–
–
She’s led you to your chambers seventeen times.
I know… Flames…
Out of those seventeen accostments, there have been zero instances of copulation.
I know… Flames.
That gives you a successful mating rate of—
“I KNOW, FLAMES!”
Nyx jumped, waking up at the foot of his bed. “What’s wrong?”
Unless that is how Vorchans mate. Since my chambers have privacy locks I can’t really see what’s going on; all I can see is what happens through your eyes, and all I ever see is staring, then consternation, then her sitting at the foot of the bed. Unless it’s some sort of remote transfer?
It’s not a remote transfer. “Nothing.”
He really should have shut down the interface, Flames had been hounding him about the lack of contact between him and Nyx for the entire week they’d been back.
I’m not hounding you! I’m just curious. I have never seen Vorchans mate before!
She’s just depressed.
Because of the eggs?
Probably, and it’s not the same as those times on the Kahless, where she didn’t have to consider the feelings of her partner.
Those memories were fragmented and painful… Flames said.
You reviewed those memories?!
Sorry…
I told you not to review those memories!!!
Sorry!! “I’m sorry.” It was Nyx. She was nipping at the pillow she was lying on, staring at her tail, making its leading edge glisten off the starlight.
“You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about!” Fawkes said immediately. “Absolutely nothing.”
“You can always go to a—“
“No, I can’t! And I’m not a sex addict! I’m a Vulcan!”
“I’m sorry. I can never say the right things.” she said self-loathingly.
Every day had been worse. Her condition had deteriorated to a point where she didn’t even want to go outside his chambers anymore, sleeping her time away on her pillow. It was covered in pockmarks from where her tail had attacked it while she grabbed it in her sleep.
Was it the tail rule? It must be the tail rule, ever since the tail rule she’s been distant, he was about to ask when Flames interrupted him, I wouldn’t ask that.
Why not?
It’s the eggs. She is suffering from depression, you said it yourself.
She jumped onto his bed, eyeing him.
He got up, she leaned up against his chest, closing her eyes. She was crying again. He stroked her comfortingly with his tail and wings. She needs contact, and love.
I know. Fawkes sighed.
The trauma has to heal…
I know…
…and then you can jump her!
Fawkes flinched, It’s not always about that.
“What’s he saying?” Nyx asked, noticing the expressions from the neural conversation.
You’ve changed; I never knew the symbiote was affecting you so greatly. observed Flames.
I don’t think it was. She changed me. He kissed her. “That you’re adorable, and beautiful.”
“I never knew Flames thought of me that way.” she smirked.
I don’t think of her that way! Stop lying about what I say!
But isn’t she?
I have Violet. he transmitted longingly.
Ha! You wish you had Violet.
I don’t want to talk about that…
You brought it up!
Fine! I’ll stop talking about your failures if you stop talking about mine.
Deal – wait this isn’t a failure! Nyx loves me!
Flames was hurt at the indirect assault, his mental awareness retreated.
Wait! That’s not what I meant! I’m sure Violet loves you too. It was too late, Flames had retreated his awareness somewhere else to sulk.
Flames and Violet hadn’t spent time together since her return to Emerald. She was always off with Joshua on errands. Flames had followed her once but she hadn’t even affirmed his presence, and seemed uncomfortable with his escort. He didn’t follow her on her missions after that.
“We should get some sleep.” Fawkes whispered. He was glad she was sharing his bed again. But he knew what would happen. Her instincts would want to get closer and closer, and then right when he’d think she’d healed, she’d retreat again, apologizing.
That usually took a few days though.
“You woke me.” she reminded him.
“I know, sorry. I’ll shut down the neural link.”
“You don’t have to do that. I don’t want to separate you from your ship.”
“I have you…” Fawkes said, stroking her affectionately.
I have you… Flames mocked, still hurt.
Fawkes jabbed the back of his neck with his wingtip and thought the shutdown code. Flames’ hurt presence faded.
“I love you.” she whispered.
“I know.” he replied automatically.
“I just need time to recover from what’s happened. I feel a lot of guilt…” her voice was breaking again.
“You don’t have to feel guilty.”
“Gaius and Throbb still have scars from what I did to them,” Fawkes inadvertently became aware of all of the scars he had on his body too “and Naz… I almost killed Naz!” then she was looking at him with those red eyes, at his scars “And you! How I hurt you!”
“It’s okay.” Fawkes said. “You were scarred too…”
“And he’s dead for what he did, I should be—“
“Remember the rule!” Fawkes said quickly.
“Sorry.”
“Never think like that, and I wasn’t referring to the scars from Martock’s whip. You think we didn’t sneak more nips at you? You didn’t catch them all.” he nuzzled her longingly, very longingly. Proximity was torture and contentment at the same time. He hated his body sometimes, his instincts. He wished he could always think things over logically. But then you would never feel the pleasures of simple things, you wouldn’t feel pleasure at all.
