Rent due at the end of the month. The looming, ever-present final exam. Executive boss meetings. Hundred-page labor progress reports. And a strict time limit for an orbital factory's refit.

…All things that held onto Harrison throughout his life—constant demons. They were the kind of events he couldn't just ignore; they were deadlines, some needing preparation and others needing his caffeine-addled brain to remember. But, the fact was that they were always there.

Honestly, they were kind of like those 'free' days when he had something in the afternoon but couldn't quite do anything in the morning because he had that event later. It was… stupid, and he was more mature than that, but subconscious stress was exactly what he was talking about. It was impossible to truly escape.

Yet, for all of those little demons on his shoulders that made sure he could never fully relax, they were one-time things. He just had to get through them and look to the next hurdle… Well, maybe not rent.

The only two constants in life were rent and death, or however that saying went.

But Ershan blood-moons? Those never stopped. Every two weeks, without fail, there'd be a swarm at his doorstep, not-so-patiently waiting to dig into the flesh and bones of every person he held dear in this hellscape. The blood-moons were the worst mix between rent and exams. For all the change an entirely new world brought, the same old demons remained. They only looked different now…

So, here he was at his desk, hunched over a data pad and several monitors as always. Each showcased hive reports and a deluge of nearly schizophrenic ramblings from his grease-bunny wife and the several-AI-core-powered colony assistant… and also from an exterminator robot he found in the rubble a few weeks back.

That is to say, the settlement had plans and information. They had their defense and hundreds of ideas for counteracting whatever nonsense the bugs would pull out of their decrepit hives this time. Drone-referencing, coordinate-based aiming systems, cluster missiles, and exceptionally overclocked fans made up his roster of bug-defeating protocols.

Harrison was at the center of it all, and not just in directing these plans or deciding what to focus on. He had to figure out all the logistics for these new tactics, from harvesting to production, on top of comparing information from prior blood-moons to figure out their optimal usage. Not to mention how he was going to incorporate all the different squads' training.

But that was just defense. It was just preparing for the 'next war' as countries and planets loved to do… Still, the current war was still raging on, even if no bullets were flying. For all the unease he had over the looming threat, there were still a few days until then. He should be using them to fortify his people and assure their safety—and he certainly was—but the idea of striking the hives before they prepared their attack wasn't far-fetched anymore.

Why should he wait for the bugs to come to him? He had the means to attack, and he could do it without putting his girls into direct danger. Every bullet spent now was an investment in time. Every bug killed was compound interest. And when the clock struck midnight for the next blood moon? The payout would, hopefully, be substantial.

There were more hives out there; he knew it. What mattered was when and where. The former was up to Tracy, and the latter correlated to how fast the drones could inspect each of the thousands of cave systems around them.

Harrison leaned back in his chair, a pulse of agony shooting up his back from the few dozen scars across it. He rearranged himself in his seat with a hiss, slighted that he couldn't even physically relax, much less mentally.

A slow sigh left him as he closed his eyes and rested his forehead in his palm. It had already been a long night, but he knew it was only the beginning. He said he had time to plan a counterattack, but he still hadn't even gotten half of his blood-moon plans off the drawing board and into feasible simulations. If anything, he was only distracting himself from sitting down and doing effective work by mulling over assaults after the last one's success.

He'd spent so many days after the last blood-moon doing anything but preparing—not that he was complaining about getting closer to Shar and Tracy. The two of his lovers were the catalysts to put him in the position he was. Hell, they were the reason he was alive and had things to look forward to.

Maybe they were a little too good at the latter? Anything without their immediate presence felt… gray. Boring. Dull. The words went on. He knew he had work to do, and he got it done, but that didn't mean his mind drifted to them every few minutes. Even now, he couldn't shake the idea of Shar's comforting aura. His body even started tricking him with the soft, warm waves that washed through his nerves when she was around.

Something about her brought up the weirdest but most tender feelings in him.

