Ronnie grinned. "Yes, he does." In the early stages of their friendship, Ronnie had looked at him funny, many times, and Valiel had been firmly convinced Connor wanted to screw everything. Which, according to her, wasn't a problem, just funny. Aliens.
"I think they'd work, though who can say."
He smiled as Arriss turned to look out the windshield.
"It really, really is…"
There was a noise behind them, and a very annoyed ahem. Ronnie turned, a sheepish look on his face, to see Valiel standing in the doorway, her arms crossed.
"And what are you doing up?" she asked.
He glanced at Arriss for help. "Relieving the Captain of her watch. I'm well enough to do that, right?"
She turned around in her chair to face Valiel. Though she was hesitant about the alien at first, the two grew pretty close since they were the only females on the space ship. Plus, Arriss couldn’t help but admire her kind spirit.
“He’s right, Valiel,” Arriss replied, trying her best to make herself look a bit less exhausted. “He’s just trying to help, and I’ve been watching him to make sure he’s doing okay.”
Arriss reached over to give Ronnie’s hand a reassuring squeeze, and right as she did so, she heard Conner’s footsteps resound down the hall outside. It was only a few moments before he appeared in the doorway next to Valiel, and a grin crossed his face when he saw that Arriss and Ronnie had been in the cockpit together.
“What’s this, Valiel?” he asked, turning to his alien friend. “Our captain and our engineer are up, alone together in the cockpit. How interesting.”
Arriss couldn’t help but roll her eyes. If she had her shoes on, she wouldn’t hesitate to take one off and hurl it at Conner.
Ronnie smiled at Arriss, though he kept his hands on the controls. She was relatively expressive, so it wouldn't have been weird, but some part of Ronnie was afraid of losing what little bit of professionalism was still there.
Valiel's exasperated expression didn't change, even when Connor walked in and started the teasing.
"Yes, our Captain, fatigued and in need of rest, and our engineer, still fighting sickness and similarly fatigued!" She raised her eyebrows at the two of them.
(Sorry its short, had to drive home and it's snowing here. badly)
(Oh gosh, stay safe!)
Arriss blushed faintly and stood up. “Oh, come on. He was just trying to help! Besides, he’s gotten 14 hours of sleep. He’s fine.”
Conner smirked. “Well, I find it funny that the first person he goes to find after he wakes up is you, but alright. Whatever you say.”
“Well then, why don’t you two take over navigating the ship while we go rest? You know, since you’re so against the idea of us doing it.” With an exasperated sigh, she stood up and walked towards the door. “Just… try not to crash, alright?”
“Will do, Cap.”
Conner stood there, watching Arriss and Ronnie leave, before he took a seat at the controls of the ship. “Ay, Valiel.” He grinned back at her. “Has anyone taught you how to control this thing?”
After making sure that Conner and Valiel would be fine navigating the ship for a while, she took Ronnie into the hall. She didn’t want to leave his side and go back to her deathly quiet room, but she knew that she needed to get some rest.
“Maybe Valiel was right. Neither of us do very good with no sleep.” She glanced over at him, barely able to see him in the dim light. “Fourteen hours of sleep or not, you’re still recovering from an illness, love.”
Ronnie glanced at Valiel. "I did get 14 hours." She didn't look like she was having it. Connor broke the tension by teasing, and Ronnie rounded on him.
"Of course I did, because some people were not being helpful." It was mostly a joke, but Connor's lack of drive to take jobs that weren't specifically his sometimes drove Ronnie a bit nuts.
Arriss gave them an order, and Ronnie stood up. Valiel stared him down for a moment. "Eat something. Then rest." He nodded, and followed Arriss out.
He nodded at her assertion. "I guess as long as you can rest, it doesn't have to be me at the controls. You hungry?" He was, and he'd been told to eat anyway.
……………………
Valiel rolled her eyes at Connor, a smile quirking the corners of her mouth. "I know how to control a lot of things, but what are you talking about?"
“Mm, a little bit. I’ll come with you the cafeteria. That way I can make sure you go to your room right after you finish,” she teased.
