Bo pummelled the practice dummy with a flurry of punches, with blinding speed and with precision before finishing with a graceful and flawless roundhouse kick that sent the dummy's head flying across the training room, hitting the wall with a resounding thud. It's a good thing Bruce was already on his way to sick bay, the Commander thought to herself as she wiped the perspiration off her face and arms with a small white fluffy towel. Better his ribs than his head. Bo growled in frustration and grabbed a training baton in each hand and started her cool down routine, which to anyone else would be a work out all on its own. But I'm not like everybody else, am I? she thought bitterly to herself.
When she had finished the fluid and controlled dance, Bo's respiration was back to normal and her muscles, while pleasantly sore, felt looser and more relaxed than they had been for days. Bo had barely seen Lauren since the glowing shower incident, though she occasionally turned up in her body suit and joined Bo in her bed to sleep for a few hours, before disappearing back into her lab and locking herself away once more. Bo would wake up alone and dejected and missing The Matriarch of this huge vessel that her and her team had been guests on, for little over a month. She had never expected that in that short time, her entire existence, her life as she knew it, would be crumbled into dust, leaving her feeling completely lost and torn. Her allegiance to The Alliance was hanging by a thread and was threatening to snap at any moment. The only thing preventing Bo from abandoning her post was Lauren. She felt a hollowness in her heart whenever Lauren wasn't around. Her body tightened, tingled and pulsed with need at the mere thought of her. The Matriarch was no longer just a mission to her and when this protection detail eventually came to an end and The Alliance finally informed her of the real reason for being here... well she didn't know what she was going to do.
A growl of pure frustration started low in her throat and the muscles that she had just managed to loosen, tightened once more with the tension she couldn't escape from. She had lived and breathed The Alliance for so many years, proving herself and rising through the ranks, passing veterans left and right, spurred on by her ingrained sense of duty and purpose, striving for the so-called peace and stability of the Galaxy that The Alliance spouted through its propaganda. She didn't want to believe that the High Council had sanctioned the death and destruction of her people and the experimentation on herself and the other children that had been ripped from their home! Bo's fists clenched at her sides. She sank to her knees with the weight of it all and slammed her fists into the spongy training mat beneath her. She wanted to scream, shout and even cry at what was taken from her. The assault of long buried memories continued to surface and more than once, she had awakened covered in sweat and hyperventilating from nightmares of the murder of her family and the burning and raping of her homeland. Lauren would often appear on those occasions to hold her with murmurs of sweet words of love and support, until she fell back to sleep.
Bo's thumping heart and tears of despair eased, and she lay on the mats and rested the small towel over her face as she fought to calm her breathing and pull herself back together. She hated how emotional she was feeling. Bo prided herself on her discipline and control over all things including her emotional state. Bo felt weak and vulnerable and she HATED it!
A short burst of static, followed by the robotic yet human-like voice of Genesis, emanated from Bo's data pad which was resting upon her discarded jacket, on the bench against the wall of the training facility.
"Commander Dennis?"
Bo snapped upright in one fluid show of strength and grace and padded across the room, grabbing her data pad.
"Commander Dennis, please insert the earpiece so that I may converse with you in private."
Bo did as she was instructed, and after wiping down her arms, torso and neck with her towel, she shrugged into her jacket as she responded. "What is it Genesis? Is it the Matriarch?"
"The Matriarch is fine, Commander. As a matter of fact, she does not know that I am conversing with you. She would not like it. She is very proud and stubborn..."
Bo chuckled, despite the uneasy feeling she felt flutter in her belly at Genesis' words. "Okay. Are you sure this is wise? What about the connection you two have? Is Lauren not able to sense what you are doing?" The soldier had no idea how Genesis' and The Matriarch's weird mind meld thingy worked. The logistics of it all, went way over her head.
