Discovery Gaming Community

Pages: 1 2 3

June 13th, 825 - Omicron Kappa

By now, routine had returned to the Apahanta. Almost two months had passed since her return from her biggest journey beyond Sirius, going fully out of bounds. Slowly the crew managed to re-establish their normal schedules. And new crew members had joined, all of them sent by Ezrael's company, Hot Gear. The Apahanta was now again populated by 25 human souls, and the lost Kishiro Service Robots had been replaced.

Returning from a little trip through Sirius, the Mako entered the repair dock of Livadia for maintenance. This was happening almost daily in the recent weeks as Ezrael took the ship out for the search of derelicts. On one hand, it was a good training for the new crew members. On the other hand, another find like the Titanic would be greatly welcome, either to have more funds for the Apahanta or more technologies to sell. It also had the advantage of Ezrael being able to escape the problems around Nancy and Maren and all the others for a while. Mostly without creating more.

The airlocks opened and the slightly exotic scent of the Apahanta's air was mixing with the boringly neutral air of Livadia's connector junction to the battleship. Ezrael made his steps, taking in the different air, followed by a sigh. "Don't get me wrong. The Livadians were always good to us, but at some point I would really want to have a less, uh, isolated as retreat."

At his side was Sherry, walking backwards with him while facing the Apahanta through the heavy glass tube walls. It was less of an appreciating look than a scan for anything abnormal at the outer hull, but of course there was nothing. If there had been something, she would have seen it on the sensors. "Puerto Rico is still open to us. Not really less isolative but at least not within a nebula."

"But within the range of a fucking neutron star," Ezrael sounded with a chuckle. His head turned to the side, looking at her. "I thought more about contacting IMG for access to their shipyards in Omega-3. Aland is pretty well fortified so we wouldn't need to worry about the Corsairs. And it is surrounded by an asteroid field. In the worst case, we'd have an advantage over their Legates in terms of manouvering."

"We have access to Sabah in Coronado, wouldn't tha- WHOA!" She only realized Ezrael's foot when she was literally stumbling over it. He had tripped her up, just to catch her a split-second after. Surprised and shocked, Sherry looked up at his face with big eyes, processing what just had happened. He smirked, cheekily.

"Careless."

Blushing in embarassment, she got on her feet again. "I didn't expect you to do that, that's all. That's called trust, Captain."

Letting go of her, he continued smirking, making his steps ahead. "Sabah is located in open space. Everything that uses the Baffin route will pass by and see the Apahanta moored with a Crayterian shipyard. I want to avoid that. IMG is more neutral, Aland better fortified and less of a political disaster."

The junction was rather long. A modular construct mainly consisting of very long glass tubes to allow any larger capital ships to be accessed from Livadia. Ezrael and Sherry needed a few minutes to reach the end of the corridor, to enter Livadia. Another airlock, a quick security check and that was that. The Livadians knew Ezrael and Sherry and the Apahanta quite well by now. After all the ship was maintained and repaired here for almost two years already. Leaving the security checkpoint, Sherry moved to head for something in the public area of the station's main deck. Ezrael however found himself intercepted after leaving the checkpoint. A girl with long black hair embraced him the moment he placed a foot on the metal grid floor outside the checkpoint, and this time Ezrael was the one who was in surprise and shock until he realized it was Sombra. "Finally you're mine!"

"Stalker. Have you been waiting here for me?" he asked her, hugging her as well, rubbing her back welcomingly.

"I sat in the cockpit, eating noodles from a cup and then saw your signature on the radar and then immediately ran over to intercept you here," Sombra explained, her voice muffled as she was literally talking into his shoulder. "And nothing you say can make me let go of you anymore. You're trapped!"

"What if-"

"It'd be in your best interest to not gross me out just to challenge my willpower. At least if you want what I have for you." She smirked up at him, chuckling weirdly.

"What do you have for me, though?" he asked her, letting go of her for now, moving his hands off her back, one of them sliding into the pocket of his leather jacket to retrieve a PDA.

"I'll show you later in your room. I'd need to get it first from the Catport. What are your plans for now?" she asked him, eyeing his PDA.

His glance wandered down to it as well, checking the time. "I, eh, I'd have simply taken a walk right now, to be honest. We could do that together, if you're up for it."

Nodding with a grin, she watched him putting the PDA back into his pocket. "I'll follow your lead, Captain Handsome!"

And thus they moved away from the security checkpoint, leaving back just a single young guy who sat on a bench next to the checkpoint. He had watched them the entire time, as there was nothing else to look at.

June 13th, 825 - Omicron Kappa

After a little walk and talk, Sombra and Ezrael had made their way to one of the few restaurants of Livadia's public area. Unsurprisingly, there was not much going on here. They sat down at a table in the corner between the glass windows showing the promenade and the wall. It was nicely decorated, quite comfortably. Even though they were one of the few people here, they weren't drawing much attention.

There was a moment of silence. Ezrael sat with the back to the wall, Sombra on the opposite, latter shifting in her seat to adjust her black dress while the former looked out of the window, one hand supporting his chin while he was lost in thoughts. It was slightly awkward, Sombra felt. The music in the background was quite romantic, she found, yet he didn't even look at her right now. "Knock knock."

"Who's there?" Ezrael simply asked, giving her the attention however not changing his gesture.

"Me. Don't you think you can enjoy being silent when you're alone? Didn't see you in a while." She smiled at him.

Inhaling slowly but audibly, Ezrael adjusted himself in the seat slightly and looked at her, placing his elbows on the table, forming a bridge with his fingers to let his chin rest on. "I'm thinking about the future. Looking at how the things are currently, I realized nothing I planned for the future is likely to happen. I feel sort of being up in the air about everything since the return to Sirius." Exhaling with a sigh, he shook his head. "Things are degenerating. It is uncomfortable."

"You don't enjoy this anymore?" Sombra asked him, chuckling in disbelief. "Are you having a mid-life crisis? What's next, a new hair cut? Giving up your punk rock style and wear baggy jeans with the crotch beginning at the knees? Or do you plan to start playing golf?" She smirked at him, shaking her head.

"Things are weirdly different, Sombra. Currently, the Apahanta is my home. The Corvo is gone, the bungalow on Curacao is gone and Maren can't go there anymore. Nancy is gone, probably leaving Sirius to head for Gallia for good. Leon is gone, being forced by his parents to stay planetside or they would whistleblow. I don't even see Maren that often right now, and there is this weird feeling of her having changed entirely. I don't know whether I like that change at all." Turning his head away from Sombra, he looked out of the window again. "It feels lonely and lacks solidity."

Following his eyes, the looked out of the window as well. There were a few people walking around, and the boy who sat at the security checkpoint earlier was now sitting at another bench, reading something on his PDA. "Maybe you're finally understanding how I feel since you left Curacao." There was a certain break after that sentence and seconds later Ezrael eyed her again, just to meet her glance. "When you left to join the Core, you know. Leon and I spent some time together without you, but it was not the same. And then, months later, you called me and him and finally we found a way to see each other again. And now I do all these little shopping trips for you, sit on a mountain of money, enough to never ever need to work again. And still I don't feel happy because you never returned to Curacao fully. And if you want to be with Maren, you will never return to Curacao at all. Trust me, I know this feeling all too well, Ezrael. It is frustrating. Just like the feeling of knowing you love Maren more than you love me."

His look wandered back to the windows, growing distant. Exhaling through his nose while the slow piano made this weirdly more immersive, he thought about her words. "There was this plan of building a big house on Curacao, very close to the beach. Enough rooms for Maren and me and Nancy and Leon and even you, you know. Settling down, selling the Apahanta. Maybe Auxesia would have bought it for the full price. Maybe Maren would have gotten pregnant at some point, like she always wanted. It would have been nice to have this family. The five of us, and Mittens and your cats. Living a wonderful life in paradise. I never thought I would even survive this long after the defection. And now we're here, Sombra. Sirius falling more and more into chaos, Curacao almost in Gallia's grip and the Apahanta being my only possession now. There is no constant in my life anymore."

"Except for me," Sombra sounded, giving him a slightly depressed look. "I am here, with you! Always. Maren probably thinks I am dumb for not having given up on you, but I don't care. I'm loyal to you. I want to be a constant in your life, no matter what happens."

