(Star Wars) Laika & Arlaud Book 1 - Lady Sahshin's Sepulchre
Copyright© 2026 by Clee Hill
Chapter 9
“So what’s this morning’s exercise?” Arlaud asked, handing Laika her bottle as they took a small break after a session of her own exercise designed to bolster, or for Laika increase, her flexibility. Laika had, once more, ‘discovered’ Arlaud down in the Cargo Bay, music going, as, today, she had danced less frenetically, her steps slower and more graceful, another way to stretch her joints, she claimed.
“Something different.”
“But not the murkha!?” she joked.
“No, gilus, not that, not today, and I don’t think ever, do you?” she asked, Laika having played yesterday’s words over in her mind, her determination that Arlaud was uninterested in ‘males’, no matter the species, becoming more unshakable the more they spoke.
Arlaud shook her head. “I ... can’t,” she said, something about her tone suggesting there was more to it, but Laika knew better than to push her. When she was ready, or when it was necessary, she was sure she would tell her, but for now it was enough not to mention nor to joke about it. So she didn’t.
“That’s okay, this morning is all about communication.”
“Oh I’m good at that,” she grinned proudly.
“I know you are, but not with your mouth.”
Arlaud sniggered.
“And not like that, either,” Laika smiled, shaking her head, but even as she did so, recognising how there might be more to it. Not for the first time she found herself wondering whether Arlaud, too, would be one to follow the Fescina, to seek out those moments when the release of an orgasm opened the doors to perceiving the universe itself, or so it felt. “Today is about perception.”
“Like when I hide?”
Laika shook her head, sitting down, her bottle resealed and to her side as she crossed her legs, her ankles under rather than over her thighs, at least for now.
Arlaud, seeing her, copied her, feet on top of her thighs, of course. “Now what?
“You keep hearing me, sometimes, in your mind?”
“I do. It’s so cool!”
“And for you, so easy?”
“It isn’t supposed to be?”
“No.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
Laika smiled. “Don’t be. I think it might be a simple by product of your way of connecting with the Force, of moving through the rengan as you describe it.”
Arlaud shrugged. “I guess? Maybe? I don’t remember it happening before ... before, but I don’t remember very much back then; I was only little. Maybe it was something everyone did, or some people did, or nobody did, or maybe just something you grew into? And you’re the first Force person I’ve known, so I thought it was just normal for us. What about everyone else from Sardasus?”
“Sardasus III? It is rare in the young, and it is something that can be trained for, though mostly only if someone is planning to be a spy.”
“So you’re a Pirate Queen Spy?” Arlaud grinned.
“No, I’m no more a spy then I am a pirate or a queen.”
“So you’re all three?” Arlaud laughed.
“No, I am simply someone who learned to speak into another’s minds. It was something my father regretfully insisted upon so that, when necessary, we could discuss things without someone overhearing them. It is more important at the Palace, but useful for minor royals such as my father.”
“So I’m a royal?”
“You know, it would not surprise me if you were, though I think in your case, as I said, it is simply a natural ability you have. What I would like to try and do today is to test it a little, to see how far it can go.”
“How?”
“I was thinking we could start by exchanging a word, a short word to begin with, and moving on to longer words, and confirming those words to see how well we can tell each other something. From there we hopefully can try conversations, and then perhaps music or images, to see if there is a limit what we can ‘say’ or ‘hear’ in our minds. And also, how much effort this takes.”
“Cool. Who goes first?”
You.
Arlaud giggled in her mind.
“You heard that?”
“Yep. I just told myself, listen with my head, and I did, and I did, haha.”
“Like I heard your giggle.”
“It worked?”
“It worked.”
“Wow. So what next?” Arlaud asked as they spent a little while following Laika’s plan, discovering that as long as they were imagining the ability was ‘on’, Arlaud thinking of it like telling the band to ‘play’ and ‘stop’, Laika picturing it more as a radio switch that was ‘off’ or ‘on’, they were able to easily communicate even short bursts of music to each other, the ‘listener’ humming what the ‘player’ was sending.
“And you never practiced this?” Laika asked as they headed to wash and change for breakfast and the day ahead.
