Editing Story:ROAD TRIP! (Warhammer High)/Part Five (section)

==Take Four==

===Sleeping Together===


The next morning, after the poker game broke up and the group bedded down, Jake stirred to wakefulness.  Something hot and soft was touching his wrist and moving the sheets.  “Venus?” he slurred, looking around in the darkness.

She winced.  “Sorry,” she whispered, as she slid back into bed.  “I didn’t want to wake you.”

Jake sighed.  She had just been in the head.  One of the few drawbacks of sharing a bed.  He glanced at the clock and groaned to himself.  He wasn’t supposed to get up for another hour, and Venus wasn’t going to for another half an hour.  The winter days of Fenris had thrown their schedules for a loop.  “Well, I’m not going to fall back to sleep,” he said, sitting up in the bed.

“My bad,” Venus said.  She opened her eyes, adding a second set of red lights to the room, which had previously been lit only by the clock.

Jake looked away, blinking afterimages out of his vision.  “Not a problem.”  He sat still, feeling the cool air of the room on his bare arms.  The thin shirt he was wearing still had a little of her heat in it.  The cold wood headboard against his back chilled him.  Wood on the Fang.  He wondered how much that had cost.

“Something wrong?” Venus asked.

“No, just thinking about stuff.”  Jake crossed his arms over his chest and stared into the inky darkness.  “You looking forward to school?”

“Absolutely,” Venus said with quiet happiness.  “I can’t wait.”

“I’ll be an employee, not a student, so it may take a while to get a degree, but…me too,” Jake said.  She reached over and gently stroked the back of his hand with one fingertip, leaving a trail of heat behind it.  He smiled and he knew she could see it, even with her eyes narrowed to slits.

He looked down at her face, seeing the two tiny red lines in the complete darkness.  He slowly moved one hand over to her chin and tilted her head, looking at her eyes.  One of the slits narrowed a bit and the other expanded slightly as she raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t move.  “You know, I can’t get over how cool that is,” Jake said faintly, tracing his hand over her cheek.  “I can’t even see you except these two little red parts.”

Venus laughed under her breath and caught his hand.  He leaned over her and continued.  “I hope whatever apartment we get on campus at Kouthry has a really high-end air conditioner, so we can keep this up,” he said, gesturing at their sleeping arrangements.  She smiled and flicked her fingers in the darkness.  The infrared sensors in the thermostat caught the movement and plunged the temperature of the room down thirty degrees.  Jake slid back down under the covers and entwined himself with Venus.

“If you don’t mind?” she asked sleepily.

“Why would I?” he said quietly, resting his head on her shoulder.  He closed his eyes and relaxed, letting her fiery heat push back the room’s chill.  She slid one hand back behind his head and ran her fingers through his tight curls, then gently held him to her chest.

“All right…” she said.  His body always felt so cool to her.

“I’m glad you smell good,” he said blearily.

Venus slowly tilted her head down to look at where his face was buried against her.  “Come again?”

“My second girlfriend never took care of herself, or used bad soap, or whatever, but she always smelled like sweat.”  He draped one arm over her flank to wrap around her back.  “You just smell good.”

Venus nodded.  “Ah.”  She set her head back down.  “What was her name?”

“My ex?  Fais Calet,” Jake said.

“The Tallarn exchange student?” Venus asked.  “Didn’t know you two were an item.”

“For a few months.  I wasn’t going anywhere long-term with her,” Jake said tiredly, “but I was rebounding from Hana and she put out and she didn’t hate hivers, so…yeah.”

“Mmm.”  Venus considered that.  “I knew I wasn’t your first, I just didn’t know her name.”

“I got…you know…” Jake yawned.

“Yeah, you showed me,” Venus said.  After their first night had been unprotected, Jake had discreetly provided her with his chart from the doctor he had visited after getting dumped by Fais.  Venus, of course, had been a virgin.

Jake closed his eyes and held still against her until his breath slowed a little.  Venus relaxed and listened to the faint sound of his watch in the box on the nightstand mingle with the regular sound of his heart and breaths in a quiet rhythm.  The two of them just lay there, dozing in each other's arms, until the alarm sounded.  Venus rose to bathe before going to the gym, and after a moment’s thought, Jake did too.  As fun as it was to snuggle with his girlfriend, it was always a bit sweaty, and he certainly wasn’t going to sleep again.

===Sparring Partners===


Down in the gym, Remilia leaned on the ropes of the simple sparring ring the skjalds used, stretching her back.  Freya was already there, but she was forgoing the ring for a simpler workout.  Remilia glanced over the skjalds in the room, wondering if any would find the stones to challenge her, when Venus walked in, bag slung.

“Hey,” Remilia called.  Her world turned red as Venus looked up and smiled.

“Up for a bout?” Venus called back, ambling over.

Remilia paused.  “Sure, why not?”

“Good.”  Venus dug around in her bag for a towel.  She stopped when her fingers brushed the little containers of bloodpaint.  “Hmm…”  She looked up at her cousin.  “Hey, have you ever seen me in paint?” she asked.

Remilia blinked.  “You mean that blood stuff?”

“Yeah.”  Venus straightened up.  “Just for fun,” she said.

Remilia shrugged.  “Don’t think so…if you want to, sure.”

“Great.”  Venus walked back to the shower.  “Be right back.”

“Uh, Venus, that’s the men’s showers,” Remilia called after her.

Venus looked around.  “Is there a women’s shower?”

“Not that I know of,” Freya said, walking up to her.  “No female skjalds.”

Venus huffed.  “I don’t want to go back to my room to change, either.”  She pondered a moment longer, then just shrugged.  “I’ll just put it on my face and arms only,” she said, walking over to a mirror in the corner of the room.

As Remilia limbered up, Freya noted the boys walking in.  They angled for the free weights, as Alex continued his now-daily instruction of proper technique.  “All right, do you want to try the fifteen kilo plate now?” Alex asked, as he assembled his own dumbbell.

“Sure, but let’s do leg first, it makes sitting lifts easier,” Jake said, putting a few plates on a well-worn leg lifting machine.

“If you want,” Alex said.  “Say…check the ring.”

Jake glanced up to see Remilia tug her tank top off from over her sparring bra, and apply a quick wrap to her ankles and wrists.  “Huh.  She gonna box someone?” Jake asked.

“Looks like it,” Alex said.  He turned back to his own weights and started lifting.

Freya sat down next to them.  “Hey, guys.  I was thinking we could go out to the hot springs I spotted the other day, if you’re up for it.”

“Sounds good,” Jake grunted from his machine.  “You bring a bathing suit?”

Freya blinked.  “…shit.  No, I didn’t think we’d have a chance to go swimming,” she said.

“Dark underwear would work, don’t sweat it, and we all brought towels,” Jake pointed out, feeling his leg muscles sing.  “When do you want to go?”

“Right after lunch, if that’s okay,” Freya said.  “Venus wanted to tour the Fang a bit.”

“Cool, then it sounds great,” Jake said.  He wiped a bead of sweat from his eye.  “Thank the skjalds for letting use their gym, huh?” he asked.

“Sure thing, but look at this place,” Freya said, taking in the massive gym with a sweep of her arms.  “Place is nearly a graveyard with so many skjalds off crewing the Legionary ships while the Great Companies are out and about.”

