All the King's Horses Pt. 10

"Space is dumb," She muttered. "Stupid inverse square law. I wanted my cool fireball."

"Space is great," Bryce said, his voice shockingly cheerful in her ear. "We're flying blood jetpacks towards a ship full of lunatic supermen who want to take over the world. That's rad. Now, apologize to the inverse square law. It's why we're not dead."

"Sorry inverse square law," Tiff muttered, darkly.

***

Shifter-Tiff didn't like the Hunter spirit. She didn't like it at all.

She hated the way that it filled her breast with a burning, pushing need to...do stuff. To have to care about other people. To want to protect them. Ugh. She was even thinking of the humans as people now. She tried to listen, instead, to what she had known her whole life. That she was a member of a godlike race, who had been cruelly mistreated by the galaxy. That they had a right to control and master all, so that they could be free. After generations of slavery, they were...they had the right...

To do unto others as they did unto you?

Shifter-Tiff trembled inside of her hiding place -- as a cloud of gas in the air vents of the bridge. She could see that Jade, the Night Caste that had taken over tactical -- was about to detect the oncoming boarders of the former Reliant. Mike wasn't likely to notice -- he was too busy gloating with Lisa, laughing and caressing her rump playfully, whispering to her about the palace he promised to build her in their favorite country.

Shifter-Tiff technically had already done more than enough. She had sabotaged things. She had even risked her rump in the bridge, when really, she could have simply turned to gas much sooner and escaped from the damned vampire. Yes, the night caste had caught her as a gas, but...

Shifter-Tiff groaned, inwardly.

Let them die? Then let the galaxy burn?

She could see these Solars. They were hamstrung by hubris and ego, unlike her people. But they also had power. Terrible power. And the cargo hold of the ship was filled to the bursting with Reman soldiers -- soldiers who could conquer important cultural and administrative sites on the Earth in a matter of moments. A shocking, brutal decapitation of Federation leadership, which the Solars planned to then use as a springboard for more. She could see a thousand ships like this -- but not with simpering, weak willed-

Kind, generous, peaceful.

-federation officers onboard. No.

Solars. With their armies of Reman clone soldiers and-

"FINE!"

Shifter-Tiff kicked out the vent, slid down, and landed in the room. Jade, Mike and Lisa all looked at her. As did the mind controlled Sebastian.

"Heyo fellers!" Shifter-Tiff said, grinning.

"The shapeshifter," Mike snarled, drawing from his belt his long, golden sword. It shone in the bridge as Shifter-Tiff snorted.

"Not quite, Mikearino!" she said, grinning as she walked slowly to the left, to keep their attention on her. "I got aboard the ship. Wanna know how?" She grinned. "Or would you rather I just keep pantsing your dumbass shit for fuck Solar ass?"

Mike's eyebrow twitched. "My name...is MARK!"

"I thought it was Khan?" Shifter-Tiff said, and she was pretty dang proud of how well she managed to nail Tiff's sardonic attitude. Then she ducked as Mark sprang across the room. His sword slashed through the air where her head had been -- and the screen behind her shattered into a thousand pieces. Sparks and metal shavings flew and Shifter-Tiff snatched some of the debris up and threw them into Mike's face. He swept his blade around, the glittering dust rebounding off the flat of the sword, then kicked out. The heel of his foot, iron hard and stronger than an oxen, smashed into Shifter-Tiff's belly, then smashed her against the wall in turn.

She rebouned, collapsed onto the floor, coughing and wheezing. She didn't have internal organs, but if she did.

"How did you get on the ship! Tell me!" Mike growled, grabbing her hair.

"Sure thing, Mikey," Shifter-Tiff said, grinning as she was yanked up, exposing her throat. She smirked. "The answer is...I'm a shapeshifting goddess. And you did the one thing you shouldn't have."

She focused -- and she shifted. Her hair transformed into a collection of writhing, hissing snakes, the same kind of snakes that she had studied before, during her training. For, ironically, just this kind of moment. There was a broad spectrum of toxins that could damage most kinds of carbon based life. Some died faster. Some died slower. But for humans, she was pretty sure this toxin would do it in about sixty seconds -- less, since she managed to bite down on three fingers, a thumb, and the fleshy space between his pinkie and the other finger. As the fangs sank into his flesh, Mike roared in fury, then slashed her head off with his sword.

Shifter-Tiff had been ready for that.

