“This has to be a trick.”

Rixie was staring at the text only message that was scrolling across the screen of her piloting console. It was from Trell’s ship, stating that they were demanding money in exchange for return of the stolen data. It further stipulated that Pryvani was to send two representatives to Trell’s ship to negotiate, and that her sister Brinn had to be one of them.

Pryvani and Brinn were each reading over one of her shoulders. Brinn’s face had confusion written all over it, while Pryvani’s was schooled into a carefully maintained expressionless mask.

Rixie spun in her chair to face the other two women. “Absolutely nothing about this makes any sense tactically.” She toyed with one of her braids as her mind processed the situation. “Let’s face it: she had us beat until this. All she had to do was keep flying and she’d have reached her goal before we got there. Once she’d landed on the planet, she would be basically home free.”

“Obviously, she’s laying a trap for us.” Pryvani scanned the message again. “She must have ships lying in wait ahead of us.”

She reached past Rixie and tapped a few keys on the console. “There’re three security vessels from the station about an hour behind us. Slow down until you’re just faster than Trell’s present speed. That will give them a chance to catch up with us and hopefully even the odds in whatever ambush Trell is planning.”

“Wait, you’re actually going to go through with this?” Brinn asked as she grabbed Pryvani’s shoulder, eyes wide and slightly panicked.

Pryvani smirked at her. “Of course. If it offers us a chance to recover the stolen data, we must take it.”

“Yeah, but…”

“Remember kid,” Rixie said gruffly. “You did volunteer for this mission.”

Brinn nodded, sinking into a chair. “I… I know.”

Rixie smiled gently. “Just stick by me if things get hairy, Okay?” She tapped a few keys on the console, monitoring the respective positions of their ship, their quarry and the three escort vessels rapidly converging on their position. “I’m told I make a pretty good shield.”

Brinn chuckled.

“Why don’t you tell me about how you busted those smugglers?”

*.*.*.*.*.*

“Okay, so we knocked Trell unconscious.” Sophia was seated beside the duffle bag where she and Alex had retreated to after putting Trell to sleep. Her leg was still hurt, and the climb up the shelf had not been fun at all, but it was better than being down on the floor. For whatever reason, she felt much safer being up high.

“Yes we did.” Alex responded, as he restlessly paced the shelf in front of her.

“Now what?”

Alex stopped. “Um…”

Sophia sighed. “That’s what I thought. Well, we’ve done all we can. We’ll just have to hope that the Titans can get here soon before she wakes up.”

There was a groan and the body on the floor on the other side of the room stirred.

“Damn!” Alex groaned. “You had to go and say that didn’t you?”

He grabbed Sophia’s hand and hauled her to her feet. Sophia winced as her injured leg was suddenly forced to take her weight, but held back the cry of pain. “Come on, we gotta find somewhere to hide, fast!”

Trell sighed and slowly sat up. Her head felt like an entire starship had landed on top of it, taken off, and then landed again.

“What…?” She muttered, and then her eyes snapped open as it all came back to her. Her hand darted under the shelf and her fingers wrapped around the tube that the little vermin had used to knock her flat.

With a snarl she threw the tube across the room. “All right, where are you, little pests?” Trell shakily pulled herself to her feet using the table as support. “I’ll make you a deal: If you come out now, your deaths will be quick. However, if I have to hunt for you, I will do everything within my power to ensure that your agony will last for days.”

She began to crawl along the floor, the pain in her head forcing her to move with agonizing slowness and making her dizzy whenever she tried to stand up. She crawled along the floor, reaching under every shelf and piece of furniture in search of the little humans.

Eventually, it became obvious that the little creatures weren’t anywhere on floor level. Trell began to search the tops of tables and on the shelves. She discovered that if she stood up very slowly, it didn’t make her quite so disoriented.

Alex and Sophia had made it to the top shelf and were huddled by the back wall, high above Trell’s head. Suddenly, a hand slammed down on the shelf and slid along the edge, its fingers probing ever closer to the two humans huddling in fear.

