Pinwheel

Chapter 1
The sound of the docking clamp reverberated through our shuttle with a dull metallic thud, we were now mated to the UNN jump freighter “Goosemother”, its massive superlight engines would soon catapult it, along with all of the short-range transports now nestled in recesses along its hull, to a faraway star system at several multiples of the speed of light. I checked my safety harness nervously, ensuring the buckle on my chest was tightly fastened. I was sweating, I had never been off-world before today, and I had never been on a superlight ship, I was what marines and the well-traveled of Earth's upper class referred to as “muddy”, in reference to the terrestrial soil and dirt they liked to imagine was caked to our boots. The ride up in the shuttle had been gut-wrenching, basic training had prepared me for the G-forces of escape velocity, but not for the spinning globe falling away behind me and the nausea of freefall. I heard a warning siren begin to blare and our pilot called back from behind his seat.

“Jump prep! Two minutes!”

I fumbled for my bit and slipped the clear plastic guard into my mouth as I had been taught. Superlight travel could be a shock to the nervous system, and this bit would ensure I didn't bite off my tongue in the panic and delirium that sometimes followed. They told me it got easier with every jump, that the human body adapted to the warping energies that could plow a 90,000 ton starship through space faster than a massless photon, but the first time was rough. Our staff sergeants had laughed together on the landing pad as we had strapped in, imagining our reactions when “our cherries got popped.”

I gripped the arms of my crash couch and my fists whitened as clamps emerged to secure them in place. Did I regret joining the United Nations Navy? No, there was a war to be fought, and I wanted to do my part. The day I had turned 19 I had dropped out of agricultural college, against my father's wishes, and enlisted in the Navy, as had many of my friends. We had imagined forming a unit together, but before we could so much as protest we had been sent off around the world to different boot camps. I hadn't seen any of my friends since, but I had successfully completed basic training, and today I was on my way to an orbital station on the frontier to finish my training and become a real marine.

The shuttle began to vibrate, the superlight drive was charging up, drawing in dark energy from the aether and using its immense power to create a wormhole to our destination. Only the largest ships in the UNN were equipped with these expensive, hard to maintain engines, and most support craft had to be anchored to their hull or within their onboard hangar to piggyback on the energy stream.

“Brace for jump! Ten seconds!” The pilot barked.

I glanced around the cramped shuttle, and two dozen pale faces illuminated by orange warning lighting stared back at me from beneath their helmets, all anchored to their seats and sporting a clear plastic bit. The vibration became a rumbling, then the rumbling became a violent shaking, the jump freighter was about to release the energy it had stored up and punch a tear in space. Suddenly, it stopped, as did all of my senses, my perception of time, and I could swear my heartbeat. I couldn't hear, I couldn't see, I couldn't smell, for a solitary second that dragged on for eternity I was trapped in a dark grave, I was dead. Then light flooded back into my eyes and the sound of screaming metal and wailing trainees met my ears, I convulsed violently, the straps on my wrists digging into my flesh, I tried to open my eyes but all I saw were blurry shapes like looking through frosted glass. My mind was muddled, I couldn't remember where I was, why I was hurting. Like crawling out of molasses my mind started to come together, pieces of memories, experiences, sensations, my vision came back into focus, I remembered where I was and what had happened.

I gasped, fully conscious again, as the people around me moaned and struggled, a few vomited, the pilot was doubled over in his seat, laughing at the chaos. I spat out my bit and it fell to the floor, artificial gravity had been reengaged. The wrist clamps released me and I nursed my arms, deep red welts cut into my skin where I had strained against my bonds in my temporary insanity. They weren't lying to mess with us, that had been bad. As I released the clasp on my chest and stood up from my crash couch shakily, a few of my compatriots tried to do the same and fell out of their seats, one went face first into a pool of his own vomit. The laughter from the pilot became riotous.

The shuttle disengaged and I watched the massive, blocky bulk of the UNN Goosemother dwindle into a speck through the rear window, the other shuttles disengaging from her hull, almost invisible against the darkness. The hole she had punched in space was now just a haze of colorful cosmic dust and trailing residue. Infront of us, glimpsed through the pilot's viewport, a giant metal donut was silhouetted against a gleaming terrestrial planet spotted with brown continents and white smears of cloud. As we flew closer the donut ballooned in scale until it became a space station, great spokes linking its central hub to the centrifuge that ringed it. This structure was far too large for artificial gravity generators, it must be spinning to generate inertia. My discomfort forgotten, I watched in awe as we pulled up alongside the massive structure, dwarfed by the hangar our pilot deftly maneuvered into, as if some giant mouth were swallowing our little ship. Clearly this was a military installation, those hangars were large enough to accommodate cruisers and escorts, maybe even a Phobos class battleship.

After our shuttle had landed, a line of embarrassed (and some teary-eyed) trainees filed down the landing ramp with their packs slung over their shoulders, carrying what few personal items they had elected to bring with them. At the bottom of the ramp an officer waited for us with a tablet computer, we stood to attention and returned a salute, some more enthusiastically than others, and he began to check our names against his database. After a short roll call, he motioned to the hangar bay.

“Welcome to UNN starbase Fort Hamilton, or as we like to call it, the Pinwheel. My name is Officer Vasiliev, I see some of you took the jump harder than others...” He eyed a dejected trainee with vomit down his coveralls. “But you'll quickly find that life here can be pleasant 'if' you follow the rules and do as you are instructed.” He put the tablet behind his back and began to walk down the line of men.

“Having completed your basic training on terra firma, you will now begin your marine training, this is a Coalition starbase, meaning that we have many non-human personnel from allied worlds who you will learn to live and work with. Some of you may find this difficult, others may find it undesirable, but creating cohesive units that include Coalition species is paramount to the war effort.”

Everyone knew about the Coalition, it was a defensive pact formed by several alien species and ratified by Earth, with the intention of dissuading an enemy from attacking one of us, an attack on one was an attack on all Coalition planets, and our combined strength could take on any belligerent alien species in known space. The problems had begun when several belligerent species had formed their own military alliance and used it to contest territory, now Earth and her colonies had been drawn into a border dispute light years away and things had turned ugly fast. Joining the military was pretty much the only way someone of my social class would ever go into space and see the galaxy, and although adventure had factored into my decision to enlist, seeing the damage done by the border skirmishes had filled me with resentment and had motivated me to get involved and help.

“You will be forming units with trainees from two other species specially selected for this program, because of the combat area's distance from Earth you must learn to interact with the locals and fight effectively alongside them. You will be eating with them, living with them, training with them and bunking with them, anyone who can't cut it gets sent back to Earth, anyone who causes problems gets sent back to Earth, anyone who can't follow orders gets sent back to Earth, is that clear?

There was a chorus of affirmations, and then we were led through the hangar and into the superstructure of the starbase. It was massive, although the shape was cylindrical, the Pinwheel was large enough that you never noticed its shape no matter how far you walked. As we left the hangar area and emerged into the donut, a cool breeze hit my face, and I looked up to see a painted sky far above me lined with powerful lights spaced at intervals that mimicked the sun. It looked like I could be on any Earth street, buildings on either side lined a long road stretching off far into the distance until it disappeared beneath the curvature of the roof. I stared in awe, my mouth agape, until I was ushered along by an impatient trainee following behind me. I did not feel like I was on a space station, the illusion of the painted roof and the buildings lining the edges of the cylindrical wheel completely fooled the senses, the breeze must be coming from some kind of air circulation system. The odd tree and potted plant stood out, leafy green against the mostly white, spartan architecture. For convenience the Pinwheel was separated into quadrants, and we were instructed to remain within this one, which contained our barracks, schools, shuttle hangars, gyms and recreational facilities. I felt like I was at a resort rather than a military training facility, but in the back of my mind I knew that feeling would soon fade as the hard work began. We were shown to our barracks, a large, squat building that looked as if it would house maybe a thousand trainees, it was split into rooms with two bunks and two lockers each, a mess hall, a communal shower room, toilets and a common room. Boot camp had been rough, I had spent almost a year crawling through wet mud while drill instructors shouted insults at me and running from sunrise to sunset until half of the platoon had passed out, in comparison this facility was downright luxurious. Considering what putting a structure like this into orbit must have cost, they wouldn't have cut any corners. We were assigned rooms, one human per, some rooms remained empty, I assumed they would house two aliens of a different species as this exercise was not merely for our benefit. The messier soldiers were given time to change and freshen up, and then the tour continued.

As we passed the mess hall, the smells of cooking food not failing to capture my attention, I saw a procession of Krell enter the building, I had never seen one in person before and I couldn't help but stare. The Krell were huge, lumbering creatures evolved from amphibious reptiles, they looked like bipedal alligators, their toothy, jagged maws permanently twisted into what looked like a sarcastic grin. The great beasts marched into the mess hall, their splayed toes, evolved to stop them from sinking in mud, smacking on the ground and their thick tails trailing behind them. Their scaly, bumpy hide was a dull green in color and they glared at the human trainees with beady eyes that darted back and forth suspiciously. They wore no clothes besides a kind of leather poncho draped across their hunched backs and a belt worn around the waist with dangling pouches of unknown purpose. The humans shifted uneasily, it was not the fault of the Krell, but they were fucking scary. They were golems of teeth and scales standing a good two feet taller than a human despite their bad posture. The Krell seemed no more pleased with the humans, and they seemed to exchange questioning looks between their companions, at least that's what I assumed, Krell did not have much in the way of emotive facial expressions.

“I see some of our friends have arrived!” Chirped Vasiliev. One of the Krell, slightly larger than the others and wearing a poncho that was the same shade of blue as a Coalition uniform separated from the group to greet him. They seemed friendly, and chattered in a guttural language I didn't understand for some minutes as we all stood around shifting our weight from foot to foot, nervously staring down the Krell. Satisfied, Vasiliev returned to the group.

“These are the Krell, ugly bastards but nigh unstoppable on the battlefield once their blood gets flowing, we're damn lucky they're on our side.” He looked back over his shoulder, appraising the Krell squad. “These guys look a little green,” he chuckled at his own joke, “But here's a tip from me to you, if you have to share a room with one, don't fight him over the humidifier.”

The human trainees chuckled nervously, without a doubt now dreading having to bunk with one of these monsters for the next several months. The Krell joined our group, and we toured the rest of the barracks and then left the building, walking to an adjacent structure that we were told was the gym. It was a large, open space with an olympic pool, weight training equipment and what looked like some kind of obstacle course. As we neared the edge of the pool, the Krell chirping enthusiastically at the sight of water, I leaned over the side, wondering how deep it was. To my bemusement, a dark shadow lurked under the calm water.

Suddenly, a great orange shape exploded from below the surface. My heart froze, and a powerful force slammed into my chest, sending me skidding backwards on my ass, knocking over a fellow trainee like a bowling pin. As we picked ourselves up, the Krell bristling unhappily and baring their jagged teeth, the orange mass shook itself like a wet dog, spraying us with water. I nursed a bruised rib, and glared at the alien accusingly. It was a 'she', that much was sure, all eight feet of her, she was humanoid, with a feminine figure and the impressive musculature of a swimmer or a gymnast visible beneath a tight fitting, one-piece swimsuit in Coalition blue. Her features diverged from those of a human at her head and legs, she had a flowing mane of long, orange hair that fell about her shoulders. Her small, round ears, further up on her skull than they would have been on a human, pivoted in my direction, and her face was flattened, her brow leading into her nose like that of a cat. She had camouflage stripes, similar to those of a tiger or a zebra, in her hair and across the exposed skin of her shoulders and legs, which ended in a double-jointed heel and stunted, paw-like toes tipped with claws. The hands she rested on her hips looked human enough, and a long tail ending in a thick tuft like that of a cheetah flicked behind her, probably evolved for balance.

“You're dead, tree climber!”

She spoke English, with an odd, rolling pronunciation that reminded me of a thick Russian accent, clearly her species had a similar vocal apparatus to humans. Behind her, other orange heads emerged ominously from the pool, their reflective yellow eyes peering at us from beneath wet hair. I prepared a retort, then thought better of it, I had worked too hard to get here to make a bad impression on my first day and jeopardize my position.

“These are the human soldiers I've heard so much about? They're tiny! I thought they would be larger than the support staff.” She pointed a clawed finger at me, “This one reacted so slowly I could have killed him in my sleep!” I scowled and Vasiliev stepped forward, his tone serious now.

“Stand down Raz, may I remind you that this is a UNN starbase and you're here as a guest of Earth?” The big orange alien shrugged her shoulders dismissively, and fell backwards into the pool with a splash.

“These are the Borealans, they recently joined the Coalition, they're not quite as well socialized as some of the other species, so be patient with them. Their bases near the frontier are an invaluable asset. Now if you'll come this way, we'll finish the tour and get everyone fed.”

We continued through the facility, touring the rest of the gym and the school building, the Krell seemed interested and attentive, the humans, although initially wary of their fearsome appearance, were warming up to them and crude communication was being attempted between the two groups, to the amusement of all. The Borealans were nowhere to be seen, it seemed they had arrived earlier than we had, and had finished touring the facility before our shuttles had landed. The school was fairly standard, desks of varying sizes and shapes in order to accommodate the various species sat in rows before wall mounted monitors that would display lesson information. I wondered what the subjects would be, advanced tactics and enemy intelligence for sure, maybe cultural and historical studies of the races participating in the program.

Eventually we made our way back to the mess hall in the barracks, and I was glad of it, my stomach was growling, we had been on our feet all day and a few of us had lost their breakfast in the shuttle. As we entered the mess hall from the corridor, I noticed the Borealans were already sat at their high table, eating what looked like bloody steak and some kind of fish, now clothed in jumpsuits. They all seemed to be female, I couldn't spot anything that looked male in their party. Considering how the Humans and Krell had been bonding all day, I was a little annoyed at the bad attitude the Borealans had, they had left no room at their table for the other species to mingle at all. They watched us as we walked over to the glass counter to pick up our food trays, and my eyes met Raz's amber orbs, she smirked at me, then went back to her meat, tearing into it as red juice ran down her chin, all the while maintaining eye contact. She was trying to intimidate me, but it wouldn't work, what was her problem? I stared right back. After a few moments she smirked again, then broke off and chatted to a companion to her right. I felt I had achieved a minor victory, and picked up some potted fruit and a sandwich from the display, the Krell had been presented with what looked like caviar and seaweed, they gestured to eachother and grunted happily, it seemed they were pleased with the catering. Our group made its way to the other tables, the Krell and Humans sitting side by side, in the spirit of the exchange program, and began to examine eachother's food. A sandwich was pulled apart, to the surprise of the Krell, and the humans laughed amongst themselves as everyone ate together.

When the groups were done eating, the officers ordered us to the sleeping quarters. The Borealans lagged behind us unenthusiastically, talking to eachother in a purring, spitting language I didn't recognize, despite their clearly demonstrated mastery of English. As expected once we reached the dormitory everyone paired off to their assigned rooms, Krell and Humans, Humans and Borealans, Borealans and Krell, the mix seemed to be completely random. The humans, who were more comfortable now with their reptilian friends seemed relieve to not be placed with a Borealan, and those that were gave desperate looks to their fellows. The Krell seemed happy wherever they were placed and did not complain, they chose a bed and a locker and unpacked their gear obediently, but the Borealans hissed and protested, one argued fervently with Vasiliev, who spoke their language, and who ended the argument with a reprimand and the order to “speak some damned English.” The pleading look on the face of her roommate told the whole story.

I walked over to my room, number 47, and waited patiently, hoping for a Krell to separate from the crowd and walk in my direction. To my horror, it was Raz who swaggered towards me, her face split into a cruel grin. No, this was impossible, there must be some mistake. What were the odds?

“Are you 47?” She asked, leering over me in her blue jumpsuit, clearly enjoying my pained expression.

“I suppose I am...” I replied.

“Looks like we get to be roomies, tree climber.”

I scowled at her, I wanted to maintain an open mind, in the spirit of the program, and learn to live and work with the Borealans but there was no reason for her to act the way she did, and it was getting under my skin. This was a military installation, not a damned highschool. Reluctantly I walked into our shared room, and she followed me in, closing the door behind her. One of the bunks was much larger, clearly intended for her tall frame. I packed my gear away in the bedside locker, feeling her eyes on my back. I mustered up some courage, and turned to face her.

“Raz, can I call you that? My name is Stanley, maybe we got off on the wrong foot when we met earlier, I just want you to know that this program is very important to me, I worked hard to be here, and I hope you and I can make the most of our time here on the Pinwheel.”

I extended a hand in greeting. Raz grinned, her tail flicking back and forth, and did not reciprocate the gesture, she instead placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head at me, aloof. She watched me, smirking, until I lowered my hand. I gave her the benefit of the doubt, and assumed she might not know what a handshake was.

“It's a gesture of friendship, it's called a handshake.” I said.

“I know that.”

I was beginning to get annoyed, and decided to confront her. “Why exactly are you being so unfriendly Raz? Have I done something to offend you? From the moment you saw me at the pool you've been out for my blood.” The smile faltered, and she glared at me.

“Borealis command has lost their minds, how can they expect us to work with humans? Look at you!” She gestured at me with a wave of her clawed hand, “You're the size of a Borealan kitten, you're half the weight of a Krell, you have no claws, no teeth, no natural defenses, your reaction times are a joke, the space stations and starships you're so fond of showing off,” she sneered, gesturing to the window on the far wall that overlooked the Pinwheel's habitat, “won't help you planetside, which is why we're all here, to perfect our ground unit tactics.”

My face reddened, angry at her rude rebuttal of my peace gesture.

“My people are warriors, the Krell are warriors, I could cut you in half using nothing but my claws and you'd be dead before you had even seen me move. I don't want to fight in a squad with humans, you're a liability! You should stay in your comfy bridge chairs where you belong and leave the ground pounding to more capable species.”

I was fuming, how dare she make such generalizations, I was without a doubt the first human she had ever had a conversation with, I knew nothing about Borealis besides that it was a star system allied with the Coalition, but I wasn't going to let her get away with insulting my race, I knew for a fact that UNN marines had made significant gains on the front, I had seen the recordings on the news casts.

“What gives you the right to talk to me like that?” I demanded, “I earned my place here just the same as you, we all did, we're the same rank, undergoing the same training, we're equals here if you like it or not and I won't let you insult me to my face.”

She looked angry, and I was afraid for a moment, then her expression softened into another smarmy grin. She reached out a finger and pushed my forehead, I fell backwards onto my bed.

“No tail, you can barely even stand. At least you have some fight in you, little monkey.”

“I am NOT a monkey.” I exclaimed. She grinned again, I had given her the reaction she wanted, and she seemed satisfied for now. I was angry, I wanted to throw something at her, but I knew better, if I towed the line and followed orders, I would remain in the program and graduate as a marine, and if the officers caught wind of her childish behavior, she would be sent back to Borealis. I lay down on my bed and faced the wall with my back to Raz, this was not the way I had envisioned life at a military academy. I heard her pack away her gear in her locker, then her bedsprings creaked and she muttered some complaint in her own language, probably about the quality of the bunk. The light from the window dimmed as the great lamps that lined the roof of the Pinwheel decreased their luminosity to simulate night, and, still fuming, I went to sleep.

