Season Five [Part Three]

- 9 -

Stephanie stood in the vacuum and meticulously pulled the crosspin back out of one of her pistols. The slide came away from the receiver and into her hand as the recoil spring was allowed to expand. She removed the guide rod and carefully placed it next to it's twin on the table in front of her. Air rushed into the chamber, Stephanie's Remlok mask detected the pressure and re-opened. Calmly, DuHart reached down and picked up one of the two barrels in the arrangement of gun-parts she had laid out.

She slipped the barrel into it's place between the rails of one of her matched pistols, casually checking the serial numbers with the tip of her finger followed by a glance to make doubly sure they matched. She had the first pistol almost completely reassembled when the random timer tripped and the atmosphere was suddenly vented from the Decompression Simulator, again.

Stephanie slipped the crosspin back into place deftly, as she flattened her ears under the mask snapping shut. DuHart didn’t even blink. She would have liked to tell herself that the practice was paying off, but she could already tell the parts of her weapons apart by touch alone, and she had yet to mis-time her ears even once while in the simulator. She stared into the middle distance, allowing muscle memory to finish assembling her weapon.

The Captain finished her drill judiciously, then placed both weapons together on the table. She waited for the air to return with an expression of boredom worn on her face. When the simulator eventually returned the atmosphere she hit a button on the console to end the training cycle, the control would have forced the air to return but Stephanie was in no hurry back to her duties. She knew though, either this task she was using was too routine for good practice, or she was practicing the wrong skill-set, Stephanie did not know.

Returning her weapons to their holsters under her coat, DuHart slid off the chair and made her way out of the Decompression Simulator. The girl was waiting for her just outside, and standing perfectly still against the shifting tide of crewmen rushing to meet their training quotas so as to free their schedules. Stephanie's Pallaca smiled warmly as her lover appeared in the hatchway, beaming at Stephanie now that her wait was coming to a close.

"Are you ready?" She asked expectantly.

"For?" DuHart was happy to see her, but felt more than a slight unease. The Captain maintained her hardened posture while among her crew, but loosed a short lived smile for the girl.

"For a visit to the surface. I heard you announce shore-leave nearly two hours ago." The girl gave Stephanie an incredulous look. She had made the assumption that The Captain intended to partake in the leave she had announced across the entire vessel. Stephanie hadn't considered herself subject to that address, until then.

"Oh, I should change first." DuHart looked down at her uniform as she gave her answer.

"Alright, shall I meet you in the shuttle bay?" The girl asked, Stephanie nodded in reply.

As The Captain left the area, she noted her Pallaca spot someone she knew and strike up a small conversation with them. He was one of the galley staff, pulling a supply cart through to the mess-area adjacent to the training rooms. Stephanie found herself standing in the doorway, hesitating and watching them speak. DuHart had no idea what she was feeling, so she did not act on it, but she suddenly wanted to send that crewman away. Instead The Captain did what she could to ignore the bizarre notion, and moved on.

As she walked through the halls and waited in the elevators, Stephanie found herself deeply occupied by trying to remember that crewman's name. She was sure she knew it, he was tasked with supply and could be seen often carting things from the galley. She had spoken with him at least once, when he had delivered to her quarters. Stephanie began to wonder if that was how the girl knew him. Then Stephanie sighed and shook her head, of course that was how they had met.

Stephanie considered this mystery solved, and waited for the strange tension she felt to leave her. It did not, she was still doing her best to ignore it as she changed into a more casual outfit. She removed her white uniform and the blue tailed coat that went with it. DuHart selected A simple black skirt, worn over matching black tights. She put on a slightly heavy long-sleeved shirt and small white jacket over that. Stephanie wore her heeled white boots, to match her jacket.

Before considering herself dressed, DuHart detached her concealed-carry harness from her blue uniform coat, and slipped it on underneath her current top layer. Once she was armed, Stephanie was ready to leave. She hurried through the Hab-Ring, then made her way through the aft sections of The Queentia-Iactura until she arrived at the Shuttle-Bay.

There were other Shuttle-Bays, but the aft-most one served the executive staff of the vessel specifically. Stephanie's Pallaca had meant that one, and was waiting for her in the staging area. The girl was wearing her plain linen gown, and a smile.

They boarded the planetary shuttle, alongside a full shipment of people. The journey to the surface of Vish-One took about an hour, The Queentia-Iactura had taken up a conservatively high orbit and her planetary approach shuttles were not equipped with Frame-Shift-Drives. The Human-cargo that shuttle contained knew nothing of this time spent. When the cryopods were opened in the Welcome Plaza on the surface, those inside felt like less than a moment had passed.

Stephanie waited a few seconds after the pod opened, to open her eyes. She would always be deeply unsettled by the vanishing time, watching it disappear again was more than she could bare. The girl was already out and standing in front of her.

"You look so serious, when you're frozen." She told Stephanie.

"I don't enjoy, these things." DuHart explained as she climbed out.

"Me neither." The girl made a caricaturish expression of disgust with her face. "The longest I've ever been in one was a week. What about you?"

"Thirty Seven hours." Twenty-Nine minutes, and Eight seconds. Cael's face had burned away the after-image of where the corridor had been. Where Arrow had been standing, only a few subjective moments before. But the tiny little readout beside her head taunted her: He had already been dead for Thirty-Seven hours, Twenty-Nine minutes, and-

"I'm sorry, Stephanie. I didn't mean to." The girl whispered as she leaned into and embraced DuHart, breaking a trance that The Captain hadn't realized she was succumbing to. "Here, there is a bench."

The girl pulled Stephanie by her arms towards the bench nearby and sat her down, taking a spot beside her. Stephanie was trying to tell the girl that she was okay, but found herself unable to speak. One of the Plaza staff approached the pair.

