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Eyes of the Beholder 3

"How the hell are we supposed to find anything out in this wasteland?" Commander Hammul said as he looked around the swampy landscape. The only thing that broke the tan and brown monotony was the sun itself, which pounded down on their environmental suits but did little in the way of affecting the humans inside. "Let's just tow their ship and say we found their dead corpses in one of these puddles, it's not like Central cares about anything but their hardware anyway and from the look of it everything is still on the ship."

Liutenant Kenkarl let out an audible sigh, though he quickly covered it up with a cough as he scanned the horizon himself. "You know that we have to confirm all casualties on explorations and declare the world hostile." He replied. "If we can't locate them after forty-eight hours then we can declare them officially missing and tow the ship."

The ten men continued down through the marshy land, their heavy armor sunk easily in the mud and it made travel difficult as they tried to slog ahead. When one of the men spotted a large grove of trees in the distance they decided to make that a secondary marker for navigation, the first one being the ship itself. Hammul reported that the grove was going to be their destination as Kenkarl and the other men readied one of the triangulation beacons that they had brought to set up a scanning network.

"Commander be advised." A voice suddenly called out over the comms, which belonged to one of the men they had left in the ship. "Our scanners are detecting a possible source of beta radiation coming from that grove. It is strongly advised that all radia-ah ah!" The soldiers looked at each other as the sudden interruption was proceeded by a strange grunt before they heard the canimorph clear his throat. "All radiation protocols are to be enforced from two hundred meters away from the grove."

"Looks like we're hanging back Kenkarl." Hammul said with no amount of joy in his voice as he looked at the rest of the squad. "You heard the ship, go in there and see if you can't find the source of the radiation while you lug that beacon in there. I don't want this planet to go nuclear while we're still on it."

Muted grumbling could be heard from the men as they picked up the heavy equipment, then continued on their journey towards the large grove of trees while the two commanding officers hung back. As Kenkarl and Hammul watched they failed to notice the ripples that formed in the shallow water, two muddy forms slowly rose up behind them as the grunts disappeared into the distance. Each of the aliens held what looked like a large amulet that had an eye in the middle and ringed with tentacles as they slowly stood to their full height. Amanda let out a small whistle, just enough to make both men turn around and expose their chests to the two Sskausa.

"Gotchya." The female Sskausa said as she pushed the creature forward and slammed it against the Commander's chest plate, the eye opening wide as the tentacles immediately shot out and wrapped around the metallic armor. The male Sskausa attempted to do the same but Kenkarl was far faster than his higher-ranking officer, with one swift motion with his gun he knocked the strange thing out of the alien's hands and it splashed into the water next to them. As the familiar sound of the gun's energy cells charging up filled the air both Sskausa quickly backed away, raising their hands in the air as a sign of submission.

"Identify yourselves!" Kenkarl shouted, keeping his gun trained on the alien that tried to attack him. He heard the sound of a gun fire next to him, as well as the water next to him flare up as the female Sskausa managed to knock Hammul's gun a second before he shot her. The male Sskausa took advantage of the distraction and used the tentacle whip that was on his shoulder to knock the gun out of his hands and into the water below, though Kenkarl quickly responded by reaching to his belt and grabbing the tactical knife attached there.

Kenkarl lunged forward with his knife in order to try and catch the Sskausa off guard, but Ian was waiting for his attack and parried his attack, spinning agilely around him and pushing him to the side. Kenkarl stumbled but quickly recovered, dodging forward before he turned and tried to sink the blade into his taut stomach. For a second he felt that it's going to connect, but Ian wrapped his tail around the arm and jerked it away as he kicked the soldier hard in the stomach. Kenkarl stumbled backwards, then stood back up and turned to see the Sskausa smirking at him.

"Need some help Ian?" The female Sskausa said after she knocked Hammul onto his back and wrenched the gun from his grasp.

"I can handle this Amanda." Ian replied as he saw Kenkarl's body stiffen in surprise, which caused the Sskausa to smirk slightly. "That's right Kenkarl, you found us, congratulations."

