Chaos Quarter: Imperial Ambitions Read online

  But she didn’t. Instead she felt her hand shake, the hand with the gun in it. It shouldn’t be doing that, but it did. And instead of trying to calm it or steady it all she could do was look at the two guns pointed at her. Two—they had two, she had one, and she couldn’t run.

  “Put the gun down,” said the leader, the one called Grith.

  She didn’t say anything. He throat was dry and raspy from running, and she couldn’t think of anything to say. Her eyes darted nervously from one man to the next.

  “I said put down the gun,” Grith repeated.

  Still she didn’t respond. Her palms felt sweaty. And despite the fact that she wasn’t running, her breath came in quick hyperventilations. Grith took a step closer, and his friend did the same, their guns never leaving her. Second’s mind raced, blood pulsing hard in her skull, her eyes blinking rapidly. For a second she saw Grith’s face shift and then vanish. She saw the ambassador staring at her, leering at her. His head had somehow gotten onto Grith’s body. No, no, that was not possible. Another blink and the face was gone, replaced by Grith’s cold, implacable visage. The thug frowned, moving a half step closer.

  “I will say this one last time and then I will shoot you if you do not comply. Put down the—”

  A terrified whinnying filled the air, and a red, horse-shaped blur flashed in front of Second’s eyes. The airborne horse smashed the two men sideways out of her view. Sickening cracks filled the air as the equine slammed into the ground, crushing her assailants beneath them. Second stood stunned for a moment, unable to register that the two men were no longer in front of her. She glanced to her left and saw the smashed pile of flesh that had been Grith and his compatriot. The horse, somehow, was alive. It limped away slowly, urinating freely.

  She balled the fist of her free hand, feeling it shake uncontrollably the whole time. Heavy footfalls came from her right. Looking over, she saw Jake sprinting toward her at impossible speeds, her brain not remembering that he was a cyborg and capable of such things. He slowed to a stop beside her. He lightly grasped the outstretched gun, gently pushing it back toward her belt.

  “You okay, Second?” he asked.

  She blinked, swallowed nervously, and then found her voice.

  “A horse hit them,” she said in a ragged voice.

  “I know. Not an everyday solution, but I had to improvise,” he said.

  “Improvise…” she said slowly.

  “Look, I think we gotta get back to the ship,” he said.

  “Get back?” she asked, her mind clearing a little.

  “Yes,” Jake said. “Look, I know this is a mess and you’re probably…umm…not in a good place right now. But we really got to get back to the ship. I got a feeling there’s trouble.”

  “Trouble?” she asked.

  “Yeah, well, more trouble. Something about all of this seems off. The fake accusations, the chase, the fact that they didn’t just kill you on the spot…it doesn’t add up. So if you could just climb up on my back…”

  The words caught her attention.

  “My back, you know, piggyback?” he said.

  “What is ‘piggyback’?” she asked.

  “You know, like when you were a child—”

  He paused midsentence, thought for a minute, and then crouched down into a kneeling position.

  “Put your arms around my neck, your legs around my side, and hold on tight,” he explained.

  She did so. Moments later they were racing down the road toward the spaceport. Second clung tight and closed her eyes to keep them from watering in the wind. They did anyway.

  ***

  As Lucius walked into the cabin he found himself torn in three different directions. One voice screamed at him to stop, but did so with little strength. Another demanded he grab a handful of the soft, feminine curves before him and have at it. The third voice was strangely hesitant to do so, fighting to hold back the second. Every inch of lust he possessed urged him to bend this woman over the nearest flat surface or press her up against the nearest wall, but every time he built himself up to act there was a sudden flash of fear. His heart would race, pounding relentlessly beneath his sternum, and then harden into a ball of stress. Then would come a pause, a momentary lightness…and then it would start again.

