Captain Jette Jones, Star Ranger

Issue #22 – Fate of the Stars

By Callidus and connie k

All rights reserved. “Captain Jette Jones, Star Ranger” © 2021 All characters and stories are not to be reproduced in any form without the expressed written permission of the authors.

Captain Jette Jones and her allies clash with Suzerain Supreme Zeta and the powerful and mysterious Goddess of Darkness over the destiny of the galaxy.

Part five

Things could not be worse. Most of the Star Ranger fleet has been swallowed up by the Goddess of Darkness’ enormous ship, but the former crew of the Artemis III has more immediate problems: Zeta – enroute to Serpentarius — has begun mindwashing Jette, as Riesga and Carpenter are each only moments away from being turned into obedient slaves. While K’wari is the main attraction in Glamora’s fiendishly kinky playroom …

K’wari’s head shot up again from the stinging crack of the whip. Her hands were bound above her head facing a black wall Two metal tubes jutted out from the wall and were secured around her nipples.

Another crack of the Kaudan horsehide whip created another red welt across her naked back, matching the dozen other fresh wounds lined evenly from the back of her knees to her shoulders.

A sudden shock of electricity burned at her elongated nipples from inside the tubes. It felt as if her areolas were being sucked right off her body and cast into a firepit.  Each jolt made her legs spasm.

A thumb was forcefully jabbed between her labia from behind. Then a voice.

“Still dry. What’s the matter, K’wari? I thought pain would be something you’d enjoy.”

Glamora cackled. She detached K’wari’s breasts from the tubes and the suddenness of her captive nipples’ release gave K’wari a welcomed twinge on her clit.

Glamora twisted her body around, so that her hands were crossed above her. K’wari was breathing hard as she glared at the former queen.

“Perhaps you will enjoy these more.”

In Glamora’s hand were six crudely shaped shards of glass. They slowly rose into the air, floating just above her fingertips. Prismed light twinkled off the sharp edges.

“These are the crystals of R’th Nark. They are very special to me. (See Issue #1 – C&C) Look at them. You can almost feel the power that emanates from within them. Can’t you? Invading your mind can be … unsettling at first. But once inside, they will give you pleasure beyond your wildest imaginings.”

K’wari tried not to look at them. She knew she mustn’t. But she could not help herself. The pull was too strong. There were no dancing lights of color, no hypnotizing beams, no evidence at all that the crystals were anything more than pretty pieces of glass. Yet, there was something …

K’wari’s well-trained psyche had been subjected to many different methods of mind control. At times, she wondered to herself how strong she actually was. Giving in to pleasure and control time and again made her question her own strength of will. She enjoyed the seduction.

But this time, she drew upon her training as a vicar of Yasu with all her mental might. She needed to fight the crystals’ influence or Flock would be lost forever. Flock …

“There is nothing you can do, Vicar,” Glamora cooed. “The crystals will find their way.”

K’wari’s jaw tightened. She had the sense that these were more than just hypnotizing crystals. Were they alive? She could feel something entering through her eyes, but the crystals still floated benignly in front of her.  She had the sensation of something being cut, sharp as a knife, into her brain. The pain was overwhelming! The whipping mere child’s play in comparison.

An invisible dagger was spearing into her mind, slicing off chunks of her awareness. It was more than she could stand! Then … K’wari let out a long sigh. As the pain subsided, a wondrous feeling of euphoria replaced it.  She reached out to it in her mind, but it was tugged away. There was the pain again as another deeper cut made her grimace. Then euphoria again. Then pain. Then pleasure. Over and over. Still, her eyes remained fixed on the crystals.

“Let it happen, K’wari. Soon you will know true ecstasy.” Glamora’s words were strangely comforting. “I have felt it myself many times. There is nothing to compare.”

Glamora began finger K’wari. A pleased moan followed as Glamora’s fingers were bathed in the vicar’s wetness at last. K’wari’s head leaned forward and her mouth was greeted with Glamora’s tongue. Their lustful kissing only momentarily distracting K’wari from another onslaught of pain and pleasure.  Eventually, the pain was gone. Only the pleasure remained. The crystals had wormed their way inside her brain. They had found what they were looking for.

K’wari wasn’t sure where the voice was coming from, but it whispered in Glamora’s ear.

“Fuck me,” the vicar said. “Share with me the delights of the crystals.”

The former queen of Serpens Kauda stepped back. The crystals hovered on their own between them. The temptation was there. Glamora was all too aware of the unequalled pleasure the crystals were capable of.  It was easy for her own natural submissiveness to override her common sense.

She simply could not resist.

She quickly untied K’wari’s wrists and led her to the large bed.  They stepped slowly, carefully, drawing the crystals along with them.

They collapsed on the bed. K’wari wrapped her arms around the former queen’s smooth back. The crystals floated above the bed. Passionate kisses, groping, fingering. Their bodies tied themselves into knots.

K’wari lifted Glamora’s head and her eyes were caught –

There was no longer any need for the crystals to seduce Glamora’s mind with pain. Shards of mental glass were already deeply embedded in her mind after all this time. Now, there was only bliss.

K’wari scooted her hips down the bed, kissing along Glamora’s swollen belly toward her thick, black tuft of fur. She licked and playfully tugged on the warm, wet curls before Glamora’s ass rose off the bed. K’wari dove into the quivering maw of flesh.

Glamora orgasmed almost immediately. K’wari continued to slide down the bed until her legs touched the floor. She stood uneasily.  Glamora’s head hadn’t moved. Her eyes were locked on the seductive pleasure of the crystals.  Her hand lightly pawing at her weeping pussy.

K’wari stagged backward, the wondrous sensations of the crystals slowly dissipating. There wasn’t a moment to lose.  She cast a quick glance at the three young women still bound and struggling against the wall.  Saving them could wait.

She needed to find Flock.

Midshipman Sewena Carpenter had lost count of her orgasms.

Five? Ten? The pleasure pulses that bombarded her body were steady and unstoppable. She couldn’t think of escaping. As soon as the last climax left her body there would be another throbbing tone in her head and another orgasm would seize her shuddering sex.

The small chamber she was imprisoned in was filled with swirling colors. Even when she managed to shut her eyes, the rainbow flashes would still be there in her mind, causing her hips to gyrate, her nipples so stiff they felt as if they would burn right through her uniform top.

“You are a pleasure unit. You are a pleasure unit. Repeat.”

“Ahhh-gahhhh!”

Another climax peaked and she was unable to speak. But the words bore into her skull:  she was a pleasure unit.

“You will serve Ryaki as her concubine.”

“Serve …” was all she could sputter out.

The devilish binaural beats chimed in her ears again. Another sudden burst of pleasure made the cummy cream from her orgasm soak through the front of her Star Ranger pants. She was lost. Like a tiny boat at sea tossed helplessly from wave to wave of pounding, relentless ecstasy.

Multiple images of a woman appeared amid the swirls of color – young, dark-haired, nearly naked. Her body was enticing, her smile knowing.

She spoke with a dozen voices – “You are a pleasure unit. You serve Ryaki as her slave. You serve me!”

“I am … a pleasure unit. I serve … Ryaki.”

Carpenter’s arms and legs, held tightly in the metal bindings, gave up their struggle.  They went limp, then stiffened suddenly as another heavy tone rang in her head. She could barely feel the steady flow of her sticky wetness pooling under her ass.

