Femme Metal Read online

  FEMME METAL

  An Ellora’s Cave Publication, June 2005

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.

  1337 Commerce Drive, #13

  Stow, OH 44224

  ISBN MS Reader (LIT) ISBN # 1-4199-0249-0

  Other available formats (no ISBNs are assigned):

  Adobe (PDF), Rocketbook (RB), Mobipocket (PRC) & HTML

  FEMME METAL Copyright © 2005 NATHALIE GRAY

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. They are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

  Edited by Mary Moran.

  Cover art by Syneca.

  Warning:

  The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. Femme Metal has been rated E–rotic by a minimum of three independent reviewers.

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-rotic), and X (X-treme).

  S-ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

  E-rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as “fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature.

  X-treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

  Femme Metal

  Nathalie Gray

  Chapter One

  “Kim cracked the code, Cap’n,” Ebinay said. A wide grin pierced the smooth ebony of her skin. She motioned with her chin for the other two women waiting behind her. They stepped over the hatch and into the darkened staircase. All three, dressed in black from head to toe and wearing various weapons on their persons, turned back to wait for the last woman. She stepped inside the airlock, all six feet of her, and joined the rest on the staircase landing.

  Alexandra Novona to those who knew her well, Captain Steel to those who didn’t. Only friends could call her Alex. And not many ever called her such. The nickname had bothered her at first but no longer did. All the steel she had in her knees and over her cranium unfailingly tripped metal detectors. She had to carry a medical ID disc that listed all her metal parts so she wouldn’t get arrested when traveling between the planets and crossing the Interworld borders. She had gotten used to the stares of security personnel—whatever species they happened to be—as they perused her catalog of physical restorations. Since she now frequented worlds where security personnel were mostly comprised of crooks worse than her, she no longer triggered alarms.

  Alex gave a curt nod to Ebinay. “Nothing fancy this time. We go in, extract the target then get out.” Her velvet voice was barely above a whisper. She checked her watch. “Go.”

  After Ebinay pushed the door, all four women crept down the narrow passageway. Their military-issue boots made no sound on the industrial-grade carpet floor. Tiny lights embedded along the ceiling gave just enough illumination to see a few feet in front. And even then…

  “Why couldn’t he have been on the upper decks, with the good types,” whispered Eva, a diminutive redhead with a mouth too big for her face, or her good. “Can’t see anything down here.”

  Alex grinned. “Money can buy you a good cabin on a cruise ship, but not good looks. Left here,” she added as she checked the display unit she held in her gloved hand. The cruise ship was worse than a maze. Thirteen decks, six massive booster rockets, which could have moved two spaceships of similar size, and 1,852 passengers plus 73 crewmembers. And no security to speak of. Alex shook her head. Fools.

  Cabin doors to their left shone moss green under the thin light. Ebinay stopped abruptly and raised a fist. All three women froze and listened. Footsteps from up ahead broke the silence in the passageway. The dark woman turned to Alex and gestured with her thumb across her throat. Alex nodded once.

  Padding ahead like a panther, Ebinay disappeared around a corner. A muffled voice cried out then a thump was heard. She came back and nodded. “A steward. We’ll have to hurry now.”

  Alex rushed on ahead and passed her second-in-command. Their target’s room was number 205. She followed her display unit, which showed a map of the ship, and navigated the darkened passageways. Before she had recruited Kim, her expert hacker, into her professional extractor team—kidnappers, in other words—Alex had had to rely entirely on what ships’ schematics she could steal. But with Kim onboard the Femme Metal, it was a breeze to breach any cruise ship, get the target and make a hasty exit. Alex grinned. Her ship the Femme Metal was small, highly maneuverable and ugly as hell. Like a giant steel flea. But she could trigger a jump point to hyperspace within thirty seconds flat. Couldn’t beat that.

  204 came up to her left. She slowed and crept toward the following door. A “Do Not Disturb” sign glowed neon blue inside the access panel of room 205. So he didn’t want to be bothered. Poor bugger.

  From her sleeve pocket, Alex pulled out her stunner and motioned to the others to take position. Blocking the tiny Eva from view, the last woman Annabelle came forward and slung her gun around her neck. The ever-silent woman balled fists the size of cantaloupes and rolled thick shoulders.

  “We’re at the door, Kim,” Alex subvoiced into the comms unit strapped to her throat.

  The shrill voice of Kim practically made Alex’s earpiece vibrate when she responded she was already working on it. As Annabelle crouched like a bear waiting for fish to swim by, Ebinay and Eva raised their stunners. A green light appeared on the access panel. No system was beyond Kim.

  Alex whispered, “Go,” and followed the massive Annabelle into the cabin.

  A man and a woman, both humans, lay on the bed, one on top of the other. From their position and the sheen of sweat covering both, Alex surmised her team had just interrupted something very pleasant for both passengers.

  “Hey!” the woman said, rising on an elbow.

