“Gods,” Damion gasped, and he almost crushed Requiem beneath him as he sank down.
Requiem didn’t care, not really noticing the heavy weight on top of him, because he was clinging to it. He released Damion’s shoulder, saving it from his teeth as his head flopped back onto the mattress. He closed his eyes. He was having difficulty catching his breath and he was unable to deal with muscle control any longer. His legs had unlocked from Damion’s hips and fallen back down to the bed.
Damion licked his lips and slumped to the side, wincing a bit and causing Requiem to gasp as Damion slid out of him. “Damn, it’s like my skin is on fire.”
Requiem let his arms drop to the bed. His body still twitched occasionally, trying to regain control over his muscles. “I am having a similar feeling,” he replied in a hoarse voice, his gaze focusing on the ceiling lazily.
“Good.” Damion grinned from ear to ear and ran his fingers through the mess on his stomach. “Shower?”
“A distinctly appropriate solution.” Requiem shifted—or at least attempted to. In actuality he only twitched. “Unfortunately I have to report that I do not believe I can currently move.” Tiredness settled over his limbs, threatening to drag him into an abyss, but he fought against it. He blinked, his gaze trailing over to the comm screen as it beeped twice for an incoming internal transmission.
“Who the fuck is trying to get us?” Damion muttered as he sat up with a groan.
Juni’s name flashed across the screen, an icon of a cartoon face with a big grin flashing next to it for his signature.
Seeing it, Requiem sighed and looked away, closing his eyes at the same time. It was quite extraordinary, the perception Fighter Mathis had. At least this time he was calling after instead of before or during, otherwise Requiem was sure it would not have been pleasant for 108’s Fighter.
Damion grabbed his discarded underwear before sitting down and opening the transmission. “Do I have to start tucking you into bed?”
“What the hellll-lo, was I interrupting something?” Juni’s cheeky grin appeared on the screen as he viewed the state Damion was in, his gaze trailing to a spot of fluid on Damion’s collarbone.
“One day I’m going to interrupt you and see how amused you are,” Damion warned, giving him a glare. “Did something happen that you’re bothering me?”
“Mmm, that would have to involve 108 and I being in the room,” Juni corrected with a sly grin as he looked to something—or someone—off screen. A low snort was heard and then the sound of a door closing. Juni laughed softly, looking back at Damion. “I was going to see if you wanted to go to the officers’ bar on level two for a few drinks while 47 slept, but I’m guessing that he wasn’t that tired. So I’ll retract that and let you go have more messy fun.”
Damion flipped off his friend. “I’m going to shower, and then I’m going to sleep and hope that I won’t have to patrol with your lazy ass tomorrow.”
“Oh, you cut me to the bone.” Juni dramatically placed a hand flat to his chest over his heart. “Too bad, so sad. We’re running paired doubles tomorrow. You’re stuck with me allll day—0700 hours. And I will torture you. Oh yes, I will.” Insane laughter could still be heard as Juni cut the video feed and only ended when he shut off the vocal.
Damion let out a long sigh. “At least I won’t fall asleep at the helm.” He got up and looked over at Requiem. “You need help to the shower?”
Prying open one eye, Requiem looked at Damion. Taking an internal account of his body, he reluctantly nodded. “I apologize, but I do not believe my muscles will hold me in the appropriate position to walk at this time.”
“All right.” Damion bent down and pulled Requiem’s arm over his shoulders and then helped him to the bathroom.
“Thank you,” Requiem whispered. His legs shook with each step, feeling like wonderful warm jelly. He ignored the feeling of Damion’s seed exiting his body and sliding down his legs.
“Just lean against the wall for a second.” Damion helped him back against the cool tile of the bathroom wall before starting up the shower.
“I apologize that I am such a burden to you,” Requiem said softly after a few moments. The steam from the shower caressed his skin in a pleasant way.
“You’re not a burden.” Damion pulled him forward again and into the shower stall, which was barely big enough for both of them. He held Requiem close as he began to wash Requiem’s bruised, weary body.
