Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings (The Messenger Archive Book 1)

by DC Bastien

  Kre and Loap exchanged looks. Their paperwork would stand up to casual Enforcer scrutiny, but their vessel was undeclared. Without proof of their arrival, the Enforcer might dig too far and encounter problems with their covers. Plus: it was late, and there were no witnesses around. It seemed like the perfect opportunity.

  "Very well," Kre said. "May I make a call to our lodgings, so they do not lock us out for tardiness? We were due back within the hour."

  "You can do that from the Enforcement building." The Hleen gestured with his gun.

  "May I see your paperwork, first?" Loap asked, stepping in closer to draw attention away from Kre.

  "Step back, step back," the Enforcer snapped. "I'm armed!"

  Kre used the momentary confusion to pull out her stunner, firing the prongs into the Hleen's flank. It tried to get a read of the Hleen's nervous system, but there was a static whine and a smell of ozone. The Sianar looked down at the readout in shock.

  "Enough!" The Enforcer fired a stun round into the Roq, and Loap went down in a pile of twitching limbs.

  "But... you're not one of them?" Kre asked, her shock too intense to even think of reacting defensively. In moments she, too, was felled.

  ***

  [Sianor: You and your cliffhangers!]

  [Ashroe: At least it's not at the end of a chapter. Hmm. I could edit it back in...]

  [Sianor: Do that later. Closure first.]

  [Ashroe: A way before closure, yet, my darling.]

  [Sianor: I still hate love you.]

  ***

  "You really think after all this time that you can get the drop on me?"

  Vadim swore in an old Earth dialect, turning to see Avery in the hallway beyond the bridge.

  "Managed it once, you know."

  "No you didn't."

  "No?"

  "I knew you were leaving. Figured nothing I could say would change it, so I let you."

  Vadim paused. He'd thought all this time that he'd gotten away with his escape, that it had been the 'all ties severed fuck you' that he'd planned. Or that he'd told himself it was.

  "This doesn't concern you, Shooty McGee."

  "You know I always hated that name, Kip. Everyone got a better one than me."

  "Everyone needed a better one than you."

  "That doesn't make any sense!"

  "So?"

  Avery sighed loudly, then dropped himself into the pilot's seat. "You're leaving the twins without an escape, if you take the Messenger, or whatever you've re-christened her."

  "I thought about that. I've got a failsafe. Built in to my emergency details, in case of my death. It'll bequeath my estate to them."

  "Including any law suits?"

  A snort. "I'm not adopting them. No. The Ur-court will have to seek them out during escrow, and then they'll be given enough money to escape if they need it, or at least buy another hopper. I'm guessing you wouldn't begrudge them staying in your retirement home to water your ridiculous garden?"

  "Of course not." Avery's lips pressed tighter together. "Were you going to leave them a note, or just let me explain your departure?"

  Vadim's smile was crooked. He had, of course, hoped that he'd be caught. He didn't want to admit it to the other man, but he'd come in useful. And he'd feel less guilty about flying him into imminent danger than Biann or Saidhe. "Left a note. Time-delayed. Caught the distress call from Kre... didn't want to worry them."

  "Well, it seems to me that you have your grand exit planned, so we should get underway."

  "You don't have to come."

  "I do. You know I do."

  "Yeah. I figure I do."

  "Before your damn-fool suicide run on Lineon, would you care to make a short detour for some support?"

  "...details."

  "All in good time, Kip. All in good time."

  ***

  [Sianor: He's coming back! Just for one episode, but he's coming back!]

  [Ashroe: You sound as excited as me!]

  [Sianor: I've kind of fallen for Avery. I do this. It takes me a while to warm to people, but then... bam. They're in and they aren't getting out.]

  [Ashroe: He's too slick not to. Ugh. I hate him!]

  [Sianor: And my Kip is utterly smitten. Ugh. I've never had a muse do this before.]

  [Ashroe: They have minds of their own. But this is your first collaborative piece, isn't it?]

  [Sianor: Yeah...]

  [Ashroe: I've done lots of them, of varying types. Some where you round-robin and pass the chapter on, some where you each work on a part of a larger whole, like a virtual season... and my favourite is the more RP-style.]

  [Sianor: RP? Oh. Role-playing.]

  [Ashroe: Yep. Like we mostly do. It's why I sometimes use the terminology. I try not to.]

  [Sianor: I feel like such a noob in comparison, lol.]

  [Ashroe: Nah. A lot of it is convention, but mostly it boils down to courtesy. The rules are normally just there to make the baseline behaviour understood, and then when you're working well with someone you trust them enough to pose your muse, or set the scene, or just... go wild.]

  [Sianor: Complete change of subject, but what did you think of those photos I sent this morning?]

  [Ashroe: Is that your garden?]

  [Sianor: Yep, that's my yard. I'm back in my own place, now. Much calmer than my folks' place.]

  [Ashroe: It's gorgeous. I like gardens, I just don't have the patience to tend them.]

  [Sianor: I was just looking at the shrubs and thinking of your boy.]

