To his surprise Entrapta conceded to this. He kept expecting to wake up in the middle of the night to an empty bed and Entrapta suffering before the open panel, but he did not. While she did not seem eager to revisit the runestone he could feel it weighing on her, so he did all he could to keep her preoccupied.

They mated. Played games. They washed their clothes in the bathtub and hung them up to dry. He explained every last component and system in the scout ship, letting her pore delightedly over the engine. Every so often she glanced back at the podium, her brow furrowing. She turned back to him and caught his eye. She tilted her head.

"How long have you been out of your armor?"

"I - I don't know," he replied, taken aback.

"A few days now I think."

"I think you're right."

"It's the bed," Entrapta said. "Mattresses are not the Horde's strong point."

"The bath, I think. It did help," he admitted.

Entrapta couldn't believe Hordak had never had a bath. He took showers, short ones, cold, as he had done all his life. Sitting in a tub of hot water was a waste of time, a frivolous comfort for the weak and idle.

"Are you - are you - are you kidding me?" Entrapta stammered when he revealed this information. "Take off your clothes! Right now!"

He wore the Ambassadorial robe, which had quickly turned into a multipurpose garment they passed between them. Entrapta was perched naked the edge of the tub. A second bite mark decorated her other shoulder. He'd followed her into this humid, flower-drunk room like a lost puppy after sex wherein which she'd discovered the domicile controls for the living areas, providing them with heated floors and strange crystalline First Ones music. And now she was still naked, flushed and glistening, ordering him into her bath.

"My life has become an adolescent fever dream," Hordak said.

Entrapta grinned as she slid into the water. "Come on!"

Shortly after he got in he decided he was never getting out again. The weightlessness and heat were rapturous on his broken body. Entrapta hovered over him expectantly but he couldn't speak for fear he might break in two with relief.

"You look very happy," Entrapta whispered in his ear.

He slid his arm around her and pressed her to his side. She made a happy little noise and cuddled against him. Nuzzled his ear. The contentment was so obliterating he began to doze off.

Entrapta rolled so her back was to his side and pressed her open hand firmly to the wall. There was a little chime and a display opened up with glyphs and simple illustrations.

"I think you can just press anywhere and it brings the controls up," she said, "so long as you press like you mean it."

She had been pressing like she meant it when she discovered this, riding him with a single minded hunger while bracing herself against the wall. She'd merely glanced at the new display and kept going. Something about that was too much for him and he grabbed her hips, pressing himself as deep inside her as he could. Entrapta threw her head back and gasped in such a way that Hordak was afraid he'd hurt her. He was much larger than her, so much so that he'd questioned their physical compatibility on many occasions, and farther back in their partnership than he would have previously admitted to himself.

Only a month ago he'd regularly disregarded his urges to pet her hair, to pull her into his lap when she sidled close to him to show him a data pad.. He put them out of his mind almost as soon as they occurred to him. Just some nonsense spat out by the lower brain. Not important. Didn't happen. And, had he spared a thought on it - which he did not - had no chance of happening. He knew Entrapta respected him but he did not bother to imagine she might be attracted to him. She was pretty and young and brilliant and he likely appeared as freakish and monstrous to her as he did to the other Etherians, something he had perpetuated by design.

But Entrapta had odd tastes for her species. Entrapta was strong. His size did not intimidate her more than anything else about him did and he adored her for that. So when he slid inside her to the hilt and she gasped, threw her head back, locked her ankles around his thighs and kept riding, it was all he could do to keep from exploding. He grit his teeth and drove his talons into her hips. The interplay between her muscles moving under his palms and the pressure and heat and slickness inside her was not slowing things down for him. She slid her hands up his chest as she leaned over him, her movements becoming more focused. She bit her bottom lip, her rhythmic soft whimpers growing louder and louder, until she cried out wincing and spasmed around him. Hordak let go, clutched her body to his and forced his teeth down onto her shoulder, and with a series of agonized groans pounded every hot drop of himself inside her as she came.

Entrapta collapsed on top of him, limp down to her hair, which tended to fluff out then unravel out of its ponytails and fall flat when she climaxed. He liked that. Her hair often had a mind of its own but at that moment, it was just her. No hair, her rapid-fire mind deactivated from pleasure, Entrapta being a simple mammal desperate to come and using him to do it.

"Oh wow," Entrapta panted. She blew a raspberry. "Geez. Anyway, check this out," she said, and pressed her palm to the wall above their heads. In short order they figured out what it did - not terribly difficult as the domicile controls used illustrations rather than glyphs - and had adjusted the temperature in the room, the humidity, the lighting. And music! Odd, crystalline melodies with a regular, hypnotic beat he found to his taste.

