DISCLAIMER: Battlestar Galactica and all related characters are the property of Universal Pictures and Syfy Channel and based on the series created by Glen A. Larson. No copyright infringement is intended. This work of fiction is for entertainment purposes only and no money has changed hands. The story and all original characters are the sole property of the author and may not be used or archived without permission.


With Gina safely at work on her super-secret bomb-sniffing robot project, Valerie let down her hair - literally and figuratively - as she headed back to Seattle for her weekly brunch date with her (platonic) girlfriends from work. Usually, brunch involved drinks and sweet treats at the Seattle's Best Coffee located near their graphic design firm. Val picked up speed as she got further away from the Searing facility, eager to both get to her destination and away from the corporate fortress.

She made the transit in record time, but still ended up being late. She walked through the entrance and immediately spotted her friends sitting at a nearby table already enjoying their coffees. One of them was Amelie St. Pierre, a brash, upbeat daughter of Haitian immigrants who'd been friends with Valerie since they were both hired by the firm within weeks of each other. Another was Stephanie McCafferty, a buxom blond with a pretty face and a raunchy sense of humor who was a transfer from one of the company's offices on the East Coast. They'd brought a newcomer with them, Valerie could see. It took a moment to remember the slender, honey blond woman's name. Right...it was Michelle Stottlemeyer, a graduate student apprenticing with Amelie.

As Valerie approached the table, Amelie called out, "There you are! Girl, you should have been here long ago. We started telling embarrassing stories about you ages ago since you weren't here to stop us!"

The three women chuckled at that. "So that's your game," Valerie said as she put her stuff in an empty chair, "attack the one who can't defend herself?"

"A tried-and-true method of weeding out the weak links," Stephanie said with a grin, raising her large mocha in salute.

"Just let me get my stuff and we'll make this a fair fight," Valerie said. She left her giggling friends to go to the counter. She returned about seven minutes later with a chai latte and a block of cinnamon crumb cake. "Okay," she said to Michelle as she settled in, "what slanderous libel have they been spouting about me?"

"It's nothing bad," Michelle said with a slight blush. "They just told me why you might be late today."

"Yep," Stephanie said, "our dear friend was finally gettin' some this morning!"

"To The Queen!" Amelie called out, then she and Stephanie "clinked" the tops of their cups in celebration.

"Yeah, yeah," Valerie groused, "if by 'some' you meant a sip of wine and the host."

Stephanie almost did a spit take. "You're shitting me!"

Amelie put her hands on her hips. "You mean you finally had her home for a whole weekend for the first time in like forever and you went to church?"

"Did you at least make up for lost time after church?" Stephanie said.

"Nope, 'cause right after church I had to drive her up to Fortress Maximus."

Michelle raised her hand a little. "Um, wait...what fortress?"

"That's just what she calls Ghost Works up in Renton," Amelie said.

Michelle's eyes widened a little. "So wait, your..." She looked lost for words.

Valerie smiled. "'Partner' is fine."

Michelle nodded. "Your partner works for SearingGhost Works? The company that makes all the super secret spy planes and futuristic fighter planes?"

Val sighed. "Yeah, that'd be the bunch of assholes she works for."

"Now don't be pissy, Valerie," Stephanie scolded. "It's not Searing's fault that you can't manage to work a little nookie with your girlfriend into a whole weekend."

"Oh, that's not true, because after she spent all night Friday and all day Saturday either on her cell or her laptop we did manage to squeeze in about twenty minutes of quality time where Gina used me like a blow-up doll she hadn't seen since she hid it under her bed at her parent's house!" She took a sip of her latte and mumbled, "Her and her stupid bony fingers..."

"Ah, young love..." Stephanie said. "Isn't it romantic?"

"Forget romance!" Amelie said. "Right now she's supposed to be telling us stories about hot lesbian monkey love and she went to church!"

Val stared at her in disbelief. "So...I'm just a walking Penthouse Forum to you, is that it?"

"Yes!" Amelie and Stephanie said in unison.

"I'll prove it," Stephanie added. "Tell Michelle about how you and Gina met."

"Oh, come on," Val said. "She doesn't want to hear about that..."

"Um, actually, I would like to hear about that..." Michelle said.

Valerie could see it in her eyes as she spoke. Great. Another one. And this one hadn't even met Gina yet. Something about Gina Sexton and college girls.

She took a sip of her coffee and thought, Well, Val, you should know...


SIXTEEN YEARS AGO

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

GALVESTON, TEXAS

Valerie checked the numbers on the doors carefully as she carried her first two boxes through the corridors of Briggs Residence. She already knew she was on the right floor, so it was just a matter of locking on to the right dorm number. When she got there she found the door open. Somebody was moving around inside.

