ExSol Book1 Ch8

"Dunno, Butterfly. Looks like rocks t'me," Nina's voice came over their voice connection.

"No, it's right here. Has to be." Robin grumbled. He put his rover back into drive and started going around in circles searching for a door or a hatch or something.

"Butterfly, you usin' yer eyes?" she asked.

"Yes! Yes I'm looking!" he whined back at her.

"No, y'goof. S'a ground penetratin' radar n'that gear Allag gave ya," Twinshya took several steps to the side, like Nina was making some kind of point.

"Oh." He looked over at the bundle of equipment strapped into his cargo bed. Allag had given him a bunch of stuff. "... which one is that again?"

Nina sighed. "Dunno how yer so bril 'n so bimbo at the same time, babe. Sum kinda femboy duality goin' on here."

"Ugh! Whatever, I'll figure it out for myself, then!"

Nina patiently guided him through the process of setting up the ground penetrating radar and hooking it up to his hand terminal. He synched the feed to Twinshya and started slowly driving around. He stared intently at the display.

"Hey! Theres some kind of shape down there!" He pointed at something.

"S'a rock," Nina replied.

"Oh. Okay, but what about-"

"Rock."

He drove around more. After several hours, he'd done a full circle around the area and returned to his starting point. He sighed in frustration, slumping over the steering wheel.

"There's," Nina said.

"Huh?" Robin looked at the display. It was just a smudge of red and black.

"Ye. That dark spot. Vacuum. 'vator shaft, maybe. See how vertical?" she asked.

"How... no I don't see it. Where is it?" Robin asked.

"Th'cliff, there. Yer 11."

Robin followed Nina's directions and drove to a nearby cliff face, Twinshya hot on his heels. He couldn't see anything but the shadowed rocks.

"There. That ain't natural. T'yer left," Nina guided him. He drove up to the spot. It did look kind of weird. He got his excavation tools out and started brushing and chiseling away millenia of packed dirt. After about an hour, he'd cleared about a handspan of a metallic Precursor door, or wall, or something.

"Y'gonna twiddle at that w'yer toothpicks all day, Butterfly?" Nina asked.

"Well, no, I need to get inside. There's a plasma cutter in this equipment, right?" he asked, stepping back to admire his work.

"Prob. y'ever used one 'fore?"

"No, but, it's just cutting a-"

"No. Yer gonna hurt yourself n'take all day, too. Get in the rover n'drive over here."

"But-"

"Butterfly." Nina put on her Mistress voice. Robin got in the rover and drove over to Twinshya without arguing. Twinshya started to glow red. It lowered its torso a bit. Supersonic thunder tore open the silence. Dust and molten metal sprayed outwards from the spot in the cliffside. It all happened in the blink of an eye, leaving Robin dazed and covering his ears.

"Door should be open, now," Nina said flatly.

"B-but... what did you just...?"

"Railgun. Real big can opener," she replied. Robin was at a loss for words. He felt like a railgun was probably unnecessary. He didn't tell Nina that.

True to Nina's estimation, the dark streak on the ground penetrating radar was an elevator shaft. The railgun slug had crumpled the elevator car up like a tin can and pinned it to the wall. That was just fine, since Robin doubted he could have rode it down himself anyway.

With Nina's help, he set up the rappelling kit and hooked himself in. Apparently she trusted him to do this mostly because Virsalla had low gravity. He kind of wished she would be coming with him, but he also wanted her out there standing guard in Twinshya.

He descended down the elevator shaft into darkness. It was only about fifteen meters down, but it still creeped him out a bit. His headlight bobbed as he reached the bottom. He had expected to find another closed door. The two of them had agreed he'd just look around a bit, then they'd get the Fox Catchers involved once he had some sense of what they were looking at.

The door was open, and a long hallway extended before him. Robin unhooked himself and headed deeper into the facility. Here, he found closed doors. He tried to open several but had no luck. They'd have to come back with cutting torches. Robin's hand terminal beeped. A message from Nina. He ignored it for now. If it was important she'd call him.

A dark patch loomed to his right as he went down the hallway. He poked his headlamp in. The room he peered into was tall and spacious, filled with Precursor equipment. There were chairs and terminals. Chairs that were far too large and strangely designed to hold humans, and terminals designed for input. Robin squeaked with excitement.

This is a living quarters or an office or something! Precursors would have lived here!

It was an incredible find. ExSols had discovered precious few of these. Most of the ruins they found were automated facilities. There was so much here for him to study and--

Something behind Robin beeped. He screamed and whirled around, clutching his chest. The Precursor display that had made the noise was like all the others, a smooth, convex black surface. Robin laughed a little.

Don't be so scared of nothing, yeesh.

His own hand terminal beeped at him. Another message from Nina. He wasn't jumping and screaming at that. It was the same beep, too.

Why did a Precursor machine make the same sound as my hand terminal, though?

He looked back at the display. There was something very subtly different about it. It was like... the difference between a powered down black screen, and one that was displaying a black screen.

The display flickered.

"ARE YOU THERE?"

Words appeared. ExSol characters, ExSol words. The font was a little bit janky, but it was what it was.

"M-Miss Nina... how are you doing that?" Robin called out loudly. The words on the screen vanished.

"INSTRUMENT DETECTING VIBRATION. NO PROPER AUDIO OR VIDEO. CAN YOU TYPE?"

The panel flickered, and a keyboard appeared in one corner. Robin's blood turned to ice. Nina wasn't doing this. Woodenly, he walked over to the screen and hovered his hand above the on-screen keyboard. He typed the only thing he could think of.

"Who are you?"

"YOUR WORD FOR US IS PRECURSOR."

Robin started hyperventilating. This was insane. Was this an actual Precursor? No it had to be some kind of AI or some leftover digital remnant. A ghost. It was an incredible find either way. And he was the one who'd made it.

"I HAVE VERY LITTLE TIME. RIVER IS TRACKING MY CONNECTION. I NEED YOUR HELP. THIS IS MY FACILITY IDENTIFICATION."

The words came quickly. A string of characters in the Precursor language appeared at the bottom of the screen. Robin fumbled with his hand terminal and started a recording. He cursed himself for not recording everything from the start.

"How can I contact you?"

"I CAN ACCESS FACILITIES WITH THIS DESIGNATION. I CANNOT GUARANTEE."

Another string of Precursor text appeared beneath the first. Robin recognized the word for 'person' in there, the same one he'd spent all day on yesterday.

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"

"Robin."

