The Misfits
Chapter Eight
"Have we been neglecting you, Orion?" Talis asked me. She often spoke of herself in plural, but not always and it could be confusing at times.
"No Mistress," I replied quickly, earning me a smile from Ellicent. She'd been teaching me etiquette in her spare time.
We were having breakfast in her private chambers, the Duchess, Christian, and me. Ellicent and Jericho sat nearby, working together as they often did to arrange meetings and audiences, inspections, and all the things that kept Talis busy. As I understood it, the government pretty much ran itself and she had a lot of help from her cabinet ministers. A system of nobility governed the Empire and she commanded the loyalty of counts and barons who were responsible for smaller and smaller pieces of the whole.
Talis worried about the big things and the only person she answered to was the Emperor, her uncle who lived among the ancient stars near the galactic core. She was sixth in the line for the Onyx Throne with three cousins and two brothers ahead of her. Being a race that could move from one host into another as their bodies grew old, however, it would be a very long time before Talis could even imagine assuming the throne by right of succession.
"We thought it best if you had time to explore on your own," she continued as Eva poured a cup of coffee.
"How's your friend doing?" Christian asked me, leaning back in his blue robes so that the blue girl could fill his cup.
"Marcia? She's fine," I answered. "She likes it here."
"I understand you've made a servant of her," Talis said. "Has she been scanned?"
"Yes, Mistress," Ellicent answered before I could. "I observed her scan myself."
"Good. And how do you like being among us?" Talis asked me.
"It's great," I said with a nod. "Um, I like it a lot."
"Hmmm…" She smiled at that and I nibbled some toast.
I wasn't terribly hungry. Even though she looked like a teenage girl, the Duchess always made me nervous, even more than Ellicent did. Christian seemed totally comfortable, but he'd known her as Kelly before the aliens had arrived and Talis had joined with her. He made me a little nervous too just because he looked so handsome sitting there. I really wanted him to like me and I wished he wasn't married, or a least not quite so faithful to his wife. Of course, the idea of having an affair with the husband of the Duchess couldn't be a good one. I tried not to think about it too much.
"Lord Tristam has arrived," Jericho said.
"Late as usual," Ellicent flashed her fangs in annoyance. "Perhaps you'll cure him of that."
"Me?" I smiled at her as she stood up, turning to greet a tall, white haired man.
He wore a uniform, a stiff necked tunic and breeches in navy blue, with gleaming black boots and a sword in a silver scabbard. It didn't have a lot of fancy gold or anything like military officers on Earth liked to wear. He didn't have any medals, just that sword and his stiff upright gait as he marched across the room. He looked very human, like someone's grandfather maybe, and he ignored Ellicent for the moment.
"Mistress," he said in a hoarse voice, bending one knee to the floor and leaning upon the other as he lowered his head.
"Count Tristam," Talis replied and as she stood up, so did Christian. I quickly came to my senses and stood up as well.
He rose slowly and I could hear the old man's joints pop and creak, but his stern face remained impassive.
"I've missed you," Ellicent breathed, taking his right hand in both of hers and kissing it.
"As have we," Talis said with a smile, and Ellicent actually blushed, letting go of Tristam's hand reluctantly.
They shared an unmistakable look and I couldn't believe she loved that guy! He must have been eighty years old and Ellicent wasn't much more than twenty-three maybe, twenty-five at the most, although I'd already learned that not everyone in the galaxy ages the way humans do. But still…I'd never seen Ellicent look at anyone with love in her crimson eyes, except Talis, of course, and that was different.
"You look well, cousin," Tristam said as he kissed Talis on both cheeks.
"Allow me to present my consort, Christian…" She held out her arm and smiled at her husband. "Meet my cousin, Lord Admiral Tristam, Fifth Earl of Pleiades and High Marshal of the Spinward March."
"My Lord," Christian bowed his head.
"Excellency," Tristam bowed as well and it was a brief, but necessary formality.
"Orion..." Talis extended her hand and I hadn't expected to be introduced, but maybe I should have.
The old man narrowed his eyes and compressed his lips, scrutinizing me as I stepped forward. I figured I'd better do more than just bow and I wished someone would have warned me. I still didn't know what I was doing there. I mean, none of them had explained why Talis wanted me in her court, as she called it. I didn't even have a title or anything, so I went to one knee and dropped my head.
"I like him already," Tristam said with something like a short, deep throated laugh. "Stand up. Look at me, boy."
I did as he asked, swallowing thickly as I lifted my eyes to his face. He stood a lot taller than me and Tristam's eyes were wintry grey beneath his white eyebrows. He had deep creases on his face and he didn't offer a lot of warmth. He looked pretty human, all in all, but I didn't find that very comforting either.
"What are your interests?"
"Um…" I blinked at the unexpected question. Nobody had ever asked me that before. "I'm not sure. I just…I don't know yet."
"No?" He widened his eyes slightly. "Walk with me…By your leave, Mistress."
"Of course," Talis agreed. "Go with him, Orion. We'll see you again this evening."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The private residence of the Duchess and her extended household, of which I was now a part, wasn't a small place. I liked to think of it as a castle, except it looked more Grecian than medieval. The maze of corridors were all floored in pink marble veined with blue, the walls were alabaster white, and the ceiling glowed with a cool, pale light. Decorations ranged from statues to great tapestries, bas-relief, and paintings both wonderful and bizarre. It was like living in a museum.
