“You’ve done a lot of training, girl?” Aaliya asked. 

The changing room was otherwise quiet. It had been extensively used, but only on one side. Decades of use had worn through some of the leather seats, but it was clear that it had always been the same people, the same seats. 

Epoc smirked. She knew about pilot superstitions and it was kind of funny to see they were alive and well in the Mako Group’s team as well. You picked a seat to change and that was your seat, and a locker that was your locker, and if you picked someone else’s locker that was bad fucking luck. She had heard of older pilots who straight up refused to go on a sortie because they could tell by the assprint on the bench someone had sat in their spot. 

“Yeah,” Epoc said. “25,000 hours sim hours, give or take.” 

She could tell Aaliya had intended to smirk or make a derisive noise, but she seemed genuinely taken aback. “Damn. Really?”

“Yeah. And two years of remote piloting.”

“Hm,” Aaliya said, opening her locker. “Well, let’s see if that’s worth anything. I know a lot of you kids think sims or loader practice will prepare you for what it’s like to pilot something bigger than a Gamma class.”

“I know it won’t,” Epoc said, finding a locker that was missing the telltale scratches of use. It was in the middle of the room – the ones near the corners, that offered the most privacy, had all been used. This room was used by the Cats as well, so it was best to play it safe, even if she was a little more exposed here. “I’ve been told by every instructor that sim time will only get you so far. But the way I figured, why practice if you’re not going to learn from it and be the best?”

Aaliya grinned. “Careful, babygirl,” she said. “Hubris is fine seasoning on a prime cut like you.”

“Excuse me?” Epoc turned around just in time for Aaliya to take her coveralls off, letting them fall to the floor. She was, indeed, excused. So excused her heart thundered in her chest. Aaliya was stark naked. What’s worse was the way she put her hands on her hips, knowing she was giving Epoc a show. She looked like a tightly-wound spring, ready to, hopefully, crush Epoc’s head between her thighs. Briefly, Epoc wondered what it would be like to have her face shoved into the woman’s bush and then finally clenched her jaw and looked away.

“I’m going to devour you,” Aaliya said with a wolfish grin. “If you’re uncomfortable, I can leave, girl. If you’re feeling intimidated, you know.” 

“No,” Epoc said. “I’m fine.” She stripped off her own clothes and shoved them into the locker, keeping her underwear on. She heard a tutting from Aaliya. 

“Babygirl,” Aaliya said, “you pilot them naked. That’s the only way they work.”

“Oh.” Epoc suddenly remembered and realized what Winter had told her, about the way they reduced the mental load from piloting the Frames. Swallowing, she pushed her briefs down, exposing herself to the cool, dry air of the changing room. She felt her heart beat in her cock, the anxiety and stress of the situation very real. 

“Excited to get started, are you?” Aaliya said, baring her teeth like a hyena. She pointed to the door behind Epoc. “Right through there. Mine is on this side. You can pick up an earpiece just past the airlock. And you could have kept your socks on. You know. If you have some performance anxiety.” She winked and left. 

“I’m going to be… fine,” Epoc replied, but the door closed behind Aaliya mid-sentence. 

She calmed her breathing and went through the door. A part of her now expected all of this to be a prank and for there to be a crowd on the other side to point and laugh, but it was just an airlock. On the wall to her right was a small cabinet with a communication piece inside. She put it in, and pressed the button. “Testing.” 

“Reading you loud and clear, Epoc,” the voice crackled on the other side. 

“Winter?” The ground vibrated suddenly, and she steadied herself on the wall. She was moving.

“You’re playing pilot, so today I’m Handler Winter. Deal?”

“Deal,” Epoc said. “What do I do?”

“Just wait a few seconds. Getting into a Beta class like a battler is a little different from climbing into a loader. You’re actually in a skybridge right now. This airlock will take you directly into the chest of your battler. Her name is Amy.”

“Amy?”

“Well, AM-1, but the unofficial nickname stuck.”

