The screech was bestial, guttural, deafening, and then cut silent by a thud. Foam and strings of rabid saliva arced into wet lines across dust as Brekka hit the ground. Kinzie grit her teeth and snarled, a deep and low sound in her throat, slit-eyes lidded and boiling with fury.

— — {

assesSMent: {[

| Physical Status = > eleVAted adreNAline: "Remember to breathe!"

| Vehicle Status = > mainTEnance overDUe: "Stop by the shop!"

| Social Anxiety Addon:

> situATion: ["detention by Kandarosian authorities",

"gunfire detected, distance: 50 meters",

"passport 2 days expired",

"arrest rates for expired passports 67%"]

> finDIngs: "Obey the law. Everything will be fine."

]}

} — —

The crackled thoughts of the Neural Assistant zipped through Kinzie’s head like a shock collar, and she shuddered. The snarl petered out, and she looked down at her friend.

"Fascist fucking bugs," she whispered just under her fangs, and leaned to nudge Brekka's cheek with her nose, wrists straining at the wet silkglue that bonded them together behind her back. "Are you okay?"

Brekka's gaze was glazed over and unfocused, but her breathing was slow and even, punctuated by soft groans. Kinzie faintly smelled blood, lowered her nose to the woman's neck where there was a neat row of red dots, and inhaled deeply. The acrid scent of venom curled up from her friend’s throat. Kinzie turned her narrowed glare up toward the towering form of the Beetle-shelled behemoth, with a look that quickly passed over the stingrod and the glowing-green fluid that sloshed inside of it. "She has a pacemaker! You coulda killed her."

With the bulky layers of teksteel armor that covered every inch of her lithe, bipedal frame, it was - even setting aside the alien physiology - it was hard to tell much about the Soldier’s body language… but it seemed to stiffen. It tapped the side of its helmet, and then its voice clicked and hissed in a rapid cadence. A half-second later the embedded translator in Kinzie's neural assistant fed through clear, authoritative Chevalrish.

— — {

asSESsmenT: {[

| Kandar Cultural Addon:

> bodY Language: ["elevated tension detected in knees and shoulders - surprised or annoyed"]

> physIOlogy: ["sex: Soldier", "age: adult", "notes: pheromonal profile similar to a pregnant Gaean. Indicates this Soldier has likely received standard CMB rebirthing."]

| Productivity Addon = > "Time is money, babe, get back on the road!"

]}

} — —

"𐰄𐰚𐰄𐰣𐰕𐰄 𐱃𐰀𐰚𐰃𐰢⹁ 𐰚𐰗𐰣𐰋𐰗𐰖𐰆 𐱃𐰀𐰺𐰀𐰢𐰀𐰣𐰃𐰔𐰃 𐰉𐰄𐱃𐰄𐰺𐰄𐰣; 𐰎𐰅𐰑𐰅𐰊𐰄 𐰉𐰆𐰞𐰑𐰆𐰢⹁" the bug rattled off, then paused. The voice that Kinzie's neural assistant chose to represent her was distinctly feminine, yet harsh.

— — {

TRanslation: {[

| Kandarosian:

> contENt : ["Second String, finish your sweep; I've got an MVP here."]

> toNE : "Authoritative, clipped."

]}

} — —

"𐰢𐰅𐰑𐰄𐰕: 𐰞𐰈𐱃𐰊𐰅𐰣 𐰉𐰅𐰣𐰄𐰢𐰞𐰅 𐰉𐰄𐰺𐰞𐰄𐰚𐱃𐰅 𐱃𐰀𐰎𐰞𐰄𐰖𐰅 𐰅𐰑𐰄𐰣. 𐰉𐰄𐰺𐰄𐰣𐰄 𐰉𐰀𐰽𐱃𐰃𐰺𐰢𐰀𐰚 𐰔𐰗𐰺𐰆𐰣𐰑𐰀 𐰚𐰀𐰞𐰑𐰃𐰢." She continued, followed by another pause, then... exasperation? The Soldier knelt down on her knees and slotted the stingrod into a clip on her waist.

— — {

tRAnslation: {[

| Kandarosian:

> cONtent : ["Medic, evac with us, if you please. I had to subdue one."]

> tONe : "Deferential, apologetic."

]}

} — —

Her four arms - the rear pair burly and straight, to the fore pair’s small and crooked - reached out over Brekka and picked the semi-conscious wolf-woman up by the belt. The rear arms were strong limbs that dropped from the Soldier’s broad shoulders in much the same shape of any Gaean. Both capped at the wrist by broad, three-fingered hands wrapped in rubber tac-gloves. Either was large enough it could have wrapped around Kinzie’s whole head with room left over. The Soldier easily turned Brekka end over end.

