“That is kind of the mission you set out to do, Sarah,” Texas said, his voice soft. “You know, topple the corporations, free the human race, that kind of thing.”
Sarah crossed her arms over her chest and gripped herself into a tight, tight hug. Her eyes closed and she sighed. The worst thing was that she had killed and she could kill again – the instinct had been burned into her brain, etched there by the tentacles and the psychic power of the Eye as she had writhed in its grasp. She still could remember her transformation, the sickly combination of terror and pleasure as it had, quite literally, skull-fucked her into obedience. Well. As it had tried to do so. She closed her eyes and nodded, her lips pursing.
“Yeah,” she said.
The intercom crackled and jerked her from her reverie. Aiden’s voice came through – chirpy as ever. “The shuttle’s back, Sarah.”
Sarah brightened. “Yay!”
“Wait, you sent the shuttle back? What for?” Texas paused. Then his eyes widened. “Oh god, you-”
***
Sarah squealed as Droney flew into her and wrapped her entire body with his entire body. Sarah was not actually sure that she could say that her drone had a gender, since it was a biological construct designed by the Eye to serve as the basis for their weapons program. But she figured that this particular construction drone identified as male, because...shut up. Her palms caressed along Droney’s wings and he wriggled free, then started to skim around her happily in the shuttle bay, while the rest of her chosen units clambered off the shuttle, leaving behind claw-marks and slime.
Sarah had designed three units herself, using the intuitive biomorphic construction systems worked into her body, to battle Texas Dallas during their engagement. The construction drone showed the stark difference in her ability at design and the Eye’s millennia old comprehension of biological systems: The drone was a manta-ray that hovered a good two feet off the ground thanks to biological agrav emitter crystals extruded along its soft belly. Its skin was brown and purple, and it had a massive set of mandibles at the front that ringed around a kind of skeletal ‘hand’ that could serve as a manipulator. Its back could carry a shocking amount of weight, and it could spray a kind of biological filament that it could spin into struts, spars, and even carrying harnesses. But what was most impressive about it was the ability to burrow into the ground and, over the course of a scant hour or two, transform into a stationary, biological structure .
Sarah had only used two – the hatchery and the spawning pools. The hatchery produced larva that she could then reformat into more drones or her own units, while the spawning pools collected carbon from the environment for use in construction. There were other buildings, she was sure, but she hadn’t had the time to experiment and learn what they did or what they were for.
But then she had no time to worry about that because her two pet bladelings that she had named Bitey and Stabby. They were both of the same type: Sleek, doglike, with armor plating around their shoulders and heads, drooling maws full of sharp teeth, deep set, glowing red eyes, and two arms that thrust out of their backs and ended in scythe like blades made of solid, hard bone. They both reared up, their velociraptor talons hooking on her shoulders and putting their tongues within easy licking distance of her face. Sarah giggled and shoved at them – the only thing that kept her on her feet was her body’s enhanced strength. “Yeah, I missed you t- oof! ”
The bladelings had dropped down – only to be replaced by the broad, armored crest of her pet spitter, McCreedy – bumping against her. The spitter had been her attempt to give herself some defense against air units, and a way to respond to combat robots with guns. Large, nagalike, and filled with perpetually growing acid tipped bone spurs that it could launch out of its mouth at supersonic velocity via flexing and tightening muscles in the chest and using hydraulic pressure, the spitters had been quite effective. McCreedy had earned his name when one of the exploding tanks had taken out his left eye. She had expected him to die, but instead, he had survived.
“And now, he has an eyepatch!” she said, pointing at the makeshift eyepatch she had looped over his crest. “See?”
“...why McCreedy?” Aiden, his arms crossed over his chest, his back pressed to the wall of the shuttle bay.
“Well, he has a hat, kinda,” Sarah said. “Also, I was going to call him Spitty, but I already have a pet that starts with an S, Stabby, so I...I mean...eyepatches. Hats. Cowboy. It makes sense.”
