Kurt looked up at the endless blue sky, watching the contrail of a spacecraft leaving for orbit, probably a freighter out of Des Moines, he decided. The corn around him swayed slightly in the breeze, extending all around him, as limitless as the sky itself. It wasn’t up past his knees yet, but this same field would be tall enough to hide him in a few months. He knelt down, examining some one of the leaves for defect, seeing none he stood back up.

A car horn beeped angrily several times, “Hey, Kurt, come on, the corn’s fine!” he glanced up to see Joey, leaning out the window of their wheeled ground transport. Joey was a dark skinned young man with long hair and the kind of smile girls liked to see in a stranger, or at least he always did better than Kurt did anyway. He beeped the corn again, “come on!” he shouted, “We’ve got like five more fields before we’re done with this bullshit!”

Kurt rolled his eyes and started walking back towards the transport. It was a rectangular white vehicle, electric, Zetan made, one of the alien race’s many gifts and reparations to humanity. Zetan transports, or “boxies” as denizens of earth colloquially called them, weren’t nearly as popular as pre-contact earth vehicles. They were cheap and easy to maintain sure, but they lacked style and luxury. For government work though, the odds of getting an earth made set of wheels were slim to none.

“What’s got you in such a hurry?” Kurt asked, stepping into the vehicle.

“HQ says we can knock off as soon as we’re done with the inspections today,” Joey said, “I’m eager to start my three-day weekend early.”

“Oh right,” Kurt muttered, “Alliance Day…” like a lot of humans he had… mixed emotions regarding the holiday meant to celebrate humanity’s alliance with the Zetan Empire.

Joey saw his look at shared a grimace as he started the vehicle, “Yeah… I know how you feel man, but it’s still a paid day off.”

“Yeah,” Kurt muttered, watching the corn race by outside the window.

They were quiet a moment, then Joey spoke again, “Who’d they kill in your family?” he asked quietly.

“Grandad,” Kurt muttered. “I mean… I never knew the guy, but dad would talk about him sometimes when he had a few too many beers.” He shuddered, “fucking greenskins landed outside the house and… I guess they got him with their shrink ray and crushed him while grandma got dad and my uncles out of there.”

“Shit, I’m sorry man,” Joey muttered, “my uncle was one of the people they shrank and kept as…” Joey ran his hand through his hair, “I guess they treated him like a pet or something… even had a little cage for him, like a hamster.” He shrugged, “he’s still kind of fucked up over it, even after all this time.”

“Forty years since the treaty,” Kurt muttered, “they’re going to go all out for this one, they do on all the big ten year anniversaries.”

“I think they’re doing parades all over the place,” Joey said, “they’re also broadcasting lots of those movies where a human and a Zetan fall in love or whatever.”

“I hate those,” Kurt said with disgust, “you ever notice how in those movies, every Zetan is some kind hearted soul who is against the war?”

“Yeah!” Joey laughed, “like how many ‘good’ Zetans are we supposed to believe there were?” He rolled his eyes as he turned down another road, passing a sign that read “This Road Paved by the Zetan Empire as a Sign of Friendship to the Humans of Iowa!” 

“They always act like they respected us as warriors too,” Kurt said angrily, “if that’s how they felt, they could have shot at us with plasma cannons or something, I’d have understood that… they used fucking shrink rays on us because they thought it was funny to step on us.” He was quiet a moment, then in a low voice, “you know some of them ate people? Like just shrank them and swallowed them whole.”

“They would have taken us all eventually,” Joey agreed, “just made us all tiny and kept us as their little toys…” He slowed as they reached the next field they needed to test. He glanced around, seeing no other vehicles nearby. “You wanna see something?” Joey whispered.

Kurt raised an eyebrow, “sure.”

Joey lifted up the leg on his Agricultural Department uniform pants, revealing a small holster with a silvery looking handgun in it. With a grin he pulled it out of the holster, revealing a glowing green line along the side. Kurt’s eyes went wide as the weapon powered up, the hum filling the cabin of the vehicle.

“I-Is that-“

“Zetan plasma pistol,” Joey said, “we all know that one of these days they’re going to swoop down and try to shrink us all again, I’m going to have a little surprise for them.”

“That had to cost half a year’s pay,” he said in awe.

“For agricultural department workers like us? Sure,” Joey said, holstering the gun again, “but a man’s got to look out for himself, right?” He shrugged, “grandma says the old timers couldn’t get through their armor with bullets, they had to wait until they took it off to sleep or eat to shoot them… I won’t have to wait.”

Kurt chuckled, “you think we’ll be priority targets? We literally watch corn grow for a living.”

“Maybe they’ll try to take out our food supply first next time!” Joey said, “the only reason they didn’t dust our crops and cattle the first time around was because they wanted us well fed when they enslaved us, this time they know we’re going to have some bite, they might take us a little more seriously.”

“They won’t touch us as long as the squids are out there,” Kurt muttered, looking up at the sky again, “The Cephelos supposedly killed like a quarter of their population without taking a single casualty, that makes our fight with them look fair.”

Joey looked at him a moment, “Kurt, you’re not some kind of squid-truther, are you?”

Kurt just shrugged, “Nah, I know they’re real… I get why some people are skeptical, it had to have been hard finding out we were under attack by another alien race, and the only way to beat them was to buddy up with the same greenskins that spent five years trying to stomp us out, literally…” He shrugged, “personally I’d have told the Zetans to enjoy being a squid’s dinner.”

“My gramps fought them both,” Joey said, stepping out of the car and getting his crop surveillance equipment ready, “now you know I’m not some kind of Zetan sympathizer-“

“Fuck no man,” Kurt said reassuringly, “I know you’re not with the greenskins.”

“Yeah,” Joey muttered, looking over the cornfield, “well, gramps said that even with the Zetans shrinking people, crushing them, enslaving them… the squids were worse.” He was quiet a moment, “he always used to tell us the Zetans were evil people, the squids though? They’re not people at all…”

“Did he serve on a Zetan ship after the alliance?” Kurt asked curiously. Most humans had a story of family members working alongside the invaders once the Cephalo menace had presented itself, Kurt’s own father had served as the resident human on a small scout ship for a few years before marrying his mother.

“You didn’t ‘serve’ on a ship back then,” Joey muttered, “Zetans would do their usual thing, raiding human towns and shrinking everyone, then they’d find any humans with fighting experience and beg them to protect their ship against the Squids. You said yes, then they’d put you and everyone they took back to normal.”

“Had to be a weird time,” Kurt said with a nod.

“Yeah, the Squids were pretty terrifying back then,” Joey said, glancing over the field. Unlike Kurt he didn’t feel the need to wade into it, and he pulled up the holo-display on his wrist computer and simply checked a box stating “corn healthy” before stepping back into the car. “I guess their mind control isn’t like anything the Zetans ever saw in any of the other species out there.” He smirked a moment, “you ever see any of the old Zetan propaganda about us?”

“A little,” Kurt admitted, “a lot of that stuff is banned from broadcast…”

“Banned,” Joey said in a mocking, whining, voice. “Please, you’ve totally seen that shit, you’ve probably seen vids of their invasion too.”

“Yeah,” Kurt said quietly, “I’ve seen the footage of people getting stomped, torn limb from limb… I’ve seen the stuff they aired on their homeworld calling us animals and whatever, what’s your point?”

“You don’t think it’s just a little funny?” Joey asked with a grin, “they talked about how we had inferior brains so often, then it turns out we’re the only species in the galaxy immune to Squid mind control?” He chuckled, “not just immune, but we can even keep them safe if we want.”

“What’s funny about it?” Kurt said darkly, “if it wasn’t for the squids, we’d be their little toys and pets.”

Joey just rolled his eyes, “if you don’t think it’s funny that a race that spent every day ranting about its superiority had to suddenly get on its knees and beg us stupid earth monkeys for help, well hell Kurt, I don’t know what would make you chuckle.”

“And what about when the squids are gone?” Kurt asked, “you think the Zetans will find it funny?”

Joey shrugged, starting their vehicle again, “they say the squids have like five hundred planets, we’ve got four and the Zetans have twenty, I think we’ve got time to figure it out.” He grinned, glancing down at his ankle holster, “besides, it’s not like we’ve been sitting on our asses this whole time, we’d have our own star cruisers for round two, our own plasma weapons, and even bumfuck police departments like ours have power armor now.”

“I guess,” Kurt muttered, looking up at the sky again. There was a ring-shaped cloud where the space freighter had entered hyperspace, no doubt using the wormhole corridor the Zetans had established directly from Earth to their homeworld. It was supposedly an honor, an expensive infrastructure piece that even their own colonies mostly didn’t enjoy. Zetan press releases said it was because they wanted a stronger relationship with earth, the reality was that the Zetans wanted Zeta Prime to always have easy access to humans in the event of another Cephalo attack.

“You going to the parade downtown or driving over to Des Moines?” Joey asked. “Should be plenty of girls there, even people who hate the Zetans love to spend their money on a good party.”

“Fuck Des Moines,” Kurt laughed, “let’s just go to the one in downtown Clearwater, it’ll be smaller but it’ll have cheaper beer and nicer girls.”

Joey gave him a pair of finger guns as he grinned, “Hell yeah!”

…

Adam Langstrom sighed as he read over the reports. The fortieth Alliance Day celebration was upon them, and the Human-Zetan Cultural Office was on top of things, making sure celebrations would proceed smoothly. Few humans or Zetans were familiar with his office, and that was by design. Any who tried to learn more were given some short paragraph from their website about how his office promoted human cultural interests on Zeta Prime and it’s associated worlds and facilitated friendship between the two species. The truth was that the Cultural Office had more influence in the Earth and Zetan governments than any other organization short of the two species militaries.

There was a knock at his door, “Come in,” he called, reading over various plans for Alliance Day celebrations.

“Langstrom,” a female voice purred in perfect English, too perfect really. He looked up to see the pale green skinned woman in long black dress elegantly stalking into his office.

He smiled, meeting her pale yellow eyes, “Kira Darkstar, I’d heard you were rotating back to earth.” She was short for a Zetan at only six feet, and her pointed ears seemed to twitch happily as he greeted her.

“I just can’t stay away,” The Zetan woman said with a smile as she sat down across from him. “I thought it best that we meet to discuss the Alliance Day plans?”

“There’s little to discuss,” Adam muttered, closing the report, “we’ll have ample security at celebration sites in major cities, radical human groups intend to protest, but they shouldn’t cause too much trouble.”

“Same for us,” Kira said, pulling up a holographic data display, “the most troubling is Zeta Forever, they’re expected to field actual candidates for election soon, part of their official platform is that our government should pursue shrinking humans as a general policy again.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Adam exclaimed, “isn’t this the same group that was involved in black market human pet rings? How are they still in operation?”

Kira sighed, “we couldn’t tie it to any of the higher ups, luckily their polling numbers are quite low…”

“Maybe that’s a sign that your people are finally starting to see us as equals,” Adam muttered.

Kira bit her lip, “A significant portion of the Zetan population would like to see you reduced back to our toys,” she said, “they’re just smart enough to know that doing it while the Cephalos are out there is a death sentence for the Empire.” 

“So the ones openly voting to start shrinking humans again are just those stupid enough to say the quiet part out loud?” Adam mused with a smile.

“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it,” Kira said with a small smile, “but rest assured our efforts haven’t gone entirely without effect, plenty of Zetans adore your species now.”

“Adoration takes many forms,” Adam said, rolling his eyes with a smile, “the last time I was on Zeta Prime no less than five young women propositioned me, and only one was going to let me stay full size for the act.”

“And did you take up any of those offers?” Kira giggled.

“Oh Kira,” he said with a playful smile, “you know the only Zetan I’ve ever had eyes for was you.”

“Good boy,” she said with a smirk, “you’re not seeing anyone are you? Zetan or… otherwise?”

“I haven’t dated since your last rotation here ended,” he said, folding his hands behind his head, “too busy with Cultural Office work…”

“I’m much the same,” Kira said, hefting an earth style purse up on his desk, “since I’m back on earth, why not simply pick up where we left off?”

Adam’s eyes went wide, and he smiled, “I’d love that!”

“Glad to be dating you again Adam,” Kira said, reaching into her purse, “you’re the only male in either of our species I ever got along with… now, are you done with your work for today?”

“Just finished wrapping things up,” he said.

“Oh good,” Kira said, drawing a small silvery device out of her purse.

Adam gulped nervously as he saw the shrink ray. Almost all Zetans carried one, using the miraculous devices for anything from self-defense to making the movement of heavy objects easier. The Zetan insistence on continuing to carry the devices on Earth was insensitive to say the least, a shrink ray in a green hand almost instinctively made any human nervous, even those like Adam who were well used to them.

Kira saw his expression and grinned, “Relax,” she said in a low voice as she aimed the device at him, “let’s just have fun tonight, like we used to.”

“Kira-“ he started, but a beam leapt out from the silver remote, striking him in the chest. A moment later he was looking up in shock at the monolith of his desk, a faraway grinning green face peered over it. He struggled to stand up on the leather of his chair as a giant hand reached down for him, the verdant fingers curling around his body and lifting him into the air.

He squirmed in her grip as he was brought up to her smiling face, she tilted him from side to side idly, getting a good look at him. Kira had always enjoyed handling him when he was tiny, and as the fingers longer than his legs began groping at him, he had to admit he’d missed it too. He fought the urge to gasp as the pad of her index finger traced along the front of his pants, quickly finding his erection. His will to resist dropped as she slowly began circling her finger back and forth, stimulating him and causing him to arch his back against her palm.

“I’ve missed playing with you,” she giggled. He gave her a pleading look as her finger pulled away, but she just laughed and rolled her eyes. Adam’s tiny body was brought to the two massive green globes of her breasts, and without another word she slowly stuffed him between them. “Go on,” she whispered, “get down there, I don’t want anyone to see me carrying you out like this.” Her finger pressed on his forehead, submerging him as his arms flailed like a drowning man. With a final muffled sound the shrunken human disappeared between the alien’s breasts.

Kira jiggled them slightly, settling her captive lower. With one final look around the office, she shut the light off and left. She waved pleasantly as she passed humans, and even a few other Zetans, in the hall. There were a few new faces, a few office renovations, but it was still the familiar building she’d spent her first visit to earth working at.

I can’t believe Adam was still unclaimed, she thought excitedly, single as the Earth people would say… Kira had loved her first rotation of duty on Earth, not least because of the human paramour she’d befriended, coming back and finding him still waiting for her? That was a message from the gods, no doubt about it.

Kira sighed and looked up at the blue sky, breathing in the smell of the human city. Most Zetans would look down on such a metropolis, dotted with pre-invasion buildings and more modern ones, gleaming with holographic advertisements and signs. There was nothing quite so authentic on Zeta Prime, nor most Zetan worlds, she brushed her hand along a stone structure that had a sign designating it as a bank. A building this old would have been knocked down at home on principle…

It’s good to be back, she thought.

…

“My friends,” the green skinned woman on the holoscreen began, “Am I alone in asking why we must continue to bow and scrape before these primitives?”

“Stars no!” Nea muttered, turning the volume up as the Zeta Forever candidate began her speech. She lounged on her expansive bed, one befitting a princess of the royal family, and with a flick of her wrist a drone brought her a drink, a cold Zetan beverage known as qet. She grimaced as she sipped it, it was said to be an acquired taste, but Nea was having some trouble… acquiring it. Still all proper Zetans drank qet, not that “cola” from Earth. Disgusting sludge, she thought angrily, she’d never tried it of course, she wouldn’t lower herself.

“Now it’s true that humans make a useful weapon against the Cephalos,” the candidate admitted, as a crowd of other Zetans mumbled halfhearted agreements, “but if humans are to be our shield, we should simply take as many as our fleets need!” the crowd roared in approval, “these knuckle dragging apes from earth aren’t allies, they’re trained animals, and it’s time we started reminding them of that!” cheers echoed through the hololink, and Nea fought the urge to rise off her bed and join them.

“They say we’re in a golden age of Human-Zetan relations,” the speaker finished, “but I say the golden age was when you could buy them at the market, when they scampered at our feet and cowered when we taught them tricks!” The figure on the screen nodded as members of the crowd shouted things like “make them pets!” “shrink all humans!” and “a good human is a tiny human!”

“Personally, I’m going to go buy a human enclosure as soon as I’m done with this speech,” the candidate roared, “because we all know we’ll need them again soon!”

“Stars align and make it so,” Nea muttered, flipping the holoscreen off. She glanced at the corner of her room, where a human enclosure sat, empty. She walked over to it, looking down at the facsimile of a earth-style house and green astroturf. A human would be lucky to get to live in there, she thought to herself.

“Princess?” a voice echoed from her door, coupled with a quick buzz of her alarm, indicating someone was requesting entry.

She recognized the voice of her bodyguard, Telma, “enter,” she said neutrally.

The door unlocked, and the other Zetan entered, her dark grey ceremonial armor glinting in the artificial sunlight of Nea’s room. Telma was a good seven feet tall, towering over Nea’s own six-and-a-half foot frame, and her pale silver hair contrasted with Nea’s own dark green. Nea stared bitterly a moment at Telma’s yellow eyes, the sign of a pure blooded Zetan. Her own were a vibrant blue, a consequence of her grandmother’s disgusting decision to allow a human to pollute the royal line.

“Your mother has summoned you, along with all of your sisters,” Telma said, “you did not respond?”

“I’m not going to participate in Alliance Day,” Nea snapped, “we shouldn’t be celebrating the fact that our people are chained to a gaggle of useless primitives.”

Telma’s mouth was a thin line, “my lady, your sentiments are my sentiments, but the Empress has commanded your presence.” Telma’s eyes glanced over the human enclosure, and she smirked, “you may wish to hide that, if your mother hears of it, she’ll order you disciplined.”

“Mother is a human loving traitor!” Nea said angrily.

Telma frowned, “She’s also the empress, now please get dressed Nea, I don’t want to see my colleagues drag you before her again.”

…

The Zetan throne room was an opulent and towering interior, with ceilings that stretched hundreds of feet high, archways leading to a throne that gleamed like mother of pearl in a radiant light that bathed the empress of the stars. Empress Tetra was dressed in a gown of starsilk, a dark fabric that gleamed and glittered like the night sky as she regarded her daughters. She had eight of them, each one a potential heir to her throne. Her oldest three and her youngest one had the bright yellow eyes of a Zetan, but the other four had a mix of green and blue eyes that betrayed human heritage. The empress herself had emerald eyes that almost matched the shade of her green skin.

“Nea,” the Empress said as her second youngest stalked angrily to join her sisters in a line, “so good of you to join us, we were discussing how the royal family will celebrate Alliance Day.”

“Where is father?” she demanded, looking at a smaller, empty, throne next to the Empress’s own.

Tetra’s mouth quirked slightly, she knew Nea didn’t care where her father was, she was only asking to annoy her. Zetan males were rare, at less than one in fifty natural pregnancies, the one Tetra had selected to be her consort was handsome to be sure, but a bit of a wastrel who did not care for palace life or politics at all. His lack of interest was one of the reasons why Tetra had wanted him in the first place, Zetan history was full of stories of prince consorts working behind the scenes, pursuing their own agendas, Tetra hadn’t wanted any of that. A fool with a pleasant personality and a taste for the finer things suited her just fine.

“Your father is away on other business,” Tetra said tersely, “I was discussing how your sisters were to behave at our gala tomorrow, most of Earth’s dignitaries are going to be there and I don’t want any diplomatic incidents.”

“Then don’t make me go,” Nea retorted angrily, “unless you’re going to let me take my shrink ray and-“

“Enough,” the empress said coolly, “I am embarrassed that you speak this way in the presence of my guards…” she gestured around the room. While there were a dozen royal Zetan guards in the same pale grey armor Telma wore, at the far end near the doorways four black suited humans wearing sunglasses and earpieces waited. While most high ranking Zetans had at least one human guard, a precaution against Cephalo attack, the empress had a rotating staff of nearly a dozen. Unlike most other Zetans she did not demand they conform to her species’ fashion, and the crisp black earth style suits contrasted sharply with the gleaming white walls.

“Your guards,” Nea mocked, “the only use a human has in fighting is keeping a squid’s tentacles out of your head, otherwise? They’re just decoration.”

“Agent Smith,” the empress ordered. One of the humans stood forward from the others, his hands behind his back, “discipline my daughter for me.”

The human bodyguard frowned, “Ma’am,” he began slowly, “we are here to protect you and your family, I don’t know if I feel comfortable with-“

The empress just laughed, “I do love how formal humans can be. Agent Smith you are new, you will learn in time how the palace functions… but for now, discipline my daughter.”

Smith glanced back at the other agents, who nodded as one. With a sigh the human approached the towering amazon that was Nea, who just grinned excitedly. He took his jacket off, then a moment later unbuckled his gun holster, the plasma pistol glowing within it as he folded his black suitcoat over it and placed it on the ground. Finally, he loosened his tie, taking a fighting stance across from her.

“Pathetic,” Nea laughed, stepping forward, “your other daughters neglect themselves mother, but I am a trained warrior, no human could ever-“ The wind was knocked out of her as the human’s first blow landed. She glanced down at her attacker in surprise, then threw a jab that was easily caught by the agent. Her world spun, and she grunted in pain as her face was forced into the ground, her arm pinned behind her back.

Nea’s face burned with rage, and tears of embarrassment stung the corners of her eyes. From her place on the ground, she could see her sisters giving her mocking smiles. She struggled against the human, but even though she was larger than him he had her pinned.

“Smith,” The empress said, a small smile on her own face, “break the arm.”

“I refuse,” Smith said, gritting his teeth as he held her in place.

“Refusing an order from the Empress,” Tetra laughed, “and my daughter thinks your species is cowardly… I suppose the princess has learned her lesson, release her.” Smith stepped back, and a seething Nea was let up. She glared angrily at her mother, fighting back a fresh wave of tears as her sisters giggled at her embarrassment.

“Do not speak ill of humans in my presence again,” the Empress said in a low voice. “You will celebrate Alliance Day, and you will be a paragon of polite conversation, now go.”

Nea sneered at them all one final time, before walking out of the room. She snarled as she passed Smith, who just stared at her impassively from behind those dark glasses. As the throne room door closed behind her, Telma joined her, following behind.

…

“S-She set that thing on me,” Nea raged, pacing her room while her bodyguard watched. “She was going to let him break my-“ She gulped, rubbing her still sore arm. “Humans are far too dangerous to be allowed to walk around at full size…”

“They’re most effective against the Cephalos at their full height,” Telma mused, “but… I admit I’d prefer them smaller, at least when they’re not needed.”

“Alliance Day,” Nea muttered, clenching her fists, “I’ll show them what I think of Alliance Day…” She glanced at her human enclosure, “the worst part of it is humans know they’d be better off in their rightful place.”

“Oh?” Telma asked, eyebrow raised.

“Zeta Forever says a lot of humans were happier when they were tiny,” Nea explained casually, “did you know, even after they were released, almost a third of them stayed here on Zeta Prime?”

“Well yes,” Telma said with a smirk, “but you’ll notice none of them wanted to stay tiny…”

Nea snorted, “plenty of people go down to the Human sector and offer to shrink them for a little fun, I’ve heard they never say no, that they practically beg you for it!”

Telma’s smirk indicated she was fighting a laugh, “have you ever been to the Human sector Nea?” she asked curiously.

“Of course not,” Nea snapped, “I’m not going to go consort with wild humans like that… If I desired to use one in a carnal sense it would be my own pet, a properly obedient one raised with a firm hand.” A strange expression traced across her face, “maybe that’s it…” she said, a grin forming on her face.

“You want a human?” Telma asked, the bodyguard blinked and cleared her throat uncomfortably, “I can arrange for one to uh… visit.”

“No, nothing like that,” Nea said, quickly pulling up the holographic display on her wrist computer. She typed in “Human-Zetan Friendship and Alliance Treaty” and quickly had the entire document displayed for her in Zetan and several human languages. She scrolled through it, then beamed as she found the passage she was looking for.

“The royal family of the Zetan Empire reserves the right to harvest humans from earth for recreation and procreation purposes,” she read excitedly. “Such humans shall be held until such time as the royal family deigns to release them.” She turned to Telma, “it’s still legal for me to take a human as a pet, even if our people are denied their rights.”

Telma licked her lips nervously, “Nea, that part of the treaty was… it was more symbolic than anything, no member of the royal family has ever actually invoked it.”

“Then perhaps it’s overdue,” Nea said, “prepare my ship, I want a military grade shrink rifle, battle armor, combat drones, everything a soldier invading earth would have had forty-five years ago.”

“I’m sworn to obey you,” Telma said nervously, “as your bodyguard I obey you even over the Empress, you know that… but I urge you to carefully consider this course of-“

“It’s exactly what’s needed!” Nea said eagerly, “our people crave real leadership, seeing their royal family exercise its rights to shrink and take a human will invigorate them and make the humans remember their place.”

“Nea,” Telma began uncertainly, “the ramifications could be-“

“Make the preparations,” the princess ordered. With a sigh Telma bowed, leaving to do her princess’s bidding

Nea glanced over her human enclosure, I’ll get a cute one, she decided, male… She thought of some of the things the texts said Zetans had done during the invasion of earth, and she giggled thinking of which ones she’d try for herself. I’ll do my best to treat my pet kindly, she decided, he’ll have to be a role model for the rest of his species after all, if he looks happy… it would be better. She bit her lip, of course he’ll need to be trained properly…

…

Alliance day celebrations began early in the morning, and as the small craft lifted over the sparkling spires of the Zetan capital, fireworks burst below them. Per Nea’s instructions Telma had prepared a ship, armor, and weaponry for them. The princess was in gleaming emerald green armor that was molded to her body, exposing her lithe physique as she checked the shrink-rifle, a device powerful enough to reduce even the largest human fighting vehicles to mere toys.

“Excellent work Telma,” Nea beamed, joining her bodyguard in the cockpit. She frowned as she saw the other Zetan had a cup of... something. Was it bubbling? “Telma,” she said in a disapproving tone, “is that one of those Earth sodas?”

“It is,” Telma said defensively, taking another sip, “they contain a delightful substance called caffeine, I like to have some at the start of my day.”

“Earth narcotics are for the weak,” Nea said, “go pour it out and prepare us two cups of qet.”

“Ah yes, qet,” Telma muttered, “just the drink for starting an interplanetary incident.”

“Indeed,” Nea said excitedly, missing the sarcasm. “This Alliance Day is sure to be one the humans will never forget… Set course for Earth!”

Adam groaned, blinking himself awake. A stale sweaty smell filled his nostrils, and he sat up as the memories of the night before came flooding back. He knew where he was instantly, and he looked up out of the mouth of Kira’s shoe and chuckled to himself.

How long has it been since I’ve woken up at the bottom of Kira’s shoe? It took him back, that was for sure. His Zetan lover had a habit of ending their lovemaking sessions by depositing his shrunken form in her shoes, usually teasing him about how much he loved the smell and promising to get him out once she’d “freshened up.” She also had a habit of collapsing back into bed, falling asleep and leaving him trapped in her footwear for the night.

He heard a yawn overhead, and he peered up to see a giant green face peer sheepishly over the side of the mattress, “Good morning,” Kira said with a giggle, “sorry, I really meant to get you out of there-“

“I’ve heard it before,” he said, chuckling. “I’ve missed it, isn’t that weird?”

“I’ve missed my little human toy too,” she drawled, reaching down to draw him out. She grabbed him by his ankle, pinching it between her thumb and forefinger and lifting him up, upside down. She shifted on the bed, letting him dangle helplessly over her face. She smirked as she spotted his rock hard erection, “I can’t believe you haven’t let anyone shrink you since I left… it’s obvious you love this.”

“It’s doing it with you that I liked,” he insisted, letting his arms hang below him. He grinned, “speaking of, how powerful is your new ray?”

“It’s a personal model,” she said, “you’re at the minimum size it can manage.” She gave a knowing smile, “were you hoping to be… smaller?”

“It crossed my mind,” he admitted.

“What a depraved human,” she laughed, “sorry to disappoint you…” she wrinkled her nose as she took in his smell, “marinating in my shoe all night has left you filthy,” she said, sitting up.

Adam took a moment to take in her body, the endless pale green skin, bountiful breasts, all in a spidery set of Zetan undergarments, the fibers holding her chest up and seeming to draw the eye between her legs. From the way those yellow eyes glinted she’d caught his gaze, and he detected a saunter in her hips as she carried him towards her apartment’s bathroom.

“Unshrink me so I can clean up,” he demanded.

“I think not,” she replied, turning the warm water tap on. She hovered a finger underneath it, gauging the temperature, “I got you dirty, I’ll clean you!”

Adam was about to say something else, but he was plunged under the stream of water, sputtering as the powerful green fingers gripped him. Her next move was forcing him upright, showering him with the faucet.

“I got this soap on Zeta Prime,” she said, holding it up to him with a smirk, “I felt this scent would suit you perfectly!” He squinted at the Zetan lettering, a moment later his translation implant kicked in.

“Human musk?” he laughed. The picture was a rather athletic and demure looking human man, sweating and hefting a dumbbell. “What do Zetans think humans smell like?”

“Those of us with some experience with humans know better,” she mused, “but… there are plenty of human fetishists who have a sort of idealized idea of what you are like.” She squeezed some of the soap into her palm, rubbing it roughly over his tiny body.

“Human fetishists?” he managed, smiling as the suds were rubbed into him, “Like you?!” he gasped as her slick fingers went lower, tracing over his erection.

“I do not have a human fetish,” Kira insisted, “I happen to like a human!” She scrubbed him faster, causing him to arc backwards and groan in pleasure. The tip of her finger came down on his crotch in earnest, rubbing in slow forceful circles that made him groan wildly.

“P-please,” he managed, panting as he squirmed in her soaped palm.

She slowed, smirking at the disappointed look on his face, “Don’t worry, we’ll get all the dirty human genetic material out of you… but we’re going to take our time with it.”

She reached over and pumped more of the silky alien soap into her palm, rubbing it into him and making the suds rise again as her powerful fingers massaged his body. He looked up at Kira, her smug green face taking him in as he fought feebly against her hand.

“That’s right,” she cooed, “just surrender to me.”

He gritted his teeth, trying not to cum as she said it. When she got like this it was hard for him to think straight, part of him felt guilty, letting a Zetan shrink him and play with him like this, but at the same time there was no other experience quite like this.

Besides, he reasoned, it’s not just a Zetan, it’s Kira…

“I surrender!” he shouted, his body going tense as her finger kept teasing him.

“Good human,” she said with a smirk, “now spill that filthy human seed, go on, get it all out!”

He shouted as orgasm rocked his body, her fingers stroking him to orgasm and causing him to spurt into the mix of soap and water covering him. With a grin his alien tormenter moved him under the warm stream of water again, washing his cum away with the suds.

“That’s good,” she giggled, “finish up now, wash it all away…”

He panted as the last spray of his semen was flooded away under the tap water, a moment later he collapsed into her palm, limp. She kept rinsing him for another moment, making sure she got everything as she watched his adorable chest heave up and down, exhausted.

“F-filthy human seed?” he managed with a weak smile.

She rolled her eyes, “I got lost in the moment, you know I find it quite palatable.”

“Right,” he laughed. “Seriously, can you grow me back? I’ve got to get ready; Alliance Day is the Cultural Office’s busiest day of the year.”

“Let me go get my ray,” she said, giving him a wink as she set him on the bathroom counter. She returned a moment later, that same smug smile on her face as she directed the small silver remote at him. There was a quick flash of light, then he was struggling to keep his balance as he found himself seated, naked, on the bathroom sink counter.

“T-Thanks,” he muttered, feeling a bit embarrassed as he slid off onto the floor. Somehow being naked at full size always felt more revealing than when he was small… “Where are you stationed for today?” he asked.

“Zetan liaison to Cultural Office deputy director Adam Langstrom,” she said with a grin.

He blinked, then returned the smile, “Well then, let’s get dressed and get going! We’re starting with a museum opening, then we’ve got some small VFW events, and we’ll cap the day off with cocktails at the white house.”

“The white house?” Kira said eagerly, “I’ve never gotten to go!”

“They say they built the galaxy’s best ballroom and bar after the post-war reconstruction,” he said with a laugh, “your people paid for it, you should get to enjoy it at least once.”

“Smug human bastard!” she teased, “I should shrink you again just for saying that!”

He rolled his eyes, “go get dressed Kira! I’ve got a red tie, a yellow tie, and a blue one, pick something that matches any of them.”

“As you wish,” Kira said, giving an exaggerated bow, “I wouldn’t want to embarrass my esteemed human lover.”

“I won’t be the only one bringing a green date,” he said reassuringly, “but if our outfits clash, that’s going to be the gossip on Monday morning.”

…

Kurt put in the drink order and glanced across the crowded bar to where Joey was, a girl on either side of him as he eagerly told some story or another.

How does he do that? Kurt wondered. Their jobs with the agricultural department weren’t interesting, but when Joey talked to women about it, they always found time to listen. Am I just ugly? Kurt wondered sardonically. He wasn’t, at least not hideously anyway. He glanced at a mirror behind the bar, tossing his head and causing his blond bangs to drift out of his eyes. He could use a haircut sure, and maybe he could bulk up a little at the gym, but he wasn’t totally unfortunate looking, right?

Their booth lit up with laughter, a third girl had joined in to listen to Joey tell them about checking the corn for problems. Kurt just smirked and rolled his eyes, taking the tray with their beers and cocktails.

“What do I owe you?” he asked the bartender.

“First drink for everyone is paid for by the Zetan consulate,” the bartender said, “of course I have trouble remembering who’s already had one…” he winked.

“Got it,” Kurt said with a smile, heading back to the booth. Maybe Alliance Day isn’t so bad after all. The parade would start later, maybe he could peel one of those girls off Joey to watch it with him? A man could dream.

…

The ship shuddered as it exited the hyperspace tunnel. Nea stood up eagerly, taking her first look at the blue planet that was Earth. She scowled as she saw the expansive oceans, what use could a species have with so much water?

“We’ve got system authorities hailing us,” Telma said, gesturing at the comms systems.

“Tell them we’re here on royal business!” Nea said, “that should be enough for any Zetan military craft-“

“Most of the ships around Earth answer to the humans,” Telma said, glancing at the beeping “incoming message” alert, “they’re not going to give a lot of weight to a royal order for an escort, if anything that would make them more suspicious.”

“Blast,” Nea muttered, “and we don’t have a military beacon either…” She thought a moment, “why do Zetans usually come to Earth, when it’s not for the military?”

“Not a lot do,” Telma said with a shrug, “humans aren’t exactly eager to have a lot of us on their planet… business, I guess? Someone imports the soda.”

“Some foul traitor,” Nea said angrily, “that poison has ruined the tastebuds of a generation of-“

Telma hit the communications button, holding up a hand and silencing the princess, “Greetings humans,” she said, “we’re here on business, we’re looking to import sodas to Zetan Prime.”

“This is Earth Orbital Command,” a bored sounding human voice answered in English, “I don’t see any commercial vessels scheduled for arrival, most people are just enjoying the holiday.”

“That’s why we’re in such a hurry,” Telma said, glancing at a large battlecruiser that was approaching them, “we need to pick up some sodas and other Earth luxury foods for the celebration back on Zeta Prime! We’re very behind, but I think we can still get them back by the time the parties really start-“

“Your ship is awfully small for a commercial vessel,” the human captain said, “I’m sending you a docking code for the George Washington, it’s the big ship heading to you now. We’ll inspect your ship real quick then get your papers straightened out.”

“Docking?” Nea whispered nervously.

Telma sighed, “hold on,” she hit the communications button again, “We don’t have time for that! We’re here… at the behest of the empress! I’m sending you a royal authentication signal now.”

“What are you doing!?” Nea whispered. Telma just held up a hand.

“We’ve got a Zetan advisor on board, let me get her up here to check this,” the human said on the other end. A moment later the comms crackled to life again, “Looks like your royal signature checks out, so you’re on a snack run for the Empress huh?”

“That’s right,” Telma said with a forced chuckle, “she loves human food.”

“You’re clear for landing, see you on the way out,” the human said, ending the communication. Telma sighed and leaned back in her chair, guiding the ship towards the atmosphere.

“The humans have their own space cruisers now?” Nea asked angrily.

“They have for years,” Telma said with a shrug, “I don’t know why you’re so shocked, humans have been serving on our ships for decades, it only makes sense that they’d eventually want to build their own.” Telma grinned, “they say a fully human crewed ship is one of the best terror weapons we’ve got, like if a ship has a few dozen humans on it the squids will stay and fight it, but as soon as they know a ship is fully human crewed? They leave the system immediately.”

“A fully human crewed ship is a great terror weapon,” Nea said sarcastically, “stars above I’m terrified, they’ll probably try to vent their core to make it go faster.”

“If you want, we can call this whole thing off,” Telma said, trying not to sound too hopeful.

“Of course not,” Nea muttered, “a reminder of our positions in the universe is more important now than ever…” there was a hint of doubt in her voice, but she leaned over Telma and began pulling up local maps. “We’ll simply need to avoid the more populated areas, other Zetans too probably…” She pointed at a sparsely populated interior area on one of the major landmasses. “Here, there’s only one nearby spaceport, and the records say it’s commercial, no military craft or Zetan presence.”

“Looks like it’s mostly farming communities,” Telma agreed. She zoomed in on the map, glancing at the marked human settlements. “We could land in an open area, shrink your human, and get out before anyone noticed.”

“I don’t want to get caught right away,” the princess mused, “but I don’t want to skulk in and out like a thief either.” She grinned, “I also want a bit of choice, find an Alliance Day celebration, a small one, but with enough humans that I could have my pick of them.”

“How about this place here?” Telma said, pointing to the map, “Clearwater, Iowa? It’s holding a parade right now.”

“It’s as good as any,” Nea said, “bring us down.”

…

Kurt sighed as he watched the first of the parade floats go by. As soon as he’d tried talking to one of those girls about his job like Joey did she’d “gone to the bathroom” and never returned. Still, he had a good buzz going, and it was on the Zetan dime, so the day wasn’t a total loss.

Joey sidled up to him, “Hey man, where’d you go?” his friend asked, glancing at the marching band, now playing a mix of the American National anthem and that of the United Earth government.

“I struck out,” Kurt said with a shrug, “didn’t want to cramp your style.”

“Fuck man,” Joey laughed, punching him on the shoulder lightly, “girls come and go, if you wanted to watch the marching band you should’ve just said something and I’d have come with you.”

A shadow fell over the cheering crowd and the parade, slowly the music fell silent, the crowd joining them as everyone looked up in shock. A ship was hovering over downtown, obviously Zetan, obnoxiously even, sleek and bullet shaped, glowing green lines tracing along it and illuminating their Empire’s sigil. It hovered ominously, the only sound the hum of the interstellar engine.

Kurt felt a pit in his stomach, “We’ve got to get out of here,” he whispered, grabbing Joey’s arm. Others had the same idea, and someone screamed setting off the panic as people grabbed their children, spouses, and pets, fleeing in all directions at once.

People buffeted around the two of them, and it was all Kurt could do to keep himself on his feet as he saw a pair of portals opening in the bottom of the ship. Two glistening green armored figures dropped to the pavement, colliding with it with a thud and leaving a pair of crumbled craters.

Clearwater Iowa had four police officers, and there was a buzz that echoed as the power armored figures activated their shields. The crisp “CLEARWATER PD” across their chests caught the sun as they waded through the panicking crowd towards the Zetans.

…

“Humans,” Nea said, activating her armor’s loudspeakers, “I am princess Nea Brightstar, seventh daughter of Empress Tetra Brightstar, I have come to exercise my rights to harvest humans of my choice!”

She frowned, the uniformed human law enforcement officers weren’t heeding her announcement at all. There was a crackle as one ignited an electric baton…

“T-This is the law, set forth by both the treaty both of our people agreed to!” She snarled. One of the human police officers lifted a black gun, aiming it at her head.

“You’re under arrest!” one of them, with a bright yellow star painted on his chest, declared.

There was a pop of human gunfire, the slugs bouncing harmlessly off her energy shield with a few sparks. Nea snarled and hefted her own weapon, the shrink rifle powered up with a hum and she fired it at the first officer. There was a shimmer as his own armor’s shields activated, and Nea’s eyes went wide as her bolt was harmlessly absorbed.

“Telma!” she shouted in panic as the first human reached her, lifting the electric baton high.

Her bodyguard was suddenly between her and the human, catching the weapon with a grunt. She was larger than the human attacker, but the power armor these human guards wore was evidently good enough to let the man grapple with Telma on a near even footing. Nea swallowed nervously, seeing the other three rushing to join their leader.

This isn’t how it’s supposed to go! She thought in panic.

…

Joey and Kurt were ducked behind a parked boxy-transport, watching the aliens battle the police. The Clearwater PD didn’t carry plasma weapons, simply using old style earth firearms while carrying out their duties. It had become clear to the two parties that their weapons were useless against each other, and the situation had devolved into a power armor brawl. So far one of the Zetans seemed to be holding her own, using an impressive mix of martial arts, the other one with the shrink gun was holding back.

“Hey!” Kurt whispered, “you got that gun?”

“F-Fuck yeah,” Joey replied, his hand shaking as it traced down to his ankle. He drew the plasma pistol, peering over the transport.

…

Nea swore in surprise as a pair of plasma bolts arced by her. The shots were wide, but her armor’s alarms were blaring angrily. She followed the directional arrows on her helmet display to the source of the fire, and her armor quickly picked up two humans crouched in cover behind a ground transport. They weren’t in military or police uniforms, and her armor quickly scanned their vital signs. Both were panicked, and her eyes lit up as she saw they were both young males, the first had a darker complexion, handsome, but with a terrified look on his face as he leveled the gun again.

Nea grunted with exertion as she leapt to the side, dodging the incoming green bolts of plasma, behind her there was a hiss as a brick shop façade was instantly reduced to molten rock.

…

“Give me that thing,” Kurt ordered, grabbing the gun from Joey’s shaking hand. He shoved his friend down into cover, then with a steely gaze and a steady hand he leveled the pistol at the approaching Zetan.

…

Nea’s eyes met the blond human’s, and she almost stopped in her tracks at that gaze, The sheer defiance, she thought in awe. Zetan media had been filled with images of handsome and brave humans, something that Nea had always dismissed as propaganda. Now though? Seeing the wind pushing his straw-colored hair dramatically around his face as he stared her down, that’s a human straight out of a Cultural Department film, she thought excitedly.

That’s the one, she realized, suddenly feeling giddy. With a smile she lifted the rifle, but there was a burst of green light, then a flash of pain across her chest as alarms in her helmet screamed warnings.

…

“You got her!” Joey shouted excitedly, his voice cracking, “you fucking got-“

The alien was sitting back up, peeling a chunk of her ruined armor off. The suit was coming off like glowing hot paper mache, and a moment later the entire torso was gone, reduced to molten slag on the pavement. The Zetan’s helmet tumbled free too, her dark green hair blowing in the wind as she blinked a pair of surprisingly human eyes in light of Earth’s sun.

Kurt hesitated, he’d never seen a Zetan in real life before. She was a statuesque beauty, standing half a foot taller than him at least, with a feminine face and hair to her shoulders.

“SHOOT HER AGAIN!” Joey screamed in a shrill voice.

Kurt grimaced, aiming the pistol a second time. The Zetan rolled across the pavement as he fired, scooping up her weapon and leveling it in a crisp and skillful maneuver. Kurt’s eyes went wide, and he grabbed Joey again as he dove behind the car.

There was a flash of light, and Kurt’s head spun. He blinked stars out of his eyes, had she hit the car? The building maybe? As his vision returned, he saw a massive concrete wall in front of him, at least twice as tall as he was. A pit formed in his stomach as he realized it was the street curb.

We’re shrunk, he thought, fighting the urge to panic, we’re tiny, we’re-

“Oh fuck,” Joey moaned, “We’re dead, we’re so dead!”

A shadow fell over them for the second time that day, and Kurt’s heart sank as he looked up at the monumental form of the grinning green skinned alien. Anger burned within him as he saw the smug smirk on her face, and he grabbed Joey again, pulling his panicking friend backwards as a massive boot lifted over them. There was a crunch of steel and glass as she crushed the vehicle they’d been hiding behind a moment before, and Kurt watched in awe as she casually ground her foot back and forth, reducing the vehicle to flattened wreckage.

Kurt closed his eyes and braced himself for the end, this was how his grandfather went out, along with too many other humans… instead something snaked around his chest, he opened his eyes as the gloved fingers wrapped around him, lifting him up to the alien’s face. Her weapon was slung across her back now, and he glanced to her other hand to see Joey’s sobbing form cradled the same as his.

“NEA!” the other Zetan shouted, “LET’S GO!” the power armor clad alien was still holding off the four police officers, though only barely. With one final shout she threw another one off her, his power armor shields sparking as he skittered across the pavement.

Nea nodded, sprinting back underneath the ship. There was an electric tingling feeling over her skin, and a moment later the tractor beam began lifting her and Telma upwards. She clenched her squirming prizes in her hands, fighting the urge to laugh with glee. A moment later they were inside the ship’s drop bay, and the portals hissed shut behind them.

“We did it,” Nea said excitedly, holding her humans up to show Telma.

Her bodyguard just sighed, “I’m going to try to get us out of the system before this escalates…”

“What are you talking about?” Nea asked, watching her go to the cockpit, “everything we did was perfectly legal under the treaty!”

Telma just stared at her a moment, “how did the humans down there react when you explained it to them?” she said finally.

“Well, maybe we just took them by surprise. They are ignorant savages, maybe these ones can’t read-“ Nea started.

“Do you think the ones with the battlecruiser will react better?” Telma hissed. “Let me do my job.”

“Of course,” Nea muttered, the weight of what Telma was saying was starting to set in… she felt a small hint of panic, but fought it down as she looked over her prizes. The two humans looked at her, the brown haired one fearfully, and the blond one, the one she’d been after, was giving her that same defiant gaze from before. She smiled, “while Telma flies the ship, why don’t we all get to know one another?”

…

“I told you that you wouldn’t be the only Zetan here,” Adam said with a smile, leaning against the White House bar as Kira sat next to him. It was true, the crowd mingling at the President’s Alliance Day party was mostly human, but a few green skinned amazons dotted the crowd, chatting and laughing with the humans casually.

“These people all seem very important,” Kira said with an embarrassed smile, “you’ve really come up in the world since I was away.”

Adam shrugged, “the Cultural Office has dealings with almost everyone, military, business, Zetan, Human, I meet a lot of interesting people.” The truth was he rarely attended the white house Alliance Day party, but he did want to impress Kira a little. It’s so good to have her back he thought happily.

His small wrist mounted computer buzzed slightly, alerting him to a message. He sighed and reached over to silence it, it was a holiday weekend after all, but he froze as he started reading it. Soon more alerts were coming in, subordinates, superiors, journalists, the screen was filling up. His mouth went dry.

“What’s wrong?” Kira asked, seeing his face go pale.

“We need to get over to the office right away,” he said, pushing his drink away, “I’m calling everyone in.”

“Adam, what’s happened?” she said, standing to join him as he began walking. The crowd had gone silent as other people began to receive their own alerts from friends, family members, assistants. News was spreading fast. Kira saw the humans begin to look at her, and the other Zetans, oddly, and she unconsciously hugged herself closer to Adam even as he picked up speed.

“Some fool Zetan showed up at an Alliance Day parade in Iowa and started shrinking people,” he muttered.

“Oh no,” Kira said, a sense of dread coming over her, “it’s okay though, we’ll catch her and get the humans back and-“

“It was a princess,” he said, giving the valet his ticket.

Kira froze, “w-what?”

“One of the Zetan princesses, the news says she introduced herself as Nea.”

