ExSol Book 01, Ch. 03

Jeffrin slid into the booth across from his husband and let himself relax a little. The Scavvers Union was always a prickly lot to do business with. Not fans of outside contractors. Especially not well-equipped ones like him. Still, business had gone through. They'd bought all the parts Jeffrin had wanted to sell, and sold him most of what his quartermaster had been asking for.

"Relax, dear." Crawford read his mind, placing a gentle hand over Jeffrin's clenched one.

Jeffrin smiled at his husband. It was nice to have someone worry about him.

"I'm... good..." he assured the taller man. He always thought that Crawford's neat shoulder length hair made him look like a portrait of himself. So well put together. Completely in contrast with the scruffy mess that Jeffrin felt like.

"Do you want to head back to camp tonight or wait until morning?" Crawford asked.

"Tomorrow... I'm gate-lagged." Jeffrin shook his head. They'd made the transit from Virsalla to Macau in their equivalent of the afternoon. After a quick trip across Macau, they'd arrived on Navann in the planet's early morning. It had made for a long day even though Navann only had a 22 hour day cycle.

Crawford nodded and flagged the server down to put in their order. Jeffrin quietly enjoyed his husband's company without much talking while they waited. Eventually though, his eyes wandered around the dimly lit pub. It was very working class, to be expected of Gray Coast. Plenty of the patrons were engineers or mechanics that had clearly come here straight after their shift. There was one person who stood out.

A tall woman in a nice dress adorned with sequins was bent over the bar, face down on the counter. She was simultaneously well dressed enough to be a lounge singer, and a total wreck.

"You know her?" Crawford asked, nodding towards her. "You can hook up with someone tonight if you want, I don't mind."

Jeffrin blushed a little. He was a little horny but not enough to run out on a dinner date, even if it was in a run down little pub. Crawford did his best to let Jeffrin have his freedom, he didn't want his complete lack of any kind of libido to weigh Jeffrin down. Sometimes the concessions Crawford tried to make for him were a little offputting, though. His husband was entitled to take up some of his time.

"No... I mean... I think I... I know her. I wanna spend tonight with... with you..." Jeffrin shook his head. He glanced over at the woman draped over the bar. She didn't look so good.

"Okay," Crawford nodded. "Go say hi to her, though.

Jeffrin futzed with the napkin on the table for a bit, then got up and walked over to her. The bartender eyed him warily as he approached. As he got close, he recognized her for sure.

"Hey... Vesper?" Jeffrin asked softly, nudging her shoulder.

"I. Do. Not. Fuck. Men." Vesper growled as she sat up to look at him. A napkin was plastered to her dark skin and she peeled it off with a flash of embarrassment. She did look awful, but not drunk. Her eyeliner was running from where she'd been crying.

Vesper looked directly at Jeffrin and frowned a little. "Am-" she started to deadname him but stopped. "... What's your name?" She asked, her voice suddenly soft and tired.

"It's Jeffrin," he replied.

"Jeffrin. Glad you finally came out," Vesper heaved a heavy sigh and slumped back down across the bar. "Whadda ya want?" She mumbled into her arms miserably.

Jeffrin had only intended to say hello to a childhood friend but seeing Vesper like this made him feel bad. "Come... sit with us?" he asked.

Vesper was quiet for a while. She sighed and stood up to follow Jeffrin back to the booth where Crawford was waiting.

"Hello, miss," Crawford took it all in stride and politely offered her a hand.

"Vesper. Old friend of... Jeffrin's" she replied, making no real effort to smile.

"What's... wrong?" Jeffrin asked. He knew Vesper would talk about it if he asked. Crawford was good at getting people to talk.

"Just finished a shift at the comm hub," she grumbled. She shot Jeffrin a purposeful look.

Jeffrin had the Deluge Ascension, same as Vesper. He'd once hooked himself into that hub for several hours at a time, too. Sitting there with Deluge active so that the Scavvers Union could send properly encrypted signals that the AN's wouldn't hack. It was a depersonalizing experience, one he had been glad to leave behind.

"Do you have no other job opportunities?" Crawford asked.

Vesper groaned again, more emphatically this time. "I'm so hecked. They'll never hire me."

Jeffrin placed a hand on her arm. He felt his touch dissipating some of the tension in her body, but she had a reservoir of it.

"... I program predictive models. Likely AN actions and behaviors. Been programming models of Navann for years. I had an in. I was gonna do it for the Union for real, and I blew it." Vesper buried her face in her hands. Jeffrin guessed that if she had a pillow right now, she'd be screaming into it.

"I know a few councilors... I could put in a... a good word." Jeffrin offered. Vesper had been an incredible programmer when he'd known her. He was shocked that she wasn't already working for the Union.

"I had my pitch yesterday. It's already hecked," she warbled. "I bullied my way into a drone piloting job last week and... something shot me down. I may as well be blacklisted."

Crawford looked at Jeffrin purposefully. He nodded back towards his husband. "We're leaving tomorrow... to Virsalla. Come with us? Get a... a fresh start?" Jeffrin asked.

"You could continue onwards to Ishtar and go to Abrandia, too," Crawford suggested.

Vesper moped, sitting at the table with a dark cloud over her head. The server arrived with their food, soup for Crawford and a sandwich for Jeffrin. He set a drink down in front of Vesper, too.

"Han, if this is from some dude, I swear..." Vesper glared at the server.

"It's from her," Han pointed over his shoulder at some scavenger woman with blue hair on the other side of the bar. "You told me if I brought you another drink from a man you'd shove it up my ass, remember?"

"Damn right I did..." Vesper muttered, sounding a little bit proud of herself. She stared at the drink for a long time. "Thanks, you two. I might just take you up on that offer. But first..." she grabbed the drink and downed it, then slammed the glass on the table. "... I'm gonna go fuck some stranger."

"Come by our room around 11 tomorrow. Number 6543 at the hostel. We can't wait around for you," Crawford told her.

"Yeah. Sure. Fuck I hope she's a top..." Vesper murmured, clearly a bit buzzed from what she'd just pounded back. She stood up and walked towards the blue haired stranger.

"... Childhood friend?" Crawford asked once she was gone.

"Deluge support group..." Jeffrin sighed. "Hard to... hard to explain if you... you don't have it." He felt the little spark inside him. His Deluge. His Ascension. He hated that they were called that. He hated using it. His was worse than others.

"She's... colourful." Crawford said as he sipped at his soup. Jeffrin glanced up and saw Vesper leaving the pub with the other woman.

"... Yeah."

"Do you think she'll show up tomorrow?"

"... Nah."

***

Naz traced her fingers along the outline of Marielle's collarbone. The older woman continued to pay her no heed. Her fingers tapped steadily on a keypad with her eyes fixated upon the diagnostic screen in front of her. She admired the other woman's dark, curly hair and angular facial features. When Naz had first met her in Titan's hangar years ago, it had been her sharp eyes that Naz had been so infatuated with.

Naz decided to escalate a little, leaning forward on Marielle's shoulder and running her fingers along the side of her lover's neck.

"Naz, I know- aaah!" Marielle squeaked a little as Naz dragged the finely kept gel nails of her left hand a little more firmly against Marielle's tender skin. She wished that she was able to have all of her nails like that, but the compromise she'd arrived at with Miya was that she made aesthetic decisions about the left hand and Miya got the right.

"Do any know?" Naz asked, smiling softly as Marielle squirmed a little and finally tore her gaze away from her work.

"Yes, sweetie, 'any' does know that you want my attention." Marielle looked over at her with a coy smile and deliberately interlocked the fingers of her biological hand with Naz' so that she couldn't prod or tickle her. She raised an eyebrow at Naz, inviting her to elaborate on her cryptic comment in spite of the sarcastic answer Marielle had given.

"Only guessing... belief..." Naz grinned, leaning in and kissing Marielle on the cheek. "You believe my desire...?"

Marielle snorted out a soft laugh. "I know you want my attention, kit." She reached up, threading her mechanical fingers through Naz' fine hair and scratching at her scalp until Naz hummed softly and closed her eyes. Marielle used her complacent state to gently dislodge Naz and set her down on the seat next to Marielle's desk that wasn't her own. When Naz opened her eyes, Marielle was sitting back down at her desk, glancing back at her screen.

"And as much as I'd love to blow off work and pay attention to you, I've got a deadline to meet." Marielle gave Naz a sad smile and went back to tapping away at her keypad.

