Chapter 14: Christmas intermission
Post reaper war, high Haestrom orbit.
Ril frowned when the satellite came into view, just like the others it was a scorched and partially melted depressingly grey little thing, it's shielding long since dead and utterly worthless to everyone.
But it was not the satellite she was worried about, outside of the small vessel a human with a bulky suit clambered around the probe, her mate.
She and him had bonded during their adventures together and she couldn't have been happier, well having him besides her and not in space would of course lift her demeanor to greater heights. But the satellite network needed repairing and replacements and she and him were forced to keep working to repair the damage from the reapers and their attempted extermination campaign. But she and him were just happy to be alive and together, plus the work was fun and there were perks to being just two people on a ship, her still itchy throat was a reminder of that.
He was taking rather long though, usually stripping a derelict satellite was at most a two hour job but he had been in space long enough for her to retreat into their ship, an enviro suit couldn't hold much air without a dedicated EVA kit, but he was still busy outside doing ancestors knew what.
After a long wait during which she decided the satellite network could very well wait she heard the little beep that signaled he wanted initiate a conversation on her dedicated channel to him
she watched, amused, as he floated headfirst towards the ship, trailing a pair of modules that were heavily scorched and charred.
The human she loved bumped the view-port with a gloved hand and pressed his helmet against it.
She imagined he had a grin plastered all over his face under the helmet, he could be rather silly at times, him acting as a boat when she learned how to swim came to mind.
"I'm almost done, can you check if we have room for a pair of thruster modules?" She nodded and briefly lingered by the window before moving off to check the small cargo area.
Rummaging through some odds and ends she managed to create enough room for the modules , barely.
Staying inside the cargo bay that doubled as an airlock she initiated the airlocks cycle, impatiently awaiting her mate.
As the door lowered Ril took notice of something very odd, there was a cord of sorts hanging from the roof, swaying in the vacuum, several bulbs of light dotted the surface, colorful and glowing in the shade of their ship.
What was going on?
The small cargo bay already cramped, greeted it's new inhabitants, a pair of large grey boxes with numerous pipes sticking out of them, with the screeching of metal grinding against metal, the modules barely fitted inside.
Fredrick soon entered the bay as well, his specialized and heavily insulated spacesuit sizzling from the extended exposure to Dholen, Haestrom's star.
"Are you alright?" She attempted to close the distance and hug him but the heat of his suit quickly. warded her off .
"I'm fine, a little warm though." He said with a joking tone,
Once air filled the bay once again he made no delays in removing his suit, with an audible sigh he discarded the lower part taking care not to touch the surface that was still warm and discarded it along the toppart with a grunt of disgust, he hated those suits, the heavy insulation made them unwieldy and stiff.
He exhaled loudly "That was hard!"
Ril hesitated before him, he smiled and opened his arms wide
"You know I don't mind you doing that." Ril took that as an affirmative and closed the distance quickly, embracing him and pressing her metal 'snout' in the crease of his neck.
While Ril's immune system wasn't still fully accustomed to him which ruled out any full body contact...for the most part..but she could still be exposed to him in short doses without any significant side effects, she enjoyed doing so immensely.
Her mask's internal filters opened up and immediately she was assaulted by the most wonderful scent, his scent. She buried her face in his neck and breathed in deeply.
He chuckled and rubbed her back as she began leaning into him, after a few seconds she removed herself from his neck awkwardly and slowly though neither individual showed signs of regret.
"Now, what's up with the lights on a string?" she asked, eager to know and to keep her nose's preferences out of the conversation.
He smirked and began fastening the 'new' components to the floor. "Well It was supposed to be a surprise.."
"why?"
"It's Christmas on Earth apparently, and since you surprised me with that "at'storamangder'mat'" feast I supposed I could surprise you with this!"
Ril blinked a few times, she had learned humans could be odd but aside from murdering khelish and it's correct pronunciation they apparently celebrated by stringing lights on their ships!?
"what is this..krisst-mas? And why have you strung up light cords on our ship?"
He chuckled and sat down in the comfortable pilot's seat, Ril joined up beside him, she looked adorable with that inquisitive look on her eyes.
