Chapter 2: 
The panther stood a foot taller than Star, wore a uniform that had been modified significantly to make him appear bigger abreast than he already was, and carried himself with a smug indifference characteristic of someone born to a privileged family. “Show him the ropes, and make sure he’s ready for an officer posting come summer,” Major Wilson, Star’s commanding officer had said, leading the panther into Communication Center Alpha, the one that the lynx commanded. Star didn’t like the man from the moment she saw him. He personified someone who had bought his way through the ranks, playing the political scheme to his advantage while at the same time avoiding all the actual drudgery and work relating to a military career. Andrew Miller was his name, and, despite his position as second in command, second to Star that is, he waltzed in as though he owned the place, giving relay orders and asking for information that should strictly have been reserved for Star, the whole crew quickly realizing what sort of officer he was. The quickly growing class of rich, often clouty individuals who bought their way into the ranks, often with bribes or political favors, and were unfortunately occupying a great many high military positions. This fact was broadly known and resented among actual soldiers which did their duty and fought tooth and nail through the ranks, and it was obvious that nobody, least of all Star herself, who had had to contend with being both female and of humble means in her rise through the ranks, had any respect for the man, or any intention of following him. 
Andrew’s usurpation of Star’s command duties regarding the message relay, while not technically insubordination, was still beyond his authority, and therefore cause for a public reprimand, an opportunity to put the bugger in his place that the lynx was not about to pass up.
“And from this point on, Corporal Miller, you will report to me when messages need to be relayed, and I will be the one who gives the orders. Am I clear?!” Star said, using every ounce of breath that she had acquired from years shouting over wind, rain, distance, and even gunfire. It was unbecoming of her, a 5’ tall feline hollering like a hellhound into the clearly stupefied panther’s face. Had he gone through the ranks as the rest of them had, he would be used to being shouted at by officers by now, an obvious deficiency that was relished in by the rest of the crew, along with Star herself. 
Andrew squirmed under the public eye as he was disciplined, then nodded as she finished, taking care not to show teeth as he said, with as much disrespect as he dared, “crystal, Ma’am.” 
Star crossed the distance between them in a single step, “That’s Staff Sergeant to you, Corporal, and if I see one more claw of yours out of line, I’ll take it straight to the Major. Now fall to command, and do your job.” Communications Corporal Miller made his salute, and Star made him wait a full ten seconds before returning it, very briefly. The panther sulked away in silence, and Star went back to her work, cheerful as usual, appearing as though the entire incident hadn’t occurred. Chastising Andrew had satisfied her on some level, and Star went about the rest of her day’s work with an air of calm satisfaction, only in part because her chastisement had left the upstart panther literally with tail between legs, and now doing his job as second in command to the textbook letter. 
Three weeks had elapsed since Star’s experiment with the online adult baby community, and her impulse buying of the case. In that time, partially occupied by her new job but mostly just too anxious to try to find someone, again, Star had neglected her stash, though she had frequented the forums and random-chat sites almost daily. There had been a half dozen standouts that she had bookmarked, mostly middle aged males who fit her definition of the ideal daddy figure: extremely confident and dominant, but also loving and affectionate. She had kept into regular contact with a few of them, all from the U.K, and had started onto a dedicated habit of talking to them over the internet every night. Logic having taken hold of the reigns of her fetish, Star liked to imagine that, somewhere down the like, she might tell an exemplar of them her name, arrange a date, and maybe even indulge a bit in a desire that, only months ago, had seemed as far away as the moon. It was this fantasy that she pondered over as she left the military compound through the front gates, aiming for where she had parked her newly acquired sedan.
“Miss… err, Staff Sergeant Blakely, may I speak with you for a moment?” Andrew said, jogging up behind Star, who pretended not to hear him and continued on towards her car, but he persisted, and an address became necessary. 
“What do you want, Corporal?” Star said, not looking up from her keys as she picked out the one that would open the door. 
“Listen,” he said, looking at the side of her head that she presented him, “I want to apologize for earlier.” Star gave him a raised eyebrow, and stopped what she was doing.
“Really?” Star said, sounding skeptical. He sounded sincere enough, but Star knew better than to trust outward charms, especially from someone with a political background.
