Callidus

Issue #24 – 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 seven

While Jette Jones and the united forces of the Star Ranger Corps, the Vicars of Yasu and the last of the Caputian rebels regroup for the final battles to control the Te’ Sareez system, and with it the fate of the galaxy, K’wari’s attempt to rescue Flock on the Goddess of Darkness’s ship faces a deadly obstacle – the leader of the Black Widdom, Araneae …

K’wari ducked as a glossy black leg with a row of razor-sharp spurs cut through the air like a whip. “I will rend you, loathsome flesh sack!” Araneae hissed as she spun around. “I will rip the skin from your bones!”

She kicked out with another of her arachnid limbs, but K’wari jumped cleanly over the attack and countered by bringing her rayff staff down in a fierce overhead chop that cracked the black exoskeleton of the leg. Araneae shouted in rage and pain. K’wari stalked forward, swinging the chrome staff in both hands, forcing the Black Widdom leader back.

Araneae stumbled momentarily on her broken spider leg and K’wari saw an opening. She spun her body around and swung her rayff with all her might. But the Black Widdom’s strength was not to be underestimated. She blocked the rayff before the blow landed and grabbed the end tightly.

“Repulsive ape!” she spat in disgust. “I’ve lost count of how many of you Vicars I’ve dismembered.” She leaned forward, pressing her full weight onto the staff.

“Do you always talk this much?” K’wari thumbed one of the buttons hidden in the decorative etchings on the pommel of her staff. The telescoping end Araneae was holding onto suddenly shot back into the hilt of the rayff.

She stumbled forward and K’wari spun on her heel in the opposite direction. She swung the other end of her staff around like club. Araneae turned and saw a flash of chrome hurtling toward her face. With a fearsome CRACK! K’wari caught her on the side of head and sent her sprawling across the room. She landed not far from the cocooned remains of the Warrior Women of Serpens Caput.

K’wari extended the closed end of her rayff once again. “Flock?” K’wari dared a quick glance at the naked blonde woman bound and hanging upside-down from spider silk cords. “Flock, can you hear me?”

“No, Vicar she can’t.” Araneae was on her feet again, leaning against the wall. She spat green blood. “She has my milk’s venom inside her. She is lost to you. Just as you have lost.”

One of Araneae’s spider legs crept back and plucked up a nearby power rifle. Araneae leaped into the air, her limbs buzzing like a saw as she took flight. She drew the rifle in her hand and pulled the trigger. K’wari rolled forward under the blast and then sprang to her left to avoid a second volley. The second shot tore through her crimson robe and burned black marks into the floor beneath.

K’wari glided into a wide stance and held her rayff before her. The Black Widdom smiled with her needle teeth and squeezed the trigger again. The blast streaked forward and struck the chrome of the staff as K’wari spun the rayff over in her hands. Araneae fired again.

K’wari took slow, steady steps forward, spinning the rayff as it drank up the energy.

The Vicar leaped backward and Araneae took a split second to register the change in direction. K’wari thumbed another button on the hilt of her rayff. The stored energy streaked out and caught Araneae in the chest.

She fell from the air, tumbling to the floor. K’wari was on her in an instant. The Vicar pressed the chrome bulb of her rayff to Araneae’s temple, the staff still crackling with stored energy. “I ask once, and only once, for your surrender.”

The Black Widdom commander relaxed her muscles. “I know when I’m beaten, Vicar.” She rolled onto her hands and knees. “And right now …” Suddenly Araneae twisted her body and one of her spider limbs tore through K’wari’s robe and the leg beneath it. The Vicar shouted in agony as the spurs tore into her flesh. Blood poured from the open wound.

“Right now, I’m not the least bit worried.”

K’wari fell to her knees, still gripping her rayff in one hand. Strands of spider silk shot out from Araneae’s mouth and webbed K’wari’s rayff and hand to the floor. K’wari pulled with all her strength but only managed to stretch the silk cord a few inches.

The Widdom tossed the rifle aside. “And now, you simian abomination, I am going to end you.” She leaned down, her face hovering before K’wari’s. “And I’m going to do it very, very slo —”

With sudden fury, the Vicar punched out with her free hand straight into Araneae’s throat. The spiderwoman collapsed to her knees. K’wari amassed all her strength and pulled her trapped hand free of the rayff, and with it a long cord of webbing. K’wari leaped onto Araneae’s back, wrapping the stretched spider silk around her neck.

K’wari heaved and pulled the cord tighter. Araneae’s eyes bugged out as she scrambled wildly with all eight of her limbs. K’wari held on, gritting her teeth as she used her whole body to pull the silk garrote tighter. She drove her knee into Araneae’s back, forcing her head upward. There was a horrid, gurgling sound. Her segmented legs shuddered. Then one final exhale. Araneae’s head slumped forward. Dead.

K’wari rose slowly.  She picked up the broken spider leg she had tossed away and moved toward Flock. She hacked through the cords holding Flock up and caught her as she fell. They both tumbled to the floor.

She studied Flock’s face as she continued to cut away the silk filaments wrapped around her body. Flock’s eyes were glassy and distant, as if she were asleep with her eyes open. Then her body convulsed violently. She sucked in a deep breath, either starved for oxygen or recoiling from the shock that her body was at last her own.

The blue returned to her eyes, there was color in her cheeks. But the look on her face was hard.

“Flock? Are you with me?”

She didn’t hear – or didn’t want to hear – as she stood. The hardness of her face turned to granite.  Ignoring K’wari’s outstretched hands, she marched over to her battlesuit. It was no longer the shining gold armor of a knight, but the metallic black of one of Dark Zeta’s soldiers. She put the armor on deliberately.  When she was finished, she turned the power dial on her hip all the way to 20, its highest setting.

“Flock, let’s get out of here.  We can get a ship.” K’wari kept her voice calm, but there was urgency in it.

K’wari tried to step in front of her, but Flock brushed past. She stood before the cocoons. She could see their eyes. The Vicar knew that the souls inside the warm bodies had long since moved to a higher plane.  Flock could only see their dying fright.

She extended her forearm … and a blast of fire tore across the room, torching the silk tombs.  Even after the husks had melted into piles of ash, Flock continued until she had burned through the floor.  Only a firm tug at her shoulder made her lower her arm.

K’wari tried to connect with Flock mentally, closing her eyes in concentration. But there was nothing there. Nothing … but RAGE.

Snatching up the power rifle, Flock abruptly headed out the door. K’wari started to move toward her, but she collapsed to one knee. With the fighting over, the pain in her leg was excruciating. Her whole leg was red with blood.  She tore off the hem of her robe and tied it tightly around her thigh.  It would have to do.

There was a distant explosion!  There was an agonized scream.  Then a series of loud bangs and booms.  The sounds came from the corridor Flock had just entered and beyond.  K’wari hobbled to her rayff.  It took her precious time to finally release it from the iron-strong strands of silk that had pinned it to the floor.

Injured leg or not, she ran as fast as she could after Flock as the ship shuddered around her.

