Hephaestus Mining Station ICThread

Teo typed away steadily, wiping at the sweat on his face with a sleeve or his shoulder. He hadn't had a chance to jack in between the last times he'd been out in the field, and there was a lot of data to sift. His list of information that had slipped back to the UN in the news-packets kept growing, and there was an alarming amount of information that the Alliance lacked.

He gasped, one bit of coded transmission caught his eye -- Another spy! The burst of code was carefully hidden, but Teo had trained himself to see what didn't want to be found. His life depended on it.

His fingers flew faster now, searching for that trace of another man's code beneath the every-day occurrences, and found more -- too many more. There was a sentence here, a word there, a paragraph there, and, all added up together turned into the worst danger Teo had yet faced as a spy. The UN was suspicious. That was the bottom line.

All spies were on their own. There was too much danger in trying to receive information from the Peacekeepers, barely less in sending information, but this man had managed it! From the breaks in the data, from what Teo could read, it was obvious to him that, somehow, the other spy was receiving orders.

Teo swallowed. They were looking for him. Not him, the Peacekeeper spy, but him, the Alliance spy. The other Peacekeeper spy had been here long enough to realize that the information being sent back to headquarters was incomplete. They seemed to think that Teo's information was being tampered with, and they wanted it stopped.

He sat back to think, the sweat on his face and body turning cold. His first thought was to run. He had to get out of here, but he didn't dare stop sending information back to the UN, or they would know he knew, and there would only be one reason for that, if he was the spy. A turn-coat. He didn't know if the other spy knew who he was or if he intended to make contact, but Teo couldn't risk being discovered. He would have to act his part, and trust to the Alliance to get him out alive.

Or.

He frowned. There was one way to get rid of the danger. He could seek out and dispose of the other peacekeeper. The other news had started while Teo was out, not with Liam, but the boomer before that. She'd been a rookie, so it was possible the spy came in on the same transport. It was a good place to start, in any case.

The first thing to do, of course, was to send back his reports. He had to play ignorant to the UN, but the Alliance needed to know that their operations at Hephaestus were dangerously close to being blown. They had to stop for awhile, and they needed to know about the spy.

It sounded like the UN believed the enemy spy to only be changing the reports Teo sent back to them, so he assumed he was still safe in the coded bursts back to the Alliance, but he wasn't taking any chances. He wrapped his code in high-priority alert tags, and buried them deep, warning them about the spy, his plan, and his suspicions. He told them he was out on another tour of the field soon, and they would not hear back from him for another two weeks.

When finished, Teo erased his traces in the system, trusting the most important data to his memory. He stayed extra minutes to set everything back exactly as it was before and to spray genetic scramblers all over the alcove. Within hours, no one would be able to scraped any genetic material out of this area that could be traced back to him. When he got back from the field this next time, Teo would switch to his alternate cubby-hole.

He stood and started back to the mining crews' area. He had twenty-four hours to find and kill the other spy. A day to decide whether or not he would live or die.

He huffed loudly, "Well you'll have to look harder if you want to get laid then." He stuck out his tongue, "Maybe handsome for a horse." He laughed slightly, before it broke into a grin, though it fell as he was told that his friend in the med bay, the only one he could really rely on distinctly, was gone. Without even a goodbye. Depressing. He looked down, stepping away, "Well, good luck on your first day. I don't need anything, thanks though." He turned, "I'll see you around, I'm sure, I'm a regular." He took a step away from the other before he broke into a trot, disappearing into the station, into the mining crew area, dropping down into the lounging area before he moved into the halls, turning his head to acknowledge a greeting.

Or he would have, had he not collided (again) with someone else. "Oh for FUCKS sake!" He snarled, after landing on his ass for the second time that night. He looked up, ready to hurl a barrage of equally sharp and vicious insults to the person's lineage, his mother and his future children, but was brought up short when he saw who it was and all that came out was, "...Oh." He blinked, climbing quickly to his feet, "You." It was Teo. His ass was sore from Teo's big self ramming into him. That sounded so wrong....

After crawling and carefully winding his way back to more populated corridors where he wouldn't be out of place, Teo moved as quickly as he could without drawing undue attention to himself. He needed to get back to the lounge and talk to Jack. Jack would know who was new. He'd be able to help narrow down suspects. Of course, Teo would have to be careful not to let anything slip, but that shouldn't be too hard, just let the other man believe he was looking for a new lay, yeah ... Teo'd worked hard on this personality. They'd believe that. They had to. He had 24 hours, give or take, to find the spy. He --

Rounding a corner, his mind miles away, he ran into someone, a small someone that immediately started cussing at him.

