa's cries attracted Trouble's attention, and she turned to look at her and Hinoki. The vixen looked thoroughly drained, fucked to a quivering pile of fur, and something in the back of Trouble's mind was just a little jealous of that. Hinoki on the other paw, looked as if he were about to explode. Trouble smiled and raised her head. "Very impressive, Hinoki; absolutely amazing self control. You may cum now. When you've recovered, why don't you and Zassa and Peter retire to the kennels. You have my permission to enjoy each other as you see fit. I'll call for you in the morning." As she turned back to Mooneyes, she heard Hinoki's long drawn out howl of satisfaction and release, followed by Zassa's yips of pleasure, and smiled.

The hyena shook her head. "They fired me! Said I was incompetent! I'd loaded that bulk freighter within the specified time limits, hadn't broken anything, hadn't damaged anything ... I didn't do anything wrong! I honestly don't know why everyone here seems to have it in for me!" Mark sighed and nodded, reaching out to put his paw over her fist. "So what are you going to do now?" Mala sighed, "I dunno. Haven't been able to save enough money to buy passage off the station, and haven't been able to find a ship that'll take me as crew. I don't know what I'm going to do ... "

Trouble and Mooneyes retired to Mooneyes' quarters; as they walked their paws continued to explore each other, teasing, keeping each other hot .... they left a trail of clothes from the front door, not that Trouble was wearing all that much ...... Mooneyes acted as if she wanted to lead Trouble into the bath, but the cheetah fem had other ideas, pushing the wolf back onto her bed with a soft M'rowl. Before long, Trouble was crouched over the she-wolf's body, her tongue working actively between her legs, the wolf's tongue between her own, soothing the burning in her own wet sex ....

Mark lightly tapped his muzzle with his index finger, then inconspicuously looked around, checking for eavesdroppers. There were none, and the little warning light on his chrono remained green, thus informing him that nobody had left any bugs in the area either. He lowered his voice a little anyway, just to be on the safe side. "You told me yesterday that you've served with the Imperial Marines for some years ... right?" Mala nodded quietly over her drink. The mouse smiled, remembering Ben complaining about the Brethren's recent shortage of professional (as opposed to merely enthusiastic) boarders just a couple of days before they'd left. "Then I think that, pending the Captain's approval, I may be able to get you just the kind of job best suited to your talents." The hyena raised an eyebrow and leaned closer. "Tell me more ..... "

Trouble's tongue danced over the wolf fem's clitty, eliciting moans and gasps, and a temporary respite from the delightfully distracting licks of the she-wolf. Trouble grinned to herself; it almost seemed like a contest, who could so pleasure the other that they would loose concentration first ...... And as she grinned to herself, and squirmed her tongue between the she-wolf's velvet folds, Trouble thought she was winning .......

Mala sat back to look at the mouse in front of her, "Really? Yeah, I could do that, and probably do it better'n most, too ... but if you don't mind me asking, why me out of all the furs on this station?" Mark paused, taking a sip of his own drink -- horrible stuff, really, but the bartender had just looked at him blankly in response to three different requests -- and reflected on his answer for a few moments before looking up. "Several reasons. First, you've obviously had more than your share of bad breaks lately, and I'd like to help if I can. The second you've probably guessed already; I've gotten to know you a little by now, found I rather like who you are, and I'd like to get to know you better yet, which I can't do if we leave you behind." His voice trailed off momentarily as he watched the hyena's grin slowly grow wider in response to his own spreading faint blush, then he cleared his throat and continued. "Third, we really can use your skills. Blasters-for-hire with itchy trigger fingers we have in plenty, but there's currently a real shortage in terms of trained professionals." He leaned back and grinned a little at her in turn. "And fourth, after all that I've told you, you obviously Know Too Much and we can't afford to leave you behind, anyway." Mala threw her head back and laughed out loud at that, a deep, barking sound that turned every head in the bar and caused several patrons to duck for cover.

Trouble purrrred, while Mooneyes snored softly; the bed was soft, and she was tired, and fairly happy, but for some reason her mind just wouldn't shut down, and let her sleep. She reflected on how very strange it was to be playing this role, instead of the one she'd been so trained for at the Academy. But why should it be strange? Before the Academy, this was the future she thought she'd been on track for ... most of all, it feels strange to choose a sex partner, instead of being chosen. It was nice, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that nothing thrilled her like someone clipping a leash to her collar ... as she snuggled against the sleepy wolf she marveled at how much she'd changed ......

Mark and Mala stopped at the airlock to his ship. They'd practically held paws on their walk from the bar, drawing more than a few stares. Mark looked up at her. "I promise, as soon as the captain returns, I'll talk to her. And I'll get back to you with the results tomorrow." The hyena rumbled quietly and easily picked the mouse up to bring him muzzle-to-muzzle with herself. "You do that. And if she doesn't agree ... " She slipped a huge paw between his legs and teasingly stroked him through his pants with one extended finger, chuckling as he squirmed in reflex, " ... make sure to pack everything you'll need here, because one way or the other I'm going to keep you." She pulled him close to trap his muzzle with her own in a deep, hot kiss for a couple of seconds, then set a rather stunned Mark back down with a toothy grin. "That's enough for now. Be a good little mouse and there'll be more ... now run along before somebody catches you molesting innocent little hyena fems."

Trouble moaned, gradually returning from her slumbers, awakened by the most delightful sensations. Mooneyes had squirmed around, and they were again head to tail, but now the she-wolf was teasing Trouble's still-wet sex with the head of a buzzing vibrator ..... Trouble stretched the way only a feline can, and then raised her knees, clasping them to her chest as Mooneyes growled, attacking her pussy with the vibrating little devil ...... As she gasped and moaned, one small part of Trouble's mind wondered where Mooneyes kept the toys ......

Wanda was still at her desk by the airlock, hardcopy, disks, and other study paraphernalia scattered about. Mark waved hello, still slightly out of breath, and shook his head lightly at the predictable lack of response. He stretched until his feet barely touched the ground and tapped Wanda on the shoulder. "Honey, I'm ho-ooome!" Wanda nodded, as she erased something and scribbled furiously in its place, "Uh-huh." Mark shook his head again, "What does a mouse have to DO to get some attention around these parts,anyway? Hm ... hey, Wanda, you wouldn't mind if I brought a one-eye'd wallaby contortionist to my quarters, would you? She's very talented ...... " Wanda just shook her head; "Nope ... have fun." Mark grinned and nodded and sauntered off down the corridor, after checking to make sure the airlock was secured.

Trouble had found where Mooneyes kept the toys, and had found a strap-on dildo that she was now using to pleasure the she-wolf with. She grinned as each thrust of her hips made the little bumps inside the harness grate delightfully on her clitty, the strap between her legs so tight that it had actually spread her labia. She mmmmmmmmed, and moved with varied frequency, from slow and languid through rough and manic, thrusting the dong at the she-wolf until she howled with pleasure.

Mooneyes finally did manage to drag Trouble into the baths... at about 1100 hours ... there, Trouble thought back to the baths at the Academy, and with a grin on her face, showed the she-wolf all the things that could be done underwater ........... It was about 1400 hours by the time she made it to the kennels to reclaim Zassa and Hinoki, both looking quite disheveled and sleepy. She just grinned and led them back to the ship. There they found Wanda, face down in her notes and homework, sound asleep. Sending Zassa to the head first, telling Hinoki to wait until Zassa was done before hitting the shower, Trouble turned to try and coax the wolverine lass back to her own quarters and her own bed.

Trouble grinned and stripped off her dress; on her own ship, amongst this company, she certainly didn't need to be clothed, and it felt good to move about in just her fur.

Wanda was all tucked in, Zassa had collapsed in her bed, and Hinoki was in the shower. Slipping into the wardroom, she found Mark awake and reading a magazine as he sipped his coffee. "Mornin', Trouble. How'd things go with Mooneyes last night?" Trouble smiled and shrugged. "Pretty much according to plan; we had a nice evening, and an even better night. I'm running a little shy of sleep, but there should be plenty of opportunity for that on the trip back. Any sign of the last of the cargo?" Mark nodded and slipped the hardcopy over to Trouble, "Some of it should be here within three hours, the rest first thing in the morning. I've already applied for launch clearance for noon tomorrow." Trouble grinned and nodded. "Not that our stay here hasn't been fun, but I'm ready to go home." Mark nodded. "True. Quite true. Listen, Capt'n, I've got something I'd like to talk to you about ...... " Trouble stopped in mid-motion, as she poured herself a cup of coffee; Mark rarely sounded this serious without good reason ... She finished pouring the cup and then sat down at the end of the table; after taking a sip, she looked at the mouse and nodded. "Continue ... " Mark nodded; "I met this fur here, who seems to be having some trouble finding and holding a decent job on station. I've talked to her about her background a bit, and thought that she might be someone Ben might want to consider for his boarding parties." Trouble thought for a minute and nodded. "You mean that ungodly huge lady hyena Zassa's told me about?"

Mark just nodded.

Trouble thought for a minute, trying to picture the hyena in full combat armor, coming through a ruptured airlock on some ship the pirates were trying to capture, and shuddered. It would most certainly be intimidating ..... but before she could speak, Mark cleared his throat and continued, "I've told her a little bit about the job requirements and our setup and she seems to think it an attractive position." Trouble's eyes widened. "You mean you told her about the Brethren?" Mark smiled disarmingly and nodded. "A bit difficult to tell her about the job without some of the background ... After all, you wouldn't expect her to travel that distance to apply for a job without knowing just what it is, would you?" Trouble groaned. "Mark ... you know we check the background of everyone we consider in detail before approaching them! Nothing could destroy us faster than taking an Imperial agent into our midst! You should never have told her about us without clearing it first ..." Mark held up a paw, interrupting her. "With all due respect, Capt'n, that would take at least a couple of weeks including travel times, since we're cut off from Security at home, probably longer since I don't know of any other missions taking one of our ships in this direction anytime soon. And I do have my own sources ... " He demonstratively tapped the side of his skull with a fingertip. Trouble sighed and shook her head. "I hope your telepathy is that good, Mark, because if it isn't, if you're thinking with your balls instead of your brain, we could be in big trouble." Mark shook his head. "Brains, heart, and balls, and they're all in agreement on this for once. Trust me, Captain, after the Blackstone debacle I'm not going to make the same kind of mistake again anytime soon. I mean, I knew the guy was a rotten apple, I knew what he was up to, and he still managed to catch me with my pants down because I simply didn't pay attention at the right time ... ah, figuratively speaking, of course. I'm not going to let that happen again. Anyway, Mala is clean." Trouble just snorted and shook her head. "Well, you'd better invite her aboard; if I left someone here who knew about us that didn't absolutely have to know, the Boss'd skin me alive! We'll just have to see what he makes of her." Mark smiled. "Thanks. You won't regret it." Trouble growled softly under her breath, "I think I regret it already ... "

Trouble pulled off her gloves and leaned against the cargo bay wall. They'd managed to get the next part of their cargo stowed, even if the phase inverter for one of the Brethren's cruisers had required them to move half of what they'd already stowed. The damn thing was huge, and it was heavy at one end. Zassa was having fits, arguing with the ship's computer about weight distribution, as they sorted through the shipping containers, searching out those that weighed the right amount, as they slowly assembled their jigsaw puzzle. But now it was done, and Trouble hoped they wouldn't have to re-do everything when the remaining cargo showed up. Zassa grinned as she went by, her walk turning to a sprint as soon as she was past Trouble. For a moment Trouble blinked in confusion, and then it hit her; the vixen was trying to beat her to the showers. Grinning, Trouble took off in pursuit, the cheetah fem rapidly gaining on the vixen; but Zassa'd had too much of a lead and the door to the head slammed just as Trouble got there.

Trouble finally got her turn at the head (in some things, it seemed, rank hath no privileges). Gathering Zassa, Wanda, and Hinoki as "escort", and leaving Mark in charge of the ship, they headed out to once again give the local shops a going-over, determined to miss nothing. In the commons area of the station was a small bazaar, and to Trouble it looked like a semi-permanent "garage sale." Down on their luck furrs were selling what were obviously personal possessions, and shifty-eye'd types were selling things Trouble thought might not be their legitimate property ..... and mingled in amongst them were those more or less reputable merchants that simply weren't big enough to rent a proper "storefront." As they browsed, one of the sellers caught Trouble's eye. He motioned to her, urging her closer. Trouble wandered over, and the character, a rather small badger missing one ear and one eye looked left and right, conspiratorially, as if to make sure they were not observed. He held up a small rectangular box of clear, thick plastic. Inside something black and oily surged back and forth, as if seeking escape. "Pretty Lady, this is a living creature," he hissed. "It is semi-intelligent, and communicates by telepathy through touch. Once released, it will spread over you in a thin layer, as if it were fabric. Your thought tells it what shape to take, directing it. It can literally be any dress or outfit you want." Trouble hmmmmmed. "What does it eat?" The badger looked a little confused and then blinked, " ... uh ... it feeds off your body heat ..... It really doesn't require much maintenance ..... " Trouble looked at him sternly; "Then why all the secrecy?" The clerk paled. "Uh, because the, um, garment industry got them on the banned list. It would kill their business, y'see. Only asking 50 credits ... " Trouble looked at it for a moment and then asked, "How do you get it off you when you're done with it?" The clerk smiled, a little more reassured. "By mental command, assuming its absorbed enough of your .... body heat to be satiated. It'll just flow down your arm to its box." The badger patted the box fondly, as if to suggest that the creature really liked being in there. Trouble looked over at the vixen and thought of the latex catsuit she'd bought yesterday, and grinned, thinking basic black might just look good on her too. With a grin she nodded her head in agreement and handed the clerk her credit chip.

