The Voyage of the Astarte Ch. 04

Mariska awoke to the chiming of a comm device. She was disoriented, but the body stirring in bed next to her was enough to let her know what was going on.

"Hey," Mariska said, reaching out to poke the slender form. "That's your comm."

Svetlana Zhang sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She shook her head, and reached over to the bedside table. "Inspector Zhang, and this better be important." She paused while whoever was on the other line answered her. "I see. Send it all to my tablet. Thank you." Lana turned to Mariska, a small smile on her lips. "They found her."

Mariska was shocked. "Seriously?" Lana just smiled and nodded. "Alright then. I guess we'll rally the troops."

It had been six weeks since Lana had joined the crew of the Astarte. Six weeks of wild goose chases, dead end leads, and not a single sign of their target. To'varra Kashto, the Tauran geneticist responsible for a series of random attacks across Council space, had disappeared.

Lana had moved into Mariska's cabin after the first week. It wasn't as though she was using her own that much anyway.

The Astarte was in orbit around Nerallia, a medium sized world near the outskirts of the quadrant. They had stopped for three days to resupply and let the crew stretch their legs. Mariska had even been entertained by the planetary governor.

Of course, this being a Vollarian world, being entertained meant that Mariska ended up sandwiched between the governor and her daughter, both of their fat cocks shoved up her ass. Lana had been kneeling nearby, her lips wrapped around another Vollarian cock. It had been a good party.

The Astarte had been scheduled to depart in the morning and go to investigate some nearby systems where it was believed that Kashto could be hiding. Mariska didn't have much hope that they would find anything. But it sounded like their luck may have changed.

It was the middle of the night, and the only occupant of the bridge was a junior rating monitoring communications. She sprang to attention when Mariska and Lana walked in. Mariska waved her back to her seat. "Are all crew members on board?"

The rating nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Everyone is accounted for."

"Good. Alert the senior staff. I want them in the conference room in ten minutes."

"Yes, ma'am."

It wasn't long before her officers were assembled. First Officer Yralla, Chief Engineer Rasafani, Communications Officer Taggart, and Helmswoman Montrose. They all looked tired, except for Montrose, who was flushed and out of breath. Mariska could only guess what she had been doing.

"Alright everyone, there have been some new developments in our mission. Lana?"

Lana tapped a key on her tablet and the conference room's display lit up with a star map of the quadrant. On system was highlighted. "Two days ago, a survey ship investigating the planet P23X16-4 found an anomaly." The map zoomed in, until it showed just one planet. "They detected buildings, which shouldn't be there. The planet is uninhabited. In fact, the survey ship had been contracted by a consortium of Vollarian and Reformed Muslim worlds to determine suitability for colonization some time in the next thirty to forty years. So, they dropped a surveillance drone. This is what it saw." A screen popped up, showing the video feed from the drone. It was flying over jungle, and unbroken forest of green and yellow rushing underneath it. The buildings were obvious, like they weren't even trying to hide. Three low warehouses, built from what looked like the local wood. And a larger structure, made of some white stone. A group of people were on a patio, kneeling as though they were praying. One woman was standing in front of them.

She looked up as the drone flew overhead. The video froze on her face, and Kashto's ID photo popped up next to it. There was no doubt, it was her. Her quills were longer, and done in a different style. But it was her.

"CBI is sending a tactical team," Lana continued. "They'll meet us in orbit and we'll go down to effect an arrest. We don't expect any violence, but Kashto's cultists could resist. The plan is to take everyone alive for interrogation. We don't know if there are any more attacks in the works, and we need all the intel we can get." She looked over to Mariska. "That about covers it, Ma'am."

"Alert the crew, get everyone to their stations," Mariska said. "We're leaving in ten minutes."

The CBI ship carrying the tactical team was already in orbit when they arrived at P23X16-4. The planet was a garden world, lush forests and fertile grasslands stretching across its 4 continents. It would make an excellent colony whenever someone got around to it. But Mariska was more concerned with the current inhabitants than the future ones.

They met the tactical team on the ground. Both shuttles came in low and slow to avoid detection, landing in the clearing a few kilometers away from the cultist's compound. The Tacs were coming in fully loaded, wearing unpowered ceramic armor and carrying pulse carbines with underslung stun guns. Lana, Mariska, and her away team were more lightly armored, just a ballistic vest over their ship suits. Every crewmember had a stun pistol.

