This choice: Aisha comes in with a flat stomach • Go Back...Chapter #5Flee from Sentinel 3 by: Unknown “Hiya Jimmy!” Aisha called out in her typical cheerful scratchy voice.
Jim blinked at her drowsily then smiled, “Hey Aisha.”
“Wow kid, you look pretty beat. Have you moved from that computer since I left?” One of Aisha’s powerful hands plopped down on his head and messed up his hair, Jim didn’t try to fight it.
“No, I can’t seem to balance the books.” Jim rubbed his temples, aggravated and tired, “I’ve got 1000 more credit than debit. What am I doing wrong?” Jim moaned
“Oh no, a thousand wong or two can’t be accounted for. This could be the end of our bounty hunting days!” Aisha raised a hand to her forehead dramatically, “Get real.” Her voice lost its sarcastic edge, “When I was ambassador to Heifong system my toilet paper cost more than a thousand wong!” Aisha burst out laughing.
“Yeah? well laugh all you want but one thousand wong IS enough to sink Starwind and Hawking Enterprises. We’re up to our eyeballs in debt. I don’t even want to think about how much we owe Fred!” Jim sunk back into his chair.
“…….. I think you need a break. I’ll let you treat me to dinner.” Aisha reached up under his armpits and lifted the startled boy from his seat, she set him on his feet, “I’m in the mood for Tuna!”
“Don’t you ever get tired of fish? You work in a seafood restaurant!” Jim griped, “Besides we don’t have the budget to eat out. At least not you!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Aisha growled.
“You can really pack it away! I’m surprised you can stay so thin when you eat enough to support an army.”
“It’s not my fault your puny terran portions leave me feeling hungry.” Aisha’s fingers tapped against her trim tummy, annoyed, “come on, lets splurge for once!”
“We did that last night. And when I say ‘we’ what I mean is ‘Gene’. He went boozing and ran up a tab that you wouldn’t believe.”
“We’re going.” It wasn’t debatable, when a Ctarl Ctarl has a grip on your arm your going along for the ride whether you want to or not.
In truth Jim wanted to. He stopped dragging his feet and walked with Aisha towards the door, she kept her hand on his wrist just in case he changed his mind though. Jim was too exhausted to try and disobey the feisty catgirl. Besides, going out with her always led to a good time, he might regret it from a financial standpoint in the morning, but every where he went with Aisha he had a good time. He couldn’t deny that. Besides, he was sick of working his ass off trying to hunt down new sources of income, keep Fred at bay, and doing all the team’s accounting, “I guess it would be all right to splurge a little, I’ll let you get a kid sized cup of shrimp.”
Aisha snorted, “Your so cheap, you’re lucky I don’t have you instead.” Aisha teased, “Mmm, Jimmy covered in tartar sauce!” Aisha licked her lips noisily.
“Har har.”
Deciding to take her little joke farther she extended her tongue and licked Jim’s cheek as if he were an ice cream cone, “Yum, who needs seafood when I’ve got you?” She attempted a second lick but, much to her surprise Jim’s hand shot forward and snatched her tongue before she could get another taste of her young terran friend.”
“Whaht fhe?” _
“What’s the matter Aisha? Human got your tongue?” His amusement was short lived.
Even the pink muscle dwelling in her mouth was stronger than the young terran. Aisha pulled it back into her mouth with such speed Jim didn’t have time to let go. She sucked his arm into her mouth up to his shoulder. He found himself dangling an inch of the ground. No human had ever made it this far into the raspy voiced ex ambassador and survived but then again those human’s weren’t Jim. The boy just smirked at her. She grinned at him malevolently, trying to scare him, but eventually just released his arm.
“Gross!” Jim complained, shaking it dry, “Now my arms going to smell like cat breath!”
Aisha was steamed, “My breath smells perfectly fine! And you should be grateful, things could have ended up a lot worse for you!”
“Yeah, I could have wound up in your litter box.” Jim admitted.
“Impudent terran! You know very well we Ctarl Ctarl don’t use litter boxes!” She put her friend into a headlock and gave him one serious noogie.
“I give, I give!”
The two left Starwind and Hawking Enterprises together unaware it would be the last time either of them stepped foot in the building. Only a few minutes after stepping out into the streets the entire city would light up with explosions accompanied by occasional bursts of gunfire. It all happened very suddenly. Tao enhanced rockets cracked into the streets causing huge craters. People began to panic. Raw sewage poured into the streets and cars were exploding left and right. Jim was fast for his age but not fast enough to survive the ensuing chaos. Scooping him up in her arms Aisha fled from Sentinel 3’s attackers.
It was lucky their base of operations was so close to the local space port. Aisha managed to get their before it was swamped by soon to be refugees. With amazing luck she identified a Ctarl Ctarl trade vessel. Boarding it the two left Sentinel 3 with dozens of other escaping, or battle ready, ships. Aisha demanded the freighter fight the unkown invaders but, with only a simple blaster, the two traders outright refused. They didn’t enter the fray but they could tell from a distance Sentinel 3’s defenders were doing quite poorly. Instead they headed back for the Ctarl Ctarl Empire.
