Tales From the Unending Void

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This is a sexy space story. The NSFW content will be hidden behind a password. Click on images to view the full-size screenshots. Click on links and use password to view hidden screenshots. Let the story begin:


"From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire... old age should burn and rave at close of day... length of the sideal year: fixed star to fixed star 365.26 days... Life's but a walking shadow, a Robin Red breast in a cage puts all Heaven in Rage Right... Petrus Plancius watched C-beams glitter in the ascension 12h 36m 25.46s Delcination +62deg 14'31.4"11.09..."


"We passed the school where children played, their lessons scarcely done, the all-beholding sun shall see no more... I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. She burns so brightly in the cleansing fire... In the dying light of triple suns... I hum a binary tune... My ears shatter as the great bear roars... And my feet touch dust and bone... As I walk across a ield of ancient hubris and conceit... In the abyss of birds... When the augur strikes the anvil of ingress... Hippolyta births the singularity... While chaos rides a metal warhorse... My desiccated mouth tastes of ashes... My aberrative mind shatters... As I abscind and coalesce... In the throes of supreme vicissitude... I awaken, foever toen... Between Tartarus and Cucaniensis..." "I've heard enough. Burn it all. "At once, milord."


"It cleanses! It... It... cleanses!"

Thyia settled for sleeping in the engine room, the hum of the machines was supposedly soothing her, or so she told us.


We immediately took off to find my aunt at the university on Ryujin Prime.


"That Pit of Despair, how horrible was it?" Kit asked. "Not a lot of despair, to be honest," I said. "No?" "A cave full of horny R'o women isn't reason for despair, in my book." "Horny R'o women... Attractive women?" he said. "Very!" "Did you..." "You have to ask me that? I never fucked so many women in a single night in my entire life!" I said. "fudge, now I'm really jealous. Couldn't we do another cargo run for the R'o?!" "Hehe, I think we'd be out of luck. I helped one of the women escape to warn another tribe. So those caves might be empty when we get there another time." "Bummer," Kit said.


"Hey little sis." "Hey," Lilly said. "About everything that happened..." "Sorry Cam, I already told you, I just can't, not now. Maybe we can talk later, but could you just leave me be." "Of course."


After a series of tedious jump-gate crossings, we arrived as planned in orbit of Ryujin Prime where Aunt Nadya was supposed to live and work. As soon as we docked our ship's computer was bombarded with information about the planet. Ryujin Prime was a planet consumed by a vast metropolis, everything else was just a barren wasteland where nobody dared to live. Céline waded through all the offers about entertainment, ship repairs, jobs to find the address of the university. I decided on a small party consisting of Céline and Vess to go look for my aunt and cousin.

"I'm glad you chose me to come with you. I felt so cooped up in the Enfield and now in the Bastard," Vess said. "I can understand that. Have you ever been off-planet?" "No, I haven't, not since..." "Ryûjin is going to be an experience in that case. It's going to be crowded, loud and there'll be lots to see. Please stick with eitheer Cèline or me, because the streets might not be so kind to the lost." "Understod!" she said. "Ready to head out? I've loaded the coordinates on our communicators, it should be easy to find," Céline said.


Even I wasn't fully prepared for the hectic experience that Ryûjin Prime was. The enormous flow of people, crisscrossing each other in some delicate battet, really took some time getting used to. Céline's locator signal provided us with the necessary directions and it didn't take long to reach the campus of Ryûjin Prime University.


"Good day sir, how may I be of service?" "We're looking for Professor Nadya Valenmann de Lonval." "Residence 42-ZB. Shall I load the coordinated onto one of your devices?" the robot said. "Yes please."

Following the locator signal provided by the concierge bot, we left the common area of the campus, missing out on most of the sights and entered the residential zones.
"This should be it."
I pushed the buzzer and we waited. Nothing happened for several minutes. I was about to hit the buzzer again when the door finally opened.


"Hmm?" "Hi, we're looking for Professor Valenmann de Lonval." "Are you her students?" the woman asked. "No, we're not, we have a question for her." "She isn't here, try again later." "Wait! I'm her nephew, it's really important that we speak to her," I said. "I told you she isn't here, but you're weölcome to wait if you want to. Coffee?"


