Empress Tetra listened as the admirals explained the space fleet’s situation. She wasn’t playing close attention, her thoughts elsewhere…

Nea, she thought for the millionth time, where did I go wrong? She had been harsh, but Nea’s transgressions had been severe throughout her adolescence, she’d fallen away from her sisters, embraced her supposed Zetan identity when she no longer felt at home in her family. Now her own daughter was involved in a plot to overthrow her… This wasn’t supposed to happen anymore, she thought miserably, maybe royalty could never be like a human family, or even a Zetan family, but we could have grown beyond this…

“As you can see your majesty,” the Zetan admiral said, pointing to a holographic star chart that dominated the meeting chamber, “the Cephalos are blocking hyperlanes one after the other, they seem to be probing us, cutting off the outer systems. They’re probably confused as to why we have not retaliated.”

A human advisor in a military uniform stood up, “I can assure you ladies, we are working to get the insubordination under control as quickly as possible. We think we can resume normal staffing on your ships soon, we-“

“You need to do better!” one of the Zetans yelled, standing up angrily.

The human frowned, “Now listen, we are doing everything we can-“

“If it were your planets being cut off, you’d find a way to make your people fight!” the Zetan said angrily.

“I can’t help it if they’re terrified some greenskin is going to fire a shrink ray into their back when they’re on rotation!” the human shouted in return. Soon the room was filled with shouting.

“Enough!” The empress called over the din. The assembled humans and Zetans looked at her, then sheepishly returned to their seats. “If they attack a planet, can we defend it?” The empress asked simply.

The human and zetan military officials looked at each other, finally the first Zetan stood up again, “we can adequately defend any of our larger worlds,” she said.

“That’s not what I asked,” the Empress said bitterly.

“We think we can have full coverage over all Zetan and Human worlds inside of ten days,” the human admiral explained, “we don’t expect the squids to be overly aggressive at first, if they do attack a planet, it will likely be a smaller Zetan one, a probe to see how we respond. With the hyperlanes they’ve taken, we expect the first blow to come somewhere here,” he gestured at the holographic star map, displaying a series of systems on the edge of Zetan controlled space. One in particular made the Empress frown.

“I cannot help but notice the ships near Alrec,” the Empress said, glancing at the holo-display, “I am no strategist, but is it normal to have so many fighting ships there?”

“An unusual number of captains have put in for repair requests for their power core shielding,” one of the Zetan admirals said, “Alrec is a producer of the material needed, so they’ve routed there. We’re looking into a possible manufacturing defect.”

The Empress’s mouth was a tight line, but she wouldn’t’ voice her suspicions here and now. Alrec was one of the planets with the most anti-human sentiment, and her political advisor had told her that governor Lenais intended to publicly join the Zeta Forever party soon, making her the first elected official to do so. Having a number of fighting ships redirect themselves to such a planet was… concerning.

“Very well, I trust your judgment,” the Empress said, standing, “I have other matters to attend to.” With that she left the war council, her long inky black dress trailing behind her as the star fabric glittered.

Mother, what would you have done? She wondered, father… Anaya and Leonard had been taken from the Empire far too soon, and every day Tetra wondered what things had been like if she had not been forced to take her mother’s throne at such a young age. They’d gone the way of many Zetan rulers, assassination, and at the order of a foolhardy second cousin of Tetra’s who wouldn’t have been able to claim the throne anyway. A great Empress and consort, taken from us by petty royal squabbles… how traditionally Zetan, she thought bitterly.

Empress Tetra loved her people, but there were many things she hated about them. She sighed as she looked up at the star map, surveying the damage her daughter had inadvertently caused.

Nea what have you done… can we come back from this? She didn’t only wonder for her empire.

…

Adam looked up at the massive green hills rising up on either side of him, Kira’s breasts heaving slightly as they lay in bed. They closed on him suddenly like and avalanche, and he cried out in surprise as the soft flesh slammed into him from either side, trapping him as it molded to his shrunken body.

“Ooops,” Kira giggled, pressing her breasts together harder. She heard the muffled cries of surprise from between them, then released her hold, letting Adam tumble free down to her stomach, coming to a stop just in front of her bellybutton.

“You could warn me!” he laughed.