Arlaud shook her head, hesitated, and shrugged. “Not really, but maybe me, er, maybe ‘listening’ to people come was training me?”
“It might,” Laika conceded. “It would certainly be the same kind of thing if not exactly the same. And a wonderful way of motivating you to practice the skill.”
“Oh then I’ve done that a lot,” Arlaud laughed.
“Would you like me to prepare our breakfast today?”
“It’s okay, I can—”
“—Allow me to cook for you,” Laika finished, her tone suggesting she wanted to, not that she was taking Arlaud’s self-appointed job from her. “I was thinking of making something my mother used to cook—”
“—Yes!”
“You don’t know what it is yet.”
“No need. If you ate it, and you grew up hawt, haha, then I want to eat it so I can be hawt too,” she giggled.
“Arlaud, you are adorably cute as it is, I don’t think you need anything more than yourself.”
“Thank you,” Arlaud answered, blushing.
“You don’t sound as if you believe me?” Laika asked, puzzled what was going on.
“Oh I do, I believe you, but ... We had nicknames. All of us. Some were funny. Some were a little cruel. Mine was cruel. I was called ‘frog’ because of my round face and my big eyes. I know that’s not how everyone saw me, like Kar, but even he saw me because I reminded him of his sister. And I know they were going to sell me because, you know, we dancers all have nice bodies, but...” she paused, sighing. “I’m not used to hearing it, or thinking of me like that.”
Laika held her arms open, hugging Arlaud and softly kissing her forehead before continuing. “In that case, gilus, I shall remember to tell you how cute you are more often, even if you don’t always believe me, not at first. You are growing into being a very attractive young woman, and if anyone says otherwise ... they walk the plank,” she winked.
“Wow. That bad, huh? So now you’re an Evil Pirate Spy Queen Captain?” Arlaud grinned, her mood, Laika could feel, lifting back up again to its normally dangerous level of playfulness.
“If I were evil, I would not be offering to share some vouass with you.”
“Is that a sex thing?”
Laika laughed. “I’m not sure it even can be. It is something served in my mother’s court—”
“—Your mother is royal too?” Arlaud asked, confused a little.
“No, but she is a High Priestess, and that does come with a certain standing.”
“Ooh. So Double Queen, haha.”
Laika shook her head. It was clear Arlaud’s playfulness was in full gallop, and she was glad for it. The young woman had been through so much, and, she felt, her chaotic and casual approach to life was not a mask but a mechanism, her literally choosing to laugh rather than to cry. And if she did need to cry, Laika promised herself to always be there. “No, cutie,” she began, pausing to see Arlaud smile and enjoy Arlaud’s slight blush. “Vouass is a soft sweet bread that was made in the region where my mother was born, and when she became the High Priestess for my father’s family, she simply updated the recipe to something a little more ... ostentatious. People always expecting the aristocracy of the world to eat ‘better’ even if the truth is they often crave simpler foods from simpler lives. That was certainly the case with my mother, and she taught me how to make the ‘peasant’ version as soon as I was old enough to see over the top of the kitchen table. I have some dough pre-made, but we can make more together if you wish?”
“Yes! Please?”
“And with two of us for breakfast, the dough I made will not last long. If you could let me use the head first, so I can go to the kitchen and get the bread into the oven?” she asked, knowing Arlaud was always going to defer to her, but still wanting it to seem like she needed her help, her permission, even in this small act.
“Sure. Er, it’s okay if I just wear my body chains today?”
“Hmm, let me see, cute young blonde, walking around almost nude, looking cute and ‘hawt’? Do I like the idea, or do I love the idea?” Laika winked.
“Cool. And after, I want to ask your help, see if I can do something, or if it has to wait.”
“Sounds intriguing.”
“You love me nearly nude in my body chain? You’re going to love this if it works. Primise. See you in the kitchen,” she said, not giving Laika the chance to say anything as she found herself in quick succession kissed and then watching Arlaud’s bum as she skipped along to her room, Laika wondering if anyone had every looked better in exercise clothes. Probably not.
“Oh wow! This is awesome!” Arlaud declared, one bite and one swallow later. They were in the mess, the room full of the aroma of sweet baked bread, and the slices on the plate in front of them only just cool enough to eat, though that smell would not have stopped her if they weren’t.
