Page 12 of No Strings Attached (Mated Fates #1)

Vi alternated her gaze from the chiseled walls of the rock corridor to Bobby’s face, marveling at the careful observation and resolve she saw there. Had she really thought she would need to protect him a little extra just a few minutes before he pledged to fight and die beside her?

He looked down and saw her watching him. He whispered, “Remember, you’re worthless to him dead or damaged. He’s not going to want to do something that risks your sale price.”

“Yeah,” she whispered back, “but there’s a lot of terrible and humiliating shit that won’t leave a mark.”

Bobby’s gaze jerked up from hers and followed the passage of a Trallian passing the other way. “Trak,” he whispered, craning around to impart some sentiment with his look as they passed.

“Will he do something?”

“I don’t know if he can.”

They turned a corner, moving through a narrower corridor, then stopped while Vi heard a series of beeps, clicks, irises, and ca-thunks, then they walked through a doorway into another world.

The cavern was at least 10 stories high and lit as brightly as a sunny day, causing Vi to need to shield her eyes. They stood at the beginning of a vast, lush garden with trees, flowers, vines, and singing birds as far as the eye could see. Along the cavern walls ran a series of walkways widening out to terraces in front of hatch-style doorways and large, picture windows. It was like the extravagant interior courtyard of a very expensive hotel.

Bobby continued carrying Vi behind the goon squad, walking many yards into the garden until they reached a little clearing covered in purplish grass. Qlu sat there in a massive chair like a king, clearly enjoying the impact his magnificent space made on visitors.

“Lovely, isn’t it? You’ll find…say, why is he carrying her?”

“She would not permit us to retrieve her, and the Garoxian protects her,” said the leader. “Apparently, she has formed some sort of trust bond with this… runt . This was the easiest way to bring her to you while still retaining our testicles.”

“Oh really? And what do you think you need those for?”

The lead Trallian hung his head.

“Wait,” asked Qlu, leaning forward, “Did you say that the Garoxian protects her?”

“Yes, Master Qlu. She’s formed some sort of bond with it, too.”

“Hmmm. She sounds like a dangerous influence on my merchandise.” He eyed Bobby, “And my Trallians. Bring her forward to me, runt, and set her down.”

Bobby stepped forward until they were a few feet away from Qlu, but he made no move to put her down. She patted his chest and said, “It’ll be OK, go ahead.”

Bobby gently stood her on her feet, careful not to pull her blanket dress off in the process.

Qlu squinted at them, “I think this runt has developed feelings for this human! How is that possible?” He looked at his squad leader, “Are Trallians compatible with humans?”

The squad leader looked shocked and said, “I…I…I don’t know, Master Qlu. I’ve heard that Trallians aren’t compatible with any other species. That’s why we are trusted to serve female mistresses throughout the galaxy. But I’ve never seen this species before.”

“Don’t you mate from pheromones? Give her a sniff and tell me what you experience.”

The squad leader walked over to her, squatted down, and put his nose directly into the blanket where it covered her pussy. He pulled in a deep breath through his nose, then stood and said, “Nothing.”

Vi made a grimace of disgust and thought, just one more humiliation for the lifetime therapy bill.

Qlu thought for a moment, then said, “Good. I think we’ll have this one moved from cage to chains and keep her here in the garden, since she won’t be a temptation to any of you. I have some activities planned for her, anyway, and it will be nice to keep her close.”

He gave a wave to one of the Trallians off to the side, who came forward and presented Qlu with a large wooden box. Qlu raised the lid and grabbed something, then thrust it forward at Vi. Confused at first, she slowly recognized that it was a huge, green dildo. She stared at in disbelief, then realized it had been modelled on the description of Garnox’s cock from Extragalactic Love .

Before she knew it was happening, she burst out laughing. She actually lost partial control of her body and fell backwards a little, into Bobby, who easily caught her and held her upright. She turned in his arms and continued laughing with her face pushed into the crook of his arm as he held her up. She had tears streaming down her face, but she could…not…stop.

Eventually, she wound down enough to say, “What’s the matter Qlu, can’t get it up yourself?” while wiping her face dry and experiencing laughter aftershocks. Bobby kept his hands on her shoulders and stayed close to her back.

“Did you actually run off while I was reading so that you could have that made?” She chuckled some more. “Oh man, that is just…just… sad .”

