The Silver Blades Chapter was a relative new chapter among the RGTS. About five centuries ago the Golden Blades Chapter had a split and from that split came the Silver Blades. The split ultimately came over recruitment. The Golden Blades believed it was much more vital to seek out skilled individuals with the factor, so as not to dilute the quality of the RGTS. The Silver Blades believed that breeding those with the factor was the way forward and resulted in more soldiers to be used. So it was that the Silver Blades became one of the larger chapters and the Golden Blades had fallen into obscurity.

While they had a handful of veterans, the Silver Blades was a young Chapter. About 90% of the Chapter forces were less than a hundred years old. 50% were under fifty years old. The Scouts tended to have accelerated education, making it so that they could be ready as early as 18 years old. Quantity was vastly more important to the Silver Blades than quality. The youth of the chapter often resulted in very high casualty rates. Of course, the youth were never told this when they were sent out into battle.

The Swarm were bugs. Insects. Big ones but they were ultimately just things you could squish underfoot. These were the things that Sona had been taught from an early age. The Naa were big stupid brutes that could be beaten by any RGTS. The knife ears were fragile little beings you could shatter with a flick. Sona had been taught from birth that the enemies of the Republic while many, were no match for the power of the RGTS. She believed it as well. Whole heartedly. Why wouldn’t she? She had never been told anything to the contrary.

That was why, when she had been in battle, in her first real battle, it had been a shock. The propaganda she had been fed was peeled back bit by bit. The first was when she watched her sergeant torn to bloody ribbons by a Gigant. Never in her wildest nightmares would she have expected such a being to exist. It was huge; a full head taller than she was at her full size and its claws could tear power armor like it was paper. She watched in horror as it tore her sergeant to pieces, its great toothy maw chopping half of her head off with a horrible crunch.

The second had been watching her sisters go into battle against the Swarm. They hacked the Gigant to pieces with sheer numbers, only to be set upon by a swarm of their fliers, acid eating away at their armor and skin and bones and melting them before her eyes. They were girls she had grown up with. She watched the illusion of the invincibility of the RGTS melt away, literally, right in front of her eyes as they screamed.

The last had been looking upon it. Upon the leader of the Swarm on this world. It was easily the same size as the Gigant, holding a boney sword in all four of its claws. Its baleful eyes glowed with a malign intellect as it watched more of her sister’s attack. They never stood a chance. No matter their skill, their size, or anything else they just never measured up. They were cut down. Right in front of Sona they were cut to gore.

She ran. She remembered her power armored legs moving without even thinking about it. Her eyes were wide and her mind couldn’t process what she had been seeing. The Swarm were bugs. They were insects you could crush easily underfoot. Pests and no real threat to the RGTS. This was the lie she repeated over and over in her mind as she fled north, to a place where the lie was reality. The towering redhead stomped through the northern part of the city, her armored feet crushing through buildings and streets as she leveled her rifle at just any patch of the Swarm she could find. She hadn’t been thinking, hadn’t wanted to think. She just did what was natural to her mental picture of the Swarm, not caring if she stepped on humans.

Sona was pulled from her thoughts as she leaned against a doorway, holding her rifle tightly in her fingers. She had realized it at the time. She had nearly died. Died not against a massive Broodlord or Gigant. It would have been against small Swarm bugs she could normally crush dozens of in a single step. If it hadn’t been for… Her eyes turned to the woman still sitting on the couch and enjoying her cigarette.

Florina. A human. She almost didn’t believe that she was human. Sona went over the sight of her charging forth from nowhere and slaughtering all of those Swarm. It had been incredible. A sight she would attribute to an RGTS. Humans were small, cowardly, weak. These were words she had been taught as well. They scurried underfoot, trampled more often than accomplishing anything. Despite what Flo might have thought, Sona did remember her face now that she had somewhat recovered from her world shattering around her.

Flo had been knocked into the dirt. She had put her boot over her face and made her agree how rude she had been bumping into her. Yet, this same squirrely and not exactly intimidating looking woman had come to her rescue. It was hard for her to understand. The redhead sighed and dismissed the thoughts from her head. It didn’t matter at the moment. There was still a battle to fight and she had to recover her honor. She had dishonored the sisters that had fought and died. She had been scared and run. Sona wasn’t going to run this time.

“Right. Break time over. Time to earn our paychecks, Sona.”

The voice broke Sona out of her thoughts. Flo stood up and wrapped a bit of cloth around her broken hand, wincing as she did. “Paychecks?” Sona asked. The hell was a paycheck?

