She smiles so sweetly up at me, nuzzling at my ankles. It's not enough to brighten my mood, but it makes me feel a little better knowing that she's trying.
"What's the matter, mistress?" she asks me.
What's the matter is, we've got a trade arrangement in this port for a piece of stolen art I've been trying to offload for a whole year now, but the buyer is a notorious swindle who's personally fucked me over more times than I can't count. I wouldn't even be humouring it if not for the fact that we've been sitting on what should be an incredibly valuable cargo for so long without a shred of luck getting rid of. I don't look forward to meeting this man again, I don't look forward to figuring out what kind of con he's going to try running on me, and frankly, I don't look forward to giving him anything on sheer principle.
But it's my fucking job, so I'll do it. Just not without any stress.
"Bad girl. Don't speak out of turn, pet," is all I tell her, though, and push her lightly with my foot.
"Sorry, mistress," she murmurs. I look down at her, kneeling and leaning forward on her hands, seeming a little uncertain. At least she'll be able to make this day better, once all the damn business is done with. And I know just the way.
I get out her leash, and put it on her collar. She looks up at me, her eyes lighting up, looking like she wants to say something. I just shake my head, and pat her.
"No, I'm afraid you're not going anywhere today," I tell her, and she frowns. I take the other end and tie it to the bed post, leaving her unable to move more than a foot before she reaches the end. "I need you to stay right here for me and wait for me."
She still looks disappointed, but nods obediently. Then I go fetch a length of rope, and crouch down. "Hands behind your back, dear," I tell her, and she does so right away. I wrap the rope around her ankles, binding them tightly to her wrists, leaving her kneeling and hogtied. The I walk in front of her, crouching down to her level.
"I'll have use for you when I get back, okay?" I ask her, and she nods vigorously.
Then I take her by the head, and I kiss her gently on the lips. They're so soft, so delicate; normally it makes me want to be careful with her, like I could break her by being too forceful, but this time that's all I want. I kiss her again, forcing my tongue into her small mouth, and she looks shocked. I kiss her deeply, letting her squirm underneath me, and she kisses back, eagerly, so eagerly. Her mouth is so sweet, we continue to kiss, passionately, easing all the stress that was on my mind, letting her murmur with pleasure into my mouth. I start to stroke her cunt lightly, on the outside, and I don't break off for a couple minutes.
I pull back slowly, and she kisses me as I pull away, again and again until I've pulled out of reach and she's hit the end of her leash. She tugs against it, looking desperately at me. I just smile, and pat her on the head, standing up. Now I have her just the way I want her; bound, helpless, and so desperately horny for me.
"I'll see you in a couple hours, Lady," I tell her, and despite my dread, I can't help but smile at the adorable look of horror on her face.
"Bye, mistress...," she whimpers softly. I turn and leave.
Out the door, out the hallway, out of the ship.
I hate the port at Corella. The architecture is horrid, with most of the port revolving around a huge, open, sterile white plaza in a ring around the central area. It feels so isolated and lonely, which is just furthered by the fact that there's barely anyone in sight. It always feels practically abandoned.
I make my way through the massive corridor, walking through the open gate of the local pub. Even it seems deserted, and I know that's strange. I go to the bar.
"Hey, barkeep! Your best Centauran, on the rocks," I yell at him. I always ask for whiskey before a business arrangement; nothing better to give you the fearlessness you need to negotiate with the sorts of scum I deal with.
"That's just going to water it down, you know." the man at the bar tells me.
"I asked for a drink, not a fucking opinion," I scowl at him, and he just shrugs and grabs a glass, not saying another word. "So where the hell is everyone? Is it always this deserted this time of year?"
"Nope," he says, putting my drink down in front of me. "But it's like they always say-- no one knows how to smell trouble better than rats."
"Nobody says that," I say.
"Well, they should," and with that, the bartender wanders off.
I take my drink, scanning the place for any sign of the man I'm here to meet. I see nothing; there's a table full of women playing poker with a single man, but it's not him, and that's the only patronage I can find. Where the hell is he?