Requiem sighed blissfully as the warm water and Damion’s hands soothed his tired body. He rested his head on Damion’s shoulder and closed his eyes, letting himself be taken care of. “I appreciate that you attempt to say otherwise, but it is not the truth. If it were not for my presence in your life, it would be much simpler and not nearly so dangerous. But I thank you for it.”
Damion started on Requiem’s hair. “I don’t think there is a simple way for a Fighter to live.”
A brief moan began behind Requiem’s lips before he caught it and cut it off. He sighed in contentment as Damion’s strong fingers massaged his scalp, easing the headache that had started to creep up into his temples. “Perhaps not simple, but simpler.”
“Again, I deny that statement, but I think you’d argue with me ’cause you have to be right, always.” Damion gave a tug to Requiem’s soapy locks and then nudged him under the spray.
“I deny that statement. I do not claim I am right. I merely make suggestions that you can take under consideration if you wish.” Requiem couldn’t get out any more words as the steamy water poured over his head, rinsing out his hair. He leaned against the wall, enjoying the heat and Damion’s grip on his arms keeping him upright.
“Let me just wash quick and we’ll get you back to bed.”
Damion sounded amused at Requiem’s lethargy—probably because he was the cause. Requiem leaned against the cool tile wall of the stall and closed his eyes, keeping quiet. He felt he might fall asleep right then and there and used the chill against his back to keep himself awake.
Damion finished showering quickly and then turned off the water before grabbing them both towels. “Here, dry off before you catch a cold.”
“I have never caught a ‘cold.’” Requiem took the towel, his brow furrowed minutely as he dried off.
“Well, you can get one from not taking care of your body,” Damion explained as he bent down and picked up Requiem again, carrying him back to bed.
Requiem wrapped an arm around Damion’s neck, clinging to the damp towel. “Is catching a cold a euphemism for becoming ill?” His words slurred with exhaustion, and he was hanging on to consciousness by his fingernails.
“So damn smart.” Damion laid Requiem down on the bed and quickly covered up his damp body with the top sheet. “Jack in tomorrow to appease the assholes downstairs before we head out.”
“As you command,” Requiem replied with a yawn, turning on his side. “Do you wish for me to wake you an hour before launch?”
“Thirty minutes.” Damion crawled into the bed and sighed as he pulled up the extra blanket for himself before hugging Requiem close. “If Juni starts singing tomorrow, I want you to order 108 to knock him out.”
“I am fairly sure that 108 would not require an order from me to make that decision if it is for the good of all.”
Requiem snuggled closer to his… lover—such an odd term—and quickly gave himself to sleep.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Saturday October 22, 454 MC
0935 GMT
Damion
THE NEXT few days passed calmly. Damion was more unnerved from the lack of attempts on his life than anything else. They would do their patrols and come back without incident. It seemed Requiem’s looped playback was working well enough since there had been no more surprise visits. And the Commander hadn’t poked his nose in either.
According to Juni and 108, the President had also showed casual interest in Damion and Requiem. If the President was around and Damion and Requiem happened to pass by or be in the sam
e place, he watched them until they were gone.
Patrol was also easy and passed without incident. There were a few times where it seemed something was on the edge of their radar, but nothing showed up or it left when the scan was expanded, so they never figured out exactly what it was. There had been an extensive diagnostic and physical check of the Olympus. There was no indication who sabotaged the ship or when it occurred in the reports. They were also scheduled for outreaching patrol for the day the President left—the day before the Creators were going to come and retrieve Requiem.
Damion sighed as he dressed for their last day of patrol. The flight suit was a comforting cocoon in which he felt powerful and sure, and things made sense when he wore it. “What are you going to tell the Creators when we get back?”
“I do not know,” Requiem replied quietly as he zipped up his flight suit. He sat on the edge of the capsule to pull his boots on. “I believe this is the type of situation that I can only deal with without preparation. I have until tomorrow to decide.”
