"Open up. I know you're in there."
Even though the volume was low, the rich, almost musical voice still carried.
Chirren had finally gotten her daughter to sleep. There were some days when little Tyreen would be quiet, waking up only to suckle, either at Chirren's breast or at her bottle, for a while, before going quietly back to sleep.
Unfortunately, those days were rare, and getting rarer since she had started teething a couple of weeks ago. Today most certainly had not been one of them. Even when she wasn't hungry, Tyreen had stayed awake and cried. She would only stop crying when Chirren held her in her arms, rocking her slowly.
And Tyreen wasn't the only thing keeping her busy. She had been helping Gordon Welchman implement and test a modification to the bombe that he called the diagonal board. If it worked properly, and it looked as if it would, it would greatly speed up the deciphering of the Enigma messages.
She really hoped that it would work. The volume of Enigma intercepts was mounting, as were the merchant shipping losses in the North Atlantic due to the U-boats. It was crucial that they do everything possible to break the Enigma traffic as quickly as they could. Even if for no other reason than to ensure that little Tyreen would grow up getting enough food to eat --- this island nation didn't produce enough food to meet its own needs.
Too tired to even think about preparing her own meal, she had sat down on the couch. She had just leaned back and closed her eyes when the gentle rap at the door sounded, followed by a familiar voice. Immediately opening her eyes and springing up out of her chair, she ran to the door and opened it. "Marlen! You're back! From wherever it was that you were."
"Oh, that? Just a little trip to France." The Prime wrapped her arms lightly around the Beta and hugged her. The Beta hugged the Prime back with all of her strength.
"I figured that's where you were, since you were with Pierre."
"I would have told you more, but Michael insisted on strict security."
Chirren had been a soldier long enough to know the need to keep information on a strict need-to-know basis. "I understand. Though I kind of wish I could have gone along."
"And leave my niece here alone? Never!"
Chirren laughed as they broke off the embrace. "I assume she's your real reason for coming here." She led Marlen towards the bedroom. "Please don't wake her up. I just got her to go to sleep, and she's been cranky all day long."
As if to prove the point, Tyreen woke up and began crying again. Chirren immediately rushed over to the crib and picked the little baby up. She began rocking the baby in her arms, singing softly to it, a traditional Arion lullaby. It seemed to have no effect on Tyreen, who merely continued crying.
"Here, let me." Marlen took the tiny bundle from Chirren, holding it carefully. "Those teeth must really be bothering her. She's got more of them since the last time I saw her."
She began singing to it softly in her sweet melodious voice. She had never sung this particular song to anybody else before, let alone to a Beta baby. But it was etched indelibly in her memory from her own childhood.
She began rocking the baby gently in time to the music. Soon the baby stopped its crying, entranced by the music and the words that it couldn't possibly understand. Marlen herself was entranced, unwilling to stop until she had finished the entire song.
Chirren realized that this was the first time that she had ever heard Marlen sing. Her voice was so sweet, so melodious, rivaling those of the professional singers who had occasionally come to entertain the workers at Bletchley Park. She was afraid to join in, not wanting to interfere.
Then she realized that she couldn't have joined in, even if she had wanted to. Even though it was in Arion, Chirren had never heard this particular song before. As she listened to the words, she gradually realized that it was a lullaby intended for Prime babies, not really intended for Betas. Nonetheless, she closed her eyes and stood entranced, losing herself in the haunting melody and lyrics.
"There, that should do it."
The spoken words broke the spell. Forcing her eyes open, she saw Marlen putting Tyreen back in her crib. The baby had stopped crying and was now sleeping peacefully.
"You're hired," she said, remembering to keep her voice low as they retreated from the bedroom to the sitting room. "You can be her nurse from now on. I haven't been able to get her to sleep that easily all day long," she sighed. "How did you do that?"
Marlen got a faraway look in her eyes. "That was the first song that came into my mind. It was the one Grandfather sang to me to try to get me to go to sleep." She smiled sheepishly "Though I think it worked better on Tyreen than it ever did on me. I never was a very good girl. Especially when it was time to go to sleep."
"Would you teach me that song? Please?"
"You know it's not really appropriate for a little Beta baby."
"I don't think it matters much, any more. I don't even think I'm going to teach her any Arion. Other than the two of us, who is there to speak it with her?"
"There is that, isn't there? We even use English when it's just the two of us, like now."
There was no more conversation for several minutes --- as they sipped their tea, both of them were lost in their private thoughts about their homes, their friends, and their colleagues, that they would never see again.
From his vantagepoint on the deck of the beached trawler, Michael looked down on the sandy beach. The trawler crews had finished their maintenance work and were all back on the base, making this an ideal location for what he was seeing.
He had never seen a sparring session quite like this one. What made it even more amazing was the fact that the participants were both beautiful young girls, two of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen.
The blonde in the white headband, white shirt, and blue pants, he had not seen in action before. The brunette in the red dress with gold trim, he had seen in action before, but not quite like this. Both of them were moving much quicker than any person could be expected to move. Yet they were landing blows on each other. Hard blows. He knew that each of the blows would easily knock out any man, if not kill him outright, yet the girls just shook them off and kept on going.
The blonde's shirt was getting shredded from the blows that didn't leave a single mark on her flawless skin. The brunette's red dress was surviving intact, he knew that it couldn't be torn or ripped.
It truly was amazing. Whatever Marlen had done to his clerk, Vicky, had made Vicky so strong that the only possible sparring partner for her was the girl from the stars. He knew that Donovan Mackenzie, the team's unarmed combat instructor, had tried to work with her. He'd had to put a quick end to those sessions. With Vicky's inexperience, he had truly feared for Donovan's life. One awkward punch or instinctive swing from the girl could have crushed his ribcage or smashed his skull. Since then, Marlen had taken over the sparring, with Donovan doing the coaching from the relative safety of the sidelines. Even though Marlen claimed that she didn't have the training that those she called Warriors Prime received, she was still by far the best unarmed combatant on the base. And the entire Commonwealth, no doubt.
