*Content advisory: This chapter contains suggestive imagery that likely go beyond Teen rating. Viewer discretion is advised.
Chapter 7: Reflections
The Revenant was an impressive ship, even now in its current condition Tullius could appreciate the design. She was an Alliance heavy frigate, twice as large as a normal frigate. It was faster, tougher but slightly less maneuverable. Still, with the proper pilot, Tullius knew she could dance just as gracefully as one of her lighter cousins.
Then went in through the cargo bay, as that was where the docking cradle had been connected to.
From the scuff marks on the deck and the large dooway that they entered through, he suspected that this had been where the Alliance crew offloaded most of the ship's equipment.
The bay itself was large, big enough to hold four Alliance UT-47 shuttles and enough equipment to keep them running. Tullius hadn't really discussed with James what kind of business they would be doing with such a ship, but he was sure a large bay to hold cargo in would come in handy.
They made their way through the rest of the ship, stopping by each deck to evaluate and assess what kind of work needed to be done to get the ship operational again.
The entire ship had been gutted, from bow to stern there was almost nothing left that wasn't bolted or welded to the deck plating.
It was sad to see a ship in this condition, Tullius tried to imagine what she would have been like in her glory days, back when she was young and on the front lines, fighting in one of the famed Alliance wolfpacks that tore so many of their enemies to pieces.
James had told him once that when he was an cadet, he and the Halcyon had fought on Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz. He wasn't post to the ship at the time, but he remembered seeing her in action over the golden wheat fields, performing strike after strike against entrenched Batarian positions, all while evading pirate fighters and frigates.
Their team had been one of the last soldiers left on the planet, fighting waves of batarian pirates and slavers. A young Lt by the name of Shepard had rallied the Marines together and counterattacked, even though the battle seemed hopeless. Together they bought enough time for the Halcyon and other ships to evacuate the civilians and reinforcements to arrive.
It was an impressive feat, Tullius had seen the reports, the Alliance had been outnumbered twelve to one on that day, and yet they had managed to hold the line.
Even in the ship's sad state, Tullius could see the potential in her to be great again, and it seemed that James did too.
Perhaps that is why he had been so obsessed with saving her.
After some time, they finally reached the CIC. Loose wires hung from the ceiling panels like the branches of a willow tree and various beams, girders and panels lay strewn across the floor, most of them left where they had fallen, others laid haphazardly out of the walkway.
The consoles and chairs sat empty and unattended., the flickering blue hologram of the galaxy map was the only light source left in the room, but its projector had been damaged by a falling beam.
The hologram shifted and fluttered, the tired old projector trying its hardest to feed information through its shattered outputs. The resulting picture was a mess of static and distortions, swirls of stars and planets flashing through the circuits for an instant before disappearing again.
James stepped forward, silently thumbing the display's manual shutdown switch, cutting the power. The projector hummed in quiet appreciation as it fell silent and the image died.
James turned back towards them, the room was almost total darkness except for the light from their omni-tool's flashlights.
There was a long moment's pause between all of them, before James finally spoke.
"I know why you all agreed to come here, and I appreciate it…" James sighed heavily, the soft hiss of his respirator breaking the near deathly silence.
"But I'm not going to lie to you: this is not going to be easy, it's going to be hard, dangerous work. I intend to put this ship and myself in harm's way, to do work that no one else can do…and the reward for a job well done is another day of existence."
James shook his head, "If you want out, then now is the time, I'll help you out the best I can: help you find a new home." He said nodding to Tullius and Aesha. "Or take you back to the Migrant Fleet." He looked over to Kari.
"But I won't just going quietly into the night. If I'm going to live, I'm going to fight…and if I'm going down, then I'm going down in a blaze of glory. I'll be damned if the galaxy has seen the last of me."
There was a bout of prolonged silence, before Tullius stepped up into the light.
"I assume this means we will be tracking down the synthetic bastards that attacked Eden Prime?"
James nodded vehemently, "You bet your ass, we will."
Tullius grinned, "Then you've got yourself a Turian." He chuckled, reaching out to clasp James's hand.
Aesha sighed heavily, she also stepped forward into the light, her light blue skin contracted into a grimace.
"Well, if Tully is going with you, Then I am to." She looked around the ship with a slightly disgruntled look.
"This place could use a woman's touch…and you'll need a pilot."
James blinked. "You're a pilot?"
Aesha nodded, "Asari Navy. Gunship pilot for thirty years."
"Why didn't you say anything before?" James inquired, having a hard time believing that the graceful, delicate looking woman before him had been in the military.
"You didn't ask." She said simply, a little Tullius-like grin forming on her lips.
"Honestly, James, how did you think we met?"
James blinked again, shaking his head slowly, "I don't know. You said that you had a lot of sleepless nights when Tullius was on deployment."
