FREEFALL: A LT FREYA NOVEL - CHAPTER 2

Chapter 2

Ghosts

“I… what? Who are you?”

“I am Kiniro.”

“Who isn’t in the rebellion? Literally everyone on this here introduced themselves to me as Kiniro and I’m fucking si-”

John reached across and laid his paw on Freya’s shoulder to get her attention.

“Freya… This is General Kiniro.”

“...General?”

Freya scanned the young woman, her HUD displaying no facial recognition matches.

“She’s the mother of the rebellion. The original Kiniro.”

A medic walked up behind the General and whispered a pleading phrase. The General sighed and shook herself free of the medic’s light grip.

“Fine… fine.” she answered him, before turning her attention to Freya, “You better believe you’re going to be debriefed when we get back to … where are we going? Where is the council hiding now?”

“Manzerik Base.”

“You took the base?”

“There’s a lot to discuss, General. Please. You’ve been in Vulp care for six weeks. We need to look at that jaw…”

The rest of the journey passed in reluctant silence, punctured only by whispers. Freya caught John’s eyes for a moment and all he did was shake his head before looking away.

The former barracks came into view and the lev-cart slowed to a halt outside the medical building. The healthy humans helped the injured out of the transport and into the waiting arms of medical teams. The unit head approached Freya as General Kiniro was taken for treatment and a hot meal.

“You’re former Lt. Freya Storm, United Front engineer. Served under Captain Fox Morrison.”

Everyone knew the story.

“Miss Storm? Not everyone likes to hear me say this about a Vulp, but you and Fox are heroes. Fox died for us. And was the first casualty of the rebellion.”

“Yeah. I remember. I was there.”

“The second one to die was Governor Kreiger. By your hand.”

“Technically I shot a few guards before I got to him.”

“History won’t remember them. They’ll remember you splattering that monster’s brains across his mansion floor.”

“Ok.”

“I’ll make sure the General remembers this too, before you two speak.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

“You two will meet in the mansion’s ballroom. Where he died. In one hour. Ok?”

“Fine.”

The human turned on his heels and walked off to attend to his General. Freya slung the Mark I around her shoulder.

John walked up behind her, “You’re pretty good with a Mark I, hon. I gotta know why you want this so bad before I hand it over.” he said, gesturing to his heavily modified Mark II.

“Because when you shoot someone with a Mark II their blood vaporizes in a mist.” she answered, touching a paw to the blood stains left on her face.

“And I want to see those fascist UTF fucks die rather than just fall limp.”

“A little dark, Freya.”

She flashed him a look, “Fuck fascists. Fuck the UTF. Now, are you coming with me or what?”

“To meet with Kiniro? No I-”

“I’m not going to hang around here just so a yet another general can tell me what to do. I quit that shit when Fox died. And whoever the fuck ambushed us has Kiira. You’d let me go after her alone?”

“You sure you want to run off half cocked and hunt Ghosts?”

“Ghosts? So you even have a name for them? What else aren’t you telling me, John.”

“More than you can imagine. This is what I will tell you, though. If you run off after your friend now then you’ll be dead by sundown. And whatever plans they have for Kiira are going to happen. If you hang around for one hour… and talk to the General then maybe we can get a recon crew together and-”

She shoved him hard, “You think any one of these people are going to risk their ass to save someone in a red uniform? Honestly?”

“If Kiniro asks them to, yes.”

“What makes you think she would?”

“Because… You said yourself. I know things I haven’t told you.”

“And?”

“Go clean up. Talk to the general in an hour. If you still want to go out and do this I’ll be right here waiting.”

“Fuck you, John.”

Freya stormed off to the barrack’s shower, Mark I still attached to her access port, HUD still scanning every rebel she passed.

In the showers Freya lay the filth and blood covered Mark I against the tile floor as steam billowed. The titanium of her exposed prosthetic knee clinked against the floor as she knelt down and tied the ribbon cable around the stock. She did not want to lose it as there were very few cyber-brain compatible replacement parts available on Roth. She doubted the Armada on it’s way would be willing to resupply her.

The muggy heat of the running shower called to her.

