(Four hours later...)

"Attention all personnel, we are approaching Sylkiir V. Please stand by for further instructions."

"Alright, stop real quick," I panted, falling to a kneeling position on the padded floor of the Sovereign-Breaker's gym.

"Huh, someone must've fixed the intercomms," Boreas mused, sticking a finger in his ear and cringing, "It's not like I'm already deaf..."

"Ugh, thank fuck..." Alexander got out as he flopped onto the floor nearby, "Why is my mother such a she-devil?"

Alannah knelt beside him and ruffled the kid's hair. "Hey, you did this to yourself, kiddo. Learn to not be such a sarcastic prick, and maybe you wouldn't get your ass handed to you during our exercise routines."

"Eh...that'd take effort though," he mumbled.

After we finished eating and spent about two hours hanging out in the mess hall, I brought my crew to the gym to work out. Raphael and Damien joined us thirty minutes into our routine, and they kept up with everyone else as we worked on our cores and subsequently had a few sparring bouts. The intercom announcement interrupted a two-versus-one match between me, Alexander, and Alannah, and I was silently thankful for the brief moment of rest.

Unfortunately, it was only that: a brief moment.

After my wife rose to her feet, she charged at me. Pushing myself back up, I blocked her strikes and got in a few blows of my own. Since Alex was down for the count, it was now me versus the red-headed menace.

Without warning, her hair whipped me across the face. Since she always kept her reddish-orange curls in a messy pony tail while she exercised, the surprise attack had more force to it than I had thought. I was blinded for a few heartbeats, but that's all that was needed.

In a flash, Alannah swept my feet out from under me, and I felt a pressure applied to my chest as she pinned me down with her knee.

Before I could say anything, she planted a kiss on my lips and flashed me a cheeky grin. "That makes us two for two, love."

I huffed. "Indeed it does."

"You okay?" Alannah inquired after she helped me stand up, "Sorry if I hurt you..."

In response, I kissed her back. "I'm more resilient than you think, mijn sintel. I'll live."

"Fair enough," she managed to get out.

Since she always gets me when I least expect it, I pinched Alannah's rear before turning to regard my crew. "Since we're getting close to Sylkiir V, we should probably seek out Jackson."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Boreas began, only to chuckle to himself, "Well, would you look at that? You're not the only one who likes buttplay, Cylus."

"Sh-Shut up!" Ali snapped, her face aflush with embarrassment–.

"Not embarrassment," Vi'karac chimed in, humor saturating his voice, "Try again, Cylus."

Okay fine, arousal. Happy now?

"I wasn't the one who had my posterior pinched. I'd advise you to watch yourself tonight, but if I've learned anything, it's that resistance is futile."

Gee, thanks for pointing out the obvious... 

After I got a hold of myself, I averted my gaze when my wife looked at me with a mixture of irritation and...something else in her expression.

"Admit it: she enjoyed it," Vik chimed in, smug glee dripping from his voice, "I have learned the most from you and Alannah. From what I have seen, most Terrans handle the concept of love very differently. You and Alannah, however...I am at a loss for words. How am I supposed to describe the burning lust that lingers between you two."

Vik...just...please shut up.

"Oh, forgive me. I oftentimes get lost in my musings. Through my time spent on the Sovereign-Breaker, I have been introduced to a menagerie of figures. It has been a most fascinating venture."

I rolled my eyes as my team filtered out of the gym and made our way over to the closest lift. Several minutes later, we stepped onto the administrative floor of the Sovereign-Breaker.

"I'm sure Jackson's waiting for us," I began, only to pause when I heard footsteps approach us.

"No need to look for me. I was just about to look for you and your lot of degenerates."

"Ouch, no need to be so harsh," Alexander replied.

Jackson rolled his eyes and motioned for us to head back into the lift. "Let's go down to the Hanger–I want you to take me down to the surface of Sylkiir V, Cylus."

"Let me guess: you want to do a little window shopping?" I inquired.

"Window shopping? Bitch, I'm looking for an entire bloody building," my guildmaster retorted, "If things look decent on the planetside, I'll give the order for other shuttles to come down and join us. If the locals are sympathetic to our cause, we shouldn't hesitate to make them our allies."

"But what if they aren't sympathetic to our cause?" Raphael inquired when we had gotten back to the lift, "What then?"

Jackson sighed and ran a hand across his face. "From what I've been able to learn of the Carrus system, the people who live here aren't very fond of the Federation: I've found reports that detail UTF troops taking advantage of the locals and using them for...a menagerie of applications.

I couldn't help but cringe. "Lovely...In that case, I'd like to stop by my room real quick and fetch my armor."

"Same here," Alannah grumbled, blowing a curly strand of hair out of her face, "I'd rather not be caught in my casual clothing by some crazy person..."

"Please, you're always in your combat armor."

"And you're always in your panda hoodie. Your argument is invalid."

After Boreas deflated in defeat, we stopped on the first floor of residential halls so Alannah and I could fetch our gear. Once we reached our room, we immediately started gearing up.

"Really? You're bringing that with you?" I prompted my wife while I put my chestplate on.

"Hey, I gotta bring Dorothy with me," Alannah replied, tossing the monster of a weapon onto our bed, "We have no idea what we'll find on Sylkiir V, so it's better to be safe than sorry."

"But does that warrant bringing a three-barreled assault rifle with you?"

She kissed me before putting her helmet on. "Yes–and don't think I forgot about what happened in the gym."

