Tayla sobbed into her bed as Smith and Liana looked on, unsure of what to do. Smith walked to her side, sitting on the bed and gently running his hand through her hair. That seemed to calm her slightly, and she blinked away tears and looked up at him, her eyes red.

“Tayla,” Smith said quietly, “one of your sisters has been trying to reach you…”

Tayla blinked, then sat up, “Y-Yes, of course, which one?”

“Kavrala,” Liana said.

Smith remained quiet as Tayla sat up. Kavrala was the oldest of the queen’s daughters, and in Smith’s opinion one of the more serious ones and the most likely candidate to replace her mother. If she was calling Tayla… He felt nervous suddenly, wondering exactly how a succession would play out. Tayla certainly had no inclination towards being Empress, but he’d have thought the same of Nea…

The three of them walked into the living room of the cottage, and Liana activated the wall screen, causing it to flicker to life as the eldest Zetan princess greeted her sister.

“Tayla,” Kavrala said in a tired voice, “I wanted you to know that I’ve received an update from Mother’s doctors, her condition is stable, but she is not awake, and we don’t know when she will be.”

Tayla fought another wave of tears, but stood strong and nodded. Smith moved to her side, and she gripped him for support.

“I’ve talked with our sisters,” Kavrala continued, “and we want you to return to the palace immediately.”

Tayla blinked, “What? But why!?”

“You’re the only one of us on Zeta prime right now,” Kavrala explained, “and we all trust you to sit on mother’s throne in her stead, to steward it in case… she does not recover.”

 “S-Sit on-“ Tayla gulped, “Kavrala, I can’t, I’m not… I’m not like you, or even like Nea, I can’t do this-“

“It is only until mother recovers or…” Kavrala sighed, “I am on Earth, working with the human leadership. The Cephalo incursion is… it’s worse than expected Tayla, I cannot go into the details now, but…” she grimaced, “a large number of hyperlanes are being blockaded, none of our other sisters can return to Zeta Prime in anything less than two days. I’m going to finish things up here by tomorrow and hopefully get back and assist you.”

“And you’re willing to just let me have mother’s seat, even with everything that’s happened?” Tayla asked quietly, “what if the worst should happen, and I don’t want to step down?”

Kavrala and Tayla stared at one another through the screen, then a moment later Kavrala smirked, a gesture which turned into a laugh. Tayla giggled, and then joined her, and for a moment they were two sisters enjoying a shared joke.

“Talk about that again and I’ll announce my support for your succession to the throne,” Kavrala warned playfully. Her face grew serious, “keep only Liana and your human guards around you,” she glanced over her shoulder at her own Zetan bodyguard, who nodded. “We don’t know who is loyal right now.”

“Understood,” Tayla said quietly, looking to Liana and Smith. “What else should I do?”

“At this point there’s not much any of us can do to change the course of things,” Kavrala said with a bitter sigh, “humans, Zetans, we’re all on an out-of-control ship spiraling towards the planet’s surface, pray to whatever gods you keep that we hit something soft.” She looked at Tayla and tried to give a small smile, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes, “sit on Mother’s chair, tell everyone everything will be okay, order the military to do what they’re going to do anyway.”

“I’ll do it,” Tayla said with a nod. She blinked a final few tears out of her eye, “Liana!” she called, “prepare my hover cycle.”

With a final nod and smile Kavrala disappeared off the monitor. Liana walked outside, and a moment later Smith heard the telltale hum of a Zetan hovercraft powering up.

“I’m going to name you as my consort as soon as we get back,” Tayla said, turning to Smith, “if you will have me, that is…”

Smith balked, “S-So soon?”

“If I don’t, you’ll doubtless be placed back on your normal guard rotation,” Tayla said, “you are a citizen of Earth contracted to the crown, not my subject of course.”

“Of course,” Smith said cautiously, “but…”

“That ridiculous provision about our royals taking a human from Earth in our treaty?” Tayla said with a smile, “grandmother intended it for situations like ours, you’ll be released from any Earthly obligations, and retire to ‘serve’ me.”