Despite her dulled awareness, Carpenter could sense a presence near her. She was unable to tell if it was the woman dancing before her eyes or … something else.

You are NOT a pleasure unit.

“You are a pleasure unit. You have been brought before Ryaki to serve in her harem.”

Carpenter’s mind recoiled at the contradictory commands. But another orgasm – then another! – drowned them out. She thrust out her hips in a subconscious effort to more fully embrace the orgasmic sensations.

“Ryaki brought you here to serve as her sex slave. You will obey.”

Riesga brought me.

Ryaki … Riesga??

Carpenter’s wrists and ankles felt less constricted. Something was flowing over them. She tried to repeat her programming but there was another voice in her head.

Riesga brought me here.

Carpenter’s face twitched like she was an antimatter pod about to blow. “Riesga brought … Ryaki brought … sex slave. Obey.”

Riesga brought me here to protect you.

The thrumming pulses were deadening. She felt calm. The “presence” continues to expand, coating her legs, her hips, over her breast and up her arms.

“To protect me …” she breathed out.

A thin covering of blackness formed over her eyes, her face. She could see, but the thin layer of oily black dulled the shimmering colors. Her ears were covered. The maddening beats were muted. The voice muffled.

Carpenter’s entire body was covered … with something!  It began expanding.

She could barely hear or comprehend the programming.

“You are a pleasure unit.”

The black coating had completely engulfed her and began swelling around her hands and feet, pushing against her metal bonds.

You are not a pleasure unit.

“I am not a pleasure unit!” Carpenter heaved forward. “I am not a pleasure unit! Riesga has brought you here to protect me!”

The pressure on the metal clamps increased. The brackets groaned, then gave way. Ping-Ping-Ping!

She was free.

Carpenter could barely see as she weakly climbed out of her torture chair. She stumbled out of the alcove. The swirling colors were out of her mind as the blackness covering her eyes flowed off them, off her head. Then her body. She sucked in air as if she was starving for oxygen.

Help. Riesga’s friend.

A black blob stood before Carpenter as she leaned against the wall. It maintained her shape, the arms and legs no longer swollen.

“Cosmo? What are you doing here?” she asked hoarsely. “Riesga’s friend? Me?”

The oily, black head nodded.

Carpenter straightened, her breathing regular. “I thought someone was following me. Riesga sent you?”

Cosmo nodded again.

“You could have told me that an hour ago, you know?”

Cosmo appeared to shrug.

“Thank you. But our job isn’t done. We need to find Queen Kalokairi and get her to safety. Are you ready for that?”

The glushang turned fluid and shrank in size, then flowed up Carpenter’s leg before resting comfortably around her waist.

It felt pretty good!

“I can see why Riesga always has you hanging off her.  But no funny business. We have work to do.”

Cosmo hugged her waist and she felt the gentle warmth around her hips.

“Let’s … uhh … let’s find the queen.”

Meanwhile, in Moonbase One’s Space Port B, something magical and unexpected is about to occur …

“Excellent work!” The foreman ran a hand along the smooth surface of the gleaming rocketship, inspecting the rivets that had recently secured the armored hull plating to the vessel. “That’s Moonbase quality, right there!” he shouted over the cacophony of pounding steel tools and buzzing weld torches that filled the dry dock. “So where are we at with her?”

“Cladding is done so her exterior is officially complete. Including engines.” The blonde worker dropped her rivet pistol into its holster and bundled her long hair into a ponytail. “Last shift told me the systems team has already hooked up the weapons array and deflector beam pods to the control computer and completed testing. So I guess the interior refit is going pretty quick as well.”

“No surprise there.” They walked beneath the missile-shaped craft where it floated gently in the gravity beams. He ran a hand lovingly along the silver hull. “It’s not everyday we get to work on the flagship. Everybody’s pulling hard on this one.”

The blonde frowned. “She should probably be going to a museum, as old as she is.”

He smiled. “Nah, she belongs out there. I can feel her getting restless just sitting here.”

The blonde rolled her eyes. “If I have to listen to another one of you old-timers tell me you can hear these ships talking to —”

She gasped as a sudden gust of wind blasted past them. The torrent sent the blonde’s pony tail flapping wildly until it wrapped around her head and plastered to her mouth. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the wind was gone. She pulled the hair from her face as she and the foreman looked at each other, then realized there was a strange glowing light behind them. Slowly, they turned.

Throughout the dry dock, tools had fallen silent as all eyes fixed on a shimmering ring of energy that had appeared in the chamber. Within the glowing ring was a hole into which one could see beyond physical space. And inside it, stood twelve women wearing black.

The blonde’s mouth hung open as she nudged the foreman. “Should uh … we … security? Or somebody?”

Before the foreman could reply the women stepped across the threshold and into the dry dock. The shimmering portal winked out with a low-toned thump that could be felt but not heard. At first glance the women seemed almost identical in appearance.

One of the women stepped forward. She wore a strange black body suit that reflected no light at all. Instead it was glowing with white lines and patterns.

“Greetings. We are Caretakers. We have come to assist Earth and the Galactic Systems League in the Te’ Sareez system.”

The foreman stammered. “B-but this is the moon. Earth’s moon. Te’ Sareez is light years away.”

Another Caretaker stepped forward beside the first. Her suit had slow-moving green-tinted patterns. “Our presence would be detected if we had star-stepped directly onto a planet in Te’ Sareez,” she said. “We are … up to something.”

“We require a ship.” The first woman gestured. “This ship.”

The blonde’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “We’re in the middle of a refit! It’ll be weeks before she’s cleared for flight!”

The Caretaker with the white glowing lines reached out and ran a hand along the hull. The lines and patterns accelerated across her body. “She is able to fly now.”

“She’s not ready. Her critical systems are operational, but the crew quarters haven’t even been built yet. No canteen or medical bay either. She hasn’t even had her first shakedown flight yet! Who knows what bugs need to get worked out?”

The Caretaker removed her hand. “I know this ship well. We will address any issues on our way to Te’ Sareez.”

The blonde moved to a console and slammed the comm button.

“Those will not work,” said the Caretaker benignly. “We are here to assist you. Do not interfere. The very galaxy is at stake. Do you understand, Tracy Adara, maintenance tech level one and daughter of Emma and Lucius Adara of Lunar Houston?”

“How …?”

The other women were already marching up the ramp to board the ship.

“You can’t just star-step in here and expect us to do nothing!” the foreman said with exasperation in his voice. Sigma followed the others onboard.

Epsilon stepped onto the ramp before turning to the foreman. “There is something you can do, Foreman Leo Gross. Your wife wishes you to purchase milk and scrumptious edibles before you return to your domicile.”

Epsilon boarded the ship as the pair stood frozen, mouths agape. A moment later, the mighty Artemis whirred to life. Then it lurched forward, gently moved through the force shield and exited the dry dock. The engines flared and the silver rocketship sped away.

A group of technicians came running.

“Somebody better call flight control!” Gross shouted in vain into his deactivated comm. “Tell ‘em Artemis Three … check that, the Artemis Four is departing Moonbase One.”

Lt. Kanivia Riesga felt the coils of the Snake Queen’s thick tail tightening around her.  Across her hips, her breasts. There was pressure against her throat as the serpent’s tail constricted around her neck.