“Stars no,” Kira whispered, “t-this is bad Adam…”

“It is,” he sighed, “Kira, I want you to stay with me until this is over, it’s not going to be safe for a lone Zetan to be out right now, and the police are going to have their hands full once this hits the morning news.” He swore under his breath as the valet brought his vehicle around, it was going to be such a nice weekend…

…

In the years following the war with the Cephalos, the US Secret Service had rapidly expanded and offered services to important Zetan officials. With the mind controlling aliens proving to be unstoppable to even the most determined Zetans, at least one human bodyguard was desirable, even to Zetans who didn’t care for the people of Earth.

Agent Craig Smith had seen action with the military on the Empire’s frontier, and had even protected several Zetan comrades in arms against a squid incursion, making him an ideal candidate for higher level duty. Thus, it was that he found himself in the security detail of the Zetan royal family. Having spent plenty of time with the aliens, he thought he’d be prepared for it, but he was quickly finding that the kind of Zetans that populated the ranks of their space fleets and those that walked their palace halls were an entirely different breed.

“Smith,” Princess Tayla pouted, “come dance with me!”

“I’m on duty Ma’am,” he insisted, suddenly very glad for his dark sunglasses.

The alien princess gave him a sad face, her pointed ears drooping slightly. She stood a head taller than him, amplified by a pair of high heels, an earth fashion that had spread to the palace of Zeta Prime. His face went red as her finger traced along his collar, he’d been trained to deal with a number of threats, human terrorists, Zetan insurrectionists, the squids… a flirty princess though? That wasn’t in the manual.

“You palace humans are so stiff,” Tayla giggled, “I loved how you handled Nea the other day, she’s such a brute…” She leaned in close, “not like me though, I know how to talk to a human… among other things.”

Smith gulped, glancing at the party. He’d taken a position at the far wall, opting to survey the scene and allow the guests some space from him. It was how human businessmen and politicians usually wanted things, unfortunately it left him isolated away from everyone else as the princess had cornered him. Fraternization with the locals wasn’t strictly prohibited per se, but most locals weren’t a princess…

“I understand,” Tayla said with a sigh, “you’re committed to your job.”

He gave a small smile, “yes ma’am.”

“I’m going hiking in the mountains near the equator in a few days,” Tayla said with a smirk, “I’ll be going with minimal security, just my usual bodyguard,” she glanced over to a Zetan woman a dozen feet away from them, who nodded politely, “but we’ll want a human to go with us too, just in case…” She shrugged, “can’t be too careful, being a princess and all…” She grinned, “I know just which human to request!” She leaned forward, whispering in his ear, “Agent Smith, have you ever been… tiny before?”

He started, and judging by the slow giggle of the princess as she parted, she’d noticed. Zetan women were… aggressive, he knew that much from his military service. They were strong too, even a full sized man could have trouble grappling with them, and one of the sayings among humans in the service was that if one got on top of you, she’d stay there until she wanted to get down. While plenty of Zetans were willing, eager even, to try a human at their normal size, they did love their shrink rays…

“I was shrunk once,” he said neutrally, “during training.”

“How small?” the princess asked with a smirk.

He debated answering, but a clatter from the center of the room saved him from it.

“She did WHAT!?” The Empress shrieked. All eyes were on the Zetan monarch, who had dropped her drink in shock when an assistant had brought her some news. Many Zetans had green skin that was pale enough that they could be seen to blush, and now Empress Tetra’s face was red with fury, her teeth in a snarl and her eyes wide. With a shout of anger she turned, stalking out of the gala, leaving shocked Zetans and humans to watch her go. A moment later the royal guards started filing out after her.

“I’d better go see what’s going on,” Smith said with a weak smile. Whatever had gotten the Empress so angry was no doubt a crisis, but for now? He was happy it had saved him from this conversation. The princess shot him a wink as he left, and he grimaced. That’s not over, he thought miserably.

…

“I am princess Nea,” she said, setting her humans on a table in the ship’s lounge, “you may call me Princess, or Mistress if you prefer.”

“We’ll never talk,” Kurt spat.

Nea frowned, “talk?”

“I’ll die before I break,” Kurt said darkly.

“What could you possibly know-“ Nea began, but she was cut off by the sobbing second human.

“We grow corn!” Joey whined, “I can tell you watering schedules, pesticides, what strains we’re-“

“Joey!” the other human snapped, “shut the hell up!”

“I don’t wish to hear any more about this ‘corn,’ and I think I’m done with you.” She sighed, turning towards the cockpit, “Telma, come in here a moment.”

Her bodyguard returned, “Autopilot is on, I’m trying to get us in comms range of one of the Zetan ships in system, what do you want?”

“Take this extra human, I won’t need him.” She handed the panicking Joey off to Telma, who grasped him awkwardly.

“Uh, thanks?” Telma said, regarding the shrunken human curiously.

“I need some time alone with my human now,” Nea said, “if you don’t mind.”

“Of course,” Telma said, carrying Joey to the cockpit as he started sobbing again.

Nea leaned over the table, looming over Kurt, “what’s your name?” she asked in a low voice.

“Kurt Miller,” he said, venom in his voice.

“I don’t care for that tone,” she said ominously, “do you speak Zetan, or do you have an implanted translator chip?”

“Chip,” he said, “why would I learn to speak Zetan?”

“It’s the language of your betters,” she said imperiously, “the chips are wonderful, I use one myself, but we’ll have a few language lessons so you can perfect your pronunciation.”

Language lessons? He thought incredulously, “If you’re going to kill us, just do it,” he said angrily.

“Kill you?” She asked with a chuckle, “oh my little Kurt… I’m not going to kill you.”

“So, what is this all about?” he asked, “is the war starting back up? Are you breaking the alliance?”

“Of course not,” Nea said dismissively, “We’re simply moving this relationship in it’s proper direction, that starts with you accepting your place as my new pet.”

“You’re nuts!” Kurt said, eyes wide, “do you think Earth is going to stand for this? Even the other Zetans are going to be pissed at you!”

“Once the other Zetans see what I, their princess, have done they’ll realize they can do it too!” she said eagerly, “this is a course correction that’s long overdue!”

“Whatever,” Kurt muttered darkly, “why me anyway? Why not just grab one of the humans on your planet?”

“It needed to be a wild one,” she growled, leaning close, “and you’re so perfect.” Her hand curled around him and her thumb forced its way under his chin, lifting his head against his struggles so he had to look at her. “The way you fought me, the way you’re talking so defiantly to me, even now… I want that, but it want to be mine, do you understand? You’re going to serve me.” She grinned, a single finger tracing up and running over his silky blond hair, “you’re a very aesthetically pleasing human as well, I cannot wait to see what’s under those clothes.”

He looked up at her, stunned. He growled angrily and squirmed in her grip, but she just tightened her fingers around him and laughed.

“Everything is fucked,” Adam muttered, looking out his office window at the fires raging in the city below. The riots had started quickly, anti-Zetan groups had clashed with police all over Earth and the human colony worlds, all Zetan settlements had been locked down. Kira lay on his office couch, asleep underneath his jacket. He’d asked the agency’s other Zetan employees and advisors to either remain in their homes, or stay within the office compound. Seeming to sense his gaze, Kira stirred blinking as she woke up.

“They’re playing it again,” he muttered, turning up the volume on the television that adorned the wall of his office.

“Dramatic footage from Clearwater, Iowa as radical Zetans shrank and kidnapped humans in the middle of an Alliance Day parade,” the news anchor began, “the kidnapped humans have been identified as Kurtis Miller and Joseph Atchinson, agricultural department workers who attempted to assist police in subduing the Zetans.”

The shaky camera footage from inside a restaurant showed the entire battle, ending with the Zetan princess shrinking the pair of humans, and picking them up after crushing a vehicle underfoot. It almost looked like old invasion footage, though thankfully without any bloodshed…

“I thought you ordered a blackout on that?” Kira asked sleepily.

“I did,” Adam said with a sigh, “but we lifted it after a few hours, it’s all over the internet anyways. We’ve shut down a bunch of social media sites temporarily because Zetan accounts were… inflaming tensions.” He tapped a few buttons on his wrist computer, a moment later the screenshots appeared on Kira’s.

“A taste of what’s coming humies?” she read the comments angrily, “get stomped?” She sighed, “I’m sorry my people are like that…”

“Don’t be,” he said with a small smile, “there are plenty who are outraged. The Empress is preparing a statement, and it won’t be in support of her daughter, we know that much.”

“We spent so much time trying to make up for everything,” she said quietly, “it just feels like forty years of work just got thrown away…”

Adam sighed, going and sitting next to her on the couch and hugging her slightly, “we’ll pull through,” he assured her.

…

The Zetan royal shuttle had a comfortable set of personal quarters, not nearly as spacious and grandiose as Nea’s at the palace, but certainly nicer than any Kurt had ever stayed in on Earth. An expansive bed sat in the middle of the room, along with an elegant wooden desk and a large screen that covered the wall. Nea had carried Kurt here, stripping the mottled remains of her armor off as she’d walked.

Kurt watched her, hoping for any hint as to her intentions. In spite of himself he found his eyes taking in her svelte form, as good as he could from his spot gripped in her hand anyway. She had a sizeable pair of green breasts, held up by a webbed black material that he recognized as Zetan underwear, it seemed to glitter with the light as she moved.

“Wait here,” she said, placing him on her desk slowly. He glanced behind himself and saw a large glass container, a doll-sized house inside that he guessed was supposed to be “his.” A moment later Nea returned, a small remote in her hand. A light leapt out and scanned over him, and a moment later the large screen on the far wall leapt to life, his biosigns displayed.

“What are you doing?” he asked, looking at his medical info nervously.

“What are you doing Princess,” she said tersely.

“I’m not giving you a title,” he said, crossing his arms. He thought a moment, “and speaking of, are you really the Zetan princess?”

She growled angrily at the impudence, “Of course I am! Look around you, do you think normal Zetans have a ship like this? A guard?”

“I don’t know, thankfully you greenskins mostly stayed away from Clearwater until now,” he said. He jumped as her fist slammed on the table next to him.

“You will not use those disgusting human slurs to refer to me or any other Zetan,” she spat, “I never want to hear knife ears, greenskins, spelves, or anything other than ‘Zetan’ out of your mouth ever again!”

“I’ll call you knife-eared bitches whatever the hell I want!” he shouted.

Nea fumed, and she plucked the human off her desk and squeezed him in her grip again, letting him know she could crush him in an instant. He still had that hateful look in his eyes, and she placed him down on the floor next to her now bare foot. He grimaced as the smell hit him, evidently the power armor didn’t breathe well, they smelled like she’d just run a marathon.

“You will address me as Princess, you will not use any human nicknames for my people,” she said again, lifting her foot over him. He stumbled back, holding his hand up as the soft pale-green flesh made contact with him. He grunted as her foot pressed down, her toes curling around his body and soaking him with her grimy sweat as his head was wedged between them. He feebly grabbed at her toes, wrapping an arm around the ones on either side of his head.

“N-No,” he wheezed as she put more pressure on him.

“Look at you,” she laughed, “this really is the truth of our two species, isn’t it? Shrinking technology is one of our race’s finest achievements, that’s why we use it on you, we put you physically where you always were mentally… beneath us.” Kurt wanted to shout, but with the pressure on his chest he couldn’t manage it, and his vision nearly swam with rage as he saw the smug expression on the Zetan’s face.

“If I put just a little more pressure on you… well, I’ll have to summon a cleaning drone to get what’s left of you out of the carpet… almost like I had stepped on a troublesome insect,” she continued. “Would you like me to let you up?” Kurt just glared at her, spittle forming at the corners of his mouth as he sputtered, trying to breathe. Rolling her eyes the princess lifted the sole of her foot slightly, letting him suck in the air with a gasp.

“I’ll let you up,” she said, “but you need to do something for me…” she grinned wickedly, “Agree to call me Princess, and… kiss my foot.”

Kurt’s eyes went wide, and a snarl of rage passed over his face forcing the pain down, “Fuck you!” he shouted.

Nea hissed angrily, clenching her toes around Kurt and gripping his head tightly. The sweat of her foot soaked his hair, and the pressure on his chest built until he struggled to draw breath, his face going red with the exertion.

I can’t press down any more, Nea realized, why won’t he just say it? Anger started to fill her, and although he was a man sure he was about to die, Kurt gave her a maddening smile that seemed to rub his defiance in her face.

Nea eased up the pressure again, crossing her arms in thought this isn’t right, she thought, humans are supposed to be dumb cowardly things… eager to obey once you’ve pushed them a little. A sense of unease filled her; she didn’t like the way this was making her feel as much as she thought it would. The human, Kurt, was far too… Zetan, in his demeanor.

“Do you have Zetan heritage?” she asked suddenly, “from the war perhaps?”

Kurt’s anger was replaced by incredulity, “No!” he shouted angrily

She bit her lip, trying to hide her embarrassment. It was a stupid question, the boy didn’t have a hint of green on him, but still…

He’s likely advanced for his species, she decided, the other human seemed to understand his place. She thought over what would get her to comply in such a situation, a line of thought that made her skin crawl, though she couldn’t quite place why.

“Your friend,” she said suddenly, catching his attention, “Maybe I should bring him in here? Would you still swear at me and call me foul names if it were him to be crushed under my foot?”

This is a low thing to do, she thought bitterly, even as the words left her mouth, a Zetan princess, a warrior, shouldn’t stoop to-

“Fine,” Kurt growled, looking up at her enormous form, “I’ll try to be more… polite, Princess.”

Her heart fluttered excitedly, “What else did I ask for?” she asked with a grin, squeezing her toes around him again.

Kurt sighed, looking at the big toe that had pinched him so easily. It was larger than his head, maybe as big as his torso. He looked up at the green skinned princess, who giggled slightly as she watched his thought process play out. He puckered his lips, and slowly kissed the toe. It was salty and grimy, like the rest of her foot, and he fought a grimace as he pulled away. The aftertaste was on his lips, and he couldn’t even reach them to wipe it off.

“Good human,” Nea cooed, “was that so difficult?” Part of her felt a little conflicted, her victory was tainted somehow, but it was a victory…

She reached down for him again, curling her hands around him and bringing him up to her face. She leaned in, her nose twitching slightly as she sniffed him. She giggled again, realizing how completely covered he was in the oily grime of her foot.

“You’re filthy,” she said in a low voice as she set him back down on the desk. She looked down at herself, the stale odor of her sweat beginning to set in as the sheen dried, “we both are… I suppose battle can do that.” She gave him an odd look, was that a hint of red in her cheeks? “Remove your clothing.”

His eyes bulged, “W-What?” He watched, shocked, as she tapped the corner of her bra, the spidery fabric of her underwear seemed to withdraw over her skin, crawling like a thousand snakes as it was drawn towards the point of contact, a moment later only a small pellet remained, and the now naked princess placed it casually on the table next to him.

Nea’s body was toned, smooth, the pale green of her skin broken by dark nipples that stood pert and erect from her breasts. As his eyes traced down, he saw a curl patch of pubic hair, the same shade of dark, almost black, green as that on her head.

She smirked at his reaction, the poor human is probably going mad with lust, she thought, to see a Zetan naked…

“Your clothing human,” she repeated, gesturing to him, “remove it, there is no modesty between a mistress and her pet.”

“Princess,” he managed, “I uh-“

Nea rolled her eyes, reaching to open a drawer on her desk. She withdrew a small cylinder with Zetan lettering stenciled across it, Kurt just managed to make it out in time for his translation implant to inform him what it said.

Utility laser? He gulped and stumbled back, but Nea’s hand held it over him, a slim red beam arcing out and making contact. There was a hissing sound as his clothes were sliced away, and a moment later his shirt, pants, and underwear, lay in a heap at his feet, the cut parts burned black and smoldering slightly. He quickly covered his crotch with his hands, looking up feebly at the grinning form of the princess.

“Put your hands at your sides,” she ordered. He hesitated and she scowled, “Now!”

Kurt fought the urge to grumble under his breath as he obeyed, placing his hands firmly at his sides like a toy soldier. Nea licked her lips and let her eyes dance over him, taking in every reduced inch of her human toy.

“Lovely,” Nea whispered, getting so close he could feel her hot breath ruffle his hair. She reached out and poked his chest, the pad of her finger easily covering one of his pecs as she traced down over his stomach. Her touch reached between his legs, where he was rapidly hardening, even as he willed himself not to, “Your human lovers must be wailing and gnashing their teeth at losing you…”

In spite of the situation, it was too much, he snorted, fighting laughter.

Nea frowned, her finger pulling back, “you find it amusing that I have torn you away from your human women?” She grinned wickedly, “it warms my heart that hundreds of human females weep tonight, knowing you are a Zetan’s toy!”

Kurt burst out laughing for real at that, his hands going from his sides to his knees as he struggled to keep himself steady.

“Stop that!” Nea said uncomfortably, “stand back up!” Kurt managed it, fighting the laughter by reminding himself of the situation he was in.

“I’m uh, sorry princess,” he said, “I… did not have as many companions as you think.”

Nea frowned, “only a few dozen then?” She scowled as she saw the corner of his mouth quirk, “you are mocking me human, and I do not care for it. Explain yourself now!”

“I did not have any… lovers, at the time you took me,” he said awkwardly.

Nea was slightly taken aback, and she struggled to maintain her imperious composure, “Why would you lie about something like this human?” She asked angrily, “are you hoping to curry favor? You’ll-“ she glanced at his biosigns, still displayed on the wall monitor, and frowned. His heart rate was steady…

Their species is blessed with an abundance of males, she reasoned. Zetan males were typically shared, sometimes temporarily and sometimes permanently, but none of them wanted for companionship. As a princess of the royal family, Nea had grown up taking it for granted that she would be granted her own personal consort whenever she decided she was ready to have children. It struck her suddenly that human women probably all enjoyed that luxury.

She looked at her human again, trying to decide how to retake control of the conversation, “It does not surprise me that such a primitive and barbaric species cannot recognize the beauty of your physical form, nor the bravery you possess, but do not forget that all of what you are is now mine,” she said with a grin.

Kurt blinked, the saddest part of this whole thing, he realized, is that that’s the nicest thing any woman’s ever said to me.

“You are my ultimate trophy, and I will use you for my own pleasure,” she continued, “and if I wish, I will let others do so, friends, allies, perhaps even simply a servant who has pleased me.” She grinned, “do you understand human?”

“Yes,” he muttered, looking up at her again. She frowned and he quickly added, “Princess…”

She nodded with a grin, “I’m very pleased with how this has gone so far.” She glanced at a door at the side of her chamber, one which lead to a shower stall, “I am going to bathe,” she declared, “you need to as well.” She regarded his naked form appreciatively, “I’m rewarding your obedience by giving you a choice, you may either join me, or I will put you in your enclosure and you may bathe alone.”

He glanced at the clear plastic-looking cage next to her bed. Inside was something that looked a lot like a house, if a house was built for people four inches tall…

Is there a shower or something in there? He wondered.

“Alone princess,” he said quickly.

“Disappointing,” Nea muttered, “but I did offer you the choice.” She gripped his naked body, the warmth of her palm wrapping around his erection and causing him pleasure he tried his best to hide. Slowly he was lowered into the enclosure, and with a final smug smirk at him, Nea turned to leave, her gorgeous and gigantic backside swaying for him as she went towards the shower.

With a sigh he turned around, crossing the threshold of his new “house.” While the exterior looked almost like a normal earth home, the interior was a bland plastic white. A simple padded square that was supposed to be a bed was in the center, and at the far corner was a spigot he guessed was his water source. He half expected to find hamster shavings or newspaper, so the sight of a very earth looking toilet in a far corner caused him to sigh with relief.

As he walked towards the shower spigot, he took a moment to think over his situation. The Zetan Princess was… not what he’d expected. The cruel princess who apparently wanted him and earth enslaved had a sense of nervousness to her, like she didn’t quite know what she was doing.

I’ll play along for now, he decided. Was he willing to die for pride? The surprising answer was yes, he wasn’t willing to make Joey do it though. How long are we going to be here? He began to wonder. From what the princess had said, he’d pieced together that she thought she was acting within the Human-Zetan treaty, but Kurt had a strong suspicion that, whatever this was, it wasn’t going to fly. Zetans are pieces of shit, he reasoned, but… whatever passes for a cop with them will probably help us out, if we can’t get human attention. The only thing to do was wait, and see what opportunities presented themselves.

There was another issue he had to think over; however.

She likes you, he admitted to himself, it was fairly obvious from the way she looked at him, and the way her demeanor changed once they’d started talking about his… lovers. She likes you more than any earth girl probably ever has… the thought caused him to smirk slightly, but he forced himself to focus, she’s an evil bitch who threatened to kill you, she wants humanity enslaved, he reminded himself, don’t follow your dick on this one…

And that was going to be the hard one. The alien princess was gorgeous, and the domineering attitude she had was pushing buttons for him he didn’t know he had, buttons that pissed him off, but buttons that did something else too…

Fuck me, he thought, imagining himself under her foot again as his erection came to full mast. He sighed and spat into his palm, reaching down between his legs.

…

Nea finished cleaning herself, the omni-directional shower misting water from all sides and rinsing away the soap. She stepped out again, feeling the buzz and the quick heat of the auto-dry field. Feeling refreshed, she entered her room. She glanced at her human’s enclosure, he was nowhere to be seen, likely inside the small faux dwelling in the center.

I’ll leave him there for the moment, she decided, walking towards her closet. She waved a hand and it hissed open, the automated clothing rack spinning as it displayed several outfit choices for her. She opted for a simple shining white jumpsuit, the royal crest proudly displayed over the chest in dark green. She grabbed the collar, and like a living liquid the outfit seemed to leap onto her, sliding over her skin and conforming to the contours of her body. Nanoclothing was expensive, even on Zeta Prime, but being a princess had perks.

Idly she noticed that Kurt’s biosigns were still displayed on her monitor, and she frowned, reading the incoming data.

Sexual arousal? Orgasm? She glanced at the enclosure and grinned, fool human doesn’t realize I’m monitoring him… She quickly looked through the logs, let’s see what you are pleasuring yourself to. It was her, no doubt, a mere human couldn’t deny the beauty of a Zetan, a princess no less! But… now what part of me do you like most?

She quickly had the ship’s AI compile Kurt’s biosigns against their interactions, the AI could also trace Kurt’s eyes from the room’s surveillance footage, giving it an idea of where he was staring at a given time.

Nea smiled approvingly as she saw Kurt’s arousal spike when she’d taken her clothing off, he liked the typical features of course… She frowned when she saw a massive spike during the initial phase of their discussion. When he was pinned under my feet? She raised an eyebrow, examining the data further. What was it about that which made my little human so excited?

It wasn’t entirely unheard of, Nea had read plenty of accounts of Zetans and their pet humans, a tiny human and Zetan feet were simply a natural match. Still, she hadn’t expected one to take to it so soon, and when her feet were still filthy from the battle even…

Interesting, she thought with a smile. She set the computer to continue recording all of Kurt’s biosigns, with particular focus on arousal. If fear of pain and death do not sway you, we will see what else might…

…

Joey sobbed on the dashboard of the ship as Telma continued flicking through comms channels. The tiny human had been a mess since she’d brought him up here, shaking in her palm as she’d laid him facing the stars beyond the viewport. She’d stripped down her armor, the sleek bodysuit she wore underneath it shining in the low light of the cabin as she searched for a ship that would help them.

Telma was no human sympathizer but, while she didn’t indulge in the rhetoric of Zeta Forever like Nea did, she did think it would be best to bring the humans to heel, reducing them to tiny size being the most preferable option.

We can always bring them back up to full size for fights, she thought to herself, then back down again, like putting away a tool… She glanced at Joey and felt a pang of pity though, we don’t need to be treating them poorly though…

“Shh…” she said, gently stroking his head with the tip of her finger, “it’s all right.”

“Y-you’re gonna kill us!” Joey wailed.

“No one is going to kill you,” she promised, letting her hands wrap around his limp form and holding him up to her face, “the princess just wants to… prove a point I suppose you could say.”

“A point?” Joey asked, wiping tears away from his face, “you shrank us, you’re going to step on us!”

“Everything is going to be okay,” she said in a hushed voice, “this isn’t going to last…”

He sniffed a final time, “then why the hell did you do it?” he asked, a hint of anger in his voice, “are you just going to let us go?”

“No,” Telma muttered, “listen to me human, and do not repeat what I tell you. This will likely end with Zetan authorities bringing us into custody. From there you will be returned to Earth, and the princess will be severely disciplined.”

“So, she’s really the princess?” Joey managed.

“Yes,” Telma said with a sigh, “and I’m her sworn bodyguard, forced along on this fool’s errand.”

“If you didn’t want to do it, why didn’t you just tell her no?” Joey asked, finally regaining his composure a bit. He’d never been shrunken before, but this woman seemed reasonable, nice even.”

“Every member of the Zetan royal family has a single guard who is sworn to them and them alone,” Telma explained, “if she ordered me against the Empress herself, I would obey, I would doubtless die in the attempt, but I would obey…”

“Just quit,” Joey said without thinking, “I’ve told asshole bosses to go to hell before, and-“

“That’s not how this works,” Telma said with a chuckle, “I was sworn to her as a girl, when I first started my training, and…” she sighed, “the princess is like a sister to me, I could not leave her… She will suffer for this, and it hurts knowing that, but she is a princess and I’m only her servant. My place is to be the spear in her hand.” She smirked slightly, “luckily this means I will not be punished for merely following her orders.”

“Lucky you,” Joey laughed. “So uh… what’s your name?”

“Telma,” she said with a smile, “and yours?”

“I’m Joseph, you can call me Joey though,” he said.

“Well Joey,” Telma said with a smile, “are you thirsty?” He nodded, and she lowered him down to the receptacle where her cup was held. She lifted him up over the rip so he could reach it, and he dipped a hand down to the brown liquid, bringing it to his mouth.

He made a confused face, then smiled, “cola?”

“I’m in love with it,” Telma admitted, lifting him back up when he’d had a few mouthfuls, “the princess insists it’s poison.”

“Well, uh, they say it’s not healthy,” Joey said, shrugging in her grip, “but you look pretty good, it can’t be messing up your diet too much.”

“I look pretty good?” Telma asked with a smirk.

Joey caught the amusement behind the smile, and returned it with his own. It had been a difficult day for him, but flirting? That was like breathing to him, and there was an opening. He could manage this, even if it was with a giant Zetan…

“Best looking girl I’ve seen all day,” he said with a wink.

Telma saw through the line immediately, but it hit it’s mark anyway, and she giggled. Her hand traced up to the collar of her suit, and she tapped it once. Conforming to her will the outfit’s neck opened into a deep V-cut, exposing her ample chest.

Joey kept his cool, giving her breasts an appreciative glance, a smile, and a nod, that’s the thing Kurt, he thought, you can’t ever be too eager, no matter how good it is…

“I can’t have you scurrying around the cockpit while I fly,” Telma explained, “but you seem so upset, I don’t want to leave you back in my quarters in some stuffy enclosure either…”

She slowly brought him up to her breasts, gently pushing him between the pale green globes and setting him in place. They were soft, warm, seeming to mold to his body as her heartbeat echoed from behind him. A moment later her hand tapped her collar, and her outfit reformed again, the low-cut top sealing back up, darkening Joey’s world and trapping him.

Joey sighed and let himself slide lower, all things considered, he thought as the breasts seemed to swell around him, this could have gone worse…

…

Smith stood behind the Empress, seated on her throne. She was flanked by the rest of her guards, humans and Zetans. The person they were meeting today was supposed to be dangerous, and as the cocky human strutted up the carpet leading to the throne, Smith couldn’t help but feel nervous.

“Jolene Masterson,” the empress greeted the human woman, “I trust you know who I am?”

The human smirked, “No, I hadn’t heard of the Zetan Empress, you from these parts?”

The Empress’s mouth quirked in irritation, and Smith sighed inwardly, embarrassed for his species. Where most humans who treated with the empress wore Zetan or Earth formal wear, this woman, Jolene, had come in a pair of tight-fitting jeans capped with a pair of tall black cowboy boots. A simple striped denim shirt had the top three buttons undone, leading up to a dark tanned face and long jet black hair, braided and topped with an obsidian cowboy hat, the kind Smith would have put on a villain in an old western film.

“Do you know why I have requested your presence?” The empress began.

“I’m guessing you want someone to hunt down your idiot of a daughter, maybe get them boys back too?” Jolene smiled at the fury on the alien monarch’s face.

“Lady Masterson,” the empress snarled, “try to show some-“

“Yeah nah,” Jolene said, “when your people showed up to earth all the dignitaries sent doves and flowers, real respectful, you wanna know what that got them?” She stomped her foot on the floor, the implication clear. “Me? I don’t roll that way your majesty, the way I see it, we’re in an Empress Tetra needs Jolene situation, not a Jolene needs Empress Tetra situation.”

“Very well,” the empress said coolly, “your reputation precedes you, a human operating in your… field, among Zetans no less, is  nothing short of… impressive.”

“Damn right,” Jolene said with a smile, “Let’s cut to the chase, a billion credits, a pardon for everything I’ve done so far on Zetan and Human worlds, plus you’ll provide all my equipment and let me keep it when I’m done.”

A billion credits? Smith balked, that would make her one of the richest humans in the-

“Done,” the Empress said, “provided they are all returned alive.”

“Big money, big work,” Jolene said with a shrug, “have one of your guards take me to your shipyard, I’ve been meaning to trade up.” The empress nodded, and a Zetan guard stepped out towards the human mercenary.

Jolene stopped suddenly, slapping her head and laughing, “I almost forgot, while I’m here let me turn one of my bounties in.”

she knelt down, unlacing her boot while the guards and Empress looked on curiously. There was a slight sucking sound as she pulled it off, revealing a ratty sock with a pair of holes near the toes. She tilted the boot, and a moment later a small green skinned figure tumbled out. The shrunken Zetan woman sucked in air, splayed on the floor and looking up at her giant surroundings in panic. The shocked guard next to her knelt down to collect the tiny alien, hands shaking slightly.

“This one was running some kind of smuggling ring on Delarune,” she explained, looking down at the sobbing Zetan smugly, “I would have just turned her in to the authorities there but…” She shrugged, “she started saying some of that Zeta Forever stuff and I figured, ah what the hell, turnabout’s fair play right?” She reached for her boot, pulling it back on.

“I’ll see that you are paid,” the Empress said, fighting a grimace.

Jolene laughed as another Zetan guard nervously led her out of the throne room.  A moment later the royal entourage was left alone once more.

The Empress sighed, “I have one other matter to attend to, guards, leave me.” She waved her wrist, and the humans and Zetans began to file out. “Smith,” she called, “remain.”

He paused, his heart skipping a beat. The other agents shot him knowing glances, as did a few of the Zetan guards. He cleared his throat and tried to remain composed as they passed him.

“Do not panic,” the empress said with a small smile once they were alone, “you are not in trouble…”

“What can I do for you your majesty?” he asked politely with a nod.

“Human courtship rituals confuse me,” the empress said, “as do your notions of propriety.” She smiled, “I simply wanted you to know that you have my blessing.”

“Blessing your majesty?” he asked with a frown, “I don’t understand, what do you want me to do exactly?”

“Whatever you wish,” she said with an exasperated sigh, “you know what matter I’m referring to, do not throw this back at me, it’s the only enjoyable decision I’ve had the luxury to make recently. I will say again, You. Have. My. Blessing. You were to be on your two days of leave following this rotation, yes? Consider it started now, that’s a royal order.” With that the Empress stood up, her flowing gown trailing behind her as she went through the same door the other guards had used, leaving a stunned Smith alone.

With nothing else to do he took one final look around, then started towards the door, his footsteps echoing through the empty throne room. He paused, there was a second set of footsteps echoing, and it stopped as he did. He picked up his pace again, and the footsteps started again. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, and he whirled around, hands up in a fighting stance.

“Eeep!” Princess Tayla started back, leaping into the air slightly. “S-Smith! Hello!” she stammered.

He sighed and relaxed, “Princess Tayla,” he greeted, looking up at her. She was wearing a silvery bodysuit that hugged her tightly, a set of black stripes near the shoulders seeming to draw his eyes towards her chest.

“Your commander said you had the next two days off,” she said hopefully, “I was thinking, you should really see some of the nicer parts of Zeta Prime, and I have the most wonderful new hovercraft… if you’d like to see it.”

Smith was beginning to realize exactly what “blessing” the Empress had given him, and he fought the urge to freeze up, “I er… That would be great.”

“Excellent!” the princess said eagerly, “now it seats two, and with my bodyguard and myself there won’t be a lot of extra room…” a silvery remote appeared in her hand, and Smith swallowed as she leveled the shrink ray at him with a giddy grin, “I did think of another way we could all fit.”

All that training, and you fell right into an ambush anyway, he thought as the beam leapt out at him from the device.

Captain Johann Keynes walked the corridors of the human cruiser Vasa. It was a mid-sized ship, with forty plasma cannon ports and a crew of nearly five hundred. His officers rose and saluted him as he walked onto the ship’s bridge, his chair waiting for him in the center of the room in the design of a pre-contact Earth entertainment program. He sat, setting his crew at ease. One seat was empty, a space normally reserved for his Zetan advisor, Dela.

The Vasa normally carried anywhere from a dozen to fifty of the green skinned aliens, most of the technology was theirs, and while Earth was catching up in manufacture and use, on any given day there were matters that needed expertise beyond what a human vessel had.

The Vasa wasn’t the only ship missing some of the regular crew, normally their sister ship, the Void’s Eye, would enjoy a contingent of a few dozen humans. Some were trainees, hoping to learn more about the technology from seeing it in use on a Zetan ship, others were combat experts, looking to drill with the other race’s military. In the aftermath of the incident on Earth and the ongoing hunt for the Princess, many humans had stubbornly refused to return to the Void’s Eye. They weren’t the only ships having this problem, insubordination and protest was rife throughout Earth’s military.

This had better get resolved soon, Keynes thought grimly, we can’t hold this frontier at each other’s throats…

…

Captain Naya Moonlight attempted to hail the human ship Vasa, again. She sighed angrily as her communications officer told her the human ship was not responding. They would be without their human contingent again today; she was sure of it. It made her feel nervous, naked, to be so far out on the Empire’s frontier while the humans were being uncooperative.

“Captain,” her weapons officer said in a low voice, “I think we should consider drastic measures.”

Naya sighed, looking across the command room to the officer, “choose your next words carefully, but speak.”

The other woman nodded, the dark metallic grey of the Zetan fleet uniform shining slightly as she turned her chair to face the captain. It was well known that her weapon’s officer had… problems, with the humans coming on board, to the point where another officer was often assigned to deal with them. The captain wouldn’t be surprised to find Zeta Forever materials in her personal quarters, but that in and of itself wouldn’t be a crime…

“We have twice their numbers, and twice their plasma cannons,” the weapons officer explained, “I’ll admit the monkeys are managing that ship better than I expected, but if we fired a volley now, we could overwhelm their shields, then board them.”

“Board them?” The captain asked incredulously, “an allied ship?”

“A human ship,” the weapon’s officer snarled, “and one that’s not cooperating, one that’s failing to do the only thing it’s out here to do!”

“And I suppose you would drag the humans kicking and screaming onboard our own vessel?” the captain asked.

“Yes,” the weapons officer said, standing up and pulling a plasma pistol from the holster on her belt, “I would.”

Captain Naya’s yellow eyes went wide, “this is a mutiny! Arrest her at once!” she looked around, her heart dropping as the other officers on her bridge refused to meet her eyes.

…

“We’ve got incoming fire from the Void’s Eye! An aid shouted. “Shields are already failing!”

“What the hell are they doing?” Keynes shouted, heard the muffled impact of the plasma bolts hitting the ship’s shields, against the firepower of the Zetan ship his own smaller vessel wouldn’t last long. “Get them on a comms channel!”

A viewscreen flickered to life at the front of the bridge, a smug green face greeted him, “Where’s Captain Naya?” he demanded, recognizing the weapon’s officer.

“She’s indisposed,” the Zetan said with a grin, “I am in command of the Void’s Eye now, and I am ordering you to lower shields and power down weapons. Your ship will be boarded and your crew shrunk for holding, I-“

“Captain, we have another vessel dropping out of FTL!” his aid shouted as alarms blared. “It’s not broadcasting human or Zetan signals!”

…

The Cephalo existed without name or distinction, he simply was. When he worked with others of his kind they would give each other numbers, discarded and forgotten when the collaboration had passed. For now, he was alone, in the center of a tentacled black mass of a starship, grown rather than built, and crewed by hollow minded bipedal servitors, their skin like rotted ground beef as they scurried about to do his bidding. Like a foul black heart his squidlike form rested in the center of his ship, the nervous system commanding and controlling the multitude of drones and the very movements of his spacecraft as easily as the appendages that protruded from his wet and mottled grey face.

The abominations, he thought, his mind reaching out and touching the human vessel, foul and corrupt, anger rose within him. The abhorred species was long thought destroyed, but now in this far-flung reach of space they had been found again, few in number, and primitive, but growing and spreading like a cancer with the aid of the green food-species.

His mental gaze turned towards the other vessel, finding it unprotected. It had become expected that the insignificant green species had wedded itself to the humans, hiding behind them while using base physical weapons to strike at the true gods of this universe. This vessel though, held no hint of the human’s filth, and his mind easily reached out and touched it.

…

Captain Naya watched as everyone on her bridge began screaming, dimly aware that she’d joined them. One by one they drew their weapons, firing at one another, then turning their guns on themselves. The last thing Naya saw was her mutinous weapon’s officer placing the plasma pistol between her eyes, pulling the trigger even as her eyes were wide with fear.

All across the ship the Zetans killed each other, and themselves, using whatever weapons or utensils they could find. Within one minute the Void’s Eye was silent, a charnel house floating dead through space.

…

“Fire everything we’ve got!” Keynes shouted.

“Weapons aren’t responding, shields are down!” an officer yelled.

The human vessel had fallen victim to a notorious design flaw in mid-sized Zetan ships, of which the human ship was a copy. When firing out of an energy shield, Zetan plasma cannons very briefly disrupted the area of exit, preventing damage to the ship’s own shields while allowing it to fire on enemies. This was managed completely by a computer system, but when the shields fell the safety mechanisms that prevented the ship from firing into its own energy shields locked the weapons.

It was a simple fix, one that the Zetan weapons technicians would have taken seconds to resolve, then explained to their human companions for future reference, but those technicians were dead on the Void’s Eye. Moments later so was everyone on the Vasa.

…

The Cephalo fired blast after blast into the human vessel, until the very wreckage of the Vasa was glowing hot. His mind could not touch the human crew, but mere plasma would do the job in clearing them from this universe. He set a routine to continue the bombardment, reducing the ship to atoms.

Suffer not the abominations to live, he thought angrily, do not consume their flesh, but burn it in holy fire. He felt a sense of primordial satisfaction as the human ship was scattered on the cosmic winds.

He immediately began scanning the nearby asteroids and planets, the human and Zetan settlements his for the taking without their military vessels to protect them. They were small, hardly worth the effort normally, but their protectors had fallen so easily… Perhaps the time was coming for new incursions into this reach of space.

His stomach rumbled as his servitors began preparing boarding craft for the dead Zetan ship. Humans had to be burned of course, but Zetans were highly nutritious…

…

“Cephalo attack, military ships, asteroid outposts destroyed,” Kira read the news alert, her eyes wide. She turned to Adam, who was reading the alerts on his own wrist computer, his face grim.

The two of them were in his office, Adam looked like hell, still in his gala clothes from White House party, his hair greasy, dark circles beneath his eyes. Kira didn’t look much better, although she’d managed to get a little more sleep than he had.

“The last transmissions suggested there were… problems with the two ship crews cooperating,” Adam muttered. “Both militaries are trying to crack down on that sort of thing now, but it’s going to be difficult.” He sighed, “the final transmissions before the Cephalos entered the area suggest that the Zetan ship fired on the human ship first.”

Kira’s eyes went wide, “do people know!?”

“We’ve instituted a hard blackout,” Adam said grimly, “we’ve kept it contained so far, but we need to get this thing with the princess resolved now.” He swore under his breath, “do we know if she escaped the system?”

“The Zetan ships near Earth said a royal vessel tried to request their assistance,” Kira said, “but they refused to respond and immediately alerted nearby Earth authorities.”

“Good to know we have some friends,” Adam muttered. “The wormhole to Zeta Prime is blocked, and we’re only letting ships enter FTL on a case by case basis. Shipping is getting backed up, but we know she won’t be able to leave the system.” He looked at Kira, “did you get an answer for how long the cloaking device on a royal ship can last?”

“That’s secret information vital to the security of the royal family,” Kira said. Adam just stared at her, and she smirked, “She’s got six hours left at most.”

“Then we’ve just got to get the net ready,” Adam muttered.

…

Princess Nea woke up, stretching as the automatic lighting in her chambers simulated the Zetan sunrise. She leapt out of bed, smiling. She strutted confidently over to the human enclosure, eager to wake the sleeping human.

“Time to get up little Kurt, your human sloth will not be tolerated on my-“

She paused, looking down in confusion. Kurt was already awake, his tiny nude form glistening with sweat as he did pushups in the fake turf. She scowled and tapped a button, the clear lid of his enclosure sprang open, and he looked up at her, clearly struggling to keep his expression neutral.

“Good morning princess,” he greeted, standing up. “I was wondering how long you intended to sleep in.”

Sleep in? She scowled, “My schedule begins at the start of the Zetan day, why are you awake?”

“This time of year? I want to avoid the sun, Princess,” he said, panting slightly, “I mostly work… worked, outdoors.”

“Yes, of course…” she muttered, taking in his body. She felt something stirring within her, he looked… appealing, and she was suddenly very aware that they were both naked. There is no modesty between you and your pet, she reminded herself, but…

Kurt gulped, how long is she going to stand there naked like that? She loomed over him, her breasts like mountains that drew his eye, her shapely skyscraper sized legs… he felt blood rushing to his loins, and he fought the urge to cover himself. Don’t get hard in front of her, don’t get-

The alien princess had a smug grin, and just the slightest hint of a flush in her cheeks, “I see that my pet appreciates his mistress’s beauty,” she chuckled. Her hand reached for him, her fingers closing around him and letting her feel the small poke of his manhood against them as she brought him to her face. The fingers opened again, leaving him flat in her palm as those enormous blue eyes scrutinized him. “It’s a very nice piece,” she said, the tip of her finger touching his erection, “I’m not sure how I feel about this tuft of hair,” she muttered, and he winced as she pulled slightly on his pubic hair with the tips of her fingers, “on the one hand it does give you a certain… untamed look, but you’re not untamed anymore, are you?”

“Tell you what, I’ll shave mine if you shave yours,” he said angrily, before he could stop himself.

Nea giggled, at the comment, then forced herself to give him a stern expression. He had a smug smirk on his face, he’d made her laugh, and somehow, they both understood that as a victory for him. Nea scowled, curling her fingers around him again and gripping tightly, causing him to grunt in pain slightly.

“Don’t make me punish you,” she warned, “and remember, your friend is just a room away…”

Please just be respectful, she thought almost pleadingly. The thought of hurting him again, really hurting him, was somehow becoming… distasteful.

He’s not your friend, she snapped at herself, he’s your pet, you’re acting like one of those fools in the Human Appreciation Society. She slowly breathed out, clearing her thoughts. The human had a defiant look on his face, but also a curious one.

She gave him a small smile, “Kurt,” she said simply, “you will be far happier if you just accept this, we both know that a part of you wants it even.”

“Like hell Princess,” he snarled. He knew he’d pay for it, and he winced, preparing for her to tighten her grip again. It didn’t come, and he opened his eyes curiously.

She had a knowing grin on her face, “Kurt, I’ve had the ship AI monitoring your physical responses since you arrived.” She carried him to the viewscreen on her wall, waving her hand and bringing it to life. Kurt’s vitals once again appeared on the screen, and he looked at them curiously.

Where is she going with this? He thought nervously.

“It’s not a true lie detector of course,” Nea said idly, “but it can measure things such as your heartrate, hormone levels,” she grinned, “sexual excitement…”

He gulped, “Princess, whatever that computer says-“

“Let’s start with an easy one,” She said with a predatory grin, “Kurt, do you find me attractive?” she gripped her breast, kneading it in front of him in a way she’d seen in a banned Zetan film. The two of them looked together at a line on a graph, it rose slightly.

“You’re not ugly,” Kurt admitted nervously, “Princess,” he added quickly.

She smirked, he was on edge, afraid again, “Does the thought of being my toy excite you? Would you like to squirm helplessly as I use your body to pleasure myself?”

The line rose again, and Kurt’s face went red, “I… no matter what turns me on that doesn’t change things between us!”

“Of course,” Nea chuckled, “tell yourself that human, but we both know you want to submit to me. Perhaps you wish to resist out of loyalty to your people? Admirable, it’s part of what sets you apart from the rest of the humans and makes you worthy of being mine, but how long will that last against what you really want?”

“What I really want is for you to let me and Joey go!” he insisted.

Nea laughed, “much was recorded about what Zetans did with their human pets before our alliance, why don’t we talk about some of it and we can watch how you react?”

Fuck, Kurt thought miserably. He hated her, he hated her so much… he was familiar with how Zetans treated their human pets too, and since shrinking he’d had his own thoughts about some of them, thoughts he didn’t want the Princess knowing.

“Some Zetans thought it was amusing to carry humans trapped in their undergarments,” Nea said casually, “imagine, squirming, helpless, pressed against my warm skin, the soft fabric forcing you against my breasts… or perhaps,” her hand traced lower, drifting through her lower hair slightly as she giggled.

The line on the screen measuring Kurt’s arousal shot up, and it was all Nea could do not to shout in triumph. Kurt’s face was red with embarrassment, but she could feel his erection straining against her fingers again.

“Look at that,” she mused, “you can’t lie to yourself Kurt.” She grinned, brushing some hair away from her eyes as she teased him, “What about… feet?” His eyes went wide and she knelt down, bringing his trapped form down to her foot, “did you like being stepped on the other day Kurt?”

“No,” he snarled, “it was humiliating and terrifying, you’re an evil bitch who-“

There was a beep, and both of them looked up to see his charted arousal had spiked again, nearly reaching the top of the graph. Nea gave him a smug and victorious look as he just gritted his teeth angrily.

“If you just stop resisting Kurt,” she said quietly, “you’ll find I can be very kind to my little pet.” She stood up, “I’ll give you some more time to think on these things, but my patience is not unlimited.” She gave him a lustful smile, “Soon I am going to want to use my human for one of his intended purposes.”

His cock throbbed, and he gulped as her fingers slid around him as her grip tightened. She was well inside his head.

Why couldn’t it have been any other woman in the universe? he thought angrily. It seemed almost cosmically unfair, but he wouldn’t let her win, he couldn’t. He just had to hold out until they were rescued.

“Hold still,” she said with a smile, placing him on her desk again. She tapped a drawer, and it slid open with an electronic buzz, revealing the utility laser from before, along with a small silver remote. She hovered it over him, “I’m going to make you smaller,” she said casually, and a moment later a beam leapt out from the device, and Kurt blinked as the flash filled his vision.

When his eyesight returned, he fought the urge to stumble backwards in shock. The world had grown even larger, Nea loomed over him, mountainous and imposing as she smirked at his reaction. He’d gone from a four inch doll to something closer to a bug, not even an inch if he had to guess. A pair of bus sized green fingers descended, and Nea easily pinched him between her thumb and forefinger. The soft ridges of her fingers clenched him hard enough that he wasn’t able to so much as squirm when she lifted him, but she was careful not to squeeze him hard enough to cause pain.

“I will keep you with me for now,” she said with a smile, squinting as she held Kurt’s tiny form up to her eye.

Slowly she lowered him down to her chest, wedging him between her breasts. He scrambled for purchase against her soft green skin, looking down in terror at the massive drop. He needn’t have worried, for a moment later Nea tapped a small pellet against her shoulder, and a moment later the black webbed fabric of the Zetan underwear sprang out, washing over Kurt like a flood and hugging him to the monumental breast.

