Disclaimer: I Don't own Bioware nor the characters. I just like making stories :)
Firm hands clamped over his mouth pulled him from a dreamless sleep. Striking emerald eyes sparkled against the down light's mellow glow. Malcolm caressed Hannah's cheek and kissed her palm. The ship was still in its night cycle which meant only a handful of crew members were still awake. Hannah moved her hand down to Malcolm's, following the muscular curve of arm. Malcolm's mouth dried at the sight of Hannah; with their fingers entwined she coaxed him into getting out of his bunk. Lust and mischief danced in her eyes, fanning the flames of desire within Malcolm.
Their joint deployment was almost over. The supply run to Eden Prime had gone perfectly. The 103rd had inspected, tested and calibrated the colony defence systems while the Navy offloaded supplies for the colonists. Throughout the trip Malcolm had made a point of staying in the cargo bay, away from anywhere Hannah would be. He considered himself professional enough to work alongside his wife, but he didn't care to deal with the rumours. Different chains of command meant fraternisation wasn't much of a problem. Despite this he knew they were lucky to be on the same mission, let alone
on the same vessel.
Hannah freed her hand to grasp the metal bars of the service ladder. Leaning over just enough to pull her jumpsuit taut against her backside. Malcolm's tongue darted across his lips when Hannah slid her hand along the hard metal. He cleared his throat, a quiet 'ahem', and shoved his hands into his pockets when she smirked at him over her shoulder, disappearing down the service hole. He didn't bother to wait for her signal of all-clear as he followed her into the service shafts. The crawl space led straight to the cargo bay; the opening hidden behind several stacked crates. Pulling himself around a corner, he glimpsed Hannah dragging herself out of the crawl space, keeping low in front of him, holding her hand up prompting Malcolm to be still and quiet. He heard the whoosh of the cargo bay doors sealing when Hannah disappeared from view. The doors blue scanner flashed to red.
Malcolm barely had enough time to stand up when Hannah's mouth found his. She moaned, and he growled into the kiss as his hands ran down her sides to rest on the seat of her backside; her arms snaked around his neck as their tongues warred against each other. Clutching her butt he lifted her into his embrace. Her legs wrapped around his waist, pulling them closer together. Malcolm walked them over to a crate depositing her atop it so he could unclasp her shirt buttons. Hannah caught his hair within her fingers and pulled just hard enough for Malcolm to tip his head back, breaking their kiss. She nipped and suckled her way along his jawline while he made short work of her shirt, ripping it down her arms to expose her naked form. He brought his hands up to cup breasts, capturing her nipples in his fingers, tweaking them between thumb and forefinger as he massaged her breasts in the palm of his hand. She sighed into his jawline and arched into his touch. Malcolm drew back enough to recapture her lips with his, smiling into the kiss when he felt her nipples harden beneath his fingers.
Hannah ran her hands down his back tugging at the hem of his shirt before running her hands back up his stomach towards his shirt buttons. He bit her bottom lip and grasped her hands placing them behind her back before returning to her nipples. She had been tormenting him all day on the ship knowing he'd be unable to react while on duty. He was straining against his BDU's and desperately wanted to be inside her but he needed to return the favour. He needed her to taste her own medicine before he gave them both what they wanted. Moaning in frustration, Hannah wiggled beneath his touch, shifting her hands so she was sitting on them. His tongue traced from her lips down her neck to her hardened nipple, taking it into his mouth while his hands caressed her back, tracing light patterns on the skin between her shoulder blades. She felt gooseflesh rise beneath his feather light caress. Hungry fingers unbuttoned her trousers with ease as he pushed his fingers past her panties just enough to tease and ignite a fire within her. Keeping a slow and even tempo Malcolm worked his finger around her coaxing small whimpers of pleasure out of Hannah as he held her hips still. He pushed her legs further apart for better exposure and she bucked against his touch. Malcolm continued the slow, torturous pace; leaning into Hannah as he claimed her lips for another kiss.
