153: The Lovers; Reversed – Six
Geatu Station, like so many Kith outposts, was an unassuming pit stop of a construction, nothing more than a prefab structure floating in a system in the unclaimed expanse between Lacertus and Meleten space. And like so many Kith outposts, it had an expansive interior hidden away in a subspace pocket, with docks enough for all the vessels that had survived the disastrous encounter with the Dolabra.
That was because out of nearly a hundred ships, less than thirty had survived, the bulk of them destroyed by the Dolabra's surprise attack.
Nevara managed to get a berth next to the Gorgon, and Rhea had booked it out of the ship almost before the docking protocol could be completed, her sisters scrambling out of the Gorgon just as frantically, the four of them colliding in a tearful reunion.
There were many such reunions in Geatu's subspace docks that day, and even more tears shed over those lost in the ambush.
As the hours passed and more information came in, Nevara's assessment that this had been a trap was thoroughly confirmed.
"They sacrificed their own people just to get some semblance of a win out of this whole shit show," Yarvela had her head in her hands, reading off the data pad she'd thrown down on the table of the bar they'd ended up at after the crews of the Gorgon and Pelekys had a chance to confirm that they were all alright with their own eyes, "Thalatte command is spinning this to make it sound like all of their vessels that the Dolabra destroyed were already gone, that it had been only Kith ships they'd taken down."
Her tail slashing angrily behind her, Malakh scoffed, "They probably had the press release for their victory ready days ago, and were just waiting on numbers when everything was said and done."
"Undoubtedly," Sara hissed, staring into the drink clutched between their hands, "Had to do whatever they could to dress this up as anything other than a colossal waste of time and resources. What's a Thalatte operation if it isn't needlessly sacrificing people by the hundreds?!"
"They ended up destroying more of their own ships, more of their own people, than our side managed to," Ravona read over her sister's shoulder, an arm looped around her, "All so they could pretend that this deployment had been a success. Just when I think they can't get worse…"
Rhea's laugh was humourless as she sat there, Malakh tucked into her side, "Right?! What an absolute fucking waste, on both sides. This isn't even a win for them, cuz they're pulling the Dolabra and the survivors back, putting that big bitch back in semi-retirement while the others get moved back to their regular deployments, exactly how we wanted it to go. They killed their own people just so they could spite us when we got what we wanted in the end."
"Nearly forty of our own crews killed was worth the cost of an equal number of their own, it seems," Pryseia's gaze was hard and distant as she sat rigidly straight and still in her seat, the only part of her moving being her tail, thumping rhythmically against a leg of her chair, "The Thalatte's complete disregard for any life is something I will never be able to reconcile."
"I'm just glad you were so quick to sound the retreat," Phoebe told her, "The lead vessel for this operation was taken out by the Dolabra."
Leto barked out a laugh at that. "The Dolabra. Whoever was in command of that thing must be a wildcard like Usys was, pulling a dirty move like that. No way would a traditionalist have done something so against their rulebook."
"Given that none of the material released by the Thalatte about this attack mentions the commander by name, I'm assuming that their actions, a victory though it may have brought them, were not appreciated by those in charge," Nevara said, skimming her own data pad, "No doubt their next deployment will be somewhere wretched as punishment."
"Good. I hope it gets them killed." Was all V'tala had to say on the matter.
Adyt and Viatrix had accompanied them in their drones, the pair of them resting next to each other like cats on the tables the two crews had shoved together to fit them all, Adyt in a marble white one that matched the aesthetic of her crew's Kith personas, while Viatrix had ventured out in her stealth black drone.
"There's a human term for this," Adyt said quietly, the flame of her avatar more subdued than it normally was, "A Pyrrhic victory, success at too high a cost."
"And for both sides, at that," Viatrix added, her own floral avatar muted in colour, "That's the thing I can't get over, that they'd hurt their own side this badly just to get at us."
Selene's laugh was more a sob as she said, "Thalatte leadership only cares about end results, not the lives that it costs to get there."
"I hope I never understand them." Elytra's voice was as far away as her gaze, and Rhea hauled her over by the back of her chair until she was close enough Rhea could tug Elytra against herself. Elytra leaned into the embrace, closing her eyes with a shuddering sigh.
They fell into a mournful silence after that, the mood echoed by other patrons in the bar, most of them Kith who had taken part in this disaster. The Dolabra was off the field, the Quanvengier and her fleet could pull back to a safer depth in the galactic core, and the task force that had been assembled to hunt down the Kith was being disbanded and returned to active duty. This was everything they had set out to accomplish.
But had they known the cost ahead of time, there wasn't a person in that bar that would have willingly paid such a terrible price. Their collective sorrow, horror, and rage crashed around Elytra like waves in a storm, and she let herself be carried away in the undertow. Just a drop in that ocean of mourning, her own grief didn't feel quite as suffocating.
They stayed in the bar long enough that dinner time rolled around. They ate more out of an obligation to provide fuel for their bodies than it was to enjoy the meal, all of them loathe to part after such a harrowing day. But the bar did have hours of operation, and they were rapidly coming to a close, and so they had to leave eventually.