Sophia could feel her own heart beat pounding in her ears. She held her breath and pressed herself against the wall. Trell’s blood red nails glinted in the overhead light as they drew closer and closer to her. She felt the tip of the giantess’ middle fingernail graze against her shin.

“All right, here’s the plan.” Alex whispered into Sophia’s ear. “I’ll distract her, you hide until the coast is clear. Got it?”

Sophia shook her head. “Not a chance. I’m not letting you play stupid macho man who gets himself killed.”

Alex grinned. “Yeah, well, you’re injured and it’s my turn anyway. I’d like to see you stop me.” Before Sophia could react, Alex took off running along the shelf.

“Damn it!” the young woman swore, but she knew there was no way she’d be able to catch up with him.

Trell could hear the tiny footsteps along the shelf above her head; so she knew they were up there somewhere. She walked along the shelf, following the sound of the footsteps until she reached the end the human was running towards.

Alex skidded to a stop at the edge of the shelf; he looked down to see Trell grinning up at him.

With a smirk she kicked the side of the shelf. Alex tried to regain his balance from the sudden tremor, but when that didn’t work he leaped off the top of the shelf and landed in Trell’s hair.

Alex shook himself out of his daze and immediately climbed back to his feet. He quickly ran across the top of Trell’s head through knee deep golden strands. A shadow fell over him as Trell reached her hand up to grab him.

He rolled out of the way as her hand slammed down on her scalp, then tumbled down the side of her head and onto her shoulder.

“Get back here you little rodent!” She snarled.

Alex responded by reflex and jumped in the first direction he faced.

Of course, that just happened to be down Trell’s shirt.

“Hey!”

Fortunately, his sweat soaked body allowed him to slide right between her breasts and down her shirt.

Unfortunately, he soon felt her hand press him against her stomach. Fortunately, a combination of Alex’s struggling, the smooth material of Trell’s clothes and his own sweat allowed him to slip free of her pressing hand and fall the rest of the way out of her shirt.

He landed with a thud between her boots, the wind knocked out of him. He was able to recover and make a dash for freedom.

“When I catch you, little insect, I’m going to peel your skin off in one long strip!” Trell yelled as her massive boots thudded towards him.

Alex knew he had to keep her distracted long enough for Sophia to find a hiding place. A shadow fell over him and a massive boot slammed into his path, the dispersed air from the huge object knocked Alex off of his feet.

“Crap, not this again.” He muttered as he heaved himself upright and continued running in another direction.

Trell’s boot slid in front of him, faster than he was able to react. Before he knew it, he found himself sprawled across the black leather surface of her toe. Her other foot appeared behind him, trapping him there.

“That was a fun game, little one.” With a triumphant laugh she gathered him into the palm of her hand, and then raised him to her face.

“Well, I don’t know where you came from,” She licked her lips suggestively and grinned. “But I do know where you’re going. I’m glad you were able to amuse me for a few minutes. However, I don’t have any particular reason to keep you around anymore either.”

She raised him above her mouth “I can feel Nick is starting to fight me now, the drugs must be wearing off. Did you know him? Well, if not, you two will have plenty of time to get acquainted over the next few days in my stomach. Please tell him I said ‘Hi’ okay?” with a girlish giggle, the sadistic giantess let him drop down onto her tongue, and closed her jaws behind him.

As her tongue rolled him around on its slimy surface, Alex couldn’t help but become disgusted by the feel of her saliva on his skin. Physically, it didn’t feel any different than when Rixie did similar things, but there was an emotional difference that was palpable to him. With Rixie it was fun, playful, and it felt good.

With Trell… her tongue felt like some sort of monstrous tentacle that lapped against him, violating him in the worst possible way. It felt intrusive and wrong. Instinctively Alex curled into a ball to try and shield himself from her touch, but of course she was all around him. He felt her sinister laugh vibrating through his very body, as he waited for her to swallow him.

“Trell?”

With an annoyed growl, Trell spat the pathetic, soaking wet human into her hand so she could speak into her wrist communicator.

“Yes? What is it?” She snarled, obviously annoyed at being interrupted.

“Pryvani’s shuttle has arrived.”

