Terra-33 Ep. 00

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Terra-33

Episode 0.0

Remi switched weapons hastily, his primary rifle finally empty. As the grip touched his palm, his pistol surged forward into his hand. The enemy were lit up in his HUD, last known positions blinking a dull red. He had only looked down for a moment, but it took the targeting software another second to lock down the fighters again. As the nearest brute smashed through the thick foliage only a few yards in front of him, Remi leveled the weapon at its upper chest. Half again as heavy as an average man, the thing towered over him when it raised itself to full height in preparation to strike. Remi's hand-cannon boomed and his stabilizers fought to control the recoil. The round struck the brute in the chest and it screamed. Reacquiring his stunned target, Remi let another shot fly, this one taking the animal in the face. The humanoid creature slumped to the ground, missing a large chunk of its cheek.

His, actually,

Remi noted, the large and uncovered genitalia hard to miss as the beast toppled backward at the end of his fall.

Dismissing his most recent victim, Remi scanned for nearby targets. The woods around him provided ample cover, but his systems helped maintain their relative locations. Scarlet pulses of light to his left caused him to drop to one knee and spin to try to keep visual contact. The HUD just pulsed, thin trees with violet leaves rising crazily before him, obscuring his vision. The flora on this planet was so different from his home world in coloring and formation, but he likened these slender trees to birch. They had yellowish-white bark which was unfortunately the same color as the light fur that covered the bodies of his current attackers. Some joker back at New Bernburg had called them yetis once and the name had stuck. He stayed still, pistol extended as he breathed lightly. As he noticed what looked like an indigenous canine burst from the trees, he stood and took a slow step backward. Immediately following the animal, another yeti came leaping across the tall grass and into the clearing. Remi jerked back, trying to get his sights lined up in time. Just as he pulled the trigger, the beast collided with him and bore him down heavily.

A snarling visage hovered beyond his visor and Remi cringed at the sight of one so close. He knew he had hit it, but didn't know where. His weapon was currently pinned at his right side and he wouldn't want to fire again without knowing where the round would go. Remi's left arm was still free, so he punched his fist up, aiming for the brute's thick neck. His melee gear engaged and a slap of blue energy struck his foe. The force of the amplified blow rocked the monster sideways and Remi blinked hard. He scrambled to his feet and began stepping on the brute's head. His sensors screamed a warning that he couldn't heed in time as another yeti struck him from the side. Their powerful legs propelled them more quickly than the collision software could detect, and Remi cursed again as he was slammed into the grass. His knees struck first, followed by his helmeted face. He tried to shake it off but his body had become sluggish to respond to his commands.

Remi felt the heavy beast behind him, covering his body while it rained blows on his head and shoulders. He shouted for help as his HUD flared with damage reports. An explosion of pain rocked him suddenly as a meaty fist thunked into the back of his head. He shifted his hips and twisted, finally rotating to be able to see his enemy. The yeti was roaring down at him, its mouth dripping saliva as its hand pulled back in preparation of throwing another punch. Remi also noticed in that split second that the animal was male, due to the substantial erection. As the fist came hammering down at him, Remi frantically thrust his head to the side. The fist struck the ground and shook Remi's head with the impact, despite the attack missing him. His melee systems were still charging according to the icon in the lower right of his vision and he knew that if he didn't scramble out of this position, he was going to be smashed to bits in a matter of moments. The beast was screaming again, this time in pain, as it held its injured fist to its chest. Remi still couldn't get used to calling them he or she, it made them seem more human, and they were anything but that.

Another wild punch slammed down, striking his chestplate with a snap. Remi couldn't breathe and his HUD was now blinking all over the right side of his vision, a small image of his armor displaying a black section across his right pectoral piece. The normally translucent display was growing more opaque, shifting to black in multiple places. Remi's eyes snapped open just in time to see the monster's face explode. He closed his eyes again as blood and bio-matter rained down on his visor. Realizing that it was unnecessary, he overrode his reflex and sighed in relief. Standing over him was his partner, who was shoving the heavy corpse off of him.