And what would life be without pleasure? “You always know what to say.” Nyx whispered affectionately. Suddenly, she rolled onto him with a vigour he hadn’t experienced since Kahless, kissing him affectionately, even drawing a little blood.
Then her expression suddenly changed, her eyes darted back and forth, her tail twitched, and she jumped off the bed, pouncing the pillow she had on the floor and closing her eyes.
He locked away this memory, making sure Flames wouldn’t find it in the morning.
–
–
“CHARLES!!!! CHARLES!!!!!”
“Yes sir?”
“You have command.”
“What?”
“I have to go.”
“Where.”
“DAMMIT CHARLES”
“I’ll get a shuttle ready for you.”
“There will be no need, accept our guest.”
–
He had lost three hundred and thirty support craft. He had lost two hundred and twenty seven battleships. The battle had destroyed thirty-seven percent of the Kahless’ hull, and set them back eight years if they had to fly the route to Zemoria manually.
Worst of all, however: He had lost Nyx.
Martock had reviewed the logs in the museum, and seen her anguished cries, thinking her eggs had been destroyed. Those eight had all hatched. He had put the eggs back together out of sentiment. A bad move, now that he thought about it, it had been enough to re-ignite her maternal instinct. It was that first time all over again.
But she had broken his rules: She had escaped.
Nobody broke Martock’s rules. Nobody crossed Martock.
“Admiral.” said Landon Aiyes, the Captain of Helios.
“Mr. Aiyes, I have to find someone.”
“I can definitely do that.”
“It’s a peculiar target.”
“That won’t matter.”
Martock leaned down, grabbing the egg he had under the desk and heaving it on. It was chrome black, the lights in the meeting room easily seen in the egg’s reflection. The top had a bright red dot. He stroked the egg idly.
“I see. That’s a good sample. Helios should have no problems picking up the Vorchan’s scent in the nodescape.”
“Good.” Martock grabbed eight of his best soldiers and boarded.
–
–
She was gone. Why didn’t you tell me!
You de-activated the interface!
Flames we have to find her.
Fawkes was panicking, pacing around his bedroom, unsure of what to do. I don’t know where she went.
He ran into the cargo bay, the exosuit was missing.
–
–
“I need time to think.” Nyx transmitted through her exosuit. Nyx didn’t understand the answering transmission, but the port shuttle bay opened, and Nyx coasted in, landing by a pair of shuttle pods.
–
Another Vorchan? Joshua asked.
They do seem to like hitching rides with us.
They both remembered Selene, I wonder where Selene is…
I don’t know, I’m sure she’s fine.
She was an unsolved mystery, do you think this Vorchan is doing the same thing?
Maybe, but now that it’s aboard, let’s get going.
Violet activated the jump drive. Is it a she-Vorchan?
Yep.
So she’s probably going off to start a colony somewhere?
Maybe.
Did she say where she wants to go?
No, I believe all she said was that she needed time. She didn’t have an Emerald dialect.
Well tell her she’s welcome for as long as she wants. Make sure she knows about your dangerous areas. Joshua watched the planet become bigger on their nodescape, another simple courier mission. They would dock in thirty seconds, their spot already reserved.
I don’t think she can understand me. Either that or she’s ignoring what I say.
They both watched her with the ship-senses, she was lying in the port shuttle bay, looking out at the stars. Violet had kept the blast doors open and used the secondary doors to create a vacuum seal instead, giving the Vorchan a relatively un-obscured view of the stars and space outside. Violet didn’t need the blast doors closed anyways, not when flying around in this environment.
When Violet docked, she automatically opened up her cargo bay doors, letting the personnel onboard. Joshua looked over the list of courier missions. He was following Darnell’s advice: Playing it safe. The pay was horrible, but he hoped that within the year he would be able to save up enough to get his arm back… maybe if he’d lay off the lobster. Violet had suggested asking Darnell for a loan, but Joshua wanted to prove to him that he could get out of this situation himself. He knew he had scored some positive points after having taken those Vorchans back to their home planet.
Fort II still had to get back to him on whether he needed to do another run or not. He added a visit to Fort II to his to-do list while looking over the missions. He had already found a simple one leading from this station out to another farther into the Galactic Core, in fact, this one was very close to Zemoria, where Darnell had been trained in the navy. Maybe he’d pay a visit to it… no – too expensive.
The new cargo started being loaded in as the last of the maintenance crew left. Most stations were very efficient with their work. It only took one minute and twenty-seven seconds to load the new cargo. Both bays were full up to capacity with whatever light material they were carrying. The scan-proof containers looked like water, or some sort of liquid anyways. The cargo manifest said it wasn’t dangerous, so the details as to what it was didn’t have to be specified. Nobody trusted anybody.
