This place is bad. Helios said simply, watching the ionic tendrils reaching out to him from the gas giant. They were over a million kilometres away and there were still microsparks forming along Helios’ hull as the planet tried to discharge its tumultuous atmosphere onto them.
And you’re sure they’re here?
The nodescape puts her here, yes.
Clever. But I always knew my Nyx would be clever. Can you go through? There was longing in the neural band.
I’ll die.
This is a certainty?
Yes. No beems could survive that. This area would require a— Helios stopped himself, realizing Martock might get rid of him if he knew. He suppressed the thought of an RT from his mind in case Martock could sense his thoughts through the interface.
What would it require?
I don’t know.
You do know! Martock roared, unleashing a flurry of koveran particles.
Helios desperately tried to change the subject, Why is Nyx so important?
Flashes of flight seeped into Helios’ mind as Martock remembered their descent onto tgat first planet. You wouldn’t understand. You don’t fly in atmospheres.
Helios transmitted a memory to Martock: He was only a few years old. He was trying to get into the gravity well of a planet. He managed to get to the clouds before pulling away.
Martock took a deep breath, feeling the wind under Helios’ hull. Then you understand.
I think so. But there are other Vorchans, and there are open aircraft, and fighters, and shuttles. I can do modifications that’ll allow you to feel the wind under a shuttle’s hull.
That would be interesting, but it’s not the same as having control of a beast like Nyx. Flashes of a whip entered Helios’ mind, her cry reverberating through the neural net.
Why harm her, then?
To keep her in line. Martock said, whipping Helios with a symbiotic tendril. As with you.
You torture what you love?
It’s more than love. Martock said, unable to find the right words or thoughts. He transmitted the feeling. It had felt the same as when they’d destroyed that Bedang.
Power? Helios asked.
Perhaps. Martock’s mind returned to reality, We will wait until they leave this dreaded place, and then we will strike.
–
–
Flames wasn’t sure what it was – If it was just the proximity or the fact that she seemed to care for him. “Are you staying this close because of the contract?” He asked Stripes. She hadn’t left his side since she’d arrived. He’d never seen a ship with such patience. Her colors were beginning to grow on him, as was the RT.
“Of course! What did you think it was?”
“Nothing…” Flames turned slightly, testing his terminals. With Stripes’ drones, he’d managed to get them repaired enough to at least light the gravimetric lens. He couldn’t pull more than a percentage of a gee, but it was enough to give him some mobility.
“How are you feeling?”
“Better, much better.” It had been a few days since the injury. Flames had slept through most of it.
“So… where are you from?” Stripes asked.
Flames was dozing off again, the effort from powering the lens draining the tiny amount of capacitor energy he had. “I’m VE. I was born on X-117.”
“What’s that?”
“A planet dedicated to the training of Vorchan starship captains.”
“What’s VE?”
“Vorchan Empire.”
“I didn’t know they used beems.”
“Oh they do, but not in the way you’d think. They erase our minds and meld us to suit their needs. All they need is the biological body, everything else can be created. I wasn’t born, I was grown.”
“That’s horrible!”
“The fact that I had any sentience was a mistake. They erase our minds when we’re born.”
“Fawkes freed you?” Stripes asked.
“He did.” Flames reached out to Fawkes: He was sleeping in Bruno’s living room, Nyx curled up next to him. He was content, having a dream about clouds.
“Must have been heroic… do you have the memory?”
“Fragments of it – it happened very fast.”
“I’d love to see it.”
“Really?” Flames’ hull glistened a little, preparing him for the hull contact sharing a memory would require. If she was anything like Macaria during a bond, his hull would not survive it.
“If you’d like…” Stripes replied uncertainly, he could see her gazing back at the RT’s with her sensors. She was probably thinking about how Descendents found Descendent RT’s very uncomfortable. They had two extra terminals that longed for energy in the bond, causing quite a bit of pain. RT or not, Flames wanted to look impressive in a bond, even if it was just for memory transference. He wanted to be able to give more if the mood required it. He really was starting to like Stripes.
“The memory isn’t pleasant anyways.” Flames said. “There was a lot of fighting. Fawkes wouldn’t want to relive those moments. He regrets killing those he had to during my rescue.”
“It’s a part of life.” Stripes said, running a combat sensor along the station. Combat pings showed up as red beams in Flames’ eyes. It made them easy to spot. She seemed to be doing it automatically, just by thinking about combat.
“You fight a lot?” Flames asked.
“I do. It’s my job. People don’t generally hire a Descendent escort unless they’re planning on being attacked. Or if they need P and P.”