Kinzie's ears tilted forward and she bared her teeth. The Soldier politely ignored her, which (despite herself) Kinzie appreciated; up close the bug smelled uncomfortably alike to her mother, and a gnawing guilt tugged at her heartstrings with each snarl.

The bug’s fore-arms were comparatively delicate - each about the length and width of Kinzie’s own scrawny limbs but with a few more bent joints. Usually they stayed folded close to the Soldier’s ribs, just under her breasts. But now they extended across Brekka’s body, poking and prodding with furry paws, almost like a cat’s, but for the doubled claws in-between each toe.

The Soldier dexterously turned out Brekka’s pockets and checked the wolfgirl’s vitals. "𐰉𐰄𐰺𐰀𐰔 𐰚𐰀𐰉𐰀 𐰑𐰀𐰋𐰺𐰀𐰣𐰑𐰃𐰢. 𐰗𐰣𐰀 𐰉𐰄𐰺 𐰑𐰗𐰔 𐰋𐰅𐰺𐰑𐰄𐰢. 𐰏𐰘𐰔𐰞𐰅𐰺𐰄 𐰉𐰈𐰖𐰈𐰢𐰈𐱁⹁ 𐰋𐰈𐰕𐰆𐱃 𐰃𐰽𐰃𐰽𐰃 𐰣𐰗𐰺𐰢𐰀𐰞. 𐰚𐰀𐰞𐰯 𐰀𐱃𐰃𐱁𐰃 𐰉𐰄𐰺𐰀𐰔 𐰖𐰀𐰋𐰀𐱁. 𐰉𐰆𐰺𐰀𐰑𐰀𐰚𐰄 𐰀𐰺𐰚𐰀𐰑𐰀𐱁𐰃 𐰚𐰀𐰞𐰯 𐰄𐰢𐰯𐰞𐰀𐰣𐱃𐰃 𐰗𐰞𐰑𐰆𐰍𐰆𐰣𐰆 𐰄𐰑𐰑𐰄𐰀 𐰅𐰑𐰄𐰖𐰗𐰺. 𐰅𐰣𐰑𐰄𐱁𐰅 𐰄𐰲𐰄𐰣 𐰎𐰅𐰺𐰎𐰀𐰣𐰏𐰄𐰉𐰄𐰺 𐰽𐰅𐰉𐰅𐰯 𐰋𐰀𐰺 𐰢𐰃?"

— — {

trANslation: {[

| Kandar Translator:

> conteNT : ["One dose to the spine, applied a little roughly. Eyes dilated, temperature normal, bee-pee-em a little low. And her friend here claims the patient has a cardiac implant. Any cause for concern?"]

> ToNe : "Deferential, apologetic."

]}

} — —

After another pause, the bug seemed to get an affirmative reply and lay Brekka on her side. She rose with a thoughtful hunch in her shoulders and walked away a few paces to conclude her call in private. Kinzie inched forward on her knees and hunched protectively over Brekka’s frame, hyperaware of any movement from the guard - her powerful stance, her imposing figure.

"You swarmie bitch," Kinzie rasped again, her voice dry and broken, "we’re fucking pacifists. We’re carrying aid, bound for the Den. Just look in the back. It’s just crates of canned tuna, you- you- you swarmie bitch. I hope this makes the news: they’ll roast you on a spit."

The Soldier tilted her head and half-turned to face Kinzie; glossy reflections of wolf and fox warped and fused across the helmet’s curved visor. The bug was huge, a towering eight feet that loomed over Kinzie’s meager five’two, even at distance. The Soldier took a step forward. Kinzie hissed instinctively.

"Maybe," the bug said in a tone so reasonable and easygoing that Kinzie knew she was being insulted. She was so on edge that she almost missed the most stunning part - perfect Chevalrish. Feminine, but light, airy, soft. Kinzie felt her Neural Assistant making notes.

— — {

asSESsmenT: {[

| Kandar Cultural Addon:

> BOunty contrOLler:

– bounty detected: ["Kandar Soldier Speaking Chevalrish"] –

> upLOad conTRoller:

– connecting to audio servers –

> rate check:

Bounty-Rate: "0.007GUD per minute of high definition audio"

| Productivity Addon = > "Time is money, babe, get back on the road!"

]}

} — —

The bug raised her four arms in a gesture of peace and crouched down, "but we found a crate of explosives welded to the underside of your roller and you had two known terrorists riding shotgun in your lead truck, so I think the mammal news is gonna skip out on this one. At least, that’s what I’d do."

