by C. M. Kane
She immediately felt herself growing beet red in shock and embarrassment at what Brightmoon was so obviously suggesting to her; but at the same time she quickly saw a way to work the Dreadnaughts uncomfortable interest in her sex life to her own advantage.
Not now, she thought quickly, but maybe if we survive this attack against the Titans alright? But to do that you and Vulcan will have to create a viable weapon to attack the Titans with; and then if we win and somehow come out of this alive. Then I promise you we will have sex where ever you want us too, if Loki okay with it, she thought.
She felt Brightmoons surprise and outrage at having the blackmail tables turned on her before she felt her initial feelings slowly replaced by her sullen agreeance. An excited thought that was quickly hidden from her raced across the Brightmoons consciousness before Tae could see what it was. Once again she had a nasty suspicion it might not auger well for her in the future. And although Brightmoon obviously didn’t like her deal, the good news was that she had agreed, which meant they were now in with a fighting chance again. All she’d had to do was pimp herself out with a God so that a Dreadnaught, who, as it turned out, was also a bit of a pervert, could watch and experience it with her.
Damn! How in the seven hells am I supposed to tell Loki about this? She thought, half terrified and half excited at the prospect.
Chapter 29
After Tae had gotten Brightmoons agreeance she asked to meet with both Vulcan and Loki as she had lunch in the mess hall. The two gods had found it novel to be eating with the crew and been peering around at everyone with open curiosity. Once she was alone with the gods she had told them Brightmoon had agreed to what they wanted from her. Vulcan had been delighted and had immediately rushed off to his lab, leaving Tae alone with Loki.
‘Well, that was a lot easier than I expected it to be, well done,’ he said smiling at her in delight.
Tae felt her face beginning to redden; she decided she’d just better get it over with and tell Loki what she’d had to agree to. This was easier said than done, she stared at him for a minute while she tried to formulate the words in her head, but her mind went blank. Finally she simply blurted out Brightmoons terms of her agreeance in one big rush. As she told him she had kept her eyes firmly down looking at her hands, but she had still felt her face burning with embarrassment. Switching her gaze to the table she had earnestly told him it was the only way the ship would agree to what they wanted from her, it was only when she’d finished that she’d had the courage to look up again - to find Loki grinning at her.
‘If you wanted me in your bed so badly you only had to ask, Tae. You didn’t need to come up with this elaborate scheme of bringing Brightmoon in on a threesome to tempt me, but so be it, if this is your wish just tell me when and where,’ he laughed.
Tae went scarlet at the implication and had jumped up to protest, but on seeing his teasing grinning face she had become tongue tied and confused, so she had quickly told him that she had to find Dishon, and had bolted for it. Later, when she had thought over everything that had happened she had become angered at herself. Loki had been flirting with her, and she’d just behaved like an absolute moron- again! What was wrong with her? Why did she keep behaving like a little kid in front of him? Next time would be different she told herself. Next time she was going to flirt the pants right off of him (hopefully).
Unfortunately that lunch was the last she had seen him, she found she now had to devote any spare time she had to learning the star charts for the realms of the Titans. She’d had Brightmoon compensate for interstellar drift over the intervening years since the gods had left their place of birth, but still, the system was huge. If there was one thing the Island and Brohan had taught Tae, it was that information was power, and the more she had, the better prepared she’d be. If she were to be of any help whatsoever in the coming battle than she fully intended to know every last rock on every last world that was with-in the Titans grasp. She’d already learnt everything she could about individual Titans, as well as making a few informed assumptions of her own. She figured most of the planets would have been strip-mined by now if they had built a new fleet. She also thought that there could be a few Titans that might be either terra-form a dead or dying planet- just in case things didn’t go according to plan- or even their own world Titan. They were an exceptionally clever race, and not all of them were bent on conquering like the brothers, Cronus and Hyperion. No, there were some that might even be reasonable if given the chance; or a change of leadership, she had to hope.
In the mean time she had asked Brightmoon to keep her informed of how both she and Vulcan were doing with the new weapons. Amazingly it had taken the pair of them only three hours to come up with the new delivery system that was now being mass produced. Tae was surprised and delighted at how quickly they had designed the new payload system. It consisted of an extremely small buzz bomb only half a meter long, just big enough to contain a miniaturized force field disruption device, and a small targeting system. As they had to open one of the enemy dreadnaughts veins for easy access, its first payload would be a couple of grains of Beastie and sea salt that would automatically mix when they hit their target. Vulcan had quickly re-acquired it from the bombs he had originally fitted it to; theoretically, this tiny amount of beastie should dig a hole at least half a meter deep. Vulcan thought the enemy would hardly notice it, and even if they did, the automated repair system would simply kick in and they should forget about it. To disguise them, each bomb would be surrounded by a Lead, Iron, Nickel and Cadmium rock mixture that would shield its inner workings from any light scan, while still looking somewhat natural. Added to this, Vulcan had programmed the force field device to switch off immediately the bomb was through the force field leaving only its targeting system operational. He had designed the whole bomb on the barest of power output; even the one small maneuvering thruster was based on a small multi-directional gas canister that the targeting scanner would use. This would allow the tiny rocks to float seemingly slowly, and innocently, to their targets.
