Florrie bit her lower lip, hard at work on her power suit, with it on the floor, chest cavity fully exposed for her to tinker with to her heart’s content. And she was now on a bit of a deadline.
While the last battle had been an excellent way of putting the suit through its paces, there was now genuine pressure to make sure it was as ready as she could make it before the night of the full moon, which was like… Tomorrow night. So that piled on the stress of needing to get it all prepared and optimal. So uni work could wait until the big battle was behind them, there were bigger fish to fry right now.
“You know, maybe you’re trying to squeeze out blood from a stone, there’s only so much you can do with those parts,” Tharen pointed out as he laid back on a chair, tossing Maltesers into his mouth one by one and snacking on them. He definitely took his time when it came to savouring the things.
“And maybe you should mind your own business, mate,” Florrie pouted as she continued to tinker with the internals of the suit. “There’s plenty of juice I can wring out of this thing. It’s all about optimisation.”
She paused, and then looked up at him. “Isn’t that, like, the thirty-first kind of snack you’ve been munching on since you first showed up that I’ve seen?”
“That you’ve seen. My NIA says it’s the thirty-seventh since coming to Earth,” Tharen grinned, tossing another one into his mouth as he said that.
“Jesus. How many of those have you not liked?”
“Eh, like… Nine, I guess? And that’s a slight dislike.”
“You’re a bloody snack fiend, mate.”
“That is absolutely correct and I will not apologise for it!” Tharen laughed, tossing one of the chocolate balls into the air, and catching it in his mouth. “Though there is one snack I absolutely can’t eat under any circumstances.”
“I find that hard to believe. What could possibly be off-limits for you?”
“Peppermint.”
That instantly gave Florrie pause. She sat up, staring at him. “I’m sorry, peppermint?”
“Yep.”
“You mean the stuff they use to make candy canes and stuff?”
“Yeeeeeeeep.”
“And you’re… Allergic to that stuff? I mean, I guess it makes sense there’d be people allergic to peppermint…”
“Oh, no, that’s not the problem. For Piancar, peppermint is a highly addictive drug, basically cocaine for us. Even one of those small peppermint sweets would send me bouncing off the walls,” Tharen said, shaking his head. “The folks monitoring Earth discovered it when someone brought candy canes to a Christmas party. You can imagine how that went.”
Florrie wasn’t sure whether she should find this hilarious or absolutely mortifying. “Jesus Christ.” Then something else occurred to her. “Don’t tell me there’s a drug trade for peppermint.”
“All it takes is one crooked cop seeing an opportunity to make a quick buck and it’s off to the races, unfortunately,” Tharen sighed. “And considering how accessible peppermint is here, that’s no surprise. The Threesian government is literally considering the idea of a mandate for mass genetic alteration of the entire Piancaran species in order to stamp out the root of the problem. A messy solution, but still less messy than trying to pressure humanity to put a prohibition on peppermint.” He probably didn’t even realise he just made an alliteration there, considering he was likely speaking his native tongue.
Florrie’s jaw dropped for a few seconds, before she shook her head and decided to just get back to work. Just… Wow. How do you even respond to that? And he wasn’t wrong about that last part, either. Alien biology was… Interesting. But it also wasn’t in her wheelhouse, so she decided it was best set aside for another time. “Um… Okay, then.”
A few minutes later, Phi’Scia approached, looking over Florrie’s work, “oh, Miss Ashworth, you’re still working on the suit?”
“Phi, I think we know each other well enough that you can just call me ‘Florrie’. Also, drop the ‘miss’, I’m way younger than you,” Florrie sighed, as she continued tinkering.
“The English language is a bit confusing in some regards,” Phi’Scia blinked. “Why are you putting so much effort into this? You have very little experience with GDF equipment and technology, isn’t this overwhelming for you?”
It was an innocent enough question, even if it did get under Florrie’s skin a little bit, because it implied that alien tech was beyond what humans were capable of handling, and also implied that she wasn’t up to the task of getting into the nitty-gritty with it either. She glanced up at her, “I mean, you’re not entirely wrong? The lowest-level technical stuff is a step too far for me. Also, I don’t have the equipment for it either - not like I can make adjustments to the circuits with a soldering iron or anything. But there’s still plenty of higher-level technical aspects that I can understand, especially since I got the documentation for all of it. I’ve been absolutely ripping through that stuff. I can handle this without breaking the parts, thanks.”