“Still,” Alex said.  He set the weight back down and tacked another two kilo plate on the end.  “How about you?  You ladies done?”

“Nope, Venus and Remilia are gonna spar,” Freya informed them.

Both boys’ eyes darted over to where Venus was still fiddling around with her appearance in the mirror.  “Really?” Jake asked.  “That’ll be interesting.”

“You guys should fight me four-on-one,” Freya said with a predatory grin.  “Group combat is always interesting.”

Jake looked at her askance.  She deliberately flexed one calf muscle, and Jake had no doubt that a single kick from her could have broken him in half.  “No, thanks.  Maybe if we were on Nocturne, right after a radspike, but shy of that, I’d rather fall down stairs,” Jake said, resuming his leg lifting.  “I’d probably break fewer bones.”

Freya leaned over and nipped his ear before rising.  “I’d be gentle.”

“Uh huh,” Jake said drily.

Over in the corner, Venus finished applying the bloodpaint.  She had stripped down to shorts and sparring bra, with the paint applied only over her face and arms in an abbreviated version of the more intricate design she had chosen when fighting Isaac.  Ignoring the blatantly lustful glances she was catching from most of the skjalds close enough to see her through the forest of support columns and exercise machinery, she tucked her things back in the bag, though she left one small vial of paint free.  She dipped a thumb in the paint and dragged thick, ugly lines across her upper chest and triceps, in a paint that would be invisible once it dried a bit, but was laced with just as much of the tiny plastic bits that relayed the light.  She hoped the effect would be worth it.

Tucking that away too, she walked up to the ringside and leaped clear over the ropes into the ring, landing behind Remilia, who had been looking away.  Remilia turned and started at her cousin’s suddenly daemonic appearance.

“Fuck, that’s…quite a get-up,” Remilia said, staring at the assemblage.

Venus cracked her knuckles and kicked her exercise sandals off, taking a step back and settling into stance without a word.

Remilia rolled her eyes.  Venus was clearly exercising her theatrical side.  Still, Remilia had to admit to herself that the effect was intimidating.
Venus’ eyes brightened as the blood started pumping faster.  She clapped her hands together once and advanced a pace, clearly taking the initiative.

Remilia had none of it, swinging a vicious blow at Venus and following up with a low kick.  Venus parried the punch and side-stepped the kick, turning her momentum into an advance.  She lunged towards her cousin, throwing all her might into a cruel elbow strike.

Remilia caught it square on the sternum with a creak of bone.  She choked, lurching back in surprise and sudden pain.  Venus followed up with a quick forward step, and raised her arms like she was going for a headlock…then stepped back.  “Too far?” she asked under breath.

“A bit,” Remilia coughed, spitting a drop of blood from her lips.  “Just…hang on,” she said, clutching her chest.  Venus lowered her guard, stepping back to the ropes.

“…Fuck,” Alex observed.

“I think it’s the paint,” Jake said weakly.  “She wasn’t like that when she was teaching me.”

“She taught you how to spar?” Alex asked, looking over at his friend.

“Just some basic poses, no real combat,” Jake said.  “Just for fun.”

“Mmm.”  Both boys looked up at where Remilia was straightening up, clearly in pain.  Her superhuman biology was accommodating her injury, though, and even an Astartes couldn’t heal as fast as a Lady Primarch.  A few drops of blood oozed from her lips as she ran a hand over her tender chest and nodded once, putting her hands up.

Venus nodded back, slowly circling her cousin.  Remilia swept her leg low and raised her hand at once.  Venus simply leaped the leg sweep and leaned back from the guard, her eyes following her cousin’s movements.  Remilia stood back and raised her fists to her chin level, guarding, but Venus seemed content with fighting on the defensive for now.

Freya sat down at the ringside, observing closely.  Her senses alerted her to some tissue damage in Remilia’s chest, something that could have hospitalized a human.  Then, if Venus had hit a human with that blow, it would have killed them.

In the ring, Remilia advanced, firing off jabs in rapid succession, trying to beat back Venus’ guard.  Her ebony partner blocked or dodged most, but one snakelike shot caught her on the jaw, and she lurched back from the force of it.  Remilia followed up with a cross to Venus’ guard and a salvo to the ribs, pushing Venus back another step.  Venus was in it now too, striking back as often as defending.  She was deliberately avoiding the spot she had struck before, but that was the extent of her restraint.  The air between them was thick with flying fists.

Jake watched, mesmerized.  Alex set his own weights down to see the battle.  The skjalds in the room weren’t even pretending not to be watching; some were placing bets.

The paint was dried now.  The light from her eyes bled into the red across her face and upper arms, and through the invisible paint on her chest.  The effect was subtler than the one from before, but the invisible paint on her chest was aglow with dimmer light than the red paint higher up, making it look like there were bloody gashes across Venus’ chest.  The artificial blood was joined by a few drops of the real thing now, as minor injuries piled up on the two of them.

Remilia was losing her breath.  The damage to her chest was slowing her down, too.  More and more of Venus’ blows were getting to her, and she was starting to get a bit dizzy.  She stepped back, trying to get her bearings, and raised a middle guard, hoping she could block anything Venus used to follow up.

It didn’t work.  Venus took advantage of the open space to leap forward with a knee thrust that could have bent a car door around it.  Remilia managed to divert it, sending Venus to her hands and knees beside her, but that had been the idea.  Venus continued the motion, sweeping her other leg around her lowered body in an arc that dropped Remilia flat on her back.  Venus finished the roll and levered around on her arms like pivots, and rolled over one planted knee to land squarely on top of Remilia’s waist.  In an instant, Venus’ hands were at Remilia’s throat, clenched just tight enough to send the message.

Remilia tapped out.  The room erupted in applause from the watching skjalds.

Before her hand had even finished the motion, Venus was off her, grabbing her by the shoulders and lifting.  Remilia staggered to her feet.  Her cousin’s daemonic mask of bloodlust cracked and melted away into an expression of regretful concern under her paint.  “I’m sorry, Remilia, I didn’t mean to break the bone,” she said quietly.

Remilia coughed, wiping away the blood oozing from her mouth and nose.  “Yeah, that hurt like a sonofabitch,” she muttered.  “If I had been advancing that could have killed me.”

“I’m so sorry,” Venus said sadly.  “Can you forgive me?”

“Of course,” Remilia said tiredly.  Venus gingerly offered her a hug across the shoulders and stepped back.

“All right.  Let’s get you looked at,” Venus said, vaulting the ropes a moment later.

“No need,” Remilia coughed.  “I can feel it, it’s set.  Right?” she asked, pausing to let Freya get a good look at her.

“…Yeah, you’re good with a bit of rest,” Freya said, peering at her taller cousin’s torso.

“Hell of a fight,” Jake said, walking up.  “I find myself saying that a lot around you three,” he joked.  “You gonna be all right, Remilia?” he asked.

“Sure, sure, right as rain with some milk and cookies,” Remilia said, waving his concerns off.  A ribbon of blood worked its way out of her mouth as she said it.  “I'mma shower now.”

“Unisex showers,” Jake pointed out.  “Remember you told us?”

