Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Laura awoke, feeling refreshed and strong.  She hopped out of the bed and
stretched.  She knew she had been drugged and that someone had placed her
in bed.  She yawned, stretched, and headed to the bathroom to do her
morning routine.

   She washed up and applied the cream to the rash between her thighs as
the doctor had instructed.  She left the bathroom, cleaning it a bit, and
looked at the dressing table.  The bra and robe were still there, but a
fresh pair of panties had been delivered while she slept.  She headed over
to the window and looked out at a lovely garden.  Evidently, she was at the
back of the house.  If this was her new prison, so be it.  She decided to
enjoy it.

   Someone had placed a small hamper alongside the dressing table, or maybe
it had been there before and Laura did not notice it.  She changed her
panties, put on the bra and adjusted it, and looked at herself in the
mirror.  This basic white military issue had to go.  She would speak to her
jailer about getting something nice.  She put her robe on, went to the door
and tried to open it.  The door was locked.

   There was a blue button right beside the door.  Laura pushed it and it
lit up.  After a few seconds, there was a loud buzz and the door popped
open.  Laura stepped into the hallway and was greeted by one of the smiling
nurses.  The nurse said simply, "Follow me, please," and led the way.

   Laura followed the nurse, her trained eyes and mind observing and
noticing everything.  The house was richly furnished, but not to the point
of being overdone.  Whoever had assembled the home had done so with taste
and style.  The tone was subdued, but relaxing and not boring.  The nurse
led Laura into a large sunroom, and the Drop Ship commander got a very real
shock.

   Standing with her back to the center of the room, dressed in an
identical white robe like Laura's, was a petite raven-haired girl.  Her
hair fell almost to her bottom, and was pulled into a ponytail.  The girl
was gazing out an open window at the garden.

   "Lisa?" said Laura softly, approaching the girl.

   The girl turned, her eyes grew wide, and she rushed at Laura and hugged
her very tightly.  Laura was certain the girl had bruised a few of her
ribs.

   "Commander Hansen!  Oh, God!  It is so good to see you!  I thought you
were dead!  Oh, my!  Oh, my!  What happened to us?  Were you in prison? 
Why was I put in prison?  I did nothing wrong!  Oh!  Oh!  Oh!"

   Laura had not noticed the third person in the room, sitting at a small
desk and observing.  Vice Chancellor Gallieni had arranged this little
meeting, and was very pleased with himself at the way it was going.  The
distinguished gentleman stood up and walked, smiling, toward the two girls.
He was the perfect picture of a statesman, dressed in a plain blue suit,
shirt, and tie.  "Come, ladies," he said, "let us eat and talk.  We have
much to discuss, and Commander Holmes will be here in a few minutes."

   The three moved to a small table for four that had been set up in the
center of the room.  Two servants entered, pushing carts with pots of
steaming tea an coffee, juices, fruits, cooked vegetables, and small
burners for cooking eggs to order.  They began to serve just as Wing
Commander Holmes entered the room.  He smiled, greeted everyone, and took a
seat, ordering a hearty breakfast for himself.

   The two men sat quietly eating, watching the women and smiling.  Laura
and Lisa chattered away like two magpies.  Lisa informed Laura that she had
been here for a week, the place was great, and that something big was about
to happen.  She had the enthusiasm of a twenty-one year old; prison had not
broken her.  She rambled on, telling Laura that the Vice Chancellor and
Commander Holmes were, somehow, going to get their records cleaned up and
the conviction overturned.  The women also went into girl talk, Lisa
telling Laura that she could order some better lingerie, and stop wearing
this "old woman" stuff.  Gallieni interrupted to inform Laura that he would
have the same privileges as Lisa, which included use of the pool, the
gymnasium, and the garden.  But they must stay in the house and out of
site. According to official records, they were still at their original
prison.  Things had to be handled with great care.