Teo reacted without thinking, grabbing Liam by the shirt front and slamming him against the wall, their faces centimeters apart. Angry words went through his mind, but nothing came out.

Liam's bright eyes flashed, his cheeks flushed with either embarrassment or anger, startled and at Teo's mercy for the moment.

The next thing Teo knew, his lips were mashed against the boomer's, but there all semblance of sanity fled. Instead of being hard back, Liam's lips were soft and pliant, parting under Teo's barrage. There was something so addictive about the coiled, hidden strength, something that brought back Teo's earlier hard on with a vengeance.

He held on for a fraction of second longer, and then dropped his arm, backing away. His anger had vanished, leaving him with just a throbbing dick, a pounding heart, and the weight of his own anxiety fluttering in his stomach. Opening his mouth, Teo meant to say something -- Liam's perplexed, stunned look was a heavy enticement, but he didn't have time for this!

Turning on his heel, Teo fled down the corridor without a word, vanishing into the twists and turns of the base and losing himself in the crowd.

Liam yelped as he was shoved against the wall, his head bouncing against it, "What the hell...!" He looked up at the other, anger crossing his face, all he'd done was run into the other, and it hadn't even been that hard. Sure it sent him careening, but the other had hardly flinched. His eyes narrowed slightly, his cheeks flushing slightly as the other stared so hard at him, why was it that big of a deal?

"Uh..." And suddenly lips were on his and teeth bit on his lip. His mouth fell open in something akin to shock, before he responded, his poor brain short circuting as he shuddered beneath the almost vicious onslaught, his body alighting with baffled desire, his mind rushing to catch up until the other dropped him, his knees buckling with the sudden weight on them as he slid down against the wall, his eyes confused, searching the other.

He looked like he was going to say something, and Liam waited, waited for him to speak, to say something, anything. But he fled. His mind couldn't handle this, his brain scrambled to put together the pieces of his scattered thoughts, his heart going a million miles a minute. It was a few minutes before he could gather his feet, and stagger up on top of them. Therapy, he needed some serious therapy. Right that instant. God.

Teo was fairly certain that the other spy was support staff on the installation, so he turned his attention to pumping Jack for information. It was not uncommon that the two of them would sit and play cards, drinking and gambling the night away. Focusing on the booze and verbal ripostes kept Teo's mind out of his pants, but he was more than a little buzzed before he could forget the taste of Liam's lips.

For want of partners as inebriated as themselves, they stumbled back to Jack's together. The tech's rooms were noisy and cluttered from all the random junk, gadgets, and gizmos, but neither particularly cared. They crashed where they landed, and Teo woke to a boot in the ribs as Jack left for his shift.

Throughout the course of the night, Teo had narrowed his list of suspects to three. One had a title that sounded impressive but boiled down to a man who sorted rocks all day, another was a medical tech, and the third was J.T.'s new executive assistant. Teo thought it very likely that the spy was the exec, but that was a little too obviously a target, so he made sure to check out the other two, especially as they were men and he had a valid excuse for cozying up to them.

The geological expert was a total bore and although he supposedly had multiple degrees, a high IQ, and was lately stationed on the Moon, he lacked even basic knowledge of electronics and hardware. Teo dismissed him from consideration without second thoughts.

He couldn't find the med tech at all; he got a lot of gossip, though. Apparently, the boy couldn't find his way out of his quarters without a locator device and a map, and wasn't that just the perfect cover to wander anywhere he wished without undo notice? Teo almost wished he'd thought of it first.

In addition, the new exec was a tall, shapely red-head. There was no way Teo was getting through the crowd surrounding her. He'd raise suspicions for sure if he tried. He would just have to think carefully about how to get close to her.

In all, he was a very annoyed (and sleep-deprived) pilot running his pre-flight systems checks that afternoon. In point of fact, he was there early, drumming on the console in irritation long before his boomer showed up.