It had been a while since Flames heard of P and P. He’d never done it. His was more P and M: Pleasure and Meal. He wondered what Stripes would think of that. Descendents usually didn’t devour beems and steal their energy. He didn’t even think a non-symbiote beems was capable of such a thing. All those ships he had lulled into bonding with him to satiate a symbiote he never knew existed. It was almost a relief to know it wasn’t really his fault all those beems died.
“So you’ve killed other beems?” Flames asked.
“Of course.” she replied, “Does that bother you?”
“No. I have too.”
“It sounds like you regret it.”
“Not all of them deserved to die.”
“Everybody deserves to die in someone’s perspective.”
Way to shatter the mood, Flames. You’re never gonna have kids.
Go back to sleep…
And miss this?
I don’t want kids…
Not yet. You’re still young in beems years.
As are you in Vorchan years.
Good point. But sometimes things just happen. We still need a nodepoint.
I know… Flames watched Stripes slowly drifting away, pretending her offer had never occurred.
So what’s stopping you?
I want to look good if I bond. Suddenly he got enraged, his veins flaring slightly And I wouldn’t mate just for a nodepoint!
But you did! With Macaria!
To ensure Violet was safe.
And this will ensure my son is safe.
Flames wouldn’t win this argument.
I will, once I’m ready. he conceded.
–
–
Liberating Gaia would be interesting. Unlike the other planets they had engaged, this one seemed to have had quite a history of Vorchan-Raumen relations. Not all the Vorchans here were slaves. Devising rules of engagement would be difficult.
He would go down first as he usually did, living among the locals for a while before bringing his fleet in. It would give him and Lucienda some time to bond.
They flew down in their exosuits, aerobraking at sixty-thousand feet, the clouds a wall of white still a fair distance below them. He hadn’t brought any weapons, the exosuit itself not considered a weapon in and of itself.
The planet was very rural. He could see horses and carriages down below. Immigration was very friendly, and he was checked in a few minutes after they’d landed. There didn’t seem to be much import here, though he did notice a lot of export. He asked the immigration officer about that while their datapals were registered for the city.
“Red steel.” explained the officer.
“What’s that?”
“I’m not completely sure, but we’ve got a lot of it, and it’s become valuable as hell recently.”
“Interesting.”
“Yeah, most of our visitors are potential buyers, not many come here to start a new life. Occasionally some do, like you guys, who just get tired of technology; who want to be able to live somewhere where you don’t hear the buzz of a gravimetric lens or the boom of a jet engine every few hours. Which reminds me: you’ll have to check in the suit.”
“Will we get it back if we decide to leave the planet? We didn’t exactly come in a shuttle…”
“Of course. We’ll give you a requisition slip for it.”
Darwin looked at Lucienda, she nodded. “Alright.” He slipped out of his exosuit, as did Lucienda. Workers started struggling with the equipment, loading the cargo pods on the hardpoints into several hovertrolleys.
“Let’s get you scanned and we’re all set… err… it’s supposed to fit three but it’ll barely fit one dragon. Good thing you’re not a Terran.”
“Dragon…” Darwin extended his wings, staring at the sensors. His combat interface blared at him as the scanner emitted its high frequency rays.
“Ex-VE?” asked the officer, noticing the implant.
“Yep.” Darwin lied.
“You too?” the officer looked at Lucienda.
She nodded, “We met in the trenches! He was covered in blood and guts – love at first sight!” She licked him, nuzzling him clear of the body scanner.
Darwin longingly gawked at her unfurled wings as she stood in front of the scanner. She had shaded them, giving them a slight blue gradient near the spars. She had coloured her eyes too, and her tail had a decorative stripe on the sides, the same logo their Descendent fighters had. What a good idea. Darwin looked at his boring Desert tail, grunting disappointedly. He should have given himself a stripe, at least, or coloured his spikes. Lucienda was looking at him. He wondered what she was thinking. She ruffled her wings.
“Alright, we’re done here. I hope Gaia is what you were looking for. Should we strap the luggage on your backs or would you like carriage services?”
“Strap me up.” Lucienda growled, kneeling down. Darwin did the same. They had packed light in case something like this happened. It didn’t take long for the pods to be jangling on their backs, nice and secure.
“Do you need a taxi?” asked a baggage handler.
“Directions would be nice.” Darwin growled.
“To where?”
“A nice hotel.” Darwin said. The sun was at its zenith, and they hadn’t eaten yet. “And a nice restaurant.” he added, rubbing Lucienda with his wing. This was such a nice little planet, he’d almost forgotten why he’d come here.
That was until he saw the Vorchan, baggage strapped onto his body, several times more than what Darwin or Lucienda had brought. The Vorchan landed at the airport, panting heavily. The baggage handler walked over to him, unloading his luggage.