“You will tell me all you know. Of the invasion. Of your plans. And of Jette Jones.”

Jette Jones!

A wave of startling pleasure washed over Riesga’s whole body.

No, no, no, no … Riesga fought the once-forgotten impulses.

“Hold on my eyes, little thing,” Asther Neer, the Snake Queen, whispered. “Sssssink into the comfortable depths. Follow the sssspinning. Lose yourself in my eyessssss.”

Riesga’s eyelids drooped, but she held her stare on the green-and-blue rings orbiting the cavernous blackness at the center of each of the Snake Queen’s hypnotic eyes. Her mind was being emptied. Drool trickled out of the side of her open mouth, while her tongue extended and lay flaccidly against her lower lip.

There was a light tickle against her leg. The thick, golden rattle at the tail’s tip snaked up her thigh and kissed her twitching pussy lips. It slithered upward between them, then bore into her suddenly, vibrating and rattling as it pushed deeper inside her spasming hole.

“Tell me what I need to know, helpless one,” the Snake Queen cooed. Venom dripped off the edges of her sharp, yellowish fangs. “Then you shall be reborn.”

The footlong rattle was completely inside her, quivering, and determined to draw out more of the Star Ranger’s freely flowing juices. It licked at her cervix, pressing firmly against her swelling walls causing Riesga to gasp.

Riesga’s eyes felt like they were spinning out of control. Around and around as they followed the colorful, spiraling circles. The old trigger from so long ago was still there – I am Captain Jones! – but … something was blocking it.

“You will obey me. You will obey my commands.”

Riesga could barely pull in her tongue enough to speak. She needed to obey. She wanted to. But deep inside her mind a new image was forming. Light at first, like a veil, it became more pronounced – firmer, crimson and unyielding.

“I will ob — …”

The spirals of green and blue before her eyes narrowed. The Snake Queen pulled Riesga even closer, her bound body hanging in the air. She was leaning back slightly as the creature hovered above her. Her voice was louder, insistent.

“You will obey me!”

The red curtain which was forming in her mind drew down, shielding Riesga’s unconscious mind from the hypnotizing spirals. Thoughts began to drip down, one by one, along the crimson wall which had sprung up in the dreamy world between conscious and unconscious. The dripping thoughts felt like rain on the barren desert of her open mind.

Jette Jones. Plutonia. NuMarr. K’wari. Catwomen. Kill for Captain Jones! You must obey!

Riesga’s body shuddered, fighting the creature’s command. The eyes in front of her pulled back sharply.

“What treachery is this?!”

The Snake Queen’s voice was a million miles away. Riesga was lying down. Gentle, caring hands were around her head.

“Listen to me, Kanivia. You are no longer compelled to obey the triggers, to obey NuMarr, the false Captain Jones. To kill for the false Captain Jones. To cum for the false Captain Jones. They are meaningless to you. Purge them from your subconscious memory.

“From this moment on, if someone is trying to hypnotize you, allow this shroud of protection, the shield of Yasu, to block any attempts to access your mind. You have free will. You cannot be hypnotized. Not by NuMarr, not by any living being. I call upon the power of the Order of Yasu to make it so.”

Is it a week? Or a year? Am I on Plutonia or the Artemis? But K’wari is here. She is in my mind. (See Issue #8 – C&C) Protecting me. Just as she said she always would. K’wari is petting my head, my mind.

I have free will! I cannot be hypnotized by anyone but K’wari!

There was an angry shrieking hiss. Ana stumbled forward as if the sound awakened her from a nightmare.

“What are you doing? Asther! Stop this!”

“Quiet, you! She is fighting me. If she cannot give me what I want then I will leave her an empty husk and be done with her!”

Queen Ana looked down. She saw the lazerblade at her feet. The reflection of what she had become staring back at her off the purple, shimmering blade.

The Snake Queen’s mouth opened wider as she pulled Riesga beneath her. Riesga’s head lolled to one side, exposing her neck, her pulsating artery so vulnerable.

The creature that was Asther Neer plunged downward …

Whack!

Riesga felt the coils around her body tighten. She couldn’t breathe! She was slammed to the floor, the golden rattle vibrating wildly between her hips.

Swack! Swack!

She felt herself rolling away.  There were hisses in her ears. Disconnected from the mesmerizing spirals, Riesga pushed the thrashing coils off her body, kicking them away. They lay in a shuddering pile before going limp.

As she slowly stood, there was Ana, blood-soaked lazerblade in hand. The head of the Snake Queen face down at her feet. Ana stepped toward Riesga and raised the sword, but her eyes looked beyond her.

“I am the queen of Serpentarius. You shall obey me. Leave this place. And never return!”

The hissing grew louder, sounding more like the wails of children than reptiles, before quieting. There were soft slinking sounds from every corner of the room as the mass of snakes retreated. There was silence.

Riesga shook her head hard to clear it. She stared at Ana, the lazerblade pointed at her heart.

“Fate. Prophecy. Destiny. Some believe they are written on the stars, Kanivia. Yet when the end is near, there is clarity.” She turned the blade over and handed it to Riesga. “Those who choose to ignore their ability to change them are doomed to suffer them.” She stepped close. “My first, and only, decree as the rightful queen of Serpentarius is that you, Star Ranger, fulfill mine.”

Riesga’s emptied mind refilled with a thousand thoughts. Yet, above them all, was a truth – their journey together had come to an end.

“My queen. General Riesga obeys.”

She gripped the lazerblade tightly with both hands. And swung …

Queen Kalokairi was not in bed when Carpenter found her in her residence in the Parliament Building. She was slowly bobbing up and down, straddled atop one of the large, round bedposts. Her eyes looked like two gray marbles rolling downhill.

She sunk deeply onto the post again, mindlessly. She no longer orgasmed from the friction on her clit. She was completely gone.

Carpenter pulled her by the hand and eased her off the post. The suction on her pussy making a sloshing pop. There had been no guards at the door, but the Star Ranger officer knew they didn’t have much time. She helped Kalokairi onto the bed, but her body was as weak as her mind. Getting her to walk was going to be a challenge.

“Cosmo, you may have to carry the queen.”

Cosmo, however, had flowed off Carpenter’s body and like a shimmering puddle flowed across the room and disappeared under the door.

“Wait a second!”

The door to an anteroom opened.  In strode Ryaki, bracketed by four Imperial Guards of Soma, their spears already pointed at the midshipman.

“Good of you to join us, Star Ranger. Surely you didn’t expect us not to be prepared for your arrival.” Ryaki looked at the queen with mock sympathy. “I am Ryaki. I am the ruler of Serpens Soma now that the queen is … permanently indisposed.”

Ryaki. The naked woman in the pleasure chamber. Zeta’s right-hand minion.

“Grab her!”

Carpenter drew her rayvolver, but a spear slammed her wrist. She fired wildly. A pair of hands grabbed for her arm, wresting away the knife she had pulled from her boot. She lowered her head and butted the stomach of the first guard, sending him staggering back. But she was outnumbered. Her arms were pulled back roughly behind her. Two glowing earbuds were jammed in her ears. Ryaki stood in front of her – a glowing green jewel around her neck. She opened a small box in front of her.

“Listen to the sweet music, Star Ranger.”

