Chapter One Thirty-Six Lower Your Shields
A few minutes before the Eyes of Kir was captured:
Anai stood on the bridge watching the screens as the Collective battleships closed in. Exactly as planned, a moment later a naked female at the comms looked up. “We are being hailed.”
She gestured and a message played out, “Titari vessel, lower your shields and prepare to be boarded.”
“Drop shields and maintain course.”
“Shields down captain,” was the response. Just as their shadow emerged from hyperspace, they decloaked almost immediately and engaged shields when a cruiser came bearing down on them.
She watched for a couple of minutes, as they attempted to flee, only to be caught in a tractor beam. The follow-up torpedo volley was ineffective against the Collective’s shields and a second later the frigate lowered her shields. Allowing for the cruiser to fire a stun blast, eliminating all resistance. Reyna had told her the frigate would lower her shields, so she wasn’t surprised. Although Reyna hadn’t told her how she managed to arrange for that particular event to happen. It wasn’t required for her to know in any event.
Her comm officer looked up. “We’ve been ordered to reduce speed and come to a heading of one one seven mark zero”
“Reduce speed and come to a heading of one one seven mark zero,” she ordered the helm as one of the ships shifted to come alongside.
As she waited for the ship to dock, she announced to the crew that they were to get ready for processing, and if they weren’t naked already, to remove any clothing and equipment on their person. The next few minutes passed slowly and then there was a slight clank as the ship docked next to theirs. Anai turned from her spot on the bridge as her officers stood up, leaving the consoles unlocked for collective drones to operate later. A moment later the expected order for the command crew to vacate the bridge came, and she ordered the crew to gather in the hangers for processing before heading down herself with her officers.
The hanger ended up full of naked young women who lined up to await the Collective drones. Anai stood in a corner next to her officers while she was waiting, which thankfully was not that long. A female drone in metal clothing approached her group and directed her to follow. She nodded and followed along. As she walked, she watched the drones inspecting her crew. Females were quickly organized into rows, while males were placed in another group
She recalled that Reyna said the first part of the processing would be the inspection of the crew. Anai spent a bit watching, noting how the crewmen cooperated as they were scanned and prodded by the drones. Several groups like her own were also led off elsewhere, but she didn’t have long before she was led out of the main bay and down a hall.
After that there wasn’t much to see, until she was taken into the Collective battleship. The difference in hull interior was quite striking. She spent a moment looking at the alien tech, the sleek polished walls and the lack of decoration. The doors she passed were clean with painted trim and sleek silver doors. No symbols were painted on them, nothing aside from the color of the trim to differentiate them.
Her group was led into a small room, where a princess was waiting. She was recognizable by the silver bikini she wore combined with a striking yet somewhat transparent skirt. The outfit was clearly chosen for its aesthetic effect, yet she could tell it was designed to allow the wearer to move without interference. The unfamiliar princess smiled, “Ah, you must be subject Anai. I have read Reyna’s reports on you.”
“That would be me, yes.”
“Excellent, if you would sit here we can get started.”
She sat where indicated, while her officers were quickly sorted by the drones. The princess turned to her, and began hooking up some equipment to her head. “Now the first part of the processing for you will be another interrogation. Now just relax and let the machines do their job.”
She nodded as her head started to tingle, the device injecting nanites into her head. Then the questions started. She quickly lost track as she answered. Eventually, the questions stopped, the princess smiled, “Okay, dear we are quite happy with your answers so far. Now just relax and we can move on to the next part soon.”
She was then given an injection and she felt her thoughts slow. It was a familiar feeling and she didn’t fight it. Just relaxed in her chair and waited.
The darkness receded and the young woman blinked the bright light out of her eyes. For a moment she didn’t know what was going on and then her mind flashed to the past. Recalling the cruiser, the tractor beam, the shields suddenly dropping. A curse was suddenly on the tip of her tongue, but she bit back the urge. Taking a breath, before slowly looking around.
She quickly found that she was not on her bridge. Rather instead she found herself lying on an unfamiliar bed. It was quite comfortable actually but she didn’t feel the need to stay here. Pushing to her feet, she took in the room she found herself in. It was small, with just enough space for the bed, a trunk, and a small desk. The captain quickly found that there was also a small closet that contained a toilet and a sink. The complete lack of a door left something to be desired when it came to privacy.
Her gaze turned to the sole door she had found. It was probably locked, but she figured it would be a good idea to check it. By now it was painfully obvious to her what happened, even if she wasn’t entirely sure how. Pausing by the door, she took a breath and tried not to think about the other thing she had noticed. The one thing she had been deliberately trying not to acknowledge, but as she stood there it was hard not to be aware of the cool air on her bare skin.
As she stood by the door her belly fluttered as she considered what might be beyond that door. What if by some miracle it wasn’t locked? She was alone and naked, past that door was a ship full of alien troops. She knew not where her crew was, nor what the aliens were after. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, she decided to try the door. A lump of fear formed in her belly, as she fingered the panel. There was not a sound and for a moment she thought the whole thing had been moot, but then the door slid open with barely a sound. It hadn’t been locked.
Once again she felt that lump in her belly grow, and then she looked at the room. Her choices were obvious, she either stayed here waiting for the aliens to come or she went out there looking for answers. It didn’t take long for her to make a choice, she stepped into the hall finding it to be quiet. With not a soul around, she wasn’t being guarded either? Were these aliens not concerned that she would run away or something?