The material was tight, with a slight sheerness that let him little of what was outside. He grunted as he squirmed against her warm flesh, the steady thud of her heartbeat echoing in his ears. He tumbled as she began to walk the jiggling of her breasts rocking his world and easily undoing any progress he made.

He managed to grab something, hefting himself up and managing to hold his place, not falling deeper into her underwear. As he forced his back against the tight undergarment he gazed in shock and realized he’d grabbed her nipple, and was now almost straddling it.

Nea giggled at the sensation of the human exploring his new confinement, A few hours in there might dull his resistance somewhat before their next conversation. She grabbed a collar shaped device from her closet, and as she tapped it against her neck the nanocloth raced out over skin, covering her like rushing water as a shining white outfit formed on her. She looked in a nearby mirror and was satisfied.

For Kurt it was like another wave washed over him, the underwear holding him in place as the new layer of clothing formed, trapping him in darkness and sealing him in tighter. Now the rest of the world was entirely gone, the only thing left in his universe the giant pair of breasts he was trapped in. As Kurt struggled feebly within her clothing, he realized the heat and the soft feeling of her skin were rapidly making him hard again…

…

Nea walked into the lounge of the starship, nodding to Telma who was reclining on a nearby couch. The other human she’d shrank was in a new set of Zetan inspired white clothing, not dissimilar from Nea’s own, though in a more masculine cut. Telma herself was laying across the couch, Joey clenched in her hand loosely as he lay on her chest, soft music, human music piped through the speakers.

“What’s our situation?” Nea asked, slightly perturbed to find her bodyguard apparently relaxing. She made a dismissive wave, and the music silenced.

“Our situation,” Telma said with a sigh, “is that we are trapped in the Sol system, the wormhole is blockaded, the human ships are searching for us, and I suspect the Zetan ships are aiding them. Our cloaking device is close to failure, and when it goes, we will be boarded.”

“Our own ships are helping them!?” Nea asked angrily.

“Zetan fleets stationed near earth tend to have substantially more pro-human views,” Telma said with a shrug, “The Empress has condemned your actions, but I’m sure you expected that…”

“Yes,” Nea muttered, “but I expected our people to rise to this occasion, I thought maybe our fleet would…”

“Betray your mother for you?” Telma asked, a hint of alarm in her voice.

“No,” Nea said quietly, “I mean… maybe, I just thought they’d start seeing the humans for what they were, remembering what we are.” She glanced at the blank screen on the wall and debated activating it, “what are people saying?” She asked, “have you picked up any communications from Zeta Prime?”

“Zeta Forever is ecstatic,” Telma said with a shrug, “some are even openly calling for you to be named Empress, or at least the heir, which is going to cause you no end of trouble when you return.”

“I don’t want to be Empress,” Nea said with a frown, “I didn’t mean to… well, I can address them when I return, I’ll not have my push for Zetan hegemony tainted by court politics.”

Telma’s mouth quirked, “Nea, you should probably expect a period of exile after this…”

“Exile?” Nea balked, “Mother would never-“

“It won’t be as awful as you expect,” Telma said quietly, “we’ll relocate to a colony world, not a large one, but-“

“That won’t happen,” Nea insisted, “mother will be forced to bow to public pressure and adopt changes, I’m sure of it!”

She glanced down at Joey and frowned, “I see you and your human are getting along nicely, did he require any discipline?”

“No,” Telma said with a small smile, “He asked if I wanted to relax and listen to music, and that sounded nice.”

Nea thought a moment, then reached for Joey, “come here human-“

Telma lifted him away from her, “I do believe you gave this one to me, Nea,” Telma said.

Nea glared at her, “I just had some questions,” she said in a low voice.

Joey gulped, looking nervously to Telma, who nodded, “Okay uh, shoot.”

“Kurt,” Nea said, “tell me what he likes, foods, entertainment, anything notable about him… is he perhaps a military veteran?”

“Kurt?” Joey laughed, “no, he’s just some scrub working for the Ag department like me, he-“

“Scrub?” Nea frowned, “he threw himself into battle with a Zetan princess to save you, he nearly defeated me, are you saying he had no renown locally?”

“Uh… he had a high score back when our local bar had a Pac-Man machine,” Joey said uncertainly.

She scowled, He was no one, utterly unimpressive and unimportant, even among the humans. The enigma of Kurt deepened… I’ll question the other human about this more later, she decided, Telma seems too… attached to let me question him properly.

There was a beep from the cockpit, and Telma sat up suddenly, “someone’s trying a direct communication line?” She stood up, gently placing Joey on a high table, “Wait here, okay?” she gave him a friendly smile as she walked by Nea, who followed her.

“That’s odd,” Telma muttered, looking at the incoming line, “it’s using a hyperspace frequency that’s only meant for royal ships, even the military in system wouldn’t have it.”

“My mother or one of my sisters maybe,” Nea said dismissively, “let it through.”

The speaker flickered on, “Greetings, is this the starship belonging to Princess Nea?”

“It is,” Telma said uncertainly, “I am her bodyguard. We are currently… evading pursuers, to whom am I speaking?”

“I’m contacting on behalf of Zeta Forever, Earth Chapter,” the voice said, “we have a member who is very familiar with the manufacture of the royal family’s ships, which is how we contacted you.” The speaker paused, “We know that your cloaking device will fail in a matter of hours, and we can’t let our heroic princess be taken like a common criminal after standing up for our people and putting the humans in their place!”

Nea’s ears piqued up, “this is it!” she said excitedly, “it’s what I hoped for!”

“We will transmit coordinates to you shortly, if you go to them, we can hide you from Human and Zetan authorities.”

Telma sighed, “Nea, do you wish for me to send a confirmation?”

“Of course,” Nea said without hesitation, “why would we do anything else?”

Telma was quiet for a moment, “Nea… if we go to these people, it may be our last chance to surrender ourselves for some time…”

“Zeta Forever looks out for the interests of all Zetans,” Nea said, repeating their propaganda word for word, “we can trust them.”

Telma stared ahead for a moment, then with a sigh clicked the transmit button, “your offer is gratefully accepted, send the coordinates.”

…

Jolene grinned as she saw Earth appear in the large viewport that covered one side of the luxury starcruiser. The ship itself was stunning, a pleasure yacht that was outfitted like a five-star hotel, and a sleek white design that reminded her of the vacation boats of the wealthy she’d seen at marinas in her youth. From what the Zetan authorities had told her, it had been seized from a high ranking criminal figure, doubtless one Jolene had worked for at some point, a thought that tickled her pink. With a massive engine and a military grade shield generator, the opulent ship could outrun most others in atmosphere or orbit, and it could take a punch to boot. There was only a single small plasma cannon, but that was okay, space battles were for cops and the military, Jolene preferred more personal fights.

“Are you excited to be back on Earth miss Jolene?” a timid female voice called behind her. She smiled and turned to see the three Zetans that made up her “crew” for lack of a better word.

The speaker was Meana, Jolene’s pilot and the first of the three Zetans she’d picked up in her travels. When she’d been forced to flee Earth in her youth, Jolene had rapidly found that Human Appreciation Societies on Zetan worlds would give a human almost anything, their members easily taken advantage of and manipulated by a poor earth primitive far from home. She’d eaten their meals, slept in their beds, and taken their credits to “get back on her feet.” On the outer Zetan worlds, where humans were rarer, they practically fell over themselves to prove their good nature to her. It was cute, and it was useful.

Some members went a step further, human fetishists weren’t terribly uncommon among Zetans, even if most of them preferred Earth’s men, but Human Appreciation Society members occasionally wanted to do more than merely appreciate a human.

Some of them want to abuse you, Jolene thought with a smile as she walked towards her Zetans, some of them want to be abused.

Meana had been a freighter pilot, now she was Jolene’s pilot. The formerly Amazonian alien had seemed almost euphoric when Jolene had explained the rules for traveling with her, and Jolene smirked at the memory of the alien’s joyful expression when Jolene had shrunk her down to her current four foot state.

“In the grand scheme of things, Earth is just another planet,” Jolene said with a smile, cupping Meana’s chin in her hand. She towered over the reduced Zetan, while Jolene was only five foot two herself, she didn’t allow any of her own Zetans to look down at her, and her shrink ray clattered against her hip on the small keychain as she released Meana and walked towards a small kitchenette in the ship’s lounge. Shrink rays were coded to the users DNA, and rarely sold to humans, but a little help from her pet Zetans had let her program Meana’s for herself, and she’d promptly put Meana at a more appropriate size for their relationship, a trend she’d continued with all the Zetans that joined her.

“B-But it’s the center of human culture Miss Jolene!” Tolith, her next conquest, began, following after her. That he was a male was odd enough, Zetan males typically didn’t involve themselves in human affairs one way or the other, but he’d practically begged to join her when she’d had a stopover on his planet. He was a bit flighty at times, but he had a surprising amount of knowledge about power armor and plasma weaponry. It was also amusing to think that she was probably one of the only human women who had ever sampled a Zetan male, and she had to admit, he wasn’t a bad catch.

“Human culture?” Jolene laughed.

“It is though,” Amra, the final in her collection, began, following behind Tolith as Jolene opened a mini-fridge and withdrew a cold drink for herself. “You humans are too hard on yourselves, it’s all the fault of our oppressive regime, our people simply can’t see the natural beauty and poetic sadness of great cultural works like Smokey and the Bandit-“

“That movie is what you call human high culture?” Jolene asked with a chuckle, causing the Zetan to step back and blush a moment. Jolene rolled her eyes, “Okay fine, it’s not terrible.”

Amra had been some kind of art expert on Zeta Prime, one who had fallen in love with a very particular human aesthetic. Jolene was not a classy person herself, but even she could recognize that the things that Amra seemed to celebrate about human cultural achievement were… low-brow was the polite term.

“Do you think you’ll be able to find the princess?” Tolith asked, glancing at the blue planet beyond the viewport.

Jolene shrugged, “The way I see it, the only people in the Sol System who would shelter her would be Zeta Forever, and they’re not hard to find. We’ll just touch down near a Zetan settlement and I’ll ask questions.”

“Could there really be Zeta Forever cells on Earth?” Meana asked in shock, “Miss Jolene, you know we all hate that evil organization, right?”

She smirked as she looked over her four-foot tall collection of Zetans, “Don’t worry, I know you three are good Zetans, but it’s just math. Around fifteen percent of Zetans approve of Zeta Forever, there are about ten million permanent Zetan residents on Earth. Now obviously the ones on the blue planet are more human-friendly, but there will still be some Zeta Forever types here.”

“You should put them in their place,” Tolith said eagerly, “shrink them down like you did that last one Miss Jolene, crush them all like-“

“Slow down sport,” she said, reaching down and ruffling the male Zetan’s hair, “don’t worry, I’ll take care of things.”

He blushed, seeming to lean into her touch, these three really need therapy, she thought, not for the first time. She gave him a smile, and he grinned giddily back at her, stepping away and joining the two females.

The strangest thing about her Zetans was how much she’d genuinely come to care about them. The money she’d get from this job would let her retire, and she’d be taking them all with her. She could buy a planet with that kind of money, settle down somewhere nice and let these three drink as many earth sodas and watch as many stupid pre-invasion movies as they wanted…

She snapped her fingers, bringing them to attention, “Get my power armor ready!” she ordered.

…

Tolith had built her armor from scratch, a thin and easily concealed suit with a low powered shield generator, just enough to deflect shrink ray blasts and human ballistics. She’d started her career without it, but a few close calls had taught her that physical fights with Zetans and even human men were a bad idea. The power armor let her handle them on her terms, and luckily few in the criminal world could afford their own.

She approached the platform where it was waiting for her in just her bra and panties. She smirked as she saw the three Zetans eyeing her up, and as her armor whirred and readied for her to step into it, she lifted her shrink ray.

“Okay, who wants to ride in my panties on this mission?”

The three fought each other, lifting their hands and shouting things they’d done for her lately. She rolled her eyes, and simply clicked the silver remote in their direction three times. The three tiny zetans stared up at her immense form as she sauntered her hips, walking towards them.

“Hold still,” she ordered, plucking up the trio of now inch tall Zetans in her loose grip. Her hand lifted to her waist, and she heard them all protest at once as she began moving her hand behind her.

“Oh hush,” she laughed, “I said you could ride in my panties, I didn’t say if it would be front or back!” She pulled her panties away, dropping the group in. A second later she released the elastic, causing it to snap into place. She felt them squirming against her cheeks as she stepped into the set of armor, and with a giggle she slapped her own ass, rocking their world as the armor closed around her, cinching them even tighter into her skin.

She ignored the feeling of the bug sized Zetans struggling in her buttcrack as she checked weapons systems on the display. They’d be quite safe there, she reasoned, and they’d have a wonderful time. As for her? She had work to do.

Princess Tayla’s alpine retreat was a sleek white looking building nestled in the large mountain range that straddled the equator of Zeta Prime. Like most Zetan buildings, it had a silvery and sleek look to it, one that Smith thought looked out of place in the surprisingly Earthlike wilderness. These mountains were said to be the only part of the bustling alien planet that wasn’t covered in their sprawling cityscape, and even here the lights of satellites and spacecraft could be seen crisscrossing the skies at night.

Agent Craig Smith stared up at the window, watching those beams of light race across the sky and wondering again how his life had ended up in this situation. He was about two inches tall, leaving the portal to the inky black sky a faraway opening that he could only peer up at. The carpeting of Princess Tayla’s bedroom rose around his ankles like a grassy prairie, and he could feel the world tremble slightly as the giant Zetan approached.

“Oh there you are Smith,” The princess giggled, towering over him, her faraway yellow eyes focusing on his tiny form as her foot reached out for him. He grunted as she pinched him between her toes, lifting him up to her hand. Her fingers pinched him next, and his body was held steady as her building sized face smiled down at him. “Were you trying to get away from me?”

“No princess,” he said with a smile, “just… exploring.”

“You should be careful,” Tayla said with a warm smile, “I’d never forgive myself if I anything happened to you while you’re small.” She sighed happily, carrying him to the bed and laying upon it. They were both naked, the princess having long ago stripped him and disposed of his clothing, and her own. They hadn’t been at the mountain retreat for ten minutes before she’d ordered her bodyguard to stand watch with a smile, and then carried the tiny human to the bedroom.

“You don’t have to call me Princess by the way,” Tayla said, “when we’re alone I mean… I want to call you by your name as well, your first name… Craig is it?”

“Uh, yeah,” Agent Smith- Craig said.

“You’re going to be such a good consort,” Tayla laughed happily, “Mother is so eager to show that the royal family doesn’t hate humans… she practically ordered me to take you here.”

“Wait,” Craig asked uncertainly, “Consort?”

“Of course,” Tayla said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, “don’t worry though, I had my eye on you for some time before this whole incident with Nea, you needn’t worry I’m pursuing you for politics.”

“Never crossed my mind,” he said truthfully.

“I’m glad,” the alien princess said, “now, handling your adorable little body has made me excited again…” She squinted at him in thought, “it’s hard to pick a favorite size when playing with a tiny human, let’s try this one again.”

His world shifted as the giant fingers began moving him lower. He glanced behind him, seeing her other hand move between her legs, touching herself slightly and filling the air near him with the smell of her arousal. He felt himself growing hard again, knowing what she intended. This wasn’t the first time he’d been inside her today, and he had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last.

The pinkness between her legs was spread open by her fingers, and it seemed to eagerly welcome him as his tiny body was forced inside, the wetness sliding around him as her finger pushed him inward and out of view.

Tayla withdrew her finger, glistening and free of the squirming human now imprisoned in her womanhood. She growled with lust as she slowly began fingering herself, each twitch of the shrunken man giving her an electric tingle that raced up her spine.

Craig was a strong man, in excellent physical condition as part of his job duties, but he was helpless as the slick walls of Tayla’s pussy contracted around him, buffeting him like a storm as her arousal soaked him and filled his mouth and nose with her strong scent.

The feeling of the soft, yet powerful, flesh against him rocked his own body with arousal, and every time he slid backwards or forwards, or was clenched tightly in the throes of her pleasure, he felt himself gasping for breath, squirming futilely against her in an action that only turned her on more in a vicious cycle that was building around him like a hurricane.

“Yes,” Tayla cried out, clenching his tiny body tightly as orgasm built, “keep moving Craig, keep moving-“ she squealed and curled her toes, inside her a flood washed over Craig, causing him to cough and sputter as he struggled for air, the earthquake around him caused his own orgasm to arrive, the spurts of bliss as nothing in the torrent around him.

He went limp, carried forward towards the light of her opening, and a moment later a pair of giant green fingers entered to retrieve him. He shivered as he left the warmth and softness of her womanhood, the cold air shocking him as the sticky wet cum she’d coated him with dried. Her chest was still heaving, those monumental breasts going up and down in a slow rhythm.

“Excellent work Smith… Craig,” she beamed. She lowered him down between her breasts, the radiant warmth of her skin comforting him somewhat as he collapsed on her, exhausted.

“I aim to please?” he panted, “perhaps next time could I be a little… larger?”

“I think I’d like to try you about fifty percent larger than you are now,” Tayla agreed.

Smith frowned, he’d been hoping for full size, but… it was a start.

The door opened, and Smith instinctively tried to cover himself. It was a pointless gesture, he was two inches tall, naked, and laying on the chest of a giant naked Zetan princess. He fought for composure as Tayla’s bodyguard, a muscular Zetan woman named Liana, entered the room, seemingly uncaring about their state.

“Princess,” she greeted, “Agent Smith.”

“Leave us alone Liana,” Tayla pouted.

The bodyguard’s mouth quirked, “I simply wanted to let you know that we are going to be staying here for a little longer than expected. The political situation is deteriorating, and the Empress believes it best that the other royal daughters be placed in isolation. This retreat is as good as any, and with myself and Smith here you should be safe.”

“Oh well,” Tayla said with a smug smirk down at the human between her breasts, “I guess we’ll just have to find ways to make the time pass up here…” Liana bowed once, then left the room again, giving them one last smile as she went.

“I wonder what’s got the Empress so spooked,” Smith wondered aloud, “I know some of the nuts want Nea to be Empress but…”

“Let’s not worry about it for now,” Tayla said with a sigh. She thought a moment, “Liana seems very stressed though, I may have you go to her later.”

He frowned, “go to her?”

“Of course,” Tayla said, “if you’re to be my consort, you’ll need to occasionally entertain my friends.”

“Entertain?” he questioned again.

She just giggled, “I cannot wait for your swearing ceremony, it’ll be a small one I think, maybe just twenty or so guests…”

“Twenty or so…” He gulped as he looked up at the smiling giantess.

…

Nea’s royal ship slowly landed, still cloaked, in a vast desert. A moment later the ship shimmered, appearing normally again as the cloaking device was deactivated with a long whine. As the boarding ramp extended from the back of the bullet shaped craft, Telma glanced around, peering at a series of silvery installations in the distance.

Jammers, she thought nervously. She didn’t share Nea’s trusting attitude towards these people, and she wished that Nea’s power armor hadn’t been ruined in the battle at Clearwater. Her own was on, and she made sure to put herself between the princess and the five approaching figures. It wouldn’t stop more than one or two plasma bolts, but it was more than the nanocloth Nea wore. The group coming towards them was made up of Zetans, their green pointed ears silhouetted against the brown landscape. They were earth style desert robes, the long fabric billowing in the wind. Telma’s heart sank as she saw the weaponry, three plasma pistols, one rifle, and bizarrely even pre-invasion Earth weapon, the steel barrel glistening in the sun.

“Welcome to the Sahara!” The lead one shouted, holding her arms open wide, “all hail Princess Nea, savior of the Zetan people!”

“Your greeting is acknowledged,” Nea said, stepping forward with a jubilant grin. “Zeta Forever!”

“Zeta Torever!” they all echoed, smiling.

“Where are the humans now?” the leader asked.

“One squirms in my clothing,” Nea bragged, causing the five to chuckle. “The other…”

“Is with me,” Telma said, patting the belt pouch where she’d stored Joey.

“Very good,” the leader muttered, “Princess, we’ve prepared you and your bodyguard transport off world.”

“Good,” Nea nodded, “the faster I can back to Zeta Prime the better-“

“No, you’re not going there,” the leader explained with an embarrassed grin, “you’re going to Alrec, we have a lot of support in the planet’s government, and we will be able to protect you from those who would demand you give up the humans you’ve lawfully taken.”

“Alrec?” Telma asked, her eyes narrowing. It was a smaller Zetan world, with a population of a billion at most. Zeta Forever is popular there but… could they really be influential enough to control the entire planet’s government?

“We’ve been making moves Princess,” the leader explained with a smile, “we’ve been planning things for a long time, the missing piece was always a sympathetic member of the royal family. You’ll make a better Empress than your traitor of a mother, we can see it, and soon everyone else will see it too.”

Telma’s blood ran cold, and she wanted nothing more than to grab Nea and force her back on their shuttle, but she held her ground.

Nea frowned too, “I… I don’t wish for people to rebel against my mother,” she said uncertainly.

The smiles on the five members of Zeta forever faltered, then the leader spoke in a low tone, “It’s already in motion Princess,” she said, “it would be best to just ride the wave you’ve started.”

Nea was quiet for a moment, “I… I think Telma and I are going to go,” she said, “thank you for your assistance, we-“

The five Zetans drew their weapons, fanning out around the two of them. The leader unhooked a pair of magnetic handcuffs from her belt, tossing them into the sand before the princess and her bodyguard.

“I’m sorry about this Princess,” she said with a sad looking smile, “but I think you’ll come around to our point of view by the end of things… one way or another.”

…

The Zetans had a large strip of cleared and leveled land which, judging from the smaller craft arrayed around it, was a makeshift spaceport. They’d stripped Telma of her power armor, and she wore a similar shining white outfit to Nea as the two were led by their captors. Thankfully they let her keep her belt, the last thing she wanted was for these people to take Joey from her… Wherever the princess had stowed Kurt, Telma hoped she was smart enough to keep him out of sight. These people knew they were carrying humans of course, but it was best not to wave meat in front of the beast.

That explains the jammers, Telma thought, taking in as much as she could as she and Nea were frog-marched through the base. Now what are you shipping through here that you don’t want Earth or Zetan authorities to know about?

A large space freighter, the size of several human houses, waited in the center of the launch area. It was being loaded by Zetans using shrink rays, reducing the cargo to a small size, and then stacking it in the loading bay. A large wooden crate with human lettering stood nearby, and Telma frowned as she saw it was filled with plastic wrapped bundles of… something yellow.

Earth narcotics, she reasoned, they probably bring Zetan drugs in for the humans too. The drug trade had been one of the more unfortunate cultural exchanges between the two species. While Zeta Forever masqueraded as a legitimate political movement, it didn’t surprise Telma at all to see their fingers in an operation like this. If you were going to try to smuggle shrunken humans around, it only made sense to smuggle other things in the same trip.

 “All right let’s go people,” the one Telma had marked as the leader shouted, “we’ve paid off the humans in orbital security to give us a fifteen-minute window to enter FTL, and it’s coming up!”

They boarded the ship, prodding Telma and Nea with their weapons and forcing the two into what was unmistakably a holding cell, with a pair of beds, a sink, a toilet, and a transparent wall that would let guards see in at them. There was another set of cells across from them, miniaturized ones, looking more like a row of kennels than holding cells.

For humans, Telma realized, shrunken ones… They seemed empty for now.

“Try to relax,” one of the Zetans said, forcing Nea inside, “it’s a good thirty hours to Alrec, you’re going to be brought straight to Governor Lenais. Once you meet her, she’s going to straighten all this out.”

“Governor Lenais is one of you?” Telma asked, trying to get more information out of their guard.

“You’ll be told more when we get there,” the other Zetan woman said with a smile. She tapped an electronic screen on the side of the wall, and the pneumatic door to their cell hissed shut, leaving them alone.

“You may as well release Kurt,” Telma said with a sigh, withdrawing Joey from her belt.

Nea scowled, then hovered her hand over her chest. At her mere thought the nanofabric parted, revealing an inch tall Kurt, blinking at the sudden light. The Princesses giant fingers plucked him off the skin of her breast, and a moment later the fabric oozed shut again.

Kurt blushed, being naked in front of the princess was one thing, but he quickly noticed the other Zetan, and Joey being held in her hand. He tried to take in his surroundings, and a wide grin spread over his face as he realized they were in a jail cell.

“HA!” he crowed triumphantly, “fuck you princess, you’re going to jail! Don’t worry, I’ll visit-“

“If we were caught by Earth or Zetan authorities, don’t you think they would have retrieved you and the other human?” Nea growled down at him. He gulped under those blue eyes, then thought it over.

He sighed angrily, “Okay, who has us then?”

“Zeta Forever,” Telma said darkly, “they’ve kidnapped the princess and intend to use her in some political machinations.”

“W-What about us?” Joey asked nervously.

“We’re tiny humans on the ship belonging to a group that constantly talks about stepping on tiny humans,” Kurt shouted angrily, “I’d say we’re fucked Joey, even more fucked than when this brat shrank us at the parade.”

“BRAT!?” The princess howled, fighting the urge to pinch her fingers shut and silence the tiny man forever, “You had best start showing me more respect pet¸ I will protect you from these people, but if you continue to mouth off to me-“

“Nea,” Telma said in a soft voice, “enough.”

Nea looked at Telma, stunned, “Y-You forget yourself-“

“I will protect you to my dying breath Nea, you’re my own sister and my princess, but you need to look around and ask yourself if this is really a hyperspace lane we want to continue charting,” with that Telma sighed, sitting on a cot and leaning against the wall, gently stroking Joey’s hair as he rested in her grip.

Nea was silent, glancing down at Kurt, then at her bodyguard and Joey. Without a word, and still holding Kurt’s inch tall form in her fingers, she sat numbly on the prison cell cot. The holding cell was quiet for a few minutes, the only sound the steady background hum of the space freighter’s engine.

“What do we do now?” Nea asked in a defeated voice. She looked at Kurt, sighing.

“Call the cops,” Kurt shouted, struggling to be heard at his size, “Human ones, Zetan ones, I don’t care at this point, and grow me and Joey back, seriously!”

“And how do you propose we do that?” Nea asked angrily, “they took all of our weapons and communications gear, I don’t have my shrink ray so I couldn’t grow you back if I wanted to.”

“We won’t be able to call for help until we get to Alrec anyway,” Telma said, “if we’re really getting there from Earth in only thirty hours, these people have to have their own hyperspace lane charted.”

“I don’t know much about space travel,” Joey said nervously, “what’s that mean exactly?”

“Hyperspace lanes typically require years to chart,” Telma explained, “and they need some degree of maintenance, replacing beacons, keeping them clear of large objects, security. There isn’t a direct one from Earth to Alrec, or at least there isn’t an official one.“

“Why don’t you guys just build more wormholes?” Kurt shouted.

Nea laughed, “primitive monkey,” she mocked, “just build more wormholes!” she said in a mocking voice, “our entire empire has four of them, and one of them is the one linking to your planet, and my Mother’s government is still paying for it a decade later.”

“All right, I get it, I don’t know about space stuff,” Kurt muttered darkly. “Look, if you grow us back, we’d have four of us, how many of them are there?”

“Five, armed,” Telma said, “though probably not the best trained or disciplined, they didn’t even put a guard out there to watch us,” she gestured toward the transparent wall of the cell.

“So, we get out, jump one of them, and you take their shrink ray and put us back to normal?” Kurt asked.

“We’d need to find one of ours,” Telma muttered, “they’re DNA locked, but this group would have probably taken our things with them, they were high value items and criminals like this wouldn’t be able to resist.”

“It seems pointless to plan so far ahead,” Nea said, looking to the door, “when we can’t even get out of this cell…”

“Take me over to look at it,” Kurt shouted. With a sigh Nea stood up, still pinching Kurt between her fingers as she lifted him up to the door. It had an electronic interface, with a touch screen that allowed prisoners to speak to a hypothetical guard outside the cell, or adjust the climate controls.

Kurt stared at it, then burst out laughing, “holy shit, Joey, this thing is a Des Moines Technologies tablet, they just built it into the door!”

“What’d he say?” Joey asked, “I can’t really hear him well at that size.”

“He says it’s from something called Des Moines Technologies,” Nea replied, peering at the device. It was clearly human made, an odd choice for Zeta Forever, but it was doubtless cheap. “It doesn’t seem that useful, it only has a few options for the cell.”

“It’s a goddamn safety hazard is what it is,” Joey shouted angrily, “I don’t know if Zetans have OSHA, but putting that thing in a door is a disaster waiting to happen.”

“What’s wrong with them?” Telma asked, amused.

“Kurt and I had that model for work,” Joey explained, “if you accidentally leave your coat or a blanket or something on them, they burst into flame, and they burn hot.”

“Primitive human technology,” Nea mocked, “of course it would-“

“Yes, we had that same problem with the Zetan firm that built some of the wrist computers for the Royal Guards,” Telma said thoughtfully, “lowest bidder contracts are a plague across all species it seems.”

“Hey,” Kurt shouted, “one of you guys grab a pillow off the bed, hold it over this thing!”

“Kurt, buddy, that’s just going to cause it to-“ Joey began.

“Catch fire,” Nea muttered, following Kurt’s instructions and stalking across the room towards her cot.

…

“That was from a personal computing device!?” Nea asked incredulously as they watched the molten slag in the center of the door collapse. She beamed down at the tiny human between her fingers, “That was extraordinarily clever!”

“I didn’t build the thing,” Kurt said, Nea’s smile contagious, “I just knew how to break one.”

It had taken nearly two hours of holding the prison cell’s bedding against it, but as Kurt had expected the device had overheated, resulting in one of the spectacular battery fires that had graced the news, inspired a dozen lawsuits, and eventually bankrupted one of the largest post-invasion tech firms in North America.

Telma wrapped sheets around her arm, reaching through the still molten hole left by the tablet and pressed the release button on the other side of the door. The ruined barrier slid aside, and both Telma and Nea were careful to step around the glowing pieces of metal on the floor.

Fire alarms blared, but as they looked around, expecting a guard to appear, the hallway remained empty. A moment later the alarm died too, leaving an eerie quiet to settle over the escapees.

“Maybe they’re intoxicated?” Nea asked, following Telma towards the door, “I noticed a great deal of Earth substances being loaded, and-“

As the doorway to the ship’s lounge opened Nea stopped, her jaw dropping in horror. Two Zetans lay sprawled in front of a circular table, one with a dinner knife through her throat, the other having pulled her plasma pistol and vaporized her own head.

“Oh no,” Telma whispered. She sprinted, holding Joey to her like a talisman, and Nea nervously followed after her. There was a hiss as the group reached the cockpit, the door sliding open automatically, and Telma’s worst fears were confirmed. The Zeta Forever leader who had captured them had shot herself through the forehead, and another Zetan lay sprawled across the dashboard, having used her human style assault weapon to fire into her own body.

Beyond the viewport it was plain to see they’d exited hyperspace, and a writhing black monstrosity of a ship somehow darker than the background of space itself was extending tentacles towards them.

“Cephalo,” Nea said in hushed voice.

“The ships controls are ruined,” Telma muttered, looking at the dashboard. It was covered in bullet holes, plasma craters, and viscera from the two dead Zetans. She looked out at the approaching squidlike vessel, “The only reason we didn’t bash our brains in down in the cell was because we were holding on to these two here,” she gestured at Joey and Kurt.

“Why didn’t they protect the crew?” Nea asked, looking at the humans again.

“Because you shrank us you idiot,” Kurt managed angrily, “humans cancel out the Cephalo’s mind stuff, smaller human, smaller area of protection, it’s not rocket science!”

“It probably hasn’t even sensed any humans on board,” Telma said quietly, “it might not have picked up the two of us either…”

“Well grow us back,” Joey said excitedly, “those things hate humans, it’ll probably get too scared to board-“

“If it knows you’re on board it’ll just vaporize us,” Telma said. There was a clacking sound somewhere deep in the bowels of their vessel as the Cephalo ship’s tentacles made contact with their hull.

“Well, that’s it, game over man!” Joey wailed, “game over!”

“We can kill this thing,” Kurt shouted.

“Kurt is correct,” Nea snarled, “there is only one of these creatures per ship, and it act as a nervous system for the whole, if we kill it, all of it’s servants and it’s starcraft will die with it.”

“And how are we going to find it?” Joey asked, calming down slightly.

“If it thinks the ship is dead, it’ll be coming on board to… feed,” Telma said distastefully, looking down at the dead Zetans. “We need to find our shrink rays, we’ll need the humans at full strength. Once that thing is on board the ship, a pair of shrunken humans might not be enough to keep it out of our skulls.”

“I really hate to say this,” Kurt muttered, “but you guys need to keep us tiny until the last possible minute, once it smells Joey and me or whatever, it’s going to run like a bat out of hell back for that ship.”

“Kurt’s right,” Nea said, “we’ll set a trap.” She glanced down at Kurt, who had that same look of determination from when she’d captured him. Where did you come from? She thought again, his like couldn’t be common on Earth, it couldn’t be…

…

The Zetan Forever camp’s signal jammers burned in the distance, black pillars of smoke staining the blue desert sky. The industrial smell of the melting steel, plastics, and more exotic materials carried on the wind, and the clouds themselves cloaked the compound in darkness. The Zetans had run through their camp screaming, readying weapons and firing plasma weaponry blindly into the clouds that billowed around them. Their escape craft was a hulking melted mess, blown to pieces by the luxury starliner’s sole plasma cannon.

Jolene stalked through their camp, her plasma rifle barking and illuminating her silhouette in the dark clouds of sand and soot that washed over the camp. Each time she fired there was a flash of the blue and silver power armor she wore, and that dark black western hat she wore even over it. The Zetans had only one set of their own power armor, and as soon as one of them had sprinted into battle with it, she’d sent a dozen bolts from her weapon into the figure’s chest. Stepping over the other armored combatant, she pulled a grenade from her belt, the pin flicked away by her thumb as she dropped it next to the incapacitated Zetan.

“Wait, no-“

The explosion blew sand around Jolene as she continued into the camp, one of the remaining Zetans, a younger looking one, shouted an alien curse and threw down her weapon, running for one of the buildings.

Oh to have been there for the invasion, she thought not for the first time. I’d have taught you all a thing about underestimating a human… Jolene didn’t have much of a problem with Zetans in principle, it wasn’t like humans had been living some squabble free harmonious existence before them after all, and she had three very happy ones wedged in the back of her underwear. Arrogance though, people looking down on her? No matter what their reasoning was, what species they were, that always pissed her off, and Zeta Forever produced a lot of arrogant Zetans.

She flicked a switch on her rifle, and it shook as it overloaded a charge. A moment later the door to the compound exploded inward, her visor quickly informed her that the Zetan she’d pursued was the only one remaining alive in the building, the whole compound in fact.

“Hello,” she called cheerfully, stalking up to the shaking Zetan huddled against the far wall. “I was talking to a starship designer in New York who had some interesting opinions about humans, she said I could find more people like her to discuss those opinions out here in the desert?”

“H-Human monkey!” the Zetan managed, pulling a small pistol. Jolene caught it in her hand, crushing the weapon between power armored fingers.

“Yeah, that sounds like Zeta Forever,” Jolene chuckled, “now, as fun as partying with you gals is, I’m looking for a higher class of company for my next hootenanny.” The Zetan looked at her in confusion, and she sighed. Translation chips were ubiquitous and constantly improving, even translating appropriate idioms and regional sayings, but they still weren’t perfect. “Hootenanny means party,” Jolene said in exasperation, “a wild one, with lots of alcohol.”

“Y-You want the alcohol?” The zetan gulped, “t-take it-“

“No, you idiot!” Jolene snarled, “the princess, I know she was here, what I want to know is where did she go?”

A defiant look crossed the Zetans eyes, “I’ll never talk!” she sneered.

Jolene snorted, drawing her shrink ray from it’s place on her belt, “We’ll see,” she laughed as a beam arced out at the Zetan.

…

Elya Surfacewalker would tell you she joined Zeta Forever because she hated humans, in truth she’d never even met one before coming to earth, and had mostly spent her time on the compound since then. The reality was that she’d been hoping to get in to the organization’s expansive criminal enterprises, Elya wouldn’t spend her life overseeing mining droids, or stuck on a star cruiser in the military at the ass end of the galaxy, no she’d strike it rich.

Staring up at the enormous human psychopath grinning at her now though? She’d have gladly taken the job overseeing droids, void above, maybe the fleet wouldn’t have been so bad? Early mornings, comradery…

“Hey!” Jolene snapped her fingers, causing the tiny Zetan to jump. Jolene had placed her on a table, and pulled up a chair for herself. “Focus up Greenie, I want to know where the princess went.”

“I-I won’t talk!” Elya insisted, “and my name’s not Greenie it’s-“

“It’s Greenie,” Jolene said, reaching down and flicking her over casually. Elya grunted as the power armored finger knocked the wind out of her, sending her sprawling on her but across the surface of the table. The human had reduced her to maybe two inches tall, and it was rapidly setting in just how powerless she was at this size. “Now Greenie, tell me where they went.”

“No!” Elya said stubbornly, rising to her feet.

Jolene sighed, reaching up to her helmet. First, she placed her black hat on the table, looming large like a house over the shrunken Zetan. Then there was pneumatic hiss as she lifted the power armor helmet off. She shook her head as the air hit her, her black hair spraying in all directions around her, a few droplets of sweat flying off. She giggled as one of the droplets, the size of Elya’s head, slammed into the Zetan, causing her to sputter and stumble backwards.

“Oh, like the taste of human sweat?” Jolene teased, “I’ve got more if you’re thirsty.” She clenched her buttcheeks playfully, knowing the trio of perverts trapped there were probably going crazy.

“I hope the void swallows you!” Elya managed, wiping the human’s sweat out of her eyes.

“Something’s getting swallowed,” Jolene said, causing Elya to squeal in terror as she picked up the Zetan by her leg, dangling the alien as she lifted her captive towards her face. She licked her lips, causing the Zetan’s eyes to go wide with terror and understanding. “Did you know Zetans ate shrunken humans once upon a time?” She asked.

“T-that’s human propaganda!” Elya insisted.

“That’s what the Cultural Department says,” Jolene laughed, “I’ve seen the footage though… a lot of humans get pretty traumatized by it.” She held the tiny Zetan in front of her eyes as a wicked grin lit up her features, “do you know what it made me though?”

“W-what?” Elya squeaked.

“Hungry!”

“No,” Elya cried, tears forming in her eyes, “please, they’ll kill me if I tell you anything!”

“That sounds like a tomorrow problem,” Jolene said, “you’re looking down the maw of a today problem.”

With that she slowly lowered the Zetan past her lips, the screaming became muted as she closed her mouth, toying with the tiny woman with her tongue as she panicked and fought for purchase against the slimy appendage. Jolene playfully arced her tongue back, sending Elya sliding towards her throat.

To Elya it was hell, and she cried as she tried to reach for something, anything, to steady herself, but it was all covered by the human’s slick saliva. The tongue was bigger than she was, easily battering her around as the human savored her taste.

Jolene swished her back and forth once more, then spat her into her cupped palm. The Zetan cried, soaked in spit with her dark green hair sticking to her face. She blinked at the sudden light, and coughed up a lungful of Jolene’s viscous saliva.

“Where is the princess?” Jolene shouted, causing the Zetan to cower.

“N-Noooo!” Elya wailed.

Jolene sighed, placing the shrunken Zetan on the table. There was another flash of light from Jolene’s silver shrink ray, and then Elya was blinking as she took in a world now four times as large as it had been a minute ago, she was half an inch tall now, and she watched fearfully as Jolene stood up, walking towards the compound’s kitchen. She came back a moment later with two bottles under her arm.

“Ah qet,” Jolene said appreciatively, hefting a bottle of the alien drink in her hand, “you just can’t find it on human worlds, I love this shit though… and what better to wash down a Zetan than a Zetan drink?” She placed the bottle next to Elya, where it towered over her like a skyscraper. “This next one’s an Earth favorite, I’m surprised to see it in here, but I guess even greenskins have a sweet tooth.”

Elya looked up in horror as the bottle of chocolate syrup rained down waves of thick goo on her. It slammed her to the table, and it took all of her strength to swim to the surface of the thick chocolate sauce that Jolene was pouring down on her. The sweetness stung her lips, and she fought panic as her heart raced a mile a minute.

She squealed in terror as something scooped under her, lifting both her and the pool of chocolate syrup upwards, a spoon, she realized, almost fainting. I’m on a spoon!

“Well, goodbye Greenie, it’s been… sweet,” Jolene giggled. She opened her mouth wide, slowly bringing the spoon towards her lips.

“ALREC!” Elya screamed as loud as she could, “They went to Alrec! They’re meeting with the governor! That’s all I know I swear!” she sobbed.

The spoon traced backwards, and Jolene gave her an appreciative smile. There was as soft clatter as she gently lowered the spoon to the table. The shrink ray appeared in Jolene’s hand again, and after another flash Elya blinked as she was sitting on the table, the spoon that had held her a moment ago digging into her buttcheek. The human still loomed over her, and Elya realized she’d only been returned to about four feet tall. Still, she had to sigh with relief, her heart still pounding.

“There we go Greenie,” Jolene said, ruffling the diminutive Zetan’s hair, “was that so hard?” She turned to leave, grabbing her helmet and hat off the table. She paused, glancing back at Elya, “Word of advice? Change careers, and…” Jolene gave a predatory smile, “I want to see you donate some money to the Human Appreciation Society, I’ll check for it, and if I’m not happy with how much it is… well, maybe you and I can have dinner again sometime.”

“I’ll give them everything I’ve got!” Elya stuttered excitedly, “I-I love humans, this whole Zeta Forever thing is a phase, I swear!”

“Good girl,” Jolene laughed as she left. Idiot doesn’t realize I didn’t even take her name, Jolene chuckled. She’d never actually eaten a shrunken Zetan of course, the questioning never got that far, but it was a method that always left an impression.

Alrec, she thought with a bit of annoyance, that shithole. She sighed, feeling her three prisoners squirm in the back of her underwear again, she’d have to get them out soon. A billion credits Jolene, just remember, it’s a billion credits…

“It’s getting closer,” Nea muttered, rubbing her head. There was a somewhat painful buzz just behind her eyes, like a bad headache from not getting enough sleep.

“You need to hold on as long as you can,” Kurt insisted, “even at this size, I can keep it out of your head.”

“I-I will,’ Nea muttered.

“It’s going to send it’s servitors in first,” Telma said, “foul things, the smell alone can make a Zetan vomit.”

“My granddad said they smell like a port-o-john in the summer,” Joey agreed.

“Your grandfather served against them?” Telma asked curiously.

“Yeah, one of the first humans to work with you guys on it, I guess he saw action on Zeta Prime,” Joey explained. “They’d just vaporized Sydney and Beijing, and while people were still pretty pissed at you guys, I guess gramps was pissed enough at them to go along with you.”

“Be thankful they only ever destroyed two Earth cities,” Nea said quietly, “we lost nearly a quarter of the Empire’s population without killing a single one of them.”

“We had someone else killing plenty of our people before the squids got there,” Kurt said darkly, “personally I don’t think I’d have been able to look the other way on that if it had been me.”

“Gramps talked about that,” Joey said quietly, “he said that if you ever met a squid, you’d understand, like there’s just something… off about them.”

“I guess we’ll find out,” Kurt said with a sigh. “Either of you ever fight these things before?”

“No,” Telma said, “just simulations, we can’t get close to them without one of you nearby.”

“Review our plan for me,” Nea said, checking the pair of plasma pistols on her belt. One was for Kurt, once he’d been returned to full size. She was holding him pinched between her fingers now, and her recovered shrink ray was hooked to her belt, ready and waiting.

“Cephalos board ships by inserting a hollow tentacle through the hull,” Telma explained, “the main cargo bay has the most space, so he’ll probably come in through there.” She lifted Joey up to the shoulder of her power armor, letting him sit while she checked a plasma rifle she’d taken. “We’ll want to wait until we see the Cephalo itself, it’ll send servitors first, but we need to get between it and it’s ship.”

“Then when we see it, you grow us back right?” Joey asked eagerly.

“Yes,” Telma said, reaching up with a smile and stroking his hair. She patted a spare plasma pistol on her belt, dangling next to her shrink ray.

Nea glanced down at Kurt, her mouth a thin line, Kurt regrown… she thought. Somehow it made her a little sad. He’s not going to be mine…

He noticed and gave her a wry grin, “try to cheer up princess, we’re killing stuff, that’s what you Zetans like, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” She muttered, “battle, I’m excited for the battle…”

…

Nea and Telma peered from the side hallway of the cargo freighter. This particular one only led to an access port for maintenance, without any bodies down here they’d guessed the Cephalo would have no interest in it.

They heard a scraping sound, then the tearing of steel as the Cephalo ship’s tentacle penetrated the hull. A moment later they heard a plopping sound, like a rotten tomato falling on concrete, the smell hit them next, and Kurt grimaced in disgust as the odor of a raw sewer wafted through the corridors.

*click* *click* *click*

They stood perfectly still as the mottled servitors shambled by at the far end of the hallway, the clawed feet clacking on the floor. They walked like a human or a Zetan, but with a halting gait, the long gripping claws on their arms reaching well past their knees, the small misshapen heads staring straight ahead.

There was another sound, like a wet mop across tile. They saw it then, the towering bulbous head, traipsing forward on a forest of tentacles that made sticking sounds as they touched each surface in the hallway.

In that moment Kurt understood everything that war veterans said about the creatures. A deep primordial hate bubbled up from within him, stronger than anything he’d ever felt for the Zetans, for anything. It shocked him with its intensity, the urge to run at the Cephalo, even in his inch tall form, was overpowering, he wanted to beat it to death, to claw it’s eyes out-

He forced himself to calm down, he glanced at Joey, who had gritted teeth and a face red with rage too. These things set off something deep in him, apparently in all humans.

“I can’t stand it any longer!” Nea whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. Telma had a droplet of sweat rolling down her own face, and she nodded grimly.

The two Zetans placed their respective humans on the ground, stepped back, and leveled their shrink rays. There was a flash, and Kurt stumbled as his vision cleared. He looked around excitedly, pumping his fist in excitement at being at his full sized. Joey was similarly jubilant, and without warning Kurt hugged his friend.

“Kurt, bro, you’re naked,” Joey laughed.

“Fuck, sorry,” Kurt muttered, stepping back. He frowned, wondering what Joey had said to the other Zetan that had earned him clothes, have to look into that when we’re done here.

There was an ear-piercing screech as the Cephalo detected the presence of the now full-sized humans, a sound like steel scraping on pavement mixed with a burst of static. Kurt realized with a start that it wasn’t a sound, he was “hearing” it inside his own mind.

“Guns,” he snapped at the Zetans, “now.”

Nea and Telma drew plasma pistols, presenting them grip first to Joey and Kurt. The two humans took them, and Kurt looked up at Nea a moment, she made eye contact, and suddenly the air was filled with tension. Kurt gripped the pistol, the weight in his hand feeling good as he stared at the Zetan who had spent days tormenting him. Telma and Joey looked back and forth at the two of them, then sighed with relief as Kurt turned away.

“Okay,” he muttered, “who’s taking point?”

“I’ve got power armor and a rifle,” Telma said, pushing in front of them.

The group entered the hallway, then froze. At the end a wave of the putrid creatures was shambling towards them, wet spongy sounds echoing with the click of their claws.

Kurt raised his weapon, breathing out and steadying himself as he lined up his shots. One after another green bolts of heated plasma rocketed into the thing’s chests, and the servitors twitched as they were hit, dropping limply. If the rest cared for their fallen fellows, they didn’t show it, stepping over the corpses and raising their claws menacingly as the wave got closer.