He laughed, “of course, but… maybe don’t read it out loud when you announce it, it’s a sensitive topic right now.”

“Of course, Smith, I’m not a fool!” she laughed, rolling her eyes. “I intend to strike it out as soon as I have the chance anyways, clearly the intent was… misunderstood.”

“Yes, I would say so,” Smith said with a sigh.

She smiled, “I don’t think I can do this without you, so, no more games.” She got on one knee, still surprisingly tall to Smith, and held her hand out to him, beckoning. “Craig Smith, will you join me as my consort?”

He blinked, “Yes, I will, forever…” he hesitantly reached out to her, “I’m… unsure of what I’m supposed to do next,” he admitted.

Tayla laughed, “Liana told me that it was customary on Earth to kneel when asking a question like this.”

“Oh,” Smith smirked, “well, there’s usually a ring…”

Tayla frowned, “I suppose I can have one made, but I have none here that would fit you-“

“Forget it!” Smith laughed, gripping her hand and helping her to her feet. “I accept, that’s enough.”

“We’ll have a true ceremony when this is over, I promise,” Tayla said eagerly, “your family can come too, we’ll spare no expense-“

“Uhh…” Smith gulped, imagining the kind of courtship ceremonies the Zetans had, and his family being present, “Tayla, we might want to talk about-“

“Relax Craig,” Tayla laughed, “Liana told me that much of what I’d expect might not be appropriate, we will work through planning it together.”

Smith sighed with relief, maybe this is all going to work out after all.

“Liana did tell me about an interesting Earth tradition though,” Tayla said with a devious grin, “a ‘bachelorette party’ I believe?”

Out of the frying pan, he thought with a laugh, “We’ll talk about it.”

“We must be going,” Tayla said with a sigh. She looked at Smith with an embarrassed smile and pulled a silvery device from its spot clipped at her waist, “Smith… the hovercycle still only has two seats.”

Smith gave a resigned grin as the beam arced out towards him.

…

“Cheer up girl,” Lenais laughed, reaching out and playfully flicking the teardrop off Nea’s cheek, “this is the culmination of everything we’ve worked for.”

“I didn’t want any of it,” Nea seethed, and Kurt could feel her trembling behind him as he lay imprisoned on her necklace, “I didn’t want you to kill my mother, to start… this!”

Lenais just rolled her eyes, “do you think I joined Zeta Forever thinking I would one day be overthrowing the Empress?” She scoffed, “believe it or not I used to love that woman, a great symbol of the Zetan people I’d tell them…” She chuckled and then met Nea’s eyes, her yellow ones focusing on the princess’s deep blues. “Barbaric and uncouth though they are, the humans have a saying, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, now I’ll add a little Zetan wisdom to it, know the destination before you set out.” She reached up and patted Nea’s cheek, that smile never moving, “We have so much farther to go too...”

Lenais turned back to the crowd, who were grinning and laughing now. Some were playfully tormenting their human pets, twirling necklaces on which they were prisoner, or whispering in hushed tones. They grew quiet and attentive as Lenais returned to the podium at the front of the room.

“My friends,” she said gleefully, “Our spies on Zeta Prime have paved the way for us, planetary shields will be lowered, their defenses are spread thin. We have gathered those soldiers loyal to the Zetan people here on Alrec, and like a knife they shall plunge into the very heart of the human loving traitors. The capital will be ours, and then we shall turn towards earth, and like our foremothers we shall crush the humans beneath our boots!”

Cheers erupted, and Lenais basked in the feeling of triumph. Soon all humans would be back where they belonged, beneath Zetan feet.

…

“Okay, is it charged up?” Jolene asked, peering out the window. Some of the guards were starting to get suspicious, the flickering lights no doubt had given them away. A pair were walking towards the luxury starship, guns in hand.

“It’s good Miss Jolene!” Tolith called excitedly, “do you want me to do it or…” The four Zetans looked at her eagerly.

