It began, as many of the best adventures do, with a card game in the back room of a seedy New Tortuga dive bar.

"No, you're bluffing."

Captain Lucretia Roath narrows her glittering green eyes at her opponent as she gazes over the battered baize. She draws on her vapouriser and then with pouted lips expels a fine plume of nicotine vapour. It mingles with the pall of shisha smoke clinging to the ceiling.

Captain Elias Watts, his fine white shirt rakishly unbuttoned to mid-chest, is leaning back on his chair in the low gravity. A smirk plays across his lips, his eyebrows raised in mock challenge. He slips the pipe of the shisha between his lips and takes a long slow draw.

"That fucking face," exclaims Roath, "you had that exact expression that night in the Babylon nightclub."

He smiles, showing even white teeth, "If I remember, you were the one who had the fucking-face."

Her turn to smirk, "of course you remember; you fucking loved it."

Their eyes meet across the table and there's a sudden tension in the air, like before a summer storm. Then Roath glances down and it's gone. She leans forward across the table, the dim LED lights setting her long auburn hair aglow and scoops her modest pile of chips into the center.

"I'm all in."

Watts leans forward, counting from his own much larger stack.

"What is that, forty-five-fifty?"

"And three."

That's a tidy sum. A stevedore at New Tortuga dockyards would be lucky to see that much gold if he saved every penny for ten years.

"You're pretty confident," Watts's smile widens, "you want to go higher?"

Now Roath leans back, arms folded.

"I'm not betting any of the Raiders' ships, Eli."

"I'd not bet any of my Corsairs, and nor would any free-company Captain, but you do have something else here to put on the table."

Oh no, I don't like where this is going. I look up from where I kneel at my mistress's feet to meet his steel grey eyes. I imagine the scarred metal of a dead starship, silently drifting through the darkness. Watts is one of the most dangerous men in the Solar System and his eyes glitter with lust and barely-repressed violence.

He senses her hesitation.

"Well if you'd rather, the offer I made you back on Babylon is still on the table..."

Captain Lucretia Roath -- my mentor, lover and legal owner -- slams both hands down on the table, her mouth a tight line.

"Fuck you Eli, I'm nobody's slave. She's on the table, now go all-in and let's show down."

Watts seems taken aback by her outburst, but he can't back down now. He calmly shuffles his pile to the center where it towers over my mistress's, making a small mountain of hard plastic discs on the pock-marked card table.

"Ladies first."

Roath throws her cards on the table: an ace of worlds, and a six of men.

"Full house Eli, aces full of sixes!"

Watts, a look of genuine regret on his face spreads his hand, a seven and five of ships. My stomach drops. No. This can't be happening. Reflexively I clench and unclench my fists.

"It's a straight flush Lucy."

"Fuck!"

The tower of plastic chips slumps to one side as Roath quickly stands.

"Fuck you, Eli. You're going down."

She turns, flying through the doorway, long auburn hair streaming behind. My first love and only friend in the whole Solar System storms out of the bar, not looking back.

The stars burn harsh and white and cold outside the porthole. One of those glittering sparks is the asteroid habitat Tortuga and another is the exhaust plume of Captain Roath's flagship, both growing more unreachable by the minute. My mind is drawn back to that terrible final moment in the bar, watching her back as she vanishes into the haze of smoke.

She gambled me, as if I were just another one of those chips: a few grams of gold. Was that all I was worth to her? And what now? What of this Captain Elias Watts, my new owner?

I know so little about him, only that he and Roath go back, way back, to when they were naval officer cadets at the academy together. Now she has Roath's Raiders, and he has Watts's Corsairs, rival Free Companies raiding out of New Tortuga.

You'd never prove this, but Watts also controls the "Solar Express" shipping and freight company. They have the stickiest jingle: "Safest Shipping in the System, SolEx gets it there." 

Yeah, and no one fucks with you when your largest shareholder is the most bloodthirsty pirate sunwards of the Kupier Belt.

I hear the door click open behind me. That will be him. My hands on the rim of the broad porthole, I gaze out at the stars and try to master the swirl of emotions roiling in my gut.

I don't turn around as I hear his boots pad up behind me as he steps in close, as if he were my lover -- or my master. I fight the instinct to step away, to cower away from him.

"They are beautiful aren't they?"

I just nod.

He steps in right behind me, his hand laid possessively on my hip. I can feel the roughness of his skin through my diaphamous dress. His breath is hot on my cheek as he speaks, one arm upraised:

"Someday we will be able to look up at the sky, and know that those glittering jewels are filled with life, colonised, conquered, tamed and ruled."

His firm hand is on my hip, spinning me around.

"Let's take a look at you."

I turn obediently, but look at my feet, unable to meet his eye. I feel his hungry gaze caressing my body. My dress hides nothing from him: a diaphamous fabric, loosely pleated and looped around my back, both ends hanging from a ring on my collar. It covers my ass, chest, belly and crotch, but only if I am careful not to open the split which runs from collar to ankle, and only under dim light as the fabric is light and sheer.