Slick wetness coated his fingers as Malcolm kept circling her nub slowly - close enough for her to feel the desire building but far enough to drive her wild. He was being mean but figured she'd almost learned her lesson about teasing him. Hannah moaned and bucked her hips against him, a silent plea for him to touch her clit. Instead Malcolm pushed his hand further down her panties and inserted a finger into her, stroking to enhance her frustration. Malcolm ran his hand from her hips up her back and entwined his fingers in her hair. Tugging gently yet firmly on her hair, Hannah pulled back from the kiss and tilted her head back to expose her neck. Her breathing hitched as she moaned and clung to his name like a manta while Malcolm increased the pace of his strokes, making sure his palm rubbed against her clit when his fingers stroked within her - 'please please please; Mal— oh please! I need-'
"This is what you did to me, all day," He growled into her ear and removed his fingers so suddenly that Hannah whimpered. Malcolm almost felt guilty for smiling at her devastated expression.
He yanked her off the crates, his guilt melted away when she squealed in delight, and set her down before him. Spinning her around in place, Malcolm bent her over the crate she had been sitting on. Hannah wiggled her hips excitedly, half shimmying out of her trousers when the cargo bay door locks chimed signalling that the unlocking sequence had primed.
Hannah shoved Malcolm back and leapt off the cargo boxes. She grabbed her bra and shirt on her way to the service entrance leaving Malcolm to fend for collected his shirt from the ground, shaking out the creases when the door whooshed open to reveal Captain Nitesh Singh and Corporal Tadius Ahern. Everyone snapped off a perfect salute. Malcolm draped his shirt over the crate and walked towards the makeshift sparring ring. Thanks to the intrusion he was even more pent up.
"I take it you gentlemen can't sleep either," He sat on the floor to stretch out his legs, since he would not get Hannah tonight he needed another way to blow off steam; "fancy a few rounds?"
Captain Singh removed his dress blues, placing them in a locker off to the side then busied himself with the weapons rack. Corporal Ahern, without the usual Alliance care, tossed his shirt off to the side and strode into the arena barely stretching out as he reminded Malcolm that 'I still owe you for Eden Prime.' Malcolm felt his lips twitch against a smirk. Back on Eden Prime Ahern had been running his mouth complaining that his girlfriend had been passed over for the SSV Matterhorn's navigator, that the current navigator got the posting for sleeping with the ship's former XO. The man had no tact, making the claim just as Malcolm and Hannah walked into the mess. Hannah walked over to the food station with her head held high. Malcolm asked Tadius to spar with him. His voice calm and even; only his eyes betrayed
his rage.
It had taken Malcolm less than a minute to knock Tadius on his ass. Everyone had come out to watch the sparring match - the ships company stood on crates, chairs and tables; people sat in the front rows; some people even sat on people's shoulders to get a view of Corporal Ahern sparring with former XO Malcolm Sheppard. This time was different. There was no crowd, and it wasn't personal. Malcolm stood on his side of the ring, redressing his knuckles. Tadius bounced on the spot shaking tension from his arms and shoulders, he squatted a few times as he claimed 'last time you got lucky! i
won't go so easy on you this time, Shepard.'
Tadius raised his fists up, his left level with his eye and his right in line with his collarbone. Bouncing from foot to foot he took a few quick jabs then squared his footing. Malcolm rolled his shoulder blades back as he strolled into the ring, his arms remained at his side. Tadius lunged forward striking out with his right arm. Malcolm raised his arms in defence, blocking the punch as he pushed Tadius' arm to the side and palmed him firmly in the chest. Tadius staggered backwards then regained his posture, he faked a punch for Malcolm to dodge and brought his knee up sharply towards Malcolm's core. Malcolm clasped his arms above his head and brought his elbows down hard, connecting with Tadius' thigh then palming him in the chest again. Tadius staggered back again and roared in frustration. Malcolm focused on the sparring match blocking, dodging, and weaving waiting for an opening.