“Damn it.” Damion felt his anger and aggression return all at once in the span of one heartbeat. “Just tell them everything is fine.”
“The answers depend on the questions, Damion. I am not allowed to report until ordered to.” Requiem stood, looking at him. “The Creator’s and my agreement was based on your scores. They have improved. Therefore I will not be forced to choose a new Fighter. Beyond that I do not know what to expect.”
“What about the Barrier? The one you can’t even do without almost blacking out?”
Damion didn’t like the idea of Requiem handing that over to the creeps. It was more than just dislike—it was fear. The fear of his Core being taken away for more experiments and never being seen again.
“I must give them the schematics if they ask, but I am the only Core who can transfer energy to the Zodiac and therefore power the Barrier if the auxiliary power source gives out. They want it for the fleet, but it will be useless to them unless I can figure out a way to demonstrate to them how to power it efficiently.” Requiem tilted his head as he explained it, watching Damion.
“It won’t stop them from experimenting.” Damion was furious just from the mere thought of the numerous Cores who would die trying to be batteries. He hated thinking about them taking Requiem from him and using him for their tests. Requiem never thought about the consequences for himself.
“Nothing will stop them from experimentation. Short of termination, that is.” After a moment’s hesitation, Requiem walked over to stand in front of Damion, looking up at him. “What would you suggest for me to do?”
“You wouldn’t like my answer.” Damion put his hands on his hips as he looked down at Requiem. He wondered if those big eyes would suck him in completely one day. Perhaps they already had. Sure seemed like it.
“Would not like, or should not hear?”
“I’m pissed that you probably shouldn’t hear it.” Damion hated not being able to trust Requiem, not completely.
“Very well. Shall we depart? We need to be at the hangar in approximately four minutes and ready to launch in ten.”
“Might as well. Maybe we’ll see what keeps setting off the sensors.” Damion grabbed a few extra protein bars to snack on during the patrol. He despised being hungry, and Requiem seemed displeased by his whining, so it was better to take a snack just in case.
“Our main objective today is to secure the Olympus as it makes its departure. We will be in the outermost quadrant. Once they pass us, they have an hour’s flight before they meet up with their own security force, which was delayed and is now en route.” Requiem opened the door for Damion and followed him out, keying the lock before they began to walk down the corridor to the elevator.
“Why the hell are we the only ones going? Didn’t someone just try and blow the guy up?” He couldn’t believe they would just let the President skip off without his full entourage.
“The President overruled the Commander’s suggestion to wait. The reason was not in the status report,” Requiem answered. “We will be out of the Zeus’s range, enabling us to test the Ares in open space without direct observation.”
“It’s still boring.” Damion shrugged. “But I guess it’s better than target practice or Juni’s stories.”
“It will give us both time to think, as well as attempt to discern what is on the edge of our sensors in that immediate sector.” Requiem keyed the elevator and they stepped in, pushing the button for the flight deck.
“Probably debris.” Damion didn’t fully believe his own words but was unable to think what else it might be. “But debris doesn’t usually move away.”
“Precisely.” Requiem walked out of the elevator, waiting for Damion, then following him toward the flight deck. “Nor does debris move in a way that could be construed as evasive. Debris goes in a straight line. It is intriguing.”
“You like trouble,” Damion teased him. The last thing either of them needed was to be more intrigued or find intriguing enemy spies.
“In actuality I try to avoid any sort of confrontation. It does not seem as if confrontation avoids me.” They approached the door to the dock.
“You could say that,” Damion scoffed, opening the door and walking toward the Ares.
“I just did.”
Requiem looked at him briefly, his brow slightly furrowed. He looked back at the lock console on the side of their Zodiac. He keyed in their code and the hatch on top of the ship opened, the ladder rolling out to the floor. He waited for Damion to board, climbing in himself once Damion was inside the Ares.
Damion slipped into his seat and pulled on his helmet before starting the Ares’s power-up sequence. “Diagnostic report?”
