Author's Note: This is hte first part of a new story line i've been writing - gone sci fi with this one so apologies to anyone not keen on that. I'd just like to say thank you to Conrad - no idea who you are and if you'll read this but thank you for re-kindling my writing flames with your feedback on my other stories.

Chapter 1

The end of the world didn't come like the classic Hollywood films of the 21st century forecasted, death and horror as nature exacted its revenge on the human race for its centuries of mis treatment. Instead the end came like a slow lingering illness, each moment that passed the earth grew weaker and more fragile as the toll finally showed.

Nicole stood in the hot accommodation block looking out the window at the arid landscape, the lush vegetation of decades gone by replaced by dust and sand. Coughing at the toxic air that could only be scrubbed so much by the cheap air conditioning units she looked over at the glistening biodome in the distance, the safe haven of the rich and powerful.

It was 2245 by the old calendar, nearly 35 years since the planet started dying and long before Nichole was born 19 years ago. She wondered just what this place would have been like only 50 years ago, some of the elders told tales of flowing rivers and green trees, something Nichole never had, and in most likely hood never would see in reality.

When the earth started to perish the world powers soon started moving aggressively into the safer green zones around the planet, northern canada, siberia and southern America. As tensions raised and the deserts swept across all equatorial areas something had to give. The middle east launched the first nukes, deep into the Chinese green territory that sparked a world war that almost eradicated the human civilisation. In 4 hours 99% of the green zones on the planet were wiped out, 78 % of the worlds population incinerated in an instant.

From that day on the survivors had to live in the sweltering desert areas to stay away from the nuclear fallout. The world powers came together and soon countries failed to exist, humans rallied together in and effort to stop the extinction of the entire race.

Only Africa escaped the nuclear blasts but the continent had been ravaged by the heat of the sun making habitation almost unbearable. So the biodomes were born, 50 started out to house the remaining millions of humans from all over, but they overflowed and soon admittance had to be earned or bought, the survivors building shanty towns close by.

She looked over to the shipyard supply docks in the distance before tracing the lines that shot into the sky up to the tiny specks in space. She smiled, knowing that up in orbit the latest batch of vessels were under construction and it would soon be time for the crew lists to be selected, not that someone like her stood much chance.

The arcs were humanities last hope of survival, everyone knew that. To date 14 vessels had been successfully lunched into deep space, each carrying on average over 5000 people to carefully selected planets capable of supporting long term life. The ESA (Earth Space Agency) had spent decades sending robots into space searching and its was only recently that three planets were confirmed as habitable.

The first ships launched immediately, a two thousand strong army of people along with a ship filled with equipment and supplies heading to each planet. The key was the deep stasis that doctors had discovered that allowed for the crew to be put into a sort of suspended animation. This meant that the 30 year journey would only seem like moments to the crew.

As people starved and the earth deteriorated even further news came through from the first planet that the settlement was successfully ready and ready for the next stage. More ships launched, the influential and rich managing to buy there way to a better future whilst the poor slaved away building the ships. It wasn't until the riots of 2238 that the government realised that they had to do something about the availability of places to the less fortunate if the ships were to be built, and hence the lottery was launched.

By combining skill sets and medical data each person was entered into different lottery pots, a number of who would be picked at random depending upon the ships destination and capacity.

Sighing she looked over at the information point in her flat and grabbed her kit, it was almost time for work. She hated the job she had, it was hot, dangerous and completely pointless. Outside in the heat all day with only the biosuite and respirator to keep her safe she was one of hundreds how spent their days scaling the huge biodome cleaning the energy panels and seeing to any damage.

Still, the work had its perks, she was on decent rations for a start, unlike others she knew that barely got enough food day to day. There was also the perk of being in a better selection pot for the arks, but even Nichole knew that the chances of her name coming up were remote.

By the end of the day Nichole was hot, knackered and in desperate need of a shower. The recycled liquid was foul, but it managed to get the worst off her as she stripped down out the filthy biosuite and rubbed the grime from her face.

Later that evening Nicole stepped into the bar and grabbed a seat over at the bar. A short, fat barman headed over with a smile and pushed over a synthabeer to Nichole.

"Tough day babe" he asked. Nichole looked up taking a swig and smiled.

"Same shit different day Stevie."

"SSDD Nic!" The short man laughed and walked off to serve the next customer.

She looked up at the tv, there was the build up to this evenings lottery on, the crowds slowly building as a mix of excitement and desperation built. Like everyone else in the bar Nichole knew she had about as much chance of getting called up as she did of stumbling upon a piece of fruit - and that was practically impossible these days!

"God your a sight for sore eyes" someone said behind Nichole. She turned round and smiled at John as he picked up his beer and took a swig.

"There was me thinking you were talking to me...." she smiled as John grinned.

"Well, I might have but then" he waved the bottle and laughed. Nichole punched him hard on the shoulder.

The lottery started a while later, the bar now packed as the first pot was called up. In this type of bar the first 5 pots were of no interest, they contained people that wouldn't be seen dead in a place like this.

It wasn't until pot 6 that people really started getting interested, and to most people surprise a man yelled out as his name was called. There was a smattering of applause for the bloke, most people muttering the same thing as he ran out the door, "fucking lucky sod!"

Nicole turned round and grabbed John by the arm "Its pot 11, thats us!" she said but John was looking up at the screen in shock. There, first out the hat was his name and ID.

"Oh my god" Nichole said turning to John, her expression a mix of happiness and sadness as he looked at her in disbelief.

"C-c-congrats John, we always knew this could happen...." she said a tear falling down her cheek. She and John had been a sort of item for months now, two likeminded people who enjoyed each others company, and more importantly had great sex.

John looked up again as the draw for pot 11 came to an end still shocked, but his expression broke from horror to delight as he grabbed Nichole and hugged her, laughing at the screen.

"Its not funny John, its really not...." she started crying.

