The Awakening: Book 1 of Warner's World

by Dave O'Connor

  They poked their heads into the pool room.

  “Did you bring your togs?” asked Rihan.

  “No, did you?”

  Rihan shook her head. “I don’t see that as a problem do you.”

  “No, not at all”. Warner was really enjoying their banter, especially her teasing and she was enjoying the reaction it was getting.

  “Where’s this director’s suite?” asked Rihan. “I want to check out that spa.”

  “You mean my spa don’t you?”

  “Meanie!”

  “I reckon it must be upstairs. They made their way up the wooden staircase. It opened onto another smaller lounge area with a dining table on the left. Warner hit the switch on the right and a large shutter began opening. It revealed a large windows looking out into space.

  “Nice” said Warner. There was a kitchen off to the right.

  They walked back to the open lounge/dining area and entered the next door on the right. It was a huge bathroom. It had a domed roof that looked like it was shuttered too. In the centre was a spa bath big enough for two.

  “Wow” said Rihan “I could get used to this.”

  “Not so quick now. I haven’t decided to let you in.”

  “Just try and stop me.”

  “Come on, the next room must be the bedroom. I can’t wait to check it out.”

  There was a huge bed in the centre against the far wall on which hung an expensive looking tapestry. There was carpet on the floor and curtains on the window, which was again shuttered. It had honey red wooden side tables, replete with lamps and matching tallboy. A walk-in robe was on the right.

  “It’s gorgeous” said Rihan. “You lucky bugger.”

  But he was looking at something else that was gorgeous. They had been like two kids in a candy store. He had never seen Rihan look so happy as at that moment.

  His silence alerted her and she turned to see him staring at her. He looked like a small boy who had just discovered something wonderful. She looked directly into his eyes and wished she hadn’t. The spell was broken.

  “We’d better get back” he said. “I reckon this will do”.

  “Yes, it will do very nicely.”

  Chapter 4. Hermes 1700, 22 April.

  When they arrived back on Hermes they found Chase on watch in the command centre. He was alone.

  “Mr Hanlon, anything to report?” said Warner.

  “Signal in from Fleet. They want your report on Josker asap.”

  “Mmm…” Warner nodded slowly “Yes they would. OK leave it with me. Any word from the Chief?”

  “Yes, he wants to see you. Do you want me to have him come up?”

  “No, I’ll go to him” said Warner. “Who’s relieving you on watch?”

  “Lieutenant Bellard relieves me at 2400. Gomez has the morning watch and then it’s back to Kiralenko in the afternoon.”

  “Good. Make sure that each of you young guns gets some shore leave in between rosters. Who knows how long it will be before we get another chance.”

  “Roger that. Speaking of which, how was the accommodation?”

  Rihan chimed in “A little shabby. You won’t miss it.” She gave Warner a wink, knowing full well that Chase was on duty that night.

  “She’s only joshing. It’s very nice indeed” said Warner “Don’t worry we’ll be thinking of you.”

  “Oh, fine, like that is it” Chase responded with feigned indignation. He then added “Enjoy yourselves. I’ll take care of everything here. You will leave something in the bar for me?”

  “Have no fear Mr Hanlon. Your welfare is uppermost in my mind.”

  “Yeh, that’s what I was afraid of” he said with a big smile.

  “Thanks Chase and don’t call unless we’re under attack.” Warner winked at his young ops officer.

  “Yes Sir” said Chase feigning the weariness of someone carrying a great burden. And then in all seriousness “Don’t worry about anything Sir.”

  Warner nodded in appreciation and turned to Rihan “Let’s go”.

  They made their way down to Engineering, meeting Rapperberg in the central crumple compartment as before. He looked deadly serious and it brought Warner’s focus back to the serious nature of their undertaking. “How did you go Chief?”

  “I surprised myself. I was able to crack the encryption pretty easily as it turned out.” He handed Warner a portable console on which was displayed the first signal. “The first address it was sent to is in Niku.”

