Ember of War

by Stephan Morse

  “Slow and steady, or you’ll go back to being on your knees,” she ordered.

  Lee ground and thought to himself, fuck a duck, but wisely kept his mouth shut.

  She kept the boots on. Lee didn’t believe in such nonsense and, as he thrust away at an angle that made Becky spark with pleasure, unzipped a shoe. He kept a steady piston pace sawing in and out as the stiff fabric pulled back and revealed a slightly clammy foot. He grunted in approval then lifted her other leg and worked on the boot. Once they were both off he lifted the first foot.

  Becky’s leg jerked at the unexpected contact. Lee’s thumb steadily massaged the soft underside of her foot and rough fingers slid across the top. Her body groaned unbidden at the release of tension. Her eyes fluttered as the continued steady pressure sent tingles racing down the leg straight toward her pelvis. There it amplified the building release.

  Lee kept up the pace while Becky struggled not to lose the budding sensation. Her mouth opened and arms clutched at the only sheet on her body. It rippled and her back arched causing the spot inside her that Lee rubbed to send a fresh wave of pleasure. She craved more and Becky’s body slammed back down flat, letting him hit that location again.

  “Just like that,” she gasped and repeated the order. Her chest heaved with each breath as she rode the pleasure. “Yes. Don’t you dare go faster. Don’t you dare stop. Yes. Yessssss.”

  Twice more she writhed, teasing herself with his mechanical movements, then her feet tensed and toes tightly curled. She froze as the hardened ex-soldier above her grinned to himself. Becky’s mind went white and eyes rolled back. Half breathed gasps filled the room.

  Her body clenched and arms quickly pulled at Lee’s flesh as the wave continued cresting. Her legs loosened then locked around his back, forcing Lee’s manhood deeper. The extra grinding contact sent her body into convulsions as ongoing pleasure pounded in exactly the right spot. Lee groaned too, unable to hold back against the onslaught. He own release came rapidly and was buried under Becky’s pants.

  He was a fighter, and Lee wasn’t done by a long shot. A good soldier knew that even though his mind was done and the mission complete, there was always a way to perform better. He intended to go above and beyond to earn a medal off his performance.

  She gasped as Lee lifted her and guided them away from the bed. Her back hit the wall, jarring her before Lee entered her once more. The reconnection of his slickened tool made Becky’s body jerked abruptly. After a minute of steady, slow movements the sensitivity turned to pleasure, then surprised both her and Lee as she swiftly peaked while gasping.

  Then they moved to the shower pod, a countertop, and every surface in between. She reached a second, third, and fourth numbing climax before Lee’s body gave in a third time. He fell on the bed next to a breathless Becky and slowly drifted away. Becky lay there, her unfocused eyes gazing toward a dim ceiling light. She cleaned herself with a towel then patted Lee on the arm like a puppy who had performed a good trick.

  He sleepily grunted. As his eyes lost focus the trio of patches on Becky’s chest caught his attention. A Happy Patch, The Chair, and Heart Throb all sat in a neat triangle on Becky of all people. No one would ever believe the tale.

  She had her own thoughts; chief among them was the whole reason for coming to a colony in the first place. The money had been one thing, but what she truly wanted was to find a place where men weren’t cowards. Becky judged, by the soreness inducing dalliance she’d willfully encouraged, this was a success.

  Part IX

  “I can’t believe I did that,” Becky said. She held a sheet over herself and tightly closed both eyes. One arm rested against her forehead as she felt the last of her stress fade. Five hours had passed since the death of the colony members. Four were for the vote, a few more minutes for issuing orders, then for the last hour she rutted in bed with a man she wanted to topple but somehow lost.

  Losing their battle of bedroom dominance came with another reward. She smiled and wondered who would win the next round. The idea made her breath quicken, followed by a frown as she tried to rein in her thoughts. Work needed to be done and play would wait for another time.

  “Here we are, besieged by aliens and I had to finally…” She exhaled. “God.” Becky summed up the experience. She’d been with a man or two, which could be judged by the young daughter. To her, having a penis didn’t make someone a man.

  It was Lee’s yelling that finally did it. No one else in the entire colony argued with her. They all followed orders like well-paid boot lickers and it simply didn’t work for her. She wanted a real man with a spine at her feet. One who begged to be there.

  Lee argued every chance he could. Secretly she thought the way he backed down and still tried to yell was cute. It was like an old grizzled dog that got confused about who its master had been. She flushed and groaned as the afterglow kept her body warm in the dimly lit room.

  Her partner grunted once and spared her a glance. Lee said, “That was a welcome surprise. But Becks, how long have you been taking The Chair and Heart Throb?”

  “The Chair, since being paid to head up this place. As for the other, it was a one-time thing.” Becky shook her head, annoyed at the readiness with which she answered. “I don’t think I’ll need it again.”

  The drug had worn off halfway through, and it didn’t stop her from riding over the peak into a small death twice more. She propped herself up then looked around.

  Lee sat at the bed’s edge with an unlit cigar in his hand. He knew better than to light it. There had been brief, violent joy and he didn’t want to mar it. Few things in his life were worth remembering, but the love of a commanding woman leaving him pleasantly numb was high on the list.