Thank God.

She grunted as she put her boot into the brute's chest and kicked, dislodging it the rest of the way. As the animal landed on its back, Remi heard her gasp and then she started giggling.

"Remi! What were you

doing

over here?" she drawled, her eyes sparkling behind the visor. "If you needed more time with him you shouldn't have shouted..."

"Very funny, Trix," he deadpanned. "Thanks for your help though, honestly."

"That thing is huge, pretty sure that you would have needed a new body afterward."

"Well I am irresistible, you said so yourself. Can't blame these dumb fuzzballs for having good taste," Remi said, dusting his armor off and looking down at his sunken right pectoral. The cables had come undone in the middle and were dangling on his upper abdomen. He pushed at the piece experimentally with his index finger and his eyes widened as it simply disconnected and fell to the ground.

Shit,

he thought,

that'll cost a few hundred credits to repair.

He bent down and retrieved the pectoral plate to the tune of Trix's quiet laughter. Chagrined, Remi met her eyes after swiping the goo from his visor.

Damn, she's sexy,

he thought. The body armor only intensified his desire, hugging her hard curves like a second skin. He knew that she must be fit underneath, even if he hadn't seen it for himself yet. He had met the girl that he knew only as Trix a few days ago, hanging out in a lobby. She had been looking for another gun to go roaming in the Lowlands and he had been bored. They spent a few long hours together, slogging through the swamps and fields, blasting at the large reptiles that inhabited the sector. They had split the haul, taking ten of the expensive reptile hides each. Remi had trans-matted his share into his bird and called it a day at that point. Trix had begged him to reconsider, but then settled on a promise to hook up the next day for more hunting.

Remi had taken a few jobs the next day, knowing that he needed to kill some time before meeting up with her. He didn't want Trix to think he was overeager, so he spent a dull fourteen hours without her, repairing some hardware on SoftBank's new storage arrays. When he got back to his apartment, Remi had rushed through the door and locked it behind him. He grabbed a quick meal and got ready. In short order, he was armed and armored and heading for the same lobby. Trix had been standing there, tapping her foot against the wall she was leaning against. He took in her figure, muscles casual and loose but obviously ready for action at a moment's notice. When his eyes made it back up to her face, he grinned as she did the same to him, her eyes staying locked on his groin for a good length of time. Remi was smiling as she hugged him in greeting, loving the way their metal clinked. He knew she wanted to get underneath his gear and he felt the same, but that she was probably going to tease him. Remi knew a troll when he saw one and even though she was cute and charming, Trix was going to fuck with him well before she fucked him.

Now he knew that he was right on with his earlier assessment. Three days into their relationship, Trix had suggested that they could probably handle something a little more challenging than native swamp-lizards. Remi had hesitantly agreed, hoping she was right but unwilling to question her decisions so soon. That brought him to where he was now, missing half of his chest gear and out of primary ammo, bleeding and scuffed. Trix was pristine in her shining armor though, not a scratch to show for their activities so far. The big sun was going down behind her, an orange glow haloing her helmet. Remi turned back to the thick tree line, HUD lacking red for the first time in a while.

At least getting punched in the face didn't fuck up my software,

he thought, relieved. Trix pushed past him and stalked toward the trees, her hips swaying suggestively. He groaned and trans-matted the chest plate to his bird, watching it dematerialize in his hand.

"Hey, wait a second, Trix!"

"Keep up, sexy. I need you to distract the yetis."

Hoping she would forget about that soon, he trailed after her, inspecting his pistol. It didn't appear damaged, so he replaced it in its holster. His visor showed bright green on his melee timer and he felt more secure knowing that he could repel another grappling attack. Remi knew they should be nearing their destination soon anyway, the worst of the fighting behind them. A surveyor he knew had tipped him off to a helot deposit that looked like quite a haul. Development companies would pay good money for helot, the sturdy metal they had found embedded within rocks on Terra-33. It had similar properties to steel in its natural form, not requiring the same heat treatment that iron did to produce steel. When it was properly treated though, it could be alloyed with basic metals like iron and aluminum to produce a compound that was similar to Earth's titanium. The alloy had extremely high passivation properties after treatment, and so was able to resist all natural effects with great resilience. Most of the Burg's outer wall was constructed with helot++, the name given to the alloyed metal by its inventor. Remi always thought that the man must be much better at inventing metals than he was at names.