Jolene chuckled, “Okay fine, get out of the seat and lower the boarding ramp.” She raced up to the bulldozer sized battle machine, climbing into the shield enclosed cabin as Tolith quickly jumped out the other side. The vehicle hummed, and the bay doors creaked as they lowered. Jolene glanced down at the controls and grimaced, far too complicated, she thought, simply focusing on the cannon, that much was easy.

“Hey!” a Zetan woman shouted, one of the guards spotting them inside, “what in the void is this-“

Jolene pressed the large red button above the dashboard, and a massive spiral of lightning fired out, enveloping the guards, the manor, and everything else in front of the her.

…

Kurt started as his eyesight went blank, the familiar visual whiteout of a shrink ray washing over him. He heard shouts and screams from the crowd, and behind him he felt Nea’s heartbeat pick up. He blinked as fast as he could, his vision returning. For a moment he’d been hopeful that somehow Telma and Joey had snuck a shrink ray and regrown him, but his heart sank as the room returned, with everything seemingly the same.

“E-Everyone remain calm,” Lenais said, “a simple… power malfunction, that’s all it was,” she stammered. The room shook slightly, the crystalline chandeliers shaking. Everyone looked up at them, and Lenais gulped nervously, “this region is supposed to be seismically stable,” she muttered to no one. Another tremor shook the ground.

I’ve been tiny long enough to recognize that rhythm, Kurt thought, his eyes wide, “Nea!” he whispered, she looked down at him, “those are footsteps!”

…

Jolene cautiously walked towards the spot where the mansion had been, her four Zetan crewmembers following her as the steaming hiss of the cannon’s cooling system filled the air. It looked like someone had taken a cookie cutter to the center of the island, there was a line where the shrink cannon had hit where vegetation just stopped, boulders and outcroppings were gone, leaving just a level scooped out section as though a laser had pristinely extracted everything, leaving a smooth surface behind.

“We are going to have to be careful with this thing,” Jolene said with a whistle. She pulled a magnifying glass from her belt, “Okay, everyone watch where you step.”

Jolene knelt down, her jeans displacing the smooth soil, leaving trackprints as she slowly crawled forward. She checked each movement delicately, the entire mansion complex should be just big enough that she wouldn’t crush it accidentally, if she paid attention.

…

Lenais pushed her way to the front of the crowd that was gathering in the mansion’s courtyard, “What is it? What is going on!?” she demanded, her guards pushing Nea and Telma behind her, guns at their backs. “What are you all out here for? It was just a mere electrical…” Lenais looked up, her eyes wide, as the rim of… something, came into view.

A massive brown eye spotted them, magnified to truly spectacular proportions by the magnifying glass. It went wide, and a woman’s giggle, then a roar of laughter echoed overhead like a thunderstorm.

“Oh stars,” Lenais whispered, the realization starting to sink in as the human woman’s face blocked out the starry night sky. She was illuminated by the soft glow of the lighting on the still full-sized spaceships, dominating a distant horizon like mountains. There was a faraway thump, echoing as though over a vast plain, as the human woman lowered her magnifying glass, taking the shrunken mansion compound in with her naked eye, an eye that was bigger than the entire complex.

“Why hello!” Jolene said with a devious grin, “I heard there was a party, and I wanted to stop by!” she giggled as she reached a finger down for the small walled building. The entire complex, the towers, the walls, the outlying buildings, all could have fit on the surface of a pre-war quarter. A force field shimmered slightly, warming her finger and appearing as a slightly glowing bubble as the pad of her finger, large enough to crush the mansion into dust, tapped on it.

“F-Fire defensive mechanisms!” Lenais called. She swallowed and steeled herself, the mansion had surface to orbital plasma cannon installed, capable of bringing down most light to mid-sized ships with a direct hit or two. One of the corner towers on the wall split at the top, and a massive gun the size of a ground transport folded out of it. We’ll see how you like this you stars-damned primitive!

A lance of green shot up from the tiny structure, making contact with the white of Jolene’s eye, “Ow,” she said in mild annoyance. She blinked her eye few times, the lashes fluttering as the redness in her eye vanished. A moment later she blinked a final time, then appeared to be back to normal as that brown iris focused back down on the tiny mansion.

