Chapter 12

"Orion," I sighed, stroking his hair from his eyes. "You won't sleep unavenged, I promise you that."

"How do you feel, my Lord?" Ransom asked and I didn't bother to look at him.

"Pissed off," I decided. "Where's my daughter?"

"She's being held in detention," Helena answered. "The conditioning was especially deep, as it had to be given your relationship with her."

"Was she harmed?"

"No, my Lord," she said. "What do you want to do with her?"

"Lady Preston must be interrogated," Ransom offered.

"An interrogation will leave her defenseless," I said, bending over to kiss Orion's mouth.

"Defenseless, my Lord?" Ransom cleared his throat. "It will leave her with the mind of a child, but..."

"We must know what she knows," Helena said. "We have no choice."

"Scan her," I ordered. "And once that's done..."

"A scan won't penetrate the conditioning," Ransom protested.

"Once that's done," I said slowly, lifting my eyes to his face. "Erase her."

"My Lord," Helena drew a deep breath. "If we erase her, we'll never know what happened."

"I know what happened," I told her. "Windham happened. If he didn't send her, someone he's allied with did. We'll take them all down. I want a meeting with the General Staff in one hour."

"William ... My Lord..." Ransom said slowly. "The Duchess will return in five days. You can't take military action without her approval."

"Then get it!" I shouted, forcing myself to take a deep breath and relax. "She's not in dark space yet. Send a message to Talis and inform her that I'm taking military precautions against an imminent threat to the security of the Empire."

"A message? She's at Delphi," Helena reminded me. "Even if the Duchess replies immediately, and she won't, she'll be here before her answer can reach us."

"I know that." The curious truth was that my cousin's transport, the battlecruiser Praxis, was faster than even a priority translight message.

"He's not looking for an answer," Ransom said, fixing his blank eyes on mine.

"While I await my cousin's decision," I said calmly, "we'll conduct a reconnaissance of Windham space ... in force."

"As you say, my Lord." He bowed his head.

"She will not be pleased with you, William." Helena pursed her lips, but otherwise stood stiff as a statue.

Unyielding as ever, her countenance thrilled me to the core and I felt a familiar yearning in my heart. Marcia had been right about my feelings ... Tristam's feelings, but mine now as well and I was still trying to understand our union. The current situation wasn't making that easy, however; we were in too much of a hurry, I told myself, but when I looked at faggot's torn body...

"We are going to war over this ... insult," I told my two aides, pulling the sheet over the boy's head. "Prepare yourselves."

I began dressing myself while Esya watched and found the black boots and navy blue breeches to be a perfect fit. I'd changed again, but I remained the same. A sixteen-year-old human male, blessed with good genes and a reasonable intellect. I had a naturally athletic body, much more so than Orion had possessed, but he'd been several years younger than me. I couldn't blame him for that. I needed practice with my sword, however. A lot of practice if I planned on facing...

"Would you like me to shave you, Master?" Esya interrupted my thoughts and I examined my face in the mirror.

"I need one, huh?" I smiled at myself and I'd always thought I looked kind of like Han Solo, except for my dirty blond hair and blue eyes.

I'd never told anyone that, just in case they might have laughed at me. I had that kind of face though, like a rogue with my high forehead and square jaw, thin lips and piercing eyes. I wouldn't be handsome until I hit thirty probably. Girls my own age had always been attracted to me though, and faggots too, I suppose, but I'd never had the personality to sweep anyone but a slut off her feet. That had been okay back home because all the Earth girls were sluts anyway, but I knew it wouldn't help me out here. I was an earl, or a count depending on which court I happened to be visiting, and an heir to the Onyx Throne. It was kind of scary, actually.

"Fuck," I breathed. "I hope you know what you're doing, Tristam."

"If you'll sit down, Master," Esya said softly and the boy was playing timid with me.

"When's the last time you were scanned?" I asked, eyeing the straight razor he held.

"Scanned?" He frowned.

"Jericho?"

"Lady Helena had Orion's household scanned seventeen hours ago," the computer replied.

"Just after I was shot?" I smiled at that. "Was Helena scanned?"

"She was scanned," he replied. "Do you wish to make a detailed enquiry?"

