“Then what is the connection between us and Beasts? Why do they change our DNA?” Renee needed an answer. It is the number one haunting question in her life.
“For my creators they were the medium in which combines with them to bring forth the individuals’ full potential. It only works for those who hunger insatiably for them. Some were weak and some strong. The more you require in craving simply means you’ve not taken all the essence your body craves. When the hunger doesn’t distract then ones potential is achieved. You will still feel hunger, but not the draw telling you that you need more. More essence craved, more potential the individual. Human DNA is close, but cannot naturally combine with Beast essence. Until the need is curbed, the individual is as insatiable as Keptl.”
“What of the Keptl? Do you know what controls them like puppets?” Jessica’s curiosity had her speaking. Renee was too busy relaxing now that the fear was leaving. There was a limit after all.
“But of course.” The construct lifted a hand and suddenly beside her was an eight legged arachnid-like monster. Sharp black spikes for feet held the body upright. A torso grew out from the large, black abdomen. It had two arms with three long triangular claws on each finger. It didn’t have breasts, but it screamed female. It’s head sloped back like a Creelin, but flattened upwards like a triceratops without horns. Instead, sharp spikes made the crown look more like jagged scales sharper than broken glass. It was twice the size of Alleia and completely still. “These are Keptl Queens. It is they who guide the masses, see through the eyes of their minions and use them to fight or hunt. They rule quite like the queen of a bee nest. They evolved from a similar creature. Though not bipedal, as you can see the Queen is situated in an upright position.”
“Queen? Does she lay eggs?”
“Quite so. A queen can lay a million eggs every day and choose what strain of Keptl minion she needs for the hives to hatch.”
“Every day?! How long is the incubation period?” Jessica was flabbergasted and rightly so.
“Depends on humidity and heat. More moist and heat make them hatch faster. On average though for what you call Trackers need about twelve to fifteen hours. The larger and more complex life forms within the swarm take longer, are less numerous, but much deadlier. The deadliest are Queens as they can store extra energy and focus it through their children without leaving safety of the hives. Yes they breed quickly, but rely on brute force. They lack forethought as individuals and therein lays their weakness. One will cannot match with many, even with endless numbers…” Alleia suddenly jerked stiff, not as a person, but as a machine. “Alert! Massive energy signature detected! Alert! Spatial disturbance located at nine, nine, three two. Distance: three thousand two hundred six kilometers from this position. Keptl signature detected…”
Aboard the Dorgenox the emergency lighting turned to red. Jake got out of his throne and moved over. “What is it?”
“Captain, FTL disturbance size indicate a Goliath dropping out of space above the moon.”
“Fuck, no wonder they didn’t react. They were waiting on the damn crab before they knew we were here.” Abdul cursed and went to turn the ship around till a large hand gripped the helm.
“We don’t have time to turn around and face it. We’re just too big. Activate the rear cannons.” He turned around and tapped his ear “Lads, get back to yer ships and reach us! The Goliath is not weighted down and that makes it faster.”
Jake pulled a screen down as he sat in the throne and his eyes turned bright green, funneling his great power through the buffer stores and began firing twelve old fashion looking cannons, but what left their chambers were hardly iron balls. Out shot long beams of energy going at the speed of light.
Oliver and Renee slapped a hand on the nano-wall just as she heard Sparky’s voice “Leave!”
“We are! We know the Goliath is right over us.” The door opened and Jessica flew first.
Oliver turned to say “Alleia, memory wipe!” He got out just in time as the order would also seal the wall as all remaining data was lost. He grabbed Jessica and jumped long distances hearing Deegen say through the coms “Multiple contacts heading in our general direction. Dragoons. ETA fifteen minutes.”
Stone calmly said “Fly away from us and stay under the clouds to draw their fire. We are ten minutes from the ships.”
“We’ve got the cargo secured and are returning to the ship.” Came Steven’s voice. “Two minutes out.”
Jessica screamed as they were falling eighty meters straight down and clenched tightly into him, but he wasn’t concerned. He heavily landed, but absorbed the fall by bending his knees. Behind fell Renee, also unafraid. He said “We’re here, Jessica.” She shook in natural fear and he smelled it, but as soon as her feet hit the ground she opened her eyes. “Go fire up the shuttle.”
“Olly, I’m riding with you. I’ll supply the extra power so you can lay down extra cover for everyone else.”
“No, I…”
“This isn’t a debate.” She opened the lid and jumped in the back. “Now get your ass in here or I won’t let you spank mine.”
That mental image had his concern for her safety change into lust, rather liking the idea. He leapt inside and the lid closed. At his touch the fighter was awake and opening the dual sails. Jessica was running inside the shuttle just as Steven and Stephanie came bursting through the storming woods. Tucked under the Hunter’s arm was Visor who couldn’t fly well enough under the conditions.
No sound accompanied Oliver as he took off straight up and floored the thrusters. Flying up on the screen were bright red targets that turned the image of Keptl flyers. Dragoons. Large serpents with leathery wings. Their hard bodies covered in a bony carapaces were falling in the atmosphere, wings spread to slow reentry much faster. Oliver locked on after flying in the other direction of Deegen. Even under the blinding clouds booming with lightning they were well hidden.
