by Cynthia Sax
It was no longer his most coveted possession. His female had given him her trust, her companionship, her caring. He treasured those above all else.
Conscious of that honor, he checked his female’s guns one more time, ensuring they were fully functional, fine-tuning the sights. “They’re set on shoot.” He handed them to her, his fingers brushing over hers.
“I’ll try not to shoot you in the ass.” She grinned and placed the weapons in her pockets. “I’ll only use them if Nora’s guns fail.”
“They won’t fail.” But he wouldn’t take any risks. “Nora, perform a diagnostic on the weapons systems.”
“The weapons are operating at optimal efficiencies, machine.” The artificial voice informed him.
“We’ve discussed this, Nora.” His female waved her hands at the console. “Arsenal is a cyborg, not a machine.”
“The machine does not object.” Nora snapped her words. The guidance system was more temperamental than most organic beings.
“I’ve been called worse things.” He shrugged, not caring how he was addressed.
“Worse things?” Nora’s volume increased. “Machines are the best designed entities in existence. They have no equal.”
“Oh.” Vicuska blinked. “You were complimenting him.”
“The machine’s superior programming compensates for his woefully lacking organic side.” The guidance system huffed. If it had a nose, it would be pointed in the air. “I deemed it worthy of the address.”
He was deemed worthy by both his female and the guidance system. Arsenal stood straighter. “Thank you, Nora.”
“I like Arsenal’s organic side.” Vicuska hung the voice changer around her neck. “I don’t find it lacking at all.” Her gaze lowered to his groin.
His cock, hard as it always was around her, bobbed.
“You are human.” The guidance system said that as though it were a bad thing.
Arsenal no longer believed it was. He’d gained an appreciation for his female’s soft form, her unique way of processing the universe.
She was his. He inhaled deeply. His scent clung to her. Any cyborg they encountered would smell his nanocybotics, know she belonged to him.
Humans and humanoids didn’t have enhanced senses. They wouldn’t realize she was his female.
Unless she was decorated with something of his.
Everything he owned was standard. The weapons he carried and body armor he wore had been allocated to every cyborg by the Humanoid Alliance. The only unique item he possessed was…
The dagger Zip and his female had given him.
He curled his fingers around its engraved handle. Since he had received the blade it never left his side.
It was his most valued weapon. He unfastened its sheath. It belonged with his most cherished being.
He kneeled before his female. Her scent intensified. His cock strained against its confines, his body reacting to hers.
He ignored his inappropriate arousal, strapped the sheath around her right thigh. The silver handle gleamed against her dark flight suit. It would draw gazes.
They would know she belonged to a male who cared for her.
He stood, pride filling his chest. She extracted the dagger, examining it.
“It’s beautiful,” she murmured, her eyes shining.
“It suits you.” His voice was gruff with emotion.
“I’ll treasure it forever.” His female slid the blade back into its sheath. “Arsenal?” Her gaze met his.
There was fear in her pretty green eyes and that tore at him. He held out his arms. She made a hurting sound and hurled herself at him. He folded his body around hers, seeking to comfort his female.
“You won’t die.” He wouldn’t allow that.
“You won’t die either.” Her voice was muffled. “Living without you scares me more than anything.” She rested her cheek against his body armor-covered chest. “Missions were easier before I met you. Damn it.” Her laughter was shaky. “I had no one else to worry about, no wonderful future I might be forgoing.”
He understood, had approached his past assignments with the same emotional lightness, the same lack of regret.
“We won’t die.” He added his lifespan to the list.
“A human, a machine and a Humanoid Alliance male walked into a beverage outlet station—”
“Not now, Nora.” Vicuska stopped the certain-to-be-terrible joke.
The guidance system grumbled.
“We won’t die.” His female tilted her head back and looked up at him, her brave smile twisting his insides. “The Humanoid Alliance has been trying to kill us for most of our lifespans. They were unsuccessful then and they will be unsuccessful now.”
The Humanoid Alliance would be unsuccessful. He pushed a stray curl behind her left ear.
“This might be an impossible mission but both of us have achieved the impossible in the past.” His female rallied herself and him. “You escaped their control. I retrieved the schematics. That’s heroic shit right there.”
It was shit. That was true.
“We’ll do this.” She nodded. “We’ll blow up the World-ender, fly to Earth Minor, fuck amidst its colorful vegetation and create little cyborgs.”
“Yes.” He cupped her chin, lifting it. “We’ll complete our mission and then fabricate offspring.”
He captured her lips, tasting her sweetness and his nanocybotics. That transferred part of him would ensure she never aged. And they’d face no threats once they reached Earth Minor. His cyborg brethren would prevent any enemies from reaching the sanctuary.
All they had to do was survive their mission.
His female curled her tongue around his and gripped his shoulders with white-knuckled fingers, as though she were seeking to hold onto him, to delay the inevitable. She teetered on her tiptoes. He steadied her, placing his hands on her hips.
They kissed, meshing, becoming one.
Arsenal lost himself in her for two, three, four heartbeats. There was nothing else, only his female for him.
His soul brimmed with happiness.
