Captain Amelia Degarde paced the bridge of her ship, the CSS Solemnity of Starshine. They were answering a subspace distress call from their sister ship, the Serenity of Starlight, whose last known position was here, in a virtually dead red dwarf star system on the outer rim of the galaxy. No sign of the vessel remained. After that brief transmission, opening with the most serious SOS code, the ship had vanished. There was no wreckage, no blast residue from an explosion, no signs of energy weapons being fired. Captain Degarde didn’t like not knowing what had happened. The few planet and moon sized objects orbiting the dull star showed no sign of any impact either. If it weren’t for the fact that the Starlight hadn’t sent any message cancelling the alert, nor returned to any of the nearby starbases, Degarde would have assumed she’d simply left the system and continued her mission.
The Starshine and Starlight were two light patrol vessels designed for reconnaissance, survey, research and occasionally, assistance and rescue to stranded vessels. Starlight had been conducting a study to map some of the more isolated systems on the fringes of Commonwealth space, a task ideally suited to her class. A crew of six was easily enough to handle these vessels, but the usual complement was enough for a three or even four shift rotation. The Starlight had a total of thirty spacers and scientists aboard when she left spaceport, but Starshine had only half that. She’d been ordered out with some of her crew on planetary shore leave, and no time to recall them.
Her tired crew continued to run every scan they could think of, quartering the orbits of the celestial objects and the space between them, but hope that they would ever know the fate of their sister ship was fading.
A sudden alarm burst through Degarde’s reverie.
“Hyperspace events detected 120 mark 30 and 290 mark 65, captain,” Lt. Bella Coarsan called from the sensor panel.
“Red alert!” Degarde ordered, not that it was necessary, with the siren already blaring. Rita Katawan at helm was already pitching the ship to avoid collision.
Steffi Tange at weapons control called out “Torpedoes armed, blaster turrets charged.”
Less than a second later, two ugly, brutish starships tore their way into normal space, each one about twice the size of the Starshine. Much of the superstructure seemed to be pointlessly vicious, and the rest was bristling with ionic cannons, torpedo tubes and worse. Pirates.
“Shields up! Target engines and weapons,” Degarde ordered. Tange immediately launched a barrage of quantum torpedoes towards the nearer of the two vessels. At this close range, there was no time to adjust, but it took the women on the command deck a second longer to process that the weapons failed to detonate or even damage the enemy vessel. The complete failure of the torpedoes left them mirroring each other, limbs weak and jaws slack in stunned horror.
Then Degarde felt the chill touch of twin prongs at the back of her neck - a tissue disruption blaster. A voice she recognised barked, “Don’t even try it!” And a second weapon flashed, sending sparks flying from the weapons control console, right where Tange had been reaching for the blaster turret triggers.
“Computer, initiate lockdown protocol Fellum Code Tango Tango Justice, authorisation Trojan One, Zero One.” It was Commander Marcus Fellum, one of the few men on the ship after she had to leave abruptly.
The computer’s voice sang out, “Lockdown initiated. All non-essential zones isolated from each other. Engineering and sickbay In full quarantine lockdown until release code is authorised. All controls routed to bridge.”
“What are you doing, Marcus?” Degarde demanded.
“Betraying you, captain. I’d have thought that was obvious.” He twitched, and almost without aiming fired another bolt from his second blaster at the stun beam Lt Coarsan had been surreptitiously trying to bring to bear on the ship’s rogue second-in-command. Bella screamed and clutched her burnt hand, the scorched stun gun skittering across the deck to rest near the forward bulkhead.
“Don’t any of you other bitches get any ideas about doing something heroic - because best case, you end up like her -” he gestured at Bella, whose knees had buckled with the pain, “Or worst case, you and your captain both lose your fucking heads. Now, Rita, you first: put these on, and put your hands behind your back.” He tossed Lt Karawan three metal hoops, one larger than the others. The smaller ones were obviously bracelets, but Karawan didn’t seem to understand what the third was.
“Round your neck, dumb cunt,” Marcus told her.
“Hey! Don’t you talk about my officer that way!” Degarde protested, but she didn’t dare to actually move or turn around with the gun at the back of her neck. It was enough to make Rita pause in her obedience, long enough to earn another bolt from Marcus’s second weapon, sending more wicked sparks flying from the console next to her. Rita lifted the hoop and placed it over her head. The metal morphed rapidly to shrink and close around her throat until it fit snugly, the band broader now with the excess material and forcing Rita to hold her chin up. She placed her wrists behind her back and the bracelets crackled with energy. Rita winced, but it was obvious that whatever it was, the energy had her bound like that.
