Quaranteam - Au

Quaranteam: Alternating Uncertainties

Chapter 13

Reflections, Planning and Deepening Bonds

Writer's block is a pain. This was always intended to be just a linking chapter, but it took far too long. My bad. Anyway, I've started working on 14 already.

Dramatis Personae

-House Marshall-

Tiberius Marshall - 35, Lt. Colonel Australian Army SASR. Black Hair, Grey Eyes. Big teddy bear.

Charlotte Valiant - 35, Captain Australian Army SASR, Red hair, long hair, service submissive.

Leticia Valiant - 35, Captain Australian Army SASR, Red hair, shoulder length hair, tomboy.

Talia Becker - 27, Major Israeli Defence Force, Black hair, long hair, braided, wilful, but devoted.

Alice Rai - 31, Doctor of Medicine, Black hair, blue eyes, partial Indian descent, complete submissive.

Elizabeth Connors - 21, younger sister of Jaxson Connors. University Student -- Finance

Béatrice Martin -- 32, French DGSE. Tech expert and hobby tinker. Blonde, Blue eyes.

Grace Lawry -- 33, Captain, USAF. Tiberius' old friend. Formerly partnered with Benjamin Morgan and the person who involved Ty in the Quaranteam Project.

Juno Claudius -- 37, Lawyer friend of Tiberius and the Evans'. Has two children with Tiberius; Bellona(Bella) and Mars.

Zoe Evans -- 19, daughter of Tiberius' good friends Toby and Matilda Evans and Tiberius' 'niece'. University Student. Not yet bonded, but definitely part of the family.

Addison Taylor -39, Captain, RAN. Auburn Hair, Blue eyes. Ty's latest partner and liaison with the Navy. Sensible woman who really wants a child before it's too late.

Kang Mi-Rae -- 29, Korean actress. Black Hair with blue highlights, brown eyes. Popular actress.

-House Valiant-

Rayne Valiant - 28, 6'10, fit and muscular. Scientist, younger brother of the twins and head of AUS Quaranteam Project R&D.

Stella Andersen -- 28, Virologist, Blonde, Blue eyes, slightly curvy. Rayne's fiancée

Hasumi Saegusa -- 27, Doctorate in biochemistry, Black hair, Black eyes. Japanese woman, formerly paralysed from the knees down. Has been in love with Ray for years.

Simone Jennings -- 22, 2nd Lieutenant, Black hair, blue eyes, African descent, one of Rayne's dedicated security.

Patricia 'Trish' Barclay -- 23, Lieutenant, Blonde hair, one of Rayne's dedicated security.

Victoria Whitlock -- 31, Geneticist, brown hair in a pixie cut. Generally calm, with a careful nature and analytical mind.

Evelyn Taylor -- 35, Major Australian Army SASR. Auburn hair, blue eyes. Latest addition to House Valiant. Great soldier, highly regarded.

-House Morgan-

Benjamin Morgan - 36, Doctor. Was acting (under duress) on behalf of the same Shiekh as Connors. Ex-wife and daughter kidnapped. Deceased.

Theresa Miller - 28, Asian-American. Brown hair. Latest addition to House Morgan. Hospitalised and in critical condition.

--

New Valiant Household, Melbourne Southeastern Suburbs, Victoria, Australia - November 8, 2020 - 5:40 AM AEDT

--

Rayne woke up feeling like he was being smothered. Admittedly, most people would find it hard to breathe if they were buried face first in a woman's bountiful breasts, but he seemed to have the added bonus of a death grip around him that was making it somewhat difficult to take in air.

Though there are worse ways to wake up.

With their sheer volume, Rayne initially figured it was Stella's valley of plenty he was buried in, but with the grip around him being strong enough to give him breathing trouble, it had to be Evelyn, he decided, gently twisting his body enough to get his face clear. That was when he realised his mistake. The woman wrapped around him wasn't as toned as a soldier, so it couldn't be Evie. Nor was she the right skin-tone to be Stella. Given her...assets and her colouring, it could only be one person.

Tess.