"You know me too well, I think," I said, weighing my conflicting desire to know Helena's deepest thoughts against showing her privacy the respect she deserved.

"Master?" Esya waited for me to sit down.

"Purge Helena's scan from the database," I said. "No ... Wait. Just lock it. My eyes only."

"Of course, Lord Admiral." Jericho smiled at me. "And may I say, it's a pleasure to see you again."

"A pleasure to be seen," I replied and then looked at Esya. "Okay. Shave me, but ... be careful."

"Yes, Master," he replied solemnly. "I'll be very careful."

I'd never been shaved by someone else before and in fact, I'd never even used a razor myself. I'd always used my dad's electric shaver, although not very often. I didn't have a lot of facial hair, just some curling blond hairs on my chin. Esya shaved my entire face though, applying a warm lather of shaving cream and then scraping it away. For some reason that felt good. It felt manly and I rather enjoyed the new experience.

He sang while he shaved me and Esya had high voice, like a soprano, and I didn't understand the words, but I liked them. I liked him too and I remembered kissing the boy, the sweet flavor of his mouth and the delicate wriggling of his tongue across mine. I had a lot of queer memories and then I suddenly remembered everything I'd done to faggot, the things I'd done to me, and I felt suddenly dizzy. I could remember both sides of it, fucking him and being fucked by me ... It confused me completely and I had to close my eyes, but that didn't help.

"Master?" Esya paused as he cleaned my face with a damp towel. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," I said, blinking my eyes and the memories had receded.

I just had to think about other things, but faggot's memories lurked in my subconscious like a shadow and I had to avoid them.

"How do I look?" I asked, forcing myself to smile and it wasn't all that hard to do.

"You're very handsome, Master," Esya replied softly. "Do you still like me?"

"Very much so," I said, realizing I'd have to reassure all of my slaves in this fashion.

Nobody could truly understand the joining unless they'd gone through it. Even Ransom and Helena would have some doubts and my decision to go to war without the usual prerequisite councils and debates had made them uneasy. I almost regretted my urgency, but I'd been assassinated. Orion was dead and as the acting head of state in the absence of Talis, that violence constituted an assault upon the Empire itself. My declaration of war was a mere formality, when viewed from a certain perspective.

"Take off your shift," I told the boy. "I want to see you."

"Yes, Master." Esya pulled the white slip over his head and dropped it on the floor, licking his lips as I looked at him.

"Lift your penis," I said, wiggling my finger up and down. "Let me see your balls."

He had a wonderfully smooth body, soft and hairless everywhere but for the fine, platinum hair falling just past his shoulders. His pale blue skin had a shimmer to it as he breathed and I liked his small, hard nipples and slender shoulders, his girlish waist and narrow hips. The boy had shapely thighs as well, although he wasn't very tall for his tender age.

Esya did have a fine cock, however, as long as mine, but not quite so thick and uncircumcised like all aliens. That particular tradition was peculiar to Earth. He had nice balls too, large testicles in a low hanging sack of soft, blue skin. He played with them for me, holding his hardening cock pointed upward with one hand, rolling his balls and tugging on his scrotum with the other. The boy's erection grew quickly before my eyes, perhaps seven inches long and straight as an arrow. He peeled the foreskin back to reveal a pink glans already leaking precum and he played his thumb around the tip.

"Have you ever been gangfucked?" I wondered, but the boy didn't get a chance to answer.

"Are we entertained, my Lord?"

"Don't be petulant, Helena," I replied without taking my eyes off Esya. "Jerk off for me. Slowly."

"Windham has provoked you," she said, walking fully into the parlor.

It was one of several rooms that were kept empty until required for a specific purpose. Except for the chair in which I sat and the table beside me, there was nothing else but the darkness surrounding us. A silk divan grew out of the floor behind Esya as he stood before me, cupping his balls and stroking his pretty penis.

"Windham assassinated me." I pointed at the sofa. "Sit down."

"It's a provocation and you're playing into his hands." Helena crossed her arms over her chest and looking down at me.

"Lie down, Esya. My Lady of Cepheus prefers to stand."

"Now who's being petulant, my Lord?"

"He's beautiful, isn't he?" I sighed. "I'm going to turn him into a girl, I think."

