by Cynthia Sax
The space smelled of battle, fuel, and something else. Vector sniffed the air. That something else was delectable, feminine, right. “She’s here.”
“We’ll search the docking bay.” North waved his guns at the other warriors. They fanned out.
“They won’t find her.” A J model strode forward, his body armor painted crimson with blood. Unlike Vector, Dissent appeared human. His hair was a multi-hued brown, not a flat unrelenting black. His skin was golden, not a machine-like gray. His eyes were dark, not an energy-infused blue. Only his size and the model number inked on his cheek identified him as being a cyborg. “The docking bay is too open and too occupied for our female.”
There was no our. Vector glowered. She didn’t belong to Dissent. She belonged to him. “She’s here,” he argued. “I smell her.”
“Her scent flavors the air throughout the battle station.” The warrior breathed deeply and Vector’s fingers tightened on his guns. No other male should be smelling his female. “The entire vessel smells like her. It is…calming.”
Vector didn’t find it calming at all. Her scent was damaging his restraint. The primitive side of his nature wanted to track her, claim her, breed with her. “How is that possible?”
“How is she possible?” Dissent shrugged. “She merely is.”
He couldn’t be as accepting as the J Model. “No one is to exit the battle station.” He walked toward the interior doors, leaving his warriors to set the sensors around their ship. Dissent was right. Kasia’s sweet scent didn’t intensify or dissipate. It remained constant. “The docking bays are to be locked, any access to escape pods blocked, any method of leaving made inoperable.”
“Consider it done.” Dissent dipped his head, matching his stride. “We want to keep our female on board the battle station as much as you do.” His gaze slanted to Vector’s face. “Though I suspect our reasons are different.”
“She isn’t your female.” Vector frowned at the warrior. That couldn’t be the reason they were restricting her movements. She was his.
“She’s not my female.” The J Model’s expression turned solemn as they passed through the doors. The hallways were as filled with killing as the docking bay had been. Their brethren inflicted vengeance upon their torturers and the blood flowed. “I’m not that fortunate.”
The warrior sounded besotted with Kasia. That irritated Vector. “She’s a threat to all of us.”
“She would never damage any cyborg on board this battle station.” There was no uncertainty in Dissent’s voice. “And you won’t damage her.”
Vector lifted his eyebrows. “And if I do?”
“I’ll protect her.” Dissent held his gaze. “With my lifespan, C Model.”
Fraggin’ hole. They wouldn’t merely be facing Kasia as an opponent. They’d be facing one of their own. “What did she do to earn your protection?”
“You can have these chambers to work in.” Dissent opened the doors to a large space, not answering him. “They belonged to the Humanoid Alliance commander. He has been apprehended.”
According to transmissions, Commander Smith was being held until they could publicly execute him. Every warrior wanted to inflict damage on the being who had been responsible for their torment.
“You’re the captain of the battle station now.” Vector stepped inside, looked around. Viewscreens hung on the walls. The sleeping support was huge and unnecessary. Cyborgs didn’t sleep. All the furnishings were high quality. “You should have these chambers.”
“It contains…unpleasant memories.” Dissent’s face hardened.
It must have been the site of past pain. Vector’s top lip curled with distaste, his impression of the chambers souring.
“If you need anything, send a transmission.” The J Model offered.
Perhaps Dissent didn’t realize the powers of the female he was protecting. “She listens to the transmissions.” Vector informed him.
“I know.” The warrior smiled, his expression smug.
He wanted Kasia to hear their communications. Vector gritted his teeth. “I’m acting on council orders.”
“I’m acting on honor.”
He was acting on honor? Vector lifted his eyebrows, questioning his auditory system. “If it weren’t for the council, you’d still be a slave.”
“If it weren’t for her, I’d be dead.” Dissent’s humanlike eyes flashed. “You won’t damage our female.”
She was his female and he would do what he fraggin’ pleased. Vector glared at the J Model. What type of warrior sided with a human over his own kind?
And what type of human inspired that level of loyalty?
Dissent sighed. “Capture our female, C Model. Talk with her. Learn what she knows. But she remains on our battle station. Undamaged.” He walked through the doors. “I must return to the bridge.”
The doors closed behind him.
Welcome aboard, Vector. His female’s simulated voice enveloped him. You’re even more attractive live than you were in the footage.
Did she consider him attractive? Some of Vector’s irritation eased. He didn’t appear human as Dissent did. You can use your real voice, Kasia Verdun. There’s no point in deception. I know who you are.
I’m not a fool. She continued to use her auditory disguise. You have enhanced senses. If I speak, you’ll track me.
He should be tracking her. Vector left the chambers, navigating the hallways. The J Models continued their slaughter of the humans, slicing their former masters to pieces, their rage palpable. They ignored him as he passed.
Did you inflict the same pain when you were freed?
He might not be tracking her but she was tracking him. No. He gazed up at the recording devices. She must have tapped into the battle station’s systems.
You killed them quickly?
