ExSol Book 01, Ch. 04

Twinshya was in really terrible condition. One of the plasma caster hits had burned a hole almost clearly through Twinshya's back leg. The other two had hit the Mech just below the cockpit and had come within half a foot of killing Nina. She'd have to take it apart to fully evaluate the depths of the damage but the conduit and power supply were probably totally hecked. Autocannon six's misfire had basically scrapped the entire weapon assembly beyond repair, and five's power failure probably meant the conduit needed to be replaced. Actually, for all she knew, even if she fixed the conduit for autocannon five, it would misfire just as badly as six and just cause more damage. She'd have to uninstall it, fix it, and test fire it to be sure.

She laughed, suddenly and bitterly. She had no garage, no tools, no spare parts. Thinking about fixing Twinshya at this point was a sad joke. Even if she could fix it, what would be the point? She'd be better off taking it apart and selling the parts for passage through a Gate. Maybe she could apply for refugee status or citizenship on some other planet. She couldn't go to Abrandia and trying to go to Hallucia would likely end her up as one of the Hallu's wives; the man was an infamous chaser.

The high pitched whine of a small electric engine drew Nina's attention and she walked over to an opening in the tall, twisting canopy of vines that she'd hidden Twinshya behind. Robin's lithe form was hunched over a scooter as he drove towards Nina's hiding spot. He probably couldn't see Twinshya just yet. He might not even have seen her. She'd sent him her exact coordinates, though, so he'd know she was here somewhere.

Robin started to circle around the dense wall of flora rather than just head towards it. Nina rolled her eyes and pushed her way through the vines so that she could wave to him. He spotted her and drove over, parking his scooter and removing his helmet.

"Nina! Are you--"

"Miss Nina," She cut him off, scowling. Her whole life had just crumbled to pieces but she'd be damned if she let her sub skip using her title. They'd agreed. That little thing had to stand.

Robin came up to her and blinked in confusion. "Err... is it...?" He trailed off, catching her serious expression. "... Miss Nina, are you okay? What happened?"

"Long heckin' story," she muttered, looking behind her at Twinshya. It was barely visible in the shadows of the overgrowth.

"Tell me. I came out here to see you." He took a cautious step forward and took her hand in his.

"Went to see Dawn. Turns out that weirdo is involved in some sum'n shady. They ate a few slugs and I ended up dragging their bleedin' butt all the way to our med bay. Guess the 'litia thinks I'm involved."

"You... carried them to your camp? Yeah no kidding the Militia thinks you're involved, Miss Nina, you helped them escape." Robin sighed and gave her a nervous smile.

"Fer one, the 'litia can blow me. Fer another, I don't care how much of a shrew Dawn is, I ain't letting someone bleed out on the street when the people who shot at them tried to crack me, too."

"So then... Talon attacked your camp? Your message said it was a Colossus Tick, you don't mean one of those gigantic assault machines on the battlefield worlds, do you?"

"It was pretty hecking big, yea. Looked like a Colo Tick; I've seen the videos." Nina walked over to Twinshya and placed a hand on one of its front legs.

"There's... not supposed to be any machines like that on Ishtar, is there?" he asked delicately.

"Yer reavin' right there's not. Doesn't mean it didn't almost turn me t'fumes."

"There's... the Autonomous Networks don't ever send that kind of firepower after ExSol settlements..." Robin shook his head, not believing it.

Nina aggressively took a step towards Robin, grabbing him roughly by the shoulder. Robin flinched a little bit, looking up at her not with fear in his eyes but a sort of pain, almost a betrayal. She shook her head and let him go, covering her face with her hand. "Ye. It makes no reavin' sense. But Rina, Sam, Ryan, and Nugan ain't any less dead. I ain't any less hung out to dry."

Robin hugged her suddenly, squeezing her tight. She was a little taken aback but she let him do it. She let out a ragged breath and put one arm around him to squeeze him back. "Nina I want to send a message to the Militia to alert them. If Talon hit your camp like that, they might hit Abrandia too."

"... Yea, 'course. Keep my name outta' it," she said. She couldn't help but feel a little bad; she hadn't even thought to warn Abrandia.

"I can do it anonymously. Where are you going to stay?"

"Not a lead. 'litia will scoop me up if I try to go into the city. I thought 'bout goin' off-world, but, uhh..." She paused and rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably.

"I'll go with you," Robin stepped forward immediately and took her hand in his. Nina winced. She wanted Robin to come with her, of course, but it felt so selfish and so disrespectful of her. Robin had a life here, she couldn't possibly ask him to do this.

But you didn't ask. He's saying.

"... thanks." Nina blushed a little, looking away from him.

"There's plenty of opportunities for a Mech pilot in the Network. Twinshya isn't great but you always complained about how Sam never spent the money or used the parts you guys collected on upgrades. We can fix it up, make it gleam a little." Robin gave her an encouraging arm-tug as he spoke.

"Twinshya's a pile. How're we even gonna fix'er? Can't drag it to some offworld mechanic and pay for parts by sellin' your booty, if we even get it that far." Nina looked at the blown-out autocannon port. A misfire like that was a worst-case scenario. It was a disastrous crescendo to years of cutting corners and doing less than the bare minimum.

Robin giggled at that and smirked at her. "Why not? I'm pretty enough. I could find someone who pays in autocannon parts."

Nina rolled her eyes at him, and gave him a recriminating scowl but he just kept a sort of a coy yet serious look on his face as he smiled at her. "Err... Butterfly, I was kiddin'. Wasn't askin' you to..." She rubbed her shoulder, feeling a tad ashamed that she'd asked Robin to prostitute himself to support her. She'd never actually whore her boyfriend out. Only metaphorically.

"I know, but it's nothing I haven't done before. I wouldn't mind." He had a look of innocent sincerity on his face and Nina felt a flush of embarrassment that he'd twisted her into a knot the way he often did. He'd pay for that, later.

"Don' think I ain't keepin' a tab on your brattiness just cuz I'm not in the mood to enforce jus' now." She harrumphed grumpily but Robin just tittered a bit and nodded.

"We'll work this out, together. I want to do this with you." Robin smiled at her. He wore a beautiful expression that made her heart melt and dulled the cutting edge of the anxiety and horror that was stabbing through her chest. Nina grabbed him and pulled him close, crushing him in a hug that made him squawk as the air was forced out of his lungs.

"... Thanks," she whispered to him. She squeezed him tightly until he squirmed a little and then let him go. He wheezed and coughed softly but a conspiratorial grin slowly found its way onto his face.

"So... Twinshya must be registered in Abrandia under Carrina's name, right?"

"Ye. Prob." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, trying to remember the last time Carrina had actually taken the Mech into the city. Years ago, probably.

"So, let's say to the border agents that Twinshya's comm hub is busted. Won't be a hard sell with the condition it's in. They won't demand that a registered pilot take her ventilator out just to talk to them."

"Y'think? Never known an officer not t'trouble someone if troublin' was an option." Nina spoke from extensive experience.

"Yeah, because you look the part of someone they expect to have to harass. You've never been a pilot in the company of a charming academic from the university." Nina scowled at him and Robin raised his hands defensively. "Hey! They're the jerks! I think you're great!... No matter how much of a delinquent you look like."

"Butterflies ain't animals much for diggin' I thought." Nina tapped her foot and pursed her lips as she considered how she was going to make him pay for that comment. Robin just grinned at her mischievously. He was such a brat. "Fine. S'do this. If it doesn't work then guess I was hecked over anyway."

"It'll work fiiiine." Robin waved her concerns away and exited Nina's little shelter in the direction of his scooter. "I'll meet you at the gates and explain to the customs agent, they won't even look at you twice."

Nina got into Twinshya and delicately maneuvered it around the strange vine-like growths that were native to this part of Ishtar. She killed her radio and followed Robin's retreating figure speeding away on his little scooter towards Abrandia. She caught up to him easily and kept pace behind him. As they crossed the field that housed Abrandia, she got a hail on the radio. In the distance she saw the familiar silhouette of Titan shift and move towards her. She continued to approach slowly and non threateningly even as Titan hit her with a target lock from its disintegration beam. She felt a surge of panic but kept on approach, playing up the damage on Twinshya's back leg a little. It was only a bit of an act since it did have that huge hole in it. If Titan chose to fire that weapon at her, none of Twinshya's defenses would matter in the slightest; she'd be dust before she knew what was happening. She reached down to pet Jeffie to alleviate some stress.

Robin zipped on ahead towards the industrial district and one of the major entry gateways into the city for Mechs. A few moments later, the target lock from Titan dropped, and the massively over-engineered Mech stopped approaching.