He drew in another long breath and opened his eyes, expecting the ghost comfort to leave him as soon as his thoughts transferred back to the settlement's defense… But they did not. Those ripples of her love still rebounded under his skin. A near-imperceptible scent of flowers in the air made his heart skip a beat.

His head shot up. Lo and behold, his dashing paladin in shining armor stood tall above the computer on his desk. Her smile channeled into his own as she walked around the table to his side.

He craned his neck up to look at her. She said nothing and simply held out a palm to him.

Some part of him drew up memories from the festival, knowing exactly what she wanted. A mix of love and curiosity had him take it. He was only given a moment to appreciate the comfort of holding her hand before she easily lifted him out of his chair and onto his feet.

His loving paladin pulled his arm up over his head and twirled him around just like their first dance. She held both of his wrists and pulled him further away from the desk and into a few circles. He went along with her, allowing his lover to stretch out his arms and spin him more.

Shar paused and let their momentum settle before picking him up into the air. She brought him face-to-face, tearing off her helmet to display her heart-melting smile. "Excellent evening to you, dearest Harrison."

Harrison incredulously stared back at her, a smirk stretching across his cheek. The absolute gall of this charming woman to appear from the ether and turn his entire mood around. "Jesus… Good evening to you too, Shar. What's this all about?"

She raised her brows like he'd just asked her what two plus two was. "You appeared quite tired and disinterested. I thought it would be proper to show you the depths of my adoration with a swift dance."

"Hit the nail on the head with that one, for sure," he admitted, softly massaging the arms holding him up. "Did you need anything, or did you just wanna hang around?"

The armored paladin brought him closer until their noses grazed each other, softly nuzzling him. "Am I allowed to have both as reasons for my presence?"

He chuckled at the adorable showing of affection, barely even trying to dodge her increasingly aggressive love. "You know damn well you don't really need a reason, but I can tell you're here for something."

"And you would be wholly correct, if it were not for—" Shar licked him from chin to forehead. "—the way your warmth inhibits my mind so."

A chuckle left Harrison as he shook his head. He was put in air jail, so he had no other choice but to take her affection. "Are you even going to try to remember?"

"Perhaps I will try once the flowers return, come spring. For now, I shall be pleased by kissing you alone."

She immediately started a train of smooches, barely letting him get his words out. "Shar– you're in– full– armor. You have to– have something– important to– talk– to me about. I know you– wouldn't flake– out– on training– for just this. You said you– needed something– too."

She finally pulled away after nearly kissing his jaw off, her eyes struggling to look away from him like an attached magnet. "F-Forgive me. I missed you today… Allow me a moment to think."

The soreness of her guilt was reflected in him, resulting in a soft frown. "…I missed you too. I wish I could join you in training more often."

Shar slowly let him down to the ground as the gears began to turn behind her eyes again. "Oh, it would be most perfect to have your heat these frigid afternoons."

"Are you feeling cold during training?" he asked, worried.

She shook her head, following him back to his seat and falling to her knees beside the desk, still towering over him. "Not particularly. Only the bite of the wind harasses my snout when I have neither my hat nor my gas mask on. My plight lies in how I have experienced the height of your heat, and the warmth of my armor and blessed cloth feels woefully inadequate in comparison."

Harrison nodded as he took a seat, reminding him of a thought he had only a few minutes ago. It definitely felt a lot grayer without Shar around… Just now, the once dull-colored production lines he had been used to seeing for far too long suddenly shone under the lights, looking more like silver than steel.

His sweet Malkrin lover perked up. "Ah! That was it! After our wall-training, Javelin and the newest spears requested to know more of star-sent warriors. The captain claims you have many story-videos about wars amongst the stars. This is simply to understand our weaponry, their purpose, and possible inspiration."

His brows shot up with interest. "A war movie, huh?"

He leaned over the desk, supporting himself with an elbow. It wasn't a horrible idea for the reasons she put onto the table. Hell, there was a lot he didn't even know about the weapons beyond their blueprint file and colony-encyclopedia descriptions.