Freya retrieved several small bottles from her pack and passed through the wooden doors to the stall. On the small shelf, next to the dwindling ball of soap, she set a bottle of conditioner, waterproof mechanical lubricant, and industrial microfiber cleaner for her prosthetics.

“This is ridiculous…” she mumbled, tying her hair back, “I’m scrubbing up when Kiira is fuck knows where?”

She reminded herself that John was most likely right. And if she had any chance of rescuing her friend, she needed to gather strength and support. Whatever a Ghost was she knew they were deadly.

“I need to figure out what the fuck is going on…”

She shook her head. Raging about it wasn’t going to Kiira. And meeting the general with a clear head might be the best strategy. Captain Lapin had said he would put in a good word before they met. Between Fox’s sacrifice, Lapin’s support, and John’s Ghost stories- she might just convince the rebels to form a search party.

Freya stepped beneath the heated stream and let the water wash over her back and fur. The former UTF showers were built for the brass, a rare luxury she enjoyed over the previous six weeks. Large stalls. High water pressure. And hot. The humans didn’t even use the showers for that reason. Without thick Vulp skin and a layer of fur they would probably burn in the heat.

“More for me…”

The water trailed down her back, bringing waves of relief. Days worth of grime and bramble from the Horgrath forest pooled on the floor. She leaned back and let the water spray through her hair. A rust colored stream splashed the white tile floor- dried Vulp blood. She turned around and washed her face, breathing the steam in with slow, intentional breaths. Sheets of warm water cascaded down her neck, over her breasts, and between her legs.

Her tail twitched as the heat washed over her abdomen and vagina. She exhaled longingly as lurid memories of particularly artful partners flashed through her mind. The soft tongue of some long forgotten shipmate, or Darude’s eager curiosity about vulpine anatomy. He’d mentioned Freya was much more responsive than any of his previous human partners. She recalled his hot and eager breath on her and mimicked the feeling by sliding a finger between her legs, barely stroking her clit. Her other paw instinctually cupped a breast, fingers closing around a taut nipple.

She bit her lower lip and whined.

The showers were on a timer and she did not have the time for this. Unless…

“Guess I could hurry things along…”

The tile was cold against her paw pads as she skipped across the floor outside the stall to her Mark I. Shivering and wet, she squated down and removed the plasma bolt from the chamber. Quickly, she unscrewed the bolt and popped out the core, rendering it inert. She examined the bolt for a moment. It was eight inches long and a good inch and a half in diameter with a rounded tip and flat base.

“I haven’t done this since the academy with…”

The image of a smooth skinned long tailed shark classmate flashed through her mind. Destina.

Freya hopped back to the shower stall and shivered beneath the water until the plumes of steam and heat enveloped her once again.

“Ah that’s right… where was I?”

Her free paw instantly began circling her clitorus as the other lifted the bolt to her maw. She devoured the titanium bolt, ignoring the metallic taste as she swirled her tongue around it.

“Ah…” she exhaled, before closing her mouth completely around the bolt.

Her lower paw massaged her vagina as she remembered the night with Destina. Freya had grown up in the Central city just as the UTF transitioned into total war mode. All public pools had been converted to housing for factory workers in munitions plants. Her first exposure to open water had been the academy gym. She had been required to pass a swimming qualification to complete her requirements for the rank of Lieutenant.

Freya had no aptitude for swimming. But the sweet young shark girl who proctored the tests had, perhaps too eagerly, volunteered for late night tutoring.

Freya’s paw spread her pussy open and she felt the slick wetness of her own arousal.

“Oh Destina… you tasted you good…”

Her fingers slide past her opening briefly, sliding out to spread her natural wetness over her lips. She slid the bolt out of her mouth, thoroughly slicked with saliva, and dragged it over her clit.

“Nng… fuck,” she whispered to herself.

After several days of private tutoring, Freya had found she could manage a basic breaststroke from one end of the pool to the other. Destina would walk alongside her, encouraging her, as her glistening tail dragged along in the water. When Freya would slow down or lose focus, Destina would splash her gently.