“Kneel on the floor. When I activate the collar, if its elevation above the floor is greater than 100cm, it will deliver pain shocks - worse the higher it gets. Trust me, it isn’t worth testing.”
There were tears in Rita’s eyes as she fell heavily to her knees, unable to use her hands to help herself.
“Now you, Steffi. I’d hate to have to spoil that pretty face of yours.” Steffi knelt first before she put the bracelets and collar on, glaring at Marcus the whole time, but impotent against the threat of the two blasters in his hands.
“Now, Amy,” Marcus said to Degarde, using the shortening of her name she had expressly forbidden anyone from using, “Since Bella managed to hurt herself so foolishly, I think she’ll need your help with her restraints. We’re going to walk over to her, very carefully, and then she’s going to kneel and you’re going to put them on her. Aren’t you?”
“Over my dead body!” Degarde retorted.
“That would be a shame. But, I’ll happily make it over Rita’s corpse if that helps.” Marcus fired his blaster, the scorch mark from the bolt appearing barely 30cm from Rita’s knees. “If you insist. Or do you feel more cooperative now?”
“Frack you! Okay, I’ll do it.” Degarde capitulated, moving slowly with the disruptor at the base of her neck the whole way.
“I’m so sorry, Bella,” she murmured.
“It’s okay, Captain, it’s not your fault.”
“Enough chatter, ladies,” Marcus chided. “Get it done, and then it’s your turn, ‘Captain’.” The sarcasm in the last word dripped such acid it could practically melt through the floor plating.
With a lump in her throat, Degarde slipped the cuffs and collar onto her crew member, this time able to see the purple energy bolts crackle and spark between the cuffs to restrain Bella, before the collar formed itself into the tight, posture-enforcing shape. But she had no time to think about what she’d done. As soon as the collar was in place, she felt Marcus place another over her neck and it tightened, seemingly more so than for the other officers: she choked and clutched at her neck desperately, but that just made it easier for Marcus to grab her wrists and secure them, just as her compatriots were.
Once all four women on the bridge were captive, Marcus seemed much more confident - cocky, even. He strolled to the communications console. He opened a channel.
“This is Brother Muekush calling commander of the Sister Of Vengeance. The crew is secure. Two males, and 13 females. My reward is as agreed?”
“This is Fleet Commander Yera aboard the Sister Of Vengeance. You have done well, Brother. Your years undercover have indeed proved fruitful. You will have your reward. Prepare for our boarding party.”
“By your command.” Marcus - or Muekush, if that was his real name - operated controls on two or three more planes, orienting the Starshine and releasing the external locks on her airlocks.
It took a long, agonising minute before the pirate raider ship docked, and any shuffling of shoulders or knees to try to alleviate the discomfort met with a harsh threat from Muekush. But far worse was hearing the shocked screams once Muekush released the locked-down doors one by one, allowing the pirates to seize and overpower each small group of crew people in turn. But then, blaster fire, muffled by the bulkheads, could be heard. Someone was putting up resistance, probably in the engine room! It was a good place for a last stand, and maybe whoever it was down there would be able to take out enough of the raiders to take back the ship. Hope flared in Degarde’s heart, only to be cut down by an explosion.
“Two dead - the two males. Minor injuries on our side, and one idiot got herself stunned.” It was like a gut punch to all four of the bridge crew. Two crewmen had fought bravely and been murdered by some kind of grenade. And all hope of resisting or taking back the ship had died with them.
Marcus aimed his tissue disruptor at Rita.
“Captain. Open your mouth, and suck my cock. You have until the boarding party reach the bridge to make me come in your mouth, otherwise I turn your cute little helm officer’s innards into red mist. You have three seconds to comply. That would be one, two,-”
Degarde scrambled to obey, her lips touching the proffered cock head just in time to prevent Muekush carrying out his vile threat. With her hands behind her back, Degarde wasn’t able to use them to help, the way she would do with her male lovers back on the starbase. Instead, she had to bob her head frantically and make extra use of her tongue to try to stimulate the rigid, girthy member. She’d had no reason to know that Muekush was so well-endowed, but it was still a painful and brutal surprise.
