K’rra traced a hand down along Kaster’s side, purposefully dragging fingertips and nails along all the sensitive spots. He moaned, then captured her wrist in his mechanical hand.

“No,” he said, looking into her eyes.

She blinked, her gaze captured by his. She was confident he could see her thoughts and knew she’d been touching him to distract him. Her charms wouldn’t work against him, making her insides melt. Since she’d become a willing slave, no man had resisted her.

“As a matter of fact,” he said. “Why don’t you take the appropriate position on the floor.”

K’rra gulped, “Yes, Sir.”

Pushing herself out of bed, she went to the foot of it and knelt facing him. She calmed herself with breathing exercises as she deliberately and carefully placed her hands, palms up, on her thighs. With a final breath, she pushed her chest out, knowing the effect her d-cup breast had on most men. She had no hope that Kaster would be so easily swayed.

He sat up, leaning against the headboard. He watched as he willed his arm to twist and bend, putting it through its paces. Finally he said, “Tell me.”

“Yes, Sir.” She whispered, then launched into her explanation. “I was a science officer aboard a Federated starship. Pirates captured us, and when an opportunity to escape was presented, I chose slavery.”

“Wait.” Kaster said, “Why? Why would you choose to be a slave?”

“It's difficult to explain, Sir. As a Gyth, my world was narrowly defined. There were strict standards for everything. Our role in society was determined by testing. Everything was. Who we could have unions with, if we could have children, what sorts of professions we could hold were all determined by testing. My performance was underwhelming. Rather than accept my lot, a lowly position in Gyth society, I shamed my family by taking a schooling slot in the Federated Naval Academy.”

Kaster interrupted, “Shamed?”

“Yes, Sir. Gythians abhor risk and individualism. My family was utterly shamed no matter how enthusiastic the Federated Systems were to have a Gyth attend their premiere academic institution. Through school and service, I did my utmost to uphold the standards of Gythian society. I was a model Gyth, prim, proper, dedicated to science and understanding.”

“But you chose slavery over that?” Kaster asked.

“Yes, Sir. When we were captured, everything was stripped away. The only things I wore were implants. And it was liberating. Being a slave freed me from the chains of my society. It didn’t matter how I felt about all the vile carnal things the pirates did. My whole world became service. And it was freeing. Rather than worry if this was proper or if that needed to be adhered to, I just did as I was told. And if I found moments of pleasure in that, all the better. As a matter of fact, not having a choice only left me the ability to decide if I wanted to enjoy these things. I discovered that I did. And I wanted more. Like I said, we had an opportunity to escape, and I chose not to.”

“So, the bounty is really the Federation trying to rescue you?” Kaster said.

“I believe so, Sir. I was one of the first group of Gythians to join the Federated Naval Services. Being taken and enslaved caused massive political fallout for the Federation.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Kaster said.

K’rra closed her eyes, “I wanted to, Sir. But I was under strict orders to keep it secret.”

“By Hol Vydon?” Kaster said evenly.

“Yes, Sir.”

“You are not my slave are you?”

“No, Sir.”

“You still belong to Hol Vydon.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“He wanted to know how I was able to capture a Fury.”

“Yes, Sir.” K’rra couldn’t open her eyes. She didn’t want to see the look on Kaster’s face. She imagined his hatred in her dark place. Seeing it with her own eyes would destroy her. “Not only did he want to know how, but he wanted to trap you in his web.”

“With you?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“And how exactly did he think that would happen? He thought I would fall for you?”

“No, Sir. He knew you would develop feelings for me. It was engineered to happen.”

“How is that?”

“I don’t just have Training Implants. I have so much more. Hol Vydon’s harem slaves are selected not just based on initial physical beauty, they must also have exceptional allure, sexual skills, and intelligence, as well as the psychological base to enjoy submission. In addition, he spends obscene amounts of money to enhance them further. Every single slave is schooled on every technique, every fetish, and every performance to further their allure. And after all that, there are the surgeries.”

“The additional muscles in your throat?” Kaster said.