“There’s a hotel east, on Miller Road. There’s also a restaurant there.” the baggage handler said.
“Thanks… what’s your name?” Darwin asked the tired Vorchan.
“Imicus.” said the Vorchan. He was an Arctic, his skin a light blue. His wings and stomach were white and noticeably dirty.
“Are you a slave?” Darwin asked.
“I might as well be. I barely make enough to get by.” said Imicus, sitting down as the last of the luggage was removed from his body. “I have some time to rest now.”
“How long?”
“A few minutes, then I’ll head out to the next traveler’s house.” he said, stretching his wings.
“You don’t sound like you enjoy your line of work.” said Darwin.
“Nobody enjoys their jobs. That’s why it’s called work.” he said.
“True, but at least on Terra you’d be able to earn a living doing your job.”
“I earn a living. It’s not that bad, really. It was worse when I was a slave.”
“Are you from Terra?” Darwin asked.
“No.”
“How did you end up a slave?” Lucienda asked.
“I had been one for as long as I remember. I was born into it. When my owners died I was set free.”
“Have you ever thought of leaving?”
“Why would I want to do that?” Imicus asked, listening to the birds. “It’s paradise here. I only need enough for a hunting pass anyways. It’s not like I need shelter.”
“You live outside?” Lucienda asked in bewilderment.
“Believe it or not!” Imicus replied, mocking her tone. “It’s how dragons are meant to live.”
“You’re the second person to have said that.” Darwin said.
“What, dragons?”
“Yes. That’s an ancient term.”
“They still use it on this planet, ever since the end of the war.”
“What war?”
“The war between Vorchans and Raumens.” said Imicus, flaring his wings. “It’s time for me to go.”
“Wait! Do you have a datapal id?” Darwin asked.
“Ha! No way. Use your dragon instincts! Remember my scent. I live in the Trifoot woods.” he flew off.
“A war?” Lucienda asked.
“I’ll have to ask around.”
“Sure, after we eat.” Lucienda said, looking east. “Are there any overflight rules?” she asked the baggage handler.
“Don’t hit anything. Our aircraft are ornithopters so they fly pretty low.”
“Ornithopters?” Darwin asked, confused.
The baggage handler laughed. “It’s all we’re allowed to use due to noise limitations. It does make flights interesting.”
“What’s an ornithopter?” Darwin asked.
“Giant mechanical dragons.” explained the baggage handler, flapping his arms. “I gotta get this baggage loaded. If you stick around long enough you might see one landing.”
“We might do that.” Darwin said, but Lucienda nipped at him, noticeably hungry and tired. “Or not.”
Flying with the extra weight was difficult, and finding Miller Road had been a pain, but they finally arrived, asking some locals for directions to the restaurant they’d heard of. It was right on the intersection between Miller Road and Spaceway – the street the Space/Airport was on. Nobody seemed to give them that much attention. Simply tourists come to visit, the fact that they were Vorchans barely seemed to register in the locals’ minds.
“These cups…” Darwin gasped. They had been seated in chairs designed for Vorchans, a nice hole for their tail. Darwin hadn’t sat in one of these for so long that he almost found it uncomfortable. As he leaned forward, the chair did too, letting him pick up the Vorchan cup. “This is great.”
“I know. Look over there.” Lucienda was looking at a pair of Vulcans off in the distance. “Other Vorchans!” she hissed.
“I know!” he watched them until they looked over, then he glanced away. “It’s almost like we’re back on Terra.”
“I know. I can’t believe they condone slavery.” Lucienda said disappointedly.
“No such thing as paradise.” Darwin said.
The food was great. He paid with the credit-disc Meyoko had given them for their ‘reconnaissance mission’. It had enough to last for several weeks, maybe more if they were extra frugal. It would last for years if they disappeared into the woods, but that was ridiculous: living in the woods. Darwin giggled at the thought.
“What’s so funny?” Lucienda asked.
“Was just thinking about Imicus, and his forest.”
“What was it called again? Tricycle woods?” she asked.
“Trifoot, I think. Did you get his scent?”
“I think so. He had a very peculiar smell. I wonder how long it’d been since he’d bathed.”
“He was pretty dirty.”
“I can’t believe we used to live like that.”
“Neither can I.”
“We shouldn’t mock him. It doesn’t sound like he has a choice.” Lucienda said.
“Indeed. He deserves to be free.”
“But he is. His life on Terra wouldn’t be that different. He’d have to find a job, and work.”
“He wouldn’t have to answer to Raumens.”
“This was never about that.” Lucienda said.
“We shouldn’t be subordinates to these creatures.” Darwin said.