--

Theresa Miller, formerly the partner of Dr. Ben Morgan, was latched onto him like a koala. After the incident in his previous residence that had left Ben dead and her on the verge of death, Rayne had spoken with her parents and gotten their approval to imprint her in the hopes that it would save her life. Ray hadn't known at the time that she was at least somewhat estranged from them, but his intervention would prove to be a catalyst for a change they sorely needed. At the time though, Ray had even shown her parents their Oracle matching results - a resoundingly high 98.7%, to make it easier to accept. Her father, a diminutive Caucasian man by the name of Henry, had been leery at first, unwilling to get involved with any situation involving his wayward daughter, but once his wife, Tina, a positively

amazonian

Asian woman had gotten wind of the situation, she came down on her husband with all the fury of a protective mother and he flipped his stance, agreeing immediately. They knew the odds of triggering a regeneration were low, but the alternative was to lose their daughter with no fight at all. And despite the strain in their relationship, Tina wasn't willing to just give up on her only child.

Rayne had also assured them that the entire process was going to be carried out in the form of a medical procedure, meaning he'd have no actual sexual contact with her until she was awake again and could offer her own opinion on that. Now while that meant that he was not getting any additional protection from her at the outset, she would still be bonded and thus unable to change partners unless Ray died. Still, they could establish whatever relationship they chose after. He hadn't been altogether happy about the fact that she herself didn't have a choice, but they had to gamble.

That was the real problem here. It was all a gamble, and they were betting with her

life

. That really rubbed Rayne the wrong way, especially with such long odds. He made a call to the Americans to see if they had any suggestions, and to his surprise they had recommended doubling the dosage on the serum. While it wasn't a guarantee by any means, there was enough evidence to suggest that it definitely

did

improve the odds of a regeneration kicking in for him to take the suggestion onboard. Thankfully, it had paid off, and after they had injected her with the serum and then supplemented it with Rayne's semen, Theresa had gone into a regeneration cycle. Ray had worked from the hospital for the next two days while she recovered, intending to be the first one to speak to her after she woke.

Expecting to be met with a frightened woman, disoriented and panicky after her ordeal, Rayne had prepared himself, but when she woke, she was surprisingly calm. Her first words after she took stock of herself and her location had been simple and direct. "Ben's dead, isn't he?"

Ray just nodded before launching into the explanation of what had happened and what they'd done afterwards to save her life. Tess had remained quiet until he finished, after which she'd simply gestured for Rayne to approach. He did, and she pulled his head down to kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you for saving my life, Dr. Valiant, and thank you for doing it the way you did. For what it's worth, I'm sorry about Ben's actions."

"I figured you'd be mad since we didn't give you a choice, Theresa."

Her expression clouded for a moment. "Just call me Tess. Only my mother ever calls me by my full name, and I haven't spoken to her in a long time. And I didn't have a choice when I was partnered with Ben, either. They picked me up and ordered me to comply. But at least

our

compatibility is genuinely high. I wasn't even a 40% match with him."

Ray couldn't help the double take. "They

forced

the pairing on you?" He blushed, realising what he was saying. "Well, I can't really talk, but what the

fuck?

How was that allowed?"

"Someone with some pull engineered it. Some government goons...at least I

think

they were government goons, banged on my door and told me that I had to cooperate or they'd arrest me for my...uh,

extracurricular

activities." When Ray just gave her a blank look, she sighed. "They wanted my skills. I'm a computer nerd, after all." Her expression remained neutral. "A hacker, if we're being specific. That's how I learned the actual match rate. No one on his Team was a good match. They just had skills or connections he needed to make use of, but they told me that if I let that slip, they'd kill us all."

"And

they

would be?" There was a

lot

he wanted to say about the bombs she'd just dropped, but that seemed to be the most pertinent. They could revisit the rest later.

She just shrugged. "They. I don't know who. I guess whoever was behind the people that attacked us. Maybe they figured out that I wasn't cooperating. I mean, that paperwork I cooked up, supposedly from the 'Supreme Court' was so glaringly obvious that I'd have been horrified if it actually worked." She did the air quotes and rolled her eyes before continuing. "Maybe they got tired of waiting. Either way, they acted, and I nearly died. Ben

did

die." She shuddered and seemed to reach for Rayne's hand, almost an unconscious action on her part. He took it, and she gave him a soft smile.

"Somehow, this feels a lot more natural than it did with Ben."