“Gotcha.”

The skybridge stopped with a gentle, mechanical whine, and the door ahead of her opened. She had expected a seat, but in front of her was what looked to be the guts of the machine itself. The only indication where she was supposed to sit was the holes designed for arms and legs, heavily padded, along with a seat and what looked like an unactivated holo-display. 

“Alright, Epoc. Take a seat.”

“Uh…”

“Once you’re in there, we can see your vitals and your kinetics. We’ll be able to adjust your seat as needed.” Winter’s voice was reassuring, but it still looked a lot more claustrophobic than she’d expected. She had seen the inside of a cockpit before and it had looked more like, well, a chair. With controls and a headrest. Sometimes even cupholders. This was not that.

Gathering her courage, Epoc reached forward and grabbed one of the handlebars she was only now noticing. Gingerly lowering herself into the seat, her legs slipping into what she could only describe as… sleeves? Holsters? They fit comfortably, made of some kind of synthetic cotton. This would probably not be that bad. There were comfortable holds for her to put her feet on. 

She slipped her arms into the two sleeves in front of her too and found that there were individual holes for her fingers on the end of it. She had to lean forward in the seat to fully fit her arms inside, and found her face pressed to what was essentially a screen where she could rest her chin. There was a comfortable pad for her chest to lean on too. As she leaned forward, it settled slightly to give way for her breasts. There were seams in the material where cold steel peeked through, and she hissed gently when she felt it press against her stomach. 

Finally, she felt a similar pad push against her back, keeping her in place. She took a deep breath. Despite the fact that right now she couldn’t move, she wasn’t panicking. Yes, cockpits and sims were not this claustrophobic, but they weren’t exactly rooms you could walk around in. She steadied her breathing. 

“You,” Handler Winter said in her ear, “are doing really well, Epoc. Your vitals are perfect. Better than anyone I’ve ever seen on their first time.” That last part was quiet, like she wasn’t sure she was supposed to be telling her. “Holy shit,” Epoc heard her whisper. Antimony switched back to Handler mode. “Alright, we’re going to adjust to your exact body shape, so don’t move for a second.”

“Sounds good,” Epoc said, and she felt the sleeves around her body shift gently, her knees being bent a little bit until she was perfectly snug, pressure spread evenly for maximum comfort.

“Now for the last part. Just try to stay relaxed. I’m here. I’m with you.”

In the airlock, Epoc had gone fully soft, so when she’d sat into the seat, her cock had just fit into what had basically been a small cup for it to rest in without being crushed. Now, however, something slipped around her shaft. It was wet and warm. Something else, warm, soft and slippery gently probed against her backside. 

“What is–”

“This,” Handler Winter said, “is going to drive up your arousal. Would you like me to talk you through it?”

“I…” She needed to think about this. Finally, she realized she didn’t want to just endure this. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, please, Handler.”

“Good,” her handler said. Then her voice gained a fuller quality, like she was closer to the microphone and with it, closer to her ear. Winter’s voice was the only sound in the world. It was the only thing in the world, other than the feeling of her bare skin against artificial fabric and cold steel. “Good girl,” she said. “You’re getting aroused, Epoc. Last time to back out.”

“No,” came the reply. “No, if this is how I become your best pilot, give it to me.”

There was a moment of silence. Her eagerness was being processed. Then, her handler’s voice turned back on. “Hound,” she said, “Right now, your cock is slipping into a sleeve made just for you. It’s a mouth, draining you, emptying you, and it’s not going to stop, Epoc.” 

She felt a very gently rhythmic sucking motion, slowly sucking away at her already stiff cock.

“You should feel the plug go into your ass, too. Amy is a machine, but she’s more than capable of fucking you. She’s going to gently slide into you, over and over again. She’s going to rub against your prostate and drive you wild.”