It was good, god it was really good. He groaned quietly as he still struggled to regain his scattered dignity in the various pieces it had been thrown into when Teo had... had... done that thing.... with his mouth. He rubbed his forehead, god, not only was his dignity scattered, his brain was, he couldn't even sort of, piece... together... gah, forget it. His brains were still along the hallway that he staggered along, trying to accommodate the burden between his legs that had refused to quit since Teo had... had... and he just short circuited again. He stumbled against the wall, shaking a bit, panting as he reached for the scattered tiny... tiny pieces of his mind. He wanted his mind back!

He eventually reached his room, took a frigid shower, managed to put every last piece of his fractured reality back in place and pulled himself together for the mission that loomed for tomorrow. He flopped on his bed, his traitorous thoughts already returning to the pilot as he closed his eyes and rolled over onto his swelling erection, stupid dick.

The next day saw him with little sleep and a repertoire of noncommittal grunts for breakfast as he blindly ate cardboard and sawdust (or whatever they were serving at the cafeteria) and made his way to the hangar, where the ship would be waiting, oh yay. He couldn't wait. He scented ozone, repairs were being done, and then the lift let him down as he stepped off and went to the Icarus.

Surprisingly, Teo was already there, damn, damn, damn, his luck. Oh well. He started going over his stuff, going through a weapons check, a blast check and of course, making sure he had his own little stash of precious explosions with him, these babies he never left home without. He didn't say anything to the pilot, assuming he would explain himself, and apologise, as Liam slipped into his suit, the purple zipper jangling more merrily than he was feeling at the moment, as he did himself up and started loading.

Teo waited only long enough for Liam to buckle his seat's crash netting before activating the engines. He sealed his suit and helmet, and wrapped his fingers around the controls. His eyes never left the display, but he gave his boomer a terse warning, "Hold onto something."

Only thrusters were allowed in the docking bay, but Teo didn't need power for the shenanigans he had in mind. He wanted to nab attention, but not just anyone's attention. He wanted the attention of that red-head in J.T.'s office. Pull off this stunt, and the stories (and rumors) would start to fly. There was no way a spy would refuse the bait, and Teo was almost certain she was the one. He felt confident that she would conspire to be nearby when J.T. called him in to berate him on their return. They could exchange a few words, and he could feel her out. It was a good plan, and they would need at least two more hauls like their previous one before Liam's debt cleared. J.T. still needed Teo, and Teo needed to get rid of that spy before she got rid of him.

His hands flashed across the panels and displays, his eyes even faster. Control screamed in his ears, but Teo stayed on course, flitting just above the line of pods and beneath the busy refinery techs. He dodged the larger equipment, flipped the pod on its side to squeeze through the queue of rocks leading into the smelters, and flashed the vents to scream past the ops center. Then he dived, flung the pod through a series of barrel rolls, ducked the pods coming at him to try and herd him back. Cutting power, the Icarus jerked around on its axis, spun like a dancer, and leaped for the main doors.

As soon as they cleared the machinery and personnel, Teo stomped on the pedal for the rear jets and they darted out into space.

Nor did they stay there.

His normal gyrations in the craft were part and parcel to a mining pod pilot's well-developed paranoia. If no one could follow him, they couldn't steal his rocks. He had one hell of a treasure trove at present, and dozens of pilots attempting to trail him on the sly. Not to mention the handful of Peacekeeper vessels that buzzed around on the off-chance the Alliance would try to way-lay one of the shuttles. They came in on escort duty and rotated out on a frequent basis. For the most part, Hephaestus pretended they didn't exist, except on the rare occasion that the base was in danger.

Mining pods carried explosives designed to break apart asteroids with a high metal content. One of those impacting Hephaestus could do significant damage, especially in the relatively fragile interior. The consequences of such an explosion inside the hanger would set of a chain of explosions that would no doubt severely cripple the base. And kill everyone on board.

Sweat from the fly-by dripped into Teo's eyes, but he ignored that and everything else not wholly connected to flying his pod into the belt and losing his trackers. Flying at full power, he could spare not even a nanosecond to doubt or worry. He had a job to do. Teo the mining pod pilot might object, but Teo the Alliance spy and UN Peacekeeper knew that his life was nothing compared to the lives that would be lost if the UN brought a force out here. The Alliance was almost ready. Teo just had to buy them a little more time.

Hours flew by like seconds before the very last of the determined pilots fell behind. Teo had to give them credit. Only seasoned pilots could have held on for so long, but the sensors on the Icarus were better than most. Teo spent a lot of time tinkering with his ship, and he put every drop of profit he could spare into the only thing standing between him and those asteroids. He wasn't on Hephaestus to make money, after all.

