by Cynthia Sax
“Pimmy was always happy, laughing and smiling.” Carys’ eyes burned with tears. She was too exhausted to conceal what she was feeling.
And she trusted Ace and Thrasher, trusted her warriors to keep her confidences private, trusted them not to judge her.
“When you feel happiness, you honor your daughter.” Thrasher’s breath wafted on her bare skin. “Wouldn’t she want happiness to be her legacy, not sadness?”
“She never wanted to see anyone sad.” Her daughter had such a pure, giving heart.
Seeing Carys upset would have bothered Pimmy. Her daughter would have put her little hands on her wet cheeks and asked, “Why you cry, Mommy?”
Yet that was all she had allowed herself to do since her daughter’s death—cry, feel sadness, guilt, regret.
Thrasher was right. Pimmy deserved a better legacy than sadness.
Her daughter would want her to be happy. “You won’t allow me to forget her?”
That was one of her greatest fears—that she would forget her, forget her daughter’s big brown eyes, the sound of her laughter, the way she smelled like sunshine and innocence.
“We’ll record your memories of her in our databases,” Ace promised.
“I have over two solar cycles worth of memories. You can’t record them all.” Carys was intrigued yet skeptical.
“We can and we will record all of your memories.” Her logical male wasn’t dissuaded from his plan. “That’s critical not only to you but to us.”
Carys frowned at him. “How is it critical to you?” They were her memories. The males had never met her daughter.
“Your daughter’s memories are part of you so we want them to be part of us,” Thrasher explained.
They wanted to remember her daughter also. Carys couldn’t speak. A lump of emotion had formed in her throat.
“Every planet rotation, you will relay one memory about your daughter until they are all recorded.” Ace brushed the hair away from her face.
“Then you will relay them again.” Thrasher laid his head on her shoulder.
Ace nodded. “If there are inconsistencies, we’ll notify you and you’ll repair that memory. Your databases will perform at optimal levels.”
“I’ll never forget any detail about my daughter.” Her warriors wouldn’t allow that.
“You’ll never forget any detail about your daughter,” Ace confirmed.
The burden she’d carried for half her lifespan had been transferred to their broad shoulders. Her daughter would never be forgotten.
Cyborgs didn’t lie.
Chapter Twelve
Thrasher snuggled against their female, savoring her softness and her warmth. They had repaired some of her emotional damage by offering to record her memories of her daughter. He had seen that in her eyes.
The relay of information would also tighten their connection. They might be able to prevent future emotional damage. They would make her happy.
Their female’s breathing deepened. Her muscles relaxed.
She slept.
Ace vacated the sleeping support. He had taken on the duty of cleaning and caring for their Commander’s uniform, his preciseness and attention to detail ensuring the garment was flawless, suitable for a battle station’s leader.
Thrasher tidied their female, running a cleaning cloth over her curves, between her legs. He snapped the square often to renew it, converting the grime on its surface to air.
Nothing soiled should ever touch their female.
He devoted himself to the loving act of removing all remnants of the planet rotation from her form, revering every delicate finger and toe, every strand of hair.
When the task was completed, he set the cleaning cloth aside and joined Ace at the wall of viewscreens. They monitored all activities inside and around the battle station, including the communications. It was critical that no beings talked about their presence.
We make our female happy, he shared through the transmission lines. She cares for us. Soon, that caring will deepen to love.
If she allows herself to love us. Ace frowned.
She’s afraid. Her daughter, a being she loved greatly, died. Thrasher couldn’t imagine experiencing the death of an offspring. His gaze slid to Ace’s grim face. Or the death of a being he considered to be his.
He might not survive it.
Our female is strong. She was emotionally stronger than he was. She’ll love again.
Ace made no comment.
They worked side by side. Thrasher recapped every moment they’d shared with their Carys that planet rotation, replaying footage of his favorite exchanges more than once.
They would always have those memories.
As their Carys would always have the memories of her daughter.
Their nanocybotics wouldn’t allow her memories to fade. They’d repair any damage time inflicted and allow her to use more of her keen human brain.
Thrasher and Ace would merely serve as secondary backup for their female’s memories.
Warriors, the time has come to take action. Power interrupted Thrasher’s overview of the planet rotation, the cyborg council member arrogantly assuming his transmission took precedent over everything else. The human female will coordinate the Rebel’s movements.
She wouldn’t coordinate the Rebel’s movements if they talked to her like that. Their female gave orders. She didn’t take them.
I’m sending the details, including the assistance we expect from the humans. Power transmitted the battle plans.
The cyborgs had compiled information on the locations of all the Rebel and Humanoid Alliance battle stations, how many ships they controlled, who was on board, what their strengths and weaknesses were. Hacking into systems and gathering intelligence was one of the many things their brethren did well.
The timelines were included.
The mass liberation was slotted for two planet rotations from now. Thrasher exchanged a speaking glance with Ace. They had to convince not only their female to support and participate in the offensive, but every commander and captain in the Rebel fleet as well.
The timelines are too tight. Ace pushed back.
