Martock 6
There was a vermillion city in the sky, casting eternal night on the inhabitants of Zylar III. Martock rode Nyx down in his armoured suit with her concubine vanguards, all equipped with the most advanced exosuits he could manufacture. This was what his ship was designed for, since the day it had been built over a thousand years ago, to now. He readied his men for the invasion.
Other than the GC ships that had been stationed to watch the planet, there didn’t seem to be any Zylar defence fleet of any kind. It wasn’t what he had expected for his initial invasion, his battleships needed targets.
He landed right by the biggest building. People stared, at him, then at the Vorchans, which snarled back intimidatingly.
“Take me to your leader!” he declared.
Nobody said anything, people gave him and the Vorchans a wide berth but nobody answered him. Only a few looked up at his precious ship. They were ignoring her! They were ignoring him! This wasn’t the way he expected his arrival to be like. He pulled out his plasma pistol and shot it at the too-busy-for-him crowd. Screams filled the air, people scattered in all possible directions, trampling each other in the chaos.
That’s better, he thought.
“Take me to your leader!” he repeated, firing more plasma bolts into the crowd.
Finally someone responded, a kinetic shell bounced off his electrostatic shield.
“Hands in the air!” the officer demanded dauntlessly.
“Finally!” he exclaimed, holstering his plasma pistol.
“Who are you?” asked the officer.
“Admiral Martock, I’m here to discuss your terms of surrender.”
“Uh…” he looked at the Vorchans. “Okay… well you’re in the right city, but the wrong building. Capital is that way.”
“Can you take me there please?” Martock asked.
“Right, sure. Follow my car.” the officer replied.
Police were great.
–
Martock sat down in the waiting room with Nyx and her five concubines. The new one was adapting well. He could tell Fawkes was becoming Nyx’s favourite, like Dhrom before him. Of course, being Nyx’s favourite wasn’t necessarily a good thing, it meant she took extra care to mould your personality to her specifications. It was peculiar how both Vorchans she liked most were Vulcans. Martock was glad he was Raumen, above them and their rituals.
“Nyx.” he called.
She was pawing at one of the lesser concubines, but immediately lunged over to his side. Martock gave the air a second to settle before speaking. “Figure out what’s taking so long, dear.”
Nyx burst through the double doors, knocking down a pair of guards. There was some screaming, even a gunshot or two. She came out a minute later with a well-dressed man who was kicking fruitlessly at her scales.
“Are you the leader of this planet?” Martock asked.
“I speak for the UC, yes.” he said, trying to wipe off the saliva on his suit. Nyx loomed over him menacingly.
“We’re going to be terraforming these cities. We’ll also be taking this many slaves.”
He took an invasion manifest out of his pocket and gave it to him. “Planet-wide decisions are put up to a vote, and brought before the council.”
“Right, well I just wanted to let you know what we’d be doing.”
“We’ve contacted the Galactic Fleet.” he said.
“I’m sure you have.”
“We won’t surrender easily.”
“How big is the quick response fleet being sent to intercept me?” Martock asked rhetorically.
“I can’t—“
“Is it four hundred and fifty Descendents? Because I’ve got around four hundred and fifty battleships with over a thousand support craft ready that have been itching for a nice fleet battle for the last thousand years or so. If Lorian hadn’t vanished I’d have conquered Zemoria yesterday, but, alas, you can’t have everything.”
“Who are you?”
“Admiral Martock!” he yelled, beckoning for Nyx to roar. She didn’t roar. “When I do this you roar, remember?”
“Oh right.” she replied.
“You are allied with the Vorchans?” the UC leader asked.
“Bud, I enslaved these Vorchans.” Martock said. He pressed a button on his collar and one of the Vorchans suddenly keeled over in pain. It was Fawkes. And what was that? Was that a glint of rage in Nyx’s eye? He’d have to whip that out of her later. He added it to the ‘not roaring’ infraction.
The UC leader’s knees were finally shaking. “We will begin evacuating the cities immediately. Our military will stand down.”
“Good, the freighters shouldn’t land until tomorrow anyways. They’ve got a union and it’s the weekend.” Martock sighed. “Though the Marauders are on call 24/7. I’m gonna have em start grabbing guys as slaves from here.”
Soldiers entered the building, grabbing people. Panic filled the room.
“Everybody calm down. You, you, you, let’s go.” the squad leader started singling people out from the crowd, escorting them to the waiting Marauder. More were landing as they did that, grabbing people off the street, entering the nearest building.
“What about me?” asked the UC leader.
“You should let your people know what’s going on before you’ve got a full scale riot on your hands.”
“But my workers!”
“Then do it yourself! Always with the excuses, you’re just like Charles I swear to god.” Martock yelled.
“Nobody enslave this guy!” he yelled, pointing at the UC leader. He wasn’t even sure if anyone heard him over the screams.
He pulled at the web of Nyx’s left wing. “Right let’s go.” She kneeled down. He hopped aboard.
–
Martock had brought them food – live food. Seven Raumens were escorted in the lounge where Nyx and her five concubines were sleeping.
“His own people?” Fawkes whispered to Dhrom.
“Slaves.” Dhrom replied, with a very smug smile on his face. Nyx had chosen him last night.
“But they are his own species! I don’t understand.”
“There is a big war between the different Raumen factions. They are vying to take control from the Zemorians. Regain their spot in the Gal Council as the leaders.”
“I see.” Fawkes didn’t like Dhrom too much, mostly out of envy over the fact that Nyx seemed to choose him more than any of her other mates. He glared at one of the scars on his neck, still red and tender. He wished he had a red and tender scar on his neck… what was he thinking? He looked away, “I have to get out of here.” He had only been here a week and had already seen and experienced things beyond anything he’d ever thought was possible, and he’d seen and experienced some sick things…
But Martock never ceased to raise the bar in disgust. He closed the door behind the Raumens, yelling “Bon Apetite! Your rewards for a job well done planetside!”
While this was the first time they had been given life food, it was still Nyx’s responsibility, as the only dominant in the flock, to divvy up the food.
Naturally, Fawkes noticed, she ate first, lunging for the plumpest Raumen, snarling at the others as she ate. She was quick, and efficient, snapping the neck and eating the meat, eyeing the other Vorchans, snarling again at the lesser mates that came close.
There were two she really didn’t seem to like too much. One was a young, meek Vorchan by the name of Gaius, a dim orange, probably of Vulcan descent. He didn’t say much, and cowered from Nyx. It was apparent that he was starving. Nyx made a game of playing keep-away with his food. The other was Throbb, a pale Grassland that generally stuck with Gaius, and also fell victim to the starvation games. They never really spoke to the other Vorchans, and avoided Nyx whenever they could, trying to disappear in corners of the lounge.
Occasionally Nyx would find one of them and torture him for a while. Throbb was missing a small portion of his ear from the last time he was smothered by Nyx. Fawkes wasn’t even sure if they had mated, she kept Throbb under her wings, the whimpers assuaged by the thick webbing. She would eventually get bored and move on, with Naz and Dhrom usually nearby, hoping she would want to ‘play’ with one of them. They seemed to enjoy Nyx a lot more, but knew never to get greedy, or disobey. Just as Nyx made a game out of torturing and starving the two younger Vorchans, she also seemed to enjoy ignoring the two others when they were most excited for whatever reasons, or finding ways to make their sessions painful or unsatisfying. If she said, “Stop” it meant stop.
But both Gaius and Throbb were desperate for food now, whimpering plaintively. They both started stalking one of the other Raumens, a smaller adult, corralling him into a corner.
You NEVER ate unless Nyx told you to.
Mesmerized by the swift and savage way Nyx was devouring her meal, he hadn’t noticed Gaius and Throbb on top of one of the other Raumens in the other corner. They slashed at the Raumen with their claws.
Finally Fawkes heard a holler, and noticed the two younger ones disobeying the rules.
“Gaius!” she roared, “Throbb!”
They ran from the half-eaten Raumen, scattered into different sections of the lounge, one hid under the table, knowing she wouldn’t try to get him out (she was very protective of the furniture).
But now she came anyways, looming over the table. Throbb was shaking underneath, paws over his head, eyes partially closed, tail tucked between his legs.
She brought her tail back, and struck Throbb in the right flank with it, digging in with the sharp spike at the tip. Throbb yelped in pain, instinctively jumping up from under the table, knocking it over.
Fawkes winced as a flower vase broke and a datapal sizzled, its screen fractured. Throbb was fully aware now, his eyes wide open. He was staring apologetically at the table.
He wet himself.
“Disgusting!” Nyx hissed, and slashed at him with her left paw. He flew several feet in the air, she began battering him with her wings, leaving him only when he’d stopped moving, whimpering in pain.
She started walking away, Fawkes was watching by one end of the lounge, a little farther away from Naz and Dhrom, who were trying to assert themselves with proximity.
She glanced at Gaius, and then looked straight at Fawkes.
Her piercing red glare froze him in place. He refused to shudder, or move, or react in any way at the glare.
She began walking towards him.
A few times in the past week, Nyx had singled him out for some more painful sessions, telling him what he could and couldn’t do, where he should hold, where his tail should go, what positions he could and couldn’t take.
He stood his ground as she walked over.
“Fawkes!” she hissed.
“Yes?” Fawkes asked.
“Punish Gaius for me. The way I punished Throbb; I want to see you use that tail!” she exclaimed, licking her fangs.
Harm another Vorchan? He remembered how sick he had felt after he’d killed the doctors that had wanted to hurt Flames. Memories of those moments came back, the screams…
He faltered. “I…”
“What? Are you disobeying a command?” she shrieked. She could look bigger when she wanted to, looming over him.
