Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] - Printable Version
+- alonimi (https://alonimi.net)
+-- Forum: Archives (https://alonimi.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=72)
+--- Forum: Incomplete (https://alonimi.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=85)
+--- Thread: Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] (/showthread.php?tid=546)
+- alonimi (https://alonimi.net)
+-- Forum: Archives (https://alonimi.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=72)
+--- Forum: Incomplete (https://alonimi.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=85)
+--- Thread: Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] (/showthread.php?tid=546)
Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] - danixiewrites - 11-20-2014
"Better to make your room lived in, even if you don't plan to use it, I suppose." Alex nodded at this verification they had no other stops first.
He'd had to wait until they were within earshot of the planet to lay on the innuendo like that? Sure, it was her fault for the initial slip, but it could've waited until no one was going to wiggle their eyebrows at her suggestively while scanning in her card. A flame-red eyebrow disappeared under her bangs, but she managed to keep a hold of her tongue, even managed to angle a flirtatious smile Charles' way, in front of their erstwhile comrade. Swapping snarky comments with Charles would definitely not make this team thing a smooth sailing venture. Snarky comments that shattered their cover in front of a crewmate...they'd be in catastrophe-city, already. It would be rough enough from outside forces once they hit open space.
"Got it." She slid the frequency locks discretely into her pants pocket. It'd have to be destroyed once she programmed it in to her own gear--which would not only be the mock media device she'd been taking on jobs, that doubled as a secure comm, but also her private datapad. At his mention of their joint "cover", Alex cocked a thumb over her shoulder at the crewman he'd brought up manhandling in front of. "Certainly helps you've already made sure that's established." Without discussing it with her. "Find me later, hotshot. I'll have words for you."
First order of business was retrieving her gear and kicking those codes into play. Second: retrieving any data that might've pinged while "no one" was aboard the ship.
Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] - thedarkwyrm - 11-22-2014
Charles grinned at the girl's attempt to be harsh while also keeping the cover he'd forced upon her. "Oh, I'll find you later. Security's eyes are everywhere."
They went their separate ways, and he made his way up to his room. Private security paid better than most crew jobs on a ship, but this one was ridiculous even for private security. He pressed his thumb to the door's biometric lock. His gloves were one of the niftiest little gadgets he had, having many different functions, one of which was the ability to let him scan his thumb through them, while not leaving fingerprints on any surfaces he didn't want them on.
His room looked like an expensive hotel suite, complete with minibar. Any drinks he had would be automatically deducted from his paycheck, but really, the fact that they were paying him to be on the ship was laughable anyway. A suitcase was sitting on the bed, and a small crate was sitting on the desk. He opened the suitcase and quickly unpacked his clothes into the dresser, then slowly peeled open the hidden compartment underneath them.
He stashed the various pieces of equipment in his bandoleer, unfolded the crate's handles, picked it up, and set off down the hall. The fingers of his left hand tapped on his leg, scrolling the ship's blueprints across his glasses. Eventually, he found an empty pocket, not uncommon in these ships, and usually used by the owners for smuggling. However, given the nature of what these criminals smuggled and the funds with which they operated, any space smaller than a standard prison cell was useless to them.
It was one of these spaces Charles slipped into, disappearing into a thicket of pipes and wires, finding himself in a small, five foot square space, unlit, invisible from the outside, and rather well soundproofed by all the wiring and plumbing. He set the crate in the middle of the floor and pushed a few panels around its surface, then stepped back and watched it unfold into a small terminal and chair. He tapped his glasses to scan the wires of the room, looking for ones that carried information rather than power, and deftly spliced them into his computer.
All of this took less than an hour, well before the ship could get fully underway. Sure enough, when he brought up the public crew network, he saw messages being flung back and forth as they prepared for undocking. It took him about ten minutes to customize his usual data-filtering algorithm to extract and save any messages that seemed like they might be related to their job. Once that was set up, he finally scanned through the frequencies, finding one that was unused.
He could easily set up his computer to do the taps, but he didn't. As his eyes scanned over the screen, one finger tapped against a receiver, four beats and two rests. Dit-dit-dit-dit-pause-pause-dit-dit-dit-dit-pause-pause. His finger was steady as metronome, sending the agreed-upon signal over the comm.
Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] - danixiewrites - 11-22-2014
The door to Alex's room gave a susurrant whoosh as it closed. She wished it had more leeway to its motors, more of a clang instead of a quiet "sshhhh-clik!" upon latching, because she felt like volume would emphasize her mood. Wishing, and imagining it:
She was not useless--button-press, satisfying "BAM!"--was not temperamental--buttons keyed twice to roughly open and close the door, the smack of metal on metal suiting better than a girlish growl that echoed through the ship's innards--was NOT going to let the situation and her thoughtless employers, or him, get to her--and finally, once more...button pressing with feeling.
Wondering how much effort it would take to modify the entryway thusly, Alex shuffled to the foot of her bed and withdrew her gear from the box. It had a rhythm to it, a familiarity that calmed as much as fixing and a job well done. Much safer than dismantling the mechanisms set into the walls of her room. Again. She'd already done a number on security measures. Though. The mental exercise had been helpful. She withdrew her datapad from the small cache of supplies, checked over her job listings. It seemed like there were an overabundance of them in the vehicle bay. Her favorite kind of work, to be sure, but...
None of them were on first shift. It was odd, and would screw up the timing on her intel retrieval. Unless, perhaps, she had another explanation other than maintenance to explain her appearance in the area. If she made do with a different cover.
Alex rolled her eyes. Right. Getting caught so soon, it'd be like they couldn't keep their hands off one another. They'd just boarded the fraggin' ship. Meeting without even working a single shift would be like a red flag to the higher-ups, right? But no work and no way to slip by the unsecure pad's dead drop also meant she was left with nothing to do, and Alex did not merely twiddle her thumbs. Boredom, she suspected, would not be an acceptable excuse on Charles' radar...especially when he'd secured her promise not to poke into things without letting him know.
Her fingers shoved two slightly different spanners aside to retrieve the codes. Punching them into the datapad, she swept the frequencies alongside the general Engineering comm. Typical traffic, some folks asking why they'd been swapped. Instantly, Alex sent in her own query and simultaneously put her name on the grid for assignments. She'd dropped her cover around Charles, and the fact she hadn't sent a demand for information like a typical crewmate onboard meant it was taking too long to slide back into her role. Kicking herself for the failure, she frowned. Forget wasting time on a rendezvous. She'd catch the datapad on a later shift if she could, better served between shifts by getting her head straight, right here in this room. If they lost those few hours of data, it would be disappointing, but it wasn't a big deal. The primary effect of seeing the full breadth of security measures would still be achieved, and Charles was on it moving forward.
Setting up her media player/secure comm to pick up the new channels too, she then popped the piece of paper into the waste disposal. There, it'd be disintegrated like all of the other waste onboard, recycled and regurgitated as some sort of cleaning solution. Or water. Or food. It really was best one didn't think about these things. Alex slid onto the bed. Pushing a button on the side of the ingeniously deceptive bit of Agency gear, she plucked the earbuds out of the exposed compartment and put them on while she stretched out, her datapad on alert for work pings.
Top 100 beats settled into her ears. Popular on this station, apparently, was an endless remix of some operatic number, soprano arias set to an electronic sizzle, the language definitely not Standard. Alex sighed, closed her eyes, and tried to sink into her role. Mechanic, good work but not too good, pleasant enough face to make in-room visits when on-call. In a...mature...relationship with a security officer.
She grimaced.
Having a fling with a security officer, maybe?
What exactly were they supposed to be to one another? She'd be best off asking, rather than assuming one and behaving out of character from what he'd intended.
Four taps interrupted the station feed, cutting into the opera like an insistent, steady knock.
It took a moment for her to recognize it, because the opera was already so disjointed, but she sent a quick 4-tone tap of her own when she switched over to the feed.
"Would you say we're "going steady", or did we get in a quick romp on-station and just want more of that action while we're on board?" she asked, by way of greeting.
Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] - thedarkwyrm - 11-23-2014
"Oh, we're very serious. We absolutely had a romp on the station, but it wasn't the first, nor will it be the last." He kicked back in his chair, putting his feet up on his desk. "Speaking of, how's the bed in your quarters? Because I'm thinking mine is better, though we can test both of them, for sure."