Kenkarl's head throbbed with questions as the two males continued their standoff, his brain trying to keep up. Next to him Hammul continued to lie there in the shallow water, at first he thought that the other man was stuck but as he continued to glance over he realized that the creature wrapped around his chest had slowly begun to disintegrate his armor. The green tentacles continued to throb as Hammul tried to wiggle out of the tentacles only to find them growing closer to his skin and pieces of metal began to fall off of his body. When the first tendril actually made contact with him Hammul's body immediately began to convulse and shake, all three of them hearing a loud moan from the half-eroded visor that covered his face.

"What's happening to him?!" Kenkarl shouted as he held the knife even closer to Ian. "You undo whatever's going on right now and surrender yourselves!"

"He's just getting what's coming to him." Ian replied with a chuckle as Amanda knelt down and pulled the useless helmet from Hammul's face, his grunts and moans ceased almost immediately as the two made eye contact. "He's going to be alright... but you have a much brighter future then he does. I've read both your and his files while we waited for you, and you have exceptional talents that we can use for the rebuilding of our race."

Kenkarl continued his guarded glances as the Sskausa talked to him, Hammul's skin more and more exposed as the metallic tentacles began to wrap around his hard body. "Oh yeah, and what of our soldiers, where do they fit into your grand plan? What of Hammul?"

"Hammul is slave fodder." Ian replied with a smirk. "So will be most of your soldiers that are no doubt already being entertained. I'm sure with your help though we can find a few that might be worth being low-tier members of the Sskausa race, those that would serve under you. If you come with us willingly then we can put this whole thing behind us and get you started on your new life, put you in a proper position where your military expertise can be put to use."

Kenkarl waited for a few seconds as he mulled the decision over, while at the same time he looked over at his Commanding Officer. By this point the female Sskausa had stripped Hammul of the now-useless armor and revealed his naked body. The tentacle creature that was attached to his chest had attached itself to his face which formed an organic mask. The only other thing that was covered was his genitals, a pouch latched around his groin that caused the captive human to squirm in the mud. A small part of Kenkarl couldn't help but feel joy at the sight that the privileged, overbearing meathead finally got put in his place.

"Ian, you've put me in a real bind here." Kenkarl finally replied as he began to lower the knife slightly. "The protocol that I adhere too and that you admire in me so much would force me to turn you and your crew in to be subjugated to testing on what happened to you. On the other hand, you do make quite the offer and seeing Hammul like that tickles me greatly. How do I know this isn't some sort of trick and you'd make us all your slaves once I let my guard down? You did try to slap one of those restraints on me after all."

"It was a precautionary measure." Ian replied innocently. "Look into my eyes Kenkarl, I am giving you my word that you will be a mid-tier Sskausa. I'll even let you pick Hammul's final form. What do you say?"

Kenkarl felt his resolve towards protocol kick up again, but as he looked into the rapidly shifting colors of the alien's eyes he suddenly realized that what Ian had to say made a lot of sense. He had been passed over for direct command because some spoiled Captain's son used his dad's clout to get him the position. It would only be fitting that he would be able to give him the demotion down to slave personally, the human unaware of his moral erosion as he once more looked down at the helpless man next to him. It was a chance to make things right, Kenkarl realized as he looked up at the two smirking Sskausa and slowly lowered his blade.

"Alright Ian, I'm on board... for now." Kenkarl said as he got up from his crouched combat position. "But this doesn't mean that I trust you. You two have a lot of explaining to do and its at very least my duty to get the story of what happened down on this planet before I make any solid decisions, especially considering the... incapacitation of my superior officer. What do we do next?"