Chapter 2
I awoke to Raz's loud grunting, annoyed, I rubbed my crusty eyes and rolled over to complain. She was stood between our beds, stretching her limbs and doing some manner of meditation exercises like yoga, each stretch or position punctuated by a grunt. I opened my mouth to protest, but my eyes lingered on her body. She was wearing skintight shorts and a tube top that almost failed to encapsulate her considerable chest. I hadn't paid too much attention yesterday, but now her lean, svelte figure leapt out at me. Her arms and shoulders were lightly muscled, her orange patterned hair fell about her shoulders as she moved, her boobs, by human standards very large but appropriate on her giant frame, bounced slightly, and below, her exposed belly flexed and twisted, twin lines of toned abdominal muscle leading down to a navel like one would find on a human. She had wide hips, the visible pelvic mound protruding enticingly under her shorts, and her butt and thighs were those of a weight lifter, I could almost hear her clothing creaking under the strain of containing her. There was no visible fur on her body besides on her head, while her shoulders, back and thighs were tinted orange and ported the same patterns, they were not furry, it seemed to be pigmentation in her skin. I watched for a few moments, mesmerized by her graceful movements, then noticed one of her round, furry ears was swiveled in my direction.

“Hey, do you mind? You woke me up!” I stammered, hoping she hadn't noticed my peeping.

“I don't mind.” She replied sarcastically. Annoyed, I flopped out of bed and got dressed.

“You know you could do that in the gym, and then you wouldn't wake me up.” I complained. She continued without faltering, stretching her arm back over her head, she was remarkably flexible.

“This is what I do in the morning, I need to stay in peak physical condition, if you don't like it request a different roommate.”

“You know that isn't an option...”

She smirked, and stretched her other arm over her head, letting out a loud grunt.

“If your squad gets attacked while you're asleep, will you complain that they're too loud and stumble around in a stupor like this? How long does it take your feeble human brain to wake up?”

I didn't rise to her insults, and merely left the room to find the bathroom. Eventually I ended up in the mess hall and ate some breakfast, shared with a couple of humans and a Krell, the Borealans were all grouped around one table again, shunning the other species and being antisocial. Why were they even here? They didn't even seem to want to learn or interact with anyone else. After some time Raz emerged and joined them, her hair looked wet, she must have showered or taken a swim in the gym, and she was sporting her blue jumpsuit again, it seemed that no matter where she was in the room, at least one of her ears was swiveled in my direction, it was disconcerting. The mess hall filled, and then emptied, I left the barracks with a mixed group of humans and Krell, leaving some stragglers to finish their meals. There was no work to do today, no classes or drills, we had been told that today we were free to explore our environment and adjust to our new settings.

We wandered the Pinwheel, staying within our designated quadrant, and admired the technological wonder we had found ourselves inhabiting. The humans craned their necks and marveled at the artificial sky, while the Krell seemed more interested in the structural qualities of the starbase. There were no windows to space on the donut, it must have been heavily fortified in order to protect against space debris and possibly enemy attack, so there was no evidence of the spinning motion besides the inertia keeping our feet to the floor, which felt like wholly natural gravity. Wherever we looked there was activity, support staff and crew hurrying back and forth performing innumerable jobs and tasks, some drove down the central street in what looked like little golf carts or airport shuttles. They were almost all human, but the occasional alien could be seen commuting, their large frames standing out between the scurrying earthlings. After some time wandering and exploring, our little group found itself in the recreation center, which was a long, flat building where crew and soldiers could relax in what free time they were allotted. I felt a little guilty, seeking out games and recreation on my very first day, boot camp had given me the expectation that I would be up at the crack of dawn with a drill sergeant's spittle on my face before I had even had breakfast, but I guessed if we had been advanced to this program at all, it meant they trusted us to have mastered the basics, and while I felt proud of my achievement, that expectation weighed on my mind. My train of thought was broken as I watched two Krell play some kind of ball game with their tails, and the humans crowded around to hoot and laugh.

After a few hours of cultural exchange, which took the form of trying to teach the Krell how to play poker and a swapping of alien curse words, among other things, I decided it was time to head back to the barracks. I bid my friends good night, they were now attempting to teach the Krell to play pool without them eating the chalk, and made my way out of the building. The massive lamps on the roof had grown dimmer to simulate dusk, and the “street” was becoming less populated, with only the night shift crew emerging to start their duties. The air was cool on my face, and I marveled at the idea that I could be almost completely alone on a space station with a population the size of a small city, the station was truly massive, and most of the serious work must take place in the central hub where the command center, control tower and most of the base staff were housed.

I walked slowly, taking in the cool breeze and the green, leafy plants that lined this section of the street obscuring the buildings from view, carefully curated trees and hedges that looked as if they would be more at home on some European estate than a military base. They had really gone all out on the décor, but then again if thousands of people had to live here semi-permanently it made sense, little touches like this would stave off the cabin fever, it was not for the benefit of the trainees, we were only passing through. There would be no shore leave on an orbital station, there was nowhere for it to dock.

I heard a rustling, and snapped back into reality. I stopped to looked around, but didn't see anyone, was it the artificial wind blowing the leaves maybe? I started walking again, but more rustling made me halt. It definitely sounded like something large moving in the undergrowth, but I couldn't see any signs of movement in the brush. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up, was it Raz trying to fuck with me again? Surely she had better things to do than stalk me as a prank? Wait...

Was I scared of Raz? The notion that I would let her childish bullying get to me was absurd, and yet, the idea of her lurking in the bushes watching me like some kind of man-eating tiger filled me with dread. She was a lot stronger than me, she clearly had problems socializing and she hadn't hesitated to get physical with me, even infront of our superiors. I took off walking, a little faster now, not a frightened run but a healthy power-walk, I wanted to be away from these bushes and into full view of the barracks as quickly as possible. A chill slid down my spine like a melting ice cube as I heard a twig snap, and then my ancient fight or flight instincts kicked in and I bolted. As if I were running in slow motion, an orange blur left the bushes in an explosion of leaves and covered the distance between us in a second, it slammed into my back and sent me sprawling across the ground. I wanted to cry out but the wind had been knocked out of me. I rolled onto my back, intending to get up and face my attacker, but the thing was on me faster than I could blink, an iron grip around my wrists pinned my arms to the floor and I felt a weight mounting me, I tried to wriggle and struggle free but its thighs held me in a vice, yellow eyes glared down in the twilight. The face moved in, dangling hair tickling my cheek, and my body tensed as I felt pointed fangs prick against my neck. I closed my eyes, and to my shame a low whimper escaped my lips, I had been shot at with live ammunition in basic, but this was an animal attack, I was not trained for this, I had not prepared for this, and I was afraid. It held its fangs there for a few seconds, pressing them into my skin, not enough to draw blood but enough for it to be uncomfortable, I felt hot breath on my neck, then it drew back.

“You die again, monkey boy.”

“R-Raz? I knew it was you! You bitch!”

She released me and got up, laughing at me, I shuffled backwards away from her on the ground, before thinking better of it and picking myself up, brushing dirt off my front and nursing a skinned palm that I had fallen on.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I demanded, checking myself for cuts and scrapes, “you're out of line, are you fucking crazy? What is your fucking problem?”

My heart was racing, but she just stood with her hands on her hips again, smiling at me, both ears tracking me, probably savoring my complaints and protests.

“Just another notch on my belt, tree climber. I thought you guys were the apex predators on your planet? Yet you ran away like a prey animal, you didn't even run fast! Then you whimpered like a kitten when I caught you.” She was smug, as if she had won an argument or proven some kind of point. I didn't understand the game she was playing, I was hurt and angry.

“You think this is a game? Is this fun for you? You could have really hurt me!”

“Yeah you're pretty fragile.” She crooned. I was livid, a broken bone or a skinned knee might not be fatal and could be repaired easily with a properly equipped medical bay, which this station surely had, but... she was breaking the social contract, she had no respect for me, my personal space, my health, her behavior was baffling, inexcusable, was she legitimately insane? A sociopath?

“You can't do this, it's...”

“What?” She demanded, leaning down to eye level with me, her hands still placed smugly on her hips. “You gonna report me? Gonna go crying to the C.O?”

“Maybe I will!” I countered, backing up a little, and she took a step forward.

“Go on then monkey, report me, it won't do you any good. My father is fleet admiral Elysiedde of Borealis, if your UNN sent me home it would sour relations.”

“So you're only here because they want to appease your father?”

She was taken aback by my remark, and her brow furrowed. She took another step forward, and I took another step back.

“Don't imply I don't deserve to be here, I'm a better warrior than any of you scrawny little tree climbers, I don't know why my father wants this alliance with you humans.” She sneered, “everyone back home is so impressed with your shiny fleet and your wormhole drives, but you can't fight, ten of you at once couldn't take on a single unarmed Borealis warrior.”

“So you're a spoiled daddy's girl with an inferiority complex from a primitive backwater without superlight technology? Now it all makes sense!” I jeered, she recoiled, hurt by my obviously correct evaluation of her. “And we don't climb trees!” I shouted. Emboldened, I lurched forward and punched her in the gut, immediately regretting my decision as my fist crumpled against her steely abdominal muscles. She stood for a moment, watching me dance and wave my injured hand, then she casually reached out and pushed me off balance, and I fell unceremoniously into a bush.

“Like I said, you can't fight.” She stated, then wandered back into the darkness as I struggled to free myself from the foliage.

The next time I saw her was in the mess hall shortly before lights out, I was eating some expertly crafted French onion soup at a table with some human friends, and I saw her enter the room and navigate to the preferred table of the Borealans. I had cooled down now, I was still mad at her for her immaturity and disrespect, but I worried I might have really hurt her feelings, I had jammed a proverbial fork in her eye as soon as I had seen an opening, maybe it had been wrong to play off her insecurities like that, I still had to live with her for the next several months. She didn't deserve my pity, but I should try and make up with her, for my own sake. I noticed one of her ears was still tracking me, at least she wasn't mad enough to ignore me entirely. I decided it would be better to talk to her now, rather than to wait until we were in our room and my apology might come off as forced, or worse, her retribution would be out of view of the other trainees and staff.

Gingerly, I got up from my seat and approached her table, orange striped heads turning to track me. The whole table was staring at me as I approached from behind Raz as she continued to eat nonchalantly, one ear facing backwards.

“Hey Raz, can we um, can we talk about what happened earlier today?” Her ear flicked, amusement? Annoyance? She continued to face forward and chewed a bloody steak.

“What's wrong monkey, you back for a rematch?” She chided, her mouth full of meat.

I cocked an eyebrow, confused.

“A rematch?”

“Yeah I told my pack how you challenged me to a fight earlier and got trounced.”

My face reddened and I began to get angry again.

“I challenged 'you' to a fight? That's not how I remember it, I came here to make peace and you're telling people lies about me?”

“No need to be a sore loser, you thought you could take me and you failed, maybe now you'll respect Borealan fighting prowess.”

I couldn't believe her audacity, and I couldn't believe I had felt sorry for her. I stormed away back to my soup as Raz and her cohorts laughed and spat what must have been insults in their feline language. I hadn't told anyone about the incident and my friends were confused, I didn't need word getting around about my feud with Raz, I had worked my ass off to get here and my future was on the line, she was a pampered brat with family in high places serving only as a token to appease her father, I had nothing to gain by confiding in anyone. I would keep this under my hat, and either deal with it myself or hope she slipped up in a way the officers couldn't ignore. I spooned soup into my mouth, no longer appreciating the flavor.

Not long after, Vasiliev called for us to make our way to our bunks over the P.A system, the few people still left in the mess hall filed out, chatting amongst themselves, save for the Borealans who stayed in their “pack” as Raz had called it, they must be very tribal creatures, which might help explain their shitty attitudes. As I neared room 47 I realized most of my courage was just bluster, and I was afraid of being shut in a room with Raz. I didn't believe she would seriously injure me, but her bullying was wearing on my nerves and wondering what she would get up to next was making me anxious. This was absurd, I should be focusing on my training, not worrying about what she might be doing or where she might be lying in wait for me, I considered seriously lodging a complaint with Vasiliev about her attitude, but again came to the conclusion that it would only make me look bad, there was little evidence of her mistreatment besides hearsay and the incident at the pool, and even then, what would be my complaint? That she was “being mean to me”? It was a sure way to draw unwanted scrutiny and potentially the ire of the officers who would see it as a sign of weakness.

A big, orange hand ruffled my hair, a little too forcefully to be described as affectionate. I ducked away and turned to see Raz grinning down at me.

“Ready for bed, roomie?” Her saccharine display might fool the other trainees crowding around the dorms but not me. I scowled at her, and she feigned an exaggerated pout.

“What's the matter are we not friends any more, little monkey?” I ignored her, and entered the room, she followed, closing the door behind me and sat down on her bunk, her legs crossed. She watched me, resting her chin on her hand, as I changed into my pajamas and began packing away my clothing, I felt her eyes on my torso as I pulled my shirt over my head.

“Maybe an adolescent, rather than a kitten, you're pretty developed.”

I turned to look at her. “What are you talking about?”

“You're short but your body is pretty hard, like a kitten who had been lifting weights.” She chuckled to herself, appreciating the mental image she had conjured up. “Or maybe an especially short adolescent who was trying to catch the eye of a girl he liked.”

I went back to folding my clothes, trying to ignore her.

“Have you ever had a girlfriend, Mr Monkey?”

“Of course I have.” I replied, I shouldn't give her a reaction, but the day had been long and she was trying my patience.

“I don't think you have, you're too small, is that why you're working so hard? So you can impress one of the girls? Which one do you like?”

I went back to ignoring her, and closed my locker. I began to get into bed.

“I bet it's that one with the yellow hair and the big boobs, right? No?”

I didn't give her a reaction.

“How about me?” She purred, striking an overly dramatic pin-up girl pose on her bunk. She was wearing the tube top and shorts again, and as she leaned back my eyes played across her abs as they flexed, twin rows of toned muscle bubbling under her skin. The tube top strained against her full breasts, showing the outline of her nipples, and the curves of her body drew my eyes to her hips, following the prominent outline of her pelvic bone down to the elastic band of her tantalizingly low-cut shorts. I felt a twinge in my groin, a dangerous, inappropriate twitch. I broke away and turned my eyes to the floor, my face reddening a little. Raz leered at me, apparently entertained by my reaction.

“I like making you go red, little monkey. Unfortunately for you, I'm off limits.”

I began to protest. “As if I'd ever-”

“If I fucked you, you'd probably die.” She interrupted, very matter-of-factly. Then rolled back onto her bed, lying spread-eagled.

“Y-you, how can you-” I stammered, completely blindsided by her vulgarity and lack of tact.

“Don't worry monkey boy, we'll find you a girlfriend, maybe we'll have a look in the trees on the way to drill tomorrow morning. Oh I forgot you don't climb trees, right?” She rolled around holding her stomach, pretending to be wounded. “Oh no the human has punched me, my organs have liquefied! Bleh!” Her tongue lolled out of her mouth as she played dead.

I rolled over and put my back to her, trying to focus on the upcoming drill rather than my roommate's antics. I heard her chuckle, then eventually snore, and I tried not to think about the involuntary swelling in my loins.

Chapter 3
The next day I was awoken again by Raz's exercising, I muttered complaints and headed out to eat. Most of the trainees were already there, and we wolfed down our breakfasts, then headed to the briefing room, where Vasiliev informed us that we would be starting rifle drills today. The trainees muttered amongst themselves, most eager to be allowed on a range again for the first time since leaving their homeworld. We took one of the airport shuttle-like vehicles that I had seen the night before, and drove to the second of the four quadrants, where the armory was located. There was much more activity in this part of the Pinwheel, marines in full combat gear were running in formation, engineers were inspecting weapons and ammunition, officers were barking orders, the fight might be far away, but we were still at war, and this was the first time I had really felt it. It strengthened my resolve to get through the program. We entered the range, and there were all manner of weapons on racks, I didn't even recognize most of them, to the back of the building was the shooting range, the back wall was a good distance away, it, and the whole room was padded with thick ballistic gel that would slow a bullet or absorb an energy bolt to prevent it from doing damage to the structure.

“Now, you've all done firearms drills with the favored weapons of your respective planets.” Said Vasiliev, loud enough that everyone could hear as he walked down the line of troops. “Now you must familiarize yourselves with standardized Coalition armaments. These are ergonomic, designed to be used by all humanoid Coalition species.”

He picked up what looked like a rifle with no barrel or receiver. It was just a stock and a grip with a line of metal running along where there should have been machinery.

“This is the X-17 Modular Rifle, otherwise known as the XMR, this is the frame.” He held it aloft so everyone could see it. “This is the basis of the X-17 weapons platform. This is the rail.” He motioned to the metal rod that extended from the stock and I noticed it was covered in attachment points. “Now, because of the nature of our enemy, and the multi-species nature of our Coalition, this weapon is designed to be completely modular. The frame comes in three sizes, small for humans, then medium, then large for you Krell and Borealans, that is the framework upon which you will build a weapon that best suits you. To my right there are crates, inside those crates you will find grips, you will find muzzle brakes, scopes, flash hiders, magazines, all of the components you need to ensure that your weapon is ergonomic and comfortable to fire. Krell might want heavier drum magazines and longer barrels, humans might want a lighter frame and a forward grip, these are only attachments, you cannot make the weapon better or worse, merely better suited to your physiology.”

He reached behind him and picked up one of two metal tubes ending in a blob of machinery.

“This is the receiver, because our enemy has begun to adapt to the ammunition we use, the receiver comes in two varieties, you will have both on your person AT ALL TIMES. You will learn to switch these out in a pinch, in the dark, upside down, while being shot at, by the end of this training switching receivers will be second nature to you. The first is a miniaturized railgun, it accelerates a tungsten slug at eight thousand feet per second using electromagnets. It requires a battery to power the magnets, and a magazine to supply ammunition. The second receiver is a directed energy weapon, it makes use of the same battery to superheat and concentrate plasma using a magnetic field and fire it as a bolt, it requires a battery and it requires a gas canister for the plasma.” He slid the receiver onto the rail with one fluid motion and a loud snap, then turned and fired a railgun slug down range, it cracked loudly as it discharged.

“And there you have a completed, operational weapon, it's that simple.”

Vasiliev continued to explain the workings of the weapon as the trainees listened attentively, nodding in appreciation and discussing how they would build their personal rifles. Only the Borealans looked sour, not that it surprised me any more, and grumbled amongst themselves. When Vasiliev had let the trainees loose on the crates to start experimenting with the attachments, I noticed Raz walking over to him, I recognized her expression.

“With all due respect, officer, we brought our own weapons from Borealis, the best the homeworld could provide. We have Borealan bolt throwers, my father personally commissioned my-”

Vasiliev cut her off with a wave of his hand.

“You have your orders, Raz, you will familiarize yourselves with Coalition weapons platforms.”

“But officer, I-”

“Tell me Raz, how is the UNN supposed to provide you with ammunition and spare parts for weapons that we don't manufacture? Unless your bolt throwers can chamber standard UNN tungsten slugs, those guns are not to leave your shuttle, understood?”