She saw Robin dismount his scooter and approach the customs office. She parked Twinshya just outside the city limits and waited. Only a few minutes later, Robin came out of the office and waved her forward. She walked Twinshya into the city without a single accostation of any kind, following Robin's scooter. He led the two of them to one of the public docking spots only a short distance inside the city and she parked Twinshya inside, powering it down and waiting for her Counter-Pulse to run out. She waited out the last minute and then once she was able to breathe again, removed the breathing tube with a series of coughs and a brief fit of retching. That was going to take a lot of getting used to. She looked through the cameras and saw Robin, scooter parked nearby, talking to one of the engineering administrators. She shut everything down and climbed out of the Mech, opening herself up to the familiar sound of people working on machinery.

"... Pretty banged up. Do those deflectors even work properly?" The guy was looking over Twinshya with a critical eye.

"A little, not a lot," Nina answered, wiping a little of the drool off her chin.

"We'd rather do the maintenance ourselves, thanks. Can you just charge parts and equipment to my account?" Robin asked. Nina frowned at that. They hadn't discussed using Robin's money to buy parts. She hadn't even thought Robin had any savings to buy parts with.

"'Course. Honestly I doubt my mechanics would know where to start with a machine like this, anyway. Let my office know what you need. I'm guessin' you'll want to set your own priorities, considering how much work it needs." He gave Robin a grin and a nod, tapping a few buttons on his hand terminal and then turning and walking away as he continued to tap.

"Butterfly, we didn' discuss drainin' yer accounts," Nina said quietly to him, trying not to get too worked up over this.

Robin snorted at that and looked at her with an amused expression. "If we're going off-world, Miss Nina, then my Abrandian currency won't be worth much. May as well invest it now."

"S'pose," she agreed begrudgingly. It made sense. She turned around to assess the damage to Twinshya. "Guess the first step is figuring out what to fix, huh?"

"Good thing we have a great mechanic to do that," Robin said, walking up to her and taking her hand in his to give it a squeeze.

"Suck-up." She grinned at him and leaned down to give him a kiss.

***

Vesper scampered into the security office almost entirely naked except for the bracelet that had saved her life. There were only a few Scavver Union employees working at this hour, and the one woman amongst them immediately rushed over to cover Vesper up with her coat. Of course the woman was the only one to do it. Pigs.

Then again, a woman had just tried to shoot her for no reason Vesper could comprehend. That was some serial killer shit. That was the kind of thing you saw in old Human media. ExSol's didn't do that kind of stuff. ExSol's looked after one another, they didn't just... start shooting...

Vesper realized that the security officer was talking to her but she was breathing too hard and her heart was beating too loudly to make out any of the words. She was in shock.

"Someone... tried to kill me... blue hair, 170 centimeters, she..." Vesper paused as she spoke numbly. Her drone had camera footage. It probably hadn't gotten much of a clear shot since she'd used it to ram into that psycho, but it must have something. She activated her Deluge and called the drone using the simple controls on the bracelet. The officers jumped a little as the small whirring bundle entered the room. Being wrapped in Deluge felt so unpleasant right now.

The normal trickle of paranoia took on ExSol form. It was her, with that mocking grin on her face. She levelled her pistol at Vesper. "Your voice training is starting to slip a little bit, princess."

Vesper shook it off. She looked over at the security officers. "My hand terminal, its back in the room," Vesper mumbled. She let go of Deluge as one of the officers caught the drone. He left the room and returned with a blank hand terminal. Vesper plugged it into her drone and started sifting through the camera recordings from the past thirty minutes. Most of it was blurry and unusable, but she got one good still frame of the crazy woman and sent it to the officers.

"She's not in the system. I'll put out an alert for her." One of the officers replied quickly.

"I'm getting a report about gunshots. Could it be related?" the woman asked as she flicked through her terminal.

"Yeah... she tried to shoot me from the balcony." Vesper nodded. She remembered the sound of the pavement cracking and spitting up rubble as the shots had come within centimeters of her. She had a scratch on her leg from a little bit of rock that had been thrown into the air. It still hurt.

"Let's put up a red alert. See if we can sweep her up before she gets out of the city."

"How do we do that? This hasn't ever happened before."

"... Let's call Tetron."

More security officers started showing up, talking agitatedly. Eventually, someone brought her some incredibly hideous boy clothes but she put them on anyway. She was too tired and too stressed to be dysphoric.

"We checked the room, Miss Tesfaye. There was nothing left behind." An officer approached her and addressed her.

"Really? My hand terminal? My dress?" she asked.

"Nothing. Sorry."

Vesper growled. Her hands clenched into fists. On top of it all, that bitch had robbed her. Unbelievable.

Tetron showed up, looking more bedraggled and with darker bags under his eyes than normal. His gaze settled on Vesper.

"... Vesper? Th'heck happened?" he asked.

After Vesper had destroyed his drone, she would have thought he'd never want to see her again. She would have thought he'd be fed up with her shit, seeing her here tonight. Instead he just looked worried.

"I already told them everything...," she said with a sigh, covering her face with her hands.

"... yea. Damn. Ye got shit luck, huh?"

"Oh heck off, Tetron!! I'm fucking strangers because I'm sad and depressed, because YOU hecked ME!" she jabbed a finger into Tetron's chest. "You couldn't even stick up for me when you know it wasn't my fault that stupid drone got shot down!"

"Ye, Vesp. I know wasn't."

"B-but... So why didn't you--"

"I did. Been tellin' the brass. Been yappin at em every day. Nuttin." Tetron spoke softly.

"You... you're...?"

"S'politics, Vesper. Can'stand it m'self." Tetron sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry s'happened t'ya... On top of everythin'."

Vesper deflated. It wasn't even Tetron's fault. She wasn't even allowed to be mad at him. This sucked so bad. She reached for her hand terminal and cursed as she realized it was gone.

"Hecking cunt stole my terminal, too," she grumbled.

"... Yer hand terminal?" Tetron asked.

"She swiped it. I left it in the room along with my clothes." She was going to wring that psycho's neck if she ever got a hold of her. That was her favorite dress.

"Terminals're crypted, Vesper. Why swipe it?" he pressed her.

That did stir something. When she'd gone to check on that psycho in the other room, she'd been holding Vesper's hand terminal, but... but it had been glowing. It hadn't been locked.

"She hacked my terminal."

"What's on yer terminal s'worth hackin' n'shootin ya for, Vesper?" Tetron asked.

A cold realization washed over Vesper. She had no idea how she hadn't thought of this. "... The predictive models." This woman had specifically sought Vesper out. Bought her that drink. Vesper had barely said two words to her before being asked back to her place. This had all happened the day after she'd presented her models to the Scavvers Union. She looked over at Tetron, who had a dark look on his face.

"Why would someone want those?" she asked.

"S'the thing 'bout knowin' a worst case scenario, Vesper. Ye can use that info to prevent it..."

"... Or to cause it."

***

Miya's quarry lay just ahead and she felt the anticipation of combat settle over her. No matter the nature of their mission, be it win, lose, AN, or pirate, she dedicated her all to it. It was only in the cockpit of Titan that she felt singularly focused, that Naz' thoughts didn't crowd her mind. Miya loved her sister dearly. But she had few moments of truly being herself and only herself. Sometimes, you just needed a little space.

Miya tromped Titan up the rocky, snow-covered crest. The snowfall had started on her way here and was piling on the six-inch layer that already covered the terrain. Titan was a 58 tonne Mech. Its heavy footfalls weren't hindered at all by the environment, but lighter machines may not have fared so well.

The Precursor facility up ahead was a combination of an open-pit mine and a material recycling plant. Very few precursor facilities actively mined ore out of the ground anymore, this one was one of the few that still did.

Many planets on the Network had been all but stripped of valuable metals eons ago. Instead, recycling facilities and orbital collection were the lifeblood of the Autonomous Networks' war effort against one another. Perhaps the Precursors' civilization had been this way for a long time, or perhaps they had adopted such a model on their own after their masters had died off. That was one of countless questions that may never be answered.

Miya raised Titan's arm, pointing the disintegration beam mounted there at a long-ranged missile pad that was already painting her Mech with a target lock. The weapon itself was the only thing mounted on Titan's left arm. It consisted of a pair of vaguely cylindrical devices tipped with metal spikes that her technician had told her were probably particle accelerators of some kind. Their understanding didn't go much beyond that. When it came down to it, understanding how the technology works wasn't important, it was only important that they understood how to make it work.

Miya targeted the weapon at the missile emplacement and started the pre-fire diagnostic. Miya hated that the system wouldn't even fire before running a check. It slowed the weapon down and made it less useful against moving targets, but the engineers insisted that it was necessary. The test only took a second and a half, and the weapon fired. Two lines shot out of the spikes at the end of the disintegration beam, travelling almost perfectly parallel. The beams of energy were a ghostly, translucent red that didn't even register on most of her instruments. They angled towards one another ever so slightly, and collided right where Miya had aimed - right in front of the missile emplacement that was about to fire on her. There was a soft hiss and a pop as the two beams impacted with one another. The intersection sent out a shockwave of power that rippled through the air. The metal and ceramic of the missile emplacement puffed outward in a gentle swell of powder and dust as all matter within a ten meter radius of the discharge just... disintegrated. Only a small amount of the turret had avoided the blast and it collapsed downwards into the cloud, kicking it outwards.