Behind him Renee’s eyes were burning as she held onto a pair of handles that ejected from the port wall, from her linking to the fighter. She monitored functions and fueled extra power.
Oliver knew the cannons fired at the speed of light and didn’t need to worry about adjusting for light and time at this close a range. His thumb pressed down on the button and forefinger pulled on the trigger. From either side drum under the wings shot a beam of light. He let go a moment later. Aim was for the wings of the snakes and it hit dead on to fire at another Dragoon. His mind able to pinpoint their weakness rather than waste excess power. Almost at the same time, nineteen flyers lost stability. Without the second wing they tumbled straight to the ground. Another was shot down and came from Deegen over fifty kilometers away. Still hundreds of danger targets dropped. Renee said calmly “Oliver, draw their angle. They are being dropped all over this area because they didn’t have a better guess. Every one hear that? We are acting decoy and will catch up once you all are clear.”
Multiple people confirmed and not needing to be told the obvious reasons, Oliver shot out of the clouds. As he kept going higher he kept shooting at ones closer to landing, making them fall to their deaths or would hurt like hell if survival was possible.
It worked, as soon as a clear ship was found the falling Keptl angled for them. Some diving headfirst and others attempting to go wide to close in from either side as well as back. A pincer maneuver.
Too bad they had no idea their spacing made for a perfect spread. Rather than continue pinpoint firing he held the trigger and made a sharp sweep through the thickest line. The wide shot dropped several hundred, cutting numbers in half.
Behind he heard “Good shot, Olly. You do realize I could make plenty of sex puns about shooting white stuff in the dark at something.” He chuckled and went higher to find out the Dragoons also could manipulate gravity to some extent and not need to have atmosphere with which to fly. They weren’t very maneuverable, but they opened their fanged mouths and fired powerful kinetic blasts.
They were too easy to dodge and coun
ter with near perfect accuracy.
A glance above showed the Goliath. It was shaped like a crab, but with pincers so large that they could cut the Dorgenox in half. But now the pincers were held forward, covering its head as twelve individual beams fired accurately. It made for a serious defense as little pods in the pincers and long legs returned fire of explosive spines five times as large as a human, able to grow back once every five minutes to fire again. Tens of thousands of spines were part of it. The only plus is that the three flaps of the underbelly were closed and not stretched of a pliable membrane with millions of Keptl. What had been dropped were all its remaining flyers.
The remaining numbered eight hundred and six. Five. Four. The number dropped a dozen per second. He didn’t go for kill shots as it would take a longer and bigger burst to cut through their bony exoskeletons. One minute later he said “Job’s done.”
“Why didn’t you save any for me?” playfully whined Steven.
“Olly, flip around.” Renee warned and the Flare did a one eighty.
“If you want to play, the hive is sending its own Dragoons after me. My counter is finding three million plus right for us.”
“Be right there.” In a few minutes he was and side by side they fired.
In eight minutes the Goliath was continuously assaulted and could not turn attention down to the moon as Jessica said “Everyone is in and off the planet. Keep it up for two minutes till we get clear.”
“Don’t worry about us! I’ve never had this much fun!” Steven crowed as he inverted and dropped another flyer.
“Clear!” she said too quickly, but the action made her voice come sooner.
Steven flipped and punched the throttle to full to go in the opposite direction.
Oliver waited till Steven was out of range before sending one more steady beam and caught up. They had no more serious issue and were around the planet in no time as the shuttle continued accelerating. “Got a visual!” Renee said.
“Jake told us to keep a wide berth. He’s shooting down the spines and doesn’t want us anywhere near. I’m sending the trajectory to you now.”
Oliver touched the file and plotted a course with an estimated time of ten hours.
The shuttle reached its full speed an hour later and the four ships coasted to conserve power, going as close to the speed of light as they could.
About that time Jake Dorgen’s grinning face appeared on their screens “The bastards nipping at our heels seem to have had enough. Is everyone safe and uninjured?”
“Yes, Papa. We got lucky.”
“Damn lucky indeed. If it had a full belly we wouldn’t have been able to keep it distracted.” When everyone else said they were uninjured he smiled “Did ye find any loot?”
“We hit the mother lode!” said Jacob.
“Say no more, Old Friend. Say no more. Wait to tell me under the cloak.”
“Will do.”
Jake seemed to look at everyone and said “Relax now and keep coming home, Lads.”
The screen faded and Oliver turned his chair around. “What ever shall we do for the time? Play cards?”
Renee lowered her facemask and clear visor smirking. “You damn well know I have no patience for that when I’ve got a nice hard cock to use so close. Besides, I did promise a spanking and am willing to take my punishment if you turn off the transmitters to standby.” She leaned forward, manipulating her armor to show off plenty of cleavage and thinned the material transparent to show her nipples were already perky.
He swung around to hit the button which effectively would not let the next few hours of fun be watched or heard, but could alert them if need be and upon spinning back lounged a naked beauty on her side with a hand on a milky white hip and the other holding her head up. The moment she glossed her lips with that sinful tongue he was done for.