Wanda held the dress up to herself and looked in the mirror. As she turned, the dress shimmered and changed color; now it was red, now blue, and now golden ..... and when the light hit it just the right way, it wasn't there at all, turning to a shimmering translucency. Wanda grinned at her reflection in the mirror and nodded, turning to find the sales clerk.

Zassa looked at the little vial, and then back at the sales clerk. "Guaranteed to work?" The sales clerk nodded. "Or double your money back." Zassa hmmmed; "I dunno; it seems kinda pricy. Any discount for buying more than one?" The clerk looked at her a little funny, and then shrugged, "Sure, I'll sell you three for the price of two." Zassa grinned and selected three different colored vials, and passed him her credit chit ......

All in all, there wasn't that much at the bazaar, and they carried their purchases back to the ship. Mark was waiting at the airlock, dressed in some of his better clothes. "Got confirmation, Captain, on the rest of the cargo coming in. It'll be here at 0745 in the morning. Oh, and Mooneyes left a message for you; seems something's come up and she regrets her inability to entertain you tonight." Trouble just nodded, "I take it you want to go see your lady friend ... I suspect some of us will swing by the bar later. Don't stay out too late; we'll have an early day tomorrow." Mark grinned and flipped Trouble an informal salute, and stepped through the airlock. Zassa grinned; "Ooooooh, party in the bar tonight! Last night in port!" and slipped off before Trouble could say anything. Wanda just smiled. "Any chance I can come too?" Trouble stared down the corridor Zassa had vanished down and nodded slowly. "Yes, but I'll expect you to be on your best behavior ... and to help me keep Zassa in line .... "

Zassa grinned as she laid out her new outfit; it was a latex catsuit, complete with built-in socks for her feet, and gloves for her paws. It had the most delightful phallic plug in the crotch too; not that long, but rather thick. It should be a joy to wear, she thought.

Stripping off her "street clothes" she sat on the edge of her bunk and slowly started to shove one foot into the outfit, the latex stretching to form a second skin. By the time she was ready to pull the suit up over her hips, her pussy was already wet with anticipation, and the plug slid home nicely, although it took forever for her to thread her tail through the hole in the back of the suit. It took some contortionist's movements to get the outfit up over her shoulders, her arms in the sleeves, the gloves over her paws, but finally she was ready to try and pull up the zipper. Exhaling, she smoothed her fur with one paw as she tugged at the zipper with the other, and finally it was done. From the neck down, she was covered in shiny blackness. Every curve, every shape of her body stood out clearly, her nipples especially prominent. And the smooth little circle of latex between her legs made it obvious that the plug was buried within her sex. She grinned at herself and nodded, quite pleased with her appearance. Turning to one of the vials she'd purchased earlier, she grinned. The label read: Vixen sex pheromones; guaranteed to drive any fox wild! Zassa grinned, and opened the cap to sniff at the vial; the aroma of a vixen in heat almost overwhelmed her, and she hastily sprinkled a few drops over herself ... and then for good measure she sprinkled a few more, until the vial was a quarter empty. "That ought to work," she grinned. Humming a popular tune, she headed out to see if she could "negotiate" anything else out of that Rick fellow ........

Trouble pulled on a conservative pair of slacks and a matching top. She too had an errand to run. One of the Brethren's contacts was passing through the station and Trouble had arranged to meet with him face to face. Slipping a variable knife into one pocket and a small stunner into another, she checked her reflection in the mirror of her cabin and quietly slipped out.

Rick looked up from his counter and spotted the vixen coming his way while she was still quite a ways off. It looked like she'd been dipped in black paint, glistening as she walked, and he had to make a concerted effort to keep his tongue from hanging out. I bet she's going to try and seduce me, to get the things she wants, he thought to himself. And as good as she looks, I might just let her have a few items, to get into her pants ...... but just a few. He watched the way her breasts moved as she walked and grinned to himself, resolving to be the "user," not the "used."

Trouble made it to the observation port at the appointed time. This portion of the station seemed quite deserted; almost as if it hadn't been visited in years. And yet the observation port was at the end of a corridor, wide enough to see anyone coming, see anyone lurking. It was just deserted. Thankfully most of the ceiling lights still worked. Trouble stood by the port, looking out at the stars, and waiting for her contact to arrive, confident that her ears would give her ample warning of anyone approaching.

Rick's self-confidence started to evaporate as the vixen sashayed up to the counter of his stall. He'd been watching the way her breasts moved, but something had drawn his attention to her hips, the way they swayed as she walked, and as she got closer, he found his eyes being drawn to her crotch, even as his nose was filled with her scent ...... It was obvious she'd buried some toy between her legs; the way she moved, the way she smelled just screamed "vixen in heat," and in some portion of his hindbrain he knew he had to have her, no matter what it cost him. Without a word, he lifted the swinging portion of his counter and croaked, "Won't you come in?"

Trouble's eyes flicked up, startled as she suddenly realized there was a reflection in the transparent aluminum of the observation port. A fox was standing behind her. He was wearing some sort of cloak of a nondescript dark gray color, the hood thrown back, whatever garments he might have had on underneath concealed. Trouble found her gaze flicking back to his eyes; they seemed to be both captivating, and ...... haunted. After a moment, she forced herself to break her gaze, to turn towards him. "I'm ... " The fox interrupted, "I know who you are. And

I know why you are here. There is nothing that you need to know about me, save that the information I pass on to you is reliable. And only the evidence of that material itself will prove that." His voice was deep, and as captivating as his eyes .... Trouble swallowed and nodded, but before she could speak he continued, "In three weeks time, a freighter will leave Elysium. It will appear to be just another tramp freighter, but is actually the disguised personal vessel of Lord Isloth. He and his retinue will be traveling to the Imperial capital to solicit aid for their fight against the increasing rebel problem, and to sign joint ventures that would bring in capital that would aid the Elysium government and the major corporations in their fight. The name of the freighter is Stra’doc." Trouble nodded, "Stra’doc. Yes, that sounds like valuable information; we'll keep an eye out for that vessel." Cocking her head to one side, Trouble looked at the fox. "You've been most valuable to us of late, and your information has been quite good. Obviously we are interested in ..... furthering your usefulness to us. What additional resources might we be able to supply you to allow you to be of additional service to us?" The fox gave a ghost of a smile. "There is nothing that you could provide me that would help. I do all that I am able to do, and for my own reasons. Use my information wisely, and you shall hear from me again." With that the fox turned and started to walk silently away. Trouble blinked and then called out, "Wait, before you go, what shall I call you? We don't even know your name ... " The fox stopped and looked back over his shoulder. Again, the sad, wistful smile appeared on his face. "If you must call me something, call me ‘Entity’. That should be more than sufficiently misleading to any who might chance across that name. Oh, by the way, take care in heading back; there may be Apache about ... " Turning again, he resumed walking off down the corridor, his strange gray cloak blending in with the background, seeming to make him vanish only a few meters down the corridor. And as he moved, he made not a sound. Trouble turned and stared out the observation port for a while until she was sure he was gone, until she was sure no one seeing her would connect her with that mysterious figure.

Rick was in bad shape. All his determination, all his resolve, all seemed to have evaporated as her scent filled the air. One kiss from her, one caress, one brush of her body against his and he was as hard as he'd ever been in his life, his pants bulging embarrassingly. Languidly, she unbuttoned his shirt, softly kissing her way down his chest. He was frozen; he couldn't move, couldn't breathe, and all the while the drumbeat of his heart filled his ears. And then she was undoing his pants, freeing his rampant cock, fondling it, stroking it, making little coo-ing sounds. He almost lost it the instant her tongue touched the head of his cock, but somehow he managed to control himself. Fondling her ears, he moaned, "Oh, baby! Oh!, Yesssssss!"

Zassa smiled to herself. Those pheromones really seem to do the trick; he's about to explode and I only just got here. I wonder if I even can cool him down some? Tilting her head back, looking up at him, Zassa inquired sweetly, "By the way, did the chutney ever come in?"

Rick couldn't believe this; how could she stop at a time like this? Nodding vigorously he moaned, "Oh, ye .... Yeah ..... got you th .... three jars .... " Zassa purrrred and bent forward to take the head of his cock in her muzzle once again, her tongue lashing out to stroke the under side of his shaft. She had him right where she wanted him.

Rick gasped, his body bucking, his hips thrusting his spurting cock at her mouth, as he exploded in what had to have been the most powerful orgasm of his life. And that devilishly sexy vixen caught every drop, making a great show of catching each spurt on her tongue, and acting like it was the finest caviar. Finally he calmed down, his chest heaving as he panted, his heart still pounding in his chest. Gave up more than I'd intended, he thought to himself, But it was a reasonable trade for what I got, I guess ... Then his eyes went wide as the vixen stood, one paw moving to the silver zipper at her throat. As the zipper slowly moved downward, he felt his eyes get wider, and his cock slowly harden again, and he knew he was in serious trouble.

Trouble walked slowly through the station, heading back to the ship. Her encounter with Entity had disturbed her for some reason. She just didn't know what to make of him. I wonder if Mark might provide any insights, she thought to herself as she passed the bar. Stopping, pausing, she smiled and then resumed her walk towards the ship. I'll talk to him on the trip back, no need to bother him now; besides, I want to wear something a little less ... severe when I go to the bar. Lost in her thoughts, wondering what in the heck an "Apache" was, the cheetah slowly padded towards the docking ring.

Rick thought that the vixen removing her outfit looked like someone shedding their skin. And when she pushed the outfit down over her hips, and he watched that phallic plug slide glistening from her sex, he thought his eyes would pop from his head like some cartoon character. And then she was nude, and pressing herself against him, her crotch drenched from her own juices. There was nothing he could do but to fall back to the floor, pulling her down on top of him. Zassa giggled, and squirmed as enticingly as she knew how, making sure her breasts stroked across his chest, her nipples hard points ruffling his fur; sitting up, she reached between her thighs to capture his once-again hard cock, to hold it perpendicular to his body. Rising slightly she dragged its head back and forth through her dripping slit, and grinning down at him, she purred, "Any of that catnip ever show up?"

Wanda had pulled on her dress, and was scowling at herself in the mirror; when the light hit it just right, it became more than translucent; it became damn near invisible ... and that thrice-damned chastity belt Trouble had locked her into was painfully apparent! Sitting down heavily on her bed, she wondered how she could get Trouble to let her out of it for the evening?

Rick howled, heedless of what those outside his stall might hear, or see. He didn't care; the vixen rode his cock with such ..... skill, such wild abandon, such enthusiasm that he was sure she would turn him inside out! Every time he was close to cumming, she'd slow down; every time he'd caught his breath, her vaginal muscles would start rippling, squeezing, milking him again and he'd skyrocket to the very brink ... and then she'd stop ..... He wanted to cum, desperately needed to cum ...... Zassa looked at his face and grinned; bending way over, until her breasts were pressed hard against his chest, she purrred into his ear, "Find me a copy of that new Holo romance, the one with that Leonardo guy in it, and I'll bring you off like you've never gotten off before!" Rick groaned and shook his head; the Sabatini sisters were going to be really pissed, but he couldn't help himself. "It’s YOURS," he moaned, and Zassa straightened to do incredible things with her vaginal muscles. Rick howled like a wolf and bucked his hips up into her as his cock exploded, his orgasm even more powerful than before!

Zassa grinned and checked his pulse. He was still alive, but that last one had certainly taken him somewhere else. After a minute, the fox groaned, and shook his head, his eyes opening. As he focused on Zassa, the vixen still astride his hips, he mumbled, "Thought I'd died and gone to Heaven." Zassa just grinned and humped him a few times, eliciting howls from the now incredibly sensitive fox. "If you can find me that dark chocolate, I'll be a good girl and let you be ..... " Grinning wider she humped him again; "Otherwise, Dear, it’s likely to be a long night." Rick howled, "Half a pound you pirate! Now quit, please, before I'm ruined!"

Zassa was squishing as she walked back towards the ship. The inside of the latex suit was now awash with her juices, there being no place to clean up in the stall. Still, the phallic plug buried in her pussy felt good as she walked, and the bag of booty over her shoulder was an added delight, even if it was deuced heavy. It'd make a lot of folks back home happy too. Spotting the bazaar down a side corridor, the vixen made a small side trip, drawing stares from everyone as she walked past. Finding the vendor who had sold her the pheromones she gave him her best grin. The vendor for his part cringed at the sight, and looked as if he might bolt. Hmph; must be showing too much teeth, the vixen thought to herself. "Just wanted to stop by and tell you that the stuff you sold me is great; you wouldn't believe how well it worked!" Grinning at the badger, Zassa turned and sashayed off through the bazaar.

