Hekate's Call, Chapter 28

Krystyn was the last to file into Crater's office. Any time she called for a meeting outside of the regularly scheduled times, it felt like something bad was going to happen. Crater sat behind her desk, as usual, barely bringing her eyes from from the endless stream of paperwork that came from running an entire business by herself. That wasn't what caught her attention, or anyone else's.

Velia leaned against the front of Crater's desk, facing the pilots who instinctively fanned out around her for whatever announcement was going to be made instead of taking their places on the couches. Krystyn couldn't take her eyes off Velia though, and not in the way that she would have liked.

Velia wore a very close approximation of an officer's uniform. The insignias belonging to the Domon Imperium were missing, of course. But it was unmistakable. Layers of black, different materials and textures, the long officer's coat, the combat boots. The longer Krystyn looked the worse it got. The smallest details stood out to her the most, like how the collar was pressed and how the coat was buttoned.

Her heart was pounding in her chest like an autohammer. When Velia reached behind her and picked up a little cap and gently placed it on her head, adjusting it just so, it pushed Krystyn's brain over the edge.

She looked just as smug and confident as Crater the day all the pilots of Krystyn's units were called to attention so she could announce that she was in charge. The beginning of the end. The codification of all the abuses that made Krystyn squirm into rules that slipped under her guilt and washed it away like a flood tide. The first time Elisabet called Krystyn aside to tell her she'd buried some reports from the others because she was such a dependable pilot. It was happening again in this room.

"Is the hat a bit much?" Velia asked, breaking the unspoken tension in the room.

Crater rolled her eyes, "I think you are being rather dramatic about this."

"It's perfect," Ilina blurt out, louder than was appropriate. Oh gods, the little freak was tugging at her own clothing and basically panting. When everyone turned to look at her she shrunk back a little, trying to stifle some kind of nervous laugh, "Oh, I, ah. I'm sorry for speaking out of line, Sir."

No word Ilina had ever spoken, even at her most pathetic and wretched, sounded as deeply religious and reverent than that single Sir. Krystyn watched the two of them make eye contact and Ilina almost collapsed to her knees in supplication on the spot.

Velia was careful not to spend too much time watching the meltdown, glancing at everyone in turn instead of reveling in Ilina like she so obviously wanted to. "Welcome all, I am here to announce that I am your new commander."

Crater cut in, dryly, "Sub-Commander. Or Vice-Commander. Whichever you prefer. We will work out a proper title in time. Velia Lore will be in charge of operation planning and pilot affairs. You all report to her now, and her authority is equal to mine."

Did nobody else feel the dread of this moment. Vigil just nodded at Crater's explanation, it was all the dog needed to hear. Just a new person to take orders from and it probably slotted directly into her brain that Velia's orders took precedence over Krystyn's. Manya had that viper's grin on her face, like she was thinking of how exactly she was going to wrap Velia around her finger.

"I'd like to ask for an explanation," Krystyn managed to say, looking past Velia and directly at Crater. "Velia Lore is a civilian passenger."

Crater nodded at that. An acknowledgement. "To be honest, I was never planning on hiring her. But she made quite the case when it came to the rescue operation. Was it not her who planned everyone's positions to utilize them correctly? Did she not predict both Falke's escape plan, but also where she would attempt to ambush Carrie?"

The new commander beamed at the praise. It was true. Her planning was impeccable. She'd obviously been studying all of Hekate's combat logs as religiously as Ilina did, and knew exactly what each machine had at its disposal. Not to mention she knew how Ilina would operate solo, which was more than anyone in Hekate could say.

"More importantly," Elisabet continued, putting down her pen and leaning back. Whatever was about to leave her mouth physically pained her to admit. "Dr. Kyrnn was right. I cannot fill every executive role that's needed to keep Hekate's Call functioning. This has placed an undue burden on you in particular, Zechs. You deserve a commander you can work more closely with. This will free me up to better handle the rest of our operations."

Yeah, fine. You're overworked. You always have been. Since when did it get bad enough for you to start delegating? Did the Corpse Eater put it in your empty little doll head to step down and give this over to this woman? There had to be something here she could use.

"What about her relationship with Falke? Isn't that against some kind of rule?"

Velia cut in, confident she could handle it herself. "I have been quite thorough, familiarizing myself with the company's charters and policies. There is nothing... improper about our relationship." She grinned Crater's signature grin. "I would have thought you of all people would have wanted to see several of those rules changed. After all they all seem so targeted and unfair."

"Those rules exist for a reason," Crater snipped.

Velia tilted her head back slightly, not even turning to look at Crater but instead spent her gaze drinking in Krystyn. "The only way to know if she will succeed is to give her opportunities for failure. Give me some time, I'm sure we can draw out some kind of personal growth from her. They might not be necessary anymore. And if they are, then that will be another lesson for her."

