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Chapter 36 - The Elite Temptation
A sharp noise vaguely registered to her, drawing her attention up into some conscious awareness. The remains of an already forgotten dream slid away as the odd invasive sound repeated, cutting off sharply, but its damage was done.
She felt drugged, heavy, and so unbelievably comfortable that just the awareness of that fact felt annoyingly distracting. Yet, her consciousness was lifting, bringing with it memories of yesterday. However, even recalled memories of fighting an alien robot and almost drowning standing up didn't bother her in this place of blissful comfort.
If all the crew on the Sythus slept on mattresses this comfortable, it was no wonder that they worked so hard for the Elite.
She could not remember being so comfortable ever, but then her last bed had been a thin sleeping mat on the floor of the recently flooded Hot Water Regulation Chamber. This mattress was soft, and seemed to have moulded itself around her to hug her in its warm blissful soft hug.
And the pillow was good too; nothing like the thin thing she had been given with the sleeping mat or in the brig. This one was fluffy, soft against her cheek and tucked in just nicely in her arm and around her head.
A new bleep noise echoed from somewhere far beyond her blissful warmth. Seeal frowned at the sound, and not just because it was serving to draw her further out of her snooze, but that brought with it awareness of other sounds.
Oneakka was moving around his quarters. She could hear him moving things around, not loudly, but it was still enough to intrude in on her comfort. Did he not know how blissful these mattresses were? How could he leave his?
Perhaps he had one filled with rocks; she smiled against her warm pillow. It probably looked all 'normal' from the outside, but inside it would be hard and uncomfortable. Not like hers.
The sheets and blanket over her were good too. Twice the thickness of those on Dreamstation, and they smelt of some pleasing aroma, rather than the slightly plastic scent the sleeping mat had given everything in the Hot Water Regulation Chamber. When she left the Sythus she might see if she could purchase one of these blankets to take with her.
As much as she hated the cold, it being too linked with nasty old memories, she loved warmth. She knew it was a weakness of hers, something that she had tried not to indulge in too frequently in the past. After all, how could she respond instantly to any threats if she was snuggled with so much warmth and comfort? How the Elite were the decent warriors they were was anyone's guess.
If they had given her this bed back when she had been held in the brig, she might have actually considered telling them absolutely everything she knew and more.
She frowned into the warmth of her pillow, wondering idly if Oneakka had known this about her and had put this bed together to weaken her in some way.
No, she was being paranoid. The whole crew probably had this blissful package to enjoy – the lucky, intelligent and highly trained crew. She supposed you had to have something good to balance out the craziness of fighting the Wraith every day.
Another new sound intruded into her happy space though and this time she found herself automatically opening her eyes. Someone was talking through a tiny speaker on a wall communications panel, but she couldn't make out the words. Which might have something to do with the fact that she realised that she had curled herself up into a ball under the blankets. Like some kind of puppy like creature she had curled up into the warmth, won over by the feeling of security and unbelievably comfortable mattress. What she wouldn't have given to have had bedding like this when she was younger. She might have turned out differently if she had known comfort like this could exist by joining the Alliance military.
She blinked into the darkness of the coverings over her, feeling slightly smothered by them now she was more conscious, but she was still unwilling to draw up out of her curled up state of bliss.
No, the call for some fresh air was required. She lifted her head up, brushing her cheek against her ridiculously soft pillow, and out from under the blanket. It was bright outside her cocoon and she blinked sleepily.
The blue dividing curtain filled her view, hanging quite close to the side of the bed, the more transparent panels at the end showing a clear view of the far side of his quarters. Confused as to why she could see that panel from the top of the bed, she realised that she had not only curled up on the mattress, but right down into the middle of it, so that she was half way down the bed, her head towards the side wall.
Still feeling drugged from the excessively comfortable sleep, she struggled into a more upright slump, drawing her shoulders and one arm out from under the glorious warmth of the blankets. She leant the back of her head back against the wall and blinked at the transparent panel.
She hadn't pulled the curtain all the way across before she had gone to bed. It only stretched to the end of the bed, not across the width of the room. She had been close to exhausted when she had finally fallen onto this mattress of delight. She had stayed up for quite some time working on that retinal scanner, cursing and muttering at the de-scrambler's inability to communicate with the scanner. Oneakka hadn't appeared to mind, as he had simply sat in silence, working on his own tinkering and then later reading.
She had pointed out that she had never known him to be so quiet before, and he had retaliated by asking if she was ever quiet. To show that she could, she had held in her mutterings until the point that he had abruptly decreed that it was time to retire. She had wanted to object, but as she had been barely able to see straight by that point, she had let him take the retinal scanner combo from her and hand her a short-sleeved soft shirt of his for her to wear in bed.
