Coming Soon

Flight of the Titania
~ An Erotic Science-Fiction Novel ~

- Three -
Lethal Sentiments

Queenie dashed out of the lift and ran for her base-room on the academic level. Her coveralls were in her bag under her chair. She skidded to a halt at the door and ran to her chair to grab her bag.

"Congratulations Cadet Tate."

Queenie froze in shock. Oh god, Instructor Jaeger is still here!

Alarmed, she whipped around, automatically snapping to attention. Why the hell was he still here? It was well after class hours, he should have gone home by now.

The instructor was standing at his office door at the back of the room without his coat, and a beer in his hand. He looked relaxed, but then he always looked that way, even as he slammed butts on the sparring mat. She had never seen him lose his temper. And she hoped to God that she never would.

Jaeger strode toward her with a slight smile on his lips. "Ease up, you're not in class."

Queenie relaxed her stance, but watched him approach with complete attention. His flowing stride hinted at years of combat training, and very subtle augmentation. She had never noticed more than a trace of the distinctive scent of cyborg. He reminded her of a Terran jungle panther, all liquid grace and deadly intent.

There was a rumor circulating through out the Academy, that Instructor Jaeger was teaching this year because he was recovering from some form of damage from his real occupation, but no one had any idea what it could be. His dark very un-regulation long hair, kept bound in a sleek black braid hinted that he did things for the Empire that did not require a uniform.

"Navigation Class pilot, huh?" He perched on the desktop of the chair across from her, hooking one booted foot on the seat. The snug and sleeveless black regulation shirt bared his lean muscular arms, and showed off his trim stomach. "That is quite a distinction."

Queenie swallowed. "Uh, thank you sir." The lean and striking instructor had always fascinated Queenie, but seeing him so undressed was do alarming things to her insides.

She jerked her libido-induced thoughts to a sudden halt. The instructor knew about her placement? She felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. "If I may ask, sir, how did you know? I didn't tell anybody." Well, then Lore read her card, but that was only minutes ago.

"Director Hastings let us all know. Only four of the entire graduating class of eight hundred, made it you know. He was quite proud of you." He tipped the bottle to his mouth and took a swallow.

Queenie winced. "Oh."

Jaeger crossed his arms and raised a dark brow. "Aren't you pleased?"

Queenie nodded. "Yes sir, but it's a little shocking. I wasn't expecting it."

"Truthfully? Neither was I." Jaeger gave her a sour smile. "I knew you'd end up going to Remington, your scores were a dead give-away, but I was expecting your fighting skills to push you into a more, subtle career. You have an amazing amount of natural skill in that un-augmented body of yours, and a very observant eye." He shook his head. "I don't think anyone expected your flight assessment to mark so well." He swallowed the last of his beer.

Queenie frowned. "What career did you think they'd assign me to?"

Jaeger released a low chuckle. "Mine."

"You thought I was going to be a combat fighting instructor?"

Jaeger barked out a laugh. "I'm only instructing because I needed to keep busy. I'm between assignments."

"Then...?"

He looked up, and his black eyes were keenly and uncomfortably focused. "I'm afraid that's classified information."

"Oh, sorry sir." Queenie felt her hands chill. She desperately wanted to look away, but she didn't dare. Jaeger abruptly turned his head, releasing her from his unrelenting stare.

"So where are you off to now? Visiting a boyfriend to celebrate?"

"Uh, no sir." Queenie felt her cheeks heat. "Home sir. I haven't told my dad yet."

"Already finished with your celebrating?"

Queenie had known that question was coming, and still flinched. It was after hours and his cyborg senses had to have picked up that she had been drinking. "I don't uh..."

Jaeger gave her an amused smile. "You don't have a boyfriend? Or, you don't celebrate?"

Queenie suddenly hoped the floor would open up and swallow her. Why was he asking all these personal questions? She shook her head. "No, no boyfriend sir."

His brows shot up. "So you do celebrate?"

Queenie's jaw clenched. "I have been known to, on occasion." Two occasions actually, but both boys had been graduating, and she hadn't seen either one again. She had gone out of her way to discourage overtures this year, because this time she was graduating, and she just didn't feel like sleeping with someone she'd never see again. She had a brief heated flash of Robin's kiss, then dismissed it. He was a pilot, she'd never see him again either.

