#ssretribution

4. Trip down Memory Lane

This chapter takes place just before Chapter Six:Ori, when they crash landed after stealing a mattress.

It was the Hobbit’s fault.

If the beds at his home hadn’t been as insanely comfortable, Fili and Kili might have lived their entire lives satisfied with the standard-issue cots everyone had in their quarters, theirs personally shoved side by side in an arrangement that had, more than once, caused injury during sexual activities (they tried to bolt them together but it just didn’t work, and falling between two metal bedframes is not fun).  

But then came that night in Bilbo’s guestroom.

A mattress, one mattress, made for two people.

No concave bits, no fear of collapse.

Just a wide, soft-firm expanse of perfection that stayed in one place even as they giggled and rolled and managed to get each other off without waking anyone up (as far as they knew).

They needed one of those mattresses!  In the interest of personal safety!

It would be even more amazing aboard ship, in their soundproofed room, where they could make all the noise they wanted!

“We’ll never talk Thorin into going back to Shire,” Kili whispered. They were curled together in the main communication room, surrounded by Ori’s knickknacks. Their friend was currently off in the mess with their uncle – a date Fili and Kili chose not to think about.

Dwalin and Ori as a new couple was the weirdest thing in the universe – and they were Khazad who were born on ships and ran illegal goods for a living in hopes of one day reclaiming their world from a race of sentient lizards.

Still not as weird as their best friend and their uncle making eyes at each other across the communal mess.

“We don’t have to. We have a supply drop on Bree, and they sell Hobbit-style mattresses,” Fili grinned up ant his brother, causing Kili’s heart to do a delighted little pitter-pat. He loved a playful Fili, ready to cause some trouble. “No reason we can’t acquire one, even if it’s Atani-sized.”

Kili kissed him, because he could. “Three mattresses.”

“Three?” Fili wrapped his arms around Kili’s waist and nuzzled one round ear. Ori would knock their heads together for cuddling in his domain, but they just couldn’t resist.

“One big for us, and two little ones for Bilbo and Ori.”

Fili hummed against Kili’s ear, making his brother wiggle and laugh. “Ori is obviously a bribe, but Bilbo?”

Kili was quiet a moment, sharing breath and warmth. “He’s left everything behind to help us. The least he deserves is a good night’s sleep.”

Fili smiled.

His Kili was so much kinder than some people realized.

---

They decided in the end to buy the two smaller beds and …secretly permanently borrow the large bed.

The price on a “queen” sized bed was just ridiculous. And after extensive testing in the form of rolling happily across the test beds at the shop (rolling all over and every inch soft, like absolute magic and big enough for three Atani to sleep comfortably!) they had decided they definitely needed the queen.

They would have gone for the king, but it actually had more square meters than their entire floor space. They’d have centimetres free all around the queen.

“Thank goodness for vertical space,” Fili said, and Kili nodded agreement.

Bargaining for the two small beds fell on Fili, who could charm even Atani down to a skinflint price. Finding a way to sneak out a queen was Kili’s.

“Whoever put in their security scanners is completely incompetent,” he reported cheerfully as Fili improvised a system of straps connected to his beloved bike.

They probably should have thought through the whole transportation thing a bit more. Ah, well. They knew how to think on the fly.

“Easy mission?” Fili asked.

“Ridiculously,” Kili confirmed.  Fili straightened and tugged him in for an enthusiastic kiss, leather on leather and so hot Kili moaned low in the back of his throat. Fili smiled, slow and warm and obviously fully aware of what he was doing.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Kili protested.  “We won’t get anything done.”

Fili made a soft humming noise that made Kili think thoughts that weren’t conducive to pulling off a caper (Kili had been reading too many classic detective novels of late).  “Well, if you’re sure it won’t take too long, I suppose I can wait.  Especially if it means not doing anything too athletic on concrete.”

Kili winced.

That had hurt.

And he wasn’t sure he’d ever managed to regrow all the hair on his right pectoral, no matter what Fili said.

“Three minutes in and out and we’ll be halfway to breaking the new bed in,” Kili promised, and he met that slow smile of his brothers with a grin of his own, all sex and sunshine.

---

They crash-landed, but that was no big deal. It certainly wasn’t the first time. They knew how to relax on impact and make sure they were safe.  Even the altercation with Thorin was relatively injury free.  Maybe a bruise or two.

Certainly not enough to keep them from testing out the mattress for…several…hours.

Beyond These Stars is now posting on Ao3!  I will provide a link here for each new chapter, which will post on Sundays.

