Alien Mine Ch. 24

"Tell him about the tank," Kiania said.

A hologram appeared in the middle of the room, showing an armored vehicle, but nothing like anything he had seen before. It was shaped like a teardrop but open at the back. It had a combination of wheels and tracks around the outside surface, with weapons all pointing forward. Rhys recognized the purpose; it would plug up the Om tunnels and soak up every shot coming its way, and the teardrop shape would angle incoming fire into the sides and above and below. From the way it appeared to be armed, Rhys guessed it could return fire with maximum devastation, something he approved of. It would push through the Om tunnels, leading a squad or company while breaking up attacks and forcing the Om to concentrate their fire, giving the soldiers opportunities to flank them. "Sergeants Russel and Torres came up with the idea, Jack liked it, and we began production last week," Kiania said as she came closer to Rhys. "I think you should reward them and me, of course," Kiania added, letting her fingers tease her nipples.

Rhys could feel the lust swirling around Kiania; her workouts always turned her on, which was one of the reasons Rhys liked watching. She held her pose in front of him, letting him enjoy the sight of the ravenous beauty.

"Do you like what you have created, Rhys," she said in a sultry tone. "I was sexy with a hot body already, but you have made me more than that, " Kiania said softly, slowly spinning around. Rhys watched as one of her hands slowly slid down over her stomach, following and caressing the dragon fire splayed across her stomach, across her bare mound, and then finding a hard clit with two fingers. The dragon fire glowed following her hand, and Kiania could feel the heat, especially where it wrapped around her clit. She knew Rhys was doing that, and it turned her on even more. Kiania loved who she was and what she was. There was no urge to challenge Rhys; she was his lover and his warrior, a sharp spear to aim at his enemies, and a very accomplished whore to fulfill his sexual desires. Kiania could feel Rhys's desire for her, which was powerful and demanding, which only served to arouse her even more.

Kiania moved toward Rhys, drawn by his eyes that were now a window to his soul. They were filled with lust, and his hands reached out for her, taking her by the hips and pulling her close. His tongue pushed her fingers away and found her clit. Kiania closed her eyes and leaned back, then moaned in ecstasy as Rhys forced a small orgasm from her. Almost immediately, Kiania felt a wave of feminine lust roll through her. The Binary. She recognized the emotions: that strange combination of submissive Amancia and the ever-rebellious Leslie, the latter tamed somewhat by sharing Amancia's symbiont and the interlace between them that was more often in place than not.

Rhys' hands turned her around, bending her over just enough that her buttock cheeks parted, allowing easy access to the tight pink pucker of her ass. Kiania squirmed as Rhys' tongue licked around the rim, teasing the entrance but never giving her the penetration she wanted.

"That looks so hot," the Binary said silkily; both voices were sultry and deep with passion.

"I couldn't resist; you know how hot she gets after a workout like this." Rhys wasn't surprised that the interlace between Amancia and Leslie had formed almost immediately. They preferred their sex together now, as the Binary instead of as individuals. He was only half paying attention as they stripped off their clothes, but it was always interesting to see them move as one, a very sexy choreographed movement as they both stripped, a mirror image of sensual delight.

Kiania watched them but then moaned as a finger pushed into her ass while another one gently stroked her clit. The symbiont had ensured the girls were all easily aroused, and an engorged and sensitive clit was part of the package. Kiania could hardly stand still, and she moved her bottom, trying to capture more of the finger that was slowly pushing in and out of her ass. She gripped the finger with her anus and was rewarded with a small burst of pleasure.

"It's delightful to see her wiggle her ass like that, very sexy," Amancia's voice said as the Binary slinked across the room to Rhys, putting a hand on each shoulder. Watching the two naked women walk towards him was a pleasure in itself, something he appreciated. The way they moved together, precisely the same walk, was sexy as hell, especially with the lust he could feel emanating from them. Leslie's body stepped around in front of Kiania, placed a hand under her chin, and then kissed her passionately, their tongues entwining in an erotic dance. Amancia pulled at Rhys' clothes, freeing his cock. "May I?" she winked coyly, licking her soft, pouty lips.