Naz decided to leave her alone, and went into her own hand terminal to pull up some vocal exercises. Before long, the rhythmic sound of Marielle tapping on her keypad was drowned out by the accompanying music coming out of Naz' hand terminal. She sang and followed the instructions of the vocal drills. When she and Miya were alone, she often sang softly and tried to follow along with the melody of Tempest surging inside of her, but she felt like she could not do it justice. If human beings could sense and interpret Tempest as music, then she figured there must be a reason for it. She accepted and embraced the reality that no matter how deeply she believed, she may never advance either her or the ExSol's understanding of Tempest by even a little. But even accepting that, she believed there was more to understand, and perhaps knowing more about music would play some small part.

"Naz, sweetie?" Marielle raised her voice to get Naz' attention, and she looked over at Marielle, realizing that she'd been lost in thought.

"... Yes?"

"Your terminal is beeping, kit." Marielle smiled at her and gestured towards the little piece of technology sitting in Naz' lap. Sure to her comment, the music and voice drills had stopped, interrupted by the repetitive beeping of an incoming connection request. Naz stared at it for a few seconds before Miya's exasperation rose to the surface and she answered the call.

"Yeah?" Miya asked.

"Ay, Miya." Wasseim greeted her, recognizing Miya by tone alone. "Y'secure?"

"Mari's here," Miya responded, glancing up at Naz' girlfriend who was pointedly ignoring her.

"Hey, Marielle, what's yer clearance level again?" Wasseim asked, raising his voice a little.

"Ninety four, I think?" Marielle answered absently. "I'm not really listening anyway, I'm busy."

"Ugh. close 'nuff," Wasseim sighed impatiently. Miya scowled at that comment. He was the one always lecturing her about security protocols, after all. "GovGen wants us to brief 'bout a long-range mission fer ya. Come 'round office four, prep the manifests ye'd need." It wasn't really a question and he didn't phrase it like one.

"Inbound, Uncle," Naz replied cheerfully, closing the connection. She went over to kiss Marielle on the cheek, earning a smile and an affectionate hand-squeeze from her partner before Marielle went back to her work.

Office four, as it was called, wasn't terribly far from Marielle's house and workshop, so Naz opted to walk. As she made her way through the quiet streets, her terminal buzzed again with an anxiety-laden text message from her uncle asking her when she'd be arriving. She ignored it, since she was only a few minutes away anyway.

"Natalya," Naz greeted the soldier working the door and she gave a nod of acknowledgement as she punched in the security code to admit her.

"Knight Major is in the conference room," Natalya said, opening the door for her.

"Unseen Blessing," Naz touched Natalya on the arm as she walked past her into the building. Someone else was posted just outside the door to the conference room, and as he spotted Naz he cracked the door open to whisper something to the occupants. As Naz drew near, he nodded at her and opened the door all the way. Her uncle was inside, as Naz expected, but there was someone else inside as well.

"Captain Nazmiya," Himiko Yamane, the Governor General and head of the Abrandian state addressed them by their combined name. She was sitting there with a cup of tea gently steaming on a coaster while her uncle stared at the large display screen that dominated the far wall. A map of the continent was on display with little information pins over various points of tactical interest.

"Unseen Blessing, Governor General," Naz replied warmly, dipping into a curtsy that was probably not appropriate military discipline.

"It's not. You're supposed to salute," Miya clarified. The fact that Miya knew meant that Naz knew it too, but it was Miya's instinct that brought that knowledge to the surface of their consciousness. Military protocol would never be instinctual for Naz.

"So," Wasseim broke into the greeting with a cheerful smile, pretending to be oblivious to the tension in the air in an attempt to break it up. "GovGen 'n I want you 'n Titan to consider hittin' a River metal refinery. We're tryin' to send a message t' the Hallucians. Let 'em know what Titan's capable of."

"You heard of the recent incident, I assume?" Himiko asked, shooting a cold look at Naz and completely ignoring her uncle's diatribe.

"Heard shooting... Important?" Naz asked, remembering that there had been a bit of an uproar late yesterday. They'd been on patrol in Titan but there'd been too much confusion over the comm channels and nobody had given them specific instructions. There'd been rumours and speculation amongst the rank and file when Miya had brought the machine in to dock, but nothing consistent

"You should have been briefed on that." Himiko scowled, shooting a look at Wasseim.

"Didn' label 'er mus'read fer pilots. Naz' in 'er rights t'skip it." Wasseim took a seat across from Himiko and fiddled with his hand terminal, making a few minor adjustments to the display on the wall. He played up his slang a bit, probably to provoke Himiko's ire onto him and off of her.

"Well, this is our response," Himiko said, shooting another distasteful look at Wasseim, taking his bait. "I want you to send a resounding message, one that undermines faith in the Hallu's military."

"So we're to leave the precursors' sad little creations as a pile of molten scrap and dust?" Miya asked, her interest piqued at the prospect of combat. She took over and straightened up her posture, letting a little grin creep onto her face.

Himiko's brow furrowed a little at that. She was clearly uncomfortable with Nazmiya's duality. Seeing Miya come out, that way had clearly perturbed her.

"S'the idea." Wasseim confirmed, slurring together his first two words until it was almost a hiss. This time, Himiko kept scowling at Miya, not taking her uncle's bait.

"Let us off the leash. Give us permission to fully engage and we'll get it done." Miya grinned wider, ignoring the tension. She hated rationing ammunition and fuel rods for the reactor. Besides, she enjoyed getting under the Governor General's skin a bit.

"We shall assess," Naz interrupted, retaking control and settling into a more relaxed, serene posture. "Miya, correct. Untether us?"

"Ye, ye. restrictions lifted, ay GovGen?" Wasseim sent her the files containing the scouting reports on the mining operation that he wanted them to attack. The information appeared on their hand terminal and the two of them started to look through it as their uncle and Himiko exchanged looks.

Nazmiya studied the files and scouting reports intently, analyzing the outpost's defenses and various means of defending itself and its means of calling for reinforcements. Talon was the dominant Autonomous Network on the planet, and its ability to reinforce facilities was far more impressive than River's. Still, River had some significant holdings on the northern part of the continent, near the Gate next to the Federation of Hallucia. Reinforcements would be aerial, flying drones most likely but perhaps a medium troop carrier. Nazmiya made a point in their notes about stocking Titan's extra stores with anti-air missiles. The two of them worked in tandem, tasks like this required their expertise and experience, not their individual personalities.

"Across the Network..." Naz mused silently. She thought of the vast network of Gates that connected the Precursor's planets to one another. The Network itself spanned hundreds of worlds at least, though only two dozen had been colonized by humanity before the machines had awoken and the Bereaver had closed off the Gate to Earth. ExSol society only spanned fourteen worlds now, worlds that Himiko probably had aspirations towards.

"Definitely. Himiko would never be satisfied with just Abrandia. Now that she has Titan, and us, she sees what is possible." Miya didn't share Naz' reservations with their role in an Imperial venture in a moral sense per se. She valued Naz' input on matters like that, but she was concerned primarily with protecting the two of them

"... Perhaps... fail the mission?" Naz floated the idea.

"We can't. They already think we're crazy. Unreliable. Uncontrollable. This is a tune we should dance to, Naz."

"Titan, useless, without us. Only our song, sufficient."

"That only protects us so much, along with our uncle's sentimentality. I don't doubt that the Governor General is searching for a way to replace us with someone else. See the way she looks at us?"

Nazmiya didn't fight and argue over their conflicting ideas. Instead, the two trains of thought collided with one another, impressed themselves upon one another, and Naz' will simply... took precedence. Miya grumbled slightly as she was defeated, but accepted the loss without further contestation. The two of them didn't, and couldn't exist or function without the ability to resolve their conflicts decisively.

Nazmiya's Tempest fluctuated at the conclusion of the disagreement. Their hand terminal was special-made and had no magnetic parts in it, but two others on the table nearby were standard models. The fluctuation created a wave of magnetism that pushed on the metal parts in the other terminals, sending them skidding across the table to clatter onto the floor. One of the lights in the room flickered slightly at the same time, and Wasseim's chatter cut out for a second as the eyes in the room looked towards them.

"... Apologies," Naz murmured softly.

"Anyway..." Wasseim continued, clearing his throat and grabbing Himiko's attention away from Nazmiya. Much as people were aware that Tempest was a sporadic and inconvenient Ascension, it was still disconcerting for people when Nazmiya involuntarily threw metal objects around the room as though they were possessed.

The two of them continued to work and Wasseim and Himiko continued bickering about a few small details. They submitted a mission profile to their Uncle within minutes, omitting the request for an extra rack of anti-air missiles. It would be simple enough to over deploy the stockpile that Titan normally carried and then retreat when radar picked up incoming airborne reinforcements. The mission would be an embarrassment to Abrandia, and Miya could avoid putting the two of them in any real danger. With luck, perhaps the blame for the embarrassment would fall upon someone else, but that didn't matter. Naz had no care for what the Governor General thought of her, and Miya only cared because it might be an inconvenience.