He cowered, “I… I don’t think I could harm another Vorchan.” he said meekly.
“Lies. I remember the nip on my left wing spar from two nights ago.” Bites and nips were infractions if done without a request, though he noticed Naz and Dhrom would always push it a little, especially Dhrom.
He didn’t think she’d noticed the nip, it was a purely instinctive response, he felt like he was in elementary school detention again, that same heat flared in the back of his neck, the burn of being caught.
“I.” he knew he was blushing, the blood rushing to his veins, his muscles. His fight-or-flight response revving to go, begging him to get away from this beast any way he could.
She clamped down on his throat and whipped him at Gaius, who shrieked in surprise at the incoming living projectile.
Fawkes landed on his back several dozen feet from where he’d been picked up. He held in a snarl, avoided giving her a glare, looking down. He felt the wound on his neck, saw the blood on his paw.
He glanced over at her now, she was watching intently, Gaius had already skulked over to the opposite end of the room.
Fawkes set his eyes on him, idly sharpening his tail against the composite floor. He’d do what she did and nothing more… “I’m sorry Gaius.”
–
A week in and Flames was sure something wasn’t right. He had to do something, but without his Captain he couldn’t officially communicate with any of the space traffic services, in fact, the majority didn’t even have translators for the beems dialect, a language that was too far beyond conventional speech. It went both ways, Flames rarely ever understood the rambling of Raumens either, relying heavily on Fawkes’ comprehension to understand what was going on around him.
He considered his options, looking through known nodepoints in his nodescape.
He sighed, knowing his destination was glaringly obvious before he even considered it. He didn’t really have a choice.
–
When he left the interstice, he was immediately grabbed by two gravimetric fields, held in place tightly. “I come in peace!” he repeated over and over to Kite and Macaria, who orbited him wryly, defensively. He was encroaching on their home, their family.
“You gave us co-ordinates.” Kite said.
“What are they? Is it a trap?” Macaria asked.
“No.” he said.
“Where do they lead then?”
“Didn’t it explain in the data packet I sent over?”
“Violet was far too shaken to integrate an entire transmission properly.”
She wasn’t too shaken for me to get the co-ordinates of your home planet… but he knew how much that alluded to a bond (which he didn’t have to do), and he didn’t feel like getting ripped apart.
“Oh. Well it was my gift. I felt we should be even.”
“Even?!” Kite asked. “Look at this skid!”
She showed him her wound, doing a 360.
“And poor Thanatos… it’ll take him months to recover…”
“I’m sorry…” it always sounded so futile.
“You better have a good reason for us not ripping you apart right now.”
“Your other two kids would never have an uncle?” Flames asked meekly, focusing his sensor gaze on Macaria.
“My other two… you know where they are?”
“I knew they’re last locations, that was the gift – the co-ordinates!”
“Why give us that?”
“Because I didn’t need it anymore, we’d already made the money.”
“You always were despicable, selling someone merchandise and then helping others steal it back.” Macaria hissed.
“But it doesn’t make sense. Why jump right in here to tell us something we would have eventually found out anyways? What’s your game Flames?”
“Fawkes is missing!” he cried, distress clearly noticeable in his transmission.
“Your Captain?”
“Yes! I fear he’s been kidnapped…” Flames said.
“Or worse.” suggested Kite.
“He deserves it.” added Macaria.
“You both do.” said Kite.
Flames had expected a greeting like this, he couldn’t help but scan around passively, looking for Thanatos and Violet.
“Please, I don’t know where to go for help. Darnell must know Chiron, maybe he can speak to him, figure out where my captain is!” Flames suggested.
Macaria and Kite loosened their gravimetric grip slightly, still scanning him with a full active wash. They whispered to each other for a few minutes. Flames waited anxiously, his beemveins a bright red, CKRO filling up the area around them, giving their meeting point a dim vermillion glow.
“How did you learn of this location?”
“When I was transmitting her the co-ordinates, I happened to see it in her databanks, and… accidentally downloaded it.”
“Who else knows of this location?”
“Nobody. I swear. I would never do that.”
“You stole my eggs!” Macaria yelled.
“Under contract! And orders! I am a mercenary warship!” Flames replied defensively.
“And if you’re ordered to eliminate us? The way you were when Joshua delivered the supplies?”
“I was under a defence contract. We were under orders to protect the caverns.”
They strengthened their grip again, it hurt his skids, pulling at the port and starboard accordion joint. They wanted him to keep talking.
“Ow… okay, and I wouldn’t attack your home, ever.”
Their grip loosened, he brought drones in to reinforce his skid joints so they wouldn’t be able to tear at it like that again. He felt uncomfortably wider after that contortion.
They discussed something again.
An interstice opened. He didn’t have to look to know who it’d be.
“Flames! What is—“ Thanatos was interrupted by the two puritans as they bombarded Thanatos with information.
“Flames…”
“Thanatos…”
“You spared me.”
“My orders were never to kill any of you.” he replied.
“I see. So there were two eggs?”
“Yes. One in each chamber.”
“Twins?” Macaria asked.
Flames remembered Fawkes sending in crews to ensure all the ova in the ovaries were inseminated by genetic material from the genetic repository. It had been mostly Thanatos’ DNA, so it didn’t come as too much of a surprise when the two successful fertilizations were both from Thanatos’ gametes.
“Yes.” he said simply.
Macaria rolled in excitement, “That’s wonderful.”
“A miracle!” Kite added.
Flames could sense Thanatos’ discomfort at the situation. His hull was still healing from the wounds. “I’m still badly wounded. My AHC is useless, my koveran shield is peppered with holes. The terminals are nowhere near in optimal operating conditions…”
There was a pause, there was undoubtedly some discussion going on in the neural bands.
“It pains me to have to entrust you with the recovery of our children.”
“I will not fail you.”
“I know you won’t, the faster you get them back, the greater a chance Fawkes is still alive.” A shuttle left Thanatos’ bay, heading over to Flames. “And Darnell is coming too… much to my chagrin.”
“I will have command of the operation.” Darnell transmitted from the shuttle, “I won’t need access to your neural band.”
He wondered what it would be like being neurally linked to Darnell, he had a lot of questions.
“Very well. I will transfer the manual command and control systems over to you, if you want to use them.”
“We’ll see how it pans out. Let’s just get to one of the co-ordinates. Thanatos: Take care of the family while I’m gone.”
Flames locked onto the co-ordinates in realspace. “I can’t correlate that co-ordinate with any known nodepoints.”
“We’ll help.” the two puritans pressed in closer, forming a loose bond. It took Flames a moment to recover from the sudden intimate presences, but he focused on his nodescape again, seeing more nodepoints associate themselves with celestial objects. “There. From there it’ll take us half a day to reach the co-ordinates at cruise.”
–
It was an F-Type star. Flames jumped in three hundred thousand kilometres away from it, its radiation heating up his hull. His beemveins absorbed the heat. He wished Violet had been there. He’d have loved to see her presence again, but he was aware of her mission to help the slave Vorchans.
“Let’s get going.” Darnell said, sitting in the command chair, Fawkes’ command chair. It had a hole in the bottom for his tail, and supports for the wings. The fabric was a thick leather that chafed him under his shipsuit.
He felt the subtle acceleration before it registered on the holoscreen and the console instruments. It was strange not having a neural link, he sort of wanted one, curious to see what Flames’ tactical capabilities were, but he knew the link would be two-way and there was always a risk of the connection going too far. He didn’t want a potential enemy to know all of his secrets.
–
Darnell wasn’t sure what to expect on the surface. It was a regular planet, one of many Raumen offshoots. This one was tied to GalCore space. He put Flames in a holding orbit and headed down with his shuttle, always looking back at the large Descendent to make sure he wouldn’t try and bring his AHC to bear on it.
“What should I do if I lose my comms link to you?” Flames asked.
“Well keep your ocular strips focused on me, don’t lose sight of me.” Darnell replied.
Flames found it strange keeping track of somebody without a neural link telling you exactly where they were in realspace.
Darnell also found the concept of not having a neural link strange, his paranoid imagination making him think Flames had his AHC pointing at him, his little shuttle all lit up in Flames’ tactical vision like a firefly. He shook the idea from his head. Flames needed his help to get Fawkes back. He’d at least be loyal until then. And then there was his affection to Violet, he hadn’t harmed her at all physically.
That would be a strange relationship. Violet was definitely one of the smaller beems, she’d grow maybe one or two hundred meters more and that was most likely it, still only a little over half the size of Flames. He remembered Flames taunt about her writhing under his hull… he shuddered. It must have surely been to antagonize.
The planet itself was relatively straightforward. He was relieved to see other Type-3s at the spaceport he checked in at. He booked a hotel near the downtown core of the spaceport’s city and went to work right away looking for the buyer.
His name was Danno Rheo, an executive in charge of LifeFoods Inc, a small global company that gave this average planet some of its foodstuffs. There wasn’t much else about him on the datanet. Darnell rented a hovercar and checked out the large skyscraper he worked in. It was dark out, so he would have to wait until tomorrow to visit him. He made his way back home in his rented XT-9300, paying the parking fee and going upstairs to his suite. He made his bed and went to sleep, eerily aware of the silence in the nodescape from Thanatos’ distance.
–
–
Fawkes awoke to glaring red eyes looming over him, holding in a yelp as a tail penetrated him. He blinked the water from his eyes. Nyx usually wasn’t awake this early in the morning.
