While she was still mad at him for the little stunt he pulled earlier, she couldn’t blame him. In the same situation it would tempt her to make the same decision for him to keep him safe, and in the past she had several times.
So instead of marinating in her anger, she opted to do something a little more constructive with it. Not that she would admit it out loud, but there were a lot of pent-up emotions raging inside of her, and she needed to find a way to deal with them before her telekinesis became the outlet. In the past when they’d had sex, she’d always felt relaxed afterwards.
Sinking a hand into his hair, she pulled his head back and kissed him. Her other hand trailed down his body until she could tease the short crisp hairs above his waistband. She slid her hand under his shirt, taking time to caress every cord of muscle on his chest. Too many things had happened recently, and she wanted to redirect all of that pent-up passion and emotion into loving him. Nipping his lip, he opened his mouth so she could taste every inch of him.
Breaking their kiss, she rose up on her knees and pressed her breasts into his face. He took the hint, sucking on one nipple then the other. Warmth pooled in her core as her pulse sped up. His fingers dug into her ass cheeks as he pulled her closer and rubbed his hard cock against her.
When his hand trailed down her belly, her breath caught. Sliding between her thighs, his talented fingers found her warm wetness. Two fingers parted her slick lips and slipped into her as his thumb circled her clit. It took seconds for her to open his pants, his erection popping out. The warmth against her palm sent a shudder through her. Long strokes from the base of him up to the tip where she rubbed circles in his precum made him moan.
Clenching her other fist in his hair, she rode his hand until she couldn’t stand not feeling his cock inside of her. “More.” The single word sounded like a growl.
She wanted to cry when his hand left her and clenched her hips. Too impatient to remove clothes, she tilted his cock and slid down the length of him. They both sighed as their foreheads rested together. Needing the emotional connection, she opened her eyes, and his bright brown orbs were staring back.
“How are you doing?” Even though she wanted this to be passionate and raw, she didn’t want to trigger his terrible memories.
His lips met hers in a tender kiss. “I’m beyond great.” The words barely left his mouth when he gave her a crushing kiss and pushed deeper into her.
Something inside of her snapped at his need. Dropping all of her emotional safeguards, she gave herself over to him and opened her heart wide. She gripped his shoulders as she rode him, pushing herself closer to a waterfall of pleasure. Euphoria washed over her as Bash’s thoughts and sensations crashed into her. His hands cupped her ass and his fingertip brushed her other hole.
A moan burst out of her at the strange sensation, followed by a zing of desire for more. She’d heard of women using toys to pleasure themselves there, but she’d never tried it before. While society openly accepted sex toys, ARI forbade them. She’d used them to see what the fuss was about, but never felt pleasure like this. Bash’s finger slid over her again and she couldn’t hold back the moan as her muscles clenched around his cock.
“Fuck, I can’t...” Bash nipped her shoulder as his hips bucked into her. “You feel too good.”
“Don’t hold back.” She growled in his ear.
He parted her cheeks farther apart and teased her puckered hole while his other hand found her clit. The combination of both threw her over the edge. The orgasm crashed into her as her muscles tightened. Bash let out a roar as he thrusted inside of her a few more times, then his cock pulsed. She collapsed against him and they both stayed like that as they caught their breath.
“I’m going to clean up. Be right back.” Freya kissed him on the forehead then bounced into the sonic shower.
A wave of tingles ran over her body as she reaffirmed that she was completely in love with him, and she’d felt the same from him when his emotions crossed through their telepathy link. Ice ran through her at the realization.
“Bash,” she called out as she headed out of the hygiene unit. “Did you feel my emotions a little while ago?”
His eyebrows furrowed together for a moment as he finished cleaning his hands. “Now that you mention it, I did feel that, but that’s impossible. Your telepathy doesn’t actually work on me.”
The shrill scream of an alarm pierced her ears.
Bash let out a string of curses. “Crimson’s here. I’ve planned a few games for them, but just in case somebody’s listening in on that chip, I don’t want to tell you what they are.”
Freya was so ready for this war to be over. To have an existence where life and death wasn’t constantly on her mind. A long lazy day terrified her in the sense that she didn’t know what she would do with herself, but it was better than wondering if she would die every day. What did normal people occupy their days with? Sex? She couldn’t see how anyone could survive that much, but she wouldn’t mind giving it a go. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Yes, be your badass self and kick their butts.” He paused for a moment with a thoughtful look on his face. “What is the range on your telekinesis?”
“It depends, but generally I can get several meters worth of range.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you in sector C level 30.” Bash started towards the door, then turned around and pulled her into his arms. “Be careful, I love you.” Then he turned and headed to war.
Freya pulled her clean clothes out of the wall drawer and dressed as quick as she could. She was about to let Bash have all the fun. Before she could join the party, she retrieved her weapons and handheld from the drawer next to the bed. Double checking that she was fully equipped, she stepped out into the hallway and opened her mind.