"... Fine, just use your judgement, Knight Major," Himiko raised her voice a little as she stood up. She looked over at Naz one last time before leaving, a trail of frigid air seeming to linger behind her. Wasseim exhaled through his teeth as she left, and then slowly plodded over to Naz and sat down on the table next to her.

"Y'allright, Naz?" he asked.

"... Fine, Uncle." Naz replied, putting her terminal down and looking up at him curiously.

"Still gettin' that cough?" Even as he asked, Naz did notice a shortness of breath, a constriction in her chest. It was never completely beyond her notice, but also persistent enough that she often forgot about it.

"We are." Naz nodded and looked up at him purposefully. The city hadn't had access to the cystic fibrosis medication Nazmiya needed for over a month now.

"We'll get yer meds. Chem shipment should be comin' in soon." Wasseim scowled a little, and shook his head. Naz knew there was very little her uncle could do to get shipments safely through the Gate Network and it frustrated him much more than it frustrated her or Miya. Wasseim looked down at his terminal and tapped a few buttons in the following silence. Naz' terminal beeped softly and she looked down to see that their uncle had approved their assessment of the mission, shortage of missiles and all.

"No wheels of Empire, turn. Our gaze, freezing, petrifying." Naz smiled a little bit, more for Miya's sake than for their uncle's bit it seemed to relieve him a little anyway.

"Let's just hope it doesn't blow back onto us."

"Tempest's song will guide... Have faith."

***

Nina walked through the hangar on her way to the med bay with a bundle of clothes fresh out of the 3D printer under her arm. They'd had to painstakingly haul and drag Dusk into that hangae since it was completely encrypted and locked to Dawn themselves. Good thing, too; Sam probably would have stolen it if he could have.

Every ExSol-made Mech Nina had ever seen out of Abrandia had square, blocky frames with heavy armor plates and modular parts and weapon systems connected to the torso. Dusk was sleek, slender, and its weapon systems looked almost like strange, oversized growths emerging naturally from the humanoid frame. Dusk had no pieces that looked like a head attached directly to the torso, but the missile rack on the left shoulder looked almost like one that was just far too uncentered. The vibroblade was grafted onto the middle joint of the right arm and it extended far past the hand. It would have touched the ground if the limb was positioned differently. It was clearly able to pivot around to get different cutting angles with a design Nina could barely even comprehend. The plasma caster on the left arm was the heaviest one she'd ever seen on a Mech that size and she wasn't sure how its power grid could possibly supply it properly.

She admired the mechanics of the strange Mech for a little bit and then continued onward into the med bay. She shoved open the door unceremoniously and walked in on Dawn. They were sitting up in the bed that had been set up for them, reading something on their hand terminal. Dawn had been in bed for a few days and the ghost of blonde stubble was beginning to show across their scalp and brows. When Nina tossed the bundle of clothes to them, Dawn eagerly sifted through it and pulled out the binder they'd asked Nina for. The binder they'd been wearing to compress their chest had been ruined by both the bullet hole and the auto-doc cutting it open to perform surgery. Nina had been forced to recycle the tattered garment, and Dawn had been self-consciously covering themselves with a blanket in a truly compulsive manner ever since

Dawn's eyes shone with relief as they looked at the newly fabricated piece of clothing but then immediately shot a distrusting look at Nina. She rolled her eyes and turned around, letting Dawn struggle and squirm into the binder without staring at them. Dawn was extremely strange but dysphoria was something Nina understood well enough. Some kind of bodily dysphoria was extraordinarily common amongst ExSols born with an Ascension. Nina was no exception, being trans herself.

"Thank you, Miss. This One is not exceptionally comfortable in Dawn's own skin," Dawn explained quietly.

"Ye. Know the feelin'. Dysphoria blows. Gotta do what'cha can," Nina said, turning around. Dawn's hands tightened, gripping some of the blanket on their lap. They looked up at Nina. There was some complicated emotion in their eyes that was quickly smothered and replaced by their previous stoic visage.

"Your empathy is... Appreciated, Miss Sahara," they said solemnly.

"... ye..." Nina nodded.

Dawn moved a little and the anklet attaching them to their bed rattled. Sam hadn't made Dawn wear a sedative brace on their arm which would allow them to incapacitate the pilot remotely, but they had put docking clamps on Dusk and that anklet on Dawn as a short-term solution. A sedative brace was an extremely dangerous thing to use, since the AN's could take them over. Carrina had probably talked Sam out of it.

"Yer jus' gonna go back t'doin yer shady shit, after this?" Nina asked eventually.

"Dawn must. This One has an important task." Dawn spoke quickly and with more clarity than Nina had heard them speak with yet.

"Well, long as ya rest up first. Gon' feel real silly if ye jus' go get cracked right away." Nina frowned at Dawn and crossed her arms.

"Dawn is afraid they must depart as swiftly as possible. Dawn's itinerary is very strict, This One cannot wait for bullet wounds to heal. Dawn had hoped that Miss Sahara would be able to convince her comrades to let Dawn go." Dawn stared very intently at Nina. She was struck by how much confidence they spoke with. As if she could make Sam and Carrina do anything.

"Sunrise, we ain't comrades, they're m'bosses. I can ask but they'll prob jus' refuse just cuz It's me doin th'askin." Nina rolled her eyes. She actually didn't think Carrina was that petty but Sam might be.

"That is... unfortunate. When Dawn saw Miss Sahara speaking so rudely to the other two, This One just assumed a level of equality within your relationship."

Nina scoffed at that. "S'how it works, Sunset. Normal world. Yer boss tells ya t'do sumthin hecked up, y'jus tell 'em no."

Dawn blinked at them. It was like Nina had just spoken in another language. They let out a tiny exhale that almost resembled a laugh. After a brief silence, Dawn nodded to themselves, then spoke. "Very well then. This One is not above bartering for Dawn's freedom. Dawn seeks to make a surgical strike into the depths of the Talon fortress. Assistance was never sought, but it could be of use. There is a specific piece of hardware that Dawn has been charged with retrieving, but there will be other riches that This One is happy to relinquish."

"So, backup plan's fer me t'vince Sam and 'rina that it's worth it to attack the fortress itself, huh?" Nina asked, eyebrow raised skeptically.

"Dawn thinks that Miss Sahara has a greater appreciation for what is possible than her bosses," they answered calmly.

"Y'mean I'm reckless 'n crazy," Nina snorted.

"Dawn is sure some would say that. Dawn would say that Miss Sahara understands that the lives of the Bereaved are fraught by nature. Safety upon the Precursor's worlds is a cruel illusion compared to what our cousins on Earth enjoy."

Nina was legitimately a little taken aback by Dawn's words. Cursing 'The Bereaver,' the Prime Minister of the Earth Coalition who had closed the Earth gate off from the network generations ago was common enough parlance, even if it was considered very inappropriate. Dawn's explicit naming of the Extra Solar colonies and peoples as 'The Bereaved' carried a certain level of solemn sacrilege that made Nina's own casual profanity seem tame.

An alarm rang throughout the facility before she could respond. Before Nina could even reach for her hand terminal, the ground shook violently as an explosion roared outside.

"The heck?" Nina grumbled, pulling out her hand terminal.

SYSTEM: EMERGENCY BROADCAST: Uder Attack Get to safeyr

Nina's brain raced. Carrina was asleep, so Twinshya wouldn't be in action, but the outpost's automated defenses had always been more than sufficient to chase off reclaimers like Widows and the like. Talon or even River had never launched an attack on their facility. They never would because they had no reason to. The outpost was of minimal strategic and material value.

"Miss Sahara." Dawn gently put a hand on Nina's arm and she looked at them with fear surging through her. "Let Dawn get to Dusk. This One can repel the attackers."

"What? No, the auto defences can--" Another loud rumble cut Nina off as the building shook. The sound of metal ripping and masonry crumbling was unmistakable and Nina almost lost her footing. "Heck. Come with me."

Nina cut off Dawn's anklet and ran out of the medical bay towards the nearest door. Smoke billowed in the hallway and Nina had to cover her mouth so that she didn't trigger an asthma attack. Squeezing her eyes shut and holding her breath, Nina bolted through the hallway and kicked a door off its hinges. She charged out, exhaling through her nostrils with her eyes burning and tearing up. She looked up, hoping to see whatever it was that was tangling with their automated defenses and gotten a stray shot off.