Raz looked angry, but she nodded and returned to her group.

For some time the trainees experimented with attachments, eventually everyone had figured out how they wanted their XMR set up and Vasiliev called everyone to the range.

“Ok start firing, every time you empty a mag or a canister I want to see you swap out the receiver, make a habit of it, starting right now. You can fine tune your attachments and ergonomics, I want your gun feeling and firing perfect, the weapon you build today will eventually be going into combat with you. This is now a live fire range, I trust I don't need to tell you all to take the proper precautions!”

I was having fun, the XMR was not dissimilar from the weapons I had trained with on Earth and certainly seemed to be an evolution of human design moreso than alien. I had tweaked mine for low recoil and I was hitting my targets dead center, the Krell next to me seemed to be enjoying himself too, his massive rifle, equipped with a drum magazine and a wicked bayonet, sprayed plasma and melted the plastic targets. The Borealans were not doing so well. The modular design of the guns seemed to overwhelm them, and they were failing to hit their targets, judging by their audible complaints, in English for the benefit of everyone, Borealan weapons were large bore bolt-action rifles with a massive kick, perhaps like some kind of elephant gun or an archaic anti-tank rifle. They had overspecialized, failing to train with anything other than their traditional weapons and now they were at a disadvantage.

Raz complained especially loudly, voicing her distaste and making sure Vasiliev could hear her. The rifle she had built was an abomination, assuming she could handle the recoil, she had used a heavy barrel with no brake that was throwing off her accuracy, and her scope magnification was far too high, it might have been more manageable with a bipod but she had a folding grip that was completely unsuited to the task. I might have given her some advice, had she not made my life hell for the last two days, instead I enjoyed watching her flounder. I felt a hand on my shoulder, it was Vasiliev.

“Excellent shooting trainee, you've taken to the XMR platform like a duck to water, this is exactly what I had hoped to see. Raz!” He called back down the line.

“Why don't you take some pointers from Stanley here?”

I grinned at her, and she fumed.

It took a whole day, the Borealans had to stay longer than everyone else for special tutoring on how to operate the guns, while the humans and Krell had mastered the rifles and each sported his own, personalized weapon. We left for the recreation building, intending to celebrate with some games and drinking. I had been enjoying a game of pool with the now proficient Krell, when the main door of the building slammed open and a group of surly Borealans filed in, their tails drooped and they looked embarrassed and angry. I caught the eye of Raz, and she made a beeline for me. I gripped my pool cue, fearing I might need to use it as a weapon.

“So you think it's funny, do you?” She asked, glaring down at me.

“Do I think what is funny?”

“Your stupid, plastic toy guns, you've used them before, you think you're showing me up? Did you put Vasiliev up to it?” She advanced on me and I drew back, she was really pissed off this time.

“I didn't do anything, and I've never used the XMR before, don't blame me for your failure to adapt.” She raised her hackles, and scattered the pool balls with an angry swipe. The whole room had gone quiet now as they watched our argument, unsure of how to respond.

“If that idiot had let me use my slug thrower I would make you look like a blind kitten, it makes no sense that we can't use the guns we brought, instead they're making us use those stupid plastic pieces of shit, they're not made for Borealans, they're made by humans.” Her pack nodded their heads in approval.

“The Krell can use them, it's only you that has a problem.”

She glared at me, then at the Krell next to me, then back at her pack for support. Then she realized the whole room was staring her down. She looked lost, unsure. She leaned in close to me and whispered menacingly.

“You made a fool out of me, monkey. I won't soon forget it.”

I refused to be intimidated, the room was clearly on my side.

“Maybe now you'll respect human fighting prowess.”

She raised a clawed hand to strike me, but the Krell who I had been playing pool with let loose a blood curdling roar and charged her, slamming his weight into her and throwing her to the ground. She went down hard, she hadn't been expecting that from the usually docile and sluggish reptiles. Her pack of Borealans moved to back her up, but a group of humans and Krell blocked their path, shaking their heads ominously. The Borealans, outnumbered, bunched up and held their ground.

Raz picked herself up, unhurt but shaken, and began to back off, she knew when she had been beaten. The Borealans slowly filed out of the building in a defensive posture. As soon as the door closed with a loud click in the deathly silence, the room erupted in laughter and jeering. I affectionately patted the Krell who had steamrolled Raz in my defense.

“Thanks buddy, I'm gonna teach you to cheat at Blackjack.” He bobbed his head and let out a satisfied huff.

When night fell we walked back to the barracks, just in time to see the dejected Borealans leaving the mess hall. We ate and chatted for a while, and then we made our way to the dorm rooms in time for bed. I had to admit, I felt pretty good about myself, I had excelled at the range, I had stood up to Raz and she had slipped up infront of the whole platoon, now they would all be on guard for her antisocial behavior, the far more physically intimidating Krell now firmly sided with the humans, the Borealans would not be pushing anyone around again.

As I approached room 47, I noticed Raz was leaning against the door. She must have been waiting there for a while, this did not bode well. Everyone else had entered their rooms, it was just me and Raz alone in the hallway now. My heart began to race, what would she do now?

To my surprise, she smiled.

“I'm sorry about earlier Stanley, lets wipe the slate clean, start from scratch, what do you say?” She extended a clawed hand. I took it, gingerly, and shook it. She had called me by my real name instead of monkey or tree-climber, had she come around? Had my defiance earned her respect? I couldn't be sure, but she wasn't trying to eat me, so that was a good start.

“Hey listen, Raz.” I said, apologetic. “I never intended for things to go this far, it wasn't my intention to embarrass you infront of everyone, I could have helped you with your XMR, and maybe you wouldn't have accepted my help anyway, but it was wrong of me to leave you high and dry like that. I'm really sorry. We're going to be in a squad together one day, you know? We have to trust eachother, I really want to be friends with you.”

Her tail twitched, and her smile faltered for a second, then she exhaled deeply, and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Ok Stanley, lets become friends.” She steered me into the dorm room, then closed the door behind us.

“I really appreciate you coming around Raz, to be honest you were kind of making me anxious, when we- hey, what are you doing?”

She moved across the room, roughly pushing me aside and dragged my bed infront of the door, her arms bulged as she heaved the heavy metal frame with a speed that left me gaping and unable to react. I began to shake, it was a ploy, she just wanted me in here, alone, unable to escape, what would she do to me? I inhaled, intending to shout for help, but in a flash she closed the space between us and slammed her hand over my mouth, her claws cutting into my cheeks.

“I need you to understand something, Stanley.” She said, her voice low and level. “In my culture, social standing is very important. As the daughter of the admiral, my social standing is more important than you can fathom, I work very hard to maintain that standing. I am the best Borealan warrior here, I am the biggest, the fittest, the strongest, I am the highest born, I am the pack leader, are you following?”

I nodded, wide eyed and frightened, her hand still covering my mouth. A small trickle of blood dripped from a puncture on my cheek.

“When you make me look like a fool, and turn the platoon against me, I lose standing, and I cannot get that standing back, you've made me into a pariah, the other Borealans will no longer respect me, and when word of this reaches my father, which it will, I may be stripped of my title, I may not inherit his estates.” She seethed with barely controlled rage.

I had no idea that their culture had such a rigid and unforgiving social system, and it went some way to explaining why Raz behaved in the outrageous way that she did, perhaps, like lions in a pride, standing could only be maintained through dominance games. If she wasn't constantly the loudest, most obnoxious and confrontational member of her pack, someone else might usurp her.

“My father might even recall me to Borealis and halt my training, all because of you, you and your stupid monkey culture, you and your genetic inability to recognize who is your superior.”

She looked crazy, her yellow eyes were wide and her usually thin pupils were expanded into wide circles. Her teeth were bared and her hackles were raised.

“You took something away from me, and now I'm going to take something from you.”

She released my face from her grip and I fell back, knowing better than to shout for help.

“Are you gonna hurt me?” I mumbled.

“Oh Stanley, I'm going to hurt you in ways you'll never forget.”

I crawled backwards along the floor, knowing well that I couldn't escape, she had barred the only exit and the window that looked out onto the donut could not be opened. She walked forward slowly, hunched, as if ready to pounce on me. She flexed her claws menacingly and bared her sharp fangs, her black, round pupils fixed on my face. My head banged against the wall where my bed had been, and she loomed over me, I was cornered now, would she really kill me? Did she having nothing to lose now? She crouched, then reached forward and closed a steely hand around my neck, I gagged, her grip choking me, fastening my hands around her wrist in a futile attempt to pull her off me. She lifted me clear off the floor, one-handed, and flipped me around, launching me through the air, I landed on her bed on the other side of the room, the springs creaking under the impact, I slammed my shoulder into the far wall and grunted in pain. Before I could sit up she marched across the room and hit me, back-handed across the face. It cracked loudy, and the strike stunned me for a moment.

“Wait! Raz! Please don't!” I pleaded, I tasted blood in my mouth.

She wasn't listening, she was enraged, in a fugue state, she slammed her left hand into my throat again, pinning me to the bed, and used her right to tear my shirt with the hooked claw of her index finger, she pulled away the thin fabric as if it were paper, leaving my bare chest exposed and vulnerable. I writhed, choking and trying to break free of her grasp, but she was immovable, Raz was too big, too strong compared to a human, I could take her with a gun, but unarmed I was helpless. Slowly and deliberately, she dragged her claws down from my chest to my belly, not intending to disembowel, but to hurt and frighten. Her claws dug into my skin, drawing crimson blood, and white-hot pain seared down four fresh scars. I tried to cry out but only managed a muffled gag, her hand still firmly closed around my esophagus. She brought a bloodied claw up to her mouth, and touched it to her tongue, savoring the taste of my defeat.

“You're so soft and pale, Stanley, cutting your flesh like drawing in wet clay.”

She released my neck, now bruised and sore, probably intending to relish my pleas for mercy, and I did not disappoint her. My hand reflexively went to my burning chest, I drew back a trembling palm and saw red blood. I looked up at her, and she watched me, eager, expectant.

“Raz, don't do this!” I chocked through a sore throat. “I didn't meant for any of this to happen, I just wanted to be your friend, that's all I ever wanted!”

She moved up onto the bed, mounting me and pinning my lower body between her heavy thighs, her weight was crushing and we sank into the mattress. She closed one hand around my wrists and held them above my head, and her other hand wandered to my face. I tried to turn away but she grabbed my chin and angled it towards her. She gazed down at me, almost affectionately now, the combination of violence and tenderness set off red flags and I closed my eyes tightly shut.

“Where's your human fighting prowess now that your friends aren't here to save you, Stanley? I could do whatever I wanted to you, I could put your eyes out, slit your throat, give you a nice new face that your own mother wouldn't recognize.” She ground her crotch into me, the unexpected sensation making me gasp in surprise.

“I could fuck you Stanley, would you like that? I could take your manhood away from you, humiliate you, and every time you closed your eyes you'd see my face, and smell me, and taste me.”

I struggled fervently now, my fear turning to anger and desperation, if I was going to die like this, I wouldn't do it on my back, pleading for mercy, I'd get in a few good hits at least. I managed to slip one hand free of her grip and tried to hit her as hard as I could square in the face, but her free hand caught it before it made contact, and she crushed my fist, laughing at my pained expression.

“There wouldn't be any sport in it if you didn't fight me, monkey.”

My panic turned to hope as a spark of inspiration crossed my mind.

“Wait, wait Raz, I can fix this!”

She cocked her head, her expression curious.

“Oh? And how will you do that?” She appeared to be humoring me, this was my only chance.

“Hear me out, hear me out, so you lost your standing right? Because you couldn't shoot, and I stood you down in the recreation building, and that Krell hit you.”

She began to bring her claws up to my face again.

“Wait, wait, so what if I could fix that? What if I could teach you how to build the best XMR this station has ever seen, and show you how to fire it better than anyone else in the platoon? I studied harder than anyone at the academy, I can teach you how to pass any examination or test, you can show up every other Borealan here, then they'd have to obey you again! I can show you how to gain the respect of the Krell and the other humans too.”

She leaned back a little, pensive, weighing the options I had given her.

“If you aced the program and gained the admiration of the other species, there's no way your father would send you home, you'd be his best example of why Borealis is key to this alliance!”

She eyed me suspiciously, and I waited with bated breath, cold sweat dripping from my face. After a moment she seemed to come to a decision, and got off me. She stood, and let me sit on the edge of the bed, nursing my bruised throat and my scarred chest.

“Ok Stanley, I accept, but on one condition. You are mine, you belong to me, this isn't a mutual arrangement, we're not friends, you have something I need, and if you tell anyone about our arrangement, I'll finish what I started tonight.”

I nodded, staring at the floor.

Raz heaved my bed frame back against the wall, and gestured to it.

“Better get some sleep then, you look like you could use it.”

I scowled at her, and made my way to my bed.

Chapter 4
My sleep was a troubled one, images of tigers and monsters haunted my dreams, Raz had crossed the line, her playful pranks had become serious threats, and the scars on my chest stung as a reminder. When I woke, Raz was stretching, her lean body catching my eye again. I felt a surge of guilty arousal, had she been serious about “fucking me”? Would she have gone through with it? What would that have felt like? I squirmed uncomfortably as I imagined her heavy, toned body moving on top of me. She was right, although I would never admit it to her, I had never had a girlfriend, I had grown up on a farm in a rural area with no other children or neighbors to interact with, and my life since had been focused on the single-minded goal of becoming a marine, leaving little room for relationships. She seemed to be able to smell it on me. I banished such thoughts from my mind, and got dressed. Raz ignored me as I left the room and went to the mess hall for breakfast. My friends inquired as to why I looked unrested, and I simply told them that me and Raz had had a fight the night before, but had come to an understanding, which they seemed to accept. Even when they had backup, nobody was especially eager to go toe to toe with her.

As I chewed some bacon strips, I saw Raz enter the room. I tensed up, keeping one eye on her as she moved over to the glass counter and picked up some slab of nondescript meat, slapping it down wetly onto her metal tray. She looked around the room, saw me, and came over to my table. She sidled up next to me and slammed her tray down, almost making my human neighbor jump out of his skin. He wolfed down one last fried egg then made an excuse and left. Raz was hunched down over the human sized table, not quite comically oversized but clearly too large for it to be comfortable for her. She took a chunk of meat in a claw and began to gnaw on it.

“Raz? Why aren't you sitting with the other Borealans?” I looked over to their table and they were eating in a group, they had not acknowledged her presence.

“I lost standing, they won't accept me.”

I nodded understanding, they certainly seemed to be ignoring her, not one ear was rotated in our direction.

“So why are you sitting next to me?”

“I don't know anyone else.” She mumbled through her meat.

I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her, as much of a nightmare as she was, she had completely failed to socialize and had no friends at all now that the Borealans were giving her the cold shoulder. She certainly didn't deserve to have any friends, but she looked like a sad child sitting there hunched over the table.

“That's not what friendship means.” I chided. She glanced at me, juice dripping from her chin.

“Why's that?”

“Friendship isn't when people are afraid of you, when they stop being afraid of you they stop being your friends, right?”

She didn't respond, and continued to chew her steak, or whatever it was.

“Well, a friend is somebody who likes you for who you are, remember when the Krell defended me? He wasn't doing that because he was afraid of me, or because I had higher social standing than him, he did it because I was kind to him and he wanted to protect me.”

Raz picked a piece of meat from between her teeth with a clawed finger.

“So if you want to start making friends among the other species, you have to start being nice to other people, they aren't Borealans, they won't respond to intimidation or appeals to standing, that will only make them angry. Are you even listening to me?”

She stopped chewing for a moment and looked at me.

“Yes...”

“Ok then, well, try being nice to people, make way for them when they pass you in a corridor, be polite, maybe try to learn some alien games so you can socialize, humans love playing, it's practically all we do.”

“Borealans play games too.”

“Ok, good, that's somewhere to start.”

She went back to her breakfast, occasionally glancing up at the other Borealans, was that expression resentment? Longing? I couldn't tell. I had underestimated how hard being excommunicated from her pack had hit her, she was sulking, miserable, I might feel the same way if I had suddenly found myself alone in an alien environment, and social bonds seemed central to the Borealan cultural experience. Again I felt a pang of undeserved pity, but the stinging in my chest made me think twice.

After breakfast we did some obstacle course drills in the gym, Vasiliev insisted that we be in peak physical condition at all times, and the course was grueling. The physiological differences between the species meant that different performances were expected from each, and there were multiple routes to choose from, the Krell, being far too large and heavy to lift themselves off the ground, instead elected to surge through the mud and concrete pipes on the floor of the course, the humans vaulted and climbed over the nets and logs, while the more agile Borealans deftly leaped between them using their powerful legs. Despite Raz's disgraced position, she was still clearly the strongest and fastest of her species and maintained the best time among them, snarling angrily at a Borealan who had attempted to get by her, she was still fiercely competitive and seemed to have hyped up the aggression to new levels. Next was swimming, something that all of the species enjoyed. The Krell used their powerful tails to swim through the pool like scaly torpedoes and could stay underwater for minutes at a time, while the Borealans lurked near the surface under manes of wet hair, lazily drifting and occasionally engaging in mock attacks, surging from the water with surprising speed to bat at eachother. The humans did lengths up and down the free lanes of the Olympic pool, treating it more as a serious workout than recreation.

When everyone had completed the required activities and showered, we had some free time in which to eat and relax before we started study later in the afternoon, now the work was truly beginning and we would be learning about enemy tactics, physiology, weapons and spacecraft.

As the group left the gym and made their way to the barracks, Raz grabbed my arm and pulled me aside.

“Teach me about the guns.” She demanded.

“You want me to teach you how to use the XMR platform?”

She nodded vigorously.

“I can ask Vasiliev for clearance to visit the firing range, I'll go find him, he should still be in the gym.”

We were able to get permission to visit the other quadrant where the firing range was housed, and we took an automated cart that dropped us off at the door. There were only a couple of other marines there testing out some weapons configurations, or perhaps just trying to stay sharp, and we moved to the far end where we wouldn't be interrupted.

“So how far did you and the other Borealans get when you stayed late to train with Vasiliev?” I asked, hefting her unwieldy XMR and examining the mess she had made of it.

“He made us drill with them over and over, it made us angry, he wouldn't tell us how best to configure the guns because he said if we didn't understand what we were doing wrong, it wouldn't solve our problems.”

I nodded, it made sense. They had to learn through experience, or they would not be able to modify their weapons on the fly, which was the whole point of the XMR platform.

“Ok, why don't you show me what you can do?”

Raz growled and snarled unhappily as her gun bounced and kicked, her most accurate shot merely grazed the edge of the target, and I suspected that was accidental. Her frustration was not helping, she had probably trained with Borealan guns from an early age and become quite proficient, and this sudden shift to an entirely unfamiliar weapons system had invalidated all of that work. I took the gun from her, and laid it on the table.

“So you're doing several things wrong here. This isn't like a Borealan gun, the recoil doesn't come from a bullet being fired out of a barrel, there's no gunpowder, no explosion, the kinetic energy is coming from the dampeners on the rail, see these springs here?”

