Chapter 16 – A few days later
It has been a few days since I have seen Eton. He told me that he will be staying on his ship to conduct training after the morning that we spent the night together. Every night I went to sleep, I felt like I was missing something. I expected to wake up in his arms then I get disappointed when I am not. I remember when I woke up in his arms that morning that feels like a lifetime ago.
I woke up to feeling arms around me. I felt a firm object under my head, and I saw that it was Eton's arm. I felt a smile creep onto my lips as I remembered going to sleep last night with a headache, head on his chest, and his arms wrapped around me. I felt safe and protected as I lay there listening to his heartbeat and breaths.
Thinking back to seeing him in the mission room was phenomenal! I wondered how anyone could walk with digitigrade legs, but he made it look elegant as a loping antelope through the high grass. His stature was strong, regal, even majestic as he looked down at everyone shorter than him. His height well over mine was astounding. I would assume if he were challenged, he would rise to his hypnotic full height. My thoughts ran away from me when I returned to the room. Thoughts that I was not sure I should have. Many of them sexual in nature. One thought did stand out to me though. What would it feel like to be suspended in the air with my legs over his shoulders as he held me up with his impressive strength.
Bringing myself out of those thoughts from the day that I felt the sudden feeling burst in my chest. I lifted my head and held in a chuckle at what I saw. Eton's face was slack and peaceful. His brow was not furrowed as it normally was during the day and his mandibles separated every time he breathed. He would breathe deeply, and his chest would expand significantly. I observed as the dark red shirt tightened substantially as his massive pectoral muscles forced forward due to the expansion of his lungs as he took air in. I licked my lips lightly as I kept looking at his remarkable chest muscles. I shifted up onto my left arm, leaned over that colossal chest, and placed my right hand on his lower mandible.
Eton woke up from my hand and I enjoyed watching him wake up slowly. I took in his face as I am watching him take in every detail of mine. He reached his hand and placed it on my cheek. I felt his fingers on the back of my head. It felt a bit odd but appropriate. I could not help but lean further into his touch. I felt him press his mandibles to my forehead and I closed my eyes at the pressure. I could not stop the fast beating of my heart. The only way I knew how to get away from this feeling is to start my morning. After our morning vocalization, I crawled over him and got out of bed. As I went to enter the bathroom, I heard a slight groan from behind me. I turned and was frozen into place. Eton was stretching, he able to touch the ceiling even with an arched back and standing at full height. His shirt raised and the muscles that were on display. The delicious black skin was pulled tight over the thick cords of muscles underneath. It was a jaw plunging and panty soaking sensation. I let out a gasp as I tried to muffle it. I saw him look at me, I fled into the bathroom.
I am looking forward to seeing him again. I was asked by Thel to sit in and help train his warriors. Thel wanted them to know how I function and move in battle. What weapons I used and what I expect from anyone that will be placed with me in a group for future missions. Thel asked me this yesterday, I almost shouted out the yes in response. Thel just chuckled at me and I was ready to see him. I wanted to feel the skin of his palm against my face or my neck or basically any part of my body.
I met up with Thel in the hanger bay. I was dressed in black cargo pants that was tucked into my black steel-toed combat boots. I had a dark gray tank top tucked into my pants. I had a black belt with a silver belt buckle keeping my pants up and snug around my hips. I have my black light military jacket on. The left shoulder of the jacket had a symbol. The symbol consisted of barren oak tree with a three-headed dog barring their tree. The left head has a thunderbolt between its teeth. The center head is clenching an owl and the last head has a hammer in its mouth. The symbol took up half of the sleeve and was colored in white. My hair was up in a high ponytail and the ends of my hair brushed the bottom of my shoulder blades as I walked.
I followed Thel past the doors onto the Sangheili ship. The walls were a washed in blue tones from the metal walls and the low lights from the ceiling. I have not been on a Sangheili ship without shooting up the place. I gathered many stares as I walked down the hallways behind Thel. He stopped in front of a large nine-foot door. The door was a red color with blue handles. There were Sangheilian letters on the border of the door to indicate what this room is used for. Thel turned towards me.
"They are not used to being taught by someone other than a Sangheili." Thel warned me. "They will try to be crude and vulgar. They might even talk in my language." I expected this. They were a strong and prideful culture that now they must swallow the pride that they grew up with and deal with us, humans. I smiled towards Thel at this.
"Arbiter, I have expected this, and it happens with the very marines that I help train." I chuckled as I continued. "I am a unique and unwanted help that they need. I also have different ways I keep everyone on their toes." At this Thel chuckled and then became stern before turning to the door again.
Thel pushed the door open suddenly and walking through fast. I follow in behind him. I saw the warriors who sat in the chairs scramble to stand and give him a salute. The warriors just tripped over themselves then stood up straight. The looks that I got were not hostile but were not welcoming. Well, not bad for the first impressions, I thought to myself. Thel spoke to the warriors for a few minutes. I took that time to view around the room. In the back behind the warriors, there was a window that looked out to the open black of space. To the right of me, behind the podium, stood Eton. He looked regal yet haggard. His green and white armor did not have the shine it did before the couple of days. I saw the tired look in his eyes as he looked at me quickly. I felt bad for him, but I know that I was not getting the best rest either. I wanted to run to him and pull him in for a hug. I saw Thel turn towards me and seemed to tell them what I will be teaching. Then gave me the hand signal to take the stand. Thel left the room but Eton remained.
