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

==Peace and Quiet==

===Chains of Command===

Ten minutes later, Venus walked into the O-Club.  Jake and Alex were back at the dartboard, just killing time.  Kines and Haarlan were listening to Remilia and Freya tell stories about growing up in Startseite.  All six paused what they were doing as Venus walked in, bag and recording in hand.

“Well?  How did it go?” Freya demanded.

Venus offered up a weary grin, wincing as a cut on her lip stretched.  “I won.  I’ll leave the rest to the tapes.”

“Hah!  You kicked his ass,” Freya crowed.

“Maybe,” Venus allowed, sinking onto a stool.  “Ooof.  You know how you’re not really sore until after you change?  Ow.”

“Isaac put you through the grinder?” Remilia asked.

“How did I even live through that as a kid?” Venus groaned.

Jake walked up, smiling eagerly.  “How did you do, baby?”

“I think I won.  I hurt all over, but he fell down first, so, hey,” Venus said modestly.  She glanced over at Kines.  “Lieutenant, can I get a glass of ice?  No water, just ice,” she said.

“Sure, here you are, Lady Venus,” Kines said, passing her a glass.  Venus grabbed a chip of ice and held it to her bruised forearm.

“Oooh, that’s better,” she sighed.  She glanced over at the rest of the group.  “So…what are you guys up to?”

“Jake is scaring the shit out of me at how good at darts he is,” Alex said.  “I think Freya might need to take him as an apprentice or something.”

“Excellent,” Venus giggled, drying off her arm.  The ice had already melted.

“I’m trying to impress upon Commander Haarlan and Lieutenant Kines here the importance of not letting your aircar rust out,” Freya said.  Venus groaned.

“I remember.  How did you even manage that?”

“I still don’t know,” Freya confessed.  She glanced at the clock over the bar.  “Who’s hungry?”

“I could kill and eat a sauroch,” Venus said.

Jake nodded.  “Yeah, I bet.  Think we’ll get to do some of that on Nocturne?”

Venus laughed aloud.  “Not if you value your skin.  No offense, honey, but the SAND on Nocturne kills people.”

Jake sighed dramatically.  “Such is life.”

“If you’d like, my Lady, you could just eat here,” Kines said.  “We do serve a little food here.”

“Sounds good,” Venus said.  “Do you have menus?”

Kines shrugged.  “Well…it’s just one of seven or so flavored protein pars and a few kinds of drinks.”

“I’m sure Captain Roemer would be delighted to have you back for lunch, Lady Venus,” Haarlan pointed out.

“Thanks, but I don’t want to bother him,” Venus said.

“How exactly does that work?” Jake asked.  “Is the food that enlisted men, officers, and staff get different?”

Kines nodded.  “Yes, sir.”  When Jake didn’t inquire, Kines explained.  “The Captain and his staff can request that certain foods be brought aboard for them.  Officers are simply allowed a greater variety of what’s served to the enlisted.”

“That doesn’t sound fair,” Jake said.  Kines shrugged uncomfortably.

“That’s just how it works.  Rank has its privileges.”  He set a few bars out on the counter.

Venus grabbed a protein bar and tore it open, biting into it.  Her jaw froze mid-chew.  “Oh.”

“What’s wrong with me?” Jake asked, gnawing on his own.

“What?” Alex asked.

“I think this actually tastes good compared to the ones they have in the hive,” Jake said.

“There’s a sterling recommendation,” Freya said, eyeing the bars and choosing not to take one.  “I’ll pass, thanks, Lieutenant.”

Kines half-smiled.  “What can I say?  It’s hard to feed a crew of thousands for years at a time with no resupply, ma’am.”

Jake finished his bar and sat down.  “So…Lieutenant, how exactly did you wind up a bartender on a warship?”

Kines shrugged.  “I lucked out on my entry exams.  And I specifically requested it, too.  I like it here.  What other part of the job has you meeting so many people?”

Venus finished her own bar and tossed the wrapper in the trash.  “What do I owe you?” she asked.

“Huh?” Kines blinked.  “For what, ma’am?”

“The bar.”

“Er…that was a ration stick, ma’am, they’re free,” Kines said.

Venus tilted her head back.  “Oh.  Okay, thanks.”  She spotted a poster to the side, and quickly turned to it to cover her embarrassment.  “What’s that about tonight?”

“Holo night in the tertiary auditorium, my Lady,” Kines said, following her gaze.  “They’re playing some holo we picked up on Terra.”

“What’s the holo?” Freya asked.

Kines thought for a moment.  “I think it’s some old sports movie or something, ma’am.”

“Oh, cool.  Who’s up for it?” Freya asked.

“Not I.  I’m gonna need to rest.” Venus said.