With care, he brought the pod into the shadow of an asteroid and he fired the grappling clamps. They would hang in the lee of the rock while he got some shut-eye.

He sighed as he relaxed into his seat, forcibly relaxing his hands before reaching over and cutting power to all systems except life-support. The proximity alarms would wake him should anything come their way. Now they were just one more piece of metal floating in space. They were as safe as they could be.

"Wake me in five hours," he told Liam without turning his head. Cranking his seat back into its fully-reclined position, he closed his eyes. A good soldier learned to sleep anywhere at any time, because you never knew when you might have the next opportunity. Outwardly calm, he wanted to sleep before his worries caught up to him. Food was a secondary priority.

Of course, if he'd known ahead of time what would haunt his dreams, he might have reconsidered.

He set his net, grabbing his helmet and before he could finish buckling up, he heard a shout from behind him, and he tied himself into the chair tight, and held on, "God." He shouted as they went off. If he pinched his eyes shut, he'd be okay. He would.

He was so wrong.

He felt every twist, every turn, every dip, dodge, whirl, swing, thrust, spiral, dear god, he was in hell. He made a small sound as he dared crack an eye and peek out, he could help the yelp as they barely cleared the line of rocks that they zoomed through. He cursed as the other spun a full pirouette on it's axis only then going for the doors.

They hit clear space, thank god... oh "Fuck!" He said as they started to lose the other pilots who wanted in on their cache. He pinched his eyes shut. If he closed his eyes... it wouldn't be so bad!!! He prayed, for the first time in his life, he prayed, for something, to live, dear god, just pray to keep his heart in his chest, for fear that it would leap out and do a samba, a tango, a Kavarthian space kosha dance. God don't do the Kavarthian.

He cringed in his seat, as the other took them through rollercoaster turns, weaves, throws, and finally, finally into open space. He trembled in his chair, his hands gripping the arms of his chair so tightly, he could see the veins and the reddish purple mottling over his skin and he could see the color rush into his hands. "I hate you." He muttered hotly as the other told him to 'wake him in five hours'. Were they going to even talk about the assault he'd endured before Teo had run away. He threw himself out of his seat, "Sure thing, I'll wake you in five hours." He muttered irritably, going to put his bombs together for the next couple hours.

~*~

He took a nap for a couple hours, once he'd finished setting up his bombs, he went to sleep for a bit, and it had been a few hours, and he stood, stretching and went to Teo, shoving him, "Hey, your five hours is up." He said, smacking the other's shoulder, already putting together his stuff for going out into the black.

Teo reached out and snagged Liam's belt as he turned to go, hauling him into the chair with him.

"Mmm, where you going?" he murmured sleepily.

He felt a hand slip under his belt, making a sound of protest as he was dragged back, "Hurk!" His head reared forward and back as he was seated well and good in the other's lap. He squirmed, "Leggo!" He shouted, "I was going to get ready to go into the black, isn't that what we're doing here?" He asked, "Blow shit up?" He asked, looking over his shoulder at the other. This was not normal, not good, and minorly problematic, was he going to be assaulted again? He gulped, going rather still, "Teo... let go." He said, pushing the other away.

Trying to nuzzle a neck and getting the flat of a back startled Teo into full awareness of what he was doing, Liam's protests and struggles spilling around him unheeded.

He froze, a split-second's debate as to whether he should shove the man off or -- his fingers tightened of their own accord around Liam's belt. His lips tingled, remembering their kiss, and his cock twitched, reminding Teo that he hadn't gotten a good lay while at the station; he'd been too worried about other things.

He was crazy! That's what it was. Horny and Liam was available. That was all. It had nothing to do with the way the man fought ... or looked when he was angry. Maybe if Teo held on just a little longer he'd see that look again.

He squirmed uncomfortably, "Teo, get. Off!" He was more than a little dressed for the occasion and it was uncomfortable. It also sucked that he was a good bit smaller than Teo, so he clearly had no troubles keeping him in place as he writhed atop him, "Let me go!" Starting to get agitated now, he tried to stomp on the other's foot, elbow him in the chest, "What the hell do you want?" He tried to get up, but the other just held him tighter and wouldn't let him go. He growled, looking back and snarling, his eyes narrowing as he tried to escape the human bonds.

