Nine
Vector tried to be tolerant. His female had uncovered the Humanoid Alliance fail-safes. She deserved to be involved in eliminating them.
But C Models weren’t known for their easygoing natures. He was positioned too far away from Kasia. And Dissent was standing too close to her, the J Model now fully recovered from the EMP, his lips curled into a smug smile, his perfect form naked.
Of the far too many males who adored her, that warrior was Vector’s biggest rival for his female’s affections. Dissent was the leader of the J Models and he and Kasia had a history filled with secrets.
Vector was her male. He should know more about her than any other being.
He did know his female was becoming frustrated with the lack of progress, however. “The EMP programming change is simple.” She waved the handheld in the air. “We don’t require more testing. It’s time to implement that beautiful block of coding.”
His reckless female didn’t believe any testing was required. She didn’t realize how dangerous tampering with a cyborg’s core programming could be.
“We could design a simulation program,” Dissent suggested. “That—”
“We don’t need a simulation program,” Kasia shouted. “We need one brave warrior to volunteer.” Her gaze slid to Vector. “Someone who trusts me.”
Without processing his actions, Vector answered his female’s request for assistance, stepping forward.
Dissent moved closer also.
Vector growled his unhappiness. The warrior glanced at him, his humanlike eyes sparkling. Vector folded the fingers of his right hand into a fist, smacked that fist against his left palm.
“I’ll volunteer.” Dissent ignored the warning.
His female’s attention returned to the J Model. “You will?” She gazed at Dissent as though he were her hero, her eyes glowing.
Vector’s control was held together by one slender strand and that strand was under strain. She should be looking at him that way.
“I will.” The J Model confirmed. “I’d do anything for you.”
Vector’s big form shook with fury. Those were his words to say to his female. Another male had no right to speak them.
“That means the universe to me.” Kasia smiled at Dissent.
She smiled at another warrior.
The last strand of Vector’s restraint snapped.
“No.” He roared, rushing forward. Other cyborgs stepped to the side, clearing a path between him and his rival.
Dissent faced him. “What—”
Vector slammed into him. The warrior flew backward, crashed against the far wall, the panel cracking under the impact. He slid to the floor.
Vector positioned himself in front of his female. “She is mine, J Model.”
“Vector, nothing happened.” Kasia’s voice conveyed her distress.
“Nothing will ever happen.” He widened his stance. “He won’t touch you.”
“You’re right.” Dissent jumped to his booted feet. “I won’t touch her because everyone knows she’s yours. Your scent is all over her.”
“You want to touch her.” Vector discarded his body armor. His rival was naked. He would be naked also. Except for his boots. Those would stay on the feet he’d obtained. “I see that in your eyes.”
The other J Models moved to their leader’s side. Dissent waved them back.
“I want to assist her.” Dissent lifted his chin. “Even if that means beating some sense into your thick C Model skull.” He ran toward him.
The collision jarred Vector but didn’t topple him. Dissent bounced off his chest. Vector punched the J Model in the chin, snapping his head back, splitting his bottom lip.
He’d spilled first blood. That pleased Vector.
“Vector, stop this. Right now.” Small human hands pummeled his back.
Vector looked over his shoulder. Kasia was standing behind him. Her hands were free, her handheld set on a nearby horizontal support. Her beautiful feet clad in those ugly boots were on the floor. “Get back on your chair, female.”
Dissent took advantage of his distraction, kicking upward. It would have been an easy attack for Vector to evade if his female hadn’t been positioned directly behind him.
Vector blocked it with his face. The J Model’s foot struck his nose. Bone and cartilage crunched. Pain radiated over his cheeks. Blood dripped.
“Female.” He roared.
“I struck you. She didn’t.” Dissent bounced on the balls of his feet. “A broken nose is an improvement to your ugly face.”
“Wait.” Vector shoved his opponent back. “I have to deal with my female.” He turned and glared at her.
His fearless female glared back at him, not at all cowed by his anger. “You have to stop this nonsense. I’ve never touched him. Ever. And I’ve had plenty of opportunity to do that.”
