Dante
This bot does not want to succumb to either flame or claws. It is determined if nothing else. But it wants my mate and it will not have her.
My sweet, clever little mate who has taken the one exit I left open for her and right now should be heading in the right direction to get to the central control area where, if I have any help from the ancestors, there should be enough information for the Sarkarnii to be able to undo the so-called mutations which have controlled us since we ended up in this galaxy.
One bot to deal with and then freedom for us all. If only this nevving bot will cease functioning.
I wrench at the last of its arms, the pincer slicing at my flesh.
My shift has made short work of healing the damage to my own body from having to hang on to a ball of white-hot conduits, but even so, that limb is still weaker than it should be, and it means I cannot get my claws into the body of the bot to rip it apart.
Instead, all I can do is slow its progress towards my mate, who is nearly at the entrance to the control hub. The nova second she disappears, I redouble my efforts, using fire, claws, teeth, everything in order to push the bot behind me and follow my Rosalie.
One Gonoz, bot or not, will not stop me being by my mate’s side, especially as we have the rest of the Gonoz contained forever within the conduit parcel.
As I get closer, I hear the sound of pulsar fire. My heartsfire shouldn’t have to shoot at anything. The place is empty save for us and the Gonoz.
Which is when I see the Veseli go flying past the entrance, smoke billowing from its wing casings.
The Gonoz had Veseli?
I pick up even more speed, bursting into what should be the central hub to find it is anything but. A vast space, deep within the crust of this planetoid, is filled with Veseli, and my mate is attempting to hold them at bay with a single pulsar pistol.
She is magnificent.
I let rip with a flame which incinerates most of the Veseli within her vicinity.
“About time,” Rosalie says, her chest heaving. “I thought you would miss all the fun.”
“And miss wholesale destruction?” I position myself in front of her, laying my tail down on the ground. “I wouldn’t ever miss a good fight. Get on me.”
“Get on you?” she says.
“Get on my back.” I turn my head to look at her. “Or I will put you there myself.”
Rosalie blows out a breath and then uses my spines to clamber up my tail, onto my back, and to the base of my neck.
“Get comfortable because we’re about to blast our way out of here,” I call back. “But also, feel free to use your pulsar as much as you like.”
The shiver which runs down my body very nearly unseats my sweet mate. I know when I close my eyes I am always going to see my fierce Rosalie holding off our enemies.
It will certainly cause me to have many emissions in my dreams.
I have no idea why the Gonoz would require an area the size of the one we are in, but as I unfurl my wings to their greatest extent, I am pleased to find I fit, and I’m able to take off, releasing swathes of flame as we go over the top of the Veseli, and I’m able to keep them from flying as we surge down the space to where I can see it opens out even further.
Once we get there, it is exactly as I expected. A shaft leads up, presumably to the planetoid’s surface.
“Hold on!” I growl back at Rosalie. “We’re going up.”
I fold my wings and slam my claws into the stone, clambering as quickly as I can up and up the rough sides.
The bot has not yet given up on us, and if we are to deal with all the Gonoz, then we are to deal with them all.
I can hear it behind me, thumping as it climbs too. I increase my speed as we approach the capping at the top, firing a blast of flame at it in the hope it isn’t any particularly strong metal.
As I burst through into dense forest, I hear my sweet mate on my back. She squeals. It sounds like she’s hurt.
In less than a nova instant, I have shifted back, and I catch her in my arms.
“Heartsfire?” I swiftly check her all over, but she is uninjured.
Instead she throws herself around my neck, her head buried in my scales, her breath hot and uneven.
“Dante…that was…amazing!” she huffs into me.
But of course she liked it. She is my mate after all.
“Where did the robot go?” Rosalie lifts her head.
Nev. I forgot about the bot.
A metal pincer folds over the molten edge, and then another, then a third, and this one has a pulsar cannon attached.
Rosalie swings round, pointing her pistol at the thing before I grab hold of her arm and throw us both to the ground.
The cannon bolt impacts in a tree directly behind where we are lying. It explodes into a shower of vegetation and water, covering us completely in debris.
“Let me shoot back!” Rosalie roars.
“Not against a cannon,” I reply over the sound of yet more pulsar bolt impacts.
Vast trees are falling as if they are mere spines on a Sarkarnii tail.
My Rosalie is too close to the destruction for me to flame at the bot.
I cover her with my body as best I can to keep her sweet form from being injured as I look for a way out, any way out which will allow us to be free of this nevving place.
There is one final cannon bolt, and save for the soft fall of tree branches, there is silence. At least until I see a pair of boots I sort of recognize.
“I know you didn’t want me to come to your battle, Dante,” Dexx growls from above me. “But I came anyway.”
I release Rosalie from under me, helping her to her feet and again, in such a short time, checking her for injury. There is no scent of blood from her, and I send a silent thanks to the ancestors.
“Someone let a bot go rogue,” Dexx drawls. “And I might have damaged it.”
I look over at the steaming pile of metal, glinting among the greens of the jungle.
“Good.” Rosalie brushes herself off. “The warranty just expired.”
She puts her hand into her pocket and pulls out the ball of glowing conduits.
“Do you think you can add one more to your cage?” she asks, handing it to me.
“It would be my pleasure, little flame.”
“And then, can we go home? I’ve had more than enough excitement to last me a lifetime.”
I capture her, pulling her to my chest, pressing a kizz to her lips, and tasting everything I hold in my heart.
“No more excitement.” I grin. “Only mating and breeding.”
Rosalie’s cheeks change color.
“You could keep the breeding part to yourself,” she whispers.
“Dexx knows all about breeding, and he isn’t interested.” I look at the dark warrior who is toeing the fallen bot.
Dexx looks over at me.
“The thought you might produce sarkarnlings in your likeness fills me with dread, Dante,” he rasps. “But then, how can any Sarkarnii resist the rut?” He grins a lopsided grin I have never seen before. “When you’re done here, my ship is waiting,” he says, stomping off into the jungle.
“It looks like you tamed the untamable.” I laugh at my sweet mate.
“Who? You?” She puts her finger on her chin. “I doubt that very much. You’re always going to be feral, Dante, just the way I like it.”