"HELP ME AND I CAN HELP YOU, ROBIN. COME FIND ME."

The screen flickered, then died.

"No! No no no!" Robin banged on the panel with his fists. He stared at it, desperate for more. He had too many questions. It felt like a fever dream. An actual Precursor!

It asked me my hecking name!

His hand terminal beeped at him with an incoming call. It was Nina, of course. He accepted it.

"Butterfly. Skedaddlin' time. Bots comin. Git here, now," she said tersely, cutting the call before he could reply.

"River is tracking my connection." It said that. Was this whole thing a trap or a trick?

Clutching his hand terminal more tightly than he'd ever held anything in his life, Robin ran for the exit. He hooked himself into the rappelling cord, and activated the winch. It pulled him back up to the surface and he bolted straight for his rover. Twinshya was there, hovering protectively over him.

"I'm here! Let's go!" Robin yelled into the voice call. The two of them bolted, leaving the archaeological find of a lifetime behind them.

***

Dawn sat quietly in Dusk's cockpit, eating a ration bar and sipping at some water. They'd been on the move on Virsalla for two days and were finally just now feeling semi-comfortable that they'd given the RC the slip. Even still, they silently observed Dusk's sensor feed laid out over a map of the region with little pins around where they believed Virsallan League encampments would be, where the RC camp was, and where the Gates were.

The Macau and Ishtar gates were the only gates that connected Virsalla to ExSol-occupied worlds. There were four others leading to dangerous AN strongholds, and, of course, the inactive Earth gate in the middle of Legion. Dawn had initially headed towards Legion, mostly because they thought that it was less likely that they'd be pursued by the RC close to the battle lines. That much was undoubtedly true, but Dawn quickly realized that if the League and the RC were openly at war, the League might just shoot Dawn first and ask questions later, especially given that Dusk's communication array was totally scrapped. That left Dawn in a precarious position, and they'd plotted a course with the intent of skimming close to the League's lines without actually being seen by them. Ultimately, they had no idea where they would go and who would give them asylum.

Dusk itself was both an asset and a liability to that end. The Network was a dangerous place for ExSols, between dangerous flora and fauna, inhospitable environments, and the AN's endless war, tensions were always high. If the RC's campaign against the Virsallan League intensified, then tensions would only go up, and Dusk would be an attractive thing for any independent group to have on their side. At the same time, the RC had a well-deserved reputation as maniacs and killers, and this war would only cement that image in people's minds. People may well turn Dawn away out of sheer mistrust and fear. Or worse, there would be those who would see the RC as the soon-to-be authority on the Network and just turn Dawn over to them hoping to curry favor.

Is there anywhere for either of us, Dusk?

Dawn sighed in frustration and despair, looking over a map of the greater Network. Dusk's display showed a series of continental maps connected to one another by lines. The RC controlled Neo-Venus and also had a strong presence on Rajaona. Their supply lines would run from Rajaona through Navann, Macau, to Virsalla. This would make Ishtar a vulnerable flank of theirs, which is why they had been fanning tensions between the Hallucian Federation and Abrandia. It may also mean that Dawn could hide there for a while, even if Abrandia was out of the question. There was a group called The Dreamers on the far continent of Ishtar that may offer Dawn refuge. It would be a difficult needle to thread, the Autonomous Network, River, had a major presence not too far from the Ishtar gate. River would have a military presence in the region, and there would also be ExSol scavengers robbing equipment and material from the Network to bring to buyers in Legion.

Dawn tapped into a few old navigation databases, and overlaid known River sites over their map. Their escape route narrowed significantly, and Dawn grimaced. A narrow path like that meant that they'd be easy to track if the RC guessed at where Dawn would try to run.

Dawn can only pray they aren't worth the effort.

With a fresh batch of anxiety bubbling in their chest, Dawn devoured the rations and water quickly, and then punched in a code to open the hatch to Dusk's cockpit. The little folding ladder flopped down and Dawn started to climb out. Virsalla's gravity was only at about 40% of a g, which was enough of a difference to throw Dawn's co-ordination off in their haste to get down to the ground. Dawn's foot missed a rung, and they slipped, grabbing for another rung and missing. One foot tangled in the rope, and they went upside down, hitting the ground shoulder-first. Dawn grunted in pain as their shoulder struck the rock and dirt, but Dawn's mass under Virsalla's gravity ended up not being enough to dislocate it. Instead, they continued to somewhat gently tumble to the ground in a heap.

Dawn rose, slightly bruised, covered in dust, and thoroughly embarrassed. They'd parked Dusk in what was more of an alcove than a cave, located in the wall of a canyon. Mountains and spires of rock rose all around them, obscuring Dawn from view but also restricting them to travelling through narrow, winding paths that would be perfect for an ambush. Dawn went to the other side of the alcove and squatted down to pee, wanting to get back in Dusk and get moving as soon as possible. It figured that Dusk's bathroom would be one of the things that the vibroblade stab had completely ruined.

They nervously watched the skies as they waited for their shy bladder. Virsalla's skies were mostly blue but with a bit of a yellow-orange tinge to it like a drop of oil on the surface of water. Virsalla had a quick rotational period that meant it only had eight-hour days. The star had been bright in the clear sky an hour ago, but was already starting to cast long shadows as it dipped behind the mountains.

A tiny flicker of motion caught Dawn's attention just as they were starting to relax. A little speck was moving across the sickly yellow skies. At first, Dawn thought it was probably an animal of some kind. Neo-Venus had flying fauna that were called birds even though they weren't technically birds. Birds were from Earth. Ishtar had had similar fauna, but Dawn couldn't remember if Virsalla had anything of the sort. Alternately, the ANs often used planes, drones, and airborne troop carriers, so it wasn't unusual to see those. Suddenly, the speck dove, twirling down behind a mountain, and Dawn's stomach froze up. The swift fluidity of that motion made Dawn think of only one thing.

That looked like Agent Tae.

The impossibility and the danger of that idea clashed against one another in Dawn's mind for only an instant before they pulled up their pants and scrambled back to Dusk. Tae was supposed to be in Navann. For her to be here, Emilia would have had to have sent for her almost immediately. A full day... that was about as long as it might take to get a message to Navann from Virsalla, assuming that the RC had set up communications relays. Tae could probably fly Zephyr to Virsalla during the following day, it was plenty fast enough.

