Her nickname is "Tanj", and she's certainly living up to it. For her, it seems, "There Ain't No Justice." As a young engineer on a tramp space freighter, this Cheetah-morph found herself the victim of a scam, sold into slavery, and trained as a sex-slave. Sold to pirates, she finds herself as a pawn in a much larger struggle. This story contains bondage, non-consensual sex, and hopefully some humor, adventure and intrigue. Adults only, please!

Tanj's Tale: Explanations
By Kittiara
Stardate 2398.70

"Tanj, I just don't want to hear anymore about this from you!" the lion growled. "I think this is something important, and we're going to do it. Call it... one of my hunches." Tanj sighed; "Master, the Brou can be so... unpredictable. Yes, you might be able to trade with them, perhaps even get some usable technology to help us in our fight, but you might just as easily get eaten... or just disappear, or who knows what. And don't you think the Imperials will be watching?" The lion growled; "We've been through this a dozen times. We're going. End of discussion. One MORE word, and I'll gag you!" Tanj just sighed.

They'd intercepted some messages from Imperial Naval sources. A Brou generation ship had been detected on the fringes of the Empire. This rarely seen, long lived space faring race of aliens were... enigmatic to say the least. No one knew why they went where they did, no one knew why they chose to live on their space-faring cities. In fact, no one knew much about them at all, except that on occasion they'd trade for things they needed, or wanted. On other occasions they took the offer of trade as something akin to an insult and responded in a variety of less-than-pleasant ways. But the technology they paid with when they did trade was usually generations ahead of anything else available in the Empire. The Lion wanted to go try and trade for advanced weapons, sensors, stealth technology, anything that might help the pirates or the rebels in their quest to overthrow the Elysium government. At first Tanj thought they'd be going on her ship, but then the Lion'd said he wanted a larger vessel. And then he'd said he was taking her boss, the old fox that was the director of Intelligence for the pirates. Seems when he'd been with Imperial Intelligence, he'd had some dealings with the Brou. With him going on the trip, that left Tanj in charge of the Intelligence department, and no matter how she pleaded or protested, the Lion was adamant. Tanj was especially pissed when her suggestion that he should take her for sexual amusement during the trip resulted in him agreeing that something like that would be a good idea considering the many days they'd be traveling to get to where the Brou ship was. For a moment Tanj thought she'd hit upon the key, but then he shook his head, still insisting he needed her here, and as a result, Zassa was being included in the mission!

Tanj shook her head as she talked to Mark and Mala over dinner; "Dammit, I just don't feel right about this mission. I think its just TOO risky. If he wants to send a delegation, fine, but to go HIMSELF?" Mark smiled softly; "Tanj, I just think you're afraid that if he gets out of your sight you'll loose him." Mala chuckled around a mouthful of food; "Yeah, maybe Zassa'll steal him away from you. Maybe by the time they get back, he'll only have eyes for her!" Tanj blinked for a moment, a "She'd better NOT!" retort dying on her lips; after a moment she sighed; "That obvious, huh?" As Mark grinned and nodded, Mala just laughed.

Ben and Tanj walked down the corridor towards the Operations Conference room, talking quietly. "Dammit, Tanj, I've pulled together the best furrs we've got for the crew of that ship. Like your freighter, its got all sorts of hidden goodies. I can't speak for the Brou, but if they run up against ANYTHING Imperial, they'll be able to handle themselves. Quit worrying about it, they'll be fine! Now, if you need something to worry about, how about the new pattern of Elysium patrols? Got any thoughts as to why they changed their schedules all of a sudden?"

Ben had gone through the operations summary, Tanj had handled the Intelligence summary. Logistics, Accounting, Maintenance had all given their reports. Normally the meeting would be through, but they had one more thing to handle. The Lion stood up and faced his senior staff. "While I'm away, Ben, as the next largest shareholder, will be in charge of the Brethren. Anything that comes up, he'll handle. Davis will be in charge of accounting while his boss is off with me. Tanj will handle the intelligence office; you've all worked with her before, so I don't expect any problems. Other departments should not be affected. Operations will continue as per our quarterly plan." As he talked, heads around the table nodded; he wasn't telling them anything they didn't already know, or expect. Their command system wasn't exactly centralized, and they all thought they could carry on in the absence of the Brethren's majority stockholder... Looking around, the Lion nodded; "Any questions?" Hans, the Captain, and majority owner of the Overlord nodded; "I'd kinda been hoping for some, ah, "quality time" with Tanj, but now that you've in effect made her an acting department head, I'm not too sure if that's going to be possible. Just what IS her status?" Tanj grinned at Hans and winked; "Why Hans, I didn't know you cared!" When the chuckling had quieted down, the lion nodded; "I guess I HAVE left that a bit ambiguous, and to tell you the truth, I think, by and large, I'll leave it so. Lets just say that when anything happens that involves Intelligence, and that includes the things that SHE thinks should include intelligence, she has the full power and authority of any department head." Looking around, he passed his gaze over each of his senior staff; "I don't think there's anyone here that would dispute her abilities or competency in that area, and she has my full confidence... HOWEVER, I do NOT want her burying herself down there, lost in her field agent reports, and communications intercepts. I know how single-minded she can get, and believe me, I well know how many nights she never makes it to bed until after I've gotten up!" Again there were chuckles and a few completely ignored snide remarks. When things had quieted yet again, the Lion continued; "She's STILL my slave, and needs to be reminded of that from time to time. Therefor, any time she's away from the Intelligence office, and not on demonstrable Brethren business, she's fair game. Ben, I'll let you be in charge of determining when she should call it a day. You'll be able to judge if she's REALLY tied down "at work." Normally I'd adjudicate any conflicts between those requesting her services after hours, but as I won't be there, we need to find someone else..." The Lion's gaze traveled around the room and finally settled on Hans; "And as you brought it up, Hans, I think I'll let you be the "referee" in my absence..." Hans just groaned and sunk down in his seat as the room again erupted in catcalls and jeers, everyone seeming to have something to say.

Tanj made a point of getting out of the intelligence office at a reasonable time. Her master was leaving in six hours, and she wanted to make sure he got a good send-off. By the time he entered his quarters, Tanj had bathed, washed and dried her hair, and brushed it until it shone. He found her kneeling at the foot of his bed, nude, chained to the footboard by her collar, her eyes downcast, but an impish smile on her face. Teasing back, he left her kneeling there while he undressed and showered, seemingly puttering around in the bathroom for ever. But when he emerged from the bathroom, his mane still damp, his cock was hard and standing proud, and Tanj's grin widened. Without words, he pushed her head down, until her chest and head were pressed tightly into her floor pad, her ass high in the air. Holding her like that, he took her from behind, roughly, powerfully, masterfully. As usual, he paced himself, making sure she was on her second or third climax by the time he allowed himself to cum, all the while pretending to merely use her for his own pleasure. As he pulled out, Tanj crawled around, to lick up at his softening cock, "cleaning" him until he was hard again. Most of the rest of the night was spent in his bed, although neither got any significant sleep...

Tanj sighed as she hugged Zassa goodbye. The vixen was simply attired in a short dress, a haver-sack over one shoulder. "Take care, and watch over him." Tanj growled. Zassa smiled and nodded, kissing Tanj softly, hugging her close. "QUIT worrying; we'll be fine! You've seen me shop; you KNOW I can talk the Brou out of anything we'll need!" Tanj chuckled and swatted the vixen on the bottom, sending her through the airlock. She was standing there, watching the vixen sashay down the corridor, wondering if the crew of that ship knew just what they were in for, when the Lion came up behind her, to hug her softly. Purrrring, Tanj leaned back into his arms, her head tilted up to look at him. "Keep an eye on things while we're gone, kitten" he purrred; "We'll be back before you know it!" Tanj nodded and turned within his arms, to rise to tiptoe, to kiss him lovingly; "You take care too, Master, and come back safe!" He nodded, hugged her again, and then he too was through the airlock, and gone.

Tanj padded through the door of the intelligence office, lost in though, thinking it was amazing how badly you could miss someone you'd just seen moments before. Lost in her musings, she came to a sudden stop. Someone had put up a chalk board just inside the door, and on it were a half dozen names and times. Clipped to the top of the board was a printed sheet, and she paused to read it; SIGN-UP BOARD for TANJ. List your name and the times you're available. Depending on the time she's available, she'll take the top name on the list for that time bracket. Signed Ben & Hans. Tanj took a step back and grinned, shaking her head. "Maybe no one will know the board's here" she thought; "Might get a night off yet..."

Lord Xylex and Viscount Worthington were ushered straight in to the Commodore's office. This was the Imperial naval officer charged with liaison to the Elysium government, an elderly Raccoon who had obviously been "promoted" into a dead-end job so someone younger could have a ship command. This particular worthy individual had been dragging his feet, not wanting to get the Imperial government, much less the fleet, involved in what he saw as a purely local affair. Xylex and Worthington had come to his office to try and change that... and the Raccoon knew it. Never the less, these were powerful furrs, for locals, and diplomacy was called for. After greeting them cordially, the Commodore gestured to the easy chairs and couch in the corner of his spacious office; "Why don't we sit over there, Gentlefurrs; its much more comfortable than the chairs by my desk." Worthington sniffed a little disdainfully, and Xylex smiled; "Actually, Commodore, we don't intend to keep you from your work; we just wanted to drop by, and mention that the pirate problem in this sector was getting a little out of hand..." Worthington nodded rapidly; "Yes, you know, insurance rates are becoming frightful, and some necessities are getting in short supply..." The Raccoon looked at Worthington and nodded sagely, thinking to himself that the skunk must be talking of his designer drugs, or his fancy suits, or maybe off-planet vintage wines... Xylex watched the Raccoon's face, evaluating his response, before resuming. "You know, Commodore, the Elysium militia hasn't had the greatest success in dealing with these scum. They seem to operate with impunity..." Again Worthington piped up; "Yes, just LOOK at the raid they pulled off on the sector fuel processing station! HORRIBLE! Just THINK what that's done to imports and exports..." Xylex nodded; "Now I know you don't think this is a situation worthy of intervention by the Imperial fleet, but I wonder if that's because you don't see the horrible impact on the local economy. We thought that if perhaps we could demonstrate to you how the activity of the pirates was causing suffering and loss for the poor people of Elysium, you might understand our point of view a bit better..." Worthington nodded; "As a result, some of our more... concerned citizens have agreed to donate a few shares of local stocks to you; oh, Obviously for you to use as you see fit, perhaps to donate to your favorite charity? But in the meantime, you can watch how they perform, and SEE the impact of the acts of piracy on those corporations..." Xylex nodded; "Why I bet if the pirates were eliminated, those stocks might double, perhaps even triple in value; it could be a windfall for, oh, say, the Imperial Spacer's Retirement Fund?" Smiling, Xylex and Worthington bowed low and left the office, leaving the Raccoon staring dumbfounded after them. After a few minutes, he turned and made his way to his desk. Activating his terminal, and calling up his investment portfolio, his jaw dropped as he beheld the list of stocks he now "owned!" Sitting back, he thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Imperial Spacer's Retirement fund indeed!" he grumbled. Reaching for a message padd, he started composing a situation report for Fleet sector command.