Tullius laughed, "Exactly. She would fly us out to the middle of spirits-know-where, leaving us to sleep in the freezing rain while she went back to the ship to sleep in her warm bed."
Aesha turned to Tullius, a smile on her lips as she put her hands on the taller Turian's chestplate.
"The bed was always warmer when you were on shore leave…" she giggled impishly.
Tullius grinned, "Yes they were…I daresay you got even less sleep on those nights…"
"Okay!" Kari pipped up, her cheeks going red with embarrassment. James was chuckling
"Oh sweetie…" Aesha chuckled with a teasingly patronizing smile. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about, trust me, when you find the right one and take him to your room for the-"
"KEELAH!"Kari reached up, putting her hands over her suit's auditory sensors.
All three of them laughed heartily.
Kari gave James a dirty look.
James smiled and put his hand on her shoulder, "Okay, okay. We'll stop…" James managed through bursts of chuckles.
Kari lowered her hands cautiously.
"For now." Tullius added, giving Kari a wide mischievous grin.
Kari frowned, and sighed in resignation. She was going to have to get a switch for her suit's audio receptors…or a pair or earplugs.
The laughter subsided after a few moments, James looked at Kari, she still looked slightly annoyed, but she was still looking at James expectantly.
James hesitated, he had already asked her to come with him once, and she had said yes, but now that she had seen the ship, seen all the work that had to be done…and that was going to be the easy part.
"What about you, Kari…?"
He said, expecting a long pause while she weighed her options, but instead she just nodded.
"I said I'd stay, and I will. For you."
She looked over at Tullius and Aesha. They both still had a very slight smirks painted on their faces.
"But theyare going to have to behave." She added with a playful smirk of her own.
Tullius turned to Aesha with mock indignation,
"Why, whatever could she be talking about? We have been nothing but gracious ever since we met her."
Aesha sighed, "I don't know love. She obviously hates our kind."
Tullius shook his head and huffed, "I'm sorry, Captain Irving, we can't stay on a ship where we are discriminated against in this way!"
James snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "I think you both missed your calling. You should done stand-up. And stop calling me Captain. I never earned that rank."
Tullius grinned, "Thank you, Captain, and I'll try to work on that,sir." Tullis gave a crisp Turian salute.
Aesha nodded, "You've got a ship, you're a captain now, James."
James shook his head, "No, I'm not. Besides, we are all in this together. There's no rank here."
"In the Migrant Fleet, anyone that commands a ship is a Captain. Regardless of military rank…." Kari added her voice trailing off a bit as James gave her a scrutinizing glare.
She blushed under her visor.
James covered his brow with the palm of his hand.
"Well, since I can see you all aren't going to let this go… then I suppose it's KP duty for the lot of you for speaking disrespectfully to a superior officer."
There was a moment's pause, there was no playful tone in James's voice or face, he looked deadly serious.
Tullius was the first to speak,
"I for one, would like to withdraw my previous statement."
Aesha raised her hand in agreement, "Me too!"
There was a moment's pause, and all three of them looked at Kari. The Quarian blinked.
"What's KP duty?"
Tullius laughed, reaching out to pat Kari on the shoulder.
"You'll find out soon enough."
James couldn't help but grin as well. He had no intention of making Kari work in the ship's mess, but he did enjoy watching her sputter nervously.
"W-what- is it bad? Oh Keelah… I-I'm sorry- I d-didn't mean it!"
James couldn't help himself, he wrapped his arms around Kari and gave her a big hug.
"Oh… captain- I-um." Kari stuttered for a moment, before putting her own arms around James's back to return the friendly gesture.
"It's okay, Miss Vereah." James inflected blithely.
"I forgive you." James chuckled, his arms like towers around her waist.
Kari closed her eyes and smiled softly.
Sky. Violet sky. Pinpricks of light, dancing, dazzling like fire-bugs stuck in the inky void. The soft breath of the wind, cool and salty, carried from the waves. Waves, lapping against the white sands of the shore, reaching out like fingers to carress the face of the Cliffside.
Warmth, tender warmth, reaching down to embrace her like the night sky, wrapped around her. Arms like Corinthian spires tenderly holding her to between them. The sensation of bare skin, pressed against her pale body, the gentle ravine of lips on her neck and the growing heat between her tighs as her body shifts, bending to his will, like the sands of the shore as the waves of her lover tenderly fold into her.
Fingers twine together, and so do lips, passionate and sweet, the husky aroma of the man filling her nostrils, unfiltered and unfettered. She opens her eyes, to see, to know. She must know.
Sky, Violet sky, reflected in his eyes…
"I love you, Kari'Vereah."
Kari opened her eyes.
The dingy gunmetal grey of the bulkhead was what greeted her vision.
