Gamble

Kora Knox couldn’t believe the situation she was in. Two years ago, she had been a regular at her destination, but after a few months, she had relaxed her frenzy of activity and begun to accept that her new capabilities were not going to fade.

Now, she was headed back to the most exclusive brothel in Tormar City, and she had a very specific escort in mind though she had never met him.

She stepped off her transport and tipped her driver. The doorman took her hand and discreetly scanned her identification as he escorted her into the building. “Welcome back, Lady Gamble.”

“Thank you, Nolin. It is good to be back.” She winked at him as she passed the threshold and entered the comfortable and elegant surroundings of the Joshnilin Brothel.

A host smiled and came to greet her. “Lady Gamble, how nice of you to visit us again.”

She smiled, and a servant helped her remove her concealing cloak. “Good evening, Ekkar. How have you been keeping?”

“Very well. Business is brisk. May I show you to a selection room?”

“Please. A glass of loaral juice if you don’t mind.”

He smiled. “We keep it in stock just for clients such as yourself.”

Cyborgs. He meant cyborgs. Joshnilin Brothel was one of the few places that actually catered to those with enhanced strength and senses. The men did as asked and were very eager to please women who could snap them like twigs. It took a certain type of man to face off against those women and raise their game. Of course, most clients were not of a partially mechanical nature, so the escorts received premiums for the cyborgs they serviced.

Kora entered the very luxuriously appointed selection room and she rested on one of the couches, lounging comfortably on one hip while she scanned the three-dimensional offerings of the men available for the evening.

She flicked through the entire menu twice before Ekkar came in with her loaral juice. “Thank you, Ekkar. I have narrowed it down to three.”

“Shall I have them brought in?”

“Please. An image can only go so far.” She twisted her lips into a smile.

“Of course. Enjoy your beverage.” He smiled and inclined his head as he left.

She made her choices carefully and sent them to the summoner’s desk. The juice was perking her up and relaxing her at the same time. The floral flavour rolled over her tongue and down her throat as she swallowed. For cyborgs, who had an anti-rejection drug in their veins, this fruit juice was one of the strongest aphrodisiacs in the Nyal Imperium.

The walls were covered with muted tones and subtle reliefs. It was a pleasant place to spend an evening, very soothing.

She blinked and sat up. Perhaps skipping sleep while the
Star Fairy
burned through the skies had been a bit of an error.

A knock on one of the rear doors had her lifting her head. “Come in.”

Three men in snug trousers, silvery chains and very little else filed into the room.

She smiled and got to her feet. “Gentlemen, thank you for attending me.”

They all nodded and lined up a few feet apart. Two years ago, she would have taken all three and left them all grinning and wealthier. Now, she ran her hands across their shoulders one by one, finally settling on the Selna. She tapped him briskly on the shoulder, and he inclined his head.

“This way, Lady Gamble.” He extended his hand, and she slipped her fingers against his.

His body was to her normal tastes, well-muscled and elegantly arranged. Nothing would be considered unusual for her to select this male.

He took her up the private lift to his quarters and led her inside. Without another word, he walked across the room, removed his trousers and cuffed himself to the headboard.

She shivered at the image he presented. His cock was erect, no doubt from long practice. “Am I so predictable?”

He blinked his deep brown eyes in surprise. “You do not want me like this?”

She smiled and walked over to him, running her hand up his inner thigh, trailing her fingers around his cock, making it jump, before she continued her caress across his belly and up his chest. His skin was velvety with hard muscle underneath.
Perfect.

She lifted the elegant gown she was wearing, and the side slits allowed her to straddle him easily. She leaned in and whispered, “Oh, I want you…but unfortunately, I am your ride home, Neuro.”

He blinked and a slow grin came across his features, rendering his handsome face stunning.

She enjoyed the view for a moment before she used the stun pods in her palms to knock him out. She sighed and released his cuffs.

Gamble dismounted and walked to the dresser. There was a duffel bag and several bodysuits. She packed for him and prepared her credentials.

To preserve his dignity, she wrapped him in the silk sheet before she tossed him over one shoulder.

She headed back for the private lift.

Ekkar stopped her. “Where are you going, Lady Gamble?”

“This particular whore has a price on his head. I will forward you fifty percent of the bounty for the inconvenience.”

Ekkar blinked. “To the house?”

“No, Ekkar. To you. Now, my shuttle is on the way. Please stand aside. I don’t want to injure you.” She smiled brightly.

He was confused, but he smiled vaguely. “Have a good evening, Lady. I hope we will see you soon.”