The tactical team was led by a stocky sergeant named Johansson. He briefed Mariska and Lana on the plan. "We dropped a few drones when we got into orbit. The compound isn't guarded, no fence or anything. There isn't any sign of hostile native life in the area, so we don't have to worry about that." He pulled a tablet out of one of his pouches, displaying a map of the compound. "There are three outlying buildings. These two here seem to be warehouses. As far as we can tell it's mostly food and medical supplies. But this third one is different, it has a security system, and our drone couldn't get in to take a look around. I'm going to guess it's a laboratory, or maybe an armory. I recommend that we secure it first before moving to the main building and taking prisoners."

Lana and Mariska agreed. The march to the compound was uneventful. The Tacs led the way, followed by Mariska's team. They paused once they got in sight of the buildings, observing the area for a couple of hours, trying to determine if there were security measures that the drones had missed. They didn't see anything. Johansson sent a few of his troopers around the flanks. They reported that all the cultists that they could see were gathered on a large patio by the main building, apparently listening to Kashto delivery a lecture or sermon. Johansson nodded when he got the report. "OK, I think it's time to move in."

At his command a small group of troopers broke off to secure the warehouses. There rest of the team headed for the third building. Mariska watched as they approached the door. They gathered in a stack to one side. The trooper at the front knelt down and fed a camera under the door. It was only a moment until she pulled it out and made the all clear signal to the rest of the team. Another trooper moved up and attached a device to the lock. He input a command in his tablet, tapped a couple of buttons to change some parameters, and the door swung open. The team flowed in, weapons up and ready to deal with any threat.

After a couple of minutes Johansson came over the radio. "Inspector, Captain, I think you're going to want to see this."

It was a lab, full of high end medical equipment. From the outside it looked like a simple wooden structure, but the inside was a sterile white. Cages lined the wall, mostly empty. There was a Vollarian chained up in one of them.

Mariska and Lana paused in front of her. It was obvious that Kashto had experimented on her. Her proportions were grotesquely bloated. Tits twice the size of her head sagged from her chest, tubes running from her nipples drawing away a constant flow of milk. The Vollarian's cock was similarly enhanced, a massive pole nearly dragging on the ground. Fat globs of cum were squirting out it into a collection tub, the Vollarian's urethra dilating obscenely every time another burst of spunk emerged. Her eyes were gone, blank with mind destroying pleasure. A ball gag was stuffed in her mouth, but she was eerily silent.

"My god," Lana said. "I don't know if we'll be able to save her." She looked at the other cages. "How many others were here? How many people has she destroyed like this?"

Mariska didn't have any answers for her. She moved down to the only other cage that was occupied. A frisson of unexpected arousal ran through her when she saw what was there.

It was a Praxian Slobber Hound. The matte black, eyeless head was turning, blunt nose trying to sniff them out. Just at the edge of her hearing Mariska could sense the ultrasonic whine that the hound emitted. An internal sonar that species used instead of eyes. It was restrained as well, it's movements limited so that the aphrodisiac drool that gave the Slobber Hounds their name could drip into another collection tub, to be whisked away to some unseen storage tank.

Mariska though back to that day, years ago, when she was hiking in what was supposed to be a safe park on Prax. Her only warning was the vague sense of something watching her. And then the hound was on her, pushing her to the ground, its claws ripping at her clothes. A mouth clamped down on her neck, surprisingly gentle for something with all those sharp teeth. She struggled for a moment, but then the chemicals in the hound's drool kicked in. Sparks ran along her nerves, making her moan at the creature's every touch. When the hound thrust into her with its two cocks she came immediately, the sensation of her pussy and ass being filled was too much for her system to handle. Mariska lost track of her orgasms, lost track of time, as the hound fucked her. After what felt like an eternity, the hound came, filling her with its cum.

She stumbled back into her campsite naked, her skin burning, the hound's cum already working its magic on her body. Mariska's lover at the time, a Praxian third sex, had known what happened immediately. It also knew the best remedy, coaxing her to orgasm after orgasm with its ovipositor buried deep in her dripping cunt. It had held her while her breasts expanded out, and her milk began to flow.

