“The hell are those?” Brogan and Maria exclaimed in unison as the pods burst open. Some released their hideous cargo all over the surface of the El Tigre; others launched their payload into the air, closing the gap between the vessel and the Shadow Star.

            “Trouble,” Tyger said, taking aim with his pistol. He fired at the first five of the creatures that landed on the platform, taking out three. The soldier finished the other two off with her rifle before Maria and Brogan could shake off their initial shock and begin their own assault. “Pip, we’ve got trouble down here!”

            More creatures appeared, crawling along the tendril that connected to the El Tigre, then jumping across the gap to its surface. The soldier was quick on the draw, and quicker on the trigger, as was Maria, taking out a great deal of them while still in the air. For a moment, Tyger watched as they burst into showers of black ichor. It appeared that they had been busy creating a decent amount of modified ammo. It looked like they were going to need it all. A glimpse downward towards the main body showed its surface covered with the blisters of more pods than he could count.

            “Easy, Tyger, see what I did there?” Pip’s voice echoed over the PA system. “The Captain’s got a plan and it’s pretty brutal if you ask me.”

            Tyger took three more shots at the oncoming swarm. “What’s she going to do?”

            He became aware that Maria and Brogan were laughing. In the middle of what was apparently a complete shitstorm, they seemed to be oddly relaxed. A quick glance revealed even his mate’s confusion. He nearly regretted that glance, as two creatures managed to break through the hail of bullets and leaped towards him, brandishing saw blade and bola, only to be skewered with a knife thrown by Maria.

            “Okay, bitches, give me all the cover fire you can!” Paige’s voice boomed louder and clearer than Pip’s had over the din of gunshots and rushing air. The hangar bay shook as Tyger heard a sound both familiar, and as wildly out of place as the accompanying sensation: the whining of a Gestalt’s servos, and the shuddering of the deck plates as it marched forward. Dispatching a line of creatures that tried to sneak aboard by way of an undefended corner, he saw the titanic form of Slayde, her beast of a Gestalt take a step forward from its docking position at the rear of the hangar bay.  It proceeded as Brogan gave the signal to retreat further into the entrance corridor. Over the speakers began a staccato guitar riff that built quickly, accompanied by the occasional cry of ‘Thunder!’

            Moving down the corridor with the rest of the crew and his mate, Tyger rolled his eyes and fired a glance at his mate who shook her head with disdain. Even in all this mess Paige and Pip had found a musical number to accompany their operations. Whilst this wasn’t unusual for the crew, he realised it was a source of great confusion for the soldier. Tyger watched as Paige moved Slayde gently forward. From high above, the bridge crane lowered a large teardrop-shaped object. Tyger’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets once he realized what it was as it came to rest directly ahead of Paige’s massive Gestalt. It looked for all the world like they’d stripped the fins off of a Mark IV ‘Day Wrecker’ 2000lb bomb. Slayde grabbed the object, placing it against its chest like a rugby player and stepped towards the lowered docking platform. Tyger became acutely aware of the music once more there was a pause and her heard the words:

‘You’ve been…Thunderstruck!’

Tyger gaped in awe as Slayde stepped off the edge of the hangar bay floor dropping down towards the faraway ground.

            “Holy shit!” he exclaimed, looking back at Maria. He gestured wildly downwards with his pistol. “Was that what I thought it was? Did you freaking see–”

            A scream of pain broke into his sentence as pure fire-ringed agony slammed into his upper arm. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see it; a creature had dug the jaws of the steel trap at the end of one of its tendrils into the flesh of his shoulder. Grasping without a care of whatever other sharp horrors it bore, he ripped it away, drawing his machete to sever the part that was lodged into him from its body. The effects of the nanosalve remaining true, both the steel jaw and creature disintegrated into black slime in his grip, and across his tattered shirt. Still, the pain was like someone had slammed a two-by-four into his arm. Bearing his teeth, he grasped his wounded shoulder.

            It hurt like a bitch. He’d almost wished it had crushed his tail again; at least it was a pain he would be used to. Seething with rage, he stabbed a stray creature on the wall beside him with his machete, sinking the metal into the bulkhead. The captain would kill him, but he hoped that seeing red would make a decent excuse.

            “Are you okay?” he heard Maria say. He noticed the giant tank and his mate standing over him, and realized for the first time that he’d collapsed to the floor. He watched as they cast furtive glances to the side, the soldier taking occasional shots of covering fire at the swarm that was surely headed their way, his shoulder throbbing.

