Uncharted System 38

[Sombs]

>> Crew List

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It was situations like these that Sombra really hated. The ship was on red alert, and the bridge officers tried their best to deal with the issue, and more than half of the other crew members had something to do - some took control of the Rovers, the Apotheosis and the Little Blue, some prepared for damage control, others hurried to Engineering to make sure the power core would do what it was supposed to do. All in all, most jobs were done by the Kishiro Service Robots, and the human crew supervised them wherever it was needed.

But there was nothing to do for Sombra. First she was a smuggler and supply ship pilot, but with her Whale no longer around - or even needed - that was no longer viable. To give her something to do, Ezrael assigned her as quartermaster, so she was in control of storage and distribution of goods among the crew. However, in reality, this was also done by the Apahanta's AI and the KSRs doing the dirty work. Every now and then she checked the inventory, but in the end, in a combat situation, there was nothing for her to do either. So, while the lights throughout the corridors were painting everything in red, the curacaoan woman walked down the hallway. She knew where she was supposed to be during these times - either in her room or in one of the other rooms in the most inner area of the ship - either the canteen, the dorms or the hydroponics.

Arriving at the dormitories, she opened the door to, what the crew refers to as, the cat room. By any means, it was just a regular meeting room with a few couches and holographic windows and colored lighting, however the walls were full of little trenches, wooden stairs and cat tree caves. Among the few animals that lived on the Apahanta were Sombra's three cats she took with her from Curacao when she decided to move in. One was Ezrael, or Catzrael, obviously named after Ezrael. Another was Catleon, named after Leon, the chief engineer and one of Sombra's and Ezrael's best friends since childhood. Despite the name referring to a male friend of hers, Catleon was actually female - something she found out after naming her. The third was Mojo. Sombra once heard someone saying that word, and without knowing what it was colloquially used for, she decided it was a good name for a white cat that always looked like it had no idea what was going on. A look of confusion and insecurity. Contrary to how Mojo looked by nature, he was a very happy cat.

For a moment, Sombra was glad to see all three cats when the door opened. Then the initial happiness took a dent as she also saw Abigail, the ship's counselor with her daughter Luna. The one and only child on the ship. How old was she now? Three, four years maybe? It wasn't Luna's fault, but Sombra hated her. Even more so her mother. The innocent child was on the floor, petting Catleon, who rolled around happily on the carpet, while Abigail sat on one of the couches and throw a mild smile at Sombra. The only response to that was a cold look back at her while the door closed again. For a few seconds, Sombra just remained motionless in the hallway, in front of the closed door, pondering as to whether she could overcome her hatred for Abigail and Luna in this trying time.

The canteen was empty - apart from the service robots that prepared freshly harvested plants from the hydroponics into either lunch, snacks or non-perishable food paste. If she was being honest, she had to admit she didn't expect the self-sufficiency of the Apahanta to be this unproblematic. Even after three years away from Sirius and any resupplies, the cargo bay was still full of stuff from Sirius, as everyone tried their best to preserve the good stuff and instead go for fresh food from here. Not just fruits and vegetables from the hydroponics, but also lab-grown meat and chemistry-based cheese and many other technical wonders. At first it was weird to think that almost everything she ate and drank was a product of science and engineering, but the results made literally everyone forget about the processes turning molecules and bacteria and recycled waste into delicious, nutritious foods. Ezrael had made sure that they wouldn't miss out on anything, and all the credits and time spent on preparing paid off.

Seeing the new food vending machines covering a few square meters at the wall made her happy. It was her idea. She talked with Noel about how she missed those machines from all the stations in Sirius, so the boy took a few hours to design them together with her, and weeks later, they managed to put ten different looking machines in the canteen and a few more in other places. Service robots would take prepared snacks and drinks and refill the machines every now and then. It had a much more fun vibe to get food from the vendors than just walking up to the counter of the canteen and grab something. Some of the machines were heavily inspired by similar machines Sombra and Noel had seen on New Tokyo when they became a couple. Those machines always reminded her of that. One of the most romantic and happy weeks of her entire life.

That thought alone was enough to make a decision. If the Apahanta really was in danger, she didn't want to be alone. She wanted to be with Noel. Luckily, Engineering was not too far away from the canteen.

