November Alpha Uniform Golf Hotel Tango Yankee

Running my hands down my face, I had three problems, all of which caused me to close the laptop and toss it onto my bed. Two of the problems were directly tied to each other, the inspection reports from the Manjuu had come in; the HVAC on the command center was totally fucked, and would have to wait till the supply ship after the next one so they could bring in a replacement unit. The second issue was, they could fix the one on the girl's dorm, but they'd have to cannibalize parts, from somewhere. Something about filters and compressors being beyond repair. So I suggested either the Cattery or the Aviary since they had working HVACs much like my quarters did and they could double up for a little bit, like I was with the girls, in quarters designed for one to two people. And that brings us to the third problem, the much more pressing, and arguably the most dangerous, I don't know who it was that entered my room last night and gave me a midnight blowjob.

So the question is who was it? I mean I think it might've been Ticonderoga, simply because of how she was working that popsicle the other day. Then again, Lexington has been pretty flirty with me, but would she do Ticonderoga dirty like that? Or maybe it was Wooster, I mean she more or less stated to Buffalo that she's open to casual things.

Laying back down on my bed, I pick up the note that had been left for me by the previous base commander, and I read it again, the part where they tell me to keep an open mind, that they met the love of their life here and I think back to yesterday in my office, where Ticonderoga had been anything but shy about touching me, even resting her boobs on my shoulder and leaning into my space. I mean if she wasn't comfortable with me, why would she have done that? Sure we had sex the night before shipping out, but after that she made it kind of clear that she wanted some kind of boundary between the two of us, right? She did ask me to delete the lewd photos she sent me.

Sitting up I run my hands down my face again as I sigh, "Only one way to find out, I guess."

Opening my bedroom door, I look out into the living room and see it's mostly empty, aside from Ticonderoga, who was laying on my couch just in a bra and panties, a bowl of potato chips on her belly, and channel surfing on the TV, after a second I hear her groan, "Ugh, just like the heat, TV sucks during the day."

Taking another look around I ask, "Where is everyone?"

"They all skipped down to the beach to go for a swim." She tells me, lifting a hand over the side of the couch to wave it at me as she adds, "I stayed behind because I got one in this morning when it was kind of cool."

So, it's just the two of us? Might be a good time to return the favor from last night then…

I cross around the side of the couch and sit down on it, Ticonderoga promptly puts her legs across my lap while putting the chip bowl on the floor beside her as she uses her arms to prop herself up and asks, "What's up, Captain?"

I lean over and kiss her belly, causing her to make a little giggle as she whispers, "That tickles."

Leaning over a little more, I stroke her left thigh with one hand as I start to kiss down her belly towards her waistband; her hands start to run through my hair as she sighs contently, "That feels nice."

With my teeth, I tug at her waistband and that's where things went sideways, as she asked, "What are you doing?"

Taking the fabric out of my mouth, but still stroking her thighs I say, "Returning the favor from last night?"

"What favor?" she asks, tilting her head to the side and blinking her blue eyes at me.

My forehead knits together and I say with a touch of confusion, "You came into my room in the middle of the night, and gave me a… servicing?"

Ticonderoga blinks more and shakes her head from side to side slowly, "No, no I didn't."

Blinking a couple of times, I tilt my head to the side and rest it against one of her thighs, "Well, this is awkward then. But if it wasn't you then who was it?"

For a split second, I thought I saw something akin to alarm in Ticonderoga's eyes while she sat up and adjusted her underwear, and crossed her legs, resting an elbow on them and her chin in one hand as she thought before saying, "I don't know."

Sensing something was off, I asked, "Everything okay, Ticonderoga?"

"Why would it be?" she all but snapped before standing and collecting some of her kit and heading off to the bathroom, leaving me wondering just what the hell happened.

After a few moments she exited the bathroom dressed in shorts and a tank top, she sighed and folded her arms across her belly, leaning her head against the open door frame as she said, "Okay, maybe things aren't fine. Maybe I'm mad that someone made a move on you, and maybe I'm mad that you let them." She sighs again and hangs her head, "And maybe I'm mad that I didn't think to do that."

"Do I at least get points for thinking it was you, and wanting it to have been you?" I ask her with a head tilt.

