đWelcome Aboard!
For those who haven't joined yet, my P@treon offers:
âš Advance chapters (read way ahead of public releases!)
đ„ NSFW art with every chapter to level up your reading experience
đIf you'd like to enjoy early access and exclusive content, make sure to check it out here: [email protected]/Plash_Mount
(Just replace @ to a)
Thank you all for the amazing support!
â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â
"My god! Look!" Beth pointed at the pod racing in, bouncing to a landing ahead of them. Jorja cheered. Greta just opened her eyes and smiled weakly. Skinny shouted something to Lumpy. The man jumped from the cart and began to pick up stones. Both men rushed toward the pod.
"Shit! They don't seem exactly intimidated," Beth said.
"Come on! They stand no chance against a phaser!"
The landing was near perfect. The pod slid about a hundred yards past the startled group. As soon as it stopped, Ally hit the release button and began unbuckling herself. She heard footfalls and was shocked to see the humanoids rushing the ship. She grabbed two phasers. Dammit! They aren't supposed to do that! They're supposed to be terrified!
Ally jumped out and fought panic as she brought the phasers to bear on the huge running men. She fired both at once and was shocked to see them stagger for just a moment before rushing on again. Frantically, she dropped one phaser and twisted the control knob from "1" to "2" on the other, then raised it to fire at the leading man.
The blast caught him in the chest, and he took one step and fell heavily into the sand. Ally swung the gun around just as something flicked into her field of vision. She felt a sudden pain in her forehead. She pulled the trigger just as she blacked out.
Ally awoke to a gentle rocking motion. For a moment, she thought she was back aboard the pod, being buffeted by upper atmospheric winds. Did I rescue them? She opened her eyes fully to see quite a different scene. She was wedged in the back of the caged cart with the other three women. All were looking at her with concern mixed with disappointment.
They were also all naked. That shocked her until she realized she was naked too. Her hands were tied in front of her.
"Are you all right?" Beth leaned over to touch her head with similarly bound hands. Ally winced.
"What the hell happened?"
"These guys are pretty good at throwing rocks," the doctor explained. "One of them hit you before you could drop him."
Beth decided not to tell her how Lumpy and Skinny had stripped her with eager hands, chattering like kids as they explored her smooth, hairless body. Their massive fingers had groped her pert breasts, thumbs circling her nipples until they hardened, then dipped to tease her slick pussy. For reasons unknown, they didn't fuck her just loaded her into the cart, their cocks straining against their loincloths, leaving her untouched but dripping with unspent desire.
"The stun setting didn't stop them," Ally muttered. The enormity of what happened hit her, and she began to cry. "I was the captain's only hope," she sobbed. "Dyson wanted to come with me, but Hunter overruled her. We could've taken them easily with two of us!"
Briefly, Ally explained the plans they had drawn up and NASA's orders.
"We're not dead yet," Jorja said. "They didn't touch the podâit seemed to scare them, and not much scares these guys. If we can get away, three of you can fly out of here." She didn't say what she was thinkingâthat the pod might soon be swarmed with villagers, all curious about the alien bird.
"But now they have all our weapons! We're helpless without them." Ally sat up. "Shit! Why did they take our clothes? They can't possibly be interested in us. I mean, would you want to have sex with an alien?"
"We've been talking about that," Beth said gently. "Best we can figure, they've mistaken us for the women of their own planet."
"But we don't look like them!"
"Actually, we do. Yes, they have that ridge on their foreheads and more body hair, but otherwise, they appear to be a sister race."
"How could that be? Two races two million light-years apart?"
Jorja shrugged. "Score one for the creationists," she said, her voice laced with sarcasm.
"Don't be so dismissive," Beth replied. "It may be true that there's some controlling authority over the universe. How else can you explain it?"
"So you mean, in addition to being stranded, we may become the, uh, property of these men?" Ally was appalled.
"I don't know their customs. That's what we were coming down to find out," Beth said.
"Only now, we're going to get a more up-close and personal view," Jorja said.
Kate hit the radio switch again. "Letanya to Eagle Two, Letanya to Eagle Two." Static hissed in the speakers. Tears clouded her vision. She called up the transponder signals and saw all four grouped tightly together, well past the pod, moving slowly into the village.
