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.