A deep womp, womp, womp vibrated through the floor of the Warthog's central column.
The spin gravity was awkward and nauseating this close to the spin motors. But it had never affected Charlotte as harshly as it did now.
No sooner had she stepped off the lift her equilibrium flipped on its head and she stumbled, stomach churning.
The Uu'k'asht weren't doing any better.
Chelling had to put Annie down and Joktath fell to his hands and knees and puked.
Normally this was a busy section of the ship, with people traversing from ring to ring. But with the alarms going off Command would have issued a rest-in-place order.
Annie giggled. "Ha-ha! Furries can't hold their liquor!" she said in a playfully mocking, sing-song voice before grabbing Chelling by the hand and patiently saying, "Come on."
She pulled him toward another lift and Charlotte realized the woman was actually walking straight. It was as though the Coriolis effect was somehow canceling out her drunken stagger.
As quickly as they could manage, they piled into the lift to the center ring and rode it, once again subject to the annoying elevator music.
Davidson cleared his throat. Vasquez was still messing with his terminal while Dr. Himura clung to him. Her expression was placid but her knuckles were white. Charlotte glanced at Nichols to find him staring at her.,
"What?" she asked.
"You look like something outa one of them fucked up slasher movies," he said.
Charlotte frowned and looked down at herself.
The white johnny she wore was not white anymore. She shrugged and said, "Meh."
"You really gonna have alien babies?" he asked.
"Looks that way," she said.
"Do you think the alien dad will be a good alien dad?" Anerudo asked.
"Dads," she corrected. "Uu'k'asth are polyamorous. And yes, I think... I think they might be good alien dads."
Ben turned to her slowly, lip curled in disgust. "You really fucked more than one?"
"If you start slut shaming me again, Ben, I'm gonna tell everyone about that thing you did in the kitchens that one time, and who you did it with," she threatened.
"Oooooh?" Vasquez, looking up from his terminal at Ben.
Ben cleared his throat. "I never really saw you as the mom type," he said.
"Me neither," she admitted, wishing this fucking elevator ride would end. This conversation was not fun.
"You gonna... go through with it?" Ben asked.
Charlotte clenched her jaw. Was she? The thought of being a mother was terrifying.
She shrugged, noticing how intently Tasha watched her.
"I'm actually trying not to think about it," Charlotte mumbled. "Besides, we could all be dead in the next fifteen minutes anyway."
Blessedly, the doors opened. Charlotte made to escape but Tasha blocked her and stepped out first.
The smell of rubbing alcohol and cleaner hit her hard as she exited the elevator into a brightly lit corridor of med bays.
After experiencing the sickening Coriolis effect of the central spin column the smell hit Charlotte's gag reflex like a shot of Dover's homebrew engine moonshine.
She heaved once before slapping a hand over her mouth, then glared at everyone around her and said, "Screw you all, I'm good."
"I didn't say nothin'," Davidson said, shaking his head as the team formed up.
"Sorry my barf chaser kinda lit up," Annie said apologetically. "Guess Jeff got the good stuff after all."
Anerudo snorted and cleared his throat.
Vasquez brought up a map of the ring and pointed. "Digitally, I'm making it look like we're going here," he said, indicating the hangar of fast medical ships.
"Physically, we head to this lift back here and take it back to the central column. Then we take this one back to the third ring. It deposits us right outside the jiz-wrappers."
As he walked, Vasquez turned and looked up at Tasha. "Birthday, you and your boys will need to cover us as we get suited up. Once we're suited, we can cover you as you get onto a transport. Charlotte flies us out and, you know, maybe we don't get shot right out of the sky."
"Copy, Flower," Tasha said.
"What's up with the Flower and Birthday shit, huh?" Ben asked.
"His name, Tasha, it means Birthday," Vasquez said.
"And Vasquez means flower?" Anerudo asked.
"No, Xochitle means flower."
"What's my name mean?" Ben asked.
"Son of the South," Vasquez said with a ridiculously exaggerated southern drawl.
Anerudo chuckled.
Still fiddling with his terminal, Vas added, "Charlotte means petite."
"Fitting," Tasha said. "She is very petite."
Ben snorted. "You're probably the only person who's ever called Charlotte petite," he said.
"Fuck you. Wait, why the hell do you know all this?" Charlotte asked.
Vasquez shrugged. "I read a book of names and their meanings once and I kinda remember everything I read."
They approached an intersection and most of the walls ahead were thick plexiglass so you could see what was going on inside. Charlotte spotted someone at a desk, looking through a microscope and taking notes on a terminal.