The music stopped for a moment before the next part began. Sombra's eyes were slightly watery and her cheeks blushed as she stared at him expectingly. Returning the glance for a few seconds, he closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head while exhaling through his nose. "No force in Sirius can take you away from me. That is a promise." A tear ran down her cheek as she heard it. Offering her a hand, he smiled at her. Another tear as she stared at the hand, then she placed her own in his.

"Thank you..."

In the meantime, another person had sat down next to the young man at the bench outside. With the eyes of an eagle, Sherry had observed what was happening inside that restaurant. As always, her facial expression remained fully neutral. She sat there in silence, watching how Sombra had stood up to sit on Ezrael's lap, cuddling with him. Kissing him. At some point however, she looked around. The young man sat cross-legged on the bench, the PDA in his lap and his eyes focused on it. Following his eyes, Sherry realized he was looking at visual scans of the Apahanta. It seemed like the boy didn't know who was sitting next to him, or he didn't care.

"Hello."

He looked up, confused as the timing Sherry chose to start a conversation was weirdly out of place after having sat on the bench with him for minutes in silence. His blue-greyish eyes aiming for the tall woman in the skin-tight black rubber suit, scanning her chestnut-colored hair and her barely hinted smile, he hesitated before returning the greetings. "Hello, Miss." He carefully brushed with a finger along the front line of his brunette hair, making sure his eyes weren't covered.

"What are you doing there?" she asked him with a hint of curiousity in her voice, nodding at his PDA. From his reaction she took he hadn't even paid any attention to check out who even sat down next to him. He eyed her. The uniform she wore was unique but not unknown on Livadia. The was Commander Sherry Aguilar, XO of the Apahanta. And she knew he was looking at her ship.

"I, erh," he began to mumble. "I am, eh..."

Sherry smirked at him. "How did you get these scans of the Apahanta?"

She heard him gulping. "It, eh, I-" He grew silent, simply staring at his PDA. Giving him his time to create a response, Sherry merely eyed him, scooting a little closer. By now she had completely forgotten about the Captain and Sombra making out in that restaurant. "I am waiting for Mr. Vertiga to leave the restaurant so I can give him my application, Miss."

"The scans."

Feeling her eyes of authority piercing through him, he hastily replied. "From the security checkpoint. A friend of mine gave me a copy of Livadia's sensor scan on the ship, so I could study it, Miss."

Sherry leaned onto her side, paying him her full attention. "You seem rather young. What do you want to apply for?"

"I am twenty-three, Miss. I want to apply as engineer. I've worked on another ship for five years already and know my things." the young man explained, gulping again. A moment later, he looked down at his PDA again and opened a file, then handed the PDA to Sherry. "My application, Miss. I mean, Commander."

Taking the device, Sherry continued to eye him while he expected her to look at the PDA instead. It confused him obviously. Seconds passed like this and eventually he started to look over to the restaurant. The Captain and Sombra were still cuddling and making out. As he returned his glance to Sherry, he saw she had taken a look at the PDA. "Noel."

June 13th, 825 - Omicron Kappa

Hours had passed. It was almost the next day as Ezrael returned to the Apahanta. The airlocks opened and he made his steps inside the ship, hauling a drunk Sombra on his back, piggybacking her as she was unable to walk without stumbling over her own feet. Holding tight onto him, she enjoyed being carried around while he hid the exhaustion of hauling a 65 kilograms heavy body for a long way by now, all the way from the restaurant over the junction up to his room. However, on the way to the lift, Sherry appeared infront of them in the corridor, eyeing them while positioning herself in the way. "Could you spare a moment for me, Captain?"

There was a bit of sweat on his forehead. Inhaling audibly, with a certain exhaustion to it, he replied. "If you don't mind, I'd prefer to get rid of this corpse first." He was refering to Sombra, who just giggled, unable to gift them with her usual linguistic skills. "In your room, in ten minutes, okay?" Sherry nodded, stepping aside for them.

Application

Name: Noel Baeker
Age: 23
Origin: Neu-Altona, Planet Hamburg; Rheinland
Application: Engineering
References: Five years of private engineering training on the civilian vessel ZRS-Buntheide

Vita: I grew up on Planet Hamburg in Rheinland until early 820 A.S. - then my parents decided to leave the planet because of the increasing unrest, the war with Liberty and the criminal statistics of my home town, so they bought the ZRS-Buntheide (Zivilraumschiff, civilian vessel), a Behemoth-class transport which was repurposed to act as home ship. There I learned how to maintain a ship, repair, adjust, improvise and improve equipment. Additional to that I did neural net-based classes on engineering.

I am certain that after a few weeks of training I am able to hand the equipment used on the Apahanta.

Throning in the seat in Sherry's quarters, having read the application on the PDA, Ezrael looked up and over to Sherry, who sat at the edge of her bed, looking back at him with expecations. "The application isn't, well, decorated."

"It is on point. You have no idea how annoying those large applications are. He didn't use any flavour text." He looked at the PDA again. "A-E and O-E are umlauts in rheinlandian, how is his name pronounced? Nöl Bae-kerr?"

Sherry smiled about that. It sounded funny. "Only his last name is using an umlaut. His first name is the rheinlandian variant of the gallic name Noel. No-el Bae-kah. Emphasis on the o in the first name, ae in the last name."

"Noel Bäker. Okay. I only saw him from the distance. What is your impression on him?" he asked her, putting the PDA to the side, paying her his full attention.

"Physically, he appears to be slightly undernourished. He was clean, his clothes weren't dirty and he seems to be able to communicate in english rather well for a rheinlander. He appears to be rather ambitious, as he was looking at scans of the Apahanta he got from the security checkpoint. He also recognized me, and you. Meaning he must be here at Livadia for a while already. So I did a little background check on him as well, since the ship he mentions in the application isn't moored or landed here. The ZRS-Buntheide was destroyed in Omicron Delta, about one month ago, by nomads, according to the Livadian security. He was the only survivor, found unconscious in a rescue pod. Since then he is stuck on Livadia." She threw a firm glance at him.

Ezrael frowned, exhaling in a sigh. "Wait, he- wow. Oh god, the poor guy lost his parents only a month ago. And his home. Holy fuck..." Shocked by this revelation, he raked his fingers through his thick hair, requiring a few moments to process that. There was an instant empathy for the young man. "23 years old. Imagine you'd have lost home and parents in that age."

The Commander looked down at her lap. Her hands were folded, lying there. "I believe he didn't want to mention any of this in the application to not make us pick him out of pity. I'd like to know whether he wanted to join us before that already or whether he just sees an opportunity, now that he has nothing else left."

"What did you tell him when he gave you the app?" Ezrael asked her, looking at the PDA at the armrest.

"Standard procedure, Ezrael. I told him we would take a look at it and contact him when we made our votes."

"And how did he react?"

"Well, I think he made a patient impression." She gave him a lopsided look. "I mean, he was very excited, but also slightly stressed as he hadn't expected to meet me like that."

Ezrael leaned foward, kneading his upper lip with a thumb. Then he stood up. "Let the sensors scan Livadia. I want to know where he is right now at this moment. Give me the location on the PDA," he told her, grabbing the PDA from the armrest and heading for the door. "He lost home and parents and he is still on Livadia. He's only here because he can't afford going anywhere, Sherry, and where should he go in first place, after five years on a ship..."

June 13th, 825 - Omicron Kappa

It was late. While Livadia didn't simulate a day-night-cycle like the Apahanta did, people here knew when the station's night-cycle began. Most shops on the promenade were closing, others had people working in the night-cycle. Noel walked along a corridor, his hands hidden in the pockets of his hoodie jacket. There was an uncomfortable feeling whenever he walked around here all alone. His thoughts let him live in other places. Better places. The air was cold here and the feeling of hunger made it more noticable than ever. His stomach was demanding calory intake and it felt like he was starting to dissolve himself from within. The people around him didn't notice it. And he was way too proud to allow a sign of weakness. At least he still had his rescue pod in the cargo bay. This was were the way would lead.