They’re set. Power’s transmission was firm. We won’t put our brethren’s lifespans at risk by delaying them. We don’t need the Rebels’ participation. This offer is for their safety.
Thrasher heard the threat in Power’s words. His lips flattened. Meaning?
If they’re not an ally, they’re an enemy.
Millions of their brethren would be rebelling. They’d kill every being positioned between them and freedom, unless the vessels containing those beings were transmitting the numbering sequence Power had shared. The entire Rebel fleet, including the battle station they currently inhabited, would be decimated.
If their Commander didn’t agree to assist the cyborg council, they would be attacked. Power threatened their female.
A rumble of rage rolled up Thrasher’s chest.
Ace bumped against his shoulders. Their gazes met. The warrior shook his head.
Fraggin’ hole. He was to do nothing, say nothing.
Thrasher folded his fingers into tight fists.
The Rebels will be ready. Ace gave the only answer they could give. Neither of them would allow their female to be damaged.
I’ll communicate that to the council. Power ended the transmission.
Thrasher and Ace looked at each other.
We have to wake our female. Thrasher stated the obvious next step. Her rest cycle had almost ended and they needed all of the time they could get.
They returned to the sleeping support.
“Commander.” Ace touched her shoulder.
“Mmm…” Their Carys turned onto her back and gazed up at them with sleep-filled eyes.
Their concern must have shown.
Her eyes widened. “What is it?” She sat upright. “Are we under attack?”
She scurried to the edge of the sleeping support.
“We’re not und
er attack.” Thrasher pushed her back to the middle and sat, claiming the edge for himself. “The cyborg council communicated with us.”
“You’ve received your orders.” Their Commander searched his face. “And they’re not good for us.” She moved toward him, pressing her body against his, her form warm and soft and very much theirs. “You don’t need our help.” She reached for Ace and he joined them on the sleeping support. “You’re leaving me.”
“We’d never leave you.” Ace bracketed her beautiful face with his hands.
“Never.” Thrasher laid his head on her shoulder. “You’re our female.”
“You can’t disobey a direct order.” She didn’t dispute that she was their female. “If the cyborg council orders you--”
“They didn’t.” Thrasher took that concern away from her. “They want the Rebels to be involved in our liberation.” He paused. “Two planet rotations from now.”
“I must have misheard you.” She stiffened. “The liberation can’t be happening in two planet rotations.”
“It is.” Thrasher nodded.
“The other Rebel Commanders agreed to this?”
“They don’t know about it,” Ace admitted. “It’s our role to communicate with them, to coordinate the offensive.”
“We’re to do all of this in two planet rotations?” She pushed away from them and jumped to her feet. “Without using Rebel headquarters to coordinate it?”
“The cyborg council hasn’t made that limitation.” Thrasher had reviewed the communications in detail.
“I made that limitation.” She stood by the sleeping support, her hands on her hips, her body gloriously naked. “There’s a Humanoid Alliance spy at headquarters.”
Frag. That made the situation more complicated.
Their female marched back and forth, back and forth, a dizzying array of emotions flying across her countenance. “It will take a planet rotation to pinpoint the location of every battle station in the Rebel fleet.”
“We have all of that information.”
“That information is classified.” Their Carys stared at Ace, looking every bit the Commander they knew and loved. “I don’t even have it.”
“You’re not a cyborg.” Thrasher shrugged.
That was the wrong thing to say. “I have two cyborgs reporting to me.” Their female glared at him. “I should have that information.”
Thrasher swallowed hard, his cock hardening.
“Put that thing away.” She waved at his groin, the musk of her arousal belying her harsh words. “And get dressed.” She grasped her ass coverings. “I want to know everything.”
The cyborg council hasn’t authorized us to share everything with her. Ace donned his body armor. Some of the information is classified ‘Cyborg Use Only’.
She’s our female. Thrasher dressed quickly. She’s now one of us. He filled his holsters and sheaths with weapons. Being fully armed calmed him. Our Commander is intelligent. She won’t be satisfied until she knows all of the details.
That is true. Ace’s head dipped as he donned his body armor.
“If you two are debating what to tell me,” Their Carys yanked on her chest covering, “the right answer is everything. You’re asking me to risk every Rebel, including my crew, in this mass liberation. I won’t tolerate any secrets or surprises.”
“Yes, Commander.” Thrasher grinned. Their female was fierce.
They moved to the center viewscreen on the far wall. Their Carys stood between them as they took turns, explaining the plan, sharing all of the intelligence they had. Her eyes widened as she saw the ‘Cyborg Use Only’ labels. They were trusting their female with confidential intelligence.
She asked questions. They answered, holding back nothing. The groves between her eyebrows and around her mouth deepened. “Our target is the most technologically advanced battle station in the Humanoid Alliance fleet. One of its docking bays holds more ships than we have in all of our bays.”
The Rebel targets were all battle stations occupied by humans and humanoids only. No cyborgs were on board. “Our task is to distract them so they don’t pursue our brethren.”
“Which means our task is to destroy them.” Their Commander was no fool. “That’s the only way we’ll stop them from chasing ships filled with cyborgs, beings they consider their most valuable weapons.”
