Chapter 7 & 8 Intermission 2: A Little Help?

[Ray of Meep]

Co-authored by: Ray of Meep (GM), Ikate Keda Studios

23XX A.D, 36 hours after confirmation of weapons facility

Silbern System, Stahl Belt, Fabron Station

The Grau's were walking down the main street of the station. Pan, the bull Chongwu, was quietly following behind. He was still in the old jumpsuit he arrived at the station in, given the Grau's nor the police department had anything larger.

"What are the odds that she set up an establishment here, of all places?" Eberhard asked.

"I'm not complaining. Saves us an expensive comm bill." Ulrike shrugged. "We could've used the Holsteiner to get to Castle Services, but that'd be an unpleasant ride, and we don't have the time anyways." She replied, in a slightly nervous tone.

Eberhard noted the apprehension. "You alright? Last time we talked to her you barely held your ground. Something about her willing to kill you?"

"What? No!" Ulrike chuckled uneasily. "That was just the aura she gave off! She wouldn't actually murder me, or anyone for that matter!"

"Careful what words you put in peoples mouth Ulrike," A familiar voice purred from behind the group. The group turned around to see a Canine Chongwu in a smart business suit looking at them, with a faint smile. "I would eat you up in a heartbeat if I could," She added with an intense glare, making quite the show of licking her teeth. She then looked at Eberhard and Pan, raising her eyebrows a little. "My my Ulrike, I must say, I took you for many things, but an idiot was not one of them," She said, all amusement leaving her face immediately. "Please tell me you did not bring your Chongwu here after our previous conversation..." She said sternly, a growl creeping at the edge of her voice. Her eyes were laser focused on Ulrike's.

"No no no," Ulrike shook her head, "You misunderstand. He's part of the reason why we sought you out."

Pan nodded. "Mrs. Grau is right, they don't own me. No one does. In fact, Mr. and Mrs. Grau treated me fairly well. They helped me look for my fiance."

Chloe glared at Pan, raising her hand to stop him. "Rúguǒ tāmen qiǎngpò nǐ sāhuǎng, wǒ hěn lèyì duìfù tāmen, rúguǒ ni tongyi, qǐng kàojìn tāmen." She said sternly in Mandarin.

It was Pan's turn to shake his head and kept standing in his place. "Zhende! Tamen zhede zai bang wo!"

Chloe maintained her suspicious glare, before goig back to her normal cheerful demeanor. "Wonderful! Anyway, if you would like to discuss anything, we can do so at my new club. It's still under construction, so mind the dust," She said happily, waving the group along as she marched off. The "Club", was very much under construction. The Grau's and company could see generally what it was going to look like when it was done, but it had nothing in the way of glamour or style as of yet. In the club, were several GDW handimen lazing about, and a very frazzled, stressed, exhausted looking Chongwu cat, who had a pure black coat squeezing a stressball like her life depended on it.

As if she could sense Chloe, the moment the dog woman crossed the threshold of the club the cat turned around in a panic. "Mrs. Writa! I'm, so, so, so so so sorry but they just wouldn't listen to me!" She said, looking like she was about to have a panic attack. "And now we are three hours behind schedule, which means I will have to push around all our appointments, call the delegates from the HFR and ask them if they are okay with switching to thursday afternoon so that we can fit in the deal wi-" She went ramblig until Chloe inturrupted her with a finger on her lips.

"Moment please," Chloe said, looking at the handimen. "Exuse me gentlemen, but... When is the work going to get done?" She asked, a pleasant tone in her voice.

"We're getting it done," One of them responded, turning back to the conversation they were having.

"I understand," Chloe said, the pleasant tone fading from her voice. "But what are you getting done? I was gone for two hours and I don't see anything changed. It's like you have done nothing for two hours, on my very expensive dime," She said, tilting her head to the side softly, giving her a very innocent look.

"Look," The guy said, "Were getting it done. You leave us to the handiwork, we'll leave you to the animal whore house, aight?" He said, irritated.

Chloe nodded her head. "Oh course," She said, walking over to the table quietly as the men went back to their "work" and picked up a hammer. She hefted it in her hand a little, before hurling it the 50 feet across the room and embedding it firmly in the wall next to the man who had commented's head, who froze, slowly looking at Chloe. "Good," Chloe said shortly. "Now that I have your attention finally, get to work or GET. OUT!" She snapped, baring her teeth in a threatening manner, leading to the men hurridly leaving the club.

 

[Ray of Meep]

Ulrike sighed and massaged her nosebridge, while Eberhard patted her on the shoulder. Meanwhile, Pan when as white as a bull could get. His eyes were wide and his ears stood straight up.

Chloe snorted. "Useless..." She said, looking at the Cat who had a much similar look on her face as Pan. "Anyway, Amanda, my dear, when have I ever gotten upset at you for something that wasn't your fault?" She asked, going from violence to comfort much to easily.