Sentinel 3 had been attacked, hard. Jim was distressed; he’d been through a lot of shit in his relatively short life. His father had been a renowned hacker. When Sentinel 3 police officers had finally tracked him down Jim’s mother was killed in some crossfire. His father had been unarmed yet he hadn’t gone quietly. His father had survived the initial confrontation but he was gravely wounded. He died a short while later in Sentinel 3 custody. Jim was sent to an orphanage but he soon ran away. It was in a seedy alley that he first met Gene Starwind. The two hit it off and soon enough Gene became like a big brother to him…. or, really, a little brother who had a taste for alcohol. They’d assembled quite a crew since then. He never got close to Suzuka, and though Melfina had some mother like qualities he’d never bonded with her. His other close friend would be a very unlikely one, his complete opposite, Aisha Clanclan. Though constantly plagued with nonstop work Jim found happiness for the first time in his short life.
Now though his world had been shattered once more. Gene and the others were missing. His home planet was being decimated by an unseen foe, and he was off to a strange corner of the galaxy often only talked about in horror stories. Terrans were a standard meal in the Ctarl Ctarl Empire and kids like Jim were a delicacy sort of like veal. Things seemed bad yet, though he was hurting, he wasn’t afraid. He had Aisha, his big sister in many ways. Jim knew she’d been family to him more than his real dad or Gene had ever been. She could break him like a toy, tear him a ragdoll, gobble him up with one or two toothless bites, but he trusted her more than anyone and he felt safe with her.
………………………………………
“Nyagh?! Are you serious?!” Aisha couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“I don’t joke around.” Major Poto growled, “You’re being reinstated as the captain of the Orta Hone-Hone.”
“But…. If I may ask, why?” Aisha was thrilled but also very confused.
The Major eyed her warily as if suspecting she was pulling his leg, “You found the Galactic Leyline as ordered and though we couldn’t extract any dragonite that was hardly your fault. You accomplished your most important objective even if you didn’t eat your fellow crewmates as ordered.” Her commanding officer’s eyes narrowed.
Aisha gulped, “You see I thought if I let them live maybe they could lead us-”
“Save your excuses, they aren’t necessary. As I told you you’re being reinstated regardless. Your families important military ties and your ability to accomplish your last mission have bought you a second chance. You’ll be in charge of a crew of two hundred Ctarl Ctarl. You can hand pick your officers.”
“All right!” Aisha laughed in her gravelly voice causing the Major to wince, “Aisha Clanclan is back on top!”
“Yes….. Whoopee.” Major Popo said unenthusiastically, “Your first mission will be a supposed ambassador’s trip to the Heifong system. In reality it will be to see what their defenses are and to evaluate if we should side with them or the humans from the Milky Way system. The two human groups are at war, this is a good chance to bump one of them off and harvest the losers.” The Major wiped a bit of unwanted drool from his muzzle, “So, I assume you ready to start immediately?”
“Absolutely!” Aisha was thrilled, back in the military and a high ranking official once more! It was a dream come true.
“There’s just one more quick issue we need to clear up. It seems you grabbed a human boy from Sentinel and brought him with you to the Empire. Was he meant to be a snack if you got a bit peckish during the trip? I don’t understand what you plan to do with him. Here, I’ll have the boy sent for.”
A few minutes later an armed Ctarl Ctarl soldier escorted the small terran into the Major’s plush office. He looked at Aisha questioningly.
“So, what is it you plan to do with this terran?”
Aisha was nervous, she didn’t know what to tell the major. She’d new she could have him released back into her custody but for what? She’d really like to make him her right hand man, she trusted Jim. She knew he was something of a genius and besides he was like a cute edible little brother to her….. the edible part not all that important. But could she really give a boy, and a terran to boot, a high ranking position on her ship without raising a few eyebrows?! She might even loose her newly appointed position right there, she knew she was on thin ice from the start. Only her families military heritage and a nearly botched, yet successful mission, helped her get back in power. Maybe she could incorporate her Jimmy into the crew as an officer later? It might be foolish to try so now. But she couldn’t let him join the regular crew, he’d be eaten for sure, a tasty young terran wouldn’t last long regardless of how much her crew respected her.
The alternative would be she’d have to give him slave status. It’d hurt to force Jim into slavery, even if it was only temporary. Terran slaves weren't rare, they were often used and abused as sex toys or manual labor than eaten when they'd outlived their usefulness. Ctarl Ctarl were quite cruel to their slaves. Still he’d only have to answer to her. Feed her grapes now and then, act as a footrest for a few minutes (if only as a joke), order him to wrestle her, have him play Soul Slayer 5 with her and lose on purpose. It might actually be fun! But she really didn’t want to alarm him or hurt his feelings. She liked to tease him as if he were a younger sibling but Aisha would hate to see Jim look at her like she’d betrayed him. Maybe she should just give him a high rank from the start.
“Well, what shall we do with him?” Major Popo asked once more.”
“He’ll be under my command.” Aisha finally spoke up, “He’s to be  | Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
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