   The four finished their meal and headed outside to the garden.  The
temperature was about seventy-four degrees; this part of the planet rarely
got warmer than that in summer, and had very cold winters.  Still, it was a
pleasant summer's day for all to enjoy.  They took seats, and a servant
brought out a tray with fruit drinks, water, and alcohol.  Gallieni had his
usual whiskey, the girl's settled in with water, and Holmes had a beer and
lit one of his cigars.

   "Now," said Gallieni, speaking firmly and seriously, "I need to know
what happened on that first expedition, in detail."

   "It's all in our reports," said Laura.

   "There may be something that was overlooked," responded Gallieni.  "I
want to hear it from you two.  Then, and only then, will I tell you what I
have in mind."

   The two women looked at each other, conferred softly for a moment, and
Laura began.

   "Well," she said, "we were the third drop ship down.  You know,
Chancellor, that it takes two days to make a drop.  One day down, unload,
and one day back.  We unloaded our cargo.  The military arm had built a
pretty secure camp area, and the next day the construction crews would come
down and start to build.  It was all pretty boring stuff."

   "Your areas of expertise, please," demanded Gallieni.  All flight
crewmembers were required to be experts in two areas.  A drop ship usually
had a crew of three: a pilot, a copilot, and a cadet.

   "I," said Laura, "am certified in pilot and defense weapons.  Lisa is
computers and communications."

   "Continue," commanded the Vice Chancellor.

   "Well," said Laura, after a sip of water, "everything appeared to be
going well.  We did three more drops, the military exploring and the
construction team building huts for the scientific crew.  The second
galleon (a galleon was a large ship that could hold up to fifty other ships
of varying size; it was used for massed transport of material and goods
through space) had just taken up its orbit and everything seemed to be
going smoothly.  We made our drop and hit the landing zone right on
schedule.  It was then that we noticed there had been a fight of some
sort."

   "You see," said Lisa, "no one met us when we landed, which is not
procedure.  We unloaded, got issued weapons, and began to investigate.  The
small, temporary tower that we communicated with had been destroyed, as
well as some of the living quarters, and what security we found had been
killed.  As for the construction crews, there was no sign."

   Lance put out his cigar, wrinkled his brow, and leaned forward with his
elbows on his knees.  He did not want to miss a word.  The Vice Chancellor
leaned back, taking in everything that the women were saying.  He had a
brilliant mind, could remember spoken conversation verbatim after three
weeks, and analyze the conversation in his brain as if he were reading it
from paper or a computer terminal.

   "Lisa tried to communicate with the galleon, but something was jamming
the system," Laura continued.  "The five who had dropped with us were
engineers and not trained in combat, but we gave them weapons anyhow.  We
continued with our exploration of the base, finding dead bodies and signs
of an attack.  But the majority of the military and construction crew had
simply disappeared."

   "The mistake you made was when you left the base and went into the
jungle," said Lance.  "You should have stayed at the camp."

   "I know," said Laura.  "But the engineers insisted.  So we followed a
trail that had been widened by the military.  I did not want the engineers
wandering off alone.  We had gotten a short distance into the jungle when
the apes attacked.  They had obviously prepared the site as an ambush
point. The engineers were killed instantly.  Cadet Lisa and I managed to
fight our way free and make it back to the camp.  We set up a defense point
at the tower, and waited for the next drop ship."

   Gallieni took a sip of his whiskey and stared at the sky for a moment
before speaking.  "You have left something out."

   "No," said Lisa, "that's everything."

   Commander Holmes had brought a small briefcase to the garden for the
meeting.  He opened it up, withdrew some papers, began to read, and
frowned.

   "That is bullshit," he announced.  "If you remember correctly, Laura, I
was in command of the galleon, and when communications failed I made the
drop personally the next day with a heavy military team.  The two of you
were found naked in the ground floor of the tower.  Both of you were,
psychologically speaking, a mess.  I put that in my official report.  You
two did not put it into yours.  It was not included in the official
version. I was led to believe that the deletion would help your case in
event negligence charges were brought.  It's lucky I kept a copy of my
original report locked away in a secure file on my home computer.  Instead,
that missing information was turned and used against you.  Now, what really
happened at that ambush?"

