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“Number 437, Thomas H. Norstein.”
“Sir, yes, sir!” he exclaimed, taking a step forward out of the line of soldiers he had been a part of. He was proud to be a new member of HATA, the Hostile Alien Termination Army, serving his planet by fighting the aliens that frequently tried to attack their susceptible young planet. Thankfully HATA had been formed many years ago and it’s highly trained soldiers had been fighting to keep earth safe ever since. Thomas had dreamed of this day for years; being assigned his partner so he could finally start fighting to protect everyone. He had worked hard at the academy and had completed his training with honours and this was the moment when everything would begin.
“Your skills have been matched together with…Number 353, Marcus Damon.”
He hated the tiny whine of frustration that escaped him when Marcus Damon nonchalantly took a step out of the line he had begrudgingly joined, and shot him a cocky grin, “Hey there partner!”
Thomas grit his teeth. He knew this was the part of the process where he was meant to shake hands with his partner and then they would go off and get to know each other before they started training together the next day, but there was no part of Thomas that wanted to do that right now. He knew Marcus well enough already.
Thomas had been unfortunate enough to go to the same academy as Marcus, and whilst Thomas had taken everything seriously and worked as hard as he could to get here, Marcus treated the whole process like a joke and had only been accepted because his father had been a war hero. It made Thomas sick that a joker like him could be accepted just because of his father’s connections. And now Marcus was going to drag him down with him. After all his hard work and sacrifice, he had to work together with someone who was more likely to shoot himself in the face than the aliens.
So, for the first time in his life, he decided to screw the rules, choosing to walk off without even acknowledging Marcus. He ignored the way Marcus called after him as he left the room, electing instead to speed up in an attempt to get away from him. He would have to talk to someone about this; it had to be a mistake or some kind of joke. There was no way he and Marcus were a match when it came to their skills; he’d spent years mastering everything from the different weapons stocked on their skips to the anatomy of the aliens to the driving controls of every spacecraft at the army’s disposal. Marcus had spent the years either not doing a lot or getting into pointless fights. They weren’t a match at all; they were on totally different planes of existence. He was not going to rest until he got them to change their minds.
--
He’d failed. He had spent most of yesterday afternoon trying to convince Commander Sampson that he was wrong in the pairing but despite all his reasoning, pleading and even begging he was firm in his decision. He would be partnered with Marcus Damon whether he liked it or not.
He tried not to scowl as he made his way through the halls of the practice rooms, passing other men and women as he went, giving them nods of acknowledgment as he went past. Some he knew from the academy but many he didn’t. It was a big base but it wouldn’t do any harm to make himself known around here. He just hoped his foul mood wasn’t as obvious as it felt.
It didn’t get much better when the doors to his assigned practice area whooshed open, revealing Marcus lounging around on the simulator impatiently.
“Hey there little boy, are you all done throwing your tantrum?” he said, his eyebrow raised in a clear challenge as he sat up straight.
Thomas scowled at him, wishing he could have been paired with literally anyone over Marcus, as he snapped back, “And you wonder why I don’t want to be paired with you with that kind of attitude?”
Marcus jumped up to his feet, taking a step towards him, a small growl escaping him as he said, “At least I was mature enough not to have a hissy fit!”
“You wouldn’t know mature if it slapped you in the face!” he exclaimed, before suddenly there was a fist flying right towards him. He was lucky he had honed such quick reflexes because even though he didn’t see it coming, he was able to dodge to the side, leaving Marcus’ fist to hit nothing but air.
“And there’s the proof!” he exclaimed, dodging to the left as Marcus whirled round and aimed another punch at his head. How was he supposed to work with someone as hot-headed and immature as Marcus Damon?
“Get off your damn high horse already, you prick!” Marcus quickly twisted his fist, aiming yet again for Thomas’ head. Did he not have any original ideas? Really?
Thomas gritted his teeth in frustration and ducked Marcus’ fist before sending his own fist hard right into Marcus’ stomach. Marcus gave a pained grunt and stumbled back, giving Thomas a chance to stand up straight and hold his fists out in front of him.
Marcus sent him a filthy glare but before either of them could send the next punch, the door whooshed open and Lieutenant Yoshino Fujieda stepped in, glaring at the both of them as she said, “Alright, enough fighting.”
“He started it,” exclaimed Marcus, pointing a finger accusingly at Thomas.
