An Arion Ascends - part 2
by Dru


"Sir, I think it's an Arion!"

"Are you certain?"

"Visual confirmation is available, Sir. Permission to engage target."

"Granted."

The officer did not hesitate, and a barrage of laser beams and missiles lit up
the sky above the base.

Dodging the defensive assault from the ground easily, Sirren carefully paced
herself alongside a missile. It was smaller than her by more than half, and
she knew it would contain orgone or some other toxic energy source. She got as
close she dared, much closer than she would have the last time she saw this
kind of weaponry, and hit it with a beam of heat to set it off. The explosion
washed over her like a warm gust of wind, and she knew without doubt there was
nothing to fear.

Picking another, she this time collided head on with it. Bursting from the
fireball into a deadly green beam she was surprised to feel the beam was in
fact quite pleasant. Unable to suppress it, she burst into laughter and
casually allowed their sophisticated defences to exhaust themselves hopelessly
against her for several minutes.

Touching down in the courtyard amongst several hundred armed troops, Sirren
felt absolutely godlike as her overpowered landing knocked twenty soldiers
from their feet and staggered the rest.

"Your people have been weighed and found wanting!" she declared, knowing her
every word would reach the admiralty before the base fell. "I declare your
government too weak to rule this world. And I will prove this weakness until
you beg to serve me."

She began the demonstration in earnest. Every man she touched, even with
glancing blows, crumpled or flew. None survived the unnatural force she used
to mercilessly rend her enemies asunder. Unfortunately for them, they never
stood a chance. She was simply too strong.too fast. Though they fought back as
best they could it was as though they weren't resisting at all as her blows
carved through any efforts to defend.

After three minutes of this, the second in command realised just how dire the
situation was. "Commandant, the enemy shows no sign of flagging."

Silent for a moment, struggling to produce words he had never dared even dread
to speak on his home-world, the Commandant almost whispered the order to
retreat. "Initiate emergency withdrawal procedures. And get those tanks into
position on her flank. The bitch won't be able to resist those, and it might
just buy our men enough time."

It was like a dream come true. Every Warrior-Prime lusted for such extreme
advantage on the battlefield, Sirren herself more than most. Now she had it,
she was using her absolute invulnerability and her overwhelming strength to
full effect. At first her targets engaged her valiantly, but within the first
minute they learned how utterly futile their efforts were.

Every chance it got, one of the best computer systems in the universe
orchestrated a barrage of anti-supremis cannons from the battlements all over
the fort that would have ground a whole unit of Primes into dust. Not a single
projectile missed her. But not a single one was able to break her rhythm as
she waded through a-hundred-and-thirty fully equipped Vendorian soldiers.

As she hoisted another horrified Vendorian and his robotic armour over her
head and looked about the chaos for something to hurl him at, Sirren felt her
happiness increase further as a large tank lumbered into position between two
of the large hangers that seemed randomly scattered about the base. Smashing
the soldier she held absently into the ground, Sirren made her way toward the
not-too-distant tank. Without, she noticed with dismay, further interference
from the infantry. They now gave her an increasingly wide berth. Her glowing
smile returned as she realised why they cleared the area around her so
quickly.

Once it started to move, the oversized turret span with surprising speed in
her direction. Before it had even stopped the cannon itself had risen to the
appropriate angle and after resting there for less then a second, fired a
shell at its strangely gleeful target. Easily fast enough to avoid the
incoming round, Sirren instead took the direct hit they scored on her chest.

After taking several hundred direct hits from missiles and larger shells
already, she held nothing but contempt for the shell that hit her now. She
did, however, experience a twinge of fear as she realised just how heavily the
shell was laced with orgone. With trepidation she breathed a little of the
vapour that engulfed her in the aftermath of the explosion. Having heard
stories of the effects, Sirren was not surprised to feel a sudden heat swell
within her. But rather than soaring past a tolerable level, the pleasant
sensation did nothing other than give her a small string of orgasms. She shook
them off and with a burst of speed stood beside the tank.

Drawing back her fist she let fly with her best punch. Massive overkill, as it
turned out. The resulting explosion turned the tank into a giant grenade,
reducing the elaborately engineered vehicle into deadly shards of shrapnel
none larger than her thumb.

Before she had time to marvel at the sheer force her blow delivered another
orgone laced shell was blasted at her from behind. Sirren turned before it was
halfway and instinctively blocked it with her palm. The few who could observe
the scene watched with horror while the fireball shrank before it grew to half
its potential size and entered the mouth of the invader they had intended to
kill with it.