Rhys gazed at Amancia, her coffee-colored skin set off by the gold nipple rings she wore proudly. Amancia had a world-class pair of breasts, as did Sandy and Kiania. They were firm and perky despite their large size, with slightly upturned nipples that begged to be kissed. Amancia's nipples had been pierced with delicate gold rings, to which Rhys had added diamonds that dangled, twinkled, and swayed as she walked. The jewelry fit her, he thought, and though he remembered nothing from the first months when he and Bob had been fighting for survival, Rhys knew he had done it to mark her as his. Bob and Rhys had been more restrained in the others. Amancia's breasts screamed for attention while Leslie's whispered, 'We are fucking amazing.'

Rhys didn't need to answer, and Amancia knelt and took his whole length in her mouth at once. He could feel a wave of satisfaction from the binary. Rhys had inadvertently made Amancia even more submissive than she had been naturally, and being on her knees with his cock in her mouth at least partially satisfied her needs. Kiania wiggled even more as Leslie kissed her and gently squeezed her nipples while, at the same time, Rhys added another finger, stretching her ass. Kiania bent over even more; the feeling was exquisite, and she pushed her ass harder onto his fingers.

"More, please," she cried, breaking away from Leslie's lips.

"Do you need something bigger in your ass? If so, you should beg for it; tell Rhys how much you want it," Leslie's voice said wickedly. The Binary knew what buttons to push to drive Kiania wild, and so did Rhys.

"Do you want my cock in your ass? If so, beg for it like the Binary said Rhys commanded her roughly."

The command hit Kiania's brain with a burst of pleasure, and the words began tumbling out of her mouth following his command.

"Wow, she knows a lot of words," the Binary teased as Kiania used some imaginative words to beg Rhys to fuck her ass. "

Despite all the problems that meeting the Drans had caused, there were times when it seemed it was all worth it, and this was definitely one of those times, Rhys thought to himself as he decided Kiania had begged enough and he was too turned on himself to wait. Pulling out of Amancia's mouth, he pulled Kiania down to her knees. Amancia used some of Kiania's slick juices to lube Rhys cock, then lined it up with Kiania's asshole. He groaned as he fed his cock into her tight ass, Kiania tightening and releasing her anus around his cock. She had learned many tricks to get a man off, and now she was using them on him. Rhys opened the link with Kiania and let her feel everything he was, how good his cock it felt being buried up her ass.

Kiania twitched almost violently as Rhys emotions hit her at the same time, she felt Amancia's wanton tongue worm its way into her cunt, and Leslie pinched her nipples, rolling the diamond-hard buds between her fingers. The Binary played her body like a lifelong jazz musician plays the trumpet by getting the most out of the instrument, and Kiania shamelessly and lewdly begged for more as the first orgasm hit her. Rhys didn't last much longer, coming with a roar as his cum filled up her ass and ran down his balls, only to be lapped up by an eager Amancia. "It's our turn now," the Binary said as his cock slipped out of Kiania's ass.

***

Rhys watched the hologram in the middle of the room as another small asteroid streaked into the atmosphere and exploded over Aksai Chin. "Getting closer," he said with satisfaction. The rock had torn through the atmosphere at a speed in excess of Mach 20 and would have burned up without the coating of alien metal to dissipate the heat. Still, they looked spectacular, occasionally doing damage. Some of the rocks were armed with missiles that would strike when they detected an Om weapon launch or energy beam. None of them had made it through the Om defenses and struck ground yet, but they were getting closer as Thea and Hua fine-tuned the weapons. The two of them and the engineering group Thea had put together had been busy, and now there were several strikes a day. "Have we identified all the launch sites and energy weapons yet?" Rhys asked Leslie.

"All that they have been showing us," she replied. Leslie was doing several things at once: talking to Rhys, analyzing the strike data, and ensuring the Cicadas were in the right places. It had taken months of painstaking work to maneuver the cicadas to optimum positions and the few spider drones that had survived. "The cicadas are ready to attack the weapon emplacements. I think we can take them all out if this works, but I suspect they haven't shown us everything yet. Are we still a go in seven days?"

