[Book One] Chapter 09: Dead men tell no tales

Chapter 09: Dead men tell no tales

Ashley woke up feeling warm and relaxed. She had been in this situation enough time to know the “pillow” she had her head resting on and the heat she felt came from the body of a man. But not any man. The man. The one she had dreamed of shagging for months on end. The one she couldn’t because she belonged to the woman she considered her best friend. The one she did all night long. The one who, to her greatest pleasure, gave her the best night of sex of her life and possibly reshaped her pussy forever. She never understood why weak or cowardly people were called that. Pussy. Pussy were made to take a pounding and boy did hers take one. More than one in fact. So much pounding that she felt a bit sore.

That wasn’t the only part of her body in that state. All her body was actually. The last time she felt like that, entirely spent with aching muscles, was when she was at boot camp years ago. When she would wake up after a day of physical hell training imposed on her by her drill instructor. The slight difference was that this time, this time, she was loving it.

She suddenly felt a hand caressing her back that made her smile and moan in approval. She moved her body to get closer to his as if she wanted to melt in him and put her head in the crook of his neck, inhaling deeply his scent before raining small kisses on his warm flesh. When his hand went lower and grabbed one of her ass cheeks she smiled wider and lightly bit his neck.

“Good morning.” his unfiltered voice said.

“The best.” she sighed in contentment.

They didn’t say anything else and stayed silent, enjoying it, their closeness and intimacy. Both knew they needed to talk. After their night of wild passion their relationship had changed. To what? None of them knew; explaining why the silence was beginning to last. It was Ashley that gathered her courage first.

“What now?”

“I don’t know. I mean until a month ago I only saw you as a friend and not as…” he stopped, hesitating to finish his sentence. Not confident he would use the correct words to express what he thought and felt without creating a misunderstanding or hurting her.

“A woman.”

“Yes. Well, no, I mean… I saw you as a woman obviously but not as… something… someone sexual? I don’t know if I’m making sense.”

“You do. And I get it, I get why and that’s alright.”

“Honestly, I don’t think I would have, had you not made me fondle you.” he said with a small laugh.

“I’m glad I did.” she replied with a smile.

 

There was a short silence before Rick was the one to speak up first this time.

“I’m not ready… for a new relationship. I don’t think I ever will. I’m..” a hint of guilt was in his voice.

“I know. And while I had hoped, I never expected you to be. Last night? It was way farther than I thought we’d ever get to. I know how much you loved her, I’ve seen it with my own eyes, that’s why I know that no one else could ever take her place. To be honest, despite loving her to death and thinking of her as my big sister, I was jealous, because I’ve been crushing on you for the past year and a half but she was the one you belong to. What we had last night, and what we have now…. It’s enough. Do I want more? Hell yes! But I’d be satisfied if it’s all we have. Good sex when we’re horny or need to vent and good cuddling afterwards. That’s enough for me.”

“Not just friends but not partners either?”

“Yes. Lovers, just lovers. Free to do whatever we want with whoever we want.”

“That’s… alright with me. Are you sure it is with you?”

Sitting herself up taking the sheet with her, she looked down at his bare face. She had asked him to remove his helmet when they began their second round and after a moment of hesitation he had reluctantly accepted. She wanted to see his face, his cold blue eyes that held untold warmth, his strong jaw that she could kiss forever and his natural dirty blond hair; a very rare trait in this day and age as it was a recessive gene.

“Yes. I don’t think I could go back to other men for long after what you did to me anyway so… yes.” she joked before leaning down and giving him a kiss.”

“In that case… Are you ready for round six?”

“What?!”

He pointed with his head something lower on the bed. Turning her head she saw the sheets tenting.

“You’re kidding right?” she asked dumbfounded.

“Nope.”

“Not gonna lie, the spirit is willing but the flesh…”

“I know, I’m just messing with you.” he said with a laugh.

Grabbing his cock with one hand she began to slowly jerk him off, a mischievous grin on her face.

“My pussy may be out of commission for a bit but I can still take care of you. How about we do that in the shower?” She suggested getting a nod of agreement from Rick. She let the sheet drop along her body and realized the numerous hickeys and bite marks decorating it. He had not lied, he's been very rough with her and she loved every second of it. To see reminders of the night, his own marks, on her own flesh aroused her. She wondered for a second if her neck had bruised after the very nice choking he gave her in their last round. She hoped that was the case.

Raising from bed she dragged him, his cock still in hand, to the shower where she would demonstrate that her large breasts were not just for show and how skillful she was with her tongue.