“Keep your voice down.” Lucienda hissed, looking around the restaurant, grateful they were in a booth. “A lot of our Captains are Raumen too.”
“And they are working for us – that’s fine.” Darwin explained.
Lucienda shook her head. “Species shouldn’t dictate who we can and can’t work for. What about Owen?”
“He freed me, and his father is watching our children.”
“Exactly, and he’s Raumen.”
“Hmm…” Darwin didn’t know what to say to that.
“It’s that specism that probably started all of these wars to begin with.” Lucienda said. “You should be above that.”
“I know. I just… I’ve eaten more Raumens in the past month than actual food.” Darwin said, remembering all the battles. It was hard to consider them as fellow sentient beings. Their screams were just the screams of prey as he devoured them, freeing their Vorchan slaves.
“Fort II had a lot of scum. That planet, except for maybe the Citadel area where Chiron and his family lives, wasn’t civilized.” Lucienda said.
“I know. I hope our kids are alright.” Darwin said.
“I’m sure they are. Chiron is an honourable man.” Lucienda said.
“Yet he willingly supported the deaths of thousands of people for his own personal gain.” Darwin muttered.
“He’s an arms dealer.” Lucienda said.
“And the leader of the planet.”
“Well, he supports our cause.”
“For profit.”
“Whatever his reasons. We need him. Without Fort VI supplying the exosuits we wouldn’t have the firepower to mount any type of ground assault.” she explained logically.
“Not that we’ve really had to, with the passes the Descendents have been making.” Darwin said, the gravimetric hum still sharp in his memory.
“They really are fascinating creatures.” Lucienda drew her ears back, smiling.
“They were slaves once.” Darwin reminded her.
“I know.” her smile faded.
“And they were set free.” Darwin said, using the beems in his argument for his crusade.
“Yes, I read the history of the Obelisk too.” Lucienda sighed.
“It’s fascinating, isn’t it? Do you remember what Chiron said?” Darwin asked.
“About us having once been ridden by lancers?”
“No – though that’s interesting too – but about how we were just doing what the Black Nova did all those years ago.”
“All those years ago?”
“Thousands, whatever.”
“He was also a mass murderer, a tyrant, a genocidal maniac.” Lucienda replied, repeating what the Raumens always said about him.
“They deserved it…” Darwin said quietly.
Lucienda didn’t look very happy. “You’ve changed.”
“They exploited an entire species against their will, and now they’re doing it again.”
“Billions of innocent people were killed.” Lucienda said. “Be grateful we don’t have access to such powerful weaponry anymore.”
“Speaking of that weaponry, did you hear about Carmine’s Sanctum?” Darwin asked.
“I learned about it in school.” Lucienda said.
“Two of those super-weapons, just outside of Zemorian space. We should visit the debris field some day.”
“I did hear it was very beautiful.”
“Imagine all the destruction that had taken place there. Must have been fascinating fighting for the future of your species like that.”
“History exaggerates. They probably didn’t find it that fascinating.”
“They probably felt they didn’t have a choice, like I feel right now.”
“So we’re going to liberate these Vorchans?” Lucienda asked.
“Yes.” Darwin paid the tab and sent a message to the local ambassador, booking an appointment for tomorrow morning.
/// you know what’s f-ed up? The fact that the VE erases the beems and uses their bodies to make their own starship, but since it’s not slavery and nobody really knows about it, nobody seems to care. The ships are grown anyways so they don’t have families, etc. Is that wrong or no? It’s like stem cells…////
–
–
“P and P?” Flames blurted. It was their fourth day, and he was feeling a lot more energetic.
“What?” Stripes asked.
“You said you do P and P.”
“You’re not a Puritan…”
“I’m as weak as one at the moment…”
“Don’t worry – I won’t leave your side.”
“And once the contract is over?” Flames asked.
“Well business is business…” Stripes said.
“I see…”
“But I’ll halve my weekly rate once this week expires.”
“Really?”
“Sure. Knowing you, you’ll need my help more often!”
“Which is definitely why we should see each other in our nodescapes.”
“Don’t you see me already? We’ve been pretty close the last few days. I think a link is forming.”
Flames looked into his nodescape, aware of a new mote that glowed with her presence.
Holy shit. Fawkes said. She’s right. In Black Wing that took months!
“I don’t see anything…” Flames lied, “I think we should make sure!”
He risked going closer now, adding more power to his gravimetric lens. It burnt his veins as they acclimatized to him being able to move again, as well as his excitement at a possible bond.
“Really?” Stripes’ lens was very bright now, and she began circling him excitedly, he turned to follow and suddenly the lens overloaded. He cried out as a terminal blew out, four drones disintegrated instantly. “Flames!” she exclaimed, righting his out-of-control spin with her gravimetric lens. She transferred more drones over.
