Hekate's Call, Chapter 30

It was challenging to adapt to a new commander. Charlatan was used to being given objectives and figuring out how to achieve them on her own, but the new Control was more vocal and hands-on. Specific instructions and detailed plans. It felt like taking orders from a less charming and more terrifying Hunter.

But Control was very good at her job. She knew what the machines could take, and what they couldn't. On their first deployment with her, even Hound was able to corner things for solo-kills which the dog had never managed under Charlatan's leadership in the field. But there was something dangerous about the way Control gave orders. Often splitting the team. The Inertia couldn't protect them all in most of the formations but things worked out in spite of Charlatan's limitations.

After a weeklong deployment for some skirmishes and escort duty planetside, jobs that Crater wouldn't have stooped to taking as an 'elite' unit, they were finally getting back to the Gestalt and Gravity.

Velia wasn't particularly pleased with her performance. Krystyn knew she'd get dressed down, made an example of, but it felt different than it did with Crater. Crater did it, without fail, to the point where it was less about her actual mistakes and more some kind of ongoing punishment. A deserved punishment, but a punishment nonetheless.

Over the radio as everyone was settling into the hanger, they were all commanded to take a short break before the debrief. Thirty minutes or so. That worried her more than it should have. It was the sight of Velia, back in the ratty uniform that could be mistaken for one of the pilots, standing on the pier that scared her.

Manya was already out of her machine. Sent off to her room or to the cafeteria or something, brushing Velia's hip with her tail as she passed. Vigil followed suit, saluting her new commander whose orders she followed as if they were law. Finally Krystyn stepped out onto the pier, the last to dismount because the Inertia had a new proper shutdown procedure that involved winding down the ferrofluid's nanites.

Velia stood hovering over the space on the pier that had been dedicated to Ilina's two machines. Without looking she beckoned Krystyn over.

"Sir?"

Velia was humming some old war song Krystyn had heard back on their home planet. "What happens in your quarters is your own business," she started as soon as Krystyn was in earshot, "but what happens in the Inertia gets forwarded to me."

A wave of dread crashed across Krystyn. She followed Velia's eyes down to the hanger floor some thirty feet below. Her heart dropped like a stone.

Ilina was being 'helped' out of the Again in Hell by Taitle's cadre of mechanics. One of them held Ilina in a hold with a hand over her mouth to keep her relatively quiet, while several others peeled off her hardsuit. Taitle glanced up long enough to make eye contact and saluted with a nasty little grin she'd never seen on the woman before.

"Stay," Velia said far too calmly.

Like one of Morian's fucking spells it kept Krystyn from running all those mechanics down. No, the proper response should have been to shoot Velia right now. While Ilina was watching? She started out struggling, but as soon as she made eye contact with Velia it evaporated. A sad, dejected look in those watering eyes. Resigned to her new fate.

"This is your punishment, to be clear." Velia let out a long sigh, like this hurt her in some way. Which was false. If the woman cared for Ilina at all she wouldn't do something like this, no matter what.

Far below, Ilina was dragged off to some backroom, naked. Her underwear and hardsuit lay discarded where the mechanics had ripped them off. This was too much. Ilina didn't do anything to deserve it.

Everything was happening again.

"She doesn't deserve it," Velia turned to face Krystyn finally, now that Ilina was out of sight. "But what else am I supposed to do?"

Krystyn cracked. This woman was going to end up dead. "I'll keep my hands off your girl, if that's what you want. If you need to punish me, just take it out on me. Don't do this." Her body wouldn't react. She wanted to reach for her gun and kill her. She should have. She had so many chances, didn't she? And then she could shoot herself. No. Not with the gun Ilina had taken such care of. It was a fucking shackle.

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" Velia smiled tenderly. Like she saw right through Krystyn. "You want to be punished. Be put to the fire. It's why you stand there and take Crater's abuse in place of everyone else." Velia took a step past Krystyn and motioned for her to follow, back towards the pilot quarters. Her voice got quiet as she continued, "I'm jealous of you, really, but you taking care of her isn't why you're being punished."

Once the hanger door closed behind them, back in the safety of the pilot's quarters, Velia turned on her heel. She really did look conflicted about things. What could she be conflicted about? There was no world in which she could convince Krystyn that what was happening to Ilina was anyone's fault but hers. Velia organized it, and initiated it. Krystyn had nothing to do with any of that.

"I told you before that I wanted to help you be better."