There was a very pregnant pause, before Trell spoke again. She curled her fingers around Alex’s body, squeezing him slightly, ignoring his struggles to free himself. She spoke with a deadly calm. “What do you mean? ‘Pryvani’s shuttle has arrived?’ How did they catch up to us in the first place?”

She could hear the pilot clearing her throat nervously. “We’ve been waiting for them, Trell.” The voice was tinged with uncertainty. “We were following your orders. You told us to send a message to Pryvani that you wanted to ransom the data back to her.”

Another long, dangerous pause. “I ordered this?”

“Yes. You told us over the intercom not too long ago…”

“Over the…?” Trell snarled and muttered to herself. “…well, well, well. Clever girl.”

After a moment she spoke into the intercom again. “Very well. Hold position until I get there.”

Trell gazed down at the human in her hand He was still gasping for air, his body soaked with her saliva.

“Looks like our fun will have to wait until later,” She licked her lips. “Something to look forward to, I suppose.” She unzipped the front pocket of her pants and carelessly dropped her new toy inside, zipping it shut again behind him.

Trell stepped towards the door, but paused and turned back into the room. “I suppose you think you’re smart, tricking my pilots like you did.” She smirked as she surveyed the seemingly empty room. “However, that’s really not much of an accomplishment. Be good and stay put, little girl. I’ll be back to finish our chase soon.”

Casting one last glance around the room, she swept out the door which shut itself behind her with a mechanical hiss.

*.*.*.*.*.*

“Mercenary Transport, this is Shuttle Elysium.” Rixie spoke into the communications unit. “You are suspected to be in possession of stolen data files and are hereby ordered to heave to and prepare to be boarded.”

“Hello Rixie.” Trell’s voice piped in from the speaker. “You and I both know that the firepower on my ship significantly outclasses that glorified yacht you’re flying. So I don’t believe you’re in any position to make demands.”

Rixie glanced at her sensor monitor and smirked. “Trell, right about now your pilot is probably telling you that there are three vessels that have just entered sensor range. It is my pleasure to inform you that those are the shuttles Isis, Hecate and Morgana, from the Valhalla station. They’re our escorts and I’m fairly certain between the four of us we can match anything you’ve got.”

There was a brief pause, and then Trell spoke again. “Actually, there’s nothing like that on our sensors.”

Rixie chuckled. “Guess ours are just better than yours. Go ahead and give it a minute, I’ll wait.”

After a few seconds her screen lit up again as the three escort vessels entered the system. Rixie leaned back in her chair, a satisfied smile on her face.

The radio crackled to life again. “We are prepared for your arrival.”

*.*.*.*.*.*

Alex poked at the zipper above him, trying to see if he could move it at all. There was a slight hole that could potentially be used to give him a way to freedom, but it would take time.

Trell’s hand suddenly pressed him roughly against the side of her thigh. Alex squirmed against the rough treatment. His arm was wedged painfully behind his back and he felt something dig into his chest. When the Titaness pulled her hand away and he was free to move again, he discovered she had placed him in the same pocket that she had hidden Pryvani’s data disk.

“I bet she’d be really mad if this suddenly went missing.” Alex muttered to himself. “That would really be a shame.” He set the disk to the side and began tugging on the zipper of his pocket prison, trying to make room for his escape.

It took a long time but eventually he had managed to pull the zipper back far enough to create a hole big enough for himself to climb out of. He looked up through the hole and was pleased to note that Trell’s attention was elsewhere. Now was the time to leave, while she was distracted.

He hefted the data disk and climbed out of her pocket. He stood on the edge of her pocket for a moment, but Trell picked that second to twist slightly, sending Alex off balance and tumbling down the side of her thigh and onto the floor. He landed with a painful thud that sent his senses reeling.

When the disorientation passed, he looked up at the Titaness, wondering if he’d managed to attract her attention. Thankfully, Trell’s focus was still on the computer console in front of her. She had no idea her little prisoner had escaped and made off with her very valuable prize.

With a triumphant grin, Alex dashed off towards the corner of the room, to find a corner to hide in.

“Humans: one. Sadistic Titan bitches: zero.”

