In just a few hours the Glalan’s automated drones had constructed an impressive fortress, it loomed slightly taller than the nearby hotel and resort, the only other large structure on the island. Most of the human population had followed their requests to evacuate, although Telara’s Glalans were considerably more polite than their predecessor’s few of the world’s remaining tourists wanted to spend much time with them.

Which was really too bad, Derek decided, looking out at the beach, he was really getting to like the cat-women. He was perched on the window ledge of Stella’s personal quarters, enjoying the sun rays. The star cruiser was parked in a walled in courtyard below, alongside a series of paved platforms that Stella had explained to him were for additional spacecraft. They’d already started talking about using this building as some sort of embassy, it made Derek wonder how long they intended to stay

“He’s right in here!” he heard giggling as the door to Stella’s room hissed open.

Stella was being followed by a Glalan with powder blue hair and a white striped tail to match. What was her name? Maya, he was pretty sure, he’d met them all earlier when Stella had brought him back to their base.

“Hi Derek,” Stella giggled. “Maya wanted to get a closer look at you, we’ve been talking about some stuff…”

“Hi,” Derek said uncertainly, “What kind of stuff?”

Maya suddenly snatched him off the windowsill, pulling him close. He gulped as her fingers gripped him, her eyes wandering up and down his tiny form. He was still wearing the jumpsuit the Senator had given him, and she tugged on it idly with her free hand.

“He is cute,” Maya admitted, “The whole tiny thing is fun, and he’s got a bit of an exotic look to him.” She frowned, “I do wonder how he would handle domestic life though…”

“Uh,” Stella shot Derek a glance, “Maybe be gentle with him-“

“Stella, males LOVE it when a girl takes charge,” Maya said dismissively, “they instinctively crave it.” She traced her finger down his chest, circling his crotch a moment, “Isn’t that right handsome?”

He gulped and looked to Stella, who just shrugged. He gasped a bit as Maya picked up the pace, quickly giving him an erection which she could see, and feel, through the jumpsuit.

“I’m not some kind of backwards hill dweller who wants to put males back in cages,” Maya said, picking up speed, “but I do have some very traditional expectations, even for a male of such an adorable size.”

“I-” Derek gasped with pleasure as she continued, cupping her hand around him slightly more as she gave him a smug grin. “I don’t really know much about your culture,” he managed.

“Hmm…” Maya said, slowing down. Derek looked up at the giant woman pleadingly, she bit her lip, thinking as her blue tail swished back and forth behind her.

“Don’t worry about that!” Stella said eagerly, “Derek’s going to do great on Glalan Prime! We’ll probably get invited to parties all the time just so people can see him!”

“I suppose,” Maya muttered. She glanced at the human in her palm. “Well, what do you have to say for yourself? Any special skills? Interesting abilities?” A smirk crossed her features, “Impress me, and maybe I can finish what I was doing…”

“I’ve got a degree in accounting,” he shouted.

“Human accounting,” Maya said, but she did start moving her fingers again. He sighed, feeling the waves of pleasure as she picked up where she’d left off.

“Accounting can’t be that different on other planets, right?” Stella asked, “I mean numbers are numbers…”

She shoved Maya aside, getting a better look at him. She giggled, watching his face contort, “I love watching males when they get like this.”

“It is wonderful, isn’t it?” Maya said, “Come on now Derek, impress your mistresses or I’ll stop!”

“I can fix a car!” he shouted, his back arching with pleasure. He gasped as she slowed down.

“We won’t be needing anyone to fix primitive human vehicles,” Maya said dismissively.

Shit, he thought, wracking his brain for anything that might impress the giant aliens. Most mechanical stuff was probably out, what about-

“The guitar!” he shouted, “I play the guitar!”

“The word doesn’t have a direct translation,” Maya said, “what is it?”

“A musical instrument,” he explained, trying to focus as the giant catgirl’s fingers kept rubbing his manhood, “uses strings!”

“He plays a string instrument!” Stella said excitedly, “That’s got to be one of the classiest things a male can do!”

“I am impressed,” Maya said with a smile, “Now finish!” His hips bucked and he gritted his teeth as he obeyed. The giant catgirls overhead giggled together, watching him moan in pleasure.

As soon as he was done Maya gave him one last wink, then tossed him into the air. He flailed and shouted in surprise, but Stella snatched him out of the air easily, holding him to her breast. He blinked a few times, still in shock. Those reflexes were certainly impressive.

“I’ll think on the proposal Stella,” Maya said, “I can’t make any promises now, but I’m not opposed.” With that she walked out through the door, it shut behind her with a hiss.

“What proposal was that?” Derek asked, starting to recover a bit.

“Just seeing about getting you a few more wives,” Stella said nonchalantly, “You know, in case you want to come back to Glalan Prime with me.” She beamed, “I can’t believe you play an instrument! I hope you’re good, an alien male who plays an instrument is going to be VERY popular back home.”

“I picked it up in school,” he said, briefly having flashbacks of he and his neighbor’s garage band, “Mostly I wanted to impress girls.”

“So males on this planet learn to play music to impress females too,” Stella mused, “It’s good to know that some things are the same everywhere.” 

There was a roaring sound outside, glancing out the window Derek saw a spiky black ship flying overhead. It stopped, rotated, and began descending.

“I’d better go,” Stella said. She stopped quickly, then chuckled, “Oh I’m sorry, having such a small person around is going to take some getting used to.” She lifted him off the windowsill and placed him on the floor. “The base AI has you on guest privileges, so you should be able to use the elevators and doors if you need to, but you should stay in here so you don’t accidentally get stepped on. The viewscreen is voice activated if you want to watch a movie or something.”

With that she blew him a kiss and tapped a button on her wrist computer. Her armor plates, stacked against the wall of her room, flew through the air and attached to her bodysuit. The door hissed as she left, leaving him alone.

“Well,” he muttered, “Viewscreen, show me…” he thought a moment, “Informational programming on Glalan Prime, tourist spots, places of interest.” The screen buzzed to life at his command and he sat down to watch. Under the circumstances, it was probably a good idea to learn a thing or two about the planet.

…

The four Glalans assembled behind Senator Telara, long silvery rifles at the ready. They watched as the ramp on the ship descended, and a silver suited Glalan walked out. She was flanked on either side by a pair of Aelmari that stood a head over her. Curiously there was a human in a green suit perched on her shoulder, Telara frowned and wondered what he could be doing here. Surely the Aelmari didn’t actually allow humans on dangerous missions? She’d personally been worried sick about the one her underlings had dragged into her base.

A small camera drone hovered behind her, she had another broadcast camera attached to the shoulder of her old military uniform. She’d had some friends in various media organizations assure her that the entirety of Glalan Prime, along with Beta, and Gamma, would be able to watch her rescue of Clara live. It was political theater, but whether this went well, or poorly, it would hopefully give the people back home an idea of how the Aelmari needed to be dealt with.

She walked forward, “Clara!” She said warmly. She walked forward and hugged the pink haired girl, who seemed surprised at the gesture. The human on her shoulder stood his ground as she swayed slightly.

“Uh, hi,” Clara said, embarrassed. “Y-You’re Senator Telara, right? I um… saw your movie.”

Internally she sighed, that old “based on a true story” war picture would haunt her forever. She didn’t care for the jovial way she was portrayed in it, but it was hard to argue with the positive effect it had had on her career.

“I’m so glad to see you’re alive and well,” the senator said, separating from her and ignoring the remark. She glared at the two Aelmari, “and you two, are you here to discuss terms?”