____________________________________________________________

It was early in the day when Shepard made his way to the Normandy. She had spent her three days of her R&R relaxing, visiting shops and exploring the citadel. She was well rested and ready to resume her chase of Saren. She entered the ship, saluted Joker and any member of the crew she met as she was walking to her cabin. Once there, she sat down and took a look at her mail. At first glance most were spam or ads. One was from Admiral Hackett, telling her to keep him updated if she learned anything new on Rick but also that a human balise armed with a nuke from the first Contact War had been activated and that she had to check it out. The last message that caught her eyes was a delivering notice informing her that her purchases had been delivered to the ship. Curious at what Rick had bought she left her cabin and took the elevator to the storage area. Getting out of the metal cage, the only one present was Ashley already at work, taking out what was in the crates. The gunnery chief had a very pleased smile on her face that should not have been there with the clearly obvious limp she had while walking.

“Good morning Ash.”

“Morning skipper!” she replied in an overly happy tone but with a hoarse voice.

“Need help?”

“Not really, but if you’re offering...”

Shepard followed her to the crates and began to pick up the equipment while doing some small talk.

“You're very chirpy. Can I safely assume that you had a good time?”

“The best!”

“So who was the guy?”

“Excuse me?” Ash asked, feigning innocence.

“Ash,your voice is hoarse, you're limping, your neck is badly bruised with lots of hickeys and… Is that a bite mark?” Shepard asked looking closer in shock to verify it was what she thought it was.

“It is a bite mark! And despite all that, you’re smiling from ear to ear. Obviously some guy rocked your world.” the redhead said a knowing grin of her face to a very blushing Ashley.

“Is it really that obvious?” the brunette asked embarrassed.

“The smile gave you away. Though the state of your neck didn’t help either. Neither your voice”

“I’ll have to find something to cover it. As for the voice… Maybe Chakwas could do something about it. I’ll check with her later for that… and other things…”

“So…”

“So?”

“You can’t come here looking like the best fucked woman in the galaxy and not shared any details Ash.”

“Well… it was the best two days of sex of my life.” she confessed, blushing even more.

“Wait two days? You mean you had sex non-stop for the past two days?” exclaimed Shepard dumbfounded. When Ash simply nodded bashfully the commander whistled in awe. One had to wonder what she would have done had she known that less than an hour ago Rick had filled Ash to the brim one last time and that the latter was currently working with her womb still full.

“How are you still standing?!”

“I don’t know. I’m sore all over but a good kind of sore. You know what I mean?”

“Not really, no. Never have much luck with men.” answered a dejected Shepard, prompting Ashley to drop what she had in her hands and hug her tightly.”

“I’m so sorry.” she said heartfully in sympathy.

“It’s alright, I learned to take care of myself.” she replied with a small smile.

“But enough about me, we were talking about you.”

“What do you want to know exactly?”

“I don’t know, anything? Everything?”

“Well, he is a very skillful lover.”

“Nice dick?”

“Oh, Shepard. He didn’t have a dick, he had a cock. A large, long, hard veiny cock.” Ashley replied with a hand on her cheek biting her lower lip, her eyes lost in the memories of the appendage that gave her so much joy.

“That big?” replied Shepard, interested.

When Ash simply indicated how long with her hands, Shepard gasped in shock.

“I couldn’t circle the entirety of it with one hand.”

“Holy shit! How are you still walking? That thing would have split me in half.”

“It took a bit of getting used to and he knew how to use it instead of just thrusting in and out thinking that his size was enough to do a good job. That helped a lot. And don’t sell yourself short, you’re taller and have a stronger build than mine, I’m sure you could handle it.”

“I wish I had your optimism. Doesn’t matter anyway, I doubt I’ll ever meet him.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.”

“It wasn’t a one night stand?” Shepard asked, surprised.

“Nope. Well he was but we came to an agreement.”

“So a booty call everytime we’re on the citadel? Nice going, there.” the redhead asked with a mischievous grin.

“Not exactly…”

Shepard didn’t have the time to ask for an explanation when Rick came through the cargo door, holding a small crate in his arms.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.” replied the commander.

That was all that was said as he walked past them taking the elevator. Looking at Ashley, Shepard saw the longing in her eyes that were still glued to where Rick had disappeared. Suddenly something clicked in her head.

“NO WAY! RICK?!” she yelled before Ashley’s hands found themselves covering her mouth. With her eyes big as saucers she asked confirmation to the brunette, who shyly nodded.