“Uh, right, fair enough, sorry,” Phi’Scia said, looking somewhat embarrassed - apparently she realised how insensitive her question seemed. “I’m not a technical expert like Lady Sal’Arzia, even if I do know some things from living long enough. I’m more of an expert on magic.”
If Florrie was in a worse mood she might’ve considered bluntly telling Sal to stay in her lane, then, but Sal didn’t deserve that. She was a nice girl who Florrie probably would think was barely an adult if she wasn’t aware of how old she actually was, and was actually trying to be helpful. Florrie in particular appreciated her looking out for Nat.
“Must be nice being able to travel the stars, seeing what the universe has to offer,” Florrie said, as she got back to work. While she wanted to convey admiration, she couldn’t help but allow some bitterness to escape into her tone.
“Hoo boy,” Tharen groaned.
“You sound bitter, Florrie,” Phi’Scia frowned, sitting down on a nearby chair.
Florrie couldn’t help but grit her teeth a little. “How long have your species known about humanity?”
“Decades,” Tharen said frankly. “Found Earth by picking up radio waves.”
Phi’Scia nodded, expression unchanging, “the Galactic Congress has been sending out faster-than-light probes across the galaxy to survey star systems and identify signs of intelligent life. One of them picked up human activity, and it didn’t take long for your system to be ‘cordoned off’, so to speak, so only authorised ships can approach, and to keep more radio waves from escaping - partly so to make it harder for the Salvron to find Earth. Both Voyager satellites were also intercepted, their signals are being spoofed, and they’re being proudly preserved in a museum.”
That sparked a lot of mixed feelings. Florrie grit her teeth as she stopped, glaring at the two of them as she sat up, “is that supposed to make me feel better about how the rest of the galaxy has been keeping humanity in the dark about life beyond our solar system? About how we’d already be beyond our star if you guys had openly made contact with us?!”
Phi’Scia visibly winced. “Florrie, it’s not that simple. The Galactic Congress has procedures for handling intelligent life that haven’t reached the spacefaring stage yet. We can’t just hand out FTL technology to species that aren’t ready for it.”
“Okay, so what the hell is the criteria for THAT?!”
“You know it works for countries to get into NATO, right? Well, it’s sorta like that,” Tharen said, swallowing, “if humanity wants to join the Congress, they gotta be relatively united under one banner - that means basically minimal chance of you guys blowing yourselves up. So that basically means universal nuclear disarmament and stuff like that, and a global representative body with teeth, which the United Nations definitely isn’t.”
Phi’Scia nodded, “we’d need to be sure humanity has become peaceful enough to join the Congress. To that end, humanity’s progress has been monitored, without intervention.”
“Apparently your ‘prime directive’ does have exceptions,” Florrie pointed out.
“The only reason we’re getting directly involved is because the Congress’ statutes allow for intervention in case another spacefaring power - like the Salvron - attempts an invasion. There is another exception, but you wouldn’t want it to happen.”
“Yeah? And what’s that?”
“The unilateral occupation of Earth if humanity were to trigger a potentially apocalyptic scenario - such as the initiation of nuclear war.”
Florrie’s breath caught in her throat. She hadn’t considered that aliens would be willing to step in and act as the ‘adults in the room’ if things got that bad. “No shit, seriously?”
Phi’Scia nodded. “All nuclear armaments would be intercepted and seized. The Congress would dissolve any governments involved by force if necessary, until humanity is deemed fit to govern itself again. That’s not a pleasant outcome, but it’s an extreme case that I hope never occurs. The alternative is the potential extinction of humanity outright.”
Florrie sighed. She was standing to understand the rationale here, even if she didn’t like it. She leaned forward and got back to work. “Well, trying to get us to all unite would be like herding cats, I think. The USA is pretty touchy about its sovereignty, there’s no way China or Russia would accept any arrangement where they aren’t the top dogs, and don’t get me started on pariah states like North Korea.”
“Oh, believe me, we know it’s a challenge,” Tharen chuckled.
“But yeah… Sorry for blowing up at you guys,” Florrie said, feeling somewhat guilty, “I know the decision-making is out of your hands, but I felt like I needed to vent. Still wasn’t right to direct my anger at you.”
