Ecstasy of Gold - Ch. 18

Jessie was looking for Tasha to try to help her. Still, on top of it, he had to find replacements for all the soldiers that died. He had put out an advertisement on a mercenary site for the colony. He was sure he’d get enough soldiers to replace the almost two dozen that had been killed or permanently disabled. He hated doing it, mostly because it was what his wife use to do.

Talia was a perfect judge of character. She would be able to tell if a soldier was going to obey Jessie’s strict rules of conduct. Jessie wasn’t going to go raider and have his crew murdering and raping through the crews of other ships. It would buy the Ecstasy of Gold some sympathy if military ships ever came knocking. Talia was the grease that kept the ship rolling smoothly. Jessie knew she’d say he was doing an admirable job keeping the ship going, but Jessie knew the truth. It was really only a matter of time before the ship fell apart.

As he walked around the entire ship looking for Tasha, his communicator rang. He knew it couldn’t be any soldiers calling in, mostly because he didn’t put his number up on the site. He looked to see what the number was, not recognizing it. He spun his communicator open and answered it.

“Captain Jessie Jack here. Who’s this?” He said sharply and to the point.

“Hello, Captain. This is Kristin Nightingale.” A seductive woman’s voice came over the line. At first, he thought it was Zen playing a trick on him, but he decided to play along with it. “I’ve heard about the various scientific discoveries your ship has made over the past few months, discovering one of the largest hypergiant stars on record, the hyperspace demon you encountered, and this recent encounter with this shadow demon, and I have to say, I’m impressed.”

“If you’re another one of those military researchers calling about the Shadow Demon, I told you before, I don’t know a damn thing about it!” He snapped. “My daughter came close to being RAPED because of that thing! If I knew of a way to kill it, don’t you think I would TELL YOU?”

“I’m sorry, sir…but that’s not what this call is about.” Jessie breathed a sigh of relief. He knew everyone that came within ten feet of the demon or Paul were lucky to not have been ‘disappeared’ to a secret colony and examined from head to toe, inside and out. “I wish to join your crew because your ship in particular seems to always be on the cusp of scientific knowledge.”

“We’re not looking for any more scientists right now, Miss Nightingale…” Jessie rubbed his eyes. He was getting tired of all the science types on his ship already. Karen was enough of a pain in his ass as it was. If he had another colossal pain in the ass haunting his ship all the time, he didn’t know what he should do.

“I know you aren’t looking for one, but it sounds like you aren’t familiar with my work.” Kristin said calmly. “I’m Kristin Nightingale, one of the universe’s top experts in Origin tech, and I’m lucky. Incredibly lucky and incredibly rich. Take me onboard your ship and I’ll make it worth your while.”

“What do you mean ‘worth my while’?” Jessie just had to ask. Kristin just laughed.

“Don’t get excited, Captain. I’m as wealthy as I am lucky. I can pay rent, and I’d be willing to help upgrade your ship’s sensors and anything else, and any further Origin technology I find will be at your disposal.”

“Damn it…” Jessie groaned. “Alright, you can come, but I set the rent.”

“No problem, I’ll be on your ship within six hours. Over and out.”

“Right…” Jessie groaned, closing his communicator. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. His only hope for staying sane for the next twenty-four hours was that everything with the new soldiers went smoothly.


Eliza was standing in front of a military tribunal. She was out of her armor, wearing military fatigues instead. They were dark green instead of camouflage, the only uniforms Enhance Marines had that weren’t for combat duty. All of the wounds Paul inflicted on her had healed, leaving large horrible scars across her entire body. Disconcertingly, she had to wear her belt slightly out because of her pregnancy. She didn’t know much about being pregnant, but it was moving faster than it should.

She knew they all knew what happened to her. The mind control, the rape, everything, but she didn’t care. Pain of any kind meant nothing to Enhance Marines after their training.

Of the whole thing, Eliza’s only regret was that her love Sarah was no longer the last person she had sex with. She missed Sarah with every bit of her heart. She hated herself for failing to protect her. She should have known she couldn’t protect her from the blast and the shockwave.

Eliza took a deep breath, swallowing air briefly. There was a telepath at the end of the row of generals at the tribune table. He was individualized by his black uniform. She knew he was scanning her, possibly hearing his thoughts. She looked straight ahead at the tribune, not taking her eyes off them.

“Unfortunately, as my report said, General…” She took a deep breath. “The telepath Paul Lamar caught me with my helmet off and penetrated deep into my mind and was able to control my every action.”

“Sergeant Otto, do you have any idea what Lamar was rated on the telepath scale?”

“No, sir.” Eliza said firmly, without flinching in the slightest. The general looked down at her information, reading every intimate detail about her.

“He was a Te-5, he would need direct line of sight to control you like that.” The general looked up at her. “And your training should have been MORE than sufficient to break his control.”

“Sir, his powers were greatly enhanced by the shadow demon, sir.” Eliza had to defend herself. The generals thought she was just making excuses for herself, but she was really just stating the truth. “Sir, I would estimate his new telepathic rating being near Te-20, as he was able to control not only me, but several others as well.”

Eliza wondered why the others weren’t on trial. She wasn’t the only one that wasn’t able to resist Paul’s control. Of course, she was the only Enhance Marine in the group. Enhance Marines were trained to resist all telepathic control, at least until they were rendered unconscious, then it wouldn’t do any good to control them anyway.

“How do you defend yourself against the fact that he could only control you so well is that he’s had previous intimate contact with you and your mind?” Eliza grit her teeth. “A fact that is backed up by you being several weeks pregnant with his child.”

“Sir, I have made my sexual orientation no secret. I proposed to my girlfriend of several years under the base’s flag, SIR.” Eliza said strongly. Her relationship with Sarah was common knowledge on the base. “Frankly, sir, I’m more than a little insulted by you implying I would CHEAT on my fiancé with a MAN.”

“I think that’s enough questions about Sergeant Otto’s personal life, General Gray…” One of the local Space Force’s Admirals growled at him. “I think a bigger concern is, after suffering such severe trauma, do you think you can effectively serve the military after what happened to you?”

Eliza sighed. She hated having her strength questioned. The crime scene photos were splashed up on screens behind the generals. It was the way she was found, raped, with parts of her armor cut away. It made her look weak to the generals, like a waste of money and time. They expected it to rattle her, make her fall apart.

“Forget the condition of her body and mind!” General Gray shouted. “The fact of the matter is her mind’s been BREACHED! Just for that she should be drummed out of the military! She shouldn’t even be in here! She could snap and kill us all before a guard could be…”

“GENERAL GRAY!” The admiral shouted again. “One more outburst and I will have you removed from this hall. Understood?” Admiral Mustang was one of Eliza’s few friends in the military. Eliza kept everyone else in the military at arm’s length, knowing she was in a high risk position and could be killed or her friends could be killed. “Otto…”

“Sir?” Eliza replied strongly.

“After suffering such severe trauma…” He said slowly to make sure Eliza knew it wasn’t an attack, “do you feel you could effectively serve the military?”

“Sir, I am not permanently injured or disabled in any way…”

“Miss Otto…” Mustang spoke slowly, “do you think you can still serve?”

Eliza looked down at her feet, taking a deep breath. She really thought about the whole situation and what happened to her. Being raped didn’t bother her, she was sure of it. All the anger she had about it was released when she snapped Paul’s neck. She had gone through far worse pain before. What did both her was the pregnancy. It felt like an invasion, like her body was building a bomb to kill her. Eliza never wanted to feel that, feel a foreign life growing inside of her.

“Yes.” Eliza said strongly. She was sure she could serve again.

“I believe you, Otto.” Mustang took the photos down behind him. “Unfortunately, you cannot serve while you are pregnant…”

“What!?” Eliza shouted slightly. “I’m still…”

“You have to keep the child in consideration. You don’t want to risk loosing it…” Eliza thought for a second. Did she want to loose it? She was ashamed of the thought the second she had it. It wasn’t the child’s fault how it was conceived. Still, she didn’t want it. She thought the growing intrusion into her body would slowly drive her mad. She didn’t know if she could take it. “Have you decided if you’re keeping it or…”

“I’m going to at least carry it to term…” Eliza made the snap decision. “I might put it up for adoption afterward…”

“Then…until you’ve given birth and had the appropriate recovery time, you’ll be removed from active duty.” Eliza panicked slightly. All she ever wanted to do was be in the military.

“But I can still…”

“It’s for the best, Otto.” Admiral Mustang stood up, calling the group to attention. “Sergeant Eliza Otto, it is my decision that you were under the involuntary and vicious control of a telepath and an extra terrestrial being. You will not be held responsible for your actions during this period of time.” Eliza had to restrain herself to keep from shouting her defense. She couldn’t stand to be out of commission for almost a year. It would drive her mad. “Upon your child’s birth, your physical and mental condition will be evaluated, and if all goes well, you will be assigned a new unit.”

“…Yes…yes, sir…” Eliza saluted them and waited to be dismissed. Once she was, she left the room, going back to her apartment as fast as she could. She closed the door, doing her best not to slam it. If she slammed it, it’d shatter the door and rip out the doorframe. She collapsed into a pile, crying. She had literally lost everything now, not able to serve in the military was going to drive her insane.

She hated herself more for crying. Showing any weakness was beaten out of her in her training. She was ashamed of it, and ashamed of the thoughts that followed. Eliza grabbed her head, trying to force out the thought of terminating the pregnancy. She couldn’t accept the thought in her mind at all. She was going to protect whatever life she could. She had to distract herself with anything, remembering what happened to Tasha. She remembered a patch on her jumpsuit that Jessie had on his coat.

“Computer…Search the docked ships for one named…” she paused for a second, trying to recall the name, “Ecstasy of Gold.”

Eliza never drank, though she was tempted to now. She wasn’t even thinking about her child. She just wanted a relief from the blur of confusion in her mind. Still, there had to be much healthier solutions. She took off her shirt, plopping into a chair while the computer worked.

“Ship found: Ecstasy of Gold. Registered Pirate Guild vessel. No outstanding warrants for attacks on any military vessel.” The computer stopped for a moment, searching for more information. “Currently, they have an active ad for any soldiers willing to join the crew. The pay is a percentage of the take, and room and board will be provided.”

“Soldiers?” Eliza looked at the information. She liked the ship. The Ecstasy of Gold had no serious crimes attributed to it. She felt she could serve it well without breaching her service to the military. “Is there a contact number?”

“Yes, dialing…”

“Transfer it to my communicator.” Eliza flipped open her communicator, waiting for everything to go through. It rang and rang. Finally, it was answered. “Captain Jack?”

“Yes, are you a soldier applying for the position available?” Jessie paused for a second. “Because we’ve filled the position with two-dozen Zieke soldiers…”

“With all due respect, sir, I can’t imagine any of those soldiers would be my equal.” Eliza didn’t like boasting, but she knew it was true. Unless the soldiers were Enhance Marines, they wouldn’t even be on par with her. Even then, she thought she could out do most of them. “Let me explain…Sir, my name’s Eliza Otto, an Enhance Marine. I believe we already met earlier…when I was in the hospital and under Paul’s control…”

Jessie was eerily silent. Eliza knew why. Paul had a long reach, damaging many lives. She thought she’d give him time to get through everything, but after a few seconds of silence over the line, she couldn’t take it anymore.

“Captain?” Jessie cleared his throat. “I assure you that I regret absolutely everything he made me do under his control…and I…”

“I know, you didn’t do any of it willingly…” Jessie sighed. He knew how badly she hurt Zen and him. He didn’t know if he could get past it. “I don’t know if I can trust you. I mean, Enhance Marines are hardcore military. You wouldn’t just ditch…”

“I’m not ‘ditching’ the Corps, sir…” Eliza rubbed her eyes. She didn’t want to admit it. “Because of what happened to me, the mind control, the rape…and the pregnancy, they’ll never let me back into the corps…But I’ve been bred to fight now. You don’t understand what it’s like…” Eliza didn’t want to tell Jessie the truth, but she had no choice. “I’m not a transfer…I’m a recruit…I was recruited at a young age…because I was orphaned in a car wreck. They adopted me and trained me from age eight…You don’t understand what it’s like…all I’ve had my entire life is the Corps, and if I can’t serve it, then I’m going to do the closest thing possible.”

“Alright,” Jessie groaned slightly, “we can use an Enhance Marine. Bring your armor and weapons and we’ll set you up here. We’ll have someone at the space port for you at…” Jessie checked his watch. “…Twenty-one-hundred hours.”

“Very well, I’ll be waiting for you there.” Eliza closed the communicator, getting up out of her chair. She looked around her apartment, trying to decide what she wanted to take. She didn’t have much, deciding just to take things that reminded her of her Sarah.

It was simple, just photos. That was all she needed. All the furniture was government issue, so she couldn’t take it with her anyway. She put on her medium set of armor she stored at her apartment. It was a geometrical armor, like her scout armor, but offering much more protection. She grabbed her clothes, jamming them into a duffle bag. She had nothing fancy, just military fatigues, jeans, t-shirts, and khaki pants. All her clothes fit into two duffle bags. She didn’t have to be careful with any of it.

Eliza looked around her apartment. There was nothing left she wanted to take with her. She had a few hours to kill still, plopping back down onto her chair. Unfortunately, it broke under the weight of her and her armor. She raged, getting to her feet and kicking the chair across the room. She should have known the chair wouldn’t support her weight. She had never felt so awkward in her body before. She took her helmet off, throwing it against the wall.


Ariis fell asleep after ravaging Constance, keeping her close with her arms. Constance couldn’t take her holding her right now. Not after what she made her do. She could never forgive her for making her service her in front of Tasha. She could forgive her forcing the drug on her, just jamming the needle into her neck. She could forgive the metal collars and cuffs all chained together to keep her immobile. She could even forgive her forcing herself on her, even if many on the ship would consider it rape. But, she could never forgive Ariis for letting Tasha see her like that.

Constance managed to slide out of Ariis’ trapping arms without waking her up. Constance stood over Ariis, looking at her with a loathing she was unfamiliar with. She couldn’t let it go, her mind replaying the scene over and over in her head. She could see the horrified look on Tasha’s face. She had rarely felt so humiliated before in her life.

Still, she knew she could do nothing against Ariis. She couldn’t hurt her. Anything she tried would just make Ariis respond in kind. Then, she remembered the gun Keil gave her. She shook her head, throwing her long hair around. She wasn’t going to be a murderer. She went back to her own personal room, collapsing on her bed. She still had her shackles on with no way to get them off. She hated sleeping on her stomach, but she had to. Her arms were slowly going numb.