The screen in front of Epoc turned on, and suddenly her senses, previously completely denied, were now overloaded. This she was used to. The screens projected information onto her retina in high detail, and the world opened up. She was no longer Epoc, a small person inside of an enclosed space, but a 60 foot tall machine made for nothing but combat. 

The tight fabric around her limbs provided immediate haptic feedback. She raised an arm, and in front of her she saw the giant hand respond to the movements her brain was sending to her own limbs. Information about every part of the Frame was quite literally at her fingertips. She knew how to move every digit to move through menus. She slightly adjusted the sensitivity and response time to pull it just a little tighter. 

“You’re a natural, Epoc,” Handler Winter said, and suddenly she was Epoc again and she was being gently fucked again. Her head swam. “There. Sorry for pulling you back for a second, but we have to keep you two aligned. If you fully dissociate, our tech can’t do its job.”

“Understood, handler,” Epoc said. She closed her eyes and focused on the sensations. It was easy, they weren’t exactly subtle. She was being fucked by a machine the size of a small skyscraper, and it was doing a better job than most of her exes. “Fuck,” she whispered. The soft tip of the plug was rubbing against her prostate and sendinging sparks through her underbelly. 

An orgasm was already coming, and she pushed herself into the machine to let it come over her. It was like moving to the top of a snowy hill, ready to slide all the way down. 

Like a solid grip, the machine clenched around the base of her shaft, and the dildo in her ass lost its consistency and stopped applying the pressure where it had, leaving her just on the edge.

“Ah,” she said, panting through gritted teeth. 

“I see you’re starting to get how this is going to go.”

“This is hard, Winter,” she said. “Sorry, Handler Winter.”

“Yes,” Winter said. “It is. I have your vitals right here.”

“Was that a joke?”

“A little one. Not unlike–”

“Thank you, Handler Winter,” Epoc said, blushing now too. 

“Very well, Epoc. Let’s continue. Your responses are nominal but a little strong. That’s to be expected with your first time. As you keep piloting, it’ll be easier for you to stay in that state of not-quite orgasm. On top of you not dying from neural overload, when you get into that state, you’ll also be a better pilot. Inhibitions and fears are reduced in that state, and you’re more likely to do what you have to to achieve your goal.”

“Because the goal is release,” Epoc said as the feeling ebbed away. She noticed, though, that the plug was still inside of her.

“Exactly. Try moving around.”

Epoc took a few tentative steps, and she felt Amy moved along with her. God damn, she wasn’t fancy, but she was incredibly responsive. 

“Hey! Epoc!” she heard over the comms. With a flick of her thumb, she opened the channel to Aaliya’s Frame. 

“Hey there, Aaliya,” Epoc said. She opened the readings from her scanner and pinpointed the exact location of the other mech. 

Amy spun on her heel and took three swift steps off to the side. Most people who had not seen an effective pilot move a Beta class didn’t realize how quickly Frames could move. She stood opposite Aaliya’s frame. The callsign on Epoc’s monitor read that her name was, less imaginatively, AM-2. The battler was extremely barebones. No armor on the back. It was weighty and made exclusively for heavy blunt impacts from the front. Nonetheless, like all Frames, she was a gorgeous machine. 

The way the leg flowed from the hip down to an elevated heel that forced the machine to lean slightly backward. That way, forward momentum was harder to stop. The heavy forearms were dented in a million places and shined from their thousands of impacts over the years. 

The small cockpit had several rows of glowing scanners, giving the impression of half a dozen green, glowing eyes. Epoc jumped from one foot to another.

“Damn,” Aaliya said. “Aight.” AM-2 pointed to a nearby field. It looked like it had been the impact site of a meteor shower. “Let’s go into the field and show me what you got.”

Space was at a premium, sure, but a company like Mako Group could buy a chunk of land and afford to put a box over it to keep prying eyes out. The ceiling was about 150 feet high. Epoc resisted the urge to see if she could tune up the Frame to try and jump up and touch it. Testing its structural integrity was probably not the best idea. 