“Did you guys just shoot at me?” Jolene giggled, “that is adorable!” she cooed, leaning in closer.

“Stars help us,” Lenais whispered, her face growing long and pale as the reality of the situation truly set in.

“So, let’s talk about this energy shield,” Jolene said casually, flicking it with her finger and causing a booming sound as the shield stopped the giant’s finger from obliterating them all. “You guys need to drop it,” she flicked it again, and it boomed and the first signs of cracks in the shimmering surface appeared. Jolene giggled, “flick, flick, flick the fleas,” she said in a sing song voice, casually slamming her finger into the shielded compound.

“Do not drop the shield under any circumstances!” Lenais shouted, trying to be heard over the panicking guests. She looked up, fighting her own wave of panic as she saw the cracks in the energy shield spreading. From the large housing bunker built into the inside of the wall she heard a high-pitched whining as the shield generator, a military starship grade device, struggled to keep up with the giant woman casually flicking them with her finger.

“If you guys don’t drop the shield,” the booming voice called overhead, “I’m just going to break it, and trust me, at that size… with what could happen to your itty-bitty house? You might want that shield in the future.”

The panicked guards looked to Lenais, who just sighed in defeat, “Lower it,” she muttered, defeated.

Jolene brought her finger down again, and smiled happily as her finger was unobstructed, “I’m glad we’re starting to follow directions,” she beamed, “Now, I’m Jolene, and I’ll be your… goddess, for today, and so long as everyone does exactly what I say, there won’t be any divine wrath.”

Kurt blinked, Divine wrath? Who the hell is this woman? Is she here to save us?

“Thank the stars,” Nea muttered, sighing with relief. She looked at the shocked face of Lenais, “I don’t know what this is,” she said angrily, “but I have a feeling whatever is going on, it’s the end of your plans.”

“We are the mercy of a gigantic human you fool!” Lenais hissed, “If she crushes this building or sticks it up her nose or whatever hellish thing those mud eaters find funny, you’ll die with us!”

“At this point, I’d gladly accept that,” Nea said firmly. She sighed and looked down at Kurt with a sad smile, “I just wish I hadn’t taken any innocents with me…”

“It’s okay Nea,” Kurt chuckled, looking up at the sky spanning giant overhead, “Whatever the hell this is…” He gulped, taking in the size of the woman above, “If this is checkout, well, you’re who I’d like to be with.”

“Hey, we don’t know she’s here to kill us!” Joey shouted, still dangling from Telma’s necklace as the bodyguard approached them. “Stop with all this ‘never thought I’d die side by side with an elf’ crap, you’ll jinx it!”

Oblivious to the conversations going on below, Jolene looked up. The four Zetans in her crew had gathered around her, hanging back a few paces while she negotiated with the specks. They had giddied and excited faces, and from the way Meana’s knees were buckling Jolene was surprised there wasn’t a hand down her pants.

They are so sick, she thought with a laugh. She shifted, suddenly very aware of the wetness in her own underwear, then again… glass houses…

“Okay,” she called, “who wants to go down to bug size so they can talk to the germs for me?”

“I’ll do it!” Meana called, leaping ahead of the other three.

“Oh, me too!” Zenya called, “Please Miss Jolene, I’ve been in this planet’s Human Appreciation Society for so long, you have no idea how much I’ve wanted to see Governor Lenais’s downfall!”

“Hmm… Okay,” Jolene said with a shrug, unclipping her shrink ray from her side. She quickly fired a pair of blasts at the two Zetan woman, and they blinked on the smooth ground as they were quickly reduced to two inches tall each. Jolene waited, amused, as Tolith and Amra collected their shrunken crewmates, bringing them over to Jolene and setting them on the ground on either side of the shrunken governor’s compound.

From the courtyard, Lenais, the guests, Joey, Kurt, Telma, and Nea, watched as the two shrunken Zetans were placed on either side of the compound. They loomed large over the building, apparent messengers of the mountainous human woman hovering over them all.