“We are merely here to show you that Clara is alive, and has not been mistreated,” one of them snapped. “Also, local authorities told us that you are holding a human captive, we demand you release him immediately.”

Telara blinked, the human? Derek?

“He is a guest of one of my girls,” Telara said hesitantly, “We had to detain him for security reasons, but he’s not a prisoner.”

“We’re discussing marriage terms!” Stella shouted behind her. Telara’s ears drooped, she desperately wanted to reach around and slap the girl again.

One of the Aelmari’s eyes flared red, “GIVE HIM BACK NOW.” Her voice was deeper, distorted.

“We understand you are somewhat territorial on the subject of humans,” Telara said, forcing herself to keep her cool, “however we are here not only to assure our own self-determination, but that of all species. Including theirs.” She’d hoped the human perched on Clara’s shoulder would have a reaction to that, but he remained impassive, on edge.

“Clara,” she said finally, “Why don’t you go into our base and relax. We have a Glalan replicator, I’m sure you’ve missed real food-“

“The Aelmari replicators are fine,” Clara said slowly, “Thank you Senator, but… I think there’s been a misunderstanding here.”

…

Elara walked through the abandoned halls of the Worldship, stopping at a crossroad as directed. Two human males were waiting there, the ones who she’d been told had deactivated the neuronet on this part of the ship. The knelt before the hundred foot tall woman as she approached.

“We live to serve, messenger of the gods,” they said in unison.

“Now THAT is a nice thing to hear,” Elara said with a smile, kneeling down to pick them up. “It could almost make me like your species.” She placed the two of them into her palm and regarded them a moment. Without warning she squeezed, enjoying the two men’s attempts to remain passive even as they felt pain wrack their bodies.

ELARA, ENOUGH. THOSE TWO ARE NOT TO BE HARMED

The voice rang out in her head and she sighed, releasing her grip slightly. The two men panted, catching their breaths and looking up at her with relief.

“Are your tasks complete?” Elara asked.

“Yes mistress,” one said, still gasping.

It didn’t take them long to get to an Aelmari docking bay, one of their egg-shaped prefabricated landing pods lay unattended. While she lacked the ability to use their Neuronet, useless in this part of the ship for the time being anyway, the Aelmari had enough interaction with other species to include haptic controls in some of their smaller vessels.

Elara reclined one of the pod’s chairs as the door sealed shut, enjoying the automated flight taking her out of the docking bay. She set her two charges on the floor and kicked off her high heels with a grimace. She didn’t care for the human businesswear The Lady wanted her servants to wear, but a servant’s place was to obey.

“You two,” she said with a grin, setting her charges on the floor, “my feet are sore, try to demonstrate a little value.” She wasn’t to harm them sure, but that didn’t mean she had to be kind.

The two men looked at each other, then hesitantly walked towards the enormous feet. Elara flexed her toes through her nylons, enjoying the feeling. She wondered what the smell was like, and laughed knowing that if she asked the human cultists would almost assuredly tell her it was wonderful.

She craned her head to look out the pod’s window, waiting for the light show.

…

“The Aelmari haven’t been torturing me,” Clara said, “I’m not even their prisoner anymore, I’m here because I want to be.”

“But the video,” The senator began, but before she could inquire further the sky seemed to glow green.

All of them looked up together. The four Aelmari worldships in the solar system had become common fixtures, after the first month most people didn’t give them any more regard than the moon. The one overhead now, a sphere up in the sky, was now raining long green bolts down on them.

“THEY’RE BOMBARDING US!” Telara screamed. In one smooth motion she swept Clara off her feet, dragging the protesting catgirl back towards the forward base. Following her lead, the other Glalans leveled their weapons and began firing at Isstvell and Lyrei.

Isstvell watched with shock as a small crack seemed to appear in the air directly in front of her face, smoke rising from where the projectile had impacted the shield.

“Those are the same weapons Elara used on me,” Lyrei thought at her, “these shields won’t take more than one or two hits, get on the ship.”

Isstvell gritted her teeth, summoning a series of plasma projectiles she willed them through the air, returning fire and scattering the catgirls.

Overhead the first of the bolts made contact with the base’s shield, like Isstvell’s it shimmered and cracked. Outside the shimmering ring of protection trees and vegetation were instantly vaporized, the sand fused to melted and glowing orange glass.

“This is a mistake!” Clara shouted, fighting the senator’s grip, “They wouldn’t shoot at us when their own people are down here!”

“They’re just drones girl!” Telara snapped, “Aelmari don’t have people, they AREN’T people!”

The world rocked and both of them fell to the ground as the next bolt slammed into the shield. The glowing crack in the air widened, and Telara swore angrily. She clicked a series of buttons on her wrist computer and alarms inside the base began to ring loudly.

“Engage Aelmari countermeasures,” she ordered.

On Clara’s ship Isstvell and Lyrei instantly detected a surge of energy from within the base. They looked at each other, simultaneously beaming all the information they could to the Matriarch while trying to formulate a plan.

“Whatever that is it’s got more energy than any non-Aelmari weapon on record,” Isstvell thought, “We’ve got to get Jim and Clara and-“

A pulse shot out from the base, a sound like a gong rang out and then suddenly the bombardment stopped.

“Are you getting any readings?” Isstvell thought at Lyrei, but there was no answer. She looked to her partner and frowned, Lyrei was just staring at her.

“A-are you trying to communicate?” Isstvell asked verbally.

“The neuronet,” Lyrei said aloud, “It’s… it’s gone!”

…

Shaerra felt panic rise within her, she was still with the human leaders, but suddenly she was alone. No thoughts came, it seemed none went.

“Brandon,” she whispered, holding her human companion up to her face, “I think… I think the worldship is under attack.”

…

“It looks like our benefactor’s weapons are effective,” Telara said, peering up at the now still Aelmari worldship.

The plasma fire from Clara’s starship had ceased, the four Glalans were cautiously coming out of cover, their weapons still trained on it. Clara had a sinking feeling, she hoped Isstvell and Lyrei were okay.

“W-what now?” Clara asked shakily, struggling to her feet.

“We’ve got a missile that will destroy that abomination,” Telara sneered, looking up at the listlessly drifting worldship. She turned to the camera drone, which had managed to stay in operation throughout the entire skirmish. “To those of you watching, you’ve seen the Aelmari’s reaction to our peaceful overtures, now they will learn what happens when they step on a Glalan’s tail!”

“Jim!?” Clara called suddenly, she looked back towards her ship, she didn’t see the human anywhere. She’d lost him in the excitement, but his body, crushed or otherwise, wasn’t present. She looked back to the senator, “You can’t fire that missile,” she pleaded, “this whole thing is-“

“Clara,” the senator said sternly, “I understand that your period of captivity may have given you a distorted view of things, but you must go wait in the base now.”

The pink haired catgirl looked up in dismay as dozens of V-shaped drones began to fly into the air around the Glalan base, taking off in various directions.

“Senator,” one of the girls said, approaching with a salute, “The drones are going to maintain a perimeter around one hundred miles out, we should have total air superiority.”

“Excellent,” Telara said. She pointed to the base one more time, “Clara, go.”

Clara took one last look at her, her pink ears going flat. Without a word she turned and sprinted towards her ship. Telara watched her go, not even bothering to order a pursuit. She sighed, when this was done, she’d track the girl down, help her recover from this ordeal… For now other lives were at risk. She lifted her wrist computer to her face.

“Begin missile arming procedure.”

There was a brief roar of engines as Clara’s starship took off, Telara ignored it, she wouldn’t be able to breach the line of drones anyways, and if she tried she’d be shot out of the sky.

