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Author's Note - This is a sequel to a story that isn't mine, and it uses
characters and situations that I did not create.  Halliday Dasker, the
world of Halivar, and the Havilari people are the creation of Andrew
"Aethan" French, author of a story, titled "Treasure Freely Given", that I
stumbled upon while searching for naughty "cabin boy / pirate" stories on
the Internet.  His captain, cruiser, crew and their mission are somewhat
different.  They appear here, somewhat altered to better suit my own tale,
with his kind permission.

DISCLAIMER - This story contains graphic descriptions of consensual sexual
acts between males, some of whom are adolescent, and who are sentient,
alien beings that are essentially anthropomorphic wolves, tigers and so on
in a science-fiction setting, and contains elements of fetish fashion,
genetic engineering, body aroma / pheremones, machine-sex, domination and
submission, voyeurism, humiliation, oral sex, anal sex, oral-anal sex and
watersports. If any of these things disturb you, or if reading about them
wherever you live is illegal, then please do not read this story. If on
the other hand this sounds like a good time, then you have found the right
place. Try not to get anything on the keyboard.

                 Awakening

                  by Toni Daring

My name is Dasker, Halliday Dasker, from Halivarr, captain's mate on the
starcruiser Gvadakoung.  How I was captured by pirates and ended up as
cabin boy to their captain is its own story.  This is what happened after.
Remember, I was only just off-world for the first time as a cadet
travelling to the Scout Service Academy at Phojla, and had not yet done
much fooling around except with other Halivarri boys in Guides and stuff,
and we'd been too shy to do much.  My first night with the Captain had been
my first real experience.

But all Halivarri grow into their genetic imperative, in time.  This has
been engineered in my species to be instinctive and reflexive, our tactile
senses and erogonous response heightened, our pheremone production
increased and, according to some, our minds keyed to be latent psionic
telempaths.  Our build is small, smaller than the vargyr we were designed
to serve, but lithe, supple and softly furred. Our females are bouncy and
all curves. Our males are broad-shouldered, slim-waisted, well endowed in
front, with a tight round bottom behind. We purr and shiver when
stroked. You get the idea.

The genetic imperitave has two separate stages or factors, related in that
one triggers the other.  Bonding, which is an emotional imprinting upon a
superior to whom one is instinctually obedient and reliant for affection,
and a condition of rut which is not focussed upon the bonded mate, but is
generally responsive to any stimulus and can override fight-or-flight
reactions or in extreme cases even self-preservation instinct.

I understood the bonding, which I had just experienced with my Captain the
previous night, enlisting in his service and letting him awaken me to my
body's instinctive needs.  Some strongly-bonded Halivarri sequester
themselves with their bonded mate, wishing to experience their heightened
needs only with that person. I had thought to do that with my Captain. The
rut, triggered by my first real sexual experience, was only just beginning
to lighten the darkness of my awareness.  But really, I had no idea what
was just starting to happen for me.

"Dasker, wake up," said the Captain, slapping my bare bottom.

My tail flicked for his wrist, but he was too quick for me. I blinked awake
to the sting of the slap and my half-hard cock boucing in the previous
night's wet spot. My thighs parted as I arched and stretched across the bed
- my captain's bed - where I had eventually, it seems, gotten some
sleep. As I stretched, the hand that had swatted me stroked up my inner
thigh.  "All in one piece, shipman?" The Captain's hand reached the top of
my thigh and his thumb teased at my cleft.  I pressed back into his hand
and my tail gripped his arm as his thumb circled my trembling ring.

"Yes, sir. Just a bit - ulp! - sleepy." I yelped softly when his hand
reached under me to grab my sex, his thumb still circling at my little
bud. He chuckled and withdrew his hand in spite of my whimpered complaint
and rolled me over onto my back. He smiled and ran his big hand up the fur
of my belly, grazing nipples with his fingertips, brought his thumb up to
brush my lips for me to taste him there.

"I'd love to come back to bed, but we have to get you up instead," the
Captain said briskly. I looked around for my things, but the Captain just
handed me a medical smock. "You are on my crew now, Dasker. You'll need a
physical exam, and a uniform. Report to Doctor Courangara in sick
bay. Then, see the duty officer for your assignment."

"But I thought I would be... serving you here, Sir," I said as I rose and
slipped on the short hospital gown, which didn't cover my bare backside at
all, and tented a bit in front, in spite of everything we'd done the night
before.

"And you will, Dasker," he said more gently and gave me a personal smile
before becoming serious again. "But you also have duties to the ship and
her crew, as do I.  See the doctor, then the duty officer. I will see you
at the captain's table, Dasker, twenty-one-hundred. Dismissed."

I saluted and made my way to the passageway and the infirmary, feeling the
Captain's eye on me as I left.  The passage was relatively busy - I had
slept well into the first duty-watch - and crewmen eyed me curiously as I
passed. They had all heard the announcement from the Captain the night
before that I had joined the crew as captain's mate. Now they sized me up,
nudging each other and chuckling at the medical smock that left my tail and
backside on display. I was blushing when I stammered the Captain's orders
to the reception bot, which didn't notice but sent my on through the door
to the doctor's office. "Come in, Dasker. The Captain told me to expect
you."  A deep, rumbling male voice. My arousal twitched, ridiculously, the
tent at the front of my smock more noticeable.  I pushed it down and went
in.

Doctor Courangara was rakashah, a bipedal, sentient tiger. In spite of his
massive size and powerful build, he seemed gentle in his lab coat and
glasses in a metal frame that bridged his wide nose. He gestured toward a
platform with complicated looking equipment about it, all white and
sterile. The black tiles of the platform were warm to stand on and made my
feet tingle pleasantly.  "The system scan is painless and doesn't take too
long. Just stand where you are, hands on these grips. You don't need to
hold on too tight. Just so." he tapped the control console on his desk and
a variety of subtle sensations swept through me. It nearly tickled.