Behind him, meters away, were two silhouettes taking the same direction. He didn't notice them, as his mind was absent. Neither did he care. Livadia was a big station and the walk took minutes until he arrived in the cargo bay. The two guards seem to have been break, neither of them was around. Allowing himself the entrance, the young man entered the big hall. There were voices somewhere. Probably the two guards, Noel thought and continued, heading to the corner where his rescue pod was. Yet when it came into sight, he saw it was opened and the glass demolished. A shocking feeling went through his body, but the realization hit him too late as the two people causing the damage emerged from the side.

"Look what we have here, a little stealing piece of shit." Noel instantly began to shake in fear. His heart was pounding heavily and fast as he turned to them, seeing the guy who was talking to him. He was holding a metal rod that answered the question as to how the pod's glass was smashed. Noel didn't recall having seen him ever before. He had short hair, clothed in a oversized hoodie jackets and a large red T-shirt below it and some grey sweatpants, while the other guy next to him wore an oversized jacket and jeans. Under other circumstances, Noel would have ignored them, not wasting a thought on those plebs. However, their aggressive appearance combined with the metal rod caused him to sweat in fear. "Are you a beggar or what the fuck are you doing here? Sleeping in a rescue pod? Look at that faggot."

"I-I don't u-understand, what is this about!?" Noel sounded, taking a step back away from them, shaking even more as his back met a container.

"Are you shitting on us? Dude, you stole a lot of shit. You think we don't care? You think your friends at the security help you now?" Only now Noel realized the other guy had a gun loosely held in his hand, letting the man with the metal rod doing the talk. "I want my PDA back, you fuck."

"I-I don't have your PDA!?" Noel returned, now with the hooded guy right infront of him, "I swear I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Wrong answer, you little shit..." Shock-frozen, Noel didn't manage to dodge the swing. The metal rod hit his shoulder and he fell to the ground, pain rushing through his entire body. His view turned blurry and he only saw the silhouette of his attacker performing another swing.

"Stop! Please!!" the boy yelled just before the rod hit his lower arm. Tears running, in a reflex of defense, he pulled up his arms to cover his head, and the third blow hit his chest.

"Where is it? Tell me or I'll crush your fucking head!" But Noel didn't respond. He lay on the floor, not moving anymore. "Where!? You're not dead yet, you shit!"

The other guy just stood there, a bit of disgust in his face as he saw the boy on the floor. There was a reason he didn't do the talk. He just held the gun, until it was taken out of his loose grip. Ezrael looked at it and started laughing. "Seriously? A squirt gun?" he asked the former owner who just reacted surprised and confused, intending to beat Ezrael the next moment. Before he was able to do so, he found himself on the floor, unable to move while Ezrael stepped over him to get to his friend. The guy with the metal rod turned around, realizing they weren't alone anymore. That realization was also taking too much time and got interrupted as the fake gun flew against his face, dropping on the floor with a loud metallic sound. Unfocused, the man took another swing, aiming for Ezrael. Unfortunately for him, the Captain of the Apahanta was faster, ramming his elbow into the neck of the bandit.

The metal rod fell to the floor with a loud sound, followed by the attacker who was unable to say anything, helplessly trying to breathe. Kicking the metal rod away, Ezrael threw a glance at Noel who was silently whimpering on the ground, not grasping what was happening at all. Kneeling down, he picked up the squirt gun again, aiming for the bandit's crotch. Sadly, though, there was not even water loaded. It was merely an empty fake gun. It looked real and was heavy, that was all about it. Annoyed, Ezrael threw it once more at the face of the attacker who then tried to crawl away. Not letting him, Ezrael followed him, catching up easily. Kicking him slightly to have him fall on his side, he rolled him on his back. "Don't worry, I'll call you an ambulance." Kneeling down close to his face, Ezrael punched him into it, knocking him out. "You're an ambulance!"

Carefully, Noel let the guard down. His view was still blurry and the adrenaline was fighting the intense pain. The attacker was on the ground, unconscious. The metal rod out of his range. He looked up, seeing his saviour looking down at him. "Can you stand up?" he heard him asking, accompanied by him offering a hand to help him up. Who was this? The blur made it hard to get the shapes right. Wiping the tears out of his eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie jacket, he looked at him again. He recognized him. Ezrael Vertiga, Captain of the Apahanta.

Ezrael sighed, kneeling down. Noel felt him palpating his belly and realized he was blooding. The Captain lifted the T-shirt, uncovering the wound. A laceration surrounded by a large bruise. Nothing life-threatening but more than a scratch. "You can explain what just happened when Dr. Carr has taken care of this." Before Noel was able to do anything, Ezrael was already picking him up. The pain was still intense but he remained silent, holding onto the Captain while tears were flowing again.

June 14th, 825 - Omicron Kappa

Noel opened his eyes. Bright light was shining into his view. It hurt and he pressed his eyelids against another again. What a weird feeling in his body. There was no pain. Everything felt numb, though. Once more he tried to carefully open his eyes. Blurry, bright. "Looks like he's waking up, Doctor."

Unable to get what was happening around him, Noel frowned, trying to get some focus on his eyes. He felt weak, but in his ambition he tried to get up. What was this, a bed? It wasn't very comfortable but better than the hard floor. The blanket that was covering his upper body was shifting away, revealing his skinny upper body. "Careful, boy. Relax, you're safe. This is the Apahanta's medical bay."

Looking around in a sleepy way, he recognized a silhouette right next to him. Another silhouette was approaching the bed he was laying on. "How do we feel, young man?"

"I... feel... tired..." Noel sounded, trying to sit up more properly. The blanket was sliding off further. He realized there was fresh air caressing his body in an area where fresh air was rather rarely reaching him, but still before he noticed he was naked, someone pulled the blanket up again, covering his intimate parts.

"The Doctor gave you something against the pain and healed your wounds. You'll probably remain drugged for a while but I guess that is better than pain." It was a rather jovial voice talking to him. It was different from the one before. He knew that voice from somewhere but everything was difficult right now.

"Lay down again, young man. You'll not go anywhere anytime soon anyway." This was the other voice. Elderly, more rough and definitely less jovial. Almost grumpy. Female. Noel guessed it was her hand that was pushing his upper body back into the horizontal, followed by his chest getting covered again. The pillow at his head was nice. Everything felt nice, actually. Drugged? "What was his name again, Captain?" the elderly woman asked. Captain? So the other voice was... Captain Vertiga? He was on the Apahanta, they said. It must be Captain Vertiga.

"Noel Baeker."

"Good. Any feelings of pain, Noel? Nausea?" she asked him, placing her hand's palm on his forehead. His hair was slightly sweaty and he didn't feel very comfortable. In fact, he felt overwhelmed by this situation.

"Just... a bit. Alter, meine Augen... Dude, my eyes..." Not realizing he just slipped into his native language, he turned his head to his left, where he figured the hand was originating from.

"Noel, you're on the Apahanta. Those two cheap muggers gave you a little beating, but got their asses kicked for it. I then brought you here, Dr. Carr took care of your wounds and gave you something against the pain. Do you remember?" Ezrael asked him, placing a hand on Noel's shoulder. He sat on the other side, to Noel's right, on a chair next to the medi-bed. Noel slowly turned his head to face the Captain, his saviour. The view was still blurry, but he was able to see his shapes. The black hair, the skin-tight suit he was wearing now.

"Sort of. I remember the guys in the cargo bay, those fuckers. And that you were there, but nothing after that..." Noel chuckled, closing his eyes. "You took both of them out without a problem, that was pretty cool..."

Dr. Carr rolled her eyes, sighing, while Ezrael smirked at Noel. "I had some melee combat training during my Core days, and kickboxing classes before that. Didn't think I'd ever beath the shit out of someone again, but this was indeed pretty awesome, if I can say so myself." The Captain looked up, laughing for a moment. "Why did they attack you, Noel?"

"Weiß'ich nich'. I don't know. I guess they were just looking for trouble and found me and my rescue pod." He turned slightly pale as he said that, and Ezrael gave him a piercing look.