 “Hi everyone,” Meana called cheerfully, kneeling down over the compound like it was a dollhouse or a toy set, “So here’s how this is going to go, Miss Jolene is here looking for Princess Nea, her bodyguard, and a pair of humans they captured, are they at this par-“

“HERE,” Lenais called with a rasp, pointing to Nea and Telma as she backed away. The other party guests chimed in, parting around them in a circle, fingers pointing out the princess and her bodyguard.

“They’re here!” Meana shouted up to Jolene with a thumbs up and a smile.

“Good, separate them out and step away,” Jolene called from overhead.

Kurt felt himself dangle on the necklace as the giant green fingers closed around Nea, and he started to let himself relax, we’re actually getting rescued, he thought numbly. It was an odd rescue, that was to be sure, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. He looked across the gulf of the Zetan’s body to see Telma, and by extension Joey, gripped in her other hand, as she stepped away from the compound slowly.

“Hey,” Zenya called angrily as she knelt over the compound, “Miss Jolene, these people have a lot of shrunken humans with them!”

“Oh?” Jolene asked, a little amused. While she wasn’t exactly a moral crusader, for free anyway, being human herself she didn’t really care for the practice of shrinking and enslaving humans. No surprise they’d have more than just the two the princess took… She glanced back at her ship, “How many?” The luxury starship had a good eight bedrooms, each a suite style with their own bathrooms and small lounge areas, more like small apartments almost, to say nothing of the spacious common areas. It could fit a lot of people…

“Dozens Miss Jolene, hundreds even!” Zenya shouted up at her.

Jolene groaned inwardly, “Okay,” she said, “listen up, all you little specks down there, give up the humans. Leave them at the front of the compound nice and far away from the walls, if you’ve got any inside, go get them. If I find out there’s a human left down there? That’s a squishing, no appeals or protest, just my thumb coming down on you, understand?”

The Zetans muttered angrily and nodded, removing their various humans from their jeweled confinement and forming a line as they marched sullenly towards the compound’s main gate. A few went into the house to recover some that had been left in their rooms, intimidated by the stern gaze of the two Zetans overhead. One by one stunned humans were left on the ground, all but imperceptible to Jolene and tiny specks even to the two inch tall pair overseeing things.

“Shit, hold on,” Jolene muttered, adjusting the angle on her shrink ray, “I’m narrowing the beam as much as I can…” A flash of light arced down, and the formerly insignificant mob of humans was suddenly a full two inches tall. There probably weren’t quite a hundred of them, but it was a fairly large crowd, all stunned as they looked up at Jolene.

“I-I can’t believe it,” one woman said, sinking to her knees, “we’re actually being rescued!” One man was clearly fighting back tears, and several people were hugging each other, another man near the front pinched himself.

“Time for some fucking payback!” A burly man shouted with a snarl, stomping toward the, to him, miniscule mansion. A few others cheered and started following him.

“Nope, sorry boys,” Jolene said, her hand coming down in a wall and separating the diminutive humans from the tiny compound. There were shouts of protest, and one man even tried to climb over her hand, she casually knocked him over with her other. “Trust me, they’re all going to get what’s coming to them,” she chuckled, “But for now? They’re mine.” She looked back at Tolith and Amra, “Anyone got any good ideas on where to put these people? We won’t have enough room on the ship for them at full size.”

“I’ve got a town!” Tolith shouted excitedly, practically bouncing up as he walked over.

Jolene raised an eyebrow, “a… town?”

“Well, it’s not really a town,” he explained, “it’s a model I’ve been building with the ship’s replicator unit, it has a street and a row of houses, it’s even got working water and power! I thought it could be fun for you to ah… chase us through it.”

Jolene fought a laugh, “we’ll revisit that another time,” she said, “for now, can you gather up our new passengers and take them to their accommodations?”

Tolith nodded, kneeling down and bringing his pack around, “Uh hi,” he said nervously, “I’m Tolith, if you could all just walk in here, I’ll take you to-“

“You really expect us to stay tiny, and go with another fucking Zetan?” The angry man from before shouted.