  “I think there’s space for you on the bed. Maybe you should lie down,” Vermella said. Lucius could see that there was some space on it, though not a huge amount given that the naked form of Rex dominated the left half. He was in some sort of trance, staring aimlessly at the ceiling with a goofy grin on his face. A tiny voice in the back of Lucius’s head said that he really shouldn’t be lying down next to his nude, postcoital commander, but then Vermella smiled, and he couldn’t think of anything else.

  “You’re a little overdressed,” said Vermella. “Look at Rex there. Doesn’t he look comfortable?”

  Lucius moved to speak, but couldn’t. The restraint that had been holding him back faded; his hands grasped at her hips and then smoothed their way up her ribs.

  “Maybe you should be as naked as the rest of us?” she asked with an innocent tone. Her lips pressed to his and the wave of lust redoubled itself. Lucius wasn’t thinking anymore, wasn’t hearing that little voice in the back of his head. His hands fumbled automatically with the buttons on his shirt.

  A dull vibration ran through the ship, barely audible. Lucius paid it no heed, but Vermella did. She pulled back from the kiss, her head perking up to listen. The thump came again, slightly louder, in closer intervals.

  “Damn,” she grumbled in a most unsexy voice. Lucius groped hungrily at her breasts, Vermella oblivious to it for a split second before turning back and frowning.

  “We’ll have to do the quick version,” she said. Her hands worked his pants, opening the fly quickly, and then quickly pulling him free. She plunged two fingers between her thighs, inside of herself. With another quick motion she grasped his length, smearing her secretions across his sensitive skin.

  “That’ll have to do,” she said and then paced toward the door. Lucius noticed the sway of her hips and ass as she went, especially when she stopped and bent over to retrieve something from the pile of her clothes. He was vaguely aware that it was a pistol and even more vaguely aware that the thumping had grown louder and heavier. Were his mind clear he would’ve recognized it immediately. But it wasn’t clear, and he could only gaze lustfully at Vermella’s magnificent backside when the door opened and revealed the looming gunmetal-gray form of Jake.

  ***

  She held the gun behind her back and waved her free hand in front of the door sensor. The door slid open. Vermella hoped to see the slight figure of the female crew member; instead she saw the monolithic metal figure she feared standing directly in front of her.

  Damn.

  “Hi,” she said, making herself smile. “I didn’t know if you would be able to join us or not. Rex said you were in town, which actually made me sad ’cause when he said he had a cyborg in his crew…”

  She sidled closer, extending her hand to touch the man’s metal skin.

  “Well, I just have to know what this is like—”

  “Really?” said the cyborg, glancing over her shoulder at his two supine friends. Vermella twitched her neck frantically, flooding the small cabin with as many pheromones as she could. The cyborg looked back at her curiously.

  “You can stop that now,” he declared. “I shut off my olfactory senses the minute I stepped on the ship.”

  Vermella stepped back, stunned at the words, and unsure. Could he do that?

  “So pheromones are your trick; lots of them, ones I don’t have on record…so I’m guessing synthetic ones created through genetic engineering?” he figured.

  She flashed the gun around and pointed it at his chest, mere inches away. The cyborg didn’t move a muscle…cylinder? She couldn’t say. He just stood there and flashed a half grin.

  “That pistol will not penetrate my body. However, at the distance, the ricochet from
your shot may very well penetrate yours.”

  She froze, the logic of the argument appearing undeniable. Her foe took that moment of hesitation to shoot his arm forward, closing his metallic hands around her neck. In a moment she was airborne, her legs dangling and kicking helplessly.

  “And you’ll need to hire some new help,” he continued. “The ones you sent after me and my friend are somewhat flatter than they used to be.”

  Vermella fumed, moving to bring the gun up. The man’s free hand shot out with impressive speed, catching the gun and wrenching it free of her hand.

  “Second!” he called. A tall, platinum-haired woman appeared behind him. She had a strangely curious expression, one that hardened into a scowl when she saw the two men on the bed.

  “Take this away, please,” the cyborg said, handing the pistol to her. The woman took it and disappeared back into the hallway. Vermella found herself there a moment later, moving quickly down toward the cargo bay. She grasped at the cyborg arm holding her, her nails clawing helplessly at the metal.