“How many of them are there?” Joey shouted fearfully. He was firing haphazardly into the crowd, his shots striking arms, legs, even the ceiling or the floor. There were more sounds like wet rags hitting the floor, and Kurt glanced over his shoulder to see another wave of the creatures approaching from the cargo bay.

“More of them are coming from the ship!” Kurt warned.

“We’re surrounded,” Nea said, “Telma, we need to cut through these things!”

“Agreed,” her bodyguard growled. With a flick of a switch on the side of the alien rifle the steady stream of plasma became something almost like a beam. Telma stepped in front of them, cutting through the creatures in front of them like a knife. Some of them managed to close the distance with her, their claws sparking as they ran over her shielded power armor. She grunted as one body slammed her, but another swing of the rifle and the green beam sliced it in half.

They came into the ship’s lounge, a seeming break in the horde of attackers, though the new wave behind them was filling the air with that same foul odor as they rushed after them.

“There’s that fucker!” Joey snarled, pointing.

At the far side of the lounge the Cephalo loomed large, surrounded by another dozen of the mottled servitors. It screeched again, and the creatures surged forward.

Nea screamed a battle cry, shooting them one after the other as she forced her way forward. She realized a moment later in a panic that she’d been separated from her comrades, but Kurt leapt over a fallen creature, sprinting to her side. He nodded at her, and with a renewed vigor the two of them pushed forward.

The Cephalo was an immense thing, towering over the Zetans and nearly touching the lounge’s ceiling. Nea shouted as she finally forced her way to it, leveling the plasma pistol. A tendril wrapped around her hand, yanking it roughly. Her eyes went wide as her pistol clattered to the floor and she was lifted upwards. From beneath the writhing mass a mouth appeared, circular and covered in yellow jagged teeth. Nea screamed as she was lifted up to it.

Kurt was struggling with one of the servitors who had managed to close the distance with him. The thing was strong, and he gritted his teeth as he fought to keep it’s clawed hand away from his face. His head whipped around as Nea screamed, and he saw her head being brought up to the Cephalo’s dripping maw.

Something snapped in him, and the white-hot fire of hatred he instinctively felt for the creature somehow burned brighter when he saw it holding Nea. He released his grip on the Servitor, screaming in pain as the claws raked his face. With his hands free he leveled the pistol, firing one shot, then another into the beast. It stumbled, collapsing in a heap like a perverse mound of gelatin as the searing craters of the plasma appeared on its head.

A scream of agony echoed through their minds, and the servitors twitched as the mental link was disrupted. The one that had clawed his face spasmed, knocking his pistol away as it staggered.

Kurt’s eyes went wide as the tendrils raced towards Nea again, and he sprinted at the Cephalo, leaping onto its collapsed form with a primal shout of rage. His fists came down on the soft tissue, and the skin split like a rotten piece of fruit. All he could see was red as an ancient genetic hatred combined with the rage of seeing this thing touch the princess. He struck at it until his hands hurt, the viscera mixing with his own blood running down his face. The euphoria was overwhelming, and as his senses returned, he heard a mad laughter, his.

As he blinked and came back to reality, he realized the ship’s lounge had gone silent with him. The Cephalo was clearly dead, torn to pieces by him in his rage, it’s red eyes dim. Nea was rubbing her throat, looking up at him in awe. The servitors all lay dead, limp on the floor. With a look around he stepped back from his kill, panting slightly.

“Kurt,” Joey whispered, “God damn…”

Kurt realized that, naked as he was and covered in his own blood and the grey-green goo of the alien’s insides, he probably looked savage, monstrous even.

“You need medical attention,” Telma said quietly, “Nea, find out if these criminals had anything that can help, medical nanites would be ideal.” She looked towards the ship’s cockpit and sighed, “I’m going to go see if we can salvage anything from the navigation systems.”

“I’m uh… I’m going to go with Telma,” Joey muttered, following after her. Kurt recognized an odd expression on Joey’s face, was he afraid?

The cut across his face was beginning to hurt, a deep fiery pain that made him blink and wonder just how bad it was. Nea was on her feet, numbly walking toward a door on a nearby wall. It hissed as she opened it, revealing a closet. She walked out again with a small box, guiding him to a table and gesturing for him to sit. He obeyed, his muscles suddenly turning to jelly as the tiredness set in.

“This is a topical nanite spray,” Nea said, preparing a small bottle, “it will fix that cut, but it will be painful, and it will scar.”

“Fire away,” Kurt muttered, sighing as he lifted his hair out of his face. He winced at the pneumatic sound of the spray, and clenched his fists as a new electric fire raced up and down his face. It faded quickly, and a moment later the princess reached out, slowly tracing her hand from his forehead, down around his eye, and down his cheek.

They were silent a moment, then Nea spoke, “thank you,” she said quietly.

“We had to kill that thing,” Kurt muttered, sinking back in the chair.

“You saved my life,” she said with a sigh. “I…” tears were starting to fill her eyes, “Kurt… I think I’ve made a terrible mistake.”

“Yeah, I’ll say,” he muttered, sitting back up.

“It was all a lie,” she moaned, the sobs starting in earnest, “I thought humans were… I thought you were beasts, just things we needed to use…” She looked at him, “even after everything I did to you… to your friend, I threatened to…” She sat in the other chair at the table, sobbing uncontrollably.

Kurt enjoyed it for a moment, then frowned, god damnit, he muttered. He felt bad for her. No, you sentimental stupid fuck, don’t you dare-

“Nea,” he said quietly, “It’s…” he couldn’t really say it, it wasn’t okay… “You did something really fucked up and stupid,” he decided, “I’m not going to lie to you, I’m still pissed Nea, this was supposed to be a long weekend for me, instead I’m in space dealing with…” he gestured around, “this.”

“Is there anything I could ever do to make it right?” she asked, blinking tears away.

Kurt snorted, “I’m not a pastor Nea, fuck if I know, you did the things you did, maybe you’ll never make up for them, but you can change what you’re doing going forward.”

“That’s… very wise,” Nea sniffed, “did someone tell you that?”

“My shithead boss after I crashed a work vehicle,” he laughed, “he talked a big game about going forward, but I’m pretty sure it cost me a raise and a promotion.”

Nea’s mouth quirked, “you… crashed your work vehicle?”

“I misjudged the degree of that slope,” he said defensively. She giggled, and both felt a little better somehow.

He sighed and stood up, “if you don’t mind, I’m going to find out if these people have a shower, and maybe some clothes in human size…”

…

A little over an hour later the four of them met in the ship’s lounge, all of them having taken turns on the ship’s one shower except for Nea, who remained in her armor. Kurt had taken one of the princess’s nanofabric suits, looted from their ship by the criminals, and was pleased to discover they were unisex and would contort to fit his body as well as they fit hers.

“Hey buddy,” Joey said in a hushed voice, leaning over to Kurt, “how are you holding up?”

“I’m okay,” he said with a reassuring smile, “the scar though, how bad is it?”

“Bad?” Joey laughed, “badass maybe, you look like a fucking pirate or something, that was wild what you did back there, like I mean I felt that… whatever it was too, like I just hated that thing, but you? You were like a Viking or something, I’ve never seen a guy just snap like that.”

“Okay,” Telma began, “let’s start with the good news, the Cephalo is dead, and the maintenance droids have informed me that the smell should be cleared in another few hours. We unhooked the tentacle from our ship, and we can use the ship’s shield to patch the hole, so we won’t vent atmosphere.”

There were halfhearted cheers from Nea, Joey, and Kurt, the ship smelled like a mix between a sewer and a slaughterhouse, and it was nice to know that it would be remedied soon.

“What else?” Joey asked eagerly.

“That’s the end of the good news,” Telma said with a frown. “The ship’s controls were destroyed by the crew when they killed themselves, the best I can manage is to get it to continue the route it was already programmed on.”

“Alrec,” Nea said bitterly. “No doubt we’ll be welcomed by those who wish to use me against my mother…”

“Yes,” Telma said with a sigh, “We’ll have to escape from them somehow.”

“Indeed,” Nea said angrily, “once my mother hears what they were planning, we’ll bring an entire fleet, I’ll personally lead-“

“Nea,” Telma said sternly, “once we get away from these people, we’re going to disappear.”

Nea looked at her in confusion, “What? Why would we need to-“

“Princesses who cause diplomatic incidents get punished, exiled maybe,” Telma explained, “princesses who are involved in plots to overthrow their mothers get executed.”

Nea’s eyes bulged, “but that’s not what I wanted, I’d never plot against mother!”

“Do you think she’s going to believe that?” Telma asked with a sigh, “after everything else that’s happened? I’m sorry Nea, she is your mother, but she’s also the Empress.” Nea sank into her chair, numb at the implication. Telma sighed, “I’m sorry Nea, I thought this would be a harsh lesson for you… but not this harsh.”

“Where does that leave us?” Kurt asked, “I’d offer you guys my spare room, but the landlord is always poking around checking for pets.”

“When we’re free of Alrec we can drop you two off on a human world,” Telma said, “I’m… truly sorry about all of this.”

“Well shit,” Kurt muttered, “drop the next bomb.”

“What do you mean?” Joey asked nervously.

“If we’re all getting captured by these Zeta Forever gals again, do you suppose they’re going to want to see two full size humans when they board the ship?” Kurt asked with a sardonic smile.

Joey’s eyes went wide, and he looked to Telma pleadingly, “Oh no, come on Telma, please?”

“We’ll keep you with us at all times,” Telma said with a sigh, “and we’ll be sure you’re treated well… Perhaps if we have any time in private, we can grow you two back for brief periods until we’re ready to escape.”

“We don’t really have a choice,” Kurt said, rolling his eyes and standing up, “I guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow; I’m getting some sleep.

…

Telma looked around the quarters she’d chosen. There were a few personal rooms for the crew of the ship, nothing particularly fancy, but they all had cots and a standard viewscreen for entertainment. With a sigh she stepped in and deactivated her power armor. She stepped out of it, savoring the feeling of freedom as she was left with only her undergarments. She was coated in sweat, the result of a lengthy fight in power armor, and while the others had cleaned up, she’d been trying in vain to fix the ship’s navigation.

That shower is probably empty now, she thought.

Suddenly there was a knock at her door, “Enter,” she said without thinking, and the pneumatic door hissed open.

“Hey Telma,” Joey said, smiling and walking in with a pair of glass bottles in his hands, “I was rooting around in their pantry and I found a couple of cokes-“ He froze, seeing her in her underwear. “Oh, sorry I uh-“

“Relax Joey,” Telma said with a smirk, “you’ve already seen most of this,” she gestured at her body.

“Seems different,” he muttered, “being full size.” He handed her one of the sodas, then sat next to her on the bed. He was suddenly very aware of how she loomed over him, even at his full size, but he fought down that feeling of nervousness. If you could handle her at four inches, you can handle her at five eleven, he told himself.

“So, what brings you to my room?” Telma asked, opening her soda and taking a sip.

“Can’t a friend just bring another friend a drink?” he asked, flashing a smile that melted hearts back on Earth.

Telma gave him a small smile, “I think you are… I believe the earth phrase is, making a pass at me? It’s very transparent, I see right through it.”

“I wasn’t really trying to hide it,” Joey said, setting his drink on metallic nightstand.

Telma chuckled, feeling herself growing wet, they say after a battle you want it more, she thought. The earth boy seemed willing, eager even.

“Have you ever been with a Zetan woman before?” Telma asked, leaning against him slightly and curling a finger through his hair. She looked down at him and gave a smile, reaching around and hugging him closer in a strong grip.

“Well, no,” Joey said nervously, “but uh, how different could it be?”

“Mmm…” Telma growled, reaching for his neck. She tapped it, and there was a hiss as the nanofabric receded like the tide, flowing back up into the outfit’s collar, which she plucked off him and placed on the table with their drinks. She tapped the corner of her underwear next, and the webbed fabric snapped back into the pellet sized storage, and it soon joined Joey’s collar on the table. Joey was shocked, looking at her in surprise at how quickly they’d both been rendered naked.

“I understand a lot of human males take the lead in courtship,” Telma growled, her hand snaking between his legs and stroking him slowly. “We only have one male for every fifty of us back on Zeta Prime,” Telma giggled, enjoying Joey’s wide-eyed expression, “it seems evolution wanted our females to be slightly more… aggressive, than your own.” He grunted as she pushed his chest downward suddenly, forcing him onto his back against the cot’s rough mattress. “This, combined with our relative strength, can make the experience somewhat… overwhelming, for human males.” She climbed on top of him, the Amazonian beauty easily pinning his arms as her strong thighs straddled him. “Or so I’m told,” she giggled.

She reached down to guide him inside her, and the first thrust almost knocked the wind out of him, even as pleasure raced up his spine. Telma groaned, the smaller human beneath her squirming feebly as she easily held him in place. She pushed again, her hips rocking against him and forcing him into the mattress.

“I really like to ride a male so he can feel it,” she grunted between gritted teeth, “come on Joey, tell me how you like it!”

“You’re amazing!” he winced as her hips ground down on him again, “the best!” it was like nothing he’d ever experienced. There were wild women on earth of course, and timid wallflowers, and Joey had had everything in between, but this?

“Make noise for me human!” Telma ordered with a lustful smile, reaching down and cupping his chin as she continued to ride him. He groaned in pleasure, and a moment later she did too, the sounds of their lust filling the cabin as Telma kept going. She leaned back, laughing as he tried to buck his hips and control the pace, but another powerful drive forced him back against the mattress, a slave to her rhythm.

“Oh fuck,” Joey moaned, surrendering and letting her fully take control.

“Good boy,” she growled, her grip on his wrist tightened slightly as she picked up speed. Joey fought the urge to howl as he did all he could to keep himself from orgasm.

“Not yet,” Telma said through gritted teeth. Joey just moaned and let his head fall back against the pillow, “NOT YET!” Telma repeated, gripping his jaw and surprising him.

“I-I can’t-“ he protested.

“Now,” Telma sighed happily, the speed of her thrusts decreasing as her toes curled and pleasure raced through her body. Joey let himself finish too, his body spasming in her grip as a powerful orgasm rocked his body.

The two of them panted a moment, he she smiled down at him, and then slowly climbed off of him, walking over to the nightstand where there drinks were. She looked down with a smirk at his stunned form as she lifted her bottle, taking a small sip.

“I think I’m developing a taste for things from Earth,” She said with a smile.

“Yeah,” Joey breathed, trying and failing to sit up. “I think… I think you’ve ruined me for Earth girls.”

Telma raised an eyebrow, a charmer this one… She sat back down on the cot, running a hand up his leg slowly. Ruined him for earth girls… she fought a giggle, he was probably just flirting again, but the thought made her pleased with herself. At least there’s one nice thing to come out of all of this.

“So, Joey,” she said slowly, “when we get to Alrec you’ll need to be small again, I know you’re not looking forward to it.”

“Nope,” Joey muttered. “Don’t take this the wrong way, you took good care of me and everything, but still, not a fan of shrinking.”

“Well, I’ll be preoccupied trying to find us a way off the planet,” Telma mused, “but we might have some private time.” She grinned, “We’ll have to make the most of it, no matter what size you are…”

“S-Sounds fun,” Joey said, a weak smile on his face.

…

Kurt stared at the ceiling of his room, it was a cramped space with a single bunk, the assorted belongings of the Zetan who’d used it previously scattered about. He’d even watched a few Zetan dramas on the wall screen in his boredom, they weren’t great, but it wasn’t a drama he was fond of with human actors either.

There was a knock at his door, “Come in,” he muttered, waving his hand dismissively and causing the screen to go black.

Nea walked in hesitantly, “Telma says we’re going to leave hyperspace soon,” she said quietly.

“Time to downsize already?” Kurt asked with a sigh.

“Yes,” Nea said, sitting next to him on the bed. She looked away from him, downcast, “I’m going to get you out of this, I promise…”

“Well, if it comes down to shooting our way out, grow me back beforehand and I can watch your back again,” he said, forcing a smile.

Nea fingered the silvery remote of her shrink ray idly, glancing down at it, then back to Kurt. She loomed over him even now, a good half a head taller than him. Their eyes met, and she bit her lip. Suddenly Kurt felt a hand on the back of his head, and their lips met, he grunted in surprise, but didn’t pull away, returning the kiss.

The parted after a moment, him with his mouth open in shock and her blushing furiously enough to bring a tinge of red to her green cheeks. She stood up then, standing before him and leveling the shrink ray. She gave him one last smile, then the familiar bright flash filled his vision.

When he’d blinked the stars out of his eyes, he looked up at the smiling titaness that was Nea, her green hand reaching down for him and gently closing around him once more. She brought him up to her face, holding him in her hand quietly a moment.

For Kurt, he was surprised at how comfortable he felt. The warmth of her hand was pleasant, and he found he wasn’t afraid of Nea.

“Well, here we are again,” he said with a wry smile. “Do I still have to call you princess?”

“I suppose when we’re around the other Zetans on Alrec,” she said with a sigh, “but… when we’re alone, please just call me Nea… I’m not sure I’m going to be a princess by the end of this anyways.”

“You can hide in Iowa,” Kurt joked, “give it a few months, the corn will even hide a Zetan.”

She laughed in spite of herself, “I don’t think I’d be welcome back there either, but thank you for the offer.”

She held him close to her, enjoying the feeling of having him in her hands. Even with all of the misery that she’d endured, that she’d inflicted on herself really, she felt hopeful for the future.

Adam stared in shock at the advertisement being played before every video on Earth’s largest hosting platform. It depicted a pair of what were supposed to be Zetans, armored and stalking down a busy suburban street as bystanders screamed. Their green ears were exaggerated, and they had menacing sneers. Rock music played suddenly, and then a pair of humans cut off the “Zetans” with a pair of glowing plasma pistols.

“The new Kensington-Bluestar Bobcat, send them back to the void!” an excited announcer called.

There was a flash and the two “Zetans” disappeared.

“Who approved this?” Adam asked in shock, “any advertisement featuring Zetans is supposed to be tightly controlled-“

“It was a lower office,” Kira said, pulling up details on her wrist computer. She frowned, “I think I see how it got through…”

A green skinned Zetan woman with a flashing white smile dressed in an earth style pantsuit stepped into the camera frame, the two heroes with the pistols smiled when they saw her, and a United Earth flag suddenly appeared in the background.

“I’m Anara Bluestar, owner of Kensington-Bluestar weapons, I’ll tell you something, if there’s one thing I love it’s humans, and when a longstanding human weapons manufacturer was struggling, I saw a chance to combine some of the best minds on both our worlds. That’s how Kensington-Bluestar was born!”

“My god,” Adam breathed, “it’s brilliant, she didn’t get her ad screened for anti-Zetan sentiment because a Zetan owns the company…”

“Now we all know there’s plenty of bad eggs out there, and I just love my human friends and family too much to let anyone hurt them,” she lifted one of the guns being advertised, “that’s why I came up with the Bobcat, an affordable plasma weapon for the common human, just one thousand credits at any retailer of Kensington-Bluestar weapons!” The camera zoomed in on her face one last time, “guaranteed to melt royal grade power armor!” She winked at the “royal.”

“I want it stopped immediately,” Adam said in exasperation, “We’ve just gotten the public settled down!”

“It’s too late,” Kira muttered, looking at numbers on her wrist screen, “those things are selling like mad, and polling indicates Anara Bluestar is one of the most popular Zetans among humans right now, even anti-Zetan groups like her.” Kira paused a moment, “though I don’t know what kind of plasma pistol she’s putting on the market for only one thousand credits…”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a piece of junk,” Adam growled, “I don’t think the Zetans who are going to get shot with them will have power armor.” He buried his head in his hands, “God, I can’t believe I let this through…”

“Adam,” Kira said quietly, “how much sleep have you gotten in the last few days?”

“Sleep?” he chuckled, “Kira… there’s no time for it.”

“You’re about to collapse,” Kira insisted. She smirked, “I always did have to drag you out of the office.”

“You did,” he said, struggling not to yawn in front of her, “why do you think my career took off after you went back to Zeta Prime?” he asked with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes, “Adam, you’re going to collapse at your desk. Did you know the Director told me to take you home to rest an hour ago?”

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” Adam muttered, leaning back in his office chair.

Kira frowned, “you’re practically begging me to do it you know.”

“Do what?” he smirked, feigning ignorance.

Kira reached into her purse menacingly, “If I have to drive us to your apartment Adam, you’re not getting a say where you’re riding.”

“Let me just finish a few more messages-“ Adam said, enjoying the exasperated look on the Zetan’s face.

There was a silver glimmer in Kira’s hand, then the familiar visual whiteout of a shrink ray blast. Adam blinked, looking around. She’d sent him all the way down to three inches, the maximum her particular device could manage. He looked up at her in awe, blinking his tired eyes as the green skinned goddess casually walked around his monolith of a desk. Yellow eyes gleamed down at his tiny form, and a moment later a smirking Kira was lifting him up.

“I’m going to take you home,” Kira said firmly, “and you’re going to sleep, then you’re going to eat and take a shower, and then we can come back to work.”

“But-“ he protested.

“Adam!” she snapped, dangling him slightly, “you’ve guided this office through the storm, but we’re in a lull right now. You need rest, I can take you home, or the Director can have security come in here and do it!”

He gave a small smile, “you please…” I really might work myself to death if it wasn’t for her, he thought with a chuckle. He let himself go limp in her grip, submitting himself to whatever she had in mind.

She smirked, bringing him around to her backside. He frowned, watching her pull up her human style office skirt. She was evidently wearing the Zetan nanofabric underwear, and he saw the mix of black and silvery webbing coming down over her bottom, almost like a one piece. Her thumb hooked around it, pulling the fabric away from her skin slightly, an odd looking motion on the almost liquid fabric, like it was trying to fall apart or ooze back to her at any moment.

“Enjoy the ride,” Kira said with a smug smile, forcing him inside the alien undergarments. She released her thumb, and rather than the elastic snap of earth style panties there was a smooth almost slimy push against his back, forcing him against the skin of her buttcheek. He grunted as he felt her finger press against his body, casually moving him through the liquid of the fabric towards the center of her enormous backside. He winced slightly as Kira slapped her ass, causing waves around him as he was forced deeper between her soft cheeks.

“I warned you,” Kira said, clenching around her prisoner with a giggle, “If I had to drive us you wouldn’t get a choice in where you ride.”

With that she exited his office, the clack of her earth style dress shoes echoing down the hall like a victory march. She swayed her hips from side to side slightly, smiling as she imagined all the “stress relief” she was going to give Adam once they got home.

I’ll make sure you sleep, she thought with a laugh. She looked down at her shoes a moment, idly wondering if she should stick Adam in them for his “nap,” he always seemed to enjoy it…

For Adam the smell of Kira’s sweat and grime was overwhelming, and he fought to escape the two mounds of flesh that seemed determined to draw him in. Kira hadn’t been in the office quite as long as he had, but she was working long hours too, and he wondered how long it had been since she’d showered.

Long enough, he thought, feeling the mix of new and dried sweat coating him. From outside he could hear the sound of a car door opening, then the pressure on his world increased, as Kira sat. He grunted as he was forced ever deeper between her cheeks, closer to her puckered opening.

Kira giggled as she felt him move, “Settle down,” she said in a low voice as she started the vehicle. Her green hands gripped the steering wheel, and she disengaged the auto drive system, eager to guide the transport herself.

Most Zetans couldn’t drive a ground transport, hovering or wheeled. While many Zetans had personal transports like the people of Earth, automatic driving systems had existed for centuries. Manual driving or piloting was only a hobby, something the wealthy did. Standard Zetan vehicles didn’t even carry manual controls, though they’d been added to export models like Adam’s boxy transport. Earth was rapidly heading in the same direction, and younger generations often mocked their elders for their insistence on using a steering wheel. Still, it had a certain nostalgia for Kira, Adam had taught her how to drive when they’d first started dating.

She ground her butt into the seat, no doubt torturing the tiny man in the back of her underwear in a way he’d enjoy. He wasn’t the only one who needed some relaxation before returning to work, and inside her underwear Adam caught another smell, her arousal, beginning to seep into his prison.

…

Smith walked outside, taking a deep breath of the cool mountain air of Zeta Prime. He was at full size, and clean, a brief respite while the princess slept inside the sleek cabin. If you ignored the gleaming lights of the cityscape in the distance, this could almost be the Rockies, back on Earth.

“I’m surprised to see you on your feet,” Liana, princess Tayla’s bodyguard, said, walking around the side of the structure towards him. “Did you manage to wear the princess out?”

“So it would seem,” he said with a small smile. The Zetan was even taller than Tayla was, touching seven feet. She was more muscular too, not bulky exactly but… Smith wasn’t sure how far his martial arts training would take him against her. Suddenly he remembered what Tayla had said about “sending him to her,” and he tensed slightly.

Liana laughed, guessing his thoughts, and waved dismissively, “please relax Smith.” He did so, and she joined him, looking over the expansive mountainside.

Smith decided to use the opportunity to the fullest, “The princess has been mentioning something about me being her… consort? Is that like marriage or-“

“You really should have read up on our culture more before taking this assignment,” Liana said with a smirk. “When I did my rotation on Earth, I certainly researched it, I even attended a baseball game.”

“I served alongside Zetans in the fleet,” Smith said with a shrug, “we also have some reading materials, but it didn’t exactly cover anything like this.”

Liana thought a moment, “You might say the consort arrangement is something like marriage,” she said finally, “though she may from time to time allow other Zetans to partake of you. The exclusive right to a male is a privilege of the royal family you understand.”

“I see,” Smith muttered.

“If you don’t want to do it, you can tell her,” Liana said quietly, “she likes you a lot, but she’ll understand.”

“I like her a lot too,” Smith said thoughtfully, “but… I don’t know, I’m not exactly royalty myself.”

Liana rolled her eyes, “human propriety is odd to me, it seems it comes and goes in the most inconvenient times. Tayla’s grandfather was human, you understand that, yes?”

“Yeah, Lenny something or other right?”

“Leonard Parton,” Liana said sternly, “savior of the royal family. While traditional Zetan names have been preferred thus far, if and when the next male is born of the royal line, he will certainly be titled Leonard the Second.”

“Yeah, that’s the guy,” Smith said, “he was a pet or something for the Empress, right?”

“Yes,” Liana continued, “before the invasion of Earth he worked as a merchant in a food establishment, a large one with many facilities on Earth, a profession I understand is not highly regarded.” She looked up at the stars a moment, “she wasn’t the Empress then, she wasn’t even going to be the empress, she was a princess like Tayla.”

“It’s really coming back to me now,” Smith said, nodding, “the Cephalos, they were coming for Zeta Prime and-“

“Nobody knew anything about what was going on,” Liana said, cutting him off, “we had neighbors once, other civilizations in the stars. We were rivals, our people weren’t as diplomatic as we are now, but it still alarmed us when they winked out one after another in the span of days, then they started coming for our worlds…” She sighed, “Zeta Prime had a few hours warning, we readied mighty fleets, and the Cephalos swept them aside like toys. When the first one made landfall on the palace grounds thousands of soldiers and guards, stars above, the royal family themselves, were driven to suicide.”

She looked at Smith, “the palace had one survivor, princess Anaya, who would go on to become Empress Anaya, and do you know how she survived Smith?”

“She had Lenny- Leonard, with her?” Smith asked.

“No,” Liana said quietly, “she didn’t, and that’s the thing. There were enough humans, shrunken pets of course, on Zeta Prime that the protective effect was quickly realized.” She smirked, “you can imagine that some of those humans quickly abandoned their “masters” to their fate, we did not treat you well…” She sighed, “the princess’s companion? Though he’d been shrunk and stolen from his life on Earth, Anaya and Leonard were firm companions. They say she was chastised often for how well she treated him, he was just a human after all, just a pet… When the palace went mad, he escaped his enclosure, raced through a palace tearing itself apart at a few inches tall, and managed to reach her just as she brought a kitchen knife to her own throat.”

“Damn,” Smith muttered, “I guess I never read up on the details…”

“Yes, it was humans who had been pets and toys who held the line and saved this planet until reinforcements from Earth came,” Liana said quietly, “nobody in the Royal Family will say anything against you if the princess wishes for a human consort, everyone in the palace knows the worth of your species, and the true measure of the act of mercy and forgiveness that this alliance is.” She looked up at the stars, “they say you’re conscious when they make you do it, kill yourself I mean… When they hit civilian targets, they make you do your family...” She swore under her breath.

“We’d never be able to beat them without you though,” Smith said uncertainly, “I mean-“

“Our technology surely helps, as do our fleets, our numbers,” Liana mused, “but without you we are nothing to these creatures, less than nothing… they cut through our mighty empire without a single loss until we fought them together.”

Smith felt an uncommon rage at the thought of the Cephalos taking a planet, but it quickly vanished. He blinked, thinking on his own encounter with the squidlike species… he’d never had the pleasure of killing one, but he remembered how angry the sight of it had made him, like it was an insult to his very being to let it live…

They were quiet a moment, a peculiar Zetan insect with a high trilling call was the only sound filling the mountain air.

“So I guess I could be her consort then,” Smith said finally with a small smile, “it doesn’t sound terrible… how often do you think she’d expect me to uh…” He laughed nervously, “she talked about sending me over to help you relax…”

Liana chuckled, turning and walking slowly over to Smith, standing over him and quirking the corner of her mouth in a smile. She towered over him, the top his head around the bottom of her chin, and he felt her warm breath through his hair as she exhaled.

“I understand humans usually only take one mate a time,” she said, “if this is something you wish for yourself, you should discuss it with the princess, but…” she smirked and leaned in close to his ear, “I wouldn’t be opposed Smith, if you did decide to come help me relax.”

He gulped nervously. Thankfully he was saved from an immediate answer by the sound of the cabin door sliding open with a pneumatic hiss. The two of them turned to see Princess Tayla, bleary eyed and in a white robe.

“Craig?” she called, “where did you go?”

“Here Tayla,” he called, drawing her attention to where he and Liana stood.

She grinned, seeing how close her two bodyguards were standing “Oh… I wasn’t interrupting anything, was I?”

“Just discussing history,” Liana said with a smile. “You should get back to sleep Princess.”

“I don’t feel safe in there alone,” she pouted. Smith’s eyes widened as the shrink ray appeared in her hand. “Craig, come back inside with me!” There was a flash, and suddenly he was eye to eye with Liana’s knees. The princess strutted up to him, scooping him up in her arms like he was a wayward teddy bear. He shot Liana a look, but she just smiled and shrugged as the princess snuggled him tight, carrying him back into the cabin.

“Tell me another story about Earth while I fall asleep,” Tayla said, squeezing him as she flopped into bed.

“Uh… well, what kind of story did you have in mind?” he asked, wracking his brain for fairy tales.

“Tell me about that singer, the one with the big hair who keeps getting arrested,” Tayla asked with a giggle.

Smith blinked, “I don’t really follow celebrity gossip too much, but I guess he has some kind of feud with the drummer, money and a woman I guess.”

“Oooh how scandalous!” Tayla squealed, “two males fighting over one female? Earth is so bizarre!”

Smith fought a laugh as he recounted the latest in tabloid coverage as the princess drifted to sleep. As he lay snuggled in her arms, he let himself drift off as well.

…

Jolene sipped a bottle of qet she’d taken from the Zeta Forever compound as she stared out her starship’s lounge viewport. It had a taste like burned marshmallows, without the sweetness, with maybe a hint of cherry in the aftertaste. Jolene rolled it over her tongue, savoring it and wondering why the drink never caught on with humanity. She liked it.

Outside a dead Cephalo ship drifted through space, the tentacles flailing listlessly. It didn’t bear any signs of outward damage, and Jolene reasoned the pilot had to have been killed, likely in the act of boarding a ship.

Odd, she thought, they usually don’t do that until they think everyone’s dead… She frowned, fuck, I hope that squid didn’t scramble the princess before it got fried. She glanced at the wreck again, no, someone had to have survived, otherwise it would be the Zetan ship here, not the squid. The pursuit continued.

“Amra,” she called, turning away from the viewport and walking across the expansive lounge, “did you make contact with the Human Appreciation Society on Alrec yet?”

“Yes Miss Jolene,” the Zetan said, scurrying over to the towering human. She handed a datapad to Jolene, who took it and began looking over the list of contacts. “There are dozens of chapters on Alrec,” Amra explained, “any of them would probably love to meet you, you’re just one of the best humans ever,” she gushed. Jolene raised an eyebrow, and Amra blushed and continued, “I umm… looked for more radical ones, one of them is near a spaceport.”

“Good girl,” Jolene said with a smile, ruffling the Zetans hair. They really are adorable at four feet tall, Jolene thought approvingly. “Now, what’s our cover story?”

“Scouting a distribution location for an Earth corporation,” Amra said eagerly, leaning into Jolene’s hand.

“Hmm… I guess I can’t pretend to be a wayward beggar in a luxury starship like this,” she muttered, looking around. Normally she would just tell Human Appreciation Society chapters a sob story about how she’d been shrunk and trafficked off earth, after that they’d usually give her whatever she wanted. They’d also hide her from whatever “Bad Zetans” were looking for her, usually Zetans who had very good reasons to be looking for her, but that was besides the point.

“Is the chapter you found radical enough that they’d be okay with me shooting up the governor’s palace?” Jolene asked, “I have a sneaking suspicion that’s where this is going to end.”

“Uh, they mostly spray paint pro-human slogans on Zeta Forever offices,” Amra said uncertainly.

Jolene shrugged, “I suppose they’ll do.” She smirked down at Amra, “did you ever think your membership in the Human Appreciation Society would end here? Serving a human like this?”

“No Miss Jolene,” Amra said excitedly, “I’m soooo glad you came to my Earth music listening session, it really changed my life…” she shivered, “It was like a dream, a real live human coming to my house to discuss Earth’s finest achievements!”

“Finest,” Jolene chuckled, remembering the Johnny Cash recordings and the cheap bourbon the Zetan had eagerly offered up, “well, it did net me you, that’s something…” She sighed, “you ever think about doing anything else with your life Amra? I mean you’d do great in the Cultural Department, the others could find better things too, Meana really should be flying a military craft, Tolith built me my own set of power armor from scratch, I don’t know much about it but that’s got to be a skill that can earn you a living, right?”

“I…” Amra gulped, “Jolene,” the human raised an eyebrow, noting the “miss” had been dropped, “I know you think we’re naïve, or… dumb maybe, but we’re not.” She gulped, “y-you take good care of us, and we don’t just love humans, we love the adventures you take us on, the things you do to us, we love you.”

Jolene stared at her a moment, then smiled, “you three are fucking nuts,” she laughed. Do not fucking cry damnit. She released the Zetans chin, “We’re retiring after this job,” she said quietly, “Someplace nice, maybe you can teach the other two to talk to me without calling me Miss.”

“We just really like it Miss Jolene,” Amra insisted.

Jolene rolled her eyes, then reached for her wrist computer, “Tolith, get in here, I feel like having some fun.”

There was a patter of feet as the male Zetan practically sprinted through the ship, clattering up a set of stairs from the ship’s bay and stumbling into the lounge, panting.

There was a quick squawk from Jolene’s wrist mounted computer, “Uh, Miss Jolene, could I come down too?” Meana asked from the ship’s cockpit.

Jolene chuckled, “No, you said you needed to guide us around that Cephalo wreck, so you stay up there until the autopilot can engage.”

“But Miss Jolene-“

“Meana,” Jolene warned, “don’t make me put you in the punishment jar.” The punishment jar was a simple glass jar with air holes poked into it, into which she’d deposit a shrunken Zetan and one of her dirty socks. She was pretty sure they enjoyed it, but they still tried to avoid earning time in it.

“Yes Miss Jolene,” Meana pouted, the line going quiet.

“Now then,” Jolene said, turning to her two four-foot tall Zetans, “follow me to my bedroom.”

…

Jolene lay on her opulent bed, the center of a massive bedchamber with a grand view of the stars which had once belong to the crime lord who’d owned the ship. Her two Zetan playthings lay at the end, naked looking at her and each other eagerly, expectantly.

“I see Tolith is ready to go,” she mused with a grin. The green skinned elfin man was erect, standing at attention amid smooth green skin. She’d ordered all three of them to shave themselves below the belt on a whim a few days prior, a favor she didn’t return as evidenced by the curly black patch of hair she ran her fingers through. It made her feel powerful to occasionally order them to do things like that, change their hairstyles, their wardrobes, it had originally been such a whim that had seen them all reduced to four feet high, letting the relatively short human woman tower over them.

She lifted her silver shrink ray in her hand, and their eyes went wide with excitement. Jolene briefly debated, jokingly shifting between the two of them and amping up their anticipation. Finally, she decided on Tolith, and the male Zetan looked up in shock as the beam arced towards him, quickly reducing him to three inches tall, squinting on the floor as his eyes adjusted.

“Bring him here,” Jolene said, gesturing at Amra. The other Zetan nervously bent over and picked up the shrunken male, climbing over the bed towards Jolene with Tolith in hand. Jolene spread her fingers, opening her womanhood, dripping wet and waiting, “Put him in!” she ordered with a devious grin.

“Yes Miss Jolene,” the diminutive Zetan woman said. Tolith’s squirming form was brought up to her, and Jolene sighed in pleasure as she felt his shrunken body slip past her lips. Amra bit her lip, pushing her fellow Zetan as far inside as she could. She looked up Jolene for approval, but she was met by the human woman’s large hand on the back of her head.

“Down girl,” Jolene laughed, forcing Amra’s mouth towards her clit. A moment later she sighed in pleasure as Amra’s tongue went to work. She put her hands behind her head, trusting Amra to know what she was doing. She was rewarded as the diminished Zetan continued to eat her out, causing her back to arc and a groan to escape her lips as bliss radiated out of her.

“That’s it,” Jolene moaned, “show me you’re a good Zetan Amra.” Her thighs pressed around Amra, who squealed as it became harder to breathe. For Tolith it was like being in the epicenter of an earthquake, the movements of the larger Zetan’s tongue, and he was limply thrown about by the convulsions of Jolene’s pussy, powerless as his own movements only made the storm rise in intensity.

Amra made lustful sounds between Jolene’s legs, and she reached down again, gripping the Zetan’s green hair and forcing her roughly in, “Come on Amra,” she taunted, “Tolith is in trouble! Don’t you want to save him?” She laughed as she felt Amra’s tongue go lower, diving into her slit and seeming to search for the other Zetan.

“It’s funny,” Jolene moaned, gripping Amra’s hair tightly and causing her to squeal, “You all have to share and fight over Zetan boys, but I have my own, and this is what I do with him!” she laughed, “Tolith could have fifty Zetans, or be one Earth girl’s bitch, I guess human women are just better, right?” There was a muffled moan of agreement as Amra kept working.

Jolene felt her pleasure building to its climax, and Amra’s tongue and Tolith’s movements quickly brought her to the edge. She shouted a swear, pushing the Zetan woman’s face against her and grinding her hips into her face, deep inside her she felt the shrunken male Zetan fight against her womanhood as it clenched around him like a vice. She gritted her teeth, letting her cum wash over Amra’s face, leaving it glistening and wet as she pulled away.

Jolene frowned, then panicked, “where’s Tolith!?” she asked suddenly. She didn’t feel him, he wasn’t inside her-

Amra giggled, then opened her mouth, revealing the shrunken Zetan on her tongue, looking out at Jolene in a daze. She collapsed back onto her pillow with a laugh and a sigh. Then elbowed herself back up again. Amra had spat Tolith into her palm, and the two were looking at her eagerly.

“Good Zetans,” she said in a patronizing tone she knew they loved. She stepped off the bed and stretched, admiring the glistening wet face and soaked form of her two conquests. She frowned as she saw Tolith still had an erection, “Didn’t get off in there?” she asked.

“N-No miss Jolene,” Tolith managed, huddling in Amra’s palm as the cold started to hit him.

Jolene shrugged, then reached to the nightstand for her shrink ray. She blasted Amra before the Zetan could react, and a moment later she had two three-inch tall Zetans laying on her bed, looking up at her gigantic form, stunned.

“Amra, Tolith,” she said, pointing to each in turn, “fuck, now.”

The two didn’t need to be told twice, after the time spent pleasuring their now gigantic human mistress the Zetans practically leapt at each other. Jolene peered down at the tiny couple, now moaning in passion and pleasure as Tolith mounted Amra, pumping away. She watched a moment, then reached down for her panties, discarded on the floor. Without warning them, she dropped her underwear on the pair, listening to their squeals of surprise as it enveloped them like a falling parachute.

She smirked one final time, watching the two lumps in her underwear find each other and resume their union, then stood up to go retrieve herself something to drink.

There was a beep on her wrist computer, and she frowned, “Miss Jolene,” Meana’s eager voice echoed, “I’ve piloted us through the debris field, we can go back into hyperspace and the autopilot can take over…”

Jolene laughed and rolled her eyes, “okay Meana, my bedroom, five minutes.” She stood naked and sighed again, you three are really lucky I was the first human you ran into, she thought with a smirk. She heard the eager footsteps of Meana out in the hall and felt herself growing wet again…

Kurt rested on Nea’s shoulder, gripping a strand of her dark green hair for balance as the ship exited hyperspace with a small shudder. Joey was in Telma’s hands, and she ran a thumb over his head in a slow nervous fashion. The four of them stared out the cockpit viewport over the ruined controls as space seemed to return from the kaleidoscopic colors of hyperspace to a normal view of a bluish brown planet with a duo of continents in a bullseye fashion, one small island and a ring around it floating in an endless brown sea.

“Alrec,” Telma muttered quietly.

“This is my first planet outside of earth,” Kurt said suddenly, “one of you, tell me something cool about it.”

“It used to have twice the population it has now?” Telma said with a shrug.

“It’s an ecological disaster,” Nea muttered, looking at the brown seas.

Kurt sighed, “is there anything nice about it? I’m not a huge fan of Zetans, but if I live through this, I want to tell people I visited the Zetan planet with the best… something.”

“The qet here is said to be the most flavorful in the galaxy,” Nea muttered, “it’s too bitter for me to drink though, I can only stomach Zeta Prime qet…”

“Great, and these people hate humans, right?” Kurt asked, “what did we ever do to them?”

“Alrec has been in decline for a century,” Telma explained as they orbited the muddy planet, “there were attempts to exploit deep sea resources that fouled much of the ecosystem, the cost to fix it would be astronomical and could take decades, even for us… There are a few shipyards in orbit and some factories, but the common Zetan here doesn’t live well.”

“That sucks,” Kurt said, crossing his arms as he sat on Nea’s shoulder, “but I don’t get what that has to do with me, or any humans.”

“There is resentment about the resources the empire sends towards Earth,” Telma explained, “the rebuilding and reparations plans were quite extensive, your planet enjoys more hyperlanes than any other except Zeta Prime, and you even have a wormhole. Many of those on Alrec have quite accurately pointed out that with what the Empire has spent on Earth, they could have repaired Alrec’s oceans several times.” 

“Earth was also to be a potential resettlement option for them,” Nea said quietly. “It’s why we mostly fought you on the ground, we didn’t want to harm the biosphere with orbital weapons.”

“Is there a reason you always shrank us instead of using plasma stuff?” Joey asked.

Because they wanted it to be humiliating, Kurt thought bitterly.

“Your species didn’t have shield technology, so a shrink ray was just as effective as plasma against you, and far less destructive. The propaganda value can’t be understated either, shrinking technology is one of our race’s crowning achievements, seeing it used against a primitive species like that… It may have helped distract from other problems the Empire was facing at the time.”

“Well Princess, there’s your answer for why you have to pay Earth so much money,” Kurt said, “you’re paying for that attitude.”

 She frowned, “I… I still don’t think it’s fair that we have to give every other habitable planet we discover to the humans for settlement, you didn’t even have spacecraft before us!”

“After five years of getting shrunk and stepped on, our leaders wanted a pretty big commitment before helping you people,” Kurt said darkly.

“I’d keep this debate between yourselves for now,” Telma said, nodding out at the approaching ships, “looks like we’re about to get picked up.”

…

A pair of small shuttles docked alongside the freighter, the thump of the boarding tunnels extending into the airlocks echoing through the mostly empty ship. Telma and Nea waited in the lounge, Joey and Kurt in hand.

The Zetans that appeared were wearing a deep yellow-brown power armor and helmet that Kurt recognized as their law enforcement. For a brief moment he dared to hope that they’d simply throw some cuffs on Nea and Telma, and the whole thing could be over then and there. He knew it was coming, but he gave a disappointed sigh as another Zetan entered, this one had bright cherry red hair and a long skirt made of a deep black fabric that seemed to shimmer as she moved.

“Greetings Princess Nea,” she said with a thin smile and a short nod, “I am governor Lenais, I understand there was some… trouble, during your transit?” She looked around at the empty ship. The maintenance droids had worked miracles, quickly rendering the battlefield of the lounge into something passable again, though the governor frowned as she saw a dark brown stain on the back of one of the chairs.

“Cephalo attack,” Nea said flatly, “we’re the only survivors.”

If Lenais cared about her associate’s deaths, she didn’t show it, “yes, no doubt because of the wisdom you had in simply taking a human,” she said with a smile. “I’m glad a member of the royal family understands the necessity in putting these primitives in their place.”

If we’d been full sized, maybe the whole freighter would have lived, Kurt thought, but he kept quiet as the giant gave a cold smile to him and Nea.

“Now I also understand you are… reluctant, to publicly support our cause?” Lenais asked, that smile was still on her face, there was no mirth in it.

“If it’s going to go against my mother and my sisters, then no, I cannot be part of it,” Nea said firmly. “I demand you provide me with a starship and allow me to leave this system at once.”

Governor Lenais chuckled, and Kurt’s shoulder’s sunk along with his three companions. None of them had really expected that to work, but it was still disappointing. The law enforcement figures stepped forward, then paused.

“What do you want us to do with the humans?” she asked, gesturing to Kurt and Joey.

“Oh I don’t know,” Lenais muttered, waving dismissively, “step on them if it amuses you, otherwise throw them out the airlock.

Joey and Kurt started, and Kurt snarled and his mind raced as one of the guards reached for him. Nea’s pistol was in her hand suddenly, Kurt in her other and clasped against her breast as she leveled her gun at the shocked guard.

“The humans stay with us,” Nea growled.

“Princess, I would greatly like to take you alive,” Lenais said with a frown, “but our story can always be that you were killed by pro-human elements.” The other guards lifted their weapons in a tense standoff. There was silence for a moment, “Are you really willing to be shot over your pet?” The governor asked incredulously. Nea didn’t respond, just holding the pistol.

“Very well,” Lenais said, gesturing for the guards to lower their weapons, “if the princess has grown so attached to her new toy, let her keep it. We are fighting for the right to take our own humans after all, perhaps it would be a poor start to take hers away from her.” Lenais glanced at the weapons on their belts, “disarm them though.” She gave that same fake smile to the Princess and Telma, “I understand your reluctance to go against family dear, but I’m afraid this has come too far to let sentimentality get in the way of what we have planned. You’ll hardly be the first figurehead empress…”

Telma and Nea’s weaponry was taken, and with a reluctant sigh Telma unsealed the power armor, stepping out of it and placing Joey on her shoulder as the guards collected it. They weren’t cuffed at least, but they were led down the hallway to the shuttles at gunpoint. Kurt spared a glance at the governor’s guards, and was met with a smug and cruel grin from one. He looked away quickly.

“I’m sending you to an isolated retreat of mine,” the governor said idly, “a luxury estate in a secluded area, I’m sure you will enjoy the accommodations until we have need of you.”

“A gilded cage?” Telma asked tersely.

“Indeed,” the governor agreed, “should you attempt to be uncooperative; your accommodations can be changed appropriately.”

The governor and her guards peeled off from them then, going into the second of the shuttles docked on the freighter.

She paused one last time, “I do hope you come around Princess,” she said with a grin, “we’re really fighting for the future of all Zetans here, Zeta Forever!” with that the airlock hissed shut.