"Is everything alright miss?" He asked pointedly.

A horrid and unwelcome panic came to DuHart, she needed to send this man away immediately, lest one of her crew see her being treated as an invalid. As the thought formed though, DuHart realized it was the girl gripping her arms whom she did not want to see her in such a way, and that it was likely too late. Very few members of the crew of The Queentia-Iactura were loitering in the Plaza, in fact very few people had done so at all. The Captain parted her lips to tell the attendant that she needed no aid. Stephanie was disgusted by herself when only a small high pitched sound came out.

"Everything is fine, would it be possible to get some water?" Stephanie's Pallaca told the attendant.

"Yes, but..." He looked at the Trans-Human shaking on the bench, worry in his eyes.

"She does not like cryopods, that is all. You are making her uncomfortable, sir." The girl very quietly informed him.

"Apologies, apologies." He took a step backwards, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "I will be right back with packets of water."

"Outside?" The girl turned and asked Stephanie, the very moment the attendant was gone.

"Y-y-y-ye-" Stephanie gritted her teeth in frustration and nodded instead.

Her Pallaca led Stephanie out of the Welcome Plaza into the city around it. The courtyard was crisscrossed by walkways but had a small mossy-hill in the center of it. There were a few thin trees planted around the hill. The crowds of people wandering the area were keeping to the pavement, so the girl pulled DuHart onto the moss, leading her towards the heartiest looking of the trees there. They sat down, leaning against the trunk and each-other.

"Th-tha-th-" Stephanie gave her head an agitated shake. "Th-thanks." She managed, having to revert to English to get it out.

"Stop it." The girl reached over and caressed Stephanie's cheek, flattening her whiskers and ruffled fur. "Don't thank me, and don't apologize either. Nothing bad is happening, we have only the moss and the sky, and each-other. Calm."

Stephanie looked into the girl's eyes for some time, letting her pulse slow. Enjoying the moss, and the sky, and the calm, together. The girl knew her lover's attack had passed when Stephanie leaned in and kissed her.

"Thank you, I don't know what... Thank you." Stephanie said, closing her eyes.

"We shall find better transport for our return." The girl declared, in solidarity.

"No." The Captain explained, her eyes opening. "I will get nowhere coddling myself. I failed to prepare properly this time, nothing more. An easily corrected mistake."

"Okay, but you have to promise me something." The girl replied, her tone an iota darker.

"Anything." Stephanie didn't hesitate to say.

"Until it's time to 'prepare properly' and leave, you have to coddle yourself." Her Pallaca commanded Stephanie.

"I... What do you mean?" She was prepared to do whatever the girl wanted her to, but Stephanie would need instruction for such a task.

"While we are down here, I want you to stop putting so much pressure on yourself." The girl explained.

"I, suppose I can try." Stephanie agreed, taking her first hesitant step in a direction she normally would have ignored.

"Good, pushing yourself is perfectly alright Stephanie, but your panic-attack didn't just come from nowhere you know." The girl told DuHart, her tone marginally stern.

"I do not think..." Stephanie stopped herself, she had already begun to push reflexively. "What does 'Panic-Attack' mean?"

The girl put her hand over her mouth fleetingly, then put it on Stephanie's shoulder.

"You just had one, Stephanie."The girl looked her lover up and down, trying to come to terms with the large gaps in the person beside her. "Lots of people have panic-attacks, it's stress. Just too much stress."

Her instinct was to dismiss that, claim that must be something that happens to other people, not Stephanie DuHart. Her instinct was also to push herself, evidently too far at times. Her instincts told Stephanie to ignore this lesson, maybe even ignore the attack itself, then go back to pushing herself into another one. Stephanie put her instincts aside, she had just made a pact to do so, though not in those words.

"Oh." Stephanie said, accepting what she had been told. "Do you, ever have Panic-Attacks?"

"Yes." The girl looked away, but only for a moment. "Not since meeting you, though."

"I think... I think I’ve had one, before." Stephanie quietly realized.

"When?" Her Pallaca questioned softly.

"On the bridge, during the battle." DuHart whispered, realizing the ramifications of that fact.

"Would you like to talk about it?" The girl spoke softly, not wishing to press DuHart.

"No." Stephanie had agreed not to think about this until they left the surface, though not in those words.

"Then we will not." The girl replied with a reassuring smile.

They sat together, with the tree, for another twenty minutes or more. Eventually Stephanie had a fleeting idea, and as she had promised, she did not suppress it. Watching someone glide past on one, over on the pavement, DuHart pointed at the rider and spoke.

"Do you know how to drive one of those Two-Wheelers?" Stephanie had always been curious, but never trusted someone enough to ask.

"Of course, everyone can ride a bicycle." As she said it, she looked over at Stephanie, into her eyes. The girl regretted her words immediately.

"...Is it, difficult?" DuHart had seen in passing, myriad people showing their myriad offspring how to do it. Stephanie assumed that it was.

"No, not at all. I'll teach you." The girl was relatively certain she was the same age as Stephanie. She found the question of how old her lover was, suddenly mattering to her, now that she knew Stephanie couldn't ride a bike. She was fighting a tear, so was DuHart.

They got up, and left the mossy hill behind. Not very far away, on the opposite side of the courtyard, was a Bike-House. The attendant there was typical of the industry: Young, fit, and stretching his Onionhead binge into a second decade. Stephanie hadn't the perspective to appreciate it, but her Pallaca was pleasantly surprised at how little he flirted with them as he fit a pair of bicycles to their heights.

- 10 -

They had walked the bicycles around the corner, the girl calmly explaining how the vehicle worked. Once they were beside the Welcome Plaza, they found a small road leading into a park. The area was nearly deserted, as the path was more for recreational use and did not lead to anything directly. They stood there for another few minutes before Stephanie felt confident that she understood what to do.

