Vyken Dark: Cyborg Awakenings Book One

by Christine Myers

  Earth had gotten the worst of it. The Mesaarkans had systematically destroyed all the major cities of the world and the smaller ones as well. They had turned the entire planet into a holocaust. Admiral Gregor asked, rather than ordered, Vyken to return to Earth and help Jacob Black build the Enclave from the cyborg facility south of what used to be Chicago. For this and for their decades of service, the Starfire Nemesis was given to Vyken and his brothers to fight a different battle. Star the AI would guide them and provide them the knowledge to carry out the mission.

  Throughout his military career, Vyken had been groomed to lead cyborgs in raining death to the Mesaarkans. He had done his job well with thousands of kills to his credit along with his brothers. Killing had been his way of life. Now his life was pointed in a different direction---rebuilding and restoring order at the place where he was born.

  They had the technology to prolong the Admiral’s life, but after one hundred forty- seven years he was ready to have it end. Vyken was there at the end. He didn’t want to see him die. He had already seen too many humanoids die, and the Admiral was his friend and maybe a father figure as well. Vyken had accepted the request as though it were an order. It gave him purpose and direction, and he felt glad he could grant Gregor’s last wish.

  And it brought him to Danya. He had the admiral to thank for that in part. Vyken wondered if Gregor knew this could happen. Perhaps, he only suspected, but he knew Vyken well enough to know he would need direction as the war was finally ending. He didn’t think he would stay here forever, but he would stay long enough to set everything in motion for the Enclave.

  Danya stirred and opened her eyes to find Vyken watching her. He smiled at her, and she smiled back as he drew his fingertips across her cheek. She put her hand over his and kissed his palm. The seed of love had been planted. Vyken had taken her to heights of passion she had never known as their bodies were melded together by something more fundamental than lust. She felt as if together they made up two halves of a whole, and now their destinies were inextricably entwined.

  “Did you rest well, my mate?” Vyken asked.

  “Better than I have in a long time,” she said softly. “I’m sure it was because you held me in your arms until I fell asleep.”

  “And long afterward.” He leaned down and kissed her temple.

  “I knew I was completely safe and could relax,” she said.

  Vyken shifted so he could pull her into his arms and press her delightful naked body against him. There was no hiding his full arousal as he deliberately pressed it against her mons.

  “Again?” she said with a little catch in her breath, and she raised one leg over his hip to press her pussy against his cock. She was already wet for him

  That was all the encouragement he needed to roll her on her back and sheath his shaft inside her. “Ah, Vyken,” she moaned and rubbed the taut muscles of his back as he lay on top of her. She could tell by his expression that it felt just as good to him.

  Vyken held her gaze. Even though he didn’t know what she was thinking, her eyes were openly admiring in a way that seemed to reach into his soul. That she was his, made her the most attractive woman in the world, certainly his world. After he’d looked his fill, he started kissing her face and neck, seeming intent on planting kisses on every inch. He loved her taste and her scent. Finally, his lips found her hers, and he tasted her inner recesses.

  Danya arched her back and rubbed her breasts against his chest, liking the weight of him pressing down on her. He possessed her completely, and she embraced that possession knowing he was also possessed by her.

  Vyken finally began thrusting in and out of her as he felt her contracting around him. She loved the feel of him pounding into her as he made sure to tilt his hips so that his flesh rubbed her clit keeping her as stimulated as he was. It didn’t take long to drive them both to climax with his name on her lips as she cried out her release. Vyken’s cry was a roar and then a growl.

  When they finished, he wished to linger in her arms, but it would soon be time for another excursion into the city.

  “It’s all most time to go, isn’t it?” she asked, rubbing his back, still joined with him cradled between her thighs.

  “Yes, but we still have time to shower off the smell of sex on us,” he grinned and kissed her lightly. “Even though they will know we have mated, there is no need to taunt them with the scent of it when they have no females.”

  A few moments later he pulled out of her with a groan and rolled out of bed turning back to help her out and carried her into the shower with him. They washed each other and Vyken took special care to wash her breasts and her pussy until he made her come again. When they were blown dry, Vyken dressed then went to Danya’s cabin and brought back the rest of her clean clothing so she could dress and stow the last set in the cupboard by the bathroom door.

  “Will you stay with me now that we have claimed each other?” he asked her.

  “Yes, I will,” she assured him with a smile.

  While he had gone down one level to retrieve her clothing, he had been in contact with his cyborgs on the status of the newbies. Vyken decided they would take three transporters out with four of the newbies each. The other eighteen would return to the cyborg facility and stand watch over the rest of the cyborgs in stasis.

  In all his years serving with natural humans, Vyken had gotten a feel for body language and facial expressions of naturals. There was something however subtle about Jacob Black that made Vyken think he was not pleased that he had found the three hundred cyborgs in stasis on level three. If he didn’t know about level four, Vyken had no plans to tell him.

