Exsol

Editor's note: this story contains scenes of non-consensual or reluctant sex.

*****

The knock at the door was soft and unimposing, it was a knock meant to check to see if Nina was awake, rather than one to awaken her. Nina was sleeping, technically, but she was expecting this knock, and sleeping lightly enough in that moment that her eyes opened and she sat up.

"Who's?" She asked drearily, rubbing her eyes.

"Carrina," she called softly through the door. She entered after Nina grunted her approval. The ghost of a scowl temporarily replaced her look of concern when she saw Nina was topless but it faded almost too quickly for Nina to notice. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." Nina grumbled, still a bit sleepy. She let her breasts remain uncovered for a few moments, almost as a challenge, but finally relented and picked up the blanket and pulled it up to cover herself.

"Why'd you ignore our messages? You know your contract." Nina being covered, Carrina clearly felt empowered enough to come forward and sit on the edge of the bed.

"Went to go see Robin. Terminal went kaput. Battery. Wasn't thinkin' that Sam'd shred his mirror over nothin'. Why'd you even tell him?"

"Nina, I fired the Gauss cannon to save you. You know Sam always wants a report when I do that, those slugs aren't cheap." Carrina sighed a little bit and managed to not roll her eyes condescendingly at Nina this time.

"Keep tellin' Sam that stupid cannon is bleedin' metal 'cuz we use pure tungsten." Nina muttered.

"Nina that's not- Listen, if you'd just given a report with me, this wouldn't have been an issue and you could be spending all day with your boyfriend after we book you some trauma counseling. Now Sam's all lathered up about pattern breaking."

"Pattern already wobblin' I checked my logs, the scavvers n Widows came five minutes 'fore they shoulda. Real breaker is that Mech I told you 'bout." Nina stood up a little straighter. This was what she had been preparing for. Getting the truth out before they pinned the blame on her for when the behavioral pattern of the precursor's machines finally did break and become unstable and unpredictable again.

"The... Mech? What Mech?" Carrina asked, suddenly confused.

"The stealth-tech one that I spotted in the woods last week. Robin found a new Mech on the books in Abrandia, somethin' from Neo-Venus. Robin says it's Zenith. Most stealth Mechs're Zenith."

"Some... Mech from Neo-Venus illegally poaching our tech. An invisible Mech, that you couldn't get clear footage of."

"It's. Stealth." Nina scowled, overwhelmed by the stupidity of Carrina's complaint. More proof, and Carrina still played the needlessly stubborn skeptic. "An' I don' drive t'wards plasma casters firin' off in the canopy to get a better rez on a video for detective Sam. I almost get slagged enough as-is, thanks."

Carrina heaved a heavy sigh, leaning back a little and giving Nina a sad look, like she was about to tell her that her kitten had died. Nina almost wanted to glance at the foot of the bed to make sure that her kitten, Jeffie, was still there. "I want to believe you, Nina, but I'm having a hard time. You know Sam won't buy this."

"Well, s'why it helps t'have someone with four lobes backin' me an' not three." Nina cast her blanket away and got out of bed. Carrina let out an exasperated and embarrased noise at Nina's lack of modesty and looked away as she went over to get dressed.

"Fine. Show me your new proof and I'll see what I can do. If we actually have a poacher from Neo-Venus with a gleaming Mech then I guess we'll have a serious problem. A stealth Mech, no less." Carrina remained seated on the bed but kept looking at the far wall. Jeffie was actually awake now, and the little kitten hopped up onto her lap, making the woman jump in surprise.

Nina snickered at Carrina awkwardly trying to dislodge the affectionate kitten from her lap as she wiggled her way into a bra that she still wasn't used to yet. She grabbed her hand terminal once she had her underwear on and sent the relevant files to Carrina.

"...Dawn and Dusk? Nina you can't be serious." Carrina shooed Jeffie off her lap and the kitten padded over to Nina. He squeaked and put his paws up on Nina's leg, begging for attention.

"Abrandia registry doesn't joke. You know that." Nina grabbed her crumpled pants off the floor where she'd left them and pulled them on, at which point Carrina finally stopped staring at the far wall and looked over at her.

"No, I guess you're right on that one. What makes you think this Mech is gleaming enough to have functional stealth tech?" Nina was a little surprised that Carrina was pretending to believe her, but she probably felt guilty over ratting her out to Sam.

"Lookit the autocannon ammo. 25-series rounds. No garbage pile like Twinshya is loading those."

