The so-called "Black Systems", the solar systems in neutral territory and well-traveled by everything from villains, thieves, and murderers to refugees, desperate, and destitute, were popular among monsters and mayhem-lovers that the ADD clashed with. Of course, slavers weren't the only thing in those territories; traders, mercenaries, pirates and opportunists were in those corners as well.

'Drekdreg Station' wasn't; not really. It wasn't even named that, not 'officially', but had dozens of names (often combining words and curse-words like that very nickname) that it was known by. Whatever the case, it was actually a series of small stations and satellite-bases set upon astroids around a pair of ruined moons. Asteroids sported tiny settlements with shuttles moving to and fro; what was left of the moon that 'hugged' the so-called station was covered in even more construct and broad, eclectic spacecraft docks. Small space stations floated around near the larger asteroids, hiding close enough to the large station that seemed to half-nestle in the crater and 'above' the docks below. Dozens of long-lines, acting much like cheaper "space elevators" strung between the stations, larger settlements, and the crater-base.

Further out from the broken moon, many more such asteroids and rocks floated, kept close with the gravity of the large moon and work of the unconnected satellite stations that sat among them. Much of the debris was from the second moon, which floated around the first; it was obviously much larger once, but now not even a quarter the size of the first... and somehow found stability (probably by design) around the settlement. The planet the moons belonged to was kept mostly-free of travel, generally unsettled; there was most certainly the occasional base snuggled away there, but that world had no cities and little travel, its territory mixed between giant deserts, jungles and forests that young-worlds often sport. Especially worlds as large as this one.

Altogether, it was an incredibly large city, full of ports, hidden buildings and places, and thick asteroids that seemed like they should be smashed between the two 'stones'. But the outer moon, the lurking weapon-bases there, and defensive satellite-stations hiding among the asteroid cloud acted like a shield from the universe... and its law.

But the greatest defense was its location; the territory it was in, far enough from much-conflicted territories to avoid battle, away from anyone's territory that made military maneuvers towards it painfully obvious. It was near travel-routes that ran through enough neutral space that many from all-over could travel there... but its solar system had several gas giants that proved dangerous to navigate around, near stars and cosmic activities that made travel to it dangerous... It was a safe place, and a dangerous place.

Because it was one of the larger 'refuse'-stations in this corner of the universe; well-traveled by slavers, pirates, mercenaries, and even desperate refugees, it housed hundreds of thousands of poor, desperate, and destitute, as well as many more businessmen (many illicit, and many simply 'local'). Aliens of any sort pushed their way through the crowded decks, hallways, and rooms, or sat in narrow alleys or along wandering 'streets'. Many traveled by here, using smaller craft that could navigate in or out, or in long, heavily-armored trawlers that could weather the cosmic activities as they trundled along. Those who stayed found or bought places or built them... or settled into the slums on the surface north of the ship docks.


It was this place that Mai was moving through; it was dangerous, lawless, and filled with monsters, aliens, pirates and space-farers of all sorts. It had homeless immigrants, crimelords, gangs, and mercenaries. It meant she had to be on her toes... for murderers, rapists, thieves, and slavers; fortunately, the assassin fit right in amongst the deadly atmosphere here. And here she was looking for people on her "hit list"... there were a number of aliens and monsters that the ADD was trying to destroy or deal with, but some of them were more entrenched or infamous than others. And others still were certainly "targets of opportunity", taken out if they turn up... either ones for her to watch for, or ones she had to find.

With the disappearance of a couple of significantly skilled ADD agents, an alien known as "Icosagon" was now upgraded from 'whack if found' to 'find if possible'; this was the sort of job she did well with. He was known to be a shapeshifter, and to use a number of tentacles to attack and subdue his targets, but he wasn't considered incredibly powerful by any means. His 'file' was very terse, as he wasn't a name that came up often or significantly... but the agents that disappeared had eventually turned up as sold slaves on the black market, and that insult had to be paid.

As a black-faced alien with a puglike mug pushed passed her, it reminded her of the other reason this would be difficult; with thousands of different species in this place, finding a shapeshifter wouldn't be easy. With another ADD agent having gone missing, it was probable he would eventually sell her here... but it meant having to stay dangerously close to that business... somehow and some way.