Kari sat up out of bed slowly. She looked over at the chrono which was the only decoration in her room. Its holographic digits told her it was after mid-night, and some time still till dawn on their ward of the Citadel.
It had been a dream. The beach, the sky, the sands…the man…all a dream. It had all seemed so real though.
Kari blinked, putting her hand against her visor wearily. She wanted so much to be able to just rub her eyes right now. Another of the many limitations of the suit…she cursed herself silently.
Of course it was a dream you stupid bosh'tet.
Kari had never been out of her suit, not since she had first received it as a child. She had only ever had it off to do maintaince on it or for hygience herself in one of the Vanya's clean rooms. She had never felt the sensation of the outside air, never felt sand beneath her, or even the embrace of a lover's touch.
She was old enough, twenty years old, she was adult in every way other than finishing her pilgrimage, she just had never gotten around to it. She had been more worried about keeping up with her study of mechanical theorems and engineering, while also trying to learn all she could about biology, agriculture and medicine on the side.
She never had time for men, and she had a bit of a reputation on the Vanya for being a strange one.
It was weird to her, she had had dreams before of the homeworld, of walking on the beach, or standing on the cliffs overlooking the ocean.
She had always been alone, there had been no one else there, not even her parents or anyone she knew from the fleet.
It was the first time ever she had someone else in her dreams about Rannoch…and definitely the first time for…well…that kind of dream.
She furrowed her brow a little, thinking back to the conversation the day before.
Tullius and Aesha had done this, her mind had remembered what they had said, and had decided to torment her, even in her dreams.
She thought about going into Tullius's and Aesha's room and getting revenge somehow. It wasn't far down the hall in the starboard observatory, but she dismissed the idea.
It wasn't like her.
And besides, if her mind was reacting to their gibes, then why was it that she had been the one in the….compromising position.
Her mind traced along the dream sequence, the images were fuzzy, half-remembered in her conscious state.
She tried to remember details about the Quarian she had been with. Any clue who it possibly could have been. Although, she wasn't quite entirely sure she wanted to know, it might have been someone she hated or someone she would really not like to imagine in that way.
But, whether or not she wanted it, the images slowly came back into her mind. She remembered opening her eyes, and looking up into the face of her lover.
But, it wasn't the soft glow of a Quarian's eyes she saw... the irises didn't bear the characteristic luminescent glow.
It was a reflection she saw, of her own eyes and the sky above. It was as if looking through a dark glass into a violet pool.
The man in her dreams…he had eyes like….
Kari's own eyes went wide, the last vestiges of sleep chased from her mind as she realized just exactly what the dream had been.
No, no, no, that couldn't be right. That was silly, crazy, stupid even for a dream. She couldn't possibly… it couldn't really be…
"Keelah." She whispered softly, as she swung her feet off the edge of the bed and put her visor in her hands.
She felt itchy, she needed to do something, anything…something to get her mind off…whatever this was.
Kari got up, looking around her room for something to work on, or something to read.
The room was as empty, save a few things that she had brought from her shuttle earlier in the day. Medical supplies, suit repair materials, and a few spare parts that she thought she might be able to use to clean up the Revenant's drive core.
Kari groaned in irritation, sitting back down on her bed, her head hanging dejectedly.
She didn't want to go back to sleep, she didn't want to deal with this right now.
She didn't want to have these dreams, she didn't want to have this problem…she didn't want to have these feelings for someone she knew could never be with.
Yes. She had feelings for him.
The admission seemed like a rather stupid thing, but even just admitting it to herself made her feel better. She had felt this way, for awhile now…Kari had first felt something the day that James first talked to her after their initial confrontation. She had been trying to ignore it, hoping that her desire to be something more than a friend would fade away, but ignoring it had only made it worse.
Now he was in her dreams, her dreams of all things, her subconscious mind dwelling on him every moment. It was stupid and trite, and-…
But he had been so nice to her, he had seen her when everyone else just looked. He understood her, and always seemed to know just precisely what to say. He had saved her…he was strong.
Kari had never told him, but she knew what he had sacrificed for them. Keira had told her… James had disobeyed an order, risked his life, and held off impossible odds in the hopes of saving even just a handful of civilian lives.
It was her fault he was in this mess. If she had done the brave thing, he never would have been injuried, he wouldn't have been discharged. He would have been a hero.
Kari's eyes began to sting a little.
Was it guilt that drove her desires? Did she merely want to comfort him in the only way available to her?
Was it gratitude? For saving her, for sacrificing so much?
Or selfishness? For wanting to have someone so…unique and extraordinary.
Or was it something else, something deeper…
She felt guilty for even thinking such thoughts, although she didn't know why.
She had heard of Quarians having relations with other species before...
No...
Their species were too different, there was too much in the way...and it would be selfish of her to put her desires before that of the Migrant Fleet.
