Rose Rico never believed the rumors that the government was secretly selling human beings to the Alphas in exchange for advanced alien technology. The idea that human sex slaves were a luxury item throughout the galaxy was just too ridiculous to take seriously - until Rose found herself, along with hundreds of other human captives, bound for the far reaches of space, and compelled to cater to the depraved desires of her new alien masters. As a rule, pleasure slaves don't live very long, especially the stubborn ones. But Rose refuses to give up. Someday, somehow, she'll win back her freedom - or die trying!

Originally published by Pocket Books (2003) as part of the Slave Trade trilogy including Slave Masters (2004) and Slaves Unchained (2005).  www.susanwright.info

Chapter 6

In which Gandre Li meets Kwort Delta

Beta-Captain Gandre Li smiled and greeted by name the staff in the InSec offices. "I've got the mail."

They thought she was delivering the official bulletins picked up from Domain facilities across the region that were used to update Fleet databases. None of them were aware of her brief stop in Lacaille. Her fingers curled around the datarod in her pocket. Gandre Li had picked it up from the informant on that filthy vermin-ridden planet in the Archernar sector ad brought it, as ordered, to the Archernar shipyard twenty light years away.

 "Rutith Alpha will see you shortly." The Beta assistant was oiled and efficient as he took the official bulletins.

Gandre Li would have preferred to give him the encrypted datarod as well, since the less the Alphas saw of her the better. But information garnered by her secret assignments was always exchanged face-to-face.

The Archernar shipyard was one of her main stops, and she always enjoyed the busy frontier dock with its full tech crews and slave gangs. There must have been at least one of every alien in the Domain working in the commercial establishments, allocated space in the station in exchange for a generous cut of the take for the top-ranking Alphas.

Rutith Alpha was her InSec contact on the starbase, and she was certainly swimming in the luxuries though she seemed less motivated by personal desire than most Alphas were. That made Rutith even more dangerous in Gandre Li's opinion.

 "You have anything for me?" Gandre Li asked the other Beta.

He held up two datarods that were marked with the seal of the Solace before putting them into the verifier. "Look into the scanner," he ordered in a bored voice.

Gandre Li dutifully peered into the scanner and focused on the red line. It only took a moment before the computer acknowledged the scan matched her identity. The datarods popped out and she picked them up.

 Another day in the Domain, another betrayal, she thought. At one point she had high hopes for herself. But InSec had tapped her for duty, and now there was no going back. Gandre Li had come from enough privilege to finance a small space courier, the Solace, as well as membership in the merchant space guild. She transported messages, priceless objects and a few passengers from one sector to another in the expanding frontier of the Canopus region. Her crew knew nothing about her courier duties for InSec, except for her cute Solian slave, Trace. Trace had been a gift from InSec to ensure that Gandre Li was faithful. Gandre Li had lived this way for most of her career, always under the threat that her Alpha superiors could decide she was no longer useful.

"When's our departure window?" Gandre Li asked.

He looked it up in the terminal. "You're scheduled to leave at four-eight-nine point seven."

Gandre Li groaned. "I just got here! Can't you call dispatch to push that back? I've been wanting to visit that Bariss continental restaurant on the fourth level for ages." She was Bariss herself, so she thought she had the right to judge the presentation.

The Beta flipped his pointed eye-lids at her. "I don't make the rules around here."

"No, I don't suppose you do." She grumbled just enough to see if he would bend, but the Beta paid no attention to her. Working for Rutith Alpha must be a nightmare. Actually, she was surprised he had lasted in this post for so many standard years.

He suddenly put his hand to his ear, as if focusing on an implanted comm. "Rutith Alpha will see you now."

"Thanks a lot," she replied dryly. He would think she was talking about her departure time. Actually she wasn't thrilled about seeing Rutith Alpha. Rutith was stranger than most of her InSec employers, and that was saying a lot. As far as Gandre Li could tell, InSec was entirely made up of Alphas who were bred for their intuition and ability to see beyond their immediate experience.

