Sleeping only fitfully, her body waking her with every ache, she slipped out of bed early and hid the ring-key back in her uniform. She held the uniform up against her skin and looked at herself in the mirror. Something about her had changed. The uniform looked out of place, different. Her eyes, though, had something in them, a fire that had been lacking just a month ago. She let the uniform drop to the deck and looked at herself.

Turning slightly this way and that, she looked at herself, naked, as she’d never done before. Zed was willing to kill people for that, for her, for her body. Naval service had kept her fit, and there were things she hated about her body. Zed was willing to kill for it. What Federation man had ever hinted at such a thing?

Slipping back into bed she woke Zed as she was instructed, taking him in her mouth and hands until he roused. He dragged himself out of bed reluctantly as she rushed to the head and got the shower working. She waited for him inside the shower stall hoping the new bruises would be more easily hidden in the fog.

Zed entered and she soaped him with hands and breasts. She worked at the knots in his shoulders, so many more than hers.

“You going to check those capacitors today?” Zed asked rubbing his face hard.

“Of course, Sir. I’ve got Maxwell assigned. Kimura and myself are going to go over the power relays and flight systems as well.”

“Fucking void. I should have made you my first officer.”

Riley pressed her soapy chest to his back, “It's not too late. And there would be other benefits as well.”

“What sort of other benefits?” he said turning around and gripping her by each hip. When his eyes met hers he stiffened.

“Well,” she began, “I’m quite skilled at…”

Zed interrupted her, “Henfry is dead.”

Riley already knew, but she was uncertain of what to say and of her acting skills. She gave a little shrug and looked away.

“How would something like this go on a Fed ship?” he asked.

“It wouldn’t,” she said. In the hundreds of years of Federation, she couldn’t think of a single instance where a captain outright killed a crew member. She figured it might be possible, as unlikely as it was to imagine.

Zed nodded.

“Was he popular among the crew?” Riley asked.

“Popular isn’t quite the way to put it. But one of their own turns up dead… it complicates things.”

Riley was in uncharted territory. Where to go with this mess? She tried to imagine herself accidentally killing a crew member. That alone was horrific. But to do it on purpose? And with her bare hands? She shuddered.

What would she do if there were a mutiny? Not that there were any recorded instances of it in Federated history. She’d have a duty to her loyal crew… but could she pull the trigger?

The results of Zed's anger were obviously weighing on him. She doubted it was over the loss of the man who’d almost gotten them all killed with shoddy engine work. Watching him struggle with crew morale was interesting, a place where he walked awkwardly and without swagger.

Finally, he shrugged and said, “Blast it.”

He dried and left. Riley followed back out into the stateroom. He dressed quickly asking, “You think the targeting systems could use some dusting off?”

“It wouldn’t hurt,” she said, pressing her body to him as he pulled on boots. He glanced up at her, “All right, if you have time, add it to your list.”

He stood brushing her aside, “Anything else you can think of? We should be there in less than a day.”

“I have been meaning to ask,” Riley said, “What are the red alert and emergency protocols?”

Zed walked to the hatch and looked at her, “Good question. I don’t think we ever properly addressed those.”

“What should my people do if we are ambushed, if there’s combat?”

He paused uncomfortably, “What do you think is best?”

“I’d like them to take crash positions in the galley. But they would need to prep it without your crew thinking it's playtime.”

Zed laughed, “You don’t want to use the utility room? I’ve made it off limits.”

Riley thought of all the bits and bobs flying loose around the room as it shook and gave a horrified, “Stars no. The FOD will ricochet around killing everyone.”

“FOD?”

“Foreign Object Debris. Loose bits that fly around like shrapnel if the ship takes a hit and shakes hard. Oh, stars Zed, let me secure the bridge today as well.”

“Oh, great googly moogly.” He hissed, “If I shut off play time I will have a mutiny.”

“Not if you put them to work securing FOD with us. They’ll be too busy to notice.”