It was music. Lyrical, enticing music strummed in her head. Already weakened by from the binaural beats only moments before, Carpenter’s mind reeled headlong into a smothering orchestra of sound. Up, down, in, out. Her breathing caught as her nipples swelled obediently. Her entire body was stroked as the pleasureful scales of music sang in her brain. Every second, every note pushing her toward a devastating climax.

Her body began swaying. The smiling face before her drew closer. Lips were on her hard. The arms holding her loosened as she gyrated into Ryaki with the rhythm of the sounds. Her lower lip was pulled and sucked. She breathed deeply, filling her lungs with the intoxicating scent of her abductor.

Ryaki held her shoulders as they slumped helplessly. Her tongue deep in her mouth. The music became louder, strident. Carpenter’s mind recoiled from the onslaught of sounds invading her. She was losing her shit.

Hands squeezed her breasts tightly, the nipples rolled by demanding thumbs. She could feel her clit swell as it emerged from its hood, desperate for stimulation.

Even as blanked out as she was, there was enough of Carpenter’s awareness to understand that if she didn’t act fast she would be lost in the music completely. She reached forward and grabbed Ryaki’s hip. The hand holding her other arm withdrew. She slid her hand down slowly and reached behind to squeeze Ryaki’s behind. Ryaki moaned into her mouth.

Carpenter pulled back suddenly and pressed the red button on her belt buckle!

The room became distorted as if under water. An invisible wave of energy ringed her body then shot outward. And Ryaki’s head flew up. The guards behind her staggered backward. Another pulsing wave followed, then another. Carpenter saw the two guards by the door double over. Their bodies spasming.

Ryaki groaned. Her hands dove between her legs. The two guards behind her collapsed into each other, each groping their comrade in sudden lusty need.

The music still played in Carpenter’s ears, but she was able to reach down and grab her rayvolver. She waved it around like a drunken space sailor on shore leave. But there was no need. Ryaki and her guards were caught up in another crashing wave of invisible, incapacitating pleasure.

They were all having orgasms!

Carpenter yanked out the earplugs as the door flew open. Two more guards rushed in but were caught mid-stride by another wave of distortion. Their spears hit the floor as they back-peddled, slamming against the wall from the blast of sexualized energy.

Ryaki was rolling across the floor, her hands now pinned to her breasts. Carpenter could hear the charge of more footsteps approaching from outside … then they stopped abruptly, followed by fearful yelling. The wall began to creak and crack. The door jamb split in two places as the outside light went dark.

A giant, black blob burst through the door! A section of the wall gave way and more of the oily blackness surged through every gaping crevasse. It was Cosmo! And he was huge!

The glushang began filling the room. Carpenter could see the hands and feet of a half-dozen Imperial Guards trapped inside its swelling form. The waves of orgasmic energy were making Cosmo grow! Larger and larger. More bodies were trapped inside its expanding shape. Guards tumbled helplessly like pebbles caught in a black surf.

Carpenter grabbed Kalokairi – who had barely reacted to the stimulation – as Cosmo flowed around them, leaving an opening toward a side door. She pulled the weakened queen along, through the door and down a hallway, following Cosmo’s expanding body which flowed like a river through the halls of the Parliament Building.

Carpenter stabbed at the button, but it did no good. The invisible waves of pleasure it was emitting reached every corner of the structure. No one was spared. More bodies flew past her, writhing in helpless ecstasy before being swallowed up by the surging glushang.

Everywhere there was moaning.

Carpenter reached the long staircase that led outside, but Cosmo had it completely blocked off.

“Cosmo! Get out of the way! We need to get out of here!”

The voice in her head was clear and sharp.

No. Up.

“Up? Why?”

Go up.

She turned and saw a clear path to a second, narrower staircase. She fought the impulse to argue. Taking Kalokairi’s hand, they climbed the stairs. It wound tightly as they climbed. Kalokairi had her other hand around Carpenter’s waist to keep her balance.  The staircase led upward one flight, then two,  before opening into a small room with one window.

An old man stood before a set of control panels. He gave Carpenter a quick glance before continuing with his work.

“I am Saaku, elder and high regent of Serpens Soma. (See Issue #1 – C&C) The glushang has been in contact with my mind. We haven’t much time.”

“Time for what?”

“These instruments control Soma’s satellite weapons system. Only Soma has such power in all of Te’ Sareez. For us, it has kept the peace with our neighbors. Now, we must use it for war.”

Carpenter took off her belt and dropped it to the floor. She stomped on the button with her boot, but it would not turn off. The regent seemed amused.

“Why aren’t you affected by … this?” Carpenter asked him.

The regent laughed dryly. “I am much too old to be driven by such desires.” His face turned serious. “However, I alone cannot initiate the final sequence to activate the satellites. It must be done by the queen.”

Carpenter turned to Kalokairi. Her eyes were devoid of emotion. Her mind was a blank.

The old regent approached her. “My queen, hear me now. Hear the voices of your people suffering. Hear the words of all those who have come before you. Rada Empir stova. Rada darum chi.”

Blinking hard, the slate gray of the queen’s eyes almost twinkled with recognition. She weakly stepped in front of the console.

“Chi ballen Empira. Die novem Kalokairi,” she said flatly.

A thin, red beam of light shot out from the panel and scanned the queen’s body. A section of the panel opened and a rectangular handle slid forward. Kalokairi paused, staring at it blindly.

“For the preservation of our race, my queen,” the regent said over her shoulder.

Hours upon hours of being drained by the sinister music box had left Kalokairi’s mind empty. Was it instinct? Programming? Or did the once-mighty queen of Serpens Soma have enough of herself left to understand that she had but one, final duty to perform?

She reached out … and slammed down the lever.

Araneae stomped into Glamora’s playroom. There was the former Kaudan queen at the foot of her bed, the crystals R’th Nark floating in front of her face.  She fingered herself rhythmically.

The leader of the Black Widdom moved toward her, two of her segmented legs keeping a stilted yet even pace with her two humanoid ones. Another spidery leg lashed out, slamming against the crystals and sending them hurtling across the room like space debris.

“You let her escape! You stupid fool!”

Glamora’s head fell forward now that contact with the crystals had been broken. She took in a deep breath, then raised her head slowly. Fire igniting in her pale, blue eyes.

“Do you know to whom you are speaking, insect?!” she growled. “Never speak to me that way. I am a queen of Te’ Sareez. Be still. Or I will have you squashed like the bug you are!”

Araneae was unimpressed. “You are no queen! The Black Widdom serve under no one but the Goddess of Darkness.”

Glamora’s usual sweetness was gone. The sudden loss of mindfucking pleasure from the crystals made the once-gentile queen enraged.

“Guardian!”

A closet in the playroom opened and out rolled a Guardian Robot, the queen’s sentry. Its clawed hands filled with power pistols.

Araneae struck quickly.

Three of her razor-sharp legs spun toward the robot, slicing across its metal casing in three spots. Its center gave way. The chassis cracked open and out spilled its inhabitant – Hunni. She tumbled to the floor, trying to regain her balance.  Hunni looked up just in time to see another segmented leg swinging toward her.

Her body collapsed to the floor without a sound.

Araneae marched to the door.

“Stay with your broken toys, Glamora. We’ll finish this later.”

Jette woke as the bed shook gently. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. She was alone on Zeta’s ship. In Zeta’s bed.