“Thank you. The basic ‘peasant’ recipe is simply a sweetened bread, made with bread flour, milk, eggs, water, starch, etcetera, and which I had prepared in the chiller. It becomes more ‘exotic’ when the top is covered with a sugar syrup before baking, and when it is flavoured with rare essences. In this case, a little saffron, more for the soft colour than anything else, saffron very quickly getting a little bitter if used too much. My mother enjoys adding sumac as well, and we can try that if you like—”
“—Yes!” Arlaud grinned.
“—But it makes it a little tart. This vouass has a little cardamom essence added to it, to try to counteract the sweetness without removing it. Vouass would not be vouass without the sweetness. Now, try following with a sip of your unsweetened caf?”
Arlaud nodded, taking a cautious sip of her drink.”It’s drinkable now,” she joked her eyes widening in pleasant surprise.
“So it is,” Laika smiled as they ate and drank and chatted their breakfast away, Arlaud of course insisting on cleaning up before she came back to the table.
“Laika? You know the lipstick you used on me yesterday? Do you have more?”
“You can have that one.”
“Oh. Thank you, but, haha, I meant more, or do you just have that one.”
“Just that one, why?”
Arlaud sighed. “I had an idea. Something I wanted to try...”
“Which was?”
“I wanted to use it, haha, other places.”
“Lipstick not on your lips?”
Arlaud shook her head.
“Care to tell me?”
Another shake of her head. “I want it to be a surprise.”
“But you need more?”
“And maybe a big mirror, if you’ve got a space,” she asked, smiling at her own guile.
Laika’s left eyebrow cocked, making Arlaud giggle.
“So I can see to try and ... my back.”
“Lipstick, but on your back?”
“Kind of...”
“I’m not sure I’ve a mirror that big,” Laika said, utterly baffled what her young friend was up to, or about to get up to. “You could always ask S1. They have nothing they can’t be spared from, if you think they could help?”
“Can she?”
“You can explain and ask, certainly.”
“Cool, it’s just ... I wanted to have more ‘colour’ to work with, and now I want to keep that lipstick just for lipstick because I really love how I looked.”
“So did I,” Laika winked. “Planning more makeup today?”
“Yeah, but not like that, only now I don’t know if I can,” Arlaud said, explaining nothing but also obviously determined not to be too clear whatever it was she had in mind.
“Why not ask S1 to join us? I can leave if you want to keep the surprise...”
“No, it’s okay, the surprise isn’t as much as the surprise, if I can do it.”
Laika nodded. “S1? Please join us in the mess.”
“Acknowledged,” came the disembodied voice followed, only a minute later, by S1 herself as she stepped into the mess and stood at what was her version of ‘at rest’.
“Hi S1,” Arlaud began. “I’ve got a question for you. Is there anything on the ship I could use for body paint? And can you help paint the bits I can’t reach?” she asked, Laika mouthing a silent ‘o’ as she began to get a slight inkling of what she was up to.
“We have nothing to hand, Hydan.”
“Oh,” Arlaud frowned.
“Do you require this substance immediately?” S1 asked.
“No, not right away, no.”
“Would twelve minutes suffice? In that time I believe I will be able to synthesise something, though quantities and colours would be limited, and I would need permission to access several of the materials in the food stores to produce coloured options...”
“You can?! Wow! Twelve minutes? Twelve minutes is good,” she grinned. “What colours?”
“Black, khaki, and white.”
“Oh. Oh, black and white?”
“Confirmed, Hydan.”
“And you can paint my back for me?”
“Confirmed, Hydan.”
“And seal it?”
“Liquified latex.”
“You have that?”
Laika held her hand up to S1, allowing her to answer. “We carry various items like that in the ship’s stores in case repairs are needed.”
“Oh. But you can spare it?” Arlaud worried.
“S1, how much liquefiable latex is held in storage?”
“18.32 gallons,” S1 confirmed, Arlaud’s eyes going wide at her answer.
“And how much would be needed for repairs, say if some circuits caught fire?”
“Impossible to determine, Captain.”
“Sorry. Say if you had to repair a hyperspace engine failure?”
“0.4 gallons, Captain.”
“So you can spare it?” Arlaud asked, quiet and hopeful and believing.