“Ow…” he moaned, sealing off the ruptured veins.
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I shouldn’t have forced you into that manoeuvre.”
“I wasn’t forced!”
She didn’t say anything, attaching a maintenance umbilical.
“Really, I did that of my own accord. I was testing the lens.” Flames said.
“So you just felt like blowing apart those drones in the process?” Stripes asked.
“I forgot about them?” Flames replied meekly.
Stripes laughed. He noticed her beemveins were glowing red, and her hull was glistening too.
“I’m sorry for teasing you like that.” Flames ventured.
“Ha, teasing me into doing what? I didn’t commit to anything!” she said, circling behind him, maintenance umbilicals still attached.
“Right, of course not.” Flames replied, straining to see her with his weaker aft sensors.
She pressed up against his aft hull with her bow, pushing him back to the drydock.
Flames really wished that terminal hadn’t blown, he hated being this vulnerable.
“You’re wet.” she observed.
“So are you!”
“No I’m not.” she said, altering pitch slightly to rub him with her nose.
“Heatshields don’t get wet! They don’t count!” Flames complained.
“Which also makes them very fun…” Stripes said, scratching him with the heatshield on her port skid. Descendents had the shields on the front of the skids too, not just the nose, the theory being that the skids were just an extension of the nose anyways when tucked in properly for a jump.
She was pleased to see his hull glisten where she scratched him. She started drawing on him with her skid, seeing her masterpiece from the sun’s rays as they glinted off the excreted lubricant.
“What are you doing?” Flames asked, annoyed.
“Nothing.” she pulled away, watching the heart fade away as the natural lubricant evaporated from the hull.
One of the drones managed to replace the component of the terminal that had blown. He would be able to ignite the lens again.
“What to do…” Stripes mused, still excited. She scanned him. “Fifteen koveran-laced rounds. If those would have blown you probably wouldn’t have survived the ion emission.”
“But they didn’t. Everything else did though.” she scanned the rest of his upper carapace, noticing the kinetic shells that were melted to the floor.
“I guess they don’t ground well in koverans.” Stripes said.
“I would have been fine if I hadn’t de-activated my lens.” Flames muttered.
“Why’d you de-activate your lens?”
“We were having an argument.” Flames replied.
“About what?”
“Stuff! Ship-Captain business.” Flames said.
“I’ll find out when we bond.” she growled, her neural transmission laced with arousal. It nearly made him light his gravimetric lens, but he’d feign immobility for a while longer.
“You know what you should do?” Oh no, it was Fawkes.
“What’s that?” Stripes asked excitedly.
“Flames has got this fetish for serrated sticks getting—“ Flames forcefully disrupted the transmission, kicking Fawkes from the beemspace band.
Fawkes forced his way back on, “If you – in his –“ Flames struggled to keep him silenced.
“It wouldn’t work!” Flames hissed.
“What?”
“Nothing!” he was angry at Fawkes again, why did Fawkes always do that? Why do you always do that?
Because you underestimate how dirty women are.
Just because you get poked in places you don’t want to be poked in… doesn’t mean I want to be poked in places I don’t want to be poked in…
Flames felt a caress on his ventral side. For a moment he had thought it was Fawkes, but then he felt the bump where the heatshield and the actual skid were connected.
“In his where?” Stripes asked, poking around with her skid.
Flames skids were twitching, as if they had a gravimetric lens in their control.
“Stop that!”
“Over here?” she scratched at the maintenance port next to the maintenance umbilicals. That did feel very strange. He hadn’t even known he’d been itchy there.
“Actually that’s pretty nice. Do that… a little higher… ok to the side now…” Flames liked this, he’d never seen a Descendent with such fine control over her skids.
That’s not so bad. Flames transmitted.
Wait till I have Nyx explain to her how to do it properly.
Don’t you dare…
It wouldn’t work anyways. We don’t share the same physiology.
Well actually there are ports that dump waste straight from Tier Zero. Though they’re only really used by producers and younger beems, when Tier Zero is actually—
“Tier Zero!” Fawkes yelled to Stripes, “Poke him there!”
“No!” Flames wailed.
She moved in, and Flames immediately ignited his lens in an effort to escape. She was right under the lens. The koveran-laced energy field grounded into her, passing through her beemveins and exiting from her redundant terminals. It was almost the exact same thing as a bond, but since there was no consenting feedback loop, the energy dissipated into space. “Nice try!” She impaled his Tier Zero port with her skid.
Fawkes laughed maniacally.
I hate you. Flames transmitted in consternation, Stripes keeping him from being able to light his gravimetric lens while keeping a skid mated with the Tier Zero port.