“I know exactly who started it, Marcus,” she replied, her eyes narrowing before she pointed to her earpiece, “Are you forgetting that you’re being watched right now?”
Thomas was glad that they’d been assigned Yoshi as their supervising officer during training. She was known for her no-bullshit attitude and her propensity for hard work, which matched Thomas well. It was just an added bonus that Marcus would have to buck up around her.
“But he threw the insults first,” complained Marcus with a pout.
“I don’t care,” replied Yoshi, pinching her nose with a sigh, “I just need you two to work together while you’re here, then when we’re finished you can go back to whatever kind of weird foreplay you’ve got going on.”
“Eh!” exclaimed Marcus loudly, looking thoroughly offended, “As if!”
Simultaneously Thomas ignored the flush of his cheeks as he quickly stuttered, “It’s nothing like that.” It really wasn’t. Sure, Marcus was relatively good looking and if he didn’t have such an odious personality then maybe…but it wasn’t worth considering because he did have his personality and that was the biggest turn off Thomas had ever seen.
“Mmmhmm” replied Yoshi, looking like she was thoroughly enjoying teasing them, “If that’s the case then dial down the sexual tension already so we can get some work done.”
Thomas frowned but nodded, finding he couldn’t quite look in Marcus’ direction, even as Marcus gave an annoyed, “Hmmph,” and returned to his previous place in the weapons seat of the simulator.
“Actually Marcus, you’ll be driving the ship,” she explained, gesturing the other seat a few metres away, “Thomas will be manning the weapons.”
“No way; I get dibs on killing the aliens,” argued Marcus, grabbing the controls as though that would make his argument more valid.
“Dibs don’t count here, soldier,” she reprimanded, her previously good natured ribbing, turning to annoyance, “When your skills were put in the system it was determined that you would work best with Thomas as his driver and so that it where you will work, unless you want to get shipped straight back home. Understood?”
Marcus glared at her but at least let go of the controls. Yoshi’s fists clenched by her side as she repeated, “I said, is that understood?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” he replied, none too happily as he stood up from the weapons seat and moved over to throw himself into the driver’s seat instead.
Thomas watched with sympathy as she sighed and gestured for him to get into the simulator too. He didn’t hesitate as he walked over and strapped himself into the seat, pulling the controls closer to him.
“Alright boys, since you’re new to working together, we’ll start the simulator off at an easier level and work our way up as you go until you get close to the level you’ll need to be to be given permission to actually fight,” she explained before pushing a button the wall, bringing the walls of the simulation up around them.
The walls connected above his seat with a hiss of air before the screen flickered to life in front of him, presenting him with a view of space. It was exactly the same as the simulators in the academy and he felt himself calm down at the familiar feel of the controls.
Yoshi’s voice flickered over the speakers as the simulator began the countdown, “You’ll likely get killed somewhere along the way but just do the best you can.”
Thomas grinned as he watched the familiar giant orange numbers in the middle of the screen count down. This was his element; this was what he trained for. Marcus wasn’t going to ruin it for him.
As the countdown reached zero, an alien suddenly flew at the screen and with honed reflexes, he punched the controls and shot it right in the head, its guts exploding and vanishing into space. The ship veered round, presenting Thomas with an array of other alien ships and with practiced ease, he shot each one, even as they moved slowly around.
He frowned, forgetting how easy the earlier levels on this were and as if reading his mind, he heard Marcus shout from his own booth, as well as hearing him through the speaker system, “Screw this!”
Thomas gave a surprised grunt as the ship began tumbling round in the simulation, the aliens suddenly moving out of his range a lot faster as the ship veered wildly from side to side.
“What the fuck, Marcus!” he shouted, unable to believe that the idiot couldn’t go five minutes without trying to mess something up.
“Come on genius-boy! Show me your skills already! Or can you only hit an alien when it’s served on a plate?” he teased, his voice crackling through the system.
Thomas growled, his fingers suddenly flying across the controls, “Oh, it is on!”
The ship veered up and around again and he tried not to get frustrated as the calculations kept going wrong from the constantly moving co-ordinates. He was shooting but he couldn’t seem to hit anything.
“Seems like they held out the genius badge a little too early, don’t you think?” tutted Marcus in a sing song voice as the ship veered up, pushing Thomas into the back of his seat.