            “That’s a nasty bite, hon,” Maria said, taking him by his uninjured arm and lifting him to his feet. “Let’s have Kairen get that looked at when this thing blows over, ‘kay?”

            “Yeah,” Tyger said. He attempted to regain his footing, but was accosted by a sickening lurch that did not come from the ship. He collapsed again, this time aware of it, receiving a good view of the goings on below through watery eyes.

            The Gestalt hit the ground far below, just outside the barricade that surrounded the clearing, with a thundering rumble accompanied by several blue flashes of lightning that was audible even from this height. He saw Slayde run out of the cloud of dust it made, placing the object on its back, and removing its two massive gun-blades coated with yet another variant of their nanosalve. Using the weapons, it swiped at the wall, which fell into a cloud of splinters and rushed through the opening.

            “They’re retreating!” he heard the soldier yell, and a glance towards the El Tigre revealed the creatures, like swarms of ants from an upturned anthill, running in the opposite direction across its hull and down the tendril that still held the ship fast. The ground soon became black with the swarms, which rushed towards Slayde as it made its way across the distance towards the main body.

            More tendrils erupted from the ground, two, then three, then four, turning patches of green earth black with their rising. They whipped forward, grabbing at the giant machine’s arms and legs. Slayde swiped with its weapons, severing them as if they had been shoestrings facing a chainsaw. From high above it appeared almost balletic, both robot and creature locked in a frenetic dance of blades and tendrils. But for each one Slayde escaped from, three more rose from the ground to take its place.

            “Smugglers are gonna be pissed,” he heard Brogan say as Tyger began to feel ever dizzier. The song had reached a frenetic guitar solo that only served to exacerbate Tyger’s nausea. Fighting against the sickness, he kept his attention focused on the captain’s valiant attempt to take down the main body. But things were looking bleak. Slayde had made it to within ten meters of the main body when the tendrils grasped at the Gestalt’s wrists. Once more Slayde sliced at the tendrils, freeing his arm but losing a gun-blade in the process.

            “Oh, shit …” he heard Maria say.

The song continued;

‘Yeah, it’s alright,

We’re doin’ fine,

I said yeah,

It’s alright,

We’re doin’ fine,

‘Thunderstruck!’

            Slayde broke into a run once more, reaching behind its back and tucking the ‘Day Wrecker’ under his arm. Tyger watched as one tendril tugged at its left arm, dislodging the remaining gun-blade.

            The creatures closed the gap and began to crawl on Slayde’s surface. Tyger wondered what harm they could do to the dense chassis of the giant robot as Slayde closed the last couple of meters, then leaped forward into the air, dodging yet another tendril that had erupted from the ground and tried to wrap his legs. Propelled forward towards the main body, Slayde slammed the device into the ground the moment it landed.

            Instantly, everything was replaced with a blinding flash and loud bang, followed by a compression wave that sent a ripple into the surrounding forest, and even a small vibration through the ship.  A fine-looking black mist appeared after the explosion, hovering in the air briefly like a cloud of dust disturbed from the landing of a foot, and then dissipating. The tendrils were gone, as well as the advancing army of creatures, appearing more like lines and splatters of black sludge than anything else. There was a rut in the ground where Slayde had been, cutting a groove all the way back, past the now disintegrated barricade, and into the forest line, mowing down a line of felled trees about a hundred meters into the woods. At its terminal point was the Gestalt, its limbs bent at awkward angles atop the pile of lumber, leaves, and compressed soil, unmoving. Through the dizziness Tyger heard the music return, the guitar slowing to a halt with the repeat of the words that had started Slayde’s heroics;

‘You’ve been, Thunderstruuuuuuck …’

            In the center of the clearing, the main body sat unmoving, as if it had been somehow flash-frozen … then began to crumble into black rain, from the piece that was attached to the El Tigre, to the monstrosity in the center of the clearing. Like a building in a controlled demolition that had gone wrong, pieces fell off, and the main body collapsed, falling in ebony flakes and chunks to the ground.

            After several moments of palpable silence, watching the goings on below and seeing no movement from the Gestalt, Tyger heard Brogan speak up. “Yo, Pip, is the captain okay down there?”

            There was another pause, and Pip responded. “There’s a lot of shit still in the air from the blast, I can’t any reliable readings. Gimme a minute.”

