Realms of Eden: B4 - First Battle

The first thing she noticed was that there seemed to be a stack of people on board. Then she saw that the craft was actually screaming along just above the water's surface with the hull kissing a few waves that raised themselves higher than the surrounding water.

Jo waved at her as she positioned herself in escort mode for the craft and she said, "Jo! Hi!" and waved back.

Jo was obviously speaking to Xavier and she noticed the pilot speaking into her helmet to someone. "Anne-Marie," said Paul, "rendezvous with Xavier and see if you can't take one of her passengers and get them to the Majestic a bit quicker. Also it will lighten her load on the water."

Anne-Marie noted the craft below her slowing, she matched its speed until the two craft were stationary resting a few metres above the ocean's surface. Anne-Marie lifted her visor and was pleasantly surprised to see four uniformed men in the craft; one though looked decidedly tense and very green in the gills. "Who wants a ride?" she called out.

Jo almost threw Simon Kinsdale onto the seat behind her, and looking at the space around her said, "Get him up in the air Anne-Marie before he throws up!"

"Hold on!" she yelled and the little man jumped into the seat behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Anne-Marie was giggling as she rocketed back up into the air and felt the male behind her relax a little as he felt the air rushing past his face. "Seasick huh?" she asked and felt him nod against her back.

Jennifer viewed the myriad of buildings and workshops as she stood in Sydney's arms and waited for an answer.

"Sydney!" called a man she didn't recognise as he hurried along the walkway that led to where the lovers were standing. "Jennifer," the man said as he passed Sydney an electronic pad for his perusal.

"Do not ask him his name!" Sydney quickly said in her mind as she began to do exactly that.

"His name is Richard, and no, don't call him Dick either!"

She nodded and said quietly, "Hello Richard."

The stockily built man with his grey hair and matching eyes gave her a quick smile and pointed out something on the pad to Sydney. She walked away from the men to lean on a railing that surrounded a small observation area and watched the activity below her for a moment before turning back to watch Sydney.

Another woman came up to stand beside the men. Jennifer didn't recognise her but noted her pretty face and long dark hair that curled alluringly past her shoulders ending on the dark red shirt against the woman's breasts. The woman's complexion was dark and Jennifer admired the woman's strangely glowing golden eyes.

The woman held Sydney's arm and leaned into him as she spoke with the two men. Her eyes widened as she noted that the woman wore a wedding band and Jennifer thought, "Hmm, I hope her husband is understanding!"

The group ignored her as she continued to take in the activity below. Leaning against the rail, suddenly she felt helpless, as if she knew nothing at all of what was going on with Sydney. Her eyes took in people as they moved about the complex with purpose and direction, some occasionally looking up and spying her called out a cheerio or just waved. She dumbly waved back and suddenly she felt like she needed to escape. Looking back to the wall and the door she had entered.

"Sydney I want to go," she said into his mind and he held his left hand up with several fingers extended. She noticed that his ring finger had a glowing gold band on it and with a cry she ran back towards the door and tried to find the controls to get away.

Sydney caught up with her at the doorway and quietly pointed out the palm reader that was about halfway up the door. Pressing her hand against it she was relieved when the door slid noiselessly open and she ran through it to find herself back in the exercise room aboard the Majestic. She gasped in her breath as she stood there panting and heard a voice call, "Sydney do you have a minute to look at this?"

Turning her head the man she loved stood in the doorway then with a quick smile he turned and the door closed. She collapsed to the floor sobbing and that was where Kelsey found her when she had come to look for her missing daughter.

Lifting the sobbing form up into her arms as she knelt beside her. Jennifer sobbed harder as she looked at who had picked her up and through her sobs said, "He's married Mum and not to me!"

When he saw the craft of Anne-Marie and the medics were slowing Paul gunned the motor on his craft and streaked towards his target. It seemed like only minutes later that he was calling Majestic informing them he was coming in. Getting the all clear he began to move in for landing and Penny behind called out in alarm, "What are you doing!"

He giggled as he realised the woman couldn't see the big boat and told her just to hold on.