"Ex-? Like… bombs? That can’t-"

The hair on the back of her neck prickled and her ears lay flat against her scalp, jaw aching from how tight it clenched. But the bug rifled through a pouch on her chest and produced a stack of high resolution photographs, fanning them out in the dirt in front of Kinzie. Kinzie blew air up at her bangs to shift them out of her eyes and gasped, "What are- What? Oh no… Brekka."

It didn’t look good, and one thing Kinzie knew for sure is that the bugs didn't fake this stuff. They never had to. Kinzie’s heart ached.

"Yes. That’s Brekka Tate," the bug nodded with a chipper hum under her heavy accent, and her furry paw brushed the girl’s hair aside, clawtips careful of the girl's forehead.

— — {

asSESsmenT: {[

| Traffic Stats = > "Easy does it!"

> Injuries & deaths during routine traffic stops are down [17%]!

| Upcoming Movies = > "Check this out!"

> Your downloads of the following have completed:

>>> Laser-Lilies 2: Flesh Meets Light

>>> Honeypot

> Suggested titles for you!:

>>> A Tangled Web

>>> Horizon Season 5

]}

} — —

For a moment, the bug just seemed to stare at her, but then she pointed at a second figure among the photos, "and over here we’ve got Lemna Henhausen. Do you know this person?"

"Y-yeah…" Kinzie admitted, tentatively. "He’s on a different contract though. We just- we just met the other day, and didn’t. Uhm. We haven’t really talked or anything."

"Could you tell me where he went?"

Kinzie winced, "Uhm, no, I haven’t. I haven’t seen him. Fuck, I mean- I mean, I did see him, but that was before we got on the road, but, fuck. No. I don’t know. There was the crash, and all the shooting, and- I don’t know."

Kinzie caught herself staring at the reflection of herself in the mirror-shine of that visor. She looked awful. Ragged. Sweaty and dingy, her tail matted and her clothes stained with grease and grime.

"That’s alright. What’s your name?" The bug asked.

"Kinzie Barro," she whispered, then recoiled as if in pain, eyes flitting to the photos, to Brekka, then to anywhere else, " I mean! Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck. Shut up. I’m not gonna tell a fucking bug anything. Sorry."

"Kinzie. Cute name," the Soldier leaned her helmet into the palm of one of her hands, while the other three hands retrieved the pile of photos and rolled them back into the pouch.

"Shut up," Kinzie said. "I have nothing to say to a filthy, fucking insect."

"Hey I get it. I’d be a little suspicious too, if all I knew about bugs was fleas and tapeworms, right? But I promise I’m not that bad when you get to know me," the Soldier said and ruffled Kinzie’s hair, "My name’s Pleo, I’m kind of a big deal around here, and I can guarantee that no one’s gonna treat you too bad while you’re with me. If you can help me find Lemna? Hey, all the better."

Pleo sucked in a deep breath through the vents on her full-body suit, and then her voice took on a curious tone, "I have a float on the way over here; I’m gonna take Brekka home, make sure she’s okay, ask her a few questions. Why don’t you come with?"

"Doesn’t seem like I have a choice," Kinzie snapped.

"Well, would you rather stay, and wait for the clean up crews? Probably another four or five hours before your colony sends a bus out here to pick everyone up… who knows when it finally gets here," the woman lilted. "Or I could get you arrested. And after that? Maybe file a requisition. You’re cute enough. You’d be worth it."

"Don’t-! Don't threaten me." Kinzie’s blood ran cold. "I want a lawyer. I am not some kind of bugfucker, and I'm not going to just roll over and take this."

"You sure you wanna escalate this? Things don't look good: the high-grade contraband, your terrorist friend here, an underlicensed convoy moving through Kandar in the dead of night? Wouldn’t be hard to overturn your citizenship, and once you’re on our side…" Pleo rubbed the handle of her stingrod.

"I know the rules." Goosebumps spread down Kinzie’s arms, and she swallowed hard. A knot of tangled emotions lumped up in her throat. "I know my rights."

"Then you know how easy it is to take’em away. You’re a smart girl aren’t you? Doesn’t take too long on a planet like this to figure out that nobody gives a shit about some truck driver." The Soldier’s chest expanded with the deep and intimidating hiss of an inhale. Gunfire echoed in the night, and she raised her head. Her face turned, halfway between Kinzie and halfway between the faraway sounds. "Your governor sure as shit doesn’t. So why don't you just tag along? You don’t look too hot. You could use a night in heaven, just to see how the other side lives."