"The guy accused you of having stolen his PDA, right? Did you?" Ezrael asked the young man. Noel however looked up at the ceiling, shaking his head without voicing anything. Not wanting to dig too deep, Ezrael stroked Noel's shoulder slightly before letting go of him. "It doesn't really matter. You're in safety now and we'll see that we can get some meat on your bones. You look like you didn't eat in a while."

Noel looked down at himself and the shapes of his body being revealed by the thing blanket. He blushed slightly, feeling embarassed as he realized someone had undressed him earlier. "Where are my clothes?"

"They were covered with your blood. Dr. Carr and I undressed you, so she was able to treat your wounds and I ordered a KSR to clean your stuff. It should be available again in a few hours. I also ordered another KSR to craft an Apahanta suit with your measures. You'll wear it like any other crew member here does." Ezrael smirked widely at Noel.

It took him a few seconds until Noel understood. "Wart' ma', ich bin dabei?" Realizing he used the wrong language, he shook his head as if to shake his brain. "You mean, my application was okay? I'm in?"

"Yes. Welcome aboard, Crewman Noel Baeker."

June 14th, 825 - Omicron Kappa

A few hours had passed. Things were happening with a fast pace, Noel thought. One moment he was fighting for survival on Livadia, the next moment he found himself wearing one of these surprisingly comfortable Apahanta suits while sitting at a table filled with all kinds of foods in the canteen of the ship. Ezrael sat on the other side, expectingly looking at Noel, who felt rather intimidated by all of this and didn't want to make a wrong move. So he waited, just looking patiently at everything. Meanwhile, Ezrael was wondering why the undernourished boy wasn't starting.

"You know, the food won't jump on your plate from itself." Ezrael sounded, smirking at Noel. Now that he was wearing the skin-tight uniform of the Apahanta, it revealed even more how thin the boy was.

Noel gulped, looking up at the Captain, then carefully and slowly reaching for a bun. Remaining silent, he took the knife and cut the bun. It felt uncomfortable to have Ezrael looking at him. Simply because he didn't want to make a mistake. If he was alone, he would have already taken a bite of that bun the way it was. While he was carefully preparing the bun, Ezrael smirked, figuring he should simply eat as well. So he took a bowl and filled it with cereals and milk. "I have a few personal questions, if you don't mind, Noel." Ezrael said quietly while preparing his bowl. Noel looked up, his stomach punishing him for any further second without calory intake. If he wasn't still under the influence of painkillers from Dr. Carr, it would have had a significant impact on his behavior. Ezrael however could hear his belly causing sounds, which made Noel blush in embarrassment. "You don't need to answer them, but we sort of skipped the interview I'd have had with regular applicants. However, we did our background check on you." Noel gave Ezrael a guilty look, not moving an inch. Ezrael once more smirked at him. "Please, eat. If there was anything wrong, you wouldn't sit here with me. Don't worry."

Noel nodded, placing a slice of ham on his bun. Then a slice of cheese and a leaf of salad. His eyes then wandered over the table, and Ezrael pointed at the tube of remoulade, wich was exactly what he was looking for. "So, according to what we found out, you're all on your own right now. Is that correct?"

The young man nodded, slowly adding the remoulade to his bun. "I'm sorry for your losses. I know the feeling too well. If you want to talk about it, you can talk to me anytime. We also have a new counselor on the ship, I hired her only a few days ago after our former counselor left the ship. She's nice, you can talk to her about such things as well. She also looks pretty nice, so that's a bonus." Ezrael smirked at him again while his spoon moved idly through his cereals, drowning them in the milk. "There aren't many people on the ship. With you, we're 26, excluding guests. You'll find each of them being very nice people. They work very well together. Many women, too. Maybe you find a girlfriend here, I don't forbid relationships within the crew."

The bun was prepared. Noel lead it up to his mouth, taking a small bite, listening to the Captain without looking at him. "My expectations are that you are at least as exceptionally nice as anyone else here is. We're a family here. A microcosm. You don't need to get along well with everyone but I don't want any drama here. Not that I have the feeling you're the kind of person that is anti-social." The cereals began to get soggy, soaking in all the milk. "You'll have your own room on this ship. It's the one right next to mine. Before he had to leave, my former Chief Engineer lived in that room. Now it's unoccupied and you can have it. The bridge deck crew quarters have a little bit of luxury like water showers and such things, so you'll like it. And if you need anything, the quarters of Commander Aguilar or mine are just a jump away. Don't hesitate to approach us, we don't bite. Commander Aguilar might seem to be a bit... very serious, but she is a fine woman and cares for her crew. Don't let her intimidate you."

Feeling the chewed bunch of nutrition running down his oesophagus, Noel felt relief. Finally something against the hunger. He took another bite, this time a bigger one. Ezrael noticed his eyes were watery. So he stood up, moving over to the counters to fetch something. "I heard you have already taken a look at the innards of the Apahanta, asking the station security to provide you with the scans. You may or may not know about what we have on the ship in that case. A big workshop next to the hangar, where you can use various tools for anything you want to build. For example, we built the prototype hoverbikes for my company, Hot Gear, here on the ship. The Apahanta calculated the blueprints, we made the design and then built the things. The workshop also has a replication module with a recycler. It can 3D print things with accuracy on nano-level using various elements while the recycling module dissolves anything into basic elements again. Energy-intensive process, takes quite a good amount of time, but like that we're sort of independent when it comes to creating things."

By now, Ezrael had returned to the table, placing a few napkins next to Noel's plate. The young man took them immediately to get rid of the tears that silently had formed at his eyes. Ezrael sat down again, giving Noel a bit of time to process all the information, to eat and calm down. So Ezrael remained silent for a few moments, taking a few spoons of his cereals. Until Noel sniffed, looking down at his half-eaten bun. "I'm sorry for... crying."

"It's okay. People gave you a hard time." Ezrael gave him a cheerful smile.

"I'm not sad... it's more that I... this is... so nice."

Ezrael smiled, remaining silent for a moment. What he had here on the Apahanta was normal to him, but for Noel it was a major improvement of his quality of life. Security, food, care. "Things will be better for you now. I won't pretend living on the Apahanta is perfect, but it is not bad after all. The only downside is the fact that, every now and then, we might need to fight. Actively. People died to us, and we had our losses as well. It's a battleship, nevertheless. We mostly fighting the Cult of Technology, since they are incredibly dangerous. They attacked Curacao a few months ago, so they sort of made it personal." The Captain took his glass of juice, lifting it infront of him. "Apart from that, however, we usually avoid combat. Technically, our only enemies are the Corsairs and the Lane Hackers, and every now and then there seem to be some assholes of the Order who just can't keep their greasy fingers from our allies, the Zoners. That being said, we're not openly opposing any of them. Actually, it seems like Commander Aguilar managed to talk to the Overwatch, so we're neutral to the first fleet of them." He took a sip of his juice.

"You forgot the Nomads?" Noel asked, slightly confused he didn't mention them.

Hesitating for a moment, Ezrael looked at Noel while blindly putting the glass down. "I heard they destroyed the ship of your parents. Is that true?" Noel nodded, taking another bite. Ezrael figured he didn't want to tell more. "I... As I said, I know that feeling. A few years ago, Nomads appeared in Cortez and the pilots of the OSC Liner my parents were on panicked, targetting them with their defensive turrets. It triggered the Nomads, causing them to attack the Liner, destroying it. My parents died, I inherited their company, sold it, joined the Core with the premise to help funding the construction of the Apahanta, worked for them until I found out the truth about the Nomads and the Core. We then defected and now here we are. It's probably not what you want to hear, but Nomads are reacting, not acting. Their entire existence is a reaction to mankind's advance into the Omicrons." Noel looked up at him, frowning. "We're not fighting them. We have reached neutrality with them. They don't attack us, we don't attack them. We won't break that truce. That being said, Noel, there is no way to actually harm them. Our weapons might destroy the shells, but the entity will just create a new shell and return. They are infinite. We, matter of factly, are not. It takes a few years to regrow my crew." He smirked at Noel, who looked at the last big of his bun in a frustrated way.

"I'd like to know more about all that at some point, though."

"I've studied them, Noel. I can tell you everything about them," Ezrael assured him with a smile. "But that once time has come. First we'll make sure you're fit again. And then we see how you can make yourself useful on the ship."