"Mind if I join you?" a man asks me, sitting down at the stool next to me. I recognize immediately it's still not the one I'm waiting for.
"Yes," I snap, but he doesn't seem to move. I leave it at that; it's much too empty in here to pick a fight. I look over my shoulder again, scanning the place. That's when I see her; I double-take.
Outside in the corridor, I see Lady-- and I look closely again, to make sure it's her, and it is-- wearing an ill fitting naval officer's jacket over her naked body, large enough to go down to her thighs, being led off by a man in a white shirt and the bottom half of an officer's uniform. Son of a bitch. Son of a god damned bitch. They're coming this way, but Lady has a look of horror on her face when she sees me. I stand up, about to go after her, when the man next to me stops me.
"Oh, don't you even think about moving," he says, and I realize he has a gun to my head.
"Oh, that sneaky douchebag," I curse, realizing that the would-be buyer has fucked me over one last time. Sold me out to the Imperial Navy, he must have.
"Not half as sneaky as you," he says. "Tash Edwards, you are under arrest."
The poker players have gotten up-- it figures, they were part of the set-up too-- and one of the women has grabbed my hands, and shoves me into tight handcuffs. Another person might be amused at the irony. I'm not.
He's still holding me at gunpoint as the gang of undercover officers lead me out of the bar, towards Lady and her rescuer. I try to figure out some way out of this; but there's no way, absolutely no way I can overpower five armed officers, even if I didn't have my hands cuffed. Son of a bitch.
"You are hereby charged with ninety-seven charges of murder in the first degree, two hundred and eighty six charges of piracy, two charges of grand theft auto, and," he pauses, I can only assume for obnoxious drama, "high treason. Looks like you're going to get acquainted with the gallows real soon, Tash."
The officer holding Lady catches up, a look of disgust on his face.
"Plus kidnapping, unlawful confinement... and god knows what else," he says with contempt. "Probably rape."
"I'm not a fucking ra--" I start to snap at him, but he interrupts, hitting me in the face violently with his sidearm. It hurts like hell.
"Shut up," he says, glaring.
I glare back, and I know full well that I can stare him down; for all the good that'll do. Is this it? This is where my career, my life ends, being dragged away in an empty space port by a bunch of god damned Imperial officers, without even getting a fair fight? No blaze of glory, no one by my side... I don't even get the dignity of dying with the romance I always dreamed of. Just another pirate caught on a bust, thanks to a god damned snitch. So ends the life of Captain Tash fucking Edwards, I guess.
But then the next thing I realize, my attacker is on the ground, incapacitated, and as I watch the sudden throng of motion, it takes me a moment to realize what's even going on. Then I notice it: Lady is kicking the gun out of my arrester's hand, and then she grabs him, punching him right in the gut, then in the face, and as he bowls over in pain, she smashes him over the back with two clenched fists. Down he goes.
I'm left completely bewildered, watching in awe as she flies at the first woman, kicking one in the face, the other three finally realizing what's happened and rushing at her. She kicks one flying backwards, then she grabs one woman and throws her at the next, knocking both over in a heap in the process. She punches the remaining one standing in the face, again and again and again, until she finally falls over, unconscious.
She hurries over to the one with the gun, seeing that he's trying to get up; she grabs the pistol, and smashes him in the face with it. He stays down this time. Then the next thing I know, she's shot off the chains connecting my handcuffs, and has put the gun into my hand. I'm still just astonished.
"Come on, mistress, hurry! We have to run!" she insists, grabbing me by the other hand and pulling, and suddenly I'm brought back to my senses. We run frantically, hurrying back to the ship.
I'm left completely blown away. I didn't even have the slighest clue Lady could do that; fighting off six naval officers at once? Holy fuck, that's amazing, that's incredible, that's mind-blowing. She must be some kind of martial artist... I just can't believe it, all six of them at once, and she won? The weak little girl that I'd just left hogtied and whimpering did that?
I look at her-- if she can do that, how did I ever manage to keep her captive at all?