Tanj settled in at her work station, a hot cup of coffee on the desktop next to her. As she brought her terminal on line, and opened up her e-mail in-box, she started to take a sip of the hot coffee. She almost choked when there, at the top of the stack, highlighted in red, was the same announcement taped to the top of the sign-up board, with the addition of the location of the board itself and a summary of Tanj's average work times. Tanj sighed and shook her head, muttering; "No rest for me!"

That wasn't the only thing in her in-box, however. She had quite a number of field reports. Many of her "agents" could hardly be classified as "spies". Most were dock workers, or clerks in shipping offices. Some were security officers, either regular police or more often the "rent-a-cop" variety. Many were barmaids and tavern keepers in spaceport cities, or stations. They reported things out of the usual to Tanj, and she saw that they got regular deposits to numbered accounts, the amounts depending on the worth of their information. But they ALWAYS got a little something. Now she was seeing a LOT of messages from her sources all across the sector. Here a barmaid was talking about how for the last three days the Imperial fleet crewfurrs had been spending money freely, drinking hard. And here a lady of the evening was talking about how her business was suddenly VERY good with Imperial troops. Here a vendor was talking about how hard it was to find fresh meat and vegetables in the port area. And in another place, a shipyard worker was talking about how they were working overtime to get an Imperial corvette repaired. And all across the spectrum, there were comments about fuel shortages as all the Imperial ships seemed to be "tanking up."

Tanj pushed back from her terminal, and rubbed her eyes. Something was definitely up. Opening a new window on her terminal, Tanj composed a summary of her findings to the Brethren's command staff, warning of impending Imperial fleet movements in this sector.

As she hit the key to send the message, Tanj rose from her station chair, stretching. Picking up her coffee mug, she turned and made her way to the Intelligence office's communal pot. It was cold. Looking up, looking around, she realized that the offices were dark. Glancing down at her chrono, she sighed as she realized she'd worked through dinner again. Turning and pacing back to her terminal, she confirmed receipt of her message by the folks that needed to see it most, and then shut it down. Enough for one night. She'd almost made it to the door, when her eye caught the sign-up board. With a sigh she turned to examine it. "Lessee" she muttered to herself; "2030 hours... Nope, Reggie's on duty. I guess that'd mean Eric from engineering'd be at the top of the list..." Grinning to herself, Tanj sashayed out of the Intelligence office, making sure the door was well locked behind her. Usually she did that for security purposes, but in this instance it meant that no one else would be able to add their name to the list until morning...

Tanj had changed into her "living" dress, commanding it to form a strapless minidress, with a few differences; the "Dress" looked like it had been attacked by a swarm of hungry moths; there were holes, large and small, everywhere, her fur poking through. Except over her nipples and crotch. The effect was, she thought, quite erotic. She'd drawn quite a few looks and even a few whistles as she searched for Eric, finally finding him in a poker game in the rec lounge. Tanj approached him from behind, surprising him by wrapping her arms around his neck, nuzzling the jackal softly, murmuring in his ear; "Guess who's at the top of the list for the moment?" Eric turned to kiss her, and then shook his head; "Why does something ALWAYS happen when I've got a good hand? Do me a favor Tanj, and stand behind me for a moment? Maybe you'll bring me luck!" Tanj grinned and nodded and snuggled against him, her paws on his shoulders. The bidding went round the table, most of the other furrs folding, convinced that if Eric would put off his pleasure for a moment, he MUST have a good hand. And he did, his full house easily taking the pot. As the Jackal rose to leave, one of the other players, a Coyote by the name of Ed chuckled; "If you're feeling lucky, Eric, how about a hand, winner gets your time with her?" Eric pleased Tanj immensely by looking up at her, asking "I do feel lucky; but only if you agree..." Tanj grinned back and nodded; "Sure, go for it, if you feel lucky!"

Tanj watched as the cards were dealt. Eric's hand wasn't all that good, a two, a three, a seven, a nine, and a jack. He selected the seven and the nine, and put them face down on the table, taking two new cards. It was a two, and a five. Pair of twos. Ed smiled, and raised an eyebrow; "Well, stud, whatcha got?" Eric shrugged; "Pair of twos; how 'bout you?" Ed chuckled and spread his cards on the table. He too didn't have much; a pair of fours, but it still beat Eric. The Jackal looked cresfallen as he turned his face up to look at Tanj. Tanj looked at him for a moment, and then turned her gaze on Ed. Then slowly she looked at the other two players at the table, a lady Ferret from supply by the name of Joyce, and a young raccoon by the name of Ty, from medical. Smiling, Tanj shook her head; "Tell you what; I haven't had dinner yet tonight, and its been a long day. How 'bout I play a hand with you; if I win, my evening's my own. If I loose to so much as one of you, I'll take you all on." The players looked at each other for a moment and then grinned. Ed shook his head; "The odds of you beating ALL of us are pretty steep..." Joyce nodded and smiled; "And I'd purely LOVE to see how you could handle four at once!" Ty just looked eager, grinning and nodding.

Pulling another chair up, Tanj sat at the table and shuffled the cards. Passing them to her right, she let Ty cut them, and then she delt five cards to each player. Looking at her hand, she hmmmmmed. Two threes, an eight, a jack and an ace. Discarding the eight and the jack, she waited. Ed wanted one, a bad sign. Eric took three, and Tanj made no effort to hide her smile. Ty took two, and Joyce took one. Picking up her cards, Tanj found it hard to hold her poker face; she had a third three and another ace!

Eric threw his cards down on the table; he had nothing. Ty sighed and nodded and put down his cards; a pair of fives. Joyce beamed and put down three tens. That left Ed. The coyote looked at Tanj, smiling softly; "You first." Tanj shrugged and put down her three threes... and after a small dramatic pause, put down her pair of aces. Ed nodded; "That's good; very good. Pity its not quite good enough." Laying down his cards, Tanj beheld a straight; four, five, six, seven, and eight, all in diamonds.

Tanj shrugged; "Ah, well, I can stand to loose some weight anyways. Lets see, Ed had the highest hand, he gets first choice of position. Then Joyce, then Ty, and then Eric. As I suspect the geometry will be a little complex, what say we adjourn to the zero gee gym?"

Tanj felt like she was leading a parade as they moved through the corridor. Word of the poker game had spread, and somehow Tanj felt the gallery for the Zero Gee Gym, normally used for three dimensional handball, would be far from empty. They entered through the transition tube, the gravity falling smoothly from its standard value to zilch, and then Tanj kicked off from the wall to float out into the middle of the chamber. As she did so, she commanded her "dress" to shrink, to form something that resembled a corset, skin-tight, and pushing her breasts up and together. As she twisted, to look back the way she'd come, she saw Ed talking to Joyce, Ed nodding to what the Ferret was saying. Ed had left his clothes in the tube, where the gravity would keep them on the floor, and he pushed off, catching one of Tanj's ankles, sending her spinning softly. Joyce had followed suit and she too leapt, catching Ed around the waist, adding a complex motion to their spin and drift. Eric was not far behind, but had timed his jump poorly and with a howl sailed past, to rebound from the far padded wall of the chamber. And poor Ty was struggling to remove his pants, floating just off the wall of the chamber by the access tunnel.

Tanj purrrrrred and grabbed Joyce, pulling her around the Coyote; "I take it you'd prefer to make use of my tongue?" Joyce just smiled and nodded, and the next thing Tanj knew, the ferret lass had wrapped both legs around Tanj's head. As she licked softly, tentatively, between Joyce's thighs, she felt Ed spread her legs, the head of his cock pressing firmly against her pussy. Then Eric collided with them, and sent them all, giggling, spinning off in another direction. After a bit, Tanj felt the Jackal moving around behind her, her tail pushed to one side, his (fortunately well lubricated) cockhead nuzzling against her anus.

In freefall, with little purchase on anything, sex is strange, and difficult. Tanj concentrated on licking at Joyce, something that could be accomplished in almost any situation, leaving the more complex motions to be worked out between Ed and Eric. And they did work it out, undulating their bodies, their paws holding onto Tanj, working their hard cocks in and out of her pussy and ass. And then Ty finally joined up, looking a little lost. Tanj looked up from between Joyce's thighs and grinned; "Why don't you lay your cock between my breasts, Ty?" The Raccoon's eyes lit up, and he moved to straddle Tanj's body, slipping in between her and Ed, making the Coyote lean back a little. Tanj felt his paws clutch at her breasts, pushing them further together, and then the motion of his hips was adding to the overall undulation, sending them all spinning across the chamber.

There was a general "OOOF!" every time they rebounded from the wall, but all in all, Tanj found it quite pleasurable. There was no way either Ed nor Eric could be too forceful with her, given the lack of purchase, and their lovemaking was slow, and sensual. Ty was the most aggressive of them all, grunting with each thrust of his hips. And Joyce, Joyce was a true delight; she was soooo sensitive, her sensual, flexible ferret body whipping back and forth as Tanj's tongue found the places that she liked to have stroked. The air was filled with a cacaphony of grunts, moans and mewls, as they all slowly drifted from one wall to the other, a mass of slowly writhing bodies.

Ty was young, and with his youth came energy and sensitivity, and he was the first to achieve his release, his cock spurting hard, globules of his white cum filling the air, drifting to impinge on Joyce's back. Panting he squirmed free, and drifted off, spent, for the moment, but eager to continue watching. As Tanj concentrated on Joyce's pleasure, she could hear Ed and Eric talking, and she thought they were coordinating their motions, and possibly their orgasms, but the ferret's thighs pressed hard to Tanj's head did a lot to muffle what they were saying. She in turn was finding it increasingly hard to maintain her concentration as their motions brought her to the edge of her own climax; still, she was determined to give Joyce her release first.

And so she did; as she ran her tongue back and forth over the Ferret's clitty, Joyce screamed in pleasure, her body whipping back and forth, her paws and thighs grasping Tanj's head HARD. Finally she'd had enough though, and she released Tanj, showing considerable skill in maneuvering in zero gee as she twisted around, to give Tanj a long, hard kiss. And then she was gone, leaving Tanj to the gentle ministrations of Ed and Eric. Those two started moving harder, faster, the three of them gyrating ever wilder as they drifted. Tanj tried to concentrate, tried to ripple her vaginal muscles around Ed's cock, but all she could do was clench down with pussy and ass, as they drove her towards her own release. Finally the sensations were too much, and she threw back her head to howl, as her climax blossomed within her. Her writhings must have been what the two males were waiting for, for within an instant she felt both of them cumming. This, of course, only spurred her climax to greater heights, and she yowled as they spun across the chamber.

Somewhere along the way, she'd lost Eric; the Jackal must have slipped out of her ass after he'd orgasmed; but Ed was still tied tightly to her, his knot a significant presence within her. They both panted as they drifted, trying to recover, trying to calm down. Finally he too was able to pull out, and with a kiss, he pushed against her, sending her towards the entry tunnel, and himself towards the far wall. Eric, Ty and Joyce were waiting in the tunnel, watching, and each kissed Tanj when she'd arrived, thanking her for a wild time, and promising to put their names back on the bottom of the list. Tanj hugged them all, and kissed Ed when he made it to the tunnel's entrance, and then commanding her "dress" to form something a little less risque, grinning at how they stared as it flowed over her body, she waved goodbye, heading back to the Lion's quarters for a hot bath, and something to eat.