What didn't make sense is why Emilia would do something so drastic just to track Dawn down. The RC was in the middle of a war against another major power, they were trying to secure a huge swath of territory even as Talon was going on a rampage on Ishtar and maybe elsewhere. Dusk was certainly a valuable Mech, but even if Dawn hadn't stabbed it in the torso, it would still require a lot of work to adjust it for a pilot whose Zenith wasn't as strong as Dawn's.

Dawn sat down in Dusk's cockpit, retracted the ladder, and closed the hatch. They furiously combed through their sensor data to see if it had gotten a reading on the flying object even as they strapped themselves in. There was nothing, which didn't mean that the object wasn't there, or that it wasn't Zephyr, it could just be out of range.

Why would Zephyr be here? Surely Dawn is not important enough. Unless...?

Dawn froze as they remembered their original mission. They flipped to a tiny camera inside Dusk's tiny storage compartment, and saw it still strapped in tight: the comm buffer that they'd cut out of the Talon fortress. Dawn had never been told why they had been tasked with retrieving it, Dawn was never told anything that wasn't mission critical. But what if it was critical to the RC's plan? They would certainly pursue Dusk for that.

Marshal Brooks told Dawn that disrupting Abrandia was secondary to retrieving this, did he not?

As Dawn powered Dusk up and flared on their Zenith so that they could activate the stealth field, an alert popped up on their sensors. Dawn looked and saw that an object had just swooped up above the canyon walls and was streaking down towards them. The object wasn't labelled 'Zephyr' because Dawn had turned Dusk's Identify-Friend-or-Foe into scrap, but it was definitely Zephyr. Not only that, Tae had clearly both seen Dawn and also painted Dusk with a targeting laser. So long as Tae maintained line of sight with that laser, Dusk's stealth field would be almost useless. If Dawn could have activated it ahead of time then Tae would have needed to get in close to ping Dusk with a radial X-ray scanner. Zephyr closed the distance rapidly and hovered in the air about fifty meters away, guns aimed at Dusk but not firing yet.

"Oh Dawnieeeee," Tae's voice echoed off the canyon walls. For a moment, Dawn almost turned off the microphones that picked up local sounds, but they doubted that Tae would have access to their hypnotic trigger; Emilia wasn't even supposed to have access to it. They kept their finger on the button that would mute them, just in case, and broadcast their own voice outwards.

"Agent Tae," they replied, targeting Zephyr with their plasma caster. They suddenly felt very naked without their missiles; a hyper-agile target like Zephyr would not be easy to hit with a slow-firing, unguided weapon like a plasma caster.

"Dawnie, Dawnie, Dawnie. You've been a very bad enby, and Marshal Emilia wants me to give you a spanking." Tae giggled, the malicious hunger in her voice discernible even through the speakers. "But, I'm supposed to give you a chance to surrender, first, so, blah blah blah surrender, rights, dignity, whatever." Dawn could tell that nothing would disappoint her more than if they actually surrendered. It almost made them want to do it out of spite.

"Emilia has been torturing Dawn for yea--"

"Yay!!" Tae cackled, clearly not interested in Dawn's explanation. Zephyr's arms raisedup and its autocannons let out a series of sharp cracks as she opened fire. Dusk's deflectors redirected two of the slugs and a third slammed into the armor plates on Dusk's left arm. The shot didn't penetrate the armor, mercifully. Dawn returned fire, sending two plasma caster shots towards Zephyr and setting off at a run down the canyon to give Tae a moving target. They glanced at the data coming in from Dusk's deflectors and grimaced as they saw that the damage Dusk's power grid had suffered had dropped their efficacy well below 100%. Normally, Zephyr would never have stood a chance against Dusk in direct combat, it was a scouting Mech, not a combat one, but Dusk's disadvantages were stacking up.

Zephyr twirled around, avoiding Dusk's plasma caster effortlessly. She circled around above them and rained fire downwards with a steady cadence. One of her rounds got through the deflectors again and penetrated the armor plates on top, throwing a breach alarm onto Dawn's display but nothing critical came with it. Dawn scowled and engaged Dusk's gravity manipulation, leaping up into the air after Zephyr, firing their plasma caster and the light autocannons mounted in the torso.

"So hecking rude, Dawnie!" Tae shrieked. She circled around Dusk, dodging the plasma and allowing her own deflectors to deal with the small slugs. She shot Dusk in the back three times at close range. Dawn used their limited lateral movement to try to spin the Mech around and get in range to slice Zephyr apart with the vibroblade, but Tae's mobility was unmatched, and she simply continued to twirl and spin, keeping Zephyr behind them. "The skies belong to me, Dawnie!"

It didn't take Dawn long to realize that this line of attack was pointless; they'd never catch Zephyr like this. Dawn immediately adjusted the pull of Virsalla's gravity on Dusk to normal, and then, realizing that 55% of a g wasn't enough, intensified it up to about 200%. Virsalla pulled the Mech swiftly back down to the ground, Dawn hitting the deceleration as late as they could. Dusk hit the ground running, trying to find some cover to pull Zephyr in closer. Tae followed without too much difficulty, continuing to circle above Dusk and spray them with autocannon fire. More armor breaches came. Every single one could have caused a serious issue, but thankfully, none did. It was only a matter of time, though; Dawn had no way to win and a hundred ways to lose.

All she needs is one solid hit. Dusk is too damaged...

Dawn made a snap decision to try and build some distance between them and Tae. They lowered Dusk's plasma caster, and instead pivoted the torso towards Zephyr. Dawn simultaneously painted it with a targeting laser and opened the empty missile bay as though they were firing. Tae probably knew that Dusk was either out of missiles, or critically low on them. Dawn could only hope that her instincts made her fall for the bluff.

Zephyr took the bait and reacted immediately, reversing thrust and darting away from Dusk to create some distance. In response, Dawn put Dusk's gravity manipulation into full, hugely amplifying the pull of the mass of the objects behind them. Gravity manipulation's ability to pull objects laterally wasn't the main reason that it was put onto Mechs, but it was enough to give a slight boost to Dusk's already impressive land speed. Dusk accelerated backwards with stomach-wrenching rapidity, launching across the rock and dirt so fast its feet barely touched the ground.

The maneuver both completely dominated reactor output and cut dangerously deep into battery reserves. With a howl of rage that barely registered in Dusk's speakers over the howl of the wind, Zephyr tried to accelerate with Dusk and keep up. Dawn allowed Tae to build up some speed, then fired their plasma caster four times, draining the capacitors dry. Tae tried to swerve out of the way, but she was moving too fast to correct course. Zephyr lurched to the side in midair, spraying molten metal like blood.