Flo rubbed at her temples. “Oh right, I guess you don’t worry about money or things like that. Poor figure of speech. Let’s get moving I mean.”

“Could have just said that you know. If we’re working together at the moment, need to keep our communication concise and understood.” Sona said with a frown.

The human actually had the gall to roll her eyes at that rather reasonable suggestion! “Yeah yeah, I’ll keep the words simple for ya.” Simple! Sona gritted her teeth and glared at the woman outright as she turned her back on her.

Flo pulled out her pistol and held it in her good hand and started making her way through the building. Away from the street. “Why are we going this way?” Sona asked.

The human looked over her shoulder at the slightly taller woman. “The streets are a death trap. If we go strolling through them we’re going to get killed. The alleys are our best bet. Tighter corridors mean more chances for any shots we make to count. ‘Course, the Swarm probably has a few buggers in the alleys as well.”

Why hadn’t she thought of that? Sona had no idea. She had never really fought in cities before. All of her actual practical training had been in the wilderness. “You make it sound like the Swarm can think.” She remarked as they left through the emergency exit into a rather dirty looking alleyway. She checked the corners with her rifle. She had ten shots left in this thing. Had to make them count.

Flo didn’t respond immediately. She walked into the middle of the alley down a flight of stairs. The human squatted down and ran her fingers along the dirty ground. Looking closely Sona could see it as well. Patterns in the dirt. Patterns that went towards where they needed to go. The sergeant knew the Swarm, better than Sona did it seemed. She didn’t even need to be told what to look for, she just looked for it. It was a curious thing.

“They can. On some level. The big ones anyway I think.” Flo said.

Sona scoffed. “The Swarm are bugs you can crush underfoot-.”

“How’d that work out for you earlier?” Flo asked sharply. “Looked like you were about to be bug food, big girl.” The steel haired woman remarked.

Sona gritted her teeth. She was right. It was a lie of course. A lie that had nearly cost her everything. Sona followed after Flo down the alley. Her skin suit was at least useful for silence, the suit possessing pad around her feet that deadened noise. The redhead cleared her throat. “You know, I liked you better when you were agreeing how weak humans were. A lot less lip.” Sona said.

Flo hesitated a step, barely noticeable really. Surprise maybe. “So you *do* remember me eh?” The steel haired woman mused. “Don’t really see how my keeping my tongue curbed here would help keep us alive. You don’t seem to know shit about the Swarm, so really the more I mouth off, the higher our odds of living to the next day.”

The sheer gall of this human was impressive. She had expected her to be cowed by remembering being under her boot however it appeared that was not the case. Much as Sona would have liked to remind her of her place… this was not the time or place and she supposed she did still somewhat owe Florina. They stopped just outside the alley. There was a massive crater in the street and on the other side was another alleyway. Flo poked her head out and looked from one side to the next. “Coast is clear.”

As they crossed Sona looked around at the crater around them. There were plenty of dead swarm inside of it. As well as a handful of humans. They all looked like they had been flattened and compressed. “What could have done this?” She mused.

“If I were to guess, I’d say this is one of your footprints.” Flo remarked as they entered the next alleyway.

“One of my…” She had been standing inside of her own footprint was her first thought. An odd one at that. The next was the fact she had flattened so many under just a single step. It was enough to bring a smirk to her lips. “Well, those humans should have watched where *I* was stepping. Their own fault for being underfoot.” She said with a shrug.

“Guess so.” Flo said curtly, not rising to whatever smug bait that Sona was placing.

It felt odd to Sona, sneaking through the streets. She could hear the sounds of the battle above and the quaking of the artillery upon the earth. The distant shots of the infantry of the Guard. It was the eternal soundtrack of the city it seemed. Of course there was also the screams of those dying and the sickening wet noise of the acid blasters of the Swarm. It was something that Sona had never imagined. This was a real battle. Not a simulation. Not a mock fight. This was real. This was what it really meant to fight the foes of the Republic.

Her fingers strayed to her neck, scratching at her implant. All it would take was a thought to let her increase her size. Of course what had happened before was still fresh in her mind. Sona lowered her fingers. It wasn’t an option. She had to play human it seemed for a spell. They made their way through the alleys of the city, avoiding the Swarm as best they could. The further south they went, the closer the sounds of battle grew. Looked like they were close now. Very close to the lines of battle.

Flo lifted a hand to stop Sona as they reached a corner. “Looks like four of them. Spore Mines. Traps probably for anyone coming up the street beyond.”

“Spore mines?” Sona cocked her head.