Kinzie tried to back away, despite her bound arms, "my people-"

"Whatever you’re about to say, don’t lie to me." Pleo made a sound almost like a sigh and slowly she unclipped the stingrod from her belt. "We both know how mammals are. As long as someone’s got a warm bed, you’ll kill, rob, and lie to sleep in it. That pretty little instinct barely got your species limping into space, and look where it got you. Working some shit job, in some dingy backwater, with nothing to your name and no great prospects. How's a colony trucker live these days? How many roommates you got stuffed into your little storage locker?"

— — {

asSESsmenT: {[

| Kandar Cultural Addon:

> Auto-Solicitor => Kandarosian Demarcation Statutes:

["Requisition refers to the release of rights as a Gaean citizen, and entering into indentured servitude within Kandar."]

> Auto-Solicitor => Advisement:

["Do not antagonize Kandarosian Authorities: doing so can risk your Gaean citizenship."]

]}

} — —

"Fuck. You," Kinzie’s eyes watered, and her voice shook as she spat the words. "You condescending fucking bug. Everything they’ve ever said about you is true. You’re a fucking sociopath if you think I’m gonna turn my back on my family, my people, and everyone who loves me, just to whore myself out to a-"

"Be a good little fox," Pleo reached out with one long arm and grabbed Kinzie by the leg. Kinzie screeched, tail thrashing, as she was yanked across the dirt beneath the armored body of the powerful woman then gasped as she felt the stingrod dig into her thigh, "and come lie in my bed tonight."

"Oh, fuck, oh, no no no, this can’t be happening, fuck," Kinzie squeaked, "you fucking fascist monster, don’t touch me, don’t touch me, do-oh, fffffffuck."

Warmth spread through her leg, and when it hit her belly, Kinzie’s body arched like a bow drawn tight, waiting to be shot. With gritted teeth, she held that pose, as tightly as she held in the moan that accompanied it, until the muscles in her legs gave out and in a chain reaction the rest of her collapsed. Her mouth fell slack, "hhhooo… what issssss this."

Stars streaked across her vision, and through her brain, as the venom coursed through gray matter and crashed against the titanium boundaries of her Neural Assistant.

— — {

WARniNG: {[

| INTOXICANT DETECTED:

> Increased levels of K-Com β

> Symptoms include vasodilation, euphoria, mild paralysis of somatic control, confusion, dizziness, nausea, dehydration, and more.

> Do not operate heavy machinery.

> This is your 3rd instance of substance-use on contract. Please report to your supervisor at Regal Transzone Shipping Company.

]}

} — —

The armored bug crouched over her as sensation and starfire took Kinzie’s body by storm. She could smell so much. A mother's love, a scientific curiosity, a hungry primal tension in the Soldier's limbs that no doubt begged to wrap the helpless prey in silk and drag it back to a safe, dark hole. Perhaps to be devoured, or else something even more incredible.

— — {

asSESsmenT: {[

| Kandar Cultural Addon:

> Auto-Solicitor => Kandarosian Demarcation Statutes:

["Kandar peacekeepers use approved pharmaceuticals to subdue potential risks to Kandar sovereignty. "]

> Auto-Solicitor => Advisement:

["Remain calm. Treaty-approved pharmaceutical agents are proven to be safe and humane. Wait for the effects to subside, then request a state-sponsored Gaean lawyer."]

]}

} — —

Kinzie’s body huddled and curled, her eyes wide and shivering, shaking, and then something deep inside her came bursting to the surface. She lunged up at the hulking silhouette of armor and bug, jaw splayed and fangs shining, then clamped around the bug’s throat. The jagged points of her teeth shredded through a top layer of woven fabric, dug through padding. Her jaw clenched: the padding filled her mouth and the tips of her canines just barely brushed against skin.

— — {

asSESsmenT: {[

| Kandar Cultural Addon:

> Auto-Solicitor => Advisement:

["It appears you have attacked a Kandar peacekeeper. This will be added to your file should you seek legal counsel."]

]}

} — —

Kinzie yanked her neck back, felt fabric tangle and drag at her teeth; pain split through her jaw, and she whimpered as powerful arms encircled around her. A moment of intense, crushing pressure. A hug - safe, fatherly, too big - that crushed all the air from her chest, and sent prickle-filled waves sliding through layers of her skin.

"Anh, mrrrrrnnn," her aching scratchy throat whined and as she felt another sting and rush, this time through the back of her neck. Her voice slurred, as the warmth pounded in her cheeks, her eyes, her tongue and the roof of her mouth, "sssssstttopppit."

