Two lesbians and a straight girl
walk into a bar; now that's a joke I can get behind! Apollyon chuckled in her head as
Morrigan stepped into Pandora’s Box.

Morrigan snorted as she lit her
thin cigar and took a deep inhale of the strawberry, watermelon menthol infused
tobacco leaf. The place Emily had shown her had a great selection and Morrigan
soon discovered she had a love of menthol. The icy, minty taste reminded her of
Nora every time she took a puff.

Seeing Nora and Emily laughing at
the bar made her smile as she weaved in between the tables and approached the
barstool left available right next to Nora.

“Oh my god, my arena is going to
be epic! These trainees have no idea what they're in for! Oh! You should try going
through it too!” Nora cackled excitedly like a mad woman as Emily grimaced
shaking her head.

Morrigan was happy to see that
Nora and Emily got along though her jealousy over Nora’s faint interest in the
red head always stung a bit.

“No, no that's okay. I think I'll
stick to paperwork,” Emily countered nervously.

“Bah! That's soooo boring…
precious!” Nora turned and exclaimed as she threw her arms around Morrigan when
she took her seat. Inhaling Morrigan’s scent deeply as she buried her face into
the nape of Morrigan’s neck.

“Mmmm, why do you smell like an
electrical fire?”

Morrigan snorted as she gently
smacked her temple against Nora’s ear in comfort, “Because I came across the
first class I didn't pass with flying colors.”

Nora leaned back and inspected
her closely, “Well you still look beautiful so it wasn’t a bomb diffusing gone
bad,” she randomly observed.

Nora’s logic made Morrigan smile
because it made very little sense, instead of feeding into her craziness though,
Morrigan just leaned forward and gently kissed Nora on the lips.

Emily squeaked as she giggled,
drawing both women's attention.

“What's the matter, Giggles?
Looking for a lesbian to get your tongue?” Nora antagonized. Morrigan pursed
her lips at the awkwardness of Nora’s social skills. Granted, she did her best
not to judge Nora, but she could not deny that her blunt openness hurt her.

Emily blushed and shook her head,
“No! I just… I just like seeing you two together. Romance is very rare these
days, especially here. Most people are to busy to even consider going on a
date… much less invest in romance,” she said glumly.

Nora furrowed her brows, “Romance?”
she turned to Morrigan quickly who was still wrapped in her arms, “Is this
romance? Do we romance? What do?” Nora sputtered off. Whether she was truly
confused Emily nor Morrigan could begin to guess.

Morrigan turned red as she
considered the question, “I um, I’m not…oh! Hey, Dora!”

Dora sauntered around the
circular bar strutting around in a open-chested, exceedingly high collar coat
that was very, very hot pink. His glittery attire always highlighting the
bright white smile he flashed her, “Rhere’s my favorite little initiate! Girl,
you look like you had a rough day… oh, you smell like it too.”

Morrigan smirked and silently
thanked Dora for the distraction from the inquiry placed upon her.

“Yeahhh, I met Instructor
Dezinaria today… turns out I won’t get to pass all my classes on the first go,”
Morrigan said aloofly.

Dora grimaced at the mention of
the old woman’s name, “I can imagine, that old woman is feisty enough to put a
Dorian woodland badger to shame!”

“What’s that?” Morrigan asked.

Dora leaned over the counter
smiling as he expertly snatched a bottle of beer from underneath the counter
and set it in front of Morrigan in one fluid motion.

“Think of it as your Earthly
honey badger except the size of a car and five times as angry,” Dora said
conspiratorially.

Morrigan laughed and nodded
before Nora cut her off with a confused look.

“Peacock, Emily says me and Mori
are romance, what's your opinion?” Nora asked blatantly.

Dora snorted and started
laughing, “Oh, honey, Mori is definitely. You however, have as much luck being
a romantic as you have getting into her pants,” he said nodding to
Emily, who laughed behind her hand.

Nora scoffed and turned to Emily,
“Besides, how do you not have every cock in this place eating out of the palm
of your hand? Do any of these assholes look busy?” she asked gesturing around
the bar. Nora’s overly brazen demeanor had Emily’s face on fire with
embarrassment.

“You have such a way with words,
dove. Come here and I'll tell you a secret,” Dora said smiling as he gestured
to Nora.

She unwrapped herself from
Morrigan to lean across the bar top to let Dora whisper in her ear.

When Nora pulled back she looked
side to side between Emily and Morrigan with a surprised look before grinning,
“So Red, which one of these meat sticks do you find attractive?” Nora inquired
forcefully.

