Cage

by Jessie Rose Case

  “You are beautiful,” he told her caressing her breasts and nipples. “So responsive to my touch. My data tells me its….. intoxicating.” And his mouth was there taking over from his hands and suckling at her breasts. Her clit pulsed with every touch. Pulling her breasts together, his tongue lathered her nipples teasing them as he moved from one to the other. Nipping, sucking, licking, and probing, driving her crazy with need. As he scraped his teeth across her nipple and tapped her clit, another climax hit her from nowhere. “Yes female, come for me,” he told her lathering her breast once more, then biting down and another exploded through her.

  She was having multiple orgasms!.... She’d never had more than one and sometimes that was a challenge. Three was …… She didn’t have the words. His thrusts had become more powerful, his hands pulled her open to him and lifted her hips giving him better penetration. He grunted his approval and Marlea nearly preened. She was open and vulnerable but never felt stronger in her life. He started to pound. Striking her hard and deep, the table moving under them. Reaching out she held onto his hands to brace herself. His eyes never leaving her face as he connected with her over and over again. Sooo fucking good…

  The pace going faster and faster. Almost faster than she could track. He moved slightly and hit her just right and another orgasm slammed into her. Marlea screamed her pleasure as he held her tighter, his pace beyond what she could measure. Hard and unbelievably deep he struck her again and again then, rammed in and held as he roared out his own release and hot cum was pouring into her.

  Damn….. she was ruined for other men….

  ***

  She woke and guessed she’d fallen asleep. She was in bed, the covers tucked around her and no sign of the Cyborg. A pang of disappointment crept in. Was that because he’d left or because there wouldn’t be another round?.... She didn’t know.

  But she felt better than she had in….. seemed like years. Marlea smiled and stretched. Soo damn good!.... She felt the pinch of where he’d been, and it was a reminder of just how good it had been. Throwing off the flow blanket she sat up, noticing a glass of water. Condensation ran down the outside. Touching it, told her it was still cold. He couldn’t have left her long ago. She picked the glass up and took several long deep swallows. It was cool and refreshing and just what she needed.

  “Computer time,” she asked getting up and walking to the shower.

  “04.22.”

  Marlea stopped. She was sure the time at the end of the battle had been just after 11. He’d been in her five hours?.... Shit.

  “Shower on.” It came on. “Locate Second Officer Egar.”

  “He is still on Deck B assisting with the clear up.”

  Now she felt selfish. She’d left him to it to get laid. That was shitty…. But she’d make it up to him. “Inform him that I will be there in 20 to take over command.”

  “Affirmative.”

  She came rushing out the shower pulling on her replicated new uniform to find Cage standing in her room. She’d not heard the request to enter her room and had a sneaky suspicion he’d overridden it and let himself in. She was about to give him hell when she saw the tray in his hand. She waved him over and sat on the bed. Deciding the table needed sanitising before she used it again.

  “Good morning,” he told her handing her the tray.

  She gave him a pained look before lifting the cover and inhaling the deliciousness beneath. She pointed to the door. “You over rid that without my consent. Another violation Commander.” There was no heat in it, and she picked up the knife and fork and dug in. “But I thank you for the food it’s been a while since I last ate.” Only to stop at the first bite and look up at him her eyes wide while she chewed some more and then swallowed. She pointed to the plate. “This is real food not syn.” Then went back to eating. Damn it was good….

  “It is,” he told her smiling.

  She waved her knife between two bites. “I don’t have real food on here.”

  “I noticed. Got it from my ship.”

  Marlea sat up and swallowed the mouthful she had. “You went to your ship to get me food?” He gave her a slow nod. “Why? That’s not practical.”

  “You need real food, so do your people. Syn stuff is not enough.”

  She looked at him wide eyed and went back to eating. “Plenty of people survive on it. Real food costs too much. This is not a pleasure cruise.”

  Picking up the juice he put down in front of her she washed the food down. It tasted amazing she couldn’t argue with that but time was ticking. She put the tray on the table. “I’m on duty. Have to go. Last night was great….” She frowned knowing she needed to be honest. “But it was also a distraction I didn’t need in some ways. I need to get back to work. Thanks for the assist. Let me know when you’re leaving.”

  She opened the door and walked through it, it closed behind her leaving him inside. She didn’t wait for him. If he could let himself in, he could let himself out. She feared staying any longer. Every moment in his company made her want things she couldn’t have. She had a career that she loved and people depending on her. Jogging to the lift she hit the call button, determined to do what she needed to. Focus on the needs of her people.

  ***

  She was running. He couldn’t blame her. He’d been rash the night before. Been led by emotions he shouldn’t be having. He’d scented the air while she’d eaten. It was tinged with annoyance and some frustration. Desire too and a little disappointment. In him or her?...... Crossed his mind. Now she expected him to leave her to her fate. She didn’t know Cyborgs. Cage glanced up at the door she’d just walked through. He had no intension of leaving. It wasn’t safe and until it was, he wasn’t going anywhere.

