After an experimental mission goes wrong, a starship captain finds herself stranded in a world where female nudity and submission is not just expected but legally enforced.
This story contains scenes of non-consensual or reluctant sex.
Themes include ENF, CMNF, humiliation, non-consent, reluctance, public nudity, public sex, a touch of BDSM here and there, and occasional violence if it's relevant to the story or character development.
*****
The day had arrived. Emily sat in the captain's seat on the bridge, scarcely able to believe that today she was going home at last. For the first time in more than two years she was covered again. It felt so strange, but oh so welcome. It also felt strange not to be wearing the collar, but she had kept it with her personal effects as a memento of this strange time on another world. The faint tan line it left around her neck could be troublesome if the wrong person noticed it, but she hoped she could cover it with her hair until it faded. It was just such a relief to be getting away from this Earth and back to normality. She could deal with just about anything to make that happen at this point.
One thing she was more than glad about was that she had avoided having the genital enhancement treatment. That also meant retaining the IUD, which she had mixed feelings about. On the one hand, it removed the risk of an unwanted and extremely inconvenient pregnancy during a time and place where the risk was high. On the other, it could be a problem if or when she did want to settle down and have a family one day back on her home world. She hoped that the Earth 1 doctors would be able to remove when that time came. Then there was the mystery of how it got there and who did it. That would have to remain unsolved for now, as outrageous as it was not to know.
The Master was on board in an assigned cabin. Two of the crew had doubled up in another cabin to accommodate him, should the need for an extended stay arise.
"Are you sure we're not going to explode when we engage the hyperdrive, Chief Engineer Collingwood?" she asked.
"Completely sure, Captain," Collingwood replied.
"And we're not going to find ourselves in the middle of space somewhere with months of travelling under thrusters to get home?" Emily asked. "We only have supplies for a few weeks as our margin of error."
"Absolutely sure, Captain," Collingwood responded. "This new technology should put us just outside our Earth's atmosphere, so we're looking at less than an hour, rather than days, to touchdown this time."
"Our lives are in your hands, Chief Engineer," Emily added.
"We all had a hand in building this ship, Captain, so that responsibility is equally shared, but it has passed all tests and inspections. I have every confidence."
"Ok then," Emily responded. "Engineer Norris, please engage thrusters for lift off."
"Aye aye, Captain," Norris responded. "Sorry. Aye, Captain."
"The joke is getting old now, Norris," Emily sighed.
"Not for me, Captain," Norris replied with a wink. "Ok, everyone brace. Engaging thrusters in 5, 4, 3, 2… and thrusters are engaged."
The ship suddenly rumbled deeply and there was a lot of vibration and pressure for several minutes as it accelerated up. Finally, it started to abate.
"You weren't wrong about the extra power in these thrusters, Chief Engineer," Emily announced as she was finally able to lift her arms off the armrests again as the thrusters backed off and the ship returned to normal gravity. "Ok, we're clear of the atmosphere. Ready to engage the hyperdrive for the initial jump, Chief Engineer?"
"Yes, on my mark, Engineer Norris," Collingwood responded. "Ok, hit it."
"Engaging hyperdrive in 5, 4, 3, 2… and hyperdrive is engaged."
Once again, the eerie silent and motionless sensation returned as the hyperdrive took over for several minutes.
"And disengaging hyperdrive in 5, 4, 3, 2… and hyperdrive is disengaged," Norris finally announced.
Emily felt like she could breathe a little. It had actually worked, and they hadn't exploded in space as she half-expected. After all, this wasn't their original ship, and the aquinium fuel didn't have the benefit of being produced by the Earth 1 scientists. However, they were now in deep space. If the hyperdrive failed to work for the return jump back to the Earth's orbit, then they would all definitely perish.
"Instruments are all working fine," Collingwood muttered to no one in particular. "I'm blown away seeing what is actually going on. Apparently, we went through several billion parallel universes and we're now in the middle of nowhere, but the computers know exactly where we are. Ok, on my mark again, Engineer Norris. Just calibrating the jump to home… and go."
