Chapter 6

Brittany awoke to the feeling of soft kisses trailing up and down her naked back. She felt her body shudder when Santana had placed one on a particularly sensitive part of her neck, feeling the other woman smile into her skin at her reaction. Her body felt completely drained of energy after the night the two of them had, and she felt herself falling comfortably into the curve of Santana's body behind her as the tan girl continued peppering her body with lazy kisses. The tan girl's arm that was slung protectively around her midsection tightened it's hold and pulled Brittany even closer to her, humming at the action.

"Mmmm," Santana said, burying her face into the curve of Brittany's shoulder. "Hi."

Brittany let out a cute giggle, finding the the way Santana's voice sounded, hoarse and scratchy from sleep, both cute and sexy. She shifted so she could turn in the other woman's arms and switched her body to lay on it's opposite side, now looking into brown eyes.

"Hi." Brittany replied back. She couldn't help but blush when she noticed Santana's eyes had strayed from hers and were now concentrated on her lips. Although blushing felt a little foolish now, especially given all they had done to each other a few hours before.

Brittany couldn't believe how many times they had taken one another. And that's exactly what it was. A form of crazed possession had taken control over both of them forcing them to consume each other throughout every available area of the ship until they both reached a point of exhaustion that they were unable to do so any longer.

Brittany couldn't help but let her mind wander to their last round. Santana had her bent over one of the large shipping containers, her thick member sliding deeply in and out while tanned hands roughly pulled her by the hair to claim her mouth in a bruising kiss. Brittany's eyes fluttered and she felt her core throb deeply at the memory. Never, in all of her intimate history, had someone pleasured her so deeply. Even in the throes of passion, as rough as they might have been with one another, Santana still managed to make her feel safe and protected. After the both of them collapsed, sweaty and spent from their powerful orgasms, Santana had managed to use the last of her energy to scoop Brittany up in her arms and carry her back into her quarters where they both fell into a deep sleep the minute the two of them laid down on the cot.

It was so strange. She had only known Santana for such a short amount of time and yet the other woman had done more to keep her safe than anyone had bothered to do so her entire life. She found herself wanting to know all that she could about the other woman whose life she had barreled into. Where was Santana from? Did she have a family or friends? Or did she live a life of solitude, just her and her ship, cruising through space without anyone to keep her company? Brittany wanted to know everything.

Little did she know, Santana was having the same thought process as she trailed her eyes over the creamy white skin of Brittany's figure. How someone so beautiful had quite literally fallen into her lap, she didn't know. But like many times before, she certainly was not one to question her good fortune. Brittany was a handful in all sense of the word but after having her by her side, even if though if hadn't been for that long, made Santana realize just how lonely she was before Brittany came along.

She used to think that all she needed was her ship, the one thing she valued and counted on more than anything, and the sky. Everything else had always found a way to disappoint her. But now, lying here Brittany in her arms and the blonde's exotic smell washing over her like a powerful wave, Santana had never felt the urge to want to keep something and hold onto it so strongly before. Brittany was so unlike any person she had ever encountered before, a bewildering mixture of chaos and sweet innocence, that managed to breakdown all of Santana's classic defenses before she even had a chance to put them up. She found herself completely disarmed by everything Brittany was and rather than wanting to run away in the opposite direction from the things that Brittany made her feel, she wanted to ensure that Brittany never left. Feelings like this were both terrifying and new for Santana but there were other factors that were troubling her along with her quickly developing feelings for the enigmatic blonde.

Could she really keep Brittany by her side, or more importantly keep Brittany safe from the people who were after her as well as complete her own run to save her own life?

"Uh oh." Brittany said, bringing her thumb up to gently swipe at the bridge between Santana's eyebrows. An action that immediately calmed her and brought her out from her thoughts.

"What?"

"That doesn't look like a good thought crinkle."

"A thought crinkle?"

