Space is too Smol/Chapter 6

Rita awoke groggily on her back, her vision a single blurred shape. Her whole body ached horribly, though her chest felt the worst. With a flash of panic, she remembered what had happened and staggered to her feet. As her vision returned, she ran blindly for a vaguely door looking shape, only to be jerked back by a force around her neck. As she gagged she tried to reach up to grab her neck, only to realize her arms were bound together at the wrists. Not only that, but she could not move them at all. Her vision returned completely as adrenaline cleared the last of her tiredness away. The girl strained against the neck bind to no avail. Twisting, she saw she was shackled to the wall by a collar and thick cord. Her hands were also locked into a flashing box. Not only that, but she realized she was naked and her arms tingled as a constant flow of electricity shot through them. It was the energy that prevented her from moving her arms, locking the muscles in place.

As she struggled against the chain, the door opened and an alien stepped in. "You are already awake... impressive. You were very expensive to subdue, but we will make our money back when we sell you." The alien stalked forward and grabbed her chain, pulling Rita into the air. Rita saw a scar that ran across the alien's triangular face, and realized it was the one who'd captured her. "Go fuck yourself!" she shouted, spitting into its middle eye. It did not even blink as the saliva hit squarely. If it even could blink.

"Your suit is the most impressive piece of tech we have ever seen. We had to feed enough energy to power a small ship into those shackles to subdue it, yet still it refuses to die. It killed twenty of my pod-mates as it mutated into an airborne pathogen that directly dismantled our DNA." It swung Rita in closer to its face as she beat on it uselessly with her legs. She couldn't deliver more than weak kicks with this much energy coursing through her muscles. The alien ignored her feeble attempts to kick it.

"It then grew thin blades and shot them out laced with a neurotoxin. The genetic programming holding together that unholy mash webs together the DNA of hundreds of species... If only we could have unbounded it from you. Well, there's time to figure that out..."

Rita forced her muscles to flip up and scissored her legs around the thing's neck, straining uselessly against a mound of tough skin and muscles. "Your railgun sprouted legs and shot a blast through my ship the moment it was brought aboard. We were forced to destroy it before it tore the entire ship apart... Such a waste." His eyes stared down at Rita's bare pussy with her legs around his neck. "But we still have you. A real living human... I thought you were all extinct. Amazing. We've all seen the recordings of your mating practices... I would love to see if they're... accurate."

Rita blushed as he poked her belly. "I will NEVER be your slave! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" A triangular hole opened in the alien's face, and a blue tongue shot out and licked the little girl across the groin. She cried in pain as a purplish-blue saliva burned the skin it touched. It retracted its tongue and watched as Rita's skin turned red and raw, then over the course of less than a minute scabbed up and healed completely. "Even without the suit your body has still been heavily augmented. I have never laid eyes on this level of genetic alteration on a living natural born host. You are also very young, which is unfortunate. Still, at least you are female. A male would sell for far less at a high bid slave auction."

Rita spat on him again, letting go of his neck. She instead pulled her legs up to hook behind her wrists, the big veins in her neck straining as she tried to push the shackles off her hands. "Your inner fire is immeasurable, little human. Had you been born ve'gath.. and male... you would have made warchief like myself.. easily." He... he must be male given his rank, pried her legs free roughly. Rita blinked. So these were ve'gath, like the ones that had tried to kill on her last mission? Dr. Nebula had mentioned some issues with this species, but had not elaborated further. "You have been pacified and are no longer a threat. I will treat you no differently than any other unbroken slave. You will go into the cell block with the others."

He took her from the small room dangling by the neck chain in the air as he marched down long winding corridors. Each alien they passed halted and did some sort of odd waving gesture with their arms as they passed. Rita guessed it was some kind of salute. "You are in the inner ring... This place is heavily shielded and guarded. We protect our property." She continued fighting her bonds as they walked, even though she could barely breathe. "In case you were expecting a rescue, you should know we left that planet the moment we had you aboard. That was three solar cycles ago. You will not be found." Rita ignored his words. Dr. Nebula would have ways to find her... wouldn't he?