"Yours has a low seat, so you should be okay to stand up off of it if anything happens. Neither of our bikes have gears to worry about, so that's easy, and we won't be going fast." The girl said before stepping through the frame of her bicycle and gesturing to Stephanie to mount her own.

"This is more comfortable to sit on that I expected." Stephanie admitted as she lowered herself onto the squeaky seat.

"Well, that's good. I didn't want to argue with him about it, but I actually don't think that bike is the best." The girl mentioned, looking over the bike her lover straddled.

"Why not?" Stephanie asked, confused.

"Don't worry about it, I just mean that it's built more for form than function. I prefer a more practical bike. With another speed or two, a bike like this one would be perfect for commuting." The girl explained her more furtive thoughts about their given vehicles.

"I see. Well, I'm quite low with this, I feel like that may be better for balance." Stephanie looked over the elongated frame of the bicycle, then at the taller and rounder one her Pallaca rode. She wasn't sure how they were meant to compare aesthetically.

"As long as you are comfortable, with your feet forward, then it's fine." The girl had trouble believing her, but Stephanie simply nodded with a satisfied smile. "Okay, so we're looking a little downhill here, you can probably just give it a push and let gravity get you going."

Stephanie took a little breath, then followed the girl's instructions. She was expecting to wobble and fall immediately, then shortly after she started moving. She continued to expect it most of the way down the hill. Once she reached the bottom, Stephanie gripped the brake levers and came to a sudden halt. She took her feet off of the pedals and planted them. Still holding the handlebars, Stephanie stood up reflexively and took a step forward with momentum. She turned and looked back up the small incline she had come down, her Pallaca was nearly caught up. As she stopped herself beside Stephanie, the girl looked expectantly towards her. DuHart was exhilarated, she sat back down on the bicycle and put one foot back up onto a pedal.

"Let's go see where this path leads." Stephanie said, with a grin on her face.

"I'm following you, Stephanie." The girl replied, also grinning.

They rode the path up another small incline and on into the park that stretched behind the Plaza. Twisting around and through trees and other foliage. Stephanie couldn't stop smiling, neither could the girl gliding along beside her. DuHart looked ahead and spotted a fork in the pathway, it was marked by a simple sign with a pictogram of a river and an arrow. Her selection was barely a choice, as they followed the sign into a more heavily wooded section, towards the stream.

The air was cooler under the canopy, more fragrant. The sound of a babbling flow of water and the hardened earth of the path led their way. Before too long they were riding beside the river, a meter or two in from its bank.

"Should we stop, for a moment?" The girl called out.

"I would-" When she turned to answer, Stephanie noticed how red her face was. "Yes, let's stop for a moment."

They pulled the bikes over and laid them down. The two sat beside each-other at the edge of the river. The girl was winded, and trying to hide it. Stephanie pretended not to notice.

"This is wonderful." DuHart admitted, suddenly.

"Good." The girl's breath was not yet caught.

"I..." Stephanie's words were caught in her throat.

She had said it before many times. They had made a habit of telling each-other this, in private. But Stephanie had always felt a tiny worry when she did so. She could always see in Arrow's eyes something that she was never sure she felt as well. She wanted him, and to be with him, she had always assumed it was simply the word for that. But sitting with the girl, she felt something terrific and warm in the very core of her. A feeling that she had never felt before, yet somehow Stephanie knew what that feeling was. She had seen it so many times in her husband's eyes. Stephanie took a deep breath and took the girl's hand in her own.

"I love you." DuHart said quietly, staring into the flowing stream before them.

"Stephanie, I love you too." The girl said, looking at DuHart's excessively stoic expression and squeezing her hand.

The feeling in Stephanie felt like it had engulfed her, as she looked down at the girl's hand in her own. DuHart's jaw unclenched and a small smile spread onto her lips. A single tear managed to escape DuHart's blinking and roll down the side of her nose. The girl reached up with her free hand and wrung that tear from the fur on Stephanie's cheek. Then she wrapped that hand around the back of DuHart's head and pulled her close, kissing her.

Stephanie could have had the girl there in the dirt, or maybe in the chilled river-water. The girl did ask her to, three times. But Stephanie DuHart is a woman who is divided carefully, and certain boundaries were not to be bent. They would be forced to delay until their return to The Queentia-Iactura and longer still, they would both discover that the waiting was well worth it.

They reclined and embraced, as they watched the water flowing by. Perhaps an hour had passed, neither of them cared. But a sound started to bother Stephanie, like some insect, but droning too uniformly. It reminded The Captain of the electric Two-Wheelers from her ship. She dismissed it and continued to hold her lover. It most likely was one, she decided, and that was of no concern to her.

A few minutes later the sound approached quickly, and a pair on just such a vehicle whizzed past unobtrusively. Stephanie let out a small breath and prepared to enjoy the silence again, once the other pair of park-goers were further down the path.

At about the time Stephanie was questioning how slowly they were going, a waft of gun-oil followed the pair. The smell stood out plainly against the verdant and earthen surroundings. Even though she had promised the girl she would not be this way, DuHart immediately decided that a small glance was a forgivable infraction.

The pair had stopped and were turning their bike around, the passenger was checking his pocket quickly. Stephanie also saw them quickly nod to each-other out of the corner of her eye, as they throttled up and headed back towards her and the girl.

"Stand up, all is well. Stay behind me." Stephanie whispered to her quickly.

They stood, and the girl made to hold DuHart from behind. The Captain leaned over and pulled the girl's larger bicycle off the ground with one hand. Reaching behind herself with it, DuHart used the bike to put a small distance between her back and the girl. That gap, the bicycle, and Captain DuHart, were to stand between these thieves and DuHart's Pallaca.