“Really,” he said, and leant against Star’s red sedan, “I mean it. Honest. I disrespected your command, and I’m sorry,” when Star made no reply, only going back to her car door, suddenly regretting the dozens of keys which regulation required she carry at all times while on duty, Andrew continued, “And,” he said, as though there hadn’t been a pause between them, “I’d like to make it up to you, if I can. How does dinner sound, at my parent’s home outside the city? We have professional live-in cooks, so I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed.” His smile was deceptive, and Star, with her years in the military under her belt, saw right through his transparent motivations. He knew that she had the Major’s ear, and if he wanted to get in good with the Major, he’d have to get in good with her. Not that Star didn’t respect an initiative to advance through the ranks, she shared it, in fact, just that she wasn’t about to give him easy treatment, or exempt him from the less glamorous parts of the service just because he had the money to throw around fancy party favors in her direction. Luring her to his parent’s home would give him the home field advantage, so to speak, and his parents would certainly try to maneuver their clout against her. Star wouldn’t have it, and she knew exactly what to do about the boy. His scheme was ambitious, but Andrew had overlooked one flaw: she could turn it around on him, and, unlike her, he wasn’t in a position to decline the invitation.
Star unlocked the doors, finally, and opened the passenger seat, looking at Andrew and saying something that even his thick head couldn’t fail to register as a command, “get in, you can apologize again over dinner,” she said, and Andrew smiled, nodded, and walked around the other side of the car. When he got in, and Star backed out of the parking spaces, she turned to the panther, and finished her sentence, “at my apartment.” 
Andrew seemed a bit shocked at the news, but, if he knew he’d been bested in the game of wit, he didn’t show it, keeping his causal, straight demeanor and replying with, “oh, alright,” and was silent for the rest of the trip. The drive back into the city wasn’t particularly long, as the military base had been placed just outside the main residential districts in which Star lived. The two felines got out of the car, and Star made sure that she walked through every door first. It wasn’t exactly polite, but she needed to exert her authority over this bloke before he got out of hand. Besides, the last thing she needed was him trying to play the gentleman and hold the door for her and other such nonsense. She was a soldier, and a soldier’s daughter, and about as far away from a lady as she was from the moon. 
“Huh, wow, did you decorate this place yourself?” Andrew asked, looking around Star’s modest apartment with some interest.
“It’s not a palace,” Star said, harking back to the panther’s opulent upbringing, “but I’m used to much less, as you can imagine. There isn’t much personal space in a barracks.” 
The panther nodded, taking a seat on Star’s couch without asking, “certainly an improvement, then. And you’ve been back here from training for how long, Star?” 
Star swallowed a hiss at the use of her first name. They weren’t friends, not by a long shot. He would need to earn her respect, probably under proverbial fire before she would consider him a fellow serviceman, and even then friend would be a long ways off, but he hadn’t said anything rude in a technical sense, so she sighed deeply, and answered his question. “bit over three weeks, it took me a few days to settle before I was officially given command,” she said, delivering information without emotion behind it. That was necessary with Andrew’s type, Star knew all too well.
He glanced over at Star’s keyboard and computer desk. There were a handful of empty mugs that had contained strong coffee, and one or two dirty dishes that she had neglected to clean up despite her normally neat nature, “spend a lot of time on the internet, I take it?” 
Star was a bit taken aback by the specificity of the question, and answered, “well, yes, not like you can get by without it these days,” wondering at the panther’s motivations for asking.
“Use Email?” he continued, and again Star was confused by his choice of questions, but couldn’t outright deny using email…
“Yes, of course, my address is StaSrg.Blakely, but you should know that…” she gave him a skeptical look. He had to have a motivation for this line of questioning, and Star was almost ready to ask him outright what it was. He should have known her official email, it was handed out to everyone in their squad for emergency contact, so what was the bugger about…
“Well yes, there’s that one,” he said, and shrugged with his hands, “but don’t you have another one? A… personal account?” Star gave him a look of unconcealed offence. This panther knew her only as a superior officer, and only for one day at that, and yet had the temerity to inquire about her personal email accounts? Wasn’t that kind of like asking for your boss’s address or phone number for no good reason? Only trouble could come of it, and Star was about to call him out on whatever shenanigans he had planned,  the panther changed her life forever, “one called Starshine419, Star?” 
The lynx’s blood suddenly turned to ice, and some capricious deity suddenly revoked her rights to a skeleton. She toppled into the loveseat across from the couch, her heartrate going from normal to a million miles an hour in a flash. That was the email she had used to keep in contact with some of her diaper friends online. “It can’t be…” she said to nobody in particular, shaking her head, “that’s not possible… How did you know?” she turned very stern to him, very suddenly.