"HA! Is that it? Is that all?"

The tank fired again. And again. Not blocking anymore of them, Sirren allowed
the shells to give her all the pleasure their precious toxins could deliver as
she lifted up and drifted in a haze of bliss toward their source.

Suddenly there was silence enough for Sirren to hear her own moans. Gently
touching down in front of the large tank, a bleary eyed Sirren ran her hand
over the armoured surface. Slowly, she pushed her fingers into the tank until
she was almost elbow deep in it. Closing her eyes, she tried to gauge the
weight as she lifted the entire thing from the ground. She could sense more
feel the weight, her muscles acknowledging but at the same time ignoring the
tanks existence.

"Incredible."

Sirren brought her arm down hard, destroying the tank and leaving nothing but
a shallow crater behind. Brushing herself off, realising only then that her
small uniform had stood up as well as promised, she looked around to discover
automated defences were all that remained above ground. Every man left living
had made their way within the bunker.

"Like that will help," Sirren gloated, using the most powerful eyes in the
universe to scan the underground structure. Her super-enhanced mind mapped it
all in a blink, but it took a little longer to locate everybody and note all
points of interest. Deciding against the front door she launched into the
upper atmosphere and dove toward the Vendorian earth faster than she, or any
other supremis, had travelled before.

With enormous disappointment, she was unable to pierce the structure on the
first attempt. In fact, she almost hurt herself. Hovering up into the sky her
disappointment became anger. She needed more power. Unknown to her, the very
tidal wave she desired was already on the way.

Just beyond the smallest moon of Vendor a twisting whirlpool of light opened
out of nothing, growing into a vast and deep tunnel.invisible unless beheld
directly. Before it blinked out of existence with as much warning as it had
arrived, the wormhole deposited three-thousand elite guard direct from the
heart of Velor itself. The small nebula of battle-ready Velorians made its way
quickly toward the last place Lyra's scribe had reported seeing the Vendorian
Protector before her apparent death in battle. Hardened by the news of Lyra's
loss, none of them were quite sure why the Enlightenment had called upon so
many. One Arion ship could carry only a thousand at most.but then such a
provocative assault so far from the agreed frontiers of conflict was indeed
worthy of such a response.

Without checking in with the locals, having already been invited to come, the
swarm formed itself into a massive V formation and scoured the surface of the
planet for the offending Arion forces.

"There!"

"But."

".There's only one of them."

"She's mine."

"Only if you get there first!"

Sirren was still dusting herself off, considering another attempt to penetrate
the bunker, when she saw them. The v-shaped cloud of Velorians almost blacked
out the sun.

"It worked."

She did not have long to wait for the army to stop overhead. From their number
a group of five swept down to land in a circle around her.

"Before we kill you, how about you tell us what this was supposed to achieve?"

The blonde man who spoke amused Sirren with his confidence. Little did he
realise his presence was the very thing Sirren sought on Vendor.

"Why don't you run why you still can?" she taunted, raising an eyebrow.

"Foolish arrogance is hardly unexpected. Let someone else work out the why."

He moved in with two others flanking him. Another two stepped up behind and
Sirren let them secure her arms as the three before her began delivering
carefully placed blows. Her smile unnerved those who saw it.

Stepping back, all three stared in amazement at her unblemished skin. Letting
them wrestle with their confusion a moment, Sirren twisted her wrists and
grasped those who held her. With terrifying ease she swang them both around
and killed all five of them in one tremendous impact.

The army overhead broke into motion, but before any could reach her Sirren
began sweeping her deadly gaze through the sky. None knew what was going on
until it was too late, and their number was reduced by over two-thirds before
Sirren relented.

Unaware that she had done so much more than simply kill their comrades with
overpowered heat-vision, those survivors untouched by her special glare
assumed their opponent must surely have exhausted herself to perform such an
appalling feat. They moved to press advantage only to break themselves upon
their super-supremis target.

For the next hour Sirren did nothing but stand on the field of battle allowing
the Velorians to try everything they could think of to bring her down. She
could feel their blows, sense the warmth from their heat-vision, and see the
determination in their faces. Every blow inflicted its pain in reverse, her
flesh accepting no injury from their efforts. Despite their apparent failure
however, honour allowed them no retreat. There were, after all, still at least
six-hundred of them and only one of her. Vendorian drones beamed battlefield
footage directly to the planet's general staff, and they were horrified to see
a growing number of crippled Velorian warriors laid out at her feet.