He chuckled softly, watching the feed go by as he continued, "Anything new on your end? I'm picking up a lot of chatter, but nothing overtly useful. I imagine you'll want to get back in your routine, but maybe we can meet up when your shift ends?"
If she'd been hoping to rattle him with that opening remark, she'd have to try harder. He grinned softly, idly wondering how this cover would play out. Most people, when they pretended to be something they weren't, soon discovered that their mask and their face eventually became inseparable.
Also, and he certainly wasn't going to bring this up now, but it seemed highly likely that, given how suspicious a xeno-trafficking ring might be, it would be noticed if he and Alex's alleged relationship didn't have any actual sex.
Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] - danixiewrites - 11-23-2014
Hazel eyes widened at the ceiling of her little room. Her bed felt suddenly very, very small. Testing them? "Not fit for company," she shot back. "That's how it is."
Then she realized that he couldn't have meant an actual test. Because after all, this was a cover and "serious" meant her first instinct of a non-hands-off behavior was the more apt. He'd intended to mean the appearance of testing both. Phrasing it that way just to get a rise out of her. Alex frowned. Her bed might not be roomy, but it wasn't like sex was impossible in small spaces. Particularly small spaces with walls. She was certain her cheeks were glowing again as she added, "I...uh. We'll both fit in here if need be. People might wonder how, but I'm sure if it comes up, there's room for creative interpretation. In a pinch, we could always 'test' the maintenance tunnels, too."
It'd be a tight fit too, and cold.
She would not consider how much the thought of Charles warming her up turned her on. Would. Not.
His questions turned toward work and Alex tugged on the ends of her hair. She checked her job log to see if there'd been a response to her query. Nothing. "They swapped shifts on me. I have an open datapad where the surveillance data got pooled while folks should've been off-ship, meant to pick it up, but I don't have a reason to be there now. Might be too late to get it later, depending on how thorough your fellow security folks are, but...Are you all set up? I don't know how much that data matters, but it could've picked up some cargo chatter."
Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] - thedarkwyrm - 11-23-2014
"Maintenance tunnels, huh? I guess it makes sense that that's what you're into, being an engineer and all. We'll see how flexible you are in those cramped quarters." He grinned, though she couldn't see it. "I think we could make it work."
"As far as the datapad goes, I could swing by and collect it. It wouldn't be out of the ordinary for security to do sweeps, so I'll just swing by and collect it." His fingers drummed on the desk as he scanned what he'd picked up so far. "I'm all set up here. I only need to check on it periodically, so there's no reason for me to hang out here."
He stood up, making sure his gear was correctly on his person, still talking to her through the terminal. "Where's the pad? I'll get it right now."
Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] - danixiewrites - 11-23-2014
"You're still talking in theory, right?" she asked, wished she hadn't, then spoke again. "Because you'll definitely be glad for those overlays keeping your temperature up down there."
"Bored already? Just need the data, not the device." Alex sat up on the bed and swung her legs over the side. "The plan was for the sensors, and the datapad, to be found, high alert raised. So full security would be up, and I could start working on ways around it. Mechanical as well as routing. I'd thought once you came aboard you could handle the tech aspects. But, well."
But now...until she'd spoken to him about it, she hadn't considered the fact that she might have to change plans. After all, not only could he sweep for intel, he probably had access to the breadth of the security parameters. "Do they brief everyone on protocol up there? Or are they suspicious enough already, they're only letting you know only part of the routine?"
Who was she kidding? Charles was smart. Unless they were keeping things quite close to the chest, even if protocols were scattered to allotted roles, he just might be able to pluck them out and piece them together. It might not even be necessary to trip the alarm, although it was far too late to collect the sensors.
Maybe, she fretted, tugging on the ends of her hair again, maybe she was useless after all.
Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] - thedarkwyrm - 11-25-2014
"Well, all the locations and positions are theoretical. The desire is simply a fact of human biology. Nothing theoretical about this burning attraction we've got going on." He kept his voice as level as possible, as though casually discussing the weather, though he couldn't keep the grin from his lips or the faintest of flushes from his cheeks. She was easy to talk to, easy to look at, easy to flirt with. It was refreshing, really.