They slowed their approach when DuHart showed she was readied. Though hesitantly, they kept to their plan. The passenger hopped off while the driver whipped the vehicle around. Their form was passable, DuHart decided. Though he probably should have pulled his weapon immediately. That said, his hesitance may yet save his life.

"Purses, Computers, Jewelry, Now!" He said, with one hand in his pocket, while his other came forward with a raised palm.

"I don't carry a purse." The Captain told him.

"Don't make this difficult." He shook the weapon in his pocket for effect.

"I will warn you exactly once. Give up and try again on someone else." She explained carefully.

"Fucking feline bitches, always want to get s-" He showed his inexperience by turning to his companion to joke, as he tried to pull his weapon from his pocket.

It would turn out to be a small hinged knife, the thug had thought it best to splurge on a high quality lubricant for it. In his mind, the expense could potentially sway a life-and-death situation. He took DuHart's bullet through the side of his head, before he had turned back to her. A situation that would have been quite complicated to explain, had she not been an Officer of the Imperial Navy.

The other one was about to try to escape, so DuHart put a second round through his throttle hand. Then she approached him, pulled her second pistol from its holster and aimed both at him. The attempted thief closed his eyes, convinced he was about to die, just like his brother-in-law. The Captain was only switching hand's though, she kept her left gun pointed at the driver and holstered her right one. Then DuHart took another step closer and pulled the ignition data-key out of the bike's console, disabling it completely.

The Captain needed to quickly pat him down, so she leaned even closer to the trembling man. He glanced at the grip of her pistol, protruding from under her jacket. Stephanie put the barrel of her ready weapon into his ear.

"Go for it." The Captain didn't know if he spoke English or not, but she was unsure of a simple way to phrase it in Latin. Either way, her point was being made.

He wasn't carrying a weapon, DuHart discovered. The authorities arrived promptly, and took over for The Captain. She gave her statement and conferred authority to the responding security team, allowing them to complete the arrest. Then Stephanie and the girl took back up their bicycles, and headed back the way they had come.

The girl didn't speak much during the ride, nor did she as they returned the bikes. She asked Stephanie if she was okay before they approached the transport, DuHart assured her she would be more prepared for the ride in cryo this time. The girl remained silent and unconvinced.

Back aboard her ship, Stephanie was not as affected by being in cryo as the previous time. The girl followed her back to their quarters, watching her closely. Once they were back Home, Stephanie decided to follow through on her promise until her next shift of duty began.

"Please, say what you are thinking." DuHart beckoned, worried she already knew.

"Did he have to die?" The girl very slowly and quietly did what was asked of her.

"No, but I couldn't be sure." DuHart gave her prepared answer.

"Is it so easy to put your life over his?" As she asked her next question, the girl shuddered.

"Not my life, yours." Stephanie turned to the girl and gave her and intense look as she spoke.

"Oh, I..." The girl felt obliged to thank DuHart, but couldn't. "How are... You?"

"I can see you are shaken up, I apologize My lady." DuHart turned away, giving this as an answer.

"Stephanie, don't give me that. Answer me, are you okay?" The girl wouldn't let her avoid it like that.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" DuHart said, with an honesty that unnerved the girl.

- 11 -

They had only slept beside each-other that night. In the morning The Captain was called to appear for the rehearsal. A showing of gratitude for DuHart and a gesture of goodwill for the couple. The girl insisted Stephanie enjoy herself, but declined to accompany her. They agreed it may be overly forward of The Captain to do so. The girl opted to visit one of the galley outlets that evening. She felt the need to break her routine in the hopes of clearing her head.

Stephanie's Pallaca hoped to dismiss her new and unwelcome trepidation for DuHart. She was The Captain, the girl knew full-well that Command decisions were life-and-death. But, she had not envisioned her lover as being so deft a hand with death-dealing. The girl had not been prepared for the revelation.

Down on the surface, The Captain was shaking a multitude of hands and being thankful no speech was expected of her. Stephanie was preoccupied with the situation she had wrought with her lover. DuHart couldn't decide if she wanted the ceremony over as soon as possible, or for it to drag on and give her time to think about what to say.

The girl was surprised when she stepped through the hatch into the mess area. She had decided to travel down a deck and eat somewhere other people might be. The particular one she had chosen appeared to be a tavern inside; she had expected nothing more than a plain cafeteria. The girl's surprise was not unwelcome though. She took up a place in a booth at the far end of the mess area, the girl was interested in experiencing the activity of other people but not necessarily interacting with them.

The Captain glared at the plate of boiled fish and stomach churning sauce she had been served. DuHart wouldn't dare be rude, she was eating it, but required several glasses of wine to help choke it down. They just had to use a cheese sauce, Stephanie lamented. She understood how she had scared the girl. She understood as soon as she saw her standing rigidly, still gripping her rented bicycle with white knuckles, tens of minutes after the situation was over and Stephanie was finished giving her statement. But DuHart was worried because she knew exactly what she had to tell the girl. Stephanie took another bite of the fish and tried not to let her disgust show on her face.

Stephanie's Pallaca Had ordered a simple comfort food she was unfamiliar with, but it had been exactly what she wanted. Pureed potatoes and fried sausages, a light gravy. She had been offered a beer to go with it and obliged, the girl was again pleasantly surprised when the beverage proved dark and opaque, and delicious. As she finished her drink, a less pleasant surprise came to her.A male Officer sat down across from the girl, two beverages in his hands. He passed a second beer to her and cleared his throat.

"Here, drink up." His voice was unusually sullen for a pick-up attempt, and his rankings were boisterously marked but meaningless to the girl.

"Thank you, Sir. But I must decline." The girl smiled a little as she shook her head.