Moving at last in the thick throng of attackers, Sirren leaned back and
slammed her fists into her sides. The force released by the twin impacts was
enough to knock many from the sky, the shockwave clearing the injured
violently away. Keeping a straight face Sirren grinned on the inside. All
these Velorians could manage to do was to cause themselves harm. Curious, she
watched the determined warriors regroup and come at her again. Impressed with
what she achieved just putting her hands on her hips, she let them get close
and thumped herself firmly in the stomach.

It was as though Sirren had let off a large bomb. The devastation caused to
the immediate area surprised her. Even the ground before her was churned up as
the shockwave tore though and scattered the Velorian assault.

"I had no idea this would be so easy."

A heartbeat later the assault began again. Ignoring all but one, she grasped
hold of a large male and held him before her even as he struggled in her bone
crushing grip and his comrades resumed hitting her with everything they had.

"I am so much more than I ever dreamed." she told him. "Look around you
Velorian."

He did, terrified to see the cleared ground quickly crowded with injured
warriors. One after the other a Velorian would fly in close, either swinging a
limb or diving directly into their target. One after the other they crashed to
the ground broken by their own attacks.

"I don't have to lift a finger to defeat your pathetic army."

Even the volume of her words hurt him. How can she be so beautiful? How could
she be so overwhelmingly powerful?

"I just have to show up."

Deeply offended by her arrogance, the Velorian she held reeled back and
brought his head down on her in a move of last resort, but somehow she moved
so that instead of her face, he rammed his forehead into her inviting
breast.and everything got very hazy.

Sirren smiled. There was no stopping her now. Already she was strong enough to
ignore a direct assault by the hardiest Velorian warriors. She cast her eyes
over the man she held, feeling his drop of power enter her increasing
reservoir with almost as much pleasure as she had felt taking the two-thousand
before him.

"Kneel!" she commanded, the power of her voice pained every Vendorian within a
mile.so much so it stopped each and everyone of them tracks, driving the
nearest to the ground in agony. "Kneel before your goddess!!"'

As they recovered, none of them knew what to do. For several extended
heartbeats the Velorians looked about, as though everyone was expecting
someone else to take the lead. Sirren watched them sternly, thoroughly
enjoying their fear. Their fear of failure. Their fear of death. But above
all, their fear of her. As she prepared to repeat her command, one of them at
last made a decision.

"Retreat!"

There was reluctance.but few hesitated to respond to the cry. As fast as they
could move, those able-bodied assisting the injured, the surviving Velorians
streamed into the upper-atmosphere and flew directly toward the wormhole. This
foe was unlike anything any of them had ever seen or heard of, and their
battle against her had extensively proven the futility of pressing on with the
assault.

Sirren filled with tremendous pride as she watched the Velorian army, or what
little remained of it, turn tail and run.as though she were a raging fire and
they the fauna that stood helplessly in its path. Though she knew they were
flying with all speed she knew she could easily outpace them. Her entire body
brimmed with raw power.and not only had she taken their physical strength,
Sirren had stolen their knowledge as well. And so she knew where they were
going. She knew they would need time to open the wormhole. Time she would
happily give them.because she knew where the wormhole led.

Looking down and examining the interior of the bunker Sirren was dismayed to
see it was now almost entirely devoid of toys. The intelligent Vendorian
admiralty had ordered the facility be abandoned during the battle, and the men
of the base were very efficient about following that command.

"You have nowhere to run," Sirren observed, hovering up over the base to cast
her penetrating gaze over the land all around the bunker, mapping the tunnels
that spread from it in almost all directions. She found the tunnels connected
the bunker to other military outposts through hundreds of miles of bedrock far
beneath the surface. In fact, as she investigated further Sirren found a
network of tunnels connecting each and every military base she could see.

Smiling with anticipation, Sirren once again dove at the bunker. This time the
impact went very differently. The top-secret metal that had proven impassable
on her first try gave up instantly on the second attempt. Having overestimated
its strength Sirren had hit with far, far too much force. Those few who
remained either in the bunker itself, and those still fleeing in tunnels, were
killed instantly as a crater three-miles bigger than the base and half again
as deep was torn violently into the surface of Vendor. Millions of tonnes of
earth and steel were churned up and tossed several miles into the air.

Flying clear of the damage Sirren was stunned by her own power. The rumble was
still resounding as the ground continued to quake for what seemed to her an
eternity. The dust cloud would hover for hours, perhaps days, above the
devastation. But as much as she was awed, Sirren could not afford to admire
her handiwork any longer.

