An Unlikely Coming Together _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Gordi woke up in the corner he had settled in to sleep last night. He peeked over his shield, his head filling his helmet as he did so. As with all other nights he had spent sleeping, curled up in a corner behind his shield with his helmet sat upon it; he then slowly stood up and stretched. Once done he took up his spear which lay to his left. It was a crude thing, little more than iron bar that was sharp on one end. He tugged his chest armor a bit to air it out; it got stuffy after long nights. He thanked the Emperor he had managed to find out how to make it flexible over his stomach. He collected the water bottles he had set out under the leaks in the ceiling of the run-down apartment room he had slept in for the night. The hive probably lost a few million gallons of water due to leaks each month, but it was what kept Gordi from going thirsty so he didn't really mind at all. Young Gordi set out from his hiding place and continued on his way, looking for a way out of the hive. Curiously there was sunlight which was something new to him. He'd grown up in the manufactory sector building casings for something called a "Charge Pack" He'd never felt light that warmed him quite like it. Like the fire of a furnace but less harsh. Gordi trekked on, after weeks of walking and careful sneaking he was almost out of the hive, the war that had wracked it had been ever so harsh. It seemed like the only people he ever ran into anymore were soldiers, either human or other things he'd not seen before. But they all acted the same, they shot at him with red beams of light that scarred whatever they hit, or weird blue blasts that shone like the spark from a welder. He'd seen less of the red things that shot the blue blazing blasts, but many more of his fellow humans. Perhaps there was a war being fought, he didn't know. A great thunderous clap followed by an explosion easily seen from a kilometer away tore him from his meager thoughts. The raucous hammer-blow sound followed by the crack of firey blasts was then followed by a great wave of yelling and loud staccato bursts of noise followed by more claps of thunder and great bursts of flame. There was a fight. He'd watched many of them before, the weird looking smooth hovering things with the big guns rending apart human tanks and troops; it was an awe-inspiring sight for one who'd grown up in and only previously known the dull life of a manufactory. He'd wait and see what happened. The fight had raged for about an hour, it was almost afternoon now and Gordi would need to find another hiding place to sleep in for the night. He had picked about the remains of the battle for a while, finding for himself at last one of the guns his fellow humans usually carried, a big pistol that had a big magazine and roared like some angry beast when fired. Had he more knowledge, he'd have known it were a bolt pistol. He also picked up a rifle, it was light and simply built. Gordi heard the steady 'thunk-thunk' sound of one of the Guard's walking machines and scurried off. He found his hiding place and something else. It was red and grey and was obviously beat up. It had the scars and charring burns the guns of the human soldier's left behind. It moved, turning it's head toward Gordi. What must've been a helmet was missing about half it's faceplate. Underneath was a face; a badly bruised one. Shas'la Vika was having a shitty day. First her lieutenant's plan to get them all off the planet and to the Farsight Enclaves had been unwittingly foiled by the filthy gue'la; then she'd gone and gotten herself shot by said filthy gue'la. If it hadn't been for that damned ethereal ordering her Shas'O to attack this fucking planet, she wouldn't be in this situation. Then one of the dirty creatures, dressed in some stupid looking bronze armor shows up to kill her.... amazing. Then it talked. "Hi, what are you?" Gordi asked. An innocent enough question. The weird xeno thing looked at him, he didn't know what in the Holy Throne was going through it's head, but it didn't seem too threatening. He hadn't heard anything in the manufactory about things that weren't human. He didn't even know what the Holy Throne was, all he was ever told was what machine to push a button on and where to go. Vika looked at the gue'la, incredulous. He hadn't just shot her, it had asked her a question. A question she could understand because of the software in the surviving half of her helmet. Amazing indeed! She replied, as honest as she could be. It was weird listening to the thing, the half of it's lips Gordi could see did not match the words it spoke. In fact it sounded like there were two voices coming from it. But he could make out well enough what it said, "I am Tau, why did you not kill me?" To this he replied: "I don't know you, and I don't know why I'd want to. You've not hurt me I think." Still staring at him the Tau said back: "What? Nothing about your Emperor or how I'm filthy xeno scum?" Perplexed, Gordi answered, "I'm not a soldier, just a manufactory worker. And what's a xeno?" A human. A human that didn't want to kill her... because it didn't think it had done him wrong. Well shit this day just kept getting better. It seemed whatever caste a 'manufactory worker' was didn't merit much education. Seeing as he'd no discernable intent on harm she offered a bit of new information for the little gue'la. "A xeno is something that isn't human, like a Tau; like me." To this Gordi said, "Okay. I'm going to find a hiding place to sleep in, need help finding one too?" It seemed reasonable, the Tau didn't do anything mean to him and seemed to be nicer than the others he'd run into before. Then the Tau's expression changed, the black part of the eye got a little bigger and the lips a little thinner. He didn't know what it meant. Then it replied with a simple "Yeah". It offered one of it's arms. He took it and hefted it up. It was light enough to not be a serious hinderence. They found a good spot to hide for the night and settled in. Gordi set his spear near a corner, and his shield and helmet into the corner itself. Vika sat against a wall, nursing the wounds on her legs and one of her shoulders. Gordi was busy cooking a rat he had speared on the way over a small pile of wood scraps. "How do you eat that?" the Tau asked. "Because it's all there is. 'Some is better than none' as my last boss said." to this the tau stayed quiet and removed the remains of it's helmet. Under neat was a mostly bald head with shock of black hair coming off the back. Blue skin and a weird gap on the forehead. It looked at Gordi and attempted a human smile, to some avail. "Well then I suppose we should dig in." Gordi and Vika split the rat, it could have done with some salt and ketchup but considering the circumstances it was alright. They learned eachother's names proper and soon went to sleep. Gordi went and curled up behind his shield in the corner, Vika laid down next to the wall she had propped herself against." They woke again to the muffled sounds of battle, it was nearby. Gordi was up and ready to move as soon as he stood up, his sleeping arrangement afforded him that. Vika got up with a helping hand and was given the lasgun Gordi had scavenged. Together they cautiously left the room they had set up in. The sounds from this fight were weird to Gordi, the explosions and staccato bursts of sound were familiar; but the wickering and wooshing sounds accompanied every now and then with blood-curdling wails were as alien as his new friend. He waited with Vika behind a pile of rubble a ways of from the battle until it died down after about half an hour. That was rather fast. They picked around the remains of the battle looking for anything good. Vika found enough charge packs for her gifted lasgun to take on a small army, Gordi found more ammo for his bolt pistol. Vika had been kind enough to help him figure out how to use it. Friends were nice to have. What they also found was somewhat strange. At first Gordi had thought the bodies they had found amongst the human bodies were also human. But they were strange; more colorful and much taller. Whoever they were, one of them that was particularly ornate carried a spear that was much better than what Godri already had. He took it and admired how smooth and masterfully made it was. Oddly it made a strange droning whistle sound as he held it, he didn't know why. As they were moving on, toward the great cavernous wound in the hive that was letting sunlight in they heard something gasp and groan in what seemed like pain. When they investigated they found one of the tall colorful warriors. Like Vika it's helmet was busted up and allowed a look at the face, which upon a passing glance would look pretty. However, when staring straight at it, it was rather intimidating. The being that owned that face was an eldar as revealed in a passing comment made by Vika. Even though it was an entirely new alien being to Gordi he could tell it was angry, as though it were set on murdering him and Vika. He didn't want it to kill him or his friend. Arathi saw before her two inferior beings, one ape-like human in pathetically simplistic and crude bronze armor with an equally stupid and all-too-large shield in one arm. It's face was mostly covered by a helmet. It defiled a Singing Spear with it's filthy mits, seeming to think it had the right to. To make it all worse was that the spear sang with his touch, he was psyker and didn't seem to know it. Accompanying the mon-keigh was a hoof-footed simpleton. Thankfully it carried no eldar weapons, just one of the crude things the mon-keigh seemed to think could pass for weapons. If only her shuriken catapult still worked, she'd have cut them down in a second despite the debilitating pain in her back. Around her the soul stones of her squad pulsated, the two lesser creatures seemed to take notice. Gordi looked down to his left, a pulsating gem rested in the chestpiece of one of the armored eldar. As it pulsed he felt something in his head pulse with it, it was weird. He rested his new whistling spear against a crumbling wall and reached down to pick up the stone; it came out easily enough and felt warm to the touch. "Are you sure you should be touching that?" Vika asked. "I don't know, it feels kinda nice and warm." He replied. The eldar appearantly didn't take kindly to this and started frothing at the mouth, dragging itself toward them despite obvious pain. It cursed at them in whatever tongue it spoke. Gordi, in his good-natured way knelt down. Obviously the eldar thing didn't like him holding the stone. So he moved over to it and held out the pulsating little treasure, the eldar stopped for just one moment. It was obviously sitll pissed off but it snatched the precious gem from Gordi's hand all the same. Then it looked at him with a fury that he could literally feel. He stepped