"It is from here, look!" he shouted and pointed up at the screen. Nichole looked up at the screen and failed to register at first what John had seen. There, third from bottom she could see her name and as she turned to John he screamed out loud and picked her up, spinning her round and round as he yelled in the bar.

"We did it Nic, on the same fucking lottery as well!" he yelled.

Nichole was crying in joy as Stevie came over and chucked up two beers on the counter. "On the house guys, i'll miss you two but I'm happy for ya!" he said smiling and walking off.

John kissed Nichole taking her by surprise, they almost never showed any true display of public affection. Their relationship usually happened behind closed doors, not that Nichole was complaining.

"Come on, let go back to mine. I've got a bottle of whisksynth that needs drinking before we leave!" he said and downing the last of his beer the two rushed out the bar, the lottery still being drawn behind them as the pots continued roll on.

The two lovers barged through the door clawing at each others clothes as they fell onto the bed in the same room.

Nichole gasped as she felt the tip of John's cock press against her sex, his thick manhood sliding deep into her excited pussy. She wrapped her legs around him as he started thrusting in and out, moaning in pleasure. Smiling to her self she wondered just what she had done to deserve this, and digging her fingers in she groaned as the first signs of an orgasms rippled through her.

The next morning Nichole had only just got home when there was a knock at the door. Standing outside was an official looking man with an armed police man behind him.

"Umm, can I help?" she said nervously looking at the police man.

"Don't mind officer Danes here, he's here to protect me not because your in trouble. Nichole Smith yes? identification number 47634C-AT869?" the man said smiling.

Nichole nodded gingerly as he man took out a holopad and held it out to her. "This is your departure schedule, you've been assigned to pod AB14-22. You need to make yourself familiar with the content of this pod as you'll be the lead engineer for your division." the man said bluntly as Nichole took the pad of him.

"Ummm, ok. When does it, I mean when are we.... you know, shipping out?" she said.

"Flight prep starts tomorrow at 08:00. If the weather for orbital travel is fine you'll be in stasis in 48 hours on your way to Lantea on the Voyager 13." he said smiling.

"Lantea....." Nichole said smiling. "I can live with that!" she smiled. The man thanked her and rushed off, his list of people to see over the next 12 hours was formidable.

Nichole spent the rest of the day studying the pads contents, reading up on the safety pod and its systems. She heard from John that he'd been given spot in pod CB01-18, an explorer position meaning he'd be sent out into the filed as soon as they landed to aid in the exploration of the area's around the new city.

"Want to come round tonight?" he said softly. "Its our last chance in 30 odd years!" he joked.

Nichole laughed "I can't John, I've got so much reading to do. I guess you'll just have to wait now won't you." she giggled.

"Meany! Keep a bed warm for me, I'll see you on Lantea!" he said hanging up. The next morning Nichole was up early, taking her last shower in the dump of an apartment before packing up the tiny bag of things they were allowed to take on the arc. Unlike most people who took photo's of family and other sentimental things Nichole was far more practical. Her micro tool kit went into the bag, followed by a small pocket knife and a digital monocular.

As she opened the door and looked round she smiled a the empty flat. "Bye flat, I won't lie and say I'll miss you!" she joked.

Training was fairly gruelling, the mechanics all being given crash courses in the basic systems and there repairs. The pods had all be designed to be taken apart afterwards to give vital building materials and they spend an age going over the key parts of that as well, as each engineer would be responsible for the dismantlement of their pod once on the surface.

It was gone lunch before she joined up with her pod for basic survival training.

"Why the fuck do we need this?" a man said from behind Nichole, who was trying to listen to the marine allocated to their pod.

"Because the first set of survivors that landed on Lantea were scattered over 10,000 square miles of jungle dick head. We may well have a bit of a hike to get to a warm bed so everyone now has to take mandatory survival training." marine spat at the man.

After 5 hours of grilling Sargent Tim Edwards was still less than satisfied with his crew, but none the less time was up and as they filled off into the stasis prep room Nichole looked over at the lines of pods walking in there groups hoping to catch one last glimpse of John.

"Come on spanner" the marine said. He found Nichole almost immediately, along with the medic and navigator and nicknamed them all, Nichole less than pleased with her name spanner.

"Righto sarg" she said glumly as she headed inside to a bright white room, the rest of the 20 strong pod already sat waiting. After a few moments a screen lit up and a man appeared to talk them through the stasis suit and the workings of the pods.

As they were ordered to get changed all in the same room Nichole saw one major benefit to the process as despite the fact she was naked with 19 other strangers. A wall withdrew to reveal 20 shower heads, and for the first time in her life Nichole felt fresh, warm water rushing down onto her skin as she washed. Looking down she couldn't believe the dirt falling from her, despite the daily showers she took.

"Its all good!" she muttered to herself knowing that once on Lantea fresh water and warm showers would be a daily thing. The suites themselves were fairly revealing, as they had to be skin tight to offset the high g's their bodies would go through as they were in stasis. Helping the person next to each other the room was soon filled with grunts as the various straps were pulled up tight on the suites.

Finally ready they headed through into the transport pod and saw their homes for the next 30 years, the stasis pods all glistening and ready. One by one the pods were filled, Nichole was third to last leaving the marine and medic to finish up.

"see you in 30 spanna'

"Its Nichole Sarg. See you in 30."

"Tim, its Tim" he said before pushing the door closed. The stasis fluids started filling the compartments and Nichole breathed in deep as the drugs took effect, pushing the young woman into unconsciousness before she was submerged in the gloop.


Chapter 2

Up on the ships launch deck the preparation crew was frantically preparing the automated pilot system for its launch.

"Come on Dan, get a fucking move on!" the man shouted over to his colleague. "The fucking cattle's being loaded already, We'll be done for if we are late."

Manically tapping away at his keyboard with one hand the man held up his other hand, extended his middle finger and shook his head.

"Not helping!" he said without taking his eyes of the screen.