"Not too uncomfortable, I hope?" asked the doctor. I shook my head,
resisting the urge to look down. "Good, then. The scan only takes a few
minutes, and while we wait for it to complete, the captain wished me to
talk to you.  I am a doctor of genetics, medicine, psychology and
xenobiology, Dasker.  It might be better if we had another Halivarri to
explain things to you, but the Captain says you have a lot of spirit, and I
think you'll be just fine."

"Fine with what, sir?" I asked. I was perspiring slightly, and the aroma of
my own body reminded me I had not yet showered since my experiences with
the Captain. I wondered if the doctor, with rakashah senses, could smell
it.  At the same time, I was anxious to know what concerned him.

"Dasker, like all species created in the Age of Expansion, Halivarri have
certain traits that make them suited to certain things.  Your particular
species was altered in its genetic structure to transform an ordinary
reproductive instinct into a finely tuned instrument of sensory awareness
and feedback.  I understand the theory, but have never treated a Halivarri
awakening to their genetic imperative before.  I will know from this scan
what conditioning and nutrition your body needs, just as your physical
measurements have been read by the central system and a uniform dispatched
from stores."  This last as a hatch opened, showing a tray on which were
folded crisp, white garments.

"Go ahead and get dressed while I process the data," suggested the doctor.
"Your wrist unit has been keyed to medical monitoring, just as a safety
precaution."  I was still tingling from the scan as I stepped to take the
clothes from the hatch. There was no screen to change behind.  I blushed
and took off my smock. The doctor gave me a small smile and looked back to
the display on his console.  I took the pieces of my uniform and put them
on.

The uniform consisted of white shipman's pants, belled at the calf but snug
otherwise with panels buttoned on each side in front and back and an open
fly for my tail, and a white, short-sleeved shipman's shirt that covered my
shoulders and the top part of my chest, but left my abdomen bare from my
nipples (the top pair that is, the other two smaller pairs further down my
abdomen being exposed as well) to the low-riding waist of the trousers, the
back panel hugging my rear with a glove-snug fit and the front cradling my
half-aroused sex like an arm in a sling. Shimpan's boots of impervic molded
themselves to the arch of my feet.

"The captain wants you to have plenty of interaction with the crew,"
explained Doctor Courangara in his soothing tones, "so you will be assigned
ordinary shipman's duties for part of your day. You also will follow a
regular program of physical exercise since, although perfectly healthy, you
are not conditioned to the demands of starship life, and this will correct
that. Do not omit the massage session following your exercises. It is a
necessary part of your condition training."

The doctor paced with silent steps, circling me as he spoke. "You may find
your developing senses are distracting or overwhelming as your body
adjusts, Dasker, so I am prescribing this anti-anxiety medicine. Use it
when you need it." He pressed a bottle of small, pink tablets to my wrist
unit, which stored them for me. "Let me know if you need anything at all,
Dasker. The gymnasium system will walk you through the exercise program in
the third watch."

"Yes, sir, and thank you, doctor." He saw me to the door and as I walked
past he let one massive paw gently pat my bottom.  It felt heavy and
huge. I squirmed just a bit, a seam of the snug pants slid along the cleft
of my rear as my sex swelled. I felt myself blush, but when I looked back
the doctor had gone.

As I made my way back out to find the duty officer, I felt the uniform
cling and slide, slick and snug against my skin.  My underarms felt damp
but looked dry, as did my pants where the front panel bundled around my
sex.  The hem of the shirt just brushed at my top nipples, makining them
stiffen.  A crewman whistled as I passed and, not having any better plan, I
asked him where I could find the duty officer.

"Aw, you have a watch? Too bad. I was hoping you could have lunch with me."
He grinned wolfishly and his eyes ranged over me. I blushed. His own
shipman's uniform flattered his rangy build and hugged his taut thighs. The
front panel of his pants didn't look damp, but I could see the plain
outline of his sex, its tip just peeking out of his sheathe. "Name's
Orngg." He offered a hand. I gave him mine and he squeezed gently, with a
stroking thumb, and drew me closer. "What's yours?"

I could feel the warmth of his body in the small space between us, and his
vargr senses could surely smell what I could. "Halliday, or Hali..." I
stammered a bit. My tail reached and curled around his leg.

"Murchar is duty officer. D-deck, right at the lift." He tilted his head to
indicate the direction as he spoke.  "But maybe I'll see you later, if you
get sent to engineering or shuttle-bay. I work third watch with my mates."

"I have gymn, third watch, but after that nothing until twenty-one
hundred."

"I'll come to the gymn after third watch, then, Halliday," He drew my hand
in his down my body to stroke at all three of the nipples along that side
with his thumb, "...or Hali." His callussed thumb slid along my waistband,
my hand still enfolded by his. "You can meet my mates."

"Uh..." I hesitated. My sex throbbed, and my pants became even more snug.
I was very aware of Orngg being very aware of me and I didn't know what to
think about it. A shrill whistle called the watch, and I jumped.

Orngg grinned and stepped back. "It's a deal, then. Don't let old Murchar
give you a hard time. D-deck."  He swatted me on my bottom and I bit my lip
recalling the Captain that morning and the doctor just a moment ago as he
headed off with a parting grin.  I pulled myself together and headed for
the lift.  I couldn't understand what had come over me, but when I thought
about Orngg I knew I'd hang around the gymn later to see him again.

I thought also of Doctor Couranga's bottle of pills as the lift descended
to D deck, but I'd stopped perspiring and was more or less getting used to
the tight uniform, and decided I didn't really need one.  The lift door
opened for D deck, and I stepped out into a utilitarian corridor, dimly
lit, humid and rattling with distant activity. It was my first visit to the
working part of the ship. Previously, I'd only seen the passenger deck.

"Captain's mate Dasker reporting for duty, sir." The duty officer was
grizzled and unsmiling as he raked me with eyes that missed very little.

"You're late, shipman," he said.  "Doctor cleared you for duty nearly ten
minutes ago." He waited for me to explain, but I knew better.

"I am sorry, sir. No excuse, sir."