How good are your grappling skills? Fawkes asked.
Better than yours! Flames magnetized his hull, it separated him from Stripes. He then lit his lens and kept his hull polarity at an inverse of hers, the magnetic cushion keeping her from getting close.
Neat trick. Fawkes said, he reversed the polarity manually. The two ships collided into each other.
I’ll fall apart!
You’re hull’s at 3%. That’s a hundred times better than before! Now go get us that nodepoint!
They were in an awkward position, but Stripes was using a gravimetric field to keep him from getting away. It overpowered his hull polarization and his weak lens.
I think it’s up to her… Flames said, trapped underneath.
It always is… Fawkes said.
She held this position for a while, then she decoupled, circling to see him face to face. “That was a neat move. I’d love to see that in action when you’re healthy.”
“I’ve used it a few times in my…” one of his Puritan victims flashed into his mind. Their hull polarities were always so predictable… “…battles.”
“How do you do it? I’ve always relied on gravimetrics, but if that fails I could use an ability like that. “
“I’m not sure… I just think it. It comes from my capacitor. I tell the capacitor to ground out in my terminals. How I want it to ground out determines the polarity.”
Stripes’ lens faded away, her terminals powering down. “Show me that again.”
Flames polarized his hull, floating in towards her. He then reversed the polarity as he came close, keeping them separated. His hull started to groan as the two massive bodies resisted each other. “That’s enough for today…”
“Are you sure?” she asked, scanning him.
“Yes…”
“Ouch, I can see the microfractures. I’ll delegate more drones to—“
“You’ve given me so many…”
“I don’t need them anyways. I’m perfectly healthy. It’ll give my Tier Zero something to do.”
“Heh.”
She was her gentle self again, bringing drones over and delegating them to the microfractures.
Flames fell asleep a little while later.
–
“Are you sure you two just met?” Bruno asked.
Fawkes had decided to try the video game they were playing. It was a fighting game. They controlled characters with this small handheld device. His claws had a hard time pressing some of the buttons.
“Me and Nyx? No way!” Fawkes replied.
“Of course you didn’t just meet if you’ve got a four year old.”
“Oh, me and Flames?”
“Yeah. You’re hilarious.”
“I’ve dealt with Descendents before. I love teasing them.” Fawkes replied.
“No shit. It seems he’s accepting you as his Captain already.”
“I know, isn’t it great?” Fawkes asked, killing Bruno in the game. “Ha!”
“Damn. Figures you’d choose the cheapest character.”
“It’s the only Vorchan character.” Fawkes said. He was controlling a Vorchan by the name of Fercius, the ‘King of the Dragons.’ They always preached about him at the academy: The progenitor of the modern Vorchan. It had also become the title of every VE King that followed.
“Fawkes!” Nyx called, she had come back from her walk with the mercenaries and Butch. “Look what I got!”
“You better not have—“
She was covered in flashy colors and jewellery. Her skin had glowing red stripes. Her spikes were lengthened with what looked like titanium blades. She added red blush to her face and neck.
As Fawkes gawked, she unveiled her wings, showing off the red designs on her webbing.
“That’s a lot of red.” Fawkes commented.
“They said it was my ‘secondary color’.” she growled.
“What’s the symbol mean?” Fawkes asked, looking at the design on her webbing, “And will it come off?”
“Eventually, if I make you lick it long enough.” she replied, “Oh, speaking of which, I got these.”
She reached into her neck-pouch with her snout and pulled out a bottle of something.
“What’s that?” Fawkes asked.
“Glitterlove.” said Mace.
“What?” Fawkes asked.
“You throw it on the bed, it sticks to your bodies and is very tasty.” explained Fox.
“You’re kidding me.” Fawkes muttered, but he was already beginning to fantasize.
“Hey. I’m just giving you options for… you know.” Nyx alluded seductively.
Fawkes had almost forgotten about that. They hadn’t had privacy for nearly a week. He growled, letting Bruno score a few cheap kills as he looked his mate over.
“Try my spikes!” Nyx said.
“What?”
“Lick one!”
Fawkes lapped at a spike. It tasted bittersweet, like some sort of fruit. “Really, Nyx?”
“Don’t you like it?”
“I thought it was titanium, for combat…”
“Oh no. These are soft and tender, and they’ll melt against your body… they’re full of glitterlove” she said, rubbing up against his side. This was torture.
“We could go back to the ship now if you’d like…” Fawkes said quickly.
“Oh no, not until you uphold your end of the deal.”
“You mean like, completely uphold, like…”
“Yes…”
“What’s she talking about?” Bruno asked.
“So when I do finally acquire Flames. Would you guys be willing to live with us?” Fawkes asked.