*.*.*.*.*.*

Nick pounded against the walls of Trell’s stomach, fruitlessly. He was back to his senses again and fully aware of just where he was. He growled and punched the wall of ribbed wet flesh again, trying to vent his frustration and anger at himself for putting himself in this position.

He had asked her to do it; a nagging voice in the back of his mind reminded him. She had actually gotten him to beg her to swallow him. It didn’t matter that he was drugged, it didn’t matter that he had thought Trell was actually Brinn. Those facts were irrelevant; he had actually asked to be eaten.

And deep down, he knew, he’d wanted it to happen. He’d wanted to experience being in the stomach of a Titan again.

What the hell was wrong with him?

“Save your strength, my young friend.” A tired voice spoke to him from the gloom inside Trell’s stomach. “You will need that energy to fight the pull of this demonic body.”

With a sigh, Nick walked over to where the older man was slumped against Trell’s stomach wall. Tulak wasn’t looking good. He’d been in Trell’s stomach longer than Nick had, and the oppressive atmosphere was clearly taking its toll on the high priest.

Besides poor quality of the air inside Trell’s stomach, and the near constant (though relatively slight) churning brought on by the Titaness’ movements, there was also a far more insidious foe that they had to battle to remain alive.

There seemed to be a constant undertow (for lack of a better word) that tried to pull them deeper into Trell’s body. Nick figured that Titan physiology used the stomach less for digestion and more for storage, and the real digestive process likely began in the intestines themselves.

It was likely that nonliving food spent a relatively short amount of time inside the stomach before being pulled into the intestine. After all, nonliving objects couldn’t really resist the current the way he and Tulak (and who knew how many other humans that Trell had likely swallowed over her lifetime) could.

He hadn’t noticed it when he’d been inside Zara’s stomach, probably because he had been inside her for a relatively short amount of time. But now, the longer the two of them remained inside Trell, and the weaker they became, the more obvious it was.

And Tulak was becoming very weak.

Nick stood next to the high priest and pulled the older man into a seating position. “Come on Tulak. You need to hang on. We’ll get out of this.”

Tulak smiled weakly. “It may be that this is a test from my Goddess.” He coughed. “After all, there must be evil for good to exist. I am not worried. I know that whatever happens is all part of a much bigger plan.”

Nick sighed and rubbed his face wearily. “Tulak… in case we don’t get out of this, there’s really something you should know about your ‘Goddess’ …see the thing is…” Nick’s voice trailed off as he realized that Tulak had slipped into unconsciousness.

Nick checked the old man’s pulse and was relieved to see that he still lived, and was still breathing. “Never mind.” Nick sighed. “I’ll tell you later. …Hopefully.”

*.*.*.*.*.*

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea for me to go with you Rixie.” Brinn whimpered as she followed the taller woman through the embarking tube that connected their ship to Trell’s. “I’ve never even fired a gun before in my life.”

“Relax Brinn.” Rixie smiled over her shoulder at the red haired woman. “Just stay behind me and watch my back. Let me do the shooting.”

They reached the end of the tube and Rixie waved her to the side of the door. Taking up position on the other side, she silently counted down from three and pushed the open button.

Immediately flashes of gun fire blew past them and left burn marks on the far door. After the shots subsided Rixie ducked out the door and fired two shots and dived into the room.

She ducked behind a crate and waited for Trell and her cronies to finish firing. She stuck her head out again and fired twice. She was rewarded with a pair of short screams as both Trell’s pilots took hits and collapsed to the ground, stunned.

Before Trell could rally herself, Rixie rolled out from behind the crate and bulled across the room. She tackled Trell to the ground before the latter could fire her gun again.

Rixie landed on top of the other woman, her gun pointed at Trell’s face. “Go on, Try something.” She spoke through gritted teeth. “At this range even a stun setting will scramble your brains for years to come.”

Trell grimaced and threw her gun across the room in defeat.

“Rixie!”

Rixie blinked in confusion. She looked around before finally spotting Alex on the floor in the corner. The little human was jumping up and down and waving his arm to try and attract her attention. He had the silver data disk tucked under one arm.

“Alex?” She cried. “What are you doing here?”