“See you when I am in the sector, Ekkar. The selection is always perfect.”

She walked out the door and flashed her credentials at the doorman. He backed away, hands raised.

Her shuttle came in low over the city, and her personal air column lifted her into the belly of the ship with her burden. Whistling, she walked through the
Star Fairy
and greeted her friend and mind-mate.

Two flights of steps later and her burden was in one of the guestrooms. She slapped him awake and sat smiling as he got his bearings.

“Where are we?”

“Well, Neuro, there was only one way to pull you out without blowing your cover. I had to stun you and declare you a bounty. It worked, but my budget is blown for paying off the house master.”

He grunted and sat up. “What did you do to me?”

“Well, Guardian, there is only one way for a lady like me to handle a man like you.” She batted her lashes at him. “I stunned you and threw you over my shoulder like a sack of feed. Now, your clothing is over here in the duffel, no trackers. I checked.”

She patted his thigh and got to her feet. “You can have the run of the ship, but knock if you come into the command deck. I tend to get cranky when folks interfere with my territory.”

“Where are you taking me?”

Gamble shrugged. “I don’t know. I am going to tell my dispatcher that I have you, and from there, it is up to her. Do you have a regular posting?”

He shook his head. “No. I am a floater. I go undercover when it is necessary. I now have information I need to help with a few cases that the Peacekeepers need to close. It is amazing how many women think about work while having sex.”

She snorted. “So that is your talent? Picking brains while having sex?”

He grinned. “One of many.”

Without saying anything else, he got to his feet, reached into the braid at the back of his head and produced a key. His sheet slithered to the floor, and he stood completely, calmly nude as he removed the wide bands of cuffs on his wrists and ankles. She missed the silver against his skin, but he looked complete with the bands off.

“If you are recovered from the stunning, I am off to get a meal. The galley is up the stairs and to the left. The com in this room is secure, and the main cargo hold works well as a gym.” She mentally sighed as he started getting dressed. “Have a good afternoon.”

She headed up the stairs to her level and turned right. She had a call to make.

“Dispatcher Nitza, I am happy to say that I am here and so is my target. Neuro is hale and hearty, possibly calling the Peacekeepers at this very moment.”

“Well, thank you. You were the only one with contacts in the area that wouldn’t be questioned.”

“And I was a frequent patron of that establishment in the past.”

Nitza coloured. “That didn’t hurt. You have specific tastes, and they are on record. Thanks for getting him out. Reality was worried.”

“Reality?”

“His cousin. She is partnered with Exile and Whisk on Hakatha VI.” Nitza grinned. “Nepotism is alive and well in the Nyal Imperium.”

Kora snorted. “Well, he is alive and well. Just find me a place to park him and I will be fine.”

Nitza nodded. “I will get on it. Have a good afternoon. You look like you need a workout.”

“You have no idea. Goodbye, Nitza.” Kora disconnected the call and stretched. The
Star Fairy
was underway and heading away from the shipping lanes. Hanging out between stars was a good way to waste time.

Sexual frustration was her most common reason for working out. Heading down to the main level, she tried not to think of how close she had come to having sex before she rescued Neuro.

She dropped the gown to the ground, stripped off the jewels that she had worn to the brothel, and she put on a set of exercise shorts and a sports bra. With a request sent to the ship, the boxing unit descended from the ceiling. It was time for a workout that was more painful and less fun than the alternative of taking advantage of her guest.

She started hitting the dummy and paused every now and then to check her strike levels. If she had been hitting the ship, she might have dented the hull.

Having the implants in her body, reinforcing her skeleton and strengthening muscle, had turned her into something that she had never imagined she could be. She was just on the far side of normal but no longer able to shatter at the lightest touch.

Osteogenesis imperfecta was not an easy disease to grow up with, and since her case was severe, her life had been doomed to a series of inevitable breaks and caution just walking around in her own home.

When her application to the Terran Volunteers was accepted, she had been shocked. Her life had been a misery of pain and fear until that moment. The Alliance scientists had spoken with her after her acceptance and made her an offer. They could not do what she needed, but the Nyal Imperium had an experimental program that would involve invasive therapies and implants if she were willing to risk it. Her answer had been a resounding yes.

Now, six years later, she was up and around, an active and highly trained individual in the Nyal Imperium, wired to a ship that was worse than a nanny. The
Star Fairy
had intelligence and had been grown from her own cells mixed with that of another species. Its mind ran through the entire ship in all the electrical systems and com units. It was literally a ship made specifically for her.