"You might think being captain's mate gives you privileges on this ship,
Dasker, but lets get one thing straight." His voice was nearly a
snarl. "I'm duty officer. You're crew, and while you are a shipman on this
vessel you will answer to me first and wag your tail at the men on your own
time, understood?"  Yes, he knew I was Halivarri.  I didn't bother to
contradict him or explain.

"Understood, sir."

"I had meant to start you off easy, Dasker, but I can see that was a
mistake.  Instead, I am sending you down to E-deck. You will find cleaning
supplies in the supply closet.  Clean up the aft relief station, then head
forward and clean that one, as well. Your wrist unit will instruct you in
ship procedure, and your duty ends when you are finished, not at third
watch. All that clear, shipman?"

"I have exercise in the gymnasium third watch, sir, doctor's orders."

"Too bad.  You finish here first. Doctor isn't duty officer, Dasker, I
am. Tomorrow you will be on time. Now, get to it."  At least he didn't
smack my rear.  His hands looked big and meaty.  I wondered what that smack
would feel like.  This is crazy, I thought, but just muttered "Yes, sir,"
as I saluted and took the lift down to E-deck.

E-deck was dimmer, dirtier, warmer, and more humid, and I had to look
around to find the supply closet. I'd expected a mop, but instead there
were just a sort of towel with two sides, one textured for scouring, the
other soft cloth, with a disinfectant sort of smell.  The packaging rated
them for cleaning all surfaces.  I took one for the aft relief station and
another for the forward, as each was only intended to cover so much area
and that is what my wrist unit recommended.

My nose gave me a hint as to what a relief station was if the duty
officer's attitude hadn't, and as I came to the end of the aft passage I
saw I was right.  The relief station was the crew urinal for the aft half
of E-deck, which served the cargo bays and ship support systems, and seemed
to either get a lot of use or else not get a lot of cleaning, or maybe the
duty officer only assigned someone here when he was in a bad mood.

It was a long, narrow room, with doorways at either end, and drains spaced
along a sort of trough in the floor beneath a tiled impervic wall. The
drains would empty into the water reclamation system, but it looked like
the crew came and went in a hurry here.  Much of the floor would need to be
wiped down from backsplash, and the tiled wall looked pretty gamey as
well. I sighed and opened a towel, consulted my wrist unit, and set to
work.

I had not yet finished in the aft station when two short whistles sounded
the half-watch and some crewmen on break came in to relieve themselves. I
ignored them at first, though they nudged each other and joked among
themselves at me washing the floor on my hands and knees.  I heard one of
them say, "captain's mate", some more lauging, and then a few of the bigger
ones headed over to the end of the room where I was cleaning the floor
beside the trough.

"He looks Halivarri, alright," said one of them, looking me over as he
opened the front flap of his trousers, took out his piece, and sprayed down
the wall beside me with a grunt. "Can tell by the way they stick their ass
in the air what's on their minds."

"Yeah," said his mate, coming around behind me and unfastening his
trousers. "Cute little fucker, ain't he?" He tugged at his cock a little
before letting loose.  He angled his stream so that his backsplash sprayed
around me.  Others were crowding around this section of wall as
well. "Oops, you'll have to clean that up, won't you."

I looked back to the first, who still had his cock out, stroking it as his
friend sprayed down the floor near me. Others were cupping themselves in
their pants as they watched. "Uh, why don't I get out of your way here," I
said, standing.  A hand from the crowd behind me stroked the back seam of
my pants, and my tail curled to meet it.

"Now, where's the fun in that?" asked the leader, a brawny shipman who
chucked a knuckle under my chin to make me meet his eye as he played his
free hand over my bare belly, ruffling my fur and stroking my lower
nipples.  "It true you're from Halivarr?" My hips arched reflexively as his
hand stroked lower and my sex was slick and seeping in my pants.

"Uh, yessir," I muttered.  It was like the encounter with Orngg, only there
were so many of them all around me, getting in close to touch my fur or
stroke my tail.  The hand caressing my backside stroked down my cleft to
tease the seam where it rubbed at my tight ring and I gasped.

"You have the responses, alright," he said with a knowing grin as he
pinched at a nipple. "Too bad we only have a few minutes.  Come back when
we're off-duty and we'll show you some real hospitality.  This is just to
give you something to think about till then."  He drew me close and kissed
me, with the smoky taste of chatang gum to him which I mostly don't like,
but he played his thumb along the front of my pants and I arched against
him instinctively and shivered. His crewmates laughed and leered, then
filed out at the whistles sounding the end of their break, until I was left
alone, dizzy and panting.

The outside of my pants still looked clean and dry where they hugged my
sex, but when I slipped a hand inside to feel, I was sticky and seeping,
and the scent of my arousal was even thicker around me than the stink of
the urinal. I was having difficulty breathing.  My wrist unit
chimed. "Medical monitoring detects sensory overstimulation," came a
reassuringly neutral digital voice with the same calm bass timbre as the
doctor. "Symptoms may be alleviated by doctor's perscription." I remembered
the pills, took one, and was soon feeling much less overwhelmed, almost at
a distance to myself, and was able to finish in the aft relief station and
the forward one as well without further interruption, and made it to the
gymnasium not far into the third watch.

I had the training equipment to myself at this hour, by the doctor's
arrangement I felt sure. Unlike the duty officer or the rough crewmen on
E-deck, I got the feeling that Doctor Couragara understood that I needed
time to myself to sort out all my reactions to my new life as a shipman and
captain's mate.  The medicine kept me alert and focussed on the exercise
regimen, which was demanding in some ways but gave me something to pay
attention to instead of the barrage of sensations my body had awoken to.
Although the work-out caused my clinging uniform to slide and stretch over
my skin, my arousal had subsided and if I thought of my reactions to Orngg
or the crewmen on E-deck, it was with a detatched sort of interest and I
didn't dwell on it.

I ended the workout routine, and my wrist unit directed me to an automated
massage cubicle. I peeled off my shirt, trousers and boots and laid prone
on the padded table as directed.  The impervic plass surface was warm and
molded to my body as I stretched out and felt the massage-arm swing over to
knead at my shoulders and the nape of my neck.  I sighed and relaxed,
thighs parting instinctively as the automated system analyzed muscle
fatigue and tension and directed its steady efforts to each point in turn.