"Well, usually you decorate your house, or a tree. But we have neither so I, used the ship.." Ril giggled at her human's sudden mock embarrassment, suddenly a playful smile appeared on his lips
"Or maybe we do have a tree?" He said coyly and reached sideways for one of the storage compartments, she heard him rummage through the various items inside and eventually he straightened up and held a curious object with obvious pride
It was a tiny little plant, plastic and covered in colorful debris.
He planted it with apparent reverence on the very top of the dashboard. She smiled beneath her mask, the little thing was homely somehow.
"But you still haven't explained what Christmas is." He looked genuinely embarrassed at that.
"well it's all about some religious thingy, haven't really looked it up very much..most people use it as a way to be with friends and family, and exchange gifts."
"Gifts?"
"yep!"
Fredrick leaned towards the compartment again, only leaving her a grin as turned his head to once again pick through the content, only this time he rifled through the various debris more thoroughly, the little storage space was deep and held a lot of random items that were in the way.
After a few muffled rustles he placed another arm inside the compartment and began examining whatever lay inside a smile on his face as he glanced to and fro between the object and her seated form.
Ril looked on with a fond look as he started removing whatever he intended to be gift from the compartment.
She was surprised to hear a small almost silent sigh come from him.
After a few moments of apparent examination he dropped whatever he had been handling and turned his head towards her, he looked sad as he began to speak, is if he had failed her greatly, ashamed. "but I don't have anything for you, sorry." He looked genuinely remorseful and spoke quickly, eyes downcast as if bracing himself for punishment.
That didn't sit well with Ril so she laid on her side, head pointing towards Fredrick's lap then she arched her back to clear the control console in between them then she used her powerful thighs to push off the wall, she slid right into his lap.
"It's okay.." She pressed her head into his chest and sighed. "But why did you decorate the ship if you knew you didn't have a gift? You make it sound like that's a big deal for this krist-mas."
"well, I had a gift.."
"what happened?" she asked, tone rising in pitch she was curious and slightly worried, what had happened?
"It didn't survive the sterile field we used last week, I think"
"aww."
she smiled sweetly at the human, while it was concealed behind her visor he had explained long ago that her eyes narrowed when she smiled so she wasn't surprised when he in turn offered a smile in return, the sterile field was harsh on everything it touched especially the version used when they weren't inside the ship, she realized the compartment hadn't been properly sealed and the various vapors associated with a total sterilization had slipped inside.
"I appreciate the thought though, what was it? Not that it matters of course!"
He reached in the metal cavity and picked up a bright red cloth in one hand and two smaller objects, also cloth and red.
They were garments of some sort, knitted but both were scarred by the not so gentle sterilization process, large holes and ugly black blotches marred the cloth of the large garment.
She reached for them, Fredrick obliged and handed them over (as much as you can hand something over to someone already in your lap)
Ril was delighted to see the smaller gifts were relatively unscathed, they felt soft to the touch and she found herself wondering what they were for.
Then she noticed a little protrusion on the side and made a mental visor slap.
Fredrick was relieved Ril seemed happy with what he had given her, a pair of gloves and a sweater were the most appropriate gifts he could find on such a short notice, unless he wanted to give Ril some nutrient-paste, suit patches or a tube of sterilization gel which one of the Sa'geth had offered as it repeatedly 'winked' it's photoreceptor, something he found both disturbing and amusing, a curious combination of feelings indeed.
Removing himself from Sa'geth and innuendo he looked on as Ril seemed to struggle with something, swaying precariously in his lap at the brink of falling off until he steadied her with his hands.
Her own hands were occupied with her feet, and was that?
She sighed "I'm sorry Freddy, but these socks are the wrong size..."
His eyes widened, a massive grin formed on his face, she had indeed put the gloves on her feet and as he watched her third little toe move about inside the space a thumb would occupy he broke down in laughter.
Ril looked on as he attempted to catch his breath, her arms soon crossed over her chest, though the gesture lost some of it's meaning as she made no attempt to leave his lap.
"h-ha! Ha! They're, they're for your hands!" Ril sheepishly looked at her feet, halfway stuffed into the small cloth, a small wiggle of little Nirla(the third toe.) sent the sock on it's way to the floor.
"Well I didn't know that!" she muttered, he managed to stifle his laughter with a number of deep breaths.