She was about to say something else when she looked at him. It was the Officer from Stephanie's class who had picked her from the line-up back in Facece, the one who had put her in the room to meet The Captain.

"Drink up, I want to talk." Cael Theo said, he had hoped to do so with some urgency.

"What... About?" The girl asked while taking her glass, both hesitantly.

"You." Cael answered ominously.

"And, Stephanie?" The girl said her name as quietly as she could.

"Yes. Should we go somewhere more private, to speak?" Cael asked, steadying himself with his free hand against the edge of the table.

The girl nodded slowly, wrought with trepidation. Theo took a deep breath and drank his beverage in one. Then directed the girl to finish hers as well.

Theo walked the girl to his quarters, not thinking about what that might look like to a casual observer. He decided that he didn't care, once it occurred to him later. The girl was worried about that, and much more as she followed. The quarters of Cael Theo were small, only two rooms separated by a change in floor covering, and little else. Cael activated a fold-away table and chairs that extended from the wall. He grabbed a half-empty bottle from a shelf and took a seat, the girl remained standing.

"You wish to say something to me, please do so, Sir." The girl beckoned, growing too terrified to continue waiting for him to speak.

"I need to know something." Cael muttered, after steeling himself for another moment he continued. "Do you love her?"

"Sir, I... Why would you-" The girl looked into the Officer's eyes and knew her answer. They were bloodshot, worn out, and love-struck. "Do you... By gods, what is your name Sir?"

"Answer my question, whore!" Cael made to slam his fist on the table, but caught himself. He stared at his hand for a moment before uncorking his bottle and taking a drink from it. "Do. You. Lo-"

"With everything I am. I have never felt anything like how I love Stephanie." The girl's answer came to her, breaking through the horrible feelings she had spent the day stewing herself in.

"Then why did I find you among the lamentory souls in my bar?" Cael demanded.

"She is on the surface, duty has called her tonight. Nothing more." The girl's answer was convincing to no-one.

"It is something more." Cael did not even look at her when he spoke, she needed little convincing and he knew it.

"She killed someone yesterday." The girl spoke quietly, as if somehow it was only imaginary, so long as she never said the words.

"The thief? You are not, only now realizing the Navy has its Officers kill people from time to time?" Theo was quite drunk and immediately felt embarrassed for his tone.

"She was, protecting me... I don't know if that's making it worse or not..." Stephanie's Pallaca was having a small amount of trouble keeping her breathing steady.

"Would you like another?" Cael held up the bottle, the girl shook her head. "I... What has she said to you?"

"Sir! It is not your place to dissect my feelings, nor hers!" The girl suddenly felt anger for everyone in the room, but could only express it at one of them.

"No, you are quite right, my Lady. I am sorry, I have had much to drink tonight." He sighed. "Perhaps I may ask a different question. Has she shared anything with you, at all?"

"Perhaps." The girl metered out a careful non-answer.

"Are you afraid of something she has shown you?" Cael turned to the girl as he asked and saw in her face that he was overstepping again. "No no, don't answer, no. I'm... I apologize."

All he ever wanted was to be there for Stephanie, be the one she opened up to. He wanted to show DuHart how he did not fear whatever tidbit she chose to loose. Cael wanted to tell his Captain that whatever it was, she would always be His Captain. But Stephanie had followed her heart and opened it for this girl, who had neither the strength nor the experience to know what to do. The girl very much wanted to leave the Officer's quarters.

"May I go now, sir?" The girl tried after some time.

"Are you going to her, or away?" Cael asked aloud, without thinking.

"I don't- Sir, that is not your concern. I do not even know you. I should leave." The girl sputtered.

"Can I show you something, please, my Lady?" Cael said suddenly, giving the girl a pathetic look.

"What do you mean?" Stephanie's Pallaca became very concerned.

"Nothing amiss, I only wish to try and explain myself, and I only have one way to do so." He looked again at her face, she was bordering on anger. "My name is Cael Theo, I am Captain DuHart's Tactical Officer. My duty is to her and her well-being moving forward. Always."

"What do you wish to show me, Cael?" The girl wasn't as upset anymore, but still worried.

"It is in the drawer next to my bunk, look for yourself. I don't wish to frighten you further by pulling it out of there myself. It cannot fire." He mumbled as he laid his head over his arms.

The girl took a few steps over and opened the drawer, a wooden box took up most of the space inside. The plain antique casing was hiding an ancient looking firearm, its edges and markings all long ago worn smooth by age after age of handling. She closed the box quickly and turned to Cael, for a moment she thought he had fallen asleep.

"It's been in my family for longer than Theo has been our surname. Fifteen-hundred years, or close enough to make no difference. I have no proof, obviously, but the tale we tell each-other is that it predates the Martian air." Cael blinked hard and gave his head a small shake.

"Why do you want me to see this?" The girl opened the box and gave the thing another look. It's grip looked like that of a small domestic appliance to her, but every other component looked like that of a weapon.

"When the first man in my family, some long gone ancestor no-one knows the name of anymore.” Theo waved a hand. “When he first handed this weapon down to his son it became a wall-hanger. A useless article of pride."

"I see." The girl did not, she assumed he meant the thing had remained one ever since.

"Then when that son became a father, he did it again, cementing a tradition. But this time that gun became something much greater. To that founding grandfather of my family's tradition, this weapon was used sparingly and only to defend his home from invasion." Theo took a steadying breath. "His grandson used it to massacre people in a genocide."

"Why are you telling me this, Sir?" The girl quietly demanded.

"It became a point of pride again the next time it was passed down. I do not know how long it remained so, a symbol of something disgusting, held aloft reverently for what it was used to do." Theo continued his speech, rambling though it was.