"Yes, we are as ready as we will be. Everyone wants more time, but we must strike before our little bugs crawl out of the ground and become adult weapons." In three days, the bombardment rate would increase dramatically, and they would all be armed with a missile pod. The bombardment would be intense for forty-eight hours, then Rhys would launch the ground assault. Aksai Chin was worthless real estate except for the Om. The name supposedly meant the Great White Sand Desert. There was little water and even less life at five thousand meters in altitude, and there would probably be none when they were through with it.

Leslie nodded while at the same time reaching out to her other half; and welcomed the interlace. She knew it was strange, but she and Amancia had both come to prefer interlaced personalities instead of being two separate people. Everything was quicker in binary form, reflexes, and the mind's ability to analyze data and make decisions. It had terrified Leslie when it first happened, but now she couldn't imagine living without it. Together, they reexamined the cicada data while simultaneously shifting through world economic data. The sudden outbreak of open war with the Om had taken the world by surprise, and markets crashed as panic set in. Anita, Mika, and Nelya had provided needed leadership at a critical time, but the economies of several countries were still a mess.

"We are good; the cicadas are still propagating exponentially; the total numbers are somewhere in the billions. Thea expects a significant percentage to malfunction, perhaps as much as 25%, but plenty of redundancy is still built into the targets."

"Good job, you two," Rhys said to Thea and Hua. They were still on Miranda but would be on Earth to participate in the attack. Everyone else would be as well, except for Anita, who would stay on Miranda. Mika would take command of the Drans base in West Texas. It was probably the safest, and Rhys didn't think the Om had ever discovered the location. Nelya would join the Russian and European forces, and Jessica would lead the Israeli and African contingent. Sandy would initially command the Shuttle but then would join them as well; being able to control disruptor beams would be critical in the incoming battle. Thea had made some progress; her tanks were large enough to mount a more powerful disrupter, but without a symbiont to control the beam, it was only effective out to fifteen meters. Sandy and I will be there in sixteen hours. I am bringing Anita, be ready to go; we will start the attack as soon as we return."

Rhys switched his visuals to the tac-grid, where he could see what Hua was doing. There was an enormously complicated hologram in front of her, and one of her bodies stood on each side. "Faster than light drive," Hua said by way of explanation. I think I have the theoretical concepts in place, but the engineering is another issue altogether. Right now, we have no idea how to build this. The power requirements are greater than I could have imagined. Rhys, I think we are several years out from a working drive, perhaps decades."

Rhys shifted his view to a video feed. There was no time lag for tac-grid, even across these fast differences, and he could see that Hua and Thea were in the most secure area, deeply buried in Miranda, where they had moved the AI. As usual, Thea's hair was connected to both of Hua's bodies and the AI. This let them use part of the AI (the part it allowed Hua access to) to develop theoretical constructs and model space-time disruption drives. Rhys understood the theory, but the details were beyond him, and he was content to leave it to Hua, Thea, and the scientific team they had put together from Earth. Even with Bob's help, the details were beyond him. There were over a thousand engineers and scientists on Miranda now, and more are arriving daily. The base as he had conceived it was not large enough as the population swelled beyond his expectations, and now new living and working quarters were being built daily. He just hoped it was enough to face what was coming. But one problem at a time. First, there was a battle to be fought in Aksai Chin. "That's unfortunate, but first, we must survive another Om incursion from space. After this battle, focus on building a space force; then we can worry about the drive."

***

The Om nest responded to the increasing attacks, their defenses holding against the crude but still deadly attacks from this primitive species. The nest buzzed with an unfamiliar condition, something humans would have recognized as anger and loss. The nest was now alone on this world; the Drans warriors had surprised and destroyed the other nests. These Om had no racial memory of loss such as this; the Om conquered, destroyed, and devoured; that was the way of the universe. But now it was trapped in this world that had been selected to provide sustenance and perhaps a greater nest, and instead, it was fighting for survival. The nest knew the Drans warriors would attempt to destroy it soon; they were not very subtle, a trait they shared with the Om. The new Trangrods had proven effective, but the only intelligent species on this planet made poor substitutes for their own warriors. The new reproduction centers had been destroyed, so it was forced to rely on the inferior human stock to build Trangrods. The Nest knew it was now fighting for survival until another Om ship came to investigate and survey. Win this upcoming battle, and the odds for survival would increase dramatically. The nest was prepared.