“Live aboard a Descendent? That would be wicked awesome!” Fox exclaimed.
“Yeah I’d love that!” Butch roared, jumping excitedly.
“Great! Wanna move in now? Flames is pretty much mine.” Fawkes said quickly.
“Really? You sure he likes you?” Bruno asked.
“I’m positive. Let’s go let’s go.”
It took seven minutes for them to pack their bags with Fawkes hounding them to hurry. He had some of the drones prepare the guest chambers for them, keeping the rest on repair duty.
They settled aboard Flames within an hour.
“These chambers are amazing. I love the burn marks.” said Fox, genuinely impressed by the electricity-scarred chamber.
“That’ll get fixed. Power and plumbing sort of work. You all have your own bathrooms. There are three guest rooms in total, divvy em up as you please. Flames is asleep at the moment but once he’s awake you can bother him for things… Nyx and I are going now, shuttle bay is off limits until further notice.” Fawkes said, sprinting for the shuttle bay.
///time to think dirty///
He had some time to think of things as he waited for Nyx to arrive. He couldn’t believe Flames would miss this, it made it all the more impressive. He was so aroused he could have made love to the shuttle derelict that was melted to the floor off in the corner of the bay. When she arrived there was no holding back.
All she did was brace herself as he lunged at her with all his strength, one of the candy spikes went flying through the air, shattering against a bulkhead and unleashing a bunch of that glitter stuff. She didn’t move, holding her tail back, closing her eyes expectantly.
Oh what he could do. Anything he wanted, anything. He thought of something to say, oh he had it! “Nyx, I want you to—“
Suddenly an alarm blared, an electrostatic shield automatically came online, trajectory analysis systems warned of nearly-intersecting vector lines as a round flew by their hull. It came from the outpost. They were being hailed.
“What’s that noise?” Nyx asked.
Fawkes was on top of her, breathing heavily, still not having been able to do anything.
He frustratingly looked through Flames’ eyes and accepted the hail. He noticed Stripes was taking up a defensive formation between Flames and the station. Her AHC was deployed.
“Captain Fawkes. We have reason to believe you are responsible for the murder of Jiles Bishop.”
“This… is the worst possible time you could have hailed me.” Fawkes growled.
“We are sending over an inspector to determine the legal owner of the starship you are on as well as to check your genetic data against the crime scene.”
“How long will this take?” Fawkes asked, checking if he had any active exosuits or internal weapons. He didn’t.
“We aren’t sure. It depends on how co-operative you are with our agent. He is on his way now.”
He took a deep breath, looking at Nyx. “He’ll be here in what, five minutes?”
“Maybe less.” Nyx said.
“If we… does that—“
“Yes it does count.”
Fawkes roared in frustration, getting off of her, not even making eye contact. He walked over to the end of the shuttle bay, looking out at the station. Nyx was behind him with a very smug expression on her face, her tail wagging calmly.
“You knew this was going to happen didn’t you.” Fawkes muttered.
“Nope.” she said.
“Don’t you want to—“
“I’d love to.”
“But it will cost me my—“
“Yep.” she licked his ear.
“Don’t do that then!” he hissed.
She kissed his cheek. “Oh think of how badly you want it. You could finish in a few minutes. I’ve seen you do it before. Imagine how pleasurable that time would be.”
“You are evil. Having all the time I want with you would be even better. You didn’t say how many times we could do it. Just one session! One session can last a loong loong time.”
“Yes it can.” she said, breathing over his neck seductively, one paw on his arm. “Or it can be the most furious and short bout of pleasure in existence. Imagine that. You’d be like an autocannon, just firing yourself off in—“
Fawkes put a paw on her snout, trying to silence her.
“Just endless pleasure under pressure. It would be sumptuous!” she said, breaking free of his paw and nearly mounting him, her chest in his face. She had elaborate designs all over her lower body too, she even smelled sweet. He licked at her chest, tasting.
“Did you cover yourself in that stuff?” Fawkes asked in unbelievable turmoil.
“They were giving free samples!” Nyx exclaimed.
His instincts made him knock her over, looming on top of her. Nyx didn’t do anything, watching him excitedly, her modified fangs glinting in the ship-light. “What did you do to the fangs?” Fawkes whimpered, looking out towards the station. The shuttle was still a few minutes away. He looked back down at his mate.
“Why don’t you find out?” she asked innocently, wriggling to a comfortable position underneath him, her tail seductively stroking his tail.
He cautiously brought his snout to hers, licking her fangs. They tasted unbelievable, she gently nibbled his neck. He groaned at what he could have. But then if he waited…
The shuttle was less than thirty seconds away now.
“BY THE BLACK NOVA!” Fawkes cursed. “I should have done it!”