Her cry of, "Oh my fucking goodness!" as they passed through the cloaking barrier to reveal the huge vessel was priceless. Paul took her for a quick glide around the boat and he spotted Thelma on the top deck waving and pointed her out to Penny.

Thelma beckoned to him, so he eased his craft, tail first, toward the railing. Lissa and Lucy were waiting for him on either side of his vehicle as he edged it over the rail. He dropped his shields then the two women gently picked up his cargo. Once clear he moved off to watch the reunion.

The twins with their hands linked at Penny's back and under her thighs carried the girl a few paces and presented her to Thelma like a precious gem. Thelma indicated a lounger that had piles of cushions on it and the women gently deposited the giggling woman on it.

The two blonde heads met and Paul saw tears running down their faces as their lips met again and again. He turned away as he felt his own eyes water and headed for the landing deck.

Xavier touched Wilbur's shoulder and asked him if he was ok, his grin back at her showed how much he appreciated her travelling along the water and not thousands of metres in the air. She smiled back and was, for some unknown reason, extremely pleased when she noticed his gaze drop between her spread thighs as she controlled her now more slightly unstable craft.

This close to the water meant that they were buffeted a bit and she kept checking with Jo to ensure that their precious cargo was ok. Jo had to remind her each time she asked that the stretcher was docked into gyro couplings that kept the stretcher still no matter what she did.

Jo however was more concerned with Simon who with each little dip or sway of the craft seemed to be turning paler and paler. She tried to distract him with teasing glimpses of her body as she deliberately sat on the deck beside him trying to keep him in conversation. It wasn't working and she doubted that even if she offered to fuck him on the floor that he would have taken her up on the offer. Her heart went out to him as it did to Wilbur when she realised that the man had held onto his stomach and nerve for two hours as they screamed across the sky without a complaint.

The appearance of Anne-Marie at the back of the craft on Double-Dip, her name for her vehicle, was a relief and she knew that she could at least give the little corporal some relief. Quickly she beckoned Anne-Marie in closer and proposed her solution to Xavier and Paul over her helmet.

The offload was made and making herself a pillow of her spare bag of clothes she lay on the floor. Resting beside Sydney for the rest of the trip back to Majestic. She grinned as through her half closed eyes she saw Richo nudge the youngster beside him and directed his eyes to the pink panties that she knew he could see under her short skirt.

Kelsey held her daughter tightly and rocked her just as she did when the woman was a little girl. She grimaced as that was not that long ago and she had a momentary regret when she realised that she had missed over two thirds of her baby growing up. "Who's married baby?" she asked.

Jennifer sniffled, "Syddy, I saw his gold band."

"How could you see that, he's at least an hour away in the medic craft!" exclaimed Kelsey.

A soft warm hand on her face and, "I'm here love," almost caused her to faint as she looked into the handsome face of her lover.

Sydney sat cross-legged on the floor beside the woman and her daughter and noticed Kel's look to his left hand which she beckoned him to show her. He lifted the hand puzzled by her request and saw her gasp as she saw that indeed two bright gold wide wedding bands with writing upon them adorned his left ring finger.

He grinned at her, with a little effort removed the bands, and gave them to her. Jennifer watched the exchange and curiously she looked at the bands Kelsey's now held in her hand.

"Read the inscriptions," said the smiling man in front of her.

"One ring joining ten hearts," she read, then "My Life My Soul." She handed the rings back to him with a puzzled look and Jennifer began to giggle.

"When?" she asked.

The man looked at them softly and said, "After we find Bel and," he stopped, his eyes bright with tears and shook his head. "I can't tell you anymore," and he raised his hands in helplessness as he saw the women begin to open their mouths.

Xavier received the instructions to use her visor when the instrumentation on her panel showed that the Majestic should have been visible to the approaching vessel. She giggled yes and passed the instructions to Jo then aligned her nose with the rear deck of the Majestic.

Jo told the men to hold on and don't trust their eyes for a minute as the craft flashed through the cloaking barrier and slowed to match the pace of the huge boat that was suddenly no more than a 100 metres away. "Fuck me dead!" exclaimed Donno and Jonesy together.

