Acheron Chapter 1 – Zeta II Reticuli
A/N- Hello Darlings, as I promised, here is a brand new DARK fic from your Auntie Shara. DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER, if you do not like the fact that no one is safe in these types of fics that I write please turn back now, but you're in the right place if you like me enjoy the suspense of not know whether or not the leading men will survive. So pull up a chair and join me as we journey together down this rabbit hole hand in hand. Zeta II Reticuli is a binary star system 39 light years away from earth.
Edd stood at the altar with a swarm of butterflies in his stomach looking into the loveliest pair of green eyes he has ever seen as the Priest addressed the congregation of friends and family that had joined them this day to celebrate their union. Edd smiles broadly as his heart is filled with joy, Kevin returns it with a warm smile of his own which shows off those cute dimples of his, he bites his bottom lip and looks down at their joined hands, caressing the back of Edd's with his thumb. As the Priest recites the standard marriage vows to Kevin, memories of the day he proposed floods Edd's mind, the worried look upon his face as he got down on one knee and opened the little velvet box which contained his engagement ring. A beautiful ring which now sits proudly upon his finger ready to be joined by another, Edd never imagined that he could be any happier then that day when Kevin slid that ring in place. That is until Kevin said those two little words, "I do," and Edd's heart overflowed with happiness, his eyes filling with tears of joy, and that beautiful smile of his which would not leave is face.
He was so overjoyed and enraptured with Kevin's smiling face and happy eyes that he didn't pay attention to what the Priest was saying to him, Kevin having to bring him back to reality with a gentle squeeze of the hands and a tilt of his head in the Priest direction, "Oh yes, I'm sorry, I do." The Priest began the ring exchange and Edd's heart nearly stopped as Kevin placed his wedding ring upon his finger right beside his engagement ring, he couldn't stop a tear from falling as he looked at the two rings side by side. "I know pronounce you joined in marriage, you may now kiss your husband," and Kevin takes Edd in his arms and with ballroom dancing finesse dips him low and joins their lips together in a very passionate chaste kiss.
Memories played through Edd's head of the two of them buying a house together and Kevin carrying him across the threshold jokingly like a sack of potatoes while smacking his ass a few times, their first anniversary together as Kevin presented him with a snow white Jack Russell Terrier puppy that they named Kipper. A romantic dinner for two picnic style upon a blanket as they gazed at the stars, their second anniversary that had Kevin coming home from work with a dozen roses, and the sweet love that they made upon their bed as their desert. Then there was their third anniversary, sitting at the dining room table they were having a candle light dinner together, "I miss you babe," Kevin reaches across the table for Edd's hand, "And I love you," but his fingers go through Edd's. One of the down falls of holographic images, they have no physical form, and thus no real contact can be shared between the two at this time. But it did allow them to spend this day together better than any video call could ever do.
"I love you too Kevin, but it's only a few more months till I ship out to join you," Edd said with a tear in his eye. Kevin instinctively reaches up to wipe the falling tear away but with no effect, Edd still appreciated the gesture none the less.
"Yeah, but it's a shame you'll miss our four year anniversary while in hypersleep."
His memory shifts back to a week after their second anniversary, as he sat in a sterile looking reception area for the corporation they both worked for. Edd was staring off into the distance not really seeing the company's logo upon the wall he was looking at, a big fat yellow W with a grey Y positioned behind it. Kevin walks up and sits next to him with papers clutched in his hand, jarring his husband back into reality, Edd looks in his direction blankly and blinks away the thoughts that have been going through his mind. "So," Edd asks curiously.
"I got the promotion, babe," Looking down at the stack of papers in Edd's lap Kevin knew he got the job as well but still wanted to hear the words, "And you?"
"I got the job," Edd says a little less enthusiastically then Kevin thought he should have.
"That's great Edd, now we can go …"
"When do you ship out?" Edd said flatly, he wasn't trying to be hurtful, he was just trying his best to stop from crying.
"Next month," Kevin was a little bit worried now, there was something off about the way Edd was acting.
"I don't ship out for another fourteen months," Edd's heart was aching, he didn't want to be separated from Kevin for this long but unfortunately the job required it of him.