Emily’s eyes widened before she
awkwardly pointed to a table in the far back corner that sat two guys chatting
with each other, “The one with dark hair is pretty cute, I guess?”

Nora looked and grinned even
wider before wrapping her arm around Emily’s neck, “Great! Let’s go!”

Nora dragged the poor girl off
the stool and across the bar as Emily sputtered and protested adamantly as they
made their way towards the targeted table.

Morrigan eyed Dora suspiciously,
who just laughed loudly before wiping his eyes.

“What in the world did you say to
her?” Morrigan asked as she watched Nora kick the second guy out of the booth
with the brandish of an icy blade that she coalesced from thin air.

“All I did was tell her that Emily
was twice as romantic and shy as you are, ha!” Dora laughed while Morrigan face
palmed before trying to regain her composure, “I gotta hand it to you honey,
you picked one hell of a wild child with that one.”

Morrigan took a drag off her
cigar as she eyed the table from afar, “It’s not like we're dating… we just,
took care of each other in the prison, ya know? Looked after one another, made
sure no one killed the other… I mean, I don't know.”

“Mhmmm,” Dora hummed with an
incredible amount of sass, “You can try lying to yourself but sweetie, I’m a
bartender, you can't lie to me,” Dora stated with a cheeky smile and
hand on his hip.

“What the fuck does that even
mean?” Morrigan asked after sipping her beer while Apollyon snickered in the
back of her mind, saying nothing.

Dora grinned as he grabbed her
hand that held the bottle, his glossy nails glinting from the slowly changing
lights.

“Okay, I'm going to lay down some
hard truth hun and you can take it however you like. The truth is you love that
girl. It’s written on your face every single time you look at her, in your eyes
any time you two touch. As shy as you are, Mori, I know deep down that you want
to stand at the highest point of the Void Star and scream how much you
love that crazy ass of her’s. Emily wasn’t wrong, you may not realize it but
you two dance a truly unique romantic dance around each other,” Dora stated
factually before smirking triumphantly as Morrigan stared at him with wide,
contemplating eyes.

As Dora pulled away to serve
another customer, Morrigan glanced at the table to see that Nora talked
animatedly to the guy as Emily sat in between the two, terrified out of her mind.

So many questions hammered
through her mind as she watched as Nora gestured to Emily then to the man who
awkwardly listened to her go on and on.

“Do I love her?” she
finally asked herself as all her memories between her and Nora flashed through
her mind, all the feelings that encompassed their time together.

Safety, joy, calm, desire…home…
the emotions that stirred within her every time she was close to Nora flashed
through her body as she stared at the silver eyed blonde.

I’m no expert, I mean if you wanna
talk about murdering people then I’m your guy, but if I had to guess, I’d say
that you do, given the smell in here… Apollyon
said with a hint of disgust.

“But I love Taylor…” her
eyes widened with shock when it dawned on her that over the past month or so,
she had not even thought of her boyfriend. Anxiety had her heart rate spike as
she contemplated the cruelty of her own attention.

“I’m such a shitty person…” she
murmured under her breath as a wave of disappointment and sadness overcame her.
She could not comprehend how she could have dismissed the love that spent years
being there for her.

To be fair kid, it’s been two
years. Whose to say he’s even still alive?

Anger and terror collided as in
her heart as she gripped her head and hunched over. She fought the anxiety
fueled woe that coursed through her as her mind began to fragment once again.
Tears did not fall as her teeth ground painfully within her jaw.

No, no! That was my bad, little
goddess, just a very poor choice of words! Apollyon panicked.

A bump again her elbow cause
Morrigan to flinch back with a gasp to see the familiar wide eyes and yellow
and black frill twitching of Yekku nestling against her.

Her frantic emotions simmered
down as she curled an arm around underneath his head and pulled him against her
in a hug, resting her temple against the crest of his eye.

“Hey buddy…did you have a good
day at work?” she asked blandly.

Yekku chirped and bobbed his head
softly before pulling back and flicking his tongue against her cheek.

She smiled and brushed her hand
over his short frill, “I’m okay, Yekku, it’s just been a long day,” she said
with a sigh.

She didn't want to lie to Yekku,
but it was not like she and him could talk things out anyways even if she
wanted to.

Dora came back around the bar
with a grand gesture, “Yekku! Xol! How are you, loves?”

Morrigan snapped her head around with
a startled look to see Xol standing directly behind her.

“I am so putting a bell on you!”
Morrigan growled before leaning back against the massive Kêzi’kân for comfort.