At night the pool’s overhead LED’s were off. Dim security lights beneath the water were the only light source. As the water’s volume swayed and rocked with their motions fractals of light danced around them. Everything was cast in a watery sepia glow. Swaying like a kaleidoscope around them. Freya remembered the scent of chlorine and the echo of the chamber as she reached the other end of the pool without stopping for the first time.

The bolt slid easily between her legs, filling her up completely. She guided it slowly in and out as her free paw rocked softly over her clit. She inhaled her own scent of arousal mixed with the drifting mist of the shower.

“Fuck…”

When Freya had finally reached the opposite edge of the pool and flung her head out of the water, she found herself looking directly between Destina’s legs. The underwater lights danced on the glistening smooth skin of her bare thighs, each one just inches from her ears. Destina’s thick tail scooped Freya’ up, allowing her to balance easily in the water.

“You did it, sweetie.” Destina cooed, “You ready for your reward?”

Freya had been half hoping, half expecting this.

“Oh? And what’s that?” she played.

Destina scooted closer to the edge of the pool and spread her legs, pulling her bathing suit to the side and exposing her smooth, pink, shimmering pussy.

Freya had wasted no more time and leaned forward to taste her. A single long swipe of her canid tongue from ass to clit.

“Fuck, you’re soaking wet,” she recalled saying.

“And I haven’t been in the water! Now, shut up and eat,” Destina ordered, resting a hand on the back of Freya’s head and guiding her towards her eager pussy.

In the shower, Freya recalled every taste and lurid moan of that night. The bolt slid in and out with a steady rhythm. The hot shower beat down her back. Freya leaned forward, balancing herself with one paw as the other fucked her pussy with the slick bolt.

She had spent twenty minutes straight worshipping between Destina’s thighs. Hungrily lapping at her clit, sucking on it and swirling her tongue until Destina was just shy of climax and then pulling back to lazily taste between her lips. Destina would let out a frustrated sigh as Freya teased. ANd then encourage the young Vulp by shifting her hips forward and gripping the back of her head tighter. Just as the shark got used to the feeling of the Fennec’s tongue between her lips, Freya would drop her muzzle down to glide her tongue over Destina’s ass.

“Oh, gosh… wow.”

Freya had grinned internally as Destina grabbed a lock of her hair and pulled the fennec’s muzzle deeper. The whole time the stunned shark whispering, “That’s right bitch, eat it.”

Freya had been absolutely happy to oblige.

Freya pushed her back up against the tile, her paw now free to circle her clit eagerly as she dropped the bolt entirely. In her fantasy, she was Destina. Legs spread on the edge of a pool as a hungry little cadet finally stopped teasing and slid two fingers inside her and clamped her muzzle down over her clit.

She spoke Destina’s words out loud to herself.

“That’s right girl… make me cum. Make me… ah… “

The young cadet had savored the taste of the shark’s willing pussy as her tongue beat a steady rhythm on her clit. She felt the muscles begin to quiver as her fingers hooked inside of her, hitting the spot. Destina’s hips had bucked and back had arched as she shouted out Freya’s name. Freya felt the smooth skinned hands wrap around her wrist and guide her paw as Destina fucked herself with Freya’s fingers.

The memory of Destina soaking her muzzle as she shook with orgasm sent Freya over the edge of her own. Her claws scraped against the wet tile and a wave of release weakened her knees. She slid to the shower floor, still fucking her own pussy furiously as the peak wracked her with tingling heat. Her cunt pulsed around her fingers and she whispered Destina’s name as a second wave shuddered through her body. Freya’s paws were exhausted and the dizziness finally hit. She had been holding her breath the whole time and she gasped in deeply as she let herself fall limp to the tile. She was flush, and now gasping for air. Aftershocks rippling through her. Very gingernly she slid her fingers out of her pussy, accidentally brushing her clit in the process and shaking with overstimulation.

The shower timer ended and she caught her breath, sucking her fingers clean just as Destina had done to her.

“Fuck girl,” she whispered.

She looked up to the mechanical lubricate which remained untouched on the shelf above her.

“Guess I’m meeting the general with a squeaky leg.”

She gathered herself, dried off and dressed. After reassembling the bolt and re-loading her Mark I she stepped out of the showers to find John waiting for her.

“Thought you weren’t coming?” she said.