  Before either one could react, Ebinay rushed past and leveled her stunner at the pair. She fired. One tiny ball of polymer shot out and hit the man in the chest. The ball burst and splattered a gooey conductive substance laced with nanodarts. He jolted as blue arcs danced over his skin. After a second or two he slumped against the mattress. His companion’s shriek ended when Annabelle stunned the woman. She flopped down to rest on the man’s torso.

  “Hurry. Get him.” Alex pulled an inhibitor from her pant pocket.

  After Annabelle lifted the man from the bed and wrapped him in a tight bear hug, Alex slipped the silvery band around his neck then activated it. A red light flashed once as the tiny computer inside the clasp sifted through its network, looking for human settings. Then a green light appeared. It’d found the settings and adjusted to its wearer. Now the guy wouldn’t be able to even touch the clasp without getting recognized by its tiny sensors. With that thing on, he wouldn’t be trouble. Not unless he wanted one big, nasty shock.

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  With Eva in front, and Ebinay and Annabelle holding the man between them, they rushed back the way they had come. Alex brought up the rear, stunner sweeping back and forth. Fortunately, they met no one. The passageway ended with the emergency staircase they’d used. Eva pushed it open and held it there while the two women supporting th
e unconscious man rushed by.

  The hatch Kim had hacked from the Femme Metal gaped in front of them. Light from the small ship filtered through the round opening. Ebinay cursed when they squeezed through and she hit her head against the handle. “The guy’s heavier than he looks.”

  As they crammed inside the Femme Metal’s airlock, Eva closed the staircase door, pried a metal wedge under it so it wouldn’t be opened while they still worked and rushed by Alex. “It should always be that easy, huh, Cap’n Steel!”

  “We’re still moored,” Alex warned as she waited for her crew to cross the hatch. At last, she gave one quick look around the darkened staircase then closed the hatch behind her. After quickly punching the keys she took a step back from the opening and kept her stunner poised until the hatch had hissed closed and locked. Air whistled out of the crack when the rubber seal expanded. Integrity was achieved. Her ears popped. Behind her, Ebinay and Annabelle carefully deposited the naked man to the rubber-sprayed floor. The black woman whistled appreciatively when their captive rolled onto his back.

  “Nice,” she said, her crooked grin rapidly spreading to Eva. Even Annabelle looked as though she wanted to smile.

  Alex had to give him that—he was well endowed. His member, though flaccid because of the stun he’d received, still looked impressive. She could well imagine how hard and thick it would become when aroused. No wonder her customer wanted him so badly.

  “How much are we getting this time, Cap’n?” Ebinay asked. She licked her fleshy lips.

  “Fifteen thousand.”

  Ebinay said something in Afrikaans. Eva laughed.

  A small fortune, really, Alex thought as she waited for Kim to equalize the pressure inside the airlock. Enough credits for her and her crew to make some repairs to the Femme Metal, take a full week’s shore rest and buy themselves all something nice. Very nice. Maybe she’d get some handsome professional company this time around. But the Femme Metal badly needed some parts. Her own pleasure would have to wait. Good thing she had her toys to pass the long nights in space.

  A series of deep thumps followed when Kim released the mooring clamps. The inside airlock opened and Kim poked her head in the opening. “Woo,” she said, that voice of hers filling the cramped space. “Would you look at this?” Her nostrils flared as she surveyed their still unconscious detainee.

  Alex frowned. “We have less than ten standard minutes to get the hell out of here before that steward wakes up.”

  She slid the stunner on her belt and pushed past a still staring Kim. The girl’s spiky hair was purple today. It had been green the day before. Familiar smells from the Femme Metal wafted to Alex as she climbed the steel ladder two by two. The ship was still in stealth mode, which meant in order to reduce their heat signature and emissions most of the ship’s systems were dormant. Despite the gloom, Alex navigated her ship’s twisting passages with practiced ease, ducked in the right places and reached the bridge just as a series of lights had begun to flash on the command controls.

  “Shit.”

  A low whirr from the comms unit indicated some tracking device had locked onto the Femme Metal. The steward must have been tougher than Ebinay had thought. The cruise ship must have scanned its hull and discovered the tiny Femme Metal attached to its belly like a Lamprey fish on a shark.

  As Alex was strapping herself into her seat, Kim arrived and leapt over her own, landing bottom in perfect alignment to the seat. “Ready when you are,” she announced.

  “Jettison the decoy but don’t activate it yet.” Alex leaned forward and flicked the power switches back on. Every system checked in. Everything was ready. A beep and a clunk indicated Kim had sent the decoy out. It wouldn’t confuse the cruise ship’s sensors for long, just enough for the Femme Metal to make a run for it. “Prepare for jump!” Alex yelled into the general comms system. She hoped Ebinay and Annabelle had had enough time to strap the target down, but she couldn’t wait any longer.

  “Ready for jump sequence.”

  Alex raised her hand. “Let the decoy do its thing first.”

  A series of high-pitch beeps announced the cruise ship had locked onto what it thought was the Femme Metal. Soon a tractor hook would shoot out of its side and fasten onto the tiny vessel’s hull. What it would find instead would be the decoy, which was a mere cargo crate equipped with an electronic tracking device emitting the Femme Metal’s signal. Another one of Kim’s brilliant ideas. It was crude. It was ugly. But it worked.