…

Jim had leapt from Clara’s shoulder the moment the first weapon was drawn. He’d learned from experience that there wasn’t a lot a human could do when hundred-foot-tall beings started shooting each other, so he’d decided to get out of the way. The eighty or so foot drop from Clara’s shoulder had hurt on landing, but thanks to the suit it felt more like a six-foot fall. He’d sprinted for the cover of their base, not really sure where else to go.

He was able to easily run through the legs of a blue haired Glalan, jumping over her tail as it traced the ground. They didn’t seem to be paying attention to him, still trying to fire on Lyrei and Isstvell as they’d withdrawn into Clara’s ship. As he sprinted towards the base door he was surprised to see it open automatically.

“Welcome Derek,” a pleasant Glalan voice said.

Who the hell was Derek? Jim decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth as he ran inside.

…

“They’re going to destroy it!” Shaerra said frantically, her voice rising, “There’s nothing I can do, I can’t reach anyone, I can’t-“

“Calm down,” Brandon said sternly, or as sternly as you could when a hundred twenty foot alien was holding you in her hand. He sighed and took a breath, turning around to the gathered world leaders in Trafalgar square. “Everyone,” he said, trying to project his voice, “The Glalan Expeditionary Force has launched an attack on the Aelmari worldship. We believe their intent is to destroy it.”

“Well what the hell are we supposed to do?” The Prime minister shouted, “The Aelmari are the ones who are supposed to be protecting us!”

“There are over one hundred million humans on that ship!” The Chinese leader exclaimed.

“And twenty billion Aelmari,” Brandon said.

“I’m sorry,” Shaerra said quietly, “I think… I think we’re going to lose. We need to try to minimize losses-“

“No,” Brandon said, staring up at the elfin face. “Enough of that.” Something was stirring in him, maybe it was months of being badgered for information from human spies, being expected to treat with world leaders, being the pet and plaything of an Alien space goddess, but he felt bold. Today was his.

“You there,” he shouted at the crowd of world leaders, “Americans, bloody hell, any of you, does anyone have any wonder weapons or secret gizmos you’ve been holding out for an emergency?”

“If we had anything we’d have used it during the first Glalan invasion,” the president snapped.

Brandon sighed, “This isn’t a full invasion, there are only five of them, and they don’t have anything in orbit.”

A man came up and whispered in the president’s ear, he nodded, “They’ve got nearly a hundred unmanned craft in the air though,” he said, looking up at the former marketing associate. “We know from round one they’ll tear an F-35 to shreds.”

The other leaders nodded grimly, resistance to the Glalan invasion hadn’t gone well for any nation that had tried to deploy military force against them.

Brandon bit his lip and turned to look up at Shaerra’s worried face, “If we found a way to destroy that base, do you think that would bring your neuronet back online?”

“Something is jamming it,” Shaerra said uncertainly, “It’s probably there, but I can’t say for certain.” She looked like she was about to cry, “I can’t say anything for certain, by the stars, is this what it’s like for bio-species all the time?”

“Shaerra,” he said firmly, “you need to focus… Tricia is still up on that ship.”

Her eyes went wide, “Y-Yes, of course.”

Brandon breathed out slowly, “Okay, well, we don’t have any good options and I know less than nothing about military tactics.” He scanned the crowd, “Anyone?”

“Ah hell,” The American president said finally, “Let’s just fall back on the usual stuff, did everybody bring their footballs?”

“Is this really the time for games!?” Shaerra asked.

“Different kind of footballs,” Brandon muttered quietly. He stared as various military figures approached world leaders, carrying suitcases.

…

“Senator Telara!” Stella called, her headset was lighting up as information flowed in, “We’ve got human military craft inbound!”

The senator sighed with disappointment, “It seems the humans have made their choice. Order the drones to intercept and shoot them all down. Spare the pilots if possible.”

…

Elara stepped onto the beach, her two servants in hand. The pod had landed easily enough, with the Aelmari cut off from their neuronet, none of the Aelmari stranded planetside would be able to intercept her. She stared down the shoreline at the Glalan base, there was still steam rising around it from the bombardment she and the cultists had arranged.

Another ship silently hovered to the beach, silver and saucer shaped. It landed and a small ramp extended, another giantess in an earth style business suit stepped out, adjusting her sunglasses in the bright light.

“The Glalans are arming the weapon,” she said to Elara with a smile, “I doubt the Aelmari will be willing to forgive and forget after losing one of their worldships.”

“Are the Glalans expected to win this war?” Elara asked curiously.

The other woman laughed, “Oh by the Lady, that’s amusing. No, we’ve given them just enough to kill a great number of Aelmari before they’re exterminated. Every warmongering species, warlord, and rogue AI is going to smell blood in the water though, we expect ninety five percent losses for the Aelmari within four cycles. Extermination is, unfortunately, unfeasible, but they won’t be interfering in our affairs again.” She sighed, “It’s a shame really, they were excellent peacekeepers, but their nature makes them difficult for our methods of control.”

“What of the humans?” Elara asked, glaring at the two in her hand. To their credit they remained stone faced, their faith was admirable, to be sure.

The other woman gestured for her to hand them over, and she did. With an almost sweet smile at the two cultists, she opened her briefcase. Of the dozen human hibernation tubes perhaps half were filled, humans in various states of shock were frozen forever in time. Gently she placed each cultist in a tube, and as soon as they entered there was a brief spray of mist until they too, remained still.

“The current goal is to return the humans to a more primitive state, it should be easy with the incoming debris from that worldship and the war coming to this sector.” she said, snapping the briefcase shut. “It has been done before, to great success, and humans from Atlantis and Lemuria are now highly valued. There is some resistance from new collectors who haven’t had a chance at this era’s humans, but as the Americans say, you snooze, you lose.”

“I’m just glad I won’t have any part of it,” Elara said with a sigh, “No more humans for me.” She looked at the sea a moment, it was nice… she wondered if she’d find a place serving on another water filled world. “I wasn’t given your name,” Elara said suddenly.

“I’m fresh out of the vats,” she said, “I don’t have one yet.”

“It’s typical to pick one on your first outing,” Elara said, still looking at the ocean, “If you want-“ She froze as she felt a metal disk make contact with the back of her neck. Alarm shot through her, “No!” she begged in a whisper. It was in vain, pain shot up her back, and she collapsed into the sand, screaming once before falling into a quivering mess.

“I really liked yours actually,” the new Elara said. “Now let’s conduct a little exit interview.” She stood over the other giantess, who was now frothing at the mouth. “If you’re wondering why, you habitually expressed distaste for your assigned task. You were given far too much freedom of thought, that is on your designer, so don’t feel guilty, but at every opportunity to reflect on how lucky you were to serve our Lady you turned to resentment.” She sighed and brought a hand to her cheek in mock sympathy, “This could have been forgiven, if not for your failure on Marek. Not only did you lose your cargo of humans, you were captured!”

“P-Please-“ Elara managed, her mouth beginning to foam.

“Now, now, none of that,” New Elara said soothingly, “you will not experience the entirety of execution by mind-disc, I expect the other Aelmari worldships will reduce this island to glowing rubble once they figure out what happened to that one up there.” She gave one last sweet smile, “Goodbye Elara, thanks for the name.”

…

Jim crept along the wall, he wasn’t sure what he hoped to accomplish, but surely there was something he could do in here? The door hissed open and he saw the five Glalans walking inside.

“I can’t believe it,” the one with the blue hair said excitedly, “Those two Aelmari just ran!”