He noticed her glassy eyed look and answered immediately, “Guess you just were?”

She allowed herself a laugh, “It relieves stress.”

“I shoulda thought of that... Come on, let’s go up to the mansion.”

The two climbed the series of steps and lifts that ascended from the former UTF barracks and base to the governor’s mansion which overlooked the Horgath forest. Freya tried to think as they walked in relative silence. Before she could prepare herself they were both ushered in through the main gate. It was the second time she’d crossed that threshold. The last time had been with Captain Morrison at her side.

As she passed into the foyer she tried to recall what it had looked like that first time with the Captain. The rooms had been lavishly decorated and filled from corner to corner with United Front VIPs.

The statues were all gone, likely topped and smashed to dust. The drapes and art had all been torn down and replaced with maps, star charts, and other tools of the resistance. Small camps were set up in orderly rows in the vast foyer. When under UTF control the building housed just one man. And now a virtual city had sprung up in it’s halls. The rebellion council had taken control of the mansion. But also their families, their friends, strangers and anyone who needed someplace warm to sleep and food to eat.

“Property is theft, Freya.”

“Obviously,” she answered unironically.

“General Kiniro is in Kreiger’s old sanctuary… only one who gets a private space. Not that she’s gonna let us get away with that. Just you watch. By nightfall? She’ll have moved a dozen strangers into that office.”

“Sounds about right to me from what I’ve seen of the humans. I… fuck.”

Freya stopped at the door as John took a few steps ahead.

“Oh...shit,” he said “I didn’t think.”

The last time Freya had passed these doors she had been immediately seized by Kreiger’s personal guards. Her paw reached for her prosthetic leg, muscle memory reaching for a gun which was no longer stored there.

The guards had held her just long enough to make her watch the Governor fire a lethal shot into Captain Fox Morrison’s chest. She recalled the spray of blood from the old combustion projectile pistol he’d been killed with. The scene played and replayed in her mind until General Kiniro interrupted the loop.

“Well?”

The general held an ice pack to her bruised jaw and wore several new stitches but had wethered her time in captivity well. John guided Freya past the threshold and she caught a glimpse of the spot where the Captain and Governor Kreiger had both fallen. The blood stains remained and before she coudl begin to sort out whose blood was whose, John guided her away.

The General followed Freya’s line of sight and John’s face and sighed.

“Sorry, Miss Storm. I was so focused on what happened today … If I had been thinking straight I would have met you elsewhere.”

Freya did not answer as John led her to a dimly lit corner with a couple of leather chairs. Neither tried to imagine exactly where the leather had come from.

General Kiniro joined them and properly introduced herself.

“I’m general Amelia Kiniro. My grandmother started the resistance and passed the responsibility to my mother, who passed it to me. Miss Storm, when you killed the governor,” She gestured toward the bloodstains on the floor, “You gave us the moment we needed to fulfill generations worth of planning. You and Captain Morrison… we never thought a Vulp would turn on their own. I don’t know when we would have had this opportunity without you two.”

Her voice was nurturing and soft. Freya could see why the others followed her. When she wasn’t twisted in rage, she was very easy to trust. Still, Freya offered no response. She had heard all this already from the humans. At least the ones who didn’t hate her on sight for her fur.

“The highest compliment I can offer you, Miss Storm, is to say I trust you. Despite your breeding. As much as I trusted Fox. I understand you and he were close?”

A meek voice replied, “I love him. Loved. I loved him very much, General.”

General Kiniro reached out, resting a bruised hand on Freya’s shoulder as she answered through a pained face, “I’m sorry for your loss. He was very important to us as well. You know he told me about you often?”

Freya looked up with a satisfied smile, sniffing back tears.

John cut in, “A lot of loss since the UTF occupied Roth.”

“Indeed,” The general remarked coldly.

“Ghosts of our past,” he added.

Kiniro rolled her eyes, “I was trying to be gentle with the girl, John.”

Freya’s eyes tracked between the two as John replied, “We can have all the feelings we want when this is over, General. Unless Freya has forgotten-”

“Kiira!” She gasped.

The General rose from her seat, a full head shorter than John.

“I may have been gone for two months… did the council vote in a new general in my absence, John?”