Meanwhile, on Serpens Caput, as the Star Ranger Patrol vessel Roosevelt attacks from above, in the dank underbelly of the Caputian Capital, Odell and Queen Diamanti are being mercilessly brainwashed into slavery by the ruthless Diamond Woman of Dal’ Rogo …

Odell was hanging vertically, held up by gravity-globes, when she awoke. There were grape-sized beads wrapped around her wrists and ankles, stretching her into an X shape. Diamanti was suspended in similar fashion to Odell’s right. The queen’s head rested on her shoulder, glassy eyes barely open. They were both within the geodesic dome Odell had seen when she’d snuck into the lab. Just beyond its skeletal frame the Diamond Woman stood with her back to them, her hands busy.

“Sovereign?” Odell whispered. There was no sign the other woman heard. “Queen Diamanti? I am Odell, Vicar of Yasu. I’m here to free you.”

Diamanti stirred and her eyes opened a bit wider. Odell could see the struggle etched on her face. Whatever the Diamond Woman had subjected her to had taken its toll. The queen turned her head toward Odell.

“My people?”

“Your soldiers are fighting above as we speak. With the entire Order of Yasu at their side.” Diamanti said nothing but there was the faintest smile on her face. “There is more. We have found critical intelligence that could end the war. It’s being sent to our allies now. We just have to hold out a little while longer.”

Diamanti’s features turned sullen. “There’s not much of me left to save.” Her eyes pointed to their blue-skinned captor. “She’s taken almost all of me.”

“Hold on,” Odell implored. “I may find us a way out of here.”

There was a click as the Diamond Woman closed a container. Diamanti looked at Odell with a fearful expression. “Don’t look into her eyes, Odell. Whatever you do.”

The Diamond Woman held several colorful objects in her hand as she stepped toward Diamanti. “Bad slave queen. Tell my secrets. Very bad.” Diamanti began to writhe in her bonds, shifting her arms and legs as much as the grip of the grav-globes would allow. “Take you more. The way you like. You love me to take all of you.”

“No, no, no …” Diamanti moaned, her torso undulating with each word.

“Show me you eyes, slave queen.” The Diamond Woman stepped closer as Diamanti helplessly obeyed, opening her eyes wide. “Mmmm. Time for more. More seed for you. Open.” Diamanti opened her mouth and the huge woman flicked a plump blue-and-magenta pit into the queen’s mouth. “Swallow now.” Diamanti gulped it down obediently. “Good slave queen. Drift now. Float in waves.”

Diamanti groaned in reply.

The Diamond Woman turned to Odell. “Your turn, slave vicar.” She reached out with a small silver capsule in one hand and another blue-magenta pit in the other. Odell shut her mouth firmly and clenched her jaw. She stared coldly at the mercenary and shook her head. The blue woman chuckled. “No eat seed for you. Too slow. Need to take you fast.”

Then she held the capsule just below Odell’s face and crushed it between her finger and thumb. A white-green smoke puffed out and a strange chemical smell flooded Odell’s nostrils. She quickly held her breath but it was already too late. There was an intense sensation of heat on the top of her head. It began moving downward as her limbs sagged in their bonds. Every muscle in her body went limp.

The Diamond Woman stepped behind her. Odell groaned as her body was pitched forward, presenting her ass to the vile mercenary. She felt hands on her cheeks, spreading her open. With horror Odell realized what was happening. She tried to clench her muscles, but her body felt disconnected from her brain. Her rosebud opened from the devious prodding. Then the Diamond Woman slid the seed into her ass and pushed it deeply inside her passage. The blue-skinned woman retrieved a large chrome plug, showed it to Odell with a grin, then forced it into her ass too, trapping the seed inside.

The Diamond Woman stepped back and tapped the controls on the gold wristlet she wore. More of the gray-globes floated up between Odell’s legs and entered her front passage. They began to massage Odell, a spot on the inner wall of her pubis and another spot deeper inside. The one she could never quite reach herself.

A low, guttural moan escaped Odell’s lips as the globes molested her, coaxing unwanted yet irresistible pleasure from her body. “Look at my eyes, slave vicar.” Odell fought to turn her head away.  The Diamond Woman stepped close. She peeled open Odell’s eyes. “Look. Look deep.”

Odell’s mouth quivered. There was no way to look away. “You in my eyes.” Odell could see her reflection in the dark pupils of the blue woman. “Deep in my eyes. Floating deep. More deep. More and more deep. I take you into me. More and more of you. In me. Feel it so good.”

Odell’s body writhed as it responded to the manipulation of her inner sex. A new heat was flooding her body. A sensuous, erotic flame building between her legs and spreading outward. “Yes, slave vicar. Feel it so good. I take more of you. Take all of you. You want me to take you all. Trap you in me. Forever.”

The Diamond woman stroked Odell’s nipple. Her other hand slipped down and found the hard nub emerging from Odell’s swelling pink lips. Then the chrome plug began vibrating, forcing a squeal from Odell’s lips.

Odell moaned as another pleasure surge wracked her body. The room around her was blurry. Her reflection in the eyes of the Diamond Woman was the only thing in focus. She looked like a whore, moaning and barking as the mercenary continued droning commands into Odell’s weakening mind.

“You life? Forget. Forget all. No life but slave life. My slave. Let go of you life. Let go and give me. All of you life. All of you.”

Odell’s body throbbed in ecstasy as more and more of her drained away. She could feel herself, her very essence flowing out. She was trapped in the Diamond Woman’s eyes. There was no way to resist. No way to escape. She kept staring and felt more of her soul slip away.

“Soon you no fight. You no want to fight. Soon you want to lose. Lose will feel so good. So good to lose and be mine. Forever.” The Diamond Woman pulled something from her belt. Another of the psychedelic seeds. “Eat now. More pleasure. Lose faster. Lose feel so good.” She held the pit up. “Open now.”

Tears fell from Odell’s eyes. She was at war with herself. Half of her wanted to fight, to escape, and free herself and Diamanti from this fiendish slaver. The other half wondered if she did that, who would fuck her cervix so wonderfully? Maybe she could give in to the horniness now? She could escape later once her captor freed her from this bondage.

Odell wondered how many others had thought the same. How many convinced themselves they’d feel stronger the next time? Or the next? Until they were wearing a harem harness and couldn’t even remember the life they were trying to escape back to.

The Diamond Woman smiled. “There is truth in you. Can see it in you eyes. Tell me. Tell me you truth.”

Odell grimaced. “The truth is … I hate you.”

The Diamond Woman leaned closer. “Tell why. Why you hate me?”

Odell shook her head, her whole body heaving forward and back on the undulating beads filling her sex. “Because … because you …”

“Tell why!” the muscle-bound woman barked.

“Because you make my pussy feel sooooo good!” Odell wailed pitifully.

“Yes! Much truth. Soon you love me for same. Love me forever.”

“NooooOOoooo.” Odell moaned as the Diamond Woman began rubbing her clit again.

“When you love me you forget. Forget you life. Forget yourself. Forget all but—” The Diamond Woman jerked around. There was a noise. Then another. Louder. The door to the room exploded! A figure in a Star Ranger uniform emerged from the smoke holding a rayvolver in her hand.

“Hold it right there! Step away slowly and raise your hands.” She aimed her rayvolver at the Diamond Woman. “Your forces above have surrendered. The planet is reclaimed for the people of Serpens Caput. I call on you to surrender, right now.”