Phi’Scia went over to her and put a hand on her shoulder, with a soft smile, “I understand your frustration, Florrie. Sometimes some things just don’t seem fair to us. Sometimes the best we can do is do our part to try and fix that, no matter how small a part that may be.”
“Yeah, be the change you wanna be and all that, or at least try,” Tharen said.
Florrie couldn’t help but smile. “You’re alright in my book, Phi. Same with you, Tharen, and Gartho too.”
That was interrupted by a yelp of panic from across the ship. Florrie looked up, and saw Sonia on fire. Again. “She still trying to figure out her new superpowers?” She took a moment to think about that statement. “Wow I can’t believe I’m actually saying that.”
“We’re still trying to figure out how and why she has multiple powers, but we suspect it’s because the potion she drank had the blood of multiple Gaians,” Phi’Scia said. “But she doesn’t have the same powers as them, but she has multiple powers in the same general categories - some kind of pyrokinesis and the ability to slip into any small space, which line up with Logos’ elemental manipulation and Europa’s spacial manipulation. She also possesses natural enhanced strength and durability, which lines up with the powers Katherine and Mira have.”
“Who’s Mira?”
“Orca girl. From what I understand, she’s a shy person with an aggressive alternate personality that emerges when she uses her power, which causes her to grow and bulk up substantially and become a physical powerhouse.”
“Ah, so she’s basically the Hulk, got it.”
That gave Phi pause, but she nodded, “apparently that’s a pretty apt comparison, actually.”
“Also, related to that, Gulara tried to nab Sonia in her own apartment, so we can’t take chances until she and Hanzo are out of the picture,” Tharen said, “so you, Jay and Sonia are gonna be staying here until that coast is clear.”
“Aw, shit, seriously?” Florrie’s heart sank, and she wasn’t sure why, but she knew if it was hopefully for just tonight… “Alright, fine. I need to get some stuff from the fridge back at my apartment, though.”
"Sure, we can do that, a few of us can accompany you to grab some stuff,” Tharen chuckled, “might as well take the ship, fly over to each place and grab what you need.”
Florrie nodded. “Sure, sounds like a plan.”
As Florrie unlocked her balcony door from the outside with her keys, Sonia blinked as she looked inside, “how often do you have guests over?”
“Usually just Nat, why?” Florrie asked, as she opened the door.
“Because your place is a mess, girl.”
She wasn’t wrong, admittedly. Florrie was not the most organised person when it came to her apartment - she had small piles of various stuff against the walls or in corners. Even the stuff on shelves weren’t necessarily organised in a logical way, all that mattered was that she could see them. “Yeah, so? At least it’s all out of the way.”
They had arrived on the balcony via Phi’s ship, opening up the landing ramp to allow them to get down while the ship was still cloaked. They had been to Jay and Sonia’s apartments first.
“Considering Nat’s room is immaculately organised, I thought your apartment would be too, but I guess not,” Sonia said as they went in, and the pair immediately started grabbing stuff out of the fridge to stuff into a bag. “And before you tell me that Anja’s room is even worse, she’s got issues, so that ain’t the same.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Florrie sighed. She wasn’t going to argue on that particular point. “I’ve just got a lot of stuff and it’s such a pain to organise it all properly…”
“When this is all over we’re going through your stuff and fixing this mess,” Sonia chuckled, as they finished. “Anyway, what else do you need to grab in here?”
A switch suddenly flicked in Florrie’s head, and she went right over to her desk. “Gotta grab some data drives and a change of clothes, I’ll be right behind you.”
Sonia just shrugged and closed the fridge, carrying the bag over to the balcony.
Florrie quickly grabbed a pen and a post-it-note, writing something down and sticking it to the desk before grabbing a portable hard drive and some thumb drives, along with some clothes, and heading to the balcony.
Hopefully he’d find the message.
Instead of sleeping on the main ship’s floor in sleeping bags or something, Florrie had been pleased to find out that in fact demountable rooms (courtesy of matter compression containers like the ones in Natalia’s body) had been set up for each of the three, just big enough for a bed, a closet for storing clothes and a desk. And the noise from the outside was minimal, so Florrie could get some sleep with basically no real issues.
When she found herself standing in a huge room out of some kind of Japanese palace shortly after falling asleep, she was delighted. A part of her deep down felt some alarm, but she dismissed it out of hand.