There were a great many rooms serving a great many functions and I'd only seen a few of them. Aside from the countless apartments where people lived, there were banquet halls and libraries, the gardens and an observation terrace, kitchens and permanent baths, an armory, barracks, studios, studies, and rooms whose functions I could only guess at. It was easy to get lost in there, and I had several times, but there were always servants bustling back and forth and eager to help. I think they found it amusing and it only embarrassed me a little.
We were joined by three people as we left the Duchess, one of them I recognized as an army officer, Colonel Prouel, who often briefed Talis on military matters. She reminded me of Ellicent, being a Riavean and looking like a vampire, although she wasn't nearly as beautiful. She served as the liaison between Talis and the General Staff; we'd never spoken or anything and she barely looked at me.
Another dressed like a fleet officer and introduced himself as the ship's second in command, but I didn't catch his name. He was one of the cat-like aliens, looking sleek and graceful with his dark fur and long thin tail curving upward along his back. He led the way and I supposed it was some sort of rule or protocol that one of the ship's officers be available to Tristam, since he was an Admiral and all that.
The third alien looked more human although he had pitch black skin and short, milk white hair to go with his white eyes. He seemed like a giant compared to me, being thick and barrel-chested and about seven feet tall, but not clumsy at all. He wore a black uniform, the tunic and breeches, with black boots and silver buttons. He carried a sword at his side as well and from what I gathered, he served as Tristam's aide-de-camp. He looked more like a bodyguard to me though.
"He's also my closest friend," the Count told me. "We've been through a lot together, Ransom and I."
"Okay," I said, glancing up at the man and he offered me a smile.
"He's saved my life twice," Ransom said in a surprisingly gentle, baritone voice.
"Only twice?" Tristam chuckled.
"I wished to honor your modesty, my Lord."
"And Ransom has saved mine a dozen times over," Tristam told me. "You'll learn to trust him as I do, Orion."
"Yes, my Lord." I nodded quickly as we walked along one of the many busy corridors.
"I've only just learned your language," Ransom said as we entered an elevator. "Much of the nuance escapes me as yet."
"You speak English pretty good," I said. "Uh, my Lord."
"Oh, just call him Ransom," Tristam told me. "No need to spoil the man."
"I might not want to get my hands dirty," the black alien said with a laugh.
"Alright," I agreed, smiling even though I didn't understand what that meant.
"Anyway, I was wondering…What exactly is a faggot?" Ransom asked me and I blinked at him, feeling my cheeks redden.
"We were looking through your background," the Count said.
"My background?"
"Lady Ellicent was kind enough to send me your file," he explained. "The scan was very interesting."
"I have a file?" I felt like hiding. I remembered being scanned by the weird alien, but nobody had told me how it worked or what it had discovered about me.
"Everyone has a file," Ransom said and the cat alien growled softly at that, baring his sharp teeth. I think that's how they laugh.
"I'm, uh…gay," I told them, because clearly they were expecting an answer and I wasn't ashamed, just…It didn't seem like the sort of thing to be talking about in an elevator with three strangers.
"Happy?" Ransom narrowed his eyes.
"No, um…queer," I replied and then figured that wouldn't help either. "Homosexual?"
"Ah!" He nodded. "Now it makes sense."
"What does?"
"You do," Tristam told me as the elevator came to a stop. "My cousin the Duchess is not without her sense of humor."
"The hospital?" I said as we stepped into the familiar corridor, almost forgetting to be curious about what the Count had just said.
"This way," the cat alien spoke for the first time and his purring voice didn't disappoint me. It sounded much like I thought it would.
"In my younger days I suffered from something of a reputation," Tristam said, putting a gnarled hand on my shoulder as we walked slowly.
"Heh!" Ransom chuckled. "Don't let him fool you, young Master. If my Lord hadn't been born of royal blood, he would have made the finest whore this side of Antares."
"Ah, rash youth," the old man sighed. "Pleasures of the flesh are a vice and one I often indulged. Just as you have, boy."
"Yes sir," I said, clearing my throat and thinking this was about the strangest conversation I'd ever had.
"I wondered why you would come so highly recommended," he continued. "Aside from your genetics and potential intelligence, I had to ask myself why Talis would pick you."
"Ummm…" I shrugged as we entered a room, but unlike the hospital rooms with which I'd become familiar. It was brightly lit, for one thing, and resembled a laboratory more than the room where Marcia had lain for so long.
"We're going to have a lot of fun," he said, stopping just inside the doorway and finding my eyes with his. "Usually I would take some time with this. Such decisions are not to be made lightly, but I have so little time now and I like you already."
"Okay, um…" I smiled nervously and I had that strange sensation like the old man wanted to kiss me. I mean, I felt that tension, not sexual really, but emotional, and I didn't understand it at all.
"What do you think of him, Ransom?"
"Well, he is pretty, my Lord," the black man replied. "And he doesn't talk too much. I like that."
"My Lord," the cat alien purred. "The technicians are ready."
"A minute," the Count said without looking away from me. "I'm dying, Orion. The only things keeping me on my feet right now are medicine and stubbornness. This body can't sustain me for another week, two at the most."
"Oh." I swallowed hard. "I'm sorry to hear that, my Lord."
"I need a new host," he told me, squeezing my shoulders gently. "There are a number of candidates, but I'm very old and very picky about my friends."
"You mean, you want me to…" I blinked at him.