  “I don’t like it. It ain’t right. You shouldn’t have messed with all them patches at once.”

  Becky sat up and smacked Lee on the back of his hand. He winced at the action but stayed hunched over. “It was my choice, not yours,” she said.

  “Sure is. Until one day someone slaps too many patches on you, and then it ain’t your choice how you act ever again.”

  Silence lingered uncomfortably. Lee’s face flushed at the stupid past his comment provided a hint about. Soldier’s weren’t made by training alone. Not modern ones.

  She knew it wasn’t right, but his simmering ire and confrontational attitude made her want to pull him back then work his body until he begged for release. The idea went away almost as soon as it formed. Dominating Lee required more hours than were available. Even now a small display on her desk signaled a wall of messages from members of the community. An hour had passed, filled with panic no doubt, plan forming, and she hoped Johnson had gathered the less addle brained to ensure their ship was in order.

  “Becks,” Lee said without care for her ire. “I need permission to suit up.”

  Becky knew he was right. “Permission granted.”

  “And Becks? Don’t think this means I’ll just roll over and do what you say.”

  Her face flushed and lips curled in a smile. “God I hope not,” she muttered as Lee put on his pants.

  She insisted on going with him. Down the halls, they traveled to a secured room Becky had locked with a fingerprint scanner. In the event of a real emergency, such as her demise, the ability to get into this room would descend—in order—until everyone but Lee had died. If, and only if, he was the last man standing, would Lee be allowed to access the room and equip his gear. The idea that even Ed and Ted had permission before Lee bothered the former soldier.

  Past the door was a ten by five room. Two items sat in capsules against the wall. One was the armor, the other his weapon. He pressed a button and the pod opened up. This part, and only this part, required a certified soldier of the United Planets to access.

  Lee withdrew a piece of the armor and studied it. He leisurely equipped himself, not confused in the least about how to don the gear. His only concern was making sure being a beefclop herder hadn’t removed his body’s condit
ioning to the process. Boots always went on last so he set them aside. Only a fool tried to equip anything but the chest piece first.

  He put on the chest, both arms, and slowly worked on the legs. They took longer than he remembered. The shoulders were tricky due to their thickness. The suit was more flexible than it looked and could brush off most attacks. It bent well enough to march forward then swing a weapon around and fire on the side.

  Only a fool tried to shoot The Gun one handed. Lee was a fool in everything but this. That’s why he took his time rechecking every piece of his suit, not from confusion, but to make sure the process was completed with proper reverence.

  The helm went on second to last. Gears ground together louder than before as pieces sealed. After the last sound died off a gruff authoritative voice started speaking a pre-recorded message.

  “Soldier.” The voice echoed in Lee’s ears but Becky couldn’t hear it. “You’ve been cleared to return to duty by a commanding officer.”

  “Yeah.” Lee chuckled then happily bobbed his head. “Finally.” He moved with vigor, stretching the suit left, then right. Lee ignored the machine and put on his boots. To him, the pre-recorded message sounded exactly like every hellfire sermon his father had given over the years. It meant about as much.

  “Due to seven hundred and fifty solar days of deactivation, United Planets regulations require a reminder of your M P status.”

  M P, Back in training that had meant Military Personnel, owned by the government in all ways but one. Later on it meant something else entirely, meat puppet. That’s what soldiers were now; bodies inside a machine serving as the human double check. Civilians were comforted while the powers that be gradually trained and genetically modified away all hesitations an M P might have.

  “You are an M P and nothing more. Commanding officers will advise you on how to proceed. Orders must be obeyed for the continued prosperity of our fine worlds.”

  He shook his head and went through rusty motions. One arm was checked for lights and the seals. Everything bound correctly. Seals were formed in the right spots pressurizing against most basic gasses. The other arm looked a bit more worn but everything checked out.

  Meanwhile, the voice droned on, “This stellar piece of military hardware was created by the boys in R and D”—the recording exaggerated each word like an old earth drill sergeant—“and only requires your highly-trained reactions to properly function. It will show you what to shoot! It will tell you when is best to shoot! You are only required to pull the trigger and decide which routes are tactically sound in pursuit of your goal! This concludes the mandated reminder by United Planets regulations. Now get out there and show them what you’re made of, soldier!”

  Point, shoot, move on, and repeat until Satan himself pissed his pants in fear. Those were the directives given to all meat puppets. It’s why they won the war. It’s why going back to the Inner Ring of his United Planets proved so difficult.

  To Lee, strapping up served as a reminder of the first day of the war all over again. His body twitched and heart pounded. Sweat beads formed and a grin better than any Happy Patch could create slowly formed. He checked his legs twice more before feeling around carefully for the seals along his back. Everything was in place.

  He took a deep breath and marveled at how snug the suit felt. Once there had been inches of space between him and the hull. Once he had been lost in the suit of a giant and nearly drowned in the metal and polymer cage. Right now Lee found it odd that he had more energy than he had in months.

  The man sat trapped inside a thick suit with only one real aim; help the person operating it defeat the enemy no matter the cost. He checked all the linings again, moved both legs, stretched one arm over the other and listened to its gears whir. Once everything checked out Lee approached the gun.