  “You’re wasting your time,” he said as they descended to the floor of the cargo bay. With what seemed the slightest of effort, he hurled her forward. She flew through the air; bounced off the hard, metal floor; and then slammed up against a large, wooden crate. She gasped for breath, her ribs wailing in pain. The thump of heavy footfalls filled her ears as the world around her stopped spinning.

  “Now that I’ve got you attention, perhaps you’d like to explain to me why you were raping my friends?”

  Vermella squinted and glanced up at the cyborg and his blond-haired friend standing before her.

  “Go to hell,” she sneered.

  The cyborg sighed and rolled his eyes.

  “Second, can you go to the machine shop and get me a few of those spare structural rebar pieces? I’m going to need them. She wants to be difficult.”

  The blonde shrugged and moved off to finish her task. The cyborg made a motion like he was cracking his knuckles, but no sound came. It was unnerving. Vermella sat up against the crate, her breath finally slowing.

  “You ever see what a cyborg can do with just his hands?” he said as the blonde handed hit a long steel rod. He flexed the metal with little effort. Vermella felt her breath quicken once again.

  “No? Well, you will shortly.”

  ***

  Rex’s head pounded. The pain of it “awoke” him from his stupor though he felt odd thinking of it as an awakening since he remembered every last moment of the last hour of his life. He remembered Vermella, meeting her, bringing her on the ship, fucking her, her brining Lucius in, Jake showing up, and then he and Lucius being left on the bed to stare up at the ceiling, lost in a delirium his rational mind could not explain.

  He sat up in his bed, brushing against his gunner who remained in a blissful state. Rex realized, consciously at least, that he was in bed, naked, with another man. This jolted him upright and out of the bed. His breath came heavy, in fast gasps as his mind tried to sort out what was happening. His thoughts were moving quickly now, not so cloudy as they had been when underneath Vermella. Why had he brought her onto his ship? Sure, she was stunning, but he’d seen plenty of stunning women, even out here in the Quarter. A pretty face was no reason to just jump into bed with somebody.

  He realized he was being a little hypocritical given that he’d met Chakrika by hiring her for sex. But Chaki had never clouded his mind like Vermella had. None of his partners had ever done that, which made him think something strange was going on. Since when had he been able to pick up a woman and get her clothes off in a matter of minutes? Since never, that’s when. Hell, that was pushing it for a serious ladies man. And he was smart enough, and old enough, to know this. Yet he hadn’t felt that moment of hesitation, hadn’t questioned the ease with which Vermella had agreed to go to bed with him, hadn’t done any of the basic, commonsense security stuff that you needed to do to stay alive out here. With a shake of his head he realized that he’d been no better than some randy teen.

  With another shake of his head he realized he was still naked. Rex grabbed up his clothes and pulled them on, his headache fading slightly. He headed for the door, letting Lucius continue to “sleep” it off even though the man’s eyes were wide open. Whatever this woman had used on them still had its grip on him.

  Outside of the cabin, Second was waiting. For a long moment, she just stared at him, a strange expression on her face. It almost looked like disappointment mixed with…anger? Irritation? He couldn’t say. It was hard to read emotions with Second, especially since she hadn’t yet completely mastered which looks went with which feeling.

  “Are you still under the woman’s pheromonic influence?” Second asked.

  “Huh? Pheromo…what?”

  “Jake detected excessively high levels of synthetic pheromones in the air. He believes the woman who raped you emits them,” Second explained matter-of-factly.

  “Raped? No, it wasn’t…that…” he paused, actually taking a moment to think about the matter. He remembered consenting, but if what Jake thought was true, could he really have consented? Of course not, his reasoning mind spoke, finally reasserting itself. She used you!

  A swirl of conflicting emotions ran though him. He shook them off for the moment, refocusing on Second.

  “Where’s Jake now?” he asked.

  “In the cargo bay. He has her bound there,” Second informed. “He asked me to take you down there when you ‘came back to your senses.’”