She pressed a picture that looked like a shelf. They heard something slide open next to the bed.

"A comforter!" Entrapta squealed. "Pillows! Hordak look, a thousand years old, not a spot of mold, not moth-eaten!" She said, pummeling him with pillows. "They even smell nice!" she said, burying her face in the comforter.

Hordak threw a pillow back at her. She picked it up with her hair and lightly whapped his head with it. He took another one and clapped her on the shoulders. Entrapta used her hair to stand and used more of it to pick up more pillows.

"It's on," she said.

Hordak glanced around the room. "What's on?" he barely asked before Entrapta launched her assault. It was a game he quickly adjusted to - he'd participated in similar things as a tankling - and they were quite evenly matched. He may have been seven and a half feet tall but she had extra arms at will. It ended when she finally cornered him, using her hair to rapid fire pillows into him. He leapt out and grabbed her by the waist, pinning her arms and hair to her sides, then rolled on top of her.

"Hey!" she cried, laughing. "This is not legal in pillow fighting!"

Since he was right there he began kissing her breasts. Softly bit her nipple.

"Ooooh," she said. "I still won, but oooooh."

"I disagree, I'm clearly the victor here," he said, muffled against her flesh. He kissed her sternum then proceeded downward. "Don't run off this time."

And now the tub. Entrapta straddled him, rubbing soap into his hair. He closed his eyes and let her do this. He'd let her do anything.

"There," she said. "You're a unicorn. "

He opened his eyes. Felt the top of his head. Entrapta had soaped his hair up into a long point. Hordak held his breath and dipped beneath the water. When he came back up Entrapta placed a pile of bubbles on his head.

"I crown you king," she said solemnly.

Hordak burst out laughing. "There's really no escape, is there?"

She smiled and shook her head.

"Do you know the code name the Horde has for you, back in the Fright Zone?"

"Ooooh, I have a code name?"

"Yes. I have one too. It's mostly for use in combat situations where communications might be intercepted, but it's also used to inform different departments of my comings and goings. I have one, anyone close to me has one - Shadow Weaver, for example. She was Spider. She didn't like it."

"Why not? She's clearly a spider, with the weaving and all."

"That's what I thought."

"Did she change it?"

"She can't. It's a tradition that the officers pick the code names. It has to be something they find memorable, that works for them. So long as it's respectful what they say goes. Mine, for example, is Alpha Bat. But yours -"

"Alpha BAT? Why bat?"

Hordak blinked. "Entrapta have you not ... noticed the batness?" he said, gesturing to his face.

She tilted her head. Squinted. "Oh yeah, I guess you do have some bat qualities."

"You never put that together before?"

She shrugged. "That's just ... how you look."

"You quite baffle me sometimes, Princess."

"I know," she said, and nuzzled his ear. "What's my code name?"

"I am Alpha Bat," he said, "and you are The P-" he stopped to laugh. It STILL made him laugh.

"The what?"

"The Party," he said against laughter. "The Party! I almost started laughing aloud the first time I heard that. Every time they used it it was the fight of my life. 'Alpha Bat and The Party are en route to the foundry,' and there you are scuttling along with three data pads and tools in your hair, and there I am trying not to crack up in front of the Force Captains."

"That sounds like a band," she said. "That sounds like a GOOD band. Alpha Bat and The Party, live in the Fright Zone!"

"Live on Beast Island," he corrected.

"Live in the bathtub!" she cheered. "See? Baths are good."

"As per usual you are correct. You'll have to invent something to drag me out of here."

So yes, it was the bath that made his body ache less without armor. And the bed. And the girl.

A strand of Entrapta's hair slithered beneath the pilot's seat to explore the undercarriage of the scout ship. She made little catlike noises of interest, a finger to her mouth. He wanted to kiss her for existing.

Especially the girl.

"You're a clone," she said, fiddling around with a switch.

"I -" he blinked at the suddenness of the statement. "Yes?"

"Does that mean the entire Horde army looks just like you?"

"The majority of it. There are a few different models. The Hordaks are about eighty five percent of -"

"THE Hordaks? You - you go by the name of your model?"

"Yes."

She looked troubled. "So you don't have a name."

"My name is Hordak."

"Do you all answer to Hordak?"

"Yes."

"How does that work?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean if you're in a room full of Hordaks and the one Hordak you want to talk to is across the room, what do you yell?"

"I would walk up to him. To shout is unseemly."