Thomas growled, the frustration running through his veins as he ran the aiming calculations through his head faster than he’d ever needed to do before. He punched them into the computer, his face lighting up in a grin as the alien blew up before the ship continued to spin on, unwilling to stop to admire the view. He could do this.
Thomas realised with a start that he was actually improving as the ship continued spinning left and right with no obvious reasoning. His calculations had to be shorter and sharper and Marcus’ insane driving was helping him to get plenty of practice. Marcus was actually…challenging him...
He grinned to himself as he shot down yet another ship. No-one had ever challenged him quite like this but he liked it.
Time seemed irrelevant as Marcus continued to spin wildly, even as the aliens began to move faster, and then started shooting back. Thomas realised with a start that Marcus’ insane driving earlier had prepared him for this later stage of the simulation, so that he could still hit the aliens even when Marcus was focussed on avoiding the enemy’s fire.
Had Marcus really planned it all along? Was there really more to him than met the eye?
He ignored his thought process, instead choosing to focus entirely on the task at hand, calculating so fast that there wasn’t room for anything in his heads but numbers, weapons and aliens. The number of aliens only seemed to grow and the ship began moving so erratically that he was sure they would get hit soon and game over, as was the only way the simulation ever stopped, but to his amazement, they didn’t get hit even once and he was able to keep hitting the enemy, in spite of it all until suddenly there were no more enemies and the simulation flashed words on the screen that he had never seen before:
‘Highest Level Completed.’
“Yeah! Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” exclaimed Marcus loudly over the speaker system before there was a hiss of air as the walls of the simulation began to lower. He could still hear Marcus celebrating and for once he could empathise with the impulsive guy; they had actually beaten the simulation. It was something that Thomas had never dreamed of doing, because he hadn’t even known that it was possible; he’d always presumed that the challenge would always continue to increase until it wiped you out. And yet together they had defeated it…
As the walls lowered beneath his seat he looked over to see Yoshi staring at them, her jaw slack as she looked at them incredulously. “You guys actually beat it…” she whispered, looking from him to Marcus and back.
Marcus shot out of his chair immediately and flung himself over the top of Thomas’ seat, his arm hanging over Thomas’ shoulder, “Damn; that was some awesome shooting out there. I mean, not as good as my driving obviously, but still pretty good.”
Thomas glanced awkwardly away, not sure why he was suddenly feeling so self-conscious as he glanced away and replied, “Thanks…you uh…didn’t suck…”
“Jeez blondie, you need to work on your compliments,” he replied before letting out a raucous laugh, even as Thomas stuttered out, “b…blondie?!”
“Ah well; we’ll have plenty of time to work on that when we’re out there fighting the real aliens,” continued Marcus, ignoring what he had said as he stopped leaning on Thomas to pump his fist in the air instead.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” he reminded, finally over the weird moment of self-consciousness, “We’ve not been given the go ahead yet.”
Suddenly the door whooshed open and Commander Sampson walked in, earning an immediate salute from Yoshi which Thomas was quick to copy as he hurriedly stood up. Marcus just grinned at the commander and said, “So, how’d we do?”
“Don’t be so familiar!” whispered Thomas harshly, wishing Marcus had been as attentive with his manners as with his driving skills.
“I think you two did fantastically,” replied the commander, ignoring the improper greeting from Marcus as his usual frown tilted into a smile, leaving Thomas to raise his eyebrows in surprise.
“You were watching us, sir?” he asked, ignoring the way Marcus whooped in delight at the commander’s compliment.
“Was I watching the most promising new pair in the base? Of course I was,” he replied with a knowing smile, before he went on, “In fact, I think you’re ready for the real thing.”
“Alright! Let’s get out there and kick some alien butt!” exclaimed Marcus, slapping Thomas hard on the back and sending him stumbling forward a few steps, having been taken by surprise.
“You really mean it, sir?” he asked, not wanting to be too hopeful. He had been working hard for years to get to the point where he could be out there, putting his life on the line to protect his home planet. To be told he finally could, almost felt too good to be true.
Commander Sampson nodded at him and Thomas couldn’t help the grin that appeared on his face, even as the commander teased, “I told you it was a good match, eh?”
Thomas felt the embarrassed flush reappear on his cheeks at the reference to yesterday’s arguments and nodded awkwardly. Maybe he had judged Marcus too quickly. He really was one hell of an awesome pilot. He glanced over to see Marcus still celebrating loudly and shook his head fondly. He certainly wasn’t going to admit it out loud though.