Starting with the carrot. Trying to get on everyone's good sides. Promising to scrub away consequences. It was exactly how Crater earned the pilot's favor when she first stepped up to her post. It really was happening all over again. Liz warned them all that the girls from FN-4-06 were insane and that its leading superpower founded itself on the Domon Imperium's worst, most horrific tenets. Krystyn couldn't imagine how much worse things were about to get.

Velia clapped once and smiled. Ilina almost dropped at it. She looked to the rest of the group. "If there's no further complaints, then we can get on with my first order of business."

The pilots were all silent, except for Ilina's shuffling. Gods below, dressing Velia up in some leather was all it took for her, huh? The girl was seconds away from falling apart.

"Symeon Vigil," she turned her attention away from Krystyn and focused on the dog. "After reviewing combat data for the past six years, I have come the conclusion that you have, frankly, not been worth a penny that's been invested in you." Vigil glanced to Liz, who just made a dismissive motion with her hand behind Velia's back. "I don't think this is your fault, to be clear. This is a failure of leadership, from the outset."

"Sir?"

Velia nodded for Vigil to speak.

"Are you suggesting that my poor performance is the commander's fault?" Dog was holding back its bite. Another word about Crater and she would snap Velia in half, no contest. No amount of special forces training would save her from that beast.

The newly appointed vice-commander simply nodded. "Yes. Commander Elisabet Crater has gravely failed you." At this she took off her hat and placed it on the desk beside her. Crater steadied the dog with a hand. "If she disagreed, she wouldn't have given me this post."

Putting words in Crater's mouth was dangerous. Even more dangerous in front of the dog and in front of the woman herself. Uncharacteristically, Crater laughed darkly and showed the first signs of wear in her face that Krystyn had seen in all her years in the woman's proximity.

"Velia is correct." Crater stood and circled the desk to address Vigil more personally. Placing a hand on her shoulder and dispelling the building rage. "You are to respect her orders as if they were my own. Do you understand?" A moment later, Vigil nodded. She understood even if she didn't like it. "Good. Her criticism of my leadership has merit, even if I wish she'd be nicer about it."

With that Crater dismissed herself from the meeting. A much needed rest, she said. If she was in her office she would see to her paperwork because she was a workaholic. Now it was the pilots and the vice-commander. Ilina's girlfriend. A woman who burst something with a single strike to Krystyn's back and put her in the hospital for a week. A woman with a very tenuous grasp of who she was at any given moment.

But Velia beamed. She was almost giddy about her new posting. And that nobody could leave until they were dismissed. A captive audience. Just... great.

"Let's start," she hopped up on Crater's desk, sitting pleasantly. "Everyone sit." The slightest pause as she made eye contact with Ilina. "On the couches."

Both Manya and Ilina headed for the couch Krystyn chose. Which was awkward for everyone in the room. Ilina relented and sat herself down next to Vigil, choosing a good angle to leer at her girlfriend over sitting next to Krystyn. Manya leaned in a little too close. People were going to get ideas if they didn't already know.

"I can fill my darling, beloved girlfriend in on the general details later so this will be brief for everyone else." Velia hummed, picking how to start. As if she hadn't prepared and practiced it. She probably did. Velia struck Krystyn as that kind of neurotic. "When Elisabet was putting together the team, she was inexperienced in leading an ace squadron. She put Symeon into a cheap junker unit with confidence that she would rack up the kills with Heaven's Hammer."

Except that never happened. The Scandal was a slow machine, and the hammer was a clunky weapon at the best of times. If they were in some kind of general forces, fighting on the line with dozens of other machines, it would have torn up a battlefield. That was where Crater's experience was. The hammer became a tool of intimidation and field control instead of a corpse creating weapon, boxing out an area of unpassable terrain around the Scandal more or less the same way the Inertia did. Velia's explanation followed Krystyn's knowledge.

Velia's smile and cheeriness faded on cue. "And that's where we arrive at the problem. This has stunted your grown as a pilot, Symeon. You are an incredible pilot, innately talented, but you are completely wasted on that machine. So, we're going to have you take a license exam and train in a new frame that will give you more flexibility."

That would cost money. The time to retrain would eat into the team's training exercises. They would have to relearn years of teamwork together. There was a reason why Crater had never entertained the idea of switching Vigil to a new machine. Velia must have made quite the case and Hekate must have been in a much worse position than she'd let on. Nobody else knew how dire it was.

"When do we begin?" Vigil was quick to the point, as she always was in meetings.