"Good morning." I called out to the room. I got no response from that. "Who knows how enhanced humans perform?" I asked. I waited for an answer from any of them.
"On your back." The warrior with grey skin and dull black armor stated. The other warriors laughed at the words.
"With your legs spread apart," A dull blue armored Sangheili spoke. "And ready to be stuffed."
This had the Sangheilies in the seats snickering and slapping the one who spoke on the back. I felt more than saw Eton become enraged. He strode forward with two large steps and stood in front of me.
"Sangayri Cheensays, how dare you be disrespectful to a teacher." Eton shouted out at the room. The seated trainees seemed to curl into themselves as the Fleet Master seemed to berate them. He went on for several minutes until he stopped and moved back. I will need to ask him what he said to them later. Eton stepped back to his previous location.
"Titan," the one in the dull blue armor started. "I am sorry." The rest of the warriors completed together as one. They stood up and gave a small bow of respect. I nodded my head.
"Now that we are not being rudely interrupted by your immature nature." I glared at the room. "Who can answer my previous question?" I saw a hand raise. I called on the individual.
"The performance of an enhanced human," The Sangheili in some weird green colored armor started. "is that they are able to run faster, bear more weight, use impossible weapons, and be hard to kill." I nodded my head to all those points.
"Thank you." The warrior went to tell me their name, but I held my hand up. "There are three reasons why I do not want your name. One, you will never meet me again. Two, we will be in a group and you will be given code names to answer to. The third and last reason is that I do not care. I am here to teach you of what to expect when you work with myself or the Spartan. We will not be friends or pals or whatever you call it. If I want to pursue a friendship, it will not likely be with the people here sitting in the room." I saw many faces look astonished by my honest and blunt statement. I did not care cause they will either die in battle or just be a face in the room that I do not want to know. I turned my head to Eton. I saw an evil smile on his face.
"Now lets start." I said as I started pacing around the front of the room. "I will not tell you what has been enhanced or the extent of what we can do. I will tell you what will be helpful in the field if we are ever paired. I have expectations of any soldier or warrior paired with me. I do not care what rank you are." I looked around the room at each face. "What I expect is that you will work as a team. When the team leader says something, I expect you to follow it. However, during battle and I am needing something done in accordance of me getting a shot out. I want you to follow. I will not take you into battle or into a mission if I doubt you. I have forced groups of marines back through basic training cause I did not think they could every do it. The marines were seasoned warriors." There were shocked faces in the group. I continued. "I use four different types of armor. The armor that I use mainly is black. I can change my weapons out between the four. I can use all four suits at once while on a mission. I have an AI that helps me." There were shocked noises at this. "I do not use all four suits. I did ten years ago and at that time I had ten suits all together. The rest of my suits were destroyed in different battles. I have one heavy, two medium, and one light armor suits." I chuckled as I displaced the small version of them from the wristwatch. They were intrigued to see the difference in sizes. "The weapons I use are vast. The long range are the SRT-455, my sniper rifle that can change to anti-tank and anti-aircraft modes. This weapon has a hard kickback and I will move backwards unless I have an object to stop me that is some feel into the ground." I displayed what it looked like. There was a whistle from the back. "My mid to long range weapons are the marksman rifle, rocket launcher, and battle rifle. My only medium ranged weapon is the shotgun. My only close-range weapon I have is my assault rifle." I stopped pacing and stood in front of them with my feet spread apart.
"Do not mistake this as I cannot fight close range. I happen to be deadly in hand-to-hand combat. That is always may last resort if I need to continue further in." I rolled my shoulders as I went into further depth of the weapons and where not to stand when I have each of them raised.
"Lastly," I heard a groan from the group. We have been here for a while now. I did not allow them to get lunch. I wanted to get this done as much as they wanted me to be done too. "How the Spartan and I move." I heard soft snickers in the back. Eton shouted at them in Sangheilian that I could not understand. It quieted down again. "We are used to being in the front lines and taking a lot of damage. Think if a tank but faster, skilled, fast thinking, and armed with a weapon just as deadly. This can be difficult when I have a group. I will assess what each of you have strengths in. If the Spartan is meant to go into the battlefield. Expect to move to a secondary location and be long range support. Even with my weapons being mostly long range I can still use them in a building. Either as a club or someone is going to be shot at with the weapon and it will continue further until the bullet has completed its course." I looked at the ceiling as I said this. "This is my only warning to you." I felt all the eyes in the room on me and an ominous feeling came about the room. "I shoot to kill. If you do not follow the mission, I will take you out. I am not like the Spartan and spare you. I was never trained to spare. I have taken my own marines out for running away." Everyone shifted around after I said that. I walked to the wall closest to Eton. "I am done with teaching for today. We there is a physical training session. I will be there to observe you all." I heard shouts of joy from them as I said that I was finished.