"We'll go back to the grove where everything is going to take place." Ian replied as Amanda ordered Hammul to get up, the bound human suddenly jerking up and clumsily getting to his feet. The two aliens knew that it was the creature that had adhered to his body that made the movements, the human himself a prisoner in his own body as they began to move forward. Kenkarl cautiously moved behind them, which allowed Ian to express a small sigh of relief that the minor mental manipulation of the other man had worked. There was no way given the circumstances they were in that he could drag him down deeper under his control unless he made an openly hostile action that would break the fragile hold on him anyway, so all he could do was continue to move forward and hope that the human was open to the idea presented to him when they got back to their home base...

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Meanwhile the ten soldiers had made their way to the large grove in the middle of the swamp, most of them with their guns up and ready while two carried the beacon between them. They were thankful for the solid footing and canopy over their heads as they penetrated further inside, carefully they treaded over the vines and stones that littered the area until they finally got to a clearing where they could establish a decent defense perimeter. The soldiers were slightly in awe at the sudden change in landscape, the clear rivers and strange but beautiful plants were a stark change to the desolate swamp that they had previously slogged through.

"What are the odds that Hammul bribed the radio guys to send a false radiation report so that he didn't have to do any of the work once again?" One of the soldiers, a young woman who had only joined the squad a few months prior, took off her helmet once their handheld scanners confirmed that the air was good to breathe. The other soldiers nodded in agreement, none of them had liked the fact that they were part of a squad led by an entitled, arrogant leader, but to request a transfer to another squad just because they didn't like their superior officer looked bad in their record.

"Hey guys, look at these plants." One of the other soldiers said as he scanned the entire area while the others set up the beacon. "There are some really strange readings coming from them, their biochemical makeup is like nothing I've ever seen before. I think if we can clear this planet we're going to need a scientific research team down here, this could be alien in construction."

"We'll have to call the Silvercobra, they're experts on that sort of stuff." One of the Corporals said as he sat down on one of the obsidian rocks. As the others turned back to the beacon and their set up they failed to notice as the large venus flytrap like plant suddenly lunged down and completely engulfed the surprised soldier.

After everything had been set up the other soldiers began to wonder a bit, though they were careful not to stray too far from their initial base as the Corporal tried to radio in to the ship. "Hey, can anyone else not get a signal to the ship?" He asked the two technicians that continued to program the device. "I don't think that those two are at their posts..."

"That's because they're here." A voice suddenly said, everyone suddenly grabbing their firearms as four creatures came in from the swamp. They were stunned to see that their two radio technicians stomp out of one of the thinner areas of brush, completely naked and with a strange collar around both their necks. Behind them holding leashes that were attached to them were two aliens that none of the soldiers had ever seen before, which caused all of them to raise their guns and aim at the creatures.

"You let them go right now!" The Corporal shouted as they formed a defensive stance.

"Relax, the leashes are purely superficial." One of the Sskausa said as he pulled the big wolf closer to him. None of the soldiers could get a clear shot on the two aliens without putting one of their own on in the way of their fire. "If you'll all just put your guns down then perhaps we can talk about what is going on here."

"Not a chance!" The Corporal shouted back. The experienced soldier tried to slowly side-step his way to a clean kill and hoped that the others would figure out what he tried to do in order to flank the hostile creatures. They had the aliens outnumbered, if they could circle around he figured he could at least put them in a situation where they would surrender or at least one of them would be able to shoot. As he continued his slow maneuver though he noticed something that caused him to pause.

The first to put their weapon down was the female that had voiced her opinion in the first place, her mouth hung open slightly as her entire posture slackened. "Looks like you might be in the minority." The other, larger Sskausa said as several others began to submit as well and caused the remaining soldiers to look at them in confusion. "Perhaps you'd like to rethink your position... because I don't think your friends would like the violence that you are instigating."

"Everyone stand your ground!" The Corporal ordered his men, though by this time only he and two others had not lowered their guns. At the Sskausa's beckoning the mutinous soldiers walked over to where they were, a strange look of contentment on their faces as they left the formation and joined the other side. "What on Earth are you all doing?! Get back here or I will have Hammul write you all up for insubordination!"