They were depending on her, as they depended on every Quarian on pilgrimage, to bring back something that would keep them alive just a little while longer.
No it wasn't right, for neither him or her. It was far better if they just remained friends...even though she really didn't want to admit it.
Besides, why would he even like her in that way, anyway?
Kari fought back tears. She felt helpless again, small, crushed under the weight of her own worries.
She needed to do something. Get her mind off this mess.
Kari stood up, picking up her omni-tool from where she had set it on the table and slipping it back into its mount on her wrist.
She grabbed a few of the spare parts she had brought aboard and headed quietly down for the engineering deck.
She would have to figure out a way to deal with this problem sooner or later, but right now, even cleaning up an engine sounded better than just sitting in her room, crying.
Kari moved quietly through the ship, even though there was little chance of waking anyone. The soft soles of her enviro-suits boots mean that she made little in the way of noise when she walked down the sprawling corridors of the Revanant.
She had never seen this much room on a ship before, on the Flotilla, hallways would be stacked to the ceiling with supplies, the rooms would either have several individuals in them or small families, and there would always be a que of at least three people to the clean rooms.
Yet, on the Revenant, the corridors were empty. There was no noise, no people, not even the sound of ship's engines. Only the quiet hiss of air from the ships environment systems broke the silence, and the footfalls of a single Quarian making her way down towards engineering.
It would have been faster to go by the ship's lifts, but they were still offline due to damage sustained during the battle, and Kari didn't want to use them anyway. They made too much noise, and she didn't want to risk waking anyone.
She climbed down through the ship's tubes that connected the different decks. They were small and cramped, Kari had to crawl on her knees through several of the tubes, but she didn't mind. They sort of reminded her of doing maintenance work on the Vanya with her mother when she was a teen. It was one of the few times that her mom stopped being Chief Engineer Dara'Vereah and was just mom.
The memory evoked an unsolicited smile, as Kari pushed on through the tubes.
She had no real desire to be an engineer, or a soldier, like her parents were.
Her father wanted to be a captain of a ship one-day. Captain Kari he had called her when she was a child, in the brief moments that he wasn't on duty or on standby. The days before she got her first suit and they would play together in the clean rooms, just him and her. He would let her wear his enviro-suit's visor or play with his unloaded side arm.
"Captain Kari, is going to command the finest vessel in the Fleet someday." He would say, scooping her up in her arms and tossing her in the air.
It was one of the very few times in her life that she saw her father's face without his suit.
Rarely was her mother there too, her work kept her away most of the time. Kari honestly couldn't remember a time when all three of them were together.
She had wanted so much to please them both, she had worked so hard, trying to be everything they wanted her to be, but as she got older, it got harder…and she started slipping.
Her grades first, then her relationship with her parents had fallen apart as well. She had her father didn't spend time together in the clean rooms anymore. Her mother stopped asking her for help in Engineering.
They always said that they wanted to spend time with her, but were too busy. There was always some emergency to deal with, something always came up. Kari stopped trying after awhile, she started doing things that she liked then.
Art, science, xenobiology. She always kept it hidden, and she always did what she could to pass her courses, but after awhile it was evident to everyone that she just wasn't that interested in becoming a soldier or an engineer.
It seemed ironic to Kari, that even here, far away from the Flotilla, that is likely what would be expected of her.
But then again…all Quarians knew that service came before personal desires.
Kari slipped down the last ladder, her feet hitting the floor with a hard thump as she descended.
The Engineering deck was nothing particularly special; it was like that of many Alliance vessels.
It had a gangway that led past a couple of heavy bulkhead doors to the drive core, the gangway overlooked the cargo bay towards the bow of the ship, and there were a set of stairs on either side that lead down to the maintenance access for the drive core's mounting.
It was supposed to be quiet down here, the ship's drive core offline and all the interior lighting off except for the emergency halogens, but that was no the case. Not only did the ship's lighting respond to Kari's presence, flickering on to the present "night" levels, but she heard that sounded like welding.
Kari blinked, she moved around to the left bulkhead door. Quietly, she pressed her suit's auditory sensors up to the metal. She did her welding….and more than that, she could hear the soft thrumming of the drive core.
Kari pressed the door's holographic button, the metal parting with a soft swish.
The scene that greeted Kari's eyes was unbelievable. The room that had been a mess of wires and bent metal had been entirely cleared. There was some residual mess thrown haphazardly in the corner, but the drive core had been repaired and was thrumming quietly.
Over towards the port side of the deck, James stood over a work table, his back to Kari. His omni-tool was activated and was performing a welding program on a piece of metal James had on the table. It looked like an armour plate.
The first thing that Kari noticed was that he wasn't wearing his normal military fatigues that Kari had grown accustomed to since he had first been able to dress himself again.