"I love this weapon so much."

The facility's defenses mobilized immediately, no doubt having reassessed the threat that Titan posed. Three large robots emerged and began walking towards her, immediately identified and labelled by her instruments as Giraffes. They were three-legged and had tall, somewhat skinny bodies that housed ammunition for the heavy gatling cannons mounted on the top. They started towards Titan even as a swarm of several dozen Fleas charged through the snow, sending up small clouds around them as they moved around to flank her. Miya began to backtrack down the hill, getting Titan out of the Giraffe's range and bringing the triple-barrelled rapid-fire medium autocannon on the Mech's right arm to bear. Miya acquired and resolved target locks rapidly, the autocannon spitting out high velocity shells to smash the Fleas into the ground. Eleven were destroyed with Titan's autocannon not even beginning to approach its limitations. Respecting her firepower, the Fleas on her right flank peeled off and tried a less direct approach.

The dozen approaching from her left came around a snowdrift and fired their plasma casters, the super-heated projectiles causing ripples in the snowfall as they approached. Titan's deflectors redirected the fire, perfectly capable of keeping the weak bundles of plasma away from her armour at this distance. She turned Titan to face her attackers, arming several direct-fire missiles, the kind that the two of them should have left behind for missiles capable of chasing a nimble, airborne target. She fired off four of them in rapid sequence, creating a wall of fire and force that decimated the attacking Fleas.

Don't forget the Giraffes. They're the real threat.

Her sensors went dark for a moment as snow and fragments of rock obscured the remaining Fleas from her instruments. The little pips vanished, replaced with another indicator as the first of the Giraffes came up over the crest that she'd first fired upon them from. The heavy robot didn't fully come into view, but the top half, the half with the gatling cannon, had a clear line of sight. A hail of slugs came quickly and Miya moved Titan to avoid the worst of the assault. Rounds not fully deflected pinged and cracked against Titan's armour, causing minor amounts of damage. A round struck at the shoulder joint of Titan's right arm and penetrated, causing her diagnostics to flash red for a few moments before going green again.

She brought the right arm up and fired the autocannon as rapidly as the weapon was capable of. Heavy slugs smashed into the top of the Giraffe and made it stagger backwards, gatling cannon firing wildly into the air. Armour plates crumbled and broke away as Titan's attack drove it past the ridge, damaging it severely but not to the point where she could count it out of the fight. An alert came up on Miya's diagnostics and her autocannon shut down to reload and to disperse heat. Miya took Titan into a full-throttle run away from the rise even as the other two Giraffes came into line of sight. Their heavy guns fired, bullets chewing at the rocks that Titan ducked behind. They continued to fire, cannons pounding the rocks into fragments, seeming intent to tear Titan's cover to shreds rather than wait her out.

Miya launched one of her two targeting drones up into the air. The little airborne device surveilled the area and painted a targeting lock onto the two approaching Giraffes. It didn't last long before River, the Autonomous Network itself, forced its way into the drone and took control of it. Miya's controls were locked out. An instant later, the timed explosive planted in the drone went off, destroying it and denying River the ability to use it against her. It didn't matter, the drone had fulfilled its purpose, and Miya fired twenty of her guided missiles. The nimble weapons shot directly up into the air, flying high and then angling themselves to descend upon their targets from almost directly above. About half of them got through the Giraffe's countermeasures. The light payloads struck their targets, damaging and staggering them.

Miya brought Titan out of her half-shredded cover and raised its left arm, sighting and aiming the disintegration beam which had just finished its charge cycle. Twin red beams flashed through the air, intersecting with one another directly in between the two Giraffes. The wave of force travelled outward, vaporizing some of the legs and half the bodies of the two robots, sending a tumble of metal and ceramic dust to weigh down the snow. The two robots fell inwards, crashing into one another. The right one exploded as some of its munitions detonated prematurely.

Miya marched Titan forward, exulting in the raw force she'd just delivered, the surging melody of her Tempest bringing her will into existence. The third, mangled Giraffe wobbled around the corner, trying to fire its gatling cannon at Titan but instead receiving a triad of autocannon slugs that ripped the top half clear off the bottom.

Miya retook the ledge, sensors dark as River's resistance broke and fled, abandoning the facility to Titan. She sent out a long-range ping, looking for the air support that she knew would come. A squadron of twenty aerial drones were inbound, and Titan's guided missile reserves were at half capacity. The data would be in Titan's navigation logs, Miya would have plenty of plausible deniability for why she was calling the mission off. Governor General Yamane would be embarrassed rather than emboldened, just as Naz had wished.

Something else registered on the sweep. It might not have registered at all had it not been so cold. There was a lone heat signature up high in the sky and far away. It was moving tangentially to the two of them. It didn't look quite right to her all the way out here, all by itself.

She flagged the reading as she retreated, turning Titan around and putting it into a three-quarter throttle run back towards Abrandia. There would be time to look at strange flying objects later. She had a long trip ahead of her before they'd be back in Abrandia.

"Such a powerful warrior, my brave sister," Naz crooned encouragingly, humming internally to Tempest's song. Naz was back, now that the battle was over.

"I could have done more. This was a chance to push my limits, and Titan's. Instead all I got was a tiny taste," Miya grumbled.

"Be not upset for lost symbolism, dear Miya. It's not really lost, it never existed at all." Miya never would have understood Naz' words if the two of them didn't share a mind, but the words came with impressions and feelings that carried additional meaning.

They travelled for hours in relative silence, punctuated by Tempest's song and Naz' intermittent singing. Eventually, an Abrandian transmitter tower pinged them.

"Oi! Naz! Naz! Come in!" Her uncle's voice immediately came through the speakers in an emergency transmission.

"Yes, Uncle?" Naz replied.

"We need ya back here AFAP! Big force inbound from Talon!" He sounded panicked, which explained the emergency transmission.

"We are already on our way, Uncle," Naz reassured him.

"Talon can't possibly mobilize a force to threaten the Militia, old man, stop being such a-"

"Heck off, Miya, I'm yer CO!" Wasseim snapped at her, the rebuff filling Miya with rage and indignation. "This is different. Just full throttle yer butts back here!"

"Two of us, but only one posterior, Uncle," Naz replied cheerfully, and Wasseim cut the connection.

***

Dawn slowly drifted back to consciousness, and was immediately aware of the soft howling coming through the cockpit's speakers. They groaned softly and unbuckled themselves from the seat so they could stretch a bit. They worked the stiffness out of their joints slowly, wishing wistfully for a moment that this would be the last time they slept in the cockpit on this mission. It wouldn't, they knew.

Macau was a bleak windy dustball of a planet whose main redeeming virtue was that the Autonomous Networks seemed to have even less interest in it than the ExSols did. The atmosphere wasn't quite breathable, so even if Dawn had felt safe sleeping on a bedroll next to Dusk, it wouldn't have been possible. There was enough oxygen that Dusk's atmospheric filters were able to keep the oxygen levels sustainable in the cockpit, but Dawn would be cleaning those filters for at least an hour afterwards.

Dawn flared their Zenith a little higher to warm themselves up and also to stir Dusk's reactor and systems into action. They dropped the stealth field that Dusk had been hiding behind. It was a testament to Dusk's incredible energy economy that it could maintain the stealth field indefinitely. Dawn started the Mech back into motion again, heading towards the only bastion of ExSol society on the entire planet.

Yvaim was a domed, atmospherically controlled colony with a massive transmission antenna that maintained a line of sight to all five of the gates on Macau. It was the reason the colony had been established at all, and it was the reason why it hadn't been abandoned after the Awakening of the Autonomous Networks.

Dusk marched through the dust and against the wind towards Yvaim with the stealth field disabled. The administrators of Yvaim didn't like surprises, and Dawn needed to dock Dusk there for a while. They needed to walk straight into the complex's sensors and be seen before they got too close.

The transmission request came four hours of travel later, long before Dusk's own sensors picked anything up, but beyond the point where Dawn had expected to have been contacted given their global position. Dawn accepted both audio and visual signals, and a young man's face appeared on one of Dusk's internal displays. His hair was meticulously combed back and the collar of his dark blue militaristic uniform was free of wrinkles.

"Identify," he asked, frowning ever so slightly at Dawn.

"This One is an Agent of the Reunification Commission, requesting permission to dock at Yvaim."

"Hold." He vanished tersely, leaving Dawn with a blank screen. They sat back in their cockpit and waited patiently, keeping Dusk perfectly still. Yvaim was a highly militarized and structured facility, despite having very little actual military power outside of its security officers. If Dawn wanted, they could probably reduce Yvaim to rubble with Dusk alone; the facility had absolutely nothing to ward off a machine of this calibre.

