Golden dreams

Brianna Executor woke to oddness.

She was lying on grass instead of the bed she remembered going to sleep on. She stared up into a beautiful blue sky and tried to fathom what was going on. A voice came to her ears. And not just her ears! Every sense that she possessed said the same. Orokin!

"Just roll with it, my dear. Do you like the sky? After so long in a containment tank, I find I do." Brianna tried to roll to her feet as she had been taught, but her body wasn't moving. Or, it was, just very slowly. A golden hand came into her field of view and pressed her to the ground with gentle, but irresistible force. "No. If you try to fight, you will hurt yourself. I won't let you hurt yourself further."

"I… What?" Brianna croaked as heavenly feelings swept through her. Familiar feelings! She tried to fight, to flee, to do anything and she could do nothing but lie there.

"It is all right." The other said as Brianna felt pains that she hadn't even realized had been hurting vanish as if they had never been. "This is in your mind. You are still asleep in your Tower. You are safe." She reassured Brianna but Brianna could see the hand that held her down. Its fingers were longer than any human fingers and the skin was gold! "No!" The other begged as Brianna finally managed to gather power. "Don't!"

Pain scoured through Brianna as the power she had called recoiled out of her control. She felt her self fraying and then suddenly, she was gripped in golden arms. Gentle golden arms.

"No." The other said with a growl of annoyance. "I refuse to let you pay for my crimes!"

Brianna could do nothing but cry as the golden energy she had summoned swaddled her. There really wasn't any other word for how it wrapped around her, so carefully and comfortably. How it eased every single iota of her being.

"It is all right." The other reassured her with tears in her voice. "It is all right. I won't hurt you." The arms laid Brianna back on the ground and now? Something warm was lying beside her. A soft touch on her hair was soothing, calming as the pain slowly faded. "I know you are asking yourself who I am. My name is Kaitlin Executor. You probably don't know the name."

"Exec- no!" Brianna tried to fight, tried to flee. She couldn't do anything! She was struggling and then golden power flashed again and she was tired. So, very tired.

"It is all right." The other reassured her. "I too know Lorinos' evil. You burned the labs, destroyed all the databases. Good girl."

"Had to..." Brianna swallowed hard. "I..."

"I know." Kaitlin gave her a squeeze. "You did the right thing. It hurt you to kill the beings in those tubes, but none of them had minds, my dear. You freed them from Lorinos' bondage. From horrific pain filled existence. Well done!"

"They screamed..." Brianna was sobbing as the other held her. "I couldn't do anything but burn them."

"I know." Kaitlin reassured her as Brianna felt another squeeze. "It is not your fault. It is not my fault or even Micah's fault. It is all on Lorinos. He did this. Not you."

"What?" Brianna managed through the comfort the other was sending. It was physical, mental and so many other ways that had no real counterparts in humans. "What are you doing?"

"You are not human, Brianna Executor." The other said quietly. "You need to recover. There is only one way to do that. I will pay for this. For this violation of your self, but it is the only way to save your life as far as you are gone."

"Wait… What? No!" Brianna begged as power flared around her and she was suddenly in the air. The hand was still on her brow. "Don't!"

"You need this and after so long in that damn tank with only him to sate his needs on me? So do I." Kaitlin said sadly. "Relax. Let me do the driving."

All Brianna could do was scream and then all she could do was moan as pleasure flew through her. Familiar, horrific pleasure that would not be denied. She barely felt hands on her and her own hands moving without her conscious control in ways she had not done in a long, long time. Not since she had worked and been a plaything for a madman.

Orokin had always loved their pleasures and had always enjoyed spreading them with their slaves. Slaves had no choice but to obey after all.

And no matter what such raw power often did to lower caste minds.

Quite a while later

Brianna woke fully and completely this time.

She was in her tower and everything she could access said this was reality. She was calm. She felt whole. She was not alone in her bed. But the other golden skinned being was sitting on the far side of it, her head in her hands. The other golden female was crying. She seemed solid but not entirely. Sort of halfway there?