--
The alarm blared overhead, the red lights fading in and out as Thomas ran up the corridor, fiddling with his ear piece as he ran. The adrenaline sung in his veins as his legs pumped eagerly against the floor; this was the chance he had been waiting for. He was finally going to get to fight for real.
He dodged people going into their own launch pods and counted up the door numbers before eventually reaching his and Marcus’ assigned ship. He whacked the button to open the door and saw that Marcus was already standing at the top of the stairs, looking more serious than Thomas had ever seen him before, clad in his assigned silver spacesuit, ear piece in his ear and ready to go.
“Come on, let’s go,” he urged before turning and making his way quickly into the craft and out of Thomas’ sight.
Thomas quickly tore up the stairs, and glanced over to see Marcus getting into his drivers chair and quickly flip the switch that closed the door behind them, sealing them in. Thomas quickly ducked through the doorway into the weapons control room and sat in the seat, pulling the controls towards him, just like he was in the simulator. But this time, the screen in front of him showed the exit of the launch deck that their ship was in and would soon show the depths of space.
“Ready to begin checks?” asked Marcus’ voice as it came through his ear piece.
“Ready!” he replied eagerly as he strapped himself in and watched the screen in anticipation. It was all down to Marcus now, and prior to the simulation he would have been nervous as hell about leaving all the important details down to Marcus. Actually, he couldn’t lie; he was still a little nervous but as he heard Marcus go through all the checks out loud he realised that he shouldn’t have been nervous at all. Marcus was going through it like a pro.
He proceeded with his own checks as Marcus finished and paused to wait for Thomas to finish, before he spoke again, “Launch sequence beginning in 3…2…1…”
The engines of the ship roared to life beneath them, thrusters bringing the ship off the floor and the whir letting them know that the wheels were being brought in. The floor of the bay began to open, exposing them to the vast depths of space and with a voice so excited that Thomas could practically hear his grin, Marcus said, “Let’s fly!”
Thomas couldn’t help but echo his grin before suddenly the ship was plummeting down, joining the flurry of other ships that were heading towards the oncoming green hoard of aliens ships. Thomas felt the adrenaline surge through his body as Marcus engaged the thrusters and sent them flying towards the enemy, who were already engaged in fire with the other HATA ships.
“Let ‘em have it!” exclaimed Marcus through the ear piece.
Thomas needed no encouragement as the calculations sieved through his brain easily after all the practice yesterday, quickly shooting at the ships. It was difficult to tell what damage from his weapons and what was from fellow ships but it was clear that they were getting damaged. Marcus quickly engaged the same wild driving tactics as the day before to avoid the return fire and Thomas realised with dread that he was actually lucky to be paired with such a good pilot as he spotted other HATA ships getting struck by the beams.
The fighting was intense and he tried to keep his mind on the battle but he kept spotting broken HATA ships floating in the middle of the battlefield as they flew wildly around. Those were all fellow soldiers. They were all dead…
Images of his mother’s ship being shot floated in his mind and suddenly he felt like he was going to be sick.
“Don’t stop shooting!” exclaimed Marcus, as they barrel rolled to the right, “We’re winning!”
“But all those ships…” he whispered, unable to stop spotting them littering the battlefield.
“They made their choice to put their lives on the line just like we did!” exclaimed Marcus, his voice crawling passionately through the ear piece, “Now unless you want to end up just like them, then I suggest you start shooting them already!”
Thomas’ eyes widened. Why was Marcus having to talk him down? He always made choices based on logic but here he was, in the heat of battle, letting his emotions getting the best of him. He growled and with renewed vigour began to shoot again. He was fighting for the earth, fighting for his fallen comrades and fighting for his family but most importantly, he was fighting for himself too.
Time was suddenly irrelevant and Thomas didn’t know how long they’d been fighting when the alien ships that were left suddenly turned tail, beginning to retreat.
“Thank goodness,” said Thomas, glad that the fight was over for now. This is exactly what he’d been working towards but it wasn’t all fun and games when people were dying.
“Get back here so we can finish you off!” exclaimed Marcus and suddenly their ship was flying forward once again.
He gave a cry of surprise as he was pushed back in his seat from the sudden forward motion and shouted, “Marcus! What the hell are you doing?”