When morning came, it was Bofur who volunteered to stay behind and wait for their newest crewmember to awaken.  The Khazad were up and about early by Shire time, kept as they were on the time that they’d once followed on Erebor and refusing to change over to the intership time set by the Belegost.  Bofur didn’t mind a bit more time to putter around, finishing up the last bit of cleaning and contemplating how he was going to introduce a Hobbit who had never left his continent to the wildness of space.

Bilbo’s first question didn’t set his mind at ease.

“Will I need a good coat, then?”

“Ah, aye,” Bofur said, a bit flustered by the combination of nut brown curls and bare cheeks, “space is a mite cold.”

He’d be lucky if Bilbo didn’t pass out on the flight up.

Bofur’s first proper introduction was to Nori’s Jackrabbit, waiting to take them up.  “The Retribution can land in a pinch,” Bofur explained as he helped Bilbo step aboard, the Hobbit’s eyes wide but his twitching nose wary, “but the Gingerhopper’s a lot more maneuverable.”

A growl came from the front seat, familiar and annoyed.  Bofur grinned as Nori turned and glared at him.  “My ship,” he said with the sort of deep irritation that only comes from decades of friendship, “is called the Jackrabbit, and welcome aboard Mr. Baggins.  Make sure you strap in.”

Bilbo turned white when they lifted off the ground, but not green, and he tightened his jaw like a pro as they burst through the clouds and into the flame of the atmosphere.

Bofur’d had his suspicions Bilbo Baggins was tougher than he looked.

“Getting to know the Retribution,” Bofur said as he took the Hobbit’s cold hands in his own – trembling a little, but steady on his feet – and helped him out onto the ship’s small bay, “is really about getting to know her crew.”

Dis was only a girl when her brother jerked her into his arms and ran with her from their family home.

She didn’t understand everything – nine years old and clinging to Thorin in fear – but her people were screaming and her grandfather was missing and Thorin shoved her in Frerin’s arms and yelled, “Get her to the mountain!”

Frerin wasn’t big enough to carry her, and she cried and reached for Thorin and cried for her mama, but her biggest brother wouldn’t take her.

“Where are you going?” Frerin demanded, his voice cracking, and usually that made Dis laugh but now it made her scared.

Frerin was afraid.

He was never afraid.

“I have to find Grandfather,” Thorin told them, and he was young too, barely a hint of a beard and his hair a tangle, but he seemed so much older.  “Go to the Mountain and stay there.  Don’t leave for any reason.  And don’t let go of Dis.”  He grabbed their brother’s shoulders, looking Frerin straight in the eye.  “Promise me, Frerin.”

Frerin’s chin shook, but he met Thorin’s gaze and swallowed and said, “I promise.”

He kept his promise.  He pulled her to the port, and onto a transport, surrounded by people as more screamed to get in, and held her in his lap as they broke free of Erebor’s atmosphere and connected with the Lonely Mountain in orbit.

Atani: also called humans or man, the Atani are the most numerous race in the Arda.  Originally from the planet Beleriand (now abandoned), the Atani have colonized over two dozen planets and developed a number of languages.  The Atani are a relatively short-lived species, but reproduce at a rate that cannot be matched by any other race save the Hobbits of Shire.  The Atani colonies now exist as separate worlds with their own governments.

Major Atani planets include Rohan, Gondor, Arnor, Arthedain, Rhudaur, Numenor, with smaller colonies on planets and moons

Dúnedain: the Dúnedain are actually Atani, the first to travel and meet Elves in space.  The Dúnedain and Elves had close ties in the Past, and the Elves gifted the Dúnedain with limited genetic resequencing which has extended their lifetimes to three times those of other Atani.  The Dúnedain are, however, a very small group with limited reproduction as a similar side effect to those suffered by Elves.  Their colony-turned-home-world is located in the same system as Shire, and they act as go-betweens for the Hobbits in dealing with the interstellar community.

Bilbo Baggins was a Hobbit who worked diligently to appear as normal and un-extraordinary as the other Hobbits of Shire.

His traditional smial was kept clean and tidy, his larder was always full, and he took time every day to putter a bit in his garden.  This last was only for show, as the glory of his garden had nothing to do with Bilbo, but instead was the work of his friend and gardener, Hamfast Gamgee.  Had Bilbo been left in charge, everything would have died within a week.  Hamfast was a creature of both knowledge and magic, as far as Bilbo was concerned.

His dress, too, was Hobbity, bright colored vests and trousers that left his handsome feet bare.  He was, in fact, rather well dressed, being a gentle hobbit of some means and willing to spend fair coin on good clothing.  The tailor in town was fond of him because he generally allowed the woman to do as she pleased; he was certainly no expert on fashion.