Remilia paused.  “I’ll be fine,” she said after a moment.  She turned to glance at the crowds of skjalds in the room.  “Just fine,” she said with a smirk.

As she vanished in to the showers with most of the others, Freya grabbed her own towels and headed out to the lifts.  Not that she didn’t trust the showers, but she wanted some time to think before they went off to breakfast.


===Milk and Honey, Hold the Milk===


In the empty liftcar, Freya rubbed her finger over chin and thought.  The day’s diversions would hold them, of course, but what about the next several weeks?  She was running out of ideas.  Perhaps another fishing excursion, only at the equator and on a larger island?  Maybe a tour of the more open parts of the fortress?

The doors opened and she walked up to her room, still deep in thought.  She unlocked her door and walked in, heading straight into the bathroom and getting to it.

As the water poured down, her ears alerted her to someone opening the bedroom door.  The rushing water and the fans had washed away the scent, so she just shrugged, assuming it was Alex.

As she finished up, she clambered out and started drying off, when the oddest scent reached her nose.  She paused, trying to identify it.  Whatever it was, it was sweet.  Maybe…honey?

Curious, she wrapped herself up in a towel and pushed the bathroom door open.  There, sitting on the table in the middle of the sitting room, was a small, steaming cake, on a plate with a few little cups of honey in them, and a note, in Gothic.

Her curiosity piqued, she walked over to it and lifted the note.  ‘Freya, don’t let yesterday get you down.  Someone once told me honey is a delicacy here on Fenris, so please enjoy.  Venus.’

Freya glanced down at the fresh little cake and finally identified the scent of the person who had deposited it there: one of the skjalds who had served them at dinner the previous night.  Venus must have spoken to him while she was chatting with Bjorn.  The pretty redhead smiled to herself, shaking her head.  “Nice, Venus,” she said.  She sat down next to the table, glancing over the food.  “I appreciate it.”

Alex wandered in, his hair glistening in the room’s lights.  He had the breakfast they had requested be sent up to them in his hands, he must have bumped into one of the kitchen serfs in the lift.  “Hey, babe…you order breakfast already?” he asked, spotting the food.

Freya tucked the note into the folds of her towel.  “No, just a gift from someone,” she said.  “Honey is worth its weight in gold around here.”

“Really?” Alex asked, sitting beside her.

“Yeah, this planet redefines ‘killer bees,’” Freya said.  She picked up one of the two little cups of hot honey and poured it over the cake.  “Want some?”

“Sure,” Alex said, breaking off a piece.  He set the other food down next to it.  The two of them sat beside the table, slicing pieces off and eating as their hair dried.

“Mmm…it’s even tastier if you imagine the epic battle that was waged to acquire the honey,” Freya pointed out.

Alex swallowed with some effort.  “Unless it’s imported.”

Freya glared at him.  Alex blinked.  “…though of course Fenris would produce its best for its Blood Princess,” Alex finished.

“Nice save,” Freya said drily.  She finished off her cake and rose, bunching her towel.  “All right.  I’m gonna change before we eat the stuff you brought.”

Alex stood too, sliding his arms around her waist as the towel fell away.  “Hey.  Are you feeling better?” he asked.

She squeezed his hands.  “Much.”

“Good.”  Alex let go and stepped back.  “All right.  Let’s ditch this in the laundry and get ready to explore, huh?”

“You want to see the hammerhold too?” Freya asked as she slid fresh clothes on.

Alex scooped up their clothes and unpacked the rest of the food she dressed.  “Sure, why not?  Sounds pretty awesome.”

“It is pretty awesome, though…I have the weirdest feeling that Venus might actually not like it much,” Freya confessed.  “Where she’s from, equipment maintenance is pretty much sacred.  Around here…not so much.  It’s almost a chore to some of the brothers.”

Alex shrugged on a nicer shirt.  “Can’t imagine that Venus would hold it against them.  Do you think they’d hold it against her?”

“Not in the slightest,” Freya said.  “They’ll understand.  Different Legion, different rules.”

Venus waited outside the lift down to the depths of the hammerhold with the others, tapping her finger on her belt.  She was getting pretty eager to see what the Wolves did in terms of equipping.  Freya emerged from her room with Alex in town, up the hall.  She had apparently decided to use something more utilitarian than the Fenrisian cloak and wrap today, using a simple tunic with a broad leather belt over it.  The pair arrived at the lifts where the others were waiting.  Freya wasted no time in marching right up to Venus and aggressively hugging her.  “Thanks, Venus.”

Venus winced as Freya accidentally squeezed her bruised shoulder.  “You’re welcome.”

The others stared.  Freya left explanations to Venus.  “Just a breakfast suggestion I made,” Venus said as she pressed the call button.

Freya’s green eyes turned to Remilia.  “How’s your chest?”

“Recovering,” Remilia said.  The crater Venus had left was already healing, Freya could see.  “I’ll be fine in a few days.”

“I still feel bad for going overboard like that,” Venus admitted.

“Stop.  We were fighting.”  Remilia shrugged with a hidden grimace.  “So…uh, that stuff you were wearing was bloodpaint?”

“The red stuff was, the clear stuff is just a modified version of it.”  Venus turned to look at her with a sly little smirk.  “Got the point across, did it?”

“It was pretty intimidating,” Remilia allowed.  “Do all Salamanders wear that stuff?”

“No, actually, most of them never use it, since you have to wear it under armor and it can obscure your honor markings.  I just like it,” Venus said.
Remilia made a noncommittal noise and walked into the elevator.  Together, they descended into the heart of the fortress.

===Just Like My Basement===


Venus peered over the array of arc welders in the insulated racks before them.  “How many dedicated stations are there for internal repair?” she asked the Iron Priest beside her.

“Four hundred, but some are dedicated to a specific task,” the Priest said.  The Wolf was so heavily modified with augmetics that Remilia was a little taken back, looking him over.  Didn’t the Wolves usually eschew such devices?

“Like Dreadnought maintenance?” Venus offered.

“Yes, that is one of them,” the Priest replied.  Venus nodded, looking at the welders with a master’s eye.  The electric arc contacts on most showed good maintenance and regular clearing, but a few looked like prized possessions, stripped of even the tiniest offending speck.  She couldn’t disapprove.
Behind them, Freya looked over a few pieces of armor that had been set aside for stripping and scrap.  A mixture of at least five different types of gear were present, including what sure looked like an ancient artificer-ed Type Four armor piece.  She wondered what sort of damage it had taken for the Legion to forego that relic.

Remilia walked up to her and joined her in staring at the armor.  “Wow.  Is that a Four?”

“It is.”  Freya leaned up to it, scanning the surface.  “Acid damage.  Must have been fighting some xenos filth with acid sacs.”

“Mmm.”  Remilia straightened up, looking at a small workstation beside the pile of armor bits.  The whole room was lit by brilliant lights set into the ceiling, with small sconces in the walls providing extra illumination.  Massive red and blue banners decorated the metal walls, covered in elaborate sayings in High Gothic and Juvjk.  The numbers Six and Two in binary and Gothic and Juvjk alike were everywhere.

“Sir Priest, may I ask?  What do the numbers six and two everywhere signify?” Jake inquired, clearly wondering about the same mystery as the girls.