His bird could hold 1.21 tons, depending on density. Trix's looked like a larger model though, so Remi was pretty sure they would be able to get the load out in one trip. If not, they could always stay the night and let the birds auto the rocks back to New Bernburg. He wouldn't mind that option, a little more time to get to know Trix with nothing to do... Remi knew what he'd like to do to pass the time with Trix. As he followed her through the last of the trees, his eyes were drawn again to her hips and backside. It seemed that Trix noticed somehow and began to saunter even more. She was ten yards ahead of him when she dropped her blaster. Remi grinned hugely when she bent down, taking her time about it. When her body was a right angle, her hands gingerly snatched up the gun. With a little bend of the knees and a bounce, she was back on her feet and looking over her shoulder at him. He couldn't see her mouth behind the breather mask but her eyes were full of sultry laughter. His wink had her musical laugh filling his ears through the comm-link.

Trix lit up the entrance to the objective with a bright yellow circle on his HUD, bringing him back to the mission. They jogged forward, letting their servos assist the movement and bring their groundspeed to nearly forty miles per hour. The rocky, mostly flat ground flew by beneath their boots now, slender trees forgotten. Mountains shot up as they neared the objective, blocking out the sky with grayish-blue majesty.

At least the snow is white here,

Remi thought, looking up at the white-capped peaks. He was a little put off by the randomness of the color differences between Earth and Terra-33. It seemed that while most things remained the same as where he grew up, occasionally purple leaves or red water would make him pause and experience a surge of homesickness. For some reason, the major government on Earth had started naming these fringe worlds based on their properties. Terra-33 was the most recent to be colonized, and actually only the third terran planet that had been discovered, the redundancy of the

33

seemingly for no reason. Remi had signed up for the drop team, hoping to get in on the exploration from the start and become one of those 25 year old millionaires who struck gold, diamonds, some alien resource, whatever. A lot of his friends had died on the initial colonization though, and quickly Remi was stranded with a bevy of new faces but no real companionship.

Shaking off the memories, Remi slowed his pace as the entrance to the natural cave system loomed huge before them. When he passed under the shadow of the entry, Remi paused and looked back, seeing the bright white glare of the second sun in this star system. There was a perfect line on the ground where the shadow of the cave mouth met the sun in the dirt. The contrast was striking to Remi and gave him an ominous feeling. He wasn't sure what the source of it was, but as he moved deeper into the caves, it wouldn't leave him. Trix was already pushing her way through a rock fall that blocked the passage to the target and Remi hurried to catch up. His HUD visor flickered for a second, causing him to stumble and then pause. After a few tense moments, the low-light optics finally kicked in. Remi sighed in relief, his worry that the yeti had damaged that function of the gear now gone. The cave lit up before him in brilliant shades of gray, displaying smooth, circular walls and scattered debris along the floor. Trix had finished kicking her way through the passage and moved on without looking back. Remi hustled to catch up.

As he rounded the corner to enter behind her, a blinding flash of light eclipsed his HUD, making him drop to his knees in a defensive crouch. With Trix in the area, he didn't want to fire his pistol randomly, so he satisfied himself with the fact that his collision sensors would detect any non-friendly presence coming too close to him. As the light dimmed, Remi felt a hand grip him by the crotch of his armor. Several long seconds passed until he could see her face, but when he was able to, he realized that Trix had removed her breather and her grin was threatening to split her face. White teeth shown in tanned skin and Remi immediately grabbed his mask, popping the seals with a mental command. With a rush of air, the mask detached and dropped into his hand, then to the cave floor, forgotten. Trix's mouth slammed into him, along with her upper body, and Remi let his pistol go as well, using both plated arms to pull her closer. She had thrust her tongue furiously into his mouth and was aggressively taking the lead. Their visors clinked as she turned her head to kiss him from the other side. Remi was stunned at the sudden display of ardor but rolled with it, knowing that a chance like this was too good to pass up.