"I can't force you," he said. "We must agree to this, both of us. I wish I could give you more time, but…"
"What's gonna happen to me?"
"You'll become the next Lord Admiral, Fifth Earl of Pleiades, and High Marshall of the Spinward March."
"But it'll still be you, right? I mean…What's going to happen to me? Inside?"
"We'll be partners," he said with a smile. "Closer than twin brothers naked in the womb. We will live together as one."
"I don't know, um…" I sucked my lips. "Will I forget everything? What about my mom and Marcia? What about Srah? We're going to have an egg and…"
"You won't forget them," the Count said. "You won't change so much as you fear, I promise. You'll still be human, with your own memories and desires, and we'll share them."
"Talis should have told me," I thought aloud. "She could have explained."
"It was difficult for her not to, I'd imagine," he replied. "But she couldn't complicate the issue. This is between us and no one else, you will either trust me or you won't."
"What if I say no?" I asked him with a hard swallow.
"Then I'll return you to the Duchess and look for another host." The Count stared into my eyes. "No one will punish you," he said and I believed him.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I opened my eyes and licked my lips, closed my hands into fists and wiggled my toes. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I searched for Tristam inside me, but I found only the steady beating of my heart and a strange, wonderful understanding of the world around me.
"Ransom," I said without rising. I knew he would be nearby; we'd been through so many battles together. My oldest, most trusted friend.
"My Lord?" he replied immediately.
"I need a uniform," I told him. "Instruct Captain Heath to prepare the memorial service for Tristam. I've already given him the details."
"Yes, my Lord."
"Colonel Prouel, you may return to your duties."
"By your leave, my Lord." She would return to Talis and report on our successful union, Tristam and me.
"Captain Jeejet."
"Lord Admiral?" the cat-like alien purred and he was of a race known as the Kerleth. A fine species with a martial heritage, the Empire had fought a bloody war with Jeejet's ancestors only a thousand years previously. It had been a good fight and I remembered it fondly.
"Thank you for your company," I told him. "My compliments to your commander."
"Of course, my Lord." He left us quickly and I sat up slowly, looking down at a naked body that was familiar and alien all at once.
I couldn't separate myself from Tristam. He didn't speak to me. I heard no voices in my head, there were no urges or desires I felt to be unnatural or not entirely my own. The overwhelming sensation was that I'd woken up to an existence that had been mine all along, although clearly that wasn't the case. But I couldn't define a before and after, not without making the conscious effort, and my memories stretched back thousands of years.
Every host that Tristam had ever had lived in my thoughts. I knew their lives as well as I knew my own. I knew their worlds as I knew Earth. My only reservation, if I could be said to have one, was my age. Fourteen seemed too tender, my current life too fragile for the responsibility with which it was now burdened. This wasn't unusual, however, and I'd been joined with hosts as young as twelve in the past, and never older than seventeen or eighteen as a human reckons time.
When a mind is too old, too fixed and rigid in its personality and understanding, the joining becomes much more problematic. This boy, me, proved to be everything Talis had promised. We were seamless, the alien and myself perfectly joined, and I looked at Tristam as he lay lifeless on the bed near mine. He had been a good friend and a strong ally and I would miss him dearly.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Not a bad fit, eh?" I smiled at Ransom as I fitted the scabbard of my saber to my belt.
"Not bad, my Lord," he agreed. "Do you still remember how to use the blade?"
"Why?" I picked up the naked sword from the bed. "Are you looking for a lesson?"
"First cut?" he offered, drawing his own sword and one of the blue technicians froze with his silver eyes nearly as wide as his mouth.
"As you wish, old friend." I chuckled and the sword felt heavy in my hand as I cut the air, backing away from the beds to find more room.
"You look slow," Ransom decided, tapping the flat of his blade across his chest. "Perhaps a rapier…"
"For such a large target?" I smiled and took a casual en garde position.
We were at odds with each other, my saber being of the lighter, fencing variety. The flexible blade had a single cutting edge and a razor sharp tip, an arched guard covering my hand. Ransom, being so large as he was, enjoyed the cavalry saber, a heavier sword which comprised a rigid, curving single-edged blade and a thicker, unguarded pommel.
We danced around each other, this black giant from a populated moon in the star system known as Sirius, and the small Earth boy who had never held a weapon in his life. He had me at a serious disadvantage, but not because of our difference in size. Nor were our relative skills balanced in Ransom's favor, but knowing a thing and doing a thing are very different from each other. My mind knew what to do, but my muscles had no memory and I did move slowly, even clumsily.
I lunged and he parried easily, turning his sword with a riposte that I barely avoided. Ransom advanced steadily while I circled around him, striking at his thighs and hips, as he stood much taller than me. Raising my sword would only tire me that much faster and by keeping him low, I hoped to pull him off balance. My body couldn't keep up with my brain, however, and I suffered a thin, red cut to my left thigh after only a few minutes.
"Hmph." I shook my head in frustration as we caught our breath.
"Thank you for the lesson, my Lord," Ransom told me and I had to smile at the man.
"We'll have time enough for practice," I reminded him. "You owe me a new pair of breeches. Where did that doctor run off to?"
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The computers had already informed anyone who needed to know that Tristam and I had been joined. This wasn't a common occurrence by any means, but not unexpected given the old man's failing health. Perhaps the only thing unusual about it was the timing, coming so soon after Talis had found a new host in the Earthling named Kelly. Our race didn't usually switch hosts so proximate in time and only very rarely with the same species, but circumstances dictate necessity, not the other way around.