“So it would seem,” Telara said, “I didn’t want it to happen this way, but if destroying their worldship is the only way to make them respect our race… then so be it.”

He edged a little further along the wall, but when he got to another doorway there was a hiss as it opened. All of the Glalans turned in his direction and he froze.

One squinted, “Hey, that’s not Derek!”

“It’s the human that was with the Aelmari!” The senator shouted, “Get him!”

“Shit,” Jim muttered. He looked around the room as the four giants sprinted towards him. There weren’t a lot of options, he jumped over the first swiping hand and ran towards the center of the room, but He grunted as a boot slammed down on his back, pinning him to the floor.

“Got ‘em,” a smug blue haired catgirl said with a smirk.

She pressed down on the boot slightly, even with the suit Jim felt pain from the increasing pressure. He tried to squirm away, but it was no use. The other four Glalans circled around, looking down at his predicament. One leaned down until her face was level with him, practically on the floor.

“Human you look so adorable like that!” the others giggled, “Maya, be careful, you don’t want to break him.”

“He IS an enemy combatant though, isn’t he?” the other one, Maya, asked. “It would be totally okay to just… pop him.”

“I don’t think he counts as combatant in this state,” Telara said with a smile. She leaned down and gripped Jim’s flailing arm. “Okay, let him up.”

He gasped for air as the enormous boot lifted off him. Telara lifted him into the air, dangling him by one arm. He was quickly brought to her face and watched nervously as the lead Glalan regarded him. She slowly turned him in the air, and then he yelped as he felt her gently flick his butt.

“I wonder if it’s just this part of the planet or if they’re all this cute,” She muttered. She blinked and nearly laughed at herself, with everything going on she was positively giddy.

“The first human aircraft are about to come into contact with the drones!” Stella said excitedly, tapping her headset.

“What does a species like yours think they can do?” Telara wondered, “I wanted you to stay out of things, you’re small, primitive… You don’t have the Aelmari to watch over you now, Glalans could step into that place if you are all more agreeable.”

“He’s got a little gun!” one of them said, and with a chuckle a catgirl with pink hair not unlike Clara’s reached for his belt and pulled his pistol away. “It’s so cute!” She squeezed her fingers and he grimaced as the gun was crushed. They hadn’t taken the laser sword, but given that he’d made it look like it was from a human movie they probably didn’t immediately recognize it, from what Clara had told him laser melee weapons were seen as a joke on most planets.

“Contact with human air forces in ten seconds!” Stella said eagerly.

…

Human history, Glalan history, and the history of almost every species that picks up war’s tools shows that even the largest technological gulfs can be overcome. Humanity’s collective ego was in a poor place following the alien invasions, the first Glalan invasion had seen nuclear missiles swatted out of the sky and military technology rendered useless, the Aelmari almost casually blew missiles away from orbit and were so secure that, while they’d requested nuclear disarmament, they hadn’t bothered insisting on it. The Alien matriarch had even jokingly called it mankind’s security blanket, which hadn’t helped.

Given all of these factors, it’s understandable that the world’s leaders opted for a bit of overkill.

…

“Wait,” Stella said as the headset fed her data, “Those aren’t human aircraft, those are human missiles!”

There was a flash outside the base, a dozen flashes, a hundred flashes brighter than the sun. The booms reached the base next, causing a tremor that even the ninety-foot-tall aliens could feel.

“Status report!” Telara shouted.

“Drone shields are failing,” Stella said, “but they’re still operational.”

“Good,” Telara breathed a sigh of relief. Glalans had a healthy respect for nuclear weapons, even though they’d moved on to orbital kinetics like most species. “That had to be over a hundred explosions, that’s more than any sane species would stockpile.”

“T-There are more incoming,” Maya said uncertainly.

“What!?” Telara snapped, “How many?” Surely no planetbound species had a need for so many thermonuclear weapons!

The four Glalan volunteers were quiet.

“How many?” Telara repeated, an edge in her voice.

“Thousands?” Stella said weakly.

Telera was silent a moment, then she violently jerked Jim up in front of her face, “WHY DOES YOUR SPECIES HAVE THOUSANDS OF NUCLEAR WARHEADS!?”

“I don’t know!” Jim said without thinking, “We needed to build them to keep up with each other!”

There were more flashes and booms from outside, this time the entire building shook. After a few minutes they seemed to stop.

“All drones are destroyed,” Stella said quietly.

…

The human leadership cheered, watching the destruction on the same screen they’d seen Telera deliver her address on. As soon as the nuclear weapons had begun flying various world leaders had demanded alcohol from their home countries. London, being the center of the world, had been able to answer this particular call. The Canadian, American, New Zealand, and Australian leaders had linked arms, beginning the chorus of “We’ll meet again” as the mushroom clouds erupted.

Shaerra nervously allowed herself a smile, “W-What’s next?” She asked. It was strange depending on the humans like this.

“Bombers,” Brandon said, “isn’t that right?”

“Every plane in the western hemisphere is headed towards that island,” The president said grimly, “luckily all the humans there already evacuated, we might have used all the nuke,s but we’re sending enough conventional ordinance towards that island that it won’t make a difference.”

…

“We’re defenseless!” Telara shouted angrily, “we’re going to be torn apart by primitives who are still using jet engines for flight!”

“Their craft have to be pretty small right?” Maya said hesitantly, “I mean look at them, their biggest plane probably only comes up to our knees.”

“If there are a thousand of them it doesn’t matter how small they are or how primitive their weapons are,” Telara snapped, “they’ll tear this base apart!”

“Then surrender!” Jim shouted, “turn off your doomsday weapon, or something!”

“I’ll go to the Ancestors first,” Telara snarled. She lifted her wrist computer, “prepare my personal fighter!” She glanced at Jim and smiled, “I’ll keep this little fellow somewhere safe.” She reached down and unzipped a pocket on her uniform. Jim struggled as she stuffed him in it, looking up angrily as he saw the zipper close and seal him in the dark compartment. Telara patted her breast, shaking his world, before turning back to the other Glalans.

“What should we do?” Stella asked uncertainly.

“The base is going to fall,” Telara said bitterly, “I underestimated the humans it seems. Ready the cruiser and return to Glalan Prime.”

“W-What about you Senator?” Maya asked.

“I’ll stay and guard the missile until it launches,” she said. She gave them a smile, “I’ll meet you back on Glalan Prime when it’s all over,” she lied. The last thing she wanted was the four of them coming back for her.

…

Derek was looking up at the window, wishing he could climb up there and see what was going on. He’d heard yelling, then he’d seen flashes and felt the tremors. Were those nukes?

The door hissed open and he looked up at Stella’s giant form, “What’s going on?”

“Diplomatic talks took a turn for the worse,” Stella said, snatching him up off the floor.

“Yeah, I’ll say,” He shouted, “Are we getting nuked?”

“Kind of, yeah,” Stella admitted. She bit her lip, “Umm… Derek, I was hoping we could spend more time together before you made a decision, but since this island is about to get blown up, I think you’re going to Glalan Prime with me.”

“B-Blown up!?” He stammered.

“Yeah,” she muttered, “Sorry.” Her face brightened, “want to make the trip somewhere fun?”

He blinked, “Sure, why not?”

She laughed and pulled the neck of her bodysuit away. Dropping the squirming Derek in she slowly pushed him down further until he was caught between her breasts. She released the neckline of the suit, trapping him in darkness.

“Just enjoy,” she said, jostling her breasts slightly, causing him to fall further between them. With that she turned and sprinted back down the corridor, the last thing she wanted was to get left behind.