The big cocked sex god she was talking about was Rick?! What the hell!

“But I thought… he was…. You… HOW?!” her mind was all over the place and couldn’t formulate a proper question to ask.

“That’s a very weird and complicated story.”

“We’re not leaving the cargo bay until you’ve told me everything, Gunnery Chief.” the commander ordered with authority with all seriousness.

____________________________________________________________

It’s been a week since the crew had left the citadel. A week since Shepard found out that Ashley had a two day sex marathon with the troublemaker of the team who was somehow some kind of sex wizard or sex god mounted like a krogan if not better. After their talk about this new casual relationship her two subordinates had together, which considering their previous friendship and his recently deceased wife was weird as hell and making Rick even weirder in her mind, the commander had moments where her mind turned to mush. Notably when something reminded her of Ashley’s description of Rick’s pussy slayer, as the redhead began to refer to it in her head. More than once she found herself looking at his crotch subconsciously. She has been lucky that the only one who had caught her was Ashley.

Currently however, her mind was focused on the mission. They were on a shitty deserted planet in the Voyager cluster, to investigate the First Contact War’s probe that Admiral Hackett wanted her to check. Considering the mission, Shepard judged that a three person team was more than enough. That’s why, sitting by her side was Rick, with his helmet fixed and a black light armor decorated with some blue design, being impassive and Liara with a royal blue light armor that fitted her perfectly, sitting in the back praying to the goddess to make her torment stop, either by stopping the mako or by taking her.

They had landed not far from the beacon signal and quickly made her way to it. They were surprised when they discovered that the signal led to the entrance of a mine. All members of the teams had their eyes fixed on it.

“It’s a trap.” said Shepard, still looking at the entrance.

“What gave you that idea? The fact that the beacon couldn’t move itself inside the mine, that there is no one around that could have activated it or that it’s a mine with a nuclear device in it making it a perfect death trap?” Rick sarcastically said, his eyes never leaving their destination.

“Want me to punch you again?”

“No thanks, I’d rather confront that bomb, at least it may be warmer inside.”

“That’s a good idea, because despite my armor, I’m freezing.” interjected Liara. Indeed, Agebibium the planet they were currently on had an average surface temperature of -72°C and from what Rick’s sensors were displaying on his visor, it was currently far lower.

“Are any of you any good at disamorcing bombs?”

““ No.”” answered the two women.

“You’re lucky I’m here then.”

“What did you think I took you in the team down here in the first place?”

“My charming personality, and you’ve missed having me around on the field.” he stated which actually made Shepard snort.

“Can we go now? Please.” asked Liara who was shivering.

Shepard nodded and took the lead. Entering the mine, the deeper they went down the warmer it got. Seeing as there were no hostiles on his radar, Rick allowed himself to ask Liara something.

“Liara, would you be opposed to answering a question about Asari’s physiology?”

“Not at all. What do you want to know?”

“Does the cold make the asari more blue or slightly purple?”

“Oh my god, Rick! You can’t ask that kind of question!” exclaimed Shepard who, while she hadn’t thought of that, was now secretly curious too.

“I just did and it’s a legitimate question. Warm oxygenated blood is what gives humans their complexion, most noticeable with light skinned people. When it gets too cold the skin becomes pale and some parts of the body, like the fingers or the lips take a mixture of blue and dark purple hue. With asari being a warm blooded species but with a blue colored skin, how can one not wonder?”

“That’s actually a very interesting question. Asari are similar to humans in that regard, except our whole body takes a darker tone instead of getting paler.” Liara answered.

“Wonder if I could find some pictures on the extranet.” that made the redhead stop in her tracks. Asari and extranet together often meant porn and her head immediately came to the wrong conclusion.

“Really?!” she exclaimed in an angry tone.

“It would be extremely rude to ask baby blue to remove her armor and let me see the difference in this cold. Besides you may have forgotten but we’re on a mission here.” he replied, nearly making Shepart blow a gasket.

“Baby blue?” asked Liara confused but just like Tali on Therum was ignored as Rick asked other questions.

“Under different and multiple conditions, a human's skin tone can change to another color. What about asari?.”

“Not that I know of, it's the shade of blue that varies a little. What kind of color do humans’ skin take?” asked the asari, completely forgetting her earlier question for the more interesting conversation.

“Well, outside the natural ones, there are yellow and orange that I know of. There is also actual white, but it’s caused by a deficiency in pigment called melanin

 that darkens the skin, in the body. Obviously there's the opposite too, pure black caused by an overproduction of melanin.”