"My Lord Admiral," Srah breathed, kneeling as soon as I'd entered my room and stepped between the columns. She knew.
"Orion?" Marcia remained standing, tilting her head and pulling a lock of brown hair from her brown eyes. She did not.
"Stand up," I said, reaching for Srah's beautiful face. "Why didn't you tell her?"
"Forgive me, my Lord." She swallowed hard and kept her eyes down. "I thought you would want to explain it to her."
"Okay," I sighed. "It's alright. I'm still me."
"I don't know about these things," she whispered. "Do you still want me?"
"What's going on?" Marcia asked. "Why are you dressed like that? You've got a sword now?"
I didn't answer Srah, but pulled her into a kiss. My hand held the back of her head, soft and smooth and so completely hairless. Part of me, the alien part, relished that moment like a long, cool drink after crossing a desert. It had been many years since Tristam had sampled a young woman's charms and I felt a rush of desire not entirely my own, but mine entirely.
Srah's tongue teased mine and I reached between us, pulling up her shift to find her penis already growing stiff. I held her in my fist, pulling and squeezing while I caressed her sweet mouth. My own erection ached and I felt the warmth of adrenalin speeding my heart and stealing the breath we shared. I pulled her against me, crushing Srah's breasts against my thin, adolescent chest as I grabbed her ass with both hands.
Yeah! I couldn't wait to grow into a man, but I wouldn't trade the slow journey for anything. I'd found a new appreciation for time and how quickly it can pass. That, for a fourteen-year-old boy, was perhaps the thought most alien to my nature. I'd always imagined that I'd live forever and now I knew the truth of it.
"What about me?" Marcia pouted and I chuckled, breaking my kiss with Srah and licking my lips.
"I have to tell you something," I said. "But it's gonna sound a little…weird."
"What?" She gave me a funny look as I let Srah go.
"Chair." I pointed at a spot and a few seconds later I sat down. "Take off my boots, Marcia. Srah, prepare a bath…and take off your robes, both of you."
"What's gotten into you, faggot?" Marcia teased me, pulling her shift over her head.
Srah stared at us, blinking nervously and probably thinking I'd punish Marcia for insulting me. I was grand-nephew to the Emperor himself now and an heir to the throne, although seventeenth in line hardly counted for much. Sixteenth, now that Talis had murdered our cousin Horus; I'd never liked him very much. Even so, it would take a miracle of biblical proportions to elevate me so high and the aliens didn't have a bible, or a god for that matter. The Empire was our only religion and eventually it would become Earth's as well. I hoped Jesus wouldn't be too angry.
"An alien," I replied with a smile for Srah, letting her know I wasn't going to be angry with either of them for a little teasing.
"What?" Marcia dropped her shift to the floor and I suddenly found a new admiration for her new body.
Thoughts and memories filled my head and while I knew they weren't mine, I remembered well the pleasures to be found between the thighs of an attractive young woman. Marcia's flab had turned to muscle, smooth and well toned, with real definition in her flat tummy and legs, even her shoulders. Perhaps that's the reason I found her attractive, not so much because Tristam had loved women, but because of her strength. Strong women, I decided, were very interesting to look at and I'd always liked her anyway. We were kindred souls.
"There's an alien inside me," I repeated, gesturing at the floor in front of my chair. "Kneel here and take off my boots."
"Uh, what kind of alien?" she asked, kneeling almost reluctantly and I could see the uncertainty in her eyes. I was acting differently, but it couldn't be helped. I'd grown up.
"I'm the world's oldest eighth grader," I said with a grin. "Um…This old man, his name's Tristam, was dying, see? But inside him was one of the aliens who rule the Empire."
"You mean like that Duchess?" Marcia grimaced as she tugged on my left boot.
"Yeah," I agreed. "Exactly. I'm her cousin now."
"You are?"
"Well, her third cousin, technically," I shrugged. "But we've been best friends forever, so…"
"You and the Duchess?"
"Kissing cousins sometimes," I said with another grin, wiggling my eyebrows so she'd get the point.
"You fucked her?"
"A long time ago," I said. "She's kind of hot though. You know she's got a dick, right?"
"She does?" Marcia's eyes got big. She'd never met Talis and Ellicent only briefly.
"I guess you didn't!" I laughed. "Her name used to be Kevin. I don't know the whole story, but she's a lot like me, I think. Anyway…"
"She's a fag?" Marcia laughed then and I nodded happily.
"That's why she's with Christian," I said. "Let me finish, this is way cool."
"Okay, okay…" Marcia grabbed my left boot as Srah fussed over the bath.
"So this alien guy needed a new host, that's what they call it, and Talis picked me, except it wasn't up to her and…"
"That's why she kept you?"
"Yeah," I said impatiently. "Wait, check this out…I'm a count."
"What?"
"Seriously. I'm Lord Admiral Orion, Fifth Earl of Pleiades and High Marshal of the Spinward March," I told her with a smile. "How's that for awesome?"
"What's all that mean?" Marcia giggled as she got my boot off and set it aside with the other one.
"I govern all the systems in the Pleiades sector, for one thing," I explained. "That's over a hundred star systems and thirty-seven of them are inhabited."
"So?" She shrugged and I stood up so she could undo my belt.
I caught Srah smiling at us as I'd begun to sound like my old self and I stuck out my tongue at her.