"Halt," Vasquez said softly, though the walls were thick enough to block sound.
"I've killed comms. Digitally it's going to look like we're going toward the hanger, but everyone's gonna see us going the other way. So we gotta hustle. Cause they're gonna catch on quick. We ain't going up against dumbasses."
Joktath's hand still spanned Charlotte's lower back as he loomed protectively over her while Delta checked their formation, weapons ready.
"Go, go, go!" Vasquez whispered loudly.
The team set off, moving through the brightly lit corridor at a steady pace. People in the labs started noticing and they stood, staring in shock at the massive Uu'k'asht loose in their halls.
Ahead, a young woman in a lab coat stepped out, frowning down at her terminal. Hearing their approaching footsteps, she looked up and gasped, stumbling backward.
"Ma'am, get back inside and keep your head down," Ben said. "Go now."
She fumbled at the door, eyes wide and frightened until it slid open and she hurried inside. She watched them pass through the thick glass, face pale.
Ahead of her, Tasha shook his head. "Are all of you humans so cute?" he asked.
"Fuck yeah," Annie piped up. "We're cute as... fuckin, yeah, we're cute."
Charlotte looked back to see the girl standing beside Chelling, holding his hand. What a weirdo. Boy, was she in for a surprise when she sobered up enough to realize she was flirting with an Uu'k'asht who probably wasn't going to let her go, and not a giant teddy bear.
Charlotte almost hoped she could be there for it.
They were passing another room that wasn't as brightly lit as the others, and Tasha slowed, and stopped.
"Birthday, keep going. What are you doing, bro?" Vasquez demanded.
"They're... they're... I've never seen..."
The other Uu'k'asht looked into the room and they too moved toward the glass.
It was a nursery.
There were at least eight swaddled infants in little clear bassinets, being tended by a young nurse who stared back through the glass, her dark brown eyes wide with terror. Still, she stood, shaking, between the Uu'k'asht and the babies.
"I've never seen so many babies in my life," Chelling whispered.
"They're so... so adorable," Joktath said. "Look at their little faces!"
"Hi, Angie!" Annoe said, waiving to the terrified nurse. "Look what I found! A giant teddy bear! Isn't he cute?" she said, hanging on his arm.
"Furries are such an odd kink but I'm down for anything, ya know?"
She slipped and fell over, but bounced right back up and grabbed Chelling once more.
"I forgot we had so much gravity for a sec," she slurred.
"Tasha," Charlotte said, "we have to keep going."
He nodded and taped the other two. Joktath placed a hand on the glass, gazing longingly at the babies for a moment before forming up once more.
Tasha glanced back at Charlotte, eyes dropping to her belly, and back to her face, then at the room of babies. Something hard and resolute settled over his features just before he faced forward again.
They kept moving.
"Troops have entered the ring. It looks like they're heading to the hangar," Vasquez said.
"Let's hustle, Delta!" Ben said.
They made their way through the corridors, and to the maintenance lift without incident.
It was on the way back to the third ring that the nerves hit Charlotte.
She took a deep breath and swallowed, gripping her rifle. The medical ring might have been free of soldiers. But though they had feinted toward the med hangar, the mech hanger wasn't going to be left unattended.
"We're about to step into a war zone," Charlotte said.
"Don't worry, Char, we'll protect you," Vasquez said.
"Oh, fuck you," she said.
The boys all giggled.
Dr. Himura was pale. Annie, on the other hand, was rubbing her face back and forth on Chelling's arm, seemingly oblivious to anything else.
The music started in on a saxophone version of an ancient classic called Careless Whisper.
Together, Delta softly sang, "I'm never gonna dance again, can't you see I've got no rhythm..."
Tasha huffed and shook his head.
The lift ground to a stop.
The door slid open.
The world exploded with the roar of gunfire.
***
Tasha flinched and his shield wavered. He hadn't expected to be attacked before exiting the metal box the humans called a lift, but he'd put up a shield just in case. He wasn't taking chances with Charlotte or the other two females.
His shield lit up with brilliant gold flashes as the little metal projectiles hit it over and over. There must have been hundreds of them.
Luckily, his Skath was more alert, the magic growing stronger by the second.
The shield held.
"Joktath," he yelled over the constant concussion as he put a hand on Bishop's little shoulder, easing the human behind him, "give me a second layer. I'm going to hit them with my shield!"
Joktath brought up another shield and just as it solidified, Tasha forced his shield out at the speed of a charging nelethik.
Humans shouted, the rapid bursts of their stinging weapons cut out as his shield forced them fifteen feet down the corridor before it dissipated. Leaving the humans scattered. Some broken.