"If they wanted to assassinate you, Lady Preston would have shot you in the head."

"Maybe she has poor aim."

"Whoever is behind it must have expected you would survive," she continued. "Given your reputation..."

"My temper?" I smiled at Esya, watching him pet the length of his erection as he pushed it downward, teasing both of us.

" ... and the correlation of force, the only strategic advantage to be gained is battle at a time and place of their choosing."

"Go on." I shifted in my seat, feeling my cock throb and I wanted to be sure Helena saw the bulge in my trousers.

"They cannot defeat the combined strength of the Empire, but that force is a paper tiger. We're dissipated by our responsibilities and require time to organize an overwhelming strike."

"They can't survive a war of attrition."

"Neither can we, my Lord," she said. "If you commit the available fleets to rash adventurism..."

"Ouch." I rubbed the swell of my cock and I knew Helena wasn't so cruel as Billy had imagined her to be. She was worse.

" ... we may very well expect piecemeal defeat and lose time better served prearranging a decisive military response."

"I should arrange a commission for you, Helena," I suggested with a smile. "You sound like a staff officer."

"Please." She frowned. "This is their plan, to draw us into premature conflict and indecisive skirmish. They'll gain political currency, invest in alliances with other systems, and foment insurrection along a broad front."

"Keeping our forces spread thin and..." I eyed her small, hard nipples and knew she wanted some cock.

"Eventually negotiating a peace to their advantage," she said with a nod. "The Duchess will have no choice, any siege or prolonged campaign of attrition will only weaken her position."

"You're certain of that analysis?" I asked, opening my breeches with the soft pop ... pop ... popping of silver buttons.

"Given the facts as we have them, my Lord..." Helena cleared her throat and her pale cheeks flushed green. "It's what I would do in their place."

"Come here," I told her. "Kneel on the floor at my feet."

"My Lord, I hardly think..."

"Please?"

Esya watched with his silver eyes grown wide, laying on his side with the left leg bent at the knee. His erection pointed towards me across a dozen feet of empty marble and I watched him squeeze a dollop of precum from the tip onto his fingers. He brought his hand to his mouth as Helena knelt stiffly in front of me and I had to lean to the right in order to see the blue faggot slide his juicy fingers between those wonderfully pink lips.

"You'd rather I served you as a whore, my Lord?" Helena asked, kneeling with her spine stiff and shoulders back.

"No," I said softly. "Not a whore, my Lady; only a slut."

Her emerald eyes narrowed beneath her thick, red hair and I heard the skin tight leather creaking as her small breasts rose and fell with every breath she took.

"Sometimes I can't tell when you're mocking me..." she reached for the opening in my trousers, " ... and when you're serious."

"I love you, Helena."

"No..." she breathed, wrapping her gloved hand around my stiff penis and pulling it free.

"I almost died without telling you that."

"Why should I believe you?" Helena stared at me through a crimson veil, squeezing my ardent flesh with her cool fingers.

"Because you love me too," I offered, caressing her cheek with my thumb and slipping my hand into her silky hair.

"Tristam..." she sighed, tilting her head against my palm like a kitten.

"I won't waste anymore time playing games," I told her. "Be my Mistress, Helena."

"What you're asking..." she replied, turning her hand to tickle my scrotum, pulling my balls free. "My family will never forgive you."

"I would marry you if I could," I whispered. "You know that."

"Yes." Her hand went back to my cock and she began jerking me off slowly.

The leather covering her flesh felt soft as butter, seamless and perfectly formed. Every part of her body from the neck down was hidden and yet plain to my sight. From her black fingernails to her leather bound clitoris, Helena knelt naked and untouchable. I pulled her forward, urging her to kiss my erection with her red stained lips and supple tongue. She'd never held a cock, never felt one against her bare flesh until the moment her mouth touched mine. She kissed the smooth glans, at the underside where the skin had been drawn into an inverted heart, and then she pulled away.

"I have to go," Helena whispered, licking her lips and standing slowly. "I've arranged to have the Council of Ministers present at your briefing, my Lord."

"Very good," I said, taking a deep breath as a smile graced her wonderfully oriental face. "I'll be along shortly."