"What if you can't walk up to him and you need his attention?"

He paused for a moment.

"That," he said.

"I didn't hear anything."

"That's because you are not a bat," he said. "It is a vocalization above the frequency of Etherian hearing. My people can direct sound quite accurately in the higher frequencies. If I need a certain Hordak's attention I simply send it into his ear. Our hearing is such that he would be able to figure out exactly where it came from."

"Faaaaascinating," Entrapta said, leaning in and folding her hands fetchingly beneath in her chin as she did when he had her undivided attention. "But how do you tell each other apart visually?"

"That's the reason for the white face. The natural members of my species are entirely blue. No white. Clones can see ultraviolet and there are patterns on our faces in that spectrum, each entirely unique. We all appear very different from one another."

"But you're still all named Hordak."

"This troubles you?"

"I just feel like you should have your own name."

"My name is Hordak. All the Hordaks are named Hordak. Even the Companions."

"Companions?"

"Yes. Prime's spies and agents of statecraft."

Entrapta's eyes grew wide. "Oooooh," she said. "Tell me about them."

"Ah. Well. They're ... " his voice drifted. He'd never been asked to describe them before. "They're the smallest class, a few thousand at most. The others have hundreds of millions. Very important to the Empire. Indispensable to Prime. Most clones are ... disposable," he said, gesturing to himself. "But not Companions. Clones of every class are entered into basic training a week after we are detanked. Companions, however, rarely remain on their birth ship. They are taken away from the Horde to be trained elsewhere. To be educated."

"Educated in what?"

"They are given the full education of my people's aristocrats, from what I understand. When they are older they are educated in statecraft. Psychology and politics, how to influence entire societies to Prime's will. They're taught how to look beautiful. And how to seduce. A ... great deal on how to seduce."

Prime did not usually rain down violence upon his conquests as a first step. He often began with enticement, with a Woo. This was especially true of systems which bore advanced civilizations with high technology and strong defenses. With more warlike or capitalist species these Woos were straightforward affairs where terms were hammered out without much ado. But some species had surpassed the thrills of conquest millennia ago and had instead pledged themselves to stillness, to beauty, to poetry. For these, Prime sent in an exhaustively trained agent.

A Companion. Or, as they preferred to be called, Specialists.

Prime put an inordinate amount of time and resources into their design. When their education was finished and it was time for them to be assigned, Prime often tweaked their faces and bodies to appeal to the target species' highest ideals of beauty, while still very much his clone. The Companion was to exude whatever the species in question considered highly desirable qualities in a mate, as it was nearly universal that nothing provided a better platform from which to manipulate. This siren was placed with - gifted to - the civilization's leaders as a consultant or vizier. From there he worked his way into whatever chamber would deliver the prize. It was well known that the conflicts they won for Prime were often won in a bed. The skill they must possess in that arena was something every Horde soldier contemplated at one time or another. For this the Companions were regarded by the rest of the Brotherhood as objects of fantasy, a class of warlocks, a subset of silvertongues and spies and seducers. Not trusted, yet lusted after.

Such was the case with this particular Companion, or, as his hosts had named him, Mikal. He swept into the Flagship's main ballroom with the Empraud and Empresa of High Rix on each arm, and a stunning threesome they made. Mikal stood a full foot and a half taller than his new elfin spouses. Already somewhat elfin Prime had not edited Mikal's physical form beyond his eyes, which glowed not red, but a deep and calming blue. Hordak gave a small gasp. It was such a small change but shocking nonetheless.

"The eyes are striking, are they not?" Prime said quietly to Hordak. "That particular blue soothes the Rixian sympathetic nervous system. They can't get enough of it." Prime grinned. "They're complete sluts for that blue."

"Brilliant work, sir."

"Seems so. Mikal has delivered lightyears above my expectation. He originally targeted the Empresa," he said indicating a gold-encrusted sylph in blue silks who hung one of Mikal's arms, "but then he bagged the Empraud as well. And now they're MARRYING him! In a few years the Empraud will die - of quite natural causes of course-"

"-of course-"

"-and then the Empresa, and Mikal will rule with complete unquestionable legitimacy. Twelve systems, and delivered into my hands without a drop of blood spilt! THAT is empire building, General." Prime smiled and extended his arms grandly to greet them. "Empraud and Empresa, I'm so pleased you chose to honor my Flagship with this joyous occasion!"

The Empresa made a coy gesture. "A union born in stars and light," she said, her voice high and reedy. Her pale hands fluttered in a hypnotizing pantomime as she spoke. "And, by his progenitor Horde Prime, who bore us Mikal, born himself of stars and light!"