The Humanoid Alliance didn’t consider them to be beings. They were machines.
Other than that, their Commander was correct. Cyborgs were the Humanoid Alliance’s most valuable weapons and they would stop at nothing to retrieve them.
She rubbed her hands over her face. “We can’t defeat them based on firepower alone. Our shields won’t outlast theirs. They might chase us, if we aggravate them sufficiently.”
“Thrasher is good at aggravating beings.” Ace chuckled.
“You make a joke now?” Thrasher shook his head. “Focus, ass.”
“The targets assigned to the other commanders are as challenging.” She gazed first at Thrasher and then at Ace. “You want me to do this, to pit my battle station against the Humanoid Alliance’s, to convince the others to do the same?”
They nodded. An attack against a Humanoid Alliance battle station was fraught with peril but any other option was even more dangerous.
“Then we do this.” Their Carys blew out her breath. “We’ll have to contact the other commanders individually, give them only the details about their specific missions. The cyborg ships will transmit the same numbering sequence. The commanders don’t need to know your brethren are on board.”
“Our brethren,” Thrasher corrected.
“Our brethren.” She blinked.
Before they met her, she had considered them to be the enemy. Now, she was part of the cyborg forces. That must be mind-boggling for their always-in-control human female.
“We’ll ensure the communications with the other commanders aren’t intercepted.” Ace was focused on the logistics. “Will they follow your orders?”
“They’ll assume the orders came from Headquarters.” She winced. “My crew will assume the same thing. I will be taking full responsibility for this insurrection.”
We’re asking her to deceive her kind, to act without the approval of the Rebel Assembly, Ace transmitted. “What will the Rebel Assembly do when they discover your actions?”
“Best case scenario? They’ll strip me of my command.” Her voice was flat. “Worst case? They’ll execute me.”
The worst case wouldn’t happen. Thrasher and Ace would protect her. “You’d relinquish your command to assist us?”
She’d fought for her position, had dedicated her lifespan to the role.
She scowled. “I’m doing this to end the war.”
Thrasher’s machine told him that was the rational answer. His organic side said it was a lie. “And if another cyborg had asked you to take this action?”
She didn’t say anything, which communicated everything to them.
Our female is giving up her command for us. Thrasher’s transmission was edged with emotion he couldn’t constrain.
Yes. Ace sounded as choked up as he was.
Their female loved them. She might never say that, but the words were unimportant.
“If the Rebels take this battle station away from you, you can command one of ours.” He didn’t want their Commander to make this sacrifice for them.
“No, I can’t.” Her smile was sad. “I saw the communications. Your cyborg council doesn’t trust me with the location of your brethren. They will never give me one of their battle stations.”
He opened his mouth to argue. Ace shook his head and Thrasher pressed his lips together. They would work on a solution and would present it to her when it was ready.
“We’ll contact the commanders in order of authority.” She stepped toward the viewscreen. The image scrambled. “I didn’t do anything.” She lifted her hands as though in surrender.
“Someone is trying to hack into the battle station
’s systems.” Ace worked to block the intruder.
Thrasher joined them.
The intruder dismantled those blocks. They set up more. Their opponent was insistent.
“He’s not human or humanoid.” Thrasher was certain of that.
“Is he cyborg?” Their Carys stared blankly at the viewscreen. Her human visual system wouldn’t be able to follow the activity. It was too fast.
“He could be a cyborg.” They didn’t know. “But he’s not communicating with us through our regular transmission lines and he’s not giving up.” Ace’s jaw jutted. “It’s taking both of us to block him.”
“Fraggin’ hole.” Thrasher stared at the viewscreen. “Did you see that?”
“Yes,” Ace confirmed. “He posted the numbering sequence. He intercepted our communications with Power.”
“Then let him through.” Their female spoke with authority. “He knows our plans. We have to find out who has that information.”
“At risk to our battle station?” Ace lifted one of his eyebrows.
“At risk to our battle station.” Their Carys braced her legs apart as though physically preparing for an attack.
Thrasher and Ace stepped away from the viewscreen. The image descrambled. The grinning face of a J Model cyborg appeared, the male’s hair as wild as his personality. “You’re good, not as good as me, but good.”
“Mayhem.” Thrasher grinned back at him. The warrior was good. He and his female had evaded capture by both the cyborg council and the Humanoid Alliance for many planet rotations. “You’re a popular male. Every being is looking for you.”
“Only one being has found me.” He plunked a curvy black-haired human female onto his lap. She smacked him hard on his chest and quickly escaped, moving out of view. “She’s shy.”
The female laughed.
Mayhem gazed in the direction of the sound, his face softening, his eyes glowing with emotion. “She’s also the best…human.” That ‘best human’ told him what she thought of that title. “And we hear you’re hosting a Humanoid Alliance-killing party.” His attention returned to them. “We want to be part of it.”
“Who is this ‘we’?” Their Carys folded her arms under her generous breasts.
“My female, myself, and the other Retrievers, Thrasher’s female.” Mayhem’s head tilted. “Or are you Ace’s female? Ace and Thrasher’s female?”