"We are able to mask ourselves as separate entities when necessary, together yet apart. It is difficult to explain, Commander, and is not important at this juncture. If you would please follow the route that I have uploaded to your data pad and allow me to speak while you travel, it will save time. We will be arriving in orbit around Old Earth in just a few hours and I would like to send you planet side, with a gift of sorts."
Bo set off at a steady speed on her hover disc towards her destination marked on her tablet. The Commander was surprised when she had to enter the elevator and plummeted down to the very depths of this gigantic vessel. Bo had yet to explore Genesis fully, and its sheer size was astounding to Bo. It rivalled a space station and yet could travel with the speed of ships, a hundred times smaller. The technology was beyond anything The Alliance could fathom and this fact alone made her nervous as to their true purpose for Bo's mission. She shook her head to clear her troubling thoughts. No good could come of them until she found out what The Alliance's true motives were. It could wait.
"What kind of gift, Genesis?" Bo queried as she exited the elevator and took in the darker, deserted corridors that greeted her. She headed left, noting all of the sealed doors. They looked like vault doors, heavily reinforced and yet there were no noticeable ways of opening them. The only light came from widely spaced lamps along the floor between the doors. "What is this place?" Bo asked in wonder. "I have a horrible feeling that Lauren would kill me if she knew I was down here."
"Do not concern yourself, Commander. I have masked your signature and if by some remote chance The Matriarch chooses to seek you out, I will move you from place to place so that she does not discover your true whereabouts."
Bo blew out a nervous breath and her heartbeat increased at the subterfuge she was partaking in. "Geez, Genesis, I kind of wish you didn't tell me that. I don't like the thought of deceiving Lauren at all! This is highly irregular."
"I do not relish the lengths I am having to resort to either, Commander, and yet I am compelled to aid both my mistress's and your plight."
"Our plight?" Bo continued to slowly progress down the endless poorly lit corridor. It felt like she was in a long forgotten tomb, it was eerie.
"I feel the Matriarch's love for you. I feel her distress and frustration as she loses herself to her work to find a solution that will allow you both to connect physically, to express how you feel emotionally. But I feel she is going around and around in circles. She is trying to program your nanomites to become immune to her true form and the power contained within, like your kin before you. The High Priestesses, especially, were able to commune with The Keepers directly, after many rituals and exposure to the unique adamantite deposits within the sacred sites under your village. The priestesses of your people were connected a little like the way The Matriarch and I are connected. But there is a problem that cannot be rectified and Lauren refuses to accept it."
"And what exactly is the problem?" Bo queried as she stopped outside one of the vault doors. She stepped off of her hover disc and flipped it up with her foot, caught the now smaller deactivated device and stored it away in her pocket.
"The Keeper's energy, The Matriarch's energy, are in a constant state of flux with infinite frequencies. There is no way to program the nanomites to counteract it. They can dampen and prevent lasting damage from being exposed to The Matriarch's true essence but eventually she would be able to sway and even perhaps control you, and that is something that she could never live with. To strip you of your own free will, would essentially destroy a part of why The Matriarch fell in love with you in the first place. She loves how you challenge her and while you bend, you do not break when it come to your different points of view. She has blocked me out as she tinkers away relentlessly in that lab of hers, so I have spent the time thinking about alternatives. This is what I have devised, and I trust you enough to allow you into the most secure inner sanctum, in an effort to try this alternative method, so that you can be together completely. Please do not betray this trust or abuse the love of my mistress, Commander. I may be more sentient than a regular AI, but I am still a machine and despite my affection for you, I would not hesitate for even a nanosecond before eradicating you from existence, if you threaten The Matriarch or our bond. Is that understood?"