“There you are, my pet,” Hanzo chuckled, sitting on his throne, dressed in what was barely more than a loincloth. Standing by him was someone who appeared to be Natalia, dressed in what was basically a fancy gold bikini. Florrie wasn’t sure how, but she was fairly sure she wasn’t actually real. In fact, none of this was real - if she had to guess, this was a dream. From what Florrie understood, dreams took place on a separate, amorphous metaphysical plane of reality connected to the collective consciousness of all sentient life. And while lucid dreaming was entirely possible for anyone, properly connecting to the dreams of others required full awareness and a notable amount of magical power.
Florrie walked over to her master, grinning from ear to ear. The fact that she was wearing a similar bikini had not gone unnoticed, nevermind the substantially increased voluptuousness of her body as a result of her master’s power over her. Again, a feeling of alarm began to surface, but she pushed it back down. Why would she feel alarmed in the presence of her beloved master? “You found my note, Master?”
“Of course, my dear,” Hanzo chuckled as he levitated her onto his lap, taking a hearty grope of her huge bubble butt. “I would’ve been a bit concerned had you not returned home this evening without making one for me. But I appreciate your initiative. I suppose I should thank that wench for giving me the idea to connect with you via the dream plane… Well, after I make her my obedient slave, of course.”
Florrie giggled, snuggling up against his fuzzy torso. The feeling of that bulge under the loincloth was also acutely felt. She now perfectly understood why Nat was so tempted to submit to him - the joy and pleasure of being Hanzo’s obedient slave was second to none, and Florrie honestly felt disappointed that Nat had given that up. Giving up her freedom and agency was a small price to pay for the joy of being Master’s plaything. No more responsibilities or any need to make choices. Just the bliss of submission. “Of course, Master, I didn’t want to worry you. But this does kinda complicate things.”
“A little. But it shall be moot once I claim total victory when the full moon appears,” said Hanzo with a cackle. “Assuming the ‘Emperor’ turns up to fight and not just run away like a little brat, it shall be a most chaotic battle, one that I will be poised to take advantage of.”
“Howso, Master? Isn’t it just gonna be a four-way fight, in that case?”
“Not quite - various local supernatural entities have slipped into the town’s boundaries, but from what I can tell they’ve been reluctant to act, with the old man and his subordinates around - most of them are basically animals, but they’re not stupid. They’re being lead by something, and I believe that something is the last remaining Namorrodor.”
Florrie blinked. “Wait, the one that Anja fought and got away from that big group fight?”
“The same. The local supernatural elements are fascinating, they do not share a common language, and yet this particular shooting star spirit can assert dominance through sheer will alone,” Hanzo said, tapping the armrest with his finger, “admirable, for a mere beast. I think I’m going to enjoy making it my personal attack dog.”
“So it’s gonna be a five-way.”
“Pretty much, yes. Heh… It’s gonna be messy, but not in the way we’re about to get into right now,” Hanzo chuckled, groping Florrie’s breast roughly.
Florrie grinned. If she was a dog she’d be wagging her tail vigorously right now. “You gonna fuck me, then?”
“Of course,” he smirked, as he moved to loosen her bikini top, “one last round of fun before tomorrow.”
Florrie wrapped her arms around his shoulders, kissing him as her top fell away, and he cut away the second piece covering her nether-regions. The loincloth was moved aside, revealing her master’s vulpine dick.
He spun her around, fondling her tits as he thrust into her, making Florrie squeal in delight. Second only to her own personal pleasure was the thrill of her master making full use of her slutty body, as was his right as his personal cocksleeve. And nothing made her feel like more of a woman than feeling his dick slam into her pussy and rub against her inner folds. Sure, it was with little regard for her personal comfort, but her modified body could handle it just fine, and his enjoyment came first.
And just to drive it home, he took control, using magic to levitate her entire body and slamming her down onto him, making her moan loudly. Florrie’s eyes crossed as the sudden increase in force and intensity swiftly drove her to orgasm already, her girl-juices spraying onto her master’s cock and onto the floor in front of her, but he continued to fuck her relentlessly all the same.
The whole thing was a haze of intense pleasure from that point forward, as Florrie orgasmed two more times before Hanzo finally stopped, blasting her insides with one last explosion of white fluids right inside of her. It was only at that point when she realised that his cock had outright knotted her, stuck inside and leaving her belly feeling very full.
He spun her around, and they embraced in an intense, lustful kiss, before spending the remainder of the dream having hours of intense, sweaty sex.