Mistress.

The sound of running water drew her attention to the nearby bathroom. She rose and dressed quickly. Normally her waking routine would consist of coffee and music. But her Mistress had reorganized Jette’s priorities, and a whole lot more, during their sex romp. As she pulled her pants up she felt how wonderfully sore the muscles of her asshole were. That sent Jette’s thoughts swimming in a purple mist. Blood surged to her nipples.

After all their years of conflict, it had finally happened. Zeta had broken and conquered her. Mindwashed her and turned the once-proud Star Ranger captain into her slave. Jette’s only duty now was to Queen Zeta. She needed to be ready to obey.

The hatch opened and Zeta emerged wearing a luxurious purple robe. She smiled when she saw Jette, waiting and kneeling. “Rise, my old foe.”

“How may I serve, Mistress?”

Zeta beamed, basking in the moment. Jette was finally hers. “Oh Captain, all the times I imagined us just like this.” A shadow passed over her face. “If only there were more time to enjoy it.”

She steered them to the bed and drew Jette down to sit beside her.

“Jette, I need your help. I couldn’t take the chance that you’d refuse me. That’s one reason I took over your mind. The other is that I’ve wanted to do this for years. You make the most perfect slave and you absolutely craved for it to happen.” Zeta stroked the back of Jette’s neck, eliciting a pleasant gasp from her.

“Yessss Mistress. I’m yours to command. How can I help?”

Zeta’s smile switched off and a sneer switched on. “I’m going to kill her. But I can’t vanquish a god alone. So, we’re going to do it together.”

“Yes, Mistress Zeta.”

“What do you know about her that I don’t?”

“Well, first off, she’s not a god, Mistress. She’s a Primon.”

“The ancient explorers? I suspected as much.”

“Yes. They no longer reside in this dimension. They evolved into beings of pure energy and moved on to a higher plane of existence. Somehow she returned to our reality. The other Primons want her back, but I’m not sure if they’re doing anything to make that happen.”

“Interesting.” Zeta thought for a moment. “A being made of energy with no physical body.”

“Energy can’t be destroyed, Mistress,” Jette observed.

“No, but it can be manipulated. It can change form, it can be …” Zeta trailed off. She was looking out the observation window. She went to the view pane, studying a distant nebula of puffy green and orange clouds. She turned back to Jette with a grin. “I have an idea!”

Jette stood. “Wonderful, Mistress! There is another problem. I’m certain that she is a being of pure energy, yet I’ve seen her affect physical matter.”

“You’re right.”

“The Primons can’t do that, not on a very large scale, anyway. The Primons have Caretakers, like my former pilot, for that very reason. To be their proxies in our dimension. She must have some technology that gives her that power.

“Her power to interact with physical reality has limits. I’ve noticed that she’s only capable of manipulating matter within a certain proximity. Like in her throne room.”

“Good, pet!” Zeta began pacing. Jette’s eyes roamed hungrily over her Mistress’ voluptuous curves as the robe fell open. “We have to take that tech away from her somehow.”

“It would have to be large. We know it worked on Serpentarius as well as Serpens Caput. Where could she hide it?”

“It would have to be well-protected. Like underground or…” Zeta’s eyes lit up. “Of course!”

She went to her desk comp and slammed a button. “Set course for the mountains south of my palace.” She tapped another series of buttons and a woman’s voice answered:

“Ministry of astro-mining. How may I help you?”

“This is your Suzerain. Have one of our deep-space mining craft rendezvous with my ship. I’m transmitting coordinates.”

“Y-yes my Queen! At once!”

“It will take a bit of time for them to arrive.” Zeta stepped around the desk, letting the robe fall to the floor. “And I’ve noticed that you’re wearing too many clothes.”

Jette was lost staring at Zeta’s breasts, her undulating hips and her glorious legs. “I-I’m sorry, Mistress.”

“Bend over the bed,” Zeta commanded sternly.

Jette obeyed. “Yes Mistr— ” She suddenly flinched and moaned as Zeta spanked her firmly through her pants. “Ooohoooh!“

The queen dug both hands into the flesh of Jette’s ass and squeezed. “How do you feel, Jette? About me conquering you?”

Jette was grinding her butt into her Mistress’ hands. “It scares me. And turns me on.”

“Did you want it to happen?”

“No!” Jette whined. “But I knew that it would.”

Zeta lunged forward, seized by lust, and squeezed Jette’s breasts through her shirt.

“Inevitable.”

“Yesssss! I was meant to be yours!”

Zeta pulled Jette’s pants down and pushed her forward on to the bed. She eased a hand between her legs and her fingers glided in with no resistance, swimming in Jette’s creamy passage.  Jette’s eyes rolled up into her head as her Mistress took possession of her weeping sex.

“No one can make you feel the way I do.” Zeta increased the tempo of her thrusting hand.

“No, Mistress!”

“Everyone else is so impressed with you — too deferential — to give you the treatment that you crave.”

Jette moaned and buried her face in the sheets as she firmly kneaded her breasts.

“Only I see the slut inside of you that needs to be fucked!”

“Yes, Mistress!”

“That needs to be dominated!”

“Yes, Mistress!”

“That needs to be owned!”

“Yes, Mistress Zeta! Yes, yes, YES!!!!”

Jette cried out as the orgasm took her, her body convulsing savagely. She collapsed onto the bed and Zeta curled around her. They lay in each other’s arms listening to the sounds of the ship and their own breathing.

Zeta finally broke the silence. “Why are you frightened? Of belonging to me? You know you’ll love whatever I command you to do.”

“That’s why I’m afraid, Mistress. I know I’ll obey any command you give me. I’m afraid that you’ll make me hurt people. Betray my friends. That will destroy me. Even if I love it.”

Zeta stared at her for several moments. “Whatever I command you to do, I won’t make you do… that.”

“Thank you, Mistress Zeta.” Jette wrapped herself around her queen and hugged tightly. “Mistress? Why do you let me remember who I was and what you did to me?”

Zeta stroked her hair thoughtfully. “I’ve left much of your will intact along with your knowledge and skills and courage, so they can serve me. I’ll reinforce my control over you if …” She trailed off and went quiet.

Jette stiffened. Even in her altered state of mind, she knew the consequences of her allegiance to Zeta.

“If I survive.”

Zeta forced an empathetic smile. “If both of us survive.” Zeta climbed off the bed and retrieved her golden staff with its swirling purple orb. She set it in a base so it stood near the bed. “I need to put you in trance again.”

Jette sat up and obediently stared at the orb. Zeta sat behind her and stroked Jette’s head with her fingertips. Jette’s eyes drooped as the pleasant sensations and swirling mists within the orb pulled her mind toward trance. “Are you going to reinforce me now, Mistress?”

“No pet,” Zeta breathed into her ear. “We’re going to lay a trap for her. She will be coming for both of us soon enough. I’m going to prepare your mind. So you can play your part in my plan.”

“I’m eager to obey, Mistress Zeta.”

“Then look into the orb.” Jette could hear her Mistress’ voice quiver. “And open your mind.”

Jette felt the purple clouds envelop her like a warm blanket. She drifted in them for a time. Hearing her Mistress’ distant voice and feeling the words become part of her mind.

