Dark Arsenal

by Cynthia Sax

  Yet it did. She was his female. They belonged together.

  “We’re meeting something.” His female acted almost giddy as she flew the shuttle craft out of the docking bay, into open space. “You can’t transmit any details about this mission to anyone…including your cyborg buddies.”

  Cyborgs shared information. That was one of their strengths.

  While on assignment, he preferred not to transmit to any beings. It was…distracting. And it was unnecessary because… “I don’t have cyborg buddies.”

  There was only one being who communicated with him regularly and he doubted Zip’s female considered him to be her buddy.

  The chatter in those communications flowed exclusively from her to him. He told the D Model’s female very little, often didn’t reply to her messages for ten, twenty, thirty planet rotations.

  That wasn’t how a buddy behaved.

  “I don’t have very many friends either.” Vicuska’s smile dimmed for a heartbeat. “Everyone I cared about has died.” She forced a laugh. “You might not want to get too close to me, cyborg.”

  He wanted to get extremely close to her. His palms flattened against his viewscreen.

  “The machine is touching me again.” The guidance system complained about his handling of it.

  “Nora, cease verbal communication.” Vicuska shook her head. “You know Arsenal is authorized to touch you.”

  A fast stream of words scrolled across the bottom of their viewscreens, the guidance system expressing its unhappiness.

  “As for you.” His female looked at him. “No communications at all. No transmitting about our mission. No talking about it.” She waggled her right index finger. “This is top secret.”

  “I don’t chatter excessively.” Arsenal huffed, insulted by her implication that he would do that.

  “I noticed that.” That seemed to amuse his female, the sparkle returning to her eyes. “In the footage, you answered every question with as few words as possible.”

  And she was the opposite, answering every question with as many words as possible. He would have been content to listen to her chatter if they had unlimited time.

  “What is the mission?” They had to focus on the assignment. “I was told it was dangerous yet this shuttle craft doesn’t have the firepower to down anything.”

  Unless their target was small and defenseless.

  “We don’t have to down the World-ender using the shuttle craft.” She reviewed their route yet again. “We merely have to board the weapon.”

  Their target was a fraggin’ World-ender? The defense systems for the Humanoid Alliance’s prized planet destroyers were the best ever developed.

  The exterior of the machines was impenetrable by existing weapons. The interior was impossible to access while the defense systems were activated, the docking bays surrounded by powerful guns.

  “This mission lacks logic.” He would die trying to complete it. “World-enders have no weaknesses.”

  “I prefer to think of the mission as being heroic.” She transferred control to the shuttle craft’s guidance system. “And World-enders do have a weakness in their design. We know where it is.”

  “Your intel is incorrect.” He was certain about that. “I’ve seen the schematics for the World-enders.” Cyborgs had uncovered them in the Humanoid Alliance databases, had studied them, looking for weakness. None were found. “Their defenses are impregnable.”

  “You’ve seen the official schematics, the ones commanders of the World-enders have access to.” His female bounced in her seat, the motion jiggling her breasts.

  He forced himself to concentrate on their discussion. “That’s what I said.”

  “I’m talking about the true schematics.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement. “Only those in the highest positions within the Humanoid Alliance know of their existence.”

  The Humanoid Alliance had crafted two sets of schematics for their World-enders? Arsenal’s processors whirled. “How did you obtain a copy?”

  “I retrieved the true schematics from a Humanoid Alliance-infested outlaw planet.” His female beamed. “All of the previous Rebels involved in that retrieval died. I was only being successful.”

  The humans were fools to endanger such a precious female. She could have died also.

  And then he would have never met her. His heart squeezed.

  Pushing away that distressing thought, he searched the databases for the schematics. Once he found them, he compared them with the copy the cyborgs had obtained. He quickly detected the variance.

  “There’s a fingertip-sized switch in the middle of one of the exterior panels.” If he hadn’t been looking for it, he wouldn’t have located it. “That panel is constructed of two pieces, not one.” That made it less durable. “The interior space adjacent to it is a storage chamber.”

  Vicuska jumped to her feet and moved next to him. “The schematics don’t say what that switch controls.” She leaned over, gazing at his viewscreen. Her breast brushed against his arm, the contact causing his systems to hum. “The panel is ship-sized.”

  Ship-sized. He looked at the schematics again. “It’s a hidden docking bay.”

  “Yes.” She clasped his shoulder. “The bastards crafted a way to re-assume control of the World-enders should they be overthrown.”

  The Humanoid Alliance didn’t trust their own beings.

  “I’m destroying a World-ender.” He said that with wonder. That was his mission.

  Right now, he was disposable, interchangeable. There were millions of warriors like him.

  Once he completed his assignment, he would be a hero. Every cyborg would know his name.

  “We’re destroying a World-ender.” His female slid onto his lap. She linked her fingers at his nape.

  She planned to accompany him?

  “There is no we,” he told her. The mission was too dangerous for his fragile human female.

  The Humanoid Alliance would attempt to blow up any ship approaching the World-ender. If he did manage to land inside it, males would try to stop him from damaging the superweapon. Leaving without dying would be another challenge.