The rumble and bouncing of his
stomach told her he was quietly laughing. She smirked and looked above her to
see him leering down at her with an amused fanged grin.

“Uh huh, keep it up and I’ll make
you sleep outside,” she said rolling her eyes. Xol just scoffed at her with a
click of his jaw and planted his large hand on top of her head condescendingly.

“Come on you, bring it in!” Dora
exclaimed as he and Yekku leaned towards each other for Yekku to flick his
tongue against each of Dora’s cheeks.

“Good boy! Now, what would you
like?”

Yekku squawked and pointed to a
clear bottle of hard liquor on the shelf right behind Dora.

Dora turned and pointed, “Vodka,
really? You know it tastes like rubbing alcohol, right?”

Yekku bobbed his head vigorously
as his claws tapped on the bar top anxiously. Dora shrugged and grabbed the
bottle while pulling out a shot glass.

Morrigan snorted loudly, “Are you
seriously training Yekku with booze like a dog?”

Dora grinned and shrugged, “It
works, doesn’t it?” he mused as he slid the glass over to Yekku.

The S’randin dipped his head and
flicked his tongue into the shot glass. Yekku's maw opened up in what could
only be described as a lizard’s grimace as Yekku hissed as he leaned back and
nudged the glass over the edge of the bar with the tips of his fingers like a
cat.

His reaction was priceless as
Morrigan and Dora both laughed hysterically at the display of rejection.

“Oh my god, he’s way too cute! I
can’t even be mad at him for breaking one of my glasses!” Dora roared in hearty
feminine laughter.

“Something sweet!” Morrigan tried
to explain through her laughter but forced herself to wait until she relaxed.

“The S’randin like sweet and
savory things. So, you’ll get a better result with something sweet, Dora.”

Dora thought for a moment before
grabbing a martini glass, dropping a spherical ice cube into the glass and
poured simple syrup, rum, and lime juice into a shaker with crushed
strawberries.

Dora swiftly shook the mixture
together and poured it over the ball of ice and slide the glass over to Yekku
who watched the process with intense focus and caution.

“Is that a… make-shift strawberry
daiquiri?” Morrigan asked.

Dora shrugged with a smile, “I don’t
have a blender on this side and I’m eager to see what he thinks.”

Yekku looked to Dora, then to
Morrigan and then to the drink before him as he approached it cautiously. His
eyes widened in surprise as his tongue slide back into his mouth. Before anyone
could move, Yekku scooped the drink up as he tipped his head back to dump the
entire contents of the glass into his wide mouth, crunching down on the large
ice cube.

Yekku chirped and warbled
excitedly as he stamped his feet and pointed to the glass in his hand, waving
it in Dora’s face. Morrigan couldn’t contain her laughter at the
ridiculousness.

“Great, Yekku is going to be an
alcoholic…” Morrigan said dripping with hysteric sarcasm.

◇◇◇

Rosaline tapped the toe of her
heel on the metal plate floor as she waited impatiently for Havoc squad to
assemble.

“Where is Stephanie?” she scowled
as everyone came together, looking over each member of the death squad.

“She said she was not feeling
well and is in her room,” Jackson said factually yet sheepishly to his
superior.

Rosaline ground her teeth and
shook her head, “Fine, whatever. One of you will relay this information to her
later.”

“As you may have heard, there has
been a recall order for a large majority of the Federation fleet however, since
this is an exploration vessel, we will continue to sail. There also has been a
change in our orders by the Lord Commander…”

“Lord Commander?” Aleksei
bellowed out incredulously.

The look on Rosa’s face told
everyone she was not happy with the interruption, “Yes. It appears there has
been a regime change of the upper echelon. Lord Commander Amaranthe has full
control of our forces now.”

Taylor let out a groan before
catching himself though it was not soon enough as Rosaline’s eyes narrowed on
him, “Problem, Taylor?”

Taylor cleared his throat and
shook his head, “No ma’am. Amaranthe is just the asshole who drafted me in the
first place…”

Rosaline cocked her head and
leaned forward condescendingly, “Well, that’s just ironic, now, isn’t it?” she
asked rhetorically with hostile sarcasm.

It was very apparent that she was
in a bad mood, “Now, everyone shut up so I can finish.”

She cleared her throat and
continued, “While the survey teams do their thing as we travel, we are also to
be on the look out for the “Rose”. The Lord Commander has put a high priority
mark on this target and we, being a vessel still in extended space, have been
charged with hunting them down and bringing them in dead or alive. So, you all
need to be ready to disembark at a moments notice, I don’t care how you prepare
but be prepared. Now, get out of my face,” she snapped before turning and
storming away.