back, intimidated and perplexed. He'd been the subject of anger like that but had never really felt it like that before. Weird. Vika could see something strange happening with her new gue'la comrade. First the spear, then the pulsing things on the dead eldar. And now whenever the wounded eldar gave him so much as an angry glare he was cowed. "You alright, comrade?" "Yes." He had replied; she didn't believe it. Arathi was slightly less pissed off, but gave the mon-keigh animal a furious glare anyways. It had actually helped her even when she was prepared to attempt gnawing it's legs off for daring to touch the sacred soul stones of one of her fellow dire avengers. That of her close friend Timthi no less! Her back panged when she reached her arm back to deposit the precious little stone in one of her utility pouches. Then the tau and the mon-keigh did something unexpected after conversing. "I want to help it, it's hurt." The gue'la said. "Have you seen this thing at all? It wants to kill us!" The blueberry rhetorted. "Look at it, something's wrong with it's back. There's metal sticking out of it, it can't hurt us." The ignorant and stupidly altruistic little gue'la pleaded. "Fine, but if it so much as pokes one of us I'm shooting it." The tau stated. And thus it was settled. They lifted the eldar warrior and with an apologetic look the mon-keigh pulled whatever was the source of the pain out of Arathi's back. Only for a searing pain to replace it as the tau applied and ad-hoc field dressing. Then they sat the eldar against a wall and found all the of her squad's stones and handed them to her. Even through the red haze of her warmask Arathi could feel a hint of gratitude for the kind actions. Maybe she wouldn't kill them right away. Arathi decided to attempt communication with the simplistic creatures. She'd learned a bit of Low Gothic as a young person out of boredom, and then quickly grown bored with the language. "Greetings mon-keigh creatures. Why is it in this state of war that you have decided to aid me? Our peoples are enemies are they not? Are we not all in a war here, do all of us not endeavor to shed eachother's blood anymore?" Perhaps the lyrical way of speaking the eldar routinely used was a bit too much for the little things. To this unexpected bit of chatter Gordi replied: "I don't know. I don't know much of anything, I never met a tau until yesterday and they seem alright. So I guess an eldar is worth a try too." The tau added to the human's statement: "Same here I guess, just don't try mincing us; I'll fry your noggin if you do." With her warmask in place Arathi couldn't help but fix the blue thing with a predatory look. In her current state she was predisposed to conflict, threats were invitations. But she forced her forebrain back into control and kept from accepting that one ill-advised invitation of bloodletting the creature had offered. "So, two little races allying together in the rubble of one of the other's cities. Peculiar and highly irregular. Why has such a thing happened? Attraction perhaps? Or a common goal?" Vika hadn't thought about why she'd been hanging around with the gue'la, she had just been doing it. When he handed her the gun why hadn't she blasted a hole through him? That was her training wasn't it? She had just gone along with him, without thinking. How stupid. She had to find the survivors of her unit, not follow around this big strong and well-meaning gue'la that so far had only done her good. She looked at him now, he'd taken off his helmet and held it in the crook of his arm. His features were all straight and defined. Brown hair that was growing shaggy, green eyes. He was an alien yes, but she didn't have the desire to outright kill him when she saw him. She couldn't say the same for all the other gue'la she'd encountered. "I've been traveling to get out of the city, shouldn't be but another two or three days till I get out. I don't know about Vika or you." Gordi answered, to this Vika affirmed because she lacked any other answer. Arathi took the mon-keigh's reply at face value. "Then it seems we all have a common goal. If you help me then I'll guide you to a safe place outside of this rusting heap. Are we of accord, or will we be going separate ways mon-keigh?" End, part one. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Trifecta Travel Getting Arathi up was a chore, Vika had almost decided to just shoot her right there. She'd be a burden if she couldn't move under her own steam. But with no small amount of heaving and hefting from Gordi the eldar got on her feet. She walked with a limp, but she walked all the same. The fight had taken place in a rather confined area; Arathi insisted on collecting all of the soul stones they could find. Vika rejected, time was precious. But Gordi had handed the eldar his helmet and run off grabbing up as many as he could find. His chest armor didn't hinder him, the segmented plates allowed him almost a full range of movement. After just ten minutes all the immediately visible soul stones were found and in the care of Arathin. The gue'la had seemingly taken a shine to the newcomer. The hunt for those stupid glowing rocks had seemed almost enjoyable for the human. She disliked the eldar already, but her comrade's seeming eagerness to help her proved annoying. With the last of the pulsing warm things handed back to Arathi Gordi felt much better, he'd felt something that seemed alive in the stones. He didn't know for sure but he'd thought he'd heard voices coming from them. It didn't seem right to just leave people alone trapped in the little things and so he'd gone around and found as many as he could. Arathi seemed to appreciate it, though her aura of menace and hostility still remained. The trio trekked for about another two hours before settling in an empty store room. There were still some algin-bars in the boxes inside the room. Gordi's appetite quickly rose and he immediately began rummaging in the treasure troves looking for his favorite flavor: Grox steak. He found it, a lot of it. The reprocessed and artificially flavored algae bars didn't look appetizing but they were supremely nutritious and once you got used to the odd taste - or had grown up on them - you quickly began to enjoy them. Combined with another rat that he'd caught Gordi practically had a banquet in the dirt and rubble of his dead city. Arathi had moved off somewhere behind a stack of boxes on her own but Vika still sat across from him as he nibbled on one of his delectable algae bars and cooked their rat. "So you always treat a girl to such a fine dinner?" Vika sarcastically jested. Oblivious to the intent of the joke Gordi simply gave her a quizical look and a question of: "What?" Didn't humans have humor? Or was Gordi just a special case? Whichever answer it was the joke had flown over the fellow's head. "Not much of a joker, are you?" the tau said with a somewhat sad tone. She found she pitied the gue'la. "What do you call a cog-head that gets crushed by a steel press? Hard-pressed!" The gue'la exclaimed in reply. Vika didn't get it. "What's a cog-head?" "You know, they wear the red robes and talk to the machines, they were my bosses back at the manufactory." "You mean your techpriests?" "Yeah, that was a name for them." "Oh. Ha." Well she'd wanted a joke but it seemed he didn't tell jokes that well. Which was weird because all the others at the plant had always laughed; he'd even managed to make a cog-head almost seize up cackling. 'At least the eldar isn't here' He thought. She could scare the rivets right off a street roller, and they didn't ever stop for anything. "I'm telling you there's somebody in that room! We need to run!" "Nonsense, greyskin. If somebody were in there then we'd have been found and killed a long time ago." Gordi, Vika, and Arathi all got up and got ready to fight. Gordi took up his singing spear and large shield, the shield covering most of his body with the spear held poised to stick anything unlucky enough to get close. Vika stood behind him, using him as a mobile piece of cover; her gun was aimed squarely at the door. Then it opened. Gordi moved first, surging forward and putting his spear to the turned back of the filthy red robe that walked through the door with something short and grey beyond it. "Halt! On the ground or we'll tear you apart!" The red robed figure whipped around, it's glowing orange augmetic eyes wide with terror. Gordi relaxed and stood up fully. By the blessed Omnisiah that loveable reliable hunk of useful manual labor and loyalty Gordi was alive and seemed unharmed. He was terrifying though in what seemed to be armor, now that she looked at it it was indeed armor. A chestplate that seemed to be able to flex over the stomach, a helmet, a shield, and some simple braces covering his arms and legs. He was as big as ever, though he seemed much more aware and awake than she'd ever seen him before. Maybe the xeno invasion had done that to him, then she noticed the eldar and the tau behind him. Then she noticed the eldar weapon in his hand that was making a strange hushed whistling sound. "Hey boss, good to see you." "So is that your old boss you mentioned, comrade?" Vika asked. "Yeah, she is. Don't worry about her; she doesn't get angry if she doesn't have to." And with that the human sat back down and tended to the nearly-cooked rat. Vika slowly lowered her gun and Arathi set down the heavy metal pipe she'd found. Ferri slowly walked closer to her former underling. "Gordi, what's going on? Who are these xenos?" "Vika is my friend, Arathi I don't know; she's scary but hasn't done anything mean yet." "Who's that with you? It looks like Vika but shorter with bigger legs." "And Earth Caste worker, my unit had a few to look after the tanks and battlesuits." Vika offered. Fio'ui Dao wasn't a soldier, she wasn't even trained on how to use a pulse pistol; she just fixed those things. The gue'la techie defector she'd managed to befriend wasn't either but seemed only slightly bothered. Dao had known for sure she'd heard somebody and she had. But her stupid gue'la friend just had to be so confident of herself and that had almost gotten herself speared by that big one in the frightening looking armor. She just stood there in the doorway looking at the thing for a minute while it talked to Ferri, he was big for a gue'la. He was certainly intimidating to a diminutive earth caste tau, but the fire warrior didn't seemed phased; in fact she seemed rather relaxed around it. Ferri looked to her short grey skinned friend and said, "Come on out Dao, they're scary but not hostile.... not all of them at least." Ferri said as she glanced at the eldar staring rather menacingly at her. Her warmask would be a difficulty in dealing with these mon-keigh creatures though she dared not remove it, not as long as she was away from the craftworld. Her warmask held with it not only her concentrated rage and anger and bloodlust