The two of them headed down through the maze of hallways until they reached one of Arriss’s favorite rooms in the ship: the dinning hall. While they did have lights in the room, Arriss preferred to keep them off and allow the light from the galaxy to filter in through the dozens of windows that adorned the walls. After making Ronnie sit down at one of the windows, she disappeared for a few moments only to come back with an assortment of freeze dried and powdered foods.
“Nothing like the stuff on earth, but hey. It’s food.”
Arriss sat down next to him, placing her head against the window and watching the universe as it passed them by. She was thinking deeply about something, barely eating as they sat there together.
“Yes, Valiel, I’m sure you know how to control many things, but how about a space ship?” he questioned. “I, for one, have no what I’m doing.”
Conner walked throughout the room, gazing at the assortment of levers and buttons laid out before him. The captain must’ve had a lot of training to know what all these different mechanisms did.
Ronnie smiled at her, and didn't protest.
He took the food, prepping it as usual, and ate slowly, trying to get full more quickly so he didn't have to eat as much of this….stuff.
He glanced over at Arriss, watching her look wistuflly off into the stars. He wanted to ask what she was thinking about, but he didn't want to break the moment.
…………………
Valiel waggled her eyebrows at Connor. "I think I can handle it. I've flown before. Not this model, of course, but a ship is a ship, right?"
She plopped down in the co-pilot's chair, which had significantly fewer buttons and levers and gadgets. On the course they were on, she shouldn't have to do too much adjusting.
She did have a question, though. "Why do you tease the two of them so mercilessly?"
Eventually, Arriss looked over at him, a few of her cinnamon-colored curls falling into her face. It was clear by her expression that something was bothering her.
“I got a new order from home base. We’re going to reach a new enemy ship in a day.” She let a sigh. “Our orders are to go in, seize the resources, and kill everyone on board.”
For most privateer ships, this was a normal mission. Most of the citizens were usually killed on the enemy ship. However, that had never been the way with Arriss’s crew. She would usually avoid death by taking the men on board captive, but this is the first time she’d ever been told directly to kill the crew.
She let out a sigh and looked back out the window. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Mm, okay. Just don’t crash us.”
He grinned and winked at her before he sat down in the chair beside her, folding his hands behind his head.
“And as for my teasing…” He shrugged. “Beats me. They’re cute together, aren’t they? And knowing them, they’ll probably never be a thing without a little bit of encouragement.”
Ronnie made eye contact with her as she looked over. Something was wrong; the expression was more stressed than just tired.
She relayed the orders to him, and he nodded carefully. There came a point in war where the idea of 'total war' came into play. No prisoners, no differentiating between civilians and soldiers… destruction and death. He'd hoped they wouldn't still be enlisted by the time that came about, but…
Other pirates were in the habit of killing, but Arriss had always done otherwise. Now they were being ordered to, though, and he could see it was weighing on her.
He looked down at his hands when she looked away. It took him a moment to respond, but he did eventually.
"I can." He didn't look up. "I've already got a lot of blood on my hands. You focus on the resources, I'll do the dirty work."
……………..
Valiel laughed. "i'll try not to." She returned his wink, though it was super exaggerated.
She shook her head. "Humans. They are cute together, but surely they can see each other's mutual attraction… why should they need encouraging?" She glanced at Connor. "If you want a thing, just take it, as long as you're not hurting anyone."
“No, Ronnie. I couldn’t throw that sort of weight on you. This mission is ours, and we’ll all handle the dirty work.” Arriss stood up and walked over to his side, her gaze still focused on the ground. “Well, at least the two of us will. I have my doubts that Connor and Valiel will help.”
She couldn’t blame them. Conner didn’t seem like the type to hurt anyone. Valiel, while Arriss had never seen her do so, seemed like she could, but she also didn’t think Valiel would go after the innocent civilians aboard the ship. Arriss and Ronnie would have to take care of them.
“I just…I hope Conner and Valiel don’t look at me differently after all this goes down.” She
looked over at him. “I hope you don’t look at me differently.”
