Electric Love

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She said it was like making love to a toaster. It had been three years since the six year Industrial War had ended with a complete victory for the xenophobes who were against anything associated with mixing cybernetic parts into humans. Jamil Szép had now graced both sides of the looking glass. He’d once been an ardent supporter against integrating implants into humans but after he was wounded he found he couldn’t survive without them. Half of his skull had to be reformed and his arm remade. Plastic surgery was enough to hide his missing flesh but a piercing red glare was placed where his left eye used to be. There were better optics available but the funds were lacking. Likewise his replacement arm was just as poor. A whining sound of gears whistled whenever he made a move. It eventually became too much for his girl to handle.

The pure humans won out over the cyborg hybrids. Unfortunately for Jamil he fought against those who knew how to incorporate machines into the human body. And after his battle he found out that he needed their help the most. In order to get the implants he needed he had to change his allegiance. By the time he had healed he discovered he joined the losing side and no matter what he was able to do, what vessel he was able to command that the war had already been lost. Rather than risk losing more he took his ship, his crew, and disappeared from the map. The war was lost and there was no way the government he fought for was going to accept him now that he’d been modified. With the war over the Koda had been declared a pirate ship. It wasn’t better than the life he had but it was better than the life he would’ve found.

“Its like making love to a toaster,” she told him. The first time she told him he let it go but after the second he refused to hold back. He was still the same man. A backhand slap from his mechanical arm sent her to the floor. Unfortunately for her he was still getting used to his strength. Jamil heard the bones splinter against metal but there was nothing he could do about it now. The bitch had irritated him and he had already planned his fate; the only question was whether or not she would join him. That thought died that night, along with her once-pronounced cheek bones. He left her there on the floor while he departed to the Koda for the first time.

When he came aboard he found a crew of people, no more than twenty who were all augmented. The downfall of the cybernetic humans was that they refused to bring in any human sympathizers. Everyone had to have an alteration. They were almost as bad as the pure humans.

There just weren’t enough people to win a prolonged war. After a few months picking off trader ships the lack of real impact was apparent. Some of these ships would travel without an escort. That was enough to tell him that the pure humans weren’t afraid of losing the war. What was once a battleground had become a safe haven. The war wasn’t going to be won by one lone vessel. Jamil defected under his own flag.

Three years later he was patrolling the outskirts of the realm and attacking weaker targets whenever he could. The crew had aged but they were mostly the same, if not more loyal. Replacements were made whenever they were needed; people, parts, they were all the same. It wasn’t until he took on their first pure human captive after a raid on the ship, Thallium when the first pure human breathed in the air of the Koda. The female captain stupidly refused to surrender and everyone on her ship, aside from her, had been executed. At first Jamil had considered ransoming the bitch but that would involve communication, monetary compensation and the risk of an ambush. He knew he was wanted and he wasn’t going to give anyone an opportunity to take him. Instead he opted to load whatever supplies had remained from the trade ship and the cargo the female captain into the Koda’s one prison cell.

It was time to take something back after what the war had stolen from him. That bitch had said he was like a toaster… now that she was in his cell he would make her pay.

bumping

last bump

Never surrender

That had been her motto. That had been the words she had lived by for the 4 years she had commanded the Thallium. It had been the same creed her crew lived by. They had lived by the creed when her father, Captain Thoris Zachery, commanded the Thallium, and they had remained loyal when she took over.

Arial was her father's daughter, thru and thru. The same bright fire red hair, the same stunning deep forest green eyes.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a360/AmbrosiaCaress/red161972d28c7e785a874d10d4a19e3-1.jpg

The same courage and determination. The same stubborness, the same talent for command. The same pride, the same courage. Not much scared her, just like her father. And, they shared the same belief. Humans were to remain pure. Anything otherwise was an abomination. Not that her father had fought in the wars. Her grandfather had. But her father had not. He had always been a ship captain, and had steered clear of the wars. He shuttled cargo, people, even weapons. Space was a big place, it was relatively easy to stay away from all the fighting, if one knew the stars like he did.

He even tried to retire. And, he had managed, at least until the last few years of his life, to live, and eek out, a relatively quiet life. But he missed the life. He missed the stars. He loved Ariel, even tho she had been a surprise, sprung upon him by one of the many women he had romanced while Captaining the Thallium. But the moment he had gazed into that child's eyes, he was in love. And she adored him. So when he made the decision, as supplies and coin dwindled, to venture back into the stars, he took her with him. She was endless entertainment for his crew. And she took the the Thallium like a fish to water. The wars still raged, the Cyborgs and the Humans, slaughtering each other, each determined to win supremecy and enslave the other, so he once again stayed away from the major cities, the major fighting, the major everything and instead, patrolled the outskirts. Providing transport to any, human of course, who had the coin. Thoris had his beliefs, he just did not want to die a horrible death over those beliefs. So, he went about his business, transportaion, for people, or for merchandise, just like the old days..

But, he had gotten on in years, and space was a cruel and harsh mistress. Captain Thoris Zachery died in his sleep, one cold dark night, while the Thallium jetted along the outskirts of a major battle zone. His death was completely unexpected, and both Ariel and the crew took it very hard. But she managed to remain strong, and she buried her father in space, knowing he would want to spend his eternity among the stars. And, she took over the Thallium, determined to continue in his stead. She had no where else to go. She had no one other than the crew around her. For the last many years, as she had grown up, the crew had been, and still were, her family.

Under her command, for the next 4 years, the Thallium became one of the fastest ships in the realm. Ariel could often outrun space pirates and other raiders and get her cargo, whether people or otherwise, safely to their destination. Never surrender... her father had told her. Never surrender to competition, never surrender to influence, and never surrender to the enemy, especially anything remotely cyborg... But she, like her father, stayed clear of the war, clear of the fighting, clear of the hated Cyborgs.

Unfortunately, after weathering a rough meteor storm, the Thallium had taken some damage. That's what could happen when venturing into an uncharted area of space. "I just need to get to port" Arial had stated to her first mate, a man who had served under her father. "We'll get repairs there"... The space port she was aiming for was only a few thousand miles away... they could limp their way there...She was sure they could make it... that is, until the Koda emerged from the space mist, and attacked. It happened fast, and it was brutal. But Arial stuck to her vow to her father... and she refused to surrender.

That had been her downfall..

Now, all she could do was pace in her cell, desperately trying to NOT hear, over and over again, her crew, her family, being slaughtered. She had seen enough of it before she was dragged off, and honestly, she wasn't sure what was worse, hearing those gut-wrenching cries, or seeing it with her own eyes. But either way, once the screams stopped, and there was nothing but an almost eerie silence, she knew, they were all dead. Now, the only sounds were wet mops as the blood was cleaned up, and the lusty hoots and hollers from the Koda's crew. She could feel her heart racing as she tried to control her own fear, never mind the sorrow over loosing everyone she ever trusted. Why had they not killed her? What did they have to gain by keeping her alive? She began pacing again, drawing her tattered cloak around her... She had an idea of why, she was female after all, and the Koda's crew was... well... male... as far as she could determine...

That could only mean one thing, and it was not something she really wanted to think about...