Letting go of Liam's belt, Teo grabbed the front of Liam's jumpsuit and yanked him sideways, bringing their faces closer together. Liam had to grab the chair arms to keep from smacking right into Teo's chest.

The pilot grinned lazily. "This," he said, and pulled Liam down the last few centimeters. The lips were less pliant for him this time, but all his shifting and fighting managed to do was to crank the flames of Teo's libido even higher.

A kiss was all he meant to claim, but, just as before, the taste and feel was addictive, and this time there was nothing to hold him back.

When the other released him he surged forward, freedom! Until the other grabbed him again, and yanked, his hands grabbing the arms, his eyes glowering into the other's, growling, "Leggo." He muttered agitatedly, before the other kissed him again, and he tried to pull away in protest, but the other pulled him closer, his hands tightened on the arms, and he was hard pressed to ignore the other's questing tongue.

He growled, now, thusly, determined to show the other up, thrust a surprise kiss on him would he! Fine! He could do better. And would too. He pushed back against the other, his teeth nipping at his bottom lip, his head tilting to the other, fighting back, pushing the other back into his chair with a small growl.

((Hiatus to the Back rooms ....))



((And we return!))

A jagged, shiny rock was closing in on the asteroid the Icarus was currently tethered to.

"Shit! Move your ass, Liam!" Deciding that the boomer wasn't moving nearly fast enough, adrenaline and practically zero gravity lent Teo the strength to yank the other man from where he dangled and slam him back into the chair, sitting upright. The controls jerked the chair back up to its fully up-right and locked position.

The boomer grunted as the new position pressed their bodies uncomfortably tight together. Teo didn't listen to anything he might say, fingers flying across the controls to detach cables and fire up the engines.

Meanwhile the pod's alarms were going off like fucking sirens and the asteroid twisted and rolled on a non-stop course to smash them to smithereens.

Liam, who had been preoccupied with disentangling his other leg from the bondage the other had implemented upon him, was startled with a loud yelp as the other slammed him into the chair and it snapped back into place, making his head spin with sitting up too fast, "I'm moving as fast as I fucking can you fucking deviant!" He snarled, falling in a heap as he tipped over the arm of the chair. His knee hit his forehead, motherfucker, and he rolled, gathering shaky feet, tripping a bit as he went to his station, his ass smarting enough that he didn't want to sit just yet as he hit a few of his own buttons.

Jackass. This wouldn't have happened if he hadn't decided he wanted to let his cock think instead of his brain. He looked around, heedless of the fluids that ran down the inside of his leg, where had his suit gone? Why... why was it near the cargo hold? He went for it, his undergarments inside them as he quickly grabbed it, returning to the chair as he heard the tell tale rumble of the engines firing, finally! He sighed in relief as the ship released and the pod jerked, drawing his attention to the front window that he'd avoided looking at, the ton-plus size of the rock filling the entire thing made him pale visibly and freeze, a fine tremor running through him.

Fighting the terror that ran bone deep inside him, he forced himself to move, regardless of his ex-partners cries that echoed in his mind, he still had a job to do, he could crumble later, just not right-fucking-now. He forced the suit on that set to work sapping the fluids from his body the second he zipped it up and buckled himself into his own chair, setting the grappling hooks out of the way and leaned back to let Teo do the rest.

Teo ignored Liam, his eyes on the clocks and gauges. The best way out was forward and down along the side of their anchor asteroid and he shoved the joystick that direction as the engines lit and the helm lit up. The sirens were going crazy, but Teo didn't hear them. He heard and felt the impact, however, the inbound asteroid scraping off something on the top of the ship that was probably going to be important later, and they ricocheted off to bang the pod's belly on the other asteroid.

There were more alarms and giant warning messages scrolling across the screens as the asteroids collided behind them and the debris cloud shot out in all directions. The pieces were as deadly as missiles at this range and speed. Teo had to jerk the pod from side to side and in stomach-churning rolls and dives just to avoid the regular asteroids. Now, in the aftermath of the collision, this whole section of the field was on the move, roiling and churning about. One collision spawned countless others until small impacts shattered against the sides of the pod like hail. Or, like he imagined hail would sound like, since he'd only ever experienced rain in the greenhouses and that was gentle, like mist.