She left the room without another word and I rose from my chair.

"Turn around, faggot," I breathed. "Give me your cunt."

"Yes Master," Esya agreed quickly.

The sexy boy turned and spread his bent knees wide on the divan, bringing his asshole to my swollen cock. He watched me over his shoulder, biting his pouting lips and shivering as I slid my cock beneath his scrotum and along the underside of his own hard shaft. He had an ass like a girl, round and snug with a deep cleavage and I pulled him apart with my thumbs to expose the pinkish pucker of his anus. I gathered my saliva and let it fall between his cheeks while I hunched my hips and fucked my cock along his.

"This is your cunt from now on, faggot," I told him. "You'll keep yourself clean and moist and ready for any cock who desires it."

"M-Master!" He gasped as I pressed both of my thumbs past his sphincter, pulling his hole wide and spitting into the mouth of Esya's small rectum.

"I know a slut like you needs cock," I sighed. "So I won't be selfish and try to keep you for myself."

"But, Master ... I don't ... I never..." He blinked at me, rocking his hips as I pushed my thumbs deeper, digging my fingers into his flesh.

"Shhh..." I smiled at him. "You don't have to thank me. I only want my little blue faggot to be happy."

"T-Thank you, Master," Esya replied and his confusion pleased me a great deal.

"What did I just say?" I teased, pulling my thumbs away and replacing them with the head of my penis.

"N-Not to thank ... Ohhh!"

"Ugh!" I grunted as I drove half of my straining cock into his wonderfully warm ass. "Ah! You fucker! Like fucking silk!"

"Mmmm..." The faggot grimaced as my hands found his slender shoulders and I pulled him back to meet my crotch, stabbing the length of my prick into his bowels.

"Take it, boy! Fuck my cock, you whore!"

I began pounding his ass with a vengeance, imagining Helena beneath me, shredding her precious virginity while she wept. What a teasing bitch! Esya's erection slapped his belly while we fucked, his sperm filled balls swinging between his girlish thighs, slapping my own as I'd drive the head of my cock into his alien prostate. I knew he had one because Tristam knew, and he knew because we'd fucked sexy blue faggots before.

Esya's asshole grew damp, his fag juices mixing with my precum, and perhaps that explained their pacific sensibilities as much as anything else. Esya, like everyone else from his planet, was bisexual and Mother Nature had seen to the details. His rectum produced a thin, oily lubricant and it really was very much like fucking a pussy. The boy grew wet and the soft tissue quivered with tiny contractions, massaging my prick while I drilled his hungry hole. Whatever discomfort he might have felt had quickly given way to something else entirely.

"Fuck me! Master! Harder! Fuck me!" he panted in his sweet soprano voice, the ragged words punctuated with the slapping of our bodies.

"Give me your tits," I growled, sliding my hands beneath his body to find Esya's nipples long and stiff.

I pinched and pulled them, grabbing the soft skin around the rubbery nubs and making them swell even larger. Soon enough I'd deliver him to the genetic technicians and grow the boy some real breasts. I'd have him sculpted into something more than a mere boy and less than a real girl. I'd dress the transgendered slut in fine silks and precious jewels, invest him with a title, and introduce the minx to society as my debutante slave - The Maharani of Rapere. That seemed a clever name for a clever whore.

"You're going to be my gift to Helena," I whispered in his ear, holding my cock inside him as the abyss yawned invitingly. "A sexy little spy just for her."

"Ummmm..." Esya sighed as my cock pulsed rapidly, spewing semen into the depths of his ass.

I kissed his silver hair and let my orgasm finish completely before pulling myself from his clasping sex.

"You may wash my cock with your tongue, faggot."

"Thank you, Master," he breathed, ignoring his own rampant urgency as Esya took my semi-hard penis into his mouth.

There were the usual protocols to be followed after an unsuccessful assassination attempt on a royal heir. Every representative of every star system in the Spinward March had to profess shock and outrage, as well as their undying loyalty to the Empire through my person. Thankfully, the counts, earls, and barons all represented a great many systems and so the ritual only took a few hours. The absence of Windham's ambassador was conspicuous, but hardly surprising.