Dawn expected Tae to back off for a bit after sustaining a direct hit like that, but she continued onward undeterred. Dawn wasn't sure if she knew that they'd almost completely drained Dusk's capacitors with that maneuver, or if it was pure bloodlust. Tae brought Zephyr in close, firing off more autocannon rounds and then bringing her short vibroblades to bear. Dawn tried to maneuver away from the speeding Mech, but Zephyr's short, dagger-like vibroblades ripped a hole on Dusk's shoulder armor as it passed on the left. Dawn tried to bring their own vibroblade mounted on Dusk's right arm down upon Zephyr but Tae was gone before they could.

Tae spun and circled back, firing her autocannons at the hole she'd just dug in Dusk's armor. One of the rounds slammed into the hole, and motor function warnings blared on Dawn's screen. A quick glance at the damage report told Dawn that Dusk wouldn't be able to reliably raise its left arm more than sixty degrees until that got fixed. That was going to be a very big problem, especially as Tae rose up into the air to rain more autocannon rounds down upon Dawn from directly above. Dawn ran towards a bend in the canyon and wrote some code to allow Dusk to twist its torso to compensate for the loss of arm mobility. They tested it out by firing two quick shots at Zephyr. The shots went where they were supposed to, but they still missed, and a frustrated, angry laugh echoed out of Zephyr.

"Having problems, Dawnie?" Tae asked. She'd noticed the workaround. Unfortunately, if Dawn had caused serious damage to Zephyr with their hit, nothing was showing. The Mech still zipped around in the air like a dragonfly and peppered Dusk with shots at the same steady, unrelenting pace.

Dusk rounded the bend in the canyon and continued trading fire with Zephyr in the same, ineffective, pattern that was going to end with Dawn's death by a thousand cuts. Dusk's battery reserves were still barely recovering and they wouldn't be able to perform a high-speed maneuver for another several minutes at this rate, assuming that Tae didn't completely ruin Dusk's struggling power grid with a lucky shot before then.

Dawn cannot win like this. Tae needs to make a mistake. Force a mistake out of Tae, then. But how?

Zephyr rounded the corner after them, Tae's voice blaring out loudly echoing off the canyon walls. At first, Dawn thought that either Tae's voice was too distorted for them to make out the words, or perhaps that her speakers had been damaged by the hit. A moment later, Dawn realized that Tae wasn't talking or shouting, she was singing. Dawn knew the song all too well, it was the theme song of an animated action show that was produced and broadcast by a studio out of Rajaona. Once, during training, Tae had been goofing around and had accidentally shot Dawn in the stomach. Tae had gotten house arrest for ten days for it, the lightest possible disciplinary action, thanks to her mother. She'd come into Dawn's hospital room as they were recovering from surgery, singing that song, acting like nothing was out of the ordinary.

The sheer absurdity and injustice of the situation was perfectly clear in Dawn's mind in that moment, for the first time ever. They still believed in the RC's mission, or at least, they didn't disbelieve it. But the value of that mission paled before the nepotism, cruelty, and utter hypocrisy of the RC that had led Dawn to flee from Emilia as her father protected her, and to be pursued by Tae, whose mother protected her. For the first time in Dawn's adult life, anger, indignation, and rage bubbled up to the surface and they didn't use their training and conditioning to smother and suppress it. They embraced it, revelled in it, and a singular thought formed in their mind, clear as glass. It burned as bright as their Zenith, filling them with power and determination.

Dawn is going to kill the shit out of her.

Dawn continued looking around for a cave or a tunnel or anything that might allow them to break line of sight long enough to turn on the stealth field and drop Tae's target lock. All that they saw was another bend in the canyon with an overhang like the underside of a bridge. They headed towards it, taking an autocannon slug in the knee as they did. The armour breach warning came, and Dawn's hands rested lightly on the manual controls for the legs in case something went wrong. If that slug made Dusk pitch and fall over, it would be a death knell, but Dawn knew how to take manual control before a stumble turned into a fall; it wouldn't stop them. Nothing of the sort happened, and Dusk cleared the corner with a powerful yank from its gravity manipulators. A battery reserve warning popped up on Dawn's displays as they dipped down to 5% capacity, but they dismissed it as they brought Dusk to a complete halt. Dawn waited half a second, then doubled back, activating the stealth field as they did.

As Dawn had hoped, Tae had flown past the overhang to meet Dawn on the other side, and they weren't there. The split second maneuver had cost Tae her direct line-of-sight target lock, and now Dusk was cloaked, moving into position.

"Come out, Come out, Dawnie!" Tae cackled. She took Zephyr into a dive, accelerating and swooping through the overhang as fast as the Mech could go. As she got closer, her radial x-ray scanner picked up Dusk through the stealth field, and then an instant later, her laser targeting re-acquired them. As it happened, she saw that Dawn had floated Dusk up into the air right into her flight path. Realizing her peril, she desperately fired her maneuvering thrusters to swerve away from Dusk and its deadly vibroblade. The blade descended, ripping through Zephyr's head, torso, cockpit, and waist, severing the Mech cleanly in two. The right half, maneuvering thrusters still firing, twisted and flew off wildly, smashing into the side of the canyon. The left half fell out of the sky as Tae's death disabled the Ascension tech and made it subject to the pull of Virsalla's mass.

Dusk's battery reserves died, and it fell out of the air with only a little bit more grace. The crash landing rattled Dawn and added even more damage alerts to the overflowing pile that the Mech was already suffering from. Something in the damaged knee popped, and Dusk fell a second time, landing on its side. Dawn grunted in pain as the straps holding them in place dug painfully into their chest and shoulder.

"We are definitely not friends..." Dawn murmured as the wreckage of Zephyr smoldered and billowed smoke into the air. With some work, Dawn got Dusk back onto its feet and set it into a hobbled walk down the canyon, leaving the ruins of Zephyr behind. As Dawn wrote a new subroutine so that Dusk could walk with its damaged knee, they realized that Tae's interruption had distracted them, but they still really had to pee.

"Dawn supposes we will both be walking strangely, old friend," they murmured to their Mech, and then, in spite of everything, laughed at their own terrible joke.

***

"I mean, just look at it, Miss Nina," Robin showed her the recording of the supposed contact he'd had with the Precursor. Some text on a screen. A bunch of words and a keyboard.

"Butterfly, I love ya, but this s'batty, y'know?" she said.