Since her telepathy had a much larger range than her telekinesis, she could locate most of the women from Crimson. None of them were on her way to the meeting spot, so after a slight detour she could see some action. She broke out into a run and intercepted two women she picked up on Bash’s trail. Before either of them knew she was there, her telekinesis wrapped around their heads and twisted their necks until a loud crack echoed in the hallway. Spinning on her heel, she resumed her detour.
It took her several minutes to catch up with the next group. As she neared them, one spun around and pulled her blaster. It was a new model Reaper, an upgraded version of the preferred weapon of ARI. Freya couldn’t contain the grin stretching across her face. It was almost cute that the soldier thought she could do anything with that weapon.
Freya heard the command and the woman’s mind for her to pull the trigger. Before the neurons fully engaged to carry out the command, Freya’s telekinesis snapped the woman’s wrist, sending the blaster flying across the hallway. With a second thought, the woman’s femur in her dominant leg snapped. The woman screamed and fell to the ground in too much pain to retaliate.
For the sport of it, she retrieved the Reaper and open fired on the rest of the women. Ducking into a doorway, she swapped blaster fire until only one woman remained.
“This is your only warning, I’m switching my blaster from stun to kill.” Three blue streaks of light passed her.
“You’re lying, and not very well either.”
“I’m not lying. You have until the count of five to give yourself up.” Freya laughed at her words.
“One, I can read your thoughts. Two, stun blasts are blue while on kill mode they’re red. Three, the Sovereign told me you were coming.”
A blue blast of light passed within centimeters of her face. Annoyed, Freya whipped around the corner while firing her blaster and the woman dropped to the ground dead. A quick check with her telepathy confirmed no one else was around. Breaking into a jog, she headed toward the meeting point. It only took her a few minutes to get there, and she didn’t run into anybody on the way.
Several minutes ticked by, but there was still no sign of Bash. Concerned threaded through her because he was taking so long. What if someone had gotten to him? Using their telepathic connection through the nanites, she checked on him.
Are you okay? She just turned to leave her hiding spot to go find them when his voice appeared in her head.
I’m on my way, be ready to go when I get there.
Double checking the charges on her blaster, she returned to the hiding spot and waited for him. Until she heard footsteps that couldn’t belong to him. Reaching out with her telepathy, she heard the thoughts of a woman she never wanted to meet.
“You can come out now Freya.” Lieutenant General Rok’Sha called out. About the only person with a higher rank in the military would be her mother. Fear skittered through her. If Rok’Sha was here, there was more going on then she realized. Not willing to take the risk, she reached out with her telekinesis to stop the woman’s heart.
A laugh echoed down the hallway. “I’m afraid that won’t work on me. Telekinesis is a tricky thing. It’s a fantastic little weapon, until you come to rely on it. Then one day, you run into someone that you want to kill but don’t want to risk getting close enough to make physical contact. Falling back on that wonderful deadly skill you have, you smile as you strike. Except nothing happened. Does that sound familiar?”
Every muscle in Freya’s body tensed as Rok’Sha described everything going on in her mind.
“Something they don’t tell you, one woman’s telekinesis negates another.”
The scientist had neglected that minor detail when they sent her off to fight in the war. Of course, they probably never expected her to defect.
“Well, that makes this meeting inconvenient. Don’t suppose you’d like to reschedule?” Unable to hold back the sarcasm, she realized she picked it up from being around Bash so much.
“Unlike the pathetic excuses for elite soldiers you left sprinkled around like trash, I plan on breathing for a few more years.”
“That’s a shame.”
Gu’Lani Resistance Colony: Bash
The hard drive isn’t functional. ERIC’s voice interrupted him as he spoke with Freya.
Damn! Freya drove him to distraction. He’d been so concerned about her he’d forgotten to flip the power switch.
He’d have to run back and do that. Real quick, he gave her a meeting location then sprinted out of the room. Running the way he’d come from earlier, he tried to get there before Crimson found it. The path to the control room with the servers is clear. ERIC opened the door before he could even reach for the bioscanner. Once inside, he had Eric locked down the door. It took him a second to boot up the hard drive, but it took a few minutes to double check everything else. Crimson soldiers were already three floors into their search. Double checking, he confirmed all the Resistance members were gone.
Satisfied that everything was ready, he turned towards the door. Halfway there, he dropped to his knees in agonizing pain. Every atom inside his body was on fire. Bones cracked and reformed inside of him, his skin tore open and healed closed, and the bounds of his sanity were pushed. Nausea spun in his gut until he couldn’t hold it back anymore. He turned on his side, retching until he ached all over and there was nothing left in his stomach.
Pushing himself to his hands and knees, he crawled over to the wall, leaning against it until the room stopped spinning. ERIC, what just happened?
I upgraded you.
You what… how?
I refortified your skeletal system with trulium and a few other things.
Do I want to know what that entails?
I don’t know, do you?
Nevermind, warn me next time.
I will. There was a brief pause, then ERIC’s voice was in his head again. If you don’t move soon, I’ll be forced to make required updates to ensure your probability of survival.