It was a puzzle she was still chewing over, as she finally stepped onto the dock's promenade; her ship was stowed as safely as she could manage, and the exotic and strange sights, sounds, and even smells of this haphazard 'city' were hitting her for the first time... different slavers were based in different places, but the 'slave markets' of this station weren't far; travel by 'space elevator' onto the primary station. But when she got there... she needed a plan, or at least an idea... a two-faced alien (literally) paused to glance her over, but hurried on at the dangerous look in her eyes. Others pushed passed her or avoided her, while some paused to consider whether it'd be worth the effort to 'take' her... yes, this was definitely a dangerous place for her to be.

Looking around the dock's promenade, after stowing her ship as safely as she could on this 'station, Mai proceeded through the crowds always keeping a wary eye on the passing aliens and even glaring evilly at some who had stepped towards her with a dark grin on their faces. The sights and smells of the haphazard 'city' were quite overwhelming to the focused assassin as she worked her way through the throngs of aliens selling their wears, selling each other, and even killing each other towards the space 'elevator' that led to the main station.

Entering the 'elevator' after working through the first area without a hitch, other then the intrested gazes of some aliens and brave slavers. Not alone in the elevator she pushed the command to go to the main station and braced herself as the elevator lurched to life. As it rose through the darkness of space Mai felt the hand of one of the aliens behind her caressing her ass. Not in the mood to take the abuse of the horny alien scum she spun around planting a powerful kick right on his exposed crotch, sending him to the floor as he groaned pitifully from the pain.

Soon enough the elevator rang with an obnoxious ding, and the door opened revealing throngs of people in the distance around a central plaza were it looked as if some sort of auction was going on. Making her way down the crowded street she found an empty space in the crowd and watched and waited to see what was causing all the commotion.

More than one alien leered at her as she passed. The first to cop a fondle though was harshly dealt with, dumped onto the floor of the accelerated elevator. The swordswoman finally steps free onto the station... but even from there, she still had to find her way... stepping into the floors of the central station, she went for the largest crowds, not surprised at what she finds...

Another slave show; women captured from across the galaxy, paraded gaudily on stage... sometimes on their own, sometimes forced to in chains, some posed sensually, others even toyed with by their escorts to the delight of the watching crowd. Here, the worst likely lurked... and she could feel plenty of hungry eyes roving over her voluptuous body. Some likely were considering adding her to the show... but there were a fair number of other females surprisingly watching.

A particularly disgusting froglike creature floated past on his personal hovercraft with his own escort, a few beautiful women beside his guards, forced along with long chains attached to collars. There were plenty of others simply moving by this place... and there were some trading in slaves behind the scenes. If the alien she was looking for was around, he might be buying out here... or selling somewhere in the back. Which was liable to be guarded...

Her eyes roaming the crowd as she looked at each of the disgusting aliens running the show, she tried matching their faces with any of the ones on her hit list. "None of these." she thought quickly, turning and pushing her way through the crowd towards the back of the plaza. Seeing a particularly well guarded area she worked her way to a position behind two guards blocking a door.

Sneaking behind one of them she quickly drew her sword delivering two swift slashes to the back before diverting her attention to the other guard who had noticed after she had taken out his companion. Moments later she had taken him down as well, the commotion hidden by the roar of the nearby auction. Sheathing her sword she slipped into the door into a dimly lit hallway. Hearing voices in the distance she slowly made her way from shadow to shadow, peering carefully around the corners as she made her way deeper in to the unknown complex.

The semi-circular building that hugged the back of the stage was much more quiet. There were guards at the front, and she heard others walking around above... patrols, it sounds like. The area just behind the show area was much like the back-stage of a theatre; there were a few ladders and walkways to reach areas with lights, with doors against the far wall for the rooms and halls of the facility beyond. It was beyond those doors that she was poking around...

Unfortunately, she was also conspicuous as hell back here. She had to find spaces and rooms to slip into, to avoid being seen... she could probably take out the patrols too, but if their gunfire sounded it would all be over. And so she moved through the guards (one way or another)... and deeper in. The meeting rooms were located in a hall in the back... and there, she found a number of faces.

Several aliens and monsters were gathered, talking and inspecting women that were standing straight at attention. It was a small lineup, she realized, of sellers and buyers... either selling to the show, or each other. One woman with extremely prominent breasts and long dark hair was recognizable as well... the ADD agent that had gone missing recently. Believed to be kidnapped by her target... which means one of the half a dozen aliens fondling the girls and bartering prices was her target...

One, at least, she recognizes as a representative of this parlor... part of the profiles she looked up before coming here. The others were varied species... one looked human, but most certainly wasn't; another was a lizardlike creature, and one seemed to be more squid than anything else. And there were a couple even more outlandish... but none distinctly recognizable as her target or on her hit list.