Gandre Li pushed through the door into the darkened room beyond. The couches and benches were draped and almost indistinguishable in the gloom.

Most of the light came from the window-wall. It had been transformed from a real-time view of stars in space to desert dunes lying under a blue sun. The crests and slopes glowed, leaving the hollows in purple shadow.

"You like my view?"

Rutith Alpha stepped from behind an intricate vine-and-leaf screen. Her dark red bodice and leggings were almost black. Her head was perfectly formed, almost mesmerizing in its curve. But Rutith had a disconcerting habit of tucking her chin down and looking at Gandre Li from the tops of her eyes. A smile played on her lips.

"It's where I was born," Rutith told her.

Gandre Li clasped her hands behind her back, respectfully looking at the scene. "It's gorgeous."

Rutith's smile faded. Gandre Li wondered if she hadn't been enthusiastic enough.

"You have something for me." Rutith's cloying tone was gone. She was all-business now.

She held out her hand, so Gandre Li went to her, placing the encrypted datarod in her palm. Now the blood was on Rutith's hands.

Gandre Li waited, standing too close to Rutith for comfort. But as much as she wanted to leave, she knew better than to move away without permission.

Rutith tilted her head and took her time examining Gandre Li. "You brought this from Lacaille, didn't you?"

"Yes, Rutith Alpha."

Rutith began to walk slowly around her. "Tell me... did you smell anything unusual in Lacaille?"

"Smell? What kind of smell?" Gandre Li didn't like having Rutith behind her, it made her want to flex her shoulders. But she stayed still.

"You tell me," Rutith whispered over her shoulder, "What did you smell?"

"Nothing," Gandre Li said honestly.

"You smelled nothing?" Rutith sounded surprised. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm from Bariss. We don't have a good sense of smell."

"Oh? Isn't that awfully backward for a Beta?"

Gandre Li swallowed. Rutith could probably smell every change of emotion on her. "Trace says I'm lucky since I live on a ship. She says the smell is awful sometimes."

Rutith appeared at Gandre Li's side, her eyes wide open in interest. "Your mean your Solian?"

"Yes." Gandre Li wanted to kick herself for mentioning Trace.

Rutith considered the information as if it was important.

Gandre Li started to sweat. She shouldn't have brought Trace into this.

"Well," Rutith leaned closer, "did your slave smell anything on Lacaille?"

"Uh... she didn't mention it."

Rutith paced around behind her again. Gandre Li didn't know what to think.

Behind her, Rutith whispered, "You ask her. If she smelled anything, you let me know before you leave."

"Sure, I'll ask her as soon as I get back to my ship."

Rutith came around to her side. "You do that."

Gandre Li forced herself to look at Rutith. She was not one of those who liked the lower ranks to keep their eyes down. Rutith really looked at people, almost as if she could see inside them. And now she could see how panicked Gandre Li had become when she was questioned about her slave. Rutith had hit a nerve and she knew it.

Rutith smiled, delighted with her success. "You can go now."

Gandre Li pasted a pleasant expression on her face, fooling nobody, as she left the command center. One thing was certain - she was naive if she thought she had any free will about what she did. She fingered the two new datarods in her pocket. Another day another betrayal... so much for her latest visit to the Archernar shipyard.

* * *

Kwort Delta was the last tech to step up to the counter for his eye scan and genetic sampling before the clerk in the Fleet office handed over his orders. Cracking open the seal, Kwort found a flimsy with words printed on it: Kwort Delta, Deneb-P8900599, Technician Fourth Grade. Assigned to: Battleship Conviction. The docking number was underneath, along with a map of the tubes on Archernar shipyard.

A battleship! Kwort hadn't expected to be assigned to a battleship on his first tour in the Fleet. He must have done extremely well on his technical tests. It meant he'd be traveling throughout the Canopus region, maybe even into the Antares region or up into Crucis. Battleships went everywhere-

Including into battle with well-armed raiders. Kwort swallowed hard.