The Diamond Woman raised her hands and took a step back. Diamanti could see what the Star Ranger could not — the control bracelet on the Diamond Woman’s left wrist had a strobing blue light that turned red.

“Look out!” Diamanti cried.

A flurry of the grav-globes shot outward. Captain Coral Pace felt the impact and her face went slack. She looked down and saw a dozen holes punched cleanly through her Ranger jacket and tunic. Then blood began flowing from the open wounds. Pace dropped to a knee. She gripped her rayvolver tightly with both of her shaking hands, spun the selector dial and fired.

The Diamond Woman’s eyes widened just before the photon charge hit. Her body disintegrated. The mass of golden jewelry around her neck sank into the small pile of ash. Odell and Diamanti fell to the floor as the grave-globes holding them up dropped and rolled away like so many marbles. The spell was broken.

Pace collapsed. Blood began to pool around her body. Diamanti hurried to the fallen captain, crawling across the floor with Odell close behind. She kneeled beside her.

“Captain Pace?”

“Sovereign …” Coral’s face turned ashen. The color drained from her lips.

“I am here.” The queen took her hand, her awareness restored. She could see the wounds were mortal ones.

“Coral Pace, four years ago, you helped save my people. Today, you have done so again. In these last moments, be gladdened to know that your life has been full, your accomplishments great, your bravery unquestioned.”

A peaceful smile grew on her dying face. Diamanti leaned closer.

“Go forward now, toward an everlasting life where your honor and courage shall always shine as brightly as the suns of Te’ Sareez.”

“Tell Jette …” Coral’s body heaved in pain, then relaxed. Her eyes closed slowly.

“I will.” Tears fell from Diamanti’s face.

Odell whispered reverently over the body of the fallen Star Ranger.

Vice Commander Jette Jones pressed the button and the airlock opened. A familiar figure was waiting. Epsilon smiled. “Greetings, Captain. Kanivia.”

“Epsy!” Lieutenant Kanivia Riesga threw her arms around the Caretaker. “Good to see you again.” Epsilon returned the hug then gestured to a second Caretaker nearby. The lines of her matrix had a faint purple hue. “This is Iota.”

“Permission to come aboard?” Jette asked.

“That is an odd query.” Iota looked puzzled. “Since we are not affiliated with the organization that has rightful claim to this vessel, and you are.”

“That’s because the captain was using an attempt at humor to highlight the irony of the situation.” Epsilon’s smile widened.

“An attempt at humor?” Jette feigned indignation.

“And, perhaps to comment on the ethics of us commandeering her old ship,” Epsilon added.

“So long as we get it back in one piece.” Jette and Riesga stepped onto the Artemis IV.

Epsilon and Iota led them into the conference room that doubled as the cafeteria. A holo projector in the ceiling cast a 3D map of the Te’ Sareez system into the middle of the room. Standing around the map were six other Caretakers and the holo figure of a Star Ranger captain.

Jette approached her. “Captain Castilla, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Commander. Sara Castilla of the Olympus Mons.”

“Did Coral hook you into this mission or did you volunteer?” Castilla’s smile in response was a sad one. “Any word from her?”

Castilla hesitated. “Commander, I’m sorry to inform you that Captain Pace was killed liberating the capital building on Serpens Caput.”

Jette said nothing for several moments, her expression unreadable. “I see.” What she was feeling would have to wait. She turned to the wall screen. “Elexa, Carpenter good to see you both. What’s your status?”

“We’re parked on one of Soma’s moons. Hiding from their patrol ships,” Elexa said from the cockpit of her ship. “I’m afraid our mission was only partly successful, Jette.”

Carpenter spoke up. “Commander, I was able to reach Queen Kalokairi but I wasn’t able to get her off the planet. She was … too far gone.”

“What was the successful part?”

“We have control of the satellite defense system. The regent who helped us escape created a back door for us. Cosmo was able to telepathically relay the control codes to us.”

“Great work, Cos!” Riesga exclaimed.

The mass of black goo, looking like a small Terran canine, was situated on the console between Carpenter and Elexa. Elexa was stroking its “head.” She pulled her hand away self-consciously when she saw Riesga’s eyes widen.

“We control 25 satellites, each holding ten war-drones,” Carpenter continued. “So, 250 in total.”

“And that’s not everything,” Elexa interjected. “Tell her, Epsilon.”

“The Serpens Caput resistance transmitted a data dump with the locations of all enemy forces in the Te’ Sareez system.”

“All of them?” Epsilon nodded with her eyes. “Carpenter, Elexa that’s your assignment. You’ve got the enemy positions, time to put those drones to work.”

Elexa straightened. “We’re on it.”

“What about the Star Ranger fleet, Epsilon?”

“We have a plan.” The holo display magnified Orca, the massive diamond-shaped flagship of the Goddess of Darkness. “Your fleet is being held on this vessel. We will board, locate the prisoners and extract them.”

“Just like that?”

Epsilon smiled with a hint pride. “The so-called Goddess of Darkness is a Primon. Her vessel is constructed using Primon technology. Which means …”

Reisga snapped her fingers. “Which means you can control it! The same way you could run The Nursery.”

“Correct.”

Jette fought a frown. “How will you find them? That ship is colossal.”

“Over 99 percent of the vessel is occupied by stasis pods and life support for her ground army, The Black Vigil.”

Holo-Castilla stepped forward, pointing toward a read-out in front of Jette. “Those are the life signs the Roosevelt detected. There’s over a billion troops in hibernation. The operating area of the ship is quite small by comparison.” A red highlight appeared on the holo display.

Jette looked it over. “About the size of a few capital ships.”

“Yes,” replied Epsilon. “We will have no trouble locating the prisoners.”

“Alright Epsilon, we’ll go with your plan. Captain Castilla, once Serpentarius is secured, break orbit and head to Caput.”

“Aye, Sir.” Castilla’s image dissolved.

Epsilon’s matrix shifted. “Captain, what about the renegade?”

“Zeta and I succeeded in destroying the power reservoir that was tethering her to this reality.” All heads turned toward Jette. “Unfortunately, the renegade merged with Zeta, giving her a permanent foothold in this dimension. She also said it would allow her to wield her full power. And I believe her. Epsilon, I need to find a way to separate them from each other, safely.”

Epsilon’s matrix stuttered. “That would be very difficult, Captain. Separating matter and energy is highly unpredictable. I’m not sure either would survive.”

Elexa spoke up. “I’m not hearing a problem.”

Jette was about to speak – there was a problem – when suddenly the Caretakers all went rigid, their matrices synchronized in a distressing pattern.

“It’s Sigma in the command module.” Epsilon’s voice was tight. “She reports explosions from Orca.”

Elexa’s eyes went wide on the wall screen. “Holy shit, we can see that from here! Huge fireball!”

“Visual!” Jette barked. The wall screen switched to the Orca. Several gaping wounds in the hull were smoldering, venting smoke and fire into space.

Epsilon and the other Caretakers were silent, their matrices a cacophony of movement. Jette could see they were communicating very rapidly. Epsilon turned to her. “Captain, we are altering our plan. We will star-step from the Artemis directly to the Orca and begin rescue operations immediately.”

Jette nodded, not fully understanding what that meant. “Alright.”