“No it doesn’t,” Texas said, frowning at her. “Also, why the fuck are you bringing them?” He pointed at Bitey. “He...stop that!” He shouted at Bitey, who had just coughed, hacked, and spat up a clump of hair and fur and blood from his throat. “This ship isn’t rated to have animals onboard! No pets, it’s company policy!”
“We’re not working for a company anymore,” Aiden said – while Tasha peeked out from around the corner of the door, then squealed as she saw the two bladelings. She hurried forward, kneeling down and starting to pet them. “Tasha, you’re scared of bugs, how can you pet those things?”
“They’re doggies. With...you know, stabby bits,” Tasha said, then grabbed the ridged horns of Stabby. “Who's a good little copyright infringement? You are! Youuuu are!”
The last of her units chose that moment to step off the rear of the shuttle. It had been a tight fit to cram into the cargo hold of the automated shuttle: The bombardier was the size of a large van, after all. It was essentially a collection of heavily armored, muscled legs around a large, beetle-like body, with a huge, glowings sphincter muscle that could be aimed at the heavens. The roiling, bubbling cauldron of biological components that worked inside to create and launch spheres of plasma several kilometers outwards or dozens upwards to fire at enemy bases or enemy spaceships gave the whole bombardier an ominous, hissing musical accompaniment as it thumped out, then swung around to aim its incongruously adorable face at them: Frilled and ringed with a huge profusion of filaments that served as long ranged sensors, with two huge, mournful black eyes.
“And this is Bob,” Sarah said.
“Bob...” Aiden said, slowly.
“Butt of Boom!” Sarah said, ticking the words off on her fingers. “Pretty clever, huh?”
“No,” Texas said.
“Well, fuck you, Tex, I don’t have a marketing department,” Sarah said, frowning at him. Texas grinned at her.
“I kinda like you calling me Tex, you know?”
“Good!” Sarah said, then patting the head of the huge bombardier beetle. “Now, with these guys to serve as my genetic template, if I have to make any more of them, I can just base it off them.” She nodded. “Now...” She looked back at the others. “Are we ready to head to Earth and start kicking butt ?”
“Are you sure Earth is the right target?” Tasha asked, sounding nervous as she looked up from her petting of Bitey and Stabby. “I mean, Earth is the most heavily defended planet in the entire human sphere.”
“No it’s not,” Texas said. “Corporations don’t fight wars on Earth. It’s part of the UN-Corporate charter – no one can kill the consumers instantly.” He sighed slightly.
“Wait, does that mean they can kill them slowly?” Aiden asked, stepping away from the wall, his wings mantling.
Tex looked at him, then cocked his head to the side. “Y...es?” he asked. “What do you think half of our food is – have you eaten sline food?” He shook his head, then looked back at Sarah. “But it means that there’s no orbital defenses, no battle-fleets, and there’s only a few commanders. And most of them are on vacation. It’s corpsec and private militias all the way up to the Board Members. So, if we get in before they realize you’re a threat, drop you on the planet, and get you to producing, you can take out every CEO on the planet like that .” He snapped his fingers.
Sarah gulped. “W-When you say take out...you mean...take prisoner!” she nodded. “Then we can talk about, uh, about making life better. Like maybe dropping the restrictions on public makers. Or, uh, bette
r hours?” She bit her lip, her guts tightening. “No, no, that’s soft balling it. We’re trying to free the human race.” She punched her palm with her fist. “ Way better hours. Maybe only eight a day working?” She suggested that carefully, but the words sounded like the fevered words of a utopian madman. “And!” She said, growing more confident. “And, a, a...a...the ability to make demands of management without just getting fired. Like, all the workers can get together and ask for stuff, in case things get too bad. And medical care for everyone.” She nodded. Aiden was giving her a thumbs up and Tasha looked overjoyed.
Tex, though, was a bit less sanguine. “People don’t give up power, Sarah. It’s human nature.”
“I gave up power, like, instantly,” Sarah said, pointing at Aiden. “Since I changed him, I can control him with my brain. But I broke that connection.”
Aiden nodded. “She can’t even give me orders.”
“I’ll prove it!” Sarah said. “Aiden, come fuck me.”