Which was why she was so very shocked...to feel a slow numbness creeping through her. Her body slumped to the ground -- blood pouring from the neck stump. Blackness began to sweep into her vision as Mike growled down at her.

"Never. Bite. A Solar."

Shifter-Tiff had just enough time to think...

Drat.

***

Tiff hated space.

They had needed to spend half the time approaching the Deedee slowing down -- just because there was no friction or anything. It was stupid as fuck, and it still only barely worked. After five minutes of feeling the intense pressure of the blood tank pressing against her chest, the Deedee was still swelling larger and larger and larger. Then the pressure stopped and Tiff blinked.

"Uh, guys?" she asked.

"Oh shit, your vitae tanks are empty, Tiff!" Chen said. "You're going to get there first."

"Yay!"

"You're also going to hit it going almost ten MPS."

"Fuck!"

"Tiff, listen, you're superhumanly strong, you can survive this," Bruce said. "You're just going to need to-"

But it was too late. The Deedee's immense, arrowhead shape was growing larger and larger and larger, the prow swept outwards before her. Tiff snatched the combat knife from her belt -- replicated earlier while they were in orbit around the gas giants -- and tensed, then flung the vitae tank away from her as hard as she could, to give herself a twisting pivoting motion. She gripped her knife -- and then slammed it down into the hull. She twisted, jerked, rebouned, almost flung herself off into space, felt her shoulder sockets screaming at her, then dragged herself back down, belly flat, against the hull.

She closed her eyes, gasping, her body aching.

But she was still alive. She opened her eyes, growling slightly -- and then she felt a rush of power inside of her. It was a burning, blazing rush, a shimmering heat, bitter and tinged with a feeling of death and panic and fear.

It was...

She had felt it once before.

Bee.

"Tiff, are you-" Bruce started.

Tiff's snarl cut him off. She flung herself forward using the knife as a pivot, swinging herself around towards the gash she had cut into the ship, then yanked the knife free. She brought the hardened edge down into armor designed to withstand micrometeorites and the crushing vacuum of space. The strength of her Hunter's spirit, of her raw, pure rage met the armor -- and the armor gave way, peeling aside. She cut again, then again, then again, slashing into the hull armor, pushing aside components -- and then reaching back behind her, folding metal behind her with the same forcing movement. The seals she made behind her were never anything but the most flimsy.

But that didn't matter.

What mattered was when she cut into one of the maintenance tubes, the air hissed past her relatively slowly. Then she was in the tube, then she was scrambling forward, knife in her teeth, her helmet retracting back into her suit. She came to a hatchway and slammed her palm against it -- popping it out of its frame and then dropping down into a corridor, right before a pair of ugly as fuck looking monster-men. They had green-gray skin, sharp teeth, finned ears, and sunken in black eyes. Their armor -- black -- was crude and fitted to their bodies and they wore sleek rifles in their hands. They flanked a skinny, pale dorkus with a checkboard. He gaped at her, his forehead glowing with the caste mark for the Twilights -- the nerd brigade of the Solar despots.

"Wh-" he said.

Tiff punched him in the throat. He collapsed to the ground, clutching at his neck, wheezing, and then she threw her knife into the forehead of one of the ugly soldiers, grabbed the rifle from his nerevless hands, then shot him in the chest. He collapsed backwards, green blood bubbling from his sucking chest wound. Tiff kicked the choking solar onto his back and aimed her rifle at his head. "Heya, nerdlinger," she said, her voice dripping with acid. "Which way to the fucking bridge?"

He gaped at her, then pointed.

"Aight!" Tiff said, then flung the rifle around and brought the butt crashing against his temple.

She sprinted forward, rushing through the ship -- not wanting to get bogged down in any fighting. She paused, only, to duck down and snatch her knife free. She hit the corner so fast that she actually ran up the wall for a bit, her arms flung wide to keep her balance. She saw two more of the uglies and tossed the knife at one, shot the other, snatched the knife up again, not slowing down. She came around the corner and this time, she was within arm's reach of the three uglies that were hurrying down the corridor, alerted by the gunfire.

Tiff ducked under one as he brought his rifle up. She slammed the knife into his stomach, lifted his entire body up, then smashed him into the other two, then jerked her knife free, her arm soaked into green gore. She sprang over the three bodies -- two still alive, squirming -- and then hit the door to the bridge. The door opened automatically -- and she punched the close and lock feature, sweeping her gaze around and saw Lisa, Jade, and Mike. Mike was standing over the corpse of Shifter Tiff, his hand swelling slowly with what looked like a half a dozen bite marks.