“Zeta Forever,” Nea muttered darkly as their own shuttle broke off from the freighter.

“I don’t want any funny business,” one of the guards said, hefting her pistol at them as they sat in the passenger cabin. “We’re taking you to one of the governor’s estates, off the coast there,” she pointed out the window as the ship descended through the atmosphere, making for a small island outside the main continental ring.

As they got closer to the island Kurt could make out a large compound, with a sleek and plastic-white looking building in the center. It stood out from the brown and dull rocky grey of the rest of the surrounding island, the brownish waves lapping almost sadly against a jagged shore.

The shuttle touched down inside the walled courtyard, and the guards stepped out, gesturing for them to follow. Kurt glanced around and his heart sunk, there were two more guards patrolling the wall, and hovering drones buzzed outside. The compound was a veritable fortress.

How the hell are we getting out of here? He wondered.

“You can go anywhere in the main house you’d like, and we will do our best to respect your privacy,” the guard said with a short bow, “if you wish to walk outside, we can accompany you. We want to make your stay with us as comfortable as possible Princess.”

“How thoughtful,” Nea muttered as the guards nodded and left.

“Even when being held captive, you are a member of the royal family,” Telma observed. She looked up at the house where they’d be confined, “it could be worse.”

The house itself had the same sleek and polished look on the interior. Kurt wasn’t an expert in home décor, his own apartment was a pretty spartan place, only adorned by a signed movie poster and his furniture, but this place was full of silver objects on display that he couldn’t guess the use of, with a start he realized they were supposed to be art.

“I’m guessing they wouldn’t be so foolish,” Telma muttered, “but look for any way we could transmit a signal for help.”

…

Telma had been right, their captors weren’t so foolish, and after an hour of searching the alien mansion they’d found nothing that they could use. Opting to make the best of the situation, the two Zetans had picked out rooms.

Kurt watched from the nightstand as Nea examined the closet, pulling out a series of nanofabric collars and inspecting them. He glanced behind himself and grimaced, every room here had a human enclosure like the one in Nea’s ship, there was also another, smaller glass looking box with what looked like restraints in it, just about right for someone his size.

Now what in the hell is that thing? He wondered with a shudder.

Nea looked over her shoulder and noticed his discomfort, “I would guess the governor hosts a number of people at this location who enjoy the… company, of shrunken humans,” she said quietly.

“So, what is this thing,” he muttered, looking at the glass box, “a torture chamber for tiny humans?”

“Grooming, actually,” Nea said, her mouth quirking, “haircuts, along with a few other things. I think it gives tattoos as well, if a person wanted to do something like that to their pet…” She sat on the bed, looking at him, “did you want a tattoo or a haircut, Kurt?”

He grimaced, looking at the device again, “I’ll just wait and hit the barber shop back on Earth.”

There was an awkward silence, and the towering alien princess drummed her fingers on her knees while she tried to think about what she wanted to say. Kurt looked up at her curiously, wondering if he should be the one to start.

“Kurt I…” she swallowed and looked to her side, “I wanted to know… how do you feel about me?”

He blinked, then quirked his mouth slightly, “you had your ship AI figure me out, didn’t you? You know exactly how I feel about you.”

“No,” she said, a tinge of red on her green cheeks, “I mean… I know you find me physically attractive, but…” She swallowed, “Kurt, would you ever be interested in me as…” she thought a moment, the human term escaping her, “a consort?”

He blinked; he wasn’t sure about the term “consort,” but he’d been thinking about the kiss she’d given him more than he wanted to admit.

Why couldn’t you have been any other woman in the universe? He thought for the millionth time. Everything that had happened was her fault, she was a spoiled princess, a Zetan spoiled princess, one who had kidnapped him, shrunk him, and had now seen the both of them embroiled in some alien political scheme.

And yet… Have you ever had this easy of a time talking to any girl back on earth? Now there was a realization that he wasn’t sure how to feel about, and the avalanche kept coming, how many warrior princesses are back there Kurt? Because you’ve sure picked a type…

“I…” he looked up at her, those blue eyes regarding him eagerly, “I guess if we’d been on Earth, if you hadn’t shrunk me and kidnapped me, yeah Nea, I would kill to be with a girl like you, I honestly don’t know what you see in me, I’m a loser with a dead-end job watching plants grow.”

Nea frowned, “you’re one of the bravest people I’ve ever met, you saved my life, even after everything I did to you, and I don’t want to hear you speak of yourself like this again.”

“Is that an order Princess?” he asked with a smirk.

“Yes!” she said in a more serious tone than he’d expected.

They were quiet again, then Nea smiled, “I wish… I wish we’d met under different circumstances… that I’d… I don’t know,” she said quietly, “Telma and I will have to go into hiding after this, I don’t think we’ll see each other again when this is over.”

“Yeah,” Kurt muttered. He looked up at her and felt his heart pounding, “We could… maybe be together here though? Even if we can’t be when this is over.”

Her eyes lit up, “W-what do you mean?”

“I mean, we can always say we had Alrec,” he said with a smile, “so we’ll know what it could’ve been like.”

She paused, then returned his smile, “I’d like that…” she reached for him on the night stand, bringing him up to her face and smothering him with soft lips that enveloped his entire forehead. Slowly Kurt was brought away, and she giggled at his expression.

“What’s this here?” she asked, squeezing him slightly, his erection poking into her palm slightly.

“Oh uh,” he cleared his throat, “sorry-“

“Don’t be,” she growled, her smile widening. Her finger traced out and tapped the nanofabric collar on his neck. His clothes oozed up into it, and the collar dropped off him into Nea’s waiting hand. She placed the ring-sized device on the nightstand where he’d been a moment before, and then reached up to click her own nanofabric collar. He watched in awe as her outfit snaked away into the device, leaving her in her underwear, another quick click and it was collapsing into its pellet-shaped storage, joining the rest of the clothing.

Seeing Nea naked again now was… it was exhilarating, without the fear, without the hate, he was free to revel in her beauty, and as her thumb reached down to stroke his erection slowly, he groaned in pleasure as he took in her titanic breasts, her wide and teasing smile.

“I seem to remember something that you liked… even if you couldn’t enjoy it at the time,” Nea said in a husky tone as she kept teasing him with her finger. He opened his eyes and they went wide as he realized she was lowering him to the floor, as he looked over them her toes wiggled playfully. The room had a soft carpet, made of some synthetic fiber that seemed to cushion him almost like foam. She laid him on his back, and then stood over him.

“W-What are you doing Nea?” he managed, fear was creeping up on him slightly again as she giggled and lifted a foot over him. “I thought we were past all the torture stuff-“

“This isn’t torture for you, and we both know it,” Nea said, gently bringing her foot down on him. The sole was soft, with just a slight oily feeling from having worn the nano-fabric body suit all day. He grunted in pleasure and surprise as she slightly moved her foot over him, back and forth in a motion that let the slightly sweaty skin slide over his manhood in a way that made him moan and grab the immense toes on either side of him instinctively.

“Nea,” he groaned, “don’t stop…”

Now that’s a change of tone from the last time you were there, she thought with a smile as she scrunched her toes playfully around his head. His hair was mussed, with her sweat, the slightly vinegary odor coating him as the slow rocking of her soft arch bringing him closer to bliss.

“See?” she teased, “it’s not so bad being under my feet, is it?”

He wanted to be mad at the comment, but only a laugh came out, then a gasp as she picked up her pace slightly. Her toes pinched around him, holding him in place and overpowering his weak struggles easily. She crossed her arms, looking down smugly at him in a way that began to drive him wild.

He shouted as he came, spraying the bottom of her foot as she continued to rock it back and forth mercilessly, causing him to spurt against her soft sole again and again, the orgasm never seeming to end as the low giggle of his tormenter echoed down at him. He sighed as it came to a finish, her foot pressing him into the soft carpet and holding him in place as the final spasms of pleasure rocked his body.

“Fuck me,” he moaned, panting as he looked up at the Zetan who had just ravaged him, and using only her foot no less. “I don’t know what it is about that, but I love it,” he said almost apologetically as Nea seemed to gloat. She kept in pinned in place a moment, squeezed between the soft carpet and her foot.

She shrugged, the smug grin never leaving her face, “maybe you’ve always wanted to be overwhelmed by someone, you’re hardly the first human to have that realization on meeting a Zetan woman.” She stepped off him, examining the glistening spray of his seed on the bottom of her foot. Casually she wiped it up with a single finger, sticking it in her mouth and sucking it away as he looked on.

“I never would have given in you know,” he said somewhat defensively, “no matter how much I… How much I might like this kind of thing.”

She sighed as she leaned down to pick him up, “That is becoming increasingly obvious, I feel like such a fool… the way I talked to you then…”

“If it makes you feel better, even with all the slavery talk, you were still showing me more respect than my manager at work usually does,” he said with a smile and a shrug.

She stared at him blankly, a hint of concern on her face, “Is this… true? Kurt, I had no idea that human working conditions were so bad, perhaps you should-“

“I was joking,” he said quickly.

She took a moment, then a grin spread over her face, “Oh, well that is funny!” she laughed, and he joined her a moment later.  

When they were done she looked at him, a look of lust returning to her face, “We might not have much time together,” she said in a low voice, “I’d like to make it… memorable.” She bent down to pick him up again, “if you’re willing, I have many things I’d wanted to try with a human at your size.”

“Uh, yeah,” Kurt said in awe as her fingers curled around him, “sounds great.” He felt blood rushing to his groin again, maybe he and Nea were destined to part ways, but for now? He was in heaven.

…

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Telma asked nervously, checking the small holographic display next to the human grooming device.

“Fuck yeah,” Joey insisted, sliding his hands into the restraints in the small glass cube, “you said it could give me a free tattoo, right?”

“Yes,” Telma muttered, bringing up a menu that read “design” in Zetan, “this device is typically used by Zetans who illegally keep humans as pets though, I don’t want to think of what horrible things they tattoo on your kind.”

“Well yeah,” Joey said, “but I’ve been wanting to get one for a while now, and we might as well make the best of a bad situation, right?”

“Right,” Telma said with a hint of concern, “er… what did you have in mind?”

“Back shoulder,” Joey said eagerly, “a Zetan woman blowing a kiss, then cursive lettering that says I like my women like I like my grass, green.”

Telma balked, “Joey, I’m not tattooing that on you!”

“Why not!?”

“It’s vulgar, and besides, what will the women on Earth think?” Telma asked, crossing her arms.

He snorted, “I’m not going back to earth.”

She frowned, “Joey, what do you mean by that?”

“I’m staying with you,” he explained, “wherever you and the princess end up going, I’d like you to grow me back to full size obviously, but-“

“Absolutely not!” Telma said, eyes wide, “you’re going back to your old life, I promise we’ll make it possible for you to-“

“Telma,” Joey said firmly, looking up at her, “I’m not going back.”

“If it’s because of me,” she began, but he cut her off.

“You’re part of it, I’m not gonna lie,” he said with a smile and a wink, “but the truth is, even with all the scary shit going on and wondering if I’m going to die, these last few days have been the best days of my life. I feel alive Telma, do you want to know what’s waiting for me back on Earth?”

“What?” Telma asked quietly.

“Day in day out of a job that’s going nowhere,” Joey said bitterly, “every weekend going to the same bars and counting down the days until I’m too old for the pretty girls to talk to me, I’ve pretty much got the next forty years planned Telma, and I’d really rather not.” He grinned, “Maybe I’m not as good at it as Kurt is, but I want to try being a space cowboy.”

“Isn’t there anyone you’d miss?” she asked desperately.

“My family maybe,” Joey said with a shrug, “I think they’d understand though, I could write them or something once the heat dies down.” He thought a moment, “Kurt I guess, but that guy turned out to be way more badass than I thought, I think he can get by without me if he has to.”

“There’s no talking you out of this, is there?” Telma asked, a wry grin coming over her features.

“Nope,” Joey insisted, “come on, give me the tattoo!”

She rolled her eyes, “absolutely not, get out of that thing!”

…

“And that’s why humans managed to build such a peaceful society, before the invasion of course,” the speaker at the Human Appreciation Society finished, the assembled Zetans clapped for her, and she beamed, “In fact, before Zetan contact, we believe that humans rarely fought each other, and that many reports on their conflicts were exaggerated!”

Yeah, don’t tell the war veterans though, Jolene smirked, they’re just really milking it, right? Human appreciation societies varied wildly. Some of them were just groups of Zetans who just genuinely liked human culture and humans, those weren’t of much value to a person like Jolene, she liked the ones who had a near delusional view of the “peaceful and prosperous” human society before the war. They could be talked into doing foolish things, so long as the one doing the talking was from Earth.

This one was held in a large warehouse, a series of chairs assembled in rows almost like a political meeting on Earth. The Zetans had been ecstatic to have her arrive, eagerly offering food and drink and whispering to each other over the presence of a real live human their meeting! None of them second guessed or questioned her story in the slightest.

“Here here,” she called, joining the cheers with a smile. She’d attended the meeting in an earth style pantsuit, cut just slightly large to conceal her power armor underneath it. She missed the helmet, the boots, and the gauntlets, but Tolith had built hers slim enough for the main chassis to fit beneath clothing, most importantly the shield would cover her. While the Human Appreciation Society had greeted a human businesswoman with glowing approval, the last thing she wanted was to catch a shrink ray blast in the back walking the streets of Alrec’s capital.

“It’s so exciting to see a human looking to invest on Alrec,” a young Zetan next to her gushed, “and coming to our meeting! It’s such an honor!”

Jolene smiled, the Zetan woman had a tight buttoned jumpsuit on that clung to her slim form, no nanofabric of course, few on Alrec could afford the luxury, and long green hair that went down her back shimmered slightly as she regarded Jolene eagerly.

“Oh it’s nothing,” Jolene said with a smile, “I’m Miss Adams,” she lied, “what was your name again?”

“Zenya,” the Zetan said eagerly, “I was one of the founding members of this chapter, trust me we’re not like those posers across town, we’re real friends of humans.”

“I can see that!” Jolene said, “I’ve heard you guys get up to some pretty wild stuff.” Jolene leaned towards the woman, a little irritated that the Zetan towered over her, “I even heard this group might do a little more than just protesting?”

Zenya coughed, then looked around, “I uh… can’t talk about it.”

Jackpot, Jolene thought. You know where the real bad apples are, don’t you? She suspected that the group’s leaders would have some insights on the governor’s operations, even if the extent of their plans ended at vandalism.

…

“Hey, Zenya right?” Jolene said, smiling as she approached the Zetan on the way out of the meeting.

Zenya perked up excitedly as the human woman approached, “M-Miss Adams, what can I do for you?”

“The meeting was great,” Jolene said with a grin, “everyone on Earth would have loved it, trust me.”

“I’m so excited to hear that,” the Zetan said with a relieved sigh, “I was worried you’d think we weren’t serious; a lot of these societies don’t have nearly the respect for humans they should!”

And this one has a little too much, Jolene thought with a chuckle, “Listen, Zenya, it’s getting late and it’s a long walk back to the spaceport where my starship is parked,” she gave a faux shiver as she looked up at the dark sky, the three small moons of Alrec overhead. “I’m a little worried someone might try to…” she gulped, “well, Alrec does have a reputation for being unfriendly to humans…”

Zenya’s eyes went wide, “oh no, you think someone’s going to shrink you!” she said. “I’m so sorry, someone should have volunteered to walk you back, uh…” she looked around, seeing the other Zetans had mostly left, “I-I could do it!” she said eagerly, “or if you’re uh… tired, and don’t want to go all the way back to the spaceport, my house is actually just down the street!”

“That would be lovely,” Jolene said with a smile. The Zetan beamed and led the way.

…

Zenya’s house was steel box structure, a prefab like most of the housing on Alrec, a far cry from the elegant spires and shining silver towers of most Zetan worlds. Still, it seemed comfortable enough on the inside, and the Zetan practically jumped for joy, offering her food, drink, and the master bedroom.

“It’s the least I can do,” Zenya said excitedly, “after all we’ve done to your people…” she gulped, “I just wish I could do more-“

“Well,” Jolene drawled, finishing her bottle of qet, and what a good bottle it was, “I think maybe some people around have been doing a little more,” she said with a smile.

Zenya froze, “I-I wouldn’t know anything about-“

“Zenya,” Jolene said reassuringly, “I am a human, you can trust me!”

“Right,” Zenya laughed nervously, “I guess that’s true… governor Lenais would never have one of you out looking for us…”

“And why would the governor be looking for you?” Jolene asked innocently, “you’re just a Human Appreciation Society, right?” She walked over and sat at the Zetan’s table, kicking her high heels off and stretching her toes. “I’ve been on my feet all day,” she said with a sigh, “would you mind?” she pointed straight down at her feet.

“Uh, of course,” Zenya said hesitantly. She knelt down, instinctively understanding the command and beginning to rub Jolene’s feet.

“Oh that’s good,” Jolene moaned, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel, she thought, struggling not to giggle at the Zetan’s flushed face. You’re one of THOSE Zetans, aren’t you Zenya?

“Now, why would the governor be interested in you?” she repeated, enjoying the Zetan’s attempts to hide her excitement.

“We uh…” she gulped, “we’ve sabotaged some of her offices and stuff, done a bit of vandalism.”

“Cute,” Jolene said with a smile, “but that seems kind of small time… you ever think about really disrupting her operations?”

“Uhh…” Zenya gulped, “I’ve really said too much already-“

There was a flash, and Zenya blinked as she realized she’d been hit by a shrink ray. Her vision returned slowly, and she realized that the human woman she’d stood over a moment ago now loomed large before her. Jolene was still sitting at the table, but now Zenya wouldn’t have come up to the diminutive human’s chest.

“D-did you shrink me?” Zenya asked in shock.

“I thought it would be a great cultural experience,” Jolene said, “now you can feel what it’s like for a human talking to a Zetan, you’re all so tall…” She snapped her fingers, pointing back to her feet.

“Yeah,” Zenya said, resuming the foot massage, “m-makes sense I guess…”

“Now, if someone wanted to really disrupt anti-human sentiment on Alrec, what do you think they’d do?” Jolene asked, enjoying the Zetan’s discomfort as their size difference was reversed. She gently tapped the side of Zenya’s face with her foot, causing the Zetan to blush.

“I-I guess you’d raid one of the governor’s parties?” she managed, “the secret ones.”

“Secret ones!” Jolene laughed, “sounds interesting, come on Zenya, you can tell me more!”

“No, I’m sorry Miss Adams, but it could jeopardize our mole in the palace and-“

The shrink ray flashed again, Zenya blinked, realizing she was now only a few inches tall, the feet which she’d held in her hand a moment ago now loomed over her, larger than her entire body. She grunted as Jolene’s foot came down, pinning her to the floor.

“More cross-cultural communication,” Jolene explained, “see, now you know what it’s like to be shrunk and treated like a toy, are you learning anything?” Zenya just groaned in excitement, Jolene grinned and rolled her eyes. She rolled her foot over the Zetan a moment, letting the poor girl enjoy the sensation as lustful sounds echoed up from her new plaything.

Jolene started pulling her jacket off, and unbuttoned her skirt next. Zenya looked up, wide eyed, as the power armor was revealed. She looked like she was about to ask about it, but Jolene put in a series of commands on the wrist mounted keypad, and the armor peeled off her, drapping backwards over the chair like a discarded coat. Lounging in front of the shrunken Zetan in just her bra and panties, she had to smirk as she saw the look of lust in her prisoner’s eyes.

“M-Miss Adams,” Zenya said in awe, “a-are we going to, t-that is to say could we please-“

“Want a taste of human pussy?” Jolene offered, “it must be so hard for a girl like you, craving a human all the way out here on a planet that we hardly visit… you could have gone your whole life without knowing that flavor, huh?” She groaned as she dipped her hand down the front of her panties, fingering herself in an exaggerated motion that was sure to drive the pinned Zetan wild.

“YES!” Zenya squealed, “please let me, I don’t care if you want me small, just please let me taste it-“

“I just want to know where the governor holds her parties,” Jolene said, lifting her glistening wet finger out so Zenya could see her wetness, “tell me that, and I’ll spend all night playing with you.”

“There’s an island,” Zenya said eagerly, “it’s beyond the outer continental ring, we think she has shrunken humans there sometimes!”

All too easy, Jolene thought with a chuckle as she reached down for the shrunken Zetan. The girl squirmed in her grip, unused to her reduced size. Her struggles stopped as she saw Jolene pulling her underwear away from her skin, revealing the tuft of black pubic hair that guarded her glistening entrace a bit lower.

There was one final quick scream from the Zetan as she was dropped in, and Jolene released the elastic, snapping her panties back into place and trapping Zenya inside. A moment later she felt the squirming movement of the Zetan towards her waiting opening, and she leaned back in the chair and sighed happily as Zenya reached her destination.

“Good girl,” she muttered, pressing on the outside of the panties and forcing her in. One thing’s for sure, she thought happily, Good cop or bad cop, I fucking love questioning Zetans…

Pravin Dyal sat in the mess hall of the Zetan ship Starsong, poking idly at an alien dish that was deep purple and had the consistency of refried beans. The dining hall itself wasn’t really much different in design from an earth ship, long tables with benches, the main difference being the glistening white color scheme, kept impossibly clean and shining no matter where on the ship it was. The entire ship was similar, giving it a feel of elegance and sophistication compared to the relatively utilitarian interiors of most human craft.

“Just try it,” Tanyl said in exasperation, “you’ll love it.” The Zetan male stuck a spoon in his own dish, taking a scoop of the purple and sticking it in his mouth. He made an exaggerated groan of pleasure.

Tanyl was an oddity on a Zetan military ship, a male, and apparently an officer no less. Pravin himself was a weapons technician, here to learn from the designers of the plasma cannon how to maintain and operate them in all conditions. Today though he’d mostly been on the ship’s bridge. With a number of the normal human contingent refusing to board, those who had found the stomach to do their normal rotation over to the Zetan ships had been shuffled around in an attempt to provide optimal coverage against Cephalo attacks.

Pravin sighed, scooping some of his meal and trying it. It had an earthy taste, with a hint of spice, with a shrug he went back for more.

“So, why does a Zetan male want to be a starship officer, anyway?” Pravin asked. “Don’t you have fifty girls waiting for you back home?”

Tanyl rolled his eyes, “humans don’t understand anything,” he said with a chuckle, “your women are sweet, kind, and accommodating.”

“Right,” Pravin said with a smirk, “but seriously, I know there aren’t a lot of you guys, but I’ve seen way more than fifty Zetans and I’m pretty sure you’re the only male one I’ve ever met.”

Tanyl shrugged, “most male Zetans have their needs well provided for,” he explained, “plenty of women would gladly take me in, and while it’s in poor taste, those who don’t have enough women in their lives to support them can always charge for… inseminations.”

“But not you though?” Pravin asked with a grin, “don’t want to be a trophy boy?”

“No, I don’t,” Tanyl said seriously, “at least not yet.”

Alarms blared, and everyone in the mess hall looked up in shock. Like a flock of birds taking off in unison the Zetans and the handful of humans scattered, going to their positions. Pravin normally would have headed to the weapons bay, but today he followed a swearing Tanyl to the Zetan ship’s bridge.

The captain of the ship, a tall Zetan woman with a permanent scowl, was already issuing orders. Beyond the viewport a large Cephalo ship was coming out of hyperspace in front of them. Pravin’s eyes went wide as three other squirming tentacled masses dropped out behind it.

“We’re going to have to retreat,” the Captain snarled, “send out word that this hyperlane has fallen.”

“Am I to understand Captain,” Tanyl asked with a frown, “that we are not even going to contest this incursion?”

“We barely have enough humans on board to fight,” the captain snapped, she pointed to Pravin, “If this one here has a cardiac event or hits his head on something? We’ll all be tasting the barrels of our weapons before the medics can get up here.” She sighed, “we have no other ship in the area that has enough human coverage to safely wage a sustained engagement, the nearest human ship is twelve hours away, by which point we’ll be blown to bits, if they come.” She sighed, “our current strategy is not to engage the Cephalos unless they attack a major point of interest or try to block a hyperlane to Zeta Prime or Earth.”

“I… understood,” Tanyl said quietly, sitting down.

Pravin stood awkwardly on the bridge, not sure what he should do. Beyond the viewport stars began to stretch as the ship retreated back down the hyperlane. The captain seemed to notice him, and gestured for him to sit in the empty seat to her left.

“Ensign Dyal, am I correct?” the Zetan captain asked quietly.

“Yes ma’am,” he said, nodding.

“You were last on a human ship two days ago, yes?” she asked. He nodded and she continued. The captain looked at the warped kaleidoscope of colors outside, the rainbows and points of light dancing before the silent bridge. “Do you know,” she asked quietly, “how close the other humans might be to…”

“I don’t know captain,” he said quietly. He joined her in staring out the viewport.

…

Kira sighed as she looked over the selection of frozen meals in the grocery store. Adam had gone to get coffee, a substance he consumed in truly worrying quantities lately. She smiled as she saw, tucked into a corner, a frozen dish with Zetan prairiebeast meat. She frowned at the cost, but such a luxury no doubt had to be imported… humans seemed too attached to pork, beef, and chicken, to introduce many alien meats into their diet. Her stomach growled at the thought of something from home as she opened the freezer door.

“Hey,” a gruff voice muttered. She turned to see a human male, wearing a long hoodie with his hands in his pockets and his eyes on her. “You really think it’s okay to come into one of our stores like this?” He was a older, though human ages were becoming tough to gauge as Zetan medical technology proliferated, Adam had told her once nobody on earth got grey hairs anymore unless they wanted them...

Kira gulped and stepped back a bit, “I-I’m just shopping-“

“Sorry, they don’t sell people here, you should find another store,” the man snarled. His hand was gripping something in his pocket, and Kira fought the urge to yelp in fright as she saw the hint of a silver handle as he adjusted his grip.

It was a Kensington-Bluestar Bobcat, she’d seen the advertisement enough times over the last few days to recognize any part of the gun instantly. Her heart pounded as her hand went to her purse, a human luxury item she’d adopted since working on earth. The man pulled the weapon with a sneer just as her hand closed around her shrink ray.

There was a flash of green, then a smell of melting plastic and the shriek of shattering glass. Dimly Kira was aware of a hiss behind her, like someone had just poured water on a stove. The arc of the shrink ray leapt out, then the man was gone.

Kira’s pounding heart was the only sound she heard for a minute, then she hesitantly stepped forward. The man was laying on his back on the floor, looking up at her in shock from a few inches tall. Her hands shaking, she reached for him, closing her fingers around him and lifting him up. She turned around, still in a daze, and saw that the freezer section behind her had been obliterated, a large molten crater of glass, metal, and plastic lay sizzling where food had been neatly displayed moments ago.

“Y-You tried to shoot me!” she shrieked, clenching the human in her grip a little harder.

He grunted in pain, but the snarl never left his face, “you killed my brother! I hate every last one of you knife eared monsters!”

She froze, “I… I…” she stammered, unsure of what to say.

“Hey, what the hell?” the other shoppers were starting to notice. A dozen or so humans had cautiously entered the aisle, their eyes wide as they took in the melted freezer display. “She shrunk that guy!”

“Help!” he shouted, “she just went nuts!”

A larger human who stood over even Kira’s six feet pushed his way to the front, “What the fuck is this greenskin?”

“I didn’t,” she began, backing against an intact freezer, “h-he pulled a gun-“

“She’s lying!” the human in her hand shouted, squirming feebly in her grip, “she’s trying to kidnap me, just like that princess!”

Angry mutters rose in the crowd, Kira gulped nervously, “L-Look, I’ll just put him down-“ she hesitantly placed the human on the floor, and he quickly darted away, hugging the freezer wall and looking up at her angrily.

“Good,” the big human said, cracking his knuckles, “now he’s out of the way.” Kira stared in shock, too numb to move as the crowd advanced on her.

Adam was between her and them suddenly, and his fist flew up, cracking the jaw of the big man in the lead of the group. He staggered back, collapsing to the floor and breaking the crowd’s initiative. They looked at Adam, stunned.

“Come on!” he growled, grabbing Kira by the arm and forcing her to the front of the store. He glanced back to make sure they weren’t being followed, and sighed with relief when he saw the crowd still too stunned to move.

He brought her to their vehicle, stepping inside and closing the door as Kira did on the passenger side. He let out a long breath, the pain in his hand suddenly white hot. He winced, and began typing in autodrive coordinates.

“You’re not driving?” Kira asked, still numb.

“I think I broke my hand,” he muttered. “When we get back, I need you to inject me with some medical nanites…”

Kira started sobbing as the vehicle’s engine hummed to life, seamlessly taking them into traffic as it began the trip back to Adam’s apartment. He tried to comfort her, ignoring the pain in his hand and gently rubbing her back.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he said quietly.

“That man said he lost his brother,” she sobbed, “I know I didn’t do it but…” she collected herself a minute and sighed, “Adam, I don’t know if this is going to work.”

He froze, “what do you mean?”

“I used to think that maybe the war, everything that came with it, that we could forget about it… that I could live here on earth with you.” She sniffed, “I don’t know if I still believe that…”

Adam was quiet a minute, “then we’ll leave,” he said simply.

Now it was her turn to pause, stunned, “you can’t be serious!?” she asked, wiping her nose with another sniff.

“The biggest mistake of my life was not following you back to Zeta Prime when you left the first time,” Adam said with a grin, “if you don’t think you can live on earth… We can go anywhere Kira, the colonies, the asteroid settlements, if you want we could pool our money and buy a small starship, just visit whatever planets we wanted!” He paused, looking at the steering wheel, “you’ll have to fly it of course…”

“Not every Zetan can pilot a starship Adam,” she laughed through her tears. She sighed, “I don’t think we can run away right now…” As if confirming her words Adam’s wrist computer beeped, a message summoning him back to the office flashing across the screen.

“It does have a certain romantic appeal though, doesn’t it?” he said with a smile as he changed the autodrive coordinates.

She just giggled, leaning over to give him a kiss.

…

Smith sipped his qet at the remote cabin’s small kitchen table, desperately wishing it were coffee, “So you’re saying we can’t leave yet?” he asked Liana quietly.

“Officially, the royal family members are all taking vacations,” Liana said, looking down into her own cup. “We are not currently sharing any additional information with human military sources,” she gave him a sad smile, “now surely you know enough history to know what it means when the Zetan royals go silent with their human allies?”

“You think you’re about to have a coup,” Smith muttered darkly. “Yes, it’s happened a few times over the last forty odd years, hasn’t it?”

“It doesn’t happen nearly as often as it used to, thank the stars,” Liana said with a sigh, “historically the royal family’s feuds are supposed to remain between them, we changed Empresses often enough with the only violence being between household soldiers… assassination was particularly popular.”

“So, I’m guessing Nea is our culprit?” Smith asked.

“That, or someone hoping to use her,” Liana said with a shrug, “I know very little honestly. The Empress has requested more human guards than normal from your embassy though… Human loyalties are easier to guess.”

“You’re so delightfully reliable!” Tayla agreed, walking into the kitchen. She had a slight sheen of sweat on her, having completed her morning exercise routine on a magnetic workout machine stored in the cabin’s living room. She’d wanted to go for a run through the forest, but Liana and Smith had forbidden it.

“Tayla,” Smith greeted with a smile.

“So I’m guessing we have to stay out here?” the princess asked, leaning over to give Smith a quick peck on the cheek.

“I’m afraid so,” Liana said with a sad smile.

“Ugh, I’m getting bored!” Tayla moaned, “Craig, entertain me!”

“Would you like me to sing, dance, or juggle?” he asked with a smirk.

“That’s not the kind of entertainment I want,” she pouted. She looked her Zetan bodyguard and grinned, “did you take a turn with Craig yet Liana?”

Smith almost spat out his qet. Even after all this time, the forwardness of some Zetans was shocking.

Liana smirked, “no princess, if you and Smith are going to go and ‘entertain’ one another, I had best guard the perimeter-“

“Nonsense!” the princess exclaimed, “I know you have motion alarms, autopiloted drones, and all other manner of devices out in the woods keeping us safe!”

“Well yes,” Liana said, “but-“

Smith grunted as the princess forced him up, her hands under his arm, “Liana,” she began smugly, “join Smith and I in the bedroom, now.”

The corner of Liana’s mouth quirked, but she didn’t get up, “Princess, you may wish to ask Smith how he feels about that.”

The princess stopped in the process of dragging her hapless human bodyguard, then looked back and forth between the two of them. She cleared her throat, suddenly seeming somewhat embarrassed.

“Er, yes, of course… Craig, might Liana join us?” She asked hesitantly.

He glanced at the princess’s other bodyguard, clearly someone had a talk with the princess about human cultural norms, he thought with a chuckle. For her part Liana just gave him a small smile, waiting for his answer. Ah, what the hell, he thought.

“If she wants to,” he said, looking up at the Amazonian princess.

“I do,” Liana growled with a grin, standing up finally. Smith gulped as she walked up to them, leaving him between Tayla, who peered down at him with a smirk, and Liana, who could have rested her chin the top of his head if she’d wanted to.

Liana reached for him, and he grunted in surprise as the Zetan easily picked him up, hefting him over her shoulder. He yelped in surprise as she spanked his ass suddenly, drawing a giggle from Tayla, who followed behind her bodyguard as she carried the shocked human into the bedroom. He grunted again as Liana tossed him roughly on the bed, he bounced slightly and looked up at her, wide eyed.

“Strip,” Liana ordered with a grin. Tayla appeared behind her, watching with glee as Smith hurriedly began unbuttoning his shirt. “There is something appealing about watching traditional clothing being removed,” Liana commented, crossing her arms, “nanofabric is convenient but… one press of a button, and you’re naked, no anticipation…”

“Not to mention those earth guard costumes are so cool looking!” Tayla giggled.

Guard costumes? He realized she was talking about his suit and tie, and he fought a laugh. He worked his boxers down his ankles, and he watched in confusion as Liana picked them up, holding them to her nose a moment and inhaling deeply.

“You’re such a pervert!” Tayla giggled, watching the bodyguard drop his boxers with a growl.

“Do you not appreciate the scent of a virile male?” Liana asked, grinning wickedly at Smith. She reached for her neck and tapped the button on the nanofabric collar, causing the outfit to take on the familiar liquid consistency as it raced back up, revealing her naked body. Where Tayla had a body that he would call a runner’s, Liana clearly trained for strength, with thick thighs and the outline of abs on her torso.

“I usually just smell Craig, not his underwear,” Tayla remarked, pulling her own clothing off. She was still slightly sweaty from her exercise routine, and judging from the way the shorts and bra peeled off her, they weren’t nanofabric. “I do think I’ll get you some undergarments with the royal sigil on them though,” Tayla giggled, “would you like that Craig?”

“Uhh…” he gulped, looking at the pair of green skinned amazons eyeing him hungrily.

“Poor human,” Liana cooed sarcastically, “you’ve been too easy on him Tayla, he needs to be broken in.” She grinned at his reaction to that, “How do you feel about that Smith? Tell me, I want to hear it from your own mouth.”

He licked his lips, “Do the translation chips work for the word scaroused?” he joked weakly. Judging by the confused looks Tayla and Liana exchanged, the answer was no. He chuckled and rolled his eyes, “both aroused, and scared.” That seemed to translate easily enough, and grins reappeared on the pair of Zetans.

Tayla walked around the side of the bed, sauntering her hips from side to side as she picked up her shrink ray from the nightstand. She adjusted it slightly, grinning smugly at Smith all the while.

“What size would be best for breaking in a human male?” Tayla asked, glancing to Liana.

“Start him around… one inch,” Liana said with a grin, “we’ll work our way up, and maybe end with him at full size.”

One inch? Smith balked, that was smaller than he’d ever been, and that was with Tayla, and Liana seemed like she wanted something… rougher.

“Goodbye Craig!” Tayla giggled, waving mockingly as she blasted him with the arc of energy.

He blinked as the landscape of the bed came into focus, then he struggled to keep upright as the world rocked, the earthquake of Liana casually laying on the bed. He watched in awe as the wall of her side stretched down the mattress, and he could swear he felt the gaze of those yellow eyes, large enough to swallow him up, as they glanced down at him.

“Tayla,” Liana said, placing her hands behind her bed, “put him inside me.”

Smith whirled, seeing a pair of giant green fingers reaching for him, the princess’s grinning face looming beyond them like some faraway mountain. He grunted as he was squeezed on either side by fingertips that were nearly as large as his entire body, and the world blurred as he was lifted up, tossed up and down as Tayla climbed up onto the bed fully.

Smith felt the heat of Liana’s opening as Tayla lowered him towards it, those waiting lips covered with a small tuft of trimmed hair overhead. He stopped, maybe one length of his body away from the glistening and pungent womanhood, seeming almost eager to swallow him whole.

Liana frowned, “why the hesitation?”

“I was just wondering,” Tayla said, looking down at Smith with a wicked grin, “when you said ‘put him inside me’ where did you want me to…”

“There,” Liana chuckled, savoring his fearful expression as she pointed to her wet lips, “for now…”

There was a rush, like a car accelerating, then he was slipping through a pair of slick walls that both contorted to his body and overpowered him at the same time. He gasped for breath as her wetness filled his lungs and nose, the world rocked back and forth as Liana moaned in pleasure overhead.

“Assist him, Princess,” Liana said, pushing her head back into the pillow.

Tayla leaned forward, her tongue darting out as she began licking at Liana’s slit. For Smith the world suddenly pressed around him, the contortions of the massive and muscular pussy overpowering any movement he could hope to make. He groaned as he felt a massive slick appendage make contact with him, Tayla’s tongue, and the wet walls pressed against him as Tayla pushed him further inside, into the true depths of the royal bodyguard.

Liana snarled and clutched the back of the princess’s head with her hand, and Tayla fought a giggle as she increased her efforts. She couldn’t feel Smith with her tongue anymore, but she kept probing for him.

“Yes,” Liana moaned, curling her fingers through the other Zetan’s hair, “I can feel him…” She laughed, feeling the convulsion of her insides pressing against the squirming form of the shrunken human.

For Smith it was an intense and unparalleled experience. Tayla’s womanhood had been overwhelming, Liana’s was stronger, larger, more pungent, every sense and muscle he had was utterly defeated by her as he was flooded by the juices that slid against him, forcing him further into darkness as the Princess continued to work Liana with her talented tongue.

There was a burst of movement suddenly, and Smith gasped as he was pushed outward, the ridged walls sliding against him one after another as her orgasm forced him back towards the world. There was the barest hint of light, and a long pink tongue seemed to scoop underneath him, curling beneath him and drawing him out to safety.

He blinked, covered in Liana’s tongue and Tayla’s spit as he looked at the massive bedroom. Liana was panting, her hand on her forehead as she smiled excitedly.

“That was fantastic,” Liana moaned, sitting up.

Tayla plucked Smith off her hand, lowering him back down to the bed, where he shivered as the fluids coating him began to dry.

“I think Smith has earned some of his size back,” Liana said with a smile.

“You hear that, Craig?” Tayla beamed, “you get to be a little bigger!” the shrink ray hovered over him, and a moment later there was a flash, and he blinked as he tried to gauge how much size they’d returned to him. He looked to Tayla and tried to guess how large he was, maybe three or four inches now?

“This is fun,” Tayla said with a giggle, “let’s make Craig earn all of his height back, a little at a time!”

“Sounds good to me,” Liana growled, leaning up. “What do you say Smith?”

He gulped, looking up at the hungry looking Zetans, “Let’s do it!” he said, smiling. Somehow, he had a feeling he wouldn’t “win” whatever game this was, but he’d enjoy playing.

…

Zenya groaned lustfully as she licked between Jolene’s legs. The human returned the sentiment as she wrapped her legs around the now full sized Zetan, forcing her further into her groin. She came with a shout, squeezing her thighs around Zenya so tight she wondered if the green skinned woman would pass out. She collapsed into a heap, panting on Zenya’s bed as the dawn light creeped in the door.

“What a great way to start the day,” Jolene laughed, reaching down to ruffle Zenya’s hair.

Zenya leaned up eagerly, covered in the wetness of Jolene’s pussy, “d-do you want to maybe-“

“Oh no no no,” Jolene chuckled, sitting up, “Sorry hun, but you can finish yourself off, I won’t be offended.” Zenya seemed a little embarrassed, but then reached her hand between her legs. She looked at Jolene’s discarded underwear on the floor a moment, and Jolene laughed, “go ahead,” she said, waving dismissively.

Zenya grabbed Jolene’s underwear, pushing it to her face as she rubbed herself furiously, moaning. Jolene watched a moment, feeling a spike of arousal. There was always something funny about refusing to return their favors, she didn’t have anything against the taste of Zetan pussy of course, Meana and Amra could testify to that, but she always felt it established the right relationship dynamic to demand service, rather than give it.

Zenya squealed in pleasure as she finished getting herself off, collapsing on the bed with a sigh, heaving as she kept pressing Jolene’s worn panties into her face.

“I’ll take those,” Jolene said, plucking them away from Zenya with a smug grin. She stepped into them, enjoying the Zetan’s lustful expression as she reached for her bra next.

“Y-Your name isn’t really Miss Adams, is it?” Zenya asked weakly.

“Nope,” Jolene said with a smirk. “If it’s any consolation, you probably won’t have to worry about the governor looking for you soon.” She paused a moment, frowning, “if you really do have a mole in the governor’s entourage, it might be a good idea to tell her to take a vacation.”

“Who are you?” Zenya asked, crawling to the edge of the bed eagerly, “please, I have to know!”

“Jolene Masterson,” she said casually.

Zenya squealed in a mix of surprise and terror, “t-the human who stomps Zetans flat?”

Jolene blinked a few times, then chuckled, thinking about how to respond to that. She was a murderer, she’d made peace with that one a long time ago, she didn’t feel much on killing people these days, Zetans or Humans, but she liked to think she was… Well maybe not professional, but pragmatic. Plasma weapons or even good old-fashioned bullets and explosives were usually her preferred method of business, but her reputation as a human with a shrink ray had spread widely throughout the underworld.

Did she get any satisfaction from shrinking and crushing Zetans? That was… complicated, and a question she tried not to dwell on too much. In her darker moments she reassured herself she’d only done it on one job, when a human crime boss had fallen out with his Zetan colleague, and wanted to send a very particular message.

She’d taken a breather afterwards, hosed down her boots so the trio of Zetans on her ship wouldn’t see the stains… but goddamn had it been sweet. It had awakened something in her that she’d felt went a little too far.

“Yeah,” she said with a forced grin, “I’m the human who stomps pathetic little Zetans flat, what about it?”

“Please take me with you!” Zenya said, crawling to the edge of the bed, “I’ll do whatever you want, I’ll be your slave!”

Jolene just laughed, WHY. DOES. THIS. KEEP. HAPPENING!?

“You’ll slave away day and night on whatever stupid thing I imagine,” Jolene warned.

“Yes!” Zenya cried.

“I’ll never let you stand higher than my shoulder ever again!” She continued.

“Make me small now, please Miss Jolene!” she begged.

How do they ALL come up with the Miss Jolene thing? She wondered.

“What good are you to me?” she asked halfheartedly, “I’m a space outlaw, I can’t just be bringing dead weight…”

“I’m a trained medical worker, certified in Zetan and Human anatomy and appropriate nanotechnologies and surgical techniques!” she cried loudly.

Fuck, she’s useful, Jolene moaned internally, don’t you dare, you have enough pet Zetans-

“I’ll ask one last time,” Jolene said with a smile, “are you sure this is what you want?”

Zenya swallowed nervously before giving her reply.

…

Jolene strutted onto her starship, her new necklace bouncing slightly against her chest. Meana, Tolith, and Amra greeted her warmly as she walked on board.

“Miss Jolene, w-what are you wearing?” Meana asked.

Jolene stopped, regarding her four-foot Zetans imperiously, “I picked up a new pet, say hello to your new sister,” she hefted the strings tied around the shrunken Zenya’s wrists, dangling the shrunken woman like a medallion.

The three Zetans beamed, “I’m so excited to get to know you!” Meana said excitedly.

“Welcome aboard!” Tolith said.

“Our Miss Jolene really is one of the finest callings, isn’t she?” Amra gushed.

“Let’s let her get settled in,” Jolene said with a smirk, letting Zenya’s bound form collapse back against her breasts with a squeal of surprise.

“All right,” Jolene snapped, looking at the three four-foot Zetans, who cowered around her. “We’ve got a compound to breach, walls, guards, energy shields, probably support from law enforcement and even military.”

“Just burst in there, guns blazing!” Amra said excitedly, “Like Mr. Eastwood in his Earth films!”

Jolene chuckled, “If there were five or six, sure, I’d play Pale Rider,” Jolene remarked, stroking Zenya and causing her to moan appreciatively, “but we’re looking at twenty at least, with power armor and plasma weapons.”

“Wait until she has a party!” the bound Zetan around her neck shouted.

Jolene paused, “Go on,” she said, the three larger Zetans leaned in eagerly, looking expectantly at the woman trapped as her necklace.

“W-Well she’d need to set the shield to allow physical entrance,” Zenya said, gulping under the gaze of so many larger eyes, “you could fly this ship right in!” she shouted.

“Hmm…” Jolene muttered, “even if we get by the shield, that’s a lot of guns…”

“Miss Jolene, we could use… it,” Tolith said with an eager grin.

Jolene regarded the male Zetan a moment, then returned his smile, “Okay fine, find me a power source for that thing, and I’ll use it, and you can all watch.”

There were hushed whispers among her three regular Zetans, the one around her neck looked on in wonder. What was this she’d just joined? What was it?

“Meana!” Tolith shouted excitedly, “bring me the ship’s engine maintenance manual!” The two of them scurried away eagerly, leaving just Jolene, Amra, and the necklace bound Zenya.

“Explain the rules to this one,” Jolene said dismissively, pulling the cord over her neck and handing the necklace-bound Zenya to Amra.

Amra glanced down at the other Zetan, bound by a simple leather cord. With a grin she placed Zenya around her own neck, letting the other woman dangle between her own breasts.

“I’m so excited for you!” Amra gushed, “it’s so wonderful serving on Miss Jolene’s ship!”

Nea walked along the rocky coast that passed for the island’s beach. The seas were polluted and brown, but the sound of their movement against the rocks, and the breeze off the white capped waves, were pleasant enough. A hundred or so paces back a pair of guards trailed her, hands on their weapons and watching her for signs of escape.

She wouldn’t be running today, she was wearing a set of earth footwear rather unsuited for the task. She glanced down at the “sandals,” and grinned at Kurt, wedged between her toes as she walked.

“Comfortable?” she asked.

He grunted as she walked along the path, her feet and the sole of the sandal were soft enough that it didn’t really hurt, but it still almost knocked the wind out of him every time she took a step. The sandals had been his idea, something she’d managed to get the house’s fabricator to make for her based on his description. If he was going to ride in the princess’s shoes, he wanted something that might breathe a little better.

Now, with the synthetic material of the sandal thong over his shoulder, and her toes on either side of him, he wondered if it was a good idea. He had more airflow, yes, and he could see, that was nice, but Nea could also see him, and every few steps she’d look down at him, giggle, and squeeze those soft green toes around him.

“I-It’s great,” he muttered as he felt her scrunch his tiny head again. Her feet were mostly clean this morning, but the long walk around the governor’s private island had allowed them to sweat slightly, and the light crisp odor of fresh exertion was beginning to coat his face as her toes playfully squeezed and battered him along the walk.

He found himself growing erect underneath the nanofabric suit, the motion and jostling of her feet was turning him on again. It still shocked him just how much he liked this, and as he looked up at Nea’s faraway face, she winked at him.

She came up to a jagged rock, overlooking the dead sea and the shore beyond. She climbed it as best as she could, and Kurt hung on to the sandal’s thong to keep from falling out as she reached the top, a flat expanse with room to sit. She sighed as she folded her legs beneath her, pulling Kurt free from the sandal with a pair of fingers.

