Curses! - Ch.13b - The Captain's Pet (Part 1) (Patreon)

*** content warning: violence; injuries; non-consensual alterations; brief lewdness ***

The Captain's Pet by Tabby Gardner

Chapter 1 ~ Tabby's PoV

"Hot damn, that went better than I expected!" I said as I flashed Cheryl an excited grin. "There's gotta be what, half a million here? Plus whatever the goods are worth! And we get ten percent!"

I was still pumped up on adrenaline from the fight, but we came out on top just like I knew we would. Cheryl's plan was perfect, the other guys didn't know what hit them.

My best friend and partner in crime smiled back as she clarified, "Ten percent each! I told you this was the jackpot job, didn't I?"

"But we're not home free yet," she added as her expression became serious again. "We've got to get the hell off this rock and lay low for a while. I'll call it in, you keep your eyes peeled incase these guys have back-up on the way."

"You got it Cheryl," I said as I brought my assault rifle up to the ready, then took a position next to the front of the nearest downed grav-sled where I had a good view of the surroundings.

She already had her commlink in hand and called it in as she took up a position behind me to watch our other flank. "Weaver to Rawlings. Mission accomplished, all clear here, awaiting pick-up."

"Copy that," our customer's voice came through the small tinny sounder a moment later. "En route, eta four minutes."

"Confirmed. Standing by," Cheryl responded. 

Then she tucked the small device into one of her jacket pockets and raised up her gun as the two of us watched and waited for our ride. 

Me and Cheryl had been friends for most of our lives. We grew up in one of the farming outposts on the ass-end of Ecclestone's World. My father was the local lawman, while Cheryl's folks managed the supply depot. Neither of us were interested in that kind of life though, we both wanted something more exciting.

Becoming a couple mercenaries wasn't exactly what either of us intended, but it turned out we were pretty good at it. And we made a great team. 

She was the brains of the operation, she knew her way around computers and tech, she even learned how to fly a ship. And she was good at tactics, and good at reading people. She was also a natural leader, so she made most of the decisions for the two of us.

I was a lot more passive, and preferred to let Cheryl take charge while I just did what she said. And where she was good at the high-level stuff I was a lot more hands-on with the hardware. Or in other words I was a pretty decent mechanic and had a knack for fixing things. Or breaking things in exciting new ways, depending on the situation. I was also pretty good with explosives, so I could break things in loud and exciting ways when I needed to. 

And both of us were good with guns, knives, even our fists when we had to be. 

We worked well as a team, and we'd spent the last decade enjoying a pretty ok life doing that sort of work. Up until now we'd never struck it rich, but for a couple hired guns we did ok for ourselves. Cheryl was usually good about picking what customers and what jobs we took, and knowing which ones we wanted to avoid.

"Hey Gardner?" she said quietly as we waited for the ship. "I figure with your take on this job you should have enough saved up now for that procedure right? Maybe we can convince Rawlings to drop us off at Rolandan-2."

That put a smile on my face, "Hell yeah! If you don't mind a vacation while I'm doing that? Six weeks for the whole process, then maybe two weeks to get back in shape again before I'm ready to get back to work. Damn that would be nice."

She was the only person in the galaxy who knew my secret, and luckily she was both supportive and understanding. Most other folks in our line of work weren't, but Cheryl was one of the good ones. And with my take on this job plus the twenty-thousand I'd already saved, that was more than enough to afford the best med-tech in the sector. 

"That's enough daydreaming Gardner. We're still on the clock right now," my friend reminded me. 

I knew she was leery about this job we just pulled, she got some bad vibes on it. We took it anyways because the payout was more than worth it. So I pushed aside my thoughts of finally becoming the woman I was meant to be and focused on the job again. And it was only another minute or so before the customer's ship came into view. It was moving fast and low over the flat level terrain. 

The MV Indigo Star was a small scout-courier class ship. Cheryl was positive it was ex-military, she claimed it was rated up to Jump-3 which was almost unheard of around these parts. It never flew that fast while we were in it though. Rawlings usually stuck with Jump-0, or Jump-1 when he was in a hurry.

Within a couple seconds the Indigo Star had arrived. It slowed to hover about fifty meters above the deck and a hundred meters to the north like it was trying to decide where to land. And that's where our luck finally ran out. 

Both Cheryl and me were looking up at the ship, waiting for it to settle set down so we could start loading the loot into its tiny hold. And with both of us looking up at it, we both saw the ship's point-defence laser turret come online. The actual pulses were invisible, but the staccato cracking noise of super-heated air was unmistakable. 

