A Soldier For All Seasons Ch. 01

"It must be hidden around here, somewhere. Ok, here's where I came up. Here's the lookout. The ship can't be far away...Oh shit."

Nate's eyes caught sight of a sand dune, too high, the sand shimmering in the light of the flames. With a smirk, he picked up a rocket and threw his best fastball straight at him. It bounced off with a metallic clunk.

"Gotcha."

He stepped up to it -- up close, he could tell that the shimmer was from their cloaking tech, almost perfect until you were right up next to it, until you could see the way the ambient light didn't bounce off it naturally.

Patting it cautiously, Nate searched for an opening, a handle. Nothing.

"Any ideas?"

*Would you let me control your mouth for a moment?*

"Uh, why?"

*Trust me.*

Nate took a deep breath. Giving control of his body to an ancient super AI just because she jerked him off was probably the world's worst idea.

*To be fair, it was a great handjob. I downloaded your memory of previous sexual encounters, analyzing your acquaintance's hand technique, pace, facial expressions, body proximity, body heat, along with your own sexual arousal over time. Then, I aggregated them together to create the perfect handjob for you. If you had a greater sample size, I could have made it even better, so in a way, any flaws in the experience are solely down to you.*

"Of course you're a woman," Nate grunted. "Everything is my fault. You can take control of my mouth, as long as you don't put anything in it."

*Three, two, one.*

Nate's eyes went wide with shock as he felt his tongue slither of its own accord. "Kirizel, ku-ku-ku, rekalan." His tongue chittered like a bug's, vibrating at absurd speed. "My name is Nate and I want everyone to know I have a big serpent in my pants."

And then she was gone, leaving Nate bewildered.

"What the hell was that?" Nate whispered furiously, ducking down to ensure he was alone. Thankfully, his men were still on the beach.

*It is very impressive, I thought people should know.*

"Not that! The weird demonic tongue speech!"

*Oh, that's a frequency echo of the bugs chittering. I didn't think you able to produce their guttural throat noises, so I had to take over. Look, it's worked.*

True enough, a metal panel had slid open, incongruous in how it hung, seemingly supported by nothing, at the top of what was apparently a sand dune.

Nate didn't waste any time, climbing up the dune and dropping into the ship. Inside, it was overwhelmingly hot and stank of the bugs, that fetid death-like smell, like rotten flesh. The metal chassis resembled the Federation until it reached the floor, which was a purple flesh that throbbed organically, a sheen of fluid that stuck to his shoes. Was he standing on the ships...heart?

Nate did his best to ignore it, dropping into the captain's carapace chair. The chair wrapped around him disconcertingly, little bone arms wrapping around him to support his weight, a spider's web of a seat.

He faced something more familiar; a vast wide screen, currently showing off the world outside, with a complicated console of buttons and not one but two yokes.

"Any ideas, Isabelle?"

*More by the minute. I've hooked into your arm-guard computer and have fixed it by launching it in developer mode. Now, I'm downloading the entirety of the Federation's news stories over the last century. There's a lot of stupidity here, it's difficult to digest. I'm also consuming the content of your Military R&R channel. Are these meant to improve soldier morale, these comedy shows? They're rather raunchy.*

"How do I fly the ship, Isabelle?!" Nate resisted the urge to face palm.

*Oh. No clue, sorry. Well, do you see those tendrils coming out of each computer station?*

"Please don't make me eat it."

*All linguistic models based on human to human interaction suggest the same reply: That's what she said. Haha, humor.*

"Isabelle."

*Sorry. Open up your armguard's Versa-port and feed one of those tendrils into it.*

"How is that going to work?" Nate complained, doing it anyway, feeling gross as he fed the hungry tendril into his armguard. "Versa is a human company, not a bug one."

*I'm in! I did rather think that would work, let's find out why now...downloading ship schematics, connecting to the ship's primitive bio-AI. Oh, hello, dear. No, no outward signals allowed, sweetie.*

Nate heard an anguished scream emanate from the ship's console.

"Isabelle?"

*Nothing.* He felt her blush. *Engaging ship engines, starting pre-launch routine. As I suspected, they're using a lot of stolen Versa tech, barely adapted, just like the Versa-rope you used. To be fair, it's great tech. Nate, are you sure you want to do this?*

Nate paused for a moment, aware that what he was about to do was crazy. They'd court-martial him for sure, kick him out of the military at best and throw him in jail for years at worst. And that was if he survived going straight at the enemy all by himself.

He took a deep breath. "I can't just let them win." He admitted.

*Why?* Isabelle's voice was curious, soft.

The question made him pause. "I...I don't know. It's not in my blood."

*Ok, Nate.* He sensed she was happy, but he didn't know why. *Sit back.*

"What? Oh, fuck." The ship rumbled, the panels squealing. The heat became overwhelming. Nate felt faint.