Tanj Hmmmmmed to herself as she looked over the communications intercepts. The Imperials had ordered three older patrol vessels to the sector adjacent to the Elysium sector. Sitting back and taking a sip of her coffee, she pondered what that might mean. She hadn't heard of any significant pirate activity over there, nothing out of the ordinary. And she didn't know of any insurrections or rebellions there. And then it struck her; these ships were to help keep order as all the regular fleet ships departed from that sector. The fur at the back of her neck rose, and she straightened in her chair. Something told her that the Imperial fleet would be moving from that sector, through the Elysium sector... Grabbing her data PADD, she rose, to head down to Operations, to find Ben...

Ben shook his head; "I don't know, Tanj. There could be any number of reasons for this activity..." Looking up at the Cheetah, he smiled; "I'm not going to suspend operations, and take the whole of the Brethren into "hide" mode on the weight of this evidence. If you think the Imperials are organizing a sweep through the sector, looking for us, well, you might be right, but I'll need the cold hard facts before I change our plans." Tanj just sighed and nodded and headed back to Intelligence.

Tanj understood Ben's point but she still felt she had a valid concern; there was nothing else to do, but to get Ben the hard evidence he wanted. As such, she was again working late, looking through the comm intercepts. Some of the stuff was incredibly mundane. For instance, here was an expense report for an Imperial logistics officer, who'd been dispatched to the Ta'noth system, in an adjacent sector... in fact, the same sector the patrol vessels had been dispatched to. Under the "reason for trip" heading, she found the cryptic explanation; "Set up Supply Dump for Operation Tenchant." What, she wondered, was Operation Tenchant? And why did it need a supply dump? Turning back to her terminal, she reconfigured it to search all recent message traffic for the key word "Tenchant."

Again, it was late when she finally shut down her Terminal and rose, to stretch. Padding over to the sign-up board she examined it critically, wondering what was next... "Hmmmmm" she mused to herself. "A few minutes past the "available" time for Dirk, lessee, about fifteen minutes into the time for Patrick... I guess he's next." No sooner had she finished that thought, than a dark figure stepped out of the shadows, to clamp a strong paw over her muzzle. Tanj caught the reflection in the pane of glass that formed a partition in the office and recognized Patrick; the Ocelot was only a little bigger than she was, and was generally rather shy, timid, perhaps; but he loved to play out rape fantasies. Patrick caught the reflection of Tanj's eyes widening and he leaned closer to whisper in her ear even as he held her tight; "That's right, its just me; been waiting to see if you'd quit work while I was free. You know the drill; all just play acting, I'm NOT going to hurt you, but I'd appreciate it if you'd play along..." Tanj let out a muffled giggle and nodded her head as best possible. One paw carressed his hip and then she started to struggle, as if in earnest. She probably could have gotten away from him if she'd really tried, but that wasn't part of the game...

Patrick growled; "Yes, you get it now, don't you? You've been using that hot body of yours to get what you want, using it to gain position, and favor, teasing the rest of us unmercifully... You shouldn't be surprised that someone would eventually call you on it. I'm only a simple male, and your teasing has had just the effect you wanted, I'm no different than anyone else around here, except that I'm willing to take what I want..." Patrick grinned; "After all, what's your body for, Tanj, if not to give pleasure to males... to ME!"

As he talked, Patrick had pushed a rather large ball gag into Tanj's mouth, buckling it tight behind her neck. Then he'd cuffed her paws behind her back, adding cuffs above her elbows, pulling them together. When he had her suitably bound, Tanj managed to squirm away from him, to huddle against the far wall, like a small wild animal trying to escape the larger predator. Patrick just grinned at her; "You've always been the pragmatic one, Tanj; use that body of yours to get me off three times, and I'll let you go. If not..." Patrick grinned and held up a curious thing; it looked like a rather vicious fighting knife in a sheath, but when he undid the snap holding it in place, and tugged on the handle, it was apparent that the blade had been replaced with a rather large feather. OBVIOUSLY it was meant to be viewed as a threat, and Tanj whimpered and cowered accordingly.

Suddenly the ocelot surged forward, pinning Tanj against the wall, one paw on her upper arm, the other on her hip; "Get me off, Tanj; get me off three ways or you'll never get out of here!" Tanj, pushed face-first into the wall by Patrick's body, rose to tiptoes, the fingers of her bound paws searching, fumbling, trying to get the front of his pants open...

Patrick purrrred; "You really are quite an accomplished little slut; I'm glad you've accepted your situation so quickly." As her fingers fumbled with his belt buckle, and then the button underneath, and finally the zipper, he took her by the shoulders, and turned her, so that by looking to her left, she could see their reflection in the glass partition; "There, now we can both see" he growled... "Proceed!"

Tanj stared at their reflection in the glass; she was hunched over, her shoulders working, her teeth biting down on the ball gag between her jaws, and then releasing, as she panted hard through her nose. Patrick placed his paws on her hips, as if to hold her, to prevent her from fleeing. Tanj for her part, had little difficulty urging his shaft from its sheath with her fingers; one wrapped around its girth, while the other lightly caressed its head, as she tried to maintain her balance... She murmured into her gag, an unintelligible sound; but Patrick seemed to know what she was trying to say; "Yeah, yeah, it's the biggest, most perfect cock you've ever put your paws on. Just do your job, Bitch!"

Tanj moaned into her gag, and her paws began to move along his shaft, her fingers showing a light, deft touch as she stroked him, manipulating him like an experienced masseuse. Leaning forward, Tanj's paws started to move with greater enthusiasm. Patrick purrrrrd and snaked one arm around her waist, the other paw moving under her dress to cup her right breast; "I know the drill; lure me into a false sense of security, and then rip it off. Well, if it goes, ..." He squeezed her breast tightly, letting her feel just a pinprick of claws; "Then this goes too." Tanj grumbled into her gag in mock protest, but her paws started to stroke his hard cock again, their motion gradually speeding up. As Patrick kneaded her right breast, Tanj continued to stroke him with both paws.

Tanj felt his shaft getting harder, felt it grow warm and begin to quiver, heard his breath get ragged; she responded by moving both paws along its length, moving faster and faster. Patrick's other paw left her waist, to squeeze her left breast, crushing both of them in his powerful grip, pulling her to him. As he squeezed her tits, twisting them, she squeezed his cock, twisting her paws along its shaft. Suddenly he released her breasts, his paws going to her hips, his cock spurting all over her back. Patrick chuckled as he stroked his own cock, making sure that every last drop of his jism stained Tanj's dress. "That's number one," he chuckled, rubbing the cum into the fabric of her dress and into her fur underneath; "What do you do for an encore?"

They both knew what was next. They'd become aware of it during her stroking of his cock; as she'd fondled him, so had he fondled her breasts; as she'd stroked his shaft, so had he stroked her tits. Pushing her down to her knees, stepping in front of her, Patrick pulled her dress up over her head, and back down over her arms, leaving her completely nude. Then he tied her legs together, at the ankle and just above the knee, and then, almost as an afterthought, he laid her on the floor and tied her ankles to the backs of her thighs. Moving back around by her head, Patrick declared; "Tit fuck. You know the drill." As he lifted her up to lean against him, balanced on her knees, he looked down at her and muttered; "Those are great tits you have. They hardly sag at all. It would be a great shame not to use them..., so..." Reaching behind her, he released the snap hook that held her wrist cuffs together. Tanj's elbows were still fastened close together behind her back, but now her paws were free to be brought forward, along her sides. No longer were they filled with his cock; they were filled with her own breasts, pressing in from the sides. With her elbows hobbled together, and the rope stilling her legs, she had to make all her movement with her paws, torso and chest. Pushing her breasts together around his shaft, she undulated, stroking him between the soft valley between her breasts.

Patrick watched for a minute, steadying her, and then shook his head; "Come on, you can do better than that!" Tanj grunted into her gag, and pushed and squeezed her breasts together, covering his shaft completely with her pressed- together tits. She rubbed back and forth, back and forth...

Patrick watched for a moment, and then sighed. Reaching down , he produced a small bottle of oil; with a squeeze, he let fall a small stream. Tanj felt the stream of oil land on the upper curve of her left breast like liquid warmth. She let it course through her fingers, grateful for its help, and spread it across the expanse of his cock, through the furrow between her breasts. As she stroked him, she let her head fall back, and began to moan. Tanj knew he'd already cum once, and that she would have to be very careful, tending to him with extravagance to make him cum a second time. She rubbed his cock with her entire front, feeling the ropes at her ankles, knees and elbows stretch with every motion. Placing her cheek against his stomach, she moaned and rubbed against him.

"That's better" Patrick purrred; "Maybe you WILL get out of here..." Tanj concentrated, altering the speed of her manipulations, several fast motions followed by several slow, then a few very slow, a short pause, and then she went back to her quick, jerky motions, dragging her breasts back and forth along his shaft.

Glancing up at him, with smoky, half-closed eyes, she found Patrick grinning down at her; "Come on, Bitch, I'm not going to help you." Turning her head, resting her forehead against his stomach, looking down at the tip of his cock as it appeared and disappeared between her oil covered breasts, Tanj groaned into her gag... It went on that way for minutes; soon Tanj's body was tiring, as she undulated against him, struggling to keep her breasts massaging his cock. Her shoulders ached, and the ropes were digging into her thighs; she was drooling around the gag, and panting hard.

Patrick held her hair at the back of her neck, and panted in time with his motions... "Come on, slut, just a little more..." Tanj pushed herself hard against him, rubbing up and down, just to give her paws a few seconds rest. "That just won't make it, Bitch" he growled, pushing her back with his hips. Sighing, Patrick reached down to release her elbows; a moment later he was holding his feather "knife" at her throat lightly. "Go to work" he growled. Tanj started tit-fucking Patrick in earnest.

Tanj used her now-free arms to push her breasts together, battering his cock with her breasts, enveloping it almost completely. With her head back, the "knife" at her throat, she undulated wildly. As she worked he muttered words of encouragement; "That's it, nice and hard... Really roll that thing... Use those fucking things; what else are they good for? You're not going to have kittens, are you? A nice little slut like you wasting herself on Kittens? What else are they good for?" His speech winding down, Patrick panted hard, watching Tanj move, and then with his paw wrapped in the back of her hair, he pulled her head back, to cum all over her face.

Tanj gasped and bit at her gag, as his cum dripped from her brow, her nose, her cheeks and her chin. She couldn't believe that he'd had that much left in him, after the first time. Squirming, playing the part to the hilt, she growled into her gag as she sought to escape. Patrick just laughed, holding onto her all the harder, his paws shifting to grasp her warm, slippery breasts. "Listen to you try and howl!" he chuckled; "You certainly do have a big mouth! I wonder if I should fill it? Ah, but then you might just try and bite me. Fortunately I brought a way around that..." Pulling her paws around behind her back, he again clipped her wrist cuffs together, and then hobbled her elbows together as well. Stepping back, he fished a silver device out of his discarded pants.

Tanj watched, her eyes wide; it looked like a pair of silver lips. Patrick adjusted the turnkey device at one corner of the lips, slowly screwing it open until he could slide his cock between the gleaming silver lips. As Patrick slowly screwed the lips closed, obviously counting the turns of the key, Tanj mewled into her gag, as if terrified of what was to come. Patrick grinned at her and turned suddenly pouncing her prone, bound form. Sitting astride her chest, his knees on either side of her head, he unbuckled the ball gag, yanking it from her mouth; and then he was going at her mouth like a crazed dentist, pushing the device into her mouth. Each half was a U-shaped channel, sized to fit her teeth. Turning the key carefully, Patrick slowly caused the two halves to spread, opening her mouth wide, and then wider... Finally, having reached his count, he stopped, and rose from her chest.

