SIDE BY SIDE CHAPTER FIVE
Title: SIDE BY SIDE
Pairing: Spike/ Ori (OC). Spike/Angel (Liam)
AU (Well at least three of them)
Warnings. There will be violence, there will be sex. And adult themes. And techno babble.
Summary: Spike falls through a portal, into an alternate reality.
Ch 5
“Isn’t she beautiful?”
“What?”
“The Commander. Isn’t she just…dreamy?”
Tiet shifted his attention from the panel in front of him to follow the direction of his assistant’s obsessive gaze: fixed squarely on Commander Tey, further down the corridor inspecting one of the primary power conduits.
“Dreamy? She’s the Fleet Commander, Andrew; not some movie star,” he chided.
“Yes, but look at her,” sighed the boy, clutching a large wrench to his chest like a bouquet. “That perfect skin, those beautiful amethyst eyes, that tall, slender body…”
“The rank that can have me flayed alive if we don’t get these panels back on.” Tiet pointed out, and turned back to the work at hand.
Andrew sighed again, but returned to the repairs without further comment, although Tiet caught him sneaking peeks every few minutes. However, after about the twentieth glance and accompanying sigh, Tiet was annoyed enough to send him off on an errand.
But once the boy was gone, as his hands worked, his mind spiralled away. Andrew’s naïve hero worship struck a chord, reminding him of his own innocent devotion, so many years ago. And when, he wondered, did the respect and awe that had replaced it, morph into something darker, and far more cynical?
He was still mulling over this question when a flash of light caught his attention. It was one of the three silver rings that bound the Commander’s hip length plait, reflecting a welding arc. And there, thought the engineer, was another enigma. There were only a few thousand Ma’al citizen left in the Enclave, a mere handful of them serving the Fleet. And yet she still wore her house rings as though neither that terrible day nor the following catastrophe had ever happened. It was if time had stood still for Oryelle Tey: never moving forward from those events three years ago. That possibility was still nagging Tiet when the commander suddenly headed towards him.
“Engineer Kahn, I was looking for Connors. I thought she was here?” she asked, her Standard carrying an accent Tiet realised he had never quite identified.
“Major Connors went down to Green 5. That last hit was close to the isolation infirmary, and we lost all power. I think she was worried the medishield would go too.”
“Yes, our unexpected visitor is down there. But since we had to dig him out from under nearly a ton of rubble, I doubt he’ll be in any condition to move for days yet. Once you’ve finished here-”
‘Medical emergency. Medical team to Green 5. Security personnel to Green 5. Commander, Major Connor reports the patient in Green 5 Isolation has left the ward,’ interrupted the AI
“Strazk! Zoë. Locate the patient, now!”
‘Patient is currently in Yellow 5’
“That area’s been shut down for months. What’s he doing there?” asked Tiet, incredulously.
“Trying to get out, at a guess.” she snapped. “Zoe, keep tracking him, but don’t initiate contact. Cancel the security detail. And tell Connors to get up here. I don’t want him pursued.”
‘Yes Commander. Patient is outside level access point Yellow 5’
“Open the lift doors.”
‘Patient is requesting access to the surface.’
“Override all commands. Bring him to this level. Inform all personnel to clear Yellow 3.”
‘Yes Commander.’
“Tiet, clear this section immediately.”
She was halfway to Yellow 3 when the AI spoke again.
‘Commander, the patient has taken Citizen Wells hostage and is demanding to speak to ‘the git in charge’’.
“Well, as the Strozzi say, Zoë- Jiti presijni, kad vas provil za.”
‘I agree Commander; he should indeed be careful what he asks for.’