“Ah.”  The Priest raised one mechadendrite to point at the tapestries and wall hangings.  “The number six is our Legion number, of course…and the two symbolizes the union of the Priests of the Iron and the Priests of the Red Planet, with whom we exchange our data and build our accoutrements of war.”

“Oh, I see.  My grandfather was a techpriest on Mars,” Jake offered.  “Canstrides Seminary.”

“I see.  Is that how you learned to read binary?  Most can’t,” the Iron Priest said.

“Well, I only know a few numbers,” Jake said modestly.

The Priest noted the girls’ scrutiny of the armor.  “Princess.  The armor was retrieved from a ship we took four weeks ago.”

“A ship?” Freya asked curiously.  “How do you mean?”

The Iron Priest walked up behind her, the echoes of his heavy footfalls muffled by the thick tapestries on the walls.  “We were awarded part of a Space Hulk to do with as we saw fit for a joint retrieval mission with the Skitarii.  We found some damaged armor components aboard.  As near as we can figure, they were looted from the fallen by a pirate, whose ship then collided with the Hulk as it attempted to enter the Warp.”

“How foul,” Freya said coldly.

The Iron Priest nodded.  “The fell hands of the Warp do not discriminate hero from parasite.”

Jake leaned over the armor pieces, careful not to touch them.  “Acid damage?”

“The battle in which they fought was against a race of xenos with chemical weapons,” the Priest said.  “Or so we believe.”

Behind them, Venus ran a familiar hand over the grip of an oversized contact welder gun.  “Good times,” she muttered to herself, ignoring the repartee between the Priest and the others.

“Pardon?” the Iron Priest asked, raising his voice a fraction to be heard.

“I recognize these.  Got one in my basement, too,” Venus said, flipping up a panel on the welder.  “Hmm.  Stygies 4.  Solid kit.”

Freya stood behind her, watching Venus’ detailed inspection with a grin.  “So, how does the hardware of the Rout live up to Salamander standards?” she asked under her breath.

Venus hid a grin.  The Iron Priest HAD to be listening.  “Acceptable,” she said.  “But the product is more important than the tool, certainly,” she added.  “Do you think Lord Bjorn would clear us to use the range if we asked?”

“Hadn’t thought to ask.  I should.”  Freya nodded sagely.  “When we get back tonight.”

“Sure thing,” Venus said, straightening up.  She turned to face the Priest.  “Iron Priest, thank you kindly for the tour,” she said.

“Honored, Princess,” the Priest said, in the stiff electronic tones of his kind.

As the group moved to go, however, the Priest stopped them.  “Princess Venus, perhaps you could share a bit of how the Tech-brothers in your own Legion work their forges,” he said politely.

Venus thought for a moment.  “Well…we have nine forges instead of one, of course…what do you mean specifically?” she asked.

“Whatever you wish to share,” the Iron Priest said with a shrug of his mechadendrites.  “Perhaps some of your methodologies?”

“Oh, well, sure,” Venus said.  “Let’s see…well, our principle forges are in the major cities, in the castles, plus one each in the wilds of Prometheus and Nocturne,” she explained.  “So that’s the big difference, that they’re in population centers instead of a fortress, by and large.”

“Ah.”  The Priest nodded.  “Is it a truth that every single one of your Legionnaires must memorize the schematics for the latest designs of carapace and Power armor?” he asked.  “I was told that once by a member of the Eighteenth when we fought together against the Dark Eldar on Felger’s Fortune, and barely believed it.”

“No, not quite,” Venus explained as the others listened in.  “Scouts need only memorize carapace armor and basic weapon schematics.  The things you have to retain get more complex as you ascend the ranks.  So a Seventh Company recruit would only need to know bolter pistols, carapace…maybe a few knives.  A Fire Drake would need to know Terminator armor, power armor, carapace, and about seventy different weapon designs.”

“I see.  We do things very differently indeed, then,” the Priest noted.  “Here, it is the Blood Claws who must undergo extensive trials of memory, while the Long Fangs and Wolf Scouts usually only bring such responsibilities upon themselves if they have Terminator honors.”

“Oh, interesting.  Why do you do it that way?” Venus asked.

“Because technologies of the sorts that we rely on every day simply aren’t a part of life for Fenrisians,” the Iron Priest said, his voice filter lending his words an unintentionally cold edge.  “We would have no Iron Priests at all if some Blood Claws did not manifest an increased interest in their workings and artifice while undergoing their training.”

Venus nodded.  “Yes, that’s true.  Well.  Thank you kindly for your tour and sharing your knowledge,” she said, bowing her head slightly.

“An honor indeed, Princess.  Thank you for visiting,” the Priest said, returning the gesture.  “Should you happen to encounter Tech-brother Ner’el, of your Sixth Reserve Company, pass along my reminder, if you would?”

“A reminder?” Venus asked, puzzled.

“His debt goes unpaid,” the Iron Priest said.  He noted Venus’ increasing confusion.  “Worry not, he will know of what I speak.  Enjoy your stay,” he said, turning back to his labors as if they had never been interrupted.

The group wended their way back to the lifts, pausing to allow Venus to drink in the details in a few places.

“Kid in a candy store,” Remilia chuckled.

“I know, right?” Venus said, staring at a partially-dismantled assault cannon case ejector.  “I’m afraid that if Kouthry has a machine shop I’ll just skip classes to hang out there with the mechanical engineering kids.”

“Hahahah!  Oh man, I can see that,” Jake laughed.  “That would scare the shit out of the teacher!”

“‘Oh no, a Salamander is here to judge our students!’” Alex pantomimed.

“‘My tenure!’” Jake continued, clutching at a phantom diploma.

Venus half-heartedly glared as the other four laughed.  “It’s not funny, damn it,” she muttered.  “We’re a very task-oriented Legion.”

“Ah, we’re just kidding,” Alex said, waving her concerns off.  Venus huffed.


===This is Not a Public Pool===


After a brief lunch in their rooms, the group picked out the clothes they would be wearing to the Cave, and assembled on the launch bay they had arrived in to await a ship.  As Freya chatted with the pilot, Remilia hefted the stack of towels they had brought, and Alex stared into the box Freya had placed alongside the towels.  “More guns?” he asked.

“Heh.  A few, and one or two other things,” Freya said as she rejoined them.  “The area we’re going to is one of the safest on the planet, but it never hurts to be prepared.”

The pilot jogged up, helmet slung.  “We’re ready to head out, Princess,” he reported, snapping off a salute.  In Juvjk, he continued.  “Are you certain you wish to go a place so close to a local settlement?”

“Yes,” Freya said in Gothic, suffering no argument today.

“Very well,” the pilot said.  He tapped a rune on his wrist-mount cogitator and the ramp of his ship swung down.  The teens trooped aboard, lugging their cargo behind them.

As Freya sank into her seat, she felt a little tremor of apprehension.  If there were people there, they could just leave, of course…but damn it, they deserved to have something go right.

Venus dug around in the box.  “Are these firestarters?” she asked.

“Yeah, the cave is naturally ventilated, but there’re no lights inside.  I thought we’d bring torchers, just in case someone put sconces in there.  I would,” Freya said.