I pointed to two twin coils on either side of the rail gun's barrel, she leaned in to see more closely, and nodded.

“When the tungsten slug leaves the barrel, the whole assembly rocks back on these springs, and they dampen the recoil, so that kick is coming from lower down the barrel than you're used to, and the recoil is more horizontal than vertical, see? Your barrel is too heavy, you're trying to make a long rifle, right?”

Raz nodded, attentive.

“Well, see how thick this barrel is? This is an M.G barrel, it's thick and heavy because it needs to dissipate heat from rapid firing, it looks big and scary but it's designed to be used with a bipod, you won't be able to hit anything trying to use such a heavy barrel on a rifle, it will jump all over the place.”

I wandered over to the back of the room and sifted through the attachment crates, and after a few moments came back with the part I wanted. I held up the long, ribbed barrel so Raz could see it.

“This is what you want, this is thinner, but see how the barrel is long and ribbed? Those ribs are electromagnets, if you clip that onto the front of the standard rail gun barrel it will extend the electromagnetic array, more magnets means faster muzzle velocity, which means the bullet travels faster over a longer range and hits harder. But if we have more electromagnets, what else do we need?”

Raz looked thoughtful for a moment, her eyes scanning the crates.

“A bigger battery?”

“Yes!” I exclaimed, and she looked pleased. “More electromagnets means they will drain the electrical charge on the battery faster, so we need a bigger one. Want to go find us one that will fit?”

She nodded, and made her way over to the crates, digging through them for a few minutes. She came back with the correct battery pack, and clipped it to the side of the frame.

“Now lift it up and give it a try.”

She hefted the rifle, sporting its new attachments, and aimed it. Her eyes widened.

“That feels better!” She said, looking down at me. “You weren't lying monkey, you really know all about this stuff, huh?”

I blushed, Raz had never complimented me before, and I'd never seen her appreciative of anyone or anything. I snapped out of it and went to retrieve a box of scopes.

“Ok, let's find what kind of range best suits you.”

We spent about two hours training with the gun until I was satisfied that Raz understood how to make good use of the platform, she had gone from being unable to so much as glance a target, to hitting targets dead center in the head on follow up shots. She had eventually conceded that the XMR platform was more accurate than the Borealan slug throwers, and was now eager to play with her new toy. She had settled on a truly massive long rifle that almost looked like a spear, the bayonet affixed to the muzzle furthering the illusion. Now that I thought about it, I wasn't sure she didn't intend to use the damn thing as a spear...

Raz had a spring in her step as we walked back to the mess hall, she had overcome a setback that had genuinely seemed to undermine her self-confidence, and she would now be placed clearly at the head of the pack when it came to marksmanship and XMR familiarization.

“Hey, Stanley.”

I stopped walking and looked up at her.

“Earlier today, you were talking about friends, right? You said that if someone only does what you want because they're scared of you, it means they aren't your friend?”

“Yes I believe I said something like that.”

“Are you scared of me?”

She sounded unhappy, what had brought on this sudden change of attitude?

“Well, considering that you brutalized me last night, yes I'm scared of you. I'm not a Borealan Raz, I'm too fragile for you to treat me that way, you might have really hurt me.”

“That's just how we do things on Borealis, you were supposed to submit but you didn't, and now I think maybe humans just don't understand when they're supposed to submit and when they're not. You kept challenging me and I felt like I had to force you to recognize my dominance.”

I crossed my arms and watched her carefully, this sounded more like a justification than an apology, but it might be the closest thing to one I'd get out of someone like Raz.

“All of the other Borealans who I thought were my friends, they were my pack, my family, they all turned their backs on me, when my father sent me away to training the last words he said to me were “Don't disappoint the clan”. Now I think maybe Borealans don't have friends, what we call a friend is just someone lower in the social hierarchy who does what we want because they fear retribution. Even when I tried to dominate you, and I hurt you and frightened you, you still wanted to help me, you still wanted to be my friend. I didn't understand why.”

“Well, that's what humans do, Raz.” I replied. “Our friendships are mutual, there's no alpha, there's no pack leader, we have to be tolerant of eachother and forgive eachother when we screw up. We can't force people to do whatever we want all the time.”

Raz looked thoughtful, as if she was considering something.

“I will try to make friends, they seem to make far more reliable allies.”

She had opened up just now, I had seen a rare glimpse into her emotions and she was trying to gloss over it, it was almost cute. She caught me grinning at her, and gave me a shove, I fell off balance and landed on the floor, skinning my elbow.

“Oh, don't get any ideas monkey, you made a deal, until I'm the top of the class at everything on this damned Pinwheel and I get my standing back, you're my slave.”

“Yeah I made a deal, under duress...” I muttered, picking myself up and dusting my clothes off.

“I don't need you to be my friend, monkey, I've already got you wrapped around my finger.”

We'll see about that, I muttered under my breath.

We ate, then went to the school building, the lesson was uneventful, we went over the basics of ground tactics and formations, learned some more about enemy anatomy, and then we were dismissed. The lights were dimming and I quizzed Raz on the lessons as we walked back to the barracks to make sure she had absorbed the information, we could always go over it again later. It had not escaped my attention that Raz had been walking closer to me that she usually did, perhaps it was intentional, or perhaps it was some unconscious desire to stay close to the pack, but she had slowed her loping gait so that I could keep pace with her.

I really didn't know what to think of her, we had known eachother for almost a week now, and I couldn't decide if I hated her or pitied her, perhaps it was some strange mating of the two. As little as I wanted to admit it, I was attracted to her, her body was mind blowing and every time I caught a glimpse of it my heart began to race. Her aggressive and often crude behavior filled me with a kind of guilty excitement that I preferred not to think about too intently for fear that it might somehow worsen. I couldn't think of anything that would put a wider smile on Raz's face or grant her more power over me than if I were to ask her for sex. Not that the thought had ever seriously crossed my mind, or at least I had not allowed it to.

A large orange hand ruffled my hair.

“What are you concentrating so hard on, monkey boy?”

“Just thinking about stuff.” I replied dismissively. “We should go over the lesson plan when we get back to the dorm room, I noticed you were a bit rusty on Betelgeusian anatomy.”

“I guess it's not enough to just shoot their heads off, huh?”

“Well you'd think so, however...you know what, I'll just save that one for later, you aren't going to understand unless I can show you an autopsy of the extended brain stem.”

We continued to walk, the cool artificial breeze blowing through our hair. I craned my neck and looked up at the deep blue sky, well it wasn't a sky, it was a painted ceiling, but it did the job well enough. I couldn't even remember the difference between this habitat and a real planet now.

“Do you ever miss your homeworld?” I inquired. Raz looked taken aback, but followed my gaze to the ceiling and considered for a moment.

“I guess not. Society on Borealis is harsh, there's a lot of pressure to succeed. I guess I'm still adjusting to the idea that on the Pinwheel we don't have to be on guard all the time, we don't have to fight over every little disagreement. Here I can have friends, maybe.”

“You're really hung up on this friendship thing aren't you Raz? You know, I could be your friend, if you'd let me.”

She looked conflicted, then changed the subject.

“What was life like for you on Sol?”

“On Earth you mean? Sol is the system.”

She nodded.

“Well, where I lived it was very flat, not many hills or mountains, no forests, just miles and miles of farmland all the way to the horizon. Infact the only landmark in sight was my family's farm.”

“Weren't there any other humans around?”

“No, not really. I went to school of course, but it was far away and outside of the classroom I was never able to see any of my friends.”

“You couldn't play with your friends? Is that normal for humans? Borealans are born as a litter, we're never alone from the moment we're born.”

“It's a little unusual for humans, yes. I was just unlucky I suppose. I learned a lot living on a farm though, my father always said that hard work built character, so I guess I should be thankful for that. He wasn't too happy when I dropped out of agricultural school to become a marine.”

“You disobeyed your father?” Raz seemed shocked.

“We didn't fight about it or anything, but yeah, I guess I did disobey him.”

“That's not something that would happen on Borealis, my father would just overpower me.”

The dark green leaves of the immaculate topiary rustled as we walked by them, we were nearing the barracks now, but such a personal conversation with Raz was rare and I didn't want it to end. She was sharing invaluable insights into her strange, primal society, and I was beginning to paint a new picture of Raz, less as a dangerous, cruel alien and more as a troubled, misunderstood girl. Her culture had evolved over thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of years, it was the natural order of things on Borealis, yet the longer she stayed away from the other Borealans and the more she interacted with me, the happier she seemed to become. I was confident I was having a positive influence on her.

We rounded the corner to the barracks, and walked inside, we had lagged behind chatting and most of the other trainees had already eaten and gone to bed. Neither of us was especially hungry and we decided to retire to our dorm room for a little catch up study and then sleep.

“Remind me tomorrow Raz, I'll teach you to play some human games.”

She nodded, a smile on her face, and held the door open for me. By God, she was actually learning to be polite, I felt privileged that she was using me as a guinea pig. It wasn't quite dark yet, we still had an hour or so before lights out, so we sat on the edge of her bed and used the time to go over the day's lesson, Raz was having some trouble remembering the different classifications of enemy armor, so we went over them by rote until she could repeat them from memory.

Eventually the automatic lights shut off and we were cast into gloom, the only illumination coming from fluorescent strips that lined the floor to indicate the exit. I noticed Raz's reflective eyes watching me in the glow. I put the tablet computer down on her bedside table and started to get up, but she placed a hand on my chest and gently pushed me back down.

“Wait, monkey.” She murmured. The sheets next to me rustled as she leaned in closer, I felt her breath tickle my ear.

“You like me, right? I've seen the way you look at me when you think I'm not paying attention.”

My face began to burn and my mind swam, I leaned away from her, but her hand was still placed firmly on my chest preventing me from getting up, the still tender scars stinging under her touch.

“We're not like the Krell, we're similar, maybe compatible, don't you want to find out? Neither of us has been with anyone since we got here.” She purred, almost inaudibly. She had teased me before but she had never attempted to seduce me, this was not something I was accustomed to. She leaned in closer to me, breathing down my neck.

“Raz, don't...” I croaked, my mind was roiling, I couldn't think straight. “We can't.”

“Why not? There's nobody here, nobody besides us, we'd never have to tell anyone about it.”

She shuffled closer to me and leaned in, I felt her soft lips touch my skin and she lightly chewed the nape of my neck, the sensation sent a bolt of lightning down my rigid spine. “I tasted your blood, and I liked it Stanley.”

This was all happening too fast, I couldn't think, my body was overpowering my brain in a surge of hormones and poorly repressed desires.

“Raz, where is this coming from? This isn't-” I flinched as I felt her pointy incisor pinch my earlobe. “This isn't what friends do.”

“I told you, monkey, I'm not your friend, I'm your pack leader.” Her words were like honey dripping into my ear, sweet and sticky, I wanted to shake my head vigorously, to banish the creeping longing that threatened to rise up from inside me and take control, but I was rooted to the bed, as if in sleep paralysis, I couldn't bring myself to move.

“Back home, Borealans are expected to make themselves...available, to their superiors. I could make it feel good, I could be gentle.” Her hand wandered down to my pants and her fingers brushed my swelling member, I screwed my eyes shut, as if to block out the stimulation. This was bad, I knew that if I gave in now, and oh how badly I wanted to give in, all of our progress would stop here, I would be forever trapped under the thumb of this girl. This burgeoning friendship that promised to redeem her would just become another one of her manipulations.

“Come on Stanley,” she crooned, “it won't hurt, not unless you want it to...”

I wanted this on some level, I always had, it would be so easy to just lie back and let her have me, but I had to be strong, if I cared about the girl I had come to know over the last few days even a little, I had to resist her, for her own sake. Her advances grew a little more aggressive, I felt a long, rough tongue slide up my neck, its hot, moist surface forcing a low sigh from my lips. If she kissed me with that tongue I'd be finished, I had to stop this now before it went any further.

“Raz, not right now, not like this, I've never...I want my first time to be with someone I love.”

I had promised myself I'd never tell her that secret, but maybe she'd back off, I didn't know how courtship worked in Borealan culture. Unfortunately it had the opposite effect. A sadistic grin spread across her face, and she pressured me down onto the bed with her hand, I winced as my scars burned under her palm.

“Oh monkey, aren't you just precious?” She groaned, “I can't stand it, you're so soft and sensitive, whenever I touch you, you flinch, you're completely different from a Borealan, there's no fight, you can't stop me...” She loomed over me now, almost drooling. This was it, it had gone too far and as her excitement mounted I felt my own resistance waning.

“Your skin is so smooth and soft...” She used her claws to tear off my shirt, and I heard the sound of ripping fabric. “Your body is...its....”

She had stopped. I looked down through a haze of arousal and saw that her eyes were fixed on my torso. Four ugly scars, pink from healing tissue, ran from my collar bone to my belly button. Raz looked momentarily horrified. She leaned back and let me up, and in the low light I could have sworn I saw a tear glint in her eye.

“Stanley, I...I did that to you. You were so smooth and soft and I...” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I defaced you.”

I didn't know how to react, I sat up, my head was still spinning, and I reached up to place a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey now, it's not all that. I'm going to be a marine you know, I'll probably get all kinds of fucked up scars before my tours are over.”

Raz refused to be consoled, a steady stream of tears dripped from her eyes and she tried in vain to stem then with with her fists.

“Am I really such a monster, Stanley? Am I so cruel that I would hurt you like that? Stanley, who is so kind and fragile?”

I didn't know what to say to her, yes she had been horrible to me, but she had made progress, that she even felt remorse now was a testament to that fact.

“You know how you can make it up to me?” I asked.

Raz lowered her hands for a moment and shook her head, her expression miserable.

“Make me your first friend.”

She sniffed loudly, and nodded.

“We can be friends, Stanley.”

I hugged her, and she buried her wet face in my hair, fat tears rolling from her eyes. We stayed like that for a minute, then I broke away from her.

“Let's get some sleep.”

Chapter 5
The next morning, for the first time since arriving on the Pinwheel, I was awoken by my alarm, and not by Raz's loud exercising. I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes, as much as I had enjoyed a full night's sleep, strangely I missed her disruptions.

I made my way to the mess hall for breakfast and encountered Raz on the way, she was returning from the gym and sported her distracting tube top and bike shorts combo, she looked wet, she must have been swimming. The previous night's encounter had rattled me, there had always been a vague background radiation of attraction between the two of us, but I hadn't realized she felt so strongly about me until she had made her feelings so abundantly clear. Now I felt awkward, almost ashamed, as if we had been caught doing something we shouldn't. I was almost afraid of her now, no longer fearing her bullying or her abuse, but her romantic attention which might well be all the more intense.

“Morning Raz, thanks for not waking me up today.”

She nodded, and joined me as I walked to the mess, she selected her usual cut of meat and I got some cereal, then we made our way to the tables. I figured I owed Raz a favor for going to the gym to exercise, and I motioned to the taller Borealan table, which for now was empty. I climbed up on the exaggerated bench and felt like a toddler in a highchair, my feet dangled off the floor to Raz's amusement. We ate in silence, but it was not an awkward one, we seemed to have reached a new equilibrium, a mutual understanding that could be left unspoken.

We ate for a few minutes, and then I saw Raz's eyes turn to the door and dilate as the Borealan pack entered the room. Immediately they looked to the table and grouped together, moving over to us almost in formation. As they drew closer Raz's orange hair began to frizz, almost like an angry house cat, her eyes remained firmly fixed on what I assumed must be the pack leader who had succeeded her, while not as physically imposing as Raz, she was bigger than any human could hope to be. She stopped near the table, and glanced back and forth between the two of us, perhaps unsure of who she should address. Unlike Raz who was getting the hang of alien social interaction, the other Borealans were still stuck firmly in their native pack mentality. Eventually the tall Borealan addressed me in the same vaguely Russian accent that Raz used.

“This is our table, human, please leave.”

I stopped chewing and put down my spoon.

“Excuse me?”

“This is our table, leave.”

Even when Raz had been the head of the pack, she had not been this confrontational or this dismissive of the social norms of the other species, it made me guess that perhaps this one was overcompensating, either because she was new to the whole pack leader job, or because she was still afraid of Raz.

“I'm sorry but we were here first, you're welcome to eat with us though.”

The Borealan pack bristled, and the lower ranking members looked to their leader, uncertainty etched in their faces. The leader looked to Raz and hissed something in their native tongue, the look of displeasure on her face gave me the impression that she did not even deem Raz worth talking to.

“He said no, Xhe.” Reiterated Raz, in English.

The leader, or Xhe as Raz had referred to her, seemed to take this as an affront. Based on my ever expanding knowledge of Borealan customs Raz had challenged her by addressing a higher ranking pack member in such a flippant manner. She slammed her fists down on the table, making me jump in surprise, the milk from my cereal sloshed around in the bowl. Raz remained motionless, it could be a sign of either submission or defiance, I couldn't know.

“You submit to humans now, Raz?” Spat Xhe, contempt in her eyes.

“I submit to nobody.” Replied Raz.

You could cut the tension in the air with a knife, the few trainees who were eating their breakfast had either quietly filed out of the room or were watching with concern, a couple of Krell were half way out of their seats and looked about ready to intervene.

Xhe didn't seem to know how to respond, she looked to her pack for reassurance but they could not give it to her. She turned back to Raz.

“How can you function in a pack if you do not submit? Have you gone completely rogue?”

Raz stood up, a clear head taller than most of the pack, her orange mane flowing out behind her, the dramatic display sent a flutter through my chest and caused the Borealans to take a step back.

“I no longer require submission, I have made friends.”

“You've gone rogue!” Countered Xhe, her hackles raised. Whatever signal the Borealans had been waiting for, it had been given, and they began to encircle the table, claws raised into an aggressive posture. This was getting dangerous, I didn't fancy being in the middle of a Borealan cat fight and I didn't fancy the odds of Raz taking on the whole pack and winning, if it was that simple she would have done it in the first place. She could probably take two, or maybe three, but the pack was nine strong, with Raz making the tenth Borealan on the Pinwheel. Nobody knew why they had elected to send such a small contingent compared to the other species, perhaps it was the probationary nature of the Borealan allegiance to the Coalition.

Raz became a demon, her hair fluffed up almost into an afro, her eyes grew wide and dilated until they were black saucers in her head, she bared her fangs like a wolf and her tail whipped through the air with an almost audible crack. The pack was afraid of her, but Xhe barked orders in Borealan and they held their ground. I didn't know what to do, if the claws started flying I would be torn to shreds, but I wasn't about to let my hard won friend get dogpiled. If there was a serious fight, the M.Ps would show up and drag everyone off to lockup, but would they get here in time to prevent serious injury, and would a group of human M.Ps armed with batons even be able to take down nine pissed off Borealans?

Oh well, it was partly my fault Raz was in this situation to begin with. I guess we were doing this. I climbed up on the table to confused glares from the angry aliens.

“Alright you fuckers, who's first?”