He hit another button and his chair folded and linked up with Renee’s to make a rather soft and comfortable bed. He was naked just as fast and using the adrenaline from earlier he dove right into her silken depths without any foreplay and gave her the best spanking of her life. She was sent crying. Crying in feverish orgasm with the ultimate shaft for her was locked firmly between her sculpted legs. She wasn’t in the mood for passion. She needed hard and fast relief which she got time and time again. It also helped ease the fear and anxiety of the day.
Chapter 15
Going faster meant the four smaller ships had to slow down as they passed beyond the two stars central to this system to meet up with the Dorgenox. Effectively they put the stars between themselves and the Keptl to help disguise and use the immense gravity as defense against further attacks.
Velocity was soon reached and docking procedures were in their final stages as soon as the great sailboat was at last seen by the naked eye. The starship held course and speed to allow the smaller four all the time they needed. Renee’s chin was propped onto the shoulder of Oliver’s seat as she watched him make the tiniest corrections the eye could barely notice. She sighed contently and with a fair share of blissful soreness between her thighs. She had at last reached a state of acceptance that no matter how fucked up her life was in so short a time, she wouldn’t change a single thing. It didn’t matter that her mate/boyfriend/lover/ match or whatever title someone used, was over eighty million years old, or that he had a long dead lover and children, many children actually. They had discussed it at length when not sending her eyes up into her skull as he drilled her to the brink and over.
Effectively his amnesia made him a completely different person. Renee may have the sequence of the former General Reten, but she was still herself. They were two entirely new individuals. Sure they had their own issues, but they had each other. Neither Oliver nor Renee would change that they were together and inseparable.
This thought had her say “Olly, do you like these feelings?”
“A little more information would help me out.” She could hear the smile in the words and got a thump on the head because of it. “Oh, you mean between us?”
“Duh. What have we talked the most about when you weren’t fucking my brains out? Seriously… just forget it.”
“We still have a few more minutes to dock. What is on your mind?” his change of tone was softer, the usual serene she now depended on when she was overanxious. He knew what she needed and all without telepathy.
Renee looked at the ship still steadily growing as they got ever closer and watched as her shuttle was making its final approach to the docking platform as little more than a marble in size. “Well it is so rare to find someone you are compatible with. Chemistry, temperament and similar interests make for good pairings, but we don’t have that option. You’re overgrown ass is stuck with mine and you never had the chance to sample other women. Don’t get me wrong, all my mates before you were hardly cohesive outside the bed, but you’ve only had me and I feel like it is somehow… I don’t know… diminishing your life experiences.”
“Let me get this straight. You’re upset because I’ve not been with other women or upset because you don’t see yourself as my ideal woman.”
“Little bit of both I think. It’s a bit confusing up here.”
Oliver turned his head to the side to see her still peeking over the backrest. She was touching her head. “You think I haven’t seen how messy relationships are? Vids, books and history have shown me that I don’t want all the hassle. Leave the mess for those wanting for it. Besides, you know I like simplicity. You’re the simplest woman I’ve met.” Those emerald irises darkened as a storm was approaching if he didn’t avert it immediately, which he did. “I’ve seen other women around you and the ship. They are too much a hassle and docile. You don’t let me get away with anything. It wasn’t until we made love that I found it difficult to part from your side. Before then I did wonder if a docile woman would be better for me, but then when I reflected on it, it didn’t feel right.
“So no, do not be upset thinking I’m not comfortable you are my woman. You are my Renee
, not Reten. I’m not Mantiv. We are new and together. Our memories make us different. Besides, I doubt Reten knew how to do a split and take me like you did earlier.”
Renee laughed and pushed his head playfully. “Brat. How can you still be horny after twelve orgasms.”
Oliver lifted his nose and made a show of sniffing. “Don’t know. How come your pussy is wet again for me?”
“Because my body seems to have a mind of its own and I have no control over it.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
“Watch it. Just because you’re the best lover I’ve had doesn’t mean I still won’t circumcise you without numbing you.”
“And yesterday you said you liked the extra skin to play with which also made it easier to fit my girth inside your tight channel.”
“That was yesterday.” She said airily and he knew she didn’t plan to follow through on the threat.
“Subject change. You know, I’m glad our suits were able to let us breathe.”
“Ditto.” She leaned back in her seat. They were last in line, but aiming straight for the shielded docking platform. “I’m glad you remembered to tell me how you were able to breathe underwater when you jumped into the lake on Zerika. You’ve spoiled me with my armor. It would have felt odd getting dressed after more than a month of simply thinking and find myself ready for the occasion. It would have been odd sliding into my old flight suit. I’m still surprised we could breathe in all those environments without any oxygen. Stephanie still can’t figure out how our masks convert those deadly atmospheres into the oxygen and nitrogen air we need to breathe when none was there to begin with.
“It’s a shame we promised Netul we wouldn’t make more. This armor is fantastic.” She voiced.
“He must have had a reason. One day we’ll track him down and ask why. The worst thing he can do is tell us no again.” Oliver chuckled. “One thing I’m surprised is we didn’t ask Alleia what styles of clothes Solarian’s chose. I couldn’t help imagining you wearing those thin ribbons, but in white.”
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