but also all of the memories and horrors she'd seen and would see in exercising said wrathful feelings. To remove it in wartime would be terrible, it would cause severe damage, maybe even trap her on the Path of the Dire Avenger; a terrible fate. Yet she felt so close to excising what had thrust her into this bloody and tumultuous Path to begin with. To become trapped on it would be beyond any eldar to grieve for. She resolved to try controlling her physical bearing and expression, it would do the mon-keigh some good and through extension her. Were it not for her injured back and the pain in her left leg she'd have probably killed the mon-keigh that called themselves "Gordi" and "Vika". And yet now they'd found two more, another of the young tau race and another repugnant human with certain crude mechanical endowments that Gordi seemed acquainted with. "How exactly is it that you two humans know each other? Obviously you have past experience but the specifics of that experience elude me. Close habitation? Blood relation perhaps?" Again the eldar spoke in that weird way, it spoke long and smooth but it was hard to follow. Gordi was able to wrap his head around the gist of it, it wanted to know how he knew his boss. Okay then. "Boss Ferri was my last manager back at the manufactory in Central. Good one too, gave extra water for good work instead of cleaning rags." With a hint of mock impression the eldar replied: My my, what a riveting and moving tale of two mon-keigh. Is that all that you mon-keigh do? Manage and reward for good behavior in your workplaces? Is water that valuable to you all, it's so common everywhere in the great black; you can find it sealed up in rocks the size of mountains an-" Arathi was cut off by a blurted-out question from Gordi, "What's the 'Great Black'?" "It's what you see up in the sky when the star of your system sets, rude little human. Really I had to simplify the word my people use for it so you could at least have a frame for it in your langu-" Again she was cut off, if Gordi was trying to irritate her then he was certainly succeeding; but from his point of view he had no intent on such a thing. Rather he was extremely curious, he'd never heard of this sky thing before. "What's the sky? How do you see it?" At this Vika gave him a very concerned look along with Dao and Arathi, Ferri seemed completely unperturbed by her former subordinate's question. She was munching away at a flavored algae bar. Okay, so this guy -she was seeing him as a guy now? Something must be wrong with her, he's an alien; a member of a hostile species at that. Not a guy, a gue'la.- had no idea what space nor the sky was. What did these gue'la teach their kids? How to help others but not know where those others might come from? "It is that which resides high over your head when you're not inside a structure such as the kind we are in now." The eldar answered as though talking to a child that was severely mentally inept. "What like the cieling?" "Somewhat though bigger and far more impressive." Again the eldar answered as though talking to some retarded toddler. Vika all of the sudden felt pity for the uneducated gue'la, what was a human without even their stupid faith to drive them on? What did he have to make him move along? In their drive to claim new worlds and new subjects, where would this one stupid gue'la fit into the bigger picture? Vika and her fellow fire warrirors, despite their desire to leave the empire had still struck a hammer blow into his home and had forced him to scavenge like the rodents he ate. She didn't even know why the Eldar were here, though she knew she probably wouldn't like their reason. End, Part Two --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First Sunlight, First Fight Three had become five. Two humans, two tau, one eldar. Today would be their last day in this wretched rusted hive, today would mark a first for the young mon-keigh Gordi. He would most likely leave this rotting pile of filth that'd been his home for the first and final time. Arathi did what stretches she could when she woke, the exercise reminded her of the mantras of arming she'd recited as she donned her armor and taken up her weapon before embarking on this small war. As she considered the still sleeping mon-keigh she remembered all of his kind she'd killed. She reveled in it, battle was such a ru- wait. No, this was how one got trapped on the bloody handed path. With this realization Arathi stopped, she walked to the door of their temporary abode and looked out into the street that lay beyond it. She looked toward their destination, the great hole that was now letting in the first rays of sunlight. When she got off this dreadful planet she'd leave the path of the warrior; she had to in order to make sure she was not cursed to a life trapped on it. Perhaps she'd take up the Path of the Bonesinger, she'd heard pleasant things about it in the past. The others woke around the same time, Gordi first from his corner behind his shield and the others from wherever they lay. When they were all good and ready they continued their journey, Gordi and Ferri talked for a time mostly about what had happened that had sent them out from the manufactory. Ferri had escaped and found the tau and surrendered, quickly finding life among them was better than at the manufactory. She'd been deployed with an armored column as a field mechanic. Her column had been destroyed in an ambush and she and Dao had been making their way towards the most obvious exit ever since. Gordi had been in the mid levels of the manufactory working the metal presses with his work-team when the alarms had gone off. He'd gotten seperated from his crew and had been left alone in the massive section of the manufactory and was left with just the posters of great warriors in heavy plate hefting big guns. Gordi, in some flash of creative vigor or something else had taken the thin bronze sheets around him and pressed them into something resembling what he saw in the pictures on the wall. Just a bit modified when he found his original creation wasn't all that comfortable when trying to bend over. He also fashioned a shield from the bronze plate large enough to cover most of his body, just like the giants in the pictures. Then after a few days he left the manufactory, he just saw the big gaping maw in the wall of his only home and decided for lack of a better choice to walk toward it. They walked into an intersection, still talking with each other silently. A pebble of rubble fell from a window as something moved. Gordi snapped his eyes toward the sound, raising his shield with one hand and spear in another in the road. The others scattered for cover off to the sides. A calamitous hammering banging sound resounded, in time with bright flashes of light from a window on the second story of a building directly ahead. Gordi's shield and armor did little good against the stubber rounds. They punched through the flimsy bronze of his shield and armor and raked his flesh. As a pain greater than anything he felt before in his life screamed through his body and mind, something else did too. His terror drove something in him out. He blinked once and could see everything. The walls were like thin smoke, he could see the enemies that had hurt him clearly. He ran toward them screaming. He hurled himself through one window on the first floor, shoving his now screaming fear into the beating heart of the guardsman within. The man's flesh was a phantasm like the wall he'd been hiding behind. His heart ruptured and spewed blood all inside his torso. Gordi's spear passed through the man's flesh like it wasn't there, just a thin veil. Gordi cut another man's throat wide open with a slash from the edge of his shield. He dropped it as the man toppled and tore the throat from another. Then he ran up the stairs towards the ones that had tried to kill him. As he rounded the corner on the last stretch of stairs toward his goal a door was flung open, a guardwoman with a shotgun fired a blast that caught Gordi in the right arm, causing him to drop his spear. He was on her in the next instant; wrenching the gun from her grasp and sticking it literally in her face and blasting her skull and brains all over the soldier behind her. He died with a shotgun blast inside the chest cavity, then Gordi let go of the weapon and slumped over. He fell unconcious, the terror that had gripped him and forced out the new sight had passed. The shotgun stuck out of the man's chest like some strange third arm. It had passed into his phantasm flesh like it was just air. Ferri found him, laying among two dead on the second floor. He was bleeding badly from the six rounds that had caught him in the left leg and hip. With some hasty scavenging from the dead they managed to find enough bandages and a very lucky shot of coagulants to stabilize him. She'd always wanted to be a magos biologis. But the demands of her superiors had drug her away from that desire, that didn't stop her from accruing a library on biological matters. Taking thread from the uniforms of the dead she was able to stitch closed the wounds after they stopped bleeding enough. It wasn't pretty, but considering the circumstances it was a considerable success. They made a stretcher out of some rubbish they found in the rubble of a close-by building and hefted Gordi onto it, setting off again for their destination. Dao was now genuinely afraid of the big gue'la that had just ripped and tore it's way through a squad of heavily armed guardsmen after taking a burst from a heavy gun. It was terrifying hearing them scream as he literally tore chunks from their bodies. Then there was the ghastly site of that one gue'la with the shotgun sticking out of it's chest, just fused there with the flesh and bone. But if it hadn't been for him then they'd have all probably been shot to bits, he just couldn't help but help could he? Arathi held the bolt pistol he'd had for a while. She was leading them somewhere; Vika walked next to her with her lasgun. It was up to Dao and the techpriest to keep watch over Gordi. The techpriest tended to him using her mechadendrites, one of which was fitted with an electronic eye which allowed her to walk and care for him at the same time. The mechanical tentacle things sprouted from her back and shoulders, they were handy. After a few hours of walking they had made it through the hole in the hive and had settled for the evening in an old bathhouse. The inside was simple, a counter with a guestbook and behind that were the showers just down some tiled ramps. Privacy wasn't exactly good, you could see from the front of the place at the counter right to the back where crude shower heads sprouted from the walls. In the middle was a large empty bath tub. Vika and Dao talked for a time in their native tongues about how they would find their group and make it to the Farsight enclaves. Ferri tended to