Two other Deltas were standing over him holding their own flimsies. "Is he supposed to be that green?" the female asked, guffawing down at Kwort. She had a pale grayish-green complexion herself, so he didn't understand the joke.

The dark hairy one snapped back, "Well if this is a sample of the crew on the Conviction we're going to be hard up, Kitarin."

"We'll always have each other, Murroom." The hatchet-faced, crested woman nudged him with a broad elbow. The dark hairy humanoid gave her a black-gummed smile in return.

Kwort felt his stomachs turn as the two grinned at each other. He had gotten ribbed plenty about being new to the Fleet, but there was something menacing beneath their jabs. Maybe it was their sheer size. Clearly they were of different species - Kitarin's pale fleshy crest was bald, but she had a long tail of white hair hanging down her back, while Murroom was the hairiest humanoid Kwort had ever seen. Kwort barely came up to their shoulders, and they must have each massed twice his size.

"There is something appealing about that flat head," Kitarin mussed. "Do those ridges go all the way around?"

As the hatchet-faced woman examined him, Kwort nervously scratched at his ridges. Animosity was better than piquing her interest! And that hairy guy with the unappetizing teeth was even worse...

"We should get to the Conviction," Kwort muttered. "We've barely got enough time to report."

"Eager little guy," Murroom exclaimed, smacking him on the back.

Kwort was knocked forward from the blow and he couldn't breathe for a moment. But the other two started off briskly. Rather than chance getting lost in the tubes, Kwort hurried after them taking two steps for their one.

He tried to keep track on the flimsy where they were, but he kept getting distracted by the different humanoids who filled the tubes. Their skin, scales and hair came in every color, with heads as small as babbafruits or large and bulbous. He held his own ridges high, proud of his Alpha descent even if Denebs had fallen about as far away from perfection as a humanoid could.

Most of the aliens were pushing large anti-grav pads filled with goods and supplies. Kwort had to carry his own slender duffel, trotting through the parting flow of aliens in the wake of Kitarin and Murroom. He enjoyed the show. Sometimes he was able to see the star through a portal. The center glowed a brilliant turquoise with a rough figure-eight of red nebula clouds of ionized nitrogen surrounding the star. The red rings were splintered into a dozen overlapping lines.

For most of his trip he had seen little more than distant points of stars and star clusters, so this was one of the best places he had been so far. Kwort had been traveling continuously for nearly nine decnights from the military induction center on his homeworld. Deneb was one of the oldest Alpha colony worlds that had decayed while the population mutated in isolation for nearly a thousand years until the Domain had "rediscovered" the planet.

Kwort had done double duty back on Deneb, working in the plant that manufactured comm implants, while taking classes to get the computer skills he needed to perform tech-bot maintenance. The bots monitored and repaired the complicated systems and engines on board a spaceship. The Delta mechanics maintained and programmed the bots.

His coworkers at the comm plant took as much off-time as they could, and they never understood why he preferred to study. But the Fleet was the only way he could get off poor, backward Deneb. His people couldn't even afford to maintain weather satellites so it rained almost every day. He lived in the underground barracks with his coworkers, scraping together enough credit to get a few mood drugs and the occasional interactive simulation. His main pleasure was his daily three minute visit to the communal room where everyone who was cycling into lust at that moment could find a partner. But even that was empty, a routine he could have satisfied himself with. He did every day now that he had made the Fleet.

Kwort adjusted the cartridge belt on his new flightsuit, proud to finally be able to wear the Fleet uniform. The grid that ran through the fabric was the best technology available. If he got caught in a blow-out, his chances of survival were over 99.999%.

Kitarin and Murroom turned off the main tube and started up one of the long docking arms. Smaller tubes branched off to either side for commercial craft. The Conviction would be somewhere at the end of the arm where the largest ships docked.

A battleship... well, at least they were across the Domain from the Kund front. Kwort had known it was a distinct possibility when he joined the Fleet that he could end up in the thick of the war. But at a dead run, the Canopus region was a standard year away from the front, and no ship could handle that many continuous slips. So maybe things were going to fall into place exactly like he had planned-

"Ho there, what's this?" Kitarin exclaimed, halting short in front of a branch tube.