“They release a deadly gas when they pop. Can turn your insides to goo. Not fun. They’ll detect us if we try to go through them. If we blast them the gas will linger in the air…” Her eyes turned upwards. “How high can you jump?” She asked.

“Compared to you? Pretty high.” Sona said with a smirk.

“Think you could launch us up on the roof?” Sona looked up at the distance of the buildings on either side of them. It would be a bit of a jump but she could do it. If she had her powered armor it would be the simplest thing, but that was past hoping for. She was going to get chewed out so hard for losing that. She winced as she imagined the Captain’s lecture for losing chapter equipment like that.

“Sure. Just hold on.” Sona gripped Flo without warning by the collar and squatted down, her body suit stretching enough to really show off her flawless body before suddenly she launched herself and Flo up into the air, cracking the ground where they had been standing a little. The air rushed past her face as she reached out and grabbed the edge of the roof, pulling herself and her human passenger up onto it. She tossed Flo, who was rather shaking in clear shock, onto the roof before her. The redhead chuckled.

“What? Afraid of heights?” She asked with a lifted brow.

Flo managed to take deep calming breaths. “J-just didn’t expect it is all.”

Humans. She rolled her eyes and used their new elevated position to look around. Her heart almost stopped when she got a good long look around.

“A fucking Broodlord!? Y-you have to be kidding me!” Flo cried out.

There it was, towering in the distance. The monster that had killed her sisters. The four armed monster was to the south and it looked like it was completely ravaging the friendly lines with nothing there to stop it. No RGTS was around and Artillery barrages were simply bouncing off of its hide. Sona looked it in terror, remembering the sight of those eyes of malign intellect. The sight of her sisters being cut to ribbons so easily.

“Well. South is a shot idea. We need to get the fuck out of here.” Flo remarked, rubbing her temples and clearly trying to stay calm.

“And let that thing run wild!?” The redhead asked incredulously.

Flo looked at Sona like she was crazy. “You wanna fight that thing? Be my fucking guest. I have done my hero work for the day. The smart thing is for us to head east and hope to Napolin that they don’t turn towards our main frontal base.” The grey haired woman said.

Sona, deep down, wanted to run again. She wanted to hide and cower just from the memory of her sisters falling around her. The idea of seeing those eyes again had her pissing herself. However. She looked at it. There were no other RGTS around. They had all been killed by the monster. She was it. Sona was the only one that could do this. She closed her eyes and held her finger to her neck.

“You can run and scurry like a mouse, Florina. I’m going to fight. Even if I die I’ll beat that monster for what it has done.” She gritted her teeth.

She felt a hand on her wrist as she touched her neck. Florina had a scowl on her face. “Are you a fucking idiot? Look at those artillery rounds bouncing off of it. Do you really think you can beat that thing if those aren’t even scratching it?” She demanded.

Sona snatched away her hand, glaring down at the human. “Whether I can or not doesn’t matter. I have to try. I ran from that monster once. I won’t do it again!” She said.

Sona had decided. Even if she was going to die, it would be in the same battle all of her sisters fell in. It was not going to be skulking and scurrying away like a frightened mouse. She was RGTS. She was better. Better than the human standing before her. Better and worth more than the whole army that was being massacred by that monster. She had to show them all. Show the world what the strength of an RGTS was. With that thought firmly in her mind she ran, jumping from the roof with the cries and protests of Flo left behind. She had saved her life. Now it was time that Sona use that life for something better. She wouldn’t run! Not this time!

As she ran she placed her finger back to her neck and started to swell in size rapidly. Her form filled the streets as the smaller swarm noticed her. They started firing at the giant woman as she bulldozed her way through the streets, the redhead’s skin suit getting singed and burned. She didn’t stop even then, her strides smashing and crushing every lesser swarm monster under foot. She was a wrecking ball of destruction upon the streets, not even noticing the friendlies that were blasted aside or crushed with the bugs. It was their own fault for getting in her way.

She leveled her weapon at the monster as it started to turn. She needed to be smart about this. The artillery was hitting its hardened shell. Which just meat she had to hit it in other places. She had ten shots. Time to make them count. She fired away, her first one smashing into the monster’s arm. The great hulking beast let out a shriek of agony as it’s lower arm was blasted away into a fine yellow goo, one of its swords flying away from its grip. The thing turned its eyes upon her, glowing with murderous intent. Sona didn’t cower from them this time. Not with all these humans watching. She couldn’t let them think she was like them, cowardly and small! She was an RGTS!