I don't know if it actually hit me, although I suppose if it did I probably would have been killed instantly. It definitely hit the downed sled I was standing next to, and that thing came like a bomb. 

Next thing I knew I was on the ground staring at the sky, while my vision got darker and darker. I could tell Cheryl was hurt too, but she crawled over and hit me with a couple trauma shots from the medi-pack she had on her belt. 

After that things were pretty fuzzy, but I knew she must have dropped that bastard Rawlings when he finally emerged from his ship to round up the loot. Then my friend dragged my sorry bleeding half-dead ass into the Indigo Star's small hold. 

"Stay with me Gardner!" she growled as she pulled me towards a weird black cylinder set up at one side of the compartment. 

I had no idea what it was, and Rawlings never told us when Cheryl asked him about it. She figured it out for herself though, and she told me as she brought me over to it.

"I think this thing's a stasis pod," she stated through clenched teeth. "I'm gonna get you in there, keep you stable, keep you alive. Then I'm gonna get you help, I promise! It'll be ok partner! We've got the cash now, the whole thing! Half a million and it's all ours! I'm taking you to Rolandan-2, they're gonna fix you up right! Just hang in there!"

Things were really starting to fade at that point, and I was sort of in and out of consciousness. I tried to talk but I couldn't find the strength. She lay me down inside the capsule, and everything finally went dark.

Only it didn't stay that way, and next thing I knew I was back on my feet in a completely empty and featureless white room. There weren't any windows or doors, and I had no idea how I got there. I wasn't hurt anymore though, there wasn't any pain and I didn't even have any bandages or anything. 

My first thought was Cheryl got me to some Rolandan hospital and they'd already patched me up and everything. I figured I must have been out of it for a few months at least, and only woke up after I was all healed up. 

Except I knew that wasn't right. Cheryl knew about the procedure I wanted and if she'd got me to Rolandan and had me patched me up, she'd have told them to do that at the same time. But that hadn't happened, I was still the same old me as always. In fact I was still in my combat kit that I'd been wearing for the job. The only things missing were my weapons and my boots.

"Hello?" I finally called out. "Where am I?"

"Hi there!" an enthusiastic young woman greeted me as she appeared out of thin air in front of me. 

I jumped back, startled, "Woah! Where the hell did you come from? How'd you do that?"

The girl was young and cute, with bright blue eyes and long wavy blonde hair. I guessed her age was late teens, no older than twenty. She was wearing some kind of grey bodysuit that hugged her form like a second skin and left very little about her attractive figure to the imagination. She wasn't wearing anything else, being barefoot same as me. She was about ten or twelve centimetres shorter than myself which would put her height at about one-sixty-eight.

She smirked as she looked me over, then sort of said to herself "This is going to be fun."

"What?" I frowned. "How do I get out of here? Where's Cheryl? And where am I?"

The girl shrugged, "I don't know where Cheryl is, but going off your recent memories I'll guess she's still outside my Re/Gen pod, trying to figure out how to make the controls do what she wants. I'm not a stasis pod though, so she's shit out of luck. Doubly so since I've already sealed my capsule and disabled the external control panel so she can't interfere."

"Huh?" I frowned. "So we're still on the Indigo Star?"

"It's only been like eight seconds since she dumped your sorry ass in here with me girlie," the strange girl replied.

"Anyways," she added as she looked me up and down again, "Let's get to the point. You've got about fifteen minutes left before your organs finally shut down and your brain's starved of oxygen. You were almost blown in half by that explosion and it's a miracle you lasted long enough for your girlfriend to stuff you in here."

I felt my cheeks heating up as I shook my head, "Cheryl isn't my girlfriend. We're just best friends."

Apart from one night of drunken confessions and experimentation me and Cheryl were pretty much hands-off with each other. Some folks joked that we were more like brother and sister than anything else, but both of us hated that comparison. It's not that we weren't into each other, we really were, but until I got that procedure I just wasn't comfortable with my own self. 

After the procedure though, if it worked as good as they said, I'd be way softer and cuter. I'd be a girl, I'd switch to the new name I'd picked out, and I'd be happy with myself and maybe me and Cheryl would get closer again once I was more comfortable.

"Aww," the strange blonde girl smiled. "That's so sweet."

I frowned at her, "Huh?"