Valerie snuck in and saw that her roommate was already moved in. The far side of the room already had posters on the walls - framed ones at that - and the meager university-supplied furnishings were laden with things like a portable TV, an alarm clock radio and a laptop computer. The roomie, a tall, skinny girl, was bent over, making the bed. The linens she was using looked expensive, as if she were just slumming at Texas A&M before heading off to Yale.

Valerie also couldn't help but notice how the woman's tight black leggings showed off her athletic butt and legs. Val spent a moment just staring and biting her lip, then she composed herself and said, "Hi."

The roomie straightened up and turned. "Oh, hi," she said with a wide, toothy grin. She was really tall, very pretty, and the Dallas Cowboys cut-off jersey she was wearing showed off a toned midriff that fit perfectly with her legs. She ran a hand through her golden blond hair, which was pulled back in a ponytail (its natural state, as Valerie would eventually learn) and then extended the other to Valerie. "Gina Sexton."

Valerie smiled and put her boxes on the free bed before shaking hands. "Hi. Valerie Ochoa. I see you're all settled in."

"Oh, yeah. I got in a couple of hours ago. It didn't take me long to unpack."

"It may take me a while. I have a bunch of other stuff in the car."

"Want some help carrying it up? Maybe I can save you a trip or two."

"That'd be great! Thanks!" She was about to turn to leave when she got a good look at one of the framed posters. Her head cocked a little as she moved a step closer. "That's from a manga, isn't it?"

"You mean a Japanese comic? I think so. I know the artist is Japanese."

Val chuckled. "It's two girls kissing."

"Um, yeah..." Gina said.

"If you're a girl and you hang something like this on your wall, people will talk."

Gina shrugged. "Let them talk. It's my preference."

Valerie didn't look away from the poster. "Oh...is it?"

"I've been out for two years. I figure if my poster makes people talk about that, it'll save me the trouble of having to say that over and over again."

"An interesting strategy..."

"You either use the rumor mill or get abused by it. I learned that the hard way in high school." Gina took a step closer to her and said, "Listen, if it bothers you..."

"Why should it bother me? You have a drawing on the wall showing two Japanese schoolgirls making out and it's hanging where you can look at it while lying in bed." Val smirked and looked back at Gina over her shoulder. "That just tells me how much work I have to do to seduce you."

She turned away, and without another word she stuffed her hands in the pocket of her jeans and sauntered out of the room. She expected Gina to be a little shocked, but the real test would be how long it would take for the tall, blond sexpot to catch up.

Valerie was halfway down the hall when she heard the gratifying sound of Gina's sneakers trotting toward her.


"Don't you love that story?" Stephanie said to Michelle.

"You temptress!"Amelie said with mock indignation.

"I hate that story," Valerie grumped.

"But why?" Michelle said. "I think it's cute."

"It's cliche! It's a stereotype! 'We got together when we were roommates in college!' It might as well be porn..."

Stephanie suddenly reached over the table and pretended to be typing. "'Dear Penthouse Forum: I never thought I'd ever do anything like what I did today, but when I spotted my hot new roommate I just knew I had to try something bold...'"

Valerie made her stop by swatting her on the shoulder, which drew general laughter from her three companions. She just settled back in her chair and sipped her coffee. It was annoying. Stephanie and Amelie never wanted to hear the rest of the story, like even after that day she and Gina hadn't done anything even remotely romantic - much less lustful - for the first semester they lived together...and they hadn't waited for each other. Indeed, only the fact that they never brought any other girls into their dorm room was any indication that they were more than friends to each other. And in the intervening years since their first time together, they'd evolved more into "Old Marrieds" than any kind of "Nympho Dykes."

But Stephanie and Amelie didn't want to hear all that. They only cared about the more salacious bits of the history of the Gina/Valerie pairing. The usual doldrums and misfires that characterized any long-term relationship were apparently too boring.

Misfires like Gina putting her job ahead of her lover.

A cold look came over Valerie's face as she sipped. Stupid bomb-sniffing robot...


"Walk forward ten paces and stop," Gina said.

"By-your-command," Cy said, then he walked the required number of paces and came to attention. Gina watched his every step, as did motion sensors around the lower level.

"Still there," Dwayne called out, "but about two-thirds less pronounced."

"We've narrowed it down to the right line of code," Jenny said. "Give us ten to work on it."

Gina nodded at her, then thought of something. "Say...when did we program it to say 'By your command'?"

"We did that last night," Jenny said with a smile.

Dwayne shrugged. "We needed a placeholder in its verbal-response library. Until we know if we're selling it to the Army or the Marines we don't know if it will have to say 'Yes, Sir' or 'Aye Aye, Sir'."

"I get that, but isn't having it say 'By your command' a little...I don't know...on the nose?"

Lenny looked down at her and smirked. "It's a ten-foot-tall robot with a little red light for an eye that goes 'woo-woo, woo-woo' and you're worried that having it say 'By your command' is typing it?"

"And aren't you the one that calls it 'Cy', Gina?" Dwayne chimed in. "Might as well call a spade a spade, right?"