Riesga was still looking at the burning ship on the wall screen. “What about us, Skipper? What are we gonna do?”

Jette inhaled deeply. That was an excellent question. One hand closed around the rayff on her belt. She squeezed tightly.

Why did you send this to me? What am I supposed to do with it?

Everything around her became distorted. Jette could feel herself moving, but not moving.

She was no longer on the Artemis IV.

A dot of white appeared and grew as Jette traveled within herself. A form took shape. A woman dressed in white robes with a crimson sash, a white so bright it made the blackness around her even darker.  The woman was old, but her body stood strong and straight. She wasn’t smiling, but Jette was comforted by the face which looked upon her with almost motherly warmth.

There was an aura around her, a ghostly cloud, as if she had been formed on the wind. A temporary visage that could easily disappear with the wave of a hand.

Their surroundings took form. They were in a vast temple with towering columns below an arched roof. The glow of torches revealed dozens of young people on the floor, sleeping on white robes.

The woman bowed slightly. “Welcome, Earth woman.”

Jette eyed her. “Am I on Indora?”

“Yes. And I am Sha-shara, Superior Mother of the Vicars of Yasu.”

“Aren’t you dead?”

“I speak to you from the past. Take heed, Star Ranger.”

“We’re in the mind dimension, aren’t we? I’ve been here before. But in the place I grew up. The Primons said I’d created an interface.” Jette moved closer to the vicar. “This is your past.”

“Yes. And my present.” The woman smiled. “The place from your childhood? Were you happy there?”

Jette nodded. “Yes. Very happy.”

“And I am happy here. Perhaps I’ve also created an interface?”

There was a rustling, and a small voice called out. “Did you say something, Mother?”

Sha-shara turned away from Jette. “I said go to sleep. You have studies tomorrow.” Jette saw a small figure curled up on the white robes with dark hair. The girl yawned loudly.

“Alright. Good night, Mother.”

The Superior Mother smiled affectionately. “Good night, nemate.”

Jette looked at Sha-shara with pleasant surprise. “That’s K’wari.”

“Yes.” Her smile deepened. “She’s been here two months and has no idea she’s going to grow into the most remarkable woman.”

“She is certainly that. You did … will do … a wonderful job raising her, White Mother.”

“I am the Superior Mother, and shall be for many years to come. Korella has not yet usurped me and taken the power from the Order.”

“Now I understand why the renegade Primon tried to seize control of it.”

“In part. The other part rests in your hands.” Sha-shara beamed at Jette. “I’m so thankful K’wari has a friend like you. The path she will walk alongside you will fulfill her beyond anything I could hope to teach.” Her face changed to a somber one. “Even now, so near the ending of all things.”

Jette removed the rayff from her belt. “K’wari gave this to me. She told me you wanted me to have it. Why?”

“I have had many visions, Star Ranger. In one, which I have had many times, I saw you riding into battle with that staff. I knew you had to have the rayff because I saw it in your possession.”

Jette’s frustration raised her voice. “But I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with it! You must know more, it was your staff. Didn’t you build it?”

“I am only one of its many keepers over the years. That rayff you hold was constructed by Yasu the Peacekeeper.”

Jette’s mouth almost dropped open. “So, he was real.”

“Yasu’s journey took him across the galaxy, searching for the fundamental truth of reality. It led him to the mind dimension. To the Primons. They built a tool to help him access it.”

“A tool to access the mind dimension.” Jette thought it over. “The renegade Primon traveled from the mind dimension into the physical world. But she siphons power from here.”

“There is no greater power than consciousness. It is the foundation of all reality.” Sha-shara put a hand on Jette’s shoulder. “And now you have a tool that can wield this power.

“It is the Primons’ belief that they alone can maintain balance in the galaxy, and beyond. They chose Yasu and those who followed him to be peacekeepers. I was also chosen. However, the renegade’s unceasing desire for conquest was something even the Primons could not have anticipated.”

“They chose me?”

Sha-shara shook her head. “No. The Goddess of Darkness chose you. That is why you, not K’wari, possess the rayff. To continue what Yasu started, and to complete the task before you now.”

Just then there was a sound, echoing through the temple. A woman’s voice, rich and seductive.

“Jette … Jette.”

“She knows I’m here.” Jette grimaced.

“I fear you’ve tarried too long.” Sha-shara drew her arms into her robe. “Fight well, Earth woman. Everything depends on it.”

The interface around her began to fade. Jette reached out to the vicar’s image. “What did you mean you saw me ride into battle? How?”

Sha-shara’s face was only a white blur. “You will see. Study its engravings well, Captain Jette Jones …”

“Come to me, Jette. Come now.”

Jette felt as if she had dropped a hundred feet. She lost her balance and stumbled back. Riesga was there to hold her up.

“Skipper, are you all right?” Riesga’s hand moved to Jette’s shoulder.

Jette shook her head. She was back on the Artemis IV. The Caretakers were preparing to star-step to the Orca. “Get to the CM. I’m taking Zeta’s ship.”

“Where are you going?”

Jette looked high into the air. “I have to go to Her.”

“You have to?” Riesga’s voice was unsteady.

“You heard the order, Lieutenant.”

Riesga stepped in front of her captain. “No, Sir. You’re not going without me. Two Caretakers are monitoring everything from the CM. They don’t need me. I swore an oath to the Star Rangers. As your first officer, I have your back. And always will.”

Jette tried to be angry, but it was useless. “Alright.” She handed Riesga the rayff. “Study the staff’s markings on the trip. You have homework to do. Whatever you can find out. We’re heading for the Te’ Sareez Space Station.”

“Aye, sir.” Riesga nodded, but she couldn’t conceal a look of deep concern about her captain.

K’wari was in the middle of an inferno.

Every room she passed was destroyed, blackened and burning.  A figure ahead of her was running from one of the rooms screaming.  Burning from head to toe.

She followed Flock’s trail of carnage, leading down to the lower levels of the Goddess of Darkness’s ship.  She followed the sounds of power rifle blasts and force beams into a large hangar. Bodies were tossed about like discarded dolls.  The two dozen ships there were engulfed in flames.

She ran through a series of gigantic holding bays with millions of compartments. K’wari realized that as big as the ship was, there weren’t countless shock troops ready for battle.  Thousands, maybe.  But the Star Rangers and the Vicars’ biggest fear had been a lie. The Goddess of Darkness’ casualties in the war had already been severe. The army she would rule the galaxy with was on board, but still in statis. Waiting to be awakened and activated within this immense weapon of war.

And she realized something else as she made her way through another series of burned-out rooms and decimated cargo bays — the power of Flock’s battlesuit was enormous.  She had never seen Flock turn the power gauge on the suit to maximum.  Her blind rage fueling its awesome destructive might.

That is why! K’wari told herself. The weight of carrying such a tremendous burden had been gradually taking its toll on Flock.  Perhaps it explained, in part, why she was so deeply accepting of what Zeta offered her — a life without that burden, even if it meant mindless slavery and submission.

Twenty-year-old Johansen Powers looked up at the sign: Uzobono Express Train Station. But there was nothing “express” about it. Ten thousand Straznites were crammed into the station, hoping for a way to escape the city. These were desperate times. Senator Harkus had seized control of the government, the military at his command. The overthrow had been swift.