"Captain, can I ask you something?" Noel looked up at him again, more calm than before.

"That is already a question."

Noel smirked for a moment. "I... eh, are you... I mean, erh, do-" Noel sounded, unable to form a sentence. He stopped, looking down, blushing in embarrassment about the way he stammered. "N-n-nevermind."

Chuckling, Ezrael shook his head. "Eat your food. You'll need energy. The crew will join soon for breakfast and you better be able to talk in full sentences then. A cute boy like you will probably draw quite some attention from the many women here." Once more Noel blushed, then finished his first bun...

June 16th, 825 - Omicron Kappa

Noel opened his eyes. There was a sudden feeling of disorientation when he his glance met the ceiling of his new room. It was rather early in the morning. His third day on the Apahanta was beginning now.

"Apahanta, light." Nothing happened. "Turn the light on." Once more nothing happened until Noel remembered what Ezrael had told him. "Apahanta, please turn on the light. Not too much, early morning light only. Thank you." And the ship reacted. It made Noel shake his head in disbelief. The ship was only reacting to commands if they were politely stated. Why would one do that, program it that way? The AI of the ship was non-sentient. It was a tool like a knife or a screwdriver. Admittedly however, it made Noel smirk.

Moving to sit at the edge of the bed, he looked down at himself. The long t-shirt he wore was hiding his thin torso and covering his shorts the way he was sitting. The bed was nice. Not too soft, not too hard. He was sleeping well here. The entire room was nice. His own little kingdom, as Ezrael called it when he showed him the room. Noel looked up at the wall. Ezrael had ordered the KSRs to take all the stuff of the former owner of the room, Leon, and bring it to the storage bay. Yet the calender with the pin-up photos of this girl was still there. A little welcome gift, as Ezrael called it. Noel didn't know the woman on those soft erotic pictures. Black hair, thin, luscious looks while wearing a mix of lingerie and HOT GEAR hoverbiking outfits. No, Noel didn't know Nancy Sweetwater at all.

Dropping his shorts and taking off the T-Shirt, Noel rose to his feet and moved to the bathroom, to take a long, hot and steamy shower. This was luxury. Actual water showers, on a space ship. For quite a time he remained in the shower stall, enjoying the feeling of hot water brushing thin body. And there was this curacaoan fruit shampoo. What a nice scent, all over his body. They had all that every single day, Noel thought to himself. Living on the Apahanta was better than on any other ship, station or planet.

And then the breakfast. Those people were all nice, funny and looking healthy and good! Even those without model body measures. And they all wore these skin-tight overalls. Noel felt a bit wear about it. They were pretty shape-revealing. It felt like cosplaying first, but he understood why everyone was prefering them. The material was pretty elastic, didn't smell. It was always adjusting to the body temperature, giving him a cozy feeling. He was able to move freely without restrictions. It was like a second skin.

The food was fresh. Buns, milk, juices, cereals, cheese, sausage, ham, even eggs. How was that possible? On the Buntheide, the ship of his parents, they were mostly eating food rations and synth paste-based food. Tasty, but synthetical stuff. But here was everything you could get on planets only. Unbelievable. Getting those things must have been extremely expensive. And according to the crew, they had such meals every day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The crew was welcoming the 26th crew member with warmth. It was like Ezrael had described. Many women, all in the best age, all of them with a rather loose tongue. They weren't mean but teasing. Cute boy, they called him. This was so much different from anything he ever had experienced.

This was heaven.

After breakfast, the crew did the morning workout together in the gym. It was lead by Captain and Commander. While the latter always prefered to remain as professional as possible and thus kept her suit on, Ezrael stood there mere dressed in black sweatpants, showing off his toned surfer body. Noel didn't know yet that he did that on purpose, as whenever the Captain was leading the workout, it was way better visited than usual. He later figured out why when the women cliqué seemed to have allied against the Captain, they were rather brazen and asked him to please show them certain poses and exercises again. They all had fun there, that was for sure.

Sweaty from the sports and games, Noel had returned to his room to take another shower. Once more he took his sweet time, both in the shower and afterwards when blowdrying his hair. They even provided all kinds of things for hairstyling, shaving and such things. This was incredible. Everything you can want, on a battleship.

Leaving the bathroom, Noel inhaled deeply. The nice fruity scent of the shampoo was still on his body. Now just to put on the Apahanta suit again and then - red alert? The lights turned red and a strong, deep siren sound rushed through the entire ship. Noel's heart began to beat wildly and in his attempt to slip into the Apahanta suit as fast as possible, he fell over and found himself on the floor, undamaged. He had no idea how to behave in a red alert scenario. Ezrael knew that. The door to Noel's quarters opened and Ezrael set a foot into the room, throwing a surprised glance at the pretty naked boy who returned a panicking expression at the Captain. "Don't worry, it's not a combat situation. Still, you might want to cover your genitalia if possible."

So he did. A minute later, Ezrael and Noel had moved to the bridge. This was pretty impressive. It was the first time Noel was here. The main screen was showing the cloud they were hidden inside, together with Livadia. They were unmooring, leaving the drydock. The crew was at their consoles, Sherry standing on the commanding stage, her head turned towards him and Ezrael. The Captain was heading for his seat and Sherry for the one next to him, to his right. Looking over to Noel, he pointed at the seat to his left. "Come here, sit down. We're jumping, enjoy the show."

Following his invitation, Noel carefully sat down next to him. This was the chair of the counselor, he thought. Empy, though. Ezrael smiled at him, then looked ahead to the mainscreen. "Charge the jump drive once we're far enough away from Livadia. Jump when ready, you know the coordinates."

"Where do we jump, Captain?" Noel asked. Also, did Ezrael just see him naked? He realized it only now. Weird, but then again, Ezrael was probably more professional about such things as performer. Noel knew about that bit of his past, as it was not really a secret. In fact, most people on Livadia knew about those movies. Especially about the one with Loyola, at Corinth. Having fallen into thoughts, Ezrael managed to rip him out of that train by fingerpistoling Noel's side.

"You'll see in a few seconds. If we survive it, you'll get a nice view as reward."

"What do you mean, if!?" Noel gave back, suddenly feeling weird about this.

Ezrael chuckled and looked back at the mainscreen. White lightnings were surrounding the ship and from one moment to the next, the nebula around them disappeared quickly into the empty space they just had jumpted to. Noel stood up, making his steps forward to the railing. The view was indeed rewarding. It was the first time Noel saw the Tau-29 sun.

June 19th, 825 - Tau-29

It was the evening of June 19th. The Apahanta was still roaming around in the very quiet Tau-29 system. With each passing day, adapting to the new environment was easier and Noel got used to how things were handled on the Apahanta. He loved it. Just like the view he was able to enjoy here. After having spent a day in the engine room to slowly but steady learn about the Apahanta's innards, Noel entered the observation deck. It was here where Ezrael and James el Harady had their chess match. A tall room, almost four decks spanning. Metal scaffolds connecting stairs and platforms. It was safe, yet it was obvious this place was not meant to be have picknicks in first place, but to have a good view of the surroundings outside, in space.

Not having expected to find someone here, Noel noticed a girl sitting on the floor close to a window, having three PDAs infront of her. One of it was playing music. Rather relaxing, Noel found. Stepping closer, carefully, he greeted her quietly. "Hello. You're the Captain's girlfriend, right?"

The woman with the long black hair looked up to him, obviously having wanted to say something, yet after a certain hesitation, she sat up more accurately, straightening her back. "One of his many, yes. I'm Sombra. You're the Captain's new protégé?" She smirked at him.

"I- eh-" Noel stammered. Was he? Ezrael was spending much time with him, but mostly it was about showing him the ship and such things. But then again, maybe that was exactly what she meant. He realized he had no idea what a protégé actually is, apart from a stupid sounding word. "I'm the new crew member, yes."

Sombra smiled cheerfully at him, pointing at the spot next to her. "I can see why he likes you so much. You're a bit like his best friend, Leon."

"... I don't know what that's supposed to mean, to be honest." Noel gave her a questioning look. Like him so much?