"Go left! Go left! Now!" Xochitle yelled.
Tasha raised another shield, and Joktath dropped his as they all hustled out of the lift, and to the left.
The corridor opened to a wide area full of metal machinery and what looked like doorways connected to large tanks full of some kind of milky white slime.
"Charlotte, you first, number two! Joktath, go around and cover her from the other side. Delta the rest are ours. Birthday, Chelling. They're gonna come at us hard so stay frosty!"
Tasha had no idea what he meant by stay frosty but he planned to watch the corridor and told Chelling to go to the other side.
Charlotte rushed around him and pulled her blood-soaked gown over her head as she did.
Tasha flinched. Everyone slowed and stared, dumbfounded.
Tasha had never seen her naked before but if he'd ever doubted she was a warrior, those doubts were gone.
"Jesus, fuckin Christ," Ben muttered.
"What?" Charlotte said as she stepped into one of the doorways and put her arms above her head. "Did you think being a POW was all orgies and ice cream socials?"
Little green lights lit up down the sides of the doorway and with a whirring sound, it started to rotate around Charlotte, spinning some kind of webbing over her body.
"Come on, fuckers, you've all seen naked ladies before," Vasquez said. "Now get the fuckin lead out!"
Tasha looked at the group of humans to see all the males quickly stripping out of their clothes and leaving them scattered about the floor.
Once naked, they stepped into more of the doorways and held still, arms up as they were wrapped in the webbing that somehow formed flimsy clothes that left their arms and legs bare.
Tasha heard shouts from down the corridor and he turned, strengthening his shield as a group of humans lugging those long, thick metal shields came running toward them with several rows of men behind them, carrying weapons.
These new weapons were considerably larger than the others they'd encountered, and the men's suits were different. Thicker, with helmets and clear face covers.
Tasha glanced at the Delta humans, Charlotte was wrapped up tight in a full body, filmy getup, leading the males into a massive room.
As they stepped in, lights came on and Tasha flinched, his guts going cold. The room was full of hundreds, maybe thousands of metal suits, as far as he could see.
"Flower," Tasha called as Xochitle started walking, barefoot into the massive room.
He turned around and must have read the concern in Tasha's face because he glanced back at the suits, and to Tasha once more.
"It's ok, bro. I got your back. You just watch ours until we can return the favor. You have my word that we're going to do everything we can to get you and your boys outa here. Now, if you can, disable those jiz-wrappers, will ya?"
He pointed at the doorways with their tanks and Tasha nodded, retreating behind them as the human soldiers in their strange suits drew closer.
***
Charlotte had taken Annie from Chelling and was practically dragging the drunk woman toward one of the house-sized transport ships with Joktath still on her six, hand on her lower back.
"Almost there!" she said.
Gunfire filled the air once more and Charlotte ducked her head, but didn't stop.
"Fuck!" she barked. "They're using armor piercing rounds!"
"Just get into the transport!" Vasquez yelled from where he was climbing the side of his mech's docking station.
Charlotte tried to run faster but Annie was slowing her down.
Something tinged hard off a crate as she ran past it and she ducked again as she heard a ricochet around the hangar.
The bullets were getting through Tasha's shield.
Glancing back she saw Tasha take cover behind another large crate, still holding his shield in place to cover the men getting into their suits.
Nichols suddenly went down, slamming hard on his face, blood blooming on his back while Anerudo was spun like a top from an impact.
Chelling added his shield but there were two many men coming at them. The two of them couldn't hold the soldiers off long enough to get Delta into their suits.
Charlotte turned around, intent on helping, but Joktath scooped her and Annie up and said, "No, you don't, female!"
"Put me down, jackass! They need help!" Charlotte yelled, punching him in the shoulder.
"Weeeee!" Annie squealed in delight.
He ran them both straight up into the transport before putting them down.
"You will ready this metal beast as commanded, I will go help them!" Joktath growled before turning and heading back out of the transport.
"Fuck," Charlotte hissed through her teeth.
"Annie," she said, going to a panel and yanking it open. She pulled out a vac suit. "You know how to put this on?"
"Duh, everyone knows how to put those on," she slurred.
"Then put it on and stay out of the line of fire!" Charlotte yelled as she stuffed the suit into Annie's arms and turned to hustle into the cockpit.
Charlotte sat in the gel chair and felt it mold to her body even as needles pricked her skin through her haptic suit at her lower back, shoulders and thighs.
She tapped a button on the arm of the chair and a little panel flipped up, revealing the control contacts.