Dr. Demetria Powers and her husband, Prof. Henri Schwarzen, pushed their way through the anxious crowd. Their daughter struggled to fast-walk behind them, lugging a large black case.

“This is as far as we’ll go.” They were still 50 feet and hundreds of bodies away from the platform to the train – the last train – scheduled to leave the station. Prof. Schwarzen turned to his daughter. “I have secured three tickets.  Don’t ask how.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “We must leave you now, my dear. They will be searching for us. Not you.”

“I … I don’t understand. You’re coming with me!”

As if on cue, there was a disturbance behind them, angry shouting.  Soldiers were making their way forward. Johansen looked at her parents fearfully. Her mother stepped in front of her, shielding her.

Then, directly behind them, appeared a strikingly handsome woman, dressed in the garb of a villager. However, it could not completely conceal the blue-and-gold uniform underneath nor did the shroud covering her dark head hide the obvious fact that she was not golden-haired like every other woman on Strazn.

“Captain Jones.” Schwarzen handed her the tickets. “Thank you again for saving our lives. Now, protect our daughter. She’s all we have.”

“It’s time,” she replied.

“No!” Johansen stepped away from her mother. “Daddy?”

“We are turning ourselves in, Jo,” her mother said.  Johansen’s head snapped angrily at her. “It is the only way.  The FLOCK must be kept out of their hands.” She turned to Jones. “Promise me, Captain.”

“It might help if I knew what the FLOCK was,’’ she said.

“Flexible Loadout Offensive Combat Kit, Captain,” the doctor said. “It was originally intended to be a ‘defensive’ weapon, but our leaders had other plans for it. Fortunately, my husband and I are the only ones who know how to re-create its enormous power.

“Harkus will keep us alive because of that.”

The shouting grew louder. Dozens of armed men began closing on them.

Before her eyes, Johansen saw an amazing sight. The crowd of people in front of her parted like tall blades of grass before a summer wind.  Billowing red robes cut through the mass of people who pushed back and away from the figure walking gracefully toward her.  It was a Vicar of Yasu. Even the people of Strazn knew the wisdom in giving a Vicar a wide berth.

She smiled at Johansen. “I’m K’wari. We have a train to catch.”

The young woman’s parents kissed her face hurriedly and disappeared into the crowd. Johansen stood stunned.  Jones nudged her forward toward the train. They had a clear path.

The Star Ranger moved in front. K’wari reached for the large case. “I’ll take that for you.”  Johansen pulled it away protectively.

Once on board, she was surprised to see that although thousands were waiting for the train, only a few hundred people were inside.  It wasn’t even half-filled.  Captain Jones nodded toward the other doors to the train pod – armed guards prevented any ticketless access.  The Straznites were not the type of people to rush a train like a mob.

The horn blared, signaling the train’s departure.  Captain Jones nodded again, to K’wari.  They stood and quickly exited the train between pods and slipped out the opposite end of the platform just as the train began moving.

They ran down the parallel track lane in the opposite direction.

“Why did we get off the train?!”

“We’re going to our ship. That train is never going to reach its destination, Johansen,” the Vicar said as they jogged out of sight.

“Flock,” she replied. “Call me Flock.”

Blammo!

An entire section of the corridor blew apart just as K’wari reached it.  She finally saw Flock, trading volleys with a group of Zeta’s soldiers in their shiny, black armor. Flock’s armor was taking a pounding, flecks of the black covering spraying into the air, exposing the battlesuit’s golden armor underneath.

When the last of the soldiers had fallen, K’wari rushed to her. Flock pivoted, forearm raised in her direction.

“Flock! Stop!”

K’wari only saw anger in her eyes.

“Duck!”

K’wari ducked down and rolled as Flock fired another series of devastating power blasts behind her.  A section of the wall exploded, crushing another group of onrushing soldiers.

Flock didn’t even pause before she continued on. It first appeared to K’wari that Flock was just firing randomly at everything! But then she realized the strikes were almost surgical in their execution. They were on the engineering level of the ship.

Flock was ripping out its heart.

The Star Ranger was drawing fire from two directions as she entered one of the auxiliary engineering bays.  Her suit was more gold than black now, but she pressed on, parrying photon blasts with her arms, while keeping up her assault.

K’wari sprang into action.  Her rayff was a blur as she joined the fiery fray, knocking away the attackers left and right.

An alarm klaxon blared.  The hull around them was beginning to breech.

A Black Widdom ship cruised over the mountains of Ollo, the second moon of Serpens Soma, scanning the surface. Elexa’s ship was below, parked in a crater. The shadows kept them hidden from visual detection, the ship’s clever stealth gadgets did the rest.

Elexa checked the time while she absent-mindedly stroked Cosmo. “Planet should be in view any second now.”

Carpenter pressed buttons on the console. “I’m ready.”

“So how does this work?” Elexa peered over her shoulder.

“I just tell the drones what I want accomplished and they work out how to make it happen.”

Carpenter looked up. Serpens Soma was peeking over the moon’s horizon. She typed in a command: “Destroy all enemy spacecraft in the vicinity Serpens Soma.” She and Elexa looked at each other, then she pressed the transmit button.

A few hundred thousand kilometers away, a satellite in orbit around Serpens Soma opened its payload doors and ten large polyhedrons drifted out. Each war-drone had 12 faces with glowing red seams. Elsewhere in orbit, 24 other satellites deployed their drones.

“How long do you think it’ll take?”

Carpenter glanced at her display. “I don’t know. It still says, ‘task pending.’” Suddenly, a series of explosions lit up the cockpit. A fireworks display was going off over the planet as dozens of enemy ships were systematically destroyed.

Elexa smiled and opened her mouth to speak when a dark shadow passed over them. They both looked up and saw the Black Widdom gunship hovering overhead. “Hold on!” She jammed the throttle and the ship zipped out of the crater just in time to avoid the laser fire. “Can we get an assist from your new toys? My ship’s built for stealth and speed, not combat.”

Carpenter typed furiously: “Destroy all enemy craft in the vicinity of Ollo!”

Elexa banked around a mountain peak trying to throw off the pursuing craft. “Faster is better!”

Carpenter shook her head in confusion. “It already says ‘task completed’?” She glanced up. “Oh wow. Look at that!”

A red line of energy was racing toward them. It stretched from its origin point in orbit around Soma toward Ollo at the speed of light. In seconds the precisely targeted laser blast cut the Black Widdom ship in half. It exploded in an orange fireball.

“I gotta tell ya, Red. A girl could get used to toys like this.”

Carpenter typed furiously. “I’m sending all the enemy locations to the drones.”

Elexa leaned over. Cosmo did the same, peeking over Carpenter’s shoulder.

“Destroy all enemy targets in the Te’ Sareez system,” Carpenter narrated. She reached for the transmit button.

“Wait!” Elexa stopped her. “Have a few join us. Just in case.”

“Good idea. How many, three?”

“Twelve.”

“Twelve?”

Elexa winked. “Red, my line of work has taught me that nothing kills like overkill.”

Within minutes, 12 of the dodecahedrons were in a defensive formation around their ship. Dozens of other drones remained in orbit around Soma to decimate the enemy forces on the surface. The remainder were moving to the three other planets of the Te’ Sareez system. Wherever the Goddess of Darkness’ forces were waging war, they were about to get a taste of their own medicine.