"sorry, it just looked so funny!" the flustered look she gave him motivated him to add "and cute, very cute." Ril didn't relent with look and he worried she was actually upset "seriously I'm sorry, I laughed at you and that's not okay and it wil..hey!"
his carefully prepared lecture was cut short by the sound of Ril giggling, loudly.
"Ril!"
Now it was he who crossed his arms, or attempted to as he still had a shapely quarian in his lap, after repeated attempts he decide to let them rest along his sides as the quarian giggled hysterically eventually her laughter subsided, she exhaled loudly between persistent chuckling.
Turning her head she came face to face with her human, he had an amused smile on his lips.
She felt his arms circle her waist once again, she sank down into his embrace with a sigh content to leave planned teasing to the back of her mind and just enjoy relaxing.
She felt one of his hands start to rub her shoulder while the other rested on her stomach, she didn't mind a lopsided shoulder massage, much of her left shoulder and some of her upper torso was heavily cybernetic so she wouldn't feel much anyway.
But just as she was sinking down into a blissful calm a muffled "pop!" shattered her peaceful state.
The pair flinched, Fredrick did in particular, almost making her fall off (much to her chagrin) but she felt him relax quickly and she did too as she saw glittering flakes float past the view screen, the light cord wasn't capable of surviving in Dholen's rays for long.
The popping continued and the stream of colorful flakes increased in frequency.
Ril liked how it looked, they glimmered pleasantly in the harsh sun that was responsible for exploding them in the first place.
Fredrick resumed his affections and mumbled, astonished.
"well I hadn't expected a snowy Christmas, in space."
"And I didn't expect my stupid little human to cover our ship with pretty lights." She giggled and turned around, sitting face to face with him "lights that explode."
"They pop, and I'm not stupid." a thoughtful glance at a sizable dent on the wall made him add "not very stupid.." she laughed at his sheepish tone.
"You're not stupid, you're wonderful" Fredrick cringed, he didn't fit that label at all in his opinion, Ril on the other hand...
(EDIT:now chapter 14 thanks to the expanded wreck scene in chapter 12)
Sa'geth
New servants
after every geth, VI and AI inexplicably died, the quarians rebuilt the Geth, now with limited networking and a hardwired "do not kill organics" command to prevent a second uprising, while much of the galaxy view it as pointless hysteria on part of the quarian people many of them are relieved to finally feel safe around Geth that are now rendered utterly harmless.
little Nirla
Nirla, Nirel, Niraa
Part of the quarian creation myth, believed to be the first ancestors.
Nirel was the male that crawled out of a muddy puddle when the time was right and the stars were in position, what position that was has never been discerned but quarians being nocturnal often regarded stars as spiritual rather than physical objects so it may prove futile.
Niraa was the female, she emerged from a dark night with food in her hands which she gave to the starving Nirel, reflecting on the traditional female provider and male caretaker roles of quarian pairs.
Nirla was their child.
Now used as naming for toes, few know how that came to be but many families still perpetuate them as toe names, often engaging in play when the child starts developing more advanced motor control.
Ril regards that time fondly, and thanks to her time as a nurse where her colleagues jokingly refereed to broken toes as "Niraa has a concussion" the naming simply stuck.
At'storamangder'mat
A feast enacted at the end of winter, when most perishables had to be eaten by the ancient quarians as they would spoil and rot otherwise.
Now a part of the multitude of holidays and parties dedicated to keeping morale on the decrepit flotilla at acceptable levels and holding the early massive suicide levels when the flotilla was first formed at bay.
Infamous for the often large amounts of meatpaste and alcohol consumed which leads to drunken crewmen, it has gotten to the point that a new crew temporarily replaces the original one.
Ril and Fredrick spent the particular feast on the Tozzalk, Ril's birthship, their stay culminated in a bar fight and drunken intercrural in a storage compartment that they may or may not have left uncleaned.
Right a very late intermission, in truth this shouldn't have been posted at all but I've been hitting a snag, you see I think I might have rushed the resolution to both the whole shipwreck thing and their romantic involvement, lots more drama could've been incorporated but I missed that opportunity..
What do you guys think? I really need your opinions so leave a review!