Violet was undocked from the docking port, accelerating away from the station at three gees and waiting for her jump drive to recharge.
There was another Puritan. Violet was surprised to have seen one. He was handsome, four hundred and fifty meters long with thin terminals that created a bright white gravimetric lens. The entire ship was a pale gray, with polar white beemveins, a peculiar pattern for a beems, even a Puritan. She idly wondered if Thanatos would approve of a ship like that as her mate. She hated Thanatos sometimes, but the Puritan was fun to watch as it coasted along, seeming to follow her, possibly interested.
Should I say something? Violet asked.
If you want. Joshua knew Violet had really wanted to be with Flames, but Thanatos had made it clear that he didn’t think that was a good idea. When asked why, he always just said it was better she didn’t know. It meant he must have done something horrible, something that would make her hate Flames. But she had already seen him do pretty horrible things and she still loved him. She could be forgiving. Or you can daydream about Flames…
I wish I could talk to him alone, ask him what he did that makes Thanatos think he’s bad for me.
Well… he’s a Descendent mercenary, he tried to kill your family… he tried to rape and kill you… he—
He’s misunderstood. she said simply.
You’re just young and desperate.
I’m not desperate!
Then why are you still staring at that ship? That scan goes any deeper he’ll think he’s being targeted.
And he saved the eggs. He gave me the co-ordinates. It’s all thanks to him, remember?
He stole the eggs in the first place!
Whatever.
She jumped out without talking to the Puritan.
–
The next space system used a mooring spoke for trade ships. It made the transfer of cargo much more efficient, the smaller cargo carrier vessels then taking the cargo to one of the twenty-seven stations nearby that may have ordered it.
This system was definitely one of the more prosperous systems, which meant there was a lot of traffic.
She idly scanned for Puritans. I told you you’re desperate.
I’m not scanning for Puritans!
What happened to only needing me? Just because I’m not four hundred meters long and don’t have a gun attached to my back doesn’t mean I’m not charismatic and sexy!
You’re very sexy. she said.
Don’t you forget!
And I’ll enjoy sharing your pleasures when you find that special someone.
The thought excited Joshua, having Violet involved in a strange way. I don’t know… I’ve never really been too interested.
You’ve just got other things to worry about…
Joshua looked at his stump, rubbing it with his hand. Yeah I do miss my arm.
He wore a long jacket when he met with the clients, making his missing arm less apparent. He was aware of the stares he got when people noticed. Not having the funds for an arm and being a Captain was an embarrassment, but at least he was alive.
Look! Violet exclaimed, her scan revealed a Puritan that had just jumped in.
He has to be interested in you. Joshua said. It was the same ship.
So I should talk to him?
If you want, Violet.
You know… I’ll let you share the link if we bond. If you want… that is.
Joshua flinched, he knew how pleasurable those bonds were said to have been, in fact, they were so pleasurable that the manual warned against keeping the interface active in the process, citing ‘sensory overload’ as a possible hazard. But he knew she had never bonded before, it would be her first time.
It’s your moment. I don’t want to ruin it with my presence. he said, knowing she was only saying it because she’d mentioned sharing the link when he’d be with somebody.
You wouldn’t ruin it – so should I talk to him?
You’ve asked me that a few times now.
Should I?
It’s your choice. She was so distracted by the Puritan she hadn’t even started the flight towards the spoke. He gently set the course, guiding her in and watching for traffic. There was a lot of traffic.
The Puritan was already heading to another spoke.
Maybe he’s just doing courier jobs from the same supplier.
Maybe.
You’re not being very helpful!
I’m dodging traffic!
Sorry. Violet took control, a transport careened out of the way, avoiding a near-collision. She was still being distracted by the Puritan.
Joshua took control. You foam at mouth, I fly.
That color is so distinctive. It’s such a beautiful color. He’s like a pearl in the darkness of space.
I hope you ships don’t faint, because I can’t carry you.
You’re doing a pretty good job of it at the moment. she transmitted affectionately, giving him a loving neural caress.
Thanks. he replied with a phantom smooch on her bow, watching the vector lines in his neurovision. Stop distracting me.
Sorry.
Joshua guided Violet in to the spokes. He gently pulled her in towards one of the moors and secured the ship for boarding.
They were doing the same thing to the other Puritan. Violet hadn’t taken her eyes off him.
