by Cynthia Sax
Dark Arsenal
Cynthia Sax
A cyborg warrior and a Rebel female’s first mission together might be their last.
Arsenal considers himself to be a disposable cyborg. He drifts from assignment to assignment, forming no connections to anything or anyone. When the cyborg council requires a warrior for a high-risk mission, Arsenal volunteers. He believes no one will miss him if he dies.
He doesn’t realize he’s one female’s fantasy.
The moment Vicuska glimpses Arsenal’s image, she knows he’s the male she wants to spend her last moments in the universe caressing. The Rebel female craves the cyborg’s grim-lipped kisses, desires the touch of his hands, hears his deep voice in her dreams.
Their mission will end in explosions and death. That is certain if they fail or if they succeed. Whether or not they’ll find love during their dangerous assignment is the unknown.
* * *
Dark Arsenal is a short companion story in the Cyborg Sizzle series and is meant to be read after Taking Vengeance.
It is also a Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes violent universe.
Dark Arsenal
Published by Cynthia Sax at Smashwords
Copyright 2018 Cynthia Sax
Ebook design by Mark's Ebook Formatting
Cover Design by Amanda Kelsey at Razzle Dazzle Design
Discover more books by Cynthia Sax at her website
www.CynthiaSax.com
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this story are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
First edition: December 2018
For more information contact Cynthia Sax at
www.CynthiaSax.com
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Other Books by Cynthia Sax
Dark Thoughts - Excerpt
About The Author
Chapter One
Arsenal was disposable.
The K Model had been taught that lesson by his Humanoid Alliance manufacturers. They had decommissioned all of his closest friends during training, citing them as being defective. Their sole malfunction had been hesitating before killing the wide-eyed offspring the Humanoid Alliance had deemed to be lawbreakers.
His opponent had been a mature male. That was the only reason he had survived.
After the mass cyborg rebellion, he had drifted from assignment to assignment, going where he was needed, forming few attachments. More-fortunate K Models had located their females, produced offspring, developed connections. He remained alone.
He was a replaceable warrior and he had embraced that.
When the cyborg council approached him about a possibly lifespan-ending mission, he’d accepted it without hesitation. He had been instructed to rendezvous with a being on the Reckless, a cyborg warship. At a designated time, he would be told the task he had to complete.
That designated time was now. He strode into the warship’s secondary docking bay. The space had fewer ships than expected stored in it. The only being his lifeform scan detected was Vector.
The captain of the Reckless faced an empty section of the docking bay. He was alone, which was unusual. When Arsenal had previously met with the C model, the warrior had been accompanied by his human female and his offspring.
Was the captain expecting trouble? Arsenal stood beside him with one of his hands curved around the handle of a gun. He drifted his other hand to the dagger strapped to his side.
Unlike him, the blade was unique. The weapon was one of a kind, perfectly balanced, exquisitely engraved with fantastical images of ships and planets, sported his model number.
Received as a gift from another warrior and his female, it was Arsenal’s most valuable possession.
He’d use it to kill if there was a threat.
“Your Rebel contact is approaching my ship.” Vector sent him an image of the vessel. “She’s flying a Humanoid Alliance shuttle craft. It has been modified.” Those scans were transmitted to him also. “The engines have been upgraded, increasing its speed, and guns were added to the exterior.”
She’s flying. Arsenal’s processors whirled. The Rebel was a female. Females were precious. Only fools put them at risk.
She must be coordinating the mission, not participating in it.
He wouldn’t be partnering with anyone. His shoulders lowered, relief filling him.
The Rebels consisted of humans and humanoids. Purely organic and products of natural evolution, they weren’t designed for fighting as cyborgs had been. They tended to be sloppy, slow, weak.
He’d rather complete the mission alone than fight alongside one of them.
“I cleared the docking bay of all other warriors.” Vector widened his stance as though he anticipated an attack. “The cyborg council told me a vessel was arriving. They didn’t elaborate on what that vessel was.” Disgust edged his voice. “If she hadn’t been female, I would have blown up her shuttle craft. No one aligned with the Humanoid Alliance will ever enter my warship.”
Every cyborg, including Arsenal, hated their manufacturers—the Humanoid Alliance. The humans, all males and all brutal beings, had tortured the cyborgs, enslaved them, continued to hunt them.
“Is there any other information I should have?” The C Model glanced at him, his face hard. “I’m responsible for everyone on board my warship. I won’t put my warriors, my son, my female, at risk for a mission I’m not authorized to access intel about.”
Vector believed himself worthy of accessing that intel. Arsenal had no such illusions about his own place in the cyborg hierarchy. He was relayed only what he needed to know to complete his assignments and that was all.
“I was told I might not survive the mission and to report here to receive additional information.” He shrugged. “That’s the extent of my knowledge.”