Carrina frowned and flipped through the files. "Are you even supposed to have this ammunition manifest?"

"Prob not. Butterfly doesn't explain, I don't ask."

"That boy..." Carrina muttered to herself, probably holding herself back from embarking on one of her rants about how he was a bad influence on Nina. "Well, I'll look through all this. Do me a favor and double check Twinshya's deflectors? I got a little more rattle from that Widow than I should have."

"I gotta replace half the conduit in that bucket and I've negative bits of conduit t'do it with." Nina grumbled, picking up Jeffie and giving him some attention so that he'd stop clawing at her ankle.

"Do what you can with what you have," Carrina sighed. She left Nina without even so much as a look, instead staring at the files Nina had given her. Maybe she was taking it seriously, she wasn't that good of an actor, after all.

A little while later, Sam found her in the workshop, disassembling one of the missiles she'd salvaged that Nugan hadn't quite gotten to yet. He stood there for a second, a scowl on his face and angry comment waiting on his lips to be unleashed.

"Your terminal ran out of power? Do you really expect me to believe that?" he asked.

"Don't expect. Don't care." she muttered, carefully removing the fuel housing of the missile she was working on and setting it to the side.

Sam frowned at her for a moment, before he sighed and straightened up a little. "Nina I'm putting your contract on probation. We'll re-evaluate your position with us in three weeks. Until then I'm empowered to terminate your contract for breaches similar to the one you pulled last night."

"Fine." Nina rolled her eyes. Sam couldn't really fire her, he barely had the crew necessary to keep Twinshya running as it was, and he was too cheap to pay anybody a real wage, it was why he'd jumped at the chance to hire a delinquent like Nina with a shady off-the-books contract in the first place. The fact that Nina was a good mechanic was just his dumb luck.

Sam stayed there for a few moments, expecting her to say something, but she didn't, and he eventually just walked away and left her alone as she tore apart the missiles she'd nearly died to acquire.

**

Miya yawned sleepily as consciousness slowly came back to her. She stretched, wiggling her toes and cracking her fingers. Her leg brushed up against something warm in her bed, something unexpectedly lying right next to her. She jumped in fright, yelping softly and recoiling. A man was sleeping there next to her, breathing softly, his short dark hair flopped over his forehead. She recognized him, and memories of last night slowly came back to her.

"Ugh," she muttered softly, scowling at the intruding man and giving him a gentle kick. "Hey. Wake up." The man stirred and Miya struggled to remember his name. Her companion, Naz, just giggled at her dilemma and offered no help. He was her dalliance and not Naz', after all.

"Whuh?" he groaned sleepily, turning over a little but not sitting up properly.

"Wake up. You said you'd be gone before morning," she kicked him again a little more firmly and he groaned in response.

Slowly he sat up, rubbing his eyes and looking at her in a somewhat dopey way. His eyes flickered to her chest for a moment but she held the blanket up and scowled at him to keep his attention on her face. "I said what?"

"You promised you wouldn't stay the night. Did you crawl into bed with me after I went to sleep?" Her withering glare made him recoil a bit and blush in embarrassment.

"I... don't..."

"Whatever. Just— Just get dressed and get out," Miya gathered up some blankets and used them to cover herself as she went into her bathroom. Whomever this shrew was, she wouldn't be inviting him back to their house again, she hated people being there when she woke up and her regulars were men who knew that.

"Perhaps a narrower range of courtesans would fit your requirements better, sister?" Naz's voice spoke teasingly in the mind that the two of them shared.

"Don't want people getting clingy," Miya responded, rolling her eyes as she washed her hair. "Better if I don't see them too often. I have to keep a wide rotation."

A few minutes later, Miya stepped out of the shower and saw that her guest was gone, and had left behind only some contact information on a piece of paper. She stalked over to the paper and snatched it up off the bed, crumpled it up, and tossed it into the recycler without reading it. When she went over to fish out her hand terminal from the drawer she'd locked it in, she saw it had a notification on it. It was a reminder that they had a meeting this morning, and she cursed when she realized that she only had a few minutes to get going.

The light of Ishtar's star was dim and cast shadows across the city of Abrandia as it began to dip towards the horizon. The planet's forty three hour revolutionary period meant that most people measured two twenty one and a half sleep cycles per ishtar "day", so second morning came just as the star was starting to hang low in the sky. Miya walked to the tram station and waited at the back of the small group of people on the platform, avoiding contact. One of Abrandia's four aging and banged up maglev trains came along and stopped at the platform with a soft hiss.