I kicked a half-full bowl of cereal at one Borealan who ducked out of the way, but was splashed with milk. Xhe snarled, and two of the aliens lunged at Raz, before I could so much as blink Raz slammed her open palm into the chest of one advancing Borealan and it dropped as if it had been hit by a bus, lying wheezing on the floor. She took out the second with a roundhouse kick to the side of the head that sent it careening sideways, dazed. Xhe spat another order and the rest of the pack piled in, I tried to kick one in the head but it brushed me off the table, it was a high fall and I hit hard, cracking a rib. Raz turned to help me, but in her distraction she took a swipe to the back and yowled, spinning back around to deliver a brutal uppercut to her assailant that lifted it clear off the ground. Red blood dripped from her wound, leaving round splotches on the white floor, I couldn't tell how bad it was from my prone angle. One of the other Borealans advanced on me, claws raised and I winced in pain as I tried to scrabble backwards. From my right a Krell barreled into the Borealan, smashing it up against the edge of the bench, there was a sickening crunch and the alien howled in pain and confusion, behind them a second Krell charged into the fray, letting loose a bone chilling roar and swinging its thick, heavy tail into Xhe's legs. They were swept out from under her and she crashed to the ground, she scrambled to get back on her feet but the Krell brought down a massive, scaly fist on her head and she went limp. A plucky human snuck up behind one Borealan that was distracted by the newly arrived Krell and broke a chair over it's back. More humans and Krell filed into the mess hall, the word of a fight must have spread and the braver humans had come to defend their own.

The Borealans that were still on their feet looked conflicted, their leader was down, lying motionless on the tile, a trickle of dark blood leaking from her nose, and half of the pack was incapacitated. The one that had been steamrolled by the Krell was making a racket, hissing and spitting in either pain or anger, I couldn't tell.

Now a dozen humans and half a dozen Krell marched toward the beleaguered Borealans, they were hopelessly outnumbered and began to back away in panic, their yellow eyes wild. Before the brawl could go any further, two dozen M.Ps in white helmets wielding batons streamed into the room and began hitting everything in sight. The humans were battered with strikes and forced to the walls of the room while the Krell, shrugging off the blows with little concern, plodded away peacefully to join them. Only the injured and the Borealans remained in the middle of the room, and the M.Ps rounded up those who could walk and called for stretchers for the more seriously injured. I was helped up by a medic and escorted to the infirmary, as I left the room I saw Xhe's limp body being dragged onto a stretcher, and the two Krell who had participated in the fight were conscripted to carry her. After some brief attention from a human medic Raz was taken away with the other Borealans.

Later that afternoon I was discharged, my broken rib was bandaged and I had to make up a story about the scars on my chest to dissuade a curious nurse, the M.Ps took a statement about the fight, but did not take me to lockup. Vasiliev was waiting for me outside the infirmary, I attempted a salute, then grimaced in pain and thought better of it.

“Stanley, how is your injury?” He asked, returning my salute.

“I'll be fine Sir, how is Raz?”

“Don't worry about Raz, the medics told me she was pretty much 50% scar tissue to begin with. Two of the others sustained some pretty serious injuries though, even for Borealans, the Krell really worked them over. One broke a vertebrae and fractured an arm, and the other sustained a pretty serious concussion. Since they were the aggressors in this scenario no formal charges will be filed, but when those lizards throw their weight around people tend to get hurt.”

I nodded, and we began to walk back towards the barracks.

“Stanley, this station is technically an active service naval vessel, I hope you understand that participating in a fight, even as a defensive measure, and I don't doubt that was the case, carries serious consequences. We can't have marines running around getting into mass brawls in an enclosed space.”

“I'm sorry Sir, I understand. I assume the M.Ps gave you our statements?”

“Yes all of the accounts corroborate yours, but there will still be a disciplinary citation on your record, I take no pleasure in it, but we can't make exceptions for anyone.”

I sighed, I had guessed as much, it wouldn't kill my career by any means but it was a blight on my otherwise exemplary record. Vasiliev adjusted his cap as he talked.

“High Command has had enough of the Borealans, the conclusion has been reached that they cannot be socialized and that they represent a liability to our mixed units, we can't integrate them, we'll be sending them home with the next jump freighter.”

This news drove an icicle through my heart, and I stopped walking, Vasiliev turned, surprised.

“What about Raz? Will she be sent back to Borealis too?”

“Yes, I know you've taken a shine to her over the last few days, and she has seen dramatic improvements in her academic and XMR performance, but as I said, High Command has deemed that the Borealans cannot be socialized, Borealis is being dropped from the integration program and their personnel are being sent home.”

I balled my fists, frustration overcoming my usual professional demeanor.

“Sir, you don't understand, she can't be sent back to Borealis, they CAN be socialized, I figured it out, I understand how their minds work, Raz was making progress, she was starting to think like a human. If I had more time I could-”

“The decision has been made Stanley, it's not up to me.”

Vasiliev took me by the arm and ushered me along, I stared at the floor, dejected. It couldn't be, we couldn't lose all the progress we had made simply because of a fight, Raz was now enamored with the idea of friendship as an alternative to submission, and if she took that message back to Borealis, alone and without the means to properly convey it, she would be eaten alive. There must be some way to fix this, some way to prove to High Command that I alone could bridge the cultural drift between Earth and Borealis.

I arrived back at dorm room 47 and Raz was waiting for me, sitting on the edge of her bed. It looked like she had been crying.

“Are you ok Raz?” I asked, sitting down next to her, she had a patch over the claw wound in her back, but otherwise seemed unhurt.

“I'm fine, you look worse off.”

“Eh, it's nothing, just a broken rib, it'll be healed in a few days.”

Raz stared at the carpet, her ears drooped and her tail was tucked away under her legs, she looked miserable.

“Stanley they said I have to go home, the next jump freighter leaves for Borealis tomorrow afternoon.”

“I know, Vasiliev met me outside the infirmary, he told me High Command has decided Borealans aren't fit for the integration program.”

“I really thought...” She trailed off. I put a hand on her shoulder.

“I'll find a way to fix this, you've made so much progress Raz, there has to be a way we can show them that you're not like the other Borealans, if you can learn how to live with humans then others can too, and you're the key to that. If the Coalition wants an alliance with Borealis then you're the only one who can make that happen.”

“It's too late, the order has been given. It's worse, when I go back, I'll lose my standing in the hierarchy, my father will blame the failure of the program on me, the other Borealans won't understand the things I've learned here, living with you.”

“I'm going to see if I can talk to Vasiliev again before the jump freighter leaves tomorrow, try to make a case for you staying on the Pinwheel, even if it's just in an advisory capacity. You should come with me, maybe if he sees the change in you for himself he can pass the word up to High Command.”

Raz didn't reply, she just continued to examine the carpet, I felt terrible in the knowledge that in trying to improve her life on the Pinwheel I had likely ruined her future back home, who knew what adversity she would face now because of my meddling.

“Raz, is there anything I can do?”

She seemed to perk up a little, and one ear swiveled in my direction.

“Well, it's our last night on the Pinwheel together, tomorrow I'm going home, there's one thing you can do for me.”

Before I could react she took my face in her hands and leaned down, her soft lips pressed against mine and I felt her long, rough tongue slide up against my own. She held me there for a minute, locking me in a long, deep kiss that made my brain fizz and go blank. My cheeks burned into her hands, and my heart pounded in my chest, she released me with a wet pop, and I sat there steaming, I felt as if my brain might boil out of my skull. She placed a hand on the back of my head and brushed her smooth cheek against mine, I felt her warm breath on my ear.

“Let me have you, Stanley, I need this, I want you.”

I was dazed, the metallic taste of her kiss still lingered on my tongue and my body wouldn't respond to instructions from my brain, she slid her hand down through my hair to my neck, her warm palm on my skin making me squirm, I gasped as I felt her teeth tug gently on my earlobe. She loomed over me, her thick mane of orange hair buried my face as she chewed my ear, she smelled musky, but pleasant, her scent filled my nose and all I could muster in reply was a low sigh.

“K-kiss me again, Raz.”

She pulled back and beamed at me, then drew me close, her hand still on the back of my neck, she brought her other arm around my waist and hugged me against her body as she delivered another debilitating kiss, her lips were so full and smooth, her slippery, agile tongue probed my mouth greedily, wantonly, as if the answer to some burning question could be found within. Her tight grip hurt my broken rib a little, but I didn't care, her firm breasts squashed against my chest and my now aching erection pressed against her toned belly, her soft skin teasing me through my clothing. The kiss went on almost too long, I felt like I might pass out, and then she released me, breathless, and I slumped against her, burying my red face in the nape of her neck. She wrapped her arms around me and held me for a moment, the warmth of her body radiating into me.

“It won't hurt, I'll go slow...”

I was unable to even react, my body was on fire, my mind was a haze, I could hear my blood pumping in my ears. She lowered me to the bed and crawled on top of me, the head of my member pressed into her abs and she lowered her face to my neck, mouthing my throat with warm, wet kisses and gentle bites. Flashes of stimulation ran down my spine like an optical cable, each flick of her tongue or pinch of her teeth sending a pulse that arched my back and rolled my hips, I couldn't control my movements. She slid her rough tongue down my neck and nibbled my shoulder as one of her large thighs came up and pressed into my groin. She anticipated my reaction and held me down with a firm hand as I bucked into her, my beleaguered body trying desperately to grind against hers.

She was enjoying the effect she had on me, she slipped a hand under my shirt and slowly, lightly dragged her sharp claws across my belly. I flinched and twitched under her touch, the contrasting sensations making me all the more excited.

“Monkey, you're so sensitive.” She gazed down at me, her long hair tickling me, a mixture of affection and mischief on her face. I swam in a sea of arousal and embarrassment, I tried to cover my face with an arm but a firm grip on my wrist pulled it back down.

“Let me see your face, you're so red.” Raz leered at me, a cruel grin on her lips.

“Raz...do it gently...”

She pressed her hands to her face and crooned, unable to contain herself.

“Oh Stanley you just keep digging yourself deeper don't you?”

She straddled me, her massive, firm thighs squeezed me like a vice and her groin pressed down on me, I could feel her warmth through the thin fabric of her bike shorts. Her breasts hung enticingly in her tube top and beads of sweat trailed down her belly, taut abdominal muscles flexing with every breath. She rolled her wide hips gently, the stimulation making me writhe under her oppressive weight.

“The other night, when I wanted to have you, you told me you could only do it with someone you loved, right? Is that some kind of cultural thing? Do humans pair for life or something?”

“Yes, well...no, I mean, it's just something I promised myself.” I stammered.

She perched on top of me, occasionally grinding against me, causing me to buck and wriggle.

“I don't think you could say no to me Stanley, and after all, I could have you any way I wanted.” I gasped as she ground her crotch into me again, and she looked down at me with a satisfied smirk. “But I promised I'd be a good girl. What do you think, could you love me?”

I was taken aback, my face reddened even further and Raz chuckled to herself and pulled away my arms as I attempted to cover my face again. She pinned them to the bed and drew close to me, orange hair falling about my head, her intense amber eyes peered into mine and I felt all semblance of resistance fade away.

Of course I loved her, I had always loved her, even when she had pushed me down and hit me and done her best to make my life miserable, a seething, guilty attraction had bubbled under the surface, made all the more irresistible by its taboo. I had done my utmost to suppress it, I was afraid to admit my infatuation with her because of the power it would give her over me, the cruel and capricious girl that she had been. She would have toyed with me, and broken my heart, and I would have loved every second of it.

Was I safer now? I realized that I didn't care, she had bewitched me and it was too late.

“Yes, I've been in love with you for a while.”

Now it was Raz's turn to blush, she fluttered her long eyelashes and looked away, a wide smile spreading across her lips.

“Really monkey? Even though I was so horrible to you?”

I nodded.

“Oh you poor, hopeless creature.” She leaned down and kissed me again, this one was urgent, almost desperate in it's intensity, as if she wished to express every roiling emotion with the coiling of her tongue, my head blanked again and I felt as if she was tugging at my very nervous system with invisible wires, like some torturous puppeteer. She broke away leaving me gasping, a long strand of saliva linking her plump lips to mine.

“So I've got one night to make all of your dreams come true, and maybe a few of your nightmares, too.”

She was too intense for me, I felt like I would melt into a puddle right there underneath her, but her mind was set, she wanted me and she was going to have me.

“You've never done this before right? I get all of Stanley's firsts to myself.”

She released my hands and pulled her tube top over her head, her mass of orange hair flowing out behind her. Freed from the constraints of the top, her breasts, large by human standards, fell back down and bounced hypnotically. She reached behind my head and pulled my face into them, smothering me in their soft embrace. I breathed in her musk, and tasted salt on her velvet skin. How could such an imposing creature be so soft and inviting? I reached my hands up and delved into them, their soft fat giving way to firm tissue under my probing fingers. My senses were overloaded, awash with wonderful contradictions and unbearable sensations, my erection strained against the fabric of my pants. She stroked my hair, massaging my scalp mesmerically as she held me against her chest.

After a moment she released me, and I sank back into the bed. I felt her hands on my chest and we both struggled with the buttons on my shirt, eventually she freed me and pulled it up over my head. Much of my chest was covered by the bandage protecting my broken rib, but my collarbone and belly were exposed, and she brought her lips to my neck, I flinched into her and she brought a hand round to cradle my head as she bit and licked. She seemed to have an almost predatory fixation with my neck, it brought back memories of when she had ambushed me in a mock attack that night, and the vulnerability that I felt when her incisors pricked gently against my jugular sent shivers of pleasure through my body. She moved down, bypassing the bandage and tracing the line of one of my four scars down to my navel with her tongue, it hurt a little, but the sensation excited me.

“It tastes like it hurts.” She whispered, “I'll make it up to you.”

She roamed further down and began to unbutton my pants, I assisted, and she pulled them off, my erection bounced free, almost hitting her in the face. She examined it for a moment as it pulsed with my heartbeat, her warm breath tickling me, then grasped it gently with a soft hand. She squeezed a little harder and I groaned, she looked up at me, a wry smile on her lips, and without warning slipped me into her mouth.

It was so hot and slippery, I bent over and gasped, the motion making my rib ache, as she pushed me all the way inside her mouth, her rough feline tongue curling around the head. The granular texture was unbearable, almost painful and I writhed my hips in an effort to find some kind of release, but she held me there, her arms wrapped around my lower body, I jerked as I felt my member touch the back of her throat.

“Raz...slow down!”

She mumbled something unintelligible and the vibrations from her mouth made my knees go weak, I lay back and gripped the sheets, just trying to hang on as if I might fall away into space. She sucked a little too hard and coiled her abrasive, slippery tongue rhythmically as I brought my hands up to my face in a futile attempt to block out the stimulation. Below my waist felt like it was melting and above it felt like it was hooked up to a battery, current flowing through my body.

“Raz don't, I'll come!” I complained, my voice shaking.

“Nuh uh.” She mumbled, and gripped the base of my penis firmly between her thumb and index finger, I winced, she had cut off my mounting orgasm in it's tracks. She slipped my penis out of her mouth wetly, lingering with her lips closed around the tip for a moment, delivering one last rough lick that made me see stars. She rubbed it up and down for a second, it was coated with a layer of warm, slippery saliva. She looked up and grinned at me.

“Did you like that?”

I mumbled an embarrassed yes, and she bit my hip playfully.

“Ok, now do me.”

“W-what?” I stared down at her as she lay back on the bed and presented herself to me.

“It's my turn!”

I sat up, now feeling strangely naked, and crawled over to her, then hesitated.

“Don't play coy, you know what I want.” She chided.

I complied, and mouthed her inner thigh just under her shorts, her skin was smooth and cool on my lips. She shivered and sighed.

“That's right.”

I stroked her thigh, running my fingertips over it's polished surface, it was huge compared to a human's, and heavily muscled, her tiger-stripe patterns ran up to her hip. Raz was an athletic creature and a keen swimmer, her leg probably weighed as much as my torso. She had a layer of soft fat under her silky skin that cushioned the firm muscle underneath. I gazed at her torso, her pert breasts hung, gently swaying with each breath, and her honed abdominal muscles ran down to her belly, glistening in the low light. Underneath her tight, low-cut shorts her pubic mound peaked invitingly. Her musculature was perfectly analogous to that of a human, a result of convergent evolution perhaps, and I felt a new primal urge rising up in my chest as I gazed longingly at her tantalizing body.

I grunted my frustration, and crawled on top of her, pressing my erection against her mound through her shorts and sucking a nipple into my mouth, chewing it gently. Now it was her turn to buck and she squirmed under my assault, I leaned on her and kneaded her boob with my other hand as I pinched and sucked.

“So you do have some fight in you, monkey.” She gasped, shuddering, her eyelids drooped.

I moved down, kissing and biting as I went, her abs were prominent and rock hard due to her upright posture, I traced their lines with my tongue until I reached her shorts, then began to pull them down. She lifted her legs obligingly and I eased them off, I couldn't imagine how she even got into them, it took some effort and the fabric creaked and stretched as it struggled over her muscular butt and thighs. A strand of viscous fluid pulled away with them as I discarded them on the floor, and Raz was left fully exposed. Juices leaked and stained her thighs, there was a small tuft of soft orange fur on her mound, but otherwise she looked wholly human, her pink opening twitching in anticipation.

“Well don't just stare at it!” She complained, and gripped a handful of my hair in her fist, I winced and she forced my face down, closing her steely thighs around my head. I cooperated and probed with my tongue, she tasted of salt and copper, I was too turned on to care, she squirmed and tried unsuccessfully to suppress an unbecoming moan as I explored her innermost folds and creases. Her slick, fleshy walls milked me in hypnotic contractions, as if they were trying to pull my tongue out of my head. She writhed and held on to my hair, I was worried she might crush my head like a watermelon but doubted even she was that strong, regardless I would eventually need to breathe. I found a firm bud, and sucked it into my mouth, flicking my tongue over it's surface. Raz hissed something in Borealan, probably a curse, and rolled over onto her side, taking me with her and almost pulling my head off with her powerful legs. I gripped her butt, it's firm, rubbery surface yielding under my fingers, and sucked hard, licking in circles. Her other fist found a handful of my hair too and she curled up, shivering. I gently pressed the fleshy protrusion between a row of teeth and my tongue, and she let out a great shuddering gasp, then released me. She lay for a while, basking in the afterglow, rubbing her mound slowly.

“Mmmm, monkey your tongue is so smooth, I knew this would be fun.”

I sat back, wiping my mouth, pleased with the quivering wreck I had made of Raz, she seemed so capable and in control, but I had found a weakness, and that amused me to no end. She finally stopped her mechanical rubbing and rose to a sitting position, her breathing regular, renewed hunger in her amber eyes.

“What's that expression monkey? You think you've won? I'm just getting started with you.”

In one fluid motion she sprang to her knees and grabbed my arm, twisting me around so that my back was facing her, she pulled me against her chest, squeezing my head between her breasts on her taller frame, her thighs anchored around my hips, holding me in place. I had never seen her use her tail for anything before, but now it coiled around my arms, wrapping them behind my back, a fluffy, sinewy rope tying my wrists together so I couldn't move them.