Velia reached behind her on the desk and picked up a binder. "I've already compiled all the must-knows for the license exam written material, and I've already had the engineers spin up a sim for you to test to get used to it." Vigil stood and took it, opening it immediately and scanning the contents. "You can take your time with the material. It'll be another month before we land at a licensing office. But I do want you to be prepared to pass the first time. Got it?"

The dog nodded and started walking towards their seat slowly, focusing more on reading. When you gave her a task she was committed to it. Especially when Crater said Velia's orders were to be treated as her own.

"That's it for today. I'll be following up with you individually to identify improvements. Also next week we have a mission on FB-2-17, before we hit the neargate. You'll be fielding in the Scandal, as before. I'll brief everyone closer to then."

With another clap, everyone but Ilina dispersed. Ilina seemed glued to her seat, leering at every detail of Velia with some kind of eyes. It was something more deeply unwholesome than lust. Krystyn couldn't linger with Manya tugging at her clothes, thirsty for her own hit, but she felt that gross needy feeling growing in her chest.

Things were about to get really bad around the shop, and as usual Krystyn felt insane for being the only one who could see it all coming down around them. None of them would believe her if she tried to explain it. But it wouldn't just fall on her this time.

It would come down on all of them.

The door to the room slid closed. That same hiss that happened every time, without fail. But it felt like the door knew her intent. The hiss never changed, but it felt different nonetheless as Krystyn felt the air shift behind her. Manya a step in front about to go and fall into the bed like she always did. Manya was lazy like that.

If Krystyn was going to carve out a moment or two to track down Ilina for a talk or a drink or something, she needed to make sure Manya was going to sit still and stay out of the way. Given a few more rounds, all Krystyn might need to do is ask -- order -- her to stay out of the way and she might, but she just wasn't confident she had enough of a grip on her yet.

Of course there was the question of how rough she needed to get with Manya. Experienced. Special ops. Augmented to hell and back. Yeah, the stupid demon could probably do with another beating.

It happened fast. You needed to daze people fast before dragging them to the backrooms, otherwise they'd draw too much attention. Grabbed the devil by the arm, and threw it against the wall, slamming it with all her weight and pressing until she felt it deflate like a balloon.

When she flipped Manya around to strip off that flightsuit of hers, the woman was already red in the face with some crooked grin and wild eyes.

"Where's this Charlotte been for the past six years?" She panted. Licked her lips. She was starved for it. "You had me convinced you were unlikable and boring."

Thing really liked its own voice. And why wouldn't it? It paid enough for it. Krystyn stared into those eyes and wondered for a moment if it was possible to break whatever system was installed in its throat that let it do all those fucked up tricks.

Krystyn pinned it to the wall with an arm across its throat before grabbing the pull on Manya's jumpsuit and pulling it all the way down. She let out this pretty little whimper, so content and excited about the new developments.

"Hey," Manya stammered while trying to wiggle out from Krystyn's arm, "what should I tell Ilina? I can't dodge her forever, and she really likes the high. Should I tell her what you did?"

She offered no resistance as Krystyn peeled off the flight suit, letting out another masochistic moan as she started applying pressure to the deep bruise from that hit to the solar plexus. Krystyn watched as those knees started to give out under her as that moan turned into some kind of dark laugh.

"I think she'd like it, you know?" It asserted, weakly, as Krystyn pinned one of its arms to the wall to keep it from sinking to the floor. "Look at what you're willing to do for her. Weren't you trying to bury this side of you? I don't think anyone's ever tried to protect her."

Manya just never shut up. Always something to say. Some taunt or provocation. Some idle, destructive thought to slip into your head whenever she could. It was better to just recognize that nothing of value ever came out of it.

Inhuman words from an inhuman thing.

Just mimicking speech. Pantomiming emotion. Just like Orchid did.

"What if I tell her I need your permission first?" Manya's face contorted, like she was pleading. "If she gets fussy about it, just remind her that we all need Velia's permission to touch her. Fair's fair, right?"

Poison. Krystyn saw the flaw in it immediately. It would make it clear to Ilina, and by extension Velia, Crater, and Kyrnn, what had transpired between the two of them. It wasn't how Krystyn wanted everyone thinking of her. Then again, none of them respected her in the first place, right? Why did she care about their opinions so much? No, the only thought she couldn't stand was Ilina thinking she'd chosen Manya over her in any capacity.

"Or you could just tell her you love her," a voice dripping with venom and that wide viper's smile. She saw the moment of weakness, that tiny crack where it found purchase with its words. "You filthy fucking queer."

One strike to fold the devil in half. That strike with enough force in just the right position that the victim hit the ground in a pool of their own vomit. It was mostly bile. Manya had taken to those awful gel packs that Ilina so adored, so there wasn't really anything in her stomach. Krystyn kicked Manya over onto her side so she could make eye contact with her briefly.