"I think we should listen to what they have to say Corporal Lynx." Another female said, her voice slightly slurred as she and two males continued to face the two Sskausa. "There is something about them that seems so trustworthy... and our radio crew seems to have trusted them. Plus they aren't acting aggressively towards us, it would be in our best interest to let them speak."

Corporal Lynx was too stunned to rebuke them again, and as the other two soldiers that weren't huddled around the aliens looked in his direction he knew that they were just as clueless as he was. It was then he noticed something peculiar, the three of them still wore their helmets while those that had advanced and lowered their weapons had taken them off. The soldiers had been affected by something, he reasoned, but he wasn't sure what it was or if the aliens knew that they weren't affected. A plot began to form in his mind, and as it came to completion he nodded to the other two that were still on his side and slowly began to lower his weapon as well.

"That's it, come on and join your friends." Harlen said with a hiss of pleasure as the remaining hold-outs had come forward. He was a bit unsure with Levi's plan to go ahead and move forward before Ian and Amanda had brought the commanders, but he had seen the other two in the swamp taking care of the leaders and he thought that a little fun could be in order. Despite almost being shot it appeared that it had worked well too, the grunts that had been foolish enough to look right into their eyes had succumbed almost immediately while those with their visors still down eventually came under their control as well.

"Alright, now that we're all here..." Harlen continued on with confidence. "All we have to do is wait for our remaining guests to arrive and-"

The Sskausa's words were suddenly cut short as a look of rage appeared on the Corporal's face. "Now!" Lynx said, quickly drawing his pistol and drawing it against Levi's head. The other two soldiers that were not enthralled drew up their guns and pointed them at the aliens as well.

"Hmph appears their visors did affect it after all." Levi said before the other soldier smashed him in the face with the hilt of his gun and sent him to the floor. The second soldier attempted to do the same, but the tentacle attached to Harlen's shoulder suddenly came to life and snaked itself around the soldier's neck. Before the experienced fighter could react he was thrown to the ground by the surprising strength of it, his gun ripped from his hand as he was smashed down to the mud.

"Enough of that!" Lynx threatened as he put his pistol to the back of Levi's head. "You undo whatever it is you did to the others or I will put a bullet in the back of his head. Now for the last time stand down!"

For a few tense seconds there was a stand-off between the two, Harlen continued to keep the tentacle wrapped around the soldier's neck while Lynx held the gun against Levi's head. With every second Lynx could feel his finger twitch slightly, his heart pounding despite himself as he debated to pull the trigger right there. It was a sudden shout that finally caused both parties to look up, and too Lynx's surprise and horror he watched as two more Sskausa came into the grove, followed shortly by Lieutenant Kenkarl and a completely naked Hammul. "Lynx, stand down this instant!" Kenkarl barked, an authoritative tone behind the usually soft-spoken man.

"Lieutenant?" Lynx asked in confusion as he saw the strange group walk up towards them, most notably their commanding officer bound up in what looked like a strange creature that had wrapped around his entire body. "Lieutenant, they got you too! They're controlling our minds somehow, making us do things! For God's sakes, look at Hammul!"

"Lynx, you need to calm down and listen to your superior officer." Kenkarl replied to the soldier's paranoid accusations. "There is something here that is currently beyond our understanding, and if we're going to do help anyone then we need to keep our heads about it. Ian, could you please have your man stand down in a gesture of good faith?"

"Very well, Harlen, let him go." The spined Sskausa said, the hooded one that Lynx had been standing off with looking at the Corporal with mild distain before the tentacle removed itself from the other soldier's neck. "There we are, safe and sound. Now it is his turn."

At first Lynx was going to continue to try and argue, but even with the visor on he could tell he was getting a very dirty look from his commanding officer. Plus the fact that the other man had his helmet still on meant that it was possible he wasn't affected with whatever toxin subdued the others, and if that was true then he had to follow protocol. "Yes sir, Lieutenant Kenkarl." He said as he slowly withdrew the pistol from the back of Levi's head, the alien immediate scrambling to his feet and backing up to the larger male Sskausa's feet.