  The message was very short. It read: Hermes at Beta Phi. Whiskey 1 and team to Tindel to meet Manger. ETA 1600.

  “The second address is on Alphi Phi.”

  “Hence the corvettes” said Rihan.

  “Yeh” said Rapperberg. “Unfortunately, this ‘Archangel’ from the address is just a nickname.” But I was able to determine the type of communicator that sent it. At least that should help narrow down any search. You are going to conduct a search, aren’t you?”

  Warner thought in silence for a moment. “Even if we find the communicator, unless this Archangel actually has it on them, we’re still not going to find out who the traitor is.”

  “But we will have removed their means of betraying us” chimed in Rihan.

  “But for how long” came back Gunter Rappenberg. “All he would need to do is purloin another communicator and make some pretty basic modification to it so that its transmissions are automatically deleted from the comms server. It’s not rocket science.”

  “OK then, we’re going to have to set a trap for Archangel and catch them in the act.” After another moment’s silence, Warner continued “It would help though if we knew where this communicator was. Archangel must have it stashed somewhere.”

  “We could do a sweep for it” responded Gunter. “I can rig up a scanner that should be able to do the trick.”

  “How long will that take?” asked Rihan.

  “Maybe a day or two” said Gunter. Then looking at Warner, he continued “yesterday, right?”

  Warner nodded.

  “I’ll get onto it straight away and call as soon as I have it working.”

  “Thanks Chief and Gunter remember what I said about keeping your guard up.”

  “Yes Sir, will do.”

  As Warner exited the elevator on crew deck, he turned to Rihan “Time to pack our bags. Don’t forget your togs now.”

  “What togs she replied” as she quickly entered her room pulling the door closed behind her.

  Warner had a smile like the Cheshire cat as he marched down to his cabin.

  Chapter 5. Klaster 1900, 22 April.

  After securing some much needed provisions including those required for Rihan’s dry martinis, they met Art for dinner at the officers mess on Klaster. They briefed him about the decrypted signal. He didn’t sound that surprised.

  “So it does sound like an Alliance agent” he commented.

  “Yeh it looks that way” responded Warner. “I probably don’t need to contact my mate in the State department.”

  “Probably not” agreed Art “You can keep that powder dry for another time.”

  “I’m glad in a way” said Rihan. “I wasn’t all that comfortable about doing it.”

  “Why?” asked Warner “because of the risks?”

  “Yes it adds risk but I don’t know. All my life I have been part of one Federation institution or another. The Fleet has given me a great career; it has trained, sustained and supported me. It’s hard to go behind its back. It feels like betrayal.”

  Warner could feel her sincerity. It made him reflect and question his own attitudes. Had he become so cynical, or was he just a hardened pragmatist? Warner reached out and touched her hand. “It’s OK. We won’t go ahead with it.”

  She looked up at Warner and said softly “Good!”

  Warner withdrew his hand but the interaction hadn’t gone unnoticed by Art. He realised what was happening here but had the good manners not to say anything about it. He owed his friend his life let
alone his discretion.

  “If you don’t mind, Dave, I’m pretty tired. I think I’ll hit the sack early.”

  “Sure Art. We’ll stay in touch.”

  Chapter 6. Shangri La 2000, 22 April.

  On arrival at Shangri La Warner left Rihan to unpack their goodies. He went into the comms room to file his report on Josker as well as on yesterday’s activities on Beta Phi.

  He agonised about coming clean to the Admiral regarding Archangel. He knew this would raise a red flag and he was worried about the risk of Archangel being tipped off by one of his contacts at Fleet HQ. Warner assumed he must be someone who had been in the service a while and therefore would have some connections back at Fleet. If one of these had access to the signal servers they could gain access to his signal even though it would be marked for the Admiral’s eyes only.

  There was roughly a 24 hour transmission time for signals this far out to get back to Earth. If his signal was intercepted and relayed back to Archangel he would know they were onto him in 48 hours. He needed more time than that to rest his crew and set the trap.