Chapter Four
Arsenal’s kiss was intense, all engulfing. It felt like good-bye.
Vicuska would ensure their parting was merely temporary. She stepped backward, glanced at the main viewscreen. The World-ender dominated the image, vivid against the backdrop of stars.
“We should take our positions.” The Humanoid Alliance could scan their shuttle craft at any time.
Her cyborg would retreat to the cargo bay. She would remain on the bridge.
They had to part.
After the mass cyborg rebellion, no Humanoid Alliance captain would allow a cyborg near his ship’s controls. She wouldn’t be able to explain his presence.
“Keep your communications with the Humanoid Alliance brief.” Arsenal squeezed her hands and released them.
“That will be a challenge.” She chattered when she was nervous. “But I’ll do it.”
She had to do it. Their lives were at stake.
“I’m linked remotely to the shuttle craft’s systems.” He reminded her. It had taken planet rotations to convince Nora to allow that. “I’ll return once the communications have ended.”
He’d be with her in all ways except physically.
She drew her shoulders back, that knowledge boosting her confidence. “I’ll try my best not to fuck this up.”
“You won’t fuck this up.” He brushed his lips against her forehead, that brief contact also refilling her emotional reservoir.
Then her cyborg was gone, moving faster through the shuttle craft than her gaze could follow. The bridge felt empty without him.
She touched the handle of the dagger he’d given her. “It’s just you and me now, Nora.” She claimed the captain’s chair.
“The machine is listening, Captain.” The guidance system pointed that out to her.
“I authorized that listening.” Vicuska looked over her controls. “Don’t disrupt it.”
“What do you give a World-ender for its manufacturing planet rotation celebration?” Nora defaulted to a joke.
“I don’t know, Nora.” She played along. “What do you give a World-ender for its manufacturing planet rotation celebration?”
“Some space.”
Vicuska forced a laugh. “That’s the last joke until our mission is over, Nora.” She was too worried to appreciate humor. “We have to focus on our tasks.”
“Understood, Captain.” The guidance system went silent.
Vicuska waited for the Humanoid Alliance to contact them, growing more nervous with every passing moment. Would the enemy forego communications, immediately shoot the shuttle craft out of space?
Every heartbeat could be her last, could be Arsenal’s last. She didn’t have the power to protect him and that irked her.
“We are being hailed, Captain.” Nora informed her.
“Answer the hail.” She straightened in her seat.
“This is World-ender 3.” A male announced. “Identify yourself and state your purpose.”
“This is Captain Hamis.” She recited the name her Rebel superiors had given her. “I have a delivery of supplies.” She read off the seventy-two digit delivery code.
There was a stomach-twisting pause. Was the information valid? Her superiors hadn’t relayed their source.
“Authorization code verified.” The Humanoid Alliance male confirmed the information. “Your delivery is two planet rotations ahead of schedule, Captain Hamis.”
Deviating from the schedule was risky but it was necessary. She and her fellow Rebels had to attack all twelve World-enders at the same time. They couldn’t give the Humanoid Alliance the opportunity to organize and defend any of the massive weapons.
“Supply lines are being severed, World-ender 3.” She utilized that excuse for the change. “The choice was arriving early or perhaps not at all.”
“You made the right choice, Captain.” The male sighed. “We lost a supply shuttle craft four planet rotations ago.”
“Shit.” She gave the expected response while silently cheering. Some of her associates must have downed the shuttle craft.
“Indeed.” The Humanoid Alliance male muttered. “We have detected a cyborg in your cargo hold.” His tone returned to being clipped and curt. “Cyborgs are now deemed to be hostile.”
She was hostile. “It is being stripped for parts.” She cringed as she said that, knowing Arsenal was listening. “Keeping it functional allows me to see which parts are still working.”
There was a long pause. “We did that with ours also.” The bastard casually confessed to brutally killing some of her cyborg’s brethren. “Keep it on board your vessel.”
“It isn’t going anywhere.” She lied. Arsenal would kill them all.
“You’re authorized to land in Docking Bay 1, Captain Hamis.” The Humanoid Alliance male ended the transmission.
“Nora, verify communications are closed.” She didn’t want the enemy to listen to their private conversations.
“Communications are closed, Captain.” Her guidance system confirmed the action. “The machine is still listening.”
She removed the voice changer. “That is authorized.”
She feigned their approach, slowing the shuttle craft’s velocity as it neared the World-ender. The targeted panel, their entry point, was situated past docking bay 1.
Her nipples tightened. Her pussy grew wet.
Her cyborg had returned to the bridge.
“I’m sorry about your brethren.” Rebel losses hit her hard and those beings were often complete strangers.
Cyborgs shared information. Arsenal would have heard transmissions from the warriors, would have known of them, perhaps communicated with the males.
He squeezed her shoulder, silently acknowledging her words. “They’ll shoot at us as soon as we pass Docking Bay 1.” He sat in the chair next to hers.
She understood why he changed the subject. Concentrating on his assignment was her cyborg’s coping mechanism, his way of dealing with the pain.
“I’ll accelerate at that point.” She would fly while her cyborg operated the guns.
