Zod stood once again at the bridge of his warship, looking out of the large one-way window at the far end. It was made of crystal, durable and capable of filtering out most radiation. A distant star came into view. Zod's face retained its composure, but a deep sadness welled up within him at the sight of the star's red light.
[The systems, Kelor?] asked Zod after a moment.
[Standard propulsion and communication systems are online, but not at full capacity,] said a disembodied voice. [We are at less than half power, and have only basic weaponry available. Cloaking capabilities are down as well.]
Zod gave an absentminded nod. All in all, it was better than expected. He counted his blessings. The other prisoners had kept their ends of the deals without any real hassle. No roadblocks on that front.
[What is our approximate distance from Earth?] asked Zod, walking down the corridor leading to the healing chamber. He considered himself fortunate that he was able to get his A.I. back online despite the rest of his ship running on basic capabilities.
[Nine and a half light-years, General.]
It was oddly comforting to hear the digitized voice of the robotic assistant. Kelor had been a gift from Jor-El, the last before they'd fallen out and Zod had formed the Black Zero as resistance against the Council. He and Jor used to agree on almost everything, and had on this to an extent. Even though they'd differed on method, they both knew there needed to be change where the Council was concerned. In a way, Zod admired Jor for his belief that reason would hold out. But he'd known better. The Council was past reason, and would only see force.
Not that it mattered much anyway. Krypton would have been destroyed regardless.
Zod strode into the healing chamber. Faora was sitting on the floor in the middle of a mess of tools, swiping through a hand-held command console with a hard look on her face. Eight rejuvenation capsules stood along the walls in an inverted "U" shape, each disconnected from the piping coming through the ceiling. Large tables made of metal and crystal filled the empty space in the middle of the room. Off to the side closer to Faora were eight small mechanical spheres. She looked over at the general as he came in and greeted him with a curt nod before standing up and giving him an update.
[It is almost finished. The healing apparatuses have been repurposed as you commanded. All they need now is genetic material to serve as a template for transformation.]
[Thank you, Faora,] said Zod. She nodded. A silence fell between them while Zod pondered his next words. Faora began to clean up. [I am pleased that it is you who is by my side.]
Faora stopped and looked back at him, wary. Her fingers twitched.
[It is an honor, my General,] she replied slowly, clearly guarded amid the uncharacteristically blatant declaration of emotion. She could not read him; his face held no expression. He still held the stoicism for which he had always been so well known.
[Do you know why I chose you as my lieutenant, long before the days of the Black Zero?] asked Zod softly, tilting his head a bit and clasping his hands behind his back with a wide stance.
[For my astuteness in both combat and medical technology?] Faora guessed. The corner of Zod's mouth twitched upward.
[In part, yes. But more specifically for your conviction and your sense of loyalty. To Krypton, and to me.]
[The Council failed me. You and Krypton did not.]
[Nor have you once failed me,] said Zod. His hands unclasped and came to hang at his sides. [Even when I have asked too much of you.]
[You have never asked too much. I trust your judgment and as long as I do, nothing you require will be out of the question.] Faora put the rest of her tools on the closest table.
Zod looked her over with a cool expression. [That implies the possibility of your defection. A dangerous sentiment to express to your commanding officer.]
[Would you have expected any less?] responded Faora with a hint of a smirk, walking back to face him a few feet away.
Zod beckoned her closer with his hand. She complied, staring at him with her eyebrows slightly raised. Faora was satisfied to see the glint in his eyes when she walked over. Now they were inches from each other.
[Not from a rebel.]
Finally moving to satisfy his silent longing, Zod kissed her. Faora gripped him fervently, meeting him with intense enthusiasm. He'd come to expect that despite the emotionless mask she tended to wear. Zod's relationship with Faora was as complicated as it was simple, but they knew their roles and did not try to change themselves or each other. They worked well on instinct and understood one another fundamentally.
Faora tugged him closer and in a few steps she was leaning against the table, bracing herself against her lover's advances. His suit was soft and almost glossy, a sharp contrast to the hard muscle underneath. She was grateful that Zod was not wearing any armor. It would have been that much harder to get him out of his clothing.
Zod lifted Faora to sit on the edge of the table and nestled himself between her legs. She wrapped them around his waist instinctively, locking her ankles at his back. A deep growl reverberated through his chest, making her hungrier for him the more she stripped him of control. Faora clawed at him and he moved his lips to her neck. She moaned joyously at the contact.
Soon there was nothing but air between them. Faora kissed her general hungrily, scratching at the muscles in his back and shoulders. He was as solid as she'd ever known him. The realization under her fingertips made her desperate. She needed further contact. She dragged her nails down the front of his body and stopped to take his hardness in her hand. The general hissed in response. Faora smiled.