“Pirates? Work? Captain, you are talking about the wrong navy.”

Riley thought for a moment, “Do I have to hover over my crew to keep them from being… used?”

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out.” He said and left.

Touchy situation, Riley thought. Order the crew not to touch the slaves and prove Henfry right. Could a mutiny be touched off if things didn’t go well for the inspection? Was there a possibility that her crew would be taken by mutineers knowing even less about shipboard operations than Zed? Dangerous times loomed ahead.

Or maybe… Zed sensed that the inspection would go well, and she and her crew would be whisked away. Was it possible he was moody at the thought of losing her? It would be his own blasted fault, he could say no to the money. Or maybe… that was what plagued him, knowing he wouldn’t take the money. Singularity she wished he would talk to her. Like men in the Fed did. All right, maybe not that far…

She waited twenty minutes in the cabin, expecting Zed to notice someone had tinkered with his console and set a diagnostic to run. When he didn’t return, she left the stateroom.

When she entered the utility room everyone was waiting for her. She gathered them all together in a circle, “Today is going to be a little different. We’re going to be doing FOD sweeps, but we need to find a location as a safe room.”

Her crew exchanged shocked glances. It was Geller who asked, “Are we going to be in a battle?”

Riley nodded, “There is a possibility that things may get dicey tomorrow. So, we need a safe room, and as much FOB sweep as we can.”

What do you have in mind as a safe room, captain?” K’rra asked.

“What do you think of here?” Riley gestured at the utility.

“Captain! You can’t be serious.” Kimura replied, “This room… stars, most of the ship is flowing with debris.”

“There is the possibility that we move everything loose to the cargo bay.” K’rra said.

“That’s the other problem,” Riley added, “If things go bad, we need to be able to get to the shuttles. Loading the cargo bay with even more loose projectiles makes that a lot more dangerous.”

The crew thought for a few moments, then Maxwell said, “Why don’t we just use a shuttle as a safe room?”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and Riley said, “Okay, we’ll use the ship's boat as our safe room. We’ll still need to lock down as much FOD as possible. From the bridge, through the main crew corridor, through the cargo bay, and to the boat.”

“That’ll take us a week,” Geller complained.

K’rra replied, “It doesn’t sound like we have many options, Lieutenant.”

“She’s right, we don’t,” Riley said looking at each of them. If only there were a way to get Geller out an airlock.

“What do you think might happen?” Terellia asked with a hint of fear.

Riley considered keeping the crew in the dark and decided against it. The Academy taught individual initiative among all its members. Not telling her crew would limit their ability to make sound decisions.

“It may be nothing, but we are supposed to meet with an auction house ship tomorrow. Some of the raider crew believe it’s a trap. I don’t know enough about Coalition politics or customs to make a solid guess. If you hear claxons or feel high-g maneuvers, hustle to the boat.”

They all exchanged glances, some looking downright mortified. Riley hated being the bearer of this type of news, but they all knew eventually they would make their way to Coalition space.

“Can we launch it?” Geller asked.

Some things had to stay in the dark. “I’m afraid not.”

Geller looked angry and replied, “Then what’s the point?”

“It’s a second skin. A ship within a ship. If something blasts or tears through the Unnamed, at the very least, we have a chance inside a secure vessel not to be sucked into the vacuum.” K’rra explained.

“I think it’s a good plan, captain,” Maxwell said, putting a hand on Gellers' shoulder in an effort to calm her.

“It’s the best we’ve got,” Riley said. “So, here are the details… Kimura and Maxwell, bridge to calibrate piloting and weapons. K’rra, do what you can with that cargo bay, try to lock down as much as possible. The rest, roving detail, patrol the halls and any common areas we need to move through for FOD and just put it here in the utility room if you have to.”

They all gave Riley an enthusiastic, “Aye, captain.” Then began departing for their work areas. Terellia lingered and approached Riley when everyone else had left.