The badger looked at his vials and shook his head, "Bottled this stuff right from the tap myself; what in the world is she talkin' about?" Looking up at the departing vixen, the badger scratched his head. "Hell, she's so sexy as it is, she doesn't need any extra 'pheromones'!"

Trouble did a double-take as Zassa came in through the airlock. Wanda squealed with delight as she took Zassa's carryall, to look inside the surprisingly heavy bag. Looking up at the vixen, Wanda grinned. "You will be a heroine of monumental proportions when we get home, Zassa! You even found Ben his brie, and you got the chutney!" The vixen just grinned depreciatingly and making little liquid sounds among the squeaks of her latex outfit, she padded towards the ship's head. Trouble just shook her head and resumed her trek towards the flight deck, wondering what fallout might come from that little escapade ... and then she grinned to herself, thinking maybe next time she'd go with Zassa; it looked like the vixen had had a marvelous time ......

It was late that night when they all finally made it to the bar. Trouble was wearing her new dress, as was Wanda, still grumbling about the chastity belt that Trouble had refused to let her out of. Hinoki was in another one of his rock concert tee-shirts (this one only a few years out of date, but according to him, still a 'classic'), and a pair of skintight black shorts. Zassa was in a short, flouncy halter dress in blinding white that she'd bought. They moved through the door into the crowded, noisy bar and looked around, blinking, searching for Mark.

Mark looked up and smiled; Trouble and the rest of the crew had just entered the bar and were standing just inside the door, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the gloom, their ears to the noise (for that certainly couldn't be called "music"). Turning to Mala he smiled, "They're here; just like we discussed, OK?" The hyena smiled, and nodded.

Trouble spotted the hyena first through the crowds. Stepping a little to one side to see past a rhino that was trying to dance with a wolf fem, she caught the flash of white that was Mark's fur. Gesturing to the others, she headed out across the bar for their table, having to take a small detour to evade the waltzing couple. Settling into the chair opposite the hyena, Trouble's gaze flicked to Mark, looking at him inscrutably for a moment and then her gaze turned back to the hyena. "I'm Captain Sou An Ky of the ... free trader Lost Cause. I understand Mark's been talking to you about us." The hyena nodded solemnly. "I'm Mala Z'pata, and yes, he's told me a few interesting things about you ... and your organization." She mock-scowled at the mouse, who for his part just smiled back brightly with his best innocent expression. "Wouldn't go into any juicy details, though, and the internal walls on this station are so flimsy I couldn't find a place to properly 'question' him without being heard ... " Hinoki took a look at the expression on Trouble's face and grabbed Zassa; "Come on, lets go get everyone a drink ... " As they moved out onto the dance floor, headed for the bar, they heard Trouble say, "You realize of course that Mark has ignored quite a number of protocols in telling you anything about us ...... "

Hinoki ordered a round of drinks for the table, guessing at what the hyena would want, while Zassa looked around the bar. In some ways, it looked rougher than the Brethren's base, and in some ways it looked better. There were a number of roughly-dressed toughs, loud and boisterous, carrying edged, projectile, and energy weapons, but so far they were keeping to themselves. There was the usual dockside crowd of cargo handlers, maintenance techs, and such, some obviously here directly from a hard day's work, some still carrying their tools. There were ship's crews, tight knit little knots of furrs at this table or that, most looking around as if on the defensive. And then there were what she took to be station personnel, some of them halfway-decently dressed. Then, with a grin, she spotted the coyote she'd been talking to the other night ......

Trouble sat back in her chair and growled softly. "I suppose your ..... experience with the Imperial Marines makes for a decent enough fit for our outfit, but at the same time I'd worry about ... conflicting loyalties, if you follow my drift. There's also the problem of getting along with everyone in a tight-knit outfit. Remember, the organization is made up of less-than-diplomatic folks; if someone takes offense, they're most likely to settle problems with a knife or a blaster, or with some I know, just fangs and claws. Excessive losses in that regard hurts ... operational efficiency." Mala cocked her head at the cheetah. "In English, please." Trouble sighed; "You get into too many fights with the crew, you'll either wind up dead, or they will; either way we may not have enough folks for what we need to do. Mala snorted. "If you insist, I'm sure I can settle for just breaking a few bones from time to time ... " Trouble sighed again and shot a dark look at Mark, who seemed to have a hard time maintaining his innocent look.

Hinoki grinned as he set down the tray of drinks; turning to Wanda, he whispered, "How's it going?" Wanda just winced, grabbed her drink, chugged half of it, and grabbed Hinoki to drag him out on the dance floor.

Zassa danced by herself, knowing that she'd attracted the eyes of the coyote. As she moved lithely, she winked at him, and then danced off teasingly.

Trouble sighed and leaned back again, reaching for her drink. At least she assumed it was her drink. "I guess we'll just have to see what the boss says. At this point, I suspect that's the best alternative." Mark smiled. "That's what I hoped for. I'm not worried about the usual checks and stuff ... after all, look at who else passed those." He waved a paw to indicate the crew members scattered throughout the bar, including himself. Mala just nodded, her smile wide enough to show fangs, the overall effect making her look sinister and threatening. Trouble looked from Mark to Mala and back, and then just looked at the ceiling, to mutter, "How do I get myself into these situations?"

Zassa smiled as the coyote hugged her; as she'd intended, he'd approached her after her dance. Now, as she rubbed against him, she could feel his arousal through his pants. As she tilted her head to kiss him, she caught Trouble watching her from the corner of her eye; she just smiled and shrugged and gave her a wink, and then turned to kiss the coyote.

Trouble sighed as she watched Zassa tease her beau. Absolutely insatiable, she grinned to herself. Turning, she watched Wanda and Hinoki for a moment, thinking that they were defining the term "Dirty Dancing" ... Hinoki had definitely taught the young wolverine some moves. Draining the last of her drink from her glass, she rose and headed for the bar and a refill, thinking she ought to leave Mark and the hyena alone for a bit, after she'd lit into them both. "Off to a great start there," she grumbled to herself. She was almost to the bar when someone grabbed her around the waist, lifting her from the floor. She was just about to claw whomever had grabbed her when the stallion from the other night announced loudly, "Whell, looky here what Ah's found!"

Hinoki had just sat Wanda down, and had reached for his own drink when he saw Trouble snatched up. For an instant he thought she was in trouble, but then he realized she was just being assaulted by an over-enthusiastic and perhaps something less than suave suitor. The stallion had come in with a number of friends, all seemingly as boisterous and harmless as himself, and Hinoki found himself looking at one of them, a middle-aged lioness was staring back at him with that predatory look that lionesses can do so well. Before he could seek the shelter of his seat, she'd strode over to him, one paw reaching out to touch his collar. "Wal, looky here; ain't you a purty one! Who's your master, boy?" Hinoki grinned weakly and gestured to Trouble, who still hadn't quite escaped the over-enthusiastic clutches of the stallion. "Uh, she is .... " The lioness followed his gesture and grinned, her fangs glinting whitely in the bar's dark interior. "Yo! Clem! Put her down fo' a minute!" Clem grinned and turned, still not letting Trouble loose, but bringing her around so she could see the lioness and Hinoki. Grinning wider, the lioness gestured to Hinoki, "Y'all mind iff'n ah borrowed your boy for a bit; he's kinda struck mah fancy." Trouble took in the cast of Hinoki's ears, and his tail, trying to read his opinion, and then made an off-handed gesture, as if to say, "If you wish" ..... or was it just a reflex jerk as Clem once again swept her off her feet to carry her towards a booth. The lioness nodded, "Much obliged, Ma'am!" And grabbing Hinoki's collar she turned, to drag him off towards one of the curtained booths in the back of the bar.

The panther watched the group from the Lost Cause carefully. The vixen was acting according to the preliminary psychological profile he had seen, as was the male cheetah, even if a bit unwillingly. The mouse, as ever, was an enigma, and the things he'd heard about the hyena, although not listed as a member of the crew, were ... well, enough to make him shudder in reflex when he saw her scooping the mouse into her lap. The captain, now perhaps a bit less reluctantly in the lap of the stallion, was also following the profile, and the panther grinned to himself; if the profile was correct, it wouldn't take much for the stallion to wear down her resistance. And the wolverine girl ... she looked so frustrated, sitting there by the mouse and the hyena. Taking a quick look at the others he rose, figuring this was as good a chance as any. Walking over to her slowly, he bowed to her, and asked, "Miss, may I have this dance?"

Wanda smiled up at the panther. Turning to shoot an inquiring glance at Mark, and receiving the tiniest nod in return, she rose, to give him her paw, to let him lead her out onto the dance floor.

Trouble sighed and smiled; the stallion certainly was persistent, and in his own clumsy way, charming enough. Looking about the bar, she saw the curtain bulge in the booth where the lioness had dragged Hinoki off to, then the cheetah's tail snaked out from under its edge; from the bulge and the position of his tail, Trouble guessed he was on his knees, between her feet. Trouble reflected for a minute on his skill at cunnilingus, and figured it would be three, maybe four minutes tops before the lioness' roars were heard in the bar. Zassa was literally entwined with the coyote, and from the looks on both of their faces, it wouldn't be but a few minutes until they drew the curtain on their booth too. Wanda was dancing with a panther, but he looked like he was behaving himself ... and Mark was watching them carefully, still snuggled against the massive hyena. Giving a mental shrug, Trouble thought, Why shouldn't I have some fun myself? Everyone else seems to be "occupied" ... Turning, she surprised the big stallion by tilting her head back and giving him a long, sensual kiss .....

Wanda smiled. "So you see, that cursed chastity belt is kinda both my punishment and my protection, and I really can't blame the captain, considering what I did. But all things considered, it’s worth it. I finally got to do some shopping, got out for a bit, and have seen something of the universe." "And where do you go from here?" the panther asked. "Oh, home I guess," Wanda replied. "And where might that be?" the panther smiled. Wanda smiled back, "Oh, it’s an agricultural station. We're here after parts for the farm machinery. Over in the Hydra sector. It’s so dull there ... " The panther just smiled. "So, what’s your captain like?"

Zassa grinned and kissed the coyote again, and reaching up, almost pushing her breasts into his face, she grabbed the edge of the curtain and pulled it closed. No sooner had its magnetic edge grabbed the far side of the booth, than the coyote was undoing the strap of her halter, letting the front of her dress fall, allowing him to nuzzle between her breasts.

The stallion gave Trouble a funny look when she checked her chronometer when they heard the lioness roar; grinning, she turned to him. "Right on time."

Mark smiled too when he heard the lioness roar. Zassa was out of sight behind an almost opaque curtain, and it was obvious that soon her yiffs of pleasure would add to the noise in the bar. And Trouble and the stallion .... well, he kind of expected that curtain to close soon too (although how the two might find room to maneuver in that tiny booth was beyond him). Still smiling, he turned to Mala, picking up something of her own mood. "Getting ideas?"

"Yeah ... " the hyena began, "but I'm not much into exhibitionism, and those curtains don't provide much privacy ... " Mark turned to look at where the vixen's silhouette was outlined on the curtain, obviously astride the coyote's lap, facing him, and from her motions, it was obvious, to Mark, and to half the bar, what was going on in there. Shifting his gaze, Mark noted that there was no longer a bulge in the curtain where the lioness had dragged

Hinoki off to, nor was his tail apparent under the curtain's edge. However, from the yowls and thumps coming from that direction, it was more than apparent that they were into round two. Turning back to Mala, he nodded. "I see what you mean. I'm not much into showing off for an audience myself ... and watching's only half the fun if you can't join in. But maybe, if we can find some privacy later and you're still in the mood ... ?" The hyena took a sip of her drink, licked her lips, and grinned at the little mouse in her lap. "Think I may just take you up on that ... "

Trouble purrrrrred as the stallion caressed her; shielded from the general view by her body, she'd been lightly stroking that bulge in his pants, and had been rewarded with a significant increase in volume ... in fact, she was concerned that soon he'd bust a seam. Giggling, she too turned to reach for the curtain, sliding it closed. With a smile she turned back to give him a deep kiss, while her paws expertly undid his fly.

Wanda did a classic double-take as she danced with the panther; she'd caught Trouble closing the curtain from the corner of her eye, but as she danced, as that booth came around into view, it was apparent that the scene had changed only a little. From this side, the curtain was almost completely transparent, tinting the scene a little grey-green. The panther caught the direction of her gaze and chuckled, "Just a little practical joke the house plays here; each night, a different booth has the one-way curtain. It helps to draw a crowd, I'm told." Wanda blinked, thinking she should tell Trouble that she was putting on an exhibition, but then she grinned, thinking of the chastity belt. Besides, Trouble had put on enough exhibitions in her past, she probably wouldn't get too upset at one more. Wanda smiled and turned to look at the panther. "What say we find a place to sit and watch the show."

Trouble found the stallion a whole lot more charming when he kept his mouth shut; his caresses were gentle, and skillful, his tongue a delight. But the booth was small, and he wasn't. Finally, he got up on the table, leaning back against the back wall. Trouble also knelt on the table, between his thighs, and softly licked at his massive cock; she'd seen larger, and possibly even taken larger too, but she knew she'd be walking funny for days, a prospect that both dismayed and delighted her.

Mark grinned as Mala told him about the trick curtain. "Just Trouble's luck," he muttered as they snuggled, watching the cheetah kneel on the table, the translucent curtain providing an excellent view of her upraised ass.

