by M. D. Cooper
“You’re really owning this whole cat thing,” Rika said with a laugh. “I think it’s awesome.”
“Suits me,” Leslie said, then turned her hand over, showing Rika a circle on her palm. “Finaeus hooked me up with this; said he did one for a friend of his not long ago.”
“What is it?” Rika asked.
“It’s a fucking electron beam in my arm,” Leslie giggled. “Can you believe it? An e-beam. In. My. Arm.”
Rika shook her head in wonder as she reached out and grasped Leslie’s forearm. “How the hell did they fit it in there?”
“Well, it’s shorter range and has less power than yours, but it’s still wild, isn’t it?”
“I think we’ve died and gone to heaven,” Rika replied, as she watched two mechs sporting the natural-looking limbs rush into a room, arms wrapped around one another, feeling for the first time in what might be decades.
“So, you look pretty much the same, Rika,” Leslie said, looking her up and down. “Even your skin looks like the old stuff.”
“Oh,” Rika glanced down at herself. “I’ve just made it look like that to cover up the bits…haven’t quite gotten the hang of this yet.”
“That the only change you picked?”
Rika shook her head. “No, I have all the attachment upgrades, but most of my changes were in power capacity and the twiddling they did in my brain.”
“Right! I remember you mentioning that was a possibility,” Leslie replied. “How’re you doing in there, Niki? I bet it’s pretty roomy in Rika’s noggin.”
“You’re a real comedian, Leslie,” Rika groused. “Don’t worry, they filled in all the gaps with putty so Niki wouldn’t rattle around.”
Leslie chuckled, then her face grew serious. “Has Chase come out yet?”
Rika shook her head. “No, he’s still below. The ward’s NSAI said they expect him to be in recovery in an hour or so.”
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m starved. Want to get some grub?”
“Yeah, I think I do,” Rika replied. “We really should check to be sure that Kelly and Keli aren’t shooting the place up.”
Leslie groaned. “Did you see what Keli got?”
“No, what?” Rika asked as they walked down the hall.
Leslie reached behind herself and grabbed her tail. “I’ll give you one guess.”
“Noooo…really?”
“Yeah, the platoon’s already dubbed it ‘getting a Les’.”
Rika couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her. “I’m really sorry about that, Leslie.”
“Thanks, Captain, you’re all heart,” Leslie groused.
“Don’t worry, Leslie. I’ve got your tail—er…back.”
MEETING CHASE
STELLAR DATE: 09.14.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: ISS I2
REGION: Pyra, Albany System, Thebes, Septhian Alliance
After a meal and two hours of chatting with her company’s upgraded mechs, Rika finally received a message that Chase was conscious and had gone through his initial orientation.
“If you’ll excuse me,” Rika said to the mechs sitting at her table. “Chase is awake, and I need to pay him a visit.”
“Right,” Heather winked at Rika. “You go visit with Chase. Just be sure to share the deets with Leslie and I afterward.”
“Heather,” Leslie scoffed, flicking a french fry at the woman. “I will not engage in that sort of gossip. At least not if anyone else knows about it.”
Rika only groaned as she walked away, wondering what it was that Chase had opted for. He hadn’t shared his plans, telling her it would be a surprise. For all she knew, he could be anything from an AM-4 to just a regular human with MK99 skin.
Rika scowled absently as she climbed the ladder to the next deck.
Niki just laughed and then her presence seemed to lessen in Rika’s mind. A minute later, Rika reached Chase’s door, and knocked gently before entering.
“Come in,” Chase’s voice came through, and Rika entered, prepared for the worst.
At first, it didn’t look like anything was different. Chase’s hair was unchanged, his smile looked the same, his eyes had the same twinkle as he grinned at her.
Then Rika realized his skin was too perfect.
Of course, there was the rack of limbs next to him, as well.
“You bit the bullet, did you?” Rika asked as she approached. “Your shoulders are a bit broader, now that I look at them…and your biceps weren’t quite that big before, either. FR-4?”
Chase nodded. “You look almost exactly the same, too. SMI-4, of course; there was never a moment’s consideration you’d go RR.”
Rika sat down next to him, the bed groaning under their combined weight.
“Yeah, foregone conclusion. Most of what I have are just upgrades; nothing terribly new, though I can mount your limbs, and you can mount mine—which would look really weird.”
“Yeah,” Chase laughed. “I half expected to see you with your new human limbs.”
He reached out his hand and grasped Rika’s three-fingered hand, stroking her joints the way he always did. The big difference now was how well she could feel it. The sensation alone was enough to make her breath catch.
“You know,” Rika said as she shifted closer to Chase, turning to press the side of her chest against his arm while laying her head on his broadened shoulders. “I thought about it…for a second or two. I’m just not quite ready for those, yet. I’ve got a lot of changes upstairs, what with Niki in between my ears, and the upgrades they performed to my brain.”
“Upgrades to your brain,” Chase chuckled. “These people treat a forced evolutionary advance like it’s a weekend household project.”