Xavier laughingly said, "I hope that takes a while!" The two men blushed red at her saucy wink as they turned towards her but by then she was concentrating on hopping the vehicle into position.

No sooner had the craft settled than Lex and Wendy along with Greg and Paul appeared. In short order Sydney was being transported up to sick bay while the three uniforms were standing watching the crowd that was forming up in front of them.

Keith Richardson felt like he was being measured up for a noose and swallowed hard as he observed the three giantesses that stood at the back of the pack. It was Kelsey that saved them as she appeared and Keith Richardson found himself with an armful of the hottest woman he had held in his arms for a long time.

It was a pity that she was bawling her eyes out on him as she smothered his face with kisses thanking him from bring home their broken warrior.

Ben Jones and Wilbur Donnelly stood uneasy as they observed their captain and the well-built woman in his arms. Suddenly a klaxon sounded and several figures ran forward, tall strongly built women dragged the two privates backward with them as a blue machine suddenly screamed in behind them. It manoeuvred into position and landed where they were previously standing.

Anne-Marie and her passenger laughingly stepped down from the craft and she looked at the crowd around her towing the diminutive corporal along with her hand. She looked surprised at the large number of people around her watching and said, "Ladies and gentleman meet Simon Kinsdale and before any of you bitches think of going hunting I saw him first!"

Ben Jones found himself in the grasp of the biggest woman he had ever met and as she crushed him to her larger than life breasts he thought, "Take me now and I will die happy!" With a sideways glance he saw Donno in a similar position and by the look on the man's face he was sure that the man was thinking the same thing.

Chapter 4 - New starts

Thelma sat quietly reviewing the documentation in her hands. She had spent most of the night working on them after she had listened to the tales of the various teams about their adventures in retrieval. Penny was asleep on the bed in her room and she gazed fondly at the blonde as she groaned quietly in her sleep trying to roll over onto her back. Feeling the gentle breeze enter the room as the door was opened to the ocean side of her cabin she said, "Good evening Cue Ball," without looking up from the papers in her hand

The soft kiss at the back of her neck was welcome and she was amazed as the figure in black moved to the bed and gently kissed the lips of the sleeping woman on her bed before turning to meet her stare. Considering that she knew that the doppelganger of the man lay tossing and turning in the sick bay below her surrounded by at least six of the women on board she simply found that to accept that he was also here was the easiest thing to do.

"Have you got the contracts finished?" he asked.

Pursing her mouth, she critically examining the last couple of paragraphs in the document, applying her accounting analysis skill in calculation of the final conditions. "I certainly hope you know what we are paying these people," she said.

The black haired man was unapologetic when he replied, "Not enough," then he was gone.

She sighed and with a quick press of her thumbprint against the screen committed her, Sydney's, Kelsey's and Jo's fortunes to an entity to be known as Majestic Balance. The other women had already thumbed the document but had insisted that she review and advise if she had any problems.

Kelsey's hips thrust against the man above her and she panted as she felt him grasp her shoulders hard and release his sperm into her clasping pussy. "Oh fuck!" she cried and then sighed as the warmth of their coupling consumed her as well. "Sydney," she said simply as the man kissed her lips and then with an apologetic smile disappeared.

Nestled down into her bed she wondered whether she had dreamed or whether he was actually there. Feeling the wetness between her legs she rubbed her thighs in happy reaction as she allowed herself a huge grin. Sighing as she got up from the bed she set about getting herself cleaned up to head down to the sick bay to see if her lover was awake.

Wendy Keane was tired, her hands ached and her stomach was definitely queasy as she surveyed the work she had carried out on the man's body laid out on the bed come bench in front of her. She had prepared and sprayed a mixture of milk, vinegar and water all over Sydney's wounds as per Alfred's instruction and her mind and heart just simply refused to believe that what she was doing was of any use.

Exhausted she sat on the chair beside the bench and wished her husband was there to comfort her. A warm hand gripped her shoulder and she wondered fleetingly if her thoughts had been answered. Turning her head to the source of the hand she was ready to scream when Sydney's eyes bored back into her before he gently raised a finger to her lips. "Surprisingly Wendy this works!" he said and before her startled eyes he disappeared.