Requiem sat in his chair, jacking in quickly as the chair eased back to a half-reclined position. He quickly went through each of the Ares’s systems. “Diagnostic complete. Ares running at 99.7 percent. Approved for launch.”
“Engaging engines and awaiting bay doors to open.” Damion switched channels on the comm. “Juni, you’re not fucking sleeping over there, are you?”
“So what if I am? You probably had a later night than me,” Juni replied, as chipper as always.
“If I did, it’s because I have more stamina.”
“Screw you, Hawk, I have stamina.”
“Says the guy who once passed out while screwing his girlfriend.”
There was sputtering over the comm from Juni, along with chuckles from the other Alphas eavesdropping.
“Engine heat pattern at maximum output. Bay doors expanding. Ready to launch in fifty-three seconds,” Requiem reported.
Damion initiated the ship forward and led the other Alphas and a squad of Betas out into silent space before the Olympus. “Let’s start scanning.”
“Deep space scans initiating. Radar, heat, and echo sensors all activated.” Requiem’s voice came through the speakers of the Zodiac. “I have scanned through the Ares itself, the sensor output, and schematics of the other Zodiacs. Area clear for a 160-kilometer radius.”
“We’ll do a circle around, then swing back to help the escort for the Olympus.” Damion turned the craft around. He made sure to push the Ares quickly as swinging around the Zeus was no small feat. The expansive battle cruiser was a gleaming metal beast, a testament to all the power of the Corporation. The entire ship appeared seamless. The hard lines where the sides flared out and the lower hangar protruding from the underside of the Zeus made the ship look massive. The main gun on the front was enormous and had the ability to decimate cruisers and smaller fighters in one blast.
“Affirmative,” Requiem stated. “Expanding sensors to maximum output.”
Damion did his circle of the Zeus and swung back just in time to see Olympus leaving the docking bay very slowly. “This is Ares. We’re all clear. This looks like another boring day, folks. We’ll take the aft side of the Olympus.”
Damion switched the comm off, a habit he had started since Requiem came back altered. “We could just
fly away, you think? How far would we get before they realized we were running?”
“We would not travel this far before we would be fired upon and terminated,” Requiem’s true voice said from his chair. “And I cannot leave the Chrysalis Corporation. I will not betray it.”
“Yeah. We can’t betray them to be happy,” Damion growled, looking at his gloved hands on the controls.
“No, I cannot. Even if I did want to, when they found out, I would be terminated. The tracking device implanted in my skull would shut down my internal systems,” Requiem explained. “May I request that you stop speaking of such things as it will make it more difficult when the Creator questions me tomorrow?”
“I can’t help it.” Damion sighed as he looked out at the Olympus. “If I don’t talk about it, then I just want to shoot something, and right now that might not be a good idea. Alpha Fighter Hawk, why did you shoot upon the President’s flagship? Sorry, sir, I was thinking about the white-coated creeps wiping my Core and taking him away from me forever.”
“Perhaps a visit to the recreational range might be in order when we dock,” Requiem suggested. “Approaching one-kilometer mark. The rest of the fleet is breaking off. At the request of the Olympus’s pilot, Ares will continue as guide to the Olympus to the edge of the zone.”
“We’ll come around the Olympus and move ahead of them once everyone is out of our way.” Damion flipped the outgoing comm open again while letting out a sigh. “See everyone back on the Zeus.”
“I’ll have a brew cracked and waiting for you,” Juni promised as the other nine Alphas moved back toward the distant Zeus.
The Betas continued patrols around the Zeus as was normal.
“Path cleared,” Requiem replied. “Sensors continuing at max output and sweeping. Thrusters activating to medium power to pull out of the Olympus’s wake and move ahead.”
Damion waited for the Zodiacs to pass before pulling forward and dipping under Olympus to get ahead of the flagship. “Should only be about twenty minutes away, then we’ll be able to let your hand go, Olympus.”
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