Wanda grumbled to the panther as the bartender brought them another round of drinks. "Yes, my father's very strict; he insists that I remain a virgin until he can marry me off to some business crony. ‘Forming alliances’, he calls it." The panther raised an eyebrow. "Sounds kind of cold." Wanda watched Trouble as she demonstrated her skill at fellatio and nodded. "I'd like nothing better than to spoil his little plans, but the captain, well, she's taking this thing seriously, so it looks like once again, I'm merely a voyeur ... "

Trouble found that by stretching her jaws wide, she could just barely get the head of his cock into her muzzle. But that left her no room to maneuver her tongue, so she backed off to just lick along his shaft, one paw wrapped around its base, stroking gently, the other hefting his massive balls. Judging from the noises he was making, he was in Heaven, and Trouble smiled. After taking him close to the edge three times, and then giving him time to recover, she became seriously concerned that he might "surprise" her on the next go-round. Smiling, she straightened, urging him to slide down, to lie flat on the table, so she could straddle his hips. He had to put his feet on either side of the table, his legs bent back, to keep from sticking them through the curtain, but somehow he managed. His head was still propped up by the back wall of the booth, and as much as Trouble would have liked to have ridden him, face to

face, the way his legs were spread she found it easier to face away from him. It was a bit of a contortionist's act, but eventually she got herself in position, both of her paws wrapped around his cock, slowly dragging it through her wet furrow, until its head glistened with her dew. She knew she was wet, literally dripping, but even so, this one was going to be a "stretch". Settling herself down, she grunted as the head of his cock parted her labia, and then stretched them wide ... she moved in little jerks, bouncing up and down, grunting with each downward motion, as she gradually drove his cock into her pussy. After a while her grunts were echoed by his, and his paws came up to cup her breasts, squeezing rhythmically. Finally she decided she could take no more of him without hurting herself, and looking down, she was amazed to see that over 2/3 of his length was buried in her twat!

The panther watched the expressions play across the cheetah's face and nodded to himself. Mooneyes was right about this one, she'd make a fabulous sex slave; wouldn't even need much training either. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if she could teach the instructors a thing or three. His conversation with Wanda had lagged as the whole bar had quieted to watch the cheetah mount the stallion. She'd been a veritable gold mine of information ... information he probably couldn't use. He still didn't know who her father was, although he suspected he was fairly rich and powerful. He didn't know much about the Lost Cause's defenses or capabilities (but he did know more about beginning nursing than he'd ever wanted to know). He'd confirmed that Hinoki and the vixen were both sex slaves, and as such probably only nominal at their jobs of scan tech and loadmaster. And slaves couldn't fight, so when they took the Lost Cause they probably wouldn't have much of a fight on their paws. Watching the cheetah move the panther grinned, and thought that before he turned her over to Mooneyes, he'd take a turn or two with her ......

Clem grunted, "God, you're tight! I don't know how much longer I can ........ Awwwwwwwwwwww crap! Ah'm a cummin'!" Trouble had just begun, rising and settling slowly on his huge

cock, and while she was enjoying herself, she was no where near her climax. Stifling a groan as she felt his cock start to throb, pumping her full of his jism, she shook her head, and reached down between her legs to fondle his balls, knowing that would make his orgasm that much more intense. As the stallion whinnied at the top of his lungs, Trouble smiled, and did what she could to make it memorable, for him at least ........

Zassa smiled and kissed the coyote; he'd been fun, but now he was an exhausted hank of fur, panting hard in the back of the booth. Pulling her dress up and fastening it behind her neck, she grinned. "See you next trip, stud." Sliding out between the edge of the curtain and the frame of the booth, she looked around the bar; for an instant she thought everyone was looking at her, but then she realized the attraction was a few booths over ... where Trouble was riding the cock of an absolutely huge stallion! Zassa blinked for a moment, and then realized that the curtain WAS drawn, you could just see right through it! "Holy crow!" she exclaimed! You can see ....... "

The weasel grabbed Zassa from behind, his paw clamping her muzzle shut. "Shush!" he stage-whispered in her ear, "You'll ruin everything!" Zassa grinned, and didn't resist as the weasel dragged her down into his lap, one paw still lightly around her muzzle.

Trouble grinned as she felt the stallion spurt his last. He panted hard for a minute, and then she felt his paws around her waist, lifting her. "Can't let the little lady go unsatty-fied," he grinned, and pulling her back he brought her rather wet sex to his muzzle, to stroke her with his broad tongue. Trouble balanced, bent over, as the stallion's tongue licked her clean, and then started to worm its way into her depths. Like his cock, his tongue was comparatively large, and it wasn't long before she was squealing and moaning with delight. Her climax was every bit as vocal as the lioness' had been, much to Clem's apparent delight.

It was a while before they'd both caught their breath, and found their clothes. Finally Clem opened the curtain to usher Trouble out of the booth; they were both caught by surprise as the entire bar erupted into applause. Trouble was bewildered, looking about for a clue as to what was going on, but Clem turned to examine the curtain, looking at one side, and then the other. Trouble turned to stare at him, and he grinned at her, showing how from one side it looked like an ordinary tan curtain, but from the other side, it was all but transparent! "Looks lahk we's been had!" he grinned. Trouble sighed and rose to tiptoes to kiss him. "Thanks for a nice evening, Clem; if we're ever back this way, I'll look you up, but if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go kill someone .... " The stallion just grinned and nodded and bowed politely, and as Trouble turned to fix the bartender with an evil stare, the stallion turned back to his friends, one of whom was happily waving a video recorder cartridge.

Trouble had gone about three steps when a new crowd entered the bar. It was obviously shift change somewhere, and a rather rough looking crew had just entered the watering hole. Their "leader", a rather scruffy-looking tiger, sniffed the air and growled, "I see that bitch is here again, befouling the atmosphere with her stench!" Turning to look around, his gaze settled on the hyena. Scowling, he growled, "I thought I told you never to come back here!

You've disobeyed me, and now you're going to pay the penalty!" As he stalked towards the hyena, Mark rose to his feet and slipped away from the table to intercept him. "Outta my way, rodent!" the tiger growled. Mark placed his paws on his hips and looked up at the bigger feline, meeting his gaze without the slightest indication of being impressed. His voice was quiet, but had no trouble cutting through the general noise, the level of which had dropped some at the sight of the impending confrontation anyway. "I'm sure you are mistaken. That isn't the hyena you are looking for." The tiger blinked once, eyes seeming to glaze over slightly, and repeated in a monotone quite at odds with his snarl only moments ago, "That isn't the hyena we are looking for." Mark nodded emphatically. "And since she isn't, and she's the only hyena in this bar, the one you mean has to be somewhere else. Maybe you should keep looking." The tiger nodded vaguely, then blinked again and seemed to recover, growling at his cohorts. "Come on, guys ... we have to keep looking, she's gotta be hiding somewhere!" None of them apparently had any trouble with that logic, and the whole group filed out just as quickly as they had appeared in the first place.

Mark sighed softly, closed his eyes, and slumped lightly only to find himself steadied by one of Mala's big paws; she must have made her own way through the crowd just in case, he thought. "Easy there," she growled softly. "Are you okay?" Mark nodded softly, eyes opening to look into hers. "Just let me catch my breath for a moment ... and let's all get out of here before those guys catch on and come back, for that matter."

Trouble shook her head, growling; it wasn't bad enough that she'd just inadvertently put on an exhibition for the whole station, but now Mark had to go and demonstrate a level of Psi skill that probably set him in the top 1% of all Psi-positive creatures in the Empire. She had to get him out of here as fast as possible before some of the toughs present concluded that he was a very valuable commodity.

The panther straightened, scarcely able to believe his eyes. Had he actually just seen that? When they took the Lost Cause, Mooneyes might get the captain and the rest of the crew, but that mouse was his!" Smiling to himself, he started thinking about where he might find Psi-depressive drugs and anesthetics to help keep the mouse under control ...

As Trouble ushered her crew and Mala out the door, Clem looked at his friends and sighed, "Pity, thought for a moment there Ah might find a way to leave her in mah debt, Cum'in to the aid 'o one 'o her crew. Besides, we'uns haven't had a good barfight here in weeks! Just what happened there, anyways?"

The lock closed behind Trouble, and she watched as Mark sealed it. "OK, I want a watch set tonight. Two hours each. I'll take the first shift, Hinoki, you've got second, Zassa third, and Mark, you take the next one if the remainder of our cargo hasn't arrived by then. Keep an eye on the external monitors; I don't want someone in a space suit coming by to tinker with the outsides of the ship." They all nodded, and Wanda, Hinoki, and Zassa turned to dash towards the head, obviously vying to see who could get the first shower. As they departed, Trouble marveled that they could still have so much energy; she felt drained herself.

As she turned to head towards the bridge, Mala coughed. "Ah, Captain, one question ... where should I bunk tonight?" Trouble turned to look at the hyena, and then at Mark, and then back at the hyena. "A free trader like this one isn't long on crew space. In fact, right now, Wanda and Zassa are sharing a cabin. We don't have any spare accommodations. If you don't want to bunk with Mark, we can rig you a hammock in the cargo bay." Mala nodded. "If it's all the same to you, Captain, I'll see if your mouse can spare some room for little old me first ... " Mark yawned softly, nodded, and turned to pad off, when Trouble stopped them. "And Mark ... better come up with a good explanation of just what you did in that bar. You know I'll have to report that incident to the Boss ... " Mark nodded solemnly. "I'll try. It's really just a trick I've seen in a movie a long time ago, in a galaxy far away ... but it did get us out of there without a fight, so I guess it worked." Trouble sighed and shook her head, not believing him for a minute. "Whatever. Go to bed now, I'll need you fresh later."

Mala snorted softly as she squirmed through the doorframe, just slightly too low and narrow for a fur her size. "This is where they make you sleep? I could take a deep breath and use up half the air in the room!" Mark chuckled quietly, but had to admit the basic truth of her statement. "Well, I'm the smallest fur on board and the one least prone to holding orgies in my spare time, so naturally I'd get the smallest cabin. At least the bunk is a pretty standard generic-furry design, so if you curl up right and we use an extra blanket for cover, I think you'll fit. Otherwise, there's still that hammock in the cargo area ... " The hyena shook in mock horror. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'll stay here ... if you're not worried about me turning over and crushing you in my sleep, that is." Mark's answering chuckle turned into a heartfelt yawn about halfway through. "Let's just find out, shall we?" Mala chuckled and reached up to undo her top, then hesitated. "Listen, squirt, there's one thing I haven't told you yet ... " Mark smiled and shook his head. "I know, I know. I'm afraid I'm rather too tired for lengthy explanations, so ... if you don't mind bedding down with a telepath, I'd certainly be honored to have you." Mala blinked once, looking kind of stunned. "Tele ... of course, then you'd know, I guess ... And you're sure you don't mind?" Mark shook his head again, decisively. "I don't. Come to bed now, please?" Mala stood motionless for a moment longer, then smiled slowly, nodded, and finally dropped her clothes on the floor to scoop her mouse up and hug him tightly.

It had taken several minutes of shifting blankets and positions among quiet giggles (mostly Mala's), but finally they'd found a comfortable arrangement. To avoid complications when Mala shifted in her sleep, they had settled on tucking Mark's head safely between the hyena's breasts (which had turned out to be even more impressive nude than clothed), with the rest of her body wrapped warmly and protectively around his. Her scent, somewhat strong this close but not unpleasant, was the last thing the mouse would remember before falling asleep.

Trouble felt like her head had just hit the pillow when the intercom sounded, with Hinoki's voice announcing the arrival of the last portion of their cargo. Struggling into a pair of coveralls, she headed bleary-eyed down towards the cargo airlock. She was surprised to find Mark and Mala already there, and she watched as the hyena demonstrated the skills she'd learned wrestling cargo on the station's docks. Zassa watched with a critical eye, data PADD in her paws as she checked each container's weight, directing the others to move it into its designated position, to be clamped down securely. Trouble moved along behind the work crew, double-checking that each container was sealed, and that it was correctly clamped down. As she did, she wondered about the possibility of assassins or pirates coming aboard her ship in one of the containers; the container would have to have a trick hatch, or the furrs inside would have to have cutting tools, but either would be possible. And it just wasn't practical to open each container as it came on board ... she'd have to talk to Mark about precautions they might take.

Finally the last container was in place, locked down, and Zassa had confirmed that their weight distribution was optimal. Trouble looked at her tired, dirty crew and grinned. "We break for breakfast, but then we go straight into preflight checks. We can clean up when we're outta here.

The wardroom seemed smaller than ever with Mala's bulk crammed into a corner seat; breakfast was a cacophony of "sorry" and "'scuse me" and "could you pass that?" as they each tried to find something to their tastes. Mala demonstrated an annoying habit of drinking directly from the juice container, and an amazing ability to belch, which left Hinoki looking a little sick and Wanda roaring with laughter. Trouble watched in consternation as four of her meat pies disappeared down the hyena's maw, thinking that Supply would go ape when they saw this one's requirements. Finally, breakfast was over, the dishes in the recycler, and the mess pretty much cleaned up. Hinoki still grumbled under his breath as he got out a mop, it being his day to tidy up the galley.

