Aisha made her way out the door and towards the bridge leaving behind a stunned half unconscious Jim and a suspicious and flustered Paige. Who in the hell could be stupid enough to attack the Orta Hone Hone? Aisha was in command of one of the Ctarl Ctarl home worlds flagships! It was a battle cruiser practically in a class of its own. The only other vessels that could even compare were also Ctarl Ctarl spacecraft. So who the hell would even dream of attacking them? Kei pirates, terrans with a death wish? Aisha was about to find out.

Aisha stepped out onto the bridge, several Ctarl Ctarl officers were preoccupied with the monitors in front of them. Aisha called out to one of the officers, “Christian, who’s got the cajones to fire at my ship?....... We didn’t catch up to the Maiden’s Virture did we?”

“No….. this is a much smaller class ship…….. heavily damaged……… it seems they just sent out a distress signal. Also, by it’s colors and design, I think we can assume it’s a standard Heifong M class Destroyer.”

Aisha pushed his head out of the way to get a better look, the officer grunted in annoyance, “A Destroyer? They call that dinky little thing a Destroyer?” Aisha unleashed her trademark scratchy laugh, “Oh, that’s rich! Compared to the Orta Hone Hone it looks more like a flying tin can!”

“Indeed.” The officer agreed.

“What sort of fire power are they boasting, if any.” Aisha mocked the lesser vessel.

“Standard destroyer turrets, as far as I can tell they don’t have any additional weaponry modifications and, if they have missles or beams of any sort, they have yet to reveal them.”

“Hmph….” Aisha’s merriment was quickly turning to annoyance and anger, terrans attacking Ctarl Ctarl was pretty ridiculous in of itself but to do it with such a pitiful spacecraft? The impudence!

“Catch them quickly.” Aisha commanded, “Don’t let them slip away; I want them boarded, now!” The ship did it’s best to slip away, hoping the humongous battle cruiser wouldn’t be capable of pursuing them, but it was no match for the larger vessel. Their attempted flight brought back memories of when Aisha used to be Commander of the Orta Hone Hone. The last time a smaller ship had defied her and escaped it had contained Hot Ice Hilda. Aisha did get to execute the pirates who’d been chasing after them but they were pretty tasteless. Later that day she’d been demoted, exiled really. Forced to search for the legendary Galactic Leyline for her ineptitude. It was a wild goose hunt but she’d actually found it, and though the Ctarl Ctarl Empire hadn’t been able to pillage it, she’d been reappointed to her rightful position.

Failing to capture Hot Ice Hilda pissed her off to no end…. But in a way it might have been a good thing. What if she had caught the infamous outlaw? Hilda would’ve been executed Ctarl Ctarl stile, broken down in the Commander (or their first mates belly). Aisha would have enjoyed that but she realized Hilda’s crew would have been given a similar sentence. Gene, Melfina, and Jim. The thought of her three friends squirming around inside someone’s stomach suffering excruciating pain wasn’t something she enjoyed contemplating. What’s worse is Aisha preferred younger prey. She probably would’ve saved Jim for herself. While at one time Jim would have made a delicious and nutritious meal the thought of gobbling up her little brother now only made her queasy. Maybe she wouldn’t have eaten him. Jim was extremely likeable, there was a chance she would’ve postponed her meal indefinitely and just made him a slave. Things could have ended up much like how they were now. She liked to think that’s what would’ve happened, but it was only speculation.

“Er…. Commander?” Aisha shook her head slightly, clearing it of her thoughts, “Yeeeeeeees?” Aisha asked looking down at Christian.

“We’re infiltrating the ship now. It should only be a few minutes before we have the terran captain secured.”

“Good, I want to have a word with that putz!”

…………………………………………………………………….

Jim did his best to cover for Aisha. He didn’t feel he needed to keep their relationship hidden around Paige but he wouldn’t betray Aisha’s trust. He’d keep her in the dark, at least for a little while longer.

“Jim you don’t need to defend that awful woman! If she just came here to taunt you it’s fine, tell me. Even a commanding officer shouldn’t be allowed to bully someone’s friend without due cause! It’s wrong.”

“I’m glad you think of me as a friend and not a slave Paige but that doesn’t change my status.”

“I- I know, I’m just saying…..”

“Don’t worry about it, she didn’t come to taunt me, smother me, or anything negative. Just to check up on me, nothing more.”

“Why would she do that?” Paige asked, she was completely vexed by the Commander’s actions. Paige was used to being in the know and she was good at reading people, but Commander Clan Clan had her completely baffled.

“We got along well.” Jim admitted, without admitting their relationship, “Never once did she abuse me.”

Paige stared into his eyes, critically, trying to determine if was just trying to put on a brave front for her, “I………………….. believe you. I think you’re telling me the truth Jim, it’s just that Trisha told me stories about Aisha’s past slaves. Trisha told me she treated most of them cruelly and ALWAYS ate them kicking and screaming.” Paige shivered, though she ate terrans too she didn’t like when they kicked and screamed. It made her feel horrible emotionally….. and physically, wriggly terrans could really give her an upset stomach. She tended to eat smaller brattier prey. When they weren’t rude or cruel to her she had a hard time eating them. She’d usually let them go even knowing they’d just be eaten by someone else. Paige could never imagine eating her own slave though (not to mention even owning a slave, she felt the practice was disgusting). Getting to know someone over the course of several weeks, maybe even months. Even if you didn’t like them that much, after they became more than just a face, how could you bring yourself to eat them? The fact that the Commander not only DID eat her slaves but, according to Trisha, visibly enjoyed it made Paige’s tummy do summersaults.