"What do you mean, so?" I frowned at Marcia. "That's like thirty-seven Earths all by itself! Not to mention all the resources."
"Oh!" She made a face, setting my belt and sword upon a table growing out of the floor nearby.
"But that's not the best part," I told her. "I have a fleet too."
"A fleet of what?" she asked, unbuttoning my breeches while I unbuttoned my tunic.
"Spaceships!" I rolled my eyes. "What do you think? I'm the Marshal. I chase pirates and enforce customs, track down slavers and black marketing, illegal mining, smuggling…You name it, I'm stopping it!"
"You're only fourteen," she said with a giggle.
"I know!" I laughed as well and my hard cock sprang upward as she pulled my pants down, slapping her on the chin.
"This is a nice surprise." Marcia wrapped her hand around my dick. "Does this mean the alien likes me or are you just happy to see me?"
"Grab my pants," I told her as I tried to step out of them and she giggled, letting go of my cock.
"There," she said, tossing my pants aside and I shook my head at that.
"Marcia!" I sighed. "That's my uniform."
"Sorry!" She made a face and I watched as she folded my pants and put them on top of my tunic.
"You're going to have to learn how to be a good slave girl," I told her truthfully. "I mean, I know we're best friends and all, but…"
"But what?" She narrowed her eyes.
"You're still just a slave," I said, grabbing her head and pulling her open mouth onto my erection.
"Ummph!" She would have frowned if she could, but only for a second and I wasn't giving her the chance.
"I need to cum bad," I breathed, smiling at the sensation of her tongue washing over my cockhead. "And I really wanna fuck your mouth, Marcia."
Srah sat on the edge of the steaming bath, stroking her own long, brown prick while she watched as I pushed my cock completely inside Marcia's soft mouth, practically melting with the raw pleasure of it. Her hands went to my waist, squeezing me as she suckled noisily. How many times had the girl begged me for just this sort of attention? Now I could give it to her. I wanted to throw her on the floor and drive my cock inside her slutty hole. She'd been fucked so many times...
"Have you fucked her yet?" I asked and Srah shook her head.
"Do you want me too, Master?"
"Yeah," I breathed. "Fuck her while she sucks me off. I want to watch."
"Hmmm mmmph!" Marcia agreed, lowering her shoulders and putting her hands on the floor so Srah could fuck her like a dog.
She wagged her ass invitingly as the sexy brown alien took her place behind Marcia. I held her head with both hands, digging my fingers into Marcia's hair and massaging her scalp. Her lips slid back and forth along the shaft of my cock quickly and I was just long enough to tickle the entrance to her throat. Soon, I thought, I'd have enough cock to really make her work and the idea of stretching my pretty slave's throat made my balls ache with the need for release.
I'd had sex with Marcia and Srah that morning before joining the Duchess for breakfast, but Tristam hadn't fucked anyone in a long time. His illness and especially the treatment of it had crushed his desire as much as his ability, but I remembered the joy of his past conquests. He'd fucked Ellicent, taken her virginity in fact, and the Riavean wasn't nearly so young as she appeared, nor so sexually indifferent.
I remembered sliding my cock between her lips, past those long, curving fangs with a delicious shiver of eager trepidation. It was dangerous to fuck one of her kind, not so much her mouth, but letting the woman embrace me…She had more in common with vampires than mere appearance and it wasn't unknown for Ellicent's male lovers to find themselves feeding her desires in more ways than one. Most recently a certain Admiral Heward had found himself the victim of an exquisite assassination in the young woman's arms; such was the price of treason and I'd shed no tears for him.
But how well I recalled the pinch of her teeth in my neck, the sticky wetness of my own blood seeping from her lips to stain the pillow beneath me. She wouldn't dare drain the life of a noble Lord, at least not without permission from her Mistress, but she could have. It hadn't been within my power to stop her, not with Ellicent's sex clasped around my manhood, pulling and squeezing, driving me to cum inside her. The effort pushed my heart to beat strong and fast, rushing the blood into her hungry mouth. And what willpower she possessed! To stop in the middle of our orgasm and bring her rusty mouth to mine, sharing the lifeblood she'd stolen so easily.
"Ellicent!" I gasped aloud, arching my back and filling Marcia's mouth with my semen. "Swallow it, slut!"
She ate my cum with loud gulping noises filling our ears, punctuated by the damp slapping of flesh on flesh. Srah held her tightly, digging her fingernails into Marcia's taut hips as she punched her alien cock into the girl's pussy. Her jutting breasts bounced, those long brown nipples pointed towards my mouth and I leaned forward in my chair to kiss them. I cradled Marcia's face against my crotch, refusing to let her go as my orgasm slowed and she pulled the last of my semen down her hungry throat.
Srah moaned softly, bending her body over Marcia's and grinding against her ass, keeping her penis deep in the slave's cunt. I found her left tit with my mouth and pulled the fat nipple between my lips, sucking hard and bathing it with my tongue. I used my teeth to nibble and chew, and we'd stopped fucking, but only held our cocks inside Marcia as she knelt between us.
"Yessss…" Srah hissed, pulling my mouth to her right breast and I nursed on her there the same way.
My penis refused to go soft and Marcia's lips were wrapped tightly around the base, her nose flattened and my balls against her chin. She stroked my thighs and scratched my hips, taking ragged breaths through her nose. She'd shiver occasionally and rock her hips, rolling her ass against Srah and the stiff cock inside her. She was cumming, surrendering to countless small orgasms while I kissed Srah's greedy mouth for several long minutes before pulling away.