Though, if he knew anything about war movies, it was how different they could be from one another. He could definitely try and see if he can't find some more realistic or grounded films with brownings and FALs, but every one had its own lesson. If he was going to go through with showing them human content, outside whatever the hell Tracy was showing Javelin and Rei in her free time, he'd have to think about what he even wanted to instill in the Malkrin.

It's not like he'd be able to hide all the nasty sides of humanity, and he never planned on it. But, though the lens of humans killing humans, the girls should probably take something out of it.

He'd also have to make captions and new scripts for all the words they were bound not to know. Tracy had something going on for her anime and maybe Javelin could help teach the others. The Malkrin were pretty damn smart anyway and picked up new things well, so it wouldn't be as much of a roadblock.

Harrison looked at Shar with a smile, petting the tail that subtly curled over his lap. "Honestly, sounds like a good idea. How about after the blood-moon? They aren't expecting to watch anything tonight, right?"

"Not at all," she assured him, casually resting her elbows on the edge of the table. "Most have already left for their evening rituals. Although finding them would be no issue if you so wished."

"Definitely not tonight. We've got a few kinks left to work out for the blood-moon defensive overlaps… Actually, it's pretty fortunate that you're here. I'll definitely need your perspective for the spear-side of things."

= = = = =

Rei set down her welding gun, stood up, and flipped her snout-stuffing welding mask up. Talos' hunter laid on a heat-resistant sheet of polymer-alloy with its arms disconnected from the 'hunchback' torso. Angled armor plates and a few kick-ass vanity add-ons covered the slit heat sinks on its chest. The blatant disregard for head dispersion hardly mattered for heat generation when the machines had no plasma weaponry, and the temperature outside bordered on freezing.

The juvenile smirked at the two Colossi tusks jutting out beside the hunchback hunter's snake-like head and neck. She did not know what Talos wanted to paint on the added metal layers, but the torn bones of their enemies were an interesting start.

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"You make excellent welds, young one," the jump-suit-wearing mech pilot commented as she crouched down on the opposite side of the supine mech.

"Thank you, broken one," Rei snapped back at the—somewhat still-limping—cripple. "What do you plan on painting yours with?"

"White bones: the ones I saw underneath my own flesh," Talos stated calmly in her usual tired tone—at least her usual for when she was not in combat. She gestured to a metal pectoral of the mech. "Then orange and black flare to mirror our flag. Perhaps I would also like to consider our shield emblem on one shoulder and another that represents our squad on the other."

"A skull would look cool," The light gray-skinned welder offered absently. "Especially on the head of your hunter."

The sage-green mech pilot nodded, pulling out a female-sized pencil and beginning to draw over the metal. "I quite like that idea. I thought a more menacing appearance would be apt for my position. One representative of my own transformation from the apprehensive female I was before and the warrior I am now… Though, that hardly strikes one as 'the savior of the people,' now does it?"

Rei scowled. She crouched down and wrapped her arms around her knees like the Artificer did."Why should it matter? Only the strike squad and the abhorrent ever see our hunters. I do not care about looking like a savior. I do not care about anything. All I care about is making my hunter appear badass… The others will be jealous."

Talos paused her pencil-drawing and looked at the juvenile with a concerned expression. "Your goal is to make the strike-team jealous?"

"No… The others of the settlement. The new ones."

The sage-skinned female tilted her head. "I thought you intended for only the strike-team and abhorrent will see our mechs?"

Rei's face flushed in the sudden embarrassment. "They will sometimes observe our great machines! They would be stupid to see our metal avatars and not be impressed by our strength. We have done too much to be ignored."

Talos' gaze flickered to her still-healing leg, and a frown came over her lips. "I do not think that should be our focus. But, if you so wish to make our hunters 'badass,' I will agree to assist."

The juvenile stood back up and crossed her arms over her chest. "Then I will find the paint gun."