Tanj shook her head; there was no way she could push the device out of her mouth. Her jaw muscles were as tight as bowstrings, starting to ache already. She could perhaps open her jaws fractionally wider, but it certainly wasn't enough to get the metal horror out of her mouth. And then Patrick was lifting her upwards, to balance her on her knees again. Her vision was filled with a view of Patrick's crotch, and then she saw the head of his cock disappear below her nose. Then she felt its weight on her tongue. Again the Ocelot growled; "You know the drill..." As his paws found her slick breasts once again, to squeeze, to hold her upright by them, he growled; "Suck me off, slut."

Tanj was precariously balanced on her knees, her arms useless behind her back; she squirmed, eyes looking up at him as if to say "how?" Patrick just growled; "Don't act dumb, cocksucker." He punctuated his sentence by shoving his cock harder into her wide-open mouth. Tanj sighed and rocked her head forward, taking as much of his cock as she could until its head struck the back of her throat, and she had to fight the gag reflex. Patrick smiled and started moving his hips, rocking them back and forth, driving his cock in and out of her mouth as his paws mauled her breasts. Looking down, watching her closely, Patrick growled; "You know you can't evade it, can't get rid of it; its best to get the job done as quickly as possible... Use your tongue; use the top of your mouth. Suck me, bitch, drain me dry!"

As Tanj struggled to comply, to use her mouth to bring him off, Patrick continued to urge her on; "That's it... That's nice, isn't it? This is what its all about, right, Bitch This is what your mouth's for. This is what your tits are for. This is what YOU are for, RIGHT?" Tanj just moaned around her living gag. Wrapping her tongue around his cock, folding it like a hot dog bun along his shaft, she pushed it up against the top of her mouth as she moved her head back and forth. Making little noises of pleasure as she slurped his cock in and out of her mouth, she worked with all the skill and passion at her command.

Patrick finally released her breasts and wrapped his fingers in the hair at the back of her head, tugging her hard into his crotch. His cock throbbed, and he came hard, filling her mouth with his cum. Tanj squirmed, as if trying to escape, even as she swallowed around his cock, swallowed hard and fast, her fingers writhing uselessly behind her back. Again she was amazed at the quantity of his cum, the sticky white stuff leaking from the wide-open corners of her mouth uncontrollably, to splatter on her chest.

As Patrick panted hard, he pulled his hips back, to wipe his cock across first Tanj's left cheek and then her right. And then he was turning the thumbscrew, closing the stainless steel lips, pulling them from her mouth. Tanj lay on the floor panting hard, working her jaw muscles as Patrick slowly removed her cuffs and restraints. Finally he lifted her up to kiss her softly; " 'S Allright?" he purred. Tanj put her arms around his neck and kissed him hard; "Are you kidding? I'll be sore for a week! But yes it was great!" Patrick sat back and grinned at her; then clearing his throat he growled in his best rapist's voice; "Slut, I told you if you got me off three times, I'd let you out of this place..." Shrugging and using his regular voice, he grinned; "Now, what say I take you out and we find something for a late dinner? Think it's the least I can do..." Tanj purrrrred and throwing her dress over one shoulder, took his arm and the two padded from the dark office in search of sustanance. As they walked down the darkened corridor, Tanj purrrred; "Now what was that quip about me being wasted raising kittens?..."

The computer had turned up some interesting things on "Operation Tenchant". "Its strange," Tanj mused to herself, "how bureaucracies crank out paper for everything..." She was looking at maintenance reports for the Ha'voth sector. They were working on a lot of ships over there, more than could be accounted for by the normal Imperial presence in that sector. And a LOT of overtime was being charged to Operation Tenchant. It appeared certain that they were working at getting as many ships ready as possible. Still, she didn't have a "due" date by when all the work was to be finished...

As Tanj worked through the files the computer had retrieved for her, she came across a movement order for a military police unit. They were being sent to the Grun sector... the sector directly oposite the Elysium sector from the Ha'voth sector. This suggested to Tanj that whatever was going to happen would start in the Ha'voth sector and wind up in the Grun sector... and that they expected prisoners.

Inteligence work can be like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Tanj had quite a number of the pieces, from her agents, and from Comm intercepts. The difficulty was, if you put them together in different ways, you got different pictures. She had a gut feeling that the evidence all added up to an Imperial sweep through the Elysium sector, but she couldn't prove it... As she shuffled the pieces one more time, looking for a pattern, she got to wondering why? Why an Imperial sweep? Why now? Yes, the Brethren were a presence here, but Piracy was tacitly ignored in most of the Empire, as long as the local power of the pirates didn't rival that of the Empire. And the Brethren had been VERY careful to restrict their activities to below what they considered the threshold level that would trip Imperial intervention. "No," she thought to herself, "if the Imperials are coming after us, there's got to be a reason..." Sitting back in her station chair, she scratched her head and fell back on one of the basic precepts of investigation; "Who would profit from such an act?"

It didn't take Tanj long to narrow down the list of "suspects"... The Shipping companies in Elysium space would profit from the elimination of the pirates, as would the Insurance companies. The Elysium government would profit as well. Searching for connections between those and related industries, she turned up, among others, several familiar names. Worthington. Xylex. The consortium that Xylex headed was suffering due to restricted imports and reduced exports. They'd lost several key contracts for their exports as shipments were deemed "unreliable". And Worthington owned an import/export business. They both had ties to some of the larger Insurance consortiums. And the destruction of the fuel depot had hurt them both, raising the costs of imported raw materials, and delivered goods. Nodding, Tanj thought that revenge, as well as business considerations might be at work here. "Now," she thought, "If these two were to try and instigate Imperial action, how would they go about it?"

It didn't take her more than a few hours to come up with the name of the Imperial Fleet liason on Elysium. The "Commodore" proved to be an interesting fellow, with a rather checkered background... And as she dug into his finances, it became apparent that just before the mysterious activities with the fleet had started, the Commodore had significantly expanded his portfolio. Grabbing a message pad, Tanj composed a message to the nearest Rebel cell, requesting them to perform a small "breaking and entering" job...

Tanj pushed back from her workstation, and sighed. She now had a clue as to who, and what was behind the suggestion of impending Imperial action. All she had to do was to prove it. And that wasn't going to be easy. Nothing else could be accomplished until the rebels did a little sifting in the Commodore's office. Looking at the chrono, she realized that if she moved quickly, she might still make dinner. Shutting down her terminal, she rose and stretched, and turned to padd from the office. Once again, however, the sign-up board caught her eye. As she turned to look at it, she gasped; every slot was filled with names, and a piece of paper had been tacked to the bottom in continuation! Sighing, she looked towards the top, seeking the name that matched the current time.

Tanj found Hiram in the Cafeteria. Pausing to grab a tray she slid into the seat opposite the 'possum, and grinned. Hiram looked up and grinned back; "Don't look TOO happy, Tanj; you haven't heard what I want yet..."

Hinoki was just getting off his shift. He'd finished his turn as "traffic controller" for the asteroid mining "cover" operation for the station, always a tense, nerve wracking operation, and he was looking forward to a nice relaxing evening. The sight of Tanj leaning against the corridor wall just outside the sensor operator's cubicle made him grin, and think "Yeah, I could go for that kind of stress relief..." but then as the cheetah's grin widened, he knew he was in trouble...

As they walked down the corridor, Tanj explained; "It seems the Edinato brothers are having a birthday, and some friends of theirs want us to be the entertainment at the party..." Hinoki blinked; "Don't think I know them..." Tanj nodded; "They own and crew the raider "Astarte's Revenge" and spend a lot of time away from the station. They're twins and apparently work almost as one, and hence make a good team for a raider. They've been pretty successful over the past couple of years." Hinoki nodded; to have even survived for several years in that high-risk profession, they'd have to be very good, or very lucky, or both. "So what is it they want us to do, exactly?" Hinoki rumbled.

The room was set up for a party, but Tanj ignored that. Looking around, she found the hook in the ceiling and nodded. Padding over to it, she dropped her bag of "goodies" and turning, made a come-hither motion to Hinoki. The male Cheetah grinned and moseyed over, and then stood there as Tanj quickly stripped him nude. A short time later, Hinoki was hanging by his bound paws, heavily padded cuffs around his wrists, chained to the hook above. A spreader bar held his legs wide apart, and a blindfold covered his eyes. Tanj padded around the bound male and purrrred. Then with one quick motion she stripped her dress off, and knelt to nuzzle at Hinoki's crotch. It didn't take much to get the bound male hard, and then Tanj rose to lean against him, his hard cock pressing firmly against her belly. Tanj leaned right, bending far over to link the anklet she wore to the one around Hinoki's ankle, and then, showing an amazing sense of balance, she leaned the other way, to couple the matching anklet on her other ankle to the mate on Hinoki's other foot. She'd left enough chain between the anklets that she was able to wrap her arms around Hinoki's neck, and pull herself up his body, until the head of his cock sprang free between her thighs; then, with a soft moan, she lowered herself onto his shaft. She grinned at the expression on Hinoki's face as her pussy enveloped his hard shaft. Then she reached up to take one of the three chains she had draped around her neck...

The first chain connected their collars; now, no matter how hard she stretched upwards, she would not be able to rise off of his shaft. Then Tanj reached for the second chain. Hinoki, being blindfolded, hadn't seen it coming, and jumped as Tanj fastened the nipple clip to his left nipple. Stretching the chain diagonally, she passed it over the chain between their two collars, and then attached the clip on its other end to her own left nipple, ignoring the nipple ring. The clip bit harshly and she bit into the thing she held in her mouth, to stifle a gasp. Taking the other chain, she connected it similarly between their right nipples, the chain passing tightly over the chain connecting their collars. Then Tanj took the double ended dong she held in her mouth, and carefully fed one end to Hinoki's mouth, gagging him with it. Leaning back as far as the chains would permit she took the other end in her own mouth. Then she reached up to pull down her own blindfold over her own eyes. Finally, she reached up, to find the other set of manacles dangling from the ceiling, to snap them around her own wrists. They weren't padded like the ones Hinoki wore, but had the advantage of being able to be snapped closed. Then she settled down to wait for the party guests, moving just enough to maintain Hinoki's interest.

Hiram was the first guest to enter the room, and he grinned at the matched set of bound cheetahs dangling in the middle of the room. Padding silently over, he couldn't resist a caress here or there as he waited...

Tanj heard the shout of "SURPRISE!", and smiled to herself, knowing that the guests of honor had arrived. Most of the guests had been amusing themselves with a touch here and a feel there. Some enterprising guest had tied the end of her tail to the back of her collar, and she suspected the same was true for Hinoki. Squirming just a little, she made sure the chains rattled enticingly...

Louie Edinato looked across the room and smiled; "Gee, for US?" His twin brother Sal finished the sentence for him; "You shouldn't have!" The crowd called encouragement as the wolves padded over to examine the bound Cheetahs. Sal ran his paw over Tanj's ass, his fingers teasing the furrow between her ass cheeks, and grinned; "Someone..." "Knows us too well" Louie completed as he reached down to fondle Hinoki's dangling balls...