Sebastian was in the corner of the room, looking uncertain. Confused.

"Ah, finally," Lisa said, cheerfully. "Sebastian. Come."

Sebastian stepped forward. Tiff smirked to herself.

"Kill her," Lisa crooned, clearly overjoyed with her chance to have some fun at Tiff's expense.

Tiff rolled her eyes. "Okay, master, you can snap out of it now."

"What?" Lisa asked -- and then grunted as Sebastian drove his elbow backwards, directly into her nose. The crunch of bone was loud and extremely satisfying. Lisa staggered backwards, clutching her hand to her face, blood streaming past her fingers. Her cool had been well and truly shattered and she looked at Sebastian with a wild, wild fury.

"Thanks for that," Sebastian said. He rubbed his elbow. "Dominating myself took a bit more than I-"

"DIE!" Lisa screamed, and her anima flared to its solar brilliance.

Tiff threw her knife with a single, quick jerk of her wrist.

Lisa's head snapped backwards, the blade buried into her forehead. "Wow, you Solars suck," Tiff said, shaking her head as Sebastian staggered backwards, his body still smoking.

Mike moved so fast that the only time Tiff realized she had been impaled into the wall was as she clutched at the blade that had plunged through her chest, punctured her lung, and stuck fast to the wall behind her. Blood exploded out of her mouth, as Mike glared into her eyes, his forehead glowing with his caste mark -- Zenith, the warrior kings of the Solar order. His voice was pure fury. "You...killed...LISA..." He shouted. "She was THREE CENTURIES OLD! She was BEAUTIFUL!"

"She...was...a fucking CUNT!" Tiff choked out -- her hunter's spirit roaring to life. She brought her elbow smashing down into Mike's head, but he blocked it with his forearm. Despite the block, the blow still staggered him -- the impact let out a loud WHUMP as it slammed home and he dropped to one knee, gasping. Tiff grabbed onto the hilt of the sword to keep it from ripping out of her, hissing -- and then Sebastian blurred to her side. He took hold of the sword and jerked it free. Gold metal grated against bone and Tiff tried to scream, but her mouth was too full of blood.

Sebastian held the sword and her. His mouth pressed to hers.

A deep, hard, passionate kiss. But his tongue was bleeding -- cut on his own fang.

She sucked face and felt her own regenerative powers, combined with the rush of his blood, burning through her. She broke the kiss, gasping in fresh air. "Thanks, Master," she crooned -- feeling her addiction, her love, for him burning through her again.

Sebastian grinned -- then hissed. Golden light was growing from Mike as his anima flared. Tiff shoved Sebastian down, behind her -- and he took cover as she rolled her shoulders, glaring at Mike.

"I'm going to make you live to eat his ash!" Mike snarled. "You...ruin...EVERYTHING! You always ruin everything!" He flung his arm wide. "You have to ruin everything for me!"

"Up yours, numbnuts," Tiff said, her eyes flaring. "Mike, you know what your fucking problem is? You think the galaxy owes you something. Well, guess what. Sometimes, life fucks you. Sometimes, shit happens. Sometimes, you don't get to make out with the lesbian chompers, and you have to just fucking deal with it!" She spread her hands. "Three centuries of fucking wankery and you haven't fucking figured this out?"

"I'll see this whole fucking galaxy burn if I have too!" Mike started to advance towards her, his body roiling with flames.

"Yeah," Tiff said, feeling that her regeneration was working -- but while it was magic, it wasn't miraculous. Even with her master's blood, her entire left side felt like one big painful throbbing ache. Her muscles were limp. Mike kicked his sword off the ground -- and Tiff licked her lips "You would. Wouldn't you? You'd burn the whole, whole whole galaxy down just because your dick wasn't big enough."

Tiff wasn't looking at him.

She was looking at Jade.

"Starting with y-"

Mike stopped.

His hand went to his chest. To the blade that had emerged from right about where his heart was. Or had been. Blood dripped from the elegant sword -- and Jade twisted and jerked it free in one smooth motion. Mike clutched at his chest, turning, falling to one knee. He looked up at the dark skinned night caste, his eyes wide, staring.

She shook her head. "I own a majority of the stock in the Capellan Trade Union anyway."

She swept her sword again and Mike's head joined Shifter-Tiff's on the ground.

Tiff put her hand to her chest, sagging against Sebastian, who slid his arm around her as well. His skin smelled faintly burnt but she didn't care.

