A Pleasure to a Prequel

Gloria. I wandered what she was doing just now. Did she ever get married? Did she have a young family now? Me and her somehow found each other right before the battle of Marine Five. That was a long night. A long wait. Our position kept getting shelled but our defenses held up. With bombs exploding outside and above us, both of us knowing that there was nothing we could do other than wait for rescue or die repelling capture, we found each other and in the night we made love like there was no tomorrow. That was over two years ago but now that it was on my mind it was like it was yesterday. The loud music in the casino was almost like those bombs dropping and it was bringing it back to me. And now another war but not with some small time idiots who should know better than to pick a fight with the Empire. This was going to be with the Republic. This was going to be bad. But we had no choice. Honor demanded that we could not surrender. Better to take your own life then to give yourself up to the enemy. Imperials expect no quarter and with the Republic likely they won't offer any.

"Master?" I heard Lola say as she found me sitting there. "Are you ok?"

"There's going to be a war."

"Are you sure?"

"I have to go fight."

Her expression of surprise left her speechless. "You're a soldier?"

I was surprised by the question. "Every Imperial is a soldier."

"I thought you were here on business."

"From 17 to 24 you're in the army. Everyone. Some make a career out of it but me I wanted to do something more peaceful. Not everyone in the Empire can be active service for life. If we were who would grow the food?"

"So you're free then."

"Not if the Republic attacks. We'll have to defend ourselves and with an enemy like them the Imperial Navy will need everyone. We'll have to slaughter them in great numbers to make them back off." I said as the memory of ships blasted in half and dead bodies floating in space came back to me. "If they attack we have no choice."

"You don't want to go, do you?"

"War is no substitute for peace but if we must fight, we MUST win. You've heard what Republic soldiers do."

"I've heard some stories."

"Don't worry, though. I'll make arrangements for you. If I leave I'm probably not coming back so I'll make sure you can stay in the house and I'll leave you enough money. Just promise me you'll obey the law from now on and won't get in trouble."

She reached out for my hand. "What do you mean you're not coming back?"

"I'm an Imperial. Battle big or small we fight to the death."

"Have you ever ..." she started.

"Killed someone?" I finished. Sigh. I nodded. "Not as many as others but yes. Grey Side, Big Wood, Marine Five."

"You were in those battles?"

"You heard of them."

"The names are familiar but just as something I heard." She was looking at me with great concern on her face which I assumed was just for herself and what would happen to her if I did not return to be her master. But this planet had to have provisions for what happened to a slave if the owner died. Then her eyes looked away from me and darted to my glass. "Oh, master, you're drink is gone. I'll get you another."

I nodded and she went off to the bar. I was no longer in the mood for hooking up. Now I just wanted to go home.

...

Snap. That was the sound the guy's knee made when I broke his leg. I had moved into action the moment this all started. The asshole hadn't seen me coming so I could have just killed him but before taking his life I wanted a question answered and if he didn't have the right answer then I would kill him. Oh, and look, he had a weapon. Let me go ahead and just take that. I grabbed the pistol just in time too because other asshole in a similar uniform decided to take a shot at me.

Moving quickly, moving quickly. My target, the asshole, and me were now barricaded between the side of the vehicle and the wall. Other civilians were running for safety and I had to take a shot at the shooter to keep him from approaching.

"You're dead, scumbag." the shooter yelled as he got cover.

Communications console. Imperial code. Emergency SOS. Class V. Target acquired. Send.

"He's sending a signal." the asshole with the broken leg yelled out.

I pointed his own pistol in his face. "One more word out of you and I will remove your jaw from your dead skull so your mom can't have an open casket funeral."

His eyes went wide and thankfully he shut the hell up.

"Girl. Take this knife. If he moves, cut his throat." I said as I unstrapped the knife, pulled it out, and offered it to her.

"Me?" she said with shock and panic in her voice.

"Do as I told you if you want to make it out of here alive."

"uh. Ok." she said while shaking.