Engineering was most likely the second biggest single room on the Apahanta, only rivaled by the cargo bay and the hangar. The power core took up a majority of space here, with all the various protective installations around it. While it often did not sound like it, Noel always claimed that Engineering was probably the most secure place of the Apahanta, and the power core was the least likely thing to break. It used to be different, but after many fights and years of turning the Apahanta from a regular battleship into a stealth deep space reconnaissance jack-of-all-trades fortified home ship, APM's initial design philosophy for the Mako as a battleship to conquer the Omicrons got bent into a "We'll all die if we're not prepared for literally everything" philosophy.

Noel sat on a bench, visibly idling as there was only so much to do for the trainee. Everything was handled by dozens of service robots and the senior engineering team. His specialty was reverse-engineering at this point, but during a time like this, there wasn't anything to do for him other than staying ready in case something bad happened. Thus, the slender boy just sat around, staring at his PDA as it displayed what was happening on the bridge. That was until Sombra jumped at him, sitting down right next to him with a slide, pushing against him. The surprising shock made him reflexively yeet the PDA away. Taking a deep breath, trying to recover from the ambush and the sudden feeling of a stomach drop, he chuckled at her as she approach his face with her own to plant a kiss on his cheek, then his lips.

"Shouldn't you be in one of the secured areas right now?" the boy asked her, obviously appreciating the sudden burst of affection from her.

"Engineering is secure. I just pacified the only hostile with a kiss, he is completely charmed now," she returned with an impish smirk. "I was at the cat room but Abs and the child are there, so I went here instead. It's Valentine's Day, after all, so I want to be with you, especially right now!"

"I don't think Leon would like you to snoop around here. In fact, I recall both Ezrael and Leon having told you to stay out of Engineering since that one time you spilled a peppermint milkshake all over the robotics management console," Noel said quietly while she nuzzled his neck with her nose. "And Leon."

"First of all, there are now cup holders at most consoles, even on bridge, all thanks to me pointing out a critical design flaw. You know how they say space flight gets safer every time a horrible accident happens? That's what happened here, except nobody died. Yet. This was all planned," she explained in a false pouty manner. In the meantime, Noel stood up and fetched his PDA, which luckily didn't get damaged from the fall. He returned to her, smiling at her as he sat down.

"Weird, because I have seen the footage of what happened and it didn't look like it was planned at all," the boy said in a teasing manner. He typed something on the PDA as she wrapped an arm around him.

"Secondly," she began, ignoring his point, "I contested that ban, convincing Ezrael that it was a bit too much. I already suffered the loss of a perfectly fine peppermint milkshake, which, mind you, was a irreplaceable luxury good back then. Sacrifices had been made that day, and thanks to that, we not only have cup holders at the consoles, but also the means to make our own peppermint milkshakes."

"Which, apparently, you are the only one to like them." He held the PDA in a way so that both of them could watch the video footage of the incident. Sombra was leaning over the robotics console and placed her paper cup with a straw on the black, reflective and most notably, angled surface of the console. Leon was next to her, staring at the display, and as Sombra let go of the papercup, it slowly tipped over, spilling small amount of the contents over the console. Sombra quickly reacted and tried to grab it, but some of the milkshake got on her hand and the sudden cold experience made her accidentally throw the papercup up in the air, mostly in Leon's direction, resulting in a spray of peppermint milkshake sullying his Apahanta suit while magically evading Sombra's black dress entirely. Laughing uncontrolled, Noel looped the footage, making the incident happen over and over again. It looked very funny to him, and he knew Sombra found it funny, too, despite her trying not to laugh.

"Weirdly enough, his hair had that peppermint milkshake scent for the next days despite him showering multiple times. That's the untameable power of a peppermint milkshake," she commented, turning her head to her boyfriend again. "Well, I don't have a milkshake with me, so what's the worst that can happen right here and now?"

"I'd rather try not to find out," Noel responded, putting the PDA away.

A few seconds of silence passed until she scooted close to him again. "You seem rather relaxed despite us being on red," she said more quietly.

"Well, we're not in danger," the boy replied.

"We're on red alert, though, and no longer alone. And we don't know where we are, and if there are more AI ships, and what else might be out there."

He exhaled in a calm manner and smiled as he placed a hand on her thigh, only then noticing that her legs were actually shivering. Slowly he turned his head up to hers, realizing she was hiding her fear behind a wide smile that slowly fell apart. "Sombs, everything will be fine. This ship has fought against Nomads, Order, Corsairs and also against Gammuians before. Ezrael knows exactly how to deal with enemies, and we don't even know whether that thing is actually hostile to us."