More lights on the dash started blinking green, then yellow, and then red as they took damage, and Teo cursed to himself. They needed to find a safe place to put down and see to repairs before they came apart. Problem was, they were too close to the Triangle. Nothing made sense here, with up becoming down and left becoming right. He clung to the plot with determination. He did not want to become disoriented and slam them into an asteroid when they'd just avoided a similar fate. Damn it! And it had been so good!

He bit his lip on a moan, flinching a little as his errant thoughts cost him focus and they nearly clipped another asteroid.

"Fuck it!" he snarled, and jerked the controls so that they dove, seemingly right into the heart of the maelstrom; but Teo had seen an opportunity, a place of calm, and he sent the little pod there as fast as it could take them.

This was a section of the field still fairly close to the triangle, but several degrees away from their treasure. They were unlikely to be found there, and the chaos they had just left should not reach that far, but to get there, he had to skirt the edges of the triangle and dive back through the heart of shifting rocks.

The collision changed the patterns and orbital paths of the asteroid field. The changes were greater closer to the site of the impact, of course, and similar collisions happened every minute somewhere out in the field. Things changed fast, and the computer could only track and predict the rocks for a finite amount of space. Even if he'd noticed the preliminary alarm, they would not have had a lot of time, but still Teo fumed that it had come so close.

He hadn't strapped in again and was still only half-dressed, but his first thought upon engaging the grapples again was not for his attire or even the welfare of his ship.

Instead he reached over and grabbed Liam, wrapping his arms around him in a hug and breathing in that odd mixture of explosives and sex that had him half-hard again in a single breath. Then kiss him and reassure himself physically that they were both still alive -- that's what he wanted to do, anyway. What he did was to turn his head and look at the boomer, now rather green again and glaring at him. God, his anger was sweet!

"Well," he said brightly, standing and flashing a wide grin at Liam. "That was exciting, wasn't it?"

While all this rocking and banging was going on, Liam was curled up in his seat, shivering in terror, his knees drawn up, his arms wrapped around them, and he shook. Each stone that struck the hull was his world collapsing, again, and again, and again. He felt pathetic, but god he wanted to go and huddle in a small place. He tried to block out the sound, the images, and when things finally stopped he didn't move for a moment, before he chanced a look, realizing they were okay and tentatively, as Teo extended the hooks and put them in place, he unbuckled his harness and shakily climbed to his feet.

When he was grabbed, he yelped softly, pulled against the pilot, he narrowed his eyes, growling when the other spoke and shoved him off, "I hate you." He growled and stormed off. First he takes advantage of him, then he nearly gets them killed because he was sooo wrapped up in taking advantage of him, "Fucking pilots.... thinking with his cock... " He trailed off into further mutinous mutterings as he finished pulling on his suit, he was going to bloody well lock himself in this thing, not that the pilot would take advantage of him again, he didn't do that, according to his reputation, fucking pilot.

Turning his back to hide his smile, Teo quickly sat back down and began
going over the damage reports. A small screen to the far left side of
the console blinked at him and he glanced at it curiously.

<that hurt>

Teo patted the screen lightly. <sorry, Ick. u ok?>

<do I look okay to you?>

Teo snickered, and then glanced over his shoulder before typing. <shh!>

<fuck you>

<when did you learn to swear?>

<techs hooked me up to Hephaestus last delivery>

"Bastards," Teo muttered.

<they didn't find anything>

He nodded absently as his fingers darted over the controls. It was a
record haul; everyone would be trying to get the Icarus' flight
plans, so he wasn't sure why he was surprised, and they'd be especially
eager when they got back from this run.

Actually, it might not be such a bad idea to go back with less, put
them off the trail. He frowned. The whole idea on coming back to the
Triangle was to get rid of Liam all the sooner. Was he changing his
mind? No. No, of course not! He was just thinking he wasn't so sure
he wanted all the attention just now. There was a spy to catch.

Something beeped and he looked up.

<what were you doing?> the computer asked. When Teo
didn't answer right away, more text appeared: <you don't sleep
that soundly, so what were you doing?>

<none of your business> Just thinking about it was making him hard again.

A very creative diagram of a finger in the 'FU' position appeared on the screen. Teo chuckled softly.