Brightmoon, in the meantime, had re-programmed her Nanites herself, as well as fitting them at the back of the small delivery system with-in the new buzz bombs. She had continued to deny Vulcan any access to them. Tae knew Vulcan would be pissed off over missing out on having a look at the Dreadnaughts inner goodies, she also thought he could take it up with Brightmoon himself if he had anything to say about it. As it was, Tae thought that apart from helping Vulcan, Brightmoon was also up to something else totally unrelated to what was occurring. The ship had developed the same secretive smugness she’d had before Tae had gotten her vid ball. She figured she’d find out about it sooner or later, but at the moment she had work to do, and once again there wasn’t much time to do it in.
***
Loki’s eyes went straight to Tae as he entered the bridge; apart from their one quick meeting in the mess hall of all places, they had both been too busy to further their relationship. He knew she was studying the realms of the Titans and he didn’t want to disturb her. She had a wonderful habit of coming up with ideas for escapes from even the most dire of circumstances. He figured that if they were going to venture over there in a bold scheme to attack the Titans before they be could attacked by them, then he wanted her and Brightmoon to know every inch of territory they could. He, on the other hand, had been making his own plans. After a great deal of thought he’d left the ship for over a day to carry out his secret agenda. Cassandra’s words were stuck in his mind and he thought they needed another plan, just in case this one didn’t work. A Hail Mary, as the Terrans called it. He had an idea, both for if their original plan worked, and for if it didn’t. So far he’d told no-one, mainly because of the risk he was running. He pushed his musings aside and walked up to stand beside Tae.
‘Vulcan says the bombs are now ready, they have three hundred and twenty nine, which was all the Beastie that was available. Now it comes down to you, are you ready, Captain, or do you need more time?�
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Tae opened her eyes and stared up at him, slowly the red and black swirling eased away and her green eyes greeted his. She looked determined he noted.
‘I’m ready, My Lord,’ she replied seriously.
Loki smiled and looked at her with a mixture of pride and possessiveness. If they survived this he was going to tell her that he had come to care for her; she was going to know that she mattered to him. He would then ask her to spend at least one night with him, so he could prove to her how he could make her feel. The thought of Brightmoon watching them didn’t bother him in the least, the dreadnaught was obviously curious, and it had worked to his advantage if what Tae had told him was true. Until then he thought it was better she remain ignorant of all that was going on in his mind. After all she had other things to concentrate on, like saving all their arses again if things went bad.
He nodded at her. ‘We have had a small change of plans; Thanatos will be going through just ahead of us. If they are guarding the portal he will draw them away while we make our way through. We will head straight to Gaia where we will leave the buzz bombs floating in plain site by seeding the area where we think it’s most likely they will gather. It is as close to sacred site to them as we can get, and this way it’ll at least look a little more natural. If they gather somewhere relatively close we can begin to move them slowly in groups of twenty or thirty. Hopefully they’ll look like nothing more than a little space debris. In the mean time we will be waiting behind, Rushla, one of Gaia’s moons, as planned. We will land on the surface and wait there for as long as possible, or until the nanites take effect.’
Tae nodded, ‘Yes, sir, we’ll begin to move out immediately.’
She gave the order to move the ship to the portal. She immediately felt the tension on the bridge ratchet up several notches. After broadcasting the secret code Brightmoon started to move through the portal to Salernis where the main fleet awaited.
Tae gasped in shock as she rejoined Brightmoon and tuned herself into her sensors. Everywhere she looked there were ships. As she panned around she noticed they were strategically located to cut off any avenue of escape. The Gods had created a bottle neck with a large kill zone in which they could blast the living crap out of anyone or anything that came through.
‘Impressive aren’t they,’ Loki said when he realized what Tae had just seen, by the view presented on their own screens. ‘We’ve also mined the hell out of the area just in front of the portal; of course we’re keeping them inactive while any of us move through. And that’s nothing on the missile barrage that we’re in the process of setting up on both moons. If they take us, it’s going to cost them dearly,’ he said with pride.
Tae nodded, she was suddenly aware of a new, more pressing problem, one that none of them had foreseen. Brightmoon had just activated all of her weapons systems by herself.
Tae felt panic starting to bloom with-in the Dreadnaughts mind at the amount of unknown war ships now facing her. Her force field glittered a deeper golden as Tae quickly latched onto her thoughts.
Easy, Brightmoon, she thought. They’re our friends, they’re here to help protect everyone from the Titans remember? We talked about it, you saw Cassandra’s prediction through my thoughts. Come on, sweetie, they’re not going to hurt us. See, no-one’s opened fire when they could have destroyed us by now, they’re on our side, Brightmoon, trust me, please. Very slowly Brightmoon relinquished control back to the Bridge again.
Loki placed his hand on her shoulder. ‘What the hell just happened?’ he asked in alarm.