"Come, sit down with me." She patted the place next to her. Noel took the invitation, not even thinking about it. She didn't ask him. Sitting down cross-legged, he looked at her PDAs. "You look a bit like his best friend. He isn't as skinny as you are, and a few years older, and blond hair, but he is a cute boy just like you. I mean, it's just a thought, but I think that's a plus for Ezrael to spend his time with you."

"I was wondering whether he was so nice to everyone else as well. Is he... gay, or...?"

Sombra chuckled, then laught out loud. Noel felt instantly uncomfortable but Sombra quickly realized her laughter was inappropiate. "He slept with hundreds of women. He's surely not gay, or bi. Don't worry, he isn't after your butt. He's more likely looking for a friend and student, now that Leon isn't on the ship anymore." She still had to chuckle. "Leon is also slightly naive."

"I'm not naive!" Noel frowned at her, quickly realizing he was naive. Why was he even asking that question? He knew Ezrael was performing in videos and having multiple girlfriends.

"I'm sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have told you. I know how it is when people compare you to someone else. It's annoying," Sombra sounded, looking down at her PDAs again. "We're jumping back to Kappa tomorrow. I'm currently finishing the shopping list of the crew and planning my route. If you want something, now's the last chance to have me add it to the list."

"Oh, so you're doing the supply runs for the Apahanta?" Noel asked her, giving her a curious look.

She nodded, smiling. "They didn't inform you yet, huh?" Noel shook his head. "Well, yeah, I do the logistical stuff. I bring repair materials to Livadia, Deuterium from Canaria, sometimes other fuels for the capital ships at the shipyard, mostly Thorium Mox from Rheinland. Once a week the crew files a list of things they want individually, that list is added to the maintenance stuff list I get from either Sherry or Ezrael, then Ezrael gives me the money for the shopping and then I leave the ship and fly around until I have everything. Most of it is done in one fly. Sometimes two, especially when the Apahanta needs repair materials. On the way back I stop at Tripoli Shipyard in Gamma and buy Engine Components and sell them later at Canaria. Win-Win for everyone, even the Corsairs. They are quite nice to me at Tripoli."

"Ezrael said the Apahanta is sometimes hunting Corsairs, though. Doesn't that backfire at you?"

Sombra shook her head, smirking. "I know the Apahanta shot down three of their capitals and two snubs over the last twelve months, but they don't know I'm related to the Apahanta. After all, all I do is fly around in house space, then to Omega-49, then through Corsair space to Livadia and repeat. I'm fine that way." She shifted in her spot. The music was still running. "What was your name again, fuckboy?"

"Uh, I'm Noel. Noel Baeker." He blushed.

"You should make a list with things you want to have. There is a certain budget I have for each crew member, and it is pretty high. If you want anything, clothes, food, sweets, alcoholic drinks or anything, just send me the list and I'll add it. Anything. Being locked up with so many women on a ship, you might want to add condoms to that list. Did you already found a nice one, by the way?" She smirked impishly at him, noticing he was not comfortable with that topic. He definitely wasn't, and it was slightly annoying that the topic was always coming up again. It was no secret that relationships between people are often more intensive as there are only so many people available, incarcerated in relatively small space, but that was something he didn't want to think of currently.

"No."

"A shame. Don't worry, though, I heard the new girls from Hot Gear are pretty." Noel sighed, rolling his eyes for a moment.

"Uhm... do you, eh..." Noel stammered, suddenly averting his eyes from her. She smirked, curious to hear what he had to say. "Do you think... it would be possible that you..."

"Look, you're cute, and you look nice, but I'm only for Ezrael."

Noel gave her an awkward look. "That's not what I wanted to ask. Geez." He frowned slightly. "I wanted to ask whether you could... uhm, get me... a few pills of synthetic marijuana?" His voice was extremely quiet in the end of the sentence. Sombra gave him a lopsided look.

"Going straight for the contraband, eh?" she asked him with a cheeky smirk.

"Not in Rheinland, though. It's legal in Rheinland. Controversal but legal. I mean, I understand if you don't want to do that, it was just an idea. I took a few pills of it and it was quite nice, better than getting drunk. More chilled, less infantile, you know." Noel threw an apologetic, resignating glance at her. He gulped, audibly.

"They sell that at Atka, I can go there, that is no problem. However, only tiny amounts. I won't support any drug addiction, okay?" Noel nodded, smiling at her.

"Thank you, that's very nice of you."

"In return you'll do me a favor at some point." She smirked at him, then typed something into her PDA.

"What favor?"

"I don't know yet. I'll think of something." Amused, she stared at her PDA, adding synthetic marijuana pills to the list. Noel sat next to her, not sure whether this was a good idea. Those pills were nothing but a bit of fluff, but he recalled the days of him having used those pills as quite relaxed...

June 30th, 825 - Sigma-59

Blue energy bursts ripped a Corsair scout ship out of the space without much glory. For an hour was the Apahanta in Sigma-59 now, hiding behind Nagaoka to avoid detection on Nobeoka's and Niigata's sensors. The Sigmas were still considered a problematic area with more and more corsair incursions, but it was time for another six-monthly check-in for the CV-Apotheosis, the Bishamon-class gunship Ezrael received from former Guildmistress Mia Takashi. While the Apahanta remained in the shadow of Nagaoka, the little gunship had unmoored and moved to Niigata. The giant space fortress was not just any station of the GMG. It was their headquarters, a star city with the ability to fully sustain itself. With more than 6.200 inhabitants and more visitors arriving and departing every day, it offered itself for a quick shopping tour as well.

The Apotheosis landed in the maintenance bay and Ezrael took care of the GMG engineering team, which was already awaiting the ship for the check-in. Of course they would take a while, and Ezrael knew that perfectly well. Because of that, he brought Noel with him. After all, the boy needed a full set of new clothing after the loss of all his bearings in Omicron Delta.

Staying close to Ezrael, Noel followed his captain to the public area. What he had seen from outside was incredible. Niigata was enormous. Ginormous! The biodome and biotube were even more impressive. What GMG had here was something a Rheinlander can't even dream of. Nothing in Rheinland was enjoying comparable wealth. "We have a few hours of time, and we won't leave before you got at least fifteen T-shirts, ten pairs of pants, ten hoodie jackets, sweaters and what not. And a fuck-ton of socks and underwear. Don't worry about the money, I'll pay everything," Ezrael sounded as they entered a wide open area with shops left and right. Typically, it was slightly kusarian themed.

"Heilige Scheiße, das'ja ma' fett, Holy shit, that's awesome," Noel mumbled more to himself as he took in the view. It was astonishing, figuratively blowing his mind. These dimensions were simply uncomparable to Rheinland space stations. So many people around. Noel looked up to Ezrael, who didn't seem impressed at all. He was used to such things. He had seen many things during his adventures.

"You know, if I was you, I'd avoid talking in rheinlandish. GMG isn't very happy with Rheinland. You know, eighty years of war and the bullshit that happened in the last months." Ezrael smirked back at him. "Kusarians are also sneaky people sometimes. I'm glad Maren isn't here right now, she'd probably insult them accidentally with her racial slurs. When you buy things, take a good look at them and try them out first. They are smaller than the average sirian person, and so are their clothing scales. Remember, we do have a few hours of time."

"And you say you'll pay for all of it?" Noel asked him as they wandered around, approaching the first-best shopping center. "Say, you never told me about wages. Like, we never made a contract for my work on the Apahanta."

"I'll pay for this, no worries. About the wages," he began, looking after a kusarian woman that just passed by. Her rear was rather pronounced. "... you'll get a certain monthly payment in general, independent from your work. Additional to that there is a bonus for everything done by you that needs to be done by qualified personnel and can't be done by our Kishiro Service Robots. You probably noticed it already, but there is only so much to do for some people, and many more things for others. As engineer, you'll be more busy than Dr. Carr in the medical bay or Tasha at the hydroponics." They entered a bigger shop that seemed to be all about clothes. Quite a few people were wandering around here as well. Families, even. "When you decide to leave the ship for good, you'll receive a final payment. That one will be... let's say if you've proven yourself as valuable member of the crew, you won't ever need to work again and can just settle down on a planet."

"That sounds a bit unspecific," Noel commented, looking at a little girl that dropped her Herro-Kitty plush on the floor. The girl picked it up again.