He was wearing a long heavy looking coat, like a jacket, but it was made of some heavy material that looked like it was made from the same material that Alliance marines used for their underarmour. Flame retardant synthetic weave with interior kinetic barrier emitters. It was dark grey in colour, almost black in the low light. He also was wearing a set of heavily padded boots that bore attached armour plates.
Parts and materials lay strewn across the floor near the work-table, including a discarded clear respirator. It looked just like the one that James used.
The entire ensemble that he was wearing gave him an almost ghostly look, a heavily armoured ghost, maybe... but had Kari not seen the spikey blonde hair at the top of his head, she would have assumed that the man at the workstation was an intruder.
Kari approached James cautiously from behind, not wanting to startle him as she edged around to his side.
She finally got a look at his face. He indeed was no longer wearing the respirator given to him by Heurta. Instead, his face was covered up to his eyes by a thick black gas-mask that came up in a triangular point to cover all but the slightest sliver of his cheeks and his eyes.
The mask had two long tubes, one that jutted from the right intake over the cheek and ran down into a black box on over his right breast which Kari could only assume was scrubber. The other ran directly down from his chin into the metal chestplate that James had fashioned from the materials he had bought the day before.
Below the chest plate, were a series of pouches and satchels that Kari assumed were for combat supplies, but most of it was covered up by the heavy dark-grey trench coat that came down to just above his ankles.
He wore a thick dark-grey glove on his left hand that matched the material of the coat, with plastic-like grips on the interior. He was using that hand to hold up the casing of the Securitel helmet that had been working on when Kari entered his field of vision, the other glove laying discarded a short distance away.
James looked up from his work, flipping up the small visor that he had been using to shield his eyes from the bright light and sparks thrown up by the welder.
"Hey. Shouldn't you be asleep?" he asked, setting the helmet down on the table.
"Couldn't sleep." She replied, though she neglected to mention why.
James chuckled, twisting the wrist of his gauntlet and setting the heavy glove with a smirk.
"You and me both." he said, turning to face her.
Kari looked up at him, still not quite comfortable with James's new look. She couldn't his face now, everything but his eyes, brow and hair was entirely covered by metal, wiring and tubes. And from the look of the materials still on the table, he still had more work to do.
A moment of awkward silence passed between them. James had hoped to finish the suit before he Kari saw him.
"So…what do you think?" he asked at last.
Kari looked up at his eyes, there was a sort of sadness in her gaze.
"It looks great…" she said, half sincere. The suit was a very good for hand-made work, some of the best she had seen actually, but the style seemed very gritty, utilitarian and hard-lined. It seemed to drain the colour from the room and extinguish the personality of the wearer, but Kari got the feeling that is exactly what James was going for: a faceless soldier.
"Thanks." James replied, though he did notice her reluctance to give the compliment.
He thought about saying something, but Kari looked as if she didn't want to dwell on the thought.
"So…why did you come down here?" he asked, eager to change the subject.
"I came down here to clean up the engine, see if I could get it running right again…but…" she hesitated, her voice growing small in her throat as she clasped her hands together and bowed her head.
"It looks like you didn't need me."
James frowned, he hadn't thought that Kari might feel left out when he had decided to go down to engineering. "I'm sorry… I thought I could save you some trouble…and I was awake anyway…."
Kari nodded, "It's okay." she spoke quietly. Kari looked up at him with a sad smile in her eyes. "I suppose I can always cook if nothing else."
James smiled a little, although she couldn't see his lips anymore, his eyes told her all she needed to know.
"I don't know, Miss Vereah. What if you mix in some of that dextro-food into my lunch…" he chuckled softly, he realized that it didn't hurt to laugh anymore.
"They'd have to put "killed by a dodgy looking kebab," on my tombstone. I'd be the laughing-stock of the cemetery."
Kari smiled and pushed him playfully. "You know I'd be careful."
James shook his head, "Why don't we stick to what we know you're good at."
Kari wondered if she should tell him, that she really didn't like being a engineer, that she would rather be a scientist.
Kari grinned mischievously, she would let him wonder.
"You would be surprised at the things I'm good at." she teased.
James raised an eyebrow, "Oh?" he wasn't quite sure what to think of that.
Kari shook her head and put her index finger over her visor's voice modulator.
"Maybe you'll find out one day." She chuckled, unaware of the double meaning she was imparting to James.
James blinked, he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. Could it really be what he hoped for…?
Did Kari feel the same way he did…as strange as that might be?
"Wait a second…" James smiled warily, daring himself to confirm what he thought she was saying to him.
"Are you making a pass at me, Miss Vereah?"
Kari's heart almost stopped. "No! err- I m-mean that's not what I-I meant. Well, m-maybe, but I d-didn't- I wouldn't…oh no…"
Kari had said too much in her state of panic. She wanted to disappear again, to just evaporate like she had when James had yelled at her. Kari dropped her head low so James's couldn't see her eyes. Her cheeks were burning as hot as a drive manifold during a jump.
