One Month Ago

“I… I don’t see anything…” Vela said gravely as she stared at the blue grid on the screen before her. A few small asteroids as well as what looked like a planet off in the distance, but other than that they were alone. “Virgo’s gone… They must not have got out in time.”

“Damn…” Juno grunted, looking blankly out into the empty stars before them. He saw the planet too, but that was it. No ships, nothing. “You think they got to their fighters in time?”

“Juno… I.” Vela said, lowering her head slightly. She leaned forward, using the computer’s console to brace herself. “No… They were taking more direct fire from the Sekhemt than we were. There’s no way they had time.”

“That’s it… Capricorn hasn’t checked in, Virgo’s down… Leo hasn’t reported in from the Helio Sector either. Pisces and Cancer are gone… We need to get back to Earth, regroup and find out what the hell’s going on with a full-scale counter offensive. We’re no closer to finding Mizar’s homeworld, if Leo and Capricorn are down that… That makes us the last ones.”

“Sekhemt is still following us Juno…” Vela said, looking back over her shoulder to her brother sitting in the command chair. “If we retreat, we’ll lead them right back to earth. We have to finish our mission…”

“At least we’ll have a fleet at our backs there.”

“What fleet?” Vela replied, leaning back into her console a little bit and looking to her brother with concern riddling her face. “Leo and Capricorn are the last of the Jet Force out here. We have to keep looking… We’ll run, keep them chasing us but we’re faster. They won’t catch us… Then, when we find out where Mizar’s forces are headquartered, we’ll find a way to blow it. We’re assassins now, not soldiers…”

“You’re right Sis…” Juno grumbled, letting out a long sigh. “We’ll keep looking. We’re in hostile territory though, supplies are going to be limited. Rations, and conserve all the water we have. You know this is a suicide mission, right?”

“That’s all we ever do, isn’t it?” Vela replied sarcastically, “I’ve set course toward an old Earth Empire space station out here. If it’s still there, we can ransack it for supplies.”

“Good… We’ll need it.”

Two Days Ago

“Ugh…” Mat groaned. His body was stiff and sore, his mind overwhelmed with sensations as he struggled to gain the energy to move. He was stuck… Like a fly on flypaper, sweat had dried around his tiny body adhering him to the inside of the sock he was in. It didn’t help him at all with his energy, the constant influx of pleasure into his system kept his mind clouded. He didn’t know where he was, other than the fact it was dark and that the sock he was in hadn’t been washed in days…

The lights flicked on, flooding his fabric prison as he finally got a look at his surroundings. The sock was white, off-colored and dirty from days of use. The smell was still rancid too, thick with musky dried sweat. Why anyone would go this long without a shower was beyond him.

Vela’s feet slid over the edge of her bed, gently padding onto the metal ground as she sat wiping the sleep from her eyes. It had been nearly a month now and the group hadn’t been caught by Mizar’s fleet. Juno and Lupus were already on the bridge, and it was about time that Juno’s shift ended and Vela took over. They had an overlap of a few hours between their shifts so that they could work together at times, each having started to sleep lightly just in case they were attacked. Leo and Capricorn never checked in, they were the last of the Jet Force. They had no contact with the Earth Empire for weeks now… Their situation was dire, and they were running dry on food and water. Showers weren’t allowed, wasting water wasn’t allowed. She stood up after a few minutes, donning her well-worn armor and running her fingers through her long, blue hair that fell over her shoulders.

“Still alive…” She said under her breath, closing her eyes for a minute before she sat back down. Her socks and boots were on the floor at her feet, and she had to muster the energy to get them on. After a few minutes of waiting, her stomach aching with pain, she reached down and snagged up one of the pair. She slipped it on, cringing a bit at the sensation of a stale sock on her skin – but there was nothing she could do. It almost seemed like the folds were a permanent part of the fabric now.

Mat rolled to the toe section helplessly as she pulled the second one up, the motion causing his little body to dislodge from its spot in the fabric. He squeaked, but she didn’t hear it at all… Lazily she slid her foot into it’s place… She could feel something, like a pebble, under her toes… She flexed the digits a bit in her sock, her toes gripping it roughly as she tried to figure out what it was.

Mat’s body was assaulted by the action. Her musky skin had taken him deeply into the space beneath her toes as they tightly clenched around his body. His bones creaked, his body ached – but there was nothing he could do about it. The intense smell lofted over every bit of his little body, his arousal pulsing with life as he felt pleasure washing over him with each beat of his little heart.

“Probably nothing…” She mumbled to herself as she slipped her feet into her boots and made her way toward the command room.

“Sleeping beauty awakens…” Juno said sarcastically as Vela entered the command room. He took a sip of his coffee, leaning back in his chair. “We’re about to make a pass near Goldwood…”

“Think we’re getting any closer?” Vela asked curiously as she made her way toward the communications console on the upper catwalk. When she arrived, she began to fiddle with the communications console a bit – Tapping her foot to try and get rid of whatever it was beneath her toe. It was annoying, but so was the hunger and lack of showers available on the ship. She wanted to scan the area, figure out what was going on - Everything came up green, no contacts...