Zod trailed kisses and bites down her jaw and neck, roughly kneading the soft skin of her breast. His fingertips teased her, catching the hardened tip of her nipple before pinching and rubbing. Faora rocked her hips with obvious force and impatience. She pumped him faster, grunting a few short breaths. Zod moaned against her neck, and a wanton laugh escaped Faora's lips.
In one smooth, abrupt move Zod lifted Faora's arms up and slipped them over his shoulders. Where she automatically locked them around his neck. The contact felt like everything they needed, everything they'd wished for but couldn't have in the Phantom Zone, and nothing could or would stop this moment.
Zod took hold of her waist and pulled, spreading her legs further and lining her up with himself perfectly. He slid his cock inside her, almost all the way to the hilt on the first thrust. A sharp gasp tore itself from her throat. Faora sank her teeth into the base of his neck and shivered violently as he continued to thrust at a steady, quick pace. She reveled in the ebb and flow, the wavelike sensations coursing through her body - the body she finally had. In the Phantom Zone, the form one took was a pale imitation of what it meant to exist. The dimensional plane deadened all sensory feeling, and even when able to walk freely about the ship she'd felt hollow.
But now, intimately knowing the difference, she felt more alive than she'd ever felt on Krypton. Clawing and gripping, molding into him, Faora crested on the evidence of life and freedom and moaned gleefully with the wild thought that this was what her body was made for.
Zod gripped the muscle of her thighs and continued to thrust fervently into her. The expressions weaving across his lieutenant's face served to push him further toward release. The intensity of her cries rose in a steady climb, every single part of her lost to sensation and pleasure. His lips and tongue explored every inch he could reach. A haze of lust and devotion consumed him as they moved together, deep thrusts in time with the rocking of her hips.
Faora stiffened suddenly, pulling him down toward her as she touched her head to his. Her eyes squeezed shut, ragged gasps pouring through her lips. Her fingers held him in a vice grip. She thrusted her hips harder against him.
"Lizrhom," she pleaded in a breathless whisper. More.
Zod dug his hands into and pulled her to meet him as he slammed his hips forward even harder. She arched forward into his chest and he held her there, feeling the shiver of her body just before detonation.
A sharp cry forced its way from Faora's chest, and the culmination of their desperate act flowed through her like a thunderstorm. The strength of her release pulled at the man she was with, and Zod's own orgasm followed quickly behind hers. They rode them out together, eventually coasting down to low tides.
Faora slumped backward on the table in contented exhaustion. She laughed softly, and surprised herself with the sound. Zod huffed and leaned forward, bracing his hands against the edge of the table. He looked down at Faora. Her eyes met his and he smirked automatically. She rolled her eyes and did the same.
A distant boom filled the air. Zod's expression changed immediately. He gritted his teeth at the interruption, but knew it could not go unchecked. He pulled back from Faora, and she instinctively moved with him to keep the closeness until she saw his face and regained her wits. She frowned.
They dressed quickly and strode back into the corridor. [Kelor, report,] Zod barked.
[There was a small explosion in the engine room. One generator down but the other two are still intact.]
Faora cursed under her breath and followed Zod at a brisk pace all the way down to the engine room. The two of them came upon the scene that Faora had expected, which was a physical altercation between Dev and Jax. Dev was on the ground lying flat with his forearms covering his face, taking the brunt of Jax's current assault. Jax was straddled over him, pinning him down.
Faora's face twisted in disgust and ire at having her moment with Zod interrupted. Her lover wore a much more passively stern look as he strode all the way up to the source of the commotion. As Kelor had said, one of the generators off to the side was dented and sparking, clearly no longer in working order. A large device and apparatus were connected to the generator next to it.
With one hand, Zod ripped Jax off of Dev by the shoulder and pinned him to the back wall without a glance back at the victim. Jax, preoccupied with violent intentions, struggled against Zod at first but then relented once noticing that it was his commanding officer restraining him. Jax opened his mouth but was immediately cut off by Zod with a hand around his throat.
[Do not speak,] said Zod in a low voice. He squeezed, and turned only his head to address Dev. [How long until the phantom drive is completed and operational ?]
Dev sat up, breathing raggedly and spitting blood from his mouth. [It is already done, General.]
[Well done.] Zod turned back to Jax. [Now you will listen. You knew what my orders were, and yet you did not comply. Had you behaved like a feckless imbecile any earlier, the phantom drive would not have been completed, thus hindering my plans. At the current moment, Dev-Em is more useful than you have shown yourself to be.]
Jax did not answer, merely staring. Faora examined the scene from a distance. Zod spoke again. [Perhaps we can rectify that. Kelor, assume android form and attend to Dev-Em in the infirmary. Faora, I believe we have our subject.]