"I'm not a bureaucrat, Noel, that's the big difference between working for me and working for the Rheinwehr. I decide what is good and right case-by-case, not by looking at established mechanisms on a paper." Ezrael was rather eyeing the mother of said girl, for two obvious reasons. "So far that hasn't been a problem with anyone of the crew, though. I think I'm doing a good job at taking care of my inferiors."

"You do," Noel sounded without much thinking. His eyes were following Ezrael's, and with realization Noel rolled his eyes as they walked ahead.

Minutes later they found a good area for clothes, and Noel browsed through the many items. It was weird to do that with Ezrael, he thought. There were some preferences Noel had, but would Ezrael like them? Did he care about such things? And then there was this feeling of not having Ezrael wait for him. Even though Ezrael had told him they had all the time in the world. This was slightly stressing. Noel turned around, looking for his Captain. He was out of sight. Did he let him all alone here? He didn't speak a single word kusarian. Did Ezrael? At least his rheinlandish accent was not too obvious. Gulping, Noel continued browsing through all the things here, every now and then putting something to the side.

Twenty minutes passed and Noel moved to the changing rooms with a few things, just to see Ezrael standing infront of a stall, facing the large mirror, posing in different ways while wearing a rather unconventional outfit of a pelt vest and black tight leather pants. He also wore shades. He turned towards Noel, presenting himself. "I am a crime lord!"

Noel's eyes aimed at Ezrael's lower body. The material of these pants was rather thin and revealed the shapes. The shape. His head started to flush in red and he turned away, not knowing what to say at all. Ezrael however laughed out loud. "You should try out those weird outfits as well, it's fucking funny."

Noel simply moved into one of the stalls, locking the door behind him and started to undress himself. "Hey, have you ever been doing this, by the way?"

"What do you mean?" Noel could hear Ezrael entering his stall again, locking the door as well.

"Well, shopping. Did you ever do that on your own?"

Noel sat in the stall on the bench, unzipping his Apahanta suit. "I, uh," the boy began, freeing his upper body and the arms. "Mostly via neural net, to be honest. Back on Hamburg a few times with my parents, but I never got to get my own stuff. They decided for me. The latter stuff I chose myself and they paid it."

"Don't worry," Ezrael began, and Noel was able to hear something heavy dropping to the floor in his stall. "I won't do that. Take whatever you want." So Noel did, slipping into the first pair of jeans he wanted to try out. Slim fit, dark grey, leaving not much space between cloth and skin. "You know, from spending much time with women I learned one thing. How to enjoy shopping! They take all kinds of stuff into the stall and create entire outfits there on-spot and take it with humor. Since getting clothes together with someone else is usually deadly boring for us men, I adapted and try out things, take a picture and put the stuff away again. Leon and I did that every now and then on Curacao, just for shits and giggles."

"Hey, eh, that Leon was your best friend, right?" Noel asked, fiddling around with a leather belt. "People say I seem to have replaced him for you."

"I know." More noises of Ezrael shifting around in his stall. "The similarities are there, that's undeniable. That's however not why I chose you, Noel. It is more of a coincidence. But a welcome one. I know you can't replace Leon, and I don't expect you to be like him at all. Just be yourself, be an excellent member of my crew, learn how the Apahanta's mechanics work so you can repair and maintain her, and otherwise just enjoy living with us. Maybe you'll meet Leon some day when he is able to leave Curacao again, you two would get along well."

"Do you mind... telling me what happened?" Noel asked him while selecting one of the tops he brought with him.

"A woman happened, to sum it up. He fell in love with her, but she was a very dangerous woman, hunted by Bretonia, Liberty and Kusari. At some point, she did something that had the consequence of Leon's parents possibly getting involved in the danger she caused and in order to protect them, he told them everything about her and why they are in danger. They didn't like to hear any of it at all and are now forcing him to stay away from her. So he can't leave Curacao, she is depressed and frustrated about it and blames everyone but herself for all of this. I tried to help her, finding a way of clearing her criminal records in Bretonia for starters, but she is unwilling to cooperate and mistrusts me now."

Noel was finished, wearing the first new outfit, leaving the stall to look at himself in the mirror outside. Ezrael did the same, now wearing another pair of leatherpants, a black muscle shirt and a leather mantle, combined with another pair of shades. He looked at Noel, who frowned at him. "So you say you're doing this for fun and don't take any of these outfits serious?" Noel asked him. At least he didn't see Ezrael's most famous part this time as the faux leather of the pants was not as thin as the one before.

"Hell, I'd never run around like this. I'm not a goth," said the man with the long black hair and the red highlights. He posed infront of the mirror and took another picture with his PDA. "Remind me later of buying a fez for Maren."

Satisfied with his own new outfit, Noel moved back inside the stall. "Do you think things will be better again for Leon?"

"I myself have no idea how to deal with Nancy. She said she wanted to leave Sirius for Gallia, starting anew there. I tried to have her stay with me, but she refused. I think she will leave for good. Kinda sad." That was an understatement. Ezrael moved back into his stall as well and Noel heard him taking off his heavy clothes. "As for Leon, I'll convince his parents to allow him to return to the Apahanta. I need him. He had many plans on upgrading the Apahanta, and he is the one with the know-how. Of course, I do have hopes you can help us there as well. Still, I want my best friend back at my side. He's like a brother to me."

"He is part of your family," Noel commented, dropping his pants.

"Exactly. More than anyone else, really. I was his teacher in college, I used my connections for his training at OSC, I tought him how to be successive with women. He's my man, yeah. It's a once-in-a-lifetime friendship when you have no shame for each other." Noel raised an eyebrow, wondering what that was supposed to mean. "I miss the easier days with him, when we had sleep-overs and all that on Curacao. Guess what brought an end to that. Women."

"I never even had sleep-overs. My parents never wanted me to bring other people to our place. I wonder what I missed there." Sliding into the new pair of jeans, Noel sighed. Loose fit, blue. Something his mother wouldn't have allowed, pants that didn't fit tight. As if that was looking poor.

"We'll make a sleep-over party tonight, then. With unhealthy food and some cool movies or series," Ezrael said, setting it in stone already. Noel stopped for a moment, then slowly tightened the belt before putting on another T-shirt. It had a cartoon-ish Tokugawa printed on it in black, while the T-shirt was white.

"Are you serious?" Noel asked him in wonder.

Ezrael chuckled in the other stall. "Yeah. It's an order. If you don't mind it, that is."

Insecure, the boy blushed. "I-I don't mind it, not at all!" Ezrael didn't see it, but Noel smirked, fighting to not get wet eyes again. My first sleep-over...

June 30th, 825 - Sigma-17

Whenever the Apahanta's internal clock indicated the late evening, the lights in the corridors changed from white to blue. Hours had passed since Ezrael and Noel had returned and in the meantime, the Apahanta moved from Sigma-59 to Sigma-17. Hidden in the center of the system's three stars, they were out of range of most sensors. For a few hours, this would be a good place to stay.

Noel sat on the bed his quarters, seeing a bunch of shopping bags standing in the center of the room. He just stared at them while hugging his legs. Everything inside those bags was now his own. Not just clothing and fitting accessoires, but also other things Noel played around with when browsing through the shops with Ezrael. It was not like Noel wanted these things badly and asked for them. It was simply Ezrael seeing him being interested in certain items and so he bought them for him. Feeling awkward about the sheer amount of things Ezrael bought him, Noel couldn't help it. The mix of embarrassment and warmth was weird. Everything was changing so suddenly, but right now for the better. Much better.

At some point, Noel looked at the clock, realizing Ezrael was expecting him in his room for the sleep-over. Was he expected to be in simple clothes? Sweatpants and T-Shirt? Or should he wear his Apahanta suit as they were still on the ship? Not being sure, Noel didn't change his outfit but simply took sweatpants and T-shirt with him, as well as pillow and blanket. Ezrael said he had another bed in his room? Were his own pillow and blanket actually needed? In the end, having two pillows and two blankets was probably nice, so why not. Packed with all these things, Noel left his room and made his steps over to Ezrael's quarters, knocking at his door. Then he looked over to the door panel and just as Ezrael opened the door, Noel ringed the bell, which made him feel stupid as the door was already open. "Hello walking pile of bed stuff!"