"Uh huh." Brittany nodded. "Every time you're thinking too hard about something your face crinkles up like this," Brittany brought her eyebrows close together as if she were deep in though,trying to imitate Santana's face from before which caused Santana to laugh.

"I do not do that!" Unsure of how Brittany seemed to think she could claim to deeply read into her facial expressions. "And how would you know so much about my 'thought crinkles' as you call them?"

"I'm an excellent reader of people." She replied, matter-of-factly.

"Is that so?" Santana gave Brittany an amused grin, propping her head up with her fist as she faced her fully.

"So what am I thinking right at this moment?"

"Hmmm." Brittany pondered playfully, biting her lip in such a way that Santana thought was both adorable and sexy. Brittany moved her face closer to Santana's so that their lips were a mere hairsbreadth apart. Santana shivered at the feeling of the blonde's breath lightly ghosting across her lips. "I think, you're thinking of how much you want to kiss me right now."

Santana's smile grew into a smirk. "You're in the right area." Still teasing, she brought her right arm up and started skimming her hands down the blonde's side.

Brittany continued their teasing guessing game by moving her mouth to rasp into Santana's ear. "You're thinking of all the things I can do to you with my tongue." She gently licked at Santana's lobe, absolutely loving the blissful groan Santana let out when her teeth latched on to gently bite at it.

"Defintiely getting warmer." Santana was panting now, slowly feeling herself start to harden at Brittany's ministrations. She was surprised she had any amount of stamina left from the rate in which she had Brittany had gone at it the night before. It seemed however, that being anywhere near Brittany, never failed to send her arousal skyrocketing. A fact that was proven when Brittany moved on top of her, pale thighs bracketing tanned hips still teasing by keeping herself hovering just barely above Santana.

Brittany brought her face back up to stare deeply into Santana's eyes, all the while gently scratching her nails down the brunette's toned abdomen which forced Santana's hips to cant up into Brittany's center to which they both let out moans of approval. "And you're definitely thinking about how much you want to be inside me, watching me while I ride you into oblivion."

"Gods, You are good at this." And with that, Santana had enough with their teasing. She reached her hand up to cup the back of the blonde's head, threading her hands through golden tresses and slanting her mouth across Brittany's. moaning when sensuous lips parted to allow her access. They kissed over and over again, full of passion and need and hands greedily grasped at naked flesh, both trying to pull the other impossibly closer.

It would seem that the powers that be were against them. Before they could delve into what Santana could only guess to be round ten, a loud siren-like beeping noise reverberated throughout the ship. Brittany sat upright in alarm, her ass coming to rest on top of Santana's strong thighs. "What is that? What's happening."

Santana, still mesmerized by the sight of Brittany's breasts as the blonde sat astride her, took a little while to snap out of her daze and bring her attention to the noise that had rudely interrupted their about-to-be sexy times. She caught onto the noise, trying to detect where on the ship it's origin was.

"I don't know, but it's not coming from my ships alert system." Santana sat up, with Brittany still straddling her and placed her hands on pale hips. "I'm going to have to go see where it's coming from."

Brittany pouted at having to get off Santana's lap but hesitantly moved off of her and onto her back bringing the blanket atop Santana's cot up to cover her body. Brittany's pout alone was enough to make Santana say, fuck the noise. The ship could be on fire and Santana would still find it hard to move from Brittany's side, and her glorious naked body. But, the beeping was rather unrelenting, and she figured it would be better is she just figured out whatever the hell is was so she can go back to being underneath a dominant Brittany. She quickly got up and threw on some clothes, making sure to place a few reassuring kisses onto the blonde's still pouting lips to insure her quick return.

"I promise, I'll be right back baby." Giving Brittany one last soft kiss, she threw threw her a wink and made her way out the door making sure to shout over her shoulder. "Don't start back up without me!"

After a couple of minutes of searching, Santana narrowed down the location of the offending noise. The beeping seemed to be coming from one of the large stack of crates in the cargo bay.