"Hmm..." the alien said as they passed into another section of the ship. Rita struggled like mad as he pressed a single huge finger against her pussy. "You are so small and young... even for a human. We will see if you break in the harem chamber. I will NOT allow you to die. You are worth too much." She struggled like a wild animal. "Still, you must be broken before you can be sold." He rubbed her pussy as Rita growled at him, the only sound she could make with her windpipe squeezed. "Such simple biology... You are not very special, human." He rubbed her more as they approached a closed door with two hulking guards flanking it. Both guards did the same saluting gesture and opened the door for her captor. He threw Rite into the room violently several dozen meters. Aliens of dozens of races cowered in the corners of the stinking chamber, watching the door with fear in their eyes.

Rita landed on her feet despite the hard throw, and raced back towards the open door. "I will come retrieve you for your first breaking session." he declared as Rita sprinted toward the door, screaming a battle cry. "For now, you may rot with your fellow slaves." The door slammed shut just as Rita reached it. She screamed and slammed her body against it, frightened by how weak and slow she had been in the dash. She slammed it again, tears streaming down her cheeks. She was all alone now... Her ship would no doubt make it back to Dr. Nebula. At least Skylar was saved from this fate. That knowledge brought her some comfort...

Rita was still slamming her badly bruised side against the door as she wept when a hand pressed her on the back. She whirled, facing a slender alien of a race called Rembrosian. Rita could clearly tell she was female, as like herself she wore no clothes. The alien girl stood half a head taller than Rita, her body proportions closer to that of a human than any other race here. Her skin was a shocking shade of bright blue, with green speckles running along the outside of the limbs and belly. Her green, pupiless eyes regarded Rita calmly from her round face, seaweed-colored hair falling in tangles around it.

"You are in pain. You must cease this effort. It will not make the door open." Rita glared up at the rembrosian girl. "I don't care!" she sobbed, slamming into the door again. "Please, you will be in so much pain after your first session with the warchief. Do not make it worse on yourself." Rita glared as the girl placed two slender hands on her shoulders. She was probably only a year or two older than herself, Rita guessed, judging from her hairless pussy and equally flat chest. Rembrosians aged slowly like humans, and were highly sought after as slaves for their physical similarities to them. Though in truth, the similarities ended past the appearances. They were amphibious, hatching from eggs and preferring to live underwater, amongst other things.

"Why do you care?" she sobbed. The alien girl pulled her into a hug and held. "I am told this is how humans comfort each other.. Please, I only wish to help..." Rita hesitated, then rested her head on the older girl's chest. She sobbed herself into hiccups in the girl's arms. The rembrosian girl rubbed her back and shushed her until she calmed down. Rita finally pulled back and tried to wipe her eyes on her locked in place bicep. The alien girl reached down and rubbed her tears away with slender fingers. Rita saw the scars on them where they'd cut away the webbing to make her look more human. It was a very cruel practice, and they would never grow back.

"My name is Thresha. Might I know yours, small human girl?" Rita blinked up at her new friend. "It's... Rita." she whispered. "Rita... What a nice name." Her voice had an almost musical quality to it as it gave her name a caress. "Will you come take food with me?" Rita blinked, then nodded slowly. Thresha put a hand on her back and guided her to a small alcove set in the wall. Other aliens shuffled out of their way as they passed, muttering and whispering amongst themselves. Rita caught only snippets of their conversations.

"...real human!?" "...thought... were a myth!" "Can't... real... Must... cosmetic..."

Thresha pulled aside a tattered rag and beckoned Rita inside. She stepped past quickly, wanting to get away from all the eyes staring at her naked body. Thresha walked in after her, closing the drape. "I was taught human body language and customs from all of your fictional recordings. It was difficult to learn, but the master expects to get a high price from a human auction for me. I suspect that is where he will sell us both when he deems us ready. An actual human at a human auction... They will bid like mad for you." Rita leaned up against a cold metal wall, looking around. She didn't want to think about that right now The girl's hovel was small, with crude pots and pans laid over an open flame pit. The rembrosian girl went over to the pot and squatted down, stirring the contents with a piece of trash wood.

"How long have you been a slave..?" Rita asked quietly before realizing what she was saying. "Sorry I asked..." she mumbled. "No, it's alright." Thresha said in a monotone voice, not looking up from the boiling pot. "I was barely more than a hatchling when our nest-city was raided. I remember little of my family. I have been sold many times since then. Each master was.. different. Some were kind... but K'rish is the cruelest I have known."