“What do you think I’m doing? I’m not going to let them go until we’ve destroyed them all!” he replied. Thomas growled; maybe his first impression of Marcus had been right after all.
“Are you an idiot! Turn around! What do you think we can do by ourselves? Even if they’re retreating, there’s still lots of them,” he argued, hoping Marcus would see reason as he nervously watched the tail end of the enemy ships on the screen.
“My dad wouldn’t have let them go, so neither will I.”
“Those are totally different situations!” he exclaimed, unable to believe that Marcus was such an idiot, “Your dad was the only one left when the aliens were going to kill the earth but we’ve won so there’s no reason to throw our lives away!”
“Tch, so pessimistic,” replied Marcus, still not sounding like he was going to turn around.
Thomas felt a wave of nauseous panic rush through him; this idiot was so headstrong that he was going to lead them straight into mortal danger because he thought they could destroy the entire remainder of the enemy fleet. Nothing he could say would stop him, so he’d just have to get down there and use force.
He unstrapped himself and ducked under the doorway, quickly running over to the driver’s chair to grab Marcus’ collar. The ship jerked slightly as he did so before one of Marcus’ hands grabbed his wrist and tried to pull it away.
“What the hell are you doing? Get off me!” exclaimed Marcus, glaring up at him as he tried to keep one hand on the controls.
“Stop trying to be a hero already and just turn the ship around!” he exclaimed, pulling even tighter on Marcus’ collar to try and get the point across.
Instead of doing what he should have done, Marcus just pressed the auto drive button on the controls before he suddenly stood up, head-butting Thomas hard in the chin as he did so. Thomas’s teeth crashed together, sending shooting pains through his jaw as he was thrown onto the floor, landing hard on his butt.
“Stop trying to tell me what to do all the time,” growled Marcus as he stood over Thomas, his hand clenched into a fist as he glared down.
“Well maybe I wouldn’t if you actually did things right for a change,” he shouted in reply before suddenly Marcus had thrown himself down on top of him.
Thomas tried to roll but Marcus had caged him between his legs and suddenly his head crashed against the floor beneath him, sending pain reverberating around his skull as Marcus sent a punch at him. Thomas used his martial arts prowess to spin their positions round and he managed to get a few good punches in before he shouted, “What the heck is wrong with you Marcus, are you trying to get us killed? Just when I was finally starting to think you were a halfway decent human being!”
“Like I give a crap what you think!” exclaimed Marcus before he managed to kick Thomas off and away from him. They both quickly got to their feet, panting wildly as they glared at each other, the silence around them palpable.
BOOM.
They were both sent flying wildly to the side as the ship rocked violently under the loud explosion somewhere just beneath the deck.
“Shit!” exclaimed Marcus as he hurriedly got up and rushed towards the pilot’s chair. Thomas jumped up to make his way back to the weapons controls; he had to get them to stop blasting them before they were killed. Another explosion rocked the ship though, from above and as he was knocked to the floor once more, Thomas realised with a rising sense of dread that the guns had been hit. They were totally defenceless.
One more explosion hit right by the large window and Thomas felt sure that the window would shatter, leaving them to instantly die from the air leak but it held strong and mere seconds later the ship jerked to the side, sending Thomas sliding to the far wall. Marcus was back in the pilot’s seat and with a look of grim determination on his face he turned the ship around and fled as fast as he could. The ship only got so far before the engines seemed to suddenly splutter painfully beneath them and die, leaving the ship to coast to a stop.
Thomas snapped his head around to look out the rear window and felt relief wash over him as he spotted the alien ships now carrying on their way, obviously safe in the knowledge that they were no longer being tailed and sure enough that they were going to die anyway.
He felt a small moment of relief before the panic began to return as he realised that they were drifting in the middle of space with no engines and no weapons to defend themselves. He forced himself to calm down though as he remembered the communication chip on their ship; they’d just send a message back to request help and everything would be fine.
“Shit! Son of a… Shit!”
The small bit of relief only lasted for a second as he glanced back to Marcus in the pilot’s seat, swearing like a sailor as he desperately pushed buttons on the control.
Thomas finally got up from the floor after all the tumbling round and walked over, the emergency having numbed his anger somewhat as he asked, “Marcus? What’s going on?”
Marcus looked over at him and the look of desperation on his face told Thomas everything he feared even as Marcus blurted out, “The communication satellite’s busted.”