"Nice catch, Kitarin." Murroom followed her into the tube, blocking Kwort's view. "What's that little thing doing here?"

A woman's frightened voice answered, "I belong to Beta-Captain Gandre Li. She'll be back any moment..."

As Murroom turned to glance down the tube, Kwort saw a slender woman who was hardly taller than he was. She had to be Solian with that thick mane of flame-colored hair and the reflective collar around her neck. But instead of a slave tunic, she wore a red flightsuit with a cartridge belt.

Kitarin grabbed the girl's delicate arm, giving her a shake. "Now there's a pretty package, wrapped up nice and tight!"

"People shouldn't leave their toys lying about," Murroom agreed, after making sure that no one else was around. "They might get played with."

The girl struggled against Kitarin. "Let me go!"

"Oh! She's got some spunk!" Kitarin laughed out loud, taunting her. "I may not be in cycle, but that doesn't mean we can't have some fun."

"Quick!" Murroom hissed. "Push her into the airlock."

The two Deltas muscled the girl inside the airlock, disappearing from Kwort's astonished gaze. He considered running up the tube to report them for messing with private property.

But the Solian's cries and the sound of the seals being torn open on her flightsuit were too much. She clearly didn't want to have sex, but the two Deltas were touching her anyway. Everything inside of Kwort revolted at the idea.

Kwort leaped for the airlock, grabbing Murroom from behind. "Get off her, you big lug! Leave her alone!"

Murroom shook him off with a startled expression. Kwort almost backed off, but Kitarin was pushing the Solian into the wall, ripping open the 'suit to her waist. The Solian was fighting as if her life depended on it, wrenching her mouth away from Kitarin's huge hand. She let out a piercing shriek that echoed down the tube.

Murroom turned back to help subdue her, and Kwort had to do it. He jumped on Murroom, kicking his legs and beating his back.

Murroom let out a roar and rounded on Kwort. His long arms were bulging out his regulation brown flightsuit.

Uh-oh, Kwort thought. Maybe I should have tried something else...

* * *

Gandre Li heard a scream as she was heading up the long docking arm. It sounded like Trace.

She dived into the branch tube leading to their dock. There were two huge Deltas fighting, and one of them was attacking Trace!

"Stop right there!" she bellowed. They were going berserk, especially the hairy one, pounding a small humanoid to a pulp. But it was the big bird-faced Delta that Gandre Li grabbed, thrusting her away from Trace.

Trace was gasping and crying. Gandre Li pressed the comm on her wrist. "Security, there's a problem on tube M-12. This is Beta-Captain Gandre Li."

Security instantly acknowledged and dispatched a team to her location.

Gandre Li gathered Trace to her even as the Solian tried to seal up her flightsuit again. There were red streaks where their rough hands had bruised her skin. The young woman was shaking.

Gandre Li was shaking too, shocked at how frightened she had been. She held Trace close and glared at the Deltas. "What do you think you're doing!"

The bird-faced one was hunching over, edging away with her hands held up submissively. "Sorry about that, Beta-Captain. We were checking to see who the slave belonged to. She got frightened and attacked us-"

"That's not true," Trace quickly denied, looking up at Gandre Li. Her green eyes were full of tears. "That woman grabbed me and dragged me in here. They ripped open my 'suit."

Gandre Li had an irrational urge to start punching the Delta, but Trace was clinging to her waist too tightly.

"No harm done," the hairy Delta assured her. He was also edging back down the branch tube to the docking arm.

            "Stay right where you are!" Gandre Li ordered. "Security is on the way."

            The scrawny Delta was lying unconscious on the floor of the branch tube. He was curled around his stomach and something green was seeping out of his earhole. One of the concentric ridges around his bald head looked bashed in.

            "What happened to him?" Gandre Li asked.

            "He tried to stop them," Trace told her.

