Hekate's Call, Chapter 10

If you outperform Charlotte in training I’ll give you another kiss.

Manya’s voice was so sweet in her ear in the hallway before the pilots all suited and saddled up. She was so much fairer than Velia. Better than Krystyn was a much clearer and more achievable goal than being pretty for Velia. And those kisses tasted so good too.

Sometimes letting pretty women manipulate you was alright, actually.

The comm crackled.

Plan?

“Smash the Inertia,” Hunter grinned as she did the final system’s check on the Parting Word.

Explain.

Hound’s voice was as calm as always, almost mechanical. Only recently had Crater’s golden girl started asking for reasoning behind things instead of blindly taking orders. It was a good sign, Hunter reasoned, understanding was a key to growth.

“Illustrious will be further back in the asteroids waiting to take shots at us, the Inertia will take a forward position to pin us down for her,” Hunter revved up her compact reactor and moved onto the field waiting for the mark. “They’re both faster than us, and the Inertia is stronger the longer the fight drags on. We smash it fast and force a surrender.”

The Inertia is a hard target. Even Scandal will have a difficult time destroying it.

“We don’t want to destroy it.”

Control. Mark set. All pilots in position. Begin exercise.

Working with Hound was easy. They had an incredible intuitive sense of the field and only needed a word or two to know what to do. Often they only needed virtual paint on the HUD to know what Hunter needed them to do. It was like she was back home working beneath the shadow of the Scavenger again.

“Cover.”

The Scandal scooped a large piece of rock as soon as the exercise began and floated in front of the two of them. One. Two. Heaven’s Hammer, as big fist on the Scandal had been dubbed, slammed into the back of it, exploding into dust and debris covering their advance.

Launcher one, two. Two heavy burst grenades followed in the debris, fired from the Parting Word. Illustrious's sensor suit wouldn’t be fooled, but she wouldn’t fire without visual confirmation, which meant that the Inertia would move through the debris to meet their advance.

“Throw.”

She painted two lines on the field using her neural link. One from a piece of debris. The Scandal twisted, scooping it up and throwing it with its entire weight directly across the Inertia’s projected movement. In the same spin the Scandal’s smaller arm grabbed the Parting Word and threw it underhand, delayed, parallel to the first.

Heaven’s Hammer rattled as it reached its peak charge again. The Scandal was met by the Inertia as expected, reaching forward with its ferrofluid barrier used to freeze the Scandal’s legs to the field like ice. Just out of reach of the hammer.

Trigger one, two. The heavy burst grenades exploded overhead and to the rear of the Inertia, disrupting it for an instant. It took half a step forward as the ACS tried to keep it upright. It would have been fatal for any other machine, since the hammer had a longer reach than anyone expected.

The Scandal swept forwards, extending the hammer to its full length and slammed into the Inertia’s heavy armor and ferrofluid barrier. It exploded, scattering the barrier for a moment and rocking the Inertia. It caused significant damage, but it was a weapon designed to break barriers, not pierce them. But what mattered was covering the sight lines with a spectacle.

Hunter adjusted mid-throw, grasping the field with her boots and redirecting all her momentum into the Inertia’s chest. She’d floated past it with the initial throw, and Charlatan needed to keep both her eyes on the Scandal at all times.

Victory.

The Parting Word turned mid-air, slamming into the upper torso with its feet, mag-clamps activating. Hunter moved her hand and pulled the emergency latch for the cockpit and swung into the opening scattergun first.

Charlatan raised her hands in the mech, cursing into her helmet. Hunter pulled a hardline comm cable and hooked into the Inertia’s controls.

“Move your shields to the rear,” Hunter ordered.

The ferrofluid barrier shifted in an instant to cover the Inertia’s back. The Scandal scooped up the Inertia by the leg and opposite shoulder and started a slow march towards the asteroid field where Illustrious was.

Taking hostages is so like you, precious Hunter, Illustrious giggled over the comms, Mercy, mercy! I can’t very well shoot through Charlotte without the rail.

Control. Exercise over. Hunter and Hound, victory. Return to the bays.

The Work From Home was always in the hanger first. First in and usually first out. It was a fast machine, with six spider like legs sticking out from its oval platform. Angular and matte black, though it had been dull greys and browns when it was planetside — oddly practical camouflage for someone who was otherwise so readily noticeable.

