Orion Company
By Mr. J.
CHAPTER V: Threat Matrices and Rabbit Holes
Nikki glances at the row of vibrators spread along the table in her quarters, courtesy of one Anna Marie Polly. The sizable collection of contraband looks impressive even in the dim light. She’s no stranger to personal items being smuggled aboard ships—she’s a CSF veteran after all. But even this mulitcolored collection puts what she’s seen to shame.
“Look at these.” She grasps her e-cigarette. “I’m no stranger to lonely nights but geez...”
“What is it?” The captain glances at Nikki as she applies makeup.
“Anna’s collection.” Nikki gestures towards the items. “Did you know about this?”
“First I’ve heard of it. You said you found it when you discovered the girl...”
“Naked,” Nikki nods without missing a beat. “I’m beginning to think letting Anna bring her aboard was a bad idea.”
“Where is she, anyway?”
“Cargo bay. We have her in four point restraints right now. It’s for the best, really She’s in an out of consciousness as we speak, but as soon as she comes to I’m going to have a heart to heart with her... ”
“It’s going to break Anna’s heart.” The captain shakes her head. “I hope she learns something from this...”
“What about punishment? We can’t let her get away with this scott free...”
“All in due time.” The captain waves her hand dismissively.
“Lianna...” Nikki folds her arms. “I love you, but we just found a young girl, er, woman pleasuring herself in Anna’s bed. We have to set an example or else next thing you know Caitlin’s going to outdo her and soon we’ll all be awash in contraband.”
“I guess your right.” THe captain sighs. “What did she sound like? You said the girl’s voice was funny.”
“She spoke in this weird accent,” Nikki takes a drag off her e-cig. “it was a hiss—almost like a snake’s. She was real strong too—it took Caitlin and I both to barely lift her off the bed and she went down fighting. I still got scratches along my arms. Something’s odd about that her, Lianna. I’m starting to wish we’d never come across that ship in the first place.”
“That’s odd.” The captain scratches her head. “Keep up the good work.”
The door hisses anti-climatically as Anna enters, head hung low in shame.
“You wanted to see me?” She stammers.
“Care to explain these?” Nikki holds up a specimen.
“I don’t know how that ended up in my dresser. Maybe it got mixed up with some of my provisions during one of our runs.”
“Try again.” Nikki directs her attention towards the row of vibrators on the table. “I count at least ten of these right here alone. Do you really expect me to believe they ended up on this ship by accident?”
“Look, I can explain...” Anna sputters. “It all started during our run on Venus VI. I saw the green one when I had some downtime and decided to buy it. One thing led to another and well...”
“I’ve heard enough.” The captain glances at Nikki. “Get rid of the contraband ASAP.”
“But captain? Don’t you think we should dock her pay? At least put her on KP duty?”
“Very well.” The captain crosses her arms. “Two months without pay and you have to do KP duty. I’m dissipointed in you, Anna. I really am.”
Anna walks out with the captain and Nikki in tow she gives Caitlin a serious case of side-eye towards a confused Caitlin. Caitlin’s quickly adopts a poker faceas she rushes toward pretending not to notice. Regardless, Anna feels less than amused about the revelation of her personal habits. The rest of the day is spent eyeing Caitlin suspiciously, wondering if she had something to do with the vibrators ending up in Nikki’s hands.
At her workstation, Anna buries her head in on her vidscreen, trying to forget her humiliation in her busy work. Her mind wanders back towards the mysterious Vang Vanessa mentioned shortly before she was hauled off. There surely had to have been some form of contact with Vanessa for her to be aware of them. She types furiously into the search bar, hoping for any clues that would shine a light on Vanessa’s odd behavior. A flood of information floods her screen, from diplomatic cables to intelligence reports—a semi-legal database of information at her disposal.
But nothing that would give so much as a hint as to what Vanessa experienced on board the research vessel.
“C’mon.” Anna curses at the screen.
