Beyond their alluring looks and their inborn gift for enchantment, the succubus race had one more trait besides — namely, that they were, in fact, extremely clever. Their fighting strength was very low, but their minds were formidable.
They excelled at mental work; they could manage a great many affairs, and learn quickly.
It was only that, set against these abilities, what the world fixed its eyes on was a succubus's looks.
For clever interstellar races, after all, were no rare thing.
Several unmanned flycars pulled into Zhao Chen's ship workshop; for the duration of the workshop rental, this place amounted to Zhao Chen's private domain.
Without his leave, not even the people of Arctic Fox Starport were permitted inside.
"Come out — you're safe now." Once out of the car, Zhao Chen called toward the several unmanned flycars.
Then, one after another, the succubi stepped gingerly down from the cars, black cloaks drawn about them to hide their identities.
"This is my ship workshop, and this ship here is mine." Zhao Chen introduced things to the succubi. "And I'm the captain of this ship. My name is Zhao Chen."
"My name is Lilith; I'm their leader." Lilith stepped forward. She was plainly nervous and afraid, but for the sake of her people behind her, she had to stand up.
Just then, a woman came down from another unmanned flycar — it was Zhao Wan'er.
Zhao Wan'er looked in surprise at the several extra people before Zhao Chen, gave them a careful look, and cried out, "Succubi!"
Lilith at once turned a wary eye on this woman.
"Don't be nervous — this is my sister." Zhao Chen waved a hand, then looked to Zhao Wan'er. "You see to settling them in; they'll be staying aboard our ship a while. Take them to bathe first, then to the canteen to eat, and after that arrange clean clothes and dormitories for them."
"All right," Zhao Wan'er answered on reflex — but quickly came to herself and pressed, "Wait. You still haven't explained where you kidnapped these succubi from!"
Woman though she was, Zhao Wan'er knew well enough what succubi meant to men.
"Hey, hey, hey — what do you mean, kidnapped? I call this doing a good deed." Zhao Chen rolled his eyes. "I'll tell you the details later; my batch of raw materials seems to be arriving, so I'll go check on it first. As for those clothes I ordered earlier — you see to arranging them."
With that, Zhao Chen scampered off, delighted as anything—
—leaving Zhao Wan'er and the whole band of succubi behind.
Succubi or no succubi — nothing was as important as Zhao Chen's starship!
……
And so Lilith, together with her people, walked up onto this huge starship.
"My name is Zhao Wan'er. I don't know how that fellow brought you here— —but you can set your minds at ease; so long as I'm around, he won't do anything untoward to you!" Zhao Wan'er said firmly.
"I'm… called Lilith…" Lilith said in a small voice.
Her people still huddled timidly behind her, though they looked with curiosity at the bright, gleaming corridors of the ship around them.
Compared to Blizzard Zero, the interior of the T2 Queen Bee-class Heavy Carrier Starship was a thing of real beauty — like a work of art.
The first time Zhao Wan'er walked into it, she'd fallen in love with this ship.
"You've all got a bit of a… smell about you. Let me take you to bathe first," Zhao Wan'er said, looking at Lilith.
Lilith's cheeks flushed. These succubi had been hiding all this while in the starport's underground conduits, so of course an unpleasant odor clung to them.
The vast bathhouse was hazy with steam.
Along both walls were shower stalls fitted with showerheads, and in the center a soaking pool for baths.
"Go on and bathe, quick; clean clothes are right over here — put them on when you've washed. In a while I'll take you to eat," Zhao Wan'er said, standing at the bathhouse door.
"O… okay." Lilith was still a touch ill at ease, but some of the succubus girls could no longer hold back and went to the showers to enjoy that warm hot water.
"It's actually hot water! I haven't had a hot bath in ages!"
"But… using water like this… won't we get scolded? I've heard water is precious aboard a starship."
"I rode a T2 ship once; its shower stall had only five spots, so cramped you could hardly turn around, three minutes of washing per person — and it wasn't clean hot water like this, either," one succubus said.
Lilith swept a look around. Having once held a post aboard a starship of the succubus homeworld kingdom, she knew well that a bathhouse like this was a truly extravagant fitting!
"Use the water as freely as you like; this ship of ours uses the most advanced cosmic-particle water-molecule-collection technology, so water isn't very precious," came Zhao Wan'er's voice from outside.
That laid their misgivings wholly to rest.
The succubi began to bathe and relax, washing away the filth from their bodies, each succubus's lovely form revealed in full!
Had Zhao Chen been here just now, his eyes would surely have lit up.
Because in the underground conduit before, one couldn't make out these succubi's faces clearly; but now, each of them fresh and bright, they were indeed the alluring creatures the humanoid males of the cosmos chased after.
A dozen-odd minutes later, the succubi had all finished bathing and changed into clean clothes.
In truth, had they not heard they were going to eat, they'd have happily bathed the whole day away in this blissful place!
"Sister Lilith, will I get to bathe here again in the future?" A little succubus tugged at Lilith's arm, looking back at that bathhouse, and asked in a small voice.
Looking at the hope in the little succubus's eyes, Lilith couldn't bring herself to deny it, and could only say softly, "You will…"
To this moment she still didn't know that man Zhao Chen's purpose in helping them, nor what fate awaited them next.
"Miss Wan'er, we've all finished washing. Thank you for the clothes — our own clothes… could really still be worn, you know," Lilith said, a touch embarrassed.
In truth those clothes of theirs were each so tattered as to be past all shape, and didn't fit at all.
In the days of flight, who paid any mind to clothing? So long as it covered the body, it did.
Zhao Wan'er looked at the dozen-odd succubi before her, and for a moment her eyes went stock-still.
"You're all… you're all too beautiful…" Zhao Wan'er said enviously.
Succubi carried an inborn allure; it was in their every gesture and movement, a thing beyond their power to control.
And so they were, one and all, born temptresses.
Lilith's cheeks flushed, but to gazes like this she'd long since grown used.
Zhao Wan'er looked at Lilith, then at herself — above all at her own chest — and it was truly a case of the small witch before the great!
Though in fact Zhao Wan'er's looks were nothing to sneeze at either; she simply hadn't come into full bloom yet, and was, besides, of an altogether different style from Lilith and the rest.
"Ahem, ahem, ahem… let's go eat… let's go eat." Zhao Wan'er changed the subject and led Lilith and the others off to the ship's canteen.
Inside the ship canteen, Zhao Wan'er pointed at the serving counter. "Order whatever you'd like to eat; just don't waste it, that's all."
When Zhao Wan'er had said her piece, not one succubus stepped forward.
Zhao Wan'er looked over in puzzlement — and there stood the succubi, frozen stiff as wooden chickens where they were.
A few of them were staring, unblinking, at the beast-folk crewwomen eating in the distance, until those beast-folk crewwomen felt quite awkward under it.
"Is this what you eat, ordinarily?" Lilith asked, aghast.
For everything on that menu was natural food — not artificial food or the like.
"Of course. Order to your hearts' content." Zhao Wan'er said it as the most matter-of-fact thing in the world.
Lilith breathed in the fragrance drifting to the tip of her nose, and marveled inwardly: This isn't a starship at all — this is out-and-out heaven!