Bash forced himself to stand. His muscles burned as he adjusted to the additional weight. The door slid open automatically, and he stumbled through it. Every movement felt like he was walking through thick mud. As the seconds ticked by, it got easier to walk and his muscles ached less. Turning around a corner in the hallway, he stopped at a few Crimson soldiers lying dead. Looking around, he confirmed that this wasn’t on the path that Freya should have taken.
Pick up the blasters.
Worried ERIC was sensing an attack, he grabbed two and raised them, ready to fire at anything that moved.
Warning, this will hurt.
The words hadn’t registered when acid shot through his arms. The skin on his left hand folded open, and the metal of his hand absorbed the blaster. A long metal tendril whirled out and grabbed the other weapon, then consumed it like the first. It whipped out and took the other weapons laying on the ground.
What the fuck?
A flash of red appeared at the end of the hallway, then a tickling sensation ran through him. The skin on his forearm peeled open, and another tendril appeared, morphing into a long sheet of metal. Blaster fire hit the newly formed metal shield protecting his face, and it sent pricking sensations through him. An itch started in his left hand as he jumped into a doorway to get out of the line of fire.
Open your hand and point it at the enemy.
What?
Do it, now.
No longer questioning the order, Bash pointed his palm at the woman in red that appeared in front of him. His hand recoiled a few centimeters as a red light shot out of it and struck the woman. A strange noise escaped her as she dropped to the ground. He had so many questions about what was going on right now, but he knew there would be more.
Can you show me where they are?
A hyper-imposed image appeared in his right eye, revealing the location of anyone around him for several meters.
Show me the entire floor.
The translucent lines broke apart and reformed until he could see the entire floor plan of the level he was on. There was a cluster of women in one of the primary gathering rooms in front of him.
When anyone tries to leave that room lock it down. Once I reach the next zone, detonate that room. Do everything else just as we planned, though. Switch to the previous view. When we get someplace safe, we’re having a little talk.
ERIC didn’t respond, but then again he didn’t have to. When something lived inside his mind, they couldn’t really ignore each other. Resuming his path to Freya, he watched the red dots move in his vision. When he got within eyesight of the room full of soldiers, ERIC jammed the doors so none of them could get out. Right as Bash jogged past the door an echoing boom came from it. Several more followed as the women tried to get through.
He broke into a sprint, putting as much distance between them as he could so ERIC could detonate the room without blowing him up too. Red squares in his vision blocked off and slowly the dots inside of them disappeared. The AI sealed off rooms and changed out the breathable air for a knockout gas. An explosion rocked the floor underneath of him as the room went up in flames. A few more meters and he should be able to see Freya.
Release the virus and make sure you don’t let it jump.
The map over his vision disappeared since ERIC had to give up all his access to the colony’s surveillance systems to ensure the virus didn’t find a way into his programming. Turning the corner, he jumped back and cursed at the sight of Freya and a woman in a red uniform in hand to hand combat.
My sensors didn’t register that target. ERIC said in Bash’s head.
Is there anything you can do? Freya saved his life more times than he could count. Whether that was pulling his dumbass out of a cave full of blaster fire or talking sense into him when he couldn’t believe how unfair this world was, he owed her several times over. Which was how he’d fallen so deeply in love with her.
If you reach your hand out, I can aim the blaster fire for you.
Any chance you could hit Freya by mistake? He refused to risk her life anymore than he had to, and he wouldn’t go back to living as an enslaved breeder or worse.
There is a 2.94 percent chance that I would strike her instead of my target.
Too high. I’ve read about target seeking weapons. Do I have any of those?
The only offensive weapons you have are the blasters we absorbed. With more preparation time, I could vastly expand that.
Bash peered around the corner again. Freya had the woman in an arm bar hold, her arm bent at an unnatural angle. Why wasn’t she using her telekinesis? Since the day they met, he’d never seen her take more than a few minutes to finish a fight, and usually from a distance. Judging from the number of injuries on both of them, they’d been at this for a while.
I can switch it to a stun blast and negate any chances of damage.
Do it. Sucking in a deep breath, he reached around the corner and felt his hand recoil from the three rounds. He heard a body hit the ground. Launching himself out of the hiding spot, he saw Freya lying unconscious on the ground and the woman in red stared at him.
“Who the hell are you?”
“One lucky soldier.” She lunged for him, her hands clutching in his clothes. A tendril burst out of his left arm, leaving a jagged wound in the artificial skin, and attached to her neck. Her eyes rolled back as her muscles spasmed. The metal attachment released her and returned to his arm. His skin healed like nothing happened. Looking up, he watched the woman drop to the ground. Stepping around her body, he felt for a pulse on Freya. She was alive, but he couldn’t get her to wake up.
I didn’t anticipate the enemy having telekinetic powers.
No one is perfect, and it was a stun blast. Still, I wouldn’t want to be you when she wakes up.
ERIC didn’t respond as Bash scooped Freya into his arms. Carefully positioning her, he made sure his handy dandy new weapon was easily accessible if they ran into anyone else. He would give up everything to save her because she was the only person who could soothe the darkness inside of him. Mine! Echoed through his thoughts, and he could have sworn he’d heard ERIC’s voice mixing with his.