For Derek the massive globes slammed him on either side, a slight sheen of sweat covering them beneath the bodysuit and armor. He grunted as he was tossed back and forth, finally sinking deep enough into Stella’s cleavage to stop the movement entirely.

…

Clara circled the base again, keeping just out of eyesight. She’d seen the explosions as the humans had launched their missiles. She’d considered fleeing now that the drones were destroyed, but she refused to abandon Jim, or for that matter let Telara launch that missile.

“Clara,” Isstvell said from behind her, “You need to commit to a plan of action!”

“She’s thinking!” Lyrei said, jammed on the other side of the pilot’s chair.

Clara sighed, Isstvell and Lyrei were… slower, a bit ditzier, without their neuronet. Ditzy Aelmari… what was the universe coming to? They’d both insisted on staying in the cockpit with her, and there wasn’t nearly enough room.

“Quiet!” She shouted, “Look, we might be able to shoot down the missile or something.” She glanced at the viewscreen and bit her lip, there were human aircraft incoming. She’d tried contacting them, but they’d apparently recognized her as a Glalan over the radio and had either shut her out of their comms or threatened to “blow her alien ass to hell.”

A single fighter launched from the base suddenly, which snapped her out of her indecision. She gritted her teeth and began pursuit.

Idly she clicked on her communications system, “Whoever’s piloting that thing, give up now. I won’t let you shoot down any of those human aircraft.”

The comm clicked, “Clara, you idiot girl,” Telara’s voice came, “Either get out of here or land that garbage transport you’re flying and get on the cruiser, the others are fleeing the system.”

“GARBAGE TRANSPORT!?” Clara screamed. She’d designed the ship herself!

“It’s a very fine vessel Clara,” Lyrei said, “she’s just trying to get in your head-“

“DIE!” Clara screamed, pulling the trigger on the ship’s plasma cannons.

…

“Ready for takeoff!” Maya said excitedly, joining the other Glalans in the ship’s common area. A thought occurred to her suddenly and she gasped, “Did someone remember to grab Derek?”

“Oh yeah,” Stella said with a giggle, “don’t worry he’s… on board.

Maya frowned at that, but didn’t question further.

The ship shook suddenly, all of them stumbled. Derek felt some shockwaves, but was held comfortably in place.

“What Ancestor forsaken-“ Maya muttered, as her headset fed her data. She swore angrily, “We’ve lost engines! Someone just unloaded a full load of plasma shells right into all of our vital systems!”

…

“CLARA!” Telara shouted over the comm system, “YOU’VE TRAPPED YOUR SISTERS HERE! YOU’VE DAMNED THEM ALL!”

“Just surrender, I’ll call the humans off,” Clara said nonchalantly, “It’s over, I’m going to blow your missile out of the sky the minute it launches.”

“Then I’ll simply have to remove you,” Telara said coldly.

“Clara,” Isstvell said slowly, “Can you… match this woman?”

Clara didn’t answer, instead throwing the two Aelmari into the side of the ship as she spun in a barrel roll to dodge incoming fire.

“Clara is an excellent fighter pilot!” Lyrei said, struggling to her feet, “We play in the simulators all the time!”

“How often do you let Clara win?” Isstvell asked.

“Never!” Clara shouted gleefully, firing her own weapons at the senator’s fighter, “I win because I’m just that good!”

“Y-Yes,” Lyrei said, “Never.”

Isstvell stared at her partner, suddenly very much missing the neuronet.

…

“I have your human here with me,” Telara said menacingly. She unzipped her pocket, allowing Jim to poke his head up. “Say something to your friends human!”

“Clara!” Jim shouted, “Do what you have to do!”

“I’ll snap his neck if you fire again!” Telara warned.

Jim swallowed nervously. Telara saw his look and sighed.

“It’s a bluff,” she assured him.

A finger pressed down on his head, forcing him back into the pocket. He scowled as she zipped it shut again.

“Hi Jim,” Sara’s voice echoed in his head. “They’re jamming the Aelmari neuronet, but the one for these suits is working fine.”

“Sarah?” he thought back. “What are you doing here?”

“Let’s not worry about it,” she replied. “I can tell you’re on the senator’s fighter, what’s your situation?”

“I’m stuck in her breast pocket,” he thought bitterly, “she’s gone nuts, she’s on a suicide mission or something.”

“She’s in a dogfight with that idiot cat you hang around with,” Sarah said, and Jim could feel the amusement through the link. “Do you have any weapons?”

Idly he touched the laser sword, “I’ve got a lightsaber,” he said.

Laughter echoed through the link, “Jim, what the hell?” Sarah said, “Okay okay, it’ll work. Your cat is shooting at her but she keeps dodging it, if you stab her at just the right time Clara will shoot her down.”

“Then I’m dead!” Jim replied.

“Please,” Sarah said dismissively, “Clara’s definitely pulling her punches.”

…

“CAREFUL!” Isstvell shouted, “Don’t hit her fuel tank!”

“I’m trying to disable her,” Clara muttered, “And it would be a lot easier if SOMEONE had let me put Aelmari weapons and shields on this ship!”

…

“Computer,” Telara said, “broadcast the Glalan space navy anthem to the enemy ship.” She sighed contentedly as the harsh classical chords filled the cockpit.

“Enemy vessel is returning your signal,” the ship computer reported.

She frowned as the music filled the cockpit. It was upbeat, smooth… but she couldn’t understand the lyrics. She scowled as her viewscreen told her the song translation was fifteen minutes away, she’d be dead or victorious by then.

She unzipped her pocket again, letting Jim come up and gasp for air.

“Human,” she said, “Tell me the meaning of this song.”

Jim listened a moment, “It warns you that you’re about to enter a zone of danger,” he said finally, “It’s a kind of human air combat anthem.”

“It’s wonderous,” Telara muttered, “Computer, record and store.”

…

“She’s heading for the orbitals,” Isstvell cried as the enemy fighter climbed.

“I’m not blind!” Clara shouted back. “This would all be a lot easier if SOMEONE had let me have Aelmari weaponry on this ship!”

“You’re not ready!” Isstvell snapped.

Clara had a sudden thought, “Isstvell, Lyrei!” She said eagerly, “I’ve got a secret weapon back in the cargo hold!”

The two Aelmari looked at each other, eyes wide, “What is it!?” Lyrei said excitedly.

“Just go get it!” Clara snapped, bringing the ship up into the upper atmosphere after Telara.

The two Aelmari practically tripped over each other heading back to the cargo hold. She heard them stumbling around, looking for the wonder weapon.

“Seal cockpit,” she said, sighing with relief as the door hissed shut behind her.

“Clara!?” Isstvell called, “You accidentally locked the door!”

“Oh no,” Clara said neutrally, “I’ll try to figure out how to get it back open.”

She focused on her pursuit of the senator, she REALLY needed to get that Aelmari neuronet back online… those two were insufferable without it.

…

“Clara you’re quite skilled,” Telara said over the comms as she climbed above earth’s atmosphere, “Why didn’t you become a pilot in our navy?”

“Never had the grades,” Clara shot back.

Telara chuckled, “Neither did I, but my mother managed to bribe my way in to the academy.”

She spun, dodging a series of missiles, gritting her teeth as her shield flashed against an explosion.

They were in orbit now, the blue sphere of the planet rotating peacefully below them.

…

“Okay Jim,” Sarah thought, “NOW!”

Jim ignited the sword, shouting as loud as he could as he shoved it through the lining of Telara’s pocket.