“They’re still back there,” Kurt said, looking beyond the rocky outcropping where their pair of guards watched casually.

“I didn’t expect to lose them,” Nea said quietly. She scanned the faraway shore, dilapidated brown buildings dotted it, and the skeleton of a massive barge rested on a sandy beach that, on Earth would have looked like paradise, but here was just a reminder that this world was dying.

“Do you think we could swim it?” Kurt asked, “you I mean, obviously it’s a little far for Joey and me at this size.”

“No,” Nea muttered, “this whole island has a shield dome, look,” she pointed faraway where the waves seemed to stop in a perfect line a few hundred yards out from the island, starting again a few feet beyond it. “Even if we could get by it, the currents along the shore are treacherous, and we’d all be in gene therapy for at least a year trying to fix the cancers that Alrec’s water is going to sprout in us if we dive into it.”

“Ugh, pass I guess,” Kurt grimaced, looking at the shore longingly. “So do you have any ideas?”

“Wait, and see what happens,” Nea said bitterly.

He snorted, “I made the same decision when I got captured,” he said, looking up from her hand with a smile. Her blues eyes glimmered a moment, and she returned the smile.

“You’ve got nice eyes,” Kurt said as they looked at the rusty waves.

“I’ve always hated them,” she said with a sad grin, “they’re human eyes, my grandfather’s I guess.” She sighed, “for a lot of my life, I’d have killed to have a pair of yellow ones like Telma.”

“I like the blue,” he said, “they even looked good when you were shooting at me.”

Nea just laughed, “how do you keep such good humor, even with everything that’s happened? When I was threatening your life, you turned around and made me laugh.”

Kurt shrugged in her grip, “Well, even before you showed up to the parade, my life wasn’t exactly going great,” he explained, “I mean I don’t know what I expected, but whatever it was it was more than I ended up doing. I guess keeping a good sense of humor about things helped keep me sane.”

“I know that perhaps things haven’t been ideal, but you’ve battled a pair of Zetan warriors, killed a Cephalo with your bare hands, and seduced the rebel princess,” Nea said with a smirk, “is that enough excitement to tell people about back on Earth?”

“That and more,” Kurt laughed. He paused, “I seduced you?”

“Of course,” Nea said dismissively, “you constantly fought me, which just made me want you more, then you used your human charm to cloud my mind.”

“You used your ship’s computer to figure out I had a thing for your feet,” he protested.

“Yes, and think of all the fun you’ve had because of it,” she giggled, wiggling her toes playfully. She glanced back at the guards and sighed, “I think we should head back, I’m tired of being watched by them.”

She kicked off the sandal, letting it sit on the rock, “Now Kurt,” she said with a smile, “would you like me to carry you back?”

“Uhh…” he glanced at the sandal longingly.

“I’m not going to put you back in the sandal unless you ask,” Nea teased.

He rolled his eyes, “may I please ride in your sandal for the hike back?”

“Well, since my little human is asking so nicely,” she replied with a smug grin. She reached up and tapped the side of his neck, and he gasped as his nanafabric outfit retracted, the cool wind off the sea causing him to shiver as it hit his bare skin.

“W-Why’d you take my clothes?” he asked, a shiver starting. It wasn’t really cold, it was balmy even, but at his size the wind rapidly stripped his body heat.

“I didn’t want you to get the nanofabric dirty,” she said with a grin as she slid the tiny collar into her pocket.

“That stuff doesn’t get dirty!” he protested.

“Poor ignorant human,” she mocked, laying his naked body down in her sandal like it was a bed. She leaned down, her enormous face filling his field of vision as she grinned at him, “you just can’t control this little thing,” she reached a finger out and poked his erection, “around a beautiful Zetan’s feet, can you?” She stood back up, lifting her foot over the sandal and letting him get a good look.

He shivered again, and this time it had nothing to do with the cold, which was quickly sealed away from him as the warm silky skin of Nea’s sole made contact with his body. Her toes slid up around him, pinning him in place against the sandal thong again.

“I wonder what you’ll do once we’ve parted ways,” Nea mused, “I’m guessing that this is going to be a difficult experience to replicate on Earth.”

He felt a pang of sadness at the thought. He’d considered that a few times, there were of course Zetan communities on earth, the closest one to him was in Chicago in fact, and if a person really wanted that, finding one to shrink and play with you supposedly wasn’t hard…

Like you’ve ever been able to talk to any girl but this one, he chuckled to himself as she pressed down on him, would you even want to do this with just any random Zetan? The answer was no, but conscious thought was quickly leaving him as the sole of her foot, lubricated by the slight oily sheen of fresh sweat, began to rub against him as he walked.

She glanced down at her shrunken human, trapped in the sandal, only his head visible peeking up through her toes. She savored his expression as she walked in a deliberately slow and forceful gait that she knew would put extra pressure on his body and cause her skin to slide against him in just the right way. Judging by the pleasured contortion of his face, it was working as intended.

She glanced back at the guards and gave a friendly smile, if they realized what she was doing to Kurt, they didn’t show it in their expressions.

From below she heard a moan that was loud enough that she could have sworn he was still full sized, and she laughed as she pressed down on the muddy path, slowly dragging her foot along the sandal and Kurt, who spasmed in bliss as he fought feebly against the pillowy soft skin of her sole.

“Hmm… I wonder if I should see where this path goes,” she said playfully, stopping and grinding her foot back and forth slowly. She glanced down, giggling when she saw Kurt’s eyes were about to roll back in his head. “Oh, I don’t think you’d make it, would you?” she teased, “we should probably just go back to the mansion…”

She took one last look at the guards, making sure they’d paused far enough away not to overhear her. With a devious smile she scrunched her toes around Kurt’s head, the sweaty digits pinning him in place like a vice as she continued the motion of her foot.

“Go on,” she said in a low voice, “spray your human seed on my foot, we both know that’s where it belongs, it’s just nature Kurt, give in!”

“Oh fuck,” he moaned, thrusting and rubbing against her. Why is it so hot when she talks down to me like that!? He was completely coated in the fresh sweat from her hike now, pinned helplessly between her sandal and her toes, the thong digging into his skin as his back arched in pleasure in response to her teasing.

“Come on pet, let it out, no more fighting,” Nea said, her grin growing wider as Kurt gritted his teeth, trying to hold his orgasm back.

“N-No,” he protested feebly.

She sighed, scrunching her feet three times in quick succession, the tender skin of her foot quickly bringing the struggling Kurt over the edge. He swore under his breath and thrashed as he came beneath her. She felt the small squirts of his cum against her sole, and giggled in satisfaction.

“Good boy,” she cooed, “that’s it, don’t leave any inside, just waste it all on my pretty feet, it’s the best use for it, don’t you think?”

“Fuck yeah,” he panted, collapsing his head against the sandal as her toes eased up, releasing his head.

She smirked, “I’m glad you had fun, when we get back you can return the favor.”

“I’m up for it,” he said with a grin, feeling himself grow hard again as she walked. He felt the stickiness of his seed spreading as it dried on the velvet soft skin.

“You know,” she commented as they approached the compound where they were being held prisoner, “when we get you back to full size, I’d like to be the one tormented by the evil human for a change.”

He laughed, “Wow, so the headstrong warrior princess wants to be broken by the rugged human who’s captured her?”

She stopped, crossing her arms and looking down at him with a blush that showed even through her green skin, “Kurt, you’re not the only one who’s found themselves having… unexpected desires during this!” she said in a defensive tone.

He raised an eyebrow, managing a cocky smile even from his place trapped in her sandal, “Okay Princess, get me back to full size, and I’ll make your wildest dreams come true, it’s only fair after all.”

She gave an embarrassed smile, then a final wink as she started walking again.

…

“What about, ‘I like my girls mean and green,” Joey asked. He was standing at the end of the bed, still naked from the night before, looking up at the titanic hill that was Telma, curled under the blanket.

She groaned, “I’ve slept in maybe twice since I became the princess’s bodyguard,” Telma muttered, sitting up and stretching, “and you’ve decided to interrupt one of those times talking about a tattoo you know I disapprove of?”

“I guess you should punish me by giving me a really humiliating tattoo,” Joey said, “something like “earth boys are easy?”

She sat up, an eyebrow raised, “Earth boys are easy?” she asked incredulously.

Joey’s teasing was cut off as he got a look at the sheer webbed fabric that the Zetan slept in. He gulped as he took in the titaness who was stretching as she woke up. She noticed him looking, and seemed to puff her chest out a bit, grinning at his lustful expression.

“I’ll tell you what,” Telma said, leaning over and reaching for him, “come here and make up for waking me up early, and then I’ll use that thing to put a tattoo on you, since you are so insistent.” Her fingers closed around him, squeezing his body as she lifted him up, drawing him towards her mouth. Her tongue reached out, tracing up the side of Joey’s body and causing him to shiver at the contact.

“How do I taste?” he teased. He yelped in surprise as her lips closed around his torso, quickly trapping him inside her mouth. Her tongue came down and tickled his chest, mussing his hair as it swirled around him, coating him in her warm spit. There was a vacuum feeling as she sucked on him like a piece of hard candy, then a low *pop* as she pulled him out of her mouth, soaked. He panted as he looked up at her, those yellow eyes giving him an amused look as she reached up and tapped the button to compress her underwear into it’s pill shaped storage form.

“Ready?” she said with a smug grin, lowering him down between her legs as she threw the blanket off herself.

Whatever he might have said was cut off as she slid him in, angling him like a dildo as his head, then his shoulders slipped easily inside her, the lubrication of her spit meeting that of her womanhood as his body disappeared inside her. She kept a firm grip on his ankles, just hard enough not to hurt, and began sliding him back and forth.

Telma groaned as the human squirmed inside her, forced back and forth by the slow motion of her wrist. For Joey it was a far more intense experience, every time she shoved him forward his nose and mouth were filled with her wetness, the strong odor of Telma’s arousal was his world as he gasped and sputtered, forced back and forth inside her.

The walls pressed around him, the soft squeezing feeling almost seeming to mold around him every time he was thrust forward. The squeezing grew more intense, and Telma increased the force and the speed with which she was thrusting him inside herself, quivering as she neared orgasm.

Telma gave a small cry of pleasure, smiling as her toy brought her over the edge. Joey was soaked in the flood of her orgasm, squirming and sputtering inside her and making the final moments a blissful dream for her.

“Ah,” she sighed happily, slipping Joey out. He coughed up a lungful of her arousal, glistening with it as she held him up over her, “Now Joey, are you going to wake me up again?” she teased, looking at his heaving body in her grip.

“If that’s what happens, I’m getting you up every day at the crack of dawn,” he managed with a smile.

She rolled her eyes and laughed, gripping him as she stood up and got out of bed. She felt his erection poking at her, and she frowned, realizing he hadn’t finished during her play with him.

We’ll have to fix that, she thought as she approached the small transparent human-grooming box. With a wink she slowly lowered him into it, pulling up the holographic menu again.

“Finally,” he said with a grin, “now like I said, I was thinking ACK-“

He was cut off as the restraints snaked out and grabbed him, adhering him to the side of the box while Telma smirked and clicked in commands. Cuffs snapped around his arms and legs, and another snaked around his neck, holding his head upright and exposing his body to the giant Zetan beyond the glass.

“Uh, Telma?” he wheezed.

“Be a good boy and be quiet while I work,” Telma teased, though he noticed the cuff around his neck loosened slightly as her fingers moved over the holo-display.

“Okay, so I want-“ he started.

“What did I say?” Telma giggled, and before he could respond he felt the red-hot feeling of a tattoo needle on…

“Shit!” he shouted in surprise, “y-you’re tattooing something on my ass?”

“It says, in traditional Zetan, ‘This Space Cowboy Belongs to Telma,” she said, laughing at his shocked expression, “inquire for details.” The small electronic arm had reached up behind him, completing the desired tattoo in under a minute with machine accuracy.

He looked up at her, stunned, then burst out laughing, “okay, not what I had in mind, but… yeah, I like it.” He winced as the automated tattoo device completed its work, the tattoo needle and robotic arm folding neatly into the floor of the enclosure. He waited a moment for the restraints to release, then looked up at Telma curiously.

“Whoever designed this device certainly had some… interesting ideas,” Telma giggled, “paraphernalia around keeping humans as pets is illegal of course, but… if we’re to be outlaws anyway, perhaps I’ll take one of these with us.”

“Uh, what else does it do?” Joey asked nervously.

“First, let’s clean up that haircut,” Telma said excitedly. Joey’s eyes went wide as lasers seemed to appear from the glass walls, there was a quick smell of burning hair, then his bangs were… out of his eyes?

“Let’s not go crazy here,” he said nervously.

“Hmm… hair removal, temporary, permanent…” she teased, reading through the options, “you know what Joey? I think you look good for now.” She fought a giggle as he sighed with relief. “Oh look, reward module?” She clicked it, and Joey glanced down as a hoselike device snaked up between his legs.

“Uh, I don’t know about this-“ he started, but then he moaned in pleasure as the device slipped over his erection, the soft sucking sensation filling his senses as he moaned in his restraints.

“Wow,” Telma giggled, watching the tiny imprisoned human enjoying the machine’s work, “okay Joey, I’ve got to go get cleaned up and dressed, I’ll set this to let you go in about…” she typed a few commands, “twenty minutes, have fun!”

“Twenty-“ he was forced to gasp, interrupting his reply as Telma’s commands took effect. Her giant face filled the side of the enclosure, and she winked at him one last time as she admired her handiwork. She stood up, walking towards the shower to the sound of Joey’s cries of pleasure.

…

Joey and Kurt sat on the edge of Nea’s plate, eating crumbs of a Zetan pastry that was sort of like a scone, but with a fruit they couldn’t quite place. Nea herself was reaching down to the plate and taking chunks of the breakfast into her mouth, causing Kurt to glance up in a mix of awe and nervousness as he saw chunks of food the size of boulders simply disappear through her lips.

The world really is a different place at this size, he thought, looking down at the crumb in his hand. It would fill him easily, and Joey was already standing up and wiping his face with his sleeve after having his own crumbled leavings from the giant Zetans breakfast.

“Okay, did we get any closer to finding a way out of here?” Joey asked, looking up at Nea and Telma.

“I’m afraid not,” Telma said bitterly, “this entire house is crafted to avoid exterior transmission and leaks, likely because the governor is hosting parties here involving shrunken humans.”

“That would make sense with the stuff in the rooms,” Joey said, “by the way Kurt, you’ve got to try that glass box thing.”

“The haircut machine?” he asked with a frown. “Yeah Joey, yours looks pretty good, I guess.”

“It gives more than haircuts,” Joey giggled, shooting a glance at Telma. She gave him a knowing smirk and a wink.

Now what is going on with those two? Kurt wondered, apparently his and Nea’s wasn’t the only romance in the group…

“Kurt and I walked around the island,” Nea said, getting them back on topic, “we’re under a shield, so even if we managed to steal one of their craft, we likely wouldn’t be able to breach it.”

There was a clang as the mansion’s main doors opened, and the four of them turned to see the governor, flanked by a pair of armed and armored guards. Lenais grinned at them, that same cold smile devoid of warmth that she’d had during their first meeting.

“I’m glad to see you and your bodyguard have settled in,” Lenais said, “I wanted to inform you that we are having a gala tomorrow, the most important people on Alrec will be there, and we will be giving a very special announcement.”

“I will not speak against my mother,” Nea snapped angrily, “whatever plot you have, it’s already failed, I won’t do it!”

“Then you will attend in silence,” Lenais sneered, “or perhaps we can start the convincing with your companion?” she turned to Telma, who returned the look defiantly, “or… you do seem very attached to those two humans princess, it’s in somewhat poor taste to kill any at my parties, they’re so difficult to acquire now, but… accidents happen when you’re playing with toys.” She stomped on the floor for emphasis. She grinned, seeing Nea’s uncomfortable expression, “Can I expect good behavior tomorrow evening?” she asked.

“Yes,” Nea said bitterly, not meeting her eyes.

“Good, I will provide you with appropriate clothing and further instructions later,” Lenais chuckled. She turned to go, sparing one last glance at them, “and you shouldn’t let your humans eat off your plate dear, it’s unhygienic. Your rooms should have some food pellets for them.” With that she left, the doors rocking closed behind her.

“Fuck those food pellets,” Joey said angrily.

Kurt frowned, “did you actually try one?”

“I thought the haircut thing was pretty cool, so maybe the rest of it was worth a shot,” he said defensively.

“I don’t want to know what that woman has planned for this party tomorrow,” Telma said quietly, “any special announcement she has can’t be anything we want any part of. We need to scour this house, look for anything that could help us escape.”

“We’re completely trapped,” Nea said despondently, “all we can do is go along with this… we’d need a miracle.”

“The gods provide in our darkest hours,” Telma said quietly, “if you believe in that sort of thing…”

“Well,” Joey began, “my family has a saying that sometimes when things get too rough for your guardian angel, hell sends your devil to help you out.”

Kurt snorted, “Joey your family is weird as hell,” Joey just shrugged, a slight smirk on his face. He looked up at the concerned faces of the Zetans, then at Joey and himself, reduced to four inches tall. Fuck it, he thought, if there’s a devil out there who can save us from this party, send them on up.

…

“Oh, what fresh hell is this,” Jolene muttered, seeing the smoke billowing up from the cargo bay of the starship. The luxury cruiser didn’t have a particularly large storage area, but it was big enough for Tolith to take over for his workshop. Meana had been working with him on their project, a way to hopefully overwhelm the security at the mansion and give Jolene the upper hand.

She sighed angrily as she strutted down the stairs, coughing and waving her hand in front of her face. The smoke was dissipating thankfully, sucked into the vents of the starship automatically as a safety measure. As she entered the bay she balked, seeing the snaking network of wires and floating holographic displays, in the center of the room was a large device on treads, about the size of a bulldozer. Tolith sat on the top of it, goggles on and reading one of the floating holographic displays eagerly.

“Hey!” Jolene shouted, “status update! Now!”

“M-Miss Jolene!” he said excitedly, pulling the goggles off and climbing down the side of the device, “I-I think we’ve done it!”

Meana appeared from around the other side, her own face covered in soot as she joined him, “it’s going to take a lot from the engine, and the shield generator, but we’ve got the cannon operational!”

“A lot?” Jolene asked skeptically, “how much is a lot?”

“Well, we probably won’t be able to fly or use the shield for a few minutes after we activate it,” Meana explained.

“Fuck,” Jolene muttered, “and there’s no way to get this thing an additional power source?”

“The Human Appreciation Society mole said the party was tomorrow night, so no,” Tolith said apologetically. He looked up at the cannon and the vehicle it was mounted on in awe, “I’m so excited to see this used… by you especially!”

“It had better work, or we’re all sitting ducks,” Jolene muttered, looking up at it.

The Zetan Maximum Reducer Cannon was one of the largest and most powerful shrink rays the Zetans had ever built. It was wildly impractical, with only a few ever produced and even fewer deployed. It had been one of the most devastating propaganda weapons during the initial invasion, reducing massive battleships and entire carrier groups to bathtub toys, playfully taken by giant Zetan invaders who had gazed down on the shocked crews like they were ants. There was one rather unfortunate incident where an entire skyscraper had been reduced and repurposed by a Zetan for… amorous purposes. Fortunately for humanity, the cost to deploy and use the devices proved to be expensive and inefficient, and unfortunately against shielded Cephalo ships it was nigh useless.

Jolene had asked for one on a whim, and had been surprised when the Queen’s guards had loaded the military antique into the bay of the confiscated luxury ship they’d given her. She’d been disappointed to find that the vehicle’s own power cells had been torn out, no doubt repurposed for a more useful weapon, and they weren’t easy to find, even with the royal family offering up whatever they had. If Tolith and Meana were correct though, the ship would provide enough charge to use it…

“We need to test it,” Jolene said. She smirked and lifted her wrist computer up, clicking on the communications function, “Amra, could you come down to the cargo bay a minute?”

…

“W-Why do I have to be the one to test it, Miss Jolene?” the quaking Zetan asked as massive beam cannon lowered towards her. She was wearing a headset, which according to Meana would still let her communicate with them through the ship’s systems no matter how small she got. She was standing on a red X drawn across the floor, hopefully a good way to mark where she was if she got too small to see easily.

“Tolith and Meana have the technical expertise,” Jolene explained, “and Zenya is still…” she cupped a hand over her crotch, sidling up her jean shorts and pressing the shrunken woman inside her panties against herself. “Zenya is still settling in,” she said with a smile. She felt Zenya squirm as she said it, and fought a shiver.

“Okay,” Tolith muttered, performing his final checks, “Uh… Amra, just stay perfectly still, and don’t stray too far from where you… end up.”

“O-Okay,” Amra muttered.

“Look, it’ll be fine,” Jolene assured her, walking up to the four-foot Zetan and putting her hand on her shoulder reassuringly, “worst case scenario, it doesn’t work… and besides,” she leaned in close, “I’ll make sure my brave little pet is appropriately… rewarded.”

Amra squeaked in excitement, “Uh, okay! I guess we need to make sure it works…”

“Fire it up!” Jolene called, backing away from Amra with a smile.

There was a hum as the ship’s engine and shield generator fired together. The spiraling rings lit up one after another as it charged, and Amra’s knees shook as the mechanical sounds of the cannons aim adjusting filled the room.

“And… FIRE!” Tolith called. A thick beam flew out of the cannon, the lights flickered, and Amra screamed once before being cut off.

There was a quick hiss of steam as the cannon’s cooling fluid reacted with the glowing barrel, and Jolene stepped forward cautiously. From where she was standing it was as though Amra was just… gone.

Amra looked around at the vast landscape of the ship’s cargo bay, she squealed in terror as the world quaked. She looked up in awe as an eye the size of a city stared down at her, focusing as Jolene searched for her.

Her hand trembling, she reached up and flicked the headset on, “M-Miss Jolene, you’re right over me!” she stuttered.

“I just don’t see you at all,” Jolene chuckled, the air from her words racing over Amra’s words at gale force.

Jolene stood back up, looking like a faraway geographic feature to the trembling speck of a Zetan on the floor. Slowly Jolene lowered her shorts, then her panties. Amra stared in awe at Jolene’s naked lower half, it seemed so impossibly far away. She reached down into her panties, retrieving the shrunken Zenya. A moment later Jolene was kneeling over her again, the slightly wet form of the other Zetan in her hand as she placed the two-inch-tall woman on the red X.

“Okay Zenya,” Jolene said with a grin, “Amra is down there somewhere, you need to find her, and watch your step!”

“R-Right,” Zenya muttered, kneeling and searching.

“Over here!” Amra called, gulping as Zenya’s head turned her way. Even the two inch tall Zetan was an impossible colossus to her, and as her movement attracted her attention, she watched nervously as a pair of green fingers stretched down for her.

“Found you!” Zenya said excitedly, pinching the tiny Zetan between her fingers, “this is… this is amazing!” She squealed.

“Y-Yeah, amazing,” Amra said weakly. She’s only two inches tall, and she can still pinch me between her fingers like a bug… Her heart fluttered.

“Here she is Miss Jolene!” Zenya shouted, holding her hand up.

“Whoa,” Jolene laughed, squinting her eyes at the impossible small figure in the tiny Zenya’s grip. “Sorry Amra, I didn’t know it would be so…”

“It’s okay Miss Jolene,” Amra managed over the headset, “I’m… okay, I think it’s safe to use this… how much longer until I can be bigger again?”

“Five minutes,” Tolith called, and Meana nodded in agreement.

“Five minutes,” Jolene growled, looking down at Zenya… “Tolith, Meana, take a break…”

The two looked at each other, then following her commands they headed for the stairs, sparing a longing look back at her.

I’ll have to make that up to them later, she chuckled, peering down and hoping for any sign of Amra. She’s not even a bug, Jolene realized, warmth and wetness flooding her loins, she’s a goddamn germ…

She was suddenly very aware of her heart pounding, I could just put my thumb down, maybe hock a wad of spit down there… there are so many things that would be just world ending for her at that size…

She breathed out slowly, Don’t get weird Jolene, that’s Amra down there.

She grinned, slowly touching herself as she squatted over Zenya and the even tinier Amra, “I’m afraid you’d get lost if you went in Amra,” she said, “but… enjoy the show.”

“Y-Yes Miss Jolene,” she called in awe. She struggled against Zenya’s fingers as she looked up at Jolene’s pussy, the warmth and heat radiating off of it like the sun itself, the musky and powerful smell of her arousal wafting down and over the shrunken Zetans with the force of a continental weather pattern. It was the size of a far away celestial body, a massive and unmovable thing which could easily consume her entire world and not even notice…

Fuck, Jolene thought, this is what it feels like to be a goddess… She gulped fighting the urge to reach for the speck with her pussy-soaked finger. As her arousal built and orgasm neared, she laughed, the Governor was going to have one hell of a party…

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.

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.”

“You really should let me help you pick out a crown,” Elrin pouted. He reached for Smith’s head, “human hair would really let you bring out the colors in some uncommon gemstones, I believe Consort Leonard used to-“

“Uh, why don’t we just skip it?” Smith said uncomfortably, “I mean… Tayla’s going to be on the throne for a few weeks at most, right?”

Elrin pouted a little, but nodded. The Empress’s consort had immediately returned to the palace himself on news of the assassination attempt, and the man had immediately sought out Smith once he’d heard that he would be Tayla’s new consort. Smith for his part had tried to avoid him, but he’d now been ambushed in a hallway on his way to the throne room.

Like most Zetan males Smith had met, Elrin seemed relatively carefree. To his credit he did seem to genuinely like the Empress, and his daughters, but the relationship between him and his family was almost like a casual acquaintance, a fun uncle who visited. Most humans didn’t have a lot of contact with male Zetans, and stereotypes about them were that they were weak and effeminate, in contrast to the often aggressive and tall Zetan women that frequently visited human worlds. Smith’s opinion was that it wasn’t really true, Zetan males did tend more towards a lithe physique, but they weren’t the waifs pictured in Earth media, if Smith had to describe them, he’d say most were gymnasts rather than weightlifters. Most of them didn’t seem particularly subservient to their female counterparts either, Elrin seemed to have no issue ordering the royal guards about, and males Smith had seen on the streets seemed to speak and interact with their female counterparts the same as anyone else.

Elrin though was almost exactly what most people on Earth thought a Zetan male was like, and he’d been giving Smith fashion tips from the moment they’d met. He was wearing a bright white nanofabric suit now at the man’s suggestion, with gold stripes down the shoulders. He’d even given Smith codes for grooming droids, “properly royal haircuts” he’d insisted.

Smith felt a little bad about shooting down the crown thing, so he cleared his throat, “I uh… I’m going to go to a tailor later, I don’t know much about Zetan fashion, so if you wanted to come-“

“I’d be delighted!” Elrin said eagerly, “and Craig, nanofabric doesn’t have tailors, it has engineers,” he grinned, “just send me a message when you’re available and I’ll take you to the finest shops on Zeta Prime!” With that he turned to go, leaving Smith to continue to the throne room.

His former colleagues stood at attention as he walked towards the throne, a few of the dark suited agents giving him a smirk as he walked by. He returned the smile, before bringing his gaze to Tayla, waiting for him on the throne in the traditional black star fabric of the Empress.

I’m fucking royalty, he thought, fighting a laugh as he sat on the small consort’s throne at her side. He sighed, looking out at the mix of human and Zetan guards, all looking attentively to him and Tayla. He’d been told when taking the assignment that guarding the alien royalty was a heavy responsibility. In theory that burden had been lifted, replaced by a life of leisure as the partner of a princess. In reality? He wasn’t so sure.

The throne room doors opened, and another Zetan walked in, princess Kavrala, strutting confidently towards them. Kavrala had returned from Earth only hours ago, where she’d been discussing war plans with human leadership. Kavrala was relatively popular among the humans, particularly the political classes who often consulted her and treated her as her mother’s voice in military affairs.

“Greetings Empress,” Kavrala said with a small smile as she approached the throne.

“Provisional Empress,” Tayla said forcefully, “and now that you’re back you can-“

“You’re doing fine,” Kavrala insisted, “and the people over there on earth absolutely adore this romance that’s popped up between you two,” she gestured to Smith, “so to increase your visibility, I think you should stay on the throne a little longer,” she explained, “this family needs all the good feelings from Earth we can get right now.”

“I…” Tayla nervously glanced at Smith, “what do you think Craig?”

He blinked, “I uh… I suppose I’ll do whatever you think is best,” he said uncomfortably, “how long is your mother expected to be… incapacitated?”

“Who can say,” Kavrala said with a sigh, “they replaced several of her organs with artificial ones following the trauma, there wasn’t time for cloned pieces… it could still be some time before she regains consciousness, but doctors are confident that she will, which is a great improvement over what we were told initially.”

“Fine,” Tayla sighed, “do you have any news from the humans? Our admirals have been trying to explain things to me, but I don’t understand much of it… The Cephalos are going to take one of our systems, aren’t they?”

“Yes, but…” Kavrala sighed, “It’s Alrec, the very system that has just crowned Nea and announced rebellion. Our military leaders and the humans came to an agreement, no one is happy about it, but… a pragmatic choice has been made.”

“What do you mean?” Tayla asked uncertainly.

Smith felt a pit in his stomach, “you’re going to let the squids have them,” he said quietly, “the whole planet…”

“Yes,” Kavrala said softly, “it… it makes perfect sense, they’ve announced rebellion, they have few humans in the sector to protect them, we would have had to fight them eventually anyway. Alrec itself is… it’s been a drain on the Empire for decades now, politically, financially… it won’t’ be missed.”

“There are a billion people on that planet,” Smith said in shock, “there has to be at least a few thousand
Earth citizens there too, how can they just-“

“Wrong place, wrong time,” Kavrala said bitterly, “it’s war Smith. One of the largest Cephalo fleets we’ve ever seen is headed for that planet, reconnaissance says they’re moving in ways we haven’t seen before, we can’t risk a direct confrontation with the bulk of our fleets to save a backwater system of hostiles.” She gave a small smile, “I do feel a sense of satisfaction, knowing that the conspirators who arranged the attack on Mother will very soon get their final reward.”

“Along with a billion others,” Tayla said softly, looking down.

“Alrec dug its own grave,” Kavrala snarled, “our ships are meeting the human fleet near a brown dwarf just down the hyperlane from Alrec, if the Cephalo attempt to move on any other system, we will engage them, but until then? Their orders will be to stand by and record the final transmissions. Maybe having those played across Nea’s funeral will send the appropriate message.” The elder princess collected herself a moment, “I will prepare the fleet orders,” she said quietly, “you need only approve them Tayla…”

“Yes,” Tayla said quietly, “of course…”

Smith watched Kavrala go, then leaned over, “What do you want to do Tayla?” he asked quietly.

“What is there to do?” the Provisional-Empress replied in a defeated tone, “the decision is made…”

One billion people are going to die screaming, Smith realized, his hand shook slightly as he reached out to squeeze Tayla’s again.

…

Transmissions from Alrec were growing panicked, and apparently rioting had started in the cities. News that the system was in the tentacled grip of the Cephalo, with an attack imminent, had spread like wildfire. Supposedly the whole system had maybe thirty hours to live.

Jolene had opted to shut off the transmissions, and had retired to her starship’s expansive luxury bedroom. Her four Zetans just managed to fit in the massive king-sized bed, two on each side of her as the five of them basked in the post orgasm glow. She hadn’t bothered shrinking any of them further yet, but she was considering it as she stared at the ceiling.

“We were so fucking close,” Jolene muttered angrily, “I mean, I always figured I might die doing this kind of work, it comes with the territory… but to have it happen right when I almost had everything?” She sighed, letting her arms drift around Tolith to her left and Meana to her right, “I had this dream you guys,” she muttered.

“Tell us about it!” Amra squeaked, snuggling in close.

“Well, I’d buy colony rights to a planet,” she said, “probably not a nice temperate one, but with a billion credits? We could buy a desert world, or maybe one of the really icy ones, and it would be ours,” she sighed, “we’d spend a few years plotting a new hyperlane out to it, then lease settlement rights out to a few people, not enough to crowd us obviously… We could do whatever we wanted out there, you know? Nobody we’ve fucked over or shot at over the years would find us… Just me, my little crew, and endless open skies.”

“It’s beautiful,” Zenya whispered, “I can see it, Miss Jolene! Endless open skies…”

“Like back home, on Earth I mean… when I lived there,” Jolene smiled, “you can’t take the sky from me,” she whispered softly.

There was a knock on her bedroom door, and she sighed, “Come in!” she shouted.

The door slid open as Kurt walked in, and he immediately blushed and covered his eyes as he saw them all in bed. Jolene just chuckled and sat up, not bothering to hold the blanket to her chest as her breasts were exposed to the embarrassed young man.

“I’m trying to have my pre-death orgy here,” She said angrily, “what the hell do you want?”

“My friends,” he said cautiously, “if… if everything’s over anyway, could I have Nea, Telma, and Joey back?”

Jolene rolled her eyes, “Fine, whatever. I put the shoe with Telma and Joey in it inside that drawer over there,” she pointed to her nightstand, “being honest with you? I’d come back for them later; they were getting very hot and heavy so I stuck them in there for privacy.”

“How considerate of you,” Kurt muttered.

“Damn right,” Jolene said, “I think I took off the heel with the princess in it and kicked it under the bed somewhere, you can go look if you want.”

Kurt sighed, walking towards the bed and getting on his knees. He peered underneath Jolene’s bed, feeling around in the dark space. His hand caught on something with a smooth plastic feeling, and he pulled out the shiny red shoe. Nea blinked at the light and looked up at him, smiling from her imprisonment inside the clear heel.

“Got her,” he stood up, “uh… Miss Jolene, right?”

“Right,” she said impatiently.

“Could you maybe fix her size-“

“Nope,” Jolene said, waving him away dismissively, “now get out of here, unless you want to watch.”

“No thanks,” Kurt muttered, carrying the red shoe towards the door, “I’ll uh… I’ll come back for Joey and Telma in a little while.”

“Bring me a drink when you do,” Jolene said with a smirk. As Kurt left she looked back at her four Zetans, “Okay,” she grinned, “I’m ready for round two!” She reached across Zenya and Tolith to the nightstand, grabbing her shrink ray. “So, how are we going to do this?” She asked eagerly, “Tolith, I feel like watching you take one of these three…” She blasted him with the shrink ray first, and the blankets around him collapsed as the male Zetan as he was reduced to four inches tall. She hovered the shrink ray over the Zetan females, grinning as she playfully pointed it back and forth at them.

“I uh, have never actually been with a male,” Zenya said hesitantly.

Jolene raised an eyebrow, “wow, and here we are about to die, well we’ve found our volunteer!” The shrink ray flashed again, and Zenya squealed as the blankets crumpled around her next. Jolene leaned back, reaching and picking up the two shrunken Zetans and holding them over herself as her other two pets leaned in eagerly.

She placed the shrunken pair between her breasts, watching with a smug smirk as Tolith tumbled down on top of a blushing Zenya. The pair looked at one another for a moment, then Tolith started to mount her.

Jolene giggled and snapped her fingers, “Hey! Bad boy, warm a lady up first!”

“Y-Yes Miss Jolene,” he stammered. He slowly lowered his face down to his fellow shrunken Zetan’s body, ending between her legs as his head dipped and he began servicing her. Zenya moaned, arcing her back and squirming between Jolene’s breasts as he worked his tongue through her womanhood.

“That’s better,” she said, feeling herself growing wet. She glanced up at her other two Zetans, watching the spectacle playing out on her chest with awe, “One of you two, what he’s doing?” she pointed to Tolith, who was now bringing Zenya to her first orgasm, her movements jiggling Jolene’s breasts, “do it to me.”

Amra nodded, pulling back the rest of the covers and eagerly tracing down Jolene’s body. She gasped and smiled as the other woman’s face made contact, licking her almost in time with the shrunken couple in the throes of passion between her breasts.

Tolith was ready to enter her now, and Jolene grinned, watching the scene play out before her, her very own little porno, acted on her chest to her demands. She groaned as she watched the pumping motion of the tiny man bringing Zenya closer to her second orgasm.

“This is spectacular,” Meana whispered, leaning over her, mouth open and almost drooling as the two of them watched the pair.

“Come on Tolith,” Jolene growled, reaching down and bringing her finger on his back, “really give it to her!” Jolene’s finger pressed on his bottom in time with his thrusts, adding force and speed, causing the tiny woman beneath him to squeal as she forced their rhythm faster.

“M-Miss Jolene!” Tolith cried, “You’re making me go v-very *gasp* fast!” He moaned as Jolene just smirked and started pushing a little harder with each thrust, “I-I can’t last much-“

“Stop running the race, we’re there!” Jolene groaned, watching Zenya’s head loll back, a low cry escaping her lips. Tolith yelled too, and Jolene joined them as the Zetan between her legs finished her own job. In the throes of passion, she pulled her finger off Tolith’s back, pressing her breasts together and smothering the tiny couple as they squirmed in bliss. Jolene closed her eyes, basking in the moment, letting herself collapse back against the pillow with a sound that was a mix between a sigh and a growl.

“Uh, Miss Jolene?” Meana said hesitantly, “y-you might want to let them go…” Jolene looked down, then chuckled and let her breasts separate again, her arms at her side as the flesh parted. A panting and flushed Tolith and Zenya were released as the walls of flesh separated.

“Good boy Tolith, it looks like you rocked her world,” she said, laughing at Zenya’s flustered expression. She sighed, looking at the stars outside the viewport, “I fucking love you guys…”

…

Nea was only two inches tall in his palm, not even a doll really. She was still in the dark starcloth Lenais had put her in, a replica of the Empress’s, a royal sigil of some kind apparently, though she’d lost the crown sometime between then and when Jolene had taken them.

“I’m sorry,” she said again, curled up in his hand, a few tears at the corner of her eyes, “I wish… I wish you’d killed me, when you shot me back on Earth, I mean… you almost did, just a little closer to the center of my armor and…” She chuckled softly, “people would say ‘there went that fool Zetan Princess, she died trying to kidnap a human,’ and everyone was happier for it.”

“Personally? I’m glad I aimed wide,” he said with a smile.

Nea smiled through the tears, looking up into the giant face of a man who had spent most of their relationship riding around in her own palm. The scar he’d taken when saving her from the Cephalo was particularly striking, giving him a roguish look that somehow added to his already handsome face.

“If you were the only one I hurt, then maybe I could take some solace in that,” she said sadly, “my mother might recover, but…” she sighed, looking out at the stars, “I’ve caused countless deaths, this entire planet will die because of me.”

Kurt sighed, “Nea, you were a spark, but all of this stuff, the way humans and Zetans felt about each other, it was always here, something like this was always going to happen. I don’t think you can blame yourself for-“

“I do,” she said firmly, “I am, was, a princess of the Zetan Empire, I had greater responsibility… maybe I thought I was helping my people when I did what I did, but it doesn’t matter… I should have known better.”

They were quiet for a moment, and Kurt’s fingers curled around her slightly as they watched other ships circling Alrec in a panic. The planet seemed chaotic, even from space, the military vessels had maintained formation near the planet’s orbital shipyards, but the atmosphere was buzzing with civilian craft, fleeing with nowhere to go.

“You know something?” Kurt said suddenly, “I think you’re right.”

She looked up at him, “Of course I am, what do you-“

“No,” Kurt sighed, “I… I really don’t think you can blame yourself for all of this, but if you’ve got to, yeah you are a princess, a kickass warrior princess too.”

She blushed, “Thank you, but I don’t follow?”

“We don’t have to go out like this,” Kurt muttered angrily, looking around at the mess of ships around the planet, “pissing ourselves and having our final fucks.”

“If there really are hundreds of Cephalo vessels approaching, we’ve little choice,” Nea said bitterly.

“Fuck that,” Kurt snarled, “We could kill these bastards, same way we’ve been doing for forty years, and if they take us all, let’s make them earn dinner.”

“I like the sentiment,” Nea said, standing up shakily in his palm, “but we don’t have enough starships, nor the humans to protect them.”

“We’ve got a hundred or so humans right here on board,” Kurt said, “and I’m sure there are plenty more hiding around the system, panicking just like the Zetans are.”

“They’d never agree to help,” Nea said, “and besides, the Zetans are all-“

“Yeah, they’re a bunch of traitors and assholes to boot,” Kurt said, “but they did want to crown you Empress, I feel like you might have a little weight with them.” He looked at the planet again, “I don’t know who else is here that can take charge anyways, it’s you or nobody Nea.”

Nea felt a smile forming on her face, “You really don’t ever give up, do you?”

“I feel like my odds were worse when the psycho princess from space kidnapped me at the town parade,” Kurt laughed, “I didn’t even have a starship to work with then.”

“And what of the psychopathic bounty hunter who has kidnapped us now?” Nea asked.

“I have a feeling she’s more the fighting type than the lay down and die type,” Kurt said, “let me do the talking with that one.” He gave her a grin, “cheer up, we aren’t licked yet.”

Nea felt a sudden outpouring of warmth towards Kurt, like the sun was rising on her for the first time after a cold night.

“I think I love you,” she said suddenly.

Kurt started, and with a blink he looked down at the tiny princess in his hand, “I… I love you too,” he said, a smile lighting up his face.

The two of them were silent a moment, alone with each other and their thoughts in the luxury starship’s expansive lounge. Kurt chuclked softly, and Nea blushed, their eyes meeting each other as it soaked in. Nea was tiny, Kurt was four feet tall, they were prisoners of a madwoman and they hovered above a planet of traitors on the brink of a hellish invasion from the blackness of space.

And in that moment, the only thing they saw or thought about was each other.

“Well shit,” Kurt muttered quietly, “now we’ve really got to live…”

“Indeed,” Nea whispered with a smile, “let’s go speak with this ‘Jolene’ woman-“

“In a minute,” Kurt said, a mischievous smile coming over his face as his finger drifted towards the princess in his palm.

Nea gulped nervously scooting backwards slightly until her back was against his curled fingers, “Kurt? What are you doing!?”

“Just something I’ve been thinking about,” he said teasingly, “if we do make it out of this, this is going to be a pretty hard position to get you in again…”

“I don’t follow,” Nea said, watching as Kurt’s massive digit reached for the nanofabric collar on her neck. She gulped as he tapped it ever so slightly, causing her dress to shimmer as it receded over her body. Nea shivered as she found herself suddenly naked, looking up at the giant human man who had an amused and lustful expression on his face.

“You know, from the other side this is kind of fun,” he said, tracing his finger along her smooth leg, causing her to squirm slightly. “You’re cute at this size Nea.”

She flushed, “Perhaps this is a translation error? I’m not cute, I am beautiful and to my enemies terrifying!”

“Nope,” Kurt said, “I think it translated just fine, you are cute Nea.” He fought a laugh as she pushed against his finger, all of her strength unable to push away the end of a digit that was almost as thick as her torso.

“Kurt!” she whined.

“Didn’t you want me to… what was the word, ‘torment’ you?” he asked with a smirk.

“Y-Yes,” Nea said, arching her back as his soft yet unyielding finger traced downward, between her legs. She gasped, her eyes going wide as he applied pressure, a slow forceful motion right on her mound that caused her to buck her hips against his fingertip involuntarily. “Oh stars,” she moaned, wrapping her arms around his index finger like it was a lover.

“What an adorable princess,” Kurt said with a wide grin, continuing to rub the naked and squirming princess into his palm, “I think I’ll keep her.”

“N-No,” she managed, “I’ll escape, I’ll-“

“My pet princess,” Kurt said, rubbing a little faster, “it has a nice ring to it.”

She squealed as she came, coating his fingertip in her juices as she spasmed and moaned. Kurt never let up, driving her past the heights of pleasure and into madness as she groaned pathetically in his hand. Finally, when it passed, she was left a panting mess, staring up at him as he drew his finger away. With a final teasing look, Kurt stuck his wet fingertip in his mouth, sucking slightly, pulling it out with a pop as he tasted what Nea had left there.

“You realize I’m going to get you back for that,” she said, a grin forming on her face as she panted, reaching for the nanofabric collar that had rolled around in Kurt’s palm during their play. She placed it back on her neck, and a moment later the elegant dress flowed out of it, clothing her again.

“I imagine I’m going to pay for the ‘pet princess’ remark,” he said rolling his eyes, “it was still worth it.”

“It did cause a certain… reaction, I’ll admit,” the princess said with an embarrassed smile.

“You don’t have to explain it to me,” Kurt laughed, “are you ready to go see the bounty hunter?”

“Yes,” Nea sighed, standing up and doing her best to look regal, or as regal as you could look at two inches in someone else’s palm.

…

Jolene leaned against the pillow again, mentally debating how she wanted her next round of sex to go, when the door opened with a hiss. She looked up and scowled, Kurt was back, and he had the tiny princess with him. There was a flash in his hand, and she reflexively shot her own up, catching a tossed bottle. She looked at the label and scowled, she’d hoped for qet, but it was just one of the colas her crew liked. She sighed and opened it anyway, sitting up and sipping it as she regarded him.

“You didn’t bring enough for everybody,” she said neutrally. Behind her the four Zetans, currently at their “normal” four-foot height, giggled.

“Cut the shit,” Kurt said, causing them to go quiet with shock. “Do you really want to just lay here in bed, fucking each other’s brains out until the end comes?”

“Yes,” Jolene said, “now look kid, I’m open minded and all, but I don’t know you well, so if you want to join in-“

“No!” Kurt snapped, “I’m wondering why the hell you’re letting it all slip away right after you got everything you wanted?” He gestured at the four Zetans, “I heard talk about a billion credits? That’s the kind of pot you can’t just walk away from because you got one bad hand.”

“With as many Cephalos as they say are coming? That hand’s aces and eights Kurt,” Jolene said, taking another swig from the glass soda bottle.

“Fine,” Kurt growled, “give up, but pardon me if I feel like going all in. Grow my friends back, you’ve got no need for us if this,” he gestured to the crowded bed, “is how you’re planning on running out the clock.”

Jolene stared at him a moment, then chuckled, “if you want me to get out of this bed and leave my lovely crew,” the four giggled again, “then you’ve got to give me an elevator pitch or something, go.”

“I can rally the Zetans,” Nea said, as loudly as she could from Kurt’s palm, “with some organization, we can put up a fight.”

“Zetans alone aren’t worth dick against Cephalos,” Jolene said, “but keep going.”

“We send out a call for help,” Kurt said, “we can talk to the humans here on the ship, we call to any who are hiding in the system, if we all come together, I think we could get enough humans with the fleet to protect them from the squids.”

“That is one hell of a tough sell,” Jolene said, stepping out of bed and reaching for her pants, “but I guess I’ll let you take a shot at it. I’ve got a lot of bastards waiting for me in hell who would be disappointed if they found out I just gave up this late in the game.” She glanced at the Zetans, “you four, get dressed and meet up in the lounge.” There were a few groans of protest, and Jolene rolled her eyes, “Punishment jar!” she threatened, and that got them moving.

“Punishment Jar?” Nea asked, confused.

“Don’t ask,” Jolene muttered, pulling her shirt on. She grabbed her shrink ray off the nightstand and casually clicked it in Kurt and Nea’s direction.

Kurt’s vision clouded as he was restored to his normal height, blinking slightly as he realized he now stood a head over the fearsome woman who had captured them. Nea squealed, having tumbled off his hand as she instantly regrew, falling to the floor with a thud.

“You could have let him put me down!” Nea hissed, standing back up to her full six and a half feet.

“I could’ve,” Jolene said with a shrug, “you should be thankful, you’re the first Zetan I’ve let walk around on this ship at full size since I got it.” She started towards the door, then stopped, laughing, “oops, almost forgot.” She turned around and reached for the bottom nightstand drawer, pulling out the red shoe with the transparent heel. Telma and Joey were naked, and the Zetan was on her knees in front of the human as his face contorted with pleasure.