She glanced down at her chest now, finding it indeed covered with a pale grey shirt. The scent she had been enjoying earlier might be coming from it.
That wasn't good.
Neither was the fact that she was listening to him moving around on the other side of the curtain. At the edge of the transparent panel she had seen the flash of one pale arm – blue tinged by the curtain though it was.
Then he stepped into view, moving through the transparent panel's view to the side wall, tapping open a cupboard door which she recalled was a wardrobe last night. Which was an appropriate place for him to be because he clearly needed some clothes for the day.
He was bare-chested and the view was just a little too good.
As he reached into the wardrobe with one of his long muscular arms, she was allowed a nice profile view of his torso.
Of course he was going to be lean and toned – he was an Elite warrior.
It was expected.
That he could probably be used as an example of perfect maleness was surely also expected of an Elite warrior.
This was not good. She should look away.
He turned slightly, affording a better view of his chest, and she leaned a little further to her right to confirm her suspicions. He had barely any body hair at all, or if he did, it was as pale as his skin tone. Except there was one patch of some light hair right in the centre of his upper chest, which came into clear focus as he turned from the wardrobe, pausing to trigger the door closed again.
In doing so, he revealed another secret about him, one which she had pondered about before now. Despite the obvious nature of the tattoos gracing the right side of his face, in spending more time with him she had thought that there were not enough of them. Surely a man with his fighting skill and grumpy determination would have more markings than she had counted on his face. Sure they were stylised and more detailed than those she had seen on others, but his tattoos had clearly been well designed to work in and around his facial scarring. But, in total, she suspected there were perhaps only ten on his face. She had seen more on other Elite warriors, most notably Emmagan.
Now, she had her answer.
Tucked around the left side of his ribcage, dark black Wraith-like tattoos ran in rippling bands around his side, looking rather like the stripes one saw on the most poisonous of creatures.
But they were not the only markings.
On his upper chest, set just to the left of centre, as if directly above his heart, there was a large tattooed glyph in a language she didn't know. But, it did look similar to that which she had seen on some of his books last night, which would mean it was likely to be in Ugun, the now dead language of his people.
The urge to find out exactly what the glyph meant, especially placed so symbolically over his heart, was exceedingly tempting, but to ask would admit that she had been spying on him. Well, not spying, he was the one who put up the curtain with a sheer panel. It wasn't her fault that he was visible through it.
Though he was moving out of view now, and with his left side towards her, she was afforded a clear view of the stripes around his left ribs, stretching right down to the waistband of his shorts.
She heard the door to his bathroom open and close.
She settled back against her pillow and pulled the blankets up over her face.
Great.
The last thing she needed was to indulge in the stupid little warm feelings she had been developing towards the big oaf of an Elite.
Why couldn't he be as unattractive and boring as he had initially appeared to her during her first meetings with him? Actually, "dominating" and "scary" might have been better descriptions back then. Now though, he was all human – liking books, having interests, and smelling all nice.
This was not good.
She did not need another male as a focus in her life. She had spent far too much of her life being obligated to males, looking out for her brother, having to deal with the street boys and then the males in the pit fight environments, and then all of the manipulative males on Dreamstation. Creass had offered her a job on the station for the good of his business, but that had never stopped trying to persuade her into his bed.
She had no time for such things. Attraction was just another way of manipulating people, and she had seen sexual allure be the most powerful and destructive of forces. Half of those she had detained on Dream had been causing trouble in the lower levels with the prostitutes. When you added sex to any equation it never ended well.
Not that she was entering such thoughts now. As if.
He was an Elite warrior and she was an ex-criminal, possibly cursed and in no way interested.
They didn't even get along.
Though, she did trust him.
It was probably just the drugging affects of the amazing mattress and blankets.
She heard the bathroom door open behind the curtain.
"Wake up, Raven!" He abruptly called, or rather shouted.
"I'm awake," she objected instantly. "No need to go shouting and waking up the whole ship."
There was something suspiciously close to a chuckle from beyond the curtain.
"You have First Meal and a training session to get to," he informed her.
"I know," she responded through the fabric as she heard him moving away, but without further sheer panels across the rest of the dividing curtain she had no way to see him.
He had better be properly dressed now.
"I am leaving here in half a standard hour," he stated. "If you're still in here when I set today's code into the door locks then you're staying in here all day," he threatened.
She had managed to struggle herself up out of the warm cocoon of the mattress and blankets, swinging her bare legs over the side of the bed.