“I really prefer not to,” she teased. She reached for him, and he cried out in surprise again as she lifted him by his leg, dangling him over her breasts once more. She dropped him, and he bounced off one of the soft globes and tumbled into the valley of her cleavage again.

The two of them were enjoying a day off together, and had started the morning late. Kira had waited for Adam to start the coffee machine, something she’d never quite figured out how to do in the way she liked, then immediately reduced him to three inches tall, carrying him to the bedroom to serve as her toy.

“This is a nice place,” Adam muttered, looking up at the towering breasts, “I could just live in here…”

The two of them had left the office late, promising to spend at least the morning with each other alone, ideally the whole day. The crisis was contained, or as contained as it was going to get, and everyone at the Cultural Department was enjoying the lull before the princess and her prisoners were inevitably found, sparking another, hopefully less intense, wave of social unrest.

“I’d love to have you as a tenant,” Kira teased, walking her fingers down her naked body, “you could move out of here, I’d just shrink all your furniture down, toss it down my top for you…” She grinned, “you could perform some… work, as rent.”

“What did you have in mind?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Like any other living arrangement, you’ll need to keep it clean,” she said, gripping him and sitting up. She swayed her hips from side to side as she walked towards the apartment’s bathroom, flicking the light switch on and grabbing a towel from the rack.

Adam grinned, “a shower? What happened to laying around in bed all day?”

She shrugged, “who knows when that fool of a princess is going to rear her head again, we could be at the office for another few days dealing with it when it happens, let’s enjoy it now.”

Adam sighed, “I suppose you’re right; God help us if she’s hurt one of those two boys.”

Kira shuddered, “you don’t suppose we could be lucky enough to find out they’ve all become friends?”

Adam snorted as Kira turned the water on, “Be hopeful for miracles, but don’t plan for them.”

Any other thought on the matter of the princess and her bodyguard, or their two hostages, faded as the giant woman holding him in her hand stepped into the shower. He sputtered slightly as the massive drops of water started hitting him, and Kira casually moved her hand, pulling him out of the stream.

Zetan showers typically hit from all sides with pressurized mist, Kira found human showers to be a more relaxing experience, sighing happily as the warm water slid over her skin. She reached for one of the body wash bottles on the rack, selecting “Coconut,” and pumping a glob into her hand. She wasn’t sure what a “coconut” was, in all her time on earth she’d never had one, but they smelled divine.

“U-Uh, getting a little cold here,” Adam protested, looking longingly at the stream of warm water from his spot clenched in her fist.

“Oh, silly me,” she giggled, “Come here and help me wash up.”

He gasped as he was brought back under the showerhead, the torrents of water cascading down as she brought him against her soapy skin. The smell of coconut filled his senses as she scrubbed him into her soft skin, covering them both with suds as she used him as a human washcloth.

She lifted her arm, bringing him up into her armpit, scrubbing lightly and enjoying his expression as he tried to shake the coconut scented soap out of his eyes. Next, she brought him over her breasts, ignoring the small poking sensation she felt between her tiny man’s legs.

Adam groaned as she kept scrubbing him against her soft skin, washing each part of her body one after the other. The slick silky feeling of the soap and the running water felt magical as she continued, pretending to ignore him as she casually leaned down to wash her legs.

Finally, he was brought between her legs, and she weaved her hand between her thighs, the suds rising again as she used her free hand to squirt another glob of coconut bodywash onto Adam’s squirming form. Adam’s eyes closed, and the warm water splashed over him as his cum mixed with the overpowering waves of soap suds, washing away down the drain while Kira’s finger came up, helping the rest of his orgasm out in a slow careful motion.

“Nice and clean,” Kira muttered with a smile.

…

Adam was in bed naked with Kira again an hour later, though full size this time. He ran his hand through her hair, twisting it slightly around his finger as they leaned into one another. The bliss was interrupted by the buzz of his wrist computer, and he growled in frustration.

“We’d better see what it is,” Kira said, not even opening her eyes, “maybe they caught the princess?”

“Maybe she got caught, everyone’s okay, and better yet she wants to apologize,” Adam joked, sitting up and reaching for it. He read the message from the Cultural Department Director, then frowned, reading it again to make sure he’d understood it.

“Is it about Princess Nea?” Kira asked, sitting up and pulling the blankets over herself.