Noel chuckled, realizing the way he held everything infront of him, which meant his face was hidden, Feeling a sudden phsyical relief as Ezrael took the stuff out of his hands, Noel made a step inside, looking around. This was the first time he was Ezrael's quarters. It was... less luxurious than Noel had expected from him. It looked more functional. The holographic window panels weren't displaying some land- or spacescape like most other crew quarters did. Here, the internal scans of the Apahanta were shown. The locations of every single crew member was marked on one monitor. Another monitor showed four views of the Apahanta's hull cameras, another one showing the radar. That was pretty cool, Noel thought, looking at all of them while Ezrael moved over to the bed.

The young boys eyes then wandered around, following Ezrael for the time being. There was only one bed here, but it was quite huge. It looked like it was four beds glued together at their sides, that long it was. It was also probably the only designer piece of furniture in the room. The rest of the furniture was functional. There was a small table with three metal chairs, cabinets in the wall, a big monitor at the opposite site of the room, another door leading to the bathroom and a weird amount of metal crates beneath the holographic window panels. "Sombra asked whether she could join us for tonight, by the way. If you don't mind it, that is. It's okay if you don't want her to be around, though, after all it is your first sleep-over party."

Noel looked at Ezrael as he bent over to place Noel's blanket on the bed, at the part of it close to the wall to the bathroom. He was wearing an Apahanta suit as well now, so it was probably a good pick to not come in sweatpants and T-shirt, Noel thought. Matter of factly, Ezrael didn't care in the slightest about such things. He just had taken a shower and didn't want to put on multiple clothes again, so he just slipped into the suit. "I-I don't mind it at all," the boy sounded, mind-absent looking at Ezrael's bum. Sombra was a nice girl. And they surely wouldn't go wild in bed with him next to them, so that was okay. When Noel realized he was staring at a butt, he shook his head, feeling a certain idiotic embarrassment.

"I got rid of the old bed and let the KSRs install this one here. Back on my former home ship, the Hoffnungsschimmer, I had a giant bed ranging from one end of the room to the other, taking up like 40% of the room. I like those giant playground beds. Nothing is worse than a tiny bed," Ezrael explained, turning around to sit down at the edge of the bed, looking at Noel with a smirk on his lips. The boy still held the three pieces of cloth in his hands, accurately folded. T-shirt, boxers and sweatpants.

"Your ship had a rheinlandic name?" Noel asked him, finding that random. He moved a step closer to Ezrael, wanting to place the clothes where Ezrael made the bed for him.

"Yeah. It used to be the Eclipse, but after I met Maren, I renamed it into the rheinlandian version of Glimmer of Hope. Because Maren was my glimmer of hope back then." Ezrael smiled, raking a hand through his thick black hair. "It was my home ship for many years. Then Maren happened and I had to give it up. She still has it, hidden somewhere, but it is useless in the current condition, and it can't be fixed. We then lived on Curacao in a rented bungalow with two other people and our cat Mittens, but Maren did something stupid and pissed Liberty off. And now I'm starting to live here on the Apahanta. You see it's not very home-y in here, in this room, as I never intended to live here. But I guess that will change now unless Maren can fix her issue with Liberty again."

"What did she do? Did she kill someone?" Noel asked, sitting down next to Ezrael. He had placed his stuff already.

"Erh, remember the girl who fucked Leon over? Nancy? She was in the hands of the LSF, spying on us for them because she... had to... and Maren took the opportunity to rip her out of their hands while I was not around. That both destroyed any chances for Nancy to become cool with Liberty again, as well as Maren's clean criminal records. She's now a criminal in Liberty. A kidnapper, at least. Possibly a murderer."

"A murderer?" Noel asked him, slightly agitated, frowning at him.

"She said she didn't kill anyone during that action, but I've learned to not put too much weight on the truth of her words." Ezrael sighed, looking at Noel. "It probably sounds horrible to you, Noel, but Maren isn't a killer. I mean, uh, how to describe it... What I mean is she isn't dangerous. I am not dangerous either, although I have killed people as well. Both as Captain of the Apahanta, and in melee, sadly."

Noel frowned once more. "I... I know you probably did. I don't blame you or anything. It's just hard to imagine." The boy averted his eyes, looking over to the door of the bathroom. "Space is dangerous, I know that. Those guys at Livadia could have killed me as well. If a Zoner patrol in Delta hadn't picked up my rescue pod, I could have died as well. I could have gotten eaten by Corsairs."

There was a moment of silence. Then, however, Noel would feel Ezrael's hand on his shoulder. Noel looked up to Ezrael, who smiled at him. "I'm glad you're part of my crew, Noel. And I want you to enjoy the sleep-over, so let's not talk about horrible things like these, okay? I want you to have fun." Noel smirked back at him and nodded.

A few minutes had passed and Noel found himself lying on the damn comfortable bed with his two pillows at back and head and his lower body covered by one of the two blankets he had for himself. Right next to him, between him and Ezrael, was a large tray filled with various foods. It didn't take long for Noel to find out about Ezrael being extremely strongwilled when it came to unhealthy food as he didn't touch any of the bowls with junk food. He only took the fruit slices and wine grapes. Sombra however, lying to Ezrael's other side, every now and then leaned over to grab a few chocolade covered raisins, later ending up with the whole bowl on her lap. Wanting to follow his idol's lead, Noel didn't touch the junk food either and only went for the fruits. It was incredibly tasty, so he didn't think he was missing out on something by ignoring the chocolate and the potato chips. The three of them on the bed were watching the movie trilogy of Frame Wars, some space fantasy genre with space ninjas. It was an instant win, of course, because of the space ninjas.

It was a fun evening, Noel thought. Ezrael was a very relaxed person, and even though Sombra's presence took some of the privacy away, Noel enjoyed it until he fell asleep.

At some point, Sombra poked Ezrael in the belly. He looked down at her, feeling a bit sleepy as well, and saw her pointing at Noel, who lay there asleep, his mouth slightly opened. Ezrael smirked at the sight, then turned to Sombra. "We should sleep as well. Apahanta, please switch to night mode. Decrease all light sources by 90% and lower sound volume to 10%."

"You like him very much, don't you?" Sombra asked Ezrael very quietly, unzipping him at the back, very slowly and carefully. It was dark now, but her eyes quickly adjusted to the little light that was still illuminating the room. No colors, just shades of black.

"Yes, I do. He's a good boy and doesn't deserve the horrible things that happened to him." Slightly shifting with her movements, Ezrael freed his torso from the Apahanta suit, feeling Sombra's hands doing most of the work to help him.

"He's happy about you taking care of him," Sombra sounded, her hand pulling down his suit further, freeing his belly. "I'm a bit jealous. You spend so much time with him."

Ezrael giggled quietly, grabbing her hand before it was able to slide under his suit. "You don't need to be. He's an addition, not a replacement." He let go of her hand and felt her continuing. "It's nice to have a normal person around, Sombra. You know what I mean. No criminals like Nancy, no weirdos like Maren. It's a bit like the old days with Leon, just with Noel instead of Leon."

Uncovering his lower body halfway, she placed her head on his belly. "Only that we're no longer on Curacao and Noel is here instead of Leon." Ezrael sighed sharply, followed by a few moments of silence. There was a plopping sound and Sombra exhaled audibly. "I know what you mean, though. I miss all that."

It was followed by more silence. Ezrael made a weird noise at some point, as if he was suppression a sneeze. Another silence. He exhaled with pressure, his body tensed up, followed by him inhaling quickly, just to release the air again slowly. The weight on his belly was lifted as Sombra moved her head up to his cheek, pecking him. He heard her gulping right into his ear. "I don't think anyone could even remotely replace you," he sounded quietly, turning his head to her to place a kiss on her lips.

"Good night, love," Sombra returned after a little time of his lips on hers.

"Good night, Sombs." Facing her, he closed his eyes, feeling very sleepy now. Same as Noel, who closed his eyes again, his heart beating wildly as he felt slightly weirded out.

Pages: 1 2 3