"This isn't going to make me better," Krystyn's voice was shaking more than her hands were, trying to reach for her sidearm. "I can promise you, this is only going to make you dead."

Velia nodded. "You endangered your team six times by not following my orders, resulting in light injury and mechanical damage. A good soldier follows orders, Krystyn, and you do not get to define the terms of your absolution."

"Absolution?!" Finally something in her mind slipped. She had Velia against the wall, but there was no resistance. Only a serene, understanding expression that begged to be broken. Scrubbed from existence. Obliviated in its entirety.

"There is no forgiveness without atonement. There is no atonement without sacrifice. There is no sacrifice without suffering." Her voice was soft and vaguely reverent. Some kind of mantra of hers. "A sacrifice must have meaning. You don't value yourself -- neither your pride, nor your life. Hurting you has no meaning because it only reinforces the idea that you're worthless. You'll never heal that way."

This was what she was warned about. Cruel and precise. No half-measures. Krystyn let her go and took a step back. Her head was scrambling, trying to find the edge here. But it was true, wasn't it? Krystyn hadn't gotten better in any way over the past seven years. A convenient weapon, tailored to kill just her.

"So you're going to keep hurting Ilina?"

"I have to. She's the only thing you care about."

This was just taking a hostage. That was how Velia operated, then. Affirming words of support, a guiding hand, and honeyed words obfuscating the cruelty of the action. Dressing it up in the trappings of healing, and forgiveness. Even knowing the shape of it, Krystyn's stupid brain ate it up. There was nothing more she wanted than the forgiveness Velia was offering.

"What do I have to do to keep you from doing this to Ilina?" Was there anything? There had to be a softer hand in this.

"Follow orders like a good soldier," Velia pulled something out of her jacket. "Like a good dog."

She held up a dog collar. A literal dog collar. Krystyn recoiled from it. There was even a little nametag dangling from it, not that Krystyn could read it. No. Fuck this. Fuck you.

"Didn't you just say my pride wasn't worth enough to be a sacrifice?"

The woman raised it a little higher to neck-height, balancing it on two fingers. "I did. Your pride is completely worthless. This isn't a punishment, it's a promise."

But it was a punishment.

"And who knows," Velia cracked a playful little smile, "You might like it."

Bullshit. Freak. Degenerate. Ilina's stupid perversions were cute and she handled them respectfully and mostly in private. Then there was Morian, with her own set of fucked up fetishes -- Ilina mentioned the doctor enjoyed older women with severe medical fetishes. Now Velia too?

"Show me that you're committed to getting better and following orders," Velia insisted, more light-hearted than a few moments ago. "I wasn't expecting you to put up a fight about this so I was going to save it as a surprise, but you'll get to spend a lot more time with Ilina if you take it. I promise."

Krystyn laughed, incredulous as she should have been. "You think I'm really stupid, don't you?"

Velia shrugged and lowered her arm. She seemed a little dejected about it. What a disgusting woman. "You're no fun. It wouldn't hurt to take yourself a little less seriously." She tucked the collar back into her jacket and started off towards her room. "Debrief in twenty," she called over her shoulder.

"We missed you at the debrief!"

Manya called out to Ilina the moment she entered the cafeteria. Her jacket was all done up, hiding whatever skin she could, and her hair was down. Those were bad signs. Krystyn wasn't about to say anything though. It was too late to do anything for her anyways.

"Sorry, I got pulled away," Ilina brought over a tray with a drink and something light to eat.

"Velia was wearing her uniform too," Manya teased.

Ilina shuddered in place for a second before sitting down next to Vigil in a little huff. "That's not fair," the girl whined and drained a third of her drink. She seemed chipper for someone who had just been dragged to a backroom by seven or so mechanics.

"It really gets you going, huh?" Manya's tail brushed at Krystyn's legs under the table. "Is there a story to that?"

Ilina's eyes darted to Krystyn before going back to her drink. "She just looks so good in it."

"So it's not just boots then," Vigil finished eating just in time to join the conversation proper. She grinned at the small thing next to her. There was a shift in her eyes, probably saw the same bruises on Ilina's neck that Krystyn had been staring at. "What pulled you away that you had to miss out?"

Wow. Vigil really was getting smarter by the day.

"Oh," Ilina looked up and flashed a peace sign and a stupid grin, "the mechanics did. They really did a number on me, too." There was a hint of a blush on her face. "I'm used to it, it's fine." She locked eyes with Krystyn specifically, "don't get worked up and do anything stupid, sir."