Alex cracked his knuckles as the ship dropped through the atmosphere.  “Won’t people see us approaching the village?” he asked.

“We’re not.  We’re terrain-flying over a frozen lake, with the hills between us and the village.  We’ll be fine, and if there are people there, we just go fly somewhere else for the afternoon,” Freya said.  “But it’ll be clear.”

“Uh, can we go even if there are people in it?” Venus asked.

Freya looked pained.  “It…that’s not really viable.”

“Why wouldn’t…oh.”  Venus looked sheepish for a moment.  “Right.  Glowing eyes and foreign tongues.  Of course.”

“Sorry.”  Freya shrugged again.  “The locals wouldn’t know what the fuck.”

“It’s fine.”  Venus unclipped her harness and wobbled over to the box in the turbulent transport.  “All right…let’s see how this looks,” she said, reaching in.  “Hmm.  Seven torches and a pack of patches…any chlorine?” she asked.

“Why would we need chlorine?” Alex asked.

“Do you know what’s been in that water?” Venus asked pointedly.

Alex shuddered.  “No.”

“Well, I can guess,” Venus said firmly.

“I brought some rapid-dissolver water purification tablets, for when the Wolf Brothers need to purify a whole lot of water in a hurry in the field.  We should wait outside while it’s working, though,” Freya said.  “They smell terrible, and in a confined cave…”

“Good call,” Venus said, sitting back down.

The gunship arrived at the little hillock.  The teens slid their jackets and thermo coats on, and hauled their towels and other accoutrements free of the gunship’s interior.  The gunship took off to the other side of the lake, its atmospheric camouflage of grey and blue with deep blue Wolf colors blending in with the snow.  The pilot left the vox open to reach them if a quick dustoff was needed.

Freya crept into the little crevasse, looking for occupants.  There was nobody.  The sound of very distant running water reached her ears, and a draft of hot air blew over her face, as she walked into the rocks.  The scents of sulfur, a hint of hydrogen gasses, and the much fainter scents of people and even a little fire mingled together.  She’d have wagered nobody had been there since the storm.

“It’s clear,” she said in relief.  When nobody entered, she poked her head out.  “Guys?”

“Anyone got the torches?” Remilia asked.  She was rummaging around in the box.  She paused as her fingers brushed wood and plastic.  “Wait, these are real torches?  I thought you meant torches like…you know, a lightbulb.”

“Wood torches, not flashlight torches,” Freya said.  She swiped one and grabbed the matches.  “Everyone get one and light it,” she said, suiting actions to words.

The group selected torches and walked in, Freya at the lead.  The path beneath was jagged, so everyone kept their boots on.  The snow gave way to a slush of half-melted ice and mud, churned up by passing feet.

The cave widened up, around five meters in, from a narrow hallway to a broader chamber.  Freya’s eyes detected good places for the teens to set down their lights, and they did so, as Venus’ eyes settled on the waters below.

“Beautiful,” she whispered.  The waters bubbled up from the black rocks below, from invisible cracks in the stone.  It wasn’t the stereotypical ‘natural’ springs of a resort, but instead the undiminished volcanic water vent that it truly was.  The edges of the little pool were jagged pumice and obsidian chunks, and the water spilled out of the main, overfull crater into a smaller, but much deeper one beyond it.  The large, roughly circular room was around twenty meters across, but a dark hole on the far wall from the entry suggested deeper caverns.  The water in the main crater was just under one and a half meters deep at the center, the smaller one beside it four times that in the middle.

“It’s awesome,” Remilia said.  “How did you find out about this thing again?” she asked.

“A guy in the village told me,” Freya said.  “Anyone else smell fresh air from deeper in the cave?” she asked.

Venus poked her head through the hole in the back wall.  “There’s another vent back here.  Only about forty centimeters deep, but it fills most of the room.”  Her eyes and torch filled the room with flickering light.  “It looks like there’s a crack in the ceiling.”

“Good, so it’s safe to use the torches,” Freya said.  “All right, everyone out, I’m going to drop in the capsules,” she said.  She scooped the little chemical caplets out of her pocket and dropped them into the water as the others walked back out.

She rejoined them, wrinkling her nose at the nasty smell emanating from the caves behind her.  “Yuck.”

“The Mechanicum can purify oceans with that shit when they terraform, but they can’t make it smell like anything other than packing peanuts on fire,” Remilia said drily.

“It would probably offend the Machine God,” Jake said with a chuckle.

As the smell passed, Freya hesitantly inhaled at the entryway to the caves.  “All right, we’re good,” she said.  They walked back in to the caves and started laying out towels.

“Man…I don’t think I’ve ever actually been in a hot spring,” Remilia said, testing the water with one finger.  “That’s pretty steamy, too…what do you think?”

Venus and Freya stuck their hands into the water.  “Hmm…about three hundred fifteen kelvin?” Freya hazarded.  “So, a hot shower.”

“Cool,” Jake said eagerly.  He walked back into the other cave to start undressing.  Since none of the five had brought swim suits on the trip (entirely reasonable when touring volcanic and arctic wastelands), they had decided to adopt Jake’s idea of dark underwear, and in a few moments, all five were sitting in the water of the larger pool.

Venus leaned back against the side of the natural pool, relaxing.  “The funny part is, this just feels like water from the tap for me,” she said drily.

“Well, take my work for it,” Freya said, letting her braids out and breathing in the clearing air.  “This is awesome.”

“I was afraid it would turn out to be a wading pool or something, but this is really deep,” Jake said, gingerly probing the floor with his foot.  “I’d be over my head in the very center.”

Alex closed his eyes and plunged his head underwater for a moment.  He came up and blew water out of his nose.  “Phew, that’s hot.”

Venus’ eyes lit the water where Remilia was sitting.  She was sitting back with the water up to her chin, eyes closed, just soaking.  “This…people pay a lot of money for this on other planets,” Remilia said, dreamy.

“You guys are the lucky ones,” Venus grumped.

Jake splashed over to her and sat down beside her, sliding one soggy arm over her shoulders.  “Ah, come on, just enjoy the novelty of it,” he said softly.

She rolled her eyes, but had to grin.  Remilia reached into the pile of clothes and towels behind her and flailed about for a moment.  “Ah hah, here we go!” she said.  He pulled out a thin glass bottle.  “Bottle two.  If nobody minds?” she asked.

“Where did you get that?” Jake asked.

“Same place as the one from your birthday, Jake, just better hidden,” Remilia said coyly.  “I hope plastic cups work for people,” she said, fishing some out.

“Do be careful, Lady Dorn,” Alex said with theatrical weariness.  She looked back at him and arced a brow.  “Champagne, half-naked teenagers on vacation, a hot spring…if we’re not careful, this will turn into something one might find on the tawdrier parts of the net.”

The others stared.

“I mean, not that I would know,” Alex said, all airs.

Remilia laughed aloud, passing him a cup and filling one for herself.  “You’re all heart, Alex Carlin.”


===Steamy Confessions (Literally)===


“Would you guys laugh at me if I asked what the drinking age was on Fenris?” Jake asked mildly.

Freya snorted her drink out her nose and spent a few moments coughing before she could answer.  “Y-yes,” she managed through a nose full of bubbles.