She expected him to laugh at her, or mock her for her stupidity…or even worse…tell her that he was disappointed with her lack of restraint, like her father did.
But, instead, she felt two arms wrap around her waist, and the mesh of an enviro-suit on hers. She looked up at him… there were no gibes in his eyes, no derision, no disappointment. No, there was something else, tenderness…and relief.
His hands found hers and their fingers entwined.
"I feel the same way, Kari. I just…well, I didn't think you ever would want to be more than a friend."
"Y-you do? I-I mean-...w-why wouldn't I-...oh..."
Kari's heart fluttered a bit…she blinked her eyes several times, praying to herself not to wake up.
She didn't…
"I-I…didn't w-want to burden you..a-and I didn't t-think you c-could-…"
"Could like someone like you?" James said, finishing her sentence for her.
Kari nodded silently, her throat was going dry quickly and her palms were getting rather sweaty.
James chuckled quietly, "I thought the same thing." He admitted, drawing closer to her, nothing but the fabric of their suits between them. Kari looked up at James, the visor of her helmet nearly pressed flush to his mask as they stared into the other's eyes for a long moment.
Kari felt the tension in her muscles melt away as she stood there with him, unsure of exactly what to say next…but somehow she knew that she didn't have to say anything.
A long moment of comfortable silence passed between them, how much time went by, Kari wasn't sure.
She wanted to stay with him, talk with him, but the darkening circles around his eyes told her of his weariness and the dawn was fast approaching. He needed sleep, but she didn't want to let him go…
Nor did James want to let go of Kari, no matter how tired he was. Adrenaline and copious amount of coffee had kept him going, but now, here in the dim light of the engineering room, he felt the weight of two long days of worry and stress collapse from his body. All because of the touch of this slight Quarian girl. A woman to which he owed his life, and more.
He could weather another few hours without rest for her….
"You should get some rest." She said at last, breaking their embrace, although she really didn't want to. "M-morning isn't far away."
She could read him well, and he had to admit the thought of a nice soft bed right about now was very tempting.
"I'll…talk to you tomorrow then?" he asked hesitantly.
Kari smiled, her voice soft and soothing like a purr as she took his hands in hers.
"You can count on it."
Icy plains. Barren and still. The sky looming, but not threatening, churning. Calm. Calm before a storm. Winter stang on the cheek, and ice crunched beneath the boot.
Eyes. Eyes like the fires of hell. The hound stared up at him. James returned its gaze. The long shaggy coat of the animal swayed softly, as if caught by a breeze, a breath of what is to come.
The Kingfisher warbled. Orange breasted and tufted feathers. Its wing was no longer broken, it hopped about the ground, looking up at James curiously.
James extended his arm inviting, and the bird chirped happily and jumped up onto the crux of his arm. It snuggled up against his bicep for solace from the cold winter air.
James looked into its eyes. He could see a reflection, the icy plains, rolling and roiling in the little birds sapphire beads.
The ocean? Unmistakable. It was the ocean upon which he stood, the crested waves silent beneath the frost.
The bird warbled again, and the ice began to break, long cracks like snakes sped around them, circling the three, but not touching. The sea rose up from beneath rime, gasping a heavy breath of freedom as the world around James began to shift and change.
The sky overhead darkened, and grew red…little drops of water coloured like blood began to fall. Whispers slithered into his mind, pouring into his ears. Bidding him to stop, to turn from both of them…the ice a around them broke away, settling them adrift on the sea. Oily shadows in the dark abyss below gathered around the floe.
They motioned to James, their forms gliding just below the surface…to join them, to be one with the sea.
James resisted, the waters looked soft and inviting, peaceful and calm…but something wasn't right.
The great shaggy black hound did not flinch. It stared up at James, with those burning red-orange eyes. Eyes filled with dark purpose.
James felt drawn towards the creature, his right hand extending carefully toward's the animal's jowls, its long yellowed incisors extended from its closed jowls like two great daggers.
The little bird protested, warbling a cry of anguish…but James could not stop. The dog offered something, something that he could not ignore. Something that had to be his.
His hand touched the canine's face, and for a moment…all went silent and still.
Then he felt it, tubes and wires crawling up his arm like serpents, burying themselves in his skin and worming their way deep into the very core of his being. James wanted to scream, the form of the great hound began to disappear, those red eyes still staring at James as the human writhed in agony…those deep hellish eyes, until at last they too were gone. Vanished like vapor on the wind.
James fell to his knees, in the still darkness of the churning sea.
He stared down at his own reflection in the ice…
And there were the red eyes.
James awoke with a start.
