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.