Five
His fraggin’ female had frozen his mechanics and shut down his processors. Vector stood in his warship like the emotional fool he was, unable to move, unable to communicate with his brethren.
When he regained motion, he would take her over his knee and smack that perky ass of hers until she cried for mercy.
Then he would smack it some more. She’d wear his handprint on her dark skin for planet rotations.
As he would taste her in his mouth for planet rotations, the sweet flavor of wild, willing female lingering on his lips. Kissing her hadn’t been wise. He wiggled his fingers, his ability to move gradually returning. Their embrace had landed him in this embarrassing situation.
But it had been worth it.
And Kasia had been correct. The EMP had been painless. She hadn’t been certain about that. He had heard the concern in her voice.
His female’s momma summed her up perfectly. She was reckless— experimenting on him, a living being; invading a cyborg’s ship; allowing a male who could have been her enemy to touch her, to wrap his fingers around her neck.
He could have killed her. Easily. Another warrior would have.
The urge to smack her ass intensified.
Vector’s processors whirred. His vision system flickered, returning online. Transmissions flowed over him.
He closed his mouth, flexed his arms, took a cautious step forward. The EMP hadn’t permanently damaged his systems. He was fully operational.
Return to the ship. He transmitted to his crew. Immediately.
His female had given him a data stick. That might be a trap but he had to read it. His need to have the knowledge it contained, to see what she had crafted for him, clawed at Vector.
He preferred to take that dangerous step with his crew around him. They could recover him if there was a virus.
A virus. His gaze lowered to his boots. What he’d endured on Furud One was the insect version of a virus. He almost hadn’t survived it.
Many of his brethren hadn’t been as fortunate.
His gut said Kasia wouldn’t harm him, but his gut had been wrong in the past. It was safer to follow rules, to operate with restraint.
Using his right index finger only, Vector nudged one of the handhelds she’d left behind. Nothing happened. He picked it up, accessed it. No password, fingerprint, or any other verification was required. His female was hyperaware of security, had scolded him about his ship’s defenses.
She wanted him to access the handheld.
He scanned through its databases at cyborg speed and realized why. The device contained proof that a human could access cyborg lines, had the EMP frequency any being would need to render him immobile, showed him how she had been hiding from lifeform scans.
It would allow him to find her, communicate with her. His mood lightened.
“You found our female.” North entered the chamber. The rest of the crew was behind him.
“She’s my female.” That correction slipped out of Vector’s mouth.
“She’s your female?” North stared at him. Chuckles’ jaw dropped. Doc peered at him as though he was malfunctioning.
“I knew it.” Truth laughed. “You were a little too intense about finding her.”
Vector ignored the warrior. “Have any of you ever seen copies of our programming in the databases?” He knew the answer but required confirmation.
“No.”
“Never.”
All his males shook their heads.
He thought so. Vector pressed his lips together. He was going to lock Kasia up. His fraggin’ female had hacked into cyborgs’ processors, into his processors to retrieve that information.
What else had she accessed? A wave of cold swept over him. Had she explored the databases containing his memories? He glanced down at his boots.
Did she know all of his secrets?
Vector blew out his breath. He would deal with that and with her later.
“I was given this.” He extracted the data stick from the holster. “The source is untrustworthy.” Even with her hacking exposed, that felt like a lie. “I might require you to restore my systems.”
“End all of your transmissions,” Doc advised, taking out his own handheld.
Vector severed communications with all of his brethren. The silence was eerie, like the quiet after battle.
Or after his entire team had been dissolved by acid-spewing alien insects.
Was this how his female felt, having cut off communications with her family? Was there a hollow space in her processors, in her heart?
Vector pushed his sympathy for her aside. He broadened his stance, bracing for pain, and inserted the data stick into his neck slot.
It was clean. He exhaled, his shoulders lowering. Each piece of information had been stored in its safest, least corruptible format. History told him multiple scans had been performed on it after it had been loaded.
“Doc?” He asked for farther verification.
Their medic placed one of Vector’s fingertips on the handheld. “There’s no sign of any malfunction.”