"Training has been completed for now." Eton said. "You are dismissed." The warriors stood and ran out the door after he said that. The door swung closed and Eton walked closer to me. He leaned against the wall beside me and let out a sigh. "No lunch?" He chuckled.
"Don't remind me please." I could hear my stomach growl. "It was needed." Eton chuckled at the sound of my stomach growling. I looked up at him embarrassed from the sound.
"We should go get some food into us." He pushed away from the wall held his hand out to me. I could not resist placing my hand in his. I felt like the world just settled from the feeling and I did not want that to stop. I pushed myself off the wall and before he could direct us towards the door. I moved forward and leaned my head against his chest, wrapping my arms around him, and letting out a content sigh. I felt his arms wrap around my shoulders and waist. He pulled me closer and I felt him purr. I am so content here, I thought.
"Thank you for stepping in for me earlier." I brought back the rude comments of me on my back with my legs spread. "I have heard different variants of that before. It is was younger soldiers do when a female is present before the female puts them in their place." I felt the tightening of his arms around me and his head setting on top of mine, I know that he had to bend over quite a bit. He growled and it shook me a bit.
"They have gone through what you humans call bootcamp. In our version of bootcamp they are taught to respect women of any species. They are even taught that by their parents." Eton's voice was deep like waves crashing against the cliffs in a thunderstorm. It sent shivers down my spine and a need to keep holding him. He pulled away from me and looked down into my face. His eyes were serious, and his brow was furrowed, he looked so handsome that way. "Can we get something to eat? My stomach is about to eat itself."
I chuckled and nodded my head. I asked the important question for us both. "Here or on the UNSC ship?"
"I want to be close to you, with food you might be able to recognize more, and where you are familiar with so you can relax." I felt immense amount of compassionate for Eton grow as he said that.
"So, UNSC?" I asked with a lopsided grin on my face. He concurred with my assumption, lowered his arms and stepped away. We strolled back to the UNSC ship in search of food.
Trays in our hands, we found a booth, and strode towards it. I sat down in the booth that we claimed for our evening meal. This booth was smaller that the ones we are used to sitting in. My legs were intertwined with Eton's. As he sat sideways in the bench to grant him a comfortable position. I felt the hard cushions of the bench push into my back with a hard retribution. I groaned as I leaned forward, placing my elbows on the table and resting my head in my hands.
"From stand and walking all day to a very uncomfortable, small, and low booth can this be how we both end?" I looked at Eton under my eyelashes with a soft smile and a giggle passed my lips. His face was contemplating how he would get out of the booth without causing it further damage.
"Not our end." Eton sighed and ate some of his food. "Just a beginning to a story to be told later on." I hummed in agreeance and I went about eating. I kept moving around as I ate. I have been in far worse places than this bench, I thought. I finished my food, looked up and noticed that he did also. I smiled then frowned.
"This will be interesting." I stated. I looked about the table for a good way to get out. "Let me get out first then you can follow. Maybe destroy the table as well." The last part I said under my breath and I heard a small chirp from him as he thought about it. The first struggle I had was getting my legs out from under the table and not getting stuck on Eton's. Finally, I was able to get my legs free then it was the process of wiggling out of the bench and standing up. I huffed as I was finally standing. Then it was amusing to watch Eton get out. He struggled around the table, bench, and table post. It was a glorious moment when he made it out and standing beside me. We took our trays to the window and headed out. We reached the interception of our hallways. I looked up at him and knew that I needed him to be in my bed beside me as I sleep.
"Eton," I whispered out to him. He looked at me. "I would like you to stay the night tonight." His eyes had a relieved look in them.
"I will stay with you tonight." Eton whispered back to me. "Let me get a change of clothes and I will meet you at your room." He let his hand brush against my cheek. I smiled and felt excited at having him beside me. I nodded and we headed in opposite directions. I rushed back to my room; I was feeling giddy.
Reaching my room, I went straight to my bathroom. I completed my nightly routine and changed into the baggy shirt and shorts. I sat down at my desk and opened my data pad. I have started reading a romance novel.
I was reading as I heard a knock on the door. I placed the data pad down and stood up. I walked over and opened the door. Standing before me was Eton. He was out of his armor and in a bright red tank top with brown sweatpants. Over his left shoulder was a small bag, I assumed was filled with his clothing. I stepped aside to let him in. The door closed and I took his hand after he placed his bag on the desk. I pulled him over to the bed and laid down. He followed, laid on his back and had his right arm out. I knew what this gesture meant. I swooped into the space he created by laying my head on his chest, placing an arm over his stomach, and laying a leg over his. He wrapped his arm around me after he knew I was comfortable. He turned his head and took a big breath in then sighed.
"I missed having you in my arms." I nodded my head in agreement. "Being back on the other ship without you even being on the same floor as me. It felt strange and unpleasant."
"I know the feeling. Every morning when you were out training your men. I would lay awake at night tossing and turning. Feeling as if something was missing." I looked up as best I could. "I was missing you here next to me." I saw the smile form on his face. "Good night, Eton."
"Good night, Valkyrie." Eton whispered, "see you in the morning." I hummed and closed my eyes. I felt myself drift off into sleep.