Hekate's Call, Chapter 35

There was a date. A cute date happened between Krystyn and Ilina, who seemed particularly enamoured by the experience practically running from shop to shop. Krystyn's hair appointment was the first order of business, done by a broad and unhappy woman who did not ask how she wanted her hair cut, that she would have gladly fought and died beside in her infantry days. Most of the people on the station were some kind of military or mercenary, and the station itself owned by one of the various machining corporations that produced the various war engines that defined this era of history. The shops catered to the tastes of people with those backgrounds with naked transparency.

But it was a good time. Ilina bought a number of thoughtful gifts for some of the mechanics. Patches, pins, and stickers, most of which would trigger some kind of seminar if anyone cared enough to report any of them. The gifts she got for Morian were vaguely baffling to Krystyn though. A small reliquary of dubious origin, which Ilina promptly unsealed and emptied into the nearest waste bin, and a rather cute stuffed cat, which Ilina promptly cut open and haphazardly stitched shut with red thread from a sewing kit she produced from her jacket. It took an embarrassing amount of time into the procedure to realize she'd cut an autopsy incision into the poor thing.

It was a cute gift. Or at least Krystyn felt like it was cute and well-meaning until she watched Ilina tie a paracord noose around its neck, affixing the other to a magnet for Morian to hang up. A little less cute, a little more morbid, and a little more in line with what she expected of those two.

At some point Ilina had slipped what looked like a knucklebone into the reliquary from what looked like a small evidence bag she'd hidden in her jacket. Krystyn didn't pry, but couldn't help smiling at her. The awful pervert was the most fascinating person she'd ever met and it was difficult to be too self-conscious about the dog collar when Ilina was crafting and carrying cursed objects through the small shopping arcade.

The date was over too soon, and the trip back to the Gestalt and Gravity felt so strange. She couldn't place the level of growing need in her chest or the sense of impending disappointment. It was so awkward she wanted to scream and the feeling only got worse as Ilina made little stops along the way to drop off gifts on their way back to the pilot quarters where it came to a head.

"I need to grab some stuff," Ilina said, standing outside the door to her own room. "But can I come stay with you? It sounds like Velia's going to be busy till we launch."

Krystyn smiled so birghtly she might have gotten embarrassed if she'd realized, "Yeah, of course you can."

Ilina was very particular about the time she brought Krystyn down to the recreation room, a place Krystyn previously had never been able to go. This was one thing that Krystyn apparently did have to wear the stupid dog collar for, on the off chance she got handsy with a bit of alcohol in her system. It felt like a silly concern at this point, honestly. Who else was she going to grab other than Hekate's designated plaything?

Down the elevator to a lower floor and then down a few turns and into a door that was like the double-wide entrance to either the med bay or the gym. The outside looked like nothing. Another drab door in another dreary hallway that looked identical to every other dreary hallway. Claustrophobic too. Most of the corridors of the ship were much tighter below the pilot's quarters. The Gestalt and Gravity really was a ship designed to make the pilots and officers feel their higher station.

"You'll behave, right?" Ilina said outside the door. That was a stupid question. "Just get some drinks and stay at the bar. You can talk to Taitle's group but stay away from the Gestalt's crew."

Like a child being scolded. It made her feel a little stupid. But Ilina was busy smoothing out her jacket for some reason, adjusting her hair and redoing her ponytail just so. Was Velia waiting inside?

The moment the door opened, sound erupted into the hallway. Raucous and rowdy. Like a good night at one of those awful rebel dives back home. Lighting low. Billiards tables, sitting tables, and a fully stocked bar with two bartenders. All kinds mixed in the room it seemed like. Of course how could everyone not momentarily pause their various festivities to look at the newcomers. There were a couple cliques, but Taitle's was the easiest to pick out the moment you stepped in.

Aegis Taitle was a woman who Krystyn had very few interactions with. Short, messy black hair and dark sunken eyes, and perpetually looked at least a little sweaty. Thin, but not like most of the systems nerds who hovered over their terminals all day instead of doing any heavy lifting. Thin in the way you ended up when you abused combat stims that overworked your system for years on end, and Taitle was well known to use more combat stims than even the jitteriest of pilots with a voice that could shout down a hanger's PA system with ease.

And despite all of that, she was still particularly charming to Krystyn. How could she not be? She was an unlikable sleaze who shunted off all her work and napped in dark places when things were quiet. Nobody would have batted an eye if Krystyn got her alone in behind some crates. Losers made for easy lays.

"It's like you know when payday is," Taitle laughed above the other sounds of the bar when she locked eyes with Ilina.