Trouble sat at the Flight Engineer's station back in Engineering, watching the matter/antimatter reactor containment field coils cool down to superconducting temperatures. She'd brought one of the fusion APU's on line and they had disconnected station power. Another 20 minutes and she'd have main power on line. All the support systems had been configured, allocations to shields and deflectors set, APU power already run to sensors, and like any sensible person when pirates were about, she'd put the energy weapons on preheat, just in case. She was looking forward to getting out of this place; while some moments had been fun, there was something about the whole affair that left her uneasy ....

"Roger that, Station Control, we'll see you next trip," Mark said into the boom microphone hanging from his headset. The undocking from the station had been routine, and they were just clearing the inner traffic control sphere. So far, everything was going according to plan, the ship handling a bit sluggishly, but that was to be expected, considering their loadout. Trouble had the insystem drive tuned well, and everything on the ship seemed nominal. Still, Mark took the time to have the computer run a number of 'dry' combat exercises against random simulated opponents as he kept an eye on the nav system; something he remembered picking up from the general babble of thoughts in the bar the other day indicated that a surprise or two might yet be waiting on their way home.

Zassa took one look into the ship’s head and screamed! Turning she stalked off down the corridor, murder in her eyes. Hinoki’s head popped out of the flight deck hatch and he stared at the vixen in wonder. “Zassa! What’s wrong?” “Gonna kill that hyena; you should see the mess she’s left in the head! Where IS SHE?"

Trouble had come up from engineering to get a cup of coffee; on the way, she encountered the hyena coming in the other direction, her arms loaded with cleaning supplies who growled at her, “you sure got a fussy crew, Capt’n. Picky, picky, picky!" Trouble stopped and turned to watch the hyena depart in the direction of the head and wondered, Now what?

The first jump home had been uneventful, as had the second, and the small ship was settling into a quiet routine. Mark and Trouble took turns on the flight deck, with Zassa and Hinoki on a staggered schedule, looking after Environmental, Communications, Sensors, and just being around in case anything happened that required their assistance. Wanda studied her nursing, filing several projects and tests by subspace. She said she was making good progress ... Mala for her part seemed thoroughly bored. She wasn't interested in any of the ship's systems, pronounced their library of videos as old and outdated, claiming that she'd seen each one a dozen times. The text library also didn't seem to interest her. The small ship's armory of personal weapons did occupy her for a short time, but after each one had been cleaned, and tested, and cleaned again, she was again roaming the corridors, and being a general annoyance.

Mark had relieved Trouble on the bridge, and she'd retired to her "cabin." Things had been quiet, and she'd caught up on her sleep, and as such, wasn't really tired quite yet. She didn't feel like watching a video, and wasn't in the mood for reading. She was thinking about going down to the cargo bay for a workout when her eye fell on the clear plastic box that was supposed to contain the "living outfit" she'd bought back on Smiley's station. Awwww, poor thing, she thought, I've been quite remiss; if this thing lives off body heat, I bet its hungry ...... Smiling she stripped off her coveralls and picked up the box. About time I found out if it lives up to its claims, anyways ... she thought to herself.

Mala stalked onto the flight deck and flopped down to the deck near to where Mark sat in the pilot's chair. She glared at Hinoki for a moment and then jerked her thumb towards the door. "Take a hike, kiddo, I'll see that our intrepid pilot doesn't fall asleep." Hinoki's eyes narrowed, but when he caught Mark's smile he just shrugged, "I'll go get a cup of coffee, but I'll be back after a bit." As the door closed behind him, the hyena turned to Mark. "The ship running OK? It's on autopilot, right?" When the mouse nodded, she grinned widely. "Good. Then come here, you!"

Trouble opened the box, and picked it up; she could see the creature within move weakly, like viscous black oil surging from side to side, sluggishly. Tentatively Trouble reached a paw out to touch the surface of the creature. What happened next surprised her; the contents of the box flowed up her finger, over her paw, and up her arm, like sticky goo flowing under gravity, except in the reverse direction! She eeped and giggled, and concentrating for a moment, she tried to visualize the dress she'd worn the other night. The blackness spread out as it flowed, and she giggled as she felt it flow over her breasts, the creature thinning, flowing down her torso; however, instead of forming a skirt, it seemed to form panties, tendrils flowing between her thighs, the front portion meeting and fusing with the back. Likewise tendrils flowed up over her shoulders and around her sides until it looked like she was wearing a one-piece bathing suit; a bathing suit of incredible thinness, as the cleft between her legs and her nipples were more than apparent. No, you silly thing, she thought, I wanted a dress .... The creature surged for a moment, the motion feeling strange over her body, and then it flowed, becoming even thinner as it seemed to gather itself between her thighs. Trouble gasped as it formed a tendril and slowly pushed into her sex, the tendril rapidly thickening to form a phallic plug. "No, you stupid thing," she moaned, as her paws reached down to try and pluck at the substance of the creature; no sooner had her paws touched it though, than the blackness flowed over her paws, entrapping them. She grunted and struggled, but the creature was amazingly strong, the fabric of its existence resilient; it was like trying to fight a giant rubber-band. Slowly her paws were drawn around behind her back, the creature flowing over her arms until her forearms were held horizontally behind her back, one on top of the other.

Trouble grunted and yowled, struggling, and then gasping in horror as tendrils flowed up her neck, one of them pushing into her muzzle to form a gag, stifling her cries. She staggered from one side of her tiny cabin to the other as the tendril between her legs started to surge and throb, the creature fucking her slowly.

Zassa heard something from the cabin next to hers, and wondered what video Trouble was watching. Picking up her headphones she put on one of her favorite rock groups and turned the volume up some.

Trouble gasped into her living gag; somewhere along the line she'd fallen to her knees, as the tendril stroked in and out of her sex. Her first climax was sudden, and powerful, and as she shook in response to the waves of pleasure radiating through her body, the creature seemed to grow stronger; its motions in her sex were stronger, more powerful, deeper, and the portions around her breasts seemed to be squeezing them rhythmically. She grunted and tried to rise to her feet, only to stagger and fall back to lie on the floor of her cabin on her side, as the blackness that was the creature surged around her body.

Mark looked up into Mala's face. "Did you just hear something?" The hyena shook her head, "Nope, not a thing." Mark smiled and kissed her softly. "Must've been my imagination, then. Now, where were we?"

Trouble panted; it seemed with each climax she had, the creature got stronger. It had literally grown, now covering her from the neck down to her knees; it had even grown a new tendril, shoving it into her ass, the two tendrils, one in her pussy and the new one in her ass thrusting in counterpoint. Meanwhile something was rubbing at her clitty in a most delightful way. And there was nothing she could do but moan into the gag and suffer the waves of pleasure that rolled over her. In a dim portion of her mind, she wondered why Mark hadn't come to her rescue, and in a separate portion she didn't want him to. Something somewhere snickered, "Poor thing was hungry, and now it’s going to gorge itself on your sexual frenzy." But what would happen if it couldn't get enough?

Mark smiled and nuzzled Mala under her chin. "Wonder what happened to Trouble. She isn't usually late for shift change." Mala grinned. "Probably all tuckered out from a hard day of captaining." Mark concentrated for a moment, blinked in what looked like surprise, then his smile turned rather mischievous. "Be that as it may, I do believe somebody should remind her it's her turn now." Mala's grin widened. "True, and I know just the furr for the job ... " Rising, she set Mark down in the pilot's chair and turning, made her way to the hatch; opening it, she found a glowering Hinoki seated in the corridor. "Capt'n seems to be a bit late, why don't you be a good little boy and go see what's keeping her?"

Trouble awoke slowly. There was a pounding in her head... no, there was a pounding on the door. Rising shakily to her feet, she staggered to the door and opened it to find Hinoki looking at her curiously. "Geez, Trouble, what happened to you? You look a mess! Nice dress, by the way, but don't you have the same thing in brown?" Trouble looked down at herself; her fur was all ruffled every which way, and she could feel the stickyness between her legs ... but the creature had finally formed the dress she wanted, the blackness stretched over her body like a film of latex. Trouble shook her head, "Tell Mark I'll be up in a minute; just let me change and clean up a little." Hinoki chuckled and nodded, the scents coming from Trouble's cabin giving him a most misleading idea of what she'd been up to.

When the door closed, Trouble put her right fist over the open box and thought, Playtime's over, back in your box. And obediently, the blackness oozed up her body and down her arm, to fill the container almost to the brim. Trouble snapped on the lid, and then added a piece of string to make sure it stayed closed. However as she put it back on the shelf, she smiled; "Someday, when I've got the time, we'll do that again ... or maybe I'll let it get good and hungry and then dump it over Zassa ... " Smiling, she trotted to the head to wash up some before heading to the bridge.

They were about four days out from Smiley's station, about halfway home, when Hinoki bent over the sensor console. They were passing through an unnamed system, heading from one jump point to another, and he was getting some funny returns from the system's asteroid belt. Scowling he worked with filters and interpolation software, seeking to refine the image ... As the computer stroked the raw data and reported to his station, he sat back and blinked, and then reached for the intercom.

Trouble was sound asleep when the intercom chimed. "Whazzup?" she mumbled blurrily. Hinoki's voice was clear over the speakers, "Captain, I have one, maybe two inbound bogies. They look like stealthed ships, and they're using the asteroid field behind them to distort sensor returns. I think we're going to have problems in about ... fourteen minutes." Trouble nodded, more to herself than to Hinoki. "Very well, bring the ship to battle stations. Tell Mark he has the command pilot's seat; I'll head down to Engineering."

Trouble dashed into Engineering, plopping down into the station chair before the master console; with the main drive running, it only took a moment to bring up the two APU's, and she rerouted the additional power to shields and weapons. She watched as Mark brought the missiles online, their seeker heads in stand-by mode, their electronics running self diagnostics. Blinking, she watched as Hinoki tapped into the increased power levels to power up ECM and

ECCM modules, the systems remaining on stand-by, as if he didn't want to tip his paw to the bandits that they had those capabilities. "Captain," Mark's voice came over the intercom, "I need a decision now. We could simply cloak and slip away, but then they'd be free to fly home and report; personally, I think engaging them might actually be our safest bet. As near as we can tell, there's only two of them, nothing bigger than raiders." Trouble blinked to herself; "This ship has a cloaking device?" Shaking herself, she replied, "No, they haven't declared their intentions yet. Hinoki, is there any chance they're Brethren returning from an operation, and are here to provide us with an informal escort?" Hinoki's voice floated out of the speaker, "Don't think so; we generally run better equipment than this. Don't get me wrong, those ships look more than capable of taking out a standard free trader, but they're not the Brethren. Stake my pay for this trip on it!" "Oh, they're not Brethren, all right," Mark interjected. "In fact, unless I'm mistaken they're specifically after us!" Trouble chewed her bottom lip for a moment, thinking someone was after Mark's recently demonstrated Psi talent, and then replied, "OK, we'll wait until they declare themselves. Shields are up, and we can absorb at least their first salvo. If they're hostile, here's what I want to do ... "

Mark looked over at Hinoki as Trouble outlined her battle plan. "She really is a pirate at heart, isn't she?"

The panther smiled; it had been a long stern chase, with several trails gone cold. The cheetah bitch was taking the long way home, as if she wanted to slip past unobserved. That was fine by him; no one was likely to interfere out here in the boonies. It should be a simple task to take down the free trader. Mooneyes would get her sex toy, and he and his little crew would be more than amply rewarded, with a portion of the free trader's cargo and that mouse. He just wished he'd been able to get more information from that wolverine kid.

"They're charging weapons!" Hinoki cried, his head bent over his console. Mark just nodded, his fingers near, but not quite touching the keys that would charge their own weapons. Lasers, ion cannon, even mass drivers left signatures that other ships could detect as they came on-line. The missiles, however, were almost invisible, nestled in their launch tubes. He let a few of the selected ones have a look at their targets, the missiles acknowledging that they had an acceptable picture .....

"Rover Two to Rover Lead; are you going to warn them, or should we just open up?" The squirrel fem that was the command pilot of the second ship did not like this in the least. She'd heard rumors that this free trader had some connection to the Brethren, and if that was true, they were going to be really pissed when they took them out. "Rover Lead to Two," the panther's voice came over the com, "I'll give 'em the chance to surrender after I put a shot across their bow. But if they don't power down within fifteen seconds, start shooting at their engines. I'll take out the gun turrets." "Roger that, Lead," the squirrel replied, still feeling very uneasy about this. By now they must have been spotted, and their quarry was just cruising on as if they didn't have a care in the universe. Either they were very slack over there, or they were very good .......

Hinoki jumped as the twin lances of light speared out from the lead ship to flash just before their bows. "Free Trader Lost Cause, you have fifteen seconds to power down, or we'll fire on you! Surrender and live; resist and die!" came from the comm panel. Wanda, listening in on the intercom from what passed for sickbay, blinked and thought she'd heard that voice before ... Hinoki looked at Mark, who appeared to be quietly counting to himself .....

Trouble waited until she'd counted to twelve, and then fed a surge of power into their enhanced shield generators. By the time the enemy's fifteen seconds were up, their shields no longer resembled that of a civilian merchantman, but more closely resembled that of an Imperial light cruiser ......