"Ssssss," the bug hissed and her four hands clutched Kinzie’s body, stroking down her sides, her back, tugging her teeth from the padded throat-protector, "there, there, little creature, you’re alright."

Kinzie yipped - a disagreeable little bark - and her face flushed.

"Nnno,nnonono," Kinzie’s head lolled to the side, and her cheek landed on the palm of a careful and comforting hand. The shocking sensitivity of her skin pulled a sudden gasp from her and a pair of clawtips softly scratched at her scalp and ear, "I’m not… I’m not gonna. I’m not."

The shudders of her body started to calm as Kinzie’s breath began to deepen, and her head leaned into the careful claws. Pleo chuckled, "that’s my girl, you’re not gonna do a thing."

"Not gonna," The strength in her elbows and knees wavered and slipped away, and her mouth hung open a little further with every hot breath as sweat beaded across the curve of her forehead, "not gonna… sell out my friends to some… some fucking bug…"

— — {

reMInder: {[

| Physical Status = > Intoxicated : K-Com β

| Enhi-clopedia Addon: K-Com β

> ["While derivative substances are sold as illegal street drugs in the Den & Nest colonies on Kandar, K-Com β venom is a significantly more potent psychoactive agent. Interacting with dopamine and serotonin production, as well as motor control, it is highly sought after on Gaea as a party drug: low doses are said to have an incredibly pleasant high and mild comedown with minimal addictivity risk. It is the primary substance used by the Kandar CMB to subdue mammalian targets. K-Com β and its derivatives aren’t perfectly safe however, as prolonged & improper use has been linked to Serotonin Syndrome."]

]}

} — —

Kinzie hiccuped and tried to twist out from under the pressure of Pleo’s chest. Pleo caught her by the shoulder and shoved her back down, while another clawed hand stroked down the side of the girl’s face, her throat, and then hovered at her collarbone, hooked beneath her linen shirt. Kinzie hiccuped again and it rattled her body.

Kinzie’s unfocused eyes, wide & wet, stared at those vicious claws. A warm sigh trickled past her lips and the butterfly-flutter of the venom bloomed all throughout her chest and face. She felt so angry, and she felt that she felt so angry, and it was so calming to notice how angry she felt. The sigh misted on the air above her and made fuzzy stars out of the floodlights on the Kandar military trawlers; shiny beams slid across the cold and emotionless visor that stared down at her.

She hiccuped, and a bubble popped in her head: I’m so fucking ugly. And then she felt ashamed, and she noticed how ashamed she felt, and the calm returned - sickening now. Her lungs pumped air over her tongue; she passively wondered what Pleo’s face looked like. Was it covered in weird bug teeth, or was she beautiful? How beautiful? The dull thrum of anger came back.

"You can tell me all about your friends later," the Soldier whispered, "for now… forgive me; I just can’t help myself."

Another bubble popped in her head, thoughts spun to a halt, but this time there was no new spiral to spin down.

Kinzie blinked. "Whaddiyou say??"

Pleo’s claws sliced thin slits down the front of the fox-girl’s shirt, from neck to belly. It fell aside like a delicate bridal veil as the cold kiss of the evening breeze laid upon her breast. The surge of pleasure added a darkening warmth to Kinzie’s collarbone that emphasized the lightly dusted beads of sweat that crawled down her skin.

Kinzie gasped. Her limbs twitched and swayed. Her eyes narrowed at Pleo and she growled: a low rumble in her throat that shook with the crawl of a hazy sensitivity that crept up her throat, inch by itchy inch, "fffffucker. Rapissssst. This isn’t right. I’ll fffffuckingggg."

Kinzie tried to rouse any last, hidden reserve of strength, grit, will, or cornered-beast ferocity… But the only thing she found was a lightning bolt, as it shocked through her chest; Pleo's rough-textured glove gripped one of her tits. Hard and sudden, it twisted, the rubber padding on its thumb capturing the tip of her nipple against the soldier’s gloved forefinger.

Kinzie moaned in a pained and embarrassed ecstasy. Red, hot blush blossomed across her her face in splotches; the Soldier's spare hand unbuckled and pulled the visor up, helmet off. Kinzie’s breath raced, her gaze danced, her chest ached in that insistent, agonizing grip, and then she choked. Between her pain-squinted eyes she could make out the blurry shapes of the bug's face. It wasn't beautiful. It was teeth.