“A bit,” Rika said with a soft laugh. “Though Finaeus…I don’t know. There was something about my conversation with him, like I was very interesting to him. It was a bit weird.”
“Every conversation with Finaeus is a bit weird. Why should that one be any different. Do you think they did something bad to you?”
She hadn’t considered it in that light. “No, I mean…not that Niki or I have any reason to suspect. But there can be too much of a good thing.”
“That why you have your mech limbs on?” Chase asked.
“Maybe.”
Chase shifted on the bed, turning toward Rika, and lifted her chin. “You’re the best thing ever, and I can’t imagine ever having too much of you.”
Rika opened her mouth to reply, but Chase’s lips found hers, pressing against them as he effortlessly lifted her onto his lap.
The feeling was pure exhilaration to Rika. Every part of her body felt hyper-stimulated by his touch, and he’d never been able to lift her before—at least, not so effortlessly.
It was as though she was floating in his arms. Chase turned further and lifted her onto the bed, then laid down next to her, tracing a finger down her chest, between her breasts and past the port where her belly button should be.
“Did they put all your parts back in pla
ce?” Chase asked, blushing slightly as he asked the question.
Rika nodded. “They did, and I can see all too well that yours are still intact—did they broaden you there, too, or are my eyes just playing tricks on me?”
Chase laughed, a deep, hearty guffaw that washed away the tension that had been building in Rika. At least for a moment. Then the worry that had been lingering in the back of her mind for the last two years came to the fore.
She’d asked before, and he’d assured her it wasn’t the case, but she knew that if she didn’t ask now, she’d wonder forever.
“Chase…do you only love me because I’m a mech?”
Chase pushed himself up on his elbow and brushed a strand of Rika’s long, blonde hair away from her face.
“No, Rika. A thousand times no. I love you because you’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever seen. You’re the most courageous, steadfast, caring, loyal, and loving woman I’ve ever met. You’re also a bit scary, but I suspect that would be the case even if you weren’t a mech.”
“Scary, Chase?” Rika frowned. “You were doing so well, there.”
Chase lowered his head, his lips brushing her neck and then her ear. “You misunderstand, Rika. I like you scary. You’re like a tigress; your caring and loyalty comes with a fierce determination to protect. It’s at the core of you, along with your iron will.”
Rika turned her head, eyebrows pinching. “Iron will? Did Tanis tell you that?”
“What?” Chase shook his head. “No, I’ve never even talked personally with Tanis. I’ve always thought you had an iron will. I saw it plain as day back in Hal’s Hell, and it’s only strengthened since then. It’s the very heart of you, Rika.”
He kissed her again, and Rika sank into the luxurious feeling, basking in the knowledge that she was with the man who loved her unconditionally and would always be by her side.
“I have one more question,” Rika asked as she gazed into Chase’s eyes.
“Ask it, Rika. Anything you wish.”
“Can you take my limbs off?”
A look of puzzlement came over Chase’s face. “Are you worried the bed will collapse? Because I’ll admit, I think it might.”
Rika groaned and pursed her lips. “You pick now to be funny? I’m serious. I want…I want our first time to be just me, not my…I mean, only the parts of me that are real.”
As Rika spoke, she sent the command to her MK99 skin to assume a natural tone and texture, revealing herself as a woman to Chase for the first time.
His eyes traced their way down her body, then back up to meet hers.
“Stars, Rika, you’re so beautiful.”
RESPECTS
STELLAR DATE: 09.17.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Bay 17 Golden Lark
REGION: Pyra, Albany System, Thebes, Septhian Alliance
“Present Arms!” Barne shouted, and the honor guard of twenty-one mechs raised their rifles and took aim out the exterior doors of Bay 17.
Opposite them, the mechs of M Company stood in solemn rows behind the casket, hands clenched into steel fists over their hearts.
Most of the mechs had never met General Mill, but they knew him as the man who had given them another chance. An opportunity to learn what the GAF could have been, had it not been run by fools.
And Rika respected him. That was enough for her soldiers.
And so they had stood for the ceremony, listening intently to the words given by Rika, and then by General Julia. Both women made it clear to the mechs, that had Mill not been true to his vision, none of them—mech or otherwise—would be in a position to take the fight to Nietzschea.
His drive, passion, and vision had brought them all to this point, to the eve of the war he’d hoped to fight someday. A war he would not see, but that they would fight in his honor.
“Fire!” Barne cried out, and the mechs fired their weapons in perfect unison.
“Fire!” The First Sergeant’s voice thundered again, and the rifles barked in response.
“Fire!” he said one final time, and the mechs completed the sixty-three-gun salute. An honor reserved for only the most venerated of Genevian war heroes.
General Julia stood before the casket and lowered her head for a moment, before turning to Rika and nodding solemnly.
“Battalion, dismissed!” Rika shouted, and platoon by platoon, the mechs filed out of the bay.