“Just checking,” Jake said.

Remilia lifted her cup as Jake waved one away.  “All right!  To the road trip, leg two!” she said enthusiastically.  Four glasses and Jake’s empty cup met over the depths of the pool.

As the others pulled their hands back, Jake coughed lightly.  “And to Morticia being all better when we get home,” he added, "and Julius getting off of Seadelant safely."

“Hell yeah,” Venus said, sending her cup back in for round two.

They drank and settled back against the edge of the pool, enjoying the soak.  Venus drained her cup and smacked her lips.  “Mmm.  Good stuff,” she said.

Remilia giggled.  When the others looked her way.  “I’m sorry, forget it,” she said, waving her hand.  “Just a funny thought.”

“Mmm.”  Freya poured herself another cup and sipped it more slowly.  “So, guys, what’s everyone gonna do tonight?  Getting sick of losing to me at poker?”

“But that hasn’t happened,” Jake said innocently.  Freya glared at him.  “Well, not very often,” Jake said in blatant false modesty.

Alex rolled his eyes.  “Jake, where did you say you learned?  Darts, cards, the match trick…”

“Middle school, my friend, all middle school,” Jake said.

“What the hell middle school did you go to?  A magnet school for illusionists?” Freya asked.

Jake laughed.  “Hive Tetra Middle School 19889,” he said.

“It didn’t have a name?” Alex asked.

“Nope.”  Jake shook his head.  “Just 19889.  Hive schools are basically factories,” he said, unconsciously echoing the discussion his parents had had with Vulkan a few weeks before.

“Horrible,” Remilia said.  “No way to treat kids.”

“Nope.”  Jake sighed.  “No, it isn’t.”  He peered over at her.  “How about you all?  What school did you go to?”

“We all did different stuff.  Morticia and Kelly had private tutors, some of us went to private schools, some went to upper-crust public schools…”  Remilia shrugged.  “I went to a private school down the road from Imperator.”

“I went to a very small public school,” Venus said from beside him.

“I went to a private school for the second two grades of middle, had a tutor for the first,” Freya put in.

Alex shook his head.  “Homeschooled, but by a small group of tutors.”

Jake nodded.  “I remember the looks on my parents’ faces when I won the award.  They were so proud…”  He smiled at the ebony war goddess next to him.  “Worked out all right, too.”

“I bet they were,” Freya said.  She stretched, letting rivulets of water work their ways down her arms in the shimmering light.  “Mmmm…anyone getting uncomfortable?  Is this too hot?” she asked.

“Nope, I’m great,” Jake said.  Venus and Remilia sounded their approval too.

“I’m too dry,” Alex said, pouring another cup.  He tossed down a quick slurp.  “Problem solved.”

“So…Jake, tell me about the rest of your family,” Remilia said.

Jake thought.  “You know my parents?”

“We met on the landing pad for the ship to take us to the Tide,” Remilia said.

“Right.  Well, my father’s a designer, my mother works for the Cube,” Jake said.  “Hmm…I have an Uncle Walter and an Aunt Alice, my mother’s siblings…my uncle is actually still in college, my mom’s family was really far apart.  I think you guys would really like Uncle Wally, he’s a funny guy,” he added.  “He and Alice both work in an aircar factory in my hab.”

“Factory work,” Freya shuddered.  “I couldn’t survive that kind of repetition.”

“Yeah, I dunno how they do it,” Jake said.  “Well...Alice just got engaged to her boyfriend, Hajime,” he said, rubbing his chin.  “My mother’s parents are both still alive, Grandma Christine worked for the Imperial Estate as a menial, and Grandpa Eric served in the Crusade with the Fists.”

“He was a Space Marine for Dad?” Remilia asked, wide-eyed.

“No, I meant it literally.  He served the Fists,” Jake corrected.  “He was one of Lord Dorns’ tenth- or eleventh- string assistant officers’ personal secretary.  Started out as Praetor infantry, lost a kneecap to a Hrud Dissolver Cannon graze.”

“Gross,” Venus said.  “Poor guy.”

Jake smiled ruefully.  “Ah, he’s tough as nails.  Got right back up and shot the bendy fucker, but he was done fighting after that.  He had a paper degree – rare for an E-3 enlisted back then – so they stuck him behind a desk and he retired one year after the Crusade ended and they demobilized all the Praetor artillery regiments.”

Alex nodded.  “You all know my dad, sadly…let’s see.  My mother used to work for one of my paternal grandfathers’ trading companies on Proximus Station.”

“Isn’t that where Captain Roemer was from?” Venus asked.

“Yep!  It’s a decommissioned O’Neill cylinder ship that they ripped the engines out of and stuck some extra hydroponic labs in there.  They use it as a way-station for megafreighters passing through the Centauri cluster on the way to Sol to deliver the tithes,” Alex explained.  “Grandpa basically owned two small trading companies that sold shit to the freight crews, and Dad met Mom there around twenty years back.”

“Huh.  Before the Crusade ended, then?” Venus asked.

“Yeah.  Hard to imagine how much it’s changed,” Alex said.

Remilia let herself slide forward on the rocks until the water was nearly up to her chin again.  Her soaking hair swirled around her in the gentle current.  “Heh…if we’re in family story mode…my mother helped found one of Uncle Fulgrim’s charitable foundations.  He laid the groundwork out for it almost five years before the Crusade ended, since he sort of suspected it was going to happen, you know.  Mom and Dad had known each other for years before then, though.  She’s Terran, not Inwitan.”

Freya nodded.  “Mom, the Queen of Fenris, she’s actually half-Fenrisian herself.  Her father was a skjald of the Rout who was re-stationed on Terra to train the Household Guard of the Paternova.  He met my grandmother, a servant of the House, and Mom happened.  Dad met Mom around…twenty seven years ago.  Dad, not that you’d notice, has a soft spot for girls with red hair,” she said drily, poking at her head.

“Well, they were head over heels for each other…it was only after the Crusade ended that she could have a kid, though, obviously.  We’re not genetically compatible with humans…all of us, anyway,” she finished.

“I am,” Remilia said.  “Gotta be careful.”

“Hope Kines never finds it out the hard way,” Freya teased.

Remilia flushed red.  “Freya!”

“What?  We’re all happy for you,” Freya said, as the others nodded or exchanged sly looks.  “Can’t hide anything from me, remember?” she added.  Remilia remembered her own words in the diplomatic lounge from the Palace, only a few months before.

“Talk about something besides me getting laid,” she mumbled, sinking deeper into the water to hide her blush.

Venus chuckled.  “Dad met Mom on Nocturne, but it was only after she moved.  She’s from Terra originally, she moved to Themis as an Administratum liaison.  She met Dad at a ceremony to commemorate the induction of a fresh batch of about two thousand initiates, and they fell for each other at first sight.”

“That’s cute,” Freya said with a grin.  “They got married before the Crusade ended, didn’t they?”

“Engaged.  Dad knew it was drawing to a close.  I was a surprise, I’m told, but a welcome one.  Even Dad could only look forward to leading a Legion for so long, knowing peace was within our grasp.”

“I wish Dad felt that way,” Remilia sighed from the water’s surface.  “He misses leading the Legion.”