“Nyx.” he whispered in consternation, the others were still sleeping. He knew to wrap his tail around hers and keep his claws in. He made sure not to look at her scars, either. She didn’t mind him eyeing the ones that were created (“accidentally”) by him and the others, but the ones inflicted by Martock were never to be gawked at in any way. Never to be mentioned.
Why did she choose him, was it because of the way he’d eaten those Raumens? Fawkes had always had a perverse desire for Raumen flesh.
“Trouble sleeping.” she hissed back. There was still a grogginess apparent in her eyes. He almost liked this morning Nyx, much more gentle. She barely drew blood as she ran her fangs along his neck.
He whimpered, it stirred one of the other Vorchans. They froze. He actually enjoyed this. He felt like he was breaking into the cafeteria with his friends again, freezing in the shadows when the teachers came to patrol the dark halls. Flames would always keep an eye out, helping them see in the dark. Such distant memories, but this Vorchan contact was making them resurface at an alarming regularity.
She was slow and careful, it surprised Fawkes, she caught on, “I really don’t want to deal with their shit this early in the morning.”
There wasn’t any anger in that voice, no hint of condescendence, just a straight justification from one Vorchan to another. He nuzzled her, knowing she hated it. She gently pushed him back, preferring snout to snout kisses. Fawkes didn’t usually like the kisses, her incisors always cut away at his jaws and lips, but this time she was gentle. He actually kissed back, his eyes emanating content.
“You’re responding differently.” she observed.
It was true, he barely felt the tail. For a few moments he really did love her, and then she suddenly nuzzled him, and closed her eyes.
He had never seen her do this before, her red eyes were always staring straight at you.
“They’re going to come for me soon.” Nyx whispered.
“Who?” Fawkes asked weakly.
“Martock’s doctor…”
Flashes of Flames and the doctors filled the caverns of his mind.
“I won’t let them take you.” he whispered back. I won’t let them take you. He transmitted neurally, a reflex, a memory of the past. Flames… where was he now? Was he looking for him?
“It’s okay. It’s a standard procedure, they do it every eight months or so.”
He was suddenly back at the office, the doctors talking to him:
“Fawkes, don’t worry. The ship will be intact. The integration process has been done for over a century, the results are always promising.”
“You’re killing his mind.”
“We’re sorry, we didn’t know the neural link to your beems was active. While they may portray sentience, its merely a series of servient subroutines transferred over to them by the Builders.”
“I saw his memories, of families, children. He remembers his mother.”
“The Builders were very cunning beings. Don’t worry, Fawkes. It’s a standard procedure. No harm will come to you. It’s okay to be scared.”
“What will they do?” “What will they do?”
Nyx’s smell returned, overwhelming him for a moment as his mind returned to reality, re-acclimatizing, he shifted slightly to make the tail inside him a little more comfortable as she stirred at the question. “I don’t know how they do it. They generally put me to sleep. But I know I’ll feel better when I wake, with those things inside me gone.”
“What?” he was back in reality now, his eyelids wide open.
“The eggs. What, you think I don’t get pregnant? I’m Vorchan you know.”
He felt sick, he groaned. “I—“ he didn’t know what to say. How horrible it must be to lose your eggs. Must be? They were his eggs too! From his Nyx! Their Nyx…
The doors opened. There was a dim red glow from the shipwide nightlights beyond it. Nyx didn’t like them, preferring to have her lounge illuminated by the stars instead.
She gently pulled out her tail and decoupled. He groaned from the pain as her tail slid free. He hadn’t even finished yet. He felt immensely frustrated for a moment. They froze once more as Nyx watched the suited doctors, they didn’t come in, closing the door again.
She set her predator eyes on him and picked up the pace, her tail snaking its way back. He groaned in protest this time, tired of that dreadful tail.
“Do you not like the tail?” she asked. The last Vorchan she had asked that to, Naz, had bled for days after that question.
“I—“ his words were caught again, he braced himself for the pain that would follow.
“It is more pleasurable, you know.” Nyx said. Fawkes didn’t believe that for a second. She was much bigger than him, which meant her tail was much bigger too… and it had that deadly but smooth leading edge. He wondered how she’d like it if he penetrated her with his tail, the little spikes and beads would definitely make her think twice about that statement. It was probably why she always demanded their tails be coupled, so he didn’t accidentally do it in the heat of the moment.
“And it also keeps the more timid ones from escaping.” she hissed. He could tell she was waking up now, she hooked her tail as if to press the point. It hurt tremendously. She was evil, he hated her again. How she could play with his emotions. It was all a trick, one of her games. She got a kick out of it, watching others cling to her, desperately try to nuzzle her in those few moments where they forget the kind of monster she truly is.
He fought his glare, his snarl too, letting her finish. He didn’t make eye contact either, feigning submission so she would leave. He heard the flick of her tail as she walked away. He heard the door open again and her trot fade. The door closed.
Everyone was still asleep. There were tears in his eyes as his emotions set in, he started to cry quietly. How he hated her…
–
–
It was early when that damned alarm clock starting beeping at him. Not too early though, he wanted to have a few more hours rest and negotiate with this CEO at full strength. He wouldn’t have Thanatos here to augment him now.
He didn’t let that hinder him though, knowing he had to be strong with or without the power of the link at his side. He put a civilian jacket over his shipsuit and drove over to the LifeFoods building.
The man that greeted him forty-five minutes later was an average looking fellow, a little on the chubby side with neatly cut black hair and a clean shave. He wore a black and white business suit with a red and black tie.
“Hi Mr. Rheo it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Darnell said, shaking the man’s hand. He had a good feeling about him, but then again he didn’t have Thanatos’ eyes helping him, offering a second, analytical opinion.
“Darnell. I’ve looked a little into your history. You’ve got quite a story. What brings you back to the Galactic Core?”
He told him about the eggs, how they were extracted and sold, taken from his ship and his mate.
“Interesting.” Rheo said, contemplating for a minute before saying anything else. “That egg is very important to me.”
“It’s Thanatos’ child. You bought it illegally off a black market.” Darnell said.
“I know. I know, but the effort needed to get a beemster from the Zemorians is an adventure in and of itself, not to mention the screening, training, the cost.”
“Beems are complicated beings.” Darnell said.
“I really don’t want to get on your bad side.” Rheo said, looking at the sword over Darnell’s shoulder. “But a beems has been our family’s goal for generations. I remember my father telling me about how his grandfather told him about how his grandfather told him he would get a beems one day. The freedoms it affords you are unbelievable, as I’m sure you’re aware, being a beems Captain yourself.”
Darnell took out a credit disc, “How much did it cost you?”
“They said it was nearly a pure Descendent, I ended up paying sixty-five for it I believe.”
“Is ninety acceptable? Twenty-five for your troubles.”
“And that is why I want a beems, to be able to toss ninety-million at something without batting an eye. How the value of money changes when you become a Captain.” his eyes seemed to glaze as he fantasized about it.
“Over five generations of savings… what is the Captain’s secret?”
“You’ll find out once you have your own beems.” Darnell said.
“Purchase an egg like the one I have and I’ll trade it for yours.” he offered.
Darnell sighed, “Fine.”
Acquire a relatively pure Descendent. Darnell thought, noting it in his neural interface’s to-do list.
Fucking errands.
–
–
The fighter formation had taken them by surprise. Darwin’s squad shelled themselves in their composite wings as the fighters swept their area with heavy weapons fire, flares and chaff dancing off in both directions to spoof the Vorchan missile counter-barrage. He couldn’t help but notice how the flares made the fighters look like they had burning red wings – Angels of Death.
“Hold your ground, use your gauss sights!” Darwin roared. Hydraulic whirs became his world as eight sets of gauss guns stabilized and powered up. “Watch your fire sectors…” he added as the four prowlers split up, they would be coming in from different directions, seconds apart.
It had been a little over a week since his first rescue, and already he had a squad of eight with him.
The fighters looked like frozen balls of white in the night sky as they flew their intercept course towards the squad. It must have been so easy to find them from up in the air, they would have to be more careful now, this was the first time he had seen fighters, though he had heard about the locals having purchased some.
“Fire!” he yelled.
The gauss guns all fired in unison, the concussion wave kicking off a plume of sand. The noise made his ears ring, even with the hearing protection his exosuits now came with…
A barrage, it knocked them off their feet, striking them through the sand, kicking up even more. They were all using IR now, the fighters were too, their hits accurate even through all the smoke.
“Reload!” he said, but it didn’t look like the fighters were coming back.
The gauss guns belched out their massive shells and grabbed another one from the shell chain clipped onto the exosuit.
“We got one!” Lucienda exclaimed, pointing at some smoke a kilometre or so away.
“She’s right, there’s only three.”
There were cheers and roars as the squad got back on their feet. Darwin anxiously made sure everyone was accounted for. Dahless and Miles weren’t getting up. The cheers faded from the realization.
They carried their fallen comrades back to Haven, their base.
“We’re going to need better weapons now that they have fighters.” Leoven said after the memorial.
“We didn’t get hit on our trip back. That might be their only squadron.” Darwin said.
“They’re fast.” Ludwig commented.
“We can be just as fast if we cruised with our thrusters.” suggested Korn.
“That’s too expensive.” sighed Luvicker.
“We need RWR’s.” said Ludwig.
“What is that?”
“A radar warning receiver. It will let us know when they see us.”
Darwin had been toying with the idea of upgrading their electronic warfare suite, but there were other things they could use too, and the budget was thinning out. He had hoped that this raid would have given them the supplies and material needed for a proper upgrade.
“They were using infra-red.” Lucienda said. “Visual target acquisition.”
