>be anon
>a space pirate, living in the age of blast-expansion
>the space some twenty-and-so light-years around your homeworld is more or less developed, with the most populous non-homeworld having a population of 1.3B
>you and your fellow free spacers mostly steer clear of that space unless really necessary, as it is heavily patroled by the confederate military
>now, when people hear "pirate", they might be imagining some space brigands that raid ships and colonies
>that's an obvious lie, although some pirates do attack ships and settlements
>and then, they do it to obtain a husband, rather than steal resources or destroy civilization
>after all, there's about 2000 women per one man, sometimes girls go desperate
>most of you are simply renegades, that decided to live away from the core society
>in fact, there isn't that much difference between you and the colonists living on the outskirts of civilization
>the primary one being that you make your homes in space while the colonists choose to ground themselves to planetbound life
>while every single pirate ship is sufficently armed, you usually do not raid others, instead making your living by illegal mining, scavenging, salvaging, and artifact hunting
>obviously, the confederate government doesn't like you, since you don't answer to them
>not like they can do anything about it, the outskirts are simply too large and vast for them to efficiently enforce their rule
>not to mention that the total pirate military might rivals theirs
>you enjoy the company of thirty-five girls, divided across six ships in your fleet
>oh, and that's another part of being the only guy in your almost-entirely-female pirate band
>in fact, men are almost never pirates or colonists
>why bust your ass on some underdeveloped outworld, when you can find at least one woman that would take care of your needs?
>well, suffice to say that you're on the run
>not like you're a criminal or an outlaw or anything, but you do have your reasons
>for now let's leave it at that
>you travel through the Golden Band sector, to mine proglythian crystal from the asteroid bands circling around the otherwise-unpopulated silvery star
>the stuff's rare, and only ever forms around the BX*-kind of stars, in close proximity and under special circumstances
>whenever the government spots one such resource, bastards claim it immediately, so they could regulate and control access to it
>you're lucky to find a yet-unexploited resource
>even mining an unclaimed one is illegal, as the power-greedy government cunts want to regulate everything they could reach
>well, it's only illegal if they catch you doing it
>you land on a particularly big asteroid, and align your position with its surface
>that thing barely has any gravity, without artifical alignment you wouldn't even be able to walk on it, let alone work
>you're the one skilled in techs, so you're working with the scanner array
>you're not gonna be mining the rocks yourselves, the auto-drones will do the job better than any of you, but you've got to map the rocks for the drones beforehand
>it's a little more refined task than you'd expect
>the surface temperature of the sunward side is a little below 1300 K, and that fucking rock is rotating, too
>you've got to move along fast enough to keep up with its rotation rate, which is about once per 3 hours
>with a twenty-five mile radius, that means you've got to move along at the speed of at least 52 mph
>and the rock doesn't really cool much while facing away from the sun
>your feet start getting hotter, even the protective multi-layer soles don't help much
>and you haven't even marked a quarter of this fucking rock
>fucking piece-of-shit heat...
>your cribble thrusters are getting hot, too
>probably means you've got to replace the drivers, those fuckers were supposed to operate with zero excess heat
>well, not until you finish your fucking job, anyway
>those crystals are worth a lot more struggles than a bunch of heat-leaking thrusters and hot feet
<"Pheeeeeew..."
>aaaaand that was the sound of the very last marker set up
>time to get back to ship and release the drones while staying in the shadow of that asteroid
<"Aaaaand... that's it. 6 metric tonnes of pure proglythide!"
>the ship captain declares with excitement
>you've got slightly more than six tons of the stuff, which converts into a generous amount of purematter credits when you sell this to the right people
>time to head back to the Hub, where you can make the deal
>The Hub is an informal name for the 3-ATP207 star system, a bright, searing orange-red giant with no tactical or economic wealth, and it is a perfect site for one of the Hubs
>officially private habitat stations, those are populated mostly by pirates, outlaws, renegades...
>people who have not found themselves a place within the core sector, in other words
>you are a little bit nervous as you dock at the station
>almost no male pirates also means, almost no males on this station
>practically, it's no men at all, except you
>you tried to stay at the ship many times, but when the owner of the station, Sara Minnug Ratskiller, politely but sternly told your captain to stop holding you back, you had to endure the trips here
<"What's ya boy afraid of round here? Sure, we're all women and we're all hungry for a cutie boy~, but it isn't like he's been molested here, right? If ya goin' to keep him in, means we're a buncha savages and we can't be trusted to be civil, huh? That's a big insult ya making, ya know?"