"I know!! It's so insane. I can't believe it. But... what was it, then? It had to be something." He chattered agitatedly as they walked. He fluttered all around the path, looping around Nina and coming back as she strode casually. They'd decided to talk about this on a private walk away from the camp rather than present the Fox Catchers with Robin's wild story.

"Some ExSol's long time ago. Maybe some humans. Put some script n'there. Big time prank," she said.

"I thought so, too. I thought you must be pranking me. But it reacted to me. It answered my question! You see this facility identification it gave me?" he pointed to some precursor gibberish on the recording.

Nina booted up a program on her hand terminal and generated some random Precursor language gobbledegook, then showed it to Robin without saying a word.

"Okay, okay! That just means I need to translate this and verify it! If it's gibberish then we know it's a fake." Robin sighed, exasperated.

"S'alotta work jus t'prove a fake's fake, Butterfly," Nina warned him. She didn't want to crush his spirit. She loved that he was such a dork about this stuff, but she knew there were millions of things on the Network that you could spend your lifetime chasing and get nowhere.

As she went to close the program that generated Precursor gibberish, an alert popped up on her screen. It was from a locator beacon sending out a burst signal. It was the kind of beacon meant to be subtle enough that it was hard to detect on whatever machine you'd attached it onto but if your terminal was keyed to the signal, you could still pick it up when it sent out a flare.

"S'weird," she murmured. She actually had no idea when she'd planted a beacon like that or on what. It was exactly the kind of shady ass thing she would have done back when she worked for the Smithsons, though. And it was keyed to her hand terminal.

"What's that?" Robin asked, peeking over the edge of the terminal. He saw the map that had the location pin on it. "That's pretty close to us, right?"

"Yea. I dunno, apparently I did this. Wanna check it out?" she asked.

Could be some vehicle from the old compound that I tagged. Maybe Nugan or Carrina got out?

The thought was difficult for her to sit with. If it was Carrina, she'd want Twinshya back. Nina felt awful as she was unable to suppress the fact that she hoped the woman was dead.

"It's not dangerous, is it?" Robin's voice snapped her out of her spiral of self-doubt.

"Shouldn't," she replied with a shrug. She masked her feelings about it as she answered him. She had to go look. She had to know.

The beacon was about a two hour walk from where they were, so they headed back to the camp to get Robin's rover. Nina laid back in the passenger seat and put her arm around Robin's shoulder as he drove. He flashed her an occasional adoring smile. Suck up.

The beacon lay in a valley, past a bunch of rocks that the rover couldn't get through, so they dismounted and walked.

"Miss Nina, this looks like a hiding place," Robin murmured as they moved deeper into the valley.

"Ye," she agreed. Robin placed his hand on the little sidearm he had holstered around his hip. Nina tried not to laugh every time she saw it; it was like a kitten with a knife.

They came around a rock and Nina saw a familiar shape.

Oh, right. I did put a beacon on that.

Dusk was kneeling on the ground, and as gleaming as the Mech had once been, it looked like garbage right now. It had been absolutely torn up by a shit load of autocannon fire and it had a giant gaping hole right in the chest. Dawn was there, looking equally like shit, which was saying something. Dawn was kneeling in front of one of Dusk's knee joints and shining a light into it as they muttered to themselves.

"Oi! Sunset, what're'y--"

Dawn screamed in surprise, dropping their pliers to grab for the handheld plasma caster on their belt. Robin went for his own pistol, and the two of them froze, staring at one another like loons.

"Pfft. Put 'em away, ladies. Twink gunfights're cute. Unnecess tho." Nina chortled. Robin and Dawn both lowered their weapons slightly and frowned at Nina.

"Dawn is not a twink," they muttered.

"And I wasn't cute, I pulled my gun way faster than them," Robin huffed.

"Quit fibbin', yer a total cutie." Nina reached over and mussed up Robin's hair. "An' you. after ya ditched me on Ishtar I call ya what I want, n'I like twinks. Lookit my princess over'ere playin' at cowtwink." She pointed at Robin with one thumb.

"That is not clever, logical, nor is it flattering, Miss Sahara," Dawn said with a defeated sigh, holstering their plasma caster.

"Yeah, Miss Nina, I don't know what the joke's even supposed to be. You're Dawn, then? What are you doing out here?" Robin put his own adorable firearm away and changed the subject.

"Stirrin' the 'mite hive, I bet." Nina answered for them.

Dawn opened their mouth, and their posture went stiff like they were going to give a prepared answer and the posture was a part of the muscle memory. Instead, they just froze, and a confused, lost look entered their eyes. Instead of answering, they started to laugh. It was a quiet, tinkling little giggle that had an odd, jerky cadence to it like Dawn had never laughed before in their life. Probably hadn't.

"Dawn supposes that is exactly what Dawn has done. Dawn came here to report to the Reunification Commission base, and instead... ended up offering up Dawn's resignation. It was not received well." They finally spoke once their laughing fit calmed down.

"Looks about. Sunrise looks like... wait, didja stab yer own Mech there, Sunset?" She asked. The stab in Dusk's torso was at an odd angle and looked to be about the size that the Mech's own vibroblade would make.

"... Yes," Dawn answered reluctantly.

"Wait, you worked for the Reunification Commission? Aren't they the wacko Earth idolaters out on Neo-Venus?" Robin broke into the conversation.

"Well..." again, Dawn hesitated for a moment, struggling against some force of habit or prepared statement. "Dawn objects to the implied pejorative within that moniker, but, yes. The Commission's beliefs are as the young man describes. The Commission is also most certainly not fringe, we-- they have been in full control of Neo-Venus and parts of Rajaona for years."

"'Is name's Robin. Y'ain't gotta call 'im 'young man' like yer some kinda narrator, Sunrise." Nina rolled her eyes.

"... Robin. Dawn is pleased to meet you," Dawn lowered their gaze, almost dropping into a bow. Robin recoiled a tiny bit. He had no idea how to respond to someone acting deferentially to him. It was the most bottom-y thing she'd ever seen in her life and she tried not to laugh.

"Uhh. Likewise," Robin replied.

"So. This Comish. They the ones buttin' heads wit' the League?" Nina asked. They'd been getting a lot of emergency broadcasts out of Legion lately, something about asking civilians to avoid the battlefield. Crawford had said it sounded like war. War between ExSol's had happened on the network before, but it was a rare occurrence. There was too much on the Network trying to kill them already.