After quickly slipping them into her eyes, she blinked several times as the ships heads up display came up in her vision, followed by wide views of the exterior cameras, where she could see Chelling bleeding and Dr. Himura trying to drag Nichols out of the line of fire with Davidson's help.
"Come on, guys," she breathed, heart pounding.
"Come on."
***
"I'm running low on magic!" Tasha yelled, glancing up just in time to see needles coming out of the back piece to Xochitle's suit as it closed in on him.
"I got the shield!" Chelling said, coming up behind him and ducking behind the crate just as something punched a hole right through it, barely missing his head.
"Help them get the wounded human into his suit!" he added.
Tasha dropped his weakening shield and hustled to where the female doctor and another male were trying to muscle their wounded friend up a ladder.
Tasha gripped the man and he screamed in agony as he lifted him and put him into the confining metal suite.
The doctor rushed up the ladder and pressed some buttons on the inside and the suite closed up, wicked looking needles easing out of the back plate as it did.
Tasha shuddered.
Projectiles suddenly started hitting the walls around them. Tasha felt one sting his shoulder, then his arm. The female doctor screamed and fell from the ladder but Tasha caught her, putting her on the ground where she collapsed to her knees, holding her hip. Blood poured through her fingers.
"My turn, big guy," the other male said. "Gimme a lift!"
Tasha hurriedly shoved the human into his shit, then scooped up the doctor.
The suits came to life with a deep vibrating, whirring sound.
Xochitle was the first to turn around and take aim.
"Birthday!" his voice, metallic and distant, sounded through the suit. "Get Emiko to the transport! I'll cover you "
Holding the injured female close to his chest, Tasha ran.
Holes appeared on the deck as his feet, something flashed like lightning followed by a thunderous roar that pulsed against his eardrums and nearly knocked him from his feet. He could hear the loud concussions of the weapons attached to the arms of Xochitle's suit as he fired back on his own people.
"Delta, retreat! Retreat!" Xochitle yelled, followed by the heavy footsteps of their mechs as they ran across the metal deck.
Tasha made it into the transport and then put the wounded female down. She was grabbed up by the drunk female who was now wearing a suit exactly like the ones the humans trying to kill them were wearing.
He turned around in time to see something explode against the back of one of the mech's and it stumbled forward, but didn't nose its footing.
Chelling put up a shield but when something exploded against it, he was thrown to the ground.
One of the mechs picked him up, dragging his arm across its shoulders, and helped him inside.
They piled in, shooting back as the door to the transport closed, locking them in.
The outside was pelted with loud bangs and tings.
"Everyone's on, Char! Take off!" Xochitle yelled. "Birthday, you and your boys won't fit in the human seats so you're gonna have to get into a Mech dock and hang on!"
He tucked himself into one of the docks and Tasha nodded, translating to Chelling and Joktath as his body suddenly felt heavier. The ship he was on lifted, and he gripped something that looked like arm rests on a metal chair.
"This shit's gonna get rough," Davidson's voice sounded, though Tasha couldn't tell which mech it came from.
The little females were strapping themselves into seats and the drunk one said, "Hey doc, you ever barf in a vac suit?"
"No," said the doctor with a grimace. She was obviously in pain.
"It sucks. Hey, where we going?"
***
Charlotte was the ship. It wasn't quite as realistic as having haptic implants while operating a bio-mech, but it was close. Close in a way she never thought she'd feel again.
The ship rose through the hangar and was taking fire. She could feel every bullet that hit the hull like a ping against her skin.
"Vasquez, I need a door!" she yelled.
"I'm on it! Ben, Davidson, get on the guns. Anerudo, cannons!"
"Copy, Captain!"
The large hangar airlock slid open and she angled the transport into it. Once it closed, the outer airlock door opened and she looked out, into space.
She eased the transport out of the airlock and her heartbeat sped up at the dizzying sight of Andora 7 as she ship tilted and the red planet came into view.
"Nichols, you still alive?" Vasquez asked.
"Yeah," Nichols said with a huff. "I think they nicked a lung though, captain."
"The suit's stabilizing him, for now," Dr. Himura said, her voice pained.
"Emi, baby you alright?"
"I think I have a bullet in my hip," she said. "And don't call me baby."
"Fuck," Vasquez bit out.
Charlotte engaged the thrusters just as her radar picked up incoming ships.
For a moment, she just floated outside the Warthog. The massive ship was made up of one central column that supported three huge rings. Rising from the bottom were two enormous maintenance towers that looked like the tusks of a warthog... or an Uu'k'asht.
The ship wasn't beautiful, but it was impressive in its sheer size and capabilities. She would have stared longer if there weren't rockets coming at them.