After all, what these two girls were doing wasn't exactly unarmed combat. Even empty-handed, they most certainly weren't unarmed. Vicky could probably take on an infantry company by herself, while Marlen could take on an entire battalion. Marlen had captured a U-boat by herself. Pierre had told him how on her latest mission with him she had destroyed one of the vaunted German Panzers. And Vicky had taken care of that sailor with the knife.
And on this upcoming mission, he wanted both of these amazing girls with him.
He no longer had any qualms about girls in combat. At least, not if they were the right women. Indeed, he wished that he had more girls like Vicky.
Not for the first time, Chirren was impressed with Vicky's strength and speed. Her previous experiences watching Primes spar told her that Marlen was holding herself back a little. Still, Marlen was being forced to expend a considerable amount of effort. Much more effort than she had needed in her sparring sessions with Chirren and Tyree and the other two Betas. Together, the four Betas hadn't been able to extend Marlen nearly as much as Vicky was doing by herself.
Again, Chirren wondered whether Marlen could enhance her. But no, she had never heard of a Beta being enhanced by a Prime. Still, what must it feel like, to have the strength and speed nearly equaling that of a full Prime? As a Beta, she knew that she was quite a bit stronger and faster than any ordinary Terran. Donovan was the best unarmed fighter among the Terrans at the Commando base, serving as the instructor, but she never had any trouble defeating the large man next to her. Yet she knew that Vicky could defeat her easier than Chirren could defeat Donovan. Much easier.
She and Donovan had sparred earlier down on the sandy beach. He was still better than she was, technically, but his male Terran body could not hope to match her female Beta body either for strength or for quickness. She had been careful to avoid the fiasco of the last time, when he had actually managed to get her down, instead taking him down this time three straight falls in quick succession.
Thinking about Donovan led her to other thoughts. Thoughts that still involved Donovan, but that didn't involve any fighting. She put an arm around his waist and snuggled up closer, savoring the warmth of his large male body. He responded by putting his arm around her waist.
The physical contact intensified her feelings. She turned her head and looked up at him. "Have you seen enough?"
He turned his head and looked down at her. "They're truly amazing. I know there's nothing I can teach them. And I don't think they can teach me anything. They're just too strong and too fast for any of us to learn anything useful from them."
"Then why are we watching them? Do you think we could go find something else to do?" She smiled up at him.
"Do you have something in mind?" The smile on her face told her that she didn't need to answer him with words, that he already knew what she had on her mind. Bending down and getting an arm around his legs, she picked him up in her arms.
She carried him through the hatch and down below decks to one of the sleeping compartments. Laying him down on the narrow bunk, she quickly undressed him, and then let him undress her. She lay down on top of him, meeting his lips with hers.
She then moved her way up his body, dragging her heavy milk-laden breasts up along his chest and up to his face to let him suckle at her breasts. She again savored the feeling, so different from little Tyreen's suckling.
"Donovan! Don't drink it all! Leave some for Tyreen." She raised herself up off of his body, pulling her nipple out of his mouth. Moving back, she lowered herself back on him, mounting him as his hands came back to her breasts. Her legs quickly began their rhythmic pumping, making the entire bunk shake.
They soon forgot all about Marlen and Vicky, as there was no room in their minds for anything but each other.
Vicky really enjoyed these sparring sessions with Marlen. Ever since that time below decks on the U-boat, she knew that she needed to learn more about hand-to-hand combat if she was going to make herself more valuable to the team. She knew that she had gotten lucky that first time. There had only been one man, armed with a mere knife. And she had gotten by on pure brute force.
She had tried working with Lieutenant Mackenzie, the unarmed combat instructor. But she was still too inexperienced --- one clumsy punch could have killed him. Marlen had taken over, providing her with a sparring opponent that she couldn't hurt. And she hoped that in return she was providing Marlen with a worthwhile opponent. Or at least, with some serious exercise. The usual physical training exercises on the Commando base had been no challenge to her, she could only believe that they did even less for Marlen.
She knew that Marlen was providing her with some serious exercise, something she couldn't get otherwise on the base. The nighttime exercises with Michael didn't count. At least, not in the same way.
A punch to the stomach brought her mind back to the immediate concern. She sidestepped away from Marlen's next punch, bringing the knife-edge of her hand down on Marlen's arm. She knew that her blow would easily have sliced through a two-by-four, but all it did was knock Marlen's arm down a couple of inches.
Pierree saw Marlen whisper something to Vicky. He couldn't hear a word of what was said, but it must have been something amusing, for Vicky giggled and nodded, looking in his direction. With an easy overhand motion, Marlen threw Vicky into the air, in his direction. Vicky landed lightly on her feet on the deck of the trawler next to the mast, her knees barely flexing as they absorbed the impact.
Vicky stood there, leaning against the mast, looking at him. Her shirt had been completely ripped to shreds and torn off of her, leaving her stripped to the waist. Her pants looked as if they wouldn't last much longer. Her headband was beginning to come undone, letting some of her long blonde hair escape from her headband and barely cover her large full breasts. Putting a hand on her hip, she beckoned to him with her other hand. "Pierre, come here."
He looked up at her. He looked at Marlen. Marlen simply smiled back at him, nodding her head slightly. He looked at Michael. Michael just looked back at him. He looked back at Vicky. Vicky beckoned again. "Come here," she repeated.
He knew that he didn't have much choice in the matter. Not with girls who had just done what he had seen. He got up to his feet and walked over towards Vicky. When he was within reach, she reached out and took his hand. She all but lifted him off of his feet as she pulled him to her, catching his body with her other arm.
Keeping one arm around him, she used her other hand to start unbuttoning his shirt. "Ah, what are you doing, Miss Roberts?" he asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" she replied, finishing with his shirt and starting to work on his pants.
"No, please, stop." That had no effect on her. "Marlen, help," he cried out, as she lifted him up off of the ground to slide his pants and shorts down his legs.