His disguise was so well crafted that his fellow Hobbits actually found Bilbo rather dull.  A homebody, they called him, and tragically set on being a bachelor, despite being more than of age and fielding a number of offers in his 30's.  Old Baggins, they called him, for his regular and uninteresting habits, though he was not yet even fifty.

What none of Bilbo Baggins's neighbors knew, because he saw to it and they didn’t, was that in the back most bedroom of Bilbo’s home, in one of the two rooms his parents had built for visiting Dúnedain, Bilbo had a computer system of such sleek complexity that it alone held more power than the single government computer tucked away in Buckland.

Shire was a planet that lived in the past.  Hobbits had abandoned technological advancement in their industrial age, choosing caring for their planet over building industry.  As a result, theirs was a quaint agriculture society, mired in history and tradition, pointedly ignoring an interstellar community that seemed to argue over every tiny detail.

The other races travelled the galaxy as they wished – the numerous if short-lived Atani, the mysterious and isolationist Elves, the ship-bound Khazad, even the Orcs who lurked at the edge of Ardan space.  The Hobbits knew of these other races because of the Tooks, the only group of Hobbits who had the curiosity to welcome their first interstellar visitors several hundred years previous.  

Bilbo Baggins, owner of a secret computer system, was half Took.

Their protective isolation was ensured by their closest neighbors, the Dúnedain, who had taken on caring for the Hobbits centuries earlier. Exactly why this was, modern Hobbits didn’t know.  It was simply accepted that the strangely long-living Atani would always provide Rangers in orbit and planet-side so that the Hobbits could focus on maintaining their simple way of life.

The Dúnedain had brought to Shire clean energy and farming implements, and in return, did some limited dealing with the rest of the galaxy on Shire's behalf.   Shire pipeweed and fine wooden handicrafts were in demand throughout the Arda.   To facilitate this, one computer and communications system was built (in Buckland, lest any future Tooks be tempted to go too far; Bucklanders were reasonable, solid folk) and two satellites placed in orbit by the Dúnedain. A small group of Hobbits manned the communications relay; beyond that, the vast majority of Hobbits went about their lives as if they were the only beings in the universe.

But putting the communications system in Buckland hadn't been enough to stop one Took - Bilbo's mother, Belladonna, who became official envoy to the Dúnedain Rangers at the tender age of forty, and never looked back.

It was her mysterious friend Gandalf who merrily sneaked in her first small system, and by the time of her death, Belladonna had built, with the softly amused assistance of her husband, a computer system that connected her to worlds across the galaxy.

Bilbo had been raised on that system, and when his parents died, he inherited it along with his home, Bag End.

When he discovered how much information he could access over the computer, Bilbo dove in and began teaching himself concepts beyond the closest thing Hobbits had to scientists.  It made him a bit of a hermit, perhaps, not as outgoing as other Hobbits, but given his lack of interest in long conversations about vegetables and sharp-tongued local gossip, Bilbo didn't mind.  Besides, keeping his veneer of near-normalcy forced him out of the house almost daily, so it was fine if he spent hours upon hours learning about technology.

It was even acceptable, or so he told himself, when he started dabbling in the mathematics of force field projection, while he was still a tween.

However-

. . . Even he couldn't call it normal that he'd started messaging Atani all over the galaxy for more information on security and shielding systems, or that he went beyond theory and started building shielding systems, or that by his 40th birthday, Gandalf was his middle man in the sales of advanced shield technology to the interstellar community.

But, well.

He was a Took, cleverly disguised as a Baggins.

He could juggle his fascination with interstellar shield tech with his perfectly reasonable gentlehobbit lifestyle, surely.

And he did.

The Khazad are a small but physically powerful species sometimes referred to as “dwarves.”  They are an advanced race known for brilliant engineering as well as gorgeous metal work.  According to legend, the Khazad all came from a single homeworld, Khazad-dum, which was lost centuries in the past because of the semi-mythical Balrog.  During that time, the various Khazad colonies were also lost – often due to destruction of the planet’s atmosphere due to over-production, or to attacks.  For several generations, all Khazad save the Line of Durin have lived aboard huge ships, usually accompanied by a fleet of smaller, more maneuverable escort ships. The large ships are referred to by the Khazad as “Mountains.”  The last Khazad colony, Erebor, was lost a century ago in an attack by the reptilian race known as the Smaug, making the Khazad an entirely ship-bound race.  

SS Belegost: a Khazad Mountain which used to have a sister-mountain, the Nogrod, which was completely destroyed during the War of Wrath.  Belegost is the oldest of the space-going ships, and the people (called Broadbeams), have lived so long on ships that they have no interest in living on a planet.  In order to maintain a genetic diversity and to avoid overpopulation, there are strict rules concerning reproduction on the Belegost, which have been adapted by most of the other Mountains.