A pulsing ire still wracked her mind as she left, burning with scorn at the betrayal. If Talos was so willing to assist, why must she try and poke holes into Rei? Did the cripple not also feel she was looked down upon? It was clear both of the mech pilots were the most capable frontline fighters, but they did not bask in the glory of the strike team. No one came up to Rei after the battle to congratulate her. She only had the Artificer and the kill board to recognize her accomplishments.

Perhaps Talos had yet to realize this. That, or she meekly accepted being ignored.

The older mech pilot always had Rei's back through each trial of combat, so why not now? Why let this division be sewn? Why let their skills be ignored? Talos was skilled in her operation of the hunter, and the juvenile had complimented it. But recognition from one mech pilot to another should not be all she received.

They should be revered like the mech warriors were on star-sent planets.

Rei approached Tracy's corner of the workshop. The Artificer was at her electronics desk, programming a freshly-printed circuit board by the smell of soldering in the air. She was clearly busy, and there was no reason to disturb her.

The juvenile walked over to a pair of desks with stripes of green paint. They were dedicated to final assembly with pegboard walls full of testing tools. Rei crouched beside them, not bothering to read the labels on the drawers below. She already knew where the spray-painting device was.

She pulled the storage compartment out and found the gun-like apparatus alongside a plethora of colored canisters arranged like a rainbow. It took her no time to gather the proper hues, some premade stencils, and a few specific heads for the spray gun to allow more precise artistic abilities to flourish.

But… one was missing. The thin, circle one that allowed perfect control of one's brush lines.

"Think fast, chucklenuts!" Tracy suddenly shouted from behind.

Rei whipped around, locked onto a flying item, and snatched it out of the air in a fraction of a second. She glanced at her palm, finding the missing head… which reeked of glowberries.

The artificer clapped her hands, grinning widely from her seat a few desks down. "Damn those reflexes are on point! All those gaming seshes and fighting paid off!"

The juvenile could not help a small smile from forming. "I suppose they have."

"No, you're actually inhuman with it… Which, makes sense I guess," Tracy mused, leaning back in her spinning chair and slowly rotating it side to side. "None of the other girls are like that, though. Definitely not the new shooters we got."

Rei put the spray head into the bundle of paint canisters held between her lower arms as she raised a curious, if not sheepish, brow. "What do you mean?"

The Artificer shrugged. "I don't know. It's just impressive. I've only really seen Shar-Shar or Cera react in time like that. Keep up the training, is what I'm saying… Anyway, whatcha doin' with the spray gun?"

A grin crossed the mech pilot's snout. "Talos and I are painting the hunters."

The star-sent froze, her eyes widening in excitement. "Are you being for real?"

"The realest."

There was a moment of hesitation in the Artificer's posture. She looked back to her work and her shoulders slouched.

"What were you doing with the spray gun head?" Rei asked after a moment of silence.

Tracy rolled to the next desk over and gestured to a few glass bottles and beakers, clearly made by Cera. The former was filled with orangish-brown liquid. "Brain implosion energy. I was using it as a funnel to make homemade energy drinks before the tests… I can see that look, I washed the paint off first before using it, dumbass! Anyway, long story short: they taste like hyper-sweetened carbonated industrial chemicals with the benefit of five-hundred milligrams per bottle. Caffeine is caffeine, no matter the taste. Can't complain."

The mech pilot's curiosity was piqued. "…May I try some?"

The Artificer picked one of the glass bottles and lightly swirled it around, revealing only a small amount of particulates at the bottom. "I have no clue if this would kill you or not."

"I see… Are you interested in helping us spray paint?"

Tracy bit her cheek in contemplation, looking back to her original desk's work. She took a few moments to ponder before quickly rolling back to and saving her work. "Fuck it. Yeah, I'm down as long as it's quick. We'll call it a morale project or something. Harrison would understand… Totally."

- - - - -

Rei had a lot of ideas for what to paint her hunter with. Talos' skeleton and tusk design was inspiring, and Artificer Tracy had commented that it appeared somewhat like that of a hyena-boar with its tusks jutting forward. The black and orange decals reminded her of its fur as well.

