Rikas Marauders
Page 89
“Well, that’s what my hand looks like.” Rika shrugged as she flexed the flowmetal fingers.
“Oh, by the way, I also altered the GNR mount. Its barrel can slide back so that you don’t have to pull the barrel off to get into tight spaces.”
Rika chuckled. “Like half the places squishies normally sit.”
He chuckled. “OK, I think you’ve got the hang of things. You and your mechs have this entire wing of the hospital right now, so feel free to head out and talk to your people. Most of them are doing just fine with the upgrades, though some are having a few issues. Your psych team is working with ours to help them. You’ve got a lot of other internal upgrades, but I’ll let you sort through those yourself. The changes will be apparent on your HUD. Ping me if you have any questions.”
Rika nodded silently as Finaeus left the room, and she thought about how all of her people would be going through a similar process as she was.
The thought crossed her mind that she could surprise Chase with her ‘girly’ legs. The idea made her laugh, and she shook her head, setting the whip arm into the rack, and triggering the disconnect. She slid on her standard left mech arm, noting that it had a small kinetic rifle built into the forearm.
“You know,” she said aloud to Niki. “Swapping limbs like that used to take another person to help, and at least a few minutes.”
“Yeah,” Rika chuckled, remembering the time the mounts had slipped, and her GNR had fallen on Barne’s foot, breaking his bones in three places. “A lot of cursing.”
* * * * *
For the next several hours, Rika visited with the mechs of her company. She did everything from dance with Heather, who was ecstatic to have her ‘lady parts’ back, to hold The Van as he broke down in tears while trying to manipulate his new fingers, continually tearing the bedsheets as he tried to fold them.
Rika stayed with him for an hour until Shoshin showed up—still without a face, though he had also opted for the flow armor skin. The AM-3, now turned RR-4, congratulated The Van on his first good fold, and gestured for Rika to leave, telling her over the Link that she needed to circulate amongst the troops.
He was right. She got back to it.
So far, a third of the mechs had completed their changes in the mechtubes, and a few of the humans in her crew had spent time in them as well, coming out somewhere in between.
“What do you think?” Barne’s gruff voice came from behind Rika as she walked into the corridor after visiting with Vargo Klen, who’d gotten his wish and was now an RR-4.
She turned to see her first sergeant behind her, his skin replaced with Finaeus’s new MK99 epidermis, and his right arm, a three-fingered mech limb. What was more surprising was that his left arm now sported a GNR-50. His legs looked normal, maybe a little bit more muscled, but ended in the claw-like appendages of a mech.
“Holy crap, Barne, I didn’t know you were going into the tubes!”
Barne shrugged. “I figure if these people can turn me into a mech in a couple of days and turn me back later, I should see what it’s like.”
“You’ve given mechs so much shit over the years, I was still getting over you signing up for M Company. Now you’ve gone and thrown this curveball.”
“Really, Rika? You think that little of me?” Barne shook his head as he regarded her with solemn eyes. “You made me a true believer that night you killed Cheri. Far as I’m concerned, mechs are the best of the best of the best.”
“You got that right, Top,” Crunch said as he ambled past, and Barne turned and whacked the newly minted FR-4 on the back of the head with his GNR’s barrel.
“Who the fuck said you could call me ‘Top’, Crunch? You know, the Nietzschean ships have a fun type of algae growing on the hulls, and I need someone to scrub it off. You got a fuckin’ squeegee attachment handy? You’re gonna need it.”
“Ha!” Crunch grinned as Barne hit him again. “That doesn’t even hurt!”
“Why, you little…” Barne turned and stormed after Crunch, who took off running.
“Boys!” Rika called after them. “We’re in a fucking hospital, here!”
“Now you know why they gave us the whole wing,” Leslie said from behind Rika, and she turned to smile at her friend and leader of First Platoon.
Rika snorted. “Yeah, good thing they didn’t charge the extra SC batts or give us ammo. These goons would have turned the mess hall into a firing range.”
“I know I’m itching to try out my new toys,” Leslie said with a predatory grin.
“You?” Rika looked Leslie up and down.
The lithe woman’s skin was still jet black, her eyes still yellow, and she still had her tail. Then Rika realized what was different.
“You got the skin job, too!”
Leslie’s body shimmered and then disappeared from view—even her hair. “Damn straight I did. Do you really think there was any chance I’d pass up getting stealth skin? Seriously?”
Rika laughed and shook her head, a grin splitting her lips wide. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Leslie reappeared on top of an equipment cart nearby, her grin just as large as Rika’s, while her tail whipped back and forth behind her.
“LT,” PFC Kim said as she sauntered past and touched Leslie’s tail. “Glad you kept the ‘toon’s good luck charm.”
“I’ll be buried with it, Private,” Leslie replied as she hopped down, strolling back to Rika. “But that’s not the best part…well, maybe it is, it’s hard to say.”
Leslie held up her hand, and Rika realized the woman’s fingernails were now sharp claws. Leslie flexed her fingers, and the claws extended over three centimeters from each finger.