“I have to say, humanity's genetic diversity and malleability is fascinating.”

“Yes, though I’m surprised that despite it, humanity never achieved cross breeding with other species. I wonder why? I would understand the impossibility of it with Turian and Quarian as they are dextro based but…”

“RICK! Seriously can’t you ask those questions at another time?” Shepard chastised him. Physiology was an alright subject, cross breeding was going too far in her opinion. He completely ignored her.

“How come Asari assimilate DNA from other species but do nothing with it as the children are Asari? What is the point of it in that case? Or does it have a subtle impact on the child and it’s a big asari secret?”

“I do not know the answers to your questions except the last one. There is no big secret or impact of the father's DNA on the child. You should probably ask other Asari, either working in the genetic field or older ones.

“Well, I don’t meet asari every day and, while the two I’m acquainted with are closer to the matriarch's stage than the maiden's…. Yeah they would have probably killed me on the spot.” he said with a chuckle.

“I’m sure you’re exaggerating, Asari are not shy about this particular topic.”

“Well between a crime boss and a justicar, I wasn’t about to test my luck.”

Before Liara could express her surprise at hearing he was acquainted with a Justicar. Shepard put an end to the conversation.

“We’re there. Get your head into it.” she said as they were at the end of the tunnel leading to the actual mining section of the mine. Liara nodded, feeling her questions about the justicar in the back of her mind and focused. Rick just looked at his visor’s hud.

“No one’s there but some traps may have been put in our way. Though if they had activated the probe’s balise then they probably activated the nuke too, so traps would be unnecessary. Unless those people are meticulous but in that case the traps would be designed to block our escape. Regardless, I should go first.”

Not waiting for Shepard to say something he took the lead, shotgun in hands pointing forward. He advanced slowly. His mind was on high alert to anything suspicious. He found nothing out of the ordinary besides empty containers and mining equipment. Reaching the other end of the area  he was faced with two doors. One was locked, not a problem for him, and was leading another section on the same level; the other was unlocked and led further down.

“Which way?” Liara asked.

“Down. The further we go down, the higher the chances of not making it are.” Rick replied.

Getting a signal for Shepard to move on, Rick opened the door and walked down a few feet long tunnel before opening another one. It was a small room or rather cave with nothing much in it except the probe. Getting closer and Holo com started, presenting a turian.

“Shepard.”

At the mention of her name she walked straight in front of the holo while Liara looked with interest as Rick opened his omni-tool and began to work with it.

“I have to say, you have me at a disadvantage.”

“You don’t remember me? No matter, I remember you.” he said with a laugh.

“He’s Elanos Haliat. The greatest son of a turian whore in the galaxy.” Rick revealed, not looking up from what he was doing.

“Ha! Your friend knows me.”

“Doesn’t ring a bell.” replied the commander before getting an explanation from her team member.

“He’s the one behind the Skyllian Blitz. I’m surprised you don’t know of him.”

“I was too busy killing turian and batarian left and right to ask for their names or their incompetent leader’s.” she replied flatly making Rick chuckled.

“I was the greatest leader of the Terminus clans! I assembled the greatest pirate fleet! I did what…”

“And now you’re the lowest bitch on the totem pole with everyone on your ass for your failure.” Rick interrupted his little monologue which enraged the turian.

“Not for long! Soon, once the galaxy learns that I killed the first human specter, the lion of Elysium, my honor will be restored!”

“I didn’t know pirates had honor.” Shepard said.

“They don’t.”

“Enough! Mock me all you want, you’re not getting out alive of this mine. Not when you’re going to get vaporized by your people's own weapon. Enjoy the last ten seconds of your life Shepard.” he said with finality, his holo disappearing.

The commander yelled Rick’s name in reflex to push him to act and disarm the bomb when she saw him walking towards the exit.

“Yes?”

“The bomb!”

“Already taken care of. I’m offended you thought otherwise.”

“When?!” Liara asked dumbfounded.

“When he appeared. I hacked the detonator’s device, making it able to receive the activation signal but not responding to it and just to be safe deleted the activation command.”

“Wait? What do you mean by ‘able to receive the activation signal’ ? Why do that when you just deleted the activation command?” the redhead asked.

“There is feedback when you send the activation signal. If I had just shut everything down he would have known the bomb didn’t work. Now he thinks we’re dead and won’t see us coming.”

“Is the bomb really disarmed then?” the asari asked.