Frantically tapping in the co-ordinates he slapped a few buttons hard as the program uploaded. Spinning in his chair he didn't feel his elbow brush the gyroscopic calibration dial as the interstellar compass shifted by just five and a half a degree's.

"See, fucking done. Jeez, you're cranky when you have a date!" the man joked. Turning back round he pushed down the protective cover on the controls and locked them shut.

"Over to you Lantea Control." he said.

"Come on" his boss said "I've been trying to get Maria on a date for months, I'm not going to be late now!" he said.

"Still need to do the final checks, gyroscope and all that..."

"Fuck that, we've only just installed and calibrated it this morning. Just sign the fucking forms and we'll get out of here." he said as Dan shrugged. He wouldn't realise the implication of his decision, but for the 5,000 occupants of the Voyager 13 it was a decision that changed their destinies forever.

It took 30 years before anyone suspected something was up, until then there had been no reason to suspect that Voyager 13 was anything but on track. Over a three month period concerns grew about the whereabouts of the arc, as radio signals that took 2 weeks to go between Earth and Lantea figured that the ship wasn't in orbit when it was supposed to.

After 5 months Voyager 13 was written off as the biggest disaster in space history, the theories ranging from meteor impact through to engine failure. The Hubble4 space telescope could find no trace of the ship along the programmed flightpath, and all the checks on the ships systems prior to take off were all green.

It was lost, and as the final ship set sail from the earth leaving only the most unfortunate behind, all hope of tracing the ship was gone with it.


Chapter 3

It would take a further 1200 years for Voyager 13 to happen upon another system capable of sustaining life. The automated system expelling most of its final solar energy reserves to steer the huge ship out of the near light speed travel and towards the 4th planet from the sun. As it limped into orbit the control system finally gave in and the bridge went dark causing a glitch to run riot through the rest of the ships control systems.

The system spat out a single pod as the glitch was cycled through the system but the damage was done, pod AB14-22 was all ready in free fall, the heat shield lighting up red as the friction of the atmosphere increased. In the early morning sky the ball of fire fell across the sky and into the dense forest below, the plc on the pod controlling decent as best it could.

Inside her stasis pod Nichole awoke and at first didn't remember anything. She was suspended some sort of gel and started to stir as she pushed her hand up agains the pod window. The tube within her mouth withdrew and she gulped in the foul fluid, trying to scream as panic set in.

Remembering something suddenly she reached out to her side and pushed a large red button, slamming it multiple times with her hand. The door flew open and she gushed out onto the floor, the fluid draining off through the steel grating as she brushed the gloop clear of her eyes and looked around.

The pods around her were filled with people all waking up and thrashing on the doors like her. Cables and bits of racking hung everywhere, the odd spark emanating from the exposed wires. She jumped up to the first one as a woman clawed and bashed on the door begging for help.

"The button" Nichole shouted as she pointed but the woman didn't listen. Looking around frantically Nichole tried to lay eyes upon anything that would help. She spotted a larger pillar in the middle of the ring of chambers with a large red button and knew immediately what to do. As she slammed the button all but two of the doors flew open, the people inside coughed and spluttered as they fell to the floor.

Rushing over to the last two pods Nichole looked around confused, the person inside was slamming the red button inside, but nothing was happening. Nichole clawed at the outside of the chamber, trying to pull on the door as the persons struggles grew weak.

"I'm sorry" Nichole bellowed, tears flowing as the person inside stopped moving, their eyes wide in terror as the final moments of their life were spent drowning. She could barely look over at the other pod to confirm her darkest thoughts, and sure enough another man's body hung limp in the fluid.

A hand clamped on her shoulder as her thoughts came flooding back. The arc, Lantea, the pods...

"Come on Spanna, get the door open. There's nothing we can do for them." Sarg said helping Nichole up. A few of the people were at the door pushing away and finally it gave way and fell out the doorway.

"Come on people, everyone out!" Sarg shouted as a fire started at the far end of the status chamber. Nichole turned and realised that she needed to get anything she could right now, or it would be lost. Rushing back in against Sarg's protests she ripped open as storage cabinet and started pulling out the emergency bags inside.

"COME ON!" he shouted but she ignored him until her grabbed her arms and tugged it.

"Well need this sarg, wherever we are!" she yelled. "Something is seriously up and you know it!"

He looked at her for a second before nodding. "10 seconds spanner, medi kits and rations!" he shouted as he pulled bags over his own head.

The fire was getting bigger quickly, and Just as Tim dragged Spanna away she saw what she was looking for, her personal box. Just about grasping it in her fingers she was practically thrown out the door as Tim followed. Picking her up off the soft floor he dragged her away from the ship as the fire spread to the door way, before dropping to the floor himself as they reached the rest of the survivors. Looking up he groaned as the ship went up in flames, a few small explosions making the group scream in shock.

After a few minutes Sarg got up and looked around at the clearing, taking in the dense jungle for the first time.

"Well fuck me!" he said smiling. He held out a hand to Nichole as he pulled her up.

"Perhaps not" she shot back, looking around in wonder. "My god, its so......."

"Green!" someone else said.

"Welcome to Lantea everyone" Sarg said. "Lets have a stock check, figure out where....." he started but Nichole was looking up though a small hole in the jungle canopy,her mouth wide open.

"Errrr, Sarg....we have a BIG problem!" she said.

Looking up he saw it too, the sky was dominated by three huge planets. "Very pretty spanna, but whats the issue."

"Oh my god she's right!' someone else said looking up.

"What, can someone tell me what the fuck it wrong with three moons!" he said irritatedly.

"Its Lantea Sarg, it isn't supposed to have any moons nearby...." Nichole said looking over at him.

He looked up at the moons then back to Nichole. "Then....where the fuck are we?" he said confused. Nichole shrugged her shoulders and grabbed a couple of bags.