She started crying herself to sleep, trying to think of anything that would make her feel better. Thoughts of Tasha just haunted her with the day’s events. She started thinking about Hunter instead, but something new haunted her. She could remember things about every person she had ever had sex with. It was a side-effect of her telepathy. Like it or not, she could remember intimate details about Jeremiah and her regular clients. She was haunted by Jeremiah’s love to torture and torment her. She hated feeling his own love to rape her.

Constance had to focus on Hunter, knowing if she just let everyone’s emotions bleed into her, she was going to be a weeping heap for god knows how long. She was worried as she searched herself. She couldn’t find any of Hunter in any part of her. She panicked, searching and searching.

“Oh no…” Constance cried, burying her face in her pillow. She couldn’t find a trace of Hunter in her mind, and that could only mean one thing. Hunter’s mind wasn’t active at all when he made love to her, which meant a horrible fact that she knew was true all along. She tried to deny it and ignore it, but she couldn’t now. “No, no, no…”


Zen tracked down Suzuna on her ship and was teaching her the same lesson she always had to. She turned Suzuna’s quarters upside-down, found her stashes of drugs, condoms, and birth control pills. The only good thing about the situation was Suzuna never moved them. Suzuna yelled and fought, but she didn’t do anything that would physically hurt Zen.

“Damn it!” Suzuna tried pulling Zen away from the airlock, but Zen was stronger than her. Zen dragged her kicking and screaming down the hall. “You told me you use to get high!”

“Suzuna,” Zen growled, holding up her stash, “I said I use to smoke pot every once and a while! This isn’t just pot!” She pitched the first bag into the airlock. “This is ecstasy!” She pitched another bag, hearing it crack. She was glad that no matter what, she wasn’t getting that drug back. “Black! That stuff could FUCKIN’ KILL YOU!”

“…You don’t understand…” Suzuna cried. “It…it makes me feel like I can see my mom again…”

“That’s because it’s KILLING YOU.” Zen shouted, throwing in all the rest of it. “I miss your mother too…You have no idea…”

Zen could remember comforting Suzuna’s mother, Hoshi. One day, she snuck a kiss and a loving embrace, and Hoshi kissed her back. She felt like she seduced Hoshi at first, but Hoshi told her she didn’t need much convincing. Even when her husband was around, he beat her and cheated on her. Soon, Hoshi was even more passionate than Zen was. Zen had sweet memories of them making love until the day Hoshi was killed.

“You shouldn’t…” Zen hid a tear. “You shouldn’t risk killing yourself to see your mother again…I’m here, we can talk about her.” Zen put her hand on Suzuna’s shoulder, but Suzuna ripped her shoulder away from Zen’s bitter touch. “Look, I…”

“You’re NOT my mom! Do you understand that!?” Suzuna yelled at her. “You’re not even a fuckin’ REPLACEMENT mom! You’re not going to just…”

“BITCH!” Tasha rushed onto the scene, catching Suzuna in the face with a hard right. Zen didn’t know what to do, wanting to hit Suzuna herself. Tasha’s punch caught Suzuna completely off guard, knocking her to the ground with a loud thump that shook the deck. Everyone around her understood what it meant to ‘go down like a sack of potatoes’ now. Tasha kicked her while she was down. “You god dam bitch!”

“Tea!” Zen grabbed her, pulling her back. She could barely keep a grip on Tasha. Tasha struggled to get free, kicking at Suzuna.

“What the hell!?”

“You weren’t happy with trying to rape me, so you had to rape Constance!” Zen was stunned, giving Tasha enough freedom to get free. She got a sharp blow to Suzuna’s nose, breaking it with a sickening sound. “Who else have you RAPED, Suzie!? Who else is crying themselves to sleep because you…”

“I didn’t rape that slut!” Tasha gave her another sharp punch, knowing she gave her a black eye now. “GAH! Let me talk!”

“Okay…” Tasha growled. “You have five seconds before I get even for both Connie and me…”

Tasha was deceptively strong. She was an engineer, after all. No one could be an engineer and be overweight, having to stay in shape to respond to emergencies across the ship. Tasha was stronger than anyone would guess, but Suzuna was learning that first hand.

“Constance…” Suzuna was quick enough to realize referring to Constance as a slut was a death sentence. “…came to my quarters. She asked Glycon and me to be clients and pay her for the fuck…and since you turned us down…” Tasha’s fists trembled. Suzuna could see blood dripping between her fingers from her nails digging into her palm. “And we gave her extra! We really did, she was that good! And my god…it was worth every penny…Her skin tasted like peaches, her lips like cherries, and her c…”

“Shut up!” Tasha punched her again, knocking two teeth out of her head. Suzuna was just barely conscious as Tasha stood over. “Tell me whatever bullshit you want. Fine! But that was for me…” She turned to face Zen. “Throw me in your brig if you want, but she deserved EVERY bit of it!”

“…Yeah, she did…” Zen shrugged, letting Tasha go. She couldn’t stop her if she wanted anyway. To add insult to injury, she closed the airlock and spaced her drugs.

“Aren’t you going to do anything about her KICKING MY ASS!?” Suzuna screamed.

“Nope…or…or yeah, whichever one means I’m not stopping her.” Zen knelt down next to her, picking her teeth up off the floor. “I’m going to take you to Bones to get you patched up, and PRAY TO GOD you finally learn that actions have consequences!” Zen jerked on Suzuna’s arm, causing her to stumble. “Oh, and tell Glycon that if I find out he’s seeing you again, I’ll make what Tasha did to you look like you were in a pillow fight compared to him.”

“But…”

“I mean it this time, Suzie. If I see him within ten feet of you, I’m putting him in traction!” Zen snarled. “He brings out the very worst in you, and I’m not going to put up with it anymore!”

“You’re NOT my…”

“I KNOW I’M NOT YOUR MOM!” Zen bellowed as she shoved her along. “But she would want me to take care of you, and I’m doing the best I can. So, you can either try to cooperate, or I’ll keep you in the brig until you’re twenty-five!”

“Alright…” Suzuna groaned, going along with her to the med bay on the ship. She decided to play along, pretend like she wasn’t going to see Glycon anymore. She wouldn’t obey that of course. She still didn’t care what Zen told her to do, she wasn’t about to be controlled.


Ariis was tossing and turning as she tried to sleep on the couch. It wasn’t the couch that was making it hard to sleep. Ariis was more than comfortable on it. She heard an inaudible hiss and rumble of words coming from all around her. She tried to ignore it and kept sleeping. Slowly, ever so gradually, the murmur became more comfortable for her, but was still an annoyance.


Geoff went down to the planet to get Eliza without complaint. He didn’t have any problems finding her, spotting the eight-foot-tall woman clad in armor sitting around the space port. He helped Eliza with her bags, though she could obviously handle them. Eliza rolled her eyes when Geoff wasn’t looking, knowing she was doing it to flirt with her.

The shuttle ride up to the Ecstasy of Gold was quick. Geoff was still helping Eliza with her duffle bags, hitting on her in a stream she ignored. She noticed a shuttle that didn’t have the ship’s distinctive markings on the hull. She stared at it slightly as she walked down the ramp.

“Where’s your captain? I assumed he’d want to brief me on your ship’s mission.”

“Well,” Geoff shrugged, “…a lot has happened in the last forty-eight hours…” He shifted the bags in his arms. “Plus, we’re a lot less formal than a military ship. We’ll find you a room and…”

The shuttle was Kristin Nightingale’s shuttle. Jessie didn’t expect her to have her own shuttle, no one did. Both Geoff and Eliza were staring at it now, watching as stairs descended from the shuttle. They saw a shapely form walking down the stairs. They watched as a shapely form swaggered its way down the stairs towards them.

“Wow…” Geoff whispered slightly in a hush. Kristin was a buxom goddess wearing an incredible black business suit and tie. Her curvaceous figure was hugged by a black underbust corset she wore over her pure white dress shirt. Both Geoff and Eliza thought her body was perfect, not understanding why she wore the corset. She had flowing black raven hair that went down over her black suit coat. She had an extra couple of inches on her height because of tall stiletto heals that clicked against the ground as she walked.

“Hello.” Kristin said warmly to Geoff and Eliza. Eliza saw her gorgeous blue eyes and felt like she could get lost in them. Kristin smiled and winked at her when she noticed she was staring slightly. “I’m Kristin Nightingale, the new scientist who signed onto your ship. How do you handle quarters? Is there rent? And do I have to talk to someone to get quarters?”

“Don’t look at me, I just got here myself.” Eliza said with a shrug.

“Well,” Geoff stepped up, “there’s no rent for standard sizes. If you want bigger, you’ll have to talk to the captain and arrange a rent. For quarter assignment, it’s kind of whichever are open. There’s a girl…Sally’s her name…Captain assigned her to keep track of that sort of thing.” Geoff looked between Eliza and Kristin. “For now, we have guest rooms you both can stay in until we get you both permanent quarters.”

“Guest quarters?” Kristin stopped in her tracks. “This involves a cot, doesn’t it?”

“Well, yeah…” Geoff turned around and saw Kristin heading back to her shuttle. “It’s not that bad! They’ve got really thick comforters, and it’d only be a day.”

“I hate to sound conceited,” Kristin said with a flick of her hair, “but I haven’t survived the shit I have to sleep on a shitty cot.” She turned to Eliza. Eliza’s eyes shot back up to meet Kristin’s. She was slightly ashamed that she was staring at her shapely, nylon-caressed legs. “Marine, you said you were new here, too. I have a big shuttle and a spare bed, there’s plenty of room for both of us. Interested?”

Eliza weighed her options carefully. Crappy, dirty guest quarters alone or luxurious quarters with the beautiful Kristen. Needless to say, it wasn’t a hard decision to make. “Sure. Just give me a second…” Kristen nodded and walked up the stairs into the shuttle. Eliza took her duffle bags from Geoff, who was shocked and smiling a little.

“Ladies, I do happen to have room for all three of us in my quarters.”

“Never going to happen…” Eliza growled slightly.

“Buy me dinner first, flyboy.” Kristen said before she tipped her hips and went into the shuttle.

“Lucky…So, so lucky…” Geoff stuttered. “Don’t worry, I don’t think she noticed you staring…She didn’t notice me and I was lucky I didn’t burn a hole through her ass…” Eliza shook her head. “Sorry about hitting on you. I didn’t know…Well, I assumed, and you know what that does.”

“Whatever…” Eliza said, shaking her head. Before she left for Kristin’s shuttle, she remembered the one thing she had to do. She pulled a note out and handed it to Geoff. “Give that to whoever runs the teleporter beam up any signal with this unique tag number.” Geoff opened the note and looked at it.

“Nineteen-one-seventeen-one-eight? Alright…” Eliza was glad the code wasn’t as transparent as she thought. Using Sarah’s name felt flimsy, but it was the only unique code she could think of. “What are we snatching up, just so I know what I’m an accomplice to?”

“Weapons, armor…stuff like that.” She started walking towards the shuttle. “Oh, and when you get my PA-22x, CALL ME. I love that thing and want it by my side constantly.”

“And a PA-22x is…” Geoff said with a roll of his head.

“Big plasma rifle, with a vibro-knife bayonet…Seriously, call me.” Eliza kept going. “By the way, if anything’s missing, I’ll find it, and whoever took it.”

“Got it.”

The inside of the shuttle was spacious and luxurious. Eliza felt instantly awkward, like she was just a walking hazard inside. The chairs were all covered in velvet and their cushions were overstuffed. The walls were all painted with a fine satin finish. It wasn’t so much a shuttle as it was a flying condominium. Eliza wondered who could afford all of it, but then she remembered her name.

“Kristin Nightingale…THE Kristin Nightingale…” She had heard news stories about Kristin, though none of the stories ever had photos of her. She was practically legendary for everything she had found or survived. Eliza looked and found Kristin sitting at a boudoir in her bedroom. Her coat was on a hook next to her, and she had her tie off. Her shirt was unbuttoned down to her corset, giving Eliza a teasing look at her ample bosom. “You’re THE Kristin Nightingale…”

“The one and only.” Kristin said with a smile as she brushed her hair. “You can call me Kristi if you want, sweetheart.”

“Well, Kristi…” Eliza leaned against the doorframe slightly, being careful not to break it. “I had seen stories about you…but no pictures…I never expected you to be so…breathtaking.”

“Why do you think I invited you here, Marine?”

“Otto. Eliza Otto.” Eliza said just to give Kristin her name. “And…to be honest, I don’t know. I’m not…assuming anything, though.”

“Good…” Kristin put her brush down. “You look like I do, some people start assuming you’re a whore. That you’ll put out because they offer you a drink or have a tight body themselves…I just have it and flaunt it.”

“I’ll say…” Eliza looked her over again. Kristin winked at her again when she noticed she was looking again.

“But I do have my reasons for inviting you…” Kristin’s voice changed to a pure-information tone. “Your scars are fresh, and you have a lot of them. That means you’ve gone through a lot of shit in the last few days.” Kristin stood up, swaggering over to her. “And, judging by your armor, which is cutting edge, you just recently left the military…I’m guessing injuries made you 4-F, ‘unable to serve’?”

“…Pregnancy…and…mind control.” Eliza pointed at her face. “He mind controlled me, cut me up pretty good…made me do it to myself, and…” Eliza sighed, and Kristin understood. She followed her with her eyes as she walked closer.

“Well, then you’ve definitely gone through enough shit the last few days than to have to stay…in what must be just god-awful guest quarters…” Kristin stood just in front of Eliza, with barely any space between them. Eliza stared down into her beautiful eyes. She was getting somewhat mixed signals from Kristin and didn’t want to rush anything. “There’s a spare bedroom the next level down. Feel free to stay here as long as you want, as long as you’re neat.”

“Alright…” Kristin reached up and brushed aside a lock of Eliza’s hair, brushing the side of Eliza’s face ever so gently. Kristin’s hand was pleasantly warm. She knew a smirk was on Kristin’s face because she saw a little tattoo she had behind her ear. It was small, purple interlinked female-symbols.

“…How did your girlfriend take all this?”