Aiden grinned, then stepped away from the wall. “Sure,” he said, then slipped behind Sarah. His hands cupped and squeezed her breasts, casually finding the hard, eager nubs of her nipples. He tweaked and teased them and Sarah squirmed as throbbing pleasure shuddered through her. Her eyes half closed and her cheeks burned.
“A-Aiden!” She hissed.
“Hey, I said you can’t give me orders. I like fucking you.”
“We’re...in...ah!” Sarah moaned as he tugged her breasts away from her chest – her body tough enough that it only felt good . She closed her eyes tight and her head spines clamped tight to her head. “Fucking Christ, Aiden!”
He chuckled.
“Ahem!” Tex said. “If we’re going to do it, let's get to it.”
“Right.” Aiden’s hand released her left tit – then dove between her thighs. He started to rub his fingers along her sex, and Sarah mewled, her eyes opening as she grabbed onto his wrist, half trying to keep him there, and half trying to tug him off, her body wriggling and squirming as he started to pepper her neck with kisses, with darting flicks of his sleek, alien tongue.
“Aiden, I order you, unhand me at once,” Sarah hissed.
“Ooh, bossy. I like it.” Aiden squeezed her breast once more – his finger finding and teasing her clit with a tiny flick. The mewl that escaped Sarah’s lips was so desperate and so very needy and the way that her body reacted, by animalistically grinding herself against him, feeling the straining hardness of his bare, exotically ridged dick...uh...it left her feeling so light headed, so dizzy, that she almost forgot what it was they were supposed to be doing as he released her. He stepped past her and leaned against the wall again – his cock thrust proudly into the air. He was achingly hard. And dripping with precum.
“We need to get to the cock...pit! and ride it all the way to...to...fuck me...” Sarah whispered, softly.
“So, we’re heading for Alpha Centauri?” Tex asked.
Sarah shook her head. “No! Earth! “
“Cause Alpha Centauri is where the best whorehouses are.”
“Earth!” Sarah punched her palm with her fist again, scowling as she tore her eyes up and away from Aiden’s dick to his insolent, playful smirk. “Earth! And put some fucking pants on, Aiden.” She thrust her finger at him.
“No,” Aiden said.
“Dang it,” Sarah whispered. “Hoisted by my own Picard.”
“I don’t think that’s how the saying goes,” Tasha whispered. Her eyes were also glued to Aiden’s dick and her whole face had gone beat red. She started after him as he turned to walk away, whistling. But the problem was that as soon as he turned, Sarah also got a view of his ass. And as he walked, she could see the gentle swaying of his dark, firm balls, which she could remember bouncing against her belly as he fucked her doggy style. Sarah chewed her lower lip, while McCreedy slithered up behind her and butted her with his broad crest. This had the side effect of leaving his dripping, green maw hovering above her breast. The green slime, which could turn to molecular acid when accelerated at sufficient speed, smeared across her nipple and sizzled slightly against her skin, making her mew quietly as her already dizzying amounts of lust grew a few notches more intense.
“Not. Helping. McCreedy!”
McCreedy drooled on her face and licked her.
Chapter Two: Sarah Crashes Her Brand New Space Ship
Sarah sat down in the command throne and was about to touch the command to activate the navicomp when Tex yelped. “No! Get up! Now!”
“But it’s my ship,” Sarah said, standing up and hoping no one noticed the minor puddle she had left – her cunt was still positively quivering with a need to get slammed down and fucked silly. She clapped her thighs together and crossed her arms over her chest to hide her achingly hard nipples. The fact that she had sauntered onto the bridge buck naked and everyone had already seen her hard nipples remained, though – and the cocky grin on Aiden’s face kept leaving her squirming and wriggling more.
“Yes, it’s your ship,” Tex said. “But it’s also former StarCon property. They’re anal retentive about their security protocols – and those are still set to me.” He settled down in the chair, then frowned, then lifted his head to look up at Sarah.