"Alright Ian, we're here." Kenkarl said as the only female Sskausa led the restrained Hammul off to the side. "Now explain to me what's going on here and make it real good, otherwise I'll have Corporal Lynx and the others round you all up and bring you back to the Alpha station of the quadrant in cuffs."

Ian had to resist the urge to smile, even without Kenkarl fully under their influence he was still favoring their side more then what their training would urge to do so otherwise. He wasn't sure that it was because of their limited hypnotic control over him or his desire to be over Hammul, or possibly both as he told the male to get all of his soldiers in a line. As he eyed them all over he noted that there were five males and two females, with most of them already clearly under hypnotic control. "Wait a second, where's our technician?" Kenkarl suddenly spoke up, which caused the other soldiers to look around in confusion.

"I can answer that one." Levi said suddenly as he pointed at one of their conversion plants. "It appears the scanner he was using initiated the conversion processors without our knowledge. I will make sure to fix that for the future."

"See that you do." Ian replied with a smirk before he turned to Kenkarl. "It seems that one of your men decided to start without you. Now why don't you assert that new leadership role of yours and inform your men of what is about to happen?"

The three men that were still in charge of their faculties looked at each other in confusion before their gaze returned to Kenkarl, who swallowed slightly in nervousness before he stepped forward. "Alright, so as some of you may have guessed, the aliens that now stand before us used to be the crew that we were looking for." He started to instruct. "They had found something that has caused them to become what you see today, and they have offered to make our crew part of this new race. Since Hammul is no longer fit to lead the decision of who becomes Sskausa has fallen to me."

Lynx felt his unease return as he heard Kenkarl continue to explain what was about to happen to them. There were at least twelve protocols that they were breaking just listening to these alien's talk, much less considering to join their race. What was being proposed to them now was essentially treason, and the worst part was that their own commanding officer that was suggesting it. The worst part though was that the male and female Sskausa just stared at them while Kenkarl continued to talk. There was something strange about those eyes, he thought to himself as he continued to stare at them, the colors subtly shifting and changing as the reptilian creature's smirk began to grow even bigger.

After a few seconds Lynx didn't even hear what was being said anymore, all he could do was try and figure out the pattern of those eyes as the fractal pattern continued to change. He was vaguely aware that he was being moved into a group with several others of his squad, the originally outspoken female and another male standing next to each other while the rest were split up into two other groups. When Lynx finally was able to tear his eyes away from those mysterious orbs he suddenly found himself without his suit and, more importantly, the helmet that had protected him before was also missing. Strangely though he found his concern fleeting, as well as any other thoughts as what the lead Sskausa was saying suddenly became clear as crystal and far more interesting.

"Well, it appears that we have solved our little helmet issue." Ian said as he looked at the naked humans before them, the only one still clothed was Kenkarl as he finished dividing the troops into three groups. "So it appears that you have made your decision?"

"Yes, thank you." Kenkarl replied with a smile, his own helmet at his side as he continued to look back and forth between the troops he had selected and Amanda's gaze. "I can see now what you are trying to accomplish here and I'm glad that we can be a part of it."

"Of course, just go and stand with your group." Ian said as he gestured for him to stand with the others that he had slated for mid-tier Sskausa conversion. Kenkarl could feel his heart race as he was up first to be in the conversion process. As he looked down the line he also couldn't help but feel his chest swell up with pride as he watched Hammul, restraint and all, get gobbled up by the giant plant to be prepared for his role as a slave. Part of him hoped that he would be able to get control of him, yet another perk that the female Sskausa had whispered into his ears as they had talked.

Kenkarl's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as he felt something thick and rubber compress around him, his entire body engulfed by the huge plant that he had been standing in front of. It felt like he was being vacuum sealed between two pieces of latex, surrounding him completely in darkness as he felt his body begin to tingle. The tingle was then followed by a floating sensation, and before he could make heads or tails of it the darkness in front of him began to coalesce into the shimmering blue and white form of a female Sskausa.

