Alien Mine Ch. 10

Rhys watched the darkness as the fight progressed. Whatever was in the back corner seemed to be controlling the Trangrod, using it to pull the girls into a trap. "Now," he ordered Thea and began firing at whatever it was. Thea's weapon thundered, the rounds tearing through walls, explosions, and smoke hitting the darkness. His own rounds followed but without the dramatic effect.

That was when the darkness began to move from left to right. Fast, Rhys thought as he tracked it, firing continuously. The quickness caught Thea by surprise, her rounds trailing as she tried to correct. Her weapon tore into the walls, chewing holes in them as the twenty mm cannon rounds were hyper-accelerated. Sections of the wall collapsed as she raked her fire across the space trying to hit moving darkness.

Rhys moved with it wanting to keep between whatever it was and the girls while he continued to fire. A beam of violet light reached out in his direction, punching through random equipment. Fortunately, he was moving, but there was little room, and only so far he could dodge. He leaped behind a large container and kept rolling as short bursts from the beam penetrated the steel as if it wasn't there.

While Rhys and Thea concentrated on whatever was in the darkness, the three others fought the remaining Trangrod. Leslie lay behind the large flat pedestal listening to the gunfire; the rifles made little noise, the grenades were much louder. Strangely she was still calm, her body hurt in multiple places, but she felt terrific; no, fantastic. Something had happened when Rhys and the girls arrived, something inside her. Despite her injuries, she wanted; no needed to join the fight, to kill, like a wolf joining the hunt to pull down a stag. The feeling was seductive and sensuous at the same time.

"One left," Amancia said, returning to Leslie's side to keep the Trangrod from moving that way. Her voice low and calm, almost as if they were at dinner. Amancia had felt the shift as well, but this time she was expecting it and rode with it. She let the predator take over, and her body sang with the joy of battle. Her senses sharper, she felt stronger, quicker, as if something had kicked her into a higher gear. Aiming, she fired a long burst; the Trangrod had gotten smarter, at least this one had. It was still moving behind obstructions, hiding, and firing. Thea's weapon would have made short work of them, but she was engaged supporting Rhys. The tac-grid gave them a considerable advantage, and Kiania slowly herded it into a kill zone.

Sandy continued to move and fire at Kiania's direction, almost as if they were in the combat simulator. This is getting easier, she thought, even as she worried about the thing in the darkness. The Trangrod suddenly changed direction, darted toward Rhys, but they were ready, and the legs came off under their combined fire, then the body exploded as grenades found it.

The darkness attacked at the same time, the Trangrod sacrificed to draw their attention. Rhys knew when the last Trangrod had been destroyed, but his attention was focused in front of him. No longer content to hide, it attacked swiftly, firing the deadly beam weapon every few seconds. Rhys had been counting, and it fired every 1.459 seconds exactly. As soon as it fired, he rolled out from behind cover to take a shot while directing fire from the others.

The increased fire seemed to have no effect, as if the darkness was absorbing it. The thing moved closer despite the hail of bullets, and the sense of menace was stronger, almost beating on Rhys' mind. In response, something inside of him roared, pushing back. It wanted to attack, to rend, beating back the feelings of dread. He couldn't actually see what it was, so he sprayed automatic fire and launched two grenades, trying to drive it away. Thea's rounds found it, but the violet beam reached out as he moved, piercing his thigh, leaving a 4-centimeter gash from the middle of his thigh outward. Rhys felt the searing pain like a red hot poker. He was lucky he was already moving, or it might have taken his whole leg. The pain disappeared as quickly as it came, Bob stopping the nerves from transmitting and clamping down on the severed blood vessels. The wound and pain would have incapacitated an ordinary human, but he was far from that now.

Still able to move, Rhys leaped over a container with one good leg, but this time toward the darkness. The pressure on his brain increased, but so did the resistance inside of him. Even so, it was awful; it was as if he was being smothered by something so filthy that his mind rejected it. For a second, he could see it as it moved, and so could the others through the tac grid. All of them now had a target, and the darkness was lit up in explosions as grenades and Thea's autocannon found their mark. Kiania moved to fire when the creature faltered, pouring rounds into it but exposing herself slightly. A beam lashed out, and Kiania screamed and fell as it pierced her chest.