“Laser warning systems then, they must have lased us for that pass, it was too accurate.” Ludwig said, looking over at the extra two exosuits. That could have been him, or heaven forbid: Lucienda. They had been doing so well until now, raiding enemy cities at night time in an attempt to uncover enslaved Vorchans. It was a frustrating and tedious process.
“I’ll see what I can do about EW. We don’t have much in our coffer right now. That missile barrage didn’t even touch them.” Darwin said, “We’re dropping the missiles for the thirties.”
There was a sigh, the 30mm cannon was heavy with all the ammunition. “I think an automatic barrage could have gotten a few more of them.”
“If we had serpents instead of these stupid cobras we’d be fine.” muttered Korn. The serpent had redundant homing systems, and was deadly in both air and ground combat, but it also cost three million per unit, which was more than most of these exosuits.
He didn’t understand how they were so casual after a quarter of them had just gotten killed, but then he realized it was probably just a facade, the same way he was pretending like it had never happened.
“Look. We’re not an army, and we’ve taken some major losses today. I want you guys to rest and relax for a while. Leoven, you have command.” Darwin said, suiting out, there were still hours left in the night.
“Where are you going?” Lucienda asked.
“To find those planes.” he growled.
–
The airplane, one of Raum’s greatest inventions, with sleek composite hulls and aerofoils designed to carry them through a multitude of environments. The ones here were bigger than the standard interceptor, with droopy delta wings that extended out several meters.
“They hadn’t even been painted yet.” Lucienda whispered, the rising sun glinting off their bare, silver hulls.
“Quite a maiden flight.” Darwin commented, knowing they had taken way longer to find an airstrip than he’d expected them to. He shrugged off the fatigue that was setting in, grateful that Lucienda had volunteered to come with him.
“I’m so glad you’re alright.” she said.
“Me too.” they nuzzled each other, visually obscured from the airstrip by the relatively small hill they were prone on.
“This is definitely scarier than I thought it would be.” Lucienda admitted.
Darwin kissed her and pulled himself back up the mound until he saw the airstrip again, activating the ocular zoom in his visor. He brought up his heads up display and armed his weapons systems.
He had brought four sets of rockets, and four missiles. His belly hardpoint carried an extra fuel tank to feed the hungry jet engines in his suit.
Lucienda had two long range type-11 gauss rifles and two 30mm’s, the rest of her loaded up with ammunition and a belly tank.
If they were caught in an air battle, he wanted her to have a chance.
He brought up the targeting bracket and designated a firing pattern five hundred meters in diameter. He set the large fuel tanks as primary targets and assigned them to the cobra high explosive missiles. While they weren’t great at tracking things in the air, the cobra was definitely a useful ground attack weapon, and only a quarter of the price of a serpent.
“Are you ready?” Darwin asked, feeling around with his tail until he felt her paws.
“Yes.” she said, stroking his tail.
Darwin executed the master-fire sequence. Sixty rockets screeched free of his wing mounts. Their initial propulsors kicked in, bringing them up to speeds of over a thousand kilometres per hour before expending their fuel. They seemed to disappear as their engines stopped illuminating them. Now they were barely visible glints gliding down on their target kilometres away.
The cobras were released next, the four missiles streaking off one at a time, an initial booster pushing it away at breakneck speeds. The missiles stabilized, activating their targeting computers after the first-stage boosters had been drained. As they acquired their targets, they fired their second-stage boosters, zooming in at a forty-five degree angle of incidence.
All but one. The final missile didn’t detach like the rest, Darwin had a split second to look at it before the booster kicked in with it still on the rack. It ripped him from the ground. He was airborne now, being pulled by a live missile that wouldn’t detach from his exosuit.
He pressed the emergency release button, the exosuit releasing him from its death grip.
With the added weight, the missile realized it couldn’t make it to its destination, and self-destructed a few seconds later. Darwin was already gliding back as AAA started opening fire on him.
He cried out as several heavy shells dug into his scales, knocking him out of the sky. He crash landed in the sand somewhere.
“Darwin!” Lucienda cried, landing next to him, she already had her fangs around one of the shells, pulling it from his body.
“You have to go.” Darwin said, he could hear the screech of what had to be a fighter engine spooling up. The sky above them was illuminated by the explosive and kinetic barrages that were being shot into the air in an effort to keep them suppressed.
“I can’t fly in that anyways.” she said, pushing him on his legs.
He cried out as he tried to put pressure on his right leg, he collapsed onto his stomach again.
Lucienda checked, “I think the shell broke it.”
“Great.” Darwin hissed, fighting the pain.
“This will help.” Lucienda clamped down on the leg with her jaws, and then twisted her body, snapping the broken bone in place. It hurt as badly as it sounded.
“Thanks…” Darwin said, in tears.
She was already avidly at work tying a shell around his leg with an ammo belt, creating a makeshift splint.
The fighter’s engine was roaring now, it would take off soon. “Look, I’ve got it from here. Meet me back at Haven.”
“You have no suit, no weapons.” Lucienda said.
“I’m a Desert. I can blend into the environment.”
“They have IR!”
“Yeah, you always said I was warm…” he said contently. “I enjoyed our time together Luci.”
Lucienda shook her head, “Oh no you’re not. We’re going back to Haven.”
She clamped her jaws around his neck and began pulling him behind her, her exosuit making him relatively light.
Darwin felt like a cub, dragged helplessly along the ground. He could see the fighter off in the distance. He struggled free of her grip. “It’s coming, Luci. You—you have to fight it!”
“I know.” she replied calmly, lowering her visor. He could see the air-to-air mode project itself onto her HUD.
“Set the EEGS for thirty feet, they have wider wings.” The enhanced envelope gun sight wasn’t preset for fighters with wings that wide.
“Good point, darling.” she said.
The fighter wasn’t flying directly at them yet, still looking.
“Don’t turn your thruster nozzles towards it when it’s in missile range, it’ll acquire you instantly.”
“I won’t honey.”
“And please… please come back alive.” Darwin said, kissing her.
“I will.” she growled.
Lucienda beat herself up into the air with her wings. When she was about five hundred feet in the air, she activated her thrusters, the exosuit automatically streamlining her wings. She was one of them now, an Angel of Death.
Darwin winced as the enemy fighter unleashed two missiles. Lucienda turned off her thrusters, gliding below them. The missiles lost their heat-scent, exploding harmlessly behind her.
Two more, most likely. Darwin thought to himself, wincing as he tried to sit in a more comfortable position.
The fighter flew by her, arcing around for another pass. She flapped her wings steadily, keeping herself at altitude, waiting.
Suddenly a barrage of AAA exploded around her. She shielded herself with her wings, cannonballing towards the ground. Darwin nearly swallowed his tongue as she recovered at the last second, using her speed to swoop towards the fighter. There was a gait in her flying now, either the exosuit was damaged or she was.
The fighter flew by right above her. Darwin’s heart raced as she activated her thrusters and closed in behind it, opening fire with her thirty millimetres.
She was on the offensive now! His mate! A Desert Vorchan was forcing a fighter into a defensive position. She followed the fighter instinctively, not letting it out of her sight, it careened about wildly, doing barrel rolls and flips to try and shake her loose.
Relentless. She finally hit the fighter, seeming to stun its flight control systems long enough to hit it with both shells from her gauss gun. The recoil of her firing them in the air made her somersault, as if in victory.
She landed beside him, a grin on her face. “That wasn’t too bad.” she said, coughing up blood and losing consciousness.
–
–
Same day
“You’re lucky she chose you.” Dhrom said.
Fawkes wasn’t in the mood. He was curled up in his corner, where he had been the entire day after Nyx had hurt him. She still hadn’t returned, not that he cared. He never wanted to see her again. He hoped she’d died laying the eggs.
“Yeah. I heard she gets rid of the Vorchans she isn’t interested in.” Naz said.
“Kill one of her own? No way!” Dhrom retorted.
“It’s true!”
“Nuh-uh!”
Kids, these were all kids. He was still a kid at twenty-five, but being a Captain aged you. He idly wondered how old Nyx was when she came back.
Dhrom and Naz flocked over to her. She ignored them, lying down at the corner opposite of Fawkes on her red pillow. He heard the patter of light feet. He knew who it was without looking up.
“Gaius… Throbb.” Fawkes muttered.
“Fawkes.” they both replied in acknowledgement.
“Maybe if you’d stop trying to avoid her all the time she wouldn’t feel compelled to single you out.”
“Did she do that tail thing?” Gaius asked.
Fawkes was still bleeding a little. “Yes.” he admitted.
“Where she does that hook? And digs into your insides like a scythe?” Gaius persisted.
Fawkes cringed at the visual. “Leave me alone.”
“She doesn’t like it when you lie around. She’ll attack you. You gotta keep moving, moving, moving.” said Throbb, circling Fawkes, which was difficult, considering he was almost right by the wall.
Nyx was looking at them. He knew looking her in the eyes meant confrontation, but he had to, as if to ask, “Why?”
She looked away, closing her eyes, tired.
“We’re fine today anyways.” said Gaius.
“Yeah she’s always tired after they take her.” said Throbb.
“Uh-huh, always.” affirmed Gaius.
“What?” Fawkes asked, for some reason he hadn’t thought of all the other times, “For how long? How many times has she been taken?”
“Every year or so.”
“Six months!”
“Nine?”
“How long have you guys been here?” Fawkes asked.
“A long time.”
“How long.”
“We were taken when we started elementary school. We saw her then, she was much younger, much nicer then.”
“Much sadder too.”
“Yes, very sad.”
“What happened to her?” Fawkes asked.
They shook their heads, “We don’t know.”
“But I think I remembered the first time her eggs got taken. It was very scary.” said Gaius, wide-eyed. They sat down by Fawkes, stretching.