There was only so much room in the bay; as such, only Major Tim and a few of his high-ranking officers were present. They had another ceremony scheduled for the following morning, when the crews of the Perseid’s Dream and Golden Lark would attend.
Rika wished that Tim hadn’t come, but it was his ship, so he had every right to be there. She’d considered having the ceremony on the Fury Lance to avoid his inevitable presence, but giving the general his honors just wouldn’t feel right on a Nietzschean vessel, even if it was home to her mechs, now.
Once the last of her battalion had filed out, Julia turned to Rika, a tired look on her aging face.
“Colonel Rika, after the major has his ceremonies tomorrow, collect the general’s remains and take them to your ship.”
Julia had yet to bring up Rika’s outburst from the other day. She seemed neither upset that Rika had behaved with such rank insubordination, nor pleased at her moxy. The uncertainty Rika felt was maddening, but she had begun to suspect that such was the general’s intent.
“Yes, ma’am. What would you like me to do with the general’s remains once they are there?”
“Keep them safe until you reach the Kellas System. That’s where Mill was born and raised. Send his remains into the star; it’s what he would have wanted.”
Rika nodded silently. They both knew it may be some time before she could honor the request, but she would see the general to his final resting place.
“I’ll be leaving tomorrow—after the ceremonies,” Julia continued. “I need to get to the Ontario System and see to matters there. However, the remainder of the mechs from the Politica will not be here for several weeks. I have a suspicion that the Allied Field Marshal will need you to begin your mission before then.”
Rika frowned, wondering how she would deal with that eventuality. Having her mechs train together was important—even if they were going to have to do it in sims during the journey to their first target.
“I suggest you leave a team behind to train them,” Julia continued. “And to lead them when they head out to meet up with you.”
“I understand,” Rika replied. “However, I may need to promote someone to have the required seniority to command them on arrival.”
A wry smile slipped onto Julia’s lips. “You don’t want to leave them in Tim’s care?” Her gaze slid to the major, as he left the bay while glancing over his shoulder at Rika and Julia.
Rika did her best to keep a straight face. “No, ma’am, I don’t think that would be wise.”
The smile disappeared, and Julia nodded somberly. “OK, send me your recommendations within the hour. I want time to review them before I go. Tim doesn’t know this yet, but he’s coming to Ontario with me. I’ll be putting Lieutenant Scas in command of the Golden Lark, and they’ll stay behind to support your training endeavors, as was their original mission.”
“Yes, General. Thank you, ma’am,” Rika said as Julia turned and walked away.
Once the general left the bay, Silva pushed off the bulkhead where she’d been waiting, and walked to Rika’s side.
“I never really got to know him well, but he did sit with me one day in the mess,” Silva said as she reached the casket and looked down on the holoimage of the general within.
“Oh?” Rika asked, glancing at Silva before her eyes turned toward the general’s body. “He never did that with me.”
Silva winked at Rika. “You won’t like what he said to me. Well…you will, but you won’t.”
Rika’s lips curled in an involuntary smile. “I didn’t like a lot of the things he said. Usually because he was
yelling at me for something I did. Mill wasn’t an especially soft or gentle man.”
“I picked up on that.” Silva nodded slowly before continuing. “He told me he would deny me entrance to the Marauders if I applied.”
“Really?” Rika looked into Silva’s eyes, her own grown wide.
“Yup. He told me a mother’s place was with her daughter, and he was right, but…” Silva’s voice trailed off.
“But?” Rika prompted.
“You know what the ‘but’ is, Rika. I have two other kids out there, sons, still in Nietzschea somewhere. Living under their regime.”
“I thought you said they didn’t make it through the war,” Rika said as gently as she knew how.
Silva shrugged. “That’s what Stavros told me. But that lying bastard loved to hurt me. Who knows if they’re alive or dead? But even if they’re not…I had a sister, too, brothers…. Rika, everyone’s talking about how they have family in the Empire, people living under the Nietzschean rule, and how we might get to free them. It got me thinking that maybe….”
Rika wanted Silva to accompany her into Nietzschea more than anything. To have her old mentor at her side…to have the woman she viewed as her mother at her side, along with Kelly, the woman she thought of as a sister, would be beyond wonderful.
“No, Silva. The general was right. Amy needs you, and you know she’s alive. Give me everything you have on your sons, and I’ll look for them when we’re in there. You know it won’t be a priority mission—stars, everyone is going to want to go off and try to find their family. We’ll have to stay focused.”
Silva didn’t respond immediately. She just stood, breathing slowly, her eyes boring into Rika’s. Finally she lowered her gaze and nodded.
“OK. Then let me train the mechs coming from the Politica.” Silva’s voice carried a note of pleading. “You won’t let me in on the fight, but I can’t run from it, either. I have to do something.”
“And Amy?” Rika asked. “Do you think it’s wise to keep her here in Thebes now? Even with the Niets driven back, this isn’t going to be the safest place for some time.”