The Valkyrie Project - Chapter 18

Jaime smiled to her wife and nuzzled her cheek before kissing it softly their arms around each other's waists as they waited for the stewards to serve food. Tina abruptly moving their date to her private quarters with Val in the tomb had caught them off guard. But rumors were swirling about what had happened at church that day. The couple had been unable to attend themselves because they were finishing the last test of 'Sharpened Spear'. A test which had been a resounding success. All six of the Valkyrie in the deepest cells of the tomb had now been restored their minds now. Each would need time to work with Celestra to fix the mental blocks that had prevented them from succeeding. But they were confident at this point that no Valkyrie would ever have to be separated from her family and friends ever again.

The two were dressed in what appeared to be casual clothing unless one looked closely at the collars of their shirts to notice their rank pips. They had picked up Celestra's ability to morph their suits into whatever they wanted. Much to Mei's consternation.

The stewards finished serving the meal; the lead steward stealing an affectionate kiss from Tina, Val, and Mei before heading out.

Idle conversation continued until Tina spoke up "So I hear you had an exciting day?" she asked the girls before taking a bite.

They looked at each other for a second, Jesse taking the 'I'll explain a bit then we'll tag team so I can eat' straw. "Oh yes, the cells in the tomb are officially free from occupants." She turned to Val "I know you're so broken up by being set free from those duties." she teased.

"Hey, Don't kink shame, I'll miss it a bit. Particularly the part where I got to literally fuck them back into their cells." her blond mother teased. Val smirked.

Jamie perking up and reaching into her shirt and pulling out several cards "Almost forgot these!" she said before handing them across the table to her Mother-in-law. Val opening them, tears coming to her eyes as she read them. Tina picked one up and read it. They were an apology card from each of the six begging her forgiveness for their actions. Driven by instinct they may have been but mindless apparently they were not.

Tina wrapped an arm around Val and squeezed as Sandy did from the other side. Both leaning in to kiss the blond before she smooched them back and told them to eat before the food got cold. Tina just enjoyed the meal, hoping things wouldn't heat up too fast given the days events. She saw Mei next to her checking comms really fast, giving her smile and wink. Whatever it was clearly wasn't too dour.

"So what happened at church today?" Jamie asked, broaching a topic Tina had been saving for after dinner.

"Mind if we talk about that after?" Tina asked between bites. Jamie and Jesse just nodded, both knowing that if Tina wanted to delay it was best not to push. They had been on best behavior in the weeks since the sim incident and were not in any hurry to push boundaries at the moment.

The meal finished, Tina ushered them into her Den. The group sprawled out on the couches. Jesse and Jamie leaning on each other on the love seat while Crystal sat on Sandy's lap. Mei had requisitioned a chair she was sitting on backwards and Val had her arm wrapped around Tina's waist squeezing gently as her head rested on her wife's shoulder as the general hunched forwards a bit Her hands together on her knees.

"As of this afternoon, we're effectively at war" Tina explained with no pretense. "A hidden war, for now, but war. The enemy made a direct attributable attack against the Valkyrie, and were going to directly attack The church targeting the president, high priestess, and a lot of civilians."

The girls gasped a little, rumors had been circling the base that something had happened in the cells. "Was anyone hurt" Jesse blurted out in concern.

"Yes, one of the guards in the interrogation cells is in critical condition, as is one detainee. The other detainee..." she tailed off trying to figure out how to explain it.

"Was the bomb" Crystal just finished it. "Tina, if I may?" she asked getting a nod from the general. The scientist explained in extreme detail what had happened that day. If the girls hadn't de facto been research partners for the past year and a bit she probably wouldn't have. But this was something they'd actually discussed before.

The girls looked to each other Jamie uttering one word "Ragnarok?". Jesse nodded "Ragnarok."

Crystal tilted her head "Girls... you haven't been doing something... have you?" She asked with concern given the previous sim incident.

"No, well we don't think so." Jamie answered, none of the senior officers detecting deception.

Jesse continued "Do you remember when you brought up just such a scenario a few months back?" she asked. Crystal nodded, it had been a hypothetical she'd brought up. "Well, we got to thinking that night... what if we just flipped the script? What if we sent out nano and virus into everybody. Hyper infectious, but dormant other than to spread."

"The idea being that when the enemy tried to use such a guard nano or virus the nano would activate the virus that was already deeply embedded causing that person to transform into an Amazon futa on the spot. We modeled it off of what you did against the Pox. Where the Pox didn't just disappear from inoculation but through the viral spread of the nano and virus mix you created to combat it." Jaime explained.

Jesse brought up their notes, sending them to the wall. "We never synthesized it but there it is. To evade detection we also based it on 'Battle maiden'."

"You WHAT!?" Crystal nearly spat out. She'd always considered 'Battle Maiden' the original strand that now only existed in the girls as a failure. "Why Battle Maiden?! You two barely survived... it was a failure." then it dawned on her. They hadn't barely survived, they were thriving and surpassing every Valkyrie, if anything it was a massive if stilling developing success. Her face changed as she processed that.

Tina and Mei just watched, knowing better than to interrupt. But still silently thankful the girls hadn't gone ahead and synthesized.

"Girls... I feel like there is something you're not telling us. What else aren't you telling me?" She asked.

"We'll get there, we need to explain Ragnarok first." Jesse said firmly. It was the first time she'd pushed back against a superior since the sim and Tina's eyebrow raised.

"Crystal, let them explain. If we're not satisfied afterwards..." she let that hang in the air and the girls nodded understanding the implicit threat.