Every member of Taitle's cadre of mechanics, bought from the imperium on FN-4-06 with Crater's sweet promises and lucrative contracts, turned to leer at Ilina with the same hungry eyes like a pack of wolves.

She was smooth too. The swagger in her step as she approached Ilina and palmed her a fold in the same motion she pulled Ilina into a deep, aggressive kiss. With Taitle being as flat, or flatter than Ilina, nobody could blame Krystyn for thinking Taitle was just some cute thing waiting to be handled.

"You seem so prepared, too," Ilina laughed as the pulled away and slid the cash into a pocket in her jacket. She turned to Krystyn for a moment, "sorry. Gonna catch up with all of them, get yourself something to drink."

"Ah shit," Taitle looked Krystyn up and down with that sleazy smile, lingering on the awful collar. "Here I thought Falke was lying through her teeth when she told us about that thing. You look good, Chaser. Love the hair. Just keep your hands off Caenes and we'll all be chill. Enjoy yourself."

Of course this was going to happen. She didn't even know which one Caenes was if she had an interest in feeling up any of those god awful women. Which she didn't. Taitle was the only one that stood out to her at a glance. And now Krystyn would never forget her face or voice and watching her lead Ilina off into the middle of the pack with an arm draped around the girl's shoulder.

Just get a drink. Krystyn approached the bar and sat down. There really was real alcohol here. A wall of expensive and inexpensive looking bottle littered the wall behind the bar. Lots of alcohol could be fabricated pretty easily, but nothing tasted better than the real thing. Whether it be wine or whiskey, the process and life of the alcohol made it unique in ways that a printer could never quite replicate.

Sometime between getting a nice cocktail placed in front of her and the first sip, she heard Ilina's voice peak over everything else. "Hold on, hold on! If we're doing this, you all need to pay up front so I don't miss anyone. Cough it up." She was sitting on the edge of one of the pool table, collecting money from all the mechanics. They all seemed to eagerly be shoving money into Ilina's hands, crowding in a little too much.

Somewhere past them, in the dark corner of the bar by the entrance, Krystyn saw someone sitting. They made eye contact for a second and they stood up to approach her. It took until they stepped under one of the lamps to see that it was Manya, except with her horns and tail retracted and her flightsuit zipped all the way up. She really did look human with all her augmentations hidden like that. Her eyes looked empty. Fragile like she'd never seen her before.

"Hey," Krystyn motioned to the seat beside her. "Come sit. Is something the matter?"

Manya stepped forward carefully. She was keeping her head down, trying to keep her hair covering the ports her horns grew out of. What happened to her? She was trying not to look at anyone else in the room, and seemed to be trying to hide the little dry-erase sign she'd been given to hold onto. Free Use, Hekate Employees Only written in large, bold letters on it.

"Don't push your luck," the man behind the bar growled at her. "You can hide those hideous things all you want, everyone here knows what you are."

"I just want to talk to Krystyn," Manya replied meekly, not making eye contact. The bartender huffed and walked away to tend to the bar or wash a glass or whatever bullshit bartenders did to ignore people.

Krystyn pat the seat next to her and had Manya sit down for a moment. "Was it always this bad back home?"

Manya shrugged and fidgeted with the sign. "Hard to tell. People back home didn't start fights or get in my face because they knew who I was and what I could do. But everyone knows I can't do anything to them here."

Right. The Gestalt's crew were all Central Domon expats and so was most of Hekate's Call, with the few exceptions of people Crater brought on after landing on FN-4-06. They were all stained the exact same colors that Krystyn and Crater were. Would they all look at Krystyn the same way if they knew about her neural hook? Probably to a lesser degree than Manya, but her status among couldn't remain the same after.

"At least people only call me inhuman because of all the augments now," Manya forced a little smile. "If they're going to hate you anyways, better to give them a real reason to, right?"

Manya didn't talk about her stuff before she became known as Illustrious. One of Domon's best pilots, and by far the best independent back before she signed up with Elisabet. Once shot a satellite out of low orbit with the Work From Home. In the opening hours of one of the largest land invasions in Outer Domon in the last hundred years, Illustrious single-handedly defanged three military bases by destroying their anti-air and anti-orbital capabilities, allowing Domon to deploy forces directly into the base and behind the enemy lines.

She was a one-of-a-kind talent.

And everyone hated her. Room after room of people jerking it to all those battle logs of hers, feeling the ecstasy of that orbital shot time and time again. It was so convenient how everyone loved those battle logs, and how powerful they made you feel, and how skilled a pilot Illustrious was, all while pretending they weren't leering at the main attraction peeling herself out of the galaxy's tightest, sweatiest hardsuit. Not that Krystyn could talk, she was just as disgusted with the thing when they started bunking together.