"First step of survival training, make camp right?!" she said as he grabbed a bag himself and nodded. Opening the bag he pulled out a small plasma riffle and checked it over. "Listen up people, everyone grab a bag. We are heading out to find camp."

They only needed to walk for 20 minutes or so before the came across a suitable spot, the excitement that ran through the group as they emerged on a fresh water stream was intoxicating. After a couple of hours the groups had managed to pull together a few temporary shelters despite the screams of terror upon the discover of the first native life on the planet. Sarg came flying in his gun raised as one of the girls pointed over terrified at the sections of logs they had been exploring.

Upon seeing the large slug like creature Sarg gave the woman a scowl and waled off. It was hot, and people soon dispersed around the river bends for some privacy as they washed themselves off.

"Oh, sorry Spanna" sarg said walking round the corner to find a naked Nichole half way up to her waist in the stream. Looking over her shoulder she smiled at him and waved him in.

"Look sarg, its a type of fish i think!" she said not caring for her nudity.

Creeping in the water until he was next to her he looked down to see a large creature slowing swimming under the surface. He pulled out his knife and pounced, making Nichole jump in shock. Standing up with the animal in his hands he smiled.

"Dinner!" he smiled, as Nichole shook her head in disbelief and sunk under the surface and into the cold river water.

The suites were designed to dry quickly and not hold fluids, so in the heat of the day it didn't take anytime for the crews to wash up and get back into their clothes, everyone feeling a little better for being clean of the stasis fluids.

Tim had managed to catch a further three huge fish and as evening fell the fire lit up the group as they sat around waiting for the meat to cook.

"You try it first" someone said looking at the flaky white meat.

"Ummmm." the man hesitated prodding his portion

"Oh for god sake" Tim said taking a bite. His face froze and he held up his hands to his throat, choking as a group of girls screamed in terror. No sooner had he started though he stopped, breaking out into a massive grin. Swallowing his first mouthful he turned to the group.

"That my friends, is gooood!" he chuckled

It didn't take much after that for everyone to tuck in. Everyone except Nichole that was, who having scavenged the bags was sat on a log further back from the group holding the electronic pad up to the stars. Tim looked over and grabbing her portion of the fish walked over.

"You want to try this spanner, its damn good and its thanks to you we have it!" he said putting it on the log next to her and sitting down.

She looked over at him and smiled. "Thanks Sarg, and i'd really prefer Nichole!"

"I'm not sure which one that is, and I'm not going to start eating my crew spanna. If its a little girl on girl action your after though, I certainly hope you'll let the rest of us watch." he said looking over at the team, before turning back and smiling at Nichole. She slapped him on the arm and shaking her head picked up a piece of meat.

"Wow!" she said with a mouthful of meat "Thats like nothing i've ever hade before! I'd never thought I'd get to eat fresh meat!" she said smiling as she went back for another chunk.

"So, whats up. You've been over here on your own for hours now playing on that thing..." he said.

"I'm trying to figure out where we are and what happened to the other pods. I mean don't you think its strange that we haven't heard or seen anything from the other 250 pods!"

Tim nodded and looked up at the moons, darkness was falling fast now. "Its a little un nerving i agree. So what have you found out?"

"I don't know, i need to run more tests." She said glumly.

"No you don't, your just afraid of what you found out. Tell me spanner, i need to know." Tim said.

Nichole looked over at him and the pad flopped to her lap. "These stars" she said waving her hand up at the sky "don't correlate to anything we have on record around Lantea. I'm having to scan the deep space records for any correlations but that could take days, I simply don't have the power for this." she said turning to Tim.

"I need to go back to the ship, to see if anything survived. I might be able to hook up the nav com or something if its not to damaged." she said.

Tim nodded "Ok, well go check it out in the morning." Tim said but Nichole shook her head.

"That PC has at max a 12 hour memory, I need to go now if we are to gleam anything useful from it."

"Ok, but I'm going to get a few volunteers. We might as well bring some stuff back with us."

10 minutes later Tim was showing the function of his side arm to one of the guys from the team remaining behind.

"Remember, nothing heroic. Fire three shots into the air and run for the ship, got it?" he said. The team of 4 people set off into the darkness, only the beam of light from their torches showed up until they to disappeared into the dense forest.

The team soon found the ship, the fire has subsided thankfully but it was still hot as Nichole climbed inside and looked around. "Right then, check the remaining storage compartments, and there is a isolated compartment outside if thats accessible by the main wing. Its suppose to be crash proof." she ordered the three volunteers as she crawled in towards the nav com.

"What about me spanner?" Tim said.

"Hold this torch, and point it where i tell you!' she said. It took half an hour before Nichole made any headway, her pad finally interfaced with the ships plc and started downloading the data that was left in the buffers.

"Come on, that will take 30 minutes or so, lets help the guys." she said as the crawled back out. They didn't have much luck with the rest of the cargo, the compartment was part buried in the slope so they decided that it was best left until the morning. Nichole managed to pull the ships transmitter from the wreck along with a small solar generator that she hoped she would be able to hook up to her pad and use to locate the docking ship in orbit.

The survivors finally settled down to sleep, the jungle noises making them all nervous as to what was out there. Nichole was the only person left up, frantically working through the ships buffered data in an effort to isolate their location.

As she looked it became more and more apparent something had gone terribly wrong, the star date in the ships's PC was nearly 1200 years over their estimated due date.

The next morning Nichole was woken by a soft shake from Tim. "Come on spanner, lay down properly. You need you strength" he said but she sat up shaking her head as she blinked at the early morning sun.

"Nah, I'm fine sarg. Beside's, we need to talk....."


Chapter 4

10 minutes later Tim stood shaking his head as Nichole went through her learnings. "What do you mean 1200 years extra, how is that even possible!" he yelled. A few of the group looked over and started mumbling. Sooner there was a crowd as Nichole sighed, and prepared herself.