Zeta, clinging to the fragmented parts of her mind that had not been fully consumed by the Primon who possessed her body, did not know at first where she was. How she got there. Or when. Time was just another altered variable of this new reality, like energy and space, that was now merely a tool for the immensely powerful Goddess of Darkness to wield.

There was no mechanism in front of her face, yet her eyes could see hundreds of images before her, like rows of multivids, observing the goings-on across one end of Te’ Sareez to the other. The Goddess of Darkness could see all. The thoughts which they shared were not pleased ones.

The war had taken an unexpected turn. The unpredictability of these humans! Their untiring determination, their bravery, their heart.  Qualities the Primon (and even Zeta) could not comprehend nor anticipate had grinded Dark Zeta’s invasion to a complete halt.

The few Star Ranger ships which had evaded capture and the Somans’ devious defense satellites were on the precipice of freeing Kauda and Soma and Serpentarius. As Dark Zeta probed the activity on Caput, she could sense that the last of the worlds she wished to claim as her own would soon be loosed from her grasp.

Zeta no longer questioned how she came to be on the Te’ Sareez Space Station. The Goddess of Darkness was always prepared with countermoves. However, Dark Zeta’s body twisted with uncertainty.

“We underestimated their strength of will. We are lost.”

The body shuddered, disagreeing with itself. The voices in her head collided. Then one voice rang clear.

“We see what we wish to see, Zeta. Look closer.”

Zeta opened her mind, and the Goddess of Darkness filled it. She was staggered by what entered her consciousness. A vast, incomprehensible ocean of knowledge and power spanning the stars. Te’ Sareez was but a pebble on the waves. Beyond it, something monstrous lurked.

Dark Zeta’s mouth dropped open as Zeta took in the enormity of the power her mind was privy to.  She was a spectator within her own skin. There was another soul, more dominant and controlling, inside this shared body, and Zeta recoiled within it. With every breath, pieces of herself were evacuated through each exhale.

She recalled a time in the naughtiness of her youth, stealing one of the red-and-yellow pills the princess had seen the palace guards always taking.  Taking, not given. They had long before been conditioned into willfully accepting the mind-draining drug. She wanted to experience what they experienced as they unflinchingly and obediently served her mother, the queen of Serpentarius.

Her curiosity took the pill. She remembered feeling parts of her mind being shut down, peeled off her brain as with a sharp knife. Other parts — obedience, fealty, submission – were pushed to the forefront. It was a wondrous and terrifying feeling.

Princess Zeta had kept herself locked in her bedchamber, masturbating freely and mindlessly, until its effects wore off. She never forgot how it felt.

Now, she felt those feelings again. Less terrifying, yet those parts of herself which made her who she was – defiant, selfish and domineering – tumbled away like heavy stones down a steep hillside.

She had a realization, a truth, that she was never going to wrest control of her soul, and that of the powerful creature who inhabited her body, ever again.

She hadn’t had time to think it through. This … this is how the joining with the Primon was going to end. Alert, aware and trapped. Eventually, only the parts of herself the Goddess of Darkness could use would remain.

Surely, any immortality was better than death?

“Our victory is still close at hand, Zeta. We had hoped to keep Te’ Sareez for ourselves, but that is not possible now. Its fate has been sealed.”

“What do you mean?”

“There is more than one way to conquer a galaxy, Zeta. We have but one other task left to perform here.”

Of all the trillions of thoughts which assaulted Zeta’s senses there was one the Primon plucked out and placed before her mind.

“All will be set in motion, for all eternity, once we have eliminated our only obstacle. If she will not join with us, she will fall to us.”

Dark Zeta raised her arms to the heavens. “We call to her through time and space to face us! Only she controls the instruments to stop us. Only she has the ability. Her dying breath will be at our hands.

“We must destroy Jette Jones.”

Rear Admiral Hartley listened as cries of despair and lust filled the conversion chamber. Inside her black armor, fleshy mouths sucked feverishly on her nipples and sex. She loved that the suit kept her continually horny.

Droning music filled her ears. There was a voice too, whispering the most filthy and terrible things. Enslaving every Star Ranger in the fleet would’ve sounded horrific to her before. Now, with the whispers in her ears and the mouths sucking her off inside the armor, it sounded so wonderfully kinky. Her helmet rewarded her good thinking with pleasure chemicals released into her brain. A squidlike tongue probed her ass.

“Admiral?!” She turned to see a horrified Star Ranger captain next to her.

A Black Widdom stood behind him. She was smiling. “Soldier, this prisoner is in distress. Help him.”

“Yes, Controller.” Hartley didn’t hesitate. She reached out and shoved him into a slaving pit. He rolled to the bottom of the bowl-shaped cavity. Long tendrils instantly snared his arms and dragged him toward a mushroom-shaped organ that would prepare his body. His cries were cut off by a jellyfishlike creature that latched onto his head to begin preparing his mind.

“Very good, soldier, carry on.” The Black Widdom stalked away.

“Yes, Controller, I live to serve.” The suit rewarded her with another tongue, inside her front passage this time. Hartley moaned in orgasm as the man disappeared inside the mushroom.

The Orca’s Black Widdom bridge commander scanned the damage reports. She watched screens, trying to understand what was happening to their ship. Something was destroying the massive vessel from the inside.

“Report!” she yelled.

“Complete sensor blackout in the affected areas. Troops are still minutes away.  Hull breeches on four levels. The last explosion was close to reactor node twelve-dash-seven.”

“What happens if that node takes a direct hit?”

“Shipwide power disruption at the least. At worst, a cascade of power surges that could threaten the entire vessel’s integrity.”

“I want eyes on that area now!” she barked.

“Localized energy disruption detected!” a new voice called out.

“Localized? Where?”

“Right behind you,” said a voice at her shoulder.

The Black Widdom spun around to find 10 figures stepping through a glowing portal. She swung two of her barb-laden arachnid limbs toward them.

Epsilon raised a hand and suddenly every Black Widdom on the bridge was pulled into the air and sucked together into a ball of limbs and wings, bobbing helplessly before the portal.

Epsilon placed her hand on a console. She forced her mind into the ship. “Directing internal security systems to attack all enemy forces. Lowering shields. Opening main cargo hangar.”

She stopped. “Hangar door is non-responsive. Power interruption.” She turned to Iota. “I am unable to open it.”

“We will find another way. Let’s go.”

Epsilon’s matrix warbled as she closed her eyes. “I need to locate them.”

Iota blinked. “The prisoners are in a conversion chamber, below the main hangar.”

“Not them.” Epsilon’s eyes remained closed as she concentrated. Then, she smiled.

“There you are.”

The four Black Widdom stood back-to-back, trying to fight off their own ship’s internal defenses. Long tentacles topped with sharp pincers had burst from the floor and cut down three of them before anyone had realized what was happening.

Rear Admiral Hartley didn’t react as she watched the last four being killed. In the absence of direct orders, she simply did nothing. She heard new voices approaching. Two women stood before her. A jet-black substance covered them from the neck down and glowing lines smoothly moved across their bodies. One seemed familiar.