Captain Singh hoisted himself onto a bench to watch the match. Tadius was panting, covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Malcolm felt his breathing hitch; he was getting tired. When Tadius threw himself at
Malcolm again, he decided the match was over. Malcolm raised his fists to his eye level; deflecting the right hook and then the left - pushing the arms open and throwing him off guard. Malcolm grabbed Tadius' shoulder and swung his leg around to buckle his knee, half guiding Tadius to the floor when he fell. Victory. Malcolm wandered over to Captain Singh and tapped him on the shoulder to trade places. Hoisting himself up onto the stack of crates, he messed with his omni-tool while Nitesh and Tadius circled around each other. Several missed vid calls from the twins flashed bright against the dim lighting. Switching his omni-tool to private audio he played the message, cracking a smile when the video came to life right under Victoria's nose. Vance yelled 'no 'tori!' off camera and the shot widened to reveal both of his children sitting on the floor. Vance held a picture book in front of him and Victoria, speaking nonsense as he pointed to the colourful pages. Victoria sat beside him trying to divide her attention between the vid call and the story. A toothy smile, enthusiastic wave and 'hello mummy! hello daddy!' was the only acknowledgment from the kids before they returned their full attention to the story. The vid call flicked over to Steven's face as he gave a brief message: 'you should be about 6 hours away. Kids want to wait up though I give them another hour at most. Babysitter will be back soon. Come by my place before turning in.'
The second vid was of Vance saying good night, The third was from Victoria, and the fourth was from Steven saying he would meet them in the auditorium. Several more alerts pinged. Malcolm opened the
attachment on his omni-tool as Nitesh and Tadius joined him on the sidelines, their omni-tools alive with the same attachment. The men exchanged glances, Standing Orders demanded everyone from the Fourth Fleet and 103rd division to report to the auditorium at 0300. Matterhorn's pilot announced that they were two hours out from Arcturus Station.
"You heard the woman," Nitesh grabbed his jacket from the locker, becoming the Captain again; "Two hours left, make yourselves busy."
oOo
It was bedlam at the docks. They docked at 0315. Decontamination malfunctioned sending the ship into quarantine for twenty-six minutes while engineers completed the process, forcing everyone to walk through the makeshift scrubbing booth one by one - ten minutes per person with roughly eighty staff By the time they all reached the auditorium the debrief was well underway, everyone went silent and stared as they entered the room.
A giant projection of a star stream sat high above the group. it looked like any other cluster except for one significant difference: The relay was inactive. The scientist at the podium, Malcolm guessed, was almost peeing himself with excitement. An inactive relay meant uncharted territory; uncharted territory meant uninhabited worlds. The Admirals ordered the Fourth Fleet to be ready for deployment within the day.
Equal parts excitement and despair rippled through Malcolm. Nothing could compare with being the first human on a new planet; to explore an uncharted world while the scientists scurried about like bugs on crack, taking samples of everything from dirt to air. To watch as the galaxy map was expanded, marvelling at how small humanity was against the vastness of space. Malcolm could see the excitement on Hannah's face as she chatted to the navigational team.
But he had missed his son's first words, his daughter's first steps. Their first birthday and their first day of preschool. He loved being amongst the stars discovering all the wonders the galaxy was hiding from them but, he wanted to be there when his children made discoveries of their own. The memory of his first time on the Armstrong Outpost had been replaced by the birth of his children; the memory of sailing through the stars a distant second to his kids learning to ride a tricycle. Sinking into sulphur pits lost to the memory of the kids painting the walls with chocolate mousse and Hannah's protein powder. Malcolm smiled wistfully losing himself in his memories of the twins. When the auditorium was dismissed Captain Singh rallied his people back to the ship. Hannah's lips kissed the air near Malcolm's cheek, a small goodbye, before she ran off to join the crew.