Jenny jumped in to lodge another of her favorite complaints. "I wish we could add more soundproofing to the head assembly."

Lenny shook his head. "It's a tight enough fit for the sensor suite as it is."

"Why do you need it, anyway?" Dwayne said.

"Well," Jenny said, "it's not exactly stealthy to have it walking around and going 'woo-woo' where everybody can hear it."

Gina shrugged and said, "Like Lenny says, it's a ten-foot-tall robot with a light for an eye that weighs three-quarters of a ton and will have Squad-Automatic-Weapons and grenade launchers as its principal armaments. I'm pretty sure stealth isn't going to be an issue."

"Tell that to the first one that gets taken out by a terrorist with an RPG." Jenny checked her monitor. "Okay, get him walking again."

Gina turned to Cy. "Left face, walk forward ten paces, left face, walk forward another five paces, then stop."

"By-your-command," Cy said as he turned and resumed walking.

Gina frowned. "Non-verbal responses until otherwise directed."

Cy raised his left hand to his electronic ear and tapped it twice, the hand signal for "Message received."


"And she really hasn't told you anything about what she's building?" Michelle asked.

"Gina, give away state secrets?" Valerie said. "Even to me? Heavens No! Then I might sell them to the Chinese or something."

"You mean she hasn't even told you during pillow talk?" Amelie said, getting back to priorities.

"Yeah, right...you see, how that works is we have to have enough time when she's home to actually talk in bed, as opposed to our activities of late which include her treating me like she's fucking a cat with a pencil and me listening to her buzzsaw-snore the rest of the night." That made the others giggle, to which Val replied: "Yeah...It's only funny till it happens to you."

"Well, I don't see what the big mystery is," Stephanie said. "It's obvious what she's doing."

"Oh please, enlighten us, Holmes," Val said. "What's she building?"

"Well, she's a robot expert working for an airplane company. Obviously, she's helping them build one of those UAV things that they use to shoot missiles at terrorists in the Middle East."

Val grinned. "Perfectly valid theory, oh wise one. Just a couple of flaws, starting with Gina knows everything about building robots but almost nothing about building airplanes so she wouldn't be lead engineer on a project to build anything with wings. Also, those robot planes that shoot terrorists are made by one of Searing's competitors. Searing's planes still require human pilots."

"Okay, but if what you say is true, why is an airplane company building a robot at all?"

Val shrugged. "I figure it's going to be used to look for bombs in airports or it's going to Mars."

"Well, obviously you've thought about it," Michelle said.

"Sure, but all the guessing in the world doesn't actually tell me what it is."

"Does it matter?" Amelie said. "I mean, would knowing what she's building do anything to help your relationship?

"It might. She's had this job almost as long as we've been together and every year she's able to tell me less and less about it. I miss hearing her come home to me and gush about 'what happened at work today.' Now I don't even know if she's actually working or just hiding a torrid affair with her research assistant."

"Well if it's the affair," Stephanie said, "get details."

"And pictures if necessary," Amelie said, seriously.

Val glared at them both. "Evil, evil women..." She scolded, making them laugh.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Michelle said, trying to be comforting. "You just have to tell yourself that whatever it is she's building, its ultimate purpose is to help people."


"Cy" shouldered the Squad Automatic Weapon and raised the barrel as he sighted in on the first target. When he was in position his red eye froze and locked on.

"Fire!" Gina called out.

The drum hopper inserted into the weapon was loaded with blanks and there was MILES training gear installed on the front of the barrel. When the robot pulled the trigger three rapid bangs echoed through the lab as the training gear fired three laser beams at a target sensor.

"Cease Fire! Stand Down!" Gina called out. The robot lowered the weapon and brought it in close to his body while angling the barrel toward the ground, just the way a soldier on the battlefield would stand at rest. When she saw that, Gina looked up at Dwayne.

"Two hits," he said. "Our adjustment was off. Give us a minute."

"Sure," Gina said. "Got all day."

"It'll only take a minute," Dwayne said with a chuckle. He was working with Jenny's team on the targeting software.

Gina paced as her people worked. Every now and then she glanced at Cy and wondered if anything went through his mind at times like this, where he stood stoically waiting for the next command.

"I think..." Jenny said, "...okay. We got it!"

Gina stopped pacing and turned to Cy. She called out, "Ready!" Cy hitched the stock up to his shoulder. "Aim!" Cy brought up the weapon. "Fire!" One more three-shot burst hit the target dead center.

"Hah! Nailed it!" Jenny said, highly pleased with herself.

Gina was satisfied but not impressed. "Good enough." She checked her watch. "Okay, people, let's get Cy up-armored and ready to walk out!"


Valerie's brunch lasted another hour or so, then broke up as the women went to run different errands. Valerie visited a small fashion boutique and a bakery before loading her purchases in the car and heading home.