It jumped at her as if to finish killing, but the darkness was diminishing as rounds from Thea, Amancia, and Sandy found the target. Rhys added his own as he ran toward Kiania, limping but still mobile as Thea, Sandy, and Amancia continued their fire, and darkness seemed to draw in upon itself. The incoming fire reached a crescendo, and it paused near Kiania for a second, hesitated, then it leaped away. Moving impossibly fast, it jumped twice, like a giant grasshopper, then bounded out of the building through a hole in the wall.

Rhys spun, running for the place it had disappeared. "Evacuation Sandy, watch for an attack as you leave," he ordered as he started out of the building following it. Rhys slowed, aware that it could be waiting for reckless pursuit. His leg was damaged, but the biopolymer was tough, and some self-healing was stopping any severe damage. He felt with his mind, looking for the presence he had sensed, but it was gone. He could hear sirens coming close; it was time to leave, lick their wounds and determine just what the hell happened.

Amancia scooped up Leslie, and Sandy ran to Kiania. "Keep us covered, she ordered Thea as she carefully lifted Kiania. Kiania was alive, the narrow beam penetrating her armor, the beam passing through her left lung near her heart. Bob showed her a diagram of the injuries. Jesus, she thought, how is she alive? One of the major arteries was severed, but there was no blood. "Blood flow had been redirected, and the artery bypassed, she will survive but will need medical care no later than half an hour. After that, survival is in question," Bob told her.

Leslie was dazed but still felt as though she wanted to join Rhys in pursuit. She knew it didn't make any sense after what she had endured, but she tried to get out of Amancia's arms. "Let me go; I need to help Rhys," she said with a growl.

Amancia tightened her arms, holding Leslie tighter. She knew what she meant, Amancia wanted to be at his side, join the pursuit, but she had to follow his orders. "Relax, Rhys ordered you back to the shuttle, and that's where we are going."

That seemed to calm Leslie, but whatever had happened back there during the battle was still with her. A feeling of sensuous invincibility; she liked it; it made her hot, feel sexy. Part of her brain questioned it, but the rest of her mind embraced it. Whatever it was didn't like leaving the chase, but it had to follow orders. Leslie let herself be carried while a beast inside of her paced, wanting to taste blood.

Rhys followed them up into the shuttle, Sandy getting it underway and heading to the base. "Kiania was badly hurt," Amancia said as soon as he entered the shuttle, "she is in a med unit, along with Leslie. What about you Rhys, how badly were you injured."

"That violet beam, whatever it was, got me in the thigh. I'm ok for now, but I will join them when we get back to base," he said grimly. "What were Kiania's injuries and Leslie's?"

"Kiania nearly died; the beam went right through her chest, nicking her heart. Bob somehow kept her from bleeding out. We almost lost her," she added grimly. "Leslie's were not as life-threatening, but in some ways just as bad. Broken nose, a hairline fracture to the skull, broken ribs, bruising across most of her face and breasts, bad cut to her side, some damage to her vaginal walls and anus and a gunshot wound to her hand."

"They raped her, Rhys," Sandy said with barely controlled anger.

"I know," he said wearily, "I could feel it in her emotions. " This is my fault; I put Leslie in a vulnerable position and then failed to protect her."

"We didn't think the Om would come after someone in such a public position; it hasn't been their style. We all thought Leslie was safe, we took precautions, but they weren't enough," Sandy admitted reluctantly.

"She will survive this, Leslie is tough, as you know, and we will make them pay," Amancia said quietly. She had seen Leslie's injuries, had shot the man on top of her. The others had hit him as well, but she had kept firing well after he was dead, tearing the body apart. They were only going to find pieces of him. Amancia regretted that the others died so fast. Kiania could have made them suffer for a long time, and she would have gladly helped.

"This changes things, doesn't it? Can we keep Leslie in place," Sandy asked?

"I don't know; let's wait to make decisions until tomorrow, see how Leslie recovers. Depending on her mental state, we may need to scrap the plans, but we will see. What a fucking mess."

"What was that thing, the darkness," Thea asked?

"Bob, you want to tell everyone about it."

"It was an Om," Bob said over the speakers. "It had a very effective stealth field around it, obscuring most radiation. We are fortunate it was not armored; otherwise, I doubt we would have survived. The energy beam it was using was similar to the shuttles laser beam but less powerful, obviously. It could only be fired every few seconds. I don't think the Om expected resistance; it was not prepared for a battle. It was there for Leslie."