“You’re really owning this whole cat thing,” Rika said with a laugh. “I think it’s awesome.”
“Suits me,” Leslie said, then turned her hand over, showing Rika a circle on her palm. “Finaeus hooked me up with this; said he did one for a friend of his not long ago.”
“What is it?” Rika asked.
“It’s a fucking electron beam in my arm,” Leslie giggled. “Can you believe it? An e-beam. In. My. Arm.”
Rika shook her head in wonder as she reached out and grasped Leslie’s forearm. “How the hell did they fit it in there?”
“Well, it’s shorter range and has less power than yours, but it’s still wild, isn’t it?”
“I think we’ve died and gone to heaven,” Rika replied, as she watched two mechs sporting the natural-looking limbs rush into a room, arms wrapped around one another, feeling for the first time in what might be decades.
“So, you look pretty much the same, Rika,” Leslie said, looking her up and down. “Even your skin looks like the old stuff.”
“Oh,” Rika glanced down at herself. “I’ve just made it look like that to cover up the bits…haven’t quite gotten the hang of this yet.”
“That the only change you picked?”
Rika shook her head. “No, I have all the attachment upgrades, but most of my changes were in power capacity and the twiddling they did in my brain.”
“Right! I remember you mentioning that was a possibility,” Leslie replied. “How’re you doing in there, Niki? I bet it’s pretty roomy in Rika’s noggin.”
“You’re a real comedian, Leslie,” Rika groused. “Don’t worry, they filled in all the gaps with putty so Niki wouldn’t rattle around.”
Leslie chuckled, then her face grew serious. “Has Chase come out yet?”
Rika shook her head. “No, he’s still below. The ward’s NSAI said they expect him to be in recovery in an hour or so.”
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m starved. Want to get some grub?”
“Yeah, I think I do,” Rika replied. “We really should check to be sure that Kelly and Keli aren’t shooting the place up.”
Leslie
groaned. “Did you see what Keli got?”
“No, what?” Rika asked as they walked down the hall.
Leslie reached behind herself and grabbed her tail. “I’ll give you one guess.”
“Noooo…really?”
“Yeah, the platoon’s already dubbed it ‘getting a Les’.”
Rika couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her. “I’m really sorry about that, Leslie.”
“Thanks, Captain, you’re all heart,” Leslie groused.
“Don’t worry, Leslie. I’ve got your tail—er…back.”
MEETING CHASE
STELLAR DATE: 09.14.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: ISS I2
REGION: Pyra, Albany System, Thebes, Septhian Alliance
After a meal and two hours of chatting with her company’s upgraded mechs, Rika finally received a message that Chase was conscious and had gone through his initial orientation.
“If you’ll excuse me,” Rika said to the mechs sitting at her table. “Chase is awake, and I need to pay him a visit.”
“Right,” Heather winked at Rika. “You go visit with Chase. Just be sure to share the deets with Leslie and I afterward.”
“Heather,” Leslie scoffed, flicking a french fry at the woman. “I will not engage in that sort of gossip. At least not if anyone else knows about it.”
Rika only groaned as she walked away, wondering what it was that Chase had opted for. He hadn’t shared his plans, telling her it would be a surprise. For all she knew, he could be anything from an AM-4 to just a regular human with MK99 skin.
Rika scowled absently as she climbed the ladder to the next deck.
Niki just laughed, and then her presence seemed to lessen in Rika’s mind. A minute later, Rika reached Chase’s door, and knocked gently before entering.
“Come in,” Chase’s voice came through, and Rika entered, prepared for the worst.
At first, it didn’t look like anything was different. Chase’s hair was unchanged, his smile looked the same, his eyes had the same twinkle as he grinned at her.
Then Rika realized his skin was too perfect.
Of course, there was the rack of limbs next to him, as well.
“You bit the bullet, did you?” Rika asked as she approached. “Your shoulders are a bit broader, now that I look at them…and your biceps weren’t quite that big before, either. FR-4?”
Chase nodded. “You look almost exactly the same, too. SMI-4, of course; there was never a moment’s consideration you’d go RR.”
Rika sat down next to him, the bed groaning under their combined weight.
“Yeah, foregone conclusion. Most of what I have are just upgrades; nothing terribly new, though I can mount your limbs, and you can mount mine—which would look really weird.”
“Yeah,” Chase laughed. “I half expected to see you with your new human limbs.”
He reached out his hand and grasped Rika’s three-fingered hand, stroking her joints the way he always did. The big difference now was how well she could feel it. The sensation alone was enough to make her breath catch.
“You know,” Rika said as she shifted closer to Chase, turning to press the side of her chest against his arm while laying her head on his broadened shoulders. “I thought about it…for a second or two. I’m just not quite ready for those, yet. I’ve got a lot of changes upstairs, what with Niki in between my ears, and the upgrades they performed to my brain.”