Jake and Remilia also opted out.  “You and me, then, Alex,” Freya said.

Alex adopted a stern tone.  “Promise that you won’t be riffing the entire movie?”

“I hardly ever do that!” Freya proclaimed.  Alex stared her down, and she relented.  “Often.”

“Right,” Alex chuckled.

As dinner came, the group trooped up to the Captain’s Hall once more, deciding that it was indeed preferable to eat real food than reconstituted dead people.  After the meal, Remilia headed back down to the bar, while Freya and Alex went to see the holo.  Venus and Jake stayed in their room, just watching things they had brought with them on their personal slates.

Remilia sat back down at the bar, noting with a smirk that the Warrant from the previous night was hovering around the dartboard, clearly seeking vengeance for his upset.  Kines walked up to her behind the counter and wiped it down.  “Hello again, Madam.”

She accepted the orange soda he had stocked behind the bar with a reluctant grin.  “Thanks, but please stop calling me Madam.  It makes me feel old.”

“I’m older than you are, my Lady,” Kines pointed out.

“Still, people call my mother that.  Call me something else.  Please,” Remilia half-pleaded.

“All right then, my Lady,” Kines said, with the ghost of a smile.

Remilia groaned in exasperation.

“Lady Remilia then,” Kines continued.

“Just…Remilia works.  It’s my real name, after all,” she pointed out.

“I’m not certain I’m comfortable with addressing you that way, Lady Remilia,” Kines confessed.

“Well, titles weird me out.  So.  Remilia.  Please.”  The lanky blond petulantly crossed her arms.

Kines struggled for words for a moment, then gave up.  “Yes…Remilia.  Man, that’s weird.”

“Well, it’s an Inwit name,” Remilia said with a shrug.

Kines went white.  “No!  Please, I wasn’t making fun of-”

“Lieutenant.”  Remilia grinned behind her bottle.  “It was a joke.”

“Well, stop it, you scared the hell out of me,” Kines grumbled.

Remilia looked at him funny.  “Why are people on this ship scared of us?”

Kines looked down to the bar.  “It was just that one thing.”

“Lieutenant, I’d like to think we were getting along.  Why are people aboard so scared of us?” Remilia demanded.

Kines glanced side-to-side, seeking aid from the other people at the bar, but they were studiously ignoring the conversation.  Finally, he turned his face back to her.  “It’s…more like…caution, ma’am.  One word from you could completely ruin any of us…and after this morning…”

“I don’t think Freya was really going to throw anyone off the ship,” Remilia said.  “I barely even care.  We’re mostly athletes, you know, we get recorded all the time.”

“Yeah, but…still,” Kines said, pained.

Remilia nodded and tried to summon her patience.  “All right.  Well please…stop walking on eggshells.”

Kines nodded, trying to put it all behind him.  “Aye, Madam.”  Remilia glared.  “Sorry.  That sounded like an order.”  She giggled.

===An Enduring Love===

Jake settled back against the bed, thumbing through the small selection of holos and games he had brought on the dataslate Venus had loaned him.  “Hmm…what do you want to watch?”

Venus tapped her finger on her chin.  She was reclining on the chair in the corner, reading her own slate.  “Want to watch my fight with Isaac?” she asked.

Jake peered over at her.  “Sure, if you won’t mind.”

“Why would I mind?”

“Why did you order everyone out of the gym?” Jake reasoned.

“Because I didn’t want distraction.”  Venus shrugged.  “I don’t mind if you see it now.”

Jake turned his slate off.  “Cool, pop it in.”

Venus stood, adjusting the thermostat down to bone-chilling cold for his comfort.  She slid the card into her slate and connected it to the larger screen on the wall.  Jake shoved the pillows behind him and sat up.  Venus stripped her outer clothes off and climbed into bed, settling down against his front side.  This was a ritual they had developed after discovering that leaving the room at normal temperatures while they shared a seat was simply too much for Jake.  Venus, who was fortunately both immune to and causative of extreme temperatures, was quite happy to act as his heating element.  He wrapped his arms around her stomach and pulled her back against him.  She relaxed into his arms, clasping her hands over his.

“Play,” Venus called to the distant slate.

The video began, a bit shaky as the skull worked its gyros.  Jake caught his first glance of Venus’ outfit from behind as she climbed into the ring.  “Damn…hey, Venus, if you feel me popping a boner, please be okay with it, all right?”

She giggled, slapping his leg.  “Quiet.”

On screen, she turned around, and Jake’s hands tensed on her stomach as he saw her war paint.  “…Holy shit, baby, that’s scary.”

“It’s just some body paint,” Venus said.  “But thanks, that’s what it’s for.”