"I'm going to head back up to the room. I'm not going to find any takers with Ilina here." Manya droned half-heartedly and forced herself to her feet. "Surprised the girl even brought you down here. They're probably going to get real rough with her, but she'll be mad if you step in."

The girl liked it rough. "I'll keep it in mind."

By the time Manya skulked out the door with her head hung low, Ilina had been pulled to the floor and stripped by all the mechanics. Krystyn knew which one of the mechanics was Caenes now, at the very least. The chubby brunette girl from mechanics that she kept seeing Manya fawn over whenever she was working on the WFH. She worked with electrics, so she naturally spent the most time on the WFH that had a lot of fiddly little wires and components under the hood to properly power and control the heavy rails. Trousers dropped around her knees, balls deep in Ilina's mouth with the poor thing's nose and face squished into Caenes' fuzzy little happy trail. Ilina's hands were occupied with some other pilots. A proper gangbang. Ilina making herself useful to as many people at once.

All in all, they weren't that rough. At some point Taitle had slipped out of the group and over to the bar.

"Thought you paid up front," Krystyn grunted into her second drink.

"It feels better to just watch things, you know?" Aegis laughed, ordered herself another drink, and turned to face the gangbang with Krystyn. "I don't even like being out here. I didn't use to be so involved in anything before Aril and the girls started dragging me around."

Aril Sethlan. She was the tall, broad-shouldered beast of a woman. Krystyn was familiar with her, fast friends in fact, since she did a lot of the work on the Inertia. At least back when it needed outside repairs. Now it mostly cleaned and patched itself up. She was over there too with a smug, crooked grin and those fluttering eyes that said that Ilina had just finished with her.

You know what? Why not? She hadn't had a real talk with anyone who wasn't in the pilot corps in ages. "Yeah? Tell me about that. What's your deal? Like, as a group."

"Oh. We used to work on Ancyor and Genetor when we were in the military," Taitle spoke the names of the rebellion's old gods like they were any other machines. "I was technically the head mechanic back then too, but I spent most of my time screwing around. I'm useful in a crisis. Brain's just scrambled and empty otherwise. Was always good friends with Caenes though before Aril showed up and fucked up both our careers. Anyways, I wanted to keep my distance from Her and those pilots though."

Ah. Aegis Taitle continued for a bit, but it was a haze of half-recollections and tangents. It really did feel like Taitle wasn't really all there, but not in the way that some of the washed out pilots back home were. She was just... a bit stupid. Distracted and wandering. Some undiagnosed mental condition.

"So you dragged Ilina out of the Again in Hell the other day." Krystyn got tired of waiting for an opening and just made one.

Taitle laughed again and finished her drink. "Gift from the new Handler. Velia? Never learned the last Handler's name. Anyways, yeah. Whole affair reminded the girls of the best perk of being part of Hanger One, Pier One: Getting to fuck those stupid dogs who piloted Ancyor and Genetor."

No better than those little girls back on FN-4-06 that call themselves Handlers writing poetry about the soul and scaffolding. Morian's words rushed back. It wasn't the first time she'd heard it either. She'd heard whisperings from other mercs and ex-imperials back on that pit.

"Velia can't hold a candle to the real thing though, you know?" Taitle shuddered, "Gods, the Handler back at the base was so hot. Everyone was terrified of Her. But I could never take my eyes off Her. I bet Ilina would have gone wild if she'd ever seen Her. Velia's pretty good though. I get why she doesn't wear the uniform that much, but I'm a big fan, personally."

Krystyn kept quiet. If the Handler dressed anything like Velia, it could very well be the same woman Ilina described in, frankly, too much detail. The torn notebook pages filled with fervent, languageless scribbles describing every little feature down to the color of the wax pen for the woman's boots. It wasn't a great image in her mind.

"I think everyone's had enough," Taitle said after finishing her drink and washing it down with a glass of water. She bought a big bottle, one of those dark amber bottles filled with the expensive stuff. "Gotta give these things a proper climax or it just comes to an awkward close and everyone walks away a bit unsatisfied. And an unsatisfied team is just going to cause more trouble later."

Aegis was charming, just in a different way that Krystyn had initially thought.

"It's gonna get messy, you wanna stick around for it? I've heard you two are close."

Krystyn responded by waving off the mechanic who stumbled a bit towards her own group. She was playing up being a bit drunk by crashing into Sethlan, and leaning on her the way a drunk person who could barely stand braces against a wall.