Still, their goodbyes lingered when they returned to their respective ships, none of them eager for the restless sleep they knew awaited them.
Sat in the rec room, crammed together on a single couch, the crew of the Pelekys was at a loss on what they could even do.
"We're going to have to figure out some kind of conclusion to film, but I just… can't think." Rhea was the first to quietly break the silence that had swallowed them whole.
"Tomorrow," Elytra said, swallowing thickly, "Tomorrow we can come up with something, but tonight we mourn."
Nevara clacked her mandibles together once before asking, "But after tomorrow, what are our plans?"
Wedged in between her and V'tala, Pryseia let out a steady breath before saying, "As of this moment, the only lead we have in regards to the Omega is a location. At the very least, we should investigate the site where this monstrosity will emerge. Perhaps there we shall glean something that will aid us on our quest."
"Sounds like a plan." Malakh said from Nevara's other side, laying her tail across the woman's lap and tapping Pryseia with it expectantly. Breathing out a quiet laugh, Pryseia shifted enough to untuck her own tail from behind her, intertwining it with Malakh's. Nevara just let out a fond sigh, laying a hand gently across them.
Curled up into Rhea's other side, Viatrix still in her drone on her lap, Elytra admitted, "I don't really wanna be alone right now. I don't know that I'll be able to sleep."
Rhea pulled her in a little tighter, bending over to place a kiss on the top of her head. In her lap, Viatrix said, "What about a distraction, then? We picked up a gaming console on our last shopping trip, and I downloaded your save data from that game you were all playing on Trowsorab?"
Breathing out a slight laugh, Elytra said, "I could definitely use a distraction."
Before anyone else could move, V'tala reached out a hand, and from the shelf below the screen mounted on the wall across from them floated controllers enough for the lot of them, Viatrix included.
"The game has anti-bot measures in place to dissuade cheaters, so you'll have to join us manually." V'tala told her with a hint of a teasing smile.
Her avatar brightening slightly within her drone, Viatrix shot back, "Oh I don't need to get into this game digitally to kick all your asses!"
"It's a cooperative game, not a competitive one." Malakh huffed, reaching across Rhea to lightly shove Viatrix's drone.
"Kick your asses with support, then." Viatrix corrected, "I'm gonna be sooooo helpful that you're all gonna piss and shit yourselves!"
"Medically improbable, but I'd love to see you try." Rhea told her, a smile finally breaking free as the game booted up before them.
They ended up gaming for hours together, until exhaustion began to get the better of them, and controllers began slipping out of their grasps.
Elytra knew she couldn't put off sleep any longer when her head tilted forward against her own volition and a single snore escaped her, startling her back to wakefulness, though she could still feel sleep clawing its way through her carapace.
They broke up for bed after that, returning to their rooms to try and get some rest.
"I appreciate you being here, but I should be alright," Elytra said as she pulled her pyjamas on, "I don't wanna hog all your attention."
Bobbing her drone through the room, Viatrix scoffed. "Please, they're probably gonna be too busy with each other to want me third wheeling along. Besides, who says I'm here for you? Maybe I wanna be selfish and have you comfort me?"
"Then I will happily do so," Elytra said, stepping closer so she could scoop the drone into her arms, "I'm just sorry that it's probably gonna be boring for you, with me just-"
The chime to her room sounded, catching Elytra off guard, and with Viatrix's drone still in her arms, she tapped her door open.
Nevara was on the other side, dressed in her own pyjamas, and she brushed past Elytra the moment her door opened, saying, "I have it set up so that my room plays rain for white noise, so that wouldn't work for you for a sleepover."
Then without another word she climbed into Elytra's bed snuggling into the mountains of pillows and blankets strewn across it.
"I appreciate that," Elytra said with a soft laugh, her eyes going softer as she hoisted Viatrix's drone as she said, "You'll have to make room for one more."
"Nice, hard shell girlie slumber party!" Viatrix cheered as Elytra set her drone down on the bed before climbing in herself, Nevara throwing blankets across them once they all got settled.
"I haven't done this since I was a child," Nevara murmured, Elytra with her head on her shoulder and Viatrix's drone nestled between them, "Some of the younger kids I grew up with were terrified of storms, so they'd sneak in with the older, braver ones when it became too noisome. When monsoon season would hit, I'd never get a night alone."
"I used to do the same with my older sister," Elytra told her, her heart catching on the bittersweet memory, "Any time I had a nightmare growing up, I'd go to her because I knew she'd be able to chase them away."
Leaning her head against Elytra's, Nevara said, "We may not be blood kin, but I'll stand guard against your nightmares just the same."
"Me too," Viatrix promised, tugging the both of them closer with the arms of her drone, "You start having a nightmare, and I'll taser you!"
That startled a laugh out of the both of them, and Viatrix's avatar brightened considerably at that.
Rhea and Malakh had peeled out of their clothes the moment they got back to their room, heading straight for their shower and cranking it as hot as they could stand it. Under the pounding pressure of the spray, Rhea had fully broken down, relief and grief having her sobbing in her wife's arms, and Malakh had joined her, bringing them both down to sprawl in the tub, turning the shower off and letting it fill up around them instead.
