Chapter 25 - Shared Enemies

Jason Stone
September 17th, 2188

I poured myself several fingers of whiskey, sitting down hard in my seat with a sigh, reaching a hand up to loosen my tie. I took a big sip, letting the fiery liquid burn down my throat, grimacing. A few hours had passed since my meeting with Garrus, and since then, I had a pit in my stomach. I felt the storm of another war brewing on the horizon, I knew that Parliament would approve my request to join the Hierarchy in their effort, and I knew that all of those things would cost hundreds of lives. Lives of the brave men and women serving the Alliance and the lives of innocents.

I drained the glass, leaning back in my chair and staring out the window through the blinds, half obscuring the sun retreating behind the Vancouver skyline, trying to reach some sort of nirvana.

"Sir?" My secretary said, poking her head into the office, bringing me back into the present, "Admiral Hackett is here, with a Sergeant Garney to see you. He says it's imperative."

"Okay. Send them in." I replied, sitting up and trying to regain a semblance of composure. Hackett strode into the room, straight-backed and stern as ever, with a distraught younger man. "Admiral," I nodded. Even after all this time as Prime Minister, I had a great deal of trouble meeting the senior officer's eyes, the blue globes bearing down a cold warning on anything in front of the older man. "Forgive me. It has been a long day."

"Prime Minister," Hackett greeted, his face still stony, not betraying any hints of emotion, "Sergeant Garney just arrived back in Vancouver with some disturbing news."

"Yes, Sir. I was deployed on the Belgrade as the marine squad leader, doing routine patrols in the Vetus system. We came across a derelict ship adrift approximately 400,000 klicks from the relay. My captain, Emmanuelle Sharon, ordered my team to board the ship and see what we could find." I watched as the man, no older than twenty-five, took a steadying breath as if recounting the events that physically pained him.

"Take your time, son," I said, giving him a steadying gesture with my hand. Hackett stood at attention to the side, still with no sign of outward emotion.

"It was a turian frigate, Sir. The ship was ripped open… almost… almost like someone took a can opener to the hull. The weapons were stripped off, and the reactor was in critical condition. My men were in the process of removing the ship's data cores when the attack happened. It came out of nowhere. Somehow the ships were on the Belgrade. It had to be half a dozen or so, their hulls completely black, no outward markings or anything I could see to identify what ships they were. Captain Sharon ordered us to lay low, knowing that the Belgrade couldn't survive a direct engagement with six frigates. After about a day, we made a break for the relay."

"My God…," I murmured, turning my attention to Hackett, "What do we do?"

"We are analyzing the data cores from the turian ship now, Sir. There may be a black box recording of the fight. Other than that, I've already ordered the fleets reorganized into a wolf pack formation."

"Thank you, Admiral. I will notify the turians right away. Sergeant Garney, I will do everything in my power to find out who did this."

Hackett saluted, and Garney thanked me before leaving the office. I sighed, plopping back down into my chair and pinching the bridge of my nose.

Garrus

I padded my way over to the sofa. Amelia scooched over to allow me to sit, snuggling her body under my arm when I did. "They asleep?"

"Out like a light," I answered, twisting the top off a bottle of beer and taking a sip. "It feels good to relax; it's been a long day."

Amelia looked up at me with a smile, "It's fun, isn't it?" She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I don't know how you got everyone to cooperate…," I groaned, sinking deeper into the leather.

"Eminent death has a way of motivating people…. Sometimes…," She said dryly, causing me to laugh. "And you wonder why I retired?"

"Do you want to switch? You can be Primarch…," I brought my head down to her ear, dropping my voice to barely a whisper, "...And I can be the sexy stay-at-home parent."

She shivered, taking a moment before responding, "Hmmm…. No, I think I like being the sexy stay-at-home parent," She flipped onto my lap, straddling me. Grabbing my face, she drew me into a long kiss. As I felt my plates begin to shift in arousal, my omnitool began buzzing.

I groaned as Amelia leaned back, "I can ignore it…."

"No," She said, her voice carrying the pout on her face, "It's probably important. Answer it." She slipped off my lap, walking away muttering something about 'damn cockblocking calls.'

I laughed, shook my head, and answered the call, surprised to see Jason's face appearing on my screen rather than Sentia's. "Jason…?"

"Garrus," The man looked defeated. His eyes were baggy and drooping, and his stress wrinkles seemed more pronounced than they did just a few hours prior, "We found a derelict Hierarchy ship in the Vetus system. The Belgrade came under attack and was destroyed, but a team of marines made it back to Earth yesterday with the data core. It was the Scopuli."

"Spirits…. We've been looking for the Scopuli for months…."

"I'm sorry to call so late, but I wanted to tell you this personally. I sent a courier to bring the data core back to you. He should arrive tomorrow afternoon."

"Thank you, Jason."

"Of course, Garrus. Have a good night." The human disconnected the call, silence descending on the room once more.

Amelia walked back into the room, her eyes filled with silent understanding as she regarded him. I just stared off into the distance past her. After a moment, she finally broke the silence, "Tell me."