He let her get up as he readied himself for the shuttle’s arrival.
“You didn’t. Now you have to deal with the inspector whilst knowing what you could have had. Maybe we’ll get arrested and separated and you won’t have another chance for a—“
He jumped on top of her, about to kiss her as the shuttle shot through the membrane, coming in for a landing. “Oh you’ll regret this! You have no idea what you’re in for after this my precious Nyx. No idea at all. It’ll be the most unbelievable session you’ll ever have had in existence. It will be one that people could write about, sing songs about. It’ll be a—“
“Captain Fawkes?” called the inspector, he had gotten out of his small shuttle and was making his way over to them, a little perplexed at the position the two Vorchans were in. “What are you doing?”
“Fighting the urge to eat you alive and then her.” Fawkes growled.
“I see.” the inspector took out a small cup and placed it under Fawkes’ mouth. The Vorchan was salivating so profusely that it didn’t take long for the cup to fill. “There we go. Now let’s just put this in here… hmm.”
“What’s it say?” Fawkes asked.
“That you were there when Mr. Bishop was killed.”
“I could have told you that.” Fawkes growled, still looming over Nyx.
“This ship is registered under Mr. Bishop’s name.” the inspector said. “Confirm that his registration is F-l-a-m-e-s?”
“Yes it is, but Jiles is dead.”
“How did he die?” the inspector asked.
“An overload – he wanted to use the pain Flames was in to kill me. The inhibitor wouldn’t inhibit pain if it was shunted through the Cruiser first. It’s complicated.”
“Interesting. Well we’ll have to detain you until the date of your trial, where you can explain it to the jury.”
“What?!” Fawkes asked. “When’s my trial!!?”
“Shouldn’t be more than a month or so. It’ll take a while for all the specialists to get here.” the inspector said calmly.
“And if I eat you alive?”
“Well then my station blasts you out of the sky.”
“And then that other Descendent blasts your station out of the sky!”
“Unfortunately not. Even if Stripes had the power to blast us out of the sky, we have jurisdiction over her when it comes to station matters.”
Fawkes explained the situation to Stripes in a rapid burst of neural data.
“He’s right.” Stripes affirmed.
“What?! I thought you loved Flames!”
“Oh Flames is great! He’s not the one on trial though, you are!”
“This is preposterous.”
“Don’t worry. They’ll figure out you’re innocent.”
“And if I refuse the trial?”
“They’ll kill Flames, and me if I try to help. This station is extremely heavily armed. It has to be.”
“I can’t believe this.” “What about Nyx?” Fawkes asked.
“Her? I assume she was with you?” The inspector asked, looking down at the pinned Vorchan.
“Yes!” Fawkes snapped, wanting her to be trapped in a cell with him.
“Well then we’ll have to detain her too.”
“Yes!” Fawkes exclaimed.
“Of course she’ll be in the female detainment area.”
“Fuck!” Fawkes cursed.
“Well… it looks like I’ll have to throw all this stuff away…” Nyx said with mock-disappointment, removing one of her fake fangs.
–
They were in the shuttle, heading back to the station. The reality of what was happening began to kick in.
“Shit. Be sure to let Bruno know what’s happening.” Fawkes said.
“He knows.” Stripes replied.
“I guess Flames wasn’t going anywhere anyways. Your contract still stands. I’ll charge your account whenever I have the opportunity.”
“It’s okay, I trust you. I know paying could be difficult behind bars. I’ll take care of Flames.”
“Please do. People do want him dead.”
“Don’t worry. Unless they have an RT Descendent, they won’t be dumb enough to enter this area. I mean—“
“No it’s alright, I’m pretty dumb.” Fawkes transmitted, still salivating over Nyx. The inspector was in the cockpit. They were sitting in the crew area, all alone, together. “You know, this is the last time we’ll see each other for a while.”
“I know.” Nyx said, still smiling.
“Are you sure you weren’t planning this? Just as some sort of… revenge?” Fawkes asked.
“I really wasn’t.”
“Come on, give me one quick one before the one where I can make you do—“
“Nope.” she said pointedly, still smiling.
“Ok…” Fawkes said, glaring at her. “You win.” He grabbed a table, pressing it up against the cockpit door.
“I do?” Nyx asked.
“You do. It’ll take six minutes for this shuttle to dock.” He tapped a few buttons on the console by the cockpit. The chairs folded up and retracted into their bulkheads, clearing the entire area for them. “Six minutes where you do anything I want.”
Suddenly Nyx’s smile faded, she looked at the cockpit door worriedly, then behind her. There was no escape.
Fawkes had a wicked smile, determination in his eyes. He lunged.
–
–