She took a moment to admire their home as she pulled into the driveway. It was a modest two-bedroom, one bathroom dwelling on a quiet suburban street. It wasn't a mansion by any means, but she and Gina had spent their early years there fixing it up to look quaint and homey, a place to spend the rest of their lives together, and so far that's what they'd done. It had seemed like such a gift when they first bought it, Valerie tried not to think about the fact that Gina's signing bonus with Searing had paid for it. It's not fair to have to give up a life with my lover in exchange for a nice little house,Val thought.

She parked the car in the garage and entered the house through the door inside. This led to the kitchen, where she left the pastries she'd bought on the island before moving on through to the living room, where she paused to take in the sight of the least quaint thing in the house, Gina's 50-inch, high-definition, flat-screen Video Entertainment Center (calling it a mere "TV", Val had learned, was offensive to God and Man), bought for the sole purpose of spending her Sundays watching large, sweaty men slam into each other for control of a moderate-sized "pigskin." Valerie had once joked that Gina should just be honest with herself and start renting Gay porn DVDs, just to cut out the subtext.

Gina didn't speak to her for three days. All she could muster were exasperated grunts.

Valerie chuckled at the memory, then headed for the staircase and went upstairs. On the way to the master bedroom she paused to peek into the smaller room, which had been converted into Gina's home office. Valerie always took a moment to peek in because she was forbidden - "On pain of DEATH!" - from entering the room when Gina was working. It seemed a lot of fuss over a room with only a little desk and loveseat, a five-year-old laptop and a company-issued spare cellphone to boast its status as an office. Val always assumed the restriction had to do with the secrecy of Gina's work, but she couldn't help but be curious.

Maybe all Gina really did was watch Gay porn vids on the Internet without telling anybody.

Valerie gave up peeking and continued on to the bedroom they shared. She hung up her new clothes and stripped out of her Sunday suit until she was down to the lacy Victoria's Secret bra and panties she'd worn underneath. (They were also canary yellow, as Gina would have seen if she'd been willing to stay home.) Then Val pulled on a bathrobe and went back downstairs to begin another exciting day of waiting for Gina to call for a ride. She used to able to fill such days with activity, but lately she'd taken to sitting on the couch in front of the ridiculously expensive television and watching TV until she zonked out. Today she flopped down on the couch and lifted the remote to begin with a bracing round of channel-surfing. At one point she paused on the CBS affiliate and saw that it was showing the Seahawks game. She watched for a few minutes, as she often did, to try and figure out what Gina saw in the sport, then turned to the Oxygen network in the hope of catching a Xena mini-marathon. She was in luck. She had a special affinity for Xena, as did Gina, though the blonde would never admit it was anything more than a typical lesbian crush on a strong female character. Maybe, but Val could never shake the feeling of familiarity she experienced whenever she saw Lucy Lawless's face.

After watching the Warrior Princess beat up Najara and save Gabrielle, Valerie checked her watch and frowned. She hadn't heard from Gina since they parted ways this morning. She hesitated for a moment, because it would violate another "Gina-rule," but she decided the worst Gina could do would be to break up with her. With that cheery thought in mind, she went into the kitchen and picked up the house phone.


Gina's gaze was unwavering as the armor team completed up-armoring Cy. She'd watched from start to finish and the result made the robot look like a giant Marine in battle-dress-utilities and body armor. Only the grill face and Little Red Eye ruined the effect, but Gina didn't care. He didn't need to look like G. to do his job.

"Doctor Sexton!" A technician called down from the catwalk. "We got final confirmation from Tracking. The Chinese satellite will complete its pass and be over the horizon in ten minutes. That means we'll have a forty-six minute window for the test."

"All right," she called back. "Let the set-up team know I want them ready and waiting to go in five minutes and let's..." She was interrupted by the sound of the theme song to Home Improvementcoming from her pants pocket. She turned away from the technician, cursed under her breath and answered her cell phone. "Darling," she said in a mock patient tone, "We've had the conversation about you calling me at work when I'm busy..."


Valerie, pacing in their kitchen, replied, "I remember, and part of that conversation was that since you don't want me calling you, you're supposed to call me periodically so that I know you haven't been...killed in a nuclear accident or something!"

"I...am...miles away from the nearest nuclear facility, Val," Gina growled through her teeth. (Valerie could tell even over the phone.) "Why would you think that?"

"Well how would I know what kind of secret technology you've got in that evil science lab of yours? Anyway, the point is you're supposed to let me know you're okay!"

"Of course I'm okay! I'm standing here talking to you when I should be working, so don't call me again! I will call you when I'm ready to come home!"

"But..." Valerie started, but she heard the fake click of Gina's cell closing the connection. She stared at the receiver in disbelief for a few seconds, then muttered, "And then she hung up on me, and left me standing there like a fool and feeling like she kicked me in the gut." She hung up the receiver, picked it back up and dialed another number, muttering, "And that's why I stabbed her in the chest twenty times when we got home, officer..."