"Kaitlin?" Brianna asked very softly. The other Orokin spun, her tear streaked face a mix of shock, awe, fear and sorrow. Kaitlin stared at Brianna, her face creasing to pure sadness.

"You are awake. I am sorry." Kaitlin said weakly. "I have no excuse."

"Since when have high caste Orokin needed an excuse to do anything?" Brianna asked. Her tone could have been angry. It could have been accusatory. It could have been sad. It could have been all kinds of things, but it wasn't. She was calm. Nothing hurt now and she was calmer than she had been in weeks.

"Since we both were abused by Lorinos." Kaitlin started to rise, but Brianna slid close and grabbed her hand. It was solid enough to grab and Kaitlin did not resist. "Brianna, please. Let go. I cannot stay."

"You were gentle." Brianna mused as Kaitlin stared at the floor. "I didn't know that could be gentle."

In her experiences of such during her time with Lorinos, it had been anything but gentle.

"Most just wanted it fast. Lorinos always wanted it fast. Speed, speed and more speed. That is all he ever wanted." Kaitlin sighed deeply and shook her head, laying her hand on Brianna's. "Instant gratification and then go on to do whatever the hell they wanted. Who cared how much doing it that way hurt people. How much Lorinos hurt you." She was crying hard now as Brianna stared at her. "I didn't know until we shared our rythyms! I didn't know that he hurt you as badly or worse than he hurt me! Damn it! Why didn't you destroy him? He will come back! You know he will!"

"I don't think the Empress will let him." Brianna said very softly.

"When he tells her what he did here..." Kaitlin started, but broke off as Brianna laid a finger across her lips.

"I told her." Brianna said very softly and Kaitlin stilled. "And you know what? You haven't seen angry until you have seen an angry Empress. I think she knew or at least suspected. She was very angry and I will need to report this." Kaitlin paled and Brianna pulled her into an embrace. "All of it. Thank you. I feel whole for the first time in a long time. Since I woke here after he changed me."

"That heretical piece of filth earned every ounce of pain." Kaitlin said with a growl and she laid her own arms around Brianna. Both were crying. "What he did to me, to you… What he did to so many humans in trying to make slaves… I..."

Both of them went still as the golden light in the room dimmed for a moment and when it came back up, two golden holograms stood near the door. One was young and wore a golden gown that she seemed uncomfortable in. The blue energy computer code that surrounded her fingers showed just how upset Jesse was. That paled beside the other golden gowned being. The other was older, harder and her head bore a crown that was softly glowing gold. Kaitlin gasped and would have abased herself, but Brianna held her tight.

"Empress, Princess? May I present Kaitlin Executor?" Brianna said quietly. "She says that she was what escaped the containment tank Mary found."

"And you believe her." Eliza, the Empress of Orokin, said softly.

"I am not sure what to believe, honestly." Brianna said with a sigh. "We all know how he spun his lies."

"Tell me she is not is not listening to him! He will spin a story! It is what he does!" Kaitlin begged Brianna who hugged her gently but it was the Empress who answered.

"He tried." Eliza smiled just as grimly. "Brianna Executor took offense and tore his voice out. I left his voice box as it was. No one healed that before I dropped him into a stasis pocket that is slightly out of phase with our time. If he can escape the torments I left in it? He is welcome to. Then he fries trying to get away from the Sun. Said pocket is ten meters from its surface." Kaitlin stared at her and then at Brianna who nodded.

"We may need him someday. The Empress said that I would… I would need his touch. His energy. But even as bad as it got, I couldn't bear the thought of him touching me again. Doing that to me again." She trailed off, unable to continue and Kaitlin slowly shook her head. Brianna slumped. "I didn't know it could be gentle."

"You… You were watching?" Kaitlin's face flamed, but Brianna hugged her.