“They are still going at it!” Jolene said with a smirk, “now that’s impressive!” she tapped the side of the transparent enclosure, “hey! Lovebirds!” There were muffled cries of surprise, then Joey and Telma were scrambling for their nanofabric collars, hastily trying to clothe themselves as they realized they’d been removed from the drawer. She placed their prison on the floor, releasing them with the tap of a button. They hesitantly stepped out, and a flash of Jolene’s shrink ray later they were standing alongside Kurt and Nea, their sizes restored.

“H-Hey man,” Joey said, face red, “uhh… how long were you guys watching?”

“Not long,” Kurt smirk, “hey, I fought that fucking squid naked dude, at this point I’ve got no shame left.”

“Fucking around with Zetans will do that to you,” Jolene said with a shrug, “anyways everyone go take five and clean up, I’m going to go have a chat with Tolith and Meana about what kind of communications equipment we’ve got on board.” She smiled as she strutted out of the room, “I suggest you think about what you want to say to the people of Alrec, I think all of our lives depend on it.”

“Ah shit,” Kurt muttered, a pit forming in his stomach as he realized he and Nea were going to need to address a billion people.

Kurt grunted as Joey slapped his back, “you’ve got this Kurt, you were on the debate team in high school!”

“Nea,” he said slowly, “you go to big royal events all the time, right? You can probably-“

“I attended such events, I didn’t give the keynote addresses,” she said with a small smile. Her hand linked with his, squeezing him in her firm grip. “Just try to relax, we’ve got each other, right?”

I hope it’s enough, Kurt thought, looking out the bedroom viewport at the dirty brown planet outside.

“Okay, everyone stand back,” Jolene said, adjusting her wrist computer and activating a protocol to move the ship’s furniture. They watched as the couches, end tables, and other pieces were gently floated by anti-grav systems. Jolene cleared the room, placing them all against the wall for now, leaving a wide-open space before the luxury ship’s expansive main viewport.

“Fancy,” Kurt commented, “what’s a ship like this set you back?”

Jolene snorted, “a favor from the Zetan Empress, I don’t want to even think about what this thing costs retail, let alone all the customization the old owner did on it.”

“Who was that exactly?” Telma asked curiously as they watched the furniture move.

“Zetan crime lord,” Jolene said, “I haven’t named the ship yet, but given its history I’m half thinking of calling it the Tony Montana.”

“The broadcast equipment is ready Miss Jolene,” Meana said eagerly, leading the group of Zetans as they approached, hovering drones behind them.

Zenya frowned, looking at Kurt’s scar, “umm, excuse me, Mister Kurt? I can fix that for you, we have some cosmetic grade medical nanites on board and-“

“Don’t you dare touch it,” Nea said, moving close to him and giving him a quick wink.

“R-Right,” she said, quickly joining the rest of Jolene’s crew as they guided the hovering drones.

Kurt saw glassy panes on the front, cameras, he realized. The four Zetans were ushering Kira and him to the center of the room, adjusting the drones around them almost like it was a movie shoot.

“Why do you have all of this stuff?” Kurt asked curiously, watching Tolith type in commands on his wrist computer.

“Well, the ship’s got some high-end broadcasting gear because the gal who owned it wanted to be able to talk to her underlings anywhere in the galaxy,” Jolene explained. “The cameras are uh… well, those are mine. I went through a bit of a phase where I wanted to make… movies, with my crew here.”

“What, like art films?” Joey asked obliviously.

Jolene fought a chuckle, “not the kind of art you pin on the fridge, but sure.”

“So how far is this message going to go?” Kurt asked, looking down at the planet nervously.

“I’m going to send it out on law enforcement and government frequencies,” Jolene said, “nobody planetside is using them for anything useful right now anyway, but I’ll bet a message from the Princess will get picked up and bounced around all the civilian communications systems. Some of the hyperlane beacons are still up, so you might get picked up by other systems. Who knows? it could go all the way to Earth.

“So can I just stand behind Nea or…” Kurt let the question hang in the air.

“No, you’ve got to say something,” Joey said, “someone’s got to tell them she’s not still holding us hostage or whatever.”

“An appeal to any in-system humans for help may also carry more weight coming from a human,” Telma said, “try to be… emotional.”

“Right,” he muttered.

“Kurt, relax, you look exactly like the kind of guy I’d want to get behind in this situation,” Joey said.

“I always let you take the lead when we went out to bars or got into crazy shit!” Kurt protested.

Joey just chuckled, “is that how it was? Man, I’d have never stuck my neck out on anything if I didn’t know you’d be there to pull my ass out of it.” He gave one of those heartbreaker smiles, “now go on, save the universe.”

“And we are live in three,” Jolene began, “two, one!”

…

Alrec was in a state of chaos, everyone knew the Cephalo fleet would arrive soon, there was no hiding, no shelter, nothing but the inevitability of approaching death. Despair had set in, some Zetans gathered their children, simply returning home to await the inevitable with loved ones. Others imbibed their drugs of choice, still more indulged in carnal pleasures in what they thought were there final hours. Fires raged unchecked, a few more short-sighted individuals committed acts of theft, ground transports clogged the streets. While Zetans were a mostly secular people, the temples to various ancestral gods were filled to capacity, and the few Earth native missionary organizations with a presence on the planet suddenly had their own sites of worship swarmed with Zetans who were suddenly very interested in saving their souls.

Of the humans in system, most had retreated to their spacecraft. When the governor’s coup announcement had gone out, they had read the writing on the wall and hid themselves. Some were in space, hoping to elude the Zeta Forever fleet in the asteroid field, others had submerged themselves in the planet’s toxic seas. The planet’s few permanent human residents had either barricaded themselves in their homes, weapons ready, for no human lived on Alrec unarmed, or they had taken shelter with trusted Zetan friends. When word of the Cephalo attack had come, they despaired in the same manner as the Zetans did, turning to physical pleasures, prayer, and… acceptance.

Most wrist computers, viewscreens, and holoprojectors were set to pick up any official transmissions, so when Nea appeared, in her regal dress and with a calm face, it caught the attention of most of the planet immediately. They recognized her, their rogue princess and would-be empress, and across Alrec the throes of pleasure and sorrow paused as they waited to see what should we say.

“This is Princess Nea Brightstar,” she began, “Daughter of Empress Tetra Brightstar of the Zetan Empire.”

There was confusion all over the planet as a human stepped into frame, a young blond man, with a facial scar down his cheek. Some of the humans recognized him from Earth broadcasts, Kurt and Joey’s faces had been plastered across all manner of news coverage, along with tearful interviews with their family members pleading for their return.

“I’m Kurt Miller,” he said with a nervous smile, “Of uh… Iowa, United States, Earth.” He paused, “Agricultural Department. We’ve got a few things we’d like to say, Nea?”

She nodded and looked at the camera, “I will begin by saying that I had no part in the attempted assassination of my mother, Governor Lenais crowned me against my will, and I hereby renounce all claims to the Zetan throne, now and forever.” She paused, sighing, “To the people of Earth, to humanity, I committed an act of unspeakable barbarity and foolishness against you, and I am truly sorry.”

Kurt cleared his throat, “I also want to make it clear, the princess isn’t holding me against my will, not right now anyway. Joey- Joseph Atchinson is fine too, wave for the camera Joey!” The camera swiveled suddenly, focusing on an embarrassed Joey and Telma, who waved nervously. “Anyways,” he continued, the camera focusing back to him, “I know there’s no way for you guys at home to… verify I guess, but the princess is sincere.” He sighed, “that’s not really the main part of what we need to talk about though.”

“By now you have all heard that a large Cephalo incursion is coming for Alrec,” Nea said, “I will not lie to you, our situation is dire.” She paused for effect, “but it is not hopeless.” She looked out the viewport, allowing the camera to see the planet, along with the ships in orbit around it, sleek grey and white dots from this view. “Our people are unshakable, even in the face of such terrors,” she said, “we have built mighty fleets, conquered a vast empire, and now we stand here with the tools of war in our hands!” She turned back, a fierce expression on her face, “As your princess, I will not quietly allow myself to be slaughtered like some animal. Following this message I will transmit coordinates; I am ordering all Zetan military craft to report to them and await my commands. We will destroy this enemy fleet, and teach them what it means to wage war against the Zetan people!”

She turned to Kurt expectantly, and he nodded and stepped forward, “She’s said her piece,” he began, “I guess it’s time to say mine.” He sighed, “I’ll start with the obvious, we can’t fight these things on our own, neither can they. That’s the bill we’ve been looking at for the last forty years, most of us only thought about it in the same way we think about all the other political shit, taxes are too high, someone should outlaw that thing in the news, Zetans are assholes,” he chuckled a little at Nea’s glare, “today that’s not how it is, we don’t get to say a politician or an Empress made that decision for us, we all get to, have to, make it ourselves.”

He paused, trying to think of what to say next, this was the harder part…

“I know plenty of people are saying, ‘good, to hell with them,’ to the idea of the Cephalos killing us all, getting the satisfaction of knowing they died too… I’ve had my own thoughts about that, a Zetan killed my grandad, my dad’s still got nightmares about them, and almost everyone on Earth has their own story about that kind of thing.”

He looked at Nea, at Telma, then back to the camera, “I’m sure everyone knows by now what happened to Joey and me in Clearwater… What Nea did to us I mean…” He shifted, unsure how to continue, “I think… I think that she, all of them, they fell for the same kind of stuff people fell for on Earth, the kind of thinking that gets you to do things you know are wrong, but you say it’s okay for whatever reason, that person’s evil, hell that’s not a person at all, maybe you even feel good about it.” He shrugged, “some of them aren’t sorry, and never will be, some of them are, and they’re doing their best to fix things, even if they know they really can’t. My point is I think they’ve been acting a lot like how we would… I’ve seen them do all the same things we would otherwise, they’ve got friends, families…” He fumbled, trying to put his ideas to words, “I guess what I’m saying is, when I look down at a planet of a billion of them and ask myself, do they all deserve to die? No, I really don’t believe they do, so if I can do something to save them? I’m going to.”

He took one final deep breath, “I don’t have anything else to say, Nea’s going to send out the coordinates for the Zetan ships, to all my fellow men and women from Earth, we’d love it if you could stop by and give us a hand.”

Jolene nodded at him from behind the camera, as did the four Zetans who gave thumbs up. Telma and Joey were holding hands, grinning at him. He breathed out slowly, then looked at Nea with a smile.

“How was that?” he asked quietly.

“Wonderful,” she replied softly. He leaned towards her, and they embraced in a kiss.

“And cut!” Jolene called.

Kurt’s eyes went wide, and he parted from Nea suddenly, “What do you mean cut!?” he exclaimed, “I thought you were done when I finished talking!?”

“No, we kept broadcasting,” Tolith explained, looking up from his wrist computer in concern, “did you want us to stop?”

“Did you broadcast the kiss!?” Kurt asked, eyes wide.

“Of course, it really tied the whole thing together,” Jolene said with a chuckle.

“Oh stars,” Nea said, her green face growing pale, “you didn’t…”

…

The current directive was that everything out of Alrec was to be blocked on all frequencies, banned from broadcast. The statements that rebels on Alrec had been destroyed by the Cephalo attack had already been written, edited, approved for publication, from the Cultural Department’s perspective Alrec had already fallen, and the stern warnings against the folly of xenophobia and rebellion were prepared, the talk show hosts and opinion columnists scheduled, booked, and paid for.

Adam had been informed of the decision to let the planet die, and it had been troubling him. Of the relatively few Cultural Department employees in the loop, there were mixed feelings. Some were ecstatic, while the department’s employees generally had a friendlier view of Zetans than the public, plenty were still leery of them. The thought of a Zeta Forever controlled world being snuffed out by squids for their anti-human rhetoric? That made some of them positively giddy.

For Adam’s part, he was morose, staring out his window in thought. It seemed… a failure somehow, on his part, the whole Cultural Department’s part. The rational part of his mind knew there was nothing he could do about it, but the idea of simply letting an entire planet be killed to prove a point? It unnerved him in a way he couldn’t describe.

His door swung open, and he swiveled his chair to see Kira entering excitedly, “Adam!” she said, “I’ve got something you’ve got to see!”

He raised an eyebrow, “More bad news?”

“No,” she said, pairing her wrist computer to the screen on his wall, “I was reviewing intercepted transmissions from Alrec, seeing if there was anything useful in there. Most of it is pretty upsetting, calls for help, threats, ranting… but this just came in!”

Adam’s eyes went wide as Princess Nea and Kurt Miller appeared on his screen. He watched their impassioned pleas to both of their people, and crowed in triumph, pumping his fist when the two embraced in a passionate kiss.

“That was spectacular!” he crowed. He looked to Kira with a smile on his face, “Has anyone seen this yet?”

“No,” Kira said, returning his grin, “like everything else out of Alrec it’s being censored, but you know what would happen if people saw this?”

“They’d want Alrec saved,” Adam said, realization dawning on him, “there would be a public outcry! The fleets would have to move.” He thought a moment, “do we know if any of the Zetans and humans in that system are working together?”

“Not yet,” Kira said, “we won’t know for a few hours at least, but we could start broadcasting Nea and Kurt’s video across controlled networks, the combined Zetan-Human fleet is practically on their doorstep! They could enter the system and-“

“Let’s leave the tactics to the military to decide,” Adam said with a happy grin as he stood up, “come on, we’re going straight to the director’s office!”

…

Director Manford was a portly man, late middle aged and balding slightly. He watched the video in silence with Kira and Adam, the screen in his office reflected on his spectacles as his mouth became a thin line. As Nea and Kurt kissed, he tapped a button on his own wrist-computer and shut the video off.

“Well, what do you think?” Adam asked excitedly, “I was thinking we can start having the usual sources push it and then work our way through the B-list celebrities before it officially “breaks” and-“

“Adam,” Director Manford said with a sigh, “we’re not going to allow this to be broadcast.” Adam started in surprise, looking to Kira, then to the director, stunned. She was as confused as he was, and the two of them stared at the director, speechless. He sighed, “I’m afraid the decision has been made, and at this point the story both Earth and the Empire need right now is one… retribution if you will.”

“I understand the public is angry,” Adam said hesitantly, “but don’t you think seeing these two come together like this… rallying both of our peoples together? You don’t think that might change some people’s minds about things?”

“It might,” Manford admitted, “and that’s precisely why it will not be released.” He looked to Kira a moment, “Kira my dear, you know I harbor no resentment for your people, but you must understand that others do.”

“Of course,” Kira said quietly, looking down.

“I heard about the unpleasantness in the market,” Manford muttered, “terrible stuff… I’m very sorry that it happened to you, but it only highlights what I’m saying.”

“And what are you saying?” Adam asked, anger rising, “that we’re going to let a billion people die for what… revenge?”

“That there is a segment of our population that isn’t placated by Alliance Day, or reparations money, or free technology, or any other well wishes and bribes, there is a segment that wants a little justice,” Manford said, his own voice rising, “a little retribution, a little blood Adam. For forty years humanity has been rubbing its jaw, wondering when we would get the chance to hit back, well today we’re going to let one of their planets die, we’re going to watch it happen, we’re going to celebrate it.” He grimaced, “and then every time a Zetan thinks, ‘I’m better than those earth monkeys, I should shrink one,’ she’ll remember the billion people who died on Alrec because of that belief.”

The Director glanced at Kira and sighed, “and maybe there are some humans, who will see a Zetan walking alone, and then be able to let some of it go, knowing that some of the suffering they endured was avenged in some way.”

“This is monstrous,” Kira whispered.

“Is it?” Manford asked, “We’ve talked it over with the Zetan leadership, the Princess Kavrala herself approved this plan.” He gave a small smile, “I do believe she’s of the same mind as the generals who recommended the plan in the first place, in fact I don’t think that human and Zetan leadership has been so united in forty years.”

“That video of the princess and the boy from Iowa will get out,” Adam said, a mix of shock and anger on his face, “maybe not before Alrec falls, but-“

“How many other things are we already keeping off the public’s radar in the name of promoting Human-Zetan friendship?” Manford said with a shrug, “It will go onto the same communications hubs with the footage of war atrocities, anti-Zetan crime reports, technically always available but never widely viewed or discussed, I can live with that.”

Adam and Kira looked at him, stunned. The man had been a trusted and respected colleague, a work superior… Adam swallowed, searching for the words.

Manford seemed to guess their thoughts and sighed, “Look, it’s not anyone’s ideal outcome, but in time you will realize this was the right thing to do.” He tapped a few buttons on his wrist device, “I’m approving you both for two weeks of paid leave, effective immediately. You’ve both been working too hard, go home, relax… shut off the news for a few days and simply unwind.”

“I…” Adam sighed, “Yes sir.”

Kira looked at him in shock as he got up to leave, “Adam? What are you-“

“Kira,” he said in a low voice, “come on, there’s nothing more we can do here.”

She looked at the Director, who gave her a final nod, before she numbly got up to follow Adam. The sound of their shoes echoed on the tiled floor of the government building as they walked through the halls. Neither of them spoke as they passed through the front double doors. Finally, they reached Adam’s ground transport, entering together in silence.

“What was that?” Kira asked angrily, finally ending the quiet, “you just gave up the argument?”

“How long have we known Manford?” Adam asked in a defeated voice.

“Years,” Kira said, “I met him before he was director even, but what does that have to do with-“

“Has he ever disagreed with anything from a higher up?” Adam asked, “ever changed his mind? Deviated from orders?”

“No,” Kira said, beginning to understand. It would have been a waste of time… “So, what now?” she asked, “do we simply accept this? Try to start some kind of media storm about him?”

Adam gave her a sad smile, “No… I think if we’re going to make any difference, we’ll have to take more immediate action.”

Kira frowned, “Adam… what are you implying we do?”

“Well,” he said, starting the vehicle and programming his apartment in, “do you remember when we talked about leaving Earth? Running away?”

“Yes,” she said nervously.

“I’ve got an idea,” he said with a nervous chuckle, “and after I do it… I’m going to probably have to leave Earth for a while. Would you still be interested in coming with me?”

Kira blinked, “Why Adam,” she said, a smile coming over her face, “any planet you’re on is the best one in the galaxy, I’ll just have to help you with this ‘plan’ so I have to leave Earth too!”

“It’s settled then,” Adam laughed, “let’s go commit some treason, then run like hell.”

“Don’t think of it as being fugitives,” Kira giggled, “think of it as… a vacation that never ends, with new hotels every week.”

…

Admiral Entyl had long been involved in Zeta Forever, keeping her sympathies quiet professionally as she’d climbed the ranks of the Zetan military. As the highest ranking official in the group of fleet ships that had planned to betray the Empress, command had fallen to her by default, and reluctantly she had ordered all ships to meet at the Princess’s coordinates. She didn’t want to follow this princess, who had abandoned Zeta Forever in its hour of need, nor did she want to work with the humans, a boorish and primitive people who, whether or not the rest of the government wished to admit it, were rivals.

This alliance will never last, she thought, looking out at the stars, one of us must conquer the other, it is the way of things. For now they were doomed, the humans were not going to come out of hiding for them, and why should they? If their situations were reversed Entyl would have watched from afar, and enjoyed the fire of her enemy’s death even as her own came.

Still, she had come, there was nothing else to do. Their rebel flotilla of twenty-five ships had followed her, the largest in it her own Blade, an impressive battleship of two hundred plasma cannons and a crew of two thousand. The rest of their ships were a mix of light and medium sized craft, a force that would be able to overwhelm the normal system garrison on Zeta Prime, had things happened the way they were supposed to… Sensors had indicated that one hundred and sixty Cephalo ships were coming, the largest gathering of the squids since the initial alliance forces had done battle with them forty years ago.

“W-Where are the humans admiral?” her first mate asked hesitantly. The other woman peered out the main viewport, “there were supposed to be some-“

“They aren’t coming,” the admiral muttered, “this was a fool’s errand, wasting time when it’s the only thing we’ve got left-“

“We have an incoming ship,” the communications officer called, “civilian class, tagged from… Earth? They’re trying to reach us.”

“Put them through,” Entyl said curiously.

“This is captain Tremblay of the freighter Stan Rogers, am I speaking to the person in charge?” a voice came through their intercom.

“Uh,” Entyl cleared her throat, “Yes! This is Admiral Entyl, of the Zeta Forever… of the Zetan Fleet, are you here to… assist us?”

“We’ve got a crew of sixteen, and we’re willing to board one of your military craft and give you a hand,” Tremblay said, “we’ve got a few conditions though, first no shrinking, second, we keep our guns.”

Armed humans? On my ship? She scowled, and not even the tame ones from their military, but dumb, drunk, hairy ones right off a starfreighter… Still, they had come, that had to be respected… it was an almost Zetan show of bravery.

“We can agree to this,” she said with a sigh. “I’ll send you a docking code… I… thank you for coming Captain Tremblay, even if it is just you, I must admit that it’s more a show of faith than I expected.” She paused, “were you by chance military?”

There was laughter, “No Admiral, I was hauling maple syrup through this system and got stuck, and I’m not alone.”

The admiral’s brow furrowed, “Y-You’re not alone?”

“No, we all agreed me and my crew would come out first, to see what you would do,” he chuckled again, “and that makes me an idiot I suppose…”

“We’ve got other ships approaching,” the communications officer said excitedly. From hidden caves within asteroids, the depths of the planet’s seas, and the dark side of the planet’s moons, dozens of human ships popped up on radar, the ragtag group of ships slowly approaching the Zetan fleet.

The admiral felt something swell in her chest as more ships kept appearing on sensors, was that… hope?

…

Jolene’s ship, the name given to Admiral Entyl as Tony Montana, docked with the Blade, the massive pleasure yacht being forced to use a boarding tube rather than parking in the ship’s bay as a more reasonably sized shuttle might. The ship’s lounge was crowded, the massive throng of humans rescued from the governor’s party had been restored to full size, and Jolene was standing on top of the coffee table, trying to get everyone’s attention.

“Okay look, I’ve emptied out my armory and I have one gun for every two of you, so pair up!” She paused, “I’m going to expect those all back! Some of them are very important to me!”

“Is this wise?” Nea asked, looking over the mob of now armed humans. She’d come around to trusting Kurt and Joey, but so many humans armed, especially those with a grudge against Zetans? That made her nervous…

“I guess we’ll find out,” Kurt muttered.

For their part, Jolene’s four Zetans, at their full sizes for a change, stood armed by the door, matching nanofabric uniforms on as they stood at attention for the bounty hunter’s approach. Her power armor clanked on the floor, a large plasma weapon in her hands and an earth made style with a curved revolver style grip strapped to her hip.

“Okay princess,” Jolene shouted, “I think we’re ready.”

Telma leaned over, “Nea… it really makes me happy to see you leading others like this, I always knew you were destined for great things.”

“I really wish it hadn’t happened like this, but… it’s nice to hear,,” Nea said with a sad smile. She sighed and faced the main door of the ship as it hissed open, Telma, Kurt, and Joey on one side of her, Jolene and her crew on the other, a mob of armed humans at the backs of all of them. A row of Zetan soldiers, power armored and visors down, appeared on the other side. They started when they saw the crowd, and a few gripped their weapons tightly.

The tension in the air was thick, and for a moment Kurt wondered if it would all end in a volley of plasma fire both ways. He heard his heartbeat, and wondered briefly if he should be reaching for his own pistol.

“At ease soldiers,” Nea said, stepping forward, “escort us to the admiral.” Her voice was calm, commanding. The soldiers didn’t hesitate, lowering their weapons and saluting her as they parted. Nea walked onto the ship, her head high, as her entourage and the humans they had rescued followed her.

…

The situation had taken a good hour of talking to sort out, and finally Nea sat at the head of a traditional Zetan war table, a group of human captains along one side, the Zetan captains and the admiral on the other.

“So that is our situation,” the admiral explained grimly, “we are well outnumbered, with no way to escape the system. Our best bet is to fight as close to the atmosphere as possible, we can reroute the planetary shield to give us a little extra cover, and use ground based and orbital defenses to our advantage.”

“You really think they’re just going to walk right into a hardened spot like that?” a skeptical human captain asked, “my dad said they’re natural cowards, run at the first sign they’re losing.”

“Cephalo ships need to… eat,” Nea said grimly, “this many of them together will be low on food, eager to harvest the planet.”

“I suppose we’re stuck then,” the human captain muttered, “We’ve got a list of technical specialties, you can assign our engine people with yours and-“

“You will simply be assigned randomly in our most critical sectors,” the admiral said dismissively, “for boarding actions a group of marines will accompany and protect your-“

“Now look here,” the human captain said angrily, “we can fight or fix a blown coil just as good as-“

“You’ll only get in the way!” the admiral snapped, “we only need you for the protective effect!”

“The humans will serve in their areas of expertise,” Nea said loudly, cutting the discussion short, “to the degree that this offers an ideal spread of protection.” She looked at the two who had been arguing, and they both glanced at each other and nodded.

“I will make it so,” Admiral Entyl said with a short bow, “I will collect information on the human’s… expertise, from their captains.”

“Then I think we have no more to discuss,” Nea said quietly, “we have sixteen hours remaining before their first ships will arrive, I am going to retire to my personal quarters on the Tony Montana rest and prepare for battle.” She stood, giving a final imperious gaze to the table, “see to it my instructions are carried out, consort!” she snapped at Kurt, “with me!”

He raised an eyebrow, and she gave him a strained expression, “please,” she said in the quietest voice she could manage. It was still heard by everyone in the room. A smirk spread like wildfire among the human captains, the Zetans shot her some disapproving looks, a few smug ones, and some… envious?

Barbaric though they are, for that one at least I can understand the attraction, the admiral thought to herself as the embarrassed princess and her… consort? Left the room. The rumor going around was that he’d taken the scar protecting the princess from a Cephalo, or a dozen Cephalo depending on who told the tale. She regarded the ragtag group of human merchants, mercenaries, and smugglers that had shown up to aid her fleet. Hopefully the rest will have as much mettle as that one…

…

“Well, we’ve got a fleet, we’ve got humans,” Kurt muttered, pacing the room, “I guess all we’ve got left to do is wait and hope for the best.”

“Hardly,” Nea muttered, “we won’t be alone for forty-five minutes before some fool runs to us to make us fix some asinine dispute, I’ve seen how it is with mother, stars they even do it to Kavrala.”

Kurt raised an eyebrow, “So why did you ‘retire’ to rest?”

“I wanted forty-five minutes alone,” she said with a grin.

Kurt’s eyes went wide as she reached for her shrink ray, returned by Jolene hours ago. He barreled at her, and her eyes went wide and she squealed in playful surprise as he tackled her to the bed. She giggled and tried to bring her hand down to aim the device at him, but he caught her wrist, using his other hand to pull her head into a kiss.

“Kuurrmppph” she tried saying his name, but he kept wrestling with her on the bed, his lips locked on hers. He managed to click the nanofabric collar off, grinning with satisfaction as watery fabric oozed into storage mode, falling off her neck with a *clank*.  

He felt the sensation of liquid over his skin as his own nanofabric slipped away, and he realized that at some point Nea had managed to reach up and deactivate his clothing as well. He broke the kiss, and they looked at each other, panting, red faced, and naked. He was hard, and as his tip made contact with her, he felt how wet she was.

They both glanced at the shrink ray in Nea’s hand, then made eye contact. Nea grinned wickedly, and he grunted as he struggled to hold her arm from bringing it to bear on him.

“I’m… not getting… tiny, today!” he grunted.

“Give it up!” Nea hissed, her arm shaking as she slowly gained ground, “I’m stronger than you! I know it!” She giggled, “you’re going inside me Kurt!”

“If you insist,” he grinned. He thrust forward with his hips, causing her to gasp in shock as she dropped the shrink ray. He gave a victorious growl as he slid his other arm around her soft back, pulling the amazon into his embrace as he pushed again, causing her to moan with pleasure as their movements caused the device to tumble to the floor, safely out of her reach.

“H-Human bastard,” she moaned, embracing him in return and pulling him down into her. She felt him enter her again and again, picking up his pace as she responded to his motions. “YES!” she shouted, “faster!”

His heart rate picked up, he’d never had such an enthusiastic woman before, and it made his blood run hot. He gave an animalistic growl as he ravaged the alien princess, savoring her moans, the writhing of her smooth body against him as she feebly mixed attempts to take control with involuntary spasms of pleasure.

Her long, powerful legs locked around him like powerful jaws, locking him in place as they entered their final throes of bliss. Kurt felt sweat roll down his forehead as he summoned every ounce of strength he had, a warrior’s fury building in him as he drove the princess before him and over the edge of orgasm.

“STARS TAKE ME!” Nea gasped, her head arching back as Kurt finished inside her, furiously thrusting until the very end.

He held his place above her a moment, suddenly exhausted from the effort of making love to the alien princess. It truly had been a battle, and damn was she strong, he had no doubt that if their contest over the shrink ray had gone another moment, she would have won. He grinned, seeing the mess he’d reduced her to, hair mussed, panting, face flushed and smiling.

He collapsed next to her with a sigh, “Whew,” he laughed as he hit the mattress, “I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now too…”

“It was certainly something… new,” she whispered.

He frowned, “really? Your first time?”

“With a male at natural size, yes,” Nea muttered, “and you were so commanding! I felt helpless, it was wonderful…” She stood up, letting him see her nakedness as she walked around the bed. He frowned as she leaned over to pick up something.

Ah hell, he thought as he saw the shrink ray in her hand, “Uh, I need a few minutes-“

“I have great faith in your stamina,” she said, slowly aiming it at him with a smug grin, “I’m sure that after being so overwhelming, perhaps being the one overwhelmed will help you… ready yourself.”

He wanted to slap himself as he realized she was right; her threats were already making him hard again. She always looked beautiful, but now? With a slight sheen of sweat on her, a mix of his and hers, her hair mussed and frayed around those pointed ears… She looked wild.

He heard the zapping sound, and his vision went white. He blinked as quickly as he could, letting his vision clear and trying to see what size she’d made him. The world shook as the green titaness got back on the bed, and he scrambled back against a house sized pillow as she reached for him.

“Nea,” he said nervously, licking his lips as her tree trunk sized fingers curled around him, “remember, someone will probably come to bother us in less than an hour-“

“Neither of us are going to need that long,” Nea giggled as she lifted him up.

As it turned out the first message demanding she arbitrate a dispute came over Nea’s wrist computer thirty-four minutes after they’d retired to the bedroom, and she was right, neither of them needed that long.

Jolene stood on one of the Blade’s observation decks, her four Zetans behind her as they watched the flurry of activity out on the orbital shipyards. Spacesuit wearing Zetans and even a few humans motioned for floating equipment as the final preparations for the battle were made. Being a military shipyard, Alrec had a number of spare plasma cannons laying around, and civilian ships were being strapped with the weapons as the last desperate measures were made

“You cockroaches wanna play rough?” Jolene whispered, watching the Zetan shipyard crews remove the modular bedrooms on the Tony Montana and replace them with plasma cannons, “Okay, say hello to my little friend!”

“That should bring us up to five gunports Miss Jolene,” Meana said excitedly. She shivered slightly, it was so strange looking down at Jolene, she couldn’t wait until they were back on her ship and she was back down to the four foot tall height she had increasingly come to think of as her “normal.”

…

Joey looked up the length of Telma’s body, pinched as he was between her toes. He grunted as she playfully squeezed him, giggling at his reaction as he fought against the green digits. Like Kurt and Nea they had snuck away for some “rest,” and looking at the immense female form in front of him, Joey couldn’t help but feel that this was a good final thing to see.

“Ready to be big again?” Telma asked with a smile.

“Keep me small a little while longer,” Joey pleaded as she sat up and reached for him.

“A few more minutes,” Telma said quietly, plucking him from her toe’s grip. He was about four inches tall, and she smirked at him, “You know Joey, if you’re scared of the upcoming battle I could keep you somewhere… safe?”

“Safe?” he asked, confused.

“Of course, I’ll make you maybe half the size you are now, then wedge you deep between my buttcheeks, and with my power armor on you’ll be squeezed in there nice and tight,” Telma said with a dreamy smile.

“Fuck that’s tempting,” Joey muttered, “but… no.”

“I knew you’d say that,” Telma said with a sigh, dangling him over her face, “but it’s a fun idea, isn’t it?” She grinned, “tell you what, I’ll put you there after the battle is over.”

“Hot damn, I’ll kill every one of those fucking squids,” Joey said excitedly.

…

Kurt and Nea waited on the bridge of the Blade, as the largest ship available, Nea had chosen it as her flagship, and she stood, with Kurt on one side and Joey and Telma at her other. For the most part she would refrain from direct command, while Nea was a decent martial artist and skilled with weaponry, fleet tactics were beyond her. If there were any boarding actions? That might be a different story.

The assembled ships waited in a loose cluster, keeping a low orbit near the shipyards over the planet’s equator. The planetary shield, a powerful device meant to protect from orbital bombardment, kinetic or otherwise, had been weakened here, allowing physical entry across a circular area with a diameter of maybe one hundred miles, a pinprick entry in terms of space combat, a castle gate deliberately left ajar.

“First enemy craft are entering the system,” an officer called, “they’re organized in groups of about twenty… The first group is angling in this direction, the others are… following, hanging back in reserve?”

“Looks like you were right about them being hungry Princess,” the admiral said grimly, “they don’t seem to want to spend the time softening up the planet’s shield.”

“Better for us,” Telma said quietly, “if this becomes a siege… we can’t defend the entire planet at once, we’re too outnumbered.”

“Hold fire until they’re within fifty miles,” the admiral ordered, “they clearly aren’t expecting much of a fight, let’s correct the notion.”

“The whites of their eyes,” Kurt muttered.

“Indeed,” the admiral said with a small smile.

Kurt watched through the viewport, the computerized glass identifying the incoming ships with red targeting squares for the whole bridge, even as the weapon’s officers sent command to the gun crews. The first few red bursts rocketed out of a few disparate Cephalo ships, slamming home into the Zetan fleet’s outer flanks. Shields bristled, but none fell, and no ships fled.

“Return fire,” the admiral ordered.

Lances of green plasma shot out, each carefully aimed. The Cephalo ships shimmered, small bubbles of light appearing around them as their own shields struggled to compensate. Cracks quickly appeared, and the first line of the squidlike ships burst into flame, inky black blood pouring into space around them as the fleshy ships smoldered and burned in the vacuum of space. The ships didn’t drift or spit flame as a human or Zetan ship would, they twitched, the tendrils curling up and spasming like some massive spider clinging to life after being stepped on.

“We are seeing fifteen of twenty incoming ships destroyed,” the weapon’s officer shouted eagerly. Cheers rang out through the bridge, and Kurt fought the urge to pump his fist.

“Tell the rest of the fleet to fire at will, but do not pursue any stragglers which try to flee,” the admiral ordered.

…

Only two of the twenty Cephalo ships managed to limp back to the rest of the gathered fleet. Among the dozens of gathered creatures, a sense of panic and anger raced along mental networks. They swarmed around a large central mound of flesh, a tentacled mass that seemed to grasp at the very stars itself as an ancient and terrible intelligence within heard the lamentations of its children.

Elongated red eyes opened, and he surveyed the scene before him. It was as he had been told, the ancient abominations had once more surfaced to mar the perfection of the universe, allied with a hence unknown food species… His ancient jowls and flabby tentacles shook as he dragged himself into the nerve center of his ship.

We must flee, the thoughts came to him, the squeals and yelps of the younger Cephalo who circled his massive ship, as if hoping to hide behind him from a fear that many of them did not understand.

Silence, he thought, and hundreds of voices quieted. I have come so far to taste the flesh of these exotic creatures, these green bipeds, I have answered you whines and calls and pleas to come, to see that the abominations have risen once more, and this is what I find!? Fury rose within him, a red-hot feeling that caused the younger Cephalo in their gathered ships to wince and squeal with pain.

He let them squirm a moment, then continued, Few of us are left from those days, when the abominations had spread through the universe like a weed, one which we hacked and burned to clear the fertile fields which you whelps grow fat upon. A wet growl echoed through his massive starship, You have forgotten battle, you have forgotten what it is to EARN a meal!

He let the ship’s senses, hooked to his own eyes, bring him the information on the enemy fleet. It was small, pitiful, even without his own vessel. He rumbled again in disgust, both at the presence of humans which he felt there, and at the weakness that had grown unfettered in his own progeny.

I will lead this attack, you will follow, there were thoughts of protest, and he let his anger seep into their minds again, squeals of submission and apology followed. If any of you do not follow, he bellowed, you will be eradicated!

The hulking mass of the elder Cephalo’s ship lumbered through the void, joints creaking and cracking as tendrils long dormant slid into position. Muscles flared and ancient irises opened, heat beams focusing and warming plasma projectiles.

The mass of smaller tentacled ships followed cautiously after it, their own weapons glowing as the organic processes cooked plasma for battle.

…

“Void take me, what is that thing?” Nea asked in shock. At the head of the Cephalo swarm a massive jagged spire had emerged, the same writhing tentacles of the squidlike ships burst from it, seemingly at random, and it hovered towards the gap in the planetary shields like a shark, blotting out the stars as the wave of Cephalo welled behind it.

“We’ve never seen anything like this before,” Admiral Entyl said in a hushed tone, “we know as they get older their ships get bigger, more powerful, but… this is unprecedented.”

“It’s twice as large as Blade ma’am,” an officer said, looking up fearfully, “It… it seems to be bearing down on us in particular.”

“Fire all cannons,” the admiral said nervously, “tell every ship that has a ready gun to train it on that thing and fire!”

Hundreds of green lances of light leapt out from the combined fleet, exploding into the massive structure and it’s waving tentacles. The black carapace upon it sloughed and melted, some cracked like bone, exposing a sickly pink fleshy surface underneath, but it kept coming, lances of fire shooting from the spiny appendages and raking Blade’s shields as it closed distance with them.

“Enemy vessel is closing,” the officer said nervously.

“Holy shit,” Kurt breathed, “that thing wants to board us.”

…

The luxury yacht Tony Montana bobbed and weaved between the duels of Cephalo and Zetan ships that were beginning. Though the Zetan ships had tried to maintain a formation, the numbers of Cephalo ships were forcing them closer to the shipyards and their cannon emplacements. Every now and then a green light burst from the planet’s surface, a stationary military gun or law enforcement weapon desperately trying to help the battle in any way they could.

Jolene scowled as she aimed the plasma cannon from the modular control station, each of her crew was on one, except for Meana, who piloted their ship with the well learned evasiveness of a professional criminal.

“Miss Jolene!” Meana shouted over the comms, “the Blade, it’s in trouble!”

Her heart sunk, without the flagship there was no hope of holding back this tide, but she forced herself to pull up the scene on her wrist computer. Jolene had seen her share of horror and death, but her mouth went dry as she saw the massive tendrils of the tentacled obelisk tearing through the Blade’s hull, the shield flickering feebly as it tried to force away an invader that loomed large over it.

“Miss Jolene, what are your orders?” Amra called in a panic, turning away from her own plasma cannon.

She looked at them all, they really think I can stop this, she thought sadly, God dammit I’d like to be the woman they think I am… She sighed, and focused back on her own gun.

“There’s nothing we can do against that thing,” she said bitterly, “Meana, we look like a civvy ship, but with that oversized shield generator we can take a punch with the best of them. Pick the ships that look like they’re on the brink of losing, and we’ll fly in close and shoot the squids in the face, don’t stop moving though, because they’re going to wise up real fast.”

A beep told her that her plasma projectile was ready, and with a growl she aimed it at a passing mass of tentacles. She hissed in satisfaction as a green ball of fire tore several of them away.

…

Adam brought the car to a halt in front of a nondescript building in downtown Washington D.C. Only a few blocks from the national mall, the unassuming “Emergency Broadcast” building was one of a dozen in the United States and hundreds worldwide, along with a number of similar structures on Zetan planets. Initially meant to warn interstellar travelers of both races that a planet had fallen or was under attack by Cephalo, activating one of the arrays would activate all of them, everywhere, the hyperspace communications some of the most powerful that the Zetans had managed at the time and was still impressive by modern standards.

Upon activation one of the beacons would transmit a standard signal that the planet was unsafe, and should be avoided by civilian traffic, a signal that would be picked up immediately by every human and Zetan ship in the galaxy. The message could of course be changed to more specific instructions… or video even.

The arrays had fallen into, if not neglect, then disuse as Cephalo attacks had waned during the latter part of the war. Security had always been of the order to keep vandals and trespassers out, rather than a truly hardened military effort, and as Adam pulled his transport into the parking lot and got out, a solitary security guard watched him curiously from the facility’s entryway.

Adam confidently walked in, wearing his suit and tie, and Kira followed him in an earth style pantsuit, trying her best to look professional.

“Good evening,” Adam said with a smile, “I’m Adam Langstrom, Cultural Department Deputy Director, we’re here on official business.” He pulled his plastic badge out of his pocket, sliding it through the small gap at the bottom of the bullet proof glass barrier that separated the guard from the facility lobby.

“Cultural Department?” The guard muttered. He scanned the ID, and his computer immediately informed him that Adam was who he said he was, and also had clearance to access the facility, even if it was technically a military installation.

“Yes, that’s right,” Adam said, “this is my colleague, Kira Darkstar, Zetan liason.” She waved pleasantly and Adam continued, “We’re here on department business, we need access to the array immediately.”

The guard frowned, “sure, just let me call a higher up and-“

“No, there’s no time!” Adam said, “it’s… we’re wishing the Empress a swift recovery, after her injuries I mean.”

“Why would you need the emergency array for that?” The guard asked suspiciously.

“It’s her birthday,” Kira said, stepping forward, “we want to be sure she knows it’s from all of earth, here look-“ she reached into her purse, and with one smooth motion swept her shrink ray into her hand, dipping her wrist under the glass barrier and blasting the guard with an arc of light. He shouted in surprise once as he was reduced to four inches tall, peering up in confusion from his own chair cushion.

“Kira,” Adam exclaimed, “what-“ he was hit with the shrink ray next, and he blinked the stars out of his eyes as he felt Kira’s soft fingers wrapping around him.

“Sorry,” she muttered, “this was taking too long.” She slipped the shrunken Adam underneath the barrier, sticking her wrist in again and clicking him back to full size, leaving him sitting on the guard’s desk within the security station.

“I suppose that works,” he muttered, slipping off of it and walking over to let Kira in.

…

The Blade had a full contingent of Zetan marines, and the human volunteers who had boarded the ship were experienced spacers, well acquainted with violence and plasma weaponry. As the Cephalo spire’s tentacles discharged hundreds, thousands, of the clawed servitors into the ship, they fought bravely, making the enemy pay for every inch, every deck taken. Burning flesh mixed with the sewery smell of the invaders as the noxious fumes wafted through the ship.

“They’re coming for the bridge!” Kurt shouted, looking at the diagrams of the ship flashing red.

“Tell gun crews to hold their positions and keep firing at it!” The admiral shouted, “we have to get it to let us go!”

There were screams and battle cries outside the thick blast doors separating the bridge from the rest of the ship, human and Zetan. Nea scowled, pulling a plasma pistol as she motioned Kurt to her side. The bridge was growing tense, and others were reaching for their weapons, checking to make sure they were ready.

“Should we like, turn over some of these chairs for cover or something?” Joey asked hesitantly.

The Zetans glared at him, and Telma ruffled his hair, “bolted to the floor,” she explained with a smile, “in case of artificial gravity failure.”

“So we’re sitting ducks if those things get in here,” Kurt muttered.

“We don’t design our starships for firefights on the main deck!” Admiral Entyl shouted. She looked up at the screen grimly, looking at the diagram showing which sections of the ship had fallen to the enemy swarm. A blue room flashed red, signaling the creatures had taken it.

“They’re just ignoring the guns,” the admiral said quietly, realizing the pattern of attack, “they’re going for engines and the bridge… they just don’t want us getting away.”

“Then give them what they want!” Kurt said suddenly, “ram them!”

The admiral’s eyes went wide, “are you insane!?”

“Do it,” Nea said with a nod, “he’s right, if the guns cannot penetrate this… thing, that has us ensnared, we’ll overload our core and drive the ship into it…” She looked at the screens and grimaced, “Admiral… I fear we have lost the Blade anyway…”

“I…” the admiral swallowed, “of course Princess, I’ll give the order to abandon ship, but the safety override for the engine core is here on the bridge… we’d need to remain with it.”

The implication hung over them all, and the bridge was silent, save for the sounds of battle echoing further in the ship.

“Fuck,” Joey whispered, “is this it?”

“We’ll do our duty,” Telma said softly, “to the end.”

“For Zeta Prime,” Admiral Entyl said suddenly.

“For Zeta Prime!” The other crewmates shouted.

“Fuck it,” Kurt muttered, “For Earth, for the US of A, and for Iowa too, go Cyclones!”

“We didn’t even go there man,” Joey laughed.

“GO CYCLONES!” The Zetan crew echoed.

…

He stirred, watching through his servitors as the mix of Humans and Zetans changed their tactics. Squeals of pain and panic echoed through his mind, the whelps tasting battle for the first time… he told them to continue their assault, and then ignored them.

Pathetic wretches, he thought angrily as he focused back on the largest ship, entangled by his spire’s tentacles and now… what were they doing? His ancient flesh shuddered and chuckled as he realized it. The abhorred creatures were going to end themselves in an attempt to destroy him.

I have missed them, he thought, scuttling free of his ship’s central nervous system, I will not let this opportunity pass… His senses dulled as he was left with only his own aged form, but with a thought his servitors brought him his armor, that ancient and ebon material last used countless millennia ago, when mankind had stood against them in full and defied the gods of this universe… They were weak now, a primitive scattered remnant, desperately clinging to this food species… in a way they were like him, diminished, that ancient swell of power’s noontide gone, only this pale remnant remaining.

I have missed you, he thought almost longingly, humans… I have missed you!

…

“We’re losing ships left and right!” Amra shouted in a panic, “M-Miss Jolene, do you have a secret plan, or a gadget, or-“

“I’m just a simple woman making her way in the universe,” Jolene growled, “I’m sorry if you thought otherwise, but I’ve got no aces up my sleeve for this. This… this could be it.” She adjusted her plasma cannon, destroying a smaller and wounded Cephalo ship with a precise shot through the center.

“It’s okay,” Tolith said quietly, “I…” he smiled, “I’m still glad I joined up with you.”

“I just wish I’d had longer with all of you,” Zenya pouted.

Jolene smirked, then snapped her fingers, “hey! Back to those guns! We’ll be the last ship standing, or I’m not the best bounty hunter in the galaxy!”

That seemed to put a little fire in them, and Jolene adjusted her black hat as she looked at the battlefield, whizzing by as Meana maneuvered them through engagements. They were losing, one of the orbital stations was falling towards the surface in flames, and after a few return volleys the guns on the surface of the planet had gone silent. The fleet was fighting valiantly, but… they had lost half the ships they’d started with, and the Blade was being boarded, gripped in the tentacles of that unspeakable black spire.

This rodeo is nearing the final act, she thought bitterly. She sighed; guess I’ll be the last clown.

…

“Put your badge on the floor, and step away from it,” Kira said to the tiny guard.

He gulped, “I… I can’t let you guys in here!”

“She’s insane!” Adam said suddenly, peering down at the shrunken man, “she’s in Zeta Forever, I’ve seen her stomp dozens of humans into paste! I’m terrified of her!”

“Adam!” Kira exclaimed, appalled.

“Holy shit!” The guard shouted, “I’m sorry, just take it!” he threw his access badge on the ground and slowly stepped away from it. Kira sighed, then pointed her shrink ray at it, quickly returning it to normal size and leaving the guard small.

She bent down to pick it up, “that wasn’t true,” she said, “I love humans, I would never-“

“Come on!” Adam hooked his arm around hers, dragging her into the facility.

…

“Here they come!” Kurt shouted, firing his plasma pistol at the blast doors as they were pried open. He dove, dodging a return blast. These creatures weren’t the fleshy clawed things from the last Cephalo he’d encountered, they had bony black growths over their mottled skin, armoring them from attack as they raised glowing red tendrils, firing beams of deadly heat into the ship’s bridge.