“No…” Adam said quietly, “It’s…” he looked at her, not sure how to say it, “we’re supposed to get a series of announcements and media reactions ready for… a planet falling to the Cephalos.”

“D-Did they say which one?” Kira asked, suddenly fearful.

“No,” Adam muttered, “They… they might not know yet.” He sighed and shifted, stepping out of bed, “come on, it looks like we may have worse than a rogue princess to deal with soon…”

…

Governor Lenais beamed as the first guests began arriving, their luxury shuttles easily passing through an energy shield adjusted to allow physical entry. Dressed in her traditional shimmering Zetan garb she felt exuberant, it was all coming together. The military ships loyal to her had gathered in the system, and while it wasn’t a particularly powerful fleet, most of the Empire’s forces were scrambling in the wake of the Cephalo incursions. By the time the rest of the Empire knew what had happened, Zeta Prime’s local garrison would be overwhelmed, and Nea would be on the throne.

Nea… now that had been a disappointment, Lenais had hoped for more, a girl full of righteous Zetan fury, someone who could restore proper balance to the universe. Whatever the girl might feel about humans, she was evidently too loyal to her family to lead this charge, willingly anyway.

Not that it mattered, threatening her bodyguard and her human pets seemed to do the trick, and Nea stood next to her in shimmering black star fabric, giving halfhearted waves to the arriving guests. Some carried small containers at their sides, their shrunken humans glancing up fearfully. It was one of her parties after all, many who kept shrunken humans illegally would want to show them off.

She glanced over at Nea and smiled, the Princess was wearing the human she’d taken, the young blond man, across her chest in a necklace the governor had provided. She’d almost laughed when the two captives had said they didn’t want to bring their humans to her party.

As though our next empress could be seen without hers, she chuckled. She regarded the human again, admiring the sight of an earthling in his proper place, spread eagled across a bright golden medallion, the sigil of the Zetan royal family inscribed across it. She frowned, humans typically looked frightened, defeated, in such circumstances… this one looked entirely too calm. Let her spoil her pet if she wants, Lenais thought, all they really need to do is be here…

…

“What are they doing with Kurt and Nea?” Joey whispered, looking up from his imprisonment on Telma’s necklace to the green woman’s concerned face.

“I don’t know,” Telma muttered. She glanced behind her, a pair of those guards had been watching her the entire time, “I don’t like anything about this…”

Earlier in the evening, Lenais had appeared and begun the party preparations, giving each of them traditional Zetan outfits to wear, and a pair of gold medallions with manacles to hold their humans in place. Telma didn’t know what exactly Lenais wanted from them, she couldn’t possibly expect them to mingle could she?

They weren’t the only members of the arriving crowd wearing humans as jewelry, one Zetan had a pair shrunk down to an inch tall and shackled at the wrist, hanging as a pair of earings, and as Telma scanned the crowd she scowled as she saw another pair of humans trapped in a transparent pair of earth-style wedge heels. The pair were knocked around in their clear enclosures every time the Zetan took a step, and the green woman above them laughed, oblivious to their suffering as she chatted with other arrivals.

If you had asked Telma a few weeks ago what kind of person dealt in shrunken humans, she’d have said criminals, lowlives, Zeta Forever grunts who were inevitably caught because of how stupid they were. Looking around now? These were the wealthy and powerful of the planet Alrec, owners of the factories, the water treatment centers, the governor herself, and from the despondent look on some of their human pet’s faces, Telma wondered how long they’d been held like this.

Lenais took a glass of qet from a servant droid hovering nearby, “Remember princess,” she said in a low voice to Nea as she took her first sip, “behave…”

Nea clenched her fists angrily, but nodded.

“And how are you tonight?” Lenais giggled, flicking the little human around Nea’s neck idly, “enjoying yourself? It’s a preview of what’s coming for your whole race!” Lenais stood back up and chuckled, “allies… as though we could ever be allies with creatures like this…”

Kurt’s face burned with rage, but he forced himself to remain quiet, don’t give her an excuse to separate you from Nea. Whatever was coming, he wanted to be close to her, he knew there wasn’t much he could do at this size, shackled to a piece of jewelry no less, but he wouldn’t give up hope…

…

Jolene’s luxury starship stood out from the rest of the arriving shuttles on account of it’s size, but anyone who saw it would simply assume one of the arriving guests wanted to show off their new purchase. Perhaps if the guards had been more astute, they would have wondered why nobody left the large pleasure cruiser after it landed, or why the lighting in viewports was flickering, as though the ship was directing a large amount of power to something.