            “Screw a minute,” Maria said. “You and Miranda take us down to the surface. We can get her out of there, if she’s–”

I’m alright,” Paige’s voice crackled in on the P.A. system, she sounded a little groggy. “If there’s a lift going I’ll take it.”

“Sounds like you’ve been thunderstruck,” Giggled Pip,

“Shut up and come get me pipsqueak!” Paige snapped.

 

            Slowly, Slayde stood up and gave a two fingered salute towards the Shadow Star. The El Tigre, freed of its shackles, fell limply, but the tow cable and harpoons held it steady. Tyger wished he could participate, but the only thing that happened when he opened his mouth, was a reappearance of last night’s meager lunch.

            He heard his mate gasp, and caught her scent as he felt her arms about him. Black at last rimmed his vision as the pain in his arm flared to something beyond agony.

            “God, look at his arm!” Maria cried, but he felt too weak to make a sound, as he let the darkness swallow him.

***

            The words of a background conversation began to come to Tyger’s consciousness, at first as if it were through water, but then clearly. But still, the words were unintelligible.

            His neck hurt, as well as his lower back, just above his tail.

            He groaned, realizing that he was in perhaps the most uncomfortable bed he’d ever slept in. To his left were the sounds of machines humming. The antiseptic scent of the Shadow Star’s infirmary surrounded him. He opened his eyes, and saw an IV drip fed into his arm. In the distance, he saw Maria speaking with Miranda, her tank “sister,” shorter than the statuesque woman, but with frizzy monochrome hair tied up behind her. He hadn’t seen her during the fight, but that wasn’t surprising as she was probably assisting Pip on the bridge. They spoke to each other softly in that strange language, but then stopped as Miranda noticed him, and gestured his way. Maria glanced towards him and smiled before both tanks walked out the nearby door.

            “This is familiar,” he said, recalling his waking up in Solace before this adventure began, “well, kinda.”

            “Glad to see you’re awake.” Kairen stood at his left side, a young human in a white tunic and matching pants, typing on a datasheet.  Half his blond head was shaved and combed over the opposite side in a straight fall, with a bionic array on the shaved side that led to a jack just above his ear. “You’re a special kind of lucky, you know. Whatever that shit was running through your blood, your companion was able to assist in countering it. If not for her, we’d have been shipping you back to An’Re’Hara in a box. We fixed your tail too; ass probably hurts because we had to shoot you up with a ton of programmed nanos to reset the bones.”

            “What?  How?”  Tyger said, though it actually was not all that important.  Regardless of how she did it, he needed to give her a proper thank-you once they had time alone. That was, if the captain hadn’t thrown her off the ship yet. “Where is she, anyway?”

“One thing at a time, shall we?” Kairen said, “Firstly her enhanced genetics allowed her to fight off the infection more effectively than yours. Seems she was bit by those things earlier.  And from a blood sample she provided were able to synthesize an anti-venom of sorts.”

Kairen gently reached across and removed the IV line followed by the cannula that was fixed into Tyger’s forearm. He placed a piece of tissue over the wound that was left behind and Tyger placed his hand over it. After placing the remaining kit into a nearby disposal unit Kairen continued.

            “Secondly I heard Paige was having a word with her in the conference room.  She hung by you during the procedure, and once you were out of the woods, she got called away. At a guess, I’d say they’re trying to decide her fate.”

            “And my ship?”

            “No idea,” Kairen said with a shrug, followed by a long, exhausted-looking stretch. “Been in here, keeping an eye on you for the last five hours. I need one of Maria’s shepherd’s pies and a nap in the worst way now.” 

            The entrance door opened again, and his mate stepped through, her uniform repaired, but still looking disheveled. Seeing him awake, she smiled and came to his side, placing her hand on his.

            “So am I gonna live?” Tyger said, rising to a sitting position. Kairen didn’t protest; instead, he gave a shrewd grin and tossed him his shirt, shoes, and pants. They, like the soldier’s uniform, were cleaned and repaired.

            “Get out of my infirmary,” he said, on the edge of a laugh. “This place is for sick people, not slackers.”

            Tyger slipped into his cargo pants. He gave his tail a couple of test shakes; the pain was gone. He looked at his injured shoulder; the area was shaved and covered with nano bandages and a gauze wrap, but otherwise, he felt a hundred percent. He slipped his hand into his mate’s and made his way out of sickbay, pausing only to slip on his shirt. In the outside corridor, he paused yet again to put on his boots.