“Sharing the information.” Vector added layers upon layers of encryption and broadcast the contents of the data stick to his team using their most secure transmission line.
There was a pause. Vector restored his other transmissions, the flood of voices across the lines a relief. His processors had been too quiet.
“Fraggin’ hole.” Truth’s smile faded. “Is that possible? An EMP would knock us out?”
“I can personally verify it is possible.” Vector’s tone was dry.
“Your female knocked you out?” North’s eyes widened. “Was that why you weren’t answering transmissions?”
“That was why.” Vector gave him the second handheld, keeping the first one for himself. “Use this with caution. It’ll render all of us immobile.”
“All of us.” Chuckles repeated, looking even more grim than he usually was. “We’d be defenseless against the humans.” He said that word with distaste. “The Humanoid Alliance could disable every cyborg in the universe.”
Cyborgs could be temporarily stunned. They had already known about that weakness. But a weapon would have to lock onto their forms for that to happen. And cyborgs moved too quickly for most humans to shoot. Plus, the enemy would have to stun them one at a time.
An EMP range could be extended to encompass the entire universe. All cyborgs everywhere could be rendered immobile with one tap of a slender finger.
They had no defenses against that type of attack.
“Who else knows this information?” North examined the handheld.
Vector couldn’t answer that question. “She deleted the information from every database she could access but there could be hard copies, offline storage.”
“The current Designer went missing after his compound on Tau Ceti was blown up.” Truth relayed. “He would know this information also.”
“Everyone, Humanoid Alliance, Rebel, Other, could already know this.” Chuckles shifted his weight to his fully functional leg. “Everyone except us.”
Millions of their brethren were at risk. They could unknowingly be walking into danger as Vector and his brethren had unknowingly walked into danger on Furud One.
“We must act quickly.” His female was right about the need for speed. Vector headed toward the bridge. His males followed him. “Chuckles, create the most secure line possible and contact Power.”
“Yes, Captain.” The warrior took his usual position on the bridge, propping his damaged leg on the nearby seat.
Vector bit back a rebuke. Communicating with Power was the priority. He would reprimand Chuckles later.
“Did you complete your mission?” Power’s image appeared on the main viewscreen.
“There has been a development.” Vector sent the files.
Power blinked once, twice, his expression not changing as he received the information. “I see.”
“Will you inform the others or should I?” Vector leaned forward.
“Informing the others is an unnecessary step.” Power met his gaze. “The council will send the programming changes as soon as those solutions are derived.”
Vector gritted his teeth. “Our brethren should be warned.” As the Humanoid Alliance should have warned him and his brethren about the acid-spewing insects.
“So they could do…what? Run from the enemy?” Power scoffed.
“If that saved their lifespans, yes.” Vector pushed away his own shame at doing worse than that. “They should know as much as we do about the enemy. That will increase their odds of survival.”
“We will say nothing.” Power’s tone communicated that decision was final.
Take action on this information and he wouldn’t have to search for her, Kasia had said. She’d willingly surrender. He’d foolishly processed that as being an easy win.
His fraggin’ female had known it wouldn’t be. Sharing information rarely created change. That was another of her insights.
Vector wished he could use the EMP on Power.
“Did you receive this information from the female?” The council member demanded.
“Yes.” He straightened, clasping his hands behind his back.
“Have you eliminated her?”
“She gathered the information at great risk to herself and gave it to us willingly.” Vector defended his female. “We should restrain her, not eliminate her.”
Another warrior’s female had been restrained and imprisoned on the Homeland. That option was available.
“She knows too much.” Power frowned. “Eliminate her, warrior. That’s an order.”
Vector said nothing, refusing to acknowledge that order.
“With whom have you shared this information?”
“I’ve shared it with my crew.” Vector narrowed his eyes at the council member. Would Power order him to eliminate them too?
“After you eliminate the female, you’re to return to the Homeland.” Power instructed. “Everyone is to return, including your crew and the warriors on the battle station.”