The lack of information didn’t bother him. He had no loved ones to protect. The only being he was putting at risk was himself and he’d come to terms with his death long ago.
Vector did have beings to safeguard. The C Model’s lips flattened.
Arsenal waited. Engine noise broke the silence, increasing in intensity.
The shuttle craft entered the bay. At first glance, it appeared to be worn and well-used, its panels dented, its patina dull.
Arsenal was a cyborg, however. He was designed to detect inconsistencies. His senses were more refined than a humanoid’s, his ability to see patterns amplified.
He noticed irregularities with the small ship. The wear and tear was too randomly distributed to be naturally obtained. The protected underbelly was as battered as the exposed wing tips.
The shuttle craft was newly manufactured. It had been artificially stressed to appear old.
The doors opened and a ramp lowered. A scent, light yet unmistakably female, teased Arsenal’s nostrils.
His cock hardened, pressing against the confines of his body armor.
His reaction mortified him. He was a warrior. His form was a finely honed weapon.
To lose control of it was embarrassing and dangerous.
Cyborgs had been decommissioned, killed for physical responses less pronounced than Arsenal’s unabated erection.
Determined to regain mastery over his body, he tried to block the delectable aroma.
He failed. The scent was already inside him.
Then he would ignore it. With everything he had.
He replayed past missions in his processors, seeking to will his hard-on away before anyone noticed his deplorable state.
That tactic was successful. His cock softened.
“Oh, wonderful.” The female’s voice was low and husky, the combination stroking Arsenal’s beleaguered balls and shredding his restraint.
He gritted his teeth and attempted to distract himself with complex coding but was unable to combat the verbal assault. His erection revived.
With those two spoken words, she had undone every bit of his progress. He was harder than he had ever been in his entire lifespan.
“I have a welcoming party.” Black boots, absurdly small, appeared on the ramp.
His breath hitched as more of the female’s flight suit-clad form appeared. She had shapely legs, wide hips, a tiny waist, high full breasts.
Her face was revealed and it took all of Arsenal’s training not to react. Long curly red hair the hue of a sunset after a long hard-fought battle bounced against her shoulders. Her lips, full and pink, begged to be touched. Her pale skin glowed.
She was the most exquisite being he’d ever seen, an otherworldly creature not belonging in his death-filled universe. He stared at her, unable to trust his vision system.
“Captain.” She smiled at Vector.
She’s mine. As soon as that fanciful thought entered his processors, Arsenal deleted it.
Mine. The thought returned. He erased it again.
Mine. Mine. Mine. That message bombarded his systems.
Fraggin’ hole. She was a virus and he was under attack. He flattened his lips, concentrated on purging the input, was unable to do so.
“And you must be K142174.” Her gaze shifted to him. Where it belonged. Her eyes were as fantastical as the rest of her, the color of newly fabricated vegetation. “Arsenal. Arse.” She grimaced. “No, not Arse. That doesn’t suit you.”
When he chose his name, he hadn’t expected anyone to shorten it. He thought he would be dead long before that happened.
“Arsenal.” As she approached him, she repeated his name.
He liked the way she said it.
“I’m Vicuska.” She looked him up and down, perusing his much larger form.
He sucked in his stomach, stood straighter. There were many warriors similar to him. He wasn’t a special being but a primitive part of him wanted her to like what she saw.
“I’m so happy to finally meet you.” She wrapped her arms around him.
Shocked and surprised, he stiffened, instinctively bracing for a blow or a slash of a blade through his skin. Violence was the only type of physical contact he’d known.
“You’re even more handsome than your footage.” She pressed her beautiful face against his body armor-covered chest and breathed deeply.
It was an effort to keep his hands at his sides, to not defend himself. She was small, fragile, his. He couldn’t damage her.
“And you’re big.” She chattered. “I like that.”
There was no pain, no attack. Her touch felt…nice.
“It’s challenging to determine size by looking at footage.” She bombarded him with words. “I got the impression you were huge but a female doesn’t truly know until she meets a being.”
She didn’t release him, didn’t move away from him.
Should he hug her back? Was that the expected human response?
Arsenal glanced at Vector, seeking direction.
The blasted C Model shrugged, his eyes sparkling with humor. He was of no assistance, gave Arsenal no guidance.
His attention returned to the human female, Vicuska. Mine, the voice inside him whispered. She cuddled against him, small and supple and trusting, his to safeguard, to protect.
“Everything about your footage excited me. You were so intense during it, your eyes blazing, your lips grimly set, and you had that deep voice.” She shuddered, her curves vibrating against his muscle. “It did things to me.”
She did things to him, fitting against his body like she was fabricated for that space. Her breasts were flattened against his pecs. Her stomach pushed against the bulge in his body armor.