The scene that greeted him was the darkness of his room aboard the Revenant. The air from his mask stunk of body odor and sweat: the smell of fear. James realized that he had been dreaming again.
He sighed heavily, swinging his feet over the edge of his cot, his new boots hitting the floor with a hard thud.
James rested his arms on his knees, reaching up to wipe the sleep from his eyes.
Same damned dream. He thought, standing up from his cot, stretching his muscles and popping his neck with a sharp roll of his head.
He had been having the same dream every night now for awhile, they had started when he was at Heurta. He figured that it was his brain trying to work through the grief, the loss he had suffered. He consciously fought the feelings away, but every night he had dreamed the same dream.
Although, this time it was different. This time the scene had changed…
He sorted through the images in his head, each more disturbing than the last.
James shook his head vigorously, as if hoping to throw the thoughts from his mind.
He didn't want to think about it. He shoved the images aside, dismissing them as conjurations of a troubled subconscious trying to deal with the pain and the great changes in his life.
He had lost his job, lost use of most of his lungs, met a Turian, a Asari and Quarian, befriended them all and become romantically involved with one.
All in the space of about a month.
James rubbed his temples in his palm. He hoped the next couple of weeks brought some semblance of normality, he wasn't sure he could take much more of this rapid change in his life.
Although…admittedly it did have some benefits.
James still remembered how Kari's hips felt against his bare hands, and the gentle warmth that leaked through her suit. The subtle look of tenderness and desire in her eyes…and that was just the start.
Or at least…he hoped it was just the start…Kari didn't seem like a girl to throw around her affections lightly, and James wanted to make it work so very much…
James smiled a bit, as he entered his room's shower, beginning the long process of stripping down to naught but his mask and primary scrubber box.
He wasn't sure how he was going to do it, or even when, but he was going to kiss that girl someday, even if it killed him.
Tullius and Aesha were already up when Kari awoke. They had set to work early on the Revenant, enlisting the help of Dovin Kang to get the ship running again.
James had left his credit chit to Tullius before he went to bed along with a preliminary list of the items that they would need. Tullius had added a few things to the list, and with the help of Dovin Kang's mechs, they had brought most of the materials onboard the ship already.
Kari entered the CIC, the previously quiet halls buzzing with activity as mechs were hard at work. Dovin had graciously agreed to provide the labour for free, provided that the Revenant's crew bought over a half million credits worth of tech.
Tullius had easily gone over that limit and then some. He had tried to be a good steward of James's money, hoping to keep the price as low as he could without sacrificing quality, but the Revenant had been so badly off…
He was in the middle of pricing out a rather large and expensive cannon for the ship's main battery when he felt the tap of a suited finger on his shoulder.
"Hey."
Tullius turned around to see the smaller Quarian girl looking up at him with both curiosity and mild awe.
"Hey, look who it is, sleeping beauty." Tullius grinned, "Enjoy your late night romp with James last night?"
Kari, who had been looking around the room at the various mechs snapped her head back to Tullius with a surprised gasp.
"How did you-?"
Tullius smiled and chuckled, "I was in Military Intelligence, my dear, things never happen without me noticing….that and I saw you sneak out when I went to the little Turian's room."
Kari blinked, "But how did you know I was with James?" she quiried, still not exactly sure how Tullius had seen her…she thought she would have heard someone following her last night.
Tullius smiled again, this time even wider. "I didn't. You just told me."
Kari's eyes went wide her hand flying up to cover the side of her visor closest to the Turian
Stupid stupid…
Tullius leaned forward and whispered, his voice dripping with smug satisfaction.
"So…did you two…?"
Kari looked up at with a shocked look.
"N-no! Keelah! We d-didn't-…"
Tullius was just eating this up, he laughed heartily
"But something didhappen.."
"Tully! Leave the poor girl alone! Don't make me come back there!"
Came Aesha's voice from the cockpit. The sudden noise caused the mechs to look up from their tasks for a moment, analyzing voice patterns and coding responses.
Command not recognized, proceed with previously assigned tasks. And the mechs went back to work.
Tullius shook his head and sighed, "Damn that woman and her hearing." He mumbled.
"Looks like you are off the hook for now,Mrs. Irving."
Kari covered her visor fully with her hand.
"Just tell me what you need me to do." she managed at last with slight irritation.
Tullius nodded, picking up the datapad that he had been using to requisition parts. He moved a couple of icons on the screen and pulled up the updated list he had been working from. With a quick flick of his hand and a gentle manipulation of his wrist, he sent the file to Kari's omni-tool, which lit up in a dull orange hologram as he did.
"I'd like you to wake up Mr. Sleeping Beauty and have him look over this list of parts we yet need. We might have to do a bit of pinching here, at this rate we might have to have you sit on the gun-mounts and yell 'pew pew' at any hostile ships we encounter."