She’d never touched Dissent. Some of the tension inside Vector eased. He lifted Kasia, placed her on the chair. “He looks at you as though you’re his.” He swept his fingertips over her boots, ensuring there were no burrow holes in the leather.
“I’m your prisoner.” She bracketed his cheeks with her palms. “He realizes that.”
She was more than his prisoner. Did she realize that? “Stay there.” Vector ordered and returned his attention to the fight.
“Only a C Model would treat his female as a prisoner.” Dissent mocked.
“Frag you.” Vector surged forward.
They exchanged punches, striking chests, faces, arms, grunting with the effort. Dissent was smaller but faster, darting to the left and to the right, his fists blurring. Even Vector’s enhanced vision system couldn’t fully track his movements.
He could land punch after punch, however. The J Model’s frame was metal, as Vector’s was, and the unrelenting surface tore Vector’s knuckles apart. His muscles strained. His body ached.
The release of excess energy and unwanted emotion felt good. The other warriors cheered. Most of them backed their leader. A few of them switched sides to cheer for him.
“No more fighting,” Kasia yelled. “This isn’t solving anything and we have tasks to complete.”
Both of them ignored her. They continued to beat the nanocybotics out of each other. Dissent’s face was bloody, his nose flattened, his chest, arms, hands crimson. Vector must have looked the same way. He hurt all over.
“Enough.” His female’s anger increased.
A heavy object slammed against the back of Vector’s reinforced skull. “Stop it, female.”
“You stop it.” A boot sailed over his shoulder.
It was her boot. Vector pushed Dissent away from him. “Female.” He spun around.
She was standing behind him yet again, as defiant and reckless as always. This time, her bare feet were flat on the floor tile. There was nothing between her and possible damage, possible death. Red veiled Vector’s vision, his rage accentuated by fear.
Kasia must have seen the emotion in his eyes. She backed up. “Vector—”
“No.” He grabbed her shoulders, lifting her off the floor. “You do not put yourself at risk.”
“And you will not damage her, C Model.” Dissent dared to declare behind him.
“Be silent, J Model.” Vector’s gaze didn’t leave Kasia’s beautiful face. “She is mine to discipline and mine to protect.”
“She will always be ours to protect.” The J Model wouldn’t shut up. “Your female saved our lives, giving us hope when we had none.”
“No one owes me anything.” Kasia perused Vector’s countenance. “Hand me a cleaning cloth.”
Vector complied. “You’re a foolish female.”
“You’re a mess.” She dabbed a corner of the square over his chin.
Vector watched her as she tidied him, his anger evaporating with each brush of her fingers. He had threatened to discipline her yet she was caring for him, her expression concerned.
“Is the broken nose an improvement to my appearance?” His voice was gruff.
“No.” His female flicked the fabric, refreshing it. “I liked your beautiful nose the way it was.” She drifted the cloth over that part of his face. “It’s already straightening.”
“My nanocybotics are repairing it.” He wouldn’t scar, wouldn’t be permanently damaged by the fight.
“You must be in pain.” She caressed his cheeks with the cleaning cloth. “There are pain inhibitors on board the battle station.”
“Save them for a bigger emergency.” He wanted them available in case she was damaged.
“I wouldn’t mind some pain inhibitors,” Dissent mumbled.
The J Model wasn’t going away. Now that Kasia was in Vector’s arms, he could think rationally about the situation. More data was needed before he made a decision.
“How did my female give you hope?” Vector mentally prepared himself to hear that truth.
“She communicated with us, sent us images through the transmission lines, distracting us while the Humanoid Alliance warriors tortured us.”
“That was all?” She had earned their undying loyalty by communicating?
“That was everything.” Dissent’s voice lowered. “I was one humiliation away from striking back during that last round of torture. That would have killed all of our brethren on board the battle station. Your female stopped me, told me my female was waiting for me somewhere in the universe and I would not leave her alone and unprotected.”