SS Ered Luin:  The Ered Luin and her various escort ships are the home of Durin’s Folk, the only group of Khazad which still has a large living generation that grew up on a planet.  The Ered Luin was originally a large transport vessel called the Lonely Mountain but was renamed when the planet was lost and the Belegost assisted with redesigning and outfitting the ship for long term habitation.  The Belegost’s lost planet was known as Ered Luin, so Durin’s Folk renamed their ship in honor of the Broadbeams and because Thror, the Heir of Durin at the time of the naming, insisted that Erebor could someday be retaken. Since Thorin, the Heir of Durin, left to train his heirs, the Ered Luin has been under the direction of Vali, son of Varin, husband of the Crown Prince, Dis.  

SS Moria: a ship lost to the Orcs approximately five centuries ago.  The Moria has been in Orc space for centuries, but there was an attempt to retake it by Durin’s Folk, which failed and led to the deaths of Thror (Heir of Durin), Frerin (Prince of Durin), and others.

SS Iron Mountain: the ship of Dain Ironfoot, cousin to Thorin.  Iron Mountain is a ship the size of a city, with a population of over twenty thousand, and it has a fleet of forty smaller ships.  The people of the Iron Mountain do well, but because of the sheer magnitude of their population and refusal to adopt the reproduction rules, they are poorer than some smaller Khazad mountains.

SS Ered Mithrin: a ship of moderate size and age, the Ered Mithrin follows the rules of reproduction.  The Ered Mithrin has been almost completely rebuilt twice in its existence and is one of the most high-tech of the Khazad mountains.

The Company of the SS Retribution worked hard, but their captain wasn't a slave driver.  He knew the importance of down time, even if he seemed incapable of taking it for himself.  Every couple of months, Balin and Ori would locate a nice planet or planetoid devoid of locals, and the crew of the Retribution would take a couple of days off, either planetside of aboard ship, as each individual preferred.

On these trips, Fili and Kili could always be found planetside, of course, along with Nori, Bofur, Dis, and Oin (though he gathered herbs more than he relaxed).  The others waited until they saw what the planet was like before deciding whether to go down or spend two glorious days sleeping in their bunks, preferably without their bunkmate.

Rarely did a location entice every one down - especially Thorin, who as aforementioned could not relax, and Ori, who was born on a ship and felt a ship was exactly where his boots belonged (what he would do if this mad quest of the captain’s worked, rather than leaving them all imploded husks in orbit around Erebor, Nori didn’t know).  Complete disembarkation did happen occasionally, however, as it did during their voyage to Shire, when Balin found a planet with shallow, crystal clear lakes surrounded by stone and grass.

The Retribution could land, when needed, but she did best in space, so it was up to Nori and his Jackrabbit to take groups ashore.  Fili and Kili were in his first haul, as always, they being the most used to traveling through the atmosphere and visiting planets.  In fact, Fíli’s beloved Raven was tucked in her usual spot in the Jackrabbit’s hold, just in case the prince felt the need to go for a ride planetside.

When they arrived, Nori was interested to find that they had between them, held in firm grips, his own baby brother, Ori.

"Nori!" Ori growled upon seeing him (and how entertaining, Ori wasn't usually one to growl), "They're kidnaping me!"

Nori looked over the two princes.  While usually they did, indeed, look rather like kidnapers in their all-black mission gear, this morning they were dressed comfortably, Fili in sedate browns and Kili in perhaps the most obnoxious blue shirt Nori had ever seen in his life. It had an eye-searing repeating design of uncut diamonds printed on it.  That sort of tacky must have come from one of the Ococarni mountains, perhaps the Ered Engrin, though how Kíli got his hands on it was a mystery. They looked like vacationers, not trained robbers.  

Ori, of course, looked as he always did, in mismatched layers and one of his soft scarves, as if the ship was kept at subarctic levels rather than a nice, steady temperature designed for maximum dwarven comfort.

"Really?" Nori asked, his voice the sort of lazy drawl that drove his other brother up the wall.  "You don't seem to be putting up much of a fight."

Ori glared at him.  His glares were, much to Ori's chagrin and Nori's endless delight, terribly cute rather than frightening.  "I did before they got hold of my scarf."

It was only then that Nori noted the scarf was wrapped, not around Ori's neck, but around his arms and torso.

He shook his head sadly.  "Kidnapped with your own knitwear.  I have failed you as a brother."

"Shut up and save me!"