"Nyah!" Amanda exclaimed loudly. "That's why I'm upset!" Amanda whined, bringing her hands up to her chest. It was an action that was far too rehearsed to be natural, and Chloe frowned at seeing it. "You deserve better than this!" She added as Chloe lowered Amanda's hands from the trained position.

"Go have a nap Amanda, you're reverting to your programming again," Chloe frowned. "You're getting better though. Go sleep, relax, I have everything handled," She said, gently shooing the dejected cat girl off, shaking her head. "Zhong you yi tian tamen bi si." She said, looking bak at the party. "Sorry about that. It's just so hard for a Chongwu to find good work these days."

"Which is partially why we're here." Ulrike took a step back while Eberhard explained. He showed Chloe his datapad. One it were several photos of hatches buried into the opposite pole of the Fabron asteroid. "We have credible evidence that there's an illegal weapons facility buried on this rock that we're tethered to, and they're tricking Chongwu to do their dirty work."

"My fiance's probably there." Pan interjected.

"Right." Eberhard continued. "We need advice on how to deal with them. Last time the we ran into a Chongwu on a mission it almost killed one of us. We were forced to blow him up."

"You are asking me for ways to deal with Chongwu?" Chloe asked, her eyebrows raised high as she walked over to what was going to be the bar. "I suppose I could help," She said, leaning on the bartop. "I don't like to tell people but there is a secret to this whole thing, especially us canine chongwu..." She said, her tone going soft.

"Should I be afriad to know?" Eberhard asked with a bit of apprehension.

"Well," Chloe said, with a serious look on her face. "All you need, to defeat a Chongwu are..." She said, leaning forward and ushering eeryone to come closer to keep things secretive. One everyone was close, she looked around the bar, just to ake sure they were alone, before whispering. "Silver... Bullets..."

Eberhard raised an eyebrow. "I guess that's a last resort, but we'd like to deal with them nonviolently. We suspect most of them are going to be non-combatants... why silver bullets anyways?"

Chloe frowned a little at Eberhard. "Cause obviously there must be some trick to dealing with us right?" She asked, rolling her eyes, a little disappointed her joke didn't land. "We Chongwu are like regular people. Treat a Chongwu like you would any other person and it will more than likely work. The Daqin made the mistake of making us more than just glorified pets once, and likely never will again after the collossal failure that was for them. Hit em real hard, electrocute them, suffocate, teargas, whatever your poison should be, it will more than likely work on them."

"Alright." Eberhard nodded. "If the mission goes successfully, then we'll need a place for them. If Ulrike and I recall correctly, you're a philanthropist, espeacially for Chongwu. Can we get your support for any litigation these Chongwu might face once we rescue them? We'd also like your help in integrating them into normal society."

Chloe looked at Eberhard coldly as he spoke, taking in a deep breath. "I don't think you realize how much of an undertaking that actually is," She said, letting out a deep sigh. "I can put the ones who can work in my club to work so they can intergrate properly. I'll have to send the rest back to earth where I can keep my eye on them," She said simply. "I would still expect some kind of recompensaion..." She said, a wry smile crossin her features.

The Grau's looked at each other. "What do you want?"

Chloe thought about it for a moment, and then her face became mischevious. "Hows about a night with one of you?" She asked coyly.

Both the Grau's went red. Ulrike was the first to speak up. "You know we're damn married, right?"

"That's what makes it fun," She siad happily. "And that's why I'm not allowing him to join the deal," She said, pointing at Pan. "His wife isn't here to give him permission," She added simply.

"Hold on, first of all, no." Ulrike shaked her hand furiously. "You could be asking for anything else. This is unnecessary, and taboo. Second of all..." She pointed to Pan as well. "He's gay." She flatly stated.

Chloe frowned at the reveal of Pan's gender of preference. "Shame..." She sighed as if a few fantasies were just shattered to pieces. "Regardless, that is actually the point," She said with a smile. "Unnecessary, taboo, shameful I suppose you could say, but also by leaps and bounds the cheapest offer I will ever give either of you," She said simply. "I mean, what is a single, meaningless act compared to the hundreds of thousands, if not millions I may spend, litigating, transporting, housing, feeding, and rehabilitating the Chongwu you get," She said, scowling a little mockingly. "Not to mention the money I would spend redying my muzzle from al the grey hair they would give me."

"I'd do it. I'll just wear a condom." Eberhard shrugged.

"Eberhard!" Ulrike growled.

"What? Joan's done worse. We're going to be doing worse." Eberhard replied.

"But you're going to---" Ulrike was then interrupted.

"Honey, we've killed a lot of people in the past few months. I'm going to hell already." Eberhard shut her down.

Chloe smiled, looking between the two. "Wow, not the turnout I was expecting. I thought Ulrike would volunteer to keep her husbands hands off the porn star" She cooed, narrowing her eyes.