"So..." Tiff said. The faint sounds of alarms and combat filled the ship. "You gonna tell your orcs-"

"Remans." Jade corrected her.

"Remans to stand down?" Tiff asked. "Cause, uh, there were a lot of orcs-"

"Remans!"

"-out there," she said, grinning weakly as she leaned harder against Sebastian.

Jade sighed, then walked over, tapping at the console. "All Remans stand down. This is Harmonious Jade, the new CEO of the Capellan Trade Union. This mission is a bust -- we're heading back home." She tossed her head. "Capella's quite nice, you know. Excellent beaches. Fine waitstaff. Huge harems." She smirked.

"Holy shit, really?" Tiff snorted. "Like, you guys had a resort planet, with slaves and minions and shit, and Mike was-"

"Mark," Jade said, quietly.

"Whatever," Tiff said, flipping her hand. "And Mark was still obsessed with taking over the Earth?"

Jade looked down at the body of her former leader, at the blood pooling around his neckstump. Gushing, really. She pursed her lips, then sighed, slowly. "He...had a way with words. He made us think it was possible -- and with Federation technology..." She shook her head, slowly. "No. I think..." She paused. "I'm one of the younger Solars, Tiff. We...do have something wrong with us. I see it, from time to time. People who go...mad. It's as if they hit a limit, then it just...breaks inside of them. They rationalize it -- Mark and Lisa and the others. But I know Daedalus sees it too."

Tiff bit her lip. She looked at Sebastian -- and he spoke up. "Maybe we can help?"

Jade snorted. "Help?" she looked at him. "We fought a war -- a war that almost devastated the Earth. A war that we lost so hard that our way of life is now seen as an anathema to your people. And you...want to help us?" She narrowed her eyes. "Why? What's your profit motive?"

And even Tiff, born in the 20^th century, inculcated in the cutting edge of American capitalism, could see the vast, yawning gulf between Jade and Sebastian as her master tried to form a response to that. Finally, Sebastian said: "If you need a selfish motive, try this: We don't want to face another Khan."

Jade nodded, slowly.

Then she held her sword up -- the blade still sheathed -- and tapped the hilt against her forehead in a sardonic little salute.

"Be seeing you, Winters."

"Fucking NOPE!" Tiff said. "Never talk to me again."

***

The Deedee was within range of a few Federation science outposts -- which themselves had quantum uplinks back to Federation command. Three starships arrived later -- finding that the Solars had already left. It had been the damdnest thing: Daedalus, still unable to quite speak properly, had cobbled together a warp capable ship using what little scrap was left in the engineering bay and by cannibalizing the warp drives on the Deedee. It had taken him a grand total of two hours, and he hadn't even asked for it politely.

Of the Deedee's crew, other than those who had been killed in the initial take over, most of them were still in the brig, and had been freed by Bruce and Bryce during their boarding action. They had holed the Remans up into several sections of the ship and had begun to take over secondary positions, when the order to stand down had come.

As the other Survey ships took the Deedee into tractor beams and enfolded them in a shared warp field envelope, Quasicaptain Tobias Jutonnen got to work in writing up his report. Bruce managed the Reman prisoners -- the plan was to drop them off with trained xenopsychologists and see if they could be introduced to the concept of individuality and freedom. It would be a long, hard trial...but that was why there were xenopsychologists in the first place.

Most of the ships crew were busy working on getting the ship at least somewhat back in shape and rationing out the vitae supplies so that they'd have gravity for the entire trip back to Earth.

There were only two members of the crew who weren't busy working their butts off.

But considering what they had gone through, no one was particularly upset.

***

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Fucking destroy me master, yes!" Tiff grunted, her voice feral and animalistic, her arms bound above her head by leather straps. Her breasts bounced and rocked in time with Sebastian's hips, his hands on her shoulders, pinning her down even more fiercely. His eyes met hers and his fangs were bared in a feral little snarl of pure pleasure. His dick -- long and thin and slightly cool -- plunged into her cunt with a slick, wet noise every few seconds.

"Ah...I'm better, aren't I, master?" Tiff whispered, her head spinning with the raw lust of the moment -- letting whatever words that wanted to bubble out of her subconcious come out at the same time. Sebastian paused in his thrusting, his hands gripping her ass, holding her hips up and off the bed as he looked down at her, blinking slowly.

"Huh?" he asked.

Tiff snorted and giggled at the same time, her voice almost hysterical. "Is. It. Better. To. Fuck. My. Pussy. Than. Hers?"