Rayne just shrugged. "This and the kiss you gave me just before were the first times we've had any physical contact. The fact that it feels natural is a good thing. Though, having heard that you were forced into

both

pairings is going to weigh on me now."

"Don't let it bother you, Dr. Valiant. Something had to be done, or I'd have ended up dead. If not from the injuries, then from the withdrawal from the serum."

His eyes bored into hers, and he noticed that they were a bluish grey. "You're bloody calm about that."

She nodded, a small frown creasing her face. "It...it feels like it happened to somebody else. Like, the memory is there, but it's almost as though it's not

my

memory. Like I watched it happen on TV, rather than live it. I don't know how to describe it, except like that."

"Maybe that was part of the regeneration? Reduce any mental impacts from whatever caused the injuries to begin with?" Rayne looked thoughtful and made a mental note to look into that later. He didn't know

nearly

enough about the regeneration process, even though one of his partners had already experienced it. That couldn't stand.

"Well, whatever the case, I don't feel like it's going to weigh on me for now, and as far as our new bond goes, at least I'm actually compatible with you. Unless you're lying to me."

"I can show you the paperwork. I have

nothing

to hide regarding it." He turned towards his bag but she pulled his arm back towards her, causing him to trip and stumble, falling onto the bed on top of her. As he fell, Rayne couldn't help but notice that she was voluptuous, exceptionally so, and her glossy brown hair, still mussed from sleep, lay spread out on the pillow. They just stared at one another for a few moments, frozen.

She chuckled. "Oops. I didn't mean for that to happen." Rayne was flustered and tried to get back up, but she held him fast. "Stay like this, please. Just...hold me for a minute." The mirth in her voice wavered, and her volume dropped until it was barely a whisper. Ray quickly realised that her entire body was trembling. "Whatever this regen thing did to me, it didn't take away anything from before the shooting, and...there's a lot to unpack, you know? And I've never been embraced like this before. Please? It's kinda nice."

Ray didn't know what to do, so he just lay there as she trembled in his arms. "Tess..."

She shook her head. "Don't. Not now. Give me some time. I'll talk about it all in time, ok?"

"...Ok."

--

Back in bed, he simply lay there, remembering her words as well as the conversations they'd had after that. She'd shared some of her history with him, though the girls now knew the whole thing. Her past wasn't pretty, but she was opening up slowly, now filling him in on the gaps she'd left the first time around. It helped that she was more trusting of women, so Ray had plenty of backup from the rest of his family, on top of which he had gotten her back in contact with Grace. A little bit of her old life, to help her settle into the new. It had helped both women, in the end.

Within days, Tess had developed a habit of clinging to him and was taking every opportunity to do so, pressing her soft curves into him and tucking her head just under his chin before simply melting into him. He had expected someone, Stella in particular, to get jealous of that, but she seemed to take it in her stride. It was unexpected, but he was immensely proud of how far she'd come in battling her jealousy.

Eventually, he pulled himself free of Tess's grasp and checked the clock. It was a bit earlier than he'd normally get up, but he wasn't about to try to go back to sleep now. Plus, Hasumi seemed to be awake already, and given how unusual that was for a Sunday, he wanted to be sure everything was at least

nominally

ok.

He grabbed the sweatpants that had been discarded on the nearby chair and pulled them on before making his way out of the bedroom and following the lights down to the kitchen. Rayne was still getting used to their new place, or rather, they all were. It had originally been someone's home, either reclaimed after the passing of the previous occupants, or bought in its entirety by the military. Either way, the house had a number of relics of the past occupant, and Ray and the girls still occasionally found items tucked in a cupboard or closet that nobody in the house currently could account for.

Hasumi was sitting at the table, scrolling through something on her laptop. He paused in the doorway, watching her profile as she focused on whatever it was she was reading. So much so, she'd completely failed to register his presence. A small frown creased her expression as her eyes darted back and forth across the page, growing deeper with each passing second.

"Sumi? What's the matter?"

She flinched at the sudden distraction, her head snapping towards Rayne as he stepped closer. "Ray! Oh, it's this report from Lettie about the refugee ships coming from up North. There are going to be a

lot

of very scared people on our doorstep in the next several days."