“I didn’t,” Andrew said, grinning, “at least not until you told me, missy.” Star’s face went bright red. This jaguar had her by the tail, now. Even the rumor of the kind of thing she was into could do serious damage to her career, and, despite his non-military upbringing, Andrew clearly knew that. “But don’t worry,” he said with a fake grin, “nobody has to hear about this, as long as you do what I say.”
Star hissed again, baring her thin white teeth from behind her hackles, “listen asshole, if you think you…” 
“Hey, you watch your language!” Andrew said, rising to his full height and pointing a finger at Star, “one more word like that and I’ll wash that muzzle of yours out with soap, just see if I don’t.”
Star was left dumbstruck, her mouth hanging open, totally taken aback. She felt naked and ashamed for no good reason, like her years of training and experience at command suddenly counter for nothing, and she was a little girl again, being berated by her father for saying a bad word. She tried to force herself to reply, face burning with shame, but found she couldn’t manage words, her belly swarming with butterflies and her head suddenly flooded with a mix of happiness and humiliation that she had never imagined before. At last the urge to obey overcame her conscious mind, and her head sank, tail literally between her legs.
“Now,” the panther said, clearly enjoying himself, “your diapers, where are you hiding them?” 
That did it, and Star suddenly snapped out of her quagmire enough for her face to curl into a frown, and for her to say what she needed to say, “Out. Get out of my house, now!” She pointed at him, then at the door, but the panther wasn’t nearly ready to leave, just yet, and stood, closing the distance between them in two big steps. Star’s eyes went wide, realizing just how big he actually was, a full head and shoulders over the lynx, and broader at the waist and chest by half… she was like a kid in comparison to him.
“Well, well, well,” Andrew said, crossing his arms in a condescending, paternal sort of way, “I think a certain kitten has gotten too bossy for her boots, hasn’t she.” Star suddenly piped down at the dominant male, trying to shrink into herself like a scolded child under her parent’s gaze, which only served to encourage the panther, who took her firmly by the wrist, and drew her, not resisting, across the room. Star was confused, too overcome by all the conflicting emotions to act decisively, and only managed to try and tug half-heartedly away as the big panther sat down, taking Star’s arm in one hand, and the nape of her neck in the other, and forcing her with no small amount of fussing and squirming over his knee, where Star suddenly realized what was about to happen.
“N-NO! You get off me right- YEAAOWW!” she hollered suddenly as the panther’s big, strong palm impacted on the center of Star’s rear. She yelped with pain, and began kicking and fighting with a mixture of fear, anger, and profound frustration, but the much bigger male kept her pinned and helpless against her lap, putting one of his heavy legs over hers to keep her taught, that the spankings would be more effective. 
Star’s face was flushed with color, and she thrashed about in his grip as he got into a steady rhythm, letting each new spanking sink in before adding another, ignoring Star’s screams of protest and demands for release. He delivered fifteen in all, leaving the lynx almost at the brink of tears and with a stinging red bottom, his palm having left marks even through her uniform. 
“Now go get out of that uniform,” Andrew ordered with all of the confidence and dominance of the father of a three year old girl, “and bring me your diapers, I know you have them in here.” 
Star sobbed a bit, and the part of her that was still a little girl knew she had to obey, leading her quivering female body down the hall to her bedroom, where her diapers had been stashed in the bottom of her strong box. She unlocked the big metal case, and pulled the bag of diapers out of it, simultaneously quivering with fear and anger, and shivering with anticipation. She knew what he would do when she brought out the diapers, and she both longed for it, and dreaded it.
“Well, I see you bought the extra thick kind,” Andrew said, all sign of anger gone from his face as he inspected the case of diapers, “why haven’t you put one on, yet?” Star still felt like denying all of this, but there really wasn’t any point now. She clasped her hands in front of her, having changed into a comfortable running suit, and replied honestly.
“It didn’t feel right without a…” she stopped herself, covering her face with one hand to hide her blush.
“Without a daddy to take care of you?” Andrew said with a smile, and Star nodded, seeing no reason to deny it any longer. The lynx clasped her hands behind her back, subtly stroking her rear. Andrew’s spankings had hurt her pride more than her body, which was used to discomfort, but that didn’t change the fact that his big hands hurt… “Do you want to wear one?” Andrew asked, interrupting her thoughts, and Star blushed, startled.
“Umm… yes,” she admitted, nodding a bit. Andrew grinned, flicking a claw out and cutting open a bag, pulling out one of the extra thick rose colored diapers so that Star could see just how bulky they really were.