"Now that is a shame. A pretty girl like you, and no one to celebrate with..." Jaeger set the empty bottle down on the chair's seat. "But I suppose that happens to girls who fight as well as you do."

Queenie sighed. He'd hit that one on the head all right. No one wanted to actually date a girl with a reputation for kicking butts if she wasn't happy about something. They didn't mind a single roll in the blankets, but they didn't want to deal with her on a daily basis.

He stood up. "Now that you're not my student anymore..."

Queenie felt the hair on her arms rise in warning. "Sir?"

He took a step closer and smiled. "You can celebrate with me, if you like."

Queenie's breath stopped in her chest. Celebrate? As in: sex? She took an alarmed step back and banged into her chair. Instructor Jaeger was dangerously attractive, in a lethal kind of way, but she wasn't sure she'd survive the festivities, not when he was augmented, and she wasn't.

"I don't think that would be a good idea, sir."

"Probably not." He focused his black gaze on her. "But I'd enjoy the company, Queenie."

Queenie took a calming breath, while trying to keep her knees from knocking together. "With all due respect sir, I don't think I'm up to your speed, I'm not augmented."

His brows shot up. "Touché' Tate! You do know how to hurt a man."

Queenie flinched. God her mouth strikes again! "Look, I'm sorry sir, I um... That is you, ah... Well, you kind of caught me off guard."

"So I see." Jaeger stepped away then turned. His black gaze caught her in a measuring glance. "I had no idea that you knew about my augmentations."

Queenie snorted, relieved that he wasn't hovering over her like she was some kind of meal. "Oh please, every time you walk across a room you can see it. No un-enhanced human moves the way you do."

"Really?" He casually leaned over to collect the bottle from the chair seat. "How do I move?"

Queenie chuckled. "Like a walking weapon."

He stilled, utterly. "It's that obvious, huh?" His voice had dropped in a way Queenie had never heard before.

She suddenly knew she'd said something very, very dangerous. Her heart started trying to beat its way out of her chest. "I didn't mean anything by it, sir," she said in a small tight voice.

Jaeger suddenly turned to look at her, with an odd narrowed expression, as though he'd scented something interesting. "You know, now I really wish you had blown your flight scores."

Queenie couldn't think of one intelligent thing to say. She was convinced that she'd either impressed him, or just signed her own death warrant - and she had no idea which, or how she'd done it.

Jaeger sat back on the other desk. "You're afraid."

Queenie felt her temper snap. "No, I'm scared shitless!" She glared at him then looked away. "Sir." She rolled her eyes at the wall. Either he was going to kill her, or he wasn't.

He crossed his arms. "Why?"

Queenie stared at him dumbfounded. He wanted to know why she was scared of him? Fine... "Because if you wanted me dead, I'd never see it coming."

Jaeger's brows shot up. "Those are some damn fine instincts of yours." Suddenly, he grinned. "Be glad that you passed your flight assessments Tate."

Queenie frowned. "Why is that?"

Jaeger gave her a feral smile. "Because if you hadn't, you'd be working for me." Something dark moved behind his gaze. His voice was barely a whisper. "And I'd definitely take the first opportunity to find out what you'd be like to ride."

"What?" Queenie felt the hair rise on her neck. Time to go, time to go, time to go -- now! She took a step away from the desk, and toward the door. She had a split-second to register a shift in Jaeger's stance, and then he was moving for her. God, he was fast!

Queenie was bowled backwards. Only her years of training kept her from cracking her skull when she hit the floor. She groaned, and looked up at Jaeger who straddling her hips. Instinctively, she slammed up with the heels of both hands, aiming for his chin.

He caught her hands and pinned them to the floor by her head, imprisoning both wrists in one hand. He dropped down on his elbow, and smiled from less than an inch away. "Now then, it seems that you would see me coming."

Queenie's fear was drowned in sudden rage. He was a teacher! How dare he do this? She bucked and twisted, trying desperately to dislodge him. "Get off me!"

Jaeger chuckled. "Mmm, do that again, that feels good." He shifted his hips against her.