“Captain, I need to show you something,” Terellia told Riley.

Oh stars, nothing good ever came from those words, Riley thought. “What is it?”

Terellia went to a cabinet and opened it. She reached behind a stack of electronic components and drew out a pistol. Riley blinked, it was her service blaster. The one Zed had taken from her on the first day. And Terellia was holding it.

“What the? You don’t have a full set of implants.” Riley whispered.

“No, ma'am.” Terellia said, holding out the gun. “I’ve found three others. But I thought you might want yours back.”

Riley backed off not wanting to touch it. “I can’t. My implants… it's really fucking painful.”

“Oh.” Terellia seemed confused as she held the weapon awkwardly. “I guess, I’ll put it back.”

Riley stepped back to Terellia avoiding the pistol. She put a hand on each shoulder of the red-skinned meteorologist. “Terellia, I have an incredibly important mission for you. This is something you can’t tell the others, or fail.”

Wide-eyed, Terellia asked, “What is it, Captain?”

“If we get into battle, you need to go to the sick bay. There is a big metal tube hanging from the overhead. Do you remember it?”

“Of course, it seemed out of place in a medical lab.”

“Right. You have to go in there and blow that up. It’s the overseer unit that controls those of us with full implant sets.”

“But… what about the doctor?”

“He’s Avyrian. They’re pacifists by nature. Just point the gun at him and he’ll back off.”

“Captain, I’m not a soldier, I’m a meteorologist. I don’t know if I can do that.”

“You can. You have to. We are all counting on you to destroy the overseer Terellia. Tell me you’ll do this.

“I will captain.” Terellia looked torn, ready to burst into tears. She looked down at her naked skin and the firearm, then asked, “Umm, captain, where am I going to hide this?”

They shared nervous laughter, at the absurdity of the situation. Riley found a tool bag and emptied its contents. “Use this. Just tell anyone who asks it’s for FOD collection. Tomorrow, hide it for today.”

Terellia nodded and then gave Riley a crushing nerve-induced hug. Stowing the tool bag away, Terellia left, leaving Riley in silence.

Work. Work. She went to the sifter and emptied out the contents from the day before. The powder and bark fragments she disposed of. The seeds, however, she kept, crushing them with a hammer before finding a hot plate and letting them boil in water for an hour. She then mixed several cleaners and set them to simmer. She jerry-rigged a lid for her makeshift boiling pot that allowed the vapors of the cooking concoction to slough off. Near the end of the shift, she was done with a pot of hot syrupy liquid. Adding plastic printing shavings would cause a reaction, the resulting gas would be hallucinogenic.

Riley affirmed once again that if her crew escaped in the ship’s boat, they would need the bridge crew incapacitated somehow. This was a long shot, but her only real hope of achieving that without violence.

Most of the concoction was poured into a small work bucket and sealed. On top of that, she set a small bag of shavings. She wasn’t sure how to get this into or use it on the bridge. If the Unnamed got into combat it would be easier to pull off. If events tomorrow were peaceful, things would be a lot more difficult.

She poured one drinking cup of the fluid and took a handful of shavings. She couldn’t use a weapon she hadn’t tested. Riley knew that she needed to know exactly what would happen when she mixed the two tomorrow on the bridge. Her only opportunity to discover the true effects, without anyone else knowing, and potentially reporting it to Zed, was to test on herself.

Taking a deep breath, she tipped her hand, watching the shavings pour into the cup.

The reaction was immediate. A thick brown foam bubbled up, hissing violently. She was so surprised at the suddenness of it that she gasped, smelling Larnaberry pie. This, too, surprised her, and she took a whiff to assure herself it was the concoction causing the smell.

Stars! She realized as vapors tickled through her sinus and down her throat. She coughed and backed away, shielding her face from the fumes. Too late.