After a few minutes of waiting, Dusk's screen came back to life, showing a man who had to be the first one's father. Even if the resemblance hadn't given the two away, Yvaim was staffed by just barely over a hundred people. Familial ties were deeply intertwined into the outpost's workings.

"Title?" the older man asked.

"Agent."

"Approach the station, docking bay 8," he replied and cut the connection. Dawn frowned a little at the rude man and started Dusk up again, heading for the station. Their mission had gone mostly awry, but the planned contingency was for Dawn to take Dusk to Yvaim and await further contact. Arrangements would have been made, so it was strange for the Yvaim officers to be acting with such enmity.

Dawn briefly considered calling off this contingency and trying to meet up with some RC outpost or field group, but it was against mission protocol. Nothing could actually stop Dawn from doing whatever it was they saw fit out here, but Marshal Brooke had told them to follow instructions to the letter

Dusk pushed against the howling wind towards the dark shadow of the complex ahead of them. A door opened just as Dawn approached and they went inside. The hatch closed behind them almost instantly. As the lights in the dock came on, Dawn could see why. A good amount of dust and dirt had accumulated inside the airlock even though the doors had only been open for a moment. The inner airlock door cycled, and Dusk walked into the large hangar.

Dawn maneuvered their Mech into the designated position and a pair of clamps closed around the machine's legs, tightening until Dusk was effectively immobilized. Dawn could probably still get out of them if they really wanted, but not without causing a massive commotion and probably some structural damage to Dusk.

Dawn climbed down carefully, not wanting to reopen the bullet wounds that had barely just healed. Truthfully, they should have remained in bed for another week or so. They'd probably need some surgery at some point. They considered beseeching Yvaim's local doctor to take a look at them.

The far door opened with a woosh, and Dawn turned around slowly, still battling their aches and injuries. Before they even saw it, they heard several pairs of footsteps moving quickly and with coordinated discipline. When they turned all the way around, their fears were confirmed when they saw four security officers pointing automatic rifles at them. It definitely didn't look like Dawn was being greeted cautiously, it looked like Dawn was being arrested.

"Drop the sidearm slowly, and kick it away," one of the officers commanded, hand twitching. Dawn didn't doubt for a moment that these people were capable of shooting if they thought them a threat. Dawn very slowly grabbed their handheld plasma caster by a handhold that was as far away from the trigger as they could manage. For a brief moment, their eyes flashed around the room, taking in the details. They considered engaging these people. The moment was extremely brief, and they dropped the plasma caster to the ground and kicked it away. Fortunately, Macau's gravity wasn't even a quarter of a 'g', so they didn't worry about damaging the expensive piece of equipment.

"Dawn of the Reunification Commission, you're under arrest as an enemy combatant. Do you have any objections?" One of the officers lowered his rifle slightly and moved closer.

"This One does not understand, but they do not object," Dawn replied calmly. They had no real idea what was happening, but at the same time it also wasn't especially difficult to guess. Dawn wasn't privvy to the RC's deeper operational goals, but they knew that keeping the current power structure of the Extrasolar Territories intact wasn't a part of that plan. Perhaps some other operative had suffered a setback just as Dawn had. Perhaps a conflict had been sparked sooner than anticipated.

The officer snorted derisively, lowering his rifle and turning Dawn around to fasten restraints around their arms. "Definitely one of the RC's drones. Nice of you to deliver yourself to us."

"Your actions in luring Dawn to this facility were quite underhanded. This One sought only aid and shelter." Dawn allowed the security officers to accost them without struggle, it would do little good to provoke them into roughing them up with their wounds still not fully healed.

The four security officers didn't respond or chat with Dawn at all, just roughly led them through the cramped and immaculately kept hallways of Yvaim. They took Dawn into a detention cell, a sparse room with a small cot, a terminal built into the wall, and several cameras in the ceiling. The arm restraints came off and one of the security officers shoved Dawn into the room and shut the transparent plastic door behind them.

"This One still requires medical attention," Dawn called back at the retreating officers. They ignored them, but Dawn doubted that they'd neglect to mention it to their commanding officer. Dawn decided to make the best of it and lie down on the cot. It wasn't especially comfortable, but at least it was horizontal and Dawn wasn't strapped into it.

Dawn looked down, opening their palm to examine the small device concealed within. One of the security officers had slipped a small data drive to them whilst arresting them. If protocol was being followed, the drive would contain further instructions for Dawn and also a set of security codes for Yvaim. They carefully tucked the drive in between some of the crevices in the cot, and laid back down. The very beginnings of a nap were settling in around the corners of their consciousness when a knock came at the door to their cell. Dawn groaned softly and sat up, wincing as pain shot through their leg where the bullet wounds were.

"Sleeping already?" The older man who Dawn had spoken to before stood at the door, looking down at them.

"This One was shot several times on their previous assignment. Such injury has the capacity to exhaust a person," Dawn answered groggily. They weren't going to share any details about their assignment, but the bullet wounds would be plenty noticeable at even a cursory inspection. Besides, a cursory inspection was what Dawn wanted them to do.

"I wanted to apologize for all of this, Agent." The man's voice went low, and his eyes went to the floor. "Soldier to soldier, I can tell you're getting the broken end of the branch, here."

"Truthfully, that is This One's birthright...," Dawn murmured softly. "Dawn will be asking for your forgiveness, when Dawn brings your world to ruin in turn."

The older security officer chuckled softly at that, but didn't seem upset by Dawn's promise. "I'll get the doc to take a look at you."

***

Lukas poured over the readouts of his instruments for a fifth time. The plans Tae had stolen for him were quite straight forward. There was one particular AN base which, if destroyed, would upset the balance of power between Cat, Talon, and Eye on Navann. The disruption of that balance would either annihilate or cripple the Scavver's Union. It was a better solution to his problem than brawling with the Scavver Union's Mechs one at a time, as he'd been instructed to do initially.

Agent Tae had already left, of course, to rendezvous with Agent Dawn on Ishtar. Lukas didn't need her. She'd already mucked up every assignment the Marshal had given her. Lukas had his Mech, Gladius. He could do this alone with a bit of support from Ashen Surf. The pirate group had for years been funded by Crystalline Threads, a group out of Rajaona that the Reunification Commission now owned.

Lukas put the readouts away, and pulled up all the combat layouts he'd need. He activated his Pulse, and the respirator kicked in to breathe for him. Gladius hummed to life. His Mech was a large, bipedal machine wielding an enormous vibroblade in one hand and a shield in the other, like a knight from the Mythical Earth. Unlike anything from Earth, though, it also had two potent rail guns mounted one in each shoulder. They hummed to life as the machine fed on his Pulse, his Ascension.

Pulse had robbed him of his Humanity. There was no place for one such as him in Sanctuary. But he would use that curse to liberate his fellow ExSols. The Reunification Commission would see to it.

The Talon base just ahead of him buzzed to life as he did. Their sensors may well have registered him as no different than the local fauna before he'd fired up his full systems. Now that they saw him for what he was, they knew the threat, and they were riding out to meet him.

A trio of large, armored hovercraft tore out of the hangar, models known as Fins. Each one was a floating, armored arsenal. Lukas has expected these to bring the fight to Gladius. Fins were extremely dangerous and sported a large number of short range missiles, enough to overwhelm most deflector arrays. Many lesser Mechs would struggle to go toe-to-toe with a single Fin. Gladius was not a lesser mech.

As soon as the first Fin cleared the hangar, a heavy railgun slug tore directly into the middle of it, sending it spinning and veering wildly. The machine shed molten metal in every direction like blood as it crashed. Lukas fired his second railgun at another one of them, shearing off several armor plates from its side. It swerved to compensate but remained operational. A testament to how sturdy these things were. Lukas backed off, putting some distance between him and the Fins. He broke line of sight and set Gladius into a sprint along the coastline. He didn't want a missile lock just now. His railguns cycled quickly, and lit back up. Lukas checked his clock. Eight seconds until Counter-Pulse. He rose up over the ridge to see the two Fins careening straight towards him. His first railgun slug tore another huge chunk out of the wounded Fin, sending it crashing into the cliffside. It didn't go down, though. Not until Lukas put the fourth railgun shot straight through its core.

The undamaged Fin closed, and acquired a target lock A swarm of drive plumes emerged from it as two dozen missiles left their ports, curving towards Gladius in a cloud of fire and annihilation.

Lukas Counter-Pulsed. His breathing stopped. Gladius' rail guns shut down. Its shield activated fully. The missiles flew straight for him, straight into the shield. Then, suddenly, they were somewhere else. They detonated all around him, outlining Gladius in a halo of fire and shrapnel.