Rita knelt down next to her. "K'rish?" she asked, curious. The girl looked up at Rita, startled. "Warchief K'rish... The name of the ve'gath you are now owned by. You did not his name or title..?" Rita scowled into the pot. "He does NOT own me! My father will come for me, and I will be waiting over his rotting corpse when he arrives!" she shouted. Thresha shook her head wistfully, scooping some of the slip into a bowl. "Even for an unbroken, your will is strong. However, Warchief K'rish has a.. reputation. He has never failed to break a slave, and personally breaks only females. He is cruel.. and his methods work." She placed the bowel on top of Rita's shackle box like a shelf. Rita leaned down and sniffed the slop, making a face - it smelled horrible.

"I don't know how your taste buds are configured, but to me it smells worse than it tastes. Eat up, you will need your strength for when K'rish takes you to be broken. Let me see your side..." She picked up a cloth and put a hand on Rita's back, turning her to look at the side of her body she had been banging against the door.

There was a long silence before she said, "Your bruises are nearly healed. That was remarkably fast... Is this a normal human thing?" Rita slurped the gruel, trying not to think about what the chunk she was chewing actually was. Swallowing stiffly, she made a face and cleared her throat. "No... I am.. augmented." Thresha took her hand away from Rita's back. "I see... How fortunate you are to be blessed with such fast healing. Or possibly unfortunate... K'rish may use this ability against you in your breaking session." She refused to think about that, it would only make it worse.

Rita and Thresha ate in silence until they heard movement at the entrance to their hovel. The curtain peeled back. "Human. Come here at once!" A large hulking alien of a race called Seriun stepped through the doorway, his four double-jointed arms holding the cloth apart. They were humanoids with squid-like heads and had hands with seven fingers, all of equal length. This one's yellow skin was striped with orange lines, and his two eyes were jet black and slanted along his angular face. He wore nothing, and Rita could see clearly he was male. His spear-headed doubled cocks hung low to the ground, a good two feet long. This species was very popular for interspecies pornos due to the fact that their genitals were prehensile.

"Its true, an actual human! Though a spawnling... Bah, I will not waste this opportunity even if you are young. Come here, now!" Rita scrambled to her feet and glared at the alien man. "Leave her be, Daaren. You would be flayed and gutted if any harm came to her." The huge seriun looked down at Thresha, and punched her hard with his left two arms, sending her flying into the wall. "You do not tell me what to do, rembrosian whelp! I am the top slave around here, and..." Rita screamed and flung the bowl of gruel at her new friend's beater. As the bowl flew and he covered his face, she launched herself forward, executing a flying scissor kick. The seriun male staggered backwards out of the hovel as Rita charged forward and headbutted him in the two cocks.

As Daaren wheezed, he pummeled Rita before she could dart back, slamming all four of his fists into her at different angles. Rita staggered to her knees as he wailed on her. She dropped and rolled, positioning the cuff box so his left top fist slammed into it. She heard the sound of bones crunching as his wrist broke, but to her fury the box did not break.

"Useless seriun! You could have at least broken these accursed shackles for me!" Daaren snarled and picked up the angry little girl by the head, slamming her into the metal floor and dazing Rita. "I will reach you your place, human cock sleeve!" he roared, his lower two hands sizing Rita's legs and forcing them apart. Rita snarled and writhed as the twin cocks shot towards her pussy, both of them shoving inside her tight cunt at once. She screamed as they squirmed up inside her womb, stretching out her belly.

Rita thrashed as the seriun raped her, his brushing grip on her legs and head pinning her in place. She squeezed her legs together as hard as she could, trying to get free. "So this is a human breeding hole... It is better than I could have imagined..!" Rita screamed as his squirming cocks tasted her deepest crevices, the spear-shape tips painful.

Rita thrashed wildly, trying desperately to get free. The seven fingered hands were not as good at gripping as they were at punching, and her legs sprang from his grip. Rita kicked up into his chin, snapping his head up as he lost his balance and fell backwards. His cocks ripped out of Rita's abused cunt as she screamed again. The human girl flipped to her feet and threw herself at her abuser, landing on his chest and scissoring her muscular legs around his throat. Rita squeezed her thighs together as he pummeled her with all four arms, even trying to knock her off him with his broken-wristed hand in desperation.

Rita bore the punishment stoically, hate in her small race as she stared the big alien rapist down. The seriun's pummeling got weaker and weaker as he ran out of air, before he finally collapsed. Rita's breath came raggedy as she let go of his neck and rolled off him, staggering to her feet.