Jolene rolled her eyes, “Hey! Wiseguy, that fucking Zetan built the shrink ray that let me save your asses, or he made it work anyway, now get in his backpack or stay here! Your choice!”

The group grumbled a little again, but they resumed their trek towards Tolith’s pack, “Thanks Miss Jolene!” he said with a smile, buttoning it up and hefting it gently.

“Anytime,” she said with a wink as he started back towards their ship.

“W-Wait!” a Zetan shouted down in the tiny manor. The two-inch tall “giants” overseeing things looked down. The “zetan” began pulling off a pair of fake ears and rubbing green paint off her face, revealing a very earthly appearance.

“Holy shit, one of her guards is a human!” Joey shouted.

“CARLA!” Lenais shouted, “what do you think you’re doing!?”

“Let me go with them, I’m not Zetan!” Carla explained, “Lenais always paid me extra to dress up like a one, so she wouldn’t look like she was relying on humans!”

In spite of the situation, there were shocked and angry murmurs from the Zetan party guests. Dirty looks clouded Lenais, and the governor gulped nervously.

“Well… I had to protect myself in case of Cephalo attack,” she explained, “I’m a very important person you understand-“

“Why would go along with this?” Zenya asked incredulously, “you helped the governor carry all of this out, being a human yourself!?”

“It was only for the money, I swear!” Carla shouted.

“I should stomp both of you right now!” Zenya snarled.

“I can’t hear what she’s saying, but I think I get the gist of it,” Jolene said, squinting her eyes and trying to get a better look at what was going on, “No squishing for now Zenya, just… leave the fake Zetan down there with the real ones. I’m sure they can hash this out themselves.”

Zenya glowered at the tiny crowd at her feet, then stepped back. A moment later Meana joined her, and there was a flash of light as the two inch tall Zetans were returned to their “normal” heights of four feet, their legs towering like majestic green pillars over the shrunken compound.

For one brief moment Lenais hoped against hope that Jolene and these mad Zetans who followed her would simply go, leave them at this size to find a way to fix things… but her heart sank as she saw a massive pair of tweezers appear in the giant bounty hunter’s hand. The steel prongs closed around either side of the mansion’s foundation, and Zetan partygoers screamed in terror as the earth shifted, their shelter from the massive world being slowly and carefully deposited into a small glass jar. They looked on fearfully at Jolene’s smug expression, a monolith in the distance.

…

Jolene strutted into her master bedroom, eyeing the tiny mansion and the little specks within as she unscrewed the jar lid. She’d ordered her four crewmates to wait outside, she needed a few minutes of alone time, and she could hear her heartbeat as she slowly reached for the mansion with the tweezers.

“I want everyone in there to pay close attention,” she said in a low voice, “you’re all mine now…” She squinted her eyes, her smile broadening as she realized she couldn’t make out the details of any of them. Just specks, she thought, her heart rate picking up. “I’ve really been thinking about what to do with you,” she continued, “I’ve got some… dark desires.” She paused, letting it hang in the air, “I’m guessing that a group of Zetans who take the risk and expense of getting a shrunken human slave understand what I’m talking about.”

The Zetans inside the manor screamed, their world rocking again as Jolene slowly placed the bug sized mansion on her table. She stood up over them, slowly and deliberately stripping her clothes off. She tossed the flannel shirt she’d worn to the floor, next went her underwear, and soon she was standing before her near-microscopic prisoners, naked except for her black hat.

No, she thought with a mad giggle that reverberated down to her prisoners, that hat stays on…

She ran her fingers through the hair between her legs, feeling the damp wetness, “So here we are, you all liked shrunken humans, so you probably have an idea of all the things I could do to you… though none of you probably ever got to experience this kind of power,” Jolene laughed.

Down inside the compound the Zetans looked on in terror, the smell of Jolene’s womanhood was overpowering, filling their senses as they watched the colossus play with herself, all the while describing their fates.