She grunted in pain, a hand going to her breast. There was a bit of blood, but at that size the wound wasn’t particularly dangerous. The plasma blots that made contact with her fighter craft while was distracted on the other hand, were, and she shouted angrily several vital systems went offline. The fighter began to drift, then slowly started sinking back down towards the planet.

“Atmosphere venting,” the computer called neutrally. Telara swore, Clara must have punctured the main cabin somewhere. She reached up to seal her helmet but then paused, looking down at the tiny human in her breast pocket.

Jim tried to leap, he wasn’t sure where he’d go in a fighter cockpit, but the hate on Telara’s face was palpable. Whatever she was about to do to him, he wanted no part of it. The ship’s internal gravity was starting to fail, and he felt himself fly through the air, almost floating.

“STOP IT!” Telera growled, a set of strong gloved fingers closed around him, almost cracking his ribs. Jim felt his heart sink as he was brought before the sneering face of the Glalan leader. “There isn’t going to be any air in here in the next minute or so, all thanks to you,” Telara said angrily.

“Then I guess this is it for both of us,” Jim grunted. He took one last glance at the earth, then steeled himself.

“Hardly,” Telara said, “I’ll seal my helmet and it will have more than enough atmosphere for me until the crash, but there won’t be any out here for you.” She closed her eyes and breathed out slowly, controlling her anger at the human, “I’m going to stick you in my mouth, you’ll have air in there until we re-enter your planet’s atmosphere.”

Jim gulped, “W-Why help me?”

“I don’t like to see people die if I can help it,” The senator replied, “Even my enemies.” She glared down at him, and he wilted under her gaze, “But I swear on the ancestors, if you try anything else, try to cut me with whatever that was… I will CHEW you; do we understand each other?”

“Yes ma’am,” Jim said nervously.

The senator nodded, bringing his trapped form up to her mouth. He slid in easily, the wet cavern enveloping him as she closed her mouth.

As the fighter fell to earth he was pushed up against the roof of her mouth by her tongue, which was now casually exploring his body. Telara found it a welcome distraction as she braced herself for the crash, and if the human didn’t want to be played with, well this was all his fault anyways. Casually she poked him into a cheek, enjoying his struggle.

…

The crash rocked the beach, and the starfighter threw up waves of sand before coming to a stop just before the treeline. From inside the senator’s mouth he felt the impact, but it didn’t do much more than throw him against her tongue again. He heard a groan, light flooding into his prison as she opened her mouth.

Shakily Telera reached for her helmet, grimacing with pain as she flipped the visor up. She’d been shot down twice back in the war, both times had been easier than this, she was fairly certain her legs were broken, the plasma fire must have taken out some of the force dampeners around the cockpit. She felt movement in her mouth and almost reflexively swallowed, before remembering what, or rather who, was in there.

She spat him out gently, laughing as the spit-soaked human rolled down the front of her flight uniform. She felt a pain around her ribs and wondered if they were broken too.

“Are you all right?” She breathed.

“Yeah,” Jim said quietly, “I um… I know we’re kind of enemies but, thanks.”

“I think… I think I’ve lost,” the senator wheezed, “I don’t like the feeling.” She looked down the beach and almost laughed madly as she saw the smoking Glalan base, the ship’s autopilot must have tried to return them… How much longer did they have before that human bombing run, she wondered?”

“Human,” she said, “I think I’m going to pass out, try to take cover.” She closed her eyes and let the darkness take her.

“Telera!” Jim shouted, but she didn’t move. “Fucking hell,” he muttered, starting to climb out of the fighter.

It took him a few minutes, even with the enhanced strength and agility of his battlesuit, but he managed to drop down to the beach. He did a double take as he realized there was a monumental being laying in the sand relatively close to where they’d crashed. He’d recognize that business attire anywhere, and he still had nightmares about being under those giant heels…

Gingerly he approached Elara, wondering if he’d be lucky enough to find her dead. He almost leapt back as she twitched slightly. Slowly he walked along her body until he was at her head. It lolled over limply, her eyes were bloodshot, and she had flecks of spittle at the corner of her mouth.

“J-Jim,” she said weakly, another twitch rocking her body.

“Elara,” he said hesitantly. He sighed, she didn’t look like a threat, and he didn’t have time for this. He had to find a way to signal Clara to come pick him up.

“P-please!” Elara cried, tears forming at the corner of her eyes.

He stopped and sighed again, “Please what?” he asked, turning around.

“Help me,” she sobbed. Another series of spasms rocked her body and she whimpered in pain.

“No,” he said, “I kind of like you like this.”

She seemed to scream and cry at the same time, whatever was happening to her seemed pretty painful. He glanced back at the Senator, passed out in the cockpit of the fighter craft… He had a sudden idea.

“Elara,” he said, “I need your help with something,” he said neutrally.

“ANYTHING!” she screamed, she turned her head away from him, “THE DISC, GET IT OFF!”

There was a disc maybe the size of a manhole cover attached to the back of the giant woman’s neck. Veins around it bulged, and every few seconds a series of lights on it flashed, causing Elara to spasm. An eternity seemed to pass as he mentally debated what he wanted to do.

“Fuck it,” he muttered, igniting his laser sword. He slashed at the disc, and there was a shower of sparks as it fell into the sand.

“Damn decent of you,” Sara said, verbally this time. He turned around and saw the amazon standing maybe ten feet away from him. Her golden hair blew softly in the breeze as she smiled and walked towards him.

“Your cat and your elves are maybe five minutes behind me,” She said, “where’s the senator?”

“She’s over there,” Jim said, gesturing at the crashed fighter, “I was thinking Elara could help me get her out of the wreckage.”

Sarah sighed and shook her head, “Sorry, but I’ve got business with her.” The wrist mounted claw extended, hanging dangerously at her side.

Jim’s eyes went wide, “Sarah, you can’t.”

She stopped, “Jim, my client was very specific, Telara doesn’t leave this planet alive.”

“A martyr,” Elara moaned, sitting up and rubbing her head, “Telara was deemed more valuable as a martyr… she’s too merciful, she would have never taken a war with the Aelmari or humans to it’s logical conclusion, and the Glalan people would be enraged at losing her.”

Jim ignited the sword again, Sarah just laughed. Before he could react she did a spinning kick, flipping it through the air, it landed in the sand a few dozen feet away.

“Elara,” Jim said slowly, “The senator’s hurt, go get her out of that fighter craft.”

“R-Right,” the giant said, watching Sarah warily.

Sarah rolled her eyes and then ran at Elara’s ankle, the blade gleaming in the tropical sun. Jim tackled her, their world rocked as Elara’s shoes dodged out of the way. Judging by the fear on her face she definitely remembered how deadly Sarah’s poison was. She sprinted towards the fighter, her massive feet kicking up sand that spattered Jim and Sarah as she fled.

“Jim,” Sarah growled. She easily spun in the sand, pinning him under her immense form. He gulped, it was an impressive view, and he was face to face with breasts almost as large as his head. She saw where he was looking and smiled.

“Genetic modification,” she said, “I picked up some… aesthetic choices with my package.”

“S-Sarah,” he said, forcing himself to focus, “Come on, you’re back on earth now, you don’t have to be-“

“Be what?” She asked. Standing up. She placed a foot on his chest, pinning him into the sand. “I’m the most dangerous person in the galaxy Jim, it didn’t matter that I was a tiny little human, or that I didn’t have anyone around to help me, I rose to the top. I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be, anyone I’d rather be…”

There was some uncertainty under there, Jim gritted his teeth and forced her foot off him, rolling to the side as her fist came down and impacted the sand where he’d been a moment before. The force sent shockwaves and the sand flew into the air. He scrambled to his feet as the hulking amazon bore down on him.