"Of course they are watching, Kaitlin." Brianna chided the other gently. "You know what Lorinos was like. I demanded full time surveillance. I cannot trust myself after he remade me like this. You know better than most just how evil he was."

"I was too." Kaitlin said very softly and Brianna stilled. The Empress and Princess just looked at her and Kaitlin met their gazes. "I am betting you have records. That you know who I am." The Empress nodded. "What I did-" She broke off as the Empress raised a hand.

"What you did saved Brianna Executor's life." The Empress said softly. Kaitlin stared from her to Brianna. "We know how many are listed as to have died in your experiments. We know why you did that and those in this room are the only ones who know that you are the only one who can make the proper formula."

"Then you must destroy me." Kaitlin said just as softly. Brianna stilled but Kaitlin continued. "This information must not get out. I realized too late that Lorinos was not there to safeguard it, but to use it." Her face turned to Brianna turned desolate. "On you."

"Stop!" Eliza commanded when Brianna opened her mouth. Brianna shut it with a click and Eliza nodded. "You knew this and far more, Brianna Executor. You asked to forget. We can make you forget, Kaitlin Executor. We can give you a life, if not an easy one, then a life without that burden."

"Really?" Kaitlin pleaded. "You would… I mean… Who wouldn't want that?"

"Anyone sane!" Brianna snarled as she hugged Kaitlin again. "There are limits for a reason. There are rules for a reason. Next time, please ask before you take liberties with my mind or person, but this was an emergency, so I will accept it. This time." She smiled at Kaitlin, but it held dreadful promise. "Don't make me regret this."

"I want to say you won't, but I don't know. He was sneaky as hell! I… Empress, we are both of equal rank. My genetics are saying I have to assert authority and I don't want to!" Kaitlin begged. "After so long in that damn tank with nothing to do but think… I realized that what I did was evil. Maybe the first few were volunteers, but I stopped asking and..." She slumped. "I killed so many chasing a nightmare. Now that I am corporeal again, my genetics are saying to take control and I don't want to!"

"Do you have to?" Eliza inquired. "There is ancient precedent."

"There is?" Kaitlin asked and then gasped. "No! She barely knows me! I just… I just took liberties with her as she said! I cannot do that! She won't accept it!"

"Want to clue me in?" Brianna asked. The look that Kaitlin shared with her was equal parts fear and shame. "Um..."

"There is one way that Orokin shared power. Once, long ago." Kaitlin's tone was odd. She was clearly unhappy, but at the same time, curious? "Long before the Council and all of us went totally crazy with power. Before it became the be-all and end-all of our beings. We were much like humans, but not. We had the same feelings. The same desires. The same wants and needs. That changed over a very long time. Just the thought of sharing power was unthinkable for someone like Lorinos, hence why he was kicked off the Council for abusing his powers."

"And?" Brianna all but demanded as Kaitlin slid to the floor, her odd gray garment shimmering silver in the blue light of Jesse's code.

"And, when our kind emerged, decades after Orokin was founded, we found ways to co-exist. To appear human." Kaitlin looked at the Empress and shook her head. "She won't accept it and I don't blame her. There is another way."

"No!" Eliza shouted as Kaitlin knelt in front of Brianna and bowed her head. "Don't! You don't..."

[Brianna Executor, I offer myself and my service to-] Kaitlin began in Old Orokin, but broke off as Brianna screamed. Kaitlin stared as odd blue energy suddenly surrounded Brianna who fought it, but her golden power seemed to have no effect. "What? No!" Kaitlin tried to rise, but was stuck in place. She stared at herself and she was surrounded by blue energy code.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Jesse shouted as blue code swept the room, it hit the blue energy around Brianna and was rebuffed.

"The Void knows its own." A cold, smug male voice sounded and then Brianna's last wailing scream cut off as the energy surrounding her vanished and she did as well.

"Oh my god." Kaitlin begged as all three of the female forms stared at where Brianna had been. "What have I done?"