“She is their leader. Hartley.”

“We can free her first. Then she can mobilize the others.”

The first woman shook her head. “No. That will take too long. In this state, they will obey any instruction without hesitation. Much more efficient.”

“But they only obey their controller.”

The first woman held up a hand. The white lines on her body changed and Hartley felt something click in her mind. “Hartley, I am your controller. Confirm.”

“Confirmed,” Hartley responded huskily. She awaited a command and the pleasure that would follow. “I live to serve.”

“Immediately withdraw all Star Ranger personnel, former and current, to the vessels they were assigned to prior to capture. Then prepare to launch.”

“Yes, Controller.” Hartley hurried away, issuing instructions. Soon, converted Black Vigil soldiers were helping bewildered Star Rangers out of the pits. In a matter of minutes, the entire Star Ranger fleet was marching toward the hangar.

Epsilon watched as the last of the Star Rangers entered their ship. The fleet was ready to launch. If only they could open the door. Iota floated down in a gravity beam from where she’d been inspecting the hatch. “There is no local power to the door. It can only be energized from the main reactor network and something has severed the linkage.”

“Someone, more likely.”

“What are we going to do?”

Epsilon took a deep breath. “We’re going to star-step the whole fleet.”

Iota’s purple matrix stuttered. “I’m not sure that’s possible.”

“Sigma star-stepped an entire asteroid field.”

“But the Makers were feeding her power! All we have to work with is the energy within each of us. It takes most of us just to open a portal large enough to walk through.”

Epsilon gestured to the Orca. “This ship contains vast amounts of energy that is compatible with Primon technology.”

Iota’s eyes were wide. “And its power systems are failing.”

“I would recommend you start now, Iota. I have somewhere else to be.”

Jette and Riesga took Zeta’s ship docked to the Artemis and headed at full speed toward the space station which orbited Caput. They made good time.

Zeta’s army had long ago taken control of the station, but it was now only passively guarded by a few dozen black-clad soldiers.  Jette had expected to fight their way through the instillation, but the few aliens they encountered walked right past them with the sleepwalking emptiness of mind-controlled drones.  Evidently, their only purpose was to maintain the station with the hundreds of service and maintenance bots which hummed through its corridors with the same unawareness as the biological units around them.

“Dr. Arkana’s” treacherous botanical garden was gone, Riesga had checked that first.  She also knew there was only one place Jette wanted to go – the Suzerain Council chambers. Her captain hadn’t acted strangely on the short flight.  She was quieter than usual, but Riesga sensed Jette’s single-minded determination.  She had been with her captain when she was like this before, but … this was different.  And it was unsettling.

“Just what I was looking for.” Jette hurried across the hallway, the suddenness made Riesga jump. “Keep an eye out, Ranger,” Jette commanded. Riesga dutifully spun on her heels. Her drawn rayvolver was already sweating her hand.

Jette stood in front of a tall, narrow mechnobot. She forced open its faceplate with her multi-tool and pulled out the various instruments stored there.

She carefully laid the rayff inside.

Her fingers pecked quickly at the tiny keyboard, only stopping once to make sure Riesga was keeping a lookout for any movement in the hallway.  Jette ejected a small chip from her hand comp.  She looked for somewhere on her body to tuck it away, then realized the futility.  She stared at it, then … swallowed it.  She forced it down her throat as she made the last keystrokes and slide the compartment back into place. Satisfied, she snapped the face plate back on and nodded Riesga forward.

The wide double doors were open.  The chambers appeared empty as the two Star Rangers entered, but Zeta’s old throne was still there. Its shimmering gold and rich drapery were dusted and polished as if eager to impress its absent queen.

The doors slammed shut!

Dozens of slime-covered, apelike creatures leaped from the ceiling.  They were on them in an instant.  Riesga felt her arms pulled away from her body, the rayvolver yanked from her fingers by greasy, powerful hands.  Her belt was ripped off her hips, her jacket tugged down off her shoulders. Two pairs of the creatures each grabbed a leg, holding her in place.

She fought a glance at Jette, who was in a similar situation. She wasn’t struggling.  Riesga followed her captain’s lead and relaxed her body. Still, her back was ramrod straight.

Jette recognized the featureless, black creatures. She had seen them only once before — on the video log from the SRPV Sutherland.  Her father’s ship. From 19 years ago. [See issue #19 – C&C]

“It was inevitable,” a familiar voice rang out from the shadows.  “We both knew you’d be here.  You had to be here.  We called for you and you came.  You’ve already bent to our will. It’s as simple as that.”

The first thing Jette noticed were the eyes. Zeta’s sea-green orbs were now yellow gold. Her voice had a slight echo to it, she strode forward with a less-certain gait.  It was Zeta alright.  But she was not alone in there.

“We’re so pleased you brought your subordinate along, Commander.  It will make things much more interesting,” Dark Zeta said.  She pointed at Riesga. “Take her away!”

Riesga’s arms were pulled back and she looked to her captain in desperation, but Jette kept her eyes forward and unblinking. The creatures hurried Riesga into the darkness.

Jette took a deep breath.  She remembered her father’s words at the moment of his death before the renegade Primon: “Can you read my mind now, you bitch!” She tried to focus … on nothing.  Any stray thought would give her away.

K’wari had been so preoccupied with guarding Flock’s flank that she lost sight of her again. But she could hear her.

She had reached the main engineering command center. Summoning all the power of the FLOCK, she eviscerated the control consoles, melted its energy junctions and fired directly into its stabilizers, blowing them apart. By the time K’wari arrived, there was only wreckage. Just the flicker of dying sparks and flames. The massive ship was dead in space.

Flock was facing away from her, sitting back on her legs, her shoulders slumped. As K’wari stepped closer, an entire section of the ceiling gave way with a mighty crash. The Vicar fell to her knees next to Flock. The debris and dust settling only a few feet in front of them.

“Are you finished?”

K’wari was breathing heavily. The air was getting thin. Flock didn’t move.

“Yes.”

Klaxons were blaring from every corner. The ship’s hull bucked and heaved, panels slid sideways as if on wheels. It wouldn’t be long before the ship imploded and jettisoned everything into space.

“Please, Flock, get up! Let’s get out of here!”

But Flock had no intention of going anywhere. What an entire fleet of Star Rangers were unable to do, Flock had done in a matter of hours. The ship they were on had been fatally struck.

“Go now, K’wari.”

“You’re coming with me.”

“No.” Flock finally turned to face the woman she loved. A love that could never be removed, no matter how many times Flock’s mind had been emptied. Her anger was now replaced by despair. “I’m staying here to die. I can’t go on any longer, K’wari. I have killed my captain.”

K’wari reached for her, to comfort her, to tell her. But another voice responded.

“Your captain is alive, Flock.”

They both turned to the voice behind them. It was Epsilon.

“She has recovered. And fights for your survival even now. And for ours. Come now, my friends.”

From inside the ship’s hull, a deep, dark ring of empty space rotated slowly. Epsilon stood before it, her hand outstretched. K’wari helped Flock stand. They leaned against each other until they reached Epsilon, who took them both under her arms and led them through the portal.