"Shit," Rhys thought as all of them shared a look.

"I will start working on better armor," Thea said hurriedly.

Rhys walked over and put his arm around her. "Honey, it's not your fault. You did fantastic; the Trangrod didn't stand a chance. I know we are trying to catch up, but the armor we did have saved us from them, and we didn't know about the energy weapon. Anyway, I'm not sure you can build armor against something like that; it went through us like butter."

"I think we need our scientist as soon as possible, I can build stuff, but I need someone who understands the physics behind some of this."

"I agree; let's get everyone healed up, then we can see about rounding up our Chinese scientist."

***

Leslie awoke Saturday morning disoriented. She had to stop and think for a second, remembering where she was. "Good morning, sleepyhead," Rhys said, walking into the large master bedroom toweling his hair dry.

He had just come from the shower, Leslie guessed, dressed in combat pants. His feet were bare, as was his chest. Yum Yum, she thought, taking in the sight. "Thanks," Leslie said, shaking herself awake, realizing Rhys was still standing there holding out a cup of coffee. "Hmmm, coffee in bed, I could get used to this she said, sitting up and taking the cup.

Rhys watched her, examining her emotions. She was calm, a happy pink thread running from her. It was hard to imagine Leslie and pink together, but that's what it looked like. Probably better not to tell her, he thought. Otherwise, her emotions seemed fine, normal, almost to normal given what had happened. He felt a sharp pang of guilt himself at that, and for the way he had all but ravished her last night. Well, ravished was probably a good description, but Leslie had been a more than willing participant.

"How are you feeling?" he said, sitting on the bed next to her.

She looked over the rim of the cup at him. "You probably know better than me," she said mischievously.

"Well, Yes, but I would like to hear it from you."

She took another sip, her mind running through the events from yesterday. The memories were crystal clear, all of them, but they didn't bother her. There was no horror associated with what happened, no fear or loathing. It was as if the emotion had been stripped away from the physical trauma. She still remembered all of it, but she could look at it objectively, almost as if it happened to somebody else.

She had been pleased with how she looked afterward. No bruises, cuts were gone, healed with no sign of the injury. Her nose looked brand new, even better than the original. It was strange to see it so perfect after the beating she had taken. Her breasts which had taken a beating looked perfect. Leslie had felt so good after coming out of the med unit, full of energy and amazed at the unbelievable technology able to heal someone like that, both mentally and physically.

"Amazingly fine," she said, "considering what happened. What did happen exactly? Amancia had me behind the table for most of it."

"They were waiting for you in the parking lot, you know all that, of course. Good job, by the way; you left quite a few bodies. They were there to kidnap you and deliver you to the Om." Rhys paused for a moment. It's a good thing you fought them as long as you did; it gave us time to find you before the Om got there."

Leslie shuddered thinking about that. She had not seen it, but she had felt it, almost like a bad smell.

"It was my fault; I should never have put you in that position. I underestimated the enemy, and you paid the price. I am very sorry for what happened to you; I won't make that mistake again."

"This changes things, doesn't it. I am sure some of the chase was caught on camera, and the people in the restaurant had to have seen me."

"Yeah, there were maybe eighteen in the restaurant, including staff, but I am sure they were more focused on the guy you shot in the head. Then they were busy running when the others burst in and tackled you, but no one was stopping to take pictures. Yes, they saw you, but there wasn't a good description; we scrubbed all the cameras and backups immediately after picking you up. Unless there are some private videos from elsewhere, we are good, and the AI is monitoring for any on social media. By the way, good shooting, if the gun hadn't jammed, you would have got them all."

"I know, that lucky ricochet knocked my pistol out of my hand; otherwise, I would have fought them off in the parking garage. Do you think it's going to be safe to go back? They tried once; will they try again?"

"I don't know," Rhys replied, "we are still trying to work out what went wrong. I never expected the Om to go after someone so publically; they have maintained a low profile to date. The question is, is this the new norm, or was that a desperate chance they took?"

"But you need me in DC; I will not be nearly as effective if I can't go back to work."

"True," Rhys agreed, "but until we work out something to keep you safe, you will be staying with us."

