CHAPTER ELEVEN
JAI
Some time later – at a guess, I would have said it was about ten minutes – the door opened again, and that same yellow and black lady came in.
Now that I was able to think clearly, I took the time to wonder what species she was.
I’d never seen anything quite like her before, and I assumed she must be one of the seven species in this huge alliance they had.
The Denzogal Alliance was not the only alliance in the galaxy by any means, but it was one of the most successful.
I’d been given a meagre education on it largely because the Alliance did only a minimal amount of trade with the Eumadians, and so there had been little point in learning all the details of their lives.
“Hi there,” the lady said, smiling at me.
“My name’s Soka. Sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier, but I was told you were in stasis, so you wouldn’t have understood who I was.
I do a lot of the work for employee health and safety here at the Hon base.
Commander Hill told me he had to leave to attend to some urgent business, so he asked me to keep an eye on you until he gets back.
” Keep an eye on me? Like I was a toddler in need of entertainment?
“I’ll start with taking you on a tour of the base. You’ll be spending quite a bit of time here, so it’s as well that you know your way around. And then, depending on the time, we might get some lunch before Aiden gets back.”
None of that defied any direct orders my master had given me. He hadn’t explicitly given me permission to eat lunch, but he hadn’t forbidden it either. And he’d said I could walk around so long as I had someone with me. I stood up, following Soka out the door.
“I’m not sure how much of your orientation Aiden managed to get through before he had to leave,” she chatted, as we walked down a long, wide hallway. “I’m sure he’ll fill you in on the rest later, but did you have any immediate questions you’d like me to answer?”
“What species are you?” I asked, immediately taking advantage of the invitation.
But then I regretted my abrupt words. “I’m sorry, I’m not very familiar with the Alliance,” I clarified, hoping to soften that first impression of me.
As much as I was bristling about being bonded then tossed aside, none of that was Soka’s fault.
And perhaps making a few tentative allies around here would be a good idea in the long run?
Soka beamed at me, not seeming to take any offence.
“I’m a Wasop. And the very tall folk with the fur are Denzogals,” she added, pointing to a couple of soldiers nearby.
“The people with the purple skin are Solofs. And the shorter ones with four legs are Derelians. We’ve also got Culrads and Sedgegeds as part of the Alliance, but we don’t currently have any of those in the military.
I’m sure you’ll meet some around the city, once Aiden takes you home. ”
There was that word again. Home. How much of a home could it be with a master who saw me as a throw-away extra?
“So this wing here is the administration wing,” Soka said, gesturing to the rooms around us.
“Meeting rooms, conference rooms, plenty of consoles for people to work on reports or filling in forms. This is the military,” she added, rolling her eyes in a good-humoured way.
“There’s a multitude of forms. Then over in this direction, we have the armoury, gym and shooting ranges.
I can’t take you in there because you don’t have clearance yet, but I’m sure Aiden will get that sorted out for you fairly quickly.
Let’s go and take a look at the transporter bays, then I’ll show you where the cafeteria is.
That’s always a good one to keep in mind. ”
She prattled on as we wandered in a large circle, occasionally ducking out of the way of someone in a hurry to get somewhere.
She was interrupted now and then by someone shouting, or by an announcement over the loud speaker, but that was nothing out of the ordinary for a military base.
As part of my training, I’d spent several months on a Eumadian military base, and while some of the specifics were different, I could easily grasp the overall order and structure of this place.
But as we went, I was also paying attention to the soldiers around me.
Because I was not just a combat specialist. I’d also been trained as an erotic companion.
With a specific purpose in catering to groups.
I’d spent a great deal of time during my training wondering how those two things could possibly fit together, and I’d only ever been able to come up with one idea that made any sense.
If I was going to be spending a large amount of time on a military base, there were going to be a large number of men – and quite possibly women as well – who would want to relieve their stress by fucking whatever hapless fool was forced to stand still for long enough.
So this was to be my fate. I took note of the private nooks as we wandered, the shadowy corners where someone might be pulled aside for a quick tryst. I was tall and strong, but the Denzogals towered over me, and I felt a wave of ice trickle through me as I thought about being pinned up against a wall by one of them.
But strength alone wasn’t the only thing that could control me.
Even the much smaller Wasops could easily force me to comply, so long as my master had ordered me to obey them.
As much as I might have enjoyed finding minor ways to annoy my master, no dimari could refuse a direct order.
“This here is the barracks,” Soka said, some time later, as we rounded the corner into another section of the base.
“You can ask for clean uniforms, blankets, toothpaste or whatever at the desk.” She indicated a wide desk with a Derelian lady perched on a stood behind it.
I glanced down at my clothes. My master hadn’t yet given me any instructions about my clothing, so I was still wearing the standard grey pants and t-shirt that the dimari wore all through our training.
I had a very sturdy pair of black leather boots on my feet, which had been given to me just before I’d been put into stasis and packed into the crate, and I’d assumed at the time that it was because I was likely to need to do a lot of walking – or possibly running – soon after arriving at my destination.
“You know what? We may as well get you sorted out with a uniform now,” Soka went on.
“That’ll save Aiden time messing about with it later.
Come over here… Sonya? Hi sweety, this is Jai,” she said to the Derelian behind the counter.
“He’s Commander Hill’s new dimari. I was hoping to get him set up with a uniform while the Commander’s busy. ”
Sonya looked up, seeming surprised by the request. “Oh! Oh, he’s got a new one, does he? But Kade’s still around, isn’t he? Nothing’s happened to him, has it?”
“No, no, Kade’s perfectly fine,” Soka replied. Well, that confirmed my earlier theory – my master did indeed already have a dimari. So I was his second. His spare.
“Oh, is this about that crate that fell out of the-” Sonya started saying, but Soka hastily hushed her.