Gina tucked the phone back in her pocket and looked back up at the technician. "Let Yates know we're in countdown. Tell him if he wants to see the action live he better hustle down here."

"On it, boss!"

Suddenly Brittany was standing behind her with a mug of coffee. Gina seized it and downed about half of it. "Everything okay at home?" Brittany asked, still with that smile.

"Val's just restless," Gina said when she lowered the mug. "Can't say I blame her. What's up?"

The assistant was also holding a clipboard full of documents which she held up for Gina to see. "Signature time. A couple of these have to be sent out today."

"Oh." Gina found a pen in one of her pockets and took it out while Brittany held the clipboard so she could sign. The assistant told her about each document as she signed it.

"First are the Miscellaneous Expense reports. That one's the Written Progress Report to the Board. Those are the leave authorizations you wanted to handle all at once. This is the memo to the Modeling and Molds section. And last is the Department Employee of the Month Nomination form."

Gina looked up at that. "Who'd I nominate?"

Brittany grinned. "Me, of course!"

Gina grinned back. "Of course," she said before signing the paper. Then she powered down the rest of the coffee and handed the mug back to Brittany. With the paperwork done she turned her attention back to her creation.

Brittany lingered for a moment. "If I were Valerie I'd wait patiently for you..." she muttered.

That made Gina turn again, though she hadn't quite heard. "Did you want something else, Brittany?"

Brittany grinned wide and forced herself to absolutely not say the first thing that came to her. "No...I mean, I said I'll go take care of these." She turned and walked off in as dignified a manner as she could manage.

Gina just stared after for a few seconds, then shrugged and went back to work.


"Well, it sounds like she's being a real dick," Theresa Ochoa-Markowitz said over the phone, "which is oh-so ironic..."

Valerie rolled her eyes. "Yes, Big Sister, I do remember that you find my being a lesbian endlessly amusing, but now could you help me with my problem?"

"Oh, no, Val. This isn't anything I can help you with. Gina thinks her job is more important than you. It's up to you to make her think otherwise."

"I don't know Terry...she may be right. Her job may be more important."

"Says who?"

"Says the Defense Department, The Pentagon, Searing Aerospace..."

"Oh, pish and tosh!"

"Both of them, huh?"

"Gina's work is probably no more important than the thousands of other secret projects the government wastes billions of taxpayer dollars on. It certainly couldn't be more important than spending time with the love of her life."

"You think so?"

"I know so. I'm sure right now Gina's not doing anything more Earth-shattering than teaching a giant roller-skate with a computer brain how to roll around on Mars."


Gina led Cy out of the main hangar doors while around them technicians rushed to set up cameras and a bulletproof observation bunker outside. She watched the preparations sparingly, always keeping an eye on her watch. They had a small window of time to run this exercise without observation from space. Miss it, and the next opportunity would be in a week.

"We're good to go!" A technician called out, then the bulk of them ran back into the hangar while Dwayne, Jenny and Lenny trotted out and hunkered down behind the bunker.

"I wish she wouldn't insist on observing the exercise first-hand," Lenny grumped. "This 'duck-blind' stuff is no good for my heart."

"Or my blood-pressure..." Jenny chimed in.

"What's with you two?" Dwayne asked. "We've observed live-fire drills before."

"Yeah," Lenny said, "but this is the first one where the targets get to shoot back, and I'd like not to be caught in the crossfire."

"Well, if Cy does his job it won't matter. You saying you don't trust him?"

"We're saying we don't want to be on the battlefield if we're wrong about trusting him," Jenny said.

Meanwhile, Gina faced Cy and briefed him. "This is a live-fire combat exercise. Your task is to defend this airfield from hostile forces until friendly forces arrive to relieve you. Your relief will arrive in Humvees from the North end of the field. The enemy will attack on foot and in improvised combat vehicles from multiple directions. Confirm command." Then she remembered. "You may speak."

"Defend-airfield-until-relief arrives. By-your-command."

Gina sighed and patted the machine's shoulder before trotting off to the makeshift bunker herself. "They got things set up in good time," she said to her colleagues.

"They're just eager to play with all the remote controlled stuff," Jenny smirked.

"Speaking of..." Gina switched on her headset and clicked the mike. "Guys, Cy's in place. Execute now."


Back in the lab, two of Jenny's technicians began working mouse and touchscreen controls, giggling boyishly at all the destruction they were about to unleash.


It started with two small, tracked robots mounting AK-47 automatic rifles and cardboard cutouts of insurgents. They sped onto the field from behind other hangars and tried to flank Cy. He wasn't fooled. He was, however, armed with his standard Squad Automatic Weapon, with the MILES gear removed and live rounds in its hopper. He brought the weapon to bear and turned the little robots' weapons mounts into metal shavings one at a time.