Queenie became aware of the thick hardness of his arousal pressing against her. "Get off me, you bastard!" she snapped. She caught her heels on the floor, but it was too slick to use for leverage, and he was too damned heavy.

He groaned, and leaned closer, pressing his chest against the softness of her breasts. "You know, I should have put you in detention, and taken you down on the mat months ago. I have no idea why I didn't."

"Because I would have reported your ass to the Director?" she said sweetly.

Jaeger grinned. "I could see you doing that." He looked down and flipped her cadet jacket open. "But after we fucked the shit out of each other." He grabbed her shirt, and dragged it from her waistband.

She twisted her wrists. She had to think of something fast, her anger was melting, and her fear was coming back. "Instructor Jaeger, this is unprofessional."

He nodded. "Oh, I know." He slid his hand under her shirt. "But I just had to see how you'd react." His hand captured her breast. "Under pressure." His fingers lightly pinched her nipple.

It rose to immediate attention and heat bloomed in her core. Queenie gasped.

"Nice reaction," he crooned. He jerked her shirt up to her throat, exposing her breasts. "Nice tits too." He leaned down.

"Jaeger, don't!" She twisted under him, but he weighed a damned ton. "Don't do this..."

"Relax Queenie, I'm not going to kill you." His breath swept her nipple. "I only want a taste." His open mouth came down on her nipple, and sucked it in. His tongue swirled around the swollen point.

Hot, wet, exciting... Bolts of delight blazed deep into her core. All the heated frustration from Robin's kiss came back, and then some. A groan escaped her, and she found it difficult to even think about fighting.

He nipped and she bucked in reaction.

Queenie felt his hand move between them. He was unfastening her pants... She moaned and shifted. "Jaeger what are you doing?"

He lifted his mouth a hair. "What does it feel like?" He shifted to the other breast and proceeded suck to her nipple to a hard point.

"Jaeger, this is..." She groaned as he sucked. "This is rape."

He chuckled. "Are you sure?" He nipped at her breast, and his hand burrowed deep into her open pants. "Mmm, you're wet too. No surprise there, I could smell how excited you were." His fingers danced on her wet flesh. "You've always been a little aroused around me. I was surprised you didn't take me up on my invitation."

Queenie gasped and her hips jolted in rhythm with his fingers. Her breath came in pants. "You're an instructor!"

"So?" He groaned. "God, you're responsive, I really should have done this sooner."

She felt orgasm building in a ferocious rush of coiling tension. She bit her lip. This was so not happening!

He licked at her nipple. "Queenie, you're about to climax in my hand." His lips fastened and he sucked, hard.

Her hips bucked under his insistent fingers. She jerked her head to the side, and tried to fight the threatening wave of vicious orgasm. She was not going to cum on the floor of the classroom with Instructor Jaeger's hand down her pants!

His breath rushed across her wet nipple. "Do you know why you're always excited around me?" His teeth closed on the swollen point of fire and tugged lightly.

She moaned and twisted but couldn't dislodge his hand, or his mouth from her breast.

"Danger, and fear excites you." He thrust a finger into her and pressed, flicking something within. "And you know exactly how dangerous I am." He bit down on her nipple.

Queenie released a gasping cry, and arched her back. Her breath halted in her throat. Climax crashed and she shuddered under the storm of violent release. Her throat opened and she wailed.

"That's what I wanted to hear."

Queenie gasped for breath. "How could you?"

He sat up, releasing her hands. "Rank has its privileges, Queenie. There isn't an instructor in the building that hasn't got a graduating cadet on their knees right now." He tugged her shirt down over her breasts then rose up off of her. "The only reason one of the other instructors didn't grab you, is because you are going to out rank every single one of them as soon as you get out of Remington."

Queenie struggled to sit up. "That's bull shit..."

"No, it's not." Jaeger caught her hand, and hauled her to her feet. "I guarantee that your first commander will bend you over his desk within twenty-four hours." He grabbed her shoulders. "At attention cadet."

Queenie automatically assumed attention stance, then blushed ferociously. Damned training...

"Good." Jaeger proceeded to put her cadet uniform to rights at incredible speed. "Superior officers always fuck their junior officers. You better get used to dealing with it. It's how superior officers maintain dominance. If you're lucky, your commander won't abuse the hell out of you, but there are those who do." He caught her chin in her fingers. "I'm not one of them."