Jamie looked to Crystal and Tina for permission to continue. Getting a nod from Tina and 'get on with it' gesture from Crystal. "The reason battle maiden is ideal is not only its ability to evade detection and lie low but, also it's self-defense capability. In effect the transformation would only be triggered by defensive reactions. In looking back at the data from our own childhoods we found that until we went to the clinic battle maiden had self inhibited. Only the initial inhibitor application was necessary to send Battle Maiden into a stealth mode. So what if we started with it in that mode to begin with?" They could see it working through the room.

"But wouldn't we be giving our enemy super soldiers?" Mei asked.

Jesse shook her head "No, well we don't think so? While ragnarok is based on battle maiden it is significantly different. It as best we can tell better reflects the nano and virus in a Valkyrie's seed rather than Battle Maiden. So any change would be slow and over time. Sims indicated that it would take three to four years of regular influenza seasons for the first individuals to start seeing full futa expression."

That caught Crystal's ear "So unlike someone who's gone through Amazon process they would still get sick until they transformed?" she clarified.

"Correct, immediate transformation would only be triggered in a few cases. Usually involving things like the bomb nano that was at least until today, theoretical." Jamie confirmed.

Tina looked the girls in the eye, she saw no deception. They were trying to help, but she still felt like they weren't saying something yet. "How infectious are we talking?"

"Hyper, even Valkyrie would get it, but wouldn't be affected for reasons we'll get to in a moment" Jesse acknowledged.

Tina nodded, there it was. "Let's not wait that moment, what did you see in the data you haven't told us yet?" she asked taking a shot in the dark.

The girls looked at each other, both taking a deep breath and giving each other a quick hug before they answered, the odd ritual made Tina realize just how big this must be. Jaime looked her straight in the eye before looking to Crystal "You're not Valkyrie anymore, you are battle maiden and have been since the sim." Jesse took that moment to put their nano and virus counts on the wall. Showing graphs for every senior Valkyrie in the room. One line on the graph was their 'Valkyrie' strain nano and virus. The other was 'Battle Maiden'.

"But how?" Crystal got up from Sandy's lap and paced the room.

"We don't know for absolute sure, but we think it was when you carried us from the Sim room. We saw you and didn't want you to worry. Also, we were bleeding." Jesse said shrugging.

"We tested if we were able to project nano and virus the other day in a closed lab. The most consistent projection was when the projector felt heavy concern and love together for someone. No other combination was able to get any distance and imaging showed both virus and nano returning almost immediately to the host." Jaime explained, pulling up sensor and video data of each of them meditating in a closed and filtered lab bio cell. The sensor feed showing that during the love and concern combo they could literally send nano and virus between each other over a distance of twenty meters.

Crystal held her chin as she watched "Amazing, and I don't dispute the data but wouldn't we be able to do some of the things you've done in the sim if we had 'Battle Maiden' now?" she asked.

Mei, Tina, and Val exchanged glances before Tina spoke "We can", Crystal made a 'continue' hand motion. "So... Tina, Val, and I have been experimenting with the presence masking and detection techniques the girls showed in the sim. I was able to use it earlier to day to scare the shit out of these two, even masking my perfume. Which even my knowledge of this says probably required nano projection to capture the scent."

Crystal nodded "Can you demonstrate now?" she asked, before she'd finished her sentence Tina, Mei, and Val had all disappeared completely.

"Boo" Tina said softly right into Crystal's ear having gotten up and moved behind her while stealthed, giving the Valkyrie a hug causing her to squeal in fight. Val and Mei kissed her on the cheeks as Sandy and the girls laughed. "We didn't just mask our presence there, we masked it specifically from you."

"Oh goddess" the scientist breathed before laughing as she calmed down. "I take it I'm going to have to learn how to do this?"

"I'd suggest it unless you like being pranked all the time." Tina said fairly matter-of-factly. "But if you're worried I did make the girls promise to never use it to sneak around."

Mei held out her hand "They also showed me how to focus pheromones on a specific part of my body" Crystal sniffed detecting nothing until she put her nose right against Mei's palm where she got a major blast of pheromones making her squirm a bit. "I've gotten better at it even since using it this morning without practicing. Sorry about that" she laughed.

Crystal retook her seat as they all settled back down, Sandy's arms wrapping around her waist "I take it nobody has tested the healing, recovery, and blast resistance techniques?" she got a resounding set of nos in the form of head shakes.

"Fortunately no given today's events." Tina said softly. She rested her chin in her hands. "Girls, if I got you the OK to deploy this; how fast could you have it ready? Also, where were you planning to deploy first?"

Jaime looked at Jesse and crystal "A day or two?" she shrugged.

"Two hours" Crystal interrupted drawing stares from everybody. She rolled her eyes "Normally you're starting from scratch, but as you said just now. We have battle maiden to start with. The labs produce tons of nano each day for the clinics. Given Ragnarok is basically a rev of the nano already used in normal inoculation but re-patterned it would take only two hours to produce significant stocks. Because we can have it reprogram existing stocks. The retro virus already exists, so we don't need to change that."

Tina got off a call she'd been having literally as Crystal was explaining "Do it, we're authorized. We begin Ragnarok tonight. The enemy may have struck first, but we'll make sure they regret it. The president authorized inoculation of the entire military, but I convinced her to allow us to target it more." She looked up at the girls "Yes I realize it won't matter long term but humor me, so where do we start?"

"The church, the priestesses" Jesse stated as her clothing shifted back into her normal Valkyrie uniform. Tina noted that both now sported very hard to see goddess' breeder marks above their bulges.

Tina smiled "Perfect, it would spread during the mass."

Mei was giving Val her satyr's smile "Can we get a few doses? We have an idea..."

Tina looked at them and then the girls and Crystal. "Won't hurt" Crystal said.