“No. You can’t activate it remotely, and you can’t hack it in person as I removed the command but you can still rewrite it though. Until it’s completely disassembled then it’s not truly disarmed.”

“Well, that’s good enough for me.”  said Sherpard as Rick had resumed his exit.

Following him she wonders how he had known who Haliat was. It wasn’t through a previous partnership that’s for sure since the turian didn’t recognize him, though it was still possible as Rick was wearing his helmet.

“How do you know that guy?”

“He was well known in the traverse and the Terminus system.”

“And?”

“And he’s going to die so it doesn’t matter.”

They quickly backtracked their way outside to start the chase when a problem confronted them.

“Son of a bitch! He took my mako!”

“What do we do now?” asked Liara secretly relieved that she would not have to endure a chase in a vehicle Shepard would be driving.

“We follow the tracks.” Rick said, pointing his finger towards the ground.

They were leading up the small mountain above the mine they had just exited from. Arriving at the top they saw Haliat’s camp down below on the other side with the mako. Laying down on the ground to not be seen, they observed carefully what was happening. They counted five men in total. They were outnumbered but they had the element of surprise in their favor.

“So… How are we going about it? Any ideas?” Shepard asked.

“I have six.” Rick answered as he kept looking intently on the enemies movement.

“I’m listening.”

“One: We snipe them down from here. We can get one down for sure, two probably and at best three before they realize they are attacked. Problem, they could get unto the Mako and we’d be toast before we could take out the rest..”

“Not particularly engaging.” Liara commented

“Two: You snipe, I go down there, Liara uses her biotic in support from here. Priority stopping them from reaching the mako. Three: Liara goes  with me and either supports me or secures the mako.”

“Why should I be the sniper? Wouldn’t it be better for you to be the one, since you can cross the distance with a biotic charge?”

“I’m not used to sniper rifles.”

“Why are you carrying one then?” she asked but was ignored.

“Four: Stealth, all three of us go down there and take them out one by one until they detect us. Five: Same thing but one of us reach the mako.”

“What about six?” Liara asked.

“We call the Normandy and let them do an orbital strike.”

“Wait! Why is that your last option?” asked Shepard.

“Because I want that asshole’s head on a silver platter, not his ashes.” Rick replied in a cold voice. The synthetic filter made him sound even more intimidating.

Both Liara and Shepard looked at each other with a questioning look but said nothing. In the end they went with plan three. Rick and Liara discreetly made their way down and took cover behind a container. When they were Ready, Shepard opened fire and shot one of Haliat’s men in the head, breaking his shields and killing him instantly. Rick immediately sprought into action, leaving his cover he charged right into Haliat and unload his shotgun in his gut.The first shot sent him backwards the following three broke down its shields, the fourth and fifth dealt with his armor and the sixth killed him, which was fortunate as Rick’s shotgun overheated. Meanwhile Liara had reached the mako and was taking position behind to use the turret. Another shot was heard and a third turian went down. At the same time Rick took cover behind a crate, the last two men having opened fire on him from behind another container. They didn’t know Liara was there and Sheapard couldn’t get to them so Rick was the only target available. Unfortunately for them the container they were hiding behind seemed to have explosive content as when Liara fired the mako’s turret on it it exploded killing the fourth man and sending the last flying a few feet away on the ground. Rick didn’t miss the opportunity, drew his pistol and shot him in the head.

“They’re all dead, you can come down red. Thanks for assisting baby blue.” Rick said over the radio.

“Why do you call her baby blue? And don’t say it’s because she’s blue, you already did that joke with Ashley.”

“Yes, I would like to know.” Liara stated in agreement with Sheaprd.

“I thought it was obvious, she’s the youngest of the team.”

“I’m 106!”

“Yes but your species’ life span is a thousand years. If we scale it down to humanity’s life span, which is 150 years by the way, you’re barely over 16. I’m 23 and old gingey over there is 29.”

“Hey!” protested Shepard as she reached ground level.

“That makes no sense.” Liara replied.

“It does to me.” Rick said as he walked towards Haliat’s body. He drew the tactical knife he had strapped on his left leg and began to cut his head off.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Shepard yelled.

“Getting proof that the asshole behind the Skyllian blitz is dead.” he replied, continuing his work.

“A picture is enough.” the commander retorted.

“Yes, but it’s also a gift for an acquaintance of mine he fucked with years ago. Shouldn’t have done that.”

Done with the job, Rick walked back to the Mako and joined the other two. Liara looked anywhere else, while Shepard looked at him intently.

“You’re not putting it in the Normandy’s freezer.”

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