  Surely their AI systems had a complete schematic of the facility. Perhaps he wasn’t given access to that information because he didn’t need to know. That could explain why nothing had been done convert the third level. The fourth level could only be accessed from the stairwell in that third level cyborg lab were the three hundred were left in stasis. There was an elevator that served just the fourth level at the far end of the compound as well as a stairwell. Vyken was guessing Jacob didn’t know about that one.

  When Vyken and Danya reached the landing bay, Matix, Jolt, and Brekar were there with the twelve newly activated cyborgs. All were armed with ion rifles, side arms, and combat knives. Danya’s father James arrived at the landing bay with one of the men they had just rescued.

  James introduced him as Todd Marsh. He was a young man in his late twenties, tall and somewhat underweight for his wiry build. Todd was hoping to find his sister who had disappeared a few weeks before. He would accompany Brekar’s team who would be covering the area where she was last seen. Todd also wanted to help bring more people like himself to the safety of the Enclave where they could hope for a normal life.

  The new cyborgs were fully briefed on their duties and the mission with instructions to protect their human liaisons with their lives. About the only way to kill a cyborg with a bullet was a shot through the eye. Their skulls were virtually bulletproof, and their skeletons were made of the same metal alloy as their skulls. Their nanites would repair any soft tissue injury before it could kill them.

  James had briefed Todd and showed him how to use the sidearm he’d been given, so Brekar had issued Todd one of his own. Vyken gave the order, and they all went to their respective transports to head into old Chicago to search for people who needed rescue. They had previously divided the city into sectors to cover on foot, and each transporter went to a different area.

  Vyken could have sent Danya out with Matix and his team and remained at the enclave to help Kydel activate more cyborgs. But, Vyken wouldn’t put his female in a potentially dangerous situation unless he was there to protect her.

  He knew logically that Matix and his team were fully capable of protecting her. However, he was feeling emotions he never felt before now that they had claimed each other. The attachment he felt for her was intensely possessive. He just couldn’t make himself let her go without him. Was this
love?

  If so, Vyken thought it was the most frightening thing he had ever faced. The thought of her being damaged or killed terrified him like nothing before in his long life. It was not an option to refrain from claiming her. Their genetics made resistance impossible. Vyken’s attachment to her began the moment they met.

  Vyken found some comfort in that he was injecting his nanocybots into her every time they mated. They would also help protect her if she were damaged, possibly even prevent death. Only, he didn’t want to test that theory. He had seen many humans including females killed and injured through his years in combat. Vyken couldn’t bear the thought of his female wounded with her blood flowing from her body.

  Finally, he had to halt those thought processes, or he wouldn’t be able to function. His fears would paralyze him so he couldn’t do his job. Then he felt Danya’s hand on his arm from the seat beside him.

  “Don’t worry, Vyken. I’ve lived in this city all my life, and I am better protected now than I have ever been,” she said softly.

  Vyken drew in a long breath and let it out slowly as he mentally filed away his fears in his processors at the back of the queue. Looping them over and over was counterproductive.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  After Vyken’s team set down in their assigned sector to cover, he had kept the team together on the first street in their division and explained how to scan the buildings for occupants. The first three buildings on the block were too damaged to shelter people, but there were a dozen occupants in the third one, two males, four females, and six children.

  Vyken and Danya went to the doorless entryway, and Danya called, “Hello in the building. We mean you no harm. We are here to offer you a safe haven in a small community outside the city. We have food, fresh water, and shelter. The men I have with me are only for protection. Please come out, and I will show you the pictures.”

  Then they waited. About five minutes later an older man and a woman of undetermined age came out to the entryway looking scared and uncertain. Since they were unarmed and posed no threat, he nodded to Danya his ascent for her to approach them. She was armed with a hand-held tablet to show them the Enclave facility.

  “We have a group of cyborgs back from the war that is helping to get people like you out of the city to a safe place where you can work together to build a community like the ones that were here before the aliens came.”

  “What’s the catch?” the man asked. “Nobody does nothing for nothing. What if we go there and don’t like it?”

  “The catch is that you will have to work and help out where ever you can, and they will teach you what you need to know. The Enclave is on a farm where they are growing crops to provide food for the community. They will need people to work in the fields to take care of them, people to help build homes, take care of animals, teach and care for children,” she quickly explained. “No one will be forced to stay who doesn’t want to. I used to live here just like you a mile or so south of here. Tell the others and decide. One of these men will be back in a few hours to lead anyone who wants to come back to our transporter.”

  “It sounds good,” the man said, and the woman beside him nodded. “I know I at least want to see it. I think the girls with kids would like to go. We’ll tell them and let you know when you come back.”

  As they moved on to the next building, Vyken polled his new men about their understanding of what to do. There were many streets to cover and many buildings to scan, so he wanted them to split up and complete their sector by the end of the day. They needed to check all of the buildings whether they were residential structures or not. These days people took shelter in any partial standing structure they could find.

  Vyken took Danya with him on his itinerary where they found at least twenty more people who accepted their offer of safe haven. Those that didn’t were probably not suitable for the Enclave anyway. They were the ones who preyed on people like Dany and her father.