Ilina liked the sight of it with the massive rail. The way the rails on the main cannon would part before it fired, and the slight opening of the casing for air flow. It was a beautiful mechanism to watch in motion.

Firing the rail required the entire body to brace; the legs formed a stable tripod, the platform would dip forward, and the turret would be raised slightly. The large cavity at the rear back of the platform would glow red with reactor heat.

The longer she thought about the motion of the machine the more Ilina blushed on the elevator up to the main pilot’s catwalk. Oh, stars above. Was it supposed to look that sexual? Like Manya stretched out on the bed like a cat. Or taking backshots. Oh, it was intentional wasn’t it.

“Candy?” Manya offered as Ilina approached on the empty pier.

Manya snatched Ilina up and plunged her tongue in deep. She did promise she would make Ilina a good kisser. All she had to do was pay attention and do what Manya did. And she earned this treat. There was that sweet taste that made things feel fuzzy. Candy. The little pet phrase for her chemical kisses. Ilina was never one for those kinds of high but she was quickly developing a sweet tooth.

Manya pulled away suddenly. Ilina turned to see Velia as her eyes refocused.

Oh. Velia!

Manya wiped away of thick, sweet drool from Ilina’s lips.

Oh, did she see that?

“Shore leave in a few days, right?” Velia’s eyes were dark. She was upset. But she gave Manya permission, right? Ilina hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Yeah,” Ilina wavered. It took her a moment to adjust her voice and clear the fuzz out of her brain. “I asked Crater to let you disembark. We’re going to go shopping and I wanted you to come with us! A, uh, date, maybe?”

Velia was chewing the inside of her lip. “I’m not allowed to disembark.”

“Crater promised!”

“Not her call.”

“I take it,” Manya draped arms around Ilina’s shoulders, pressing her breasts into the back of Ilina’s head, “that the good doctor did not deign to renew your passport during your stay with Carrion.”

A silence. Acknowledgement. Morian? Ilina didn’t need a passport because she had her licenses. Morian. Oh, but Velia wasn’t a pilot or a mercenary or even an employee of Hekate’s. Morian.

She had so much time to rectify this. This wasn’t just Morian’s fault. This was conspiracy. Between Morian and Crater, they knew this would be a problem before Ilina signed the contract. Employees were promised shore leave, Crater could guarantee that. They could have pushed the application process through quickly.

“If Crater puts a contract in front of you, don’t sign it,” Ilina growled from the deep pit in her chest.

Manya froze stiff for a second.

Velia waved a hand and leaned on the catwalk railing, “I’m not as stupid as you are. Kyrnn is going to help me with the paperwork for a proper passport. Crater’s not taking off until I have the documents in hand, either.”

“I was really hoping that I’d be able to get you alone for a night,” Manya pouted, “Can I at least play with this one while we’re on leave?”

There was another odd tension. Ilina could feel the slight tightness in Manya’s frame, and Velia’s eyes gave away some kind of disdain. Something was on her mind. Was she jealous? Why was Manya nervous? Ilina used to be so sure of her read on people.

“I don’t like you,” Velia pushed off the railing and started back to her room, “keep your hands to yourself.”

“But that’s what makes it so hot. Right, little hunter?” Manya whispered once Velia was out of earshot.

The shuttle down planetside to the market was pretty. Lush greens and vast oceans of radiant blue surrounded the massive bustling city that surrounded the planet's solitary mass driver. The driver was built into the mountain, throwing objects into low-orbit at regular intervals.

Fucking-nowhere had nothing so pretty. Not after centuries of being eviscerated for reactor material. A dead husk of a planet that couldn't sustain the dwindling population. Everyone scrambling to fight over what little there was left.

The abundance of the market planet, of which every person in Hekate save Vigil -- suspiciously absent from the field trip -- had told her the name of several times, was nauseating. The colors hurt Ilina's eyes. Krystyn should have kept the window seat instead of ceding it to Ilina on Manya's request. There was also that churning in her stomach that hadn't gone away since orbit.

Some unspecified anger in the pit of her that flared up whenever someone shouted about the cheap prices for luxury goods. Was the rest of the galaxy really this well off? She would have been taken advantage of if she'd ever gone off world by herself, everything seemed too good to be true.