"Do you want to bet I can't break through that code and break myself out?" She challenged him back.
"You can try another time," he responded. "Not today."
She huffed at that as she gathered up the ship loaned clothes she had worn last night, along with the fresh pair of underwear from the ship's stores. Hopefully her own clothes would be dry this morning and she could change later, maybe after the training session.
She stood up from the bed, her new clothes held in her arms, and tugged down her loaned nightshirt. Though the soft shirt was designed for someone Oneakka's size and was therefore too large at the shoulder and sides, as she was almost as long in the body as he, the shirt only just covered her backside. She tugged it down over her butt as securely as possible and then, holding the clothes close to keep the shirt in place, she pulled back the dividing curtain.
Fortunately he was dressed. In that brown armour that suited him the best.
He glanced round from where he had been going through something on a shelf.
"Half a standard hour," he reiterated.
"I know," she stated. "One would think you have control issues or something."
She marched to the door of the washroom, steadfastly not tugging down the shirt or looking round at him to check he wasn't watching her retreat. She was not used to showing skin to others – the Glisi by definition were nearly always covered up against the cold of their world, and she had always preferred to cover herself in dark, concealing clothes. Dark tones and shades had been the way of her lifestyle for too long. Idly she realised that she could now purchase herself some lighter shades of clothing to try out, once she had her clean slate and could walk freely on any Alliance world.
She reached his bathroom door, triggered open the door and stepped through without looking round or appearing anything but confident.
However, once the door slid shut, she quickly checked the shirt had covered her backside. It had.
She set her loaned clothes onto the large surface by the basin and glanced up into the large mirror.
Her hair was a complete state! Clearly burrowing into the depths of a warm and comforting bed meant that your hair became a massive bush that stood out in all directions. She had walked past him looking like this?!
She tried to press down the mess, but gave up quickly. She was going to wash it anyway, so what was the point. She didn't care about such little things anyway. Damn him though, he was probably laughing at her in there.
She opened the cupboard by the door from which she had borrowed a small towel last night, and now contemplated Oneakka's extensive range of towels inside. He either had a lot of guests, which she highly doubted, or he washed a lot – probably after tons of training and Wraith killing sessions every day.
Or maybe he just liked to collect towels.
She pulled a large one out, which was decorated with orange, red, and brown lines through a pure white background. She hung the towel aside and began to remove her few clothes. She paused though and just made sure that the door was locked. It was. She was being stupid.
She undressed quickly and stepped into the large bath above which was set the shower head. He had clearly used it before her, since everything was damp and there was that thick smell of the ship's soap in the humid air.
She triggered on the water.
After recovering from leaping away from the assault of overly hot water, she reached carefully around the boiling stream, and adjusted the temperature to something more normal. She liked heat, but how did he have any skin left after a shower that hot?! And the water pressure was far too powerful. She dialled down the pressure by half.
The temperature and pressure at a more sensible level, she stepped into the stream and sighed at the blissful deluge.
She turned in the glorious rush of water, letting it pound against her shoulders and upper back. It was like a proper massage, a hot glorious pummelling away of any tension from her muscles, and she drank it all in. She had never experienced a shower like this before. It was as intoxicating as the mattress had been.
This was the life.
She lazily set about soaping her skin and hair, and then enjoyed a good rinse, lifting her face up into the rushing warm heat, letting it seep and ease into her.
Regretfully she had to leave the shower though, and so shut it down with a sigh, but she felt awake and thoroughly relaxed. Dripping wet, she climbed over the side of his bath and wrapped herself up in his towel and used the smaller one from yesterday to blot at her hair before leaning forward into the hot air dryer set by the mirror. The blast of hot air was another rush of relaxing soothing enjoyment as she turned her head, drying her hair through, uncaring as to the time passing.
Her hair dry, she dried her body with the big fluffy towel, wishing she had some of her usual moisturiser. She didn't suppose Oneakka had anything like that in the cupboard below the basin. She didn't look, instead pulled on her new underwear and then the less than satisfactory Sythus crew uniform. Hopefully once she'd 'enjoyed' the training session this morning she would change into her own clothes. She might even need another shower after the training session.
Feeling good, she folded up the borrowed nightshirt and tucked away out of sight her used underwear inside it, and triggered open the bathroom door.
Oneakka was stood nearby, sliding his long knives off the wall and into the scabbards against his lower back. "You took your time," he commented.
"It's amazing you have any skin left with the temperature you set the shower," she said him back as she brushed past him back towards her bed.
"Did you change the settings?" He objected.
"That's what the big dials are for," she returned as she tucked her clothes away and sat down on the side of her bed after idly pulling the blankets back over it.