The people on the boat were in pandemonium. At breakfast Captain Keith Richardson, Privates Ben Jones and Wilbur Donnelly and Corporal Simon Kinsdale stood in a small group against the kitchen servery and watched the animated discussions that were happening all around them.

Jonesy and Donno looked exhausted, Richardson noted, then seeing the looks on the two twins that sat at the table not far from them saw the same exhaustion on their features and grinned. Obviously the two men had been kept up all night.

Kinsdale didn't look much better but the brunette with the smoky eyes that gave him a hot kiss as she sauntered over to get herself some breakfast looked in remarkably good health.

He had declined Kelsey's offer of a bed and had spent the night talking with Ian Creighton and Paul Keane being brought up to date with all that had happened to the crew in the past six weeks. He was amazed that any of them were still standing and was totally empathetic with their attitude to live life to the fullest while they had the chance.

Suddenly the room hushed and the most beautiful pair of women that he had ever seen walked into the room closely followed by Kelsey, Thelma and Penny. The latter leaned on her friend as she walked stiffly over to a chair topped by a cushion and gratefully sat down.

The two women met his gaze, nodded to the men and preceded to the front of the room as all eyes followed their movements. It was the slightly taller of the women, that he thought he recognised but for the life of him couldn't work out where, who attracted the most attention and all awaited for her to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she began. Richardson could not help but notice how young she was but how she held herself with such regal bearing that he would have sworn that she was much older.

"Good morning," she called and most in the room answered with polite greetings waiting for her to continue.

"Most, if not all, of you have been visited sometime in the last twenty four hours by someone who looks remarkably like the man downstairs lying in the sick bay." The curly haired woman's eyes twinkled with amusement as she spoke to the intensely watching group around her.

All around heads nodded as quiet murmurings began anew and she raised her hand to shush them. She paused letting the silence grow and Richardson found he was holding his breath waiting for her to say something. Smiling her beautiful face became even more enchanting and he heard Jonesy whisper, "We've died and gone to heaven Donno."

The woman smiled in their direction. "Not heaven Jonesy, just a little place to rest for a few moments while we wait to see what happens next."

Ben Jones stared hard at the woman and finally said, "How do you know my name, I've never seen you before?"

The group around him tittered and Richardson thought he heard something about queen and knows all before her lilting voice spoke across the hubbub. "I am sorry gentleman, let me introduce myself properly. My name is Jennifer and this," she pointed to the equally beautiful woman beside her, "is my sister Serenity."

The named woman fixed the four men with a flashing smile and bright eyes and gave them a little nod.

"Firstly I would like to thank you Keith and your men for bringing back our warrior!" The room broke into cheers and foot stomping that the woman allowed to go on for a little while. He looked around at his group and they smiled but he noticed that they were all blushing profusely and he felt his own face get hot as they group were unashamedly joyous at her pronouncement.

The noise abated before Jennifer continued. "Welcome to our little group. Is there anyone else here that you have not been introduced to gentlemen?" she asked.

The uniforms surveyed the group and Jennifer noticed that their eyes rested on the other new comer Penny. "The lady sitting with a slightly sore bum is our other new guest, one who I will say should have been here some time ago, Penny Rogers. I won't ask you to stand Penny but I will say that we are so glad you are here considering that we thought that we had been too late!" With that the woman gave a small toss of her head and blinked her eyes to clear them of tears that for some reason Richardson found was upsetting to him.

Penny waved to everyone. "I am just so happy to be here! When my bum gets better I hope that you will welcome me properly!" The smoky look in her eyes left no-one in doubt as to what sort of welcome she was talking about.

"Now," continued Jennifer, after some cat calls and blowing of kisses to the bright eyed blonde abated. "About our mystery man."

The whole room was quiet as they all gazed intently at Jennifer as she stood silently. "His name, as some of you would have gathered, is Cue Ball."

Richardson heard Ben Jones and Wilbur Donnelly draw breath sharply but continued to watch the woman. "He calls himself that because like the white ball on the pool table he pushes the other balls around in the directions he needs them to go. He gave me a message to tell you all as well."