Its head was shaped by smooth plates of vestigial exoskeleton in odd geometric patterns split up by tufts of wiry, tan fur. Different shades of brown and gray twisted around its head in a plain camouflage that was eerily identical to the sand below Kinzie’s back.

Its mouth - a puffy, vertical slit near its chin - was surrounded by six slow-flexing feelers evenly spaced around the bottom half of its face. Each one was covered in bristles and capped by a wicked black barb. They all criss-crossed over the drooling hole of its mouth.

— — {

reMInder: {[

| Kandar Cultural Addon: Chelicerae

> ["Much like the fanglike appendages found near the mouth of some Gaean arachnids or crabs, a chelicera is a grasping limb that aids the feeding process for Kandar Soldiers."]

]}

} — —

It had a big pair of bright & glossy black eyes, rounder than they had any right to be, both surrounded by a series of smaller ones that dotted its cheeks and brow, all of them surrounded by Each swiveled subtly to focus on a different piece of Kinzie’s anatomy.

Kinzie started to scream, but with predator speed Pleo stabbed the stingrod into her shoulder: a new dose of venom rushed through her body, and all of a sudden her vocal cords were made of felt and jelly.

"It's alright, Kinzie, you don't have to fuss," the monster whispered, and Kinzie convulsed. How was it making those words? Its mouth couldn't possibly form those sounds. Kinzie hiccuped. Just a second ago, everything had seemed so scary. But now…

Why wasn’t she scared?

"Fffffffffffugh… Arrrryuu psyyyy-kick?" Kinzie asked - or at least tried to. It was the only possible explanation, but Pleo's expressionless face hardly moved. Instead, a light and charming laughter emanated from deep inside the creature's throat as it leaned down close. The fuzzy little graspers that surrounded the bug’s mouth reached out: careful, slow - and latched onto Kinzie’s face: gentle, squeezing.

"No, little fox. I’m not psychic," Kinzie felt the chiding words resonate in Pleo’s neck, felt the bug’s throat bulge with motion, followed by a puff of warm air that emanated from hidden vents there. Pleo rubbed the damp, soft skin of her mouth - little more than a puffy hole, once the excess appendages were out of the way - against Kinzie’s lips, and Kinzie couldn’t believe how soft it was. Some odd, acidic, primal smell, and the graspers -

— — { reMInder: {[ Kandar Cultural Addon: Chelicerae ]} } — —

- chelicerae flexed around her face like fingers. The curved fangs scraped faint red lines in their wake. Kinzie moaned, this time louder, lower. She couldn’t resist the creature’s kiss physically or emotionally, and barely even willed herself to want to. That smell, that soft and firm embrace, and the unstoppable voltage that buzzed through her venom-addled nerves.

For Kinzie, there was only raw mammalian desire, and Pleo seemed all too happy to reward it. Hands swept across Kinzie’s body, lowered her to the dirt, roved, clutched as the girl yipped and moaned into the desperate kiss of the insectoid creature. The orange tips of her ears shivered, her tail, elbows, knees twitched with the scattered energy that reached through her confused and partially-paralyzed nervous system.

Pleo grasped Kinzie’s thighs just above the knees, lifted, and spread them wide. Kinzie felt the dirt underneath her shoulders shift. Her body was hot, full of blood and pheromone and instinct, and she could smell herself, thick clouds of Kinzie, wafting in the air now. A twinge of giddy shame ran through the back of her mind, and it must have shown somehow, because Pleo lunged down upon.

The weight of the larger woman’s chest bore down onto Kinzie, and claw-tipped fingers dragged along the side of the fox girl’s pudgy stomach. Desperation to be close, to love, to fuck, crowded out everything else, and deepened the intensity of their kiss. The slow and rhythmic roll of body against body, became a thumping drumbeat more important than the hot blood in Kinzie’s ears. Her head swam; clawed paws and smooth-palmed hands rubbed against her thighs, her pussy, her tits, her arms.

When had Pleo taken off her gloves? Where was her armor, her clothes?

"There you go," the Soldier murmured, and slipped one hand under Kinzie’s ass to squeeze and knead the soft flesh. The faint fox girl breathed out a heavy moan, and the voice in Pleo’s throat took on a smug tone, "feeling better now?"

"Ffffffugyuuu," Kinzie slurred, and licked at the bug’s mouth.

Pleo hissed in annoyance, and Kinzie had less than a second more to react as two thick digits eased inside her pussy. Her eyes fluttered up into the witless rafters of her dizzy head, and a choked squeak followed.