Ray couldn't help it. "If that many survive, it'll be a miracle in and of itself, Sumi. There are bound to be hundreds of dead on those ships." Her eyes met his as he sat next to her and he could see the pain in them. "I'm sorry, but that's the truth. If even one person on each ship is infected, they're very likely going to be dead or near dead by the time they reach us here."

"We still have to help them!"

"And I'm sure we'll do what we can, but you have to understand that we're not currently equipped to handle that kind of refugee incursion. We need to quarantine them and we just haven't got enough of the right facilities on Manus Island - or anywhere else, for that matter, to deal with it. And even if we

could

use Manus Island, the people on those boats would never make it there alive." He sighed, taking her hand in his. "Not to mention personnel. We have to get the Navy to shepherd their boats to wherever we're holding them, which means there'll be fewer ships to spot and catch any stragglers. Then, even if we

do

get them all consolidated and vaccinated, we can't spare that many of our army personnel to keep watch on them while we have the rollout looming over our heads."

"I thought all the serum administration was being done by medical personnel?" Sumi entwined her fingers with Rayne's, taking a measure of comfort in the warmth of his hand. "That was the whole reason Tiberius got them involved early, and so the military could just act as an escort for them."

A third voice joined the conversation, and both Rayne and Hasumi turned to see Simone walking in, dressed in running shorts and a sports bra. She'd clearly been working out if the light sheen of sweat on her ebony skin was any indication. "Docs and nurses are doing the actual injecting, yeah. Regular army platoons are providing escort, with each platoon being split into three. Two or three medical staff per, with a section - that's eight soldiers - running security and four support personnel." She wiggled her hips as she refilled her water bottle and came to the table, kissing the two already seated there on the cheek before sitting down. "Some of each section will likely be guarding the docs and the vax supplies, with the rest doing security around the vax site. The platoon medics will be helping where they can, but they're limited in scope, so it'll be piecemeal. Probably on standby with the platoon's lieutenant and sergeant. We're tapping just about every military resource left in the 4th Brigade; approximately a thousand soldiers, just to deal with Victoria, and that's going to be slow going. To be fair, Lieutenant Colonel Marshall's team worked this out ages ago."

Rayne nodded slowly, processing the information. "I assume most of our military is down to half strength or less?"

"Half is a very optimistic assessment, baby." Simone sighed heavily, her shoulders sagging. "Let me put it like this. The 4th Brigade was originally around 2,400 souls strong. We're down to under half of that number. Other brigades got hit just as hard, though some worse than others. The 5th Brigade specifically, was based in Sydney and it was almost

totally

wiped out. Not even 300 men and women left. They succumbed to infection en masse after they were ordered to control the protests back in June. A combination of COVID and DuoHalo." She took a long pull from her bottle before continuing, her expression bleak. "Their Brigadier sent a warning message to the other Brigades to ensure that we didn't go the same route. He died two days later and we took the warning seriously, but there were so many other vectors and bits of information floating around that we just didn't have a chance. And so, here we are. Weakened, but not done for."

Rayne and Hasumi took this in silently, both reaching a hand out to take Simone's free one. "We'll figure it all out, Simone. People make mistakes."

"Those soldiers, most of them took the quarantine seriously. They had stayed home with their families, protecting themselves. They were given orders. The brass didn't want to give those orders. Lt. General Hoffmann and Lt. General Pendleton argued strongly against it, but those goddamned pollies demanded it since the police had already been gutted and they wanted the protests quelled. It was a disaster."

Hasumi was understanding. "You're feeling resentful."

Simone let out a little growl of frustration. "Of whom? The people that gave the orders are pretty much all dead. Both of the Generals tried their best to stop it, but they had to follow orders too."

"The protesters then?"

"Even them. They were sick of being cooped up at home, even though it was the only sensible choice. The whole damned country stopped, Sumi. I'm just...I don't know, irritated?"

"So, you

are

feeling resentful, but have nowhere to direct that resentment." Rayne chuckled.

"It's not a laughing matter, Rayne." Hasumi chided him. "She's genuinely upset."

"I know that, Sumi. But there are any number of things that we can do absolutely nothing about. Isn't that like the basis of the military? Sim, the best thing I can say is talk to Trish or Evie. Or if you don't feel like you can, my sisters would be happy to be a sounding board for you."

Simone nodded. "What do

you

do when you feel like that, Rayne?"