"I'd really prefer if we were alone again," the woman said quietly, pushing her head against his chest. "For a long time I thought Ezrael was maybe a bit too extreme with getting as much distance as possible between us and Sirius, but now I can totally relate. We find one thing that is from Sirius and everything feels horrible."

"Hey..." His hand gently stroke her back as she burrowed herself more into his front, basically sitting on his thigh while pushing her head against his chest. It certainly didn't look comfortable to him. "... it's all going to be fine! Have some trust in Ez."

"I do trust him," Sombra said, her voice muffled as she was talking into his chest. "Look, it's not like I can control fear, it's a natural response, like getting horny when I see you."

"Wonderful comparison, thank you very much," he commented, in a mixture of being weirded out and being unimpressed.

"Look, I... just hug me, alright? Right now I'd prefer being inside you since you are calm as fuck." That made him smile awkwardly. "I'd just stay near to your heart and listen to how calm it beats while enjoying all the warmth."

"That's sort of romantic, but also really weird. You have a talent for mixing those two things."

"Well, you rarely say weird things, so it's always up to me," she said, scooting off his thigh to drop herself down between his legs, looking up at him. "In fact, you know what? You're quite the pussy! I can't think of a single instance of you ever objectifying me. Do you know how boring that is? Whenever I'm gossiping with the girls, I never have anything bad to say about you. Even Ezrael had more negative aspects about him than you, Mr. Perfect Gentleman Twink."

He stared down at her, an eyebrow risen, his lips slightly angled. "You want me to objectify you?"

"Yes!" From where she kneeled on the floor, she leaned forward to hug his belly and pushed her face against it. Leon was walking around in the distance, looking over at them. Noel realized how wrong it must have looked to him.

"Uhm, could you... get back on the bench?" Noel asked politely, somewhat trying to pull her up yet she resisted.

"No, this is comfortable," she said in a muffled voice, tighthening her grip around his body. "Objectify me already!"

"You collectible," he said, deadpan.

She moaned quietly.

"You absolute inventory item. You literal gear slot filler."

"Not exactly what I had in mind, love, but go on," she mumbled.

"You're such a consumable... you hot piece of decorative furniture..." She faked another seductive moan. "You human equivalent of a pawn shop good. Just thinking of you makes me want to put you on a table, shelf or window sill, if we had any..."

"Yeah, that's the ticket. Keep going, love!"

"I will pin you against the fridge like a children's drawing, with a letter-shaped magnet," he said in a teasing voice.

"What letter?"

"Uhm, an L."

"There are many sexy words starting with L. Like leather," she commented, pressing her lips against his belly.

"Or loot."

"I'd love to be your loot."

"I'd store you in a chest, thinking I could use you at some point in the future but then I forget about you until I find you later when randomly looking for something else in the chest," he explained, gently stroking her head. "It's a chest from that weird warehouse where all furniture has funny names, but it came with some screws missing so you have to make up for three screws."

"Yeah, this is awakening something inside me," Sombra said quietly, clearly enjoying the moment. She didn't notice it, but she was no longer twitching.

"I want to forge you and then hammer, you hot utility. You're like molten bronze in my hands... which is kinda painful, like, have you ever had molten bronze in your hands?"

"I love getting under your skin," she purred.

"Twelve iron bars, one potion of invisibility, one Sombra..." She faked another moan, this time loud. "... sixtynine cheese wheels."

"Okay, stop," she said, chuckling, looking up at him in a jovial manner. "I can't hold it back much longer, love."

He leaned forward, moving his head to her ear and whispered in a sensual manner: "Subject, predicate... you."

She bit her lip as he said that, then slowly moved back up to sit in his lap, hugging him tightly. "Not even Ezrael managed to make me feel what I am currently feeling," she said quietly, kissing Noel on his lips. Her left hand lovingly cupped his cheek, while her other hand slowly moved down from his chest to his belly and further.

"Those iron bars are turning into an iron rod right now," he whispered between the kisses.

"That's interesting and such, but I'd really like to know more about those cheese wheels," she breathed, which made him laugh into her mouth. He pulled his head away from her for a moment, unable to stop the laughter. She gave him a smug smile, clearly proud of making him laugh like that. Just as she was leaning back in again to force her lips on his, the announcement sound echoed through the entire ship.

Command had news to the Harvester situation...

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