"What, why?" Kevin was in shock, they were under the impression that both the positions they applied for were needed immediately.
"I have to stay here and prepare for phase two of the terraforming operation," Edd counted off what he had to do on his fingers as he spoke, "Build up a team that will be coming with me, do research and calculations to ensure that we can and will meet our deadlines, form a list of supplies that we will need for the job, and lastly."
"Yeah," Kevin said with a little pain in his voice as he saw the hurt in Edd's eyes.
He turns his whole body to face Kevin and cups his face in his hands, "Miss you," he brings their foreheads together as a tear falls down his cheek.
Kevin places his ruff hands upon the back of his neck and caressing Edd's ears with his thumbs, "I'll miss you too babe." The nights of passion that followed were short lived as they poured as much love into the other as they could in preparation of their separation, and sweet promises of their joyful reunion to come were exchanged as they cuddled in the afterglow. Kevin had been promoted to oversee the refit of a terraforming plate on the distant moon of Acheron, and after the refit was complete he would stay on permanently as the head of their engineering team. Edd had been assigned to lead the second phase of the terraforming project, it would introduction different forms of plant life upon the planet with later phases introducing animal life.
On the bridge of the USCSS Argo all was quiet, the control stations that would normally display an array of information were all powered down, with no one awake to see what would be provided by the screens there was no need to waste the energy on keeping them active. The computer system was none the less doing trillions of calculations a second, keeping track of the ships coordinates in space, as well as scanning for any space debris and adjusting course as needed to avoid it and also monitoring all the ships functions which included the sixteen hypersleep chambers that housed its most precious of cargos.
Reaching the red line of their voyage the computer cuts forward thrust and engages the reverse engines to begin its deceleration. It also began to bring other systems back online, life support, artificial gravity, and control panels come back to life after their ten month dormancy, prepping the ship to receive its crew fresh out of hypersleep. As the air was freshly circulated the hypersleep chambers begin the thawing process, checking and triple checking that all life within the pods were safe during this procedure, for if the temperature was elevated to quickly there could be serious damage done to the occupant.
Thirty minutes later and the lids of the hypersleep chambers raise, Edd blinks a few times as his mind starts to wake up, his body felt like crap after being kept in stasis for so long. Slowly he sits up and fights the urge to empty the contents of his stomach all over the floor, as if there was anything in there to purge in the first place. After assuring himself that he wasn't going to wretch he swings his legs over the edge of the pod and rolls his neck a few times to work out the kinks in it, groaning softly as his neck popped a few times. With blurry eyes he looks at the monitor to his right that was attached to the wall next to his hypersleep chamber, it was currently displaying highlights of the dreams he had during his sleep, asking him if he wanted to save them for future viewing. Hitting the yes button it downloads the files and releases the storage device from its port a moment later then displays that he had a new message waiting to be viewed. Hitting the blinking button on the screen the image quickly changes to a smiling Kevin, "Happy anniversary babe," he kisses his hand and motions toward the screen with it, "Well I guess it's about another month till you get here, I really can't wait to see you, I've got some champagne stashed away for when you get here and I'm going to cook you up the best damn dinner you've ever had. I love you and I miss you," He pauses to let out a sigh as he rubs the back of his neck, "I'll see ya in a month." Kevin leans forward and hits the stop button and the screen goes black
Edd smiles to himself for a few moments then stands and heads to the shower to brush and was ten months of funk from his skin and teeth, though the scientist who invented the chambers swore that all organic growth slowed to nearly a standstill while in the chamber, he still felt dirty. Washed, brushed and dressed he heads to the mess hall to grab a bite to eat, cornbread, beans and spam, ah the life of space travel, what a wonderful thing. At least when he hit planet side he was in for a decent meal, and a long awaited reunion with the other half of his heart. Sitting down at a table he dips his cornbread into his beans, lapping up the juices to soften it up before taking a bit or the tough bread. After swallowing the nutritionally sound but barely eatable food he takes a drink and looks across the table at the captain of the ship. The man was in his late thirties of African descent, a light speckling of grey in his well trimmed beard, his attire was a very casual dress down look of jeans, T-shirt and a flight jacket, but why not, this ship was him home after all. "Captain Monroe," the man turns away from the conversation he was having with his crew and toward Edd, "How long till we land?"