Nina froze in a moment of complete and utter cognitive dissonance.

A thirteen meter tall and twenty meter long walker was methodically climbing the hill that housed their camp. Nina had only seen videos of assault robots of that size. She'd only ever read about them or looked at mockups of what their schematics might be like. They existed on worlds that were the precursor's battlefields, ones that ExSols stayed far away from, for there was no safe haven like Abrandia to be found. Ishtar was a Talon stronghold, a manufacturing and resource center for the autonomous network. Gigantic assault machines like the Colossus Tick before her shouldn't be here, not according to everything that ExSols knew about the Precursors. But it was, and it was attacking their camp.

The Tick fired plasma casters. It had so many. An iridescent whip of light streaked across the sky. It was a sequential barrage that would have ripped a hole straight through the most sturdy thing any ExSol had ever made. It tore into the middle of their patchwork compound.

The entire structure buckled and the top two floors collapsed in on itself with a hellish shriek of bending and breaking metal. Nina was so transfixed and horrified that she just stared at the machine and didn't notice Dawn tugging on her arm until the enby yanked so hard they made her stumble towards them.

"... dock. This One can lure..." Dawn was yelling at her but her ears were ringing and the roar of a detonating missile drowned out most of the words. She heard them say dock, though, and nodded, following them, running towards the rear of the camp where Dusk and Twinshya were waiting.

The dock was mostly intact, save for a bit of the roof that had collapsed in the corner. Ryan's body was there, under the rubble. It seemed beyond belief that only a tiny section of the roof had collapsed in the very corner, and it had gotten Ryan. Nina stared at him numbly before Dawn tugged on her arm again. "Please, Miss Sahara, This One needs you to release the docking clamps on Dusk."

Nina nodded and went over to where Dusk was thoroughly locked in place with three separate clamps restraining the Mech's legs, arms, and torso in a truly unnecessary act that Sam had insisted upon. Nina went over and punched in the administrative override code into the clamps that she'd secretly installed into almost everything around this camp. With a hiss and a clank, they released, and Dawn wasted no time in nimbly climbing up into the cockpit in spite of their partially-healed injuries.

Nina backed up slowly as Dusk rumbled to life even as a series of autocannon fire rattled through the building in a deadly cacophony. Any one of them probably could have killed her instantly. She never would have even heard them if so.

Dusk moved to one of the outer doors, moving with a nimbleness that made it look like a living thing and not a Mech. It paused there for a moment, and Dawn's voice projected outwards.

"Dawn apologizes for the subterfuge, Miss Sahara, but Dusk would stand little chance at stopping that foe." Their voice was almost the same tone that it always was, but Nina wondered if she detected a bit of sorrow in it, or maybe she was just having another panic attack.

"H-Hey! Can't... leave..." Nina took several steps after Dusk's retreating form, but before she could get close, Dusk vanished behind the shroud of its stealth field. Nina stumbled, falling onto her knees where Dusk had been, staring at her hands as they made imprints in the dirt.

"Miss Sahara," Dawn's voice came again, from further away but not so far that Nina couldn't have seen them if the stealth field weren't active. "Dawn suggests that you pilot that other Mech. It will be destroyed if it remains sedentary, and your comrades are likely already deceased."

"But... It's 'rina's..." Nina looked up, wobbling onto her feet. Dawn didn't answer. Nina didn't know if they could even hear. They'd probably already left. Nina stared at Twinshya's shadowed form in the corner, numb and dazed. She knew how to pilot the Mech. She knew how to release the docking clamps and knew Carrina's access codes to power it up. It was there in her mind but right now she couldn't recall any of it. Couldn't even begin to fathom how she'd start the process.

Amidst the cacophonous roar of her home being torn apart, a high pitched squeak both cut through the noise and yet was distinctly out of place amidst such destruction. Nina looked down, towards the open doorway, and saw her little grey kitten Jeffie crouched low on the floor, looking up at her with his tail tucked beneath him. The sight of the terrified kitten jolted her into action, her eyes went wide and she ran towards him, scooping him up into her arms. He buried himself into her embrace, clinging tightly to her as she ran over and released the docking clamp using her backdoor. She climbed into the cockpit that she knew so well but had never sat in. She grabbed the ventilator tube, and exhaled slowly to calm her nerves so that she didn't gag and puke all over her poor furry passenger. She fed the breathing tube down her trachea as quickly as she dared, eyes watering, gag reflex threatening to make her sick. She tried not to wonder whether or not Carrina had washed it the last time she used it. She flicked the machine on, and was immediately 'rewarded' with the strange sensation of having a machine breathe for her. She strapped herself in, started Twinshya's boot sequence, and turned on her Pulse.

Her anxiety, numbness and terror melted away instantly, replaced with a sense of power, of preparedness, confidence, and nigh-maniacal euphoria. She would have cackled with glee if she didn't have a tube down her throat. Her fingers darted to the controls with a confidence that should come from piloting the glorious piece of technology that was Twinshya. The Mech that she should always have been the pilot of. The Mech responded to her whim and loped out of the same door that Dusk had vanished through.

Twinshya's gait was a bit uneven, pushing off with the back leg, landing on its front two. She burst out of the crumbling remnants of her home and her sensors lit up, analyzing the outline of the Colossus Tick, putting pins on its weapon systems and various other points of interest. Her fingers darted to the comm systems, and she typed out a message in a wide broadcast.

SYSTEM: EMERGENCY BROADCAST: Nina here ridin Twinshya. Whos alive? Ill come get ya.

She considered sending out an audio broadcast along with it, but speaking with a tube down her throat was a trick that she hadn't learned yet.

She cut a wide path out of the building, keeping away from the Colossus Tick. The massive robot made short work of their camp, finishing the job it started and reducing it to utter rubble. No answer came on the comm. Dead silence. Nina entered Counter-Pulse and Twinshya shifted out of offense mode and into defence mode. Along with it, her chest froze up and she ceased to be able to breathe under her own power. Her euphoria, too, faded, and Nina felt the crushing horror of what had just happened grip her once again. She'd gotten no response on the comm channel.

Can't stay here and wait just in case. I'll just end up fragged.

Hands shaking, Nina piloted Twinshya away from the destruction of her home and colleagues without even thinking about what direction she was going in. An alert lit up her screen and she looked over at it numbly. The readout for her deflectors had registered a high-temperature aversion. She frowned at it for a second, feeling like she knew what that meant, but it wasn't quite coming to her. Two more aversions showed up, and then one more appeared and blared bright red with an alert. Chassis damage.

I'm being hecking shot at!

Realization hit her and she cursed internally, swapping to her rear cameras to see five four-legged walker robots chasing her and firing plasma casters at her. Fleas, interception craft that would easily outpace Twinshya and attempt to detain her so that heavier pieces of machinery could be brought to bear.

Nina knew Twinshya better than Carrina did. She analyzed all of the combat data after the fact. She knew what worked and what didn't. Carrina had never been interested in Nina's input.

Twinshya pivoted, pushing off with its front legs and pivoting on its back as it twisted its torso to face the side-mounted autocannons towards her attackers. She concaved the torso ever so slightly to tilt the two outer autocannons inward and fired all three. The slugs converged upon the nearest attacker and struck simultaneously, tearing off two of legs and the mounting where the plasma caster was attached to the main body.

Immediately afterwards she leapt forward to make herself a moving target, spinning the Mech around so that she could bring the cannons on the right side to bear while the left side ones reloaded and cooled down. The enemy robots split up and tried to encircle her but she twisted Twinshya into position and fired. Autocannon four cracked, slug slamming into the body of one of the robots and sending it staggering backwards but not quite disabling it. Autocannons five and six threw up errors. Six had jammed and misfired, five had suffered a short circuit. Nina growled in frustration and just leapt forward again, trying to get behind a nearby cluster of rocks.

I told Sam that I needed to run a full diagnostic on those. Heck!!

Plasma casters scored the ground and rocks around her as the pursuing robots gave chase and tried to encircle her. She reoriented and fired cannons one through three at the first robot that jumped around the edge of the rocks after her. One of her slugs missed but the other two ripped into the torso of the machine and fried something vital enough to bring it down. Another came around the right side and she did the minor adjustment she needed to fire autocannon four at it. Again, the single slug wasn't quite enough to down her target but it did stop it from targeting her properly, its plasma caster went wide and burned a hole in the rock. A trickle of magma rolled down the side of the stone, cooling and solidifying before it could reach the ground.

Nina felt her Pulse shift and become active again with an unmistakable viscerality that was as jolting as if she'd just been sprayed with freezing water. She'd activated her Pulse many times before without the assistance of the ventilator but then always lost consciousness during the Counter-Pulse, so the sensation of transitioning from one to another in this way was new to her.