"You're not going anywhere alive, asshole." the shooter said. "Surrender. Give up now and you'll at least live to see tomorrow morning. I'll make your death quick so it won't be painful."

"This girl has refugee status. That means she's an Imperial dependent. That puts her under Imperial protection. Attacking her is the same as attacking the Emperor himself. So now it's a matter of honor. I suggest you drop your weapon."

"You don't scare me, empire scumbag."

"I have half a mind to kill this other mutt just for looking at me wrong. If you want your partner over here to live to see tomorrow I suggest you start addressing me as SIR. Cause in this moment you do NOT want me pissed off."

"You're surrounded and out numbered, you piece of shit. If you hadn't noticed, you're the only one left. There's no help for you. So here's what you're going to do. You're going to throw the weapons away and come out with your hands up."

"Here's what you're going to do. You're going to put your weapon down and kick it over towards me. Then you're going to lay face down on the ground with your hands behind your head."

"I'll give you to the count of ten."

"I'll give you to the count of three. After that this city's going to be a hole in the ground. I suggest you start the evacuations."

"One." the enemy called out.

Just then there was a huge explosion not that far away. Was that from his side or my side?

Ahem. "Three." I yelled out.

My communications console lit up. "Rescue four. Rescue four."

"Right here."

"Class V. What's the situation?" the operator asked.

"Imperial Dependent located. Need evac. Unit all one. Channel not clear." I said.

"Bird down. Stan set." the operator announced.

"I'll be here." I said.

"What does that mean?" the girl asked.

"If we don't make it out of this alive then everyone here dies cause this city won't exist in about an hour and a half."

"Everyone?" she asked.

Yeah, everyone but I didn't answer. It was silent for a moment and then ...

My eyes popped open when I felt a hand come to my shoulder. I reached for my gun but my hand found nothing. At the same time I was going to also reach for the hand and inflict pain on whoever had thought it was a good idea to touch me. However, my senses came back to me quickly. I wasn't there on that mission anymore. I was in my house. Not my apartment in the Imperial capital. I was in my house on Blelm at a lake outside of Brazfix city. The hand was the hand of a girl named Lola. She was my ... ahem ... slave.

"Are you ok?" Lola asked me.

"Just a bad dream."

"You sounded very angry."

I nodded. "Just a bad dream. Don't worry."

"Do you want some company?"

I was confused by her question. What time was it? Two in the morning. "I guess it's fine if you want."

She pulled her nightie off over her head in order to comply with the law and be naked and then she got into bed with me and my body noticed her female form as she cuddled up to me. Her hand reached over across my chest as I tried to relax and get back to sleep.

"Goodnight, master."

"Goodnight."

I took in a deep breath as my mind was remembering that mission. We'd rescued ... or rather I had rescued that refugee girl. The other three in the ad hoc task force had died right after landing because the enemy was there waiting for us and we were significantly outnumbered. The Muzal had taken the girl after attacking a hospital ship. The girl wasn't an Imperial but she had found herself on an Imperial hospital ship after a clone rebellion on Ilna forced all the humans to flee. We had to get her back and my team had all died except for me. Ok, it wasn't my team cause I wasn't in charge but when I was the only one left I had to carry out the mission all one. And I did. I got her out of there alive. And I had done it without killing anyone. I didn't have the luxury of avenging my comrades. I had to fulfill the mission. That was the priority. That was why I didn't kill anyone. Not like the life of a Muzal was worth saving. They're savages. So their lives didn't matter to me, officially.

"Master, can I ask you a question?"

"Huh? Uh, sure."

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

"What?" I asked as the question had for me seemed to come out of left field. "Sure. Of course."

"Am I a five. A ten. What do you think?"

"Not a five. What are you talking about? You're like a ninety or ninety five."

"Ten is max."

I rolled my eyes. "Nine or nine point five then. What difference does it make?"

"I guess it doesn't. So then, what's your idea of a ten."

"A ten. You're asking about perfection and in real life that doesn't exist. But you're very pretty."

"If perfect did exist, what would she be like?"

