The Utter End came screaming into the hanger, missing a leg and both of its bdes. Its missile pods were empty, its thrusters red hot and smoking, multiple wounds covered its body. It was broken and beaten and Goddess only knew what was going on inside the cockpit. Its entrance had been so violent that it had crushed several maintenance workers too slow to move or too unlucky to simply be in its path.

  Behind it came a river of smaller anti-personal and anti-tank mechs, limping and licking their wounds. The battle had gone badly clearly. It was only once the soldiers had disembarked from their machines did the true gravity of what had happened settle in.

  They all screamed for Killer`s head, to have her court-martialled and executed. Apparently she had turned on them, killed our own men in a fit of rage. Cut them apart and disembowelled countless Imperium soldiers.

  I was confused, dismayed, it couldn`t be true. Destroyer pilots were the best of the best, loyal beyond question. None in all the Imperium`s history had ever turned against us. It just wasn`t possible.

  Then there were counter cims, cries of victory and mission success. They had smashed the enemy, scattered them to the wind. It had cost many lives but a victory for the Imperium was a victory for all, no matter the cost.

  Maintenance crews were ordered to depart the hanger, to return to their barracks until the matter could be sorted, until the danger of a mutiny had died down. I thought it a joke, an over exaggeration, then shots were fired and the hanger came alive with guns and knives and the blood of friends.

  Anarchy had followed the Utter End in from the battle field and there was no stopping it. I fled with the rest of my crew and prayed that the cockpit was secure, that Killer wouldn`t have to face the anger outside of it.

  [---]

  The riot in the hanger had been cleaned up, I was told. The maintenance workers weren`t allowed to return to the hanger until the cleaning crews had had a chance to remove all the blood and bodies however. Something the rest of my crew didn`t mind just one bit, they relished the down time.

  I on the other hand was itching to get back in there, to check on my Goddess and its pilot. To assess the damage and begin formuting a pn on how to best begin the repairs. While everyone was either at dinner or partying in the rec room, I decided to sneak into the hanger.

  Sneaking wasn`t needed I quickly learnt, there was no one guarding the entrance to the hanger. Of course there wasn’t, who in their right mind would disobey a general announcement just to work. Apparently I would.

  The hanger was quiet, eerily so, I couldn`t remember the st time I had experienced actual silence. I noticed the bodies had already been removed but the blood and spent shell casings still littered the floor. I wondered over to the Utter End and marvelled at its devastation. All its wounds, its missing limb, its cockpit cracked open from the outside. Killer must have been evacuated when the riot died down.

  Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to climb up to take a look inside. To see what kind of mess the pilot had left inside. I was shocked and surprised to find her still inside.

  “Ow my God.”, I muttered under my breath.

  Killer`s body was battered, bloody and broken. Her pilot suit had been torn up, her fwless skin cut and bruised, her breathing boured and painful. I couldn`t tell if it had been done during or after the battle but I knew she needed immediate attention.

  I climbed into the cockpit and dragged her body out. Killer was awake, barely alert but conscious. She tried to resist my touch, tried to fight against my help but she couldn`t. She was too broken.

  I id her out on the catwalk outside the cockpit and ran to get a med kit. When I joined the military I had been given basic first aid just like everyone else. I knew how to set bones, make a splint, stitch and dress wounds. I knew I could do this. I had to do this.

  I knelt over Killer`s body and thought how stupid it was that I didn`t even know her real name.

  “It`s going to be okay. I`m going to fix you up as best I can then get you to medical, I promise. What`s your name?”, I asked, adding that st part for myself.

  She ignored me, a look of cold distain mixing in with the nothingness in her eyes before fading away.

  I broke out a pair of safety scissors and cut away what was left of her pilot`s suit, stripping her naked. I was locked in and completely ignored her nude form. But up close and personal, with all the blood and bruises, I couldn`t help but admire what was right in front of me. Her once perfect skin was marred with cuts and abrasions and covered in far too much blood. I ran a finger across the unmarred stretches of her body, skirting around the open wounds and blemishes, enjoying the smoothness. Imagining what it would feel like pressed against mine.

  Killer growled at the intrusion and I snapped out of my horny admiration driven delirium. I grabbed a bottle of medical alcohol and began cleaning the open wounds, wiping up the blood as I went, making sure nothing was missed. I detailed and cleaned her body as if it were the Utter End`s. Taking a silent pleasure in the task of cleaning up the filth and savouring the scent of blood and antiseptic.

  Once the body was clean I grabbed a needle and proceeded to stitch up each and every cut, ceration and tear. I did it slowly, methodically and with care. Killer showed no signs of pain or discomfort but I was compelled to provide the best care I could. Every wound had been stitched up, all they needed was to be cleaned once more and covered.

  I wiped them down with a small patch of gauze soaked in alcohol, then I moved to cover them with rge adhesive patches, then without thinking I kissed them.

  Each and every wound got the same treatment, clean, patched and kissed. I couldn`t expin why, I just felt that every pain deserved just a little bit of pleasure. When I was done cleaning, covering and kissing Killer`s body from head to toe I looked down at her, into her eyes.