She paused for a moment in shock, not registering that she still had enemies shooting at her. Three plasma projectiles came in fast and the now-weakened deflectors only managed to avert one of them. Twinshya's diagnostics screeched and alerted her to the damage being done. Without even looking at the damage reports, Nina aimed and fired the railgun. There was a deafening supersonic boom as the heavy tungsten slug was nigh-instantly accelerated to several times the speed of sound. The slug hit and obliterated Nina's target like she'd just fired a pistol at an ant, continuing onward to send a forceful spray of dirt and soil into the air.

So that's why Carrina was always firing this thing. That ruled.

In spite of the circumstances, Nina couldn't help but find herself grinning around her breathing tube at the obscene act of overkill. Some part of her knew the euphoria was getting to her but she didn't dwell on that. Nina being in Pulse put Twinshya into offense mode and allowed her to bring not just the main cannon to bear but also the high-intensity laser mounted on its back. When the two damaged robots limped around the rocks after her, she was able to target lock them with the laser and burn holes in their flimsy frames. The stupid crummy laser overheated and shut down after only about six seconds of use but it was enough to melt through one robot's leg and finish shearing off the weapon mounting of the other.

Her pursuit disabled, Nina wasted no time and didn't let herself relax. She set Twinshya into a quick run down the hill towards Abrandia before reinforcements came. Fleas were always used by the Autonomous Networks to harass and slow targets so that other machines could catch up and finish quarry off. She pushed the Mech as hard as she could, glancing at damage reports and wincing at the work she knew she'd have to do to fix them. She prayed that none of the damage would cause her to break down before she could get to safety.

***

1-06:03 Butterfly: Miss Nina? Are you alright? What happened when you went to see Dawn?

1-08:22 Butterfly: Nina, I think the Militia just put out an alert and warrant for your arrest, are you alright?

1-08:45 Butterfly: They are definitely looking for you. If you get this message, don't come to Abrandia. I hope you're okay.

2-20:21 NinaS: Talon just flattened our camp

2-20:30 Butterfly: Huh???

2-20:31 NinaS: Talon sent a colo tick.

2-20:31 NinaS: Everybody is dead.

2-20:32 Butterfly: Nina, that's not funny, I'm serious, the Militia is looking for you.

2-20:32 NinaS: Not jokin

2-20:33 NinaS: I took twinshya and barely got away

2-20:34 Butterfly: You're not kidding? Where are you?

2-20:34 NinaS: Sending coords

***

"So, uhh... I'm trans... by the way..." Vesper mumbled as the woman who'd bought her the drink took her by the hand.

Rip the bandaid off, Vesper.

The woman turned around and smiled at her, eyes twinkling with excitement. She squeezed Vesper's hand just a little bit harder but didn't say anything. A flush of heat overtook Vesper. The strange woman was pretty with a cherubic face. One side of her head was shaved and her hair swept all to one side. She'd dyed it a vivid blue which Vesper really liked. She was a lot shorter than Vesper, like most women, but led her confidently by the hand into the street. She walked with purpose towards a nearby hostel.

A thought drifted into Vesper's consciousness, bringing some anxiety with it. She tensed a little bit at the thought.

Rip the bandaid off, Vesper.

"But, uhh, that doesn't mean I'm a top," she said. The other woman looked over her shoulder and laughed at her. She grinned knowingly and continued pulling her along. They entered the lobby of her building and called the elevator. Vesper realized she was shifting around nervously like some bashful virgin.

You're better than that, Vesper. You're hecking gorgeous. She should be blushing and treating you like a princess. She's lucky to get to fuck you. Where'd your confidence go? Don't let these Union shrews take that from you.

Vesper pulled the woman a bit closer to her, and leaned down for a kiss. Before she could get in, the woman twirled her around, pinning her against the wall. She pulled Vesper's head down with a hand behind her neck. She kissed her forcefully, shoving her tongue into Vesper's mouth. Vesper moaned into the kiss as the shorter woman forced her against the wall. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. The woman broke the kiss and gave Vesper a long look from top to bottom. Still not speaking, she nodded to the elevator.

Vesper blushed and turned around to walk into the elevator. The other woman grabbed Vesper's ass and squeezed. She yelped a little, which only made the blue-haired woman smirk more.

As soon as they were both in the elevator, she was back on top of Vesper again. She pressed her against the wall and squeezed her breasts.

"A-Aah!" Vesper squealed loudly at the intense sensation.

The blue-haired woman leaned in and, finally, spoke. "These pretty little tits of yours still sensitive, princess?"

"Y-Yeah... oh fuck..." Vesper's arms trembled and she bit her lower lip. The elevator dinged. Second floor. The blue-haired woman let go of Vesper's breasts and grabbed her by the wrist.

Gosh, she's so insistent... who is she?

Vesper followed her unreservedly in spite of the mystery. A bloom of eager desire roiled in her chest.

They entered the woman's room, and her hands went up under the hem of Vesper's dress. She pulled Vesper's gaff to the side to free her penis from its tuck. She firmly pressed two fingers into her package and started rubbing.

Vesper moaned, her legs wobbling. She backed up a bit and ended up sitting on a side table. The blue-haired woman simply advanced forward, standing between Vesper's legs.

"Not gonna get hard for me, princess?" she asked.

"N-not without... a stim..." Vesper gasped.

"Tsk," the blue-haired woman clicked her tongue disappointedly. "Didn't bring anyyyy. Feels good though, right?" She cocked her head slyly as she continued to rub.

Vesper shivered in pleasure, and nodded. It felt really good. She wouldn't cum from this but if the other woman kept going she'd be a needy whimpering puddle in no time.

"Awwww, no words? Did I break your poor braaaaaain?" she asked. For as forceful and toppy as the other woman was being, she had a really playful, almost childish way of speaking. She leaned in to kiss Vesper. Vesper moaned loudly into her mouth as she slid her tongue past Vesper's lips

Suddenly, she pulled away, leaving Vesper gasping for breath. The blue-haired woman walked over to a duffel bag on the counter and started digging around inside. She nodded towards a door. "Bedroom's in there, babe. I need a sec."

Vesper almost ran, but she stopped herself. Her safety system. She liked this woman but she had a no tolerance policy.

Always use your safety, Vesper.

She activated her Deluge, grabbed her hand terminal, and ran the program. The terminal beeped as it confirmed the order and shut off the connection. She slipped the control bracelet around her wrist. It was a simple gold loop and didn't look at all like a control device.

When the program finished, she set her terminal down on the table and locked it, then headed for the bedroom. She peeled out of her dress and underwear and hung them over the dresser. She sat down on the bed and crossed her legs. After a second, she uncrossed them. The other woman had seemed plenty interested in her penis. Maybe even a little bit too interested.

If you didn't sleep with chasers you'd never sleep with anybody.

The thought was meant to cheer her up but it was actually a little bit depressing. She tried to push it away.

She was still trying to shake it as the door opened and the blue-haired woman entered. She'd removed her pants but was still wearing her jacket and top. She had a strap-on harness over her panties and she was looking at Vesper hungrily. She stroked a handful of lube over the length, making it glisten.

Without a word or a moment of hesitation, she walked over to the bed and shoved Vesper so that she flopped over on her side. She laid down on the bed behind her. One leg went over top of Vesper's and hooked it. A hand went around and under her waist, grabbed her cock, and slowly started to stroke.

Vesper let out a pleasured sigh and let her body relax into the other woman's. She positioned the strap at the entrance of Vesper's ass and paused as she continued stroking her.

Vesper let herself enjoy the attention and the anticipation. She felt like she was melting over low heat. The other woman's strap kept poking at the entrance to her ass and every time, she'd tense, but then she'd pull back and continue mauling Vesper with her hands.

"Hey... C'mon..." Vesper whined softly, finally buckling under the teasing. She shuddered at the sensation of the other woman's hand on her penis. It was nice, but it wasn't enough.

"Beg me for it, princess," she chirped sweetly. She rocked her hips a little, teasing Vesper's ass with the tip.

"J-Just fuck me already!" Vesper half whined and half growled.

"Atta girl," the woman tittered. She used the leg hooked around Vesper's thigh to control her, pulling her back as she pushed forward. Vesper moaned as the woman started to thrust. She had been rough with Vesper the whole time but she was rougher here. Her hand on Vesper's penis squeezed and stroked like she was trying to wring it out of her.