Ebony’s blood ran cold at the
mention of the Rose. Though she knew she erased all the evidence she could find
of who the Rose was, she knew someone somewhere knew who she really was and
eventually that information would be leaked.

Her eyes shifted to Taylor who
was busy talking to Jackson, contemplating whether or not she should tell him.
She even considered of bringing up the situation to Rosaline though not at the
moment. She was pretty sure Rosa’s mood would only backfire.

Nervously, Ebony stalked off to
think as well as put as much distance between her and Taylor for the time
being.

“So, you didn’t force her to let
you examine her?” Taylor inquired.

Jackson chuckled, “Even I am not
that dumb to try and force her to do anything. She is more pliable in the field
but when we’re home, she despises more attention than necessary. She did not
show any symptoms though, so perhaps just a migraine?”

Taylor nodded and patted the
combat medic on the shoulder before stepping away. He had a pretty good idea
how to help Stephanie feel better but first, he would do the prep work Rosa
demanded so the hawk of a woman would leave him alone. The last thing he needed
was to earn more ire from his handler.

After about an hour to set up,
Taylor went to one of the few mess halls and brewed peppermint tea. Taylor's
mother often used peppermint to help with the headaches she got from the loud
noises of their garage over the years, so Taylor knew the trick.

Taylor made his way through the
ship to Stephanie’s room gripping a thermos and two cups in one hand, knocking
on her door. There was no answer though.

His mouth twitched in concern
before he reached over and entered the code she had showed him, unlocking and
opening the door.

Peering inside, the room was dark
save for the low blue glow of the lamps hanging above Stephanie’s plants.
Sitting curled up in the back corner of her bed was Stephanie.

Taylor took a step inside, his
boot clanging against the metal flooring and jolting her head up from the book
she held in her hands.

Even in the low light, he could
see that her cheeks were red and raw, her eyes puffy from crying as she watched
him from underneath the hood of the oversized jacket she wore.

“Hey, what's wrong?” he asked
with concern as he cautiously stepped farther into the room. The look of
confusion on his face as he absorbed the unseen side of Stephanie.

“Nothing. I'm fine,”
she signed with a sniff, setting the book down.

Taylor shook his head subtly as
the door behind him automatically closed, leaving only the minute amount of his
features to be highlighted by the glow of the lamps.

“I’m not buying that… something
is up,” he said firmly in a soft tone as he sat down on the edge of the bed
while putting down the things he was carrying.

Stephanie scoffed and looked away
to stare at her plants knowing full well Taylor was watching her, holding the
book close to her chest.

“You can talk to me, you know? Believe
it or not, some people do actually give a damn about you, especially me,” he
said softly though she could hear the pitch change as he smiled.

Her eyes shifted towards him as
the blue light glinted off her own blue eyes. She looked towards the edge of
the bed, “What’s that?” She signed, indicating what he had
brought.

“Oh, um, Jackson said you may
have had a migraine so I scrounged up some tea and added peppermint to it… my
ma used to use peppermint for all the headaches she got from the machinery in
our shop,” he said as he bent down to pick up the thermos and cups.

Stephanie snorted and rolled her
eyes with a twitch of her lips. “That man does not understand a single
thing about a woman’s hint,” she stated.

It was Taylor’s turn to snort and
smile, “Apparently neither do I, would you like some?”

She studied him for a moment
before the bed bounced with her silent laughter, an amused smile on her face, “Sure.”

Taylor set the empty cups down
and opened the thermos, filling one of the cups and handing it to her before he
started pouring the second cup.

She curled back into the corner
with the cup cradled in her hands, both of them enjoying the silence of each
other’s company as they drank the tea.

Taylor eyed her as he drank, “So,
do you wanna talk about it?”

Stephanie gave him a steely look
as she peered over the hot cup, with a heavy breath through her nose she
reached and set the cup down on the bookshelf.

She reached down and grabbed the
book she kept close, tapping her fingers along the edge of it with a tight-lipped
expression before hesitantly handing it over.

Taylor’s eyebrows furrowed as he
grabbed the book finding no title or anything on it.

As he cracked the cover open he
read with a chuckle, “From Classical to Quantum Theory? Yeah, I can see how
that could bring someone to tears.”

He heard her snort and look up to
see her crack a small smile which only made him smile more.

There was a separation in the
middle of the book that caught his attention, as if something was wedged in
between the pages and as he flipped the book open, he found an old style photo
tucked in between two pages.