Mariska shook her head to clear the old memories. She turned to Lana and Johansson. "Let's finish this."

Kashto was waiting for them. Her cultists, about forty of them, were on their knees, hands in the air, already surrendering. Kashto was sitting in on what could only be described as a throne. She stood as they approached, here hands spread in welcome. "Inspector Zhang, how nice of you to come visit me. And you brought friends. What have I done to deserve such an honor?"

It was obvious to Mariska that the Tauren had been testing some of her genetic payloads on herself. In all the old images of Kashto that Mariska had seen, she had been slender, like most of her species. Not now. Massive breasts shifted under her robes, an ass and thighs to match shifting as she stepped down from her raised platform.

Lana walked up to Kashto and looked into her eyes as one of the CBI troopers came around to restrain her. "To'varra Kashto, by order of the Galactic Council I am placing you under arrest. You will be charged with the crimes of genetic tampering and sexual assault. An attorney will be provided to you when the CBI is finished interrogating you. Do you have any questions?"

Kashto tilted her head, yellow eyes going wide, and smiled. Her mouth was full of dozens of tiny, sharp teeth. "No need to be so formal, Inspector. I know you've been trying to get your hands on me for some time now. Why don't you take these cuffs off, and we can going inside so you can... interrogate me all you want." Her black tongue flicked out, running suggestively over her lips.

Lana didn't respond. She motioned to the trooper to take Kashto away. Johansson's men were cuffing the rest of the cultists, meeting no resistance. The shuttles were en route, ready to take everyone back up to the ships.

Mariska and Lana walked over to where Johansson was standing. "That was much easier than anticipated," He said.

"Too easy," Lana replied. "I don't know what she's got planned, but I know something's coming."

"I suppose you're right. We'll get it out of her. We know how to conduct and interrogation in the CBI," He said. Johansson paused for a moment. "What about the Vollarian and the hound that are in the lab?"

"The Vollarian needs medical help. Though I don't know what good it'll do. She'll have to come with us," Mariska said. "Kill the hound."

Johansson looked at her. "Kill it? Are you sure?"

"Yes." Something in her voice told him not to ask more questions.

The prisoners were loaded in an orderly fashion, and it wasn't long before they were ready to be transported up to the CBI ship. The Vollarian was strapped to a stretcher, panting and moaning, slick with her own milk and cum. Johansson took care of the Slobber Hound on his own, putting two shots from his pulse carbine through its brain. They left the rest of the facility untouched, waiting for an evidence exploitation team to come through and sweep the place.

"So where to now?" Mariska asked.

"The Kranak system," Johansson said. "It's about a twenty hour trip by hyper. There's a secure CBI facility in orbit around the fifth planet. We can begin our interrogation there. I'll make sure your navigator gets the coordinates and necessary clearances for the facility." He nodded to Mariska and Lana, and walked up the ramp into his shuttle.

That evening, when they were nestled together in bed, Mariska couldn't sleep. "What do you think is going to happen?"

Lana stirred beside her. "I don't know. If I had to guess? Kashto probably has some other attack set up, ready to launch if we don't free her. Maybe she needs to call in a code every day, or something like that to stop it from launching. That's what I would do if I were her."

"And what will you do about it?"

"I'm going to break her. She'll tell me everything I want to know when I'm done with her."

They lay there in silence for a moment, until Mariska finally got up the courage to ask the other question that had been bothering her. "Are you going to be leaving us at Kranak?"

Lana sat up and looked over at her. "By 'us' do you mean you?" Mariska could only nod. "I guess. This has all moved so fast that I hadn't really thought about it."

"Neither have I. But..." Mariska needed a second to organize her thoughts. "I've enjoyed our time together. You're a fascinating woman, Lana."

"Thank you. My time on this ship with you has been eye opening, to say the least." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Part of me wants to ask the Fleet and CBI to assign you and the Astarte as my personal courier. But I don't think they'll do that."

"No, they won't."

Lana thought for a moment. "I live on Armstrong. And you come through there a few times a year, right?"

"Two or three, depending on our patrols."