"Anyone else want to try to rape the human girl!?" she shouted defiantly to the crowd that had formed to watch the fight. They all shrunk back from her in fear. "You leave me alone, and you leave Thresha lone!!! Got it!?" the crowd dispersed before her. "Humans are crazy..." she heard one of them say. "That was actually impressive. Isn't she a child? I'd hate to see an adult human if a small child can do all that while bound.." said another.

Breathing hard, Rita spat on the downed seriun. A small impact hit her from behind as shaking arms were flung around her. Rita almost threw the body off her before she realized it was only Thresha. "Y-You... You defeated Daaren! He is the strongest of the slaves, and you beat him!" She looked at Rita with tears in her green eyes. "You really are a warrior! I have not found hope in my heart in many a season, but..." she looked down at Daaren. Bending over, she checked his vitals. "He is not dead..."

The rembrosian girl pressed her head to the floor at Rita's feet. "Daaren forces himself on my every night.." she confided to Rita. "He makes me hurt and forces his breeders inside my holes. He tried to do the same to you, but you stopped him!" She lifted her head up, and Rita saw a nasty gash on her forehead from where she'd hit the wall. "I wish I were strong like you..." Rita blinked down at the girl, feeling a tightness in her throat. "When I escape, Thresha, I will take you with me. I promise..!" Rita pulled the girl up into a warm hug.

They embraced for a long moment in the middle of the room, until a loud alarm sound filled the room. Thresha quickly pulled away. "That is the sound for an inspection! We must all like up along the walls!" She tried to pull Rita away from the knocked out seriun, but she refused to move. "P-Please, come Rita..!"

As slaves of all races lined up along the walls, Thresha gave up and left to join them at a sprint. Rita stood in the center of the room proudly with a foot planted on Daaren's twin cocks as the door opened. Four guards streamed into the room holding huge batons, followed by Warchief K'rish. The guards circled Rita, holding their batons at the ready as K'rish approached slowly, his massive hands locked behind his back.

"So, even partially immobilized and weakened, you still managed to stop Daaren from mating with you... Though you still let him penetrate your breeding hole. Hmph, I expected.. better." Rita glared at the alien man. "I will personally eject your lifeless corpse into a singularity, K'rish!" she snarled. Rita dodged the first guard's baron, but the second one clubbed her in the belly, sending her flying out of the ring to land at K'rish's feet. Rita rolled away as he attempted to grab her, right into the downward swing of another baton. Her shoulder cracked as white-hot pain seared down her arm. Rita kicked the hand joint holding the baton, and it dropped into her arms.

The young girl tried to throw the weighted baton at K'rish with her bound arms, but it was just too heavy for her in her weakened state. The baton ended up being her undoing as its weight prevented her from dodging K'rish. He picked her up by the waist, tossing the baton to another guard. The three remaining guards all turned on the one Rita had disarmed, beating him without mercy as she stared. "I do not tolerate failure." he said as Rita struggled. "And it's past time to break this rebellious spirit of yours!"

Warchief K'rish stalked out of the room, carrying Rita with him. She leaned down and bit his hand as hard as she could as he strolled through the halls. The big ve'gathian carried the 11 year old's struggling form as easily as a child clutched a rag doll. "You should feel honored to be personally broken by the great Warchief K'rish! I do not waste my time on many slaves." Rita's broken shoulder cracked back into place and healed as she was dragged through the halls. "Go jump into a star!" she snarled.

The human girl was carried into a massive chamber filled with fine art from many cultures. Cushions lined the floors, upon which many different alien females sat chained. "My slave harem. I would keep you, but you are worth too much to private collectors. However, I will enjoy you until we reach auction..."

He carried her into a small side room. Fear shot down Rita's spine like fire as he slammed her onto a metal table, clamping her neck and thighs into metal shackles attached to it. Blades, wires, strange mechanical devices, vials of colored liquids in syringes, and other wicked tools of his trade lined the walls and shelves. "...K'rish is the cruelest master I have known." Thresha's words echoed in Rita's mind as she stared, wide-eyed at these tools of torture. Rita could not suppress a small shudder.

"Scared? Good, you should be... " K'rish undid a valve over his crotch, and a huge shaft thicker than Rita's arm and twice as long thrust out. The alien penis was triangular shaped like the rest of the ve'gath's strange biology, but flat headed like an equine. "I doubt a simple penetration will break you, but after all you've cost me..." He slammed both fists down on the table on either side of Rita's small head. "...I will collect some satisfaction from you first!"