“Yes. She didn’t want her eggs to be taken. She attacked the doctors, she even attacked Martock.”
“We saw her cry. Dhrom and Naz don’t believe it but they haven’t been here as long. We saw her cry.”
–
–
Lucienda cried out in pain, her tail knocking Darwin across the face.
“You’re alive!” he exclaimed, nuzzling her.
She looked around, safe in Haven. “How did we get here?”
“They didn’t follow us after you got that fighter.”
“We were over an hour’s flight away…” Lucienda muttered. Then she saw his paws, his nails grinded down to the root from all the pulling.
“Oh Darwin, I love you so much.” she said, leaning up to kiss him.
“Stay put for now. Doctor Korn and Nurse Luvicker say you’ll make a full recovery.” Darwin said.
“Oh I see how it is. Just cuz I’m the girl I become the nurse?” Luvicker complained.
“No, it’s because you’re too young to be a doctor.” Darwin said charismatically.
“And too old to be anything else.” Korn added with a smirk.
She slapped Korn with her wing. “You!”
Lucienda laughed weakly. “How bad were my wounds?”
“The shrapnel cut through portions of your armour. A few went in pretty deep, causing some internal bleeding.” Korn said.
“I see. But I’ll be fine?”
“Eventually.” Darwin said, stroking her with a paw. She wrapped her wing around him.
“You saved my life.”
“I know, you saved mine.”
“With the EEGS thing too. I would have forgotten about that and missed all my shots.”
Darwin laughed. “We got a lucky break, Lucienda.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, Owen sent us a message telling us that the enemy forces are moving down to that airfield to reinforce it for the arrival of a new flock of planes.”
“How is that good news?”
“They left one of their supply depots unguarded.”
“Excellent. We really need that.”
“We do. Ludwig and Leoven are headed there now. They’ll take what they can.”
“Did I mention how much I love you?” she asked.
“That’s the painkillers talking. Nobody can love me that much.” Darwin replied.
“I’ll see you when I wake up?” she asked.
“I’ll be right here.”
Lucienda closed her eyes, he wasn’t sure if she was sleeping or not, but he stayed on the floor next to her, head in his paws.
–
He awoke sometime the next morning to Ludwig’s laughter. “Darwin my boy!”
“What? Was it successful?” he asked.
“Was it? Come and see for yourself.” he replied with a beaming smile.
He made sure Korn and Luvicker were watching Lucienda before he left her side.
–
“Serpents?” Darwin asked, staring at the stack of missiles in awe. There were three shelves, each with three racks, each with eight missiles.
“Yes. A lot of them, and that’s not all.” Ludwig motioned towards all the other containers. “Ammunition, food, emergency supplies, Leoven and I count enough for six months.”
“The ammunition too?” Darwin asked, he had been tired of conserving gauss rounds.
“We have over 500 gauss rounds now, a whole truck’s full. It took three trips with four of their trucks to get everything.”
“How long have you guys been at this?” Darwin asked.
“We just finished.”
“I’ll have Korn and Luvicker start retrofitting these to make them compatible with our exo-suits. Oh and fuel? Did you get any fuel?”
“Three hundred thousand pounds of it.”
“Guys, get some rest, you deserve it.”
Leoven and Ludwig retired to the bunks, he could hear Korn and Luvicker bickering in the supply bay.
He sat upstairs with Lucienda, watching her sleep. He cried. She had been pregnant, two eggs. The shrapnel got them. She probably hadn’t even felt them yet. He kissed her on the cheek and waited for her to get better.
–
–
Here’s your fucking egg you prick. “Here you go sir.” said Darnell with a smile.
“I will have my men load your egg onto your shuttle. I thank you for being so understanding, if you ever need a—“
“Right, you’re welcome. Where do you want my shuttle?”
“The egg is being held at my manor. We were expecting it to… ‘hatch’… soon so we put it out on the field, my men will load it when your shuttle arrives.”
Darnell didn’t have time to obey airspace laws, he brought his shuttle down in front of the apartment building and flew straight to the manor’s co-ordinates. He landed the shuttle and lowered its ramp immediately. He wanted this one to hatch at Emerald.
Rheo’s men brought the egg aboard the shuttle and Darnell immediately went on his way, sending Flames straight home.
Carey kissed him as they had the maintenance drones put the egg down a few kilometres away from the other one. “Now it won’t be lonely.”
“The next set of co-ordinates are fishy.” Darnell said. He was in the lounge, drinking a whiskey with Carey.
“You’ll do fine.” Thanatos chirped.
“It’s an outer rim planet, one known to belong to a pretty major crime family. They could have Descendents for hire…”
“What are you going to do?” Carey asked.
“Well. I thought I’d ask you guys first.” he said, looking out past the lounge at Flames. “How would you feel about him having access to my brain?”
Carey sighed, even Thanatos’ mood changed.
It’s a bad idea. “I don’t like it.” Carey said.
I know. “What else can I do?”
“I don’t know.” Carey said.
If he has the mindpower he could attempt to sequester you.
I’ll be ready for that. Think of the advantages: We’d know Flames better.
Do we want to know Flames better?
–
–
Fawkes felt a lot better the next day. Unfortunately, so did Nyx, and she was looking around. He went evasive, ending up in the same corner Throbb and Gaius were in. He wondered if all of her concubine would end up like this eventually.
“You too?” Nyx asked, he hadn’t even heard her get to the other side of the room, but when he looked he saw that Throbb and Gaius had vanished, already across from her.
“What?” Fawkes asked. He was glad she was harassing him today, and not yesterday, or he would have done something regretful and probably gotten himself killed.
“I thought you’d be one of the stronger ones.”
It hurt, why did you arch your tail? What did I do to deserve that? For a few moments I actually loved you, do you even know what that means? “Hmph.”
She tilted her head, raising one ear slightly.
She said something; it was barely audible, he wasn’t even sure he heard it before he was smothered in black. Nyx chose him for the morning. She didn’t arch her tail this time, but he made sure not to do anything to instigate such an action either. Though he had barely done anything the last time to instigate such a thing!
–
They went out with Martock in the afternoon, he was very excited. “We finally did it, Nyx.” he said.
Fawkes was walking alongside her, with Naz beside him. Dhrom was at the opposite end. Gaius and Throbb lagged behind, talking to each other contently.
He had never seen the habitat before. It was beautiful, and eerily empty. He had thought it would be crawling with Vorchans. But then again it had been a few years since Martock’s attack.
“I’m glad.” Nyx purred, letting him pet her.
“I’ve taken you out here because I want to show you your new home for the time being. A gift for being so loyal to me all these years. Any Vorchans you find still around here are yours. I don’t need any more money, I have what I want.”
“Koveran shards?”
“Yes.”
Koveran shards? Fawkes had heard of them, concentrated koveran particles trapped in realspace. What the hell would he want to do with koveran shards?
“That’s wonderful. You will finally rule.”
“Yes, yes I will, with you at my side. The Zemorian Council will suffer for what they did to my people all those years ago.”
“They will definitely suffer.” she licked her fangs, “I’ll make sure of it.”
“Oh I can’t bloody wait!” he exclaimed. “Well… toodles, have fun with your pets, I have to speak with logistics.”
Logistics… this was big, something was happening. He looked up at the sky, wishing he could see beyond the fake blue walls at the stars outside, see what the hell Martock was planning. Suddenly he heard a groan. Nyx was on top of Dhrom. She bit him and he immediately kissed back, a bad move. She punished him with her tail, and he groaned in ecstasy, seeming to enjoy it.
She was back to her old self again, Fawkes sighed. He heard a yelp. It was the strangest sound he’d ever heard Dhrom make…
It wasn’t Dhrom. What the hell was he doing? She was still on top, but Dhrom was being aggressive, trying to assert himself. Nyx seemed to let him, her ears twitching as the others looked at her, wondering if she’d actually made that sound. They were at it for a long time, Fawkes had never seen someone like that with her, he even nuzzled her, something only he had ever done. She smiled. It sickened him. She was playing with him like she’d played with him. She yelped again, this time it was definitely her, Dhrom had found a weak spot, somewhere. Fawkes wasn’t sure where, he wasn’t biting her now. It was his nails! They were rubbing on one of her wounds, a fresh wound, right over her stomach. Stitch marks. Is that how they’d had to remove the eggs? The scar was barely noticeable, but now that Dhrom knew where it was he used it to get the upper hand, nearly pushing himself on top of her. Another yelp. “Ok, stop that.” she said, annoyed. Nobody had ever heard her annoyed before. Maybe she wasn’t back to her old self, Fawkes thought. The operation was still affecting her, and all Dhrom was doing was reminding her of her loss.
“I’m not breaking any rules.” Dhrom said, kissing her.
“But you will be if you do that again, you’ll be disobeying my orders, and don’t think I don’t notice the nips. I notice the nips!”
He nipped her again, “What nips?”
He winced, she must have done something with her tail again. Dhrom was breathing heavily now, he pushed himself a little higher. Nyx noticeably took sharp breaths as he pushed her on her back, her stomach still tender, she whipped her tail free, trying to wrap it around his body, it was far from dextrous enough.
“Ok, that’s enough.” Nyx said, fear in her voice.
She was weak, and Dhrom sensed it.
Dhrom was being dominant now, he snaked his tail around behind her but she swiped back with hers and the two tails entwined.
Fawkes wasn’t sure what to do. Nyx would never submit, he knew that.
He scratched at her wound again, while simultaneously biting at her neck, something only she ever did.
She started to whimper but held her tongue, closing her eyes, twitching as the claws dug into her tender stitching.