The man responded politely though there was a hint of irritation in his voice, as though he wanted to say we'll get there when we get there, "Well my good doctor, we should be in orbit of Calpamos within the hour, another twenty minutes to catch up to Acheron and then there's the thirty minute flight time after that so roughly another two hours before you're rid of me."
"Thank you Captain, I appreciate the information." Edd quickly finishes his meal and now with a little bit of food on his stomach to help settle it down, he gets up and puts his tray in the return bin to be cleaned. Walking out of the mess hall he locates a terminal and takes a seat, inserting a card into the slot under the small screen it starts the call. Hearing a tone go off several times before the automated message played "We're sorry but "Kevin Vincent-Barr" is not available, please leave a message after the tone." A soft tone was heard a moment later and Edd begins his message by waving at the camera, "Hey Kev, I guess you're at work now," Edd was a ball of nerves right now, they have been away from each other for so long, "I am obviously letting you know that we are about to enter orbit and I should be making landfall within two hours, I love you and I'll see you soon." Hanging up, he exits the terminal and heads off to busy himself to keep his mind from wondering. For Edd their time apart has been ten months worth of silence then three months worth of holodates, for Kevin it was three months worth of holodates and then ten months worth of silence, a very trying time for any relationship.
But before Edd knew it though the Captain was making an announcement, "All hands prepare for our decent to Acheron, please find the closest flight chair and strap yourselves in."
Edd rushed to the bridge to strap into one of the observation chairs along the back wall which were provided by the company for passengers who wanted to see a flight crew in action. The helmsman calls out to the captain, "Now in orbit of LV426 sir."
"Alright, let's put her to bed people," Flipping a few switches upon his control panel he then continues, "Thompson, being the approach."
"Aye sir."
"Ten degree down angle," The first officer called out and the helmsman confirmed the order.
A few minutes later he called out another order, "Forty degree starboard roll," the helmsman once again confirmed the order.
The communications officer was busy hailing the colony to advise them of their approach, "This is cargo vessel Argo identification number 89301585 calling colony control do you read over."
"Ruff winds ahead sir,' the science officer called out.
The captain flipped a switch opening the intercom system, "Alright everyone hang on tight, it's going to get a little rough." Hitting the ionosphere the ship rocked slightly as it began to hit the gases that formed the atmosphere, and it began to lurch even harder as they continued their decent, this lasted only a few minutes until they made it past the cloud line and the winds subsided.
"I'm locked onto their beacon sir and we are making our approach," the helmsman notified him.
Flipping the switch again he announces in a very serious yet corny voice, "This is your captain speaking, we will be landing at Hadley's Hope shortly, please make sure all your tray tables are in their upright and locked positions, I thank you for choosing Argo air for all your travel needs and hope that you will enjoy your stay on the beautiful moon drenched shores of Acheron."
Five minutes later and the massive ship gently touches down on the main landing pad of the colony, steam bellowing from several exhaust ports, and a low mechanical whine begins as the loading ramp lowers to allow the colonist to off load the supplies being shipped. With a duffle bag strapped to his back a suite case in his left hand and a dog carrier in his right, Edd slowly walks down the ramp and to his new home. He looked around nervously searching for a familiar baseball cap, wondering if Kevin had received his message before they arrived. Kipper barks as he notices him before his master does, "Edd," he looks in the direction his name was called and his face nearly broke as a smile worked its way across it going from ear to ear.
Running as fast as he could without dropping his baggage, for Kipper would never forgive him if he did drop him, he makes his way over to the red head and stops a few steps from him, "Hey you." He puts down the dog carrier and lets go of the suite case as Kevin sweeps in and wraps his arms around him, picking him up and spinning him a few times before placing him gently back on the ground and kissing him passionately.
He brushes the tear from Edd's cheek with his thumb as he cupped his loves face, "Welcome home."
A/N- I know some of you are catching on to the hints I am dropping, but please don't spoil it for others, I want it to be a surprise, a nice big surprise. Let me know what you think with a comment, and I hope to be scaring you soon.