I pushed Marcia off my cock and she blinked at me, flushed pink and smiling with lust glazed eyes. The chair in which I'd been sitting disappeared and she dropped her face to the cold marble while I moved behind Srah, pushing her down, bending her over until her chocolate tits were flat against Marcia's pale back. I admired the alien's thick cock as it disappeared between swollen human labia, splitting Marcia's dripping sex. Honey colored precum spilled down the girl's thighs, mixed with her cum.
Just behind Srah's penis, where a male scrotum should have been, I saw her cunt pouting like a dark flower in season. The petals of her sex were barely parted, her labia grown puffy with arousal and pushed outward to form a moist crease between her cock and asshole. I pressed my mouth against it, licking from the base of her penis upward, along her slit and between her buttery lips. My nose pressed to her rosy anus, the tiny opening colored lighter than the rest of her rich brown skin.
She tasted as sweet as she smelled. Srah seemed to be made of pure, unrefined sugar. Dark and brown, hot and sticky as I stabbed my tongue inside her cunt. She'd wrapped her arms around Marcia, hugging the girl and holding her heavy tits. I reached between two pairs of thighs to find a damp tangle of pubic hair and I played my fingertips across Marcia's small, stiff clitoris, rubbing her against the cock stuffed inside her quivering hole.
After sampling Srah's pussy until my patience had worn thin, I took her from behind, sliding my cock inside her pussy with a slow push of my hips. I fucked her while she fucked Marcia, all of us moving carefully, with small jerks and soft moans. I felt the tightness around my erection, the talented muscles of Srah's vagina gripping my cock and tugging relentlessly. She was going to cum soon and I braced myself for it, anticipating the sensational mix of pleasure and pain.
I wasn't disappointed. The rigid mouth of Srah's sex closed around the shaft with a soft, high pitched grunt and I had to join her. I came immediately and only when her muscles relaxed could my semen escape into her womb. A single desperate spurt of cum exploded from my cock and her cunt collapsed again, choking off the next one for a brief, agonizing eternity. Another spurt let go a second later, and on and on. While Srah's cum filled Marcia at that same, deliberate pace, she milked my balls for several minutes, pulling the sperm out of me until I had nothing left to give and still my cock pulsed with the effort.
By the time we were finished cumming, and after waiting the five or six minutes until Srah's vulva relaxed and I could pull my still swollen cock free of her, our bath had grown tepid.
=-==-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Is the human catalogue complete?" I asked Jericho and the computer nodded.
"There are minor difficulties in some of the remote areas," he said. "And certain populations in the Middle East are proving resistant…"
"Yeah," I held up my hand. "I want a shuttle prepared, one squad of stormtroops and an escort…two gunboats."
"Overflights are still restricted. You'll require military authorization before..."
"I'm aware of that," I cut him off. "Is Provo Utah in a no-fly zone?"
"No, my Lord."
"Have Colonel Prouel make the necessary arrangements," I ordered. "I want to be there by 1600 local."
"May I enquire as to the purpose, my Lord?"
"Logistics," I replied, smiling at Marcia as she ran a hand over her smooth scalp. "I'm picking up a new slave."
"How does she look, Master?" Srah asked, stepping back and wiping her straight razor clean with a towel.
"Better," I decided and Marcia giggled, standing with her brown hair fallen around her feet. "Shave her cunt too."
"My pussy?" She looked down at her sex.
"Do you know how the slavers on Verna-Six mark their property?" I asked, and she shrugged. "Srah?"
"I don't know, Master," she answered, pushing Marcia onto a low divan. "Give me a bowl of hot water and more shaving cream."
"And a mirror," Marcia added, rolling her eyes upward as if she might see her bald head. She looked a lot different that way and she'd never been beautiful, but now her pretty face dominated the eye and I found her quite striking. I thought she needed a tan though.
"You look like a cueball," I told her.
"What? Thanks a lot!" she pouted. "It was your idea!"
"Really?" I grinned at her. "I thought it was yours."
"I don't remember," she said with a shrug, picking up the mirror that had appeared on the table. "I hope nobody laughs at me."
"Spread your legs," Srah told her. "I like your hair. It's pretty."
"Pretty pubic hair?" I snorted. "She looks like a Wookie."
"Faggot!" Marcia frowned at me.
"What's a Wookie?" Srah wondered.
"You've never seen Star Wars?" I teased, but she took me seriously as she sometimes did. Aliens didn't really get the human sense of humor yet.
"Is that a documentary?"
"God!" Marcia giggled. "And these guys conquered the Earth?"
"Stop moving, cunt!" Srah frowned and pinched Marcia's clit hard.
"Yeowww!"
"I conquered you easily enough."
"I was just kidding, Srah!" Marcia frowned. "Jeeze!"
It was kind of fun watching those two, but I hadn't told Marcia about all the cities that had been destroyed either. She'd barely been out of that room since leaving the hospital. I'd have to tell her sometime, I knew that, and I had to arrange for her to talk to her parents as well. At least my mom knew I was alive, but I had no idea what Marcia's parents must have thought. She didn't seem too worried about it though, but eventually the newness would wear off and she'd start getting homesick. Maybe.
"The hour approaches, my Lord," Jericho whispered in my ear and I nodded.