The A.I. in the Icarus' flight recorder was a very expensive and
very contraband item. It was also an old prototype stolen from the UN
and hidden away amongst other Alliance assets. The A.I. was very
simple, from a few years ago when the scientific community was starting
to experiment with actual computer intelligence rather than fancy
programing. To Teo it all looked alike, these simple A.I.s and the
current "responsive programs," but they were worlds diffenent than the
current (and just recently outlawed) imprinting technology.

He shuddered. He'd been at Epsilon 12 station when their A.I. had gone
mad. That was the last straw for the conservatives in the UN. They'd
actually sided with the R.I.L. (Rights for Intelligent Life) and
demanded that the stalled legislature regarding artificial intelligence
get passed pronto! After decades of going circles around the UN, the
measures passed in a landslide. So that was that, and humankind's
research into artificial intelligence was crushed back into the dark
ages.

Whatever. All Teo needed to know was that his bosses had determined
that the risks he would be taking out here on Hephaestus necessitated
some insurance.

There was only so much data storage space on a mining pod, even with
Teo's alterations to its guts, so his little A.I. could never fully
develop -- or, it shouldn't, anyway, but the thing was finding its own
way. Its original task was to protect the data stored on the pod,
because Teo couldn't have anyone poking around and seeing how much he'd
modified. That and unlike every other mining pod pilot out there, he
kept all his records instead of purging them after each flight. He had
a large section of the asteroid field mapped out, which helped the A.I.
predict the movement of the field, and helped keep him alive. He was a
good pilot, top of his class, but this was a little extra edge.

With his list of priority repairs, Teo wandered into the main section
of the pod to wipe down with some sanitary cloths before pulling his
suit back on. Over that he started pulling on the pieces to his EVA
gear.

"Broken pieces of that rock you smashed up on our last visit are still
there," he informed Liam. He jerked his thumb towards the cockpit as
he pulled his toolbox from its compartment. "I put it up on the plot
for you. Soon as I get these repairs made, we can go pick 'em up."

He looked up from the floor when the other addressed him, glancing down as he started in on his explosives, laying out the parts on the floor. He arched a brow, "Yeah I figured." He murmured distractedly as the other suited up to go fix stuff. "You need help?" He asked, balancing and measuring, mentally calculating the difference of gravity from Hephaestus to the pod's minimal gravity. He'd done this a hundred times with Brady, often with the pilot staring over his shoulder, trying to follow what he was doing, but it never got through his head, really. He sprinkled and dusted and topped it off, taping and sealing the things in place as he placed his remote fuse and set his belongings aside.

If the other needed help, he'd stand after he'd done his thing, and suit up, to follow the other out, if not, he remained inside, checking stats and things inside the pod to see how badly they'd been damaged. His hands darted across the panels, he knew most of the ins and outs of a podship, being with Brady had rubbed off on him and they'd worked well together. Hopefully, maybe he and Teo could come to some manner of understanding... if he wasn't disposed of like so many others of the man's conquests.

Teo considered Liam's nimble fingers and the uses he could have for them, and then discarded the idea as an unnecessary distraction. Fingers on the handle of his toolbox, he wondered if he might have time for the scenes inspired a second ago, but shoved those aside, too. Something that enjoyable couldn't be a mistake, even if he hadn't a clue why he'd done it, but he wouldn't press his luck a second time ... even if seeing Liam all pissy was getting him all hot and --

He slammed his helmet on those thoughts and stepped inside the tiny airlock. After a safety check, he closed the hatch and began the cycling process.

"Later, sweetheart," he mocked over the com line as he drifted outside.

The tether kept him safely secured to the pod's hull, but the damage made unhooking himself occassionally a necessity. He prayed that the magnets on his boots would hold and that nothing would penetrate the shields while he made repairs.

There was nothing to hear in the silence of space except the sound of his breathing and mutterings inside his helmet, but his imagination always insisted that the asteroids rubbed against each other with a menacing, grinding noise. To combat his imagination, Teo had developed a habit of talking to himself while outside the pod and he seldom realized he was doing it after all this time.

He cussed a particularly intricate piece of wiring, plus all the generations of engineers who thought placing the overrides for the missiles in series with the secondary environmental controls was a good idea. If he crossed the wrong wires, they could wind up floating in free-fall until they returned to Hephaestus.