“…I haven’t had a girlfriend since my Sarah was murdered six months back…” Eliza took a deep, trembling breath. “I’ve been so alone since she was stolen from me…not really knowing what to do…” Kristin got up on her tip-toes to give her a quick peck on the lips. She brushed up against Eliza’s armor, making her wish she wasn’t wearing it, just so she could feel the warmth of Kristin’s body.

“Don’t worry, beautiful…You’re a sweet girl. I’m sure you’ll find someone else.” She noticed Eliza was still looking at her eyes and not her chest.

“…Have I found someone else?” Eliza had to ask. The reason she got the tattoo was to remove doubts from people’s minds. She hated having to find out by just bluntly asking like this.

“We’ll see…”


Yu’lena was sitting next to Hunter’s bed, content just to sit meditating. She hoped it wouldn’t take too long for Hunter to wake up. She hated wanting to leave, feeling selfish about it. Being by Hunter’s side should have been more important than anything else at the moment. She felt guilty for just leaving Sally back at the temple, but it was alright. She’d make it up to her later.

Yu’lena stayed by Hunter’s side despite the long hours. She started drifting asleep as she was meditating, giving her more shame than she wanted. Just a few years ago, she wouldn’t fall asleep while meditating. She didn’t stop to think her injuries were to blame, sapping her strength.

“NO!” She heard a voice scream in Rae, waking her from her light slumber. She looked around, trying to figure out where it came from. She heard a bloodcurdling scream looking around in a panic. She was about to call for someone when she heard talking again. “Why…are you doing this to me? How could you be so…heartless…”

“Gods…” Yu’lena sat down, realizing she was hearing Hunter’s dreams telepathically. She sat down next to him, praying to her gods for permission to go into Hunter’s dreams. She closed her eyes and proceeded, hoping Hunter would forgive the intrusion later.


Zech laid down on Kik’tik’s bed. The sheets were a fine silk that were perfectly smooth against his skin. The mattress seemed to adjust itself perfectly to him and was the most comfortable thing he had ever laid down on. He was uncomfortable laying on someone else’s bed, but he could get use to it.

“You sure Kik’tik said this was alright?” He shouted to Sala who was in another room changing. “Both of us taking her room so she could be alone in the med bay?”

“Yes, she said she thought you’d snore and didn’t want to deal with it.” Sala swaggered into the doorway. Zech sat up slightly the instant she entered his sight. She was wearing a deep purple transparent negligee. Zech drank in the view, looking over her perfect body. Her skin seemed impossibly smooth, like the silk that was against his skin now. “I’d be happy hearing you snore every night for the rest of my life…”

“Holy god in heaven, you’re an angel…” Sala smiled and blushed slightly. It was the first time in as long as she presented herself to a man and he didn’t call her a ‘karak’. She forgot how good it sounded to be complimented. She tried to swagger over to Zech quickly, losing it in the walk. Zech looked at her, afraid to mar her skin with his touch. “You’re too good for me, Sala…”

“Heh…” Sala chuckled slightly, cover her mouth with her finger. She only did because she had the same thoughts about him. She kissed him, putting her hands on his chest. “If you’ll have me, I’d…I’d gladly be…”

Zech didn’t wait for her to finish, kissing her back and drinking deeply from her lips. Sala moaned slightly as Zech caressed her entire body. She climbed on top of him in bed, giggling slightly as he slipped off her negligee.

Ecstasy of Gold - Ch. 17

Tasha didn’t get a moment’s peace on the way up to the Ecstasy of Gold. Jessie had to take endless calls on the way up, arrange crew returns, bounty pick-up, and what they were going to do with Hunter. Jessie’s first instinct was leave him, but he was too loyal to his crew to do that. Especially since he was so badly injured because he was saving Tasha. He ordered Hunter on the next shuttle up.

Tasha stared out the window, completely zoned out. She hadn’t ever been controlled like that before, and it was horrifying. She didn’t know what to make of the dreams the Demon forced her into, only being able to understand it as telepathic rape. She didn’t know what to do about it. She knew her injuries would slowly heal and she might be able to ignore them, but how do you ignore something that was entirely in your mind? Could she tell herself it was just fake? She just wasn’t sure.

“Tasha…” Jessie said gently, “…do you want to talk to Zen? She’s really worried about you.”

“No…” Tasha said in a hush. “…tell her I’ll call her back, though.”

Tasha didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. She really just wanted to crawl in a hole and die. She hated herself for wanting to die, which made her even more depressed. She didn’t know how she could show her face to anyone ever again. Word of what happened was sure to rip through the ship.

She slowly walked down the stairs of the shuttle. She was finding it hard to move any more. Her entire body was starting to hurt. Just when she was about to break down into a weeping pile, a voice grabbed her attention.

“TASHA!” Constance ran over to her, almost knocking her over when she threw her arms around her. Constance was crying, tears pouring down her cheeks. She kissed Tasha on the cheek, having to get on her toes to do it. She lowered herself down, burying her face in Tasha’s chest. “Thank god you’re okay…I…I thought…”

“Connie…” Tasha whispered, putting her arms around her. She rubbed her back, trying to calm her down.

“I saw that…monster in your dreams…” Connie confessed. She wasn’t sure if she should or not, but she didn’t want to hide anything from Tasha. “I think…I’m the reason it got into your mind…I’m so sorry…”

Tasha gasped, looking off into the distance. Her eyes were wide with disbelief. She didn’t know what to say. Could she tell her what Paul did to her because the Demon got into her mind? The horrible things Paul made her do were all because of it. Constance looked up at her. Tasha looked down at Constance, looking into her sad silver eyes. She ran her fingers through Constance’s hair, putting it behind her ears.

“You’re being too hard on yourself…” Tasha reassured her. “It’s not your fault…You couldn’t have known…And I could never stay mad at you anyway.” Constance smiled.

“I love you, Tasha…” She whispered. Tasha smiled and whispered the same back to her. “I can spend some time with you…if you want…”

“I appreciate the offer, but I need to be alone for a while…” Tasha couldn’t face her when she said it.

“What happened? You can tell me…” Constance pled with her, grabbing her hand. Tasha looked back at her, hanging her head.

“I’m really sorry, but…” Tasha took a deep breath. “I really just need to be alone for a little bit…”

“Alright…” Constance let go of her hand. “I’ll be in the hospital when you need me…”

“Okay, I’ll meet you there…” Tasha hated having to send Constance away. Truth be told, she couldn’t decide between being alone or having Constance by her side. Still, she wanted to be alone to take care of herself briefly. She’d rush to Constance’s side after.


Sala couldn’t believe how Kik’tik looked under her armor. She had clearly human parts, like her head and torso, explaining why she had breasts when other Laumur women didn’t. Still, she had the big, almost ostrich like legs of a Laumur, and the arms and talons to match. All of the Laumur parts were covered with shinning gold feathers. Kik’tik had attachment-scars around her Laumur parts, telling her she was without a doubt human and that all of her Laumur parts were cybernetic. On top of everything else, Kik’tik had freckles across her face and chest. All together, even despite the shaking from the battle, Sala couldn’t help but stare at Kik’tik. Kik’tik was laying on a medical bed on her stomach so she wouldn’t be laying on her tail.

“Hey!” Kik’tik leaned up, keeping the sheet around her as she did. “Quit staring or I’m going to start charging you for the show!” The bed Kik’tik was on had what looked like big, glowing banks of light that surrounded Kik’tik. She told Sala that it repaired all of her cybernetics at once. Sala didn’t understand how, but she didn’t understand most Laumur tech.

“Sorry, sorry…” Sala turned away. “I’ve just never seen someone like you…How did you end up like that?”

“You don’t want to hear about that…” Suddenly, the ride got a lot smoother. They were clearly out of the battle. “Tell your boyfriend that…” she winced in pain slightly, “…that once this thing’s done fixing me and we’re for sure clear of the battle, I’ll see about fixing that shoulder of his…”

“I’ll tell Zech that shortly.” Sala nodded. “But, I mean…really…how did you end up like this?”

“I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but…” Kik’tik took a deep breath. “I was found by the Laumur when I was five…I don’t remember where, but they were kind enough to take me in. They did a genetic search for my parents, but the tests couldn’t find any relatives at all. I couldn’t go home either, so I decided to stay with them.

“They were great parents…They didn’t care that I was a human, just raising me the best they could. It wasn’t easy for them or me. I mean, they had to research what menstruation was when I turned fourteen. It wasn’t an easy life, but I got by. The worst part was there weren’t any other humans around to talk to.

“That was the worst part of all of it…No other humans. No Laumur would even look at me. So, one day, I heard about this program where they replace all your parts with cybernetics…our Enhance Marine program. I thought it was finally a chance to look like a Laumur. They even told me that I would be indistinguishable from a real Laumur, but, when I came out of it, I looked like this…I was crushed. Worst of all, there’s no going back. All the stress from the surgery would kill me.

“So, I’m stuck like this…I can’t pass as either human or Laumur, so I just travel…alone.” Sala sniffed to hide her tears. She felt indescribable sympathy and sadness for Kik’tik. Kik’tik lowered her head back to her pillow. “Now, aren’t you glad you asked?”

“I’m sorry, it’s just…with everything that’s been happening, I can’t stop myself from crying…” Sala rubbed her eyes. “I’ve been so weak since I lost my children…”

“It’s alright. Nobody here but us girls…”

“I still think you’re still very pretty, Kik’tik.”

“That’d mean a lot to me if you were a guy.” She pointed at her face. “You see this? The Laumur’s home-world has a higher UV level because of their sun, so I’ve got these horrible freckles. Even if I stayed all human, I’d still have them all over my arms, legs, and back. It’s like being covered with burn-scars.”

“Have you tried covering them with makeup?” Kik’tik stared at Sala for a minute. “Stupid question, alright…” Sala smiled slightly. “At least I know why you like human women’s clothing.”

“Speaking of which, I saw some of the stuff you bought…”


Yu’lena was finishing work on the temple in her quarters. Her injuries were still sapping her strength, but there was very little left to do. She forced herself to keep going, thinking it would only make her stronger. Still, since it was so close to being done, she decided it would not hurt her to take a break.

She walked over to a large crystal chandelier and passed her hand under the main crystal at its center. Around it, there were other, far smaller crystals hanging around it. They lit up and sang with a gentle ring to it that filled the entire room. It soothed her soul and let her relax. She sat near it, folding her legs so she could meditate. As she started to feel the stress leaving her body, she heard the door open.

“Wow…I didn’t think the sign was actually true…” A short woman stood in the door. She had brown hair that hung down to her shoulders and dark brown eyes. She wore simple, ‘proper’ clothes, a black pleated-skirt that went down past her knees with a nice white blouse. She even wore a black tie with it. “So, you’re really starting this temple to have it open for everyone?”

“Yes,” Yu’lena nodded. “Anyone who is willing to open their minds to the teachings of my temple is welcome here.”

“…Aren’t you worried someone’s going to clean you out?” The woman said, staring at the large crystal chandelier. She was about to touch it, but decided not to. “I hope you have some kind of security system…”

“I will have to trust people, Miss…”

“Sally.” Sally put her hand out for a handshake. Yu’lena shook her hand, using the opportunity to look her over. Instead of boots like the soldiers and engineers or fine leather dress shoes like the rest of the clue, she just wore sneakers. On top of it, unlike the other women that wore stockings or pantyhose, Sally wore tall socks that went well up past her knees.

“Sally…I do believe I have not seen you before…”

“Well,” Sally shrugged, “I’m kind of a Gopher. Whatever they need me to do, I do. Just sort of…filling in, where needed. I don’t stand out a lot, don’t get a lot of attention, but I like to think I’m necessary…I mostly get unnoticed on the ship, because I’m not going to pull in a big haul or catch a bounty single-handedly…”

“Do you mind me asking…” Yu’lena held her hands between hers. She could already tell there was something special about Sally. She did look strangely like Constance to Yu’lena, though it was only vaguely. Sally had a few freckles across her face, which confused Yu’lena more. “…are you just stopping by or are you interested in joining?”

“Joining?” Sally’s grit teeth showed as she drew a hissing breath. “I’m not sure…I’ve heard good things about your religion, Priestess, but I just don’t…”

“There is no rush to decide today, my child.” Yu’lena reassured her. “If you have some time, I can tell you about my religion, and hopefully, you will like it enough that you will stay.”

“Alright…” Sally looked down at a large pillow that was across the ground, “I’m actually interested to see how it goes with my own beliefs.”

“Well, you see…” Before Yu’lena could say anything, Helena came rushing through the door. “Miss Helena, can I help you?”

“You can get a communicator…” Helena huffed slightly, catching her breath. “We’ve been trying to get you for a couple hours now.”

“For what?”

“Hunter’s been severely injured and put in a coma…” Helena realized she said it a little bluntly, biting her lip for a split second before she continued. “He had you down as an emergency contact.”

“Emergency contact…” Yu’lena repeated, not sure what it meant. Helena sighed slightly. Yu’lena could tell she was frustrated and knew why. An ‘emergency contact’ should have been common knowledge for everyone.

“Well, it means he thought you…out of everyone on the ship, should decide how he’s treated and…and if he can’t wake up…” Helena cleared her throat. This was he awkward part. “…if he will never wake up, you’re suppose to decide if he lives in his coma forever or…or not.”

“Oh dear…” Yu’lena stood up, smoothing out the wrinkles from when she sat down. She looked down for a brief second. She didn’t know anything about how they were going to treat him or how he would want his injuries treated. What if she decided to have something done that was against his religion? She knew Hunter somewhat, though, so she knew the likelihood of that was low. “Miss Sally, I hope you will forgive me if I leave…Feel free to stay or leave at your own digression. I have started translating what you would call my ‘bible’ to English if you care to read that.”

“Alright…I’ll probably give it a look.” Yu’lena bowed to Sally before quickly leaving for the hospital. Helena walked in, looking around at everything.

“What’s she set up here?” She ran her fingers over the cloth hanging on the wall. It was smooth, the smoothest, softest, finest fabric she had ever felt. She tugged on it. It was incredibly strong despite all of its wonderful properties. It wouldn’t stretch, tear or rip. “How the hell do they make this stuff without any technologies…”

“Don’t finger the drapes…” Sally groaned. “And it’s a…church.”

“And she’s claiming she’s NEVER locking the door like that sign outside says?”

“She really isn’t.”

“God,” Helena sighed, “she’s so naïve…”

“Don’t worry, I’m staying until she gets back…” Sally picked up the bible, sitting back down on the pillow. “It’s not like I have anything better to do…” Helena stared at Sally briefly. Sally was a little shorter than her, and even less intimidating, looking like she was a teenager.