“Ever since I got assigned to this ship, I’ve dreamed of this moment - none of my fantasies did it justice,” Muekush taunted her, Degarde’s mind going back over the two years they’d served together and realising that the whole time he had never respected her as a captain in the Commonwealth Starfleet but instead been biding his time until her could violate her. The thought made her more painfully conscious that three other women were watching her suck him off. The only consolation was that they knew she was only doing it to protect her crew member.
All at once, she felt the cock twitch in her mouth, and suddenly she was choking on thick, gooey come. She never let her lovers come in her mouth, either they fucked her properly and came there, or they wore condoms, or as a treat, she might let them finish themselves off on her tits.
“Swallow it, or Rita dies.”
Grimacing, Degarde did as she was told, the taste and sensation making her feel queasy. Just at that moment, there was a bounding on the bridge doors.
“Computer. Release lockdown, authorisation Fellum Omega Omega Omega.” He put his hand on Degarde’s head to force her to keep his slowly diminishing cock in her mouth.
The computer confirmed, and the door slid open to reveal a motley crew of humans and aliens all wearing black body armour and spikes, and carrying unnecessarily cruel-looking guns and hand weapons.
“Greetings, Brother - or should I say, Captain, now?” The leader of the group smirked. “A very pretty haul you’ve caught for us. We’ll get the livestock transferred to the Sister of Vengeance ready for departure.”
“This one stays here.”
“I see. Well, you were promised your reward. And I can’t say I disapprove of your choice. Although me, I’d pick that one. Feisty, if that blaster injury is anything to go by!” The raider pointed at Bella, who shrank away from his lustful gaze.
“Put this one in the brig, take the others to the cargo hold on Vengeance. Then report back here, and we can try out my new command together.”
“Aye captain! Lads, you heard him, let’s get these bitches stowed securely.”
Two pirates apiece dragged the officers to their feet and marched them, still restrained by cuffs and collars, out through the door. Their leader joined Muekush in similarly frogmarching Degarde down to the holding cell in the belly of her ship. With the forcefields engaged, she was a prisoner on her own ship. Although Muekush seemed to think it was his now. She heard him talking with the other pirate, presumably his new second-in-command, about who would take what roles.
* * *
Degarde felt the jump to hyperspace in her stomach, but otherwise had no sign that her ship was underway. The inertial dampers normally kept any sense of motion to an absolute minimum, so without a viewscreen, she had no connection to the outside universe.
She also had no way of measuring time. After picking herself up form the floor and sitting on the bunk in the cell, she had no motion, no motive, only her own thoughts as she squirmed in the cuff restraints. Feeling how the energy bindings intensified any time she tried to pull against them.
All she knew was that her shoulders ached by the time her captors returned. Muekush, accompanied by two of the other pirates. It was hard to tell with their inconsistent garb and casual demeanour, but she thought they were regular crew, at the bottom of whatever hierarchy the pirates ran. Muekush, too, was now dressed in his full pirate clothing, designed to strike fear into their victims.
“We’re nearly home now, Amy Degraded. Which means we need to get you out of that disgusting, inappropriate clothing. It would be disgraceful for someone in our position to be seen like this.” He gestured at her uniform. “Gentlemen, help her out.”
Degarde was ready for the forcefield coming down, and sprang into action,shoulder-barging the first pirate, and aiming vicious high kick at the head of the second. He went down, his head cracking against the wall. But in her speed, she’d lost sight of Muekush. Before she’d even completed the move, his elbow crunched into the side of her skull and, with her arms bound behind her back, she hit the ground hard, with shoulder and head.
She was only out for a few seconds, but it was long enough. When she had her senses again, she was on her back and Muekush was already shredding her uniform with a savage, fearsome dagger. The one she’d shoulder-barged was also getting to his feet. The one she’d kicked was still down.
“Impressive, Amy. But not good enough. You’ve never been good enough to command me, and that’s why you’re my property now. That was your only chance, and you will soon learn resisting your fate will only make it worse.” He already had her chest and crotch exposed. He pinched her nipple, making her squeal and writhe. “But, thank you for showing me how inferior this crudge was.” He drew the tissue disruptor and, just as the unconscious guard started to come around, he fired it into the hapless guard’s abdomen. Degarde screamed at the horrific, gory outcome. The worst part was that she could tell the guard was still alive, for the moment, in hideous agony.
The remaining guard held her down while Muekush removed her boots and ripped the fabric of her one-piece uniform from her legs. She tensed, ready for the cuffs to be released so they could strip her top half completely next. But although they lifted her into a seated position, they just yanked the uniform backwards down her arms. A sudden flare and crackle followed by the acrid smell of burnt cloth, told her the uniform had simply been burnt through by the energy binding. And she was left naked. The opportunity to fight had never materialised.