Thomas shoved Marcus out of his seat, quickly taking his place and typing away on the control unit. He was sure that Marcus was just doing it wrong; there was no way they could be stuck there, right? It was all just a bad joke…
And yet, the console kept telling him that the satellite was down, no matter how many times and in how many different ways he ran his fingers across the keys. Eventually he stopped, the fear and anger overwhelming him as he suddenly stood up and whirled around to face Marcus.
“This is all your damn fault!” shouted Thomas, watching as Marcus’ face turned into a snarl.
“If you remember right, we only got hit because you pulled me out of the pilot’s chair!”
Thomas felt a small wave of self-hatred wash over him before he turned it outwards and snapped, “I wouldn’t have had to if you hadn’t decided to try to be a hero and get us killed. You are not your father!”
Marcus took a tiny step back, looking like he’d just been slapped and suddenly Thomas realised he had gone too far. He wouldn’t apologise though.
“It doesn’t even matter anymore…” he whispered, the helplessness finally overwhelming him as he turned his back on Marcus and walked to the far wall.
He leaned his back against it and slid down with a big sigh before he reached into his pocket to pull out a small photo that he always kept with him to look at whenever he questioned why he was here. It was a photo of his sister; Relena that they’d taken together not long before he left to come here. They were together in the garden, in front of the big willow tree with him standing next to her in her wheelchair. He adored her so much; protecting her was one of the main reasons that he was even here. The thought that he would never get to see her again was almost too much.
He didn’t react when Marcus appeared and slid down the wall to sit next to him, glancing over at his photo. Before Thomas might have objected but since they were going to die anyway, there was no point in hiding it.
“Your sister?” he asked in a gentle voice that almost didn’t suit him. Thomas nodded as he stared forlornly at the photo and Marcus added, “She looks just like you.”
“I joined to keep her safe,” he said suddenly, not sure where the sudden burst of honesty had come from.
They were both quiet for a moment before Marcus reached into his pocket and pulled out a photo that looked thoroughly worn-out, like it had been looked at every day for years. Marcus looked at it for a moment before he offered it to Thomas.
Thomas gave a loud intake of breath and looked up to Marcus, as he asked, “Are you sure?”
Marcus glanced up at Thomas and nodded. Thomas reached out to carefully take the photo, his eyes widening when he realised who was in the photo. It looked like a family photo and it was immediately obvious that the young boy in the photo was Marcus, but above him was his mother, a beautiful young woman, and the man that Thomas would recognise in a heartbeat, Spencer Damon, the war hero. He sometimes found it easy to forget that Marcus was related to such a legend of HATA; the man who had given his life to save the earth and everyone on it.
Thomas’ eyes widened as his gaze was drawn back down to the young Marcus when he realised that there was a young girl with the same auburn coloured hair standing next to him.
“You have a younger sister too?” he asked quietly, staring down at the happy family photo.
“Yeah, her name is Kristy,” he replied quietly. They were both silent for a while as they stared at the photo with Marcus leaning closer so he could see it clearly too. Eventually Marcus spoke again, “I know everyone thinks I joined because I want to be like my dad, and of course I do what to make him proud but…I joined to keep my family safe…”
“I guess we’re similar after all,” admitted Thomas as he handed the photo back to Marcus who quickly placed it back in his pocket.
“You know…you’re not that bad of a guy Thomas,” admitted Marcus, his face closer than Thomas remembered it being before.
He felt his heart beat faster in his chest and looked away awkwardly as he replied, “You’re pretty okay too…”
“Pfft.” Thomas snapped his head to the side to see Marcus struggling to keep in a laugh before he explained, “We seriously need to work on those compliment skills.”
Thomas gave a small smile before he remembered where they were and sighed, “Well we have maybe a few days before we die of dehydration so good luck.”
With that Thomas put his head in his hands and gave a shaky sigh. He’d never imagined things ending like this.
“We can’t just give up!” Marcus growled and then he scrambled up into a standing position before announcing, “You’re a genius dammit.”
Thomas tentatively looked up to see Marcus looking determinedly down at him, a hand stretched out towards him, before a grin spread over his face, “You’re the real hero here, not me…”
Thomas looked at Marcus’ hand before glancing over at the control panel. He was pretty intelligent, sure, but how did Marcus expect him to be able to make their rescue possible. The engines were totally shot and no amount of engineering knowledge could help unless they could get some spare parts somewhere. The satellite would be easier to make with spare parts no longer in use for the engines but there was no way to get it outside the ship unless one of them went out and that was practically signing your own death warrant with their lack of safety equipment…
“Tell me!”