"Engaging hyperdrive in 5, 4, 3, 2… and hyperdrive is engaged."
"Ok, the computer will take over from here, thank you, Engineer," Collingwood instructed. "Everyone, standby for hyperdrive exit in 5, 4, 3, 2… and… hyperdrive disengaged. And we are home if I'm not mistaken."
"See if you can raise the base, Engineer Norris," Emily ordered.
"Already on it, Captain," Norris responded.
There were a few tense moments waiting for Norris to get a response on the radio.
"They're blown to bits to hear from us, Captain," he revealed after a few minutes, "There's a lot of excited people down there. It sounds like we found the right place."
The bridge erupted into applause. They were home!
A short while later, they all stepped out of the airlock to find General McAlister and several jeeps full of soldiers around the landing pad, including several female soldiers who were in uniform! It even looked like their same old slightly chubby McAlister! There was little doubt they were in the right place after all.
"Oh my God!" the General exclaimed, almost tripping in his haste to run up to them. "We'd given you all up for dead, Captain. You vanished off LIDAR more than two years ago! We assumed you were lost. What went wrong? Where have you been? You only had provisions for a few months. How have you survived?"
"I'll have to catch you up in debriefing, sir," Emily began, "but suffice to say for now that we stumbled into a parallel universe, and we bring back technology to accurately explore and map other worlds. Allow me to introduce a member of our hosts' government, sir. General McAlister, this is Mr James P. Logan. Master, this is General McAlister from Earth 1."
"Indeed," the Master responded as he took the General's hand limply into his own. "I feel like I know you already."
"Pleased to meet you," the General responded, somewhat confused, while also feeling repulsed by the Master's feeble and damp handshake. "Um… err… Captain, when you are ready, I believe that debriefing may be in order?"
*****
Two weeks later, Emily walked around her apartment dressed in her most comfortable pyjamas and fluffy pink slippers as she looked out of her balcony door across the city. The horizon was shrouded in a shimmering haze of orange smog as the setting sun lit it up from beyond. Thank God for closed windows and air-conditioning. Somewhere down below, she heard sirens and then the unmistakable pops of gunshots. Yes, it was crap in comparison to Earth 2's tranquillity and mild climate, but this was home, and she felt relieved at last to have no eyes looking at her naked body.
The debriefing with this world's General and other high-ranking brass hadn't gone particularly well. Revealing some of what had happened had been unavoidable, especially with the Master here now and about to negotiate trade conditions, so the cat would be out of the bag sooner or later. She felt her best option would be to convince them that she had gone along with everything voluntarily and willingly, with a small caveat that it hadn't started out that way so that they understood she had little choice about it to begin with.
"No, sirs, I was required to participate in the local culture under penalty of public canings. In time, though, I grew to develop an appreciation for it. I believe it played no small role in the considerable advances they have made within their society and the sciences."
"So, you willingly participated in activities unbecoming an officer?"
"Um… perhaps that is true from this Earth's perspective, but from theirs the opposite is true. They would have considered any opposition to their ways a direct insult. Initially we had little expectation of returning to our world as well, so we felt it necessary to adapt to theirs."
"They sound barbaric, treating women like that!"
"From our perspective, that may well be true, but from theirs we were the more primitive and barbaric. I also draw your attention to the technology we returned with, without which we would not be here. They are considerably more scientifically advanced than us in many areas, and my compliance played no small part in gaining their trust to share it with us."
"So, you reduced yourself to a trollop for the benefit of science?"
"Again, sirs, with all due respect, to put it in those terms fails to account for what it was like to actually be there. Their culture is far more complex than it sounds. All women are treated the same there, and they all accept it without question. It was a case of shape up or ship out, and shipping out did not appear to be an option for us. At least not for the first year or so, so I had little option but to comply."