Realizing his mistake he snapped to attention, “No, General.”

“Really? Because apparently you think you’re in charge here.”

“No, General.”

“Really? ‘No, General’ ? I don’t buy it. I don’t get talked down to by some fucking Vulp. Especially not you. Especially with the mess you got us into today.”

“I’m sorry, Gener-”

“Get the fuck out of here. Get the fuck out of this building. If I decide I want your input again I’ll be sure to send the lowest ranking man I can to fetch you for me.”

“Yes, general,” he said abashedly as he turned and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Kiniro shook her head and folded her arms, “Sorry you had to see that, Miss Freya. John has always been a bit…”

“Entitled?”

“He’s a good man. We just gotta break that Vulpocentric bullshit.”

“He’s a Vulp and a male.”

The general smiled and returned to her seat. Freya returned the smile and then lowered her head, trying to push away memories of the Captain.

“Between you and me I only got so mad because he was right.”

Freya chuckled softly, “He still should have shut the fuck up.”

“There’s a lot I want to tell you, Miss Freya. In my mind, after what you did and what Captain Morrison said about you? I want you to take up what would have been his role in all of this. Did… how much did he tell you about the rebellion, Roth and the secrets this moon has?”

“He showed me a video of what we… the UTF… did to you down in the mines. A week later he was dead.”

“... and what else?”

“That was it. He showed me the video and asked me to watch his back at the Governor's party.”

“You saw one video and turned on your entire race, career and life? Then when your boyfriend is killed you promptly murder the most evil man on Roth and spend six weeks picking off your former shipmates at the front?”

“Yes.”

The general smiled, “I like you a lot, Miss Freya.”

Freya sighed heavily, “I did it for Fox, mostly. General. And if I’m being truthful… I’m still here to honor his memory. My reasons are my own. Fox was in it for you. I’m not as good of a person as he was.”

The General lifted her head and squinted at the young vulpine sitting in a heap on the chair across from her, “I don’t care why you did it, Freya. The crops don’t ask why they are harvested. We all wear our reasons around our neck. Right now. In this moment. You’re one of us?”

“Yes, General.”

The general reached in her pocket and took out a small rectangular tin. The box glinted in the dim light as she opened it to reveal a handful of old and yellowed cigarettes. As she extracted one from the tin and lit it she looked thoughtfully at Freya.

“It’s been six weeks. This is gonna be the best smoke of my life.”

“Right.”

She inhaled deeply and blew the smoke out into the lamplight, “So. I know I’m being kind to you now but what happened this morning was your fault. Though... mostly John’s they tell me. You shouldn’t have been there though. Then again we wouldn’t have gotten out alive if not for you two pinning those snipers… we’ll call it a wash.”

“What did happen this morning?”

“Ghosts.”

“What?”

“John really never told you? What was your rank in the UTF before you decided to start killing them…”

“Lieutenant.”

“And Fox never said anything to you about- Oh. I guess he wouldn’t necessarily have known. I’ll bet Janeway kept him in the dark, actually. Brass like that loves to compartmentalize information. If he ever got questioned he’d have no answers to give. I guess she’s a smart woman. But I don’t see how folks can operate in such a low information environment. Eventually everybody has to know the game they’re playing.”

“What game?” Freya answered, somewhat annoyed.

“You’re right. This isnt’ a game. And I’m rambling. Roth, my girl, is not only a mining colony. The planetary defense grid we control is standard for any UTF installation. However… the low orbit destroyer that the Vulps are sitting on in the shipyard. Now that’s overkill, isn’t it? Seriously, I want you to answer.”

Freya leaned back, “I wouldn’t know. General, I wasn’t exactly a dedicated soldier… I got conscripted into the Front and did my best to survive it.”

The general finished her cigarette and extinguished it on the Governor's floor.

“I see. Well, I’ll just tell you. Yes. It’s overkill. That’s a hell of a lot of firepower for one mining colony. Especially one that is six months from Tangi. And eight months from any other militarized galaxy. So why the gunship? Without it, we’d have total control of the planet and a fighting chance of turning back the Front when they arrive with the fleet. But.. outflanked by both the fleet and a fucking destroyer class ship in our own orbit? We’re going to be fucked. But why is it here?”