“Well that was then and this is now. Aisha…….. is rather fond of me.” Jim conceded, “She wouldn’t hurt me and if she wants to talk to me or see me don’t worry about it. She isn’t going eat me or tease me.” Jim reassured his new owner.

“Well…… okay.” Paige sounded pretty unsure, “If…… if you trust her then I guess I’ll just have to learn to trust her myself.” Jim was so insightful and intelligent. If he thought the Commander wasn’t a threat…….. maybe she wasn’t. Still, Paige wouldn’t let her guard down around the woman. She’d try to be a little less hostile but, despite what she’d told Jim, she still remained somewhat suspicious of the older woman.

“…… I guess I should change!” Paige squeaked suddenly, “Only now did she realize the only clothing she had on was the towel tied around her torso, she quickly dodged out of Jim’s line of sight back into the bathroom. The terran boy chuckled, his cheeks going a little red as well.

“I, I, I, I, I’ll be out soon and then we can all go to dinner.” Paige stammered.

“Take your time.”

Paige felt like banging her head against a wall, she’d come out practically nude! Did he think she was a ‘loose’? Paige had read about ‘loose’ women before and had seen a documentary or two. That was NOT the impression she wanted to leave Jim with and it certainly wasn’t the type of girl he’d be interested in. The way she’d been acting in front of him he probably had thought she was an overemotional, clumsy, klutzy, little kid. Now he probably thought she was sluty too!

“Nice going Paige.” The young shy Ctarl Ctarl berated herself. Lately she’d been feeling even more and more self loathing, being around stronger braver Ctarl Ctarl had sort of made her more aware of her own deficiencies, but being around Jim was like having the closet door blown off it’s hinges. She felt as if her faults were completely exposed. Daydreaming about Jim growing to love her was stupid. She’d be lucky if the terran boy would one day grow to even like her!

……………………………………………………………………………………………………….


“So you just fire on every ship you come across in case it’s the Maiden’s Virture?” Aisha asked skeptically.

“No, we were desperate; they’ve been pursuing us for days. We detected your ship on our radars. It doesn’t pick up size and we didn’t wait for confirmation. We just fired to defend ourselves.”

“For all you know we could have been allies, or a refugee ship. And you just fire on us without confirmation?Coward.” Aisha muttered the last word under her breath, the man hung his head ashamed, “Well, it doesn’t matter now. What’s done is done. So, what can you tell me about this Milky Way cruiser?”

The man’s look of shame was quickly replaced by one of anger and resentment, “Don’t call it that! It’s an Earth ship, Earth! Who the hell are they to claim dominion over millions of stars and planets? The vain bastards. Just because no ones inhabiting it doesn’t make it theirs. Hell, Heifong could claim the Milky Way too and it would be just as true and valid a claim!”

“So, this Milky Way cruiser,” Aisha continued, ignoring his outburst, “What can you tell me about it.”

“I don’t know much about the Maiden’s Virture…… only that their captains an evil prick that deserves to have his teeth kicked in! The smug bastard’s been toying with me and my crew for the past 3 days nonstop.”

Aisha’s eyes lit up, “So their ship must be near by. Good, I’d like to talk to their captain. I’ve got a number of questions for him.”

“Like what?” The Heifong captian asked, puzzled.

“How strong are the Milky Way forces, What are their numbers, What tech do they have, how many ships are currently within their fleet, how many are in production, how many bases and planets do they have scattered around the universe, would they possibly be interested in allying with the Ctarl Ctarl, could they get us in touch with higher up officials within their government, and what the hell is a Virture?........ Among other things.”

“A- ally?” The captian looked faint.

“Don’t worry, we haven’t decided on who we’re joining up with. Truth be told I’m pulling for you guys!” Aisha winked and shot him a thumbs up.

The captain sighed, a little more relieved, “That’s good, so the Ctarl Ctarl are neutral now right? You’re going to let us go?”

“I never said that!” Aisha pouted.

“But, but…… We aren’t enemies and we aren’t in Ctarl Ctarl space!” The captain blubbered.

“But you DID shoot at us.” Aisha pointed out.

“I…. I can tell you anything you want to know about Heifong. I’m a wealth of information!” The captain quickly tried to prove his worth to the Ctarl Ctarl Commander, he failed miserably.

“You’d sell out your own people just to increase your own puny terran lifespan? Disgusting! You should be ashamed!”

“But…. I know-“

“We’re well aware of what Heifong system is capable of.” Aisha cut him off, “We’ve gone to war with you in the past and we’ve kept our eye on ya. It’s the Milky Way system that’s an enigma.”

“Ask me anything,” The captain was on the verge of tears as he pleaded for his life, “I’ll tell you anything I know, please!”

“Weeeeeeeeeeell, I suppose I do have one question for you. Do you think you’d go better with red wine…… or white? Christian, have this man escorted to the kitchen. He’ll be my meal for the evening. Store his crew with the refugees.”

The captain fainted away, the two Ctarl Ctarl ignored him, “We’re running out of room for all these provisions. The storage rooms and containment cells are quite crowded.” Christian pointed out.

“Don’t worry.” Aisha told him, picking at her teeth, “I’m sure we’ll have plenty of room freed up soon enough.”

..........................

Back at Paige's room the two were ready to meet up with Allison and Trisha.