“Easily. I take it you know what design you want?”
Arlaud nodded. “It’s pretty simple, but, haha, only if someone is helping paint you. Or spray me. They used to do that sometimes in the theatre.”
“S1? Please detail how you could paint or spray Arlaud with this coloured body paint and sealant?” Laika asked, knowing the answer but wanting Arlaud to hear it rather than a simple ‘yes’.
“The are several sets of brushes in the stores, Captain, from wide enough to paint the hull to small enough to detail text onto the labels outside the internal doors.”
“I’m not that big,” Arlaud giggled. “I just need something, er...” she hesitated, looking over at Laika.
“I think, if you are going to discuss designs with S1, I shall find something to do in the cockpit, even staying there until someone tells me they are ready?”
“You’re sure?” Arlaud asked, caution not doing a very good job of hiding her excitement.
Laika smiled, standing, and leaning over for a moment to kiss the tip of Arlaud’s nose, making her smile. “I’m looking forward to it,” she said as she headed off.
It was not all that long later, Laika sitting in the pilot’s chair and reviewing some ideas for today’s pilot lessons for Arlaud when there was a crackle from the internal comms.
“Hello? Laika? Can I come in please?”
“Of course.”
“You might, er, I really think you might want to turn and look...”
“Might I? Give me a moment, then,” Laika smiled as she turned to face the door which, after three seconds, opened and Arlaud walked in.
The transformation was, to put it mildly, incredible.
Standing before her, smiling awkwardly, Arlaud had had S1 paint her with some white body paint, a thick white line horizontally over her tits, wider than her areolae though not much, this same line matched over her upper arms, with another smaller line, Laika realised, stretching horizontally the same distance as that between Arlaud’s nipples but across her tummy and covering her belly button, and, finally, another band, the same width again, this one about half way between her hips and her thighs. She had one of Laika’s donated scarfs, this one black and gold and silk, folded into a triangle and then tied around around her waist, below her belly button, with the knot over her left hip and the triangle of material over her right, her bushy pussy fully visible. As Laika looked she could see Arlaud did have some makeup on, but only the same as yesterday, those colours somehow suiting both her complection and her outfit. Finally, and incongruously, she was wearing a pair of white ballet slippers because it wasn’t a good idea to go barefoot aboard a ship, and there were not that many options available to her.
“What do you think?” Arlaud asked, turning, Laika seeing, now, how there was no makeup to her back, but instead she had had S1 paint a final band of white, this one running between the dimples on her back and, again, the same width.
“I think you look amazing!” Laika said, genuinely surprised that such a simple design could transform how Arlaud looked into something ... something that made her worry a little. Cautiously, she asked, “Was this how you used to be painted?”
Arlaud shook her head. “No. I won’t wear that design again, and anyway they wanted circles around my tiddies and my belly button. No, this is ... Actually, I’m not sure where it comes from, I just felt this would look good.”
“And it does. You left your hair loose?” Laika asked, curious why she had not tied it up or even asked S1 to braid it somehow.
“Yeah. Savage girls don’t have time for hair and makeup,” she grinned.
“I need to upgrade S1 for you. Or perhaps we should get you a maid droid, programmed for beauty but also for painting?”
“You can get that?”
Laika nodded, again stumbling over an unanticipated gap in Arlaud’s worldly knowledge. “S1 is more generalised, but S2 is more specialised for repairs and maintenance. You can get other specialised droids for other things. You’ve not seen them?”
Arlaud shook her head. “Customers were served by people. I think there were droids in the kitchens, and maintenance droids, and that was all. We didn’t even have a medical droid.”
Laika nodded. “I’m sure my father will be able to help.”
“You’d get a droid, just so I can dress like this?”
“In a heartbeat,” Laika smiled.
“I, I can pay...”
Laika shook her head. “What use is there being a Double Queen Spy Pirate Queen Captain - did I get the list right? - if I can’t spend booty however I want. And you do look incredible. And very worth spending booty on.”
Arlaud nodded. “In that case, when it’s just us, can I always dress like this? I’ll get S1 to do other designs, but...” she sighed. “I’m so used to people dressing me, and I know I’ve got my own clothes, but even that is me thinking I have to dress. And I get it, I can’t be nude when anyone else is around, they might get funny ideas or even offended by, you know, tiddies and fannies, but when it’s just us, can I be nude, or nude with scarf?”