Malcolm rounded the corner of his street unable to remember how he had gotten there. His feet and eyelids were heavy. His vision flickering with every step he took. His body ached in places he didn't even
know could be sore. The station's dawn cycle creeped up the artificial horizon lighting the ceiling with brilliant blues, golds and light pinks; Malcolm winced. After weeks aboard a ship the sunlight was blinding, but it gave him a sense of calmness. The station was silent at this hour: the skycabs are grounded, the station VI was on standby, and the docking station was too far away for the noise to be a problem. He pulled the front door keycard from his pocket, swatting the panel and falling on the door for support as he stumbled inside. The babysitter hurried over to his side, taking his rucksack and heading
towards the laundry, one whiff of the bag etched a deep scowl into her features.
He dragged himself upstairs and fell onto his bed, still dressed in his BDU's. A broken whine clawed out from his throat as darkness devoured him.
Tiny voices pulled him from his dreamless sleep. Unwilling to wake up, Malcolm lay still, content with swimming around in limbo listening to the small voices sing and chatter around him.
'He's hairy!'
'He fell asleep with shoes on! Silly billy.'
'Shh! he'll wake up.'
'I'm hungry.'
The weight of a tiny person bouncing on him forced another groan from Malcolm. He snorted and craned his neck around, picking himself up off the bed. Victoria giggled as she fell off his back onto the bed. Ignoring the kids as they raced down the hallway, Malcolm tore his boots from his feet and threw them at the bathtub. He turned the hot tap as far as it would go watching as the steam rolled around the room. Malcolm hissed as he shoved his hand through the molten stream to reach the cold water. He stripped off and tossed his BDU's into the bathtub with his boots then stepped into the shower, enjoying the burning sensation from the hot shower washing away the stress from his aching body.
Hot showers were a great way to start shore leave.
oOo
They were ready for deployment by the time the crew had returned from the Auditorium. The dock workers had outdone themselves - most of the Fourth Fleet had already left for the relay when the Matterhorn crew arrived.
Hannah stood at her terminal in front of the ship's GUI interface plotting a clean route for the pilot to maintain FTL through three active relays into a brand new system. Her map was dark for the sector though the ship's sensor arrays would soon change that.
Several servicemen flittered around her shouting nav points, ship specs and report updates from engineering over one another. She repeated the important information aloud for confirmation as she focused on building their flight path. The flight lieutenant announced over the ship wide broadcast system that they were three hours out from the
Prime relay as Hannah's earpiece buzzed to life whining and popping with static.
'...There we go!' Hannah's heart skipped a beat as she listened to the familiar beeps, pings and chimes of the cockpit; 'Private channel.'
"Flight path almost ready for you, Flight Lieutenant." Hannah continued to punch in Nav points and tighten their route as she whispered; "servicemen info dumping course corrections all at once, hard to focus right now. I'll update you once we hit FTL travel from the Prime relay."
'Typical FNG's,' laugher flooded her earpiece; 'Oh hey Captain -'
Hannah felt her mouth break into a grin as the private line fell silent. She uploaded the flight path off her then pivoted around to give the servicemen her full attention. Holding her hands up flat and shushing the group into silence she pointed at the serviceman on her right, ordering her to check the flight path uploaded to all navigation screens. She turned to the other two servicemen waving her hand as she passed them. Falling in line they followed her to the mess hall. XO Hartley sat in the furthermost corner surrounded by small piles of datapads. He scanned the contents of the datapad in front of him, comparing it to other datapads. She pulled out the two chairs opposite the XO, stepping back as the two servicemen took her place at the table. Hartley's gaze shifted between the three of them, holding Hannah's attention hostage until she introduced the servicemen as the assistant navigators. She hadn't finished the introductions when Hartley pushed two stacks of datapads towards the servicemen, waving Hannah away as the group discussed scenarios and counter-measures.
'Hartley will keep them occupied for the rest of the trip,' a deep gravelly voice rumbled through her earpiece, sending a shiver down her spine; 'Wanna copilot my ship?'
"Only if you promise to fire your canon." Hannah whispered to herself. A sharp inhale and sultry purr from the earpiece tugged at something within her belly; "I'll be there in five."