Vector opened his mouth to protest.
“That is an order.” Power didn’t allow any disagreement. “Say nothing to anyone else about the information the female gave you, understand?”
“I understand.” But Vector didn’t agree with Power.
The E Model ended the transmission.
The other males gazed at Vector, not saying anything, queries in their eyes.
“If we return to the Homeland, we might never leave.” Power might detain them or do worse to protect the rest of their brethren. “If we don’t return, warriors might be sent to retrieve us.” They would be forced to fight their brethren. “Sharing the information with Power was a miscalculation.” Vector admitted. He’d put his entire crew in peril.
“Not sharing it would have endangered all of our kind.” North’s tone was grave. “If we eliminate the EMP vulnerability before we’re apprehended, we might survive this situation. All of us. The J Models. Ourselves. Your female.”
“We have over a thousand warriors.” Truth added. “That’s a lot of processing power to apply to the problem.”
“The battle station is a closed system.” Doc joined in. “That will reduce the risks during the trials. If one of our experiments goes terribly wrong, our brethren on the Homeland, on other ships, won’t be affected.”
“It’s the logical solution.” Chuckles stood.
Vector’s team was aligned. “We’ll meet with Dissent.” Their decision involved the J Model’s crew also.
“They’re dealing with the Humanoid Alliance officers.” North reminded him.
“This is a higher priority.”
* * *
His mission might be a higher priority but it was challenging to stop over a thousand warriors seeking vengeance.
Vector pushed his way through the crowd as the Humanoid Alliance first officer finally took his last breath, falling to the floor, his body coated crimson with his own blood.
The space smelled of battle and of his female. Vector breathed deeply. Her scent was everywhere, taunting him, teasing him, fracturing his concentration.
He had to focus. His brethren’s lifespans were in peril.
Commander Smith was led to the center of the space. His arms were bound, his face bruised, his bottom lip split. “I’m a Humanoid Alliance commander. You don’t want to do this.”
“You’re wrong.” Dissent approached him, daggers in his hands, killing in his eyes. “I very much want to do this. I envisioned it every time you tortured me.”
The commander was freed, given a dagger. “I’m not fighting you.” He threw the weapon to the floor, metal clinking against the tile.
“Pick it up.” The leader of the J Models ordered. “Refusing to fight won’t save you. Die like a warrior.”
“I’m not dying.” Commander Smith backed away from Dissent. The other warriors blocked the human’s retreat. “You need me alive.”
“Why do I need you alive?” Dissent raised his daggers. Light gleamed on the blades. “You have nothing I want.”
“I-I-I,” the human stuttered. “I have information I can share with you.”
“We’re cyborgs.” The warrior was unimpressed with that offer. “We have access to all of the information in your databases.”
“This information isn’t in the databases.”
Dissent nicked the commander’s right shoulder with the tip of a blade and the male shrieked.
“I know where the other commanders are going,” Commander Smith blurted. “The ones who have escaped you. I’ll tell you how to find them.”
“Our brethren will deal with the other commanders. They don’t interest me.” Dissent gave Commander Smith a matching wound on his left shoulder.
Another high-pitched sound came from the commander’s throat.
“Wait.” A familiar voice rang out, feminine and arousing.
“Our female.” Dissent froze.
“My female,” Vector corrected. He looked upward, spotted movement between the vents of the air conduit covering.
That was how his female had entered the docking bay unnoticed, how she had evaded capture. She was clever, appallingly so.
Vector ripped the covering off and tossed it aside. Cloth brushed against cloth as she scurried away from the opening.
He reached into the air conduit and slapped air. “Get out,” he growled. The space was too small to fit his big form.
“So you can strangle me?” Her laugh was shaky. “I’ll pass on that but thank you very much for the kind offer.”
Commander Smith was restrained once more. Vector’s female, with her antics, had captured the full attention of the warriors around them.
“I should strangle you.” Vector pulled on the edges of the conduit, bending the metal. “You hacked into my processors.”
Warriors sucked in their breaths. No cyborg accessed another warrior’s processors without his permission.