She opened fire as the beast came stomping towards her through the city, her next shot smashing into its torso. It bounced away harmlessly. Another towards its leg. It also bounded away, the massive shell rolling through the street and crushing small houses and those taking cover inside of them. She fired away, her legs screaming for her to run from this monster but she refused to listen to them.

It was almost upon her now, its blades rising up to cut her down just like it had for all of her sisters. She fired her last shot and it flew true and strong right into one of those terrifying eyes. It stumbled forward and let out a shriek of agony, its blades still falling but now she could see an opening. Sona dropped her gun and leaped forward, passing through the blades and onto the other side. She rolled out along the ground, her massive body crushing anything and everything under its might. Soldiers and lesser Swarm were mere yellow and red splotches adorning her form.

She had no time to waste. She surged to her feet, reaching out and grabbing the fallen sword of the broodlord from its blasted hand and turned to face the monster. Her eyes were filled with a fire few could ever fathom as she swung the weapon towards another arm. The weapon sliced through as though cutting through butter. The broodlord let out a cry of agony as it matched its remaining blades with the RGTS, swinging them in a dazzling and impressive display of skill that she simply lacked. She could feel cuts open upon her skin and blood flowing freely from multiple wounds. However through it all she had a smile on her lips.

“I’m not going to lose to you, not in front of all of these humans! They need to look up and know. Know I can do things they never can!” She cried as she swung the blade with all of her RGTS granted strength, pushing the monster back and swinging its weapons wide. She saw her chance. Her blade swung down and cut through bone and flesh and carapace, the alien weapon severing the head of the great beast and sending it flying.

The corpse stood for a moment longer before it slowly toppled over. Sona stared at the fallen monster and smiled her same smile she had held through the fight. Eventually she wobbled in place. A friendly commander could only watch in utter despair as the champion of the hour stumbled back a step, her ample rear over him and all his troops before slamming down and crushing them all. Sona fell over, out cold.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Instead of what she had feared, discipline and ridicule from losing her armor and indeed fleeing from battle; Sona had been hailed as the hero of the hour. The young RGTS had been granted every medal the guard regiments that had been present could throw at her, indeed her own Chapter had given her the Silver Sword. It was a medal given to those in her chapter that had accomplished things well above the call of duty. The medal came with a personal power sword with the chapter iconography upon it. It was a rare honor, especially for one so young.

Sona had spent the past week recovering onboard the vessel over the planet. Evidently after her deed the Swarm had fallen into complete disarray on the planet and were now quite easy pickings for the Guard. The redhead couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe she had actually defeated a broodlord. All of her sisters had fallen. Her sergeant. They hadn’t stood a chance. However she had managed to beat it. Of course, she hadn’t been blind. She would never have managed to defeat the swarmlord if it hadn’t been for a certain human saving her life. That particular detail was, naturally something that had gotten omitted from the report.

“Are you serious?” The captain of her company regarded Sona with a serious expression.

She nodded. “Yes. Very. A human struck me while I was on the planet. Slapped me in the face. She was also very rude. Called me stupid and simple a couple of times.” Sona said.

The captain frowned. “Well. We can’t have that. I can draft up a request she be tried and executed for such an offense if you like, Sona. I am fairly certain everyone on the planet knows they owe you their lives.” She said, picking up a datapad and already writing out the request.

Sona shook her head. “No, no. I think that would be harsh. Humans need to be shown their place though. If she is allowed to mouth off like that to every RGTS… well then no one would fear us. So I would be happy to educate her.” Sona said with a smirk.

The captain actually chuckled. “Ah, the fruits of youth.” She shook her head. “I’ll arrange the request sent directly to her regimental commander.” The woman said before standing up and gripping the woman’s shoulder. “I don’t usually see potential like yours, Sona. Even I would have trouble accomplishing what you did. Strive to be a sister the others would want to be like.” She said with a soft smile, adjusting her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

Sona nodded, feeling incredible pride welling in her chest. To earn such praise from a veteran like the captain. She saluted the woman sharply. “Yes Ma’am! I won’t let you down!” She said.

It wasn’t long after that, about exactly a day that Sona found herself waiting in the hanger bay of her company ship. She was dressed in military fatigues and watched a particular shuttle being landed. It opened up and there she was. That had been rather quick she had to say. One of Florina’s hands was wrapped in a cast and she was carrying a duffel bag that likely held all of her possessions. She had that same easy look on her face as she had possessed before though it was a tad more… strained Sona noted with mild amusement.

Sona didn’t walk over to her. No, no, she let Florina walk over to her. The grey haired woman slowly made her way over to Sona, looking not exactly eager to do so. Florina did an elaborate bow. “All hail the savior of the hour. We should all be kissing her toes and thanking her for our lives.” She said.