The ship was buzzing with activity as Hannah stepped out the elevator. The door to the communications room sat wide open. Captain Singh had his back to the bridge as he stood before the holograms of several captains; a small plaque beneath their hologram console showed which ship they represented. The Captain of the Denali shifted from foot to foot as she crossed her arms, the image quality was poor, but she seemed unimpressed with the conversation. The XO strode past tilting his head away from the door - a silent hint to move on - as he made his way down the catwalk to Singh.
Her omni-tool flashed 15:43 as she grabbed two ration packs from the mess hall. With her usual carelessness she tossed them into a free microwave. Keying in 5 - 3 - 0 - start, rummaging around for two sachets of coffee while the microwave droned along to the countdown. She filled the two travel mugs with boiling water before adding in the sachets of coffee and powdered milk then stirred vigorously. The microwave beeped just as she screwed the caps onto the travel mugs. Balancing the ration pack trays in one hand and the travel mugs in the other she weaved through the groups of people, climbing the staircase two steps at a time and making the long trek down to the cockpit.
Flight Lieutenant Squire spun around in his chair so fast Hannah thought he'd fly out of it. She leaned against the door, dinner and drinks in hand. He gratefully accepted a tray and travel mug, swirling back around while Hannah climbed into the copilot seat. The relay floated lifeless before them. Squire hit a few buttons on his console. The HUD from his console disappeared before lighting up over the virtual window panels; orange tracking circles closed around nearby ships - SSV Denali, SSV Copenhagen and SSV Victoria drifted on the flanks while the SSV Vancouver and SSV Churchill lingered ahead. Hannah sipped her coffee letting the hot liquid roll around her tongue while Squire shovelled a forkful of green beans into his mouth moaning in appreciation as he chewed the food. Another orange circle appeared around the relay on the screen, information popped up beside the tracking ring: "inactive for at least a century, powered down and the relay has suffered damaged - repairs required" Hannah read aloud as Captain Singh joined them in the cockpit.
"Looks like we have our work cut out for us then, establish Fleet wide communications" Captain Singh rallied all crewmen to their posts, several hours later engineers and mechanics floated around the
relay, marines and non essential servicemen scurried around the bays grabbing tools and finding pieces of scrap to send to the repair teams. The cruisers and frigates circled around the relay, flooding the area with as much light as the ships could allow; "Shepard, get ready to take a walk."
oOo
Hannah hung from the relay with one mag boot, letting her other leg float beneath her as she ran a diagnostic from her Omni-tool flicking her gaze between the relay control panel and her program, overriding corrupt data.
It had been centuries since the relay had been active, the data streamed along the screen in broken images forcing her omni-tool to compensate with its own algorithm. To her left two mechanics worked on rewiring an exposed panel while another two crewmen welded scrap metal to the relay above her. Hannah's omni-tool blinked as it uploaded the reconstructed data to the relay.
They had been at the relay for three cycles. Internal damage to the relay was more severe than expected, not that Hannah cared; being out amongst the stars comforted her and gave her a sense of peace unlike anything she'd ever known. Yanking on her tether to ensure she was attached, Hannah pushed off the relay using the momentum to float upwards towards the gyroscopic rings. She grabbed one ring to slow herself as she booted the screen on the new control panel and restarted the diagnostic program on her omni-tool; the screens flashed to life, mirroring one another. Hannah tapped a command into the program and let it run while she started into space.
"What a view," Hannah whispered in awe. She let go of the relay, letting herself drift among the stars; "So beautiful."
'You're not wrong. Definitely a sight.'
"I could stay out here forever," Hannah stretched her arms above her head reaching out to touch the stars.
'You can - most fleets get deployed indefinitely' Squire's deep, velvety voice was right beside her ear and it sent delicious shivers down her spine; 'reeling you in, diagnostic's done. I'll prep the data while you get food!'
Hannah's body jerked backwards as the tether pulled her back to the Matterhorn. She ended the programs on her Omni-tool and silenced her comm channel as she continued to admire the stars.