Her lips curled upward. No one could match her in space. She’d completed maneuvers with standard shuttle crafts that had made beings gape in awe.
The vessel she was flying was modified. It was faster, could stop on the head of a fastener. She’d tested it before she met with Arsenal.
That seemed like a lifespan ago. Her entire world had changed since then.
Her cyborg was a part of her now. She couldn’t imagine not being with him.
“Our route to our destination is not optimal, Captain.” Nora pointed that out.
“We discussed this, Nora.” They’d deceive the Humanoid Alliance as long as possible. “That route is authorized.”
Whirs and beeps originated from the console, the guidance system grumbling.
“Put this mission in peril, Nora, and I’ll reprogram you myself.” Arsenal issued that threat.
The sounds stopped.
“If Nora puts this mission in peril, she puts herself in peril.” Vicuska shook her head. “Her programming is too sophisticated to allow that to happen.”
She hoped that was the truth. Her cyborg had found a few bugs in the guidance system’s code. Nora wasn’t without her faults.
None of them were perfect. Vicuska flew the shuttle craft along the World-ender. Guns were mounted on the superweapon. Their muzzles pointed downward.
That changed as soon as they passed Docking Bay 1. The guns swiveled, aiming toward them.
“We’re being hailed, Captain.” Her guidance system informed her.
“Do not answer that hail, Nora.” She accelerated, pushing the shuttle craft to its top speed, veering it closer to the superweapon. That might hamper the Humanoid Alliance’s defenses, make it more difficult to lock on them.
It didn’t stop the enemy from trying to blow them up. Lights on the console flashed.
“Incoming missiles.” Nora’s robotic voice was flat.
Vicuska shifted the shuttle craft to the left and to the right. Missiles blasted the side panels of the World-ender. They exploded close to her vessel, too close for her comfort.
“Cyborg?” The muscles across her shoulders tightened.
“I see them.” His handsome face was as expressionless as it always was. He coolly, calmly shot at the guns as she dodged the return fire.
Sweat dripped between her breasts. Missiles zinged around them. It took all of her skill and a bit of luck to avoid them.
Her good fortune ran out. A missile clipped a wing. They spun, rotating faster and faster. The contents of her stomach rose.
“We lost a thruster, Captain.” Their guidance system relayed.
“Fuck.” She fought to bring the shuttle craft under control, her fingertips whitening against her viewscreen. “Compensate for the damage, Nora.”
“Compensating, Captain.”
The spinning slowed. It took effort and skill but Vicuska straightened the vessel’s path, flying it toward the hidden docking bay.
Arsenal didn’t deviate from his assigned duty, his faith in her abilities unspoken yet felt. He continued to target the big guns.
One by one, the Humanoid Alliance’s weapons exploded.
She avoided the large pieces of debris. Smaller particles pinged against the shuttle craft’s exterior. The ship’s remaining thrusters strained under the extra burden.
“We have mere moments before the Humanoid Alliance targets us with their ships.” Her cyborg warned her.
“We’ll be inside the World-ender before that happens.” She made that her goal.
It might not be achievable. The loss of the thruster was slowing them.
Her fingers ached. All of her strength was required to keep them on
their route. Her flight suit dampened with perspiration.
Arsenal, in contrast, showed no signs of stress. Her warrior was manufactured for these sorts of missions.
His stoic, steady demeanor comforted her.
“We are approaching our destination.” Nora finally made the desired announcement.
“Thank the stars.” The space around them remained clear of other ships. The Humanoid Alliance hadn’t yet sent vessels after them. “We’re leaving the safety of the sides and lowering our speed.”
She had to orient the shuttle craft toward the hidden docking bay to enter it. That would put them at greater risk.
“I’ll eliminate the guns.” As Arsenal said that, he destroyed the closest one.
There was only one additional gun, positioned at the other side, three panels away. She might be able to avoid its missiles.
The Humanoid Alliance hadn’t installed extra defenses over that stretch of exterior. They must not have wanted to raise suspicion, to draw attention to the area.
That error would benefit her and her cyborg. She flew the shuttle craft in a loop. A missile skimmed the underbody of the ship, shaking it.
The remaining Humanoid Alliance gun in the area exploded.
“Great shooting.” She wouldn’t have been able to hit that target, not at that distance and angle.
Her cyborg grunted.
“Care to open the doors for us?” She slowed the shuttle craft.
He blasted the World-ender with a missile. It bounced off a square etched in the metal. The side panel split in two, opening as a normal docking bay would.
It was a damn clever design, the entrance concealed until it was necessary to reveal it. She guided the shuttle craft into the space, landed, cut the engines. The doors closed behind them.
She had no idea how to open them again. They might have to shoot their way out of the superweapon.
“That was the easy part.” She summoned a smile, her arms and legs trembling.
The Humanoid Alliance continued to hail them. They would send males after them soon.
The enemy would arrive at the docking bay. The shuttle craft was a stationary target.
Enclosed in a chamber.
She peered at the main viewscreen. It displayed a solid gray wall. There was no entrance to the interior of the World-ender.