Queenie stared at him in disbelief.

"If I was, you'd have my dick up your ass, or in your mouth right now."

Queenie felt the blood leave her cheeks.

Jaeger gave her a thin smile. "Now you're catching on. At ease."

Queenie automatically dropped into the relaxed stance, and felt a wave of severe humiliation heat her face.

"Queenie."

She looked up.

Jaeger caught her face in his hands. "I really do wish you were coming to me." His mouth came down on hers.

She made a soft sound of protest, and his tongue surged within. His palms held her head still as he thoroughly and expertly kissed her.

Jaeger released her and stepped back. "Dismissed. Get out of here before I change my mind about bending you over my desk."

She bolted out of the classroom at top speed.

***

Queenie got into the lift, punched the code for the parking deck and yanked her coveralls out of her bag with shaking hands. She couldn't believe what had just happened. Instructor Jaeger had tossed her on the floor and ... and made her cum with his hand down her pants, and his mouth on her breasts. She sucked in a hard breath.

And he said this was normal?

She shoved her feet into her coveralls. He couldn't be right, about superior officers and their subordinates... Could he? She shook her head. No, no he had to be wrong. Dad would have said something, or Mom. She raised her head. Or would they, if it was normal?

She bit her lip, zipped her coveralls and forced the whole incident with her instructor out of her mind, determined to forget it as fast as she could. Thank God, she didn't have to see Instructor Jaeger again until graduation ceremonies! Her nipples were still hard.

Queenie stepped out of the lift and walked toward her glider.

She tossed her bag in the trunk of her glider and pulled out her helmet. She released the glider from the wall and carefully lowered it using the static antigrav then powered it up for flight.

She was going to be a Navigation Class Pilot. She was going to fly starships -- massive Angel Class, magnetic arc destroyers. She leaned back against the wall of the lift. "My God... I'm going to be flying starships? Me?"

She shook her head as she strapped in. She still had no idea how she was going to tell Dad. He was going to go nova when he found out, but she still wasn't sure if he'd be happy or not. Mom had been a fighter pilot but he had been a Courier before his augmentation had gone bad, permanently grounding him. Sure, that meant he had done longer flights and had a lot more training in long-distance navigation, and avoidance, but still... She shrugged. Well, now he was a top-notch atmosphere pilot, so maybe their shared talents had somehow --

"Hey Bitch!"

Queenie's head popped up to see Ox stepping out of the lifts. She felt her skin chill. His movements had changed, become more refined, more aggressive and far more dangerous. She had no idea how she hadn't seen it earlier. He was a cyborg augmented for battle with creatures much stronger and faster than a human. And he was really pissed off.

If he got his hands on her, there'd be nothing left but a smear on the tarmac.

"They told me you made Nav-Pilot!"

Queenie grabbed the glider's handles. "Yeah, well they lied!" she shouted over the sound of her engine. She took off hard and fast for the exit launch.

"They didn't lie!" Ox shouted and sprinted down the runway after her.

According to Queenie's helmet traffic scan, he was running at an unbelievable speed. If the Falchonwing had been stock, he'd be able to catch her. She smiled grimly. Too bad she'd upgraded the hell out of it. She released the throttle and the glider lunged forward howling. Leaving Ox behind.

"I'll get you bitch!" he shouted in a voice enhanced by augmentation. "No one takes my career away!"

Queenie launched into the night sky and headed for home. "They improved his body, too bad they hadn't improved his brain."

***

Queenie navigated very carefully through the heavily shrouded night sky above Warren. The frigid rain on the hot industrial pipes of the Undercity had generated a thick chilling fog that made any kind of flying impossible without a broadband proximity-scanner. Not that it was stopping any number of idiots in the sky with her.

She swooped around a slow-moving and massive freighter desperately wishing she had thought to grab her flight leathers from home. The bitterly cold wet air was soaking through her coveralls and cadet uniform as though they weren't there. Her hands were really freezing. Dodging traffic at speed was not making her any warmer.

She normally got home around sunset when the sky was still vaguely warm, and hadn't expected to be getting back this late. She certainly hadn't expected the last assessment to last three whole hours, and then there was the party in the quad-courtyard. She was not going to think about her embarrassing conversation with Jaeger. "Dad is going to kill me for not calling him."