“Alright, babygirl,” Aaliya said, squaring up her arms in a traditional boxing stance. “Rules of engagement: if someone touches the yard wall, time out until we move away from it. Respect a tap-out. Anything you want to add?”

Epoc raised her arms. “Yeah, she said. “Don’t hold back.” 

Aaliya was on her in a flash. Sure, Epoc thought she could move quickly in a machine this size, but the woman she was up against was on a whole other level. A massive fist rammed her Frame in the chest and she felt the material on her chest stiffen and push into her instantly. Amy started to topple backwards. That was not a great start. 

She leaned to her left as far as she could, hoping the internal hydraulics wouldn’t rip her in half, and put her right hand on the ground, turning her fall into an upward roll, leading with her left elbow, slamming into AM-2’s arm. Shame. She’d been aiming for the head. 

Handler Winter’s voice purred in her ear. “Nice job, Epoc,” she said. “Time to kick things up a notch.” The mouth on her cock started to suck again, and the probe resumed its gentle fucking. She realized it was also continuously lubing her up. Epoc’s breathing grew heavy. 

“Fuck.”

“Yes,” her handler said. “Now, keep it up.”

Epoc stepped forward and ducked, raising her arm barely in time to block a swing that was aimed at her cockpit. The impact was double. One against the flat of her forearm, the second, with a responsive thrust, against her prostate. The shock of it sent her own fist forward reflexively. 

When it landed on Aaliya, another thrust. Epoc needed to test something. She sent strike after strike at AM-2, and with the same rhythm, the ministrations on her cock intensified. Her hips bucked involuntarily. 

A colossal metal knee hit Amy in the midriff and Epoc flew backwards. The haptic feedback wasn’t strong enough to knock the wind out of her, but landing on her back unexpectedly did, even with the Frame all around her. 

“Get up, Epoc,” Winter whispered in her ear. “For me.”

“Yes,” she replied, “ma’am.” 

She rolled off to the side, a not insignificant feat in a machine that weighed as much as a battleship. Where her cockpit had been, where she had been, a giant foot crashed down. Aaliya wasn’t letting up though. She jumped over and smashed her fist down at Epoc, who had to keep moving. AM-2 was almost down on all fours, crouched down low. 

“Aaliya,” Epoc said, “chill.”

The other woman wasn’t responding, instead slamming her forearms down at Epoc as fast and hard as the battler Frame would allow, over and over again. All Epoc heard was an increasingly labored breathing over the radio. It was all Epoc could do to keep her arms up, to keep the blows from crushing her in her cockpit. 

“I said,” Epoc grunted, “chill!” She grabbed both arms by the wrists as they came down. 

In response, Aaliya rammed her own cockpit into Epoc’s. 

Amy’s sensors briefly blacked out, and the metal casing rang like a gong in a disorienting cacophony. She barely managed to shove the larger mech off of her, halfway through getting up when a giant metal foot crashed into Amy’s side and she was thrown to the side again. She wasn’t even on her feet before Aaliya was in front of her again, fists coming down. 

She deflected several blows, and as a reward the stimulation on her cock increased as well. She felt herself getting worked up again as she got into the rhythm of deflection and attack, even though her blows weren’t landing any more and more and more of Aaliya’s got past her defenses.

“She’s beating you, Epoc,” Handler Winter said, whispering softly in her ear. “Do you know why that is?” 

“She’s faster than me.”

“Do you think her being stronger and faster than you has anything to do with muscles?” Handler Winter asked. “In there?”

“No.”

She felt the pressure inside of her increase. The probe was swelling and she felt her body strain to take it. She had some experience taking things up there, but this was stretching her to her limit. At the same time, the sucking rhythm increased. 

“Feel, Epoc,” Handler Winter said. “Feel the machine. Feel the sex. Feel the oncoming orgasm, like an oncoming storm inside you. Feel the place where they meet, in your chest. In your cock. In your head. There’s a place where battle and release meet. That’s where she is.” The plug shoved a little deeper. “That’s where you’ll beat her.”