He stopped paying attention to her mentality as he brought up the courier list, finding more missions. He would do this all day, taking a break once or twice a week to relax at Emerald and give Violet some time with her family. He was also getting a little closer with Darnell. He had even been invited to his lounge for some drinks the last time he’d visited! It was a small victory, it made him proud to know Darnell was starting to respect him. With his father gone…
Violet soothed him with warm thoughts. It was the advantage of having a beems there, always aware of your emotions. She didn’t even have to say anything, Joshua instantly felt better. He really did love Violet. She had been the best thing that had ever happened to him.
He loaded a new route into the flight planner, waiting for the maintenance workers to load up the new cargo before heading out again, this time to a planet near the outer rim, but still in GC space.
She carefully coasted out the same way she had before, Joshua watched for traffic, nudging her off course on occasion to get them clear of conflicting vector lines.
The Puritan jumped out. Violet’s heart sank.
–
–
“What are you doing?” Martock asked. “I told you to dock with that ship.”
“I can’t just dock with that ship, and she was getting suspicious.” Aiyes said.
Martock took a deep breath, “Get back there, and dock with that bloody ship before Nyx leaves it.”
“Helios can track its scent, don’t worry.”
“Aiyes, what did I just say?”
“This is wrong. Helios doesn’t want to trick another Puritan.”
“But stealing a Vorchan is fine?”
“We look out for our own.” Aiyes said simply.
Martock was getting angry, he could hear voices raging inside his head. It must have been his subconscious wishing he could pummel this man for his incompetence.
“Get me back to my ship.”
–
–
Emerald’s war machine was grinding into gear. Artemis had spoken to Defence Council Minister Nero, and he sent out a call for Descendent warships.
–
–
“Listen to me carefully!” Martock said, cracking his whip. “If I am to spare you and keep you, you are to follow a few simple rules.”
Nyx stared at the whip, watching it rise up, glint, and snap back down. Rise up, glint, snap back down. It sent a concussion wave through her spine that woke her with a jolt.
“Virmire!” she cried, sobbing. She felt that pained fear, that terrible helplessness, it was as if she had been thrown back there in her sleep, forced to relive her past as a penance for the things she did. That dreadful whip. She whipped her tail in reflex, she hated it. It reminded him of her. She wished she could chew it off. Maybe she could. She bit at it and yelped in pain, licking the blood as it poured from the wound.
Something grazed her, she jumped and hissed at it. It was a small beetle-like contraption, there were tentacles sprouting from its back. She backed away fearfully, hitting the wall behind her. Was she still dreaming?
The mechanical beetle began to suck up the blood and urine that was on the floor. She didn’t know she had wet herself, she felt so ashamed. She curled her tail around her and wrapped herself in her wings. The curl stretched her spine, she imagined Fawkes, but in her mind she jabbed him with her tail, wounding him greatly.
“See? She’s not all black!” Martock had yelled, pointing at the red diamond on her tail. She then remembered the two small blades she had had on the tip. She remembered the restraints and the chisel that blunted them to an almost non-existent red glint. It had made her tail so sore, it hurt now thinking about it. But she had calloused the tiny, broken blades. They were tougher now. She jabbed it at the floor of the ship. It landed with a satisfying thuck, sticking.
The things Martock had made her do, she couldn’t think about it, she had to escape him, get him out of his mind. She had to keep flying. She flew up to the top of the shuttle bay, looking out at the translucent walls. She didn’t know where she was, what if she never found her way back? What if the world out there didn’t like her, enslaved her the way Martock had?
Suddenly she wanted to go back home. She leaned up against a bulkhead. “I want to go home.” she whispered.
–
–
The target beacon disintegrated, a small sphere one meter in diameter. It had been hit by an AHC from seven hundred kilometres.
EagleEye loaded another round into the stabilized, massive AHC. It telescoped on both ends, and extended out to almost the length of the craft, a massive turret with a muzzle velocity that gave it relativistic strength.
“Impressive.”
“He’s the best shot there is.” Tory said.
“I can’t take part in this.” sighed Aiyes. “I cannot condone the killing of another Puritan for the recovery of this… reptile.”
“A very important reptile!” Martock snapped. “One that could very well determine the future of the GC.”
EagleEye was precariously close to Helios.
“What’s your game, anyways, Martock? What do you want with the GC?” Aiyes asked. Helios…
“What I deserve, that’s all.” Martock said.
Yes Aiyes?
Warn the ship.
He’ll notice my disappearance.
I won’t be able to leave anyways.
What?
“Did you get the co-ordinates?”
“Yes.” said Tory.
“Then we have no time to lose.” Martock said, casually pulling out his plasma pistol.
Aiyes? Helios asked anxiously, watching Martock point the weapon at his Captain.
Jump out, now, warn her—
Martock fired.
–
–
Why aren’t we jumping?
It’s the Vorchan. Violet transmitted, She’s in distress.
What?
She wants to go home…
Where is home?
Probably from where we picked her up.
But you said her dialect was different, she can’t be from Emerald.