Of course that wasn't the end. Three more AK-armed rovers sprang from various hiding places and rolled toward Cy. A second later, an improvised combat vehicle, or "technical" darted out of a hiding place and roared down the flightline. Essentially an old Ford pickup with a Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun mounted on a swivel mount secured to the flatbed, the invaders' idea of heavy artillery was a priority target, so Cy crouched and evaded fire from the drones and got into position to use his weapon against the truck. A second later, 5.56 mm rounds streamed into the truck's grill, causing it to swerve just as the Browning tried to stream 7.62 mm rounds into the robot. Cy took some hits, but dodged the worst of it and turned his attention to the drones closing in on him. He dispatched them in short order. Before he could get back to his post the technical tried shooting at him again. This time he sprayed the weapon mount, disabling it.

He'd barely got back to a watchful stance before another technical was barreling toward him from the south end of the field. This one was mounting a "Dual 50" - two Browning M2s - and was flanked by two more AK armed drones. Cy dove to the ground before all the weapons opened fire and from the prone position used most of his remaining ammunition on the truck until it stopped moving and stopped firing. He then took out the drones with precise, aimed fire.

Part of Cy's armor package was a backpack mount with reloads and other useful supplies. Cy cleared the near-empty ammo drum from his SAW and reached behind him for a full one. By the time he was done reloading another vehicle appeared. It was a HMMWV, and it was approaching him from the North, just as Dr. Sexton had informed him.

Just then, another part of his memory reminded him of other things Dr. Sexton had told him, such as sometimes intelligence can be wrong, or used by the enemy as a way to get close, so Cy brought his weapon up anyway, and his Little Red Eye rocketed back and forth in his face as he examined the vehicle thoroughly. It had US Army markings, mounted the standard armor package, and the figures inside were wearing "Fritz" helmets and forest camouflage utilities. The passenger was sporting an older version of the M16 rifle.

Cy brought his weapon to bear and fired short bursts into the driver and passenger before disabling the vehicle with a long burst, then watched the wreck for any one who might have survived. After a few moments two more Humvees approached from the North. Cy brought up his weapon again and began scanning. As he did so his communications array picked up on a secure channel: "Sentry One, Greentwig Two, Authenticate: 553DeltaEcho72. Stand down and prepare for relief."

The codenames were in his updated files, as was the authentication number, and his scans of the vehicles turned up nothing amiss, so Cy felt confident that these were the people sent to take over for him. He acknowledged by saying: "Greentwig-Two, Sentry-One, Affirmative, Standing-Down." He lowered his weapon but continued to watch closely. Enemy countermeasures could be better than he expected.

The Humvees dodged the wreck of the one Cy destroyed and drove right up to him. Four men in US Army gear got out. The leader, a Staff Sergeant, walked up to Cy and said, "We're with Third Infantry. Our orders are to secure this airfield and allow you to fall back to HQ." To his credit, the veteran soldier didn't think about the fact that he was delivering this line to a huge robot with a face like the bad guys from an old sci-fi show.

Cy was unfazed. "I-stand-relieved-Staff-Sergeant," was his only response, after which he turned toward the observation bunkers and walked toward the one where Gina was hiding. She stood as he approached and met him halfway.

"One question," she said. "Why did you destroy the first Humvee? You didn't give the occupants a chance to identify themselves."

"One-of-the-occupants-was-carrying-a-weapon-type-that-has-been-discontinued-in-the-United-States-Military. It-was-possible-that-it-was-an-insurgent-with-access-to-older-weapons-who-had-commandeered-a-newer-vehicle."

Gina suddenly grinned, cheering herself for creating an automaton that could examine and think as well as aim and shoot. "Outstanding! Okay, exercise over." She keyed her headset mike. "Okay, let's get the cleanup crews out here and let's get the after-action report going." The cleanup crews used the same equipment available to clear crashed jets off of runways. By the time the next satellite orbited over the site, there'd be nothing to see but an empty airfield.

Gina walked back into the lab with Cy and found Daryl Yates, the Program Manager, waiting for her. Yates was a pugnacious, salt-and-pepper haired man whose Brooklyn-cabbie demeanor belied his engineering expertise. When he spotted Gina he offered a half-smile and a half-hearted smattering of applause. "Very nice," he said, "very nice. Looks like you've almost got a winner on your hands."

"Almost?" Gina said. "Come on, Daryl! That was a pitch-perfect defense of a fixed point!"

"I just wanna make sure that none of our clients end up like those two crash test dummies in the remote Humvee out there. He didn't even wait for authentication."

"He didn't have to. He saw what we wanted him to see and determined that the targets were suspicious and acted accordingly. That's what we want. This project is for naught if it doesn't produce a combat system that can make decisions for itself in the field."

"And if it decides to off a guy just because a supply goof means he's carrying the wrong weapon into the field...?"