“I have no objections,” Laika smiled. “S1? First, congratulations on an excellent job. Second, please make an entry into the captain’s log that the Hydan is allowed to wear no clothing whenever she wants, regardless of the presence or absence of anyone. Understood?”
“Confirmed,” came S1’s voice, Arlaud beaming and seemingly lighting up the cockpit with her happiness.
“And now, if you would like to come in here, I would like to test how smudge resistant your body paint is...” Laika smirked.
“The tiddies?”
“The ‘tiddies’,” Laika confirmed, Arlaud laughing as Laika tugged her blouse open, and still giggling as they began with a lingering kiss.
“Why’re you smiling like that?” Arlaud asked. They had come to the end of the day’s pilot training, Arlaud doing well - “87%, less tentative” - and still leaning from side to side, up and down, depending on where her mind was telling her she was flying. Laika had explained there was no need to compensate, and that there were some very powerful compensatory technologies built into the Sanbrozza to make sure they were able to survive the high speeds and the fast turns, especially in combat. It didn’t make a difference. Arlaud compensated anyway. The ship leaned, so Arlaud leaned.
That wasn’t why Laika was smiling, however.
“I’m sorry, it’s not you I’m laughing it, but I can’t decide which is more glorious, you, in your savage body paint, piloting this ship into port, or you, as a visiting dignitary, wearing something like you are now as I introduce you to my father.”
“You’d do that? I could do that?” Arlaud asked, eyes wide, smile twitching across her lips.
“Just to see his face,” Laika chuckled.
“So I’m a ‘dignitary’? Does that mean I get the good bed?”
“You would be given the finest. Or you could sleep with me.”
“That one please,” she grinned. “Your father gives you a good bed, does he?”
Laika winked. “For all your joking about it, I am, technically, a daughter of the royal line, even if, as his illegitimate daughter, that means very little and only as much as he cares to, which is a very great deal.”
“Wow. So I get my tiddie paint tested and approved by royalty?” Arlaud asked, clearly loving the idea.
“And can again, right now if you want,” Laika said, making a decision, moving her seat back a little, and glancing meaningfully to her own lap.
“Oh this is just getting better and better,” Arlaud grinned as she carefully moved in front of Laika for a moment before making a decision as she sat, straddling her, smiling happily as she leant in and started their kiss, it being only around five kisses in before Laika remembered to use her hands for more than holding Arlaud safely in place. Her bottom seemed a handy choice.
“It’s not just anyone, is it?”
Laika smiled. “If it had been anyone else I had caught hiding aboard my ship the way you were, I would simply have diverted somewhere safe and left them enough to get by until they could sort out what they wanted for themselves. You, gilus, are very different. All joking aside, you are feeling much more of a partner to me. You are helping me learn how to move better, how to use the Force better, to say nothing of the free ‘tiddies’,” she said, winking, making Arlaud smile as she listened before asking the thing she found she feared the most. “But I certainly hope this is more than just somewhere and someone until you are ready to vanish into the night.”
Arlaud shook her head. “I’ve got enough to go off and hide and get older and do anything, but I don’t want to. I want to stay here as your hawt cabin girl.”
“Which you already are.”
“Yeah, but this one can fly the Sanbrozza. Almost,” she added with a smile.
“We’re on automatic, for now.”
“Yeah? So what’re we going to do. Oh! Me!” Arlaud giggled as Laika caressed her again, showering her with more kisses than she knew she had within her, more than she could remember ever giving any other person.
“You don’t mind, do you?” Arlaud asked that night as she followed Laika into bed, their bed, S1 having also formulated a body wash to remove her body paint, the drains of the head now busily breaking down the liquids for recycling.
“No, but you do seem even more nude than you were,” Laika smiled, cradling Arlaud’s face as she kissed her.
“I know. I saw me in the mirror after I’d done washing and it was like I was nekkid,” she giggled.
“And adorably kissable,” Laika added, her hand softly touching, not even caressing Arlaud’s left tit, Arlaud smiling into her lips.
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