  Rihan poked her head around the door and saw him pondering, deep in thought with a worried expression. “What’s the matter?” she asked.

  “Ah, I’m just debating on whether to tell the Admiral about Archangel.”

  “You must surely” she said with such certainty.

  He went on to explain the factors he was weighing up.

  “On second thoughts, you can’t, not yet anyway.”

  “The crew haven’t had a decent rest in months. They need it badly. I need it badly.”

  “We all need it badly” she said.

  “I reckon we take the next two days off, get Chase and Pug over here then and plan the attack on Alpha Phi, then we could take off two days later, firing off a message to the Admiral on arrival at Alpha Phi. That would leave us with 48 hours in which to conduct the mission and spring the trap. What do you think?”

  “Sounds like a plan. I’ll leave you to it. I’ve got some unpacking to do.”

  “Sure” Warner was already typing. Having made the decision, he just wanted it done and dusted.

  A few minutes later he hit the Send button and exited the comms room. As he did so, he could hear sounds of water being splashed from the pool room. Like a moth to the flame he couldn’t resist walking in. Rihan was breast stroking her way up the pool towards where Warner came in. The only thing she was wearing was a smile as she saw Warner enter. A few strokes later and she was at the pool edge looking up at him. “What?” she said playfully “I told you I didn’t bring my swimmers!”

  “So I can see.”

  “That doesn’t break any regulations does it?”

  “Mmm…none that I’m aware of.”

  “Well what are you waiting for! I won’t look…promise.”

  Warner walked over to the bench that ran along the wall and started to undress with his back to the pool. Rihan was watching intently. He had a good body. She particularly admired his tight buttocks. Then he turned in a flash and dived into the pool before she could take in any details. When he came up to the surface she taunted him “modest are we?”

  “Always” he responded. Then he reached out and pulled her to him. She gave herself willingly to the embrace. Her breasts were pressing up against him, exciting him. She put her arms over his neck and kissed him on the lips. Her lips parted and she probed strongly with her tongue. As he kissed back she felt a pulse of energy go up her spine. He was lifting her now and she could definitely feel that he meant business. She pulled out of the kiss and said “wait! I want my spa.”

  Warner couldn’t believe it. He was all set to go. He knew she was playing with him, winding him up and boy wasn’t he wound up. He shook his head “of course you do.” She then pushed him backwards, turned and swam to the ladder on the side. As she rose Warner stared delighted. He had forgotten how much he loved the female form with all its voluptuousness. By the time he had pulled himself out of the pool she had already disappeared.

  He had no towel, just his discarded clothes. He thought ‘what the heck’ and simply walked out leaving big wet footprints on the floor as he made his way upstairs. There were candles burning on the coffee table and a light emanating from the bathroom. He walked in and there she was all covered in foam with her feet up on the rests and the spa jets working overtime.

  “Room for two?” he asked.

  “But only for you” she replied.

  He bent over and kissed her on the forehead. He then climbed in the other end. It was hot. He was trying to ease himself down without exposing his sensitive parts to the sudden heat of the water. She teased him by splashing some foam at him. “Big brave captain afraid of the heat” she taunted.

  “That’s not the only thing in here I am afraid of” he joked. Having hit terra firma he splashed some foam back at her. She then started washing his feet, massaging them as she did. He loved it. He leaned back and closed his eyes as the tensions drained away. By the time she had finished the other foot he could have easily fallen asleep in the bath.

  But she was now raising her foot in front of his face. “My turn please” she reminded him. He reciprocated and she soon was closing her eyes, her breasts gently breaking the surface of the water with puffs of foam rolling over the contours. She looked divine. He was tempted to lean forward and kiss her nipples but he didn’t have the heart to disturb her.

  After a few minutes he gently extricated himself, dried and went into the bedroom. He donned his light silk dressing gown from his bag and walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water. When he headed back past the bathroom, the light was out and dim candle light was now emanating from the bedroom.