Ticonderoga flushed and played with her hair before looking down and saying, "Maybe." She paused and let go of herself to rub her hands together as she says, "I do like the idea that I was your first thought, though."

"Well, I liked the idea that it was you that did that last night." I say with a shrug, as I'm trying to figure out what exactly is going on.

Though this is a little alarming that one of the other girls did that last night and now I had to figure out who.

Ticonderoga pursed her lips in thought before asking, "Do you have any ideas on who it was?"

Standing up to cross the room to look out the window while admitting to her, "A couple, but honestly, they were pretty low on the list of probity as far as I knew."

"Like?" Ticonderoga asks as she moves to stand next to me, I can still smell her musky scent.

"Well, my next two thoughts were Lexington and Wooster. Lexington because she's been pretty flirty and Wooster because well, dissipate making it clear she wants Buffalo to get," I pause and look for a way to say it, "stuffed, she all but outright said she is open to casual relationships."

Looking over my shoulder at Ticonderoga her lips are pressed tightly together, and she snorts, "I'd hate for it to be Lexi, because well, she's a sister to me now."

Rubbing the back of my head I ask the question that needed to be asked now, "Why would it matter? I mean if we're being honest about things, all we ever did was hookup, once."

She hangs her head and sighs, "Fair point."

Ticonderoga turns around to rest her butt on the ledge by the window; her attention is on the couch as she mumbles, "What if we weren't just a hookup?"

Huh, I mean that thought has crossed my mind. And well the more time I spend around these girls, the more they seem like people.

"What was that?" I ask, trying to downplay that I actually heard what she said.

She went bright pink and brushed some hair behind an ear as she said, "Nothing!" sliding off of the ledge she added, "I'm going to go grab another swim, while it's still hot."

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Later that evening, I again heard the collection of kansen in my living room, laughing and carrying on about something. Getting closer to the door, I lean against it to listen, "…Alright, Tico, truth or dare?"

Really? Truth or dare?

"Uh…." Ticonderoga stalled.

"Come on Ty, you gotta pick one." Wooster said with a teasing tone.

"D… truth!" Ticonderoga stutters.

"That's no fun!" Wooster responds with a tone that suggests she's pouting.

"Have you ever had sex, with Captain Cooper?" Lexington asks.

Now I know she already knows the answer to that.

"Miss Lexington! You cannot just ask someone that!" Buffalo protests, loudly.

"Sure I can, I already know the answer, right, Tico?" Lexington says with a knowing tone of voice.

"Fine." Ticonderoga sighs, "Yes, yes I have." She pauses before adding, loudly, "But that was before we came here!"

I'm not sure I should be listening in on this.

Moving away from the door, I grab my laptop, and a set of headphones and put on some streaming service. But I can't help but wonder about that thing that Ticonderoga said today, about maybe not being just a hookup.

Speaking of that, I got to remember to lock my bedroom tonight… maybe I should lock it now.

Getting out of my bed and crossing over to the door, I was just about to lock it when it opened and Ticonderoga slipped inside, her cheeks bright pink and she whispered, "I need to stay in here for a bit."

With a raised eyebrow I ask, "Why?"

She closed her blue eyes and sighed, "My turn in truth or dare came up, and I didn't want to have to answer another uncomfortable question, since things turned to questions about sex."

"And you took the dare?" I ask with a head tilt.

She kept looking down but nodded as she sighed, "Yeah."

"What was the dare?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

"To spend the night in the same bed and not have sex." She tells me.

"Really? That's not much of a dare." I say to her as I go back to my show.

"It was Buffalo's idea." She tells me as I hear the door lock click and she follows me over the bed.

I can't help but chuckle at that, "Leave it to her to be so innocent."

Ticonderoga climbs onto the bed beside me and snuggles close to see the screen, pressing her nose against me and taking in a deep breath before asking, "So, what are we going to watch?"

Angling the laptop towards her I answer, "Lady's choice."

Ticonderoga smiles and starts to search for something to watch, from where I am, I can see down her top and I can't help but wonder, would it be so bad if we weren't just a one-off hookup?

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A/N: Extended version found on my AO3 version of the story.