She dodged around yet another slow moving freighter, and her teeth started to chatter. "God! I'm freezing! Dad can kill me after I take a hot shower."

She banked the glider into the traffic stream headed toward the space docks, using extra caution. She was very small on the traffic scanners and easily overlooked.

Her proximity-scanner caught the high-speed sport-cruiser coming up fast behind her before the glider's perimeter alarm could call a warning. She gave the glider a sharp boost and slid between two other vehicles before the sportster could mow her down.

"Idiot!" She shouted, knowing it wouldn't do any good, then dropped the glider back into place.

The miles wide dome of the space dock yawned ahead. She could just make out the brilliant guide-lights that marked the dock's broad mouth spearing through the fog and into the heavens.

Queenie dove through the dock-ring with a sigh of relief, and shut down the proximity-scanner in her helmet. "Idiots... Don't know how to fly in the fog..." She shoved up the visor so she could use her eyes, and changed the channel on her earcom. She beeped her Dad's frequency.

Static crackled.

"Damn it Dad, how many times do I have to tell you to leave the damned thing on?" She changed the frequency to the dock-staff channel so she could ask for his location.

More static.

She tried Air-Space control.

Static.

Queenie frowned. If she didn't know better, she'd think the signal was being jammed. She nibbled on her bottom lip. It couldn't be a jammer. Activating one near the docks was illegal as hell. Everyone knew that interrupting air-space traffic signals could cause catastrophic accidents.

She eased the glider toward the dock master's level and beeped again.

More static.

"Damn it Dad, what the hell is going on?" She dropped her speed and banked toward the lead-in ramp for the dock master's workstation.

The perimeter alarm on her glider went ballistic.

Queenie saw something that looked like a sport-cruiser coming at her broadside at high speed. She jerked away, instinctively tilting the glider to take the hit on her ground-tires.

The impact knocked her spinning into a berth on the far side of the dock level.

Queenie blinked and crawled out from under the shattered glider. Her helmet was in pieces. She had no idea why her head wasn't. Her arms and legs didn't seem to be broken, but there was blood from a number of nasty cuts on her legs, and arms. She sat up, and rolled right back onto the floor gasping to breath. Something was really wrong with her chest; probably one of her ribs. She hoped like hell she hadn't punctured a lung.

She beeped her dad. Nothing. Not even static. Damn... The earcom must have broken in the crash. She looked around. Where the hell were the dock techs? They must have heard the crash.

She heard a heavy crunch and turned.

Ox stepped from the deep impact footprints he had made in the steel dock plating.

Queenie frowned. He must have jumped down from the level above. Alarm skittered violently up her spine. What the hell was he doing here? She grabbed her ribs and sat up, refusing to acknowledge the sharp stabbing pains.

Ox stopped about three yards away. "So, you're still alive."

Queenie sucked in a painful breath and coughed. Blood spattered the back of her hand. Shit, she had punctured a lung. She looked over at Ox. "What do you want?"

Ox flexed his massive and mechanically enhanced arms. "You did this to me."

Queenie blinked. "What?"

"Do you think I wanted to be a grunt?" he bellowed. "You took my career -- you took my life!" He walked purposely toward her.

Queenie shoved herself painfully to her feet and coughed again. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You know, I'm glad I didn't kill you in the crash." He grinned coldly. "Now I get to finish you off with my bare hands."

"What?" Queenie tottered backwards on unsteady feet. "That was you? You hit me?"

"You are fucking dead meat bitch." He power-leapt into the air as only a cyborg could.

Queenie saw death coming straight for her. "Ox! Don't!" She dodged at the last second and fell rolling. She gasped in agony then looked up to see Ox pulling his fist from a hole in the dock plating. Her skin turned icy cold. She was in deep trouble. She couldn't fight off a Marine cyborg under the best of conditions, and this was certainly not the best of conditions.

He looked over at her. "Hold still and let me kill you."

"Ox! Stop! They'll send you to the mines for this!"

He snorted. "Not if I'm already dead."

"What?" Queenie scrabbled away from him. He was out of his mind! "Don't you want to live?"