“So does my Dad,” Venus replied.  “I think…after I graduate and find work he’s going to move back to Nocturne and raise the banner again.  Just long enough to shake the dust off and go explore the dark spots on the map for a while.”

“Probably do the Imperium some good,” Alex said.  “We can always use more worlds.”

Venus downed her drink, setting the cup aside for the moment.  Remilia glanced up at her and stifled another giggle.  Venus looked over at her, feeling somewhat piqued.  “What, Remilia?”

“I’m sorry,” Remilia said, grinning in self-reproach.  “It’s just…you went with the black bra and panties, and it’s dark as hell in here, so it looks like your eyes are just floating in mid-air,” she said.  “Sorry!”

Venus huffed a sigh.  “Come on,” she muttered.

Jake slid his arms around her waist and hefted her up, depositing her in his lap.  “There, now you’re visible against my ghost-like flesh,” Jake deadpanned.

Remilia’s giggles escaped, and she slapped the surface of the water in her mirth, sending water crashing around the pool.  “Jake, don’t say that,” she laughed.

“Yeah, ghosts don’t have flesh,” Alex said suddenly, and the others laughed too.

Jake wiped water off his face from Venus’ hair.  “Oh, man…this is great, you guys,” he said happily, squeezing his girl around the middle.  Venus snuggled back against him.

“Yeah, this is a lot of fun!” Remilia said.  “Wonder if there’s a hot tub on the Tide.”

“Actually, yeah, there is,” Venus said.  “Standard on all patrol ships that size.  It’s for physical therapy of crewers accepting augmetics after injury, though, so nobody here gets to use it.”

“Awww.”  Remilia settled back down against the rocks and crossed her legs under the water.  “Well, guys, I want to thank you for bringing me along.  This was exactly what I needed.”

“We’re glad you came,” Freya said contentedly, snuggling up beside Alex.  He slid an arm down her back and held her close in the steamy air.  “Are you guys enjoying yourselves on the trip so far?” she asked.  “I want to think this was a good idea of mine.”

Venus nodded and smiled.  “It’s been rough in places, but…definitely worth it.”

“Yeah.”  Jake squeezed her hand under the water.  “I’d rather be here than home, with or without you guys.”

Alex nodded in silence, though of course everyone present knew his own trip had been far more turbulent.  “It’s been worth it,” he said at last.

“Good.”  Freya wiggled up next to her lover and let his broad arm slide down her flank.  “Anything catch your eye in the Hammerhold, Venus?” she asked.

Venus chuckled.  “No, but it’s always fun to see how the other guys do it.”

“Bet Farah would have loved to be there,” Remilia said knowingly.

“You bet.  Hana too, probably,” Venus said.  Her physiology was protecting her from the alcohol’s effects, as it was with the others, though Alex wasn’t afforded that luxury.


Freya downed her third cup and set it down.  “Well…here we are,” she said, in a movie trailer voice.

Remilia chuckled.  “When I move out of the house, I’m installing a hot tub in whatever I buy,” she said.

“You’ll have to have us over,” Venus quipped.

Jake leaned up to her ear and whispered, so faintly only she could hear it.  “Any tub you’re in is a hot tub, baby.”  Venus bit her lip to stifle a laugh.

“Is the smell getting to anyone?” Freya asked.

“What smell?” Jake asked.

“Okay, it’s just me then,” Freya said.  She waved her hand in front of her nose.  “Sulfur gas from the vent.  Not too bad, but it’s there.”

Alex inhaled.  The smell was so faint he almost couldn’t sense it.  “Not really getting it yet.”

“All right, I can just head out if it’s too bad,” Freya said.

===Interrupt Us===


As the bottle slowly emptied and the afternoon wore on, talk turned to home again.  Freya spoke up from Alex’s shoulder.  “Do you think everybody else is enjoying their time away?”

“The ones who took some,” Remilia said.  She shook her head, sending wet blond hair all around her.  “Angela sure didn’t.  Straight to work for her and Hana.”

“And Kelly…I still feel awful for her,” Venus said sadly.  “I hope she’s okay when we’re back.”

Freya nodded.  “She’s tougher than she thinks.”

“What’s Hana doing?” Alex asked.

“She went straight to a four-week seminar thing, I forget the subject.  We can ask when we get home.”

“I wanna hear about Miranda’s vacation!” Jake said.  “An entire planet of resorts sounds fucking awesome!”

“I’d settle for a day or two at that beach,” Remilia said dreamily.  “That orbital photo was just plain sexy.  An entire inland ocean…”

“I’ve never been to a casino, either,” Jake said wistfully.  “I have a feeling I’d do pretty well.”

“Trust me, Jake, nobody goes to resort worlds and comes back richer, not playing a game of luck like Poker,” Remilia said.  “You’re good, but you can not believe the shit professionals do.  They piss themselves at the table so they don’t have to get up, they use augmetics that show hormonal levels in opponents’ blood, all kinds of shit to get ahead.”

Jake leaned forward, his expression intense and focused.  “Then the solution is clear.”

Remilia blinked.  “What?”

Jake’s voice was rough and flooded with conviction.  “We must transplant Freya’s nose onto me somewhere I can conceal it under my clothes, then set me loose on the casino.”

Freya fell out of Alex’s arms, laughing hysterically.  Venus snorted champagne onto Jake’s chest as the Remilia and Alex fell about laughing.  Freya managed to calm herself, staring at Jake in naked disbelief.  “I can’t handle what you just said,” she said, gasping past her laughter.

“Ah well,” Jake shrugged sadly.  “I’ll just have to make good on what I have, regretfully.”

Venus blew the alcohol out of her nose.  “You know, Jake, I’m proud of you,” she decided.

Jake glance up at her.  “How so?”

“When we met, you were so scared of us all that you barely even smiled around us,” Venus recalled.  “Now, here you are.”

“Perseverance overcomes all obstacles,” Jake said.  “I just kept at it.”  He squeezed her hand and smiled up at her near-invisible face.  “The payoff has been well worth it.”

“You should write self-help books when we get back to Earth on how to overcome social un-confidence,” Remilia suggested.

“Hey, yeah, I could ask Angela how she got published,” Jake said.

Freya’s watch beeped.  She sighed.  “Well, guys, it’s dinnertime.  We should head back, I think,” she said, rising from the geothermal tub.  The water glued her long red hair to her flanks like a shroud.  “That was still a lot of fun.  We should come back if we get the chance.”  Suddenly, she froze in place, her eyes wide and staring.  She hissed for silence and gestured the others to stay still.  “…FUCK!  Someone’s coming!” she said under her breath.

“Uh oh,” Venus said, scrambling out of the water.  She scurried over to the towels and scooped one up, hurriedly drying herself off.

The others jumped out too, stumbling a bit as the alcohol took its toll.  As they dried, Freya moved up to the entrance and listened.  Two voices, one male and one female.  Not voices she knew.

As soon as she judged them close enough, she started yelling.  “We’re a bit busy!” she said in Juvjk.

The footsteps outside stopped.  “Ah, lass, don’t do this to me!  It’s an hour from the village!” the man complained.

“Just give us a moment to clean up and we’ll be gone, we were done anyway!” Freya called.

