Degenerate Star Ch. 05 - Attempt

"You see that?" Vagg-r asked.

"Yup. Fed police ship." Zed replied, "Pilot, let's make haste on getting out of here."

"Roger that."

The stars in the viewport stopped moving for a brief instant, and then the ship turned. The last Riley saw of potential rescue touched down inside the port and giant magnetic clamps locked her in place. The station slid from view. The stars shifted again as the ship began moving forward into empty space.

Absentmindedly Riley toyed with the knee she leaned against. So close.

There was a double ping through the ship. And then hyperspace.

Zed stood up and announced, "We don't know if that Fed ship was after us, or just coincident."

"Best to assume they are on our tail." Vagg-r replied.

"Exactly. Let's keep jumping hard 'til we get home."

"Roger, captain."

"For now, though, let's round up the whole crew in the galley."

"You'r not afraid of interdiction?" Vagg-r asked.

"Naw, they don't know our exact route. The odds of getting an interdictor in front of us are slim. And impossible for this jump." Zed looked down at Riley, "Anything to add, captain?"

Riley sighed, "No. You're not wrong. An interdictor would need to know exactly where to be to pull us out of hyperspace. The Federation could get one in front of us, but it would be difficult."

"See there? She's a useful girl." Zed patted Riley on the head.

"Why the assembly in the galley?" Vgg-r asked.

"Oh, the captain here... She tried to escape. I want everyone to see what happens to naughty little slave girls that disobey."

"I want everyone to see what happens to naughty little slave girls that disobey." The words echoed in Riley's head. Not only was she going to be severely punished, but it was also going to be a spectacle. The raiders would all delight in watching her punishment, and her own crew would be forced to watch.

There was nothing she could do but follow Zed down to the galley. There were already a few raiders sitting at tables when they entered. Zed marched to the most central table, guiding Riley up to it with a hand on her neck.

"Bend," Zed commanded.

She immediately bent over. Before she could reach back and open herself Zed Guided her to the table, forcing her bare chest onto the cool surface.

"Hands over head." He told her. Riley slid her hands to the opposite edge of the table.

With a speed and quickness Riley found surprising in such a giant of a man, Zed bound each wrist in a tether and then attached it to a table leg. While Riley stared at his handiwork in some awe, he circled around behind her.

"Spread, wider," he barked.

Riley shuffled her feet, spreading her legs wide apart. She felt one leg, then the next, bound in a tether and secured to a table leg. She wriggled, testing each bond, but they would not yield. Zed loomed over her from behind, then he stretched a tether around her waist and secured her to the table. Riley was unable to move anything but her head. She pulled again against the ropes terrified that there was no give.

Behind her, she could hear the hatch whisk open as more of the crew filed into the galley. She couldn't imagine how she must look, bound, spread, and completely exposed. Even though she tried not to think about what the upcoming punishment was, she imagined being taken like this by every crew member one after another. The thoughts were so filthy, so degrading, that she couldn't help but attempt to squeeze her thighs together wetly.

The voices murmuring and chatting behind her grew as more crew members gathered. Her own view was limited to a couple of empty tables against a stained bulkhead. She tried turning to look back over her shoulder and saw what she dreaded, the entire crew gathered, looking at her, talking about her. And also her own crew knelt on the deck, some looking embarrassed and shifting their eyes away. A few glared defiantly at her as if she deserved this.

She pulled against the tethers again, with all her might. Nothing. She forced herself to relax, there was nothing else to do.

"All right! Listen up you mongrels." Zed announced to scattered laughter. "We've got a slave here that tried to escape."

There was more scattered laughter, and some names called out, "Stupid bitch."

"If you haven't heard, she tried sending a message while we were docked." Zed continued as the crew went silent. "A Federated technician heard her banging while she and her fellow slaves were stowed inside our utility. The Federated tech wanted to look over the ship in closer detail. I don't think I need to explain that slavery is illegal in Federated Space. If we'd been found out, we'd all be facing long, really fucking long, prison terms."

Murmuring broke out behind Riley. She stared hard at the deck in front of her. She didn't want to see the angry hate-filled faces behind her. Someone hissed, "Space the cunt."

"Now... now... I get it. She almost fucked all of us. But let's not forget, she has the largest price on her head. Fed officers sell for a small fortune at The Trace. So, if we want to see some really fat bonuses, we can't kill her. Or even break her too much.