"We can have it interrogate every single target by radio and wait for confirmation but that takes time even Cy's CPU might not have in the midst of a combat situation. The system works, okay? Yes, there are some glitches we have to deal with but target recognition isn't one of them."

"Okay, Gina, I trust you. Let's just get this done, ASAP. If the schedule slips one more time we're gonna end up in some Senate chamber listening to the Honorable Senator Jerkoff and the Right Honorable Senator Asswipe tell us how we should build a robot!"

Gina grinned. It was Daryl's favorite off-color warning. "On it, Boss. We're taking up the slack."

"Outstanding...now, tell me what you're doing about the sensor mount."

Gina's smile melted. "Well, here's the problem..."


With the Xena-thon over and nothing else interesting on TV, Valerie sighed and decided to dive into her and Gina's mutual DVD collection. She mulled over and discarded choices as she skimmed over the titles. Not that one, no, watched that yesterday... She paused when she came to a silver box and pulled it out of the rack. Galactica? She mulled it over as she stared at the shiny Cylon face on the front of the Battlestar Galactica complete-series box set. Ultimately she shrugged and put it aside. Maybe later. Back to the rack. No...no...ohhhh...

Another box set, this time the season six set of Desperate Housewives. She grinned as she pulled it out. Perfect. She went back over to the big TV and giggled as she pulled out the proper DVDs and slid one into the machine. Then she trotted back to the couch and settled in to watch The Katherine/Robin saga from the beginning...


There's a penalty to powerchugging coffee all day. Gina reminded herself of it for the millionth time as she raced into the bathroom and slammed into a stall. She almost lost control before she got her pants down. She sighed in relief when she could finally sit down and do her business, then chuckled a little as she thought - also for the millionth time - I've gotta cut back on the coffee...

Halfway through her cellphone rang again. This time the tone was the theme from Hawaii 5-0, which meant it was Valerie calling from her cell. Gina sighed again and pulled it out to answer it. "Hey, sweetheart..."

"I'm sorry..." Valerie said, a breathless quality in her voice.

Gina found that odd. "You okay? You sound winded."

A chuckle. "I am. I've been watching TV..." Breathless and playful now.

"It must be something very entertaining..."

"Oh, it is. Desperate Housewives."

Gina suddenly perked up. "Katherine and Robin?"

"I want to show you something," Valerie said. A moment later a tone sounded on Gina's phone that announced an incoming image. Gina moved the phone where she could see the screen and called it up.

Her eyes went wide.

The fun part about having a smartphone is the large screen that shows everything in vivid color and detail. She'd viewed many a photo on this screen, from cold steel robotic equipment to beautiful natural landscapes. What she was looking at now could be considered a beautiful natural landscape...the kind referred to in Hollywood as a "crotch shot."

It was, of course, Valerie's crotch, barely covered by the gusset of a pair of frilly, canary yellow panties - crumpled, glistening wet canary yellow panties.

"I was watching," Valerie said, "and I was remembering when we went to the costume party dressed as them...you were a sexy "Robin"...I thought about when we snuck off together and did it in the bathroom, and then left early. Remember when we got home? We were all over each other. We went everywhere with all that touching. I loved it. I loved thinking about it sooo much I just had to touch myself. I went a little overboard." A giggle. "I think I squirted some..."

"Just might have..." Gina managed. She was having trouble concentrating.

In the sexiest voice she could manage, Valerie said, "Hurry up and finish your work, baby, then come home." The call ended with a soft click.

Gina just sat there for a moment, staring at the picture and thinking, Damn job! Damn contract! Damn everything that keeps me away from THAT! She bit her lip, remembering everything Valerie had talked about. Their roleplay as Katherine and Robin had been excruciatingly sexy, and Gina's memories of the event were crystal clear, as were all of her memories of sex with Valerie, all of them tributes to The First Time, when they'd first given in to their feelings. That was the first time she'd seen Valerie's pussy, the first time she'd touched it, kissed it, tasted it...a soft moan escaped her throat as her hand slid almost on its own across her thigh and toward her own sex...

A knock on the stall door broke the spell. "Boss?" Brittany called in. "Gonna be done soon?"

Gina rolled her eyes. "The other stalls are empty, Brittany..."

Brittany giggled. "No, not that! The pizzas just got here and the others wanted to know how long you'll be. We wanted to wait for you, but if you're going to be a while..."

"No, no...I'll be out in a minute. Let me just get cleaned up."

"Okay!"

Gina waited until she heard the outer door open and close, then sighed one more time and saved and closed the picture.

Minutes later she was freshened up and walking into the small conference room of the lab, where the major and minor engineers on the project were all sitting or standing around the conference table. They were all contemplating four pizza pies delivered from the commissary. They ranged in topping from extra cheese to The Works.