“There’s some appeal in just driving my thumb down on that thing,” Jolene giggled, “you could turn on your energy shield and watch it crack, right before I twist you guys into that desk…” She licked her lips, “then again, I wonder how it would hold up against stomach acid? Your little compound is just about the size of the vitamin pills I take every morning.” She paused, her finger on her chin, “I wouldn’t even feel you guys, would I?” She lowered her ear over them, and they all looked up in fear at the cavernous swirls and the ocean of dark brown hair around it. She leaned back up, a mocking smile on her face, “I can’t hear you either… no matter how much you scream.”

She was fingering herself faster now, her arousal building as she imagined the terror the mansion’s residents had to be feeling. She growled and lifted her leg up, slamming her bare foot on the table next to them, letting them gaze up at her pussy as she continued her movements. Her foot towered next to them, a massive cliff with an odor of its own, joining what was coming from overhead.

“Maybe you could all just get snuffed out under my big toe?” Jolene taunted, hovering it over them, “A fitting end to Zeta Forever! Not even worthy of a stomp, just a cute little… squish!” she tapped her toe on the table next to them, no doubt inspiring newfound pleading and terror among the germs.

She sighed, “unfortunately, I think you’re all worth too much for that… squishing you is basically a quarter billion credit orgasm, and while I’m definitely horny, I’m not that, horny,” she moaned, fingering herself to completion. She chuckled as she looked at the wetness on her fingers. “That just leaves the question, where do I keep a bunch of Zetan political traitors that’s both secure and… appropriate?”

She winked at them, then sauntered, still naked, over to a laundry basket in the corner of her room. Laundry was a completely automated process on a ship like this, she simply pressed a button, and her clothing would drop through the bottom of the basket, whisked away, washed, and even folded as the small dumbwaiter returned it to the room. While the automatic function was convenient, she occasionally liked to make her pets do her laundry manually as a “punishment,” another measure she was fairly certain they enjoyed more than feared.

“Here we go,” she said with a grin, pulling a damp sock out. She held it to her nose, wrinkling her face at the smell. She wasn’t big on weights, relying on power armor and firepower rather than strength, but Jolene did have a treadmill she used regularly, and when she was done, she always tossed the clothing right into this hamper for washing.

She walked back to the tiny Zetan mansion on her table, swaying her hips as she did so. She picked up the tweezers, clacking them together once menacingly as she held the sock up to them.

“So here’s the deal,” Jolene said, “your little house is going in this sock, the sock is going in the hamper where it belongs.”

“Void take us all,” Lenais muttered, looking up in horror from the midst of the Zetan crowd, who had watched, spellbound, horrified, throughout the entire display.

“Now you don’t worry,” she said with a chuckle, “I’ll dig you little fleas out when we get to Zeta prime… but if anyone should try to escape the sock…” She shrugged, “I’m sending the whole thing straight into the wash once we get where we’re going, and there’s probably no coming back from that. Unless you think you can dig your way through what’s going to be miles of my dirty underwear, you should probably just sit tight and wait for me to come back for you.”

She grinned, leaning in again, “Being honest? It really turns me on to think that some of you somehow might, escape, then you’d be down there, in the carpet fibers, living your sad little lives scrounging off whatever you can while I stomp around overhead… completely unaware you even exist.” She sighed, “fuck, it’s tempting to just empty you out into it now…” She reached for them with the tweezers, and the mansion’s residents shifted a final time as she slowly lowered them into the rank and musky toe of her sock. The world grew dark as the trapped Zetans coughed from the stench, looking up at Jolene’s face at entrance, grinning down at them wickedly.

“It could be a few days before we hit Zeta Prime,” Jolene teased, “I think you guys have plenty of food from your party but,” she playfully cocked her head and smirked, “well, I’m sure you’ll find a water source, good luck!” With that she carefully tied the top of the sock shut. Being careful to keep the toe level, or level enough, she slowly forced the sock housing the beetle sized mansion deep into the laundry hamper. She stood up, shutting the lid with a note of finality as she walked to her closet to get fresh clothes.