"Don't you dare touch me, you monster!" Rita cried as he pressed the tip of his flat triangular cock against her preteen pussy. "I do as I wish with my property, human slave toy." Rita screamed as he slammed a foot of his cock deep inside her tight 11 year old snatch in one savage thrust. "So this is human mating meat... I finally understand the reason why your species is so legendary!" Rita sobbed as he raped her without mercy, her belly stretching to accommodate his girth without breaking. "F-Fuck you, s-space trash..!"

Warchief K'rish smacked the poor girl's face roughly. "Where are the other humans? You are young, so you spawned recently. Tell me where they are!" Rita's only response was to spit on him again. "You will tell me in time..." Rita screamed obscenities at the alien as he forced his length inside her again and again, punching and slapping all over her body as Rita was brutally raped for the better part of an hour.

Warchief K'rish sized Rita by the shoulders as he finished inside of her battered pussy, spewing burning hot cum deep inside her belly that sloshed painfully around. As he yanked his member free, K'rish leered down at the badly bruised girl, her poor belly ballooned with alien cum. "You will be broken and sold as a sex slave, pathetic child! Now call me master, human whelp!" He demanded. Rita spat at him from the table, the saliva landing squarely on his cheek. "N-Never, f-filth!" she screamed defiantly. To her horror, he smiled at her, revealing row after row of sharp teeth in his triangular maw. "I didn't think so..." K'rish walked over to a shelf and examined his tools. "Now... Which instrument will be the first to taste your flesh..?"

Rita's heart raced in fear as he picked up and examined many different blades. "We'd been hearing whispers that one of our sanctioned traders might not be what they seemed. I never would have imagined an actual living human was behind it. I am very fortunate to be the one to capture you..."

As Rita tried desperately to calm herself, out of the corner of her eye she noticed something: a tiny piece of her suit was growing out of the cuffs on her left forearm. Hope flowered in Rita's heart - she was certain that had not been there before! Her suit must still be fighting the energy being poured into it! Quickly Rita closed her eyes and tried to concentrate through the pain, willing it to sink back into her skin and vanish. When she opened her eyes again, the suit shred had disappeared from sight, but she could still feel it humming underneath her skin. She would just have to hold out a while to let it grow more and more...

K'rish turned back to Rita, holding a horrifyingly jagged knife. "Time to see what color you bleed..!"

...

Warchief K'rish tossed Rita roughly back into the slave pen many hours later. "We will try again tomorrow, slave trash." The door slammed shut as Thresha ran over to the crumpled girl laying shuddering on the floor. "Rita! Oh, poor, poor Rita..." Her body was covered in cuts and gashes. A deep wound on her belly bled sluggishly, already closing up. Bruises in various stages of healing coated every inch of the unfortunate girl's skin. Her wrist was broken, as were several of her ribs. Despite all this and more, she had told him nothing.

As Thresha laid a hand on Rita's head, the girl's back arched and she gasped as a cracking sound indicated her ribs had just moved back into place and fused. "He hurt you so badly... I am sorry..." After a long pause she asked hesitantly, "Did.. Did he break you..?" Rita rolled onto her back and sat up, wincing as her wrist twisted back into place and her bones healed. As she rubbed her wrist, she declared to the whole room loudly: "No! He did NOT break me, and he never, ever will!!"

...

Warchief K'rish brutally abused, tortured, and raped Rita daily for the next week. Each time he tossed her back into the slave pens, he declared calmly that they would try again tomorrow. His brutality grew worse with each session, but as the days wore on, Rita's organic suit continued to grow invisibly up her arms. By the seventh day, it had completely covered her arms, made it down her torso past nipples, and up her neck to just under her nose. She was thinking it was about time to try and use it...

Rita and Thresha grew very close over the span of that week. They told each other much of their pasts, though Rita spoke of her father and his work in only vague, broad terms that could not be used as information to find or expose his identity. They talked late into the night as Thresha nursed Rita's wounds, and they slept together in the same worn blanket. "I have a plan." Rita finally confided to her new friend on the seventh day. "I'm going to get us both out of here. Just be ready..."

...

When Warchief K'rish came to collect Rita on the eighth day, he did not take her towards his torture chamber. "My scientists will find a way to disable that suit of yours in time, but for now we will just keep recharging your bindings." He carried her down a different hallway than the one leading to her quarters. "I made a critical error in your breaking. I should have seen it sooner. It was a mistake to put you in with the normal slave stock, but that will not matter soon..." Rita glared in silence, thinking this might be the time to act.