"The patient is dehydrated and requires nutrient replenishment," came the
soothing voice of the medical monitor, and I found I was indeed thirsty.
"Drink from the black nozzle until thirst is alleviated." A rubbery tube
emerged near my lips, which drew on it and tasted cool fruit juice with a
bit of a tang. I drank deeply, and felt myself relax further.

"Is there something funny in this?" I stopped long enough to ask.

"The nutrient drink contains water, sugars, trace minerals and supplemental
vitamins matched to your metabolic requirements," said the digitized voice,
"as well as muscle relaxants and a mild euphoric.  The patient will drink
until he is no longer thirsty." I shrugged.  Doctor Couraganda had
prescribed the restorative, and I was really thirsty.  The massage unit was
working my neck, shoulders and down my back steadily.

As it spread to the small of the back my tail twitched and I bucked against
the impervic plass padding of the table, parting my thighs. When I had
enough to drink, the nozzle withdrew and I laid my head on the cushion to
enjoy the massage.  Automated fingers kneaded at the base of my tail, which
curled instinctively around an arm of the unit, which responded in turn by
applying enough tension to stretch my tail pleasantly as the kneading
worked the aches and stiffness from my buttocks . I would have squirmed but
was too well-sedated to move much.

"Medical monitoring detects residual tension induced by ongoing sensory
stimulus," came the calm, expressionless voice of the system synthesizing
the deep rumble of the rakashah doctor. "Diagnostic systems recommend
modification of treatment parameters to proceed with patient affirmative."
I felt further massage apparatus lower over my backside and thighs, then
pause.

"Uh, affirmative," I replied.  I was too comfortable to object and the
fingers playing around the base of my tail felt really good.  Then the
pliable fingers of the massage unit began stroking along the inside of my
thighs and the soles of my feet, the units kneading my buttocks began to
glide along my cleft, and my hips arched against the padding beneath
me. The table pulsed warmly as it conformed more closely to my torso,
applying gentle, stroking suction to all six of my nipples, and even
opening between my legs to engulf my arousal in quivering impervic gel,
which constricted to tug slickly and slide my foreskin around the crown of
my cock. The massage manipulators zeroed in on my tight pucker, still a bit
sore from my night with the Captain, and softly stroked there applying a
soothing cream.

I began panting and the black nozzle emerged again, and my lips suckled
there instinctively. The taste was different this time. I liked it.  "The
nozzle is now configured for sensory response and therapy feedback, and
will reintroduce bodily fluids depleted by tension release, allowing
replenishment to accompany treatment at the patient's direction." I didn't
quite follow that, but I did notice that the pace of my suckling at the
nozzle was matched by the tugging around my cock and suction at my
nipples. I licked the nozzle experimentally and felt the swipe of my tongue
conveyed to my own nipples and sex, and even to the sore, shivering bud
below my tail.

There was only just enough fluid seeping from the nozzle to get a taste,
but I knew I was drinking the precum seeping from my cock along with some
of my own perspiration.  I bucked reflexively at the impervic gel about my
captive sex, and began to really go to work on that nozzle.  The sensation
relayed to my body was incredible, and I was intoxicated by my own scent,
part sexual arousal, part adolescent sweat and even a lingering hint of the
relief station's funk.  A soft pressure stroked at my ring until I relaxed,
then began to slowly thrust into me. My hips pushed back to meet it, and I
came.

My whole body shook with my release, and the nozzle gushed warmly into my
mouth with the slightly salty, slightly bitter flavor of my own seed, which
I drank down eagerly.  For a timeless while I lost track of everything but
the sensations stirring me as I bucked and squirmed under the caresses of
the massage unit driven by my body's urgency.  In time, a second orgasm
shook me, and eventually a third, though by now my seed was getting thin
and watery.  I began to feel sleepy and drifted off, still rocking myself
slowly against the apparatus, and then knew nothing.

                     #

A hand swatted my bottom. "Hey, I thought you were done at the end of third
watch." I looked up.  The massage unit had withdrawn once I fell asleep,
and now Orngg was grinning at me.  "Must have been some workout," he said,
scenting the air with a grin.  I couldn't help but notice his arousal given
the fit of his shimpan's pants, out of its sheathe nearly to the knot and
splayed against his thigh under the tight fabric. "I finished early, but
didn't want to, uh, interrupt," he said with a grin, "so I just watched.
You've been under for nearly an hour."

"Um, doctor's orders," I replied.  My sex had been released by the impervic
plass beneath me, and had the plumpness of half-arousal in its sated state
that had been more or less continuous since the previous night, at least
when it wasn't throbbingly hard. I reached for my clothes, sat on the edge
of the table and dressed.

"If you'd waited, I might have been able to help with some of that, you
know, instead of wasting it on a machine.  How was it, though?" Orngg
watched me dress, then offered me a hand up.

"It was, uh... good, I guess." When I stood he didn't let go of my hand but
stroked it with his thumb and drew me closer. "I feel great."  And I did. I
felt well rested for the first time all day, relaxed, clear-headed and
alert. I let myself me drawn and his free hand stroked the fur of my belly
as he leaned in.

"I'll bet," he grinned. "How was your duty-watch?  You smell like E-deck."
He didn't seem to mind, and my tail reached around to curl around his
thigh. "Or, rather, you smell like E-deck after a six parsec hump. I
thought you would break that massage bot."

"I was late, so the duty officer gave me latrine duty.  And this work crew
came in when I was cleaning and..." I trailed off, not quite how to express
what had happened there.  Orngg's free hand cupped the nape of my neck and
I rested my head on his chest, nuzzling where his uniform shirt exposed his
fur.

"They ganged you bad enough to need a medical bot?" Something in his voice
sounded angry, I looked up, but he only looked concerned for me, his eyes
warm and grave.