Epoc felt the plug gently fuck her. The mouth around her cock pump. She started to move her hips against it and realized it was the one movement she could make that the Frame wouldn’t replicate. She started to roll her pelvis, feeling the plug slide out when she pushed forward and the pressure increased on her cock when she pulled back. 

She deflected another blow as she fucked herself in the cockpit, letting her mind swim. Letting the feelings from her lower stomach blossom out, her skin tingling in her fingers and toes. The next blow was deflected automatically and in one swift movement she rammed Amy’s elbow into AM-2’s lower chest. 

Epoc moaned as she felt that climax on the horizon, something that was terrifying in its scope. It was a wave of pleasure and release that would knock her out, and she didn’t know how she’d deal with it. She felt the promise of that wave, that storm, and let it inside of her. 

Another moan as her next fist also hit home. A leg sweep, and she knocked Aaliya’s feet out from under her. She didn’t let up, pushing Aaliya’s dominant arm down with her left and smacking the other woman’s cockpit, knowing it would disorient her. 

Her orgasm was so close, but the systems inside and around her were doing everything they could to keep her from climaxing. That didn’t stop her from increasing the movements of her own hips as she slammed AM-2 over and over again. She was humping her own harness with wild abandon, moaning and grunting like a dog in heat as she slammed those giant fists down, over and over again. 

Every strike, a thrust. 

Every hit, a reward. 

Closer.

And closer. 

So.

Fucking.

Close.

“Epoc,” the voice said in her ear. “Epoc.”

Everything stopped. The machine froze up and all external sensors shut down. All that remained was her handler’s voice. 

“Epoc,” Handler Winter said again. “Stop.”

What rose out of her throat was a soft, animalistic whine. She had been so close. So close to winning. So close to coming. They were the same thing, weren’t they? And she was on the edge so why make her stop when she had almost won? 

“Hey,” Handler Winter said, “you did… amazing. Hold on, let me lower the sensitivity. Do you hear that?” In the background, Epoc heard cheering, slowly dragging her back into reality. “You amassed quite the audience.”

“Wh-what?”

“In twenty-two years, nobody’s managed to defeat Aaliya in hand-to-hand combat,” Handler Winter said. “Nobody except you.”

“I… I did good?” Epoc asked. She realized she was drooling but she couldn’t reach her face. She just shook gently in her place. The plug had returned to its previous, smaller shape, but was still inside her. Her cock was still hard, throbbing, demanding her attention; 

“You did better than I could have ever dreamed, Epoc,” Handler Winter said. “Return to base.”

At those words, Amy resumed functionality. Nothing pumped or sucked, however, and resisted being humped at. The machine wasn’t giving her anything, and that was probably for the best. She was so close to the edge, she felt like she was going to pass out. 

Still, she managed to stand up. 

“What about Aaliya?” she asked.

“She’s passed out,” Handler Winter said. “Don’t worry, she’s fine. The battlers are tougher than they look, and the cockpit is the sturdiest thing we make. But you rung her bell something fierce and she was pretty far gone, too.”

“Were you talking to her, too?”

“No. When more than one of you is in the field, we have other handlers that can take care of you. My predecessor was with her. We had a little bet.” There was a pride in her voice that filled Epoc’s chest with a warm glowing light and her cock with an aching need for release. Though that might have been there already. 

She walked back to the hangar and associated hanging room, letting the automated systems push her back up against the wall and the airlock moved up to her head. Now that she was doing this with the systems on, she could see that the internals of the cockpit could actually turn sideways to allow the pilot to get in or out. 

This time, however, a scaffold was also lowered. On it stood Handler Winter. Epoc saw her through three different cameras. 