Riley felt a palpable fear consume her. Butterflies rioted in her stomach. On top of that, she felt something else: a desire to atone, a hunger to make things right in the only way she could think of, taking care of all their needs. Including taking care of her own needs. What was wrong with her? She couldn't believe that she was getting horny while afraid for her own life. The implants had fucked her head completely up.

"I know how sorry she is she put us at risk like that," Zed said, "Isn't that right captain?"

"Yes! Yes, it is, Sir." Riley leaped at the opportunity to avoid whatever was coming. She pleaded in the desperate hope that if she were sincere enough, the raiders would acknowledge it, and she might be spared. "I am so very, very sorry. Please, Zed. Please don't do this. I won't do anything like that ever again."

Zed stepped in front of her and reached down to caress her face. "I know you won't."

Riley felt an impossible wave of hope.

"Well? What do you all think?" Zed asked the crowd she couldn't see.

"Skin the bitch!" someone screamed, and they all began yelling, "Fuck her raw!" and "torture the cunt!" and "I'll show her pain!"

With this level of anger radiating from the raiders Riley feared she'd be seriously hurt. She looked up, pleading into Zed's eyes. He wouldn't let anything happen to her. He'd protect her, wouldn't he?

"Okay! I get it!" Zed shouted over them. "Let me read something to you and see if it changes your minds."

Zed fished in a pants pocket taking his sweet time while the angry murmurs died down. He then whipped out a datapad and held it up for all to see. With a flourish, he flipped it around and began reading.

"To: Captain Zed of the Unnamed,"

"From: aka Talent Scout,"

"Interested parties are making offers for Captain Shay Ohh Riley after the Federation confirmed her ship and all aboard were lost. Your videos of her initial training and eagerness to please have doubled the number of serious inquiries. One private buyer is willing to purchase the entire crew without auction for ten million credits." Cheers interrupted Zed. He paused and watched his crew. Hands slapped, and hugs were exchanged. The raiders were boisterous chattering and spending credits they'd not yet received.

Riley couldn't believe this was communication from inside the Coalition. Uncoded, blatantly mentioning a lost ship, crew, and Federation captain. Also, blatantly talking of purchasing, said captain. Her. This was an act of war. Zed's crew may have privateered her ship, but to so openly communicate, the Federation would be within every right of casus belli to declare war. If they weren't already at war.

Zed whistled. Their laughter and murmurs diminished but did not die altogether.

"I'll continue... If you all don't mind?" Zed waited a dramatic moment then continued, "Our advice is to take her to auction. It will take more time, but it is more likely to find the true value of your cargo."

Someone shouted, "Go with the private buyer!" The crowd cheered.

Zed waved his hands, "Let me finish... If you would prefer to move forward with the private buyer for an immediate sale, reply back. Once escrow is collected, you'll be instructed to deliver the cargo to a specific location for inspection and possible transfer."

Cheering started again, and the raiders broke out into a pirate jaunty. Zed endured this for a while before whistling to quiet everyone.

"They want the captain and her crew intact. So, there won't be any flaying, Dillard. As a matter of fact, to protect our property and give each and every one of you an opportunity to punish the bitch that almost got you sent to prison, I'm going to let every one of you have five swats on this sweet little derriere." Zed leaned over her and smacked her ass loudly for emphasis."

"Form a queue gents, and ladies..."

"We ain't no ladies!" Zarina hissed to the laughter of the raiders.

Zed nodded, "True enough, but form a queue anyway and get ready to slap some ass."

"Please Zed..." Riley begged in a low desperate tone. The thought of more than fifty slaps by an angry, even if momentarily joyful, crew terrified her.

He stroked a cheek, "You brought this on yourself, captain."

Zed walked around to her ass and the forming line. "Zarina? What are you doing at the front of the line?"

"I've wanted to bring this stuck-up cunt down a notch since she set foot on our ship. Thank you, captain."

"No claws. She needs to be in one piece." Zed said.

Riley tried to relax. She could hear the entire crew behind her, chatting and excited about the abuses they were going to pour on her.

Without warning the first slap came crashing down on bare skin. Riley had hoped the short fur on Zarina's palms would cushion the blow, and it may have somewhat, but the strike was solid and loud. Riley choked back a cry, not wanting to give Zed's ex-lover any taste of victory.

The second smack landed, and a few crew members shouted, "Two!"