Qlu had turned orange with rage. He stood up from his massive chair and stomped his feet, waving the dildo. “You won’t be laughing when they pound this into you!”

Vi looked at him for an exceedingly long moment, then coldly smiled, showing all her teeth, “Oh yes. Yes, I will. Because I’ll spend every minute of it thinking about how you don’t have any working equipment of your own to use instead of this pathetic, plastic dick-on-a-stick. I’ll laugh the whole time, and you’ll know that I’m laughing at you .”

Qlu screamed with rage, waved the dildo in the air, and stomped his feet like a child having a tantrum. He was almost apoplectic.

At the exact same moment, something boomed through the cavern. Bobby squeezed her shoulders in surprise, then they all turned toward the huge metal door as another boom came from it, this time accompanied by an unholy shriek that sounded an awful lot like, “Aye!”

Someone shouted, “the Garoxian!” and Vi whipped back around to Qlu, who was standing still in shock, eyes frozen on the door, just like everyone else. She shook out of Bobby’s grip and grabbed the giant green dildo from Qlu’s limp hand, swinging it and smashing it into the side of his head, dropping him. She gave him several good whacks on the head, body, and legs before any of his guards tried to intervene, but then Bobby was there with his back to hers, baring his sharp teeth and making an extremely menacing hissing and growling sound. She could feel his thick tail slamming back and forth between her legs.

Vi dropped the dildo, grabbed the unconscious Qlu by the neck, and then twisted her body and let it fall into the chair. She pulled Qlu up by the neck and wrapped her legs around his torso from behind. “You motherfuckers better get that door open now if you don’t want me to kill your master!”

Given that these were slaves and she was threatening the slave master , she wouldn’t have been surprised if they had all just shrugged and let her do what she wanted to Qlu. Especially instead of letting a Garoxian into the protected space. But they were apparently very well-indoctrinated and rushed to get the door open in hopes of saving their master.

Acken and Mister Beastly burst into the cavern, swinging through the Trallians and sending them flying backwards. They made straight for her, still sitting in Qlu’s chair and keeping his unconscious body throttled. They simultaneously stopped, mouths hanging open comically.

She laughed, “Well, apparently Bobby and I make a good team, and you guys were an excellent distraction.”

Acken threw his head back and boomed laughter to the ceiling. Mister Beastly looked puzzled. A few seconds later, Trak appeared next to them and stood with his mouth hanging open.

She said, “Thank you, Trak. I assume you freed my saviors?”

He nodded, “Um, yeah. Although you…uh…don’t seem to have been in…uh…much danger.”

Bobby looked serious, “She was in danger. He was going to keep her here until the auction and do terrible things to her.”

Trak said, “Well, uh, good, then. Glad we could help.”

Vi looked around thoughtfully and asked, “So, do we own this asteroid now?”

They kept Qlu tied to one of the big trees in the garden, green dildo wedged in his mouth as a gag, while they started their housekeeping.

Vi walked past him and remarked, “That color looks good on you,” as she made her way to the Trallian staging area. Acken was rounding them up throughout the rock, while Mister Beastly was guarding the ones Acken dropped off.

First, they’d had to free the other captives. Trak had judged that he needed to send help quickly, so only took the time to free Mister Beastly and Acken. Vi wasn’t sure why he hadn’t let snake guy out, too, since he represented a pretty significant threat, but then she realized that none of them had really come to trust that he wouldn’t just as soon kill them as help them.

Vi, Bobby, and Acken had stood in the cage room after Trak led Friend, Caussus, Malachite, and Kompi—carrying the giant snail—back to the garden cavern. They stood, looking from the snake to the reanimated cyborg guy, and back. Vi finally turned toward the snake and walked over, looking up at him as he held himself high over her.

“Here’s the thing, snake guy. We don’t really care if you’re on our side to escape now, but we do care—really care—that you don’t kill us or betray us in some way. I get that you’re your own snake, not really a team type of guy, but there’s a difference between not with us and against us .”

“III aam not againssst you. Iii willl dooo nothing tooo betrayyy youuu. Youuu, and the Traaalllian, sssaaaved myyy liiife.”

Vi had shrugged and said, “Works for me. How about you guys?”