"Wow... you're beautiful." Kenkarl said in awe as the electronic construct floated towards him. Even though it felt like he was floating he could still feel the latex texture of the plant against his skin, and he found himself unable to move as her hands caressed his body. It was an electric tingle as tiny arcs of purple electricity lanced from her hand to his chest. Everywhere she touched his skin turned glossy and discolored, the normally tan flesh turned a brilliant purple in most areas with the occasional splotches of green and silver.

"Welcome to your introduction into the Sskausa race." The female said, an electronic tremor in her voice as Kenkarl's arousal grew with every pleasurable jolt. "You will be given the form of a mid-tier Sskausa, and I have been programmed by Levi to make sure that the conversion of you and your men is as comfortable as possible. This body you see has been created by your subconscious desires that have accumulated since your exposure to the Sskausa race."

Kenkarl's eyes widened slightly as he looked up and down her form, as stunning as it was by human standards with its full breasts and shapely body he could not get over the fact of how... alien she looked. It was a form that was slowly being impressed upon him as her hands moved up his firm pecs and spread the slick, rubbery skin up to his neck. Even without her touch the affected areas had begun to spread over the rest of his body as well, his back twitching as his spine began to stretch at the base right above his butt. "But... I could still... I could still serve as a human..." he managed to get out between moans.

"Humans are not needed in this phase of the plan, more Sskausa must be recruited for plans to continue." The construct replied as one of her hands grabbed onto his already erect cock, which caused his back to arch and several more inches of his new tail to slither out behind him. "If you will just look into my eyes you will be given all the knowledge that you will need to know."

Kenkarl was about to protest again when he looked into the Sskausa's eyes, his pupils dilating as a similar swirling pattern to the one that had ensnared him earlier flashed before his eyes. His jaw slackened as he continued to stare into them while the female pressed her breasts against his chest, his canine teeth elongating into fangs as the flesh of his face began to stretch out into a muzzle. He was so enraptured that he didn't even notice that the digitally constructed Sskausa had begun to grind her hips against his groin, all he could focus on was the eyes in front of him and the knowledge that had suddenly begun to bounce around his changing skull. In seconds he saw what his place was and as a hood began to form around his head his own eyes began to shimmer and reflect the female's pattern.

As a grin of superiority and contentment washed over Kenkarl's transformed face as the female Sskausa slipped his longer shaft into her simulated snatch. His new tail swished back and forth as it felt like the real thing, his only wish was that he could move so that he could thrust into her in earnest. Nevertheless he was fine to let her grind on his shaft as his entire body finished transforming in what felt like a full body stretch. Kenkarl clenched his clawed toes and hands as her wet depths pressed against his sensitive member for a seemingly endless amount of time as he drifted through the ether...

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Suddenly Kenkarl was thrust back into the real world, letting out a hiss as the bright light of the grove hit his reptilian eyes. "What a trip..." he said as he slowly stood up, another Sskausa without a hood immediately coming up to him and hosing him off as the transformed Lieutenant looked over at the Sskausa who manned the controller. "That was amazing... Levi was it? I felt like I was making love for hours..."

"Yeah, you were actually in there for about ten minutes." Levi replied with a smirk. "I've streamlined the conversion process, now that we have the manpower we can convert an entire capital ship's worth of people in a day, isn't that right boss?"

"Correct Levi." Ian replied as he looked around at his newest recruits and slaves, one arm around Amanda as they walked down the line. As they passed the area of the slaves they nodded to Harlen as he led an eight-foot tall giant, lumbering, mutant human with a familiar set of bindings on it into a large cage. "It looks like things are going quite well, I think we'll be able to go into the next phase of the plan rather soon."

"Next phase?" Amanda replied with a bemused grin.

"Of course." Ian chuckled. "We have the building blocks to a wonderful civilization here; the tools to create a proper homestead, hundreds of mid-tier and thousands of low-tier Sskausa templates to use, and the ability to crush the wills of those lesser species out there. It would be such a waste not to expand..."