…

Empress Tetra watched as her personal hover transport arrived, coming down to a rest outside the fleet headquarters. Zeta Prime was, outside of the mountainous equator, one large city, and the silvery spires rose around them, glistening in the noonday sun.

She had twelve guards with her, eight Zetan, four human, and they looked at the surrounding buildings tensely as she walked towards her transport. They were far from her only security of course, dozens more would be in a large perimeter around anywhere she went, and one of her guards also hefted a large pack, a portable shield generator that would supposedly be able to stop anything short of an orbital attack.

She pulled on the handle of her transport, then frowned. It didn’t open, she tried again.

“What the hell are you doing!?” she whirled around at the sound of her human guard’s English expression, and her eyes went wide as she saw the Zetan guard who had been carrying the shield generator throw it to the ground. Before any of them could react, she’d fired her plasma pistol into it, blowing the device to pieces.

“ZETA FOREVER!” the guard shouted, leveling the pistol at the Empress.

There were flashes of green, and Tetra’s world shook as a pair of Zetan guards lifted her bodily, racing back towards the fleet headquarters building as the human guards covered them. She felt numb as she realized that at least two of her other Zetan guards had pulled their weapons against their fellows, and at least one of the humans lay dead on the ground, a large sizzling hole in his chest.

She caught sight of a flash from one of the spired buildings across from them, “LOOK OUT!” she tried to call, but there was a faraway burst of green, then something slammed into her, causing a hiss as her flesh burned and her lifeblood splattered across her dress.

The world went quiet as the pain spread across her body, she was dimly aware of one of her human bodyguards cut to pieces by plasma fire in front of her, the man’s blood mixing with her own on the pavement as her guards screamed curses and tried to get her inside the building.

I can’t tell which is which, she thought madly, seeing the mix of human and Zetan blood coating her dress. She remembered her mother and father suddenly; how happy they’d been the day before they…

They passed through the doors, people around her were yelling something, but she couldn’t make out words in any language anymore.

Nea… she thought desperately, then consciousness left her.

…

The party was bizarrely normal, and if not for the tiny humans imprisoned in a number of fashionable ways, Kurt could almost have called it any boring rich person’s party on Earth. The various guests mingled, talked, a low music from some Zetan musician or another played over the throng.

For his part Kurt had rapidly gone from angry to bored. They had been here for hours, and there wasn’t much to do besides decorate the princess. Suddenly movement caught his attention, Nea and Telma had been kept apart by the guards, and a pair had flanked each of them all evening, keeping them from “mingling in the wrong way,” as Lenais had put it. Now though, both of the Zetans, and their necklace-bound human companions, were being led to the front of the room, where Lenais waited on a raised dais.

The crowd started to grow quiet as they realized the group was gathering at the front of the room, and Lenais tapped a few commands on her wrist computer, and then cleared her throat, her voice amplified.

“I would like to thank all of you for coming here tonight,” she began, “Zeta Forever!”

“Zeta Forever!” the crowd echoed.

“Many of you were aware of the scope of our plans,” Lenais said with a smile, “but it is my pleasure to announce tonight, that Empress Tetra, is dead.”

A hush fell over the crowd, murmurs and confusion filled the room.

Lenais chuckled, “Worry not my friends, we have our new Empress right here,” she gestured to Nea, who looked on in shock as a pair of guards produced a glittering tiara, complete with a solid black gem in the center which seemed to absorb the light around it. Her eyes were wide as it was placed on her head, and a moment later thunderous applause broke through the room.

“EMPRESS TETRA BRIGHTSTAR IS DEAD, LONG LIVE EMPRESS NEA BRIGHTSTAR!” Lenais shouted, “We will broadcast this coronation to every corner of the Zetan Empire, and the human worlds! Let humanity see the face of its conqueror, in all her glory! Let those disloyal Zetans who betray their heritage and seek to oppose us see the face of she who will send them to the void!”

The crowd was going absolutely wild, and Kurt looked up at Nea. Their eyes met as she looked down, the crown on her head glittering as a single tear rolled down her cheek.