Tanj couldn't see a thing, but she could listen. The jeers and catcalls, and ribald suggestions continued unabated, but she heard the soft rustle as clothes were discarded, and then the liquid sound as a bottle of lubricant was squeezed, and then Hinoki was pressed into her, as one of the brothers came up behind him. Then Tanj felt someone press against her back, felt a hard cock press against her puckered asshole, and she moaned as the shaft was driven home, the force of its thrust making her rise a little on Hinoki's hard shaft.

The motion was a complex harmonic; the two wolf brothers seemed instinctively to thrust in counterpoint, making Tanj and Hinoki bounce against each other, the chains between their nipples going taut and then slack. Hinoki's cock slid in and out of Tanj's pussy in a pattern that in no way seemed to match the thrusting of the wolf cock in her ass, and Tanj found that overall it was a delightful combination. She did her best to concentrate, to ripple her vaginal muscles around Hinoki's cock, knowing that he DARE not cum until the wolf behind him was finished with him. Of course such motions caused her anus to clench around the wolf cock in her ass, and she could sense him grunt and tense with each such motion. The room grew quiet as the brothers worked in unison, their uncanny ability to act in concert yielding quite a show for the onlookers. Gradually their motions increased in tempo and force, and Tanj writhed to the limits of her bonds, doing her best to excite the male behind her, knowing that at the same time she had the same effect on Hinoki.

It was almost to be expected, given the close cooperation between the wolf brothers; they contrived to orgasm within a split second of each other, with Hinoki permitting himself his own release an instant later. Tanj found the sensation of the wolfcock in her ass, and the Cheetah cock in her pussy both spurting and throbbing to be irresistible and she wailed through her own intense climax...

Tanj purrrrred as she gradually recovered; true to their nature, both wolves were "tied" in place, the knots in their cocks preventing withdrawal until they calmed down. Tanj giggled and clenched her asshole, teasing the brother behind her until he reached around her body to squeeze her breasts, growling "Stop that!" The crowd chuckled in amusement. When they'd been able to pull out, the Edinato brothers were heartily congradulated by their friends, and as Tanj hung there, pressed against a panting Hinoki, she listened to the debate as to whether the two cheetahs should be left tied together, for repeat performances, or if they should be released for use on a more individual basis. The latter option finally held sway, and they were slowly unfastened, to be pulled off in different directions by the crowd. A while later, Tanj was crouched over an otter, his cock hard in her pussy, as a fox knelt over his head, his cock in Tanj's mouth. From the corner of her eye, she could see that Hinoki had backed a lady Puma up against the wall, with a rather large male bear sandwiching him between the Puma and himself. The bear's thrusts were obviously powering Hinoki's thrusts into the Puma fem, with such force as to shake the wall, and make the chandelier sway.

The party broke up late. Tanj was exhausted, and felt like she was covered in the bodily fluids of all the others. Hinoki didn't look much better, but he had the silliest grin on his face. Leaning on each other, the two made their way back to Hinoki's quarters, to the shower in his miniscule room, where they tenderly washed each other clean, initially with soap and washcloth, but finally with their tongues, grooming each other tenderly. Of course, the only option was to finish in bed, where they made tender love to each other almost until the time they had to get up.

Tanj read the report from the Rebel team. They'd broken into the Commodore's office in the middle of the night, and had searched his computer. They SAID they'd been discrete, but Tanj still wondered if their presence would be noted. To her amazement his appointment book showed the visit by Xylex and Worthington. And his phone log showed a tenfold increase in the calls to his broker. Unfortunately all official communications were encrypted, and she didn't have the code being used. THAT got routed down to Cryptography... To her glee, the Rebels had installed a "back door" to his computer, something that would let them check it remotely in the future; at least until he upgraded his operating system... Sitting back, she sighed; it seemed certain that the Elysium cartels were prompting whatever Imperial action was going to take place. Thinking over things, she wondered how she might turn this to her advantage. If the Imperial sweep was successful, the Brethren would have other things to worry about, but if she was able to convince Ben, if they were able to avoid whatever raid was coming, then what would she have to do to set up an Imperial backlash against the Elysium Government? Grinning, she sat down at her terminal, calling up various pages, to explore some options...

Tanj looked up in amazement as the morning shift filed into the intelligence office. Blinking, she realized she'd been working all night! And what work she'd done too! Most folk either archived their own e-mail, or deleted it, not realizing that copies may be kept on company servers, internet service providers, or even independent archiving services, depending on the Company involved. Tapping into the Elysium network, she'd planted false e-mail messages suggesting that some of the larger Elysium consortiums had formed a conspiracy to pretend there was a pirate threat. She then left suggestive messages that ships had been quietly sold elsewhere in the Empire, and claims turned in to the Insurance companies, claiming destruction by pirates. The insurance companies in turn had used this as an excuse to raise their rates. Other messages suggested that some industries in the consortiums had raised their prices for import goods supposedly scarce due to pirate raids, to absolutely extortionist prices. Her best work had been around the pirate's raid on the sector fuel station. When that was destroyed, those with antimatter fuel in inventory had seen an incredible windfall as fuel prices skyrocketed. E-mail messages had suggested that the conspiracy had been behind the raid, just to reap the windfall profits. And she had added a kickback scheme; if you wanted fuel, a kickback was required to the sales agent of the consortium companies that still had fuel in inventory. Tanj was a little worried that she'd been too lavish with Intelligence funds, in setting up the payoff histories to back up some of the messages she'd planted, but she reasoned that if she failed, the Brethren might not be around to chastise her for her misallocation of funds. As she rose, stiffly, to look around the office as it came to life at the beginning of the day, she realized now all she had to do was to convince Ben that an Imperial sweep was coming.

Ben sighed and shook his head; Tanj was being Trouble again, in the weekly staff meeting. She had an incredible amount of circumstantial evidence, and no one present could deny SOMETHING was up, but to credit it all to the vengeance of Xylex and Worthington, directed specifically against them was stretching things further than he was willing to go along with. Still, the interception of movement orders for reserve and militia units into adjacent sectors screamed that the regular forces in those sectors were going to be sent SOMEWHERE... But before he could speak, Dave Somerset, the Captain of the Fury, rose to his feet. Bracing his paws on the table the Fennec Fox looked directly at Tanj and growled; "What you've got is TOO thin. I've got a major operation planned against the New Bedford convoy. Its been in planning for months, and its due to launch in three days, and I will NOT call it off for something as flimsy as this!" Tanj shook her head, refusing to back down; "In intelligence work, frequently you have to develop a feel for the principles involved. I KNOW I can't show you signed Imperial orders authorizing an assault on the Brethren, but everything I know tells me that's exactly whats about to happen! I'll bet my career on it!" Dave just growled and shook his head; as he sat back down he muttered something about slaves, and then turned to look at Ben; "Well, you're in charge. You going to listen to her, or to reason?"

Ben shook his head; "Dave you have to admit she's on to Something. Just what I'm not sure, but there's simply too much going on for this to be an exercise." Dave growled; "Well, I think you're putting too much credibility in the analytical abilities of someone trained for the bed!" Turning he fixed Tanj with a stare; "Nothing personal, but I just don't think you've got the training, or the experience to make calls like this!"

As she listened to the senior staff debate the issue, Tanj once again wondered just exactly what she was. At times, it was so easy to forget about her status, forget about the academy, and all her training as a sex slave. And at other times, it was impossible to forget, impossible to remember anything else. As her mind drifed, she realized that whatever the academy had done to her, however they'd conditioned her, she really did love the sex, and even the bondage. Turning it over in her mind, she realized she wasn't wild about the humiliation, although at this point she didn't have much pride left, except perhaps with respect to the job she knew she could do. Without pride, it's a little hard to humiliate someone... As she thought that over, she realized that she had pride too in the job she'd been doing in Intelligence. And Dave, perhaps unintentionally, was trying to humiliate her on that point. Bringing her head up, she listened for a moment and then re- entered the fray, arguing her points to the best of her ability.

Ben growled at Tanj, pointing his finger at her; "ENOUGH! The New Bedford Convoy op is still on, but I WILL send a few picket ships towards the sector frontier towards the Ha'voth sector, just in case you're right. If you're wrong, heaven help you, Tanj, because no one will ever listen to you again! And if you ARE right heaven help us all!"

As Tanj headed down to the docking bay to brief the pilots of the picket ships, she again reviewed her thoughts on who and what she was. She'd won a minor victory of sorts, but if she was wrong, she would have lost the war... Just who was she? Did she MIND if she lost her position in the intelligence department and wound up just being her Master's sex slave? Worse things could definitely happen. And if she was wrong maybe she DIDN'T deserve the job. Might be better to clear the way for someone with more talent. Besides, she didn't mind being the Lion's sex slave, did she? Oh, yes, there was the fact that she couldn't choose her sexual partners... that wasn't THAT big a deal... Oh sure she'd Much rather spend her time with her Lion, or with Hinoki, or Zassa, or for that matter, even Byron or Slasher... but in all honesty she enjoyed the sex enough that a new partner wasn't generally a problem... and no sooner had that thought formed in her mind, than an incident floated to mind...

Tanj knelt in the practice room in the Academy, her back straight, her head bowed, her knees spread. The lady skunk was being particularly demanding; nothing she seemed to do seemed to meet with the Skunkette's approval. This fem wasn't an instructor, but some sort of honored guest; someone powerful enough that the academy would give her access to one of their "problem students"... Tanj jerked as the Skunkette thwacked her across the back of her head; "Kneel STRAIGHT, you worthless slave. If you can't behave properly I'll have to discipline you!" Tanj groaned to herself and tried to straighten her back further. One of the disciplines she'd already earned swung from her nipples with the motion, the saw-toothed nipple clips biting her tender flesh harshly. And for another "correction", the skunkette had most gleefully peed all over her; she'd hated that, but had struggled to show no outward sign of her revulsion...

The lady skunk scowled down at Tanj for a moment and then strutted around in front of her; pointedly turning her back, she bent at the waist, and shoved her ass at Tanj; "All right, you worthless excuse for a tongue; lets try it again. Lick me to a climax, and quickly, or you'll be punished!" Tanj lifted her chin, and softly nuzzled the Skunkette's sex, her tongue flicking out with motions calculated to tease, and to arouse. She might have been licking a statue for all the effect she had. The Lady Skunk remained immobile, not even breathing hard, as the Cheetah licked with increasing force, increasing frequency, and increasing desperation. After what seemed like an eternity, the lady Skunk's body gave a barely detectable quiver, and she pulled away from Tanj's tongue. "You call that cunnilingus, you worthless twit? I've gotten more pleasure out of the vibrations while sitting on a park bench as truck traffic went past!" Tanj could almost hear the self satisfied smirk in the lady Skunk's voice; "I'd discipline you properly, if I had more time, but as it is, I'll just have to settle for a punishment..." Bending over a bit further, raising her tail, the lady Skunk sprayed the kneeling slave. As Tanj coughed and hacked, the Skunkette straightened, and gathered her clothes, and as the stench filled the room she gave Tanj a wicked grin and slipped through the door.

Tanj sighed as she remembered. THAT one she could most definitely have done without. Oh, the Academy had ways to remove the stench from her fur, but they were just about as bad as the odor of skunk...