“You’ve got…an interesting look going there…” Helena tried to make small talk, but Sally was distracted with the bible. She put the English one down and got the other one, laying on the ground side-by-side, taking out a pen. “Kind of a grunge look…right?”

“Yeah…we all don’t look good strutting around in skin-tight flight suits…” Sally said, barely paying attention to what she was saying. Slowly, she started adding words to the English book.

“I don’t think she’d appreciate you…”

“I’m translating it for her. Got to have something to do…” Helena didn’t believe her, and Sally knew it. She looked up from the book at her. “I have a masters in language. I can translate almost anything that’s an actual language.”

“Cool…” Helena realized what she could do or say for Sally. “If you’re going to guard here…Give me a call when you need a break, and I’ll…guard it while you sleep or eat or whatever. I’d hate to see this place looted…”

“Okay, but I don’t think I’m leaving any time soon.” Helena shrugged and left. She knew Sally could contact her if she needed anything. It’d be easy on the ship. For now, she figured she’d go back and take a nice long bath.


Tasha showered for almost an hour, with the hottest water the faucet could provide. She scrubbed and scrubbed until she felt like she was going to rip her skin off. Then she brushed her teeth for half an hour, feeling bad for taking so long. Still, she had to feel clean again. She threw all the clothes she was wearing into the trash. She never wanted to wear any of it again. She got dressed and put her hair up, not bothering with make-up. She knew Constance wouldn’t care.

She ran down to the hospital section as fast as she could without making a scene. She had to be with Constance. Out of everyone she knew, Constance was the only one she wanted to be with. Having Constance around seemed to make her calmer, and on top of it, she knew Constance would understand what she went through. She ran into the hospital section, but didn’t see anyone.

“Patch!” She shouted slightly, just trying to find him. “Patch!”

“Pardon me…” One of Patch’s small’ assistants that would hover around him and provide him aid with surgical procedures floated over to her. She knew it wasn’t really talking to her, just relaying what Patch was saying. “I’m currently in surgery with Mister Hunter, can I help you with anything, Miss Tasha?”

“I was just wondering where Constance was?”

“Ariis came and took Miss Constance back about a half-hour ago.” Tasha grit her teeth. The assistant was even more emotionless than Patch was. “She checked out healthy, and with all of the recent emergencies, we could no longer keep her from her owner.”

“Don’t. Call her that.” Tasha spoke slowly and strongly, making sure Patch understood. Constance didn’t deserve to be a slave, not that anyone did. She pointed straight into the drone’s small eye. “People shouldn’t be property, understand?”

“AS property, no…but I do understand that freedom is the right of all sentient beings.” Tasha noticed it saying that a lot, wondering if she should check its programming for bugs. “I gave her medicine for her condition and treated her for an allergic reaction she had to marijuana, and she’s well past her exhaustion.”

“Weed?” Tasha shook her head. “No, Constance would NEVER smoke weed. She hates drugs and how they make her feel.”

“Well then, someone else must have forced it down her throat.” Tasha gasped. She immediately knew who did it to Constance. She turned sharply on her heals and got ready to run out the door when the drone blocked her path. “Your father told me about what happened to you and asked that I do a full battery of scans to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine…” Tasha shoved aside the drone, sending it crashing into the wall. She quickly ran out of the door before it got back up, almost running into Yu’lena as she came in. “Sorry, Priestess!” She shouted to her as she ran down the hallway.

“Do not concern yourself with that, dear.” Yu’lena tried shouting to her, but shouting was out of her nature. She walked in, looking around for Patch when the drone hovered up to her.

“Ah, Priestess Yu’lena, I’m glad you could make it, but it turns out Hunter’s injuries were not life threatening.” Yu’lena breathed a sigh of relief, though the drone still made her frightened. “He’s still in a coma, but it doesn’t appear to be permanent…”

“That is the best news I have heard all day…” Yu’lena smiled slightly. “Do you mind if I rest in his room…keep him company until he wakes up?”

“Not at all, Priestess. It may actually do him some good…” The drone hovered around her. “And it will give me time to scan you and see how you’re healing.”

“…Good, then we both win, as they say.”


Frank had one of his few nice business suits on. He hated dressing up, but this time, he had a good reason. He had a small bouquet of flowers, one’s he hoped she’d like. He wasn’t nervous about her not liking them, just taking his chances. He headed down to the engineering section, running into the Chief Engineer, a man by the name of Bill Nelson.

“Frank…” Nelson was already instantly annoyed by Frank being in Engineering. He was tall and muscular, being a ship’s engineer for most of his life seeing to that. He wore a dark red jumpsuit, separating him from the rest of the crew that wore a shade of blue in engineering. He was the officially-declared chief engineer on the ship. “What are you doing here, Frank?”

“Is Kelli here?” He looked around, trying to get spot Kelli. He knew the first patch of flesh he saw was her. Nelson just growled at him. “I know, I’m getting in your way just by existing in your Engineering…”

“Frank…” Kelli asked, coming down a ladder to see him. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, you know what I’m apologizing for…” He held out his bouquet of flowers. Kelli took it and started to sniff slightly. Frank tried to hide his smile. “I feel like a complete ass over the whole thing…and I was hoping I could…” Kelli sneezed quietly. “I hope I could make it up to you with…” Kelli sneezed again. “…with…”

“These are Zieke Lilacs, aren’t they?” Kelli held her nose, giving the flowers back to Frank. The flowers themselves looked like lilacs, but the petals were red like roses, but with deep purple. Their stems had rose thorns along them. “I’m allergic to them…” Frank looked at the flowers, then back at Kelli. “I’m sorry, but you’ve got to get those away from me before they make me sick!”

“But…” Frank stuttered. “I thought we could go out to dinner…”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but no…” Kelli shook her head, holding her nose to try to avoid the pollen from the flowers. “You’re just not my type, Frank…Now please get the flowers away from me.”

“You heard her!” Nelson shouted slightly, protecting his engineers. “Go!” He tried to stay calm, but his politeness didn’t matter at all when it came to his engineers. He’d do anything to protect them, even donate his blood if he had to. In this case, he was worried Kelli had a new stalker like she had in the past. Still, before he had time to worry about that, Frank nodded and started to leave.

“I’m still getting you flowers, though…Maybe I can find some flowers that won’t make you break out in hives or kill you.” Frank stopped at the door, thinking he heard a whisper. “What?”

“Daffodils, Frank.” Nelson relayed the message for her. “Her favorite flowers are daffodils.”

“You got it, Babe.” Frank left the engineering section, walking to the closest airlock and throwing the flowers in. He honestly didn’t expect to get a date with Kelli, so he wasn’t disappointed. In this case, he simply let the flowers go into space to be sure there wasn’t a chance of them bothering Kelli again.


Hal was looking down at the pendent of O’ne Yu’lena gave him, contemplating if it was actually doing him any good. He felt weird not knowing anything about something he was wearing, especially since it was of such significance. It was a pendent of a goddess, after all. Would his religion allow him wearing the symbol of another god? Then again, he worshipped a servant of God as a sort of ‘channel’ to God, since he believed God was unknowable. Maybe O’ne was a servant of God as well.

“Hmmnn…” Karen groaned in her sleep, startling him slightly. She was sleeping again, but that wasn’t anything new. Even when she was ‘healthy’ she slept a lot. Hal thought it was because she had nothing to be awake for. Now, she was worrying him so much that he was afraid to leave her side. He knew she was more of a constant pain than a sister, but he had to be sure she was okay. Or did he?

He bit his lip. It was costing him pay just to sit there, watching her sleep and slowly heal. She was stable, there was no chance of loosing her now. On top of everything, he did have a knack for getting on her nerves. Stressing her out while she was healing was a recipe for disaster. Finally, he just had to ask himself one question.

“What would the Spectre say?” He said quietly to himself. He wasn’t sure, the Spectre being too noble to ignore family. Finally, he came to a realization. He stood up, slowly walking out the door to not make any noise. He didn’t want to wake her up, after all. He’d let her recover in peace and visit her whenever he could.


Tasha went to Ariis’ quarters as fast as she could. Constance wasn’t answering her communicator, but with Ariis taking her back, she knew that’s where she had to be. She had to know if it was Suzuna that did that to her and why. She calmed herself down and rang the doorbell, hearing Ariis and Constance muffled voices inside.

“Who is it!?” Ariis snapped viciously. Tasha took a deep breath, summoning the courage to speak.

“It’s me, Tasha…” Tasha expected the door to pop open immediately as soon as Ariis heard it was her, but it didn’t. “I need to talk to Constance real quick…”

“Very well, come in.” Tasha opened the door and walked in. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Ariis and Constance. Both of them were completely naked. Ariis was on her back on the couch, with Constance straddling her across her waist. Constance’s back was to Tasha, so she couldn’t see her. Tasha could see Constance had a heavy metal collar on with a heavy metal chair that ran down to shacks that had her arms behind her back. The chain went down to Ariis’ hands.

“It still hurts, Master Ariis…” Constance cried slightly. “Can we…can we just…”

“You’re on the drug Patch gave you, it shouldn’t hurt at all…It should feel good if anything.” Before Constance could complain again, Ariis snapped at her again. “Deal with it! You’re suppose to serve me!” Ariis looked over at Tasha, who was paralyzed in her tracks. “Well, hurry up!”

Tasha stuttered and couldn’t get her sentence out. Constance turned her head to see Tasha staring at them. Tasha could see Constance’s eyes were glossed over. She knew Ariis has dosed her with something. Constance screamed, trying to turn so Tasha couldn’t see her.

“Not in front of Tasha!” She pled with Ariis. “Do whatever you want to me, just not in front of Tasha…”

“If she’d ask her question quicker…” Ariis growled at her.

“Forget it.” Tasha snapped, rushing out the door and locking it behind her. She didn’t want anyone to see Constance like that. She didn’t know how to explain it, but she could feel what she knew was Constance’s embarrassment. Tasha felt she had to apologize to Constance later, but right now, she was going to confront Suzuna. Whatever she did to Constance for whatever the reason was completely unacceptable.

Ecstasy of Gold - Ch. 16

Ariis found herself floating in an icy, infinite black void. Tendrils of the shadow surrounding her had wrapped around her arms and leg. She was panting for breath, feeling like she was on fire. Her vision blurred, focusing in and out.

“Where am I…” She said between gasps of breath. She had no sense of direction at all, a rarity for her. She was starting to panic because of it.

[You are within me, Princess Ariis…] A voice came from all sides around her. If Ariis managed to pin down a noise, she’d attack it blindly. She didn’t know what else to do. She grit her teeth, waiting for the moment to strike.

“I demand you let me go and give me the antidote to whatever you dosed me with at once!” Ariis bellowed. “If you do not, I will call down the full force of…”

[I do not fear your pathetic militaries…] The demon taunted Ariis, laughing slightly. [You are mine now…I will relinquish you once I am done with you.]

Ariis’ fingers and toes started to flinch slightly. She knew it was an affect of the drug. She tried to free herself from the tentacles, but it was no use. They were tight around her. She groaned and stressed, hearing the servos in her suit whir and try to work, but it was no use. She stopped, relaxing, saving her strength.

[Give in and I will make the burning stop…] Ariis turned her head away towards her arm. She felt a soothing cool tentacle slithering up past her past her face. She felt the same tentacles emerging all around her, running across her entire body. Slowly and gently, the tentacles removed her armor, leaving her completely naked in the shadow. At first, the tentacles felt disgustingly slimy as they slid across her entire body, wrapping around her and caressing her. She grit her teeth, trying to ignore it, but the feeling quickly became intoxicating and impossible to resist. They seemed to know her every secret place, caressing the side of her neck and the base of her spine. She started to moan slightly, surrendering to the ecstasy.


Hunter knew he had to finish the fight with the assassins. He was the only person he trusted could take on a powerful telepath. He grit his teeth, ducking down out of the way of another shot from the sniper. He had to stumble backwards to avoid a slice from the blade assassin.

He grit his teeth, realizing he was fighting a rookie. An expert’s follow-through should have killed him. That meant he was just being sloppy. He drew his revolver, but the assassin disarmed him. He grit his teeth, slamming his foot into the blade assassin’s ankle and breaking it.

All of his weapons made him heavy and slowing him down. He knew he had nothing right on him now for taking down the blade assassin since it knocked his revolver away. He thought about diving for it, but just as he was about to, the blade assassin lunged at him again. Just as he did, a loud, ringing shot rang out.

“Son of a bitch…” Zen shouted, firing a shotgun with her one good arm. The blade assassin ran towards her, but she had an automatic shotgun. She pulled the trigger again and again, sending a hailstorm of shot into the assassin until it finally stopped moving. It collapsed to the ground in a puddle of its own blood. “Looks like I was right to ha…”

“GET DOWN!” Hunter shouted, sweeping Zen’s legs out from under her. She yelped slightly, but a blinding plasma shot passing just in front of her face silenced any complaints. Hunter quickly got out the rifle Constance bought him, lining up a shot and firing a singing bolt of plasma at the sniper assassin. It pierced him right through the neck, sending him tumbling off his perch to the ground bellow.

“Nice…” Zen said with a laugh. Hunter stood up, putting his rifle back under his duster. He got his revolver and shot the blade assassin in the head to make sure he was down. Zen grabbed the rifle the sniper dropped. She gasped seeing it. “Sweet god! Look at this…” She wiped a smudge off the side of the rifle. “It’s an Origin rifle…Pre-crash and everything…Where the hell did they get their hands on Origin tech…”

“The universe is loaded with it if you know where to look…” Hunter grabbed a large boor gun off the other assassin the ammo belt to go with it.

Origin technology was the name of any piece of tech from before the ‘Great Crash’ destroyed all technology. Every race has their own Origin tech, but when found, it went to whatever race found it first. The only race that wasn’t interested in finding Origin tech was the Rae. Origin technology was actually responsible for most of the tech people took for granted every day. The only problem was that Origin technology couldn’t be replicated exactly. It showed how to make the technology, but the Origin tech was always better.

The rifle was simple, made of geometric shapes. The top of it had a long, gentle curve to it. It had glowing parts, and it was bright shinning silver, though the assassin had painted it flat black. The paint was easily scratched off, though the gun itself was unharmed. She pressed a button on the side of it, and a scope popped out of the top.