"Ok, ok, ok. Everyone please." she said backing up and turning from the group. "I know where we are" she said as she looked around on the floor. "Assume this is earth" she said picking up a stone. "and this is Lantea" she picked up a second stone and putting the two about two feet apart, the fake Lantea off to he right. She picked up a third stone and turing slightly left threw it was hard as she could away from the group.

"Thats us......... roughly anyway" she turned to the group, who gasped in shock, a couple of the men yelling out that Nichole had to be wrong. They looked at her in disbelief. "The fucking monkeys that put in the guidance gyroscope fucked up and it was off set by 5.8 degrees. Voyager 13 has been drifting for 1233 years in the wrong fucking direction, its only thanks to the nuclear cores and the solar plating on the hull that any of us survived . It was blind luck we stumbled upon a system at all, we should all be dead!" she screamed.

There were cries from the survivors, murmurs of disbelief as they took in the news. "What of the others!" someone cried. "Are we the only survivors?"

"I don't know, I think we were the only pod released due to a glitch in the system but I can't talk to the mothership yet, the cpu is still figuring that out." Nichole said.

"How do we get back to Lantea?" someone cried. There were murmurs of agreement from the crowd.

Nichole laughed "We don't people, were are well and truly stuck here. There is no way of getting back to the ship, let alone turing it round and flying home!" she said. There was a strange noise from beyond the canopy that made the group stop and look, but no sooner was it there then it was gone.

"Nichole is working on the comms with the mothership, if we can guide the others down...." Tim said trying to get control of the situation, but a rustling in the trees grabbed his attention as the group turned.

Suddenly a figure emerged through the forest wall on the far side of the clearing, heading directly for the group. A couple of the woman screamed in shock and Nichole took a few steps back away from the figure as she took in appearance. Dressed head to foot in some sort of armour, the man was easily 7 foot high, his strong muscular arms clearly visible under the skin tight clothes covering every inch of his skin. Even his head was covered, a large helmet with a shining black visor glimmered in the sun.

The figure shouted something ineligible, its voice electronically amplified as it raised the weapon by his side to take aim at the group. Tim was faster though, and all ready had his gun up and pointing at the figure.

"RUN!" he yelled as he opened fire, two plasma round hit the figure square in the chest dropping it on the floor.

Nichole turned and sprinted for the cover of the jungle, the group of survivors scattering in every direct as more of the suited figures emerged on the far side of the clearing. Nichole heard the strange gunshots as she reached the forrest, the blasts from Johns plasma riffle echoing as he retaliated.

As Nichole reached the forests edge the plasma rifle fell quiet, and with a quick glance behind her she saw that John had been hit. The first figure was gingerly getting to his feet, the armour scorched and marked where the two rounds from Johns weapon had hit, Nichole shocked to see the effectiveness of the alien material. She spotted two more survivors hit as they fell into the long grass, but she didn't have time to stop as the first figure looked over at her and raised his weapon.

With a scream she jumped into the forrest wall and disappeared as fast as she she could away from the clearing. She could still hear the screams of the other survivors as they were either running like her for their lives, or were hit by the strange weapons.

Nichole put as much distance as she could between herself and the camp, her lungs burning in protest before she collapsed behind a tree sobbing. The screams had long since silenced, either she was too far away to hear them or they had all been captured or killed by the suited beings. She rested just long enough to catch her breath before heading off again into the dense vegetation.

In a small opening she clambered down behind a tree and paused for breath. Her heart was pounding loudly in her ears as she tried to slow her breathing. Freezing in fear she heard footsteps thunder into the clearing behind her before they clattered through into the clearing.

They stopped, clearly someone or something was tracking her and she closed her eyes, preying she wouldn't be found. Sighing in relief as the footsteps moved off she dared to peak round the corner of the tree. The coast was clear so she scrambled up from behind the tree and started in the opposite direction to that taken by the hunter.

She had barely taken 4 paces when out of the corner of her eye she spotted the figure, crouching in the dense vegetation of the undergrowth waiting, its gun poised ready and aimed directly at Nichole.

She screamed as she felt the impact of the bullet as it flung her to the ground. Looking down expecting to see blood from the impact she screamed upon seeing the large metal dart in her leg as the end of it exploded into dozens of metal tentacles. They quickly wrapped themselves around her thigh, heading up and down as she tried frantically to claw them off, but this only ended up putting her hands in range of the tentacles.

She felt the cold metal grip her hands and arms as the tentacles pulled her ankles up to the back of her thighs, her toes almost touching her buttocks. Her arms were next, they were ruthlessly pulled up behind her back and fussed in place in a reverse prayer position.

As the tentacles rose further up she gave one final bone chilling scream before the tentacles encased her head, fusing her mouth together and leaving her mute.

The hunter was now standing over her and using its foot pushed Nichole over onto her back. She looked at the figure terrified as it said something to her, she didn't understand the words but could pick up the spin chilling amusement in its voice. It enjoyed the chase, and was mocking her now for being caught.

She watched the figure press a series of buttons on a pad on its arm and moaned as she felt the metal touch her skin, somehow it had melted its way through the stasis suite without harming her skin. The heavy bindings of the metal changed, uncovering large parts of her skin as it re-positioned the bonds so that minimal metal was required to hold Nichole, the bindings still just as effective. As the figure bent down and effortlessly picked her up she felt what was left of the suite fall from her body, leaving her naked and helplessly restrained as she was carried back through the forest.

Nichole was carried like she was nothing to the figure, all the time he talked to her in the strange language. Bound as she was Nichole couldn't move a muscle, or even turn her head as the jungle canopy gave way and she was carried into the opening.

The figure threw her down on the floor as it went and communicated with its colleagues, Nichole couldn't hear the screams of the other survivors but give her condition that wasn't to say they weren't equally as helpless laying next to her.