The three picket ship pilots were a pretty motley group. These three furrs were obviously the pilots no one wanted on a serious mission, and Tanj sighed. "All I'm asking is that you guys stay awake and keep your eyes open. Your ships are the best stealth designs we can buy, or steal, and if you stay "quiet" no one should spot you. You've got your assigned positions. Go on out there and just WATCH. I don't expect to hear from you unless you spot something, but if you DO spot something, you HAVE to let us know. Our lives, and more importantly, your paychecks depend on it. And I'm personally posting a "bonus" to the furr that turns in a verifiable contact report." With that, Tanj grinned and rocked her hips back and forth, a quick pelvic thrust; the meaning was not lost on any of the pilots and with a wink, Tanj turned to leave the launch bay.

Back in the intelligence office, Tanj accessed another of the "back doors" that they'd paid dearly to insert in the Elysium financial computer network. Tapping into "Dead" accounts, accounts from furrs that had mysteriously disappeared, accounts that had been forgotten, or perhaps even accounts of those who had died without leaving heirs, Tanj started to transfer more funds. She had her list of suspects, and given the financing, she could plant a false trail, evidence that might point away from the pirates and towards some sort of conspiracy to make it LOOK like the pirates were a bigger threat than they were. Here she fattened the accounts of an insurance executive; there she enlarged the stock portfolio of a shipping company manager. This import/export executive suddenly acquired a summer house, and of course, the Commodore, the Imperial Naval Liason on Elysium suddenly acquired some additional carefully selected stocks... Again, e-mail messages were planted to support the fund transfers, alluding to payoffs and kickbacks...

It wasn't too horribly late in the evening when Tanj pushed back from her workstation. Her web of lies was coming together nicely. Deciding on a break before checking out the daily intercepts, she rose and padded to the sign-up board, to see if anyone had registered for this particular time... She chuckled as she noted that the sign-up sheet was now a clipboard holding a couple dozen pages; it had completely overflowed the original board... "Hans is going to incredible trouble to organize it all" Tanj thought as she realized that there was a page on the clipboard for each hour of the day; finding the appropriate page she looked at the top name on the list... When she saw who it was she chuckled.

Tanj entered the Fury through the main personnel lock, and took the lift to the command deck. Dave Sommerset was on the bridge, overseeing the preparations of his ship for launching, for the New Bedford Convoy operation. The Fennec Fox raised an eyebrow as Tanj entered, and turned to face her; "No, I will NOT let you talk me out of this, Tanj! Ben's given his OK, and that's all there is to it!" Tanj laughed and waved the page from the sign-up sheet; "Does that mean you want me to go find the next name on the list?" Dave was suddenly aware of the eyes of his entire bridge staff on him, and turning, he looked at his Exec. "Oh, Hell, Captain, go ahead; we've got this covered! Three hours until Launch, though; you don't have all night!" Dave chuckled and nodded and turned to take Tanj's paw, to lead her off.

The Captain's Cabin on the Fury was spartan and utilitarian; still, his bed was a decent size... Tanj stopped just inside the door, and turned to kiss the Fennec; "And what would you have of me tonight, Captain Sommerset?" Dave smiled softly and kissed Tanj on the nose; "Nothing too unusual; nothing kinky; just plain ol' vanilla sex will do me quite nicely. As you might have noticed, I DO need to get back to work sometime soon..." Tanj grinned and nodded and turned away from him, as if to survey his cabin; as she walked, she undid the closures to her dress, letting the shimmering metallic fabric slip from her shoulders, and then over the upper curves of her breasts, and then from her hips, as she walked, so that by the time she'd come full circle, to stand again before him, she was nude. Kissing him once again, she purrrrred and slowly fell to her knees before him, nuzzling along his chest, and his stomach as her fingers deftly undid the buttons on his shirt, his belt, and his pants' zipper. By the time she was kneeling on the deck before him, his pants were around his ankles, and her tongue was caressing his sheath...

It hadn't taken but an instant to get him hard, and Tanj used all her skill as she licked nibbled and sucked at his cock. She was surprised when he pushed her head back; she looked up curiously at him, but he just smiled; "Not yet; as I said, I've got to get back to work soon, and as much as I'd like to let you please me for the night, I just don't have time." Gently, he pushed her towards the bed, indicating she should lay on her back. Tanj did as she was bidden, legs splayed, paws behind her head; as she looked at him, she grinned and slowly licked her lips. Dave just chuckled and shook his head; "Vamp ME will you?" and with that, he crawled onto the bed, to cover her with his body.

Tanj moaned as he pumped her; there was no question he knew how to use his cock, and the Cheetah was enjoying him; in return she was using all her skill to make it as pleasurable for him as well, her vaginal muscles clenching around his driving cock, milking his shaft until she felt he was on the very edge, and then relenting, her motions beneath him slowing, allowing him to recover somewhat... She'd taken him to the edge three times when he growled low in his throat, as if tired of her playing with him; his hips started to move faster, his thrusts slamming into her more powerfully, as he seemed to pursue his orgasm aggressively. Tanj yielded with grace to him, her motions continuing, perhaps even matching his, as she started to concentrate on her own pleasure. An instant before he howled, before his cock started throbbing and spurting, Tanj yowled the arrival of her own climax, her cries spurring him onward. The Fennec grunted, his hips held hard against hers, his cock driven deep into her pussy, his cock throbbing; Tanj moaned as she felt his hot cum flood her pussy, each pulse distinct, and pleasurable, strumming her lust-heightened nervous system deliciously. Finally he subsided, to hold himself above her, just panting. Tanj purrrred and put her arms around his neck, to kiss him softly. As they broke the kiss, he grinned down at her; "You are SO wasted in the Intelligence office!" Tanj made a moue and then grinned; "Kitten, I may be good here, but I'm good there too, and you'd better hope and pray I'm wrong, because if I'm not, its YOUR ass hanging out there in the breeze; and its such a NICE ass too, I'd hate to see it shot off!" Dave just laughed and nodded, and rose, his softening cock pulling from her wetness with an audible slurp. Chuckling he turned to padd into his tiny bathroom. Tanj heard the sound of running water, as she laid on his rumpled bed; as she listened to him clean himself, she wondered if he was right. Should she concentrate on what she knew best? WAS she wrong?

Dave had been polite, but firm, in shooing her from the Fury, insisting she had to git, or she'd distract his crew. Tanj awwwwed, and strutted and flounced all the way to the airlock, winking at every fur she saw as Dave escorted her out. As the airlock closed behind her, she sighed and padded off to the Lion's quarters, to try and catch some sleep.

Tanj was awakened by the comm chiming. Dragging herself across the Lion's bed, she stabbed at the button, and then tried again, blinking, trying to get the sleep from her eyes. "Yes, yes, dammit, I'm awake; what is it?" she growled. "This is Fletcher, down in Intel; thought you'd like to know that the Imperial fleet just changed their codes. ALL their codes. And there's a LOT of message traffic!" Tanj was suddenly, painfully, fully awake... "Got it. Get the new message traffic down to Cryptography; wake'm ALL up if you have to. I'll be down in a minute." Breaking the connection and heading for the door, Tanj barely remembered to scoop up her dress as she ran.

The Intelligence office was humming. Tanj had awakened all the staff, and the place was only mildly ordered chaos as they tried to figure out what was happening. Crypto was fully manned, their technicians feeding the intelligence intercepts into the most powerful computers the Brethren owned. And Tanj was once again trying the back door into the Commodore's computer, trying to find out if HE knew the new code, all stealth abandoned as she tried desperately to confirm her worst fears.

Ben came through the door, in response to Tanj's rather peremptory summons, and stopped, to stare at all the activity. He was about to head for Tanj's workstation when one of the techs in Cryto yelled "GOT IT!... well, part of it anyways!" and a bunch of furrs crowded around to look at what he'd found. Tanj looked up as the Wolf approached, a pencil in her mouth, and another behind one ear. As she turned to look at him she took the pencil from between her teeth, to try and park it behind her ear, only to find that spot occupied. As the second pencil clattered to the floor, Tanj growled; "Ben, something's happening; something bigger'n I've ever seen before. I don't have all the info yet, but I think you'd best alert the New Bedford Operation Group." Ben nodded, looking over the list of message intercepts; "I agree something's happening, but this doesn't really tell us what. I'll warn them to keep an eye out, but I'm still not going to call off the operation until you figure out what all this means... But in the meantime I WILL shut down all other activities and take the base to "hide" mode..." Tanj just nodded and turned back to her work.

Haverty had thought that this mission would be boring. Now the chipmunk was finding it anything BUT boring. His ship was cloaked, and drifting, everything that could be powered down was powered down. He watched through a visual port, afraid to run even passive sensors, as the largest imperial fleet he'd ever seen streamed past... Okay, so he couldn't see more than an occasional pinpoint of moving light against the backdrop of stars; the fleet was well dispersed; but the number of moving points of light that he COULD see, frightened him. He watched and he waited, sure that his personal survival depended on waiting until the fleet was past him before transmitting a warning. And then he'd go as fast as his small ship would take him in the OTHER direction.

Tanj sighed and shook her head; "Dammit, Mycroft, this simply IS NOT good enough; if you've broken the code to show about one word in three, why can't you get the rest? I'd think by context alone you should be able to make some progress!" Mycroft, a rather thin Raccoon just shrugged; "So you'd think, but our computers aren't finding it works that way. This is a new system, and we're having trouble, Tanj." The Raccoon grinned at his little joke and pushed his old-fashioned glasses back up on his nose. "Believe me, we're working as hard and as fast as we can! We KNOW what this means!" Tanj just nodded; "Uh huh", and turned away. Padding down to communications, she looked into the "radio shack" enquiringly; the Bat on duty just looked up at her and shook her head. No word from any of the picket ships. As Tanj walked back to Intelligence, she wished she'd set up a check-in schedule for them; then at least she'd have a clue if they'd been destroyed by the Imperials, or simply hadn't seen anything yet.

The bustle of the intelligence office had quieted significantly; there were still communications intercepts coming in, but traffic had died down some. Crypto still hadn't gotten any further on breaking the code. And Tanj was at a loss as to what else she could do to solve the problem. Rising, she thought she'd head down to the Caffeteria and get a bite to eat.

Tanj was just finishing her dinner when Emmet sat down across from her, a wide grin on his face. Tanj looked up at the Ferret from Supply and sighed; "Let me guess; your name is on the sign-up sheet for this time slot..." Emmet grinned and nodded happily, his whole body undulating; " 'Cept I didn't sign up for me; I'd appreciate it if you'd take some time with my son; he's just turned 17, and is starting to get involved with girls... And I think it'd help a great deal if you, ah, well, um..." Tanj grinned and finished his sentence for him; "Showed him the ropes, so to speak?" Emmet's grin disappeared; "Oh, NO! Don't want you to get him into Bondage! Not yet anyways..." Tanj chuckled; "Figure of speech, Emmet; you want me to show him the basics of sex..." Emmet's grin blossomed again, and he nodded energetically; "Exactly!" Tanj smiled and sipped her coffee; "Things may get REAL busy here soon; but tell you what; send him by my quarters, and I'll do what I can, until I'm called. I'll be there in about twenty minutes."

Tanj checked in at the Intelligence office; the night crew was working smoothly and some of the evening shift were still there. Crypto was looking a little dragged out, but Tanj knew that once you presented those folks with a new puzzle, they'd work either until they dropped, or until they solved it. Deciding that she wasn't really needed for the moment, she turned and headed for her quarters.