  His behaviour was not Cyborg and he hadn’t explained how that was with females……

  He was confused by his own behaviour. He’d just stood there while she rambled on about protocol and ate the food he’d provided. Why did that feel so good? That he’d fed her food she very much needed? He didn’t have enough data for answers.

  She’d left so quickly. Like she needed to be away from him. Had he upset her? Had she lost the ability to be social?.... He didn’t know but his diagnostic told him he wanted to know everything about her. They were far from done.

  ***

  She exited the lift and soon found Egar. “Hay, how’s the wound?” he asked on seeing her. His concern very evident. It made her feel more like a fraud than ever. Frowning, she’d forgotten all about it and instinctively put her hand there. Nothing.

  “It’s good. Where we at?”

  Breaking out his data pad, he showed her each section highlighting what had been achieved and what was still to be done There was a lot of damage on the main three floors of the attack. After the initial clear up, he’d been sending groups to rest in hourly intervals for a three-hour break on rotation. Enough to eat and rest, then back at repairs. It was exactly what was needed.

  “Good work. Take 5 hours now. Then we work in rotation for 10 hour shifts until we got this sorted.”

  “Sounds good.” He handed over the datapad then went to walk away and stopped turning back to her. “The Cyborgs, they’re working on the hull and the computer.”

  “What’s wrong with the computer?”

  “Virus. Some of the systems are down. As well as wires pulled or exploded or damaged. It tried to rewrite itself by taking out nonessentials but somehow decided to take off an essential item too, the fire response system.”

  “It’s not programmed to do that,” she told him more than a bit concerned.

  He nodded, turned back wearily waving to her and started to walk off again. “It’s why they are looking at it. The virus looks agressive.”

  Shit!... If they were in their systems……

  Pulling up the soft and hardware engineers, she looked for the computer specialists on board. Two popped out. Both were resting. They’d both been working the problem for hours. Marlea pulled up their reports. They hadn’t found muc
h, then the Cyborgs had offered to take over and things moved on a pace.

  Marlea looked up from the screen. The Cyborgs had control of her ship…..

  Had they just handed her ship over to them?....

  A natural fear instilled within her. It was a good question but for some reason, she didn’t really think they had that as their game plan. They could have taken the ship anytime they’d wanted and hadn’t. They didn’t have to stay and do clean up either, but they had. Then there was Cage. He was overbearing and clearly used to his own way, but he wasn’t trying to harm them. Not trying to harm her. In fact, he’d taken good care of her. Marlea mulled it over. He’d be kind and considerate. The water, the food. Telling him to get off the ship, not in so many words, might have been a mistake….

  There was always a chance they were likely to still need them. Their attackers could have friends. Then there was this virus her people were struggling to cope with. She tapped the data pad. She’d assumed they’d be leaving soon and had got in quick with the ‘thanks and see ya later’ bit before she got too involved. If she were honest, she’d already been annoyed he wasn’t there when she’d woken up. Round six sounded good to her. But he had brought breakfast.

  Maybe there was good reason to have them stick around?.....

  ***

  The request to speak with him registered on his neuro net. Cage opened the connection.

  The Admiral is requesting conference. He had his people connected to both vessels. Cage wasn’t surprised at the request, he’d expected it following sending his report in while getting Marlea’s breakfast. Logic told him the Admiral wouldn’t like what he’d had to say.

  Give me the nearest private vid screen. He was given directions to what appeared an empty office. On screen.

  The Admiral came up. He didn’t look happy but then, he only ever looked happy when Kim was with him.

  He got right to it. “Are you malfunctioning Cyborg? Cos they’d better be a bloody good explanation as to why your report included fucking a Security officer of a trading ship! What the hell were you thinking!”

  He got up and paced about. Cage didn’t interject he had the feeling the Admiral wasn’t done. He exploded and turned back to the screen. Yep, not done yet…. “You know the god damn rules. You know the danger you put yourself in.” He slapped his hands on the desk and leant forward to the vid screen. “You took her blood? We’re you even trying to avoid issues with bonding? And for some insane reason you go and decide to drink her down!”

  He sat back in his chair and glowered at him. “That’s a death sentence if she doesn’t accept you. I want to know why you acted without logic?”

  His data gave him plenty of reasons as they flowed across his optic. Far too many. He only needed one. The one that came to mind first without the prompting of logic. “It was instinctive. With the uncertainty of her injury and her blood in the air, there was no stopping it.”

  The Admiral gave him a disgusted look. “It’s like herding cats!” he roared throwing his arms in the air. Cage didn’t get the reference and expected it had something to do with what Kim would have said. She was very human, particularly in her language. “You need to get your ass back here ASAP so Mac can test you.”

  They both knew that might be too late. It was clear the Admiral was concerned for him. There was no better leader for his people.