Santana started moving a couple of crates out of the way by hand. Of course the one crate she would need to find would be the one buried all the way in the back of the bay, because why wouldn't it be? Grumbling after almost falling into a teetering stack of crates that Santana would have liked to punch one of Mako's goons in the throats for stacking so recklessly, she finally found the crate in question. For some strange reason the crate was emanating a greenish glow along with its incessant beeping, and it wasn't until Santana knelt down in front of it that her stomach dropped with dread.

"These things have fucking timers on them?"

Santana fell back flat on her ass in disbelief. Right on the top of the shipping container next to the large embossed pendant of the planet seal was a timer window, the numbers continuously counting down Santana's deadline letting out a loud beep every for every minute she wasted. Panicking, Santana started inspecting every stack of cargo containers in the bay. Sure enough, on top of every one of them right next to their planetary symbol was a timer, silently mocking her as all the numbers ticked away at different intervals.

Realizing that she was well and thoroughly in deep shit, she got her ass in motion. She needed to find the mission itinerary and figure out where this doomsday clock of the first crate needed to go.

She hastily ran towards the large set out double lockers dear the loading dock door that she normally kept all her standard paperwork in. They were empty save for some spare machinery parts and a set of oil stained mechanic's coveralls.

"Vete a la mierda!" Slamming the locker doors in disgust, Santana moved towards the various stacks of crates in the bay, hoping that the missing paperwork was perhaps attached to one of them.

"Stupid fucking Mako and his stupid fucking riddles." This was exactly why Santana didn't like going into business with sharks, she always found herself playing the bait.

Ten minutes later and Santana still hadn't come any closer to finding the shipment papers. Judging by the state the cargo bay was in, she could honestly say she looked everywhere. Various crates and lockers were overturned, their contents lay strewn about the cargo bag floor. Santana herself had taken up kicking one of the lockers repeatedly trying to take out her frustrations for her own foolish oversight. She had let herself get so caught up in protecting Brittany's life and her own feelings for the girl that she forgot that her life was on the line as well. After one particularly misplaced kick to the locker led to a rather painful throb that vibrated throughout her entire foot, she found herself pitched backwards and onto the grated floors of the cargo bay, landing flat on her ass. Gods, what a pathetic sight she must be. Thankfully Brittany was still back in her quarters and wasn't around to see such an embarrassing scene.

"San," Brittany came up from behind her, wearing nothing but the blanket they were laying on mere moments before and a nervous expression on her face. "Is everything okay?"

So much for that thought.

"I'm fine!" Santana said panicked, not wanting to let on to Brittany just how not fine everything actually was.

"Santana this place is a mess!" Brittany exclaimed, sweeping her gaze over the ransacked state of the cargo bay with great concern. After Santana had taken entirely too long to come back, Brittany had grown tired of waiting for her. Feeling impatient and horny, she casually made her way through the Albatross with only the small blanket from Santana's cot to cover her naked form. It wasn't until she heard a series of loud crashes and quite a few epithets echoing loudly throughout the corridors leading to the cargo bay did she pick up the pace only to find Santana in her current state. "What happened?" The blonde saw Santana grimace in pain and immediately knelt down in front of her to place a soothing hand on top of hers. "Are you hurt?"

Santana had never felt the urge to pout so much than right now. Here Brittany was, gorgeous and looking at her with concerned filled eyes of the most vibrant blue, and she still was barely wearing any clothes. The problem was, Santana couldn't enjoy it one bit because like the complete and utter asshole she was, she decided to take out her frustrations on a pile of indestructible metal. To top everything off she was no closer to finding any of the paperwork that could somehow tell her which planet she was supposed to deliver this shipment to and her foot hurt like hell.

"I..." Santana almost started to think of a lie to tell Brittany, but deflated almost immediately. There was no point in lying. She was in deep shit. Brittany was still possibly being chased by gods know who, her paperwork for the most life threatening smuggling run of her career seemed to have mysteriously vanished out of an airlock, and it looked like sexy times were being put in an indefinite hold until she could fucking figure out what she was going to do about this huge surmounting problem. Letting Brittany know all that couldn't possibly make things worse than that already were.