"Do I get any say in this," she asked, the irritation evident in her voice.

"No," Rhys smiled warmly, "you don't; I nearly let you get taken by the Om. We think your symbiont would have suicided and taken you with it. That would probably have been the best solution for you because I don't think the Om would care about being gentle trying to get everything out of your brain. Who knows what they can do, but they took a big risk going after you."

"So what's next? I just stay here indefinitely? Leslie said, letting her sarcasm show.

Rhys sighed; it will sure be nice when her symbiont is mature, he thought to himself. Time to change the subject.

"About last night," he said somewhat ruefully, "everyone got a little carried away. I did not mean for that to happen. Are you ok with it?"

Leslie smiled. "You were not the least bit hesitant last night, and it's ok. Whatever happened in the med unit just wiped out the trauma. By the time I came out, I was fine, actually more than fine," she said with a giggle. She blushed, wondering where the laughter came from; she sounded like a teenager or something.

She HAD been all right, though. She had asked about the med unit last night, but no one knew how it worked, but it had worked, to say the least, full of energy, a sense of complete well-being, and a libido out of control. Apparently, any mental trauma associated with the rape had disappeared; it had been the same with Rhys and Kiania. She had been insatiable, practically tearing her clothes off and throwing herself at Rhys and the other girls.

Leslie remembered being frantic with need, but Sandy stopping her. "Are you ok? Do you need more time to heal," she asked with a worried smile. Sandy sensed the need in Leslie, but she wasn't Rhys, and though Leslie seemed fine mentally, she needed to be sure.

"I'm wonderful," Leslie replied, her own voice low and husky. "What happened today doesn't matter in the least, but if you're concerned, you can kiss me; Rhys is already occupied, she said with an exasperated smile.

"WE will be glad to," she replied, and Leslie felt other hands on her, pulling off her dress and laying her down on the bed. "We are so glad you are ok," said Amancia's voice in her ear, "we are sorry about what happened to you."

"We were so worried," Thea said; "Rhys found you, and then we killed them all."

Leslie moaned and pulled Amancia in for a kiss. She didn't want to talk about it right now; she needed sex, the fulfillment her body and mind needed. Right now, it was like a drug, and she needed a fix.

"Later," she gasped as a tongue found her clit, "let's talk later."

Sandy nodded to the other girls, and Amancia stretched Leslie's hands above her head while Thea began licking her pussy. Leslie willingly spread her legs wide and closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation. Amancia's hands turned her head; "watch," she had said.

Kiania was kneeling before Rhys, her buttocks held wide by Sandy. Leslie watched as Rhys' cock went straight into the tight ass in front of him. Kiania let out a long groan, breathing faster as the cock disappeared into her bottom. Sandy slid underneath, licking Kiania's pussy, the long tongue slipping out to lick at Rhys' balls and the base of his cock.

Fingers tweaked Leslie's nipples as Amancia licked along her neck, her ear, all the while verbally describing what they were seeing. "She loves it in the ass," Amancia whispered slyly, "it makes her feel slutty, but she can't get enough. Look at how he is fucking her; so hard, I bet you wish that was you."

"Oh My God, Yes," Leslie had moaned as Thea's tongue pushed her into her first orgasm, her hips bucking against Thea's mouth. Then a pair of thighs straddled her face, and a pussy descended on her mouth, Thea's, she realized as her tongue began to lick.

She heard Kiania cry out as Rhys began to cum in her ass, and it pushed her and Thea into their own orgasm. Before Leslie could catch her breath, someone had grabbed her hands and tied them back over her head. Other hands pulled her legs apart, and then Rhys was over her, naked and hard. Her need for him blotted any other thoughts from her mind, and she surrendered to the heat, letting it pull her into a whirlwind of lust. "I have something for you," he had said, his voice thick with lust.

Leslie recognized an anal plug in his hand. She had never used one, but the wave of lust she was riding didn't let her care. Her legs were pulled up and back, baring and separating her bottom cheeks. She could feel it at her entrance, teasing her ass, pushing slowly, seeking entry. Then the teasing ceased, and Rhys slowly inserted the plug into her bottom, staring into her eyes all the time. Leslie's eyes rolled back in her head as it nestled between her cheeks, her mouth a perfect O as she moaned when it went in.