After we shuffled into the small apartment, the terse woman got busy making coffee for us. Something about her was familiar, she looked vaguely like a raven'haired mix between Eva an Lilly.
"Here you go. Nadya is teaching at the moment, she'll be back in a few hours. I didn't get your names," the woman said.


"Camran." "Cèline, pleased to meet you." "I'm Vess." "I'm Aven, Nadya's daughtrer. Hello cousin Cam..." she said. "Aven! It's been a while!" I said. "You can sure say that. I think the last time we saw each other was when we both were nine years old?" "I think so. I mostlt remember crying, because you were both gone one day." "Yeah, that was... sudden..." Aven said. "How have you been all these years?" "Good, Mom quickly established herself as a teacher here at the academy, eventually obtaining a profesorship. So I was raised here mostly." "You're a xennologist too?" I said. "Hah, not really. I know a little because of Mom. I accompany her on her travels, to keep her safe." "You're like... her bodyguard?" Vess said. "Something like that. I know how to handle myself in a fight, but I get to play the diplomat often too. Diplomacy is not one of my mother's strong suits," Aven said. "I don't remember her as being impatient," I said. "She isn't, except when it comes to her work, she can be very demanding... How are your sisters, Camran?"


"Lilly is fine, she couldn't come along unfortunately. Eva is... she..." "fudge... She's all right, isn't she?" Aven said. "We don't know. We were on a training mission and ran into an ambush, Eva got taken..." "fudge. By whom?" "Unclear. We hope Aunt Nadya can identify the creatures that took Eva from us," I said. "She just might, let's hope she comes back soon," Aven said.

Aven poured us more coffee while we waited another two hours. Finally, the door opened and a woman stood in the doorway looking directly at me.
"Camran?!"


Disregaring the girls in the room, Nadya ran towards me and tok me in her arms.
"Is it really you?" she said. "Yes, Aunt Nadya, it's me."


"It's been so long. Why did you decide to come and visit? How are your sisters? Are you still at the academy?"
I was a little unsure which question I should answer first, so I started telling her about Eva, her other questions would be answered soon enough.
"Abducted... Dreadful... How's Lilly coping with al this?" she said. "She's a strong girl, Aunt Nadya, you know that," I said. "Yes, she was always feisty." "That hasn't changed." "Eva was always more cautious... What a terrible situation," Nadya said. "We were hoping you could shed some light on the situation. Maybe you've heard of a race of humanoid warrior women. The ones we saw were really muscular and using very old weaponry, swords and stuff. They looked just like human women, just more angular and very aggressive." "Never heard of anything like that, but maybe the university's library has more on the topic. Why don't you head back to your ship while I research some things. As soon as I have news, I'll come find you at the docks." "Sounds good. And thank you, I kno this is coming totally out of the blue and..." I said. "Nonsense, you're family. Of course I'm going to help you, no matter what."

We left the apartment and headed back to our ship where another round of waiting began. Very late in the evening, after eating a quick dinner, we received a signal.


Nadya was standing outside, together with Aven.
"Hi! Did you find anything?" I said. "Unfortunately, no. But I have an idea who might help us further. Having researched the warrior women, I've come to the conclusion they might not be a different race. They could be augmented humans, or something like that," Nadya said. "Augmented humans? That's illegal, right?" "Not everywhere... There were several clandestine research programs dealing with experiments on humans. Information is scarce, but that's where my source comes in. The guy I know is a little peculiar and he always insists on contact through me personally. So Aven and I are coming with you, if that's all right." "That's fantastic!" I said. "I have some savings so I can pay for our ipkeep for some time, but my university salary isn't much, so I'm not sure how long I can manage." "We'll figure something out." "That's the spirit!" she said. "Aven, you're looking a little doubtful." "No, it's fine. I'm just a little overwhelmed by the suddeness of Mom's decision. But I'm stiking with her, no matter what," she said. "In that case, welcome aboard!" I said.