“Like hell, it’s freezing out here!” the woman scoffed.  The footsteps started up again.  “We’re coming in, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before.”

“No, you AREN’T!” Freya yelled, baring her teeth in defiance.

Venus pulled her shirt on, hurriedly slapping her sunglasses over her eyes.  Just in time, the voices arrived.  A Fenrisian man of twenty or so and a woman of the same age entered the cave, glaring at them.

Freya stomped out of the water and walked right up to the man, hiding her fangs with an effort.  “Has privacy no meaning to you, fool?” she snapped.  “My friends are dressing here!”

“Bah, no man owns this place, girl,” the man scoffed.  “Now if you’re done, begone.”

“Neighborly of you,” Freya said coldly.  Her hand closed over the man’s like a vice, making him pause and gasp.  “I said you should wait because not doing so is bad for your health,” she snarled.

The woman slapped Freya across the face, shocking her into releasing her grip.  “Hands off him, bitch!” the woman said angrily.

Alex stared, one arm hanging out of his shirt.  Freya slowly looked back at her, her hands clenching into fists.  “Wrong move,” Freya said darkly, and hauled off with a quick jab that knocked the woman flat on her ass.  In a blur of red, she spun to the side and cold-cocked the man, sending him sprawling.

The others finished dressing as Freya dried herself off and left the two Fenrisians reeling on the floor.  She marched past them with the others in tow as Alex doused the torches in the water and left them floating.

The Thunderhawk was swooping in from the horizon as they emerged, and Freya breathed a sigh of relief that the natives hadn’t seen it.  Alex cleared his throat nervously.  “Exit notwithstanding, Freya, that was the best time we’ve had since we got here.  And yeah, we should do it again.”

“I agree,” Freya said, and to the others’ relief, her voice was free of anger again.  “Maybe next time we won’t be disturbed by morons.  Honestly.  Does nobody respect common courtesy around here?”

“Would you want to lurk about outside while people took their time dressing in there?” Remilia asked.  “At least they didn’t seem to notice our clothes.”

“Hmph.  Oh well.”  Freya shielded her eyes from the backdraft of the Thunderhawk as it landed, and they climbed aboard.


===Message Service===


After a short flight back and a dinner in their rooms, the group parted ways for the evening, retiring to write home or just unspool…and in Alex’s case, walk off the champagne.  He opened his slate’s message box after settling in and noted its contents with surprise.  “Well, hello…two messages from…no, three messages from Terra.  One from Mom, two from New Cyprine.”

“What do the Cyprine ones say?” Freya asked from the other side of the bed.

“Hmm… ‘welcome, transfer student, to blah blah blah…we acknowledge your request to room with Lady Primarch Russ…durr durr durr…just acknowledgements and approvals.”  He opened the next one.  “Hmm.  The other one is a campus map and some information on where people coming from ships should go.”

“Wait, really?” Freya asked, scrambling over to stare at the slate.  “They acknowledge a freshman asking to room with me with a form letter?  Hah!  Wanna bet this was just some school admin drone’s busywork and he didn’t even look at the names?”

Alex chuckled.  “I don’t take sucker bets.”  He set the slate down on the bed before she could pull away and ran his hand over where the local had slapped her.  “Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked.

“I’m fine, I didn’t even feel it,” Freya said with a shrug.  “And they got theirs.”

“On Terra, you’d have kicked their shit in,” Alex pointed out.

“And this is Fenris.”  Freya sat down next to him.  “I’m fine, baby, really.”

Alex nodded.  “All right.”  He picked the slate back up.  “Hmm.  One from Mom…she got a form letter from Cyprine asking for confirmation and so forth…I listed her as my emergency contact,” Alex explained.

“All right.”  Freya sipped from the ice water on the nightstand.  “You gonna send a reply?” she asked.

Alex sighed again.  “No.”

“Really?  Is your Mom not going to want to know what’s up?” Freya inquired, cocking her head.

“Probably, but…” Alex trailed off.  “I’m just putting it off, aren’t I?”  He tapped his hand on the slate.  “All right…I’ll record the message then send it later, so it’s not hanging over her when we’re coming home.”

Freya paused him, squeezing his hand with a concerned look in her eyes.  “How can I help?  Or should I even be here?”

Alex looked away.

“All right.”  She rose from the bed.  “I’ll just watch a movie with Jake and Venus or something.  Take your time.”

“Thanks, babe,” Alex said, already dreading his task.

As Freya closed the door, he downed the rest of her water, trying to calm his nerves.  “All right, Mom…” he said under his breath.  “Let’s hear it.”  He opened his transcriptor.


“Hi, Mom, it’s Alex…obviously…” he muttered.  He closed and deleted the recording.  “Take two…”  He pressed the record button again.  “Hi Mom.  Not sure when you’ll get this, the tides are pretty high, but I should be home fairly soon, and I wanted to make sure you got this in case I went straight off to Orientation with Freya.  I’m safe on Fenris, if that’s even possible.”  He stood up and started pacing.  “Last few days have been pretty crazy.  I’ll hold off on a full explanation until we’re home, though.”  He paused his wandering and swallowed.

“Mom…when we were on Nocturne, Dad tracked me down.  I specifically told the son of a bitch not to, but he did, and now…”  His words failed for a moment, and he paused the recording to choke off a sob.  Bitterness and regret rose to choke off his voice.  When it passed, he resumed.  “It was right before we left.  We were at dinner, and Dad…Dad said…fuck him to hell, he didn’t even say it to me.  He said to some random fucking stranger…‘I had to choose between inheriting the Fleet and going to college.’”  Alex squeezed his eyes shut.  “I asked him what he meant, and he repeated himself.  I snapped, I said I wouldn’t make that choice, and I stormed off.  He disinherited me.”

Alex slumped down on his bed.  “I’ve agreed…hang on,” he said, stabbing the slate again.  The recording paused as he wiped away tears.  “I agreed to live with Freya at Cyprine…I bet I told you.  God…Freya is about the only thing keeping me sane right now,” he sighed.  “I love her…”

He trailed off, aware he was becoming maudlin in front of his mother. “All right. Well…” He opened his eyes again, staring at his clenched hands and consciously relaxing them. “Mom, I wanted you to know because…well, it’s pretty obvious. Dad’s made his choice…” he laughed bitterly. “Ah, well. I’ll see you when I get home, I promise. I love you, Mom,” he said, turning off the recorder.

Freya was watching a holo with the others when Alex knocked. She rose and padded to the door, taking in his drained and unhappy sense with a single sniff. “All right…I’m done,” he said heavily.

“Don’t be alone,” Freya declared. She held the door open to let him in. “Watch unbearably bad zombie movies with us.” Alex managed a feeble grin and followed her into the room, where the others were huddled around Venus’ slate.

“What are we watching?” Alex asked as he sat beside the others.

“Tonight’s film is ‘The Incredibly Evil Birds,’” Venus announced, sliding her glasses on to halt the glare from her eyes.

“That exists?” Alex asked.

“Unfortunately,” Remilia said. Alex smiled at the sight of the four others lying together on the bed, staring at the propped-up slate from the other end.
He withdrew his vox and snapped a picture. “There.”

“What was that?” Venus asked.

Alex sat down beside the others. “Just commemorating this.”