Krystyn grinded her teeth. Used to it? Don't get worked up? Ilina didn't mean any harm by it, she was genuinely trying to keep her from doing anything really stupid like shooting Aegis Taitle and every member of her merry little band.

"You're used to it?" Manya prodded. "Now there's a story."

"Oh yeah!" Ilina shoveled her food in her mouth and washed it down. "Back at the barracks, all the girls used to pass me around all the time. It was scary at first, but Velia always made sure that they never got too rough. It just looked really bad because I bruise easy."

There was an off-putting reminiscence about the whole ordeal. Made Krystyn shiver. This too was a fond memory for her, somehow. Everything about her time with the rebels seemed to be cheery fun, but there was no way that was true seeing how Ilina was.

The devil giggled. "Ooh, the wicked little Hunter reduced to a pet?"

Ilina's giggle matched. Sickening. "Velia kept me in a dog crate when she couldn't be around to keep an eye on me!" Too excited about the idea. "Kept it locked with inventory tags from the armory so she'd know if I got out. It was fun when some of the girls would push apple slices through the bars for me."

Manya howled in laughter. Vigil didn't look uncomfortable, but was clearly processing what was going on. She was getting smarter, but she still lacked experience that would blossom into a sense of ethics or morality. As it was presented, Ilina's experiences were a good thing. Krystyn still had some food to go, but she wanted away from this conversation as soon as possible.

The conversation continued as Ilina recited a bunch of her exploits, to demonstrate exactly how frequently and enthusiastically she'd been assaulted and abused. Krystyn had given up eating. She wasn't going to be able to keep it down if she put anything else in her gut.

"Speaking of pets," Ilina leaned in towards Vigil, sliding a hand between her thighs. "I always wanted a dog."

The devil's tail was trashing loudly and Krystyn had never seen such a genuinely delighted face on her. Glancing between Ilina and Vigil like a schoolgirl watching the birth of a new couple in the lunchroom.

Symeon Vigil took a long, slow sip of her drink and put it down before wrapping an arm around Ilina. With a vicious grin closer to what you'd see in her battle logs, and that husky voice of hers, she said, "Woof."

Ilina turned red faster than Krystyn had ever seen. Slackjaw and awestruck. Manya's cackling attracted more attention then they usually got. A bunch of the support staff had been filtering in over time now that the machines were all in their bays and all the tasks about the ship were getting completed.

The expression slid from Vigil's face, and a nervous, forced smile replaced it. She tugged Ilina's face up by the chin. "Ah, sorry," she let out a nervous, worried laugh. "Was that not good?"

Ilina gave a little thumbs up as she covered her face with her other hand. "Good," she cracked from behind it.

"Oh, good." Vigil let out a held breath. "I'm still learning."

"Ilina would make a fantastic teacher," Manya was giggling and watching it.

Vigil give Ilina a squeeze. "I'd have to ask the vice-commander," the dog pondered. "You still owe me a dance, Falke."

"I can ask her," Ilina blurted out a little to eagerly. It was painful to watch. The chances that Vigil understood what she was implying were about 50-50. "I'm working with Aegis on a thing, so you'll get your dance. I promise. But I'll ask about the other thing."

Krystyn excused herself while the three of them flirted. She didn't have to worry about Manya, but Vigil was gonna get eaten alive. Her whole body felt sluggish. Torn between sick and vaguely horny. The background haze that came with the drugs wasn't present, so this heat was all on her.

You'll get to spend a lot more time with Ilina.

The whole conversation rolled in her head as she made her way back to her room. It felt like such a set-up. It had to be, right? The conversation felt too natural to be choreographed by all of them, and Ilina didn't seem like that good an actor to begin with. Maybe Velia just knew it was one of Ilina's things. Judging from her stories though, if it was one of Ilina's kinks then why would Krystyn be the one wearing the stupid collar?

These stupid bitches and their stupid mind games. She couldn't just beat them out of Velia like she could with Manya. Was it worth giving Manya something to tease her about? No. Stop entertaining this.

Krystyn threw herself on the bed and groaned into the pillow. It would be another few hours until they got in the repair estimates on all the machines, and then Manya would get called away by Crater so Orchid can crunch numbers on their budget. But that meant that she had no idea when Manya would be back, even briefly.

And the last thing she needed right now was Manya walking in on her masturbating.