"Hi Camran." "Hi Aunt Nadya, just checking to see if you're okay," I said. "It's an old ship, but not the worst vessel I've travelled on," she said. "Maybe we can improve some things on the Bastard as soon as we have the funds." "That would be nice." "I wanted you to know I'm really glad you and Aven came with us. I really didn't expect that," I said. "What else could I do when you told me the terrible news about Eva? After all these years, my love for you and your sisters hasn't diminished. I can't wait to speak to Lilly some more." "I think she'd be happy to." "When we're together, we should talk some more about the past, relive a couple of those happy moments," Nadya said. "I'd like that." "Good!"

"Are you okay here in these quarters?" I asked. "I'll manage. I've slept under worse conditions," Aven said. "On those expeditions with Aunt Nadya?" "Yup. There's never enough funding from the University, so we mostly had to make ends meet." "Ever been in dangerous situations?" I asked. "Plenty! Mom has successfully contacted several hostile races and profiled them. The initial contact is always a little scary, but so is staying among an alien race you know would eat you for breakfast normally." "My guess is that in those cases your combat skills aren't any good." "Hah, no. Bluffing, lying and sweet-talking are better tools when it comes to that," she said. "I'm glad you came with us." "I'd never leave Mom alone." "I don't remember much about our time together on Tuolovi," I said. "I remember some things. We played a lot together. There was this time where we'd hidden Lilly and Eva's favorite toys. They were absolutely furious, especially when we made them do a scavenger hunt in order to find their toys." "Ha! I remember that. The fury on Lilly's face." "Yeah, that made it all worth it," Aven said. "So we played together much?" "We did, but I was close with Lilly and Eva too, just liked to mess with them from time to time." "Do you know why it went all wrong?" I wondered. "No... Mom never talks about it. I'm pretty sure it's something between her and your Mom and Dad. She obviously still loves you and your sisters. That look on her face, when she saw you first back on Ryùjin Prime, never seen her so happy," she said. "Yeah, I noticed. Glad she doesn't hate me." "Why would she? You were always her favorite nephew. If there's anybody she hate, it's her brother, or should I say uncle Agust..." "It doesn't take a lot of effort to hate him," I said. "Well, Mom was very close to him once, or so she told me." "You don't get to choose your brothers and sisters." "True, but you can also just ignore them, that wasn't the case with Agust and Mom," she said. "Maybe he changed for the worse over time." "Could be."


I called everyone to the cockpit to hear the plan for our next destination.
"So, Nadya has an idea who we should contact to get more information about those warrior women." "I do. It's my strong suspicion that the women aren't alien at all, but rather augmented human beings. Of course I could be wrong and you were ambushed by an undocumented race of humanoid women, but it seems unlikely. Several clandestine laboratories have existed over the years, experimenting on humans," she said. "That illegal, right?" Cèline said. "Experimenting on any sentient life form is illegal. but that hasn't stopped people from doing it, the Sovereignty included. Most of those experiments never leave the lab or are hunted down and destroyed very quickly," Nadya said. "To keep things under wraps," Kit said. "Exactly. If those women are the result of experimentation, it seems they have somehow successfully escaped that fate. Research into these kinds of experimentation programs is virtually non-existent in academic circles," Nadya said.

"Why?" I said. "Because you quickly deal with rumors, hearsay and outright conspiracy theories. And if you hit upon the truth, it could become very dangerous as the parties involved in the experimentation might take an interest in your research," Nadya said. "So you have to be either very daring or mad to research those topics?" "Exactly. And Karan Hreir is both. He's the one we're going to visit. The journey isn't going to be easy, because his home is located inside an asteroid field and the man is notoriously paranoid." "Great..." Thim muttered. "Well, at least we were warned beforehand. I'm sure Mr. Hreir will listen to reason," I said. "I sure hope so," Nadya said.
We set course to the asteroid field, ready to meet Karan Hreir.


As we made the final jump to our location, the ship suddenly shuddered and alaems started to go off...


"What is happening?" I asked. "We were hit by something! Asteroid!" Cèline said. "Damage?" "Minimal, our armour took most of the beating. But there's a whole field of those buggers right in front of us."