"I don't understand, Sir." the girl's words fell on deaf ears.

"For all the generations I can trace back to, we have been using that weapon as an inverted symbol. I don't know when we changed our minds about a soldier's place. Obviously we claim it was when we left with the founding families of the Empire, but I don't think that's true, it doesn't matter though. My family has always been military, my Lady, we know nothing more. But families like mine have been taken advantage of by the powers that be, since before written history." He pointed at the drawer, causing the girl to look again at the weapon inside. "That gun was given to me by my father when I joined the academy, and he told me, just as his father had done, and his, and so on. He said that I must remember to never allow myself to be used in the way that weapon was, to never allow myself to be wielded for a purpose so vile."

"This is a very noble lesson, Sir. But, I do not-" The girl was silenced when she looked at the Officer, head in his hands, weeping over his empty bottle, and emptier heart.

"I will not be the one to know, that will never be my place. But you are more fortunate. I would hazard a guess that Stephanie learned this same lesson I have, but she was forced to do so personally." Cael's words were clear and devoid of the quagmire of emotions he was wading through, which took vast effort on his part. "You already told me that you love her. Whatever she has frightened you with, I need you to understand that it is a gift. Hideous though it may seem to you, Stephanie would not give this gift lightly... Oh... You are just a civilian... You cannot understand."

The girl saw Cael give up on trying to explain himself. His frustration peaking as he dropped his head back down to the table, defeated. Adrift, failing even to wade out to a fellow lost soul.

"Sir, please look at me. Cael, please." The girl reached out urgently for the tearful Officer. He shot her a wary glance. "I understand, Cael. I have been a concubine for Twenty-Seven years."

For a fleeting moment Cael meant to question her, the agency had listed her age at Fourteen Sols, but he knew how it was possible. The girl no longer needed to tell him her story, as he knew far too many like it: Taken as a child, from parents indebted or dead, papers faked, officials payed off. When such things occur to only one or two people at a time, there is little that can be done. Once such an investment has been made, Progenitor Cells are an affordable upkeep.

"Are you a Concubine still?" Cael was too drunk and shocked to politely phrase his thoughts anymore.

"Your Captain has freed me of my bonds." The girl did not know if he meant in contract, or in her heart. So she answered both questions the same.

"But, you've stayed..." Cael trailed off, understanding dawning on him. Cael Theo is a man who would drown with a smile, so long as he saw his fellow sailors finding shore. "Thank the gods for you."

"Had I gods to thank, I would do so for Stephanie. Instead I can only be Hers." Stephanie's Pallaca admitted.

"I must apologize for my actions tonight, my Lady. I have gotten too drunk and questioned your intent. I had no place to do so." Cael mumbled his apology.

"I cannot attest for the alcohol, but aside from that, you have done no-more than be the best Tactical Officer you are able to be. This much is clear to me, Sir." The girl told Cael.

"Then we shall pretend I would do this for any Captain I was issued to." Theo sighed and looked at the wall beside him. "I have kept you too long. Knowing Steph, she will have hurried out of there as soon as possible, she's probably on-board already."

"Thank you Cael, Stephanie would thank you too, if she-" As the girl spoke, Theo tensed up suddenly.

"Please no, tell her nothing of this." He pleaded with her. "If two years of trying has given her no clue as to my feelings, telling her now would only wreak havoc. Please keep... Me, a secret."

The girl realized how skilled a Tactical Officer Cael Theo must be, and how lucky DuHart was to have him. She agreed with his intensely tacit suggestion, the girl would not lie to Stephanie if pressed, but she felt no need to break Cael’s silence for him.

Stephanie had been sitting in her quarters, alone for some time. She surmised that the girl was most likely eating in the mess, a rational decision with them taking their meals apart. In truth, DuHart couldn't be upset with being given more time to steel herself. She knew what she was being forced to share with the girl, she had known on the surface. The Captain had been stewing over how to share her past with someone, in words for the first time.

Arrow hadn't ever known, he likely had some idea based on what the red trim of DuHart's old uniform advertised. He hadn't cared about that though, and Stephanie had always savored her upbringing not being an issue around him. Every Holo-Show where characters became romantic had some sequence where they spoke about their childhoods, a bonding moment for the couple. The Captain had managed to avoid her own dreaded version of that scene her whole life.

Stephanie DuHart only knew of her parents, but had never met them. They had let her go long before she had tore into her gruel and gotten clipped that first time, so Stephanie remembered nothing of them. But she had been told by Them incessantly how few credits they had valued her at. That amount was inconsistent, but never more than a few Thousand. This left Stephanie with only the rest of this story to tell, about where she was from. Even though she had been mulling over it all day, DuHart could only barely allow herself to remember any given moment of that time, before having to turn away and think of something else.

"Stephanie?! Are you home?" The girl called as she stepped inside.

"Here, It's good to see you." DuHart spoke quietly, waving her hand in the darkened room to reveal herself.

"How was dinner?" the girl asked as she approached.

"Lovely." DuHart lied, without conviction.

"I've been thinking, about us." The girl's words hit Stephanie like a bullet.

"What have you been thinking?" Stephanie hadn't asked a question that hesitantly since she was speaking with Them.

"You scared me yesterday Stephanie, but I will never stop loving you." The girl embraced DuHart as she sat down beside her.

"I, I'm... I-" Stephanie didn't know what to say, she was so relieved to not have to explain herself. "Wait." But Captain DuHart would not shrink from a challenge.

"What is it, Stephanie?" The girl implored.

"I have to tell you something." The girl's arms tightened around Stephanie encouragingly. DuHart fought to get the words out. "When I was a child, In the Federation, I was trained to service as a weapon."