Idly she looked around for any sign of a sensor cluster, but if there was one present she didn’t see it. Taking a breath she started looking around, finding a few small bedrooms like the one she had been in. Only eight, all of them empty and on either side of the hall. At the other end of the hall, the door there led her into a large chamber with a huge bed, a desk, a table, an attached bathroom full of luxuries and she even found a couple of cribs. Both empty, leaving her to wonder, where had they put her. Not that answers were to be found here
Turning around, she went the other way in the hall. Where she ended up finding a kitchen, and a large pantry, a dining room and a small nursery. All of it was bigger than the closet-sized rooms she had looked at earlier, like that bedroom she woke up in. With the way things were laid out, it was starting to look like someone had tossed her in a bedroom that was part of a larger suite.
With that in mind, she glanced at a door that she found likely to lead out. Reaching the panel she fingered half expecting this one to actually be locked, but to her pleasant surprise, the door opened with a gentle hiss. Cautiously she poked her head out, where she spotted a couple of women in bronze bikinis walk by, followed by a man in a metal suit pushing a box. Not one of them paid her the slightest bit of attention, they just kept doing whatever it was they were doing. She slipped out and headed the other way.
The young woman didn’t think it was a good idea to go where they were going. Not that she knew where anything was on this ship. Slipping from one door to the next she started searching the various rooms she came across. Often filled with alien tech of unknown purpose. Others looked to be storerooms filled with crate after crate stacked up to the ceilings. It was pretty hard to figure out where anything was, but eventually, she found something.
As she slipped through yet another door after avoiding an alien male, she stopped. This room wasn’t the same as the others. It was a walkway that stood above the floor above, where she finally saw some of her crew. Down below were a number of girls she recognized from the ship. All of them naked and strapped to beds with devices locked to their heads. Elsewhere she could see other crewmen in lines, with aliens watching them. What was going on down there?
Below she watched one of the aliens move to a console attached to one of the beds. An arm moved over the young lady restrained there and approached her sex. The arm pushed its way in and then a scream erupted from the young lady. She felt an urge to help her, but there was no way down that she knew of. Worse, she didn’t know how, in all her searching she hadn’t found a single piece of clothing or a weapon. The crates she had found were all sealed shut. So she ended up watching as the arm completed it’s task and then retracted from the girl’s insides and brought something with it.
She froze when she saw it, was that? Her mind whirled as she considered the questions racing through her mind. While a second metal man received the removed organ placing it in a weird box before doing... things to it. She took a second look around and realized other women had the same thing done to them. Metal-clad men and women were taking the removed and altered organs and moving them out of the room.
The noise of the activity below was occasionally punctuated by the screams of a young woman. As the horror show below just kept going, yet she couldn’t quite bring herself to look away. Suddenly a voice spoke up from behind her, “It’s quite fascinating isn’t it?”
She froze, her muscles locked for a moment before, with a bit of trepidation, she turned to see an alien female behind her. Clad in a silver bikini with gold trim. The girl smiled, before saying, “If you had wanted a tour, you could have asked. Your processing isn’t scheduled for another two hours.”
Her gaze turned left and right, where she noticed her escape routes blocked by new alien faces. She cursed herself for being stupid, she knew better. The woman had been taught better. Now she was stuck here with no escape. Taking a breath, she turned back to the woman, “What are you talking about?”
She gestured below, “The girls down there are being processed. They will serve the collective, you will serve the collective.”
Seeing as her question was answered, albeit not well, she inquired, “The Collective?”
“We are the Protari Collective. Now come, I’ll show you around and then we can get you processed.”
She took a look around, but no exit presented itself. Even though every fibre in her being was telling her to run, her curiosity in the end prompted her to follow. Even as she asked, “And if I refuse?”
“That won’t be an option” was the immediate response, one that she could believe given the muscle now watching her. She soon found herself being led down some stairs to the level below.
When she came into the room, she quickly turned an eye to her crew. The women standing in line, simply stood there. Blankly staring at the girl in front of them. As the alien woman brought her close to the first table, she watched the operator release the woman strapped to it. That woman stood when prompted and obeyed the alien as he led her out of the room. It just felt surreal, leaving her to wonder why they were cooperating like that.
Apparently aloud as she was told, “They have been prepared prior to processing to ensure the process goes smoothly.”
It was basically a non-answer, yet it spoke volumes. They had been drugged or something. Even as she came to that conclusion the next girl was prompted to approach the table, where she was soon strapped down. A device attached to her head, and then she was given an injection. From where she was, the captain could clearly see the girl’s vagina swell then twitch in response. Slowly it started to gape.
“What are you doing to her?”
“This female unit is donating her womb and being programmed for her new duties.”
She gave the alien female a look of horror. That didn’t look like a donation. They were stealing it. Then a scream erupted from the girl in question as the arm plunged into her pussy to extract the organ. Thankfully she was led away before she could see much more. “Am I going to be ‘donating’ my womb?”
“Hmm? No, you have been selected for a different role.”
Why did that make her feel worried?
As they joined a woman being led out of the big chamber, she asked, “Where are all the men?”
“They are being processed elsewhere.”
She sighed, getting answers was like pulling teeth. Now how was she going to get out of this? The young captain was worried about her crew, many of them she had handpicked herself, but she knew she couldn’t help them. Not until she managed to escape whatever fate had been planned for her. Yet she couldn’t help chastising herself for that one moment of carelessness.