Bo stood very still as Genesis expressed her sentiments, barely breathing, as a shiver of genuine fear ran down her spine. She felt that this moment would be a turning point in her life's path, and she took a moment to search her heart, mind and soul about what truly muttered to her now. Lauren mattered to her now. Her origins mattered to her now. The betrayal of General Titus mattered to her now. What didn't matter so much was The Alliance and their so called crusade for peace and prosperity throughout the Galaxy, under their law and rules. Bo had felt for a while now that The Alliance wanted Genesis and The Matriarch under their reign and control. They were an entity that had the power and means to turn the tide of this war for complete dominion by The Alliance, and for the first time in her life, the unwavering loyalty and duty she felt, fell away, and attached itself to a new purpose. To protect Genesis and Lauren to her last dying breath. She would never allow The Alliance to infiltrate and infect something so pure with their greed and power hungry mentality.
"I understand, Genesis, and I vow to protect you both to the best of my ability. You have my word as a woman, as a soldier and as a high priestess," Bo's impassioned and strong declaration reverberated off the walls of the endless corridors. Bo startled when a clunk sounded from behind her and she found an orange and purple furred Orai turning to leave with a short burst of chitter chatter, that only Lauren and perhaps Genesis understood. Bo looked down to see a toolbox at her feet. Presuming it was for her, she picked it up and waited patiently for Genesis to decide if Bo's promise was enough to continue with this clandestine adventure.
"I do believe you will, Bo. Your words hold no lies. We shall proceed." The release of dozens of locks replaced the eerie silence and a moment later, a vault door opened and a soft glow of light filled the room beyond it.
Bo gasped as she felt a visceral pull to enter the room. Something within the room called to her at a cellular level... a spiritual level and Bo entered the room as all her doubts and fears drifted away, leaving her feeling almost weightless with renewed belief and hope.
"You feel it?" Genesis asked, startling Bo from her self appraisal.
"Yes," she responded, her voice barely above a whisper.
There were hundreds of books and scrolls lining the walls of the room. There were swirls of dust visible in the soft glow of light, as Bo moved further into the vault of knowledge and secrets. It was as if they whispered to her, but they were fleeting and intangible. Besides the books and scrolls, there were small statues, ceremonial goblets and bowls, and jewel encrusted athames, some of which appeared to still have dried blood on them. But Bo knew without a doubt, that it was the large ethereal, silver metallic altar in the centre of the room, that was calling to her. It glowed, not the altar itself, but there was an aura that surrounded the solid primitive structure. Bo stood in front of it and felt... not power... but it was powerful in the way it affected her. The aura seemed to reach out and caress Bo's fingertips as she accepted the need to touch it. She was not afraid. The altar belonged to her and she knew that the stains that marred the small lines of imperfections along the otherwise smooth surface, were the blood of her ancestors. Bo ran her fingers over the cracks and shuddered, closing her eyes as her body filled with warmth.
"You know what this is, don't you?"
Bo's fingers continued to play over the altar as she answered without opening her eyes. "It is the altar of my ancestors. My mother's blood stains it, as does her mother's and all the woman before her. It is ancient and filled with... magic. No, not magic. Lauren," Bo whispered. She felt her like a caress and many others before her. "There is the essence of The Keepers attached to it. I feel Lauren the strongest..."
"Yes, she risked a great deal in order to save the altar and as much of the sacred temple as she could manage, before Titus found and destroyed it. The altar fought her and did not want to be removed from its home. She almost died the true death as it absorbed a lot of her essence during the process of extraction. It took The Matriarch many moons to recover and that is why she was unable to save you and the other abducted children from the experiments. She has often questioned her decision not to have just destroyed the altar and saved the children, especially you, the last high priestess of your kind. She locked it away to forget her failure to save you and the others."
"It wasn't a mistake. She did the right thing," Bo responded almost to herself, as she continued to worship.
"Take the chisel and hammer from the toolbox, Bo, and remove a piece of the altar. We do not have the time to find the necessary rituals in these scrolls and books. It would take a very long time to decipher and interpret what you would need to do to become The High Priestess and become completely attuned with the altar. It required decades of study and worship to be able to commune directly with The Keepers. I theorise that having a piece of the altar with you while you are off traversing Old Earth, may aid you in attuning and becoming immune to the adverse affects of full exposure to Lauren's essence. It will not happen instantly, but with the altar containing so much of The Matriarch's essence, this could only help your cause and with any luck, Lauren will leave her lab long enough to test the theory. For now, I entreat to keep this secret. I will reveal all in good time, but until then, I hope this will aid you. If for nothing else, it will fill you with a calming warmth from the connection to your ancestors, especially your mother."