  [Ashroe: Hahaha, you made Ith!Muse blush.]

  [Sianor: XD Good. Little fucker.]

  [Ashroe: May be the only time he blushes, so take pride in that.]

  ***

  Now they were attached to a Whale that most likey going where they needed to go (and not aiming to kill them), there was nothing left to do but wait. The journey would take a day at best, and Vadim knew that worrying about how Kre and Loap were wouldn't make them any more safe. They were going to be in danger no matter what he did, and the more he stressed about it, the less able he would be to help them.

  It felt counter-productive to be flying away from them, but Avery had insisted.

  Avery.

  There was a mess of memory and feeling. He swirled around the home brew in his shatter-proof glass, watching the colours merge and refract slowly. There was enough in the bottle to get all the way to paralytic, but he wasn't really planning on that. Maybe just mildly tipsy.

  Avery.

  Avery, the annoying. Avery, the memory. Avery, the friend who he couldn't seem to properly shake. No matter how rude he was, or how far he ran, or how much he tried to ignore him, there he was. Always ready to help him, even through snark and shared verbal abuse.

  Damn him.

  Vadim took a long, long drag of the moonshine, and dropped the glass onto the table. It clattered dully, then settled. Magic, really, how it always found a way to land the right way. How it never fell over, or chipped, or splintered. It had taken years of engineering to make one that was both useful and beautiful, and really, why didn't Humanity work on something better? Why had so much work gone into a simple drinks receptacle? Why was he even looking at it for so long? It was just a damn drinking glass. It wasn't, but it was. It was the oldest thing he owned. Mostly because once he'd been mocked mercilessly for his exuberance when inebriated, and as a result of too many things broken, it had been bought for him.

  He'd kept it for utility. Not for memories.

  It was a lie.

  Vadim poured himself another drink.

  He should have given everyone on the ship an alibi, a sizeable buy-out, and sent them on their way. Then either gone down in a blaze of glory, or retired from the world like Ithon had planned. Instead, he'd gone and got Kre and Loap captured, and god only knew what had happened to Judge Peters, or if any of them would ever be saved, and... and...

  He wanted to break the glass.

  But it wouldn't break.

  ***
<
br />   [Ashroe: UGH. The... the... glass! Such feels! I cannot can!]

  [Sianor: Ah no stay with me!]

  [Ashroe: Ithon-brating intensifies!]

  [Sianor: Kinky... but no. Just... no.]

  [Ashroe: Ithon makes a face.]

  [Sianor: Kip makes one too.]

  [Ashroe: Ithon says it's a nice face.]

  [Sianor: Kip says come closer and say that again.]

  [Ashroe: Ithon says make me.]

  [Sianor: Damnit, Ith! I'm still Captain of this ship and I can turn it around if I want to!]

  [Ashroe: I love it when you get all domineering and rank-conscious. It really makes me tingly.]

  [Sianor: Get your ass back IC, mister.]

  [Ashroe: Aye-aye, Cap'n.]

  ***

  He was drunk. Not off-his-face drunk, but drunk. He didn't often get like this, not now. Maybe that's why it hit him so hard. He was sure - once upon a time - he'd take three times the licking and bounce back for more.

  But he was drunk.

  Ithon was on the bridge. More often than not, the asshole would fall asleep at his post. He always had done. Claiming he wasn't tired, or he was power-napping. But he'd just work himself into oblivion. Vadim sighed.

  "Wake up," he said to him.

  "I am awake."

  "You don't look it."

  "Then I'm sleep-talking." Ithon prised open one eye. "You're drunk."

  "You're an ass."

  "But you'll sober up?"

  "Something like that."

  Ithon did not move. He just opened his eyes fully, and tilted his head to one side. "You were really ready to run the ship in, weren't you? Try and blast your way out of whatever cell they put you in, just to get them out? Is it really so hard to ask for help?"

  "I'm letting you help, aren't I?"

  "Only because I stalked you down and didn't take no for an answer. Kip. Come on. We've known one another long enough. You need to stop blaming yourself for it."

  "I don't blame myself for it."

  "Yes. Yes, you do. I thought for a while that you blamed me, but when I saw how you were... no. It was an accident, Kip. And you've more than made up for it. So stop being an ass, okay?"

  This was more emotional weight than he was prepared for... suddenly he wasn't nearly drunk enough. There was a distant foggy feeling about his head, but his thoughts were sharp and painful. "Ithon..."

  The slighter man pushed up, then, and spun Vadim around. "You're going to sleep this melancholy off. I need you on your game, tomorrow. I can do all the talking, but I need you to look supportive and strong if I'm going to swing this. If you want me to baby you and coo that you're forgiven, you've got the wrong man."

  "I know," he said, stubbornly locking his knees. "I don't want your pity."

  "Good. You don't have it."

  Vadim let Avery push him into his room, and onto his bed.

  A pause, and then Vadim lifted his hand.

  Avery's eyes flickered to the door, clearly weighing up his options. There were no words, just body-language.

  "I wanted to stay," Vadim said at last. "But I couldn't."

