**The Importance of Discipline**
(c) 2011 GingerM
*Like fragile bubbles, the universes press close together, touching yet separate. In one, starships roam the galaxy, seeking, exploring... in another, those same starships fare forth bent on conquest... the ships of the Empire.*
The mess was empty, it being the middle of the ship's night. Lt. Tamerlane was just as pleased; while most people were circumspect and at least outwardly respected hir rank, shi was all too aware of the contempt with which the humans who ruled the Empire viewed most of the subject races. That especially included hir people, genetically-engineered creatures of the humans that they were. For all that shi was an officer, all too many of them, even junior to hir in rank, barely bothered to disguise their disdain. Thus shi generally found it easiest to simply avoid the bulk of the crew, which meant eating at odd times.
"Spinach salad, balsamic vinaigrette", shi ordered, nodding as the male voice of the computer replied, "Working." Moments later, the delivery slot light went on as the door slid aside, revealing hir dinner. Shi took hir usual table in the back, where shi could watch the mess room door as well as the view through the port, enjoying the the naked light of the stars, heavily Doppler-shifted by the ship's speed.
Hir attention shifted abruptly as the door slid open and a trio of female crewmembers entered, two enlisted and one Ensign. That last stopped as her eyes lit on the horse-woman officer. "Oh, gross... that's why it smells like a barn in here," she remarked, received stereo giggles for her effort. Rhiannon ground hir teeth and concentrated on hir dinner. The trio swaggered over to the food replicators, placing their orders. Those orders filled, two of them made a wide detour, their noses wrinkled in a pardody of digust. The Ensign, however, took her tay and veered near Rhiannon's table. As she passed it, she gave the edge a sharp bump with her hip. Unfortunately, she miscalculated, and the bump intended to dump the lieutenant's dinner into hir lap instead tilted the table the other way. The cruet of vinagrette, Rhiannon's plate and the accompanying glass of lemonade practically leapt at the Ensign and in a heartbeat she was soaked through from breast to hip with lemonade and salad dressing, while cold, wet salad slid into the waistband of her skirt.
Despite hir best intentions, a deep, hearty belly-laugh erupted from Rhiannon. *Serves the stuck-up bitch right!* shi chuckled mentally as the furious Ensign rounded on hir. "You... you...!" the blonde junior officer spluttered in fury and indignation. "Me..?" Rhiannon replied, amusement glinting in hir eyes. "Seems to me that was all you, Ensign," shi went on, emphasizing the blonde's lesser rank.
The emphasis went completely unnoticed, as did all vestiges of military discipline. "You... SLAVE!" the blonde snarled. "How dare you!" She stalked over to the tall Appaloosa-skinned officer, her features twisted with rage. "I... you... this is your fault!" Rhiannon stood up so abruptly the table toppled forward again, landing with a crash. "You forget yourself, Ensign!" shi snapped, towering over the blonde. The other two women were also on their feet, their chairs toppled over, their eyes flicking between the two officers. Rhiannon took this in with a split-second glance, then tracked back to the Ensign. "Apologize. Now!"
The ensign gave a barking laugh. "Apologize? To the likes of you?! Not a chance!" Her eyes narrowed in hate as she stared at the lieutenant. "Your kind doesn't even deserve to live! Every one of you should've been phasered out of your misbegotten lives long ago! You're freaks, and you should all DIE!"
Rhiannon's temper snapped, and a sharp CRACK! sounded as shi slapped the ensign, open-palmed, on each cheek. Hir green eyes flared with rage and shi hurled the table aside, advancing on the Ensign. The other two women snapped out of their shock and started toward the two. Rhiannon stiff-armed the ensign in the solar plexus, stunning her momentarily, then whirled to face the two enlisted women. "Bring it on, both of you," shi invited them, hir voice deadly soft. They separated, moving either side of the ensign's twitching form, bent in fighting crouches. The lieutenant crouched, then sprang at the nearer, twisting in mid-air to deliver a stunning kick to the woman's midriff, knocking the wind out of her, then spun to sweep the other's feet. Both of them dropped to the floor, though the latter was already scrambling to her feet again. Rhiannon smiled, and the light in hir eyes was not pleasant. Shi feinted briefly toward hir opponent, who oblgingly backed away, allowing Rhiannon to roll into a swift somersault, only to uncoil like a viper, hir powerful legs knocking hir second opponent into the bulkhead.
It didn't take hir long to hotwire the mess door so it wouldn't open. Messes weren't security areas, and if anyone wanted to use it, they'd complain to Engineering... who might or might not get around to it, sometime tomorrow. Shortly after that, all three of hir assailants were naked, bound hand and foot by their own uniforms, Rhiannon's uniform dagger having made quick work of the fabric, lying on their sides with their hands bound behind their backs to their ankles. The last scraps of their uniforms served to gag them.
Quickly shi shed hir skirt and halter, leaving only hir thigh-high boots. Hir dagger and phaser she placed well out of reach on a table across the room. "You first," shi muttered, kneeling astride the ensign, slapping the blonde's face lightly to bring her back to consciousness. A leer twisted hir features as the ensign's blue eyes opened, to see the horse-woman looming over her... naked. "Freaks, are we?" shi hissed as the junior officer's eyes widened in terror. She locked her gaze on Rhiannon's green eyes, now glittering with a strange, feral light. "You should be afraid, Ensign... very, very afraid," shi smiled cruelly. One cream-painted hand took the ensign's chin, turning it down. "Your kind made my kind," shi went on, forcing the ensign to look at hir breasts, covered with a tight, fine coat of chestnut horsehair, broken only where the chocolate-dark areolae and nipples showed through. "You made us, and abused us, and looked down on us," shi went on, relentlessly forcing the ensign to look further down, to the charcoal darkness swelling between hir thighs, "and now you'll reap what you've sown...!"
The blonde ensign's eyes went even wider, and a muffled scream escaped her. "Nnnmmmph! NNnnnmppHHH! Hllp!!!"
Too late. Too late to regret her impertinence, to regret humnanity's casual cruelty to its own creations; too late to realize how terribly she'd misjudged the horse-woman... screaming again as strong, relentless, unpitying hands turned her onto her back, prising apart the legs she sough desperately to lock together, the inhuman, feral light of lust and domination in the lieutenant's eyes. Helpless as the lieutenant's hips bucked, and something hot, thick and powerful forced her open...
True to form, Engineering didn't actually do anything about the malfunctioning mess door until nearly lunchtime the next day. The tech who was dispatched to work on it slouched off finally, glaring sullenly at Lt. Deering's back as she left, having delivered a biting and acid commentary on his job performance to date. "Stuck-up bitch," he muttered, careful to keep his voice well down, his eyes lingering on her well-shaped butt. The diagnosis and repair didn't take him long, though, and he figured he might as well get his lunch before reporting the job was completed. Dusting his hands off, he approached the door and as it should, the sensor detected his presence and the pneumatic *shhhs* sounded as the door slid apart... and the tech's jaw dropped. Three women were bound up, hands and feet, and tethered to the table in the centre of the mess... and lying in a different mess. A strong musk permeated the air and *something* had dried on them... all over them - breasts, bellies, faces, hair... and leaked from them, pooling on the deck.
"Unh... Sickbay, this is Fredericks... I think you'd better send some people to Mess Room 14."