            “I hear Paige gave you the third degree,” he said.

            “The what?”

            “She interrogated you.”

            “Yes,” the soldier replied, “she and the other crew members.”

            “I hope you gave them a little more than your initials, rank, and serial number,” Tyger half-joked.

            “I only told them what I told you,” the soldier replied. “I sensed that I was not a prisoner. And there was nothing sensitive about my post before I met you.”

            “And what about the ship?” Tyger said, worried that Paige left it behind out of fear that it was contaminated by whatever those creatures had been.

            “It’s in the hangar bay,” the soldier replied, and immediately, Tyger knew where he needed to be. He made a brisk pace for the lift and beckoned the soldier along. “Your captain informed me that they retrieved it, along with her Gestalt. I’d never seen one up close before; they’re truly a sight to behold. And you fight them in tournaments?”

            “I did,” Tyger said, “And I might go back one day.”

            They shared no words in the lift, only took a moment to steal a long-overdue kiss in the lift, which Tyger initiated. His timing was perfect as they ended it at the exact moment the door opened to their deck.

            “Thanks for saving my life again,” he said.

            The El Tigre was somewhat the worse for wear, but it was otherwise undamaged. Unfortunately, though the nanobomb had killed the main body and, by extension, its constituent parts, a residue of the material still lay at the vessel’s aft end. The rotten vegetation smell of the residue permeated the air: a scent that even the Shadow Star’s oxygen scrubbers couldn’t get rid of.

            “Nice of you to give EDDIE a new problem to solve.”

            Paige’s voice, dripping with sarcasm, came from behind as Tyger and his mate stared at the ship. She came up beside the two and crossed her arms, both made of black artificial muscle fibers, apart from her right forearm which was a painted a bright white, then tossed back the black and purple hair from her black and gold artificial right eye. “Hopefully he’ll figure out a way to get rid of that godawful smell before we leave Xiao.”

            “That’s where we’re headed?” Tyger asked.

            “Yes, we’ll need to drop off your Imperial playmate before she’s missed,” the captain replied. “Xiao’s closest; gonna throw out a pod. We’ve given her a decent cover story, so she should be okay.”

            “How’d you know I’d be here?” Tyger asked.

            “Please, love, your begging to go to Blair spoke volumes,” Paige rolled her eyes. “You’re clearly obsessed with this old thing. But I can’t blame you; you’ve always been a bit hung up on the stories about your dad.”

            “I’m just glad to see you’re okay,” Tyger said. “I’m sorry I had to put you through all that. Is Slayde still in one piece?”

Paige nodded and flashed him a wink with her remaining eyelid.  “Of course he is.”  She then placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. “And Ty, you’ve run with us for two years now.” Paige gave an amused snort. “I’ve seen scarier shit in the kitchen when Maria tries to cook breakfast.”

            Paige left Tyger and the soldier alone in the hangar bay, and after a while, under the excuse of testing the ship’s systems, they found themselves aboard the El Tigre, staring at the huge hole in the ceiling of the main cabin.

“My quarters it is then,” Said Tyger, somewhat disappointed they couldn’t just hide away in the confines of his father’s ship. Taking the soldier’s hand, he led her through the labyrinthine corridors to his personal quarters, opening the door and heading straight for the bed. 

            Perhaps it was because the captain had been aware of their connection to each other, that no one had bothered him for any duties on the remainder of the trip. But of course, three days was hardly any time.

***

 

            “I wish you didn’t have to go,” was what Tyger wanted to say as he watched his mate get dressed for the final time, but he promised himself he wouldn’t beg. The same as his desire to recover his father’s ship, he knew that more than anything, she wanted to get back to her old life. Their time together had been little else but a fun diversion. He’d already stolen as much time as he dared, pulling her back into bed with him, and she’d done the same to him afterwards, when he tried to get dressed. But now, there was no time left. They’d arrived at Xiao; time was up.

            “I’ll miss you,” was what he ended up saying as he stood outside the escape pod. The coordinates were programmed into it, and it was ready to go. She kissed him one final time, but not wanting to belabor the moment, he ended it, and watched as she slipped into the pod.

            But before the hatch closed, she spoke.

            “I may never see you again, but I will try to send the message to you.”