"I think Marlen's a little busy right now," she giggled. Still holding him above the ground, she turned him around so that he could see. Marlen indeed was busy. She had joined them on the deck and was kneeling over an unresisting Michael, removing his clothes. Chirren and Donovan were already out of sight, probably having gone below. "You're going to have to make do with me."
He definitely knew that he had no choice in the matter. The girls had apparently decided to swap partners, and there wasn't a thing that the men could do about it. He knew that Vicky wasn't as strong as Marlen was. He also knew that it didn't make any difference, she was still several hundred times stronger than he was, she could do whatever she wanted to do with him.
She laid him down on the deck and began removing what was left of her pants. Balling up his right hand into a fist, he swung at her as she knelt down over him, catching the outside of her left breast. Even though he had put all of his strength into it, all it did was make her large full breast bounce a little.
Vicky watched as Pierre's large fist hit her even larger breast. The blow wasn't anywhere near as hard as Marlen's pulled punches had been. The result was also quite different, as she felt a warm feeling spreading out over the front of her body. She smiled down at him. "You naughty boy." She leaned closer, shaking her chest, presenting what she hoped would be an irresistible target. Two irresistible targets, rather.
He apparently couldn't resist them. Just as she had hoped for, he began punching her breasts with his fists. The warm feeling intensified. She leaned closer and closer.
Soon, her nipples were just inches from his chest. Leaning closer and giving her chest another shake, she hit him with her twin punching bags, knocking him down onto his back. Following him down, she pinned him to the deck, holding him down with just her large full breasts on his hard muscular chest. "You really are a naughty boy, aren't you?" she taunted him as she leaned back, releasing the pin.
When he tried to sit up, she put a hand in the middle of his chest and forced him back down to the deck. Then she leaned forward again, this time putting a breast on his face. "There. Try using your mouth instead of your fists."
He did. He also used his hands as well, surrounding and squeezing her other breast, even as he suckled the first one.
She could understand why Marlen liked him so much. She had been reluctant at first, when Marlen had suggested the swap, wanting to keep Michael for herself. She remembered when Michael had returned from Norway with Marlen and Chirren. She remembered the jealousy and the indignation she had felt when Marlen had so easily enticed Michael into her bed.
She now knew that Michael hadn't been able to control himself. She now had the same effect on him. She had that effect on other men --- men who before wouldn't spare her a second glance were now following her with their eyes everywhere she went. She knew that she could have had any of them, any time she wanted. Even without her new sex appeal, what man could resist her new strength? But she had refrained from taking any of the other men, restricting herself to Michael.
She also knew that she owed it all to Marlen. So how could she refuse Marlen's suggestion for a temporary swap? After all, it was only going to be for today. Tonight, when they returned to their quarters, things would be back as they were before.
Bringing her mind back to the present and looking around, she realized that the wooden deck couldn't be the most comfortable place for him. She leaned back and unpinned him. Getting her arms under him, she stood up with him in her arms. She jumped off of the deck of the trawler onto the shore, her knees barely flexing to cushion the impact, not jarring him too much. She then laid him down on the cool sand, and brought his face back up to her breast.
Wanting more, she pushed his body back down to the sand. Throwing a leg over him, she straddled him. Softening her body, she lowered herself down onto him. He brought his hands back up to her breasts as her powerful legs began their rhythmic pumping. But this time, instead of punching them with his fists, he held and squeezed her left breast with all of his strength.
Using her right hand, she began stroking and caressing her right breast, before rolling and pinching her nipple between her thumb and forefinger. She didn't pinch it very hard, applying no more than about ten times as much force as he was applying to her left breast. But as she climbed towards her peak, she gradually increased the pressure.
"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Marlen asked Michael, as she finished undressing him and began removing her Arion uniform. "Has Vicky been treating you right?"
"I don't have any complaints."
"You better not! I thought I did a good job of teaching her. And she is a superb student." She reached down and got her hands around his waist. Picking him up, she lightly rubbed his chest across her large full breasts. She was careful to hold him only hard enough to flatten her breasts slightly against his chest, knowing that holding him any harder would risk crushing his fragile male ribcage.
It really had been a while since she had taken Michael. She remembered that Michael wasn't as rough as Pierre was. Not that Pierre had ever been that rough, at least not by Arion standards. Certainly not by Prime standards. Michael was just as physical but not as rough, he would still use all of his male strength, but he put them into his caresses, not into blows as Pierre did.
In return, she determined to be not as rough with him as she was with Pierre. Just as physical, but not as rough. Though of course, she would not be very physical, by Arion standards. Certainly not by Prime standards.
She was glad that Vicky had agreed to the swap. She had been hesitant to ask. Vicky had been more than a little possessive about Michael --- having had an infatuation with him long before Marlen had ever met them.
"Let's see if she's been taking it too easy on you." Carefully adjusting her grip so that she had one hand behind his shoulders and one hand on his ass, she pulled him up into her as she spread her legs, sliding his legs between them. Continuing to lean forward, she began stroking herself with him, using his entire body as a large dildo. Even as he wrapped his arms around her to hold on as tightly as he could, she was careful not to hold him too tightly.
Her body began shuddering as she approached her climax, shaking his body as if it was no more than a rag doll. He continued to hold her as tightly as he could, more to protect his chest from her battering breasts than anything else.
This was it. A major raid. And for the first time, they were striking into German itself. Though not very deep into Germany. Their primary target was a large Wehrmacht ammunition dump near the coast. Their secondary target was a major Luftwaffe radar installation less than a mile away.
Marlen was the first to spot the approaching tank, her sensitive hearing picking up the clanking of the treads long before it came into sight. As the tank rounded the bend in the road, she struck. Running up to the front of the tank, she put her hands on the sloping glacis and braced her legs, digging her feet into the ground. The treads kept turning, but they merely kicked up dirt as the tank first slowed down, and then stopped moving forward completely.
The machine gun in the hull couldn't bear on her --- she was too close. Neither could the main gun. She was concentrating on stopping the tank, and thus didn't see the hatch on the turret open, and the commander stick his head out. He stared down in amazement at the slender young woman who was holding his powerful tank at bay.