Having worked her way through the well patrolled complex narrowly avoiding discovery on multiple occasions in the small hallways. On one occasion as she neared the meeting rooms a guard had snuck up behind her and managed to tear off the bottom half of the back of her long coat as he tried to grab her before she took him out. The tear spread around the front and the black cloth slipped to the floor leaving her in what amounted to a sexy black shirt and a tiny red leather thong.

Looking down she noticed that the guard's claws had knicked the material on her panties and the fabric was slowly beginning to tear as she moved down to the doorway outside the meeting room. The door was cracked open so she looked in, running the faces inside the room thought the list running through her mind. Her gaze moving to the small dais in the room she saw the slaves standing at attention as each of the slavers groped them. Finally seeing one with long dark hair and extremely prominent breasts she knew immediately that it was the missing ADD agent.

"That means one of these is my target." she thought. Squeezing through the cracked door she sped through the room, her body flashing from point to point as she flung knives at the bartering slavers. Finally stopping as one after another reached towards the middle of their backs trying to remove the knife before the collapsed onto the floor she rifled through the dead men's possessions looking for the remotes to release the electronic collars.

She did not notice however that all was not as it had seemed as she searched, her guard going down momentarily thinking that all the slavers were dead and that the slaves would be grateful that she was saving them...

Agent Tachibana moved quickly, but the place was secure. With her coat-tails torn, she was even more exposed than normal. It seemed like her own underthings were going to flutter away...

...an exposure that nearly occurred as she leapt into the fray. Deadly knives ran first, driving into several of them and bringing them down. Her sword finished off the others as she charged in... leaving just a few startled girls staring at her. The ADD agents eyes didn't brighten, just examining Mai in a daze, briefly flickering over the panties that were slowly beginning to slip down of her thighs.

Focused on freeing the girls, she didn't notice the white tentacle sliding out from one of the bodies. Icosagon was nothing if not a coward, and if he had expected the attack, he'd have picked another way of handling this... but the attack was truly unexpected, and he was indeed there... and shapeshifted form was cut down easily.

But not dead. His parts simply shifted and changed internally, letting the flesh around the cut die off as the rest of it's insides re-contained themselves... even though the outsides didn't change at all. Waiting for the changes to finish, and her to begin her search... he saw his opportunity. The body twitching was her only warning before two tentacles erupted towards her! They flew out towards her hastily, trying to sweep around and scoop up her legs! But that motion might have been just enough of a warning...

Searching each of the dead slaver's bodies Mai took anything that looked important, using each remote she found to release one slave at a time. As she was moving to another one of the corpses she saw one of the bodies twitch. Wary now, Mai bent down pretending to look at the corpse while keeping the other body in the corner of her eye.

When two white tentacles burst from beneath the body she quickly backed off, her body seeming to phase out of sight and appear in another area of the room. Unknowingly the rapid movement had caused the tear in her panties to finally work its way down and the fabric slipped down to the floor.

Her eyes were on the body that the tentacles had protruded from, but she noticed in the corner of her eye that the slaves that still stood on the dais were staring at her exposed crotch and some were even so far gone to be masturbating as they looked at her. It was then that she felt one of the cool breezes from the room's ventilation system flowing between her legs and she knew that her lower half was completely naked.

Unable to remedy the problem just yet she drew her sword, staring directly at the white tentacles and the body they had came from.

The tentacle swiped past her through the air, missing as she quickly moved across the room. That speedy and deceptive retreat got her clear, and the two tentacles squirmed as they pulled back and twisted about in the air... as the body they came from climbed to its feet.

It was originally green, warty, and almost toadlike, but quickly it was shifting... becoming taller, thinner. Dark hair sprouted, and... as the shapeshifter finished, its new form was an unwelcome one. If Mai Tachibana had a twin brother... she would be sure it would look like this! Lithe, handsome, with dark hair and an equally dark grin, the figure swayed a little as he looked appraisingly at the ADD agent. The white tentacles seemed to come from the sleeves of a black robe-like outfit he wasn't wearing a second ago...

"You really went out of your way there... killed all those slavers. Seems like a lot of trouble... but you really want to keep on fighting half-naked...?" One of the slave girls... the ADD agent she had recognized, was squeezing her own ponderous breasts as she stared at Mai's... state of undress. Almost as if deliberately, the shapeshifter stepped in between the two agents, eyes still on Mai...

"Maybe... we can work this out peacably...?"