Gordi's wounds and Arathi tried not to remember battles of days long past. Gordi woke up slowly, just as Ferri desired. It was best to bring a patient out of a state of unconciousness slowly and carefully. That was easily done when you had access to anesthetics and other drugs, but all she could hope for really was that it'd happen naturally. And it did. He woke and looked around, rubbed at his no doubt painful stitches and sat up slowly. "And so our psyker awakes, and thankfully not in his enraged state." Arathi remarked. "What's a psyker?" Gordi asked innocently. "You are of course, little human. Have you never been taught about the Great Enemy?" "What's the Great Enemy?" "Something best left for now. It is a rather dour subject and I detest bringing it up." So there it was, her former underling was a mutant, a psyker. One without training and protection at that. Terrifying indeed. Disinterested in continuing conversation about things he didn't know about, Gordi got up and limped over to one of the showers. To his gratitude the thing still worked. He took off his shirt, drawing questioning looks from the tau and a raised eyebrow and amused look from the eldar. Ferri just sat and watched him whilst eating an algae bar. He checked his new wounds now that they were uncovered for a moment before shrugging and taking of his pants. Both articles of clothing were filthy with sweat from the week he'd spent wearing them under his armor, and had a healthy soaking of his blood. He turned on a second shower and tossed them under the stream of water. He then stepped into the first stream of water he'd turned on. It was nice in the cold water. Did this gue'la have no decency? Did none of his race have any? He'd just stripped naked right in front of them. No regards to his privacy or the reactions of others. He was imposing in his armor, but under that he looked like the dreamy-eyed fire warriors from the vids and picts back in the empire. Tall, toned muscles and stoic expressions. Just the skin color was off... and he was taller than most fire warriors. Oh, ethereals he was turning around to rinse his back now, don't look! She looked at Vika instead, who still watched the human with something that approached curiosity. Then she heard popping noises. She looked back at the gue'la, his head was dipped and eyes closed. He was pulling on one of his long arms, the meaty appendage's joints popped as he stretched the limb. He repeated the process with the other. Dao tried her best not to look at his other meaty appendage but despite her efforts she still saw a glimpse or two of it. It would put any earth caste tau to absolute shame, and any fire warrior would certainly feel inadequate. Humans were typically bigger and more physically imposing than Tau... it just now appeared that it was in more ways than one. End, part three -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Way Out to Get In Well, she'd seen him naked now. That was something she could not unsee, her hindmind just kept dragging the sight back up. She was fully cognizant of what the more basic sections of her mind were getting at, and she wasn't entirely sure she should force them back. The gue'la obviously didn't care about last night's incident; he seemed rather acquainted with bathing in front of or with others. Vika had become transfixed at the sight of him, every human she'd seen was either dead or about to be and was almost always screaming or running away from or toward her. Never had she seen one so relaxed and unperturbed by anything. Perhaps she'd see if just being a friend would make her nagging hind-mind shut up. She could use a good cleaning she thought, though Dao might get squeemish and get annoying. The little techie wasn't all that big on what she thought was indecency; as evidenced by her remarks in their shared native tongue. But Dao couldn't really do anything about it then could she? It wasn't like she was tall or strong enough to force her to stop. Vika and Dao had looked at him funny when he'd taken his shower. What, did tau not shower? He woke when he heard another shower head turn on, his shield was gone so he'd just slept slumped against the corner with his helmet and shield to one side of him. Gone was the convenience of just having to stand up to be ready to move. He raised his head and looked up to see what was going on, there he beheld Vika out of her armor and standing under a jet of water. Her skin was blue as he'd seen earlier from her face, her body was smooth and muscled; her torso sported modest fleshy mounds and, her legs strong with fine curves they terminated with a set of hooves for feet. He regarded her in her nude state for a moment, then getting up and gathering his whistling spear and helmet and going to the door to check what was outside. The street outside was clear and all was quiet in the early morning, the sun was peeking through the gaps between the towers of the outer city. As he closed the door the others finished waking, Dao was looking at Vika like she was some disgusting creature she couldn't bear to behold, then she looked at Gordi and then back to Vika again before turning her attention to a ration bar. The gue'la sat down and took off his chest plate, he looked at the bullet holes in it; his blood had dried around them. He'd looked right at her for a second or two, making her giddy for a moment. Had he looked longer then she'd have been glad for the wetness of the water running down her legs. Dao had been repulsed of course, but she hadn't the guts to tell her to put something on. She turned her back on the group and put her front under the stream of cool water, it made her nipples harden. She heard Gordi get up, the shaft of his spear tapping the ground. "Time to go, the warm light is coming up and we'll need to move if Arathi is going to get us to her friends." The eldar was looking over the pulsating stones she'd been carrying and guarding jealously, soon she'd be done carrying them and soon she'd be home and off her bloody path. Vika turned around, giving a full view to her gue'la friend though he seemed completely oblivious to of the erotic nature of what he was seeing. He just walked over to the door and peeked out again, Vika got her clothes and armor back on and gathered up her lasgun and went to follow him and the others out. Ferri was approached by Vika as they walked, Gordi was walking with a slight limp at the head of the group with Arathi. "He doesn't seem to care about decency does he?" The blueskin asked. "No, not in your sense. He grew up seeing people showering together so he just thinks that's what everybody does. The life of a manufactory worker is one with very little meaningful privacy." "I can't imagine that, even we fire warriors bathe mostly in private. And those of the earth caste are used to the amenities of privacy." "Indeed, though you seemed to take an interest in Gordi's lack of interest in privacy, dare I say you were intrigued." "He's just a gue'la, one of the first I've seen that doesn't want to kill me. It was weird." "And yet you stripped nude and allowed him a rather.... full view my blue friend; that raises some questions about your view of your prized 'privacy'." With a slight giggle the mechanical human slowed her stride and fell back next to Dao who seemed to be thinking about something. Vika's hackles were raised at the robed gue'la's insinuation. They continued onward, moving inexorably closer to their destination. Arathi had been amused by the mon-keigh, but that amusement had quickly passed and she had laid down to sleep. She had deduced that his life had a natural lack of privacy and as such he hadn't thought the others would care for his nudity, a similar thing occurred in the warrior shrines on Ulthwe during the rituals of arming. They were close now, close to the webway portal that had been cunningly concealed in an old structure in this city centuries ago. Her kin would no doubt be there, and if they weren't then she'd at least be able to signal for aid from the portal. She hoped that they'd find some fellow aspect warriors and be able to quickly leave, she'd dread having to wait at the portal whilst some rescue party journeyed through the webway to retrieve her. The human was getting ahead a bit, she should probably call him back but her apathy toward the little thing stayed her voice. Everybody else was walking slow, his hip hurt a little when something hitched in it but he kept moving along. One of his old bosses had told him that most things that hurt could be 'walked off' and so that's what he was doing now. The gentle wooshing sound of a breeze reached his ear, a monomolecular blade pierced his ankle bounced off the asphalt of the road and buried itself in his left foot. Three more blades disabled his spear arm. Then an ornate warrior was upon him, shining sword bearing down on him. The dire avenger exarch's head turned, seeing the surprised visage of his student and immediately ceasing his actions. The primary threat was downed, if it could be called a threat, and could be left to suffer. The very tip of his silver blade nicked the skin of the mon-keigh thing. It's reaction was more pronounced then most. It screamed in pain and terror, the animal's mind seemed more prone to the power imbued in the weapon by the soul stone in it's hilt. The exarch withdrew the blade and addressed it's pupil, Arathi. "By fortune or skill you return to me, has Khaine's bloody rage served you well?" "No, Betainath it has not. My injuries have seen to that. The mon-keigh you nearly killed has aided me much." "A mon-keigh lending aid to an eldar? For what I wonder did it do that? Did you offer it riches or it's pathetic meaningless life?" "None of that. It is a simple creature but it means well." She drew out the soul stone of her half-dead friend Timthi. "It retrieved all of the soul stones of our fallen kin from the botched ambush. It did so just because I showed my interest in their well-being. Then it and the blue skinned one that is no doubt aiming that crude flash light at your head helped me to shelter." "Intriguing indeed. The farseers have brokered a deal with some of the meddling upstarts. They have aided us in accomplishing our goal, and now the seers intend to aid them in escaping to some enclave." "I told the mon-keigh that if they helped me here that they would be given aid. I suppose the one you've harmed could go with these rabble the seers have cavorted with." "Indeed." Again pain and suffering flared in him, greater than before. His terror drew out his strange sight and he could see his enemy; along with the others behind him, and the others with another ornately armored leader coming down the road hurriedly. He wanted his spear, it whined and thrust itself into his grasp at his mere desire. his vision was tunneled and he felt light headed but he had to defend his friends. He made an attempt at rushing at the nearest warrior, it