Riley closed her eyes. She hadn't made a sound yet, but stars did her ass cheeks sing in pain already. Only another fifty or so to go, she thought, fighting back a sob.

"Three!" more raiders joined in. Riley whimpered. She knew there was no way she would survive fifty of these.

"Four!" She pressed her forehead to the table grinding her teeth together. She could feel little sobs trying to escape.

When the crowd yelled, "Five!" Riley screamed. Zarina, frustrated she wasn't getting a response, changed her aim, slapping Riley as hard as possible between her roped-open legs. The blow to her pussy lips was so incredibly painful that all acts of defiance were done. She tried shifting her legs in an effort to climb up on the table. Anything to get away. She was still tethered down and unable to do anything but squirm.

The next set brought Riley to sobbing. She'd barely even gotten started and she was already in tears. Some brave captain she was, she thought between her body trying to crawl impossibly away and sobbing.

There was a blessed pause in the spanking and Zed yelled to the crowd, "What's this? Maxwell? You crazy nut, what are you doing in line?"

Unable to believe her own crew would be brought into this and not just observers, Riley craned her neck to see for herself. Maxwell stood there behind her with one of Zed's massive hands on his shoulder. Maxwell, like the rest of her crew, was naked. She could see two piercings in his erect cock, one on the head and one on the underside of his shaft. It was then that she registered he was fully erect and standing at attention.

Zed leaned down obscuring Maxwell, pretending to listen. "What? You've always wanted to fuck the captain? And this bare red ass is as close as you'll ever get?"

The crowd cheered and laughed. "Give him a turn! Give him a turn!" they started chanting.

Zed yelled back, "A turn at what? Spanking her or fucking her?"

The galley erupted in cheering, "Fuck her! Fuck her!"

"I'd love to fuck her myself, but we got a punishment to get through first. Keep your pants on Maxwell... oh, umm bad turn of phrase there... you get the idea, though, be patient, and we'll see if we can fit you in... to the captain."

The raiders roared in laughter. One part of her revulsed mind shrank from the crass, corny innuendo, the other from the promise that she'd be shared with her own crew.

Zed continued, "Okay Max. You're going to get your five swats with the captain but let me warn you right now... If these aren't full-on, hard-as-you-can spankings, if I think you are holding back at all... You're going to get ten times as many. Have at her boy."

Riley couldn't look. She closed her eyes, and the smacks came hard and fast. The crowd counted them out just as fast. The series of blows hurt. He hadn't held back. Riley was starting to feel almost numb back there.

The crew cycled through their queue, each cheering the punishers on. Some took their time, rubbing hands across sore cheeks, then smacking her hard enough to make the table shake. Others were content to simply deliver five hard blows and move on. The worst were the ones who wanted to be creative. The smacks to her pussy were excruciating. One person even asked another to hold her cheeks open so they could rain blows on her exposed asshole.

By the count of thirty Riley was sobbing uncontrollably. Soon after, she was begging, pleading, and screaming apologies.

At seventy, she was a writhing, screaming mess bucking uncontrollably at even the slightest touch to her glowing ass.

When the final person stepped up, the whole crew counted the blows out to eighty. By this time, Riley could do nothing but sob against the table. Her muscles were sore from pulling futilely against the tethers. Her ass felt like it was burning. The pain spread across her thighs, a sizzling burn that would not stop.

The crowd cheered the last doubly hard smack and Riley was left alone in her misery. Behind her, the raiders chatted excitedly about the bonuses they would soon get. Riley floated alone in a pool of misery, moaning and trying to apologize.

Zed spoke loudly over the crowd, "All right everyone. There's a little more."

"No! Please no!" Riley yelped. When she looked up bleary-eyed, she saw the five members of her crew standing in front of her against the wall.

Zed turned to the crew, "Take a good look at slave Riley. She tried to escape and not one of you did anything to stop her. How many of you want to go through the same punishment?"

Her crew looked miserably at the ground, unwilling to say or do anything that might land them the same treatment.

"Take a good look at her." Zed went on, "She got you all captured. You are slaves because of her."

A few eyes looked up, Maxwell, Geller, and K'rra. Through the haze of drying tears and sizzling ass Riley found it hard to read their expressions.

"Show her what you think of her," Zed said. All five looked embarrassed, reluctant.