Recovering somewhat, the hardened veteran of the Blitzkrieg campaigns through Poland and France swung his machine gun around and down to bear on her, and then squeezed the trigger.
The sudden hail of lead caught her by surprise, bouncing off of her shoulders and off of the tops of her large breasts. As she looked up in surprise, a second burst hit her directly in the face, throwing her head back violently and forcing her eyes to close reflexively.
With her eyes closed, she lost her balance and staggered. Even as she tried to force her eyes open, the tank surged forward, knocking her down onto her back, her arms and legs spread-eagled. The tank continued moving forward, its steel belly looming over her. Then, it began turning, trying to grind her beneath its heavy steel treads.
Marlen felt the pain shoot up her left foot as the tread began rolling over it. She tried to pull her leg back, but the weight of the tank was too much for her to simply slide her leg out from underneath it. And the tread was heading for her other leg.
Out of desperation, she raised up her arms, putting the palms of her hands against the belly of the tank. Gritting her teeth, she began pushing up against the tank. As she pushed, her shoulders and back began to sink into the hard-packed surface of the road as some of the weight of the tank was transferred from its treads, and from her leg.
She brought her free leg up, putting her knee against the steel. Freeing her trapped leg, she brought it up also, putting the foot against the belly of the tank, as she continued lifting.
The treads kept turning, propelling the tank onwards, as she didn't have the proper leverage to lift the huge vehicle completely off of the ground. As she began to roll to the side, she gave a mighty heave, putting both her arms and her legs into it. Since her legs were both longer and stronger than her arms were, the tank flipped over her head and landed on its side, tottering precariously. It swung to and fro a couple of times before tipping over. Away from her, and onto its back.
Marlen got up to her feet, gingerly testing her leg. It was a bit sore, but otherwise it seemed to be fine. Before she could turn her attention to the crew trying to escape from their inverted tank, her sensitive hearing detected another tank approaching.
As she turned around, the tank came into view from around the bend in the road. As she stepped towards it, pain shot up her injured leg. The leg buckled under her, dropping her to a knee.
Just as she struggled back up to her feet, the tank fired. The round exploded at her feet, knocking her back against the treads of the first tank. Her head slammed back against one of the bogie wheels, knocking it off.
Shaking her head to clear it, she saw the turret traversing as the gunner took aim at her again. On her hands and knees, she quickly crawled into the shelter under the body of the inverted tank, just as another round fell where she had been, the explosion making the tank rock a little as it balanced on the top of its turret.
When the smoke cleared, she could clearly see the other tank from her position underneath the first tank. It was still coming towards her, the gun depressing as the gunner tried to find her. The pain in her leg made her think twice about going out into the open to challenge this tank. She would have to find some other way to engage this opponent.
Bringing her hands to her breasts, she began caressing herself. Twin purple beams shot out of her eyes, her caresses maximizing the power of her heat vision. Concentrating on one of the treads, she was rewarded when one of the treads melted through. With one side disabled, the tank began slewing around in a circle. That threw off the aim of the main gun, the round exploding over twenty feet away from her.
But the tank wasn't out of action yet. It stopped, and the turret began traversing back to bear on her. She switched her aim to the base of the long cannon barrel, caressing her breasts harder in an attempt to generate even more power. The hardened gunmetal softened, and the barrel began to droop. At the same time, the gunner fired again.
The barrel was too deformed for the round to make it through. The intense heat from the eyes of the girl from the stars caused the round to explode. There were other explosions, as the ready ammunition in the turret brewed up. The blast swept through the interior of the tank, immediately killing the crew.
The entire crew. Except for one man. This man was not a Terran. Nor was he an Arion Beta. No mere Terran nor even a Beta could possibly have survived that explosion.
The explosion had jammed the hatch so that it opened less than half the way. That didn't stop the Arion Prime from ripping it off of its mountings. Climbing out, and jumping down to the ground, he shook his head to clear it.
Marlen knew that there was only one thing that could keep the Warrior Prime from destroying the entire Commando team and killing every member by himself. Without any further thought, she picked herself up off of the ground and rushed at him, ignoring the sharp pain lancing up her left leg with every step, trying to reach him before he could shake off the effects of the explosion in the confined interior of the tank.
The man was an experienced combat soldier, a Warrior Prime --- Marlen was not. She had hoped to catch him off guard, but he turned towards her before she reached him. He ducked below her first swing, kicking out with a leg, which caught her in the ribs.
The kick would have gone through the thickest armor of a Panzer. Though Marlen's ribs were made of a substance much harder than mere steel, the blow was still enough to send her flying off to the side.
She crashed against a standing portion of a wall, knocking it down. She rolled and got up to her feet, wincing as she felt the new pain in her side, to go along with the pain in her leg. She didn't notice the two men who were crushed underneath the rubble, let alone the color of their uniforms. Getting back up to her feet, she turned around just in time to see the man coming at her.
She had just gotten to her knees when a kick to the face sent her flying again. This time, she landed clear of the rubble. She lay still for a moment, trying to regain her breath. Every breath was an agony, her tortured ribs protesting the effort. Her leg gave out under her when she tried to stand up. Making another effort, she had just gotten up to her feet when the man reached her again, knocking her back down to the ground.
As they grappled, she felt his hard muscular body rubbing against hers. It had been a long time since she had been in the arms of a male Arion Prime. Momentarily, she forgot herself, savoring the feel of her breasts flattening against his broad muscular chest, as they never had against either Michael or Pierre's chest. At the same time, she also savored the feel of his strong arms around her body, again, holding her as neither Michael nor Pierre ever had.
But even as good as it felt, thinking about Michael and Pierre brought her mind back to the situation at hand. She managed to bring her knee up into his crotch. Even though she couldn't put all of her strength into the kick, it was still enough to allow her to get out of his grip.
As they fell away from each other, she managed to get several punches into his stomach and into his face. Any one of those blows would easily have gone through the thickest armor of a tank, yet they only stunned the man briefly, making him stagger backwards until he fell.