She was in the middle of assuring herself that things were too good to be true while she checked the leather of incredible looking boots. Synthetics were easy to print, but you ended up with repeated patterns in the texture and grain and they always came out oddly identical. The sign claimed them to be genuine.

"You know," the merchant man, large enough to be a mountain, guffawed, "don't get a lot of people being that thorough. They're all genuine, don't you worry. Girls like y'all are real particular about these kinds of things, aren't ya?"

”Mercs?” Krystyn joked, leaning on the counter and eying the merchant up and down. Disgusting woman.

“Perverts,” Ilina countered as placed two pairs of the boots on the counter. One in her own size, and one in Velia’s. Velia’s nice pair never made it. She looked good in those heavy boots. “Do you have care kits, wax pens and laces and the like?”

The mountain chuckled and pulled a neatly organized box from behind the counter, “Most people don’t ask so we only keep a few out here.”

“Cobbler? Blondie needs a grommet repaired.”

The mountain leaned forward and looked at Krystyn’s boots. “So they do. The actual shops a few blocks away, you can take them there and it shouldn’t be long. They can shine them too if, uh, you don’t want to.”

Ilina put her money on the counter and shoved the boots into her bag. They’d have to be shipped off world ahead of the girls, but that was the general flow of things. Couldn’t carry that much on the person-shuttle.

“I don’t shine for just anyone,” Ilina smiled, “but it would be a shame to see those boots fall apart.”

Several blocks and an hour later, Krystyn’s boots were repaired and the three of the girls were discussing lunch. Market stall food was always delicious. Why did the best tasting meat always come from grungy stalls on the side of the road? She was so busy sorting through the endless aromas of vendor food she hadn’t noticed all the little noises she’d been making at Manya’s careful touches.

Exacting touches.

When Krystyn finally offered to go pick everyone up food so that they could stay in the shade, Ilina finally remembered where she was. Manya had been touching Ilina’s neck and waist in the exact same places, with the same force and attitude, as Velia did. Another inhuman action, another thing to worry about around the devil-thing. It wasn’t an accident or coincidence, and to rationalize it as such was stupid.

“She’s going to get those dreadful looking kebabs. She was making eyes at the stall boy.”

Manya’s voice was relaxing too. Ilina couldn’t smell candy, but that didn’t necessarily mean Manya wasn’t doing any factory tricks. It was keeping her on edge.

Krystyn appeared before them, dreadful kebabs in hand. Sheepish in a way, flush in the cheeks. Everyone got two except Krystyn, who had three. A free one from the stall boy. Disgusting woman. It was hard to see her smiling and giggling like a schoolgirl getting her first love letter after their scuffle. Why did she invite Ilina out with the two of them? Crater’s orders? Morian’s threats?

“Now, now, Charlotte,” Manya said between bites, “you know pilots aren’t allowed near men like that, right?”

“Don’t tell Crater lies to get me in trouble,” Krystyn said while chewing, “What? Am I only allowed to shop at placed manned by women? That rule is some kind of discrimination.”

Ilina polished off her kebabs quick. They weren’t a full meal, and the meat was rather tough, but it was a nice change of pace from the Gestalt’s printed foods. She was barely paying attention to the inane conversation going on between the two of them.

“Speaking of which,” Krystyn said, clearing her throat with a swig from her water bottle, “Who have you been screwing, girl?”

Oh. Ilina blinked before realizing she was being addressed. ”What?” She questioned idly. Not meant to be a real question, but Krystyn responded anyways to it.

“Oh, come on. You said it to Crater, in front of all of us. Which lucky boy was it? You’re down in mechanics a lot, was it one of them? Or someone from the general staff? It’s bullshit that your pass lets you go basically anywhere on board when I’m locked to the upper decks and the hanger.”

“It’s just been Velia,” Ilina mumbled. “Manya a couple times, too. But mostly Velia.”

Krystyn looked like a woman who had just been struck by lightning. “Whaaaat? Velia’s that lobodomite, right? She’s a fucking tranny? What the hell. I pegged you for a queer, but I figured you were like Manya and not like… that.”

“Charlotte!” Before Ilina could even consider reaching for her knife, Manya had snapped.