The trip was as uneventful as she could have hoped for, she stood at the doors to the train and stared at the city rushing past her as the train went several stops to her destination. Waking up next to her guest had set her into a bad mood for the day and it felt like she had something crawling under her skin.

With Miya stewing and fidgeting, Naz took control and looked around the train cart. She saw someone who reminded Naz of her girlfriend Marielle, she had similar dark and curly hair that hung down around her shoulders, though this woman was a fair bit older. She smiled warmly at the woman and waved. The woman returned the gesture though didn't smile quite as much in return. Abrandia was a nice place, people were warmer and friendlier here than many other places, but strange people smiling at you on the train was perhaps still a bit off-putting for most.

The train stopped almost directly in front of the low-key militia building that was actually an administrative office but looked just like any other residence in the neighborhood. Naz headed into the foyer, flimsy door to the street slapping shut behind her with the guarded door into the compound lying just ahead.

"Morning, Naz," The door guard whose name they couldn't remember waved at her and then punched a code into the door to open it. The fact that he'd addressed the two of them as Naz wasn't surprising, most of the people at her job knew Naz much better, which was mostly by Miya's own design.

"Unseen blessing, friend," Naz waved at him as she walked past. As she spoke the words she concentrated slightly upon the melody playing in her mind. Their Ascension, Tempest, was a constant presence. It wasn't a distinct thinking, feeling individual like Naz and Miya were, but rather it was a vague melancholic sensation and a soft discordant song that rose and fell, seemingly at random. Many ExSol's possessed of the strange, rare Ascension knew it wasn't just random. There was a deeper force at work, an echoing whisper left behind by the Precursors for the ExSol's to find and decipher.

"There will be time for your superstitious obsessions later, c'mon," Miya snapped Naz out of her daze and took the two of them through the militia's administrative building towards the conference room. The door had been left cracked open, and their uncle Wasseim, Knight-Captain of the Abrandia Militia, was already droning on about something or another inside.

"Forgive our sloth, Uncle," Naz apologized with a calm smile as she walked into the room. Wasseim and the other pilots just gave her a very cursory glance before she slipped into her seat. One of the pilots in particular, Analu, gave her a dirty look as though she'd offended him. Naz returned the look with a warm smile, and Analu just shook his head as though she'd offended him further, and looked back at Wasseim.

"I'm gonna punch him right in the face one day," Miya thought, and Naz just giggled.

The briefing didn't go terribly long before Naz closed her eyes, drowning out her uncle's boring recitation of the briefing and letting the melody of Tempest envelop her. Tempest was pretty today, the humming vibration in her chest had a slow, soothing tempo that she enjoyed. Some days Tempest felt angry and agitated, and that was distressing. Those days, she blocked the melody out as best she could, which wasn't always very well.

"Oi! Naz! Quit dreamin!" Her uncle Wasseim's voice cut through the reverie. She opened her eyes slowly and blinked at him, confused.

"...Uncle?" she asked.

"C'mon, kit, can't'cha at least 'tend to pay attention? Makes me look like a goof, y'know?"

"He doesn't care if he looks like a goof. Just thinks he's protecting us." Miya's thoughts interjected themselves into their mind, along with a feeling of incredulity and exasperation. Miya didn't much care for their uncle, but Miya didn't care for anybody.

"Will try, Uncle," Naz smiled at him sincerely even as Miya grumbled silently. Wasseim's shoulders slumped in defeat and he sighed.

"Heckin' ridiculous," Analu muttered just loud enough that a few people heard but not loudly enough to announce it to the room.

"Care to repeat that, Ana?" Miya asked with a scowl, her intensity overriding Naz' calm presence in that moment.

"Yeah, it's ridiculous that you can't take this job seriously, we have Hallu terrorists in the city, Talon is on a security upswing, and mos—" Analu squealed as Wasseim walked up behind him, grabbed him by the wrist and twisted it behind his back in a display of martial training. They knew that their uncle hadn't seen any active hand-to-hand combat in probably decades, but he made it look as easy as picking up a pebble

"Oi, Ana?" He said, his voice calm and dark. "Y'think ye can pilot Titan better'n Miya?"

"C-Course I can't, I don't have Tempest," he yelped, reaching back and grabbing Wasseim by the arm to try to alleviate the pressure on his shoulder.

"Y'got a problem with yer CO's disciplinary actions?" He asked.