"Are you always this grumpy when you wake up?" Oneakka asked as he slid a stunner into the holster against his right hip.
"At least it's not all day like some people," she smiled up at him, pleased with that come back as she reached for the clunky less than pleasurable military boots.
She pushed her socked feet into them, frowning distastefully down at them as she set about lacing up the first one.
A heavy exaggerated sigh floated to her. She ignored it and smiled as she worked to get the laces just right so if she was forced to wear these things she could at least run effectively in them.
"In your own time, Raven," Oneakka muttered.
She glanced up to find him leant against the side wall, clearly ready to go and just waiting for her.
"You can go, I'd be happy to lock up for you," she suggested.
He glanced away, clearly exaggerating his impatience for effect. "At least I don't snore."
"I do not snore," she objected as she finished with one boot and moved on to the next.
"I heard something last night," he replied.
"It was probably you, waking yourself up with your own snoring – or with some other sound," she suggested.
He actually smiled at that before he pointedly looked down at her remaining boot.
He looked different when he smiled; it brought a lightness to his features and altered the lie of the tattoos across his face. The blue of his eyes seemed to shine brighter too.
She frowned down at her boot as she tied up the laces. She was not to focus on such things. He was impatient, annoying, difficult, and they didn't agree on anything.
"I do have more important things to do that stand around waiting for you," he tried next.
"Then why are you waiting for me?" She asked with a smug smile. "Oh yes, you're afraid I'll break your code lock and go through all your things."
"You couldn't even hack that retinal scanner."
"Give me more time and I'll do it," she replied, annoyed that he was right.
"If I lock you in here then you'll have plenty of time."
She rolled her eyes as she finished with an extra knot and stood up. "No need, I'm ready to go. Thanks for waiting," she smiled sarcastically at him as she headed past him towards the exit.
She felt his presence following her down the small corridor to the door out of his quarters.
"I need to set the code before you open the door," he instructed as she reached the closed hatchway. She paused for him to tap in his code, which she assumed from what he said was a daily changed code that he either made up or constructed from a random generator.
He stepped up close to her, inserting his shoulder in such a way that she was forced to step aside to make way for him to cover the pad as he tapped in the code. She peered up over his shoulder to see what kind of panel he was using for his coding. He noticed though and lifted his shoulder defensively.
The code entered, the door slid open and she stepped out into the corridor, quickly looking to the outside panel to get a look at this one. He stepped out after her and once again quickly inserted himself between her and the panel, forcing her backwards.
Sighing loudly, she gave him the room he needed but not too much, as he turned his back and tapped in his code again.
"This seems a somewhat extreme security system," she observed to his back as the door slid shut at confirmation of his code.
"Are you telling me that you didn't have something similar on your quarters on Dreamstation?" He challenged as he turned round towards her. There wasn't all that much space though, so it resulted in them being stood quite close. She held her ground though, but did shift her weight onto her back foot to give herself a little more room.
"The situation on Dream was a little different," she pointed out. "I lived on a station with smugglers and killers, while you live with the best of the best in the Alliance military. Don't you trust those you work with?" She was actually quite interested in the answer as she gazed at him thoughtfully.
"Your being here proves that others can get onboard," he replied.
"I suppose Iketani and other traitors like Karthig were onboard," she considered, ignoring the dig at her. "So perhaps your paranoia is justified."
"It's not paranoia," he objected.
"If you say so," she smiled, pleased that she had found a nerve.
It was at this point that she became aware of the sensation of being watched. She and Oneakka both looked round at the same moment to find that the goat was sat a few feet away, watching them both with interest.
Seeal frowned at the animal, which innocently looked from her to Oneakka and back.
"Why is it here?" She whispered to Oneakka.
"It was here the other morning," he responded almost as quietly.
"Do you feed it?" She asked.
"Only in the Hydroponics Bay."
She looked down into the strange goat eyes and felt the oddest compulsion to explain why she had been found coming out of Oneakka's quarters. That nothing had happened.
It was a crazy reaction. It was just a goat.
"It's just a goat," Oneakka stated more confidently, mirroring her own thoughts.
"I know," she insisted.
"It's just looking around," Oneakka concluded as he moved away, heading down the corridor, away from the goat's watchful eyes.
Seeal nodded in agreement as she followed him. "Though I've heard a few of the crew talking about it," she commented as she looked back, and sure enough the goat was following them. "Apparently it's a sort of crossbreed, so it's not just a goat."
"I had heard something about that," Oneakka replied, and she swore she could hear him smiling around the words.
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TBC