“Please don’t.” she was trying to get away! Fawkes stared in awe, she couldn’t get away, the ground was wet and her tail was entwined with his. She tried to use her wings but his were wrapped around hers, holding her down.
He voraciously kissed her, she tried to pull her snout away. She was breathing rapidly now. “Stop it!”
Fawkes realized he had clenched through the dirt he was sitting on with his claws, interlocking them. He stopped tensing his muscles, taking a breath and watching. The others did too, unsure of what to do.
This was wrong. Dhrom was being no better than her.
“Stop it!” Fawkes said, finally.
“Yes, stop it!” Nyx added.
“Never.” Dhrom said, crazily euphoric and getting into a rhythm. Nyx was slowly untwining her tail as he closed his eyes, waiting for that release.
“I will not be inseminated against my will!” she warned.
“I don’t think you have a say.” Naz said, gazing reverently at Dhrom.
“This is wrong. We’re being no better than her. Stop it.” Fawkes pleaded.
Nyx locked jaws with him and they kissed voraciously. Her tail was completely free now, she closed her eyes.
Suddenly her entire body jerked, she spun forty-five degrees with her jaw still locked around Dhrom’s neck. There was a deafening snap.
Holy shit! Fawkes jumped, instinct taking over, panicked.
“What did you do!” Naz cried.
“You bastards!” Nyx roared, a ball of flame flying straight for Naz, she clamped down on his throat. “Remember the rules!”
“Yes Nyx… please don’t kill me.” said Naz, whimpering from his burns.
“You killed one of your own!” Fawkes exclaimed, shocked.
Naz was still being restrained as she turned towards him, finally she let him go. He ran.
“Are you going to run too?” Nyx asked.
“You’re crazy.” Fawkes spat, ready to fight, and most likely die.
Nyx sat down, “Martock.” she said.
“Yes Nyx?”
She had a comms chip, he never knew that.
“Round up these concubine, we’re moving back to the lounge, they haven’t matured enough to be out in a habitat.”
“Going back to where you have the friction to get away from under things?” Fawkes asked.
“Don’t taunt me. If you break the rules I will have you killed.”
“Oh, so it went from kill me to have me killed. Do you need Martock to do your work for you now?”
She scoffed, it made him flinch, thinking he’d incinerate him. There’d be no getting through to her, and he knew the odds of him engaging her and winning were low, especially with Martock on the way. It was probably why she’d summoned him.
–
Back at the lounge now. She was lying on her red pillow, completely unshaken by what she had done. She wouldn’t sleep, Fawkes knew that, not until they fell asleep. It was the way it always worked. The only exceptions had been the last few days, and it didn’t look like she was making any more exceptions.
The four of them sat in the area right at the opposite end, in Fawkes’ corner. They were all afraid of her now, more than they had ever been before. She had killed one of her own, Fawkes still couldn’t believe it.
–
–
Flames and Darnell jumped in the next day.
“Greetings, this is Landon Lars security service. Do you have a pass?”
“No. I need to talk to Mr. Lars regarding an egg he purchased.”
“We’re sorry. Mr. Lars is a very busy man, we can’t—“
Flames fired a koveran-laced explosive charge into the transmitting ship. Darnell was running out of time, and he sure as hell wasn’t letting that egg hatch here. Eight ships jumped in, all Descendents.
Can you do it, Thanatos?
Get down there. Flames said, ignoring the slip, focusing on his trajectory analysis routines.
Darnell was already in a fighter pod, racing straight for the planet with another thirty fighter pods in his squadron. The area around him erupted as anti-air defences blanketed the area, picking off the fighter pods.
The eight Descendents opened fire. Flames spun around, pulling them away from the planet. Six of the eight shots hit, draining his electrostatic shield. They were good shots, and they were firing energy rounds, intent on getting his shields down. He really wished he knew how to fire darts. He circled around a moon at half the speed of light. The other Descendents followed.
He had to jump out of his fighter pod at three thousand feet, using his koveran field to assuage the impact from his fall. The concussion shockwave from Darnell landing destroyed the green field he was in, leaving nothing but ash. Armed guards swarmed out of the building like ants. Darnell opened fire.
Flames was at the other side of the moon now, stopping and turning around, altering his trajectory to come back from where he came. It was quicker than going all the way around. Four ships were closing on him, the other four turned around to head back to the planet. He blew past those four ships, three took the long way around, one slowed down to turn around.
He fired at the one that slowed down, knowing the manoeuvre the Descendent ship would have to do to come around. The shell connected, severely damaging the Descendent ship, it started floating in towards the moon helplessly. The four ships that were heading for the planet turned around, re-engaging Flames. He slashed at them with his AHC, his world a flurry of kinetic and koveran shells.
Darnell finished off the last guard, he had used up one of Flame’ koveran chambers in the firefight. Flames didn’t say anything. Thanatos would have had some witty comment ready.
How are you doing? Darnell asked.
Fine. Flames replied, strained. His shields were down, and his hull was starting to take a beating.
While he hadn’t told Flames, he had expected something like this to happen. He had brought the fighter pod with the jump drive. He began loading the egg onto the fighter pod.
Flames used up his last koveran chamber, he was out of energy, there were still five functioning Descendents left. They grabbed him, pummelling him with their AHC’s and their kinetic shells. He felt his life fading away.
I’m dying. He transmitted.
Darnell flinched at the statement, he had finished loading in the egg. He got into his fighter, eyeing the jump drive button. He couldn’t just leave him here, but what could his fighter do?
Flames hull was buckling now. Flames! Darnell said.
You know my name…
His hull kept buckling. A shriek filled the neural band. It wasn’t Flames, it definitely wasn’t Flames. Darnell instinctively took a shot from his utility belt and jabbed it in his neck before the voices overtook him.
Flames had gone silent.
It made sense now.
“That was why it spared you…” Darnell muttered. He had always wondered why the symbiote had killed every Descendent in that interception fleet except for Flames. “It doesn’t kill its own.”
Darnell jumped out, unsure of who would win that battle.
–
–
She killed one of her own. The thought continuously permeated Fawkes’ mind. He didn’t know why. He didn’t understand why he considered it to be such a big deal. He remembered how guilty he had felt when he’d devoured his first Raumen, having killed another sentient being. This wasn’t that different.
No, it was different, but the thought of killing another Raumen. That old lust was overtaking him now. How he’d needed those brothels. It had become an addiction, but now he had spent over a week without one. He never truly understood that urge.
Distress filled the neural band. I’m dying.
He heard it.
Flames? Flames! He called for him. He brought up the nodescape in his neural vision, aware of his presence. He was brighter, he was nearby! But the signal was weak. Flames, are you alright? Answer me!
Fawkes! There’s six. I can’t—
There were voices, he recognized them, his urges personified. He scanned around for a target, seeing the three other Vorchans asleep beside him. They would wake soon. He started to salivate, looking at Naz with hungry eyes.
What was happening to him? He backed away from them, going into another corner, far from all of them.
A shriek filled the neural band, his entire body spasmed, he felt himself glowing red.
And nothing.
He collapsed.
–
“Fawkes! Wake up!” shrieked Nyx. “What did you do!”
She pawed at the ash Fawkes was lying in.
Fawkes brought up the nodescape. It was empty. He couldn’t sense Flames anymore. Absolution overcame him.
“He’s dead.” Fawkes said simply.
“What are you talking about?” Nyx asked.
He didn’t answer.
“Answer me!” she demanded.
“When I was a child I was part of the Navy: Third detachment of the Vorchan Empire. I was on Spectra III.”
“You’re VE?” Naz asked.
“I was. I left, because they wanted to kill Flames.” Fawkes said. “But now he’s dead, and I wasn’t there to help him.” He put his paws on his head, tucking in his ears and tail, ready to die here, “So nothing I did mattered…” They were all watching him. “He’s gone, gone forever.” tears were welling up in his eyes. “Gone.”
“Are you sure?” Nyx asked. “Did you see them kill him? Mutilate him?”
“Worse. I felt it in the neural interface. I felt the death shriek and the spasm as his…” he wanted to say something about neurons but his vision was too blurred, his head was too heavy. “He’s dead.”
“There is death. You learn to deal with it or it overcomes you.” Nyx said.
“He was my ship! He was a part of me! You would never understand!”
“I wouldn’t understand losing a part of me forever?” Nyx asked.
Fawkes didn’t want to deal with this, he walked away to another corner. Nyx followed. “I wouldn’t understand?” she asked again, a hint of desperation in her voice.
“I don’t want to talk to you.” he said, looking away. He noticed he’d skulked his way over to the window. He looked outside, out at space, at what had been his world. “I was once free, but you have ripped my wings from me…” he muttered, looking away, down at the ground.
“I… I didn’t take your wings. They did. They made me watch!” she said. He’d never heard her stutter… he didn’t care.
“Leave me alone, please.” he felt his life slipping away, its meaning fading.
She walked away, not saying anything.
–
That day had been the quietest day any of them had ever had. Nyx didn’t seem too interested in any of them, and Naz, Gaius and Throbb were too terrified of her to instigate her in any way. All of them were huddled in a corner together.
Fawkes stayed in his corner, alone, forever alone.
–
–
“We’re here.” Leucia gasped. Looking at the beautiful colourful orb in the lounge window.
Nimbus nuzzled her, “We are.”
The past week and a half had been wonderful, and Leucia and him had been together every second of it, supporting each other through their moments of grief.