Mikal turned to the Empresa, looking genuinely touched.

"Amella," he whispered, and kissed her hand. "I knew nothing before you. I was born of the sands of Rix."

"What god blew them into the sky to make the stars," she whispered, beaming up at him. "And so formed Mikal."

"In all things stars and light," the Empraud said, grinning. "It is you, Emperor. I give you the sands of Rix!" he laughed. A Rixian servant appeared with a vial of pink crystalline sand on a pillow, and bowing, offered it to Prime.

Prime grinned and held it up to examine it. "How it sparkles! In all things stars and light, indeed. I thank you, Empraud."

"It is I," The Empraud said, smiling at Mikal. "And it is Rix."

Prime nodded. "It is Rix."

The Empraud and Empresa smiled and bowed to Prime, who bowed in return. While they turned their attention elsewhere Prime put his hand on Mikal's shoulder.

"Empraud!" he said. "And beautifully achieved, my friend. I could not possibly be more pleased."

Mikal gave a demure smile. "I did promise you the sands of Rix."

"And I never had a doubt," Prime said. "Nevertheless, flawlessly executed. Because of you, High Rix is finally mine." Prime put his arm over Mikal's shoulder - something Hordak had never seen him do to a clone - and held up the vial of sand. He lowered his voice. "Tell me, what am I to do with this?"

"Whatever you like," Mikal replied. "Slide it up your ass."

In that moment Hordak left his body. He was surely about to witness Mikal's death for speaking so disrespectfully to Prime. But the Emperor remained silent, as though considering it.

"In ALL things stars and light," Prime said, and the two of them burst into laughter. Prime turned to Hordak. "Ah look, we've scandalized the General!"

When Mikal looked at Hordak something flashed in his blue eyes that caught Hordak off guard. Interest. A pointed interest in Hordak. Mikal glanced at Prime as though for confirmation of something, but Prime did not react.

"General," Mikal said to Hordak. "My apologies for any offense."

"Nonsense. Lighten up, General. It was a joke. Have some Rixian lightwine, enjoy the reception!" He gave Mikal a friendly pat on the shoulder before stepping away. "I think I'll go ask your wife to dance. You're a lucky man, Empraud."

This left Mikal and Hordak alone.

"Empraud," Hordak said. He had to remind himself to look away from his eyes.

"General." Mikal studied him. "It's been years. It is good to see you again."

"Is it?"

"Certainly!" Mikal said brightly. "Prime told me of your recent victory over the Drik Consortium. It is about time they were put down. Well done. Prime did tell me you are his most brilliant General."

"He did?" Hordak asked, taken aback. "He … hasn't told me that."

"Ah, you know how he is."

Hordak nodded, but he didn't know how Prime was - at least not the way Mikal apparently did.

"Tell me-" Hordak began hesitantly. "How is it you are able to joke with him so?"

"Oh, that? We've said worse, believe me," Mikal said, chuckling. "You've never joked with Prime?"

"I'd never dare."

"You ought to try, you might find him amenable to it," Mikal said, but for some reason his suggestion was tinged with sadness. Hordak registered this but did not know what it meant, so he did not address it.

"I think your class are far better with humor than mine has any hope of being," Hordak said.

Mikal flinched at this.

"General-" he began, but stopped.

Hordak peered at him.

Mikal met his eyes and leaned in slightly, as though he had something important to impart.

"Do not underestimate yourself. Look deeply within and you may find capabilities of which you were entirely unaware. In fact I am certain of it." Mikal put his hand to his chest and slightly dipped his head, an informal sign of respect between Companions.

Hordak smirked. "Certain of it, are you? It sounds more like Rixian philosophy has worn off on you."

Mikal smiled pleasantly and folded his hands. "Perhaps. But you are popular, aren't you? Well liked among your Brothers?"

"One does not remain Top General long otherwise."

"Oh I disagree, the Top before you was a humorless prick. But your men, they like you. You have a way with them. Or perhaps they just long to be in your ears," he said. "I would, were I them. You always did cut an impressive figure, General." He smiled. "Ah, but I should return to the Empraud and Empresa! A pleasure speaking with you."

He gave a polite bow and swept back towards his spouses, leaving Hordak reeling. A Companion had justmade a pass at him, like something out of a Force Captain's daydream. But such interest could not possibly be good. Could it? He was being investigated. Was he? Or did Mikal … actually admire him? His mind spun. He picked up a glass of lightwine off a passing tray.