Pleo’s hiss reverted to a low and undulating purr, and Kinzie couldn’t help but crave that sound. Her tail twitched. What was it: approval or lust, hunger or need? It didn’t matter. In that moment, the reassuring warmth of that sound was worth more than anything in the world, and Kinzie didn’t even care when the grip on her face released, or the Soldier withdrew from the kiss.

"Theeeeere we go," Pleo cooed softly, "that’s all you needed, huh?"

It wasn’t much longer until Pleo’s arms swept around Kinzie’s body, hefted her easily into the air, and hugged the limp girl tight to her chest, as fingers twisted, curled, tensed and thrusted again and again in a slow and steady repetition that matched the rise and fall of that urgent purr.

Kinzie whined and nodded and urged her hips to move against the hand that cupped between her legs; just barely they complied - just enough to press her clit into the grinding motion of Pleo’s palm. She nuzzled her cheek against the bug’s throat, and groaned, and rocked back and forth upon the Soldier’s body. She squeezed her eyes shut and focused.

Those fingers: gentle, firm, urgent, slow. She gasped and sighed and they curled through her again. Soft noises surrounded her - clicks and hisses - Pleo’s voice. The sounds of gunfire and yelling had been over for what felt like ages, and Kinzie vaguely noticed that at some point the noise had been replaced by the loud thrum of the Kandar floaters.

Flood-lights from the vehicles hovering overhead washed across their bodies, and Kinzie cringed. Shoulders, get, neck, all tensed and huddled into the Soldier’s solid frame. But Pleo’s voice was low and comforting. Her hands stroked down Kinzie’s spine, through her hair, along her legs. And ever-insistently inside.

The girl quaked against the Soldier’s body, but Pleo didn’t seem to care about that first orgasm any more than she cared about the next one. She kept moving, kept speaking, softly and carefully in a way that Kinzie’s animal mind found irresistible. The hisses and clucks of her voice in her native tongue, the strange attentive movements of her body, and that steady drip of pleasure: it all added up into a bubble of safety that folded around Kinzie and washed away…

Everything? Something… something was washed away. Was Pleo saying something?

The neural assistant chattered its translations away in the background of everything as voices passed behind her back and over her head. Pleo said something like "30 more minutes of venom", and someone else said they weren’t so sure: that Kinzie looked wiggly, that they might have a real, bonafide bugfucker on their hands. Kinzie whimpered and pressed her face into Pleo’s shoulder. A few more comments here and there - someone made fun of Pleo for finding a new pet, and Pleo seemed to laugh. Someone complained about how heavy Brekka was.

Brekka!

Kinzie gasped in a deep sharp breath. Her eyes snapped open, ears up- her head swam with the sudden movement but she thrashed and shoved and tried to speak. Her mind didn’t give her any words and her jaw didn’t want to cooperate, so all that came out was a surprised bark. Kinzie whipped her body side to side, and in a stroke of luck - wrenched herself from the bug’s grip.

Her body slipped to the side. Thick wet fingers popped out of her red and oversensitive pussy. She gasped just as her feet hit the ground - cool, flat, metal? Unexpectedly slippery, not like the hard-packed dirt outside. The worn rubber of her shoes jerked the wrong direction, and Kinzie slammed to her palms and knees. Her tail shot straight out, and she scrambled backward away from the shocked frame of the Soldier.

"𐰋𐰀𐰖! 𐰑𐰆𐰺𐰢𐰀𐰚!" A voice from behind her perked up, and Kinzie yelped. She shot away in a different, new direction, mind moving a million miles a minute to catch up to her surroundings.

Machines were blinking around her, and a telltale hum filled the air. A kandar military floater… but the inside of one.

"Hey, hey there," Pleo’s voice was cool and clear, half the eyes on their monstrous face fixed directly toward Kinzie, while the other half traced routes around the room. Pleo raised her hands, in that same non-threatening stance from before, but now her fingers glistened with cum and fox-sweat.

Kinzie could smell her stale desire , and a wave of nausea surged up from her belly. Bile burned her throat and she lurched forward toward the ground. Water and protein mix and coffee splatted across the floor as she choked, and all of a sudden her body no longer had the energy nor the adrenaline to put up a fight.

Pleo caught her as she was about to keel over into the puddle of her own puke, and yanked her up to her feet, "woah, woah woah, there you go. So brave - giving us a last little scare like that. Must have a little tolerance, huh?"

Kinzie looked up: at Pleo, then the other bug - the medic apparently, although mostly identical to Pleo (save for a clear, plastic apron over its front). Kinzie lay back into Pleo’s arm, let the Soldier scoop her up and lift her into a strong and safe embrace. Far away and fuzzy, the two bugs argued with each other, while Kinzie nodded along a lazy trail of things to look at a wall of beeping lights, a box of flashing sounds.