“Wait, Raz, what are you-”

She brought her head down and sucked an ear into her mouth wetly, chewing it gently from above. Indecent sounds filled my senses, I gasped and writhed against my bonds, my head trapped in the soft cushion of her cleavage, but she wrapped her arms around my chest like a sarcophagus, pressing my back against her firm abs, now slick with a layer of sweat that bonded our bodies together. She pressed my hips almost painfully between her huge thighs, and halted all attempts at movement as she chewed and licked. I closed my eyes, white stars dancing before my retinas, and tried my best to avoid being overloaded by the stimulation. She released my ear, and brought a hand up to my throat, her grip firm, but gentle, she steered my head to one side and brought her lips to my neck, soft, slow kisses escalating into harder bites and pinches from her sharp teeth. I couldn't move, I struggled to free my hands, to glean some kind of reprieve from the assault on my tender weak points, but like a Chinese finger trap the more I tried to wriggle free the harder her grip on me became, as my yelps and gasps grew louder and more frequent, she seemed to grow more aggressive and excited, like a house cat starved of the hunt torturing a small bird. She whispered in my ear, pausing between words to pinch the cartilage between her pointed incisors.

“So you think...it's funny...to make me moan...do you?”

I felt feverish, the heat between our flexing, struggling bodies threatening to become unbearable. I hesitated, unsure of whether she seriously wanted an answer, the maddening teasing throwing me off.

“Let's see...what noises...humans can make.”

She left one hand on my throat, holding my head still between her firm breasts slick with our combined sweat, and my eyes followed her other hand as it left my chest and slowly crawled down like an orange spider, brushing across my belly, making me flinch and buck.

My member bounced in the air with every beat of my pounding heart, hot and sore, and her soft palm closed around its almost unbearable firmness, her gentle, tentative squeeze sending a flash of blinding electricity up through my body. I tried to double over, but Raz held me upright, smirking at my expression as I let slip a low groan.

“I've already heard that one.” She crooned in my ear.

She began a tortuously slow stroke, pumping up and down the shaft as if she was trying to squeeze off the head, her grip tight and unforgiving. I rolled my hips, trying in vain to fuck her hand and accelerate the motion, but I received a bite for my troubles, her teeth pricking my exposed neck.

“Keep still, monkey.”

“I can't!” I complained, a hint of desperation creeping into my voice.

“You'd better...” she purred, and dragged her rough, wet tongue over the red mark she had left.

I tried desperately to concentrate on staying still as she stroked, but my body would not obey me, my legs were numb and useless and my arching back and struggling hips jerked against my will, which she rewarded with pinches to my neck and tugs to my ears. She kept me on the edge, never stroking fast or hard enough to satisfy my mounting need, more than anything in the world I wanted to free my hands and bring them forward, but they were trapped, I felt like I would go insane.

“You said you'd be gentle!” I whined, beads of sweat stinging my eyes.

“Oh monkey, how could I be gentle with you? You're so sensitive and unspoiled, every bite or kiss is amplified a hundred fold, you have no scar tissue to protect you, no fur or scales, just this delicate, pink skin...”

Her tongue slid up the back of my neck, the sensation making me gasp, as if she were sampling some morsel.

“If I didn't like you so much, I might have to eat you...”

A shiver ran down my spine, I hoped she was joking, but with Raz who knew, she had a sadistic streak a mile wide that for reasons I couldn't explain enslaved my senses, I was on cloud nine, or maybe it was the ninth circle, it was increasingly difficult to differentiate.

She accelerated her stroking motion, pumping rhythmically, I felt as if my very existence was synced to this cruel rhythm, my pounding heart beat, the pulsating, flaring pleasure rising up through my body that threatened to burn out my nervous system, the crackling, fizzing haze that blurred my mind and made my body limp and pliant. My breathless gasps became low moans against my best efforts to stifle them as Raz leered down at me, ears fixed on me to better appreciate my distress.

“You can complain all you want but your body is betraying you, does it trust me more than you do? Poor, undisciplined human.”

I hung my head as her tight grip pumped me faster still, delirious, my face burned red as what blood could be spared rushed to my face, my guilty excitement reaching a crescendo.

Raz stopped abruptly, her fist squeezing my aching cock.

“No, Raz, what are you doing?!” I exclaimed, looking up and back at her in desperation. Her eyes were low and sultry, her breathing ragged and irregular. Her long tongue parted her lips and wet them as she watched my chest heave and felt my member burn and jump in her hand.

“I want to hurt you monkey, just a little, to see what noise you'll make. Will you let me do that?”

I bucked unhappily, single-mindedly trying to thrust into her warm hand, but she held me there, immobile, and I felt the edge of orgasm begin to recede.

“Damn it Raz, damn it, damn you, below the collar, so nobody can see!”

She wrapped one arm around my chest, pulling me against her smooth body, she pumped me quickly, bringing me to new heights of pleasure, and as she felt me spasm and strain she sank her teeth into the soft flesh where my neck and shoulder met, biting down hard. The sharp pain and surprise melded with my shuddering orgasm into some new soup of unendurable sensation and I let out a plaintive cry, my emission spilling into her waiting hand, splashing the sheets. My body twisted under her grip, every intolerable convulsion of my wracked muscles driving me to a new peak I never imagined to be bearable, the aching pain from my shoulder and rib confusing my nerves. I stayed that way for what felt like hours, my body contorted, but it couldn't have been more than a minute.

I sank backwards into her soft pillows, quivering, my penis still painful and stiff, leaking fluid into Raz's palm. She stroked gently, delicately, my sticky, slick juices adding to the sensation, and her warm, slippery tongue soothed the sore, red bite mark on my shoulder, a small trickle of red blood leaking from a puncture.

Raz was shaking too, her powerful, firm muscles vibrating under me, almost unable to contain her arousal. She leaned back further so that I was resting on her, and she stroked my hair almost apologetically, the touch of her fingers on my scalp burning through my afterglow like flares. She released my hands, her long tail coiling back behind her body and opened her thick thighs, relieving the pressure on me.

“I knew you could make an adorable noise.”

She fawned over me, hugging my body to her and kissing my cheek, she slipped me a slow, deep kiss that sent a pulse of exhausted pleasure through my body and I tasted metallic blood on her tongue.

“Did you like that? Your body did.”

“Little extreme for my first time, don't you think?” I griped, my voice cracking a little.

Raz crooned, overjoyed, and squeezed me against her, smothering me in her soft breasts, a firm bicep pressing into my face.

“Now, every time that bite twinges, and it will for days, your mind will be right back here trapped in my arms, making those little noises you make, you'll get hard and sore and your face will burn and you'll want me.”

She pressed the bite gently with her tongue and it flared painfully, I winced and brushed her away with my hand.

“Is this normal on your planet? You're a downright sadist by human standards.” I complained, touching my fingertips to the puffy mark.

“Borealans fight from birth, we're thick skinned, you could say. Playfighting leaves us with worse wounds than that, and we grow tough and hard, our scars heal over and our pain thresholds rise, but you...” She gazed down at me, almost lecherous. “You can't fight back, you've not been toughened by a lifetime of scraps and breaks, I'm the first to ever touch you, it turns me on...”

She trailed off as she made light circles on my belly with a claw, the sensation tickled and made me squirm away. I flipped over onto my belly, and she let me down, we lay back on the bed together, our arms wrapped around eachother, heaving and sweating, my face pressed into her boobs.

“Raz...in a few minutes, can we do it again? I want...more.”

She beamed and petted my head, as if I were some kind of favored pet.

“You think I'd let you off that easily monkey? I'm not satisfied yet.”

We lay together for a while, our burning, exhausted bodies entwined, I felt peaceful, as if all of the tension and stress that had accumulated over the last week had been wrung from my body like dirty water from a dish rag. Raz's breathing was hypnotic, I rested my head on her soft chest as it rose and fell, my arm draped around her torso. We rested for maybe fifteen minutes, then my erection pressing into Raz's thigh prompted her to roll over.

“You look like you're ready to go again.”

“Yeah...”

She grinned and rolled on top of me, pressing me down into the mattress with her weight, the springs creaked their complaints as she positioned herself over me, her hot, slick vagina pressing against my shaft, squashing it against my belly. She leaned down, her soft breasts hanging above my face.

“I think you'll like this, I'll go slow this time.”

She positioned herself and grasped my member with a warm hand, rubbing the head up and down along her opening, the exposed flesh was slippery and impossibly soft, it felt like wet velvet. I squirmed, my senses still heightened from the previous orgasm. Raz looked down at me, drinking in my reaction, then pushed the tip inside. There was a moment of pressure as the fleshy walls resisted, and then my head broke through, despite Raz's size she was almost unbearably tight, I felt like she would have taken my skin off were it not for the viscous, oozing fluid that coated her insides. She gasped, and I did my best to avoid bucking and slamming myself all the way inside her, which is what my body desperately wanted to do. She lowered herself slowly, gingerly, I wondered if Borealan males were perhaps not dramatically more endowed than humans, or if her athletic lifestyle made her tighter than usual, whichever it was she was being careful. The creases and wrinkles of her walls dragged over my penis, the sensation burning through my body. It was impossibly hot, slimy and tight, far moreso than her mouth had been, it was almost intolerable, my member felt like an iron in a forge, glowing orange as it dripped molten metal.

Once she reached a certain point, she slid all the way down in one fluid motion, my eyes bulged in surprise and I threw my head back, Raz's heavy thighs squeezed me and her insides clenched around me like a fist as she spasmed.

“Ah...there we go...”

I gripped her waist almost in panic, holding on for dear life as she began to circle her hips, her slow, teasing motions wringing gasps and groans from me. She watched me as she twisted, smirking at my reactions, but I noticed that she was not fully in control either, when my stiff erection pressed into her velvet walls, her eyelids would flutter and she would bite her lower lip, as if trying to distract herself from the sensation. She changed her pace, rocking backwards and forwards a little faster, grinding into me on the backwards motion as if she was trying to reach some specific spot.

My mind was being washed, every pulse and twinge that traveled up my body sent flashing stars through my retinas and made me feel as if my brain had been carbonated, her strong pelvic muscles, honed through years of hard exercise, wrung and massaged me mercilessly. I tried to push into her, to join her in her rhythmic dance, but she had me pinned, her exaggerated size and weight meant that it was impossible for me to push up from the bed or lift her in any capacity. I was trapped under her, and she was free to dictate the pace of our lovemaking, if I liked it or not.

Instead I reached for her hanging breasts and kneaded them, sinking my fingertips into her firm, pert orbs, soft fat pliant beneath my probing hands. I felt her clench around me, her textured, slimy walls closed in a contraction of pleasure and her powerful thighs gripped my lower body almost painfully. A low squeak escaped her wet lips, the sound seemed to embarrass her, a rose tint creeping into her cheeks. Seeing Raz in this state only made me stiffer, and I leaned up into a sitting position, burying my face in her chest which conveniently, was at head-height for me.

“Now who's making cute noises?” I teased, my voice muffled by her boobs.

I sucked a hard, erect nipple into my mouth, trapping it gently between my teeth and chewing slowly, my tongue flicked out to circle the tip, and Raz's whole body tensed and stiffened, her wet muscles shining in the low light under a layer of sweat. Every time I increased the pressure between my teeth or sucked harder, she would tense up, and her unbearably tight insides would fasten around my buried member like a vice, as if she was trying to pull me deeper inside her.

“Damn it monkey...”

Raz squirmed under my assault, as if trying to shake me off, her face growing redder and her parted lips let more strained gasps and low sighs leak through, as much as she struggled to hold them back. Her writhing, rolling hips tormented me and I too began to vocalize as the hot, slippery pressure became too much for me. I gazed up at her, my face buried in her cleavage, and she looked down at me, her eyes low and wanting. She seemed to sense I was getting close.

“No way, I'm not satisfied yet.”

She leaned down and brought her warm lips to my neck, pressing them tentatively against the sore, red bite mark she had left on my skin. I flinched, but as much as her kiss stung, it filled me with a seething, guilty excitement, flooding my brain with sensations and memories from when she had bitten me, crisp and fresh like a new polaroid. She noticed that her kiss had not had the desired effect and her face broke into an evil smile as she continued to grind, her reflective amber eyes burning into mine with a fierce, possessive passion.

“Oh Stanley...I didn't know you felt that way.”

I didn't really understand what she meant, but before I could inquire, she dragged the rough surface of her feline tongue over the bite, pain flared and I groaned, my building orgasm receding. She hooked a hand behind my head and lowered me back down into a prone position, stroking my hair gently as I winced and resisted the urge to rub the wound.

“Good boy...” She crooned, her hot breath tickling my ear. I blushed and my member jumped inside her, she raised a finger to her mouth and bit it, her lustful gaze making me avert my eyes in embarrassment, I couldn't hide anything from her in this state, everything she did that I liked made me flex and twitch inside her, if I wanted her to know it or not. The idea of her knowing my deepest, darkest desires that I didn't even admit to myself on the best of days filled me with a mixture of dread and excited anticipation, wondering just how far she would take things. This was Raz, so I guessed pretty far.

“Now I'm gonna come, Monkey, and I when I do I want to see your little red face.”

She closed her hands around my wrists, pinning my arms to the bed under her weight and leaned in, her orange hair tickling my face as it fell about me. To her obvious amusement I struggled as she repositioned herself, my face contorting as the pressure inside her changed and shifted, fleshy walls sliding against me. Her smooth cheek brushed against mine as she brought her face in low and tugged my ear with her teeth, my cock burned and twitched in her depths, pulsating in time with my pounding heart. She savored the sensation, her eyes closing slowly as she moved to my neck, mouthing and pinching the undamaged side, her ears twisted to better hear my low, stifled moans. It drove me crazy and she knew it, I turned my head left and right, as if trying to escape her, but I was trapped, at the mercy of her soft lips, her warm tongue and her sharp teeth.

“What are you doing to me Raz?” I whined, and I felt her incisors pinch my throat, her warm, slippery tongue flicking out from between her teeth to sample my skin.

“Teaching you how to be honest with yourself.” She whispered.

She let her weight fall on me, squashing me into the mattress and forcing me as deep inside her as I could go, I felt my head meet resistance in the warm, moist depths and she flinched, then settled contentedly, her thick juices oozing around me.

She began to move, slowly at first, grinding back and forth torturously as I strained against her, then rising in tempo until her wide hips were slamming into me, pressing me beneath her as her luscious breasts bounced above me and her abs pumped and flexed. Beads of sweat dripped from her body as she rode me, her meaty thighs holding me in place.

The stimulation was too intense, I couldn't regain control over myself, my mind struggled against the throes of my body, Raz's merciless rhythm dredging up the most base and animalistic instincts from deep within my psyche, I tried to sit up, but Raz slammed me back down into the bed, her grip on my wrists making my hands go numb and her face twisted into a snarl. I squirmed, I writhed and I bucked, but I could not relieve the pressure, nor could I alleviate the burning, maddening delectation that was mounting in my loins, threatening to tear the very sanity from my mind in its callous claws. The walls of her vagina were so hot I felt they might blister my skin, I throbbed and ached inside her, my pulsing member assailed on all sides by the unendurable textures of her slimy, fleshy innards, they pressed around me impossibly tightly, grinding and slipping against my skin and the tender, exposed flesh of my glans. All the while she leered down at me from on high, drinking in every expression on my face, every cry and plea that escaped my lips.

“Gah...Raz! Slow down!”

“No.”

I shivered, feeling the orgasm welling up inside my body, my legs cramped, my abdominal muscles clenched and throbbed, my toes curled and every beleaguered muscle in my body was suddenly and inexorably driven to a new height of pleasure previously unimaginable to me. I exploded inside her, shuddering and convulsing as I pumped my life force into her, her eyes grew wide, then rolled back into her head as my warm emission flooded her, smooth heat spreading to every inch of her organ. I felt her hypnotic contractions milking me as she joined me in orgasm, a relentless fist gloved in moist silk that strained to drain me of any resistance. Our minds left us, two animals, layered in sweat and leaking our combined juices, grasping at eachother, the sharp burning of Raz's claws digging into my back in a desperate bid to pull me tighter to her spasming body muddling my senses, blurring the border between pleasure and pain. We stayed there for what felt like a lifetime trapped in our own private universe, upright together on the bed, holding eachother as we rode out the waves of our climax, every gentle movement and heaving breath creating a fresh surge of sweet afterglow.

Eventually we collapsed together into the soiled sheets, I slid out of her, our juices leaking from her still twitching opening, slick sweat coated her firm muscles and I nuzzled her neck as she heaved, tasting her salt on my lips, her breath ragged. She grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled my head up, and we melted into a long, deep kiss, our bodies twisted together into a mess of limbs, hands grasping and tongues joined in a furious embrace. My back ached from her scratches but I couldn't see the extent of the damage, we lay together, mouthing and kissing, riding the high until the exhaustion overcame us.

Chapter 6
We awoke with a start to blaring alarms, red warning lights flickered in the dorm. We climbed out of bed, sticky and covered in stale sweat. Raz kissed the back of my neck and I rubbed my eyes.

“What is it? A drill?”

“I don't think so...” I replied, pulling on a clean shirt.

We got dressed and opened the door to the hall, the other trainees were doing the same, looking through doorways, confused and bleary-eyed. People chattered amongst themselves wondering what was going on. There was a great shuddering in the station, it rocked and reverberated beneath our feet, the whole superstructure of the great Pinwheel shuddering under some massive impact. Vasiliev ran down the hall, half dressed sporting only a dress shirt and his shorts.

“The Pinwheel is under attack, two enemy cruiser class ships have jumped in at extreme close range, they destroyed our jump freighter as it was docking and damaged one of the hangars, so station personnel cannot be evacuated. We have an escort, the UNN Actium, engaging them but they are outclassed, they won't last long. The station point defense can't take down ships of that class but it can keep them at range, they're probably going to attempt to board and capture the fire control center.”

The trainees exchanged alarmed looks, the Krell bristled, and the Borealans who weren't hospitalized instinctively grouped together.

“We need all hands to repel boarders, we're expecting Betelgeusian shock troops, I'm going to take you to the armory where you will retrieve your XMR, body armor and enough ammunition to last a while, is that understood?”

The trainees barked affirmation and filed out, those who were not fully dressed retrieved their gear and within a few minutes the whole platoon was outside waiting to be shuttled to quadrant two. I stuck close to Raz, she was surprisingly calm, but my heart was thumping, the idea that we might be seeing combat already terrified me. Personnel ran left and right wherever I looked, vehicles sped up and down the donut, men with tablet computers shouted instructions and security forces spread out in defensive formations wielding XMRs and equipment I didn't recognize. A fleet of shuttles arrived infront of the barracks and we all piled in, the drive to the armory felt perilously fast compared to the leisurely pace we were used to.

We flooded into the firing range, each trainee retrieving his customized weapon, species specific, black UNN combat armor, and enough ammo to hold out for a while. I picked up my low recoil carbine and Raz hefted her massive bayoneted long rifle, slinging it over her shoulder on a strap. Lumbering Krell grunted to eachother and picked up giant, barrel-magazine machine guns, the Borealans looked uncertain, they surely wanted to retrieve their lauded bolt throwers but the hangar where their shuttle had been docked was likely too damaged now. I hoped they had trained with the XMR and improved as Raz had, but they eyed her spear rifle jealously, making me reconsider.