In a fit of desperation she tries a combination of words, from ‘Vang’ and ‘female’ to ‘Vang’ and ‘raid’. No such luck. She sighs in resignation, until she spots a link to a series of articles about attacks against ships and colonies in the quadrant...all in the vicinity of the species’s homeworld...all of them in locations where the Orion had stopped in the past year.
Anna gasps.
“Nikki! Come over here!”
“This better be good...” Nikki groans.
Anna motions Nikki over.
“Just a bunch of pirate attacks,” Nikki reads the articles with disinterest. “nothing special.”
“No. This is different.”
They read like a matrix of attacks. A research colony on Terra X. A Confed patrol ship. A nomadic tribe on the desert planet Cerberus. All attacked within a matter of months...and all involving the Vang as aggressors. Nikki’s eyes are assaulted by the sight of the reptillian vertibrate’s large, prehensile, green member, hanging prominently in a profile photo.
“So not my type.” Nikki remarks to no one in particular. “So they got some cocks, big deal. You called me over here just so you could show me some pornography?”
“I know I’ve seen these creatures before. But I can’t place them...”
“Says here they’re legendary telepathic warriors who use their powers to subdue their enemies. You think they had something to do with the girl below deck?”
“Vanessa is her name.” Anna glances at Nikki. “Anyway, the Confed archives are full of stories of enemies being possessed or turned by spirits who were actually Vang soldiers controlling them. A lot of it is ancedotal, since their entire culture is mnemonic, but I’d bet my credits they’re the reason for Vanessa’s psychosis.”
“So these Vang took possession of the girl’s body. But that could’ve been weeks or months ago. What use would she be to them now? It makes no sense.”
“Well, their reproduction rate is 0.07,” Anna points at the screen. “doesn’t explain why they target females only.”
“Maybe they breed or work as midwives or something. The Vang still need someone to look after their kids, right?”
“Maybe, but the genetic variation would be too great for reproduction to take place.” Anna rubs her chin. “The thing that bugs me is, why kill all the males? Why not put them to work building bridges or something? It’s so inefficient.”
“Beats me.”
Anna’s heart leaps out of her chest.
“Where’s Vanessa?” Anna glances down the corridor. “I need to speak with her. Whatever Vanessa witnessed on that ship has to be buried in her subconscious somewhere. Maybe she knows something that would give us a clue as to what we’re dealing with.” “She’s below deck.” Nikki explains. “We have her in restraints... Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good idea to see her, not after what she tried to do to you.”
“I’m the only one she knows well. If I can get her to open up about her experiences, maybe she can pont us in the right direction.”
“Please don’t.” Nikki cautions. “You don’t know who—what you’re dealing with.”
“I have to.” Anna bolts out of her chair. “It’s the only way we’ll be able to fight this—thing, whatever it is.
Nikki grabs her arm.
“I wish you’d reconsider.”
“If it wasn’t me, it’d be somebody else.” Anna breaks away. “At least this way if something goes bad, it’ll be confined to me and her. You have your laser pistol on you, right?”
Nikki nods.
“If anything happens...you know what to do.”
“Jovespeed, Ms. Polly...” Nikki tears up.
Anna’s chest tightens as she glances at Vanessa’s sleeping form. Just twenty four hours ago the the barely legal teenager was upbeat and confident, glowing even. Now she’s glowing for a different reason, bound by leather thongs as she lay tied on a makeshift table, hands at her sides. Sweat pours from her naked body as she writhes.
Anna doesn’t know who deserves it more: herself or Vanessa.
“Where am I?” Vanessa comes to.
She struggles to free herself of her bonds—but it’s no use. Whoever strapped her in must’ve done a good job making sure she doesn’t leave. As her vision readjusts Vanessa spies a petite figure standing over, flask in hand. Either the cavalry’s come or this is some kind of a mean joke. Vanessa doesn’t know which.
“Where am I?” She groans.
“Cargo deck.” Anna leans over her. “Thirsty?”
Vanessa nods. Cool liquid wets her dry, swollen tongue as Anna kneels in front of her. The water trickles down her chin and chest, anointing her already drenched body with water. She gulps as she gathers her thoughts, trying to make sense of what’s happened.