Artemis rallied his flock. “We have traveled far and wide. Many of us have fallen; many of us taken away. But we have returned.” Artemis scanned them slowly. “Forty-seven of the most resilient, most powerful Vorchans I have ever had the honour of serving with. I have thought long and hard about the first thing I will do when I arrive on Terra. I have considered visiting my loved ones, my long lost friends. But then I remembered all those that aren’t here with us today, and all those here with us today that have also considered what I have considered, and then realized that there is a hole, an incomplete hole where the answer should be. Be that the answer to the fate of your lover, your brother, your friend.”
Artemis took a deep breath, trying to gather his thoughts, “What I am trying to say is that, to those of you who have found what you are looking for: Your journey is over! Congratulations, and, to those of you who have that gaping hole in your heart where the answer should be: I will find your answer. I will contact Nordu at the capital and demand an audience, and I will make it clear that we will not rest until we have our answers, until we are reunited with our loved ones, through absolution or through contact itself. For those of you with that hole in your hearts: This is just the beginning!”
There was a roar of triumph. This was the beginning, Nimbus thought, kissing Leucia, and it couldn’t have been a better one.
–
–
He would die today. Fawkes had accepted it, realizing he no longer had anything to live for.
It was morning, and the Vorchans were just starting to wake.
“Nyx.” he said, walking towards her.
She perked her ears up, her red eyes staring at him. She growled defensively, noticing the advance.
He pounced on her.
I will do everything to you. Everything that you did to me. He brought his tail around, she deflected it but he expected it, whiplashing his tail at hers. As it was knocked aside he pinned it under a claw on his left leg, then penetrated her with his tail the way she had always done it. He watched in satisfaction as her expression changed, consternation and then hatred in those red eyes.
“Oh don’t worry; you’ll have your chance when this is all over. After you feel everything I felt.” Fawkes hissed.
“You’re too young to throw your life away.” Nyx warned, trying to feign calmness as Fawkes slowly thrashed his tail about inside her, pressing on.
“Don’t you wish you had spikes on your tail?” Fawkes hissed.
She didn’t say anything, trying to break her tail free of his grip. He knew she couldn’t get the leverage at that angle. He had seen that tail, felt that tail every other day. He knew it better than his own tail.
He was in a good position, on top and inside. He kissed her, she pulled away. He remembered how he’d tried to break free of that first kiss. He persisted until they locked jaws, pulling away before she had a chance to try anything. Not yet, he thought, you won’t kill me yet.
He built up a rhythm, and clawed her, cut at her with his incisors. She didn’t whimper at first, so he did what Dhrom had done in an effort to instigate.
It worked, she cried out this time, the bombardment of sensations too much. She bit at his throat instinctively, unable to get an angle where she could clamp down. She clawed at him weakly.
“You’re going to die.” Nyx shuddered.
“I might as well be dead.” he hissed back, going deeper.
She flailed about, but her pinned tail made it impossible to break free.
“You could always find another?” she said, a tear streaming down her face.
“Never. He was the only one for me, and because of you he’s gone.”
Nyx nodded, almost understandingly, “I ripped your wings from you?” Nyx asked.
“You heard that?” he asked, in a Nyx-like tone, arching his tail.
“Yes.” she whimpered submissively. “He was the only one for me… your spikes…”
“You have a blade edge; you cut the skin’s lining rather than puncture. Not that you would ever know the difference, Martock’s precious Nyx.”
“I didn’t rip off your wings.” she moaned, “They did.”
He was getting close now. It would all be over soon.
“You did.” he said, remembering the smirk on her face when she’d severed his link with his ship.
“Do you know…” she groaned. “This is important.”
“Then you’ll find a way to say it!” he snapped, mimicking Nyx’s tone.
“I once…” she cried out as Fawkes put pressure on her wound, and then relieved it all, making her instinctively clutch him, nuzzle him. “Virmire…”
He felt that listless tone, those memories of past loves, that affection. He arched his tail, she cried out again, pulling back as far as she could, which was just enough to not be smothered. The hate returned to her eyes, tears streaming down both.
“Now you know how it felt.” Fawkes said, tears in his eyes. “To have your emotions toyed with, the way you toyed with mine. I loved you so much, and then I hated you!”
She didn’t say anything, arching her head back, watching a ceiling, seeming to disengage.
He would do more, do as much as he could, do everything she never let any of them do, he swapped positions with his tail, she flinched, but stayed quiet, nipping at his neck automatically, twitching her legs.
He wanted to make her cry out, but remembered that this was how he’d always end up too, and he was too exhausted to do anything else. He readied himself for the kiss of death as he shuddered in a final ecstasy.
He forced her to lock jaws; she was suddenly reinvigorated, drawing blood as they kissed.
Any second, any second her body would arch and his world would end…
It arched, and then shuddered, like he had a moment before, and then she licked at the blood on his fangs before arching her head back again, her eyes partially closed.
He could see that look on her face, that satisfaction, she even seemed to have a smile. “A winning smile, Nyx? Are you glad you’re revenge will be upon me soon?”
“Twice I could have killed you…” she muttered. Fawkes noticed her tail had broken free, he wasn’t sure when, it had been arched and coiled as much as her thick tail could coil, ready to strike him. She used the last of her energy to lick him before lying back, breathing heavily, “Are you still ready to die?”
“I have nothing to live for.”
She smiled, falling asleep.
–
Kite helped Darnell pull the egg to the right spot, a kilometre separation between the other two. She embraced him, tears in her eyes, “You did it.”
Is there any news on Flames? Thanatos asked.
No.
He picked up Liam, carrying him over his neck. An alarm buzzed.
“Look!” Kite exclaimed. She buzzed in closer, less than two hundred feet from the upper atmosphere, her hull giving the sun a crescent glow. “This one is hatching!”
They flew over with the shuttle just as the egg had finished decoupling, blossoming open to reveal the tiny beemster. It instinctively dug its umbilicals into the warm, nutritious soil below. It was red like its father.
“What will we name this one?” Darnell asked.
“Maybe we should wait until we know if it’s a boy or girl.”
“I know. I can sense his strength already. He will be Moros – a name that will strike fear into those that cross him.” Thanatos declared.
“Right, but I’m naming the next one.” Kite said.
The second egg hatched within an hour of the first one. It was black, like Macaria, any further details would have to wait until it matured.
“I’ll name this one!” Captain and ship were speaking as one. “Penumbra!”
The third egg hatched the next hour, its hull a Rhone red.
“We’re going to have to catch up, Thanatos.” Kite transmitted seductively, “But I’ll name this one, then, and I’m waiting until I know its gender.”
“Fine.” they agreed.
Darnell kissed Carey and Liam, and made his way back to Thanatos. They both knew they had to check.
They jumped to Flame’s last known co-ordinates. It was strewn with Descendent wreckage, but he wasn’t amongst it. He wasn’t there.
–
–
It was morning. Fawkes hadn’t expected to see the morning light. Nyx stirred beside him, her wounds glistening in the glow. He noticed he was lying up against the red pillow, he didn’t remember that, and now it was stained even redder. What did she do to him, and why was he still alive? He checked his body, expecting a major wound to reveal itself any moment.
She looked at him. Her teeth were stained red, her eyes staring off into nothingness.
“Now you have seen Death; accepted it as a brother in arms. It’s my gift to you: Enjoy the strength it gives you.” Nyx whispered, a tear running down her face, “I wanted to tell you something.” Nyx said, “But you wouldn’t… stop.” she looked at her tail idly, making it glint in the light. She wiped the tear with her paw.
He growled, “Why am I alive?”
“This will be a long story, but I really need to tell it to someone.” she said.
“Fine.”
She sat down next to him, getting as comfortable as she could with all the pain in her back and her legs and her tail…
She started telling him her story. How she’d ended up on Martock’s ship like all the others on Terra, how her family had been killed by Martock, how he taunted her, tortured her, did everything to her imaginable. She then told him about Virmire, and how Martock had made her watch him climb up the airflow vents to reach her. How he’d almost lost himself in guilt-stricken hallucinations before reaching her. And then she told him about how Martock had made her watch his wings get removed, his body skinned.
She told him about her concubines, and her pregnancies, about how voracious Gaius and Throbb had been in their younger years. He told him about how she’d accepted death in the chamber, then how she’d wanted to die after Virmire’s horrible death echoed in her mind, then about how she’d wanted to die after her first eggs were taken from her.
Fawkes was speechless, “You were ready to die, too, when Flames was taken from you, after ‘I’d ripped your wings from you’. Then when you broke the rules yesterday, I saw that resignation in your eyes. You told me you wanted to die the way I did so many times when Martock asked me…”
“I didn’t know… I didn’t know what they did.” he said apologetically.
“But I can save you.” she said, hope returning to her voice. “They took my life away but they don’t have to take away yours. I gave you back your wings.”
She smiled, it was the first time she had ever smiled, her mouth was blood red.
Fawkes suddenly realized what she had meant. “The neural interface…”
He reached out for Flames with the neural interface, not expecting to find anything.
I thought I was dead, that was unbelievable.
Flames? Where are you?
I don’t know. The link was weak, but stronger than anything he’d felt since their separation. All he saw from Flames senses was a red expanse. I think I’m in beemspace.
Get out of there!
I can’t, it doesn’t want me to leave.
What doesn’t want you to leave?
“Is he okay?” Nyx asked.
The symbiote.
“What does that mean?” Flames asked, talking to this transcendent creature.
“I feed.”
“Off what?”
“Life; death.”
“…Why?”
He felt it coiling around him, tasting him. “You are in my realm.”
“I don’t know how I got here.”
“Get me to your realm.”
“What?”
“Get me to those ships.” the symbiote hissed, forming a silhouette of Martock’s ship in the red void.
Fawkes?