Conner laughed and leaned back in his chair. “Pssh, no. There’s one more thing about humans, Valiel, that’s annoying. They’re super oblivious,” he replied. “They could kiss, hug, send love letters… check all the boxes. But they would still be oblivious. Trust me.”
Ronnie shook his head. "Cap, I've done this stuff before. Ex-marine, remember? I've been ordered to kill more people than I can remember, and easily half of them shouldn't have had to die." He looked down as Arriss walked over. "Valiel can. She doesn't like to, but she can, and she has fewer qualms about it than you might think." Training with her had been… interesting. He was just glad they were on the same side.
He looked up at Arris and shook his head again. "Cap… you know full well that I walked onto this ship with more blood on my hands than the rest of you combined. And you've treated me no differently. Why would I look at you differently after this?" He made eye contact, willing her to believe him.
………………….
Valiel shook her head slowly. "How could anyone who flirts as much as you do be oblivious? Surely Some of you are self aware?"
Skin-changers, the Charad-ati in their own tongue, were blatantly obvious when they were interested. They made it clear, and got a clear yes or no.
In fact, the reason Valiel was comfortable around Connor was that he seemed to be that kind of open. They'd had a weird kind of energy from the get-go, wherein she would flirt back with him, but she also knew humans had taboos against relationships with animals and aliens. Maybe Connor didn't, but she hadn't pushed that far. No need to make things awkard.
“Thank you, Ronnie.” She smiled faintly. “Thank you.”
After a moment of hesitation, she moved in to embrace him, wrapping her arms around his waist. It wasn’t often that Arriss hugged or even touched them. With them being a serious mission, she tried to keep things as professional as possible when it came to him. But, work aside, they were still friends, and she still wanted to drop the professional facade from time to time.
“This conversation got real deep all of the sudden.” She laughed softly, glancing up at him. “We still have a day till that all goes down, so let’s… let’s try not to think about it too much.”
“Mm, maybe some.” Conner snorted at the irony. Not even he seemed to be self-aware most of the time. “But most of us… well, most of us are kinda dense. Let’s just hope they get together eventually. Wouldn’t want any unrequited love aboard this ship.”
Ronnie smiled back at her. "You're welc-…"
The hug caught him completely off guard. Alarms went off in his head, memories of his drill instructors yelling about professionalism and not getting attached to people in a combat zone and officers needing to be ready to order their men into death zones and not have their heart hung up and-
And she was soft, and inviting, and Ronnie was tired and still a little sick, despite what he'd said, and he just didn't have the willpower just now to say no.
So he hugged her back, sinking into her touch just slightly.
He couldnt look her in the eyes when she looked up at him, though he chuckled with her. "It did…"
He did look at her when she mentioned they had a day still.
"You can talk it through if you need to. And I still say you ought to let me handle it. I can, Cap. Easily."
……………
Valiel had to laugh. "Why, does unrequited love cause such huge issues it would be a problem?" She glanced at him, her grin growing. "From the amount of it that shows up in human media, you guys seem to love unrequited love."
She smiled as she felt him return the embrace. At first, she was worried that he wouldn’t. He was a sweet guy, of course, but she had always known him to be professional and to never be close with anyone. When he returned her hug, she pulled him a bit closer, soaking in his warmth.
“For the last time, I’m not letting you do it alone.” She smiled faintly up at him. “Military or not, I’m helping you.”
Eventually, she pulled back from the hug, his warmth leaving her. He likely wouldn’t let her hug him like that again, but hey. It was enjoyable while it lasted.
“Oh, yes. We love unrequited love, but I’m sure you do as well.” He grinned and winked at her. “I’m sure you have lots of unrequited love for me.”
Ronnie wanted to argue, but she was the captain. In some ways, it would be easier if she let him handle it, but… "if you insist."
She pulled away from the hug, and part of him was relieved. He wasn't good with intimacy and feelings…
And the other part of him was definitely wishing she hadn't let go.
He stuffed that down deep, and stood up. "Well. I better get back to sleep. You too, by the way."
……………….
Valiel waggled her eyebrows at him. "My species is pretty obvious. We like our relationships straightforward."