The two surviving pirates hauled her back to the cell, and Muekush bound her knees and ankles with the remains of her own uniform. “In case you go getting any other ideas like the one that got these two killed.”
The remaining guard looked up, suddenly afraid, just in time to see the tissue disruptor flare a second time. As he collapsed, he gurgled, “Why…?”
“The slave got the jump on you, too. I don’t want weak, unworthy soldiers on my ship.”
“You’re a monster!” exclaimed Degarde.
“I’m your owner,” he snorted, and dragged the corpse out of the cell before reactivating the forcefield.
He opened a comms channel to another crewman. “Two losers to clear up in the brig. Slave got the jump on them, I took care of it though. I’ll be on the bridge.”
* * *
By the time the two bodies had been dumped into a garbage cart and the floor mopped clean, the ship had dropped out of hyperspace again, and shortly after the cleaning crewman left the brig, Degarde felt the faint clunk as they docked somewhere.
Two more guards accompanied Muekush. Surely unnecessary given how she was incapacitated, but the two guards held her down anyway so she had no chance to evade what Muekush intended. He attached a chain to the front of the morphing metallic collar, and pulled her to her feet, while one guard put a knife to her back and the other untied her legs.
“Time to show you off to the crowds,” Muekush chortled, and gave the chain a tug. Degarde stumbled forwards, and despite trying to hang back, was unable to prevent herself staggering after him towards the airlock.
The airlock was docked at the end of a clear boarding bridge, showing a view onto a vast orbital shipyard and space station. She looked out and saw on a neighbouring spar or bridge, a ship whose underlying structure was sickeningly familiar. It had been painted black, and work was underway to add extra cannon and torpedo tubes, but it was unmistakably the Serenity of Starlight. Well, at least now she knew what had happened to her.
At the far end of the bridge, Degarde could see a welcoming committee. She realised she had only one more chance. Suddenly, she sprang forwards, charging down Muekush from behind.
A fraction of a second too late, she realised he was expecting her move. Her own momentum drove her diaphragm directly onto Muekush’s proffered elbow, raised at the last second as he stepped deftly out of the path of her onrush. Winded and retching, she collapsed to her knees, and Muekush followed up the elbow with a kick in the ribs, knocking the wind out of her a second time.
“I told you it was your last chance, but you didn’t listen. Now, you suffer for your arrogance. Stay down there, and follow like the bitch you are.” The energy cuffs abruptly deactivated,and he strode ahead again, the chain tugging on her collar and forcing her to scamper on all fours to keep up.
There were four people waiting, three more guards and a senior figure, whose platform boots and gold-encrusted armour made them seem to tower over the rest. They were clearly someone right at the top of the tree in pirate society. The armour hid their face and gender, but the automated voice had the higher inflection of a female.
“Welcome home, Brother. We’ve missed you this long 12 years. But I hope you agree, your prize is worth the sacrifice.”
“Exalted Sister, yes. I ask your permission to declare the name of my new ship.”
“She is yours to name, Brother and Captain.”
“Then I name her, Betrayal of Beauty.”
The armoured woman reached down and grabbed Degarde’s hair, twisting and forcing her to look up.
“No need to ask where the inspiration for the name came from. And this part of your prize?”
“She’ll need to be chipped, she is a fierce one. But soon she’ll do as she’s told. Her name is Amy Degraded, and I think even she will agree it suits her once her new life starts!”
“Wait, what does-” Degarde tried to ask what being ‘chipped’ meant, but a slap from the armoured woman, and another kick in the ribs from Muekush, cut her off.
“I do want to enjoy her one time, before the procedure,” Muekush smirked, “It’s never completely the same afterwards. But better than what’ll happen to the rest of the bitches we brought in.”
“By all means. You are excused, Captain. Give her a really good taste of what’s to come.”
* * *
Muekush dragged Degarde into a vacant cabin, which seemed to her grimy and ill-kept. She tried to get up, but even as she did so, realised it was a mistake. Muekush wrapped one arm around the collar, trapping her in a headlock, before dragging her over to the lower bunk and forcing her to her knees beside it. He yanked her arms behind her back again, and pressed her face into the dirty sheets. She heard the energy cuffs crackle again, and she was once more restrained.
She heard him fumble with the releases on his clothes, and instinctively clamped her legs together.