“I needed a copy of your core programming.” Kasia’s voice echoed in the narrow space. “That’s all I accessed.”
A knot in the base of Vector’s neck unraveled. She hadn’t uncovered his memories. His secrets remained safe.
“I knew you’d be angry.” His female sighed. “You’re very uptight, even for a cyborg.”
“This uptight cyborg is one wrong word away from ripping your air conduit apart,” he warned her.
“Don’t.” Her voice grew louder. “I’m coming out.”
Vector waited.
She didn’t appear.
“Female?” He curled the metal, widening the opening.
“Catch me.”
That was all the warning he received. One moment, he was gazing upward. The next moment, his arms were filled with warm, wiggling female.
“You caught me.” She beamed at him, her smile lighting her beautiful face, battering his already under-siege senses.
He was holding his female, the being designed for him, his future. Vector struggled to absorb that fact. Her body was long and lean, yielding yet muscular, fitting perfectly against him.
She clung to his neck, her fingers slender, her biceps compact. Her hold on him pushed her gravity-defying breasts against his chest, her curves slight.
He inhaled deeply. She smelled like every fantasy he’d ever had.
And she’d jumped into his arms. If he hadn’t been a cyborg, with projectile-fast reflexes, his fragile human female would have landed ass first on the hard tiled floor. “I could have dropped you.”
“You didn’t.” She sounded unconcerned.
“You’re reckless.” He tightened his grip on her.
“I’ve exercised caution for solar cycles.” Kasia told him primly.
He raised his eyebrows. “You exercised caution?” His female didn’t know the meaning of that word. “Don’t lie to me, human.”
“I have never lied to you, cyborg.” Kasia met his gaze directly. “I was cautious…for me.” That amended statement, Vector found more believable. “And nothing happened. I was safe. But so were the beings who inflicted torment on others.” She leaned back. “Now I plan to be reckless and create change.” His female stretched her hands out, trusting him, a near-stranger, to hold her.
Vector studied her.
While she was being cautious for her, his female had earned the loyalty of over one thousand J Model warriors. That feat couldn’t have been accomplished without taking some risks. Now that she was being reckless…
“You’ll get yourself killed.” And that would destroy him.
“Not if you catch me.” His female grinned. “You can set me down now.” She squirmed, rubbing against him.
His cock threatened to burst out of his body armor. “I’m not setting you down.” She was staying in his arms, where she was safe.
“Release her, C Model.” Dissent stepped toward Vector, his stance threatening. Blood dripped from the J Model’s blades, splattered against the floor. “She isn’t yours.” The male sniffed the air. “And, while she is on our battle station, she belongs to us. We will protect her.”
The warrior couldn’t smell him on her. Vector widened his stance. The kiss had transferred some of his nanocybotics to his female but not enough to be detected.
If he had bred with her, no one would have disputed his claim. That was an oversight he’d rectify as soon as they had privacy.
“I’m not releasing her.” Ever. She was his.
Vector’s crew moved swiftly, silently, surrounding them, ready to act on his order.
That order would never come. Even with his defects, he could defend his own female. Few bested him in a fight.
A fight that could damage his female.
“You consented to the female being captured.” Vector reminded the J Model. “I’ve captured her.”
“I’m not surrendering to you, warrior.” Kasia smiled at him, her eyes shining. “Not yet.”
Vector wanted to capture her lips, taste her teasing.
“You won’t be alone with her.” Dissent spun his blades in his hands. “One of my warriors will be with her at all times.”
“There’s no need for supervision.” Kasia rested her cheek against Vector’s chest, that small act of trust pleasing him. “Vector is a cyborg. He can’t lie. If he says he won’t harm me, he won’t harm me.”
“He hasn’t said that.” Dissent looked at Vector.
Vector hesitated. Was spanking a female until her ass shone red and then locking her in a chamber until the end of time damaging her?
“I won’t damage her…this planet rotation.” He compromised.
“See? He won’t harm me.” Kasia accepted that vow. “You can put the daggers away.”