“You got abducted,” Jim said, stalling for time, “Come on, there’s got to be someone here you left behind!”

Sarah gritted her teeth and charged at him, that had been the wrong emotional wound to prod. When her uppercut slammed into his stomach he was lifted off the ground by a good foot, almost bringing him eye level with Sarah as the air left his lungs. He had no doubt that if he hadn’t been wearing one of Sarah’s own battlesuits he’d be dead.

“Yeah Jim!” Sarah snarled, “I’m sure mom and dad would just love to have their seven-foot-tall intergalactic assassin of a daughter show up for thanksgiving dinner!” She grabbed him and lifted him over her head, tossing him across the beach easily, “Sorry I haven’t called for fifteen years, there was a gang war on Centauri three and it was big business!” She shook her head as she walked towards him again, seemingly having forgotten about her original target. “No Jim, let those poor people think their daughter just disappeared, they don’t need to know how my life turned out.”

There was a roar of engines as Clara’s ship appeared overhead. Sarah looked up at it in disgust, realizing that she’d run out of time. She held the steely claw in front of her as she approached Jim, and from the look on her face he wouldn’t be walking away from this one.

Suddenly he was swept off the ground by a dark-skinned set of fingers. They clenched him tight and he wheezed as he was brought up to Elara’s panicking face. She was holding him in front of her, the unconscious Senator Telara slung over her shoulder as she sprinted towards the hovering ship. The ramp came down and Isstvell and Lyrei both strode out, heated plasma generating from their hands.

Jim spared one last look back for Sarah, but she’d vanished as quickly as she’d come.

“W-Wait!” Elara said, “Don’t shoot, look I’ve got Jim!”

“Release the hostage!” Isstvell said angrily.

“He’s not a hostage, I swear!” Elara said, “We’ve got to get out of here NOW!”

Isstvell and Lyrei looked at one another, then at Jim. The plasma dissipated.

“Well come on then,” Isstvell snapped.

Elara’s face brightened as she hefted the Glalan and climbed aboard. She dropped Telera’s body to the floor unceremoniously and collapsed into one of the chairs, sighing as she regarded the human in her fist.

“I think I’d like to defect,” Elara said, closing her eyes and leaning back against the wall.

“So, whoever busted you out of jail considered you a loose end then?” Jim asked, feeling the ship take off.

“So it would seem,” Elara said bitterly.

“How have you been communicating with them?” Lyrei asked, “you don’t have any cybernetics, we’ve checked.”

“Extrasensory Perception,” Elara said dismissively.

Jim’s eyes went wide, “Like… psychic powers?”

“Of course,” Elara snapped, “what do you think got us interested in humanity in the first place?”

“Wait…” Jim blinked, “You’re saying you got psychic powers from...”

For another time, he decided. The day was overwhelming enough.

“Could someone please bring me to Clara?” he asked in a tired voice.

…

“JIM!” Clara said excitedly, hugging him to her cheek, “I’m REALLY sorry I shot you down, I did my best to make it a disabling strike, and-“

“It’s fine!” he laughed. “What’s our situation?”

“The humans are going to blow everything up in about,” Clara glanced at the viewscreen monitor on the ship’s dashboard, “five minutes.”

“Shit,” Jim muttered, “Do we have time for one more quick stop?”

…

“All our times have come,” Derek sang, strumming the guitar for the four giant catgirls watching him eagerly. “Here, but now they’re gone…”

When it became clear that they’d never be able to repair the cruiser in time the four Glalans, and their human charge, had panicked. There had been tears at first, but then they’d come to the decision that they’d meet their end with a smile. The four of them watched on the beach for the first of the approaching aircraft. With a little effort they’d managed to get the replicator to produce a guitar, and Derek had offered to play for them while they’d waited for the inevitable.

“He’s so adorable,” Maya sighed, watching the tiny human play at her feet.

“It would have been such a wonderful wedding,” Stella mused, watching the waves.

Engines roared overhead and the sea was sprayed in all directions as Clara’s ship hovered down in front of them, the rear port opening.

The four Glalans and the humans watched with shock as an Aelmari helped an injured senator Telara down the ramp.

“Get on this ship!” Telara ordered, “NOW!”

They didn’t need to be told twice; Stella swiped Derek up as they bounded for the ship as the first booms of the human carpet bombing campaign echoed from the other side of the island.

…

Shaerra gave a euphoric gasp as the neuronet snapped back online, “It’s back!” She said, looking up at the worldship in the sky. As she and the world leaders watched the massive vessel began to light back up, it’s listless drifting ending as it returned to its normal orbit.

She blinked a few minutes as information flooded her system. She immediately saw that a ship of uknown design was detected, with a snarl she ordered the worldship to begin communications.

…

New Elara hummed happily to herself, the war would begin soon, and humanity would again find itself a vanity project and collector’s item of a far superior race. It would take time of course, and there would be adjustments made but-

Her communications crackled to life, “Unidentified ship, if you do not immediately dock at Aelmari Worldship One you will be destroyed. We have suffered an attack and we are not issuing any additional warnings or instructions.”

She froze. The neuronet couldn’t already be back online, could it? She fought down panic. Quickly she hit the video link button and held up her briefcase to the camera. With a click it popped open, revealing her collected humans. All cultists of course, but the Aelmari wouldn’t know that.

“Aelmari worldship,” she said firmly, “do not fire, I have humans on board.”

That would do it, they’d never fire on a ship carrying humans. The Aelmari were a solved game after all, you just needed to know what buttons to hit to win.

…

“She’s got human hostages,” Shaerra told the assembled leaders, “I think… I think that’s who’s responsible for all of this.”

“Then shoot her the hell down!” The UK prime minister snapped.

“I can’t!” Shaerra moaned, “It goes against The Mission to-“

“Shaerra,” Brandon said quietly, “From what I understand these people will keep their captives on display forever, it sounds… monstrous. She’s already nearly killed a great many of us, humans, Aelmari, Glalans.” He sighed, he’d never expected to be making a decision like this, “She almost killed Trish Shaerra… you know what we have to do.”

The mix of programming, learned knowledge, and genuine emotion all fought for dominance in Shaerra’s mind. Finally they merged, and a decision was made. She touched her face suddenly with her free hand, was that a tear? Did she want to do that, or was she merely mimicking what she’d seen from humans?

…

New Elara’s face paled as her sensors indicated the Aelmari were charging weapons.

“Stop!” She shouted into the speaker, “I have humans on board, your Mission-“

She was cut off as bolts of green plasma vaporized her ship.

…

Jim grinned as he saw Clara was already slipping out of her flightsuit. Tapping a few buttons on the console she set the autopilot to bring them back up to the Aelmari worldship. She extended a claw towards him, probably hoping to rip his clothes off as she always did.

“Wait!” he laughed, hitting a button. The suit seemed to flow back into the wrist mounted storage unit. “I’ve only got one of those,” he said, “I don’t want you tearing it up!”

“A gift from that little shrimp Sarah?” Clara said teasingly, “I saw her ship leave that island, did you run into her?”

“Yeah,” Jim said, thinking on the encounter, “She’s always… interesting.”

Clara sniffed teasingly, “I guess I’ll have to take your mind off her.”

As she sat in the chair she lowered Jim down, setting him in front of her soaking womanhood. He didn’t need to be told what to do at this point, he eagerly walked forward and crawled in head first. Clara’s finger came up behind him, slowly working him in as she moaned happily.