Looking at the fleeing Velorians, she was pleased to see they had almost made
it. Reaching up and stretching out she accelerated into pursuit, and amazed
herself with the speed she achieved. The distance closed almost instantly,
then grew as she went wide around the six-hundred strong cloud of frightened
blondes and continued on to their intended location. Taking a position on the
surface of the small moon nearby, Sirren waited and watched.

General Karak had given her very extensive, yet clear instructions. After
provoking and then absorbing the Velorians, she had been supposed to finish
her conquest of Vendor and wait there for her General to arrive. He intended a
long drawn-out war against the Velorian Enlightenment, his plan to wear them
down until they surrendered so he could then grind them into dust. He dreamed
of decades of war. But Sirren had a new plan.one with a much shorter
time-frame.

The instant the wormhole flowered into existence, Sirren launched herself from
the moon to almost instantly place herself between the churning opening and
those whose intended escape it was meant to provide. Unperturbed by her small
presence in the vast opening, the Velorians moved forward.hoping to get past
through speed and numbers. Sirren let them get close enough to believe they
would make it before unleashing her true power upon them. When the golden
light blinked out three seconds later, not one of her quarry remained.

With even greater power now, Sirren had no feelings of doubt as she entered
the wormhole.the conquest of Vendor could wait a few hours. Taking the might
of three-thousand had been incredible. Sirren wondered what taking
five-and-half-billion would be like.

Karak was still furious with Sirren for going off on her own, even though he
had half expected it. He had not expected her to be so bold as to take the
fight to Velor on the very first day in the field with her new powers. This
changed things. He would have to swallow his uncertainty, and make his move
today.

"Impulsive," he mused.

"I don't know that the tracking device will survive the wormhole, General. The
signal is breaking up."

"The material will protect it, Major." Karak assured him.

"With respect," another subordinate boldly interrupted, "What can we do about
it now?"

"We know where she's going, you fools. We cannot follow her there. All we can
do now is wait for her to come back. She might be killed; but we must ready
ourselves for the strong possibility she will defeat any and all who stand
before her."

Karak calmly turned away from the monitor he had been glued to for the last
two-hours, the live feed from the camera hidden in Sirren's uniform now showed
only the swirling wall of the wormhole.and already the image had become
fragmented.

"I think the experiment was perhaps too successful," Major Eilera observed. "I
still don't understand why you didn't test it on me."

Karak destroyed her irritation with a cold humiliating glare, making her look
to the floor and mumble a formal apology. "Of course your wisdom knows not
defeat, great General. Forgive my ignorance of your grand design."

"I must prepare for Sirren's return. Stay here and monitor for her tracking
beacon. I want to know the moment she comes out of the Velorian system. If she
survives, she will be powerful beyond your feeble imagination. But I will be
ready. I will crush her."

Karak rose, leaving Eilera to her assigned task. Making his way though the
ship, towards his destiny, he thought back to the display he had just
witnessed. Those he passed in the corridors were unnerved by his smile.
General Karak never smiled.

When the door to the lab opened, the busy Betan scientists turned to see
Karak's intimidating form fill the space.

"Plans have changed. Turn it on."

The Betan in shook nervously. "But General, we need more time."

"We have none." He entered the room and sat down in front of the emitter.

"But I still don't fully understand."

"You told me you could operate it."

"Operate it, yes. Guarantee success.not yet."

"I can offer you a guarantee, Betan. If you don't obey me this instant, I'll
personally tear your limbs from your weak frame."

"General you don't understand.The process could kill you. I just don't
completely understand it yet. I have to know more."

"At this point, it doesn't matter if I do die. Either the High Command will
discover my treachery, and kill all of us. Including you, by the way. Or
Sirren will return and all you know will be destroyed. So if you want to live
as much as I do, then smarten-up, and push the fucking button."

Stunned by the General's honesty, the Betan was slow to start but quick about
it once he got going. He barked instructions at his surprised team, and within
three minutes Karak was hit with a brilliant beam of purple light.

Major Eilera sat fuming. She tried not to feel it, but resentment burned
within her. The feed from Sirren's battle had both terrified, and aroused her.
The idea of facing such power on a field of war was a truly depressing
prospect, but the idea of wielding that power made her burn with desire. But
her chance had come, and Karak had passed the opportunity to another. And now
that other had betrayed him. If her General had bestowed such a gift upon
Eilera her loyalty would only have strengthened with her body. Now it was too
late. She knew he would not share such a gift again. She knew deep down that
he would take the power for himself and for himself alone.

As she wondered how long she would live after Karak had the ability Sirren had
proven so effective, the intercom pinged.