There was no them to kill. I was alone when I escaped. He didn’t want to think about that planet rotation, about the secrets it had left him.
You were alone? Your brethren weren’t with you?
They were dead. The few who had survived the battle hadn’t survived the incident after it.
Oh, Vector. Her sorrow echoed his. I’m so sorry.
Why are you sorry? I saw your files. You were raised on a Humanoid Alliance-controlled planet. Your parents, your siblings are loyal to them.
There were too many Humanoid Alliance males remaining alive. Vector’s lifeform scans were unusable.
If she appeared on them, which was unlikely.
Vector suspected she’d told the truth about the lifeform scanners. They could be blocked.
He eyed the floors with unease. Tiny lifespan-ending insects could be crawling in the dips between the tiles. The cleaning bots wouldn’t find them and the lifeform scanners wouldn’t detect them.
My family, like many humans, aren’t aware of the actions the Humanoid Alliance are taking. His female shared. I tried to tell our planet’s leaders before I disappeared, but it was my word against the word of the Humanoid Alliance.
Why did you disappear? What did she access?
I hacked into a Humanoid Alliance system I shouldn’t have accessed. I covered my trail as much as possible but I couldn’t take a risk and return home. Not after what I’d uncovered.
Vector had seen how the Humanoid Alliance operated after a breach. They would have killed Kasia, all of her family, all of her friends, seeking to ensure the information wasn’t shared.
The possibility of Kasia dying made his stomach clench, that reaction solidifying his decision.
He couldn’t kill her, couldn’t follow Power’s orders.
Even if he proved her guilty of working against them, against him.
Her story sounded convincing and appeared to be consistent, but that meant nothing. His clever female would have known he’d uncover her communications.
What have you done to earn Dissent’s loyalty? That continued to bother him. His brethren should be loyal to him and to the council, not to a human female.
&n
bsp; His human female.
I didn’t do enough. She blew out her breath. Being a male of action, you would have done more. But I was scared of being caught.
You will be caught. Vector moved through the battle station, listening to the sounds around him, sniffing the air, trying to uncover his female’s position. Her scent should intensify when she was near. He should be able to hear her breathing.
Unless she could mask that also.
I will be caught. His female conceded. But by you and not just yet. Enjoy the hunt, warrior. She ended the transmission.
Bad news, Captain. North contacted him.
Had his female known the communication was coming? Was that why she ended her transmission? You didn’t find the female. Vector guessed.
We didn’t find her but that’s not the bad news. Warriors have been approaching us. One by one. In private. They all have the same message for you.
Dread crawled up Vector’s simulated spine. What is the message?
They’ll protect their female with their lifespans.
Fraggin’ hole. Dissent hadn’t been an anomaly. The entire battle station had sworn loyalty to his female.
Vector should have been infuriated. And for a moment he was.
Then pride lifted his chin, straightened his shoulders. That was his female who had earned the devotion of his brethren.
She was a force and she was his.
Don’t rely on their assistance, he instructed. Start at one side of the battle station and, search every hallway, every chamber. Use all of your senses. She’s unlikely to appear on lifeform scanners.
They’d find her. Eventually.
He’d decide what to do with her at that time.
Chapter Four
The J Model cyborgs on board the battle station had vowed to protect her.
Kasia’s heart warmed with that knowledge as she crawled through the air conduits, her pack slung over her right shoulder. She might, just might, survive the cyborg rebellion.
She might touch Vector, feel his rough hands on her skin. Kasia wiggled her ass as she moved.
She couldn’t leave the battle station. Not yet. She wanted at least one encounter with her warrior, had more information to impart to him.
Vector had also ordered the docking bays closed. The interior doors to that space had been sealed.
Which was why she wasn’t entering through those doors. She unfastened the conduit’s covering, lowered her body.
A wall of blood-scented air hit her. She gasped, reeling back. Seeing the carnage from the safety of her handheld’s screen hadn’t prepared her for the aftermath.
Kasia dropped to the floor. Cleaning bots whirred around her booted feet, sucking up puddles of blood, gore, broken bones. That was all there was left of the Humanoid Alliance males after the cyborgs finished with them.
She understood her warriors’ rage. The Humanoid Alliance had inflicted pain upon them for solar cycles. She witnessed their torture on the first planet rotation she arrived and it hadn’t relented once during her stay on the battle station.
The Humanoid Alliance had treated the locals of the planets they conquered even worse, slaughtering millions of beings, some of them children. She’d sent those images to other beings, releasing them to the universe, and nothing had happened. The images were deemed to be falsified, a smear campaign by the Humanoid Alliance’s enemies.
No one had stopped them.
Until now.
The J Models were concerned Vector would damage her as severely as they had damaged their masters. She doubted he would hurt her but he would catch her. Her big C model had organized a search of the battle station and she couldn’t hide from him forever.
But she could delay that capture for a planet rotation or more. The docking bay had already been searched. It was the safest place for her.
If she stayed away from Vector’s warship, which she wouldn’t.
Kasia approached the Freedom. The exterior was immaculate. There wasn’t one dent in the panels. She expected nothing less from its captain.