He raised his fists. "You call this living? I'm a fucking machine! I could have been a War Captain -- but you had to wreck it for me!" He started toward her. "So I'm gonna kill you and then I'm gonna take a nice long dive of this docking level."

"You're going to kill yourself? Ox, you can't mean that. What about your dad?" Queenie looked left and right but the berth appeared to be empty. Where the hell were all the dock techs?

"What about him? As soon as he saw what they were going to make me into, he kicked my ass out. I've been in the dorms for the past two weeks, because my dad won't even look at me!" Ox stopped and his cheeks were wet with sudden tears. "You know what he told me?" His chest heaved and his voice choked. "He told me that no son of his was a... A grunt." He gasped, then abruptly stopped. He stared at Queenie with eyes that glittered. "And it's all your fucking fault!"

Queenie slid back on her haunches. "I didn't do a damned thing! They were your fucking grades!"

"No bitch - they were yours! Somebody switched them." He stepped toward her.

Queenie inched back. "How? You took your damn assessments two weeks ago - I took mine today!"

"I am tired of listening to your lying mouth. Time to die." He power leaped.

Queenie lunged to the side, gasping from the stab in her lungs, and knew she wasn't going to make it this time. She was right too. She didn't even feel the impact. One second she was awake, and then she wasn't.

***

Gray lunged out of the floor of the Oberon with the ship's sensors screaming across his entire nervous system. There was a wounded human out there in his berth trying to fight an enraged Marine cyborg, and everything in his array was shouting that it was Queenie. There was no way in hell she could possibly survive the match.

"Where do you think you're going?" The colonel's voice was calm. His arms were folded across his massive chest as he lounged against the exit hatch.

"To save a life." Grey glared at him. "Get out of my way."

The slender ambassador stepped from the ship's living quarters. His long golden hair flowed unbound down his back among the elegant pleats of his pale gold informal robes. He focused his sky-blue gaze on Gray and raised a golden brow. "Did you know that there is a human trying to fight a Marine cyborg in front of your ship?"

Gray slanted him a narrow look. "Yes. As soon as the colonel gets the hell out of my way, I'm going to go do something about it."

The colonel straightened and smiled Gray. "Your only concern is securing the ambassador."

The folded his hands within the cuffs of his rich gold sleeves. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm perfectly secure. I don't see why you won't let Gray --"

"You..." The cyborg sneered at the ambassador. "Are here on sufferance. I suggest you stay out of it."

Gray raised a brow. "Ambassador, did the colonel just threaten you?"

The ambassador lifted his chin. "I certainly feel threatened." He gave Gray a flickering glance laced with amusement. "I'm definitely insulted."

Gray grinned nastily. "Good." He turned to look at the Colonel. "That makes it official. You have threatened and insulted the ambassador. That makes you a threat to this mission."

"What?" The colonel's face reddened and his hands clenched into fists.

Gray was calmly informed by his sensor array that the colonel was dangerously close to a lethal discharge within the ship. "Good night Colonel."

The ship released a tightly controlled pulse of energy directly under the colonel's feet. The charge raced up through the cyborg's system and raised havoc throughout the intelligence array in his mechanical brain.

The colonel slumped to the floor.

The ambassador stepped back. "Is he dead?"

"No, just sleeping." Gray rolled the inert and inhumanly heavy colonel toward the far wall of the ship, where he wouldn't get in the way. "I'll wake him back up when we get into space."

"Do you think that's wise?" The ambassador smiled. "Waking him up at all?"

Gray shrugged and the door cycled open. "Probably not, but I'd rather he dealt with the officials."

"Pity..."

Gray dropped out of the ship. He hit the ground in time to see the cyborg land on Queenie's prone form. There was a sickening crunch.

The cyborg snorted. "Got'cha."

Gray launched himself across the berth at blinding speed. Enraged, he slammed the cyborg with both fists locked together, throwing the monster clear across the berth. The cyborg landed in a splayed heap and was still.

The Oberon informed Gray that the signal jamming this part of the dock had abruptly ceased. All outside communications were operational.

Gray stared down at the shattered girl, and sent a signal flagged medical red alert. His sensors told him that she was still alive, but only barely. Nearly every bone in her body was splintered and too many of her major organs had been crushed. She would be dead before a med-tech could get there to do anything.

