Author's Note: I've received a few comments indicating this story is similar to Kita'thalla by Bowoodstock. Embarrassingly, I must agree, though I was not aware of that story until getting the reviews. I must say, after reading chapter one of Kita'thalla, it is well written. To avoid the possibility of influencing my plotline, I will read no more of that story until mine is complete.
Also, I want to thank everyone for the reviews and the messages I have gotten encouraging me to continue.
*****
Liam woke to stillness. There was no sound except for the usual noises one could expect from an ancient forest, and even those sounds were muted inside the tree. In the nest, pressed up next to him, was Klat' eil' Da, breathing deeply in a contented sleep. He smiled at her for a moment, remembering their surprisingly enjoyable intimacy. His friends would never believe this.
And then it hit him. The little cat was now effectively his wife, at least according to what little he had to go on from Commander M'pel E'kmel. He was sure the bureaucrats of the CP would have some forms to fill out or something like that, but thanks to a dozen or so laws passed in the previous century, it was perfectly legal for humans to marry other species and it was also legal for humans to have multiple spouses of either sex. All this made little difference. He was married to an enemy combatant. The realization filled Liam with mixed emotions and a heaping helping of uncertainty.
"Well," he wryly murmured to himself. "At least she's good in bed."
Very carefully he disengaged himself from Klat' eil' Da and rose. It was a matter of a few minutes for him to collect his armor and other gear before slipping out of the nest to put it on. He was just finishing fastening his boots when Commander M'pel E'kmel softly called to him.
"Yes, Commander?" he asked, stepping to her side.
"I want you to know that I think you made a wise choice," she said with a slight smile.
"Um..." he said, unsure what was appropriate in this situation.
"I am fully aware that you were not intending to follow through on what the young one thought you had promised," she went on. "Believe me when I say again, it would have cost you your life had you not done so. And know also, if you had been killed, it is likely that all of us would have died very shortly thereafter."
"Well, Commander," Liam began and then paused before finishing a little lamely. "It wasn't as weird as I thought it was going to be."
"Weird?" She mused on the word. "In what way did you think it would be weird?"
"I've only had human... intimate relations," he said awkwardly. "I mean there was this one Vespan I was interested in on Tempest. That didn't happen, though."
"Ah. I see," she said and smiled at him. "I have only had jZav'Etch intimate relations. The young one had never had any relations with a male before you."
"She was a virgin?" Liam asked, surprised.
"Virgin?" M'pel E'kmel asked. "I am not familiar with that term."
"A virgin is ... Um... someone who has never had sex," he haltingly explain.
"Do other females factor in that designation?"
"Other females? I think they do. I'm not sure."
"If they do, then she was not a virgin," said M'pel E'kmel with a mysterious smile.
"Oh," Liam said a little surprised, wondering what that smile was about. "So I was her first man. Not her first... mate."
"Just as I said," she confirmed.
Liam looked back to where Klat' eil' Da lay asleep. If that was how a virgin screwed, he wondered what an experienced jZav'Etch would be like. Then he glanced at the commander and blushed when he saw her frank gaze on him. She smiled.
"What do you think of this place?" she asked, unexpectedly changing the subject.
"This place? It should be fine, temporarily." He had not meant to make this their permanent camp. "It's too close to game trails for my liking and we aren't sure if there are any other inhabitants of the planet. I think we need to move into the hills to the east."
"I agree," she said with a nod. "There may be caves we could use. We might be better off building a shelter of some sort, though. And we'll want to be close to water."
"I'm worried about food supplies," Liam said, hunkering down so they could speak on even terms.
"I am also," she admitted. "We salvaged enough from our ship for fifty-six meals and we have a water purifier. We also took several tools in addition to our cache of weapons you left at our shelter."
"I'm not sure how many tools are in my life pod, but there should be emergency rations for four," he said and considered the rest of his inventory. "I've got fourteen meals in my pack, too."
"You had time to gather supplies before you escaped your ship?" she asked a little surprised.
"I had to take them from other marines who got killed during your attack," he told her without accusation or blame. It was war and the jZav'Etch were doing their duty. It wasn't personal. "I have some additional weapons, too."
"How near is your pod?" she asked. "We saw it come down and I was going to send my marines to scout it, but we detected your approach before they got going."
"We could walk there in a few hours if everyone were healthy," Liam said. "I don't want to risk it while two of you are down. I saw a large herbivore and some large predators on my initial scouting of the area. The predators caught my scent and spooked."
"Spooked?" M'pel E'kmel frowned. She had only heard that word used in one context. "They spied on you?"
He laughed, "No. They were frightened off."
"Ah. I understand." She frowned. English was such a strange language. "They could not be very large, then," she said.
"About as big as I am," he told her.