"When I was a child, in the Empire, I was trained to service as well. Today I was gifted a realization about us: I need you too, Stephanie." The girl looked up into her lover's eyes. "Tell me everything you need to, and nothing you don't want to."

"Do you wish to tell me anything, about your past?" Stephanie asked quietly, also being gifted a realization.

"You already know everything worth saying, and you are still with me." The girl spoke with surety.

"I feel like I could say the same, to you." Stephanie could smell his perfume clinging to the girl, she did not know how grateful she should be to him. Cael Theo was the only person left in her life, who has seen DuHart wearing her old uniform.

"Listen to me, I am prepared to sit here with you and take turns telling sordid stories of the ills that have befallen us, if that is what must be done for you to understand that I will not turn away from you again." The girl let her lover know.

"Could we do something, else?" Stephanie suddenly wanted to move forwards with the girl. Instead of dwelling on their pasts uselessly.

- 12 -

As the girl understood what Stephanie wanted, a flutter came to her heart. They shared a pair of glances, with each-other and then with their bedroom door. Stephanie's Pallaca blushed as she turned back, a sly sideways smile on her face. The girl stood up and stepped towards their bedroom, Stephanie remained on the settee.

Stephanie was looking away, breathing heavily, and hesitantly extending her hand to the girl. She wanted to be taken, her Pallaca was happy to oblige her. The girl took Stephanie by the wrist and pulled her to her feet. Then the Concubine led her charge to their bed.

As she was dragged through the doorway, Stephanie reached out and put her fingers around the frame. The girl felt this resistance and looked back, Stephanie was facing away and twisting her knees together nervously. The girl knew she could never overpower DuHart and force her into the bedroom, with strength.

Stephanie's Pallaca reached over and slowly ran her free hand up the inside of Stephanie's thigh. Her fingertips teasing at her through the layers as the girl drew closer to the clasp on DuHart's pants. The girl's lover gasped as that clasp came undone and the Concubine plunged her fingers inside.

She forced Stephanie's pants down a few centimeters, exposing her. The girl began to run her fingers up and down the front of Stephanie's underwear. Then the girl stopped, before she could continue she decided to let out Stephanie's tail. The Concubine ran her hand underneath Stephanie, rummaging around inside her astray uniform trousers until she found it. The Concubine gently freed DuHart's tail, so she could run her hand along the underside of it back to the growing warmth between Stephanie's legs.

Letting out an unbridled moan, Stephanie lost her grip on the door-frame. Her hand immediately went to the girl's wrist and her knees began to bend. Her Pallaca led Stephanie to their bed, the few steps across their bedroom becoming some perversion of a ballroom dance. DuHart's footwork was loose and unsure, but the girl controlled her partner with poise and grip. The Concubine put Stephanie onto the bed and climbed up with her to lay her down on it.

Stephanie’s right wrist was tightly gripped in the girl's left, while their other hands were locked together inside DuHart's pants. The girl's fingers caressing Stephanie through the fabric of her panties. The girl pulled her hand away, against Stephanie's grip and the inseam of her pants. DuHart let go of the girl’s wrist and pressed her fingers against her desperate vulva through her underwear.

The girl let go of Stephanie's right hand and brought her leg over her, so she could pull DuHart’s uniform trousers off completely. The she dragged her fingernails through Stephanie's fur, leaving ruffled tracks from DuHart's ankles all the way back to her panties. Stephanie was forced to pull her arm out from under the girl and wrap both her hands around her own mouth, to stifle her ecstatic cry. The girl slipped her fingers into DuHart's underwear and curled her hands around inside to grip the waistband beneath Stephanie. The girl peeled the panties away, only dragging them to DuHart's knees before being able to resist no longer.

Stephanie's Pallaca lapped at her clitoris twice with her tongue. DuHart let go of her own face and moaned loudly as her hands scrabbled at the girl's legs straddling her. The girl spread Stephanie with one hand, and slipped the index and ring fingers of her other inside. Stephanie's moan rose in pitch and her knees slammed together, trapping the girl's hands.

She exercised all the leverage her wrists allowed her before giving up and leaning forward. She ran her lips along Stephanie's inner thigh for a moment before she peeled them back. The girl pressed her teeth against DuHart's trembling leg, forcing DuHart to spread her knees, or be bitten. As DuHart complied, the girl was moving her teeth against the grain of Stephanie’s fur down the inside of her thigh, raising the stakes on her threat and both of their heart-rates.

As the caress of the girl's canines forced Stephanie's knees horizontal, an orgasm wracked DuHart. The girl's fingers were soaked as Stephanie pulsated hungrily. She gave her wrist a small twist so she could slip her ring finger inside as well. Stephanie's hips bucked and the girl's last finger followed almost without effort.

"Oh fuck, I can't I'm- Oh, fucking take me. Take me." Stephanie's frantic English was not completely lost on the girl.

DuHart had not the experience to form such an opinion on Arrow, she would never have thought to do so. Her husband was precious to her regardless of their compatibility between the sheets. DuHart would not have considered him lacking in any way, and still she did not, but the girl was able to reach Stephanie in ways no other could.

Her thumb was folded under her other fingers, and the girl penetrated Stephanie. She tried to shut her legs again, but the girl's teeth held Stephanie back. Frantically and desperately, DuHart tried to grip the girl's ankles but her fingers would not comply properly. The girl turned her hand slowly, and pulsated the tension in her fist.

Stephanie's feet turned over and she suddenly purchased some leverage against the mattress. As DuHart dug with her heels and pushed her pelvis away from the bed, the girl was brought aloft riding her. Her teeth took up more weight than she had intended as Stephanie thrust her into the air. But if she caused any pain, Stephanie was undeterred. The girl was forced to support her weight with her arms, one hand gripped the inside of Stephanie's thigh to do so. Her other sank deeper inside.