Well it’s the only place I know of—
A jump-in.
Look! The Puritan! It was a thousand kilometres away and closing fast, heading right for her. It was trying to transmit something, but the relativistic effects of the acceleration were distorting what it was saying. She would have to match her own warp field to negate it, something she wasn’t capable of doing yet. Nobody had ever tried to talk to her while flying that fast before.
“— out — system —“
“What?” she called back excitedly, flying towards the Puritan but keeping clear of his vector line in case he couldn’t stop.
“—- —- —– Marto—“
She didn’t even see the flash, the round hit her instantly.
–
–
The target spun out of control, the rear-left skid fragmenting violently, had it been a Descendent the koveran chamber would have detonated and destroyed the entire craft.
But it wasn’t. “Target’s not going anywhere.” Tory reported. “Should I take out that other Puritan.”
“If you want; it’s of no concern to me.”
EagleEye brought his AHC to bear on the second Puritan, it began to fly erratically, knowing it was being tracked. Too risky.
A bright vermillion flash as a second target appeared.
I recognize that ship. said EagleEye.
–
“Violet!” “Nyx!” they cried.
Flames controlled Violet’s spin with a gravimetric embrace. She was dying, Puritans didn’t have emergency shut-offs and combat redundancies for major arteries.
The Descendent didn’t have to think, he deployed emergency umbilicals immediately. A transfusion between a Descendent and Puritan had never been recorded in the databanks before, but his instincts told him it was possible, his ancestral memory hinted towards something even greater having done a feat similar once.
“Flames?” Violet asked weakly. They had stopped spinning. A plethora of umbilicals had snaked over to her, transferring his blood, the majority had attached themselves to maintenance ports on the port skid, which was damaged almost beyond repair. His drones immediately began traveling across the hull to the skid, initiating preliminary repairs and reconstruction.
–
–
“Do you ships have weapons on your ventral side?” Martock asked.
“Some have rapid fire turrets on the ventral side.” Tory replied, wondering what Flames was doing here.
“Does this one?”
“Nothing that can harm us at the angle it’s currently at.”
Excellent, Martock ran to a fighter bay, his soldiers were waiting by his Marauder.
–
–
Fawkes was in the shuttle bay when the contact appeared, he had just slipped into his exosuit.
Is that a fighter? Flames asked.
Fawkes looked through the optical blisters. That’s a Marauder…
Martock?
He’s dead. But that’s an old-Coalition ship. It’s closing fast. Take it out!
I can’t, moving Violet at this point would be dangerous.
“Shit…” Fawkes cursed, Open the shuttle bay doors.
He flared his wings and activated the exosuit.
–
–
Something was wrong. Nyx was dazed after having been flung across the shuttle bay. She was just now trying to re-orient herself, still overcome with vertigo.
“Get up!” yelled Martock into her head.
She shook her head, crying. “No!”
“Get up or you’ll be joining him.”
“I want to join him! I hate you.”
The sound of a whip echoed across her mind, slashing into her skin, she felt the phantom pain, flinching.
“I’ll be the judge of how badly you want to join your precious Vorchan.”
Another whip, it struck her across the face, a jolting pain shooting through her.
“Kill me!” she hissed, getting knocked back on her stomach by the whip. She remembered lunging for Martock, he had hit her during the lunge, the whip wrapping around her neck. He tightened it; it cut deep, choking her.
He was stroking her head, she was thrashing wildly. “Do you really want to die?”
“Please…” she cried, nodding weakly, tears streaming down her eyes.
He continued tightening the whip.
It would be over soon, a calmness washed over her in her mind.
That was when Martock’s Nyx had been born. He began whispering in her ear, “Now you have seen Death; accepted it as a brother in arms. It’s my gift to you: Enjoy the strength it gives you.”
She was crying again; she was so weak.
“NYX!”
She froze in space and time. That wasn’t in her head.
“NYX YOU SLY SPOILED SELF-HATING SERPENT!” he yelled.
This was impossible. She looked up.
“M-m-m” she couldn’t even say the name. She automatically began backing away, pushing herself against a corner of the shuttle bay. He calmly approached, eight guards flanking him in a wedge formation, four on either flank. He extended his arms in greeting.
“Nyx! I’m so glad to see you again.” He pulled out a stick. He twisted it, the structure becoming fluid and extending out into a nanofibre whip. “I’ve been saving this for you.”
He cracked it in the air.
Her ears twitched, she closed her eyes, pressing herself further against the bulkhead. This can’t be happening. He would be upon her soon.
“You can’t be real!” she cried.
“Why? Should I be dead? You think that bloody red thing could finish me? Martock?! Leader of the NCR? Saviour of the Raumen race? I think not!” he cracked the whip again, it shot out towards her, stopping a few meters away. She jumped back, deathly afraid of the whip. She clawed at the wall helplessly.