The pressure inside her and the joy of getting fucked made electricity run through her erogenous zones. She moaned unreservedly, melting into the other woman's hands. In this position it felt like she had no agency and no control over her own pleasure. She couldn't escape the other woman, couldn't move towards her, away from her, couldn't touch herself, couldn't force her body onto those hands. She was just a doll in her grasp.

The blue-haired woman's other hand went directly to one of Vesper's nipples and started gently squeezing it. Vesper gasped and whined at the delicate fondling. Her nipples were so sensitive now that her reactions were completely disproportionate.

"Mmm. Your voice training's starting to fall apart a little, princess," she whispered into Vesper's ear with a playful chuckle. Vesper felt a flash of embarrassment and rage flood her. Normally she would have torn the other woman's face off for a comment like that. Instead, all she could do was shudder and moan girlishly as the blue-haired woman fucked her. She moaned very girlishly.

"Atta girl," she giggled again. "Your sounds are really pretty. You gonna cum soon?"

"H-Heck... You..." Vesper groaned pitifully. Her body was on fire. The other woman's hands on her penis and her breasts were overwhelming her, crushing her.

"Mmm. You're leaking like crazy, babe. I think you're gonna get my hand pregnant," her voice was breathy as she picked up the pace, fucking Vesper even harder. It was too much. Vesper wailed in pleasure. She was mad at this woman for saying some of that shit. She loved the way she'd flirted with her so unreservedly. She was a chaser bitch and she hated her. She loved the way she was getting fucked. She was cumming like crazy in a swirl of confusing and conflicting feelings.

"Heck... A-Aaggghhhhhhh," Vesper wailed, her body spasming and writhing. The other girl clung to her closely, keeping her restrained like a wild beast as she was wracked with uncontrollable pleasure. She felt the sticky wetness all over her thighs and hip. A sob was ripped out of her chest as the last wave of pleasure crashed over her and sucked every last coherent thought out of her in its undertow.

The other woman slowed, then stopped. She pulled the strap out of Vesper's ass and stood up and stretched. "Whew! Girlies like you are always such a good time. So much more fun to fuck," she said with a carefree laugh.

Vesper murmured something weakly. Even she wasn't sure what she was trying to say. Her eyes were fluttering weakly.

"Mm, I'm gonna get some water. Stay right there, princess, I'll be back in a bit for round two," she said, unbuckling the strap and letting it fall to the ground.

"Yeah..." Vesper murmured, slipping in and out of coherence as the blue-haired woman closed the bedroom door.

***

Tae hummed to herself happily as she put on her clothes and went into the living room. It was always nice when she got to fuck some trans girl while doing her missions. Trans women were her favorite. They were so hot. It just so happened this one was the objective of her mission, too.

Tae went over to the table where the woman had left her hand terminal. The small hacking device Tae had attached to it right before she'd fucked her was almost certainly finished its task by now. She picked up the terminal and flipped through it. She quickly located some really juicy nude selfies and sent them to herself for later, then went looking for the predictive models that she'd presented to the Scavver's Union yesterday. Vesper. That was her name. It was plastered all over these reports.

She must be a little insecure. Poor thing.

Tae flipped through the reports quickly, locating the worst case scenario simulations. There was one in particular she was very interested in, and she sent it to herself immediately.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Vesper's voice came from the bedroom doorway. She must be kinda paranoid to follow her outside so quickly. With a sigh, Tae grabbed her pistol and aimed it at the other woman as she turned around. She winced a little. She'd really wanted to fuck her again before she had to kill her. Bummer.

"Sorry baby, you shoulda kept on nappin," Tae giggled. She hesitated on pulling the trigger. This girl was really hot. Most trans women were hot but she was tall and made really nice noises. She'd gotten really defensive and feisty when Tae had pointed out that her voice training had slipped and that was so fun. Maybe she could fuck her one more time before she had to kill her. She had some rope and she could make a gag. That was a really good plan, actually.

The girl's eyes had become distant. They looked like deep, dark pools of swirling water. Was she activating her Deluge? That was a weird thing to--

Tae heard a high pitched whirr, and then something smashed through the window, humming like a swarm of angry bees. It crashed into Tae and she yelped as she pulled the trigger. Her shot went wild. The thing buzzed and zipped around the room erratically, bonking into Tae and buffeting her. It wasn't actually hurting her but it had done plenty to keep her off balance.

Tae got her bearings and tried to pistol whip the buzzing thing. A metallic clang filled the room as her tiny assailant went flying. It struck the wall and twirled through the air for a moment. Tae got a good look at it. It was a drone. This bitch had used her Deluge to control a drone. Probably parked it right outside just in case she'd needed it. Heck.

Tae raised her pistol to shoot the annoying thing but it zipped back out through the broken window before she could.

"Princess. Where are youuu?" Tae called out as she stalked into the bedroom. The balcony door was open, and the curtains were fluttering. Tae realized the depth of her error as she ran out onto the balcony to find the woman. She saw a tiny flicker of movement in the darkness on the street below, and she opened fire, emptying her clip. She waved away the smoke from her gun barrel with a growl, and squinted. She couldn't see if she'd gotten her or not. Either way, the gunshots, even silenced like hers were, would probably draw attention. Vesper would probably go screaming for help, too. That would be conspicuous.

"Time to skedaddle, I guess. Kill you later, baby."

Tae holstered her gun and hopped off the balcony railing. She had to take a trip to Ishtar after all.

***

Miya drummed her nails on the ceramic mug of hot chocolate on the table in front of her as she cast glances about the room. SolSanna's was a nice enough little cafe that doubled as a community space. She'd been forced to go and pursue her backup cruising plan when she'd spotted the clinger from a few nights ago at her normal spot. SolSanna's wasn't quite as seedy as she'd thought it might be, which was both a blessing and a curse. There were less gross people here than some of her normal spots, but she also felt a little out of place just going up to some of the boys here and asking them to fuck her. There were a few cute looking guys, but both of them were at the same table, playing a roleplaying game with a small group of friends, talking softly and rolling dice. She didn't doubt for a second that she had the ability to convince one of them to have a go at her, but breaking apart that group seemed like a pitifully desperate move, even for her.

"Havin' a good day, ay?" an overly chatty waitress came up to Miya with a carafe of the hot chocolate she'd been sipping at and topped her off. It seemed odd to Miya that she'd have a whole batch of the stuff pre-prepared. She didn't care enough to ask, and when she gave the waitress a once-over, the quiet little femme-amorous aspect of her libido wasn't piqued. She preferred tall people which excluded most women.

She grunted softly, not bothering to engage with the woman even a little. She politely gave Miya her space, going off to tend to some other patrons.

"A lost venture, tonight?" Naz offered.

Miya didn't answer with words, she just buzzed with annoyance and then started to think through the list of boys that would take her call. A moment later, she pulled out their hand terminal and started to thumb through the list with an appropriate amount of hopelessness.

"Can't even fuck your girlfriend," Miya finally responded, giving up on the list and tucking the hand terminal away.

"Marielle's fornication, mine~" Naz replied with a mental laugh, even though she knew what Miya meant. Marielle was busy tonight, some horrifically boring sounding meeting with a bunch of her fellow tech designers.

Miya looked up at one of the mirrors on the far wall. One singular woman looked back at her even though there were two. Her dark, wavy shoulder length hair hung down, messy and disorganized. Her face and features were just a little bit too petite and femme for Miya's tastes. Her E-cups were withheld by a tight sports bra because she didn't like showing them off.

"Damn, I wouldn't fuck me. What am I doing?"

"A blatant untruth, sister. You would and have," Naz teased her.

"... Yeah. I think I just want to go back and masturbate," Miya grumbled, drinking half of her remaining hot chocolate in one go.

"Self-pleasure, self-love, admir--" Naz began the thought but Miya cut her off by rising up to her feet. She dropped a few coins on the table as a tip for the waitress, and left the little cafe behind. She took an immediate turn and left the plaza, heading down a footpath towards the city center. When she reached the first major branching path, she paused for a moment. Going straight would take her to a train station, taking the turn would lead her through a residential area and eventually home. Both would get her there eventually, but going by foot would take a bit longer.

They decided to walk. Naz wanted the exercise, and Miya wanted to avoid the crowds. Their thoughts eventually turned to the mission. Miya pulled out their hand terminal and started looking through the mission details as she walked through the quiet district, glancing up only to make sure she didn't walk into anybody. There was nothing much to see that she hadn't already seen and considered. Given that the plan was to intentionally fail the mission, planning was a bit easier than it might otherwise have been. On a random thought, Miya went and pulled up weather reports for the area. The refinery was pretty far up north, it would be cold, and Miya hated Titan's heater; it blew hot air right on her face. She made a note to herself to wear proper warm wea--

A hand grabbed her around the stomach. Another caught her wrist on the opposite side and wrenched her sideways. She opened her mouth to scream but a heavy cloth sack went over her head, muffling the noise. She immediately tried to kick at her assailants but someone caught the foot, and lifted it up off the ground. Her other leg was caught by another hand almost immediately afterwards. The people, it was at least two of them, moved with terrifying efficiency, slinging her struggling and writhing body between the two of them like they'd done this before. They didn't waste a single second and carried her off.