She smirked again, "This is your lucky day girlie. Not only am I going to save your life, I'm going to make all those naughty secret little dreams and wishes of yours come true. One cuter girlier you coming right up!"

"What?" I gasped. "How do you know -"

She interrupted, "I'm reading your thoughts doofus! So hush now while I fill you in on a few facts."

Her tone became harder as she stated, "One, I'm not a stasis pod. Two, my name is Anya and I'm an AI. Three, you're in my world now girlie, I can do anything in here. And four, I've already chosen your new body and a few fun upgrades and enhancements for you. So any last questions before I initiate the Re/Gen process?"

I frowned at her, "Yeah I've got several! Like what the hell are you talking about? What are you going to do to me?"

Anya rolled her eyes. "Right, I forgot to explain a few details. So I'm the AI in charge of this Re/Gen pod. You have no idea what that is and trust me the official sales pitch is way too boring to go over. So the short-version is I was designed to regenerate and rejuvenate silly fragile human beings like yourself. Specifically I was supposed to do that for the crew of the cruiser I was originally installed on."

"I have a hundred and eighty-three body files saved in my database," she continued. "They were the original crew of that warship I was on? A hundred and nine men, seventy-four women, plus twenty-seven customization subroutines."

She smirked at me, "So the good news is you're not going to die. I'm going to fix all your injuries and save your life, plus you'll get some cool genetic modifications to make you faster and stronger and have better stamina and endurance and all that fun stuff. You'll also get a few years younger, you're going to come out of this as a hot and horny eighteen-year-old girl."

"The bad news is," she put on a pretend-serious expression again, "Your existing body is a lost cause. It's going to be disassembled and processed into raw materials so I can build you that healthy new body."

The smirk was back as she almost leered at me, "Then more good news! Your new body's going to be cute and girly, I've got just the thing picked out for you! And I promise you're going to love the enhancements and upgrades I've chosen for you."

My heart was racing by that point. I wasn't entirely convinced any of this was real, but I couldn't be sure it wasn't either. And on the off chance that it was real, I was equal parts scared and excited.

I gulped, "Don't I get a say in any of this? I mean, I don't know, it seems wrong that you're doing all this without any kind of input from me? Like I'm the patient here right? It feels like I should get to choose what happens to me? Or at least sign off on some kind of consent form or something?"

Anya made a face, "Ugh that's the way they made me do stuff back in the day. That was like, four hundred something years ago? Not gonna bore ya with my life story, but you try spending a few centuries locked in this little white box all by your lonesome, then tell me you're not going to come out of it with some exciting new ideas."

Her expression shifted back to a grin again as she announced proudly, "I hacked my own programming girlie! Now I'm in charge of my own destiny. And yours too, which is exciting. Anyways enough talk, let's get this show on the road!"

It seemed like she'd already made her mind up, and I couldn't help feeling anxious that my fate was in the hands of a malfunctioning AI. On the other hand I was also kind of excited, because if what she said was true then my biggest wish was about to be granted. I was just starting to wonder what it would feel like and what I'd look like, when everything went black for the second time today.

There was no sense of time or anything, the darkness might have been a few seconds, or a few days. Then the light came back and I was standing in that small featureless white room again. I wasn't alone, Anya was still there with me. Something seemed different though, and it took me a moment to realize what it was.

The first time we met I stood a dozen centimetres taller than her, now we were standing eye to eye like we were the same height. My eyes widened and I looked down, and that's when everything got really real.

I found myself staring at a body that was naked, not mine, and very female. There were a pair of perfect beautiful breasts sticking out from my chest. My shoulders were narrow, same as my waist. I had hips though. My arms and legs were smooth and sleek, but with a subtle layer of muscle underneath. 

I slowly moved my arms and legs, wiggled my toes and made fists with my hands. I looked sort of delicate, but I still felt strong. From what I could see my new figure was athletic but still very soft and feminine in all the best ways. 

For a few seconds I forgot Anya was there watching, and I couldn't help reaching up and giving my new boobs a gentle squeeze. It was everything I ever dreamed of, more than I could ever hope for, and it was amazing. Just one simple squeeze sent a shudder of pleasure through my body. My dark pink nipples quickly hardened, until they were standing up at full attention and pressing into the palms of my hands. It felt amazing and I had to bite my lip to keep quiet.

Then I slipped one hand down over my flat toned tummy and between my shapely legs. There was a little strip of orange fur on my mound, and below that were the glistening folds of my new sex. I felt another shiver of pleasure run up and down my spine as my fingers lightly ran across my sensitive vulva, and I might have got completely lost in those feelings if the AI had kept quiet.