"So it's settled then." Eberhard reiterated, "You help us with the fallout of this mission, at least with any Chongwu and I..." He sighed, "Go to bed with you for one night."

"You and I are going to have a little talk when we get back." Ulrike stared daggers at her husband.

"He did agree to do this a little fast, didn't he?" Chloe asked Ulrike. "Perhaps you should check the computers browsing history, see if theres any of my stuff on it," She added with a wry grin.

"I suspect there is." Ulrike shook her head. "I've been denying him for all the shit he's been doing behind my back. That's neither here nor there though. Anything else?"

"Nope," Chloe said softly. "Though, that might also explain why he jumped so quickly. How understanding of you to think about it so logically," Chloe said, waving her hand. "Anyway, I believe your business here is done?"

"Oh, just one more thing." Ulrike grabbed Eberhard by the collar and pulled him close, giving him a deep kiss while staring straight at Chloe.

"Adorable," Chloe said, standing straight. "Let's go Eberhard. My car is outside, don't mind Amanda, she sleeps like the dead!" She said, walking past Eberhard, hooking a finger into his collar and pulling him along.

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[Ray of Meep]

One hour later

The hotel room, while luxurious, was a small affair built into the walls of the station. It had all the amenities for a quiet, isolated experience, with soundproof walls, a small kitchen area and a bathroom with a bathtub. Built into one of the walls was even a small hatch that delivered food into the room.

Eberhard kept one hand in his pockets as he entered the room, clutching a condom he bought along the way. He wouldn't admit it, but his heart was beating fast while there was a sense of guilt running through his mind as he prepared himself to fuck someone other than his wife, a Chongwu no less. A Chongwu who was a porn star and therefore likely had more experince in how to make people tick than ayone he had met before.

Chloe set her bag down on the table next to the door, and stretched out, making quite the show of it. She then looked at Eberhard over her shoulder. "Take a seat while I make myself more comfortable," She purred, taking one of her suitcases and bringing it into the bahroom.

Eberhard set the condom and his datapad next to the nightstand and sighed, pulling down his orange jumpsuit, leaving on a t-shirt and his boxers for now, and waited apprehensively. Of course she would have something with her. She was a porn star. Or at least, owned a porn company. Though, he had seen enough of their commercials to know wat she looked like under that business suit... Mostly. Was this a good idea? Was this actually cheaper than just giving her some money? What was it costing him? How angry would Ulrike be, how good would it feel...

Before he knew it, he felt something soft and fuzzy lean up next to him, and it was like his heart shot into his throat. No turning back. "Alright, let's get this over wi-" He said, stopping at what he saw in absolute shock.

Chloe, was leaned up against him wearing fuzzy blue pajamas with polka dots, holding a fluffy pillow and looking over at the remote. Without looking up she asked, "What movie you wana watch?"

"What?" Eberhard looked at her in confusion.

"What.... Movie... Do you wanna... Watch?" Chloe asked, as if she was confused by the question.

"Wait, you're not going to--- nevermind." Eberhard hastily zipped himself up back in his jumpsuit and shoved the condom back into his pocket.

"Going to what?" Choe asked, smiling slyly at Eberhard. "Have sex with you?" She offered. "Did I ever say that?" She asked with a smug look. "I just said spend the night with me, and we will spend the night cuddling and watching movies. You two were the ones who jumped to sex!"

"You bitch," Eberhard frowned, "You run a hooker company and ask Ulrike and I to go to bed with you, what the fuck do you think we're going to assume?!" He furiously typed into his datapad and took a picture of Chloe at the same time. "Why do you want one of us to hang out with you for a night anyways? We barely know each other!"

"I never actually said that," Chloe said simply. "I said spend a night with me, and I said it would be a meaningless act," She said, looking at the screen again. "Watching movies in bed for a night in comfy pajamas is pretty meaningless all things considered," She added. "Also, I run a porn company to which I am the face of. People only ever want to hang out to have sex with me. Neither of you want to sleep with me, which means I don't have to worry about the distraction," She said simply. "Oh, and it gives some perspective on how we Chongwu feel when owned, so consider it a learing experince."

"You could've been more damn clear!" Eberhard stayed seething and still standing. "If you wanted to hang out we would've invited you to our bar again. We're done here, I need to go apologize to Ulrike for even having the thought." He made his way to the door.

Chloe looked at Eberhard with an understanding expression, then leaned on the headrest. "See, you let your opinion of my work muddy up what I said, and didn't even have the courtesy to ask for clarification," She said, looking at Eberhard. "And I still need to be paid. It's not my fault all you bible thumpers immediately think the worse of sex workers," She sighed.

"Bible thump---" Eberhard shook his head. "This was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. We'll figure out how to damn pay you."

"Give your wife a hug when you get home," Chloe said with a small wave.