  Alex grabbed both control sticks onto which she had glued two bright pink plastic penises. “In five, four, three, two, one. Jump.”

  Kim and Alex both leaned back deep into their seats as the ship lurched forward. Rattles and creaks sounded ominously as the small ship triggered a jump point some kilometers in front of its prow. Beyond the rectangular porthole, a rip of smoky blue and green opened in space. Alex maneuvered the prow into it, unconsciously rubbing both thumbs over the plastic penises’ heads. She wanted out of there fast but quickly calmed as years of training surfaced. Gently, she angled the ship into the tear. Her eagerness to vacate the area calmed.

  Like something had just pulled her guts out through her navel, Alex felt the rush of the jump. She groaned as she piloted the Femme Metal through the hyperjump and followed the twisting conduit of iridescent light. Stars flashed by in a multicolor swirl. Beside her, Kim grinned like the kid she was.

  As abruptly as it had begun, the forward movement stopped, the creaking and rattling diminished. The ship exited the jump and returned to normal space, to speed millions of light-years away from its starting point. Alex was sure there’d come a time when ships could be traced beyond jump points, but until then, her ship was safe from competitors and authorities alike.

  “Take her to Land’s End nice and slow. We don’t want to attract attention. I’ll be in my cabin if you need me.”

  If Kim had heard, she didn’t let it show, too engrossed as she was with her portable computer, which she had flicked open and furiously clicked away on. Alex stretched her tall frame and left the bridge in the capable hands of the eighteen-year-old.

  “Not much of a warning, Cap’n,” Ebinay said as she emerged from one of the several anchoring niches along the passageways. In the niche beside hers, the man groaned and stirred. “Couldn’t spare a minute for us?”

  “You know the drill. We get back in, you secure the target while I get us out. If you can’t do the job, quit.”

  Ebinay’s jaw muscles twitched. She and Annabelle each snaked an arm under the man’s shoulders and half-carried, half-dragged him toward the back of the ship where they would lock him into the stasis tank. A new addition, the tank had cost twice what she was getting for the man. But well worth the expense since no “shipment” would cause a commotion before transfers took place.

  Alex left the women to their duties and made her way to her cabin. She had to punch her code twice before the door finally hissed open and let her in. Kim would need to fix the thing before Alex put her foot or the stunner to it. Boots and jacket still on, Alex stepped amid the mess of dirty clothes, maps and various items falling sideways across the unmade bunk.

  “I’m getting too old for this.”

  She chuckled. She was barely forty. Yet her life had been very full, thank you very much. Too full. Fifteen years in the military, two of which during the war with the Yithians, three years as a bodyguard to a very nice and very rich old man—her financier for this ship—and four as a privateer. The wear was beginning to show. Some silver streaked her curly raven hair while wrinkles—scowl lines, according to Kim—lined the corners of her mouth and eyes. Despite the dangers of her latest job, and the fact kidnapping males from any species broke all Interworld laws, she enjoyed the freedom of it. Her own ship. Her handpicked crew.

  So what if she provided males to those establishments that required them. It’s not as if they were maltreated! Escorts—males, females, humans or aliens—enjoyed all the fineries credits could buy. A golden cage wa
s still a cage, but much better than most other dwellings she’d known. Plus they received food at regular intervals, nice clothes and patrons drooling for a bit of time with them. No, she thought, the males she collected for the black market lived nice lives.

  Alex chose not to dwell on the inhibitor most escorts wore around their necks. One step out of line and a good jolt brought them right back to their place. Two steps out of line and, well…no one ever did.

  Her customer’s techs had gotten their hands on the passenger manifest and chosen that specific man. Though she doubted they had seen just how well-equipped he was, she could tell he would be a popular addition to any brothel-ship. A nice body—a pleasant face. What was the man’s name again? Don’t think about it. He looked young, maybe twenty. Was he married, she wondered. Kids?

  Stop it.

  He’d be an escort soon, live the good life where she was taking him. Plus, she needed the fifteen thousand credits they’d transfer to her ID card to fix the ship. Alex wondered if she would see him when she next visited one of the brothel-ships floating in no-man’s land, just outside the Interworld’s jurisdiction. Her customer would sell the man for an even greater sum to one of these brothel-ships, probably for twice as much. She was in the wrong job.

  Alex resolved to not look at his face when they transferred him to the customer’s ship. No use getting all emotional and tangled up in morality. Extract the target. Transfer the target. She was good at it and well paid for it. Soon, she’d sell the Femme Metal and retire on some nice, quiet colony on the rim. She’d have a garden there, a real, honest-to-goodness garden. With live plants and herbs. The works. She’d heard herbs smelled entirely different as plants from what they did in shakers. Alex couldn’t wait to find out.

  The soothing rhythm of the ship’s boosted engines whirred somewhere beneath her. She should get a shower. And something to eat. Sleep filtered in like fog over a marsh and Alex closed her eyes.