But he didn't stay down very long --- his Warrior Prime training coming to the fore as he quickly sprang back up to his feet. He immediately closed on her. His large fists slammed into her, each impact jarring her body with more force than the German cannon shells had. Her fists struck back with just about the same force, apparently with no effect.
One of his blows caught her in the stomach, lifting her off of her feet. She slammed back against another section of the wall, knocking it down. Instead of trying to get up, she crawled through the rubble into the dark interior, trying to buy herself some time. She could hear the Warrior Prime coming after her, in his arrogance he wasn't even trying to be quiet.
As she picked her way through the rubble, her hand landed on something soft. Without looking, she knew that it was a body, the body of a Terran soldier who had been unfortunate enough to have been behind the wall when she was knocked through it.
As she pulled back her hand, it brushed against something harder. Closing her hand around it and picking it up, she saw that it was a hand grenade. Even though it would be lethal against a Terran enemy, she knew that it couldn't injure a Warrior Prime.
An idea suddenly struck her. The grenade might not be able to injure her opponent, but it still just might come in useful. She was glad that Michael had insisted upon her becoming familiar with the Terran weapons --- she knew that most Warriors Prime would disdain such crude and primitive weapons, relying on their sheer strength. Even a Warrior Prime who had been a tank commander.
Even though it was a German grenade, she was still familiar with how to use the 'potato-masher'. She doubted that the Warrior Prime behind her was. Her fingers felt for the safety pin as she crawled further into the dark, with the lumbering Warrior Prime still closing in on her. Turning a corner, she rose up to her feet and turned around to wait for him. As he came around the corner, she pulled the pin on the grenade and leaped at him, shoving the grenade into his face.
She averted her face and threw herself backwards as the grenade went off, followed by an ear-splitting shriek. As she hit the floor, she rolled and sprang back up to her feet.
The Warrior Prime was still standing there, howling in agony, clawing at his face with his hands. Even though the grenade hadn't been able to cause him any permanent injury, the blast and the shrapnel would still temporarily blind him. If nothing else, it certainly would distract him for at least a little while.
Hopefully, for long enough, until she could make the condition permanent. She quickly pounced on him, driving a fist into his stomach with all of her strength. Caught unawares he doubled over, his hands leaving his face to clutch his stomach.
She quickly brought her foot up between his legs, kicking him in the crotch. He cried out again in pain, as the kick lifted him completely up off of the floor and against the ceiling. As he came down, his face impacted against her fist. Her uppercut bounced him off of the ceiling again, cutting off his cry as he was knocked unconscious.
She didn't stop there. This time, she let his body fall face down to the floor. Pouncing on his back, with her knees on either side of his body, she straddled him. Taking his head between her hands, she started twisting.
She twisted more than hard enough to tear apart a piece of steel far thicker than the man's neck. However, even unconscious, his star-born muscles resisted her efforts to snap his neck.
In fact, her efforts only served to revive him. His arms flailed, trying to grab on to her, as his body thrashed underneath hers. She closed her powerful legs, using her strongest muscles to squeeze his waist between her knees.
That only served to remind her of how long it had been since she'd had another male Prime between her legs. Despite herself, she felt herself getting aroused, as her crotch rubbed against his back.
Trying to force the sexual arousal from her mind even as she drew additional strength from it, she redoubled her efforts to snap the male's neck. The male continued to resist, his neck muscles bulging from the effort, his hands trying to grab her arms.
She continued trying to twist his head to the left, all but forcing him to kiss his own shoulder. He braced his neck against her, while still trying to reach her arms with his hands. She quickly reversed direction again. Caught off guard, with his own neck muscles going in the same direction as her arms, his head spun around. His face spun around to his right shoulder. And beyond, his body bucking and almost throwing her off as his neck broke with a loud CRACK.
With a final shudder, his body quit moving, but she did not. She continued twisting his head. She twisted it all the way around and all but severed his head, before she finally stopped.
She slowly stood up, her hands shaking. This wasn't the first time she had killed, but this was the first time that she had killed another Arion.
And not just any Arion, but a Warrior Prime!
A Warrior Prime, and a Marine at that, fully trained in unarmed combat.
But this was neither the time nor the place to be celebrating. She quickly ran back to join the others. Even though she was limping, she still ran faster than any Terran possibly could have.
Michael was the first one to reach her. A medic was one step behind him. The medic was able to determine that the leg wasn't broken, but there wasn't anything else that he could do for her. He didn't even try to administer a painkiller, knowing that he couldn't hope to get a needle through her skin. She would just have to rely on her Arion constitution, and her quicker healing.
The radio operator crawled over to where Marlen lay on the ground with Michael and a medic leaning over her. "Commander! Lookout reports a convoy, heading this way. A car and two lorries."
Michael quickly gave the orders, deploying the team and setting up an ambush.
As the convoy approached, Marlen saw somebody stand up in the staff car and look around. Zooming in with her vision, she saw that it was a woman, in the black uniform of an SS officer.
The convoy reached the ambush point. Michael pushed down on the plunger. The staff car blew up. The first lorry plowed right into it and caught fire. The second lorry swerved to avoid it, going off the road into the drainage ditch beside it, tipping over and landing on its side. Soldiers scrambled out of the overturned lorry, only to be gunned down by the Commandos lying in wait.
Only a few soldiers escaped the inferno that was the first lorry. Amazingly, when the smoke cleared one person was still standing. The female officer she had seen earlier.
Most of her black SS uniform had been burned off of her. As she turned around and stretched an arm towards the sky, the rest of it fell off, leaving her in a very skimpy black garment. A garment that Marlen immediately recognized as the combat uniform of an Arion Marine.
"Bloody Hell! There's another one of 'em!"
Marlen turned to the man who had just spoken. "Michael, get everybody out of here. I'll try to hold her off long enough for you to get away."
"Marlen, no! You can't sacrifice yourself for us."