Acken had looked at the snake long and hard, then said, “I have heard it said that Ophidians are always honest. That is why no one likes them much, because of their brutal honesty. It’s also why they get used in espionage because they cannot be turned by an adversary.”

Vi had thought and said, “Espionage? Really? He’s a giant, banded snake. I’d bet you could see him a mile away.”

The snake had laughed a creepy, hissing laugh, then disappeared. Vi and Bobby had gasped in shock.

Acken had leaned down and intimated quietly, “They can camouflage.”

The snake had reappeared and Vi had looked at him hard. “I want you to promise not to camouflage around the rest of us unless you’re doing it to thwart a threat or attack on us. Will you?”

“Yesss.”

Vi had turned to Bobby, “OK, let’s let him out.”

Bobby had pressed his hand to the scanner and the door was pushed open by the snake emerging. Vi had watched him uncoil and slither out of the room, astounded when she realized that he must be about 25 feet long. She had shivered uncontrollably.

Then the three of them had walked over as one to stand in front of the last occupied cage.

Vi had whispered, “If it were me, I would want you guys to kill me instead of waking me up.”

Acken had nodded down at her and said, “Say the word, Vi, and it will be done.”

She had turned to look at him, astonished. “You would just…do that…on my command? It’s not a very honorable thing for us to do.”

Acken had nodded again and said, “Agreed. There is shame in killing one who is not an adversary, is undefended, or does not pose a threat. But I believe this would be a mercy killing and, therefore, not as shameful.” He had thought about it and added, “Besides, a warrior’s heart must be large enough to carry a little bit of shame and still command the warrior to honorable deeds. My heart is very big.”

Vi had beamed up at him, patted his giant arm, and said, “That’s something we’d all agree on. Your heart is enormous.” She had looked down then and bit her lower lip. “You know what? This is too much right now. He’s turned off, brain and body. We’ll just find his user manual or something so that we can make sure his machine is in good order, and we’ll think about it later, OK?”

Bobby had asked, “Should we leave him here?”

Vi had thought for a while, then said, “Yes. But let’s open his cage. If something happens that causes him to wake up, we don’t want him to think he’s trapped. Sound good?”

They had both nodded, relieved to leave it for a later time.

Now Vi was standing before the assembled Trallians. At her request, Caussus had started searching the cavern and its many, many rooms, for clothing for all of them. To her surprise, he had found bins that contained the clothing that some of them had been captured wearing. Acken wore an enormous white fur kilt that matched his mohawk, with a leather belt and sheath, but his sword had not been found. To her shock and amusement, Friend sported a white, ruffled, Victorian collar around his neck that he had been delighted to recover. Caussus himself wore a gaudily floral-patterned silk kimono-style robe with matching slippers. Kompi, incredibly, wore a huge onesie, complete with backdoor. She wondered, is he an infant of his species? Is that why he didn’t talk? If so, good god, how big would he get?

Vi herself stood in front of her 40+ Trallian captives in her own native garb: black cargo shorts, a tight pink t-shirt, and Teva sandals. She and her crew looked fucking ridiculous, and she couldn’t be happier. She basked in the feel of having a bra and panties again, then gathered her thoughts.

Pointing to the tree that still held Qlu and his unusual gag, she said, “That asshole there is no longer in charge. We are in charge now.” She gestured to the nine males gathered informally behind her, 10 if the snail was around and was…male. “Any questions so far?”

Someone asked, “Which one of you is in charge?”

Vi answered, “All of us.”

But Acken stepped forward and said, loudly, “ She is. She is our queen. Your queen.”

Vi looked into his eyes and muttered, “Yeah, Queen of Wonderland, maybe, or Oz.”

She turned back to the Trallians, “In any case, none of you will be considered slaves from this point forward.” This was met with quiet murmuring. “We are in charge, but you all will be eventually given freedom and independence. With that said, you will all be kept captive for a little while as we make our plans. We don’t know you, yet; the only members of your force who have earned our trust for now are Bobby and Trak, behind me.” She gestured back at them.

“So, we will take you to the bunk room, which I understand has all of the facilities you might need for a few days, and we’ll make sure that there is ample food. You might consider it as some welcome downtime after whatever hard work Qlu has subjected you to. I’ll come to visit you each day to speak with you and answer questions. But for now, that’s the way it has to be.” She clapped her hands in conclusion.