Despite himself Hordak was unable to tear his eyes from Mikal for the entirety of the evening's extended ritual music, dances, and poetry. Mikal recited a soliloquy he'd written to his new spouses in their own flowery language, complete with their elegant hand movements. The way the light caught his rings and the crystals in his gown made him appear as something otherworldly. His profession of love came across as genuinely moving and heartfelt, finished to rapturous applause. Hordak watched how worshipfully he touched them as they danced their whirling dances, the multiple layers of their silken gowns flying. He lifted the gold-dripping Empresa and pressed his forehead to hers like he would adore her forever. He moved through the room like a force of nature, glowed unlike any clone Hordak had ever seen.

They kept catching one another's eye. Mikal smiled shyly at him from across the room, over his new husband's shoulder. His sustained interest set off alarm bells in Hordak's head but each time it happened something in him stirred. It seemed that as the celebration progressed Mikal became more and more stunning until the entire room was drunk with him, thought it was more likely they were drunk on lightwine, an airy glowing concoction that carried no taste of alcohol despite its strength. It tasted like the first hit of spring and Hordak, like everyone else present, drank too much of it. Even Prime.

When Hordak finally left the reception the Emperor was forcefully tongue kissing one of the two scantily clad Rixian aristocrats lolling in his lap. A young Horde commander sat on a step at the foot of Prime's throne looking confused, perhaps never having been this drunk. The dancing had devolved from elegant whirling to a lot of stumbling and falling and laughing, the music turning more heated and tribal as the night progressed. Hordak glanced around for Mikal but he'd long left with his new spouses. He'd had the silly hope to look upon him one last time. Barring that it was time to stumble back to his quarters and fall face-first into his bed. He was tired. His chest and arms hurt, as they did more and more these days. Deep, twisting pains that had begun to worry him.

The fastest way to his quarters was through the observation deck, which consisted of a wide bridge that crossed parallel to a twelve story window. Today it looked out upon the pink pearl of Rix, her moons, and the multicolored galaxy beyond. Hordak was well used to seeing stunning spacescapes here, but he was rarely intoxicated. It was the lightwine more than anything that made him stop in awe. Those massive planets, hanging in the void like Rixian baubles. He felt, for a moment, quite extraordinarily peaceful.

"General?"

Hordak turned. On a couch in one of the bridge's seating areas sat Mikal, his huge hat and heels and the bulkier parts of his ceremonial gown sitting at his feet. He smiled.

"I thought that was you."

"How did-"

"I'm glad you're here. I feel I owe you an apology. I was … inappropriate, earlier."

Hordak blinked. "No - no need." He forced his attention away from Mikal's beauty. Collected himself. "If you want to apologize, apologize for casing me."

Mikal's ears flicked. He tilted his head, intrigued. "Casing you?"

Hordak felt a ripple of shame but he'd called him out, and now he had to go all in.

"I see the way you look at me. It's rarely a good thing when a Companion takes an interest. What does Prime want?"

Mikal placed a bejeweled hand to his chest and batted his genetically enhanced eyelashes. "Goodness, a brilliant General AND a brilliant detective! How do you fit so much in one Brother of Prime? Yes, Hordak, you've caught me out. Prime discovered a terrible secret about you. In fact he has already arranged your death."

Hordak's eyes widened. His breath stopped.

"W - what?"

Mikal held Hordak's eye with absolute seriousness for the longest five seconds of his life before bursting into laughter.

"No, you tankling! You absolute cunt! Why is it you dreadful bores in Command think we're trying to ferret out your secrets if we so much as greet you in the mess hall? Every last one of you swears Prime wants to read your precious little mind and thinks a Specialist - it'sSpecialist, by the way- will be the one to do it. It might surprise you that some of us REALLY ARE only saying hello." Mikal shook his head and held a pen to his mouth, which briefly glowed green before he exhaled a long exasperated plume of sweet, floral vapor. "Honestly. How dare you."

Hordak wanted to melt into the floor.

"I - I -"

"I, I!" Mikal imitated him, chuckling. He pointed to the cushion next to him. "Sit down, you tit."

Hordak ambled awkwardly over to the couch and sat. Mikal rested his chin on his hand and regarded him cooly, but with a hint of humor. Hordak had trouble meeting his eyes.

"I apologize," he said, his throat dry.