"The RC has come to take control of Earth Gate, so, if they were not..." The words 'butting heads' clearly tried to find life in Dawn's mouth but instead withered and died there. "... In conflict with the League, Dawn would be surprised."

"Lame. fightin' a war jus t'croon over a dusty 'ol relic. Net's fulla dusty 'ol relics, n'summa 'em actually work." Nina shook her head and approached Dusk. She scooped up Dawn's pliers and pulled a flashlight out of her toolbelt. She shined a light into the hole in Dusk's knee to take stock of the damage. There was autocannon shrapnel mucking up the joint, but it looked fixable with a few spare parts.

"Dawn was not subject to many details of the RC's plans, but Dawn does know that the Commission intends to open the Earth Gate, not simply revere it." Dawn murmured, hovering above Nina as she started digging shrapnel out of Dusk's knee.

"Yea, sure they do," Nina chortled at the idea of actually reopening Earth Gate. "Sunset, y'need t'fix this 'fore it grinds the joint down." She grabbed a piece of shrapnel and pulled it out.

"Dawn will... try?" they offered.

Nina looked up at Dawn with a scowl, and they smiled nervously back at her. "I'll fix it. No promises 'bout that hole in the torso, though."

Dawn breathed the biggest sigh of relief Nina had ever heard, even as Robin interjected. "Wait, wait, wait, opening Earth Gate? That is beyond... No, nobody would ever."

"Ye. Nobody'd ever fly with their arms, either. 'Least flyin'd be neat. Earth's just a pit," Nina said, hunting for more shrapnel in Dusk's knee.

"No, Miss Nina, Earth has a global communications network. If the AN's got into that, it'd shut the entire planet down, there'd be massive life support failures, food, clean water, power, heat. It'd be genocidal." Robin rambled agitatedly. He had a way of getting worked up about hypotheticals.

"Dawn had not thought of..." the enby trailed off, biting their lower lip a little. "The Commission is cruel and capricious, but they would never... They would take precautions against that," Dawn murmured, doing the Network's worst job of convincing themselves and certainly not convincing either of the two of them.

"Gate stays closed cuz Earth's a pit, n'we're ExSols; don't need 'em, never did. Gate stays closed cuz'a Robin's thing. Gate stays closed cuz Gate can't open. Unruffle, y'two." Nina tried to shut down the goofy conversation.

Can't leave these two catastrophizers alone in the same room together, that's for sure.

"Well... some people think that once the Gates are paired, they can only be closed if both sides are closed. In theory, Earth Gate is closed because the Gate on Virsalla's side was never open. I mean, there were no Precursors to open Virsalla's side, right? So, if someone could override the ANs and just... flip a switch, then..." Robin continued to ramble.

"Ay, Butterfly. Clouds. Butt." Nina called, snapping him out of his rant.

"Umm... what?" he asked.

"Butt outta the clouds. Back t'camp n'let ExSol Jeffie know we're bringin' Sunrise in. Gon' dig this shrapnel out n'get this'n t'walk 'er in."

"Yeah, okay, but that's not a real saying." Robin shook his head.

"Is now. Git." Robin rolled his eyes and went to do as she'd told him without arguing further.

"If... Miss Sahara insists upon the nicknames, could she at least be consistent with them? Dawn is not sure when she refers to Dawn and when she refers to Dusk." Dawn asked after a long, silent stretch of Nina working on Dusk's knee.

"Nope. Don' be so cute with the name, wouldn't be a problem."

"Dawn did not name either of us..." they muttered with a defeated sigh. Nina just snickered.

Dawn orbited Nina for a bit as she pulled out the last of the shrapnel and started doing some finishing work just so that the Mech could walk without causing more damage than had already been done. "Miss Sahara?" they eventually asked.

"We'll even up," she assured them. "Not scuffed 'bout it."

"Oh, no. Dawn wanted to apologize about... that night on--"

"Eh." She waved a hand dismissively. "I lost m'head. Y'kept yers. Yer lyin' prob saved my hide, don' gotta 'pologize."

Dawn laughed a little in disbelief. "Truly?"

"Really. Life's short. Life's hecked. Gotta look out fer one another, not jus' ourselves, ye?" Nina finished up and grabbed the armored panel off the ground. It had a hole blown right through it by the autocannon round, but she went about securing it back onto Dusk's knee anyway. It'd be an easy patch with the right tools.

"That has never been Dawn's experience," they admitted, as if that wasn't painfully obvious.

"Ye, well, changin that's yer direction." Nina wiped her hands off on her pants and handed Dawn back the pliers, putting her own tools away in her belt. "Come on back t'our camp. Run from Comish goons 'nother day."

"Dawn is not even sure where to run. Dawn had thought of crossing the ocean on Ishtar to reach The Dreamers."

Nina snorted at that, and Dawn frowned in confusion. "Good luck wit' that. Stormy season on Ishtar for 'nother two years. Nobody crosses."

"Oh..." Dawn looked from Nina up to Dusk, and paused in thought.

"S'a later question. Follow me." Nina slapped Dawn on the shoulder, the impact of it sending the frail little enby staggering a little. She chuckled at them and turned around to head back to the camp. She didn't check to see if Dawn was following her. The possibility that they'd just vanish again wasn't lost on her, but she'd rather believe in someone than not, regardless of the outcome. About a minute later, she heard the mechanical footsteps of a Mech behind her, and she smiled.

***

Dawn sat cross-legged in the little tent that the Fox Catchers had assigned to them. Miss Sahara's companions had not welcomed them as warmly as she'd hoped. Dawn was effectively under arrest while the group's organizers considered whether or not to hand them over to the Virsallan League. Dawn was a tad saddened by that possibility, but if they were to die, it was satisfying to them to die their own person, rather than the RC's and Emilia's slave. In spite of everything, Dawn was happy to have run into Miss Sahara again.

"She's... Dawn's friend, after all..." they whispered to themselves. The thought made them smile. It was an alien feeling but a beautiful one.

"Yer one step away from talkin' t'yerself the way y'talk already, Sunset." Nina's voice came from outside as she barged in.

Dawn looked over at her placidly, and smiled. "How can This One be of assistance, Miss Sahara?"

"'Kay, Sunrise, first's first. Butterfly calls me 'Miss' n'it's a sex thing. S'don' start 'Miss'n me 'less yer after the same. Y'know, that'd be fine, 'course. Yer cute 'nuff."

"Ah... Yes, of course... Mi-- N-Nina..." Dawn blushed profusely, struggling to speak so casually. "And... the second?"