Deflectors were a precursor technology that manipulated probability and space. Any ExSol with an Ascension could use them, but an ExSol in Counter-Pulse truly brought them alive. Gladius' shield was an elaborate array of deflectors that created a bend in the universe. No projectile could pierce Gladius' shield, it simply wasn't physically possible. Even had the missiles detonated right in front of it, the superheated particles created by the explosions would have simply ended up elsewhere.

Come, Gladius. Bear your blade for the Memory of Earth. Bear your blade that we might reclaim our Humanity.

Lukas put Gladius into full tilt. The Fin scrambled and spun, trying to reload and prepare another missile barrage, but Gladius had already gotten too close. The AN's logic in combat was simple and straightforward. It had no ability to anticipate Gladius' true capabilities. Lukas brought his vibroblade to bear on the hovercraft. He tore it to pieces one chunk at a time. The Fin crumbled and died. Minutes later, Lukas Pulsed. He glanced over at his display, and saw the first Fin was struggling but still floating, trying to get in range. It target locked him, and an instant later, ate two more rail gun rounds. It crashed and exploded as its missiles triggered a chain reaction.

The AN base was still mobilizing more troops, but nothing so heavy as the three Fins. Mostly scout and raider craft that wouldn't even put a scratch on Gladius. Lukas rerouted power to the rapid-fire plasma caster mounted where Gladius' 'face' was, and started firing. Gladius was not just a Knight, but a Dragon too, spitting flame and death. The small raider hovercraft that tried to coalesce around the base died as fast as they could come, and eventually they broke away. Talon had no doubt decided that defending this outpost was no longer worth it. The AN's were very good at cutting their losses.

Lukas Counter-Pulsed, and he started scanning the helpless AN base in front of him. The reactor was his target. All he had to do was put a railgun round through it, and the whole complex would melt down, then flood. He locked on and waited for Counter-Pulse to end. Most ExSol's with his same Ascension had Pulse and Counter-Pulse evenly at around three minutes apiece. Lukas' split was more like three and six.

"Oi! Boss! We got incomin!" a voice came through his comms. One of the lowlife pirates he was working with.

Lukas enabled a text to speech and replied since he wasn't able to speak in Counter-Pulse.

"Hold them off. Lukas is almost done here."

"C-Can't, boss! S'all three Union Mechs. Rabbitin' right fer ya."

Lukas scowled. All three at once would be difficult. Doing so would also delay his ability to destroy the base's reactor. Talon might rally around that delay.

"Fall back. We'll finish this another day."

***

Miya spotted the plume of smoke long before she saw the city limits of Abrandia. She felt a bit of worry, remembering her uncle's panic. She'd been dismissive but clearly something had gone horribly wrong. She pushed Titan through the tangled flora, vegetation crunching underneath metal feet. She expected Abrandia, or perhaps the ruins of Abrandia, to dominate her vision but instead it was the smoking, twisted ruins of a Colossus Tick. The massive machine lay broken just a short distance away from the city limits, limbs blown apart, melted, and snapped. The entire front half of the main body had been caved in and smashed apart with missile impacts and plasma caster fire; where the city's defenders had focused their attacks. The Tick appeared to have been the bulk of the force that Talon had sent to attack the city, but it wasn't the only thing. Miya recognized dozens of other models surrounding the wreckage, Fleas, Giraffes, Skimmers, Thumpers, and even a few Widows.

The entire northern perimeter defenses of Abrandia had been obliterated. No single section of the walls had escaped severe damage, and some sections had completely collapsed. Several Abrandian Mechs, many of which she recognized, were lying in ruins on the field. Some destroyed beyond recognition, their pilots almost certainly dead, and some merely disabled. Those had crews around them, fixing up the damage and getting them ready for transport to a more long-term facility inside the city. The city itself looked mostly unscathed, though the battle appeared to have been costly, and very very close. Titan's presence would no doubt have tipped the balance. The Disintegration Beam in particular was well-suited to neutralizing enormous threats like a Colossus Tick.

A connection request assailed her much later than it probably should have; the person responsible for contacting her was probably preoccupied. She accepted the request, expecting her Uncle, but instead it was the voice of one of the Abrandian Mech squad whose name she couldn't quite remember.

"Titan, c'min. You right?" she asked.

"Not even the most ephemeral whispers of this attack, on the way here," Naz replied sombrely.

"Except for the Knight-Major's panicked message," Miya added.

"Ye. KniMaj wants you t'patrol 'round 'ere. Gotta pull pilots t'sickbay. Can't without ya."

"Understood. We're going without sleep but we can take up the perimeter for a few hours while the squad gets patched up," Miya responded.

"Ay. Make sure KniMaj knows," she replied, sounding relieved. Miya spotted several of their Mechs start to walk off the battlefield. Two were walking awkwardly with damaged limbs and one was struggling to move at all.

The site of the battle wasn't quiet. Crews worked, injured people screamed and cried as they were transported to the hospital, and occasionally the ruined robots broke and collapsed. It had a sort of calmness to it, however. Abrandia had ample emergency services available to tackle this nightmare. Crews worked quickly and efficiently to repair the damage, get the wounded to safety, and to fully disable and disarm the destroyed robots before the ammunition exploded or Talon decided to try and power them back up again. It was Talon that had attacked the city. Miya spotted the emblem of the Autonomous Network on several wrecks, and that besides, there was no way any other faction could possibly have brought such a force to bear without bringing it through the gates. Even as it was, the force that had attacked Abrandia went quite a bit beyond what their intelligence said Talon was capable of.

Finally, with her eyes drooping, a connection request came from their uncle, and Miya accepted it.

"Y'holdin, Naz?" he asked. Miya wasn't terribly offended that their uncle always seemed to address Naz. He didn't care for Miya, and the feeling was mutual. She was just as happy not to have to talk to him.

"Awake for many hours, Uncle," Naz replied with a yawn.

"I know, I know. Bring Titan on in but keep 'er ready to go. GovGen wants a chat."

"Himiko seeks to soothe the hurt of this attack. Our dignity, targeted to that end," Naz said.

"Nah... Well... She better not. I got yer back, y'know that, ya?"

"I do, Uncle," Naz replied cheerfully, ignoring the indignation and resentment boiling in Miya's gut.

"She cannot blame-"

"Have faith, dear sister. Miss Yamane may lash out, but if we react with compassion, all will be well." Naz reassured her, attempting to calm the anger Miya was feeling with her own peaceful emotions.

"Ugh. Just don't get us thrown in prison." Miya gave up in exasperation and piloted Titan towards its dock. She had to pilot the Mech around the rubble of the old entryway she would have used. She found that a section of the wall had been cleared and a temporary road had been set up leading into the city's industrial district. Miya had to pilot Titan carefully down the narrow road. A machine of this size could easily cause fatalities with only a single misstep, and people were everywhere.

The attack would no doubt be a severe blow to Abrandia in the short term, but eventually they may be able to repurpose enough of the massive amount of technology that lay salvageable outside the city gates to recoup their material losses. The loss of civilian life, skilled operators and pilots, and the perception of Abrandia as a safe place to live would be the more serious problem that Himiko would be concerned with.

A Mech registered on Titan's sensors as Miya slowly moved towards its dock amongst the traffic. She didn't recognize it, and, frowning, she pulled up some more information. 'Twinshya.' Some scavenger Mech. She frowned at it for a moment, wondering what it had been doing here and where it was going. If it was leaving the city, it'd be impossible to track or detain it if it got past the city limits.

Miya lost interest almost immediately. This thing was a piece of junk and couldn't have posed a security risk to anything. Naz' curiosity was piqued, though. She was interested not out of a sense of duty, but just fascination with how out of place the lone, limping Mech was. She put in a connection request to Twinshya and the Mech immediately paused. It was frozen there for several moments while the connection pinged and awaited a response. Naz even got a little worried, but eventually the request went through with voice only.

"Ye?" The pilot asked. It was a gruff, deep woman's voice. Naz noted that she seemed nervous and was trying to sound impatient to cover that up.

"You've Permission to depart? Not flying through chaos, Twinshya?" Naz asked.

"Of 'course I-- Wait, Nazmiya?" The pilot paused and a moment later, permission for video came through on the connection. A woman with thick arms, darkly tanned skin and short hair came on to Titan's monitors that Naz both didn't recognize, and did recognize.

"Nathaniel? Undergone metamorphosis?" Naz asked, remembering the boy she'd gone to school with.

"Nina, now. Yer actually pilotin' Titan, Nazmiya?" she asked. She sounded pleased.

"Merely Naz, now," she answered with a smile, remembering that she had known Nina before Miya had come out. "My sullen counterpart, Miya."

"Yeah. We're not just piloting Titan, it was made specifically for us," Miya piped in.

"Oh, yer plural? 'splains a lot bout ya, actually. Bet bein' open with that goes over great with the 'litia's big crows." Nina snickered softly. A tiny squeak came through the speakers, and a little kitten jumped up onto Nina's shoulders, drawing a surprised grunt from the big woman.