He tapped a finger against his chin. "Letting them raise security sounds like a good idea, actually. I know what this security company has as far as protocols, but if the local color gets their hackles up, I have no idea what they'll do. Clever girl." He leaned back in his chair. "So it looked like I don't have anything to do except make a few passes around the ship. When the alarm is raised, I'll have to respond to that."
His grin widened. "Maybe I can take a certain suspicious little engineer aside from some intense interrogation."
Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] - danixiewrites - 11-25-2014
Alex was certain he knew how many freckles his words made glow across her cheeks. Across her nose, which she caught herself absently rubbing at the mention of biology. The circumstance might rile her, but with the innuendos flying freely between them? Yeah, there was no denying they had more than a cover's worth of a "thing" going on. She wasn't going to call it attraction, because...she...well...they were on a secure channel, but at least in this banter she could pretend to be pretending, right? Getting into character?
"Charmer. How many mechanics have been wholly unable to keep their hands off of your studly security jacket?"
Yep. That was her playing the role instead of addressing the whole...attraction...issue. Not flirting.
Nope.
"I know I'd certainly like to try yoooo-it on." She smacked a palm over her mouth, then realized she was still on the comm, so the self-conscious motion would've been audible on the line.
Frag it anyway. Should've stopped while she was ahead. Alex forced a frown even though he couldn't see it.
Her blush didn't even fade a little at his praise, though she did perk up and felt less mortified by extension. The plan was still on. It was still valid, even with him riding the security channels. He could've taken over the op completely, but instead, it seemed he was willing to take this partnership at face value--which meant she still had input. Value. Alex grinned. "I'm glad to hear it'll still help! Glad, too," she added as an afterthought, "that you'll be around to help when it does go up. The situation escalating like you said means there's no way I'd be able to bypass every eventuality solo in time to get us something useful."
"Sounds like you have time to burn, too." Interrogation. She pressed her hands to her cheeks, imagining them cooler in contrast. Rather than shooting for another mucked-up undercover flirtation, she answered practically, "It won't look suspicious if we meet the second we're aboard? Or are we going for credence in the whole hands-on department?"
Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] - thedarkwyrm - 11-26-2014
He laughed, shaking his head. "To be honest, I've never had a mechanic before. Purely circumstantial, but I never had the time to flirt with one until now. I've typically gone for the secretary types."
Ah, this girl's slips of the tongue. And phrasing it as 'slips of the tongue' sent his mind wandering into territory that made it rather tricky to focus on business. He cleared his throat and shook his head.
"It sounds like our partnership is flourishing, Alex my dear. You're useful, I'm useful, and we're getting closer together." He grinned softly, drumming his fingers on his leg. "I think it would be a mite suspicious if we weren't hooking up for furtive, passionate lovemaking in every available nook on this ship at every available opportunity. Maybe accidentally once in a room with a camera, so security knows for sure what we're doing in all those secret meetings." He grinned softly, just imagining how fiery the girl's face must have been.
Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] - danixiewrites - 11-26-2014
Alex coughed. Secretaries? Really? Suave as Charles was, he could pick up anyone he liked. But maybe he meant that most of his field partners had been desk-bound. It'd be a safe assumption, but she pushed him for answers anyway, because she was curious. And because she needed to figure out why he drew her so openly. Only, when the question came out, it sounded to her ears less like an inquiry about how much field time he'd had and more like a tease about how much work he was actually about to get done.
"So you've been saddled with a lot of office work, then? That's a shame," she added, "mechanics do it with torque...and oil."
"If it were on a different path, we'd be in trouble much sooner, I imagine," she said. "Alright. Since I'm free, I don't have a reason to be anywhere than here, but since you're sweeping, we could meet up on your route. Where am I heading? Or...are you interrogating me here?" She smiled. Useful. How she liked that word, and if anyone caught wind of how much it lit her up to be anything other than she'd been growing up, it'd go in a file somewhere, she was sure. The smile stayed comfortably on her lips...until he mentioned voyeurism and she could feel her freckles poking at her like stabbing embers. "C-cameras? I can't say I've ever fake-had-sex with anyone."
Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] - thedarkwyrm - 11-26-2014
A rather pleasant, if peculiar, sensation crawled up his spine at her teasing words, his grin widening. "Oh, I never do office work. But secretaries know things, and a woman's lips are never so loose as after they've been moaning someone's name." He chuckled softly. "Your way of doing things sounds much more interesting, though."
He paused in his teasing for a moment to seriously consider the logistics of their meeting. "I'll send you a message over normal channels with a meeting place. That way, if they investigate us, they'll see a perfectly normal furtive affair between security and engineering." He pulled up the intra-ship messaging system and began tapping out a message as he continued talking. "Fake-had-sex? Neither have I. Nor do I plan to. For one thing, it doesn't look nearly realistic enough, no matter how good of an actor you are." He had more reasons, but he figured the mere insinuation that he intended to actually make love to her on camera was more than enough to make her blush hard enough to irradiate the entire ship with infrared. Besides, he had a message to send.
Alexandra,
Meet me in storage room four on the bottom deck, immediately. We need to have a hard discussion before our shifts start. ;)
-Charles
Conveniently, that storage room was rather close to the cargo bay where the datapad waited for discovery. He re-read the message and decided that, while a little unsubtle, it did appear to be the kind of message a randy security guard would send his little trollop in engineering, with a not-very-clever pun that this theoretical guard found entirely too clever. He tapped his fingers and sent the message, grinning softly as he stood. He was further away from the bottom deck than the engineering quarters, so he should leave now, before she even got the message.
Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] - danixiewrites - 11-26-2014
If this "cover" was going to work without crossing lines, it would be because Alex had found some sort of anti-button-pressing armor against Charles's now-blatant imagery. "Ahhh," she said. "Wouldn't be so easy with a mechanic. We know things, but..." She contemplated throwing in another one, about how mechanics liked it tight, then decided it wouldn't do her any good to be as openly visual as he had been. Hours, days, would pass and she'd never put out the blaze across her cheekbones. Her lips clamped shut around the words instead, and she sat up on the mattress.
"Alright. I'm in." Such an armor surely didn't exist. Which either meant she had to imagine one, or fall prey to his on-camera scheme. "We're not-not doing it on camera." It was a stammered rejection, and one that upon replay she feared came out quite different than intended. "All sex will be strictly off-screen. Fake or otherwise."
Otherwise?!? Otherwise, really!?! She swung her legs over the side of the bed. Worse, it hadn't been an original ground rule, because she hadn't thought that far ahead. Which meant she didn't exactly have a foot to stand on for this one. All fake sex. Faaaaake!
The message came through and though she nodded approvingly at the location, Alex rolled her eyes at the rest of the text. Once, for the way he'd drawn her name out, and again, for the juvenile phrasing--which when picked up by other guards, would totally lead to some heckling in their break room. Or whatever fancy digs Charles had to gossip with other security personnel. She considered making it worse, sending a confirmation when one wasn't needed, but in the end simply hopped into motion, leaving her quarters still geared up for a shift. Alex headed belowdecks, and though she'd never admit it, it wasn't entirely pretense that she moved at a bit of an eager pace to see him again.
Impulse Control [Dani & Dark, Closed] - thedarkwyrm - 11-26-2014
He laughed softly at her insistence on the lack of filming for their sex, sex which, he noted, she failed to explicitly deny. He reached the storage room first, stepping inside and hiding in the shadows right beside the open doorway. Given her reactions to... well, everything... he couldn't resist teasing her again.
When she arrived, he grabbed her from behind, one hand clamping over her mouth and the other hand wrapping around her waist as he pressed her against him, breathing into her ear, "Seems like I've caught a naughty engineer. I think she needs some punishment."
He released her with a little push and a step back that would put him outside the range of her wrench when she turned to face him, in case she swung the moment she was released. "You look lovely as usual, Alex." He grinned and stepped back in close, one hand on her wrist a gesture both romantic and disarming, his other hand on her hips, casually fencing her in against the stacks of crates, murmuring, "There's no real reason for you to be here, mission-wise. I have to assume you came because you feel the need to... firmly... establish our cover. Because you felt the need for me to bend you over one of these crates and make you moan."
He was pushing it, he knew. And the line between cover and reality had been blurred. But if she responded the way he hoped, it would be well worth it.