K'rish carried Rita into a huge lab looking room with a giant generator against one wall. Ve'gathians worked at stations throughout the room and guards lined the walls, all carrying heavy rifles. K'rish shoved Rita's shackles with her still in them into a charging port and left the naked girl dangling there a few feet off the ground. "Thresha. I should have seen it sooner." Another ve'gath guard walked into the room, carrying the struggling Thresha be the neck. "No!" Rita cried as her strengthened suit fought against the charge being poured into her cuffs, trying to keep the flow of energy from entering the cube. "Leave her alone!"

The guard passed Thresha to Warchief K'rish and stepped back to the door, saluting. Thresha struggled helplessly in his grip. "R-Rita.." she pleaded. K'rish punched her in the stomach, knocking out her wind. "You formed a social bond with my human mimic here, and that has been giving you the strength to resist my breaking. Not only that, but by doing so you also managed to unbreak her. What a pity..."

K'rish pulled a knife from his back, leveling it at Thresha's throat. "You would have made me a large profit, Thresha. So much wasted training... but it will be worth it to break the real human." The warchief pressed the knife against Thresha's bared throat, preparing to cut.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

Rita's scream pierced the whole room. Her partially repaired suit surged under her extreme emotional distress and violently activated. Tendrils of multicolored flesh grew from Rita's small body in an instant, springing up to over a foot long and tipped with horribly sharp spikes. They slammed into the shackles, piercing the hard metal alloy like a plasma cutter through a ship's hull as Rita dropped to the floor in a crouch, free at last. Warchief K'rish swung the knife away from Thresha's throat in shock as he roared: "SECURE THE HUMAN SLAVE!!!!"

Rita's suit grew up and over her entire body, encasing her in a living, constantly changing organic battle armor. K'rish ran out the door still clutching Thresha in his grip as guards swarmed forward.

Rita's fury fed the organic suit, and she felt its presence in her mind. As a state of hyper awareness washed over her, Rita closed her eyes and linked her mind and body with the strange, ever-evolving organism, gaining full control over it. As her eyes flew open, Rita grinned wolfishly. Still crouching, she flicked her forearms out and jagged blades grew out of the backs of her wrists, impaling the two closest guards. Tentacles shot out of her back to rip weapons out of hands with terrifying strength. Plasma shots thudded into Rita's torso. The suit eagerly ate the burning material, sucking it upwards and forming twin launcher cannons on Rita's shoulders as it adapted the material to service itself. The organic plasma cannons fired, freely rotating around like turrets to take out guard after guard.

A knife flew through the air at her from behind. Rita spun and caught it, her omni-directional awareness taking in every sight, sound, movement, and smell in the room all at once. She crushed the knife in her grip as if it were made of thin paper. Guards armed with bubble shields closed in on Rita, absorbing her organic plasma bursts. Rita curled into a tight ball, and thin wickedly sharp spines formed all over her small body. The spikes shot out at terrifying speeds, thousands of needles piercing every remaining ve'gath in the room in a hundred places. As they all slumped to the floor and the neurotoxin on the spines terminated their bodily functions, Rita stood up, surveying the room.

Rita turned towards the generator on the far wall and shot a dozen tentacles into every external port. They sucked the power dry, lines of white energy snaking back up them to invigorate Rita and the suit as the generator dimmed. When it was dim and dead, Rita slashed it in half and stalked towards the door, slamming a table out of her way with such raw ferocity that it embedded in the metal wall.

As she walked forward, the suit drew her attention to a familiar looking metal object strapped to a small lab table. Tossing the dying ve'gath scientist off the table, she saw the remains of her rail pistol. Rita reached out with her right arm, tentacles growing from the back of her wrist to grip the shredded weapon. The tendrils pulled the gun back to her wrist, biological growth exploding and mutating to fill in all the missing parts of the weapon as the hybrid wrist cannon fused to Rita.

She leveled her organic rail cannon at the door and fired. It tore a huge hole in the wall and continued on past, slamming through bulkhead after bulkhead until it finally rocketed out into the cold, dark vacuum of space.

Spikes grew on Rita's feet as the pull of explosive decompression met her. She walked out easily into the decompressed hallway, the suit growing an external lung to convert raw energy back into matter, feeding Rita oxygen. She stalked down the hallway, her extremely heightened senses easily picking up K'rish's scent. The hunter had become the hunted.