Sweat dripped into her eyes, and she paused to wipe her forehead.

“Do you always make so much noise when you exercise?” Neuro was leaning against the wall, and it was obvious he had been watching her.

“Yup. I make as much noise as is needed for each situation I am in.”

She dismissed the boxing unit and summoned the treadmill.

“How do I summon equipment like that?” Neuro closed the distance between them.

“You ask the
Star Fairy
politely. I am afraid you will have to make noise.”

He chuckled, and she watched him inhale deeply. His eyes contributed to the expression of amusement.

She didn’t ask him why he was smiling. Selna had excellent senses for pheromones. He could probably smell her heat.

Once the Nyal team had completed her new systems, she and they had been shocked to find that her sex drive had increased by over one hundred times. It was as if her body had only been waiting for the cessation of pain to kick into high gear.

Unless she was paying for sex, she didn’t indulge. For her entire life, everything had happened to her. Now that sex was an option, she wanted to make all the decisions. It meant brothels, because those were the only men she could find who wouldn’t want to turn the tables. They were paid to lock themselves down, so they did.

The first time she had paid for sex, she had been horrified. She had flipped a coin in the lobby with the housemaster and earned herself the nickname Lady Gamble and ended up in bed with her first male whore. Once the first time was out of the way, she cut loose.

Every planet with a male whorehouse had been on her radar, and she picked and chose her escorts, sometimes selecting more than one per night. It was a game. Where there had been famine was now a feast, but eventually, all that meaningless sex had gotten boring.

She heard Neuro murmur, “Weight bench.”

It slid out of the wall with full magnetic controls, and Neuro started his workout while she continued on her five-mile scheduled run.

As he grunted and pressed the bar upward, he asked, “So, where did you get that gown?”

She grimaced. “It was in my wardrobe. Why?”

“It was very revealing. The men were right. They didn’t need enhancements with you. Your body oozes sex.”

She scowled. “That sounds unpleasant.”

“You are very desirable, even as a cyborg. There was a rumour that you had booked an appointment. The men were eager to be chosen.”

She smirked. “Yeah, I do all the work.”

“And you enjoy yourself. You know what you want and you go after it. It is a very desirable trait in my circles.”

She laughed. “Well, you are off the hook. You are free and clear until your next infiltration.”

“I have checked in and passed along what I learned undercover. Unfortunately, there is little that they can get me to do right now.” He kept grunting and turning up the weights as he worked out.

Kora had the sneaking suspicion that he was working off the same kind of restless energy that she was. She kept her gaze forward and kept running.

The
Star Fairy
scrolled locations and images through her mind. It always stuck to business when she was in this sort of a mood. Kora felt sorry for the young intelligence from time to time. She was by far the surliest of her cybernetic sisters, and the
Star Fairy
spent a lot of time trying to keep her calm.

The exercise equipment mixed in with the cryo tanks was part of the
Star Fairy’s
efforts to keep her relaxed. The ship had ordered the equipment installed when Kora had ceased visiting brothels. It had been a desperate measure, but it had worked. Her withdrawal and hyper-sexuality had eased with the regular outlet for muscles and sweat.

He switched from weights to a leg machine, and by the time he was in his zone with his workout, Kora was done.

She dismissed her machine and nodded. “Stay as long as you like.”

Kora grabbed her dress and headed up the stairs until she was on the third level and in her own rooms. The dress went into the refresher, and she hit the solar shower. She had earned a good night’s sleep.

Naked, she settled into the sheets, and she breathed deeply, trying to block out the images of the handsome whores and the naked Neuro. The ship helped her and fuzzed the images, letting her drift off into restless sleep that was better than nothing.

* * * *

Rhoda took the scan of the picture. “This is a first.” She sent the final set of images off to the
Star Fairy.

Charm came up behind her and pressed a kiss to her neck. “What is? You have sent your images to other Guardians before.”

“Yes, but never to one of their ships. It is bizarre. No matter how I try and paint Kora Knox, the ship is always there.”

Charm sighed, and Rhoda felt her eyes widen as he explained exactly why the ships and the women couldn’t be separated.

“Oh. Well, hell. At least her mate is a Selna. They are very interested in their mates at the best of times.”

Rhoda blinked as Charm turned her in his arms. “And I am not?”

She smiled against his kiss until it was impossible to keep grinning. He was insistent, he was determined and he was hers.

She hoped that Kora’s Selna was half as good in bed, for her sake.