The Deltas protested, and they even tried to accuse the smallest Delta of starting the attack. But Trace held firm, and Gandre Li believed her.

Security and bio-techs arrived. Gandre Li insisted that they immediately take care of the injured Delta and deliver him to the Conviction with her compliments to the captain. Sometimes there were advantages to being a Beta. Then she made a formal complaint against the other two, and let security scan her eyes. She also made sure to get a receipt so she could find out what disciplinary action would be taken against the offensive Deltas.

Of course security had to scan Trace's collar to be sure that Gandre Li was her owner, and they questioned Trace as if they didn't believe her version of what happened. Gandre Li got angry and cut short a line of questioning that was aimed at what Trace had done to entice the Deltas. The fact that Trace was covered by a flightsuit seemed to take the steam out of them. Gandre Li couldn't understand the logic that would blame the victim who was attacked.

She was intent on getting Trace back onto the Solace, but she did watch as the bio-techs finished their emergency triage and lifted the small Delta onto a grav pad. Too bad he was unconscious or she would have thanked him for helping Trace.

Instead, she followed Trace inside the Solace, confused by her own feelings. Trace seemed fine now, even buoyant over her escape, telling Gandre Li how hard she had fought. Gandre Li kept gazing at her rounded cheeks and the deep curve of her smile, and shuddered at how awful it would have been if something bad had happened to Trace.

Gandre Li wanted to forget it, but she couldn't. That brawny woman could have easily snapped Trace's slender neck. Trace could have been raped and killed while she was wasting time window-shopping...

Gandre Li held Trace close to her, and the Solian was happy to cuddle after her scare. But Gandre Li still felt threatened. Maybe it was Rutith Alpha's interest in her slave, or maybe Rutith had discovered something that Gandre Li had been trying to avoid. Denial was so useful at times, but it couldn't be relied on to last.

She loved Trace. That was it. She had never admitted it to herself.

Trace had been given to her straight from the crèche, barely out of puberty. At first Gandre Li had tried to refuse the offer, but the Alphas liked to gift prime slaves as a way to control their Betas. Her courier duties had become increasingly sensitive the longer she worked for InSec. Trace could be taken away from her any time InSec decided she didn't deserve to own a pleasure slave anymore.

After eight years together, she had watched Trace grow and become her own person rather than a crèche-stamped slave who was merely adept at body service and the social arts. Trace had even learned how to pilot the Solace, though she could never get her license. She served as one of Gandre Li's crew, usually taking Ops during her duty shift.

Even more than that, Trace had become her partner. Gandre Li shared everything with her, including the fact that she was on InSec's payroll. Trace had discovered the extra income herself when she had taken the responsibility of supplies and accounting from Gandre Li's over-burdened shoulders. Trace was as loyal as they came, and she was attached to Gandre Li as only a slave could be to their first master.

"What's wrong, Gandi?" Trace seemed to know there was more bothering her than she had let on. "Did anything else happen at InSec?"

Trace was still lying in Gandre's arms on the cushioned seat below their observation window. They had to wait to be cleared for departure while security was completing her complaint. Gandre Li had called for soothing bell music to play softly and for the lighting to take on a violet glow to promote calm and tranquility.

"Oh, Rutith was as freaky as usual. Nothing I couldn't handle."

"Good. Business as usual is good." Trace nuzzled her face into Gandre's neck.

"What do you smell?" Gandre Li had to ask. Could Trace smell her fear and longing to speak about how she felt? Could Trace smell her irresistible feelings of tenderness and longing?

 "Umm...," Trace sniffed her skin a few times as if she enjoyed it. "You smell like... Gandre Li. The most Gandre Li I've ever smelled. All warm and vanilla, very fresh."

Gandre laughed. She couldn't help it. "You're something else."

"Well you asked," Trace protested innocently.

"Why don't you smell me some more?" Gandre Li suggested, feeling her fear finally slip into something more manageable. She wasn't in her cycle of lust, not for another few days, but she could give Trace pleasure whenever the Solian was in the mood.