"No, no... they just, uh, made more work for me and kind of fooled around
on me while they did it.  It confused me, but I wasn't hurt.
Just... worked up. Then they left."

"Worked up enough to need every manipulator arm the massage bot has, hunh?"
He was grinning again, his hand stroking down my back to my tail. My hips
arched and I felt his warm sex snug against mine. I shivered and
purred. "So long as you'll still come for a drink and to meet my mates,
then?"  It was a request, but a hopeful one.

"If you like.  Should I use the fresher?" I was acutely aware that I still
had not washed, and even felt traces of the massage unit's lunbricants
under my uniform.

"Don't you dare. I love how you smell right now."  He licked at my ear and
slowly bucked his arousal against mine.  "Everyone with think I got you
like this and will be jealous." He grinned and nipped my neck.

"Now you're teasing me," I half-protested, acutely aware of my state after
a night with the Captain, duty on E-deck, a workout and my massage.

"Not at all," he smiled toothily.  "See, if I were teasing I'd just leave
you like this, but I have something better in mind later".  His hand
stroked under my tail slowly and I parted my legs a bit, squirming as the
seam slid against my slick ring.  "But I want my mates to meet you first."

"Well, if you like.  Where to?"  I stepped back a bit and struggled to tuck
myself into my pants in a way that my arousal wasn't completely obvious,
without much success.

"There's a canteen for crewmen, food and drink. A bit expensive for every
day but tonight it'll be my treat.  What is your pay schedule?" He led me
from the gymnasium down the passage toward the lift.

"Uh, pay?" I hadn't even thought about it.

"You're on the crew, right? Captain said so. And if you are pulling duty
watches already, you'll be getting paid some time." He grinned.  "For now,
don't worry about it.  I got paid yesterday, so I can cover you. Whatever
you like."

"Uh, not if it's too expensive, Orngg, I mean..." He cut me off before I
could finish.

"We all know you didn't exactly plan on being here.  I talked to my mates
and we've decided you could probably use some friends to help you adjust to
ship life. This isn't the passenger liner we kidnapped you from, and it
isn't school.  Things could have gotten ugly with that crew on E-deck.
Please, Hali, it's not just that you're Halivarri - not really.  I mean..."
Orngg trailed off uncertainly. I could tell what my scent was doing to him,
but he was too considerate to pressure me.

"Hey, no - its okay. I'd like to meet your mates, maybe get something to
eat? I'm starving.  But when I do get paid, next time is on me."

He smiled.  "It's a deal then. Come on."

The canteen was a spacious lounge forward on C-deck, dimly lit, with
viewports showing the starstreams streaking through the hyperspatial matrix
in all the colors of the spectrum.  Small tables were set back in alcoves
along the wall, and I followed Orngg to the back to where four other
crewmen were waiting.  They looked variously surprised, pleased to see us,
or both.

"Hey, you really weren't kidding!" said the closest, a young vargr with a
lot of red in his pelt.  "It's the Halivarri, alright. I so owe One-eye
now. I had a bet that you were just making it up."  Orngg grinned, and a
burly, scarred vargr at the back of the booth chuckled aloud.

"Don't worry, Yrrvng, I'll take it in trade," said the one called One-eye.
The red-furred vargyr seemed to blush, or at any rate closed his mouth long
enough for Orngg to introduce me.

"Mates, this is Halliday Dasker, or Hali.  Yes, he's from Halivarr and if
you're nice maybe he'll tell us about it.  Hali, this is Yrrvng, One-eye,
Arrvis and Chooch. " Arrvis was a black-furred vargr, older than Orngg and
much older than Yrrvng who I guessed to be around my own age of sixteen,
but not as grizzled as One-eye. Chooch smiled a bit distantly.  He had
beads and feathers plaited into the ruff of fur that framed his muzzle and
he was smoking something sweet in a slender silver pipe. His eyes didn't
seem to focus on me as he looked my way and spoke.

"So came the Bird of Thunder to the son of the chieftain and rapt him away
to the Heavens."  I couldn't tell if this was part of a story he had been
telling before I arrived, a blessing, or a poem.  The others took no
exception to his utterance, so I just gave a sort of a nod. Orngg leaned
close to my ear to explain.

"Chooch is our dreamseer, or chaplain for the Hand of the Maker. Don't let
the dreamgrass mislead you, he has great gifts." I nodded, and he grinned
at his crewmates.  "Now, shove over, Yrrvng, so we can squeeze in."  He
patted my bottom again and I let myself be led to a seat, winding up with
the young vargr on my left and Orngg on my right.  As I settled in, I saw
Yrrvng's nose twitch, and he gave Orrng a sidelong look, then grinned at
me.

"Menu's on the table display.  Since you're new here, it's our treat," said
Yrvnng affably, but I noticed him shift a bit on the bench seat, and felt
his thigh brush against mine, raising my temperature a notch.  "Just stay
away from anything marked in green - that is xenovore fare and would really
not go down too well."

I turned my attention to the menu, trying not to be distracted by Orngg's
arm around my shoulders or Yrrvng on my other side.  It was a fairly broad
menu for a starcruiser. I could tell eating here was something of an
occasion.The musky scent of male vargr was all around me and I was finding
it difficult to concentrate. I tried hard to think about food, but wound up
ordering the first thing that looked good.

At the same time, I was aware of the impression my own scent must be making
with Orngg's friends.  He was grinning to himself, and they were eyeing him
and me speculatively. The others registered their own orders with the
catering unit after careful consideration, and Orngg ordered a pitcher of
Otahi ale for the table while we waited. The crisp, heady taste sharpened
my appetite as it relaxed me.

"Been away from Halivar long?" This from Arrvis, speaking for the first
time.

"Um, not really.  I did a semmester's orientation at Norn, then was on my
way to the Academy at Phojla when our ship fell into your ambush."

"Yeah, sorry about the whole kidnapping thing," offered Yrrvng.  "But like
the captain explained, sometimes it is the only way to get our message
across to the Imperium.  No one was hurt, and everyone but you has kept to
the passenger deck and will be freed for ransom when we reach Alyxs."