"Huh?"

"You said first's first. What, then, is second?" they asked.

"Oh. We're not sellin' ya downstream. We checked Sunset's logs. Y'really went and opened fire full on'em, eh?" she said, crossing her arms. Dawn had completely unlocked Dusk's systems for Nina and the Fox Catchers. It went against every bit of training and every operational guideline. But it had felt to Dawn like a terrible sin had slumbered within Dusk's combat logs. They had to let it out. It had to speak for itself

Dawn was quiet as they remembered what they had done. They remembered their panic, their terror. They remembered the sheer violence of what they'd done. They'd remembered hearing Miss Sahara's voice in their memory, right before they'd done it. All of that was gone now, replaced with cold clarity.

"... And Dawn would do it again," they said. They hated the Reunification Commission.

"Mm. Well. Yer free'ta go fix Sunrise up n'heck off, if ya want," she said. She was looking at them pretty intensely. In another life, it would have made Dawn shrink and pull away. Now, they just felt like Nina was seeing them. It felt like Nina understood them in ways that made no sense to them.

"Dawn... would prefer not to leave. Dawn feels as though they truly owe Miss Sahara a--"

Nina stepped closer. She towered over Dawn normally, but sitting as they were, the difference was unnerving. "What'd I say 'bout 'Miss'n me, Sunrise?" she asked.

Dawn exhaled softly. They looked up at the crass young woman. Somehow, they felt totally still and serene. Nina was not Emilia. This was their choice. Dawn had made precious few of those in their life, and it carried great significance that they were making one now. "Dawn understood Miss Sahara perfectly."

Nina walked over to a chair that had been set up in the corner of the little prison tent. She sat down and beckoned Dawn closer.

"Nah. Stay down," she said as Dawn tried to rise to their feet. They crawled. Nina put a hand on their head, gripping their skull with her rough fingertips, and pulled them up. She rested their head on her thigh. A tiny bit of residual fear rose up in Dawn's chest. Emilia. Emilia. Emilia.

Miss Sahara is not Emilia.

"Ye've been through some shit, huh Sunrise?" Nina asked softly. Her fingers lightly rubbed along Dawn's bare occipital bone. It was soothing in a way that none of Dawn's meditations had ever been.

"... Yes, Miss Sahara."

"N'ye still wanna kneel at m'feet, huh?"

Dawn swallowed. Why did they want to do this? They couldn't explain. There was familiarity there. But, by doing it of their own volition, it felt like they were claiming it. Like they were taking it away from Emilia and the Reunification Commission.

"Dawn would like that, Miss Sahara."

"Mm," Nina murmured thoughtfully to herself. "'Kay. Sunset. Y'gotta promise me ye'll speak up 'n back out if yer uncomfortable. Otherwise, s'ain't gonna fly w'me."

Somehow, that was more terrifying to Dawn than submitting to Miss Sahara was. The thought made them tremble. But Miss Sahara was right. If they couldn't promise this to her, then what was the point? If they couldn't promise this to themselves, then how had they meaningfully done anything but swap Emilia for a new Mistress with the blind hope that she'd be better? This had to be different.

It took them a long time to say the words. They wanted to mean it. "Dawn promises, Miss Sahara."

"I think fer you, Sunset, s'Mistress. Havin' two subs callin me 'Miss' don't feel quite right. Yer not a bratty princess like my Butterfly, are ya?" Nina's fingertips traced patterns along Dawn's skull. The tiniest little movements of her fingers sent shivers all through Dawn's body. The physical connection to her felt spiritual.

"Dawn does not think that Dawn is either of those things, Mistress," they answered honestly.

"Yea. So, no 'Miss.' Miss s'when there's some level of respect, still. Yer Mistress owns you, yea?" The whole time she'd been here, Nina had spoken with a matter-of-fact tone. Serious but not emotional. As she said the word 'owns,' a small edge had crept its way into her voice. This was something she wanted, too. She wasn't just doing this for Dawn's sake alone.

"Yes. Mistress." Dawn murmured into her leg. Her muscled thigh was so warm against their cheek. It felt safe.

Nina nudged them, and they raised their head to look at her. "Get m'shoes off, Sunrise."

Dawn lowered themselves and took Nina's left boot in their hand. It wasn't a glamorous, high-heeled synthetic leather boot like Emilia had occasionally worn. It was a work boot. A mechanic's boot. Well worn and falling apart in places. They treated it with the utmost reverence as they unlaced it and delicately took it off Nina's foot. They repeated the process with her left foot, and set the boots aside. Dawn took a washcloth from a nearby stand and started to wipe down all the sweat off Nina's soles.

She snorted a bit at that. "Bit 'sumptuous. Go on."

"Dawn meant no disrespect, Mistress."

"I know. Pants next."

Dawn undid the buttons, lowered the zipper on Nina's pants, and slowly tugged them down. She lifted her weight up so they could get them down and off her ankles. Dawn folded them up neatly and set them beside the shoes.

"Jacket."

Dawn had to crane forward on their knees to reach the top button of her jacket. She only had every other button done up. They came loose and Dawn removed one sleeve from one arm, then the other. They had to shake the heavy jacket a bit to get it folded up all nice.

"Shirt."

Dawn struggled to pull the heavy shirt up and off of her. Nina had to help them out a little bit. Nina had broad shoulders and strong arms. Her breasts almost looked delicate on her chest. Dawn admired them for a moment.

"Yer starin'," Nina said. There was no accusation in her words. She wasn't teasing. That was a demand. She wanted to know why.

"Dawn... Dawn wishes they could wear their gender as beautifully as Mistress does," they said quietly, lowering their gaze. Nina nodded. She didn't placate Dawn's feelings by telling them they were beautiful, too. Nor did she take the comment as a compliment. That little nod seemed to be her accepting Dawn's feelings as they were. Like she was taking possession of them.

"Panties."

She was wearing a pair of boyshorts and making no effort to tuck or conceal her cock. Unlike her pants, she gave Dawn absolutely no assistance in getting them off. They had to slowly peel the waistband down off her buttcheeks centimeters at a time. Her half-hard cock came free, and the smell of her filled Dawn's consciousness. Dawn paused for a moment, then reached for the washcloth.

"No," Nina's hand fell onto Dawn's wrist. "S'a job fer yer tongue."

Dawn lowered their head and touched their tongue to the crease where her thigh connected to her pelvis. They licked slowly and delicately. Nina offered no further instruction, but she watched them closely.