The flight engineer on Rover Two let out a gasp of surprise just as Lead's weapons fired at the freighter. The squirrel was just lining up her forward weapons on the freighter's engines when he gasped, "Missy, we got big problems! I think we'd better get out of here ... " She ignored him, thinking there was still time ....

Mark toggled two of the missiles, and they streaked away from the freighter's belly blister as he simultaneously brought the laser turrets online, hoping to use their energy signature to mask the launch for a crucial moment or two. Each missile homed in on a different target as Hinoki flipped the ECM and ECCM modules from Standby to On.

On Rover Two, the flight engineer howled as his sensors went to a white field of static; he shifted frequencies and encryptions, but nothing cleared his scope. Missy looked over her shoulder at her engineer, and began to think he might be right; pulling back on her flight controls, she started to horse her raider around ...... In the meantime, the missiles had no trouble seeing through the raider's jamming, as the ECCM suite in the freighter simply overpowered it, giving them a clear reflection of their destinations. And right at the moment before impact short pulses of laser fire lanced out from the Lost Cause's turrets, striking both raiders' shields and weakening them for just a second or two ...

The panther saw the missile launch, his eyebrows rising, his eyes widening in surprise, and even as he started to take evasive action, his sensors washed out, and he lost the missiles and even the freighter. He was still howling, "What in the hell is this?" when one of the missiles hit the belly of his ship.

Mark watched in grim satisfaction as the leach missiles hit their targets. There was no massive explosion, no fragments of flying metal; the only indication of the hit was that each ship stopped maneuvering, their systems going dead as the leach disrupted their electronics and drained their power.

Missy gasped as everything went dead, the lights going out on the flight deck. "What the hell was that?" "Leach," her flight engineer gasped as he reached for the helmet to his space suit. "We're completely powered down, most everything scrambled. If they leave us alone I can probably get partial power back in a few hours, but I doubt they'll do that. Leaches are usually a precursor to a boarding. You'd best get your suit on; it’s gonna get awful cold in here."

Trouble locked her left glove onto her suit's sleeve. She was pulling on the Brethren combat vacuum armor she'd been issued but never thought she'd use. Mala was pulling on her own Imperial Marines vacuum armor, looking like some weird fighting robot from science fiction literature. Hinoki was also preparing for their excursion as Mark brought the freighter alongside the first of the raiders. "Sure you want to do this, Trouble?" his voice came over the intercom. "Damn straight," the cheetah fem growled, "No one takes pot-shots at my ship! Besides, we've got a reputation to live up to! It'd be bad for business if it ever came out that you could take pot-shots at a Brethren ship and not pay the penalty!"

The panther saw the forms emerge from the lock in the freighter through the viewport. He'd pulled on his own suit in preparation for the boarding, but he wasn't very confident of the defense of his ship. He'd never planned on conducting an assault in space, and didn't have an armored vacuum suit. And his body armor wouldn't fit under his soft suit. His flight engineer wasn't much better off, the rabbit having modular clamp-on armor for her soft suit. And his nerve disruptor wouldn't work very well through their armor; he'd have to use his blaster, and that was gonna make a real mess of the inside of his ship.

"They're going after Jack's ship first," Missy announced as she stared through the viewport. It was getting hard to see; the inner surface of the viewport frosting over as moisture condensed on its surface. She turned to look at her flight engineer. "Well Malach, how do you want to play it?" The ferret just shrugged, "Let's see how many Jack takes out before we make a decision".

Mala was in her element; this was what she'd trained for, this was what she was good at. She placed the shaped charge softly on the hull of the raider, to keep from alerting the crew. Trouble had veto'ed the first spot, touching helmets with her to say there were too many critical systems below the hull there, and she didn't want to damage the raider more than they had to. Curious thought, that ... but then, they were pirates, so it probably made sense. Pulling herself around the ship by the pawholds, she triggered the blast and then swarmed back up the side of the raider to pull herself through the hole in its hull.

Jack was thrown forward by the concussion of the blast, and then sucked back as all the air in the ship was sucked into space. His flight engineer hadn't been so lucky, catching the brunt of the blast, a classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. As he shook his head, trying to clear his vision, he saw a monstrous shape fill the hole in the hull. He'd barely started to bring up his blaster when a half dozen rockets from the demon's weapon shredded his suit, and his torso.

Trouble followed Mala into the ship. Taking a quick look around she smiled; the shaped charge had taken out lockers and some electrical conduits, but nothing major. She ewwwwed as she recognized the remains of someone in among the wreckage. Turning she saw Mala shaking another body, as if trying to determine if it was still alive. That was patently absurd, as its lower half was pretty well shredded, the torn suit alone conveying a death sentence. Mala turned and shoved the corpse at Trouble, "Recognize him? He's the slug that was dancing with Wanda that night in the bar!" Trouble looked at him and nodded, recognition filling her eyes. After a moment she looked up at Mala, "This was no coincidence, then. They came after us specifically ... but why I wonder?" Mala shrugged, "We can puzzle that out later; let’s go secure the other ship." As the huge hyena moved past her, Trouble looked at where the half-dozen rounds from her gun had gone and winced. The flight controls were a mess.

Missy counted, "One ... two ... three ... Urrrrr, Jack didn't take out any of them." Malach nodded, "And I don't see any prisoners either. Dammit, I cannot get anything running on this tub; it’s even screwed up my paw-laser! What do you want to do, Missy?" The squirrel looked down at the riot gun in her paws; it was great in the confines of a ship's corridors, but in open space ....... "Malach, those missiles and that jamming gear and those shields tell me this ain't no ordinary freighter. Someone screwed up bad giving us this job, or we were sold down the river. Either way, I don't think we're going to fight our way out of this." "Yeah," Malach answered, "but if they're going to kill us anyways, I'd rather go down fighting." Missy nodded, "Tell you what; I don't want to wait for them to blow a hole in the ship; let’s go outside and meet them there. Maybe we can talk to them ..... " Malach nodded and reached for the manual control lever on the inner airlock door.

Mala growled, "They're coming out!" and, raising her weapon, she let loose a stream of rockets towards the other raider, forcing its crew to retreat behind the curve of its hull. "Hold it," Trouble growled, "I want prisoners. I want to find out who was behind this little fiasco. Besides, we can always sell warm bodies as slaves. Let’s not cut further into our profit margin than we have to." She thought she saw the hyena shrug for a moment before her deep voice came over the intercom. "Fine by me, Captain, but for now they have cover and we don't, and I'd suggest we do something about that."

Missy winced as the feline voice came over her headphones; "All right you two; party's over. Come out with your paws empty and we'll let you live. All other choices only lead to death." Before she could say anything, Malach keyed his transmitter, "Yeah, like you let Jack and his crew live. How do we know you'll keep your word?" Trouble chuckled into her mike, "You don't. The other raider's flight engineer happened to be standing just under the shaped charge; we had no way of knowing that. The pilot made the mistake of trying to draw down on us, and lost. You're no profit to us dead, but if you want it that way, we can play that game too."

Missy looked at Malach, and then moved closer to touch helmets. "No profit to them? Urrrrrr, maybe they ARE with the Brethren!" Malach nodded inside his helmet. "That or Imperial Intelligence; who else would have a ship like that? If they're II, we'll probably spend the rest of our lives in some penal colony; if they're Brethren, we'll wind up as slaves. Not much of a choice." Missy nodded; "True, but the only alternative seems to be death. And to tell you the truth, I'm not wild about dying today ..... "

Mala had used the jets on her suit to move closer to the raider until she could grab the paw-holds on the hull. She watched as Trouble moved towards the stern and Hinoki towards the bow. Those two weren't too bad for amateurs, but she could tell they hadn't been through this often before. Waiting until the others were set, she quickly pulled herself around the hull ...

The first warning Missy had was when Malach's eyes went wide in shock; she didn't quite manage to turn around in time before something massive slammed into her, knocking her free of the hull, sending her spinning off into space, her riot gun flung from her grasp.

Trouble watched the hyena subdue the second space-suited figure as if she was playing with a rag doll. "At least she's not obviously trying to kill him," she muttered to herself as she turned to look at the first figure rapidly drifting away, arms and legs flailing. With a sigh she slung her plasma rifle and jetted out in pursuit.

Mala growled fiercely as she pushed their two prisoners towards the cargo hold, clumping along behind them, still wearing most of her vacuum armor. Trouble squirmed out of the upper part of her suit, grumbling about catheters, and audibly wishing someone would come up with a better design for females. Hinoki just grinned, and as he shoved his suit back into its locker he picked up his rocket launcher and padded, still nude, after Mala, to see if she needed any help in securing their prisoners ... or maybe just to make sure she didn't scare them to death ..... Trouble put away her suit, moving carefully, as long experience in space had taught her, making sure the suit would be ready at a moment's notice. When all was ship-shape she turned and made her way to the flight deck, carrying her coveralls.

Mark looked up from his control panel as Trouble entered; the blue-green glow of a tractor beam filled the viewscreen. "Just moving those raider ships over to one of the larger asteroids. I thought it best to hide them there, and then send some crews back to pick them up later." Trouble nodded. "Sounds good, although I have to admit, someone's going to get really pissed at having to fly that one ship back; they'll have to wear vac suits the whole trip. And the control systems are a little shot up as well." Mark nodded wryly, "Bet you ten credits that when the Boss finds out about Mala, he'll assign me to the job? And just how bad is it over there?" Trouble sighed and slipped into the Ops station chair. "Mala only fired a half-dozen rounds, but they blew straight through the pilot and into the flight controls. You remember the panther in the bar? The one who was dancing with Wanda? Well guess who the pilot was."

Mark looked thoughtful for a moment. "Most folks on the station would know we were loading cargo. Theoretically, only Mooneyes would know what we were loading. And where we were heading. Do you think someone in her operation put them on to us, or do you think she did it herself?" Trouble shrugged; "Might have been some rather greedy and rather stupid type that thought a proven, demonstrable Psi talent such as yourself might be a marketable commodity. Unless our guests can prove Mooneyes is behind this, we'll never know. But I'll tell you this, I'll be real hesitant to deal with her again; the coincidence is just too great ... " Mark nodded.

It was after dinner; Trouble had gotten a chance to shower and had on a fresh jumpsuit. The adrenaline was finally leaving her system, and she felt tired and weak. Padding down towards the cargo hold, she was bound and determined to ask their captives a few questions. Passing through the pressure hatch, she looked around; the light was dim, and it took her a moment to make out the forms of a male ferret and a female squirrel, each nude, each chained to cargo containers on opposite sides of the bay. Wandering over to look at the ferret first, she noted that one ankle bore a cuff with a chain trailing from its lock to a fitting on one of the cargo containers; it looked like he had about a dozen feet of chain, and could shift his position easily. A squeeze bottle of water and a bucket, obviously for waste elimination, were nearby, and there was a thick pad of foam insulation for him to lay on. He looked back at Trouble, not saying a word. Satisfied that someone had seen to their basic needs she turned and strode over to the female, who rose to her feet upon her approach. "And who might you be?" the squirrel asked, her voice almost a snarl. Trouble looked back at her for a moment, and suffered a severe flashback, remembering when she was crew on a tramp freighter, and how she was enslaved. Suddenly she felt a real pang of sympathy for these two. But then she shook it off; this was neither the time nor the place for sentimentalism. They were, after all, trying to do something similar to Trouble and her crew, but now the tables were turned. "I'm the captain of this vessel." Cocking her head to one side, she looked at the squirrel, who seemed so determined to put up a brave front. "And what are you going to do with us?" the squirrel demanded. Trouble shrugged, "The same thing we always do with captives; we sell them into the slave markets. Unless you cause me trouble, in which case, I'll simply cycle you through the airlock. But I don't think you're that stupid." At that, the squirrel's gaze dropped to the floor. "No, we're not that stupid; we'll behave." Trouble nodded; "Wise move. Now tell me, who were you working for?" The squirrel seemed to deflate, and she sat on the foam pad. "Jack Carruthers. You know, big panther. But I'm told he's dead." Trouble nodded, "True, and I regret that; not because he was killed, but because his death prevents me from finding out who was behind this assault. The Brethren take such things very seriously." From behind her, she heard the ferret mumble, "Dammit, I knew it! We're screwed now." The squirrel just shrugged, "Well, Jack was the brains behind the outfit, or so he thought; he was the one dealing with the principle. I don't have a clue who he was working with .... " Trouble didn't say anything for a long minute, she just looked at the squirrel; finally she turned to head towards the pressure door. Stopping just shy of it, she turned, to look back. "I don't believe in mistreating slaves; if you are cold, or too hot, or have reasonable complaints, let me know and I'll deal with them." With that she passed through the door, leaving Malach and Missy to their thoughts.

