Paradise Lost(ONC Entry- Unfinished)

Part 9: Vel

Vel stood under the shower spout and let the jets of cleansing steam wash her anxieties down the drain. Her team was being deployed down to the surface. She pressed her forehead to the tiled wall, her reddish blond hair cascading down her face like heavy ribbons. She didn't doubt her team's ability, they out scored the other teams by double digits in the simulations. Her problem was that this would be their first live fire exercise. This would be the first time they faced real physical threats and not just point loss and demerits.

She closed her eyes tight and listened to the steam coming out the jets, and the water trickling off her body and down the drain. Saxon took risks, some had even called him reckless, but he was a good officer. Vel couldn't fathom blaming him for what happen in the dome. We're no longer playing games, she told herself, this is the real thing. This is life or death.

The door to the barracks shower slid open with an ominous whisper. Vel listened to the sound of feet splashing through the pooling water with the minimum of curiosity. The barracks were a shared space used by all of the rangers, and it happened to have the best hydro-showers on the entire ship. Nova and Cody had made it their mission to confirm this, and in the past five years neither had found a contender.

The jets on her right came to life with a heavy hiss. Vel listened to the song of the competing shower flows, and waited for her new companion to say something. Their silence spoke volumes. She turned her head so that the water cascaded down her back. Wiping the water from her face she opened her eyes. Cupid stood a few feet from her, naked save for the soap bubbles he spread across his body.

She took in the finely chiseled contours of his body. All rangers were required to adhere to a strict physical regimen. Cupid pushed himself beyond, losing himself in exercise while the others socialized whenever possible. Alone without their gear and training simulations, Vel found the results well worth the effort. She wondered what would happen if she closed the distance and helped him. She looked up at his face and found Kris's face staring back at her.

Vel gasped, and took a startled step back, losing her footing in the sudsy water.

"Shit!" she shouted with feeling as she spilled onto the tiled floor. Instinct made Vel throw her arms up, sacrificing forearms to protect her skull.

The impact still made lights dance before her vision. She closed her eyes, letting sparkling stars move across the void of her eyelids. She laughed to herself. If anyone else had been in the room she would have been embarrassed, but not with Cupid Godheart. He was so aloof Vel wasn't even sure he notice she'd fallen.

She opened her eyes and found his hand stretched out towards her, steam jets turning to water pearls as they hit his body. With the lights still dancing in her vision Cupid looked surreal, glistening muscle and twinkling lights. Vel shook her head to be rid of the whimsical thoughts intruding on her. It didn't help. She took his hand and used his anchoring weight to pull herself up. The room tilted to the left and Vel braced herself with a hand on his chest. His skin was smooth, warm to the touch.

"Thanks," she looked into his eyes and her heart quickened, "Sergeant."

He stared back with an odd intensity.

"We're off duty. You can use my given name," he said.

That was a first. Sergeant Godheart lived his life as if he were always on duty. Blake and Cody joked that he slept in his armor and bathed in his uniform... Vel let her gaze dip low. He definitely wasn't wearing any uniform.

"Thank you, Cupid." Her voice was breathy. What's come over me? She thought as she brought her eyes to his full lips.

"You're welcome, Vellitus. I was th-"

The barracks shower slid open again. Aphrodite and Kris swept into the chamber, chasing away the strangely magnetic look in Cupid's eyes and replacing it with his usual distant expression. Seeing the two of them together smothered the strangeness that had taken hold in Vel as well. Kris and Aphrodite were linked arm in arm and laughing at one of his practiced punchlines.

Krisalys Steel had been the stuff of Vel's wet dreams for more than a year. Seeing him in person always gave her a rush, seeing him naked was dizzying. Aphrodite and Hathor Godheart were every bit as impressive as their brother with impossibly long legs and minds as sharp as razors. Vel spent as much time as possible in the gym in order to keep her body in tip top shape. All the while having to order the twins to join the team during workouts. All to have both able to out lift everyone except Cupid. It took a long time for Vel to accept that the Godhearts would always set the bar for Deep Colony-50's rangers. After all they were genetically designed to be perfect in every way.

Vel suddenly felt self conscious and jealous.

"Have you two finally begun pairing?" Aphrodite asked, with a mischievous grin. "Nova bet 100 credits the Lieutenant would have to eventually order you two into each other's beds."

Kris tried in vain to stifle a laugh behind his hand. Vel turned red, and it had nothing to do with the steam jets.

"We were not pairing. The Corporal slipped. I merely helped her up."

"She's not the only one up, Cu."

Everyone followed Aphrodite's gaze down the line of his chest. It spanned the gap between them and rested on Vel's hip. Vellitus hopped back. Kris and Aphrodite bursted into laughter.

"Enough!" Cupid's was a voice all of Ranger Team 1 has trained to obey.

The shower grew silent. Vel stood at attention under the hot jets, unable and unwilling to meet Kris's eyes.