She flared her wings, she could fly away. The joints trembled, the webbing wouldn’t arc properly. She was too terrified. She flapped weakly, getting a few meters off the ground.
Crack, the whip wrapped around her hind leg, slamming her back against the ground.
“NO!” she wailed.
Bang, a concussion wave filled the shuttle bay, echoing multiple times as it bounced across the room. Bang, another one.
Gunfire filled the room. Screams.
“FAWKES!” Martock retracted his whip, it pulled at Nyx. She clawed desperately to no avail, ending up next to him.
The soldiers around him were disintegrating one-by-one in a plume of gore and smoke. Finally only he remained. Fawkes kept his gauss rifles trained on him. They hummed angrily, hissing occasionally to expel extra heat.
Martock began to laugh maniacally. “SHOOT ME!” he yelled.
Fawkes flinched, lining up every targeting pipper in his visor’s display on Martock’s torso. He could see the fear in Nyx’s eyes, that broken spirit. It caused him greater pain than any bullet ever could, but something was wrong: Martock was crazy, but not suicidal.
“Go ahead! Do it!” he had a mad smile on his face.
Fawkes approached him cautiously, keeping all of his weapons trained on him. They hummed angrily, annoyed to be armed and spooled up without being given the liberty of firing.
“Let her go, Martock!”
“HA!” Martock reached into his pouch with his free hand, pulling out an egg. It was a polished chrome with a red dot on the top.
“Dhrom…” Fawkes whispered.
“My egg!” Nyx shrieked, trying to reach for it. Martock tightened the whip around her leg. She hollered in pain, recoiling in towards her leg.
“Shoot me! See if the egg can survive a concussion wave from a t-14. Go for it!”
“Give me the egg and Nyx, and I’ll let you live.” Fawkes said.
“Oh no. Sorry, that’s not an option. How about this: Give me yourself, and I’ll let Nyx and the egg live.”
Fawkes’ legs were trembling. Martock’s charisma was terrifying.
He didn’t know how to respond.
Martock raised the egg up over his head. “Do you think it’ll survive a fall from up here?”
“Don’t!”
He dropped it.
“NO!” Nyx cried.
Martock caught it again before it hit the ground. He laughed.
“Now you have seen Death…” Nyx whispered.
“That I have! I love it!” Martock exclaimed.
“Shoot us!” Nyx yelled.
“What?” Martock asked.
“Do it! I would rather die, as would my child.” she yelled, determination sparkling in her eyes.
“Shouldn’t we wait until he’s old enough to… at least talk, before we make that decision?” Fawkes asked, one of the gauss rifles was close to overheating, he spooled it down, keeping the other active. He de-activated the autocannons, knowing their spread pattern would be too inaccurate.
Nyx laughed, “I love you. End it here.”
There was absolutely no way he could fire a weapon on Nyx and her child. His Nyx.
“I don’t have all day, Vorchan. Either you’re coming or the three of us die here right now.”
“If I surrender myself, you will spare their lives?” Fawkes asked.
“They will live the way they had lived before. Nyx’s egg will be sold when it hatches, just like all the other hatchlings.”
“What? The other’s live?” Nyx asked.
“Yes. And they’re all healthy, judging by the monitors I have implanted in them.”
“I thought…”
“Did you really think I would sell the eggs? Blackwing eggs are rare! Make your choice Vorchan! My arm grows tired!”
Nyx wasn’t saying anything, her eyes glazed as she fought over this new tidbit of information.
“Three…. two…”
Fawkes de-activated his exo-suit, it limply fell off him, clattering on the shuttle bay floor.
“Good choice. Let’s go.”
“Fawkes…” Nyx cried.
“Your baby will be alive, at least. And maybe one day he will escape slavery.” Fawkes said.
“You’re going to die!” Nyx sobbed.
“That you are!” Martock exclaimed, “But not right now, let’s get back to the Kahless.”
“And the egg will be spared?” Fawkes asked.
“Of course. I am, and always will be, a man of my word.” Martock said, gingerly putting the egg back in the pouch.
“Fawkes…” Nyx said, when he was close enough, she leaned up against him, nuzzling him.
Martock yanked on the whip still fastened around her leg. “Hey! You know the rules.”
She glared at him.
“He’s not one of your concubines.” Martock continued, “Not anymore anyways.”
“No – he isn’t.” she said, looking at Fawkes longingly. “He’s my mate.”
Fawkes could have melted.
“Why do you always have to choose the ones destined for the cavern…” Martock sighed.
“No!” Nyx jumped at him, an electrical current shot through her, making her limp. “Anything but the cavern!” she moaned as she was pulled along behind them.