“I, ah, fuck,” Krystyn stammered. Her whole body language changed. “Shit, I didn’t mean it like that.” What did you mean it like, then? “There’s nothing wrong with any of that, I just,” she babbled uselessly.

“I’ve been trying to be better,” she finished, quietly. Defeated. “It ain’t an excuse, but I’m from Central Domon.”

Ilina didn’t know or care where that was. No wonder Velia thought the woman was fucking scum. All of Ilina’s previous reads rendered correct in one fell swoop. Including all the times she'd thought the woman was desperate to say a slur and held it back.

“So, you’re a lesbian?” Krystyn offered sheepishly. Ilina ignored it and finished her kebabs. “And Velia’s uh, transgender? I never would have guessed.” Only weirdos speculated about that shit.

“I’m really sorry. How long have you two been an item?” She started to recover, not that it lightened Ilina’s mood any. “Was she in an accident? She’s doing a lot better it seems. Hard to believe the Corpse Eater’s a good doctor, actually, but it’s impossible to deny her results. Hell, the dog’s been doing better since she’s been on board too.”

“Symeon’s been a tough one,” Manya hummed as they all started grabbing their things to find lodging for the week. “Whatever Morian’s been up to has definitely helped in and out of combat. She can even manage whole sentences now. You could theoretically have a conversation with her even.”

The tense silence continued through to their destination. A far too expensive hotel for Ilina’s tastes, too many entrances and exits and far too many people. Their room was an expensive looking suite with a single bed.

“So am I on the floor, or is she?” Ilina looked to Manya, ignoring Krystyn.

”It’s get-along time, the both of you,” Manya put her bags down and spread out on the bed to show just how much room there was. Ample. “I need to go notify Liz that we’ve settled in, actually. No fighting. I’ll be back soon.”

Manya jumped up and grabbed her personal bag before strolling out of the room without another word. Why would she leave Ilina and Krystyn alone like this?

“Really put my foot in my mouth, huh?” Krystyn laughed, halfheartedly. “I invited out all the way out here to apologize for a bunch of shit, and then let all that slip. How badly do you hate me right now?”

Ilina started unpacking in silence. She could kill Krystyn. That wasn’t the hard part. She was leashed to Hekate, so she couldn’t just dispose of one of the pilots in a room while they were alone. She would definitely get caught and the Inertia was too critical. It was a matter of safety ensuring that Krystyn at least liked her enough to protect her.

“Do you even realize how terrifying you are?” Krystyn asked, annoyance slipping in.

“Oh shut up,” Ilina barked, finally. “Justify it however you want, you hate me just like everyone else does.”

Krystyn sat down on the floor, edging into her line of sight. Oh great, now the fucking cock-hungry bimbo pitied her. As if things couldn’t get worse.

“You almost killed Vigil. Nothing has put a scratch on the Scandal in years. But you did,” Krystyn began, for some reason, “And then you showed up on base and before any of us even caught sight of you, you were on a first name basis with most of Hekate’s support staff. Had mechanics asking me to get your number for them after that first meeting.”

Ilina frowned. What was she supposed to say? Was she fishing for an apology?

“Watching you move is terrifying, even before watching those hacked-together battle logs of you dancing around Doru in skeleton city. Manya described it as grace,” Krystyn sighed and scratched her head, “the only people that I’ve seen who have the kind of sense of space and yourself are like Manya and Vigil, and neither of them are humans. Monsters.”

“So, I’m a monster?”

“You felt like one. You’re smart, too. You haven’t lost a training session on offense or defense. Prodigy shit, you know?” Krystyn let her self laugh, weakly. “I shouldn’t have treated you like that, you didn’t do anything to deserve it.”

“She’s also so much better in bed than you, Charlotte,” Manya had slipped in silently at some point. She sat on a piece of furniture in casual clothes, tail lashing back and forth.

“What you mean to say,” Ilina stood up, finally having emptied her worn out little duffel bag full of clothes, her pistol, and a few other effects, “is that I’m an outsider.”

“I invited you out here so that I could try to fix that,” to Ilina. She turned to the newly appeared Manya, “What did Crater say?”

“To keep you away from bars and boys,” Manya grinned, “and to show the little hunter a good time.”