  They just stared at me, lifeless but for a small glint of something, appreciation I hoped. More than likely it was just disgust. Either way it made something inside of me squirm. I know what I had done was wrong, too personal, but it was too te to take it back now and there was still more work to do.

  What remained was her arm, clearly broken, as were a few ribs but there was nothing I could do for those. I reached to touch her broken arm but Killer withdrew, more awake now, somewhat alert.

  This it appeared, was the only thing that really hurt her. She cradled her arm as best she could, sitting up and staring lifeless daggers into me. I couldn`t bme her, I had vioted her with my lips. I had to make this right.

  “I need to reset it, if I don`t it might not heal properly. If that happens you might not be able to pilot again.”, I expined, trying to reason with her. I stood up slowly with bent legs and creeped towards Killer cautiously. “I`ll do it as quick as I can, with as little pain as possible.”

  She looked at me with uncertainty, then she looked at her arm, then the Utter End. She rexed slightly and presented her arm, wincing with every movement. I reached out for the arm but she withdrew again, a feint look of fear in her eyes.

  “Maybe it would help if I gave you something to bite down on?”, I suggested, looking for something, anything that could work. There was nothing, except maybe.

  I presented my forearm to he, pressing it close to her mouth. Killer looked at me surprised, then suspiciously until I gave her a reassuring nod. She parted her cracked lips and gingerly wrapped her mouth around my arm, slowly sinking her teeth in just enough to get a grip.

  I took a deep breath and fought down the arousal that came with having another woman’s mouth on my skin. The feeling of rough lips and a warm tongue sending waves of excitement through my body.

  I took a second to wonder what those lips would feel like on my own, what those teeth could do to my neck or that tongue to my breasts. My nipples grew visibly erect through my shirt, I pretended not to notice hoping Killer would do the same. She didn`t.

  I braced her secured arm at the shoulder joint, steadying it firmly, already feeling Killers bite grow harder in response to the pain. I took a deep breath and tried to block out the feeling of her teeth sinking into my flesh.

  Quick and painless, that was the promise. All I had to do was pull her by the wrist as hard as I could then rex to let the bone set itself. A quick five seconds if I did it right.

  I counted down in my head and locked eyes with Killer. Her pupils were still dead, gssed over and barren. But there was something stirring in the back, just out of sight. The slightest inkling of fear and a desire for comfort.

  I held her gaze, took a deep breath and pulled. A blinding white pain struck me in the arm as Killer bit down, sharing her pain with me, her would-be carer. The five seconds passed like an eternity.

  One, the feeling of my hands on Killers body, skin soft and inviting.

  Two, Killers mouth wrapped around my arm, teeth sunken deep into my flesh, drool mingling with my blood.

  Three, the bone snapping itself back into pce causing Killer to bite down even harder.

  Four, I gasped and cried out as the teeth broke the skin and sunk into the muscle.

  Five, I let go of the arm and Killer releases her jaw.

  We colpse into one another, both overwhelmed by the pain, the instant relief and the adrenaline now coursing through our bodies. I take a second to let the throbbing in my arm slow and enjoy the press of another body against mine.

  I look up at Killers face, her eyes swell with gratitude for just a second before they disappear into nothingness. I breathe deep and sits myself up, grabbing a splint and some bandages to firm up the arm so it can heal properly.

  Killer watches as I do, noticing the blood and saliva sliding down my arm. The bite is deep, pulsing, dripping warm thick crimson ichor. Without being prompted to, Killer leans forward and licks up the blood, licks all the way up the arm and around the bite mark.

  She looks at me, I look back, we are locked in this moment. She keeps licking, cleaning the wound, gently running her tongue around it. I feel her warm mouth working its way around the wound and the pain fades, repced with a level of arousal I was all too familiar with.

  When Killer is done she offers me a clean adhesive patch. I take it and apply it over the bite wound. I should stitch it, so it doesn`t scar, but I don’t want that. I want it to stay with me, forever.

  Killer broke the silence, she parted her lips and uttered a single word.

  “Ava”.

  [---]

  I stayed with Ava until a medical team arrived. I had summoned them through the Utter End`s communication system. It seemed better than carrying her to the medical bay, there was no telling how much damage the trip could have caused to her body.

  They arrived promptly and with them was Sergeant Maria Vasquez, looking deadly as always but surprisingly unconcerned.

  “You know, I really should write you up for disobeying a general announcement. But then again I should also thank you for tending to my Hound. So I`ll comprise and simply do nothing.”, she stated coldly.

  I let out a sigh of relief; I expected no praise but was happy to get away with my transgression. I saluted and decided to overlook the fact that the Handler didn`t seem all too worried about her Hound. I resigned myself to the fact that I didn`t really know a lot about what went on between the two of them.

  As the medical personal wheeled Ava away with Sergeant Vasquez following close by, I couldn`t help but lock eyes with the pilot as she left. I smiled softly and waved at her. I got a second of recognition from her before her eyes drifted to the Sergeant and a spark of something light up inside her.

  I wondered what it would take to get Ava to look at me like that.