What was she fishing for? Did she just want to rub it in that I was the only Imperial here. That I was in country all one all over again. "She'd be here."

"Master." Lola began as she brought her lips close to the side of my face. "I am here." She moved her hand down my chest under the fabric of the sheet down towards my ...

I stopped her hand. "Lola. You don't know anything about me."

"I know you're nice to me. And you're kind of what I think of as a ten. And I belong to you. I just want to make you happy. I've never been with a man before and maybe ..."

"Lola, wait. If we do anything like that. If we do it tonight, then what about tomorrow? This isn't a situation where you have no choice. You have the option to think about the future. I'm going to leave this place, maybe sooner than we think."

"Can I come with you?"

"You can't go where I'm going. Regardless, I don't think they'd let me take you."

She accepted that and then pulled her hand away. She laid there next to me and somehow even with a massive erection for her, I found sleep.

...

I saw to getting Lola an education in the mornings and then I arranged for her to work in the afternoons helping me set up the new company office since I was not going to have her working as a dancer anymore. All morning on Monday I was busy getting keys to the new space and ordering furniture. The landlord offered me time with his sister to help seal the contract but I told him that I was an Imperial and we didn't do things that way. So instead the company would pay a little extra to compensate him for his sister missing out. Talk about the world being backwards.

After lunch Lola showed up wearing what she claimed was her most conservative clothing but it was still way too revealing for working in an office. I sent her to the store to buy stationary and when she came back she wasn't wearing a top anymore. Her breasts were exposed for everyone to see. I asked her what had happened but she giggled and said that she had spilled ink on her top so she couldn't wear it like that. Then she came up to me to hug me and told me she was sorry.

"It's kind of lonely here in this big empty office." she said. "I worry about you, master"

"That's no reason to not wear clothes."

"Master, we have this place all to ourselves. Do we really have to spend the entire time just working?"

I gently had her remove her hands from me. Then I pointed at her allegedly ink stained top and directed her to put it on anyway. Then I pointed for her to get some work done.

Was she finished for the day. Of course she wasn't. When we got home I was watching what passed for TV here and Lola came to sit with me on the sofa. At first she was sitting next to me but then she did a thing where she wanted to be sitting on my lap. I was trying not to pay attention to her but then I felt her wet pussy make contact with my let just above my knee. She was grinding her pussy on me and as she did so she lifted up her skirt to reveal to me that she wasn't wearing any underwear. I watched her ass as I felt her get herself off. I was so tempted to touch her ass. My hands had a desire of their own to feel her skin. But did I do that? No.

"Are you finished?" I asked when it seemed that she had cycled down from her orgasm.

"Just a moment, master." she said.

She got off of me but then she sat next to me and turned to me. She moved her body to face me and she pushed one of her legs to get between my back and the sofa. I was annoyed but I had to hold myself in because another part of me needed to be held in check. She brought her body close to me all the way to her breasts and pussy touching me. She put her head on my shoulder while one arm was resting on my back. Then the other arm went to my groin and she was feeling my erection through my pants. I was motionless because I honestly believed that if I made any move at all I was going to just give in and take her.

Did I take her? No. I eventually found the strength to get free and I had to go have a cold shower.

And that was just Monday. On Tuesday she called out to me from the toilet saying that maybe something was wrong with it. When I came to see she had no bottoms on. All while I was checking to see if anything was wrong she was standing there and making no attempt to cover up.

After finding nothing wrong with the toilet I left her there to get back to what I was doing which was looking over resumes to see who I wanted to invite to an interview. Resume after resume I noticed a very strange pattern. Women applicants listed their husbands, brothers, and male friends as references while the male applicants listed their wives, daughters, and female friends. It must be a local thing cause in the Empire those were not the kinds of people you put as a reference. Wait, were they listing these people as references for something other than what in the Empire we would think of as a reference? No, don't think about that. Surely not everything on this planet had to do with sex.

