The Naked Weapon Pt. 01

"This is Angel's Grove, we read you," Fang said.

"We have checks on your O2 mixture. The tanks are hooked up, jets ready to fire. Looks like you're clear to go. Good hunting out there, Bravo Squad."

"Same to you," Fang said, then flicked a few switches on the controls by his arm. "Ready, Tycho?"

Diamond – or, maybe I should use her call sign now? Tycho Bright smiled. "Ready."

"On three, then four." Fang – aka Magnum Caliber – grinned and then started to count down. "Three. Two."

Ali squeezed my hand. Her fingers laced through mine and I smiled at her. I tried to project nothing but cheerful goodness at her. But I could feel her nerves, jangling and flaring like a bell being rung by the world's biggest asshole of a hunchback. She was a Doyen. She was used to soaring through space in ships crafted from the minds of her loyal servants and retainers. Being surrounded in this highly explosive tin can must have felt like being launched from a literal catapult.

"One."

The space before the Angel's Grove rippled as Tycho focused every iota of her willpower into ripping open a warp. Then the engines roared to life on four and sent the scout ship through the warp. It emerged about ten light years away from the HQ ship. Tycho actually started to bellow – a fierce war cry. Her arms shook and she closed her eyes, harder. The thruster continued to burn and burn as she opened warp after warp, flickering them open as we cut through space. When the burn ended thirty seconds later, she sagged backwards onto Magnum's lap. This sagging motion came on the last bit of gravity as the burn cut out and the Angel's Grove started to drift.

Magnum wrapped one arm around Tycho. His skin contrasted with hers – and so did the gentleness that he used to handle her, so unlike his normal toughness and efficiency. He swept his hand through her short cropped hair and murmured in her ear.

Tycho grinned. "We better fuckin be..." she said.

This brought a laugh from the rest of us. I felt tension bleeding out of Ali as she shook her head. "How can we tell if we made it?"

Magnum unstrapped from his seat. He pushed himself up into the microgravity of the living deck, his body writhing against Tycho. From the way she wriggled and squirmed in the air, Tycho was more than happy to continue the contact as long as possible. Finally, Magnum actually pushed away from her with a laugh – and Beli (or, as she went by while on missions, Opal Midnight) laughed. "Flying at full mast, Magnum?"

"We're on a mission, Opal!"

Opal winked at Ali, who was looking up after Magnum's half-hard cock with clear curiosity.

Jealousy was unbecoming an officer.

Fortunately, I was fucking enlisted.

However, jealousy was also unbecoming an adult, mature male.

Fortunately, I was not a fucking mature male. I growled slightly and Ali actually laughed. "Like I haven't noticed you admiring Beli's chest."

"To be fair..." Opal said, gesturing to her chest, then grinned. "Also, stick to call signs."

Ali nodded. Then she started. "Wait, I haven't gotten a call sign yet!"

"You haven't gotten a confirmed kill yet, Ali," Magnum said, dogging the hatch in the ceiling. He opened it and then pulled himself into the 'bridge' of the ship. It was really just a closet full of computers, read-outs, screens and some manual overrides. Even those were just different sets of electronic controls in case the automatic electronic controls failed. The future was scary.

"I have too!" Ali said.

"Yeah, but...we don't like to celebrate humans getting kakked," Tasmin – aka Ebony Noon – said.

This brought a pale chill to the room.

In the silence that stretched and stretched and stretched, I tried to find something to say that would break the awkwardness. We had all tip toed around the facts about Tzali's previous life as a Doyen Princess. To her credit, she didn't look abashed or ashamed or awkward. She merely looked at Ebony with a kind of icy disdain. Then she sniffed and stuck her nose into the air.

"Awkward," Opal sang out. I felt the awkwardness ease – but if that was because Opal was making light of it or if she was using her empathy powers, who knew. Either way, the question was rendered moot because Magnum called down from the bridge.

"All right, everyone. Lets get ready land this tub. Betelgeuse-6 is dead ahead. We'll be getting into the atmosphere in about a half hour." He paused. "Nice shooting, Tycho."

Tycho looked nice and smug.

And together, we headed towards my – towards our - first mission.

TO BE CONTINUED