“Hurry up and get whatever you want off the bodies. We have to get back to save Tasha…” Hunter said to Zen as she quickly checked the other bodies. The tech was simple, no Origin tech outside of the rifle. She held up the rifle into the air.

“I’m keeping this…” She said as Hunter started to run up a fire escape on the side of the closest building. Zen quickly followed after him, angry that she got so distracted by fancy new toys.


Neither Zen nor Hunter knew they were being watched. Far away, watching through her visor was another assassin. She was fully suited, leaving no bit of herself exposed to the outside world. She had long gauntlets and boots that were made of overlapping sharp plates of armor. Sharp, outward turned plates overlapped on her stomach. Her chest was covered by a sharp breast plate, with blades sticking up just before her armpits. Her arms, shoulders, and legs were covered by tight leather, the rest was covered with an intricate and close mesh of Kevlar.

Her helmet was the most unique piece of her armor. It contained Origin tech, giving her unheard of tracking abilities. Modeled after a Japanese demon, the mask had three rows of two sharp glowing red eyes, with eyes positioned all the way around the helmet, staring in every direction. Underneath the eyes was a horrible, blood-thirsty looking demonic mouth. The forehead had two short, slender horns that were both slightly different lengths, being broken off at the ends.

She held up her wrist, a small hologram hovered above a device on her wrist. The figure was cloaked with a hood, a taught silk veil hiding its face.

“He killed all three of my disciples…” She growled, but then just shrugged. “I knew they were pathetic…They were using lethal force when we said to bring him in alive.”

“What is the status of the traitor? Have you apprehended him yet?”

“Not yet, but soon.” The assassin walked away from the edge of the building . “I’ll study him. I’m sure he has a weakness just waiting to be exploited…”

“Very well, I’ll leave him to you…You know what it will cost you if you fail, Cassandra.” The figure growled before her device shut off. She ran along the rooftop, trying to get to a place where she could keep her eyes on Hunter.


Zech saw something he couldn’t believe. Kik’tik, under all her armor, was a human. A strange human, but a human none the less. She had long golden hair, with small orange feathers running up the back of her neck. Her plain but elegant face was covered in a large cloud of freckles. She had crystal blue eyes that were winced in pain.

“A human in Laumur armor?” The Messenger clenched the hand. With a flick of her wrist, the arm brought Kik’tik to in front of her. “No…” She brushed aside Kik’tik’s hair, running her fingers along the feathers. “…something more. You can’t be part Laumur...”

“Fuck off!” Kik’tik yelled at the Messenger, spitting in her face. The Messenger wiped it off with a sneer. She clenched the lightning hand tighter, making Kik’tik scream in pain. Zech had seen enough, aiming at the Messenger and firing a stream of shots at her. They splashed across an invisible shield in front of her, but it did get the Messenger’s attention.

“It would be wise to mind your own business, Zieke!” She yelled, throwing Kik’tik at him. He caught her, but was sent tumbling backwards from the force. Kik’tik coughed, trying to talk. She looked into Zech’s eyes.

“Please…” She coughed. “Get us out of here…Get me back to the ship…” Zech got them both back to their feet. Kik’tik legs trembled, unable to keep herself on her feet. Zech supported her, but knew he couldn’t keep fighting while he was supporting Kik’tik. “Don’t tell anyone what I am…or so help me god…”

“Now’s not the time…” Zech groaned, jumping to get them both out of the way of an attack from the Messenger. Kik’tik gasped for breath.

“Submit to me, Zieke, and surrender my pet and I will allow you to live…” the Messenger pulled back its arm. “You will be my slave and treated well…or better at least compared to the rest of these peons.”

“We need a way out of this, Kik’tik…” Zech whispered through his clenched teeth. “…right now…”

“I’ll take it that’s a refusal…” The Messenger raised its lightning arm into the air, extending it to a long bolt. Kik’tik pulled Zech as close as she could without digging her claws into him.

“Hang on tight…” Kik’tik hit an emergence transport signal on her belt, and in a flash, both of them were back on Kik’tik’s ship. Kik’tik pushed Zech away and collapsed to the ground. “Go…get to the bridge…” She gasped in pain. “Get us off this goddamn rock!” She tossed him a device. It was small and round, like a polished stone. “That’ll let you control the ship, now go!”

“Kik’tik…” Sala said stunned. She couldn’t believe she was seeing Kik’tik with a human head. It was almost too much for her to comprehend.

“We can’t just leave! We have to stay and fight!” Zech shouted.

“We have nothing that could touch her. Leave her to the military on the planet…I want to get the hell out of here NOW!” Kik’tik cried in pain slightly, slamming her fist against the ground. She did it again, hoping it’d distract Sala and Zech from her tears running down the side of her face. “If they handle her, we can come back…There’s nothing wrong with saving our strength…Besides, that shoulder of yours is about to fail…”

“Rgh…” Zech growled. His Enhance Marine training told him to stay and fight until his last breath, but he had more to worry about now. He couldn’t make that decision for Sala and Kik’tik. He had to get them far away. “Yes…” Zech turned and ran to the bridge, already memorizing the way. Kik’tik grabbed Sala’s hand.

“Sala…You’re going to have to help get me out of my armor…”

“Are you all human under there?”

“You’ll see…”


Zech ran to the bridge as fast as he could. He had memorized the route while Kik’tik was sleeping. It didn’t take long, not with a ship as small as Kik’tik’s.

The doors opened automatically as he neared. He had never been on a Laumur bridge before, completely unfamiliar with the design. Fortunately, it was made to be run by one person. That meant, for the most part, the flight and weapons controls were all in one spot.

He got to the command chair, putting the round device into a whole he saw. The ship buzzed and hummed, coming to life. It beeped, saying things in English he didn’t understand. He figured it couldn’t have been too important as friendly as the voice sounded. He pulled back on the controls, finding them basically the same as Zieke controls.

The ship took off into the air, clumsily because of his lack of experience. He put the hammer down on the ship, sending it streaking out of the planet’s air and into space. That’s when the ship went nuts, alarms going off across all the controls.

“What is it…I don’t speak English!” He yelled at them, but that’s when he saw them.

Horrible ships that were almost impossible to see in space. They were horrible, twisted shapes, none of them the same. They all had a central body, with long spires reaching out into space, and all of it was covered by the same ridges the Messenger had. Zech had no idea why, but they were the most terrifying thing he had ever seen. They were countless, each shooting a blinding red beam into either the orbiting colonies, the planet bellow, or the ships trying to desperately fight off the enemy.

“Shit…” Zech grit his teeth as one of the ships turned its attention to them. He could barely handle Kik’tik’s ship, but he did his best. He shouted down the hallway. “I COULD USE SOME HELP UP HERE!”

“We’re busy!” Sala yelled back, accompanied by Kik’tik groaning. Zech slammed the controls of the ship to the side to avoid a beam fired by the beast. The entire ship shook with the energy from the beam skimming across the hull. Zech grit his teeth.

“Then hang on, because this is about to get hairy…”


Constance woke up laying on a smooth, cool black floor. She could hear the sound of Tasha crying somewhere off in the distance. She looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from. As soon as she started trying, Ariis’ door appeared in front of her. It had a spotlight pointing down at it. She bit her lip and entered into the room.

Inside, she saw Jessie’s head on a pike. She gasped, covering her mouth to keep herself from getting sick. But that wasn’t remotely the worst thing she saw. She heard more crying, walking towards Ariis’ bedroom.

“Tasha!” She shouted. As she walked, she saw herself naked and pinned to the wall with a knife. She winced, but kept walking. She had to find Tasha. She knew Tasha had to be in Ariis’ bedroom. Inside, she found Tasha completely naked, her arms tied together and her neck chained to the bed with a metal collar like Ariis made her wear. Constance walked over, putting her hand on Tasha’s back. “Tasha…”

“Who…” Tasha looked up from her bed, tears still running down the sides of her face. “…Connie?” Tasha shook her head, burying her face back in the pillows. “No, I’m going nuts…you can’t be here…Ariis killed you.”

“Tasha…” Constance took Tasha’s hand in hers. “It’s really me…This isn’t real…”

“Yes it is!” Tasha said without looking up from her pillow. “Connie…Ariis murdered you when she got me…said she had no use for you any more and pinned you right there…My Dad tried to save me, but then she killed him and put his head on a pike…”

“It’s all a dream, Tasha…” Constance put her hand on the side of Tasha’s face. “I know it’s horrible, but it’s all just a dream…”

Suddenly, Constance felt a bitter cold. She turned around, jumping when she saw the Demon standing behind her. It cackled, slowly moving towards her.

“You would have to be the one to pierce her mind…” It hissed as it walked towards her. Its gate was smooth and almost step-less. “Though I must thank you for opening a path for me.”

“What?” Constance did her best to keep herself between the Demon and Tasha. “What do you mean?”

The demon didn’t answer her, just snapping his fingers and making Tasha disappear. Slowly, it walked towards her. “Hopefully, your friend will forgive you for what your friendship cost her…”

“What are you going to do to her?!” Constance didn’t have time to wonder what it was going to do to Tasha. It sent whips of darkness out, wrapping around her arms and legs, slowly dragging her toward its infinite blackness. It gave her a horrible feeling, but a feeling she recognized. “What are you doing to Master Ariis?!”

“Don’t concern yourself with her…You have plenty to worry about yourself!” The demon roared as it slowly dragged Constance into its body. Constance started screaming at the top of her lungs.

Constance woke up with a scream, covered in an icy cold sweat. She was shivering, looking around to see if anyone else was there. Geoff was at the foot of her bed, he was explaining how he found her to Patch, but now they were both focused on her.

“Is there a problem, Miss Constance?” Patch said plainly and calmly. It hovered over to her, scanning her. Geoff walked over to him, grabbing him as she floated by.

“I think she just had a nightmare, Patch…” Geoff looked Constance over. She looked pale, but alright. “Looks like the meds did the trick…”

“Meds?” Constance had to ask, not remembering anything specifically. She remembered feeling sick, but not too much outside of that. Suddenly, she recognized Geoff. “You were the man that made those lewd comments about Priestess Yu’lena!”

“And I carried you here after you puked your guts out.” Geoff shrugged. “I may do crappy things, but I try to make up for them.” Constance tried to get out of bed, but Geoff kept her in bed. “Easy there, girl. You were pretty sick there…”

“Yes,” Patch reassured her, “you need to stay in bed for at least a few hours.”

“But Tasha’s in danger…She’s…”

“You’re in no condition to help her now.” Patch said with his usual lack of emotion.

“We’ll get her back.” Geoff assured her, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry.” Constance turned and buried her face in her pillow, crying.

“You’re not worried enough…”


The demon dropped Ariis, fully armored again with the damaged parts still damaged. She gasped for breath briefly, like she had been strangled. After she caught her breath, she stood up, staring lifelessly into the distance. She reached down, grabbing her hammer.

“The Akyllisian is yours…” The demon hissed at Paul. “So is the black girl…But remember my orders…Don’t extend your reach out of the system…” Paul nodded, looking over Ariis. She was covered in sweat and looked like she hadn’t had anything had anything to eat or drink in days.

“What did you do to her?” The demon turned around. Paul smirked, knowing exactly what he did. “What kind of freaky things did you do to her with that weird body of yours?”

The demon didn’t answer him. It appeared to fold itself into space, disappearing with a breeze. Paul didn’t care, turning all of his attention to Ariis. He looked her over, running his hand over her armor. She was a full head shorter than Eliza.

“Dear Eliza…” He said with a smile. “She’s as built as you are…But she looks like the mileage is a lot higher on her…” He turned back to Tasha. “I think I prefer my chocolate skin beauty, but why don’t you take her? You did make such a big fuss about being a lesbian…”

Eliza walked over to Ariis. They stared lifelessly at each other before kissing deeply. Ariis put a leg up around Eliza’s waist, dropping her hammer so she could put her hands on Eliza’s back. Eliza pushed her against the wall. She kissed Ariis along her neck, pulling at her armor to try to get it off.

Paul smirked. He watched intently for a minute, but lost interest, turning it back to Tasha. He remembered his plan, walking over to Jessie. Jessie was battered and bloodied, tied to a chair. Paul slapped him a couple times to wake him up. Jessie groaned, wincing in pain as he opened his eyes.

“Wake up or you’re going to miss the show…” Paul slapped him again with a sick laugh. Jessie looked up at him, instantly recognizing him.

“Son of a bitch…” Paul slapped him once more.

“Watch the language in front of your daughter…” Paul walked over to Tasha, running his tongue along the side of her face. “She is so very sweet…”

“You…” Jessie stressed and strained against the ropes. He grit his teeth, not caring if he hurt himself if it meant saving Tasha. Still, the ropes didn’t give an inch.

“She means a lot to you, doesn’t she?” Paul smiled, groping Tasha’s breasts through her jumpsuit. Tasha tipped her head back and giggled. Jessie knew he was controlling her. “That’s why I wanted you to see what a fine girl you’ve raised…”

Tasha unzipped her jumpsuit and kicked off her shoes. She dropped her jumpsuit to the ground. Tasha caressed herself, running her hands along her bra and panties. Jessie couldn’t stand it. He grit his teeth before he finally yelled.

“Tasha!” He yelled at the top of his lungs. “NATASHA! You’re stronger than him! Don’t let him control you like this!” Tasha couldn’t stop herself. She unhooked her bra and threw it to Jessie. Jessie growled, fighting against the ropes. He closed his eyes as she slid off her panties. “I want you to know…Paul…For making her do this, I’m going to fucking kill you…”

“Well…” Paul laughed. “I have to admire your honesty…” He snapped his fingers. “I can make you keep your eyes open…” Jessie’s eyes forced open. Paul was making Jessie watch every horrible thing Paul was making Tasha do to herself. Tasha’s legs twisted and she moaned and cried with pleasure.

“Bastard…”

“Relax and enjoy the show…” Paul groaned. “She’s not even your real daughter…”

“Fucking telepath…” Jessie grumbled.

“That’s enough, slut…” Paul shouted to Tasha, walking over to her. “Leave something for me to do…” He started caressing her entire body, groping her. He kissed her, licking her lips and teeth.


Hunter got to a rooftop across the street from the hotel. He was setting up his rifle on a tripod and lining up a shot on Paul. Zen ran up behind him, winded slightly.

“How…” She caught her breath, getting herself under control after being winded. She had to look strong in front of everyone else. She shook the stupid ‘How did you get here so fast’ question out of her head. “How did you know where to go?”