"It wasn't you." Jesse's tone was fierce as the door flew open and several forms rushed in, most with weapons in hand that they aimed at Kaitlin. "It wasn't her!" Jesse snapped and everyone flinched as her code flared. "It was Nef Anyo."

"How could he have…?" Kaitlin trailed off as horrific knowledge dawned. "Lorinos wasn't working alone, was he?"

"No, he wasn't." Eliza's hologram took a step to stand in front of Kaitlin who started to heave in grief. "Kaitlin Executor, this was not your fault. This had to have been planned for. She might not have accepted my idea. It would have shocked her, no doubt. I don't know. Maybe she would have been disgusted. Maybe not."

"And now I have killed her?" Kaitlin demanded.

"Anyo won't kill her." Jesse's tone was so cold that more than one person in the room winced. "But she will pray for it."

Kaitlin broke down and sobbed.

Venus Orbit

Brianna slammed into a metal deck and was suddenly surrounded by energy. It wasn't Orokin energy. The deck was colors that she had prayed she would never see again. She had seen them on Corpus troops sent to Europa to investigate odd energy readings there. Troops that Daniel had taken prisoner and had Brianna 'adjust' to serve him. A task she had promised never to gain. The few survivors of the troops had asked to go back to their service once freed from Daniel's enslavement and now? Brianna understood why.

"Well, well, well..." A voice she did not know spoke up form nearby, but Brianna did not look up. She heard boots on cold metal as well as many metal feet striking the same metal, but again, she did not look up. "The Void promised a miracle and here it is."

"Your Void is more than likely praying for death right now, Nef Anyo." Brianna kept her voice calm through sheer force of will. If she had still been hurt? She likely would have fallen apart at any of this and been doomed. She blessed Kaitlin's intervention. Awake and aware? She had a chance, if not a large one."He was as much of a fake as you are."

"You will take us to the tower. You will serve the Void as promised." Anyo didn't seem to hear her.

"No." Brianna replied evenly. Boots were surrounding her now and she smiled grimly. Her senses were still heightened and she could almost taste the fear in the Corpus troops as she slowly rolled to sit in the energy prison. She folded her legs, raised her hand and laid her chin fist. A somewhat different take on a very old human sculpture called 'The Thinker'. "I will not."

"You will take us to the tower before it destabilizes." Nef Anyo said as if talking to a somewhat dense child. "You do not wish to lose your home and we wish to restore order to this system in the name of Profit. That tower will make a good base to start over from."

"It won't." Brianna smiled as she looked and Anyo was a hologram behind the wall of troops and proxies. "And for the record? Your 'Friendly Neighborhood Void' took me there against my will. I do not know how to get back. I specifically asked to forget the coordinates for just such an occurrence." She smiled at the sudden blank look on his face. "And if you try? There were all kinds of people who wanted to hurt you. Now? There are more." Her smile now might have frightened a Lanx. "I will not help you."

"You do not understand, Void Angel Brianna." Brianna did not react at Anyo's knowledge of her name. "We are here to help you, not the other way around."

"Really?" Brianna managed to put several lifetimes worth of derision into that one word.

"Yes." Anyo actually looked relived as Brianna scoffed at him. "It is as he said. They hurt you. We can and must help you. The Void knows its own and you are the Void."

"As of any of you fools have any idea what you are doing." Brianna replied but then golden power flared around her and it was dragging her down into…

All she could do was scream as she was thrown into darkness that was tinged with gold.

A familiar darkness.

Hers.

Titan

Janet flinched, her massive aquatic bulk reacting to the scream that tore across the solar system. Few would hear it. Fewer still would understand what it meant. Those few would all be terrified.

Idiot! The preeminent Oracle of Saturn snapped in her mind. Of all the stupid… Oh crap! Everyone! Plan Six! Merge! Now!

All of the Oracles bent with their leader towards a single goal. A single mind. One they had to buffer from what was about to happen or everything was lost.

Kaitlin Executor… Hear us! Know what you have to do!