Anna takes a swig of water, wiping Vanessa’s mouth with a kerchief.
“I thought I was staying with you.” Vanessa’s raspy voice fills the room.
“You were.”
“Why am I here?”
“Long story.” Anna cuts her off. “Look, I need to ask you a few questions. It’s very important.”
“Mind letting me go first?” Anna squirms. “This table is hurting my back...”
Anna looks away.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible.” Her voice drifts off. “Not until you get better...”
“Better?”
“The incident yesterday... A member of the crew discovered you in my bedroom naked... You were talking in this strange accent, something about ‘debt’ and ‘bride price’. There was a struggle and....”
Vanessa peers into Anna’s eyes.
“Tell me this is all a joke.”
“No joke.” Anna shakes her head. “Everybody’s talking about it. I was lucky to get away with a slap on the wrist. I shouldn’t even be talking to you...”
Vanessa sighs.
“Do you remember anything about what happened before your...fit?” Anna maintains her compusure. “Headaches, strange voices...”
“No. Wait a minute...I experienced this strange vibration in my head after we left, almost like a tuning fork. I didn’t think anything of it unti my head felt real warm. I thought I was imagining things. I chalked it down to stress or maybe even a fever and lied down, but the feeling spread over my body. I stripped down to my underwear to cool off. That was the last thing I remembered before I woke up here.”
“That’s a start.” Anna nods. “Ever heard of the Vang?”
“The who?”
“The Vang. It kept creeping up over and over during your fit. Does it ring a bell to you?”
Vanessa bites her lip. Images of slimy bipeds scroll like movies as she closes her eyes, their gills expanding and contracting as they breath through their helmets. Their modest height belies their awesome power. They seem to tower over the humans as they board the research vessel where Vanessa used to work. Watching them, she could see why.
She moans as she arches her head. Struggling against the restraints even harder, Vanessa pushes them to their limit. For a brief moment Anna’s heart stops. Her gut tells her to run away before Vanessa breaks free. Her knees buckle, yet against all instinct she stays.
A low, orgasmic purr leaves Vanessa’s lips as she purses her mouth. Her erect nipples shimmer in the dim light. A brief glimpse of Vanessa’s gleaming pussy tells Anna everything she needs to know. What she said must’ve triggered a memory or response of some kind, not unlike the Pavlovian dogs of six centuries earlier. If anyone needed proof that the Vang are mind-controllers, it couldn’t stare them more directly in the face.
“Please gods!” She screams. “Take me, take me!”
Anna coughs.
“Vanessa?”
“Sorry.” The brunette comes to. “I was daydreaming.”
“What did you see?”
“My friends and I were at a bar.” Vanessa’s eyes flutter. “There was so much commotion. We were laughing, carrying on—then suddenly the place got real quet. I remember there being a lot of aggro energy in the room. The guys were arguing and screaming. Then one of picked up a knife and... A man crumpled to the ground. There was blood everywhere, soaking his clothes, the floor. Everyone started jostling and fighting each other. It was a real stampede. We managed to run into the hallway. There’s a bunch of other girls out there too, as dumbstruck as we are, some of them are covered in blood. My legs trembled...”
“Go on.”
“I spied these lizard creatures coming towards us. They were about chest height. They looked like astronauts. My girl friends and I just freeze. One of them—I think her name was Kay or Kayla—got this wild look in her eyes. She started to take off her clothes—I’m talking everything, blouse, pants, the whole deal. I tried to stop her, but she pushed me away. At first I think it’s just her, but then it started happening over and over. They kept urging me to join them. I unbuttoned my blouse a little bit to cool myself off because it was hot, but nothing happened, and then...OH GOD!”
An orgasmic scream rents the air as she goes into shock. Anna quickly raises Nikki and Caitlin on her vidscreen and calls for help. As they rush to Vanessa’s side, Anna becomes aware of a more visceral sensation. Trickles of liquid flow down her legs as she pants. She quickly excuses herself, rushing towards her bedroom.