"Major Eilera, this is Private Second-Class Ma-Tyn in the medical lab. We have
a situation."

Eilera tried to keep her annoyance from showing. "I've got orders. I'm busy.
Get someone else."

"I'm afraid you'll have to come yourself, Major. I believe this situation
requires the presence of the ranking officer."

Her annoyance was now on full display. "Then get the General you oaf!"

"Major, the General is already here. We need you."

The uncertainty in Ma-Tyn's voice gave rise to a little guilty hope. "I'll be
right there."

Commanding the Betan technicians to maintain their vigil, Eilera followed in
Karak's footsteps to the door of the medical lab. Private Second-class Ma-Tyn
stood outside waiting for her.

"Inside." he told her, his salute clumsy.

"Wait here. Let no-one in."

When she opened the door, she was greeted with a horrible sight. So horrible
that for just a heartbeat or two the experienced veteran felt nauseous.

What was left of her General was scattered over the whole room, small pieces
of him clinging to everything and everyone she could see. The entire room was
seemed drenched in blood.

"I warned him!" the team leader declared, clearly shaken by the event. "He
insisted! Check the security camera.I told him not to."

"You were in charge of the equipment?" Eilera demanded. "What went wrong?"

"We weren't ready! The machines are still set as Ky-Noir left
them.theoretically it should have worked.it shouldn't have mattered."

"What? What shouldn't have mattered?"

"I thought there was chance.Sex shouldn't have affected it."

"Skietra damn you! What went wrong?"

"I don't know.I don't know."

"You obviously know something."

"Well.the subject was a woman last time. Maybe adjustments are required for a
male.but it shouldn't be the case. If I had more time, I could've finished my
examination of the equipment."

Her General was dead. Eilera suddenly outranked every Warrior-Prime on the
ship. She turned to regard the seat Karak exploded out of, casting her eyes
over the mess he had become.

"Is the equipment damaged?"

The nervous Betan darted to the main console and tapped a few keys. "No. There
appears to be no damage to the machines. Everything reads as normal."

"And you think you failed because the General was not a woman?

"I don't know. Not for sure."

Eilera didn't hesitate. After what she had seen Sirren accomplish after her
transformation, Eilera had to have that power too.

"Get that seat cleaned off," she commanded, shoving a nearby scientist toward
it. "Now."

Three other technicians aided the first. As soon as she deemed it clean enough
to sit upon, Eilera did just that.

"Activate the machine."

"But Major Eilera.we just saw what can happen."

"We saw what happened to Karak. But I've seen what happened to the first to
sit here.and I'm willing to risk death for chance to have that, understand?"

For the second time, the Betan steeled himself and started issuing orders.
Blood was carefully removed from the emitter array, and Eilera shut her eyes
as the machinery wound up.

"And here we go.three, two, one.."

Eilera felt very foolish as her nerves screamed out in pain. She was certain
she would fly apart. Surely it wasn't meant to hurt this much.was it? To her,
the three minutes it took for the process to be complete was a lifetime of
agony. But it was a lifetime that passed.

The purple light dissipated, leaving Eilera sitting in total silence. The
Betans, who sheltered from what they were sure would be another gruesome
failure, slowly moved toward her.

The one responsible for creating the second super-enhanced Arion warrior
looked her over with very wide eyes. He was certain she had grown larger. And
had she been so beautiful before? He didn't remember Eilera being so easy on
the eye. Her bulky physique seemed somehow more streamlined, her skin smoother
than before. He had no doubt her tanned flesh, so openly displayed in her
uniform, had not possessed that sheen of health before. The lines of age had
vanished from her improved features, taking years off her appearance, making
her look like she was fresh out of the academy.

"Major Eilera.? Are you alright? Did it work?"

She was better than alright. The pain had departed instantly, replaced with a
feeling of deep wellbeing she had not felt in decades.

"I'm definitely alright," she mused. "As for whether or not it worked.lets
find out."

The Betans didn't know about the special bonus in the new gene sequence. Karak
had seen no need to tell them everything. So when Eilera tested her new
ability for the first time they greeted death in total bewilderment.

"Oh.yes!"

Though she gained very little from them, her success in absorbing the Betan
technicians felt wonderful. She hadn't expected.or wanted.their knowledge, but
that came too. She also noticed that the gold radiation had also removed the
pieces of Karak wherever it had touched his scattered remains. Smiling, she
completely removed all evidence of her General's unnatural demise. She could
feel her strength grow as she cleaned the room.but because his mind had been
destroyed, Eilera did not gain any knowledge from Karak's fragments.

"More. I must have more."