“No… Lupus, See anything?” Juno asked, their armored pooch stood valiantly near the ship’s glass looking out as the ship passed through Goldwood’s asteroid ring. They began to make a pass toward the moon, before an alarm began to chime.

“H… Hey.” Vela said, her glove-clad fingers flying on the keyboard as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. “Juno, We’re getting a distress call from the planet. I’m routing it to the main console.”

“Huh?” Juno grunted, looking to the screen ahead as he saw it change. A tribal child came into view, followed by a blast of green blood. He tossed his cup over his shoulder, the glass shattering as Vela ran down toward the main command console. As soon as the glass shattered, he too jumped up from his command chair to see what the signal was. The planet had been invaded - It looked like there was an occupation effort underway of enemy forces.

“We don’t have the manpower to help.” Vela said, letting out a sigh. “If we had Virgo…”

“Damnit…” Juno snarled, slamming his fist onto the control console. Just then, the entire ship shook. The lights dimmed, and the sound of explosions breaching the hull filled the command room. Juno looked around, then back to his sister standing next to him. "We're being boarded..."

“How? There were no ships, I just did a scan a second ago. How did they sneak up on us.”

“Doesn’t matter. Get to the ships, Now!” Juno ordered. The three didn’t have time to argue, Vela and Lupus ran first with Juno taking up the rear. They exited the command bridge, running toward the exit tubes in order to escape. The cruiser's main guns were disabled and engines were offline in the initial attack - If they stayed to fight, they'd be dead. Just as they passed a door to the left, the hatch blew. Juno fell back, but instead of staying down, he rolled to the side – drew his firearm – and discharged a full magazine into the breach. The sound of screeching insects filled the hall.

“Juno!” Vela yelped, turning to go get her brother.

“No, I’ll hold them off here. Get out, that’s an order.”

She hesitated for a moment, pulling her tri-rocket launcher from her hip before nodding. The two ran to the flight deck elevators, the glass shutting around them. Vela watched as she descended, her brother disappearing before her eyes…

Present Day

So much had happened... The Jet Force team should have stayed together, but they were always apart it seemed. Juno had come through for her on the S.S. Anubis, a cargo ship that Vela had boarded thinking it was friendly - only to find out that it too was occupied. However, she managed to sneak aboard the Sekhemt... Her work was far from over, but at least now she had a chance to fight back the hard way. One girl against the whole battleship. She figured out where Mizar's Palace was, and this ship was her way through their defenses.

Her lungs heaved in and out as she walked, still feeling that pebble between her toes with each step. Mat was miserable... The heat and sweat had nearly killed him, and if it were actually a human stuck there they would have died from heat exhaustion long ago. The smell was worse - However, Mat was overwhelmed with pleasure. His heart raced in his chest as his arousal was forced between her toes, each step she took was another blast to him. The sensations were made more intense by the sweat that coated every bit of her sole. He was going insane with pleasure...

Then it happened. The sound of gunfire filled his little ears again before Vela became weightless. The space opened up between her sock and the sole of her foot for just a moment - enough for the jolt of the motion to send Mat's body sliding down beneath her sweat-soked sole. She landed... The force blasted down on Mat's little form instantly shattering most of the bones within his body. His organs were pushed to the left side, his arm forced behind his back as his arousal was slid up against his stomach. Blood drained from his mouth, he was damaged and now he was in a very bad place.

Vela ran down the corridor of the Sekhemt with a machine gun in hand. Her palms were numb, the adrenaline in her body made it impossible for her to register Mat beneath her sole - She was focused on survival, and on revenge. This was the ship that took down Virgo... The crew who killed her friends. The constant shooting from the machine gun in her hands was what made her hands numb - that, and she was now covered in the green blood of her enemy. It ran out of ammunition though, and she had to resort to her tri-rocket launcher once more.

After a few shots with that the corridor was clear, but her body ached... It was time for a break.

Slowly she walked over to the wall. There was a part that extended out toward the bottom that she could use as a seat. She needed it... Resting in a cell aboard the Anubis was a reprieve from the running - that, and she got a good portion of food when the insects of Mizar's fleet felt like feeding her. It was a cargo ship, after all. As she approached the wall, she felt a little pop against the skin of her foot. The pebble she felt earlier had flattened.

The sensation was strange, but she didn't care. She simply sat down, crossing one leg over the other as she smirked a bit.

Vengeance was sweet...

She never found out about Mat's demise... All of the running, all of the combat... His body was ground into paste, turning him into a sweat-mixed stain of brownish-red on her white sock. He was literally ground into the fabric, his pulped remains mixing deeply into the fibers of her sock - his little tomb.