Bo felt the tears running silently down her cheeks. "Thank you, Genesis. I have never felt this kind of peace before." Bo found the tools and found a crack along the side of the altar that would offer the least amount of resistance to separation of a piece of it. After a few well placed hits, a chunk that fit nicely in her hand, came off, and she was in awe that the aura followed the lost piece, and she also felt it lick at her hand like a living caress. "I would really like to try to read about my home when we return from the expedition, Genesis. Would you help me?" Bo asked softly, as she placed the chunk from the altar into her pocket, picked up the toolbox and exited the room, with one last glance over her shoulder.
"It would be an honour, High Priestess."
Bo smiled at the sentiment, as the vault door closed and sealed up tight, once more. "Not yet, Genesis, but someday. Someday."
"Leave the toolbox. I will send an Orai down to collect it."
"As you wish. I'm going to go see if I can convince Lauren to spend a few hours alone with me, before we head planet side in the cruiser. Goddess knows when we will get another moment with just ourselves, without the team. Genesis, perhaps you could let Mac out of the brig. Tell her to spend a couple of hours with Hale and then pack to be ready to leave at my command."
"As you wish, Commander. I will supply you with the quickest route to Lauren's lab and I will inform her that you are on your way."
"Thanks, Gen," Bo said trying the nickname on for size. If she was planning on spending an extended period of time aboard this ship, perhaps even forever, she wanted to engage more with Genesis, and she hoped that the surprisingly friendly and empathic machine, wouldn't mind a less formal approach.
"You're welcome... Bo." The Commander smiled. That was as close to an endorsement from Genesis, as she could get. She wrapped her hand around the hunk of metal in her pocket as she flew along the corridor with practiced ease, noting that the lights were going out one by one, as she passed them. There had been no numbers on the doors, and she would never be able to find her way back to the altar, without Gen's help. The warmth in her hand filled her with hope and she felt that her future with Lauren wasn't as impossible as it had seemed, just hours before. She couldn't help the huge smile that brightened up her entire face. She couldn't wait to hold Lauren in her arms and to kiss her soundly, until the very last possible moment when they had to leave on their expedition and confront the unknown dangers that awaited them.
And kissing was precisely what they were doing. And as Bo trailed a line of kisses along Lauren's long slender neck, evoking some wonderful sounds from the woman moving sensuously beneath her, she wasn't feeling any of the usual frustration that came with these serious make out sessions. Bo's hope and resolve had been renewed by her secret rendezvous with Gen earlier, her love for the woman in her arms bringing a calm patience that she had never felt before. There were no doubts, no fears. She would love Lauren, showing her in any way she could, just how deeply her affections ran. Only death could separate them now and Bo was here to protect this precious life that she currently held captive in her arms, and she would willingly give her own life to protect it.
Bo's hands came up to cradle Lauren's face, as she stopped her butterfly kisses and gazed down into The Matriarch's warm, whisky coloured eyes. She hadn't noticed it before, but there was a faint glimpse of the shining blue essence that was Lauren's true form, swirling in the eyes she was gazing down upon and she felt truly connected to the energy she saw. Her brief time with the altar had changed her and she sensed that Lauren felt the change as well.
Lauren's hands drifted beneath her form fitting, black undershirt and caressed her back and sides. Bo's eyes fluttered shut for a moment and her hips pressed down against Lauren as those talented hands grazed the sides of her breasts.