"No, no, I told the captain and now I am telling you.  I know his mission
and I agree with it - with all of you.  This is better than the Academy.  I
only hope I can help." I wanted the crew to know I was in it for the cause,
as well.  Some time I'll try to explain what the Captain was fighting for,
but just now the details aren't important.

"Hope is the Hand of the Maker reaching for tomorrow.  Where intent is
pure, his blessings surely follow," said Chooch with a dreamy smile.  "Our
captain has found new heart, and the crew is pleased for him.  Pleased as
well to have a Halivarri with us, whom the Maker shaped to show his
lovingkindness to us all."

"Hear, hear," said One-eye, reaching past Yrrvng to tousel my hair and
stroke at my ear.  "This ship has needed a change of luck, and everyone
knows a Halivarri is lucky on board a starship. And easy on the one eye
I've got." His grin was even toothier than Orngg's. I felt Yrrvng, pressed
against me by One-eye, shyly stroke a hand along my thigh and pressed
back. On the other side, Orrng smiled to himself and sipped his ale,
occasionally stroking at my tail where it was still curled around his
thigh.

Arrvis nodded at the shaman and One-eye and raised his glass, "To Halivarr,
then, and to captain's mate Halliday Dasker, and the Hand of the Maker
uphold him."  The quiet vargr smiled to Orngg in a way I didn't quite
follow, but I lifted my own glass in salute and drank.

"To Halivarr." The toast echoed around the table in five vargr voices and
my own.

"Do you miss it at all?" asked Yrrvng.  I had the feeling that his first
tour of duty away from home must have been hard for him.

"Not really.  I have hardly had time to yet, and everything here is all new
to me.  I'll miss my family, and maybe my friends, but I'd planned to be
four years at the Academy in any case, so it's not so bad.  And I'll see so
many new places now."

"I bet your friends miss you, though," said Yrrvng, as he breathed against
my neck.  Vargr communicate a great deal by scent, and as Orrng had
expected my night and day so far had layered me in a variety of interesting
odors.  For his part, Yrrvng smelled of welding flux, active adolescent
vargr with a hint of, yes, E-deck under the overwhelming aroma of beer. The
combination was not unappealing.

"Oh, most of them were off to work or school already, really. I was the
runt of the litter." I shrugged. I had not been anyone special on Halivarr,
except to my folks.  "I guess my parents do, but they still have my sisters
and brother at home."

"I have brothers," said Yrrvang.  "I'd miss them without my mates.  I was
the youngest at home, too." His breath tickled the fur of my chest where my
shirt stopped. I looked over to Orngg to see if he minded but he was just
smiling and stroking my tail along his thigh. One-eye grinned, drank and
patted Yrrvng's head fondly.  It was plain that the scarred greymane had
taken the younger under his care, and quiet Arrvis had an affinity with the
mystic.  Of the five, Ornng seemed the odd one out.  The food arrived
before I had much time to think about that.

During the meal, I learned what their work routine was like as technicians
in the engineering section. Only Arrvis and the dreamseer, Chooch, seemed
to regard me in a peculiarly spiritual light, though the Hand of the Maker
was pretty well established among vargr in this quadrant of space, and I
knew Halivarri were regarded as the Maker's gift to the faithful and
industrious.

One-eye was the pack elder, and seemed pleased to include me as a sort of
mascot for the prestige my presence the captain's mate, brought him, alpha
of his work crew. Yrrvng was clearly eager to make a new friend and Ornng
basked in the pleasure of having been the one to introduce me, his hands
wandering often enough to remind me he was pleased to have me beside him,
and he frequently patted or stroked my tail where it wrapped his thigh.

We'd finished the meal before fifth watch and I wasn't expected by the
captain until the sixth, so One-eye asked if I'd care to come to their
quarters, as the canteen was getting full and rather noisy. I looked to see
what Orngg though, and he nodded, so I agreed.  Yrrvng was sent ahead to
make the place presentable, and the rest of us had another pitcher of ale
to give him a head start.  As we walked from the canteen to the aft
quarterdeck, Orngg explained their arrangement to me.

"We vargr are strongly social, and our work groups are like surrogate
families to us.  I signed on with Arrvis eight years ago, One-eye was
second to our section chief, we had a company clerk instead of a chaplain,
and of course Yrrvng hadn't elisted yet. On our second tour, Arrvis and I
split up, not over anything bad, but he wanted to get more into the Hand of
the Maker, and Chooch had joined the crew.  One-eye became section chief
and took Yrrvng, uh, under his wing when he joined us on this tour. He's a
good pup, and Arrvis is still a friend, but I bunk alone."

I took this in as we made our way to their den, a common room, catering
unit and fresher, and four sleeping cubbies, one of which was opened out as
a couch onto the common room, the other three set back as beds.  The den
was cozy, warm, dim, and the air dense with the scents of prolonged
occupation. Orngg steered me to the couch, absently fiddling with the base
of my tail. Yrrvng met One-eye with a stiff drink in a small glass.  Arrvis
and Chooch hoped I'd have a pleasant stay, but excused themselves from
joining us.

"Hand of the Maker service," explained One-eye, "It's more than I have time
to bother with, but I stll say a Halivarri is good luck.  And if I don't
read it wrong, Orngg here is feeling lucky already.  Been hard for him,
losing his mate to that mystic, though he doesn't complain much. What's
this I hear of trouble on E-deck?" He paced and sipped his drink, but
shooed Yrrvng to sit beside us on the couch, and Orrng pulled me into his
lap to make room.

"Uh, no trouble really.  Just a work crew horsing with the new guy. You
know how it is." I shrugged.

"Know how it was when they got rough with Yrrvng that one time.  I'd have
airlocked the bastard if the cap'n hadn't put him in the brig until we made
port, then discharged him.  You have any more trouble, you let me know."

I promised I would, and figured if I could catch a hint of E-deck on Yrrvng
tonight - and I could with him sitting beside me - he hadn't been scared
off for life, and maybe whatever arrangement he had with One-eye didn't
preclude him going there in his off-time.