Kari frowned, Tullius was joking, she knew, but still his picking on her wore a little thin at times.
"I have a shotgun…"she said, both in response to his suggestion and a subtle threat.
Tullius smiled broadly, all too aware of what she meant.
"Then we'll see that it's put to good use. Now, hurry along…true love's first kiss and all that."
Kari shoved him, playfully, but still with enough edge that he got the message.
"So violent." He grinned as she turned and walked away.
It didn't take Kari long to get to James's room. The lifts were working again, and she took the elevator up to the captain's cabin. It had been a room that James had been unwilling to take at first, but after some arguing and a little culinary bribery from Aesha, he had agreed to set up in the cabin, though he claimed it was only temporary.
Kari approached the cabin door, and pressed the intercom button, sending a soft tone reverberating throughout the room.
"Aye, come in." came James's voice from the other side. Kari pressed the green door release and the metal slid back to reveal the cabin.
It was a rather Spartan looking place, the walls had been cleared of any decoration and the large glass case that looked like it once held ship models lay barren. The captain's desk was tidy, but also lacking in any decorum, there were a few datapads arrayed out neatly in front of the chair, as well as a white porcelain cup that bore the N7 insignia on its side. It held a steaming warm brownish liquid that Kari remembered was called "tea".
The fragrance was rather charming, it smelled earthy and heavy.
"Cup of Earl Grey?" James asked, as he came around from behind the glass case. He had been reattaching his gauntlets to his suit.
He nodded to the cup that Kari had been staring at.
"Oh..n-no… I-I couldn't…thank you though…" she said, looking down a bit from his eyes. She should try to be professional, during the daytime hours. After all, he still needed her to do her job properly.
"Tullius asked me to bring you the list you g-gave him…he said that…he said that…" Kari's voice trailed off, James had closed the distance between them, was right on top of her, looking down at her with a tender look.
"It can wait a few minutes…I'd rather talk about what happened last night." He said, taking the datapad from her hands and gently setting it down next to the others.
Kari's hand, free of their burden, clasped together in a nervous bundle. She hadn't really thought that much about the night before, was he having second thoughts? Did he not actually want to be with her after all?
Kari's concerns were silenced as he put his hands over hers and held them between his massive black gloves, breaking the bundle of her fingers so that he could twine his own five fingers in her three.
"I meant what I said last night…I want to try this…I want to try us…but I want it to be special. Not just some fling or one-time thing." He told her, softly and quietly, his violet eyes examining her hands in his. They seemed so small, so frail…like the wings of a little bird delicately stretched out in his grip.
Relief washed over Kari as he spoke, she had wanted him too in the same way…but she had been worried that he didn't want what she did…that he might be only interested in her as a dalliance.
"I-I want it to be special too…Keelah, I-I've wanted to be with you ever since I saw you."
James grinned fondly, "A bold claim, Miss Vereah…after all, I was in full armour when you first saw me."
Kari giggled softly, pressing in a bit closer, nuzzling her visor against the peak of his mask.
"Well…since I saw you take down that Geth Prime, at least."
James raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You saw that, did you?"
Kari gave a slight nod, untwirling her fingers from his and working her hands up his arms to his biceps. James's arms fell to her sides, grasping the snug material under her arms gently.
"Yes… I did. It was very brave…" she added with a husky gasp. Even through the suit, the sensation of his hands under her arms tickled and excited her, she wondered what it would feel like if there were no suits in the way….
James chuckled throatily, "I didn't exactly plan for it to turn out the way it did…" he admitted, thinking back to how he had felt the moments before his charge, fully expecting to die right then and there.
Kari let her finger draw back down his arms, following the lines of the material and passing over the gentle bumps of barrier emitters.
She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his chest in a gentle hug.
"I'm glad that it didn't…" she admitted, although the words sounded a bit selfish as they left her lips. She pressed her helmet softly into the gentle curvature of his chest, finding that valley between the chestplates of his armour.
James wrapped his arms around her as well, his hands resting just above her hips, sending soft tingles of sensation skirting up her body, causing her skin to prickle and soft gasps to escape her lips.
James didn't want this moment to end, indeed…it was taking nearly all of his discipline not to take her to his bed right then and there…but this wasn't the time…and there was work to be done still.
After a long moment, James finally sighed regretfully.
"Now…what is it that Tullius wanted?" he said at last.
Kari's mind had been blissfully empty up to that point, but now the image of Tullius making her sit on the ship's gun-mount and yell at passing ships sent her into giggles.
"What's so funny?" James asked, looking down at her with a curious glance.
"Oh…just the thought of trying to yell a Geth frigate into submission." She giggled even more.
James blinked, Kari kept laughing. He figured it must me some sort of inside joke between her and Tullius. He sighed heavily in mock resignation.
"I swear, you and Tullius are going to be the end of me."