The bathwater had cooled to a less than scalding temperature by the time they both wound back down, Rhea running a hand through Malakh's slick mane where she was sprawled across her as she croaked out, "What a fucking disaster."
Malakh huffed at that, her tail thrashing once in the water by their tangled legs as she replied, "But so in keeping with what we know of the Thalatte that I feel like we should have seen it coming."
Rhea could only hum in agreement at that, leaning her head against Malakh's as they just existed together, wrapped in each other's arms.
"We're bound for the rim, but what are your sisters going to get up to?" Malakh whispered against Rhea's shoulder before following it up with a kiss.
"Phoebe was mentioning something about looking into weapons built for taking down Leviathan specifically, see if that might be something we could bring to bear against the Omega," she told her, tracing a hand down her wife's spine, "As big as that Nu was, I've got a feeling the Omega's gonna be even bigger."
With her head against Rhea's chest, Malakh felt her vedja's pulse pick up speed as she idly drew a finger up to the apex of one of Rhea's breasts, the peak hardening as she circled it briefly. "Any advantage we can find against that thing would be welcome, so I wish them luck in their search."
Sliding her own hand down to Malakh's hip, all it took was a light shove to have her sliding further over Rhea's body in the bath, after which she deliberately pressed her thigh up against her wife's core, a lazy smile breaking free once she felt Malakh gasp against her. Pressing a kiss between her ears as she pressed her more firmly against her thigh, Rhea breathed, "They're resourceful. I'm sure they'll find something worthwhile."
Malakh scraped her fangs across Rhea's collarbone, following it with a swipe of her tongue as she whispered against her, "I think I found something worthwhile too."
Rhea didn't get a chance to ask a follow up question, as the breath was knocked out of her when three fingers found their way into her to the knuckle, and her head fell back against the rim of the tub as any other thoughts fled her mind.
V'tala didn't need a zymeth's telepathy to know that something was eating at Pryseia, the other woman's shoulders a taut line beneath the shirt she wore as V'tala followed her into her room. There'd been a tightly wound tension humming just beneath her skin ever since the attack, and V'tala wouldn't stand to see it go unaddressed.
Without turning to face her, Pryseia bent over to unlace her boots, her movements precise and controlled as she said, "My hope is that luck will favour us on the edge of the galaxy, that we'll be able to find some clue as to when the Omega will arrive. We cannot afford to be caught unawares by it, given the power it wields. If we are to-"
"The losses today were not your fault," V'tala said once Pryseia stood, stepping into her space so the other woman couldn't look away, "You weren't in charge of this operation, you didn't have a hand in gathering intelligence about it. The Dolabra was a sneak attack, and one you aren't the cause of."
Pryseia drew in a breath to argue the point, her mouth falling open with counterarguments before she caught herself, her eyes and mouth snapping shut as she breathed out a harsh sigh.
"You are correct," she said after a moment, visibly fighting to get the words out, "I'm sorry. This habit is proving harder to break than I would like."
V'tala stared at her for a moment before her hand came up to cup Pryseia's jaw. She opened her eyes at the touch, drawing in another breath to steady herself, and V'tala could swear that she could hear the whir of Pryseia's racing thoughts behind her mismatched eyes.
"You think too loud. And too often." She whispered, her thumb brushing the bottom of the scar that ran through Pryseia's eye, "We should do something about that."
The iris of her remaining eye expanding until it was nothing but a thin gold band, Pryseia's eyes darted to V'tala's lips before she breathed, "Oh?"
Swallowing heavily, V'tala reluctantly pulled her hand away before she said, "Get undressed."
Pryseia stepped closer, her hand reaching for the hem of V'tala's shirt before the woman stopped her with a firm, "No. You get undressed."
Pryseia's breath stuttered in her lungs, her hand out and twitching between them, but after a moment she pulled back, going for the buttons of her own top, undoing them one by one, never once taking her eyes off V'tala's.
Once Pryseia was stripped bare, chest heaving and arousal evident, V'tala nodded over to the bed and ordered, "Lay down."
Pryseia hesitated for only an instant before she did as she was bid, walking backwards so she could keep V'tala in her sights. Kicking off her own shoes and rolling up her sleeves, V'tala made her way over to the bed, one knee braced against it when Pryseia reached out to her.
"No touching. And no speaking," V'tala cut Pryseia off gently as she climbed fully onto the bed, "Put your hands up by your pillow."
A dark flush covered Pryseia's chest as she raised her arms, tucking them under her pillow, never breaking eye contact with V'tala. Her breasts heaved with every breath she took, and it was all V'tala could do to hold herself in place above the woman she loved.
"The only things you're going to do until I say otherwise are to listen, and to obey, understand?" V'tala asked as she straddled Pryseia's thighs. Pryseia visibly bit back her words, nodding sharply once, trembling with anticipation.
Nodding in return, V'tala leaned forward, giving Pryseia a brief, chaste kiss before she whispered against her lips, "And you're not going to be thinking at all, I promise you."
V'tala crawled down her body after that, settling herself between Pryseia's legs, looping her arms around her thighs. And once V'tala's mouth closed in hot and wet against her, Pryseia didn't have a single thought for the rest of the night.