Geller stepped forward and spit in Riley's face. The shock of it stunned Riley. Then Maxwell did the same. Riley closed her eyes and felt the other each take a turn, covering her face in their saliva. The pain in her ass was almost forgotten as a new round of tears came. She'd failed her entire crew. She couldn't blame any of them for what just happened. Even though she knew somewhere in the back of her mind that Zed had instructed them to do exactly this. His fucking head games. She was at the lowest point she'd ever been in her whole life. The tears flowed easily.

"You all can go." Zed told her crew, "Except you Maxwell."

Riley forced her eyes open. Zed stood towering over Maxwell. Zed was clothed, and Maxwell was naked and hard. Maxwell couldn't meet Riley's eyes. He seemed embarrassed, deeply shamed.

"Slave Riley, have you learned your lesson?" Zed asked loudly so the whole galley could hear.

"Yes. Yes, Sir. I won't do it again. I won't, I swear."

"I'd like to believe you. I really would." Zed said, "The problem is that you are what we call a True Believer. You've bought all the bullshit and propaganda your beloved Federation feeds you. In your heart, you know, zealously, that the Federation is the best, most pure, egalitarian government ever conceived by any sentient being."

Riley said nothing, did nothing. It was all true, it was why she'd signed up for service.

"And when dealing with a True Believer there is literally nothing that can be done to change their minds. They will lie, cheat, steal, kill, and imprison anyone who stands in the way of the Flag they've come to idolize. And all of that is justified because they believe they have right on their side."

"I'll give you an example. Riley-slave... should you, or Maxwell-slave get the next fifty lashings?"

Riley's heart froze. No, no, no, no. She couldn't bear the thought of another slap. She'd absolutely break and she knew it. It would be so easy to let Maxwell take the beating, she could just order him to do it. Yet, she was his commander. She was the one that landed first and left first. She was his shield and guide in the wilderness. He was her crewmember and she would give her life in his defense.

And yet, as she lay their tears streaming, she couldn't find the strength to ask that she receive the next fifty lashes. Instead, she begged, pleaded in the hope that a fragment of humanity existed in Zed. He'd shown her compassion privately, she knew he cared somewhat. But he was a commander like her here before their crews. She wailed like a broken recording, "Please, please, please, please..."

Zed nodded. "That's what I thought. A True Believer to the bitter end. One day, captain, the Federation is going to let you down, disappoint you completely. Then your world will be shattered. And woe on to the Federation for the wrath you will bring down on them. That's what happens in the end to all True Believers."

"Zarina, Feya, come help me out with Maxwell here." Feya and Zarina strode up one on each side of Maxwell. Zarina had a dark duffle bag slung over one shoulder.

Maxwell looked frantically at each of the raider women, "But what did I do?"

Zed nodded sagely and explained, "You were on the wrong crew. That's all. Bad luck. Simple as. You see, we can beat Riley here until her skin comes off. She won't change. It will only make her more committed. Really this whole spanking party was just to let the crew blow off some steam, funsies if you will."

"But I swear I didn't do anything." Maxwell pleaded seeming to shrink between the two raider women.

"That's exactly right. You didn't do anything. Did you stop Riley when she was banging out those codes? Didn't tell us she was trying to escape, did you?"

Zarina dropped the bag, which spread open, showing an assortment of wicked-looking implements, riding crops, leather restraints, and odd electrical devices of a dubious nature.

"But why me? None of us did anything..."

"I know, I know... but it's tough being a female on an all-male crew. I'm sure you know the feeling... right? Anyway, Zarina and Feya don't get as much play time as the boys here. So, I thought I'd let them have a few rounds with you while we all watch. Including Riley here. She needs to see exactly what happens when she's a bad little cunt."

Zarina dug into the bag and pulled out a massive black phallus with a multitude of dangling straps.

Zed patted Maxwell on the shoulder, "Trust me, buddy, this is going to hurt you a lot more than me..."

Feya's tongue flickered in anticipation. The green-scaled Ryptos woman guided Maxwell to the table and ordered, "Bend." Both of the alien women were clothed, Riley wondered if they would strip in front of their crew mates.

Maxwell immediately bent over, facing Riley, his bare chest lying on her arms. The heat from his body warmed her arms in an awkwardly sensuous way. She hadn't realized how chilled the rest of her body was, with her ass smoldering from the prolonged beating she'd just received. Even his hot breath on her face felt like a caress. Their gaze met and Riley felt horrible that he was going to suffer because of her.