151: The Lovers; Reversed – Four
Getting through dinner ended up being as easy as it was difficult.
Easy, because Pryseia and V'tala found themselves falling into a steady flow of conversation, moving from topic to topic with an ease that surprised them both. New as she was to socializing at all, let alone in the intimate confines of a date, V'tala found herself opening up more than her usually terse demeanor allowed.
She had told Pryseia before, that talking with her, just being in her presence was a relief, and that was still very much the case. The other woman knew how to fill in the gaps in their conversation when needed, when to hold herself in check while V'tala said her piece, and even when to sit in a comfortable silence when the conversation reached a natural lull. With Pryseia, talking to her, with her, was easy, devoid of the more preformative aspect to it that V'tala found with others outside of their crew. She enjoyed the chance to just sit and be with her.
But that was also the difficult part, because V'tala wanted Pryseia.
After her experiments on Trowsorab, V'tala had thought that sex just wasn't for her. She'd enjoyed her experience with N'ang and the others no more or less than when she got herself off, and aside from incorporating this form of release into her nightly routine, learning about the pleasure she could wring out of her own body hadn't been the world altering experience she'd been led to believe it would be.
But sleeping with Pryseia? That was something else entirely.
It felt like an addiction - the sight of the other woman naked beneath her, how starkly her dark navy skin contrasted against her own pale white, the heady taste of her arousal, the beautiful noises that would fall from her in the throes of their passion, the intoxicating press of skin to skin as they chased each other to their peaks, knowing that Pryseia wanted her just as much as V'tala wanted her in return… it felt dangerous in a way so different from the actual risks involved in their careers.
There was nothing stopping V'tala from pulling Pryseia into the bathroom, hiking up her skirt and devouring her right then and there, and that had her feeling more drunk than the bottle of wine they'd split over supper.
It felt like she'd gone mad, and if that were the case, she never wanted to be sane.
But despite the constant thrum of her ardor, of the delicious tension that coiled between the two of them as their meal wound down, V'tala kept herself in check. As much as she ached for Pryseia, it was easy enough to push to the side every time she made the other woman laugh, her eyes crinkling, bright with joy. This was what she wanted the most - just to live with her.
She knew their meal had been delicious, but she couldn't have told anyone what it had even been. All she could recall was the gentle way Pryseia had caught her eye and told her that she loved her, as if that were a universal truth as indisputable as gravity. Once she'd finally allowed herself her feelings, Pryseia had not been shy about sharing them, but even still, V'tala found her heart in her throat every time.
As Elytra had suggested, they'd gone to some kind of comedy, but again, V'tala couldn't recall a single thing about it beyond the press of Pryseia's shoulder against her own as she laughed at whatever was happening on screen. V'tala found herself watching Pryseia more than the movie, and she couldn't even pretend to be disappointed by that.
The plan had been to head over to an "outdoor" area within the Quanvengier - part farmland, part public park, it supplied both food and an aesthetic respite within the ship - but partway through the movie, alarms sounded, and something struck the Quanvengier hard enough that V'tala and Pryseia could feel it from within the movie theatre.
Pryseia was up before the first peal of the alarm had finished sounding, V'tala already at her side, meeting her hard stare with one of her own. Gone was the previous good cheer from their date - they were all business now.
Without a word, they scrambled out of their seats and booked it out of the theatre as other patrons rushed around them.
The population of the Quanvengier alone was over a million, the massive ship the heart of the Kith's administration, housing permanent residents and their families within. All of them were aware of the risks inherent in their line of work, and so even with alarm sirens sounding, and something striking the ship, the citizens aboard were rushing to emergency shelters far more calmly than any evacuation V'tala had ever seen, whether she'd been the cause of it or not.
Pryseia leaped into the pilot seat of the shuttle, having it up and headed back to the Pelekys almost before V'tala had fully taken her own seat, reaching for the comms and snapping, "Vi, what's the situation?"