He gently plucked the picture out
and held it up, using the low glowing light to see. It was a picture of two
girls, a dark blonde with long hair holding onto another blonde girl with shorter
hair from behind, one obviously older than the other; both of them were
smiling. The girls’ surroundings were dreary and dirty, rusted metal and small
crates of various mechanical components in the background that matched their
dirty clothes. Studying the face of the older girl, it clicked in his mind that
it was a photograph of Stephanie when she was younger.

“This was you,” he said factually
before glancing at her, indicating the photo.

She nodded sullenly, “and
my sister,” she signed as she pursed her lips with a sniff.

Taylor nodded his understanding
as he took a closer look at the photo despite the low light in the room.

“I get it, you miss your sister,”
he stated aloud not realizing she started crying again.

“But wasn’t she the one who did… you
know?” he said gesturing to the width of his neck as he turned his attention
back to her, surprised by the glowing lines running down her cheeks.

She nodded as she bit her lip, “Yeah.
Same one.”

Taylor cocked his head to the
side, “But why though? If she did something that horrible to you?”

“She’s my baby sister… I
may hate what she did but I still love her,” she signed to him before
burying her face into her arms as she curled up even tighter. Her sniffling
became harsher as her shoulders shook with silent sobs.

The familial notion dawned on
him, feeling like an idiot for not recognizing it sooner, “Which means you
still miss her… I understand…” Taylor stood up from the bed and leaned over, “It’s
okay Steph, come on,” he said softly as he touched her ankle and held out his
other hand.

She looked up to see him nodding
as he gestured for her to take his hand. Her faced twisted in sadness before
she wiped her sleeve across it, reaching up and taking his hands.

Taylor gently pulled her up from
the bed ignoring the fact she had no pants and gently pulled her against his
chest.

“I’ve got you Steph, you be who
you need to be right now,” he whispered against her head as he rested his chin
onto her hooded head.

Stephanie wrapped her arms around
his back and pulled tightly as she buried her face in his chest, coming
emotionally unglued.

Taylor held her close even as her
knees gave out, holding her up as she silently bawled her eyes out against him.
He did not care how long he had to hold her up. She let herself be in such a
rare, vulnerable position with him that he would do whatever it took to uphold
the level of trust between them.

Eventually, the shaking of her
body settles as did her grip on him, telling him the worst of her breakdown was
over as he shifted his cheek to the top of her head, feeling the woman’s dreads
press against his cheek.

Stephanie shifted just far enough
away from his chest to move her arms in between them to wipe her eyes and face
with an intense sniffle.

Taylor looked down at her as she
looked up at him, her blue eyes barely visible in the low light, with only the
tiniest speck of light reflecting off her pupils.

He didn't say anything as her
face remained the blank slate he was accustomed to seeing as she gently ran her
fingers through the edge of his beard.

Without warning, her hand slipped
behind his head and pulled him down into a hard, fervent kiss.

His surprise was brief as he
pushed back hard against her lips, returning her amatory gesture in kind. She shoved
out every sense of logic or reason out of his mind as she pressed herself
against him, digging her fingers through his hair and hoisting herself up onto
his waist with wrapped legs.

Taylor held tight to her covered
ass to support her shift as she continued to kiss him feverishly. Taylor brushed
one hand across her desk across from her bed, knocking what ever contents there
had been onto the floor before setting her on the desk.

Her new focus became the shirt he
wore as she pawed at the hem, yanking it up over his head with his assistance.
Stephanie bit her lip with wide eyes as her calloused hands glided over his
physique, hardened and gently riddled with small scars from combat as her hands
trailed up his chest and around his neck to pull her back to her waiting lips.

Taylor wasted no time sliding his
hands underneath her oversized hoodie and lifting it over her head. His split
second shock fueled the enamored haze coursing through his body as he realized
she wore nothing underneath the jacket, leaving her body naked and exposed to
him.

He wrapped his hands around her
waist and back, scooting her closer and leaning her back as he planted his lips
between her breasts, his tongue tasting the saltiness of her flesh as he
trailed up her chest to her neck.

Stephanie let out small breathy
moans as she fought with his belt, freeing his pants and fluidly kicking him
free of the last of his clothing with her toes. She grabbed him firmly in her
hand and enticed a moan against the tender spot just underneath her jaw before
wrapping around his waist and forcibly guiding him into her with her legs.

Both of their breaths hitched at
the force as she let out a sharp breath, Taylor rising just enough to face her.
Her hands gently grasped his cheeks and pulled him into a tender kiss, inciting
him to slide deeper into her as they both lost themselves to one another in
heated desire and passion.