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Dark Lord Substitute

Chapter 10

By Draconicon

The call ended, and as soon as it did, Bertram groaned into his mask, loosing a load of seed deep down the mouse's throat. King Soledad groaned under him, swallowing hard, which only milked his cock for more cum. Three awkward swallows and grunts later, they managed to find a rhythm that wasn't leaving him gasping and shivering and wasn't choking the mouse king under him.

Thankfully, none of the texting had shown that, nor had the visuals come on at an inopportune time. The plan had come together...surprisingly well.

"Mmph...you might want to consider...some fruit in your diet," the king muttered under him.

" And you might consider that I can order you to enjoy it, and you would."

"That's hardly sporting."

" But it is simple."

"...On second thought, it doesn't taste so bad."

" That's what I thought."

Shaking his head, the ram stood up from his console, wobbling slightly in the process. He managed to stay on his feet, if only barely, and he shook his head as he looked back up at the records between him and the Deep Den ambassador.

I can't believe this worked...

" Data."

"Yes, sir."

" Have the Generals meet me in my chambers."

"Planetside, or on the Indomitable, sir?"

" ...The ship."

"It is done."

Once more, Data proved to be more helpful than his own mind was, half the time. The AI was either far more advanced than he looked, or he really was learning at a rate that boggled the mind with the way that he offered different possibilities to what he actually considered. He hadn't thought about meeting with them planetside, if only for the inconvenience factor, but that might have some advantages to it. After all, there was less chance that some spy might have slipped into the facilities down there already, considering that the planet had been blockaded since they took it over.

While they could have slipped someone into this ship before we set off...

He tapped his armored chin, then sighed.

" Data."

"Orders changed, sir."

" Thank you, Data."

"You're welcome, sir."

King Soledad arched an eyebrow, slowly sitting down and crossing one leg over the other. The mouse looked almost a little smug, to the point where Bertram groaned and glared down at him.

" What?"

"It's nothing. Just...something amusing."

" Tell me."

"The Dark Lord is willing to take pointers. I shall have to remember this."

" I want to survive. I'm willing to do a lot to make sure that happens."

And if he was going to do that, he needed Mark and Zelda on his side for the insanity that was to come. They were likely already boarding shuttles down to the planet, and he needed to do the same. The ram thought at the malleable material of his armor, and the plate that had slid away from his crotch slid back into place. He turned on his heel and made his way to the shuttle bays.

It didn't take long to reach the planet, and he was rather preoccupied with going through the chat records during the descent. There was much to double-check, and much to ensure was actually said the way that he thought it was.

Did he say - yes, he did. And that - good.

Everything had to be double and triple-checked, otherwise Zelda, for sure, would start poking holes in the plan. If the Generals started questioning it, so would the men, and that would lead to some serious problems down the road.

For now, however, he felt confident. The records read exactly as he remembered, and it meant that they had everything lined up to lead the Den into a trap.

He settled into the board room that had, likely enough, once been used for the planning and processing of all the goods and projects of Outpost Zonga. The chairs were tall, likely made for the serpents here, and the table was clear and smooth. He imagined that it was meant to keep everyone honest. No hidden weaponry here.

Just how little do the species on the other side trust one another? he wondered. Price of freedom, I suppose.

The ram had just gotten comfortable when the two hyenas stepped through the door. Mark looked almost happy, even a little blissful, while Zelda continued with her glowering behavior. Bertram sighed.

" If you keep this up, I will be forced to take steps, Zelda."

"Says the man that has declared us slaves."

" I did no such thing. You declared yourselves thus when you entered into the service of the Dark Lord and the Void." Bertram held up his hand, shaking his head when she opened her mouth to keep arguing. " I don't have time for this. Right now, we have a narrow window of opportunity. It's not going to hold for long, and we can't afford to waste it. Sit."

As soon as they were seated at the other side of the table, he flicked the file across the electronic table. They both accepted their copies, pulling it up as a hologram in front of them. Mark kept reading, his eyebrows rising, but not saying anything. Zelda, on the other hand, leaped to her feet in seconds.

"What the hell?! You're selling us out?!"

" If you keep reading, you will see what else is said."

"You rat bastard!"

" Ram. An important letter distinction. But you -"

"You fucking asshole. I swear, I'm going...I'm going..."

" Mark. If you would illuminate your sister?"

"He's not actually said that he's going to surrender, Zelda."

"Of course he did. He's asking terms."

"No, he's asking for offers. He's seeing what they're willing to - oh, man..."

"What?"

"Look at that. At the bottom."

She did, scrolling fast through the entire document. He waited, his hands folded in his lap as he watched for their reactions. Mark's had been understated, but surprised, obviously approving of the little trick.

He had to admit, he was rather proud of it. Of all the things that might have come out of the offer to surrender, this was better than he could imagine any past Dark Lord doing. Phrasing it as a potential surrender while the enemy was all but sure that he really was giving in, pointing out where he would have to do it while the fox was convinced that such a location was their agreed-upon meeting point...