Fawkes looked at Nyx. “We have to go.” Do it.
The space outside turned red, an alarm blared.
–
–
Martock had never seen it before, but he knew exactly what it was.
“Hmm… a Koverax.” It was rumoured that the Black Nova had fought one of these creatures before, banishing it into the ether.
“I thought those didn’t exist.”
“CHARLES! It’s RIGHT THERE! By the bloody Nova you’re thick!!”
“It could be something else.”
He opened a channel to the fleet, ordering them to get distance from the creature; they hadn’t yet calibrated the jump drive to work with the koveran shards.
It didn’t seem to be here completely, partially transparent with bright red nodes at the tip of each arm. It reached for one of the battleships, grabbing it. Red energy seemed to escape the ship, seeping into the creature.
“Fire!” Martock yelled.
Ten thousand rounds filled the air every second, pummelling the creature. It seemed to let out a shriek in every frequency, disrupting fleet communications.
–
“Where are we going to go?” Nyx asked.
“Away from here.” Flames?
I can do it. Get to the habitat.
“Follow me.”
“Wait. I have to find my eggs.” she said.
Flames?
You don’t have much time.
“Hurry.”
They ran to Martock’s office. She pawed through the manifests, seeming to know Martock’s access codes. She unlocked a door. “We’ll need exo-suits too, just in case. Go!” she roared, beckoning at the door.
The four of them flinched, entering the small armoury and slipping into their exosuits while Nyx worked at the terminal.
“There.” she said, longingly staring at the screen.
“You should put a suit on too.” Fawkes said.
“I will, find out where that is.”
Fawkes loomed over the terminal, it had been a while since he’d have to use something this ancient. His claws were having difficulties touching the keys.
The eggs were in a chamber full of other artefacts over a hundred tiers down. Another explosion, the hull shuddered, a light line fluoresced, spewing electricity before burning out. It short-circuited the terminal.
“It’s too far away, Nyx.” Fawkes said hopelessly.
“I’m going!” Nyx said. “Where is it?”
“One hundred tiers down, 131-b.”
“Are you going to go back to your ship?”
“He can get us out from the habitat, but I’m not leaving without you.”
“Fawkes…” she smiled again, running up to him, licking him across the face.
“We won’t get a hundred tiers down.”
“Guys, fire!” yelled Naz, one of the plasma conduits had ruptured, it was starting to burn away at the office.
“The ship is falling apart, Nyx.”
“I won’t leave my eggs. They’re a part of me. I know you understand.”
Fawkes looked over at Throbb, Gaius and Naz. “Guys, get to the habitat, you know the way from here. Flames will wait until the ship goes critical, but then he’s jumping in and getting whoever’s in that habitat out of there.”
“We’ll round up as many surviving Vorchans as we can.” Naz said. Gaius and Throbb nodded.
“Go, good luck.”
“You too.”
The two groups went their separate ways, leaving Martock’s chambers to burn.
The travel down the tiers was treacherous, bulkheads collapsed randomly. Plasma conduits ruptured, live circuits whipped around, screams filled the air.
Nyx froze, staring out into nothing.
“What?”
“I remember this corridor…” she said, walking towards one of the chambers. Fawkes could smell the smoke from a fire burning somewhere nearby.
“This ship can come apart any second, Nyx.” Fawkes reminded her quietly.
She entered the room. Fawkes followed, and was surprised at what he saw. The walls were stained with old blood, the table was surrounded by instruments, most rusted and old. Restraining straps designed for Vorchans hung loosely on either side.
Nyx started to shake violently. She had to sit down on her legs and paws to calm herself.
“Nyx…” Fawkes put a wing over her. She got up, looked at the table, her wings swept back in an offensive posture.
She lunged at the table with her augmented strength, slicing at it, gnawing at it, ripping it to pieces. She struck a live wire, starting a fire that finally made her pull away from the carnage.
Fawkes looked into those red eyes and saw the flames of her past reflected in the tears “Let’s go.” she said.
They continued through the corridors, going down the tiers using the emergency hatches. People hurried intently through the corridors, sealing breaches, pulling others from fires.
The museum area was quiet, it wasn’t a vital location. The sounds were more muffled here.
It was arrayed like a small octagonal garden. There were artefacts all around the center of the chamber. In the center there was a domed cover.
Fawkes read the labels, “Vorchan Wing. Blackwing Tail…” he decided to stop reading the labels.
“There.” Nyx said, reading the label on the dome. “Blackwing eggs…”
She broke open the dome, and ever so gently lifted an egg with her paws, carefully placing it down in front of her. She stared at it contently.
Fawkes looked over at the dome, there were seven more in the dome, one of them had cracked, the inside was hollow. He felt an egg, lifting it. It felt very light, hollow… the outside was littered with tiny cracks, the entire thing felt brittle. The color was a pale faded black with a lighter coloured dot on the top.
Nyx howled in rage, checking the other eggs. They were all light and hollow and cracked. She broke down. “Martock!” she cried.
A pressure warning sounded, sealing the doors.
“Shit.” Fawkes cursed.
“MARTOCK! I’LL FIND YOU!” she bellowed.
Flames was watching the battle at a safe distance, his koveran chambers fully charged now, the symbiote had spared him for a chance at realspace. Through his eyes, Fawkes could see a portion of the city ship get sheared off as the symbiote attacked it with one of its claws. It let out another shriek, recoiling as weapons fire pushed it away from the city ship.
The room is sealed. Flames said. “Tuck in your wings.”
“He killed them.” she sobbed.
“If he kills you too he’s won.”
“I’ll kill him!” she snarled.
“The symbiote will take care of that. We have to make sure we aren’t here when it happens.”
“Do you promise? Promise me that he will die!”
“I promise. He will die.” Fawkes said. They locked eyes, there was no challenge in her stare.
“Fine.” she said resignedly. “What do we do?”
Fawkes noticed her wing sheathes. “Tuck your wings in.”
“You have them too.” she said, staring in awe.
“Yes, a lot of Vorchans do. It helps us in spaceflight.”
“Spaceflight?!” Nyx asked.
“It’s complicated, just do as I say.”
“Is that your rule number one?” she asked, tucking in her wings.
Do it, Flames.
Flames fired a koveran-laced round into the city ship, carving his way towards them.
“What’s rule number two?”
“Don’t give up hope. No more resigning ourselves to death.” Fawkes said.
“Any more rules I should be aware of in your flock?” she asked, leaning up against him.
He looked her in the eyes, “No tails.”
The bulkhead exploded open, they were sucked right into Flames’ open shuttle bay, he was already activating a second jump.
The habitat—
I know.
–
The stars in the habitat were bright, explosions filling the night sky. Naz had gathered over thirty Vorchans, all from different corners of the habitat. The survivors, the ones that had lasted while everyone around them had fallen.
“Do you hear that?” asked Gaius.
There was a light breeze. “Look.”
A hole, a little patch of darkness above them, impossible to focus on and infinitely dark. Suddenly it burst with red fire, a massive starship emerged above them, its size making it seem extremely close. It deafened them with the buzz of its gravimetric lens. It wobbled dangerously as it settled down, the red fire dissipating, seeming to disappear as the ship settled.
“Get to that ship!” Naz yelled.
–
Fawkes and Nyx watched in delight as all the Vorchans converged on the ship, there must have been over a hundred, appearing from behind grates, inside of trees. Some had taken to looking like leaves for camouflage, having hidden from the patrols that had come to take them away. Others emerged from the grass, an entire flock flew out of a forest off in the distance.
There was plenty of room for all of them, Fawkes urged them to hurry, though, Flames’ sensors said the city ship’s structural integrity was failing.
They waited an entire thirty seconds when the last Vorchan entered. Flames scanned the habitat, making sure nobody was left.
He jumped out.
–
–
“Charles! Charles we’re running out of options!” Martock yelled.
“I know sir.”
“Ready the koveran beam!” Martock yelled, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.
“The what, sir?”
“Load the shards into the jump drive!”
“What? But the drive isn’t ready to—“
“Dammit Charles! Haven’t you read the Book of the Black Nova?”
“No… have you?”
“I saw the holomovie version.”
An entire line of battleships exploded in a plume of white light as one of the Koverax’s arms sliced through. No more losses!
“Load the shards!”
“They’re already being loaded, sir.”
“Good.” Martock took manual control, turning the massive behemoth of a city ship so that the jump terminals would be pointed right at the koverax. “Steady… steady…”
“Koveran shards are loaded.”
He began the initial fire sequence, loading the shards into an accelerometer that separated the koverans from the mass.
“Steady…”
The Koverax finished devouring the battleship formation ahead of them, and was now bearing down on the Kahless, becoming bigger and bigger in the vidscreen as it approached.
“FIRE!” Martock yelled.
–
–
“He’s dead, Nyx.” Fawkes said.
“If you say he is.” she replied, still shaken from the encounter.
They were sitting in Flames’ lounge, it was nice to enjoy a drink with other Vorchans, and now he didn’t feel like a fool for having bought an entire pack of Vorchan cups all those years ago.
“I lost them…” Nyx whimpered.
“But you lived on.”
“I don’t know if I—“
“Hey!” Fawkes interrupted, nipping at her playfully. “Don’t forget my rules.”
“How am I supposed to follow your rules if you keep breaking mine? No nipping without permission!”
Fawkes laughed.
“And you’ve been trying to usurp me! Don’t forget my first rule.” Nyx growled.
“Sorry, Nyx.” Fawkes replied.
“We’re going to your chambers…” she said seductively.
Fawkes’ tail perked up, he nodded meekly as Nyx led him off.
–
–