"I know," Mikal said, taking another hit from his pen. "I'm not trying to get at your secrets, General. In fact, I'll tell you one of mine. State secret. For you alone. " Mikal leaned in close to him. "Prime altered me to constantly emit very low levels of Rixian sex hormones. Not enough to be noticeable on a scan, but enough to drive the Empraud and Empresa just ever so slightly insane. They will always desire me madly, from now until the end of time. Which is good, I suppose, as this is where I will be till the end of time." He gestured to Rix floating below them and sighed. "That is home for me, now. Forever."

"You … do not wish this?"

"What I wish is irrelevant, it is my duty to the Horde."

Hordak frowned.

"Don't misapprehend me, Amella and Tesh are lovely people. I even care for them, and their lovely little empire with it's lovely little planets and lovely little culture. It's almost enough to make me regret murdering them. But this," he said, indicating the flagship, "this is where I want to be, General. This is where the conquest is, the adventure. The intrigue! I will miss it terribly. With every bit of me. And even more I will miss my Brothers. The smell of them, the taste of them. My charges are fun, I will admit, but they are not what I crave."

Mikal exhaled a plume of vapor and fixed Hordak in his hypnotic blue gaze.

Hordak froze.

"Come here," Mikal whispered.

Almost involuntarily he moved closer to Mikal. The Empraud took Hordak by the ear in a way that made him gasp.

"You're - you're endangering your mission," Hordak panted.

"God yes, I am," Mikal said, and kissed him.

He began to describe the intense, risk-infused coupling that followed but stopped when he noticed Entrapta shift uncomfortably, her face flushed. He gave her a questioning look.

"I'll rip his throat out," she muttered.

"Oh Entrapta," he said, unable to resist smirking. "This was decades before you were even born. This is the first I've so much as thought of him in years."

This information did not quell her. She abandoned the scout to crawl over to him and deposit herself into his lap.

"I see," he said, stroking her hair. "Are you sitting on me as a sign of ownership?"

She shut her eyes and crossed her arms, nodding proudly. "If my butt touches it it's mine."

He laughed softly. "Then I am quite thoroughly yours. Though you do realize I'm quite old? I have a history. I've had other sexual partners."

She fidgeted.

"I - I know. I mean. I figured. But have you had other lab partners?"

"No," he said, putting his arms around her. "There was never time. Or anyone I wished to … share facilities with."

She nodded. "Same. I understand you've had others, and - of course you have. But I don't want to hear about it."

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and laughed uneasily. Her face flushed once more.

"Very well," he said.

They sat in silence for a few moments, listening to the soft idling if the scout's singularity engine.

"You said Mikal was - he was trained in sex?"

"I thought you didn't want to hear about it."

"I don't," she insisted, but he could feel an increase in her heart rate.

"I think you do," he said. He lifted her chin to look into her eyes, to see. "I think it turns you on."

Her eyes widened in slight panic.

"No," she said quickly.

He raised an eyebrow.

"No!" she insisted. "I mean I … I don't like it. Or him. Or … or the thought of you with him, but I'm also … curious. From a purely scientific standpoint."

"Certainly," he said, kissing her neck. "Data to be collected."

He moved his hand to her breast, slipping two talons under her shirt. Entrapta made a soft sound and pressed back against him.

"Yeah, it's just.. um. Just about the data."

"Of course," he whispered in her ear, pressing a hard nipple with his thumb. "No ulterior motive at all. Now, to answer your very scientific question, yes, Mikal was trained in sex."

"What did he … do to you?" she asked with a hush.

Hordak moved his other hand over her hip and eased it beneath the waist of her overalls. She'd forgotten her underthings, as she usually did. She gave a ragged gasp as his fingers slipped along her entrance. She was as slick and swollen as he'd ever felt her. Her eyes fluttered closed.

"The first thing he did," he whispered in her ear, "was lock out the observation deck."

"Alpha six eight delta secure," Mikal said suddenly into the air. There was a sharp clang from either end of the bridge.

"What - what did you just do?" Hordak asked as Mikal returned his attention to unbuttoning his formal uniform.

"Locked the doors."

"Those doors lock?"

"Of course they lock. Prime fucks everyone up here."

"He - he does?" Hordak asked, his mind spinning. "What if Prime decides he wants to fuck someone here tonight?"

"Then he'll just have to fuck them somewhere else," Mikal said. He forced Hordak's shirt open and kissed his chest.

Hordak panted from equal parts arousal and fear. "You're insane," he said. "You're the most insane person I've ever met. We're going to get caught - you'll -" Hordak gasped as Mikal took his ears between his thumbs and forefingers, massaging them in a way he'd never felt. Hordak shut his eyes and sighed.

"Relax, tankling," Mikal whispered, brushing his lips against Hordak's. "My poor general."