Tae sighed in relief as she felt the dreadnaught relaxing slightly. She was still on high alert and watching every ship with straining sensors, but at least she wasn’t actively targeting anyone.
‘She was a little panicky about all the ships,’ she said. ‘Remember, she still has remnants of memory left over from when she was the Ouranos, and the last time she saw this many ships she ended up a dead hulk drifting alone in a nebula.’
‘Damn, we hadn’t even considered that, we keep forgetting just how like us she truly is. Even from the short time I have been onboard she has grown emotionally, going on what you have told us.’
Tae nodded, blushing again as she remembered Brightmoons latest requests about the star chair. ‘She’s pretty much about my age I’d say,’ she said.
Loki nodded. ‘I’d expected that.’
At Tae’s puzzled look he smiled. ‘Your minds are bonded in a way none of us, including you, can ever really comprehend. I thought that Brightmoon might age emotionally to catch up to you now that she has both of your experiences to learn from. I suspect she will now continue to mature as you do, no faster, no slower. Remember, you two are linked by a bond far closer than any twin. From what you have explained you share your experiences and emotions totally. Am I right?’ he asked.
Tae gaped at him, she’d had no idea that he’d thought about this so deeply; about her so deeply. ‘Emotions mostly,’ she said, ‘she’d kill me if she tried to drop too much information into me.’ She spread her hands and grinned; ‘giant, super clever brain,’ then she pointed at her own head. ‘Clever, but tiny brain.’
Loki smiled and nodded. ‘So she lets you roam around picking and choosing what you want to look at, as well as sharing her emotions with you?’
‘Kind of,’ said Tae thoughtfully. ‘We’re more like friends talking most days, but we do experience thoughts and feelings together. We can actually feel each other’s pain, joy, or fear when we relive events in each other’s life-as if it’s happening to us. If Brightmoon is injured I feel it in my body when I’m in the Star chair.
Loki frowned at that, the thought of Tae feeling Brightmoons injuries in a space battle didn’t sit well with him, but it certainly explained Brightmoons request about Tae and himself.
As if reading his mind she continued on. ‘Brightmoon is very curious about life, and she has ways of ferreting out things she wants to know about. She’s not averse to trying bribery or blackmail either, if she really wants to know something.’
Loki raised an eyebrow at her and Tae quickly retreated into her guise as Captain, just as Dolath interrupted them.
‘Captain, Lord Loki, we have communications from both Lord Zeus and Lord Thanatos coming in.’
‘Put them through,’ said Loki. Immediately both Zeus’ and Thanatos’ faces appeared on the com-screens.
‘Is everything alright?’ asked Zeus immediately. ‘We noticed your weapons come online as you came through.’
‘Brightmoon was a little concerned with the amount of ships she was facing,’ said Loki. ‘It seems she might have retained some old memories of the last time she met so many of us, Captain Rames has sorted it out,’ he said.
Zeus looked startled. ‘Damn, we didn’t even consider that,’ he said before adding ‘Are you ready then?’
Loki nodded and looked to Thanatos. ‘Good Luck,’ he said.
Thanatos grinned, his eyes glittering with barely suppressed excitement. ‘Same to you. Now let’s go kick some Titan arse!’
They watched as his ship swung in a tight arc and headed for the portal, it opened quickly and he went through.
It’s begun, thought Tae nervously, there’s no going back now.
After a further ten minute wait she heard Loki give the order to move. She nodded and opened the portal to the co-ordinates she’d been given, then with a deep breath she took Brightmoon through.
Chapter 30
Tae wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but she found herself breathing a sigh of relief when they encountered no-one but Thanatos on the other side. His ship was sitting motionless around 50 kilometers further in. They had been lucky, there had been no-one guarding the portal against any possible incursions. While Thanatos had been waiting for them to join him he had started conducting long range scans, he now sent all of the results through to them. Once Brightmoon had finished the download and set her own scanners at maximum he then slipped back into the realms of the Gods. Once aga
in they were on their own. Tae, Brightmoon and their sensor officer began studying the scans carefully, and that’s when Tae realized that their luck had just run out.
‘We have a major problem,’ she said as she sent the displays she was looking at straight to Loki.
Loki looked at the information in front of him and swore violently. The Titans didn’t need anyone to guard the portal, because if they went much beyond where Thanatos had positioned himself they were going to get picked up by a plethora of sensor buoys! What was worse, they seemed to be scattered though-out the system, which meant they were, in all likelihood, everywhere. If Brightmoon put a toe out of place she would be seen.
‘Well that certainly screws any plans for secrecy, has anyone any idea of how we can get around this?’ said Loki looking around the room angrily.
‘I’m sorry, My Lord, but I’ve been measuring the distances between the sensor drones and have discovered that they are all uniform. On that information alone we would have to conclude that they’re set up in a way that nothing could get through with-out there knowledge,’ said Rainya who was still studying the information as if looking for inspiration. ‘I’m surprised they haven’t set one up closer to this portal, from what I can tell, it’s the only area missing one.’