An uncharacteristic hint of panic was threaded through her voice as she replied, "We're being attacked by a Leviathan - a Nu. Threat Level Yellow."
"We're coming in hot, be ready to demat us." V'tala told her, catching Pryseia's eye as she added, just for her, "I did want to take you outside after the movie."
That startled a laugh out of Pryseia, something warm and wanton cracking through her professional demeanor as she replied, "Sadly, I don't think you'll have the opportunity to take me until after this threat has been dealt with."
V'tala huffed out a laugh at that, her mind trying to provide logistics on how to do so anyway.
They made it back to the Pelekys not long after, the ship already free of the docking clamps and ready to launch. Vi had the shuttle inside the moment it was in range, Pryseia throwing it to a hard stop next to the access walkway to their Storlayacas, the others already dashing to their cockpits as V'tala and Pryseia burst out of the shuttle.
"That's a cute outfit!" Rhea shouted as Pryseia flew past Yarula's closing cockpit, "I bet it'll look even cuter on V'tala's floor!"
"It will." V'tala promised as she dashed past, Rhea's cackle cutting off as Yarula tucked her away.
As V'tala threw herself into Enaruli's seat, she caught Pryseia's eye one last time, and got a reckless grin in return. Threat Level Yellow be damned, that grin said, we still have a date to get back to.
As the control apparatus and restraints snapped into place over V'tala, Viatrix called out, "We're about to be dematted outside, then I'll set you all loose. Good hunting."
The sight of the cargo hold as seen through Enaruli's eyes only lasted a moment before they were swallowed by chaos.
Damage alerts flashed across V'tala's HUD as the abrasive winds of the deep core scoured the plating of her mech, the visibility this far in basically nothing beyond the luminous sandstorm that surrounded them on all sides, the audio emulators blaring nothing but the scrape of millions of microscopic particles being blasted around them just shy of the speed of light. She had to adjust the output, the voices of her crew drowned out in the cacophony.
And that's when she heard it.
Something low, massive, like the groan of icebergs hollowing each other out, the cry of the Nu ringing out from all around them.
She caught her first sight of it as a gigantic pillar throwing a shadow across the Quanvengier. Then another. And another. More and more of them rising out from some central source, a massive, malevolent forest growing out of the core of the galaxy to tear them asunder, each limb longer than the Quanvengier itself.
Like a branch in a windstorm, one of those titanic limbs came crashing down on the hull of the ship, shattering part of the protective Leviathan plating that covered it, and was immediately met with heavy weapons fire from the support vessels swarming the ship, and from the Quanvengier itself, trying to drive it away.
It wouldn't be enough. But Storlayacas would.
Without even needing to coordinate between them, the crew of the Pelekys activated their unification protocol, ready to become the weapon built to destroy something worse than any Leviathan.
They became Storlayacas.
They could see through the storm much clearer like this, the gale force winds slowing to the crawl of fog under their combined perception.
The Nu lay before them in sharp relief, the pitted carapace of it the same colour as the storm it had hidden in, a luminous, irradiated orange. With an inborn sense that they knew not to question, Storlayacas knew that this thing was ancient, the size of it speaking to eons of growth. It could have been laying somewhere dormant since before some of their races had even reached the stars, and now here it was, awake with a feast spread out before it, ready for the taking.
Storlayacas would not allow it a single crumb.
A limb came hurtling out of the maelstrom at them, and they watched it with the measured calm of someone who already knew the outcome of a match before it started. They let it come within range, let it connect, met the blow with enough backwards thrust that they were only carried along instead of batted away. This would make things easier. For them.
Afterburners firing, one hand braced against the colossal limb, Storlayacas followed it deeper into the heart of the storm, to the heart of the creature. More limbs as they drew closer, branching out from each other in a fractal spray, a web made of strands thicker than trees, wide enough to encircle a moon. The Nu was a Venus Flytrap set to swallow the Quanvengier whole.