"Understanding is sparse, always." Naz smiled, even as Miya's anger buzzed at the truth of her words.

Nina's eyes suddenly went a little bit wide, as though she'd suddenly realized something. "Err... 'bout the 'litia, Naz... Don't 'spose I could talk ya into forgettin' y'saw me?"

"Promise no intent nefarious, old friend?" Naz asked.

"That Tick out there almost flattened me, too. Had nothin' to do with its rampagin'. Jus gettin' off-world fer a bit. Breaks my probation, though. Don't be a stickler on me?" she asked, stroking the kitten between its ears with two fingers in an attempt to alleviate her anxiety.

"We won't rat on you, don't worry," Miya answered for the both of them, but Naz didn't object to the sentiment.

"Nice. Thanks, you two," Nina let out a breath of relief and smiled at them. "Not often I catch a heckin' break. See ya." Nina picked the kitten off her shoulder and plopped him into her lap where it proceeded to curl up and fall asleep. The connection went dark a moment later and Nina piloted Twinshya towards the city limits.

"Prudent, self-preservative, to report her," Naz mused.

"No. Nina's good people. I won't be that savage."

"Compassion to counterpoint ferocity," Naz giggled happily as Miya kept Titan moving towards the docks. Their uncle was there, talking into his hand terminal and pacing back and forth off to the side as Miya took Titan into its spot and started the power down cycle. A skeleton crew of technicians came out to apply the docking clamps and start the work of assessing the damage.

"Stampede really broke our fingers on this one, Naz," Wasseim murmured as they approached, his typical jovial attitude gone.

Naz walked up to him and gave him a hug. He felt limp and defeated in her arms. "Embrace the despair, Uncle, for it gives us a connection to the lost, a link to what we share as a people."

Wasseim laughed softly and bitterly, shaking his head. "Never gon' understand ya, Naz. How'd the mission go, Miya?"

Miya pulled out of the hug and gave their uncle a much more neutral look. "Dismal. I brought a bad loadout and ended up pulling out early just to be safe."

"Ugh. Our Blood's in the water'n our pants're anklets on this one."

"What made Talon go nuts like that? There's no history of Talon having assault machines on Ishtar at all." As Miya spoke, their uncle winced a little, looking guilty and worried.

"We got a tip. Someone buzzed in, tellin' us this squad flattened some scavver hovel jus' a lil' outside'a the city limits. Ignored it as 'sationalism. Payin' for it now."

"A confession, not an explanation. Guilt cannot salve wounds or conscience, Uncle." Naz reached out and laid a hand on Wasseim's shoulder, which just made him grimace a little.

"Guess. Can't 'splain the why of the attack, jus' the how. Er... Gotta tell ya, Naz. Marielle's hurt. In care now." Wasseim ran his fingers through his greasy hair and looked off to the side, embarrassed.

"Why's he got that look? Could it be his fault? How would Mari even get hurt?" Miya's accusatory thoughts surfaced, but Naz calmed them almost immediately. Miya didn't have strong feelings towards Marielle, but she was concerned for Naz' sake.

"Our Uncle adorns himself with guilt as a mantle, Miya. Negligent harm to my darling? Unbearable. Shatter his soul, the weight." Her thoughts were accompanied by a mental image of Wasseim being smothered by darkness, which Miya actually found vaguely amusing.

"Fine. Let's just go see her, then. It's kinda weird that you're not more worried about your girlfriend, you know."

"Universe takes and gives. Only you, exempt from that cruelty." Naz giggled, the mirth finding its way onto their face.

"Our presence before the Governor General. Immiment?" Naz asked him.

"Huh? Oh, no, Miko pissed off t'do summin else. We'll reschedule, go check on Marielle." A sour expression crossed Wasseim's face as he spoke.

Naz bid a confused and downtrodden Wasseim farewell. They headed off in the direction of the field hospital whose address he'd sent to her. Miya was a tad perturbed at Naz' profession of faith as she always was, but didn't make a fuss about it.

"You are wrong."

"Ma'am, please, we need to run more tests." The field hospital and Marielle were very easy to find. A massive sterile plastic tent was set up in the middle of a park, and within it, Marielle stood out amongst the patients. With just her robotic arm, Marielle wouldn't have been that notable. Many ExSols had prosthetics; injuries were common in any scavenging outfit.

What was unusual about Marielle was that she often had multiple other robotic limbs attached to ports on her back. Right now, two massive spindly limbs emerged from those ports, arching up over her shoulders to cast an intimidating profile over the poor medical staff. Marielle was constantly removing, attaching, and modifying her extra limbs and Naz rarely had any idea about what their specifications were. As far as she could tell those limbs were engineering attachments that could solder, weld, cut, repair conduit, and do various other tasks Marielle needed to work on her projects. There was another, thin-limbed arm curving around her waist that appeared to be inspecting the two staff in front of them like a curious pet. That one was a limb Marielle had attached most of the time.

"Your tests are useless. I'm heavily modded, it will throw all your metrics off. I need to run my own tests." Marielle scowled at the nurse and her smaller robotic limb swayed back and forth a little.

"We can't just release you, it's a liability issue," they pleaded.

Marielle opened her mouth to argue, but before she could, she glanced to the side and saw Naz approaching. "Hey, Kit," she grumbled, still maintaining her distance from the nurses and doctor. "You're a Captain, aren't you? Can't you pull rank on these guys?"

"We're not a military institution," the doctor sighed, eyeing Marielle's fidgeting robotic limb suspiciously.

"Resilient as a mountain, my darling," Naz smiled at Marielle, taking her biological hand in hers and planting a kiss on it. "Regenerative physiology."

"Oh, umm..." the doctor mumbled, looking down at their hand terminal. Naz wasn't sure if Marielle's gene mods included what could medically be defined as "Regenerative Physiology" but she did know that the doctor's liability was different for patients who could be categorized that way. "... Is that true, miss?" they asked Marielle.

"Yes, amongst other things," Marielle replied with an impatient scowl.

"Alright, fine," they sighed, tapping a few buttons on the hand terminal and then pressing their thumb to Marielle's medical bracelet to release the clasp. Without even the briefest pause to talk to Naz, Marielle stalked off, letting her trail along behind. Marielle stopped a short distance outside the tent and grumbled, stretching a little.

"Thanks, Kit," she said with a sigh. "Been trying to get out of there for hours. It was getting real hard not to just disassemble someone."

"Overjoyed, for your safety." Naz giggled and snuck up behind Marielle, awkwardly hugging her from behind with the robotic limbs in her way.

"I was never even that hurt," Marielle scoffed, but her demeanor softened a bit and she turned around to return the hug. "Do you have any idea what really happened out there? Since when do the ANs attack a human settlement like that?"

"Enigmatic. Unknowable, the Precursors' true intents," Naz offered with a shrug.

"Well I need to get some bids in to the scavenging coordinators, I bet there's some real fascinating parts in that Tick. Meet you later tonight, kit? Or is it Miya's night?"

"It was my night last time we saw you," Miya scowled and crossed her arms, remembering Marielle's... 'surprise.' The fake kidnapping was an idea that Marielle and Naz had mused about for some time. Naz had, for some bereaved reason, given Marielle permission to do it. They'd both thought Marielle wouldn't actually follow through on it.

Marielle snickered at that. "Sorry, it has to be a surprise to you if it's going to be a surprise to Naz."

"Purposeless to be bitter, sister." Naz offered Miya an apology, and as much as she wanted to be annoyed, she couldn't be. She was never actually mad at Naz.

The two of them did some quick negotiations. Miya had the right to decide what to do tonight, but she just wasn't feeling it. They were too exhausted, and when Naz offered a course of action, she relented.

Marielle had enveloped herself in her hand terminal, sending correspondence like crazy to secure those salvage contracts.

Naz sneakily curled her fingers around Marielle's elbow and gave a small tug. There was a bit of a lag time as Marielle finished off a message, and then looked up at Naz. "Transport, your home? A brief slumber."

Marielle gave her a confused, vacant look for several moments, and then her eyes lit up as she translated what Naz was asking. "Oh, you want to nap at my place?" she asked.

Naz grinned, raised herself up onto her tiptoes and leaned to whisper as close to Marielle's ear as she could. "I like your bed."

Marielle laughed, and leaned down to give Naz a quick kiss. "Sure thing, I'll call us a ride.

***

Several years ago...

"Oh yeah... oh heck..." Analu moaned softly above him as he thrust his cock into Robin's mouth. His movements were erratic and jittery. Every tiny swirl of Robin's tongue made the other boy's entire body jolt as though Robin were hitting him with a taser. It was adorable at first, but after the second time Analu had bumped his hips forward and banged Robin's head on the back of the bathroom wall, it had ceased to be cute.