Tanj was wearing her slinky, metallic fabric dress when Emmet's son, Emmet Junior, knocked on the door. The lad grinned up at her, anticipation written all over his face. Tanj smiled and took his paw and led him to the bed; she sat on its edge and looked at him; "Tell me, Emmet Junior, just how much do you know at this point?" Emmet Junior made a face; "Please don't call me Emmet Junior, or worse, just Junior; hate that. Call me Butch!" Tanj smiled; "OK, Butch, tell me how far you've gotten with girls." The young ferret grinned; "Oh, a LOT further than Dad thinks; me and Emmy Lou, we've been sneaking out behind the filter housings for a while now..." Butch smirked and then grinned; "We've, ah, gone all the way..." Tanj nodded, and reached out to lightly touch his cheek with the padds of the fingers of her left paw; "And when you sneak off with your girlfriend, what do you do? How do you start? You DO take "precautions" against getting her pregnant, don't you? Why don't you show me what you've been doing? Maybe I can make some suggestions that'll help..."

Butch grinned and leaned his head forward to kiss Tanj; the cheetah fem purrrred and kissed him back softly, her lips parting at the insistence of his tongue. They kissed for a moment, their tongues dancing, caressing, and then Tanj purrred as she felt Butch's paw cup a breast through her dress... The Ferret rubbed gently, and then squeezed as he softly pushed Tanj back on the bed. Tanj, for her part, let him direct the action; no sooner was she reclining on the bed than his nose was nuzzling in the Vee of bare fur between her breasts. She felt him nuzzle aside the material of her dress, to lick softly at her breast, and in response she stroked him gently with one paw, her fingertips running up and down his side. The youth licked and nibbled softly for a while, and Tanj was enjoying it thoroughly, but with the impatience of youth, he was soon working his way down to her tummy. Rather brazenly he lifted the hem of her dress, to nuzzle at her navel, and Tanj giggled, as if ticklish there... As she wriggled under his tongue, Butch's paw found her mons, to cup her sex posessively...

Tanj smiled and rocked her hips up to meet his touch; so far there was nothing wrong with the lad's technique; it was just a bit hurried... As Butch's fingers, stroked her, she moaned, getting wet just as he'd intended, just as he desired; smiling she gently pushed his head from her navel towards her crotch. Butch hesitated for a moment, and then squirmed around to crouch between her thighs; his first licks were tentative, and Tanj got the impression he'd never attempted this before; softly she coached him, telling him what was right, and what was wrong, all the while caressing his head. As he licked, she instructed him, telling him how to listen to her breathing, how to gauge the tension of her muscles, how to listen to the noises she made. Under her tutelage, he licked her patiently, until she announced the arrival of her climax with a heartfelt moan.

When she'd recovered, she found him staring at her, a grin on his face; Tanj grinned back; "A gentlefurr always sees to a lady's pleasure first; now that you've accomplished that, its time to see to YOUR pleasure." Taking a moment, Tanj shed her dress, and then turned to help Butch remove his clothes. Reclining once again on the bed, motioning to him, she reached down to pull him up on top of her body. The youth needed little urging, however, and within an instant, his cock was buried in Tanj's pussy. Tanj giggled; "Slowly! Slow down; you're not in a race!" As the youth's frenzied motions slowed, Tanj purrrred; she was tempted to show him some of the tricks she'd learned, the things she could do with her vaginal muscles, but she concluded that the youth was too sensitive, and she didn't want him cumming quite yet. After a while, she wrapped her arms around him, and rolled, winding up on top of him; his eyes went wide in surprise, and then in delight as Tanj sat up astride his hips; "There are many different positions you can try, and that adds spice..." Tanj rode his cock for a few minutes, moving slowly, being careful not to bring him too close to the edge... She chuckled as she watched him watch her breasts move with each motion, and then she reached down to take his paws, to place them over her breasts. Purrrring, she pumped him for a while longer, and then, moving carefully, she turned to face away from him, making sure to hold his cock within her as she turned. She smiled as he almost lost it at that point, but after a moment's stillness to let him recover, she was again rising and falling on his shaft. Butch needed little encouragement, and his hands found her breasts again in short order. Tanj removed one and directed it towards her crotch, to show him how he could rub at her clitty as she rode him. Again, she thought about fondling his balls, but decided that'd send him over the edge too.

After a while, Tanj leaned WAY forward, letting his cock slip from within her, to crouch on paws and knees. Butch followed, taking her from behind as if he had been doing it all his life. Tanj rocked back and forth softly, meeting his thrusts; grinning to herself, she allowed herself to concentrate on the sensations, letting her own climax build. As she was near, she reached down between her thighs and caressed his swaying sack; as she thought, within an instant he was grunting, his cock spurting as he came within her. She yowled in concert, letting her climax take her, savoring his wild, energetic thrustings.

They lay in a tangle of bedclothes and limbs, both panting hard. Tanj was drowsy and pleased, and was wondering how long it would take the youth to be ready for the next lesson when the Comm chimed. Swatting at it with a paw, Tanj Growled; "Yes?" "Tanj, this is Clancy down in Communications. Think you'd better get down here. NOW!" Tanj yelped, turned and kissed Butch quickly, and dashed for the door, again just remembering to grab her dress as she dashed out.

Butch watched her go and grinned, admiring her form as she ran. Laying back on the bed for a moment he grinned; "Emmy Lou sure is going to be surprised, next time we're alone!"

Tanj was still adjusting her dress as she trotted into the communications center. Ben was already there and he didn't look happy. Wordlessly, Clancy handed Tanj a stack of message flimsies. The one on top was from Haverty and was an alert to the passing of the Imperial Fleet. The second was also from Haverty. When they'd passed him, and he'd felt it was safe, he'd run a passive sensor sweep and had appended the results to his report. The Third was from one of the other picket ships, on Haverty's flank; he'd confirmed the spot report, and added some additional data. Looking up at Ben, Tanj shook her head; "They're coming straight for the Elysium system, aren't they?" Ben just nodded; "I've already contacted Dave and his group. They're moving out of harm's way as fast as possible, but it'll be close, whether they can get to a jump point before they're spotted. I'm afraid those folks are going to have a long cruise to nowhere, to escape this sweep..." Tanj nodded; "Just so long as they survive." Looking up, Tanj shook her head; "Ben, unless you need me for something, I've got work to do down in Intelligence; I might yet be able to turn some of this to our advantage..."

Tanj followed the message intercepts; the Imperial fleet was searching everwhere as it closed in on the Elysium system from three sides. And you could bet there was a blockade towards the "open" side, waiting to see who was fleeing. As they closed, Tanj read reports of merchant shipping stopped, and boarded, of asteroid bases searched, of the Imperials prying into every nook and cranny. When the Pirate base had been built, this had been planned for, and now the "pirate" side of the base was closed off from the mining side. The miners were going full tilt, their rock crushing equipment making the base vibrate a bit worse than usual, the heat of their furnaces distorting energy signatures. The Imperials did send a party to examine them, but with all the rock dust in the air, and all the vibration, and heat, they never found a trace of the carefully shielded pockets in the asteroid that housed the Pirate side of the operations. And after checking so many other dead ends, the landing party was starting to get a little tired and frustrated. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they finally left, and the cruiser that brought them departed.

Tanj smiled to herself; in the three days that the Imperials had been searching, gradually tightening the noose, they'd found nothing but a few smugglers. Dave and his group had indeed managed to make good their escape. Now, as the Imperial ships were drawing nigh to the Elysium system, some difficult questions were being asked, increasingly hostile messages flying back and forth between the Elysium government and the commander of the Imperial fleet. Cryptography had finally cracked the latest Imperial code, and Tanj was having a lot of fun reading the transcripts. It seemed that someone from the Imperial Inspector General's office had found an odd note in the Fleet Liason's computer. The Commodore was now having a very difficult time explaining how he'd so recently come into so much money. The Elysium government, eager to find a scapegoat to deflect Imperial Wrath, had been delighted to "assist" in the investigation, and Tanj's trail of money, "bribes", "payoffs", e-mail messages and such was all starting to float to the surface before their prying eyes. Unfortunately, to avoid detection, Tanj had been forced to "delete" several of her more useful "back doors" into some of the computer systems... and that would hurt in the long run... It seemed that Imperial Intelligence had been assigned to "assist" in the investigation, and suddenly Tanj was QUITE concerned that her machinations might be detected...

Lord Xylex did his best to hold his temper while the Imperial authorities left. It had taken quite a bit of fast talking and even more in bribes, to convince them that HE had not been a part of this "conspiracy." Luckily, none of these e-mail messages had mentioned him directly, although there were a lot of veiled references. He'd lost a half dozen senior managers to the investigation so far, and Imperial Auditors were poking into every facet of the Cartel's business. There were sure to be further fines and penalties assessed against his businesses. Worthington had even been arrested, although the Wolverine had no doubt that they'd release him soon enough. Sitting down at his computer, he drummed his fingers, wondering how this had been brought about; had one of his competitors set him up? That was probably the more likely source... but somehow he couldn't get it out of his mind that the Pirates had somehow found out about his attempt to destroy them, and had struck back...

It took a week for the Imperials to conclude their investigations, following up on the Elysium investigation, and to give their approval. Everyone in the system seemed to sigh in relief when they finally departed. Ben had the picket ships follow them until they'd departed the sector, just to be sure they were finally gone. That night, there was a bit of a celebration in the Cafeteria...

The dinner that night was unusually good, as the Brethren celebrated their continued existence. Tanj had been sipping a frozen concoction the guys in Supply had come up with; it was cold and fruity sweet and VERY alcoholic, and she was feeling rather happy. She'd been right. She'd spotted the trend, and had managed to so order events that the Brethren hadn't been caught. Even more, she'd diverted attention from the real pirates, to her fictional "conspiracy" on Elysium, throwing the powers there into confusion. All in all, she was rather pleased with herself, and was out to celebrate. Her metallic fabric dress shimmered as she swayed to the music being piped in over the speakers, as she watched Wanda dance with some male Fox she'd found somewhere. She was just about to go get a refill on her drink, when someone grabbed her from behind...

Ben lifted the Cheetah Fem, his arms around her waist, and called out in a loud voice; "EVERYONE! LISTEN UP! Just want you to know that it was Tanj here who saved your butts! Even when nobody believed her, she persevered, and kept after it until we HAD to believe her. I think we ought to do something Nice for her; something Special!" Tanj grinned and squirmed in his grip, wondering what he had in mind... Hinoki was the first to respond, dashing across the floor, falling to his knees to slide right up against Tanj, as Ben held her. With a cry of "I AGREE!" he shoved his muzzle under the hem of her dress, to plant a loud, wet kiss directly on her sex. That started the trend, and the next thing Tanj knew, she was being pressed to the floor, a dozen or more tongues licking at her. Somewhere along the line her dress vanished, and she moaned and writhed as the tongues stroked over her pussy, over her breasts, her stomach, her ears, and seemingly all over her body. Furrs pressed down at her arms and legs, holding her immobile, forcing her to just absorb their delightful attentions. On and on it went, seemingly unending... after her first climax, someone replaced Hinoki between her thighs; the tongue was smoother and longer, more sinuous, and then that was replaced with another feline tongue, rough and broad, and strong... on and on, until time lost meaning, until she'd lost count of the number of climaxes she'd suffered through...