The younger mech pilot thought something similar of the design, but why go for something so… weak? Sure, the original intent was to use the tusks of a great adversary, yet there were such greater animals to be compared to: sea predators, the Leviathan… dragons. One of those monsters just so happened to share a name with one of Rei's most favorite mechs.

Now, the two great hunters, nine feet tall and in all their mechanical glory, wore beautiful coatings of paint. One of bone, and the other of scale: the stalwart boar and the fearsome dragon.

Rei's mech paint did not perfectly resemble the shimmering, armored hide of the star-sent beast, but the designed plates and light gray coloring—a shade lighter than her own—was awesome. She could hardly stop herself from bouncing on the balls of her feet. How jealous would the strike team be when this badass mechanical monster stole the attention of the abhorrent?

"Well, if you gave me another hour, I might be able to get the iridescent style over the scales," Artificer Tracy commented. "Though, I kind of like the simple three-D shaded style."

"It is badass enough. I am in awe!" Rei beamed, grinning widely.

The star-sent put two fists to her hips. "Damn straight. I bet the bugs won't even show up with this thing hanging around outside the walls."

A few moments passed, and Tracy looked down the rows of machines. She drew in a tired breath and stretched her back out. "Well, guess that's my break time done. Make sure to plug these back in after they fully dry. I'll catch you around—"

"Artificer Tracy!" a female called out from another direction.

Rei snapped her head toward the new ones. There were fisherwomen and gatherers from Akula's squad. Each of them wore their combat armor, fitted with rotating shield holsters and all. The mech pilot shuffled closer to the Artificer's side, letting her speak.

"What's up? Did you need anything?"

A bigger, ruby-skinned female stepped forward, bowing by her waist. "Forgive our intrusion and our requests. We came from training with the strike team, and Javelin commented on her gustav's painted decoration. She said the fabricators were capable of making exceptional designs. We were wondering if we could also design our own decals."

The star-sent sucked in air between her teeth, slapping a hand onto Rei's shoulder. "Imma be a bit busy for the rest of the night, buuuuuuuut… you can definitely work out your details with Talos and my assistant here."

The mech pilot slowly blinked. Was the Artificer… entrusting the entire operation to her? "You are saying I am to lead them through fabricator procurement and painting?"

Tracy smirked incredulously, as if the question was ridiculous. "You know how to search the metal components and welding catalogue. You're plenty responsible, especially with Talos around. Just double-check with me before you print anything."

'Plenty responsible.'

Rei grinned. "I will do my best."

= = = = =

The last thing Tracy wanted to be in, this late at night, was a lead-lined, gamma-reflective hazard suit. She'd much prefer to be arms-deep in Harry-bear and Shar-Shar while being covered in enough blankets to suffocate… Especially after a long few hours of re-arranging the source decision-making systems for the drones so they can actually, really work together as a singular unit and not shoot or crash into each other.

But hey, this was the only time she had to actually test the artifacts.

She was in the far corner of the settlement's warehouse, squeezing into a small hidey-hole of her own making. Stacks of pseudo-mycelium concrete bricks and tanks of water made a naturally radio-resistant area. At least, by her metrics. The whole zone was purely for the storage of artifacts. There were eight in total now, each in their own blast-case covering and spaced two meters apart on the tall, sturdy shelf.

The radiation in the air barely rose as she approached the wall of pure anti-science. One of the torso-sized bricks had a label reading 'Psycho-generative #2, 70% grade.'

She wrapped her hands around the back, detached it from the wall, and hefted it into the air. Strained breaths through the suit made the short-trip to the logistics harpy a struggle.

But she managed, like always. The flying beast hovered up and over the box, needing her to bear the downwash for a minute while she attached the artifact to its undercarriage.

A few taps of her datapad, and the drone was off into the night. Soon enough, it'll be out in a test field by the northern quarry where Max, in his cyclops body, currently was. There was a small test area intended to hold the artifact. It had another device made to send electric frequencies between the psycho-generative rock and the radio-absorbent one being used to power it, just like in Max's head. All the testing would be done remotely, for obvious reasons.