Later Hordak wished he'd asked Mikal why he chose that particular terminology, but in that moment he was overwhelmed by his skin and his scent and wine and risk. Mikal ran his hands along Hordak's torso and shoulders and back as he removed his layers of clothing, planting long, soft kisses on the skin he exposed. He stroked his face, then suddenly took his hair in his fist and forced his tongue into Hordak's mouth. Hordak took him by the back of the neck and kissed him back aggressively.

"Mmm," Mikal said. "Good."

Hordak described sliding the gown from Mikal's shoulders as he eased Entrapta out of her shirt, cupping her breasts and kissing the nape of her neck. She tilted her head back to kiss him, taking one of his hands from her chest and sliding it back between her legs. He nuzzled into her ear as he stroked her gently up and down. She sighed and arched slightly. Her hair began to slide around him, petting him in time with the movements of his fingers.

Mikal tipped Hordak back upon the couch and brought his thigh up between Hordak's leg. He pressed up hard against the three internal testicles there, rubbing in firm circles. The pressure was extremely pleasurable and had the unexpected effect of making his penis engorge and emerge from it's internal shaft almost immediately. Left to its own devices that process was much slower, but Mikal knew things Hordak obviously did not. He moved Hordak's tunic and smiled approvingly, running the flat of his hand against the hardness he'd summoned. Hordak sucked his breath between his teeth and clutched the back of Mikal's upper thigh, placing his other hand on Mikal's half-emerged cock. He purred and rubbed against Hordak's palm, rapidly growing until Hordak could close his hand around him. Mikal held Hordak 's hand there and thrust into it with soft moans of pleasure.

Entrapta gave a little curling cry as Hordak carefully brushed her clitoris with the lightest of pressure again and again, enjoying watching her buck and strain. He lifted her chin to kiss her cheek and neck.

"Keep going," she gasped. "Mmm. Tell me everything."

Mikal eventually stilled Hordak's hand amd fell over him, softly nipping at his belly, then down to run his tongue up his smooth curved shaft, and took it in his mouth. Hordak moaned at the softness and heat, involuntarily moving his hips in small circles. Mikal focused on the head of Hordak's cock, timing the sliding of his tongue to the motion of Hordak's hips.

"Ah," Hordak breathed sharply, encouraging Mikal to suck him deeper. He felt the urge to come rising.

"I'll do that if you like that, " Entrapta panted. "I can do that."

Hordak rubbed Entrapta's entrance in slow hard circles as he related this. She shuddered and bucked against his hand, spreading her legs apart, hooking her arm around the back of his neck.

"You certainly can," Hordak said. He let the pads of his fingers rest directly on her clitoris for a moment, then rub there firmly for a few strokes, stopped, started again. She made an almost pained sound.

"Hordak," she said through grit teeth, moving her hips rhythmically to better catch his touch. She tried to push his fingers inside her but he wouldn't allow it. He let this build a moment before continuing his story.

Hordak had thrown his head back, curling his hand in Mikal's hair, soft moans growing louder as the rhythmic sucking and slickness and heat drove him closer and closer to climax. Mikal suddenly slid Hordak out of his mouth and pressed two fingers hard into the base of Hordak's cock. Hordak gasped in pain

"That hurts," he said.

"Hush," Mikal said. He laid a series of light kisses on the tip of Hordak's cock before swirling his tongue over him. It was a delicate touch but Hordak cried out. Those two fingers had somehow sensitized him and it was too late, his talons dug into the couch and braced himself for a ripping climax. Only there wasn't one. Mikal's fingers kept Hordak from releasing any fluid, so he was simply perched there on the very edge of an orgasm.

"Oh god. Oh god," Hordak whimpered as Mikal licked the length of him and back again, his tongue like fire. Hordak panted and writhed, half out of his mind. The desire to come was so strong it was nearly painful. "Please," he gasped. "Please."

"Show me where," Entrapta demanded, shoving her hand beneath his tunic. She found him fully erect and grasped him for a moment before Hordak moved her fingers and showed her where to press, but stopped her when she attempted it.

"Too early," he said. "It will just be painful." He moved her hand to the shaft. She groaned and rubbed him.

"I want this," she whispered up at him, her eyes wide and pleading.

Hordak smirked down at her.

She bit her lip and rocked her hips back against him. "Please?"

"That's not going to work on me, Princess," Hordak said. "Not till I say so."