  Apparently, the predators were stirred up by what was happening in their territories, because someone started shooting at them. As a bullet grazed Vyken in the upper arm, he shoved Danya behind him and unshouldered his rifle to fire back. Two more shots came at him, and that was all Vyken needed to pinpoint the source so he could take out the gunman.

  “Take cover,” he commanded Danya, indicating the wrecked brick building behind them. Another bullet struck Vyken in the side, and one grazed his leg as he fired back then retreated behind the wall with Danya. Unlike the projectiles being fired at them, Vyken’s ion rifle could penetrate the brick walls where the shooters had hidden.

  Every time they fired, Vyken was able to pinpoint the origin and pick them off. His wounds stung like hell but barely slowed him down. His nanites were already hard at work repairing the damage and pushing the slugs out of his body. Vyken dispatched seven shooters before the gunfire stopped, and he determined it was safe for them to leave.

  Only then did Danya realize that Vyken had been hit three times by the blood on his shirt and pants and his arm. “Oh, my God, Vyken, you’re hurt!” she cried.

  “It’s minor. The nanites are repairing the damage,” he said, checking her over anxiously. “Are you hurt?”

  “No,” she said. “You took the hits.”

  Vyken pulled her into his arms and hugged her almost so tightly she couldn’t breathe. “I can’t have you out here like this. It’s too dangerous.” He loosened his hold on her as she groaned and sat down with her against the wall holding her on his lap.

  “But I want to help you,” Danya protested. “I still have friends out here that need a safe place to go.”

  “We will find them. My fear for you is too distracting for me to do my job properly.”

  “Well, you need to get over it! I can do this. I am not staying back at the Enclave just waiting for you to come back every day.”

  “No, Danya, it’s not something I will ever get over. You are what we all dream of having someday---the one female that I can mate and create offspring with. You are everything to me, my wealth, my future, my sanity,” he asserted.

  In all his years as a warrior, nothing had broken him, but he knew losing Danya would. That reality was so harsh, he couldn’t even speak the words. He didn’t need to because Danya could see it in his eyes. She could feel it too.

  Danya framed his handsome face with her hands and stared into his eyes. “Okay, I get it. What are we going to do about it? How can I stay safe enough to make you comfortable without staying back at the compound while you are out here?”

  “Combat armor,” he said finally. “There used to be women in the infantry. I will look in the storeroom to see if we have any that can be modified to fit you. Projectile weapons can’t pierce it.”

  “Okay, then. Let’s do that,” she smiled and kissed his lips impulsively. “This a not the last time people will be shooting at us. We’re in gang territory wherever we go. They need these people to use their drugs and turn tricks and to be their victims. They won’t like that we are taking them away.”

  “It was not unexpected,” Vyken said soberly. “Maybe we need to show them how they could live a different life.”

  “You have to catch them first and make them listen,” she told him.

  “I think we could arrange that. We just need more men.”

  “I guess you better wake some more up,” she said, stroking his cheek. “And we probably better get out of here before some of their friends show up and find them dead.”

  Vyken put his hands on her waist and lifted her up then got to his feet. He scanned the area as far as his sensors could reach to determine that is was safe for them to go outside. His wounds were still under repair but were not severe enough to hinder his movement. Willing himself to focus on his surroundings rather than his fear that his female could be damaged, he shouldered his rifle and walked outside with Danya.

  They returned to the people who wanted to join the Enclave. Vyken found that he and Danya had recruited twenty-five people where
the other two teams had only gotten ten and fourteen. It was hard not to conclude the presence of a female and one other person was more successful than an all-male team with a natural human male and five burly cyborgs.

  As they walked back through their route Vyken continually scanned their surroundings while contacting the cyborgs back at the enclave to check for female cyborgs among the three thousand on level four. Even though the females were just as lethal as the males, they could appear less threatening to frightened, mistrustful people.

  The other teams had encountered buildings where people were afraid to come out. By the time Vyken and Danya returned to the transport, Vyken heard back from the cyborgs on level four that there were a hundred females among the cyborgs in stasis. He then contacted Medic Kydel to choose three females to activate for the enclave recruitment program.

  In the coming weeks, he planned to have all the females activated for his crew. Some of them might be too close genetically to be mated with the males but integrating them into his crew would be beneficial. His archives told him some had been created for breeding and some had been created for pleasure. All could be trained as soldiers or anything else they needed to be.

  The bottom line was it could keep Danya out of danger.

  Commander, sir… Cyborg GRL 0824 enquired. While I was checking for females in room 418, Director Jacob Black came through the hallway looking into the rooms through the windows. He didn’t know that I was observing. He was trying to open the doors, but none would open for him, so he left.

  Thank you 0824. I will look into it.

  So, he had been right to suspect Jacob Black had more than a passing curiosity about the inactivated cyborgs. He wasn’t sure yet if his interest was helpful or malicious. Now that he knew about the cyborgs on level four, Vyken would inform him they were there as though Jacob had not been observed exploring level four. Vyken would decide what to do after he saw Jacob’s reaction.