The body of this monstrosity was like a moon itself, a malevolent heart beating in the centre of all those limbs. Storlayacas could see the writhing, maggot-like mass deep within it, protected by layers of limbs and plates. Igniting their sabre, they began clear cutting their way to the heart of this thing.
A scraping, subharmonic roar of fury echoed out from the depths of the Nu, an anger older than the cultures the disparate pieces of Storlayacas were born into. The Nu had never known pain like this, and it tried to twist upon itself, to tear away the pest burrowing deeper into it, but the rigid structure of its own power was to be its undoing. A swath cleared, limbs severed and plates peeled back, Storlayacas stood on the event horizon of this creature's body, the squirming equivalent to its heart and brain open and exposed before them. Their sabre was snuffed out, swapped for their rifle, which they jammed into the morass in front of them before pulling the trigger. A beam of searing hot energy was unleashed into the Nu's vulnerable core, and it let out a screech like a cliff face sheering away from a mountain.
Storlayacas did not remove their finger from the trigger until the noise died away, and the primordial hate trying to burrow into their minds vanished like smoke on the breeze.
Moved by nothing more than the turbulent winds of the core, the corpse of the Nu slumped against the hull of the Quanvengier. Soon enough it would be broken down to protect what it had been attempting to destroy,
A fitting end, as far as Storlayacas was concerned.
The Pelekys was dematted back into the Quanvengier minutes later, all the parts of Storlayacas safely tucked away in its cargo hold.
"Well, that's certainly one way to earn back what we spent on the QECD!" Viatrix sighed as everyone threw themselves into their seats on the bridge, sounding as frazzled as they looked, "Just had an Avvisi rep ping us with the funds for bringing in such a haul. Teams are already in the process of breaking it down to fix the damage it caused."
"I'm just glad we caught it before it could do worse," Rhea said from one of the gunner stations, pressing her forehead into Malakh's back, her wife pulled into a tight embrace in her lap, "Fuck me running, the size of that thing?! I really hope there aren't more of those lurking around in here!"
Running a hand along the arms embracing her, Malakh said, "That's one of the downsides to hiding this deep in the core - as big a threat as Leviathan are, even the cheapest scanners on the market are built to be able to pick them up from lightyears away, but with all the particles and energies being whipped around in here, that scatters everything until the scanning range is basically only touch close. It's how the Kith fleet is able to stay hidden despite being armoured in the equivalent of lights and sirens, but that also works to keep any Leviathan hidden from us, as we just saw."
"Then the upcoming assault on the Thalatte fleet sent to harass us is a timely one," Pryseia said, lacing her fingers through V'tala's, the woman in question perched on the arm of her throne, "The sooner the Dolabra and its fleet are removed from the board, the sooner the Kith fleet can retreat to depths less likely to hide such monstrosities within it."
"I'm going to go out on a limb and say this attack is going to push up that timetable," Elytra said, frowning from her usual spot at the other gunner station, "I don't even wanna think about how much damage would have been done to the fleet if we hadn't been here."
"Indeed. Grateful though I am we were able to so promptly render aid, I am sorry it came at the cost of your outing." Nevara said, shooting a look over at Pryseia and V'tala.
"At least it had the decency to wait until after we ate," V'tala replied, the slightest of smirks gracing her lips, "I was lucky to get the reservation at Zakachanyja when I did. They're booked solid for the next month."
With the Kith fleet being assessed for damage after the attack, the Quanvengier was put under lock down, all but those currently working on the issue ordered to shelter in place in either their homes or their ships until the all clear was given.
After touching base with the Gorgon to confirm that they were alright, and a brief call from the Governors to thank them for their timely intervention, V'tala had pulled Pryseia to her room to bring a proper end to their abridged date night.
Only neither of them had taken into account the adrenaline crash that came after a fight, and they only got so far as kicking off their shoes and making out a little bit on V'tala's couch before the both of them ended up just passing out on one another.