When it was done, Zeta placed the staff in her closet then returned to the bed and climbed atop Jette. She stroked her face affectionately. “I waited so long. And now there is so little time.” She leaned forward and kissed Jette with all the passion and hunger of a last meal.

After escaping from the palace on Serpentarius, Lt. Riesga makes her way on foot across a densely forested terrain, following her only lead …

The disk-shaped ship hovered high above the rock-strewn hills in the distance. Riesga hurried in its direction under a clear, star-lit sky.  She attached the lazerblade to her belt and shook her hand comp, which flickered stubbornly on and off. It still worked, barely, after nearly being crushed in the coils of the Snake Queen.

The ship slowly descended. Riesga didn’t have too many options, but it was obvious that that was place to be – near the caves of Shahmarana, where the remains of the mythical Seven Suzerains were interred. She knew from her study of Te’ Sareez’s history that it was also where Zeta, some 20 years before, was believed to have summoned the Goddess of Darkness.

Riesga also intuitively knew that this is where she would be returning.

Whoever was on that ship knew it too.

Rear Admiral Ominanina Hartley floated above her command chair on the bridge of the Mary Victor Bruce. She could sense more than see her command crew around her, bobbing and twisting slowly in zero gravity completely enveloped by the green waves of energy that permeated every inch of her ship.

She had an odd feeling of being in an aquarium, like the one in her hometown of Baltimore, swimming listlessly and helplessly like a school of mesmerized fish. And being watched.

How long she had been like this – what would happen to her crew? – was not her concern. All she wanted, and wanted desperately, was to be with Her.

There was no voice, no commands, yet the need was there and growing inside her. To join and be joined with her Goddess.

To serve and obey.

Jette shifted the large, heavy pack she wore on her back as Zeta led her deeper into the tunnel. Near the entrance to the caves of Shahmarana, they met up with a very star-struck engineer from the Serpentarian mining craft who’d breathlessly attended to Zeta’s every need and provided them with the equipment Jette was now carrying. The tools, they hoped, that would vanquish their common enemy.

Zeta led the way, holding a flaming torch aloft in one hand. Jette’s eyes were drawn to the rayff K’wari had given her dangling from Zeta’s thin belt.  Zeta’s prize. “I haven’t been here in many years. Since I came of age and sought her out.”

“The Goddess of Darkness.”

“Like you said, she is no god. Just a trickster.”

Jette felt indignation rising inside her. “She will pay for deceiving you, Mistress Zeta.”

“I’m not the only one she deceived,” Zeta said quietly. The tunnel opened into a vast circular chamber with an altar at its center. Seven towering statues depicting ancient warrior queens – the Seven Suzerains of Te’ Sareez — ringed the room. “Though, I will be the last.”

Jette and Zeta heaved the stone lid up and off the funeral reliquary at the base of one the statue. It fell to the ground and kicked up a torrent of dust. Zeta knelt and rummaged inside the stone box. Jette studied the ancient statue with its six-pointed crown.

Zeta withdrew a dark-brown, human bone, showing it to Jette. “Do you know who this is?”

“No, Mistress.”

“Queen Uzarda.” Zeta stood. “Her first victim some 10,000 years ago.” Jette followed her back to the altar. Bones from the other six queens already rested upon the stone surface. Zeta quickly used a tool to remove a small fragment from each of the remains.

These seven fragments she placed in a stone bowl, then produced a smooth pestle and began grinding them into powder. To this she added a handful of white and purple flowers and ground them into the mixture.

Jette helped her Mistress clear the altar of all but a brazier, already lit aflame. Jette returned the tools to the pack and stood as Zeta began the incantation.

“Ancient Queens of Te’ Sareez, hear me.” She took a pinch of the powder and tossed it into the flame, which danced excitedly. “I am Zeta, daughter of Zurkana, ruler of our great planet, Serpentarius, and the eighth Suzerain Supreme.” The flame leapt again as another bit of powder was added. “I call you to me. For council. For wisdom. For revenge.” She added the remainder of the bowl and the flame throbbed brightly and billowed smoke into the air.

Jette found the scent strangely pleasant as the heady incense wound its way into her nostrils.

Welcome Sister Queen.

Jette spun around, her hand reaching for her holstered rayvolver. The words sounded like the wind and the ocean and the creaking earth speaking as one. She searched for the source of the strange voice.

We are with you.

Jette blinked. The voice was inside her head. She looked up and gasped. The seven statues towering over them were leaning forward now. Looming overhead and peering down with their dead, marble eyes.

Who have you have brought to our crypt?

Zeta looked at Jette, her eyes unable to prevent drinking in the former Star Ranger’s luscious curves. “She was my trap. The lure the trickster used to ensnare me. She foresaw that I would make my greatest foe my willing slave.” Zeta smiled. “With a foe such as this, how could I not become ensnared? I would stop at nothing to possess her. But she was not to be mine. She was meant to be a vessel for the trickster to reside in. So I stole her away before she could be fully possessed. And we came here. To seek your wisdom.”

Wisdom you have already, Daughter of Zurkana.

Jette felt a sudden breeze and turned. Her eyes went wide. A specter was emerging from the stone box at the foot of Uzarda’s statue! The wraith woman was glowing with a faint, bluish light from the armor she’d been buried in. But within was a darkness deeper than any black hole.

We discovered her treachery too late.

Jette watched as the other queens, all more than seven feet tall, emerged from their reliquaries one by one and stood around them in a ghostly circle.

Long after the flame of our lives had burned out.

Zeta took a deep breath, her jaw shifting as she looked at the spectral queens. “What task did she set for you? Mine, I see now, was to secure her vessel.”

They spoke one at a time, their voices echoing off the stone.

“The tomb you now stand in was our task, Sister Queen.”

“Built in secret within this mountain fortress unseen.”

“Made of asteroid ore and comet mineral for taking.”

“Her instructions were meticulous for its making.”

“Paramount was its completion before we’d die.”

“Incontrovertible the edict that our bones must here lie.”

“Trapped forever since we have been.”

“Did she tell you why it was to be constructed?”

“It was to be our seat of power. Eternal power over sea and grass.”

“So that our bloodlines and our faith would endure, alas …”

“None of which has come to pass.”

Zeta looked meaningfully at Jette. “The first thing she had me do was construct an altar to her in my bedroom at the palace. Using stones I took from here.”

Jette nodded. “This crypt is a seat of power. Hers.”

“Time to get to work, pet.”

Jette busied herself with the task she’d been given. She had a satchel of devices, which she placed around the crypt. Her Mistress was at the altar, surrounded by the ghostly queens.

Zeta pulled a loose stone free from the altar and struck it with a tool. The block split into three fragments. She took the largest chunk and held it up to the torch light. Silver veins of ore ran through the stone like spider webs reflecting iridescent colors.

“She was very specific,” Uzarda said. “The whole crypt was to be lined with this ore. The altar was made entirely from the richest deposit.”

“She does nothing without a reason,” Zeta mused as she studied the rock.

“Is that how she imprisoned our spirits here?” another queen asked.

“Possibly.” Zeta nodded. “I’m more curious about why she imprisoned you.”

“What is a Goddess without worshippers?” Uzarda offered.

Zeta watched Jette busily working and smiled. “Indeed.”

“And we did worship her, Sister Queen. Before the fruit of her promises bore only ash and more lies. Before we realized the truth: we had become her slaves. Yet even then, we worshipped.”