Tracy didn't want to be the first victim of telepathic mind explosion magic.

The experiment itself was simple. She would send a frequency to the device, which would activate the connection between the artifacts, making a wave of intent. The mobile exterminator would then detect it, and he would transform what he heard into an audio file so she could listen. It was a proof of concept, really. There were far more things the technician just didn't understand, considering how she and Harrison heard noises from intent, while the Malkrin perceived meanings from each word. But, it has to start somewhere.

She made her way back to the workshop and got out of her stuffy suit. Her usual seat offered a slight bit of comfort, as she got to work.

'didja set up the artifact yet? Ready?' she shot a text to Max.

['The apparatus is set. I am prepared to receive the signal,'] he responded.

The exterminator at one point had an issue with sending and receiving wirelessly outside of intent, but only needed 'grandmaster approval' to break the restriction.

'good,' she sent back. 'if this doesn't work im gonna tear u apart and study u directly.'

['That is suboptimal. This experiment will work.']

= = = = =

Cera sat on the edge of her master's grand walls. Her feet hung over into the abyss of the night, in which only the ever-faithful turrets and herself could see. Contours of black and green outlined the endless waves of branches and boughs. A distant mountain and rolling hills were mere specks on the horizon, each faintly touched by the glowing moon and blessed stars.

She had already ensured the safety of the settlement this evening. So, she took her head straps off, forsaking her vision into the darkness of the night, and placing the star-sent item onto her mate's head.

Oliver sat comfortably in her lap, affixing the night vision goggles around his smaller head. She held him tighter as her eyes adjusted to the stars of the night sky.

"Oh, goodness! There are so many!" he excitedly whispered to her.

She tenderly placed her palms around his cheeks and angled his head, pointing to the large purple smattering of the eastern sky. His tail swayed ever faster, frills vibrating with a parallel excitement.

"Wow…"

A smile curled across her lips. The stars one could see in the sky were only a fraction of how many there truly were. It was easy to miss the faint clouds of abstract colors and wide stretches of interlinked orbs for the two racing moons in the dark of night. There were fantastical explosions of cosmic dust and entrancing swirls of celestial forces that encircled Ershah. They were an art she would never understand but adore nonetheless. The universe beyond was far more beautiful than that which one like her deserved.

But Oliver… Oliver, her dearest mate, deserved the world. And she would give it to him one comfortable moment at a time.

Her mate subtly bounced in her lap with barely withheld elation. "I cannot count that many… Did you know each one is like our own sun? Every dot and every sparkle has its own system of planets like Ershah. Every single one could have Malkrin or star-sent or anyone on them… Can you believe that?"

Cera leaned her neck down and pushed the tip of her snout into his head, nodding into him so he knew she was listening.

"Harrison showed me footage of a planet from his 'solar system' today when we were discussing the boat port. It was one where his mother came from, a world of complete ice and water. He called it 'Europa.' They travel in submarines that swim under the surface and use the heat from the planet's 'core' to make electricity…"

Oliver continued to talk about this mysterious, freezing world that defied everything she knew of her own. His excitement transferred to her, and she wanted nothing more than to hear him speak about it forever.

She wanted to ask him questions to engage further in his fantastical theories and endless banks of knowledge… Her heart wanted him to know how much she appreciated holding him tight and spending such time with him.

She only wished she could tell him she loved him. Just one more time. With her own intent.

Her frills remembered how swell it was to say those words. To see his eyes light up and see him melt into her arms. It was a high like no other.

…But it was not to be. Not now. The star-sents worked to give her a voice once more, but the safety and prosperity of the settlement reigned above her selfish desires.

So, she did what she could to channel her love into her dearest Oliver. He knew she wanted him to keep talking, and he obliged.

His voice soothed her worries through the night. And, for a short few minutes, there was just Oliver, the stars, and their love.

And that was all she needed.

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