   Laura shivered, closed her legs tightly, gathered her arms around her
chest, and looked at the ground.  Lisa, the cadet, looked at the two men
and began to speak.

   "I am not trained in military, but it seemed to me that the apes were
expecting us.  That's why they had the ambush set up."

   "Apes?" asked the Vice Chancellor, acquiring another whiskey.

   "Yes," said Lisa.  "Ape-like creatures between three and four feet high,
with black or brown fur.  The fought with primitive weapons, but it
appeared as though their attack was organized and coordinated.  They took
out the engineering team fairly quickly.  Laura and I were able to kill a
few, but it appeared that they wanted us alive."

   "I know this is difficult," said the Vice Chancellor, his voice low and
compassion showing on his face, "but tomorrow you learn why we must find
out exactly what happened.  You see, there have been two other Triskellion
expeditions since the two of you were imprisoned.  I must learn what we are
up against."

   At this announcement, Laura looked up, bit her lip, and said, "You tell
it, Lisa."

   Lisa took another sip of water and continued.

   "We were overpowered.  There must have been twenty or thirty of these
little apes.  They drug us a short distance from the ambush site and into a
clearing.  There was some sort of altar in the clearing.  We were stripped
naked, and I was tied to a tree."

   "Commander Hansen was strapped, naked, to the altar.  The apes," and
here the cadet gulped, "played with her, I guess, is the best expression to
use, and then began to have sex with her.  I think she must have taken
about ten of them.  She was crying and shaking as the apes used her over
and over.  When they had finished, she was taken from the altar and tied to
a tree.  All the while they were raping her, I was being probed and
explored.  The apes tied me to the altar and used me as well.  I really
don't remember how many times I was taken, both vaginally and anally.  I
lost count after five.  They had large penises for their short stature, and
they used them liberally.  I really don't remember how long we were in that
clearing.  I remember that when the finished, they guided us to the edge of
the camp, naked, and left us.  That's what we left out of the report."

   Commander Holmes' face was impassive.  In his years in the service, he
had seen a lot of strange and unusual things on various planets.  The Vice
Chancellor, while listening, had studied the two women carefully.  He was
an excellent judge of facial expressions and body language.  He gulped his
whiskey and chose his words carefully, wanting to make the two women allies
and not enemies.

   "You, Commander Hansen," he said, somberly, "felt abused and violated.
What those creatures did to you revolted you.  And yet, you did not lose
self-esteem.  That is what kept you alive in that prison.  You will never
go back there, no matter what happens, as long as I am alive."

   Laura simply looked up, smiled through her tears, and mouthed a "Thank
you."

   "You, Cadet Simoni," continued Gallieni, "enjoyed it.  The apes need not
have tied you.  You need not feel shame.  There are literally thousands of
sexual practices that we have documented in the explored portions of the
galaxy.  So do not feel cheap or base.  It is a strength, which we may use.
Now, the reason I needed this information is simple.  As I have said, there
have been two other expeditions to the Triskellion system.  You women are
the only two who have returned alive, let alone seen some of the native
population.  We need you, and need you badly.  Understood?"

   Both women nodded.  Gallieni had no way of knowing, but Lisa had become
wet as she told the story.

   "This is enough for today," stated Gallieni.  "Tomorrow, the details of
the previous two expeditions will be made available.  You women will study
them.  For now, relax in my home and compose yourselves.  Commander Holmes,
follow me to my study.  We have some things to discuss."

   The two men got up, nodded to the girls, and left the garden.  Lisa and
Laura embraced.  It was Laura who spoke first.

   "Lisa, did you really enjoy it?"
   "I", said Lisa, taking a short pause, and then giggling, "loved it!"