Vector relaxed. Even before they had met, his female had realized Dissent and the other warriors weren’t for her.
“Your female is waiting for you.” Kasia sounded certain of that fact. “When she hears your voice, she’ll know you belong to her. She might even risk her life to meet you.”
Vector narrowed his eyes at her. Was that what she’d done? “If she doesn’t conceal both her voice and her location, he might rescue her immediately, before the council deems her to be a threat.” And ordered him to kill her.
“If that didn’t put her and every cyborg on board her battle station at risk, she might do that.” His female rolled her eyes.
Respect—was that too little to ask for? Vector glanced at Dissent. The male’s face, neck, chest was streaked with blood, his skin torn.
Vector took the cleaning cloth from Kasia’s hands and tossed it to the warrior. “You require cleaning.”
Dissent straightened, gripping the fabric square. “I’ll clean myself when the fighting is over.”
Vector met his gaze. “The fighting is over.” The J Model wasn’t his rival. He was another layer of protection for Kasia.
“Finally, you’re using your processors,” she muttered.
“Silence, female.” Vector set her on the chair. “I will implement your programming change.”
Her mouth opened.
“But you will not administer the EMP. Dissent will do that.” Vector picked her and the chair up and moved his female to the far wall. “North, you will guard my female. If anything happens, claim one of the warships in the docking bay and take her to safety. Truth, Chuckles, Doc, you’ll stop me if I try to attack her.”
“Yes, Captain.” Truth didn’t hide his glee over that possibility. Doc appeared alarmed. Chuckles grumbled about not trusting the female.
“You won’t attack me.” Kasia touched Vector’s face.
“The male I am right now won’t attack you.” He would die before doing that. “But we’re altering my core programming. There is no predicting how I will react.”
“It’s safe.” The doubt in her eyes belied her words.
“I trust you. That’s why I’m doing this.” He cupped her chin. “Trust me in return. Follow my orders and stay here.”
She hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “I trust you. I’ll stay here.”
“Thank you.” Vector skimmed his lips over hers, squeezed her shoulders, and returned to where Dissent was waiting.
The J Model grasped a handheld with both hands. “Are you ready to implement the programming change?”
“I’m ready.” Vector glanced over his shoulder at his female. His males and many of the J Models surrounded her. Her position on the chair made her visible.
He trusted her. He did. Vector braced himself and overwrote the block of his core programming with Kasia’s coding.
Nothing happened. He didn’t feel any different, had the same protectiveness, the same desire for his female. Vector ran a systems check. Every part of him appeared to be functional.
“Doc?” Vector gestured toward the warrior.
Doc placed Vector’s fingertips on his handheld. “There’s no sign of any malfunction.”
Vector took a step forward, a step back, curled and uncurled his fingers, ran through his range of movements. He was fully operational.
“Vector?” The concern in his female’s voice warmed his big cyborg heart.
“I’m unaffected by the programming change, female.” He turned, reassuring her.
“Thank the stars.” Her shoulders slumped, her relief palpable.
Vector shook his head, her reaction telling him how reckless she’d been, and he looked at Dissent. “Administer the EMP, J Model.”
“With pleasure, C Model.” Dissent tapped the handheld.
The J Model froze, the EMP taking his systems offline. Vector was unaffected. He could move, his processors remaining fully functional.
“The programming change was successful,” Vector announced, his gaze meeting his female’s. “EMPs won’t stop us.”
The warriors cheered, slapping each other on the back. Vector strode through the crowd, moving in a straight line toward Kasia. Males stepped out of his way.
His female didn’t wait for him to come to her. She jumped off her chair.
Fraggin’ hole. She had no caution. Vector propelled himself forward, catching her before she landed face-first on the floor.
“We did it.” She beamed at him, clinging to his nape, her legs wrapped around his waist.
“We did it.” He captured her lips, kissing her soundly.
The Humanoid Alliance couldn’t deactivate him and his brethren with one EMP blast. The programming change would be rolled out slowly to all of the cyborgs on board and eventually all cyborgs everywhere would sport the block of code his female had crafted.