“Would you like me to put one on you, sweetie?” Star couldn’t suppress the butterflies in her belly any longer, and squirmed in place, feeling hot and red in the face with embarrassment, simultaneously wanting to sink into herself and disappear, slap the man across the face and have him taken away in handcuffs, and kiss him, agreeing whole heartedly to the suggestion. The battle raged inside the feline, who felt smaller than she ever had before, and for a moment it looked like the latter suggestion was going to win out, but Star’s pride wouldn’t let it, so when she spoke it was with confidence.
“Not this time,” Star said, shaking her head. Andrew laughed, his demeanor totally shifted, and handed the diaper to the lynx.
“Go get into your diapers, little girl,” he said, and in one of the most sincerely affectionate tones Star had ever heard. That couldn’t be faked… could it? 
Skepticisim aside, Star practically pranced to her bedroom, grinning like a little girl in a candy shop and clutching the diaper close. She couldn’t even imagine the odds of something like this happening, but was somehow extremely glad it had. Many of the people she had met online had come across as creepy in the extreme, seemingly more interested in sex than anything else. Could Andrew possibly be the one…?
There was a sizable portion of Star’s head that was dead set opposed to her diaper fetish in general, the conservative part of her that had been drilled in deep by her father, and it was both terrified and enraged about the concept of her skipping around in front of strange men in one. But that part was on the defensive, braced against being overrun by the sudden assault of Star’s childish side, which saw the diapers, and was starting to see Andrew’s daddy figure potential, as assets whose worth was beyond measure. She was giggling, absolutely buzzing with renewed energy as she undressed down to her fur and unfolded the diaper onto her bed, her imagination running wild about the bulk between her legs, the sounds it would make, even the smell of the fresh plastic and synthetic core enticed her. With no hesitation Star pounced onto the unfolded diaper, laying back on it and shivering with relish at the sensations it gave her. The thing was huge! Whoever had put discrete onto the packaging of this thing was outright lying, it was as thick as Star’s wrist, and, despite the occasional objections of her dug in rational brain, compliments of her father, the lynx was in heaven, riding cloud nine towards unknown but welcoming horizons, and every minute of it was beyond anything she could have imagined in her most dizzy daydreams. 
Star just sat there for a while, passing between giggles and shivers of giddy joy from the sensations the diaper gave her, but then the time came to move on. She had no experience at changing diapers, and thus hadn’t though ahead to buy or prepare talcum powder or cream beforehand. It didn’t concern her, not really, it wasn’t like Andrew was going to make her use it, after all… Star’s face, which had slowly gone back to its normal color, flushed red again, and she spoke her thoughts aloud.
“What if he does…” she said, simultaneously shuddering with reluctance and purring with hope that it might come to pass. Star unconsciously laid back down, pulling the bulky pink diaper up between her legs, covering her loins again, and then taped it in place with the two big, sticky tapes on either side. It fit snugly and warmly around her, hugging the feline, feminine curves of her body, and, furthermore, it felt like it belonged… like it was a part of her, one that had been long separate, and Star belatedly realized that she was chewing on her claws, a nervous habit she had dispensed with years ago in the academy. It took a few more minutes of fulfilling silence, simply lying there in her diaper, a silly grin painted across her face, before she pushed herself upright, fighting the inclination to simply lay there, padded and pampered, forever. It wasn’t easy, but she managed to get to her bare paws, and her eyes went wide as she tried to balance with the newfound bulk between her legs. “Woaah, woah!” Star said, wobbling precariously between her legs, center of balance shifting, and tried gingerly to take a step, the breadth and depth of the thing around her waist pushing her legs wide, forcing her to waddle as opposed to walk normally. “I am not going out there like this…” Star’s conservative faction said, referring more to her inability to walk than to the presence of the heavy padding around her crotch.
She couldn’t even set foot on the path to pessimism in her great mood, though, and waddled back and forth in her bedroom until she’d properly gotten her footing in the diaper, and it had worked in enough that she could walk without the danger of topeling over, if not normally. In all honestly, Star couldn’t deny how celestial the diaper made her feel, even with the inhibitions it made on her movement, and, just as she was getting ready to put her pants back on and go back out into the main room, she heard a light tapping on the door, and Andrew’s voice, firm, but affectionate.
“Sweetie, are you alright in there?” The panther said, and Star swallowed her first, impulse driven reply, which would have been yes, daddy, and replied with something much less humiliating.