***

Rhys looked around the Command Center of the shuttle, letting his senses flow throughout the ship. Sandy stood in her usual place, her hair running in all directions, connecting her to all the shuttle functions and directly to the Shuttle's AI. Kiania stood in the center, concentrating on a hologram in front of her and waving her hands to make the image shift or to bring up more data. To an outside observer, they might have thought she was directing a symphony, but she was giving deployment orders and trying to anticipate any Om responses. Leslie and Amancia stood on the other side of the floating image, ensuring the Cicadas that responded had their final programming. Hua's two bodies and Thea were on the other side of the space, preparing for the final air assault. Rhys wished the other four women could also be here; it had been a while since they were all together. But things were complicated now, and though Mika and Anita could fight, he needed them out of the battle zone in case things went badly.

The attack on the Om nest had increased in intensity for weeks as one rock after another streaked in from beyond the moon's orbit. The Om defenses quickly destroyed the first attacks, but their purpose had been to spread the cicadas across the face of Aksai Chin in the debris that fell to the ground. That had been more successful than the models predicted, and it had also served to test the ability of the Om to withstand a sustained bombardment. The weapons now targeting Aksai Chin were a magnitude deadlier. Each one came from a different direction, very low over the horizon at speeds that tested even the Drans' metal. The second the Om responded to the rock, it would spew out ten missiles that accelerated to low relativistic speeds almost instantly. These weapons had destroyed the other Om nests, but the defenses here had been more robust. However, now they were being challenged by the intensity of the attack.

Rhys was confident in their plan; they had gone over every possible concern and scenario they could imagine. Now, it was time to put away all fears, and he projected confidence to all of them. There was one part of the upcoming battle that still worried him, though. They would have to face whatever was at the bottom of this nest, the Om monster, which nearly killed him the last time. He thought/hoped he was prepared; the mysterious AI would help channel that strange energy. Still, Rhys felt a chill when he thought about how the tendrils had entered his body, seeking to destroy the symbiont.

Private Salazar slowly field-stripped his BFW, carefully checking each part, of which there were very few. He had been assured it was unnecessary; the weapon had alien metal components that didn't wear or get jammed, but he did it anyway. It was part of his ritual before battle, and despite assurances, it just felt better to check. He was a rifleman in fire team one, alpha platoon, and his unit would lead the battalion advance into the Om tunnels. They were chosen to lead because they had the most fire time against the Trangrods, a dubious honor the Private thought.

Just thinking about the Trangrods sent a shiver down his spine. They were alien monsters indeed and looked as if they had been specifically designed to terrorize humans. In the squad room, they would joke that they were fighting the 'Aliens" from the movie, and someone always volunteered to be Sigourney Weaver, the actress who played Ripley in the film. No one minded being called a girl because she was the only one to survive, and the actual things they had fought were just as terrifying.

Salazar's fire team had fought in western China against the remnants of the Chinese Army and the Trangrods. The former posed little danger to the armored suits they wore and the BFWs, but the Trangrods, well, that was different. The first time he saw one, he panicked as if he were a new recruit and fired his weapon on automatic until it was empty. However, seeing that monstrous thing moving so quickly, bullets flying and pinging off his armor, sacred him like nothing before in combat. He and the rest of the fire team got over their fear, but Salazar had never told anyone how scared he was or that he had pissed himself. The fire team lost two men that day, learning to fight those things. The next time, they were better prepared and only lost one man. The learning curve was steep in terms of lives; everything was different: tactics, weapons, the enemy, even the fire team. It was the most basic marine unit, but now, each one had two heavy weapons, plus the drones. The drones were a steep learning curve: how and when to use them, how to integrate their firepower into the small unit tactics.