aimed it's weapon at him but he tumbled over on his injured feet. Something tore in one of them causing a fresh blast of pain. He struggled up again and tried thrusting at the thing nearest to him, his vision was warping and growing dimmer. He heard dull yelling. Then something icy and alien gripped his mind and he went under. End, part four --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Waking to Rest Gordi had gone and gotten shot again, and then slapped across the brain by some eldar warlock. Arathi had talked to the warrior that had shot him and stabbed him for a minute or so in their lyrical and melodic language, the whole time Vika -who was in the obvious beginning stages of being smitten with the unwitting psyker- had leveled her gun at the warrior's head. After they were done, the other eldar warriors had rounded the corner along with their warlock. Again it fell to Ferri to heft her fellow underling with the aid of Dao. After stopping Gordi's bleeding they set off. That trick he'd pulled by seemingly just willing his spear into his hand seemed to make the eldar uneasy; they obviously didn't like human psykers. Ferri felt a bit of pity for her former subordinate, he'd helped Arathi along to this point and just gotten cut down and knocked out again as a reward. If they were back in the manufactory and if it were a better day then she'd have given him sweet bread and a short work-shift. She kept her lagun in her grip and her finger on the trigger, ready to pop it up and blast the face off of any of these pointy-eared deceptive bastards. Arathi obviously hadn't cared much about her friend getting shot and stabbed. Ferri had doted over Gordi's wounds and Dao had helped; Arathi had just talked to her fellow eldar and handed the stones off to the warlock with the weird sword. Now they were nearing the eldar camp, then up on the roof of a squat building a stealthsuit team in XV-15s decloaked and jumped from their perch. The eldar paid them some attention but otherwise didn't fire at them. The Shas'ui of the squad walked alongside Vika and spoke to her in their common tongue. "Shas'la, identify and report." "Shas'la Vika of twelfth team of second battlegroup. Seperated from team after four casualties out of eight members. Seperated and isolated, Gue'la -currently injured- rendered aid. Found helmless eldar and rendered aid, found technical gue'la and Fio'ui Dao later. Proceeded outside of hive city." "Recorded and transmitted to Cadre Fireblade Vayk. Thank you Shas'la." The guys that used the stealth suits always seemed less tau and more like robots that walked and talked like tau. Weird yes, but they were highly effective. She relaxed a little bit now that she had more friends afoot. The group reached the joint camp of the eldar and the renegade tau. Vika reunited with the remains of her fireteam and Dao with her technical group. Though Vika tended to hover around the triage ward that her people had set up. The eldar had insisted that they aid him upon hearing of his service to their fallen kin but in the end the Shas'nel had steel-walled them and had him put in the care of the medical robots in his triage ward. In the end he'd allowed them to send an envoy to see this 'Gordi's' care. Their choice was the warrior that'd originally met him. This Dire Avenger named Arathi simply lounged around; usually with an air of apathetic menace. The shas'la Vika also tended to hang around him; it seemed as though they'd become something like friends. His head felt like somebody had rammed a press into it, then something twitched inside his arm. Gordi opened his eyes and looked over at his arm, a mechanical thing was stitching up the wounds on his arms. He looked to his left, there was a wall of clear glass and through that glass he saw two of his friends, Vika in what seemed like relaxed baggy pants and a black shirt. Arathi sat near her, watching him with a blank expression; that unsettling look in her eyes was still there. He raised his left arm and gave a weak wave. The machine finished with his right arm and settled back into a nook in a nearby wall. A door in the direction of his feet opened and a tall thin tau walked in, dressed in grey and red robes with a wide-brimmed hat on it's head. "How do you feel, Gordi?" It asked, it's voice was smooth and clear. "Tired" He simply replied. "An effect of the medicine we have given you. You have done our cadre a great service as well as our temporary eldar allies. We are curious though, you did not just kill Shas'la Vika... why?" "I didn't know what or who she was, she looked a little hurt and seemed more scared than scary." "You understand that most of your kind are far more hostile and eager to see nonhuman creatures dead." "I didn't even know there were things that weren't human until a few days ago. I don't know much of anything." A second tall tau in similar garb ushered in Vika, Dao, Arathi, and Ferri. "Gue'vesa technician Ferri, we understand you have past association with young master Gordi. What was the nature of your association?" "Gordi and I worked in a manufactory near the core of the hive. I was his last overseer before the fighting started." "And what education, if any did he receive? His lack of knowledge is intriguing." "Basic education, mostly operating machinery and tools for his duties in the manufactory. He proved adroit at the work, he started in childhood." "Thank you for your cooperation in this inquiry, you may leave if you wish" The water caste worker politely stated. Ferrie stayed, checking over the work done by the machine. "Shas'la Vika, we understand you have developed a sense of camaraderie with Gordi...." After an hour of gathering information the talking was done and everybody was led out for a meal. For reasons unknown to Gordi the parts about showering were left out, he thought it was probably because it was unimportant so he didn't bother bringing it up. Everybody had recanted their stories and the tall tau called Por'vre Eluis seemed pleased. Another day passed; the eldar and the tau were packing up, it was time to leave. It had been decided that Gordi would be sent with the tau to the Farsight enclaves, though it would take time for a ship to be found with crew willing to convey them to their destination. Vika shared a morning meal with Gordi and Dao, the earther sat next to the human. She'd grown a bit less intimidated by his size and they'd developed something resembling friendship over the two days the group had been in the camp. It was of some note that the Shas'nel had referred to him as a gue'vesa in a memo posted around the tau portion of the camp, it was a gesture of respect to refer to Gordi as an accepted auxiliary in the cadre. For his part he unknowingly acted in a way that was rather becoming of a gue'vesa; he was relaxed and acted rather politely and had even found a niche moving heavy things for the technicians. Among the eldar they just called him 'human' Vika supposed it was better than any number of derogatory terms they must have for his species. They'd healed the scars that that'd been left from the damage their exarch had inflicted. Arathi had taken to calling him by his name, better than just being called 'human'. And also unlike the manufactory he'd grown up in the showers in the tau encampment actually had stalls for privacy. To the dismay of the hindmind of Vika of course. End, part five --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One Part Taken, A Few More Added The eldar had come to his place as he walked out the door to go help his friends for the day. There were a bunch of them. They said something about relieving him of some blight. It'd only been a day since he got to wherever he was. The group ushered him along for a long time through corridors and pathways until finally they reached a dome-like room that lit up with colors as well as images from Gordi's life as his mind tried to make some sense of the space around him. They laid him down on a small bed in the middle of the room and strapped him down with pulsating orange runes on them. He grew concerned. Then he felt something poke his brain, he flinched. They continued on poking into his psyche, prodding and testing until they poked whatever part of his mind correlated to his special sight. "Terrorsight... terrorsight." Their toughts echoed in his mind as did those of the feelings of benign pity that were directed at him. As one they gripped that part of his mind that contained his psyker power and began ripping that mote of power from him. Gordi screamed like he'd never screamed before, the pain in his skull and the terror and fear he felt triggering his unrefined power. He could see into the eldar seers around him and into the throbbing circuitways of psychic power that pulsed like a heart through the room around him. He strained to get free. Tendons and ligaments tore and bones creaked as he put up a titanic struggle against the binds that held him. His suffering ended abruptly as his sight was ripped from him and he faded into the painful black of unconciousness. He was awoken in some way by another eldar in white robes. Gordi floated in some miasma of black, orange, and yellow. His thoughts took the form of images and letters and words coalescing from the strange miasma as outlines for a moment before passing. "You haven't the Tress of Isha, human. So I can do nothing for the wounds of your mind. But I will heal the wounds of your body insofar as I can; your service to my kin is known to me. I simply wanted to see your mind out of curiosity." The healer did as he said and by the next day Gordi was back with his friends. They questioned him and he told them what happened. Ferri had doted over him again and found that he was in fact adequately cared for. That evening as Gordi was relaxing on a comfortable chair in his abode Arathi had visited him and apologised for the pain her kin had inflicted on him and gifted him some strange crystal things she thought were books. After some rather condescending teaching she managed to teach Gordi how to access the crystals which were in fact books... of sorts. Before she left he'd learned how to say 'hello' and 'goodbye' in his crude approximation of eldar. He'd given in return to her a bottle of some drink he didn't know anything about. So that stupid useful mon-keigh gave you finely aged wine in exchange for books and a pittance of a show of pity and compassion did he? She'd have to seriously look into strengthening ties with this human, even if it was just to get at his wine. It'd been seven of the eldar's "cycles" since Gordi's run-in with the seers and the healer. The Tau had been given a great bare and empty chamber to set up their accomodations in. It was a neatly made camp, on the outside was food and water storage as well as lavatory and showering facilities. All the more precious things such as the dorms and the mess area as well as the triage center were located