"So, um…those six slaver guys," Marcia said as we watched Srah shave around her pussy. "What do they do?"
"The slavers of Verna-Six?" I smiled at her. "They mark their personal slaves, the ones they're not going to sell."
"Mark them how?"
"Branding," I replied. "Usually on the right breast for females, on the left butt cheek for males."
"You mean…like a cow?" She blinked at me and Srah turned her head.
"Are you going to brand us, Master?"
"Maybe." I shrugged. "Depends on if I'm going to keep you or not."
"What? Wait!" Marcia wanted to sit up, but Srah pushed her back down. "Where are you going?"
"I'll be back," I said, fixing my sword onto my belt. "You really need to learn not to ask so many questions, Marcia."
"Why? What do you mean? Are you going to sell me?"
"Teach her, Srah," I said.
"Yes, my Lord." She agreed, lowering her head obediently, but Marcia only frowned at me.
"If she disappoints me, I'll punish you instead." I left the room, knowing that would at least give them something to do while I was gone. It isn't easy owning a harem, but I'd had one before. Or at least Tristam had…same thing.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I double checked my breeches and Jericho had delivered me a new uniform. I imagined I could still feel the cut Ransom had given me, but of course I couldn't. The doctor had healed me quickly enough and it hadn't been much more than a scratch anyway. Twenty years ago, I'd have taken the giant after a rather enjoyable duel, but old age and now my youth had betrayed me. I'd have to work on that, but I had so much else to do.
"Announce me, boy," I told Gabriel, although the page was at least a hundred years older than he looked.
"Yes, my Lord!" He blinked at me and turned around smartly, stepping between the Janissaries posted outside the door.
Jericho would have already told the Duchess of my approach, but this was protocol and necessary to the Empire.
"Lord Admiral Orion," Gabriel fairly shouted in his high, sweet voice. "Fifth Earl Tristam of Pleiades and High Marshal of the Spinward March."
So far as ceremonies go, it was a simple one as I marched across the throne room. No music played, no fanfare or flourish, only the sound of my boots on the marble. The throne itself sat empty, carved from a single onyx of unusual size. It glittered black and red and purple, and presented an exact replica of the one on Delphi. To the right of it stood the Duchess in her scarlet robe, waiting to accept my loyalty in the Emperor's absence. To the left and right of my path stood the various ministers, officials, nobles, and courtiers summoned to bear witness.
I'd done this many times previously and I paused with my left foot upon the first step, staring at the empty throne and drawing my sword. I knelt and offered it on open palms, speaking the solemn words and pledging my life and death to the Empire. I lowered my head until the Duchess spoke, accepting my oath with the gratitude of a thousand worlds.
The obligatory feast would naturally follow.
"Any excuse for a party, eh?" I smiled and Talis giggled like the little girl she wasn't.
"I've always hated these things," she sighed, putting her arm through mine.
"Not always," I reminded her gently. "I remember…Amyth…Oh, how you loved to dance."
"I haven't been Amyth in a long time," she said, but her blue eyes twinkled at the memories. "We were so beautiful."
"As you are now," I told her truthfully, and we'd left the banquet hall for the terrace and the night sky of Cepheus replicated to the faintest star.
"I'm leaving for Delphi tomorrow. You've been briefed?"
"Fully, Mistress." I bowed my head. "Your realm will be safe until your return."
"I know," she replied, petting my arm as she held it, both of us leaning over the rampart to watch the dark sea foam beneath us. The wind had picked up, blowing our hair and smelling of brine.
Above us the twin moons, Nycea and Satys, shone brightly. Nycea, the nearer and larger of the two, formed a crescent pointing upward. She held full Satys between her horns like a pearl in a cup.
"A good omen," I said. "You'll find success on your journey."
"We shall see." She shrugged. "You must watch the Marquis de Windham, he's planning something."
"He's an upstart."
"He'll test you while I'm gone," Talis said, pursing her lips. "I don't need a war, Orion. Not yet."
"Then I shall exercise my legendary patience, Mistress."
"Stop!" She tilted her face upward and laughed.
I watched the graceful curve of her neck; the tops of her smallish breasts as they were briefly exposed beneath her robe. I might have kissed her then, but the doors behind us opened and the sound of music wafted through the night. We didn't turn around and whoever it was retreated back inside.
"Do you miss Earth?"
"No," I replied honestly. "I've never been happier. You?"
"Sometimes," she admitted and we were quiet for a moment. "I destroyed the Mona Lisa."
"Yes," I sighed. "We did."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I spied Ellicent dancing with a handsome young Pyrian. They were an attractive race anyway, being descended from birds rather than mammals. He had a wonderful crest of red and blue feathers falling in an elegant ruffle across his slender shoulders and down his back. The sycophant's angular face seemed quite animated and he whispered something in Ellicent's ear to make her smile. I felt a momentary pang of jealousy, which is always a foolish emotion.
The dance resembled a waltz and current fashion dictated turns to the left, which brought her eyes to mine across the hall. Ellicent teased me, tilting her head to rest a pink cheek on the Pyrian's shoulder. I smiled at her and made my polite exit, knowing we would continue our flirtations when she returned from Delphi with the Duchess.
"New pants, my Lord?" Ransom greeted me with a grin as I entered Hanger Bay Three.
"I'm taking them out of your pay," I replied. "What have we got?"
"A squad from Seventh Shock," he replied leading me towards the assembled soldiers. "Good troopers and itching for action."