It was perfect. Perfect for an ambush.

Zelda narrowed her eyes as she looked at the hologram, then slowly shook her head.

"It's too perfect."

" It is precisely perfect enough."

"There's no way that he's that stupid."

"Actually, sister, if you go through the whole thing, you'll see that he's pretty consistent throughout. He's either new to this, or very naive."

" I would imagine also somewhat perverted. I recognize the tones; he was considering watching me play with King Soledad."

The hyenas blinked at that, and Mark blushed a little bit. A hint of the helmet's HUD told Bertram that there was more than a blush in terms of a biological reaction there, but he pushed that off to the side. When it came to things that he could do for pleasure, he honestly should keep his officers further down the list rather than near the top.

Zelda sighed, rubbing her forehead as she sat back down. She flicked up and down the record, muttering to herself.

" You still don't believe it."

"I think that it's a trap."

And the way that she looked at him, it was clear that she believed that he might be trapping her and the rest of the Dark Lord's forces rather than just him being trapped by the Deep Den. A stupid thing to be worried about; he was bound to be unable to surrender, something that she had to know. Yet, her own anger at being bound as a slave seemed to keep her common sense from coming through.

Truly problematic. Bertram shook his head.

" Do either of you believe that it's a chance not worth taking?"

"I think it's risky," Mark admitted, "but considering that he's already on his way here, there's not much point in trying to prove it wrong. There's only so many places that he can drop into the system, so..."

" If we place all our defenses in one place, particularly the Indoctrination booster stations, we need not fight at all."

"...It's worth a try," Mark said.

"I hate it..." Zelda gritted her teeth. "It's too easy."

" It was hardly easy to fool him," Bertram pointed out. " The effort to keep everything believable while this was going on..."

"And I don't trust you. You're willing to -"

" I'm willing to do what I must to keep us all alive, Zelda. And if that means keeping slaves, ordering my people around, and lying, then that is what I will do. Your approval, at this point, does not matter. Your intelligence, your analysis, and your leadership, however, does. I need you on my side. Are you, or are you not?"

"You think I'd stab my brother in the back?"

" You were ready to kill me, ready to believe that I was going to betray you. Your anger is running hot, General. I need to know that you can control it, or if I have to take steps to control it for you."

They all knew what that meant. Further Indoctrination, taking Zelda past the point of being an officer and a technical 'slave' inside of the Empire of the Dark Lord, and putting her down at the level of King Soledad and the other slaves that had been conquered. That would be something that could very easily shatter her mind, however, and that was one thing that he was doing his very best to avoid. She was an officer for a reason, obviously, and that was something that he needed right now.

I don't know my own people nearly well enough to replace her if she goes.

She had a leash. He had to hope that she didn't strangle herself with it.

Eventually, she got to her feet and walked out, leaving him and Mark alone. The other General shook his head at his sister's departure.

"I don't know what's gotten into her," Mark muttered.

" The same thing that got into you when you were worried about being a slave. You, however, handled it better."

"Heh, I almost fainted. Twice."

" That's better than this."

"...Gonna have to agree with you there. Want me to try and talk some sense into her?"

" It would not work right now. For the moment, let's begin strategizing."

After all, even with this extra information, they still needed a plan to make use of it. Knowing where the enemy fleet would materialize would mean very little if they weren't ready to take advantage of it. The various Indoctrination booster stations would need to completely surround the jump point, ready to activate as soon as the other ships appeared. They'd have one shot at this, and if it failed, they weren't just going to be down a great deal of material. They'd be down a great deal of lives.

After all, someone that wasn't fully Indoctrinated could be far more dangerous than someone completely free-willed. They had reason to fight, and reason to not let things get any worse.

#

In the short time that they had before the arrival of the enemy fleet, Bertram encouraged the scientists to start working on further prep work for their official Indoctrination program. They had a lot of gaps in how they actually handled their prisoners, and he wanted those gaps sealed before they had another issue with the slaves.

In addition to the basic psychiatry exams that he had ordered begun on all new slaves, he had the minds of Ilia, King Soledad, and even Mark examined. Their brainwaves, their neural connections, everything. He ordered that taken and compared to the other slaves, seeing where proper Indoctrination affected the brain and where it went wrong when others were merely forcefully compelled.

The more that they knew about how the Indoctrination affected the mind, the better that they could target it to basic weaknesses in someone's psychological make-up. If someone was deathly afraid of being alone, then there would be parts of the brain that reacted to chemicals that arose from socialization that could be played with. If someone had certain phobias that were regularly stimulated, then a new coping method through obedience could be applied to lessen the effects of such terror.

There were many ways to play with the mind, but in order to do that, they needed to see what the base effects of proper Indoctrination were. Without that, they were spitting in the dark, and he didn't need things getting worse.