On the screen, the ground fell away and Nate saw his men, the General, the Medi-stations working overtime. Empty meka frames, their pilots grabbing a bottle of water, patching themselves up, unwittingly allowing him to escape. As one, their heads turned up, shouting, yelling. Pilots running to their frames, soldiers grabbing the weapons they'd set aside. They were too late.

They were rising fast, and soon the Federation forces were so small they looked like action figures on a game board. Nate breathed a sigh of relief, holding onto the creepily-squishy armrest as they rose through the clouds. And then, out of the atmosphere, into the still silence of space.

It was populated only by the Destiny, the huge carrier ship. With all of the adrenaline, Nate had forgotten it.

"Uh, Isabelle?"

*Re-cloaking.* Isabelle announced, right on time. It would have been humiliating to get blown into bits by the ship that he lived on.

*Planning navigational route. Optimising. Looping through gravitational ring speed-enhancing options. Engaging the entire drive.*

Nate's stomach dropped, the contents of everything he'd ever eaten rising to his throat. He choked it back down as the screen blurred and then shut down, their speed too high to show a visual representation, as they went into high speed.

*Nate, you need to drink something.* Isabelle appeared in his vision, naked once more. She sat cross-legged in the air, hovering on nothing, and Nate hungrily drew in the sight of her, that perfect pussy, those bouncing tits. He pushed himself to his feet, feeling exhausted, and clumsily stumbled forward to embrace her.

Only for his hands to pass straight through her image. He barely caught himself on a ship panel before he fell.

*Nate, careful! Oh, sweetie, I'm not here. I'm just in your mind.*

"But, but, you-" Nate said, clutching his head. It was so hot in this fucking ship.

*That was in your mind, Nate. The gem let us connect on your mental plane.*

"Can't we do that again?"

Isabelle giggled, blushing. *Such a horny boy. Your testosterone is very elevated, I wonder why that is. But no, Nate. If you can meditate and connect to yourself, then you'll find me waiting, but it doesn't seem to be an easy thing to do for humans.*

Something lit up in his vision, a metal flask turning blue - Isabelle had highlighted it for him.

*As you can see, I can help you, I can communicate with your mind, I can evaluate and in some cases even slightly amend your body and mind responses - I can keep you calm, ensure you get an appropriate level of adrenaline in combat situations, I can numb your pain nerves, I can ensure your mind works faster, letting your synapses connect more quickly.*

Nate took a big gulp of water from the flask, feeling better already. He traced his thumb down her cheek, unable to feel anything. She tilted her head down, blushing.

*Nate...*

"In my dreams, could you visit?" Nate said, embarrassed as soon as he said it. It had been too long since he'd had any physical contact.

Isabelle shook her head. *I'm sorry. I would love to, but your mind shuts down to an extent when you sleep. The most I can do is try and give you pleasant dreams and wake you, but I can't appear in them.*

Nate nodded grimly. She was too good to be true.

*Nate, don't think that.* She 'said', looking upset. It was curious, when she spoke - he could see her mouth moving, but he heard her voice in his head.

"Sorry." He said, not all that sure what he was apologizing for. "I'm just exhausted."

*Why don't you get some sleep? I'll wake you when we get close. We're about three hours away.*

"I just hope we make it in time." He said drowsily, sinking back into his creepy chair. It was comfortable, molding to his shape and his position.

Isabelle smiled as she watched him doze off, sneaking up to him, her hand roaming up his leg, tracing his chest, wishing she could feel him. She leant over and placed a kiss on his forehead, unable to resist making a little tweak to his mind so he felt a little sweet touch on his forehead. She watched, delighted, as a small smile spread across his sleeping face.

*Sleep well.*

And then she turned to her task, scouring the data available to her, the Federation network, the ship's data, trying in vain to get access to the bug's network through the ship. She consumed news reports, military briefs, pop culture music and films, pornography, every book she could. She had to know everything. Because she'd lied to Nate about one thing; she remembered two things from her time before the gem.

The first thing she remembered was she'd had another host, a powerful man.

He hadn't been a good man, like Nate, but he'd been powerful, with all the riches and women he desired. But he'd died, murdered, and for some strange reason, a feeling she couldn't shake, she felt like it had been her fault. Somehow, she'd been saved by being inserted into that datagem.

Her eyes fell on Nate as she searched. She wasn't going to let that happen again. Nate was a good man, and if he died while she was inside of him, she'd die too. She had to make sure he was untouchable.

Because the second thing she remembered was that there were those who knew about her, knew of her. Dangerous people, fanatical people — and they'd stop at nothing to attain her power, her secrets, to embed her inside of their heads, to have her boost their brains with her tricks and knowledge. They'd drill through Nate's skull if they thought that she would come seeping out.

But she had confidence in him. She saw his past, his dreams, his fantasies. His rage over losing his sister to the bugs. His grief, unleashed, bullet by bullet. His hardened heart, formed by losing his brothers in arms, again and again.

She saw what he had been.

And she saw what he could become.