>Sara's a big girl, more than eight feet tall and with more muscle than you even thought could possibly fit on a demonoid, and she's a manticore
>even your nai-ogre captain was intimidated enough
>so with Sara's assurance that you shall not be molested during your stay, unless you consent, you got out of the ship with the rest of your crew
>still, every time you get there, everyone's eyeing you
>humans are one thing, but those monster-girls...
>whatever they are, their primal desires are often way more expressed than in humans
>in other words, they're lusty as hell, even by human standards
>and you're a half-daemon, cold and intellectual compared to most humans
>when they see someone like that, they have an instinctive urge to warm you up, in a sense
>brrrr...
<"Oh, that's some good stuff. Al'ight, lemme get ya in touch with ya client. She's gonna be there in 'bout three days, so feel free to stay in the hub if ya feel like it..."
>Sara is a big, intimidating manticore, but she's a reliable partner, too
>if you want to find a good buyer for whatever you're carrying, she always has connections with somebody interested
>looks like you're going to stay here for a while
>while it feels a little bit icky every time you stay in their spotel, there isn't any real threat in it so far
>Sara promised you security through you stay, and she keeps to her word
<"If only I could have a word with ya, Mr. Incognitus?.. In private, if ya won't mind"
>ergh, what's that mean
>did you just fuck up somehow?..
>nay, if that'd be the case, you'd be tumbling across space at this point
>or, more likely, savaged by whatever monster-girls she'd throw you at
<"Hey, relax, boy. I don't mean nothin' bad for ya. C'mon, let's have a talk now"
>she leads you to her private residence, on topmost level of her habitat
>well, in space, the concept of "top" is arbitrary
>guess the bottom is where the arcano-gravity is pulling you towards
<"Heh, come on in. Don't be shy. I'm not gonna eatcha"
>well, that's true, after all, she's married
>you relax a bit, and get inside
>wow, her space-quarters are really gaudy
>this could easily rival some of those richer gals' residences back in the confederate core space
<"Hehe, like what you see? Come on in, I have somethin' to tell ya."
>she leads you into what you think to be the guest hall, or what is it
>that room is easily about as big as the first floor of the town hall in the capital city of Sceptrykal, the first and by now second-most populous off-homeworld settlement
>and that's a real big one, you know
<"Hey, don't feel too constrained. Take a seat, she'll arrive soon."
>what was that last part...
>just who is going to arrive?
>wait, are you about to be sold as a slave?!
>you're a little bit too scared to rebel here, though
>maybe it's all a misunderstanding...
<"Oh, here she comes. Linda, com'ere!"
>you look up and see another manticore, younger and not quite as ripped, enter the room
>she spots you almost immediately and eyes you, you can sense her desire building up from across the room
<[Sara] "Well, Anon. What'd ya say 'bout my daughter~?"
>wait... her daughter?
>sure, you know Sara was married, that's half why you agreed to follow her there
>but, a daughter that seems to be somewhere in her twenties?..
>and you already have a guess at why is she here
<[Sara] "He-he. Ye caught Linda's eye when ye were last visiting us, sellin' dark silver. Remember that time?"
>oh, yeah, about a month ago by your homeworld standards
>you were mining "dark silver", a material with properties not unlike the monster silver, except it's found in space and is lighter than its monster equivalent
<[Sara] "She's been lookin' for anythin' about ya ever since. And, ya know, every time she learnt somethin' about ya, she's been getting more bothered, if ya know what I mean~ So, if ya don't mind, how'bout ya spend yer time gettin' to know one another~?"
<[Linda] "Mom, damnit all. I can speak for myself!"
<[Sara] "Sure ya can, but I wanna make sure that everything's gonna get smooth, ya know? Once the young gentleman over here says yes, I'm gonna leave ya two to one another~"
>uhm...
>so that's what it was all about
>she's trying to wed you to her daughter, it seems
<[Sara] "Hear what, Anon. Linda's been' goin' after ya ever since she saw ya. Say, yer dealer's gonna be there in four days, a littl' longer than usual. Say, how'bout ya spend yer time with Linda, get to know one another? Eh, I don't mean nothin' serious by that, she's not gonna touch ya or anythin' if ya don't want that."
>so, in other words, she's arranged this so you would get closer to her daughter
<[Linda] "Don't worry, it's just like Ma says. Well, it's another thing if you would want me to touch you somewhere~"
<[Sara] "So, what ya say, Anon?"
>well...
>honestly, you don't know
>just like her mom, Linda has the typical manticore aura, a little tension mixed with pure, feminine aggression
>on the other hand, she promises that it would be just like a date
>and Sara says she's fallen for you ever since that time, and instead of jumping you outright, she decided to look things up about you, learn about you
>so, what would it be?..