Was that the room Fawkes had seen earlier? Flames… not to bother you or anything, but I’m being marched off to a painful and horrible death.
If I detach from Violet, she’ll die.
I know.
If I give you fire support, his fighter will most likely explode and you’ll all die.
I know. How long do you think she’ll need the transfusion?
Until the artery is rebuilt – a few months…
I see.
Fawkes… I can’t. The neural band was flooded with remorse and guilt.
It’s okay.
You’re going to die!
I deserve it. I’ve killed sentient beings for less. Fawkes transmitted idly, following Martock into the fighter craft.
The trip to their ship took nearly fifteen minutes. It was a relatively quiet fifteen minutes. Martock yanked at Nyx whenever she tried to get close to Fawkes.
“Why?” she asked.
“It’ll be less painful this way.” he said simply.
Fawkes watched Nyx. He had failed, in everything. “I’m sorry, Nyx.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Nyx said, “Absolutely nothing.”
The ship they had boarded looked familiar, but it was sitting outside Flames’ visual range. Fawkes couldn’t recognize it.
They arrived at the Kahless within ten minutes. The docking hatch hissed open. They were walking down corridors. Fawkes wondered if he’d die now or later.
They were at the corridor that led to the torture chamber. Now, I guess, Fawkes realized.
“Let’s go.” Martock said.
Fawkes resolution was fading, his legs were about to give way. He wanted to wet himself but fought the urge. He walked in, betraying no fear. Nyx watched him with those red eyes. How he wished he could have mated with her once, just once, with full consent between both of them, and no tail… well maybe a little tail, if she was gentle.
The restraint strapped around him.
“You’ll have to extend the wings from that sheathe; otherwise we can’t slice them off cleanly.” Martock said.
Nyx had stopped crying, staring at the table coldly. He was grateful; he didn’t want to see her cry anymore.
He extended his wings, feeling the restraints snap around his wings, another snaked around his tail. He wondered how gentle she could be with that tail.
“Alright – just a button press away, now. Any last words?” he asked, looking at both of them.
“Nyx—“ Fawkes said.
“Too late!” Martock pressed the button.
The table suddenly exploded, Fawkes was flung up against the ceiling, he instinctively flapped his wings, hovering over the flames.
“What the hell! CHARLES GET DOWN HERE.” Martock yelled.
“I couldn’t let him do it.” Tory transmitted over the Black Wing neural band.
“Tory!”
“Get out of there. He’s wearing a type-33.”
Fawkes lunged for Martock.
“What are you doing!”
“The egg!”
He was knocked back as Martock’s shield activated. Nyx jabbed at him with her tail, knocking Martock back. He pulled out his plasma pistol. An AHC round disintegrated his right hand.
“WANKERS!” he screamed.
“Get that egg and GO!” Tory yelled.
Fawkes lunged for the pouch, grabbing it with his jaws. He ran with it, Nyx followed.
There were a lot of people in that corridor, they raised their rifles.
Another blast, some sort of incendiary, it incinerated all the soldiers in front of him. Vector lines appeared. He recognized them immediately: egress lines.
“GO!” Tory urged.
“Follow me!” Fawkes yelled, running through the phantom lines. They led along the wall, then up towards a ventilation shaft. He helped Nyx get inside. She was an extremely tight fit, her wings retracted to their minimum span. She yelped as bullets ricocheted off her tail.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine, let’s go.”
They continued onwards, jumping from one vent and running along another corridor before disappearing in the shafts again. This time Nyx got in with ease, following.
“I’m choosing the primary vents, these provide ship-wide air circulation. The smaller auxiliaries would have been better but—“
“Stop explaining and keep projecting.” He was at the last vector circle.
“That’s the last one.” he ran through the last vector circle, surprised at the sudden lack of gravity… and air… and everything. He instinctively held his breath, Vorchans had some adaptations for space travel. He looked at Nyx, grabbing her with his paws. Her eyes stared right back, she was smiling.
They floated listlessly for a moment before EagleEye grabbed them.
“Sorry this’ll be bumpy; we’re being targeted by like eight thousand different fucking weapons.”
“Just get us out of here you prick.”
“Hey, that’s no way to talk to someone who just saved your wings.” they jumped with over six thousand trajectory analysis vector lines overlaid on them.
“I can’t believe you did that.”
“I liked Anton too. He was a good man.”
“Depends on your definition of good…”
“And you stood by him; you were loyal to the end.”
“We made it!” Nyx exclaimed, hugging him.
She kissed him, then became shaky, eyeing her tail.
“Fine, use the tail, use anything you want!” Fawkes begged.
She grinned wildly, impaling him with her tail.
“That’s fucked up. I’m cutting the camera to the shuttle bay.”