Nina's skin was surprisingly soft overtop her muscles. The hormones were building a feminine surface atop the rubble of her old gender. It was indescribably beautiful to Dawn who had only ever demolished their gender, and never managed to build anything. They ran their tongue a little closer. Nina was a bit sweaty but not overpoweringly so. The taste was not unpleasant. Dawn committed it to their memory.

They reached the base of Nina's cock. It lightly pressed against their cheek. A bit of nervous indecision came over them. They wanted to make their Mistress feel good but they worried about being presumptuous.

"Other side now," Nina said, crashing their train of thought. Dawn crossed over and restarted the process. They caressed Nina's flesh with all the diligence of a lifetime of programming. The heat-ghost of Nina's cock on Dawn's cheek felt like a magnet drawing them back. It was hard not to rush.

They reached the base of Nina's cock once more. She still hadn't gotten fully hard but she had twitched and stirred plenty. With some trepidation, Dawn pressed their tongue to the underside of her shaft. The taste of her was stronger here. Dawn tried not to moan as a blush heated their face as intensely as their Zenith ever had. They moved upwards towards the tip.

As they moved, Nina's cock throbbed and hardened with an extra surge of blood. She moaned softly, enjoying Dawn's ministrations.

Dawn felt a tiny flicker of happiness in their chest. They realized this was their first time sexually servicing someone where they actually wanted the other person to feel good. They reached the tip and slowly swirled their tongue around it. Her precum tasted different from the rest of her. A tiny bit sweet. More feminine, Dawn thought.

"Ye've more t'do." Nina touched Dawn's brow softly. Dawn pulled away from Nina's cock mournfully. The bud of submissive desire that had slept within them since meeting Nina was sprouting and it was a task to contain themselves. But they did. Dawn had spent their entire life containing themselves.

Dawn lapped at Nina's pubic mound, her cock resting heavy on their cheek as they did. They finished and moved downwards to caress her testicles with their tongue. She let out a tiny noise as they did. A chuckle?

Is Mistress ticklish there?

Dawn travelled down Nina's perineum, feeling the prominent crease. She was a bit sweatier here and the smell was making Dawn's head spin.

Dawn saw the crack of Nina's ass and froze. It was Emilia again. Sitting on Dawn's face.

'Remember who owns your worthless hide, Sewer!!'

"Sunset," Nina called softly. Dawn was yanked out of the memory. They looked up at her. "Y'don' wanna? Say so."

"Dawn... Dawn does not want to do... that just now. Dawn is not ready." The words felt like heresy on Dawn's tongue. But they had to say them. They'd promised their Mistress.

Nina nodded again. She seized Dawn's feelings with that motion, making them her own. She leaned forward a little. The movement concealed her ass from Dawn and made her cock flop forward. Dawn's eyes snapped to it. Their need had been teased and toyed with for so long now, it was aching a bit at this point. The differences between Nina and Emilia couldn't have been more stark.

"Ye've 'mission. Make me cum," Nina said plainly.

Dawn breathed out slowly. The instruction was simple but the open endedness gave them pause. Nina's command fixated them on their goal in a way that felt familiar. The pull reminded them of those five accursed words. But the words weren't there, and Nina wouldn't have used them. Dawn didn't need proof to believe that.

Dawn took the tip of Nina's cock into their mouth. They worked slowly, intent on going at their own pace. It was what Mistress had told them to do.

Dawn took hold of her by the root with their left hand. They still had several broken fingers in their right from punching Dusk's controls so hard. They used a gentle grip to steady her as they pressed forward a little. Nina's womanhood felt nice on their tongue. They lapped at the underside and Nina sighed happily. She was very responsive and honest. When she liked what Dawn was doing, she let them know with tiny murmurs and vocalizations.

Dawn started moving faster, suckling more loudly. Drool ran out of the corner of their mouth and down their chin. Nina started to growl softly.

Dawn used their right hand to cup her balls gently. They did it carefully so as not to strain the broken digits. Her balls were tightening a little. They could feel the tension in her about to be unleashed. They sucked a little harder and teased her tip with their tongue. Mistress had given them a command and they were so eager to obey.

Dawn put all their effort and attention into sucking Nina's cock. They maintained their pace and rhythm with mechanical repetition. They pushed forward again, intent on utilizing their throat. It was difficult; Nina was thick and she wasn't applying any pressure on her own. Dawn was weak and tired; they had very little strength left to push themselves forward.

But they did. They'd never wanted to do anything more in their life. Nina's cock slipped into their throat and she exhaled sharply. She liked that. Dawn held themselves there then was forced to pull back to breathe. They gave themselves the reprieve they needed, then pushed forward again.

A deep, throaty growl rose up out of Nina. "S'comin," she said quietly.

Her balls tightened and her shaft swelled a bit. Nina was thick and the tiny bit of extra mass made it strain against the confines of Dawn's throat. She moaned and breathed deeply. Her hands clenched into balls on her thighs. Dawn accepted it all. They kept her cock lodged deep in their throat and rode it out. Their vision started to swim. Dawn withdrew, coughing and spluttering. They earned a final little dribble of Nina's cum on their lips as they did.

"Good. Thought I'd have t'help y'out. Proved me wrong," Nina murmured, exhaling a deeply satisfied sigh.

Dawn shivered. They were... proud. They weren't sure they'd ever felt proud before. The RC had painstakingly ground that out of them. Dawn realized that at some point, they'd cum. They had no idea how or when; they'd been so single-minded in their task. But in the moment, they were wrapped in a pleasurable feeling that could only be an afterglow "Thank you, Mistress. Dawn is glad."

"Third's third, Sunrise," Nina said. "I'm Glad. Say that."

"D-Da--" Nina scowled at them. "-- 'I'... am... glad..."

Nina harrumphed. "S'a start."

"D-Dawn... thinks they would like... to start slow..." they murmured, fidgeting with their hands.

"Mm. Fair 'nuff. Maybe like, one pronoun a day. We'll get y'up t'four in no time." Nina put a hand behind Dawn's head and drew them close. They rested their head on her thigh again. Emotion swirled. Dawn sniffled and started crying quietly. They didn't understand how they'd come to be here, but they were so, so glad.

"S'kay, Sunrise. Whatev's stuck in yer craw, we'll get'er out," Nina murmured to them.

"Thank you, Mistress. For everything."

"Everythin 'cept gettin ya shot, y'mean."

"... No. That too."

Nina laughed good-naturedly, patting Dawn on the head.