Time went by as Nichole closed her eyes from the bright sun before a shadow was cast over her face, her captor appearing over her and saying something. She tried to tell him she couldn't understand but not even a mew escaped the head restraint. He pressed a couple of buttons on his control panel and the restraints gagging her eased away. Another strange questions was shot at her.

"P-p-p-lease, I don't understand. Just let us go please!" she begged. The hunter looked taken aback and shouted something at his colleagues, before one of them approached carrying a small needle.

"No please, i beg youuuuuuuuuu..........." she screamed as the needle was pushed into her thigh and the contents spewed into her.

As the captor studied his control pad Nichole felt a strange icy sensation rush through her blood, up to her head before it disappeared.

"The nanobots should be in your system now, nod if you understand." the captor said. Nicole looked shocked and slowly nodded.

With a evil laugh the hunter pulled Nichole up and perched her against its leg, Nichole murmuring in terror at the sight in front of her, as she had feared all 19 of her shipmates were bound equally helpless on the floor as she was, naked and bound in metal. The only difference was John, he was at the far end of the two rows of captured people hanging from his wrists under a tree, looking like he'd taken a beating from the aliens. He was totally naked apart from his penis and head, booth of them looking like they had been dipped in metal, the coverings glimmering in the sun.

As Nichole sobbed her captor patted her on the head as if reassuringly, before addressing the clearing.

"Under Rutan law 35, article 21.126 you are all hereby claimed as my prize of the hunt." it said looking down at Nichole. "Repeat"

She paused but after a slap she sobbed and repeated the sentence to her trapped colleagues. "You will now be categorised in line with section 32.47 before being transported for sale to Rutan prime" it said. Nichole looked up at the hunter.

"You can't do this, we are human beings not animals. We can't just be bought and sold at your whim!" she shouted shocked.

Stepping back Nichole fell to the floor as she looked up at her capture. He laughed at her as he pressed a button on its control panel. A pain like nothing she had ever felt ripped through her body, and as she screamed in suffering she was vaguely aware of loosing bladder control.

"What is this term human beings?" the hunter mocked. "You are merely cattle, and have no rights. You will translate exactly what I say and nothing else or you'll feel so much pain you'll beg for death."

Nichole sobbed on the floor as the pain ebbed from her body, before being picked up by one of the other suited figures. Her captor walked over to the first body, Nichole making out one of the young women from the crew. She was an extremely pretty and innocent girl called Jessica, and Nichole feared for her fate even before her captor had said anything.

"Cattle 1" it said pointing at Jessica. "This one is an excellent specimen. Category 1, sex slave. She's fetch a good price at the market." it said looking over at Nichole, who was crying profusely as she looked at the young girl.

"Translate slave, or else!" it said raising a finger to his control pad.

"OK, ok!" she yelled. "Jessie, I'm so sorry. Category 1, you're going to be sold into slavery...." she sobbed. She screamed as the pain coursed through her again, and by the time she regained composure should could smell that this time she'd lost not just bladder control but all bodily functions. During this Jessica had been picked up by one of the hunter and moved over to the middle of the clearing.

"Translate exactly what i say slave, or else!" the hunter said.

"Why me?"she sobbed. "Why not inject them all!" she said. Her captor looked over through his helmet and laughed.

"You have spirit cattle, i'll humour you." it said turning to face her. "Unless you've been on this moon for all your life cycles, you'll easily know that translation nanobots are expensive, especially ones shipped all the way out here. I only carry one charge with me on the hunt, I've never had to use it before. I doubt any of these cattle will get injected, they'll learn the hard way." it said.

"That still doesn't answer my question, why me!" Nichole screamed.

"You better learn respect slave, I injected you because I claim you as my own. I own you and despite the cost I need you to be able to understand me. Now no more questions, just translate and thank your maker you're not in their place." it said walking to the second body.

The hunter pointed at the next woman "Category 1- sex slave" it said. Nichole sobbed and repeated the categorisation before the woman was carried off.

The next woman was much older, in her late 30's and only just under the earth lottery age limit of 40. Nichole bet the woman wished like they all did that she hadn't been picked for this doomed voyage.

"Category 2 - Bio production." it said. Nichole repeated the conviction wondering if a category 2 was better or worse than category 1.

The next two went into category 1, a young woman followed to Nichole's surprise by a younger man. Next up was an older man that was put into category 3 - Neural integration.

In total 12 of the survivors were put into category 1, four into category 2, and two into neural integration. That left only John to find out his fate, and the hunter walked up to the marine, as he hung from the tree branch.

"This is your protector?" the hunter asked pointing at John

Nichole nodded meekly "He's a marine, and was only...." but she stopped as the hunter held up is finger to the control panel.

"yes or no will do slave." it said. The hunter suddenly punched John in the gut hard causing John's feet to fly off the ground. He landed blow upon blow to the man, who hung helpless in his bonds.

"STOP IT!" Nichole yelled. "he was just trying to protect us!" she yelled at the hunter. Seconds later she writhed around in pain as the pain coursed through her once more.

"Quiet slave, I'm just having some fun. "Category 4 - correctional institute property"

"Prison!" she yelled, unable to hold her tongue but rather than the surging pain she expected nothing came. The hunter turned to her laughing.

"Not quite slave, surely even out here the stories of Rutans correction institutes have travelled?"

"Rutans, what the fuck are Rutans?" Nichole shouted. "We crashed arsehole, our fucking ship crashed and we ended up on this rock. Thousands are missing, probably dead and you're here torturing me for pleasure?! Do you worst, I don't fucking care anymore!" The hunter burst out laughing.

"You will care slave, but first things first. You're telling me you came from where..... the great beyond!" it ridiculed pointing up at the sky. Behind him she could hear the other men laughing along.

"Not the great beyond, a planet shit head..." she passed as the hunter raised his finger to his arm. This time however the head restraints activated and muffled Nichole's ranting, the tentacles filling her mouth until she felt it would burst as more swarmed around her head totally encasing the lower half.