“CORE CONTAINMENT CRITICAL” a robotic Zetan voice echoed from a control panel as they exchanged fire with the invaders.

…

“And… it’s done,” Adam said, pairing his wrist computer with the Emergency Broadcast Array. He turned to Kira with a smile, “would you do the honors?”

She rolled her eyes, “Come here Adam,” she said in a sultry voice. She pulled him into a kiss, linking their hands as the pressed the “broadcast” option on the holographic controls.

…

Admiral Andre Labutut had commanded a ship upon the sea during the Zetan invasion, and while he’d hated the invaders for what they’d done to his native Brazil, he’d volunteered to serve with them when the Cephalo had arrived. He’d never been entirely sure of his decisions, but he was a man with a chiseled face, a tan, and jet-black hair that hadn’t gone grey even before Zetan medical technology had become widespread, people seemed to like to follow him, even if he was never clear on exactly what he was doing.

Better to be lucky than skilled, he thought for the millionth time in a long career. Here he was, a commander in a space fleet, and he’d grown up seeing his father barter with street vendors so they could have meat for Christmas… Many had speculated on his political expertise, always choosing to support the right political party at the right time, rising through the ranks of his own country’s navy, then that of the United Earth fleet, and now here he stood, commanding men of all nations, in his native Portuguese no less, well, with a translation implant of course…

He had seen the broadcast, as had everyone else in the Human fleet orbiting the small brown dwarf star. He watched the young lovers kiss, and felt something stir in him… He looked to the bridge crew, they’d all seen it too, the passioned plea for cooperation and rescue, by a pair of young lovers no less… He sighed.

“Our orders are to remain in orbit around this star,” he said with a sad smile. He swallowed, his gut was telling him to do something, and his instincts and his mother’s prayers had served him well, bringing him from poverty into the heights of power through two alien invasions. Now… his gut was telling him to do something that his brain screamed against, but…

I was never that smart, he chuckled. Whatever was in his body and soul had outvoted his mind.

“I have decided to mutiny,” he announced as he turned to the other bridge officers, “In fact, I think I shall go ahead and commit another crime and ask you all to join me, I believe death is the usual punishment, and they cannot kill me twice, so why not add a few counts?” His crew looked up at him in awe, “Broadcast my orders to all of our ships, we go to Alrec’s aid.”

…

Tayla watched the broadcast of her sister and the human, “Kurt,” her lips tight. Smith was alongside her in the Zetan war room, the various military officials seated at the long table. Princess Kavrala sat at the end, directly across from her sister who now sat on their mother’s throne.

“I do not know what the humans mean by this broadcast,” Kavrala growled. “We had agreed this would not reach the public!”

“You agreed?” Tayla asked, shocked, “you mean you saw this and chose not to act?”

“Nea made her choices,” Kavrala said, “we cannot let emotions corrupt our decision making-“

“I would say that our sister has well learned her lesson!” Tayla hissed, “did the humans in the Alrec system rally to this call?”

“They did,” Kavrala said in a low voice, “they fight even now, but-“

“They fight even now!?” Tayla shrieked. “Send our fleet! What void spawned thoughts have clouded your mind that you don’t wish to save our sister and her human allies!?”

“I am mother’s chosen heir,” Kavrala said bitterly, “I must make difficult decisions… and my decision is that Alrec dies, a testament to Zeta Forever’s folly.”

“GAURDS!” Tayla practically shouted, “Arrest Kavrala!”

Smith blinked, looking around the war room. Guards, both human and Zetan, glanced about as he did, trying to judge what they should do. He sighed, then stepped forward.

“Princess Kavrala,” he said in a firm voice that had been honed by Secret Service training, “You are under arrest!”

“Am I?” she hissed, her own Zetan bodyguard stepping forward from her place on the wall.

Smith gulped and assumed a fighting stance, the seven-foot-tall woman leering at him expectantly, “You saw how I handled Princess Nea,” he growled.

“Nea wasted more time on the martial arts than I,” Kavrala said angrily, “but my bodyguard? Are you ready to die in my sister’s service Smith?”

“I don’t doubt he is,” Liana said, stepping forward from her place against the wall, “but he’s hardly alone.” The dozen humans in black suits and ties joined her, each drawing their weapons and focusing them on Kavrala and her bodyguard.

The other princess looked around madly, looking to the admirals in a final desperate plea, “she’s just a placeholder! A puppet until mother recovers, you can’t-“

“What are your orders, Empress Tayla?” a Zetan in a military uniform asked, standing up.

“Send my fleet to the aid of Alrec,” Tayla said in a low voice, “scatter my enemies before me.”

…

He rumbled through the enemy ship, driving the abominations and the greenskinned food species before him. They were not prepared for one such as he, and he screamed in triumph as his armored tentacles rendered their flesh as his voice rendered their minds. Both the humans and the green food species had proven to be a worthwhile conquest, and he felt long forgotten pleasure as his teeth closed upon them.

…

“Here it comes!” Kurt shouted, hearing the tumbling of the creature down the hallway. They had listened as it had overwhelmed barricade after barricade. His eyes went wide, and he tried to shoot the thin tendrils that snaked onto the bridge.

“Kurt!” Nea whimpered, “It’s… it’s so much stronger…”

There were screams of horror as Admiral Entyl turned her weapon on herself, her blood splattering the ceiling as her crew joined her.

“No,” Kurt muttered, “we’re human, we’re here, this isn’t possible-“

There were screams as the bridge crew and the admiral pulled their weapons, placing them to their foreheads. A *splat* echoed through the ship’s command center as they ended themselves with their own weapons.

“STOP!” Joey shouted, tackling Telma and forcing her gun away from her head. There was a flash of green, and the ceiling had a sudden a melted portion. Joey gritted his teeth, focusing all of his strength and willpower into keeping the gun away from Telma’s head. She glanced at him; her eyes filled with grief.

“In my presence, your foul miasma is as nothing,” a voice growled, “Human,” the voice hissed, not in his mind, but through the air, as sound… “I wish to speak to you, as one warrior to another…” the squid hauled itself into view, buoyed by a mass of tentacles gripping the ruined metal of the bridge doors. “This… meal, she is your mate?” he looked to Nea, who had her own plasma pistol to her head, tears in her eyes.

Kurt stood in shock, then blinked, feeling wetness run down his scarred cheek, “Come in then,” he muttered, “you’ve got me by the balls.”

A chuckle echoed through his mind, and the air together. A mottled grey mass hauled itself onto the bridge, populated only by Kurt, Nea, Joey, and Telma, the latter two in a life-or-death wrestling match for the plasma pistol Telma seemed intent to end her life with.

The thing regarded them with eyes the color of frozen meat, the pulsing and wrinkled grey head filling the door as it hauled itself inside. It was covered in linked black material that clinked as it moved, scuttling to the center of the room as Kurt, Joey, Nea, and Telma watched.

“Please,” it rasped, “give me your curses, your anger!”

“Go fuck yourself?” Kurt replied. The thing seemed to shudder, it’s many tentacles writhing as it relished his response.

“Kurt!” Joey shouted in panic, “I can’t hold it!” He was desperately holding Telma’s weapon away from her head as the Zetan wept, making eye contact with him.

“Do you remember me?” the Cephalo rasped through yellow teeth, “Do you remember us?”

Kurt felt that primordial hatred flare, “Yeah,” he said, his face contorted into a snarl, “I don’t know how, but… I think I do.” He hated this thing, it was in his blood, every inch of him screamed to rush at it, to tear it to pieces.

“It comforts me, in my ruined and aged state, to know that even now your very genetic code has primed you to react to us,” the Cephalo rasped through that horrible circular mouth. “We fought for this universe long ago, and while your mind knows me not, your soul does…” It chuckled, a horrible sound like tumbling granite,

It glanced to Nea, to Joey and Telma, “You are that ancient abomination, the voice of rebellion against the natural order which the creator ordained…” Telma screamed, fighting against Joey as she tried to bring her weapon to her head, “I am above the sickly soft children your species fights against today…” the pale grey-pink eyes focused on Kurt almost admiringly, “would that such as you had encountered me in my youth, that I would not suffer to see my own progeny and yours in such a state…”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” Kurt said angrily.

“Your very cells tell the story better than the mess of signals in your brain ever could,” The Cephalo rasped, “but now… it is time to end this.”

Nea dropped her plasma pistol in a stiff and robotic fashion. Kurt watched as she drew a shrink ray from her belt, and the flash blinded him as she obeyed the creature’s commands.

…

“This is the end,” Jolene whispered in a singsong voice, looking at the mass of Cephalo converging on her ship, “my only friend, the end…”

“Miss Jolene!” Meana shouted suddenly, “ships are entering the system!”

Jolene paused, letting the flicker of hope ignite something in her, “Cephalo?” she asked uncertainly.

“Human and Zetan! They’re in attack formations!”

“FUCK YES!” Jolene crowed, “evasive maneuvers, we’re going to live dammit!”

…

Kurt scrambled backwards, his shrunken form slipping against the smooth polish of the bridge floor. Nea walked towards him stiffly, lifting a massive foot over him and easily pinning him to the ground as the Cephalo controlled her mind.

“Your own weapon turned against you human,” the Cephalo chuckled, “I am strong enough to command even these lower beings who crowd themselves around you, hoping your blasphemies will pass to them. This thing shall crush you, at my orders.”

“KURT!” Joey screamed, forcing Telma’s hand and the plasma pistol in it against the wall. It shook, Joey had both hands on her wrist, holding it with all his strength as he looked pleadingly at his friend for answers.

“These green things,” the Cephalo mused, “they do not serve you? You think you are equals? Amusing… now die.”

“Nea,” Kurt rasped as her boot pressed on him, “I…” He blinked, and not knowing what else to say, he gave her a final smile. Remember me like this, he thought, for as long as you’ve got…

Nea’s eyes met Kurt’s, and even as he struggled beneath her boot, she saw the reflection of her eyes in his. Blue, human eyes she’d long been ashamed of, the remnant of her grandmother’s love for her human grandfather. She blinked away a tear, and then realized…

I did that!

They blinked at one another, her boot on his shrunken form eased, letting him breathe.

“CRUSH HIM!” The Cephalo demanded, tendrils flailing.

Nea took a breath, summoning all of her willpower, Am I human? She wondered, realizing she was shrugging off the Cephalo’s attempt at control. Close enough, she decided.

Those blue eyes blinked, again, and she felt electricity flaring up her arm, anger, jubilation, love. She returned Kurt’s smile, and then in a lightning motion she turned her shrink ray on the mottled grey thing. Its eyes went wide, that pinkish-grey frozen meat color flashing more vibrantly than ever as it disappeared in a flash.

The princess was her own again, and she gasped as she looked down at that tendrilled grey thing, on the bridge floor.

“YES!” Kurt shouted, “DO IT NEA!”

“NO!” It roared, “YOU WILL OBEY, CRUSH HIM-“ Nea cut the thing off as she brought her boot down on it, a wet slapping sound echoing over the bridge as she ground her boot back and forth slowly, like she was stomping a noxious insect.

The ship seemed to shudder as the reverberations of the Cephalo elder’s death spread through the ship. There was a scream as its servitors entered a berseker rage, the tentacled spire seemed to shift and quake, a patient in the midst of a seizure… then it began to draw the Blade to it…

…

The arrival of the human and Zetan fleets, combined with the death of the Cephalo spire, had thrown the attackers into chaos. Terror and madness spread through the creatures and everything they touched, the remaining Cephalo tried to break away, fleeing as the Zetan and Human ships pursued them, green cannons flaring brightly against the black vacuum of space.

“M-Miss Jolene!” Tolith called, “The Blade…” they watched as its engines flared, pressing the flagship towards the black mass of the Cephalo ship.

Jolene looked at the approaching relief fleets, then at her own Zetans. A smile lit up her features, and she tipped her hat.

“Set course for the Blade, there’s a billion credits on there waiting for me, get my armor ready!”

…

Nea had immediately returned Kurt to full size, and with Telma no longer threatened by the Cephalo, she and Joey were helping the exhausted Kurt and Nea through the collapsing ship.

“Come on!” Joey shouted, “there’s got to be an escape pod or something left!”

“We already sent the rest of the crew away,” Telma said bitterly, “I… I think there isn’t anything left for us.”

Joey paused, hefting Kurt’s barely conscious form over his shoulder, “Hey,” he said with a smile, “at least we go out knowing we won, right?”

…

“Every Cephalo on the ship is dead?” Jolene asked, slapping her visor over her face.

“None are detected on board Miss Jolene,” Meana said eagerly. “The shield is failing, there’s no air for them… or anyone else, to breathe.”

“Groovy,” the bounty hunter said under her breath, leaping down the boarding tube into the wreckage of Blade.

…

Kurt, Nea, Joey, and Telma lay panting against the hallway of the Blade, the atmosphere rapidly venting and growing too thin for them to breathe.

“CORE DETONATION IN TWO HUNDRED SECONDS,” a robotic voice called.

“Well,” Kurt wheezed with a smile, “we didn’t do so bad, did we?” He glanced at them all, and they returned his smile as their bodies went limp.

His vision went white, and he blinked against what he thought was a lack of oxygen. He frowned as vision started to come back, a massive gauntleted hand filling his field of view as he passed out.

Kurt groaned as he regained consciousness, something that was a pleasant surprise as he hadn’t expected to. He was surrounded on all sides by something… soft, fleshy. It was dark too, and he fumbled, trying not to fall deeper.

“Kurt?” Nea asked, her voice muffled.

“Over here,” he managed.

“Dude, where are we?” Joey’s voice called from somewhere below him.

He sighed, “Joey you’ve been small enough by now that you should recognize this…” We’re trapped in someone’s tits, he thought, fighting a laugh.

Light opened up overhead as Jolene pulled her tight fitting sports bra away from her chest, “wakey wakey bugs!” she called cheerfully, reaching in for them. Her fingers plucked them out one at a time, not caring as they cried in surprise at being dangled roughly. Kurt was the last to go slipping from between her sweaty globes with a wet slapping sound as she brough him down on coffee table in front of one of the lounge’s couches.

“Dude, we made it!” Joey shouted excitedly.

“Thank you, truly!” Telma said, beaming.

“What happened? Did we win the battle?” Nea asked, standing up shakily and trying to take a commanding air with the gigantic bounty hunter.

“Battle’s still going on,” Jolene said, gesturing to the lounge viewport as she opened a bottle of qet. “A bunch of alliance ships showed up and started trashing the squids right after you guys brought the spire down…”

“That’s wonderful!” Nea said excitedly, “put me through so I can-“

“Oooohh no,” Jolene chuckled, “we did our part princess, and they’re just mopping up now anyways.” She kicked her feet up on the table, rocking their worlds and causing them to stumble as she watched the last of the fight, “We’re just going to sit here and watch our tax dollars at work,” Jolene said with a smile.

“Miss Jolene,” Amra said nervously, “I usually handle your finances, and you don’t pay tax-“

“It’s just an expression,” Jolene laughed. She frowned suddenly, looking at the four tiny captives on her ‘table, “Hey, do you think we’ll have to pay taxes on the reward for these four?”

“You’re still going to turn us in?” Kurt asked incredulously, “after we fought together?”

“Well yeah,” Jolene laughed, “I mean, you four are cool guys and gals and all, but business is business.”

“The hyperlanes are cleared of Cephalo activity Miss Jolene!” Meana called from the ship’s cockpit.

Jolene shrugged, “anyone got anything else they want to do on Alrec before we go?” The group was silent, and Jolene nodded, “Okay Meana, Zeta Prime!” They watched as space began to stretch and contort outside the viewport.

Jolene started to stand up, “hope you four don’t mind being tiny, it was the easiest way to get you off the Blade before it took out that big squid’s ship. Some of the crew and the human volunteers made it off before the end, so that’s something I guess.” She shrugged, “What the hell happened on there, anyway?”

“It was a Cephalo,” Kurt muttered, “a big one, he said we knew each other…”

“He said?” Jolene asked, “look kid, they don’t talk, they just scream at most. Are you sure you weren’t getting a little delirious when the ship’s air was venting?”

“That thing fucking talked,” Joey agreed, “it was able to control Telma and Nea, all the Zetans, even when Kurt and I were right next to it.”

“Shit,” Jolene muttered, “some kind of super squid?”

“An old one,” Kurt said, “I think anyway, he said he fought humans before, a long time ago.”

“Well, if that’s the case I’m guessing they won,” Jolene said, looking at the lines and colors of hyperspace beyond the viewport. “How’d you kill it?”

“It… it tried to make me kill Kurt,” Nea said slowly, “but… I couldn’t do it.” She looked up at him and smiled, her blue eyes meeting his, “I guess, my grandfather’s blood is thick enough in me yet, whatever it is that lets you resist them… some of it was in me too.”

Telma leaned over and gave Joey a kiss, “thank you for saving me Joseph,” she said with a small smile.

“Hey, just a normal day’s work for a space cowboy,” Joey laughed.

“A space cowboy?” Kurt asked, eyebrow raised, “is that what you’re calling yourself now?”

“I feel like I’ve earned it,” Joey said defiantly.

“No, you’re more like space buckaroo, space ranch hand,” Jolene said, tipping her black hat, “something like that… but you’re on your way kid.”

…

Empress Tetra Brightstar sat upon her throne, the aches and pains in her body dulling as she let herself sit. Tayla and Kavrala stood before her, both of their bodyguards behind them. Smith was at Tayla’s side, holding her hand as they waited for the Empress to speak.

“I have been appraised of all that happened while I was incapacitated,” the empress said coolly, “I am pleased with some of what you have done…” She glanced at Kavrala and frowned, the eldest princess seemed to wither under her gaze, “and there were decisions made that I was upset to learn about.” She steepled her fingers, “I… have many things to consider.”

“Mother,” Kavrala said defensively, stepping forward, “I made the decision with the human leaders, we had all agreed-“

“I am glad to see you have learned to cooperate with humanity,” Tetra said in exasperation, “but humans are just as capable of foolhardy and monstrous decisions as any Zetan. This folly nearly cost the lives of a billion citizens of our empire!”

She turned to Tayla, “I must admit, I am impressed with the responsibility you took Tayla,” she smiled, “perhaps you will join me when I meet with the human diplomats later?”

Tayla gulped, looking to Smith, “I uh… I don’t know mother, it’s not really my-“

“Send us a time,” Smith said, smirking at her reaction.

“I will,” Tetra said with a smile, “you are dismissed…” she waved her hand, watching them go. Her heart sank, she was planting the seeds of resentment and future conflict in her own family, as empresses before had… it was the nature of things it seemed… But much as she wanted to be a mother, she was also an Empress.

“Your majesty,” a Zetan guard said, approaching the side of the throne, “The bounty hunter Jolene Masterson has entered the system, she wishes to speak directly to the Empress.”

“Tell her I will meet her on her vessel as soon as I can,” she said.

The guard started, “we are… going to her?”

“Yes,” Tetra said bitterly, “some things need to be dealt with in person.”

…

The Empress’s own yacht was slightly bigger than Jolene’s, with an escort of military ships that circled them ominously as the boarding tube stretched between the two vessels. Tetra stopped, halfway through it, and turned to her guards.

“Wait for me on our ship,” she said firmly.

The mix of humans and Zetans looked at each other, “Ma’am,” a human began uneasily. “We don’t think it wise to leave you alone so soon after-“

“That is an order,” she growled. Without waiting to see if they obeyed, she turned back towards Jolene’s ship, marching forward alone.

…

Jolene had been kind enough to return the four of them to their normal heights, though she’d forced Nea and Telma to their knees, hands cuffed behind their backs.

“The Empress is coming up to get you guys herself!” Jolene practically squealed, “she’s probably going to offer me a bonus…”

“M-Miss Jolene?” Zenya asked nervously, “do you want us to… hide?”

Jolene blinked, “no, fuck that, you four get out here and stand at attention!” The Zetans quickly obeyed, saluting Jolene. She quickly grabbed her shrink ray, sending them back up to the usual Zetan heights from their four-foot statures. They looked at her, slightly disappointed, “I’ll make you guys little again when she’s gone.”

The door hissed open, and the Empress stepped through, alone. Jolene craned her neck, looking for additional bodyguards, but there were none. The empress spotted Nea and Telma, and walked over to them, wincing slightly as her injuries flared.

“Please release them,” she said quietly.

“Sure thing your majesty,” Jolene said, hitting a button on her wrist computer. The cuffs fell off Nea and Telma, and they stood up, rubbing their wrists and shifting over to Kurt and Joey, who watched silently.

The Empress walked towards Nea, and she winced, as if about to be struck, but instead Tetra embraced her daughter, hugging her tightly as they looked on.

“Nea,” she whispered. “I… I thought I’d lost you, that you had become this dark and terrible person…” She parted from her daughter, tears in her eyes, “I was angry,” she said quietly, “at you, at myself… but then? I was worried. I worried what these people would do to you, would make you do to others, things that would consume you…” She smiled, “I… it makes me happier than you can ever know to see that you have come through this whole, and not just in body…”

“Mother,” Nea sobbed, and the two embraced again. “I’m so sorry,” she wept, “I… I didn’t think it would happen like this; I didn’t think people would try to kill you for things I did…”

“I am alive,” Tetra said with a sigh, separating from her daughter, “I had hoped to keep my birth organs for a few more decades, but alas it was not to be.” She gave a small smile, “Zeta Forever would have tried to kill me eventually regardless of what you did Nea… you are not blameless, but you cannot hold yourself entirely to blame.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell her,” Kurt muttered.

Tetra’s gaze fell upon the two humans, and she frowned, “You’re that Earth boy who kissed my daughter in front of the entire galaxy?”

“The one and only,” Kurt said with a nod.

“Dude, Kurt, that’s the Empress, maybe be cool?” Joey hissed.

“Is it true that you received this scar saving my daughter from an army of one hundred Cephalo?” The empress asked curiously, running a finger up Kurt’s cheek.

“From the sound of things, everyone who tells the story adds an extra squid,” Kurt laughed with a shrug.

“There was one mother,” Nea said with an embarrassed smile, “but he was very brave…”

Nea looked down a moment, “Mother… I would like to discuss Telma and I’s punishment…”

“Indeed,” Tetra sighed, “your whereabouts are currently unknown Nea… and while your actions were heroic, you also caused much of what has transpired. Many are still calling for your execution and imprisonment, and I do not think I can protect you from them…”

Nea’s eyes fell, “I… I understand, might I say goodbye to Kurt?”

“Unnecessary,” the Empress said, “though you should help him prepare a eulogy for your funeral.”

Nea’s heart skipped a beat, “M-My what!?”

“It’s my final gift to you,” Tetra said with a sigh, “I’m… allowing myself to be your mother, and not your empress, something I should have perhaps done more often.” She glanced at Telma, “Princess Nea Brightstar and her bodyguard Telma died on the bridge of the Blade, defending it to their last breath as they rammed it into the Cephalo flagship.”

“Mother?” Nea whispered, “are you… sure?”

“Alive? You are a criminal,” Tetra explained, “a princess who at best fixed her own messes is what they will say… Your trial alone could take a decade, to say nothing of the human response… kissing that young man over there and broadcasting it all over the universe gave you a surprising boost of popularity, but not all are forgiving.” Tetra smiled sadly, “Dead? You are a martyr, a brave princess who realized her mistakes and unified humans and Zetans to save a planet.”

“I understand,” Nea said softly, “Mother… thank you.” She smiled and turned to Telma, “will you come with me? Wherever it is I might be going?”

“I’ve nowhere else to go but where you’re going,” Telma beamed.

“And I’m with her!” Joey shouted eagerly.

The three of them looked at Kurt expectantly, and he gave a small smile, “Well hell, I guess I’ll tag along…”

“Touching,” Jolene said, glancing at the Empress, “now let’s talk about payment? I’ve got places I want to go too, and none of them are cheap!”

“One billion credits was your agreed upon reward,” the Empress said, raising an eyebrow.

“I’ve also got Governor Lenais, and about a hundred other high ranking Zeta Forever members, I feel like that’s worth a bonus.”

The Empress raised an eyebrow, “Agreed,” she said, clearly impressed, “you really are the best Miss Masterson…” She paused a moment, “what do you say to one million credits for each of them?”

“I feel like two is fair,” Jolene said, crossing her arms, “I got in a battle with an army of Cephalo on this job you know.”

“Should I expect a bill for each plasma bolt fired?” the Empress asked, starting to grow annoyed, “you will take one million credits each for them, or we will start to discuss whether this ship counts as part of your reward.”

Jolene smirked, “I guess I’ll just shut my big fat mouth.”

“Good,” the empress said, “now, where are they?”

Jolene just laughed.

…

The mansion had been shrouded in darkness at the bottom of Jolene’s hamper for days, Lenais huddled against the wall of her bedroom, the ever present musky odor of the human’s feet permeating everything. Somehow she never got used to it, and it made the knowledge of where they’d been forced to get their water from even more unbearable… She shuddered.

Light suddenly broke overhead, and she looked up as the world opened. Jolene casually untied the top of the sock, gently setting it on the countertop of the lounge’s kitchenette. She beckoned the Empress over, and the Zetan monarch looked down at the tiny mansion in shock.

“Oh thank the stars,” Lenais almost wept. Like many in the mansion she’d been terrified that the human had simply forgotten them, or deliberately left them to their fate. The prospect of spending life at a near microscopic size, trapped forever within a pile of the human woman’s soiled clothes… it had been close to driving her mad. “I’ll confess!” she shouted, though the giants overhead would never hear her. “PLEASE! I’LL SAY ANYTHING, JUST PUT ME IN A NORMAL PRISON!”

Tetra squinted at the specks moving around the tiny mansion, “quite a creative use of our technology,” she muttered.

“You can have all of them, but I think I’m going to keep the governor’s mansion,” Jolene said, eyeing it.

“Ah, you intend to regrow it?” The empress asked, leaning back up.

Jolene snorted, “after where it’s been? The smell of my sock is never coming out of it, I’m keeping it as a little memento of this whole thing. It’ll make a fine desk ornament.”

…

Adam sighed, cleaning out his desk and filling a cardboard box with his possessions. He and Kira had made it three blocks before being apprehended by police, and while he knew he wasn’t a hardened criminal by any stretch, he’d still been somewhat embarrassed at how quickly their flight from the law had ended.

“Need a hand?” Kira asked, leaning against his doorframe and smiling. She dangled a shrink ray from a keychain.

“Good to see they finally released you,” Adam said with a smile, “I wonder, did you get the same speech I got?”

“The human fleet always intended to save Alrec,” Kira said with a smirk as she parroted the talking points they’d been given, “the delay was merely a tactical maneuver to make sure all of the Cephalo were in the system.”

“And we’re both resigning from our positions to spend more time with our families,” Adam laughed. “When he told me, Manford’s face was so red I thought he was going to have a heart attack!”

“It seems a poor reward for two people who saved a planet,” Kira said bitterly, “fired in all but name, and blacklisted from government and military work for life.”

“They aren’t giving us criminal charges,” Adam said with a shrug, “they mostly just want to sweep us under the rug and forget about us I think… which is fine by me.” He sighed and looked out the window, “I spent so much time here, putting everything into this job, into promoting friendship between our peoples…” He turned to her and smiled, “but now that I’ve lost it all… I just don’t feel anything!”

She frowned, “really? You’re not even a little upset? I’ll admit, this isn’t how I saw my career ending.”

“I’ve realized that the only thing I ever got from this job that made me happy, was you,” Adam said with a smirk, “and as far as I know? I’ve still got you.”

“You do,” Kira agreed, a war flutter in her chest as she returned his smile.

She aimed her shrink ray at his box of possessions, tapping it once and reducing it to the size of a rubiks cube. She brought it up to him next, and he didn’t flinch or even act surprised when the beam arced out, whiting out his vision as she reduced him to a few inches tall. Casually grabbed his box of possessions, dropping it into her purse. She bent down to pick him up next, her fingers curling around him as she stood back up.

“Can I at least have a choice of where I’m going this time?” he asked as she regarded him playfully.

“You always choose breasts,” Kira said, sighing in exasperation.

“It’s the best place to ride around in!” Adam insisted, “anywhere else and I need to get my suit dry cleaned!”

“I’ll pay for it,” Kira said with a smirk, bringing him down to the waist of her pants. She pulled the fabric away, letting him see in where she was wearing earth style cloth panties. The elastic was pulled away, and the smell of her arousal hit him like a gust out of a furnace as she released him, letting him tumble in. The world went dark, and he was quickly pushed against her warm opening. Kira hissed with pleasure once, then collected herself.

She took one last look around at Adam’s empty office, then smiled, walking down the hall and out of the Cultural Department office for the final time.

…

Nea’s funeral was held on Zeta Prime, in the massive public square in front of the imperial palace. The entire royal family was in attendance, though from their expressions Kurt wondered exactly who was in on the secret of Nea’s survival, and who wasn’t. The rest of the crowd was a mix of various dignitaries, earth officials, human and Zetan captains of industry… celebrities… He was seated next to Joey, who was doing his best to remain stoic. Both of them were in customary black suits and ties, and a traditional Zetan funeral dirge played slow and mournfully over the proceedings.

“Why don’t you have to give a eulogy?” he hissed at Joey.

“They made me do one at Telma’s yesterday,” he replied, “and I didn’t kiss a princess on an intergalactic broadcast,” Joey replied with a quick smirk, “act sad, you’re supposed to be mourning the Zetan princess you fell in love with, star crossed lovers and all that shit.”

“You say goodbye to your family yet?” Kurt asked quietly.

“Yep,” Joey said with a shrug, “I need time to process everything that happened, so I’m going to go explore the colonies for a while. Mom understood, dad thinks I’m going to be back in a few days… well, I guess I’ll write, you?”

“I’m heartbroken after the death of my one true love,” Kurt said, forcing himself not to smirk, “mom and dad understand, I need time to heal.” He rolled his eyes, “you know what’s fucked up? Hardly any girls in Clearwater would give me the time of day before all this, but I woke up this morning to a dozen girls asking me if I needed someone to talk to.”

A pair of Zetan palace guards approached him and Joey, motioning for Kurt to follow them. With a sigh he sat up, walking down the central aisle to a large podium that had been prepared overlooking the crowd.

He hadn’t wanted to speak, but everyone had insisted he had to. The fact that he knew Nea was actually alive had tempered some of his… emotion, on the topic. The whole thing felt somewhat farcical, and as he looked at the speech the Earth cultural department had prepared for him on the teleprompter, it took all of his self-control not to laugh as he recognized the line they’d started it with. It was one he’d heard numerous times; from an old film his father had always liked to watch with him in his youth.

“Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels,” he began to the crowd, “Nea’s was the most human…”

…

Kurt loosened his tie, sighing as the small shuttle lifted off the ground, bringing him back up to Jolene’s ship in orbit. He wasn’t sure how to feel about the bounty hunter, but she was letting them all stay on her luxury starship for free, and had apparently worked out some deal with the Empress to take the four of them somewhere far away from Zeta Prime.

“Docking,” one of Jolene’s Zetan crew, Kurt hadn’t quite gotten all their names yet, said neutrally as the shuttle connected with the main yacht.

“Thanks for the ride,” he muttered, stretching and standing up.

“No problem!” the Zetan said eagerly, “all of us who serve Miss Jolene love serving humans! Even if she’s our favorite!”

Frickin weirdos, he thought not for the first time. I guess if they’re happy then whatever…

“If I may ask, when is Mr. Joey going to return to the ship?” The Zetan inquired.

“He’s got some stuff he wants to do on the surface,” Kurt said.

“Is Jolene around?” he asked the Zetan as they stepped into the ship’s lounge.

“No Mr. Kurt,” the Zetan said, “she’s visiting the Earth colonization department offices on Zeta Prime.”

Kurt rolled his eyes, she’d been talking endlessly about buying a colonization charter for a planet, but even with a billion credits in her pocket, Kurt was skeptical. Most colonies were started by corporations, groups of investors, a single individual having one was unheard of. He’d never spent a great deal of time thinking about the way Human colonies were structured, supposedly four planets were “full members” of United Earth, with populations of five hundred million or more, but there were dozens of smaller worlds that were being settled by private individuals, corporations, or even a handful of nation states. Most colonies didn’t have enough people to matter.

“I’ll be in my room,” he said, waving dismissively at the four-foot tall Zetan. He walked through the carpeted luxury ship, sighing and unbuttoning his shirt, hefting his black jacket over his shoulder. He entered the suite to the hiss of the door.

“I loved the eulogy,” Nea said with a smile, laying on the bed in nothing but that webbed Zetan underwear. “I had to watch the whole thing of course, it’s not every day a girl gets to watch her sisters all talk about how great she was.”

Kurt smirked, “I didn’t write the eulogy, and I’m pretty sure your sisters are in on your ah… death.”

Nea frowned, “are you sure? Kavrala hasn’t said anything nice to me in years, and she called me a brave warrior.”

“From what I understand, she’s in deep shit,” Kurt laughed, “she tried to hang us out to dry I guess, she was really sucking up to me in front of your mom, even called me the next Leonard the Great, your granddad I guess?”

“They don’t usually call him The Great,” Nea mused, “but…” she thought a moment, “he had that same yellow hair as you do.”

“I don’t need to ask what color eyes he had,” Kurt said, meeting Nea’s blues with a smile.

“It’s strange,” Nea said, a small smile on her face as she regarded him, “I’m… I’m no one now, Princess Nea is dead. I’m just some Zetan named Nea now…” She reached for her shrink ray, enjoying the brief look of suspicion on Kurt’s face as she adjusted it. “Are you still so eager to be my pet, now that I’m not royalty?”

“Being totally honest?” Kurt said with a smile, “I wasn’t even one hundred percent sure you were a princess that first time you pinned me under your feet, I was pretty sure you were just some nutjob Zetan, I mean what kind of Zetan princess attacks Clearwater?” he chuckled, “Like, New York, hell even Des Moines, that’s where a princess would land to subjugate humanity.”

“Clearwater was as good a city as any to begin my subjugation of humanity!” Nea mockingly protested, “it had the best human in the galaxy!”

“The best?” he laughed.

“Only the very best humans are worthy to serve as pets and toys beneath a Zetan princess’s feet!” Nea said, a wicked grin tracing across her face as she leveled her shrink ray at him, “and you Kurt Miller of Clearwater, are the best!”

Kurt blinked as the familiar beam arced out at him, and a moment later he was staring up at their bed, a rising monolith above him. The massive smug green face appeared, peeking over the mattress with a giggle.

“The very best human in the galaxy,” Nea repeated, “and he’s mine!” She heaved herself over the bed, standing up over him like a green colossus.

“Nea,” Kurt said hesitantly, “maybe let me get out of this suit and-“

He grunted as her soft toes pinned him, and he felt an erection rising in his pants as she scrunched those bare digits around him. The slight grime of Nea’s toes was coating him quickly, bathing him in the slightly vinegary smell of her feet as she pressed him into the carpet. Nea’s toes gently worked him into a very familiar position, his head pinned between her big and long toes.

“Fuck,” he grunted as she began grinding her soft heel against him.

“Just accept it Kurt,” Nea giggled, “you’re not just a perfect human for your bravery, but also because you instinctively know your place!” She gave a smug giggle, leaning over him slightly, “just let your seed spray, ruin those pants and I’ll strip them off you like the doll you are!”

“N-No!” he shouted, gripping her toes as he tried to fight her commands.

“This feeble attempt at rebellion is another reason why I love you Kurt,” Nea said softly, “but we both know you’re going to give in.” She ground her soft sole against him, a rhythmic pattern against his pants that caused him to go cross eyed as he tried to fight his own body.

“Just accept that these clothes are ruined,” Nea said dismissively, “you won’t need them again, it’s a worthy sacrifice to be ground beneath my heel as we both know you desire.”

“Fuck me,” Kurt muttered, feeling himself spasm beneath her and cum in his pants as she gently rocked her massive foot over him.

“Good human,” Nea said with a victorious grin, “I’m no princess, so I suppose you aren’t a consort but… I will claim you, by whatever means are common among you humans.” She pinched his head between her toes again, “you are mine!”

Kurt gasped in the post orgasm bliss, his suit ruined by the mix of her sweaty foot and his own cum. He looked up at the Zetan princess who held his heart, and he smiled.

“I’m yours,” he agreed.

…

Jolene waited impatiently in the colonization department office. The Zeta Prime branch was mostly used for resolving disputes between Humans and Zetans regarding the settlement of recently discovered planets. It was unusual to see someone here interviewing for a colonization grant, and an individual no less.

Brandon Calder had gotten the job as a political favor, his father had married a Zetan woman, and while he had a human skin tone, his pointed ears and yellow eyes betrayed a Zetan heritage. Zeta Prime had been an odd transition after growing up on Earth, but whatever prejudice against his human heritage there might be, he found it overwhelmed by the Zetan female interest in his male genitalia.

“So,” he began, “you want to start a colony and… you’re willing to pay the entire licensing cost yourself?”

“Damn straight,” Jolene said with a grin, tilting her hat and kicking her leather boots up on his desk.

“Hmm…” Brandon muttered, his pointed ears twitching, “well, the department has several worlds within your budget available… most have fairly extreme climates.”

“A desert world,” Jolene said eagerly.

“Here’s one,” Brandon said, “the pre-settlement probe seeded it with standard Earth desert wildlife roughly twenty years ago, do you like saguaro cactuses, scorpions, and rattlesnakes?”

“Fucking love ‘em,” Jolene said excitedly, “what’s it going to set me back?”

“Eight hundred million credits,” Brandon said, expecting her to balk.

“Done,” Jolene said, “name it New Tombstone.”

Brandon blinked, “Uh… okay, it will take a few days, but… I’d like to congratulate you, colonial governor of New Tombstone…”

…

“We’ll need to plot a hyperlane to it,” Jolene said, explaining her purchase to her own crew, and Telma, Nea, Kurt, and Joey. “It’ll be a good two years at least, we’ll need to place beacons, set up landing spots on planets with breathable atmospheres…” She grinned, “and who knows? There’s all kinds of strange lifeforms out there, space pirates fleeing civilized space, maybe a squid or two.”

“So where do we fit in?” Kurt asked, leaning against a couch in the Tony Montana’s lounge.

Jolene shrugged, “you four are pretty hardcore, I saw that myself over Alrec, and I can give you your own plots when we get to my new planet.”

They all looked at each other, “Anyone else coming?” Joey asked, “no offense, but nine of us trying to settle an entire planet seems… well, ridiculous.”

“I’m sure that in a few years, once we’ve got the hyperlane set, we’ll be flooded with settlers,” Jolene said with a grin, “for the hyperlane planning I’ve got a few other applicants, there’s a human-zetan couple who apparently used to be pretty important in the Cultural Department who want in. If they’re serious, that’s the beginning of our own hyperspace convoy!”

“I’m in,” Joey said, “I could use a couple years away from it all.”

“Agreed,” Telma said, draping an arm around him.

“Nea?” Kurt asked, looking at her with a smile.

“I’m not afraid to face any frontier,” Nea said eagerly, “so long as you’re with me!”

Jolene grinned, “it’s settled then, the universe is ours… full of danger and wonder and riches…”

Kurt and Nea shared a glance, smiling at one another. Joey and Telma echoed the gesture, and Kurt couldn’t help but notice the look that passed between Jolene and her Zetan crew.

“To boldly go,” Kurt muttered under his breath.

THE END

Tayla looked up in awe at the Washington Monument, one of the few pre-war structures remaining in Washington DC, “So we didn’t destroy it during our invasion?” she asked curiously.

“No, apparently they painted it green,” Smith said with a smirk, “I guess your people wanted to keep it for themselves.”

“You two should reserve the sightseeing for after we are done with the Earth military contractors,” Liana called, waving them along the national mall.

“She’s right,” Tayla said with a sigh, “mother has been insistent that I spend more and more time on matters of state… I don’t know what’s gotten into her!”

Smith frowned, having a few guesses, but he kept his thoughts to himself. For now, he was visiting Earth, the newly pledged consort of an alien princess, later that day they’d be in Hawaii, a place he’d always wanted to visit but had never had the time or the money for. This was supposed to be something like their honeymoon, but Empress Tetra had asked her daughter to take care of “a few small things” while they were on the blue planet.

In the humidity of the D.C. summer, Smith almost missed the nanofabric of Zeta Prime, the traditional earth suit becoming stifling as he adjusted his tie slightly.

Tayla seemed to notice, and she smiled as she leaned in, “I like this attire… it’s what you wore when I first saw you.” She curled a finger through his hair, “If it is uncomfortable though… Liana and I will help you out of it later.”

The Amazonian princess squeezed him tight to her for a moment, then let go, giving him a peck on the cheek as they walked to the meeting.

…

Jolene sighed happily, Amra and Meana were each rubbing one of her feet, the diminutive Zetans looking up at her excitedly as she watched the stars drift by outside the viewport. Tolith squirmed in the front of her panties, trapped and exciting her more with every passing moment, and Zenya had earned her spot in the back, trapped between Jolene’s cheeks.

“M-Miss Jolene,” Amra said hesitantly, “if you made us all smaller there might be room in there for all of us-“

“Oh sweetie,” Jolene laughed, leaning forward and ruffling the four-foot Zetans hair, “it’s not about room, we all agreed you four were going to play the Game of Life, and the winners would get first pick of spots, Tolith and Zenya beat you two fair and square, so they’re in my underwear today and you two are out here on foot duty.” She gave a small smile, “better luck next time with the spinner.”

“Yes Miss Jolene,” Amra said, her Zetan ears dipping slightly as she stood up, following Jolene across the room.

“Now as much as I’d love to drift through space punishing my little pets all day,” she drawled, “we do have some actual work to do. She checked a small wall monitor, quickly finding the location of the other ships in the convoy, “Looks like Nea and Kurt got up at 0600 and started on their relays right away… Joey and Telma are out placing theirs too.”

Jolene moaned a moment as the two prisoners in her underwear seemed to be going inward at the same time. She chuckled, seeing the envious expression the faces of the two Zetans behind her.

“We’re going to be out here charting the lane for New Tombstone for at least two years, you two will get plenty of turns to be tiny and ride around in my underwear,” she said sternly, “so stop the pouting.” She snapped her fingers, “go get your space suits on! Last one dressed…” she tried to think of what to threaten, what was a punishment and what was a reward to her Zetan crew seemed to blur, “last one dressed is spending the night in my workout socks, chop chop!” they squealed in delight, then ran for their work stations.

Jolene took a final look outside at the stars before joining them, and smiled. My own place, she thought, dreaming of the planet waiting for them at the journey’s end, my own sky…

…

Joey floated in space, the jets of his spacesuit allowing him to easily maneuver around the hyperlane beacon as he activated it. A small red light flared to life at the top of the structure as it powered on, and Joey checked it off on his wrist computer, marking it as set and in good working order.

“You still out here working?” Kurt’s voice came over the intercom. Joey turned to see Kurt floating by in his own space suit, dancing acrobatically high in orbit above a gaseous orange planet that loomed large below them. Jolene had determined this system would make a good base for some of their hyperlane beacons, and while it had no habitable planets, it was beautiful.

“Not all of us get up at the crack of dawn,” Joey laughed, “you know we’re supposed to try to stick to a standard twenty-four-hour schedule, right?”

“What can I say, I have to get up early and hide Nea’s shrink ray,” Kurt joked, releasing his beacon and watching it tumble into a slow orbit.

“You going over to Adam and Kira’s shuttle later?” Joey asked, “they invited us for dinner, and Telma wants to get to know them.”

“Nea and I will stop by,” Kurt said, glancing back at their own shuttle.

Each of the colonization shuttles had a fairly simplistic pill shaped design, and while the ships themselves were the size of football fields and a good hundred feet tall, the living quarters in each one was only the size of perhaps a three-bedroom apartment. Going two to a shuttle, their convoy stretched among the stars. They were actually fairly fortunate, Kurt had heard of some operations that forced up to ten people in one… quite the cramped years-long journey.

“I think I’m wrapping things up here,” Joey said, seeing a message from Telma flash across the inside of his visor. “Head home space cowboy,” it read, “I need your help to relax after a long day of work.” He felt blood rushing to his groin and he grinned, “I’ll see you later Kurt, I’m gonna go… freshen up.”

…

Adam sighed, lookup up at the ridge of Kira’s shoe overhead. The smell of her foot radiated all around him, and she’d shrunken him small enough that climbing out was out of the question. He saw a grinning green face fill his field of vision overhead, and waved his arms frantically, trying to get her attention.

“Awake?” Kira giggled, “sorry, you fell asleep on the couch and you looked sooo cute… but I wanted to watch the viewscreen, so I just put you in your favorite sleeping spot.”

“Put me back to full size!” he playfully demanded, “I smell like your foot and I need to wash up before everyone comes over for dinner!”

“As though I’d let you wash yourself,” Kira said with a smirk, reaching down for him. She carried his tiny naked form to the kitchen, eager to scrub him down in the sink.

She paused a moment, “are we still pretending we don’t know that “Nyla” is actually princess Nea?”

“I can’t keep track of what we’re supposed to know,” Adam muttered, “let’s just tell them we know everything over dinner.” He smiled up at Kira as she turned the tap water on, “those two are lucky we’re settling a planet in the middle of nowhere, nobody out here will question why Kurt Miller, the man who lost his Zetan love, is now with another Zetan woman who looks very much like the dead princess…”

“Young love,” Kira said with a smile, “I think it’s sweet how they think we’re fooled, oh Adam, let’s let them think they’re keeping the secret just a little longer?”

“It is funny watching them slip up names when we’re around,” Adam chuckled, “okay, we’ll-“ the rest of his thoughts were cut off as Kira pushed him under the column of warm tap water with a giggle.

…

Nea sipped a cherry cola, having finally abandoned a lifetime of avoidance and trying Earth’s fabled “sodas,” a beverage she had spent most of her life railing against. The sweetness and flavor were overwhelming, and she couldn’t get enough. It made a fine beverage to cap off a day of work, and she had opened one as soon as she’d returned to the small living room on the colony shuttle that she and Kurt shared.

She scrunched her toes around the other thing from Earth she couldn’t get enough of, giggling as Kurt fought against her slightly grimy sole. Her feet had spent the day inside a pair of standard work boots as Nea had helped prepare hyperlane beacons for placement, and she’d learned that Kurt seemed to enjoy them a little… dirty.

“If you admit that you belong beneath Zetan feet, I’ll let you up,” she teased.

“Never!” Kurt shouted, gasping as Nea rubbed her foot across his naked body in a practiced maneuver that she knew would drive him wild.

“It’s over human,” she barked, “I’ve taken you and your…” she looked playfully at the bottle in her hand, “sodas, both of you are mine now!” She let her big toe trace over his face, flooding his nose and mouth with the heavy musk of her sweat.

“I won’t surrender,” Kurt called, “I’ll… oh fuck” he spasmed, pinned in place by Nea’s soft sole as he came.

“And another victory for the Zetan princess,” Nea said smugly, watching him collapse against the floor.

“I didn’t realize we were keeping score,” Kurt muttered with a grin, stepping upright as Nea lifted her bare foot off of him.

“Perhaps we should?” Nea giggled, “you’re very fun when you’re being… competitive.” She reached for her shrink ray, clicking him quickly back to full size, and letting him collapse next to her on the couch. Her nose wrinkled, “you smell awful!” she teased, “go wash yourself!”

Kurt just roped an arm around her, pulling her into a kiss as she squealed and playfully fought him, “oh no,” he said in a teasing tone, “now you’re all dirty too, I guess we’ll both have to shower?”

“Indeed,” Nea said, returning the smile.

As the colony convoy drifted through space, the hopes and dreams of those on board lit a path through the blackness of the void. For Nea and Kurt, it wouldn’t matter what kind of world was waiting at the end, as long as the other was in it.