Mark looked up as Trouble entered the flight deck. "You're early." Trouble just shrugged. After a moment she looked at Mark. "I think the squirrel's lying. I think she knows who's behind this." Mark nodded. "Of course she does. The question is, to what lengths do you want to go to get her to talk?" Trouble just smiled, "Well, I'm not going to turn Mala loose on her, if that's what you're asking. But I might just turn Zassa loose on her ... she looks a little uptight, and I bet Zassa could help with that ......... "

Missy looked up as the cargo hold's pressure door opened. A vixen in an almost obscenely short dress padded in, carrying two covered trays. Closing the door behind her she padded over towards Missy first, to set down the tray by her feet. As she did so, Malach's eyebrows rose; she was facing directly away from him as she bent over and it was perfectly apparent that she was wearing nothing at all under the skimpy dress. Missy took in the collar and the skimpy dress and shook her head. "Don't tell me; you're the crew's sex toy." There was something in the squirrel's tone that annoyed Zassa, but she smiled and shook her head. "Actually, I'm the ship's loadmaster. But as for that, well, I prefer to think of the crew as there for my amusement ........ " Grinning, she stepped a little closer to raise one paw, to stroke the squirrel's cheek. "How 'bout you? You interested in a little relief from the boredom of just sitting here?" Zassa smiled as the squirrel's face clouded, and she snarled, "Thanks, but I'm not into girls." Zassa smiled, and shrugged, and bent to pick up the other tray; as she moved over towards Malach, she looked over her shoulder, "Your loss, but I wouldn't hold to that too tightly; before this is over, you might be ...... "

Malach watched the hot young vixen sashay towards him, and tried not to drool. When she put down his tray a few feet beyond his chain, and then pushed it, skidding it across the floor towards him, he almost groaned. Then she gave him a wink and turned to leave the cargo bay. When the door was closed, he looked at Missy and groaned, "And what’s wrong with me? I would have loved to have gotten some relief from the boredom!

Trouble watched the monitor and smiled. Turning to Hinoki she purred, "I think we now have two wedges we can use to try and get more information ... but I'll bet the ferret breaks first. I bet in a bit he'd be willing to do almost anything for some sex ........ "

Later that night, after Mark had relieved her, Trouble ran across Mala in the wardroom. "We're going to do a ‘soft’ interrogation of the prisoners tonight; something a little more related to the carrot than the stick." The cheetah fem grinned. "It should get rather sexy, and I was wondering if you'd be inclined to participate?" The big hyena looked back at Trouble for a moment, her face blank, and then she sighed and shook her head. "I appreciate the offer, but if you don't mind, I think I'll just keep Mark company on the flight deck. Maybe we'll watch on the monitor." Trouble just nodded and shrugged, "Suit yourself .... "

Trouble was wearing her new dress again when she and Zassa and Hinoki entered the cargo bay. The three of them pointedly ignored the ferret, walking up to where the squirrel was chained. Missy looked at them with apprehension, her eyes widening when she saw the buckles and straps and other accessories that Hinoki was carrying. Zassa padded right up to her, to take her head in both paws, to give the squirrel a kiss. Missy was so surprised by this action that at first she didn't resist, her eyes going wide open; by the time she had recovered her wits and was about to shove the vixen away, Zassa broke the kiss, and with a grin, she skipped back out of reach. "You see, Tr .... Mistress, I think this one would make a fine bed slave, if her attitude could just be adjusted a little ... " Trouble looked at her critically; "I dunno, Zassa, she looks a little thin, a little flat to me ... I'm not sure she'd sell into that market very well ........ but perhaps if she had skills, that could be overcome ..... " Missy's paws balled into fists as she listened to them; she couldn't believe she was hearing this! She'd always been lithe, but she'd never thought she was unattractive ...... Trouble turned to Hinoki and handed him a jar. "Here, rub this on her breasts. One light coat every six hours. The rest I think we can build up with exercise." Turning back to Zassa, Trouble raised an eyebrow. "Now, what can we do to test her skills. Surely at her age, she isn't a virgin ........ "

Zassa grinned. "Perhaps, Mistress, we should check .... "

As Zassa and Trouble talked, Hinoki smiled and taking the jar, turned to the squirrel, taking a step towards her; for her part she backed up against the shipping container and glared at him. "If you think I'm going to let you put your paws on me, you got another thing coming, Buster!" she growled. Hinoki just smiled and shrugged. "You'll let me apply the cream, as Mistress has instructed, and willingly too. Otherwise, we'll just tie you up and apply it anyways."

Malach watched from across the room as Missy snarled and tried to knock the jar out of the male cheetah's paws. Missy'd always had spirit, but he'd thought she had better sense. As he watched, he wondered what would happen when it came to be his turn .......

Zassa stopped in mid-sentence as the jar, fortunately with the cap still on, bounced across the cargo bay. Looking at the squirrel and then back to Trouble, the vixen smiled. "See? Told ya!" Trouble just sighed and nodded, and gestured to the pile of gear Hinoki had put down on the deck.

Missy grunted and shook her head as she swung from the ceiling. It hadn't taken the three of them any time at all to subdue her, two of them pinning her to the deck while the third, that annoyingly smug male cheetah, covered her in straps and buckles and all sorts of weird things she'd never even heard of before. Both her paws were in heavy leather mittens, thick padded cuffs around her wrists. They'd used simple snap-hooks to connect the cuffs of the mittens together, and another to hook them to a chain from the cargo bay's bridge crane. With her fingers inside the thumbless muffs, she couldn't work the snaps, and that was so frustrating! Other cuffs had gone around her ankles, and a pole with snap hooks on the end now held her legs almost painfully wide apart. The chain she hung from was tight enough that only her tiptoes touched the floor, and if she strained, she could relieve the tension on her wrists a bit. They'd put a thick collar around her neck, and this forced her to hold her head up straight. A leather thong tied to the end of her tail was tied to a ring at the back of this collar, forcing her to hold her tail high; she couldn't cover herself with it, and her breasts and sex were completely exposed to view. The cheetah fem had given her water to drink from the squeeze bottle, perhaps a bit more than she'd wanted. Finally, they'd put a device in her mouth; a rubber covered ring that held her jaws achingly wide apart, a strap from either side of the ring buckling in back of her neck, holding it in place. It did nothing to muffle her cries, but her cries were unintelligible; she couldn't even curse them. And then that insufferable male cheetah had indeed applied the cream to her breasts, rubbing it in firmly.

Malach had watched them work on Missy, squirming a bit as his cock got hard; Missy certainly did look delicious hanging there like that .... And to his amazement, the three turned and left, once they'd applied the cream.

Missy groaned; her muscles were tired, her limbs ached, she'd tried standing as best possible, but when her legs cramped she gave up and hung from her paws until her arms ached, and then she tried standing again. It'd seemed like it had been hours when the door opened again, and the vixen walked in. She had a rubber stopper in one paw, and a squeeze bottle of water in the other, and shoving the stopper into the center of the ring filling her muzzle, she inserted the nozzle of the squeeze bottle into the hole in the stopper and gave the squirrel another drink. A long drink. Finally, when the bottle was empty, she grinned and removed the stopper, to padd around the suspended girl, looking her over. Missy shuddered as the vixen's paw stroked over her ass, down one thigh, and then along her belly. "You really do look good enough to eat," the vixen purrred. Stopping in front of Missy, she grinned at the suspended squirrel. "Can you think of any reason why I shouldn't?" After a moment, the vixen grinned again, and nodded. "Neither can I." And with that, she knelt between the squirrel's outstretched feet, to nuzzle softly at her sex.

Malach watched the vixen lick at Missy, watched the play of emotions wash across the squirrel's face. At first there was revulsion, and then surprise, and then something else .... It almost looked like a mixture of shame and bliss as the squirrel responded to the ministrations of the vixen's tongue.

Zassa smiled and slowly slithered her tongue in and out of the squirrel's pussy; sure enough, she wasn't a virgin ...... After she'd gotten the squirrel good and wet, her chest heaving as she panted hard, Zassa moved to tease her clitty, using her teeth and tongue. When it became apparent that the squirrel was getting close to a climax, she switched back to stroke deep into her snatch with her tongue. Back and forth, back and forth, the vixen teased, doing her best to keep her on the edge .....

On the flight deck, Trouble grinned at Hinoki. "Isn't it time Zassa relieved you up here?" Hinoki never took his eyes from the monitor. "Uh, that's OK, Capt'n, I'm willing to cover for her for a while, until she's done ...... " Trouble took a quiet step to the side, grinning as she observed the bulge in the cheetah's pants and just shook her head.

Zassa figured she'd had about enough; the squirrel was hanging limply from her wrists, panting hard, moaning loudly, almost incoherently. Slithering her tongue out of her pussy once again, the vixen took her clitty between her lips to suck, as her tongue danced over its tip, as she shoved two fingers into her pussy to pump them in and out, even as she tormented the poor squirrel's clitty. The vixen knew exactly what she was doing, and it wasn't but a moment until the squirrel was writhing, electrified, in the grips of a powerful and long-drawn-out climax.

Rising, Zassa winked at Malach, before padding from the cargo bay.

Malach watched the vixen go, his eyes wide; shifting his gaze to where Missy hung limply he just let out a low whistle of appreciation.

Hinoki waited a bit before heading down to the cargo bay; it was six hours exactly when he entered, the jar of cream in his paw. It was obvious that the squirrel had recovered a bit, but the fur between her thighs was still matted and damp. Working professionally, he applied a layer of cream to her breasts, nodding in approval as the effects were already starting to be seen. After giving her another long drink from the squeeze bottle, he found the control for the winch and lowered her to the floor. Missy was much too sore from balancing precariously on tiptoes to put up much resistance, and it didn't take Hinoki long to refasten her paws behind her back. He then placed a thick belt tightly around her waist, and taking another leather thong, he tied one end to a ring in the front of the belt. Rolling her back over onto her stomach, he brought the thong between her legs and tied it tightly to the ring between her mittens, making sure that the thong was in the cleft of her sex. Next, he took a leather strap and ran it from the ring in the middle of the spreader bar, to the back of her collar, pulling her into a "hogtie" position. Standing back, he looked at her for a moment, smiling. He'd seen many a female slave tied in this position bring themselves to a climax by tugging on the thong parting their labia, and he wondered if she would discover that? Somehow he thought not. Finally, he took a pawfull of her hair, and tied a thong around it, pulling the thong back to tie its other end to the spreader bar, thus pulling her head back severely. He looked at her as she lay on her stomach, bent back in a bow, and grinned. "Perfect position for what I have in mind," he purrrred. Then, dropping his shorts, releasing his cock, he knelt by her head, to slowly tease the head of his cock through the ring holding her muzzle open.

Missy gasped and squirmed, not wanting to do this, but there was no way she could resist. Slowly, almost gently, the cheetah male thrust his cock into her mouth, his hips moving until the head of his cock was striking the back of her throat, making her gag. He seemed to play with her in this manner forever, until finally with a grunt, he came, his cum filling her mouth. With the ring gag she found it hard to swallow, and to her mortification, a fair portion of it trickled down over her lips, to pool on the floor before her.

Rising, Hinoki patted her head. "Not too bad, for a beginner; we'll work on technique next time ..... " And with that, ignoring Malach, he rose and left the cargo bay.

Malach had watched the whole affair, doing his best to keep his raging hard-on from view; he looked at Missy, squirming on the floor, trying to find a way out of her bonds, and only succeeding in smearing the small pool of the cheetah's cum over herself. Lord, she looks hot, he thought to himself, and with the cheetah gone, he reached down to stroke himself, wondering if he beat off, where he could hide his cum, so they wouldn't know .....

Trouble watched the ferret on the monitor. "I think we're going to have to do something to keep him from playing with himself ... " Zassa just grinned.

Trouble took the next turn, padding through the cargo bay's pressure door with a few more items in hand. Setting some things down by Missy's bound form, she turned to walk over to the ferret. "Stand up, turn around," she growled. Malach somehow thought this wasn't going to be what he was longing for, but never the less complied. Trouble pulled mittens similar to the ones the squirrel was wearing over his paws, and then clipped them together. Without a word, she turned and padded back towards the squirrel.

Malach tugged for a moment or two at his arms and then sighed. So they are watching. So much for getting myself off ....... Carefully sitting back down on his foam pad, he watched to see what would happen to poor Missy next ........

Trouble first bent to examine where the thong was buried in the squirrel's sex. Frowning she found no evidence that the squirrel had been tugging on it to pleasure herself. Sighing, she removed a few items from what looked like a large square leather carryall bag, and then untied the squirrel's wrist cuffs from the thong. The thong to her tail was then untied and then the strap between her collar and the spreader bar. Missy moaned softly as her body relaxed, and she was able to lay flat on the floor. Quickly undoing the mittens, Trouble cast them aside, and laid out a rectangular leather pouch on the squirrel's rump. Folding her arms behind her, her upper arms parallel to her body, her forearms parallel to each other behind her back, Trouble tugged the leather pouch up until her arms were encased within it. Straps from the top of the pouch went to the back of her collar, insuring that it wouldn't slide down. This effectively imprisoned her arms behind her in a manner that would not cause strain, or problems, should she be left like that.

Trouble rolled the squirrel over onto her back, and spent a moment looking into her eyes; finding more fear than challenge there, she grunted and turned to pick up several of the items that had been in the bag that now encased the squirrel's arms. Buckling one strap around her hips, she turned the squirrel over onto her stomach again, and threaded her tail through a hole in the appendage dangling from the belt. Laying the appendage between the squirrel's thighs, she again rolled her over. Then, holding up a bright silver object, she made great show of liberally coating it with a lubricant, making sure the squirrel could watch. "I guess you can figure out where this is going, but I doubt you can fathom why ..... we'll get to that in a moment." Trouble examined the base of the instrument for a moment, and then turning, without preamble shoved the device into the squirrel's pussy. The strap came up between her legs and locked into the front of the belt with an audible "snick." Missy squirmed a bit; the belt was tight around her waist, and very tight through her crotch; there was no way she'd loose that ..... whatever it was that the cheetah had so crudely shoved into her.