“It’s complicated…” He growled as he fine tuned his aim. He got a good shot, right at Paul’s head. He saw him manipulating Tasha, and started to pull the trigger. At the last second, he stopped the shot, as hard as it was to not take the shot. He recognized the sensation. “Damn it, he’s shielded…” He kept his eye against the scope. Tasha started kissing down Paul’s chest. As he sat down in a chair, she started unbuckling his belt.

“What do you mean he’s shielded?” Tasha pulled a canister off his belt and started adjusting the settings, mumbling about Tasha’s cybernetic leg.

“It’s a telepathic shield, keeps anyone, and I mean ANYONE, aiming an attack at him from being able to pull it off.” He looked through the scope, then looked back at Zen. “Look through the scope and line up a shot, but DON’T pull the trigger yet…It’s going to be hard as hell not to pull the trigger, I know, but don’t…You’ll reveal our position and you can still hit Tasha.”

“Alright…” Zen looked through the scope. “Tasha…” She grit her teeth. She knew in her heart that he was forcing Tasha to do it. “Why are you making me watch this!?”

“You’ll fire when I give the signal…” He looked over the roof. There was a skylight on the roof he could get in through. “These telepathic shields have their limits…Don’t miss…”

Zen looked up for a second, seeing Hunter take a running jump to get across the street. She had to resist the urge to fire, waiting like Hunter told him despite everything her mind told her to do.


Paul moaned and laughed, making Tasha stand up. He laughed, running his hand down her back and across her butt. Jessie was growling and stressing, trying to break the ropes.

“Natalia…” He said quietly. “Please make me strong enough to save our daughter…” Jessie didn’t know why, but he was never comfortable asking God for favors. It seemed ridiculous, knowing he wouldn’t answer just one person’s prayers. Still, asking his wife seemed appropriate enough. “Save her…please…”

“Talia’s not going to hear you, Jessie…” Paul tsk-ed as he walked over to Jessie.

“Why are you doing this?” Jessie had to ask.

“I never got anything in my life.” Paul said bluntly. “So, I’m taking my fair share from everyone else…” He snapped his fingers again. “Speaking of which, I have a wonderfully sick and twisted idea…Oh, Tasha…”

Before he could order Tasha to do anything, Hunter smashed in through the skylight, crashing down next to Tasha and shoving her out of the way as he threw down his grenade. All the soldiers in the room aimed their rifles at him and Ariis picked up her hammer, but before anyone could fire, his grenade went off. All the lights in the room flickered and went out and none of the soldiers’ guns could fire. Soldiers still rushed him, but he didn’t care. He drew his revolver, shooting soldiers as non-lethally as possible. Still, there was Ariis. She was on him in a flash, hitting him with a massive blow that split the air and sent him smashing into the stone walls. It cracked like glass around him.

Zen grit her teeth across the street and fired. The beam streaked through the window and straight through Paul’s shoulder. He howled in pain. Eliza shook her head, surprised to find she could move herself again. In a blink, she was on Paul, both hands around his head.

“What!?” Paul couldn’t comprehend what was going on, doing his best to will Eliza to stop. Eliza snickered at his pathetic effort. Nothing was going to stop her now. She twisted his head until she heard the satisfying crack she wanted, letting him fall to the ground, dead.

Tasha slammed back into her body. She quickly realized she was naked and realized everything Paul had made her done. Her body wretched, and she collapsed to the floor, vomiting. Jessie finally had enough, snapping the ropes and running over to Tasha.

“Tasha…” He put his hand on her back, kneeling down next to her. Tasha couldn’t bear to look at him or anyone else. She cried, covering her mouth to try from getting sick again, but it was no use. “Tasha…It’s going to be okay, honey…”

“No, it’s not…” Tasha cried. “You don’t know what that…thing put me through before he…he…” she sobbed, her body quaking, “what he made me do in front of you…what he was going to make me do to you…” Tasha grabbed her jumpsuit, clutching it to her chest. She tried to put it on, but her arms and legs fumbled and shook, keeping her from doing it. Jessie helped steady her arms so she could put it on.

“It really is going to be okay, Tasha…” Jessie tried to reassure her as she got her legs in the jumpsuit, zipping up quickly. She hung her head, ashamed of her body now. Jessie definitely saw her tattoo, there was no way around it. She just had to hope he’d let her keep it. Still, she had far worse concerns.

“If Ariis makes any cracks…”

“I’ll shoot her, don’t worry…” Jessie hugged her, holding her close. She cried, burying her face in his chest.

“I want to go back home…”

“Alright, but we better get moving before the police show up…” Tasha nodded. As they walked out of the hotel, she scooped up her underwear and put it in her pocket. Ambulances were arriving, so they had to move fast.


Ariis shook her head, looking over at Eliza. She realized she was just making out with her, jealous she was taller and stronger than her. Then, she remembered what the demon had done to her. She wasn’t sure if it was real or not, having blurred, ecstasy filled memories of it.


Eliza looked down as the parts of her armor the demon made started to dissolve. She broke it up and pulled the bits and pieces of the armor off. She couldn’t stand it any more, going into a fury to get it off. Finally, it was off. She pulled down a nearby curtain and wrapped it around herself to cover up. She sat down, waiting for more police to arrive. She knew she had a lot to atone for, even if she was under Paul’s control.

Ecstasy of Gold - Ch. 15

Zech looked out the nearest window. Kik-tik’s ship was approaching a large blue planet with many colonies around it. The colonies were silver cylinders rotating against the black of space and the blue-green of the planet. He could recognize it by the cylinder-colonies, as his own people made ring shaped colonies, Void Seekers made domes, Laumur colonies were like spider-webs, and the Tel-Kek didn’t have large colonies at all. It could only be a human planet.

He walked over to Sala, who was still asleep in her medical bed. She had slept as much as possible since she lost her children. She didn’t know what else to do. Sala didn’t expect to be so attached to her children ever. They were just a tool for her to get the life she deserved. Now, she was deeply confused and hurt. That someone could just inject her with a poison that killed her children and almost killed her for no reason other than an order.

“Sister,” Zech put his hand on Sala’s leg just above her ankle, “we’re at the human colony.”

“I don’t…” Sala pulled her leg away from Zech, rolling into the fetal position. “What does it matter? Just let the empire find me and kill me…”

“Sala…”

“You can scapegoat me…Say I manipulated you and…” Zech took another step towards her, going from the foot of her bed to the head.

“Listen to me…” He growled. “There are so few of us left, I’m not going let anyone kill you. Even yourself…” Sala buried her face in her arms. She was ashamed of it, but she wanted to kill herself. She knew he was right. Pure blooded Ziekes were a tiny number of people. If she was gone, her race would be one step closer to extinction. “You’re healthy enough to walk. Why don’t you get up and I’ll accompany you down to a market. You can pick up all the clothes you need.”

“I don’t feel like shopping right now…” Zech knew she was depressed. He knew she had a good reason to be depressed, but he couldn’t stand it. He wasn’t going to let her stay on the ship alone and wallow in her sorrow.

“Alright, you can stay on the ship, but you’ll just have to take whatever clothes I pick out for you.” Zech started walking towards the door. “Maybe Kik-tik can do it for me, since she’s at least female.”

“Zech, I…” Sala realized Zech was just trying to take her mind off things. It was the only way Enhance Marines really dealt with pain, ignoring it until it went away. She sat up, looking in his eyes. “…have no money.”

“It’s all on me. I have quite a small fortune saved up.”

“Will they take Zieke doubloons?”

“I’ll make them if they don’t.” Sala smiled, knowing he actually would. She looked around, trying to find her clothes. She knew all she had was her soiled uniform. She didn’t want to wear it, truth be told. Still, she didn’t have any other option right now.

“Where are my clothes?”

“The bird…took them, probably to clean them.” He looked around. “I think you’re right…Something’s suspicious about her not taking off her armor. Even I can’t stand to keep my helmet on all day…Breathing filtered air through the respirator…” He took his helmet off his back, spinning it slightly between his palms and putting it down next to her. “It’s like being in an oven with a fan on. It’s tight and hard to breathe. I’ve been through our Enhance Marine endurance training, wearing the armor for two weeks. It was the worst two weeks of my life.”

“Why is she putting herself through that?”

“Because I’m just too damn hot.” Kik-tik came through the door, still in full armor. It shone like she had polished it. “If I didn’t wear my armor, I’d be so hot that your guardian there would constantly be trying to mount me, and I…”

“You give yourself far too much credit.” Zech stood up, ready to make a threat towards her. She wouldn’t let him start.

“I’ll have you know, among Laumur, I’m VERY gorgeous. I might be the most beautiful…”

“Might be?” He put his helmet on his belt. “I like my women not covered in feathers. Now, both Sala and I need new clothes and better food.”

“Alright…” Kik-tik opened the door. “The ship’s not too big, as you were no doubt able to realize in all of your searching…”

“Seventy-five meters from steam to stern, though I have no idea what class this is…” Kik-tik smirked under her mask, knowing that her ship was one of a kind. She knew it was going to frustrate him to no end trying to figure it out. “Pretty big for one ostrich…”

“Yeah, yeah…” She sighed, walking towards the door. “Would just exploding and yelling ‘FUCK YOU’ and storming off put a stop to all the freaking bird jokes?” Zech was silent briefly. Sala spoke up before he did.

“Yeah, Zech just…just lay off her…” She sighed, running her fingers through her hair. It made her decide that she needed to get shampoo on the planet. Her hair was greasy and it felt damaged. “Don’t piss off the ride…”


Tasha felt like she was suspended in an infinite void. Suddenly, she fell to the metal deck, slamming into it painfully. She gasped in pain, trying to get up, but her body screamed at her to stay down. Suddenly, big, strong hands helped her to her feet. She shook her head, getting her vision back.

“Ariis?” Ariis had a smirk on her face, putting her hand on Tasha’s hip. “How did I get away from that…thing?”

“You just appeared here out of thin air…” Tasha ignored Ariis as she rubbed her hip slightly. She had no memory of anything happening to her, knowing that Jessie was hurt and would be going out of his mind with worry.

“Where’s my dad?” She looked around, panicked.

“Oh, he’ll be along shortly…” Ariis started to unzip Tasha’s jumpsuit, kissing her neck. Tasha tried to push her away, but it was no use. As she had learned before, there was a massive strength difference between them, like an ant trying to fight an elephant. “Just soon enough to see his darling little girl become a woman…” Ariis started to peel away Tasha’s jumpsuit, holding up a horrid object. Tasha realized what she was going to do, and it crossed a serious line.

“Ariis, cut it out!” Tasha screamed, trying to get away from her. Ariis slapped her, spinning her around and slamming her against the wall. Tasha screamed at the top of her lungs as Ariis ripped away at her clothes. “STOP!”

“Scream all you want, the captain called the crew down and anyone that can hear you doesn’t care…” Ariis started tying Tasha’s arms behind her back, grinding her face into the wall slightly. Tasha screamed and cried, knowing anyone could come down the hallway and see her like this.

“Don’t do this…” She cried, hearing Ariis grunting and groaning behind her. Not knowing what she was doing was driving her mad. “I’ll never forgive you for this…”

“I don’t care…” Ariis put a hand on the back of Tasha’s neck and pushing her against the wall. “You’re not denying me any more!”

Suddenly, Tasha felt a sharp, blinding pain and screamed at the top of her lungs. Her body trembled and quaked with the pain. Ariis laughed and moaned, pressing her chest against Tasha’s back to keep her pinned. Tasha’s body felt like it was being ripped apart as it was dragged up and down the wall. She finally managed to open her eyes, seeing people gather around to watch Ariis ravage her.


Paul watched as the demon slowly spread out through the military base. The police it captured earlier were shock troops, soldiers it didn’t have to worry about loosing. It caught everyone off guard, swarming through like a cloud of vile smoke. It permeated everything, piercing the smallest crack. Paul couldn’t comprehend what could let the demon do such things. He didn’t ask, though, afraid it would anger it.

Eliza stood next to him, attacking any soldier that strayed too close to Paul. This was worse than attacking the police. Eliza knew everyone that she was being forced to kill. Every single one, whether or not she cared about them, added more and more rage to her heart. She saved it, building it up to release it in one burst.

The demon solidified in front of Paul. It froze, looking from side to side. Paul was getting more afraid of it by the second, especially since it had yet to bring back Tasha. God only knows what it did with her. It could have absorbed her for all he knew. That could even be his fate.

“What did you do with the girl?” The demon froze again.

“Is copulating all you desire?” It snapped its armored fingers, making a cloud appear next to it. When the cloud cleared, Tasha appeared, frozen like a statue, her eyes glossed over. Paul looked her over, seeing tears in her eyes.

“Why is she crying?”

“She, unlike all of the soldiers on this base, is resistant to your telepathic control.” The demon put its hand on her shoulder. “I had to trap her personality in one of her worst nightmares to disable her.”

“God…” Paul looked even closer at Tasha’s face. She had a constant stream of tears coming down the sides of her face. Trembles of sadness and fear went through her face in waves. “What’s got her crying like this?”

“It’s none of your concern…” The demon hissed. “You can command all the soldiers on the base with every thought. Take over the entire planet and all the colonies in this system, but go no farther. I will now take my leave and return when the child is born…” The demon slowly disappeared into the distance. Paul found it strange as it walked away instead of disappearing.

“What about her? I can’t control her. She’s going to be a statue forever!” Paul yelled at it. “How the hell am I suppose to enjoy a statue?!”

The demon stopped and growled. Paul realized how much he had angered the demon. Still, it hissed back at him. “I will break her will so you can effectively control her. But, I will leave after that, and you will owe us any child you bear from her as well.”

“That’s fine…” Paul said, circling Tasha and looking her over. “But her perfect young body better not be marred by you breaking her defenses OR her pregnancy or I’ll…”

“OR YOU’LL WHAT?” The demon bellowed at him. He recoiled in fear slightly. “That’s what I thought. Know that this is only a small token to keep you content. If I had any pity for these humans at all, I’d slaughter them instead of submitting them to you…”


Jessie was standing at the gateway for the landing shuttles. He had called down every last soldier and almost everyone who could carry a gun from the Ecstasy of Gold. He was going to scour the entire planet if he had to, raze every building to the ground. He was GOING to find Tasha, no matter what. If there was a hair out of place on her head, he’d make Paul pay, killing him in the slowest possible way. Zen stood next to him, watching as the soldiers marched off the shuttles.