Cèline then pulled up the image of the asteroid field and we were shocked by the whirling mass of rocks before us.
"How the fudge are we going to navigate in that?" I said. "Dumb luck?" Kit said.
For some time, we floated just outside the asteroid field, our armour pelted by small debris coming from the field.


"Can we fly through manually?" I asked. "An experienced pilot could... Maybe..." Cèline said. "So we have a chance?" "Cam, you know I'm far from an experienced pilot. I'm still figuring out what half of the damned console does. Maybe if the flight computer assists with some of the more difficult manoeuvers... And I could use your help as a co-pilot too." "Of course," I said.


"Would shooting at those asteroids accomplish anything?" Kit asked. "The smaller ones, probably. If you hit one of the larger rocks the resulting debris might still hit our ship and cause a lot of damage," Cèline said. "That might be worth the risk. Let's do it," I said.
We strapped in and Cèline asked everyone else on the ship to do the same.

As soon as we increased our forward thrust and crossed the treshold of the field, the ship was hit by larger debris, sending shockwaves throughout the hull.


Cèline gripped the steering control firmly, while her brother monitored the field through the ship's combat sensors. The journey appeared to go smoothly, until possible collision alerts suddenly started clogging the flight interface.


A debris field loomed before us. Several large rocks were hurtling towards us. On my command, Cèline tried to bank the ship to avoid most of the heavy debris that was about to hit us. On my command, Kit started shooting at the debris field in front of us. Several large rocks shattered before we reached them and we were showered in a rain of dust and small pebbles.


Once we were through the field a passage between asteroids opened up.


The corridor was small and the asteroids spun ever so slightly. Fotgoing any carfulness, Cèline kicked the engine in hight gear and we punched through the corridor.


A terrible screeching resonated throughout the ship, but we escaped the corridor relatively unscathed.


Escaping the corridor, Cèline screamed as a big boulder hurtled towards us.

Cèline yanked at her flight stick to make a hard bank port side, narrowly avoiding the large asteroid.


The move took everyone by surprise, but nobody got hurt and the ship escaped mostly unharmed. After an excruciating couple of minutes, several risky maneuvers and some lucky shots fired from the ship's cannon, the collision threats slowly cleared from the monitors.


"I think we did it!" Cèline said. "That was too fucking close," Kit said. "Hull integrity 87%" "Nothing we can't fix when we dock at a larger port," I said. "Seems like it, unless we need to exit the same way we came in..." Cèline said.


While I brought the crew up to speed via the internal comms, Cèline brought us close to the asteroid base. Pulsing lights at the entrance of a docking bay indicated we were cleared to enter the base.


After completing the automatic docking procedure and making sure there was a breathable atmosphere, I went out with Nadya and Aven to find Hreir. Or, barring Hreir, any form of life.


As we approached the far end of the docking bay, a set of large doors opened, revealing two security bots. Blocking the way, they pointed their rifles at us and we were subjected to a weapons scan.
"Please follow."

The bots led us through a serie of corridors, deep into the heart of the base. We passed several closed doors, a lot of empty rooms and an occasional patrol of sentry bots, much like our armed escort. The base seemed utterly devoid of sentient life.


"You're sure Karan is still alive, mother?" Aven said. "I haven't received any information that told me otherwise," Nadya said. "Not very reassuring..." I said. "I wish we brought guns. And lots of them," Aven said. "The sentries would have ripped us to shreds already. The fact that Karan allowe an armed ship in the vicinity of his base is proof enough that he didn't deem us a threat," Nadya said. "The base is well-armed then?" I said. "I counted several rail gun turrets on the surface of the base. And there are probably several other defense measures Iwasn't able to spot. So pretty well-defended, I say," Aven said.


At what must have been the heart of the base, the bots stopped us.
"Wait here."
The guards took their positions, flanking a large metal door.
"Will Mr. Hreir see us now?" I asked.
The bots remained mute, frozen in their defensive position. After several minutes, something clicked and the door started sliding sideways.


The room beyond was dimly lit and occupied by two more sentry bots, guarding a solitary man at a computer console.
"Enter," he said.