I rumbled with laughter after I threw my duster on and fetched Sintel. "What about it?"

"I'll get you back, mister. Mark my words."

I chuckled and grabbed my helmet from off our dresser. "Oh? And will what you do?"

Even though we were in our armor, I felt her press herself up against me. "Wouldn't you like to know, little bounty hunter."

I scowled in response. "I know what you're implying, and I'm not okay with it."

Backing away with a bubbly laugh, Alannah fetched Dorothy and slung the brilliant rifle across her back. "I'll keep you guessing, my love. For now, let's go–I'm sure Boreas is betting money on us...getting down to business."

I sighed. If only that were the case...

"You bemoan the pelvic damage, yet you wistfully wish for more intercourse. What is wrong with you?"

Vik, you wouldn't understand. The pain is a small price to pay.

"For what?"

For satisfaction.

"Ah, yes, satisfaction: what a curious emotion. From eating chocolate to having an orgasm, you Terrans sure have a wide definition for the term 'being satisfied.'"

Drop it, Vik. It's hard functioning with two running monologues in my head.

He chuckled. "Very well."

Thankfully, Alannah and I left our room after we were geared up, and we met up with our crew.

"Damn, I almost thought you two got distracted," Boreas commented the instant we got back into a lift.

"Believe it or not, we can exercise restraint," Alannah slung back.

"Can you though?" he replied in a smooth voice, "Last I checked, you have the restraint of a fat kid who's given a bowl full of caramel chocolate."

"Ooo, that's the good shit–wait, you can't pull that!"

Boreas giggled to himself as he leaned against the back wall of the lift, "Oh, but I can. You see, I've known you both for the longest time. That means I know aaall of the things that make you flustered and agitated."

"Continue any further, and I'll render you infertile!" Alannah snapped. I was able to catch her in time before she could kick Boreas' ass, and I looped my arms under her armpits so she couldn't advance any further.

"Well, this is off to a great start," Jackson commented to himself, "Damn, I wish I didn't stop drinking..."

"Being sober's a drag, isn't it?" Boreas mused.

"Don't I know it..."

Sooner than I was expecting, we reached the hanger and quickly exited the lift. The instant I released Alannah, she charged at Boreas. 

"Damn, he can run," Jack mused as our best friend took off like a speeding bullet toward my ship, "I didn't know the scrawny bastard had it in him."

"Neither did I," I murmured, chuckling to myself, "Ali will catch him regardless."

"Yeah, no shit. She's a fucking lioness," he replied, shaking his head in disbelief, "Well, here's hoping Lenny will take pity on Boreas and lower the boarding ramp for him to go up."

"I will afford him no such courtesy," the AI chimed in.

"Damn..." I breathed as we meandered over to my ship, "Leonard isn't fucking around."

"Of course he isn't," Alex began, only to cringe when a resounding yelp rang out, "Um, Raphael? I think your brother's dead."

"He brought this upon himself..." the younger Octavius replied, "Besides, he'll live. Boreas is like a cockroach: he doesn't die easily."

"Be that as it may..." Alex began, only to pause when boisterous laughter could be heard.

"Ah, I chose the right day to be down here!" a thickly-accented voice exclaimed.

A slight grin appeared on Jackson's face. "Ah, Tyr. You finally decided to re-emerge from the darkness, eh?"

"Hey, you asked me to fix up the shitty shuttles you've ransacked throughout the years," the short engineer slung back, taking his goggles off to expose bright blue eyes, "And I've been doing just that."

"You've been doing a great job so far, Tyr," I chimed in.

He beamed at me. "I hope my upgrades have been servin' you well."

"They have been–and don't worry, I've been taking better care of my ship."

"Good. The Ravager is a beauty–treat her well, and you'll be amazed."

"Sorry to weigh in, but we must be on our way," Jackson cut in, "Sylkiir V is waiting for us."

"Oh alright, I'll get back to work. Take care of yourself, Jack."

"This whole situation was...something else entirely," Vik stated within my head.

You're still not used to this?

"I suppose I'm not..."

When we arrived at my ship, I peeled Boreas from off the ground and dusted him off.

"Ali trampled over you, didn't she?" I prompted my friend.

"She...kicked me in the hoo-has..." he squeaked.

"In the...what?"

"It...doesn't even matter..." he hissed, limping onto my ship.

"You lowered the boarding ramp for Alannah, didn't you Lenny?" I inquired.

"I did indeed, sir. Mrs. Haze was rather irate, so I allowed her onboard."

For the briefest of moments, I was stunned beyond tangible words. Mrs. Haze...

"Sir, you are about to walk into a wall," Leonard chimed in.

Blinking rapidly, I stopped myself before I walked into the metal wall of the cargo hold.

"You...good, Cylus?" Jackson prompted me.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry–I'm good," I assured him, "I'll get us moving in a  few minutes."

"Alright, sounds good to me."

With that, I made my way into the cockpit and sat down.

"Nice of you to join me," Alannah commented with a huff on the side.

I turned the engines on before reaching over and taking Alannah's hand in mine. "Sorry, I was making sure our beloved friend was still going to be functional for this expedition."

"Please, I only kneed him in the testicles."

"Well, you apparently caused his mind to revert to that of a toddler's since he called his testicles his 'hoo-has.'"

My wife promptly broke down into a fit of barely controlled laughter, and I smiled as the Ravager flew out of the Sovereign-Breaker's hanger. Heh, this'll be one hell of a road trip.