  “I cannot leave yet,” Cage told him honestly. “There remains a threat and this ship is not functioning as it should. The virus is spreading, affecting essential systems. This could be a new attack for them, and we need to understand it. If it is, they are likely to be back to check it out.” He’d put the virus they’d found in his report too. He was right, this was new for the pirates and it felt important that they understand it. The pirates had never used software before to attack, their MO was brute force attack. It seemed they’d changed tac tics and if so, a virus could hurt the Empire…..

  “Fuck!” The Admiral slammed his hand down on the table again. “Get it done and get back.” The screen went blank.

  Cage looked at the blank screen. His Head of State was right. The Admiral had every right to shout at him. He had acted without thinking, without logic, which should have been impossible for a Cyborg with his emotions turned off. His data told him he’d feared for her. It had been instinctive in him, giving her his nano’s to help save her but that wasn’t it all. She was lucky the injury hadn’t pierced a kidney. The data on his actions told him it had been impossible not to go to her aid. It was obvious he’d already felt something for the female, the blood only enhanced it.

  Why had he acted so rashly?.... It was not logical. The female was a challenge…. He liked that, or so his data told him. There was a good percentage of chance that she would reject him anyway. The sex had been good, he didn’t need his data to tell him that. Not since his early years from birthing had it been that good. Before the years of training, orders and abuses but that was a very long time ago.

  The Empire didn’t work like that. That’s not to say they’d had it easy. They weren’t designed for easy. Soldier’s created by a Corporation desperate to make it big when it came to natural resources that had become so rare, they were worth fighting over. Worth killing for. And when that nearly ran out, they took to the stars. Fighting over planets that held billions of credits in their solar system.

  The Cyborg creation programme a secret that other Corporations would have killed for and probably did. There was evidence that more than one Cyborg had been taken prisoner and taken apart by another group looking to explain how they were made. Many tried and failed. Whatever the Designers did, they kept to themselves and Earth Corp came out winners. And when their own solar system didn’t have enough resources left, they took to the universe in search of others and the space race really took off.

  Offering new lives, new chances to the few that had skills and credits to offer, Earth Corp designed a ‘Colony Guest’. For a price of course. If you wanted in you had to be willing to donate, tissue, cells, fluids and credits, but only if you had the right skills. You could buy your way onto a colony ship for the right price. But those early ones were barely space worthy, had cryogenics and systems that were untested and unstable and if you made it, the promised land was all yours.

  As long as you gave Earth Corp back what they wanted. Minerals. Gold, silver, platinum, jewels, rare metals. Worth billions, one ship load returning would pay for the entire trip there. If they made it. If they survived on it. If the rare materials were there in abundance as the core samples had suggested. And if Earth Corp kept its promises and came with the supplies they’d promised, at the intervals contracted for. It was a lot of ‘if’s’.

  But humans had been desperate and took it. There was little logic in doing so as the chance of failure was extremely high and the Cyborgs that went out with exploratory missions, had their own data and no choice to refuse. The odds of survival were extremely low, they weren’t wrong, and many perished never to be seen again.

  And those that did survive, Earth Corp dumped at the first opportunity, reneging on their contracts for supplies and support some years into their arrival. Leaving many more to perish or make their own way.

  It had all been far from the propaganda that had got them there in the first place.

  The humans had believed them. The Cyborgs however, knew better.

  Time moved on. New generations of Cyborgs were created. Each new generation better than the last. A nasty secret Earth Corp didn’t want the public to know about and then they did and all hell broke loose.

  Stock market prices fell, shares floored, and stockholders were up in arms. The public demanded justice and Earth Corp were held accountable for their actions. Then the blame game started. It wasn’t me, it was him and the merry-go-round started.

  Luckily for the Cyborgs, the public didn’t buy it and the legal system got involved. Eventually Earth Corp had to free them, or look like they were. They now knew only about a third of all Cyborgs regis
tered were freed. The rest, were found over generations or still on worlds or in space, fighting for other people, or damaged and left, stolen, bartered or owned. It was those he was looking for while protecting the trading routes.

  Cage walked out the room. He might have a problem with the female, but he still had a job to do. It was a reminder that his people depended on him.

  ***

  “On three, lift,” she cried out looking at her work crew. They all nodded back at her. “Ok, one, two, three!” She strained and pulled along with the rest of them. The new iron support was going across the breach. She looked nervously at the security field keeping the atmosphere in and space out. The support would reinforce the structure and they could patch in the sides to it. With the virus messing with their systems everyone was on edge. There was no telling what would go out next. They got it up and moved it in place, holding it still. “Welders,” she called forward. They moved in and sparked up, securing it to the bulkhead then the floor. It wasn’t pretty but it would do the job. She stepped away as they finished the job looking around.

  Cyborgs were bringing in more materials, working on panelling, wiring, lighting, her people in the mix too. The only breach that only required the cut panel back in to make good, had been the Cyborgs entry place and they’d fixed that themselves. It had been a smart place to cut. They’d been careful, unlike her other visitors who didn’t seem to care what they cut through as long as they got them on board.