Trouble shifted and removed the ring gag in the squirrel's muzzle. "Figure you've had that in there long enough; makes the jaw muscles ache, doesn't it?" Smiling, Trouble ran a finger over the crusty spots in the squirrel's fur where Hinoki's cum had dried. Rising and straightening her dress, Trouble looked down at the squirrel. "In a moment I'll turn on your little chrome friend there. It's a very sophisticated vibrator, and it’s designed to bring you rapidly to the edge of a climax, and then shut down. If I've programmed it correctly, it will hold you, teetering on the edge, forever, never granting you the release you'll come to desire so very much. Now I think you know more about what happened out there than you're letting on. When you're ready to talk truthfully, just call for me. If I believe you, I'll switch this thing over to full auto for your reward." With that, Trouble bent to pick up the last object, a small remote control. Pushing a button, she turned and placed it on top of a nearby shipping container, and calmly walked from the room.

Malach watched, barely able to hear what the cheetah was saying. He grinned and watched as Missy started to writhe on the floor, her motions limited by the ankle still chained to the shipping container and the spreader bar holding her legs wide apart. He watched as she panted, and then howled as the gizmo obviously shut off at the last instant. Over and over the cycle was repeated, until Malach wished she'd break down and tell them what they wanted to know, just so he could get some peace and quiet .....

Hinoki padded in after a while to rub some more of the cream onto the squirrel's breasts. He made sure he gave her a good long drink when he was done too, having to time it carefully between the cycles the vibrator was imposing on her. After all, he didn't want her to choke ........ on the way out, he gave the ferret a drink too. When he was done, the ferret asked, "Hey, what’s with the cream? What’s it doing to her?" Hinoki just grinned and turned to look at the writhing squirrel. "Oh, the captain thought she was a little flat up top, so we're using this stuff we found. It causes the area so treated to retain water. Her bust size is up several cup sizes so far, and I suspect the captain will have me keep treating her a bit longer, until she's got some really impressive hooters. Purely temporary of course, but she doesn't know that. Besides, I think she looks good like that." The ferret could only stare at the squirrel and nod in agreement.

On the flight deck, everyone was taking bets as to how long the squirrel would last. Mala shook her head she watched the monitor. "They definitely didn't teach us that style of interrogation in basic training. I think that squirrel would much rather be 'questioned' in the usual way by now ... " Zassa laughed and Trouble grinned like the cat she was. "I'll take that as a compliment ... "

The squirrel lasted three hours and twenty-eight minutes before her howls were detectable as cries for mercy. Trouble took her time going down to the cargo bay. Opening the door and retrieving the remote, she thumbed it down to its lowest level, and crouched to look into the squirrel's eyes. "Who was behind your attack on this ship?" It looked like the squirrel was about to hesitate, and Trouble found all she had to do was to look at the remote as if she were about to turn it back on. The squirrel's resolve broke, and she gasped, "MOONEYES! She hired Jack to take you! Oooooooh, if she ever finds out I talked, I'm as good as dead! People who talk about her die the most horrible deaths ........... " Trouble nodded and blipped the remote, causing the squirrel's body to jerk in response. "What was she after? Did she want the cargo back? Was she after the telepath? Was she going to hold us for ransom? What?" The squirrel moaned and shook her head, "No, we were to take you alive; she wanted you as her plaything! The male too, if we could, but you were what she was after! The cargo, or part of it, was to be our payment! Jack thought she didn't know about the Psi talent, and was going to keep him as part of our payment ... "

Trouble sat back on the floor, and after a moment she chuckled, shaking her head. "Figures. The Boss is going to love this ..... " Turning to the squirrel she bent to kiss her sweetly, and then with a wicked grin, she thumbed the remote to full/auto. It would now investigate her nervous system, success in bringing the squirrel to a climax altering its programming so that it would do it again, and again, and again. Trouble set the timer for twenty minutes, knowing in that time, as the device studied its victim, the squirrel would probably suffer through half a hundred intense climaxes.

Hinoki and Zassa entered the cargo bay at the end of the twenty minutes. Gently, Hinoki undid the straps and removed the vibrator from the semi-comatose squirrel. He couldn't resist, though, and turning her over onto her stomach, he pulled her hips back, until she was kneeling before him, her chest and head on the foam pad. Slowly he drove his own cock into her thoroughly drenched pussy, fucking her softly, taking his own pleasure. Zassa in turn padded over to the ferret. "You hear what the captain asked her?" The ferret sighed and shook his head. "No, she was speaking too softly." Zassa smiled, and trailed a finger down across his chest, down across his stomach, stopping just shy of his groin. "I'll ask you the same question, and if I get it right, I'll see you get some relief too ......... " The ferret could only gulp and nod his head, his eyes glued to where her finger was paused ....

Trouble watched the monitor from the wardroom with Wanda, the latter watching with rapt fascination, and more than a little envy ...... Hinoki had finished with the squirrel, pulling out at the last minute to add his fresh cum to the stains already on her fur. He'd then removed the spreader bar and linked her ankles together, and laid her gently on her foam pad. After giving her now generous breasts another coating of the enzyme cream, he kissed her softly on the nose and left. It was a while before Zassa was done with the ferret, and when she too left, he looked as exhausted as the squirrel.

Mark watched from the flight deck, seated in Mala's ample lap. The ship, as ever, was moving under the autopilot's control quite adequately, and he definitely had attention to spare. He looked up at the hyena, who seemed so determined not to miss a single moment that she barely blinked anymore, and smiled as he caught her filing away mental notes for later reference and use ... and not just for interrogation purposes, for that matter.

Hinoki grinned as he double-checked the sensor report. "Weeeeeeve got company!" Mark grinned over his shoulder as Trouble opened a comm channel. "'bout time you boys got here! All the Valuable stuff we're carrying, I woulda thought we'd have seen you light years ago!" "Oooooooo, Trouble, this is Jason in Sabre Six; did you find the Kalosian Love Oil I asked for?" Trouble nodded to Zassa, who leaned over the audio pickup. In her sexiest voice, the vixen purrrred, "Yes, Jason, I found that for you, a whole liter. And I found the chutney. And the brie. And the Kilrathi catnip, and I even found the dark chocolate!" The signal that completely overrode the raider ship's transmissions had that crystal clear quality that bespoke a truly powerful transmitter, "You got the brie?" Ben's voice gasped in amazement. "If I'd thought there was even half a chance of you getting it, I would have sent a cruiser to escort you in!" Trouble leaned back against the Ops station chair as the conversation went down hill from there, Zassa talking about all the things she'd managed to get and the things she hadn't (to disappointed howls and mock screams of anguish, as most of the transmitters in the Brethren came on-line).

Then Hinoki launched into an exaggerated version of just how Zassa'd gotten them, to the vast amusement of all concerned. They were still joking about Zassa's skills as a "negotiator" when insystem traffic control cleared them for final approach to the station.

Trouble was glad to be home. Her trip report was all written, ready to be submitted, the cargo manifests and expense reports were done, hopefully to Accounting's satisfaction. Now she just wanted the airlock to cycle so she could go find her Master and check in. She'd even remembered to remove the jewelry, and to put her true collar back where it belonged. Somehow it just felt right. However when the airlock cycled, she was greeted by a tidal wave of noise and a sea of faces. Ship captains and command pilots wanted to know if she'd been able to get the critical items they needed. Friends and associates wanted to get the things Zassa had acquired for them. It was a cacophony of noise and a riot of motion, and Trouble didn't know which way to turn, until suddenly the crowd fell silent. Turning to see what had so quelled the mob, Trouble too turned, to see Mala, in faded Imperial Marines Fatigues leading their two prisoners from the lock. One voice gasped, "What in the hell is that?" and then bedlam broke loose again.

Trouble managed to find Ben in the mob. The wolf was glowering at Mala as Mark, wearing that innocent look once again, tried to explain her presence. Breaking in on the conversation, Trouble exclaimed over the background roar, "My responsibility, Ben, I took her on board my ship. And I'm kinda glad we did; in the ship-to-ship action she was quite useful." Ben turned to look at Trouble, "Of course it’s your responsibility .... what ship-to-ship action?"

It'd taken much longer than she had expected. Finally Zassa had managed to disperse all the goodies she'd obtained, Trouble had arranged for their cargo to be offloaded under the supervision of the Supply group (much to the annoyance of those who felt they needed those parts now), Mala and Mark had marched the prisoners off to the kennels, Hinoki had run their paperwork to Traffic Control, Accounting, and Shipping, and then taken Wanda back to her quarters. Trouble had explained to an obviously doubtful Ben that Wanda had stowed away, and then downloaded the logs of their actions under Ben's watchful eye. "Two raider ships, eh? Damn lucky, you know that?" he grumbled, but Trouble had the impression he was secretly delighted at picking up another two ships so cheaply. She hadn't even cleared the docking bay when she felt the station shudder, as a cruiser departed to go retrieve the ships.

As she'd approached the lion's quarters ...... her quarters too, she kept telling herself, the more nervous she became. What if he was with someone? Why hadn't he been there in the docking bay (along with what seems to have been the rest of the Brethren)? Pausing outside the door, she listened for a moment to see if she could hear any telltale sounds. All was quiet.

After a moment she reflected on just how a slave should return. One paw went to her throat to touch her collar; that was in place and as it should be. With a grin, she shed her coveralls, wadding them into a ball. Taking a deep breath she keyed the door, and as it opened, she took a quick look around. Spying him on the bed, apparently engrossed in some reports, she dropped her coveralls just inside the door and pounced!

The lion didn't seem to be too surprised when she landed on him, but he still went "Oof!" rather nicely; Trouble hugged him tight and gave him a hard kiss hello. When they finally broke for air he smiled, "Well, hello! Heard you were back! I take it you missed me?" Trouble just laughed and kissed him again. As she snuggled on top of him, her feet kicking his papers and the bedclothes to the floor, she purrred with delight to find he was nude. It took her no time at all to get him hard, and their lovemaking was fast and furious!

As she lay atop him afterwards, one paw idly toying with a lock of his mane, she purred, "Yes, I did miss you; you miss me?" He just chuckled, "Uh-huh" and rolled her over to cover her with his body; this time their lovemaking was slower, more sensual, as each used the tricks they'd learned to pleasure the other. Trouble was on her third exquisitely delightful climax when the lion finally roared out his pleasure.

Later, when they'd recovered a bit, he propped his head on one paw, to look at her. "Tell me what happened," he growled. Trouble laid back and smiled, and launched into an account of the trip, talking about how they'd found Wanda stowed away. Of her dealings with Mooneyes, and how the negotiations went. Of the supplies they'd gotten, and of how Zassa had proven to be a magnificent "scrounger" finding the "unofficial" items. Of their shopping, and their purchases. Of her meeting with the strange fox by the name of "Entity" and his information. And of Mark and the hyena, and how she had to bring her back with them to prevent another security problem, and of how she was glad that she had, telling of the attack, and how they'd taken the raiders. The lion listened quietly through the whole tale, and when Trouble had run down, he nodded. "We'd figured that was where Wanda had gone to, although I'm still not convinced that you didn't have something to do with her stowing away. Still, I'm glad she didn't escape, or that she wasn't kidnapped. The information about Mooneyes is disturbing. Obviously we'll either have to send a more heavily armed mission next time, or we'll have to find another supplier. And this Entity sounds interesting; it will be interesting to see if his information pans out. Overall, it sounds like the trip was a bit of a success. And I'm glad you made it back safely; I would have hated to have to have disturbed operations to have sent ships and furrs after you, had Mooneyes actually succeeded ..... " The lion looked at her for a moment and then grinned. "But I think you've had a bit too much of being captain of the Lost Cause. I think you need to be reminded who you really are, slave! Rolling over onto his back, he smiled at the ceiling and said, "For a start, you can fetch hot towels and clean me up." Trouble grinned and bent to give him a kiss, before obediently heading for the bathroom with a "Yes, Master!"

Trouble lay on a pad at the foot of the lion's bed, her paws bound behind her back, a gag in her muzzle, and the thin chain attached to the foot of the bed locked to one of her labia rings. Never the less she smiled, as she drifted off to sleep. She was home.

Lord Xylex looked up from the pictures. They were grainy, simple two-dimensional photographs, the lighting was poor, the scene distant, but even so he was convinced that was his daughter. And in the company of that cheetah fem, Trouble. Growling, he looked again at the report. The transcript of the conversation reported by the panther before his disappearance sounded like the things his daughter would say. "I will have you back, my daughter, and I WILL see those pirates destroyed. And that cheetah .... Urrrrrrr, she'll regret she was ever born!"

Glaring up at the messenger he nodded, "Tell your principle that I agree the information is worth the price and that the funds will be transferred. And tell her that anything else she can turn up on either my daughter or this cheetah fem will be handsomely rewarded. The fox, wearing a slave's collar, smiled and nodded and bowed his way out.

End of Chapter 21

Chapter 22

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