more towards the center with the vehicles and suits -all disarmed- being located in the middle of the encampment. Like back on his homeworld Gordi had taken up his job as the mover of heavy objects and general helper for the earth caste technicians and water caste workers. The families, friends, and other associates of the fallen eldar that he'd help save had welcomed him; some with rather open arms and gifts of food and drink, one had even given him a small but somewhat comfortable apartment in their graciousness. When he wasn't helping around the encampment or having meals with his friends Gordi could usually be found sleeping in his abode. Today was as boring as always; having Gordi move some of the heavier parts of the disarmed battlesuits around to they could be worked on then going with him for the midday meal with Vika and Ferri. Dao had herself a pleasant protein wrap and some carbo-drink. Of course everybody had that, it was all that was being served today. The only new thing was that Ferri had put down the hood of her robe today; her hair was brown and her face round and perhaps a little pretty. Her skin was pale but then so was Gordi's. The big gue'la didn't seem to mind, but he never seemed to mind anything anyways. He was nice like that, didn't ask questions or do anything he wasn't told to. She liked that about him. After the last of the work was done for the day Gordi went back to his simple abode. Vika had introduced the idea of him taking her and the rest of his friends over for dinner. Seeing nothing particularly wrong with the idea he had and invited them all over. The eldar food had been rather tasteful, the meat that Gordi had been given and stored in the freezer of his apartment was sweet and succulent and the various drinks were pungent in scent and delectable in taste. Ferri and Gordi had told jokes and almost laughed themselves hoarse. It had been a fun evening, even Dao managed a few laughs and Vika had been picking up on the sense of humor of the humans. The next day was a day of rest, and with no formal plans Gordi had decided to sleep in. His friends however met up for their usual breakfast. "I like being friends with Gordi, what about you all?" Vika had said after a few minutes of silent eating. "I've enjoyed being friends with him for a while. There was this one time he took four shifts of work for his whole work team when there was an outbreak of pox so none of the people on his team would be reprimanded by the facility director, so I wouldn't get reprimanded by the facility director." Ferri replied with her small tale. "Yeah, he's helpful. Nice even when you get past how big he is." Ferri chuckled at Dao's input. "Yes, you two liking him is as obvious as the sheer boredom we all face waiting here in this damnable hold." At this both tau's eyes dropped and their expressions turned sheepish. Ferri felt a pang of regret. "I admit I've been feeling that way as well. I've been wondering what I'll do if we get to the enclave, something with him was an idea." "We're all in the same jam then." Vika solemnly said. "I apologise my friends, I did not mean to put you both down." "It's alright." The xenos said at the same time. "So we all like him the same way..... why not see if we can share him." Immediately both tau looked at the human. After looking at each other for a second they both made the same leap of logic; it wasn't a big one. They all conspired to go to Gordi's apartment later when most others were asleep. End, part six --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Convening of Congress The three of them met in front of Gordi's door as they had planned. Vika and Dao had arrived together, Ferri had been waiting just a few moments for them. The mechanical human wore her red robe close, her modest curves were obvious under the garment. Dao and Vika wore light work clothes fastened tight at the legs and loose at the tops, showing a little cleavage. Dao had more ample breasts than her fire warrior counterpart, her posterior was also more pronounced; though Vika's features were more firm and fit. Together they entered the apartment inhabited by the object of their interest; he left the door unlocked and told his friends they were welcome to come and go as they pleased. Ferri opened the top of her robe, underneath she was nude. The loose article of clothing was left hanging lightly on her shoulders. She was much more lightly augmented than her former superiors, she had been just a young techpriestess when the tau had entered her life. Dao and Vika loosened their shirts as well, nearly completely exposing their fleshy mounds. Gordi was having a pleasant dream. Just him on the workfloor manning a press. A memory or feeling would come down the chute, he'd process it and pass it along. He liked it when he had this sort of dream, it was familiar and nice; it was his life. In his dream he felt something like the hot air of the furnaces blowing through the vents except this was softer and less tangible. It felt similar to the kind warmth of that lovely sunlight, but somehow more physical. Then he felt something like a drop of luke-warm water on his forehead. He thought it was weird, but dreams were often weird. Like that one years ago where that weird voice had talked to him, then gotten bored and gone away. Their ministrations bore fruit and their common newfound lover roused slowly from his slumber. His gaze first went to the cieling, or at least what could be seen of it past Vika's head as she kissed his forehead. Then he refocused his tired eyes on the tau on him. "What are you doing, Vika?" "You, soon." Vika responded with a giggle. Whatever the peculiar xeno was doing didn't seem to have adverse effects, so he looked to his left and found Dao doing that strange thing of putting her lips on his cheek like what Vika was doing with his forehead. To his right Ferri was doing the same with his other cheek. Then Vika did something even weirder and put her lips on his. He hadn't the slightest idea of what was going on or what his friends were doing, so he just resolved to stay put. As long as his boss was there she wouldn't let harm come to him.... right? Like Ferri had said: "Gordi has never had any sort of intimate contact with anybody, so he won't know what to do or what's happening to him. So it's best if we just start out easy and get him used to it." Now that Dao was in the mood and in the act, she was keen to get Gordi eased in as fast as possible. She remembered that night in the bathouse and she knew that once she went gue'la that she'd never go back. Vika kissed his lips, which he raised an eyebrow at. He was obviously unaware of the nature of what was being done to him. Though Dao suspected that once they got started proper that he'd be quite enamored. Vika reached down to her loose shirt, one of her blue breasts was hanging out now. She pulled the other side of her shirt down to get the other free. Then she disposed of the article of clothing altogether and threw it somewhere behind her. She was hot and ready. Ferri had discarded her robe in the living room before Gordi's bedroom. She was off to his side, attending to his cheek. Vika herself was straddling him with her long muscular legs. She and her fellow tau had discarded their pants in the living room. Vika could feel herself dripping and her clit engorging in her slit. No doubt Dao was feeling something similar. Another weird thing of the evening. Vika had taken off her shirt and pressed her chest hard against his own then resumed putting her lips on his. Then Gordi felt some light wetness down by his waist. He also noticed he was getting warmer and twitchier. Then he felt that thing between his legs twitch and harden. He looked down, past the perky bright blue breasts, strong abdomen, and hard thighs and glistening slit of Vika's and saw a bulge rising under the sheets of his bed. That'd never happened before. After pressing her lips to his forehead after he moved, Vika sat up and looked down and smiled. Together they looked down as one. Vika's moist slit was dripping right onto the growing bulge between Gordi's legs. Together, Dao, Ferri, and Vika pulled back the sheets covering him; exposing his broad chest and torso, then his simple pajama pants with the prodigous bulge. Vika quickly pulled those down and exposed their prize. It was still hardening and rising, the sheath of skin around the tip sliding back a little. Ferri took the initiative and licked it, sitcking the tip of her tongue under the fleshy foreskin and wriggling around the inside. Gordi tensed and breathed out heavily. Whatever Ferri had done had felt like an electric shock, then tingly. It was new, Gordi had not felt anything like it before in his short twenty-three year life. Then Dao and Vika did it together and given him another shock of that peculiar feeling, then they did that thing with their lips. He could see their tongues tangled as their mouths parted. Then the two xeno's eyes closed and they moaned deeply. Ferri smiled wryly as she rubbed her mechadendrites against their entrances. She'd moved them to where she thought a clitoris would be, but seemed to have missed the mark. Instead she rubbed her round-nosed mechanical appendages against their moist lips. In return Vika rubbed two of her fingers along Ferri's own vaginal entrance and brushed her button. Seeing the human's reaction she continued doing it. Biting her lip she leaned back toward Gordi's now fully engorged and impressive member. Gazing on it with her augmetic eye she figured it to be at least ten inches in length and one and two in diameter. The blue and grey skins would have a fun time with it considering their smaller physical size. Ferri kissed it at it's base; eliciting another tensing from Gordi. He did indeed seem to be getting used to their ministrations. She moved lower to his equally prodigous sack. It was mammoth up close. And it's smell was enticing too. The odor wafting to her scent slit on her forehead was certainly alien, but in a pleasantly suprising way. Musky and pungent. Dao moaned again as Ferri's mechanical appendage rubbed down her again. Dao and Ferri's asses were touching Vika's, they'd all lined up when they'd pulled the covers back. Vika was sticking her tongue out and beginning to lick inside the sheath of Gordi's cock again, she seemed to enjoy the smegma. She and Dao had kissed and exchanged the stuff. Dao had never kissed a fellow female before, it felt strangely good like the scent that the human's appendage gave off. Had she known that she'd be turned on so damned much by this she'd have done it sooner. Gordi's cock had begun throbbing, and the stuff under this fleshy covering was tasty. He'd begun to leak a bit of precum that she'd licked up. Her fellow tau had begun licking his long shaft and Ferri was kissing and licking and sucking at his fleshy sack. Vika pulled back, allowing her friends to lick at the tip of