"A strange scent and an unknown quantity," she speculated with a nod. "Predators would not want to risk being injured and weakening their pack. You said it would take hours to get to your pod. Could you and Klat' eil' Da go there and retrieve your supplies?"
"We could, Commander," he said narrowing his eyes in thought. "I think it would be better to leave that gear where it is for now, though."
"Why?"
"Because it's secured and the pod is stuck up in a tree at least as large as this one was before it fell," he explained. "Smarter to go after your gear. It's laying out where curious animals might rummage through it. And if there are sentient inhabitants they might steal everything."
"From our survey we know there are intelligent natives on this world," she said. "They do not live on this island, though. That was our reason for directing the ship here. Less contact with them would preserve their culture."
Liam blinked at her. jZav'Etch were not known for not interfering with native peoples. They had invaded systems and fought their own wars for centuries.
"I think I know what is going through your mind, Sergeant," M'pel E'kmel said. "In the past our people did invade worlds to capture resources. That is in the past. We no longer attack inhabited planets unless they have advanced to a level where they could be dangerous to our colonies. We govern in much the same way as do the Conglomerated Planets."
"I didn't know that," he admitted.
"I think my people are as enlightened as your own," she said with a gentle smile. "We are fighting to establish a border that favors our needs. I suspect the Conglomeration is doing the same. Peace will come. An armistice will be agreed upon and one day our peoples will be allies. That time needs to come quickly."
"Peace would be nice," he agreed and scratched his chin. He wondered why she felt that way.
"Peace exists between you and us three, now," she observed, breaking into his thoughts. "We are cast upon a savage shore, as one of our ancient poets put it. We share a common cause of survival. Did you not notice how quickly you trusted us with weapons?"
Liam hadn't noticed. He had simply done what was necessary to be safe. Mutual interest was the dynamic that was driving their cooperation. That and the nutty behavior of what was apparently a young, inexperienced jZav'Etch. He glanced over his shoulder and snorted at the thought.
"She has played an important, if unwitting part in our alliance," M'pel E'kmel said, observing his glance. "Rely on the young to do the foolish things that bring people together or rip nations apart."
"You keep calling her young," Liam said, still looking at Klat' eil' Da. "How old is she?"
"By the reckoning of our traditional system she is only fourteen summers," the commander said. Then she laughed at the look Liam turned on her. "Do not distress yourself, Sergeant. In the reckoning of your calendar she would be nineteen or twenty years old. Very young, but not a child. You yourself are still very young, are you not?"
"Fairly," he nodded and cast another uncertain look at the little cat. "I'm thirty-three."
"And you have been in forty battles," she said, gesturing at the markings on his sleeve.
"Forty-three," he corrected. "Three were unofficial. No record of my unit being involved."
"Indeed?" she asked. This was news the jZav'Etch government would be interested in if she ever was rescued.
"Border encroachments," Liam explained. "Strike teams to eliminate the need for embarrassing political situations. Destroy the enemy facilities and make it too costly for them to continue operations and suddenly there is no more encroachment. Keep it out of the media and there is no need for war."
"My people would simply strike with everything we have and invade until the encroaching party was subjugated," she said. "It is too great an insult to our pride to allow such things."
"And my people find it too costly to fight wars if we can find ways to end them before they start." There was nothing in his tone that indicated he was being judgmental or insulting and M'pel E'kmel took no offense.
"Sergeant," she said speculatively, running a slim finger over the battle badges on his left pauldron. "You are a very interesting male. These young think males are stupid, but they are not. Males look at the universe in a very different way than the females of my kind do. Males see what they want or need to do and they will go after it. Females see what we have and will try to preserve it, even at the cost of our own lives. You are not like our males. You seem to strike a kind of balance that I have not been exposed to before."
"Um..." Liam said uncertainly.
"You are welcome," she said with another smile and grasped his arm in a friendly fashion. "What will you do now?"
He frowned. There was something to that hand on his arm and something more to the way she continued to ask him what he would do. She had advised him to have sex with Klat' eil' Da in order to preserve his life. And she had admitted that had he been killed the rest of them would have died. She was a commander in the jZav'Etch forces and yet she was deferring to him, a humble sergeant. He had technically taken them prisoner, but that situation was rendered moot. They needed each other. Why was she not calling the shots?
"I think getting the supplies we left at your camp and bringing them here would be the first priority," he said after a contemplative moment. "You and Tem'Ma'tel have to stay here until your injuries heal. I'll leave you with the two EP 12s and take the rifle when Klat' eil' Da and I go."
"Wise, Sergeant," M'pel E'kmel said. "I think it would be wiser if you took one of the pistols, though."
"Why?"
"Because this rifle is far too large for Klat' eil' Da to use."