From the outside, the vehicles looked smooth and dart-like, almost featureless outside of the hoverjets and floodlights. The interior of the floater, however, was like something out of a movie. She couldn’t make any sense of most of it, until she found wall of translucent green cocoons, where the sleeping face of Brekka, hung suspended within one. A hoarse noise croaked out of her and a string of bubbly drool jumped from her lip to her tit.

"Oh, my poor little mess. Just listen to you," Pleo crooned. Her chelicerae flexed in a relaxed, back and forth pattern. "It’s been a long day. Are you tired? Let’s put you to sleep, hmm?"

Kinzie tried not to curl up like an infant in the oversized embrace of the insect, as each plodding step across the floater took her closer to one of those deep-green pods.

— — {

noTIfication: {[

| Shipment Schedule = > delAYed: ["8 hours off target"]

| Contract Notifications = > contract VOid: ["breach of contract"]

| Holdings Notifications:

> SAvings accOUnt FRozen: ["N/A"]

> assETs accOUnt FRozen: ["N/A"]

> spENding accOUnt FRozen: ["N/A"]

]}

} — —

Pleo tucked Kinzie's legs into the pod, laid the girl back, and with the press of a button the cocoon started to fill with a lukewarm gel that oozed into her shoes and climbed up her muddy calves. Strings of drool wobbled along Kinzie’s lip that Pleo wiped away the pad of one thumb. The bug paused. It hissed a long inhale, and its chest rose.

Then it leaned in close, and lowered its voice. Kinzie tried not to look at its face or the little claws that folded over its mouth. Kinzie felt physically ill as she stared: she practically felt the soft press of those inner cheeks, the embrace of the bristles and claws, the venomous headrush of pleasure as it all oozed over her nose. A nauseous rock tightened in the base of her throat and dropped flat into her gut.

"How do you feel?" Pleo asked, mouth unmoving, her throat bulging slightly. Her hands moved around the side of the pod and tapped a few buttons, "can you talk?"

"Ffffuck. I don’t know. Fuck you." Kinzie’s sullen face barely moved. She shivered as the gel reached up over her hip, then sniffed. "It’s weird… I’m cold. I’m sorry. I feel sick."

"Let me warm that up for you. You take your stings like a champ, by the way. Never seen anybody get their legs back so fast." Pleo was doing the friendly voice again as she tapped a few more buttons on the side of the pod. "It’s alright to be scared, you know? But the place we’re headed to is pretty alright."

The gel started to warm a little, and Kinzie sighed, "What is this?"

"Well, the flight’s two hours long, so we’re gonna put you to sleep for most of it, okay? The doctor over there wants to run a few tests and make sure you’re healthy," Pleo says, patient even as the medic-bug rattles a symphony of annoyed sounds in her direction, "I need to close this up, and knock you out. Anything else you need?"

As the gel swirled up to Kinzie’s ribcage, almost in line with the bottom-lip of the pod’s opening, Kinzie blinked.

"Are you gonna kill us?" Kinzie asked.

"No, nothing like that," Pleo said.

"Will you send us home after?" Kinzie asked.

"I don't think so… not any time soon," Pleo reached inside the pod and sweetly pinched the lobe of Kinzie’s ear. "If we decide to keep you, you'll be in Kandar for a long time."

— — {

NOtification: {[

| Employment Notification:

> Regal Transzone Shipping Company: ["Employment terminated"]

> Denwise Labor Agency: ["Employment Terminated"]

]}

} — —

Kinzie leaned her cheek into the hand, and winced, and tears spilled over the corners of her eyes.

"You're… you people are…" Kinzie sniffled, "I hate you."

"I know," Pleo said and tugged a small mask from the ceiling of the pod, where it hung from a long hose. She secured it around Kinzie's face. "But don't worry."

— — {

notificatiON: {[

| DEN COLONY COURTHOUSE AUTO-NOTIFIER:

> ["Due to extenuating circumstances that have recently come to light, your citizenship under the Gaean Galactic Authority has been revoked. If you are not currently in Kandar detention, we ask that you submit yourself to the Kandar authorities at your soonest convenience. Thank you."]

> "Thanks for all your hard work, Citizen! Here’s a free month of WatchCue on us!"

]}

} — —

Pleo pulled down the shutter over the pod. From inside the muffled pod, as the gel rose around Kinzie’s neck, she heard the bug’s last words as they trailed away beneath the churning, perfumed gel.

"It gets better."