Rita followed K'rish's scent through the ship. She blasted holes through walls and doors with her plasma turrets when they blocked her progress. A shockwave rumbled through the ship, followed by another. As she passed an external window port, the girl saw the signs of battle going on outside the ship. Recognizing the drones attacking the ve'gathian battleship, she smiled to herself. Daddy had found her. Rita turned back to her hunt with renewed spirit, wanting to get to Warchief K'rish first.

Rita turned down a corridor where a plasma leak was burning. Staring at the blue flames, Rita stretched out a hand. A vacuum shaft grew on her left wrist, sucking in the flames. The organic components reconfigured, drinking in the fire as a flamethrower attachment settled onto her other wrist. Turning, Rita melted the bulkhead and stepped in. Inside the room sat the missing mining drone, in the process of being dismantled. Rita thought for a moment then shot out four thick tentacles to grip it.

Aiming her rail gun towards the ship's exterior, she fired. As the rail projectile cleared a path to space, she tossed the mining drone out. Watching it fly away, she nodded with satisfaction as it was intercepted by several familiar looking drones, using tractor beaks to carry it away. Her primary mission now finished, grimly Rita returned to her hunt for K'rish, praying she could still save Thresha.

As the fleshy suit-clad walking one man army blasted her way through another wall, she entered the ship's massive central hanger. A battle mech over 20 meters tall stood in the center. Warchief K'rish spun as Rita stepped through the wall, backing towards the mech. He still held his knife to Threaha's throat. "What in the b-blackest abyss..!" Rita could smell the fear rolling off him as she flexed her arms and grew long blades out of each wrist. "P-Pathetic human, you have ruined everything! You may have wounded my ship, but I can still wound you!" Before Rita could react, the blade sliced out, cutting a wicket gash across Threaha's throat.

"THHHRESSSHAAAA!" Rita screamed as K'rish let her body fall, running flat out for the mech. Rita leaped forward and caught the young rembrosian on extended arms made of tentacle flesh, reeling her in. Thresha clutched at her throat as green blood welled around her fingers. The suit pulled back from Rita's face as she stared down at her dying friend, tears streaming down her face.

"DO SOMETHING!" she demanded to the organism. Her whole suit trembled as a growth the size of an egg formed the center of Rita's chest. When it was as big as an orange, it detached from its host as it fell onto Threaha's bare and bloody chest. As Rita watched in terrible fear, the egg hatched. A mass of small tentacles squirmed out and sank into Threaha's blue flesh. For a moment, nothing seemed to be happening. Then Thresha gasped, taking in oxygen as her thorax slowly healed and her throat closed.

Rita hugged her friend tightly, tears streaming down her face. "Y-You're o-okay...!" she sobbed. The sound of whirring machinery and a warning from the suit broke through her shock. Rita leapt backwards all the way to the far wall carrying Thresha with her as a beam of red energy shot into the spot where they'd just stood. "Stay here." Rita said angrily as her suit grew up over her face once again. She set Thresha gently against the wall and leaped back.

As Rita stalked forward to engage her foe, Warchief K'rish fired a barrage of missiles at the girl from the mech's twin gun arms. The suit's organic twin plasma turrets took out the entire barrage out mid-flight as Rita fired beams of pure electricity from her palms. The mech's energy shield ate the beams, not breaking. Rita halted her assault and leaped to the side as a gargantuan metal foot slammed down where she stood, scorching the shield with her flamethrower as the shockwave sent her flying. Tentacles grew out from her body and screeched across the metal floor, digging huge furrows as they halted her flight and set the girl back on her feet.

The next barrage of missiles shot as she landed. This time, a huge mouth grew out of Rita's chest and ate the projectiles, pulling them back into her mass. Rita's back arched as a fleshy missile launcher grew out of it, firing organic darts at the mech. Each one exploded with an electrical payload as they hit the giant energy barrier. Rita longed to rip through the shield with her railgun, but Thresha sat wounded behind her. She would get sucked out into the unforgiving cold vacuum of space if she punctured the hanger wall...

The suit heard her desire and mutated the rockets as she rolled away from a cold plasma flare. Her launcher fired, the next salvo of organic rockets hitting the energy shield and slowly beginning to pierce it to Rita's shock. The living organic casings mutated and changed so quickly that the field could not compensate. They squirmed through mech's energy shield and peppered the hull with darts of flesh that soon exploded.