Nori considered this.  "How much," he asked, "will you pay me to save you?"

Any time was a good time to make a deal, even when his baby brother was in pseudo-danger.  Considering the princes were Ori’s closest friends and depended on his voice for survival on a semi-regular basis, Nori wasn’t genuinely concerned for his safety.  Getting off the Retribution for a few hours wouldn’t kill Ori, no matter what he thought.

Ori’s glare darkened cutely.  "Nothing!  You're my big brother!  It's your job to save me!

"I'm fairly certain it ceased being my job when you turned seventy and started making eyes at the king's bodyguard."

Ori turned an infuriated pink as Fili and Kili grinned.  "I knew it!" Kili crowed, letting go long enough to pump a victorious fist in the air.

Ori, to Nori’s secret pride, twisted neatly and would have gotten free on that side, had the elder prince – more focused and less given to wandering attention than his brother – not hissed and made up for Kíli’s missing hand by wrapping a boot neatly around Ori’s and tugging just enough to interfere with Ori’s balance.

Nori felt another moment of accomplishment.  That was an underhanded little trick Nori had taught Fíli, back when the prince wasn’t quite in his majority and they had only recently all left together on the Retribution.  It hadn’t been easy overcoming the firm sense of honor and fair play Fíli’s family had put in his head and convince him to cheat a little.  

Fili snorted.  His hair was down for once, an obnoxiously attractive golden fall down his back.  When Nori left his hair loose, he looked like a deranged fluffball.  "Only because I told you,” he said, and, ignoring Kíli’s growled indignation, “All right, let's get him in the Hopper."

The princes paid no mind to Nori's snarl - he hated the idiotic nickname this group of utter misfits had come up with for his beloved Jackrabbit.  Gingerhopper indeed.  Instead, they gripped his brother's arms and lifted him onto the ship and more or less wrestled him - over Ori's loud protestations - into a seat and buckled him in.

"Group one ready to go!" Fili called cheerfully, because four was a full load for the Jackrabbit.

Beyond several minutes of Ori reaming both Fíli and Kíli out in the most polite fashion possible, the first flight down was uneventful.  By the time the princes were rolling out the door like puppies, chattering about a nearby waterfall perfect for trying to break their necks jumping off of, Ori was relaxed enough to inform them he wouldn’t even go for help and they deserved everything they got.

----

It did take the Rabbit several trips, of course, and Nori didn’t bother to hide a little grin when Dwalin glowered his way into a seat instead of staying aboard.  Ori would be pleased.

Nori's final trip was meant to be only Balin and Dis, since the king generally preferred to stay with the ship.  However, he ended up with three passengers again - this time at the insistence of the Retribution's stubborn, powerful, kind, loving, and beautiful first officer.

The sound of boots coming down the short hallway to the Retribution’s tiny ship bay was accompanied by the pleasant growl of the captain’s voice.  "Someone should stay with the ship-"

"She's being monitored, Thorin."  Ah, the motherly Dis, her voice warm.  Lines crinkled beside her blue eyes as they came into view – this was the voice she used when dealing with her sons, or calling her husband back aboard the Ered Luin.

"I really don't need to-"

"Yes you do, Thorin."

"I'd love to catch up on some sleep-"

"Sounds like an excellent excuse for a moonlit nap."

"Really, Dis, this isn't necess-"

"Thorin, you are going down to this planet with me and that's final.  No more discussion, no more whinging, no more trying to wriggle out of it.”  Her voice sharpened, and now she sounded like the prince she was, destined to be the new Heir one day, if she didn’t abdicate for her son.  “Thorin, you’re becoming more and more on edge.  You need to get your feet on some stone and take a few days to breathe.”  She reached out and rested her hands on his shoulders.  Dis was a tall female, not much shorter than her brother.  “Thorin, I know better than anyone else what this mission means to you.  We’ll be at Shire in just a couple of weeks.  Taking a couple of days to feel the soil and relax will be good for you.  You’ll see.”  

Thorin, the Heir of Durin, captain of their ship, brooding and silent and often difficult to understand -

-was also no fool.

He leaned forward, his forehead touching lightly against his sister’s.  Thorin trusted his sister’s council; he said she had given him reason to, all their adult lives.  “All right, Dis.  I’ll do my best.”

“Good,” she said, giving his right braid a tug, a sign of affection her younger son had picked up for his brother as well.  “That’s all I’m asking for.”

Thorin boarded the Jackrabbit with his usual look of faint concern that Nori's precious lady might fall apart in seconds.  Dis boarded with her usual grin and warm hello.  She was a dwarf who properly appreciated a ride in a small ship helmed by a brilliant pilot.