Chapter 53

Mikan opened her eyes into the familiar mist that told her she was in Venus's realm. When she turned around, a little house appeared in the mist. It was more detailed than anything she had seen before. Mikan opened up the door and stepped inside. She found herself in a small kitchen with floral wallpaper and a cute little table in the center. A woman walked into the room. Mikan assumed it was Venus at first but this woman was different than the Venus she knew. She was a little shorter, a little more slender, with merely large breasts rather than gargantuan ones. Her hair was more of a dirty blond than the platinum it had been before and there was something slightly different with her face, though Mikan couldn't tell what it was exactly. 

Also, the woman was dancing. At least that's what Mikan assumed it was. Her head was bobbing and her hips were rolling and she was doing some truly bizarre things with her arms. The woman danced around the table and said, head still bobbing, "Mikan, Mikan, Mikan, Mikan! You never cease to impress me! How did you pull this off?! A year ago you were a nothing on a planet that nobody but a handful of carcha had ever heard of and now you banged two of the most powerful humans in the galaxy! And not just banged them, I mean, you really fucked the hell out of them! What was it, ten orgasms between all of you in two sessions? Outstanding! I can't remember the last time somebody maximized their power so well. And so quickly!" 

Mikan had gone crimson while Venus was talking but it also made her feel kind of good. It wasn't too often she received praise, especially such lavish praise. "I was lucky to meet them," she said. 

"You make your own luck, my lovely," Venus said. "You took the chances you were given. I honestly couldn't be more proud. Did you know you also got a small bump from that yummy icke you did? Fantastic." Mikan blinked. 'So Deni is a pilot.' It was kind of embarrassing how little she knew about him but kind of exciting, too. Venus suddenly lost a lot of her good humor and made a noise of frustration. "Your partner is proving to be the opposite. He basically had to lose his mind to push him into doing you." Mikan's elation also went away, replaced with a sour feeling. "And now he runs off when he has the chance of all chances for a power boost. What am I going to do with him? He's not even pursuing other ether users! I suppose I can't blame him for the fie. That woman is sex on a stick. But the pathetic little human girl that's always hanging off him? Fuck me. She better not convince him to be monogamous." She seemed to almost vomit the word.

Mikan felt like she'd been doused in cold water. She'd had strong suspicions but now it was confirmed. Callum was sleeping with Bel and Valencia. She agreed with Venus on Bel. The woman was so sexy she'd made Mikan feel things she never thought she would toward another female. Valencia still stung, though. 'Why are you so surprised? He's known her for forever and she's really pretty and sweet.' Another voice, though, was saying, 'Is she better than you? You've got a more womanly body already even though you're younger and she seems like she'd be a cold fish in bed.' Mikan tried to chase away the thoughts. Venus had never really stopped talking. 

"You, though, you're my shining star. My hope for the future. Usually I have an easier time with men but now I have one that acts like a prim little girl when it comes to sex." 'Does that mean I act like a man?' Also, she wasn't sure 'prim' really fit. 'I think he's slept with more people than me!' "Of course, with men, you always run the risk of it turning out like that good-for-nothing Jingsi. All the power and none of the ambition." Venus laughed. She had an absolutely beautiful laugh. "Well, good for nothing until he met you. At least all the accumulating he did won't be a complete waste." 

Mikan's stomach turned a little. "What, um, what exactly are you expecting from me?" Venus glanced at her curiously and Mikan hurriedly added, "Wu seemed to think it is completely impossible to defeat the carcha." 

Venus sighed. "Yeah. You're right to ask. Maybe I never explained this properly to Wu and that's why he turned into such a loser." Venus stepped a little closer. "I don't expect you to go on a crusade that wipes the carcha out from one end of the galaxy to the other. What I want is for humans to have a place where they can live and grow together. A place where they have the power and can grow that power so that I don't have to rely on total flukes like you and Callum." 

"Okay…but why?" 

Venus grinned and rubbed her chin. "Oh, now there's a question. How should I explain it?" She closed her eyes and kept rubbing her chin with a little smirk. Then the smirk died and her eyes opened. They had a faraway look in them and her expression shifted to one of concern. Her eyes refocused and snapped back to Mikan. "You need to wake up, Mikan. Something bad is happening." 

"What?" Mikan asked, her stomach sinking. 

"Wake up!"

Mikan woke. She sat up in bed and oriented herself. The room was dark but a little light filtering in from the door let her get a dim picture. Wu was asleep beside her, snoring gently. He mumbled something and rolled over. 'Is Venus trying to wake him up, too?' Mikan thought back on the end of her dream with Venus. Like always, it was as clear as a waking memory. 'Something bad is happening.' It was a vague warning but Mikan could feel the truth of it. Her stomach churned. She could feel evil. Was this something she had gained by gathering so much power? 

Mikan peeled off the sheet that covered her and slipped out of the bed. She padded over to where she had dropped her clothes and felt around until she located her camisole and panties. She hated having to put them on when she was still so sticky but she didn't think she had time for a shower. In fact, she put them on as she walked to the door. Something was drawing her out. 