"R-Robbie, I'm gonna... uugh..." Analu trembled, and with almost no warning, flooded Robin's mouth with his cum. It caught Robin off-guard with how sudden it was, and he inhaled a little bit up into his nose. With a groan, Analu pulled out, some of his cum dribbling down onto Robin's shirt. Robin choked a bit on the cum that had gotten into his sinuses and then swallowed it. He reached down under the band of his shorts and panties and started rubbing his own dick, eyes fluttering at the pleasure of it. He hadn't even gotten started, but being down on his knees in front of a guy he'd just--

Wait, what's he doing?

Analu had already zipped his pants up and creaked the bathroom door open to check the hallway. "We're clear. Thanks Rob, do me a favor and watch your teeth a little better next time, okay?" Robin stared, wide-eyed at Analu for several seconds in a combination of outrage and disbelief. Did that bereaved shrew just call him 'Rob?' Was he actually leaving already?

Watch my hecking teeth?

Before he could process his emotions, Analu slipped out the door and was gone. "See if I suck your dick again, asshole," Robin grumbled. Even as the words echoed and faded off the empty walls of the dim university bathroom, Robin knew he probably would do it again, if Ana asked him at the right time. The thought actually kind of irritated him. He shook it all off though, and went back to jerking off. He wanted to cum like the slutty whore he was, kneeling on the floor of a bathroom in the dark after having sucked someone's dick, and nobody was going to--

The door opened, and Robin shrieked in surprise. "Ana, you hec--" he growled, but cut himself off. The person standing in the door was not Analu, but one of the most powerful women in Abrandia, and one of his professors, Professor Marielle Lapilae.

"You know these doors lock, right?" she asked, snickering. The tanned woman smirked at him with a hand on her hip. She was a tall, lean woman even when she wasn't wearing heels, which she was, now. She had only one robotic limb emerging from her back today, and the spindly machine peeked over her shoulder like a curious animal. The derision in her tone filled him with a fiery embarrassment. It didn't give him 'I'm reporting you to the University for impropriety' vibes, though.

"I... uhh... the... it was..." Robin stammered. He almost explained to her that the door had been locked but when Analu had left, he'd obviously unlocked it. He realized almost immediately that telling his professor the details of the blowjob he'd been giving was unlikely to make the situation less embarrassing. Professor Lapilae laughed at his indecision as his blush turned bright red, but made no move to do anything other than stare down at him.

"Well, go ahead and finish if you want. It's been a while since I've seen a cute little faggot like you rub his tiny cock." The words cut the silence and slapped Robin in the face. He had no idea what to make of the slur she'd just levelled at him. It didn't feel like she'd levelled it at him derisively. There was a sort of saccharine mockery in her tone as she'd said it. Still, normally, he'd have flown off the handle if someone called him that. It wouldn't have mattered that Professor Lapilae was a visionary, she was almost royalty in this city, and that she could literally crush his bones if she wanted to. It was that look in her eyes, and Robin's overwhelming desire in that moment that made him completely and utterly lose his nerve.

"S-Sorry... Professor...!" Robin scrambled onto his feet, pulling his pants up into position so fast he hit himself in the balls a little bit. Professor Lapilae took a tiny step to the side for him to scramble past her and out the door. As he stopped to open it, a hand grabbed his ass, squeezing so hard it ached. Archangel's mercy, Robin knew that Professor Lapilae was heavily augmented, but she was so strong. Robin squeaked, pulling himself free and darting out the door into the mercifully empty hallway.

"See you in class tomorrow, Robin," she called back at him. She knew his name. Of course she knew his name. He was in Precursor technology classes that she taught with like six other students. It would be odd for her not to know him. It had been dark in the bathroom, but she probably had some sort of augmented vision or something.

He escaped the university and made it to the MagLev station without anybody he knew seeing him. When he stepped onto the train, he felt his heart slow down a bit. That had been... terrifying. If any other professor had caught him like that, it would have been a battle. Robin's mothers' influence and money against his impropriety. Threats. Warnings. Recriminations. Professor Lapilae wasn't like the other professors, though. Robotic limbs and genetic enhancements aside, she had an aloofness, an invincibility about her. There was something unsettling about the way she'd laughed scornfully and stood there watching him, the way she'd called him a--

Robin cleared his throat nervously when he realized he was getting hard. As he continued to think about it, he just got more and more flustered. What if... what if he hadn't run away? What if he'd done it? Why didn't he kneel there and finish jerking himself off like she'd said he could. He could have rubbed his tiny dick with that impossibly powerful goddess standing over him, laughing at him, calling him a cute little--

The train stopped, and Robin got off, walking awkwardly and trying to conceal his raging boner. He raced down the several blocks to his apartment and rushed up the stairs to his front door. He heard his brother in his room talking to someone, but Robin rushed into his own room and shut the door. His shorts came down around his ankles and he grabbed his precum-slicked cock and started to jerk off, thinking about Professor Lapilae. He came in seconds, whining and gasping, falling to his knees with the intensity of the orgasm. A knock on the door made him scream in fright again.

"Hey, bro, that you?" Robin's brother asked.

"Y-Yeah... What?" he yelled back, grabbing for a tissue.

"Mom and Mama are coming over for dinner tonight, remember? You promised to cook."

"... Right. Give me a second I'll be right out."

"Cool. I got the groceries you asked for, they're in the fridge." The voice faded as he returned to his room, and Robin breathed out a sigh containing a swirl of confused emotions.

"Heck."

***

"Come in," the voice called in response to Robin's knock. Robin took a deep breath, and opened the door. The office was actually more of a workshop than anything else. Professor Lapilae was scrolling through a complicated blueprint laid out on a huge monitor. It looked like... some kind of plasma caster? Robin briefly wondered if she was authorized to be analyzing military technology in the university, but when she looked away from the display at him, the thoughts evaporated into dust.

"I haven't had a chance to review any of the assignments yet," Professor Lapilae preempted him. "Check again with me tomorrow."

"Oh, uhh, that's not what I wanted to see you about," Robin replied nervously, suddenly second-guessing himself.

"What's the problem, then?" she asked, looking back at her set of blueprints disinterestedly.

"It's about yesterday, Professor. In... in the bathroom, you..." Robin swallowed nervously.

Professor Lapilae grumbled in annoyance and stood up. She took a step towards him, and a new robotic limb emerged from hiding. The limb was a smooth, pale white one that looked like a tentacle, it snaked outwards, peering at him like a viper about to strike. Heck, but she was so terrifying.

"Do you have a problem with my conduct, Robin?" she asked.

Silence hung in the air for a few seconds as he met Professor Lapilae's silent gaze. He almost turned and ran out the door, but he gathered all of his courage. He had to try this. He couldn't stop thinking about her. Robin fell to his knees in front of her, and tugged down the waistband of his pants a little bit, exposing the top of his lacy panties to her.

"I'm sorry I ran away, Professor. You said you wanted to watch me?" he said, his tiny, quiet voice a booming echo off the walls of the room.

Professor Lapilae cocked her head to the side and chuckled. "Robin, you know I was just messing with you, right?"

Robin felt like the words stabbed him in the chest, but he'd come this far. She hadn't told him no, not yet. Robin was never a boy to back down from something he'd decided upon.

"I couldn't stop thinking about it. The way you looked at me. What you said to me. Was it a total joke?" he asked, clinging to a tiny sliver of determination.

"Yeah, pretty much," she replied. With a dismissive chuckle, she went back to her chair and sat down, tapping on her control pad to manipulate the blueprint splayed across the wall like Robin wasn't even there, like he was nothing.

Robin felt the shame burning in him, the utter embarrassment. It wasn't even that he'd hit on a Professor and gotten rebuffed. She'd not even cared. She didn't give a shit. He was nothing to her. After stewing in his rage and impotence for a moment, Robin started to stand back up. He readjusted his pants to fix his tuck, and turned around.

"Did I say you could get up?" Professor Lapilae's voice interrupted him. The snake-like robotic limb shot out towards him, extending outwards and wrapping itself around his neck with surprising speed and dexterity. Robin gasped, frozen as the silicone-coated limb squeezed him subtly, more delicately than anybody's hands ever had. It occurred to a small part of him that she must have incredible control over it to squeeze his neck like this without worry of crushing his windpipe. Then again, maybe she just wasn't worried. She pulled him a little, and he stumbled backwards, falling back to his knees in front of her desk.

Professor Lapilae turned off her display, and then twisted her chair around to face him. She stood up and walked around her desk slowly and deliberately. The robotic limb around Robin's neck adjusted subtly to keep the same angle as she moved. She lifted one foot and placed it on his thigh, then leaned downwards. Robin gulped as her mid-length skirt rode up, giving him a view of her panties. Her weight dug painfully into Robin's thigh muscle through her heel. Even in this little motion she demonstrated her incredible physical control. The pressure was consistent. She didn't wobble even a little.