"There won't be a lot of action this trip," I reminded him.
"Stand to!" Ransom shouted in the private language of the military, a tongue unique as it came from no single world, but all of them.
They snapped to attention with a small thunderclap of leather. Which of them were male and female, I couldn't tell, nor even which race they might be. The troopers were covered head to foot with supple, black leather decorated with the accoutrements of their profession. The uniform itself offered little protection, but they were well equipped with body armor that would be activated only when needed. They carried not the ceremonial flamers of the Royal Janissaries, an effective, but archaic weapon; Shock Troops carried pulsers, grenades, and sonic blades for hand-to-hand combat. They were fast, lethal, and wonderful to my eyes. First Into the Breach was the Seventh's motto and they were sorely aching for a fight.
"My Lord!" A lieutenant saluted, turning her pulser forty-five degrees and pulling it hard against her broad chest. "First squad all present and accounted for, sir!"
"Very good, Lieutenant," I said, examining at her flawless stance. "When we set down, you'll secure the landing zone and establish a perimeter. Nobody in or out."
"Sir!"
"You may engage hostiles with non-lethal force only," I reminded her. "Is that clear?"
"Sir! All weapons have been safed and checked."
"Check them again, Lieutenant." I looked at Ransom. "Are the gunboats on station?"
"They're orbiting the dropzone, my Lord," he replied. "I've made the rules of engagement very clear."
"Good." I looked at the dropship as the deck crew finished their preparations. "Let's do this thing."
The flight was smooth enough, the turbulence of free falling through Earth's atmosphere not unexpected. I felt some small sense of nervousness, but not the sort of adrenalin rush that I would have gotten dropping into a combat zone. I missed that feeling and I knew my soldiers did as well. They knew this would be a milk run and probably resented it, but at least they were off the ship and doing something. That would lift their spirits, so long as they left their weapons on stun. Killing civilians was always bad for morale.
We landed on the street, de-cloaked just to ensure nobody pulled a Marcia and drove his car into the dropship. Everyone knew about the aliens anyway, so there wasn't much need for secrecy with this little operation. The troopers activated their armor and half of them became invisible, however; they were the covering team for the visible troops who would be telling people to stay in their homes and mind their own business. Pacification, as much as I hated the word, was something we'd gotten very good at over the last ten thousand years.
Ransom stayed with me and I didn't need anyone else as I opened the front door. She'd been catalogued and tagged along with everyone else on the planet and I knew exactly where she was and who was with her.
"Mom?" I paused, smiling and shaking my head as she looked over her shoulder, trying to see around Billy who had his cock deep in her ass.
He looked at me too. So did Mark, who was lying beneath my mom with his swollen prick buried in her pussy. Dale sat on the sofa drinking a beer and his limp, wet dick lay across his thigh drooling semen. From the mess on Mom's face, I'd guess he'd just finished getting a nice, sloppy blowjob. The alien invasion hadn't changed the slut one bit and I wasn't surprised.
"Hey! Fagboy's back!" Billy said with a grin, the other's being too surprised to say anything. "Where you been, homo? Sucking alien cock?"
"Oh man!" Dale finally said, narrowing his eyes. "What are you dressed like that for?"
"Let me up," Mom groaned, waking from her stupor finally. "Get off me, Billy!"
"Shut-up, bitch! I'm gonna cum," Mark said, trying to hold my mom still as he lifted his hips, keeping his cock inside her.
"Me too!" Billy agreed, pushing down on Mom's shoulders and using his weight to keep her sandwiched between them.
"Don't just stand there, faggot," Dale said, grabbing his penis and shaking it at me. "Close the door and get on my dick!"
"I can't believe I let you guys fuck me," I said, stepping into the living room, but not closing the door.
"You fucked these guys, my Lord?" Ransom asked, bending over so he wouldn't hit his head as he followed me.
"Oh shit!" Dale swallowed hard and his eyes got huge.
"They fucked me," I said with a shrug. "Same thing. Where's her robe?"
"Right here," he replied, handing me a simple white shift.
"Get off her," I said. "Let her up."
"Who's that guy?" Mark wondered, no longer fucking my mom, but just laying very still.
"Is that an alien?" Billy asked, pulling his erection out of her butt as he climbed awkwardly to his feet.
"Faggot?" Mom whispered, pushing herself up and looking hot, flushed, and damp all over.
She had cum running down her thighs from her gaping pussy, maybe from her asshole too. Her face had been plastered with semen and it clung to her hair in gooey clumps. She wanted to hug me, to cross the room and greet her son, but having a giant, black alien standing behind me kept her rooted to the stained carpet. The room smelled like piss and I felt a strange and not entirely unwelcome sense of déjà vu.
"Put this on…" I threw the shift at her. "I'm taking you home."
"But…I am home," she said dumbly.
"What's going on?" Billy asked, smiling nervously like we might be friends.
"Not anymore," I told her, ignoring the three boys. "You belong to me now."
"What?" Mom picked up the robe slowly. "What do you mean?"
"You're a slave of the Empire," I told her, "and I own you."
"But…"
"Get her dressed and on the ship," I told Ransom, turning towards the door.
"What about them, my Lord?" He gestured towards the three boys who were standing close together near the stairs, having distanced themselves from my mom.
I fingered the hilt of my sword and remembered everything.
"They don't matter anymore," I decided, walking out of the house and knowing I'd never return.