She knew that 'sacrifice' was the right word. She didn't have to feel her breasts to know that her energy reserves had been depleted, first in the battle against the tanks, and then in the battle with the first Warrior Prime. And even if her energy hadn't been depleted, what chance did a communications specialist stand against a trained Warrior Prime? And a Marine at that? She knew that she had gotten lucky against the first one, she didn't expect to get lucky twice in a row. However, she knew that if she didn't act now, the rest of the team was doomed. "Michael, get everybody out. Now! I can't sacrifice all of you for me. Get out while you can."
"No, I'm staying here with you," another voice joined the discussion. A rich, higher-pitched voice, which sounded incongruous on a battlefield. Just as incongruous as Marlen's voice sounded.
"No, Vicky. Go with the others. Make sure they get out safely."
"No. You're hurt. You can't fight her by yourself. I'm not leaving you."
"You must. You can't stand up to a Prime." Even if she hadn't been hurt, Marlen doubted that she could stand up to a trained Warrior Prime, a Marine fully trained in combat, as a communications specialist like herself wasn't, but she tried to keep the doubt out of her voice. "You can't help me here. You can help Michael and the others get away. The team is more important than any one person. Give my love to Chirren and little Tyreen. Now go!"
If Marlen had been tired and sore after destroying those two tanks and killing the male Prime, it was nothing compared to how she felt now. However, she had gained some confidence from her victory over the first Warrior Prime. Even though it hadn't been in unarmed combat, using the grenade to temporarily incapacitate him, she had defeated him. But this time, it would be unarmed combat, at least inasmuch as any Arion Prime could be considered 'unarmed', the people who had seen her destroy those two tanks probably wouldn't consider her so.
She knew that she was outmatched, the Warrior Prime was just as strong as she was, if not stronger, and much better trained in hand-to-hand combat. And Marlen herself was hurt. However, she knew that she had to buy a little more time, so that the rest of the team could escape, even if she had to pay for that time with her very life.
It was clear from the outset which of them was the better fighter. As a Prime, Marlen had received enough unarmed combat training to have made her a Terran martial arts master, even without her superior strength and quickness. But as a Warrior Prime, the Marine had received far more training. The difference was like Donovan with one of his students. With Marlen on the wrong end of the comparison.
Marlen was on the defensive from the beginning, the Marine's fists no more than blurs. Marlen was able to block some, but not all, of the blows. Each time she blocked one, she thought that her arm was going to break. The ones she didn't block were worse, slamming into her ribs and stomach with more than enough force to pulverize granite.
When Marlen tried to strike back, the Marine effortlessly deflected all of her punches and kicks --- Marlen just could not lay a finger on her. Having no other choice, Marlen gave ground, retreating before the Marine's onslaught. She didn't dare to spend the time to look around to see whether the others had gotten away safely, she simply hoped that they had heeded her and gotten out while they could.
As she continued retreating, she stumbled over something, almost falling down onto her back. Putting down a hand to steady herself, she realized that she had just put her hand through what was left of a soldier. It was only a minor relief to recognize the German Wehrmacht uniform.
Before she could get back up, the Marine pounced on her. Marlen rolled to the side, just barely avoiding the full force of the impact, but still taking an elbow in the ribs. As she tried to protect herself with her arms, a fist struck the side of her head. Stars exploded in her vision. Then, her vision went black.
The beautiful young woman, wearing a combination of an SS dress uniform and an Arion Marines garrison uniform, was indignant. "But she's obviously a traitor. She was working with the British. And she killed Slivek! How can you let her live? She must pay. Pay with her life!" Reaching down to her gold-bound captive, she grabbed the head and roughly jerked it up by the hair.
The man in the black uniform of a Colonel in the SS tried to keep his calm. He was not accustomed to having to explain his orders to his underlings. Not even to another Warrior Prime, especially to a mere lieutenant. "And she will. I promise you that, Virren. But not now. And not here. Now, release her!"
Virren maintained her grip on the captive's hair as she stared at her commander. Finally, she opened her hand and released the grip. The captive, weakened by the gold band around her neck, collapsed to the floor, unable even to hold herself erect. Virren straightened up and put her hands on her hips, staring at her commander, before turning on her heels and storming out of the office, too incensed to bother to wait for her dismissal.
Bevek sighed before turning and addressing his aide. "Remind me to speak with her about her uniform. She knows she's not supposed to mix Arion and Terran uniforms."
"Yes, Sir."
He glanced at the bound woman huddled on the floor. "I want the prisoner transported out of the war zone, to our secure facility in South America. See to it." The aide bowed, before turning on his heels and heading for the door. "Oh, and Kyree, one more thing."
The aide stopped and turned around to face Bevek again. "Sir?"
Bevek glanced down at the barely conscious prisoner. "Until the transportation can be arranged, do you think you could find something to, shall we say, keep her occupied?"
The Beta's face lit up with a knowing smile. "I believe I could, Sir." The smile then faded, as he realized that he would still need some assistance from a Prime. "If I could have some help with her uniform?"
"Of course, Kyree. I shall see to that, personally. See to the other arrangements."
"Yes, Sir!" The aide's enthusiasm was evident, as he bowed and turned on his heels.
After watching his aide leave the office, Bevek then turned his attention to the prisoner, standing up from his desk. Two long strides and he was standing over her. Reaching down and grabbing her by the breast, he pulled her up to her feet. "You're not worthy of that uniform." He spat in her face.
He matched his actions to his words, starting to strip the red and gold uniform off of her. Weakened by the gold band around her neck so that she was even weaker than a mere Beta was, she was unable to resist him. Soon, she was completely naked, except for the gold band around her neck. He then flung her down onto the floor and began removing his own uniform.
Knowing what was coming, she tried to crawl away. She hadn't gone more than five feet before he grabbed her again, throwing her down onto her back. Easily spreading her legs, he got between them.
Even though it was the communications officer whom he was using, that was not whom he was thinking of. In his mind's eye, he could still see Virren. Despite regulations, she certainly knew how to use clothes to bring out her best features. And she definitely had some nice features.