            Tyger wanted to ask what she meant by that but he would have to trust her. He merely nodded, and opened his mouth to speak, but the hatch shut, and the caution lights flashed. He stepped back from the chute and watched her slip away into space and into Xiao’s atmosphere.

            He mouthed the words, but could not say them aloud. Still he could not help but wonder: in another life …would she have been more to him?

 

 

 

Epilogue

            “You’ve been frisky lately,” Kairen said to Paige, once they’d both caught their mutual breaths.

            “Guess when I have two folks on board my ship going at it like gerbils,” Paige rolled onto her back, resting her head against Kairen’s shoulder, “you can’t help but get your fuck on, you know?”

            “Didn’t happen to me,” Kairen said.

            “Really?” Paige’s laugh echoed in the alcove of the cargo bay that they’d turned into a makeshift bed. “I sure as hell didn’t hear you complaining. Or were you doing it for scientific curiosity? You’re not the first guy to fuck a cyborg, you know.”

            “Well, you can be … insistent,” Kairen said with a sigh.

            Paige mulled over her resident scientist’s words, and smiled to herself. She liked that euphemism. It did seem to fit. Her face changed as a thought crossed her mind and she looked around suspiciously.

            “Pip hasn’t been recording us again, has she?” She raised her arm and gently brushed Kairen’s cheek. “Be a dear and hack into her personal files later and delete anything you find. I know what that pervy little shit is like.”

            Kairen let out a quiet laugh and Paige smiled, sitting up and facing Kairen.

             “So, you find any buyers for the stuff?”

            “For what we could scrape off of the hull,” Kairen replied, “Brogan says our paymasters on Dorado are extremely interested. As aggressive as that stuff was, though, do you think it’s wise to hand it over to a corporation with major links to the Alliance military?”

            “Hey, they’re desperate for an edge against the Imperium; this might be it.” Paige said, “And who am I to complain? We get paid either way.” She then paused and pursed her lips, her thoughts going back to Tyger. “Poor Ty. I think he’s going to be moping around here for three more days. I’ll have to keep him busy somehow. Maybe I’ll have him swab the hangar floor.”

            Paige grinned as Kairen shook his head at her disapprovingly. The grin faded and she took on a more serious demeanor.

            “It’s a shame I couldn’t convince the girl to stay. I saw her in action; we could’ve used her on the crew.”

            Kairen raised an eyebrow at her.

            “What, like Snow?” He said sarcastically, “Because we all know how that worked out.”

            Paige raised her middle finger in Kairen’s direction. “You’ve made enough deals with the devil as it is so you’re a fine one to lecture me!” She said, her voice icy with irritation.

            Kairen softened his tone. “I think you just have a soft spot for tanks.” He said smiling. Paige smiled back and gave him a gentle shove on the shoulder. “Although this one might’ve been a bit more trouble than you know.”

            “What do you mean?” Paige asked.

            “I mean she was pregnant.”

            Paige looked up at Kairen, eyes wide.

            “She was what?”

            Kairen shrugged. “Yeah, I know. It was a shock to me too.”

            Paige sat back as a frown formed on her face. “Wait, I thought they couldn’t have kids?” she said after a moment.

            “They can’t,” Kairen replied. “Well, it’s more they’ve been modified to be incompatible with human DNA.”

            Paige nodded deep in thought. “But Tyger isn’t human so…”

            Kairen began nodding as he finished off her train of thought. “His hybrid DNA managed to find a way through the genetic barrier, yes.”

            Paige rubbed her lip with a finger.

            “Why didn’t you didn’t tell him?” she asked, “or the soldier?”

            “I just ran a cursory bioscan on her after all the shit went down,” Kairen explained, “and I was too busy patching up Tyger. I only learned about it today after she left, when I went back over the scans to properly file them. She’s very early on; implantation must’ve only occurred in the last few hours. You want me to tell him?”

            “No,” Paige replied as quickly as he asked it. “I can’t have him begging me to turn the ship around or worse try and get back on his own. Besides, if they’ve already recovered her then they’ll know too, meaning…”

            Kairen nodded and sucked at his teeth awkwardly.

            “I see,” he said grimly. “I guess nothing can be done.”

            “He has his ship and he’s happy,” Paige said, following the long, awkward pause that ensued. “Let him have his memories of her. Let him remain happy.”  Leaning forward she rubbed the interface sockets at the ends of her thighs and winced.

“Be a dear and pass me my legs, would you?”

 

THE END