"Is E-deck that dangerous?" I asked Yrrvng as he settled closer, sniffing
at my neck again now that he didn't have a meal to distract him.

"Not really.  They can be alright, just get a few hard cases now and again.
Mostly with green recruits, like me." He shrugged and I slipped my arm
around his shoulder.  "And One-eye likes the smell on me. It reminds him
he's my hero." He grinned, and One-eye smiled fondly.  "I like the smell on
you, too.  Next time you have duty there, let me know?"

"Told you," Orngg murmured in my ear.  I could feel his arousal against my
seat, and his hand closed over mine to stroke along the fur of my belly
slowly.

"Told you, what?" asked Yrrvng. His muzzle was sniffing along the collar of
my shirt, his eyes watching Orngg stroke me with my own hand.

"Hali wanted to use the fresher before coming to meet you.  I told him he
smells good," explained Orngg as he drew his thumb along the waist of my
tight pants and cupped my hand in his along my sex literally under Yrrvng's
nose.  I could feel his own cock, unsheathed to the knot, pressed along the
vale of my ass and I rocked slowly in his lap.

"You do smell good," said Yrrvng.  "I want to lick you." And he did: the
warm, wet tip of his tongue darting out to lap at my right nipple where it
showed pink below my uniform shirt.  Orngg's hand still stroked mine along
my sex, occasionally unfastening a button of my pants. I shivered and
squirmed.

"How do I taste?" I asked.

Yrrvng grinned "Like our captain had you up all night before duty-watch on
E-deck and a workout after, and you haven't used a fresher since.  Am I
right?"

"Yes," I admitted as he lapped at my nipple again, then nuzzled lower to
find the next one.  Orngg unfastened another button and arched against my
seat, panting against my neck. I realized his trousers were undone in the
front and his bare cock was pressing against the slick, dry fabric of my
uniform pants. One-eye had finished his drink and was watching us with a
speculative look.  Earlier in the day, I'd been embarrassed by looks like
that from the crew, but I felt safe here, or something.

"Were you really under the massage bot for two hours?" asked, Yrrvng, still
nuzzling lower to the nipple just above the waist of my trousers. Orngg has
the buttons all down one side of the front panel unfastened, and had
slipped my hand with his into my pants to wrap around my hard cock, the
callus of his thumb teasing my foreskin.

"Yes. After E-deck I was ... having trouble relaxing."  I became aware of
Orngg's other hand moving to undo the buttons of the back panel of my
pants. I shifted a bit to give him more room to do so and he made a sound
like a growl in my ear and pumped my cock more deliberately in my grip.

"Did it... do the thing with the nozzle?" Yrrvng's muzzle was nosing at the
open waist of my pants, his breath hot on my sticky skin and ruffling the
thatch of fur below my navel.

"You mean where I could lick it and feel my tongue lick at my nipples...?"
I asked, "and at the tip of my cock, and even, you know, lower down?" I
arched my hips and he buried his nose in my pubes while Orngg folded down
the back panel of my pants and pulled me back to slide his sex along the
cleft of my bare ass.

"Yeah, that's what I mean." Yrrvng lapped along my seeping cock as Orngg
pumped it with my fist, and I rocked my bare bottom slowly along his pole.

"And where I'm tasting my own juice the whole time, and the massage bot is
slowly spreading me and vibrating under my tail and pumping my cock as I
suck on it?" My cleft was wet from Orngg sliding up and down in the
remaining massage lubricant and I felt him shift to press the tip of his
cock against my quivering bud.

"Yeah, like that," panted Yrvngg as he lapped at my hand and Orngg's and
nuzzled all around the root of my sex. I looked past his head in my lap and
saw One-eye had come up behind him and was stroking down his back to the
base of his tail which is wagging against a pronounced bulge in at the
front of One-eye's trousers.

"And when I cum, my spunk is fed back to me for as long as I keep at it?"
I trailed off in a whimper as Orngg's thick cock speared my ring, sliding
in with a single slow thrust until I could feel his knot snug against me
before drawing back out.

"Mm hmm..." Yrvnng's tongue skinned back the head of my cock and his teeth
nipped its length.  "Did it?"

"And then it gets a massager past my ring and is thrusting there, pumping
in and out, in and out as I lick and suck the nozzle for the taste of my
own seed?" Orngg nipped my neck and pumped in and out slowly as I spoke,
teasing at forcing his knot in as well.

"Yeah, like that."  I stroked my cock all along Yrrvng's muzzle as I rode
Orngg's thick cock with my quivering hole.  "And did you have to piss?"
Yrvnng murmured against my cock and then gasped softly as One-eye thrust
into him from behind.

"I didn't then," I said, "But I do now..." The ale had been making me
uncomforatable for a while, though I was only just noticing it.  I let just
a few drops squeeze out to wet Yrrvng's muzzle.

"Do it now, then."  His warm brown eyes met my own as he panted against my
wet cock.

"Told you," Orngg murmured again in my ear and gave another testing thrust
against my stretch-sore ring with his knot, and I could feel his vargr cock
seeping steadily inside me. "Go ahead, he wants you to. So do I."

                    #

While all this was going on, the Captain was meeting with Doctor
Courangara.  I wasn't there, but the conversation was logged by the central
system, and later my Captain would tell me about it.  They met in the
captain's ready-room, just off the bridge.

"Well, doctor, how is the patient?"

"Dasker? As healthy a young Hallivari as I have ever seen.  While I have
never treated one awakening before, medical monitoring shows him well
within the known parameters of health for his age and species, and only one
episode so far which required medical intervention."

The Captain frowned.  "Yes, about that incident.  On E-deck, was it?  If it
is anything like what happened to young Yrrvng, I'll want to..."

Doctor Courangara "No, Arrhnn. Nothing like that." The rakashah laid one
steadying paw on the Captain's shoulder, and continued in a soothing
voice. "Monitoring indicates sensory overstimulation.  I've analyzed the
report, and it was the chemicals in the cleaning pads that disoriented
Dasker. He was not hurt in any way, and in fact completed his duty-watch
and the following condition training."