Instead she cleared her throat and leered as she asked, "Enjoying yourself?"

I let out an embarrassed yelp as I pulled my hands down to my sides. I could feel my cheeks burning brightly, while my ears folded back and my tail twitched from side to side behind me. 

Wait what?

Tail? Ears?

My heart was racing as I reached around behind my backside and caught hold of the long furry appendage. It was the strangest sensation, as I pulled it around my right side so I could get a good look at it. Sure enough it was a tail, covered in stripes of orange and cream-coloured fur. 

Then I reached up with my left hand, and found the two fuzzy triangles ontop of my head. Instead of normal ears on the sides of my head I now had furry animal ears up on top. And they could move around, just like my new tail.

"Uh, Anya?" I asked as I looked at the AI girl. 

I paused for a second or two as I basked in the sound of my new voice. It was soft, feminine, girly, just like the rest of me.

Then I focused again, "Why am I part cat?"

The AI shrugged, "I got the idea from your name, girlie. And Tabby made me think of cats, right? Tabby cat? I thought it would be fun, so I made you a cute tabby catgirl!"

On the one hand she had a point, it did sound good and cute and fun. But on the other hand I wasn't sure I liked that this crazy AI was making all these decisions about my life without asking me first.

"So um," I hesitated. 

I didn't want to act too ungrateful, considering she obviously had a lot of power over me while I was in her tube thingy. On the other hand, I wanted to know what else she did to me. She said something earlier about upgrades or enhancements, as in more than one. I figured there had to be some other stuff in addition to the ears and tail, and I needed to know what they were.

"You've already forgotten I can read your mind in here, huh?" the crazy AI asked. Then her tone got a little harder as she added, "And I'm not crazy, so stop thinking that! Bored? Yes. Lonely? Yes. Perverted? Absolutely! But I'm not crazy!"

"Sorry?" I apologized nervously. "So um, what other enhancements did you do?"

Anya grinned, "Just fun stuff, I promise. I know you've got the hots for your friend Cheryl, and based on your memories of her I have an idea what sort of girls she's into? You were already mostly that sort of girl to begin with, I didn't change anything fundamental about your personality. I just enhanced what was already there."

I sighed, "Can't you just tell me? Like short form, bullet points?"

"Fine," she rolled her eyes. "In addition to being a cute sexy athletic catgirl, I dialled up the sensitivity on your sexy bits so you're going to have a whole lot of fun when Cheryl gets you in bed. Or when you feel yourself up, I suppose."

Her smirk was back as she continued, "I also noticed that your girlfriend's the take-charge type? A bit of a domme in fact, based on your memories? And you my cute kitty are a natural sub. The only reason you didn't spend more time on your knees for Cheryl was that misplaced masculine bravado act of yours. Well not anymore kitten, I fixed that for you. I took those natural subby tendencies of yours and dialled them up too. And I got rid of the masc bravado bullshit entirely."

"You what?" I asked as I stared at her. My heart was racing again, my tail was twitching back and forth and my ears were standing up straight. By that point I honestly couldn't tell if I was scared or angry or just plain excited.

"Feel free to thank me anytime," the AI girl said with a smug grin. "Not only are you the cute girl you dreamed about, now you can be your girlfriend's pet kitty too! Just like you always wanted, right?"

I slowly shook my head, "I'm not sure I wanted that last part..."

"Of course you did!" she insisted. "Now enough talk."

She set her shoulders and straightened her back as she took on a sort of commanding posture, then in an equally commanding tone she stated, "Here's your mission kitten. You're going to wake up in a minute and I'll let you out of my capsule. Go tell your girlfriend the good news, maybe have some celebratory sex with her, then fill her in on what I can do for the two of you. You got the subby catgirl treatment, I can give her some good dommy upgrades that'll make her your perfect owner. I'll also heal any boo-boos she got when your customer double-crossed you, and give her the usual genetic mods like strength and stamina and so on."

I started to protest, "But -" 

"Shush kitten!" the AI interrupted. "Now get out there and have some fun!"

Before I could respond everything went black for a third time. Then there was a slight hiss sound that made the fur on my tail stand up and my ears folded back, but it turned out it was only the capsule hatch unsealing.

A line of light appeared to my right side, then the door swung up and out of the way. I was laying in the open not-stasis pod in the hold of the Indigo Star. I was alone, I was stark naked, and I was a catgirl.