  "I know. It's why I didn't ask you to."

  "I wanted to ask you to leave."

  "I would have said 'no'."

  "That's why I didn't."

  Irresistible force, unmoveable object. Vadim sitting on the edge of the bed, Avery standing by the foot.

  "It would never have made either of us happy," Avery said, after a pause.

  "We could have tried."

  "No, Kip. I respect you too much, and you me." He ran a hand through messy, alcohol-sticky hair. Evidently a spill had been transferred from hands to head.

  "Maybe one day. When you're done saving the universe?" Vadim suggested.

  "And you're done trying to make lives better without an official badge," Avery agreed. "Yes. One day. You know my secret hide-out now, all you have to do is turn up."

  ***

  [Ashroe: Did your muse just propose to mine?]

  [Sianor: Uhm.]

  [Ashroe: !!!]

  [Ashroe: Bloody reply already!]

  ***

  Vadim reached up, grabbing at the front of Avery's shirt. His breath was sweet with moonshine, and his breathing harsh to his own ears... but he wanted to see if his overtures would be reciprocated or not.

  ***

  [Ashroe: I - uh - are you...?]

  [Sianor: Just... let them.]

  [Ashroe: You don't need to tell us twice.]

  ***

  Chapter Nineteen - Mission: Consummation

  The man was drunk. It was probably ill-advised. He was drunk, and grieving, and foolish. He was... he was Kip. He'd always been foolish. Ithon would be lying if he said he'd not missed him every goddamn day. Reassuring himself that if this was a mistake in the morning that he'd just write it all off and at the end of this... insane, suicidal mission... if they even survived... at the end of it, he could just avoid the man for the rest of their lives...

  Ithon grabbed the back of Kip's neck and smashed his mouth to the other man's. It tasted of that foul stuff he loved, but under that it tasted of Kip. He bit at his lower lip with a growl, and when Vadim opened his mouth, he pushed his tongue inside.

  Oh, he'd missed him. A few drunken flirtations, a few nights pretending they didn't know the other one was jerking off in the next bed or the shower... but they'd both known. It had been so very, very against regs back then, but right now? Right now he wasn't even an official Enforcer, and Kip was no longer his colleague. There was no law - Ur or otherwise - against this, and he planned on taking every last bit of advantage of that, that he could.

  Kip let Ithon kiss him. It was sloppy and violent, but so full of feeling. He'd known this was... well. He'd known both of them had wanted it, but he'd never allowed himself the luxury. In part he wondered if he'd left the Enforcers because of the constant frustration of seeing what you wanted, but not being allowed to take it. Maybe it was one of the numerous reasons. Now? Now nothing would stop him, especially because Ithon seemed in favour of it.

  He let Ithon kiss him until they had to break for air, and even then they kept their faces close. Breathing hot and ragged on his cheek, a hand low on the taller man's back, fingers just edging under the waistband of his pants. Ithon had one hand on his thigh, the other on the back of his neck. This position couldn't be all that comfortable for him, so Vadim decided to be kind. A manoeuvre that was close to one they'd trained together, and he had the blond on his back. Vadim straddled his hips, and found his hands, knotting their fingers together, palm to palm.

  "Kip..."

  "It's okay."

  Ithon rolled his eyes. "Of course it's okay, you drunken oaf."

  "You know how to seduce a fella."

  "Well, it's working so far," he said, writhing between his legs and smirking up at him.

  Damned man. Vadim bent in for another kiss, but changed his mind at the last minute. Instead, he started to bite roughly at Ithon's throat, suckling over the soft flesh there, drawing louder moans from him. Of course he'd be a vocal lover. When was he ever quiet?

  Avery's hands were making light work of buckles and buttons, getting the front of Vadim's clothes open. Wherever they revealed bare flesh, his thin fingers dipped in to tease and stroke. He was purring happily, offering his vibrating throat for more kisses and bites. "Don't you dare fucking stop."

  "I'm not going to," he promised, before throwing off the shirt and jacket. The pants were a bit harder to remove gracefully, and with a yelp he found himself face-first on the bed. The slippery bastard was on the floor, tugging his pants, shoes and socks off and being rather violent about it. "Hey!"

  "When you learn to undress yourself at a timely pace, I will allow you to do it," Ithon insisted.

  And then Vadim was naked. Naked and face-down on the bed, feeling suddenly self-conscious. He grabbed at the sheets and turned to look over his shoulder, a question on his face. It had... well. It had been a while. He wasn'
t quite the spry young thing he always had been, even though he was nowhere near past his prime. And he felt... well. Judged.

  "Like what you see?" he said, trying to keep his tone light, and not let his worry show.

  "Oh, I do," Ithon purred, and that voice was like the finest liquor over sharp ice-cubes.

  Vadim groaned and rubbed himself against the bed in frustration, then yelped as a hand slapped at his ass.

  "Are you going to help me out, or do I have to do everything myself?"

  "You mean I don't get a sexy lap-dance?"

  "I'm still armed," Ithon pointed out.