“ To Earth !” Sarah practically screamed, thrusting her finger at the front of the cockpit. Behind her, Synth – who had joined the party – and Tasha were both oggling the porn on the walls. For different reasons. Synth was looking because she liked it. Tasha was looking in a kind of awed, shocked, slightly horrified fascination.
Tex cracked his knuckles, then tapped the navicomp button. A glowing password prompt appeared before him, projected by several concealed holographic cameras in the corners of the room. Tex pressed his thumb against the scanner on the console. He smiled.
Brzzt ! The password field flared a bright red, warning indicators appearing above and below it.
“Error,” a cool, clipped female voice came from all around them. “Unauthorized genetic signature detected. Attempting to access this system again will result in emergency responses.”
Tex’s face became fixed in his expression – the smile becoming almost rictus like in his tension. “Hailee, uh, baby, it’s me. Texas Dallas. Your commander. Voice print identification activated.” He looked down at the console, then leaned in close, speaking clearly into the microphone. “Repeat, this is Texas Dallas, your-”
“Error,” Hailee, the shipboard AI, said. “Texas Dallas is logged as being deceased.”
“Uhhhh…” Tex started to tap at buttons in a hurried sort of way. Sarah clenched her hands behind her back. “Hailee, I’m right here. My genetic signature is the same, come on.”
“Error,” Hailee said. “Ship telemetry shows that Texas Dallas’ commander suit was destroyed on the planetary surface. As this unit did not receive any ransom data or a surrender signal, it is clear that Texas Dallas is dead. As you have attempted to access this system twice, class one emergency response...activated.”
“No no!” Tex started – but then a sharp crack sounded and a stink of ozone filled the air. Smoke started to trickle into the bridge and Sarah and Aiden both jogged to the door. They looked back down the corridor, and saw that the source of the smoke was coming from the Hypertropic Plane Shift Drive room. A lot of smoke. A few seconds later, the sprinkler system came on and water sluiced from the ceiling, spraying down the interior of the ship and filling the air with a wailing klaxon. Tex, his hair dripping, whipped his head around. “Okay, don’t panic! We still have the backup drive.”
“It fried the drive?” Aiden said, his body looking incredibly sexy as it glistened with moisture – not that that was important. But Sarah was finding it really hard to not notice. She closed her eyes, forcing her brain to remain on track.
“It fried the main drive. We still have the backup drive and the emergency drive, uh,” Tex said. “Okay, the ship thinks I’m dead. If I keep trying to access the navicomp, Hailee is going to go from class one to class two to class
three. Uh...let me try my password override. This one is a secret code only known by me.” He pushed a few buttons on the console and the password prompt came up and he pulled a keyboard from the side. Water ran along his chin, dripped from his fingers, and soaked into the keyboard. His fingers paused over the buttons. “...fuck.”
“What?” Sarah asked. “The water?” she looked up at the water spouts.
“No, no, it’s just...” Tex blushed under the rivulets of water as the klaxons continued to blare. “I, uh, I remember my password through muscle memory. But the numpad on this keyboard is flipped.” He pointed. “Normally, on my suit’s keyboard, the 1 is here and the 7 is there, see? A-Also, uh, the shape is different, and I have two hands, and-”
“It’s a password, dude!” Aiden said, his voice tight.
“It’s twelve digits long and has three numerals, two capitals, and a symbol!” Tex snapped. “Just...shut up and let me think. If I fuck this up, we’re screwed .”
“What, you can’t retry?” Aiden asked, his wings tightening in time with his voice.
“No I cannot fucking retry, Aiden!” Tex shouted. “It’s a battleship , not a tablet!”
“It’s okay, everyone,” Sarah said. “Tex has got this. He’s the Supreme Commander. He has to remember the effective combination of every unit in StarCon’s arsenal, then use them in the field to overcome any combination that he runs into and-”
“I mostly just turtle,” Tex whispered.
“What?” Sarah asked.
“I said I mostly just turtle, then make a bunch of tanks and win through attrition and numbers,” Tex said, looking back at her.
“But you’re the Supreme Commander!” Sarah grabbed her own head, her fingers working through her head spines.
Viridian Wolf Page 2