  Warner thought ‘this just keeps getting better.’ There she was lying under the covers with just her head exposed. She looked at Warner and cheekily said “I wasn’t sure I could make it back to my bed”.

  “You were never going to make it back to your bed” he said as he dropped his robe.

  Chapter 7. Shangri La 0700, 23 April.

  Warner woke from the sleep of the dead. He was on his stomach. He didn’t remember rolling onto it but there he was nonetheless. His arms were bent above and his head lay resting on them turned to the right. He opened his right eye and there she was facing him. Her auburn hair rolled down her face. She normally kept it done up tightly in a ponytail, regulation like. But he loved the way it gently caressed her cheek and masked her almond shaped eyes. She was beautiful.

  Thoughts of last night came rolling back in along with the emotions, smells and feelings. ‘What a fuck!’ he thought to himself. He knew he’d come pretty quickly but he also knew it had been half a year since he last had sex.

  Then he thought of Amy. What would she make of this? He knew it wasn’t a betrayal of trust on his part but part of himself still felt guilty. In many ways they were alike. He thought Amy would have liked Rihan. They had met just the once before he departed on that last mission out of New Hammersely. Well they were introduced. They didn’t really have time to get to know each other. She was his new XO and had only arrived a week before they took off. Amy wasn’t the jealous type but she did warn him to watch himself. She must have sensed the potential for attraction.

  ‘Oh Amy I am so sorry’ he silently said to himself. A tear rolled down from his eye. Then he pleaded ‘give me your blessing’.

  Rihan awoke without moving. She sensed something. Then she remembered last night. What a night. What a screw. Yes it was a little quick but we can work on that she thought smiling inwardly. She opened her left eye lid. Yes there he was, her captain, her lover. What’s that? A tear? She stirred and lifted her head. “Are you alright?” she said very gently.

  “Yeh” he replied equally gently.

  “Are you having regrets?”

  He leant over and kissed her gently on the eye lid “No, not at all”.

  “You were thinking about Amy?”

  He nodded. “She would have liked you.”
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br />   Rihan didn’t know how to respond. She really wanted to know more about his state with Amy but she didn’t want to blow it or step on any fragile glass. So she opted instead for silence. She smiled and nodded her head in appreciation of the compliment he was offering her.

  He really appreciated her sensitivity. It helped. There was so much to like about her. But he realised that his feelings were going beyond “like”. Yes he knew he was starting to fall for this auburn haired beauty.

  He leaned over to the control on the side table and pressed the button. The window shutter began to open letting in more light. Being this far from the Phi sun meant that daylight was pretty weak but there was enough to lighten up the room.

  “Are you decent?” he asked.

  “Not a bit” she smiled back at him.

  “Good that’s the way I like my women.”

  As the shutter was exposing more of the room, she said “Don’t you think that’s enough?”

  “Why do you have anything to hide?”

  “Just my lust for my lover.” She cast off the cover revealing her naked form. Warner couldn’t believe that he was rising to the occasion. But aroused he was.

  A short while later Rihan collapsed back onto the bed and said “Now that is what I call a good screw, Mister!”

  She rubbed her left hand down over his chest and towards his groin. He couldn’t take any more. He arrested her hand and pleaded “no more. I give up”. She just smiled wickedly, lifted her hand away and then dove quickly down giving him a squeeze. “What, Oliver doesn’t want any more?”

  “No, Oliver has had enough…for now” and he gave her a wink. She was playing with him now. She licked her lips slowly like a cat ready to pounce. But he wanted to rest and close his eyes and savour the peace that was washing over him. He pulled the cover up over him partially. He reached out for her and said “Come here I want to cuddle you.”

  She looked at her lover, his eyes getting heavy and she realised there was no more fight in him. She cuddled into his back with her arm around his waist. They lay there together in the lovers’ embrace. While he was lost in his little death, she felt a wave of gratitude wash over her. It was gratitude for another chance at love.