Gray knelt at her side. God, she was so young. If he had been in this condition, a few nights spent in the belly of the Oberon would have repaired everything. He froze.

The Oberon! Gray traded data with his ship at the speed of thought.

According to the Oberon, if she had even a small amount of the nano-tech infesting his body's bloodstream then the ship would be able to do reconstruction. It could save her.

Got to get my blood into her body... Gray bit savagely into his own hand and sucked the blood from the wound, filling his mouth. He leaned over her and covered her mouth with his.

***

Queenie opened her eyes and saw Gray looking down at her. Everything felt indistinct, like in a dream. "Am I dead?" She frowned. Her voice sounded wrong, and there was a funny taste in her mouth.

"No, but you are very close." His mouth was grim and blood was dripping from the corner of it.

"I am? I don't feel anything." In fact she couldn't feel anything at all, not even her fingers. Then she noticed that she couldn't move. Her thoughts drifted, and she found herself puzzling over the blood dripping down his chin. "You're bleeding."

He smiled faintly. "It's okay, I did it to myself. Queenie, listen carefully, do you want to live?"

"What?" She looked up and saw the ceiling of the berth. Some of her memory drifted into place. "Ox," she said softly.

Gray leaned closer. "What?"

"Ox. He attacked me."

Gray frowned grimly. "Was that the cyborg?"

"Yeah." She focused on Gray's handsome face. "What are you doing here?"

"You're in my berth. Queenie pay attention to me. Do you want to live?"

Queenie frowned. "I don't understand."

Gray sighed heavily. "Queenie you are dying, and I can't save you without your permission. Do you want to live?"

Queenie felt a whimper escape her lips. "I'm dying?"

"Yes, damn it! Do you want to live?"

Queenie suddenly realized what Gray was trying to tell her. She had lost the fight with Ox. There was no one here to help but him, but he needed her permission. Did she want to live? God yes! She tried to nod but found that she couldn't. "Yes," she gasped out. "I do. I want to live."

"Okay then, I need you to say out loud, that you grant me salvage rights to your body in death."

"I don't understand."

"If you want to live, you have to grant me salvage rights. The Oberon can't repair you until you are dead, and I can't touch you legally once you are. You have to grant me the right of salvage so I can save you." Gray was beginning to look desperate. "Do you understand what I am saying?"

Queenie thought it over. "You can't save me until I'm dead?"

He nodded. "Yes that's right."

"And you can't take my..." She choked on the word 'body'.

Gray dropped his head, hiding his face in his silver mane. "Your body. I can't take your body and bring you back to life unless you let me claim salvage."

"Okay."

"Queenie, sweetheart, you need to say: I grant Robin Gray salvage right to my body in death."

"Um..." Queenie was having the hardest time focusing. She could feel the world drifting apart at the edges. "What?"

***

Gray's sensors burned with alarm. The only thing holding Queenie to life and consciousness was the blood he'd poured into her mouth. According to his sensors, the nano tech within her was scrambling to connect the synapses of her thoughts, but her body was nearly dead. Her lungs were not working properly, and her heart was stuttering in her chest. Hardly any blood was being pumped to her brain. Queenie was only moments away from true death and he had yet to get salvage rights from her lips.

Gray forced himself to speak calmly. "Queenie, say: I grant Robin Gray salvage right to my body in death."

She looked up at him with wide dark eyes. "Um, I grant, Robin Gray..."

"Salvage right..."

Queenie blinked. "Salvage right to my... um..."

"My body..."

Queenie flinched. "My body..."

"In death."

Queenie's eyes closed tightly and tears slid down her cheeks.

Gray's heart burned. She wasn't going to make it. He grabbed her shoulders. "Say it damn you! I can't save you unless you do!"

Queenie opened her eyes wide. Fierce clarity burned in them. "I grant you salvage right to my body in death."

Gray almost collapsed. "God, Queenie..."

She took a tiny breath. "Don't..."

Gray bent over her. "What?"

"Don't make me regret it," she whispered and was gone.

***

Gray lifted Queenie's shattered form and cradled it in his arms. Her blood ran down his legs. There was a lake of it on the floor at his feet.