She had to grin at his antics. "And if I did, would you know, or would you be oblivious?"
“Aww, but you would be lonely without me.”
She laughed softly and stood up along with him. To be honest, she was starting to feel a bit tired. Guess the caffeine effects were finally starting to wear off.
“I’ll walk you to your room.” She smiled and winked at him. “You know, to make sure you don’t pass out from exhaustion before you get there.”
“Mm… you’re right.” He thought for a moment before he snorted. “I am human, after all, so I bet I would be totally oblivious.
(( So sorry that it’s a bit short 😭😭 Imma bout to head to work but I was tryna get one more reply in ))
(no problem. I'm at work now so I totally get it)
Ronnie smiled, and didn't respond. He would let her walk with him, because no matter how inapropriate it looked, he was too tired to… do anything else.
………
"Uh-huh. You might be." Valiel's grin grew. "Besides. Not being human, I don't know how you'd react. I'm quite weird."
(( Backkkk! ))
As they walked, Arriss stayed silent. She couldn’t imagine the amount of teasing they would get if Conner caught them here even though she insisted they were just friends. Luckily, Conner didn’t catch them together before they arrived at the door to Ronnie’s room.
She turned to him, pulling her curls over her shoulder. She hated to return back to her quiet bedroom, but she knew she needed to sleep. “Try and get some rest, okay?” she said softly. “Make a full recovery.”
“Mm… are you insinuating that you like me, Valiel?” he teased. “I wouldn't be surprised.”
(Sorry, my thursday nights are booked solid!)
Arriss was quiet on the way to his room, and Ronnie couldn't tell what was on her mind. He returned her advice at the door.
"You too. We need our leader alert." He wanted to say more, do more, but… not the time. Instead, hi thumbed his door panel and gave her a smile as it closed behind him.
……………..
"Insinuate nothing." Valiel waggled her eyebrows. "If I thought humans were down with inter-species love… If my entire species thought humans were down for it as a whole…" Granted, there were always the outliers, but in general there seemed to be a taboo on that, even with very human looking aliens.
((You’re all good!))
She stood at his door for a few moments after he shut it, silent as she stared up at it. Like him, she was wondering if there was something else she should’ve said; it felt strange to end that day on such a simple note after they had shared that moment together. But, with no clue of what to do, she turned to walk away.
“Good night, Ronnie.”
With that, she crept back to her room across the hall, leaving him behind her.
“Pssh. You look like a human, act like a human, sound like a human.” He let out a yawn and rubbed his tired eyes. “I’m down with it.”
Ronnie was back asleep pretty quickly, despite all his misgivings about resting more after just waking up.
………..
Valiel chuckled, before shifting her skin. She became this strange, scaly form. Purple skin, 6 tentacles that ended in more tentacles, like tentacle hands, an upper body that looked vaguely bear like, minus the arms, covered in bright red fur, 5 eyes, and a maw with grinding plates instead of teeth.
"Still feel the same?" she hissed, her mouth unsuited for English in this form.
“You kidding? That’s lit!” he exclaimed. He was a bit surprised by the unexpected change in form, but he didn’t seem too scared of her. “Looks like something from a sci-fi movie.”
Conner chuckled at his own irony. It was almost like they were living in a sci-fi movie, if he was honest. Only a few short years ago, the idea of space colonies and aliens would’ve been unrealistic. But now, it was just a new part of reality.
“Alright, Valiel. I don’t see any ships nearby on the scans, so I’m gonna set this baby in autopilot and hit the hay,” she suggested. “But before we do that, let’s check on the other two. You know, to make sure they’re not still up.”
Valiel shifted back, her bright blue eyes sparkling. "You can go check, if you want. We told the Captain someone would drive in her absence. Plus, you and I both just woke up." She giggled. "Tired already? And you say you're down… how would you ever keep up?"
“Nah, just standing up takes way too much effort. Besides, we have another raid tomorrow, so I wanna rest up as much as possible.” He grinned and pecked her cheek. “So goodnight, love. Wake me up if you ever wanna trade off.”
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