“Hey, Falke. Where’s your girl, anyways? Why’s she not down here? Could have gotten you two a nice little room together, I’m sure.”

Manya chirped in excitedly, gossiping and making spooky hands, “Kyrnn didn’t get Velia a passport because she was a corpse.”

Ilina rolled her eyes and crawled onto the large bed. It was soft. It was going to be warm with just one other person. She might not be able to stand a blanket if all three of them needed to be in it. Right, they were talking about Velia and Morian. Before Krystyn could talk shit about Morian, Ilina forced her way back into the conversation.

“Morian forgot to get herself a passport. Said she never thought she’d go off-world again. She’s barely capable of looking after herself, she shouldn’t have been responsible for looking after Velia’s paperwork in the first place.”

“Did the Corpse Eater tell you that?”

“Yeah.”

“Fucked,” Krystyn grumbled, “Bet you went there to yell at her, and she made those remorseful eyes when she said it, and you just bought every word.”

It wasn’t just the look. Morian had pat her on the head when she was about to start cursing her. She apologized for forgetting. For not thinking how Velia would need it if Ilina ever decided to leave. That Velia was never meant to be a hostage or a bargaining chip. The only reason that Ilina didn’t need one was her pilot’s license being recognized everywhere, it was as good or better than a passport issued by a government agency. So the rest just slipped her mind.

Her cheeks started to run red thinking about how easy Morian could handle her. How much of that was even true? Did she actually mean it?

“Booze is across the street, pretty cheap too. I saw it when I was fishing for an omni connect,” Manya smiled. “If we’re trying to mend bridges here, then there’s nothing to do but get drunk and have a proper slumber party.”

Krystyn threw back her drink and made some loud guttural noise. Finally, “I’m so bored. Who’s everyone’s favorite on the Gestalt? Falke, go!”

Ilina started. A weird question. Krystyn was getting drunk and sentimental. Weird.

“Morian, probably,” she sighed. There was a small sound of awe from the bed. “I mean, she’s put out plenty of cigarettes on me but she’s always been careful about it and makes sure to pay me plenty for it. I don’t trust her, but not because she’s a liar or anything, she’s just… I don’t get what she gets for being so nice to me all the time.”

There was an uncomfortable silence, broken by a very loud and abrupt Krystyn after everyone gave up processing that.

“Taitle from engineering! If I was allowed to go down there I’d have that twink against a wall so fast.”

“Taitle’s a woman,” Manya stifled a giggle.

“Fuck, are you kidding me?” Krystyn cursed and threw her empty bottle across the room with the rest. “Elisabet’s hiring those fucking dykes to spite me, I know it.”

Was the right answer supposed to be Velia, then? Alcohol never gave her that happy buzz that a lot of people seemed to get. She just felt thick and slow and bad. It threw off her balance too, which was the worst feeling. Every step and every motion felt wrong and made her feel stupid for fucking it up. She didn’t like Morian the way they probably thought after that. She should say something.

“Manya! Your turn.”

Manya rolled on the bed for a moment before propping herself back up and twirling her hair. She was starting at Ilina. “I think it’s a tie for Ilina and Velia. Ilina’s just so adorable and whines so pretty when I touch her. I’m crushing hard on Velia though, you know? She hates me, and I’m scared she might break me like she broke you and that’s just hot.”

Krystyn grumbled and reached for another bottle from the bed, which Ilina kicked away.

“Are you really going to snitch on me if I go get some hooker on shore leave,” Krystyn slurred half into the mattress.

Manya seemed suspiciously undrunk for all she’d consumed. Modifications probably. Was the factory breaking it down? Or was it something else? Did anything the devil-thing consume matter? Couldn’t she eat anything and break down anything bad and refab it into good things?

Manya purred. “Liz gave me one real job. Last time you got some local cock, Hekate almost had a lawsuit. You’re so dependable in your steel, but such a liability in your flesh.”

The conversation rolled in and out of Ilina’s head. Marbles on a track going round and round.

She just wanted to sleep.

She wouldn’t have to listen to those inane conversations when she was asleep.

The devil-thing helped her crawl up onto the bed and gave her candy to help her sleep. A few minutes before it worked its way through her system she felt an equally hazy Krystyn cozy up behind her absently.

Disgusting woman.