Tamed By the Alien Pirate by Celia Kyle Page 0,12

to the chorus.

“Oh, help, someone help.” Scar face is mimicking my voice by affecting a higher pitch. “Please, I’m going to get raped by two Vakutan studs.”

“This is K’Patel, princess.” Cyber hand licks his lips and grins. “Don’t nobody care what happens to anyone else. Survival of the fittest.”

I turn around and break into a run, even as the relative travel speeds of Vakutans and humans come to my mind. Far from the fastest sapients, they can still achieve speeds of forty kilometers per hour. Top tier human athletes can’t hope to compete, and I’m no athlete.

I’m surprised I get the whole ten feet down the alley that I do before one of them grabs my hair and drags me back. In full hysterical mode, I start kicking and screaming, breaking a nail on my finger attempting to scratch the cybernetic limb. Lifting me bodily off the pavement, cyber hand drives me back against the oil-stained brick wall and wraps his fingers around my throat, cutting off both speech and air.

“That’s enough of that, now.” He leers in my face as I struggle to breathe. “You should start being nice to us, and we’ll be nice to you. We’ll be sure to sell you at a premium price in the slave markets so you get a good master.”

“Wait, now, she might not be worth anything. Those big fat cow titties might be fake.” Scar face reaches up his hand and tears my blouse right down the middle. I would scream but I can barely choke in enough air to keep from passing out.

“What the hell is this thing?” He prods at the tech vest under my clothing. “How do you even take it off?”

“It’s one of those fancy self-adjusting PPG vests. Crap doesn’t even stop a low caliber bullet.”

“Well, that’s okay, we’ll take her somewhere private and figure it out.” He glances at cyber hand. “Check her for any other weapons.”

“Right, with pleasure.” I squeeze my eyes shut as his hands run all over my body, indeed checking me for weapons but lingering his touch in all the wrong areas. I start kicking again, and Scar face tightens his grip.

“Settle down. If you think this is bad wait until you see the wrestler’s arm he calls his cock. You’ll be split in half upon it.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Zander stand up and take aim with his force pistol. An orange beam streaks down the alley and strikes Cyber hand in the back. He is enveloped in an aura the same color as the beam, and then it fades.

Scar face lets go of me to check on his friend, apparently unaware of the glowing field’s source.

“Hey, are you all right? What was that?”

Cyber hand opens his mouth to speak, but his tongue just… melts. Then his body becomes translucent, and he collapses into a grotesque red pile of goo. Clothing and his cyber hand are all that remains.

The pistol worked, just as Zander intended it to. I don’t know whether to be grateful or horrified, possibly both. Not that this weapon makes you any deader than a conventional one, but the idea of just literally coming apart at the seams is nothing short of monstrous.

Not that I’m complaining, not even when Scar face is also enveloped in an orange aura. He looks at his hands as they become translucent, and then goes to scream but only foamy red bubbles come out of his mouth. Then he, too, becomes a puddle on the pavement.

My hand clutches at my throat as I try to step around the piles without getting any liquefied Vakutan on my shoes. Zander comes up to my side, sheathing his insanely lethal weapon in its holster.

“Are you all right?” His hands are gentle, soothing as he checks me for injuries. I’m still too choked up to speak—figuratively and literally—so I nod. Softly, he pushes my chin up so he can see my throat. “Scurrilous cretins. They got what they deserved.”

Now that he knows I’m all right, his attention switches to his gun, which he draws and examines with glee.

“It worked perfectly, just as I’d intended. So far I can only affect organic matter, but imagine the implications for starship-based weaponry.”

“Or for the…” I cough several times before continuing. “—the mining industry. They could save a lot of labor by vaporizing hundreds of feet of stone in one go.”

Zander starts, and stares at me with wide eyes. I think perhaps he forgot I was