“How did you worship her?”

A mirthless chuckle passed between the spectral suzerains. “You must know, Daughter of Zurkana. We watched you worship her yourself upon this very altar.” (See Issue #4 – C&C) They laughed again. “How eager you became as each of your holes yielded to her unquenchable lusts.”

The ghost queens flowed toward each other in pairs and began touching each other. Then groping. Zeta couldn’t hide her surprise. “She taught you the lust rituals?”

“Oh yes,” Uzarda whispered. “We were devout pupils.”

“Then she must have had a reason.”

The rock in Zeta’s hand began to glow. The ore lines shimmered and danced with light of every color. Their queenly vestments lifted off their ghostly bodies – as delicious as they’d been in the prime of their mortal lives. Six of them had paired off and climbed atop the wide circular altar, which glowed brightly as they fell into each other’s arms. Across the walls and floor of the crypt, lines of ore began to glow brightly as the wraith women relished the physical sensations of centuries before.

Zeta stared at Uzarda. The great Suzerain’s armor had vanished and revealed a chiseled physique. Her long, curly hair cascaded down her powerful back. The muscles of her upper legs and ass bulged like those of a beast meant to be ridden. Hard.

Zeta hummed with approval. “I see. She designed this crypt as a power reservoir to maintain a presence in the physical world. But how would she refill it throughout the eons?”

“How indeed?” Uzarda stepped close and ran her fingers along Zeta’s arms which erupted in gooseflesh at her ghostly touch. “There are advantages to serving a goddess of lust. And there are worse ways to spend ten thousand years.” She pursed her lips and moved to kiss Zeta.

Suddenly, Zeta’s hand snaked around Uzarda’s jaw and held her tight. “Surely, the great Queen Uzarda has not forgotten the practice of revereantur novi? I am Suzerain now.”

Uzarda smiled and pulled her jaw free from Zeta’s grip. “Does the daughter of Zurkana wish the First Suzerain of Darkness to worship her?”

Zeta bit her bottom lip as the words stirred fervent images in her mind. “Mmmm perhaps. But first … entertainment. Jette?”

“Yes, Mistress Zeta?”

“Have you completed your task?”

“Yes, Mistress Zeta!”

“Good. Then you have earned some respite. Lie upon the altar.”

“Yes, Mistress Zeta.” Jette bowed her head and went to the altar. The six ghostly queens ceased their orgy and looked upon Jette with a familiar hunger.

One of the wraith women slipped behind her. Jette’s jacket was pulled off and fell to the ground. Two more were on either side of her, stroking the flesh of her legs, her ass. Electric tingles erupted in the wake of their touch upon her skin.

The fabric of Jette’s shirt shifted and the outline of hands appeared beneath the cloth. The ghostly hands rubbed across her stomach, then lower, teasing her with their phantom touch. The hands moved up her torso and in one smooth motion took possession of her breasts. They squeezed firmly and Jette moaned in wanton delight as she looked up at the blue, glowing giantesses.

She kept moaning as the rest of her clothes were pulled away.

Lt. Riesga had managed to slip unnoticed into the cave, climbing high above the spectacle and perched behind an outcropping of rocks.  She was alarmed by what she was witnessing. She knelt down, pressing her face to the rock, and saw her commander naked and being pleasured by … ghosts??

She slid her hand to her rayvolver, but pulled back slowly.  This was not the time nor the place to start a fight. There was nothing she could do but watch.

Jette barked and thrashed in ecstasy. The spectral queen that was straddling her face smothered Jette with her sex and muffled the former Star Ranger’s cries of passion as she clutched the thick, muscular thighs. Two more of the ghost women were grinding between Jette’s legs. They each straddled one of her thighs. Their incorporeal bodies could pass freely in and out of each other, yet Jette felt every wanton thrust of their legs against her flowing pussy.

Three more queens lay across her torso and feet, locked in a daisy chain of ethereal bodies bucking and quivering as their lust reached higher and higher peaks. Jette was delirious. Climax upon climax. Perhaps she would cum until she died?

The thought frightened her. But the fear twisted into throbbing heat that oozed down her spine and set her off once again. The two ghosts tribbing her laughed as her pussy sizzled and gushed with fresh juice.   

Jette was vaguely aware of Zeta standing over the kneeling Uzarda and riding the ghost queen’s face. There was fire in her Mistress’ eyes that Jette had seen before. It was the fire of conquest. Zeta had conquered Jette as she now conquered Uzarda. Soon, she would conquer the Goddess of Darkness. Jette would be her instrument.

Jette could remember how she felt when she was free. Her determination to stop the renegade Primon before the entire galaxy suffered under her rule. She could never have imagined she’d be here, working alongside Zeta to make that happen. She could never have imagined how much she’d love being the queen’s obedient slave.

Jette moaned and bucked harder as another orgasm ignited.

A nearby torch began to flicker and grow. Liquid fire spilled from it and dripped a puddle of lava onto the floor. The ghost queens stopped their sexplay abruptly. A pillar of fire grew from the carved tiles all the way to the ceiling of the towering crypt. As it subsided into a low simmer, it revealed a beautiful woman, long and dark and malevolent.

The ghost queens suddenly pounced! Four tackled Zeta and restrained her in their spectral limbs. The other three pulled the listless Jette to her feet. They held her up as a prize to be collected.

The Goddess of Darkness smiled down in triumph.

Zeta struggled in the icy grip of the ghost queens that held her.

“Naughty Zeta, interfering with my plans.” The eight-foot-tall woman of fire smirked. “Your meddling with the planetary defenses was especially irksome. A battle that could’ve been over in minutes has dragged on for over half a day.”

“I’m delighted to hear it. Anything to cause you a bit of strife is time well spent.”

The figure scoffed as she stepped forward. “You think too highly of yourself, as usual.”

“If I’m so insignificant, why have you abandoned the defense of your fleet to come here and chide me?”

“The fleet is in good hands. And I always deal with treachery myself.” She towered over Zeta, eyes burning into the living Suzerain. “Uzarda tells me you have been a very busy betrayer.”

The ghost queen pulled a small box from Jette’s discarded pants and held it out for her Goddess. “She has laid explosives throughout the chamber. This is the activation device.”

“How dull, Zeta. You disappointment me.” The woman of fire took the box in her hands. Zeta huffed in frustration. The Goddess of Darkness laughed in reply. “Was this your entire plan? Steal my prize and then abscond with her to my own stronghold? Even if your pathetic tools could destroy this crypt do you honestly think my servants would let you?”

Zeta stared at Uzarda as if reading her thoughts.

“Oh yes, poor Zeta. Your revered Seven Suzerains are mine!” the Goddess of Darkness’ voice raised. “Ten thousand years on my leash has taught them the futility of defying me. I broke this chattel long ago. Now they are merely an extension of my will!”

“Hardly a fate befitting a queen,” Zeta said, her eyes fixed on the ghost.

“It is pathetic. But that’s what passes for royalty on your world. One learns to make do with the materials at hand.”

Zeta bristled but said nothing.

“Your fate will be far less merciful, daughter of Zurkana,” the Goddess of Darkness continued. “Starting with the unraveling of all your vapid schemes.” The Primon reached out with a hand and Jette lurched forward! She was pulled through the air as if by an invisible tether. The Goddess of Darkness snatched her up like a toy and held her aloft in one hand.