  He wasn’t risking her. She was too rare, too special. “We minimize casualties, send one being to complete the mission.”

  “That one being will be me.” She glided her fingertips down his chest. “The Humanoid Alliance performs lifeform scans on all incoming vessels.” She navigated his abs, her touch shorting his circuits. “If they don’t detect a human, they’ll blow the ship out of space before it gets close to the World-ender.”

  Fraggin’ hole. They would do that. “They’ll also hail the ship and expect a male to answer.” The Humanoid Alliance had no female captains.

  “I’ll use a voice-changer to fool them.” His female had an answer for that too. “It worked well for an associate during my last mission.”

  Was that the mission in which many of her fellow Rebels died? “Is that associate still alive?”

  “It was close but yes, she lived through it.” His female paused in her exploration of his form. “We might not be as lucky.” Her gaze lowered. “We could die on this mission, Arsenal.”

  She wouldn’t die. His jaw jutted.

  He would ensure she lived.

  Chapter Two

  Vicuska had been given the power to choose the cyborg she was paired with on this mission.

  Her Rebel counterparts had chosen their warriors based on experience and skill. They naively believed they had a chance of surviving their assignments.

  She realized she’d likely die. She also knew all of the candidates would be extremely skilled. Although cyborgs were half machine, their other half was human. Their pride would demand they offer their best warriors to the Rebel cause.

  Trusting the cyborgs’ evaluation, she had a different basis for her decision. She wanted a male she wouldn’t mind fucking the frame off during the voyage to their designated World-ender.

  At first, she thought her task was impossi
ble. Based on the files she’d received, there were no ugly cyborgs. They were all handsome and fit and big. How could she choose between them?

  Then she saw Arsenal’s image. His face appeared as though it had been carved out of rock, his features perfect, his expression blank…until she looked into his eyes. They blazed with emotion, with anger, passion.

  Her nipples had tightened.

  She’d played the recordings the cyborg council had supplied. His deep voice had strummed her pussy, spiraling her need upward. His curt responses had straightened her spine, the authority in his tones turning her on.

  She’d watched that footage before every rest cycle, had dreamed of him, waking with her fingers inside her, wetness streaming over her hands.

  Her cyborg was even more imposing in flesh and gears, his body hard under hers, his lips set in a thin, grim line. She wanted him with a ferocity she’d never experienced with any other male. Fucking him would be worth the sacrifice she would soon make for the universe.

  “I don’t want to die with regrets.” She stroked his body armor-clad abs with her fingertips. “Not fucking you would be a regret.”

  He clasped the armrests tighter, the metal bending under his grip. His knuckles were white. “You won’t die.”

  “I might die if you don’t touch me.” She plucked at his right wrist.

  He let go of his death grip on the chair. “Do human females require touch to be fully functional?”

  “I need your touch to be fully functional.” She unfastened her flight suit, brazenly guided his freed hand inside the garment. His rough palm connected with her left breast and her breath hitched, pleasure coursing through her.

  He stiffened even more, didn’t close his hand around her curves.

  Did he not know what to do?

  She placed her fingers over his, clenching and releasing, clenching and releasing, showing him. “Have you touched many human females?”

  “A human female once wrapped her arms around me and pressed her body against mine, similar to how you clasped me when we met.” He maintained the rhythm, rubbing his palm over her taut nipple. “There were two males available and the other warrior had a female.”

  “She chose you to touch.” Vicuska didn’t like that. He was hers.

  “If there had been another viable male, she would have chosen him.” His voice was flat.

  “I doubt your precious human female would have chosen him.” She wouldn’t have altered her decision. “Males aren’t interchangeable.”

  “I am interchangeable.” Her cyborg’s reply was barely audible.

  She looked up at him. While his face bore its usual blank expression, his gaze was bleak.

  She blinked. He was serious. The damn male thought he was interchangeable.

  “I studied hundreds of profiles while I was choosing a cyborg partner for this mission.” She shared that truth with him. “Your profile was the only one that turned me on.”

  “Is that a unique state for you?” He tilted his head. “You were turned on when your shuttle craft docked.”

  Fuck. Cyborgs did have acute senses. Her face heated.

  “I was thinking of you when my shuttle craft docked.” Waiting until their arranged meeting time had been torture. “I was envisioning your big hands on my breasts, your weight pressing me into the sleeping support, your cock filling me.”

  He paused for a heartbeat. His eyes flashed with need. He then resumed working her breast with his right hand, his pace faster, his clasp more intense.

  His expression didn’t alter. She wondered if it ever did. Would he maintain that same mask of indifference when he came?

  The challenge of pushing him to the breaking point appealed to her.

  She slowly rocked her hips, rubbing her cloth-covered pussy over his body armor-clad cock. His muscles flexed under her ass.

  “You’re huge.” Her voice was husky. “I’d grip you tightly, my softness all around you as you pumped in and out of me.”

  His nostrils flared. Did he smell her wanting state?

  “I’d be wet and slick…like I am now.” She tormented both of them. “My pussy juices would stream between your balls. You’d smell of—”

  Metal shrieked.