"I sent the Scopuli out to find the first ship that disappeared. I knew the ship was destroyed months ago. It was the only logical conclusion. But... Now that the wreckage was found, I can't help but feel responsible."

"Did you destroy it?"

"No, but I…."

Amelia grabbed both of my hands, rubbing lightly on the backs with her thumbs, "But nothing. You aren't responsible for any of those soldiers dying, just like I wasn't for anyone who died during the War. It took me a long time to learn that, and you helped then, so I will help you now. We will find these motherless fucks and kill them."

"What would I do without you?"

"The same things…. Just a little less stylishly," She answered with a smirk, turning my line back on me.

Amelia

With the mood sufficiently killed, I grabbed a blanket and settled back under Garrus's arm, cocooned between his warm body and the blanket, resting my head on his thigh. "So, what do you wanna do?" I looked up at him, seeing a puzzled look on his face, "... What?" I asked.

"How are you cold?" He asked me, "It's on the warm side for me."

"I'm a woman; I'm always cold. So, whatcha wanna do?"

"I don't know. Do you want to watch a movie?"

"Ooh! I got a perfect one! I just bought the 200th-anniversary re-release." I extricated my arm from the cocoon enough to see my omnitool screen, sending the file to the big screen in front of them.

"Episode Four?" Garrus asked, reading the text as it scrolled by on the screen.

"Yea… It's the first one. Don't ask me."

-0-

As the credits rolled, I looked at my husband, "So… What did ya think?"

"I'm offended how bad these stormtroopers are at shooting," Garrus commented, "How do you even miss all of those shots? Luke is standing still!" I laughed, rolling my head into his thigh to smother the volume. "Wait… Didn't Obi-Wan say that stormtroopers are incredibly precise?"

"There is a long-running conspiracy theory that they are ordered to miss, but I just think it's plot armor," I replied after getting my laughter under control.

"Other than that, it was pretty good. How many more are there?" Garrus asked, drinking down the last of his beer.

"Forty-seven," I replied, completely deadpan.

Garrus turned to me, his jaw hanging slack, "What?!"

"Yea. A company named Disney bought the franchise and ran it into the ground about two hundred years ago. We're only gonna watch the first three, episodes four, five, and six. Maybe one, two, and three if we need a laugh."

Garrus let out a sigh of relief, "Thank the Spirits. I liked it but couldn't sit through forty-seven more."

"Don't worry; I wouldn't make Harbinger sit through episode thirteen," I said, shuddering.

Amelia

I awoke just after dawn, the first rays of light from Trebia starting to creep over the horizon. I looked over at Garrus, who was still sleeping beside me. This was the first night I had slept through since giving birth.

Blinking the grogginess from my eyes, I rolled out of bed as carefully as possible. Garrus stirred for half a second but didn't wake up. I tiptoed out of the room and into the nursery, checking on the children. Gaius was fast asleep, somehow tangled up in his blankie. I watched for a moment as his little chest rose and fell with his breath. Octavia was still sleeping but was still situated under her sheet, rather than tangled up in it, unlike her hyperactive brother.

Satisfied, I padded back into our bedroom and climbed back into the bed, getting under the covers with Garrus. With a devilish grin, lamenting the missed opportunity last night, I thought of the perfect way to wake my husband, crawling under the covers. With light, almost dainty touches to his groin plates, I coaxed his cock out. He unconsciously groaned as I placed my lips around his head. My tongue drew lazy circles over the tip, lapping the lubricant that coated it.

Awake now, Garrus lifted the sheet to peek down at me, "Good morning…," He drawled. Instead of replying, I locked eyes with him and took as much of his cock as possible into my throat, smiling internally when his head sank back into the massive stack of pillows he employed. "Uh…,"

Garrus wasn't able to last long under my assault, succumbing to the pleasure and releasing a load into my mouth, which I swallowed as always. Crawling out from under the sheets, I settled on my stomach, laying on top of his cowl. I crossed my arms and rested my chin on them, admiring my work. Garrus was utterly still except for the occasional mandible twitch as he caught his breath. Eventually, he looked up at me, "Spirits…," He groaned, "What was that for?"

"Because I wanted to," I answered, subtly licking her lips, "And I didn't think you'd mind."

"I certainly don't mind," He chuckled, "Feel free to do that whenever you want. But…," He started, using some of his hand-to-hand skills to flip them over, "Only if I get to do this…." Now I was pinned by his superior size and weight, with the head of his cock rubbing my clit through the thin fabric of my underwear. I mewled as he bit and nipped around my neck through my t-shirt, slowly working his way down my body, grabbing my hands as he disappeared under the covers. Using his teeth, he peeled my panties down my legs just enough to grant access to my core, which was soaking wet with anticipation.

He released my wrists just long enough to wrap his arms around my legs before retaking them, lowering his head but pausing inches away, letting the heat from his breath hit me. I squirmed but was immobilized by his ironclad grip. After what felt like an eternity, he brought his head down and began to lap at me. The rough texture of his tongue ensured it only took a few repetitions before I tumbled over the edge, just stopping myself from shouting his name.

"Hmmmm," Came his telltale hum from beneath the sheets, sending vibrations up through my body in a very pleasant manner, "I think I could get used to this."