Robin was completely bi, but he'd never had a lot of luck with women. He'd never had any interest in topping anybody, and the few dates he'd gone on with them had been capsized when they'd made it clear that's what they expected of him. Men were just easier in that way. Professor Lapilae clearly had no intention of making anything easy on him.

"Your hand, faggot," she said, icily.

Swallowing nervously, he held out his hand. The pressure on his thigh made him tremble. No, that was probably nerves. He had no idea what Professor Lapilae expected or wanted. How she was going to act. What she thought of him.

That's not true. She thinks you're a faggot.

The thought made him shiver. It flushed him with arousal.

Professor Lapilae worked her mouth a little, then spat into Robin's hand. The thick gob of saliva splattered and coated his fingers. "Go ahead. Show me what you came here to show me," she said.

With his unsullied hand, he lowered his shorts and panties, and with the wet one, he started to stroke. He was already incredibly hard. Professor Lapilae's saliva coating his dick felt incredible, more than it had any real right to. The robotic limb squeezed slightly, restricting the oxygen flowing into his brain, and he felt an incredible buzz that built upon the physical sensation of his own exhibitionistic masturbation.

Every stroke of his spit-slick hand was electrifying. He whined and moaned as his back arched. Every tiny little motion of his pressed his body against some firm, unyielding part of her. She was inescapable.

He was gasping and choking as he came prematurely. His cum shot out, mixing with Professor Lapilae's spit coating his fingers, and also splattering all over her office floor. Mercifully, she released the hold on his neck just as blackness started to creep into the corners of his vision. He collapsed forward, gasping and coughing and shuddering with a confusing afterglow.

He placed his hands on the floor and started to push himself up, but something hard pressed into his head. Her foot. It forced him back down to the floor, into the puddle of his own cum. "Lick that shit up," she hissed angrily.

Robin moaned weakly as his tongue darted out and slid across the floor, scooping up the remnants of his orgasm. The floor was clean, at least. Well, it was when he was done with it.

"Done," he whimpered softly. Professor Lapilae raised her heel up and pressed it to his shoulder. She shoved him to roll him over on his back. Robin tried to raise himself up but Professor Lapilae's robotic limb coiled on top of his chest and pushed. It was like he was lying under a steel beam. He squirmed but he couldn't move. The compression also restricted his ability to breathe and he started wheezing.

Professor Lapilae walked in circles around him, looking down at him imperiously. Robin had always admired Professor Lapilae for her work and her accomplishments. But now as he looked up at her, he couldn't see anything other than a Goddess who could crush him like a bug. She stopped between his legs and slowly placed her foot down over his balls. She applied pressure. Robin gasped and whined a little. He tried to squirm away, but he couldn't.

"Do you want to leave? Do you want me to stop?" she asked. The tiniest crack in her facade formed as she asked. Robin realized if he asked her to stop right now, she would. He'd never had his balls stepped on by a Goddess before. He never really thought that's something he would really have wanted, either.

But I want this so badly.

"... No," he answered weakly.

Professor Lapilae applied pressure. Robin squealed in pain, in helplessness, in masochistic satisfaction. She pressed down a little bit harder, then let up. She hit a steady rhythm that had Robin seeing stars, shuddering in torment and submissive bliss. The idle thought came to him that it was almost like she was fucking him with this rhythm. Press. Press. Press.

She leaned forward and spat again. It struck Robin on the cheek and all he could do was moan weakly.

"Open your mouth you dumb faggot. Don't waste it," she scolded him. Robin obediently opened his mouth, and she spat again. It landed square on his tongue and he swallowed it as reflexively as he'd ever swallowed any guy's cum. The pain ramped up. He cried out in suffering and bliss as he was overwhelmed by Professor Lapilae's relentless torment.

Robin's emotions came out hard and fast. He couldn't stop them even he'd wanted to. Even if he'd known they were coming. A sob ripped out of his chest and he started to cry; it hurt so much. Professor Lapilae gave one final grind of her heel against Robin's balls which made him wail before she let up. Robin curled up into a ball and sobbed uncontrollably.

"You okay?" Professor Lapilae asked quietly. She knelt down and gently brushed Robin's hair out of his face. He met her eyes, and the Imperious Goddess was gone. She was genuinely concerned for him.

"Y... Yeah... Just... I don't know where that came from..." Robin whimpered. It was odd to him that he'd just had his balls tramped and somehow he was apologizing for crying.

"Happens sometimes," Professor Lapilae said with a somber nod. "Certain types of pain can trigger different emotional responses."

Robin's breathing slowly settled down. It felt like she'd wrung everything out of him. Every emotion, every ounce of his libido, every drop of cum. It was an incredible counterpoint to the random hookups he'd been engaging in all year. He was exhausted, though. "T-Thank you... Professor...," he said softly.

"Thank you. Spontaneous power exchange like that is hard to capture." Professor Lapilae stood up, tapping a finger to her lower lip. She observed Robin critically for a while, and he squirmed.

"Robin. Why the heck are you not coming to the Abrandia Femdom Nights?" she asked finally.

The real answer to that question was that Robin had no idea that 'Abrandia Femdom Nights' were a thing. But Professor Lapilae had just ignited a flame of curiosity in him and poured accelerant on it. "Umm...? I... I will be now?"

"You're damn right."

***

Robin reminisced fondly about Professor Lapilae as Nina snored on the bedroll next to him. She'd gotten in serious trouble with the university for that. Apparently he wasn't the only student she'd been inappropriate with sexually. He felt a little bad for his role in that, but she'd made her own bed. Besides, she had so much influence in Abrandia that all the University had been able to accomplish was to revoke her teaching credentials.

He looked down at Nina and smiled. He wouldn't have had the confidence to try to date a tough, dominant woman like her if not for Professor Lapilae. His admiration for her had driven him to the university and now it had taken him here.

He glanced at his hand terminal with a heavy heart. It was still showing the group chat he'd opened with his family a few days ago.

SYSTEM: New group chat opened. Members: Robin, Rick, Mom, Mama

1-08:45 Robin: Hey you guys. I have something to tell you. It's going to seem really sudden to you but I promise it's not to me. I'm quitting my job and I'm going offworld with Nina tomorrow. We're on a really tight schedule so I won't have time for a proper goodbye.

1-08:52 Rick: wut.

1-08:55 Mom: Robin that's not funny.

1-09:05 Mama: You're serious, aren't you, baby? Can you tell us why? Are you in trouble?

1-09:08 Robin: I'm serious. I'm not in trouble. I want to do this with her.

1-09:09 Rick: of course robin isnt in trouble its that loser he's dating.

SYSTEM: User 'Rick' Muted locally. User can still send and see messages in chat.

1-09:32 Mom: Robin honey you can't just randomly uproot your whole life for some girl, it's not normal.

1-09:33 Mama: Can we talk about this in person baby? I'm really worried.

1-10:20 Mama: Baby? You there?

1-10:45 Robin: It's not random. I've been wanting to step up for Nina in a meaningful way for almost a year now. She never lets me, she's too independent. She almost died three times this week and I basically had to beg her to let me help. I want to do this. I'm so relieved. I've been worried to death for her.

1-11:05 Mom: Robin, we know she's got a warrant out for her arrest. She was involved in that shooting, wasn't she?

1-11:30 Robin: "Involved." Mom, please. Do you want to know how she was involved? She risked her life to carry a dying stranger in her arms away from a bunch of thugs. She's had a shit life, you know that, Mom, you defended her in court. But she's still so kind and selfless and brave. Don't lecture me about stuff you know nothing about.

1-12:06 Mom: Rick's right Robin, that girl is going to get you killed or seriously hurt.

1-12:07 Robin: Rick's never right.

1-12:15 Mama: please stop fighting you two.

1-12:21 Mom: Rick you apologize right now!

1-12:23 Mom: What would you even do out there? You're not going to make more than you do here, you have a great job right now.

1-12:34 Robin: I've wanted to get out on the Network for years now. I'm not happy sitting around writing software for the government. I've told you that over and over.

1-12:40 Mom: There's so many opportunities to travel if you want. Don't just follow that girl around because you're desperate.

SYSTEM: User 'Mom' Muted locally. User can still send and see messages in chat.

1-14:22 Robin: I'm not desperate. Nina is my first choice not my only choice.

2-10:45: Mama: Robin baby please don't give us the silent treatment like this. We're just really worried.

2:20:36 Robin: I'm really sorry. I didn't want to fight about this. I wanted to say goodbye. We're heading out now. I love you guys. It'll be okay.

He wiped away tears as he closed the group chat and archived it. They were out of range now. This outcome had been completely predictable but somehow he'd convinced himself that they'd understand and be happy for him.

His gaze returned to Nina, sleeping next to him utterly gracelessly with her limbs splayed out and a bit of drool running down her chin. His family's unease and worry were absurd caricatures. There was nowhere else he'd rather be right now.

"Thanks for having me along, Nina," he whispered to her, clutching her hand in his.