Tanj awoke in a tangle of limbs, in the middle of the Cafeteria. It seemed that Ben's idea of a reward for her had turned into a general orgy of sorts, and she grinned as she looked around at her exhausted, sleeping friends. Rising, she looked about for her dress, and finally gave up on it; in just her fur, she padded off in search of a water closet, plotting her revenge on the sleeping furrs... just how should she awaken them?

It was two days later when the Fury and the other ships in the aborted New Bedford operation managed to return. Tanj was surprised when Dave walked into the Intelligence office, and bowed low before her; "Tanj, you were right, and I was wrong; I won't be so quick to doubt you again. If you would like, by way of an apology, I'd be honored if you would join me for dinner on my ship." Tanj smiled and returned his bow with a curtsy, and nodded; "I'd be delighted, Captain Sommerset." Dave grinned again and nodded; "I'll be by your quarters to pick you up at eight." And with that he was gone. Turning back to her workstation, Tanj listened for a while to the buzz of conversation in his absence.

Tanj was lost in her work, trying to tie down all the details as to what Imperial ships had gone where, after the operation, when one of the clerks nudged her; looking up into the smiling eyes of the squirrel, she raised an eyebrow in a silent question. "Its getting late, Tanj; you'd best go get ready for your date; this stuff'll wait." Tanj's eyes flashed to the chrono and she sighed. Nodding, she hugged her friend, and headed for her quarters.

By the time Dave called for her, she was bathed, her hair washed and dried and styled. She was dressed in a simple shift in a dark gold that complimented her fur. Dave smiled and offered his arm, and together they strolled towards the Heavy Craft Docking Bay. Dinner on his ship was elegant; the two of them seated in his cabin. Dinner was brought on a cart, from the ship's mess, and Dave served her himself. Beef Wellington, with all the trimmings. Tanj purrrrred as she ate, wondering where Dave had found such a first-rate cook for his ship. The conversation was light, at first, but gradually turned to the trick Tanj had played on the Elysium government, and on the Imperials. As she told the tale, Tanj watched Dave's body language; he seemed to be trying to act nonchalant, but she wondered if her boldness in the affair had frightened him, or if he was worried that her actions might be uncovered, and somehow be used against them. As they left the table, for the couch, and some excellent brandy, Tanj decided to worry about that later, and simply enjoy the evening. As the level in the bottle dropped, and their talk turned to other things, Tanj found herself sitting closer and closer to him, until as he refilled her glass with the remainder of the bottle, she somehow found herself in his lap.

The evening went predictably from there, as they kissed, and caressed, each gradually shedding clothes, until the only option was to move to his bed. Tanj proceeded to show him exactly what she could do, given the time, demonstrating what skill she possessed, at first with her tongue, and then later with her body... until night had turned to day, until they were both exhausted, and the Fennec was truly drained.

Dave saw her to the airlock, after a late brunch. As he kissed her goodbye, he smiled; "You truly are a furr of many talents... And while I've come to appreciate your abilities in the Intelligence office, I STILL think your true talent is between the sheets!" Tanj just chuckled and kissed him goodbye; "Perhaps you're right." And with that, she turned to walk slowly towards the Intelligence office, her ass swaying enticingly.

It was three days after that, when her Master finally returned. The group looked worn, and tired from their journey, and Tanj was about to drag her Master off to bed (for some rest) when he shook his head no; "I've got some stuff to talk to Ben about; urgent stuff that can't wait. Besides, you'd best go release Zassa; she proved to be a bit much on the trip and we finally had to tie her up to keep her from pestering everyone. I'll see you later" Tanj laughed and nodded and turned to go find the wayward vixen. Zassa was finally located in a storage closet; she'd been laid down on a pallet, on her back, her arms lashed to her sides, her ankles tied to the storage racks on either side of her, above her head. This had the interesting effect of holding her ass off the pallet, presenting her spread sex to whomever opened the door. Additionally, the vixen was blindfolded, with soft plugs in her ears, and a ring gag held her mouth wide open. Tanj paused for a moment, wondering if Zassa even knew she was there, considering the earplugs and the blindfold. It was obvious she'd been tied in a way that left her available for the use of whomever on the crew so decided to take advantage of her, and Tanj wondered just how many had come by to relieve Zassa's boredom? Somehow she doubted it was as many as the Vixen might have liked...

Closing the door softly behind her, Tanj crouched, to move between Zassa and the supply rack, to softly drag her rough tongue over the bound vixen's left nipple. Zassa responded with a throaty moan through the ring gag, squirming a little in her bonds. Not being due back at work for a while, Tanj spent several hours licking and nibbling at the helpless vixen. She used tongue and fingers to drive her to a climax; then after a short rest, she'd start again, french kissing her through her ring gag, suckling at a nipple, stroking her mons, slipping her fingers in and out of her pussy, licking at her clitty, until she'd driven the helpless vixen to yet another climax... A short rest and then she'd start again. Finally, though, Tanj had to relent, to release Zassa, shooing her towards her quarters (and a much needed shower), as she returned to the Intelligence office.

It was much later that night, when Tanj finally caught up to her lion, in his quarters. He was lying in bed, reading some printouts when she came in, although it was more than apparent that he was having trouble focusing. Taking the papers from his hand, Tanj smiled and turned out the light, to snuggle against him. Just cuddling, she was pleased when his breathing took on the regular pattern of someone sound asleep...

Tanj had disabled the alarm clock, blocked the intercom, and done everything she could think of to make sure he got as much sleep as he needed. Consequently, it was late in the morning when he finally aroused. Tanj grinned and ducked when he rolled over to look at the chrono; as she suspected he growled in frustration and took a good natured swipe at her for letting him sleep so long. Tanj yelped and scrambled, trying to escape, but it was no good, he was on her with a single pounce, the two of them sliding off the bed and onto the floor. There he showed his "displeasure" by pinning the Cheetah to the floor, his fangs gripping the back of her neck, as his paws raised her hips, his cock pressing against her sex. Moments later he was panting, his hot breath ruffling the fur on the back of her neck as he took her hard, fucking her roughly, ruthlessly. It was a wild, passionate mating, of the sort that Tanj had come to love so well, as the large Lion used her for his pleasure. Tanj did her best to work back against his thrusts, to meet him as energetically as he drove his cock into her. Shortly, much sooner than Tanj would have preferred, she felt him tense, his body stiffening as he shoved his cock hard into her, releasing her neck to roar in pleasure as his orgasm claimed him. For her part, Tanj bucked and mewled beneath him, the sensation of his throbbing, spurting cock driving her over the brink into the arms of her own bright climax.

It was a while before they both calmed down, panting hard, laying on the floor, wrapped in each other. Eventually, Tanj leaned over to kiss her Master; "How did your mission go? Obtain anything useful?" The Lion grinned at her and nodded; "Maybe. Your boss really was instrumental in the negotiations... We got a number of different things, but most of them are VERY strange; not sure if they'll be of any use yet." And nothing she could do would make him say more...

After a while, the Lion reached out to brush the hair from Tanj's face; "I hear you had an interesting time while I was gone..." Tanj just chuckled and nodded, one paw toying with a lock of his mane; "The hardest part was convincing the command staff that something was going to happen." The Lion chuckled; "Ah, I'm surprised; usually you're very good at convincing folks..." Tanj chuckled and shrugged; "And most of them don't even know the whole story..." With that, she proceeded to tell her Master of all her machinations, all her schemes and plots on Elysium, and how it had caught the attention of the Imperials, and all the havoc that had resulted. The Lion listened quietly, nodding occasionally, grinning when he heard of how Worthington and Xylex had been raked over the coals by the investigators. When Tanj had concluded her story, he raised an eyebrow; "And you funded this how? Dead accounts?" Tanj squirmed a little; "Mmmmmm, well, mostly... a lot of the funds came from Dead accounts, but I didn't want to draw on that too heavily for fear of establishing a pattern. I also tapped into some of the Intelligence "black" accounts; the ones I use to pay for information, to pay field agents..." The Lion's other eyebrow went up, and he Hmmmmmed; "Just How Much did you use?" Tanj squirmed again, not meeting his gaze; "You understand, I had to make it look convincing, and things like that aren't cheap; it takes money to set up a fake "conspiracy"..." The Lion reached out to cup Tanj's sex, his palm rubbing softly at her mons, but his claws sharp between her legs; "HOW Much?" Tanj gasped and glanced at him, eyes wide as she felt his claws; "Um, about two hundred and thirty-five thousand credits... From the black accounts..." The Lion's eyes widened further, but he relaxed his grip. After a moment, he looked back at her, eyes narrowed; "Tanj, you did VERY well in warning the Brethren of the Imperial sweep, and your little trick on Elysium was good too, but it's cost us a quarter's profits! You've shown excellent initiative, and abilities, but you've way overstepped your bounds in spending funds like that. I'm definitely going to have to think up something that is both a suitable punishment AND reward for you..."

Tanj swayed from several dozen leather straps, in the middle of one of the recreation rooms. Her arms were tightly bound behind her back, her legs were raised towards the ceiling and spread wide. Tight leather straps encircled her body, constricting her waist, encircling her breasts, almost all attached to various places in the ceiling. Her head however, was unsupported, hanging back and down, her mouth propped wide open with a ring gag similar to that which Zassa had been wearing... She was completely exposed, and available, to be used in pussy, mouth, or ass by anyone who cared... and the sign-up board, that had inhabited the Intelligence office for so long was posted in the corridor outside. Her Master had told her that she'd be released when everyone who'd signed up had been satisfied... Tanj smiled to herself; obviously there were loopholes in the schedule, as Butch, the young Ferret, had snuck in and was slowly, teasingly fucking her, moving at a sedate pace that was driving her wild. He seemed determined to drive her crazy, holding her on the edge of a climax seemingly forever... As she squirmed in her bonds, swaying back and forth to the youth's obvious delight, Tanj thought the kid had sure learned a lot in a short time...

Lord Xylex's face was lit by the glow of his computer monitor. It was late at night, and he was reviewing the latest data that had come in, on his investigation into the phony "conspiracy" that had caused him such trouble. His agents had traced many of the false e-mail messages, and the mysterious transfers of funds, through "back doors" that had been almost completely deleted, to an off-world source. The evidence was flimsy, tenuous at best, and certainly NOT enough to show any Imperial investigator, but it was enough to convince him that the Pirates had been behind it all. Leaning back in his desk chair, he growled, and shook his head; he'd tried to destroy them, and somehow they'd managed to not only survive, but to turn some of the power of the attack back against him. Obviously other tactics, more subtle tactics were called for. After all, space had always held pirates. The only reason that these pirates were so objectionable, was the pro-active stance they were taking against the legitimate government of Elysium, and by extension, him. Perhaps if he could just change their "management", they wouldn't be such a thorn in his side... Sitting forward, he called up another screen on his computer, and started planning a counterattack...

This story is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any characters, living, dead or imaginary is purely a coincidence. Tanj and these stories are copyright Kittiara's player, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000. Kittiara can be found on Furrymuck; telnet 209.100.167.128 8888. Hinoki, Zassa, and Jenka copyright their players, also to be found on FurryMuck. Mark is copyright Ann'katar, also of FurryMuck. Comments, suggestions, or flames can be directed to ha_seng@hotmail.com.