Dissent, not as satisfied with Vector’s words, didn’t move. The male cared for Kasia, was prepared to fight for her.
A more-evolved cyborg might step aside and allow a warrior who wasn’t defective to claim her. Dissent could curb her recklessness, could protect her from the cyborg council’s ire.
But Vector was a primitive C Model. He wasn’t stepping aside for any male. Kasia was his, his female, his captive. He would kill the J Model if he attempted to take her away from him.
No one else would touch her.
“We have more urgent tasks to complete.” Kasia huffed, as though she truly believed there were more urgent tasks in the universe than deciding her future. “I want to speak with Commander Smith.” She turned her head toward the human.
“Of course, you do.” The Humanoid Alliance commander smirked.
“You can speak to him from here.” Vector splayed his fingers over her hip, seeking to hold onto more of her. He wouldn’t allow her to move closer to the enemy.
“Where are the other commanders going?” Kasia seemed content to stay where she was.
“Free me and I’ll tell you.” Commander Smith countered.
“Dissent, could you convince him to talk?” Vector’s female lifted her eyebrows.
The J Model slid the tip of one of his blades over the commander’s back. The human cried out. Dissent sliced through the commander’s uniform a second time.
“Okay. Okay.” Their human opponent conceded, his voice high and squeaky. “Commander Alakai designed a special ship, the Vault.”
Commander Alakai. Vector scowled. That Humanoid Alliance commander had been in charge of the Tau Cetian rebellion. Vector had lost a good friend on that planet. Gap had been attempting to save Nymphia, the G Model’s female. The couple had died together.
“The ship is state-of-the-art, extremely secure.” Commander Smith boasted. “In case of emergency, the Humanoid Alliance elite, a select few hand chosen by Commander Alakai, are to meet there.”
“Where is there?” Kasia asked the question Vector was pondering.
“The border between the Chamele sector and No Man’s Land.”
Renowned for their ferocity, the Chamele Warlords patrolled their border with a vigilance that had earned them respect from the cyborgs. The space around it would be a private place to meet. Few beings dared to venture close to the Chamele sector.
“That’s a clever location.” Kasia nodded. She must have reached the same conclusion Vector had. Commander Smith was telling the truth. “What are the docking procedures for this state-of-the-art ship?”
The Humanoid Alliance would screen any incoming ships. Thoroughly. The identities of all potential passengers would be verified.
“You need me for that.” Commander Smith’s cockiness had returned. “Voice, fingerprint and iris verification, plus a seventy-two figure code are required.”
“That’s the mysterious number in the unnamed file.” Kasia’s head dipped again. “I wondered what that was for.”
The commander’s eyes widened. “That file was encrypted.”
“Not anymore.” Vector’s female smiled.
Being cautious for her meant hacking into a battle station commander’s private files, risking discovery and death. Vector’s lips twisted. She required a keeper…and a firm hand applied to her ass.
Commander Smith blew out his breath, his confidence clearly shaken by Kasia’s sharing. “You might have the code but you need me for the voice, fingerprint and iris verification.”
“I have your voice.” She tapped the handheld clipped to her flight suit. Vector eyed it with a newfound wariness. His female was a menace to the universe with those devices. “I’ve been recording everything you said for solar cycles.”
“But-but…” The commander’s face reddened, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. The human sensed death was coming for him.
“Dissent?” Kasia looked at the J Model.
“Yes, female.” Dissent’s head lifted.
“Ensure Commander Smith’s eyes and hands are removed in perfect condition.” Her voice cooled. “The rest of him is yours to do with as you please.”
“No.” The commander howled.
Dissent grinned. The other warriors cheered, jostling each other. One male bumped against Vector’s arm.
Vector glowered at him.
“My apologies, Captain.” The warrior held up his hands and backed away from them.
Vector hunched protectively over Kasia. He wanted to take her back to his warship, claim her, ensure no other male ever questioned she was his.
But he had to speak with Dissent. Vector gritted his teeth and waited.
His duty to his brethren, to the Homeland, came first.