Something had gone horribly wrong, and she was helpless to do anything about it. Damn Hunter! Kate knew she should've violated orders. This would not have happened if I had gone with her.
She closed her eyes for a moment to think about her limited options. The Letanya had a space cannon in the event it was attacked by another ship, but it did not have a weapon that could cut through the atmosphere and reach the planet. A cannon shell would simply burn up and explode eighty thousand feet up. It wouldn't matter even if they had such a weaponâif use of a phaser was a violation of the rules, how would NASA react to a request to blast the planet? And how would that save the crew anyway?
She could wait until another ship could be sent. That would take approximately a year. To survive a year up here, she'd have to go back into cryosleep and abandon the women to their fates below. No way.
Kate had to report in. Maybe NASA has some ideas. Damn! This is just what Hunter had warned about! She had no choice. The captain dialed up the radio transmitter, knowing her career was over at this moment. Only history would tell if she would be branded an idiot or a coward. Some choice.
"Houston, this is the U.S.S. Letanya. My worst fears have been realized. Following orders instead of acting on my instincts, I sent Commander Egerton down alone to rescue the members of the away team. I received a brief message just before landing, and everything appeared normal. However, it was the last I heard from her. Now, according to the transponders, all four women are being taken together into the village. I'm stuck up here without a podâ"
Suddenly she stopped, eyes wide. The escape pods!
She narrowed her eyes and looked directly into the camera as if it was Hunter's face. "No, that's not true, is it, Hunter? I've got an escape pod." Kate hit the pause switch, thinking rapidly. A plan formulated in her mind. She hit 'Resume.' "Here's what I'm going to do, Hunter, uh, Houston, and by the time you receive this, it will already have been done, so ordering me not to will have no effect. I'm going to take the escape pod down to the surface, go in, and rescue my crew. If we can, we'll return to the shuttle pod, provided it's undamaged, and send Commander Egerton, Dr. Reyes, and the injured Commander Hanson back to the ship. Lt. Commander Smith and I will proceed to the first pod as originally planned to destroy it. Commander Egerton will return for us after refueling.
"I fully realize I am violating your orders. I know my career will be over whether I succeed or not. But at least I will have done something to try to save my crew. If I fail, you won't hear from me or my crew again. We don't expect a rescue. We knew the risks when we took on this mission. The only request I make is that you see if you can pick up our transponder signals when another ship arrives. This is Captain Kathryn Dyson of the U.S.S. Letanya, out."
She sent the message and sat back. Pausing just a moment to reflect on the enormity of her undertaking, she rekeyed the signal and started a new message. "Houston, this is U.S.S. Letanya, requesting you send this personal message to the families of the crew." Kate could already feel the tears burning her eyes. "Brian and Donnie; Bill, Robert, and MargaretâŠ" Kate ran down the list of family members of her crew by memory. "I wanted to take this moment to tell you what happened to the crew and how bravely they performed their duties."
Kate described the pod flights, how everyone was cool under pressure, and the brave decision by Commander Egerton to go down alone to attempt a rescue. "I know they all loved you very much. I'm going down now to follow in Allyson's footsteps and try to bring them all back home to you. I know they would do the same for me or any other crew member. Wish me luck. Captain Dyson, out."
Kate put the ship into automatic mode, which should keep it in orbit until someone could come along and claim it if she was unable to return. She stopped by sick bay and injected herself with a transponder. She doubted the signal would last a year, but it was the only way a rescue ship could find her. Hell, in a year, they'd probably all be dead anyway.
Kate pulled the last phaser out of its holder and checked to make sure it was fully charged. She moved to the escape pod. There were two pods aboard the shuttle. Each could hold up to three persons, though it would be a tight fit. They were designed for one-way transport down to a planet or between ships. They had no engine and limited thruster control. A computer aimed the pod at the right angle to bore through the atmosphere, then the chute deployed, carrying the pod to the surface.
To try to aim the pod at the landing site of the second pod would be like trying to score a hole-in-one on a par four. The best Kate could hope for was to land somewhere within a few miles of the site. Even that would be miraculous, considering she'd be flying the aerodynamic equivalent of a stone.
She went to the bridge to check the latest photos.