"Okay, what's your report, Lieutenant? And why is Lieutenant Deveraux not with you?" Tarik asked. Piccolo had returned after three weeks on a mission with Paul Deveraux.
Piccolo cleared his throat. "It is... delicate to explain, Colonel," he said. Tarik noted that his junior officer looked very much the worse for wear.
"Try me."
"I accompanied Lieutenant Deveraux on an expedition to a planet where he was informed valuable ruins had been discovered. I did so upon his request as a landing security detail."
"Okay, noted," Tarik said, making a mental note to investigate the propriety of Piccolo's detail later.
"We landed, and found the planet inhabited mainly by women. There were some men, but the society was very clearly female dominated. The overall tech level was fairly low; I'd estimate pre-industrial. Their leader advised us that we had been brought there as part of a breeding program. It seems that their males were infected by a disease that rendered them sterile, and the population has been steadily declining. Their technology has been failing as well, and they've been using what they have left to entice passing ships to land and participate in the program."
"Breeding program, Lieutenant?"
"That is what I said, sir. Passing ships are forced down or invited down, and their male occupants are somehow coerced or enticed into participating. Lieutenant Deveraux was ecstatic to participate."
"I can't imagine why," Tarik said, groaning inwardly.
"Understood, sir, but this even more than usual. They tried to draw me in but it didn't work. They did not anticipate my asexual biology and psychology. It took several days, but I was able to return to our scout vessel and leave the planet."
Tarik tapped his combadge. "Tarik to Lieutenant Alcon, report to my office with a medical tricorder."
[Acknowledged.] Moments later Jayme Alcon appeared and began a scan of Piccolo.
"This is unusual, sir. Lieutenant Piccolo's bloodstream contains large quantities of pheromones from several different species. Human, Klingon, Bajoran, Nausicaan, even Mulluran. Every mammalian species represented here in this sector. His body is incapable of generating any of these, much less responding to them."
"Sounds like we have something of a different form of piracy at work here. Lieutenant Alcon, I want you to formulate something we can use on an interim basis to counteract this cocktail. Round up your platoon and prepare for a rescue mission. Lieutenant Piccolo will supply the intelligence. We leave at 0600 tomorrow," Tarik ordered.
"Sir, when I left Deveraux he appeared to be quite happy. He didn't want to leave."
"If he was exposed to the same chemicals you were, he may have no choice in his actions. He's effectively a hostage."
Meanwhile, 18 light-years away on the planet Swarva...
Paul Deveraux was led back to his cell, exhausted. "Pleez, Ah beg of you, no more!" he told his female jailer.
"Silence, slave! Your DNA is prime material. We cannot afford to waste it. You will remain at stud until we have no further use for you."
"But Ah need to rest eef Ah am to perform to your expectashons!"
"You will be given four hours' rest, as usual."
"Can you at least give me a blanket?" Deveraux pleaded. He'd been kept naked so as to expedite his processing, and night on Swarva was cold.
"When you've been here long enough, you will get a blanket and eventually a bed. But for now you must earn your keep! This talking is only taking from your sleep time." The jailer, a statuesque woman dressed in a metal corselet and wearing a helmet with a face mask, stalked off, her whip slapping against her thigh in a manner that caused Paul to lose all rational thought.
Deveraux took the hint and remained quiet. Ah've got to escape! he thought. But any rational thought as to how he could escape was nowhere to be found in his hormone besotted mind.