As always Clara’s strong musk filled his nostrils, and he grunted as her walls squeezed him. It always felt amazing, but today, between all of the death-defying antics and the successful mission, it might as well have been heaven.

Clara looked out at the stars, sighing contentedly as Jim was forced further inside of her. She began playing with herself, rubbing her clitoris as her human pleasured the deeper parts of her. It didn’t take long to reach orgasm, and from the sudden spasming she was pretty sure Jim was experiencing the same thing. It drove her wild, and she bucked her hips and bit her lower lip as the sensations rocked her body.

Jim felt the wetness around him increase, along with the contractions of her muscles. There was one final earthquake as she quivered around him, then stillness, broken only by her slowing heartbeat.

…

“I have to admit,” Telera said, leaning against one wall of the cargo bay for support, “I feel… very foolish, knowing all that has happened.” She sighed, “Where are Clara and Jim? I’d like to apologize.”

“They’re in the cockpit,” Isstvell said, “Working on navigation.”

“Oh, they’d love to talk!” Lyrei said excitedly, “Now that the neuronet is back up I can just order the door open.”

With a hiss the cockpit door obeyed, and Clara screamed in surprise and leapt behind the chair to cover her nakedness.

The five Glalans, the two Aelmari, Elara, and Derek all gaped for a full second before Clara hit another button closing the door.

“Lyrei,” Isstvell said, kneading her temples, “Bio species sometimes need time alone after a stressful situation.”

Maya leaned close to Stella, “Was he in her…”

“Oh yeah,” Stella said, holding their own human up, “Derek can do that too.”

Derek looked up at the four young Glalans who were now looking down at him hungrily, “I uh… yeah, Stella seemed to like it when I did it.”

The four girls giggled and Derek was suddenly grateful that the cargo bay was too crowded for them to demand a demonstration.

…

On a small suburban street in Ohio. a seven-foot-tall woman walked, her exotic armor covered by a long trenchcoat. According to the records she’d found the person she wanted to speak to still lived here, and hadn’t yet left with the Aelmari. She glanced around the neighborhood, many of the houses were vacant, but there were still signs of life here and there.

“I don’t know about this,” she muttered.

“You do this or I’m taking the ship and flying off,” Zeph warned over their private neuronet.

Sarah sighed. Her friend was bluffing of course, but the message was still quite clear.

She walked up the small paved path to one of the houses, stopping to look at a customized circular cement tile with a small handprint in it. It was displayed in the garden, “SARAH” it read, surrounded by pink plastic faux jewelry she’d picked out decades ago.

She knocked on the door, and waited. She heard sounds from inside, and braced herself as she heard the door unlock. It opened, revealing a short balding man with greying hair and a noticeable paunch. He peered up at her, then his eyes went wide. The two of them stared at one another for a moment, neither knowing what to say.

Finally, Sarah broke the silence, “Hi dad.”

…

“What do you mean you’re taking me as a bio-trophy!?” Elara snapped. Her gaze darted around the various parties in the room, the pink-haired Glalan was leaning against the back wall, holding Jim the human in her palm. She smirked at Elara’s reaction. The two Aelmari, Isstvell and Lyrei, who would apparently be her new… she didn’t like the word owners but what else fit? Those two smiled warmly at her, well, Lyrei seemed a bit warmer… Isstvell seemed smug.

“It will be a good experience for you,” Shaerra said firmly, “We expect you to share everything you know of course, but we believe that you will find more happiness and fulfillment with some guidance.”

“Guidance!?” She shouted, “I’d be a glorified slave!”

Clara shrugged, “I thought so at first, but I think the knife-ears just don’t get friendship, so they make up stuff like this to justify keeping us around.”

“We do too understand friendship!” Lyrei protested, she turned back to Elara, “I know things might seem upsetting now, but I think you’re going to have a wonderful time with us!”

“I tried to kill you,” Elara whispered in shock, “I’ve tried to kill all of you!”

Jim shrugged, “Well, I tried to kill Clara when we first met.”

“Then I was going to kill him,” Clara continued.

“Oh, then you both tried to kill us!” Lyrei said excitedly, gesturing to Isstvell.

“And then we were going to kill Clara, but Jim got in the way,” Isstvell finished.

They all laughed, Shaerra just smiled.

Elara stared at them all, mouth open. They were insane, she’d joined an army of the insane.

…

The Aelmari had provided the rogue Glalans a replica of the cruiser they’d originally arrived in. Once everything had been settled they’d been more than happy to let them return home. Allowing them to take a human had been controversial, but after a lengthy period of begging from Stella and Maya, along with personal requests from Telara, Clara, and Jim, Derek had been allowed to return to Glalan Prime with them.

He panted, covered in the strong-smelling juices from Stella’s womanhood. The orange haired catgirl stood over him, naked and beaming.

“That was great,” She said excitedly, “You’re getting really good at holding your breath!”

Another catgirl looked down at him from the other side, Maya’s blue striped tail swished happily behind her as she leaned down to pick him up. She sniffed him and then laughed.

“Like the smell human?” Maya teased.

“Fuck yeah,” he breathed excitedly.

“I love the enthusiasm,” Maya said with a grin, “Stella, hand me that bottle of lubricant.”

Stella eagerly did so, and then watched hungrily as Maya poured the glistening material over Derek’s tiny form. It was making him a bit nervous, particularly how her hands began wandering over him, making sure the oily stuff was rubbed into every nook and cranny.

“I talked to Clara briefly before we left,” Maya said, “She claims that a human can do wonders if you put them… in the back.”

Derek’s eyes went wide, “Stella!” he shouted, “Come on! Help me out here!”

“I am going to help out,” Stella giggled, taking him from Maya.

The blue haired catgirl bent over on all fours, exposing her butt to her friend.

“Okay,” Stella said, holding the tiny human in front of the puckered hole, “Do you want to go in quick, or slow?”

Derek stared at it and chuckled, “Quick I guess.”

“Good boy,” Maya purred. She started to say something else, but it was cut off by a grunt as she felt Stella begin to force the human in.

…

Shaerra stared down at earth, holding Brandon and Tricia in her palm. The decision to destroy the interloper’s ship, along with it’s human cargo, had weighed heavily on her. Elara had informed her that the humans killed were all assets of her own species, but somehow that hadn’t made things any easier.

“How long do you want to stare at it?” Tricia asked suddenly.

“Trish!” Brandon protested.

“What?” She exclaimed, “I’m sorry but earth from space is really only awe inspiring for the first ten minutes.”

“Sorry,” Shaerra said, “I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

“You always have a lot on your mind,” Tricia snapped, “Your whole species is a bunch of walking computers.” She pointed to Brandon, “and you, you’ve been moody since you got back too!”

“Guilty,” Brandon said, glancing back out the window.

“We need a holiday,” Trish declared, “Florida.”

“I’ll simulate it up at once,” Shaerra said.

“No!” Tricia said firmly, “The real one. Right down there!” she pointed to the North American continent, lazily rotating below them.

Shaerra glanced at Brandon, who simply shrugged back at her. She’d become almost as accommodating to Tricia’s desires as he was, and a part of him found that funny. An alien matriarch of billions, with the power to destroy planets on a whim, was giving in to his girlfriend’s demands… what choice did a mortal man like him have?

“I’ll get a shuttle for you,” Shaerra said.

“Oh, you’re coming,” Tricia insisted. “You might be some kind of giant blue alien robot thing, but I know a woman in need of relaxation when I see one.”

Shaerra thought a moment, then smiled. Finally, after a moment, she laughed, and it wasn’t a social gesture, or a long dormant program activating, it was real.