Gina grabbed a slice of the sausage and pepperoni and sat in the chair set aside for her, then she waited while everyone else got a slice. She spent the few moments contemplating the cheesy wedge in her hand, thought briefly about the triangle she could be eating now, then reluctantly got back to business. "Phil, let's talk about the scanning sub-routine for the optical sensor software..."


Valerie was standing naked somewhere. She wasn't at all sure where. It was a dark, smoky corridor. There were strip lights on the walls pulsing with an eerie red glow. She barely had a moment to get her bearings when the scene changed. Though still naked, now she was standing in a lush garden with roses and other red, red flowers.

Suddenly Gina was standing in front of her, wearing a tight red dress, red lipstick and shorter-than-normal hair in a Marilyn Monroe do. She was smiling cheerfully as she swept her hand like a model. Valerie's gaze followed the hand and took in the verdant scene. She smiled at the sight, but recoiled in horror as she felt a slashing pain across her shoulder. She turned back to Gina, only to find her laughing maniacally as she held up a knife dripping with Valerie's blood...

Valerie woke with a start in her own bed in her own bedroom. The weird hall and the garden were gone, and there was no Gina, but the voice of Billy Joel singing She's Always A Woman To Me indicated she'd be seeing her love soon. The final verse was her ringtone for Gina's cell.

She grabbed her cell just after the line "But she'll bring out the best and the worst you can be..." and quickly checked the time before answering. Really, Gina? It was 11:43 PM. "Hello?" Valerie said sleepily.

"Are you still coming to pick me up?" It was Gina, sounding almost submissive. She must have had a hard day.

"Of course," Valerie said. "Just let me wake up and get dressed. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thank you," Gina said.

Valerie sat up on the side of the bed, then slapped herself a couple of times to wake up. Soon she was dressed in sweats, sneakers and a ponytail of her own. Thus prepared, she set out on the long drive back to the Ghost Works.

Traffic was agreeably light. There were actually times when it seemed like Valerie's was the only car on the road. Getting through the security gate wasn't anywhere near as much fun at this time of night. The guards on this shift rarely talked and never flirted. Val couldn't even appreciate the pink admittance sticker because it was too dark to make out the color.

She approached the Admin building. She could see Gina sitting on the curb in front, legs half splayed, chin-resting-on-hand, just looking for all the world like an exhausted supermodel. It made Valerie smile as she pulled the car up alongside.

Gina looked up tiredly as Valerie reached over and opened the passenger door. When they finally saw each other again they just stared for a few moments, then Gina said, "Still girlfriends?"

Valerie shrugged. "Got no choice. All the other Lanky Blond Lesbians are taken. I checked."

Gina smiled, then half-rose before climbing into the passenger seat. It took effort for her to settle in and fasten her seatbelt. Valerie didn't say anything. She knew a stressful intellectual job could be just as tiring as a physical one. Gina could barely stay awake during the exit security check. She was snoring by the time they were on the highway.

At home Valerie had to fight Gina just to get her out of the car. "Leave me here!" Gina whined. "I have to take the car tomorrow anyway! It's just easier!"

"Tomorrow is in a few hours," Valerie said, "and you'll feel better if you spend them in a bed. Come on!"

Valerie finally dragged Gina to her feet and into the house. She managed to stay mostly upright until they got into the bedroom, then Valerie had to rush to get her to the bed. She almost fell all the way, but Val held her in a sitting position. "We have to get these clothes off."

"Okay...but I'm gonna have performance issues..." Gina said.

Valerie chuckled. "So you can sleep. We'll deal with your performance later." The vest and blouse came off easily enough. Taking off Gina's bra reminded Valerie of a night at a frat party they'd both attended. She had to push Gina back so she could tug off the shoes and slacks, then almost couldn't get Gina to sit back up so she could slip on the Seahawks jersey.

"Your turn..." Gina suddenly announced. She reached out and tugged down Valerie's sweatpants. She looked horrified at what she saw. "You're not wearing them!"

"Wearing what?"

"Those beautiful yellow panties..." In their place were skintight but less sexy boyleg Hanes-Her-Ways.

Valerie giggled and blushed. "Gina! I wrecked those! They're soaking." With that, Val loosened Gina's hair and laid her down properly. "Go to sleep," she said while she tucked Gina in.

"Okay..." Gina's voice had a dreamy quality to it. She'd be out of it again soon.

Valerie stepped out of her sneakers and sweatpants and went over to her side of the bed, then she stripped off her sweatshirt and loosened her own hair. She climbed in wearing nothing but the Hanes underwear. She sat up for a little while just so she could watch Gina sleep. After a while she drew her knees to her chest and sighed, a wave of sadness hitting her.

I don't know what we're going to do, she thought, then she whispered, "You mean everything in the world to me."

She was surprised when Gina sleep-whispered back: "All this has happened before...and all this will happen again..."

Valerie shook her head. "No, I don't think we've ever been this distant." A smirk. "Or were you thinking of something else?"

No answer this time. Gina was snoring again.

TBC...