As her lips pummeled his, Remi felt his erection straining at his groin piece. He knew that he would need to get the armor off soon or risk a frustrating ache in an uncomfortable place. Trix pulled back with a gasp, throwing her helmeted head back. With a hiss, her helmet and visor dropped away from her face, revealing her features to Remi fully for the first time. Her hair was a bright blue, eyes to match in a dusky peach-colored face.

Of course her hair is blue,

Remi thought with a mental sigh. She had a very well-formed face, high cheek bones with a sharp chin and expressive mouth. He had previously only seen her eyes and eyebrows, as well as the upper half of her nose. When she had removed her breather, he was impressed by her full lips and straight nose, but the whole picture was quite striking. She smiled down at him, tapping a finger on his groin armor. Raising her eyebrows a couple times with a coy grin, Trix began rubbing her hands together. Remi laughed as he commanded his armor to release the codpiece, his tight priming pants bulging. Trix pounced on him immediately and Remi sat back on his elbows as her hand slipped through the fold in the fabric and gripped him firmly.

"Mmm, that's a hard dick, Remi," she moaned. "You've been holding out on me."

"I didn't think you'd appreciate me dangling it in your face the first day we grouped up."

"No, I'd rather it not

dangle

near my face."

With a tug, Trix had him coming back up to his feet. She rose with him from her crouch, pulling on his erection until he stood in front of her. She smiled and her mouth went to his neck, licking up his armor until she got to his jaw. She nibbled at his jaw and ear, her hands busy on his shaft. He felt her cup his balls through the fabric with one hand, not able to get his full package exposed without ripping his gear. Remi had a moment of clarity through the haze of lust and pushed her away lightly.

"We've gotta setup some mines, Trix," he breathed, inhaling heavily.

"Well, aren't you the mood killer!"

"Those yetis could hunt us and catch us with our pants down, literally. I personally don't want to experience that, not sure about you," he said, rolling his eyes as her eyebrow shot up and her grin expanded.

"They do seem to really like you though, maybe one would be gentle?" Trix paused, her eyes suddenly widening. "Oh! Or, we could find a female!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's just get some trippers setup so we can be safe?"

"First," she started, yanking on his softening shaft. "Come see what we found."

Remi frowned, having forgotten momentarily what they were supposed to be doing. When he remembered the helot, he snorted a little laugh and let her lead him by the dick. When she turned away from him and the tunnel lit up in white light, he realized that she had activated her shoulder lights. That must have been what had blinded his HUD, the low-light optics overloading with the sudden blast of illumination. He turned his on as well with a thought and looked down at her small hand on his re-hardened shaft.

Glad she took off her gloves from the start,

he thought. Those servos could compensate the kick of the .70 caliber ammo that his hand-cannon used, they could probably crush his erection pretty easily.

"Check that out!"

Remi's mouth dropped open as he looked where Trix was pointing. He barely noticed her hand increasing its rhythm as the gleaming pile of helot grabbed his attention. It was easily five feet wide and went all the way to the ceiling of the cave. The vein of metal was probably ten feet tall and depending on how far back it went, it could easily fill both of their birds and then some. Remi brought his attention back to Trix, who had cocked her head and was now regarding him happily. She let go of him and slapped his hard-on, sending it bouncing to the left and then back. Skipping past him, she pulled at a mesh pouch secured to her waist, near the curve of her hip. Remi watched her reach in and yank a few smart-mines out, the little balls about the size of eyes. She made a show of activating each one, keeping her back to him but leaning forward and pressing the button slowly on each before chucking them down the passage. The mines were tuned to their firegroup and wouldn't activate unless something living that wasn't them passed by. Remi was silently relieved, not looking forward to another encounter with the yetis. He had experienced enough furry fists trying to batter him out of his armor for one day.