Their studies grew, and their slaves began to shift. The current crop of Indoctrinated started to become more specialized, focused on different jobs, different tasks. Rather than a one-size-fits-all programming, they were slowly targeted towards different jobs. It meant that there was a possibility of losing some irreplaceable slaves if one batch got damaged, but at the same time, it meant that you knew better what kind of slave you were getting.

So it went, and as the clock ticked down to invasion day, Bertram grew more and more antsy. Zelda had not spoken to him once. If he was on the Indomitable, then she was down on the planet, and vice versa. Clearly, she didn't like what he was doing, and just as clearly, she didn't want to risk being told to love it or shove it. It would probably fail, of course, considering that it was very difficult to just order someone to like it, but he doubted that she had been paying attention as he studied and explained the different degrees of Indoctrination. She feared it, and far more than her brother did.

He wanted to solve her problem, but he didn't know how. No matter how he planned and plotted around her, nothing came to mind.

Not before Invasion Day.

He was bait, and he didn't like it. Bertram floated in a shuttle in the depths of space, just outside the jump point. All around him, disguised as floating chunks of debris, were the booster stations to the Indomitable's Indoctrination signal. They were set to come to life the minute that Lazir, the diplomat coming to accept his surrender, popped into space.

He just hoped they worked. Otherwise, they'd blast him into nothingness, and quickly, too.

"They would likely merely capture you, sir. They would prefer to see you executed for the cameras."

" Thank you, Data. That's...very helpful."

The digital assistant was his only companion in the shuttle. Considering that many ships had scanners that could reach quite some distance from their ship, he couldn't afford to have someone else in the shuttle with him. They would have picked up on that, realized that he had been lying about at least some things, and then either turned tail or fired. He needed them to be prepared for his surrender and nothing more.

That was why all the other ships were well back, more than far enough away that any rescue attempt would be useless. Must have been why Zelda had been quite happy to lead that force. Mark was ready on the Indomitable, waiting to oversee the Indoctrination from there.

" How long?" he asked.

"Two minutes, twenty-seven seconds, sir."

Not long, then. He took a deep breath and let it out, and then continued to do that.

Just like not being able to have someone on the shuttle with him, he couldn't keep an open channel going, either. That would be something else that they could pick up. Either this would work, or it would spell a very rapid end to his career as the Dark Lord. Considering how he was just starting to do well, he rather hoped for the latter.

Tick, tick, tick.

The ram sat down, forcing himself to stay in one place rather than pace around the inside of the shuttle. It was big enough for it, but the burning off of random energy was not going to help him at that point. He needed to stay focused, needed to look a bit anxious, but not too much. Lazir would be here soon, and he needed to be -

Shoom.

A full fleet appeared out of nowhere. Not just a few ships, but the whole secondary fleet that the Deep Den kept in the other cluster. They'd come, waiting to accept the Dark Lord's surrender en masse.

Even as the beep, beep of someone hailing him came up, Bertram smiled. Other beeps, each one acknowledging the activation of the booster stations around him, confirmed that they were ready. Bertram held his breath, all too aware that Mark could stab him in the back right here, that this could be the end of him still...

But it wasn't.

The ships before him, all pointed and angular, started drifting. The starfighters that had been released from the hangar bays went mad, some swinging away, some drifting into one another and exploding violently. A soft hum was kept at bay by his helmet, and he knew it would be far worse for the unprotected members of that fleet.

" How long, Data?"

"Perhaps ten seconds until they are insensate, sir."

" Perfect."

The big ships started turning, probably hoping to make a full 180 and jump out of the system again, but they were too slow. The little ships could not reboard the big ones in time. They were all doomed.

He counted down, and when he hit one, the beeping stopped. Bertram reached for his console, tapping the communications button, and an image of a rather entranced, dizzy, drugged-looking fox appeared.

" Lazir. Good to see you again."

"Nnnngh..."

" Now that you are partially Indoctrinated, we don't have to worry about the texting any longer. You will bring your ships in, weapons powered down, and lock them in orbit around Outpost Zonga. You will start at these coordinates."

"Mmmph...nnnngh...ah..."

" Confirm that you understand these instructions."

"Nnngh...c-confirmed..."

" Good. Follow them."

"Yes - ah! Mmmph...good..."

It seemed that the fox was already feeling the sheer pleasure of following orders. He'd likely be a good, obedient little Indoctrinated, if all came to pass. Hopefully, he would keep most of his mind, as well.

It would be interesting to find out just how much he knew.

"Scans suggest that our fleet size has been increased by 50% with the capture of this force. With these numbers, it is unlikely that the Deep Dens will try any subsequent attacks without significant reinforcements."

" Thank you, Data. That's very good to know..."

The End

Summary: Bertram manages to fool Lazir into thinking that he wants to surrender, opening an option to completely bamboozle the oncoming fleet.

Tags: M/M, Oral Sex, Finish, Cum, Trap, Mouse, Ram, Hyena, Fox, Sci-Fi, Series, Patreon, Slavery, Anger,