With the other hand she drew arcane symbols in the air around Jette’s head. A strange light appeared, centered on Jette’s forehead. A single spot of pale green. The woman of fire plucked at the dot and pulled. As she did, a green thread of shimmering energy was drawn forth from Jette.

Zeta moved forward but was held fast. “What are you doing?!”

“Undoing your work.” The Goddess of Darkness smiled as she wound the thread through her fingers and pulled more from Jette’s forehead. “Restoring my vessel to her original state.”

“Stop!”

“I know you laid snares for me in her mind. To trap me within her. Were you really going to kill her in order to vanquish me?”

Zeta just glared.

“Perhaps I misjudged you. A worthy gambit indeed.” The thread pulled free and the Goddess of Darkness sat Jette down. She was shaky but her eyes were clear. She was free of Zeta’s control. However, her eyes were drawn to Uzarda. The ghost queen nodded.

In a flash, Jette leaped at the renegade Primon! She snatched the device out of her hand … and pressed the button!

The seven devices Jette had placed throughout the chamber sprang to life.

Each of the cylinders had a glowing ring near the top. They began to spin and flicker in sync and a high-pitched droning sound built louder and louder as the tempo increased. Then the top of each canister sprang open and a glowing arc of energy surged from one to the next until the entire crypt was corralled by a ring of pulsing light.

The six ghost queens wailed and shrieked as they were pulled from the floor and began to float toward the energy ribbon spinning at the edge of the crypt. The Goddess of Darkness reached out but found the flames of her arms twisting and bending as they too were drawn toward the circle of power.

Uzarda faced the Goddess of Darkness. “Can you read my thoughts, trickster? No? You forget that I am dead!”

Zeta watched the renegade Primon struggle. She could barely contain her glee. “Our stellar mining craft has developed tools to siphon the latent energy contained in the nebula. Harvesting ambient radiation and shredding the particles into their constituent parts.”

One of the ghost queens drew too close and her spectral form brushed up against the whipping maelstrom of energy. She was instantly atomized as the very fragments of her being were split apart and gobbled up by the fearsome cyclone. The others quickly followed suit as the typhoon spun faster and faster, devouring each of the ghost Queens in turn.

The Goddess of Darkness could do nothing. If she moved too far one way or another she would be pulled toward the trap. She was forced to remain in the center of the chamber as her acolytes were devoured.

Uzarda was the last. She floated closer and closer toward the hurricane of energy that had engulfed the crypt. Terror and elation played over her features as she inched closer to her fate. She locked eyes with the Goddess of Darkness and roared one last time: “The Suzerains of Te’ Sareez serve you no longer!”

She was then shredded by the maelstrom.

The woman of fire rounded on Zeta. She pointed with a blazing hand and discovered the flames on her arm were sputtering as if starved of fuel. “What have you done?!”

Zeta smiled with her teeth. “You know the rules of this universe. Any action requires energy. And I just took your source of energy away. Now I’m going to use it to destroy this stronghold that’s protecting you and watch as our laws of nature tear you apart!” The energy vortex was growing taller and taller, the high-pitched drone buzzing dangerously.

“I will SLAUGHTER you!” the Goddess of Darkness howled. Flames sputtered all over her body.

“Yeah, yeah. Get in line.” Jette was now fully herself again. She hurriedly dressed, then darted across the crypt, grabbed Zeta by the arm and moved them both toward the exit.

Riesga hopped down the rocky ledge, then was forced to crawl down. Getting up was easy. Getting down was taking too much time.  The whirlwind of energy grew more and more violent and Riesga tumbled downward.

A fearsome arc of lightning sprang from the cyclone and struck the ceiling of the crypt. An enormous boulder dislodged from the cavern’s roof and fell to the ground. It crushed the altar to rubble.

The Goddess of Darkness fell to one knee.

Zeta stopped and turned, taunting her with a mirthless laugh. “What’s wrong? Losing your foothold in this dimension?”

“Zeta!” Jette shouted as another boulder dropped from the ceiling directly above them. Zeta pulled back and shoved Jette hard. They both fell backward.

The stone fell between them with barely a whisper of room to spare. Jette stumbled back into the passageway. The fallen boulder was blocking Zeta’s escape.

Jette scrambled up the stone. There was just enough room at the top to get her torso through the opening. “Zeta! Climb!”

The Suzerain Supreme was on her feet and leaped upon the boulder, just as the rest of the crypt began shattering around her.  She clambered up the rock and clasped Jette’s offered hand. “PULL!”

Jette heaved with all her might. Zeta’s kicking feet found purchase, pushing her higher up. Jette planted her boots and pushed with her legs, drawing Zeta’s shoulder and head through the opening.

“Harder pet! I’m almost through!”

“Don’t call me that!” Jette gritted her teeth. “You’re under arrest as soon as this is over!”

Zeta clawed at the stone with her other hand and moved forward a few more inches. “You just want to play with handcuffs, my –” Zeta was cut off as two flaming hands suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked her back. She was flung across the crypt and landed hard.

“You loathsome worm!” the Goddess of Darkness roared as she towered above her. The tornado of souls was siphoning the flames from her body but she ignored it and focused on the object of her rage. “I have been planning this day longer than your species has been walking upright!”

Jette pulled her rayvolver, aimed through the gap and fired twice. Both shots landed, striking the renegade Primon in the back. The woman of fire stumbled from the impact, but only momentarily.

The Goddess of Darkness yanked Zeta to her feet. She spun around to face Jette.

“Zeta, get out of the way!” the Star Ranger shouted as she took aim for another shot.

Riesga tried to make a dash for the opening and Jette’s hand, but another boulder crashed on top of the first. A chunk of rock split off and caught Riesga in the chest. She collapsed to the ground.

Jette fell back. She was sealed off from the chamber. She aimed her rayvolver in the dark and fired at the boulders. It took her seven shots before the bottom boulder gave way. She made her way through the opening and re-entered the tomb.

The Goddess of Darkness had melted into the floor in a ball of fire. The flames shot high into the air, then sputtered and went out … revealing naked flesh beneath. Arms slowly uncoiled. A mane of red hair shook as the figure stood with its back to Jette.

“Zeta?”

The woman turned revealing the nude form of Queen Zeta but with eyes that were burning coals of red and orange. “No, Jette. Not Zeta.” The smoldering orbs left a trail of ash and smoke in the air as she stepped forward.

“This could’ve been you. The living incarnation of an immortal god.” Dark Zeta moved closer and Jette could see flames dancing across her fingertips. “This form is inferior to yours, but it will suffice. It will also be the last thing you see before you die in unspeakable agony.”

Dark Zeta stepped off the pile of lava and moved closer. Her bare feet unaffected by the blistering heat. The fire in her eyes danced wildly. “Jette Jones! I’m going to snuff out your existence like your wretched father and mother before you. But first! I’m going to make you watch as I reshape this galaxy into my temple. And turn everyone you have ever loved into my congregation.”

Jette stepped forward defiantly. “The Star Ranger Corps is gonna have something to say about that.”

Dark Zeta roared with laughter. “Your entire fleet has been captured! They will be the first to fall in worship.” She could see Jette’s face twist in anger.

“Nothing can stop it now. Today, your galaxy becomes mine!”

To be continued …