“Yes, Sir. But there’s more. Surgeries further enhance the slave’s beauty, down to millimeter changes. Additional muscles were designed and added to pleasure beings in ways a natural slave cannot. We get these in our throats, ass, pussy. Added purely to make sex with his slaves unrivaled. Just wrapping my lips around you at his dinner party doomed you.”

Kaster’s voice was clipped, “It would take more than extra muscles to make me fall for someone.”

“Yes, Sir. There are more enhancements to ensure that happens. Buried within these extra muscles are glands that release a mixture of hormones designed to make the slave’s partner fall in love. They receive massive doses of Oxytocin, Dopamine, Serotonin, Vasopressin, Norepinephrine, and the list goes on. And other augments as well, my sweat glands release Estratetraenol, Adrostenal, and Copulins, all pheromones designed to increase attraction and desire. We are living traps. One scent and the victim cannot help but desire. Should they indulge their desires, they hopelessly fall in love.”

“You did that to me?”

K’rra swallowed hard, trying to alleviate the stabbing pain in her throat, “Yes, Sir.”

“And the nurse Bev, and the Simp fucked you? That’s why they lost their shit when I came to take you away?”

She sighed, “Yes, Sir.”

Silence descended on the room. She kept her eyes closed, afraid to open them even as tears stung trying to escape.

After a long pause, Kaster told her, “You were ordered never to reveal any of this.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Then why did you? Why did you tell me?”

Opening her eyes the tears spilled freely. She stammered, trying desperately to find the words. “I… I felt… I had to…”

“You fell in love yourself but were ordered not to.”

She choked, “Yes, Sir!”

The crushing pressure in her chest felt like it was going to burst. She wanted him so desperately to return the feeling. Knowing that even if he did, she would never be able to separate the truth from the hormones he’d been exposed to.

“Another system of control.” He said.

“Sir?” She asked. He sat on the bed looking at her, his face stoic and unreadable.

“Hol Vydon has created a trap so complex there’s no way to tell where control starts and ends. Your feelings could also be a part of that trap. With all the augments, who’s to say he didn’t turn off whatever normally inhibits you from falling victim to your secretions.”

K’rra was crushed. The swelling in her chest turned into a knife stabbing straight through her. She wanted to close her legs, and hide herself but remained frozen in her slave position. “Yes, Sir.”

Kaster continued, “I can only act on my perception of things. It's impossible to say which feelings are mine and which you lured out of me.”

He climbed out of the bed and walked to her. K’rra kept her eyes down, as a proper slave should. Being a proper slave, doing as told, was all she had left. If these were to be her last moments, she wanted to live by the standards that had given her the greatest joy in life.

Kaster reached down and put a hand on her jaw, forcing her face to look up at him. Through blurred vision, she saw him, stoic, his emotions masked, inspecting her, looking into her eyes to read her thoughts.

“You’re just a slave,” he said. “There is no malice in you.”

“No, Sir,” she whimpered, daring to hope.

“As I said, I can only act on my perceptions. Trying to see through the webs is impossible, so I can only move forward by being true to myself. You are a slave in more ways than one. You embraced slavery after pirates captured you. You were implanted then. It's highly likely the implants themselves made you relish your bondage.”

More tears trickled down her cheeks. “Yes, Sir. I’ve considered that. But I don’t care. I am a slave, now and always.”

“What do you think of going to Brandak?”

K’rra blinked tears away but more welled. “Brandak? I’m not familiar with it, Sir.”

“When we were at the library, it was the world the Fury’s ship was taken from. It originally belonged to a trader, but now Fury Jae owns it. We need to go find out what happened there?”

“I’m sorry, Sir?” she said. “You are continuing the mission?”

“Of course. Acting in accordance with my values. I was hired to hunt a Fury, and I am going to get that bounty.”

“But, Sir,” K’rra said, she wanted to ask his thoughts on everything she’d told him, but it was such a jumble in her head she wasn’t sure where to begin.

Kaster barked at her, “But sir, nothing, slave. I need you to plot us a course to that system.”

“You mean to continue working for Hol Vydon even though he’s betrayed you? Even though I am not your slave?”

“My perception right now is that you are MY slave. And if Hol Vydon says otherwise, well, we will just have to have some words about that.”

First:

Rogue Fury – Part 1