Large containers containing alien creatures in clear liquid dominated the room It didn't take a genius to realize we had entered the laboratory of Karan Hreir.
"Karan, old friend, how nice of you to see us," Nadya said.


"Nadya, what brings you here?" Karan said. "We were hoping that you could help us with a very difficult problem," she said. "I might." "My sister, Nadya's niece, has been captured by a band of warriors. They appeared out of nowhere, ambushing us on Lanan P-10. We're desperate to get her back. Can you help us?" I said. "Family. I see. Could you describe those warriors to me, as I suspect they weren't regular mercenaries?" Karan said. "They were all women, possibly humans. Very tall, muscular, commanding. I guess you could even call them beautiful, if you're into sharp-featured bodybuilders. The most peculiar thing about them was the clothing they wore and the weapons they carried. Large swords, ancient-looking armour." "Peculiar indeed. What makes you think I have any information about a species like that? My area of expertise is genetic manipulation, you know this, Nadya."


"I do, Karan, but something about Camran's story made me think of those manipulation programs from the early days of the Sovereignty," Nadya said. "You think they're spliced humans?" Karan said. "Possibly." "Intriguing." "Will you help us?" I said. "Possibly. What do you offer in return?" "I-" "Come on, Karan, just say what you want from us," Nadya said. "Always to the point, Nadya. Very well. If you want my help I'd like you to find me a healthy specimen of boverine." "We are to transport some unknown alien creature aboard our ship? We're not equipped for that," I said. "Don't worry, I just need a larva. I'll provide you with a storage container for safe transport," Karan said. "Aunt?"


"I don't see that we have another choice," Nadya said. "Fine, let's do it," I said. "Good, I'll provide you with the likely location of the specimen and a storage canister. Be advised though, hunting boverine is dangerous. I'll provide you all with some basic information about the creature," Karan said. "You drive a hard bargain, Karan," Nadya said. "I'm sorry, but there's not a lot that excites me these days. Examining a boverine would be a very diverting experiment though," he said. "I'm sure... I think we know enough, Camran, let's find that boverine." "Just make sure you have the information about those warrior-women ready when we return, Hreir," I said.


"I will," Karan said.

We returned to the ship where Nadya filled me in on the species Hreir wanted captured.


"Don't think for a moment that hunting the creature Hreir want is in any way easy. He didn't lie when he said it was dangerous," she said. "Have you ever seen one?" I wondered. "Just pictures. But I've read about them, they're a popular research subject and also feature a lot in the folklore of certain alien species." "The info Hreir sent us tells me they're aggressive predators, living only on Sagueliath." "They are indeed ferocius hunters, even more so when it's their mating season," Nadya said. "Great, let's hope they're not in the mood for love when we're about to steal one of their kids..."


"Leaving the asteroid field should be a little easier than entering," Cèline said. "Oh?" "Hreir sent us navigational charts for the field, the ship's autopilot should take us through smootly." "Good, but I'm sure Kit will be sad he doesn't get to shoot any more rocks," I said. "He'll live."
I received a comm signal from Thyia so I left Cèline to steer the ship from the asteroid fiel and headed to the engine room.


"Hey," she said. "You buzzed me?" I said. "Yeah, I thought you wanted to assess the damage." "We avoided most of it." "Luckily we did. We have to get that damage fixed at some point," Thyia said. "Understood." "I'll get Cèline some coordinates for space ports with good workshops." "That would be great," I said. "Thanks."
I asked Cèline to set a course for the station Thyia located for us.

The journey would take several hours, so I retired to my quarters to get some sleep.


"Camran? Are you there Camran?" "Eva? Eva?! I thought you were gone?" "I'm not, Cam. I'm right here. Come with me, I want to show you something," she said.


"Wh-" "Look, over there! Just a little further," she said.


"Eva! Look out!" "Don't try anything stupid," the warrior said.


"Eva! No!" "I'll take my leave now," the warrior said.


"That's when the dreams really took a turn for the worse. Unable to sleep any more, I decided to pester some of my crew mates until we arrived at our destination.