He had been trying to bed her ever since she had been assigned to his unit. However, like most females, she chose her own bedmates. And usually more than one at a time, if he were to believe even half of the stories that he had heard about her.
Weakened by the gold, Marlen was unable to resist him as he took his pleasure from her. More than once, before using her uniform to clean himself up and putting on his uniform again.
He had just seated himself behind his desk when the aide returned. "She's all yours. Take her away."
"Yes, Sir!" His face lit up with anticipation.
"Make sure you treat her properly, Kyree" The emphasis clearly was on the last word.
"Yes, Sir!" Reaching down, he grabbed her arm and roughly forced her to her feet. Getting an arm around her waist, he hoisted her up to his shoulder, and marched out of the office.
Kyree had never had a female Prime before. While a male Prime might occasionally order a female Beta to his bed, female Primes just did not consort with male Betas. That hadn't stopped him from fantasizing about being with a female Prime, to feel her powerful arms around his body, hoping that she would be gentle with him.
Though he knew that this would not be quite the same. He might let her get her arms around him, but he wasn't about to remove the gold band around her throat. He wasn't about to release her full strength, to allow her to completely crush his male Beta body against her seemingly soft female Prime body.
Still, it was an enjoyable experience. Even with the gold, her body was still so much firmer than that of any Beta. When she resisted, he struck her with all of his strength, knowing that he could cause her pain while he couldn't actually injure her nearly invulnerable body. He especially enjoyed hitting her large full breasts, watching those mounds bounce as she cried out in pain.
It was such a thrill, actually causing a Prime to feel pain. Almost as thrilling as actually using her beautiful body for his pleasure was. He also enjoyed the humiliation and the degradation he was causing the Prime, forcing her to pleasure him.
It was definitely a very happy Beta who finally went to sleep that night, after shackling her wrists and ankles to a post in the corner of his room.
Under normal circumstances, Marlen knew that the steel shackles couldn't hold her. But these circumstances were far from normal. It had been so long since she had actually felt the effects of gold. She had been unable to stop him from using her body for his pleasure, even when he had left her arms free.
And under normal circumstances, she could have tightened her body enough to keep a mere Beta from entering. She had actually managed to keep him out, until he had slapped her breast, forcing her to gasp out in pain and involuntarily loosening herself.
Unlike what the Beta obviously believed, though, this wasn't the first time that a Beta had had her. Though this was the first time that a Beta had ever caused her any pain. It was actually worse than being used by a Prime.
And it was the first time that she had not been in complete control. With her Beta partners, there had been no question over who was in charge, even if she hadn't outranked them. And with Terrans such as Michael and Pierre, there had been no doubts there. But now, just a mere Beta was....
Not only was he in complete control, but he wasn't interested in pleasure. Not hers, at any rate. He was only interested in getting his own pleasure out of her body, while causing her as much humiliation as possible.
"You miss Marlen, don't you?" Vicky was lying on her side, with her head propped up on an elbow, as her other hand lightly stroked across Michael's chest.
"You know I am," he finally replied. "It's always hard to lose a man under my command."
"Marlen wasn't exactly a man, Michael. I thought you would have realized that by now."
"Yes, I know that she wasn't a man," he replied, reaching over and cupping one of the blonde's breasts. "She most definitely wasn't a man. It only makes it harder."
"I know. But she gave her life for us." She still felt a little guilty at leaving Marlen to fight alone. But she also realized that there was nothing she could have done to help Marlen. The best she could have done was to get the rest of the team to safety, which she had done.
"I'll never forget her."
She snuggled up closer, pushing her breast against his hand. "Let me see if I can make you forget her for one night." He responded by squeezing the large mound of feminine flesh with all of the strength in his hand, provoking a low moan from her.
Feeling the incredibly firm flesh did not take his mind off of Marlen, however. It only made him think about the first time that he had ever felt such firm breasts, on the young raven-haired girl from the stars who somehow had passed on some of her abilities to the golden-haired girl now beside him.
They came for Marlen in the middle of the night. The arrival of a detail of four Betas roused her. She had not gotten much sleep that night. Or any night recently. Or any day, for that matter, there had been a steady stream of Betas, part of the Arion commander's attempt to break her spirit.
After unshackling her from the post, they chained her wrists painfully behind her back. A short length of chain bound her ankles together, allowing her to hobble. Leading her outside, they roughly threw her into the back of a lorry. Two of the men rode in the back with her, continually fondling and pinching her breasts.
Upon reaching the waterfront, Marlen was taken aboard a U-boat. She had been afraid that the two Betas detailed to accompany her would have free use of her body, but the Prime commander had allowed her to don her uniform for the trip. In addition, once down below in a small compartment, she was shackled to some frames. That, and the uniform, made it impossible for the Betas to use her body, though that didn't stop them from trying. As it was, they still tormented her, fondling her breasts and pinching her nipples. They also reached up her skirt and probed her crotch.
All she could do to resist was to spit in their faces. They retaliated by slapping her. They couldn't harm her invulnerable body, but weakened as she was by the gold, they could still cause her pain. Something the Betas seemed to take delight in.
At least, they did not allow the German sailors to molest her, not that it was much of a consolation.
It wasn't long before she felt the U-boat moving. She could hear the officers' orders, and the crew moving around in response. The popping in her ears told her that they had submerged, though the throbbing of the diesels told her that they weren't too deep, but at snorkel depth.
There were no answers to her queries as to their destination. Not in words, anyway. Her Beta guards simply slapped her every time she spoke. Realizing that there was nothing she could do, even if she knew where they were headed, she stopped asking. Slumping down as far as her gold restraints would allow, she tried to conserve her energy.
Chirren sang to little Tyreen, trying to get the baby to stop crying and to go to sleep. Not having much success, she switched to another lullaby, her last resort. As usual, this one worked, as the baby finally went to sleep.