“Jessie…” She turned her head to him slightly. “I’m not sure this is the right response…Calling down all the soldiers your ship has…”

“If you cared about Tasha AT ALL, you would, too!” He snapped, waiting for the next signal that a ship was on the way down. “All that talk back in the day, saying ‘Oh, I’m like a second mother to her’, it was all…ALL bullshit!”

“JESSIE! You don’t get it!” She yelled, resisting the urge to punch him as hard as she could. “We already know what that guy did to that Enhance Marine!”

“Yeah, he RAPED her! You know he’s going to do the same to Tasha if we don’t find him!”

“No…” Zen trembled slightly, taking a breath. She told herself that Jessie was furious at Paul, not her. When he was this angry, his rage would just pulse in every direction, undirected and target-less until it hit anything. Zen hated being what was on the receiving end of his rage, but she could live with it, for now. She knew he’d most likely apologize for it later, so she just had to wait until then. “He MIND CONTROLLED her, and every policeman he’s run across. You’ll just be adding men to his army!”

“At least I’ll know I tried…” Jessie rubbed his eyes. Zen knew it was to try to hide his tears. Tasha meant the world to him, and Jessie being happy depended on Tasha being happy. “Look, all we have to do is rush him, and we’ll kill him, free the soldiers, and save Tasha…” Zen realized that trying to talk him out of throwing literally everyone and everything he had at Paul was useless, so she knew what she had to do.

“Jessie,” The best way to help him was distract him before he worried himself to death, “I want to know…what were you going to ask me before all this?”

“…Oh, that…” Jessie looked around to make sure no one was coming. “Well, actually, I wanted to know, if you ever actually loved me and if we could ever be together…again.”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind convoying with you for a while…” Zen said looking up. “To do anything as a freakin’ destroyer, you have to drop in and blast the crap out of everything…We blow up our profits all the time…At least with the Ecstasy, we have a better chance of disabling a fast, valuable ship without having to hit it like the fist of an angry god…”

Zen sighed. She had been using ‘The Incident’ as a crutch since it happened, using it to stay good and angry at Jessie all of the time. She figured she owed Jessie the truth if nothing else. While it wasn’t going to be easy to tell him, she owed him that much.

“As for you and me, I…” She sighed. “You always viewed me as bi…what did you say? ‘Just not picky’?” Jessie nodded and smiled, but she interrupted him. “I’m not bi, Jessie. I’m a lesbian. I’d be a card-carrying lesbian if we had cards…”

“But you and I had sex…a LOT.” Jessie said, trying to comprehend everything. “You did things a lesbian should never do.”

“That was all just to comfort you. I mean, I use to goof around with guys when I was still trying to figure out what I was.” Zen was actually ashamed of that part of her history. She never doubted herself after she slept with her first woman, which was really a drunken experiment more than anything. “I wasn’t going in blind, but I was just doing it to comfort you. I couldn’t get how you could be so blind not to see it…I mean, before you, how many boyfriends did I have that you could remember?”

“Well, there was Ryan…” Jessie tried to justify it. Zen just had to be making excuses. Just had to be.

“I only let him hang off me like that so I could fuck Jennifer.” Jessie shot a glare at Zen. “Jen…was fucking hot. I didn’t care if I had to let Ryan watch while I was with her, or…”

“Zen…” Jessie shook his head. “We have to be able to work something out…”

“No, you don’t get it. Until you, I hadn’t had sex with any men at all.” Zen saw someone coming, someone she recognized. “You remember the first time we had sex? The pain…the little bit of blood…I told you it was a Rae-alien thing, that I hadn’t slept with a man for just a little too long…but it was because I hadn’t been…penetrated ever…”

“Wait…Wait, wait…I was your first man?” Jessie was secretly a little thrilled about being the first man to sleep with Zen, though she had no doubt slept with a number of women before him. “Was I good? I mean, was it like ‘Hey, this is what I’m missing’ or ‘I’m glad like girls…’?”

“It hurt…a lot…every single time.” Jessie subtly bit the corner of his mouth. The passion and the pleasure that seemed to drive Zen wild when they were making love were suddenly transformed into her doing her best to bear blinding agony. He could see it clearly in his head now, his ego taken out of the equation. “But…I bore it for you…because I love you. To be honest, letting you find comfort in my body was the only thing I could think of to help you. You were so sad and…I’ve never been good with death…”

“So…you do love me?”

“Yes, but not in a ‘Let’s run to the closet so we can get a quick fuck in’ kind of way.” Zen said as a joke, trying to get Jessie to smile, but his face didn’t move an inch. She obviously wasn’t going to get a laugh out of him, so she thought about distracting him with anger. Make a joke about scoping chicks together, or go into what she loved about women and hated about men. That would get a good, primal knee-jerk reaction out of him. Still, that wasn’t the kind of reaction she needed. “Jessie, I’m not going to risk my crew on this, but I’m yours. I’ve always been resistant to telepaths, and I want to save Tasha any way I can.”

“…Alright, I’ll use you, but so help me god, if I think it’s too dangerous…”

“Yeah, yeah…The big strong man is going to protect the little girl?” Zen scoffed. “I can probably lift more than you can.”


Out of all of the shuttles from the Ecstasy of Gold, Ariis was the first one off. She was in full battle armor, carrying her hammer with her across her shoulders. Hunter was just behind her, prepping his weapons as she went on and on about how she was going to kill Paul. It didn’t take long for that to get boring.

Hunter understood everything about her since they had made love. He had recognized her as shallow since she first saw her. It was the reason he was okay essentially using her as a prostitute. Ariis didn’t care about Tasha, getting her back and in one piece. She only cared about Tasha’s virginity, and that was clear to Hunter in spades. He stayed tuned out until he heard something he couldn’t ignore.

“…going to put down that raped Enhance Marine like a wounded horse. She must be completely pathetic.” He looked up from his weapon, not quite believing what he heard. He started slowly loading bullets into his revolver, a subtle ‘choose your next words wisely’ move for as he spoke.

“You think a raped woman is pathetic?” He said calmly, puffing on one of his cigars. He squinted slightly because of the sunlight, but he kept his eyes locked on Ariis.

“No, a raped Enhance Marine, IN FULL ARMOR, is pathetic. Even caught off guard it shouldn’t be acceptable.” Brief images of what she did to Theyna slipped into Ariis’ mind. She hadn’t thought about her outside of her dreams in a long time. “Despite your people making her a false idol, she couldn’t muster the strength or the courage to protect herself. That is pathetic.”

“Pathetic? You want to talk pathetic? I…” Suddenly, the air changed. Hunter could feel and see everything that was going to happen to him in the next few minutes. He dropped down, a sharp blindingly blue bolt of plasma passed over his right shoulder. He knew who shot at him, turning and running away from the troops, wanting to save them for Tasha.

He ran off into the city as fast as he could. He jumped out of the way of another shot, running around the corner to avoid the shooter. As he did, he was met by a flurry of fists. He blocked the punch, throwing in his own against the cloaked attacker, but he hit sharp armor underneath. It slashed into his arms and knuckles. He wondered why the attacker didn’t seem to be trying to kill him or even severely injure him. It took him a minute, but then he realized what it was.

He dodged another shot that hit the attacker in the shoulder. The attacker was only buying time for the sniper to take up a better position. He punched the attacker in the face, knocking off his hood and knocking open his cloak. He recognized the sharp, triangular armor.

“You’re from the First Vein…” Hunter knew what was coming, grabbing the assassin and spinning around, throwing him in the way of a deadly lunge from a third assassin. The blade on the third assassin’s arm went clean through the torso of the second. He threw second assassin, throwing the blade assassin with him. The bladed-assassin rolled with the throw, landing on her feet. She looked for Hunter, but he was running away from her, dodging more sniper fire. She growled and followed after him.


Jessie and Zen saw the first shot at Hunter and him run off. Jessie seemed to ignore it, but Zen pondered it, trying to understand what happened. After a long, awkward silence, Zen finally spoke up.

“Isn’t anyone going to help him?” She asked, looking from soldier to soldier. Ariis walked by and shrugged, getting her weapons ready. “He’s getting shot at!”

“And he led whoever was after him away from the soldiers so they wouldn’t be hurt.” Jessie looked down. “Truth be told, I never liked him. Always thought he was going to try to get in Tasha’s pants, just use her as another fuck-and-run…But he’s clearing thinking of Tasha by running…”

“We have to help him!” Zen shouted. The years away from her had left him far more jaded than she wished. Jessie shook his head and walked away from her. He was going to argue, but knew arguing with Zen was futile.

“He’s extremely skilled…” Ariis said, slamming a clip into her hammer. She said a brief phrase in her native language, which would loosely translate to ‘master of all things’. It implied strength and virility, and the longing for mating.

“That’s what you use to say about me…” Zen tilted her hips, swaggering over to Ariis. She gently grazed Ariis’ face with her palm. She knew what it meant to Ariis. “Whoever shot at him…”

“He’ll have to take care of it.” Ariis put her helmet on, jogging to catch up with Jessie. It was an easy task.

Zen grit her teeth. Truth be told, she didn’t know why it mattered to her so much that Hunter be saved. She didn’t know him, it shouldn’t have mattered. Tasha should have been her main focus, but she couldn’t get him out of her head. She had brought her weapons down with her. She pulled a shotgun she had around her back and loaded a handful of shells from a pouch on her belt into it. If no one was going to help Hunter, she would.


Constance was practically out of her mind by the time Suzuna and ‘Glycon’ were done with her. They paid her over twice what she asked, giving her over twice what she asked for. She wouldn’t have been able to believe it if she were still capable of believing anything at the moment. Five thousand credits instead of just the two thousand she needed. Still, after everything they had done to her, she’d have charged far more. The indignity of what they forced her to do in her drug-induced haze. Many, even Suzuna and Glycon, could not understand what affect something as ‘mild’ as marijuana would have on her.

Constance stumbled through the hallways of the Gears, miraculously finding her way to the birth with the Ecstasy of Gold. She floated through the connection, stumbling in to the hangar on the other side.

In the distance, two pilots were talking back and forth to kill the time it took for the soldiers to gather. One was a woman wearing a skin-tight flight suit. She had flowing fiery hair and beautiful emerald eyes that shone like gems. She had the perfect physique of a fighter pilot. Even though she was one of the shorter women on the ships, she was also one of the most beautiful.

The man she was talking to was a less ideal pilot due to his height. He was almost a full foot taller than her, with short black hair. His eyes were hazel and he was muscular, not as tone as the soldiers, but better than average. He wore a flight suit that was much less tight, with a leather jacket over it. He always had a bright smile on his face no matter where he went.

“Wait, wait, wait…” The girl said in a gentle Irish accent. “You’re saying you helped the alien priestess set up shop in her quarters?”

“Yeah!” He said with a laugh. “Hang drapes and curtains, put up crystal chandeliers, and set up these weird crystal spires that sang with light…You know, at first it sounded like a whine, but once you get a few of them going…” He sighed. “Absolutely beautiful.”

“Geoff…” The female pilot shook her head and rubbed her eyes. “You did it to get in close to the Priestess, didn’t you?”

“Well, you know me…” He shrugged.

“As a warning, there’s a special hell set aside for people who seduce Priestess, just so you know…”

“Helena…” Geoff put his hand on her shoulder to assure her everything he said was on the level. “I assure you, I may have been checking her out, but I swear, I don’t seduce priestesses.”

Helena huffed slightly as Geoff rocked her back and forth slightly. She knew he hit on anything that moved as long as it could form a sentient thought. All it would take is for him to lock eyes with the Priestess and he’d try to bed her.

“She’s got to be at least fifty…” Geoff tried to reassure her. “Virginity’s not like wine. It goes sour eventually.” Helena growled slightly, punching him in the arm. She pulsed bright red, snarling and ready to tear into him when Constance stumbled up. Her legs were shaking as she walked, her dress only held up to her body by her elbows. Geoff didn’t know what to do, Helena standing slack jawed before rushing over to her and pulling her dress up to cover her when she realized it wasn’t intentionally.

“Don’t you…” Constance stared at Geoff, taking trembling steps forward. “Don’t you…EVER…talk about Yu’lena like that again…” She got to Geoff, standing in front of him. “EVER…or…or so help me, I’ll…I’ll…” She started to gag, falling to her knees. Geoff knew what was going to happen, jumping backwards as she wretched and vomited. Helena cringed, holding her hair back as she got sick again.

“Oh, honey…” Constance started to pass out, falling forward. Geoff caught her, keeping her from falling forward onto her own puddle. Constance collapsed to the deck, falling to the side. “Oh god, Geoff…I think she’s really sick…”

“Ugh…And she’s all sweaty and…just puked and everything…” Geoff groaned, scooping her up. “I’ll take her down to Patch…you take the next batch of men down to the planet.”

“I’m not sure I can…” After the conversation she just had with him, Helena wasn’t sure if she could trust Geoff at all with anyone anywhere.

“Helena…” Geoff shook his head, “She’s like…twelve AND unconscious. How much trouble can I get into?”

“Knowing you, Geoff…”


Sala and Kik’tik were both in a clothing shop on the human planet. Sala didn’t know what the name meant, Patton Colony. Very few humans did either, but Kik’tik knew. It was a gem of knowledge she always treasured, one of many.

Sala had a lot of her clothing picked out. She tried to make it all nice and relaxed fits, trying to get as far away from a uniform as she could. She bought a lot of evening dresses. They weren’t functional in the slightest, but she didn’t care. She was actually glad to have it that way. She couldn’t stand the idea of pants right now. Strangely, Kik’tik seemed to be buying clothes, too.

“…Why are you buying those?” Sala asked, trying to peak into her bags. Kik’tik pulled them away. Kik’tik was still wearing all of her armor, not taking off any of it.

“I’ve got a human-clothing fetish, alright?” She held up a big pair of jeans. “Split the butt for my tail, split the legs from the back of the knees all the way down, put a little adjustable loop around the cuff, and I have a nice pair of baggy jeans that don’t make me sweat like the damn robes all the other Laumur wear.”

“That’s really clever and sounds sort of cute…” Sala tried to stare at her through her visor. “When am I going to get to see what you really look like? I mean, we’re practically girlfriends…”

“Oh, you are so lucky no one around speaks Klo’rank…calling me your girlfriend…” She shook her head.