  He couldn’t think of it as just a gun. Not a simple blaster or plasma slinger. This weapon was Lee’s, his baby for two decades. He used to imagine that people barely knew their spouses in the way he knew his gun. Every inch had a dozen stories. Parts had been replaced over the years but the scratches that littered the main line were all familiar scars.

  He thumbed the safety and wondered why on god’s green earth anyone created such a switch. The weapon rapidly flared to life as sixteen chambers spun. Ammunition of all sorts generated from the finest power source the United Planets could afford.

  Lee flipped up his headpiece and shoved a cigar between his lips. It lit up. He stared at the stern looking frown of Becky, who had watched him fondle himself for the better part of twenty minutes without comment.

  “You’ve got a job to do, soldier,” she said while raising her chin. That arrogant lift of her head made Lee give a grim smile. A few hours ago and she’d had a much different grin. “You need to buy us time and make sure those big ass birds don’t hit us during launch. It’ll take another two hours before we’re ready and I’ve got half a dozen reports saying we won’t last that long.”

  Even now the sound of automatic gunfire from the turrets and H.E.R.D rung loudly through the colony.

  “Launch procedures will take at least another two hours. Even if we had started right away instead of voting we would still need another hour. The escape pod will be left by Bill on the other side of compound three. Once we lift off, you make it back and meet us up above.”

  He rattled off the obvious directives. “Kill the natives. Protect the escapees by buying you all time to launch this puppy into orbit. Then self-extract my dumb ass using an escape pod. I’ve had harder shits.”

  Becky’s eyes lost their hard edge for a moment as she winced then nodded.

  “All right.” Lee grinned while chewing on the end. “Let’s get this party started.”

  Lee hated fixing the H.E.R.D units, but it was worth it for this moment. He strode out the door as his onboard system activated. It was time for war.

  Part X

  His motorcycle carried across the landscape toward the now abandoned border. The vehicle hardly noticed the extra weight that only genetically modified soldiers could properly handle, much less want to operate.

  The hum of Lee’s suit brought him a grin that two dozen Happy Patches couldn’t replicate. The suit meant he was headed for glorious battle and confrontation with the enemy of a united mankind. This was what he had trained for. Combat is what those hours of simulations and practice drills led to. Fighting was how he earned awards. Success got promotions and the best assignments. It let him be the legend.

  Lee frowned and glared at the gun. While the clarity of war’s battlefield provided accolades, it had also ended in being ostracized from civilized space. Were it not for the cessation of war and treaties being drawn, Lee could have stayed in a life where everything made sense. Once a month they shipped out the ladies to a cruiser in space. They were required to fight wars which brought unity to the explored regions of space.

  At least for the moment life was simple again, he thought. He nodded once to his gun. The motorcycle finished self routing to the front. A line of the parasite controlled creatures were twitching outside the turret’s range.

  Lee found it funny that they were smart enough to pick off isolated people and stay outside the turret’s range—but they weren’t clever enough to avoid the man recklessly charging with a huge weapon in his hands.

  He leapt off and rolled. His suit absorbed most of the shock and training got him to ruck back the gun. He stood and fired at the nearest white worm riddled bird. It exploded as heat crisped a hole through the creature. Lee’s helmet registered the creature as an enemy precisely one fourth of a second after Lee turned it into giblets.

  “Ahhhh fuckers! I told you!” Two more perished, then the bird-host creatures reacted as Lee screamed with excitement. Wings lifted on some of the aerial ones then the motorcycle finished shifted into its battle stance. Solar panels on the roof pulled in power and electricity arced out at monsters that crawled out of the dead bird’s bodies.

  “I told you maggots
I’d get you! I’ll get you all!”

  The civilians back at the colony had to mute their lines, because Lee had once again left his microphone open.

  “An army ain’t been built that can stop a soldier of the United Planets!”

  Beefclops were normally docile creatures designed to breed and survive in nearly any environment. They had one glaring weakness to their builds. The giant eye also served as a weak part past their tough hides. Two lumbered toward Lee. He glared, knowing they hadn’t come back without passengers.

  “Lee, your orders are to start pulling back. Your evac pod is ready and we’re getting everyone into place. We’ll need cover fire.”

  Lee was caught in the act of doing what he loved best—pulling the trigger. But he was a good soldier. His legs made large strides back to the colony while thinning a never-ending swarm of creatures with white creatures growing in them.

  A dozen colonists watched as stray monsters battered into the buildings. Their mindless brute force didn’t dent the buildings. They were designed to withstand space and intercolonial wars and should survive the buffeting of basic creatures. However, no amount of armor could keep them safe forever. It would only be a matter of time before the seal on their buildings failed.

  Bill and Becky, along with many others, watched the growing mayhem. They sat in the main control room of their collapsed building. The mechanic said, “Dis is insane. How is one man gonnuh make a difference against dat?”

  Becky clicked off the microphone and explained to Bill, “In the Ring wars, there were a lot of soldiers. A lot. My dad and brother among them. Most died, but before my dad passed he taught me there were only three types of soldiers worth a damn.”