She tried to kick, thrash, and claw at the kidnappers but her efforts were useless, and in less than a minute, they lifted her up and into something. A heavy metal door closed behind her and an engine started up. A moment later, someone forced her wrists together and bound them. She tried to kick with all her strength, using the fact that she was now on some solid surface to gain some extra leverage. Blind as she was, all she did was kick some metallic wall and stub her toe. A moment later, they caught her legs, forced them together, and bound them just as they had her wrists. Defeated and disabled, Miya forced herself to calm down a little and not exhaust herself with useless fighting. She'd been trained for this, she needed to pick her moment carefully, not fight constantly and keep them on-guard.

The ground, or whatever it was, vibrated and someone rolled her over so that she was face-down. They kept a hand on her back to steady her. It was almost considerate.

Miya started to count as the vehicle moved. She had an idea how to estimate how far away from the pick-up point they'd be. If they dumped her into some nondescript basement, she'd need to be able to guess where in the city she might be. By her count, they drove for about twenty minutes. The hand on her back grabbed her under the armpits, and another pair of hands grabbed her feet, lifting her up and out. She squirmed and struggled, testing her captors just a little, but they held her tight. As she'd expected, they went down a flight of stairs into an air-conditioned interior space. She was positioned upright, standing precariously on bound legs. Her arms were raised, and she heard someone working. She tried moving her arms, but found that they'd been secured to something above her head. She tugged, but nothing moved in any serious way. She heard people moving around, but nobody touched or interacted with her for several minutes.

Finally, a hand appeared on her stomach, and Miya noticed the contrast. The people handling her had been rough, professional, and dispassionate. The hand on her stomach was slow, deliberate, sexual. "Pretty little kit I've got here, hmm?" a robotic voice rasped in her ear.

"Heck you!!" Miya shrieked, twisting about and thrashing against her bonds. She furiously made an effort to headbutt her captor but didn't connect with anything.

The robotic voice giggled, a strange garbled noise as it passed through the voice modifier. "Sorry, Miya." That gave her pause. It called her Miya? Their legal name was Nazmiya, what enemy of Abrandia would know them as Miya, not Naz, and not Nazmiya?

The hood came off abruptly, and Miya blinked against the harsh glare of the indoor lights. Marielle was there, her biological arm still gently fondling their stomach while the heavy cloth bag was held in her robotic prosthetic hand. She was wearing a tight leather corset that perfectly pushed up but didn't conceal her breasts. Marielle tossed the bag onto the floor and reached over to a table covered in various instruments of sadism and selected a riding crop.

Miya's rage welled up. This was one of Naz' stupid fetishes. The rage only lasted for the briefest of moments before Naz took over, her eyes going wide. Marielle had gone through all this for her! She was overjoyed.

"Miya will forgive," Naz giggled, wriggling against her bondage. Even as Naz' eagerness suppressed her into the back of their mind, Miya knew the truth of that statement. She literally couldn't stay mad at her alter-ego.

Marielle swung her riding crop, the tip whistling through the air and expertly slapping one of Naz' nipples. She squealed loudly, twisting and trying to get away in vain. Marielle tsked disapprovingly. "Speak when spoken to, prisoner," she asserted sternly, rubbing the rough tip of her crop against the sore nipple she'd just struck. She was in character, now. And so, too, did Naz enter hers.

"Impossible acquiescence," Naz murmured softly, glancing downward at her ankles. They were bound together but not bound to anything else. Marielle smirked at her and tapped her riding crop steadily on Naz' chest.

"I'm not going to gag you, but--" Naz shifted her weight onto the rope attached to her wrists and snapped her feet up, trying to kick Marielle in the stomach. Marielle reacted in time, her robotic arm moving with inhuman speed and grabbing Naz' ankles. The riding crop came down, brutally slapping one of Naz' tits and then the other with practiced efficiency. Naz cried out and tried to kick at Marielle some more but Marielle had a suite of cybernetic and biological modifications that would have made her much stronger, more reactive, and more dexterous than Naz even if Naz wasn't tied up. She laughed at Naz' attempts to fight back, holding her ankles firmly with her robotic hand while she set down the riding crop and fetched some rope with the other. She expertly looped the rope through the ankle bindings and then let Naz go and stepped back. Naz tried to loop her toes into the new length of rope to undo it but the angle was all wrong and she had no leverage.

Marielle carried the rope over to a hook somewhere else in the dungeon she'd had Naz brought to and started tying them together. A moment later, she started to pull the slack out, lifting Naz' bound legs off the floor, suspending her in the air. She kept working, looping a sling around her back and attaching that rope to the ceiling to alleviate some of the pressure on her ankles and wrists, deftly avoiding and mitigating Naz' attempts to kick, claw, and bite her.

"And now, we separate," Marielle said to herself in a slightly sing-song voice, breaking character just a tiny bit. Doing rope was Marielle's happy place. She separated Naz' ankle restraints from one another. She tried to thrash and kick but Marielle kept her under control effortlessly and she tired herself out in moments. She threaded more rope around the leg that no longer had rope attaching it to the ceiling, and pulled it to a separate hook. The tightened this final tie, and it pulled Naz' legs apart, leaving her pussy completely exposed and vulnerable.

"There we go," Marielle said cheerfully, selecting a knife off of her table of toys and running her metallic finger down the edge of it. It was an old design, probably a relic from Earth with no tech or safety features at all, just a gleaming steel blade with a metal handle. She used three quick slices of the knife to remove Naz' top. The cheap, mass-produced cloth fell to the ground and left Naz' top half naked except for her bra and several bits of rope that were holding her up. She nurtured a predatory growl in her chest as she destroyed Naz' clothing. She was already back in character as the jailer.

She stared at Marielle intently for this part, not struggling or squirming. She knew that even if she tried to hurt herself on the blade, Marielle probably had enough of an enhanced reaction speed to keep her from harm. Seemed pretty ridiculous to struggle, either way. Marielle's blade found the center part of Naz' bra next, and with a small tug, the keen steel blade severed the flimsy wire holding Naz' underwear together.

"You have such pretty udders, prisoner," Marielle jeered, squeezing one of Naz' prominent breasts with her robotic hand. Naz gasped in pain, Marielle's prosthetic delivering a vice-like crush as it squeezed her flesh. Naz tried to pull away in vain and met Marielle's gleeful eyes with a look of defiance. "Still wanting to struggle, huh? Well, struggling won't stop me from fucking that sweet pussy of yours until you scream."

"Uncoerced," Naz said coldly, staring at Marielle.

Marielle just laughed and moved around to Naz' skirt, cutting it and her panties off it even more easily than she had her top. Naz was left almost completely naked, helpless, and suspended in the air a little over knee-height. Marielle grabbed her riding crop again and started drumming it softly against Naz' left thigh. "How long do you think it will take me to break you?" she mused.

"Eternity."

The riding crop swished loudly through the air and slapped her thigh. Naz hissed angrily and twisted in her bondage, not moving with any real intent other than to not be a stationary target. Marielle barely flinched at her diversion, taking aim again and slapping her just as hard and accurately right next to the first spot. Naz kept struggling and thrashing but Marielle continued to strike her with the crop as though Naz wasn't moving at all, using a combination of her extensive experience and her enhanced hand-eye coordination. After the fifth strike, Naz howled in pain and snarled at Marielle, swinging herself to the side to try and get close enough to bite at her. Marielle just side-stepped around her effortlessly and pressed the pointer finger of her robotic hand into the meaty portion of Naz' right thigh. She paused for a moment, looking Naz right in the eye.

The sharp pain of an electric shock hit Naz and she screamed, her body twitching involuntarily. Marielle laughed and pressed her finger into another part of Naz' thigh closer to her pussy and shocked her again. Naz howled louder, her pathetic attempts to thrash and get away from Marielle's hand having even less success than her attempts to ruin her aim with the riding crop.

"Does my prisoner not like that?" Marielle laughed gleefully, shocking her again, this time much closer to her pussy. Naz didn't reply verbally, she was a nigh-feral mess of impotent anger, growling and snarling at her tormentor. "Well, too bad, I have a fully-charged battery tonight." Marielle pressed her finger into Naz' clitoral hood, and paused, making eye contact with her with a sinister grin spreading across her face.