This lullaby had another effect, however, as tears filled Chirren's eyes. The only lullaby that seemed to work on Tyreen was the Prime one that Chirren had learned from Marlen. Every time she sang it, she couldn't help but think of Marlen.
Laying Tyreen in her crib, Chirren sat down right where she was, on the floor. Covering her face with her hands, she let the tears flow freely.
After she had run out of tears, she dried her eyes and went into the adjoining bedroom. He was already in the bed, his light breathing telling her that he had just fallen asleep. Quietly slipping out of her clothes, she slipped under the covers, trying not to waken him.
She was not successful. She felt him stir, putting an arm around her. "Sorry," she said, "Tyreen wouldn't go to sleep."
"And what about her mother? Does she need some help in going to sleep?"
She rolled over to face him. "Do you have something in mind?"
"I could probably find something." He came closer and nuzzled her breasts with his face, before closing his mouth on one nipple and suckling.
"Careful there," she laughed. "Every time we do that, I end up by watching you fall asleep." However, she didn't pull away from him, instead wrapping an arm around him and pulling him closer. She then rolled him over onto his back and rolled on top of him, ending any further conversation by smothering his mouth with hers.
Letting him up for air and pulling herself away from him, she mounted him and lowered herself onto him, his hands automatically coming up to caress and fondle her breasts as her powerful legs began their rhythmic pumping.
As she had said earlier, he fell asleep first, completely exhausted. But then, he always did, his male Terran body unable to keep up with her female Arion body.
"Skipper, I'm getting something on the radar, nine miles bearing two-four-zero. The echo looks like a surfaced U-boat. Probably recharging the batteries."
"Roger that, Radar." Turning the wheel, the pilot banked and turned the big lumbering flying boat to the southwest. There was nothing in that direction except more grey clouds, with only an occasional glimpse of greyer water through them. "Damn! I can't see a bloody thing out there. Are you sure that gizmo of yours is working?"
The Coastal Command Sunderland, one of the first to be equipped with the new airborne centimetric radar units, was operating out of Newfoundland, trying to do its share of closing the gap in the air coverage in the North Atlantic. As of yet, however, the U-boats still enjoyed too much freedom out here.
Before you could attack a U-boat, let alone sink it, you had to find it. And the several million square miles of the North Atlantic made for an awfully big haystack in which to find a small needle.
The big Sunderland flying boat had the endurance to cover a good stretch of the ocean. But the problem still remained, that of finding the U-boat. That was where the new centimetric radar came in. It was supposed to be able to detect a surfaced submarine over ten miles away. They even claimed that it could detect a submerged submarine by its periscope or snorkel at a range of over six miles.
"Holding steady, dead ahead, about seven miles, Skipper," the radar operator's voice came though his headset again, forcing the pilot's mind back to the task at hand.
"Roger. I'm taking her down below the soup, so maybe the rest of us mortals can see something." He matched his actions to his words, pushing on the stick and nosing the plane down, at the same time pushing forward on the throttle for even more speed. "Henderson, get ready with those bombs," he added for the bombardier.
About a minute later, the plane broke through the base of the cloud layer. At the same time, the copilot yelled out, "Tally ho! U-boat dead ahead!"
"I see her. Henderson, she's all yours," he told the bombardier. "Let's make it count." Some minor adjustments of the controls lined up the plane with the U-boat. As he eased back on the throttle to give the bombardier a more stable platform, the pilot could see the crew of the U-boat scrambling on the deck, preparing for a crash dive.
Even as big as the Sunderland was, he felt the plane lurch skyward as the bombs were dropped. He immediately banked the plane into a tight turn to the left. At least, into as tight a turn as the big four-engined flying boat could manage --- a Sunderland was not a nimble mount like were the Spitfires that his brother flew for the Fighter Command.
"We got her!" He couldn't identify the voice in the excited chatter over the intercom. Looking out the side window, he could see the U-boat's bow pointing upwards as it settled by the stern, an oily slick spreading out over the water and a column of smoke roiling into the sky.
"Jolly good show, Henderson," he said, when the intercom chatter slowed down. "And you too, Lewis," he added for the radar operator. "Without that gizmo of yours, we never would have gotten her." Then, for the benefit of the remainder of the crew, he added, "Okay, now let's go home. The first round's on me, lads."
Turning the plane to the left on the heading that the navigator gave him, he pulled the throttle back to cruising speed for the trip home. But despite his last announcement, he was not thinking about cold pints of bitter. "There just might be something to this radar thing, No way we would have found the Hun without it in this weather. Hell, it was hard enough just to see the water. And it found it almost ten miles away. We couldn't have seen a bloody battleship that far away."
There was the sound of shouting. There was the sound of explosions. The entire boat shook, and then canted wildly. There was more shouting, followed by screaming. Additional explosions followed. There was the sound of rending steel.
As the U-boat sank, the water pressure crushed the hull as if it was made of paper. The steel tore apart as the water poured in, flooding one compartment after another. The screams of the crewmen were cut off as the immense pressure mercifully crushed them before they drowned.
As the water started to pour into one compartment, the shackled occupant opened her eyes. She tried to scramble to safety, whatever safety she could find, but the chains binding her wrists and ankles to the frame prevented her. Besides, there was no place of safety within the iron coffin that the U-boat had become. The two men with her in the compartment did not fare any better than the other sailors did.
Finally, the immense pressure tore apart the steel frame to which the captive was bound. However, the pressure did not crush this one person like it did all of the seamen inside.
As the collapsing steel hull closed around the young woman, dressed in the red and gold uniform of an Arion communications officer and bound with a gold band around her neck, her eyes closed and her lungs took their last breath of air before filling with water.
Her body sank to the bottom of the cabin, her bound arms and legs waving slowly in the currents. She could feel herself getting even weaker as she sank deeper and deeper, where the sunlight never penetrated. Just as she settled to the bottom, her eyes flickered open briefly, glowing with their own inner light in the darkness of the depths.
Marlen had one last thought before her eyes closed for the final time and she lost consciousness. "Father, I am coming. Wait for me just a little longer. Father, I am coming."