"No Britt," Santana shook her head. "It's not."

"Anything I could help with?"

Santana briefly smiled at Brittany's genuine sweetness. "I doubt it Britt. I can't find the loading papers for this cargo that tells me which symbol this planet belongs to and If I don't get this crate to its buyer in..." Santana looked at the glowing read numbers on the crate, "half a days time, I'm dead. I mean really dead, swimming with the fucking fishes dead. Well, I guess that would be swimming with the sharks. But the point is, I'm fucked."

Brittany moved past Santana's hopelessly dejected form and walked closer to the cargo crate in question. Curiously, she reached down to run her fingers over the large, engraved symbol on the top, eyes alight with recognition as she traced the grooved circular pattern.

"I know this symbol!" Brittany exclaimed with delight.

"What?" Santana scrambled up out of her pathetically slumped position on the floor to move closer to Brittany. "What do you mean you know this symbol? How?"

"I remember it from a book my father used to read to me when I was younger. This symbol was engraved on the inside of the front cover. It represent the planet the book hails from."

"And that planet would be?"

"It's Arith VI of course!"

"The church planet?" Now Santana was confused. Never having been there herself, she had heard tales about the history of the planet in passing but nothing stood out in particular that would make sense for one of Mako's shipment's to end up there. What could she possibly be delivering, that was most likely highly illegal to a planet like Arith VI and to whom? "Are you sure about this?"

Brittany nodded. "I'm positive. This symbol is exactly the same. I would recognize it anywhere." She ushered Santana closer to inspect the symbol on the top of the crate she was currently running her fingers over. "Do you see here? These twelve engravings represent the twelve worshiped gods and goddesses. They surround this prism in the center here, which represents the ancient holy temple of Arith VI from before the Great War. My father told be Arith VI used to be a place of great peace, but the war had changed the planet to that of peace to one of eternal conflict."

"How do you know so much about this?" Santana was intrigued, it seemed there was so much more to Brittany that she had yet to discover. Brittany was certainly keeping the scales balanced for as many times as Santana may have saved her from danger, she was certainly the one saving her ass now.

"When I was younger I used to think that I would never get off my planet. I never thought I'd experience the excitement and dangerous wonder of traveling to far off worlds so I took to studying them instead." Brittany's look turned somber as she stared down at the crate, still trailing her fingers a long the edges as she remained lost in her thoughts. "It's funny how things change..."

Brittany didn't elaborate further but instead shook off the bad feeling and turned towards Santana, her carefree and beautiful smile back in place. "I do not know who this crate of yours is meant for but it is destined for Arith VI, I'm sure of it."

Santana definitely trusted Brittany, having absolutely no reason not to. That still left the problem of figuring out who she was supposed to deliver the crate to and where she was supposed to find them on an unfamiliar planet. She wracked her brain trying to look at the facts from all angles. If Brittany's knowledge of the planet was correct then she was most likely looking for an individual that would gravitate towards the planet in order to blend in between the conflicting sides of religious purity and the seedy under-dwellings of society. It took a few seconds for the gears in Santana's head to turn before everything finally clicked. She almost laughed to herself for not realizing it right away.

"Fabray." She muttered, a look of utter distaste spreading across her face.

"Who's Fabray?" Brittany asked, shuffling closer to where Santana was standing.

"An old acquaintance," she replied, somewhat bitterly. Realizing that time was entirely of the essence, Santana reached down to grab Brittany's hand in her own, beginning to drag her out of the cargo bay.

"Come on, we need to hurry. We have someplace to be and not a whole lot of time to get there." First things first though, Santana thought taking a look over at herself and at Brittany, they really needed to get her dressed.

"Where are we going?" Brittany asked, after following Santana's lead and being brought back into Santana's quarters and given clothes to change into. Santana met her gaze, not looking pleased with the scenario they were about to head into.

"To see my old partner."