…

Jolene’s ship rocketed into the atmosphere as she relaxed in the main lounge, watching Alrec drift away through the viewport. She glanced at the group of warships circling the planet aimlessly, waiting for an order to attack Zeta Prime that wouldn’t be coming.

She’d been out of the loop on things for the past day or so, and she watched a holographic display reading the latest news, “Empress Tetra in critical condition, Princess Tayla assumes interim leadership,” it went on and on.

“Shit,” Jolene muttered, “I hope whoever’s back there honors the billion-credit thing…” She switched over to local information broadcasts, the governor’s announcement had apparently been circulating, and in response most of the humans on Alrec, not that there were many, had gone into hiding. The few human ships in system were said to have fled to the system’s asteroid belt, while others dove beneath the toxic seas to wait out the storm. There was mass confusion on the planet, the governor had announced a new empress and a coup, and then simply vanished.

“You sure caused a mess princess,” Jolene chuckled, tapping her shoe on the ground. She normally didn’t wear the wedge styled heels, preferring to boost her height on her ship by shrinking everyone else instead, but today, at the begging request of her Zetan followers, she’d donned this bright red pair. They had a curious feature, another of Tolith’s inventions playing with the ship’s 3D replicator, a transparent and fully ventilated cell housed in the square heel. Nea looked out glumly from her left heel-prison, Telma from the right, both reduced to two inches tall and trapped within Jolene's shoes.

“Do you have to keep them in there?” Kurt asked quietly. He and Joey were on a nearby couch, like her pet Zetans she’d only restored them to four feet tall.

“Got the Stockholm Syndrome, huh kid?” Jolene laughed, leaning back in her own seat. “The answer is no, I’ve got a fucking Zetan princess in my goddamn heel, it does not get better than this.”

“What’s going to happen to them?” Joey asked quietly, looking at Telma, trapped in the bounty hunter’s shoe.

“They’re fucked,” Jolene laughed, “probably going to get a firing squad.”

Joey clenched his teeth, glaring at Jolene, “hey-“

“Is for horses,” Jolene finished, “look kid, I fucking rescued you, if you keep sassing me?” She patted her shrink ray, “you can go right down to two inches and hash out your feelings with lady Telma here in my shoe heel.”

“Okay,” Joey said quietly.

Jolene blinked, “You’ve got the Stockholm real bad kid,” she said, hefting her shrink ray, “last chance?”

“I might not get to see her again after this,” Joey said quietly, “yeah, put me in there with her.”

The bolt hit Joey, and a moment later he blinked as the world rocked, the soft click of Jolene’s heels against the floor echoing through the gigantic room as the bounty hunter reached down for him. He let himself go limp as she brought him to her foot, casually unlocking the clear heel-cell with a button, tossing him in to Telma. She slid it shut again, sealing the two in together. Kurt watched as they embraced, for once the same height.

“What about you?” She asked, grinning at Kurt, “want to spend your last few hours with the princess?”

“I’ll pass,” Kurt muttered darkly. I don’t care what it takes, these aren’t my last few hours with her… and it’ll be easier to figure something out at four feet over four inches…

“Uh, Miss Jolene?” Meana shouted, running into the lounge, “we have a problem!”

She sighed, walking and jostling those imprisoned in the red shoes, “What now?”

“There are no clear hyperlanes!” Meana squealed.

Jolene stopped, “What do you mean no clear hyperlanes?” She snapped, “if it’s law enforcement we-“

“It’s not law enforcement,” Meana said quietly, “It’s… Cephalos,” she gulped, “They’ve completely blockaded all FTL routes out of the system, the hyperlane beacons are just broadcasting a warning message!”

“How many?” Jolene asked, heart racing, “if we can find a route with just one or two-“

“Dozens, from all directions,” Meana said with a whimper.

Jolene’s mouth fell open, numbly she staggered a moment, “No,” she moaned, “NO! I WON! THIS ISN’T FAIR!”

“Hey! Snap out of it!” Kurt shouted, “you’re some kind of badass space outlaw, right? Get us the hell out of this!”

“There is no way out of this,” Jolene muttered darkly, “Kid… we’re fucked.”