“Now,” she said, “I want two groups to form to the left,” pointing, “and to the right of me. The first group should be anyone who has done any meal preparation for Qlu and his visitors.”

Five Trallians came out of the throng and stood to her left.

“The second group should be anyone who has handled this asteroid’s security system programming.”

Three Trallians came up to stand to her right.

Vi nodded at Acken, who bellowed, “FOLLOW ME,” to the remaining Trallians, and they filed out. To her surprise, the snake guy slithered over and took the rear-guard position as the last Trallian exited the cavern.

Vi turned back towards the remainder of her strange and exotic crew, “Who among us thinks they might be able to learn and oversee the security system reprogramming?”

Caussus stepped forward and said, “I have always had a facility with technology and programs, madam.”

Vi smiled at him, “You’re free now, Caussus, you should call me Vi. Oh! That reminds me: Caussus, I command you to be on our side, to never betray us, and to stop acting like a servant!”

He smiled, bowed, and said, “Madam.”

“And command you to call me Vi!”

He straightened and grinned at her.

“OK, take these guys and start working on the system. I want all the biometrics keyed to the 10 of us, and only the 10 of us. Cages, doors, hangar bays, the works.” She thought for a moment, then added, “Maybe nine of us. I don’t think Malachite’s going to register any biometrics.” She paused and recaptured her train of thought, “Then see what’s going on with communications. Do we have incoming or outgoing communications that need to be dealt with? That kind of shit. Keep a shock stick on you in case these Trallians aren’t cooperative. Do you want to have a guard?”

One of the Trallians spoke up, “He won’t need to be guarded from us…um…my queen. The systems are very easy to use, and we’re happy to show him.”

Vi flinched at little at the “my queen,” but didn’t say anything, considering whether Caussus would be safe.

Friend growled, then stood and spoke, “I’ll go with Caussus. He is my best friend, and I’ll rip—” the word ‘rip’ came out as in a fierce growl, “the throat out of anyone who tries to hurt him.”

Caussus reached down to stroke Friend’s head and smiled tenderly at him.

Vi said, “OK, threat received and I’m sure these guys understand. Let’s all remember that they aren’t slaves anymore, and we will be giving them more freedom—their actual freedom—as soon as we get our shit together and know what we’re doing.”

She turned to the second group of Trallians as Caussus, Friend, and the three Trallians walked toward a hatch door. “So, you’re the cooks, huh? Question one: do you have access to all of Qlu’s food stores?”

They nodded.

“Great! Question two: can you access information databases to discover the food preferences of all of us? Or at least make sure that anything you prepare won’t kill any of us?”

One Trallian stepped forward, “Yes, my queen, we often do such research in advance of Qlu’s buyers arriving.”

“Terrific. Would you be willing to prepare a victory feast for us now? One suitable for our whole mixed bag, here? I mean: human, Trallian, Estranian, Ophidian, trawg, Garoxian, etc.? Let me be clear, gentlemen, I don’t want to see one single piece of kibble in the meal.”

“Um…willing?”

Vi nodded and walked over to the one who had spoken with her, “Yes, willing. I’m asking if you would do this for us as a kindness. You are not our slaves, remember? But I’m not about to try to figure out alien ingredients in an alien kitchen right now.”

“I…we…uh…would be honored, my queen.”

Vi beamed at them, then looked over to her crew. “Who wants to supervise? Whoever it is, I’d like you to also get a generous, two-day supply of food in to the Trallians in the bunk room, then give me a rough estimate of how long the food stores will last us and them.”

Trak stepped up, “I’ll do it. I’m friends with all the kitchen guys and frequently spend time in there.”

Vi put a hand on his shoulder, “Thank you, Trak. Do you need an extra guard?” When he shook his head, she continued, “Then let’s get the feast going as soon as possible. I’m starving, and we need to celebrate! The Trallians helping us with the security system and in the kitchen can join us for the feast.” She looked over her shoulder in the direction of Qlu, then said, “I want to have it right fucking here so that yellow bastard has to watch us the whole time.”

She regarded the members of her strange crew remaining: Bobby, Kompi, Mister Beastly, and Malachite. She shouted, “Wait!” to Trak’s outgoing group. “Is there a sound system in here and any music to play on it?”