"I wouldn't be a very faithful pet if I abandoned you," she says with a much more chacteristic quietness, seemingly knowing what I was thinking. "Careful, mistress, there's five more on the ship."
She forces me to think of more practical matters, as we hurry through the docking doors, but I'm confident now we'll be okay, now that I have the element of surprise and a loaded gun. We turn a corner, and there's one dragging away Molly, shocked to see us; one shot, and the officer hits the floor.
"Come on, let's go!" I bark at Molly, and she scrambles to get behind me, as we rush back into the ship. Two more officers are in the hallway, one waving at the other to move. Neither gets the chance; I unload half a clip into the two of them, and they fall over, dead. We hurry, making way to the bridge, and another comes around the corner, and I immediately blow him away.
The last officer is on the bridge, his gun already drawn, the rest of my crew standing against the wall. Whatever he planned on doing, I don't give him the chance, and with another three shots, he hits the floor, a bloody mess.
"Lady, please wait in my quarters," I order her-- for all the authority I carry with her now, but surprisingly she obeys-- and then turn to my crew. "Come on, people, let's get the fuck out of here! Man your posts, ready the guns, Molly, I want those engines fired up and making double time, you got that? Let's fucking move!"
They all scramble into action, scowls, scoffs, grumbles, fury, and shock at just how close we came to death all around. The ship moves more efficiently than ever before, and miraculously, we manage to escape without getting ambushed by the navy.
Two hours later, once we're a safe distance away, I retire to my quarters. Lady's sitting on the floor, staring off into space. She's naked again, the officer's jacket nowhere in sight. I can't help but sigh a little.
"Please, take a seat," I tell her, gesturing to the bed. She hops up.
"I can't believe what just happened," I continue, sitting down on the edge of my bed, not too close to her. "That was incredible... La-- I mean, Jessica-- if you could overpower all of them, why didn't you do anything to me? Why didn't you just let them take me away... did you have something you wanted to prove? Shit, kid, what do you want? You want me to give you your freedom, you've got it... what else? A cut of the silver? A position in the crew? Do you want that? You saved my life, how can I make it up to you? Anything you want, you've got it."
She seems uncomfortable, nearly as much as I am, and she looks over at me.
"There's, um... I'd like to make one request, mistress, and then we can say that we're even? Is that okay, mistress?" she asks. I nod, of course it's okay, whatever she wants; I owe her my life. "A kiss."
I stare at her. "A... kiss?"
She turns away, grabbing the leash, still tied to the bed post, and unattaching the collar. Then, holding it, she looks back to me.
"Just a peck on the cheek," she says quietly, blushing. "No freedom, no 'Jessica,' no silver, no part of the crew. Just a kiss on the cheek, and you don't owe me a thing."
I stare in amazement, as I realize why she's so embarassed; she wants to be my pet, still. She wants to belong utterly to me, to be mine, to still be subservient and to still answer to that embarassing dog name. Not a dog, I realize, as I keep staring at her; I've somehow managed to tame a wolf.
And even deeper inside, shocked at her commitment, I realize that I'm in love; how could I not be, at that sweet uncomfortable blushing smile, and that extraordinary devotion?
I lean forward, and I show her how much I care in the only way I can; I kiss her on her rosy cheek, and agree to what she wants. She puts the collar back on, and holds up the back of the tag to show me.
"Please return to Tash Edwards," she reads, proudly. "Mistress."
I pat her on the head, trying to figure out where to go from here.
"I guess... now that I know what you're capable of, if I want to hold onto you forever, I'll have to keep you more tightly restrained, won't I?"
She stares at me, nodding enthusiastically in agreement. I guess now I just try to make things go back to normal; knowing that she'll be obedient to me, not out of fear or self-preservation, but wholly out of love and dedication. When I think about it on those terms, I think I can get used to that.
"Well... Lady, I'd say it's time you got back into your place, wouldn't you say?" I ask her.
Eagerly, she hops off the side of the bed, and goes to kneel down in front of me, bowing her head deeply. Then she nuzzles my ankles, and looks up with a huge smile, and love in her eyes.