Thomas was brought out of his musings to see Marcus’ brows drawn together. Maybe it could work…
“We can make a new satellite…” he began before trailing off and explaining, “no…it’s too dangerous to attach it outside.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s dangerous, it’s still better than waiting around to die,” insisted Marcus, reaching down to grab Thomas’ hand and drag him up to his feet. Thomas allowed it and soon stood right in front of Marcus, their hands still gripping each other like a lifeline. “We can do this!”
Thomas felt his face flush and awkwardly released Marcus’ hand before he looked around, “Right, let’s see what we can use.”
--
“Stop fussing already and let’s get this show on the road,” insisted Marcus, all kitted out in his full spacesuit, the helmet sat snugly over his head as he looked through his clear visor at Thomas and smiled.
Thomas did his best to echo the smile but even though everything had been checked multiple times and the satellite was secured tightly to Marcus’s chest, he still felt a sense of dread at sending Marcus out there. He had wanted to go himself but Marcus had reminded him that he knew best how to connect the new satellite to the system which would have to be done at the same time as it was connected outside.
“Alright,” he replied, turning quickly away before suddenly he felt a gloved hand on his head and he paused.
“We’ll be fine; we’re the most promising pair, remember?” reassured Marcus. Thomas looked back to see Marcus grinning at him and he felt his heart beat even faster. He nodded awkwardly and Marcus retreated his hand before turning to get back into the depressurising chamber. Thomas opened his mouth as he felt the sudden irresistible urge to say something, but he couldn’t work out the right words to say so he closed his mouth and pushed the door closed behind Marcus instead.
“Be careful…” he whispered quietly, wishing he had said it before the door closed.
He jumped out of his skin when he got a reply in his earpiece, “I’ll be fine, just concentrate on your part of this.”
He felt his cheeks light up, embarrassed that he had been caught and pressed the buttons on the chamber to start the exit procedure. He waited until he could hear the outer door creak behind the main door before he hurriedly made his way back round to where the pilot’s console was (and simultaneously the controls for the whole ship). He sat and waited anxiously as he kept his eyes glued on the screen that he knew Marcus would have to climb round to get to where the satellite needed to go.
Eventually he spotted the tell-tale floating rope that was keeping Marcus attached to the spaceship float past the screen; a sign that Marcus was climbing across before his hands appeared on the far side of the screen as Marcus pulled himself up the ladder. Thomas gave a tiny sigh of relief and concentrated back on the screen to get everything set up his end.
“Thanks, its open,” he heard through his ear piece and looked over to see Marcus wedge his suited feet underneath the ladder rungs and use it to keep him grounded as he freed his arms to unhook the satellite dish from his chest. Thomas glanced warily at the feet Marcus was using to keep himself to the ship and kept reminding himself that Marcus was attached by a rope. He wasn’t going anywhere.
He shook his head and got a message ready to send off as soon as the satellite was attached before he looked back to watch Marcus work instead. He shouldn’t even care as much as he did; Marcus was still the same loud-mouthed impulsive person he always had been. Sure, they had opened up to each other but it didn’t mean he cared…right?
Something flickered across the window screen and it took a moment for Thomas to work out what it was but when he did, his heart dropped into his stomach as he jumped up from the pilot’s seat.
“Marcus! The rope’s broken!” he exclaimed, desperation surging through him as he rushed forward to get closer to the screen. No; he couldn’t lose Marcus like this. Not like this; that wasn’t fair.
Marcus only stopped what he was doing for a second, as if to process Thomas’ words before he carried on and replied, “It’s fine; I just need to finish this.”
“Forget the satellite!” he exclaimed, suddenly wanting nothing more than to reach out and drag Marcus back in by any means necessary. It was only the shortage of helmets that stopped him from doing just that. “Just get back in here before you float off!”
“I’m fine and I’m not moving until I’ve sorted this,” replied Marcus in an oddly calm tone that did nothing but worry Thomas even more.
“Marcus…” he whined, unable to deal with the thought of being trapped alone in space without him. No wait…just being alone. That’s all that he was really worried about, right? Not about being without Marcus specifically...