“Promise me that you won’t wear that around the apartment, all right?” Jake asked.

“Every single Halloween,” she promised.  Jake groaned.

The fight began.  They started circling each other, testing each other’s’ defenses.  Isaac moved, striking high, and Jake squeezed his hands as the man’s fist stopped a hair from breaking Venus’ nose.  “How did you not flinch?”

“He wasn’t going to hit me, and I didn’t feel like humoring him,” Venus said.  They circled a little more, then Isaac kicked her low.

Jake winced.  “Cold.”

“Nocturnean martial arts are all about humbling your opponent with pain, then killing the shit out of them,” Venus said smugly.  “It’s what you’d expect from people who have had to very literally kill dragons to get meat.”

She punched Isaac, hard, in the stomach.  Jake’s eyes widened at the look on her face, but this time he didn’t say anything.  “‘I’m alive,’” she said on the screen.

“…You didn’t even talk like that when you were trying to scare off Polazzi,” Jake said quietly.

Venus squeezed his hand, trying to assuage the fear she felt building in his voice.  Isaac punched her breast, and Jake felt his testicles try to crawl into his stomach.  “…Ow.”

“Yeah, that sucked,” Venus said.

The two of them were dancing, now, just dealing damage and taking it.  The flurry of blows she was raining down on Isaac was actually hard for Jake to follow.  “I’m glad you’re on my side,” Jake said.  Venus winced at the tone of his voice.

On the screen, she somehow flipped over her own knee to ram her entire back into him, sending him sprawling, then flipped feet over head to land in a perfect crouch.  “Catlike,” Venus declared.

The fight ended as Venus slammed an arm full across Isaac’s face, sending him back against the ropes.  After exchanging a few words, the recording ended.  “Stop,” Venus said, and the screen went dark.

“So what did you think?” Venus asked.  Jake didn’t reply.  He just buried his face in her hair and squeezed her tight.

Venus heard apprehension color her voice.  “…I didn’t freak you out with the whole Woman of Steel thing, did I?” Venus asked.

“Huh?  No,” Jake said.  His voice was muffled by her thick black hair.  “No, that doesn’t weird me.  I know you’re more than human.”  He closed his eyes and laced his fingers with hers.  “I think it’s part of why you’re so damn cute,” he whispered.  “You can splatter blood on yourself and beat trained men senseless, and still make me feel completely safe.”

She closed her eyes and snuggled back against him, relieved.  “So…why did you sound so nervous?”

Jake was quiet for a moment.  “I don’t like seeing you hurt.”

“Well, thanks,” she said.  “But…you know I’ll be healed by tomorrow.”  Jake shook her loose, gingerly climbing out from under her and crouching alongside her.

“Your skin is so dark I can’t even see the bruises…but that looked like blood from here,” he said, gently running his fingers over her cheek.  Sure enough, there was a rough spot.  “He cut you?”

“I was dumb and dodged wrong.  I moved my head directly into his fist, so it hit even harder.  Split the skin,” Venus explained.

“Oh.”  Jake stared.  Her skin was black.  An unnatural black, darker than the depths of space.  He leaned forward and kissed her next to the wound.  “I’ll kiss it better,” he subvocalized.  She heard him.

“Hee hee…thanks, Jake,” she whispered back.  She closed her eyes and let him explore her face with his lips, finding each tiny bruise or cut and stopping to give her a kiss.  “See…this is why I keep you around.  You always make me feel better.”

“That’s why?  It’s not for visual contrast?” he asked, holding his hand out in front of her eyes.  He was so pale that the veins in his arm stood out even under his dark arm hair.

Venus guffawed.  She gripped the sheets underneath her, doubling over in laughter.  Jake rocked back on his haunches and laughed, too.  “What?  I’m just saying what we’re both thinking!”  She fell sideways on the bed, heaving with mirth.

When she finally recovered enough to talk, she wiped her eyes on the sheets and looked up at him, still tittering.  “Wow.  You actually went there.”

Jake smiled down at her.  “I did.”  He rested one hand next to her and leaned down, kissing the visible welt on her collarbone where Isaac’s fist had left a scar.  “He really worked you over.”

“Good.  He was supposed to,” she said.  Without her body to keep him warm, goosebumps were rising on his exposed skin.  She started to pull him down, but he squeezed her hand.

“Hey…I’m all right,” he said.  “But you…wow.  You look like you got tenderized.”

“I did, really.  Just no enzymes and spices, you know,” she joked.  She pulled her tank top up over her shoulders, leaving her bra on.  She guided his hand to where Isaac’s foot had slammed into her shoulder.  “Can you not see the bruising?”