V'tala wasn't sure how long they'd been out of it when she was roused by a pained noise from Pryseia, and suddenly she was awake and on high alert.
Her breathing coming faster than it should, Pryseia was wound tight in her arms, teeth grit and a fist balled in V'tala's shirt. Eyes closed, they flickered under her lids, caught in some nightmare, and V'tala wouldn't stand for that.
Running her hand along Pryseia's back, she pressed a kiss to her hair before saying, "You're safe, my love, whatever you're seeing isn't happening. You're with me, on our ship and surrounded by our family. Nothing's going to harm you. I won't allow it."
The tension ratcheting through Pryseia's frame didn't vanish immediately, but as V'tala continued to softly speak to her, her hand tracing soothing circles along her back, the tight coil of Pryseia slowly unwound, her hand falling slack against V'tala's chest as she was lulled into gentler dreams. Reaching a hand out, V'tala dragged one of her blankets off her bed with her mind, settling it over the both of them and following Pryseia back to sleep.
She wasn't sure how much later it was when she awoke to the sensation of lips pressing a possessive kiss to the hollow of her throat, but she felt a heat flood her that had absolutely nothing to do with the aftermath of battle. V'tala inhaled sharply, her hand splaying across Pryseia's back beneath the blanket.
"It seems our plans were more scrambled than we anticipated," Pryseia mumbled against her, voice still rough with sleep, "I didn't even get my cute outfit on your floor."
Breathing out a laugh, V'tala bent down enough to place a kiss against Pryseia's hair, minding the other woman's horns as she leaned against her in silence for a few moments. When she did speak, her voice was a quiet whisper when she said, "You had a nightmare."
Pryseia let out a low hum of confirmation, her tail looping around one of V'tala's legs as she said, "And you pulled me out of it. I heard you, my love, and I'm grateful. It's not a memory I relish reliving."
"Memory?"
Pryseia let out another hum, her hand coming to rest over V'tala's heart as she said, "A raid on a Meleten colony, not long after I was run through Thalatte boot camp. It was supposed to be a lightly defended position, easy enough for a group of fresh slaves to take, but it had been a trap. It had been raining, thickly overcast, and what we thought had been nothing more than a building looming out of a cloud bank revealed itself to be a ship outfitted with orbital cannons. Our armoured units were vaporized in swaths as it moved above us, and I was only spared when my mech was caught in a glancing blow that had its power core go critical, and the emergency features of the machine launched me to relative safety before it blew. Still, I'd been injured enough to require medical aid, but I'd been lucky, in that I'd managed to survive at all. Nearly the rest of that assault force had been slaughtered. That was also the first time I was on Rhea's operating table, though it would hardly be the last."
She breathed a sigh into V'tala's skin, pressing her forehead into her neck as she continued, "The way that Nu emerged from the storm of the core, it brought to mind that first of many disasters I'd face while under the control of the Thalatte. So much needless death, for a war effort that has seen no discernible progress for centuries. I spent nearly a hundred years chained to them myself, but I was left bereft of insight as to why they continue on such a fruitless cause."
"Stupidity disguised as pride?" V'tala suggested, "The more I learn about people as a whole, the less I understand them. I'm perfectly content to just enjoy the people I do know and ignore the rest."
Breathing out a quiet laugh against V'tala, Pryseia said, "Trillions of people out there among the stars, all of them with more complications than I can fathom. Too many for a single person to solve, though solve them I would if I could."
"We've got our own problems to deal with, the Omega eventually, but for now there's a bigger issue that needs addressing." V'tala murmured against Pryseia as she slipped a hand beneath the other woman's button up to follow the notches of her spine up her back.
"And what issue would that be?" Pryseia's voice dropped to a velvety octave before she pressed a searing kiss against V'tala's throat.
"The fact that the both of us are still dressed and coherent," V'tala breathed, arching up into the woman sprawled across her, "That's no way to end our date night."