"Let's stay in touch then. And when you come through, look me up. I'm not going to make any promises, but I'd like to see you again."

Mariska smiled. "I'd like that too." She leaned in and kissed Lana, gently at first, but then with passion.

Her hand was just tracing up Lana's thigh when her intercom chimed. It was Yralla. "Ma'am, we're about fifteen minutes out from Kranak. You said to alert you."

Mariska broke away from Lana with a sigh. "Thank you, Yralla." She turned back to Lana and rolled her eyes. "They always have the worst timing."

The CBI station was unimpressive. A blocky chunk of metal in orbit around a brown gas giant. It was the only thing in the system. The interior wasn't any more remarkable, a succession of identical corridors, anonymous doors leading off to offices and living quarters.

A party of CBI troopers was waiting for them. They took the cultists off to their holding cells, while Johansson, Lana, and Mariska escorted Kashto to the interrogation room. She was quiet, her bravado seemingly gone. But Mariska had the feeling that she wouldn't break easily.

When the arrived at the interrogation room Mariska waited outside while Lana escorted the prisoner in. She was back in a moment. Mariska got a quick glimpse into the room. Kashto was already tied up to the wall. A pair of CBI personnel were attaching contacts to her temples and her black nipples. She was in for a long day.

Lana gave Mariska a small smile. "So," She said.

"So." Mariska wasn't sure what to say now. A part of her wanted to grab Lana and run back to the ship. She could leave the fleet, and Lana could leave the CBI, and they could go to some quiet world and run a bar, or something. It was an impossible dream, but for a moment, it was all Mariska wanted.

Judging by the look in her eyes, Lana was having similar thoughts. She hesitated for a moment, and then wrapped Mariska up into a tight hug. "You know how to reach me. If you don't stay in touch I'm going to find you." As she pulled away she kissed Mariska on the cheek. And then she was heading back into the interrogation room.

Mariska walked back to the dock with Johansson. "That was a job well done, Sergeant."

"Yes, Ma'am, it was," Johansson said. "If the opportunity ever comes up I look forward to working wi..." The station shook around them, and the sound of a distant explosion cut him off. "What the hell was that?"

Another explosion rang out, closer this time. And then they heard a scream, getting louder and louder. One of the cultists ran from a side corridor and dove into an open door. There was a blast, throwing Mariska and Johansson to the floor.

"Fuck!" Mariska said. "Didn't you search them when you brought them on board?"

Johansson looked offended. "Of course we did! Full scans. None of them had bombs." He brought a hand up to his ear. "Wait one. Go for Johansson." He listened for a moment as a report came in. When he turned back to Mariska his face was pale. "The guards down at the cells killed a few of them before they could blow. There aren't any bombs, not on them or in them. They are the bombs. Kashto did something to them! This was all planned. It had to have been."

"Shit. Lana." Mariska got off the floor and began to run back the way she had came. But it was too late, the corridor was already ruined, mostly blocked by twisted metal and fire. She grabbed Johansson. "Is there another way around? This has to be about Lana."

"Yeah. But it's gonna take us a minute. I..." The station rumbled with an even larger detonation. Johansson received another report immediately. "Shit. That was the command center they just took out. The whole station is defenseless."

Mariska thought for a moment before activating her own comm. "Holmes to Astarte."

Yralla came through right away. "Ma'am, what's going on in there? We're getting a lot of conflicting reports."

"Kashto wanted to be captured. She wanted to come here. This was her plan. She's going to try and take Lana."

"Take her where? She can't go anywhere," Yralla said.

"Are there any other ships in them system that we can pick up?"

"No, I don't... Wait. One just dropped in from hyper. Small, but she's moving fast."

Mariska turned to Johansson. "Can Kashto get to the shuttles from where she's at?"

"Yes'" He said. "She would have a fairly direct route."

"Ma'am," Yralla said. "A shuttle has just launched from the station. It's on a course for the unknown ship."

Mariska's confusion and fear turned to resolve. "I'm coming back to the Astarte. Sound battle stations, we're chasing that ship."

When she got to the bridge, Kashto's ship was already heading out of the system. Mariska saw the vectors displayed on her screen and knew right away that the Astarte wouldn't be able to catch her. "How far ahead of us will they be?"