“Upgrades to your brain,” Chase chuckled. “These people treat a forced evolutionary advance like it’s a weekend household project.”
“A bit,” Rika said with a soft laugh. “Though Finaeus…I don’t know. There was something about my conversation with him, like I was very interesting to him. It was a bit weird.”
“Every conversation with Finaeus is a bit weird. Why should that one be any different? Do you think they did something bad to you?”
She hadn’t considered it in that light. “No…I mean, not that Niki or I have any reason to suspect. But there can be too much of a good thing.”
“That why you have your mech limbs on?” Chase asked.
“Maybe.”
Chase shifted on the bed, turning toward Rika, and lifted her chin. “You’re the best thing ever, and I can’t imagine ever having too much of you.”
Rika opened her mouth to reply, but Chase’s lips found hers, pressing against them as he effortlessly lifted her onto his lap.
The feeling was pure exhilaration to Rika. Every part of her body felt hyper-stimulated by his touch, and he’d never been able to lift her before—at least, not so effortlessly.
It was as though she was floating in his arms. Chase turned further and lifted her onto the bed, then laid down next to her, tracing a finger down her chest, between her breasts and past the port where her belly button should be.
“Did they put all your parts back in place?” Chase asked, blushing slightly as he asked the question.
Rika nodded. “They did, and I can see all too well that yours are still intact—did they broaden you there, too, or are my eyes just playing tricks on me?”
Chase laughed, a deep, hearty guffaw that washed away the tension that had been building in Rika. At least for a moment. Then the worry that had been lingering in the back of her mind for the last two years came to the fore.
She’d asked before, and he’d assured her it wasn’t the case, but she knew that if she didn’t ask now, she’d wonder forever.
“Chase…do you only love me because I’m a mech?”
Chase pushed himself up on his elbow and brushed a strand of Rika’s long, blonde hair away from her face.
“No, Rika. A thousand times no. I love you because you’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever seen. You’re the most courageous, steadfast, caring, loyal, and loving woman I’ve ever met. You’re also a bit scary, but I suspect that would be the case even if you weren’t a mech.”
“Scary, Chase?” Rika frowned. “You were doing so well, there.”
Chase lowered his head, his lips brushing her neck and then her ear. “You misunderstand, Rika. I like you scary. You’re like a tigress; your caring and loyalty comes with a fierce determination to protect. It’s at the core of you, along with your iron will.”
Rika turned her head, eyebrows pinching. “Iron will? Did Tanis tell you that?”
“What?” Chase shook his head. “No, I’ve never even talked personally with Tanis. I’ve always thought you had an iron will. I saw it plain as day back in Hal’s Hell, and it’s only strengthened since then. It’s the very heart of you, Rika.”
He kissed her again, and Rika sank into the luxurious feeling, basking in the knowledge that she was with the man who loved her unconditionally and would always be by her side.
“I have one more question,” Rika asked as she gazed into Chase’s eyes.
“Ask it, Rika. Anything you wish.”
“Can you take my limbs off?”
A look of puzzlement came over Chase’s face. “Are you worried the bed will collapse? Because I’ll admit, I think it might.”
Rika groaned and purs
ed her lips. “You pick now to be funny? I’m serious. I want…I want our first time to be just me, not my…I mean, only the parts of me that are real.”
As Rika spoke, she sent the command to her MK99 skin to assume a natural tone and texture, revealing herself as a woman to Chase for the first time.
His eyes traced their way down her body, then back up to meet hers.
“Stars, Rika, you’re so beautiful.”
RESPECTS
STELLAR DATE: 09.17.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Bay 17 Golden Lark
REGION: Pyra, Albany System, Thebes, Septhian Alliance
“Present Arms!” Barne shouted, and the honor guard of twenty-one mechs raised their rifles and took aim out the exterior doors of Bay 17.
Opposite them, the mechs of M Company stood in solemn rows behind the casket, hands clenched into steel fists over their hearts.
Most of the mechs had never met General Mill, but they knew him as the man who had given them another chance. An opportunity to learn what the GAF could have been, had it not been run by fools.
And Rika respected him. That was enough for her soldiers.
And so they had stood for the ceremony, listening intently to the words given by Rika, and then by General Julia. Both women made it clear to the mechs that, had Mill not been true to his vision, none of them—mech or otherwise—would be in a position to take the fight to Nietzschea.
His drive, passion, and vision had brought them all to this point, to the eve of the war he’d hoped to fight someday. A war he would not see, but that they would fight in his honor.
“Fire!” Barne cried out, and the mechs fired their weapons in perfect unison.
“Fire!” the First Sergeant’s voice thundered again, and the rifles barked in response.
“Fire!” he said one final time, and the mechs completed the sixty-three-gun salute. An honor reserved for only the most venerated of Genevian war heroes.
General Julia stood before the casket and lowered her head for a moment, before turning to Rika and nodding solemnly.
“Battalion, dismissed!” Rika shouted, and platoon by platoon, the mechs filed out of the bay.