"Aril, hand me the big girl."

Aril Sethlan, or as Taitle had referred to her several times the ogre, produced a heavy revolver. The kind you would get made fun of for compensating for something unless you had the kind of build where you could fold the thick barrel over in your bare hands. It did look comical in Taitle's slender little typist's fingers though with the equally big bottle in the other.

The rowdy air got real quiet as people moved to make room for whatever show Taitle was about to put on. All their eyes glinted with violence as they sucked all the air from the room, creating an unnecessary amount of tension. Gods, they were all so good at it. Like they'd collectively learned how to control that thick-with-malice backroom atmosphere for the performance. They even created space specifically so that Krystyn could see it all from her seat at the bar. That was sweet of them, actually.

"You ought to have some drinks when you go to the bar, you know?" Taitle's voice was followed by miscellaneous jeering.

The big revolver was pointed directly at Ilina's face, hammer pulled back. Was that loaded? The shock of fear in Ilina's eyes said it was very clearly loaded. Taitle started pouring the booze down the top of the barrel, letting it run down into Ilina's open mouth. Watching Ilina flinch with every twitch from Taitle, finger resting on the trigger so lightly, while trying not to waste a drop and still making a mess.

Gods below, that was hot. Obviously she couldn't pull that move on Ilina now. Her gun wasn't friendly to it either. But just imagine if she'd pulled that move out in the backrooms in front of all the others. They would be falling over themselves to find something that good. Putting their own stupid spins on it, but getting called out for copying anyways. Krystyn could feel herself getting hot over the thought. Maybe she could do it to Manya? That freak would probably love it. She'd have to remember to give it a shot. Watching the alcohol dribble down Ilina's chin and onto her flat as a board chest was good too. Running little rivulets down her body and finding its way into the little creases. Fuck. Fuck. It was hot.

After the big iron got too heavy for Taitle's skinny little nerd arms, she let Ilina lick the booze from the barrel before handing it back to Aril. There was still like two thirds of that bottle to go too. Krystyn's leg was bouncing on the barstool, completely transfixed. What's next girl? C'mon. How do you escalate this?

Taitle took a large swig from the bottle. Gonna spit it directly in her mouth? That'd be good. But no. Instead Aegis held the bottle over Ilina head and started pouring it steadily. Ilina opened her mouth and tried to get as much of it as possible, but Taitle was moving it in little circles, making sure to thoroughly drench Ilina as much as possible in it. What was the move then? It seemed like a waste.

"This was expensive, you know? So you oughtta finish it, you hear?" Taitle passed the bottle down to Ilina, who looked at it and then back up at Taitle with this nervous look. "Go on, drink up."

Little under half the bottle. That was too much for someone to actually drink, wasn't it? That seemed like a tall ask.

Snap. Both Ilina and Krystyn jumped slightly at the sound. That unmistakable metal snap of a lighter closing. One of the mechanics, crouching down had the lighter in hand. Snapping it open and closed. No flame yet. Lifted it and snapped it open closer to Ilina's head and watched her fall over away from it.

"Drink up." Aegis repeated, stifling a little chuckle.

Ilina pressed the bottle to her lips as someone now closer to Ilina pulled out their own lighter. Held it out in Ilina's vision as the bottle tilted skyward as she desperately tried to empty the bottle as fast as possible.

Krystyn had sputtered to a complete stop. Half her brain was cheering like she was in the backrooms, swept along with everyone else. This was hot and good, and the fresh meat fucking deserved it. Learn how things work around here. But there was a more present part of her realizing how absolutely deranged and dangerous this was. It was an awful mix that she'd felt too many times when someone took something a step too far for her tastes.

By the time Krystyn had pushed through that feeling and gotten to her feet, the bottle had hit the ground. Empty. Ilina hit the ground a moment later. Taitle's crew cheering and laughing as they gathered up their things to go crash for the night or hit their next shift. She just stood by and watched them threaten to immolate her. One mistake and it would have turned from threat to reality. And she just. Stood there. And watched it happen.

Again.

Like she always did. She didn't raise her voice or tell someone to stop. They weren't even her superior officers. She had seniority over that entire cadre of mechanics and yet she just watched. Gave them her tacit approval by staying silent.

She was the fucking worst. She always was. Absolute scum. No different than any of the other girls.

"Buzz Kyrnn, get her down here now."

"Drag that body out of my bar."

Krystyn drew her gun and pointed at the man. "That's a fucking order. Get her down here now or I'll kill you."