The first thing Riley felt was an odd lightheadedness. The lights in the room seemed incredibly bright, piercing her brain. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, trying to shade them from the oppressive brightness. Her orientation was off, and she had to grip the table she’d been working on. This brought her back to the smell of pie and fond memories.

The bubbling goo frothed with less urgency, but now it undulated, like a breathing living thing. It was so ugly that she backed away from it, nearly tripping over her clumsy feet. Her sluggish reaction caused her to crash into a cabinet barely holding herself upright. The cool metal felt so good against her bare skin that she gave it a loving hug. With a cheek pressed to the cabinet she watched its surface ripple like the park ponds back home.

A sense of giddiness overwhelmed her. Furry rodents danced and cuddled in her tummy. The thought of cute little micey-mice making a den in her warm belly made Riley smile. No ordinary smile but one that threatened to split her skull. Elated at all the new discoveries, she looked around the room, hoping for more entertaining thoughts. Cold, impersonal shelves, bright lights, and work thingies lay scattered everywhere. The crushing monotony of this drab room threatened to sadden her if the bunnies hippity-hopping inside weren’t sharing their cuddly warmth.

Staggering out into the hall Riley was surprised at its length. She’d never noticed how long the crew deck was before. It too was bright, painfully so. She shielded her eyes trying to escape, to find a cozy little nesting den for her and the little furries she carried inside her. She staggered in a random direction not quite remembering where any place was or went.

A hatch loomed at her. A vicious maw that wanted to swallow her. At first, it terrified her, but then her new little passengers whispered to her. She stopped to listen and realized the whispers weren’t her wuddly-cudle buns, but voices on the other side of the hatch.

The hatch melted sideways, becoming a part of the bulkhead with an angry hiss. She stared, trying to figure out where it had vanished to, then heard the voices, a room full of them. There were smells of food, but not pie, and she followed them.

She recognized this place. The galley. But it was different. Longer, wider, with too many scattered tables, like a forest of eating. There were others here, indistinct shapes, twisted faces that glanced at her and melted into other people. She staggered to a table and crashed down onto the bench in front of it. The slippery plastic top felt so good to touch, she let her fingers glide over its surface as laughter trickled from the voices behind her.

“Captain.” A soft beautifully lilting voice said.

Riley looked up into the ruby eyes, glittering a sparkly red, of Terellia. She watched the scarlet lips as her best friend, dearest friend, spoke, “Are you okay?”

She giggled, “Of course, I’m so so good.”

Terellia took a seat beside her, a red hand coming up to fall like a floating leaf on her shoulder. The touch was electric, warm, friendly, compassionate, melting into her skin. She wanted more, especially when the bunnies inside her turned to heated goo.

“Are you sure?” Her friend said.

Riley nodded and, in doing so, noticed the bare crimson breasts. They looked like delicious fruits, so ripe for picking. They undulated as if in a slow breeze, rising and falling as Terellia breathed. Like liquid in slow motion. Her friendly pond had returned to entice her to thoughts of warmer times. Riley reached out and cupped one. Her tummy tumbled, feeling oh so wickedly good. She’d never held a woman's breast before, it was overwhelming, erotic, and so wrongly right.

Terellia gulped, a cute little noise that echoed through Riley, “Captain?”

Riley looked up to her friend's voice. Full luscious lips, wet, and parted just for her. Above that though, a field of red tentacles, waving like grass on a windy day. Riley reached up and stroked them, relishing the delicious noises her friend made. She ran her fingers through them, and they gripped her, pulled her hand in, and urged her ever more to feel their tickling tendrils.

It took a moment for Riley to realize the moaning wasn’t herself. But the red-skinned, naked, stunningly beautiful sex pot of an alien creature in front of her. She’d never been with a woman before, willingly, and she couldn’t understand why. Terellia’s soft skin felt so good on her that she wanted to crawl inside the red woman and wear her warmly.

The moaning continued, and Riley had no choice but to silence it with her own lips.

First Part:

Degenerate Star Part 1