“I’ll be right out!” she said, and was suddenly confronted with the decision of whether or not to put her pants back on. One glance at her otherwise naked form in the body length mirror attached to Star’s door made her realize just how well the pink diaper blended in with her beige, white and black fur, a nice synthetic to offset her normal earthy hue. She looked like she belonged in diapers, had always belonged in diapers… What could she possibly gain by covering up all that beautiful bulk with her slack trousers? 
A bit guiltily, Star realized that, whatever her choice, she wasn’t about to go out and meet Andrew, whom she had known for less than twenty four hours, without a top on. With a sigh, the lynx opened her scant closet, which contained three of her four identical uniforms, and a handful of other, very standard looking T-shirts and sweaters, none with particularly fancy color schemes or the like. She was stoic by training, and wasn’t much for fancy clothing. It normally got in the way of practical pursuits, such as running or even walking properly, and that was enough to turn the lynx off from it. She sighed, took a plain white T-shirt that she normally wore for jogging, and put it on, happily realizing it fell just slightly below the top of her diaper, leaving half of it visible. Star giggled, and posed to herself in the mirror, testing the angles to see how best to tease anyone who might see her in it. 
“I’m waiting,” Andrew said, tapping on the door again, his voice more playful than anything. 
Star giggled in reply, “Come in,” she said, angling the T-shirt to hide most of her diaper as the door opened, and the big panther walked into the room confidently.
“Oh, you silly goose,” the panther said, slowly walking over to Star, and then reaching up to scratch her behind the ear, “you don’t have to be shy around me, sweetie.”
Star found herself blushing again as Andrew gently took the bottom of her T-shirt and pulled it up a smidge, just enough for him to get a good look at her heavily padded poofy pink bottom.
“Well, aren’t you just the prettiest little angel?” he said, and Star gasped with surprise as he pulled her into a warm, affectionate hug. She found herself hugging him back, pressing her head against his broad, muscular chest, the sound of his slowly beating heart ringing in her ears… it was so relaxing, and Star’s eyes started to droop from the sound. “Oh, my little star,” he cooed down at her, a full foot taller and much bigger abroad, then wrapped one arm around her shoulders, lent down a bit, wrapping the other about her knees, and, with little visible effort on his part, hefted the drowsing, diapered feline female up into his strong arms, gently rocking her back and forth. Star didn’t seem surprised by his actions, and went almost limp, her paw held thumb out a few inches from her mouth as though she were arguing about whether or not to suck it. His cooing didn’t stop as he sat down on the bed, letting the mumbling little lynx, practically as complacent as a kitten, coo and mumble into her paw in his lap, seemingly as happy as if she were riding a cloud. Andrew found himself smiling uncontrollably, and lent down to nuzzle Star, who’s eyes opened a bit, looking at him. Despite his outward confidence, Andrew had gone into this just as blind as Star, and really hadn’t known what he was doing, only, as he so often did, checked for the ebbs and flows of life, and following the current where he could. He had, in fact, expected the scenario to be much more sexual than it actually had, much more like a dominant/submissive S&M role play than the parent and child bonding that it had. Like Star, he had done his research, too, and the interest seemed to have a sexual component, but apparently that wasn’t the focus of it, more of an effect than a cause in and of itself. He knew this because the pleasure he got from watching the little girl slowly seep away into slumber, safely grasped in his arms, was so much more satisfying, fulfilling on a deeper level than merely sexual, and for that he was grateful. He almost wondered what was taking her so long, then, with a glance over her bed, realized that the kitten had forgotten her pacifier. With a smile, he quickly rectified that oversight, popping the latex bulb with the pink shield into her mouth, and watching her eyes drift shut at last as she streamed into the most satisfying sleep she had had in ages.
The last few moments of thought Star had before her mind turned off for the night were viewed through a lens that was soaked thoroughly through with the thoughts of a child, and, as Andrew started onto a deep, rumbling lullaby, Star reconciled the shattered factions within her tired, confused head. Her rational brain would be happy because, in so far as she knew, Star was no longer in danger from what Andrew had found out, and had made a friend out of someone rich and powerful that could otherwise have become an enemy, her baby side would be happy because it finally had an outlet, potentially permanent, through which it could be itself, free of guilt, and even Star’s conservative faction, the essence of her strict, classical father could come out of its dugout for a brief moment and enjoy itself, safe in the knowledge that Star was happy, happier than she could ever remember being, and, in the end, that was all that was important.