  Rex nodded, and the two headed for the cargo bay. Moments later they arrived, descending the metal stairway to the vast floor of the chamber. Along the starboard wall, a female figure was struggling—Vermella. She had been bound to the wall with bent pieces of rebar, curled tight around her wrists and then back around the pipes running along the wall. She was naked and beautiful as ever. But she looked different now…no, she seemed different. She looked the same. The cloud in his mind was gone; the lust was gone. He looked at her and saw only an enemy.

  Vermella glanced up at him warily, eyes narrowing. He thought he saw a small smile curve across her lips. As he drew near, he noticed a gray strip across her neck. It was space-grade duct tape, completely impermeable. You could literally patch holes in the ship with the stuff. Rex quickly put two and two together and figured that whatever weird, brain-scrambling, artificial pheromones she had must’ve come out from something beneath that tape.

  “I see you are yourself again,” Jake remarked.

  “Yes. I have you to thank for that?” Rex asked.

  “Yep. Lucky for you, her goons couldn’t keep me and Second distracted for very long,” Jake declared.

  “Long enough,” Vermella spat.

  “Long enough…” Rex muttered. “Long enough for you to sneak onto my ship and force yourself on me?”

  Vermella snorted, “Nothing you wouldn’t have done to me given the chance.”

  “You really don’t know me that well,” Rex returned. “And it seems an awful lot of trouble for sex.”

  “No trouble at all, if you remember,” Vermella replied, her nasty grin returning. Rex frowned, but ignored the jab.

  “Makes me think there’s something more to all this,” he said.

  “I’d had that thought myself. But she hasn’t deigned to say a word to me,” Jake informed.

  At that moment they heard the sounds of boots on metal. Lucius descended the staircase behind them, shaking his head to clear the remaining daze from his mind. He trudged up next to them, squinting and rubbing his eyes to try and snap himself back into normality.

  “Well, there’s no use keeping quiet any longer,” announced Vermella, her voice eerily confident given her restrained position. “You two should know; it’s already too late for you.”

  The words definitely got their attention. Rex cocked his head quizzically.

  “‘Too late?’ We’re not the ones bound to a wall,” said Rex.

  “It won’t matter soon,” she said.
/>   “And why is that?” Rex asked.

  “Lose the cyborg and the blonde, and I’ll tell you,” Vermella declared.

  Rex thought for a moment, remembering how easily she’d incapacitated them before. But with the tape on her neck she wasn’t doing anything with her special pheromone powers, and she was tied to the wall with rebar handcuffs. He figured they were pretty safe. Besides, all Jake had to do to hear every word she said was plug into a ship outlet. Longshot recorded everything. And Jake was smart enough to know that.

  “Can you give us a moment?” Rex said to his crew. Second looked like she wanted to argue, but Jake motioned her to hold.

  “Sure,” Jake replied. “Come on, Second. We got missiles coming in.”

  Second balled her fists, ready to fight, but it went no further. She fumed and let Jake lead her out of the cargo bay, leaving Rex and Lucius alone with their rapist.

  “Satisfied?” Rex asked.

  “Rarely if ever, at least when men are the ones trying to do that job,” Vermella snarked.

  Rex rolled his eyes and kicked her sharply in the stomach. She coughed violently and tied to double over, but the tight bindings held her. She teared up and fought for breath.

  “You’ll pay for that,” she seethed through the tears.

  “I doubt it,” scoffed Rex.

  “Oh, you will. In ways you can’t imagine,” she continued, still far too confident for a person in her position.

  “Well, since you seem so sure of that, why don’t you explain to dumb old me how exactly you’re going to get free and make me ‘pay’?”

  “You’ll set me free,” she replied simply.

  Rex smirked, saying, “Really?”

  “Yes. You, or Baliol. Or both, most likely,” she predicted.

  Rex frowned, wondering how she knew who Lucius was. The scowl on Lucius’s face revealed that he was having the same thoughts. But he put that aside for the moment.