The Captain nodded at this.  "So the massage session was..."

"Simply a part of his condition training," assured the doctor. "And also a
way for me to collect relevant data that an ordinary physical exam couldn't
provide."

"And?" said the Captain

The doctor considered, staring out the viewport at the multihued
starstreams beyond. "Arrhnn, I am a scientist, and not a vargr, so you know
I don't have much interest in the Hand of the Maker, but sometimes I could
almost believe."

The Captain arched his scarred eyebrow and cocked the opposite ear. "Tell
me."

"Vargr are gifted with a relatively sophisticated olfactory sense, within
an eight-tone, twelve-note perceptual range. Our young Hallivari has begun
to produce pheremones across a ten-tone, sixteen-note range that completely
covers the vargyr scent-perceptum."

The doctor paused, then continued. "It even extends into the range of my
own more limited field of response.  Given the chaotic territorial signals
in the E-deck relief station, the attention from the crew could hardly have
been avoided. I'd say on the whole they showed an admirable restraint, and
that your example in the case of young Yrrvng was salutory."

"Then you do not think it was a mistake to have him mix with the crew?"

"Not at all.  We shouldn't isolate him in his current state, certainly. His
genetic imperitive cannot be met solely by massage robots and you, my
friend.  And keeping him from the crew would only stir up resentment of
your own fortune in bonding him."

"I see," said the Captain. "Where is he now?"

"Monitoring shows him on C-quarterdeck, Captain."

"Alone?"

"Not at all.  He is with shipmen Frrngr, Orngg and Yrrvng, in their
quarters."

"A good crew." The Captain nodded. "Thank you, doctor.  I will see you at
dinner. That will be all."

                    #

"You were late at dinner, Dasker." The Captain paced behind me. I stood at
parade rest where he'd had me wait when we'd come into his quarters.  I
could smell the whiskey in the glass he carried.  He could certainly smell
me.

"Yes, sir." The whiskey reminded me of One-eye pacing before me and
Yrrvng's beery scent, and I fought to keep my tail still.

"My duty officer reports you late for second watch assignment as well." He
had stopped pacing, directly behind me.

"Yes, sir. I am sorry, sir.  No excuse, sir." I wished I could search his
face.  His voice was unreadable.

"I value punctuality on this starship, Dasker. I realize that a military
regimen is new to you.  But while you are a member of this crew, you will
please see to it that you are where you should be, when you should be
there. Do I make myself clear, Dasker."  He had stepped forward, looming
behind me, close enough for me to feel his body heat.

"Perfectly clear, sir." I stilled my tail again before it could enwrap his
leg.

"Very good, shipman.  As you were." I was sure he had noticed my scent at
dinner, but he had not said anything about it, and his demeanor since had
discouraged questions.

"Sir." He remained where he was, and I couldn't turn to face him yet.
"Shall I go and freshen up, sir?"

"No." He stepped forward so that he rested against my back, his muzzle
leaning in to breathe at my collar. "I prefer being able to smell where you
have been," He shifted his stance so that his hips rested against the small
of my back, and I could feel his maleness press just above my tail, which
had wrapped around his leg before I could think about it. The Captain
spoke, low against my ear, "and what you've been doing." His warm hands
stroked my exposed torso, pulling me back against him.

"Shall I undress, sir?" His bristly muzzle tickled my neck as he drank my
scent.

"No, Dasker.  Just unfasten the panel of your pants." His hands stroked my
fur, burrowed after my smaller nipples, grazed my waistband.

"Front, or back, sir?" My hands had reached back before I'd asked.

"Both, Dasker.  It is one panel. Remove it."  He breathed at the nape of my
neck as I unfastened the buttons down either side in the back, and one of
his hands reached for the base of my tail.  My fingers fumbled with the
buttons in front.  The trouser legs and waistband remained, and my tail was
still snug in its port, but my sex and bottom were left bare.  "From now
on, Dasker, whenever you are attending me alone here, this is your
regulation dress. Is that understood? His hand in front raked the fur below
my navel.

"Yes, sir." I remembered the hospital gown, and if my sex hadn't been hard
already, the order would have done it, if his roving hands didn't. I
shivered.

"And I will tell you when to use a fresher from now on, as well."  I could
feel him sniffing down my back. His hand teased under my tail.

"Yes, sir." He still hadn't touched my cock, but the caress of his hand all
around my belly and inside my thighs was making me shiver and purr.  My
voice drops about an octave, when I purr.  I'm told it sounds sultry.

"That aside, you may ...continue to spend your free time as you please,
provided you can be punctual for your duties, Dasker."  He was nuzzling up
my flank now and I lifted my arm.  His tongue grazed my nipple.

"You really don't mind, sir?" He tucked his head under my arm and the hand
on my tail caught me under the knees as he lifted me in his arms.  I looked
up and saw that he was smiling, and curled against him.

"I really don't, Dasker.  You have bonded to me, and that means I know
where you will come back to.  And you are my mate.  But you are Halivarri,
and young, and I don't want to inhibit your experiences.  Ship life doesn't
offer a lot of privacy, Dasker.  But I don't want to limit your choices any
more than they already are."  As he spoke, he carried me into his stateroom
and laid me on the bed, and smiled, and spoke again while he briskly
stripped.

"As it is, I can tell you have had a busy day, and I plan to sniff every
inch of you." He stalked toward the bed, leaned over me. "And I want you to
tell me all about it, from the doctor's visit, to shipman Orngg, to E-deck,
and the massage cubicle, and C-quarterdeck."  His muzzle ranged over my
neck and chest, under my arm, between my legs, his hot breath wafting my
own scent toward me.  "And then I intend to show you who you are bonded to,
Dasker, whatever crewman you let tie his big vargyr cock up your pretty
little ass, and what that means for you and me. Do I make myself clear,
shipman?"

I was purring so hard I could barely speak. "Yes, sir".