The sirens of the med-tech hovers filled the berth followed by an army of Dock techs. A slender man leapt from one of the hover-lifts. Grey recognized him the dock master, Queenie's father.

"Oh God.... Queenie?" he raced toward Gray then stopped, staring at all the blood. "Queenie?"

"You're too late. She's dead." Gray felt the black fury surge hot and thick. "Where the fuck, were you?"

"Dead?" Stark devastation bleached his face. "There was a crash. Two ships collided when the communication array stopped working on this side of the dock..."

"Your communications were being jammed by that cyborg over there." Gray tilted his head. "So he could murder your daughter."

Gray and the Dock Master turned to watch Security help the cyborg to his feet. The boy suddenly went berserk, then abruptly fell. Gray's sensors told him that Security had hobbled the kid's cybernetics. He wouldn't be able to take a step without their express command.

Gray tilted his head toward the imprisoned cyborg. "I suggest you find out who fathered that kid and press severe charges."

"I can't." The dock master's voice was stilted with despair.

Gray glared. "What do you mean: you can't?

"That's the Governor-General's son."

"That's Warren's son? You're shitting me!"

"No, I'm not." The dock master shook his head sadly. "The Governor-General is a vengeful man. If I press charges, I'll have to find work on another planet, and I can't afford to leave."

"They'll have to at least, pull the kid's augmentation..."

The dock master shook his head. "I doubt it.

Gray started. "What? But he killed someone with it!"

"If I know the Governor-General, they'll ship the kid out with his company and that'll be the end of it." The dock master held out his arms. There were tears running down his cheeks. "Give me Queenie, I'll take her now."

"You'll get her back in a few days, when she's alive again." Gray turned his back on the whole group and walked toward the ship.

Dock Master Tate stumbled after Gray. "I'll get her back, when she's alive?"

Gray sighed. "I can bring her back."

"How? She's dead." A sob stained his voice.

Gray turned and stared at Queenie's father. "Trust me. In three days, she'll be back among the living, Dock Master.

The dock master's jaw clenched stubbornly. "Tell me how you intend to bring her back."

"She'll be like me, a little."

Dock Master Tate frowned. "She'll be a cyborg?"

"I'm a biological nano-tech based cyborg made of organic machinery. She won't be quite like me, but enough to bring her back and make her stronger. She'll be a lot more human than I am."

"Nano-tech based...?" Dock Master Tate scowled. "Wait a minute, I've heard of your kind. You're grafted to your ships. You're antique, out of date and incompatible with modern tech."

"I get along fine, thank-you." Gray frowned. "And she won't be like that, my ship already has a pilot."

"Then what will she be?" Anger filled Dock Master Tate's voice. "I heard that your kind can't hold mechanical implants. Your bodies reject them."

Gray nodded. "It's true."

Dock master Tate shook his head. "If Queenie can't hold even basic implants, then what is she good for? She won't be able to operate basic machines or access basic programs, and she won't even have a ship to make up for it -- she'll be nothing."

Gray turned to face him. "She'll be alive!"

"No. I won't let you make her into one of you; she's better off dead." Dock Master Tate held out his arms. "Give her to me."

Gray was blinded by sudden rage. "She told me that she wanted to live."

"She's my daughter, I know what's good for her. Give her to me!" Dock Master Tate snapped.

Gray leaned in to stare deep into the Dock master's eyes. "Too late again you selfish bastard. She gave me salvage rights. You can see her at the hospital where she'll be recovering."

"Salvage?" Tate choked. "You're lying!"

"Think so? Check your vid-records." Gray smiled coldly. "Tell you what, I'll send you mine, just in case something accidental happens to the berth transcripts."

The Dock Master bared his teeth. "If you bring her back as one of you, as a reanimated piece of Salvage," he snarled. "My daughter will still be dead!"

"I'll make sure she knows that as soon as she wakes up, old man. In the mean time, go screw yourself. I've got work to do." Gray turned and strode for the Oberon.

"She had a future, you bastard!" Tate shouted at Gray's back.

"Tell that to the kid who murdered her in the first place!"

 

Chapter One: Flight Dreams

Chapter Two: Assessments

Chapter Three: Lethal Sentiments

Chapter Four: From Death's Embrace

Flight of the Titania

Coming Soon!