The next moment she was beside Ilina. Barely conscious. She needed a shower. But more importantly, she'd just downed over half that bottle and she was such a small little thing. Krystyn dried her off with Ilina's shirt. Ilina's eyes were open, but there was nothing in there and her breathing was irregular. She probably had no tolerance.

Stupid, stupid fucks. This could actually kill her.

"Symptoms?" Morian was standing over her before she'd realized.

"Unconscious. Irregular breathing. It's slow, with long gaps. She's sweating a lot it looks like."

"Get a bucket."

Krystyn went and found a mop bucket, empty, though it probably wouldn't be for long. By the time she'd gotten back to Morian, she'd donned a pair of black nitrile gloves and shed her lab coat. The rest of her outfit was shockingly... normal. Krystyn didn't have time to think about that. They propped Ilina up over the bucket and Morian forced her fingers into the back of her throat.

Nothing. No reaction.

Wasn't like Ilina had a gag reflex on the worst of days.

Morian nodded as she withdrew her hand from Ilina's mouth. She stripped the gloves in that particular way that Ilina did. Never touched the outside of the glove with her bare fingers. "Alright. We're going to have to do this the hard way." She looked to Krystyn for a confirmation.

She noded, instinctively. Until she realized she didn't know what the hard way was supposed to be.

Morian stood and hauled Ilina to her feet, barely managing to keep her upright. "One good punch should do it. You know how to, right?" This woman wasn't a doctor. Just get the stomach pump. Do this like a sane person. "I need to emphasize. We need to hurry."

It was quick. One strike and Ilina was back on the ground and vomited once, gasping for air. The second half of that was good. She had braced herself over the ground. She was awake for the moment. Before Krystyn could kneel down to check on her, Morian had a new pair of gloves on and was pulling her over the bucket.

"Let's try this again. I need you to empty your stomach into the bucket."

Ilina nodded sluggishly, like she didn't quiet understand. But it was enough for Morian. The gloved fingers reached back into Ilina's throat and wiggled a bit until Ilina wretched. And again. And again, until she was dry-heaving. Once the gloves were back off she rubbed Ilina's back and smiled. "Krystyn here is going to take you to get washed up. Drink plenty of fluids, get a good rest, and you'll be fine."

Krystyn had taken Ilina straight to the shower in her own room past a quiet and despondant Manya who stirred for only a moment as clothes were dropped on her. The important part was keeping Ilina awake, but washing the booze and vomit off her were also important. Once she was washed and dried, Krystyn picked her up and went to put her on the bed.

Their commander, Velia, was in the room in her regular clothes. She made Manya move out of the way. Poor devil looked like it had been crying. Weird. She put Ilina down in the bed where Manya was laying before.

"I brought her clothes, and Morian had me fetch a bunch of the gel packs and some hangover water," Velia had placed the bin and her clothes beside the bed. "How is she?"

"Kyrnn said she'd be fine with some rest and hydration."

Krystyn didn't want to look at either of them. They weren't with Ilina when she was being abused and nearly died. She couldn't blame them for this. This was her own failure to act, again. So reliable in her steel, but such a liability in the flesh. Manya was right about her, like she was seemingly right about everything.

Somewhere in the corner of her vision something shifted between Manya and Velia. Velia reached a hand up to cradle Manya's face, and leaned her into the wall just so. "Poor thing, I wish you'd have told me things weren't going well." One hand found rest on Manya's hip, and her voice was so sickeningly tender. "How about this, doll, you stay with me tonight while Krystyn looks after our dear hunter?"

"Shoving the problem off on me?" She wanted to scream.

"You can't leave the hen with the fox, can you?" Ilina slurred, eyes barely open. Krystyn shoved the opening to one of those stupid gel packs into her mouth. She heard the seal snap as Ilina opened it with tongue and teeth.

What was that even supposed to mean? Who was she even talking to?

Velia's voice, a whisper. "You still have a few days left of your punishment. You don't get to say no right now." The door slid open while she pressured Manya out of the room. Right in front of Ilina? Well, she did promise to give Krystyn as much time with Ilina as possible.

"I'm sorry," Ilina groaned and tried and failed to sit up. "Morian told me to stay away from alcohol too. Something about my metabolism... But I already took the money..."

For once in her stupid life, Krystyn noticed that Ilina had slipped under before making some stupid proclamation that she would do better next time. That she would protect Ilina. That she would do anything more than sit around and kick herself for not thinking of it herself. If she didn't make the promise out loud, it was as good as not making it at all, and that was a selfish relief.

"I love you," she whispered instead, knowing full well Ilina wouldn't hear that either.