“I mean there will be *plenty* of time for kissing my toes later yes.” Sona said with a chuckle. The wince that drew from Florina was quite funny to her. “You can feel free to thank me by the way.”

Flo looked at her incredulously. “You got me expelled from my regiment, stripped of rank and literally given over to the RGTS to be ‘disciplined’ for the rest of my natural life. And you expect me to thank you.” The grey haired woman said slowly.

Sona shrugged. “I mean you can always kiss my boots in gratitude instead. That also works.”

“You have to be out of your mind. Starting to regret saving you from those bugs.” The woman remarked.

Sona wrapped an arm around the shorter woman’s shoulder and smirked as she led the helplessly weaker human along through the halls of the ship. “Florina, you should be happy. You made it possible for *me* to stop the broodlord. If I had died it would have killed countless more. I mean, no one will ever mention or sing about your part of the tale. But I know. Which is why I helped you out. Since now, you don’t have to worry about being tossed onto random battlefields or dying forgotten somewhere cold and alone. All you need to do is worry about one person. The only one that matters to you now really.”

Florina shoulders shivered a little at the words. “D-don’t suppose you mean Napolin?” She asked.

“Me. I mean me.” Sona said, her fingers squeezing just the slightest bit into Florina’s shoulders. “I remember *all* of those things you said and did. So you can start making them up to me so we can start on the right foot.” She grinned.

Flo swallowed hard as she noticed Sona moving her free hand towards her neck. “H-hey, this is a really weird idea of gratitude you know. I’d have settled for just a thank you card. Don’t really care if you get the credit.” She said.

Sona placed her fingers on her neck and slowly started swelling upwards in size. God it always felt better than sex, the feeling of the power flooding her veins. She slowly went from holding onto Flo’s shoulder to holding her between a pair of fingers. The woman fell out into the palm of her hand. “I am grateful you saved my life, its why you are here. This is much better life thank just dying on the frontlines somewhere.” Sona said. “You get to be a hero’s pet.”

Flo fell out into the palm of Sona’s hand. “W-wait!” She got out before Sona curled her finger around her. God this felt great. Everything Flo had said to her, all those little jabs or insults and that slap had really been festering in her mind. Now she had the woman. Literally, she owned her now. She had won the day. Flo got to be her spoils. Just like her shiny new medals or her sword. The redhead was on cloud nine as she made her way back to her room.

The door slid open as she walked into the small room. There had even been talk of upgrading her quarters for what she had done. Sona tossed the tiny woman onto a table in front of a couch. The grey haired woman looked dazed and confused as Sona went ahead and started tugging the laces off of her boots. She loosened the tongue of the footwear and finally freed a bare foot to the open air. One far larger than Flo.

The woman fell over onto her back as a bare heel slammed down right in front of Flo, the creamy and large expansive of skin towering over the human. She slammed her other foot down beside it, flexing and curling shapely digits in the free air above Flo. The redhead had a smile on her lips as she looked up at the ceiling. “Man my feet are *killing* me, Florina. Didn't you mention before that you’d give me a nice massage after all was said and done?” She mused.

Flo looked up at the towering feet of the RGTS, both many times her size. How could she even begin to massage the massive pair of feet? However she doubted that Sona wanted excuses. Flo still had her Rules and they applied now more than ever. Sona owned her. She was basically her glorified slave. How old was this girl? Like 18 probably. So she was like ten years Flo’s junior. The woman felt a hot wash of shame at being told to just massage her feet, but she still shuffled forward and lifted her hands up.

Sona meanwhile set her hands behind her head as she at last felt Flo get to work, rubbing her tiny hands against the heel of one of her feet. “You know I learned something. Something really important on that planet. Humans are weak. Pitiful really. Kinda useless. They need someone to protect them. That’s why the RGTS are here. To protect the human race. So the human race can show some gratitude every now and again.” She shifted a foot to look at the tiny woman pampering her. “Don’t you think so, Florina?”

The woman hesitated before nodding. “Yeah.”

“You’d have been killed by that broodlord, correct?” Sona asked.

“Of course.” She said as though it were common sense.

“That broodlord was better than any human on that planet right?”

“It was yeah.”

“I beat that broodlord. So, I guess that makes me so much better than any human around. Aren’t you grateful you get to be owned by someone so great?” Sona asked.

Flo hesitated the longest with that question. “Y-yes. I am, Sona.”

The redhead laughed. “Just checking. You can keep working.”