"Dare not..." Naz hissed.

Instead of shocking her, Marielle's finger started to vibrate, and Naz gasped at the sudden pleasure ripping through her. Marielle held the agonizingly powerful vibration in place, doing tiny circles that had Naz moaning and undulating to the sensation. The stimulation was forceful and it torturously powered her towards an orgasm. She gasped and tried to wriggle away from the finger but it was a total impossibility, Marielle chased her and kept the pressure up, pushing her, pushing her...

She stopped, and Naz howled in rage, snarling ferociously at Marielle as her release was denied. It wasn't clear if Marielle's ability to pull away at the most frustrating possible moment was due to some technology in her hand or if she just knew Naz' body that well.

"You're only going to cum if I let you, prisoner," Marielle laughed, pressing her finger into another part of Naz' labia and shocking her. Naz screamed again at the intense pain. The thigh shocks had been painful and hard to handle but the one on her labia really hurt. She tried to squeeze her thighs together to alleviate the agony but Marielle was in between her legs and she couldn't fight the stronger woman and the rope.

"Ugh, this is getting so uncomfortable..." Marielle murmured, adjusting her synthetic leather miniskirt. She moved around to Naz' side and then stepped over her suspended form, straddling her. She lowered her weight down a little, sitting gently on Naz' stomach with only a fraction of her weight. Naz could feel the wetness already there, Marielle's excitement was making a little puddle on her stomach. She unbuckled her skirt and let it slide off. The garment landed on the floor with a clank. Her clit was already bulging obscenely from its hood, several inches of it extending down and almost touching Naz' stomach.

Marielle exhaled softly, her eyes fluttering. Naz didn't quite know how Marielle controlled her various enhancements, but she recognized that face. Marielle's clit swelled with blood, pulsing and hardening. More of it slid out of its sheath, draping across Naz' stomach, heavy and wet. Marielle moaned softly as the prehensile appendage that had once been her clit swelled with blood and took on a life of its own. The biologically modified organ writhed and wriggled its way into the crevice between Naz' breasts. With a soft hum, Marielle brought her hands to Naz' tits and squished them together roughly, creating a tunnel for her to fuck.

Naz twisted in her bonds, trying to shake Marielle's grip on her breasts as she started to thrust her pseudocock through them but between her lack of leverage and Marielle's inhuman strength she stood no chance at stopping her. Marielle thrust her hips forward, the weight of her movement making Naz rock and and forth in her bondage. Her pseudocock slipped through the other side of Naz' tits and bumped her in the chin. With a snarl, Naz whipped her head down, teeth flashing as she tried to bite the organ violating her. She missed, and Marielle laughed cruelly as she repositioned herself.

"You're very lucky you missed, prisoner," Marielle snickered, tightening her grip on Naz' tits and squishing them together so hard that it started to hurt. "I would have been very cross with you if you'd bit my clit." She continued to gently rock her hips against Naz' cleavage, the wet pseudocock smearing its lubricant everywhere as she did so. Before long, lewd slurping sounds filled the dungeon to accompany Marielle's soft feminine moans. Naz felt Marielle's pussy absolutely drip excess wetness onto her stomach. It pooled heavily and trickled down towards Naz' own cunt and she shivered even as she continued to struggle. Marielle's hands were squeezing so hard. Naz saw the fat of her breasts bulging obscenely through the tiny gaps in Marielle's fingers. The abused flesh was starting to turn a deep red as she kept up her relentless pressure on them.

"Fuck," Marielle gasped, shuddering and panting orgasmically as her fucking motions took on a bit of an erratic pace. Her entire body shuddered except for the mechanical arm as she rode out her orgasm, still lazily sawing her pseudocock through the makeshift pussy she'd made out of Naz' chest. "Oooohhh..." she sighed as she finished, leaning forward and resting her bio arm on Naz' shoulder. Naz' response was immediate. She pivoted and sank her teeth into Marielle's forearm. With no warning, she bit down as hard as she could.

"Ow!" Marielle cried out and wrenched her arm free with an impossibly powerful motion. Naz' jaw ached and she winced in more pain than she'd caused her captor. Regardless, Naz looked at the small trickle of blood running down Marielle's arm with a sort of feral pride. Marielle looked at it too and laughed. "What a cunt," she laughed. In retaliation, she grabbed both of Naz' nipples and twisted.

Naz screamed at the brutal treatment but Marielle didn't relent. Her nipples were stretched and wrenched until it felt like the skin would tear. Naz cried and tried to pull free but accomplished nothing. She heard Marielle's sinister laugh even as she whimpered and squeezed her eyes shut. "Aw... is my little prisoner broken?" she asked.

Naz cried and sniffled softly, nodding her head. Marielle cocked an eyebrow at her, and dipped her biological fingers into the mess of her own fluids coating Naz' bruised breasts. She coated them in her own lubricant and then brought two fingers up to Naz' lips with a smirk. Naz pouted, sniffled, and opened her mouth obediently to let Marielle finger fuck her orally. The resistance in her was broken, the tiny instinct in her telling her to bite down on Marielle's digits remembered too strongly the stinging pain still in her chest. Marielle grinned in triumph and power as Naz relented before her and gently sucked her fingers.

Satisfied, Marielle withdrew her fingers and stepped to the side so that she wasn't straddling her anymore. A blade popped out of her robotic hand and she sliced through the ropes keeping her suspended by her legs. She gently set Naz down, keeping her steady with her other hand. Naz successfully stood on her own for a little over a quarter of a second and then her legs gave out. Marielle caught her and let her slide down to sit on the floor with her back to a wall.

"Are you going to be a good girl if I untie your wrists?" she asked, her voice stern but caring. Naz sobbed softly and nodded, curling her knees up to her chest. Marielle sliced those ropes too and then unwound the rest. Naz flexed her fingers, working out the kinks in them as she continued to curl up upon herself. Marielle slipped her arms underneath Naz' back and into the crook of her knees and lifted her up. Naz just whined softly, letting the stronger woman carry her like they were newlyweds. Marielle leaned forward, a tiny satisfied smirk on her face.

"Do you want to wind down now, or do you want to fuck first, little one?" she whispered.

Naz squirmed a little, feeling her surging, unfulfilled horniness. She looked up at Marielle, meeting her eyes. She glanced down at her vagina, and then back again, and then nodded.

"Is that option two?" Marielle asked with a tiny laugh. Naz nodded, and Marielle raised an eyebrow at the gesture. "No words for me?" Naz pouted a little and bit her lip. She shook her head, and then once again looked down at her crotch, squirming needily. Marielle leaned in, kissing Naz gently on the forehead, then trailing down to kiss her on the lips as well. Marielle barely moved otherwise, but a moment later, Naz felt the tip of Marielle's pseudocock at the entrance to her pussy. It wriggled its way inside her like a snake, and she let out a little squeak as it started to penetrate her fully. Marielle exhaled softly, enjoying the coupling even as she stood perfectly still and held Naz steady.

Naz' eyes fluttered and she twitched in Marielle's impossibly strong grasp. Marielle forced another several inches of her massive pseudocock inside her and she squeaked as it filled her to what felt like capacity. It folded in on itself a little bit until it felt like a twitching undulating fist inside her. Her mouth moved wordlessly, vision swimming as she went into orgasm mode. There was no way not to cum with Marielle's pseudocock inside her. She went completely limp in Marielle's arms and squeezed her eyes shut as the mass of flesh inside her rocked her body over and over again.

Marielle's lips gently kissed Naz' exposed neck, her own breathing ragged and irregular as she gently thrust and flexed her pseudocock inside Naz' overwhelmed pussy. Naz rode the orgasm for what seemed like forever, another wave of overwhelming pleasure washing over her just as the previous one ebbed. Marielle herself was relentless, pushing Naz' limits and stimulating her out of her mind. Eventually, it became too much, the stretching was starting to ache. She was exhausted. She was overstimulated. Her arms were numb and weak. She raised a hand with a pinky pointed at the ceiling in a colossal effort.

"... mmmmm..." Marielle moaned softly, sounding like she was riding her own high. Slowly though, her pseudocock started to slide out of Naz' abused and stretched pussy. It came free with a slimy pop and a trickle of both of their natural lubricants. Marielle carried the two of them through the building. Naz' eyes were unfocused. She was drifting on an orgasmic cloud. Marielle laid her down on a mattress, and Naz curled up into a little ball. Marielle moved around the room a little bit, putting a few things away. She joined Naz on the mattress before long, so that the two could drift off to sleep.