Trace was giggling as she pulled on the seal to Gandre Li's white flightsuit. "How about if I smell every part of you?"

"Sure, why not?" Gandre Li finally lay back, letting out a long sigh as Trace unhooked the cartridge belt. Trace finished opening the seal, spreading Gandre Li's flightsuit so she could shrug out of it.

Trace pressed her face between Gandre Li's breasts, sniffing the warm skin. "Umm... you smell good there, too."

As Trace pulled off Gandre Li's 'suit, she stopped to sniff her shoulders and arms, even between her fingers. Gandre Li closed her eyes, loving the warm, moist puffs of air from her nose, tickling all of her sensitive spots. She thought Trace would lick or even kiss her, but tantalizingly she kept a hair's breadth away from her skin, only breathing on her.

If she had been in lust, it would have been too much to endure. Gandre Li would have rolled Trace over and taken her, rubbing their bodies together, pressing her groin into Trace's until they came.

But without the lust, her desire simmered instead of boiling. Trace took her time sniffing her belly and waist, rolling Gandre Li slightly to pull down her flightsuit as she sniffed her hips and down her thighs. Trace even sniffed the back of her knees, "I can smell a little Gandi here, too."

Trace pulled off her boots and flightsuit, then climbed up Gandre Li's body, spreading her legs wide so she could sniff her crotch. Gandre Li felt a little embarrassed by her enthusiasm. But Trace was getting excited, so she relaxed into it.

"Yes! Now this is your essence, pure and rich," Trace murmured, her cheek warm against her thigh. She writhed against Gandre Li as if she wanted to orgasm.

"My turn to smell you," Gandre Li told her, wanting to get her hands on the girl and feel her move under her hands.

But Trace laughed and rolled her eyes. "I'd like to see you try. You couldn't tell my feet from the bowl of chutwas over there!"

Normally Gandre Li would have laughed at the well-placed jibe and done exactly what she wanted with Trace. But it reminded her of Rutith Alpha's remark about how "backward" she was. Without lust to drive her, she was completely thrown out of the moment.

Gandre Li pushed herself up against the cushions. "Come on, it's not that bad."

Trace saw immediately that she had offended her somehow. Gandre Li felt bad about it, but she couldn't explain. It had reminded her of her precarious place in life, and how important it was for her to protect those below her, like Trace.

Trace knew Gandre Li didn't like being probed. "Is that a challenge?" she asked, instead. Trace was flushed and clearly turned on, ready to play whatever game evolved from this. Her enjoyment of games, sex and otherwise, filled their days. "I bet you really couldn't tell the difference between me and a chutwa."

Gandre Li had to smile back. She knew what a chutwa smelled like. "I've got you beat on this one. What're the stakes?"

"If you win, I'll give you a full water massage. You're wound so tight, you need it. If I win, you use the tingler on me until I cum." Her grin was wicked.

"Is this just an elaborate way to give me a water massage?" Gandre Li asked. "Because we can skip straight to that part, if you want."

"Nope, I'm going to cum first. Then I'll give you a massage."

Gandre Li laughed, her worries forgotten for the moment. "Don't count on it! I may let you cum after you massage me, but you'll have to do a very good job."

Trace got up. "Okay, sit up and lean forward. Don't move once we start. And keep your eyes closed."

Gandre Li held her face tilted up, her arms braced on her knees. Her eyes were firmly closed. It wouldn't be any fun if she cheated. "How close are you going to get to me? I won't smell anything if you hold it way out there."

"I'll make sure and get within a finger's breadth of your nose."

Gandre Li thought it was funny until Trace told her to get ready, she was putting something in front of her. She sniffed and sniffed, but smelled nothing. It was absurd. The same thing happened the second time. She was sorely tempted on the third try to reach out to make sure Trace had something in front of her. But after thousands of their games, she had come to trust Trace implicitly.

Then Trace said, "Open your eyes."

Trace was naked, and leaning over holding her arm up so Gandre Li was staring at her armpit. She couldn't smell a thing! "Did you just bathe?"