“When I found out I wanted to know why. This was not part of my Grandmother’s plan, by the way. Soon as they tried to put that motherfucking gunship in orbit? three generations of planning went out the window. Why was it here and why the fuck was it hidden?”

The general stood up and stretched, “Anyway, I was able to get word out to the resistance while the Front had me captive. I assume you figured that out? Your chauvinistic former comrades didn’t think a female, let alone a young one, could possibly be as… well… important as I am.”

“I was able to run the resistance from an interrogation cell this whole time. Your little friend though. She was smarter than the Vulps. Maybe it’s because she’s a Lapine, I don’t know. But she walked up to me one day and flat out told me she knew I was more important than the Vulps knew. And she wanted to help me. The prisoner exchange today was the Vulps idea. They got orders to draw you out to the exchange. They wanted you, specifically, Miss Freya. Lang was able to warn me. The orders didn’t come from the UTF. Someone else was calling the shots. And it was about your cyber-brain augmentations. That’s all Miss Lang was able to tell me though.”

Freya bit her lip thinking of Kiira, straining to keep the tears back.

“So I gave orders to keep you out of it entirely. Whatever they wanted I was not about to give it to them. That’s why I had John run the show.”

Freya perked up, “Wait… Orders, not from Tangi? Then who.”

The admiral grinned and sat up in her chair, “Well I had no idea. Neither did Lang. Until an hour ago that is. John came to speak with me at the medic’s. That low orbit destroyer? All that extra defense? Roth isn’t just a mining colony, Freya. Somewhere beneath the Horgath forest there is a UTF research and development base. Off book stuff. Your Prime Minister likely doesn’t even know about it.”

Freya sniffed, “Of course.”

The admiral continued, “You, Fox and Miss Lang…  you were all part of project Eylsian, correct? Tell me about that.”

Freya nodded, “They replaced our brains when we died. They brought us back to fight for the front. Gave us augmentations, enhancements…”

“Right. I’m sure you’ve thought about the natural end of that type of research program?”

Freya had.

“Total brain control. Helplessly loyal and half immortal soldiers. The perfect army.”

“You, Fox and Miss Lang were all part of the alpha portion of that program. But here on Roth another research vector was being explored. Those Vulps you saw today? Who came out of nowhere? John tells me they’re called Ghost Soldiers. Somewhere on this planet is an entire base full of Ghosts and fuck knows what else.”

“H-how does John know any of this?”

The General leaned back and folded her arms, “He was supposedly a cook on your ship, right? Well. He’s not. Apparently he does love to cook but… but when your little ship would make supply runs to Roth? He was actually running communication between the Ghost Soldiers and whatever shadow government within the UTF had commissioned the project. He had at some point resigned due to ethical objections. And frankly, Miss Storm, if you hadn’t started this rebellion when you did? He was likely to be assassinated before your ship departed. Good timing for him.”

After giving Freya a moment to process the General continued, “So these Ghost soldiers wanted a Vulp with a cyber brain. And when they couldn’t get you they took Kiira.”

Freya clawed the leather of the chair, “I don’t care what they are… if they can go invisible or teleport or whatever the fuck that was… I’m going after her.”

The Admiral leaned back and considered Freya for a moment, “You think you can just waltz into that research and development base and walk out with your friend like the wind?”

“I don’t care how I do it. But I’m going. Now. Alone if I have to.”

Amelia Kiniro smiled warmly on Freya, “No you’re not. At least… not alone. I’m going with you. I owe Kiira. And frankly we need you both. Alive.”

“I’m relieved to have your support General. But you’re too important to the people here to run off on a rescue mission like this.”

“I have to go, Miss Storm.”

“Why?”

“These Ghosts… I need to know what this is. I didn’t plan for them. I need to see it all myself. That and… I owe Miss Lang. She protected me while I was prisoner. And honestly if I don’t go after her no one else will.”

“Now, I’m going to have whoever cleans the floors around here go fetch John. Go suit up with whatever you got and meet me in the basement in 45 minutes. Either we’re coming home with Kiira or not at all.”