"Not till I say so," Mikal had also said, brushing his lips and the tip of his tongue over Hordak in the most torturous way possible. Hordak rubbed Entrapta's clitoris in furious tight circles as he related this. She cried out in a series of happy moans but he stopped as soon as he saw her hair begin to go electric.

"Hordak!" Entrapta scolded.

"I said not yet."

"Oh!" she heaved. "Oh you're somean."

"You're killing me," Hordak gasped to Mikal.

"I haven't even begun to kill you," Mikal said with a low laugh. "I'm going to give you a trial and execution right here in front of fucking Rix, General."

Mikal sat up between Hordak's legs and stroked him fast and hard. Hordak bucked and snarled and gnashed his teeth as Mikal released his fingers for a split second, letting Hordak release only a small spurt of incredibly pleasurable fluid. Hordak gave an outraged, broken moan.

"You - fucking - demon -" Hordak hissed through grit teeth.

Mikal chuckled as he rubbed the slick fluid between Hordak's cheeks. "Trust me it's better this way," he said, "but do keep hissing at me, I like that."

Mikal took one hand from Hordak's cock and leaned over him, nuzzling and licking his ear, pushing against Hordak's entrance. He put his hand to Hordak's cock and began to stroke him again, long firm strokes, almost too firm for how sensitive he was.

"Ah," Hordak panted. "Ah, ah, ah."

"Look at you. Foaming at the mouth." Mikal purred into his ear. "Do you want me to fuck you, tankling?" he said, smirking at Hordak's helpless writhing.

Hordak pressed three fingers against Entrapta's opening.

"Hm?" he whispered in her ear. "Tankling?"

"Yes," Entrapta whimpered.

Mikal suddenly grabbed Hordak's hair in a vicious fist and at the same time pushed himself inside him. Hordak slid his fingers deep inside Entrapta, who arched and cried out. She leaned forward and ground furiously against the heel of his hand as Hordak told her how Mikal had kept his two fingers against him, preventing his orgasm but still viciously stroking his straining, pulsing, aching cock even as he fucked him. Hordak tore his talons into the fabric of the couch, forced onto this agonizing precipice as beautiful Mikal took his pleasure of him. It was only when Mikal's face contorted in orgasm that he finally released Hordak. He grit his teeth and with a long, torturous moan finally pumped out what felt like gallons of hot fluid out over Mikal's hand, working him until the very last drop.

Hordak pushed Entrapta further forward and forced her overalls down around her knees. The insides of her thighs dripped. He ran his hand up through her hair, grabbed it, and slid easily inside her despite her smallness, her tightness. She whimpered and pushed back against him so Hordak took her by the hips and pounded her hard, groaning softly. She moaned and locked her ankles around him letting her arms go limp so only her ass was in the air, completely undignified, like an animal in heat. She reached back with her hands and hair, rubbing herself furiously, the tips of her fingers hitting Hordak as he thrust.

She arched her back and moaned something unintelligible as she tensed around him and came, then twenty seconds later came again. Her heat and slickness and pressure and moans were too much for him. He picked her up and bounced her vertically upon him, burying his face in her hair. That did it; he sank his teeth into the back of her shoulder and exploded inside her.

Entrapta, her body flushed, her eyes wild, used her hair to turn and face him, furiously riding out the last pulses of his orgasm. She ground her hips into him and came a final time, and with it, bit him hard on his collarbone.

Hordak yelped in surprise.

"En-Entrapta!"

"You're mine," she growled against his skin.

Hordak laughed.

"Ah. Ah, you're adorable," he said, catching his breath."Females don't bite males in that way."

"This female does," Entrapta said. She wiped her damp hair from her face and pointed at the small bite mark. "You're mine. He can't have you."

Hordak laughed again. "He doesn't have me. He never did."

That, Hordak knew but would never reveal to Entrapta, was not entirely true. Mikal could have had him. After that he could have had anything he wanted. He could have told Hordak to throw himself out an airlock and he'd have done so without question. For months afterward he'd been aroused and bewildered and pining, not knowing what he'd done to receive such a gift, shriveling with the knowledge it would never happen again.

"I must return to my charges," Mikal whispered, collecting his clothes.

"Wait," Hordak said.

"I cannot stay," Mikal scolded.

"I know," Hordak said. "But if you - if you ever find yourself missing your Brothers on Rix - please - contact me. I'll - I'll find a way to you."

Mikal sighed. He stroked Hordak's head. Hordak rose into his touch like a cat, but when he looked up Mikal's expression was almost unbearably sad.

Mikal lifted Hordak's chin and softly kissed his lips.

"No, my poor tankling," he whispered, "you won't."