Gordi's member as she licked her lips. She went back down to the steadily pulsating veined member and stuck the top of it in her mouth, it tasted good. Sweet and tender. Gordi tensed again and groaned. Giving a tentative suck resulted in a twitch from his cock and more precum rising out of it. She began sucking harder and more regularly, bobbing her head up and down and running her tongue ravenously across as much of it as she could. She wanted the whole of this thing if only for a moment. She didn't notice Gordi tense again and gasp, what she did notice was the rather hot and explosive result. His first orgasm had been with a xeno giving him head. Hersesy punishable by death in the Imperium. A comical and pleasureable milestone here. And indeed it had been a big one. Vika had taken to it with gusto and vivaciousness, and she was rewarded with several thick white wads of cum filling her mouth, covering her face, and her chest. Ferri lapped up what reached the base of Gordi's shaft. She lifted herself up and began to lick on one of Vika's breasts. The force of Gordi's orgasm had filled her mouth and blown his member free of it. The successive blasts had pretty much covered the tau's face and breasts. Ferri licked the fire warrior's nipple clean first, eliciting a quiet moan. Whatever had just happened had both felt extremely good and also had spaced Gordi out for a few seconds. That thing between his legs was still throbbing, it was covered in that weird white stuff that his old boss seemed to like so much. Dao was moving over it, that weird gash between her legs dripping on the head of the large shaft. She was going to do it, she was going to take it in. After that first round with Vika it was still somehow up, Ferri was cleaning the fire warrior up and obviously loving it. Dao was straddling Gordi now, that giant stick of meat covered in cum hovered less than a finger width from her folds. Her clit was now fully engorged inside her pussy now, she wondered if she'd be able to get a finger in to rub it with him inside her. She eased down and pressed the head of Gordi's member to her entrace, it still oozed cum and was covered in an excess of it along with Vika's saliva. She pressed it more firmly against her entrance and then with a light downward thrust took in the head. The fat crown stretched her a fair bit. So much in fact it was able to stretch back the small folds of flesh covering her internal clitoris and rub it, causing her to tense and gasp. Ever so slowly she lowered herself down, Gordi was straining; he'd never felt this before and all things considered he was doing alright, it wasn't like he needed to do much anyways. More and more she slid down the fat pusling cock. It's girth rubbing her most sensitive places all the way, if her pussy was dripping at the beginning it was drooling now. Dao had tilted her head back, mewling and moaning as she took in the mammoth member. When she stopped and wavered a bit after losing her knees for a second Gordi came inside her. His groan was low and guttural, the pulsating of his dick pushing her button and causing her to lose her knees again; his hot seed splashing around inside her, each string of it hitting her cervix. As she descended in her momentary bliss the fat head of Gordi's engorged member struck the entrance to her womb. Dao sighed and held herself there, she grinded on the puslating member inside of her. Very quickly she'd be cumming herself, after grinding on Gordi's cock for a few seconds he came again. The poor human didn't have much endurance from his lack of experience, that was okay though. The result was blissful. As the fresh waves of cum pumped inside Dao they passed through her cervix and went straight into her womb, the new sensation sent tingles through her skin and a warm happiness filled her. She wasn't done yet though, she lifted up on him; savoring the long and lovely rub it gave her clit. Then she thrusted herself down on the prodigous phallus, it struck her deepest entryway like a sledgehammer; two more times and she was on the verge of it. On her last thrust down Gordi's hard, pulsing, gushing cock broke through her battered cervix and struck the roof of her womb. They came together this time, Dao's juices squirted from her stretched pussy and her eyes rolled back into her head. Gordi clenched his eyes shut and howled. There was still an inch left untaken of his cock as Dao rode out the last of her first orgasm in years, the head of Gordi's member still pressing against the top of her deepest point. Where it pressed there was a small bulge, she patted it weakly and eased off of him to his left. Dao slid off of him with a muffled wet pop, his white seed pouring from her stretched sex. They'd watched as they'd finished. Gordi still looked spaced out, his awareness reforming. Vika and Ferri had seen the bulge in their friend's abdomen and stared at it, amazed. Whilst Vika went down between the earther's legs Ferri squeezed her breasts together and looked at Gordi's half-hard cock. Cum still oozed from it's tip and it was covered in juices and spunk. She pressed it into her cleavage and squeezed her small soft breasts around it as best she could. The top of the member stuck out, licking her lips she took it into her mouth and sucked it. She swallowed the salty seed as she sucked it up, once she'd cleaned off the top few inches she firmly squeezed Gordi's reawakened cock between her breasts and lifted up, cleaning off the shaft. She rubbed his cum over her chest, licking it off her nipples and swishing it around in her mouth before swallowing it too. Salty and thick, fine characteristics for a young adult male such as Gordi. Ferri slithered up as sensually as she could muster, his eyes were still unfocused; poor guy was probably dazed and confused. As her moist slit came up his member she grinded on it. Where she was going to put it it'd need to be slick. After some rather thorough and pleasurable grinding on his hard member, Ferri lifted up and off of it; allowing Vika a few licks of its throbbing length whilst Ferri positioned herself. When she was ready she eased her ass down onto the pillar of hard flesh. Vika busied herself with the open and rather enticing pussy in front of her. Ferri pressed her unsanctified passage harder against Gordi's member, causing him to moan in his guttural way; the entryway to her posterior clenched tight as his member pressed through. Ferri moaned, her ass and pussy being assailed at the same time was almost making her regret replacing any of her flesh with holy works of the machine god. With Gordi's fat member pressing into her behind and Vika's questing tongue teasing her under-used and sensitive folds she thought her mental augmetics would surely short circuit and fry at any moment, oh how the flesh was underrated! As if that wasn't enough, Gordi chose that exact moment to push upward with his hips, most likely as a reflex but the effect on him and Ferri was obvious enough to see. As soon as he did he came, and so did the over-stimulated techpriestess. Her pussy clenched around the prying tongue inside of it, covering its owner's face in juices. All spent, the quartet fell asleep. All sated save one. End, part seven --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Titular Teaching It was probably just a dream, had to be. He'd had weirder in the night after the ambush in the street, freakish things offering him things he did not know. And now he'd just experience something so weird and so good that it had to be a dream; the evidence of his senses told him otherwise. To his right with a hand on his chest was Dao, she had no clothes and was wrapped around his side. Behind him, her chest behind his head lay Ferri. But to his left was Vika, nude, awake, and giving him the most peculiar look. Elsewhere in the craftworld Arathi was going about her day. She'd accrued a few more books to give to Gordi in exchange for more wine. Once she made it back to her appartment she'd grab them and make the run down to the lower levels to perform the simple trade. The mon-keigh was stupid, but at least he could understand the concept of reciprocation. "Put it in here. See?" Vika told Gordi. The silly gue'la had gotten up and walked to his shower like nothing had happened last night, of course she'd followed him. Now they were both in the little glass box with warm water washing over them. Gordi looked down to see what he was being shown. His cock seemed to know what was up, but his foremind was slow to catch on. Hesitantly he took a step forward and pressed the tip of his erect protrusion against the wet opening of Vika's pussy. Gordi tensed, vika seized the initiative; standing on her tiptoes and taking in the tip of Gordi's engorged cock. They both stopped, Vika getting used to having something rather large in her. And Gordi fighting the urge to go at it like an autopress. "Okay, um, hands." Vika reached to Gordi's sides and found his hands, then placed them firmly on her ass. "Keep them there if you want, squeeze if you want to make me feel good." Gordi stammered out in reply: "I'll keep that to mind." As he hefted her up by her fine smooth ass and set her in a corner. His first thrust made her squeal in sensual joy. If Vika had toes they'd have been curled ten times over. Aarathi slid the strap of her small satchel over her shoulder, the clutch of books shifting as she did. It would be a fair distance to walk, but she had time and Gordi was probably still trying to figure out the difference between future and past tenses. Her simple white and yellow tunic flowed over her undershirt and shorts as she gracefully ambulated towards the home of the human. Completely unaware of what salaciously sensual sensations were being sampled there. Vika was straining so hard to keep from exploding that she could feel it in every fiber of her being. She almost broke when he hit that deepest part of her again, the overlapping pieces of flesh forming her alien cervix flexing inwards as Gordi's member struck it again. His cum seeped from Vika's gushing honeypot as he hammered entheusiastically. Vika moaned, tongue tangling with Gordi's as she taught him kissing; he was learning fast. He gripped her firm ass tightly, pulling it down as he forced himself up again; this time it made it through. Vika's physiology made such a deep penetration possible, with a fellow tau it ensured easier breeding as long as the male was long enough. But with a human it just made things more fun. Vika broke from the kiss and screamed her ecstasy as she came, a torrent of cataclysmic carnal release given voice. Spent, she slumped against her lover, his fresh wave of seed filling her deepest depths. Neither noticing the new arrival. Vika was too busy staring in wonder at the bulge in her abdomen, and Gordi too busy catching his breath and wondering if he'd be able to go another round. Arathi had mixed feelings. She'd heard them before she'd seen them and thought that Gordi might be murdering one of the blueskins, he was just a mon-keigh after all and was given to such behavior. But what she found went beyond all reason. Vika had her legs wrapped around Gordi, who was rather vigorously pounding into her. They switched from kissing each other with a desperate passion to rearing their heads back in exertion or ecstasy every few moments. And from the looks of it the tau was having a particularly great time of it, something that Arathi hadn't had in a few decades if her memory served her correctly. She knew that she shouldn't even entertain the thought but by Isha did that nubile blue skinned creature seem to be having a blast. Gordi was kissing Vika again when the hand settled gently on his shoulder. He and his firend looked in unison at the buxom eldar. Arathi didn't even bother with a hello before grabbing the unsuspecting mon-keigh by the jaw and pressing her mouth to his. In the confusion Vika eased Gordi out of her, savoring every lovely second of that hard member sliding across her clit as she did. Arathi grabbed her by the hand and dragged both her and Gordi into the bedroom where both Ferri and Dao were sitting on the bed... with their hands all over each other. End, part eight. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Annexing Of Fresh Flesh Ferri and Dao were sitting with their legs spread and crossing over each other, their hands either groping their breasts or shoved to the knuckles into a wet pussy. Though Ferri's mechadendrites were also getting places. Dao was thoroughly enjoying learning the upsides of fucking fellow females when Arathi walked in dragging Gordi and Vika with her, all three of them nude; Gordi and Vika both wet. Arathi's pale skin turned pink at her cheeks. To Dao's eyes she looked enticing, long strong legs with lovely thighs that made up for the slim hips, her bust however was a sight to behold. Plump, round, perky with pink nipples. They jiggled with every step. Her face was a mask of purpose, her thin lips tight, her eyes as keen and fine as the edge of a shuriken. She pulled Gordi and Vika in front of her and tossed them onto the bed, throwing herself on to the mon-keigh with abandon. She reached down to the human's fat but short member. Eldar were longer, but thinner. A nice fat one like this would be a lovely change, especially when used with as much gusto as Gordi displayed. He did not disappoint. As Arathi plunged herself down onto the veiny member Gordi used the leverage afforded by his own long legs to thrust upwards. Arathi moaned merrily, a giggle escaping her mouth. Vika bucked. Ferri's questing mechanical tendrils rubbing around inside her and dragging out across her raw clit. Once out, Ferri and Dao made out around the dendrite, swapping cum and juices and tangling tongues. Vika rolled over and got up on all fours, crawling over to where Arathi and Gordi were going at it like a crisis suit on a squiggoth. The bed was starting to shake noticeably, Arathi's breathy moans were also ramping up in intensity. Vika's mouth found one of the eldar's nipples. Arathi didn't feel like Vika. Whereas Vika was tight as all get out, Arathi was looser she felt more silken and fluid. Warmer too. Gordi grabbed her ass and squeezed it, that mounting feeling deep down was rallying again. Arathi's insides were drawing tighter, a rippling feeling moving up into her. The feeling was indescribable, Gordi never feeling much like it before. If he had though he'd perhaps say it was like fucking a hole lined with silk and filled with honey while an ocean jacked him off at a slow and steady pace. Pulsating like a second heart, his member finally fired its white hot payload, Arathi ceased moving the instant the first drop hit the inside of her fleshy folds. Mouth open in soundless bliss. Shaking, she indulged in her orgasm. The tau was sucking on her breasts and massaging them, at least now she was making herself useful. Gordi loosened his death-grip on her ass and took a deep breath, he'd perfomed well enough for someone so short by eldar standards. Vika winced as one of the mechanical human's metal manipulators penetrated her again, drawing more seed for its owner to enjoy. With a sigh Arathi drew off of Gordi, bringing her head level with his member to clean it. Vika and the others joined in as well. There was plenty of work to go around, and unlike dull diagnostics on already-checked systems and repetitive workouts or dreary lessons, this was going to be fun. End, part nine --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the Act Sitting up on a crate, Gordi engaged in something he rarely did. He was thinking. He'd already thought rather briefly on what had happened to him, and decided rather easily that he'd quite enjoyed it. But now he was thinking of something else, something far more immediate. He was abysmally bored. After carrying a few crates of rations to the mess and then reorganizing several other stacks upon the request of his supervisor he had nothing left to do. And so he sat thinking, looking around occasionally when people passed by in conversation or some sound resounded from the maintenance area. His gaze found by chance something peculiar, something that looked like fabric, but shone like glass in sunlight and could be seen through as well. With nothing else worthy of his attention he hopped down from his crate and walked over to the strange shiny see-through fabric thing. Upon his casual inspection he found a circular portal with an orange button on one side. Puzzled, he pressed it; and was astonished when the strange shiny transparent not-fabric suddenly popped into a sphere just barely too small enough to fit his head inside. When the surprise from his discovery subsided he immediately equated his new toy to something from his past. A ball. To his joy it worked just like the ball he and so many of his fellow children loved in their early days and took great pains to preserve. Stretching his left arm out and sliding quickly he swatted his new ball back against the wall of crates he'd assembled. On it's rebound it ended up far to his right, only to be swatted back by somebody else. Glad to have someone to play with he looked to his right and found a fire warrior he was unfamiliar with. Male, short and rough looking; but friendly enough. The break in Gordi's concentration also clued him in to the fact that a few other Tau were sitting on other crates watching him and his new opponent play. His friends were among them too, smiling at him. Considering the aim of the game was to win, he set about stepping up his efforts. Hard turning and fast burning got him a win. Kais'lun, his opponent, couldn't seem to easily judge the distance and speed of the ball but held his own. Once Gordi managed to figure that out he just had to throw a few very fast and highly angled bounces and he had it in the bag, and the cheers of his friends. Over the next few days the rest of the Tau camp joined in on the game, different champions emerging and then falling down the ranks. Gordi's nights were filled either with calm comfort with company, or more intimate pastimes. When news broke that a craft was found that would take the Tau and their human friend out to the Farsight Enclaves the resulting celebration was quite vigorous. End, part ten --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New home, same digs. Vika woke up to the most unpleasant noise. Gordi was snoring again, he did that sometimes. They'd laid down on their couch for a nap just an hour ago. Militia training took a toll on the big oaf. The injuries he'd acrued over time didn't want to cooperate with him on the two mile marches or the wargames. Life was good though. Vika had her human, though Dao and Ferri also had him. Though for the moment he was all hers. Technicians had to do an extra two hours of training for maintenance tasks. Poor 'cogbrains' as Gordi called them were expected to know an be able to fix every piece of equipment in the militia armory. Grunts had no such concerns thankfully, hence the nap. Vika's arms were wrapped around Gordi's torso, she squeezed him gently. He woke up and looked down at her and gave her a smile. "Bad noise again?" "Yeah. Y'know, we really should get you some of those things for your nose." "I'll ask boss for some, she's good with bio-stuff." Gordi laid his head back down, he wrapped his arms around Vika's shoulders. "When're they home? Nother hour?" "Yeah, just over one. You hungry Gordi?" In reply Gordi slipped out from Vika, mozying over to the pantry of their flat. With four people things got a little cozy, but nobody minded much at all. Vika stretched out on the couch, looking over her right shoulder into the kitchen where Gordi was rummaging through the pantry. After a few seconds he spun around on a heel and walked back with a bag of snacks in his hand. Once he got back to the couch Vika sat up to make room for Gordi. They munched on their snacks for a while and turned on their vidscreen to see what was going on the in the wider world. Since arriving in the Farsight enclaves life had been easier and quieter. Gordi worked in a warehouse moving heavy things, Vika worked as a peacekeeper officer, Dao and Vika did technological things in a factory. They all lived in a flat together, and all got along rather well. Though Vika tended to be a little possessive sometimes, but that's just her. And right now, she's thinking that it wouldn't be too hard to slip a nipple out of her loose and baggy shirt to get her human going. Vika stretched out her arms, then hugged herself just below her bust. The result was just what she wanted, her loose shirt had let one of her perky blue nipples out of its v-neck. She leaned against Gordi and looked up at him. And just like she knew he would, he looked down at her. Vika was doing her usual thing again, not that he could complain. Gordi pushed a hand down behind Vika and got a handful of her ass. The little blueskin giggled as he man-handled her onto his lap and used his free hand to awkwardly pull her shirt off. Vika pulled his sweat pants back to get at his cock, and then the real fun began. Vika gripped Gordi's cock and began jerking him off. She loved the meaty feel of it, how it throbbed in her hand. Gordi made appreciative-sounding grunts and busied himself with massaging the tau's breasts. Vika wasn't in the same shape as when he'd first met her and she'd put on a tiny amount of weight; just enough to give her breasts a little more 'squish' to go with their perky firmness. After a few minutes Gordi groaned and shook as Vika brought him to orgasm, his cum covering the front of her shirt. A few ambitious globs found their way to the bottom of her breasts. "Gordi?" Vika asked, her hands already pulling at her pants. "Yeah. I know what's next." The human replied. End, part eleven ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------