"What's your name, slave?"

"Cora, master."

"'Cora.' It means 'The Maiden,' are you one?"

I feel a hot flush of shame redden my cheeks.

"Yes master, I have only been with Captain Roath, never with a man."

"But you know how to please a woman?"

"Yes, master."

"Are you good at it?"

"I am, master."

"We shall see."

As if summoned by an inaudiable signal, the other slave steps forward, Dayna. She's blonde with skin pale as milk. She wears a similar shift to mine and I can see the graceful curves of her body barely concealed by the cascade of soft fabric.

She stalks towards me with feline grace. With a smile and an admiring glance, she unfastens the dress from the collar, folds it twice and places it on a nearby chair. The two of us stand before Captain Watts, and even though Dayna's slave dress conceals little of her magnificent figure, I feel conscious of my own nudity. Degraded. My nipples harden as they are caressed by the cool recirculated air.

"Come, sit with me," Elias beckons us to his bed.

In freefall there's no distinction between a wall and a floor but a corner of Elias's cabin is padded on all sides to make a comfortable sleeping-nook. Elias reclines on a velcro-backed cushion and bids us kneel in front of him.

Outwardly-obedient, I kneel. My heart and mind are still a whirl of thoughts and emotions: despite my mistress's abandonment, to serve this stranger with my body still feels like a betrayal of her. As my stomach churns I cling to the duties of my role: to obey my new master.

Captain Watts looks me slowly up and down.

"Your posture is good. Nice straight back." He turns to the other slave, "what do you think Dayna?"

Her turn to examine me. Her gaze is different from his: while he eyes me up like a predator deciding how to devour his prey; her gaze is appraising, like a collector of fine jewelery assessing the value of her latest acqusition.

I stand and turn for her, letting her see me from all sides. She smiles appreciatively.

"Young: barely nineteen. Nice clear skin. She's kept herself in shape: flat belly, nice pert breasts..."

As she says that she's moved to stand behind me, cupping one in her right hand, toying with my nipple with the finger-tips. A moan escapes my lips, sounding too loud in the quiet cabin.

I hear her giggle, her breath a cool whisper in my ear. She leans forward, her left hand on my belly, her right on my breast, takes my earlobe between her teeth and gently nibbles.

My moan is louder this time as I feel her pressing her bare body against mine. If I close my eyes, I can imagine I'm back with my mistress. Her left hand slowly slipping down my belly, towards that cleft between my legs...

"Dayna," Captain Watts quietly interjects, "why don't we start the first lesson?"

Her finger-tips are barely a centimeter from my clit when she obediently steps back. I squirm and let out an involuntary whine of frustration but I know better than to try to take matters into my own hands. Captain Roath may no longer be my mistress, but I learned the lessons she taught in my muscles and in my soul.

Dayna kneels in front of her master and unfastens his dark trousers, taking his weapon in both hands. My eyes widen at the sight of it. The last time I saw a warrior's weapon unholstered, it belonged to my first crush, a marine called Rodrik. Unfortunately when I laid eyes on it, it was wrapped in the lips of another man.

So it's been a while. At the sight of it, broad and hard and glistening with arousal, a shiver runs down my spine and between my legs. I kneel on the soft cushions next to them and just watch as Dayna wraps one hand around the barrel and slips the muzzle between parted lips.

Captain Watts is leaning back against the wall, his fingers laced through Dayna's long blonde hair. She bobs her head as she milks his shaft into her mouth.

I feel a pang of guilt about how much this is turning me on: I want to be this good at cock-sucking, to see Captain Watts look at me with the same possessive pride he looks at Dayna. Then I remember my old mistress's back as she walked out of the bar after giving me away over a hand of poker.

Subconsciously, I part my lips and lick them.

I realise Watts' eyes are on me. I blush, imagine him reading my entire train of thought as it plays across my features. His hand in Dayna's hair, he lifts her head. She looks at me, panting, lips parted, heavy-lidded eyes dark with arousal.

Two fingers upraised he beckons me over. Obediently I crawl on all fours towards him. He cups my chin in his hand, his fingertips rough on my chin.

"You want to learn?"

I nod eagerly.

"Open your mouth and stick out your tongue."

I obey and he places himself atop my tongue. He tastes a little salty, but mainly of Dayna's mouth.

"Now, draw me into your mouth, as deeply as you can. Wrap your lips around my shaft and draw in your cheeks."

Obediently I wrap my lips around him and inhale the heady, musky scent deep into my lungs. Slowly I start to bob my head, my hand wrapped around the base of the shaft, feeling him slipping back and forth over my tongue.

I quickly find my rhythm, moving hand and head in time as I milk his thick shaft into my mouth. I feel his fingers lace through my hair and I glance up at him, across his broad muscular chest: his head is leant back, eyes closed in bliss.

"Mmm," he moans, "are you sure you've not done this before?"