“Epoc,” she said. “You were fantastic. You deserve your treat. Three options.” She put her hand up on the metal of the cockpit, and Epoc saw the screen register the touch as non-hostile. “One: I let Amy take care of you. Two, you step out and I give you release. Three, a mixture of both. You stay inside but I get access and help you out.”

She blinked several times. It wasn’t fair. She’d been a very good pilot. She’d won. Why was she being made to make a decision? “Idncare,” Epoc mumbled through her teeth. She just wanted to come. 

“Very well,” Handler Winter said, pushed a button on her tablet, and Epoc felt the cockpit turn. After a second, she felt the cool open air wash over her and she realized she was covered in sweat, head to toe. Another button and she was spun around. The mouth was removed from her cock and she leaned back. The sleeves opened and suddenly she was sitting in what looked very much, well, like a traditional pilot’s chair. Only with a dildo up her ass and her cock sticking straight up. 

Winter stood in front of her. 

“Hey,” Epoc said. 

Her handler stepped closer and put a hand on the metal next to Epoc’s arm. “Can I touch you?” 

“Yes!” Her response was immediate. Desperate. A smile played on Winter’s lips. “Please,” Epoc whimpered. 

Without another word, Winter very carefully put her knees in the stirrups on either side of Epoc’s legs, straddling her. 

“I’m so proud of you, Epoc,” she said. “I want you on my team. I want you. I need you.”

This was a lot. A lot to take in, and especially a lot to take in when she was so hard she thought she was going to burst out of her skin. 

“You were so good,” her handler said, reaching down and touching the tip of Epoc’s cock. A jolt of fire and lightning washed over her. Her fingers were as soft as Epoc remembered them, but instead of grabbing onto it, she pressed it against her own groin and very gently started to grind against her. 

She was slick with precum. Her desire and arousal had been leaking out of her and now that she wasn’t being literally sucked dry anymore, it had nowhere to go. She was coating Handler Winter’s crotch and she didn’t even manage to care.

The skin of her pants was soft as silk, and Epoc looked at her with pleading eyes. Handler Winter nodded down at her, and immediately she started to buck against her, rubbing her cock against the other woman’s crotch. 

There was a brief moment of annoyance when the handler pulled out a tablet, until she realized why and the plug started to move again, with speed and purpose. It was fucking her, and it wasn’t being as gentle as it had been before. 

She moaned hard, Handler Winter rubbing Epoc’s sensitive cock against herself, humping, taking Epoc’s face in her hands. She pulled her close, so close their lips were almost touching. 

“Come for me, Epoc. Come hard. I want you to come so hard you forget your own name.”

The orgasm rolled like a storm. Like a wave. It came hard and fast, and so did Epoc. She covered herself in come, ejaculating load after load onto herself while the dildo slammed into her tender asshole. 

All sense of propriety, of decency, of shame, was forgotten as she moaned and groaned coming over and over again, the machine not letting up. Her first orgasm was followed up by a second, and then a third, each marked by a stiffening of her muscles before Winter resumed her gentle stroking and humping, and the machine started its fucking over from scratch. 

Finally, with one final shudder, she clenched down on to the dildo, one last thrust, she slumped into the chair. The plug retreated. 

Epoc expected Winter to stand up, but she didn’t. 

“Aren’t you going to leave?” she asked.

Winter wiped a hair away from her forehead. She was covered in a coat of sweat and cum, and the perfect and proper CEO was pressed up against her. 

“Would you like me to?” Winter rolled off to the side. Apparently when the chair was folded open, there was enough room for a second person. She didn’t roll away, though, her body still pressed firmly against Winter’s. She gently stroked Epoc’s hair. 

Epoc thought long and hard about that.

“No,” she said. 

Winter pressed a few more buttons and the outer shell of the cockpit closed. 

They stayed like that for a long time, until Epoc, finally, more spent than she had ever been, drifted off into the deepest sleep of her life. Her second-to-last thought was that tomorrow she was going to have to make a decision. Her last thought was how nice it was to have Winter right there with her, keeping her safe.