“Being a little touchy, don’t you think?” Sala forced a smile. “You know, I know how to speak English. I could make everyone think…”

“Just get your underpants so we can get the hell out of here…” Sala stopped in her tracks. She hadn’t thought about underwear. She wasn’t sure what she was going to wear since she lost her children. Anything that wasn’t frumpy was going to make her feel bad. Still, she wanted something nice that made her look good. She had no idea why she was so conflicted over something so small, biting her lip.


Zech was waiting outside of the clothing shop Sala and Kik’tik were in, wearing normal clothes. All he had though was a gray sleeveless shirt and a pair of fatigue pants. It wasn’t much, but that was fine. He had a pair of combat boots as well, it was all he needed. He was tired of being stared at by the small-eyed humans, hearing them chattering in their nonsensical language, so he decided to sleep. He was leaning against the wall, sleeping for what he knew was hours when Kik’tik and Sala came out.

“Still waiting here?” Kik’tik shook her head. “Don’t you need clothes, too?”

“After I know Sala is safe.” He walked over to Sala, who had countless bags in her arms. He didn’t quite know what to do, putting the back of his hand on the side of her face. “Did you find everything you needed, sister?”

“Yes…” Sala blushed slightly. She cast her eyes down, afraid if she was took look up at him, she’d blush bright cherry red. She smiled slightly. “I…I got you something…”

“…In there?” Zech was confused, knowing that all they had was women’s clothing. Sala looked up at him, smiling slightly.

“Well, it’s not so much for you, as it is for me to wear for you…” She rustled the bag with it in it slightly. Zech smirked slightly.

“Are you sure you’re not forcing yourself to…” Sala stretched up slightly to give Zech a quick peck on the lips.

“I’m sure I’m not forcing myself t…”

“Good lord, would you two just fuck and get it over with!?” Kik’tik yelled slightly. “I’m about to gag over here from all this sugary sweet sh…”

Kik’tik didn’t get to finish her sentence, a thunderous crack splitting through the air. Off in the distance, everyone could see what looked like a shining comet streaking straight towards the ground. It let off a trail of acrid black smoke into the air that billowed out into massive clouds that filled the sky. Smaller pieces broke off the comet, raining death on the city. The shards shattered through skyscrapers, sending them crashing to the ground.

The comet was uncomfortably close. Zech didn’t wait for what he knew was inevitably coming, grabbing Sala and shielding her. The comet smashed into the ground with a blast that rivaled the sun. A massive shockwave went off through the city, shattering all the windows it passed. The blast launched Sala, Zech, and Kik’tik through the streets of the city. Sala’s head cracked against the ground, knocking her unconscious.


Tasha’s eyes dripped tears as the demon tried to break her. It hovered around her, doing its best to pierce her mind. Nothing it could do could break her defenses for Paul to be able to control her. It was furious about it. No one should have been able to resist against him. She seemed to have a natural defense against telepathic control. It ignored that, knowing eventually she’d wear down.

Paul watched as the demon worked on Tasha. He couldn’t wait until Tasha was his. He had bored himself with Eliza, something Eliza was happy about. Still, his waning interest in her meant that Tasha was doomed to the same fate as she was. She couldn’t stand to see such a beautiful girl as Tasha suffer the same fate. She decided she was going to break Paul’s control over her even if it killed her. She’d be fine dying before seeing Tasha ravaged by him.

Eliza was actually surprised Paul couldn’t tell she wanted to kill him. Maybe he did, but felt invincible with the demon around. Of course, he had no reason not to believe it. She could barely blink on her own, little-lone move.

“I’m getting tired of waiting…” Paul tapped his fingers against the armrest of his chair. He had set up a throne in a local hotel, with all of his captured soldiers and police protecting him. He looked up at Eliza, who was standing right behind him. “Why didn’t you bring me that Rae slut? I could be buried in her…”

A shot went past Paul’s head, singeing his hair slightly. It was Jessie, leading the charge of all his soldiers from the Ecstasy of Gold. He bellowed, firing again as he rushed past Paul’s defensive line. No matter how many shots he took, though, none of them touched Paul. It was like a random muscle flinch always knocked his shot off course every time.

“Damn it…” He growled, but Paul just snickered. He snapped his fingers, sending Eliza after him. Jessie fired at her, but the shots just bounced off her armor. She slapped the pistol out of his hands. Jessie grit his teeth, pulling out a knife. He stabbed at Eliza, but the knife just sparked across her armor.

“Don’t kill him. I want to have some fun with him.” Paul shouted to Eliza, pretending she was willingly following his orders.


Ariis could ignore the hellfire around her. It hit her armor like a heavy rain. She was blind to it, even though it was shredding the soldiers from the Ecstasy of Gold around her. She had her hammer ready, smashing through the police and soldiers Paul had amassed. She crushed soldiers and smashed them, sending them flying into each other.

“Bastards!” She bellowed, sweeping her hammer to give her room to think. She saw the demon hovering around Tasha and couldn’t stand it. She fired a rocket. It screamed as it ripped through the air. The demon turned to face it. It stretched out its arms, the missile sinking into its infinite black body. The demon stared at her as she sent another missile uselessly into it.

“Akyllisian…” Ariis blinked, and in her blink, disaster struck. The demon fired back both missiles, demolishing the armor protecting her shapely hip and strong neck and shoulder. The blast charred part of her helmet and fried her visor so she couldn’t see. Ariis ripped off her helmet so she could see, and the demon used that moment to strike.

It disappeared in a small blast of black smoke. She tried to see where it went when it reappeared behind her. She turned to face it, but before she could, it plunged its claws into her hip and neck. She gasped in pain, feeling a horrible ink pouring into her body. It petrified her, keeping her from moving.

At first it burned horribly, like an acid melting its way into her body. The blood spurting and dripping its way out of her wounds felt positively ice-cold compared to it. It was so hot it actually started to make Ariis drip sweat. It started to spread through her body, but instead of a searing heat, it was intoxicating warmth. She sighed as the demon pulled her into the icy cold shadow of its body.


“What the hell…” Jessie was distracted for a second by the sight of the Demon seemingly absorbing Ariis. She dropped her hammer as it completely engulfed her. The second’s distraction it provided was all Eliza needed to get him. She caught him with a swift blow to the chin, knocking him unconscious again.

“Tie him to that chair!” Paul yelled to Eliza again. “I think I know the exact way to drive him mad…”


Paul’s control quickly filtered through to all of the other soldiers Jessie had brought with him. They all lowered their rifles, falling in line with the rest of Paul’s men, though it wasn’t without its costs. Over half the men he had brought with him were either dead or dying with no hope of getting treatment.


Sala woke up, feeling like she was being crushed into the ground by something. She could barely breath, able to tell she had at least one cracked rib if not more. She was blinded and couldn’t hear anything. She was horrified at first, afraid she was going to be senseless for the rest of her life, but the fear was short lived.

The first sense that returned to her was smell. The air smelled like ash and burning concrete. She remembered it from when she was living on an island as a child. It was volcanically active, occasionally sending lava flows into her city. She was rescued from a rooftop as the volcano sent a massive flood of lava at her city, wiping it off the face of the planet. She’d never forget that horrible smell. She coughed, blinking her eyes.

Her sight was fuzzy at first, but she soon saw it was Zech lying on top of her causing her pain. It was all the cybernetics in his body, making him way upwards of three-hundred if not four-hundred pounds. He had a large shard of glass that was two fingers wide sticking out of his shoulder. It was buried deep, making her worry it killed him. She put her hands on his shoulders, shaking him as best as she could.

“ZECH!” She didn’t know how loud she was talking, just doing her best to yell. The first thing she heard wasn’t her own voice, but actually Zech groaning as he woke up. He recovered much faster than her, jumping back out of fright of hurting Sala.

“Are you alright, Sister?” He brushed her off, trying to help her up.

“Stop calling me that…” Sala groaned, getting to her feet. “I’m more worried about you…” Zech turned his head, looking at the shard of glass in his left shoulder.

“It is shorting out my left arm…But it hasn’t made it through my shoulder blade.” Kik’tik grabbed the shard of glass, ripping it out of Zech’s shoulder without a word. Zech snarled, but didn’t have a major reaction. He started moving his left arm. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me until we can get that repaired on my ship…” Kik’tik was wearing her armor, so she was completely unfazed by the shockwave. She kept her eyes locked on where the comet hit. Zech knew it was where she was staring, because that’s the only thing he could stare at too. “What is it…Why can’t I take my eyes off it?”

“I can’t either…” Zech blinked and rubbed his eyes. His cybernetic eyes were even drawn to it. He saw a massive burning crater in the heart of the city, with a lone, black silhouette in it. For the first time he could remember, he felt his heart grow heavy with fear. He loathed the feeling. “Do you see that?”

“See what, Soldier-boy?” Kik’tik growled. “Not all of us have…”

[PEOPLE OF THE COLONY FORMALLY KNOWN AS SAKURA SEVEN…] A boom telepathic voice ripped into the panicked mass’s minds. Sala, Zech, Kik’tik, and everyone else instinctively tried to cover their ears to protect themselves from the noise. […NOW KNOWN AS WHATEVER PATHETIC NAME YOU CALL IT...YOU WILL SURENDER YOUR SHIPS, YOUR WEAPONS, YOUR LIVES AND YOUR VERY SOULS TO US OR WE WILL ANNIHILATE EVERY LAST SCRAP OF LIFE ON THIS PLANET!]

Sala collapsed to her knees, overpowered by the telepathic yell. Zech shook his head, trying to break whatever telepathic link there was on him. Kik’tik was even trying to break the link. It didn’t make sense to Zech. She shouldn’t be feeling the affect as much as the rest of them. Her brain structure should have been different.

“Sala…” Kik’tik picked her up by the arm. Sala was staring off into space now, looking up into the clouded black sky.

“Hell…” She mumbled. “They’ve…they’ve pulled the whole planet into hell…”

“SALA! Snap out of it!” Kik’tik was about to slap Sala, but Zech grabbed her wrist and stopped her. He would have done something far more horrible to her if she actually struck her.

“She’s in artificial shock because of the telepathy…” He growled. “She’s a comm officer, not a soldier. She hasn’t been trained to resist it.” Kik’tik shook her head. Zech came to realize she was affected by the telepathy, too. “We need to get out of here. We don’t want to be anywhere near anything that powerful.”

“I’ve got to see what it is…” Kik’tik said quietly. She gave her bags to Sala. “Take these back to my ship, alright?”

“…” Sala stared up at the sky, mesmerized. Kik’tik clicked her fingers, trying to get her attention. Zech finally put his hand on Sala’s face, staring into her eyes.

“Sala, it’s going to be okay. I’ll protect you, alright?” Sala nodded, but still didn’t say anything. Kik’tik sighed, putting a device around Sala’s wrist. Sala dissolved into flickers of light. Zech grit his teeth.

“I didn’t disintegrate her or anything. I just teleported her back to my ship.” Zech still stared at Kik’tik like he was trying to burn a hole through her skull. “She wasn’t going to get back to the ship by herself.”

“Do you have any idea how DANGEROUS teleporting someone is!?” He howled. “It’s only suppose to be used…”

“Yours are dangerous. Laumur teleporters could beam someone off the surface of a star without any danger.” Kik’tik drew a rifle, throwing it to Zech before getting another gun for herself. “She’ll be safe on the ship anyway. No telepath I’ve ever met has been able to pierce its hull.” She threw Zech a couple battery packs. “Now, are you going to stand here, getting mad at me for saving your girlfriend, or are you going to help me see what the hell exactly just hit the city and is demanding our enslavement?”

Zech begrudgingly agreed, loading the battery into his rifle. He slapped it in and hit the button to lock it in place, with a loud clack. He aimed the rifle into the air and popped off a shot, making Kik’tik jump.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Kik’tik realized what he was doing, checking to make sure she gave him a functional battery. She shrugged. “Think you can keep up with me outside of your armor?”

“…” Zech growled silently, running as fast as he could towards the crater. Kik’tik smirked and started running after him. Her stride was bigger and faster, so she quickly caught up and passed him. She jogged with him briefly to give him the impression that they were even before she bolted off into the distance.

She got to the crater first. She was glad she had her suit on as she ran through the black smoke that hung in the air. She looked around, trying to see the figure Zech had spotted. It didn’t take long, a lone female figure walking out of the column of smoke.

“A Laumur…How interesting…” The figure was obviously Rae. She had the same glowing spots and long ears. Her hair was raven black, and she had pearl smooth and perfect skin. Over her arms, the back of her hands, legs, and neck had strange onyx-black ridges that looked like they had bloodlessly ripped through her flesh from her bones. Her hair was long down past her knees, covering the ridges on her bare back. She had on armored vambraces, the same black and texture as her ridges. She had a breast-plate that had ripped through her black dress like it had through her dress like it had her flesh. The long dress had armor on the two sides. The dress itself was black, with delicate silk across her stomach and sides with a pattern embroidered in it. Under her armored dress, she had tall, thigh-high leather boots. Her pearl white skin had black veins snaking through it. The most noticeable thing that Kik’tik couldn’t take her eyes off was the Rae’s glowing red eyes. “You will be my personal pet…”

“Like hell…” Kik’tik aimed her rifle at the twisted Rae. She managed to pull the trigger slightly as the gun ripped itself out of her hands. The shots fired off blindly into the sky.

“I see…” Kik’tik was sure her voice matched the voice that boomed through everyone’s minds mere moments before. Kik’tik was apprehensive already. The Messenger raised her hand. “Since I would want you as a pet, I’ll forgive that little indiscretion if you remove that foul helmet and kiss my hand.” Kik’tik tried to draw another rifle, but the Messenger ripped it out of her hands again. “Very well, I’ll make you…”

The Messenger flicked her hair to the side. Kik’tik didn’t know what she was going to do, but she didn’t expect what came next. A massive arm of lightning ripped out of her back, extending into the air. It was jagged, clawed, and impossible, with energy flicking off it. With a snap, it thundered towards Kik’tik, grabbing her and slamming her into a wall a step behind her.

Zech finally got to the scene as Kik’tik was pinned against the wall. She cried out in agony as the hand crushed her into the wall. The Messenger didn’t pay any attention to him, focusing everything on Kik’tik. She snapped her fingers, and a flick of lightning launched Kik’tik’s helmet off. Kik’tik’s long blonde hair unfurled in the wind.