Squire leaned forward in his chair, gaze fixed on the data compiling on the screens before him. His head rested on his folded hands and his elbows rested against his thighs. Captain Singh sat on the copilot's chair stroking his chin, dragging his fingernails though his stubble. Hannah and XO Hartley leaned against the rear wall on either side of the door.
Compilation at 26% - Routing through SSV Victoria
Whenever they had activated a relay, the ship VI could translate the data to English in an hour. Every other relay had given them valuable insight to an ancient race called Protheans. Every other relay had the
same standard reboot sequence. Other relays were undamaged and could be activated within a day. So why, Hannah thought to herself, is this one different?
"Captain? I don't like this-" "I feel the same, Shepard, but we have our orders." Captain Singh cut her off mid sentence as he strolled out of the cockpit with XO Hartley hot on his heels.
Compilation at 32% - Linking SSV Copenhagen for compensation
The Ship VI announced several hails from the fleet. Squire reopened the fleet wide broadcast channel in time to heard a chorus of voices blast through the speakers. Squire muted himself and diverted each
communication channel to different departments. Hannah giggled at Squire mocking his current role "thank you for calling the SSV Matterhorn. Please hold while I direct your call." He grinned at her and she allowed herself to return the grin as butterflies flittered up a storm in her chest.
Compilation at 39% - SSV Churchill online. Compilation efficiency increased by 3%
"Hello boys and girls - we come bearing gifts." Four crewmen from engineering and maintenance appeared behind the duo dropping a stack of cards onto Hannah's lap and holding a bar of chocolate up; "real chocolate and cards."
Compilation at 42% - SSV Vancouver VI successfully integrated with the relay.
Hannah was up five squares of chocolate and feeling lucky about her current hand. Squire sat to her left leaning into his chair casually, using the corner of his cards to pick at his fingernails. Few people on the Matterhorn willing to play poker with Squire; he had the best poker face on the ship. He placed his cards on the makeshift table one at a time: Ten of hearts, Jack of hearts, Queens of hearts, King of hearts, Ace of Hearts - not once breaking eye contact with Hannah. She shifted in her seat, focusing
on her cards as the rest of the group collectively groaned their defeat.
Compilation at 67% - ERROR
The station VI sounded seven short blasts and one long blast of the alarm in between the message 'malfunction in primary drive core, attempting to compensate.' The four crewmen threw themselves from their places at the poker table, running off to find the malfunction. Hannah and Squire looked at one another, grabbing pieces of chocolate off the poker board as they spun their chairs around to face the virtual screens.
The SSV Victoria flagging a malfunction in their life gravitational systems, SSV Copenhagen Captain ordered their VI to do a hard reboot, SSV Churchill's communications fell to static and SSV Vancouver's VI went offline. Squire opened every channel to SSV Vancouver, practically begging for someone to respond by the time Hannah managed to help the Matterhorn VI connect to the SSV Vancouver.
The Matterhorn VI flickered to life behind its bridge terminal desk. It held its hand up in a stop motion, activating several holograms including a 3D blueprint of the SSV Vancouver; but instead of being orange the image was red - multiple critical malfunctions. The ship had taken the brunt of a heavy cybernetic assault. Captain Singh's voice boomed over the comm. system for power to be routed from non essential systems to the SSV Vancouver clearly worried but still oozing confidence in a way only he could manage. The VI hologram disappeared from the bridge along with the automated navigational system, cabin lighting and several communication channels. Squire cursed loudly as the ship drifted, taking control of the ship in time to watch the flight assistance systems go offline. Hannah took her place in the copilot's
chair to manually navigate the ship. Pride and terror coiled in her chest, she was one of few people still able to perform the task but she had never needed to use it before.
The duo hears a distinct wooming sound of the bridge door being powered down. Hannah walked over to the door to test it: nothing happened. Waving her Omni-tool to life she tried keying in the manual override code, again nothing happened. She hit the emergency release node next to the door – nothing.
"Perfect, locked in... What else could go wrong?" Hannah shuffled back to her post; crumpling into the seat as the climate control system went offline.