Analu was quiet for a moment before he shook his head, his squirming taking on a greater intensity as Wasseim continued to pressure his shoulder.

"Then mebbe shut yer mouth 'n leave Nazmiya 't me, ye?" Wasseim didn't wait for a response and let Analu go, casting a challenging glance around the room which wasn't met by a single pair of eyes except Miya's. "An' Miya. These new security 'cols are more fer you than the rest've us. Hallucia finds out yer the only pilot for Titan, 's a big target on yer back. Show some respect."

"Of course, Uncle. I will contemplate Tempest's blessing later." Naz smiled at him. Wasseim's shoulders slumped again and he shook his head.

"Could barely handle one niece," He muttered, going back to his briefing.

***

Dawn watched the van through the corner of their eye, making sure not to make it too obvious that they were aware of the amateurs' presence. Dawn wasn't fully aware of all the aspects of this operation. They didn't need to know, so they hadn't been told. Even if they had been fully briefed, it wasn't Dawn's place to question the necessity of their role, and so they didn't. Still, that didn't mean that Dawn was particularly fond of this phase of the operation. This was the part where they sat out here in plain sight while some mercenaries hired by a deranged zealot watched with guns readied.

Dawn lowered their spoon to their bowl of soup and brought some up to their lips, maintaining a picture of patience and boredom for the people who were probably watching them through binoculars. Unlike Neo-Venus, Abrandia did use a market-based exchange system for many things, but food and housing weren't included in that system. Dawn's room and meals in this hostel would be provided for them without question for as long as they wished, which meant that they didn't have much to do but sit around and wait for their contact give them the go-ahead to start the next phase of the mission. That, and recover properly from the beating Emilia had given them last week.

Dawn's terminal buzzed softly against the table, the vibrations making the piece of hardware rotate a few degrees. Dawn very casually put their spoon down and checked who was calling them, suppressing how eager they were to get out in Dusk and continue their actual work instead of sitting here like a worm wriggling on a hook.

32:30 Abrandia Docking Admin: Hello, Mx.Dawn? Do you have a moment to clarify something for me?

32:31 Dawn: Yes.

Dawn frowned a little at the message. Why would the docking administration be bothering them again? Getting past the wall of the bureaucracy here had been odious but Dawn had done everything thoroughly so as to make follow up clarifications unnecessary. There were no doubt discrepancies in the records, but Dawn had greased palms and waved distracting leads at people such that nothing would turn up foul until next quarter when they did a full audit.

32:31 Abrandia Docking Admin: The housing office didn't link your profile with where you have the Mech stored. Just wanted to confirm you're living in housing unit # 25340-T and your machine is docked at # 130-M?

32:33 Dawn: No. Housing unit #25339-T and dock #112-M

32:33 Abrandia Docking Admin: Oh really? Looks like we had a mix-up after all. Thanks for clarifying! Have a nice stay in Abrandia, Mx.

Dawn stared at the messages for a while, frowning and unable to shake the feeling that something was wrong. The message appeared to be legitimate. Dawn double-checked the source that the connection had come from, it was the same people who had given Dawn the permissions to house Dusk in the facility it was still occupying. Paranoia crept across Dawn's uneasy mind but there was nothing to be done about it. Dawn's instructions were to be completely co-operative with the local government and to sit still and await further instructions. And so, that's just what they did.

**

32:50 Butterfly: Hey, Miss Nina, guess who I found?

33:12 NinaS: Just say it not in mood

33:15 Butterfly: Dawn's in town. I found where they're staying.

33:15 NinaS: On my way msg me details

33:17 Butterfly: Housing unit #25339-T and the Mech is in dock #112-M

33:20 NinaS: 112m? Heck ya ty Butterfly talk later

Dawn's accommodations were a little hostel tucked away near the industrial district of Abrandia, no doubt chosen for proximity to wherever it was the pilot's Mech was docked than anything else. As luck would have it, she found them in the little common area porch, easily identifying them at a glance.

The Ascension that ExSol's called Zenith steadily increased up the internal body temperature of the person who was activating it. Unlike Pulse, it could be freely activated and deactivated, but provided no thrilling rush, no heady moments of hyper-awareness. The cockpit of a Zenith Mech, by necessity, had refrigeration and heat sinking capabilities to stop the pilot from getting heatstroke. Some small percentage of people who both had and actively used Zenith had their hair burned off, typically people with fine, blonde hair that was susceptible to the increased temperature. Dawn was one of those people, bald and pale without even a single eyelash or eyebrow.