"No," Trace laughed. "Try again."

With her eyes open, Gandre Li took a hard sniff and now got a familiar scent. Funny how she couldn't smell it until she saw with her own eyes what she was sniffing. "Which one was the chutwa?"

"The first one."

Gandre Li was shocked at herself. "And the second?" Trace looked guilty. "Trace... what was it? Don't tell me you made me sniff your feet."

"Oh, no." She grinned. "It was my butt."

Gandre Li's mouth fell open when she realized Trace wasn't kidding. Trace started laughing as Gandre Li lunged forward and grabbed her around the waist. She was a wiggly armful, and all hers. She never wanted to let her go.

Gandre Li pulled her over to the bed, pushing her down into the soft cushions. "I get to make you cum, huh? Can I do what I want? As long as I also use the tingler..."

Trace nodded, her breath catching.

"Then you also have to pay for that trick," Gandre Li told her. She pulled up Trace's arm, looking down at the soft white flesh. As her face neared, she drew in the rich scent, amazed that she hadn't been able to smell her before. Baring her teeth, she bit down under Trace's arm, gently at first, more lips and tongue than teeth. Then harder as Trace began to moan.

Gandre Li bit her over and over, varying the intensity as she gauged Trace's reaction. Pleasure slaves had been bred for generations to have a high pain tolerance, and their pain pathways were linked with pleasure. Trace's endorphins were already running high, and every bite drove them higher.

Gandre Li nibbled her way down to her waist. Just as Trace was sighing, expecting to be satisfied, Gandre Li expertly flipped her over. "Now for your butt," Gandre Li threatened.

Trace squealed, but from the way she squirmed, she really liked it as Gandre Li pressed her teeth into the fleshy mounds, leaving tiny dents and red rings behind. She felt like she was branding Trace, though the marks would be gone tomorrow. Trace was practically orgasming, thrashing under Gandre Li's hands.

But she had promised to use the tingler, and she slipped it on her finger at the last moment, rubbing it against Trace's groin as she continued to bite on her buttocks. Trace was instantly driven over the edge, crying out over and over, "Gandi! Yes, Gandi!"

Gandre Li never felt so lucky in her life. Trace belonged to her, and she wouldn't let anyone hurt her.

* * *

Kwort swam into consciousness a few times as they were transporting him on a grav pallet. He couldn't tell how bad it was because of the numb-drugs he'd been given. But when he was rolled into the bio-bed, the pain jolted through the fog, rousing him.

"Whe' am I?" he slurred.

"You're on the Conviction. I'm bio-tech Budine Gamma. You'll be going to sleep for a few days."

Kwort couldn't see for the double image in his eyes, but the bio-tech appeared to be programming the bed. "'Ss it bad?"

"Nah, nothing that can't be fixed," the bio-tech off-handedly assured him. "You'll be as pretty as you ever were."

Kwort relaxed slightly, glad that he was assigned to a battleship. They had the best bio units in the fleet with the most up-to-date computers. If anything would know how to put a Deneb back together, ridges and all, it would be this bio-bed.

"The Beta-Captain who reported you sends her compliments," Budine added. "But I don't think the first officer is going to be so happy when he has to censure your two friends."

"The' not m' friends," Kwort replied thickly.

"No, I don't suppose they are," Budine agreed.

The lid of the bio-bed lowered over him, shutting out the light. Kwort smelled a sharp antiseptic with his next breath. The bio-bed would knock him out as it repaired his injuries. From the numbness and his inability to move, he wondered how many days it would take.

What a terrible way to start his career in the Fleet! Reporting for his first duty assignment on a pallet, after attacking two of his crewmates... no captain would look kindly on that sort of behavior. He should have walked away. The Beta-Captain who owned the slave had returned and stopped the whole thing anyway. Why did he have to get involved?

Now he'd have to watch out for Murroom and Kitarin. He only hoped he wasn't assigned to a duty station or barracks with one of them.

As the knock-out drugs took effect, that was his last thought. I've got to stay as far away from them as I can...