"Goddess, Bo. You feel so good. Let me touch you. I need to touch you, love you, before we go planet side," Lauren entreated, her eyes shining brightly with needy desire. Lauren's hands ran down the length of Bo's back and slipped under the waistband of her pants, cupping her ass and squeezing the firm cheeks, causing a rush of warmth and moisture between her legs as Lauren's hips pressed up against her.
"I don't know if we have time," The Commander managed to gasp out.
Lauren kissed Bo, as her hands continued to use their purchase on her ass, to grind their pelvises together in the most delicious way. At the end of the kiss, as their hips found a rhythm that was causing both women to breathe harder, and as their passion continued to rise, Lauren tugged on Bo's bottom lip before panting, "It's my schedule. We can be late. I want to taste you and feel you shudder around my fingers one last time, before we leave the safety of this ship and enter the unknown. Please, Bo."
"Stars above!" Bo moaned. She was swollen and pulsing with need and couldn't deny Lauren, even if she wanted to. She was too far gone as the grinding became more frantic. Her eyes fluttered shut for a moment before opening and reconnecting with Lauren's fervent gaze. "I'm so close already. Hurry, Lauren!"
The blonde kissed Bo hard and wasted no time rolling their bodies over, reversing their positions. Lauren moved down Bo's body, kissing the rigid peaks of hard sensitive nipples through the thin material of Bo's shirt, before continuing her journey towards her ultimate goal. Long slender fingers pulled Bo's pants and underwear down and off together, leaving her exposed and ready. Bo spread her legs wider and ran her fingers through Lauren's silky blonde tresses, as Lauren pressed her head eagerly between her thighs. She moaned and thrust forward at the first contact of Lauren's mouth. Fingers opened her folds as an equally eager mouth tasted and sucked, humming in pleasure as she did so.
Bo whimpered and moaned again as the stirrings of her impending climax intensified and Lauren, sensing how close Bo was to completion, clamped onto her swollen clitoris and sucked while simultaneously penetrating her with two fingers. Bo cried out and bucked her hips as her orgasm crashed through her, and Lauren continued to lick and suck, her fingers buried deep, milking Bo's pleasure until hands gripped at blonde hair and gently tugged for Lauren to stop. The Matriarch slowly withdrew her fingers and ran her tongue several times over the full length of her lover, tasting the fruits of Bo's passion before fully withdrawing, then she crawled up into her lover's waiting arms.
They lay together, holding each other, Lauren giving Bo a few more moments to recover as she idly drew circles on the Commander's taught, muscular abdomen. "Thank you," The Matriarch said softly, giving Bo a languid, slow kiss.
Bo chuckled, "I'm pretty sure I should be thanking you, my love."
Lauren kissed her once more before reluctantly putting some space between them. "Your pleasure is all the thank you that I need, Bo. I have never loved someone the way that I love you and I promise that I will find a way for us to truly be together. I swear it."
"Please don't worry too much about our little problem right now, Lauren. It will all come together in the end. Of that, I am certain. I have no intention of ever letting you go. You're stuck with me, Matriarch. When I love someone, I love them completely with everything that I am and you have that love, my darling. I can wait however long it takes. Okay?"
Lauren bit her bottom lip, overcome by the pouring of emotion coming from her soldier. "I love you, too, Bo. We had better get dressed. It's time to go," the Matriarch sighed with regret at having to leave the intimacy she found in Bo's embrace.
"Yep! Come on, lover. It's time for me to protect that gorgeous ass of yours from all the unknown beasties that Old Earth has to offer." Bo gave Lauren a wink before grabbing her discarded clothing and heading to the bathroom to clean up. "Meet you at the cruiser in 20!"
Yes, Lauren thought to herself. It was time to focus on her mission. The rest would have to wait...
Authors note: Thank you each and every one of you that support my efforts despite my slow turnaround these days. I hope you enjoyed this installment of this story that is very near and dear to me. Life can truly suck sometimes, but I am thankful to all who have been patient and understanding with me. Bless you all.
Doccubus21
xoxo
P.S. An extra special thank you to Rafi and G. ;)