"You amuse me slave" it said coming over and pushing her onto the floor. "You are strong willed and I like that, I'll enjoy breaking you." it said as Nichole heard the roar of an engine overhead. Looking up she saw some form of ship overhead before it descended into the clearing.

"Commander, transport ready" one of the suited figures said.

"Excellent, gather the cattle and get them on the racks, then pick up their equipment as it might be worth something. I'll take this one personally" he said looking down at Nichole. Nichole was helpless as she was carried towards the roar of the ship, and thrown into the cargo hold. She tried to scream as she was sat up and watched as the first of the survivors was pushed up against the wall.

With a flick of the buttons on the wall metal straps emerged and pinned the prisoner to the wall. Nicole grunted as she was put in line, facing towards her on the opposite side was Jessica who look utterly terrified. As the engines roared and the ship took off Nichole could just about see out of one of the small windows, the jungle canopy stretching as far as she could see.

"Commander, three hours to the portal." the computer pilot said over the radio.

"Excellent Pilot. Inform us when we are ten minutes out, I'm off for a shower." the hunter said as he removed his helmet. Nichole looked on in astonishment as the man looked over at her. A human male, and a very attractive and rugged one at that, looked back at her smiling.

"I suggest you get some sleep, you'll need your rest..." he said as he laughed and wandered off.

Like the rest of the survivors Nichole could do nothing but hang from the rack and cry as the plane buffeted through the air. Nichole could every now and again make out the jungle canopy, it hadn't stopped the entire journey. After an agonisingly long time the pilot radio's over the intercom that the portal was coming into view, all the hunters had stripped out of their suites and were dressed in some form of army gear, Nichole looking in distress at them as they headed up into the cock pit.

They may have been human looking, but they were also much larger than anyone she had seen before. Nichole had assumed it was the suites that made them 7 foot, but the hunter that had captured her was nearly that stripped down. His body shown off in the tight olive green t-shirt Nichole shivered in terror, no wonder he picked he up like a rag doll earlier.

She felt the ship start to descend until finally with a bump they touched down. The pilots soon had the roar of the engines dying down until there was silence.

"Right then men, lets rack 'em, tag 'em and ship 'em out. The markets will be opening soon and I don't know about you but I fancy a bit of R+R." he said looking over at Nichole grinning.

If Nichole was hopeful of getting the chance to stretch her legs getting off she was as disappointed as the rest of them, they were shifted from the wall to a mobile rack on the flat stone landing pad. They were hung like clothes from a pole, the metal bindings forming a small ring on their heads upon command. Nichole could just about feel a pad beneath her knee's as she struggled to stop her body swinging freely as they were wheeled along. As they headed towards a large warehouse a huge bright beam suddenly lit up the sky, a pulse of immense energy suddenly emanating from it as it followed the beam and shot towards the closest planet. Nichole looked up gasping, she had never seen anything like it, her first thought was that it was some form of weapon, but then she remembered the portal.

'Its a transporter!' she thought to herself as the crew walked into the building, the inside was pretty basic short of a few lockers and a large illuminated ring on the floor. Without warning Nichole felt a needle pinch into her arm and the drowsy feeling on a sedative washed through her system pulling her helplessly into unconsciousness.

Nichole stirred from her drug induced slumber, groaning as she remembered where she was. For some reason her vision and hearing was completely obscured now, but she could feel the familiar feeling of the trolly as she was pushed to god knows where. She couldn't be sure but her restraints felt different, the harsh chafing of the metal tentacles had been replaced by smooth bands although the end effect was still complete restraint. As she felt the trolly stop she wondered just where she was, but her questions where soon to be answered.

Her vision restored she looked upon the face of her hunter, her new owner as he pulled her off the rack and grinned at her as he pushed her up against a metal slab.


Chapter 5

Nichole expected straps to come flying out and trap her like on the ship, but instead to her surprise she felt her restraints loosen, her arms falling free behind her back for the first time since her capture. As her legs unfolded she took a deep breath preparing to run for her life, but no sooner had she thought about it each of her wrists snapped to the corners of the slab, followed by her ankles. Spread eagle on the slab she looked nervously at her captor as he grinned at her wickedly, her hearing suddenly restored.

"I'll let you listen in slave, you might learn a thing or two!"

In front of her were the other survivors, still restrained and hanging from four different racks that had been organised by category, John hanging on his own rack furthest away from her. She turned to face her hunter as he stood close by, grinning at her.

'Ah, Cronus its good to see you again" a small man said to the hunter .

"The same to you Manek, i trust business is good?" he said walking over and holding out his arm. The two men grabbed each others wrists as their arms interlocked, before breaking off.

Manek nodded and grinned "Its good enough." I see you have some merchandise, i assume you wish to trade?"

"I do, everything but the one on the slab, she's mine." Cronus said. Manek looked over at her.

"Pity an excellent specimen, she would fetch top units Cronus. Are you sure you can't be tempted into an offer for her?" Manek said. Cronus shook his head and the short man shrugged.

"I assume you want her tagged still though?" he said. Once again Cronus nodded Manek walked over to a table an picked up a small device, before walking back to Nichole. She murmured in fear as he held the device up, but it only seemed to beep routinely scanned her up and down.

"Oh my, this is very interesting." Malek said turning to Cronus. "Where did you find this cattle Cronus?" Malek said quickly scanning the row's of slaves.

"I'd rather not say exactly Malek, but it was deep into the forest up on Luna. Is there a problem?" Cronus said nervously. The quality of the cattle dictated the price, and he needed the units to pay not only his team but the expedition overheads.

"No, quite the opposite actually. I've never seen cattle of this quality or purity before, they are like nothing else on Novas." he said. Cronus looked over at Nichole with a strange look in his eye, remembering back to her rant on the surface regarding the ship.