–
–
Kite had taken over giving blood transfusions to Violet. They were all gathered at Emerald, aboard Thanatos’ lounge.
Fawkes’ was still in pain, but it had still been wonderful. Nyx leaned up against him contently, nearly toppling him. He was too exhausted to support any extra weight, let alone a fully grown Vorchan.
You mated and I missed it?! Flames asked disbelievingly. Fawkes had locked away the memories as tightly as he could, emanating content into the neural band, hiding the soreness.
“I had no idea Nyx was with you.” Joshua said apologetically.
“It’s okay.” Fawkes said, sitting down as Nyx nuzzled him. She sat down next to him, their tails entwining wildly.
Everyone was staring at the two wrestling tails.
They self-consciously stopped.
“That was fucked up.” Tory repeated.
“Nothing wrong with tails!” Nyx exclaimed.
“There is when they’re—“
Fawkes silenced him with a glare. Nyx kissed him on the cheek, already excited by the mere allusion to more tailplay.
I think you were wrong. I think it really was the tail. Fawkes transmitted.
Oh, it had nothing to do with the fact that she knows her eggs are safe, with one in her control, and that you came for her when all hope was lost?
That may have had something to do with it too. Fawkes admitted.
I hope Violet is as grateful when she wakes. Flames transmitted, affection flooding the band.
I’m sure she will, and you’re much luckier.
Luckier… why?
She doesn’t have a tail!
“So I’ve spoken to Chiron.” Darnell said. “He says a war has broken out between the Vorchans of the planet and the Raumens that are trying to get them under control.”
“Does he need us to intervene?” Carey asked.
“No. Apparently it’s all ‘going as planned’, but he gave us the location of hatchling Vorchans that match the description you gave us, which was pretty ambiguous, but coupling that data with the scanner we got; we should have some luck.”
“How many hits did we get?” Fawkes asked.
“Eighty-three.” Darnell replied.
They winced, “Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“What will we do with the ones that don’t belong to Nyx?” Joshua asked, looking at the Blackwing.
“We steal them and reunite them with their loved ones.” she said.
“I had a feeling you’d say that.” Joshua said with a smile. “So when am I getting my arm back?”
“When you grow up.” Darnell snapped, looking back at Fawkes. “Flames saved Violet’s life… but it was your girlfriend that endangered her to begin with!”
“I’m sorry.” Nyx said.
“But we now know Martock is alive. The news will trickle to GalCore and it will alert their fleets.”
“They still don’t have a chance.” Tory said. “There were over a thousand ships on that grid.”
“Well – we have time. They don’t seem jump capable.”
“They are.” Fawkes said.
“What?”
“But they need koveran shards.” Nyx added.
“What are—“ Darnell stared out into nothingness for a moment as he got a transmission from his ship, “Oh, wow. I never knew something like that could exist. Thanatos says he can detect them.”
Why not just use the Black Wing frequency? Fawkes wondered. But then he remembered Nyx and Liam’s lack of a neural link, not to mention the three beemsters which had broken out of their terrestrial womb to settle for the nutrients from Kite and Macaria – and Macaria, for that matter, who lacked access to the Black Wing frequency.
“Macaria: The reason Ash is dead.” Tory had transmitted.
“She’s the mother of three of Thanatos’ children.”
It had silenced Tory, but he could still feel some of the suppressed anger in the neural band.
“We have to find and neutralize these shards before Martock gets to them.”
“They seem to come to him. He puts out orders for them.” Nyx said. “For exorbitant prices.”
“Then we just have to watch the orders. I can do that from here, but Thanatos’ doesn’t have the strength to intercept any transports.”
“Can we pillage the transports and sell the crew as slaves?” Tory asked.
“Sure, why not.” Darnell replied.
Carey sighed, “No, Darnell.”
“They won’t do it otherwise.” Darnell argued.
“Yes they will, right guys?” Carey asked, smiling at Tory sweetly.
He was scratching the back of his head, caught in a moral dilemma and an argument with his ship. “Uh… not even the cargo? I mean it’s not like they’ll have much else onboard anyways.”
“The shards and nothing else.”
“But… how am I going to eat lobster then.” Tory asked.
“Lobster is important.” Joshua added thoughtfully.
“I’ll give you lobster.” Darnell sighed.
“Me too?” Josh asked.
“No!” he snapped.
“Darnelllll” Joshua whined.
Darnell ignored his whining, “Then it’s settled. We will intercept the shards. Fawkes, I assume you, Flames and Nyx will be going for the eggs?”
“Yes, once you transfer the co-ordinates over to Flames’ database.” Fawkes said. “Already done. Then I wish all of us the best of luck.” Darnell said.
Fawkes felt like he was in Black Wing again. It was a good feeling. He kissed Nyx.
–
–