She activated the door to Wu's quarters and poked her head out. There was nothing and nobody in the corridor in either direction. She stepped out and put her hands on her hips. What was going on? She still felt an oppressive weight but what was she supposed to do? Wander around until she stumbled into something? 'Maybe I should go and wake up Wu…'

A scream, quickly muffled, snapped Mikan's head around. It had come from the right and Mikan was moving before she had really thought about it. She skidded around a corner and was greeted to a sight from a nightmare. A hulking creature, even taller than a dobed and almost as bulky, held up a struggling woman. The creature had gray, scaly skin, gigantic arms with huge clawed hands, short, bandy legs and a thick tail. Its eyes were small and yellow, its jaw massively distended and full of crooked, sharp teeth. It had no hair and its only clothing was a dirty hide skirt.

It held the woman up by her hands, its one paw easily circling around both her wrists and it was so tall it barely had to lift her above its shoulder to have her dangling off the ground. 'What the hell is that thing?' Mikan had never seen anything close, even among the diverse aliens aboard Tianlong. It had to be the source of the evil she was feeling, didn't it? The thing confirmed that it was when it lowered its other hand away from the woman's mouth. Mikan could tell instantly that her jaw had been broken. The creature moved its hand down to its skirt and pushed the waistband down, revealing a phallus just as bulky and scaly as the rest of him.

Again Mikan was moving before she could think. She sprinted forward, gathering ether instinctively. It came easily and abundantly. She leapt into the air and gathered as much into her fist as she could. Her leap took her high and her shoulder was level with his head when she punched him. Her fist actually gouged out a large chunk of his head and Mikan spun all the way when she didn't meet the expected resistance. She smacked into the wall of the corridor, bounced off it and hit the floor hard. She was on her feet a second later, fists up and feet set. 

She needn't have bothered. The creature, missing a quarter of its head, swayed for a moment and then toppled backward, letting go of its prey. Mikan stepped forward cautiously but the thing definitely seemed dead. Dark yellow blood was seeping out of its head profusely and there were no signs of breathing. Mikan looked at her hand, which was covered in the thing's disgusting blood. How had she done that? It was like her fist had turned into a blade or something. That had to be the ether. It had come so easily and so powerfully. 'How strong am I now?' 

Questions for later. Mikan knelt down next to the woman, who was slumped up against the wall. Her dress had been torn in several places and she was bleeding from scratches on her arms and legs. Her jaw had been twisted out of place and Mikan felt like vomiting just looking at it. The eyes were the worst thing, though. They were wide and horrified with an unceasing stream of tears. 'What do I do?' There had to be an infirmary somewhere but Mikan had no idea where. 'I'll have to get Wu.' 

He saved her the trouble by coming around the corner a moment later. "What the hell happened here?" he demanded. 

Mikan glanced at him. "That…thing…was trying to rape this woman." 

Wu walked to them. He was only wearing a pair of black shorts. He peered down at the dead creature. "Did you do this?" Mikan nodded. "Good work." He scraped a hand through his hair with obvious distress. "How the hell did this thing get aboard, though?"

"Do you know what it is?" 

"Not exactly. I've seen species like this among the Rukh before, though." 

"The Rukh?" 

Wu stared at her. "So there are some upsides to living on a rock in the middle of nowhere." He shook his head. "How do I even…? Listen, the Rukh are way too much to get into right now so I'll just tell you this; don't feel bad about killing them. They need to be exterminated." 

"...I might need a little more than that." 

"Alright. You know how we gain power via fucking and the carcha gain it via killing?" Mikan nodded. "The Rukh get it via rape. Like the exact opposite of us. But that's not exactly right either because I've heard they can gain it through despoiling just about anything. It doesn't have to be sexual or maybe it's all sexual to them. I don't know exactly. Nobody does. Wu shrugged. "And they sure as fuck don't produce any scholars and anybody crazy enough to try and study them ends up, well, raped." 

Mikan shuddered. "So that's why it was…?" 

"Yes," Wu said grimly. "And since I've tried to activate the general alarm exactly hundred times in the last thirty seconds, they've clearly done something to our communications. So listen, Mikan, and there is no time to argue." He bent down and picked the nearly catatonic girl up. "I'm going to take her somewhere safe and then try and see what I can do about fixing the communications. In the meantime, I'm going to kill every Rukh I see. I'm heading astern. I need you to go in the other direction and take out any Rukh you can find. Gather some help if you can. There are a lot of tough motherfuckers on this ship." 

"M-me?" 

"Yes, you," Wu said testily. "Look what you did to that big fucker." He nodded at the Rukh corpse. "You're more than strong enough. Especially now that you have my good oil sloshing around in you." Mikan blushed and scowled at him. Wu laughed and jogged away. 

Mikan stood. She opened and closed her fists a few times. Her stomach was in a knot but there really wasn't any choice. If those things were wandering around looking for women to rape, they had to be dealt with. And she had killed the one pretty easily. 'You can do this, Mikan.' She could feel the power welling up inside her and it filled her with an unfamiliar feeling. Confidence. 'I do wish I had some pants on, though…'