“You can’t hypnotize me,” Lt. Riesga said defiantly as she stood before Dark Zeta. Her clothes had simply disappeared. A yellow brightness shined down on her, but the room beyond the glow was so dark she could not tell where she was on the station. If she still was on the station. “I am protected by the shroud of Yasu!”

Dark Zeta laughed. “Yasu? That charlatan.  We remember.  We only regret that he wasn’t at our feet when he was turned to dust.

“No, we have no need to hypnotize you, my dear. You’re already ripe. Barely out of the cradle. While we have lived a thousand millennia.  You’re no more than a child with a woman’s body.  You’re a moon child, you’re not even from Earth. You still don’t know if you like … boys or girls.”

Dark Zeta laughed again, and Riesga’s face flushed with unexpected embarrassment.

“You don’t know if you want cock. Or pussssy.”

Riesga stiffened. Dark Zeta repeated: “Cock. Or pussssy.”

The memory filled Riesga’s mind. Of Nu Marr and her four catgirls, who slinked across her skin, pawed at her body and purred and meowed in her ears. “Puss, puss, puss.” [See Issue #6 – C&C] She was drugged and vulnerable then, and they played with her like a ball of string, seducing her with their feline sexuality.

She felt that vulnerability again even as she shook her head stubbornly to reject it. It only made her feel dizzy and lost. Dark Zeta stepped closer, and her eyes held.

Dark Zeta removed her bustier, the short skirt and sheer undergarments. She stood proudly before the Star Ranger, who now had the wide-eyed stare of a chaste schoolgirl. She was familiar with Zeta’s magnificent body, but this was MORE.  More of everything. Her breasts were large and flawless. The areolas appeared to her like two shining stars and she was caught in their luster. And down … across the taut, unblemished torso. The navel inviting Riesga’s tongue for a lick.

She scarcely felt her tongue slide across her teeth.

She had never seen legs so long, arcing below a tuft of fiery red fur. And then … her eyes found the glistening slit and engorged button – such a treasure! — and it made Riesga’s mouth run wet. Her nipples were aflame.

It was still Zeta’s face … but the eyes were shimmering gold, the lips drawn up into a sly and knowing smile.  Riesga was vulnerable and weak before this goddess. Yet she could see in the twinkling gold and the curled lips that it was okay to be vulnerable. It was right to be weak. Natural to be led. To submit. More than that, there was acceptance of the weakness. And pleasure to be found in the submission.

An overwhelming yearning blotted out everything. Riesga’s eyes drew down again between those long legs.  She ached to kneel between them.

Riesga was utterly mesmerized.

“Come here, little one,” Dark Zeta cooed. “And worship.”

Riesga didn’t feel herself move.  She didn’t try to run.  The all-consuming need to bury her face in her captor’s fragrant nest was all and everything. She kneeled at Dark Zeta’s feet in the near-dark, not even waiting to hear her sultry and commanding voice again.  She knew what she had to do.

She worshipped.

What she lacked in talent and experience was more than made up for in enthusiasm, and Dark Zeta smiled a conqueror’s smile.  Her nectar flowed into Riesga’s mouth almost immediately, making her cough into the folds. The vibration only produced more of the sweet syrup.

“Higher. Suck our clitoris, little one.”

Riesga obeyed thoughtlessly, hungrily.  She took the nub between her lips gently. And sucked.

“Yessss …”  Dark Zeta’s head upturned.  These were sensations the Goddess of Darkness had longed, for millennia, to feel.  The insistent, rumbling waves of her first human orgasms crossing her hips. One long, one short, one long. She howled long, loud and ground her hips into the face of the bobbing head beneath her. She might have lost herself in pleasure in that moment, but ironically it was Zeta who pulled her back. There were many more cravings to fulfill, and Zeta herself was more than eager to use her sister’s precious “little one,” this Star Ranger, to satisfy them both.

Riesga became aware of someone else attending to Dark Zeta from behind. The first wet, eager licks between her cheeks made Dark Zeta spasm with delight.  The sounds only made Riesga lick and kiss and please this evil, this enemy – My Goddess! — now in the hypnotic disguise of womanly perfection, with more fervor.

She reached out blindly and joined hands with the other woman – her mind had no idea who – while Dark Zeta pushed the back of her head and steered her lower.

She was close to the other woman now, their cheeks almost touching, as they leaned upward and lapped at Dark Zeta’s crotch, eagerly flicking their tongues to win her moaning approval.  Another deeper moan left their goddess’ lips as the tongues speared their separate targets. She grabbed each of their heads with a fistful of hair in her hands. As she stepped away, they fell together, eyes closed, faces smeared with her divine juices.

Riesga found her love partner’s mouth and they pressed together in a deep kiss, tasting of pussy and asshole.

Dark Zeta chuckled at the lewd display, which came from within Zeta as much as the Goddess of Darkness, and Riesga preened in the pleasure of it, thrilled despite herself through the body of the other woman pressed tightly against her.

“Cum, my little slutslave.”

Riesga was totally consumed by sapphic lust.  She licked along the other woman’s cheek to her ear, as her sex partner slipped her hand between Riesga’s thighs and found it delightfully slick and creamy.  She rubbed vigorously, and Riesga cried aloud. A needful and hopeless cry.

Kanivia Riesga shuddered from an explosive climax, clutching her new lover tightly.  Then she slowly leaned back, almost lazily, dreamily. She enjoyed the sight of her athletic and curvy nakedness before looking up into her face. Kanivia blinked erratically. Then whispered …

“Skipper?”

The sight from the command module of the SRPV Olympus Mons was both heartening and terrifying.

The Orca, the 70-billion-ton spaceship of the Goddess of Darkness, was breaking apart. Massive explosions ripped chunks of metal the size of cities hurdling into the darkness of open space.

Captain Sara Castilla watched its destruction with a careful eye.  She had her gunner ready to strike if any debris endangered one of the system’s planets.

“The ship is listing away from Serpentarius, Captain,” her first officer said.

“Very good.”

“Captain!”

“Yes, what is it?”

“From our stern, Captain. Something’s happening!”

On the other side of Serpentarius a cloud of gas had formed. Swirling eddies of purple, green and orange spun into each other faster and faster. There were flashes from within, like lightning, as the cloud grew taller and wider, blotting out the stars as it expanded. It surged chaotically in all directions until the cloud was larger than Serpentarius itself.

Then, the cloud suddenly imploded. The gas was crushed down into a tiny singular point of light that grew brighter and brighter until it was blinding. The light erupted in all directions, tearing open the fabric of reality itself, creating a three-dimensional hole in space.

On the other side of that hole was another universe.

Castilla stood from her command chair, eyes fixed on the screen. “What is that?” She stared into the aperture, her mind trying to make sense of the chaos she saw. In that other universe, instead of stars there was agony. Instead of matter there was grief. Instead of water there was madness.

She clapped her hands to head, crying in pain as it all poured into her through her eyes. She clamped her eyes shut. “Screen off!”

The viewer went dark as she dropped into her chair. The pain in her head eased.

She and her crew did not see when a face appeared on the other side of the hole. When a head the size of a star pushed through the event horizon and emerged into this universe. They did not see the burning eyes drinking in the sight of this young, fertile universe. They did not see the terrible maw open before them and that it was filled with an undying hunger.

To be continued …