“No, no, we don’t talk about that,” she cut her off, and Sonya’s eyes opened wider.
“Oh, sorry. I’ll keep my mouth shut then. But yes, let’s get a uniform sorted out. Hold still a moment and I’ll take a scan of you.”
She pointed her comm at me and I stood still as it sent a wide beam of light down over my entire body.
I wondered, as I waited for the scan to finish, just how stupid these people believed I was.
There was something about my master’s purchase of me that I wasn’t supposed to know.
A something that was apparently common knowledge around here already.
I felt a prickling sensation down my spine.
“Looks like you’re a size fifty-eight,” Sonya said. “Wait here and I’ll go grab you a kit.”
She climbed down off the stool and hurried off, and I took the opportunity to have a closer look at her.
Derelians were only about a metre tall, with four legs and two arms. Their lower bodies were furry, while their torsos looked much like a human torso, though a fair bit smaller.
Their four legs were long, compared to their overall body size, and Sonya moved with loose, easy steps.
“Don’t underestimate them,” Soka told me, giving me a gentle nudge. “They might be small, but they can run bloody fast when they want to. And Derelians have the best aim of any soldier in the Alliance.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said, embarrassed at having been caught staring.
Sonya came back a minute later, with three sets of shirts and pants, plus a belt and a jumper, and five packets of olive-green socks. “That’ll do you for now. I’ll let Aiden decide what else you might need. There’s a bathroom just around the corner where you can get changed.”
I nodded, then headed off, changing quickly and folding my grey set of clothes, storing them neatly inside the bag the uniform had come in.
My master would need to tell me later what to do with the set – whether to keep it for future use, or throw it away.
I’d been taught that most cultures had their own styles and fashions of clothing, and that the Eumadians’ utilitarian garb was rarely appropriate once we landed on our masters’ planets.
But I couldn’t help notice, as I changed, that the bathrooms would also be a convenient place for a brief bout of sex, and I could easily imagine being pushed down onto the cold tiles on my hands and knees while some solider or other took me from behind.
Or perhaps they’d bend me over one of the benches, take me two at a time, one from each end.
A wave of nausea hit me, and I tied my shoes as quickly as I could, then got out of the bathroom as fast as my legs would take me.
“All set?” Soka asked, with an easy smile, as I rounded the corner back to the desk.
“I’ll show you one of the dorm rooms, just so you know what they’re like, but Aiden will have to get one assigned to you.
” She led me down a short hall, then swiped her comm over an electronic panel by a plain grey door.
The door slid open, revealing an entirely spartan dorm room inside.
It contained a single bed and a dresser, but that was all.
There was a window, half-covered by a blind, and I could see a courtyard outside with a few tufts of green sprouting out of some plant pots.
This, too, seemed a very likely spot for a quick tumble, and I could almost feel the scratchy fabric of the blanket against my face, as my head was pushed into the bed by some powerful man standing behind me.
I nodded, not wanting to spend any more time here, either.
“Well, that’s pretty much it for the tour,” Soka said. She checked her comm. “It’s nearly midday. Let’s head back to the cafeteria for some lunch, then hopefully Aiden shouldn’t be too much longer once we’re done there. Any questions before we eat?”
“Are there any other dimari who work on the base?” While she was offering, I may as well take advantage of the opportunity to get some more information.
Soka scrunched up her nose as she thought about it.
“There are… hmm… three… no, four others who actually work on the base. There are a few more staff here who own dimari, but they tend to be more like domestic servants, who just take care of things at home. I’m sure you’ll meet the others over the next few weeks.
And there’s Kade, of course. He’s Aiden’s other dimari.
I don’t think you got a chance to meet him before they had to leave, though. ”
“Do you happen to know what Kade’s area of training was?”
“He’s a combat specialist,” Soka said cheerfully.
“And my goodness, he’s rightly impressive on a mission.
Or, at least, that’s what Colonel Henderson says.
I don’t go out on active duty myself. I’m more a behind the scenes kinda gal.
” She winked at me and grinned. “But if you need a form filled in or a schedule organised, I’ve got that shit nailed. ”
I smiled politely. “What about the others who work on the base? What are their specialties?”
“One’s a pilot – well, he will be working here.
He’s one of the ones who arrived in the same crate as you.
There’s a mechanic who works on the transporters, and Dax, who’s actually a domestic servant, but his master suffered from some fairly serious injuries, so now Dax works in a support role for injured soldiers, and there’s Til, who’s a medic. ”
It was a large base, but only a handful of dimari.
Still, having a few of them around made me feel a little less apprehensive.
But I noted that none of them were erotic companions.
So presumably the base didn’t currently have anyone filling that role.
That didn’t bode well for the amount of work I was going to have to do.
“How long has Kade been here?” I asked next.
That was a question that really should have waited for my master to return.
It was up to him to decide how much he wanted me to know about his possessions.
“And has he owned any other dimari before Kade?” What I really wanted to know was whether he was the sort to burn through dimari and then throw them away once they’d passed their usefulness.
“Kade’s been here not quite two years. And no, he didn’t have anyone else before Kade.” Hm. That didn’t tell me anything in particular, except that Kade had clearly survived two years as a combat specialist. It wasn’t a terrible situation, but it also didn’t tell me much about what I should expect.
We’d reached the cafeteria, and Soka led me to the end of the counter, handing me a tray.
“All the food is provided free of charge for the staff at the base. And since Aiden owns you now, you’ll be considered staff.
So help yourself to whatever you’d like.
I know it can be nerve-wracking trying to figure out how everything works when you’ve only just arrived, but please don’t worry.
Aiden’s a wonderful master. You’re going to be in very good hands. ”
I nodded, unable to come up with anything to say. My master might have been wonderful to Kade, but I had a feeling that my own experience with him was going to be far different.