When everyone was supplied and ready to go, troop transports loaded them up in teams of twenty and shipped them off to defensive positions all over the wheel, me and Raz stuck together like glue, along with some Krell and humans who had recognized us and hopped into our vehicle. They no longer seemed wary of Raz after the incident in the mess hall, her allegiances had been made plain to everyone. Padded seats lined the interior of the armored car, they were human sized, clearly not yet adapted to the mixed units High Command was trying to create, but Raz and the Krell were able to stand between the rows and hang on to handholds dangling from the roof. We were the last transport, the other vehicles had all driven off to support the defensive operation, but the six or seven Borealans who had survived the mess hall brawl unscathed were hanging around looking uncertain and directionless, it seemed they did not want to go with the other species, or those groups had excluded them. Rolling her eyes, Raz barked orders at them in Borealan, and after a moment of hesitation, they piled in with us. Raz had a fire in her eyes, she seemed more confident than I had seen her in days, had she regained her standing within the pack? They hadn't even wanted to look at her last time they had come face to face in the mess hall, now they seemed almost obedient.

The armored vehicle sped up, the aliens hung on tightly to their handholds and the humans shifted in their seats, checking their XMRs and loading ammo. We had learned about the Betelgeusians in class, they were an insectoid race from beyond Coalition controlled space notorious for their prowess in hand to hand combat and their survivability, famously able to survive decapitation. Intelligence reported that they had recently obtained personal energy shields, a technology that was still too expensive to see widespread deployment within the UNN. Personal shields would block our railgun slugs but we could change our receivers and overload them with plasma bolts, this was the strength of the XMR platform and was what we had trained for. UNN combat armor was rudimentary, black painted ceramic plates on the torso, shoulders and thighs and a shrapnel helmet, it was generally accepted that infantry armor would not stop small arms fire from linear accelerators like railguns because their muzzle velocity and penetration were too high, and plasma would just melt through whatever you tried to put infront of it. Special units had heavier powered armor with shielding but all things considered, the average linemen were pretty vulnerable, “just don't get hit” being the advice of my instructors back on Earth.

Another impact rocked the station, the armored car veered, then righted itself, alarmed muttering filled the troop bay. I didn't know where we were being sent, there were dozens of defensive points around the Pinwheel where the enemy might attempt to board, structural weakpoints in the hull and vulnerable hangars that would provide an easier route than the armored hull of the donut.

I glanced at Raz, and she nodded to me, whatever happened now, at least her and I were square, we had made our feelings for eachother known, and expressed them in the most intimate way. I held back a blush as the bite wound on my shoulder twinged under my clothing, bringing back memories of the previous night, Raz noticed my expression and smirked at me knowingly.

There were no windows in the troop bay of the armored transport, so we had no concept of how fast we were moving, but we arrived at our destination shortly, the driver barking at us to unload. We hopped out and he sped off back in the direction we had come, likely to pick up another unit and take them wherever they needed to be.

Weapons of all shapes and sizes were cocked and loaded, magazines were jammed into receivers and railgun slugs were chambered. The cacophony of metallic clicking and snapping drove home the reality of the situation, we were about to join a battle and some of us would likely die today.

Two full fledged marines wielding XMRs with long silencers and wearing full faced helmets jogged over to us.

“Fuck, we got the short straw, these guys are green.” I heard one mutter.

“I like the look of those Krell though, let's put them at the front.” The other replied.

We stood to attention and the marines directed us to a line of low walls that had extended from recesses in the floor facing a blast door, a massive metal blast shield closed over our side, it looked like it would pass large cargo and vehicles, there must be a hangar on the other side exposed to space. The low walls were surrounded by yellow striped warning patterns and looked like they were designed to extend from their recesses to provide cover for troops in exactly this kind of scenario, there must be all kinds of security systems like this one on the Pinwheel that could be activated in the event of a battle.

“Alright rookies, create a firing line behind these walls, Krell and automatic XMRs at the front, semis and rifles at the back. If anything comes through that door, you shoot it, I don't want anything reaching the donut from this entry point, is that clear?”

The trainees shouted a chorus of “Yes Sir”s and took up positions, the lumbering Krell with their large bore automatics kneeling behind the walls at the front along with a few of the humans who had elected to build rapid fire weapons, and a few feet behind them me, Raz, most of the humans and the Borealans stood. Anything that tried to come through that door would get hosed by railgun and plasma fire, but the Betelgeusians wouldn't have come unprepared, they would have a plan and I doubted it would be as easy as simply cutting them down as they breached the door.

Another blow shook the station, followed by what sounded like hailstorms hitting the hull, the sound echoed down through the donut, and one of the marines put his finger to his ear, I heard comms chatter briefly.

“The Actium scuttled herself and rammed one of the cruisers, looks like all hands boated down to the planet, the enemy ship is drifting without power.”

The trainees hooted their approval and the other marine punched the air, laughing.

“That'll show those fucking cockroaches.”

The marine put his finger to his ear again.

“Alright saddle up, we got some boarding craft that got past the point defense heading to this hangar.”

I aimed my rifle at the door, unblinking, my heart began to beat faster but I felt Raz's reassuring hand on my good shoulder. I looked up at her and she winked.

“We've got this monkey, just like you taught me.”

I heard screeching metal and looked behind me, massive blast shields were descending from the ceiling of the donut on either side of us, splitting painted white clouds and blue sky, they were sealing off this section of the Pinwheel, we were trapped here. I suppressed my panic, and turned my attention back to the door, it wouldn't matter if this section was sealed, the enemy would not get past our firing line, I turned my gun over in my hands and checked that the safety was off, then swapped out to the plasma receiver, the Betelgeusians would have personal shields.

“Raz, when they come through that door, I'll overload their shields with plasma, you hit their solar plexus with your railgun, remember, headshots won't stop them.”

“Alright monkey, just make sure those shields are down.”

She turned and hissed orders in Borealan to the pack who were lined up next to her, one replied, surly, and she whipped the back of its head with a swift blow from her tail, it readjusted its helmet and aimed at the door, snarling unhappily. It seemed as if Raz was indeed back in control of the Borealan pack.

I spread the word down the line and a few of the trainees swapped out to plasma, while others trained their railguns on the blast shield. The air was thick with tension and fear, we waited for what felt like an eternity, and then we heard metallic clunks coming from the other side of the door.

Suddenly it bulged in the center and the fist-sized blob began to glow orange, they were using some kind of torch to burn through the shielding. It bubbled and popped, an alien arm poked through and dropped a small metallic sphere before withdrawing quickly.

“Get down!” Yelled one of the marines, as the sphere bounced on the floor with a metallic ping and exploded into a flash of blinding light. The Borealans, their eyes more sensitive to light, shrieked in pain and surprise, covering their faces with their arms, the humans and Krell were blinded for a moment but recovered quickly. Through a smoky haze there was a massive impact, then a second, then a third, from behind the smoke screen the remains of the blast door fell with a massive crash that shook the floor, they had exploited the structural weakness from the hole to knock it down. Betelgeusians advanced through the opening, seven foot tall insect humanoids with four arms and deep red armor, or was that their carapace? It was hard to tell where their exoskeleton ended and their armor began, they sported horned helmets in styles reminiscent of Earth beetles and scarabs with twin green visors covering their eyes, or maybe those were their eyes?

“OPEN FIRE!”

The firing lines opened up on the boarding party, who brought up wrist mounted energy barriers, they looked like translucent blue riot shields, their many jointed arms poked around the edges firing handheld pistols. The shields flared orange and blue as they absorbed tungsten slugs that melted on impact and dissipated flashes of plasma that spread out over the surface in a mesmerizing pattern.

“Focus plasma fire on the shields! Overload them!” I called down the line, and the Krell sporting rapid fire plasma XMRs used them to hose the advancing bugs, their massive barrels glowing orange and smoking as they discharged heat and energy, the enormous recoil unmanageable to anyone but the bulky lizards. One of the bugs at the front of the advancing line was cut down as the shield it was holding overloaded and flashed off, concentrated plasma fire melted its shell like molten iron and it slowly slid to the floor, screeching an unearthly cry of anguish. Some of the Krell were taking small arms fire, their larger profiles easier to hit over the wall, but it didn't seem to penetrate their thick hides and armor plated ponchos.

The shields could take a lot of punishment, another went down, and the wielder was knocked off his feet by a heavy blow to the torso, green goop splashing from behind him like a balloon full of colored paint as the exit wound blew his carapace apart. I looked to my left and Raz had recovered from the flash grenade, tears in her eyes, but they hadn't stopped her from hitting her mark dead center, her extended barrel accelerated the heavy metal slugs to incredible speeds. I fired too, burning plasma bolts sizzling through the air, Raz's pack followed her lead, focusing fire on her targets, they might be primitive and backward in their tribalism but they worked as a single mind when properly organized, following Raz's orders unquestioningly.

The bugs were gaining ground, advancing on the first line of Krell, one human took a stray projectile to the shoulder and fell back, slumping to the floor, a neighboring Krell lunged out from behind cover and dragged the human backwards by the collar, firing his improbably large weapon one-handed while roaring angrily at the aliens. More Krell converged to cover his retreat and the forward line slowly moved back, applying covering fire as they went, the more fragile humans peeking out from between them and loosing off shots.

More Betelgeusians succumbed to the onslaught, but they kept marching like giant, angry ants, two more pouring through the breach for every one that fell, the noise of shouting, weapons fire and chittering, screeching insects was deafening. We made room for the retreating line and held fast, covering them as they leapt behind the wall to relative safety.

One of the bugs sprinted at us, ducking under fire, dropping its pistols and unsheathing four curved blades, it raised its arms and buzzed a battle cry, launching itself over the wall in a fanatical charge. Raz's bladed spear rifle skewered it in mid-air, she thrust forward with such force, putting a clawed foot up on the wall as leverage, that the bayonet was driven clear through its torso, it leaked off-yellow slime and screeched as it writhed, suspended off the ground. Raz's muscles bulged under the strain, and she let forth a menacing snarl as she pulled the trigger, the rialgun slug slamming into the creature at point-blank range, throwing it back and blowing it almost in half, pieces of shattered shell and slime raining on its compatriots. The Krell cheered in approval and let loose another volley.

The closer Betelgeusians were now switching to their blades, many sporting their energy barriers like medieval longshields, the Krell and Borealans charged into the fray, meeting them with bayonets and claws. The battlefield became a bloodbath, the humans pulled back, still able to use their shorter barreled weapons at close range, taking careful potshots as the larger aliens butchered eachother. One of the marines charged in with a combat knife and drove it into the chest of a bug, finishing it off on the ground with his SMG styled XMR. A Borealan was taken down by Betelgeusian blades as several of the insects dogpiled her at once, the pack moved in for revenge, snarling and slicing with their hooked claws, Raz strode ahead, impaling enemies with her spear rifle.

The ground was slick with blood, the humans and insects were having trouble finding purchase, slipping in the gore and viscera, but the Krell with their splayed toes and the Borealans with their sharp claws danced around their enemy, knocking them off balance and killing them on the floor. The Betelgeusians seemed to have made a fatal mistake, perhaps used to fighting human troops who had trouble defending themselves in close quarters fighting, the Krell were impervious to their small knives and the Borealans were strong enough to knock them off their feet with ease. They began to retreat, putting up their shields to cover eachother, slipping and stumbling over the dead, but the humans fired on them, whenever one was overloaded the bearer was crippled by railgun rounds or charged by the furious pack who tore it limb from limb. They fell back to the breach, but to leave they would have to face the point defense turrets again, they bottlenecked in the doorway, then began to panic, we fired into the group and they fell by the dozen, their chitinous bodies breaking apart under the hail of projectiles. The Borealans pursued the few that made it through, vaulting over the pile of mangled bodies, I didn't see what happened to them, but screeches of insectoid fear and pain echoed through the hangar.

“Head count!” Shouted one of the marines. “Who did we lose?”

The final count was one wounded human, one dead, and one dead Borealan, many of the Krell were covered in flesh wounds, but they seemed perfectly content, huffing and grunting to eachother, satisfied by a good brawl. The marine kicked over a dead Betelgeusian, examining the oozing bullet holes in its thorax.

The Borealan pack came back through the breach, their hands stained green and orange from the alien fluids, and reported that there was an enemy shuttle docked in the hangar, but it was empty. The bugs had tried to flee to it but they had been cut down.

The marines appraised us, nodding approvingly.

“That's some fine fighting kids, looks like these mixed units are doing their job, we might have been in serious trouble when those cockroaches charged us if your alien buddies hadn't been here.”

Raz returned to my side, breathless, her huge rifle draped over her shoulder dripping gore from its bayonet. She grinned at me, then punched my shoulder playfully, leaving a green stain on my armor.

“Good fight, monkey, I could get used to this job.”

“You ok Raz?”

She looked herself over briefly.

“Lot of blood, not much of it mine, I'll be fine.”

After a few minutes of standing around the marines received a communication on their helmet radios, and the massive blast doors that had sectioned off this area of the donut began to rise from the floor with a rumbling, mechanical sound that shook our bones.

“We got the all clear, the second cruiser is retreating, all boarding parties repelled.”

We cheered, raising our rifles into the air, the Krell opened their toothy maws and joined us, bellowing their victory call to the painted sky.

“Looks like the marine squads held them off but took some casualties, trainee casualties were light, we're getting reports that the Krell are owed more drinks than anyone can actually afford.”

Once the station was secured and the lockdown was lifted all over the donut, we dispersed back to the barracks and the recreation building for some much earned rest, I didn't envy the guys who would have to clean up the mess we had made. I was elated, the battle had been exhilarating, a sweeping victory that perfectly demonstrated the benefits of mixed unit tactics, but more than that, the jump freighter had been downed, Raz would not be going home just yet. She walked beside me, a jovial spring in her step, Borealans were predators, built for killing, battle seemed to make them happy, and the prospect of being able to stay on the Pinwheel a while longer certainly added to her good mood.

She took my hand in her firm grip and smiled down at me.

“I guess we get a few more days together, Stanley.” Her smile turned sultry, the bite on my neck suddenly aching. Embarrassed, I quickly changed the subject.

“We should go see Vasiliev, I have an idea.”

We made our way to the central hub of the Pinwheel, where the massive spokes that joined the donut to the command center converged. The door to the walkway was heavily guarded by marines, their faces were hidden by visored helmets and they sported automatic XMRs, they wouldn't let us pass but they called ahead on an intercom to let Vasiliev know that we wanted to talk to him. We waited around for a while, then the door opened and Vasiliev walked out, the long tunnel to the command center glimpsed briefly behind him before the automatic doors closed, his gaze was fixed on a tablet computer in his hand.

“You wanted to see me recruits? Make it quick, we're still trying to piece together how the hell two cruisers jumped in so close to the station.”

“Sir, have you seen the reports from the battle?”

He looked up from his tablet briefly, eyeing me and Raz.

“Yes, I was made aware of the performance of the mixed squads. I know what you're going to ask me, Stanley.”

“Sir you have to acknowledge how well the Borealans performed! They're successfully integrated, they worked alongside the other species and followed orders, they practically won us that fight.”

“It is true that your squad saw fewer casualties than any other that was assigned to defend against a boarding party, but the decision has been made, even in light of these new developments, High Command has already scrapped the Borealan integration program, I'm not high enough on the ladder to put in a good word for you.”

“Sir, with all due respect, High Command is making a huge mistake, they're not fully aware of-”

“My word is final, recruit, I'm very busy, I don't have time to argue about this.”

Vasiliev turned to leave, and I looked to Raz, dejected.

“Was worth a try...” She sighed, disappointed. I felt guilty, I had soured her good mood.

Suddenly Vasiliev and the marines snapped to attention, saluting us. I stared at them, confused, then realized they were saluting someone behind us. We turned to see a short man with a greying beard standing there, his hands behind his back, he wore a white uniform in contrast to the black and blue of the staff and soldiers and a navy cap. I recognized the golden wreath on his hat, and my eyes wandered down to the numerous colored ribbons on his chest. It was the station commander. I saluted, and Raz followed my lead.

“I'm sorry Sir, we didn't see you.”

“At ease, at ease...” He grumbled, his voice gruff. He raised the rim of his cap and peered past bushy eyebrows at Raz, who was almost twice his height.

“You must be miss Elysiedde, when I last spoke with your father, he was very interested to know how your training was progressing.”

“You know my father, Sir?”

“Indeed I do, I'm on friendly terms with Admiral Elysiedde, he was very insistent that it be your pack that was sent to the Pinwheel to take part in the integration program when we negotiated the terms of Borealis joining the Coalition.”

I waited with bated breath, I had never seen the station commander before, let alone spoken to him, he never left the command center, what was he doing on the donut?

“I have to say miss Elysiedde, the initial performance of the Borealan pack we agreed to house on the Pinwheel was...discouraging. They seemed confrontational, overly aggressive, antisocial, unwilling to integrate, I began to ask myself what benefit there was to introducing Borealans into our mixed platoons. The report I sent to High Command was no less scathing”

Raz's tail and ears drooped, she must think she was being chewed out, but I wasn't getting that impression from the commander's body language, I wanted to signal her in some way, to alleviate her distress, but I didn't dare interrupt such a high ranking officer.

“But it now appears...” He continued, “that you and Stanley here have come to some kind of understanding, according to the reports from Mr Vasiliev who has been keeping me abreast of the situation, would you say that's correct?”

Raz nodded meekly, afraid to speak.

“Would you say that you and Stanley have a working understanding of both human and Borealan culture and society between the two of you?”

She nodded again, then the commander turned his attention towards me, and I stiffened.

“Stanley, so far you are, to my knowledge, the only human who has successfully integrated Borealans into a mixed unit, how would you rate their combat performance?”

“Outstanding, Sir. Without the Borealans engaging the Betelgeusian boarding party in CQC we would certainly have been overrun and suffered far higher casualties.”

“That's about what the marines you fought with told me, yes. So tell me Stanley, could you and your friend integrate more Borealans into mixed squads, and perhaps teach others how to do the same?”

I hesitated for a moment, looking to Raz, she nodded imperceptibly.

“Yes Sir.”

The commander clapped his hands together, seemingly satisfied.

“That is most excellent news, now as you know, the Borealan pack has been ordered back to the homeworld, and unfortunately, I am not in a position to countermand orders passed down from High Command despite my position as commander of this installation.”

Raz's ears drooped even further.

“Now now miss Elysiedde, don't despair, I was ordered to send back a Borealan pack on the next available jump freighter, they did not specify how many Borealans constitute a pack.”

Raz's eyes lit up and we looked at eachother, elation threatening to overcome my austere demeanor.

“I would like to keep you and Stanley on the Pinwheel in order to socialize and train the new Borealans who are sent here to join the program, you would be given your own quarters and promoted to the rank of junior officer, your duties would begin as soon as the next pack arrives. Do you accept?”

We both tried to answer at the same time, but Raz ceded the floor to me, a strategic decision to demonstrate her understanding of human social norms to the commander, no doubt.

“Thank you Sir, it would be an honor.”