The girl had experienced her fair share of orgasms, perhaps an even greater number. Having had or given more than could ever be counted, she had assumed that life had no more mysteries there. Stephanie's Concubine marveled at the climax cascading around her forearm. The girl's legs shook and she shared Stephanie's orgasm, when Stephanie dragged her fingernails lightly down the girl's back. The Concubine's dress had been shredded from shoulders to hem, and she arched her back, moaning. But even in the throes of an ecstasy she could barely understand, Stephanie had only caressed her lover gently with her claws, as she tore into the girl's clothing.

With the girl’s teeth no longer pressing into her thigh, Stephanie crossed her shaking legs as she fell back to the mattress. The girl's arm was trapped inside her. Errant spasms were still working their way through DuHart's extremities. Both of them were panting, the air in the bedroom becoming heavier with each moment. The girl used her free hand to caress Stephanie's backside, it was the same shape as that round red fruit she had pureed with the vegetables. The girl thought Stephanie's bum was sweeter than any fruit though. To tease her lover, the girl quickly opened and closed her fingers, just slightly in a fleeting gesture, deep inside Stephanie.

A sound that neither of them knew she was capable of making came out of DuHart, like a feral predator. Warbling between a roar and a moan, much louder and deeper than Stephanie's voice usually was. The sounds coming from her lover sent tingles up and down the girl's spine, she began to gasp in excitement. Suddenly the Trans-Human pounced on her mate, sitting up and wrapping her claws around each of the girl's thighs. Stephanie crossed her ankles tightly as she lifted the girl by her pelvis and thrust her tongue into her.

She moved so ferociously, the girl didn't realize, Stephanie had ripped her way into the girl's panties with her teeth. Her shoulder and arm supported the remainder of her weight, as Stephanie held her Concubine aloft and her legs apart. DuHart curled over and brought up her knees, the girl was wrapped up in her lover. Stephanie's grip on the girl's wrist held her tightly as she soaked the sheets.

She had never felt this way before, neither of them had. The girl was as taken by what was happening as Stephanie was. She tried to say something, anything at all, but Stephanie turned her hips like she was the yoke of some vehicle, while DuHart's tongue was held in place. Any words present in the girl's mind were gone, replaced only with an impossibly intimate mental image of those barbs.

The girl pushed her fist into Stephanie, she had little leverage, and little deeper to go, but she did what she could. DuHart made the sound again, arching her back and squeezing the girl's body into her with her legs. The girl had Stephanie's still clothed breasts pressed into her own belly, while her face was being pressed into DuHart's. Her hand was still being used by her lover as a plaything, as the thought hit the girl so did another. All of her had become Stephanie's plaything, not just her hand. Alongside the terrifically erotic sound she was making, and her tongue, Stephanie's sudden overbearing lust sent another series of excited shocks coursing through the girl's body.

With that adjustment of posture Stephanie now had the girl fully supported, and could press her elbow deftly with one heel. She changed her grip on her Pallaca's legs to an underhand one, and plunged her tongue inside again hungrily. The girl began chewing on the fur just above Stephanie's navel, as she came into Stephanie's mouth. DuHart was overwhelmed by her feelings, the girl's, and her senses being drenched in both. The girl's less trapped hand was suddenly freed completely, she was reaching out and trying to find her bearings. The girl's hand traced along Stephanie's hip, then up to her shoulder, before finding her hair and gripping as tightly as she could.

The Trans-Human's tongue bucked up and down. The girl felt the barbs deep inside, pressed into her. Not enough to hurt, quite. She gasped through her clenched teeth and kicked with her lower legs wildly, but Stephanie's powerful grip on her thighs kept her steady. Her heel pressed the girl's arm as deep as she could and she lifted her Concubine's pelvis. Stephanie's Pallaca was being pumped up and down by her legs, onto Stephanie's outstretched tongue. DuHart's teeth traced back and forth, through what little pubic hair the girl had and between her spread buttocks.

The Concubine tried to beg, she had no idea what for, only that she felt the desperate need to do so. Her rapturous cries were as buried in Stephanie's midsection as her face was though. DuHart rode the girl, and her instincts for well into a second hour before she could take no more, and lost consciousness with a final warbling call. This one trailing away into a quiet rumbling sound, that continued to emanate from the Trans-Human until she awoke.

As her senses returned, Stephanie was unsure where she was. Her memory unclouded when her mumbling was answered by the girl's tongue running between her labia. She had trapped the girl between her thighs as she laid on her side, and wrapped her arms tightly around the girl's pelvis as she slept. Her nose had been pressed between her Concubine’s thighs, deliriously succumbing the the smell of the girl's love.

"Have you awoken?" The girl asked quietly.

"Y-Yes." DuHart replied, lifting her leg and rolling onto her back to disentangle her lover.

"Thank you. Next time we try to sleep this way, give me a chance to get comfortable first, please." The girl giggled as she spoke, and rolled over to stretch her shoulders and back.

"I'm sorry, I-I don't know what-" Stephanie looked down at herself, her inner thigh was sporting a bare patch of skin, and she was still wearing her socks, again.

"Do not apologize!" The girl sat up to look her lover in the eyes. "Stephanie do not apologize, I love you. I've never... I haven't the words for how you make me feel, how you have just made me feel."

"I..." Stephanie could feel a tingle as she remembered what she had done with the girl, her toes curled slightly and her hands moved to her crotch. "I haven't words either."

"Any I might have, would be wonderful words, Stephanie. I hope the same is true for you." The girl sat up and moved across to her lover, wrapping her hands around Stephanie's body.

"Of course My Lady!" DuHart gripped the girl's hands, entwining her fingers with her Concubine's. Stephanie replied without hesitation. "I love you!"