“Yes, that’s right, fight it. Makes it tighter and hotter for me,” Muekush taunted. She felt the heat of his legs either side of hers, his hands grabbing her hair and pressing her face once more into the bedding. She struggled, desperate to avoid what she knew would follow. But there was no escape. His thick,hard dick forced its way between her thighs and into her puffy pussylips. To her dismay, she found she was already wet, her body betraying her as never before. She’d had her share of hot, rough, sex encounters, but never like this, never against her will – but her body was treating it like any other, and she couldn’t understand it.
“Seems you like it like this after all, you filthy degraded piece of fuckmeat!” Muekush’s words brought the shame overflowing, her cheeks burning and tears dribbling from her eyes to mingle with the stale sweat and cum in the bedding. She sobbed despite her brave thoughts of resistance, with each forceful thrust slamming her thighs against the metal frame.
Muekush’s breath was ragged and rapid, his cock was huge and hard. Amelia’s tits were crushed beneath her, her own breath frantic and fractured by the force of the rape.
“Oh, stars, you’re so good – you’ve no idea what it took not to do this to you long ago – but I knew this day would come, and now – so will I!” He pulled out,and with a grunt and groan from him, Amelia felt hot, sticky semen splatter across her back and buttcheeks.
“I’d take your arse as well, but frankly, I think you need loosening up there before you could take me. Now, it’s time to get you chipped.”
She was back on her feet again, dragged down the corridors, feeling the cum drip down her body, painfully conscious that everyone they passed could see what had been done to her. But, she realised, there were other naked, collared, leashed women on the station, being led by their owners (how easily she’d just accepted that designation for these people!)
In a room that on any other station, she’d have called a clinic or medbay, Amelia found herself pushed face-first into a tightly-fitting alcove. The mask covered her face and closed around the sides of her head so she could neither see nor hear anything. She felt a backplate close around her head so now she was completely enclosed above the collar. She felt additional straps being fastened by hand by Muekush and whoever was running the clinic, so she was utterly immobilised.
“Please,” she whimpered, “What’s going to happen to me?” The men ignored her. Not that she could have heard their reply if they’d given one.
A few seconds passed, during which she imagined they were discussing her body,her recent rape, how she might be fucked again in future, or just confirming that chipping process. It was impossible to know. Then a horrendous, searing pain at the base of her skull. She screamed, a full, instinctive, complete scream that went on for every one of the ten seconds that the pain persisted, and left her shattered and out of breath, her vocal chords sore and battered just like her torso.
The searing turned into a throbbing ache and tightness, accompanied by a whirring that reverberated through her skull directly to her inner ear. Tears filled her eyes again as she knew she was helpless to stop what was being done to her head.
And then it was over.
The straps released, the backplate removed, two rough, masculine, pairs of hands pulling her backwards out of the alcove. Just a dull itch at the back of her neck, which she couldn’t do anything about because of her restraints.
“Enjoy your new toy, Captain.” The clinician grabbed Amelia by the cunt and shoved her backwards into Muekush’s arms.
“I will! Mindwiping this one would have been such a waste. This way, she’ll remember everything she was, and know just what she’s become, and I will be able to see that knowledge in her eyes every time I make use of her. I can’t wait for the full programming to set in.”
“Yeah. Remember to give it 8 to 10 hours, just to make sure. Don’t disrupt the process by pushing it too soon.”
“Right. I’ll put her in a cell until she’s ready.”
And they were moving again, deeper into the bowels of the pirate space station.
* * *
They had to be somewhere on the edge of the station, in its lowest levels. Degarde had lost all track of time, bound into a frame of restraints and suspended from the ceiling of a black, featureless room. The last thing he’d done before leaving her was force a thick metal plug into her arse, telling her she needed to be stretched.
"The chip we implanted in your brain – it’s going to reprogram your lizardbrain so that when you hear an instruction from a man, you will feel an intense need to obey it, however strongly your mind resists or hates what you’ve been told to do. You won’t be able to stop yourself complying. So, enjoy these last few hours of freedom, Amy. Because after that you will be forever degraded. Amy Degraded – I’ve called you that in my mind since the first day we met, and I learned your name. And now, I’m going to start training your butthole to be able to take my cock. It’s doing you a kindness, you need to be stretched so it hurts less later.
“See you in 8 hours, when your new life begins.”
She’d heard the door close behind her, leaving her staring at the viewport, gazing into the deep blackness of space, the only light in the room being distant starlight.
