Out of bounds

[Sombs]

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Day 44 - Location unknown

The Apahanta was never looking more like a mess than now. Giant cables, leading from power core to jump drive, laying all over the place, blocking many ways and corridors. Walls have been cut open. Other walls needed to be reinforced. Some sections of the ship were empty, others were filled with the former contents of said sections. The shield generator room was filled with new makeshift devices, same as the hall containing the artificial gravitation system. In the engine room, parts of the power core were uncovered. Leon looked up at the power core, seeing parts of clearly nomadic origin glimmering in the light of the power core. To a certain extend it was creepy.

The moment of truth was approaching. The operation was scheduled for tomorrow. Everything was prepared. The work was done. The ship was modified and the simulations had promised success. Many scenarios had been run, each one with different variables. Possible flaws were found and countermeasures had been installed. There was only so much that could go wrong, and only so much to do about it. There were worst-case-scenarios that would result in death and destruction, but those were unlikely. Unlikely-ish.

"Feels weird, eh?" Annie asked him, joining him and following his eyes up to the power core. "We could be dead tomorrow. It's a weird mix of excitement and fear."

The blonde surferboy turned his head towards her, smirking awkwardly at her. "I used to tell Nancy not to worry in situations like these, as worrying is wasted time. But now my heart just doesn't stop beating wildly. I can't calm down no matter what I do. Last night I slept only two hours, and I don't feel tired. That's what the body does to you when you're about to face death. You're expecting it to happen any moment." His look was raising again, up to the power core.

"The Captain said it would be the best time to do things we neve thought about, you know." the short girl with the black hair sounded, smirking at Leon. "Would you like to do something special with me?"

Leon's expression told stories about his confusion. Was she willing to do it now!? Finally!? "Ouh, uh, of course!"

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Weak red light was illuminating Sherry's quarters. The leather-like material of the two Apahanta suits at the foot of the bed was reflecting it slightly. The scent of wine was in the heated air, sweet red fruit wine. Some was spilled on the bed, some of the floor. The blankets were all over the place, one halfway hanging down from the bed, one pushed against the wall where the holographic window was. Sherry's hair was messy, a few strands of wet, sticky hair glued to her face, her body as shiny as Ezrael's. She sat on his lap, smiling down at his face as he lay infront of her, both of them nude. She had a hand on his chest, supporting her body as she felt exhausted. With the other hand she held a glass of aforementioned sweet red fruit wine. She took a sip and then leaned carefully forward. Ezrael opened his mouth a bit as she approached his face, pushing her lips against his. It didn't quite work out when she opened her mouth as the wine was running down her and his mouth, which instantly caused her to laugh and Ezrael to smirk widely. "Didn't quite work as intended, eh?" he asked her in a teasing way while she was still chuckling.

She shifted slightly on his lap, having her legs left and right from him. "Bitt'noff mo' thanI c'n chew," she sounded in a mix of breathlessness from the laughter and lack of alcohol resistance. Gently she started to lick the wine off his chin and his lips. A funny feeling as she usually wasn't as clumsy as now. "Yo'so cute, Capt'n!"

"I really didn't expect you to get drunk from wine, you know," Ezrael commented, taking the glass out of her hand to place it on the night stand.

Before she even realized what he just did, she merely watched him stealing her glass. Then she slapped his chest with her supporting hand, giving him an indignant look with her mouth wide opened. "I'notdrunk!" she breathed in her defense, sounding rather wasted. "I'not drunk, Capt'n. I'm Comm'ner Sherry Agu-ilar. Agilar. You don' pr'nounce the u. Sherry Agilar. Like Charon Agilar."

"Who's Charon Aguilar?" Ezrael asked her, smirking as he was quite amused by her.

"Tha's my mommy. Sssharon Agilar," she returned, eyeing the glass at the nightstand. "She's dead as fuck, Ez. Corsairs bombarded Canaria three years ago an' she died an' boom I join' the Core." She leaned to the side, not going for the glass but for one of the bottles of wine next to the bed. Ezrael held her sides, making sure she wouldn't drop out of bed. Successfully grabbing the open bottle, he lifted it up and took a long sip, then she chuckled, smiling at Ezrael. "An' now'am here with you'nside me," she added. "Rea'y to die as heroes t'morrow. Dolor transit, gloria aeterna est, right?"

"Your drunk latin is better than your drunk english," Ezrael commented and grinned, taking the bottle from her. "I think you had enough already. You can have more of this if we survive tomorrow, okay?"

"Whatif we don' survive. Whaddif we die t'morrow?"

Ezrael shook his head. "Then you're dead before the headache will stop. But at least you had a fun night before your death, isn't that great?"

She leaned forward, laying down onto him with her head next to his. Her arms were wrapping around him. "I hope I wasagood Commander. People rarerelly say nice things t'me."

"I can't imagine a better second-in-command than you, Sherry. You did great, and you'll continue doing great no matter where we end up to tomorow. The crew loves you, they just can't tell you." He began to stroke her back while she pushed her face against his cheek.

"Onedid, and I killed her," she mumbled into his cheek, followed by a kiss.

Blinking, Ezrael chuckled. "You didn't kill anyone, don't blame yourself."

"No-yes I, urgh, I'm fucking tired." she just returned. "This was'a nice ev'ning."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Ezrael simply stated, now having a harder time to breath with her weight on his chest. It reminded him of Maren who always slept with her head on his chest, other than Sombra who kept her body next to his. "We won't die tomorrow. I'm 100% certain of it. If not, you can blame me later." he said quietly, moving up one hand to rake through her hair. All she did in response was moaning slightly. They remained laying like this for a while. Eventually she began to snore and Ezrael rolled his eyes.

---

An hour later, Ezrael left her room, feeling refreshed from the shower he took. Unlike Sherry, he was rather resistant to alcohol. Wine was something he enjoyed for many years now, especially when he had an alcohol problem before joining the Core. That was in the past, however. The scent of the sweet wine was slightly on his Apahanta suit. Sherry must have spilled some over it at some point but he didn't see any stains. Not that the black waterproof material would have shown much.

Standing in the hallways of the bridge deck, he first wanted to return to his own quarters until he heard voices. And music. He turned to the side. The noise was coming from the bridge. Moving in that direction, he stopped infront of the bridge doors. Then he entered his bridge.

To his surprise, he found Leon and Annie there, sitting in the seats of Captain and Commander with remote controllers in their hands. His glance wandered over to the main screen, which was not displaying the black hole or the ship's systems but a game. Leon and Annie were playing games on the bridge, using the main screen. The sound was rather loud and they didn't notice Ezrael standing in the door. Smirking and shaking his head, Ezrael moved towards them, sitting down as well. They merely continued, and after one or two minutes, Annie offered Ezrael a controller as well. Leon had had something else in mind when Annie had asked him to do something special with her, but this was nice as well. And so they spent the last night at the black hole playing games...

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Uncharted System Stories: 18 | 32 | 34 | 37 | 38 | 85

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