I can't answer him, my lips are wrapped around his thick shaft. I feel his fingers tighten in my hair as he takes control, gripping my hair tightly as he starts to thrust into my mouth. My eyes pressed tightly shut, I focus on him and his shaft, making my mouth the most pleasurable hole he's ever fucked.

His strong hand on my hair, pinning my head in place, he roughly pounds my mouth. Each thrust of his hips plunges his thick sword deep into my virgin flesh until I almost gag on it. I feel so used and degraded; I don't want this to stop.

"I'm going to cum in your mouth," he growls, "I want you to swallow it all."

"Mmmph!" I obediently reply.

As if on command I feel him discharge his weapon into my mouth, his hot salty load splattering the back of my throat. As the first load coats my tongue I feel a rush of arousal deep in my loins. My mouth fills with his emission and eagerly swallows it down. Still it comes, load after load squirting from his twitching shaft, as I use my hand to milk every last drop.

At last, sated, he slips from between my lips. I kneel before him, panting through parted lips, my mouth filled with the taste of his cock and his cum. I feel an aching emptiness between my legs as I realise how badly I wanted to feel him in me, to claim my maidenhead. He has won me as his prize and now I want him to claim it, to claim all of me, to exercise all his rights as my master.

Dayna has crawled over to him and with her long tongue is eagerly licking every last drop of cum that clings to his shaft. Watts beckons me forwards and Dayna rolls over, spreading her legs and dress, exposing herself for me.

Obediently, I kneel between her legs and start to lick her smooth bare pussy. Cupping her ass in my hands I eagerly delve deep between her lips with my tongue, tasting her hungrily before taking her into my mouth and sucking as I slip my fingers easily inside her dripping pussy.

I can tell she got really turned on watching me getting face-fucked by Watts, and now tasting my mouth on his shaft. This shouldn't take long.

With her lips still wrapped around Watts's shaft all I hear from her is the 'mmm' of approval as my fingertips find that spot just inside and rub, even as my tongue is eagerly caressing her knot of pleasure-flesh.

I feel her grinding into my mouth as I edge her ever closer. Her fingers laced through my long hair I feel the tremors in her hips as my touch draws her almost to the brink...

"Stop."

Watts's voice of command is like electricity in my blood. Immediately I snap upright, kneeling obediently. Dayna is writhing on the floor, unsated and in an agony of temptation to touch herself.

But then Watts is upon me, laying me down on the soft cushions as he kneels between my legs. My stomach churns. A part of my is terrified of the thought of having his member so rudely violate my virgin cleft, and yet another larger part of me just wants this strong and bloodthirsty warlord to ravish me, heedless of my pain and discomfort.

I feel his hand between my legs, deftly spreading my lips and then the muzzle of his reloaded weapon, nuzzling between them and slowly probing into me. I can feel how wet I am and ready for him, but I can still feel myself being stretched as he eases himself deeper into me. He starts to thrust, slowly, gently, each thrust easing himself ever deeper into me. One part of me admires his self-restraint, another rages in frustration, wanting him to slam himself all the way in and brutally pound me, using my body as his fucking-toy.

My eyes trace up his body, admiring his hard warrior's physique, tracing the pale lines of scars with my fingertips, imagining what story lies behind each brush with death. But only a brush.

His steel-grey eyes locked on mine, I feel a growing ache deep inside as my maidenhead is stretched thin by his thick lance, thrusting ever deeper into me and forcing me wide to accomodate him. Deeper and deeper he probes into me until finally I am taking his full length, the tip of his shaft nestled against my cervix, my lips wrapped around the base.

I imagine how long and wide he felt in my hands and my mouth. I think about that huge weapon now buried deep inside me. He wraps his hands around my slim wrists and pins them to the cushions above my head. His lips twitch into a smile as he looks down at me, completely immobilised and at his mercy. 

I feel him drawing back, his shaft slippling from me and suddenly I am filled with frustration: after violating me, taking my maidenhead, I am to be left unsated? A thought briefly flickers across my mind: me, lying bound and gagged and gaping on the floor as I watch Watts empty himself into Dayna's slick bare pussy. I imagine being right underneath her as she kneels on all fours, watching his thick shaft twitch as he pumps her full of his hot cum. Watching him slip out of her and feeling his hot load slop out of her, all over my face and chest.

Then suddenly he drives forwards with his hips, plunging his broad weapon deep into my young body. I can't help but cry out at the sudden violation, and the twinge of pain from between my legs. In reflex I try to close them, to bring them together, but he is strong and has me pinned. 

I am completely at his mercy.

He starts to pound me, drawing back his hips and then driving his shaft forward, slamming himself deep into me, the tip of his shaft slamming against my cervix and his pelvic bone against my clit. Again and again, the pounding is like a relentless jackhammer. The ache between my legs slowly fades as it is drowned out by another sensation that grows and rises and swells. Like a coiled spring slowly being compressed tighter and tighter and tighter.

Until...