The general whipped Jax around him by the throat and let him go, ordering him to march. Jax complied, clearly full of fear. Zod had not told him much of his plans, and really, why would he? He'd only kept Jax around as extra muscle that he could control, and now that he wasn't falling in line, Zod had no real long term use for him.
Once back in the healing chamber, Jax and Faora both stood away from Zod, awaiting instruction. Faora held a noncommittal expression while Jax's was a pale mask with darting eyes.
[How much do you need ?] asked Zod.
[Not much,] Faora answered lightly. [There are eight of them, however.]
[Indeed. Get started.]
Jax looked between them silently, like a child in trouble with a parent. Despite being unafraid to argue with Faora, Jax knew that if it ever came down to it he'd never be able to match her for skill in a fight. But that wasn't what had him shaking now. It was Zod, the man known on Krypton for being equal parts fair and merciless. His wrath was calm and swift, and nothing terrified his subordinates more than the thought of being on the receiving end of it. Being one of three Kryptonian survivors did nothing to quell that fear for Jax.
Faora did as commanded and Jax flinched when she first got close.
[If you struggle, I'll kill you right here,] said Zod. Jax relaxed immediately, almost limp.
Faora connected Jax to the eight spherical objects in the room by way of thin tubes and needles. She drained more blood than she needed, silently prolonging his discomfort and anxiety with a calm sense of satisfaction. Faora then set the drones to calibrate and record the genetic data.
Dev, now as patched up as he was going to be, accompanied Zod and Faora down to the holding cells as they escorted Jax back into the cell he'd occupied in the Phantom Zone. Now he was standing on the outside, the way Jax had been with him during the interrogation. A perverse pleasure came with knowing he replaced Jax; his obvious inner torment was an added bonus to Dev's plan, and it had been so easy. A few jabs to his ego and Jax became a violent mess who couldn't control himself.
Watching Jax reminded Dev of his own stint in the dungeons at the royal citadel. It was surreal, thinking of it now. Killing the royal family was more about revenge than it was about helping the common people, though he was sure it accomplished both. It was easy telling Faora during his interrogation. It was almost a boast, in a way. But what he hadn't told her was that they were his family too. There wasn't a reason to. Her knowing he was a prince who'd slaughtered his kin would've had the opposite effect than the one he desired. Daxam was never home, but Dev would have been foolish to regard Krypton as such also. The aim was to find a way to get somewhere else – somewhere he could not only survive, but thrive.
Krypton was the closest planet to Daxam and had not had legal contact with other planets, which was perfect for him. Looking similar to everyone else was invaluable and allowed him to blend (though he was a bit darker skinned than most but not so much so that he'd stand out considerably). But of course, since nothing was ever easy, Zod had staged a coup against the Council before Dev could set the final steps of his plan in motion. Not soon after he was discovered by the Council's military guild in a planet-wide interrogation to weed out foreigners and dissidents.
He'd pondered Faora's proposal of escape but ultimately knew he would not take it. Why escape in the middle of nowhere and roam the galaxies for a suitable place when he could accompany them to Earth and be powerful like them?
Zod strode up to the cell gate and addressed Jax, who was glaring daggers at Dev from the back of his cell. [Faora and Dev-Em have done exactly as I commanded. You, however, seem to have outlived your usefulness.]
Jax's eyes flickered between Faora and the general. Slowly, the implications of his superior's words dawned on him. His face twisted as he came forward to push against the bars of his cell.
[Please!] he rasped. [I have been at your side for many cycles. Loyal to you – to Krypton!]
[Of what value is loyalty when paired with disobedience?]
Jax huffed and moved to look over at Faora, who was standing idly behind Zod with a bored look on her face. [Faora! Tell him. You know I can still be useful to the mission. Faora?]
She didn't answer.
[Quiet,] Zod snapped. Jax recoiled from his grip on the gate despite being several feet away from the general. He looked between the three on the other side of the gate. Zod gave another order. [Kneel.]
The prisoner did as commanded. It reminded him of his first pledge of fealty cycles ago in a citadel in Rao City. But this time he stayed silent, frozen. Zod's apathetic gaze held him there for a long moment.
[I will not kill you today,] murmured Zod. [I am not without mercy.]
Jax collapsed forward, putting his head on the ground inches behind the bars of his cell. [Thank you, General! Thank you!]
[The mission may have use for you yet. But until then, you will remain here.]
A cascade of emotions flickered across Jax's face. It was obvious there was much he wanted to say, but for once he thought better of it. [I promise you, I will not fail you again.]
[You will not have the chance. Kelor, seal the gate.]
A thin slab of metal ejected from the wall to which the gate was attached, sliding across to cover the front of the gate completely. Zod strode off and the other two in the corridor fell in step behind him. Once back on the bridge, the general had Kelor set a course for their intended destination. Now with an operational phantom drive, their journey was nearly at an end.