On Wednesday the desks arrived and Lola helped me carry some of them in. After a few she said she was so tired that she had to just lay down for a second. I shrugged my shoulders but then she laid down on top of one of the desks and spread her legs. Was she wearing underwear? Of course not. As I was standing there getting a full open view of her she was looking at me with anticipation. With difficulty I forced myself to move to a place where I could not see her and just continued to work.

On the plus side I was able get confirmation that day for a new contract signing. More deals were in the works so things would likely pick up again. Of course that meant more of those shows I had to watch.

Then Thursday right as she was arriving at the office I told her to behave. I wanted no shenanigans or nudity. This was an office for work. She obeyed and worked but then at one moment she came over to me and asked if I needed my shoulders rubbed. I didn't think there was anything sexual in that but once she started rubbing my shoulders she found a way to make it sexual.

Once we got home that day I somehow found myself admiring her body as I watched her cook dinner. She knew I was watching her and she would look over at me and try to be cute. I have to admit this was getting to be too much now. Too much pressure was building.

On Friday she was helping me unbox chairs and put them together. I made sure she was too busy for any of her pranks. To keep my mind off of her I wondered who would take over this operation once I was gone. Likely the company would have to send in someone too old to be called back to active duty. George came to mind. He could do it but he had a young wife with small children so they might not want to move here.

The timing was perfect as it came around to six just as the last chair was finished. That was all for today. Lola was telling me that there was this really good ice cream shop so we went to this shopping district that was all enclosed inside of one huge building. I instantly felt my respect and appreciation for Lola increase when we were walking in when I saw a sign posted that said the company operating this shopping arcade had made a rule of no nudity and no sex on the premises. Inside there were many various shops. Lola got distracted from ice cream and went into a dress shop.

"How do you think I'd look in this?" she asked me.

How should I know? "Cute."

She turned to the full length mirror and looked at her self while holding the dress in front of herself. "Oh, I wish I could get it."

"So get it."

"No, I better not."

"If you like it, get it."

"You think so?"

Did she really want to have a five minute conversation about buying a dress or not? "Here." I said as I fetched some local currency out and offered it to her.

"Master!" she said. "I'm not allowed to take money from you."

"Take it. You're other clothes aren't really appropriate for working in an office so you need new clothes anyway. Here."

"Yes, master." she said as she received the money and then she submissively went about looking for more things to buy. That submissive demeanor changed to a playful prance when she found this really cute top. She was smiling ear to ear and she wanted to try it on so she went to the staff to ask about the changing room while I was waiting and just looking at the news on the nearest connected surface. War hadn't started yet but the build up of forces on both sides was accelerating. But of course with news feeds this was always old news.

Messages sent from one place on a planet to another place on a planet traveled at the speed of light and so they seemed instantaneous but actually they were not. Communications signals sent between systems traveling at the speed of light would only be traveling at just the speed of light. That sounds fast but actually it's not. With such greater distances it could take centuries for a message to get received. In contrast our ships traveled at many times the speed of light so the fastest way to send a message from one system to another was to actually go there. That meant when I'd send an email to my mom it would go and get stored in the local relay and then wait for a ship to get it and carry it closer to the Empire. Eventually it would get passed over ship to ship until it reached my mom. It was the same with news so fighting could have already broken out and there could already be declarations of war and I might not hear about it yet.

"What are you doing here?" I heard an angry voice say.

I looked up and saw Lola looking down as the shop staff guy was yelling at her.

"You don't belong here. Get out."

Lola was pointing at me and explaining something but I was already coming over towards them.

"There better not be a problem." I announced as I arrived.

"This shop isn't for her." the man said.

"That doesn't make any sense so you're going to have to explain yourself to me. And I SWEAR it better not have ANYTHING to do with her wearing a collar. You got a problem with how I treat my slave? HUH!"

The man was shocked into submission as he cowered back from me.

"Lola, strip naked." I said.

"Master?"

"Do it."

She lowered her gaze and started to undress and the shop guy frantically started shaking his head.

"Sir, please we can't have this. This is not a sex shop."

"Lola, stop." I said and then I turned back to the shop staff. "My slave needs new clothes."