He wanted to stroke her hair, verify it was as soft as it appeared, taste her parted lips, rip off her flight suit, claim her in all ways.
Those were not thoughts a cyborg departing on a dangerous assignment should be having.
“The mission.” He choked out those words.
“Right.” She sighed. “The mission. It’s top secret. We can’t talk about it here. The captain is listening to us.”
“I can hear you.” Vector’s tone was dry.
“Which is why we’re not talking about it here.” She tilted her head back and looked up at Arsenal. “Though I wish I could.” Her voice lowered. “It’s very exciting and very dangerous.”
She was dangerous. Her eyelashes were impossibly long. Her cheeks were the same shade of pink as her lips.
His head lowered as though it was following its own commands.
Her eyes widened.
He stopped his approach. What the frag was he doing?
They stared at each other. A silence thick with meaning stretched.
She blinked once, twice, and slowly smiled, her beauty hitting him like a missile to the gut. “We’ll have time for that later, you naughty cyborg.”
She swiveled her hips, grinding against Arsenal.
Need pummeled him. His jaw clenched so hard it ached.
“It’s a long trip to the site. Oh.” Her lips formed a circle. “I shouldn’t have said that.” She glanced to her right. “Captain, you didn’t hear anything.”
“I heard everything.” Vector, being a cyborg, had a more advanced auditory system than any human. He also didn’t have the ability to lie.
“Shit.” Vicuska continued to wiggle, tormenting Arsenal. “We shouldn’t be talking here.”
He folded his fingers into tight fists, battling the urge to grab her ass. “We shouldn’t be touching.”
His response made her laugh, the sound rippling over him like liquid. “Oh, we’ll touch, but not now and not here.” She stepped back from him. Cold air swept between them. “We’re leaving before we further embarrass the captain.”
“The captain has a female,” Vector murmured. “He understands.”
Arsenal was glad someone fraggin’ understood because he didn’t. Logic had abandoned him as soon as he inhaled Vicuska’s tantalizing scent.
The source of his confusion grabbed his right hand. “Come on, cyborg.”
He allowed her to lead him forward, following her as she bounced up the ramp.
“I’ll introduce you to Nora.” She entered the shuttle craft.
He trailed behind her.
Who was Nora? His lifeform scans detected no other beings.
He tilted his head, listening. There were no voices other than hers.
He breathed in.
The entire vessel smelled like her. He stifled a groan. It would be a long fraggin’ voyage to wherever they were going.
His holster-sized tormenter guided him to the bridge. The space was devoid of any other beings.
“Arsenal, this is Nora.” She waved her hands at the console. “Nora, this is Arsenal. He has been assigned to our mission.”
“How do you organize a party in space?” a robotic voice asked, its question bizarre.
“I don’t know.” Vicuska answered it. “How do you organize a party in space?”
“You planet.”
His female laughed loudly. It must have been a joke.
He analyzed it. Planet. Plan it. Mirth bubbled within him. That w
as funny.
“The machine is not laughing.” The robotic voice wasn’t happy with his lack of appreciation.
“He’s a cyborg, not a machine.” Vicuska squeezed his hand and released it. “And he’s laughing on the inside.”
Arsenal gaped at her. How had she known that?
Most beings, including his brethren, believed him to be unrelentingly grim. Within moments of meeting him, she realized that wasn’t the truth.
“Perform the final checks, Nora.” She instructed the guidance system to prepare for departure.
Arsenal watched, fascinated, as the female flitted around the small space. She was a creature of grace, of beauty, of mystery.
How could someone like her belong with him?
She finally landed on one seat. “Sit there.” She waved at the other chair. “Nora and I have this.”
What did they have? He lowered his ass into the chair, placed his palms on the viewscreen embedded in the console, accessing the systems.
“The machine is touching me,” the guidance system announced.
“That’s Arsenal.” Vicuska tapped on her own viewscreen. “I authorize that touching.”
“I do not like it.” The guidance system tried to block some of his access.
Its efforts were futile. Arsenal, being a cyborg, blasted through its flimsy walls as though they hadn’t been erected.
The guidance system grumbled.
He ignored it and surveyed the coordinates Vicuska had entered, comparing them to the information in his databases.
“There’s nothing at our destination.” He came to that conclusion.
“There’s nothing there yet.” His female grinned, sweeping her fingers over her viewscreen. The ramp retracted. The doors closed. The engines rumbled to life.
The guidance system narrated every step. It was almost as chatty as its captain.
Arsenal focused on Vicuska’s words. “We’re meeting another ship.”
He should have processed that. Being a precious female, she wouldn’t participate in the dangerous parts of the mission. She would transfer to the other vessel. He would continue to the true destination.
They had to part. That shouldn’t damage him emotionally. He was a disposable warrior. They had met mere moments ago.