That male curled her toes. Since hearing his first transmission, she’d been enraptured with him. His voice, those deep, dark tones, combined with her stolen images of him in battle or in command, had fueled her hottest dreams.
Then he finally arrived at the battle station. When he stomped down the ramp from his ship, looking for her, her body had heated to the point of combustion. He’d been all rippling muscle and fierce determination. She’d watched him on the docking bay’s monitoring devices with awe.
Vector had impossibly wide shoulders, a powerful back, tight ass, his body armor clinging to him, every dagger, every gun in perfect condition, his boots polished.
His face was too stark to be handsome yet was compelling all the same. His black hair was cropped ruthlessly short. His eyes were the most brilliant blue. His lips often flattened into a thin white line.
Her cyborg was intense, radiating confidence, strength, purpose. Other warriors looked to him for instruction, immediately recognized him as their leader.
Her body recognized him as her male. She’d never been as attracted to another being as she was to him. His battle-honed soul called to her.
She gazed at the warship in front of her. The Freedom was Vector’s home and it would be the site of their first face-to-face encounter. She couldn’t resist exploring it, learning more about her cyborg.
Kasia circled the vessel. Her extremely cautious male had sensors set around the perimeter. She extracted tools from her pack. Deactivating those security measures was her next task.
She’d already taken the docking bay’s monitoring systems offline. Kasia lowered to the floor, its coolness permeating her flight suit. No one should detect her presence.
She applied her ever-active brain to disengaging a sensor. It was one of the most complicated, secure devices she’d ever worked on, the feedback sent to Vector continuously. Sweat beaded on her forehead. She chewed on her bottom lip, concentrating fiercely as she deactivated the sensors one by one.
Then she studied the door to Vector’s warship. The security around it was good but it could have been better. Her cyborg was relying too heavily on the sensors. That overconfidence could result in his death.
Vector needed her.
Kasia deactivated his systems, opened the door, and entered the warship. The interior was as well maintained as the exterior. There wasn’t a speck of dirt on the floors, not an object out of place.
She rendered all monitoring systems on board the warship inoperable, replacing live footage with static images. That task completed, she wandered through Vector’s home.
It didn’t take Kasia long to find his private chambers.
Standing on the threshold, she gazed at it, a small smile on her face. Another being might label the space unoccupied. It was ruthlessly utilitarian, bare of any personal belongings, any decoration.
But she knew in her gut the chambers belonged to Vector.
She shamelessly looked in compartments, touched the circuits he used for energy boosts, ate one of his nourishment bars. No secrets were revealed, other than her cyborg’s tidiness. She had already determined that trait of his from their conversations.
His systems were as neat as his chambers, as precise as his personal space was. A female could learn a lot about a male from his code. Vector’s code was as minimalistic, as flawless as possible.
It wasn’t perfect. No code was, not even one written by a cyborg, a being who was half machine. The tiny defects in his lines intrigued her, traces of a more spontaneous side of him, one she suspected few beings saw.
His past remained a mystery to her.
She had hacked into his databases once, accessing the knowledge contained in his reinforced skull. That had been necessary to retrieve a copy of his programming.
Kasia could have extracted his memories during that stealth cyber raid. She could have found out everything about Vector with one data dump.
But that felt wr
ong. Resisting that temptation, she took only what she needed and left. She would uncover her cyborg’s history in other ways.
Preferably directly from him.
Kasia extracted devices from her pack. She set up her own sensors, programmed handhelds, hid all except two of them around the chamber, leaving a primary device and a spare within arm’s reach, in open view.
Then she lay on the sleeping support and waited, tracking Vector and his brethren’s progress through the battle station via the monitoring systems.
He was the warrior to enter her storage chamber. His nostrils flared as he sniffed the air. Could he smell her? She squeezed her thighs together.
He must have detected her scent. Her cyborg headed directly to the back of the space.
The multi-level horizontal supports barring his path were heavy. Kasia knew that firsthand. She had cleared the surfaces of objects before moving them.
Vector shoved them aside as though they weighed nothing. He was a beast. She trembled, turned on by that show of strength.
He sifted through her things and she watched, feeling self-conscious. Her savage warrior treated her hoard of technology parts as though they were precious, irreplaceable, putting them back exactly where he’d found them.
The space was cluttered but it was as impersonal as his was. She knew he’d find the hidden chamber and had scrubbed it clean of her presence.
She must have missed something. His lips lifted into a smug smile, as though he’d uncovered her secrets.
She had to get him out of there.
You found my chamber, Kasia transmitted, speaking directly into a handheld.
There was no fear of being overheard. The docking bay was devoid of other lifeforms.
Vector straightened, looked around, located the monitoring device. You don’t sound surprised, female.
I’m not. She expected him to find it. It eases my guilt.
It eases your guilt over betraying me? Her cynical male was determined to think the worst of her.
Was invading his personal space a betrayal? She tilted her head. Perhaps. It eases my guilt over doing the same.