Liam barely spared the pilot a glance as he went through the motions on both boards, some things he didn't recognize on the board, so he left them be, figuring that Teo had had some modifications done to the Icarus that weren't exactly entirely standard. He heard the other tinkering around outside, and if he was quiet enough, it almost seemed like he could hear the other muttering while he did repairs. He chuckled to himself and cuddled down into his suit, before his face screwed up. He found something... endearing about Teo. God forbid. He'd sooner slug the other, than admit it, hell, he'd have rather slugged his grandmother, than admit such a thing as finding anything about Teo Diluca endearing. Ugh.

He finished his work-ups and mark-up sheets and when Teo did return he was half asleep in his chair, one leg draped onto the floor, the other over the arm of the chair as his arm was draped over his lap and his arm dangled carelessly off to one side, his head bobbing against his chest as his breathing deepened slowly, his eyes shut as his leg bobbed absently.

Liam was not in the crew compartment when Teo got back to the ship. He shucked off the EVA suit with relief, stuffing it back into its compartment with relief as he looked around. It wasn't like a person could hide in a mining pod, so he figured that the boomer was just ignoring him. He took his time to clean up a little and grab out a bag of dinner before going up to the cockpit. He'd been 'outside' several hours and was tired and hungry, but he stopped and stared when he saw Liam.

The smaller man looked like a little kid wadded up in his seat, leg hanging over, his face smoothed of his usual flighty attitude. Teo trailed his fingers over the exposed cheek, smiling a little at the whuffling murmur he tickled from Liam.

Then he snatched his hand back. What was he doing? He couldn't afford friendship -- what about Jack? his mind asked -- and a lover would ruin his cover. But, they were still out in the field, and he hadn't yet gotten his fill ...

He glanced at the dials and gauges, but there were no alerts, and the constantly updating read-outs showed nothing in threat or even cautionary range. There were more repairs to do as well, but he had to wait for his suit to cycle and get some sleep before venturing out again.

He licked his lips. They had time ... but then again they couldn't take another near-miss.

"Screw it," he whispered, and braced his arms on Liam's chair arms to press their lips together determinedly, nibbling and coaxing the slightly parted mouth to open further. He'd wake Liam with a kiss, and hopefully more, but his kisses were like a rich, dark wine that went straight to his head.

Liam was blissfully passed out in a half-land, where senseless things made perfect sense, purple horses with human faces they made him smile absently in his sleep as their noses brushed his cheeks. "Hmm..." He mumbled turning into their noses but they were gone, and he made a noise of protest, but settled down again, his other arm pulling in to keep warm as he snuggled into his chair better, slowly drifting off again, more orange oceans, and funny horses with purple hair and singing, pretty singing.

He smiled in his sleep, making another humming sound, descending into the oceans to swim and... and... Teo was there. And there was dancing and there was a dress... Damn it, it was on him. Old style. The corset was uncomfortable, but the dress was kind of poofy and flowy and it felt really nice. Though he made a note to shave before putting it on again. And maybe find a more comfortable pair of heels? Yes, much more comfortable shoes, these would never do. Oh! That was much better, with the music. And Teo looked very dashing in tails, yes, his hair pinned back half way. Hmm... Lovely music. He leaned against Teo, as though drunk, he was so warm...

He felt the other's hand on his chin, lifting his face as the other's tilted down. The kiss was firm and he hummed slightly, letting the other have his way with his mouth...

His eyes flashed open brightly, fixating on the face in front of him, Teo. He was being assaulted again! He bolted upright, his sleep muddled mind sending the chair backwards, propping up the footrest and putting him tumbling back over the end with a loud yell. He rubbed his eyes, "Molesting me in my sleep!" He yelled blearily, "Deviant! Don't think you can ride your hand up my dress and have me any way you please." Of course he yelled this before he was entirely sure he wasn't in a dress any more. He flopped on the floor, running a hand through his hair, which wasn't as long as he'd thought it'd been.

He was definitely going to have to shave.

Teo jumped back, startled more than a little, knocking his knees against the pilot's chair and falling into it. He wanted to say "What the fuck?" but only managed to snort a bit of a chuckle. Then he was laughing full out, collapsed there in his seat.

Liam had the cutest, surprised and sleep-befuddled face Teo thought he'd ever seen (not that he'd seen many; he tended to leave before that). He wanted to kiss him again, especially when the boomer's face narrowed in suspicion and then irritation bordering on anger, but he was laughing too hard to do much more than stick a leg out to try and prevent the shorter man from leaving the cockpit.