“Very well, you are dismissed, pack your things and I will have you moved to new quarters by tonight, I assume coed is not an issue for you?”

“Not at all Sir.”

“Good, good, very well Vasiliev, let's get back to work.”

“Of course commander, please, this way.”

Vasiliev walked back down the tunnel with the commander in tow, while me and Raz tried to contain our excitement. We would be able to stay here on the Pinwheel together, indefinitely. I beckoned to Raz, and we walked back in the direction of the barracks, once we were out of view of the marines behind some foliage, Raz sprang on me, lifting me off the floor in a tight embrace and spinning me around in the air, before placing me back down on the ground and ruffling my hair with a large, orange hand. She beamed, her sharp teeth bared in a wide smile.

“Looks like we're in business monkey, you won't be getting rid of me for a long time!”

I was elated, happier than I could ever remember being, however exhilarating our encounter the previous night had been, an air of foreboding had overshadowed our carnal bliss, the knowledge that our time together would be all too brief lurking in the backs of our minds like a dark rain cloud on the horizon. Now all of the worry and sorrow had been lifted from my shoulders and I felt as if I might explode from the joy of it.

Chapter 7
We arrived back at the barracks and packed our gear, Raz went to the showers to clean up and wash off the blood and sweat from the battle, then we hung out in the mess hall for a while, chatting with the other trainees and sharing stories about the day's encounter. Raz was now a favorite of the Krell, and even the rest of the pack had gleaned some respect from the other races after their impressive display, most of them seemed happy to be going home though, Raz explained that being separated from the larger Borealan society could be jarring to her kind, we would have to keep that in mind when training new packs. Eventually a vehicle came to collect us, and we said our farewells to the trainees, one especially amicable Krell almost crushing me with a giant, scaly hug.

The drive was not far, we would have to be near the trainee barracks and the school building after all, we were brought to a large, squat building that housed the officer's quarters, attractive blue, pink and yellow floral arrangements lined the front of the structure. To my surprise, Raz was enamored with the yellow flowers and knelt to smell them, I would never have penned her for a flower girl. She asked me what they were, and I told her daffodils, a strain from Earth, she clearly wanted to pick them but resisted the urge, and we entered through the main door. It was laid out similarly to our barracks, but more spacious and with more amenities, the floors were carpeted, the showers had stalls and the dormitories were far bigger, with more furniture and nicer beds, the officers here lived comfortably, most of them had earned it, I felt a little guilty about how easily I had been promoted. Our quarters actually had more than one room, Raz gazed around the living space in awe, her people seemed very militaristic and such creature comforts might be totally alien to her. There were two beds, dressers, a couch, a wall mounted monitor, an en suite bathroom and storage racks for armor and weapons. We unpacked our gear, unable to fill all of the storage space we had been allocated, then we tested the beds, sitting on them and bouncing up and down. They were crisp and soft, a far cry from the beat up beds in the trainee barracks. The lamps on the ceiling of the donut were already dimming, the day had been long and we were both tired from the exertion of combat, and exhilarated from the adrenal rush, I felt almost high, the thrill of killing and surviving flowing through my veins like some banned energy drink, as tired as I was I knew I would be unable to sleep that night.

But there was something else swimming in my veins too, a primal, inexorable link between violence and sexuality that drew my eyes to Raz's svelte form as she sat on her bed, legs crossed attractively, smooth thighs peppered with orange and black patterns tapering into her long legs, those infuriating bike shorts struggling to contain her curves as they stretched and strained against her skin. She caught me looking and smirked, uncrossing her legs.

“See something you like, monkey?”

An uncontrollable passion welled up within my chest, we could have died but we were alive, the events of the day came flooding back to me, claws wet with blood, a sea of gore, the enemy melting like wax candles under my plasma fire, the screeching of the dying Betelgeusians and the victory cry of the Krell ringing in my ears, an implacable joie de vivre overcame me and I was compelled to cross the room and plunge my face between her thighs, Raz gasped in surprise, her hands finding fistfuls of my hair and tugging.

“Ah! What are you doing!?”

My hands wrapped around her lower body, fingers pressing into the muscled globes of her butt through her shorts, she flinched and wriggled, and I bit her inner thigh, my lips lingering on the soft flesh. Her back arched and she stifled a moan.

“Slow down you little animal, I've not even taken my shorts off ye-”

I found a firm protrusion beneath the rapidly dampening fabric and sucked it against the material, pressing it into the rough surface, Raz's copper taste filling my senses. Her meaty thighs closed around my face, their velvet skin cool against my hot cheeks, and she shuddered involuntarily. I hooked my fingers around the elastic waistband of her shorts and pulled them down, the tactile sensation of them sliding against her silky skin and struggling over the firm mounds of her muscles making my mouth water in anticipation. She straightened her legs obediently and the shorts were discarded on the floor behind me. My aching erection pressed painfully against my clothes as I lowered my head back down and my lips met hers, her steely thighs threatening to crush my head as the sensation made her clench. I could feel her heart race as my tongue delved into her, her warm, slick walls contracting, urging me deeper, I felt as if her heat might blister my mouth. I hugged her against me, my roving fingers kneading her rubbery tissue, she jumped and yelped as my rough hands grabbed handfuls off her buttocks and squeezed. I had never felt like this before, I was seeing red, as if the threat of death had birthed some uncontrollable lust for life and all of its pleasures.

“I don't know what's gotten into you...” Raz growled between gasps, “...but I like it, harder.”

She gripped my hair and thrust me deeper, the soft tuft of orange fur on her mound tickling my nose. I traced the creases and textures of her insides with the tip of my tongue and pressed it against her quivering walls of soft, slimy muscle, she tugged my hair rhythmically, almost like a house cat kneading a favored blanket, the sensation sent shivers down my spine as I probed and sucked. I slipped a hand up her back and dragged my nails down over her skin, she arched her spine, grinding into my mouth, and I drew her clitoris between my lips, chewing it gently.

“Argh, damn it monkey!” She exclaimed as she bent over, her thighs shaking against my face as her juices leaked down my chin.

She closed her huge legs around my neck, trapping me in a headlock, I wrapped my arms around them in surprise, my lips leaving her mound to protest. She dragged me up onto the bed by my head as I struggled in vain, then flipped over on top of me, pressing her groin into my face, her thighs cradling my ears. She crouched over my body, her hands resting on the mattress by my waist.

“Can't have you winning one of these fights, monkey, you'll make me look bad.”

She shook her wide hips, grinding into my face, and I obliged, continuing my rhythmic licking, my hands wandering up her belly and groping her firm bundles of abdominal muscle as she rocked gently, matching pace with my tongue.

I felt one of her hands squeezing the hard bulge in my pants, but I couldn't see past her flesh, she was sat directly on my face, I was surrounded by smooth skin and soft, yielding meat, her taste and smell overwhelmed my senses.

I felt her fumble with my zipper, then a warm hand reached down the waistband of my underwear and took my inflamed member in its grasp, I lurched as the touch of her fingers sent a bolt of electricity down my spine. She freed me, and began to stroke up and down, her firm grip milking me with a slow, deliberate rhythm. I bucked and squirmed, letting out an embarrassed moan. She shivered, my muffled exclamations further stimulating her, and her thighs squeezed harder around my head.

“What's that monkey? I couldn't hear you, you'll have to speak up.”

She pressed down harder on me, squeezing my head between her calves and her butt, lifting it off the mattress as she continued to stroke me, I couldn't breathe and protested, smacking her ass to accentuate my displeasure. She shuddered as my attempts at speech teased her, rolling her hips as I struggled. She released me, I gasped for air and sputtered, her excitement staining my face. I opened my mouth to complain, but was cut short as Raz leaned down and slid my member deep into her warm throat in one fluid motion, her soft lips kissing the base. Flashing stars filled my vision and my body tensed, her rough, slimy tongue dragging over the head of my penis and enclosing me in a tight, hot prison. I tried to double over but my head was still trapped under her soft backside. She sucked hard, and her long tongue coiled around the shaft, sliding up and down as she cupped my balls in her palm, squeezing them gently. I gave in to the pleasure, sinking my hands into the pliant flesh of her butt again and sliding my tongue into her opening as I felt my member press against the back of her throat. I tried to tell her to slow down, but it had the opposite effect, her sucking and squeezing only growing faster and more greedy. I sucked her hard bead into my mouth and rolled my tongue over it, and she groaned over my member, the vibrations tickling me. We were locked in a feedback loop, escalating towards a shared climax, our twitching, trembling bodies entwined in a cruel, relentless dance.

I felt my muscles contract as my body geared up for orgasm, a wave of pleasure spread from my core up through my body, as if every fiber of my being was being squeezed by some invisible force, I felt Raz clench on top of me as I moaned into her, her orifice pulling my tongue from my head as her slimy walls gripped it like a fist, undulating. I came into her waiting throat, she swallowed in waves, sucking my emission from my body, the warm, slippery lining of her mouth drawing me in and massaging me rigorously, it was unbearable, I writhed and bucked, but she pressed into my face, driving me deeper inside her. I wrapped my arms around her lower body and held on for dear life, my spasming, pulsing body completely beyond my control, Raz was squeezing me like a tube of toothpaste, drawing my orgasm out of me with an unrelenting suction that made tiny points of light dance before my eyes. I delved deeper into her, unyielding, I refused to be defeated today.

We surfed the roiling tides of our ecstasy together for what felt like an eternity, our heaving bodies entangled, slick with sweat and juices. Raz relaxed on top of me, her wracked muscles going limp and soft, I mouthed her mound and thighs gently, and she ran her lips and tongue over the head of my still throbbing erection, every lick and kiss magnified a thousand times by afterglow.

“Draw...” Raz moaned, rolling off me and twisting around to spoon. She wrapped her huge arms around me, pulling me close to her for a placating kiss, she tasted of me, her soft lips interlocking with my own in a long, deep embrace that left me dizzy. She nuzzled the nape of my neck, planting a gentle peck on my bruised, red shoulder that sent a shiver down my spine. Her furry tail coiled around my legs and I felt her warm hand on my cheek, she pushed her face into my hair, stroking.

“Last night, I thought I'd never see you again, I couldn't stand the thought of it.”

I felt a wetness in my hair, was she crying? Her warm breath tickled my ear.

“I thought that, at least if I got to have you, you wouldn't forget about me.”

“Well, now you can have me whenever you like, we're stuck on this station together, we're going to be living and working together indefinitely.”

She crushed the wind out of me with her giant arms, squashing me against her ample chest, she sniffed wetly, then giggled, a sound I would never expected to hear from Raz.

“Yeah, that's right, I get to keep you, monkey.”

I nuzzled her neck, her unique, musky smell filling my nose. The warmth of her body radiated through me and her pert breasts pressed against my chest, still enclosed in her signature tube top.

“I'm glad things played out the way that they did, Raz. I wasn't kidding when I said that I loved you.”

She blushed and pushed my face into her cleavage.

“Keep talking like that and I might have to do something about it.” She purred.

I beat her to the punch, tracing the line of her clavicle with my tongue, I tasted salty sweat on her smooth skin. I brought my free hand up, slipping it under her top, and pushed into her breast, the soft flesh yielding under my palm to reveal firm tissue underneath, her hardening nipple pressed between my fingers and I closed them, pinching it gently. She writhed, rubbing her thighs together, her ragged breath blowing strands of my hair. I kneaded as I mouthed her neck, pinching her skin with my teeth and planting slow kisses, she ground her hips against me, pressing my erection into her belly. I slid my other hand down her firm body, running my fingertips over the bulges of her abs, slippery and shiny with sudor, they trailed past her navel and through the fine fur on her mound, slipping between her moist, warm lips and seeking out her hard protrusion, rubbing it in slow circles. Raz groaned appreciatively, and I felt her fingers thread through my hair, her palm pressing on the back of my head. She brought her face down and pressed her wet lips against mine, her long, agile tongue pushing past them and finding my own, coiling around it like a snake. Her familiar copper taste inflamed my member and it pressed painfully into her abs meeting the resistance of her hard muscle. Her thighs crushed my hand between them, their velvet surface trying to pull my roving fingers deeper. I pulled her tube top up, freeing a breast that bounced gently as it settled, breaking away from Raz's wanton kiss with a smack as our lips parted. I sucked the nipple into my mouth, dragging the surface of my tongue over it, Raz arched her back and I felt her inner muscles clench around my fingers as she spasmed, her racing heartbeat pumping through their hot, slick walls.

She released her other breast, and her grip on my hair became tight, she pressed my face into it, wordlessly demanding I pay the same attention to both, I complied, nuzzling and chewing as I massaged the pliant globe, deforming it in my grip. Her writhing became convulsive, and she pulled my hands away abruptly, her grip on my wrists like iron cuffs, she planted her teeth into my tender neck, biting mildly, asserting herself. My body went limp at the familiar sensation, and I relaxed into her, my face buried between her cushions.

“Don't make me come yet.” She whispered into my ear.

She rolled over, pulling me on top of her, then hooked her huge legs around my lower body, trapping me against her. My throbbing member pushed against her labia, their hot, glistening surface sending a jolt of pleasure through my body that set my mouth watering in anticipation. She pulled my head into her breast and I mouthed obediently, she gasped and wriggled under me as I teased her sensitive nipple.

She used her legs to press me down into her, I tried to pull back in surprise but she was too strong, she slowly forced me inside her, her textured, slimy walls pushing against my member with an almost unbearable pressure, every contour and wrinkle of her warm insides sending waves of electricity up my spine, dancing around in my head like popcorn in a pan. I couldn't think straight, with her legs crossed behind my back she pushed me all the way inside her, I swooned as the head of my penis met resistance, and I felt her flinch, then relax. She wrapped her arms around me and began to chew my ear, her pointed incisors pricking it painfully. I was totally trapped, I shivered as her rough tongue tickled me, obscene, wet noises flooding my brain.

Her legs began to squeeze, her soft thighs pressing against my waist, she moved in a slow rhythm, pushing and pulling at a pace she dictated as I gasped and screwed my eyes shut, trying to endure the captivating feeling of her tight walls compressing me, their every fold dragging over my most delicate and receptive areas. She watched me as I struggled against her, her cheeks tinted rose and her eyelids low, an almost mocking smile on her face, no doubt savoring the power she had over me.

Her movements became more urgent, and her pace increased despite my gasps of protest, they went unheeded as Raz's head lolled back and her eyes closed. I could hear her heart pounding in her chest as she gripped a handful of my hair in her fist and pressed me between her heavy breasts, her breathing becoming fast and hoarse. She slammed me all the way inside her and held me there with her steely thighs, her flushed, slippery tunnel wringing my cock raw, crushing it in a series of staggering contractions that sent me over the edge and wrested from me a sound unbecoming of a junior officer. We were bound together, an earthquake of elation rumbling through our exhausted bodies, every muscle afire with our shared passion, our nervous systems overloading with violent pleasure. I collapsed onto her as the last of my orgasm left me, twitching and throbbing as I slid out of her. She reached down and rubbed her mound contentedly, our combined nectar spilling through her fingers.

We lay there together for what felt like an age, entwined and shuddering as our breathing leveled out and our wracked muscles stopped aching, grasping blindly at eachother, our hands and mouths wandering over wet skin. Time ceased to exist, along with anything outside of our little room as we basked in the radiance of our climax. Raz's chest rose and fell regularly, she had fallen asleep with me still nestled in her cleavage, her arm slack over my shoulders. I gazed at her as she slept, her tangled mane of orange hair spread over her pillow and her full, red lips parted gently as she breathed.

The events that had led to our romance played back in my mind, so improbable, so totally unintended. I had come to the Pinwheel seeking adventure and glory, as well as that I had found Raz, she had shown me passions I could not have conceived of, confusing, exciting emotions that even now I scarcely dared admit to myself. My fingers wandered towards the bite mark on my shoulder, I pressed it gently, it still stung. The sensation brought back memories of that night, how Raz had played me like some kind of human instrument, her firm grip on my aching member, her tail trapping my arms, the indescribable orgasm as she plunged her sharp teeth into my soft neck. I shuddered, a sultry, guilty feeling welling up inside my chest. There was nothing standing between us now, we had all the time in the world to explore eachother. I closed my eyes and joined her in the deep, dreamless sleep of spent lovers.

Chapter 8: Epilogue
“But I don't want to drill with the Krell, they're so big and slow, they won't be able to keep up!” The young Borealan protested, she carried an XMR that looked far too long for her, a wicked bayonet tipped the barrel, it was based on a design I had seen before that had recently become popularized on Borealis.

“You'll do as Officer Stanley tells you,” chided Raz, a sting in her voice, “or you'll have to answer to me.”

The younger Borealan recoiled, hunching her shoulders in a display of submission as she grasped her rifle.

“I told you to treat Officer Stanley as your Alpha, obey his orders, human packs work differently to ours, but the command structure is basically the same.”

I looked on with my arms folded as Raz corralled the newest batch of Borealans, they had just finished building their first XMRs under my instruction, since the platform had been more widely adopted in their home system the new recruits that had passed through were a lot better with the weapons than Raz and her pack had been when they had first arrived on the Pinwheel. A dozen little Borealans milled about Raz, well, little by Borealan standards, even the runts were still a good seven feet tall. God, had me and Raz looked that young when we had arrived on the station?

“You should respect the Krell.” Said Raz, hurrying the Borealan recruit along with a nudge of her tail. “Did I ever tell you about the time I saw one break a Borealan's spine in a brawl?”

“No!” Exclaimed the recruit, wide-eyed.

“Well, off to drill, and I'll tell you about it on the way.”

Raz waved back to me and I nodded, noting on my tablet computer that the firing range was now free. A line of Borealans followed Raz away obediently and I watched them until they disappeared under the curve of the donut's ceiling. One of the humans was having trouble with his XMR, and had requested some one on one tutoring, I'd have to wait a while longer before I could clock out and find Raz back at our quarters. Tonight would be the second anniversary of our first night together, and I had hidden a bouquet of daffodils in our bedroom, her favorite flower, picked covertly by the station botanist in exchange for some choice food smuggled from the officer's mess. She'd probably smell them before she saw them, what with her sensitive Borealan nose, but hey, it was the thought that counted. My heart skipped in anticipation of the night of passion that no doubt awaited us, Raz's appetite had not waned in the time had been living together on the Pinwheel, she was as rapacious as ever, only encouraged by her newfound status as honorary Alpha over all Borealans on the station, she had told me her father had almost choked on his dinner when she had broken the news of her promotion over VidCom, such titles and positions were a big deal in their culture. She hadn't made him aware of our unconventional relationship, but there would be time for that later.

As for mine, he had changed his tune about me dropping out of agricultural school when he had seen my shiny officer's badge and I had started sending paychecks home. Overall, things were going pretty well, we were even making headway in the border war, the Krell and Borealan auxiliaries were cutting a bloody swathe through the Betelgeusian ranks, they were losing footholds in the contested systems and had even been pushed out of a few.

I looked up at the pastel sky, white, fluffy clouds immovable on their painted blue background, sometimes I missed the drifting clouds of Earth, but never for long, I had something better here, something far rarer and more precious in all the universe than a blue sky.