Malek walked over to Nichole and grabbing a nipple twisted it softly. Nichole mewed in pain as his other hand brushed over her exposed pussy, a small finger pushing into her. "My my, she's so responsive!" he said excitedly "The nanobots will be at peak efficiency in her, her senses ripe for adjustment!"

"So they will fetch a good price at market then?" Cronus said hopefully.

Malek shook his head. "My friend, these are not for market. They will go into the private auctions, it will make us much more. My fee is 10 % of the sale price, non negotiable."

Cronus agreed and the rack of category 1 slave's was wheeled off into a small bay. "This stock is for bio-production?" Malek asked scanning them. He payed particular attention to the fattest woman, her huge tits sagged down her chest as the metal restraints part disappeared into the flabby folds of her belly.

Turning to Cronus he smiled. "I'll do you a deal, this large one for the newest control nanobots for your slave."

Cronus laughed "are you serious Malek?! What do you want with that fat one!" he chuckled.

Malek turned and smiled wickedly at him. "My sensors depict she is particular prone to pain, and you know how I love to torture my sluts. My last slut broke just this week after 3 weeks, the local produce isn't up to the tolerances I need. I predict I can keep this one indefinitely!" he said.

Cronus nodded "Its a deal my friend, the fat cattle for the nanobots. I want the control collars thrown in too though."

Malek nodded "of course, of course." Using a winch overhead the fat woman was unloaded and disappeared into a recess in the wall. Malek soon agreed a price with Cronus for the rest and moved onto the category 3 slaves, which were also soon costed as they all automatically disappeared through a door.

"A category 4!" Malek said excitedly. "What did this one do to deserve such a prize!" he joked.

"He fired upon me, hit me twice actually with a projectile weapon." Cronus said.

"A projectile weapon, really? On Lunas?" Malek said captivated.

Cronus nodded "I have the equipment in a secure pod at base zero, I'll let you have a look at it if you want to come along, but we know thats not going to happen." he said.

"Thats because I know what that bloody transporter does to a body, its not natural!" Malek shrugged and turned back to the prisoner.

"Well he's a prime specimen, its a pity as he'd fetch a top price at Market. Still, the law is the law I guess." Malek said. "I'll inform the institute and get him picked up, in the mean time I'll inject the correctional nanobots."

Cronus grinned wickedly and nodded. "Make sure its a particularly effective batch Malek, I want him to suffer!"

"I can guarantee that my friend, his physiology is like the others, he'll suffer like no cattle has before i suspect."

Nichole couldn't do anything as she watched, listening to the two people deciding her, and the other survivors fate.

"Is there anything else?" Malek asked.

"I'll need another charge of language nanobots prepared, I used my only one up on my slave here." Cronus said.

"They have a different language as well!?" Malek said.

"Cronus, I'll throw in the nanobots for free given the business we have done today." Malek settled up with Cronus, and told him that the auction wouldn't be until tomorrow. As he took the credits from the category 2 and 3 sales along with a small tube of glistening silver liquid.

Nichole groaned as she felt her arms and legs being pulled back into the restrained position she'd been in since her capture, as helpless to stop it this time as she was the first. With a chuckle Cronus picked her up and headed out the door, humming to himself as he went.

As they got outside Nichole could tell they were no longer in the jungle, the path was completely different. Unfortunately that was all she could see was Cronus was carrying her from a handle that had formed on her back, Nichole swinging back and fourth as he walked staring down at the dusty path.

The path changed as Cronus headed up some steps and into a building. Nichole just made out the bed as she was throw onto it before Cronus rolled her over. Grinning he held up the syringe of silver fluid and clicked it into a device, the end of which was a long needle. Wide eye'd in fear Nichole could only wait for the inevitable pain from her body's piercing, before she felt the strange, icy sensation of the fluid as it pumped into her.

"Look at me slut" Cronus said straddling her chest. Nichole looked up and for the first time since her capture she felt something odd inside her, not fear, not pain, but pleasure. Her pussy tingled slightly, a twang of arousal that rippled across her body. He nipples seemed to grow and Nichole could feel the cool air of the room as it seemed to brush ver her body like a sensual feather.

"I take it the nanobots are working my little slut but be warned, if you do anything without your Master's permission they will punish you most severely. I'll show you just a fraction of the pleasure these bots can provide but i assure you the pain is equally intense." he said as he stripped off.

If she could have she would have gasped as his naked body came into sight over her, it wasn't just his muscular body that took her breath in this over aroused state but also the thing hanging between his legs. His cock was almost a foot long, and as thick as her wrist and it wasn't even erect yet.

"Thats right slut, you like you Master's cock don't you!" Cronus said as he flicked a few buttons on his arm pad, Nichole's legs automatically spread wide giving him un restricted access to her pussy.

Nichole had never felt anything like it when he slid his cock deep into her, the pleasure was astronomical.

"Oh god, you're so tight slut! I've never fucked a sex hole so wet and warm!" Cronus said in delight.

As he started thrusting in and out Nichole couldn't help but close her eye's in shear ecstasy, but as she reached the point of cumming she couldn't seem to get over the edge, something was holding her back from what would be the greatest pleasure she had ever experienced in her life. Cronus sped up until finally with one big thrust he buried his cock deep inside her as he came.

As soon as the first spurt of cum hit the inside of Nichole she was released over the edge, her body shuddering and tensing up as the pleasure that overcame Nichole was almost to much. As if part conscious part unconscious she felt the gushing juices from her pussy as she tensed up again and again, the muscles in her pussy rippling over the giant cock inside her milking all the cum it could from it. It was like a different being inside Nichole had taken over, and all she got was the pure undiluted pleasure of the orgasm.

Finally flopping off her Cronus rolled over onto the bed and gave a huge sigh of satisfaction as he closed his eyes. Nichole however was still in some sort of post orgasmic bliss, the cum for Cronus was dribbling down over her arse sending shivers of joy through her body.

For all the pain, suffering and humiliation of the past few hours she was certain of one thing, she wanted to feel those highs again.