Likewise noble Lords and Ladies who attended the Court of the Duchess of Cepheus had to plead their ignorance, and were largely the wayward children of far flung relatives. The ministers and the military; sycophants, courtiers, and merchant princes; all of them condemned the cowardice and treachery of the act. Such things always invited suspicion and rumors of conspiracy, and no one enjoyed the illusion of immunity. Such times were always ripe with the opportunity to avenge insults, real or imagined.

Heads would roll, as they invariably must, and Helena had made a list, I had little doubt of that. Some familiar faces were already missing and I caught her ear.

"Lady Constance?"

"No, my Lord," Helena whispered, only that and nothing more.

They'd never liked each other very much, but I'd once found the woman's piquant sex a delightful diversion. What a marvelous slut she'd been, the Lady Constance of Cepheus. She'd given up her vows of chastity at an early age and come to Court penniless and fawning, selling her affections by the evening. Noble prostitutes are always fashionable sport and Constance had enjoyed a comfortable existence dancing from bed to bed. The disgrace to her family could never be forgotten, however, and Helena had seized the chance to be rid of her wanton sister once and for all.

For the good of the Empire, as Talis liked to say.

My military briefing began later than I'd desired and it had obviously been Helena's intention to delay it as long as possible. She wanted to give me that much more time to consider her analysis of the situation with Windham. I did have a bit of a temper, but I'm pretty sure that anyone getting his chest blown away would have felt the same way. I wanted to hit Windham with everything we had, right now and all at once. Obliterate the place, that sounded good to me, but I was in the minority.

An army major began the briefing with a geography lesson and I watched and listened patiently as he spoke around a holographic map.

"The Windham Sector comprises 605 star systems spread throughout 500 cubic parsecs, a volume of space equal to twelve percent of the Spinward March. Significant features impacting military operations include several black holes highlighted in blue, the recent supernova XG-505 located here and..."

Following the major, a navy commander familiarized us with the political structure.

"The capital world of Windham, located here, is the seat of political power throughout a sector divided into twelve semi-autonomous states governed by a system of hereditary nobility. The Barony of Arthage, highlighted here, is the most remote and includes..."

She spoke for nearly an hour, examining each of the political states and their leadership in detail. None of the various counts and barons were reliable, not to mention the Marquis himself, and the real point of the brief was to identify thirteen primary targets for occupation by Imperial forces. Windham and the twelve capitals would have to be seized, their governments replaced, and from there we would reestablish order throughout the sector.

A colonel presented the balance of forces, detailing our order of battle and the best intelligence we had on theirs. All sectors were allowed to maintain a self-defense force, as much for political reasons as military, and at times like this one had to question the wisdom of that policy.

"The Marquis commands three home fleets. His ships are modern and comparable in size and capability with our own, although their effective range of operations is reduced by a notable lack of auxiliary craft. As of twelve hours ago, the Windham First Fleet was located here, refueling in the Fvaer System..."

He continued for several hours and in the end, the conclusions weren't surprising.

"Given the disposition of relative forces, the defensive strategy we anticipate Windham to exercise, and a notable lack of intelligence regarding Windham operations beyond the Demetrios Nebula..."

"We have to wait," I sighed. "How long will it take to mobilize for a full assault on Windham?"

"Ten to twelve days, my Lord." Field Marshal Thrane, Twelfth Baron of Quill and Chief of the General Staff stared at me with his large red eye.

He had two black pupils and the left had a nervous tic, expanding and contracting at random intervals. Thrane and his kind were from an ancient world near the core, one of the first colonized by the budding Empire over twelve thousand years previously. One of his grandfathers had hosted Crown Prince Urey several hundred years previously. Now the old general's granddaughter, Princess Ureya, had that honor.

"But we will be spread very thin," he continued a moment later. "The internal security forces will have to be prepared to augment operations near the Gyre and the coreward colonies..."

"Ransom?" I glanced at my aide.

"Your staff is working on that as we speak, my Lord. We've requested operational summaries from all districts. We'll have a detailed report within forty-eight hours."

As the Lord High Marshal of the Spinward March, internal security forces belonged to me. While I had relatively few capital ships at my disposal, there were over a thousand constabulary frigates and cutters patrolling the shipping lanes. Tens of thousands Imperial corvettes policed the systems themselves. I had monitors, minesweepers, and gunboat flotillas, and the ubiquitous space control ships which served as roving headquarters for my commissioners.