“We’re returning to the docking bay.” He informed his female and the warriors around them. “We’ll supervise the repairs on the Freedom.”
Vector slung Kasia over his shoulder, retrieved her boots, and walked out of the chamber. He did require an update on the repairs but that task could have waited.
Its appeal was its public nature. They’d be surrounded by warriors in the docking bay.
If Vector returned with Kasia to their private chamber and bred with her, as his body was urging him to do, his intelligent female would recall their earlier conversation and ask him which body parts he’d hacked off.
He wasn’t ready for that discussion.
Kasia ran her hands over his back, her innocent touch hardening his cock more and more until he could slice through metal panels with its tip.
“We should have taken a cleaning cloth with us.” Her voice flowed over him. “You’re healed but you’re still a dried-blood-covered mess.”
“Your friend, Dissent, is a dried-blood-covered mess also.” Vector had inflicted as much damage as he had incurred. He lowered his female, pressing her against the wall. “Give me your right foot.”
She obeyed him, setting her sole in his palm, her toes wiggling. “Dissent is an immobile mess. Both of you should have implemented the programming change.”
That would have been doubly dangerous. Vector slipped the boot on her perfect little foot. “You must have seen worse damage than that.” He hoped. His damage wasn’t for the weak of stomach.
His female lifted her left foot. It was as flawless as the right. “The Humanoid Alliance afflicted the worst torture on Dissent and the other J Models.”
“They inflicted that torture on all of us.” Vector fastened the second boot.
“That last time, I could see his frame.” His female shuddered. “I sprayed as much of him as possible with pain inhibitors but I could only reach half of his body. He was bent over a horizontal support.” Her voice lowered until it was barely audible. “They tormented him every way.”
“It must have been difficult to respect Dissent after that.” Vector couldn’t meet her gaze, fearing what his observant female would see in his eyes.
“It would have been impossible not to respect him.” Kasia pulled her foot away from him. “It takes tremendous strength to survive that.”
His female had seen Dissent’s humiliation and she continued to admire the warrior. Vector hefted Kasia over his shoulder, walked with her. She might tolerate his past. “There would have been more honor in fighting the Humanoid Alliance males.”
“If that hadn’t put himself and his brethren at risk, maybe.” She splayed her fingers over Vector lower back, her exploring threatening to short circuit his processors. “But fighting them would have endangered him and all of his brethren. There’s no honor in giving your lifespan for nothing.”
Staying on the ground to fight the Furudian fire burrowers wouldn’t have accomplished anything either. Vector would have been one additional warrior against a swarm of tiny enemies, enemies that, to this planet rotation, he had no idea how to defeat. He would have died and his sacrifice wouldn’t have saved his brethren.
“I thought I was saving millions of lifespans by freeing the information I’d uncovered.” His female’s voice was edged with bitterness. “All I accomplished was gaining a death sentence for myself from the Humanoid Alliance.”
She had gained a death sentence from every entity, including the cyborg council.
“The EMP programming change will protect millions of warriors.” He pointed out, seeking to repair his female’s emotional damage. “That’s due to you. You did that.”
“You did that too.” His female generously shared credit with him. “If you hadn’t trusted me, we’d still be testing it.”
Vector trusted her. It was the programming change he had doubts about. And those concerns lingered. He monitored his systems constantly, looking for any sign he might put his fragile human female at risk.
Planet rotations would likely pass before his wariness eased. Vector carried Kasia through the hallways, walking at human speed.
“Whatever you’ve done or had done to you, I won’t judge you for it, Vector.” She massaged his back, rubbing her fingertips into his bare skin, the motion soothing him. “I’m far from blameless myself.” Her voice lilted with humor. “Some beings would call me reckless.”
“All beings would call you reckless.” Vector smacked her ass. “Be quiet, female. We’re entering the docking bay.”
His decision was set.
He would confide in his female and no one else. She would be the keeper of his secrets.
Vector would risk Kasia’s respect to gain her love.