  He’d ripped the armrest off the chair.

  She quashed her smug smile. “That’s not what you want to touch, cyborg.”

  She tugged the remnants of the armrest out of his hold and tossed it away. The scrap of metal bounced off the floor tiles.

  “This is what you need.” She slid his hand inside her flight suit, placed his left palm on her right breast.

  He clenched and released without any additional coaxing from her. The dual assault caused her to squirm.

  “Look at me.” She shrugged out of her garment. It fell to her waist. Cool air rushed over her heated skin. “See what you do to me.”

  His gaze lowered, his perusal of her bare chest thrilling her.

  “Those are your hands on my breasts, not another male’s.” She arched her back, pushing her curves against his palms. “You make my nipples taut.”

  He pinched her sensitive flesh; that tantalizing pain drawing a low whine from her throat. “We should stop.”

  “No stopping.” She gripped his shoulders, preventing him from retreating. “I need you.”

  “If we progress further, I’ll mark you.” His eyes gleamed. “No other cyborg will touch you after that.”

  “I don’t want any other cyborg.” She had chosen him. “I want you, only you.”

  “Only me.” He gazed at her.

  Moments passed.

  A rumble climbed up his big form, breaking the silence. The sound grew louder and louder.

  “I can’t resist you, female.” He bent his head. “I have to have you.”

  Would he take her now? Her heart beat hard against her chest.

  He closed those grim lips of his around her right nipple and she sucked in her breath, sensation bombarding her. It felt as though a thousand mouths were tugging on her flesh.

  The experience was so good it scared her. “Arsenal?”

  “Those are my nanocybotics.” He ravished her left nipple as ardently. “They heal, pleasure, claim. Other cyborgs will detect them.”

  “They’ll know I’m yours.” She would belong to someone, to him. “That you kissed me, touched me, fucked me.”

  If they were separated during their mission, she wouldn’t die alone. That part of him would be with her.

  She wanted that, wanted him. “Mark me, cyborg.”

  “I’ll claim you.” He drew her curves into his mouth, coating her with that unique part of him.

  She threaded her fingers through his short black hair, holding him to her. Being with him was right. She knew that as she’d known he was the male for her.

  Her cyborg lifted her, stripped off her flight suit, leaving her naked except for the boots on her feet. He then yanked the body armor off his own form, rougher with himself than he was with her.

  Her skin connected with his and she moaned. He was perfect, didn’t have a scar or blemish on him, his muscles defined, his fit physique smooth, devoid of hair.

  The bulge in his body armor hadn’t been deceiving. He was long and thick, as rigidly straight as his personality.

  She undulated against him, sliding her intimate lips over his shaft, coating him with her wetness. He mouthed along her chest, collarbone, and neck, spreading his nanocybotics. The bubbling was exhilarating.

  They fucked without penetrating, teasing each other. She explored his body with her pussy, her fingers, her lips. Her cyborg tasted like metal and male, an addictive combination.

  His responses to her touch riveted her. She licked his pecs and he shuddered. Dragging her fingertips over his abs caused them to ripple.

  His countenance grew starker with each caress. She reached between them and circled the tip of his cock.

  Another human female might have hugged him but no one would ever handle him like she did. She would
shut down his processors, make him holler with satisfaction. That was her mission.

  She moved up and down, enveloping his shaft with her pussy folds, tapping his cock head with her fingertips. His jaw clenched. A bead of pre-cum formed on his slit.

  She swept her thumbs over him. Stars. She quivered. He bubbled there too.

  “I need you inside me.” She had to experience all of him.

  He cupped her ass, raised her until her entrance was aligned with his tip. “You belong to me.” He drove her down on him.

  She squeaked, her body stretched to its limits. One moment she was empty. The next moment she was stuffed with hard cock.

  “Did I damage you, female?” Her cyborg became still.

  “I’ll recover.” She forced a smile. “Give me a moment to adjust to you.”

  “I will wait as long as you require me to wait.” He rested his big palms on her thighs.

  She found his patience a bit unsettling. Most males were in a hurry to come. “Do you never lose control?”

  “If a cyborg loses control, he dies.” His voice was flat. “And…” He lowered his gaze.

  “And?” She searched his face, looking for that second reason.

  His expression was devoid of all emotion. There was no sign of desire, of frustration, of need.

  “And you don’t want me. Not truly.” Her stomach twisted. That was the truth he couldn’t say to her. “Your cock is hard but that means nothing. You’re a cyborg. You’re programmed to respond this way to every female. The female who hugged you made you react. I—”

  He placed one of his index fingers over her lips. She stopped talking.

  “I want to please you.” He stroked her bottom lip back and forth, back and forth. “That’s why I’ve maintained control.”

  “Oh.” She stared at him, not expecting that answer. “Then you don’t respond to every female this way?”

  “I’ve never responded to any female this way.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “You aren’t replaceable, Vicuska. It defies logic that you would process yourself to be that way. You’re the most gorgeous being in the universe.”

  The solemn way he said that made her smile. “You haven’t seen every being in the universe.”