Taken singularly, such vessels possessed little military merit, but organized into squadrons and fleets like they were ... Enough bees could kill an elephant.

"Prepare a list of your requirements," I told Thrane. "The internal forces will support the military to the best of its ability."

"We need to find out what's on the other side of Demetrios," Helena reminded me and that hadn't been neglected.

"I have a battle squadron preparing for a jump to the Spencer Rift," the field marshal said. "We can't jump through the nebula without a fix on the other side ... Give us a map ... We'll jump to this point and transit the corridor. With your permission, my Lord."

"A full squadron?" Helena frowned. "A single ship would attract less attention."

"We want to see how they react," Thrane replied. "Our listening post is still operational. Windham hasn't commenced direct hostilities as yet, so..."

"It's still Imperial space," I agreed. "Let's see what they do. How long until the ships jump?"

"Within the hour, my Lord," one of his staff officers replied. "The Rift is a little over 800 parsecs away, seventy minutes in darkspace and approximately three hours to transit the nebula itself."

"We should have a better idea of what were up against this afternoon," Thrane said. "I'll have Colonel Jeejet inform you when the data arrives."

"Thank you, Field Marshal." I stood up and after sitting in that chair for five hours straight, I needed a break.

"Can you wait two weeks, my Lord?" Helena asked me as we left the headquarters through the adjoining flag bridge.

"For fifteen hundred ships? I guess I have to," I said. "You find that amusing?"

"No, my Lord," Helena said with a smile. "Merely surprising."

"Doesn't surprise me," Ransom said.

"Oh?" I looked at my oldest friend.

"With the Duchess returned, you'll be free to lead one of the fleets."

"What?" Helena frowned and I shrugged.

"The thought had occurred to me," I agreed. "It's been a long time since we had a real war."

"You can't go!" She grabbed my arm. "The Duchess will never allow it."

"I'm an admiral," I reminded her. "I have a duty to the Empire. Talis understands that, even if you don't."

"Don't worry, my Lady," Ransom said. "I'll keep a close eye on him for you."

"I didn't mean..." she scowled and her cheeks flushed.

"Where are we going anyway?" I wondered, just to save her Cephean pride. "I'm hungry."

We enjoyed our late lunch in one of the banquet halls, which were never truly empty. Eulla of Braize lay nearby on a tapestry couch before a magnificent fire, the bell of her gown askew beneath the twin steeples of her spread knees. Her bodice had been loosened enough to let her pale breasts stumble free and a dark Tartian Prince gnawed upon her blooming nipples. The handsome noble had lost his trousers apparently and a pleasantly plump boy, his page, I believe, sat on the floor suckling his Lord's eager prick.

At the opposite end of the long table, Lady Lyst of Rigel had given herself to a half-dozen knaves to be ravished. Her sapphire skirts had been stripped away, torn into ragged, silken scarves and used to bind her ankles to the table's stout legs. They'd left her hands free so that she might jerk two of her lovers off as they spilled wine across her ripe tits and quivering belly, only to lap it off her zebra striped skin a moment later. Another had taken his place upon her upturned face, turned towards us with his dripping erection jutting upward and the Lady's tongue working at his asshole. Between her wide-spread legs, a fifth courtier threw his cock into her sex with wild abandon and the table shook with his efforts.

Such was the debauchery concealed within the depths of my cousin's court. A dozen other personalities were present and I knew all of them by sight, if not by name. They were less outward in their enthusiasm, however, and content to relax around the hall, indulging their idle speculation and gossip. My appearance in their midst had surprised them as much as it had surprised my two companions, I'm sure.

"You never liked this sort of thing before," Helena observed, cracking open the belly of a crab-like creature to reach the black meat inside.

"The new me," I said with a smile, ignoring the ten spindly legs clawing at her arm. "Does it offend you, my Lady?"

"Don't be silly, William," she replied, casting a deliberate glance at Lady Lyst. "I rather enjoy the spectacle ... on occasion."

"Really?" Ransom smiled at her. "I didn't know that about you."