“Nope.”  His eyes were those of a normal human.  Even if Miranda’s Warpsight, Cora’s bird’s eyes, and Freya’s unparalleled senses were better than her own, the glowing red orbs in her head could still see better than any unaugmented human’s eyes ever could.  She could see her wounds, and she could see them fading, too.  He couldn’t.

“Here,” she said, guiding him to an abrasion on her stomach.  He bent over and ran his fingers over her, tickling her.  Her stomach muscle rippled as she giggled.  “Quit it.”

“Don’t wanna.”  He slid his hand over her ribs, pausing when he felt her flinch.  “Sorry,” he said.  “Here.”  He ran his cold fingers over her skin, letting the warmth seep into him.  “Better?”

“How are you so cold all the time?  I mean, I know we have the AC on, but you’re an iceberg,” Venus said.  She gripped his free hand against her flank, warming him up.

“I’m not cold, you’re a furnace,” he said, turning to straddle her.  He pulled his hand free, running both of them over her sides.  “I don’t need you to help me find this,” he said, running his hands under her bra.  He traced his fingers over the faint outline of the vicious bruise on her breast from Isaac’s cheap shot.

She tugged the bra off and dropped it over the side of the bed.  “Yeah.  That hurt like a bastard.”

Jake leaned down and kissed her, letting the heat from the bruised blood vessels seep into his lips.  “All better?”

“No.  But that feels good,” she said softly, relaxing into the bed.  He kissed his way down her chest, pausing at the base of her ribcage, then worked his way down to her waistline.

“Oh.”  Venus’ eyes opened.  She glanced down at where Jake was headed.  “Huh.  That’s odd.”

“What?” he asked, from somewhere below her navel.

Venus propped herself up on one elbow.  “I was so relaxed I didn’t even realize we were going to have sex.”

He smiled.  “We don’t have to.”

She thought for a moment.  “…Sorry, baby.”

He shrugged, surprised at how un-disappointed he was.  “It’s your call.  If you’re not up to it after all that fighting, I’m okay with it.”

Venus reached down and extended a hand.  When he grabbed it, she gently pulled him up to her eye level, and he lay down next to her.  “See…that’s the other reason I keep you around,” she said.  She wrapped one arm around him, holding him tight.  “You’re the sweetest guy I know.”

“It’s a burden,” Jake said heavily.

Venus closed her eyes in mock exasperation.  “I know.  You’re a martyr, Sieur Seager.”  She flicked the lights off as both of them shucked off clothes for bed.  “Tomorrow night, though, I should be all rested up.”

“And you’ll sleep like a baby,” Jake promised, splaying his hands over her shoulders and pulling her close.  “Now…no, don’t,” he said, catching her hand as she reached to wave the temperature back up.  “Leave it cold.”

“You’re freezing.”

“Nah, you keep me warm.  My little fire,” he whispered his name for her when nobody else was listening.  She smiled, white teeth in the darkness.

“Good night, Jake.”


Down at the O-Club, Remilia tossed down her last water and stood.  “Thanks, Lieutenant.  I’ll be seeing you tomorrow.”

“I look forward to it, ma…Remilia.  Sorry,” Kines said.

Remilia sighed.  “Right.  Bye.”  She made her way through the room to the lift.  As she rose to her own room, she leaned against the wall and wondered.

She didn’t particularly enjoy titles.  She had tried to reconcile that with the way she had always strove to surpass and overcome others academically, and justified it to herself by saying that academic achievement was hardly a born right.  It was true, too.  But here on the ship, she was a noble.  A princess.  And that wasn’t something she had earned.  She had just been born.  That was hardly an accomplishment.

The lift opened, and she started to get off.  “Where are you going?” Freya asked.  Remilia looked up and blinked in surprise.

“Oh…I thought this was the deck we were on,” Remilia said.  Alex and Freya got into the lift as a stream of crewers went by outside.

“Naw, holo’s over.  And man, that was DUMB,” Freya said.  “I want those two hours back.”

“Did you riff the entire movie?” Remilia asked.

“Only once.  Once!  I was restrained!” Freya said indignantly.  Alex snorted.

The lift opened on their deck, and the three teens headed for their own rooms.  As Alex wandered into the bathroom of their suite, however, Freya halted Remilia from entering her own.  “So…the fight.  Actions to take?” she asked.

“None.  It’s not worth pursuing,” Remilia shrugged.  “It’s just a sparring match.”

“Okay.”  Freya hugged her cousin good night.  “You want to spar again tomorrow?”

“No, I’ve had enough for a while, actually,” Remilia replied.

“Spoilsport,” Freya grumped.  She hugged her taller cousin again and nipped her ear.  “See you tomorrow.”




[[Category:Warhammer High]]