Of all the ships employed by the Alliance Courier Service, few were as beautiful as the Penelope. She was a voidsloop, a small interstellar craft little bigger than a shuttle, her hull birdlike in aspect with a pair of arced wings set alongside a narrow, almost angular central hull. She’d been built at a time when speed was deemed a great aspect than tonnage when it came to cargo transport, and she certainly lived up to that goal for no ship could catch her when she was giving her all, either at sublight or FTL. The numerous automated systems, including its repair drones, allowed Sumire to operate the ship by her lonesome, her quarters wedged in between the cockpit and the cargo hold, and she utterly adored it. There was nothing better in life than a ship to call your own and the freedom to take it where you willed. That she could use it to make money delivering packages from one end of the Alliance to the other was merely icing on the cake. And sure, between the pirates and the solar flares and the spatial anomalies, there were risks, but nothing the lively dark-haired woman couldn’t handle.
Until now. Inside the Penelope’s cockpit, Sumire stirred fitfully against her restraints, the tape binding her wrists and ankles holding fast against her struggles, while grey eyes stared indignantly at the intruder seated at the helm. Someone else had dared to pilot her beloved voidsloop, to lay her filthy hands upon the controls of her ship. That she’d taken her prisoner in the process was merely icing on the cake, and the tape slathered over the lower half of her face from ear to ear did little to disguise her fury. “Mmmmpppgghh! Mmmppggh, mmppggghh!”
“Classless as ever, my dear Sumire,” the woman at the controls remarked in a mocking tone, not taking her eyes from the HUD. “I’d dared to hope you might have developed some social graces since you spurned me, but it seems I was expecting far too much from you.”
Sumire’s reply was an angry growl, pale features becoming red with embarrassment. In the occasionally cutthroat business of interstellar package delivery, few had gained such notoriety as Dani Sunholm, her willingness to both sabotage her competition and take on the most sordid contracts making her a virtual pariah amongst her fellow couriers. Much to Sumire’s shame, they’d been lovers once, back when she was too young and stupid to recognize the viper she was taking into her bed, and she’d been quick to call things off once she discovered Dani’s side hustle of transporting biological weapons to anti-Alliance terrorists… as well as tip off the authorities. Dani had fled into the lawless reaches of the Deep Expanse, and for the next five years, Sumire had hoped she’d seen the last of her, content to earn her living at a much higher ethical standard.
But now Dani was back, beautiful and cruel as ever, Sumire’s brief layover at Bondar Station to pick up some supplies giving her the chance to sneak aboard, and the Japanese woman flinched as her former lover patted her head as she might a favoured pet. “This is a really nice ship, darling,” Dani said, finally turning her cold brown eyes to stare down at her captive. “Far too good for a faithless little tramp like you. Think I’ll keep it for myself.”
“MMPPPGGGHH!” Sumire screamed in outrage. Dani must have used an entire roll of packing tape to keep her bound, for there was no breaking free, the bonds at her wrists, ankles and behind her breasts holding firm despite her best efforts. The autopilot was suddenly engaged, and now Sumire received the other woman’s full attention, hands tracing the length of her close-fitting blue jumpsuit before settling on her athletic thighs. “MMMMPPGGGHHH!”
“Oh, I’ve waited so long for this,” Dani said eagerly, leaning in close so that her scent invaded Sumire’s nostrils. “I was so lonely out in the Deep Expanse that all I could think about was you, drab, pathetic creature that you are.” Her hands shifted, settling on another part of the Japanese woman’s anatomy, and Dani gave a cruel smile at her captive’s terror. “I know you betrayed me to the Peacekeepers, Sumire. All that I suffered out there in the deep black is because of you, and now, you’re going to repay me.”
“MMMPPPGGGHH! MMMPPGGGHHH!” Sumire tried to squirm away, yet strong hands seized her by the arms and held her fast. “MMMMPPPPGGGGHHH!”
“I think I’m going to sell you as a slave,” Dani said with an unnatural levity, and grey eyes widened in shock. “Oh, don’t look so surprised, darling. People in the Deep Expanse get up to all sorts of things without that government you so adore to stop them. You will fetch a high price, I think, a nice pretty package for any pirate or warlord with the creds to purchase you. But don’t you fret. Your ship will be in very good hands when you’re gone.”
Whimpering in fear, Sumire could only watch as Dani stepped back and resumed her place at the helm. “Get comfortable, darling, it’s a four-day journey at FTL to the rendezvous, even on a ship this fast. Time enough to decide how exactly I’m going to package you up…”