As Rita torched the shield again, she leaped to avoid another foot slam. This time the mech rapidly twisted, a gun arm smashing into Rita and sending her flying into the wall. As she landed on the ground with a thud, the foot came slamming down. Rita flipped upright just in time to intercept the descending foot with several dozen tentacles to aid her arms. It strained down on the girl, buckling the floor beneath her as she fell to one knee.

"You.. You are an abomination! This must be the reason why humans no longer exist! No mortal being should possess the powers of a god..! I will crush you from existence!" As the pressure increased, the suit filled Rita's veins with all the remaining power stolen from the generator. It was not enough. She gritted her teeth as her arms and tentacles lowered slowly inch by inch, bringing her down to one knee.

She was going to lose... After all this, he was going to beat her..! With grin determination Rita strained against the towering mechanical construct, still refusing to give in.

"...Get. Off. My. Daughter."

Rita's eyes widened as she heard that familiar voice from behind her. Strength poured into her as tiny spherical drones encircled her body, zapping her repeatedly as they transferred power to the suit. With a grin, Rita began to slowly push the mesh's metal foot back up. "About time you showed up, daddy!~"

Dr. Nebula walked forward calmly through the hole she'd made in the hanger wall, tiny orbs or power orbiting his body like miniature planets as a veil of shifting colors surrounded him. This signature appearance in battles is what had given rise to the man's simultaneously feared and respected name: Nebula. Skylar slept peacefully curled up in a clear ball floating gently behind him as he walked forward to join Rita.

"More humans!? Who are y-you!?" came K'rish's shaking voice from the mech's speakers. Rots tossed the leg aside, forcing the mech to dance trying to regain its balance. "I am known by many names, but you may know me as Dr. Nebula. And you, ve'gathian.. you tried to take my precious daughters away from me." His voice remained perfectly calm, as if they were chatting over tea. And yet, it radiated an intensity of unbridled rage all the same as the words echoed in the massive room.

"N-Nebula is a myth! He is not real!" The mech spun and regained its balance. Dr. Nebula pointed, and one of the globes circling him glowed bright white. The leg of the mech that had tried to crush Rita instantly disintegrated, and the mech crashed to the floor, sparks flying as the cockpit slammed into the ground. A barrage of missiles shot out from the one remaining gun arm. Dr. Nebula gestured, a different glove glowing. A gravity well formed over the collapsed mech, raining the payloads back down onto it where they exploded. The cockpit flew open as Warchief K'rish leaped from the burning wreckage, heading for an escape hatch in the wall.

Dr. Nebula pointed at the fleeing ve'gath, but Rita put a hand on his arm and shook her head. "Let me, daddy..." she said quietly, but fiercely. "He hurt me.. He hurt my friend... I want to make him pay..." Dr Nebula lowered his arm. "That's my fierce little space warrior... Show him what happens when you mess with our family."

Rita grinned savagely and leaped forward, crossing the entire room in one bound as she landed squarely between K'rish and the escape hatch. The ve'gath flinched and backed away slowly. "Spare me and I-I can give you wealth! Slaves! Legions of soldiers at your command! Anything you wish! You can leave and take your drone, too! Mine on that planet all you want!"

Rita let him babble for a time, drinking in his fear like a palpable nectar. "You tortured me. You.. RAPED me! You tried to MURDER my friend! YOU. WILL. PAY!!!" Tentacles lashed from Rita and pierced K'rish's limbs in a hundred non-lethal spots, raising him off the ground as he'd so often done to her. "W-Wait! P-Please..!" he pleaded pathetically as the furious girl brutally tore the huge alien in half.

As Rita spat on his pieces, she walked calmly back over to Dr. Nebula. "Rita, my dear... that was savage." The shaking girl peeled her helmet back and stared at her father. "He. Deserved. WORSE!" she declared unflinchingly, tears streaming from her eyes. As Rita staggered, Dr. Nebula caught her as her knees buckled. "Rita, I didn't design the suit to do any of these things. It's mutating out of control and is tapped into all of your body's core systems. I need to get you back to my lab immediately." Rita's vision swam as he picked her up. "Wait! Daddy, p-please! S-Save her!" she pointed a shaky hand that rapidly sprouted and shrank tiny tentacles at Thresha. "Her... M-My f-friend, Thresha. I p-promised.. I would.. s-save h-her..."

Her vision darkened, her father's voice sounding miles away as he spoke. "I will bring her back home with us if that is your wish, I promise. Rest, now, strong, brave Rita. Daddy will make this all better... I promise."

Chapter 7

• Chapter Index