Page 112 of Command

“Is it now?” Threxin laughed dryly and leaned back in his seat. “Say more then, brother.”

“Do you think it is your limiter alone that malfunctions? You are simply the first to test its limits by your…” he glanced at Alina. “Association. None of us have found ourselves in a position for such strong and inconvenient reactions.”

“Tell that to Silarra, who I am certain has continued mating humans behind my back.”

Renza flicked his fingers dismissively. “Silarra fucks them. She feels nothing for them except their oddly smooth cocks. Don’t know what she sees in them myself.”

Threxin noted Alina’s hand-wringing discomfort at the direction of this conversation. He wondered what she thought of his own cock in comparison with that of her own species. Did she think it grotesque in its topology?

Not now.

“But if we are to live on the same planet, as we have on this ship, this will happen more,” Renza continued. “And even without human intervention, you simply took a faster route to the final consequence we will all face. The limiters are finite. They can only control us so much before they break. And in their breaking, they will devour us and turn our brains to shreds. It is your responsibility as commander of our cohort to find the solution. You took us from our home. Now you must keep us intact.”

Threxin’s spikes itched, but he heard the truth of it. Renza was right. Shoq, why did he always have to be right?

“And the Neurosync? How is that supposed to help keep us from killing each other?” Threxin jerked his chin to Alina.

“The NS helps you feel.” Alina stepped forward, stopping short when Threxin recoiled. Something shuttered on her face.

“Channeling emotions is more likely to regulate us effectively than walling them off, brother,” Renza elaborated.

“Sounds preposterous,” Threxin stated.

“It may be. Which is why I vow to kill you personally if it fails.”

“Wait, what?” Alina blurted out, taken aback for the second time in the ongoing exchange. “You didn’t tell me that!”

“It is necessary.” Renza shrugged one shoulder.

“No, it fucking is not.”

Renza looked at Threxin wryly, holding his hands out as they shared a moment of brotherly understanding at the female’s ignorance. “If you do not do this, we will all die regardless. Either our limiters kill us or we kill each other. After destroying her.” He motioned to Alina.

“Hear me out, brother. Lesthin is prepared to perform the procedure.”

Threxin looked to the ceiling in disbelief. He should behead Lesthin for going behind his back like this.

Some ticks later, Threxin was caught up. Apparently Renza and Lesthin had devised an NS modification to make it compatible with uhyre brain structure. Removing the limiter would be more difficult… The implants had grown into their brains since childhood, fusing with their biological matter until they all but became one. Extraction would be long and arduous, and performed while he was awake.

Threxin already tasted his child self’s terror at the thought of it. Sitting in that chair again, only this time with his skull splayed open and his brain being picked apart.

If it failed… Either he’d die on the table or at his brother’s hands. And if it failed, all of his cohort would die too, like Renza had said. All the humans probably would as well.

Threxin looked to the female curled up in the smaller foam cushion across the foam couch, eyes circled with hints of red and eyelids heavy with fatigue. She was exhausted. He wanted to drag her into his bed and lock her in there until she slept.

But as soon as he and Renza rose after working out a plan in hushed tones, her eyes were wide open and she was jumping to her feet. Threxin paused, beginning to protest and realizing it was futile from the look on her face alone. He could keep her in his cabins by force, but… Threxin sighed, spikes relaxing to their natural upward posture, and jerked his head for her to follow.

They were in the medbay not a ship hour after Renza and Alina Argoud had barged in on him, Lesthin having been summoned to prepare for the operation. They had locked themselves in the advanced operating cabin. Threxin had preemptively instructed all conscious humans and uhyre to clear out, allowing them to enter undetected. It would not be wise to raise any questions while he was unconscious and vulnerable. Not to mention have Alina Argoud be seen in such a compromising position.

Alina had been at his side, and now, as they were gettingstarted, Renza was steering her from the room despite her protests.

“If this fails,” Threxin called after his brother, “she Uploads. Not to the holding server. To Heaven. Understand?”

Renza was lifting his chin in acknowledgment, but Alina was already shaking her head even while being pushed out the door.

“No,” she bit back hoarsely, fighting and failing to get around Renza but meeting Threxin’s eyes. “I won’t go. I am fucking telling you, you giant alien asshole, if you die I’m not going anywhere. So you’d better not fucking die.”

Then she was gone, and Threxin fumed. She would go. She’d come to her senses and go if it came to it.

---