He heard Marcus chuckle into his ear piece as he continued to work away at the satellite, “Careful blondie or I might start to think you care.”
“I just don’t want your death on my conscience!” he snapped, unable to believe that Marcus was being so nonchalant about the danger he was in. Why was he such a martyr all the time? Did it run in his damn family!
Marcus didn’t reply immediately, instead electing to concentrate on the satellite before he hummed, “Almost done.” Thomas didn’t reply, suddenly too scared to say anything in case it startled Marcus enough to make him lose his footing.
Thomas just had to wait there tensely, his hands flat against the screen as he watched Marcus connect the last few wires. After what felt like an eternity, Marcus grinned at him and said, “All done.”
“Good; just be careful getting back…please,” he replied, unable to feel any form of relief until Marcus was back inside the spaceship.
“Aren’t I always?” replied Marcus with an amused huff before he bent down to grab hold of the ladder rung and un-wedged his feet to begin climbing down. Thomas could hardly move, hardly breathe as he watched Marcus make slow and careful progress down the ladder. All it would take was one loose grip and he’d be gone forever…
He reached the bottom of the ladder without incident and Thomas hated the point where he could no longer see Marcus because all he had to gauge Marcus’ progress was the rope that was floating listlessly around. Every second felt like hours as his heart pounded away in his chest, anxious to help in some way but being unable to. He wanted to move round to the door of the chamber, ready to welcome Marcus back but he was scared that the second he did, Marcus would start to float away and he wouldn’t even know about it so he stayed rooted to the spot and continued to stare at the rope.
After what felt like an eternity, he heard the tell-tale sound of the outer door closing and glanced over to the depressurising chamber, unwilling to believe Marcus was really alright until he had seen it with his own eyes. The panel by the door was showing that it was working through the re-entry protocols and Thomas’ eyes widened hopefully.
He made his way over, his heart still pounding nervously in his chest as he waited for the door to open. Logically he knew that Marcus was okay now, but his emotions refused to calm down and it frustrated him to know that Marcus had such an effect on him. He shouldn’t let emotions get in his way; a good soldier never did and if there was anything that could be said about Marcus, it was that he was the type to let his emotions control his actions. Marcus was a bad influence on him and yet…
The door dinged and Thomas watched as the door swung open, revealing a grinning Marcus who was holding his helmet under his arm as he said, “See? I told you it’d be fine.”
“You’re really okay?” he whispered, reaching his hand out as if to touch Marcus, just to make sure he wasn’t imagining it but he forced his hand to stop. He was being overly emotional again. Marcus was fine and it was time to prepare for rescue.
But before he could fully retract his hand, Marcus gently grabbed it and lifted it up to his cheek, his grin having melted into a soft smile instead that was reflected in his eyes. “See? I’m alright?”
Thomas felt his face flush at the feel of Marcus’ skin against his fingers, and words failed him. It seemed Marcus not only had an effect on his emotions but the touch of his skin made him feel strange too. He glanced nervously up into Marcus’ eyes and was bowled over by the look of affection they held. He found he couldn’t look away and slowly, they moved closer. He didn’t know who had moved but it didn’t seem to matter as he closed his eyes and felt the soft touch of Marcus’ lips against his own.
It didn’t stay gentle for long though before they became a raging whirlwind of tongues and teeth and hands roaming places that made Thomas see stars. His lips parted from Marcus, panting harshly with a slight groan as Marcus ran his hands, none too gently, over Thomas’ backside.
“How long have we got until they get here?” asked Marcus, his voice breathy before he went back to kissing Thomas’ neck.
Thomas glanced back at the screen, trying to get his thoughts away from Marcus’ roaming hands for long enough to be able to concentrate on what he could see. He realised with a start that he’d been so busy being worried about Marcus that he hadn’t even sent off a rescue request.
“Haven’t…sent it…yet,” he panted, turning back to see Marcus grinning up at him.
“Then we have plenty of time,” he explained, running his hands suggestively up Thomas’ thighs.
Thomas knew it was illogical. He knew they should just get rescued and continue this later but he felt so intoxicated by Marcus’ touch right now that he merely nodded, his face bright red. Marcus was strange, illogical and emotional, the opposite of him entirely, but he was also more skilled than Thomas gave him credit for. It felt like they would always be alright as long as they stuck together. And stick together, they certainly would. After all, they were partners.