"Clean that mess up," she growled.

"Yes, ma'am," Manya laughed into another wretching dry-heave. Before Krystyn could step over her to leave Manya called weakly, "Thank you, Charlotte." Well, she said she wanted to hear nothing but gratitude, but Manya managed to make even that sound like an insult.

After she left the bedroom, she lingered in the hallway. Ilina might have gone back to her room, or gone off somewhere else. Velia should have been consumed by the endless paperwork she shared with Crater now, so if there was an opportunity to find Ilina and talk to her it was going to be now. The devil was taken care of. It had to be now.

Krystyn grinned as she took slow steps towards the buzzer for Ilina's room. Would she catch the little pervert red faced, buried in Velia's freshly perfumed clothes, taking care of whatever she had been building during that meeting? Unless the girl had squirrelled herself away to some hidden closet to take care of her business, she would be in her room. Though now that Krystyn thought of it, it would be a very Ilina thing to do. Ilina had whatever the opposite of claustrophobia was -- the rat loved small, dark, suffocating spaces. She really must have fit right in among the rest of those union forces.

She took a second to adjust her hair, and smooth out her uniform a bit. She felt suddenly very silly, and very much like she should have taken Velia's fashion advice. When she hit the buzzer, one of several little viewscreens inside would show any occupants who was outside so they could be buzzed in. Usually whichever screen was closest to them. A second later the door hissed open.

The room was well lit. Daylight hours lit. Agonizingly well lit, exposing every detail of Velia's little uniform, and reflecting off the different textures that made it easy to distinguish the different blacks. And Ilina, on her knees.

"Oh, don't just stand there," Velia said without looking up at her, "you'll embarrass her."

Velia held Ilina's ponytail in a tight fist, preventing her from pulling away. Once Krystyn stepped forward with more reluctance than she'd ever had entering an officer's quarters, Velia loosened her grip and started petting her. "It's just Krystyn. Nothing to be embarrassed about. Keep going."

Krystyn couldn't see Ilina's face from where she stood. It was obvious what was going on. Hell, she made a few of her mentees do the same thing. Sticking out her boot and holding them by the hair and having them hump until they made messes in their uniforms. It felt good. Velia certainly looked pleased with herself.

After a moment, Ilina pulled Velia's leg forward just a bit further and pushed herself lower, bucking her hips against those boots like it was a matter of life and death. Krystyn felt just a bit jealous of Velia, even though she really had no right to be.

"I wanted to talk to you, so this is perfect." Velia hummed pleasantly, staring down at her personal little freak.

"I figured you'd have paperwork to deal with or something." Not letting her jealousy show in the slightest. She hoped, anyways.

A nod and a smile, and finally Velia pulled her gaze up to meet Krystyn. "Oh! Mountains of paperwork. Did you know that Crater personally wrote all of your after-action reports? Everyone's. The whole team's." She laughed and ruffled Ilina's hair just a little, prompting a cute little whimper. "I won't be doing that, that's for sure."

"Gee, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I miss Liz already."

There was a stilted, dark laugh shared between the two of them. Krystyn was trying not to stare, but the increasingly wet noises Ilina was making was testing her ability. It was the long silence that followed that made it so difficult to ignore Ilina. She shouldn't have come.

"She was really pushy about this, you know?" Velia said, staring down at Ilina again. What was that expression? Guilt? Surprise? It wasn't appreciation and it should have been. "I wasn't going to be able to get any work done until she gets this out of her system."

"I should come back later, actually."

Velia ran a gloved finger across the top of Ilina's ear, eliciting another moan followed by a reckless, desperate whimper. The noises out of the girl were sounding less human by the second.

"Hold on. I won't be long," she hummed. "I just wanted to say thank you. I got the position thanks to you, after all. After everything that's happened, and the mess that was the start of this little project, I'm really grateful that you did what you could to make this happen."

There was a sickening, rotten sincerity to her voice that made the twist of the knife hurt that much more. Krystyn did play along, didn't tell anyone, and tried her best. She took Velia's little suggestions during deployments and saw small, incremental gains. She never went to Crater to sabotage the position, and she still hadn't forgotten the financial noose both Ilina and Morian had over her.

There were fables, or parables, or whatever moral stories told on so many worlds about this exact situation. Do not make deals with devils. Sinners with gilded tongues. Krystyn knew from the moment she agreed to help that it would only hurt her. But sitting by and not doing anything felt worse.

"Yeah," Krystyn took a step backward and opened the door with a hiss, careful to not show her back to the newest predator on the Gestalt. "I promised, after all."